CHAPTER 7

 Xiah Dragon Noodles

 

“I can’t believe you both,” Wendy said as she comfortably leaned back on the backseat of Soo-Young's car. 

“Surprise, huh? It was my idea,” Soo-Young proudly proclaimed. "I couldn't wait to see the look on your face!"

“Yes, very surprising.”

Surprising, to say the least. When Wendy booked that plane back to Korea after staying in Canada all these years, she never expected that her two old friends would be the first ones to ever greet her. Every now and then she took little glimpses of the two girls’ faces through the rearview mirror, checking to see if they were real—and they were very much real.

Soo-Young has grown to be very burdensomely gorgeous. And Seulgi has this chic, aloofly cool vibe to her, but still has the same gentle baby face. How anyone could grow up to be very different and yet still be very much the same had always been mind-boggling. They were the very same friends, but they have all definitely grown into adults. And right now, they were all together in one car. It was a strangely familiar scene, like the new and improved sequel to an older film that was lost and forgotten all through the years.

“So, Seungwan Unnie, or should I say Wendy Son, what’s your story?” Soo-Young suddenly asked as they zoomed through the highway. “Why are you here?”

“Oh, I just…” Wendy had no idea where to even begin...

...

“You’re leaving? To Korea? Since when did you decide this? I don’t understand, Wendy. This isn’t like you.”

“I’m just not in a good place right now.” Wendy had tried to explain to her roommate in Canada about her current situation a month before she had left. “I need a break.”

As a student, Wendy Son had been the best. She had the best GPA, the best field performance, a perfect attendance… She was the best at everything. Needless to say, that also gave her plenty of scholarships and great opportunities. With her hardworking attitude, nothing could possibly stand in her way of achieving her goals—at least, that was what others thought. It never made sense for “the best” to suddenly decide on taking a break for an entire semester.

“I know this may seem random, but I’ll be staying in Korea just for a month. Maybe a little longer. I know I usually think things through before heading in, but with the semester starting, I need to make quick decisions and honestly, I can’t… I can’t continue med school right now. Not in this state.”

“What state? Is it because of that patient again?” The patient that died in the ER while she was volunteering. Wendy remained silent.

“Don’t let one random patient’s death get to you,” her roommate continued. “It’s a part of the job. Some things are just inevitable.” By the way her roommate had said it, it had come off as heartless—soulless, even.

She doesn’t know what it’s like. She wasn’t there when it happened.

Unfortunately, the statement her roommate made was not a lie. People do die in hospitals. It’s an irrefutable fact. These things happen every single day. Doctors and nurses were never life-saving gods. The best they could do is prolong an ending one with an ounce of luck and whatever they learned in med school.

“But isn’t that why you wanted to be a doctor in the first place? To save lives?”

…

Not wanting to go into that story with Soo-Young and Seulgi right now, Wendy just shrugged and light-heartedly answered, “I’m on vacation. That’s it, really.”

“Oh, come on. Elaborate. Details. We got time.” Soo-Young was too eager to hear all of it.

“But you haven’t even told me why you’re both here! Why don’t we start with that? I want to hear your stories too.”

It has been so long. Seeing them again made Wendy want to burst. They were friends that she has missed for the longest time. Ever since they all left Gyeongsan one by one, there was not a single day that teenage Seungwan did not miss them. Even all through her college years, she still thought about them and kept a small photograph of the three of them in her wallet. Now that they were truly here right before her just like the good old days, it was like a dream come true. Starting off with a heavy story about her reasons for suddenly coming back did not fit the mood. Those kinds of talks should be saved for when they get wasted on alcohol at night or something—when they can be vulnerable and have deep heart-to-heart talks without restrictions. For now, she simply wanted to enjoy their presence. No cry fests  and no blasts from the dark past. Today was a good day and she wanted to smile a bit with them before they delve back into the ugly parts…

“Soo-Young, give her rest,” Seulgi interrupted at just the right time. “It must have been a long flight.”

Soo-Young ignored Seulgi and continued pressing Wendy to speak. “I suspect you’re also here for the time capsule?”

“Time capsule?” A sudden spark lit up upon hearing the words.

"You know, the one we all buried ages ago?"

Just the thought of it made her heart pound in excitement and familiarity. Unfortunately, that was just what it was—familiar. Thinking back, maybe they did bury something like that back then. Unfortunately, whether the specific memory still exists or not, Wendy was unsure. Maybe she had forgotten a lot more than she thought. “What time capsule?”

Seulgi stopped fumbling with her phone and glanced at Soo-Young.

“Oh, don’t tell me you don’t remember that either!” Soo-Young raised her voice a little.

Due to the disappointment in Soo-Young’s voice, Wendy felt bad and hoped she could at least remember, but it was difficult to say anything substantial. “Sorry. Remind me again?”

“If you’re the only one who remembers then maybe it doesn’t even exist,” Seulgi light-heartedly poked at Soo-Young with a tinge of pessimism.

“Hey, just because you both don’t remember, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist,” Soo-Young argued. “We all swore to find it. I’m not making this up!”

Wendy had no idea what they were talking about, but it made her so curious. Why is it that I don’t remember anything about this time capsule?

As they zoomed through the main road, Soo-Young partly rolled down their windows, letting bursts of cold wind onto the car. Seulgi closed her eyes and squealed while Wendy tossed and brushed her hair. Then Soo-Young turned up the radio and began to blast an upbeat pop song.

“Man, this is the life!” Soo-Young shouted as she drove through long road lined with yellowing gingko trees. Nothing could beat the free and liberating road-trip atmosphere she created for herself. “Anyway, Seungwan Unnie, are you hungry? What do you think of getting lunch before heading to the lodge?”

Just then, Wendy realised that they had passed by a huge stone with etched markings saying, “Welcome to Yeonsan.” They were already in town.

“Is this really this road? The empty road into town?” Wendy asked as she peeked out the window. “I’ve never seen those buildings before!”

“Yeah,” Seulgi answered. “Don’t be shocked yet. There are more shocking things in store.”

“What do you want to eat?” Soo-Young kept asking her things before she even had any room to take all this scenery in.

“I’m not sure…,” Wendy absent-mindedly replied as she kept her eyes on the passing view outside the car window. The scene from her memory did not match what she was seeing at the moment. It was slightly disorienting. After taking some turns, Wendy was completely lost. She had no idea where she was. 

“Maybe we can head downtown and look for places to eat there,” Seulgi suggested. “Or maybe we can go to the restaurants near the lake…”

As Soo-Young drove through the streets of downtown Yeonsan while Seulgi was randomly suggesting places, something suddenly caught Seulgi's and Wendy’s attention. There outside her window was a small Korean-Chinese restaurant with a familiar red overhead sign.

Xiah Dragon Noodles.

“WAIT!” Seulgi exclaimed with an obnoxiously loud voice all so suddenly.

The startled driver abruptly pressed on her brakes at a red light, throwing everyone off their seat. “Oh god! DO NOT scream like that while I’m driving!” (Soo-Young said that even though she had been motor-mouthing the entire ride.)

While Soo-Young was waiting for the lights to turn green, Seulgi and Wendy stared at their respective windows. There on the sidewalk was this girl with long dark hair who had just walked out of the Korean-Chinese restaurant. From a distance, her petite figure seemed fairly generic, but when they watched closer, her porcelain-white face, streamlined pink lips, and the loose sweater looked hauntingly familiar. The girl ran away as soon as she had come out of the restaurant doors.

"Did you see that?!" Seulgi began freaking out. (And by "shocking things" she definitely meant this one...)

By the time Soo-Young looked to the right window, the girl had already left the picture. The only noticeable thing left was the familiar restaurant with the red signboard.

“Oh hey, it’s Xiah Dragon Noodles.” Soo-Young blithely smiled. “We used to eat there from time to time back then. I can’t believe their business is still alive and running. You guys up for Chinese food like the good old days?”

“…Sure,” Seulgi quieted down, not wanting to sound insane again. They already went over this last night. It was most likely just another hallucination. But this time, Wendy saw her too.

"That girl looked a lot like Joohyun Unnie...," Wendy said, quite unsure about what she saw.

"You saw her too?!" Seulgi twisted to look at the backseat and began to freak out once again. "See! I'm not crazy! I told you I saw her! I saw Joohyun Unnie with my own eyes!"

When the lights switched to green, Soo-young lightly stepped on the gas pedal. "Okay, okay, calm down! Geez!"

"She just looks like her from afar, Seulgi," Wendy said, also trying to calm her down. "That girl can't be her."

In a low, slightly frustrated voice, Soo-Young then concluded, "Why don't we all calm the down and have some brunch first? Besides, Seulgi Unnie, we already talked about this. Everyone has some sort of doppelganger, and that girl could be Joohyun Unnie's so there is absolutely NO POINT in stressing over it!"

"Yeah, let's all just eat. I'm hungry," Wendy agreed.

"I... I guess..." Seulgi calmed down. "I think we're all just really hungry right now."

“Glad to see that we all agree!” Soo-Young exclaimed. “It’s my treat this time, so don’t worry about paying or whatever. Let’s eat lots!”

 

 

October 2005

“Man, I hate fractions,” Seulgi complained as she sat with Seungwan at the cafeteria while waiting for Soo-Young during lunch later that same day. “And then you turn them into decimals and then you round them off, and argh!!! Why?! Just why?! Do they come up all of this stuff just to confuse people?!”

“They have uses other than to confuse people, Seulgi,” Seungwan tried to explain. “We can go over it later and I’ll try to teach you so you wouldn’t have to be confused.”

“I sure am glad to have a genius for a friend!” Seulgi chuckled as she began to stuff herself with a mouthful of rice.

Then, an extra tray suddenly dropped on their table, startling the other two. “Ugh.” It was Soo-young with the usual scowl she wore in school.

“What’s up?” Seungwan asked.

“Someone stole my yoghurt again. Gosh, I hate people.”

Seungwan tore open her own milk carton and slid the straw inside. Then she pushed the carton to Soo-Young’s side of the table. “Here, have my milk.”

Despite the missing bicycle case being solved, grade school hell did not end there. Mean kids were still everywhere, and from time to time she still “defended herself” by counterattacking and getting in trouble for it. At least now, she had two 5th-grade unnies backing her up or waiting for her until her detention time ends. Seulgi and Seungwan were her “good conscience.” They always try to convince Soo-Young to avoid causing even bigger trouble.

And although Soo-Young was used to never having friends back then, she was beginning to enjoy the newfound attention she was getting from these two older girls. In fact, she craved their attention and turned moody without them around. Specifically, she did not want them to hang out—just the two of them—without her. She could never lie to herself; she truly was jealous that Seulgi had become friends with someone she so perfectly matched with—someone like the oh-so-cute-and-nice-and-smart-and-perfect Son Seungwan. Soo-Young wanted to be mean to her. She wanted to scare her off so she can keep Seulgi to herself. Unfortunately, Son Seungwan was too nice. She always gave her food; she always asked if she was okay; she always seemed concerned, etcetera, etcetera... It was borderline obnoxious. How can anyone be mean to someone like that?!

Since Soo-Young could not separate an already budding friendship between the two—you know what they say, “If you can’t beat them, join them.” So instead of trying to steal Seulgi away from Seungwan, she ended up befriending Seungwan as well. Over the course of a month, they had grown to be close friends. In a way, Seungwan had also become an indispensable friend to Soo-Young too. But of course, she was still too stubborn to actually admit that.

"Nah, keep your milk. I don't want your charity." That was a lie. She did want milk, and Seungwan easily saw through her. 

"Just take it, Soo-Young." Seungwan really did not mind. The more she stuck around these two girls, the more she was beginning to see that she was the only one responsible around here. She liked taking care of them, so it did not matter whether or not she drunk her milk today. As long as Soo-Young was not all cranky and upset, she would have her heart full. That was just how she was.

"Alright." Soo-young took the milk carton and sipped on the straw. "Thanks."

 

As the weather cooled down at the beginning of the month, the three girls, Seulgi, Seungwan, and Soo-Young had often gone out on strolls and little adventures together. Today, their mission was to take the dogs from the shelter out on a walk. Seulgi hoped to at least stop by and admire the aesthetically appealing colours of the changing foliage, but her canine partner was not much for compromising. Seungwan and Soo-Young just continued laughing at her from a distance.

“Whoa, boy! Slow down!” Young Seulgi pulled at the leash with all her strength, but it was no use. Wherever the Jindo dog wanted to go, the Jindo dog just went. This particular canine was too excited to be out and about in the fine streets of downtown Yeonsan. The pair ran off with the cool autumn wind, kicking off a few dead leaves along the way.

“It looks like you’re the one being walked,” 12-year-old Seungwan laughed as she leisurely walked with a particularly docile toy poodle.

 “This is why you need to eat healthily and exercise, Seulgi Unnie! You’re such a wimpy little shrimp!” Soo-Young bantered.

“No, I’m not!” Seulgi yelled back as she tried to catch up with her powerful canine friend’s leaps. Everyone just chuckled at the adorable sight.

 

“Thanks a lot for walking them today,” said Choi Soo-Young from the dog shelter after they had finished their excursion with the dogs on that fine October afternoon. “I wish I could give you guys a little something… oh, wait!” She rummaged through her piles of messy paperwork and managed to unearth three strips of… 

“Restaurant coupons?” Grade school kids never did fully appreciate this kind of seemingly-boring stuff, but the lady gave it to them anyway.

“Yeah, you can hand those over to the recently opened Chinese restaurant down the block and they’ll give you discounts! Also, if you say to the owner there that you know me, she might give you—and me—an even bigger discount, maybe. She’s my friend.” She winked at them with a self-assured smirk. As much as discount coupons never piqued children’s interests, adults on the other hand… “Trust me when I say this—saving money while eating good food is very, very, very important. You’ll thank me for teaching you this when you’re older.”

Thanks to the wise counsel of the kindest dog shelter manager in town, the three friends ended up going to the new Korean-Chinese restaurant down the block. It was a little difficult to miss. The new red sign was obnoxiously shiny, and right by the entrance of the restaurant were a couple of flower stands with ribbons that say “Congratulations on the Grand Opening!” on them.

Sweet-sounding chimes jingled the moment the glass door was opened. The three girls stepped into the dimly-lit restaurant and went to take a seat at one of the 4-seater tables with the cushiony seats.

“I like the lamps and the dragons look so cool,” Seulgi noted. Ever since she was a child, she had a taste for unconventional décor, and the beige paper lamps hanging on the ceiling definitely gave off a uniquely East Asian aesthetic that appealed to her. On the maroon wallpaper were prints of golden dragons, masterfully painted by a traditional Korean artist. Seulgi marvelled at the sight of it.

“So, what are you guys ordering?” Soo-Young asked while looking at the menu. “Since we have coupons anyway, I figured we could get whatever we want. It’s my treat. Think of it as a thank you for that thing you did for me on my birthday last month.”

"You're paying? Cool! You're such a great friend Soo-Young!" Nothing could be more flattering that Seulgi's truthful words. "Let's get a lot of food! All the good ones!"

"Hey, not too much!"

While the Soo-Young and Seulgi were looking over the menu, Seungwan’s gaze was completely elsewhere. Then she tugged at Seulgi’s sleeve and whispered, “Hey, Seul, isn’t that…?”

“Huh?” Seulgi looked to Seungwan, who was pointing to someone else standing by the counter. It was a very familiar figure with long black hair and purple sweater. Even from the hind side view, she knew exactly who it was. Joohyun Unnie.

Joohyun was not alone though. She was talking to a teenage boy of about her age—a boy wearing a red apron. He seemed to be working here, (even though he was so young) and Joohyun seemed to be explaining something to him like she was earnestly asking—or begging—him for something. After a while, the boy nodded, mouthing out an “okay” and went through the door that was for “authorized personnel only.”

Once the teenage boy had gone, Seulgi called out to her and waved a hand to make sure Joohyun would notice. “Joohyun Unnie!”

Unlike the time when they coincidentally saw her at the junkyard, Joohyun greeted back with a gentle smile. “Hello, Seulgi.”

It felt like ages had passed since they last met. Despite being neighbours, they rarely ever see each other. She then approached Seulgi and the other girls to greet them properly. Seungwan shyly smiled and slightly nodded her head for a respectful bow while Soo-Young just stared at her feeling completely uneasy.

Joohyun’s gaze drifted from Seulgi to Seungwan and then to Soo-Young. Oddly, her wide-eyed gaze lingered on Soo-Young a little longer than on everyone else. Before the raven-like unnie spoke again, she looked back to Seulgi and asked, “You guys are eating together?”

“Yeah. Soo-Young is treating us! We even got coupons!” Seulgi said so blithely.

“That’s good,” Joohyun said with a sweet smile. She also subtly glanced at Soo-Young again for a split second before focusing on Seulgi again. Soo-Young caught onto that. Why does this creepy unnie keep glancing at me like that?

“So, if you’re not eating, why are you here?” Seulgi asked. “Who was that guy?”

“Oh, I was asking Kibum if maybe I could get a job here…” Then Joohyun drifted off and turned to see if the teenage boy had come out of the back door yet. “His family owns this restaurant.”

“A job?”

“I needed extra money lately.”

Suddenly, the “authorized personnel only” door swung open and the teenage boy came walking toward Joohyun. “Hyun-ah, Taeyeon Noona said you can come in.”

Before leaving, Joohyun waved Seulgi and the other two goodbye. Soon she too disappeared into the back room. 

“She’s pretty, but there’s something weird about her,” Soo-Young muttered.

Seungwan looked to Seulgi and gave her a knowing stare. Joohyun said she needed extra money. Strange thing to say for someone who had willingly given up her own money just to buy back someone else’s stolen bike last month...

 

***

 

October 2018

“Wow, other than the new furniture and arrangement, this restaurant is still very much the same…,” 24-year-old Soo-Young mumbled upon entering the restaurant.

“Even the menu hasn’t changed,” Wendy said, as they sat in one of the tables with the cushiony seats. “But I guess they don’t give discounts anymore.”

“And the part-timer looks younger than us now. Gosh, we’re getting older…,” Soo-Young sighed.

“I’m having black-bean noodles,” Seulgi said without even looking at the menu. “What about you guys?”

“Same.”

“Three plates of black-bean noodles please!” Soo-Young shouted with her hand up. The part-time worker acknowledged her order with a nod and informed the chefs.

“So, what’s your story, Wendy Son?” Soo-Young asked for the umpteenth time. “Why are you here?”

Before answering, Wendy pursed her lips and puffed up her cheeks. Then she looked at her two old friends with her big pearly eyes and said in a rather quick, dismissive manner, “I told you, I’m on vacation. And if you both don’t mind, can’t you two please explain to me why you’re both here too? Isn’t that a more interesting topic? How have you two been?”

Soo-Young opened —about to unleash a particularly long and detailed anecdote—but before she could start talking, Seulgi just mumbled, “We might not actually be here, and I might just be having a really long, really strange dream so…”

“Aha, actually, what really happened was…”

As Soo-Young explained to Wendy about Seulgi’s parent’s vacation house, a very furious woman suddenly burst out of the “authorized personnel only” door. She wasn’t very tall and she looked quite young, but her voice was loud and she did not sound very young at all. “GODDAMMIT!”

Easily startled Soo-Young almost jumped from her seat due to the sudden outburst while Seulgi and Wendy turned their heads see what was going on.

“Hey, have you seen Yerim?!” The woman furiously asked the young part-timer.

“S-s-she just left earlier…” The part-timer hesitantly replied.

After taking a good look at the woman, Soo-Young asked her two friends, “Isn’t that Taeyeon Unnie?”

“It is…” Seulgi nodded watching as the woman angrily dial a number in her smartphone. Kim Taeyeon, owner of this Chinese restaurant and Bae Joohyun’s older cousin. Seulgi was starting to remember things. Joohyun also worked here back then.

“It’s like she hasn’t aged at all,” Wendy mumbled, also remembering the same thing.

The owner of the restaurant waited for a while, but it seemed that the call did not fall through. “Aish… KIM YERIM THAT BRAT! I swear when I find that kid, I am going to skin her alive!” Before long, the shop owner marched out the front door and was out of sight.

“What was that about?” Soo-Young wondered.

“Who knows? People have messed up lives nowadays,” Seulgi nonchalantly said, again with that hint of pessimism despite having such a bubbly baby face.

Wendy thought for a second. Kim Yerim…? Wait… 

 

 

Thirteen Years Ago: October 2005

Seungwan yawned as she stepped out of their house gate one morning, just like every other school day morning. It was slightly chilly, but she paid no mind and comfortably snuck her hands in her denim jacket for extra warmth. Another morning… she thought as she looked up to see the sun rays seeping through the clouds. They’re late again.

Her parents always strived to be punctual, and so she too had been raised that way. They always abode by rules; everything had to be in the order they have arranged for their life—including their morning schedule. That was how the Son family lived. However, nothing can be truly perfect. On certain days, something would stall their uptight schedule. That was just how people are. Human beings can never be perfect, no matter how they strive to be so.

As Seungwan waited outside, she heard the familiar clunking of one of the neighbours’ gates. Déjà vu. Across the street from that house beside Seulgi’s, a familiar tyke hopped out of the gate just like that one day in September. Just like last time, the little girl was still wearing a face mask, only leaving enough to show her eyes.

“Hello, Unnie!” the little kid greeted with a muffled little squeaky voice. They had only met once but she greeted the 5th-grader as if they had known each other for so long.

“Hi, Yeri!” Seungwan greeted back, remembering the girl’s name. “I haven’t seen you in a while!”

Yeri just chuckled and skipped toward the displayed flowerpots in front of Seulgi’s grandparents’ house. She gasped upon taking notice of the purple cosmos flowers and exclaimed. “So pretty!” Not caring that these flowers were the neighbour’s property, the girl plucked one without hesitation and waved it around like the carefree little child that she was.

“How old are you?” Seungwan asked, trying to be friendly. She tried to approach the girl and take a good look at her eyes because the rest of her face was covered.

Yeri stopped twirling and dancing with the flower and looked up to meet Seungwan’s gaze. “I’m seven.”

“Do you go to school already?”

“No. My sister teaches me everything I need to know!”

“Really?” So apparently Yeri wasn’t attending school at the moment. Maybe she was still a little too young for grade school and preschool wasn’t so important back then…

“Unnie, what’s your name again?” The kid asked all of a sudden.

“My name is Son Seungwan. I’m your neighbour. I live over there.” Seungwan turned around and pointed to her house a few lots down the block to show Yeri. “If you want, you can come play with me some time. I’ve always wanted a little sister.”

“Okay!” Yeri continued twirling the cosmos flower and jumped and skipped around the empty street. “I’m Bae Yeri. Yeri Yeri Yeri…”

“Yes, I know,” Seungwan chuckled. Yeri seemed so silly. It must be fun to have a sister like her, Seungwan thought.

"Why are you always wearing a mask?"

Yeri suddenly stopped playing and scrutinized Seungwan, who was also staring intently at her. After a while of their staring game, she continued hopping and skipping again and said, "I'm a ninja! Ha!"

Seungwan laughed at the kid's silliness. "You're so cute!"

Soon, Yeri’s teenage sister came out of the gate too. She looked quite frantic and excessively worried over nothing. “Yeri, I told you to wait for me!”

“Good morning, Joohyun Unnie,” Seungwan greeted.

“Oh…” Joohyun’s tone fell flat and her face turned a few shades paler. “H-hi… Seungwan.” She did not seem very happy to see her. Again, déjà vu. At this point, Seungwan was not even going to act surprised that Joohyun never acted friendly toward her. Maybe Joohyun was just not the warm and friendly type. Maybe she was just naturally cold toward strangers. Maybe she was shy. Whatever it was, Seungwan did not want to feel intimidated anymore. She knew somewhere in there that Joohyun had a nice, sweet side. After all, it was this same person who selflessly paid for Soo-Young’s bike last month.

“Are you headed off to school?” Seungwan noticed Joohyun’s middle school uniform and tried to make conversation, attempting to make this tough ice crack.

“Yes. And before that, I have to drop her off somewhere first. We need to go. Yeri, let’s go.” Joohyun tugged at Yeri’s arm, making the little kid trudge along.

“You’re buying me cookies, right?” Yeri asked Joohyun.

“You can’t have too many sweets. It’s not good for you.”

“But I haven’t had one in yeeeaaaaaaaaarrss.”

Joohyun groaned and rolled her eyes. “You just had some the other day. Now let’s go.”

As she was being dragged by her big sister, Yeri waved at Seungwan and dejectedly uttered, “Bye bye Seungwannie...” (Yeri fused “Seungwan and Unnie” but it ended up sounding like she just addressed Seungwan very informally.)

“It’s Seungwan Unnie. She’s older than you,” Joohyun corrected her.

“But that’s what I said!” the seven-year-old bickered.

As Seungwan watched Joohyun and Yeri walk past, her parents had finally finished readying whatever they had to prepare and had gone out of the gate. “Seungwan, let’s go! Hop in the car.” Her father held the car door open for her. Looking back at Joohyun and Yeri, Seungwan knew that she could not just let them go like that. “Dad, wait, can I ask my friends to come ride with us too?”

“Sure, but make it quick. We really need to be going.”

After getting her father’s approval, Seungwan jogged to catch up to the two sisters and grabbed hold of Joohyun’s free arm.

“Seungwan?” Joohyun was confused.

“My parents have a car. Want to ride with us? It would be faster that way.”

“Oh, you don’t have to. Besides, we’re not really going to the grade scho—”

“Yes! I want to ride!” Little Yeri interjected.

Joohyun looked down on her sister and scrunched her brows. “Yeri…”

“Walking makes me tired. Unnie, please, please, please, please, please, please…”

Due to Yeri’s incessant begging, Joohyun eventually gave in to her baby sister’s wishes. The two of them ended up riding with Seungwan’s family in their blue sedan until they reach the nearest bus stop.

“So, what are your names?” Seungwan’s mother asked as they were driving down the road to the golden rice fields.

“I’m Bae Joohyun, and this is…”

“I’m Bae Yeri!” Then the little girl looked out the window and exclaimed, “Duck!” During the autumn, native ducks fly from the dried-up rice fields to the nearby lake. They were quite a common sight. Seungwan’s parents just giggled in amusement at Yeri’s little noises.

Joohyun on the other hand…

As Seungwan sat there with the sisters on the backseat, she began to wonder if this was such a bad idea, because Joohyun seemed ​​​​​​extremely uncomfortable. The teenager had grown so quiet and had kept fumbling with her fingers. She also won’t take her eyes off of her little sister, who was obviously oblivious of Joohyun’s inner turmoil.

“And how old are you both?” Seungwan’s mom continued asking. She was just like Seungwan; she was just trying to be friendly.

“I’m 15 and Yeri is just 7,” Joohyun answered.

“Oh, okay. What about your parents? What do they do for a living?” It was one of those things that parents ask their children’s friends all the time. They don’t really have any other way to relate to young children so they ask about the parents. Again, this was just so they can have friendly small talk.

However, upon hearing that question, even bubbly little Yeri had suddenly grown quiet. She stopped looking at the window and looked straight at her older sister, as if also waiting for the answer.

“I, ah, erm…” Joohyun nervously stuttered, not knowing what to say. “Well, they’re… they’re always busy. I’m not really sure what kind of job they do, but they’re always busy.”

It was a vague answer, but Seungwan’s parents just assumed what any other busy parent would assume. “They must work hard, don’t they?” Again, meaningless small talk.

Joohyun just gave off an awkward chuckle and then her expression seamlessly transitioned from fake happy to genuine discomfort as she bit her lip. Yeri continued staring at her while Joohyun began to nervously comb the little one's hair with her fingers—fixing hair that need not be fixed.

When they got off their stop, Joohyun politely thanked them and commanded Yeri to do the same. And so, they bid Seungwan and her parents goodbye.

 

***

“Guys, earlier today I—”

Soo-Young rolled her eyes. “Lemme guess. You got another star stamp on your essay? Or is it a smiley this time? A++++ isn’t as impressive anymore if you get it all the time.” Whenever anything happens Seungwan just liked telling her friends about it, even though it might not be interesting to them. Seulgi did not mind listening to her talk, but Soo-Young especially liked poking fun of literally anything that came out of .

“Well, I did get a perfect 10 on my pop quiz earlier…,” Seungwan mumbled. But then she raised her voice a little and said, “No, I wasn’t going to talk about that.”

“What happened?”

“I saw Joohyun Unnie and her sister earlier this morning. They rode with us in our car and we dropped them off at a bus stop.”

“Huh. Interesting,” Soo-Young said so flatly it seemed as though was being sarcastic (but she wasn’t).

“How come you see Joohyun Unnie’s sister all the time?” Seulgi whined. “I’ve never met her. I want to meet her too. Joohyun Unnie says she’s very cute. Also, I wonder if Joohyun Unnie ever got that job at the restaurant...”

“I've only seen her twice, but yeah, Yeri’s very cute and very tiny. They have the same eyes. She probably looks like a small version of Joohyun Unnie, only a little more talkative and playful. Joohyun Unnie is so overprotective of her though. I wonder why...”

 

 

October 2018

Bae Yeri… Kim Yerim…

The silence was broken. Nature rattled and rustled up with the passing wind, setting off loose leaves to wreck havoc in the forest as if violated by the unwelcome yet very familiar guest. Yes, this girl. The same girl who had been tresspassing through off-limit boundaries, and for what?

A smartphone buzzed and lit up, playing a Japanese pop song all the way through the first verse.

"Again?!"  

On the screen was a picture of the same woman in the restaurant earlier, and she was making a goofy face with another younger girl in the picture. They had some similarities—not too much that they looked like twins, but enough for their family relation to be evident. Below that photo was a name— “Taengoo Unnie.” And below that were two buttons: “Answer” or “Decline.” A thumb with black nail polish hovered over the screen.

“Ugh,” the owner of the phone groaned as she stared at the picture of her and the restaurant owner on the phone. There in the midst of a tree-shrouded forest, she contemplated for a second. 

Get off my case.

The thumb landed on “Decline.” The phone was then tucked away into the back pocket of her jeans.

There under the dark canopy of tall trees, the girl with the long dark hair continued walking, deliberately ignoring the incessant ringing of her phone. You can keep calling. I like this song, she thought to herself. The modern girl and her modern device—what in the world were they doing here distrupting the silence of nature again? Her ringtone went on, masking the sounds of twigs and grass cracking and hissing beneath her sneakers. She headed deeper into the forest without even looking back or checking which way she should go. She just kept marching through the lonely woods, sending a few squirrels and chipmunks scurrying up to their hiding places.

But no, she was not there on an aimless whim. A few more steps down the invisible path that nobody else knew, a lone log cabin stood in a small clearing. It was small and rather run down—more like an old wooden shack than an actual living space. There she stood in front of the door and pulled out a set of old keys. For the first time, she looked around and behind her back. No one could have followed her there in the middle of nowhere. She smirked—her eyes slightly curving up and her nose wrinkling adorably beneath the shadows of the thick forest foliage. With one old, slightly worn out key, she unlocked the entrance to the cabin.

She stepped in. She peeked out again. Nobody saw. Nobody knew. It was just her, the forest, and that little house.

With a slight creak, she closed the door shut and locked it from the inside.

 

 

 

---

Author’s Note: