Seulgi's running late for lunch so she hurries with all of the things she bought and meets Chomi. She walks in the restaurant and spots the two in a table with some people. She immediately thinks that they're not done meeting their friends so she starts to leave because she doesn't want to intrude on anything. However, Chorong sees her.

"Seulgi-yah! Come here." She calls her, waves and smiles and all that, like she hasn't seen her in a while which is weird. Still, Seulgi walks up to their table.

"Seulgi, this is Taeyeon unnie, she's my friend from work." Chorong says. "And this is Tiffany unnie, Taeyeon unnie's... wife." She hesitates on the last word, waits for Seulgi's response to it but nothing happens.

Seulgi just bows to the couple and introduces herself. She takes a seat and a waiter hands her a menu. She orders pancakes with sausages and waits. She's not really sure what to expect because she's meeting new people for the first time in a really long time.

"So, you're Bomi's cousin?" The woman sitting directly across from Seulgi asks. "You're very cute. She's cute, right, yeobo?" She turns to the girl next to her who, Seulgi only notices now, has blonde hair with pink ombre highlights. 

Seulgi wants to say thank you as it's the polite thing to do but she can't say anything. She's too fascinated by the couple in front of her. They look pretty interesting. They're kind of tiny too. Well, Bomi and Chorong are tiny as well. Come to think of it, she's the tallest among all of them even though she's probably the youngest. But it's not nice to tease people for their height so she dimisses the thought.

"What is it that you do, Seulgi?" The blonde girl asks.

"I, uh, stay at home." There's silence for a bit, like they're waiting for her to say more but she doesn't. The two burst into laughter but it's not entirely rude so she doesn't feel offended. Still, she doesn't know what their laughter means so she gives them a confused look.

"I mean, what do you like to do?" The woman clarifies.

"Oh. I like riding the train and eating." Seulgi says. They smile at her answer, thinking how cute she is. They also nod and she assumes she answered their question well but Bomi speaks up.

"Seulgi has a fine arts degree." She looks at Seulgi before continuing. "She's good at drawing and painting."

"Ah. I see." Tiffany picks up her coffee cup daintly and Seulgi can't help but watch her. Soojung holds cups in a similar way and it makes her smile. She likes these people already. 

Maybe she'll introduce them to Soojung and they can go on married people dates with them and Chomi when they get married but Soojung has to come back first, of course.

"Seulgi's into sports too. She likes swimming and running." Bomi continues. Seulgi turns her gaze to her again, finds it weird that Bomi is talking about her like she isn't there. 

"She can play the guitar and has a really good voice." Chorong says. Seulgi looks at her too.

"Wow! Really? I'm a songwriter and producer. I wanna hear you sing some time." Taeyeon says, smiles at her.

The food arrives and she's given an excuse to not participate in the conversation as it's starting to feel uncomfortable - Bomi and Chorong are taking turns in talking about her like they were showing her off or something. She can feel her ears getting warm but she keeps quiet even though she wants to say that what they're saying is not true anymore because all she ever does now is eat and sleep. 

Her thoughts drift away as she looks out the window and she's in a different place now. She's in New York, at that organic food place Soojung likes so much, with Soojung. They're having dinner and she's holding her hand under the table while she laughs at a joke their married couple friends said. She smiles, drinks in the sight of Soojung because she hasn't seen her for almost a year now and she looks so beautiful. 

She wants to reach out and kiss her but she feels a tap on her shoulder and, bam, she's in Korea. Bomi's standing by her chair and she's telling her it's time to leave. 

Seulgi gets up from her seat and says her goodbyes to Taeyeon and Tiffany, tells them that it was a pleasure meeting them, smiling all the while.

Just then, Taeyeon hands her a piece of paper. She takes it and realizes that it's a hand-drawn map of Myeong-dong with the food places in cute doodles. She looks at it carefully, smiles at how much attention was put to the details. It's even color-coded. There's a signature at the top right corner and she reads the initials out loud.

"KTY and SSW?" Her eyebrows quirk. "Isn't that something like the train?"

"Uh, no KTY is me. Kim Tae Yeon. The train is KTX." Taeyeon says, she stands on the tip of her toes and puts an arm around Seulgi's shoulders. "Do you like it?"

"Very much! Thank you, Taeyeon unnie." She replies, smiles brightly at her, feeling grateful for not being laughed at her mistake.

"You're welcome. Chorong told me how you liked going to Myeongdong so I put that together for you."

"It's very nicely done. You even colored the little windows." She commented.

"Yeah. Somebody helped me with that." Taeyeon watches her.

"SSW?" Seulgi reads the other set of initials.

"Mhmm. She's my sister-in-law. She's actually your age." 

"That's nice of her. Helping you color the windows in." Seulgi says, holds the map carefully in her hands, not wanting to crumple it. She's thinking of getting it laminated when Taeyeon speaks again.

"You should meet her. I think you'll be great friends." Her smile at Seulgi gets wider.

--

"She's really cute." Tiffany says, taking her wife's free hand as the other is occupied with the steering wheel.

"She's a nice kid. She'll do nicely with our Wanie." Taeyeon replies.

"Are you hopeful this time?"

"I am. She needs someone like Seulgi. Bomi says Seulgi needs someone like Seungwan too." Taeyeon smiles at Tiffany.

"Okay. The only thing that's left to do is get them to meet." She looks out the window, gasps when an idea comes to her. "I've got something." 

--

"Seul?" 

Seulgi turns her head to the source of the voice but she doesn't step away from the window, she's too mesmerized by the little balls of light from the cars on the street below.

"I've something for you." Bomi continues, hides her hands behind her. She's smiling so Seulgi wonders if it's some sort of prank. She doesn't see Chorong anywhere and her suspicions get worse.

"Ah, why are you looking at me like that?" Bomi complains. 

"Are you going to prank me? You should know that if you do, I will tell on you to Chorong unnie." Seulgi warns.

"I'm not going to prank you! Aish." Bomi exhales loudly through her nose, frowns up at the younger girl. "Am I really not trustworthy?" 

Seulgi shrugs, walks over to sit on her bed.

"Whatever. Just come here." Bomi puts her hands in front of her to reveal a box she's holding.

"Is that a-" 

"It's a gift from my dad. For you." Bomi smiles at her as she opens the box. She carefully takes out the gadget and places it on Seulgi's palm.

"Smartphone? Am I allowed to have one of these?" Seulgi asks, looking very surprised.

"Of course! You're gonna need it to contact me or Rongie." Bomi replies. "There are limitations, however. You're only allowed to call me and her and food delivery."

Seulgi pouts. Soojung isn't on the list of people she's allowed to contact. It's not like she knows Soojung's number but still.

"You said it's from uncle? He knows I'm living with you?"

"Yup. But don't worry. He's not going to tell your mom or your dad. He promised me." Bomi pats her on the knee.

"Thanks, unnie. Can you tell uncle I said 'thank you'?"

"I will." Bomi gets up from her bed, makes to leave but hesitates. "Oh, I almost forgot! There's two other people you're allowed to contact." Bomi pauses.

Seulgi looks up at her hopefully, prays that Soojung is one of them.

"Taeyeon unnie and Tiffany unnie." 

Seulgi's hopes come crashing to the floor but she tries to not let it show, smiles a small smile.

"I've already saved their numbers there so if you ever feel like wanting to meet them or whatever, you can contact them."

"Okay."

"That's all. Good night. Did you take your meds?" Bomi looks at her and for once, she feels like lying but decides against it.

"I haven't." 

"Rongie! Seulgi needs her pills." Bomi walks out the door and she hears Chorong yell back.

"Coming!"

She busies herself with her new phone, explores the features a little just before Chorong makes her take her nightly medications. 

Seulgi thinks that it's unfortunate that she won't get to contact Soojung even though she has a means of doing so now. She wants to hear her voice so badly. She wants to see her face so badly. She has so many things to say to her but she can't. 

Her conscience would kill her if she goes against Bomi's terms. Bomi who has been very trusting. She can't ever bear to break that trust.

She swallows her pills with water and Chorong tucks her in bed, like she has been doing since she arrived.

"Rong unnie," Seulgi calls her softly.

"Hmm?"

"Thanks for introducing me to your friends."

"You're welcome, Seulgi. Keep in mind that from now on, they're you're friends too."

"I should send them a text. Thank them for the map." Seulgi mumbles, getting sleepy. "Good night, mom."

She hears Chorong chuckle lightly as her eyes flutter to a close.

----------------------------

A/N: Kinda short but I'll update soon so prepare to meet Wendy's character!

- Bluekimchi