A/N: Thanks for the comments and the subscriptions! Really appreciate it:) I didn't know how happy I would feel getting them.

This is present day, so it's six years later... (Taeyeon is 22, Hayeon is 17, Sooyoung is 24)

CHAPTER ONE - Breaking routine.

Taeyeon parked the Shopping Express minivan, turned in the paperwork for the day, and took a nap on the two hour bus ride to Daehak-dong. She set her alarm clock on her phone and plugged in her ear buds. She closed her eyes against the throbbing headache that intensified as she leaned back against the headrest. It had grown like a fungus for the past years and was now stuck to her skull. Taeyeon was sure her brain would explode before it peeled off. As usual, exhaustion soon overwhelmed the pain, and she was asleep again.

 "Hi sirs, how are you doing? Oh no, your boss sounds horrible. Hope the food will cheer you up! Let me repeat your order. Two spicy rice cakes, two bottles of Jinro, and one kimchi pancake, okay? That'll be ten thousand yen please. Soo, two tteok and one jeon!"

Somebody was tapping her shoulder. Taeyeon jerked awake. She hated dreaming of work. This was supposed to be her break. She looked at the woman sitting on her right, who looked irritated. Everyone on the bus was staring at her.  The bus driver way up front was chortling because this was his regular highlight of the week. She must have been sleep talking- probably shouting since the granny up front was glaring- again. Taeyeon felt the familiar rush of heat to her face and stammered apologies. She tried to stay awake until they stopped looking at her, but her eyelids snapped shut and when her alarm woke her up later, she did not remember if she had succeeded.

As usual, Sooyoung was mostly set up by the time she got to the stall. The tentage was set up. She unstacked the chairs and put condiments on each table, and soon it was seven and customers started streaming in, and it was non-stop from there.

By now, they had quite a few regulars, and Taeyeon remembered most of their preferences, but there were some customers that came almost every night who she got along with. It was a pity they were usually gone by the first three hours when there were still eight hours to go.

As usual, the Korean American gym rats came right on time and as usual, Taeyeon wished they would come after peak hours for once so that she could pay more attention to them. Jessica was wearing a baggy tank top and adidas shorts, so Taeyeon got a good view of those arms and legs. And when she came up to their table and poured two cups of ice water for them, Jessica's collar was wide enough, and the shirt loose enough for her to peek down Jessica's shirt and see that black sports bra and abs. 

"Heyo, Jessica-ssi, Tiffany-ssi. You didn't come yesterday. Looks like you had a match yesterday?"

Tiffany grinned. Her right eye was patched up and the bridge of her nose was purple. "And it ended well for me. We'll have our usual today, but extra meat."

"That's great! One ddeok, three odeng, two bowls of dumpling noodles, and one braised pork rice with extra meat. Be right back with you," Taeyeon said. She went to collect two more orders before shouting collated orders to Sooyoung. She got more beers for some office workers, and extra chairs for a crowd of students. When she got back to the cooking area, Sooyoung had prepared all the food, so she loaded the dishes onto trays before going around passing out the food. Tiffany had a bright smile that reached her good eye, before shelling out a few bills from her wallet. Jessica as usual spared Taeyeon the smallest of smiles.

More customers came in and out, and Taeyeon was busy rushing around while Sooyoung continued cooking up a storm.

"Taeyeon-ah! Sooyoung! Thanks for the food and good night!" Tiffany shouted as she was leaving with Jessica.

Taeyeon was cleaning up their table, so she just smiled and bowed her head at them.

"Fighting." That was Jessica. Taeyeon always thought it was cute how she said nice things so softly and when no one was looking at her. Apparently Jessica was this strongest female MMA fighter in Korea. Well, it was also ironic how a top athlete had to eat street food just because she was female. Taeyeon wished she could watch one of Tiffany or Jessica's matches one day to see what they were really like.

"Miss, three bottles of soju please!" some customer shouted. 

"OK!" Taeyeon went to the fridge, but there were only two bottles left. She ran out of the stall to the street, flung open the truck back door and leapt inside. She grabbed three crates of Jinro soju and carefully set them on the road outside to lock the truck. It was heavy and Taeyeon had to really squat to get them back up again, but she got it.

She could see just over the top of the stack, and there was Jessica and Tiffany looking at her. Tiffany nudged Jessica and pushed her forward, and the girl stalked over and lifted off two crates.

"Ah... J-Jessica-ssi you don't have to."

"It's fine. This must be heavy," Jessica smiled. It was slightly chilly but Taeyeon felt warm.

"Thanks!" Taeyeon said, and hurried back to the stall. She gave Jessica a paper bag stuffed with odeng sticks on the way out.

Some time later, the tall YoonYul twins came in. Taeyeon had not been able to tell them apart when she first met them, and would always mix up who got noodles and who got rice, or who got the twigim. They worked at the university clinic.

And as usual, they were joined by the three nerds who they had somehow befriended from sharing tables regularly at this stall. It made Taeyeon happy to know that what Sooyoung and she had created had its own little community. The three nerds were two PhD students Sunny, Hyoyeon and their undergraduate mentee, the young Seohyun. Taeyeon just thought they were too smart to not be called nerds, even though Sunny was like a cute kitten and Hyoyeon was this badass hip hop dancer. Seohyun was the only qualified nerd. The first time Taeyeon met her, she introduced herself as having Asperger's Syndrome, which sounded like some sort of superior-evolution X-Men power to Taeyeon. She was the only customer who ordered the same exact thing every time- sweet potatoes and tofu rice. 

By now, the office crowd had dwindled, so Taeyeon could chat with the five briefly between orders. When they were done, she collected thirty-two thousand won, and stuffed the money in her waist pouch. Business was going well. If she saved at least as much as last year, by the end the year, they would have about four million won to work with. At this rate Hayeon would be able to attend Seoul National University if she got in. Hayeon had grades good enough to qualify for the scholarship for low-income students. The entry fee would be waived and the school would take care of half the tuition fees. They would be able to only just cover Hayeon's freshman year. Then it would be up to Hayeon to earn the A-class academic scholarship to get more of the school fees taken care of.

Hayeon had sat for the college entrance exams a month ago. This morning she taken the day off school and had taken the train to Daejeon to interview with KAIST's scholarship panel and sit aptitude exams. That was her second choice university. The kid was on one of the national Linguistics Olympiad teams, was school valedictorian, and had been invited to workshops in universities. Taeyeon was so proud of her. She could just imagine the sheer joy she would feel when Hayeon received her well-deserved admission letter.

Taeyeon heard her cellphone ringing and pulled it out. Hayeon was calling. 

"Unnie!"

"How was KAIST?" She walked to the cooking area and sidled out of the tent from there.

"The interviews went okay. I think I did well for the tests. I felt good about it."

"That's great! Good job, Hayeon. When are you coming back?"

"Ah... I called to talk to you about this... I just reached the central train station, but I don't have enough money for the bus back. I can hang out in the waiting area if you can come get me when you're free? If not it's fine I'll walk to Minji's place. It's just a few bus stops away."

"Aish... you dummy. I can't leave Soo right now. It's too busy. Go to minji's place and tell her parents thanks for me. Be careful," Taeyeon said. Hayeon was always running out of money, not that it wasn't because of her ty allowance. 

"Okay, don't worry I will be. I'm so sorry, unnie."

"Keep your phone close and text me when you reach Minji's. Be safe and have a good rest... See you tomorrow."

"Good night. Don't work too hard, unnie."

Taeyeon slipped her phone back into her pocket and went back to work. She had planned to pack a good breakfast for her little sister for tomorrow. The night passed quickly. When there were hardly any customers except for a couple of cops on the beat, she sat down at a table, folded her arms on it, and took a quick nap. The next thing she knew, Sooyoung was tapping her shoulder because the morning crowd was trickling in. They were service staff, construction workers, security guards. They were almost always the nicer than the college students and office workers, except when they weren't. 

When they closed down, Taeyeon left Sooyoung to pack things up while she walked back to the goshiwon. These cheap dormitory halls with communal showers and kitchens, and cramped rooms. Rent was really cheap, so university students stayed here to concentrate on their studies. Divorced and unemployed folk also hid in goshiwons, but it was rare in Daeguk, which was so close to Seoul National University. It was a conducive place for Hayeon to concentrate on school. Taeyeon took a quick shower as usual, and she wanted badly to flop onto Hayeon's mattress for a quick shut eye, but that was just stupid. She dragged her feet down the stairs and went to the bus stop. Then it was another two hour bus ride back to the shopping express office in Gangbuk and she had another chance to sleep.

On her lunch break, she saw a text from Hayeon:

[Hayeon]
[Received at 12:59] 
Unnie, Minji's parents are going up to Busan for the weekend to celebrate her acceptance into Baekseok U!!!! They invited me and insisted on paying the air fare:0 I couldn't say no=X Sorry this is so sudden... wish you could be here T.T See u on mon:D
[Sent at 13:13] 
so kind omg say thx to her parents n pass on my congrats! so proud of MZ! hav a good time dun worri u deserv it^^

The Samsung tablet attached to the dashboard beeped and posted the next collated batch of orders. Trips to e-mart, Lotte mart and Costco. Putting products into one box per order. Trips to Hyeoncheon, Gangnam, Sinjeong and Guro. And then she was back at the stall, setting out chairs. 

Tiffany and Jessica came back. Tiffany still had her eye patch on it it felt like a continuation of yesterday.

"Thanks for the odeng yesterday. My younger sister enjoyed it a lot," Jessica finally said.

"You have a younger sister?"

"Yeah, she studies at SNU."

"That's awesome. My sister wants to get into SNU."

"Jess you should bring Krys here and she can answer Taeyeon's sister's questions," Tiffany piped up.

"Every time I ask her to meet me for dinner here she always says she's busy," Jessica shrugged. "She won't come for me, but I'm sure she'll make the time to come for someone else." 

Jessica deadpanned so well that Taeyeon could not tell if she was being sarcastic. She smiled at them both and rushed off to attend to another table. She was always rushing. 

When Taeyeon got back home, Hayeon was back from the Busan weekend and sleeping on her stomach. She looked like a baby. Grinning widely, Taeyeon clambered onto the bed over her to give her a body hug. 

Hayeon screamed. Taeyeon got bucked off onto the floor. "What the hell?"

"Ah, unnie... sorry." Hayeon's right forearm had abrasion scabs.

"What happened to your arm?"

"Oh," Hayeon said. Her lips quirked into a smile. "We were cycling in Busan and I fell off my bike."

"Why are your eyes puffy? What's wrong."

"Nothing. I just watched a sad movie yesterday."

"Whoa," Taeyeon said, impressed. "You never cry at that stuff."

"Yeah, well, this movie made me cry, okay? Why do you keep asking so many questions?"

"I just..." Taeyeon started, taken aback. "Is there something wrong? Is everything okay with Minji? Or is it university applications?"

"There's nothing wrong. I'll tell you when I know anything about SNU or KAIST," Hayeon said, glaring. "Quit nagging all the time. I know how to take care of things, okay?"

Taeyeon thought about her near twenty-hour work days. "Yeah, you're taking care of things."

Hayeon threw her hands up in frustration. "Don't act all high and mighty on me, unnie. I'm always burning the midnight oil studying freaking hard, so don't think I'm going to uni just because of you. I could get full scholarships at Yonsei and Ewha. You're the one whose so intent on SNU."

"Yah, Kim Hayeon!"

They glared at each other for a minute.

"Sorry, unnie."

"You don't sound sorry at all."

"You should leave soon. You're going to be late."

Hayeon was right. She was going to miss the bus if she stayed. She slammed the door on the way out.

Taeyeon really tried to sleep on the bus, but it was too difficult. 

In the delivery van, the air conditioner was spoiled, and she cooked under the sun while inching through jammed highways. Every order seemed heavier today. Somebody had vomited on the bus, and it stank so bad she felt nauseous the entire bumpy ride back to Daeguk.

The stall today was especially crowded from a dance performance. The throng of rowdy, pumped up university students lasted all the way into three in the morning. The night passed in a blur. Then she was back in the goshiwon room, Hayeon was sleeping with such a lulling snore, and Taeyeon just wanted a minute's rest because she had not slept all day, but just a minute, so she lay down on the cold floor.

"Unnie, it's seven-thirty!"

Taeyeon jerked awake. "Ohmygod. Oh. My. God."

She stumbled out of the door even before she was fully standing up, grabbing her waist pouch on the way, and ran. She was too late to the bus stop, and the next one seemed to take forever to come. The bus driver was this woman and she was driving so slowly. Every traffic light seemed to get in the way. When she got to the office, it was ten-fifteen. 

The manager was irate. "You're late."

"I'm so sorry, sir. It won't happen again."

"We were forced to make eight discounted deliveries today because your up affected Sanghyun and Joon's scheduling," the manager said. He dropped an envelop at her feet. "That's your last paycheck. You're fired. There are other more responsible people who want this job."

"Please sir, I'm so sorry. I made a mistake, but this was my first time so could you-"

"Shut your mouth and keep your excuses. You should be thankful I'm not even docking your pay. Now I have to get back to work or we'll lose even more deliveries today."

"Please sir, I really need this job," Taeyeon said, falling to her knees. 

The manager sighed and went back to his desk, taking phone calls and typing into the decrepit desktop computer. He pretended she was not there the whole time. When he left for lunch, Taeyeon picked up the envelop, stood up and walked out, wiping her eyes.

She called Hayeon, but the damned girl did not pick up. Taeyeon walked around the town. There were a few Help Wanted posters on the windows of laundromats and restaurants, but those would pay too little. She sighed. She was really tired, and was not in the mood for work today. So it was on to the bus and back to Daeguk.

When she was outside the goshiwon building, she did not feel like going in. Everything felt so meaningless. Why did Hayeon have to go to SNU anyway? There were cheaper public universities. Or she could just get a certification while working part time. Taeyeon was tired. 

'Stop being such a selfish .' She had to get her act together instead of wasting time being demoralized. Taeyeon decided to walk to SNU. She had only been there once, when she brought Hayeon there on the first weekend of high school. She had wanted the both of them to have a concrete goal to work towards. Now, three years later, she was here to get pumped up again.

The buildings were large, and the rolling hills were green. The library was imposing. She climbed wide stone steps, walked down the square with a large statue standing tall in the middle, and felt like royalty.

She passed many students, some who looked her age. These people would have a chance to work in an air-conditioned office, sitting down at a desk, in front of a computer. Some were future teachers, doctors, engineers or politicians. Hayeon was good at talking, analysis and she was obviously smarter than Taeyeon could ever imagine. Her girl wanted to become a lawyer.

Taeyeon found herself in a sculpture garden. There were abstract stones and figures. Taeyeon had drawn a lot when she was a child, doodling all over her textbooks and making comics for her classmates. She could not imagine having the luxury of doing art at her age now.

There was a woman running in exercise sweats. Taeyeon was surprised to her here. "Jessica-ssi!"

Jessica detoured and came up to her. "Hey, Taeyeon. What are you doing here?"

"I was just walking around to clear my mind."

Jessica hesitated. "Is there something wrong?"

"I got fired," Taeyeon said. "But it's fine."

"I'm sorry... wait, Sooyoung fired you? Why did she do that?"

"No, I'm still at the food stall," Taeyeon said. "But I had a day job. It was my fault, really. I overslept, and it was just this once, but I was late, so my manager dropped me."

"That's harsh. And it sounds really unfair when it's just your first time."

"I guess... but it's still a legit reason," Taeyeon said. To her surprise, Jessica took her hands and squeezed it.

"I would give you a hug, but I'm all sweaty now. I'm really sorry about the job. It sounds like it was important. I never knew you had a day job. Doesn't the food stall operate eleven hours? And it's so busy."

"It gets better in the middle," Taeyeon said. "What are you doing here?"

"I usually do roadwork on even days at SNU. Odd days are for Han River."

"Ooh." What was roadwork?

"Also, my sister sometimes agrees to have lunch with me if it's at SNU. We were going to meet at the Physics building cafeteria. Have you eaten yet?"

"No."

"Join us."

"Will it be a bother?"

"Of course not. It's not like I can say that it is, right?"

Taeyeon grinned.

"Well, it's my treat today, since you had a bad day," Jessica said. "And I'm older than you."

"Th-thanks, Jessica-ssi."

"It's Jessica. I noticed you don't call Sooyoung 'unnie'."

"Ah, it was just something we agreed on. I can call you 'unnie'."

"Nah. I don't like the Korean honorifics if I can avoid it."

The Physics cafeteria was not big. It just had one drinks stall, one for snacks, and one selling ramen. Jessica led her to a table where a girl was sitting on a wheelchair. Her legs were unnaturally thin. Jessica gave the girl a quick peck on the cheeks and said, "Krys, this is Taeyeon. She's short but she's older than you and works at the food stall where I go for dinner every night. Taeyeon, this is Krystal, my annoying baby sister."

"Hi, Taeyeon-unnie, I don't know why you're friends with my sister when you look so nice, but I'm glad to meet you," Krystal said with a wide -eating grin.

Taeyeon laughed. "Hi, Krystal. I think you would get along with my sister; she thinks of her older sister the same way."

"Okay, I'll go get us food. Wait here," Jessica said, without asking Taeyeon what she wanted. 

Taeyeon took a seat beside Krystal. "So what do you study?"

"It's my first year, and I'm double majoring in Physics and Mathematics," Krystal said.

"Wow, that's amazing. You must be really smart."

"It's thanks to my unnie," Krystal said, smiling. "She got me into through high school and this university all by herself. Without her I'd just be working in a factory because that's what handicapped people do in Korea."

"That is amazing too," Taeyeon breathed. She looked at Jessica, who had already achieved what she had been striving so hard for, and was doing twice of that. She was dumb, but now she understood. Hayeon had a chance at tasting this freedom, if only her older sister, who had promised to do so, would help her.

"Sorry if it's too much info," Krystal said. "I just like to tell everyone I meet that Jessica's not the hooligan she pretends to be."

After lunch, Jessica and Taeyeon said goodbye to Krystal after walking her back to her next class. Taeyeon felt differently about Jessica now. Before, the aloof blonde was just someone with sculpted arms and rock hard abs to gawk at. Now, Taeyeon wanted to know who Jessica was and how she did it. She wanted to know everything.

"MMA is Mixed Martial Arts right? What... umm... styles do you use? Do you do boxing like Tiffany-ssi?" 

"Nah," Jessica said. "I think we would kill each other if we were doing the same thing. She's teaching me boxing though. I do mainly Judo and Muay Thai. In MMA, that combination makes me a sprawl-and-brawl fighter. Why, are you interested in learning?"

"No, I'll just get beaten up. Look," Taeyeon said. She jumped in front of Jessica and started shadowboxing. 

Jessica gawked at her, flabbergasted, and then she laughed. She stepped into Taeyeon's range, ducked under a swipe before popping up again and caught the next punch. "Yeah, you would."

Taeyeon pouted. She poked Jessica in the side and was delighted when the self-proclaimed brawler squealed. Taeyeon turned around and ran away, arms flailing. She got maybe twenty steps before someone tackled her. She screamed and hopped about while Jessica tickled her. University students veered around the two crazies who were certainly not intelligent or mature enough to be attending SNU.

"Oh my god, that was so middle school... maybe I should have made you call me 'unnie'," Jessica said after they had calmed down.

"So says the 'unnie' who is the same mental age as me," Taeyeon said.

Jessica stuck out her tongue. "Okay, I'm going to be mature one and end this now. I got to return to the gym or my coach will kill me. Hope to see you tonight."

Taeyeon gave Jessica a quick hug before stepping back. She scratched the back of her head, and said, "Krystal told me that you singlehandedly got her here. I've been trying to do the same for Hayeon, so I was really down when she said some really bitter things to me. And then I lost my job today. Thanks for cheering me up."

Jessica blinked. Her expression was unreadable. "Do you have anything to do until the food stall opens?"

"No."

"Follow me," Jessica said.

A/N: I calculated how much it would cost Taeyeon over the six years when she can't take loans and is only qualified for near minimum-wage jobs... Middle school, high school and university is so expensive in South Korea:0 It's only because of Sooyoung's help that she can overcome two years of debt and emerge at the end of six years with just enough money for Hayeon's freshman year lol. Sooyoung's the best friend ever T.T

Let me know what you thought of this chapter:)