It was Monday afternoon. Eunji and her best friends were walking home from school. With merry conversations, laughter, and jokes, they walked slowly to Bomi, Chorong, and Taemin’s street, which was their first stop. The quiet and shy girl Na Eun also decided to walk home with them from now on since her house was actually just blocks away from Taemin’s house.

           At last, just after yesterday’s Key-and-Eunji-ditched double date, Na Eun and Taemin broke the shy wall that had been separating them since they laid their eyes on each other. After all this time, they never thought they had so much in common and that even though it was totally awkward at first, they quickly became comfortable with each other. There was one problem, though. Key, Chorong, and Bomi won’t stop teasing them since they basically wouldn’t stop saying that they were the ones who created and sailed this ship. Oh, if only Taemin or Na Eun took the courage to make the first move on each other sooner, then their friends wouldn’t tease and embarrass them so much all day.

           Hanging his arm around Taemin’s neck, Key said, “So, Taemin, when will you take her out next?”

            “Yeaah, will it be romantic?” Chorong teased.

          “What?” Taemin’s shoulders suddenly went up, embarrassed that his friends were asking about this when Na Eun was just beside him. “I don’t know.” Na Eun, who was silently smiling while listening intently to their conversation, was also slightly embarrassed, but she found him cute being teased by his friends.

            “He’ll probably take her to a haunted house,” Bomi joked.

           “Yeah, and Taemin will hold on to Na Eun out of fear and not the other way around,” Chorong chuckled.

            “I actually have something in mind,” Taemin replied seriously, trying to ignore his friends who were making fun of him.

            “Really? What?” Key’s curiosity rose. Na Eun also became curious and anticipated his answer.

            Taemin turned to his right, to Na Eun, and asked, “Do you like extreme sports?”

Extreme sports? Would that be something girls would be interested in, especially Na Eun? Na Eun looked like the kind of girl who would want to spend time in a library or something. Key rolled his eyes 180 degrees in disappointment, Chorong’s mouth dropped, and Bomi face palmed herself. Sports, especially extreme sports, are not something girls usually like to do or even talk about.

            “Yes, I do,” Na Eun’s eyes sparkled in excitement and so did Taemin’s.

           “Jinjja?!” The three blurted as their heads instantly turned to Na Eun. Never in a million years would the three have thought that the silent, shy, lady-like, skirt-wearing teenager would love extreme sports. Looks like Taemin wasn’t a total idiot to have thought of that after all.

            “Yeah,” Na Eun chuckled and nodded. “I like extreme sports.”

           “Then I guess we’re gonna get along well in the future!” Taemin smile grew bigger after finding another common ground between them. The two girls started laughing at how perfect they were for each other. It felt like they were ajummas who were finally marrying off their thirty-year old son to the perfect woman.

          As Key laughed along with them, he couldn’t help but feel something was not right with the atmosphere. Something was missing. He turned his head to his left and his hunch was right. Eunji, who was following behind the group, hung her head low with her hands buried in her sweater’s pockets. All this time, she was silent and was not paying much attention to the conversation. She was not as dorky and fun like she usually was.

          “It must be because of last night,” Key thought, remembering the stressful accident. He, too, was a bit shaken up by witnessing such an event last night, but he knew Eunji could’ve felt much worse.

***

            “See you guys tomorrow!” Taemin waved at Key and Eunji as he walked Na Eun to her home.

            “Bye!” Key warmly waved back.

           Since Key and Eunji lived on the same street, they were the last to head home. Of course, Key liked the fact that he could give her a walk back home every day after school. It was always a time when they would entertain each other like they’ve known each other for a long time. Since both of them usually talk like crazy, both would not fall into awkward silences or anything like that. But today was a completely different atmosphere. Eunji has not spoken a word since they left the school. To be more precise, Eunji didn’t utter a single word the whole day unless she was directly spoken to. Was the accident that shocking to her? Sooner or later, he has to talk to her or comfort her but never before has he done that to anyone. He was always a joking and nagging kind of person, so caring all of a sudden would probably feel weird.

           It became so silent between them that Key could feel the cold autumn-winter breeze brushing through his messy blonde fringe, see the blue skies were empty of clouds, and the night already about to introduce itself in a few hours. He could even hear dogs barking from streets away. His not-so-heavy breathing could be clearly heard, too.

            “It’s quiet today…” Key sighed, trying to break the silence between them.

          “Yeah…” Eunji tried to chuckle to give Key the message that she was fine and that she didn’t want to be asked why she wasn’t so cheerful, but all that came out of her was also a sigh.

           “You okay?” Key asked her anyway. He also tried to refrain from doing so, but seeing Eunji like this just makes him feel so down.

           “I guess.” Still, her tone didn’t have much energy.

          “Is it about yesterday’s accident?” Key said, clearly remembering the unexpected event from last night.

            “Yeah,” Eunji nodded. “I’m just worried.”

            “Why do you say that?”

            “We were sent home without even knowing if he will be fine,” Eunji whimpered.

           “Why don’t we go to the hospital and check how he’s doing?” It was clear to Key that she will continue to be like this if he didn’t do anything about it.

            “Would that really be okay with you?” Eunji looked back at him. “You may not know him, but I do.”

            “It’s alright with me,” Key compassionately smiled. “I don’t want you to go alone.”

         “Thanks…” Eunji felt grateful that Key understood how she felt. She wanted to see how TaeYeon was doing, but she also didn’t want to come there on that chilly, disinfected place alone.

            “Wait, I’ll call my mom.”

***

           Being a mom at a young age, Tiffany always tried to find easier ways to stay financially stable and still stay close to her daughter. Having discovered multiple internet jobs just a few years ago were definitely helpful to let her achieve those goals. This was why her schedule never got packed anymore, resulting to her having time for blind dates that her daughter and friend Jessica set up for the past two to three years.

         Every day, her work time would vary. Sometimes the whole day she would work, and sometimes, only half of the day. Today she worked from morning until afternoon, making her have time to tidy up the house before Eunji comes back from school.

“Sekaijuu de koi seyo Girls! Ima Lingua Franca, Lingua Franca .. narihibiku kod—”

            As she was cleaning through the book shelves in her bedroom, her phone rang. It was Eunji.

            “Oh, Eunji, what’s up?” Tiffany greeted as if Eunji was her friend.

            “Hi Mom, is it okay if I visit the hospital?” Eunji asked.

            “For Mr. Kim?”

            “Yeah…”

            “Is anyone coming with you?”

            “Yeah. Key’s coming with me.”

            “Oh, then sure you can go,” Tiffany agreed. “Just be back before dinner, okay?”

            “Yeah, I will.”

            “Okay, bye.”

            “Bye mom. See you.” Eunji ended the call.

           Last night at the jamming session, Eunji, Suho, and Key made it but they weren’t as excited as before the accident. Seeing a man being hit and rushed to the emergency room was enough to upset their stomachs and their spirit until the end of the night. Fortunately, Suho and Key recovered from it the next day. Eunji however, still didn’t. Eunji was already silent even during the morning breakfast with her mother. This worried Tiffany very much, but she understood the situation Eunji was in for she also had been to something similar before in her life. Compared to her personal situation, it was definitely much worse than Eunji’s so she knew her strong daughter will heal from it in time.

          While tidying up in her room, Tiffany took out her old stereo and inserted Mariah Carey’s album Daydream (listen with her if you'd like :P). As Tiffany placed her books down one by one from the book shelf, one particular old notebook caught her eye. It was a diary written by none other than herself. Even though she had not come across this pink-striped covered notebook after such a long time, she still remembered its contents. She leaned her back against the wall, completely forgetting the piles of books and dust surrounding her and flipped through the pages of the notebook.

July 27, 1996, Saturday.

           Today, my band members hung out in Jessica’s home, or should I say, my home for now. With their boyish charms, SooYoung, Yuri, and my generous ‘Daydream’ entered the room along with our sweet and innocent dongsaeng, Seobaby. I giggled and blushed as my eyes got in contact with my “daydream” who was brightly smiling back at me. Oohhhh, he was extremely shining that day for some reason. Oh, and since the song ‘Fantasy’ was playing from the home stereo in the background, it felt like I was in a movie with the album of Mariah Carey as the soundtrack. <3

          “Heol~!” Tiffany laughed noticing that Mariah Carey’s song “Fantasy” was actually playing right now. She hit her head with her notebook, “I can’t believe I was this cheesy.”

~~~

           Entering his friend’s home, TaeYeon took off his slippers and bowed at Jessica’s parents who let him in. Following behind him was SooYoung, Yuri, and SeoHyun.

            “Guys, welcome!” Jessica greeted with Tiffany behind her.

           Yuri was about to greet her back with a hug, but SooYoung had his arms open wide and bear hugged her first, making Yuri feel displeased. He had a crush Jessica for quite a while now. He wanted to be the first to approach her, but too many guys, who were much better looking than him, have been hitting on her lately. Because of this, his chance of trying to get closer to her seemed impossible. And even though Yuri was frustrated that SooYoung was naturally friendlier and comfortable to Jessica, he couldn’t blame him since that’s just how SooYoung is. TaeYeon, on the other hand, just chuckled and patted the back of the pouting Yuri. He was the only one who completely understood Yuri’s feelings. Well, SooYoung did have a hunch that Yuri likes Jessica, too. But instead of helping Yuri approach the girl though, SooYoung more by hitting on Jessica himself. After all, Jessica was quite a beauty. SooYoung had been falling for her more and more even though he always denied it in his head.

           “Don’t worry Yul, it’s not the end of the world,” TaeYeon whispered, making Yuri feel slightly better.

          “TaeYeon, hi!” There she was again, Tiffany and her eye-smile, warmly melting his heart in a fluffy way that he couldn’t understand.

            “Fany-ah! You’re here!” TaeYeon gave her a friendly hug.

           “Yeah, I kind of live here… So…” Tiffany said, trying to see how TaeYeon would react. Usually, people would ask her why she lived in Jessica’s home, but TaeYeon didn’t do such a thing. TaeYeon got distracted by the Mariah Carey song playing in the living room.

           “Is that the album I bought for you?” TaeYeon smiled.

           “Yeah,” Tiffany shyly replied.

           “It sounds nice.”

           “Of course, it’s Mariah Carey,” Tiffany chuckled.

***

         The six played a bunch of random games such as Pictionary and Scrabble, and other board games. They dared not to turn on the TV as a challenge that day since pretty much all they do during hang outs were watch TV. In a while, Jessica took out her white Gameboy and gathered her friends to the living room.

            “My dad bought this new game called Poketto Monsutā Aka while he was in Japan.”

          “Oh I’ve heard of that. It’s called Pokémon Red.” Yuri was about to take a peek of the small, rectangular device with a small screen, but Jessica suddenly got up and approached SooYoung, who was eating whatever he could find in Jessica’s fridge.

           “Here’s the problem though, I don’t understand Japanese,” Jessica said, handing the Gameboy to SooYoung since he knew how to speak Japanese. SooYoung went to the living room and sat as he started a new game with Yuri and Jessica beside him.

           After SeoHyun inserted her newly bought Best of Chopin tape in the stereo, she handed Tiffany back her “Daydream” album and joined the three to see what the game was all about. TaeYeon and Tiffany just sat in front of them awkwardly. They didn’t have enough room for two people to possibly see what’s going on in the small screen.

           “What’s his name?” SooYoung asked Jessica.

           “Jessica, of course,” Jessica replied.

           “His name, Jessica, ‘his’ name,” SooYoung repeated.

           “Why, is the character not a girl?”

           “I don’t think so,” SeoHyun said, looking at the small Gameboy screen.

          “Fine, then name it ‘Yul,’” Jessica named, startling Yuri a bit. Why was she naming Red after him all of a sudden?

           “Okay…” SooYoung followed the owner’s orders and asked once more. “How about the name of this rival guy?”

           “Soo,” Jessica chuckled.

            “Are you naming this after us?” SooYoung laughed.

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