Minutes have passed, yet the two still stand beside each other in silence, watching the woman running around in the open park with a dog playfully chasing her. The weather was perfect, and everything seemed to be in tranquility for Kwon Yuri. Questions have arisen and doubts that were supposed to be locked out of her system are trying to kick their way in.

“I’ll be going now.”

“Huh?”

The doctor gave a warm smile to Yuri who didn’t expect this… the turning over of supervision on the little kid of a woman they were looking after in the park.

“What do you mean you’ll be going now???” Yuri panicked.

“Yuri, remember, I still have work. I’m entitled to have a lunch break too, you know.” The doctor started to walk away.

“B-but!” Yuri took the doctor’s arm to prevent her from walking farther away from her.

“The weather’s nice and you look like you need what nature’s trying to provide you today. Stay. Not for her, but for you. I would if possible, honestly.”

“Aniya!! I need to rest. I haven’t had the slightest genuine rest since… If, i-if you’re going, then I’ll be going too!” Yuri was stammering.

“Relax. You don’t have to stay with her, walk around the park, and see for yourself that you really need this perfect time of the day in this perfect weather with your unbalanced state.”

“Unbalanced state?” Yuri was confused, instinctively tilting her head sideways.

The doctor smiled again, she gently took off Yuri’s hand that was latched onto her arm. She walked slowly, farther away from the woman who was clueless about what’s going on in the mind of the doctor. When an adequate distance was set between the two of them, the doctor ce again to face Kwon Yuri.

“By the way, you smell nice today, Ms. Kwon.” She grinned, a gentle yet mysterious smile.

“U-uhm, Me? I- I smell nice today???” Yuri became more confused of how random the words were thrown by the doctor. This was, by far, the most nonsensical conversation they ever had.

“I wonder what you use for laundry… Hmmm, is it detergent? Fabric softener? Or, I don’t know, the work of someone… Oh, I meant something else???”

The doctor also has it. The infamous Hwang eye-smile. Yuri’s mouth was left paralytically open. She wasn’t even able to say good bye to the doctor who, afterwards saying those words, continued to walk away until the minimal crowd of people erased her retreating figure.

“She knows the smell?!??! Of course, pabo. She’s her sister!!!”

“Hey, where’d Michy go?”

Tiffany, who was recently too busy playing with Prince, unnoticeably walked up to the preoccupied Yuri. The poor woman who was thinking way too much over the ‘smell’ was startled to death when she heard the woman who has been terrorizing the peace left in her life. She turned to her and the dog who was trying to pull its owner to run around again by biting on the leash.

“Prince’s too hyped today. I don’t know what’s up with him. Haha.” Tiffany genuinely laughed.

Yuri was just looking at her, still trying to recollect her thoughts and literacy… she may or may not have forgotten how to speak.

“HellOOooOoOOooo, from earth to Yuri???” Tiffany waved her free hand in front of the girl who has been spacing out the entire time.

“Oh, uhm, she -ah, she went back to work.” Yuri snapped back to reality.

“Work?!” Tiffany sighed. “That’s all she ever thinks about.”

A smile was flashed, but the eyes didn’t seem to follow suit, it stared at the ground. The leash Tiffany held was continuously being tugged by Prince.

“Are you tired? I can walk him for you.” Yuri, hearing about Tiffany’s unseen wounds from her own sister, tried hard to be nice for once.

“Hmm?” The sad woman looked up.

“I, uh, I mean do, d-do you want to walk, w-walk around some more????”

“Oh. I don’t know. I feel tired all of a sudden. I think I already ran out of sugar in my system, ahaha.” Tiffany failed in lifting up the mood.

“Do d-do you want to eat something??? Or maybe sit down on a bench?? Or do yo-

“I think I wanna sit down for a while. This lil’ munchkin is still probably not feeling it, but I know he’s tired as well. I mean, we’ve been running around for roughly half an hour??!!? Can you believe that??” Tiffany knelt down to talk to the adorable dog who was still trying to persuade its owner to play with her.

“Uhm. Sure. You want to sit there?” Yuri pointed to a bench surrounded by fairly tall trees. It faced the wide park, giving a view of how a normal day in the park goes by with people either just passing by, walking or sitting around with their companions, playing with a dog, or simply being alone with nature.

“That’s… a nice spot. Okay. You wanna walk him there?” Tiffany held the leash in front of Yuri.

“Just don’t ditch me.” She took the leash and went off to the spot with Prince. Tiffany followed behind who was smiling in secret.

The two situated themselves on the bench with a fair distance between the two of them. Prince’s leash was tied onto one of the legs of the seat and was given a dental treat by his owner. As soon as Prince set his cute teeth onto the treat, he couldn’t even manage to take a normal breath afterwards. The two girls laughed at the thoughtless dog. After a few good laughs, they stayed silent. You know it’s good silence when you’re comfortable smiling foolishly about nothing, right?

“You’re not going to… tease me about being nice to you today?” Yuri shyly tried to start a conversation.

“Well, well, well. Looks like someone misses the teasing.” Tiffany teased in a cheerful tone.

“Heh. I’m just… curious.”

“I may look inattentive, but let’s just say that I know how my sister looks when she talks about something serious.”

Yuri held her tongue. She doesn’t know if the woman beside her would bluff about hearing the conversation she had with the doctor awhile ago. Nevertheless, she stood her ground and followed the urge of her curiosity.

“Did you, uhm, hear us?”

“Yuri, of course not. I was literally