Krystal’s POV (On bus 703)

Throughout our journey, we chatted nostalgically about our life in USA. Both of us missed the Thursday Food Truck, whereby popular food trucks rolled in every Thursday evenings, making it a haven for food lovers. Speaking of food, my stomach growled a little.

“Luckily I’ve brought some food,” Jae Hee took out a carton of sauna eggs.


“Hey I like those eggs,” it was fascinating how these eggs acquired a rich shade of brown like it had been soaked in soy sauce when cooked slowly in hot saunas. Unlike normal hard-boiled egg, these sauna eggs had a pleasant nutty flavour.

“I’ve read somewhere that during prolonged heating, the quarter-gram of glucose sugar in the white reacts with albumen protein to generate pigments typical of browned foods, as in Maillard reaction. Hmm… do egg whites contain sugar?” Jae Hee seemed to read my mind and answered my question. Then he cracked one egg on my head.

“Hey!” I protested, rubbing my head.

“Hahaha…” he laughed heartily as he peeled the shells. As I watched him, those feelings came back again. Ever since I saw Jae Hee cross dressed, I was always reminded of Sulli whenever I looked at him.

“For you,” Jae Hee gave me the egg.

“Thanks,” I quickly turned away so that he would not catch me staring at him. Oh Sulli! I think I am beginning to miss you.

Sulli’s POV

“Ah Choo!” I suddenly sneezed. Was someone thinking of me? It must be Krystal. She was probably jealous that I had an earlier break than her. My English grade was not that disastrous that I needed remedial. Neither was it that fantastic that I got selected as a peer tutor. Hence I could return home yesterday.

As if having to be held up in school wasn’t bad enough, the student whom Krystal was helping had to make it worse by being nasty to her. Once, I suggested that Krystal should deliberately make a few mistakes in her English test so that she no longer had to be a peer tutor. Being a studious person, Krystal refused my idea. She would rather put up with the nonsense than to sacrifice her grades.

I wished I could be there for her, but I had other plans. Right now, I was on my way to Hope Orphanage, where my foster parents worked. Being an orphan myself, I could empathise with the plight of the children living there, so I volunteered my time whenever I could.

Bump!

“Ah I’m sorry!” I apologised to the person I collided with. I shouldn’t think too much thoughts when I was walking.

“No problem. I should be the one apologising for not paying attention,” he said.

That voice reminded me of Eun Gyeol. I looked up and sure enough, it was him.

“Oh Sulli! Are you hurt? Ahh, I’m such a pabo!” Eun Gyeol reprimanded himself.

“It’s alright, I am not a tofu. I would not be smashed up just by a bump,” I assured him, “So, what are you doing here?”

“Just taking a walk,” Eun Gyeol sounded moody, unlike his usual happy-go-lucky self.

“Sorry if I’m being a busybody, but are you all right? You don’t look well,” I asked as we passed by a playground. When he was about to answer, a football rolled past us at high speed. As expected of a school team soccer player, Eun Gyeol stopped the ball with his foot easily. He bent down to touch the ball fondly.

“Hyung, can you please kick the ball back to us? Thank you!” a group of boys shouted from a distance. Eun Gyeol smiled at them. Then he gave the ball a strong kick, sending it back to the boys accurately at where they were.

“Wow that was such a cool kick!” the boys cheered.

Eun Gyeol waved at them, then he turned to me sadly, “But the National Team coach didn’t think so.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Knowing how much soccer meant to Eun Gyeol, I felt bad asking in the first place. “It’s Korea’s loss, for not selecting you. Come to think of it, our country’s team isn’t doing very well these days.”

Eun Gyeol chuckled on hearing that.

“That’s more like Eun Gyeol!” I smiled back at him.

Eun Gyeol’s POV.

Ever since the day I was rejected by the National team, I felt like a total wreck. I remembered way back in 2002, when I was still in elementary school, South Korea co-hosted FIFA World Cup with Japan. Therefore I got to watch some of the matches live. My most memorable match was the Third Place Final when my country was playing against Turkey. Although we lost, our national pride remained strong. According to my dad, this was the first time South Korea ever made it that far in World Cup. The players who took a bow before the spectators became my role models. That day, I decided I wanted to be like them. Hence I joined soccer in all the schools I attended and took the training seriously. My hard work paid off as I won quite a number of trophies along the way for representing my schools. You could say that soccer was my life, therefore when I did not make it to the National Team, I suddenly did not know what to do with my life.

No matter how dejected I was, I did not want to see Sulli grieving with me. Like Jae Hee, she was borne to smile. I would gladly put up a strong front so that she won’t stop smiling.

“You are great at consoling people. Krystal is so lucky to have a friend like you,” I remarked.

“You don’t have to envy her. You also have a friend like me. Unless you don’t consider me your friend.”

“Haha. You are in such a good mood today. So where are you heading to actually?” I asked.

Sulli suddenly stopped walking. “I have reached my destination.”

I stood in front of the building with a signboard that read “Hope Orphanage”. Frankly speaking I myself wasn’t planning to go to any place. Being in a lousy mood, I took random buses, alighted at random stops and loitered around aimlessly. I kept repeating these actions until I literally bumped into Sulli. Having no destination in mind, I simply followed wherever she was going.

“Are you here to do voluntary work?”

“Yes.”

“Er… can I be a volunteer too? Actually I have nowhere else to go…”

“Of course! We are always lacking in help. Besides the children here are really cute. I’m sure they can help to lift your spirits,” she smiled brightly.

I’m not sure about the children, but I could already feel my spirit slowly being lifted by your cuteness and eye-smile.