Elly was sitting in the kitchen, waiting for the knock that signaled the arrival of the day's grocery delivery when she heard the maknae's door open and close. 

"Good morning Rina!" she called out. "I'm in the kitchen."

Rina poked her head in the kitchen door. "How'd you know it was me?"

Elly laughed and pointed at the clock.  "Have you even known Lucy to wake up this early without someone dragging her kicking and screaming out of her bed?"

"Good point," Rina said. She poured herself a glass of juice from the pitcher in the refrigerator - which was almost empty; hopefully there was juice in today's grocery delivery - and sat down next to Elly.

"What are you doing up so early, unnie?" Rina asked.

Elly shrugged.  "I just couldn't sleep, so I figured I'd get up and wait for the grocery delivery."

Rina looked at the clock again. "Do you really expect them to come this early?"

"No," Elly said, fidgeting with her empty teacup, "but I couldn't sleep anyway, and I didn't want to leave our food sitting out in the hall because we all overslept."

Rina took a sip of her juice and nodded. "Good idea," she said, "but I'm up now. Why don't you go get a shower?"

Elly shook her head. "No, I'm fine for now. Why don't you go get your shower?"

Rina drank the last of her juice and put her cup in the sink. "If you're sure. . ." she said as she headed for the door.

"Just don't use all the hot water," Elly said, the sternness of her voice in contrast to the smile on her face.

Rina laughed as she skipped out of the kitchen. "I think you've got me confused with Lua!" she called back over her shoulder.

As it turned out, Elly was still in the kitchen waiting for the delivery a couple of hours later, when the others started waking up.

When Suyeon woke up, she took one look at Elly and said "Why don't you go take a nap? You look like hell."

"No, I'm waiting for the deli-" When a yawn cut off Elly's words, she looked sheepishly at Suyeon and said "Fine. I'll go take a nap."

Suyeon suppressed a giggle at Elly as she stormed off toward their bedroom, her mannerisms bearing every resemblance to a toddler who didn't want to take a nap.

Just then there was a loud knock at the door. By the time Suyeon counted to 10, Yoojung and Doyeon had joined her by the apartment door. When Suyeon opened the door, she found 5 big bags waiting for them.

"It looks like Manager-nim ordered everything that was on our list plus a whole lot more," Suyeon said.

Yoojung, struggling to see around Suyeon, asked "Did she order the pork belly?"

Suyeon picked up a bag and handed it to Yoojung. "If she did, we'll find it when we get everything unpacked and put away. She handed two bags to Doyeon and then picked up the last 2 herself.

Unpacking the bags was like Christmas morning. Not only had Manager-nim ordered all their usual groceries, she'd ordered everything on their shopping list - even the pork belly! - and a few things they hadnt thought to order themselves. At the bottom of the last bag, Suyeon found a smaller bag, stapled shut. 

"What's that?" Doyeon asked.

Suyeon picked up the bag, surprised at how heavy it was for such a small bag. "I don't know," she said. "I wasn't expecting anything else, and certainly not anything this heavy." She put the bag down on the table and opened it up. Inside were a bag of sugar, a jar of instant coffee, and a half gallon of milk, along with a note that said "Something to make your day a little more pleasant. Check the internet for instructions for dalgona coffee." The note was signed "Uncle."

By the time Suyeon finished reading the note, Yoojung had pulled out her phone and looked up dalgona coffee. "Ooh," she said, "that looks good!" You mixed equal parts sugar, instant coffee, and hot water and whipped them together until they made a foam. Then you poured a glass of milk and put a big spoonful of the foam on top of the milk.

"Let's make it now!" Yoojung squealed.

Suyeon shook her head as she put the sugar and coffee on top of the fridge. "No, not right now. For one thing, Elly just went to go take a nap, if she can sleep through all the noise you make, and for another, we'll probably be getting really bored at around 3 or 4 this afternoon, so that would be a good time to make it."

"Yeah, you're right," Yoojung conceded, as she put the milk in the fridge.

"You don't have sound that disappointed," Suyeon said with a laught. "It's not like I'm making you wait until tomorrow or next week or something. Come on - why don't you go get the cards and we'll see if you can finally manage to beat me at go-stop."

Doyeon laughed. "No one can beat Suyeon at go-stop!"

Yoojung scowled at her girlfriend as she rushed off to get the cards. "I'll be the first! You'll see!"

Three o'clock came and they made the dalgona coffee.  They all agreed it was delicious but took a lot of stirring. "Still," Suyeon said, "we've got enough stuff here to make it a couple more times."

Everyone was in the process of leaving the kitchen to find something else to do when Lucy grabbed Sei's hand.  "Unnie," she said, her eyes sparkling, "can I talk to you for a minute?"

Sei nodded. "Here, or. . ."

"We can go to my room," Lucy said. "Rina won't come in."

Sei followed Lucy to the small bedroom that she shared with Rina. There was barely room to walk between the two beds, the room was so small. Lucy shut the door, sat down on her bed, and motioned for Sei to sit down next to her.

"What's wrong, Lucy?" Sei asked.

Lucy blinked away a few stray tears that had started overflowing her eyes. "Unnie, I'm so scared. Anyone can get the virus, and anyone who gets it can die from it!"

Sei reached out and took Lucy's hand. "That's Fantagio's having us stay in the dorm. If we don't come into contact with people, we barely have a chance of catching it."

"But what if one of does catch it?" Lucy asked, clinging tightly to Sei's hand. "What if I catch it? What if I die? I'm not ready to die! I haven't even had my first kiss!"

With this, Lucy began crying in earnest, tears streaming down her face. Sei scooted closer to Lucy, put her arm around her and did her best to try to be comforting.

"You're gonna be fine - we all are," Sei said, with more conviction than she really felt. "And when you have your first kiss, it's going to be just as magical as you think it's going to be!"

Lucy grabbed a Kleenex and wiped her eyes. "You think so?"

Sei nodded. "You're going to find the guy or girl of your dreams, and you're going to kiss them, or they're going to kiss you, and you'll remember that moment forever." Sei gestured vaguely toward the bed. "Why don't you lie down and close your eyes, and you can tell me what you imagine it will be like. That should help put you in a better mood."

"Okay," Lucy said, somewhat skeptically. She stretched out on the bed, then gestured for Sei to lie down next to her. Once they were both lying there, staring up at the ceiling, Lucy began talking quietly. "I imagine I've found the girl of my dreams. She's a couple of inches shorter than me, and she wears her hair with bangs. We're sitting next to each other and talking, on a bench or a bed or a sofa or something. I reach out and brush her bangs to the side, because they're getting too long and they've fallen in her eyes. As she leans toward me, I can tell that the time is finally right. I lean down and kiss her. Her lips are so soft against mine. We're both kind of awkward, but neither one of us cares. We kiss like that for a long time. . ."

Lucy trailed off into silence. After a while, Sei looked over and saw that Lucy had fallen asleep. "That happens sometimes after a good cry," she thought. Moving carefully, so as not to jostle the bed and wake Lucy up, Sei quietly got up and left the room. The other were gathered in the living room, playing card games, or fiddling around with their phones, or watching a historical drama on the TV. Seeing Rina on the end of the couch, Sei crept over next to her and softly said "If you go into your room anytime soon, be quiet - Lucy's asleep."

Rina nodded. "Thanks for the warning, but I'm going to be here a while - we're planning to watch at least 2 more episodes of Rookie Historian Goo Hae-ryung today. You want to come watch with us?"

Sei shook her head - historical dramas weren't really her thing; she preferred contemporary dramas. "Thanks, but I'm going to go watch Suyeon and Yoojung play go-stop - maybe today will be the day Yoojung finally wins a game."

Just then they heard a quiet clatter from behind them as Suyeon threw down her last cards. "I win again!" she said.

"Or maybe not," Rina said with a laugh. Sei patted Rina's shoulder as she got up and headed to go sit by Suyeon. "So your winning streak continues?" 

Suyeon nodded. "Three more games."

Yoojung was frantically shuffling the cards. "One more game," she said. "I know I'll get lucky next time!"

Suyeon shook her head. "Next time will have to wait. Right now it's time for you to start cooking dinner.

"Ooh! Are we having the pork belly tonight?" Sei asked excitedly.

Yoojung nodded. "All I've got to do is fix the banchan and the condiments, then cut the pork belly into pieces and warm up the grill, and we'll all be eating within half an hour.

Half an hour ended up being more like 45 minutes. Yoojung cut her finger while slicing some garlic. It wasn't a bad cut, but she had to stop and put a Band-Aid on, then wash the knife and cutting board, then start over with some garlic that she hadn't bled on. Soon, though, she was able to call everyone to dinner.

When they all came in, they noticed that Lucy wasn't there. "I'll go get her," Rina said, jumping up and running off.

"Tell her to hurry up or I'll eat her share of the pork belly!" Yoojung said.

Whether Rina actually passed on Yoojung's threat or not, she and Lucy were back in the kitchen before Yoojung had all the pork belly laid out on the grill.

As soon as the first pieces of pork belly finished cooking, the girls began snatching them off the grill with their chopsticks, wrapping them in lettuce and perilla leaves, topping them with whatever sauces or vegetables they preferred, and gobbling them up. During a lull while they waited for more pork belly to cook, Lua happened to glance across the table at Sei. "Sei, you should let me cut your hair tonight. Your bangs are getting so long they're falling in your eyes," she said.

Sei reached up and swept her bangs to the side, a motion she made so many times a day that it was becoming automatic. "Okay, but just take a little bit off - I don't want to have the choppy bangs again."

"But you were so cute with the choppy bangs!" Doyeon said with a laugh, lifting Sei's bangs until they approximated her short bangs from the "La La La" era.

"I think Sei looks better with longer bangs," Lucy said as she popped another piece of pork belly in and started chewing.

This initiated a discussion of which hairstyle she'd had in the past had been most flattering on Sei and what hairstyle and color Sei should have next. This conversation was still going on when dinner ended and everyone started to get up and scatter to various parts of the apartment. Lucy gathered up all the plates and started on the dishes while Yoojung packed up the leftover vegetables - there was no leftover pork belly - and put them in the fridge.

"Go wait for me in the bathroom," Lua said to Sei. "I'll go get my scissors and then I'll trim your bangs."

"Just a little," Sei reminded her.

"Right," Lua said as she headed for their bedroom.

As Sei stood in the bathroom waiting for Lua, she found herself wishing once again that she could be public about her relationship with Suyeon. Helping Lucy deal with her emotions that afternoon had left her feeling like an exposed nerve. Everything seemed to affect her more than it should have, and she really needed someone to hold her close and tell her everything would be okay.

"Okay, let's get started!" Lua said as she bounced into the bathroom. Sei started slightly in surprise.

As Lua trimmed Sei's bangs, Sei told her about the conversation she had had with Lucy that afternoon. When she got to the description of Lucy's first kiss, Lua stopped cutting and just stared at her. After a moment of this, seeing the stunned expression on Lua's face, she asked "What?"

Shaking her head, Lua quickly closed and locked the bathroom door. "Sei, are you dense?" she asked, her voice intense. "She was describing you! Lucy basically came straight out and said she wants her first kiss to be with you!"

Sei shook her head. "No! That's ridiculous! Lucy could have practically any girl she wants. Everybody knows that Elly-unnie is literally counting the days until Lucy turns 18!"

"It sounds like Lucy doesn't want Elly-unnie, and she doesn't want to wait until she turns 18!" Lua trimmed the last of Sei's bangs with a few frustrated snips, miraculously managing to keep them straight. "Sei, I'm telling you, Lucy wants to be with you. If you don't go for it, you're a fool!"

"But-" Sei began, uncertain of what she was about to say next.

"But nothing!" Lua cut her off. "Look, you're not dating anyone, she's not dating anyone, she wants to be with you, we're stuck in the apartment for who knows how long anyway."  Sei opened to say something. "No.There's nothing for you to say here. You were about to say something about Suyeon, and I'm just gonna stop you before you say something stupid. You've had this crush on Suyeon for way too long. It's. Never. Gonna. Happen. So do yourself a favor and give Lucy what she wants! You two would make such a cute couple!"

"But you were-" Sei started to protest.

"Yes, I was interested in Lucy," Lua said, "but obviously she doesn't feel the same way about me, otherwise she would have described her first kiss as being with me." Lua put her hands on Sei's shoulders and leaned in close to Sei's face. "Look, all I want right now is for you and Lucy to be happy. There's nothing to keep you two apart except you. If you screw this up, I will. . ."

Whatever Lua was going to do was interrupted by a knock at the bathroom door. "Are you two almost done in there?" Elly called through the door.

"Remember what I said," Lua whispered to Sei, as she unlocked the door and let them out of the bathroom.