I DO NOT OWN THIS PHOTO

Chapter 6. Our ways

10 Years later

At a coffee shop

“Please enjoy your latte” a young waitress serves a cup of coffee to her customer with a warm smile, before excusing herself to take order from another customer. It’s a nice decorated coffee shop at a corner of the city in Busan called “One Page Café”, most of their customers are regular customers, some are tourists and few are passersby.

The waitress proceeds to coffee counter to pass order to barista

“ Hyomin , your shift is over, take off your apron and go home now ” a middle age man instructed a waitress with loud voice, if people who don’t know them, may think that he shouts at her but in fact it’s his way to show his care to the young lady.

“Thank you ahjussi”, Hyomin said before walking off to the back of counter and taking off her apron. She bids goodbye to her colleagues and the owner “ Uncle Tae Woo” and walks all her way to the bus stop, she checks her wristwatch to make sure she has enough time , it says “11.25 am ” , “ I guess unnie has not woken up yet” she said to no one but herself. 

 Just 30 minutes later, Hyomin arrives at the apartment she lives with Eunjung, it’s a two bedrooms apartment that Eunjung has worked hard to get it.

After Eunjung and Hyomin ran away from the orphanage home in Seoul, they made their way to Busan where they met an ajumma that owned a seafood restaurant who saved them from hunger, she took them in, fed them food and in return they helped to work at the restaurant until Eunjung turned 18 years old, she tried to find job at supermarket and mini-mart but got denied, instead she got a job offer at a pub which run by a rich widow named “ Lee Hyori ”. Hyori hit it off Eunjung at the first sight when Eunjung tried to help her from a drunken man and that made Eunjung ended up getting injured. Eunjung worked hard with her loyalty and honesty until she got promoted to be a manager after two years. With quite a reasonable salary Hyori offered, Eunjung could earn enough for the living, she persuaded Hyomin to go back to high school, at first Hyomin disagreed to the idea but Eunjung kept insisting by telling Hyomin to do this for her sake, finally Hyomin gave in and agreed. After that they moved out from ajumma when Eunjung managed to get her own place.

Now Hyomin is at the 2^nd year at university, majoring at Arts while Eunjung works at night time at the pub as a pup manager, she gets off work early morning and will always wake up at 1 or 2 pm. After all they have been through Eunjung promises to herself to protect and take care of Hyomin as best as she can, she disagrees to let Hyomin work part time worrying about younger woman’s health but still Hyomin secretly works part time at a coffee shop because she wants to lighten Eunjung’s burden because the older girl has scarified a lot for her, and she tries to take care of Eunjung the way she can.

A sound from the living room averts Hyomin’s attention from a cooking pot to a just woke up woman

“Oh, unnie you are awake, I’m making kimchi soup for you, are you hungry?” Hyomin asked, Eunjung nodded like a kid which makes Hyomin smiles.

“Go wash, I’ll set the table, then we can have lunch together” Hyomin instructs the older girl

“Hmm, don’t you have class today?” Eunjung asked waiting for the answer

“No, today I’m free” Hyomin said before goes back to her cooking, not seeing Eunjung beams with delight. Eunjung is happy to spend time with Hyomin because they don’t often get to spend time together lately. When she is awake, Hyomin would be done preparing food for her and ready or already off to her university and when Hyomin is back, it would be time that she has to leave for work and she won’t be back until early morning that when Hyomin is still asleep, and when Hyomin is awake, Eunjung is still in her dream land.

They are done eating when Hyomin is about to clean up table and does the dishes

“You go get dressed, I’ll take care of dishes” Eunjung told Hyomin

“Get dressed? Why?” Hyomin asked puzzled

“We will go outside” Eunjung answered while taking plates from table to sink

“Where unnie?” Hyomin was still puzzled

“Just go get dressed and stop asking” Eunjung playfully pushes Hyomin’s back toward her room and younger woman just gives in.

Two hours later, they arrive at a beach, Eunjung parks her car near the beach before getting off.

“Here we are” Eunjung announces, Hyomin enthusiastically opens the door and gets off the car

“It’s beautiful unnie” Hyomin joyfully squealed, Eunjung smiles, proud of her choice.

“Let’s go for a walk”, Eunjung holds Hyomin’s hand and walks toward the beach  

They sit on the sand enjoying the scenery before them, Eunjung catches Hyomin staring at three girls at the beach, they are quarreling about something, and she seems to be lost in her thought until she realizes that Eunjung keeps looking at her so she breaks an awkward silence

“Unnie, let’s take a picture” Hyomin stretches out her hand to snap a photo with Eunjung . Eunjung smiles from ear to ear while Hyomin shows probably her best smile as well.

They stroll along the beach until the sun set, enjoy the food at street and decide to drive back to city

“ Thank you unnie, I really enjoy it” Hyomin said with her gratitude smile

“ Not thank me , but thank to you, I had a good time being here with you ” Eunjung expressed

While Eunjung is driving to town, she gets a phone call from her workplace, she pulls a car to the side of the street.

“Yes, boss, I’m driving, about 20 minutes far from there, ok, I’ll be there soon” Eunjung hung up the phone, her face turned serious

“What’s going on unnie?” Hyomin asked concerned

“There is a little problem at the pub, I have to be there to solve it” Eunjung answered.

Around 20 minutes later, Eunjung arrives at the parking lot of the pub

“Stay inside here, don’t get off the car, I’ll be back in minutes” Eunjung unbuckles her seatbelt

 “Unnie, can’t I go in there with you?” Hyomin asks

“NO !” Eunjung unconsciously raised her voice and Hyomin was taken back

Eunjung realizes she made Hyomin frighten, “I am sorry Hyomin ah, I don’t want you to go in there, ok ? , Hyomin nodded obediently . “ Wait here, it will take some minutes, and I’ll be back as soon as it’s done ” Eunjung told Hyomin before getting off the car.

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

Inside the pub

Eunjung’s POV

The booming music deafens the ears, as soon as I walk inside the pub, smoke and strong smell is filled in the air, I walk straight to back office

“I am sorry to disturb you on your day off Eunjung” a lady said

“No problem boss” Eunjung response

 “Eunjung, how many time I have to remind you to call me Hyori unnie” Eunjung stays in silence

“Fine, you are always stubborn”, “Well, we found this guy from another pub loitering around for a few days, I presume he is a spy”, Hyori explains as she looks at the rewinding CCTV footage with Eunjung.

“Give him a warning that he should not mess up with us” Hyori orders

“Yes, boss” Eunjung replies calmly

I’m approaching a guy along with our two men, they quietly remove the guy from the floor to another room, and it takes only 5 minutes for them to get their business done then I dial my boss number “Done, boss”

After the work is done, I quickly walk back to the parking lot, it took longer than I expected. I reach my car, my heart sinks when I don’t see Hyomin inside the car, I quickly call her number, her phone is ringing and flashing inside the car

“Hyomin, where are you?” I start to panic

“Eunjung unnie” , Hyomin calls me , I turn around to find Hyomin holding a cat smiling at me , then my worry turns into anger .

“Where have you been?” I ask her angrily, I turn around and walk back to the car, Hyomin tries to catch up with me

“Unnie I saw this wounded cat, I just wanted to help him”  

“Give me the key” I ask for a car key and she passes it to me, she knows I’m not in the mood to talk any longer so she puts down a cat on the ground.

We say nothing on the way back to our apartment as soon as I open the door I walk straight to my room and close the door. It doesn’t take long until I hear a knock on the door

“May I come in unnie?” Hyomin asks softly from another side of the door, she takes my silence as yes and opens the door, to my room then she sits down on my bed next to me

“I am sorry unnie, I didn’t mean to make you angry, please forgive me” Hyomin says pleadingly and once my cold wall crumbles down when I hear her pleading, I end up giving in.

“You know how worried sick I was when I didn’t see you inside the car” I softly say

“I am sorry to make you worry ” Hyomin says before putting her head on my shoulder

“How can I not forgive you Hyomin ah?” I say caressing her hair . We stay in this position for the longest time