‘Dear all passenger of Jeju Air with flight number JQ4728, you may now enter gate 11, thank you’

Mr. Kim ears peaked up as he had listened carefully to the airport broadcast as he checked the flight number on his boarding pass. “Hurry up guys! We may be late for our flight!” he hurriedly shouted to the rest of the group who were just walking right behind him.

Sakura’s dad, Mr. Miyawaki just shook his head and sighed. “Aigoo, this guy is at it again,” he muttered to himself.

“Minjoo Abeoji, our flight is not until 6 pm, we still have a lot of time!” he jogged to Mr. Kim to calm him up. Minjoo just smiled looking at how cute her dad was for being jumpy and panicky every time he’s on the airport, train station, or even bus terminal. His ultimate fear is to miss his ride. When she was younger her dad would start his preach about how they have to be no later than 4 hours prior to the departure of their ride. Of course, she is opposed to this idea because once, her dad almost made them wait in the bus terminal at 4 am in the morning to be ready for their 8 am bus departure.

The brunette attention shifted to Yujin who walking just a few steps behind her dad. The chef was currently listening to Yena who was probably talking about a new cocktail recipe that she wanted Yujin to have a taste at. Minjoo smiled at how Yujin who usually was never really a fan of Yena talking, now currently listening to the pony-tailed girl’s explanation attentively. Yena is right. The reason why she bonded with Yujin easily is because they were both passionate about gourmet, whether it is gourmet food or gourmet drink.

“So something must have really happened yesterday,”

Minjoo immediately shifted her stare away from Yujin and made herself busy with her phone. “Unnie, will you drop it? Nothing happened okay,” she said to Sakura next to her. The Japanese girl just couldn’t stop bugging her about how she spent a day with Yujin the day before.

“Aigoo, Minjoo-ah, you can’t lie from this unnie, you came back so late at night yesterday” Sakura replied. “Tell me, did you confess to her? Oh, or better! Did you guys-“ the Japanese girl stopped in mid-sentence as she pouted her lips to sign Minjoo what she meant.

The taller girl immediately shook her head and slapped her best friend’s arm. “Unnie! Nothing like that happened!” she said in a whisper.

“But If nothing like that happened why are you whispering? Are you afraid that your dad might hear that you and Yujin-“

“Ah, this unnie jinjja!” Minjoo ran from Sakura before the Japanese girl could even finish her sentence. Sakura just smiled playfully as she looked at Minjoo’s back leaving her. “Minjoo-ah wait for me!!” she shouted as she ran after her best friend. It seemed like her plan B for her mission to get Minjoo and Yujin together is a big success.

-Flashback-

Shilla Hotel, Yesterday at 5:03 AM KST

“You’re late,” Sakura said without looking up from her plate.

“So what’s your plan?” Yena asked Sakura as she put down her plate on the table to join Sakura for breakfast, completely ignoring Sakura’s earlier remark. She was still on her pajama and had woken up earlier to meet Sakura on the hotel’s restaurant to discuss about their plan for the day to get Minjoo and Yujin closer. Geez, she even made this sacrifice to wake up early for Yujin’s sake. That rude girl should be thankful for how good of a friend she is.

“Nothing,” Sakura replied shortly as she took another bit of her pancake.

“What do you mean nothing?” Yena couldn’t help but getting enraged by Sakura’s answer. She woke up early for nothing?

“Yeah, you heard me right,” The Japanese girl said nonchalantly. “Let’s just do nothing and let fate and the beautiful Jeju-do work the magic for them,”

Yena massaged her head upon hearing Sakura’s response. “You better be not joking around girl,”

“I’m not!” Sakura answered. “Look, we have done enough in our power to make them get closer, it’s time for them, well mainly Yujin to realize that if they really want this to happen, they need to do it themselves,” she added.

“Wow,” Yena said in response.

“I’m so wise right?” the Japanese girl said as she cut her pancake into pieces.

“No, I’m just amazed at how can a person change this much in just one night? You should listen to yourself yesterday because you acted like a military chief all day to get everything goes as you planned,”

Sakura looked up from her plate and smiled. “What do you mean? I am making everything goes as I plan. My plan is we do nothing, so let’s do that,” she said.

“If your plan is to do absolutely nothing then why do we have to meet this early? We should have talk about this in a humanly hour! Who the hell have breakfast at 5 am?”

“Well I do,” Sakura replied as gracefully as she could.

Yena stared at how annoying Sakura at the moment before she let out a frustrating growl. “Aish you psycho! Molla molla! I’m going back to sleep!” she said as she stomped out of the table to go back to her room.

-3 hours later-

“Oh, there she is!” Mr. Miyawaki exclaimed as she saw Sakura was walking toward their direction. “But where’s Minjoo-chan?” he asked upon seeing Sakura was walking alone.

“Sakura-chan, where’s my Minjoo?” Mr. Kim asked once Sakura have reached them.

“Ah, she’s too tired so I think she better rest,” Sakura replied. She had told Minjoo’s dad about how Minjoo ‘accidentally’ drank a gulp of soju mistaking it as regular cider. She couldn’t say that Minjoo was taking 4 shots in a row the night before because then Mr. Kim would know that something was going on since Minjoo was never that reckless. She just didn’t want Mr. Kim to worry about it. So, it’s better to tell a white lie to protect the soft father and daughter, right?

Mr. Kim frowned as he was immediately concerned about his daughter. “Is she really okay? What about her hangover?” he said. “I think I should just stay with her,”

“Ah Ahjusshi, I think she’s going to be okay. I have called room service to bring hangover tea to our room,” Sakura said. “You should have fun with the rest of ahjusshis today!” she added as she took a glance at a group of ahjusshis from their tour. Apparently, Mr. Kim and her dad had made a few close friends over drinking rounds last night. She figured that Mr. Kim had worked hard to earn this vacation so she didn’t want him to worry about anything else.

“It’s okay Kura-chan, I can really use some father-daughter time with Minjoo,” Mr. Kim said, smiling to the Japanese girl.

“But you already had enough father-daughter time at home. You should now let loose and have a great time with your new friends!” Sakura said as she insisted.

Mr. Kim looked at his new group of friends who are calling him to join them. “How can I leave Minjoo alone? I think I should just stay. You guys have fun!” he said.

“I’ll stay,” Yujin suddenly volunteered.

Sakura and Yena widened their eyes as they look at each other happily. It was like they were giving each other a telepathic high-five. They couldn’t believe this. Their plan of staying put worked like magic.

“Yujin-ah, you don’t have to,” Mr. Kim refused, not wanting to bother Yujin.

“Ahjusshi, you earned this vacation and I know you want to hang out with the others. You should go.” The young chef said.

 “That’s right Minjoo Abeoji! It’s been your dream to go on this vacation! Let Yujin take care of Minjoo-chan, she’s more than capable,” Mr. Miyawaki had joined the force to persuade Mr. Kim to go.

“But-“

“Ahjusshi, if you’re worried about Yujin, you don’t have to! Going around with groups of people is never her thing,” Yena also joined.

Mr. Kim stared at the group one by one and finally nodded his head. “Alright then,” he said. “Yujin-ah, I’m sorry to trouble you,”

Yujin just nodded her head.

“Aigoo what trouble? You’re the one who’s doing Yujin a favor ahjusshi!” Yena said. “You know how she doesn’t like people right?” she added.

“Everyone! It’s time to board the bus!” The tour guide instructed through his speaker from afar.

“Alright let’s go!!!” Yena exclaimed as she dragged Mr. Kim away.

“Yujin-chan, have fun!” Mr. Miyawaki said to Yujin before also walking away. The young chef bowed to him in return.

“That’s right Yujin-ah! Have fun! But don’t have too much fun okay, you need to remember that my Minjoo is still a baby,” Sakura blinked an eye and took off.

-end of flashback-

“Minjoo-ah, why are you pouting? Are you sad that you don’t get to sit next to your prince charming?” Sakura best friend who was now sitting next to her on the window seat.

“Unnie, you should fasten your seat-belt,” Minjoo said ignoring Sakura’s remark as she kept herself busy with reading the plane’s safety instruction. The plane was ready to take off as she could see that the stewardess were already on their seats.

“Oh, how I’m going to be lonely when you two are dating- oh wait, is it possible that you two already are?” Sakura managed to fake a shock expression as she fastened her seatbelt. She wasn’t planning to stop teasing her best friend because the reaction she was receiving was so cute.

“Ah unnie! Can you stop talking abou Yujin? I told you nothin-“

“Omo Minjoo-ah! I didn’t even mention Yujin’s name! I knew it! Something must certainly happen!” Sakura said, but immediately got a pinch from Minjoo.

“Unnie, lower your voice, people might hear you!” she whispered, urging Sakura to not talk about Yujin loudly since the plane is about to take off and it’s too quiet.

“Relax, Yujin is sitting ten rows behind us, she’s not going to hear anything!” Sakura said as she took a peek to the back seats. “Beside, she’s sleeping now!” Sakura said whispering, trying not to earn glares from the other passengers.

Minjoo also took a peek and saw that Yujin was indeed sleeping and so is Yena who was sitting next to her. Behind Yujin and Yena were her dad and Sakura’s dad who were so preoccupied with the baseball game playing on the screen in front of him.

“So,” Sakura stared at Minjoo with dazzling eyes. “Are you ready to tell me what happened? I want details!”

Minjoo stared back at her best friend and sighed. “You’re really not going to give up on this, do you?” she said.

Sakura nodded her head.

“Okay, but first of all, you need to stop looking at me with those erted eyes, nothing like that happened,” Minjoo warned Sakura. The way Sakura was looking at her these past view hours was really making her uncomfortable.

“Nothing like what exactly?” Sakura teased again.

“That! That! You need to stop that or I won’t tell you anything!” Minjoo pointed her finger to Sakura’s eyes.

“Alright, alright, now tell me already! This plane might land before you actually begin your story!”

Minjoo sighed and stared to the dark tiny screen in front of her, she still remembered yesterday very vividly.

-flashback-

“Kamsahamnida,” Minjoo bowed to the guy who had took their photo as she took Yujin’s phone. The guy bowed back before walking away.

“Let me see,” Minjoo opened Yujin’s gallery. “Omo, he took some really great pictures!” Minjoo exclaimed happily as she went through some pictures the guys had taken from them.

“Okay, sent!” Minjoo said as soon as she pressed the send button. She had sent the pictures herself to her phone, including pictures of Yujin’s new puppy. “Here you go,” Minjoo handed Yujin her phone as the two of them sat back to the bench they were sitting before. As the sun started to disappear behind the sea, Minjoo could feel that the wind is getting stringer and the temperature is going a little bit down. So she put on her cardigan to keep herself warm.

“So, you have any idea where we should go next?” Minjoo asked the taller girl. The brunette immediately regretted her decision of asking Yujin. What if she wanted to call it a day?

Yujin didn’t answer the question right away. “Wherever you want,” she answered shortly after a moment.

Minjoo smiled brightly upon hearing Yujin’s answer. And in the very moment, the sky turned darker and darker and before the two could notice it, rain started to pour like crazy. Bad news is, they both didn’t bring any umbrella.

Their fate was pretty clear. With having no protection from an umbrella, they were both now soaking wet running in the thunderstorm, looking for a shelter. The place where they sat to see the sunset was just in the middle of nowhere so they were lucky to find a short cut to a big supermarket.

“It really is late summer,” Minjoo said as she took off Yujin’s baseball hat. Previously Yujin had forcefully make her wear the hat since Minjoo herself refused to wear it. “What did I tell you? You should be the one to wear it,” she started to nag and took out her handkerchief from her bag. It was the one that she got from her dad on last Christmas. It was given alongside with her favorite children book.

“Your hair is dripping water! What if you catch a cold Yujin-ah?” she continued to nag as she dapped the taller girl’s hair with her napkin. Worried and concern could be seen from her eyes. Yujin just stared at the brunette, making the latter stopped moving her hands.

“What?” Minjoo asked, staring back at Yujin. She should really win one of these staring games someday, but for now, she couldn’t since Yujin’s stare is too intimidatingly sharp even when she didn’t try to.

“You should worry about yourself first,” the chef said as she grabbed Minjoo’s hand softly and put her own paper towel she had previously took out from her tote-bag. She took Minjoo’s handkerchief in return and wiped the water dripping on her neck.

 “You’re one to talk,” Minjoo pouted and eventually used Yujin’s towel to dap her shoulders. “I mean, what should we do if you get sick? At this state, the restaurant couldn’t run without you,” she added. It was rather an excuse because she really was genuinely worried. And of course, since they have a lot more customers now, it’s impossible to run the restaurant with just one chef. And only Yujin who made it possible to run the restaurant with only two chefs working in the kitchen.

“And who will take the orders when you’re sick? Your hot-tempered friend?” Yujin replied, referring to Sakura.

Minjoo just chuckled in return. Not only because Yujin had gotten comfortable to joke around her, also because she’s right about Sakura.

-

The two were now inside the supermarket. The only thing on their minds were to find clothes to get changed to. Since they were both frugal spenders, they went straight ahead when they saw a one plus one track suits. They weren’t the best quality but they were both happy to o