Coincidence

“Nako, isn’t that, you know, her?” Minju asked in an excited voice. “She’s right beside our lane.”

“Her?” Hitomi asked, looking over in the direction Minju was nodding her head.

“That’s Eunbi-unnie. She’s in my club and she’s also Nako’s host sister,” Minju explained.

“Shh, don’t make a big deal about it,” Nako said shaking her head frantically.

“Oh, her!” Hitomi exclaimed enthusiastically. “Wow, she’s beautiful. You have great taste.”

Nako’s face turned red as she grabbed Hitomi’s wrist with what felt like a death vise. “She doesn’t know anything. Don’t do or say anything embarrassing.”

 “I wouldn’t dream of it,” Hitomi said, placing her hand over Nako’s reassuringly. Nako cleared and led to way to their bowling lane. Hitomi looked over at the other two girls and could see wide smiles on both their faces. She felt herself grin as well as she waited in anticipation for Nako’s reactions. She was sure that Yuri and Minju felt the same as her when it came to enjoying the cute girl’s expressions.

“Eunbi-unnie, what are you doing here?” Nako asked as she stood in between their two lanes.

“Nako!” Eunbi was nearly bursting with glee as she got up and pulled the other girl into a smothering hug. “I’m just waiting for my university friends to come. We’re bowling together today.”

“Eunbi-unnie, please,” Nako whined as she struggled to get out of the woman’s embrace. Eunbi let go of her but kept a hold on her hand which the tiny girl seemed to be okay with. “We’re playing too. Oh, let me introduce my friends, Hitomi and Yuri. Minju, you know already. This is my host sister, Eunbi-unnie.”

Hitomi could see what Nako meant; the mature beautiful woman looked more like a mother doting on her daughter than a lover. The girl had it tough. Even so, the scene was so adorable she had to bite her lip to stop herself from smiling even wider. “Nice to meet you,” she said at the same time as Yuri.

“You and Minju know each other? That’s great! I was worried if Nako would be able to make friends. She always sticks so close to our house even though her Korean is so good now,” Eunbi said with a shake of her head. “Not that we don’t love her spending time with us of course.”

“I told you I was fine, Unnie,” Nako pouted. “You’re the one I’m worried about. You’ve been taking such a long time to graduate. Do you even have friends left to hang out with? And no, Minju doesn’t count.”

“Don’t expose your unnie like that,” Eunbi whispered loudly through her toothy smile. “Even if they all graduate, I can always make new friends. I have many cute juniors in my club you know other than Minju and they all look up to me. I told them I’ll hang out with them and they were over the moon.”

“I’m pretty sure you said if we didn’t come out today you’d revoke our club membership.”

Hitomi snapped her head and saw Chaewon, Yena, and Hyewon making their way towards Eunbi’s lane. “Chaewon-unnie?”

“Hitomi!” Chaewon exclaimed much in the same manner as Eunbi had done with Nako.

Triangle

“That’s her. The one I was telling you about the last time,” Chaewon whispered to Hitomi when Minju got up to take her turn.

“No kidding,” Hitomi answered glumly. Her mood had dropped ever since she introduced her friends to Chaewon and an awkward moment passed when she got to Minju.

“Did she say anything about me?” Chaewon asked anxiously. “She didn’t tell you that some weird upperclassman was drunk and asked her out, did she?”

Chaewon had chosen to sit next to Hitomi on their lane even though they were playing on different lanes. She was no doubt trying to sit closer to Minju rather than her, Hitomi thought bitterly. But that wasn’t really fair since everyone else was just sitting wherever was convenient after their turn. “She hasn’t mentioned anything. We’ve talked a bit but have only started hanging out since yesterday,” Hitomi answered truthfully.

“Okay, it’s my turn. Wish me luck,” Chaewon said with a gulp and got up to go to her lane.

Hitomi watched sadly as Chaewon walked and passed Minju. The two girls laughed over bumping each other. The casual way they touched each other made Hitomi see green even though she knew it was silly to think anything of it. It shocked her how jealous she was becoming over the most innocuous of touches and glances between her two friends.

“I didn’t do too well that round,” Minju said with a self-deprecating smile as she sat back down.

“I think you’re beating that little girl over there,” Hitomi said, pointing to a couple of lanes over.

“At least I’m winning against someone then.” Minju always laughed easily. It was easy to forget that she was the ‘other’ woman. Her face turned serious as she took a quick look over at Chaewon who was waiting for her favorite ball to come back. “Um, you mentioned that you liked a girl who was in the second year and treats you like a sister. Chaewon isn’t that girl, is she?”

“No, of course not,” Hitomi said quickly. She could see Minju sigh with relief. “Why? Do you like her?”

“No! I mean, yes, I like her as a friend. She’s a very kind upperclassman. I joined the club that she and Eunbi-unnie are in this year and she’s been taking very good care of me. At the first club party this year, she was a little drunk. I think she mistook me for someone else or was just in a joking mood and said that she liked me, but I took it too seriously and turned her down. I hope I didn’t hurt her feelings.”

If she were serious, would you have still have turned her down? The question burned the tip of Hitomi’s tongue, but she didn’t ask it. “If she were drunk, she probably doesn’t remember any of it. I wouldn’t worry about that. Just… continue to get along with her.” Hitomi forced herself to finish the words that she desperately wanted to keep to herself, but ultimately she just wanted to see Chaewon happy.

“…so you see I’m still single,” Minju said with a quiet voice.

Hitomi blinked. She had been caught up in her thoughts and missed out on what Minju had been saying until the last part. “Yes, that’s right. Just like me.”

Distraction

Hitomi’s heart was crushed, but somehow she maintained a smile on her face as she watched Minju and Chaewon chatter away in their own little world. Chaewon had taken the opportunity to move to Minju’s other side after her turn had finished.

“What a small world. I didn’t know you and Hitomi knew each other,” Chaewon said. “Hey, sorry if I sounded weird the other night. I had a few drinks and I probably said some strange things.”

“Ah, you weren’t that weird. Don’t worry about it,” Minju said, laughing.

Normally, the two girls’ melodic voices were like music to Hitomi’s ears. But their voices and laughter combined were like tiny daggers that pierced at her heart. Hitomi looked away from them and tried to distract herself by looking over at the current bowlers.

“Ugh,” Hyewon made a noise as she let go of the ball. Despite their differences, Hitomi had to admit that the girl gave off the vibe that she was some cool chaebol heiress that was good at everything, similar to Chaewon. However, the girl’s form was stiff and the ball quickly went into the gutter as a result. “You find something funny, Honda?”

Hitomi flinched as Hyewon turned and stared her down. The giggle had escaped beyond her control. She felt bad about it, but she was feeling irritated and welcomed the confrontation. “I just thought the gap between your bowling skills and your image was a little funny.”

“Well, I’m sorry for not looking like a dainty twig. Then I guess I would have an excuse like you,” Hyewon said with just a hint of a smile. A smile that looked like a sneer to Hitomi. The taller girl then looked up at the score board. As bad she was doing, her score was better than Hitomi’s.

Hitomi grimaced. Even though they weren’t technically playing against each other since they were on different lanes, it still irked her. Her game had been hurt because she had been distracted by Chaewon’s open flirting. She got up and made her way to the lane to take her turn. She closed her eyes and pushed thoughts of Chaewon and Minju out of her head. In their places, she imagined a bullseye with Hyewon’s face painted on it. She picked up a ball, completely focused herself, and then let it loose. Strike!

Cheers erupted around Hitomi as Minju, Nako, and Yuri crowded around her. “Nice one,” Minju said holding up a hand to high five.

“Thanks,” Hitomi said smiling. It was impossible for Hitomi to hate the angelic girl even if she were the one Chaewon was crushing on. She slapped Minju’s hand with a high five along with Nako and Yuri’s hands. She looked over at Hyewon and expected to see a crushed defeated husk of a woman.

“Looks like the twig has some muscle,” Hyewon said with what appeared to be a smile. It was fleeting however and her face was once again blank making Hitomi wonder if she’d seen the smile or not. The impassive face along with her words made it seem she was just mocking her.

Hitomi felt anger well up as she stared at Hyewon. She started to move toward the girl before she felt another hand grab her hand. It was Yuri. The other girl shook her head and then pulled her gently, but firmly towards the concession.

Honesty

“You might be able fool Minju, but you can’t fool me,” Yuri said as they waited for their drinks.

“About what?” Hitomi asked innocently.

“That girl, Chaewon, is definitely your crush. Yes, I overheard you guys. You guys were treating me like a fourth wheel at the lane, so it’s not my fault you didn’t pay attention to me.”

“Yeah, okay, you got me. Don’t say anything to Minju. I’ll tell her later. I don’t want to make things even more awkward between her and Chaewon-unnie right now, okay?”

Yuri made an angry face and opened as if to shout, but then forcibly closed and shook her head. “It’s not my place to say anything, but I should say you’re the reason things are weird.”

“Me?” Hitomi gawked at the other girl. I’m the one that’s stepping out of the way.

“Anyway, that’s not why I pulled you here. You should really be nicer to Kwangbae you know. She’s been looking out for you all game,” Yuri said with a steely voice.

Hitomi gawked at Yuri again. “Excuse me? Did you see how she made fun of me just now?”

“She’s been watching you this whole time. I think she knows what you’re going through,” Yuri said through clenched teeth. “I think she was being mean to distract you.”

“How do you know that? If she was looking at me, she was probably just looking for any weakness that she could exploit later.” It boggled Hitomi’s mind how Hyewon fooled everyone with her villainy.

“Because I’ve been watching her this whole time,” Yuri said with sigh. “She never once looked at me. She only ever looks at you.”

Hitomi put a hand on the sulking girl’s head. Yuri tried to brush her hand off, but Hitomi was persistent and kept it on the girl’s head. She at the girl’s hair gently. “You’re a good girl you know.”

“It doesn’t make me happy to hear that from my rival, you know.” Yuri frowned but didn’t try and push Hitomi away again.

“If I really was your rival, I’d concede to you, you know?” Hitomi asked as she moved her hand from the girl’s head and grasped Yuri’s hand.

Yuri allowed her hand to be held. “Not like that would do anything. She only has eyes for you. Like I said, she didn’t look at me even once when I went up to bowl. I knew I should have worn a cute skirt like you did. Who doesn’t get excited when they see a cute girl in a cute skirt bowling?”

“You’re plenty cute. If I wasn’t already into someone else, I’d be totally into you,” Hitomi said and was rewarded by Yuri blushing and starting to smile again.

“Really? I would think that Minju and Nako would be more your type,” Yuri said shyly.

“Well, you’d be fourth, but a right behind them… hey, ouch,” Hitomi said as Yuri suddenly gripped hand with all the force that she could muster.

A Helping Hand

“Hey, you two sit here,” Yena said, pointing to the empty seats beside her. “Nako wanted to go back to the other lane and Eunbi-unnie followed her.”

Hitomi looked over and could see Eunbi holding both Nako and Chaewon in headlocks while laughing her off. “What’s happening over there?”

“Don’t mind her. She gets a little hyper when the party gets going,” Yena said shaking her head. “We’re kind of taking a break from bowling right now. Hyewon ordered a pizza and it should be here soon.”

“Right, I ordered the pizza,” Hyewon said, pointing at herself for emphasis.

“Come on. Don’t be like that,” Yena laughed. She then looked over at Yuri. “You’re Yuri, right? You haven’t eaten, right? Look how thin she is. You don’t want your students to starve.”

Hitomi could see Yuri stare at Yena in a confused manner. Even Hitomi had been caught off guard by the older girl’s easy going manner at first. Yena seemed to treat people as if she knew them forever and it clearly flustered Yuri. “We ordered some food too,” Hitomi said, saving Yuri from her moment of stunned silence.

“Oh? What did you get? We can share. That way we get to try more stuff,” Yena continued to talk to Yuri as if she’d answered instead of Hitomi.

Hyewon sighed and then glanced at Yuri before looking at Yena. “Give her a chance to talk. She’s a freshman and you’re scaring her.”

“I’m not scared,” Yuri said, shaking her head adamantly. She sat down next to Yena as if to prove her point. Hitomi could see a smile creep up on Yuri’s face when Hyewon spoke to her. “You’re the scared one. You can’t even admit that you know me and met me before.”

“I like this girl. She’s got a spine after all,” Yena laughed and slapped Yuri on the shoulder. “But cut Hyewon some slack. People have gotten fired over fraternizing with their students. She can’t act like your friend during lab. But outside, yeah, that’s bad of her to ignore you like that.”

“So, you do remember me?” Yuri asked, taking Yena’s comment as proof.

“I’d have to be an idiot if I forgot the person I’d spent hours helping after one day,” Hyewon said with a wry smile. “If you say something right now Honda, I swear I’ll give you twice as much home work.”

Hitomi had open ready for a quip before Hyewon’s words stopped her cold. As much as she wanted to test the other girl, she thought better of it and closed .

“Yuri, sorry if I upset you at all. I know I messed up if Yena is the one that’s scolding me,” Hyewon apologized. “In the lab, I’m your TA, but outside of it, you can call me Hyewon and we can be friends.”

“Hyewon-unnie,” Yuri smiled ecstatically as she seemed to save the words in . She then looked over at Yena. “Thank-you for speaking up for me.”

Hitomi could swear that Yuri’s smile was a little flirtatious as she looked at Yena.

Author’s Note

I swear I don’t have any luck with Sakura when it comes to random cards in the albums. Meanwhile, I get two Hitomi AR cards. I’m hoping to get something special out for Ssambbang Day, but we’ll see. I hope you enjoyed it!