"Kid, believe me, university life is way more different than your highschool one. So, be prepared.”

Byul sighed as she looked out from the train’s window while remembering her mom’s last word before she went to Seoul. Back then, she openly made fun of it but now, she kinda gets what her mom had tried to warn her before. What makes it worse that it happened when she’s only living it in less than two months. 

The purple-haired girl can’t help but feel frustrated as she could imagine how her mom would mock her for the next two days of her being in Bucheon.

---

Yong could hear Yonghee’s excited steps from behind their house’s front door. The younger one smiles as her feeling of missing the other girl gets intensified within each second. 

“YONG!”

As soon as the door opened, Yonghee jumped toward her and hugged Yong tightly, “Ahh, Unnieee~ it hurts!!!”

“You deserve it! How could you never visit your own ing sister, huhhh?!”

Yong replied to her hug while patting her big sister’s back as a gesture of asking forgiveness. 

---

“Omma?”

Byul got into her seemed-empty house. She looked around the house until she heard her mom’s humming voice from the backyard. “Omma, I’m home!”

The short-haired woman in her mid-50s looked up as she puffed out her smoke while sitting casually on a long wooden bench. Both looked at each other before the older on broke into a smirk, “Already ed up?”

---

“I’ve already watched that, Unnie.”

Yonghee rolls her eyes and finds it annoying that her sisters had left her behind from their watch-later film list. Yong noticed her big sister’s changing face and tried her best to find, at least one, the unwatched film from the list. She can’t help but feel guilty as she realized that she finished the list with Byul. How could she not when the other girl kept visiting, and of course kinda staying, on her other house?

“Whatever, let’s just talk.” as her big sister snatched the paper from Yong’s hand which instantly made Yong tensed. Never in her life, she felt so threatened with Yonghee’s presence. 

“So, how’s our agreement going?”

The older girl fake-laughed at the question, “No one has confessed to me, Unnie. I’m still your innocent little girl.”

“Yeah, right. You must have sabotaged it by acting like a at school.”

“ is a quite strong word, you know.”

“There will be no Kim woman that went unnoticed.” She stopped talking while eyed Yong in suspicion, “Tell me the truth.”

---

Even though she had expected this kind of reaction from her mom who kept laughing for the last 10 minutes after she told her about Yong’s situation, Byul genuinely wished her mom could act like other’s mom once in a while. 

“Stop laughing, okay?” 

Another 5 minutes until the older girl succeeded to calm herself down. “I’m sorry, Kid. That’s just too funny and so you.”

“So me?! And stop smoking, would you? I told you I hate it.”

Her mom immediately changed the topic, “But I like this Kim Yongsun child. She could handle your out-of-the-world overprotective side.” She patted Byul's thigh to calm her kid down, “Bring her here next time, okay?”

“Just pray hard, Omma. In fact, someone might have stolen her from me now.”

“Stole?” The short-haired woman smacked her oldest daughter’s head.”OW!”

“She’s not even your girlfriend! Importantly, she is a human being, not your possession! God, Byul-ah, stop being so paranoid all the time.”

Byul moved her body closer to her mom, “You, from all the people, know how people could disappear in a matter of minutes, Omma.”

Her mom sighed deeply, “Your Appa went to heaven while sleeping beside me. He went peacefully and I’m grateful for being with him in his last moment.”

Byul went silent as the memories of her last moment with her dad started to come back. It was her 17th birthday and somehow, her dad asked her to accompany him to drink. She refused at first because no matter how liberal and weird her parents are, they must have known better to not let her under-age daughter to drink. But, with help from her non-stop nagging mom, she finally gave up and drank two bottles of soju by herself which made her father look at her proudly. 

Aside from his weird fascination over her oldest daughter's capability to drink which made Byul shake her head in disbelief, it was actually one of her happiest days. Well, until the next morning came and Byul found her mom had cried so hard inside of her parent’s room. 

“I’m scared, Mom.”

The older woman smiled softly, “I know.”

---

Two hours of being nagged by Yonghee wasn’t really what she had in mind when she decided to go home. Sometimes, she couldn’t understand why her big sister was more concerned about Yong’s love life than herself. 

“You hear me, Yong?”

“Huh?”

“I said, you should try with this Byul girl. After all, she could handle your weird- personality.”

The younger one rolls her eyes, “She was joking and she’s my best friend. Love could ruin a friendship, Unnie.”

Yonghee gives a meaningful stare towards the younger girl,” Really? And I thought I’m the only real best friend you have.”

“She- I don’t know, Unnie. We just clicked and I- She’s important for me! Okay?!”

“Yah, stop being dramatic. Okay, Byul’s out. Other candidates?”

Yong sighed so hard she wished she could go back to her own comfortable home. 

---

“I’ll take you back to Seoul after we eat dinner, okay? I’ll borrow Mr. Choi’s car.” as her mother got up from her seat and left dumbfounded Byul alone. The purple-haired girl chased after her mom to the kitchen, “I want to stay here until Sunday night, Omma!”

Her mom put her apron and ignored her child.

“Omma~”

She turned around, “I want my child to see me because she misses me. Not because she tried to escape from her problem.”

“I miss you!”

“Kid, you will never find your answer here. If this Yongsun girl is so important to you, then you should trust her. Trust her enough that whatever happened, she won’t leave you.”

“But I-”

“And please, no pure friendship’s problem has ever made you come into me before.”

“Omma-”

Byul’s mom shushed her and kept telling her to eat fast because she can’t handle another nagging from her other child if they ever knew that Byul was here. 

---

“You mad at me?” as Yonghee drove the younger girl back to her house. “I thought you’ll stay with me tonight.”

Yong shook her head, “Not mad, just tired.”

“Am I that annoying?” “I just wished-”

The older girl turned the radio down as she couldn’t hear Yong’s voice. “What?”

“I just wished you could see me more than my nonexistent love life. There are so many things that I want to talk to you about and you just-” Yong sighed, “I’m sorry, Unnie. I know you did it because you care about me.”

“I’m sorry, Yong.” Yonghee bites her lips before initiating another topic,” So, tell me more about your new best friend.”

Yong smiled, “She wants to be a director and I’ve watched all of her short films from her high school film club, it was good, Unnie. I’m sure you will agree with me. She has purple hair and has a weird yet cute face whenever she smiles. That’s why I sometimes called her Hamster. She’s stubborn as but I don’t know, Unnie, I always let her win. But relax, I always debate first before I let it go. She’s so funny, Unnie! I kept laughing whenever she joked around. Yet, at times I couldn’t understand her way of thinking. She could be mature at one time, and the next minute, she acts like a child. And- Ah, I’m sorry, I talk too fast, huh?”

Her older sister just laughed at Yong’s rambling and wished her little sister would finally realize that maybe her important friendship is way more than a friendship.

“Should I take you to Byul’s?”

“She went back to her parent’s house.”

“Ah.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. I think you kinda miss her.”

Yong ignored Yonghee’s statement by turning her body around and tried her best to concentrate at the Seoul night scene through the window car. 

--- 

“Where should I take you?”

Byul eyed her in confusion, “What do you mean, Omma?”

“The girl's place or yours?”

She put both of her hands on her face. Byul has no idea which one is frustrating her more. The fact that her mom casually let her stay at Yong’s when she knew the ‘condition’ or her mom's ability to read her mind because she actually had planned to come to Yong’s place after she dropped her home. 

Her mom snickered at her “So, which one?” 

Another silence before she whispered, “Yong’s.”   

---

“Bye, Unnie!” 

Yong’s staring at Yonghee’s car until she couldn’t see it anymore. As she walked towards her apartment, she found Byul had sat on the stairs while waving at her awkwardly. “Hi.”

“Yah!! What are you doing here?! You should wait inside, Byul-ah” as she grabbed Byul’s wrist to drag her into the room. She guided Byul to the sofa and kept asking her if she felt cold. The younger girl shook her head and pulled Yong to join her. “Yong, I only wait for 3 minutes, so it’s okay.”

“It might be spring but it’s ing cold at night, Byul-ah.”

“Sshh, I saw you get off from the car. I just want to surprise you.”

Yong chuckled, “You talk like we have not met each other for a week. I just want to kindly remind you that the last time we met is this morning.” which made the younger one laughed out loud. 

“Shut up. I know you miss me, Ice Princess.” 

The older girl pouted while slapped Byul’s shoulder over and over again. And yes, it’s Yong's way of saying, “I do.”