"I'm home!" I hollered. "Dad?" I entered my room and noticed a piece of note on the ground. Picking it up, I scanned through it. It wasn't long before my eyebrows were furrowed and I crushed the note in my hands before tossing it in the bin. My father was out for a business trip again. I was looking forward to telling him about the events that happened in school today. "Ugh." I groaned and reached into my pocket for my phone. Should I call Jinhwan and ask him to come over? Nah, I guess he should be working. Jisoo? Nope, she isn't going to be free today. The rest of the boys? No that's just weird. I've never had any guys come over to my house except Jinhwan. I sighed. There was nothing to do at home. Just then, I could hear my stomach rumble. Great, I have to get my own food. I changed into a new set of clothes and decided to head off to the convenience store. 
 

9:58 pm. I should be heading home soon. I got up from the bench, shuffling my feet along the pathway of the Han river. As I walked past a willow tree, something, or rather someone caught my eye. I walked towards the figure and sat down beside her, "What a coincidence to run into you here." I spoke, not making eye contact. Jennie's eyes shot open immediately as she looked at me in surprise. "Were you sleeping?" I enquired, slightly amused. "Psh, no I wasn't." She muttered. I could almost sense her rolling her eyes. "You must be rolling your eyes now." I remarked, turning to face her. She rolled her eyes again. "It's late, what are you doing out here alone?" I asked, not particularly concerned.

"Just needed some fresh air." She replied, "What about you? You're still in your school uniform." she wrinkled her nose. "And you stink."

I raised an eyebrow, "I come here almost every day, miss." I declared. 

Rumble.

"What was that?" I was sure I heard something.

Rumble.

I narrowed my eyes at Jennie as I inched closer to her. "It sounds like it's coming from you."

"Uh no." She denied, moving away from me.

"You're hungry."

"I'm not hungry."

Rumble.

"Ey, you are. Can't you hear that? Your stomach's crying for food."

"It's not my stomach."

"Nice try, miss, I'm pretty sure it isn't mine."

"Okay fine, fine. I'm hungry. Damn it, guess that yogurt wasn't enough." She grumbled. Yogurt? Is this girl on diet or what? "Well we can get some food, I'm feeling like I could eat some ramen now." I suggested. Jennie gave me a strange expression. "With you? That's weird. I mean, I've never even eaten with you alone in school, let alone eating outside." 

I shrugged as I commented, "We can start now. Aren't we friends anyway?" I heard her chuckle. "Woah, monotonous freak thinks we're friends? Well that's nice, I've never thought this day would come." She mocked teasingly.

"I'm sure four months of sitting together in class and being around with the same group of people makes us friends." I argued, standing up. "So are you going to turn me down or what?"
 

"I didn't know your idea of ramen was kimchi cup ramen from a convenience store."

"Excuse you, this is the real ramen."

"You clearly haven't eaten ramen, monotonous  freak."

"Why do you keep calling me monotonous freak?"

"Because you made that name for yourself since the day I sat beside you and tried to start a conversation with you."

"I was listening to Mr Lee."

"Sure."

We spent the next few minutes eating in silence. I glanced at Jennie from time to time as she ate. If she could have opened his mouth any wider she would have eaten the whole cup in one bite. "You're really that hungry, aren't you?" I commented. She gave no response as she continued gulping the noodles down. She ate so noisily, slurping her soup like some kind of vacuum cleaner. Then, showing no signs of embarrassment, she wiped on her sleeve before giving me a grin. This girl is crazy. I remarked. "That was quite a show."

"Ah that was good." She said, ignoring me. 

"Still hungry?" I asked.  

She shook her head. "No, not for now at least."

I whipped my phone out and looked at the time, "Shouldn't you be home by now? I mean didn't your parents call or anything?" I asked her.

"My father's out of town. He's always not at home, no big deal. I've been alone at home since middle school." She said, giving a nonchalant shrug. I nodded slowly, "Your mom?" I continued asking.

"She died." She simply replied, her voice unfazed. I kept my eyes fixed on her for a few good seconds, "Oh." was all I could say. "Wouldn't you be bored at home then?" I managed to speak. Jennie nodded. "Yeah, I call Jinhwan or Jisoo over sometimes, but Jisoo isn't able to come over most of the time because she has lots of things to do at home, according to her. Jinhwan's helping out at his parents' restaurant most of the time and he's also having his final year now, so I don't wanna disturb him too much. Besides, I'm bored of him." She chuckled, "Whenever he comes over we'd either watch movies or have karaoke sessions, stuff like that, I can do those on my own too." I nodded in response while listening to her. "Well, since we don't know each other that well yet, I wouldn't suggest you to invite me over to your house if you ever find yourself bored and needing someone to accompany you, but you can always give me a text. I'm always available." I told her. She folded her arms across her chest and asked, "Are you sure you don't find that weird?"

"No, I told you we're friends." I assured her.

"I'm still getting used to that word." She laughed.

"You're the first female friend I'll ever have, feel honored." I joked, smiling slightly.

"Really? Poor Hanbin's never got any chicks in his life, now I know why." 

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, it's nothing to worry about."

Who knew I would be sitting outside a convenience store at 11 in the evening, having a proper conversation with a girl. Sure, I've spoken to girls before, but they've never been this lengthy. She was okay, Jennie. She can be very y at times but her way of speech captures your attention almost instantly, if you've spoken to her long enough. This was by far the most I've spoken other than during class. I myself am surprised that I was even capable of spilling more than ten words in a sentence. Friends? I definitely see her as my friend, and I was sure that it would be that kind of friendship that blooms in the center of your heart, that kind of friendship that grows from the seed basking in the warm soil to a vast tree with many ups and downs, many, but not enough to disguise the enormity or the grandeur of such a tree, the sheer brilliance and beauty of it.
 

 the writer's words