3rd person’s POV

In the canteen area of ​​the theater, Yujin, Minju, Yena and Yuri, the four of them enjoy lunch together, in a space just enough for them to feel comfortable, not too crowded and noisy, but not completely silent.

Their lunches include portions of tokbokki, kimbap, bibimbap, mandu, and kimchi, simple dishes that are often ready-made, or prepared very quickly and ready to go.

“You eat this, Minju unnie!” Yujin put a mandu in Minju’s bowl and smiled at her.

While she is still blushing and do not dare to touch her chopsticks, Yena are doing the same, she quickly pick up a piece of meat from the tokbokki portion and put it in Yuri’s bowl.

“You have to eat a lot, Yuri!” Yena pouts and stares at Yujin with a competitive look.

Feeling a bit embarrassed by the situation, Yuri just eats in silence.

“Whoa! This mandu is delicious! You should try it too Yujin”, Minju gives half of the mandu that she has just bitten off and is about to give it to Yujin when Yuri reminded her.

“Yahh! You shouldn’t feed her what you’re half-eating!”

“Ah! I... “, Minju is about to apologize to Yujin but she quickly eats the other half of the mandu and acts like everything is going as normal.

“It’s really delicious! Thank you unnie!”, Yujin flashes a bright smile again, revealing her dimples.

Before her younger friend’s actions, Minju smiled and thought: “Ah! So from now on, we can easily become closer in such a simple way like that!”. Yujin’s smile makes Minju feel as if her guilt has been lifted, the day of leaving without saying goodbye will become the past, it will no longer haunt her like the past years. And those years, perhaps simply a challenge that they have to overcome together.

“You’re so happy now, Yujin?”, Yena teases, “Minju ah! Do you know just then, when Yujin recognized you, she cried like a baby? Haha”.

Minju was a little surprised for a few seconds at what Yena just said, but soon her heart became very happy because of Yujin’s positive feelings for her. Minju’s cheeks are red from shyness.

“Who are you calling crying, Duck?”, Yujin blushes from embarrassment, “You cried when Yuri unnie sang too!”

“Yahh! When did I cry, Puppy?”, the duck beak rebuttals immediately.

“I will marry her, Yujin ah!”, Yujin pretends to cry and sob.

Yuri became immobilized at Yujin’s joke, She is feeling shocked and her brain doesn’t know how to process the information that has just been received.

“Don’t listen to Yujin, Yuri! I... ah... I just shed tears because you sing so well and the lyrics are so touching!”, Yena frantically makes excuses.

“Then I cried too because Minju unnie sings so well, and she... she’s... so pretty!”, Yujin is also quick to defend.

“Minju is so pretty that you cry? Haha! You’re crazy!”, Yena laughed again.

“OK! You two, please stop! Our food is cold!”, Minju speaks up to stop this awkward and intense sparring. If she didn’t, they’d probably feel awkward together and probably go into the hole out of shame..

“Thank you, Yena unnie! Let’s just eat”, Yuri says softly, after a while of organizing the information and trying to calm down, she was finally able to open to speak again.

“Yeah! Let’s just eat”, Yena shyly replied to Yuri, not forgetting to glance at Yujin.

“Okay!”, Yujin also looks back at Yena, but soon she turns to Minju with a confused expression, not sure how to explain everything to Minju.

Minju looks straight into Yujin’s eyes for a second, and seems to understand her hesitation, but she just smiles softly in response, “You eat!”.

Minju knows, a lot has happened, and there are many things they need to share, but first, they should enjoy this moment together.

...

After the four girls had their meal, they say their goodbyes to each other and promise to meet again after the competition is over.

“I don’t think I can beat the other contestants. They are excellent”, Minju seems a bit lacking in confidence.

 “You performed well, Minju unnie! Don’t worry, I believe you will win one award!”, Yujin encourages.

“Thank you. See you soon, I’ll call you.”

“Bye bye unnie! Remember to call me!”, Yujin says with a regretful voice.

“Why are you so attached, you will see her later? Go!”, Yena interjects.

“Okay!”, Yujin sighs and waves goodbye to Minju and Yuri, then returns with Yena to the auditorium.

“See you soon Yena unnie!”, Yuri shyly speaks up when the other two turned to walk away. But Yena doesn’t look back, for a moment, Yuri thinks she was ignored.

“Get first place!”, Yena just raises her hand in greeting while walking forward.

“She is so cool!”, Yuri whispers with Minju.

“Ha ha ha! Look at you, lose all face!”, Minju laughs.

“Shh! Let’s go too!”

 

Minju’s POV

Yuri and I have just returned to the waiting room for the contestants, which is a theater practice room now used for the competition. There are still some contestants waiting to be on stage.

“That girl is looking at you”, Yuri says in a low voice.

“Huh? Who?”, I wonder who Yuri is talking about when there are so many people here.

“In the left corner of the room. Don’t look too obvious, just ignore it. She’s pretty but I feel a bit scary”.

Pretty? Scary? Yuri makes me curious.

Me and that girl have nothing to do with each other, moreover, at this distance, perhaps even looking at her will not hurt me. With that thought and curiosity invading, I glance in the direction of the other girl.

It was a girl with long brown hair, with a small, beautiful face, but she doesn’t seem to show any emotion, just an ice cold face, but that eyes is looking straight at me. She looks the same age as us, probably another contestant.

As soon as she noticed that I was looking, the girl suddenly shows a smile and gently bows.

Does she know me? Why is she smiling at me?

Unexpectedly, her smile is so beautiful, it seems to melt away the previous coldness for a moment. That girl makes me feel a bit confused and shy at the same time. I also try to smile and bow back and quickly turn my face the other way, pretending nothing happened.

“Yuri, she smiled with me! What should I do now?”, I whispered to Yuri, as if afraid the girl would hear me, even though the distance between me and her is actually far.

“I told you not to look! Just sit here and don’t do anything, I need to go to the bathroom”, Yuri says and stands up from the chair. What should I do? Should I go with her?

“Hi there! I heard you perform, you did a great job, your voice is very good, and you are also very beautiful. Even though we’re rivals, I think you’ll win today”, a sudden voice startles me.

Turns out, while I was wondering, I didn’t realize when the other girl started moving in my direction. She’s reaching out her hand to say hello, and waiting for a handshake from me.

“Nae! Hi! Thank you for the compliment! But... do we know each other?”, I am a bit hesitant and embarrassed by those compliments, but I also need to be polite so I shake hands her back.

Whoa! Her hands are so warm, unlike her cold expression before, and she’s also very gentle with me. Maybe it’s because my expression when I’m shy is unsightly that she laughs.

“No, we didn’t know each other before, but from now on! As a contestant on this contest, as well as a fan, it’s nice to meet you, Kim Minju!”

She seems rather arrogant, but very polite at the same time, it’s strange.

“Nae! Nice to meet you. But you already know my name, and I don’t know who you are?”

“I’m Chaewon. Kim Chaewon.”

“Minju! Who is this?”, Yuri is back, should I introduce Chaewon to her?

“Goodbye! It’s about time for me to perform. Be sure to give me your phone number soon”, she turns her face away, didn’t pay any attention to Yuri and didn’t wait for my answer.

“Wow! She’s so confident. Are you really going to give her your phone number?”, Yuri asks.

“Uh... sure. She just got to know me, her name is Chaewon. I don’t think it’s bad to have one more friend in Seoul”, I answer her like what is on my mind.

“Are you going to leave me?”, what did she say?

“Yaah! You will still be my best friend.”

“Just kidding! Actually, I feel like there’s something weird about her”, you’re the weird one Yuri.

“What’s weird? She seems very polite.”

“Don’t know anymore. But it’s up to you, I’m probably overthinking it.”

“Well... do I need to say this to Yujin?”

“Huh? It’s also up to you. Haha!”, Yuri is laughing at me? What did I ask wrong?