Chapter One

-- -- -- -- --

When Seo Joohyun woke up that morning to check the mail, she expected to see a letter saying they received her payment. She never expected the letter to say what it said.

/ We are sorry to inform you but your account has insufficient funds /

She knew what it meant; her savings account was empty but the question floating in her mind was why. Why was her account empty? The other day, when she wrote the check, she double checked her savings to see how much she had.

And she had quite a lot.

With the letter before her, on the dining table, Seohyun was pondering the possibilities of what happened. Perhaps her bank account was hacked.

Getting up, she went for the phone, to give her a bank a call for any suspicious transactions.

Seohyun just found things odd – she was always careful with her debit card. She only used her card when she was in the actual bank – with an actual teller. The possibility of having her card number stolen from a bank, the only place she uses it, was peculiar.

Before she punched in the numbers to her local branch, her older sister and guardian, Kim Taeyeon waltzed in with an eerily beaming smile on her face.

“Guess what, Joohyun…” Taeyeon said, smile so wide the dimple by her chin was visible.

Slowly, Seohyun put down the cordless phone to pay attention to her sister.

“What is it, unnie?”

“I opened a bakery.”

Seohyun was not sure if she heard correctly. A bakery; is that what Taeyeon really said or was her hearing deteriorating already despite her young age?

“I beg your pardon.”

“I opened a bakery.” Exactly the same way she said it the first time, Taeyeon repeated.

Although she and Taeyeon weren’t true siblings – they’re cousins; Taeyeon’s parents adopted Seohyun when she was four years old – Seohyun knew well enough that her older sister was unpredictable and impulsive. The proof was already there. Who randomly opens a bakery without ever discussing it?

The answer: Kim Taeyeon.

Beside herself, Seohyun was not sure how to reply. Never in her wildest dreams did she ever picture going through a conversation when the main topic was starting up a food business.

“Congratulations?” It was more of question, since she was still unsure.

Casually, Taeyeon went on about her new career path, “It’s just a small bakery since I didn’t have enough money to buy a large place…”

Something was strange – something was ringing in Seohyun’s mind. Taeyeon didn’t have any money; all the money she did have was usually spent on food. Also, she lacked savings, most of it being used to pay for their parents’ funerals two years ago.

In all honesty, Seohyun was the richer one of the two…

Cautiously, Seohyun turned around, hands gripped onto the kitchen counter as she watched her older sister rummage through the fridge.

“Say, unnie, where did you get the money to buy a bakery?”

A small tiny part of her was expecting the answer that came out of Taeyeon’s mouth – just a small miniscule part.

“I used your savings.”

--- --- --- ---

“So, she just fainted… And I have no idea why.”

With the cordless phone between her ear and shoulder, Taeyeon was speaking to Kwon Yuri, who had knowledge on how to care for a person who just fainted.

It was beyond Taeyeon why Seohyun fainted out of the blue. First they were discussing her new bakery and then her younger sister was sprawled out on the floor like a corpse. Yes, Seohyun was still sprawled out on the floor but with good reason. Taeyeon was too small to actually carry her sister to a comfortable surface.

Her voice was calm; she was calm, despite her sibling lying unconsciously on the ground.

“Yah, Kim Taeyeon. Are you feeding your younger sister or not?”

Chuckling, Taeyeon kicked the lower cabinet shut while walking back to the body of Seohyun. In her hands was a wet towel.

“Yuri-ah, you already know that Seohyun is the healthier eater amoung us.”

In reality, Taeyeon seemed like the more likely candidate to faint; she slept late, woke up too early, ate junk food and worked most of the time but Seohyun lived a better, healthier and ideal life style. She tried to get Taeyeon involved but the older girl was stubborn.

“Aigoo, Taeyeon-ah.” Yuri sighed heavily from the other line. “Just check whether her breathing and pulse are stable. If they are, and since you can’t move her, just raise her head with a pillow and place the wet towel on her forehead.”

Doing as she was told, Taeyeon monitored the breathing signs of her sister. It wasn’t erratic nor was it slow. Her pulse was also normal – it wasn’t rapid or anything. Even Seohyun’s temperature was fine. It mind-boggled Taeyeon on why her healthy sister just passed out.

When done, Taeyeon placed the wet towel over her forehead and went to fetch a throw pillow from the living room.

“Ah, what would I do without you, Yuri-ah.”

Yuri scoffed from the other end, “Nothing, you would do nothing, Taeyeon. My class will finish in two hours; I’ll be in later to check up on Joohyun. I’ll bring Yoona as well.”

“Oh, hey, Yul, before you hang up. I have something to tell you.”

Yuri heard the excitement in Taeyeon’s voice and she knew something was up. She couldn’t decide whether or not to be nervous. Whenever Taeyeon had something to tell her, it was never a good thing.

“What is it?” she asked carefully.

“I opened a bakery.”

--- --- --- ---

“Pabo-yah!”

Yuri was pacing back and forth as she cursed at her same-aged friend, who sat with a pout on the loveseat.

“Yah, you dummy, how can you use the money for Joohyun’s schooling on a – a – a what!?”

True to her word, Yuri arrived with Yoona a little after two hours of the phone call. By then, Seohyun was conscious but she wished she was still lying on the cool tile floor of the kitchen. As soon as she came to, she was met with a migraine.

Taeyeon repeating her plans for her bakery wasn’t helping the pain go away either.

In fact, it was making things worse.

“A bakery,” Taeyeon delicately answered, her head hung low and her eyes avoiding the piercing glare of her best-friend.

Yoona, who was patting Seohyun’s, ears perked up when she heard. Yuri left out all the details on why they were taking a sudden trip to the Kim house but Yoona chose not to ask any questions. She figured all her questions will be answered as soon as they got there.

“That sounds like fun,” she foolishly said, much to the dismay of her cousin and best-friend.

Yuri shot her younger cousin a deadly stare.

“Yah, no it’s not.” She then returned her powerful gaze back to the smallest girl. “Answer me, Taeyeon – why did you use Joohyun’s money?”

 “’Because I’m broke.”

--- --- --- ---

To keep Yuri from scolding her, Taeyeon explained to the three younger girls her plan on owning a future hot spot in Seoul.

She launched her bakery with the ideals of selling good food by gorgeous waiters and waitresses for a satisfactory price with idols performing every Thursday nights – yup, every Thursday nights, not Friday but Thursday.

Taeyeon wanted to be original like that.

The only thing wrong with her plan was her plan.

“You’re really more insane than I thought,” Yuri sneered, her arms crossed tightly against her chest. “You’re missing the fundamentals in your plan.”

Yoona, who didn’t see much wrong with the idea, intervened, “I think it’s a good idea.”

“You’re just as mental,” the older cousin scowled.

“Seriously, what is wrong with my plan?” Taeyeon demanded for an answer, seeing no flaws in her supposedly awesome idea.

“The fact that you used my money without permission to start everything up,” Seohyun spoke up, feeling her migraine pulse through her forehead. “Unnie, you basically stole from me.”

“Borrowed – stole, they both mean the same thing.”

Yuri sent her best-friend an incredulous look.

“Yah, no they don’t.” She got up, prepared to inform Taeyeon everything wrong about her plan. “First of all, you can’t afford to hire employees, let alone have idols to perform. You do know idols come with a talent fee, right? And employees have paychecks?” The latter remained hushed. “How can you run a bakery without employees? Instead of thinking about the future of your bakery, think of the present. First of all, you need a baker.”

Looking up unfazed, Taeyeon stared suggestively at the taller girl.

“No way – there is no way. I can’t work for you,” Yuri rejected the unsaid suggestion completely. “First of all, I’m busy with school. Secondly, you can’t pay me. Thirdly, I have another job and it’s paying. And finally, you’d be a horrible boss.”

Dejected and insulted, Taeyeon jumped up onto her feet, hands stuck on her side.

“I’d make an awesome CEO, Kwon Yuri.”

Seohyun looked at the older girls, who seemed ready for a fist fight, before she decided to correct her older sister.

“Unnie, it’s just a bakery. There’s no need for a CEO – it’s not a large company.”

Reaching over, chuckling, Taeyeon stiffly patted the head of the girl with a migraine. Let’s just say that didn’t help ease the pain at all for Seohyun.

“Oh Seohyun, how naïve.”

Rolling her eyes at the ridiculousness, Seohyun slumped back into the cushions of the couch as she clutched the wet towel over her forehead with her right hand.

“Unnie, Yuri-unnie is right, how can you hire people to work when we don’t have money?” Seohyun whined, using the towel to cover her entire red face. The word ‘money’ just did a number on her raging migraine.

Simply, Taeyeon blinked.

“I can bake.”

Yuri’s eyes rolled.

“Yeah because a girl with a tendency to give her friends food poisoning is a great choice…”

--- --- --- ---

“Yah, Kim Taeyeon. Why’d you tell me to meet you here?”

Kim Hyoyeon entered the shabby looking building which actually looked better from the outside than the inside. The insane was dim and dirty. Dust, garbage and broken glass covered the filthy tile floor.

The two Kims were never close during their three years of being schoolmates. They were friends, in the sense they were both the same age, but didn’t hang around the same social circle. However, during their three years in high school, they were always in the same class.

The lights, which Hyoyeon thought the crappy place didn’t have, lit up to unveil Taeyeon sitting on a chair, in the middle of the room, with Seohyun and Yoona on either side of her. Behind them, leaning on some sort of dingy counter, was Yuri.

Wide eyed, Hyoyeon stared at them while taking small glimpses around the building.

Yup, it was definitely a crappy structure.

“So, why’d you call me here?”

Playing into the Godfather and CEO role well, Taeyeon got up from her stool and waltzed over to Hyoyeon with her hands clasped together. As she closed in, Hyoyeon saw the smug smile on the smaller girl’s face.

“Ah, Hyoyeon-ah, my chingu…”

Hyoyeon froze when Taeyeon placed two hands on her shoulders, somewhat holding Hyoyeon in place.

Awkwardly, Hyoyeon nodded at the girl.

“What’s up, Taeyeon?”

Moving her hand around, Taeyeon brought Hyoyeon closer, snaking her arm around the other’s shoulders.

“How do you like my bakery?”

Confused, Hyoyeon looked back at Yoona and Seohyun, using her eyes to ask what was happening. The two younger girls shrugged, not sure themselves why Taeyeon was acting that way. Yuri was just shaking her head in the background, not sure why she accompanied them in the first place.

“It’s… Uh… It’s… Well, it has four walls, a ceiling and the floor,” Hyoyeon managed to forcefully say. There were no compliments that could possibly be said towards the building.

It was ugly.

Taeyeon turned Hyoyeon to face the store front, their backs turned towards the three taller girls.

“Say, Hyoyeon, remember the times in math class during high school?”

Not sure where Taeyeon was going, Hyoyeon innocently nodded.

“Sure, I guess.”

Peeking behind them at Yoona and Seohyun, Taeyeon smirked while turning her attention back to the girl beside her.

“Well, do you want everyone else to find out?”

Flabbergasted, Hyoyeon broke away from Taeyeon and collided with the wall with a loud thud.

Her eyes were bloodshot as she stared.

“You wouldn’t dare!”

“Oh yes I would!”

Clutching her chest over her heart, Hyoyeon’s breathing became erratic.

“Yah, why are you doing this to me, Kim Taeyeon?”

Chuckling with a menacing demeanor, Taeyeon yet again approached the fellow blonde Korean.

“Well, you see, Hyoyeon-ah, I’m starting up this bakery with my own money-“

“My money, unnie,” Seohyun diligently corrected, “My. Money.”

Taeyeon brushed her off, continuing with the same menacing aura that was starting to take over the entire atmosphere of the entire setting.

“And well, I need more employees. More so, an employee that will work for free…”

Everything soon made sense to Hyoyeon. She knew it all. She knew why Taeyeon randomly texted her to meet in a scary store, why she brought up the horrid events of math class and why she was being cornered by a sinister presence.

“You’re blackmailing me to work for you!?”

Taeyeon shrugged while pursing her lips.

“Well, to me, it’s more of a deal. You work for me I’ll keep your secret a secret.”

Not standing the sight before her innocent eyes, Seohyun marched up towards them, pulling Taeyeon away by her arm.

“Unnie, you can’t just blackmail people! Where are your morals?”

Yuri scoffed from her spot.

“Yah, Joohyun, your unnie was born without them!”

“Oh, just like you, unnie.” Yoona blurted out and then shutting up instantly as Yuri sent her laser glares.

Attention went back to Hyoyeon.

“Yah, are you going to work for me or not?”

Seohyun sighed, “Unnie, you don’t have to.”

“Of course she does,” Taeyeon countered, “Unless she went everyone to know about her-“

Projecting herself well, Hyoyeon’s hand covered Taeyeon’s mouth before any more information about math could be revealed.

“So, when do you want me to start?”

--- --- --- ---

“Kim Taeyeon, you are the epitome of an awful person.”

There was one table in one of the backrooms in the store that was being occupied with Yuri, Yoona, Seohyun, Hyoyeon and Taeyeon. They sat around it, all taking turns to verbally assault the latter.

So far, it was Hyoyeon’s turn and she wasn’t done yet.

“I can’t believe you used your own sister’s money and then blackmail me to work for you. All along, I thought you were innocent – normal.”

Yuri shook her head at the later claims.

“She’s the opposite of innocent and normal. She has severe brain damage or something.”

Seohyun whined, thinking about her education once again.

“What am I going to do about school now?”

Yoona nudged the younger girl.

“Just take a deferred year.”

Lying her head down on the table, Seohyun continued to sulk.

“Will we have money by then?”

“Only if Hyoyeon bakes us amazing things,” Taeyeon replied, not at all hurt by the mean comments arrowed her way.

Hyoyeon glared.

“The fate of this bakery and our wealth rides solely on my baking ability?”

“Of course not,” was Yuri’s quick answer.

“Of course,” was Taeyeon’s.

Grumbling, Hyoyeon began to draw with her fingers on the white plastic table.

“I really regret meeting you, being in the same class and ever talking to you.”

Lightly and nicely, Taeyeon patted the girl on the back.

“It’ll fade.”

“Maybe,” Yuri interjected cleverly.

“So, Taeyeon-unnie, this is your staff, five people?”

“Woah,” Yuri slid away from the table, “Woah. Since when was I an employee?” she asked before looking at Yoona in disbelief. “And since when were you?”

Simply, Yoona shrugged.

“I don’t know; I just like the idea of a bakery. It’s seems like fun.”

Yuri and Hyoyeon shared a look before Seohyun chimed in negatively.

“We’re stuck with insane people.”

With her face in her hand, Hyoyeon took out her cell phone with the other and scrolled down to the letter J of her contact list.

“I bet Jessica found a better job than this.”

Taeyeon’s ears perked up at the familiar name.

“Jessica Jung?”

“Nae.”

“She’s looking for a job too?”

“Nae.”

From what Yoona last heard, both Hyoyeon and Jessica were working as sales associate for a well known department store. Thus, she found it strange that Hyoyeon accepted Taeyeon’s offer so quickly and that Jessica was job hunting.

“Unnie, don’t’ you have a job?”

Hyoyeon shook her head, not making any eye contact.

“Ani, Jessica and I got fired for sleeping and dancing on the job.”

The room fell silent as four pairs of eyes fell on her. Taeyeon was just looking with a smirk, Seohyun was shocked, Yuri was frowning while Yoona was nodding carefully, not fazed that they just ‘hired’ somebody who was recently fired for not working well.

Once Hyoyeon looked up, her eyes immediately locked with Taeyeon’s, who wiggled her brows in return. She read her mind immediately.

“Oh, there is no way humanly possible that Jessica will work without pay. She’s Jessica Jung, a self proclaimed princess. There is no WAY.”

--- --- --- ---

“I can sleep on the job?”

After much persistence, Hyoyeon messaged Jessica about a job opportunity that she needed to check out. The latter took a while to message back because she was sleeping but her message said she was interested. In return, Hyoyeon told her the meeting place – Taeyeon’s bakery – and Jessica was there in a short twenty minutes.

Taeyeon nodded confidently and surely.

“Yup.”

Without any argument, Jessica agreed.

“I’m in.”

Taeyeon laughed with success while Yoona clapped her hands and did her infamous alligator smile in celebration. The others, Seohyun, Yuri and Hyoyeon, groaned at the foolishness.

“Don’t you want to get paid?” Hyoyeon asked, wanting to shake the senses into Jessica’s head.

Jessica just shrugged.

“Well, I still get allowance from my parents; I’m only working for experience and we’ll get paid eventually.”

Giving up, Hyoyeon sunk to the floor.

“Aigoo, lazy people.”

--- --- --- ---

“So, you’re Jessica’s childhood friend who just moved back from the States?”

Hwang Tiffany, a LA native and childhood friend of Jessica Jung, sat with them by the white table with a beaming friendly grin on her face. Her eyes were like crescents as she happily gazed at her, hopefully, new friends.

“Nae,” she replied in a sing-song tone.

Yuri continued with the questions.

“And you don’t mind working without pay!?”

“Rich people,” Hyoyeon mumbled under her breath.

Tiffany merely titled her head back and forth.

“Well, I’m still living with my parents and I still get money from them, so, I don’t really need any pay. I’m just in this whole bakery thing to make new friends.”

Frustrated, Hyoyeon banged her fists on the table.

“Unnie,” Seohyun cried out, stopping the said table from shaking.

“These people don’t know what they are getting themselves into!” She yelled out, pointing her finger towards Yoona, Jessica and Tiffany.

Yuri nodded.

“I think they are all insane.” And then she came to a conclusion. “That is way they all fit in well with Taeyeon.”

Taeyeon, who was quiet until now, spoke up.

“They are my minions.”

--- --- --- ---

“Can I be paid with food?”

Innocently, Sooyoung called Yuri about help for one of their college assignments. Yuri excused herself to take the call but that didn’t stop Sooyoung from hearing the conversation on the other line about food. Anything with food, she was in.

Once hearing a bakery was hiring, she asked Yuri for her location and arrived within ten minutes.

“If you want,” Taeyeon replied calmly.

“Yah, how can she gets paid with food and I get paid with blackmail!?” Hyoyeon shot up, still riled up.

“You can eat too, you’re the one baking.”

“Oh, okay,” feeling better, Hyoyeon surrendered and sat down comfortably on the chair.

Seohyun sighed heavily.

“Unnie, why did you give in so quickly?” she asked Hyoyeon, who seemed much calmer than a few moments ago.

“At least now I’m paid with something. I’m totally okay with that instead of just being blackmailed.”

Seohyun shook Hyoyeon’s shoulders.

“Unnie, if you just told us what Taeyeon-unnie is holding above your head, you won’t be blackmailed anymore.”

Turning her head away, with her hands clasped over her ears, Hyoyeon ignored the youngest girl.

“Lalalalalalala, I can’t hear you. Lalalalala.”

There was no way in hell Hyoyeon would ever reveal the secret only she and Taeyeon knew. It was too awful. It made her cry and die inside just by thinking about it.

“Are you that desperate for a job?” Yuri shouted, turning the focus back onto the tallest girl.

Thinking about it first, Sooyoung nodded positively.

“As long as I get to eat, I’m good.”

Yuri felt like flipping the table but she didn’t.

“Aish, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. Let’s get this bakery on a roll!”

Suddenly alone, Seohyun cried out.

“Yuri-unnie, you can’t just give up and leave me alone! Why am I the only rational one left!?”

Taeyeon patted her younger sister on the back.

“Seohyun, you have to support your unnie. It’s hard being the owner, founder and CEO of a bakery. You should be supporting me, not going against me.”

Seohyun bit her tongue from yelling with sheer frustration.

“First of all unnie, this bakery is also mine. You used MY money. Secondly, you used MY money for my first year of University without telling me. And thirdly, we are just a bakery, there is NO CEO.”

--- --- --- ---

“Oh my gosh, we can totally transform this dump into a cute place!”

Once Sooyoung was hired, she mentioned that she knew somebody who was also looking for a job. It was none other than Sunny, a close friend.

Oddly, just like the rest, she didn’t mind not being paid.

“With my decorating skills, this place will be the cutest, prettiest and daintiest bakery in Seoul.”

Alone once again, Seohyun sighed longingly.

“Why don’t you want to be paid?”

“Well, for me, working at a bakery isn’t a job, it’s just pure fun,” Sunny explained sweetly and innocently, “Also, I need a hobby because my parents are trying for younger sibling number eight or was it ten? I don’t remember but they are at home-“

“OKAY!” Tiffany shouted, interrupting the smallest girl. “That is something we definitely don’t want to hear, right?”

Jessica nodded while Sooyoung was covering her ears just in case anything ual was said.

“Wait, how will we actually redecorate this place?” Jessica wondered, looking around at the place that resembled a haunted house more than a café.

“It looks like crap,” Sooyoung added.

“It looks worse than that,” Yuri pointed out.

“I know,” Yoona piped up, “We can pool our money together.”

“I have no money left,” Seohyun grimly projected causing the rest to shiver.

Lovingly, Taeyeon patted her sister once again.

“I know it is hard being broke. Trust me, I understand.”

“Unnie, I’m broke because of you!”

“Now, now, Seohyun, don’t point fingers.” Ignoring the evil stare she was getting from her younger sister, Taeyeon looked away and towards Yoona. “Yoong is right, we can pool whatever money we have and hire somebody to beautify this bakery.”

For the girls, it wasn’t a bother that they had to spend money for a job they weren’t going to be paid, well, paid yet. Most of them liked the idea of starting up an establishment; it was endearing and it gave them a bigger sense of maturity and responsibility.

Sooyoung backed away from the table.

“Guys, I only have like 100 000won, I used my last paycheck to buy food – again.”

Yuri dug around her wallet and pulled out a pile of cash.

“I cashed out my bank account earlier,” she said while counting the paper bills. “250 000won but I can add more since I am working part-time as well. I get paid this Friday…”

Tiffany did the same and pulled out an almost similar amount.

“310 000won.”

“And I have 425 000won,” Jessica said as she looked at her bank account online from her touch screen cell phone.”

Hyoyeon checked her pocket and placed down the money that was occupying it.

“230 000won.”

“I’m getting my allowance tomorrow,” Sunny mentioned as she pulled out her debit card. “With the money in here and money I’ll get tomorrow, I should have around 290 000won.”

Seohyun had nothing to give since her money did buy them the entire bakery. However, if she did have anything to offer, she would have.

Throwing a large pile of cash on the table, Taeyeon smirked much to their dismay.

“560 000won – my entire paycheck from my other job,” she informed them that she was still working at another part-time while starting up her business.

Lastly, it was Yoona.

“Well, I have my Dad’s platinum card.”

--- --- --- ---

Author's Note: Thanks for subscribing. It means a lot. Don't usually this but since some girls pairings are already set in stone [Cough, Taeyeon, Tiffany and Seohyun] are there any couples you want the rest of the girls to be paired with? 

Just comment below if you want to. 

Thanks again.