“Joohyun honey relax, we’ll find her. She couldn’t have gone too far, not on foot at least.” Joohyun’s grandmother said with a small reassuring smile as she rubbed her granddaughters back. “Your grandfather went and brought your bike back, so let’s split up. He and I will take the truck and look into town. You can take your bike and check around the area where you found her. Maybe she somehow made her way back there.”

“Okay…” Joohyun said with a quiet voice that made her grandmother frown sadly before looking up at her husband.

“Don’t worry Hyun! We’ll find her!” Her grandfather said with a reassuring grin making Joohyun smile slightly.

The trio parted ways and Joohyun made her way towards the beach in worry. She didn’t even know why she was so worried, she barely knew who this girl was; just a few hours ago she was afraid Seulgi would kill her in her sleep or something of the sort. Yet here she was, frantically moving her legs as her bicycle zoomed down the familiar gravel road, past the Exolysk and field of poppies that surrounded it, to the beach that was waiting for her. She ran down to the cave she had found Seulgi in and entered, quickly making her way deeper inside only to halt dead in her tracks. The thing, the robot UFO whatever it was…It wasn’t there! Joohyun’s heart sank. Had Seulgi used it and left the island. She wouldn’t just leave would she? Not without saying goodbye right?

“No, she couldn’t have! That thing looked like absolute there’s no way it would properly function!” Joohyun said to herself as she ran towards the exit of the cave. Then a thought hit her. What if the government had found her?! There were a lot of corporate shills around, what if one of them had come across the UFO or worse Seulgi and ratted her out?! What if the government caught her and was hurting her?! The thought of Seulgi getting hurt burned Joohyun’s heart and only motivated her to run faste, quickly getting on her bicycle and peddling down the gravel road towards the Exolysk all the while calling Seulgi’s name. How could she have left the blue eyed girl alone in her room like that?! What was she thinking?! As she glided down the gravel road she saw it, a glint from the corner of her eye. She stopped and turned her head to see a glinting, yellow or orange light, she couldn’t tell flying away from the Exolysk. She held her breath in anticipation of its route and sure enough it was headed towards her house. She quickly turned her bicycle around and quickly pedaled down the road towards her house.

After twenty minutes, which felt like an eternity, Joohyun finally arrived at her house. She didn’t even bother checking inside when she noticed a dull orange glow coming from behind her house. She ran around the house only to abruptly come to a stop. In front of her sat the UFO she had seen earlier. It had a humanoid shape, leaned against the wall of her house and slouched over as it sat on the ground with its long metallic legs stretched past her broken fence. The thing was huge, despite the darkness of the night its size was undeniable. Just like how when Joohyun had touched it the first time, the engravings on its arms and legs were glowing a soft orange glow.

“Joohyun!” A familiar voice brought Joohyun back from her shock and next to the robot’s open palm stood Seulgi a bright smile on her face at the sight of the beautiful young woman that had saved her from spending an eternity inside some dark cave in the middle of nowhere.

“Oh my god! Seulgi!” The blue eyed young woman didn’t expect Joohyun to run to her and give her such a tight and momentum filled hug that Seulgi almost fell back. “Don’t ever leave like that again!” Joohyun said as she pulled away slightly to look at the cat eyed woman. “Do you have any idea how worried I was?” She added before giving the other woman another hug. Seulgi blushed and awkwardly hugged the woman back and the robot next to her gave a small hum as if to show amusement. The noise was enough to remind Joohyun of reality as she blushed and swiftly broke away from the taller girl. “Seulgi what is this…thing?! Why did you bring it here?! How are we even going to hide something like this?!” Joohyun rapid fired questions which truthfully went right over Seulgi’s head. The woman had no idea what Joohyn was saying but when she saw the young woman gesturing towards her robot Seulgi figured that she wanted to know its name.

“Gomdori!” Seulgi said with a grin as she motioned towards the slumped up robot which hummed in approval.

“What?” Joohyun asked and Seulgi smiled at her confused expression.

“Gomdori.” She repeated, once again gesturing to her robot.

“Wait Gomdori as in teddy bear gomdori?” Joohyun asked with furrowed brows. Sure the pronunciation was a bit off, resembling someone who wasn’t a native speaker which Seulgi definitely wasn’t, but she was certain that the word was Korean. Why was its name a Korean word? Her mind was silenced when she heard her grandparent’s voices.

“Hyun you found her!” Her grandfather was the first one Joohyun heard making her turn her head towards him and nod.

“My it seems you really were telling the truth about finding her inside a UFO.” Her grandmothers amused voice made Joohyun raise a bow. Why were her grandparents acting as if finding a giant robot in their backyard was some sort of everyday occurrence?! Just as she was about to ask Seulgi had come to her and smiled a shy smile, her face tinted pink. In her hands she held a piece of paper with a meticulously drawn mechanical part and some notes written in a language Joohyun couldn’t understand.

“Do you want me to get this for you? I’m sorry I don’t know what that is.” Joohyun said reminding herself to shrug so the girl understood her. “Hey grandpa do you know what this is?” The young girl asked showing the drawing to her grandfather who shrugged.

“Sorry honey can’t help! Why don’t you try going to the junkyard tomorrow? Maybe you can find it there.” He suggested with a smile as he made his way towards the fence. He’s going to have to fix that. He groaned and muttered something along the lines of ‘stupid robot’ before joining his wife as the couple went inside.

“I’ve got school tomorrow and I don’t really have time to mess around in a junkyard but how about on the weekend? It’s already Tuesday, you can wait a few days right?” Joohyun said with a smile, forgetting the woman in front of her couldn’t understand her. “I can’t help right away.” She said pointing at the drawing and shaking her finger. She felt her heart sink when Seulgi gave her a sad smile. Joohyun reached up patting the girls head affectionately. “There, there! We’ll go on the weekend ok?” She smiled and although Seulgi understood nothing from the words the tone and smile were reassuring so she smiled back just as brightly.

That night Joohyun had thankfully gotten enough sleep to wake up at eight am, looking down from her bed to see Seulgi sleeping on the comforter on the ground, her body spread out, her hair tussled and open. Joohyun had giggled at the girl, before waking her up slightly to move her to the bed. She had felt guilty for leaving Seulgi to sleep on the floor, even if the woman had been so adamant to have her sleep on her bed that she had lifted Joohyun up from the floor as if she was feather light and placed her on her bed, covering her up with her comforter before laying down on the floor herself.

Joohyun was greeted by her smiling grandparents after she had gotten washed up and dressed, taking the lunchbox on the kitchen table and her backpack and heading out to meet Wendy who had just arrived at her doorstep. Save for Seulgi and the robot basking in the sun behind her house the day felt like any other typical day. Any other typical day with exams she hadn’t had the time to study for and boring classes she almost fell asleep in.

“I don’t know how you do it Wan!” Joohyun said as her friend, Wendy, smiled and bowed to what was the third girl that week to ask her on a date. “Doesn’t it get tiring to have a new girl ask you out every day?” The girl said with a sigh.

“Not really, it’s not like they’re hurting anyone. Besides it’s best to tell someone you have feelings for them rather than hide them. It’s unhealthy to do that.” Wendy said with a smile as the duo made their way down the hallway of their school.

“Yeah but still, every single day? Why don’t you just date one and get rid of this whole let’s ask Wendy out trend?” The girl replied casually as she walked through the door Wendy had opened for her.

“That wouldn’t be fair to the girl if I just used her like that Hyun.” Wendy said with a reprimanding tone.

“Yeah I guess.” Joohyun shrugged as she walked down the stairs of her school’s entry with Wendy at her side. As they walked towards the school gate the duo noticed a group of people surrounding someone. “A fight?” Joohyun asked with a raised brow only to receive a shrug from a concerned looking Wendy. “None of our business anyways...Wendy no!” The girl said with a warning tone receiving a pout from Wendy. “Ok fine we’ll check it out! But you are not breaking it up if it’s a fight ok?” Wendy nodded. That girl was seriously too good for her own good.

“Her eyes were so pretty!” A girl said as she passed the duo as they made their way towards the group of people. The words made Joohyun’s eyebrow rise.

“Yeah! I’ve never seen such blue eyes, and they weren’t even lenses!” The girls friend replied with a giggle making Joohyun’s eyes go wide.

“!” She hissed out receiving a confused look from Wendy.

“What’s up Hyu-“

“Joohyun!”