Minju’s POV

Although I really want to talk with Yujin, maybe I need to go somewhere relaxing first. My mood right now is not suitable for doing anything.

“Yuri-ah, I want to lighten the mood a bit, do you know a good place to do that?”, Yuri probably doesn’t understand where my problem lies, but I’m sure she’ll do as she pleases.

“Follow me!”, Yuri gestures and quickly walks ahead to lead the way. For today alone, I really owe her a lot.

After following Yuri for a while, the scenery in my field of vision gradually changed. From the closely spaced buildings and suffocating crowded streets, they were replaced by a wider and more open road filled with traffic, the long and green trees also appear to make the surrounding atmosphere much more pleasant. Those visual changes brings back memories of my Seoul days, and I realize where Yuri is taking us both. I used to love it when my parents took me here when I was young, and I remember a few times my family came here with Yuri’s family too. The reason why I was willing to be friends with Yuri that day, was because she saved me in this park by the Han River, or rather, she and her mother accidentally caught me lost here and found a way take me home.

“Do you remember this place? You haven’t been here in a while, right?”, Yuri smiles and asks.

“Of course I remember, this place was our favorite destination back then. Woah! It’s really good, the atmosphere here is really nice”, I reply to her. This is the perfect place to relax your mind. It’s a bit late for exercise, and it’s not the time for people to go to work or school, so there are only a few people walking around here. Plus the sun hasn’t risen too high yet, so it’s not hot enough to make me uncomfortable.

“Shall we sit here? Or are your legs still strong enough and want to go for a walk?”, it’s amazing how she doesn’t make suggestions of her own accord, but is willing to let me make choices and follow through.

“Sit here, I want to be quiet for a bit. Okay?”, my legs are a bit tired after walking.

“OK!”, Yuri just gives a short answer and doesn’t ask any more questions.

Fortunately, I no longer feel uncomfortable, watching the river gently flow like this makes my heart feel very comfortable. But I still miss Yujin.

Maybe now I should start thinking to find my own problems and how to solve them.

Suddenly there is music from Yuri’s phone playing.

“Annyeong! Yena unnie... I’m with Minju... Wait a minute, I’ll ask her...”, Yuri answers the call.

“Do you want to go out with me and Yena unnie? Maybe we’ll go to the arcade or have something to eat”, she asks me.

“I don’t want to get in the way of you two”, I half-jokingly reply to Yuri.

“No problem! We’re fine. I can’t leave you alone right now. Or I’ll make an appointment with her some other time?”

“I need to be alone. You will be bored and regret staying here. Go with her, I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me, I still remember the way home.”

“Okay! But if something happens, remember to call me right away.”

“I know it!”

Yuri is so kind, she can put his crush aside and spend time with me. I feel so lucky to have a friend like Yuri.

 

3rd person’s POV

“Yujin, are you going to let the ice cream melt into water? Or let me eat it for you?”, Jiheon feels something different about Yujin than usual. Ordinary she never sit still, sometimes joking, sometimes destructive, also very talkative, now she is so quiet, don’t say anything, don’t even touch the chocolate ice cream cup, her favorite. In the cheery atmosphere of the team right now, Yujin should be making jokes or taking part in leading everyone’s stories, but now it looks like Yujin’s spirit doesn’t care about the surroundings, wander off somewhere, leaving a dead body.

“Yeah, you eat it,” replied Yujin, not forgetting to send her friend a gentle smile. For Yujin, even though she’s not too close to Jiheon, she’s still someone Yujin feels comfortable around, both in class and off the field.

“What’s wrong?”, Jiheon asks curiously.

“Haiz! I don’t know either,” Yujin sighs. Exactly, Yujin herself doesn’t have any problems, but she’s still wondering about Minju and those questions are not easy for Yujin to answer or guess even a little bit by herself, so they forever floating and stuck in her mind without any wind can blow it away.

“I usually eat something delicious or go to bed when I’m not in a good mood. If you don’t want to eat right now, maybe a good night’s sleep will make you feel better”, Jiheon suggests. For a simple person like Jiheon, eating and sleeping well will solve most of the problems. Not sure if this will work for everyone but anyone can try it, maybe we will feel more comfortable and our mind will be free and think more effectively.

Mr. Heechul overheard a few lines from their conversation as well, “There are times when we need to relax Yujin-ah, you don’t have to work so hard all the time.”

“Nae! Then I’ll go home first!”, Yujin politely asks her teacher, silently agreeing with Jiheon’s suggestion in her mind.

“Keep your body and mind healthy always! You are the hope of the team”, the coach advises and encourages.

“Thank you for the ice cream! Goodbye teacher! Goodbye everyone!”, Yujin bows before waving goodbye to the teacher and friends.

As the school years progressed, most of Yujin’s daytime was spent in school, or somewhere around when she skipped classes. In the summer, Yujin often goes out to practice and play with friends, and only returns home when it’s dark. It’s because her parents don’t have as much time at home as they used to, they became busier when the two decided to give up their old jobs and build a company together. The house becomes empty and lonely, there are no more warm lunches, if Yujin doesn’t go to school and eat at school, Yujin has to eat alone so she often skips meals or eats regularly. Even dinners are sometimes not fully present. But luckily, Yujin’s family is always happy, they will always cherish the rare lunches at home and try to enjoy dinner together, if one of Yujin’s father and mother is absent on dinner, they must be compensate with something worthy for the rest, such as gifts or time. That rule makes Yujin’s two parents, even though they are always busy with work, can still more or less care for their child, sharing is the key to keeping their family connected.

It isn’t even lunchtime yet, so it is a long time before dinner, when Yujin returns, the little house is still quiet and dull. As the Yujin family’s company, An’s Company is slowly growing, and will grow even more as it becomes An’s Corporation, with many combined affiliates and partners, which is planned to be done in the near future, so they will soon move into a much bigger house, maybe a mansion for the very rich. Yujin is afraid that then, the feeling of loneliness will be more and more proportional to the size of the house.

After taking a sip of water from the refrigerator under the kitchen, Yujin goes up to her room and changes into a more comfortable outfit. She climbs into bed and crawls into the blanket, trying to put aside all other thoughts to take a nap, with the hope that when she woke up she would feel better. Yujin also thinks that going to bed will help reduce the waiting time for Minju to contact her again, that time will come faster. And like that, Yujin heads straight to the dreamland.

 

Yujin’s POV

Reng... reng... reng...

“Time out. Today we have learned this far, on Thursday we will continue this difficult lesson. Remember to review what was taught today to prepare for the next time, ask me anytime if you have any questions. No homework. Now, you can go home”, Miss Seohyun advises when the class ended.

“Yeah! Long live Miss Seohyun!”, the whole class shouts in joy and everyone quickly packs up and prepares to leave.

I remember I was just practicing, why am I suddenly in the classroom? Never mind, I should get ready to leave too.

Ting ting... ting ting...

The sound comes from my locker, it’s the notification sound from the phone I put in it. Let’s see who texted me what. Maybe Yena unnie asked me to go somewhere as soon as she can leave her school.

1 unread message from Minju unnie <3

Minju unnie? Right now she just finished her class like me, normally if she texted me, she wouldn’t do it until she got home, what’s wrong?

“Can you come see me at the park? I will wait for you there. Hurry up, I have a surprise for you!”

Park? The park near my house where she and I first met? Minju unnie is in Seoul?

I quickly pack up my things and leave the classroom, texting her on the way.

“I will come right away. Wait a minute!”

“Be careful on the road there!”

Of course I’m careful, but I’ll still run at full speed to get there as quickly as possible. I miss her, long time no see Minju unnie.

That’s the park. Why so fast? I ran as hard as I could, but I didn’t feel tired before I reached the destination. I notice that there’s only one person in the park right now, on the swing over there, it’s Minju unnie.

“Minju unnie!”, I call out loud.

“Yujinie!”, She turns around, waves her hand and smiles at me. It’s definitely the most beautiful smile I’ve ever seen.

“When did you come here? Why are you here?”, I ask as I walk over.

Minju unnie is also coming towards me. Is she spreading her arms wide? To hug me? What a surprise?

“You just arrived. It’s because I miss you”, Minju unnie smiles while wrapping her arms around me. I also hug her back. This feeling is so good, I can feel the warmth from her body, my heart is jumping for happiness.

After a few seconds in that position, Minju unnie shyly removes her hands from my body and steps back a little. That made me also startle and feel quite awkward, I don’t know if I am allowed to act like just now or not.

“I’m sorry... I didn’t mean to…”, I should quickly admit my mistake, hope she will forgive me or luckily she will say not to mind this.

“It’s okay. I like that”, Minju unnie sáy and smiles shyly. Does she like that? Does that mean she likes me too? No, maybe she just thinks that sisters should be more comfortable with each other like best friends. I used to think we should be comfortable too, but I’m still pretty shy around her, and I shouldn’t take advantage of our closeness to intentionally touch Minju unnie.

“What did you just say? What do you mean?”, I should ask to be sure to avoid any misunderstanding.

“I like you!”, Minju unnie suddenly blurts out the words. Did she say she likes me? Is it true?

My body suddenly becomes hot, my chest feels like it is about to explode because my heart is beating wildly. While I didn’t have time to calm down to answer, Minju unnie continues: “It’s I like you, Yujin-ah! It’s not that I like you the way I love my sister. It’s not that I like you like feelings of close friends. It’s that I really like you, romantically. I like you and want you to be my girlfriend, Yujin-ah! I’m sorry if you don’t like it. Don’t be afraid that I’ll upset you if you don’t like me that way back, please tell me honestly”, Minju unnie talks straight through like she’s afraid of being interrupted. Looking at her eyes, I’m sure it contains all the sincerity in the world, Minju unnie is telling the truth, what’s in her heart. Her eyes filled with tears, those tears were waiting to fall as soon as she heard a reply, whatever it was, a yes that I liked her that way too or a no that I liked her but only see her as a sister, a friend. But of course I will make those tears fall for happiness, not for sadness, because I also like her a lot, the same way she likes me. I really want to tell her those words too for a long time, but I didn’t have the courage to say it.

“I like you too”, my tears starts to fall as I reply to her. Perhaps these words have been suppressed for too long, and now they are being released gently and happily.

“Why are you crying? You made me cry too”, Minju unnie cries too.

“Sorry for making you wait for this words from me. I like you”, I should have confessed my feelings earlier, maybe she has been holding back her feelings for too long, even if it was tears of happiness, I don’t want her to be heavy-hearted at all, I just want to see her smile.

“So will you be my girlfriend?”, Minju unnie wipes away her tears and asks softly with a smile.

“Nae! Of course!”, there is no question for this.

“So can I kiss you?”

Wow! Why so fast? She makes it hard for me to breathe. But okay, I won’t refuse her anything.

“Nae!”, I nod and move closer to her, Minju unnie does the same, until there is no distance between me and her.

What should I do next? This is my first time doing this so I really don’t have much experience. Maybe because I’m taller, I’ll bend down a bit. And I see her slowly closes her eyes, I do the same. When my eyes couldn’t see anything, I think everything will go black, but no, I still feel her, the position of Minju unnie’s lips is very clear, and it’s getting closer to mine. My whole body is hot like fire, I can hear the beating of my heart, it’s like a continuous drum without a break. It feels so magical and… so happy. Maybe it’ll be even better when the collision happens, when my lips touch hers... And this is happening, very close, very close...

Ting ting... ting ting...

Ah! It’s the notification sound from the phone.

Is it a dream? Was it just a dream?

I look around, it was a dream. This is my home, and I’m lying in bed, it’s not the park, and there’s no Minju here.

Haiz... Ask why it has such unusual details. I practiced running at school this morning, not Miss Seohyun’s class, it’s still summer vacation.

But it must be admitted that the dream was very real, it was very real. It feels like something I’ve experienced in real life. My mind, my heart, my body feel everything, Minju unnie’s words, her eyes, her smile... and her warmth too. It was really great, I was so happy.

But who texted me right at that important moment? I’m going angry! Not earlier, not later, but right when I was about to kiss her. What a pity... T T

I definitely won’t forgive that person, I must make this guy pay the price.

12:25

I slept past lunchtime. And that’s okay, it doesn’t matter, I’m not hungry.

1 unread message from Minju unnie <3

Minju unnie?

You brought me happiness, why would you take it away like that? T T

Since it’s Minju unnie, I can’t make her pay anything, there’s no way I’d dare to tell her about that dream. It’s so unfair!

But why is she texting me? I don’t know what’s going on with her. In the morning she didn’t seem very well. I quickly unlock the screen and click on the message notification to open it.

“Can you come see me at the park? I will wait for you there. Hurry up, I have a surprise for you!”

It’s weird, I have a feeling this message looks familiar, I think I read it once somewhere, right? What the hell is going on here? That was the message in the dream. So will that be...?