The next day, Eunbi spotted Hitomi eating together with her friends on one of the benches and walk towards the girl without any hesitation.

“You’re Honda Hitomi right?”, Eunbi asked or more like demanded.

“Yes….”, Hitomi shuddered upon seeing the school dance club president right in front of her.

“Alright then, I need your help, I’ll add you into a group chat first then I’ll give you the details.”, Eunbi basically ordered the poor junior.

“O..Okay…..”, Hitomi doesn’t really have much of a choice, to begin with.

- hitomi is freaking out, she wonder what has she done

- so hitomi joined the our friend need help groupchat

---

During class, Minju stumbled upon the piece of drawing she received from the HARIBO mascot that day inside her notebook. Minju decided to stop by the shopping district today to properly thank the mascot for the drawing. Right after the bell rings, Minju quickly packed her bag, ready to leave the classroom. Meanwhile, she was held back by her tablemate.

“Aren’t you going to the library today?”, Chaewon curiously asked.

Minju shook her head, “No, I have other places I need to go today.”

A visible frown was formed on Chaewon’s face. It didn’t take long for Minju to know the reason behind it.

“You could go there without me, I bet Hitomi is going to be there.”, Minju adds on.

“Really?”, Chaewon’s face brightens up upon hearing what Minju said.

Minju nodded with a smile. She soon realises the time is ticking then quickly bid her tablemate goodbye before leaving the room.

- she hopes haribo nim is there

---

Minju heart beats faster at every step she takes toward the shopping district. She could only hope so badly that the mascot is here today. Slowly as she’s getting nearer to the area, she could spot a big yellow figure moving around. Minju let out a sigh of relief. After all, the figure is HARIBO nim itself, the person she’s looking for. Minju approach the mascot.

“Hello, would you like to try some gummy bear?”, the mascot bend down to the little boy’s height to give him the gummy.

The little boy looks up at his mother.

“Go ahead, honey.”, his mother allowed the little boy to take the gummy.

The little boy happily takes the gummy bear from the tray.

“Thank you, Bear nim.”, the boy smiled widely at the HARIBO nim.

“You’re very much welcome!”, HARIBO nim responded.

Minju could feel the sincerity of the person inside the mascot just from witnessing that. She waits patiently for the little boy to go on his way before going towards the mascot that she wanted to meet.

“Oh, you came again! Are you happier nowadays? You look brighter haha.”, the mascot spoke first before Minju could greet her.

“Bright—Brighter?? Do I? But yeah...I guess you could say I feel like I’m not really someone invisible after all these days.”, Minju shyly blurted out her feelings.

“That’s great! You should have more confidence in yourself, you’re a pretty girl with a kind heart. You could say I’m someone with a good sense so I can tell that much.”, the mascot chuckled and somehow her laughter just feels oddly familiar to Minju, as if she had heard it somewhere.

‘HARIBO nim said that I’m pretty?????ME???OMG, she doesn’t seem like she’s joking too!!!”, Minju’s brain is having a malfunction right now.

“Thank you….”, Minju blushed furiously.

“You don’t need to thank me for a compliment that you deserved though.”, HARIBO nim said while looking at Minju directly, the person within the mascot must be a very soft person to say this.

It’s literally the first time that someone complimented Minju and it’s not filled with jealousy towards her. Her classmates do say stuff like “Minju’s really pretty” but it’s always behind her back and it’s obvious they hate her for that so she became much more afraid of people.

“And you can come find me if you ever need someone to talk to since I’m won’t be going anywhere else during this time. Plus, I don’t know the people around you too so your secrets are safe with me.”, the mascot genuinely offered Minju.

“Are you sure? Wouldn’t I be disturbing you at work?”, Minju hesitated.

“Not really, there’s not even that many people roaming around the shopping district, it’s mostly the same few kids that come to get gummy bears from me. I’m often just standing around and doing nothing.”, the mascot answered.

“Alright, I’ll surely visit you whenever I have the chance to, HARIBO nim!”, Minju accepted the mascot’s offer.

Somehow, Minju miraculously forgot about her original motive of coming here, which is to thank the mascot for the drawing that she received that day.

- minju is happy

---

- chaeyeon?

---

- at the same time, the duo in the library is...

...