"OH, Hi~ We met again~"

It was time for lunch when Minjoo and Chaeyeon heard that greeting. The two turned to Irene who had someone by her side that time.

Minjoo looked at her suspiciously. 'She's acting like we've met accidentally but it seems like she has been camping outside our classroom.'

Chaeyeon, being the friendly person that she is, smiled at their senior but then she suddenly recognized the girl with bob hair dyed in brown.

"Y-You are--"

Sakura just smiled at her, secretly signalling for her to be quiet. She kind of felt that Chaeyeon would address her as 'Eugene's Master' since she didn't really tell her name.

"You guys know each other, Kkura?" Irene asked the girl in a baggy hoodie.

Sakura innocently nodded. "We met each other at the night of the party."

And as if Irene got what those meaningful glance of Sakura was trying to say, she turned back to the two while slowly nodding her head.

"Anyway, this is my friend, Sakura. You can call her Cherry. She's also a graduate of this school."

Minjoo bowed to her and as she was slowly getting back to her posture, she somehow saw something weird in the eyes of the new girl.

'Why does... she look sad?' Minjoo asked herself as she felt the weight of Sakura's stare. She was smiling at them but her eyes were telling another story.

"I'm Sakura, I'm half-Japanese, half-Korean so don't worry about language. Nice to meet you again, Chaeyeon-ssi." Sakura's greeting was answered by another bow by Chaeyeon. She then turned to Minjoo and greeted her.

'There it goes again... She looks really lonely.' Minjoo told herself when she managed to get a proper look at those eyes.

"First time seeing you this close, Carrie Kim."

Minjoo blushed once more. She tried to hide behind Chaeyeon. ‘Even graduates of this school know about Carrie Kim! I am so done!’

“Come on, Kkura-ya~ Don’t like that. You don’t know how I got worried earlier because I thought she collapsed.” Irene giggled which made the other girl look at her with an unconvinced stare.

“You are the one who is teasing her, silly.” Sakura then turned to Minjoo and just pressed her lips together, gesturing to Minjoo not to pay much attention to Irene’s teasing.

“Anyway, you guys are going to eat lunch, right?” Irene cheerfully asked. “Why don’t you come and join us?”

“Lunch?” Chaeyeon repeated, her eyes were already glittering just to the sound of the said word. She’s really hungry to the point that Minjoo heard her stomach growling even though there was someone else in between them. Even the said person was secretly laughing with them whenever Chaeyeon’s stomach started growling.

“Yeah.” Sakura cooly nodded. “Irene brought Kimchi fried rice. I’m sure it would be enough for us. She brought like a week’s worth of it.”

“I’m sorry, Sunbae-nim but we already decided to eat at--”

“Did you just say Kimchi fried rice!?” Chaeyeon started jumping in place while clapping like a seal. “Oh man! I’ve been really craving for kimchi the past few days! Will it be really alright to go and eat with you guys?”

“C-Chaeyeon-ah!” Minjoo tried to control her friend but it’s already too late. Chaeyeon’s mind was totally all-over food now.

“Minjoo, come on! They are talking about kimchi fried rice! Don’t you want to eat kimchi.fried.rice!?” Chaeyeon was looking at her with those killer eyes but she looked at Irene and Sakura as if she was their puppy. “I will be in your care! Please also guide me about life here in this university and in Chicago in general.”

“Sure~” Irene agreed with a huge smile on her face. “I’ve been staying here for so long and would probably stay longer. I believe I can tell you everything you need to know.”

“That’s great! Thanks in advance, Sunbae-nim~”

“Come on! This isn’t Korea. Let’s just act like we are same-aged friends~”

Sakura scoffed. “Don’t listen to her. She’s telling you that but she’ll turn into a beast once you cross the line. You still have to treat her as your senior.”

Irene then turned to Sakura with a somewhat dark aura leaking from her back. Sakura was taken aback. “Ha.Ha.Ha. You know crossing the line and treating each other as friends are different.”

“See?” She asked while pointing at Irene’s face. “That’s what I am telling you.”

Irene just smiled at Sakura before checking her phone for the time. “We don’t have much time. Let’s go ahead?”

Irene started walking with Chaeyeon following her while rubbing her hungry belly. Sakura was about to go too when she noticed Minjoo standing still. She turned to her and asked, “Aren’t you coming with us?”

Minjoo wasn’t able to answer right away. Her mind was clouded with all of her worries. “Can I trust you for real?”

Sakura’s eyebrows rose. She put her hands inside her hoodie’s pouch. She then let out a sigh. Knowing what Minjoo had been through in just a short span of time here in Chicago, she wouldn’t blame her for having trust issues.

The girl then puffed her cheeks and smiled. “There’s no need to worry. For me, Irene prepares the best kimchi fried rice. I’m pretty sure you would regret it if you turn this offer down.”

Sakura started walking away and it didn’t take much time before Minjoo moved and followed them. There’s no way she could eat alone in the cafeteria anyway. She was afraid to be confronted by one of Yujin’s hopefuls now that Chaeyeon already chose food over her.

But there’s one more thing that convinced her to trust Sakura that very moment--the way the girl talked about Irene’s dish with that very sincere smile on her face.

“WOAH~” Chaeyeon exclaimed when they entered the dorm room. “This isn’t what I was expecting to see.”

Sakura looked at her with her ever tired eyes. “I know what you were expecting. Something like clothes everywhere, empty containers of instant noodles, empty soju bottles and unwashed dishes, right?”

Chaeyeon let out a scared laugh. “S-Sorry, Sunbae-nim. Don’t get me wrong. I once lived in a dormitory before that’s why~ But really, this place is quite huge.”

“Well~” Sakura led them inside. “That’s true. This isn’t how this place usually looks like. I am sharing this room with someone and we are both the unorganised type. We just call the cleaning lady once a week to clean the mess. It’s much more comfortable that way.”

“Kkura-ya~” They heard Irene calling from the kitchen. “Can you take out the soban*? I’ll just reheat the food. Also, can you help with preparing the side dishes?” (*small-tray like tables)

“I’ll help with preparing the table!” Chaeyeon volunteered. “We’ll be eating in a soban! I really miss this!”

“Thanks, Chaeyeon-ah~” Irene then pointed out where the utensils are. “Please prepare for six people.”

“Six people?” Minjoo murmured to herself. She then saw Sakura coming out from one of the rooms carrying a long soban. Minjoo then went out to help with setting the table. “S-Sunbae-nim, are there other people coming?”

With her usual poker face, Sakura gave Minjoo an affirmative nod. “Yeah, my roommate and one of my friends will come over for lunch.”

“I see…” Minjoo then went to where Chaeyeon is but she only used helping as an excuse for looking around the said dorm room but she didn’t see anything suspicious.

“What’s the problem, Minjoo?” Chaeyeon asked. “You look really anxious.”

“N-Nothing.” the girl frantically shook her head. “I just feel like I am forgetting something. Like some important information…”

Chaeyeon just chuckled and handed her the spoons and chopsticks. She already had the hunch of what was about to happen but she chose to stay silent. “That’s so not like you.”

“I know…” The two then went back to the living room and placed the utensils on the table. They could already smell the appetising scent of the dish Irene was preparing.

“Kkura-ya, have you contacted them? Why are they taking so long?” Irene then came out of the kitchen carrying her prepared dish. Minjoo then watched Sakura nonchalantly take the food from her and place it on the middle of the table.

“They are not kids, Irene. They’ll come in time--”

“I AM HOME!” Their attention turned to the door after hearing it banged open. Minjoo’s eyes then widened when she recognized the person who had just arrived.

“Y-You?”

“Oh~” Yena smiled widely the moment she saw Minjoo. “How come you are here!?”

Minjoo, now with her face all red, turned to Sakura and Irene. “W-What’s happening?”

Irene acted all innocent. She even tilted her head to the side. “Hmm… Our friends are arriving?”

“But--” Minjoo looked again at Yena who was currently getting drunk at the scent of the food.

“Bae’s kimchi fried rice~! Finally~ I’ve been thinking about this since Cherry told us about you coming this morning~” Yena then threw her bag on the couch before jumping to Irene for a hug. “I miss you so much, Bae!”

Irene just laughed at Yena before cupping her fluffy cheeks making her already pouty lips pout even more. “But you missed my kimchi fried rice even more, right? Anyway,” she then looked at Minjoo from the side of her eye. “Where’s Eugene?”

The lady then noticed Minjoo twitched at the sound of Yujin’s name. The panicking image of the girl somehow felt close to the heart. Irene then took a peek of Sakura who’s looking bored as always.

“Later let’s eat with her and my other friend called Cherry.”

Minjoo gasped when she finally remembered that certain line