—

‘You’re not alone. You just have to ask.’

“56,000 won please.”

Sakura stared at the cashier in front of her, waiting for the payment of her groceries. She couldn’t believe she was so lost in her own thoughts to the point she didn’t pay any attention to her surroundings. Sakura took her wallet in a hurry and took out some cash for the payment.

“Here, sorry.”

Without saying anything, the cashier proceeds with the payment and gives Sakura the receipt.

“Have a nice day.”

Taking all her groceries, Sakura left the store. She makes a mental note to be more focused when shopping. On her way back home, Sakura noticed how the weather became warmer. Maybe Spring really is here, with Sakura trees blooming here and there. She looked at the Sakura trees in pity. While they share the same name, she was definitely not in a condition to ‘bloom’. She hoped she would soon, though.

“Hmm, maybe I’ll take a detour.”

Taking a left turn, Sakura decided to take a longer road to go home. These past few days have been tiring for her, and it kinda feels suffocating to be alone in that big house. So a detour might be something she needs to de-stress.

On her long way to go home, she couldn’t help but recall all the major events that were happening in her life. Her graduation, her parents' sudden deaths, moving back to Seoul, and her grandma’s death. Now that she thinks about it, it does feel like a lonely journey.

“Haa.. I shouldn’t cry here.”

Sakura tried to lift her head and look at the sky, preventing hot tears running down from the corner of her eyes. Shaking her head, Sakura continues her long and silent journey back to her empty home.

As she continued walking, she walked past a playground. It was quite similar to the one near her home back in Japan. Sometimes, this kind of resemblance places make her miss Japan more. But she knew herself that nothing was left in Japan. The only thing that was going to welcome her in Japan was probably her nightmares.

“Maybe playing a bit won’t hurt.”

Even though she knew the skies were getting darker, Sakura didn’t really pay too much attention. She is a grown up now. Also in a way, no one's gonna scold her if she went out late.

No one was gonna welcome her anyway if she went home late.

Sakura walked to the nearest swing when she spotted a couple of teenagers walking. They are wearing their uniform, so they are most likely just finished school. Watching them makes Sakura reminiscing about the old times when she was a student in Korea. A quiet Japanese kid with little knowledge of the Korean language, had to transfer to a Korean school. It is obvious that she was mostly alone for the first three months. Everyone is avoiding her because they think it’s a hassle to deal with foreigners.

Until one day, a girl with long hair took a seat in front of her during lunchtime. She wasn’t sure back then, but the girl was actually her junior. ‘It’s lonely to be alone, isn’t it?’ was a broken japanese that came out of that girl. After they got closer, the girl admitted she enjoyed watching anime and learned her Japanese from there. It was probably a simple word from that girl, but it meant a lot for Sakura.

That girl with long hair was a kind, energetic girl from her high school, and her name is Kim Chaewon.

Sakura has forgotten how long she lost contact with the said girl, when Chaewon was her first friend in Korea, along with Chaewon’s friends. Now that she thought about Chaewon, make her missed the younger girl. She used to have this puppy crush on the younger girl, but she dated Chaewon’s older cousin, Kwon Eunbi, instead.

Young love, too complicated to even think about that.

Sakura took her attention from the group of teenagers when she realized she stared too much, afraid she would get caught and make them uncomfortable. She then decided to stop playing around and hurriedly went home. Even though there seems to be nothing to do, Sakura actually has so much to do.

…

“Okay, groceries done. Papers done.. What else do I have to do before the day ends?”

Sakura ponders as she looks around the house. It feels like so many things to do yet nothing to do in this house. Maybe she just used to have her grandparents around to take care of things.

Ding dong

Sakura turned her head to the main door. She didn’t recall having a guest or lawyer to take care of the papers like the other day. She was supposed to be alone today.

Ding dong ding dong

What an impatient guest she’s having. Sakura grumbles under her breath, but still thinking about whether she has any appointments today. As she went nearer to the door, she could hear a couple of people talking in a hush voice. Sakura’s eyebrow raised because she really couldn’t recall about expecting some guests today. She ended up standing still in front of the door.

“Yah, are you sure she’s in Korea??? Her grandma usually answers the bell.”

“My sister told me she saw someone that looks like her in the park!”

“Is she sure it was her??”

“.... I don’t know…”

Sakura knew their voices sounded familiar, but she couldn’t really recall who or when did she hear these voices. Hesitantly, Sakura opens the main door slowly.

“Oh…”

Standing there were familiar yet unfamiliar faces because it has been so long since the last time she saw them.

It was her high school friends.

“You’re really back…”

Sakura, still in a shock, got tackled with hugs by her friends.

“You ! Why didn’t you tell us you’re back?!”

“Yeah!! How long have you been here?! I thought we’re friends!!”

Sakura, still unable to say any words, tried to process everything in front of her. Her friends that she thought had lost contact with her were all here.

“... Am I dreaming?”

All three of her friends looked at each other before laughing.

“Yah, after all this time, that’s the only thing you could say??”

Without any other words, Sakura gathered them all into her embrace.

It’s comforting to have some people that she knows around.

…

“So, now you’re staying here for real?”

Sakura nodded at Chaeyeon’s question regarding her current whereabouts. She just finished telling Chaeyeon, Yena, and Hyewon regarding what happened with her family. Hyewon hasn’t let go of her embrace ever since.

“In this super big house? Alone?”

Sakura chuckled before she nodded her head.

“Yeah, I mean, after what happened to my parents, grandma must have wanted me to stay here with her. She even put my name aside from her as the owner, I couldn’t just leave it as it is.”

Sakura could feel Hyewon nodding on her shoulder.

“If anything, you can call us, okay? Don’t be a stranger.”

Yena and Chaeyeon nodded in unison, agreeing with Hyewon. Sakura feels grateful that after all this time, and even when they do not spend so much time together, they are still here for her.

“Anyway, enough about me. How’s everyone?”

At the mention of everyone, Yena immediately changed her expression into a rather playful one. She knew where it was going, or rather, she was hoping it was going to a certain someone.

Yes, out of everyone present, Yena was the only one who knows about her little crush from high school