She admits it. The first month of being away was worse than hell. She had to cry just to get herself to sleep at night, she had to wake up way too early and do all sorts of things just to keep herself distracted from thinking of him. Haerin did a good job at trying to set the thoughts of him aside by helping out her father’s 38 year-old new wife, a local New Yorker who is half Korean, Payton, at her restaurant. She’s been helping around the kitchen whether it was washing the dishes, plating the food and Payton even taught her how to cook.

Haerin’s father—Woobin—understood his daughter’s situation. In fact, he felt sorry not for his own daughter but for her ex-boyfriend. Woobin had always seen her as a strong young lady and independent and of course as Haerin’s father, he knew that it was Sehun’s loss, not hers. Haerin and Woobin’s relationship weren’t the best father-and-daughter relationship there ever was, it gets all awkward between them sometimes, but as days pass, they grew closer.

Payton and Woobin looked out for Haerin a lot and helped her distract herself. They took her to places, they let her help around the restaurant and they even take her out on a family date (which Haerin thought was lame at first but got the hang of it anyway). The couple made sure that Haerin gets all the fun she needs to smile again and the first few weeks were an epic failure but after that, Haerin was smiling again, not as brightly as she used to but she’s getting there…they hope.

Walking down the stairs, Woobin was surprised to see her daughter all dressed up. She had her coat on and a pair of brown boots that Payton bought for her about a week ago. He smiled at her, intriguingly and she just rolled her eyes with a ghost of a smile on her face.

“Wow, look at you all dressed up. Going somewhere?” Woobin mocked.

“Payton said we’re going shopping today because my good clothes are running out,” She answered and walked to her dad who was more than happy to pull her in for a hug.

“Shopping. Well, that’s not new now. You and your Aunt Payton have been going out for shopping every weekend.” He chuckled and kissed the top of her daughter’s head, “But I’m glad you’re having fun,” He muttered and smiled down at her.

Haerin softly smiled and nodded, “For the record, it’s not always my idea to go out. Today was Payton’s plan. She said we’ll meet her nephew at the mall too,”

“Oh, that’s nice. At least you’ll gain a new friend around here. Your Aunt Payton and I are too old to be your only friends,” He teased.

“Correction, you are too old, I’m average,” It was Payton who walked down the stairs, all dressed up to go to the mall too. The father and daughter laughed at her statement and she soon joined the two, “So, are you ready to go?”

“Yeah.” Haerin answered.

“Alright. Well, you two have fun,” Woobin said placing a kiss on each of the girls’ head, “And please be back for dinner, okay?”

“Bye dad,” Haerin waved goodbye.

“See you later honey,” Payton smiled back at her husband and Woobin watched the two ladies went out.

Haerin joined her stepmother, Payton, shopping for new clothes. Surprisingly, Haerin was agreeing to almost everything that Payton was getting for her. The numerous dresses, skirts, and pretty much everything that’s not too girly but not too laid back. It wasn’t really her style at all but she figured, maybe it’s time to change that. Get rid of the weak and vulnerable looking Haerin.

After buying clothes, Payton and Haerin went to a café where they would be waiting for Payton’s nephew to come over. Sipping on her frappe, Haerin idly browsed the internet, looking for something she might be interested in cooking. Well, she’s been focused on cooking to kill time and distract herself and so far, it’s really taking her mind out of things.

Payton’s phone started ringing.

“Hello?” She answered and paused listening to the person on the other line, “What? I thought they wanted to meet tomorrow noon for lunch? Alright…I’ll be there in twenty.” And she hung up.

“Haerin,” She called and the girl innocently looked up at her, “I’ll leave you here for a bit okay?”

“Why?” She furrowed her brows, “Is there anything wrong?”

Payton sighed in defeat, “We have a catering service to plan and we’re meeting the client now. But don’t worry my nephew is on his way. I’ll just call him to meet you up here, okay?”

“Uh so you’re going to leave me with a stranger?” Haerin didn’t like the sound of Payton’s plan.

“He’s not going to be a stranger for long. He’s nice, I promise.” Payton smiled as Haerin halfheartedly returned the gesture and just smiled back at her, “I’ll see you later okay?”

“Alright,” Haerin politely smiled and received a flying kiss from her stepmother. She watched Payton walk away with all the stuff they bought, thinking that it’s a good idea for her to take all of them home first.

Haerin then focused on looking for recipes again. She scrolled through her phone reading the ingredients and procedures of the ones that got her interested but that didn’t last long. After twenty minutes, no one was still coming for her, Payton’s anonymous nephew still wasn’t around. Because of boredom, she decided to leave the café and search for the bookstore around the mall. She was thinking of buying new cookbooks anyway, after all, her dad and Payton loved collecting them. Fortunately, she found the bookstore sooner than she thought. Entering it, Haerin kept herself busy by looking through the shelves of books.

Not much people were in the bookstore, it was peaceful and quiet unlike the past stores she had entered earlier where girls were talking too loudly about girl stuff that Haerin didn’t give a about. The bookstore was big compared to the ones she had been to before. On the second deck of the place, there were tall shelves of different books, categorized according to their genre. She looked up and scanned the names. She couldn’t seem to find the ones for cooking.

Reach