She didn’t want to be here. But they were right, she needed time to unwind and she needed time off. Her students were driving her nuts, hell, even her family who she loved dearly was driving her crazy. She could practically feel her hair falling out and she was only at the tender age of 26. The stress was driving her up a wall and yes, she admitted that she needed a vacation. But she didn’t think that she’d be pulled out all the way to Hawaii of all places. Why America?

She wasn’t really grumpy, she wasn’t entirely upset, she just needed some time to accept the fact that after being dragged kicking and screaming, she really was going to spend a month in this foreign place in Hyoyeon’s family cabin.

“Oy, Sooyoung, mind putting the radio up?” her friend called out from behind the wheel. They were both in the front seat, so why couldn’t she turn the damn dial?

Instead of arguing, Sooyoung complied and continued to stare out of the window. They had rented a car for their month stay in Hawaii, a place where her troubles were supposed to be washed away.

“You could at least try to be happy about being in one of the most beautiful places on earth,” Hyoyeon then said, nudging her friend with her elbow. She took another quick glance at the girl who was slumped against the car door, staring into the passing by landscape.

“Hyo’s right, Syoung!” another girl called out from behind Sooyoung. She had her seatbelt unbuckled as she leaned forward and shook the skinny girl in the seat in front of her. “You haven’t said a word since we got off the plane!” When Sooyoung didn’t respond, Sunny sat back in her seat and crossed her arms with a pout.

“Maybe she’s feeling sick?” Yuri offered, trying to defend her quiet friend.

Once again there was no response and all could be heard was whatever top 40 song was playing on the radio those days. Hyoyeon, Yuri and Sunny exchanged glances with each other before shrugging in unison at their silent friend. Perhaps once they reached their destination, she’d be more vocal.

“Maybe she’s not completely happy with her friends dragging her all the way out to Hawaii for an entire month,” Sooyoung finally spoke up, aggravation painted thickly in her tone. She didn’t turn to them but continued to keep her gaze on the outside world.

“And maybe she’ll be thankful to her three best friends once the month is over and she doesn’t want to leave?” Hyoyeon retaliated with a confident smirk. Sooyoung remained unmoved.

It was dark by the time the four girls arrived at their destination. Hyoyeon parked the car and quickly went to unlock the door so the girls could quickly move their belongings inside. They were all tired at this point, but it didn’t stop them from bickering.

“I call top bunk!” Sunny exclaimed as she rushed indoors with her bags.

“Me too!” Hyoyeon cried out almost immediately after Sunny, following after her in swift pursuit.

Yuri groaned in defeat as she turned to Sooyoung who was quietly taking her bags out of the car.

“Looks like we’re left with the bottom bunk, huh?” she complained in an effort to get a reaction from Sooyoung.

“The children should take the top bunk,” Sooyoung replied with a small smile, “After all, we wouldn’t want our limbs hanging off the bed, right?”

Yuri cheered internally at her small victory, “Right!”

Sooyoung slammed the back door of the car shut and turned to Yuri once again, “Race you in!”

Fifteen minutes into their unpacking, music was blasting from Hyoyeon’s ipod dock as she and Yuri cooked dinner. Sooyoung and Sunny were singing along obnoxiously as they put their clothes away and the entire house was just shaking as the girls made the most of their first night in Hawaii.

Clothes, bags and boxes with the supplies needed for the month were scattered throughout the cabin as the girls danced around without a care. Sooyoung was starting to feel better about being in a foreign country and continued to mentally reassure herself that it was a good idea and that she was going to have fun for the month. It was decided, she was going to hang out with her three best friends and have the time of her life.

And soon she was going to have some delicious jajangmyun, kimchi and steamed pork made by her favourite cook and Yuri. The best way to end a long day of travel, or any day was with food. She shook her body to the beat of Hyoyeon’s playlist and continued to fold her clothes into her closet with increasing speed. The job was getting sloppier by the second, but she and Sunny were having a competition to see who would finish unpacking first.

But then there was a loud knock on the door. Instead of the usual pause afterwards, the knock just continued. Yuri who was closest to the door was forced to go answer it. She was afraid of who was on the other side as the knocking failed to stop. Whoever was on the other side had to have white knuckles by now.

“Yes?” Yuri said as she slowly opened the door. She flinched, forgetting that she was in America and had to speak in English. Unfortunately, she wasn’t that strong at the language.

On the other side her eyes met with the furious ones of their neighbour, Jessica Jung and her sister, Tiffany who looked a little worried. Luckily, the girl opposite from her recognized the language and spoke in Korean back.

“Could you turn down that stupid noise?” Jessica yelled, a strong puff of air exiting from her nose at once. Tiffany held Jessica’s arm and pulled the girl back for she was slowly getting closer to an uncomfortable Yuri.

“Ah, I’m sorry, were we too loud?” Yuri replied, her eyebrow frozen in the air as Jessica continued to stare her down.

“We can hear it from inside our house,” Tiffany replied calmly, a little agitation evident in the furrow of her brow. “We’d really appreciate it if you turned it down.”

“Who are you people anyway?” Jessica asked a little rudely, her anger from being woken up in the middle of the night controlling her words.

“We just moved in,” Yuri responded happily, “I’m sorry if we disturbed you, we forgot that we had neighbours.”

“You better be sorry,” Jessica growled, pointing a finger to Yuri’s face.

“Sica, let’s just go back now. She said she’ll put the music down,” Tiffany insisted with a yawn. Yuri finally noticed that the girls were in pajamas.

“Goodnight ladies,” Yuri called out as the two girls walked away. She was a little baffled by the sudden confrontation, but felt sorry for being so noisy that their neighbours had to come over to complain. She waved at the retreating figures and watched as Tiffany turned around to wave back while Jessica continued to storm off.

“They’re our new neighbours, Sica,” Tiffany whispered as the two made their way back home. “You shouldn’t have been so mean.”

“You wanted to yell at them too,” Jessica defended, opening the door to their house and locking it behind her. “Besides, they could have woke up Taeng.” She honestly didn’t want to go through all the trouble of walking to the neighbouring cabin and protest, but she was disrupted from her sleep.

“I didn’t want to make a bad first impression,” Tiffany confessed as the two tiptoed up the stairs to check on their eldest sister. Luckily, all the ruckus didn’t stir her from her sleep. The smallest and oldest of the girls was tangled in her sheets, smiling at whatever dream she was having.

Tiffany and Jessica exchanged glances before leaning over to kiss the sleeping girl on her forehead. Tomorrow would be another day.