“Hey, rookie!”

Sowon looked up from her desk, her dark circles evident on her cheeks as she brushed her hair back and rubbed her face to wake up more.

“Yes?”

“You should go on vacation for a few days.”

“What?”

“I mean, you should use them before they expire, more like you’ll probably expire first.”

Sowon looked at herself in her mirror on her table, sighing as her senior was probably right. Pushing her papers aside to find her phone, she called HR to arrange her break.

Before she could put down her phone after confirming her break, it rang. Putting it up to her ear as she lay her head on the table, she balanced it on her cheek as she answered.

“Hello?”

“Sowon unnie!”

“Yerin? What’s up?”

“I’m in your house right now with SinB and Umji.”

“Oh, that’s fun. Have fu- wait. IN? You’re in MY house??”

Sowon sat up, catching her phone as it fell and putting it back up to her ear. Looking at her senior, he just chuckled and shooed her away. She quickly grabbed all her things and ran out of the hospital, hurriedly sticking her keys in the ignition, she listened as Yerin continued to tell her about their party.

“Oh oh, okay. But you had to do this in MY house of all houses?”

“Unnie, your house is the cleanest.”

“It’ll be the dirtiest when we’re done. End call, I have to drive.”

“Drive? Unnie? Aren’t you on shift?”

“I’m officially on vacation for the next three days.”

“Oh great! I’ll see you soon then!”

Ending with a loud kissy noise, Sowon sighed as she dunked her phone in the passenger seat. Taking off her coat, she tossed it on top of her phone as well before starting her drive home.

“These kids….wait. How’d she get in? I never gave her…a key….”

Slapping her wheel, she grumbled as she remembered the last time Yerin had her hands on her house keys.

“She made a copy that one time!? Jung Yerin! You’re dead when I get home!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Muji yah, SinB, when Sowon unnie returns, please save me.”

“Hm? What did you do?”

Umji looked up at Yerin who was pleading.

“I uh….”

“You didn’t get permission?”

“No! No, I got permission, she said it’s fine. Just I kind of…”

SinB frowned and sat down beside Umji on the couch, comfortably putting her arm around the smaller.

“Then what unnie?”

“We….shouldn’t have been able to get inside.”

Umji gasped as she figured out what Yerin meant, giving her a judging look, she sighed and shook her head as SinB scratched her head confusedly.

“Eunbi ah, she made a copy of Sowon unnie’s keys.”

“Oh.”

Then SinB looked up quickly at Yerin.

“You WHAT?!”

“What? Why are you so riled up? SinB???”

SinB stood up and smacked Yerin with a cushion.

“Why would you do that! Without permission! You know how Sowon unnie is about her security.”

Yerin giggled as SinB pouted, over the years, their little tsundere looked to Sowon more and more as a real older sister, to the point where she’d defend her with her life. Of course, she’d do the same for Umji, but Umji was different from Sowon. SinB wouldn’t just sacrifice her own life for her, she’d sacrifice the whole universe. Umji pulled SinB to sit down, surprisingly, on her lap.

Now perched on her girlfriend’s lap, SinB grew quiet. Yerin laughed silently, slapping her stomach as she tried to breathe.

“Yah! You become so modest when Muji handles you!”

“Shush, she’s precious to me Yerin unnie.”

SinB blushed harder at Umji’s comment and hugged her tightly.

The sound of the door unlocking caught their attention, Yerin quickly hid behind the other couch, away from the front door.

“Oh? Muji and Eunbi?”

Yerin stood up confused.

“Eunha? What are you doing here?”

“Huh? I live here.”

Eunha put down her bags and closed the door behind her before brushing her hands of the imaginary dust.

“How’d you guys get in here? Sowon unnie is going to be mad.”

Yerin fell backwards in her seat, looking defeated.

“But….Yuna lives…”

Eunha blushed and tucked her hair behind her ear. Taking a seat beside Umji to cuddle with her, Eunha snuggled her cheek to the youngest’s ignoring the soft whines of SinB pushing her lightly.

“Yuna is right now, in a different country for her work. Since, she said she couldn’t bring me, I went to stay with Sowon unnie.”

“Eh? But I cal-“

Yerin covered quickly, it must have been a surprise for Eunha wasn’t it? Yuju had said she’d come to their get together party. She had assumed that if Yuju was coming, then Eunha would be coming as well. Since she hadn’t called Eunha, she thanked the heavens that Eunha happened to be staying with Sowon.

They all turned attentively when they heard the sound of keys jangling at the front door, a panting Sowon holding the door open with her other arm full of her work materials. Behind her stood Yuju.

Eunha stared. Yuju waved shyly. Sowon rolled her eyes and went to throw her things in her room, ignoring the rest of the occupants.

“Wh-when did you get home?”

“Right now.”

“Huh? Did you get Sowon unnie to pick you up at the airpo-“

“I’m home now that I’m with you.”

Yerin coughed as Eunha blushed, SinB covered Umji’s eyes, hugging her girlfriend’s head and covering her ears.

“Eunbi yah! Let go! I can watch! I’m just as old as you!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sowon sipped a small cup of soda, seated in the corner of her couch as her girls danced around, singing songs together. She watched with a tired smile, she’d have to scold Yerin later, but she was too tired to be bothered to. Placing her cup on the table in front of her, she leaned back blowing a puff of air and relaxing.

Watching as Yuju and Eunha flirted nearby, SinB and Umji played with her sound system, her eyes drooped a little. She knew she wouldn’t be able to fall asleep, she had to be in absolute silence in order to sleep these days. It was bad, since she had to spend nights at the hospital. Not being able to sleep there was the worst.

Yerin raised a finger to her lips, slowly signaling the girls to quiet down. Their loud chattering slowed to a quiet whisper as the girls watched Sowon with a smile. Their oldest had really grown a far way. She stood taller than all of them, proudly as a recently licensed doctor. Yerin brushed Sowon’s hair softly, tucking it behind her ear.

“Unnie?”

“Mmh?”

“Should I carry you to bed?”

“Aniya, I’m not sleeping.”

Sowon rubbed her face cutely pouting.

“Unnie, we’re all going to sleep. What are you going to do then?”

“I’ll sleep right here then.”

“You don’t want to be in your bed?”

Sowon shook her head, her pout making her seem younger again.

“I don’t wanna be alone.”

Yerin smiled, sitting down next to Sowon, she pulled Sowon to lean on her shoulder.

“Then, I’ll sleep here too.”

The girls gathered around slowly, with Sowon in the corner of the couch, they sat on both sides of their leader. Cuddling each other closely, they went to sleep soundly.

+++++++++++++++

 “SinB ssi?”

“Yes.”

“Your next project.”

SinB flicked through the pages, her phone buzzing nearby. Checking the caller, she smiled and answered, shooing her secretary away.

“Yewon ah.”

Humming as she listened to Umji, SinB tapped her pen on her paper.

“Uh…next month I have another modellin-“

Wincing as Umji nagged her for taking too much work, SinB smiled.

“Aniya, I really wished Sowon unnie would become my model, but you know, she’d probably be embarrassed to wear the clothes I designed.”

“Eunbi ah, she’d be proud. I agree that she might not agree, she’s also very busy. Your designs are beautiful, they would never be embarrassing to wear, Designer Hwang of the Be Brave series.”

SinB smiled.

“Love you hun.”

“Love you too.”

=====================

Woooohooooooo

Sowon is a doctor, Yerin does something, Eunha does something else, Yuju works on foreign things, SinB is a clothes designer with the motto "Be Brave" under her mom's company, Umji is SinB's girlfriend who is still studying for a higher degree! At least, that's what I think :P

Extras:

Behind the Scenes of “Hey, do you want to be my friend?”

Why did it end here?

As an author, there are decisions to make. One, which is what story to write, another is how to end it. No good story can go on forever, there has to be an ending. The way I see it, if I keep going, the quality of the piece will go no higher, instead it might go worse. Even if there is a way to continue it, I can feel the main idea disappearing, much like my previous story. I could do another arc in SinB’s life, getting used to her surroundings, but then what of the others? I love each character equally, and as such, would love it if each had their own arc again. Otherwise, the balance of the story kind of goes away, get me? Take for example, Umji was the first main character, her story was the most prominent for a time, and by the end, we only revisit her story from time to time, yet her impact remains the same. By wrapping up each story like this, I believe I have reached a ‘good’ end. It will never be a perfect end, nor a great end, but I will make it better one day.

Will this become a book?

This. This is a dream of mine, as a nineteen year old uni student who is always caught by the evils of the universities misgivings, I am struggling with finding my way to graduation, I’ve….failed quite a bit. To the point where I’m forced to say, “I was not born to be an engineer.” Now, I’m figuring out how to at least get a degree in English, maybe get a distinction in creative writing, I mean, it’s a good hobby, I have fun, and I once wrote a story that won an award before. Maybe I was meant to be a writer. Maybe. I’m going off topic, anyways, the printing fee in America is ridiculously high, something around 40+$ for a base fee without an editor, and I don’t think that value is accurate. I know for sure that I want a copy of this story physically. I really want it. And so, for that to happen, I’m going to keep working on this story, edit it well and polish it for the day it gets printed. Sadly, I probably won’t be posting the edits here, instead I’ll keep writing new stories.

Thank you for reading this far with me!

Maybe we'll meet again in my next story, for now, bye.