“Sooyoung,” Sooyoung’s father called her as he knocked on her door. “Sooyoung, wake up.” He said a little louder. He waited a few moments for a response but he didn’t get one, so he knocked a little on her door again this time it was harder.

“Huh?” Sooyoung groaned as she woke up. She checked the time on the clock next to her bed, it read ‘6:00AM’ “What in the world?” She mumbled to herself.

“Sooyoung, are you awake?” Her father asked, knocking on her door once again.

“Yes, I’m awake.” She replied as she made her way over to her door and opened it. “Dad, why are you waking me up so early?” She yawned.

“I’m taking you to your new home before you go to college,” he replied. “I figured that you’d want to move into your own place sooner rather than later.” He explained.

Sooyoung nodded. “I guess I’ll start packing now then.”

It was 7AM when Jiwoo was woken up by her alarm; she yawned and grabbed her phone to switch the alarm off.

“Ugh,” she groaned as she got out of bed.

She walked into the kitchen and made herself some tea. She sighed as she walked into the living room and saw the eviction notice on the table. She sat down and put her head in her hands, she didn’t know what to do. She felt lost and alone.

Sooyoung wasn’t sure how she had done it, but somehow she had managed to pack a majority of her clothes and shower within an hour and a half. All that was left for her to pack were some books, and shoes.

Sooyoung checked the time; it was 7:30AM. She wondered how far away her new house was from her family home, she remembered her father telling her that it wasn’t too far away from it nor was it too far away from her college. Suddenly her eyes widened. She realized, she didn’t ask how far away it would be from Jiwoo’s house. Every day she picked Jiwoo up for college and dropped her home, it had been this way ever since she got her bike.

She was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard a knock on her door, followed by her father’s voice. “Sooyoung, are you ready?”

“Yes dad,” she replied as she opened her bedroom door.

“Ah, Sooyoung,” her father smiled at her. “I see that you’ve packed a lot of stuff.”

“Yes, I’ve packed up all of my clothes. I just need to pack up my books, and shoes.” Sooyoung smiled back, before asking; “I forgot to ask last night, but how far away is my house from Jiwoo’s?”

Her father blinked. “I don’t know, that wasn’t on my list of things to check out about the house and it’s whereabouts. Why?”

“Oh, it’s just I pick her up and take her home from college,” Sooyoung explained.

“Can she not walk?” Her father asked.

“I like giving her a ride, I like spending time with her. I thought you liked her anyway,” Sooyoung frowned.

“I do, but doesn’t it cost you more money to fill up your bike when you pick her up?” Her father replied bluntly.

“I don’t really care about that, I’d rather make sure that she gets to and from college safely.” Sooyoung shrugged.

Her father pursed his lips and nodded. “Right, well anyway, I don’t know how far away it is from Jiwoo’s house.” He checked the time on his watch. “We better get going; I want you to put your stuff into your new home before college.”

Sooyoung nodded, and picked up some boxes filled with clothes. She followed her father to his car and put the boxes into the boot of his car. She saw that her mother was already sitting in the car.

“Where’s Chaewon?” Sooyoung asked curiously. She wondered why her parents didn’t bring her sister to see her new house.

“She’s sleeping,” her father replied before adding; “I didn’t think it would be fair to wake her up so early, she has school and was up late last night doing her homework.”

Sooyoung nodded, before asking  “should I follow you on my bike?”

“Oh,” her father thought for a moment. “Yes, that’s a good idea. I almost forgot about your bike.” He chuckled.

Sooyoung nodded, and grabbed her helmet. She put it on, and revved up her bike ready to follow her father’s car.

The journey wasn’t as long as she had thought; she must have been driving for about twenty minutes until she saw her father pull up outside a house. She followed and pulled up behind him. She got off her bike, and took her helmet off.

 “Okay, Sooyoung.” Her father called her. “Here we are.”

Sooyoung looked up, but all she could see were gates. They were too high for her to see the actual building itself. She noticed that it had a keypad, and also a keyhole. She knew how paranoid her parents were about security so it didn’t surprise her.

“Here is the key for the gates; I forgot to give it to you last night when I gave you the house key.” Her father smiled as he handed her a key. “Come on, open them. We don’t have all day.”

Sooyoung nodded, as she walked over to the gates and unlocked them. “Holy ,” she whispered to herself when she looked at the house. The house was much bigger than Sooyoung had expected, it was painted white with a black roof, and it had a black door and a large front garden.

“This is your new home. It’s nice, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, it’s... Wow,” Sooyoung was speechless. She knew that her family was rich and that her parents would go all out for her, but she didn’t expect this.

“Hm, I’m glad you like it.” Her father hummed. He then checked the time on his watch. “You should get settled, you don’t have long until college starts.” He told her, as he opened the boot of his car.

“We’ll help you carry your things in,” her mother smiled.

Sooyoung nodded, and grabbed a box of her belongings. She walked down the path that lead to her house, and unlocked the door. She took a step into the house and was overwhelmed by how spacious it was.

“Wow,” she said out loud as she walked further into her new home.

“We’ll just drop your things here.” Her father told her, as he placed her box in the hallway near her door.

“Thank you,” Sooyoung smiled.

“Come here,” her mother called her. Sooyoung did as she was told and was enveloped into a hug by her mother. “I can’t believe you’re moving out already,” her mother cried. “You’re all grown up.”

Sooyoung rolled her eyes, and replied; “I’ll still visit, it’s not like I’ve moved across the country.”

“I know, but still... I never thought that this day would come.” Her mother said as she let go of Sooyoung.

“Sooyoung,” her father spoke. “Don’t forget, no one is to stay here, and no parties.”

Sooyoung nodded. “Got it.”

“That’s my girl,” her father smiled. “Well, we best get going. Good luck, Sooyoung. Enjoy your new life here,” he waved goodbye and followed his wife out of the house, closing the door behind him.

Jiwoo looked at the pile of eviction notices in the corner of her living room; she knew that she’d have to do something soon before she had to leave. She sighed, she knew that she’d have to do something before she got kicked out, but what could she do? She could just about afford to go the college, she had no money and if she got kicked out she had nowhere to go. Her mom kept avoiding her calls. She was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard her phone go off signalling a message.

Sooyoung: I’ll be at your place in 30 minutes. Sorry it’s a little late; I’ll explain why when I see you. Get ready.

Jiwoo looked at the message and frowned. In all the years that Sooyoung had picked her up, she had never been late unless there was heavy traffic, but Sooyoung had found a route that helped her avoid the traffic. Jiwoo shrugged and went to get a shower.

“What the?” She mumbled to herself when she switched the shower on, no water came out. She tried turning the taps on too, but still no water came out. She let out a deep breath and walked into her back garden where thankfully she had several large bottles of water; she poured one over her head and washed her hair. Once she was satisfied with her hair she walked back into her house, drying her hair with a towel.

She picked up her phone and dialed her mom’s number, as usual, it went to voice mail. She shook her head and left a message. “Mom, when are you going to stop avoiding my calls? Don’t you care that your only daughter is living alone in a house which is full of eviction notices? Don’t you care that I now have running water, and I’m going to have to use bottles of water to wash my hair? Aren’t you worried? Your daughter will have to go to a nearby diner to use the restroom. Excuse me, I’m sorry but can I use your restroom, do you even understand how embarrassing it’s going to be to have to ask that?” She took a deep breath, before continuing. “The eviction notices are scaring me; I have nowhere else to go if I get kicked out. Please mom just call me back,” she sighed as she hung up the phone.

She took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down when she heard a familiar sound of Sooyoung’s bike pulling up outside. She heard Sooyoung call her name. She shook her head and grabbed her bag before stepping outside to see Sooyoung.

“Jiwoo!” Sooyoung grinned before frowning, “why is your hair still wet?”

“Huh?” Jiwoo replied as she raked her hand through her hair. “You came earlier than I expected,” she shrugged.

“Actually, I’m like five minutes late.” Sooyoung replied.

“Oh, well, I guess I just didn’t dry it properly.” Jiwoo said awkwardly before changing the subject. “How come you’re late anyway?” She asked as she grabbed a helmet off Sooyoung.

“Oh!” Sooyoung grinned excitedly. “My parents bought me a house for my birthday!”

Jiwoo blinked as she climbed on the back of Sooyoung’s bike. “Wait what? They bought you a house?”

“Yeah,” Sooyoung replied with excitement present in her voice as she revved up her bike. Sooyoung smiled to herself when she felt Jiwoo’s arms wrap around her waist.

“Where is it? How far is it from here?” Jiwoo asked, suddenly feeling guilty. She already felt guilty about how much Sooyoung was paying to fill up her bike to pick her up, so if the house was far away she’d feel even worse. Despite having very little money, Jiwoo would always offer Sooyoung some money to compensate the amount she was using to fill up her bike, but Sooyoung would always decline.

“It’s not too far from here, don’t worry.” Sooyoung replied, she knew that Jiwoo was worried about how much she paid to fill up her bike. Truthfully though, she didn’t mind. She just enjoyed spending some extra time with Jiwoo before college started. “I’ll show you it on the way back from college, if you’d like?”

“Sure, that would be nice,” Jiwoo replied smiling.

“Awesome,” Sooyoung smiled to herself.

The rest of the journey was quiet; Sooyoung was sneaking glances at Jiwoo through her bike mirror. Jiwoo didn’t notice though, she was too busy thinking about her home situation. For a brief second Jiwoo considered whether to ask Sooyoung if she could stay at her place, she sighed and decided against it.

“Everything okay?” Sooyoung asked with concern in her voice. “I heard you sigh just now.”

“Oh, yeah,” Jiwoo thought of an excuse to tell Sooyoung. There was no way she could tell Sooyoung the truth because that would be far too embarrassing. “It’s just I have a lot of assignments to do today, that’s all.”

“Yeah, that’s college life for you.” Sooyoung chuckled. “Anyway, we are here.” She announced as she pulled up at the college car park.

Jiwoo let go of Sooyoung’s waist and got off the bike, she took off her helmet. “As always thank you for the ride,” she said dramatically as she handed Sooyoung the helmet.

“As always it’s a pleasure, but...” Sooyoung looked at Jiwoo, as Jiwoo frowned confusion on her face.

“But what?”

“But soon this is going to have to stop, me giving you rides I mean,” Sooyoung replied as she grabbed her bag.

“What why?” Jiwoo blinked.

“Because soon enough, I’m going to have a girlfriend!” Sooyoung exclaimed. “I’m going on a date tonight, and I have a feeling that she is going to be the one for me.”

“Oh please,” Jiwoo scoffed before asking; “what’s her name?”

“Why? Are you jealous?” Sooyoung smirked.

“Pft, no.” Jiwoo rolled her eyes, at Sooyoung’s cockiness. “But you should at least know her name before going on a date with her.”

“Sure you’re not,” Sooyoung replied cockily. She thought about what Jiwoo had said about knowing the girl’s name and she couldn’t deny that Jiwoo was right. Her friends had set it up for her, and for all she knew it could have just been a prank. Despite those thoughts Sooyoung kept the cocky grin on her face, her friends wouldn’t do that to her.

 “Anyway, Sooyoung... You do realize that hot girl’s don’t go on blind dates, right?” Jiwoo chuckled as she watched Sooyoung’s optimistic grin turn into a confused frown. “If they’re that hot then they’d already have partners.” She explained.

Sooyoung shook her head. “Whatever, you’re just jealous.”

Jiwoo smirked. “I’ll see you later for my ride home.”

“It’s your last one!” Sooyoung told her with a grin on her face, even though she was trying to be serious. Sooyoung knew that she couldn’t stop giving Jiwoo rides, she wasn’t sure what it was about Jiwoo but something made her want to protect her from all the bad things that life could throw at her.