“You know that my grandma has strawberries planted in our house, right?!” That was the first thing Chaeyoung said to her when she met her in the apartment complex gate.

“Umm no?” she was a little bit grumpy in the morning and the sudden ambush of excitement from this little cub was not so appreciated.

“You didn’t listen to my stories?!”

Mina chuckled seeing her expression, her little friend was always so dramatized. “I was kiddingggg of course I remember!” Chaeyoung brightened up immediately. “Okay, so my halmeoni will harvest them this weekend. Will you be able to come and see? We have a secret strawberry jam recipe to die for, that could be the next recipe for me to teach you.”

“Interesting proposal, Chaeng. Any other reason?”

“Because I want to celebrate your rather successful KSAT!”

“Hahaha, sweet talker. This Saturday?”

“Yep, 10 am?”

“So late.. You just want to wake up late, don’t you?”

She sighed deeply, “Okaayyy okay, 8 am!”

***

Mina arrived right on time at 8 am. She rang the bell to the unit 2403.

Chaeyoung had not woken up yet, but she didn’t need to ring the intercom because Chaeyoung gave her the access card the day before. Did she already foresee that she wouldn’t be awake on time!?

“Ah, good morning, I am Mina, Chaeyoung’s friend.” She was startled when suddenly the door opened in the middle of her grumbling. She saw a young girl opening the door. “Ryujin, right?” she guessed. They have been texting long enough for them to know about each other’s life. Chaeyoung has two cousins, Ryujin and Yuna, both were in elementary school. Chaeyoung liked to gush over her cousins’ cuteness so it was natural for Mina to recognize Ryujin from the first meeting.

“Yes! You know me?” Ryujin seemed excited. Mina made a mental note to teach Ryujin the danger of strangers knock-knocking at the door. “Chaeyoung unnie is still sleeping. She is scary when sleeping, do you want to wake her?”

Mina accepted that offer. She went inside the unit and she met Chaeyoung’s halmeoni making simple breakfast in the kitchen. Her halmeoni greeted Mina warmly. She seemed to acknowledge Mina, so it was less awkward for her. She cursed Chaeyoung mentally, first home visit is always awkward, she is supposed to greet me!

Ryujin showed Mina Chaeyoung’s room and opened the door for her, “Here, unnie. The beast is for you to handle,” and then she left her just like that.

Mina looked around her little friend’s, who was supposed to be the bundled up blanket on the bed, room. She decided to give her another 5 minutes of sleeping and wandering around the room. It was quite neat, with several stuffs here and there but the mess was centralized so it wasn’t bad.

She saw Chaeyoung’s showcased painting. She did tell her that she draws, but wow Mina didn’t expect that it would be this good. Well, her sketches of her doing ballet back then was good, but she was consistently good. The seemingly random doodle wasn’t very explicit in their meaning but Mina knew it had their own meaning. There were pastel paintings of random people, some white flowers, and trains.

Chaeyoung also had some picture frames showcased on the wall. She saw Chaeyoung when she was little, carried by a woman who was supposed to be her mom and the younger version of Chaeyoung’s halmeoni. This younger version of her halmeoni seems familiar.. But Mina didn’t think about it that much, older people tended to look alike, didn’t they?

“Yah, Chaengchaeng, wake up..” she started to wake this little girl by shaking the bundled blanket softly.

“Urghhh,” all she responded with is a heavy growl. Mina smiled, no wonder poor Ryujin-chan is afraid. Mina was different though, she was not some poor elementary school girl who got intimidated easily. She upped her game and forcefully (no, it was still actually too gentle) took the blanket away. Chaeyoung was sleeping with slightly open and her hands spreaded everywhere. Chaeyoung’s shoulder-length hair is also all fizzled, she must have moved a lot in her sleep.

“Chaeyoung! You told me to go here at 8, come on!” she semi-screamed and finally Chaeyoung’s eye fluttered open. She seemed confused at the presence of Mina in front of her, it seemed like Chaeyoung thought she was dreaming so she closed her eyes and rolled back to sleep again. “Oh my God this girl, Chaeyoung don’t go back to sleep!” she started to pinch this big baby’s cheeks without stopping calling Chaeyoung’s name.

“Mina unnie.. Is that really you..” she frowned trying to gather her consciousness. Mina pulled her hands so Chaeyoung was in sitting position.