The temperature in the kitchen suddenly dropped to below zero degree.

The image of opening the door and seeing Sowon busy cooking, waiting for her suddenly shattered into pieces. Her tiny fingers got shivering hovering above the message while her teeth were biting the lips on which she carefully applied before entering the house.

 

- Eunha! Eunha-yah!

 

Eunha’s gaze now moved up to the gorgeous face in front of her. Sowon was grinning silly:

- Yah... My Eunha looks so beautiful with this lip color. How come it took me too long to realize this?

 

Her hand was moving towards Eunha’s lips but the smaller dodged it.

- Because you just don’t care

Eunha stormed off the kitchen, leaving confused Sowon with her hand in the air. Wearing a shocked look, Sowon shifted her gaze to the open door.

What is this sudden change of heart?

....

10 minutes later. Yerin came home with all the items asked by Sowon. It’s not surprising that in 15 minutes, an eye-catching dish was displayed on Gfriend’s dining table which happened to be their coffee table in the living room. The smell of it could attract the whole room.

 

- OMG, heaven~~~- Yuju ran the fastest to sofa, trying to breathe in the mouth-watering aroma coming the big dish right in front of her.

- I’ll go get the bowls and chopsticks- Umji came out of the room, saying with her Disney voice.

- Stop it, you’re making me believe I am watching a Disney film- SinB’s hand got slapped slightly by Sowon when she was sneakly picking up a slice of beef.

- You mean I’m a Cinderella?-  Umji held the chopstick as a wand and started to do some abracadabra.

- No, Cinderella’s sister, Drizella.

 

Yerin looked at the two maknaes and shook her head while pouring maehwasu into 6 glasses. Her eyes couldn’t help meeting Sowon’s eyes and both of them started to laugh. All of them were enjoying the greatest moments of their youth. Gfriend was her wish, her joyful days, her precious gems. Sowon didn’t know how far they could go together in the future but as long as every day was fully spent like this, she wouldn’t care less about whatever might come tomorrow. Here, she had four kids who always made her smile and a girl who unconditionally loved her.

Come to think of Eunha, her seat was still unoccupied, not to mention the attitude Eunha was having with Sowon earlier seemed off. The leader saw something bad coming.

 

- Where’s Eunha?- Yerin asked the other kids when she saw Sowon was fidgeting at her seat.

 

“I’m here”, Eunha suddenly came into the scene and sat next to Yuju. Her voice sounded disinterested.

 

- What takes you so long? Sowon unnie won’t let the party begin until you’re here- Yuju pouted

- This big unnie can’t hide her bias towards Eunha-unnie-  Umji nodded her head, showing her agreement with her voice coach.

- Yeah, just look at this dish. Even it is yelling Eunha-yah. Beef beef beef and beef.

- Yah! Hurry eating!- Yerin frowned, showing her seriousness, a side that only Gfriend’s members and her family could see.

 

Maybe the kids had been busy chatting and joking so they didn’t pay much attention to the two main characters of their topic. They were acting weird or at least that’s how Yerin analyzed the situation. Usually, Eunha will be the first one to taste Sowon’s food but now it was Yuju and Eunha didn’t seem to have appetite for this. Everyone knew how much Eunha loved eating, especially beef. That’s why besides taking out Eunha to beef restaurant, Sowon spent a lot of time learning beef dish and this one was one of many she had learnt by heart.

 

Yerin nervously looked at the eldest girl in the group. Apparently, she’s being quiet. Sometimes she secretly looked to the left seeing Eunha and she couldn’t help herself taking a bunch of beef to put in Eunha’s bowl but Eunha just didn’t touch her chopsticks.

 

- Sowon unnie, I see you read cookery website every day. Is this one of those recipes you have learnt?- Yerin picked a slice of beef and tasted it with the most satisfied expression.

- Yes, it is- Sowon smiled embarrassedly- but I improvised it a little. I don’t know if it suits you guys’ taste.

 

Eunha looked up, slowly took the chopsticks. She put the beef in and humbly chewed it.

 

- Omg, really?- Umji’s eyes were wide open- No wonder it tastes different from the restaurant’s.

- Thank you Unnie! – Yuju smiled brightly with puppy eyes.

Umji discreetly nudged SinB who was making great effort to steal the beef in the bowl with Yerin.

- Yah! I’ve lost the beef to Yerin unnie!!!- SinB pouted, glaring at Umji. This made the six girls burst out in laughters.

- I thought Sowon unnie still cooked while scrolling her thumb on the phone- SinB added mischievously and sipped her wine- This tastes so good!

- Sowon unnie will surely be a good mom!- Yuju gave Sowon a thumb up.

 

Sowon slowly gazed at the wine glass in front of her; her index finger circled along the glass rim, over which her dreamy eyes were wandering:

“I hope so”

As soon as hearing Sowon reply, Eunha drank up a glassful of maehwasu.

 

Time flew fast and so did the girls’ eating. It took them no more than 30 minutes to finish Sowon’s dish. It’s time for washing showtime and no one seemed eager to be the performer of this show. However, because all of them knew how hard Sowon had worked to make this dish for them so … Yerin was the one chosen to do the washing.

- You are Sowon unnie’s roommate. Showing your love to her doesn’t kill anyone- SinB winked then disappeared into her room.

- Whatever- Yerin realised she had just been trapped by SinB again but she had no choice.

 

Washing was not a hard work, getting sleepy while washing was the problem. 

- Unnie, where are you going this late?”, said Yerin. She was standing at the fridge, drinking water after finishing the washing duty. She's yanwing real loud. 

Sowon was putting on a jacket. She looked hurried.

- I’m gonna meet some old friends.

- From DSP?

- Yes

- Be careful unnie!

- Thanks, ah bring me the wine bottles. I’ll put them in the trash bin downstairs.

 

A pack of transparent bottles were handed to Sowon immediately.

- I may be late, don’t wait for me.

- I won’t.

- Yah at least say something nice!

Sowon put her two feet in the shoes then opened the door while looking at her phone. Her face looked stern as if she had just seen something annoying. That moment passed by so quickly that Yerin thought it was not real but it was enough for Yerin felt the need to say something.

 

- Sowon Unnie was the best leader I’ve had!

Yerin showed her gingseng smile. This is just a fact no one can deny.

Sowon winked satisfactorily; her thumb and index fingers made a heart.

Not long after Sowon went out, Yerin came to the window and looked outside. The leader was on the phone with someone, looking a bit nervous. One or two minutes later, a taxi pulled over at their dorm and Sowon got on the cab and disappeared. Very fast.

 

- Yerin unnie, what are you doing over there?

Yerin turned back and saw Eunha standing with a glass of water in her right hand and another hand holding a cellphone. She gently put the glass on the table nearby and trudged to the sofa. As soon as she landed on the sofa, her eyes glued to the phone and the clicking sounds started to come out when she continually tapped the screen. This was so frustrating. So frustrating not seeing Sowon out here.

 

- Nothing. Sowon unnie just came out- Yerin let out a deep sigh.

-Uhm…

A feeling of disappointment rose in Eunha’s stomach although she managed to make her voice sound calm.

- She went out to meet some old pals… from DSP.

 

The clicking sound suddenly stopped. 

 

- I’d better hit the sack. Today’s show recording drained my ginseng power. Goodnight Eunha!-  Yerin yawned. Her tired face was a real deal.

- Goodnight unnie!- Eunha turned her head to Yerin and gave her a big smile.

 

Just before Yerin went to her room did she remember to say something very important:

- Eunha-ah, Sowon left a portion of today’s dinner for you in the fridge.

- Why?

 

Yerin shrugged her shoulder:

- Beats me. Anyway, I gotta go. See ya!

 

Eunha waved to Yerin with her left hand while her right hand was still holding the phone.

As soon as Yerin was in the room, Eunha put the phone down and ran as fast as she could to the fridge. It’s no surprise when she hit her kneel against the table. She opened the fridge and gaped at the big bowl stoically sitting in the second shelf in astonishment. Slowly withdrawing the bowl from the fridge, Eunha beamed blissfully. A flower that she thought was withering, once again, bloomed into the Sun that warms her entire heart.

Never in her life would she imagine herself anticipatingly observing a bowl going around in the microwave. But here she was. It somehow reminded her of the wonderful time Sowon and she spent in Austria. Standing in the cab when the ferris wheel was moving with Sowon’s eyes laying on hers was still the most exquisite pleasure she believed she would never have were it not for Sowon.

 

“Tting!”

The bowl was then placed on the table. Eunha excitedly pulled  the beef into .

 

Was it her mood change or this bowl really had a distinctive taste, unlike the previous one?

This tasted so much better!

 

She glanced at the clock on the wall. It’s already 11.30 pm. Her eyes then shifted to her phone. She picked it up, dialed the number she would never forget just to delete it right before pressing call. The phone was, once again, put down. Then she decided she’d better focus on eating, then sleeping. That’s what she’s always good at.

After 15 minutes with only eating and glaring at the phone, she successfully finished the beef.

 

Sowon had yet to come back.

 

15 minutes later… There’s nothing heard from Sowon.

 

The small girl inched lazily backwards and exhaled deeply. Now, she began to feel sleepy.

 

- Sowon, if you don’t come back now, I will ... sleep. -  Her eyes slowly closed while was  mumbling.

 

What if she spends the night with that TaeHyung oppa?

 

That scary prospect suddenly hit her real hard…

 

“Sojung, I’m serious about us. Can we go steady?”

“I hope so”

 

In a couple of seconds, Eunha didn’t know why but her cheeks got wet.

 

One… Two… Three...

Then a lot tears were falling.

 

Burying her head between two knees, Eunha was desperately sobbing. The phone in her hand was held more and more tightly with every sob. She pressed the power button. Already 11 am.

 

- Unnie, if you don’t come back, I will never speak to you again.

 

Eunha angrily whispered to herself.

“I will count to 10”

“One, two, ...”

“...ten”

“Because you often take me out to eat, so I gave you the second chance. Let’s start again... one, two...”

“You cook good dishes for me although they are not as delicious as my mom’s. The third chance...”

“You always hold my hand... The fourth chance... One, two, ...”

“ You always compliment on my cuteness... One…nine, ten.”

“You always…”

 

The clock hands continued moving in the long night…