Chapter 3 

Sakura

She nervously checked her appearance in the mirror of her foyer one last time before walking outside where a car was waiting. It was a sleek Mercedes that looked custom made from the expensive additional details and pearly exterior. From the driver’s side Chaeyeon stepped out and gave her a warm smile that seemed to melt away her worries.

“Hi Sakura!”

“Hi Jjaeyeon.”

“C’mon let’s go, my sister’s still napping in the back so we’re going to have to whisper.”

“Okay.”

Chaeyeon opened the front passenger door for her and she felt her cheeks warm at the gesture as she slipped inside. When she glanced at the backseat an adorable little girl was in the back that looked like a miniature version of Chaeyeon and was napping cutely.

“Chaemin looks just like you.” she commented.

“Nah, she’s a lot cuter.”

That might be true but Chaeyeon was cute in her own way and really pretty.

“Hey put on your seat belt, Sakura.”

Before she could react Chaeyeon had reached over and pulled the seatbelt for her. Her face burned at the close contact and it took everything she had not to react more strongly.

After, Chaeyeon put on her own seat belt and they took off.

“Whose car is this anyway?” she asked.

“Oh it’s my mom’s. She and my dad went on a little vacation so I get to drive it around.”

“Do your parents travel a lot?”

“Yeah and they work a lot but that’s what makes them happy.”

She got that. Of course, she had grown up lonely with both her parents running business empires but seeing how happy they were she never had the heart to say anything.

She said, “Chaemin is lucky she has such a great older sister to take care of her and spend time with her with your parents working a lot.”

“It’s nothing and my other younger sister Chaeryong helps out when she’s around too. She’s at boarding school most of the year though.”

“My brother goes to boarding school too.”

They really did have a lot in common. When they lapsed into a silence, it was comfortable. Even if they had just met each other they didn’t feel the need to fill the moment with empty words. Just being around each other was enough.

She didn’t think anyone in her life had ever made her feel that way.

When they arrived at the Han River at the Yeouido Park she could already see her crazy group of friends running around with Chaewon trying to calm them all down and Minju getting bullied. Hyewon was sitting on a large layout of blankets, napping and kind of guarding everyone’s things.

They stepped out of the car and Chaeyeon woke up her sister.

“Chaemin-ah, c’mon we’re here.”

“I don’t wanna.”

“Hyewon is waiting outside.”

“Let’s go!”

She watched with amusement as the little girl sprinted out of the car and straight to Hyewon to wake her up too.

“Yah, Chaemin!” Chaeyeon yelled and ran after her sister.

Those two sisters were adorable.

When she walked up to the group Chaemin was happily sitting in Hyewon’s lap as Hyewon squeezed the girls cheek and Chaeyeon was trying to keep a serious face as she scolded her sister.

“Chaemin-ah, you can’t just go running like that it’s not safe.”

“But Hyewon unnie was right here!”

“Yes but running in the parking lot is never a good idea and you didn’t even say hi to Sakura who was in the car.”

“Who’s Sakura?”

She crouched down, “That would be me. Hi Chaemin, I’m Sakura.”

“Hi! You’re really pretty too. You can be my second choice to marry my sister.”

She paused and then burst into laughter. Chaemin really was as quirky and outspoken as Hyewon and Chaeyeon had described.

Chaeyeon was beet red, “Chaemin, I thought before we left the house you promised not to mention marriage.”

“You said not to bother Hyewon unnie but I didn’t.”

The little girl was smart.

Hyewon asked, “I’m still first choice?”

“Of course, you are. You’re the Jingnyeo to Chaeyeon’s Gyeonu.” Chaemin exclaimed.

She tilted her head, “What’s that?”

“It’s an old Korean fairytale. In it Gyeonu is a farmer and Jingnyeo is a weaver in the heavens. When they fall in love they neglect their duties so the emperor punishes them by making it so they can only meet once a year. After it’s time to meet after a year they can’t reach each other so magpies made a bridge so they could reach each other but after they can still meet only once a year.” Chaeyeon explained.

She gasped, “That’s such a sad story.”

“I know, which is why I don’t get why you think that’s a good reference.” Chaeyeon turned to Chaemin.

Chaemin shook her head, “You don’t get it, the story is good because there’s real conflict. It’s more romantic that way.”

The six year old had a point but she couldn’t help feeling jealous of how much Chaemin’s sister liked Hyewon.

“Kyahh!” a loud familiar scream sounded.

Yujin called to Minju, “I thought you liked worms?”

“I like gummy worms not real ones.” Minju whined.

Minju ran up to them.

“Chaeyeon protect me from that psycho.”

Chayeon laughed and hugged Minju, “Sure.”

Looking at the pair she couldn’t help thinking that they looked so comfortable with each other. It didn’t seem like they hadn’t seen each other in years.

“Oh my god, you’re a mini Chaeyeon!” Minju gasped at Chaemin. “Hi, I’m your sister’s childhood friend Minju.”

Chaemin looked the girl up and down, “…hi.”

The girl then crawled back into Hyewon’s lap and snuggled into the girl who was eating some chips.

Minju pouted, “Kids never like me.”

“Ahh, don’t be silly you’re generally unlikeable.” Yujin teased and then spotted the little girl. “Oh my god, it’s a clone of Chaeyeon.”

The rest of the girls ran up to them.

“She’s adorable.”

“I officially declare her our student council mascot.”

“Can we keep her, Chaeyeon?”

Chaemin looked at all the student council members, “This is a weird group of people unnie.”

“She’s a smart one.” Chaewon commented.

While all the girls introduced themselves to the little girl, Chaeyeon was talking with Minju again. When she glanced around she was surprised to notice Hyewon staring at the pair. Usually Hyewon was pretty zoned out of what was happening around her.

Yujin clapped her hand, “So I heard we were doing some boat racing?”

“Losers have to buy ice cream for everybody?” Yena perked up. “Let’s win this Yuri!”

Nako stood, “You’re on! C’mon Hitomi you’re my partner.”

“Let’s go long legs.” Yujin took Wonyoung’s hand.

Wonyoung frowned but surprisingly didn’t refuse.

“And Hyewon unnie will be on a team with my unnie.” Chaemin declared.

It looked like Chaeyeon was going to say something but when the little girl crossed her arms just sighed.

She smiled, “Can we be on a team Chaemin?”

“Sure and let’s have Minju unnie too.”

Great, now she had to worry about their bad luck frog tagging along. Who she loved but always managed to get into some sort of trouble.

Chaeyeon

She and Hyewon had been the first to get on their small swan boat to pedal around the Han River. After getting used to the motions, they had been lazily drifting around. At first the silence had bothered her but when Hyewon had grabbed her hand she relaxed.

It had been something she had slowly noticed about Hyewon. The girl was shy and didn’t talk much but communicated through her actions. Maybe, at times words would be nice but it was the earnest innocence about Hyewon’s actions that made it seem more genuine somehow.

When she glanced at the girl next to her, she was suddenly struck by how pretty she looked with sparkling water in the background and the sun illuminating her.

“Let me take a picture of you, you look really pretty right now!” she smiled and took out her phone.

She tried to lean back a bit to take a photo but because they were sitting next to each other it was a little difficult.

Surprisingly, Hyewon grabbed her phone, “Let’s just take a photo together.”

“Okay.”

She moved closer to Hyewon and allowed the girl to rest her head on her shoulder, while she smiled into the camera. After taking a few shots, Hyewon lowered the phone but didn’t pull away.

With the calm presence next to her and the beautiful view, it was nice just experiencing the Han River. She really had missed Korea after travelling around so much.

Another swan boat floated out of the harbor next to them.

“I am the captain of this majestic vessel, move forward peasant!” Yujin yelled.

Wonyoung who was sitting in the boat next to the girl glared, “I made a serious mistake getting on this boat.”

“I mean the other choices don’t seem much better.” she joked.

Nako and Hitomi had a surprisingly fiery competitive look in their eyes as they pedaled forward and she wondered whether the squishy cute underclassmen had been replaced with imposters.

Not too far behind Chaemin sat in between Sakura and Minju in their boat and seemed to be shooting rapid questions at the two. She kind of felt bad but sometimes it helped to satisfy her sister’s curiosity to get her to settle down a bit.

“On your mark, get set, go!” Yujin called out.

The girls duck boat sped p