It was a warm summer’s eve, and Soojung was on a train heading to her grandmother’s house. There were three weeks left before Soojung had to head back to campus. It was tradition that she stay with Granny Jung with the remaining duration of her break. So far, the Korean-American girl’s summer had gone as it always did: eat, sleep, surf the internet, and go out for her daily walks (or runs, if she ever feels the need to).

There were approximately two hours left before arrival, and Soojung decided to listen to music to pass the time. After the music starts playing, she also takes her travel journal out. As Soojung wrote an entry, she fell asleep. Waking up, the first thing the girl did was to check the time: 10:45pm. Soojung realized that she slept longer than she thought, since there was only about fifteen minutes left of the trip. She would have arrived two hours earlier, but because of the delay, the train arrived later than usual. Soojung liked arriving at night, since the hot temperatures in the afternoon bothered her. 

Checking the time again, ten minutes passed in a flash, and so Soojung began to clean up. She took her earphones and gently wrapped it around her phone. Afterwards, she took her pen and hooked it on the coil of her notebook. Tucking her phone in the side pocket of her bag, and sliding the notebook in the main pocket, Soojung zipped everything up. The train came to a slow stop at the designated station as all the passengers got ready to rush out of the train. Soojung took her bag from the overhead compartment and stood up from her seat. A cool wind gently slapped her skin as she stepped out.

“Granny Jung!” Soojung embraced the elder tightly, “I missed you.” she muffled as she dug her face in her grandmother’s shoulder. 

Granny Jung gave out a low chuckle, “I missed you, too, Sweetheart.” She pulled away from the hug and began walking to the car with Soojung.

“Was the ride okay, dear? Goodness, you’ve gotten skinnier! You need to take care of yourself better,” Granny Jung croaked.  It’s only been a year since Soojung saw her, but she loved her so much that it seemed like the wait was eternal. 

“The train ride was fine, Gran. And I think my bodily proportions are okay, thank you.” Soojung laughed.  As they neared the car, Soojung ran to the driver’s seat, ready to startle who the driver was. She smirked as she saw the sleeping face of her sister, Sooyeon. Soojung knocked on the window to wake her up. She made a face as Sooyeon;s vision cleared. She jumped in her seat, but smiled upon seeing her sister’s ugly face. The siblings exchanged hugs before getting in the car to head home.

For the first week, Soojung spent some time with her cousins: Miyoung (although she preferred to be called Tiffany), Sunyoung (the energetic one), Minho (the calm and preserved), Taemin (likes to tease, a bit dirty minded) and Jinri (the one closest to Soojung). All five of them – in their own will – decided to live with Granny Jung, since none of them were too fond of the noisy city life. Sooyeon followed about a year after, having received the news that their grandfather was ill. She dropped everything and made her way here. Sooyeon didn’t leave much behind, but her boyfriend wasn’t so happy when she decided to disappear on him like that; but that’s another story to tell. 

“Soobutt!” Taemin called out.

“Lunch is ready!” Tiffany chimed.

“Yeah, slow poke! Hurry or Jinri will finish all the food!” Sunyoung teased.

“I am not!” Soojung heard Jinri protest. Soojung chuckled at the remarks. 

“Coming!” Soojung called out. She stood up from the couch and happily made her way to the kitchen to eat. She sat down in between Sooyeon and Jinri.

“Look!” Sooyeon exclaimed, “Minho actually cooked for once!” having known that Minho just stays in his room and does who knows what, and barely does anything for anyone, this was a pleasant surprise. Something that made everyone even more excited to eat was that, they knew Minho was a great cook. 

“Just so you know, this is the only time I’m making something while you’re here.” Minho cleared out. Everyone chuckled and nodded, as they enjoyed the food laid in front of them.

It was the first day of the second week, and Soojung was sitting on the couch, being consumed by boredom. All five cousins (yes, all of them) went to the supermarket to get some groceries, Granny Jung was taking a nap in the hammock at the back, and Sooyeon was upstairs taking care of their grandpa. Not wanting to waste any day while on vacation, Soojung came to a conclusion to go for a walk. She went upstairs to find her sister’s head resting on the edge of the king sized bed. 

“Hey sis,” Soojung gently woke her sister up. Sooyeon hummed with her eyes still closed.

“I’ll be going out for a walk. You know where to find me.” Soojung tiptoed her way back to the door when Sooyeon stopped her. By now, she was wide awake.

“Don’t sit on the second bench. We don’t want the past to resurface, now do we?” Sooyeon let out a silent giggle. Soojung smiled as the memory filled her thoughts.
 

It was a sunny afternoon, Soojung’s very first afternoon at her granny’s house, to be exact. With her travel journal in hand, Soojung wanted to explore the place. There was a forest just across from the house, and as she neared the trees, a path was in sight. As the curious girl she was, Soojung followed it. The path led her to an open space with three benches facing a long river. A large tree provided shade to all three benches. Soojung sat on the second bench, since the other two seemed to be either dirty or filled with leaves. But as soon as she sat down, one of the legs became weak and Soojung rolled down on the ground, and into the river. She went home that late afternoon, all cold and soggy.
 

Soojung was too engrossed in her own thoughts that she didn’t even realize that she was standing in front of her usual bench – the one farthest from the path, or more so, the third one. Soojung was about to sit down when she saw a boy sleeping peacefully with his phone gripped tightly around his slender fingers. Not wanting to disturb him, Soojung backed away slowly, as she covered , thinking it would lessen the volume of her breathing. She turned around and tiptoed towards the first bench. She winced as her foot landed on a fallen leaf.

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It bothers me how the paragraphs or new conversations don't indent... hm :(