“Unnie!”

 

“What?”

 

“Unnie?”

 

“What?”

 

“UNNIE!”

 

“WHAT?”

 

“I’m hungry.”

 

“Go feed yourself.”

 

“But we’re driving in the middle of the freeway.” Tiffany pouted.

 

“Then eat some air.”

 

She slumped in the back of the seat and crossed her arms. “This isn’t fair.”

 

Jessica laughed and just kept driving. “You should’ve been prepared.” She reached in the glove compartment and pulled out a couple of granola bars. “Enjoy. We’ll stop by at the nearest food place and get something decent to eat.”

 

Tiffany’s eyes lit up, “Thank you!”

 

Jessica saw the sight unfold and couldn’t help but smile herself. “I could get use to this.”

 

“Did chu shay shometing?” Tiffany asked with a mouthful of granola.

 

The smile disappeared from Jessica’s face and was replaced by a disgusted look. “Why are you talking with your mouth full?!”

 

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry!” Tiffany repeated. “It will never happen again!”

 

Jessica patted Tiffany’s head, “You’re adorable.”

 

“Really?” Tiffany’s eyes lit up once again, showing her eye-smile.

 

Jessica pulled away, “Don’t get too carried away.”

 

Tiffany pointed out the window, “Look! There’s a place where we can eat!”

 

She looked at the direction Tiffany pointed at and shook her head. “It’s in the middle of nowhere! Do you want to die?!”

 

“No.” Tiffany grumbled. “But I might die of starvation if this keeps up.”

 

“If you want die of starvation, go ahead. See if I care.” Jessica glared causing Tiffany to freeze on the spot.

 

“I’m sorry.” Tiffany said quietly.

 

Jessica sighed and kept driving. Every once in a while, she would glance to her right and see Tiffany staring blankly at the side of the road. There wasn’t much to look at, but every now and something would catch her attention, but since the car was moving at a fairly fast rate, it would come and go just like that. A sigh would escape Tiffany’s lips that never went unnoticed with Jessica’s sensitive ears. Even when they had first met, Jessica could never really tell what that girl was thinking. Her expression would look bored, but inside, she was probably thinking about puppies frolicking in a field of green grass.

 

She stopped staring at the window and started looking forward on the vast road. Jessica looked to her side once again and noticed that Tiffany had a hard look on her face. There was something off about the younger girl. Jessica could feel it, but she couldn’t really pin point on it. Could be it because she had only met the girl? Could it be because she’s six years older and this youth thought differently when she was young? It could have been anything.

 

“Penny for your thoughts?”

 

“Huh?” Tiffany blinked and looked at Jessica.

 

“A penny for your thoughts?” She repeated.

 

Tiffany sighed. “I have a feeling that those two are back in Seoul and not there.”

 

“And?”

 

“And I’m hungry.”

 

— — — — —

 

“Eat up.” Jessica clapped her hands once and smiled.

 

“Ahh!” Tiffany the drool on the corner of . “Thank you, Unnie!” She shoved into the closest food she had at her reach and began her journey of gluttony. Jessica held her plate close to her chest, fearing that Tiffany was going to get a hold of it. “These are so good!” Tiffany grinned as she kept eating more.

 

“S-s-slow down.” Jessica nervously chuckled. “The food isn’t going anywhere.”

 

“With a friend like Youngie, it’s either eat or be eaten.” Tiffany swallowed hard. “The table where all the food is is no man’s land. Every man for himself out there. It’s a brutal world, Sica. You gotta eat as much as you can, laugh as hard as you can and love as much as you can. You can never get another chance like this ever again.”

 

Jessica’s horrified face turned into a smile, “Well, I guess we should start eating, huh?”"

 

“That’s the spirit!” Tiffany shoved a spoonful of rice in her face and continued eating as Jessica started to do the same.

 

Once the meal was done, there were piles of plates on the table. The waitresses looked at the two petite girls with mouths hanging and eyes wide in shock at the sight. Tiffany was picking her teeth with a toothpick while rubbing her stomach. Jessica had gotten up to go to the bathroom to wash up and get herself ready for the rest of the trip.

 

“Thank you for the meal.” Jessica smiled as she placed a few bills on the table. “Keep the change.” Her and Tiffany waved as they walked out of the restaurant and back to the car.

 

“The food was amazing!” Tiffany sighed happily as she sank into the passenger seat.

 

“You don’t say.” Jessica smiled. “Let’s go find Sunny and Sooyoung.”

 

“Yeah!” Tiffany cheered as the car sped back into the freeway.

 

— — — — —

 

“Can I ask you something?”

 

“Hmm?” Jessica turned her head but kept her eyes on the road.

 

“Will you answer it?”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“You have to answer it. No matter what.”

 

Jessica laughed, “What is it? Are you all of a sudden curious about the female body?”

 

Tiffany blushed and vigorously shook her head, “That wasn’t gonna be my question!”

 

“Then what is it?”

 

“Do you like anyone right now?”

 

“Like someone how?”

 

“Like, like-like.”

 

“What?”

 

“How do you know if you like-like someone?”

 

“Like-like?”

 

Tiffany nodded, “Yeah, like them more than just a friend.”

 

Jessica nodded, finally understanding her question, “You mean you two are friends, but you like him more than just a friend but you don’t know? Am I right?”

 

“Well,…it’s not exactly a he…” Tiffany looked down and started playing with her finger tips.

 

“Ahh.” Jessica nodded. “So is she in your little circle of friends?”

 

Tiffany stared out the window. “She sort of is.”

 

“What do you mean sort of?” Jessica gave her a confused look. “The only other person in your circle of friends is Yuri. Who else would it be?”

 

“Yeah!” Tiffany snapped her fingers. “Yeah. It’s Yuri! Good old, Yul.”

 

“Okay, you don’t have to keep repeating her name for me to get that you like her.” Jessica suddenly snapped.

 

“Are you oaky, Sica?”

 

“Sica?”

 

“Sicaaaaa Unnie?”

 

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be okay?” Jessica glared at the road.

 

‘Well, you’re sorta going a lot faster than the speed limit.” Tiffany gripped her seatbelt.

 

“Of course, I’m fine. There’s nothing wrong with me.” Jessica started to slow back down to the original speed limit.

 

Why was she acting like this all of a sudden? Jessica slapped her cheek in hopes to try to snap herself out of this trance. She couldn’t possibly like this girl, she was six years younger than her and on top of that, she calls her Unnie. That is wrong in so many levels. Wait. Only Tiffany sees her as an older sister, Jessica sees Tiffany as a girl she just happens to like. She shook her head. No matter which way she looked at it, Tiffany was still six years younger than her. She shook her head once again and pushed all the negative thoughts out of her head.

 

She looked at Tiffany and smiled, “I’m sure whoever you like is lucky. She would be lucky to have someone like you in their life.”

 

Tiffany gave Jessica her infamous eye-smile, “Don’t worry, Sica. I don’t plan on going anywhere anytime soon, I promise.”

 

Those words somehow made Jessica feel at ease. Just knowing that Tiffany had planned on staying in her life for a while made her feel safe. Once again, all the negative thoughts she had earlier left just as quickly as they came.

 

For the rest of the ride, Tiffany had started to doze off. Jessica smiled at the sight of the younger girl in front of her. Even though she didn’t see Tiffany everyday, seeing her always made her feel at ease. As if the entire world had gone to sleep and it was just the two of them in the entire world. She was more than sure that this was what people who deeply care about a person felt like. The older girl had realized that even though she had dated people in the past, the feelings for the person had never been this strong. There was something special about Tiffany. 

 

From the day she mustered up all her courage to talk to her at the coffee shop to how they are now. They really have come a long way from when they had first met, but just like Sooyoung and Sunny, should she really act upon these feelings? These feelings could ruin the friendship that she had cherished so dearly months ago. 

 

Although Sooyoung, Sunny and Yuri had treated her like their older sister, Tiffany had always treated her a little bit more differently than her friends. Tiffany was never afraid to show her real self whenever she was around Jessica. Normally, when you first meet a person, you try to show them the best possible you there ever was. But that was definitely not the case with Tiffany. The young brunette had shown Jessica her true colors; the good, the bad and the ugly. Ever since that visit from the hospital, Jessica had viewed the younger girl in a different light. Jessica had noticed that Tiffany was either careless or cautious around her, there was never an in between with her.

 

“Sica?”

 

“Huh?” Jessica blinked her thoughts away. “Yes,?”

 

“We’re here.” Tiffany pointed out the window.

 

“Where exactly are we?”

 

Tiffany got out of the car and stretched her back. “This place was where the four of us all met.”

 

A girl was walking around the park, holding her backpack because her parents would kill her if she had lost her homework, once again. She had seen a patch of green over the hill that was only a short walk from the park, her parents wouldn’t even miss her, they were always late picking her up from school anyway.

 

“Why are you so mean?!” A voice screamed behind a bush.

 

“I didn’t start this!” Another voice screamed back. “If you had just given me your pencil like I had asked, we wouldn’t be in this mess, now, would we?!”

 

“It’s because I knew that if I gave you my pencil, you wouldn’t give it back.” The first voice defended. “I already told you that my Umma gave me this pencil! No one can use it, but me!”

 

“Don’t push me!” The second one grunted.

 

The little girl ran to where she heard the voices when she heard a loud THUD. When she went behind the bush, she expected boys older than her, but to her surprise, they were two girls rolling around in the dirt. A girl, a little shorter than the other girl was on top and it looked like she was winning the fight until the taller girl used her height to her advantage and was able to roll on top of the shorter one.

 

“Hwang Miyoung!” Another voice shouted from the back, but this voice sounded like an adult. “Choi Sooyoung!”

 

The two girls stopped when they heard the voice.

 

“Uh-oh.” The taller girl said under her breath. She had mud stains all over her clothes and some on the side of her cheek. 

 

“Here comes trouble.” The shorter girl scratched the side of her face. This girl was in a little better shape than the taller one. She had scratches on her elbows and knees, but she had a toothy grin on her face. “Yo, Principal Kim.”

 

“Gotcha!” Another girl appeared behind the principal. “You think you could get away with fighting?”

 

“Yah, Kwon Yuri,” the shorter one scoffed, “just because you’re the sixth grade president, doesn’t mean that you should keep snitching whenever Sooyoung and I fight. Its none of your business anyway.”

 

“You two, my office right now.” The principal dragged the two by the collar.

 

Hwang Miyoung? Choi Sooyoung? Kwon Yuri?

 

Hwang Miyoung, Choi Sooyoung and Kwon Yuri all went to the same school as her, in fact, they were all in the same grade, the same class even. But she had always been the quiet one in class who always sat in the back corner of the classroom, away from most of the students. Everyday, it was always the same. Go to school, survive, go on an adventure after school, go home, repeat. 

 

Miyoung was the school’s genius. She and Yuri had always competed academically, but no matter how hard Yuri had tried, Miyoung was always one step ahead of her. Even though rumors had said that she never studies, the kids in the school knew that Miyoung studied more than anyone in the school. But when the four friends actually started to get to know each other better, they realized that Miyoung was actually just smart without even trying. When Miyoung’s mom died a few months after, she had changed her name to Stephanie because it was what her mom called her, which later turned to Tiffany.

 

Kwon Yuri was the school’s try hard. She excelled at everything she did, which made her a formidable opponent for Tiffany. Even though Tiffany was smarter, Yuri was the better dancer. She always looked like she was having the most fun whenever the school had talent shows or doing something that involved dancing. Although she would never admit it out loud, she had always been jealous of Tiffany. She had the attitude that no one bothered to mess with, but the brains that everyone wished they had.

 

Choi Sooyoung was the school’s trouble maker. She was always stirring up trouble, with or without intentions of causing trouble, whenever she was there, Tiffany was there and Yuri was there, something was always going to happen. Sooyoung didn’t have anything special, but she was a better runner than Tiffany and Yuri had combined, but that was also her downfall. When she and Tiffany had a brawl, Tiffany always won because she had an older brother who taught her everything she knew, but when it was a test of endurance, Sooyoung knew she would win hands down. Tiffany had tried to chase her a few times, but she just didn’t have the stamina to compete with Sooyoung. 

 

“What about her?” Yuri asked.

 

“Eh?” The principal looked at the little girl holding her backpack. “What are you doing outside school boundaries?”

 

“Lee Sunkyu?” Yuri tilted her head sideways. “You’re in our class, right? Do you like being called Sunkyu or Sunny?”

 

“Sunny.” She said quietly.

 

“What are you doing here, Sunny?” The principal asked.

 

“I was going on an adventure!” Sunny said.

 

Yuri, Tiffany and Sooyoung were taken aback by Sunny’s sudden boost of confidence.

 

“Office.” Principal Kim said sternly. “Now.”

 

The four students followed. One was confused with was going to happen next. Two of them knew exactly what was going to happen next. The other one was pleased, knowing what was going to happen next.

 

“So your real name is Miyoung?”

 

Tiffany sighed, “I tell you a childhood story and that’s all you get out of it?”