“Omona~ Kim Yumi? Really? Like, he wrote Saeri and Hyejin but Kim Yumi??”

Hyejin gawked in disbelief. I took a peek at the letter she was holding on and yup, ‘For Kim Yumi, Saeri, and Hyejin’ was written there on the envelope. Plain and bold.

“Looks like you’ve got a love letter, Yumi-ah~” I turned to Yumi and poked her cheek. Teasing her had always been a lot of fun.

“Right. And he’s like, what, falling in love with three girls at a time?? Get real, you guys!” Yumi pouted and snatched the letter away from Hyejin’s hand.

“See? It’s a birth-day in-vi-ta-tion!” She announced immediately after opening the letter and scanning it real fast.

“A birthday invitation? In the form of a letter? That boy is a total weirdo.” Hyejin pointed at where he was going after testing our—well, more like Hyejin’s—patience for a while.

“No, he’s not, Hyejin-ah. He’s my friend and his name is Yoogeun. Shin Yoogeun,” Yumi intoned.

“Oh really?” Hyejin mocked at her sudden serious attitude.

“His birthday invitation?” I cut them before they went for another bickering.

“No. It’s—” Yumi took another look at the letter “—Yookyung’s birthday.”

“Yookyung?” I repeated. That name did not ring at all to me.

“She’s Yoogeun-ssi’s sister. One of the new students for this year,” Yumi explained.

“A ha! A messenger weirdo. Perfect,” Hyejin stated smugly.

Yumi hissed at her while she poked her tongue in return.

“Aa~ So you already know his sister, eh?” I started to again. “I can’t believe you’ve grown that fast, Yumi-ah.”

“We were in the same class last year and he told pretty much about himself to me, including his sister. What’s wrong with that?” She tried to defend herself, much to our delight.

“Omo~ That far already?” Hyejin smirked and wiggled her eyebrows while I giggled at Yumi’s red face.

“S—stop it!” She stammered a bit, trying to stop us from making fun of her. A vain effort, obviously.

Ever since she was  befriended by Hyejin and I, she had always been the one who suffered from our endless torture. While Hyejin and I were friends since the last day of the initiation, Yumi came just when we started our second year. She was really shy and quiet the first time we met her—not that she had changed much now. She was still the innocent Yumi pie. Our Yumi pie.

Ah… Was it not great to be in the same class with your closest friends until graduation?

“So,” Yumi tried her luck to change the topic after our laugh started to die down, “are you guys coming or not? The party starts at eight tonight.”

“Huh? Didn’t you say she’s new? She’s barely twelve then! Which twelve year old has a birthday party at night?” Hyejin knitted her eyebrows together.

You, apparently.

I snorted at the memories of her twelfth birthday some night two years ago.

“Where will it be?” I asked Yumi.

“Uh…” She read the letter once more. “At DeGree.”

“DeGree? Never heard that before. What and where is that, exactly?” Hyejin frowned.

Yumi shrugged. “No idea. He didn’t include the address here.”

“Bad host. BAD HOST!” Hyejin shook her head in disappointment.

‘What was it again? DeGree? Where did I hea—’

“Oh!” I exclaimed. “I know it! I’m going. Are you?”

Hyejin nodded her head for several times. As much as she despised the birthday party from the very beginning, she could not betray her enthusiasm for going to a new place. Especially places where a lot of people could be found. Ladies and gentlemen, I present you the party-going drama queen, Song Hyejin.

“I don’t think I’m going,” Yumi said after putting the letter down on the table. She was still cute even when she pouted like that.

“Whyyyy?” Hyejin whined.

“My mom, remember? She definitely won’t allow me to go out at that late at night.”

I pondered for a minute before snapping my fingers. “Why don’t you just sleepover at Hyejin-ah’s house? That way, you don’t have to ask for your mom’s permission to go to that party.”

“That’s right! You’re greatly welcomed in my house! My parents are going out of town for three days since today. Saeri-ah, you too!” Hyejin almost jumped up and down from her seat in happiness.

“Me? Err….”

Should I or should I not go? Her offer was definitely more appealing than having to see that thing at home for the rest of the day.

“I’d love to but I can’t promise you. I have to ask my parents first,” I continued. “But if I’m allowed, you’re definitely going too, Yumi-ah.”

“Well, that is if you can win over my mom’s heart~” Yumi sang.

“We will, Yumi-ah, we will,” I assured her. “It’s settled then. We’ll be going home together—my house being the first stop since it’s just fifteen minutes from here.”

“Fine. We can go with my ca—”

“We’re walking there,” I cut Hyejin out.

“Excuse meeeeeh???”

As I stated earlier, a bit of dramatization would not do any harm. Especially when it came from the drama queen herself. It was her job, right?

“Don’t tell me that your parents aren’t home.”

“Apparent—”

“We just walked—I repeat, WALKED here from school! I do not accept any excuse!” She plopped down on the couch. Her face showed enough irritation now.

“Don’t blame her, Hyejin-ah. It isn’t even her fault her parents aren’t home.” Yumi tried to soothe her.

Aww… I would definitely date her if I were a boy.

“Then how are we supposed to ask for her parents’ permission?” Hyejin whined.

“You know, there is this thing named telephone. We can just use that to call my parents,” I answered with the most obvious answer in the whole universe. “We’re not living in the stone age anymore, Hyejin-ah.”

“We’re not.” She sneered in agreement. “You are.”

Fine. So what if I did not have a cellphone? Even if I was the last person in this world not having a cellphone, that still did not make me an abominable girl.

And no, I was soooo not being jealous.

“Just wait here,” I said to them and then went into the livingroom, where the phone was placed.

I picked it and was about to dial the numbers but stopped abruptly when I heard no sound coming out from it. I put it down and picked it up again. Still no sound. Weird. Was it the cord—

“Don’t bother yourself. It’s broken.”

I startled and quickly turned back to find him leaning on his bedroom doorframe.

“Uh… Why?” I asked curiously, narrowing my eyes at him.

“The lightning struck it last night.”

“How come I didn’t know it?” I asked, more to myself.

“Are you kidding me? Even if there was a fire last night, you would just probably die in your deep sleep.”

With that said, he went back into his bedroom, leaving me standing there, sulking alone. I stalked back to where Hyejin and Yumi were.

“Give me your phone,” I demanded to Hyejin, still annoyed.

“Didn’t you notice I didn’t bring it today?” she answered me with rhetorical question, a bit puzzled by my sudden action.

“And yours, Yumi-ah?”

“The battery just died a couple of minutes ago. Why? What’s wrong with your telephone?” She asked in concern.

“It’s brokeeeen,” I whined in despair.

“Isn’t Key oppa home? Why don’t you just borrow his?” Yumi suggested.

“Aish… I don’t even wanna talk or see him right now! He just insulted me back there!”

“Come on, Saeri-ah! Just forget about it for now and do us a favor. A bit of sacrifice won’t do any harm.” Hyejin tried to persuade me.

“Fine,” I said after pondering for a minute.

I walked back and stopped just a few inches before his bedroom door.

Knock.

…………....

Knock, knock.

………………....................

Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock, knock, knock, knock, knock, knock, kno—

“YAH!!”

I jumped back at his sudden appearance but I had to admit that making him annoyed was a pure bliss to me. Ah~ I would love to take a picture of that irritated face.

“Can I use your—”

“No!”

“Yah!” I shouted back at him. “I just wanna call Dad!”

“What for?”

“None of your business.”

He hissed at my attitude but opened his bedroom door wider nonetheless.

“There!” He pointed at his phone on the table.

“Can’t you just give it to me?” I asked. Walking into his room was the last thing I wanted to do.

“You’re the one who needs it, not the other way around. I’m not your slave so help yourself, kiddo!” he spat.

I pursed my lips and thought for a moment while he waited and tapped his right foot on the floor impatiently. I then proceeded to walk into his room, grabbed the phone, called dad, and hoped to get out of his territory as soon as possible. It was suffocating here.

“Thank you, Dad! I love you sooooo much!” was the last thing I said before I ended the call and put his phone back on the table.

“You’re having a sleepover, I assume,” he said out of the blue, making me jump for the nth time today. “Again.”

“So what?” I scoffed.

“I just hope that you don’t forget the last time you had sleepover. You did nothing but a major chaos,” he said coldly. As cold as his stare at me now.

“Well, I beg your pardon but as far as I remember, I did not ask for your help. I was asking for Dad’s help. Now thanks a lot for your attention but you can save it to yourself. Excuse me!”

I spat every word as clearly as possible with sheer hatred before stalking out of his room, purposely bumping his side on my way out, making him stumble a bit, and going straight into my room. Oh, and slamming the door was a must.

Again.

I could never get him!

Why did he always ruin my day?

♀♂♀♂

I've been neglecting my holiday assignments so I'll be away for like a week to catch on everything. Until then, comments are love!

Oh, and to my subscribers, SARANGAEYO....!!!

Ray Gasan