“And if you need to contact the reception while showing a bedroom to a guest, you just need to dial 0 on your walkie-talkie”, explained Jiwoo to Jinsoul. It was her first day working as a receptionist. She wasn't working in fact yet, but just learning more about her function. Jiwoo had been the one chosen to teach her. “Any questions?”

“Hmmm no I guess.”

Jiwoo complains in a playful tone, “Damn it's not fun teaching you! You understand everything the first time you hear my explanations!”

Jinsoul giggles, “It’s just because you’re a good teacher!” She was impressed by how lightful and hectic Jiwoo naturally was. It kind of reminded her of Heejin, even though they had different personalities, both were cheerful and funny (except that Heejin was more of a sarcastic person for Jinsoul’s misfortune).

“So, what do you think of getting your measures for your uniform now?”

Jinsoul follows Jiwoo to her private room, which is in the same corridor of Haseul's room. She notices that the room’s door is opened and the lights inside are turned off.

“Isn't Haseul working today?”

“No… In fact she doesn't usually come to work here, her job is more related to 'creative stuff’, and she can manage the hotel at home. I don't know if you know it, but she isn't just some important ceo, but also the owner of the hotel, so she's always trying to come up with different things to improve the hotel.”

Jinsoul's jaw drops, “Oh… I didn't know she is the owner, I thought she was just someone with an important position here.”

Jiwoo gets a measuring tape and starts measuring Jinsoul, “Trust me, she prefers it this way. Only the employees in higher positions know she isn't just some other manager.”

“Why?”

“She’s afraid that it may pressure the employees when they see her around here. Y'know, don't let yourself be fooled by those fancy clothes she wears, Haseul is actually a really humble person.” Jiwoo whispers, “And she doesn't really like owning the hotel.”

“What?”

Jiwoo covers , “Whoops I've talked to much. By the way, nice measures!”, and hits her new colleague with her elbow, who just gets her cheeks flushed in answer.

They both get outside the room and before they follow their own ways, Jiwoo talks again, “Look, if you wanna know more about Haseul you can just ask her. It's not a secret this thing of her not liking to own the hotel but it is related to some personal stuff that I'd rather not be the one to tell you.” She looks at her wristwatch, “Damn look at the time I must get going! See ya Jinsoul!” She runs away, living an intrigued girl behind.

Since she has the rest of the day free, Jinsoul decides to go home walking. The sky was cloudy but she had seen in the weather forecast that is wasn't going to rain, so it was perfect for a ride outdoors.

She stops by the supermarket, where she found Haseul shopping too. The woman was wearing a hoodie, shorts and slippers, so Jinsoul could now notice how small she was, which she found cute. She was also talking to someone on the telephone, “Damn Sooyoung couldn't you just buy the stuff you need by yourself? Okay okay I'll be waiting for you tonight and please don't ing arrive late as always!” She ended the phone call and Jinsoul approached her from behind, touching her shoulder softly.

“Hi Haseul.”

She looks at Jinsoul with a wide smile on her face. “Hey Jinsoul! How was your first day at work?” She signs her to follow while she gets the rest of the things she needs to buy.

“I didn't work at all, Jiwoo just explained me what I need to know. She is really nice!”

“I know right? And are you prepared to start working for real tomorrow?”

“I am! But I'm even more prepared to get my money end of the month y’know.” Jinsoul winks at Haseul, who laughs at the comment.

Seeing Haseul next to her in those casual clothes, smiling while talking to her in that so carefree way, makes Jinsoul wish to approach Haseul. Physically and emotionally. She wants to hug Haseul at the same time she wants to know about the person next to her, her fears and concerns. She isn't sure about why she is so intriguing to her, maybe a little of this is because of what Jiwoo told her earlier and their past interactions, but it doesn't change the fact that Haseul does intrigue her.

“So… are you free next friday?”, Jinsoul asks out of the blue. Neither her nor Haseul had seen it coming, 'what the are you planning Jinsoul?’, she thinks, and Haseul takes a while to answer, probably lost in her own thoughts.

“Uh, yes! I don't think I have anything settled for friday.”

Jinsoul almost hesitates, but continues, “Would you like to go out with me again?” She cross her fingers behind her back praying for Haseul to agree.

“I have a better idea. What if you come to my house and we cook there?”

‘What the are you planning Haseul?’ The younger gets so happy with the idea that she needs to restrain her excitement or it will infect people around, “Oh nice! I would love to cook for you!”

“No. You are going to cook with me. You’re not the only one who enjoys being in a kitchen huh.” Before the blonde starts to malfunction, she changes the topic of their talk, “I'm going to the direction of your dorm, do you want a ride back there?”

She didn't want to abuse of Haseul, she was afraid of giving a wrong impression to her, that she only wanted to take advantage of her. So she refuses, “No thanks! I want to walk a little today, it’s a beautiful day isn't it?”

But Haseul sounds disappointed, “Ah of course, I understand. Then… I'll text you later so we can settle the details of our dinner, okay?”

 

What Haseul didn't mention to Jinsoul is that she was actually literally going to her university, to take Jungeun home because she doesn’t have a car and why not driving her home so. She felt like somehow it would be wrong to mention Jungeun to her, and she wouldn't mention Jinsoul to Jungeun either. Why? She doesn't know.

Well, she did mention Jinsoul to Jungeun when she was drunk, but she wouldn't dare do it sober, that was a complete mistake. But that mistake was the reason they were talking to each other again then whatever.

She isn't in a relationship with any of them so she doesn't owe them anything, but she knows Jungeun expects to be her girlfriend someday, and she doesn't want to disappoint Jinsoul. Something about the younger girl attracts her, even though they don't know each other really well yet. She likes how Jinsoul is always unconcerned, and when she's with her she feels that way too. Not to mention the girl's looks, her pretty blonde hair and the way she looks when she pouts her lips... Haseul feels as if she's back to her freshman days again when she’s with Jinsoul.

On the other hand, there's Jungeun, someone who knows and understands her problems, and never left her side when she needed. She already messed up with her once but she doesn't want to do it again. Jungeun deserves better than what Haseul gave her before, and she's willing to give it to her this time.

She sends a message to Jungeun to let her know she has arrived, and a few seconds later she spots her coming to her direction, carrying some books she borrowed from the university's library. The books were actually fiction books, not academic ones as someone would expect. The woman gets inside the car and kisses Haseul's cheek.

“What do we have here today?” She grabs one of Jungeun's books and reads the title. “‘The Name of the Wind’. Have you already read this one?”

“Yes, this book is perfect! I read it once some months ago but I want to read again because I really liked it. There's a sequel too, called 'The Wise Man’s Fear’.”

While Haseul drives, Jungeun tells her the story of the books. Both were voracious readers, they had this habit of reading books and telling the other about it. They even tried to read a book together once but it didn't really work, so instead they would just watch series and leave the reading for when they were alone.

Jungeun‘s house is in the suburbs of the city. Currently she lives alone in her parents house, they are living out of the country so she is “taking care” of their house. She has plans of buying an apartment, but at this moment the house serves her well.

Her street is one of the most beautiful of the city, having lots of big trees with branches that cover its entire extension. Actually it is a neighborhood of old people, but she likes living there.

“I get delighted every time I come to your house, this place is just so beautiful, as if it is surrounded by magic. The weather even feels better here”, Haseul comments.

“Then you should come more here. Wanna come inside?”

Haseul sits in a chair at Jungeun’s kitchen while the house owner prepares some coffee to them, admiring how organized everything is. The place really looks like some old lady’s home, which fits Jungeun’s personality perfect. She enjoys parties and going out but if someone asks her which is the best place of the world, she will answer “my house” without hesitating. According to her it has everything she could ever want, and having the one she loves there at this moment only made this affirmation more real.

She hands Haseul a mug and sits in front of her, “I can see you planning something on your mind.”

Haseul rests her chin on her hands, “I want to work on a project to take poor kids on vacation to the hotel. I’m having a meeting with my family in two weeks but you know, they’ll be against it for sure. I can even her my father saying ‘don’t waste our money with trash darling’”, she grimaces in disgust.

Jungeun (fortunately) never had the opportunity to meet Haseul’s family, but she have already heard some awful stories about them. They are the perfect stereotype of a stingy rich couple. When Haseul was only a child they would force her to learn about everything related to their business, never letting her have the opportunity to play like other children. She didn’t really hate owning the Satellite, after starting to live without her parents she ended up liking to manage it, but if it wasn’t for the hotel she would already have cut ties with her family.

But Haseul is tough, instead of running away from her problems, she uses them in her favor. She secretly donates half of her incomes every month and is constantly involved in every kind of social activism.

Haseul clenches her fists, “I’m gonna fight them this time. Whatever, the worst they can do to me is force me to attend these monthly meetings. Sure I’m afraid of what may happen to my employees if they take the Satellite from me, I know they treat their employees really badly, but I can’t stand their actions anymore.”

Jungeun smiles, “I like that you talk about them as if they are a terrible villain that must be defeated.”

But Haseul is still serious, “They are villains of our society. It is because of disgusting people like them who have no empathy that our world is this unfair chaos.”

 

Later at night, Haseul lays on her couch waiting for Sooyoung at her house. She was supposed to arrive at 10 o'clock but apparently she would get late as she always did. Haseul orders a pizza for them and wastes some time messaging Jungeun and Jinsoul, not paying attention to the television in front of her. It’s getting too late even for her friend's standards, she keeps staring at her clock with an odd feeling in her mind.  She calls her but nobody answers the phone.

Something suddenly clicks on Haseul's mind and she gets an idea of what might have happened, but the last thing she wanted in the world was to be right about Sooyoung's whereabouts.

Haseul and Sooyoung got friends when they were teenagers, their parents had some business together and they would always attend the same meetings. By that time Haseul was been instructed about how to manage a hotel, how to deal with money and other things she didn't want to know but her parents forced her to. Even though Sooyoung was involved in the same environment, her parents weren't harsh as Haseul's and they didn't really care if she would follow their steps, they wished her to be successful in whatever career she chose to follow.

Sooyoung was who gave Haseul the opportunity to live a normal teenager, her way to abstract from her duties and to have some fun. They would always ditch classes at school, sleepover, go to parties and stuff. Everything was fine until… Sooyoung's parents got murdered.

Apparently her grandfather did some deal with wrong people and that resulted in his daughter and her husband's death. Her grandmother was already deceased so he ended up killing himself too, leaving a fragile Sooyoung alone. She closed herself completely and would never talk about it to anyone, acting like she was just an empty shell with no soul.

She stopped attending classes and every place she would go with Haseul, and she would never let her friend enter her house or contact her. But one day she left her door unlocked.

Haseul knocked the door and called Sooyoung but the girl didn't answer, so she just entered the apartment trying to be as quiet as possible.

A scream left her lungs when she got inside Sooyoung’s room. The floor was full of syringes and her friend was lying unconscious on the bed. She called an ambulance, and later the doctors told her that her friend had a heroine overdose.

Sooyoung frequented rehabilitation for little more than one year. While that, Haseul got responsible to sell everything she received as heritage, and with the money she opened her nightclub after finishing high school and payed for college.

Even after all those years “clean”, sometimes she would complain about wanting to use drugs again. Her past isn’t something she would hide from her friends because she knew that letting them know about this episode of her life was for the best, they would always calm her down when she felt like getting into this dark reality again. But she is a grown woman and can’t be babysit all the time.

The first place Haseul looks for Sooyoung is at the nightclub. Her co-worker Jeup explains it’s Sooyoung's day off so he hasn't seen her around. So she decides to look for her at the place that Sooyoung told her before that she used to buy heroine. Fortunately she founds her friend just walking on the street, before she could arrive the mentioned place.

She steps out of her car and walks to her friends direction, “Sooyoung!”, she screams.

The one called giggles, clearly drunk, “Hi Seulie~”, and hugs her friend awkwardly, “What are you doing here?”

Haseul keeps calm as it would be of no use to get mad at her friend in her current condition. “What are you doing here, weren't you supposed to go to my house?”

Sooyoung gets surprised, “Damn you're right! I knew I was forgetting something!”

Haseul puts her friend inside her car and drives to Sooyoung's apartment quietly. The woman on the backseat looks through the window, “Y'know Seulie… Today is the six yeah anniversary of my parents death. I just ing miss them.” She sniffs, “I don't know I... Just feel really empty. I know I have you and Jungeun too but, sometimes I feel like there's no one to look at me. I'm scared.” Tears roll down her face, “I'm afraid that I'm gonna start drugging myself up at any time, damn I was ing about to buy that again!”

Haseul holds the steering wheel stronger, her knuckles getting white, “Soo…”

“Please don't tell me anything know I'm already feeling dumb enough only with my own thoughts.” She follows the advice, but not because she wanted to tell something that would make her feel dumb, but because she wouldn't listen to anything contrary to her own thoughts.

At Sooyoung's building, Haseul guides her friend to her apartment, and sends a message to Jungeun, who was also worried about their friend, explaining what happened and that everything was okay now. She replies saying that she is calling a cab, on her way to Sooyoung's apartment.

Haseul lays Sooyoung on her bed and covers her with a blanket, the woman was almost falling asleep. She sits next to her friend and caresses Sooyoung's head, her pretty dark hair that always smelled something good, this time like some chocolate shampoo.

When she is about to leave the room, the sleepy woman speaks up, “I knew I was about to have a breakdown again but I didn't tell anyone.”

“Why no-”

“I'm afraid that you're all gonna give up on me some time.”

Haseul holds Sooyoung's hands tightly, “We won't.” She stays quiet for a while, and when she's about to speak up again, the other is already breathing healthy in dreamland.

Jungeun arrives just a bit later, opening the door without knocking. She founds Haseul sitting on the couch alone, “Is she okay? Did she…?” She mimics someone using a syringe.

Haseul explains what happened and tells her what Sooyoung told her last. She also adds, “It’s been a long time since what happened to her family already, but I think we could send her to a psychologist. Maybe she has some kind of trauma because of what happened? Besides, attending some therapy won't do any harm.”

“Yeah true, I think you might be onto something here.”

Sooyoung wakes up in the middle of the night with two woman sleeping on her living room. She stands in front of them and crosses her arms, speaking loudly, “What are you two doing here?” Both answer with sleepy voices.

“Hi Soo.”

“Morning.”

“I have a very comfortable double bed in my extra room and one of you slept on my couch and the other on the ing floor, what were you thinking? I thought you were talking to each other again so there are no excuses for you don't share a bed.”

Jungeun answers, “The last thing I was worried about earlier was where I would sleep tonight but now that I know I don't have to stay on these awful couch I'm going to get some real sleep.”

“The floor was really nice but I rather sleep on a bed too, just a habit I have y'know?” Haseul walks to the bedroom and adverts Sooyoung, “I want to discuss something with you later, it’s nothing bad but you may not like so, be prepared.” She doesn't even gets worried, just being happy for having the two most important people of her life with her right now.