“Shot another bad boy down.”

Chapter 1:

Wendy was the first to pull away from the group hug. She would never admit it openly, not that she needed to, but these kind of things always left her feeling the most awkward of the bunch.

Irene pulled away too. She was a close second.

Joy took advantage of the extra arm space and pulled the remaining two closer to her with a tighter grip much to the remaining two’s dismay.

“Ah!” Yeri screamed, “Let me go! You’re wrinkling my shirt,” she whined and Wendy smiled. Irene, on the other hand, rolled her eyes. Seulgi returned the hug wholeheartedly.

“What?” Joy asked as frank as ever. “You don’t want me to hug you?” as a further warning, she let Seulgi go and tightened her arms around the younger petite girl.

Yeri whined again with a keen to it. “No, let me go!”

Seulgi and Wendy shared a look that said many things. They always seemed to be on the same wavelength.

Joy was hugging the life out of the youngest to everyone else’s amusement. Except Yeri’s. “Admit you missed me,” Joy demanded.

“Noo!” Yeri yelled back. For only one attempt, she tried to hug her captor as hard as she could but Joy had a dead lock on her waist and trapped arms.

Wendy and Seulgi raised their eyebrows at one another as if daring the other to interfere.

Irene fanned herself, “Sooyoung. That’s enough. Let’s go get some ice cream or something.” She had that air of authority about her that rarely made an appearance but clearly, the heat was starting to bother her.

“Make her say she missed me,” Joy pouted at the oldest all the while bear hugging the still protesting Yeri.

Irene sighed.

“Sooyoung,” Wendy stated her name plainly.

Joy only pursed her lips as if contemplating whether or not to obey. In the end, she shook her head three times. “She has to say it first.”

Seulgi retraced her steps back to Joy’s side and tentatively reached out.

“Help me Seulgi!” Yeri called out piteously. With that, Seulgi placed a hand on Joy’s arm.

“Say it!” Joy demanded as she swung Yeri and herself away from Seulgi’s reach. Wendy had to fight down the laugh that was bubbling at the sight of Joy handling Yeri as if she were a rag doll. Joy was the strongest of them after all. “I won’t let you go until you say it!”

Irene moved a certain distance away until she found her most desired thing at the moment: shade.

“Aaaah,” Yeri cried. “Fine, fine, fine. I missed you too!”

Wendy crossed her arms and sighed again as it became quiet at Yeri’s proclamation. Seulgi once again attempted to draw near enough to pull Yeri from her prison.

“How much?” Joy asked next and Wendy almost groaned.

Irene began to tap her foot.

“Noo!” Yeri shook her head. “I already said I missed you! Let go!” she tried to squirm her way out of her bonds fruitlessly.

“Nuh-uh. How much?”

“Hmph!” Yeri huffed and dropped her head. “This much,” she grumbled.

Joy let up enough to let Yeri pull her arms free. “How much again?” What she wanted was clear and Yeri tried to push Joy away to escape on her own with her now free limbs.

“Joohyun!” Yeri attempted to pull out the big guns but Irene pointedly looked down at her wristwatch, showing her impatience. “Joohyun,” she groaned sounding very betrayed.

Joy shook Yeri a little to regain her attention. “How much?”

Seulgi had long since given up and decided like the other two to let the two youngest get out all of their energy. But shed still wanted to try and help move things along a little faster.

Yeri pouted, now accepting that no one would be coming to her rescue. She took a deep breath in and smiled brightly at Joy. “Thiiiis muuuch!” she used her arms to encompass everything from the sidewalk, to the train, to the sky, and more importantly, to the whole planet itself.

Joy flashed a bright smile at her. “That’s right.” She finally let the poor girl go and Wendy sighed again, this time in contentment.

Yeri crossed her arms. “But only for today,” she stated with some snark.

Joy retained her bright expression. “Then, I’ll do it again tomorrow and the next day and the next day and the next day and the-.”

“Hmph!” Yeri grabbed her discarded backpack from the ground where she had hazardously dropped it when she spotted the older girls after disembarking from the train. She regretted it now. Not because the bag was an expensive one but because of her reception from her pain in the side, Joy.

“Let’s go,” Irene led the way away from the train. “We still need to catch a bus and-.” She was interrupted.

“What?” Yeri looked up in surprise. “But I thought Minho was supposed to-.”

Wendy placed her hand over Yeri’s mouth. “Shhh,” she whispered harshly.

Irene visibly stiffened. She even stopped walking up the stairs leading into the train terminal. “He’s gone.” Was all that was said before she resumed her stepping.

Joy blinked up at the back of the disappearing figure of the oldest, clueless as much as Yeri who found comfort in not being the only one in the same boat.

Seulgi and Wendy shrugged but gave the two youngest a look of warning. “Later,” Seulgi got out under her breath as she reached over and took Yeri’s rolling suitcase from her hands.

“Come on, she’s not feeling well right now,” Wendy flashed a strained smile at the two who slowly nodded. They followed Irene out of the train station.

At the bus stop, Irene immediately took a seat on the bench and Yeri took the last remaining seat next to her. Automatically, Irene patted Yeri’s hair in a natural manner as Seulgi rolled Yeri’s suitcase close to them. “How was school?” Irene asked as Yeri rested her head on her shoulder.

“Fine.” Yeri closed her eyes briefly at the soft touch to her head.

“Hm? Be more specific.” At the stern tone, Yeri sighed before lifting her head.

“I passed all of my classes and I’ll be a senior next year.”

“Good luck!” Joy, Seulgi and Wendy gave their cheer differently. Wendy with an almost sentimental tinge to hers, Seulgi with an excited tint and Joy with a foreboding one. Yeri frowned at them all.

“Just take the summer for what it’s worth, okay?” Irene chose to give advice instead.

Yeri’s head resumed its earlier position. “Okay.”

“What should we eat?” Seulgi asked conversationally after a few seconds of silence.

Joy visibly pondered while Wendy only shrugged. Irene only had a complacent look to her face, content with whatever, after all, the four girls knew her tastes. It was Yeri who immediately answered while pulling out her phone from her purse. “I know! I was looking up good places to eat the last hour on the train here and I found one.” She scrolled through her phone at a rapid pace. “This one,” she pointed her phone where everyone could see the screen.

Joy took the phone and looked at the pictures of the meals. “It looks good.”

“It does.” Seulgi agreed as she leaned over to see. She made room so Wendy could see too.

“Where is it?” Irene asked.

Yeri smiled, “It is a few bus stops away but it’s also on the way to Irene’s apartment. I took that into account too.” She stated proudly.

Irene nodded. “Alright. If it’s okay with all of you.” She looked the girls in the eye from her seated position. Everyone nodded.

Seulgi was about to say something but a man cleared his throat. He was pointedly looking at Irene. “Excuse me.”

The other four gave each other knowing but also exasperated looks.

Irene only smiled blandly but politely. “Yes?”

“I couldn’t help but overhear you ladies,” he smiled nonchalantly like it was normal for him to eavesdrop on other people’s conversations. “But I know a great place that is down the road and-.”

Joy interrupted him, “Does it serve rice?”

He blinked. “Yes?” It didn’t seem like he liked being interrupted himself. “It does.”

Joy frowned in a disappointed manner. “Then it’s no good.” She shook her head before pointing at Wendy. “You see her?” The stranger frowned but slowly nodded. “She only eats gluten-free starches and most restaurants don’t serve that.”

Wendy subtly pinched Joy on the side for using her but wholly understood why Joy was doing it.

The strange man’s frown became more pronounced. His eyes darted down to Irene but Joy cleared and his attention went back to her.

“Does this place of yours have clean restrooms?” From behind him, Seulgi tried to dash behind Wendy but Joy was already pointing at her. “Do you see her? She has OCD and only pees in toilets that have a bidet.” Seulgi pouted at Joy. “And her?” Yeri was the next victim. “She only eats premium beef, pork, fish, chicken, radishes and every other food that only come from America.” Joy shook her head as if exasperated. “Spoiled and picky, isn’t she?”

Yeri glared heatedly at Joy. “And her? She comes from the country and so likes fragrant meet from Chinese restaurants.”

Irene looked up at the clouds in the sky as if asking for penance.

The guy was more than a little confused at how things were turning out. Once again, he looked over at Irene who was obviously ignoring him. “Ah, then, I guess my restaurant isn’t good enough for you all and your, uh, special needs.”

Thankfully, the girls’ bus pulled up at that moment. “Right on time,” Seulgi murmured quietly to Joy.