Eunbi wasn’t sure if she had heard it right.

            “Excuse me?”

            Sojung sounded less nervous than she looked. The older woman’s face was slightly pale, her lips trembling a little as she struggled to explain. “It’d be a simple job. Boring for sure, but it’d help me greatly. Besides, the payment would be… fair and I think you could benefit from it.”

            Fair? Benefit? Companion?

            Eunbi sincerely didn’t know what to feel.

            Abruptly standing up from the bench, she swayed on her feet, feeling a little light-headed.

            “Eunbi-yah, I…” Sojung stood up as well and reached a hand to her but didn’t touch Eunbi. “It’s really just an offer, you don’t have to accept it if you don’t want. I promise. I just… thought it’d be a good idea. You’d be—you’d be pretty tired for the night, but it’d definitely allow you to… step away from one of the part-time jobs and you’d have more—”

            Eunbi raised a single finger up, successfully shutting Sojung up.

            What was happening there?

            The first thing that crossed Eunbi’s mind was a gigantic “no”. It sounded unrealistic, it sounded weird, it sounded wrong. She had never even gone to a fancy party, let alone as a companion. The whole offer didn’t make sense and Eunbi didn’t feel like she was anywhere near ready to even think about it.

            However, oh God I can’t be considering this, it’s true that she had heard those… companions earned a lot for the night—of course, the stories she had heard included other stuff besides just making someone company, but she instantly pushed that thought out of her mind—and it’d be for Sojung. It did not seem that bad. Of course, it seems bad, her mind screamed, what the hell am I thinking?

            Sojung took a step towards her, interrupting her thoughts. “Eunbi—” her voice acquired a low tone as her eyes caught on Eunbi’s expression. Sojung raised her hands a little and the gesture reminded Eunbi of trainers when they were dealing with skittish animals. “Look, why don’t you think about it? I don’t need an immediate answer.”

            Eunbi’s throat was dry and she didn’t know what to do. How should one even react in that situation? It’s not like she had woken up one day and thought what the proper procedure was if someone offered to pay her as a companion. In all honesty, Eunbi doubted that was even a thing. She thought that the stories of… oh, Jesus, sugar… people were just something for fantasies and one-dollar novels. And it was only the look in Sojung’s face, borderline desperate, that confirmed that it was true, and it was a serious thing.

            “I…” Eunbi swallowed. “I think I need to go to work now.”

           The way Sojung’s expression fell made her heart twist. The older woman quickly recovered herself, though, nodding. “Of course, yeah. Let’s—let’s go to the car, I’ll drive you—”

            “No,” and Eunbi was surprised by how firm her voice sounded. “I’ll walk there. It’s not that far and I… I think I need some fresh air.”

            It was clear that Sojung didn’t like that one bit, but, maybe out of fear of Eunbi getting riled up, she just nodded again. “Sure. Just… send me a message when you get there? Just so I know you arrived safely.”

            Eunbi tried to not think of how much that sounded like a plea. “Yeah, will do. Uh …” Eunbi got her backpack from the floor. She wanted to say something else, she wanted to thank Sojung for the day, she wanted to properly say goodbye. But her body felt weird, stuck in a flight mode that made her just run off.

            And that’s what she did.

            Simply passing her arms through the backpack’s straps and turning around, Eunbi started walking away. She didn’t have the courage to look back and Eunbi thought that maybe it was better this way.

She needed to get out of there as quickly as possible. Eunbi pushed and pushed and pushed the thought of Sojung standing there, in the middle of the cold park, alone, to the back of her mind and she kept trying to bottle all of that up, to throw it away and pretend it never happened.

            But it wasn’t working and after five minutes walking, Eunbi felt her breath hitch. Hastily getting her cell phone, she contacted the only person she could. Eunbi was scared of what she would say of how she would react, but the truth was that Eunbi couldn’t handle that at all. She needed her friend.

            “Eunbi?”

            “Ye-yewon-ah?”

            “Hey! You called! Say I was—wait, you sound weird.”

            “I… I really…” Eunbi wanted to say that she needed Yewon, but the thought of the girl having important things to do and dropping them to go see her made her stomach hurl. Eunbi swallowed back and tried for a chuckle. “I just wanted to say hi—”

            “Yeah, right, like I’d fall for that one,” and Yewon’s voice was soft and gentle and Eunbi couldn’t take it. “What’s wrong, eonni?”

            “I—” Eunbi shakily inhaled. “I need to see you? Please?”

            “Of course. Where are you?”

            “I’m…” Eunbi should’ve known it would be that easy. “I’m a couple of blocks away from the bar…”

            “Alright, I’m at college. I was trying a couple of things here. Do you want to come here? I’ll meet you in front of the campus. We can go to the café of always and you’ll explain what’s going on. Alright?”

            “Yeah, yeah, alright,” Eunbi nodded even if Yewon couldn’t see her.

            “Okay,” there was a calming smile in her voice. “I’ll see you soon, eonni, hm?”

            “Okay.”

            The walk towards the café was long, but Eunbi pushed through it with a mind deprived of all thoughts. Even when she walked into the warm establishment, she still felt disconnected from it all. It was like Eunbi’s conscience had decided to take a stroll and leave her body to do things on its own. It took Yewon’s gentle touch, pulling her to the table she was already occupying, to pry Eunbi off her dazed state.

            “Eonni…?” Yewon’s voice was worried, the emotion leaking into her expression and making her brows furrow. She was with her hair tied up in a high ponytail, light make-up making her sweet face just a little more beautiful, and a hesitant smile. Eunbi noticed Yewon was wearing a cardigan, the blue one she had given her in the first birthday they spent together, and it looked worn-out, or should she say, well-used. Yewon liked that cardigan a lot.

            She was digressing.

            “Sorry, Yewon-ah,” all the stability she had showed to Sojung had left her. “You’re probably busy…” Eunbi thought she sounded weak.

            Yewon reached a hand over the table and covered Eunbi’s cold hand with hers. “It’s okay. You didn’t bother me at all. Honestly, I was just trying something in the lab, ‘cause my computer decided to stop working. I was really just playing around, don’t worry.”

            Eunbi nodded, eyes trained on Yewon’s hand. Her friend wasn’t wearing rings today.

            “Hey, what do you say I get us both some tea? There isn’t much variety, but I bet they have something nice. Just… wait here, I’ll be right back.”

            And Eunbi waited, unmoving. She vaguely thought she should give Yewon money for her part, but the girl was already pushing a hot paper cup with a deliciously smelling liquid into her hands. Eunbi got it and her stiff shoulders relaxed under the warmth emanating from the cup. Eunbi wondered again why she had to forget her gloves.

            “So,” Yewon softly started, perhaps scared of startling Eunbi. “What’s going on?”

            Eunbi took a deep breath.

            “How do I even start,” Eunbi slowly exhaled. “A lot… a lot happened these days, Yewon-ah. So much that I can barely wrap my head about it and, and it was so sudden and so strong that I didn’t even have time to tell you—”

            “If you’re going to apologize, then don’t,” Eunbi raised her eyes to look at Yewon. “You’re talking to me now, that’s enough.”

            For a second, Eunbi just stared into Yewon’s eyes, searching for something that she didn’t even know what it was. “How are you even real?”

            Yewon smiled and with a shrug, she said, “who knows? That’s a very philosophical question, eonni.”

            That got a chuckle from Eunbi and Yewon relaxed a bit. “Sorry, I’m probably just making this way huger than it is… well, where do I even start…”

            “Maybe from the beginning?” Yewon tilted her head. “I have time, eonni, tell me what’s going on.”

            And, slowly but surely, Eunbi started by that night at the bar when she met Yerin and Sojung, told Yewon where they were from and how weird, but nice, they looked. Eunbi told her that Sojung was very cool and Yerin was very funny, told her that they were company heroes and probably very rich, no, not probably, Eunbi was sure of it, as she received a hundred dollars as a tip.

Eunbi watched as Yewon’s brow furrowed at each word, unknowing of where all of that was leading to, she watched as Yewon quirked an eyebrow at the fact Sojung had treated her to desserts and Eunbi watched how wide her eyes got when she finally told her about the hospital night. Eunbi spent at least five minutes calming Yewon down, saying that it was all good. Then, Eunbi told her Sojung had paid for all her medical bills.

            “No way.”

            “Yes way.”

            Eunbi tried to tell her with as much detail as possible, suddenly eager to fill her friend in everything. Eunbi had been worried about Yewon’s reaction, but now she could only vomit the words out and hope that they would stop suffocating her.

            Eunbi said that she felt weird, that she was supposed to be extremely angry at Sojung and never talk to her again, but she wasn’t. And that just a few hours before she had chosen an outfit, mapped out touristic spots and enjoyed one of the best days of her life with Kim Sojung.

            Eunbi told her, finally, about the woman’s proposal.

            Yewon’s eyes had become indecipherable for a couple of minutes. Eunbi had seen that look in her friend’s eyes just a few times and she had never been able to quite grasp what they meant and why they appeared. Eunbi just took a long sip of her tea, lukewarm now, and waited.

            “Well, I sure wasn’t expecting all of that.”

            Shoulders shagging, Eunbi averted her eyes from Yewon.

            “It sounds all pretty unbelievable.”

            “I know,” Eunbi weakly agreed, “but it all happened. Or else I just had one long fever dream.”

            “Yeah,” Yewon sighed. “It also sounds like you enjoy being with this woman.”

            Eunbi didn’t even jolt at that. Something at the back of her mind told her that she should’ve, but she just didn’t. Eunbi knew that what Yewon said was true. It had been a few days, but they had been so intense and so… amazing. Eunbi had never felt so many things at once, not even when she was good, not even when things weren’t all messed up. The undeniable fact was that Sojung made her feel things she had never felt before and she enjoyed it. Going out with the woman that day only served to cement that.

            “So, I guess the question that stands is whether you’re gonna accept that?”

            Eunbi nodded, unable to look at her friend.

            “Honestly… I think that’s pretty insane.”

            Snapping her head up, Eunbi found Yewon with her arms folded on the table, body leaned forward and such seriousness in her eyes that scared Eunbi.

            “It sounds insane,” Yewon continued, making a point of looking into Eunbi’s eyes, “but it also looks like you aren’t that creeped out by it.” Eunbi opened to protest, but Yewon shook her head. “And it also looks like you trust her. With all of this happening in such a short span of time, it’s kind of weird to see that, but… if I know you at all, then, yeah, you trust her.”

            Eunbi parted her lips, unsure of what to say. Yewon was right, of course, but still…

            “Eonni,” Yewon sighed, “I know that you don’t tell me a third of all the things you go through, ah—don’t even try. I might look dumb, but I’m not. And I notice things. I notice how tired you are, I notice how hard you work and how hard you try to hide it all,” Yewon took Eunbi’s hand, “I’m not angry, eonni. I promise. I don’t like it,” she smiled, “but I get it.”

            “Yewon-ah…” the crack on her voice took her by surprise. Yewon tightened her hold in her hand.

            “Times are hard, aren’t they? And it’s hard when it comes to money, I know,” Yewon’s eyes were getting glassier by the second. “I worry about you, eonni. I really do. And it to see you working your off, on the verge of passing out, well, I guess you already did, but yeah. I wish with all my heart that I could give you all the money you need, but I just can’t and that . And honestly? If you’re telling me this now, it’s because you want my opinion on all of this.”

            Eunbi’s throat was so, so, so tight. She tried to force out a sound, anything, but nothing came out and Yewon just continued.

            “I love you, eonni. As if you were my real sister. And… I think that the right thing is probably trying to talk you out of this weird job proposal, but… truth is that if it’s going to make your life even a tad easier, then…” Yewon shrugged, a wet laugh coming out of her lips. “Just… know that whatever the heck it is, I’ll have your back, eonni. That’s something I can guarantee you.”

            They mirrored each other’s tears, the realization of it all hitting them as hard as a train. Eunbi, the fact of how strong her friend’s love was; Yewon, the fact that no matter what it was, she’d be by Eunbi’s side.

            And together they thought that, damn, they were lucky to have each other.

            As Eunbi got things straight with Yewon, Sojung was parking in front of the hotel. Her limbs felt heavy and she was thankful that the hotel employee opened the door for her. Sojung stepped out of the car, almost forgetting her purse and tripping on her way in.

            She tried to not think about anything, just go to her room.

            For a second, Sojung worried that Yerin was still on the lobby, but soon reason found her and Sojung guessed that her secretary was probably roaming around the city, enjoying the night life and, why not say it, the time off Sojung. She was grateful, because, yeah, right now, Sojung just wanted to go to her room, wrap herself in blankets and scream until her voice cords broke.

            As she got her keycard and made her way towards the elevator, Sojung thought what she had been thinking of during the whole car drive. She was stupid, she shouldn’t have said anything, but it if she didn’t think it was the right thing to do. Sojung realized, after Eunbi left in a hurry without even saying goodbye, that she had gone too far, and she shouldn’t have said anything. But Sojung knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep if she hadn’t.

Stripping all the weirdness of it, it made sense. Sojung would pay someone she knew and was comfortable with to simply help her through a horrible night. Paying this person would help her, because Sojung would pay very well and she would be able to quit at least for a while one of the jobs and concentrate on not dying from overwork. It made perfect sense.

            But reality didn’t come with only reasonable parts.

            Sojung was a hundred percent sincere about her proposal and she would never ask something out of the lane of Eunbi, but the sheer sound of the… job offer was enough to drive most people away and, apparently, Eunbi too. Now, she won’t talk to me anymore, Sojung smashed the button of her floor, we went out to get things good and I ed everything up. Sojung wanted to be kind to herself and keep saying that it was a reasonable proposal and that it was the right thing to do, but she found out that she cared more about what Eunbi would think of her more than anything at the moment.

            Sojung entered her room, put the card in the electricity slot and closed it. Taking off her heels, she slumped in the sofa and heaved out a heavy sigh.

            How could she even message Eunbi now?

            Still, she got her phone in hands and, against all better judgment, Sojung opened the gallery, going straight to the Camera album and opening their picture.

            Her eyes lingered on it for a while, mind hazy, but noticing the small details of it. Sojung was a lot taller, the heels giving her at least 10 cm more than normal, her hair was moving away from her face because of the cold breezes and, yeah, she looked good. But it was Eunbi, Eunbi the one who looked absolutely amazing. The student had a smile on her face, an open one, her cheeks rising and making her eyes form two little crescent moons, showing such a happy expression that Sojung’s chest felt tight. Be it because of the cold or because of embarrassment, Eunbi’s cheeks were pink, and she looked small inside her fleece jacket and overall. Eunbi’s hair was also blown away from her face, her bangs splitting in half and showing her forehead and there was absolutely no doubt about it. Eunbi looked gorgeous.

            Sojung didn’t allow herself to think about it when she pressed on the options icon and looked at the command to turn that picture her wallpaper, but she stopped herself from going further. That would be too much, wouldn’t it?

            Before Sojung could properly send herself down a spiral of worry and self-loathing, an insistent knock interrupted her. She was going to ignore it, but Yerin’s muffled voice reached her ears and she knew that her friend wouldn’t leave her alone until she opened the damn door.

            Making a haste, she unlocked it and swung it open to observe how Yerin’s smug expression crumbled down.

            “, you look terrible.”

            Sojung rolled her eyes and turned around, walking to the sofa and letting Yerin take care of the door. Yerin followed her and, with a frown, sat down on the center table right before Sojung, who wanted to tell her that wasn’t an acceptable place to sit, but just didn’t feel like taking the trouble to do it.

            “What the hell happened? I saw you walking in the lobby like a zombie, not even hearing my calls and thought you were just… air-headed… you know, in the good way. But now, it looks like a truck ran over you.”

            Groaning, Sojung asked, “you were in the lobby until now?”

            “I didn’t spend the whole day there, I went out too,” Yerin huffed, “but when I came back, it happened that I got caught up talking to a staff about the hotel’s… history, I think, I don’t remember right now, it doesn’t matter, when you came in. And, I, as a good friend, came after you,” Sojung saw the woman quirk an eyebrow, “seems like it was the right thing to do.”

            No, it wasn’t, I want to be alone, Sojung scratched her nose, wanting nothing but to ask her friend to leave.

            “So, what the hell happened?”

            But she’d have to tell Yerin at some point. So, she might as well just get that out of the way—just like ripping off a band-aid.

            “I offered to pay Eunbi to be my companion at the party.”

            Sojung closed her eyes and waited for the backlash.

            As a matter of fact, Sojung didn’t know Yerin’s opinion on that kind of subject. Sure, the both of them had exchanged a couple of words about rich men and women’s companions, but they never entered in the merit of it being right, wrong, none or both. Sojung knew her friend was very open-minded… there were very few things Yerin strongly opposed to, if any, but she didn’t know if she was going to get a bad reaction out of her. Therefore, Sojung braced herself for the worse.

            Surely, she didn’t brace herself for the huge laughter that filled the room.

            Opening her eyes to see Yerin tightly hugging her waist, doubling over in laughter, Sojung frowned. “What—what are you—”

            “No—sorry, eonni, I’m so sorry,” Yerin wheezed, trying her best to get the words out. “It’s just that, oh my God,” Yerin wiped out real tears, “that’s such a—, that’s such a weird way to ask your crush out, but you do you, eonni—”

            “Jung Yerin!” Sojung’s voice carried all of the incredulity it could and a bit more. She raised to her feet and efficiently ignore the heat creeping up her cheeks. “How can you even—”

            “Sorry!” Yerin had to use both hands to cover her face and dry it off. “I’m just so surprised. I guess surprised doesn’t even start to cut it, I’m going to—oh, no, I am already crying.”

            Brow furrowing further, Sojung stormed off the small living room up to the bed area and Yerin called her, standing up and trying to apologize, but it was quite hard as her laughter made her out of breath.

            Sojung opened the closet and angrily took out a pajama, “get out.”

            “What—” Yerin sat on her bed, taking deep breaths, “oh, I’m really sorry—”

            “I don’t want to hear it!” Sojung raised her voice and Yerin’s eyes widened. “Just… get out.”

             Sojung put the pajama on the bed, eyes focused on it and unwilling to look up. She was determined to stay like that until Yerin left, but the woman didn’t even move.

            Of course, Yerin wouldn’t go anywhere. “Eonni?”

            The silence was stretching and Sojung wondered if she could just ignore it, but she knew she couldn’t it. Slowly, she looked in Yerin’s direction, half expecting her friend to be with an offended expression, half expecting her to be angry.

            Yerin was neither. She wasn’t smiling, but there was softness and gentleness.

            “I’m sorry.”

            Sojung sighed, sitting on the bed, back to Yerin. “It’s fine.”

            “I don’t think it is…” Yerin’s voice trailed off. “Did she react badly?”

            Scoffing, Sojung said, “you can guess it.”

            Yerin hummed and Sojung wanted to say it was truly ok, that she just wanted to be alone, but suddenly, a heavy feeling fell over her heart, crushing it, and making her take a deep breath, look up to the ceiling and tightly close her lips, before spilling, “I ed it up.”

            “You… well, I can’t say you didn’t. By the little I know of Eunbi, she must’ve been angry and maybe she really took it badly. But… maybe you didn’t it up, eonni.”

            Sojung shook her head, letting her body fall on the bed. “I knew I shouldn’t have done it. I knew she would be angry, but she was so tired, and I just wanted to do something, I just wanted to fix it somehow and… she ran off, she didn’t even say bye.”

            Feeling the space next to her descend, Sojung turned her face to see Yerin laying by her side, stripped of all mockery and judgment. “Maybe you should just try again, eonni. Send her a text, try to apologize. Because—before you say anything, I feel like Eunbi can forgive you.”

            Sojung stared at her friend for a few seconds. “You don’t think I’m weird for offering her that?”

            Softly, Yerin smiled. “No, eonni. I mean, I sure wouldn’t expect you to do that, but lately you’ve been surprising me quite a lot. I also know you, really well, I have to say. And I know that you meant it with the best of intentions.”

            “I did,” Sojung weakly said, making Yerin’s smile grow.

            “It’s the first time I see that expression in your face, eonni, and I think it’s something worthy to run after. I think that…”

            Before Sojung could find out what Yerin wanted to say, her cellphone rang. The sound seemed louder than usual as Sojung groaned. She closed her eyes, decided to ignore it, but Yerin stood up and walked towards her purse.

            Hearing her friend move, Sojung asked with a tired voice, “who is it now?”

            Yerin coughed. “It’s, um, it’s Eunbi.”

            Like a bullet had hit her, Sojung jolted up, almost falling off the bed as she scurried towards Yerin and took the mobile from her hands. Eyes wide, she looked at her friend. “What does she want?”

            Yerin chuckled and put a hand on Sojung’s shoulder. “You have to pick it up to find out, eonni.”

            Gulping down an anxiety Sojung had never felt before, she pressed the accept button and raised the phone to her ear.

            “Sojung… eonni?”

            It took a few dumb seconds for Sojung to find her voice. “Yes? Is… is everything ok, Eunbi?”

            “I wanted to say that…”

            “Yes?”

            Yerin attentively watched the exchange, probably dying to know what was going on the other line. Sojung could understand the feeling.

            Sojung could hear Eunbi hesitating and there was a faint voice there too. She thought she should do exactly what Yerin said, apologize. Of course, Sojung wasn’t expecting Eunbi to actually call her, so maybe she had a chance in being forgiven by the girl. Sojung just had to sincerely apologize and say that she was out of the line. That’s all she had to do and maybe Eunbi wouldn’t be angry at her anymore.

            “I…”

            “I accept it.”

            All words died in Sojung’s mouth.

            “What is she saying?” Yerin whispered, shaking Sojung’s arm.

            “You… pardon?”

            Eunbi took a long deep breath. “I thought about it, eonni, and I accept it. I… I don’t know how comfortable I am with all of this and I think you’ll have to walk me through it all, but… I accept it.”

            “Okay.”

            “Okay?”

            “Yeah,” Sojung was vaguely aware that she sounded strangled. “I…” she cleaned . “I can pick you after college on Monday? So that we can talk better about it all.”

            “Alright, yeah, that sounds good.”

            “Okay.”

            “Um… so… good night, eonni?”

            “Good night, Eunbi.”

            The call ended and Sojung didn’t lower the phone.

            “So?! What happened?” Yerin jumped a little, much like an excited kid.

And Sojung just blurted it out.

            “She said yes.”