The next day, after school, Seulgi is looking after Elena in the living room; the toddler is playing with her toys on the mat while watching cartoons. Seulgi can’t get past the thought of the odd smell that her father was emitting. It's there again. She’s thinking it could have been her Phantosmia but she can’t get off the thought that it might be something else, that it isn't just a typical disorder; she could have developed something else.

Seulgi changes the cartoon channel to a music show because she knows Elena isn’t watching it anyway; her attention is on her toys. She looks at Elena and smells her, she smells nice like how babies usually smell – fresh, milk, and baby powder. Seulgi’s dad walks into the living room to get the newspaper on the coffee table and left. Seulgi can’t help feeling nauseous from his smell. She closes her eyes and pokes her two fingers in her nostrils to block the odor. She knows the smell isn’t there and it’s all in her head. She already took her medicines but they weren’t effective, maybe it’s time to change another prescription from the doctor. Then, when she thinks of it, she remembers the relative of the patient in the hospital. The pungent smell is the same as her father's. Suddenly Eleonor walks into the living room and says, “Seulgi, dinner will be ready in a half-hour,” Seulgi nods and smiles, then Eleonor goes back to the kitchen to cook.

Seulgi tries to catch the smell of Eleonor, but there isn’t. It was normal. She remembers the day she smelled like Lilac, nice and fragrant. It was the total opposite of how her father smells. And when she thinks about the smell from her father, it makes her dizzy. Her Phantosmia is hindering her to have a normal life. She can’t continue living like this; she has to see a specialist for her disorder. Seulgi catches Elena looking at her; curious of what she was smelling for. She smiles, feeling dumb to be caught doing something silly. Elena continues playing with her toys. Seulgi sighs as she feels bored; it has been months since she was on her social media. She doesn’t have her phone because it was broken when the accident happened. She didn’t even buy a new one because she is avoiding logging into her social media. She knows when she is going to open it, there will be a lot of messages from her former classmates and friends, asking how she is doing. She doesn’t want to reply to their messages, one by one, telling them that they shouldn’t worry about her or she’s fine.

She’s not fine.

She’s still in the process of dealing with the loss of her mother after the accident. She just doesn’t want to tell others how she is feeling. She is grieving on her own and she wants to keep it to herself. Sometimes she keeps having the thoughts that it should have been her who was dead instead of her mother, or she just wished that the accident never happened at all. It‘s painful to think that she wasn’t even there at her mother’s wake and burial. She was comatose for almost a month after all.

She wonders if coming back to Angels Creek is a good idea. She spent her childhood memories and the memories with her mother in the house; best memories when they were a happy family and worst memories when her parents decided to divorce. She couldn’t just run away from the things that reminded her of her mother; she closes her eyes and rubs her temples to lessen her anxiety. Elena notices Seulgi’s distress; she puts down her toy and hugs her. “Is Ddeulgi okay?” She asks.

Seulgi is surprised; even a toddler like Elena could sense she is in distress. “Yeah, Seulgi eonni is okay.”

“O-knee?”

“Yeah, eonni, in South Korea we call our older sister eonni. Elena can call me eonni. We're sisters after all,” Seulgi mouths the word one more time. “Eo-nni.”

“Eo-nni?”

Seulgi nods. “Yep, that's right, eonni.”

“Ddeulgi!!” Elena raises her hands in the air and hugs Seulgi, chuckling cutely.

Seulgi feels defeated by Elena’s adorableness. She realizes that even though she grew up in America, she was raised differently from Elena. Seulgi had two Korean parents growing up in Korean customs. Even though Elena is half Korean, Eleonor is the one who’s with Elena the whole time. She remembers she used to play and watch cartoons with her older brother, Garam, who is eight years older than her. She hasn't heard about him since he's busy with his life as a working adult. The last time Seulgi heard from him was when he visited her at the hospital months ago. At that time she was in a coma. She thinks if only she has a phone, she'd message Garam and ask how he is doing. She misses her oppa.

About a half-hour later, it’s time for dinner. Seulgi carries Elena into the dining room where Eleonor was done preparing for dinner. She cooked steamed garlic and spring onion crabs, baked buttered clams, and baked potatoes. Seulgi beams when she sees the food cooked by Eleonor. She smells them, they are appetizing. “Eleonor, they look delicious. I love seafood.”

“I know you would, I asked your father for your favorite,” Eleonor says as she unties her apron.

“Thank you,” Seulgi smiles, showing her crescent moon eyes. Eleonor was thoughtful to ask her father about her favorite dish. Seulgi was moved by the gesture. Aside from the savory smell, she could smell Eleonor’s Lilac fragrance. She thought it might be Eleonor’s signature smell; she must have liked to apply perfume all the time. Even in the morning when Seulgi sees Eleonor who just woke up, still, she smells nice. Then she thought she might have owned an expensive brand of perfume because the smell doesn’t wear off that easily.

Eleonor approaches Seulgi to pick up Elena from her. “Elena, come,” Seulgi hands Elena to her. She is so close to Eleonor that she can smell her aroma. “Seulgi, let’s eat dinner,” She gesture to her to sit down as she was holding Elena in her arms.

Seulgi walks to the sink and washes her hands. After it, she sits down and asks her, “How about dad?”

Eleonor pulls the feeding chair beside her and puts Elena on it. “He says he will be working over-time, they have a meeting with the Pryces,” She looks at Seulgi and smiles. “Don’t worry, you can eat all of it, I already asked him if he’s going to eat dinner here but he said no. So, dig in.”

Seulgi nods as she gets the claw part of the crab, and uses the crab cracker tool to break its tough shell. While she is cracking the crab, she glances at Eleonor who’s putting a bib around Elena’s neck, and after it, she was about to use the cracking tool to open the crab claw. Seulgi immediately gives her crab meat.

“You don’t have to,” Eleonor says.

“I insist, you cooked these delicious foods and I’m happy I get to eat my favorite,” Seulgi smiles as she gives her the perfect claw part of the crab meat without destroying the form.

“Oh my, thank you,” She forwards her plate, so Seulgi doesn’t have to stand up when she puts the crab meat on her plate. “Try baked buttered clams,” She moves them in the center.

Seulgi picks one and scoops the muscle out, and eats it. Eleonor feeds Elena and casually looks at Seulgi’s expression whether she likes her dishes. She’s glad Seulgi likes it when she sees her get another clam and another one. It makes her happy when she looks at someone who is enjoying their food. “Is this what they called mukbang?” She told her. Seulgi covered and ate slowly. “It’s ok, I just enjoyed watching you eat. It’s somehow… satisfying to look at.”

Seulgi was abashed by Eleonor’s statement. She could feel her cheeks becoming warm as she could smell Eleonor’s fragrant scent.

Eleonor really smells good, Seulgi thought.

She chews her food first before speaking. “What perfume do you apply?”

Eleonor feeds Elena and then looks at Seulgi again. “Perfume…?” She is quite puzzled.

“Yeah, you smell nice, even now,” Seulgi looks at her directly as she smells her scent. “You smell like Lilac.”

Eleonor pauses for a minute before she could continue talking. “Seulgi, I never apply any perfume because I get a runny nose when I smell strong fragrant scents,” She observes Seulgi who is slightly taken aback. “Do you take your medicines regularly?”

All this time, she never did smell the fragrance from Eleonor, it was just Seulgi’s smelling disorder fooling her senses. “I guess…the medicine isn’t effective,” She looks down her plate. “Maybe I should see another specialist for a check-up,” She looks up at Eleonor.

“Ok, I’ll tell your father when he comes home.”

Eleonor’s fragrant scent becomes stronger, but Seulgi knows now that it isn’t really there. “Thanks,” She forces a smile on her face and continues eating her dinner. She should be happy that Eleonor cooked her favorite dish but thinking about the disorder is baffling her; she doesn’t know what’s real anymore. She just hopes that it will go away soon.