Day 01: December 14th

Busan

"That will be 8000 won." Jo Yuri smiled at the elderly lady standing on the other side of the counter.

"Here you go.."

Yuri accepted the money and put it inside the cash register. She turned to the person who was supposed to be bagging the grocery to find the other woman staring into space. Yuri quickly grabbed a bag and put the grocery inside.

"We are really sorry for the delay, Gayoung-ssi. She is not feeling that well today." Yuri apologized to the older lady. "And once the new stock of the tea comes in, I will give you a call."

"It's not a problem, dear." The elderly lady picked up the grocery and waved goodbye to the two women. "And I hope that Minju will be feeling better soon."

Yuri waited until the elderly lady walked out of the supermarket before gently hitting the woman beside her. The other person did not react, so Yuri decided to try again with more force.

"Ouch!" Kim Minju rubbed her arm as she turned to face Yuri. "What was that for?"

"I’m just trying to make sure that you are still alive. What's wrong with you today anyway?" Yuri asked as she began to flip through the sales log.

"Why is life so cruel to me? They are taking the joy away from me. How am I going to survive?"

"You are exaggerating." Yuri replied without even taking a look at Minju.

"You are my best friend!" Minju complained. "Aren't you supposed to be on my side?"

"I'm on your side; otherwise, I wouldn't be helping you with the supermarket. I'm practically devoting my life to this supermarket."

Minju started to pout and threw her arms around Yuri. "Oh Yuri!"

Yuri patted Minju softly on the head. "Okay, you are not going to be much help here. Why don't you go back to the office? It's almost time for closing anyway."

Minju nodded and walked slowly back to the office.

Yuri could tell that something was bothering Minju. After she finished up with the closing, she would have to have a talk with her best friend to see what was bothering the other woman.

Yuri walked around the supermarket to make sure that there were no customers left in the store. Then, she walked back to the front and prepared for closing. She was about to pull down the gate when she heard someone calling her name.

"Yuri!"

Yuri smiled as Honda Hitomi approached her. "Off work now, Hii-chan?"

Hitomi nodded and stepped into the store. She lifted up her hand to show Yuri the small white box that she was holding. "We were trying a new recipe today and we had some leftovers, so I’ve brought some over for you and Minju."

Yuri locked up the store and turned to face Hitomi. "It's always nice to have a friend who can make tasty food."

Hitomi laughed as the two of them walked to the cash registers.

Minju, Yuri and Hitomi were best friends who had grown up together since kindergarten. Minju's parents had passed away when she was really young, so she was raised by her grandfather who owned the neighbourhood supermarket. He had retired when Minju graduated from university 2 years ago. Since then, Minju had taken over the ownership and had asked Yuri to help her out at the supermarket. Yuri was now the manager of the supermarket, mostly in charge of the financial aspects of the supermarket. With Minju looking after the product inventory and administrative sides of the supermarket, the two of them had formed a great partnership.

Hitomi, on the other hand, worked at the local bakery. She had always had an interest in food, so after high school graduation, she had begged the owners of the bakery, a middle-aged couple, to hire her as an apprentice. With her determination along with the help of Minju and Yuri, the owners finally agreed to hire her. Hitomi was a quick learner and she could always come up with new ideas for pastries and cakes. Since the owners had no children, they treated Hitomi like their own daughter.

"Hii-chan, do you know what's wrong with Minju?"

"She didn't tell you?"

Yuri shook her head.

"Yujin told her last night that she might not be able to come back for Christmas this year."

"Ah, no wonder Minju looked so down today."

When they first entered high school, Minju had met Ahn Yujin, a new transfer student who had just moved to town. It was love at first sight for Yujin, but it had taken a lot of time and determination for her to break down Minju’s walls. The two of them had started dating when they were in their second year of high school. They continued their relationship after high school as both of them went to the same university in Busan. After they graduated from university, Yujin was offered a very good job opportunity in Seoul. Minju told Yujin to follow her dreams and that she would wait for Yujin. Since then, they had begun their long distance relationship. They would try to see each as often as their schedules would allow them and they would always talk and message each other.

"Long distance relationship is so hard." Hitomi sighed, feeling sorry for her best friend.

"Seoul and Busan are only a few hours away from each other. Why can't Minju just visit Yujin more often?"

"Yujin's job keeps her quite busy, so she doesn't have a lot of free time on her hand. And Minju can't just abandon her grandfather and this supermarket."

"That’s true..." Yuri shook her head. "Poor Minju."

"Well, Yujin's plans are not finalized yet, so maybe she will still be able to come home this year."

"I hope so."

"Anyway, I'm going to take the cakes to Minju."

"Okay." Yuri replied as she glanced at the clock on the wall. "I'm going to finish closing up and then I will be right there."

"We will wait for you."

Yuri watched as Hitomi walked to the office at the back of the supermarket, then she turned around to continue to close up the supermarket. She closed out the cash registers and locked the doors. She looked around the store to see if she was missing anything and her glance fell on the Christmas tree that they had put up in the store.

"There's only 12 days until Christmas. I hope that this will be a good Christmas..."

Yuri looked at the tree once more before joining Minju and Hitomi in the office.