After weeks of working at the park, Abril received the schedule she hadn’t been looking forward to since day one.  She was scheduled 2 days of the week at the aquarium.  It was a pastry shop inside the aquarium where guest could enjoy the sight of beautiful sea creatures while eating. 

In part, Abril had been looking forward to it because it was the cutest location she could work at.  Even the uniform was cute.  The girls wore a frilly skirt, a buttoned white shirt, and a red hair bow.  Usually girly clothes of this level didn’t appeal Abril, but it was acceptable this time around.  The style of the clothes was more sophisticated than anything.  The guys wore classy/dapper pants with a buttoned up shirt and red tie.

Abril walked slowly and carefully towards the aquarium.  Kept looming over her shoulder as if a murderer was stalking her.  She wanted to avoid Hakyeon and Hongbin at all costs.  Hongbin because she didn’t know if she could resist asking a hundred questions.  Hakyeon because looking at his face gave her a headache.

“It’s the sugarplum princess!” Abril heard Ravi yelling from behind her.  He has just come up with the name because of her outfit.  Ravi worked at the games around the park.  His favorite game to conduct was basketball since it gave him the chance to show off.  Ravi always ran into Abril and Deni at the lunch room.  The day he met them the two were having lunch together and Ravi joined them uninvited.  Despite their dirty looks, he remained in his seat and talked to them nonstop.  At the end of their lunch break they wanted to stay a little longer to keep Ravi company.  They had gotten accustomed to him in that short period of time.

Abril walked up to the games booth to say hi to Ravi.  “Let me try.” she said as she grabbed the basketball from his hand.  As she aimed to the hoop, the ball hit the top of the booth and bounced back towards her.

“Run after it!  Hurry!” Ravi yelled dramatically as the ball bounced a few steps on the ground.

“It stopped right here.” Abril laughed as she picked it up.

Ravi snatched the ball away from Abril.  “You really .” he laughed at her prior attempt.

“One more.” Abril asked softly as she raised her finger.

“Fine.” Ravi nodded as he handed the ball back to her.  He burst out laughing when she shot and the ball flew past the net.  She glared at him since he was enjoying it a little too much.  He was hunched over, holding on to his stomach.

“I’m going to be late if I stay any longer.” she mumbled bitterly before walking away.

“Try not to miss the door handle when reaching it!” he aim one last time as she walked.

Abril speed walked through the area where Hakyeon worked in order to reach the pastry shop.  As she was looking back, Abril bumped into someone.  “Watch where you’re going!” Ken used his ahjumma voice.  Ken was a cook that Abril worked often with.  Ken and Abril had an interesting relationship.  They always play argued and never wanted to admit they had anything in common with each other.

“I was- um…” Abril grinned.  “I got distracted by the stingrays.”  It was partly true.

She reached into her pocket for her ID and hurried to swipe in.  “Just in time.” she smiled proudly.  Ken swiped his card right after hers.

As Abril was working the cash register she couldn’t help stealing glances out the door.  For some reason she wanted to be aware if one of the two passed by.  Even if she didn’t want to admit it, Abril wanted to steal at least one glance of them.  She understood why Hongbin called her attention.  Abril enjoyed knowing everything she could about Deni.  Maybe it had to do with how possessive she was.  But talking to Hongbin would mean a step closer to figuring out what Deni wasn’t telling her.  But what Abril couldn’t understand was why Hakyeon called her attention.

Abril and another cashier, Hyuk, were sent to clean the dining area.  The busser had been gone for over an hour (while lunch breaks are supposed to only last half an hour)and the supervisor didn’t want the place to look messy.

“You missed a spot.” Hyuk pointed at a table that was connected to the wall.

“You do it.  I don’t reach that far.” she stared at the crumbles left on the table.

Hyuk laughed as he shook his head.  “Lean on the seat and try extending your arm a little.  Don’t be lazy.”  She glared at him momentarily.  Wasn’t he the one being lazy?  Why was he inspecting her work instead of cleaning?  Out of pride, to show that she could do it without his help, Abril took Hyuk’s suggestion.  Hyuk’s eyes widened when Abril bent over the table, making her skirt rise up a little.  A little too much of her thighs were being revealed.  He looked around to check if any erts were looking at what he noticed.  Spotting a younger guy staring at her, Hyuk grabbed Abril’s arm to help her stand straight.  He glared evilly at the guy before he began wiping down the table himself.  “Just pick up the trays.  I’ll do the rest of the tables.”  Hyuk had suggested it since picking up trays didn’t require Abril bending.

Hyuk looked around for Abril when he was done wiping the table and restocking the condiments.  Since he noticed all the trays had been collected, he figured she was in the back washing them.

Hyuk grabbed a few hand towels and began to dry the trays Abril had washed.  “Do you have any plans after work?” he asked.

“Not really.” she admitted.

Hyuk paused to smile widely at her.  “Ken and I are going to get on rides after work with some friends.  Come with us!  Abril, it’ll be fun!”  Smiling at how cute Hyuk looked begging, she agreed.  “Are you going to bring your friend?  Does she work today?  You always talk about her.  I want to meet her.”

“I’ll ask her.” Abril put down the tray in her hand to text Deni.

Deni and Leo, a coworker, went to get their phones from the employee lockers by the ride before going to their lunch break.  They weren’t allowed to carry their phones in their pockets for security reasons.  As ride attendants there were many chances of their phones slipping out of their pocket and falling into the machinery.  For everyone’s benefit, having anything in your pockets around the rides was prohibited.

Deni read Abril’s text as she ate.  “You look upset.” Leo mentioned as he stuffed a spoonful into his mouth.  Leo liked Deni the best from work.  She was almost as quiet as him.  Being together in silence was always comfortable.  They didn’t have to talk a lot to enjoy things or have fun.  Actually, Deni was the ONLY person at work Leo ever opened his mouth to speak to.  His voice had been a mystery to everyone until the day Deni arrived.

“My friend asked me to hang out with some of her friends today.  It’s like she doesn’t know me anymore…”  Deni didn’t enjoy the company of strangers.  Abril still attempted inviting her despite knowing there was a high chance of the response being no.  Not that she was attempting to take Deni out of her ‘shell’, but she really wanted Deni to meet her new friends.  Plus, that way Abril wouldn’t feel awkward being the only ‘new’ one to the group that was going.

Leo hovered over Deni’s phone as she replied.  Remembering his own plans, he gestured for Deni to pass him her phone.  Deni was curious to why, and asked with no luck of receiving a spoken response.  She handed it to him, curious to what he was going to do.  Without indicating it was someone other than Deni, he asked who had invited Abril.  He smiled softly when he saw Hyuk’s name within the answer.  “Go.” he said as he handed Deni her phone back.  “I’m going to be there.”

Deni nodded to Leo as she replied to Abril.  She let Abril know that she was going to look for her after work to get the keys to the car.  She had put a bag with a change of clothes in Abril’s trunk.  Deni always went to work with her uniform already on, but also brought a change of clothes just in case.  There were days where Abril and she would go out spontaneously after work.  And Deni didn’t like going anywhere other than to work in her uniform.

Deni sighed when Leo and she put their phones back into their lockers.  “I sometimes hate that Abril gets the chance to text during work.  It reminds me that I don’t.”

“I always miss my phone when I’m away.” Leo put a compassionate hand on Deni’s shoulder.

During her lunch break, Abril stopped by Deni’s locker.  She looked around for Deni’s lock.  She always played with Deni’s lock at home, so she knew the combination.  She opened Deni’s locker and placed her car keys in it, next to Deni’s phone.  She wanted to make it easier for Deni.  That way Deni wouldn’t have to look for Abril after work.

Deni didn’t want anyone waiting for her, so she told Abril to go ahead while she changed.  After having to practically push her, Abril agree.  Abril felt a little tense when reaching the spot Ken told her to meet them.  She didn’t really know what type of people their friends were and was planning on leaving if she didn’t get along with them.

The two people she wanted to avoid were standing right across from her.  She stood staring at them, wanting to warn Deni not to come.  It was obvious Deni didn’t want to be in the presence of Hongbin.  Abril had pushed Deni in his direction by mistake.

Abril took a step back away from them, “I need to go find my friend.”

“You just got here.” Hyuk pointed out with an upset expression.

“Go on a ride without us.  We’ll catch up.” she said with no intention of returning.  They all looked at her in confusion as she walked away.  Once she was out of their sight, she began running towards the locker room at wardrobe.

Abril searched every inch of the locker room, wanting to avoid a disaster.  “Why don’t you answer me?” she talked to herself in frustration as she tried calling Deni’s phone.  She stopped in place out of hesitation when she reached the shower stalls.  It would be bad if she just burst into them.  It would be worse if she actually went into the one Deni was in.  Deni would never forgive her for walking in on her while half .

“Deni?” Abril half whispered, feeling embarrassed to be talking to curtains in the middle of the hall.  “Deni?” she said a little louder.  “Are you in one of these?”

After a few minutes of just standing there, wondering if she should peek into one of the stalls, she received a text.  It was from Hyuk.  It read, ‘Your friend is already with us.  Where are you?’

Abril’s eyes widened.  She felt terrible.  She knew Deni was going to be slightly annoyed with her.  She wasn’t going to be mad purposely since she knew it wasn’t Abril’s intention for this to happen.  Unconsciously it was hard not to take it out on Abril because if it wasn’t for her invite Deni wouldn’t have had to face Hongbin.

Abril waited outside a ride exit for them.  Deni looked down after making eye contact with Abril as she waked out the ride.

“You’re back!” Ravi announced cheerfully.  Abril forced a smile.

Abril walked close to Deni on their way to the next rise.  “I’m sorry.” Abril whispered.

“I know.” Deni sighed.  “You didn’t even do anything to obligate me to come.  I’m the one who took the risk.” she said to make Abril feel better.

Ravi could feel the tension between the girls and Hongbin.  He took advantage of Ken and Hyuk wanting to eat ice cream to organize a plan.  As they ate their snack he texted Hyuk, Hakyeaon, Ken and Leo with his idea.  He knew the problem was mostly between Deni and Hongbin.  Earlier Hongbin had mentioned that he used to know Deni.  So, Ravi wanted to get the two alone to sort things out.

Ravi looked at the guys to get confirmation that they were going to cooperate.  Hakyeon shook his head.  In the plan they were going to a ride where they’d be obligated to split into groups of two.  Ravi had paired Hakyeon with Abril.  ‘Do it.  Come on.’ Ravi sent Hakyeon by text.  Hakyeon answered from a distance by shaking both his fingers and mouthing ‘no.’

Ravi guided everyone to the ride he had in mind.  It was similar to a love boat.  They were cars that turned and spin around a scenery of dancing colors.  Leo and Hyuk automatically walked into a car.  Hakyeon tried going into a car with Ken, but was pushed out by Ravi.  Hakyeon watched as the door to the moving car closed.  Hakyeon saw the girls heading towards the same car.  He immediately rushed pass Deni and slipped into a car with Abril.  He unconsciously was grabbing Abril’s hip during the entire process of it.  Abril narrowed her eyes at his hand that was placed firmly on her side as he pushed her to sit down across from him.  The door to the car closed, leaving Hongbin and Deni no choice but to go together.

“Don’t ever touch me like that again.” Abril glared at Hakyeon, like a hungry feral animal, with her arms crossed.  “You don’t know me well enough to act so comfortably.”

Wanting to bother her, Hakyeon moved from his seat to sit next to her.  “I thought we got along.” he in a greasy way.  He could tell she didn’t like the type of douchebags that did and said those types of things.  Which was exactly why he was acting that way.  Abril slid to the side when she felt Hakyeon’s arm touching hers.

“I truly love my personal space, Hakyeon.”

“Call me N.  Everyone does.” N said casually as he went back to his original seat.

Deni and Hongbin kept their eyes on the show of colors.  Almost at the end, Hongbin glanced at Deni and mentioned, “You look nice in this light.”

“Don’t.” Deni said.  It wasn’t to be mean, she just knew Hongbin was trying to create conversation.  That conversation would carry itself to bring up something she didn’t want to talk about.

Hongbin cleared his throat awkwardly.  “About what hap-”

“Hongbin.  Please.” she looked at Hongbin with pleading eyes.  “I want to pretend like that never happened.  You’ll be making it up to me if you grant me this.”

“Does this mean we can be friends?” Hongbin smiled weakly, fearing his offer would be rejected.  It was Deni so he’d throw away his hesitation just for this one moment.  “A fresh start.  Give me the chance to show you I’m not that person anymore.  I could spend the rest of my life proving to you how much I regret the past.”

Deni looked out the car, not wanting Hongbin to see how emotional she had gotten.  It was upsetting to think of how she had lost Hongbin’s friendship.  She wasn’t sure if she was capable of forgiving him.  “You have to promise to act as if this is our first meeting.”