With my art materials safely inside my bag, I slipped on my paint-stained shoes and waved goodbye to Ggomo, who only looked at me, before I headed out of the apartment. My bag is a brown leather messenger bag that is also covered in paint stains inside and outside.

It’s Saturday and me and my friends are commissioned to do a mural in the playground area in a local preschool. And after that, I can head straight to the shelter to visit my furry friends. I haven’t seen them for a week so I am kind of excited.

The friends I’ll be with are people I met because we share the same interest in art. There’s Seulgi-unnie. She majors in computer science but loves drawing and painting. I met her at a painting contest. She won first and I was second to her. Mino-oppa, a senior in uni. And then Naeun-unnie who I met at uni too but at an exhibit.

We kind of became a group through commissions. When Mino-oppa was hired to do something but he was unavailable, he recommended me to his client. Seulgi-unnie also got work one time but needs a helping hand. She asked me but I wasn’t available so I called Naeun-unnie. And it goes on like that, a series of calls, until we get projects that need all four of us.

We also have other jobs and are doing this on the side. As much as we enjoy making art, commissions don’t come as often as it sounds. But if it does, it’ll always bring us together.

It was early in the morning when I left the apartment. The sun was still rising. The air has this cool breeze pecking my cheeks in a light kiss and gently blowing my hair without making it too annoying. The birds are singing up in the skies, playing with each other.

It was a good morning.

As I waited in the bus stop, I plugged in my earphones and adjusted my glasses as I looked for a song to listen to. My head jerked along with the beat of the music. I think it’s such a lovely day and there are a lot of things to look forward to today.

When I got inside the bus, I greeted the driver as I scanned my card. I went to the middle of the bus and took a seat by the window. My head was still jerking to the music I’m listening to as I looked out of the window to the streets.

Every time the bus stops, I’d glance away from the window to the new passengers. Having been riding buses my entire life, I have come to memorize people’s faces, especially those who are frequent in this route.

There’s the aunt who owns a side dish store. She’s probably out to shop for ingredients like she always does. Then there’s the uncle who’s been selling crepes on the side of the street. Got a taste of his crepes and it was very delicious. Then the students who are on their way to cram school. Then the aunts who own small restaurants around this street who are talking as loud as usual.

I lowered the volume of my music and brought one piece of my earphones down. I strained my ears and focused on their conversation. It was a little hard to understand at first because they always talk so fast.

But, I got some good news.

They’re selling their food at a discount tonight.

I put my earphones back on and thought of taking my dinner at their place. A huge smile was already painted on my face as I continued to listen to my music.

Today is going to be such a lovely day.

When I arrived at ECLC, the preschool, I went straight to the playground area. They were our client before. We painted the walls of their library and they probably liked it that they called us again to do their newly renovated playground.

Mino-oppa and Naeun-unnie were already there when I got in. The paint cans are also arranged at the very center of the room. Trays, brushes, rollers, and mixing buckets are now being arranged by them. When they heard the door open, they both looked up from what they were doing and welcomed me with bright smiles.

“I’m not late, right?” I asked, matching both of their smiles too.

“No. You’re right on time” Naeun-unnie answered.

Mino-oppa dropped what he’s doing and opened his arms to greet me. “Wheein-ah! Good morning”

“Why are you so loud?” I laughed at how loud he was but still walked into his embrace.

“He’s like that when I arrived too” Naeun-unnie commented, making Mino-oppa frown.

“Is it wrong to be happy to see you? I missed you. It’s been so long since we’ve seen each other”

“You do know that we met last week to plan this, right?” Naeun-unnie deadpanned, making me laugh out loud.

“Unnie’s right. But I like the hug, oppa. Just maybe not be too loud when Seulgi-unnie comes in”

I placed my bag down and pulled out some of my favorite brushes. I also pulled out masking tapes for our guide. And while Naeun-unnie and I started mixing paints that’ll suit our drawings, Mino-oppa started covering the floor with papers so clean up would be a lot faster.

“Was it your welcome party last night?” Naeun-unnie asked.

“Oh! I heard that you and Seulgi all worked in the same company now”

“Yup! We’re colleagues now. I didn’t even know she was working there until I arrived at the company. I thought it was a different company”

“She resigned from her previous company, remember?” Mino-oppa said.

I nodded and said, “Oh… Totally forgot about that”

“How was it?” Naeun-unnie asked as she helped me open a bucket of paint when she saw me struggling.

“Thanks!” I said, giving her my dimpled smile. “It was great though. I am working with fun and wonderful people. Miss Ahn is also very approachable. Miss Kim…”

What’s best to describe her?

“…Miss Kim is very nice. I am getting to know my colleagues well and I think they’re good people”

“That’s nice to hear, Wheein” Naeun-unnie said with a thumbs up. Well, a paint-stained thumbs up.

“Byulyi-unnie is there too!”

“Oh, that’s good to hear, Wheein-ah. Didn’t you say you were nervous before? Look at you now!” Mino-oppa said with a slow clap. “You’re doing well!”

I laughed at how weird he looked but I appreciate the compliment. Even Naeun-unnie was clapping despite looking a little annoyed at Mino-oppa. It was lighthearted though. And they both know how I love getting compliments.

We carried on preparing as we continued to catch up.

Mino-oppa was able to land as a designer in the marketing department of their company. He’s able to release his creative side in his work but also said that it gets difficult because customer demands don’t align with his creative direction. And most of the time, customers win.

Naeun-unnie is in the field of modeling with a little side of acting gigs. She’s really pretty which is why we encouraged her when a producer found her. She does commercials too and is now working as an editor in an entertainment company. We often joke how she’ll forget about us when she gets famous.

Among the four of us, I’m the one who’s always wandering around. Landing different jobs at different times. I sometimes have two jobs at the same time. And I sometimes worked two different jobs within a year.

There’s been nothing permanent in my life other than my friends and family, art, and the shelter. I genuinely enjoy my odd jobs but I’ve already burnt out my passion when I can’t do art for a living. I guess I just learned how to face everyday with positivity.

We were scaling our sketches from the paper to the wall when we heard the door open and a loud groan.

“I’m sorry I’m late, guys” Seulgi mumbled with a sigh as if those words had already worn her out.

She’s holding a hand to her head and a cup of coffee with her other hand. Her bag of art materials was barely hanging onto her shoulder. And I could still see the remnants of last night on her face.

“Good morning, unnie. Are you alright?” I asked.

I walked towards her and helped her with her bag. Mino-oppa and Naeun-unnie also gathered around Seulgi-unnie. Both concerned and on the verge of laughing at Seulgi-unnie’s state.

“Yeah… Had breakfast already and drank medicine. After I’ll finish this coffee everything will be fine now”

“You could’ve called that you couldn’t make it today if you still have hangover”

Seulgi-unnie took a long swig of her coffee while dismissing Mino-oppa’s concerns with a wave of her hand. She took a second to breathe before downing the rest of her coffee, making us all look baffled.

She belched out loud before wiping her lips with the back of her hand. Then she grinned at us while still sporting dark eyebags and said, “I’m used to this back in uni. I’ll be fine. Shall we start painting?”

She grabbed her bag from me and started bringing out her art materials. And she did this while telling us about last night and how I mysteriously went missing. They wouldn’t believe Byulyi-unnie. If not for Miss Kim telling them that I went home first, they might have searched the bar for me.

“Why do I think she’s still drunk?” Mino-oppa asked as we eyed Seulgi-unnie.

Naeun-unnie silently laughed as she walked back to her assigned wall.

I smacked Mino-oppa’s arm as I covered my mouth so Seulgi-unnie wouldn’t hear me laughing.

“Stop giving her more headaches”

“You do agree with me. Right?”

I pushed him to his assigned wall as I grumbled, “Let’s just start painting. Oh, you’re heavy, oppa”

“You’re just tiny, Wheein”

“Yah!” I smacked him again, making him laugh so loud.

In fact, all of them laughed. Even Seulgi-unnie who complained that she still has a headache but still laughed anyway.

Miss Ahn has gathered me, Joy, and Wendy in the conference room for a meeting, which concerns mostly on expanding the clientele of the company. Most of the projects the company is doing now relate to improving their work from currently tied clients. Miss Ahn wanted to take advantage of the company’s full potential and its rising fame.

We’ve been stuck here since this morning, only going out for breaks. Miss Ahn wanted a deliberate plan and we’ve been studying their previous projects, gathering information from them.

We were finally out in the middle of the afternoon after Miss Ahn thanked us for our hard work.

“Wheein, don’t forget to have Yongsun-unnie sign the plans, okay?” Miss Ahn reminded me on our way back to the office.

“Yes, mam”

And yes she’s on a first name basis now for me but I am still a little shy to call her by just her name. Seulgi-unnie and the rest still call her formally too. Miss Kim also calls us formally so I am sticking with that.

As I entered the office, I went straight to my table to place my notes back and gather the papers needed to be signed by Miss Kim. Dosie also approached me and handed more papers for Miss Kim to sign. And like Miss Ahn’s, these are also documents needed to be checked by Miss Kim as soon as she can. The documents piled up to my shoulder. And they’re quite heavy too.

I placed them all down, rolled up my sleeves to get a better grip, and carried them again. I walked to Miss Kim’s office and transferred the documents in one arm to knock on her door.

I got no response.

I knocked again and still got the same result.

“Oh, Wheein. Miss Kim’s upstairs”

I looked behind me and saw Seulgi-unnie pointing up.

“In the garden”

That made me gulp hard.

I glanced at the documents I am holding, then to Miss Kim’s office door, and Seulgi-unnie’s pitiful smile.