Chorong sighed again. “I know.” She put her head on the pillow. “Eunji-yah, you have performance in Jongno-gu in the evening, right?”

Eunji nodded even though Chorong could not see her. “I’m sorry, Unnie. If it’s just a normal regular class, I would’ve skip it and look after Hayoung. But…. You know…”

“I understand. Sorry for asking although I knew the answer.” Chorong replied. “What about Bomi? Does she have class in the evening?”

“Yes, she does. But Naeun don’t…” Eunji said.

Chorong did not reply.

Eunji knew that Chorong still could not trust Naeun to look after the youngest after what happened a few weeks ago. “Unnie… Did you hear me?”

“I did.”

“Give her another chance, Unnie. Who knows if she spent time with Hayoung together, she will be able to sort out her feelings…”

“I don’t have any other options, do I?” Chorong said. Chorong tried to be positive about leaving Hayoung under Naeun’s care again.

Eunji smiled as she walked to switch off the light.

………………………………..

After returning from Rehabilitation Centre, Chorong went to look for Naeun in the latter’s room.

“Naeun-ah….” Chorong entered her dongsaengs’ room and sat on the edge of Naeun’s studying desk.

“Yes?”

“I have to leave for Namjoo’s report card day.”

“I see…” Naeun said, having no idea of what Chorong was going to say next.

Chorong was hesitant at first but she tried to have faith in Naeun. “I can’t bring Hayoung with me. Can you take care of her until I come back?”

“Yeah, sure…” Naeun was unsure but she said ‘yes’ immediately. Deep in her heart, she wanted to make up with Hayoung and apologize to her for everything.

Chorong’s face brightened up as she heard Naeun’s confident answer. “Thank you.” She gave Naeun a light tap on the shoulder. “I’ve bought lunch. Eat it with Hayoung later, okay? I gotta go now….”

“Aren’t you going to eat first, Unnie?” Naeun asked.

“I’m not hungry yet. Plus, I gotta be fast. See you later Naeun-ah.” Chorong waved goodbye. “Hayoung’s watching television, make sure you check on her.” She reminded Naeun.

Naeun nodded and continued to finish her assignment.

……………………………………

Before leaving, Chorong went over Hayoung who was into the television.

“Are you comfortable on your wheelchair? Do you want to sit on the couch?” Chorong asked Hayoung.

Hayoung shook her head. “It’s all right, Unnie. If I sit on the couch, it will be a hassle to get on the wheelchair again, especially when I need to get something quickly…”

“Won’t you back hurt?” Chorong asked worriedly.

“I’m used to sit on chair for a long amount of time. Did you forget that I’m a pro-gamer?” Hayoung laughed cheekily.

Chorong felt sorry for the kid but she gave Hayoung a smile before telling her that she needed to go out.

“Why can’t I go with you? It’s been so long since I go to school. I want to at least see my friends.....” Hayoung whined.

“You know I can’t do that. It’s too hot outside. If I go upstairs, then who are you going to stay with? I can’t leave you alone. Also, I don’t know how long it’s gonna take. It could be hours of waiting before I get to see the teacher. You know how it is, right?”

Hayoung pouted.

Chorong cupped her maknae’s face. “Do you want something? I’ll buy it when I come back…” She tried to console the kid.

Hayoung shook her head as a form of protest.

“Come on. Don’t be like this…” Chorong felt even sorry. “Tell me what you want.”

“I want to go with Unnie!”

“Hayoung-ah…” Chorong sighed heavily. She glanced at the wall clock, “I’m running late” she thought. “Don’t be like this, please. Tell me what you want. I’ll be sure to buy it.” She looked deep into Hayoung’s eyes.

The maknae sighed angrily. “Honey butter chips.” Hayoung replied short, finally gave in.

Chorong smiled with guilt. “Honey butter chips it is.” She ruffled the kid’s hair. “Make sure to ask Naeun for help if you need it, okay? Don’t force yourself to do something that you can’t do and don’t play with the knife or try to cook. The food that we bought earlier, I placed in on the dining table. Eat together with Naeun. I’ll be back as soon as possible.” Chorong practically nagged at Hayoung instead of advising her.

Hayoung nodded. She was still sulking.

“Say something.” Chorong forced the little girl to talk.

“Yes~~~”

“Aigoo~~” Chorong smiled. “I’m going now… Bye…”

Before leaving, Chorong put a soft pillow behind Hayoung’s back for her to lean on comfortably.

Little did they know that Naeun was eavesdropping since she bid goodbye to Chorong. Naeun wanted to understand Hayoung’s current situation better. Since Hayoung lost her ability to walk, she had never once yet spent time with the girl. She wanted to make up with Hayoung.

As Chorong left, Naeun came out of her room and went straight to Hayoung. Naeun took a seat on the couch. At first, Hayoung was uncomfortable because it had been quiet long since they played with each other. The two girls kept their mouths shut for about half an hour until the older one broke the ice.

“Should we eat our lunch now?”

“Huh? Umm… Yeah, shall we?” Hayoung stuttered.

Naeun put her hand on Hayoung’s shoulder and squeezed it lightly to make Hayoung relax a bit.

The two of them ate their food quietly. Naeun wanted to tell Hayoung that she was sorry over what happened but the words could not come out no matter how much she tried to muster up her courage. Hayoung attempted to make a conversation. But like Naeun, she too, could not deliver her words. In the end, they finished their lunch without saying a word.

“This can’t continue like this.” Hayoung thought while watching Naeun cleaning the table. “Unnie, wanna play games with me?”

“I’m not good as you, but sure.” Naeun was glad that Hayoung took the lead, even though she knew that she was the one who was supposed to do it.

……………………………….

(AT A STATIONERY STORE)

“Unnie, can I have this, too?” Namjoo asked, showing her Unnie a trendy pencil case.

Chorong smiled and gave her a nod. “You can pick anything you desire…”

“Really? Wow~~ Thank you, Unnie!”

“If you do well too in the next exam, I’ll be sure to buy you the bag that you wanted.” Chorong made a deal with her.

During the report card meeting earlier, Namjoo’s teacher compliment the kid, saying that she had always showed great improvement each time they did test. Namjoo climbed up the ladder real quick and became one of the top five students throughout the latest examination. That was by far, Namjoo’s highest achievement. Chorong was so proud of her. Therefore, Chorong brought her to the stationery store to buy her new stuffs and other school supplies that she needed.

“You are not kidding, right?” Namjoo became serious.

Chorong shook her head. “I won’t give you a promise if I can’t fulfil it.”

Namjoo turned her back, looking at something else. “It’s okay, Unnie. We should save up as much as we can…” She sounded doleful.

Chorong raised her eyebrow and pulled Namjoo’s shoulder, forcing the girl to make eye contact with her. She was not happy with Namjoo’s words. “I don’t like it when you say something like that. It’s not your duty to worry about money yet. Just focus on your studies.”

Namjoo looked solemn. “I’m not a kid anymore, Unnie.”

“You are a minor, meaning that you’re still a kid, and you’ll continue to stay that way even in the next ten years,” Chorong hold her sadness before adding, “because you’re my sister.” She looked deep into Namjoo’s eyes. “I know you are matured enough to understand our current situation, but still… It’s my job to think about finance.”

Namjoo did not respond.

“You know what I’m trying to say, right?”

Namjoo nodded weakly.

Chorong patted her a few times. “Now go find for whatever you want. I’m gonna make a short call to your sister.”

……………………………….

Bomi’s phone rang. She stopped training and took out the phone from her bag. Chorong’s name appeared on the screen.

“Unnie?”

“Bbom-ah, are you still in school?”

“Yes, I’m still here. But class has finished. I just stay back to train more. Why?”

“I’m still outside. Namjoo needs some new school supplies, and after this we are going to her school’s tailor shop to take her body measurement for the autumn uniform.”

“You want me to go with Namjoo so you can get to your part time job? Sure. I can do that.”

“No. The restaurant is closed for today. My boss went back to his hometown. The thing is, I don’t think I’ll be able to cook for dinner. So… Can you?”

“Sure. After all it is my duty to make dinner on weekdays…. So yeah…”

“Thanks Bbom-ah. I’ll be back as soon as I could.”

“It’s fine, Unnie. Take your time. See you at home.”

…………………………………

Naeun and Hayoung were playing games in Naeun’s room. The two had a great time together chatting about this and that while trying to bring each other’s game-characters down. Naeun chose not to bring up the incident from a few days back. She thought that she should just follow the flow since Hayoung had a good time with her too. They were slowly getting back to their old relationship; which is before the car crash took place.

Bomi was cooking by herself in the kitchen. Naeun wanted to help, but Bomi refused as she saw her two dongsaengs were having fun. As a big sister, Bomi was glad to see Naeun treating Hayoung like before. She wanted to give Naeun and Hayoung more time to spend together.

Bomi crouched down to look for something in the refrigerator. “Have we run out of soy sauce?” She said loudly to herself. Bomi let out a sigh and went to Naeun’s room.

“Naeun-ah, I’m going to store to buy soy sauce. I left the soup, so when it boil, be sure to turn off the stove…”

“Okay…” Hayoung and Naeun answered.

A few minutes later, as Hayoung was focused on her rank, she noticed that Naeun kept glancing at her phone and always stopped playing in between to reply to texts. Hayoung had a hunch that maybe Naeun wanted to stop playing because aren’t like Hayoung, Naeun is not the type to love playing games all day long. So, Hayoung smoothly told Naeun that they should stop playing. Naeun simply agreed.

Then, the two went to the living room. Naeun sat on the couch and switched on the television, while Hayoung on her wheelchair.

Hayoung was bored because she was forced to watch a drama that she had no interested in, because Naeun controlled the remote. She was too scared to ask Naeun to change the channel. So she simply watched it without saying anything. As time passed by, Hayoung was annoyed because Naeun did not even watch the drama. Instead, the older girl kept on replying to texts. Due to respect she had for her unnie, Hayoung remained quiet.

Chorong’s phone call to Hayoung saved the girl from boredom. At the same ti