Seongbuk-gu, 6:06 PM

Sehun was wrong. He groaned as he climbed up the small hill to Jihye’s house, stomach rumbling irritatingly as if to annoy him into eating. Perhaps he should have bought a snack between classes, or better yet, remembered to eat lunch.  Approaching the front door, he pulled his hand out of his pocket and tapped in the passcode to the lock. The lock released with a click and Sehun pushed the door open before slipping his shoes off.

Wasting no time, he dropped his bag by the entrance and headed straight for the kitchen. His first target was the fridge, but seeing it filled with nothing but containers upon containers of leftovers and vegetables, he closed the door and moved on to inspecting the pantry. He opened one cupboard, found that it was filled with a few cans of tuna, biscuits and boxes of tea but Sehun was hungrier than a snack. His Goldilocks moment came when he opened the next cupboard, a stack of instant ramyun packets piled right at the front of the shelf.

He pulled one out and went to close the cupboard, but hesitated for a moment. Sehun pulled out another packet and started on his meal.

 

Less than an hour later Sehun was slouched on his seat at the table, the pot of ramyun sitting in front of him, still a third full. With the lid resting in his left hand and chopsticks in his right, Sehun threw his head back and burped crudely just as the front door beeped open.

Sehun froze as his eyes met Jihye’s upside-down form. In a second he was upright, pot lid and chopsticks still in his hands as he stood up and bowed his head.

“W-Welcome back, Noona,” he sputtered. Jihye glanced at the boy’s hands quizzically before noticing the pot on the table.

“Did you make ramyun?” She walked over to the table and sniffed at the pot. “Smells good,” she said.

“I’m sorry for going through your cupboards, I was hungry,” Sehun mumbled.

“That’s okay, I hardly eat the stuff anyway,” she dismissed, disappearing into the kitchen before coming back out with a pair of chopsticks. She reached into the pot and pushed a mouthful of the lukewarm noodles into . Her eyes widened at the taste. “This is really good, what did you put in it?”

“Uh, just like, an egg and cheese and soy sauce and stuff, you know...” Sehun suddenly felt like he was on MasterChef, but Jihye quickly broke the illusion.

“Are you going to eat the rest of this?”   

“Huh- Um, no, I’m full.”

“Great!” Jihye sat in the chair Sehun previously occupied and dug into the leftovers. “I’m so hungry, oh my God.”

Sehun didn’t know what to make of the scene in front of him. So he watched the older woman, a little dumbstruck, as she wolfed down his ramyun. He hadn’t done anything special, in fact he always thought he was making ramyun the same way everyone else was. ‘Does this woman not know how to make ramyun?’ he thought. Just as she slurped down the last of the noodles she seemed to remember Sehun was still in the room.

“What are you standing around for? Take a seat,” she said as she stood up and scurried into the kitchen again. Confused, Sehun tentatively sat at the head of the table. A moment later Jihye reappeared, this time with a small bowl of rice in her hand which she then dumped into the pot to soak up the soup with. She then proceeded to dig into the pot with a spoon- which Sehun had no idea where she conjured up from.

He figured it would be rude to stare for too long so he took to staring at his lap instead, twiddling his fingers as he waited for Jihye to finish eating.

“So,” Jihye started, swallowing another mouthful. “How was school?”

“Um, good.” Sehun gave Jihye a tight-lipped smile. He wasn’t being insincere- it was good to see Jongin and the others after so long, although all the missed homework was a put off- he just wasn’t very used to anyone asking about his day.

“I’m guessing you have a lot of work to catch up on?”

“Yeah, I do.”

“And you don’t go to a tutoring academy?”

“Uh- no, I don’t.” Jihye raised a brow at his response.

“How come?” she asked curiously. After all, it was unusual for a kid his age not to. In fact, Jihye found it odd that he was even at home as early as he was. He looked like he was in his second to last year of high school, shouldn’t he be putting in extra hours? Most other kids wouldn’t even be home until ten but Sehun was munching away in her living room at seven.

“My, uh…” he seemed to grimace faintly before continuing, “parents didn’t think I needed it.”

“Really? You must be smart, then.” Sehun brushed off the compliment with an uneasy laugh.

“I’m not really.”

“But you must be, since you go to Daewon as well. I’ve heard its quite a competitive school, surely you’d have to be pretty smart to do well without extra tutoring?” Jihye was speaking into the pot as she scraped her spoon around the base, trying to pick up the last grains of cold, soup-soaked rice. Sehun took her distracted state as an opportunity to change the topic.

“By the way,” he started. Jihye hummed to show she was listening. “What do you do, Noona?” She put her spoon down and swallowed her last mouthful.

“I’m a lawyer,” she said with a genuine smile. Sehun gauged her expression with interest. There was a twinkle in her eyes that he didn’t see in a lot of people, mostly just little kids when they talked about their favourite plush toys.

“What kind?” he asked, wide eyed.

“Family law- mainly divorce and custody disputes,” she said candidly.

“Oh.” Sehun couldn’t help his face from falling, he was expecting something different. For a moment he had allowed himself to think that this woman was different. “Do you enjoy it?” Jihye found Sehun’s face quite easy to read, it was a question she got often.

“What? Breaking people up?” She chuckled when Sehun gave the slightest nod of his head. “Not really, but if it’s what the client wants then I’m happy to help,” she shrugged.

Sehun nodded thoughtfully. He was a little surprised that Jihye wasn’t a school teacher or something, she seemed so cheerful and considerate, while lawyers were, in his opinion, indifferent and exploitative. He’d seen the things his father’s lawyers would do to make sure they got their way, they didn’t care about other people- they only want what’s best for their paycheques.

But Jihye was so kind that it didn’t make sense to him. What was in it for her? What did she gain from putting a roof over some kid’s head and letting him eat her ramyun? He was sure that she just felt bad for him, and if she were a school teacher, that would make sense. But adults in the corporate world were different, they were selfish. And they didn’t care for kids like Sehun.

 

Later that night Sehun was finally able to turn his phone on. He was stretched out on his futon, which in turn was stretched out on the living room floor, phone held above his face as he waited for it to start up. It was currently connected to a spare charging cable that Jihye had lying around, plugged into the wall-socket in the corner of the room which Sehun had to huddle into. The device glared a blinding white, causing Sehun to squint harshly at the screen before it displayed his lock screen. At once he was greeted by a long list of unread notifications.

’28 missed calls from Jongin’

‘7 new messages from Jongin’

’16 new e-mails’

‘2 new messages from Yeol’

‘4 missed calls from Kyungsoo’

Unsurprisingly, there were no calls or messages from his father. He scoffed before opening up Jongin’s thread.

Jongin   SUN AT 10:07 AM
yo u free today? let’s go to that new burger place in hongdae!!!
4:32 PM
guess not lol
MON AT 11:56 AM
hey man u coming to school today?
TUES AT 5:03 PM
dude where are u??
7:17 PM
Sehun can you like pick up your phone or read your messages or something please
WED AT 11:49 PM
if you don’t show up at school tomorrow I’m calling the police this isn’t funny anymore
THURS AT 10:52 PM
have u charged ur phone yet lmao

Sehun wanted to laugh but instead felt guilty reading Jongin’s messages, he’d left the poor guy worried for almost a whole week. He knew it wasn’t his fault but he still felt like an for unintentionally ignoring his best friend so he quickly typed up a reply. 

10:09 PM
	hey man I charged my phone at last lol sorry for worrying u again tho

A few seconds later his phone vibrated and Jongin’s reply popped up under his.

all good man at least ur not missing anymore haha
			yeah but I still feel bad lol I’ll shout u lunch dude
call! can we go to the burger place then pls J
		sure sounds good
		when do u wanna go?
tomorrow? we can meet at hongik uni station at like 1 or smthn
	cool I’ll see u there then J
sweet g night dude
	lol g night jongin

Sehun locked his phone and was about to put it down when it suddenly buzzed again.

o!!! almost forgot!
have fun lmao

Underneath the text appeared some two dozen photos of Jongin’s notebooks and worksheets, all covered in Jongin’s distinct, borderline-legible handwriting. Sehun snorted at his friend, sending him an annoyed-looking emoji before locking his phone, settling onto his side and closing his eyes for the night.

 

When Sehun opened his eyes again, sunlight was creeping across the living room floor and onto his face. With a yawn he kicked off his blanket and stretched his back which was sore from lying on his side all night. He picked up his phone to check the time- he would have nearly dropped it when he saw that it was already half-past nine if he hadn’t then realised it was a Saturday- before sitting up.

He stared around the room blankly, taking in the quiet morning atmosphere. He hadn’t really had the chance to take a good look around the space yet, so despite it being his second morning waking up in Jihye’s living room, the sight still felt new. She had one couch- a three-seater, positioned in front of a small flatscreen TV which was set on top of a low table. In between them stood a wooden coffee table scattered with magazines and envelopes, and a pot plant off to the side. Her walls were bare save for the clock above the dining table and a few hooks by the entryway that were hung with a set of keys and a light, mustard coloured coat. But Jihye had come across as a very people-oriented person, so Sehun thought it odd that there weren’t any pictures in the room where the most people would be.

Jihye also came across as a morning person, so he thought it just as odd that she wasn’t up yet, seeing as she was bright-eyed and fully functioning at six, yesterday. He shrugged off the thought and instead lifted himself off the floor and out of his cosy corner to wash up. However, Sehun found himself tiptoeing to the bathroom rather than just walking, making sure to close the door as softly as he could.

He winced when he flushed the toilet, the sound of water rumbling was thunderous in the quiet house and he was sure that he heard sheets shuffling in the room next door. He tried to make up for it by washing his hands as silently as he could manage before tiptoeing back out and towards the kitchen.

Opening the fridge, Sehun eyed the array of ingredients available to him. He had already deduced from the numerous vegetable dishes at meal times and her lack of ramyun-making knowledge that Jihye was a fairly healthy eater, and the contents of the fridge only confirmed that. Each shelf was stacked with produce, most of it was green or some shade of red, orange or yellow. Bottles of fruit juice and various condiments lined the door compartments, and while the thought of making breakfast for his benefactor had crossed his mind, Sehun knew better than to try his hand at cooking real food. Instead he grabbed the bottle of milk and set it on the counter while he looked for a box of cereal.

Once he located the lone box of Cheerios in one of her cupboards, Sehun set up his bowl and parked himself on Jihye’s couch. It was Saturday morning after all, and Saturday morning meant that Power Rangers was on TV. He found the remote lying amongst the things on the coffee table and turned the television on, quickly turning the volume down till is was just loud enough for him to hear. He switched channels until he saw the familiar, brightly coloured characters vaulting around the screen, sinking into the plush cushions before starting to munch on his cereal.

By the time of the third episode, Sehun had become immersed in the children’s program, singing along to the closing theme as he tapped his fingers on the side of his bowl. Consequently, he failed to notice that Jihye had woken up and was now staring at the messy haired figure on her couch with incredulity. She stifled a laugh as Sehun pumped his arms in time with the characters on the screen, the song coming to an end.

“How old are you again?” she asked with an amused grin.

“Wha-” Sehun whipped his head around and gawked at the woman in the doorway- “oh my God.” He quickly scrambled for the remote and turned the TV off. Jihye struggled to suppress another laugh- he looked like a little kid who had been caught stealing snacks.

“Um, good morning,” he said sheepishly.

“Good morning, did you sleep well?”

“I did. Did you sleep well, Noona?” he responded immediately, straightening his back.

 “I did,” she smiled. “Looks like you were having fun,” she lifted a hand to gesture at the TV, her smile growing.

“Oh- uh…” Sehun laughed nervously, “I don’t usually do this, I, uh, probably just ate something sugary-” he lifted up his empty bowl so she could see. “Yeah. It was probably just the Cheerios,” he laughed.

“So the sugar-free cereal gave you a sugar rush?” she rebutted teasingly. Sehun slumped back into the couch. No wonder they’d tasted so bland.

“Please don’t tell anyone,” he muttered. Jihye finally let out the laugh she was holding in as she walked over to the couch.

“Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me.” She took the bowl from Sehun and patted his shoulder before walking into the kitchen. Sehun was left frozen on the couch, an embarrassed blush tinting his cheeks. He heard a soft clunk come from the kitchen- probably Jihye placing his bowl in the sink, and he sunk deeper into the couch. Maybe if he pressed himself down hard enough, he could disappear into the cushions.

“God, you’re so embarrassing,” he grumbled into his hands which came up to cover his face. A moment later he felt the other side of the couch dip. Sehun turned his head to see Jihye had joined him with her own bowl of cereal, hers had a drizzle of honey over the top. Glancing over her appearance properly for the first that that morning, he almost let his jaw drop.

Until now, he’d only ever seen her in her work clothes. She looked so poised in her neatly pressed suit, clean blouse, tidy hair and made-up face that the woman on the couch was virtually unrecognisable. The Jihye now had her bed hair tied into a messy ponytail and was dressed in a pair of thick track pants and a worn sweater with ‘SNU Class of 2008’ printed across it in yellow lettering. Her face was free of make-up, revealing the dark circles under her eyes and fatigue in her skin. Jihye lifted her feet up onto the couch and tucked them into her side.

“Do you have any plans for today?” she asked, taking Sehun aback.

“Sorry?”  

“It’s the weekend, are you doing anything?”

“Oh, I’m uh, meeting a friend for lunch.” Sehun then remembered that he was supposed to be helping Jihye with chores while he stayed with her, and that he probably should have asked for permission before made plans with Jongin. He opened his mouth to apologise, but was cut off before he could.

“Good, good. You should go out and see your friends when you can, I’m sure you’ll be up to your neck in homework soon,” she nodded. “The weekend is precious and it’s not good to stay inside all day.” She seemed to be talking more to herself.

“Um... What about you, Noona?” he asked, trying to make conversation.

“Me? I’ve got some more work to catch up on, and then I have to do the laundry. But after that I think I’ll just watch some TV—” Jihye stopped suddenly and clucked her tongue, “wait, I have to do the groceries too…” She set her, now empty, bowl onto the coffee table, shuffling through the various sheets of paper until she procured a notepad and pen from amongst them.

“Okay, so we need milk, bread, eggs, carrots, meat…” Sehun watched as she scribbled down the name of each item she thought up. She seemed so concentrated on her task that it made Sehun wonder if she’d forgotten he was there. Sehun glanced at the clock on the other side of the room, the hands lined up just before noon.

“Noona?” Jihye didn’t respond. “Noona?” he tried again, this time tapping her lightly on the shoulder with his index finger. Jihye looked up from her notepad.

“Hmm?”

“I’m going to get ready to leave now,” he said softly, afraid that if he spoke too loudly he’d burst her bubble of focus.

“Alright,” she said simply, turning back to her list. Sehun stared at her for another moment before lifting himself off the couch. He picked up the bag of Jongin’s clothes- which he now realised he couldn’t return today- and pulled out the jacket and T-Shirt. Moving into the bathroom to change, Sehun set his clothes aside and picked up the spare toothbrush that Jihye let him have from the holder on the counter.

He couldn’t help but scrutinise his reflection in the mirror while he brushed his teeth. There was no doubt that he looked much better than he did two days ago, but the effects of almost a week of freezing outdoors and barely eating still remained on his face. His skin was dry and flaking in places, and his cheeks were hollower than he remembered. But at least there was colour in his face and his hair wasn’t matted anymore. He spat out the toothpaste suds and gargled his mouth, wiping his hands on his jeans before pulling Jongin’s sweater off and replacing it with his shirt. He shrugged on the jacket before running his fingers through his hair to push it into place.

When he came out of the bathroom, Jihye was no longer in the living room. He picked his phone up from beside the charger in the corner of the room and made his way to the door and slipped his school shoes on. The pair of shiny black oxfords looked mismatched with the rest of his outfit, but having no other options, Sehun huffed and settled with them. With his hand on the door knob he turned around and called out into the house.

“I’ll be leaving now!” He turned the knob and pushed the door open, but stopped when he heard Jihye scrambling up behind him.

“Wait, wait, wait! You said you were going out for lunch, right? Here,” she held out two 10, 000 won notes. Sehun’s gaze flicked between the bills and Jihye’s expectant face. He had forgotten about the fact that he currently had no cash, and so reluctantly took the money from her hand.

“Thank you,” he bowed his head.

“No problem and- Oh, pass me your phone.” Sehun fumbled with his back pocket before pulling out his phone and handing it to her. She tapped a few keys until a buzzing came from somewhere inside the house. “My number if you need anything,” she explained as she handed the phone back. Sehun tucked the phone and money into his pockets and bowed again.

“I’ll be on my way, then.”

“Have fun, and don’t stay out too late,” she said, ushering him out the door with a wave.

 

Mapo-gu, 1:58 PM

“Those burgers were so good, man.” Jongin threw his head back as he walked out the shop door, hand on his stomach and dangerously genuine look of ecstasy glassing over his eyes. Sehun agreed, the burgers were great, but still gave his friend’s reaction a questionable glance.

“We should come here again with the other guys,” Sehun suggested. Jongin’s eyes brightened immediately at the thought of eating another excellently crafted burger.

“Yeah! Next time I think I’ll get more chips, though, they were good too…” Sehun chuckled as his friend’s steps slowed while he fantasised, making him fall behind. Sehun walked ahead and waited until the other boy jogged back up beside him.

“Hey Sehun,” he started.

“Yeah?”

“I’m glad you came out today,” he smiled. Sehun raised an eyebrow at his best friend. “You’ve been kinda hard to get a hold of this past week... It’s sappy but I missed you, man. For real.” Jongin kicked a loose pebble down the sidewalk as he walked with his hands in his pockets. “I guess I’m too used to seeing you every day,” he laughed.

Sehun came to a stop and stared at Jongin, who had stopped a few steps ahead and was now staring back at him with a confused expression. Sehun launched at Jongin whose eyes widened as he was suddenly caught in a headlock with his friend laughing above him, fist rubbing at his hair.

“You’re so corny, I can’t believe I hang out with you,” Sehun teased. 

“Hey, hey! Let go of me!” Jongin wriggled his way out of Sehun’s hold before slinging an arm around Sehun’s shoulders. “That’s the last time you’ll ever hear me say anything so nice so you better savour it, .”

“Yeah, yeah. But for the record, I missed you too, man,” Sehun gave Jongin’s shoulder a friendly punch and grinned when the latter knocked on the back of his head (but not without wincing first, of course). Jongin took his arm off Sehun and the two walked in comfortable silence, heading towards what Sehun assumed would be the arcade. Sehun appreciated the sounds of traffic and passing conversations as they walked, he hadn’t been able to go out comfortably like this in a little while, and oddly he found himself enjoying the usually noisy atmosphere.

“Oh, by the way,” Jongin interrupted. “I heard your dad’s opening a new mall in the city, didn’t you say he was having trouble pulling that through?” Sehun’s face scrunched up at the news, this was new news. Sehun didn’t normally care for his father’s work affairs, but occasionally he’d overhear a phone conversation on his way up to his room or to the door. And last he’d heard, his father didn’t have the funds to set up yet another Shinsegae branch, and that was only two months ago. Sehun was no accountant, but he knew that amounts of money huge enough to fund a brand new mega-mall in the middle of the city didn’t just show up that quickly. He quickly erased the concern from his expression.

“Yeah, I did, but maybe I was wrong,” he shrugged. Something in his eyes darkened as he continued, “you know him, he does whatever he wants. It doesn’t matter to me anyway.” Sehun shoved his hands into his pockets and stared straight down the sidewalk ahead of them. Jongin hummed and turned his face away from his friend, but didn’t fail to notice the way Sehun’s jaw went rigid. 

“Hey,” he nudged Sehun with his elbow before nodding his head at a shop front covered in bright neon and LED signs that were blinking in the daylight, vivid electronic music and sound effects resounding out from the wide entrance. “Verse you at Street Fighter? Loser buys snacks afterwards.” The grimace melted off Sehun’s face and was immediately replaced by an impish grin.

“Last one there pays for tokens!” he announced before bolting off towards the arcade, Jongin racing after him soon after.

“Hey! No fair!”