L.Joe woke up from his nap and found that his family’s van had reached the mountain area. From his seat, he can see Jun, his little brother of 7 years, sleeping in the seat in front of him. In the driver’s seat was his dad and next to him was his mom, holding the map, directing which way to go. He looked to his right and saw Nayeong. The window to her seat was wide open and her long black hair moved accordingly to the wind’s flow. Her eyes were straight, staring absent mindedly at the numerous trees that accompanied the paved road before they caught his eyes.

“You woke up.” She said to him, grinning.

“Yeah,” he said raising one corner of his mouth. “You should sleep. We still have a couple of hours before we reach the cabin.”

Nayeong frowned. “Aah…What the hell? I stayed awake and waited for you to wake up!”

L.Joe raised an eyebrow in curiosity, blushing slightly.

She moved closer to him, “Listen,” She paused, looking straight in his eyes seriously. L.Joe gulped.

“Why can’t ramen just mix all the seasoning into one packet? I mean, in the end, it’s gonna be all mixed together, right??” She asked with her eyebrows furrowed.

L.Joe coughed, then laughed a little. Gradually his laugh became louder and louder. This was how his childhood friend and neighbor is like. She was one of a kind. Never has he met someone who cared for such things. Even he thought these things were unimportant at first. She was like this from the very beginning. When they first met in 3^rd grade, the first thing she asked him was ‘if TVs can talk to us, what would they talk about?’

Nayeong slapped his right arm lightly, snapping him back to reality.

“What’s so funny??” She asked.

He cleared his throat then straightened up his expression.

“That’s not a good idea. Ramen will taste better if the seasonings are in separate packets; first the dry vegetables, then the other seasoning. It’ll taste different if you do it like that.”

Nayeong smiled then laughed. She sat back against her seat, her head was facing upwards baring her neck.

 “Waah.. We’ve got a ramen expert here!!!!” she said, pushing his forehead lightly with her index finger.

He laughed lightly. They continued to talk for hours, never running out of subjects to talk about. The car moved through the day. It was twilight by the time they reached the cabin and moved their stuff inside.

“Auntie, thanks again for letting me tag along.” Nayeong said to Mrs. Lee over dinner.

“I’m happy you came,” She replied, “You’d be all bored through the holiday. Your parents are both on business trips, right?”

Nayeong smiled awkwardly and continued to eat her meal.