The morning sun wasn’t even up at the time Yoohyeon was getting ready for work. A slightly ajar kitchen window was letting chirps of birds accompany her silent morning routine.

 

Before going out, silver haired girl stood in front of her wall mirror, fixing her clothes and making sure she wasn’t forgetting anything.

 

Today was about to be a quite different day for the courier girl. Valentine’s day was promising to bring some unusual obstacles. 

 

At least Yoohyeon thought so as she was now encouraging herself in the mirror:

 

yoohyeon, you can get through this day no matter what, fighting!

 

The sky was just getting painted with ginger shades when she left behind the closed front door.

 

With a placid smile, she took a deep breath, letting fresh chilly air to fill in her lungs and like that getting rid of the rest of morning slumber. 

 

While humming under her breath a melody, she was about to pass by the neighbouring house but stopped halfway on her track at the sight of the clumsily laying piece of wood beside the road. 

 

some people could trip on this and injure themselves.

 

So she lifted it and put it against near hanging mail box. The box dropped heavily on the ground, immediately getting several cracks on its surface.

 

“Crap!” She cursed under her breath the moment her neighbour’s dog started loudly barking at her.

 

Without a delaying second, yells came from the still closed front door:

 

“Who the hell is it?!”

 

It was time to run away as soon as possible. And Yoohyeon was realising she was extremely late for her work.

 

So she managed to get away before her neighbour would see her. It was better leave now and apologise later.

 

And just like that her disastrous day had begun.

 

 

 

***

 

 

 

“You’re late,” Her coworker Handong, who usually gave daily instructions, was seated on her desk with amused expression the moment Yoohyeon managed to barge into her office. “So you’re gonna deliver remaining packages. I suppose they might be hard to accomplish.”

 

“Really, Handong?” Yoohyeon asked, hands on her slightly bent knees and breath uneven. “But you promised easy ones for this day.”

 

“Sorry, can’t help you.” The blonde shrugged, not feeling sympathetic at all to her friend. “Besides it’s not that hard. You just gotta get through the whole city several times and try to make it on time.”

 

“Considering the fact that I’m on a public transport...” Yoohyeon grumpily mumbled under her breath while already putting the packages into her backpack that was seemingly the twice of her width. “And to see those disgusting couples—“

 

“I hope you’ll leave this attitude here.”

 

“Ugh, I’ll behave good.” Yoohyeon was done picking up all the decoratively wrapped items. “Trust me, Dong-ah.”

 

“Please, don’t get me those complaints by the end of the day.”

 

“Pfft, I’m master in being cautious and punctual.” With a shrug she turned around and headed towards the door. However, on the way almost stumbling on the air, she cursed. “Oh, crap—“

 

“Are packages okay?” 

 

“Yes and thanks for worrying for my well-being.” With sarcastic tone Yoohyeon said at last, waving back on the way. “See you!”

 

“God, we’re already doomed for this day.” Handong sighed with defeat, flopping down on her seat.

 

 

 

***

 

 

 

“We didn’t order that,” A man at the doorstep stated with stubborn expression. “It’s supposed to be a bouquet of roses.”

 

“But it is written here.” Yoohyeon pointed at the receipt, clenched in her hand. 

 

This particular order was the hardest to deliver because of the fact she had to get to the far suburban area which had taken two hours ride via underground and then bus. She previously was also worried to get late but in the end made it on time for the last morning order. 

 

Now, however, she was facing another problem.

 

“This vase was bought and ordered on your name and address.” Yoohyeon repeated.

 

“Miss, how many times I have to say I didn’t order this ing vase—“

 

“Honey?” A female voice called from the insides of apartments. “Something’s wrong?”

 

“No, baby, it’s just some clueless girl here.“

 

“Excuse me, who you called clueless?” The whole situation was already grinding her gears.

 

“Wait, is it a vase?” The woman gently interrupted, pointing at the object in Yoohyeon’s hands. After receiving affirmative nod from silver haired girl, her face lighted up. “Oh, you finally brought it!”

 

“What?” After the previous insult even the man’s bewildered exclaim seemed frustrating to Yoohyeon. “But we ordered a bouquet of roses, didn’t we?”

 

“Yes, but from other service.” The woman gently held her partners forearm and beamed a soft smile at him. “Dummy, we also ordered the vase for your mother too.”

 

“Oh, right, I totally forgot!”

 

this obnoxious man definitely doesn’t deserve such patient woman.

 

Yoohyeon’s brow irked as she was growing impatient now at the antics of the couple who took their time sweet talking. One of the main reasons she despised Valentine’s day.

 

“Well, sorry for snapping earlier.” Awkwardly scratching his nape, the man finally apologised after paying and accepting the vase. “I’ll make sure to leave a very positive comment on your service.”

 

“Would be much obliged.” Yoohyeon nodded with pursed lips and retreated towards the exit.

 

 

 

***

 

 

 

With already persisting fatigue in the body after two hour ride at the bus, Yoohyeon settled at the bench to take time to rest.

 

It was a lunch time: the main reason she came to the shopping mall where she could enjoy one of her favourite fast foods as she had no additional time for a normal meal. 

 

When Yoohyeon thought she had rested enough, her eyes saw how a pink ball rolled and bumped against her foot.

 

After picking it up, she looked up and saw a little girl expectedly and shyly looking at her. Adoring at this sight, she handed the ball into kid’s tiny hands.

 

“Here you go, sweetheart.” She said with wide smile and patted her head lightly, notably bending over to do it. 

 

Everything would end good if the girl didn’t burst in tears in response at the pat.

 

“Hey, hey, what’s wrong?!” Yoohyeon asked with panicked tone, squatting before the little girl as she physically felt how almost everyone in the mall stared at them. “You can’t find your mama or something? Please, don’t cry.”

 

“Oh, there you are!” A woman, seemingly the girl’s mother, approached them. She immediately picked up crying child in her arms and, not sparing even a glance at Yoohyeon, walked away, scolding her daughter on the way. “How many time I told you to not talk with scary strangers...”

 

“I’m not that scary...” Yoohyeon sighed and got up, looking around. Some people were still looking at her, especially at the enormous backpack.

 

I better get going...

 

 

 

***

 

 

 

“Unnie, you look awful.” This was the first thing that purple haired girl said instead of greeting.

 

“Thanks, Gahyeon, I know.” Yoohyeon answered, leaning on the counter and then adding. “But you don’t look better.”

 

“Ugh, I wish I wasn’t working during Holidays—” 

 

“Same.”

 

“—and was instead wrapped in Yubin unnie’s arms.”

 

“Not same.” Yoohyeon dramatically grimaced at that as she was already fed up with tooth-rotting couples. 

 

“Anyways, what do you want?” Gahyeon asked as she noticed the queue becoming impatient behind her friend. “The usual?”

 

“Yes, please!” 

 

While younger girl was preparing the order, Yoohyeon was complaining about her day. Along the talk Gahyeon couldn’t resist on making fun of Yoohyeon’s unlucky and clumsy nature which didn’t cheer up the girl. Instead she had to bicker in response.

 

“Tell me, how Yubin unnie even bears you?”

 

“Same goes for you, kid.” Yoohyeon sticked her a tongue. 

 

“Says who again?” Gahyeon giggled and finally handed her the order. On a habit, she checked the time on her wristwatch. “Wow, it’s already past two.”

 

“What?!” Yoohyeon exclaimed in terror. “, I forgot to feed Pie!”

 

“Well, good luck on that!” Gahyeon screamed at the back of her friend who was already running towards the exit.

 

 

 

***

 

 

 

When Yoohyeon got home she was unexpectedly met with the neighbour’s furiously barking dog. 

 

“Since when you’re out of leash?!”

 

So eventually she had to run towards her front door and lock herself up. Luckily, she managed to do it, even though the dog almost got her by the foot.

 

“Gosh, what a hell of a day.” Yoohyeon said between her heavy breathes as she felt how her heart was still drumming against her ribcage. Pressed with her back against the surface of wood, she sighed with relief and proceeded to call her puppy who was much more innocuous than the previous dog. “Pie-yah, mommy’s here!”

 

The tiny puppy came while cheerfully wiggling her tail. 

 

“Let’s feed you, shall we?” Yoohyeon cooed at her pet while gently brushing the fluffy hair. 

 

When Yoohyeon was done, she started walking from one side of her kitchen to the other, in deep contemplations of how she would escape that dog outside. In the end she decided to seek help and dialled the trustworthy number in her phone:

 

“Noon, Yubin-ah! Listen, here’s the thing...”

 

 

 

***

 

 

 

“—can’t believe you were scared of this puppy.” Yubin said while squatting and playing with the dog that previously wanted to, in the words of courier girl, threaten Yoohyeon’s life. 

 

“Not my fault my crazy neighbour decided to adopt a freaking rabid chihuahua!” Yoohyeon exclaimed at the peacefully laying dog. “You didn’t see her twenty minutes ago. She was dead mad and wanted to chop off my leg with those teeth!”

 

“Calm down, Yoohyeon.” Yubin sighed at the dramatic antics of her friend. “Besides, aren’t you supposed to deliver your orders?”

 

“Crap, I really should!” She slapped herself on the forehead. After putting on the backpack, she headed towards the nearest bus station. “Thanks for risking me again, Yubin-ah! See you later!”

 

“See you.”

 

 

 

***

 

 

 

She was late for her last order for twenty minutes which meant that she would be paying off twenty percent of the package. That was the cost for a good service and sometimes Yoohyeon just couldn’t keep up. 

 

But she was accepting it with a composed dignity after cursing the bus driver for whole ten minutes. Because, at least in her case, time costed money and she had been having a tight time with her savings due to a minimum amount of stipend and wage from part-time jobs.

 

And the moment she accepted her defeat with a heavy heart, her last customer was someone unexpectedly familiar.

 

“Siyeon unnie?” Yoohyeon asked, when she reached the final point of her delivery and saw her best friend who’d seemingly been waiting. 

 

“Yoohyeon-ah!” Hugging taller girl was quite hard due to the enormous backpack at the back.  “Hey, I started thinking you got lost!”

 

“The bus had some delay on the way.” She shrugged and started unpacking her almost empty backpack. 

 

They were standing beside the main central intersection which was in its traffic peak as it was gloaming. 

 

“So why did you order, uhh, a whole package of sweets and plushies?” Yoohyeon sceptically arched her brow because the cost for the package was higher than her monthly wage in delivery service. She tried to gulp as she was now realising that she had to pay off one fifth of it. 

 

“, it’s Valentine’s day.” Siyeon said after signing the sheet and taking the presents. “And don’t worry about the cost. I’ll pretend you delivered on time.”

 

“Thank you!” Yoohyeon sighed with relief and, at the realisation of the current situation, giggled. “Then I’m gonna pretend you’re not being a whipped wolfie here.”

 

“You better.” Siyeon laughed along with her friend, playfully pushing her to the side and a second later holding her back because she had forgotten they were near the road. 

 

“So, who’s the unlucky girl?”

 

“Hey, what do you mean unlucky?!” Siyeon had an urge to push back her friend again. “She’s pretty lucky. I’m gonna gift her all of these. And, you know, I hope she likes them...”

 

“Please, if she won’t, let me be your girlfriend instead.” Yoohyeon playfully said which gained no reaction as Siyeon was now focused on something else behind her.

 

“Oh, there she is! Wish me luck.” 

 

“Good luck and better don’t mess this up!” 

 

With that Siyeon headed towards the entrance of the finance building with presents hid behind her back. Yoohyeon stayed at the same spot, watching how her friend was seemingly greeting and chatting with the girl who just had come from her work. The moment they laughed at the joke Siyeon had told, Yoohyeon finally managed to recognise her friend’s date.

 

minji unnie? wow, siyeon really claimed her heart that easily, lucky. 

 

She stopped watching the moment they started flirting, convincing Yoohyeon more in the fact she disliked today’s holiday. 

 

I should get back to home—

 

“Hey, Yoohyeon-ah!” Siyeon’s loud voice called her throughout the street. She looked up and saw how the couple was staring at her expectedly. “Why you’re standing there? Come with us!”

 

 

 

***

 

 

 

Soft lips pulled away just as unexpectedly as the kiss started. “I’m sorry...”

 

“No, unnie, don’t. I liked it.” Yoohyeon mumbled into the mixed up breathes that tickled her a little. “You know, lately I’ve been thinking about us and—“

 

“I should go.”

 

Yoohyeon snapped out of her thoughts the moment she saw a hand waving in front of her face. Right, she was in the middle of the moving crowd under the colourful neon lights that created a vibrant ambience.

 

“Hey, are you alright?” Siyeon asked, concerned about her friend who had been dozing off for the past hour.

 

“Yeah,” Yoohyeon hastily answered and rubbed her eyes. She pressed herself closer to her friend so that she could be heard among the loud beats of music. “It’s just today was a hectic day for me.”

 

“You should’ve said it instead of agreeing.” Siyeon scolded her. “You always forget about yourself, Yoohyeon. Learn to put your well-being first.”

 

The silver haired girl beamed a penitent smile, scratching her nape. “Sorry.”

 

“I’ll call a taxi for you because you’re tipsy right now.” Siyeon said and retreated to the corner of the noisy club so that she could make a call. 

 

“You sure you’re gonna be alright?” Minji asked the girl who was clinging onto her because of dizziness that hit her. “I could go with you.”

 

“No, there’s no need.” Dismissive wave of hand and reassuring smile. “I don’t want to ruin your night with Siyeon unnie. Besides, I can sober up real quick if I’ll be in the fresh air. Don’t worry so much, unnie.”

 

“But still I’ll make sure to call you on the way back.” Minji said with skeptic expression.

 

 

 

***

 

 

 

“Yup, I’m already home. Yeah, mom, everything’s alright.”  Yoohyeon said to Minji on the phone, just coming out of the car. The surroundings felt chilly and silent. The time was past midnight and there was no soul around to be seen. Light giggles escaped her lips. “I’m gonna sleep now. Have a great night out there with Siyeon unnie. Have fun for me there!”

 

When the call ended, she crossed the road towards her house while humming to the song she had heard in the club. This day would finally end if not the piece of wood on her way.

 

“People might trip on this.” She mumbled to herself, already dragging the thing towards the direction of its owner’s house. Sometimes Yoohyeon was too kind to people around and in the tipsy state this trait of her was double to the absurd amounts. When she finally managed to put it against the main box and was about to leave with peace, the same box fell again, but this time there were no hope for the thing as it crushed and got split in two.

 

“.” Yoohyeon sighed. 

 

The same scenario played off again: her neighbour’s dog started barking and growling like mad behind the fence and the yell of her neighbour was nearing from insides of the house. 

 

Yoohyeon was so tired that she simply sat on the ground beside the remainders of the mail box. She expected yells to get louder the moment her neighbour reached her. But instead she heard the composed:

 

“Yah, Kim Yoohyeon.”

 

She looked up and saw the face she had been avoiding for a whole week. In other times when she would be sober, she wouldn’t greet her with the sweetest voice:

 

“Bora unnie.”

 

“What the hell gotten in you?” Bora asked with furrowed eyes, squatting before her. When she leaned over and sensed the smell of the alcohol, she tutted. “You’re drunk and sitting on mud. Come on, let’s get you cleaned up.”

 

 

 

***

 

 

 

After a glass of water with a few pills Yoohyeon was sobering up slowly. The hot water of the bathtub was giving her muscles a pleasant feeling. But all of these wasn’t helping her habit of rambling about her day.

 

“—and someone called me scary.”

 

Bora, who was previously scrubbing her arm, put down the sponge and stared at her. “Who would even do this?”

 

“Some lady. She told that to her crying daughter. But I didn’t make her cry, I just wanted to return her the ball.”

 

Bora chuckled. “You’re not scary, you’re just tall.”

 

“Thanks, you really helped.” Yoohyeon rolled her eyes, let out a sudden yawn, and leaned on the edge of bathtub with relaxed eyes. She rested her cheek on her arm.

 

For some time there was a silence hanging in the room. Some things were still unsettled between them and this was bothering both as they stumbled on the words at one time:

 

“About the last time—“

 

“Sorry for leaving you hanging there—“

 

And another shorter pause during which they locked eyes.

 

“You speak first.” Bora said.

 

“So, where do I start even,” Yoohyeon chuckled awkwardly, staring down at how her hands looked under the water. For some reason in this moment she felt her nudeness to the bone as her cheeks were furiously flushed. “You know, the kiss helped me to realise that I might like you. But for now I’m not ready for serious relationships, especially after this day. Though we can sometime hang out. If you want, of course.”

 

After her little speech and confession, Yoohyeon lifted her gaze: surprisingly, she wasn’t the only one blushing. 

 

“I’m sorry for leaving you there even though it was me who initiated the kiss.” Bora averted her eyes away, not knowing where to land them. “And... I like you too. And, yes, for now we can hang out. And—”

 

It took Bora some time to find something in the other room as now Yoohyeon was patiently sitting in the already cooling tube, observing bath items of her neighbour and ignoring some rumbling with followed hissed curses.

 

“Here, this is for you.” 

 

Yoohyeon’s doll eyes stared in surprise at the offered heart-shaped card. With a dried hand she accepted and opened it, seeing her own name there. 

 

my whole world would be so boring without your noisy . will you be my valentine, kim yoohyeon?

 

After reading, she looked back at Bora who seemed to be extremely flustered. Yoohyeon couldn’t contain her genuine laughter.

 

“What? Was it too rude?” Bora asked, bewildered.

 

But Yoohyeon continued laughing and instead was pointing at her clothes in the corner. “Could you— could you, please, oh god—pass me my jacket?”

 

Still confounded, Bora fetched and gave the jacket to the girl who the next second pulled an exact same card from its pocket, except the recipient’s name was different.

 

“Oh.” 

 

After realising the irony of the situation Bora joined Yoohyeon’s laugh, leaning onto the younger girl’s forearm.

 

When their giggles slowly alleviated and they again made an eye contact, Yoohyeon had the strongest urge to lean further and capture the adorable smiling lips in a chaste kiss. Just for a bit. Just for once.

 

Bora didn’t mind as she lightly bit her bottom lip in response and moved closer.

 

The moment was so magical and intimate as both of them, seemingly enchanted by the night time, silently broke the given promise under the excuse that today it was allowed to do so. 

 

Only today...