The guy smirked as Su Ji got to her knees to pick up the books. She thought he might bend down and help her, but what he did was totally unexpected: he stepped on the scattered pile, narrowly avoiding her hand before deciding this was all too unimportant for his notice and he had better places to be.

What a jerk!
Su Ji sprang up. "Yah!" she yelled at his retreating back. "Don't you think you owe me an apology? You knock into me then step on my things!"
He didn't even turn around or give any sign of acknowledgement and Su Ji was about to go after him but he headed off to the side. There was no way she was going in that direction – the woods was too close, and maybe the wolf was too. Well, then maybe the wolf could eat that rude jerk.

Su Ji picked up the books and wiped the dirt off, fuming. At least none of the books had been damaged... that was something.

Her stomach growled and she gave it another pat. "Soon," she promised.

Hesitantly, she walked into the yard she could slightly recongnize. An empty rabbit hutch stood sadly in a corner – yup, this was the right house.

Su Ji cleared and smoothed her hair before knocking at the door. "Hello, Ma'am," she muttered to herself. "My grandmother told me to-"

The door opened and she immediately fell silent and bowed in greeting to the old lady who opened it. A pair of spectacles was perched low on her nose and her salt-and-pepper hair was tied back in a severe bun – she reminded Su Ji of a librarian, and she struggled to hold back the sudden giggle that grew in her tummy.

She held out the books and said, "I'm Mrs. Lee's granddaughter, Su Ji! She told me to give these books to you-"
"Ah yes," said Mrs Choi, reaching out a gnarled hand to take them. "I'm glad your grandmother finally returned these – she really is a slow reader and I don't feel comfortable with empty spaces on my bookshelves for too long."
Su Ji tried not to giggle again, and Mrs. Choi smiled at her kindly. "I think I remember you," she said. "You were the girl who used to hang around here for the rabbits, am I right?"

Su Ji nodded. "I've lived in Seoul most of my life, so I hadn't seen many and they were really cute!"
"I know, I understand." Mrs Choi gave her another smile, and suddenly she didn't look too much like a librarian. "I heard about your father, too," she suddenly said softly.

Su Ji averted her eyes – of course, in a small town like this, everyone knew everything about each other.

"Yes, well," she said awkwardly.

Mrs Choi gave her an understanding smile. "How do you like it here?" she asked, and Su Ji was grateful for the change in subject.

"Well," said Su Ji slowly. "Like I said, I lived in Seoul for most of my life and-"
"Ah, it must be qute a change," said Mrs Choi. "Well, you'll find out that things aren't too bad around here, and you're always welcome here for a chat."
"Thank you," said Su Ji, deciding that Mrs Choi wasn't anything like a librarian.

She laughed. "To be honest, I would love it if you came down here once in a while to talk to me, you seem like a nice girl and I think we could both use some company, am I right?"
Su Ji smiled, for some reason feeling happier than when she had woken up this morning. "I would love to come here."
"Don't bother calling or anything, just come, all right?" said Mrs Choi.
Su Ji nodded and her stomach growled again, reminding her of a promise she had yet to fulfill.

"You didn't eat yet?" asked Mrs Choi.

Su Ji shook her head and Mrs Choi urged her to go home.

There was something about her... there was something that made Su Ji immediately like Mrs Choi, but she couldn't put her finger on it...

****

The last six days before school started, Su Ji spent lying around on the couch or doing odd-jobs for Grandma – covering the rose bushes so they wouldn't freeze, cleaning out the oven, beating the rugs one last time before winter, and helping with the last batch of preserves. Grandma even made strawberry jam and apple butter, which left Su Ji with very sore arms after stirring everything for hours.

Grandma shook her head in mock shame. "To think a young thing like you can't even hold a spoon-"
"GRANDMA!" yelled Su Ji. "The spoon weighed a ton! And it took hours-"
"I know, I know," said Grandma with a twinkle in her eye. "I'm just getting you to build up those muscles, they're all soft after all that city life."
Su Ji buried her head under the cushions on the couch. "Don't start again!"
Grandma laughed and got up. "It's late already, why don't you go to sleep? It takes about an hour to reach school by bus-"
Su Ji groaned. "It's only nine pm!"

"Just get in bed and then talk. Go on, hop to it!"
Grumbling about how old people had no idea of timing, Su Ji let herself get hustled into her room. Since she was already in her pyjamas, she went directly under the covers.

Grandma popped her head in ten minutes later and grinned: that girl was aready asleep.

Su Ji didn't budge until her alarm went off. The first thing she saw when she opened her eyes was her school uniform, folded neatly and lying on her chair.

She silently screamed and punched her pillow – school! She spent about ten minutes ranting inside her head about why couldn't country schools open later, and about ignorant country bumpkins. Finally she decided to get up and get ready. The school uniform had that starchy stiffness of new clothes and she hated it – she hated anything new now.

Grandma was standing at the stove, flipping pancakes with a wooden spoon.

"Morning!" she called out.

"Hey Grandma," said Su Ji, coming close to investigate what was cooking. "Smells good – what is it?"
"Pancakes! Thought I'd give you a treat, and I bet you've never had homemade pancakes before."
Su Ji nodded. "It was always bought."
Grandma piled two pancakes on a plate and poured a genrous amount of syrup over them. "Tell me if you want more."
All in all, this wasn't too bad. She'd had the best breakfast ever... noooo what was she thinking? She was starting school, this was a terrible day!
Grandma insisted on coming with her to the bus station.

"I'm not a kid!" protested Su Ji.

"You might run away," said Grandma.

To be honest, Su Ji had thought of that. Except there was one problem – she had nowhere to run to. Of course she could always hide somewhere until school would be over and go back but... that was too desperate.

The yellow bus turned up half an hour late.

"Flat tyre," explained the driver.

Great. What a great start...

Grandma must have known what she was thinking because she pulled Su Ji into a hug and whispered, "A day only becomes great if you let it."
Feeling slightly embarrassed because she didn't want the other kids on the bus to see her hugging her grandma, Su Ji quickly pulled away and climbed in the bus.

Faces stared at her curiously, watching as she made her way to the very back which was les