One Summer’s Day

Waking up the next morning, Yui gets up lazily from her bed, and went in the bathroom first for the usual morning rituals. After that, she heads downstairs, and saw her granny sipping some tea in the dining room. The breakfast was already placed on the dining table neatly as expected. The leftover strawberry shortcake from last night was also on the table.

“Ohayou, grandma.” She greets, half-smiling and sitting down across her grandmother.

“Ohayou gozaimasu. I forgot to tell you that I’ll be fetched by my nurse in a few minutes for my scheduled check up for this month.” The old woman said to her grandchild.

Beginning to eat breakfast, she replies with a nod, “Oh yeah, dad mentioned about your check ups often.”

“He did?”

“Yup, he used to say that he misses having your barley tea every weekend afternoon since you needed to stay in the hospital every weekend.”

She just nodded and smiled after hearing Yui’s statement. She thought about her strong granddaughter that despite having experienced a dysfunctional family and her father’s recent death, Yui remained as she was before. But because of that, she doesn’t really know how to rely on others, based from seeing that her mother cheated on her dad and even had a child before she was even born.

“Dear, do you need something to take your mind off of things?”

Yui quickly answers, not looking at her granny as she continues to munch, “What do you have in mind?”

“I was thinking that you should get a part time job while it’s summer and since you know how to bake, I know the perfect place.” The old woman suggests with an eager smile.

“I haven’t baked anything in ages, granny, but having a summer job isn’t a bad idea.” She says, now looking at her. “It’s better than using that woman’s money… She should just leave me alone and stop sending me money and other stuff. I can handle things myself.” She thought.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure Onew-kun can help.”

“Onew-kun?”

“Hai, he’s SHINee Café’s owner. He was the one who – “

Before her grandmother could finish answering, the doorbell rang. Yui sighed to herself, running to the door. Opening it, a young woman in white stood before her. She was quite tall too.

“Ohayou, I’m here to take Yoshioka-san to the hospital for her weekend checkup.” The woman politely said with a smile.

“I’m here, Seohyun-san.” Yui’s grandma answered, walking to the door where Yui and the nurse called Seohyun stood.

Seohyun greeted again and then extended her hand toward Yui, “Good morning, ma’am and this must be Yui-chan. It’s a pleasure to meet you, I’m Seo Joohyun but please call me Seohyun. I heard that you lived in Korea before.”

“Nice to meet you. I have and it’s been a while since I spoke to another Korean.” Yui answers with a light smile and then shook the nurse’s hand, adding, “I guess I can speak Korean to make sure that it won’t wear off of me.”

“I’m sure you’ll meet a ton of Koreans here. There are now quite a lot of us staying here because of work and other things,” Seohyun said as she holds the old woman’s hand to help her exit from the doorway, “Well, I’ll be taking your granny for two days and I’ll talk to you soon.” She added, grinning at Yui.

Yui nods, waving her hand for a few moments and then crossing her arms in front of her, “All right. Take care, guys.”

“Yui-chan, you go and visit their house across ours later or you can see the café now. It’s by the seaside, near the big rock you used to play on during summer vacation when you were five.” She reminded her loudly as she is being escorted by the nurse inside the car.

“All right… I’ll see what I can do.”

“See you soon, dear~”

“Later, granny!”

Yui watched the car drive off and went back inside the house after the car turned right. She went to the dining room and got the plates to the kitchen sink where she washes them. While she did, she was thinking about how she would interact with these unknown people. So far, Seohyun, the nurse seemed to be nice enough. Her grandmother must be telling stories about her to the people she’s with, resulting them to know her.

“I just hope she doesn’t tell everything about me…” She thinks to herself, feeling that people would pity her for having a dysfunctional family.

Finished from washing the plates, she now decided that she would look for the one called Onew. As much as she hated talking too much to others, it’s the only way she would get help and a job.

…

Yui wore her usual, casual clothing and went out of the house. She brought her camera to take some shots of interesting things while she’s outside. It’s been a while since she saw this place. She would only come here with her family for summer vacation back when her parents were still together.

Taking her mind off of personal matters, she walks in a slow pace on her way to the beach which wasn’t very far. About ten minutes of walking and she would arrive. She gets her camera out of her bag and takes a picture of the clear, blue skies as she was walking. Taking pictures was one of the things that kept her busy while she struggled with familial problems.

It wasn’t long ‘til she reached the beach. It was beautiful and she could distinctly remember that she did jump around and scrape her knee on top of the big rock by the seashore.

“Aigoo it’s you~”

Yui turned around and saw this delivery boy from last night. She was certain that she heard him say a common Korean expression. He was smiling brightly at her and walked closer to where she was.

“Your grandma’s out for her weekend check up, right?” This boy said to her.

“Are you Onew?” She immediately asked as expressionless as her face was.

The boy blinked at her twice before answering, “Umm no, why do you ask?”

“Where is he then?” Yui asked, not answering the curious boy’s question.

“He’s at the café over there. I’ll take you to him.” The boy insisted, still having this friendly smile at the quiet-looking girl.

“Lead the way.” She simply says to him.

The boy began to lead her as they walked side by side. He could feel that the girl with him isn’t really the friendly type, but he believes that he could break her cold barrier through his friendliness.

He uttered, “Taemin.”

She utters back at him, “Huh…?”

“I’m Lee Taemin, Onew’s younger brother. Can I ask for your name?” The boy named Taemin asks Yui in a polite manner.

Seeing no harm in his intentions, she replies to him while he gazes at her eyes before she looks away from him, “Yoshioka Yui. I have a question.”

“Yes?”

“My grandmother didn’t say anything about me, right?”

Taemin pauses for a moment and then speaks, smiling like before, “Actually, she did mention that she has a granddaughter who lives in Korea before and nothing more.”

Yui sighs, “I see.”

“Yui-chan, then you can understand and speak Korean, right?” The boy asked eagerly.

“Yes I can.”

Lee Taemin widely grinned and stopped from his pace as they now stood before the pretty-looking café called SHINee Café, “That’s really nice to know. I’m sure the others will be happy to meet you. Might I ask why you’re looking for my hyung?” He asks her as they now stood outside the doors to the café.

This is probably one of the longest conversations she’s had ever since she could remember. Not that she hates it or anything, she’s just not really used to talking to anyone else aside from her family. Taemin seems to be a nice guy, so she figured to loosen up just a tiny bit. Who knows, she might just finally make a new friend her age besides her grandmother’s nurse.

“My granny told me that he was the one who baked the cake from last night and I want him to help me bake again. It’s been a long time since I baked.” Yui answers with a heavy sigh and then adding as she looks at him, “Also, I want to work here as a part-time baker.”

“Daebak~ You came to the right place, Yui-chan.” Taemin cheerfully spoke, grabbing the handle and then turning it to open the café’s door.