Bomi recognized the voice and was taken aback. It was Naeun, her dongsaeng. She walked back towards the scene. “YAAA!!!!!” Bomi ran as fast as she could towards them and gifted a flying kick to the guy.

“Bomi Unnie!” Naeun trembled in fear.

The guy fell down on his back. “You !” He yelled in pain and tried to get up.

Bomi already prepared her moves.

The guy shouted as he tried to punch Bomi.

Bomi avoid the blow and elbowed his head and quickly took the chance to knee-kick him right in the face.

The guy fell on his knees. His nose was bleeding. Acknowledging that he was no match to Bomi, he fled from the scene.

“Well that was easy. Where’s the excitement?” Bomi muttered. She helped Naeun to get back on her feet and dust off dirt on Naeun’s legs. “Are you okay? Did he touch you?” Bomi asked worriedly.

“Yes. I’m fine. You made it just in time. Thank you, Unnie.” Naeun said.

“What are you doing here, anyway? Why aren’t you home for dinner?”

“I just finished my assignments. I lost track of time.”

Bomi did not respond.

“Unnie, don’t tell the others about this. They are going to make a fuss over it.” Naeun begged.

“We’ll see about that,” Bomi replied.

…………………………………….

(AT HOME)

After dinner, the maknaes stayed in Namjoo’s room and played games together.

Chorong and Eunji sat in front of the television.

“Bomi said she’s on her way home now. Naeun’s with her.” Eunji told Chorong after she read a text from her twin.

“That’s a relief. I was worried about them…”

Chorong and Eunji had been talking about the two girls. They were worried because both of them did not pick up their phone calls. Chorong and Eunji had decided if they did not come home until midnight, they would report it to the police.

…………………………………

Bomi and Naeun were in the kitchen, eating their dinners together. Chorong went to the kitchen to get some water. Naeun avoid from looking at Chorong. It was too obvious. Chorong stared at Naeun as she drank her water and said nothing. Bomi felt uncomfortable and secretly kicked Naeun’s leg underneath the table. It caused Naeun to choke on her food. Chorong naturally handed her a glass of water. Naeun took it and acted like nothing happened. Then Chorong opened the fridge to look for something to munch on. Bomi signalled Naeun to say something to Chorong. During their walk earlier, Bomi had persuaded Naeun to let it go and apologize to their unnie.

Naeun sighed. She put down her chopsticks. “Chorong Unnie,”

Chorong pretended that she did not hear it.

“Chorong Unnie.” Naeun called again, slightly louder.

“What?”

“Unnie, I’m sorry…” Naeun looked at Bomi who was glaring at her and then turned her view at Chorong. “I’m sorry for everything I had done. You were right. I was being childish…”

“I’m sorry too Naeun-ah. I was too hard on you…” Chorong made eye contact with Naeun.

“Unnie~” Bomi tried to lighten the atmosphere as she saw her unnie’s eyes got watery. “Don’t cry…”

Too late, Chorong and Naeun had already shed tears. Both of them were sorry towards each other.

Chorong walked to Naeun and hugged her sister.

Eunji who was in the living room saw the moment and smiled, feeling grateful.

…………………………….

Later at night, Chorong secretly called the kids to her room, except the maknaes to have a talk. They sat in a circle on the floor.

Her dongsaengs knew that what Chorong was going to say would be a serious matter. It had always been like that. If the two maknaes were excluded, then they knew that it would be an adult talk.

“Remember back then, when I told you guys to not to worry about the finance?” Chorong asked.

The girls nodded, without saying anything.

“I went to talk to Hayoung’s doctor about her rehab. It would cost a fortune. The deposit alone would be more than our two months basic expenses. Plus, your college fees and Namjoo’s school expenses. I feel bad for saying this. I’m really sorry to involve you guys in this problem when it’s my duty.” Chorong expressed. “Dad didn’t leave us a lot, so was Mom. I did the maths. We can’t go more than six months with what’s left.”

“Have you considered my wages and yours?” Bomi asked.

“I did. But even with that, we can barely have enough for each month.”

“I will drop out of college too, then.” Eunji said without giving it a second thought.

“No!! Don’t. You need to keep going. None of you will drop out.”

“So what should we do? Hayoung needs to go the rehab no matter what, and I don’t mind if I can’t get my degree….” Eunji affirmed.

“We need to cut some of our expenses. Only buy what’s needed. Use electricity and tap water wisely…” Naeun spoke.

“That’s true, Naeun-ah…” Chorong grasped Naeun’s hand. “But frankly, I had been thinking about this for a while….”

“What is it, Unnie? Tell us…” Bomi demanded.

Chorong looked doleful. “I’m sorry if I’m going to hurt you with my words….”

“It’s okay Unnie. We won’t know if you don’t spill it. Just tell us…” Eunji said.

“Let’s move out.”

The girls were shocked to hear the suggestion but they stayed quiet to hear Chorong’s further explanation.

“Let’s move out and buy a smaller house.”

“But Unnie, you said that we are short of money. How are we gonna buy a house? Are you thinking of selling this house?” Eunji asked.

“No, Eunji. I’m not thinking of selling this house. This house holds so many of our precious memories with Mom, Dad, and Yookyung. I’m not saying that we should sell it…”

“If we are gonna move out and buy a smaller house, then what do we do with this one? Rent it?” Bomi wondered.

“Exactly! We rent this house and we can get regular monthly payment…” Chorong stated. “I don’t want to sell it because I believe that one day, my dongsaengs will be successful. At that time, we can live in this house again…” She added. “If we put this house for rent, we can a huge amount of deposit too…”

“And the deposit can be used for Hayoung’s rehab deposit!” Naeun said.

“That’s the plan!” Chorong replied.

“You really have thought well of everything, Unnie…” Bomi was impressed with Chorong’s leadership.

“If I’m not confident, then I wouldn’t have brought it up…” Chorong replied.

“Okay. So, when should we put it on rent?” Eunji asked.

“Actually, when I called you this afternoon, saying that I had works to do, I was visiting the real estate office to find a house that is suitable to our budget.” Chorong stopped for a while to look at her sisters’ reactions.

Bomi nodded, signalling her to continue.

“Call it luck, coincident, or fate… But when I was waiting for my turn to consult with the officer, I overheard a conversation. There was a man with his wife. They were looking for a house to rent in our neighbourhood. So when they left, I asked the officer for their phone numbers.” Chorong told them about it carefully. “So…..”

“So?” Eunji asked as she was eager to hear the continuation.

“So… I thought that I should discuss about this matter with my sisters first before making a final decision…”

“So when are we moving out?” Eunji asked.

“Hmm?” Chorong baffled. “Does that mean you are okay with it?”

“It’s not an issue to me. I don’t mind it as long as we are together.” Eunji flashed Chorong a smile.

Chorong smiled back at Eunji and turned to Bomi. “Bomi?”

“As long as we are together…” Bomi copied Eunji’s words, smiling innocently.

The oldest girl chuckled. Chorong, then, looked at Naeun.

“Home is where your family is…” Naeun quoted a cliché but meaningful line.

“I agree!!!”

“Oh my goodness!!!”

“Gosh!”

“Yah!!”

“Oh lord!!”

The older girls were shocked by the sudden opinion from an unexpected voice.

“Namjoo-yah! Were you eavesdropping? Since when did you were standing there?” Chorong gasped.

“Since I got back from taking this…” Namjoo showed them the apple in her hand.

“You shouldn’t eavesdrop when adults are having a talk!” Bomi reminded the kid.

“Well you shouldn’t have left the door ajar if you were to have AN ADULT CONVERSATION…” Namjoo stressed the last three words.

“How much did you hear?” Chorong asked.

“When Eunji Unnie asked ‘so when are we moving out?’ part….” Namjoo answered naively as she bit the apple.

“Honestly?” Chorong asked for re-confirmation.

“Yes, I was telling the truth. Why do you look so scared, anyway? Is there something you don’t want me to know?”

“If there IS something that we don’t want you to know, then why would we tell you that? Obviously if there’s something that we don’t want you to know, then of course we wouldn’t let you know about it. If we wanted to let you know, then we would’ve let you know.” Eunji replied.

Namjoo blinked her eyes rapidly and looked at her unnies one by one. “What did Eunji Unnie said, again?”

The sisters laughed softly to Eunji and Namjoo’s absurdness.

“She was saying that---” Bomi was stopped by Chorong before she could finish her words.

“You don’t have to elaborate that, Bbom-ah.” Chorong giggled. “Why are you still here, Namjoo? Go play with Maknae. Don’t leave her alone for too long. She might need you.”

“I’ve tucked Hayoung in her bed like two hours ago, Unnie.” Namjoo continued munching her apple while standing in front of the door.

“You did? Oh my god, it has been over two hours since we talked?” Chorong gasped.

“You just realized it now, Unnie?” Bomi laughed.

“It’s past midnight,” Naeun mumbled quietly.

……………………………………..

(ONE WEEK LATER)

The Park Sisters had moved out to a new smaller house. The house was not as spacious as their old house, but it is definitely better in term of location. Their new house is located less than a kilometre from Namjoo’s school and Chorong’s part time place. Near the house, there is a small playground and a convenience store.

The house only has two bedrooms, though. They played ‘daedanchi’ to decide on the roommates for each room. The result went to Chorong-Eunji-Hayoung and Bomi-Naeun-Namjoo. Chorong’s room had a queen-size bed and a single-size bed. They put the bed side by side. Whilst, Bomi took her old bunk-bed and decided to remain in her old bed, while Namjoo took the lower one. Naeun took Namjoo’s old single bed.

Kitchen and bathroom were much smaller compared to their old house. Living room could only fit a couch and a television cabinet. They rented their old house along with some furniture and only brought the basic ones as it couldn’t fit with the size of the new house. Moreover, they did so because they were considering Hayoung’s situation. The youngest couldn’t move around as she wanted if there were so many furniture blocking her way.

The girls encountered a lot of shortness, such as having no air-conditioner, no capacious wardrobe like before; resulting them to keep some of their clothes in a corner of the living room, and barely walkable cooking area in the kitchen. As the house was small, it only took three days for them to completely clean it before moving in.

(FIRST NIGHT IN THE NEW