Angel and Devil

“Are you sure it’s okay that Yujin and Wonyoung are coming over here again?” Sakura asked as she got up to put away the plates. “Chaeyeon’s at the gym if you want to join her instead.”

“I’m still sore from the last time. If I’m in the way, I can study in my room or something until I have to go out,” Hitomi said reassuringly. While she didn’t have anything against the two girls that Sakura tutored, she couldn’t say the same about at least one of the two girls. She was sure Yujin had it out for her.

“You don’t have to do that. I like the example that you set for Yujin when you’re studying with them. Yujin gets a little distracted sometimes,” Sakura said innocently. She had no idea how much of a slacker Yujin was when her back was turned.

“All right,” Hitomi managed to say with a straight face.

*Bzzz*

“Oh, that must be them. They’re here so early again. I think they really like hanging out with you. Let me get the door,” Sakura said as she put the dishes in the sink and wiped her hands with a clean towel.

No sooner did she say that than Hitomi found herself engulfed in a tight bear hug by a familiar figure. “You can let go of me anytime now.”

“Tomi-unnie!” Wonyoung’s cute voice was tinged with glee as she towered over Hitomi.

“Yo,” Yujin said with a neutral tone as she moved to stand beside them making Hitomi feel even shorter than she was.

“You girls get settled in. I’ll finish cleaning up and get you something to drink and snack on,” Sakura said and moved into the kitchen while shooing the three of them to the living room.

Hitomi’s heart sank as she found herself alone with the two younger girls. While Wonyoung was nice, she didn’t seem to realize how annoying the other one could be. “Hi, Girls. How are you two today?”

“Great! We had a test and I aced it,” Wonyoung said enthusiastically. She let go of her stranglehold on Hitomi but kept their arms locked together. “Are you going to study with us again? I thought it really helped to have you study with us.”

“Was she studying with us? I barely noticed her,” Yujin said with an angelic voice that might fool others, but it didn’t fool Hitomi.

“I hope you’re not making another short joke, Yujin.” Hitomi could feel the blood rising to her head.

“Of course not,” Yujin said with an obviously fake hurt voice. “You’re always so quiet, Unnie, I just didn’t notice you. So, how’s it going with the girl you like?” The girl sure knew her weak points.

“Yeah, yeah, tell us all about it.” Wonyoung perked up at the mentioning of some juicy gossip.

Hitomi regretted telling them anything about her love life. But it had been hard denying anything to the curious Wonyoung when she asked so cutely and seriously. “Nothing’s happened. We’re just friends.”

Competition

“Excuse me,” Yujin said as she got up and made her way to the bathroom.

“Tomi-unnie, thanks for being patient with her,” Wonyoung said with a more mature tone than Hitomi was used to.

“She’s a good kid even if she’s a bit annoying sometimes,” Hitomi said honestly.

“She’s usually pretty sweet with everyone. I don’t know why she’s like that with you,” Wonyoung said with a shake of her head.

Hitomi had a vague idea, but kept it to herself. Instead, since the girl was being serious all of a sudden, she wanted to satisfy her curiosity on some things. “You don’t really need to be here, do you? From what I’ve seen, you don’t really need Saku-chan’s tutoring.”

“I don’t think the extra tutoring hurts. I am trying to get into your university after all and studying with Kkura-unnie helps a lot.” Wonyoung couldn’t tell a lie to save her life. Her eyes failed to meet Hitomi’s as she explained. She looked down and sighed. “I guess I’m also here because I think me being here helps motivate Yujin-unnie more.”

“She can’t look bad in front of her junior after all,” Hitomi said knowingly.

“I don’t know why she’s doing this. She just asked me this year which university I was going to and said that she might as well go to the one I was going to since she didn’t have a preference. I think she’d have an easier time if she tried a university with an easier entrance exam,” Wonyoung said exasperatedly.

As annoyed as the girl sounded, Hitomi could see the smile that Wonyoung tried to hide as she spoke. “It’s good to try and challenge yourself sometimes.”

“As expected of Tomi-unnie,” Wonyoung said admiringly, reverting to her usual cute self. “Yujin can really learn a thing or two from you. I always tell her how cool you look when you study with us. You never get distracted by anything when you work no matter how loud we are.”

Hitomi felt sorry for Yujin and knew how the girl felt. No girl likes it when the person they like compares them to someone else. Hitomi included. “She might try and do better if you praise her sometimes. Let her know that she’s doing well.”

Wonyoung laughed. “She likes it when people praise her for sure. But I think she responds better to competition. She’s a lot like you, Tomi-unnie. When Kkura-unnie praises either one of you, the other always works twice as hard after.”

Hitomi blinked. “Do I do that?”

Wonyoung nodded. “You always ask Kkura-unnie to look at your answer after she compliments us.”

“That’s just a coincidence,” Hitomi denied, blushing hard.

“Maybe,” Wonyoung said with a twinkle in her eye. “Anyway, I’m happy you’re here. She works much harder with you here than when it’s just me.”

Not Such a Cute Puppy

“What did you two talk about while I was in the bathroom?” Yujin asked suspiciously after she exchanged places with Wonyoung who went into the bathroom after her.

“Nothing much,” Hitomi answered.

Yujin was the type who became even more curious when she didn’t get the answer. “Was it about me? She’s always worrying that I won’t pass the entrance exam.”

“We were just talking about girl stuff,” Hitomi said deflecting the question.

Yujin made a face as she took Hitomi’s comment the wrong way. “Hey, I’m into girl stuff too.”

“It wasn’t anything that important. If you think she’s worrying too much about passing the exam, why don’t you show her that she doesn’t have anything to worry about?” Hitomi asked pointedly while looking at the unopened text book in front of Yujin.

Yujin’s grimace grew as she looked down at the book. “I’m doing my best. I don’t get why she wanted to go to your school anyway.”

“Of course she’d want to go to the school that gave her the best chance at fulfilling her dreams,” Hitomi said bluntly. “She should be able to get a job anywhere when she graduates. I think it’s great that she already knows what she wants to do to so early. You can learn a thing or two from her.”

“She’s only in her first year of high school. She should enjoy it more before thinking too much about university.” Despite her words, Yujin reached for the text book finally and opened it.

Hitomi smiled. Although the girl was bratty sometimes around her, she really wanted to reward Yujin for being proactive. “Saku-chan said that she thinks you’ve improved a lot.”

“She did?” Yujin asked. The girl was like a puppy when she received compliments from Sakura.

“Ooh, did Kkura-unnie say that about me too?” Wonyoung asked when she came back to the group.

“She said you’re both amazing.” Actually, her roommate had nothing but glowing remarks about her two students. As their tutor, Sakura rarely praised them to their faces, but to Hitomi and Chaeyeon, she couldn’t shut up about them. She was like a parent who couldn’t see any fault in her children.

“Hey, it’s nice to see you three getting along,” Sakura said when she came into the living room with a tray of drinks and snacks and saw the three of them happily chatting away.

“Let me help you,” Yujin said acting all docile as she got up to distribute the items from the tray.

“She does have manners,” Hitomi marveled out loud teasingly at Yujin.

“Unnie, how’s it going with that person you like? Are you going to meet them this weekend?” Yujin asked while smirking. Hitomi was wrong to think that the girl resembled a cute puppy.

“She’s just joking, Saku-chan,” Hitomi said quickly as Sakura’s jaw dropped in shock. The girl was much too protective about things like this, hence why Hitomi hadn’t said anything to her yet.

Really Close Friends

“Sorry, I’m late,” Hitomi said while raising one hand and made a small bowing gesture. Sakura had grilled her after Yujin snitched on her.

“I just got here,” Minju said as she motioned Hitomi to sit at the empty seat beside her. Nako and Yuri sat at the remaining seats around the round table.

“We just got here,” Yuri said, pointing at her and Nako. “You got here before both of us, Minju.”

Nako nodded. “How long did you wait?”

“Not really that long,” Minju said while shaking her head.

Hitomi smiled at Minju. The girl was really sweet. And beautiful, she thought as she whistled inside her head. Minju was wearing a flowery sundress that showed off her bare legs. “You look so pretty today. Well, you look pretty every day, but what’s the occasion?”

“y,” Yuri added while leaning her body backwards in an exaggerated way as if she wanted to get a full view of Minju.

“Yeah, smoking hot,” Nako, said adding in her two cents.

Minju was visibly flustered in a cute way. “This is just normal girls. Don’t you want to dress up on your day off? Hitomi is looking extra cute today too.”

“Thanks,” Hitomi said as she looked down at her own outfit. She did like to dress up like Minju said when she went out. She paired a snug sweater with a cute skirt. Nako and Yuri on the other hand were dressed up very casually and looking very comfortable in oversized hoodies and shorts.

“Hmm, I’m pretty sure the last time you just wore jean shorts and a t-shirt,” Nako said with a grin.

“I wonder what’s different this time?” Yuri asked Nako.

Minju seemed to be used to Yuri and Nako’s teasing and ignored them when she turned to Hitomi and spoke over them. “Are you hungry? Did you want to get some food before we go to the bowling alley?”

Nako also ignored Minju and talked over the girl as well. “What is different? Last time, the three of us had come to this spot too.”

“Right, it was just the three of us. Hitomi wasn’t here last time,” Yuri said as if it were some big revelation.

Hitomi laughed as she watched the interplay between the three girls. “You three are already such good friends. Didn’t you three just meet this year?”

Minju glared at the other two girls before turning to smile at Hitomi. “I don’t know if you can say that we’re good friends. They just like teasing me a lot.”

“Being able to talk openly is a sign of a close friendship in my opinion,” Hitomi said, to which all three girls started making gagging motions. She laughed again at their response.

Becoming Closer

“So, anyway. Like I was asking before, have you eaten yet?” Minju asked Hitomi.

“I ate a little at home already. But I can get something small if you haven’t yet,” Hitomi said politely.

“Do you want to try something new? I’m a bit of a foodie and I’ve eaten at nearly every good place around here.” Minju wasn’t the type to brag, but knowing whether something was delicious or not was a skill she was extremely confident in.

“Show her your pictures!” Nako said with what sounded like a snicker to Minju.

“Yeah, do it!” Yuri agreed while covering .

“That’s a good idea. You can get a really good idea of how good the food is.” Minju took her phone and brought it up towards Hitomi.

Hitomi cocked her head to one side as she tried to make out the picture. “Um, what am I looking at?”

“You should be able to recognize this. This is a steak! This one here is the new drink at Gong Cha. This one here was the cheese hotdog we ate yesterday.” Minju flipped through each of the pictures slowly for Hitomi to see.

“Uh, I see. They look unique,” Hitomi said with a weak smile.

Minju pouted. She could tell that Hitomi was biting her tongue to keep herself from saying anything mean. “You don’t have to worry so much about hurting my feelings. Didn’t you say being able to say things openly was a sign of friendship? I can take whatever you have to throw at me.”

“I’m sure prisoners would really find these pictures of food appetizing,” Hitomi said reluctantly while looking Minju straight in the eye.

“Is that all?” Minju asked feeling happy despite Hitomi’s rip on her photo.

“Actually, I take that back. If they had a choice between eating what they see in your photos and prison food, I think they would choose prison food. I’m actually glad you showed me these picture because I was worried that I might overeat. Now, I feel safe because I’m not at all hungry right now.” Hitomi’s reluctance faded as she spoke rapidly. By the end of commentary on the photos, she had a devilishly cute smirk on her face.

“Thanks for your critique,” Minju smiled brightly at Hitomi. She turned to look at her other two friends. “I’m sure you two want to add your own comments?”

“You can’t even tell that’s a steak because it’s such a close-up. It’s brown and got grill marks on it. It can be a burger for all I know,” Nako said and brought out her own phone. “This is a steak.”

“I had the same drink at Gong Cha. I would never be able to tell that’s what it was. Look, this one is mine,” Yuri got into it and displayed her own photos.

Minju turned her nose up at the two girls’ pictures. “They don’t capture the essence of the food at all.”

Author’s Note

Just some slice of life stuff with Hitomi and some of the girls. Let me know what you think!