CH. I

 

‘Yujin, where are you going?’ 

 

It was lunchtime at Enozi High Private School and everyone was rushing to get to their fifth period class, not wanting to be late to any of their subjects on the first day of school. 

 

‘To class?’ Yujin said. 

 

Ryujin pointed towards the school buildings. ‘Class is that way.’ 

 

Yujin followed where Ryujin was pointing, smiling sheepishly. 

 

‘Free period?’ 

 

Hyunjin raised an eyebrow, then she sighed. ‘Don’t be late to your class, pup.’ 

 

Yujin saluted them playfully then started to jog in the opposite direction, missing the way Hyunjin and Ryujin exchanged a look. 

 

‘A girl?’ They said at the same time. Hyunjin and Ryujin laughed. 

 

‘Race you to the building?’ Hyunjin said. 

 

Ryujin punched her shoulder playfully. 

 

‘You’re on.’ 

 

Meanwhile, back with Yujin, she had already made her way to the other side of the field to where some people were packing up from practicing. 

 

And who those some people were?

 

They were cheerleaders. 

 

‘Hi, Yujin!’ Some of them greeted Yujin with a smile. Yujin was probably the most popular ‘Jin’ among the cheerleaders, but only by a small amount. They liked all three of them almost equally. Yujin was just the most approachable of the three Jins. 

 

‘Hey,’ Yujin said. ‘You guys are already practicing? It’s the first day.’ 

 

‘Says, you.’ The captain, Doyeon said. Kim Doyeon was a senior and the captain of the cheerleading team. She was probably the only person that was taller than Yujin. Doyeon and Yujin were pretty good friends, because Doyeon was dating Yujin’s cousin, Choi Yoojung. ‘Yoojung said you kept a steady practice schedule over the summer.’ 

 

‘What else am I meant to do?’ Yujin said as she and the rest of the cheerleaders started to walk towards the school building. 

 

‘Rest? Like a normal person?’ Doyeon said. Then she laughed. ‘But you? You and your cousins are anything but normal. I’d say you’re the most normal out of the three girls. How are you the only one that’s single?’ 

 

Yujin just smiled and shrugged. 

 

She turned to see one girl struggling to carry all of her stuff. Rushing over to her, she placed her hand on the strap of the girl’s bag. 

 

‘Here, let me carry that for you.’ 

 

Yujin went to sling it over her shoulder but the girl pulled the bag out of her grasp. 

 

‘I got it, Ahn Yujin, thank you very much.’ 

 

Yujin chuckled. ‘We going by full name are we?’ 

 

The girl nodded. ‘I only call my friends by their first name.’ 

 

‘Then, I can be your friend?’ Yujin smiled at her but the girl didn’t react at all. 

 

‘You don’t even know my name.’ 

 

The girl flinched slightly as Yujin took a step closer to her, only for her to realise that Yujin had smoothly caught her pink drink bottle in her hands. Yujin had absentmindedly caught it, without taking her eyes off of the girl. 

 

Yujin handed the drink bottle back to the girl. 

 

Then she slipped one hand into the pocket of her pants as she looked at the girl with the same smile. 

 

Strangely enough to all of the girl’s friends watching, she seemed unphased by Yujin’s incredible charm. 

 

‘Anyways, Miss Kim wanted me to ask you guys if you were interested in collabing with the marching band for pep rallies again.’ Yujin turned her attention back to the Captain. ‘You in?’ 

 

‘Of course!’ Doyeon said. ‘I love Miss Kim, she’s great.’ 

 

‘Sweet.’ Yujin shot her a thumbs up. ‘I’ll let her know.’ 

 

Yujin clapped her hands together. 

 

‘I gotta get to class. I promised Ryujin and Hyunjin that I won’t be late to class on the first day.’ Yujin said. She waved at the cheerleaders. ‘See you guys.’ 

 

‘Bye Yujin!’ They said to her retreating figure. 

 

After taking a few steps, Yujin turned around, this time her eyes landing straight to the girl she was talking to before. 

 

‘By the way,’ Yujin began, taking a few steps backwards. All the cheerleaders, including the girl stopped to look at Yujin. 

 

 ‘I totally know your name, Jang Wonyoung.’ 

 

The girl in question widened her eyes slightly. 

 

‘Second row, third seat to the left in my biology class last year.’ Yujin winked. Then she turned and disappeared down the hall. 

 

Once Yujin was gone, the cheerleaders sighed dreamily.

 

‘Ahn Yujin is probably my favourite Jin. She’s so cute.’ One of the cheerleaders said. 

 

‘So, date her.’ Jang Wonyoung rolled her eyes. 

 

Doyeon shot Wonyoung a knowing look. ‘I think Yujin’s more interested in another cheerleader.’ 

 

Wonyoung just rolled her eyes and took off, adjusting her strap onto her shoulder. Doyeon watched her go, pretending to wipe an imaginary tear from her eye. 

 

‘I remember baby Freshman Wonyoung, she was so sweet and so pure and she had a cute little lisp from her braces.’ Doyeon said as she started to walk in the same direction as the younger girl. ‘Now she's an angsty and emo teen. She got the hot girly vibes down.’ 

 

Doyeon pat herself on the back. ‘I taught her well.’ 

 

……………..……………..……………

 

It was nearing the end of Hyunjin’s last class of the day, Japanese, and Hyunjin finally decided to check her phone. Ryujin had been blowing up the group chat with news of a pretty new girl and Hyunjin decided that it wasn’t important enough to answer right away. Nor did she have the energy to respond, anyways.

 

Hyunjin: what’s her name?

 

Hyunjin laughed when Ryujin started typing immediately. Trust Ryujin to always be on her phone during class. 

 

Ryujin: um….

Ryujin: Idk…

Hyunjin: how?? 

Hyunjin: You said ur partners for ur project

Ryujin: leave me alone I was focusing on my charm

 

Hyunjin just sighed and closed her phone. 

 

She leaned back into her chair and looked out the window. Hyunjin liked sitting in a spot where she could see everyone in the room but also not be picked on by the teacher. If you sat near the back or in the middle, the teacher was bound to call on you. Hyunjin would sit on the corner of the front row, because that usually wasn’t part of the teacher’s view. Or at least, the teachers always ignored the kids in the front corner. 

 

‘Did you have a good first day?’ 

 

Hyunjin turned to the girl sitting next to her in bewilderment. 

 

‘Did you just say that in Japanese?’ Hyunjin said. 

 

The girl smiled sheepishly, switching back to Korean. ‘I mean, it’s Japanese class.’ 

 

‘True.’ Hyunjin shrugged. ‘And yeah, it was alright. What about yours?’ 

 

‘Pretty good!’ The girl said. ‘I kept getting lost, though.’ 

 

‘Oh.’ Hyunjin said. ‘Are you new?’ 

 

‘Yeah!’ The girl said. She stuck out her hand for Hyunjin to shake. ‘I’m Jeon Heejin. 

 

Hyunjin took her hand. ‘Kim Hyunjin.’

 

Hyunjin’s eyes took note of Heejin’s notebook. On the cover, there were stickers of Naruto on them. 

 

She chuckled to herself. So, this girl was a weeb. No wonder her Japanese seemed really fluent. Or at least the pronunciation was good. She probably enjoyed learning it because of Naruto. Whereas Hyunjin was only there because the prerequisites for the overseas schools her Dad wanted to send her to required her to study another language. To be honest, Hyunjin didn’t really enjoy it. Nor did she want to go to an overseas school. 

 

‘So, you like Naruto?’ Hyunjin said. She said playfully, ‘Never thought I’d sit next to a weeb.’ 

 

Heejin took note of Hyunjin’s teasing smile, realising that Hyunjin wasn’t actually making fun of her (because she has had people legitimately make fun of her before). ‘I’m not a weeb. I just like Naruto.’ 

 

‘Sure.’ Hyunjin said. ‘Weeb.’ 

 

‘Kim Hyunjin.’ The teacher said. Then she switched to Japanese. ‘Do you remember the word for moon?’ 

 

Hyunjin froze in her seat. 

 

‘Ummm…’ 

 

‘It’s Tsuki, Miss.’ 

 

Hyunjin turned to look at the girl next to her. 

 

‘Thank you, Jeon Heejin.’ The teacher said and turned around to write stuff on the board. 

 

Heejin leaned over to Hyunjin. ‘You never know, if you’re nice to this weeb, she might help you pass this class.’ 

 

Hyunjin glanced sideways at the girl who was grinning cheekily at her. Then she let out a small chuckle.

 

‘You’re hilarious, Jeon Heejin.’ Hyunjin said as the bell rang. She and Heejin started to pack up their stuff, Heejin just smiling playfully at Hyunjin. 

 

‘See you around.’ Heejin said in Japanese and she disappeared out the front door. 

 

‘Maybe Japanese class won’t be so bad.’ Hyunjin mumbled to herself. 

 

…………………………

 

‘Ha! I beat you!’ Hyunjin gloated towards her best friend. She had been waiting patiently at their designated meeting spot, excited to win another one of their useless competitions. 

 

Ryujin crossed her arms. ‘I couldn’t open my locker. I’m using a new lock and I keep forgetting my locker combination.’ 

 

Hyunjin waved her hands in dismissal. ‘Whatever you say, I still won.’ 

 

Just then, Yujin arrived with one backpack strap over one shoulder, looking like the heartthrob she always looked like. 

 

‘Ooh, here she is.’ Ryujin threw her arms around the youngest Jin. ‘Tell us, Yujin, you like someone from the cheerleading team, don’t you?’ 

 

‘Yeah,’ Hyunjin said, ‘there’s no other reason for you to go see them after lunch.’ 

 

Yujin just chuckled as they walked out of the school together. 

 

‘I had to talk to Doyeon unnie on behalf of Miss Kim, there’s nothing to it.’ Yujin said. 

 

‘Boring.’ Hyunjin fake yawned. ‘There’s a girl and we’ll find her.’ 

 

‘No, seriously.’ Yujin said. ‘If I liked anyone I would have told you guys.’ 

 

Ryujin and Hyunjin nodded in agreement. That was true. 

 

‘Anyways,’ Yujin said, clapping her hands together, ‘karaoke?’ 

 

Hyunjin fist pumped. 

 

The three of them loved going to the karaoke bang whenever they had spare time. All three of them loved to sing, rap, dance and just let loose. They would probably spend hours there if they didn’t have a curfew. 

 

‘I can’t, sorry.’ Ryujin said. ‘It’s my first day of my job. Actually, I probably need to leave now or I’ll be late.’ 

 

Hyunjin and Yujin exchanged a look. 

 

‘You have a job?’ Yujin said. 

 

Ryujin nodded and she punched Hyunjin’s shoulder playfully. ‘Didn’t you bet you’ll get a job before I did?’ 

 

Hyunjin punched her back. ‘Yeah, yeah. Whatever. You win. When would you like me to present you with your gold medal?’ 

 

‘Where are you working?’ Yujin said, ignoring Hyunjin’s comments. 

 

‘A convenience store. The one near St Mary’s High School.’ Ryujin said. She checked her phone. ‘I really got to go, I changed my shift to earlier because I have to be home for dinner.’ 

 

Ryujin fist bumped Yujin and Hyunjin. 

 

‘See you guys later!’ Ryujin said. Then she took off jogging down the street. 

 

She put in her airpods and started playing her running playlist. Ryujin probably didn’t need to jog, but she wanted the extra exercise. She needed to get back into shape before the season began. Honestly, she needed to be back into shape by tryouts. 

 

It was relaxing, just jogging through the streets with her backpack. Ryujin liked having time to just sit with her thoughts. Though her thoughts always seemed to run at a mile a minute but could you blame her? She was an Aries sun with an air sign as her moon. 

 

Unfortunately for Ryujin, she had already arrived at the Convenience Store. She was still in the mood to run but she knew that she had to wait until later to continue her jogging session. 

 

She checked her phone and saw that it was 10 minutes before her shift started. 

 

‘Ryujin!’ Her manager greeted her when she walked into the shop. ‘You’re here early, that’s what I like to see.’ 

 

Ryujin just nodded. 

 

‘You’re gonna have to work on your customer service smile.’ her manager . ‘Come on, where’s the smile?’ 

 

Ryujin flashed her best fake smile.

 

‘Wonderful!’ Her manager said. He tossed her the uniform. ‘You can use the staff toilets to get changed.’ 

 

‘Got it, boss.’ Ryujin caught the uniform with ease. For a soccer player, she was very coordinated with her hands. 

 

She made her way to the staff room, which was basically just a tiny room with a table and a couple of plastic chairs, and headed for the bathroom, only to find that someone was already in there. 

 

Ryujin waited patiently outside the door, hearing how whoever was inside had flushed the toilet and was probably almost done. 

 

She started to pick at her nails, a habit she would do whenever she was bored. 

 

She heard the door to the bathroom open and a small gasp. 

 

‘Ryujin?’ 

 

Ryujin looked up to find none other than Lee Chaeryeong staring straight at her with open in shock. 

 

‘Chaeryeong!’ Ryujin jumped up to hug her. 

 

‘You’re the new worker?’ Chaeryeong said. 

 

Ryujin nodded. ‘And you work here, too? That’s crazy.’ 

 

‘Small world.’ Chaeryeong said. ‘Who knew we’d be on the same team again?’ 

 

Chaeryeong used to go Enozi High and she was on the same soccer team as Ryujin. Chaeryeong was a great centre-midfielder and was amazing at assisting Ryujin as a striker. They had really good chemistry on and off the field, Chaeryeong seemed to be the only person who could read Ryujin’s play. Though when they asked her, she said she could never actually predict Ryujin’s next moves in her head, she could just go with the flow of everything. So, everyone was sad when Chaeryeong suddenly had to transfer to a different school at the beginning of junior year. 

 

‘Yeah.’ Ryujin smiled. ‘I like the sound of that.’ 

 

Chaeryeong smiled back at her. ‘Go get changed, boss doesn’t like it when we’re late.’ 

 

‘Yes, Chaeryeoncé.’ Ryujin nudged her playfully on her way into the bathroom. That was Chaeryeong’s nickname that Ryujin had made up. Because Ryujin claimed that Chaeryeong danced like Beyoncé. 

 

Chaeryeong was thankful that Ryujin had disappeared into the bathroom. She wouldn’t have been able to hide the blush on her cheek otherwise.

 

Crazy how it’s been more than a year, and yet Chaeryeong still could feel all of the feelings she had for Ryujin come rushing back. 

 

Chaeryeong placed a hand to feel her fast beating heart. 

 

Maybe, the feelings never actually left. 

 

‘Let’s get our work on!’ Ryujin swung the door of the bathroom open, causing Chaeryeong to jump slightly. 

 

‘God, maybe having you as my coworker isn’t such a good idea.’ 

 

……………………..

 

‘Congratulations.’ Chaeryeong said as Ryujin finished stacking the last of the shelves. ‘You survived your first shift. How do you feel?’ 

 

‘It wasn’t so bad, actually. I had fun.’ Ryujin said. 

 

‘It’s only cause I’m here.’ Chaeryeong said. ‘Trust me, this job is super boring if you don’t have anyone to talk to.’ 

 

‘Well, I’m glad we’re working together.’ Ryujin said. ‘I forgot how cute you were whenever you focused on stuff.’ 

 

Chaeryeong almost dropped the box she was holding under arm. Ryujin let out an awkward cough. 

 

‘I mean, I missed seeing you zone out at random times.’ Ryujin said. ‘I swear, I’ll look at you and you’ll be staring hard at a wall like an idiot.’ 

 

Chaeryeong picked up a cloth and threw it at Ryujin. ‘Don’t be mean. I can get you fired.’ 

 

Ryujin threw the cloth back. ‘But you won’t.’ 

 

Chaeryeong put down her box and picked up more cloth towels in her left hand. She picked one up with her right hand and held it up in the air threateningly. 

 

‘Wanna bet?’

 

Ryujin ducked, just missing having a face full of table cloth. 

 

‘Try me.’ Ryujin said, disappearing behind one of the aisles, a balled up tea towel hitting her in the . ‘Ew! That one was wet. Not fair.’ 

 

‘The water makes it heavier so I can throw it better. Hyunjin would know.’ 

 

Ryujin grabbed a mop to try and defend herself from Chaeryeong’s attacks. 

 

Ryujin didn’t notice this, but Chaeryeong did. Ryujin was smiling widely as she swayed the broom from side the side. It was Chaeryeong’s favourite smile of Ryujin’s where her nose would crinkle and her whole face would scrunch up. Chaeryeong loved it the most when it was aimed directly at her, and when she was the cause of the smile. 

 

Chaeryeong never understood it when people said Shin Ryujin barely smiled, she was always smiling around her. 

 

But just like that, it disappeared from Ryujin’s face. 

 

‘What is going on here?’ 

 

Both girls froze what they were doing to see a woman standing by the entrance with an incredulous look on her face. 

 

‘Mom!’ Ryujin dropped the mop she was holding.

 

‘Shin Ryujin.’ Her Mom said, ‘I cannot believe this. This is your first day of working here and you’re doing this?’ 

 

‘We’re going to clean it up.’ Ryujin said, ‘it’s just water.’ 

 

Her Mom shook her head in disappointment. ‘You know, at your age, your sister was already doing internships at the hospital which is much harder than this job, and you can’t even take this seriously? You don’t take anything seriously unless you’re on that damn soccer pitch.’ 

 

Ryujin’s jaw clenched. 

 

‘Whatever, just clean this up, Ryujin. I’ll wait for you in the car. Your sister is on her way home.’ 

 

Ryujin and Chaeryeong watched her leave. 

 

‘Wow.’ Chaeryeong scratched her head. ‘She’s still doing that?’ 

 

‘Doing what?’ Ryujin picked at a cloth on the ground. 

 

‘The thing where she blames everything you do wrong on soccer.’ Chaeryeong said. 

 

Ryujin laughed humorlessly. 

 

‘Playing sports isn’t even a real career.’ Ryujin put on a snobby voice to mimic her Mom. ‘Be like your perfect sister. Miyeon worked hard and is on her way to becoming a Doctor. She even saved the Mayor’s life!’ 

 

Chaeryeong shook her head. ‘One day, you’re going to make a lot of money winning the Olympics and we’ll see who gets the last laugh.’ 

 

Ryujin sighed. ‘It’s whatever.’ 

 

Ryujin finished mopping the floor. 

 

‘Thank you for a good first shift.’ She said. ‘It was really good to see you, but now I have to go home and have dinner with my perfect sister and listen to my Mom gush about everything Miyeon unnie has done right in her life.’ 

 

‘Good luck.’ Chaeryeong said. Then she said in her cutest aegyo. ‘Fighting!’ 

 

Chaeryeong instantly regretted it as soon as she did it. Until she saw the bright scrunchy smile Ryujin gave her.

 

Yeah, she still was totally in love with Shin Ryujin. 

 

………………………..

 

Apparently, Ryujin wasn’t the only Jin having problems that day. 

 

Hyunjin had come home to her Father cooking dinner, a sight that she rarely saw. In fact, has she ever seen him cook before? Her Mom was by his side preparing some side dishes. 

 

‘What’s this for?’ Hyunjin said, taking a spoon to taste some of what looked like was Kimchi stew. 

 

‘We have a guest over for dinner.’ Her Dad said excitedly. 

 

The minute Hyunjin saw the joy in her Dad’s eyes her heart sank. 

 

‘The coach for the softball team at Seoul University is coming.’ Hyunjin’s Mom said. 

 

Hyunjin should have known. Why else would her Dad have been this happy? Nothing else could make him like this. 

 

Hyunjin enjoyed softball and she definitely took it seriously. She had to, being the captain of the team. 

But, Hyunjin didn’t want to pursue softball as a future career. It was fun to play but she knew that her heart wasn’t fully in it. She was passionate over other things. The problem was, she couldn’t tell her Dad. 

 

Her Dad had a failed sports career, he was a baseball player and was set to play for the Korean National Team until he had injured his arm badly. Even after it had healed, he could never play the same again and he never made it back onto the team. Hyunjin could tell that her Dad felt embarrassed, not just for himself but for their family name. Which is why, her Dad has been training her to play softball ever since she was young. While she was trained in softball, her brother, who was significantly older than her, was trained in baseball. But, her brother had decided to study to take a Bachelor or Arts in film making instead. And their Dad was crushed. 

 

Hyunjin couldn’t bear to think of disappointing her Dad like that. She could just remember the sad look in his eyes when her brother broke the news that he was choosing film over a scholarship for baseball in America. 

 

Her Dad had put so much time and money and effort into shaping them to becoming great softball/baseball players and Hyunjin didn’t want to disappoint him. 

 

So, she did what she always did best: sacrifice her own needs for the sake of making others happy. 

 

And so, Hyunjin sat and ate her food, smiling and laughing at everything the softball coach and her Dad said. 

 

…………..

 

‘I’m home, uncle!’

 

Yujin walked into her house with a bright smile, a small suitcase like thing in her hand. 

 

‘Hey, Jinnie.’ Her uncle sat up a little straighter on the couch. ‘Are you ready for volleyball tryouts?’ 

 

‘All prepared and ready to go.’ Yujin said. ‘Just like this.’ 

 

Yujin handed her uncle the small black suitcase in her hand. 

 

‘Is this the new respirator?’ Her uncle said. 

 

Yujin nodded. ‘And I may have forgotten to bring the note from the physician to get it. But luckily, everyone seemed to recognise me, so they trusted me. Also, the nurses say hi.’ 

 

‘Thanks, Jinnie.’ Her uncle said, adjusting the respirator and breathing into it. ‘Now, I can cook dinner.’ 

 

Yujin shook her head. ‘Nah, it’s on me. I’m gonna cook some steak. Are you feeling medium or medium rare today?’ 

 

Her uncle didn’t respond, instead he just stood up and brought Yujin into a hug. 

 

‘Thank you, Jinnie. For everything.’ Her uncle said. ‘I know I’m meant to be your guardian but you take care of me more than I take care of you and I feel really sorry about that.’ 

 

Yujin hugged her uncle back, feeling the sincerity in his words. 

 

It was just him and her. It always had been since Yujin was young. 

 

‘Don’t feel sorry.’ Yujin said. ‘I couldn’t ask for it any other way. Besides, you gave me a family and that’s all I ever wanted.’ 

 

Her uncle just ruffled her hair. 

 

‘But seriously though, medium or medium rare?’ 

 

At school and to everyone around her, Yujin may be the epitome of perfect, but her family life was much different than people would expect. The difference was, Yujin was still grateful for the little family that she did have. It was just like that. You tended to be more thankful for things you didn’t have before. 

 

...................

 

A/N: Hope you guys are enjoying it so far. Thank you for all your comments! They make me really happy. Also, if anyone knows people who make good artwork, please let me know on twitter! @yurigetic