YongSun was feeling high. Maybe elated was a better word. She could not help but smile the entire way home. She was a little scared when she woke up that morning at Byul’s house, in her bed, wrapped up in her arms. She pretend she was a asleep for a bit when Byul first woke up so they didn't have to wake up face to face and embarrassed; however, she did fall back to sleep. YongSun’s brain was working overtime at the breakfast table trying to figure out what was going, what they had said, what she was feeling. Luckily they had cleared the air and now she was shinning as bright as the sun.

YongSun found herself humming as she got ready. She showered and picked out a clean outfit, she had been sporting Byul's black shirt all morning and she had no desire to give it back anytime soon. She had an urge to wear it again, because it smelled of her, but she realized that would be a bit weird if she showed up to see Byul still wearing her shirt. She folded it neatly and put it on the top of her dresser.
YongSun exited her room to find her sister and mother sitting at the table, each with a cup of tea in front of them and a shared plate of fruit between them. Her mother looked up at her an smiled. “YongSun Ah, come sit with us.”
YongSun did as her mother said and took a seat next to her sister, who was looking intently at her face. “Why are you so happy?” She asked bluntly.
YongSun was taken aback for a second. “It is a nice day.” She shrugged it off.
“What friend’s house did you stay at last night, WheeIn?” YongSun felt like her sister was interrogating her.
YongSun sipped her tea. “No,” She felt her mother look up at her. “My new friend ByulYi. I met her at the convenience store around the block, we go to school together.” She felt herself start to ramble so she stopped herself fast.
Her mother smiled. “I am glad you are making new friends, perhaps you can invite her over for dinner sometime so we can meet her.”
YongSun felt her face go red, she felt like she was doing something wrong, like she was lying. “I’ll ask her when I see her later.” She swallowed.
“You seem to spend a lot of time with this girl.” Her sister interjected. “You go to that store a lot.” She could tell her sister wasn't trying to be mean despite the harshness in her words, she could tell YongSun was hiding something and she was trying to get it out of her.
“YongHee, leave your sister alone, I am glad she is making new friends, she spends too much time at home.” She turned to YongSun. “Invite your friend over, let me know what day would be good for her and if she has any allergies.” YongSun nodded.
She glanced at the time, it was already going on two in the afternoon, she had spent more time getting ready than she realized. “I better get going, I was going to spend the afternoon doing homework at the library.” Not a complete lie, but she felt like if she said she was going to see Byul again at her other job then YongHee would have something to say.
“Don't be out too late.” Her mother told her as she put her cup in the sink, she agreed and went to collect her school stuff from her room, leaving her mother and sister to their conversation.

About an hour later YongSun was standing outside of The Coffee House regretting her choices. She had been so egar to go see Byul again she didn't think how weird it would look that she showed up so early in Byul's shift to do homework, she didn't have that much of it to do, she just wanted the excuse to see her again. It was now just past three and Byul still had four hours of her shift left, there was no way YongSun had four hours worth of homework to do, at this rate she was going to be way ahead of the class.
She sighed and pushed open the door, the more she thought about it, the more odd it looked that she was just standing outside of the doors. The bell above the door chimed and the cashier looked up. It was Byul, her face went from customer friendly to a real smile, one that made YongSun's heart do a few flips in her chest. She walked up to the counter, mirroring Byul’s smile, feeling the pink in her cheeks.
Byul stood up taller and placed her hands on her lower abdomen in a polite way. “Hello customer-nim, what can I get you today?”
YongSun tried not to laugh as she felt her smile grow, seeing Byul was trying no to break out laughing either. “I am not sure.” She said tapping her lip as she glanced over the board, her eyes settled back on Byul's. “What would you recommend?”
Byul looked back at the board, assessing it. “You look like someone who would like an ice Americano, but our latés are also very good.” She turned back to her. “I will take a late.” She said as she pulled out her card. Byul took it with both hands and swiped it for her.
“You you like that to stay or to go?” She asked in her customer service voice, YongSun eyed a manager lurking in the background.
YongSun smiled politely. “It will be to stay, thank you.” She said as she took her card back.
Byul handed her a disk. “Please place this on your table and we will bring you your drink when it is ready.”
YongSun gave a slight dip of her head. “Thank you.”
Byul smiled at her and mimed texting on her phone. YongSun looked at her phone, there was a message from Byul telling her that her break was in ten minutes. YongSun hadn't even seen her message her. She looked at Byul and nodded, taking her disk to a nearby table, where she could still see Byul was she worked. A different employee dropped off her drink, it seemed Byul's was stuck at the cash.
About ten minutes later when YongSun was focused on her work, another person slid on to the seat in front of her. Byul was wearing an apron over a brown shirt and black pants, she had the visor she was wearing in her hand, the other sliding a plate of baked goods to the centre of the table. “I didn't know what you wanted so I grabbed a bit of everything.”
She was right, the whole plate was stacked with a bit of everything from their showcase. “You didn't have to.” She said starting to feel embarrassed.
Byul shrugged. “We only keep things for a few hours, these were about to go back to the kitchen for us to share, my coworker said it was okay.” She pointed to the girl who brought YongSun her late, the girl smiled and gave a short wave.
YongSun grabbed a cookie, Byul looked at it like she was making a note. “Thank you.” She said nibbling on the end.
Byul smiled at her again. “What are you working on?” She asked looking at the laptop YongSun had open beside her.
YongSun looked at her screen. “Just doing my weekly readings, working my way up to some assignments.” Not a total lie but she didn't have to do the reading, she was just holding off on the assignments so she didn't run out of work. Byul nodded. “Ah,” YongSun said remembering what her mother told her. “My mother invited you over for dinner.” Byul looked up shocked, YongSun could see the slight blush climbing her neck and she tried not to smile. “You don't have to if you don't want to, I just thought I'd extended the invitation.”
Byul shook her head. “No of course I want to come, you just took me by surprise.” She nervously took a bite of a cookie. “I'm just not use to being invited to people's houses.”
That was right, Byul mentioned her only friend was HyeJin and she didn't live with her parents. “Well it doesn't have to be this week, just whenever you want. My mom is just excited I have a new…” Her brain stopped for a second, what exactly were they? They'd spent the night in each other's arms, they'd both confessed, or at least she figured they had in some way. “Friend.” She added. “She likes that I am getting out of the house.” She added to her own embarrassment. She definitely felt like they were more than just friends but nothing had been said otherwise.
“Do your parents know?” She didn't have to ask what to know what Byul meant.
“I think my sister does. I've never told them flat out but I think they have their suspicions.” It was not like YongSun hadn't had boyfriend's before but she never told her parents about her other attractions, but she knew they were most likely just waiting for her to tell them.
“My family does.” She said breaking eye contact.
YongSun got a chill. “Is that why you live out here?” Byul told her it was for school but now she wasn't so sure.
Byul looked shocked. “Oh God no, they accepted it, very naturally. I just miss them a lot, I don't have a lot of money to spare for a ticket home even for a weekend, or even the time to go.” YongSun's heart stopped for a beat, she felt like both crying and going to the other side of the table to comfort Byul.
YongSun reached across the table and gave Byul's hand squeeze, Byul's face softened at the touch. “Don't worry, you will get to see them again soon, for now I'll be your family.” As soon as she said the last part she was sure she wanted to climb under the table and hide but Byul only smiled.
Byul squeezed back. “Thank you Unnie.” YongSun's heart warmed. Byul said her break was over and she had to get back. YongSun waved her off and turned her attention back to laptop. She felt like this was the start of something good for the both of them. Now she just had to pretend she was working and not watching Byul as she worked.

I'll be your family. The words kept echoing in Byul's mind. She couldn't help but smile every time she thought about YongSun saying it to her, the softness and determination behind her face when she said it. There was nothing more By wanted to do than keep replaying that moment over and over. The things she felt when she saw YongSun was beyond what she was use to with any other girl, not to mention the things she thought about when she looked at her with those large eyes… Byul shook her head, this was not the time for thoughts like that.
A man walked in and she had to draw her attention to him. He was taller than Byul but not by too much, he was handsome and looked very sweet. Byul greeted him and took his order. And ice Americano to go, her coworker was on her break so it was Byul's job to make the drinks. She handed him the drink.
Just as he was about to leave he stopped. Byul would not have thought anything of it, had he not just stopped and started looking at YongSun as she worked. He slowly made his way closer to her and Byul felt her blood begin to heat.
“YongSun Ah?” He asked stepping up to the table. She looked up shocked and Byul was ready to step in if needed.
But YongSun smiled. “Oh, Eric.” Byul couldn't hear what else was said after that because she got a line of customers. She kept looking back, he had sat down and they were talking, a large smile was plastered on YongSun's face. The same one she gave Byul. She could see the boy smiling too, Byul was fighting the urge to find some excuse to interrupt them but she could not leave her till.
After about thirty minutes of torture the boy got up and left the cafe. YongSun looked over at Byul and smiled at her when she saw her looking. Byul tried to smile back as best she could but if felt like the one she would give to difficult customers. YongSun didn't seem to notice and went back to her work, leaving Byul to obsess about it for the rest of her shift.

Byul was quiet on their walk to the bus stop. YongSun waited out her whole shift so they could walk home together but Byul was barely paying any attention to her. Maybe she had make a mistake earlier that she was unaware of, she had told Byul that she would be her family while she was away from her’s, it seemed like the right thing to say at the time and Byul seemed happy when she did, but now YongSun wasn’t so sure.
As they walked YongSun kept accidentally bumping into Byul’s are to try and get her attention but it didn’t seem to phase her. Finally YongSun just stopped walking all together, Byul making it a few feet ahead before she seemed to realize that YongSun had stopped.
Byul looked up looking a bit dazed at YongSun. “Why did you stop?” She said with a glance in the direction of the bus stop.
YongSun crossed her arms over her chest. “Did I do something wrong?” Byul looked even more confused now. “You’ve barely said one word to me since we left The Coffee House, did I do something to upset you? Because if I did I can just find another way home.” YongSun couldn’t help but sound angry.
Byul’s expression went from confused, to realization, to shocked. “No,” She walked toward YongSun and grabbed her shoulders. “Sorry, you didn’t do anything wrong. I just…” Her hands slid down YongSun’s arms so Byul’s hands were just grazing the top of her hands. She only kept them there for a moment before her arms dropped to her sides. “Who was that guy you were talking to earlier?”
Now it was YongSun’s turn to be confused. “What guy?” Byul rattled off a quick description. “Oh, Eric.” She remembered now, Eric saw her at The Coffee House and sat to talk with her for a bit, was this really what was bothering Byul so much? “Eric Nam, he is an old friend. He use to live in our neighbourhood. I haven’t seen him in a few years.”
“An old friend?” Byul ran a hand through her hair. “I seemed like he was into you.” She heard some resentment in her voice.
YongSun stared blankly at her. “Are you… jealous?”
Byul’s face went beat red. She opened , closed it, then opened it again. “I just thought… well you know that he was a good looking guy and you seemed very happy to see him and…”
YongSun marched forward, grabbed Byul by the arms and quickly kissed her on the cheek. When she pulled back, she could see the shock on Byul’s face and feel the result of her boldness on her own. “There is only one person I am interested in.” She said to a still very shocked Byul. “And that person is not Eric.”
They both stood in silence for a few minutes. Finally Byul looked up at YongSun and said almost too quietly. “So what does that make us?”
YongSun was not use to being the bold one, that was Byul’s job, but in this moment perhaps it was her turn to be the Unnie and sooth Byul’s worries. “I guess we will have to figure that out together.” She said with a slight smile.
Byul stepped in again but neither made a move to touch the other. “YongSun Ah.” YongSun could feel Byul’s breath on her face. “Would you like to go out with me?” YongSun’s face broke into a smile so wide she thought her face was going to crack. “I thought you’d never ask.” Byul pulled YongSun into an embrace, holding her as close as she could.
The moment broke when YongSun spotted the bus rounding the corner, Byul grabbed her hand and they dashed to make it to the stop before it passed them. The entire way home Byul linked her arm with YongSun, it was as brazen as they were willing to get on a public bus. When they finally said their goodbyes, Byul’s hand moved down YongSun’s and their fingers laced momentarily before Byul dropped it. She stepped in, looked around the dark alley and gave YongSun a kiss on her cheek, the same place YongSun did before. “Until tomorrow.” She whispered in her ear.
YongSun hit her in the shoulder with a closed fist. “Greasy.” She said with a pout.
Byul laughed as she walked off toward her house, stopping a few feet away to wave as she left. YongSun turned toward her house and began to walk, hand on her cheek where Byul’s lips had just been, face burning like the sun.