Hyomin and Jiyeon woke up early today, earlier than usual at least. Today was Soyeon’s first day of work. They wanted to treat her and make it special. The two made eggs, bacon, toast, orange juice, etc.

“Working people drink coffee right?” Jiyeon asked in Korean.

“Unnie would want coffee huh? We should, even if she doesn’t drink it. It’s what working people do, she can at least pretend” Hyomin answered back.

“We don’t have a coffee machine unnie,” Jiyeon said.

“Um let me go to the corner store real quick to get coffee.”

Just like that Hyomin dashed out the door to run to the closest corner store to get coffee, the trip took just about 10 minutes. Coffee and breakfast? Check. There was only one thing left to do. The two girls snuck into Soyeon’s room, her alarm was set for another half hour but they wanted to really surprise her.

Each girl got to one side of Soyeon’s bed and jumped on. They woke her up from her slumber in a most shocking and frightening manner. She swung senselessly at her ‘attackers’ with her pillow to no avail. She screamed and cursed them, but only met laughter. When she finally stopped beating them they dragged her to the breakfast table.

She appreciated the efforts they put into preparing her first big day. Soyeon had graduated magna laude and was given a very nice position through the business college’s job fair/job placement. She had been approached by many companies and firms, but she limited herself to those that were in town.

She wouldn’t have dreamed of leaving Jiyeon and Hyomin alone here. She got placed into the marketing and relations of an advertising firm. They hired her because of her Korean fluency; they hope to utilize her in attracting more Korean business. Korean locals and stateside was an untapped market pool, but the lack of quality Asian employees until recently had made it challenging for the company.

After she finished her breakfast, she got dressed and proceeded to gather all the things she would need for her first day. Soyeon again thanked both the girls for their affection. They embraced in a group hug and she received a kiss on the check from both girls.

“Fighting!” Both Jiyeon and Hyomin cheered.

Soyeon disappeared through the door. The two girls were left alone to clean up the kitchen and the home.

“I really want to go to Ikea. The new catalog makes me want to visit the store to see it in person,” Hyomin announced.

“Oh, you always get crazy when a new catalogue comes in. Can you take me to library on campus? Ji-eun wants to meet up with me later today to study and hang out,” Jiyeon said.

“Awww, I wanted to hang out with you today!” Hyomin protested.

“You see me everyday! No, she really wants to see me, and it’s been almost 2 weeks since I saw her,” Jiyeon said.

“Of course I can take you, when are you meeting her?”

“I’ll call and ask.” Jiyeon answered. Jiyeon walked into the living room talking in Korean on the phone to her friend.

Ji-eun was a cute girl who was the same age as Jiyeon and near same height and equally same cuteness, except she had some a strange nickname of IU. Ji-eun was there on a student visa so she lived on campus and didn’t have her own transportation, nor did she travel very often away from campus. Jiyeon was like Ji-eun’s best friend in the city but Jiyeon and Ji-eun both had summer school and had not seen much of each other.

Jiyeon came back with an answer to Hyomin. Hyomin agreed to take her, but always worried a bit for their safety. Jiyeon and Ji-eun wanted to study a bit, go see a movie and have fun. The area around campus was nice but Hyomin was still concerned about two teenage girls going about themselves. It wasn’t as safe as Korea, a point the news drove every night.

Jiyeon went to get ready to meet up with her friend. Hyomin packed her camera bag with equipment. There was no work for her today, so she should take the opportunity to play with her ‘science’ again. Hyomin drove Jiyeon to campus to drop her off, and yelled at her out the window.

“Yah! Punk! I hate you for leaving me alone today! You hear me!” Hyomin yelled.          

“I love you too! Talk to you later. I’ll call you okay?” Jiyeon said. She waved Hyomin off and skipped into the building.

Hyomin drove off to the park after watching Jiyeon safely go into the building. It was time for her science.

*****************

“No no no no no!” Tiffany cried.

Apparently Sunny, Jessica and Hyunah couldn’t get the job done to Tiffany’s specifications. They were making cookies and cupcakes. Their kitchen had turned into a bakery shop. Bowls were everywhere, the island was covered in flour and the granite counters weren’t visible anymore.

Taeyeon was promoted at work, and Tiffany decided to bake cookies and cupcakes in celebration and had enlisted the help of her roommates. There was pink icing all over too. The internet had taught Tiffany how to make buttercream from scratch as well as all the treats.

“Unnie, if you are going to scream at me and make me work, you should at least pay me,” Hyunah whined.

“She’s right Tiffany, you should pay her. She doesn’t work,” Sunny joked.

“Yah! This is important, I’ll buy you guys all dinner, I told you!” Tiffany barked and continued to give orders to the girls.

Eventually the dining room table became a sea of cookies and cupcakes. The girls were now at the decoration stage, icing the cookies and treats and adding sprinkles. Tiffany was especially pleased with their work.

“Thank you show much guys,” Tiffany squealed in excitement. She packed the sweets into pink boxes.

“Curious though, why did we make so many for just one girl?” Jessica asked.

“Um, you never know, she could get hungry you know? And you know what, it’s for us too!” Tiffany replied.

“I see. Exactly how many do we get?” Jessica asked.

“Whatever Taeyeon doesn’t finish?” she whispered shyly.

This answer prompted in the other 3 girls to all hit Tiffany. She said they would each pick out three, and then the rest would be for Taeyeon and she would try to bring back any extras.

“That’s the best you can do Tiffy? Gee thanks,” Jessica retorted.

Hyunah added in Tiffany’s defense that she did try to kiss Taeyeon, so more efforts need to be taken to fix the situation.

“Whatever, I’m going to the gym. I’ll see you guys later okay?” Jessica announced.

Tiffany would go to work and later stop to see Taeyeon afterwards. It left Hyunah and Sunny alone in the home. The two had no plans, well obliviously for Hyunah the student with no car or working knowledge of the city, she couldn’t have much plans. Sunny suggested they go to the park. The weather was pleasant and a stroll would be nice.

The girls dressed in their most comfortable summer outfit and laced up their athletic shoes. The trails at the park were long and it would be a good way to have some fun. They left the house and went to the park. Being a weekday the park was not too crowded and for Hyunah it seemed like spending a day with her older sister.

Hyunah had said they should play on the lake. The two girls rented out a paddle boat to go adventuring out onto the lake. They paddled about and going in circles and generally having fun. Sunny’s phone rang.

“Hello?” She answered.

“Sunny! Where are you right now?” The voiced asked.

“Oh I’m at the memorial park with Hyunah, why?”

“Because I can see you. That’s why!”         

“What?! Where?!” Sunny screamed out.

“Turn around, behind you!”

Sunny turned to see Hyomin on the phone standing on dry land jumping up and down waving.

“What are you doing, are you stalking me?” Sunny asked in a teasing manner.

“No no, I was here to take pictures and I saw you on the lake!” Hyomin replied. “Want to hang out? Oh but I’d feel bad though, you’re with Hyunah. Could you ask her if she’s okay with it?”

Hyunah said she would have no problems hanging out with Hyomin today as well. Hyomin went to the boat rental dock to meet them. She greeted both girls with hugs and utter excitement. Hyomin told them that she had been just out taking pictures today since she was alone today. Hyomin said she had taken some pictures of them in the water.

Hyomin had her Canon DSLR draped over her neck and a little backpack on her back that was obviously the camera bag. She had a great smile across her face with the thought of joining two new friends for an adventure.

Hyomin suggested they go to the zoo, it would Hyunah’s first time there and they could get great photos. Hyomin decided she would treat them to the zoo!

“What should we see first?” Hyomin asked.

“We should start in order, and see everything, don’t want to mess anything.” Sunny answered.

Hyunah held Sunny’s hand as they made their way through the zoo while Hyomin would talk freely and converse with them.

“Don’t enable her. Speak to her in English so it will encourage her to speak English Hyomin,” Sunny said causing a whine from Hyunah.

Hyunah was sure she didn’t need to speak or hear English all the time, and had been grateful Hyomin did speak to her in Korean. Hyomin however did seem to talk ahead of herself and faster than her skills could accommodate. Whenever Hyomin would switch from Korean to English too quickly, an extremely heavy accent could be heard for the first twenty or so words before it trailed off into her normal speaking accent. Which was cute and coherent but still always hinted that English was her second language.

Hyunah liked Hyomin since she was able to converse to her in Korean, it made her feel not so lost and lonely but still felt very left out when Sunny and Hyomin would converse a subject about school and the city. Hyunah had not yet started and did not have much information to bring to the conversation. Hyunah did notice that Hyomin liked to take pictures.

She knew girls back home love taking self-portrait photos, but Hyomin took photos just as much as she was in them. Hyomin had asked them if they would be models for her today and they had been posing and smiling for Hyomin’s camera all through the park and zoo. Hyomin even got strangers to take pictures of all three of them together at nearly all locations.

The only real time where she did not take pictures was in the reptile house. Hyunah squeezed Sunny’s hand tight going through the building with all the reptiles and deadly insects. Even from behind the glass enclosures, the creatures were creepy and seemingly dangerous and unpleasant to approach. Sunny however found amazement in the creatures rather than fear. She would point at creatures and make comments from one exhibit to the next. Hyunah had leaned in with Sunny to a particular animal that had caught their attention.

“Roar!” Hyomin cried into Hyunah’s ear.

“AHHHH!” Hyunah screamed and jumped into Sunny. Hyomin had crept her hand down Hyunah’s back to scared her.

“I hate you unnie! Why I am always getting picked on!” Hyunah whined in Korean.

Sunny already had Hyunah in her arms for a hug and was laughing. Hyomin joined the hug but couldn’t keep the smile and giggles off her face from pulling the prank on the young Hyunah.

The girls left the building and moved to the more pleasant outdoors to find animals that were cute and furry and hoped the encounter with creepy crawlers was over. By late afternoon the girls were hungry and tired. They decided to leave the zoo and have their lunch at a lakeside Italian restaurant in the park. Hyomin had insisted to the hostess that they have a window table to enjoy the scenic backdrop of the lake; the girls were offered a window booth.

Their waitress had arrived to serve their water and bread and would return later. Hyunah however, had already fallen into a nap before their order of Italian cream sodas could come.

“Sunny look! Hyunah’s asleep already.” Hyomin whispered. “Quick get close. We need to get a picture.”

Sunny moved close to Hyunah making sure not to wake the girl up to make various poses for Hyomin and the camera.

Click.

Click.

Click.

“Hyunah, wake up. Hyunah.” Sunny said to the young girl while slightly shaking her.

Hyunah opened her eyes to find her unnie inches from her with a piece of bread in . The sight would have made for comic relief if the girl wasn’t so tired and confused by the events.

Click.

“Yah. What are you doing? Err is the food here yet?” Hyunah asked.

“Sweetie, in order for us to get food, we have to order something. We haven’t even ordered yet” Hyomin replied to her. “Have you decided what you wanted yet?”

“Do you want us to order for you?” Sunny asked. Hyunah nodded appearing a little overwhelmed by the menu. When the waitress came by, Hyomin picked the dish for Hyunah. It was definitely a different atmosphere then the last time. Sunny knew it was much easier to make conversation with Hyomin this time around and Hyunah was there to add to the environment.          

Hyomin had rushed to pay the bill, she reminded Sunny that she would since the last time they met. They were too full for dessert, but the exciting the restaurant feeling refreshed. Sunny and Hyunah had parked nearly 3 miles away. Hyomin was much closer and offered to drive them to their car. The walk was less than half a mile and Hyomin continued to take photos on their walk.

They got to her car and Hyomin opened the back door for Hyunah and she climbs in. They drive around the park to the location where Sunny had parked.

“Thank you very much today,” Sunny said. Hyunah said the same.

“No no no, thank you! It was totally fun. If you ever want to see the photos, let me know. Text me your email address or something,” Hyomin said.

“Yes, of course. I’ll do that. You have a great day.”

“You too, I’ll call you later about the classes. Bye!” Hyomin said.

“Okay, bye!” Sunny said and watched Hyomin drive off.

“That unnie is fun, but she’s totally something else,” Hyunah said in Korean.

“Yeah, she is definitely something else.” Sunny said.

***************************

“You wanted to work out with me and you can’t even keep up.  Do you not know how sad that is?” Jessica said while moving through the exercise.

“Anything you can do, I can do. I just had no idea you were this extreme,” Yuri said. Jessica and Yuri had spent the good part of the day working out together. They did toning, weights and cardiovascular today.   

“Yuri, you just can’t keep up with me. I’m sorry.” Jessica said catching her breathe.

“Hey, that was nothing for me. I thought you were something special Jessi,” Yuri teased.

“I am, you just don’t know it.”          

They were off to the side of the gym doing a set of abdominal exercises for a solid twenty minutes. Both girls were in good shape and routinely exercised, however during their, stretches it was quite clear that Jessica was not nearly as flexible as Yuri. After their individual stretches, Yuri suggested they do some partner stretching.

Jessica’s efforts on Yuri’s stretches were minimal. It was as if Yuri didn’t need the partner stretching, and that it was in turn more directed towards Jessica. The usually cool, calm and collective Jessica was now whining and showing winces of pain.

“Ahhhh! Too Much. Stop, stop, stop!” Jessica screamed out.

“Hey, if it’s not hurting then it’s not working. We’re not even going that far.” Yuri said.

Yuri was behind Jessica pushing on her back to help her go lower and further on her seated hamstrings stretch. Jessica could barely reach the tips of her shoelaces. Yuri had Jessica straighten her knees and her back, and Yuri pushed on Jessica to make her reach a bit further almost past her toes. Jessica whined even more on her splits. Yuri pulled Jessica’s arms and pushed her legs out. Jessica’s face was let up in concentration and slight pain.

Jessica had always thought of herself as a well in shape and flexible, but competing with Yuri told her she had the edge on fitness but Yuri took the flexibility and body control. Jessica couldn’t do splits or high kicks, which made the final stretches even tougher.

Jessica was on the mats lying on her back. Yuri had one leg over Jessica’s left leg to keep her from bending her knee and was helping her push her left knee to her chest. Yuri helped Jessica straight her left leg out to loosen it up and then help her into a high kick. Then they switched to stretch Jessica’s right leg.

“Hey! What your hand!” Jessica said. She slapped Yuri’s hand, as Yuri had place some fingers on the Adidas logo that was on Jessica’s left chest.

“Oh sorry, I didn’t even know or mean to, sorry” Yuri lied. She repositioned her hands so none of her fingers were on Jessica’s chest.

“.” Jessica said with struggle, oblivious to Yuri’s intention.

Jessica straightened out her leg and let Yuri bring it to the high kick. Jessica’s leg was trembling and Yuri could feel it. Yuri had a slight smirk on her face, and Jessica noticed this.

“Please don’t look at me like that, it makes me thing you actually enjoy putting me in this much pain.”

They finished the stretches and Yuri helped Jessica up off the mat, they both sat there drinking their water and toweling off. Both sighing and smiling, feeling like they had a good day.

“How about lunch? Are you hungry?” Yuri asked.

“Are you serious?! I don’t know, I think it would make me feel sick.” Jessica answered.

“We could get a chicken salad, which would be nice. Or Jamba Juice! It seems like we been here for hours.”

“Yeah, let’s go. We need to get out of here.”

They went to the lockers to get their bags and walk to the parking lot. Jessica had picked up Yuri today, so Yuri didn’t have her car.

“Do you want to invite your girlfriend?” Yuri asked.

“Huh? Girlfriend? What girlfriend?”

“Sunny, you two are together right?” Yuri quickly asked.

“What? No. What makes you think that? You and I been friends for how long now? Wait, why Sunny?” Jessica responded.

“Well, Tiffany has a crush on Taeyeon I think. I mean so that must mean Sunny and you are together. I mean you two are together a lot on campus...” Yuri answered.

“Silly, I live with them both, so of course we’re together all the time, is that why...”

“...and you and Sunny, you guys are always are sleeping on one another waiting for Tiffany and...” Yuri continued.

“Okay, stop stop stop. This is silly, don’t even talk about that. I’m not Sunny’s or Tiffany’s girlfriend. Yuri you’re always so funny.” Jessica said with a laugh.

“Yeah okay, okay. Only jokes.” Yuri responded.

“Me and girls? Silly. I think Sunny and Hyunah already would have had lunch I think. Want to stop by my place?”

“Yeah let’s go,” Yuri said snapping her seatbelt.