It was 12 a.m when Jeongyeon reached home. Dropping her keys into the ceramic fish by the door, she heard small giggles and yelps. A scene of absolute mess greeted her when she stepped into her kitchen. A messy Tzuyu and an even messier Chaeyoung turned to her with the most adoring eyes any half-drunk teenagers could manage.

‘Explain,’ Jeongyeon cleared .

‘Chaeng decided to hand-make pasta’ Tzuyu opened first.

‘I didn’t succeed.’ Chaeyoung pouted, bringing her flour-covered hands to wipe her forehead. It left a spot of white flour on her hair and skin. Tzuyu and her looked at each other again and snickered. 

Jeongyeon sighed in defeat before shoo-ing the teenagers out of the kitchen and into the bathroom. Honestly, trusting teens to keep her house in one piece. She rolled up her sleeves and opened her kitchen cabinet, figuring maybe Indomie could feed the walking disasters. 

The water started boiling when the two friends walked back to the kitchen counter, freshly washed faces with flushed cheeks. 

‘All good?’Jeongyeon asked with her back to them. Hearing no answer, she continued. ‘Did you guys raid my Soju’s stock?’ 

‘Ew no, we hate that taste. Tzuyu bought Strongbow.’ Chaeyoung scrunched up her nose in disgust and propped her hands on the kitchen counter.

‘Yep. To welcome my puppies.’ Tzuyu delightedly answered in a slightly slurred voice.

Jeongyeon confusedly raised her eyebrows at Chaeyoung, only to receive a subtle head shake from her cousin. The girl covered with her small palm and mouthed ‘Don’t ask’, then turned to Tzuyu and smiled innocently. 

Once the food was done, Jeongyeon made some fried eggs and put them in front of the kids. After hours of serving more demanding and picky customers at her fancy restaurant, it was a nice change of pace to watch these two very low-maintenance youngsters eat. Tzuyu made a small hurray before diving in, while Chaeyoung took her time poking around and took pictures. Eyes not leaving the bowl, Chaeyoung asked Jeongyeon.

‘Anyway, how is adulting today?’ 

‘Adulting? What in the Gen Z vernacular is this?’

‘Oh come on boomer, just tell us about your day.’ Chaeyoung whined. 

Jeongyeon laughed at her cuteness. ‘Well, if you are really interested. I have had worse days. But I did manage to call my new manager Bunny in front of the entire staff.’

‘Well does she?’ Chaeyoung mused, still fidgeting with her phone.

‘Does she what?’

‘Look like a bunny?’ Tzuyu stopped chewing for a moment to chime in. Chaeyoung high-fived her for finishing the sentence. It’s true that when two people spend that much time together, they are bound to share the same brain cell.

‘To think of it, she kind of does. But that is beside the point. Wait,’ Jeongyeon walked into her room and brought back a rabbit keychain with small, dangling keys. She held them up and jiggled the bunch, creating sounds across the silent apartment. ‘This! This Bunny. Do you remember I told you about the girl on the train? It’s her.’

Tzuyu turned to Chaeyoung confused, ‘What girl?’

Chaeyoung thought deeply for a moment, her eyes focused intently on a random spot on the ceiling, before giving up in defeat. ‘I’m too drunk to remember the details. Please tell her the story again.’

Jeongyeon cleared to make her best old-man-telling-a-story impression. ‘It all happened at the beginning of the summer break. I was going back home by KTX. It was kind of crowded that day…’

Jeongyeon looked up at the crowd in front of her on the train. Bodies in work clothes and school uniforms pressed against each other due to the lack of space. It’s really a common occurrence for trains in Seouls to be packed at this hour, Jeongyeon just didn’t think it was sardine-packed. It’s lucky she set out early this morning, or else she might have to suffer the same fate as the standing people. She let out a sigh and closed her eyes. The cold AC and soft sunlight lured her mind away from reality for a moment into a soft slumber.

Some time mid-journey, Jeongyeon felt a heavy weight on her left shoulder. She opened her eyes to find a brown-haired girl sleeping next to her, one hand clutching her bag, the other holding onto a set of keys. Jeongyeon wanted to stretch or clear her voice to wake the girl up. They were soon reaching the next station and she wasn’t sure if that was the stranger’s stop. 

Just when she was about to call the girl, the train’s speaker loudly voiced ‘Next stop is Yong-san station.’ The girl jolted awake, slightly disoriented. She slowly turned to her right and Jeongyeon was stunned by the pair of bright eyes and plump lips. A look of pure horror dawned on the girl’s face when there was a patch of something beige-colored, very much like her own cheek powder, on the shoulder of Jeongyeon’s denim jacket. She opened to say something, revealing two big front teeth, when the door opened to her station. She stood up, bowed her head as though issued an apology, and immediately darted out the door. Jeongyeon’s eyes kept following the girl to the door until she was out of sight. When she finally snapped out of it and looked at her seat, there left a bunny keychain. 

Jeongy