3rd person’s POV

“We stop here today. You guys can go home,” Mr.Heechul sadly says to the track team, including Yujin, and leaves in the blink of an eye, not bothering to say a goodbye or just wave.

The whole team is depressed because of the heavy atmosphere that had happened before, when the coach had repeatedly raised his voice and criticized Yujin, the key member in the sprints, for her poor performance in the race training session today.

“Are you okay?”, Minju asks worriedly when Yujin is only a few feet away from her. Her witnessed Yujin’s entire practice session and her annoyed expression, it is clear that Yujin isn’t pleased with herself during the whole training.

“Nae. It’s okay, I’ll do better the next day”, Yujin sits down next to Minju, trying to fake a smile.

“Here”, Minju hands Yujin a bottle of cool water that she had prepared in advance, hoping that it would make her less tired.

“Thank you,” Yujin takes it and is about to open it. But suddenly she stops and changes the position of the water bottle between her hands, Yujin opens the bottle cap with her left one. Minju suddenly notices it, but she isn’t sure why.

Yujin is affected by the pain in her shoulder so she couldn’t run comfortably and do her best, the right shoulder slowed her down. As a result, she always finished last in sprints, even though the team did it dozens of times. And when she was in durable running with everyone, she was even left far behind.

Yujin once again catches Minju’s attention when she accidentally rotates her right shoulder joint while she’s drinking. And this time, Minju is really worried, she can’t pretend she didn’t see anything anymore.

“Does your shoulder hurt?”

Yujin is surprised to hear that question from Minju, she didn’t think Minju would know about this because she purposely kept it hidden. Yujin doesn’t want Minju to think she is the one who hurt her. Yujin is so happy that she could let Minju rest her head on her shoulder. It’s just a bit unlucky that Minju was too tired at that time and slept well for a long time compared to Yujin’s little tolerance.

“No... I’m fine”, Yujin awkwardly replies.

“Is it because I rested my head on your shoulder that day? I’m sorry”, Minju sadly realizes that she is the reason why Yujin is in pain and couldn’t practice well.

“I said it’s okay. It’s not your fault”, Yujin tries to deny, she is also sad that she couldn’t stand it and got hurt so easily. Because Yujin wants to do more for Minju, she definitely won’t accept this and promise herself to try harder.

Although Minju isn’t happy when Yujin is in pain because of her, she can’t deny that she didn’t like the feeling of resting her head on Yujin’s shoulder, it was very comfortable and made her heart feel at peace. This makes Minju feel a little selfish. And she feels even more guilty when Yujin didn’t blame her, and wanted to hide the fact that she was hurt. Even though she knows Yujin is stubborn, Minju still tries to think of a way to make Yujin admit it, then she can compensate Yujin with something to apologize and thank. Because Yujin is so cute, day by day she’s only getting cuter, Minju thinks.

“Um. I know, I don’t ask anymore. So forget what I’m going to give you too,” Minju pretends with a sulky voice, getting up and turning away.

“What? What do you have for me?”, Yujin hurriedly follows behind, her face clearly showing her curiosity.

“Nothing”, Minju continues to pretend to ignore. With such an expression, Yujin knows for sure that Minju is hiding something but deliberately .

“You must be hiding something from me. Tell me”, Yujin begs.

“No. Unless you will tell me the truth,” Minju continues to maintain her cold demeanor. But actually on the inside, Minju is trying not to laugh at Yujin’s expression, she guesses that her plan worked.

“What are you talking about? I didn’t hide anything from you?”, Yujin also knows what Minju wanted to say, but still tríe to avoid it.

Minju suddenly stops, making Yujin almost hits, fortunately she brakes quickly. Minju turns back, she pokes Yujin’s right shoulder with her index finger: “This”, Minju pouts.

“Ah”, being touched where it hurt, Yujin lets out a small startled whimper. Yujin knows that she can’t hide it anymore, so she have to admit: “Yes, my shoulder hurts a bit. But just a little, it doesn’t hurt so much.”

“Is it because I slept on your shoulder?”, Minju seriously asks.

“Nae. But I’m fine, it’ll be over soon. Don’t worry”, Yujin smiles. Can’t let Minju unnie think she’s weak, Yujin talks to herself in her mind.

“I’m sorry! At that time, I was so comfortable that I slept well and for a long time. I hurt you and made you not practice well, so you was scolded by the teacher”, Minju melancholy says.

“Did you sleep well then?”, Yujin asks. Minju only dares to nod in response because she still thinks she did something really bad.

“Do you like that?”, Yujin smiles and continues to ask. At the sudden question, Minju raises her face and sees Yujin’s eyes looking straight at her. Those sweet eyes, couples with her smile, are making Minju awkward. Minju feels her face heating up, and something new appears in her chest that makes her heart beat faster. Although Minju doesn’t have to think about it to know the answer. But Minju still recalled the scene of that afternoon, remembered how comfortable her heart was, how she fell asleep.

“Um. I like it very much”, Minju replies shyly and makes Yujin blush. From the way Minju responded, Yujin secretly guesses that Minju’s answer meant more than just that, and it makes Yujin feel something magical inside as well. She does not know what to call this feeling right now, she just know that she must really like it.

“So what do you have for me?”, Yujin is embarrassed so she changes the topic.

“Nothing. I’m just saying that to make you accept the truth”, Minju laughs.

“What do you say? Did you trick me?”, this time it is Yujin’s turn to pretend to be sulky. Of course, Yujin isn’t happy and is also a little annoyed that she was fooled so easily, but she could never really get mad at Minju. Or to be more precise, Yujin has never been mad at anyone.

“You won’t be mad at me, right?”, Minju replies carefreely, “I just want us to be honest with each other.”

“But if you do that, you’re not being honest”, Yujin makes a face and looks annoyed.

“I’m sorry. Shall we go eat something? I’ll pay”, Minju pulls Yujin’s hand and is about to drag her away.

“Ah”, Yujin sounds out again from sudden pain.

“Oops! I’m sorry”, Minju is panicked and quickly lets go of her hand.

Minju’s expression makes Yujin laugh, “Why do you keep apologizing?”

Minju pouts because she couldn’t think of an answer.

“I’ll forgive you if you’re willing to give me tokbokki,” Yujin suggests. Really, for Yujin, it’s never really mattered who pays, it’s important to share the food with whom.

“Um”, Minju smiles surprised when Yujin’s request is so simple, Yujin just wants to eat her favorite food. Minju will let Yujin make order of whatever she wants, she really want to apologize to her, and thank you too. That day, both of them were too shy to talk about it right away. But it’s not just that she wants to thank Yujin for subtly caring and silently suffering to help her get a good rest, but also for the feelings Yujin brings to her heart.

While Minju is preoccupied with her thoughts, Yujin suddenly holds her hand and startles her.

“Let’s go!”, Yujin takes Minju’s hand and pulls her away. Yujin’s actions makes Minju’s cheeks blush once again.

 

Yuri’s POV

“Yuri-ah! Wake up!”, it’s Minju’s voice, I’m sleeping well, why do you have to wake up so early?

“Ya! Kim Minju! It’s still dark outside, do you have to be so noisy?”, if she can’t sleep because she’s so excited, she should also not bother everyone in the house.

Creak.

Stupid, why didn’t I lock the door last night?

“Ya! Wake up! We’ll be late for school on the first day”, obnoxious Kim Minju is trying to pull the blanket off my bed.

“It’s still early, let me sleep a little longer”, I take the blanket back, hoping she would leave me alone.

Flash.

“If you won’t wake up, I’ll show this to Yena unnie in a moment”, what did she say?

I open my eyes to see, Minju has changed into a new uniform and is holding the phone in her hand. Looks like she just took a picture of me. In this hair and bare face? Yena unnie? No. I can’t let that happen.

“How dare you take pictures of me? Delete it now”, she is too mean. I tried to pull the phone out of her hand, but it seems to be a bit difficult.

“OK. I delete it here. And you have to get up now”, Minju suggests to exchange.

“Okay! Must delete it immediately. One day I’ll kick your out of the house.”

“Get ready quickly. I’ll wait for you downstairs in the dining room,” Minju smiles and turns her back to the door. Although her smile is beautiful, it’s not always pleasant to look at.

I do my personal daily routine, change my uniform, put on a little makeup, put the essentials for today in my backpack and take it out of the room.

Minju is already waiting at the dining table with my parents, they are talking and laughing about something. It’s only been a short time, but they’ve become so close, Minju has become part of this family, like a sister of me.

“Good morning everyone”, I raise my voice to inform everyone that I am present.

“Good morning darling”, dad smiles.

“Our breakfast is only waiting for you, come here quickly”, mom says. It is true that all the dishes are already on the table. Fortunately, there is a chef at my home who cooks very well, breakfasts would not have been fully prepared this early without her. Since both mom and dad are busy, they end working days late and have to start them soon, so they need enough time to rest.

“Today is your first day at your new school, right? First day of high school?”, dad asks.

“Nae! So I wanna walk to school early, I don’t want to be late”, Minju replies.

“Ya! We don’t have to walk. I’m not gonna walk when we can use a car”, how could she think about going to school on foot, it’s not that near.

“I want to know how the road to school will look like, and we can enjoy the morning air too. Maybe you’ll like it”, Minju replies to me.

“I don’t like it”, it’s just tired, there’s no benefit.

“Minju is right. A little light exercise in the morning will be good for your health. You are so dependent on vehicles, we should not pamper you too much. From now on, we will not allow you to be taken to school by the driver, but you can still ride the bus if you like”, mom says. Minju gave a very bad suggestion. Now even my parents support her more than me, Minju must be their biological daughter, the three of them match well, and I’m their whoreson.

“Yes. I regret letting Minju stay with us”, oops! I accidentally blurted out what I am thinking in my head.

“If you don’t want to live with Minju anymore, then you move out of the house”, Dad smiles and says. Exactly, she’s the biological daughter of my parents.

“We and Minju also only want the best for you. You don’t have to act like that. We still love you,” Mom laughs.

“Yes, that’s right. I love you, Yuri-ah! Moah”, Minju suddenly forces a kiss on my cheek. And my parents are laughing at me. Aish! Disgusting Kim Minju.

 

Minju’s POV

Yujinie <3

Good morning, Minju unnie! ^^  Are you ready to go to school?

Good morning, Yujinie! ^^ Now I’m starting to leave the house. What about you?

I am also going to school now. And did Yuri unnie agree to walk with you??

Haha! She was banned from car by mom and dadㅋㅋ  so we will walk together. Text Yena unnie like that. We’ll be at the meeting point in about 5 minutes.

Nae. I’ll text her. Yena unnie is so troublesome, she wants to go to school with someone but she has to rely on us, why doesn’t she just say it herself? :< I wish I could go to school with you guys too T.T

You will be able to go to school with me next year ^^ Fighting! Don’t skip school today!

Nae! Do your best too! Fighting! I’m going, bye bye unnie :3

Bye bye!!!

“Ya! Who did you text so early in the morning to smile like that?”, Yuri’s voice is annoyed. It seems like she’s still resentful of me for being woken up early and being forced to walk to school. But she’ll soon thank me later.

“Nothing”, I reply. Didn’t I smile when I texted with Yujin? I’m not so sure about that.

“Psst”, Yuri pouts. She looks so cute, I have to keep teasing her.

“Gwiyowo!”, her dumpling cheeks make me irresistible to pinch them.

“Ahh! Get your hands off me, you obnoxious thing”, Yuri says scowling.

“Even when you’re angry, you still look cute.”

“Shh!”, it’s annoying but she seems a bit shy and can’t hide her smile.

“Hurry up, you’ll be out of anger in a little while”, is it time to give a little hint?

“What? What do you mean?” her face is dumbfounded.

“Then you’ll know, let’s go!”

 

3rd person’s POV

“Ya! Kim Minju! Slow down, wait for me!”, Yuri calls after, unable to keep up with her friend’s footsteps. Minju has been used to walking to school since her days in Jindo, but Yuri is often picked up and dropped off by car, so her stamina is a bit weaker. She tells herself she must try to get used to this, she can’t accept getting tired just by walking, it’s too weak to have a body like that.

“Okay! We’re here, come on”, Minju turns to look at Yuri and smiles.

“We’ve only been walked for 5 minutes, why did you stop in the middle of the road and say we’re already there?”, Yuri wonders, she has a feeling that today’s Minju isn’t normal at all.

“Yuri! Minju! Anneong!”, the sudden call surprises Yuri.

“Anneong, Yena unnie!”, Minju waves.

Yuri turns to Yena and unconsciously smiles. Yena runs over to the two of them, wearing the same uniform as Yuri and Minju. But unlike their gentle long, loose hair, Yena has two high bunches of hair tied at the back of her head, which is very suitable for a person with a cheerful, dynamic personality like her, and equally pretty too. Yena’s fresh appearance completely defeats Yuri who is staring blankly at her.

“Annyeong! Yena unnie”, Yuri shyly greets.

“Let’s go”, Yena also feels a bit embarrassed when she sees Yuri’s face suddenly turn red.

“Let’s go”, Minju agrees and they go on together. Minju slowly steps back a little so the other two could walk side by side. She secretly laughs in her heart when she sees that they are still shy with each other even though they have met or hung out together many times. She wants to ask Yuri why they hadn’t officially become a couple until now, but she thinks maybe even they aren’t sure about it so Minju just watches silently.

After a few minutes of not saying anything, Yena also starts to talk, and they exchanges some random things that happened the past few days. The smiles on their faces lets Minju know that they are having a good time in their own world. And Minju suddenly feels a little missing Yujin. She thinks to herself how good it would be if Yujin were by her side and walking to school with her right now. Of course she’s happy for her two friends, but she still feels jealous of them.

“Ah! Yena, good morning!”, a rather familiar voice came from the front, making Minju jump out of her thoughts and stop walking.

“Chaewon-ah, good morning!”, Yena greets back and Minju realizes that it is a person who was not very strange. She wonders if they know each other, it will be surprising if Yena have the impression that Chaewon had appeared at that year’s contest, where she and Yuri first met Chaewon. And with Yuri, Minju isn’t sure if her still remembers or forgot about Chaewon. She recalls that it was funny when Yuri kept saying that Chaewon was weird. That’s clearly not true because Minju still contacts Chaewon from time to time and she doesn’t sense anything out of the ordinary.

“Who are you going with?”, Chaewon wonders as she have never seen the person next to Yena before, or maybe met her somewhere but she wasn’t impressed.

“Ah, this is Yuri... um... my friend... close friend... she’s a freshman, the same school as us. Yuri, this is Chaewon, my classmate. I hope everyone can get to know each other better”, Yena introduces the two to each other.

“Hello. Nice to meet you”, Yuri happily greets.

“Hello. I hope we will also become close, just like Yena and I” Chaewon smiles and winks at Yena. That gesture makes Yuri feel a little uncomfortable.

“There’s nothing between us. We are just close friends”, Yena suddenly explains, making Yuri blush once again during the day even though it is early in the morning. Although Yuri doesn’t mean to ask, Yena is observant and quickly clears up any unnecessary doubts.

After a few seconds, Yuri suddenly remembers something, she turns to look at Minju. Yena and Chaewon also take a look.

“Annyeong! Chaewon unnie”, Minju pouts, she seems to say that she is being left behind by everyone.

“Huh? Minju. Annyeong! Do you also know the two of them? Wait, you go to the same school as me too,” Chaewon says with a big smile. No doubt she is surprised and delighted when she sees Minju and realizes that the uniform she is wearing is also from SOPA (Seoul School of Performing Arts), just like her outfit. For some reason, meeting Minju is a pleasure for her, and it’s even more gratifying that from today on it can happen more often.

“Nae. They are my close friends. And today is my first day of school with Yuri. She’s the one I mentioned earlier”, Minju points to Yuri and replies.

Yuri looks at Minju in surprise, she didn’t know that Minju is still in contact with Chaewon until now. Minju smiles back at Yuri’s eyes, as if to say that she still keeps in touch and mentions her to Chaewon.

“Woah! No wonder the earth is so round. Everyone is not too unfamiliar with each other, so going to school will not be too boring anymore”, Yena expresses joy.

“Yes! Let’s get closer to each other”, Chaewon doesn’t hide her smile.

“Nae. Let’s go, the school is right in front of us”, Minju points to the front.

“Let’s go!”, Yena shouts making Minju and Chaewon burst into laughter. And Yuri just quietly walks away. They continue to move forward, where the school gate is open waiting.

Since first-year students and second-year students study in two different building, they have to stop at the schoolyard, between the two directions.

“Shall I take you to class?”, Yena asks Yuri.

“There’s no need unnie, I’ll just go with Minju”, replies Yuri.

“You two just go straight to class, we know where we need to go”, Minju smiles, waving to Yena and Chaewon to go.

“Shall we come and pick you up for lunch?”, Chaewon suggests.

“Nae. See you at lunch break. Bye bye unnie-deu”, Minju goodbye.

“Bye bye”, Yena and Chaewon waves back.

After the second-year two walked away, Minju turns to Yuri and asks, “What’s wrong? Ever since you met Chaewon unnie, you look different. Aren’t you happy?”

“Nothing. It’s just that I still find her weird”, Yuri replies.

“Haha! Why can’t you stop saying people are weird?”, Minju laughs.

“I don’t know”, Yuri shrugges.

“Can we choose our own seats? I want to sit with you”, Minju wonders.

“No”, Yuri makes a cold face.

“Why? Don’t you want to sit next to me? Are you still angry about earlier? Didn’t that make it possible for you to walk happily with Yena unnie? It’s not accidental, I purposely help you silently”, Minju pouts.

“I know. Thank you for that. From now on, I will also happily walk every day. But I still hate you”, Yuri pretends to sulk and walks straight into the classroom. Minju still quietly follows her and sits down next to her.

“What? I told you we not to sit next to each other”, Yuri looks annoyed.

“I don’t agree. Because I love you”, Minju pouts and gives Yuri a blow kiss.

“Ugh”, but this time Yuri can’t hold her scowl anymore, she bursts out laughing and makes Minju laugh too.

And the two continues to sit next to each other like that, because a few minutes later the homeroom teacher lets the class choose their own seats. The first morning of the school year end gently because it is just a time for everyone to introduce themselves and get to know each other. The school’s rules are announced and they also elect the class officials. Their class president is a schoolgirl of Japanese descent, who is voted for having a outstanding face with large cute cheeks made from mochi. She says they are filled with dreams and hopes, she introduces her name as Honda Hitomi. Minju is voted as the vice class because of her good study results in previous years and her beauty. Yuri self-nominates for the art class president and she tries to sing a few lines for the whole class, everyone couldn’t help but agree with that. The person who is elected as the police class president, keeping the rules in place at all times is a girl with a petite appearance and extremely short height, another Japanese-born student, Yabuki Nako. The reason why Nako is voted is because she’s so cute, and the whole class thinks that with her tiny body and lovely face, Nako won’t be able to scold or punish them for not following the rules, on the contrary, they will easily bully her. But we can’t judge people by their appearance, and time will tell them that is one of the worst decisions of their student lives.