Hello, here the new update

sorry if there a mistake in my writing

enjoyy

July 2007

Sunday is Joohyun's favourite day; she gets to do things she likes the most, which is helping people in need.

This Sunday, just like any other Sunday, she will head to the local orphanage that has been operated by the church to tutor kids in primary school.

‘Unnie!!!’ was heard as soon as Joohyun opened the classroom door at the Sunflower orphanage.

Kids are running towards her like an ant goes for sugar, with bright smiles fixed on their faces.

Kids is so delighted to see their favourite tutor.

Joohyun make sure to ruffle each of the kids’ hairs while greeting them along with I miss you too and a chocolate flavoured candy.

There are twelve kids, range from seven years old to twelve years old.

They are Joohyun's biggest inspiration to be a mother; every time her step feels so light to visit these kids, it feels really heavy when it’s time to leave.

Feel like those kids holding her by her ankle refused to let her go home.

This orphanage is the kids shelter, not their home.

She wanted to adopt them, and one day when she capable of adopting, Joohyun make sure to save a child in need by giving them a loving home and family.

The main reason why her dream is to be a mother. Joohyun thinks a mother is such a strong and caring person in the world.

She cannot wait for the day to come, to be called mother by her child.

‘noo, that’s not the answer, Min Hee ah’ Joohyun affectionately scolds seven-year-old Min Hee for doing the math wrong; it is a simple plus and minus question.

Simple for a fifteen-year-old Joohyun, but hard for a seven-year-old Min Hee, who is pouting because she never gets math right.

Explaining over and over until the kid finally gets the answer, and then she moves on to the next kid until she arrives at the empty desk.

Yerim is not here today. She realised that the moment she noticed, she had one candy left in her bag.

Knocking on the administrator office, ‘Mrs. Lee, may I come in?’

As she waits for her permission, the door unexpectedly opens, and Mrs. Lee appears to have been anticipating Joohyun's coming to the office.

‘Oh, Joohyun shi, come in dear.’ The lady with a round face, round glasses, and dark brown eyes, she's is big and has a figure that can handle all the kids under one command.

Those body fats jiggle inside those clothes as she walks towards the office chair and asks Joohyun to sit down.

‘Thank you, Mrs. Lee,’ Joohyun sat down politely with hands on her lap, eyes on Mrs. Lee.

‘You must come here to ask about Yerim, yes?’

Joohyun nodded, her body leaning forward, indicating how curious she is about a girl named Yerim.

Mrs. Lee opens the drawer of her office desk and pulls out a purple envelope with a cute doodle on it. ‘Here, for you’ she hands it to Joohyun.

Biting her bottom lips while her hand reached out to take the envelope, tears began to well behind her eyes.

On the envelope, it's written to my favourite Joohyun unnie. Yerim's handwriting is so cute; the letters are so neat, but they are all crowded together.

At the right bottom of the envelope, there is a doodle of two figures, one with long hair and the other a bit shorter with double ponytails.

The figure is holding hands and has a smiling face on them.

Her hold on the envelope tightens, and it almost crumples the letter.

Joohyun is fully aware of what has happened to cute little Yerim. Although the news was excellent, she can't help but feel melancholy because she can't see the girl anymore.

‘A family came this Monday; they want a child of the same age as their daughter.’ Mrs. Lee explained, Joohyun deserves to know.

She is aware that Joohyun adores all of the children here, but she has noticed that she and Yerim share a specific bond and that Joohyun gives the girl additional attention all the time.

'They are a good family Joohyun. You don’t have to worry.’ That was all she could say because the rest was confidential.

….

‘Joohyun,’ Mr. Bae called his only daughter, who didn’t eat much but poked the food with a chopstick.

He does not educate his child to play with food because it's such a bad habit given that millions of people worldwide are starving due to many circumstances.

He paused eating, let the chopstick hang midair, and the rest of the family followed. Mrs. Bae and Joohyun's older brother Jaehyun didn’t dare to move either.

Jaehyun exchanged a glance with his mother for not more than a second, and both knew what to do despite how short their eyes met.

Jaehyun used his right foot to lightly kick his sister under the table.

Joohyun jolted up in her seat, almost losing her grasp on the chopstick from the unexpected kick.

She throws her brother a questionable glance, studying her brother face who is tight, eyes stern looking back at her.

‘Joohyun’ Mr. Bae called his daughter once again, and this time their eyes met.

Joohyun instantly knew she had done something wrong, lowering her gaze and pressing her lips into a thin line.

‘What did I tell you about food?’

And just like an AI, Joohyun says the long sentence that his father used to recite over and over before having breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

‘One of the things for which we should always be thankful and never take advantage of or disregard. God has blessed us with food. So, we must appreciate it with our hearts by enjoying it with gratitude.’

Bae Junho, Joohyun's father, has a big smile on his face now. He was so proud that his daughter didn’t miss a single word. Promptly brighten up his mood and decide not to scold his daughter tonight.

‘You never played with food before,’

‘I'm not playing with it’ she defended herself, sullenly shoving eggrolls into .

‘And what did I tell you about attitude at the dining table?’ He slightly pressed his tone, although it was still lighthearted.

Fifteen-year-old Joohyun, poking her chopstick into the rice, ‘that we need to put our trouble away and enjoy this time with family,’

‘And??’ Mr. Bae leans forward a bit, his lips forming a faint smile, and his eyebrows rise up.

‘And if there's something that truly worries us, we should voice our concerns to our family during dinner.’

‘Joohyun’

Her father tone made Joohyun stop wondering inside her head, and slowly, she looked into her father's eyes.

Gone the light and playful father she just talks a moment ago. Now sitting in front of her is the head of their family, a father who always corrects their child's wrongdoing.

‘Never play with food again.’

….

August 2007

Its summer school break, the best month for students since they have a whole month of holidays.

Most students play around or go to a tuition during the summer, but for Joohyun, she spent most of her time at the sunflower orphanage as a volunteer.

She volunteers to be a tutor there and help with other things too; she herself is still a kid, but the orphanage administrators trust Joohyun.

They watch Joohyun grow up in a very notable family in town. Most people who live in the neighbourhood know the Bae family.

After all, Bae Junho was a former mayor of Daegu.

Joohyun is assisting staff in the kitchen as they prepare meals for everyone. She is in charge of chopping the veggies.

For fifteen-year-old Bae Joohyun, who constantly assists her mother in the kitchen, this work is a piece of cake.

‘Joohyun shi, someone is looking for you’

Placing down the knife, Joohyun turned to ask who it was, but the staff shrugged with a response that she had never seen that person.

‘Said she's your friend.’

Did Seungwan agree to be a tutor too?

Just the thought of having her friend come to her and volunteer, like her making Joohyun make a little hop while heading to the front door.

Her little hop like a bunny stops.

It's not Seungwan; standing by the door is a very familiar person to Joohyun.

The grey shade of the oversized round-neck t-shirt, the black jeans, and the hairstyled in a messy bun.

Holding two paperbags, fingers fiddling with the paperbags.

Joohyun smile that faded when she realised it is not Seungwan now back on her face, wider than before.

Given how widely she is grinning, all of her teeth are visible now.

She run towards the girl, ‘yah Kang Seulgi!’

Seulgi turned to look at Joohyun ‘oh joo –

She didn’t manage to finish her words when Joohyun ran towards her, and in a split of second the girl collides with her, giving Seulgi a bone crushing hug.

It makes Seulgi panic; she doesn’t know where to put her hand when Joohyun clings to her.

She can feel Joohyun's arms strengthen around her body, pulling her closer, and their bodies almost melt into one another.

Seulgi feels like time has stopped ticking at that time; she can feel her heart beating out loud, and for a moment, she thought she could feel Joohyun's heartbeat against her chest too.

‘Seulgi you’re here!!’ Joohyun started to twirl their bodies together, feeling joy coursing through her entire body.

She never thought Seulgi going to pay her a visit since Seulgi already told her about the three-part time job.

Witnessing Joohyun's welcoming aura upon her being here and how Joohyun laughs with happiness makes Seulgi slowly circle her arms around Joohyun.

Twirling together, time really stands still now. Just the two of them lost themselves in the embrace that spoke more than words could possibly say—a wordless vow of friendship.

‘I can’t believe you here’ Joohyun's voice cracks because of how excited she is right now.

The twirling stopped, and now they were both breathless, standing there with eyes on one another, their smiles glued to their lips.

‘I – I thought it’s good to stop by,’ now Seulgi lowers her gaze, her heart needs to stop beating this fast because her brain can’t catch up, and that makes her stutter and lose for word.

Joohyun, who already knows Seulgi is a shy person, reached out to hold Seulgi's hand that free from paperbags.

‘Let's go; we're cooking lunch now’ She pulled Seulgi along with her. ‘Let’s have lunch together’

Seulgi became panicked even more, eye wide. ‘Wait Joohyun, I – I think that's a bit inappropriate.’

‘It's fine; Mrs. Lee and other staff won’t mind’ Joohyun reassured the monolid girl, she knew Seulgi is so nervous because the girl hand is clammy. ‘You can meet the kids after this’

Seulgi is welcomed like she is one of them here; all the staff treat her like family.

It reminds Seulgi of the way Joohyun treated her when they first met. Seulgi can tell this place plays a big role in Joohyun's life.

The sight of Kang Seulgi wearing a pink apron with a flower pattern on it makes Joohyun giggle.

‘Come here’ she pulls the monolid girl and stops in front of the table, where there are a lot of veggies on top of it.

‘You know how to cut this?’ Joohyun points at the potatoes. She already peels it with Ms. Yewon.

‘Uhm… I’ Seulgi is aware that she does a part-time job at a little restaurant and stall, but because she is underage and there is a law against it, she is not permitted in the kitchen, which is an unsafe environment for minors.

Still, she knew how to use a knife since she in charge of cooking at home when her father could not get up.

Seeing how the monolid girl was hesitant, Joohyun decided to teach Seulgi.

‘here’ she gives Seulgi a knife, and the girl takes it. ‘I’ll show you how to cut it’

Grabbing a potato with one hand and grabbing Seulgi's hand that is holding a knife with her other hand.

‘You just need to cut it into a dice shape’ and she helped Seulgi cut the potato. 'We're making braised potatoes today, bean sprout soup, and stir-fried beef.’

Seulgi's brain almost malfunctions with the amount of data being inserted right now. Does she need to memorise today's menu too?

Since she is the one holding the knife, but its Joohyun controlling her hand, which makes Seulgi sweat because she is afraid of Joohyun getting hurt due to her clumsiness.

At the same time, she needs to note down how Joohyun is holding the potato in place, where to slice the potato first, and –

‘It’s simple, right?’ Joohyun asked after they were done cutting one potato. There are like a hundred more to go.

‘Uh – yes, I think I can do this.' She said that while stuttering.

Come on Seulgi, it’s just cutting potatoes. The monolid girl encourages herself. Fire blazing in her eyes.

Joohyun is dancing in place while cutting the potato today; she is just all over the cloud nine with Seulgi by her side right now.

Seulgi also gave herself a pat on the back for coming today, saying she was thrilled to see Joohyun happy.

Joohyun has always been there for her, so as she is now returning the favour, Joohyun's huge smile makes her heart feel so at ease.

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