Chapter 1

Naeun’s POV

“Come on, Namjin-ah.. We have to go to school.” I said, as I tugged on my brother’s shirt. He was sitting at our doorstep.

“I don’t want to, noona..” Namjin, my baby brother, whimpered.

“We’re gonna be late.. Now, who wants to be late for school?!” I said, tugging a little bit harder.

“I want to..” Namjin quietly said.

“Come on, Namjin.. Please? Mom and Dad would be so happy if they would see you going to school.” I said, pulling out the ‘Proud Parents’ Card.

“How?” Namjin asked.

“They can see you from heaven, silly.. Now come on, let’s hurry up so that we won’t be late.” I said. Namjin understood and willfully stood up and made way so that I could lock our front door.

 

We skipped on the way to his school. I bid him goodbye and stood at his preschool’s gate as he made his way to his class. I started walking towards the direction of my school when I ran into Eunji, one of my best friends.

“Naeun-ah!” Eunji said as she caught up with me.

“Hi Eunji-unnie!” I said and smiled at her.

“Just finished dropping off Namjin?” Eunji asked.

“Yeah. That kid’s going to grow up fast.” I said, laughing at my own statement.

“Yeah, and soon you’re going to need a bigger place to stay in..” Eunji slowly said, aware that I’m sensitive when it comes to those things.

“Shhh. Unnie, I don’t want to think about those just yet. I have a lot of things on my mind like school, my 2 part-time jobs and my baby brother.” I said, rubbing my temples.

“Sorry.” Eunji said in a quieter tone.

“It’s okay, unnie. Come on, we’re gonna be late for school.” I said, smiling and taking her hand as I lead the way to school.

As we made our way in, I stumbled.

Eeesh. I’m so clumsy.

“Naeun! Are you okay?” Eunji-unnie said, helping me up.

“Yeah, I’m okay.” I said, dusting myself off.

“Look, there’s Chorong unnie and the others.” Eunji-unnie smiled, and pointed towards the group of 5 girls heading our way.

 

Yeah, I’m in a group. People call us A Pink. Even though we didn’t come up with it ourselves, we eventually referred to ourselves as A Pink. Chorong unnie, our “leader”, is good at Hapkido because her dad’s an instructor. She’s been urging us to try Hapkido ever since all of us became friends. There’s Bomi unnie, the most athletic of us. She’s very hyper and very funny. Then there’s Eunji-unnie, the happy virus of our group. She loves to sing and she loves to cheer people up with her oh-so bright smile. You’ve got me next, the “center” of our group. A lot of our batch mates say that I’m the so-called face of A Pink. People think that I’m the center of our group because of that too but actually, I’m the center because age-wise, I am in the middle. Now there’s Yookyung unnie, the brains of our group. We also have Namjoo, the most studious in our group. She also loves to sing and often, Eunji unnie and Namjoo suddenly sing a duet song.  Finally, there’s Hayoung, the youngest and the tallest in our group. She’s very silent and she loves reading books.

 

[a/n: sorry for the long introduction ^^]

 

They finally arrive to where I stumbled and there was a flurry of ‘are you okay?’ thrown at me. After I assured everyone I was fine, we walked towards the school building. We went to our lockers and did the usual stuff. After saying goodbye to Namjoo, Hayoung and Yookyung since they were in another class, the remaining girls and I walked to our own room.

“Chorong unnie, can you help me with our Math assignment? I wasn’t able to finish it last night.” I heard Eunji unnie say that as soon as she sat down. I went to my place at the back, placing the straps of my backpack on the sides of the chair in front of me. I opened my backpack, took out a textbook and started skimming through the pages.

Might as well study while there’s still time.

“I’m sure Yookyung will be able to help you, go on, it’s still 30 minutes before the bell rings.” Chorong unnie said, looking at her watch. I look up from my textbook and saw Eunji unnie hurrying out. I chuckled and went back to reading my textbook.

Ugh there’s no use in this. I closed my textbook and tried to take a nap. After about 30 minutes, the bell rang, just like what Chorong unnie said, and I slowly opened my eyes. Eunji unnie rushed back in the room, with a smile on her face.

 

“How was it?” Chorong unnie asked when Eunji took her seat.

“It was fine unnie, Yookyung was able to help me.” She flashed a smile.

 

Soon enough, our homeroom teacher entered. We said our greetings and proceeded to our first period after our teacher said her announcements.

 

Unexpectedly, the school day ended as fast as it started. We all met up at the school quad and sat down on the nearby benches.

 

“Wow, so many things accomplished today.” Bomi unnie said, stretching her arms.

“I know right, I’m so sleepy already.” Namjoo said. The other girls and I nod in agreement. I looked at my watch and my eyes lit up.

OHMYGOSH I’M LATE!

“GUYS! I really have to go; I still have to pick up Namjin from school.” I said as I hastily grabbed my backpack.

“Wait! Unnie, let us go with you.” Hayoung suddenly said, stopping me in my tracks. I looked back at them and I see the caring faces of my best friends.

“Yeah unnie, you still have your part time job right? We’ll help you watch over Namjin.” Yookyung suggested. The rest nodded and I thought it out.

“I don’t know… I don’t want to be a nuisance to you guys.” I said, looking down and fidgeting with the end of a backpack strap.

“Naeun,” Eunji stood up and hugged me. I hugged her back and all of a sudden, the other girls smothered Eunji unnie and I into a group hug. I burst into tears.

“We’re always here for you. We’re always here for each other.” Chorong unnie said and wiped the tears off my face.

“That’s right! Think of it this way, unnie.. We’ll be studying with you too.” Hayoung said, smiling.

“O-okay..” I said, laughing softly as I helped Chorong unnie wipe my tears.

 

We huddled, just like what teams did and we cheered ourselves on.

“Hana, dul, set, A Pink HWAITING!”

 

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