Waking up wasn’t the hard part - it was getting out of bed that proved to be difficult. Seohyun was still snuggling me like I was a life sized version of her Keroro doll. Her body was warm and soft to the touch. Seohyun snoozed peacefully and I couldn’t help but stare. She was sleeping beauty.

But after several minutes of silence, I started to feel like a total creeper just gazing at her. I gently pushed her away and watched as she lethargically rolled onto her side. I was worried that she might wake, but she instinctively buried her head into a nearby pillow.

I was free.

Quickly getting up to change out of my street clothes, I checked the time and realized that it was well into the morning. Opening the door to the living room of our suite, I was surprised to see Tiffany flipping through the pages of a thick textbook. She sat crossed legged on the leather couch with shorts a tee and a bottle of water on the coffee table where we drank last night. Tiffany had her reading glasses on which made her look like some kind of hot secretary.

I closed the door behind me so that Seohyun could sleep in peace.  

“Good morning Secretary Hwang.”

Tiffany looked me up and down from behind her frames. “Hey Yoona, nice bed head,” she jeered back. She pointed to the door behind me. “Is Seohyun still sleeping?”

Trying to fix my hair, I replied, “Yup. There’s a first time for everything.” I decided to take up a spot on the ground across from her. Tiffany closed her textbook to give me her undivided attention.  She was always ready to talk.

“I guess Seohyun’s a light weight. I feel bad for making her drink all that alcohol last night.” There was apprehension in her voice. “I guess I was a little too happy to be a buzz kill.”

Both of us were feeling guilty. We were supposed to look out for her.

“Did you guys sleep well last night?”

Despite my guilty conscience, it was probably the most refreshing rest I had in weeks. Talking things over with Seohyun, even if she was tipsy, helped relieve some of the uncertainty that drifted in my head. “Yeah it was what I needed.”

Tiffany grinned and raised an eyebrow suggestively. “You didn’t do anything did you?”

I knew what she was implying and felt a little insulted. “You’re not suggesting what I think you’re suggesting, are you?

There was hesitation written across her face, but that never stopped Tiffany for too long. “Well she was a little drunk.”

I gave her a piercing stare. “Unnie, what are you saying?!”

Tiffany batted her eyelashes innocently. “Nothing, it’s just the last time you two were in a room alone, you ended up kissing her.”

She was right.

“I thought maybe you’d try something again.”

“Well I didn’t. You don’t have to rub salt into my wounds you know.”

Tiffany waved it off nonchalantly. “I’m just kidding.”

“How about you unnie, did you sleep well with Jessica?”

Tiffany smirked. “Really well.”

Chuckling, I asked, “What does that mean?”

Tiffany motioned me forward. I leaned in so that she could whisper into my ear. “That means Jessica fell asleep the second she hit the bed.”

I let out a laugh and expected as much. Jessica had slept for most of the drive from Seoul and even dozed off after that dinner with Donghae and the two of us.

It probably wasn’t the best place to talk about Jessica, but I had to ask.  It had been bugging me for weeks.

“Do you like Jessica?”

Before she could answer my question, there was a sound that rumbled from my belly. It was my hunger nagging me to eat. Tiffany laughed. “Let’s get something to satisfy that stomach of yours.”

I nodded and headed to the bathroom to get ready for the first day of our vacation – even if most of the morning had passed. The two of us ended up ordering some takeout from the Korean restaurant that was situated inside of the hotel. Tiffany got something for Jessica and I did the same for Seohyun. She seemed upbeat as we waited in the restaurant for our food.

“What did you want to do today anyways?” asked Tiffany.

That was a great question. Seohyun had showed me an elaborate itinerary that she had made for our trip the night before we drove over to Andong. Obviously, we slept-in and wouldn’t be able to follow her schedule to a tee, but maybe it was better this way. How could you possibly enjoy a vacation when you had to run around all over the place and meet deadlines? Personally, there was something gratifying about exploring a city and doing things at your own pace.

“I guess we’ll talk about it when the girls wake up.”

The food arrived piping hot and we took the takeout cartoons back to our room and laid it all out on the coffee table. Tiffany decided to make a wager on who would wake up first. Tiffany placed her bet on Seohyun which would have been my pick, but there was no fun in choosing the same winner.

Tiffany created the reward. “How about the loser treats the other to dinner?”

It sounded fair.

“Deal.”

We shook hands.

As we ate, we talked and waited patiently one of us to be deemed a winner. Finally a door slid open much to Tiffany’s chagrin.

“Fany-ah.”

Jessica looked groggy as she walked up to the table with one eye open and the other half-closed. “What time is it?” She rubbed her cheeks with her palms and had some bed head herself - a stark contrast from her typical princess image. Regardless, she still had a beauty to her.

Tiffany put down her set of metal chopsticks and checked her phone. “Half past twelve.”

The blonde lazily made her way onto the couch so that she sat beside the raven haired girl. She leaned on her shoulder and seemed at peace. Perhaps it was my mind playing tricks on me, but I swear I saw Tiffany grin for a brief second at the sudden skinship.

Still. Victory tasted sweet.

“You owe me dinner.”

Tiffany sighed. Jessica went to go freshen up, completely unaware of our little bet, and joined us for a couple of bites before we started making plans for the day. We all went to check up on Seohyun who was still sleeping peacefully, just as I left her.

“Should we wake her up?” Jessica asked.

Looking at her now, it probably wasn’t only the alcohol that kept her subdued under the sheets. She was probably really exhausted with her hectic lifestyle.

“Let’s let her sleep. Maybe you guys should go out while I stay here with Seohyun.”

The two girls stared at each other and nodded. “Just call one of us when she wakes up, so we can do something together,” said Tiffany as she headed into her room with the blonde to get ready.

The two emerged minutes later bundled up with plenty of layers. They headed out the door, leaving me alone with Seohyun.

With nothing better to do, I sifted through my luggage and took out some collegiate SAT prep books and started to study in the living room as I waited for Seohyun to wake up. I only finished a few pages when I heard a sweet melody.

“Yoona?”

Seohyun poked her head out from the room and squinted at me. Her hair was wild and rebellious after a long night of rest but it was still oddly attractive. “Where are Tiffany and Jessica?”

“They’re off on their own,” I replied.

She came over to the coffee table, stared at the food for a brief moment and grabbed my phone. Her eyes shot wide open when she looked at the time. “I can’t believe I slept in so late!”

She ran back into our room and came back with a new change of clothes moments later. In one hand she had her itinerary for the trip, in the other, a brush for her hair.

“Now everything’s ruined.”

I gave her a smile. “I’ll call them and tell them you’re up. We can still do some of the things you wanted to do.”

Seohyun frowned. “You should have woken me up.”

There was another guilty feeling that lingered in the pit of my heart. “I will next time, don’t worry.”

“You promise?” asked Seohyun.

“I promise.”

With that I watched as Seohyun ran around our hotel room getting ready, while I talked with Tiffany on the phone.

“Should we come back now?” Tiffany asked.

There was a thought that ran through my head. A selfish thought, but one Tiffany would understand. “No.”

“So what are you two going to do then?”

“I’ll figure something out.”

Tiffany laughed, “Yoona-yah, don’t do anything to our innocent Seohyun now.”

“Like I said, stop rubbing salt into my wounds.”

“Love ya,” said Tiffany, hanging up.

Seohyun finally came out of the bathroom and was ready to go. There was a smile that crossed her lips when she saw the workbook in front of me.

“Are Tiffany and Jessica going to be back soon?” she asked, seeing me place my phone back onto the table.

“They’re doing their own thing and won’t be back until later. We’ll just have to entertain ourselves until dinner if that’s alright.”

“Sure.” She ended up taking a seat beside me on the comfy couch. Seohyun leaned in to get a better look at my highlights and pencil scratches that were littered on every page of my SAT workbook.

“You’ve been working really hard.”

Embarrassed at my nerdiness I closed it before she could say anything more.

“Why’d you close it?” she asked with a disappointedly cute expression.

“I don’t want you to see my mistakes,” I answered.

“Yoona you know I can help you out if you have any difficult questions.”

Seohyun reached for the takeout carton on the coffee table which contained the lunch that I left for her, an Andong rice dish, and started mixing all the ingredients together. The younger girl edged closer. “Mistakes are what make us human.”

“Then you’re a robot.”

Seohyun laughed, “I make mistakes too. Like this morning for instance.” She shook her head thinking about it and took her first bite of the food. Swallowing she encouraged, “Come on study while I eat. If you have any questions ask me.”

The girl gave me my space and ate while I read in my own little corner of the couch. She didn’t turn on the television or start a conversation; she just sat there quietly eating with her perfect posture. After a while I started to look at my workbook again and realized that there were quite a few questions that eluded me.

There was no other choice. I caved in. I would need to throw my humility aside and actually get help from others if I wanted to learn anything. There would be no kinder set of eyes then Seohyun.

Coming closer upon my insistence, she listened to my questions and answered them where she could. When she finished eating, she grabbed my workbook from my hands and flipped through the pages. There was a grin on her face as she got deeper into the book.

“Yoona, you’ve really been studying a lot. I’m impressed.”

There was a warm feeling that gathered in my cheeks. “It’s nothing. I didn’t even get the right answer to a lot of the questions.”

“It’s alright. I’m proud of you.”

Strangely those words were a lot more meaningful as they lingered in my head. Maybe it was because I wasn’t used to hearing it from her, but I could feel more motivation boil within my own being. As much as I wanted to push myself to succeed, I wanted someone else there to support me along the way. Who better than Seohyun?

The little moment was broken when Seohyun let out a childish giggle.

“Really Yoona? Devil horns?” She had noticed the way I marked difficult questions in my workbook.

“Only a force of pure evil could put questions like those on national standardized tests,” I added, keeping a straight face.

She gave me one of her dimply grins and started to help me go over one of the little devils. As she answered the question, I realized how amazing it was to see this side of Seohyun, which contrasted from her naturally cute personality. This wasn’t the Keroro holding girl anymore, but the lady that wanted to become something great. For me, this side of her was just as attractive as any other side of her - if not more attractive. As I listened to her soothing voice and reassuring words, I found myself under her spell, engaged in the material but also feeling tingly all over - in a good way.

When she finished with her explanation, she erased the devil horns that I doodled onto the question and replaced them with a pair of angel wings.

“Not so evil anymore right?”

I let out a laugh. “It’s all thanks to you.”

Seohyun flipped through some more pages and turned more devils into angels, but I started to feel some guilt. I quickly grabbed the book from her hands and closed it shut before she could continue any further.  She looked at me with a puzzled expression.

“Seohyun, we’re on vacation. We should do this another time.”

She nodded reluctantly, probably excited to help me learn. I put my book back into our room and came back to see Seohyun looking over her itinerary for the trip. She let out a tired sigh. “All that planning down the drain, because I can’t wake up at 7 in the morning.”

“It’s not all bad,” I argued. “We can explore the city and do something spontaneous.”

Seohyun leaned back on the sofa with hesitation.

“What’d you have in mind?”

“I don’t know. That’s why it’s spontaneous.”

Seohyun put the paper back in her folder and got up from her seat. I half expected her to call me crazy, but I knew she trusted me more than anyone.

“Alright Yoona, let’s go be spontaneous.”