sunlight

He could go on for an eternity with negative self-talks and usually he was leaving such monologues for himself rather than letting them flow out of his mouth in front of anybody else. And Sun didn’t have to be the one hearing those pejorative words, particularly now when the circumstances alone made the air feel heavy. When she expressed her disapproval to what more or less intentionally slipped in between his lips, he couldn’t be convinced, even though he would always believe firmly in whatever Sun would say. It didn’t work in that case.

Despite being awfully tempted to deny it and keep on slandering himself, as if wanting to convince the other that he indeed was as terrible as he stated openly with this eerie confidence, he subtly bit the tip of his tongue, but Jiyong’s silence couldn’t last for long. How surprising. Still refusing to make eye contact, since he was too much of a coward to look at Sun after the admission of what his feelings towards her were, he wished to disappear. What did he even want to achieve by supposedly setting the records straight?

Catching a glimpse of Sun with the corner of his eye, he felt like anything he’d happen to blurt out again would bring more bad than good, given that the reflections he shared earlier resulted in magnified awkwardness.

Her response sounded like matter of fact and he was somewhat at the verge of reading into her tone as the statement itself could undergo manifold interpretations, yet at the same time it seemed like nothing required further explanations. “Mhm,” Jiyong hummed, as though wanting to confirm it this shortly. His gaze zeroed in on Sun eventually and the realization that he wouldn’t ever imagine that one day looking at her could become so impossible was equally painful as the whole situation they were both tangled in. He thought it was all his fault only, although he couldn’t give much reasons why. It just was, because it most certainly wasn’t Sun’s. It could be handled differently, couldn’t it?

When the elevator moved, he was relieved but also another dilemma popped up inside his head. What now? He should go, give her some peace instead of bothering her for longer. “Yeah, finally,” Muttering, he slowly stood up and held his hand out towards Sun, but she probably didn’t need his help getting up from the floor.

Suddenly, it was like silence was taking over. Was this better? Was this worse? Sun didn’t know, but she knew there wasn’t much to do about it either. Perhaps there was nothing to say now. At least, nothing to say about this topic. They could of course, talk about something else but Sun knew it wouldn’t be a smooth and normal conversation like it would be in other situations. The thought saddened her even more, because her feelings had truly gotten in the way of a friendship she could have still had. You could always count on GG to ruin everything.

There was relief that the elevator had finally begun to move again and soon, the two would be freed from the tiny confinement. Sun was about to gather herself and stand up, but froze when she saw Jiyong offering a hand. It broke her heart to see him doing something as simple as this and Sun knew had GG not revealed her secret, her heart would be racing but she knew how Jiyong felt now, so this gesture meant nothing besides a friend helping a friend.

Although Sun knew better than to accept the offer and knew she was more than capable of getting up herself, she took the hand he held onto anyway. If anything, it was likely to be the last time something like this were to happen, and truly, it meant nothing. “Thank you,” she mumbled, sparing a brief glance in his direction before looking at the number on the elevator and pleased when it came to a stop on her floor.

Once Sun confirmed that she hadn’t brought any food with herself, Jiyong nearly choked on a small piece of the choco pie he was still chewing on before his lips parted and for a while he stood wordlessly with his mouth agape. Plenty of questions stormed through his head during that short time. Because he always thought of her as probably the most considerate person he had ever met, he would sooner expect his own self not to take a single snack due to his scatter-mindedness.

Yet when she clarified the situation and what was the real reason behind her lack of preparation, he hummed quietly and slightly raised his eyebrows. “I’m not sure if it will make you feel better about your little forgetfulness, but for example, I forgot my sunglasses,” He said with a small smile, knowing well that his shades weren’t as essential. “So… Now I have to squint whenever the sun comes out. It may give me wrinkles,” Adding jokingly, he narrowed his eyes for the emphasis as he gazed up at the bright sky.

Sun jumped when Jiyong began to choke, her hands held out in front of her, frozen and concerned for her friend but he seemed to gather himself. “You okay?” she asked, wanting to double check that he really was fine. “You should drink some water.”

“You did? Ah...yeah, that’s a common one I think,” she chuckled, counting the number of times she had basically done the same thing. “Or you bring a hat and wear it backwards and still need to cover your eyes...why are we like this?”

Peering down on the phone screen, Yijoo nodded when she saw the girl’s destination was indeed not too far. Quickly memorizing the address, she entered it to the in-car navigation system. When the girl said she could pay for the fare, Yijoo tittered, crossing her arms to form an X, declining the offer. “Oh, no, it’s fine! Let’s just say I’m doing a good deed. Save your money to buy some hangover pills in the morning.” All she asked for was a good karma in return. “Please buckle your seatbelt.” She said before maneuvered the car to the road.

It was pretty late, there was fewer cars compare to day time, making the drive so much more smooth. Silence fell between them as Yijoo concentrated on the road and the girl…well probably passed out by now. Turning the radio on, Yijoo softly hummed along to the tune playing. It wasn’t until she stopped at a red light and glanced to the passenger seat, she found the girl was pretty much awake. 

“So, what was the occasion?” She inquired casually in an attempt to start a conversation, though she was kind of curious about what got the girl drink into a stupor. However, it was none of her business, if the reason was too personal to share, she wouldn’t be offended by that since she was a stranger after all. And that reminded her, they hadn’t even exchanged names! “I’m Yijoo by the way." 

Sun’s brows knitted together when she declined her offer of payment. “Are you sure?” she asked, simply because she didn’t know the girl well and she would hate to be rude (or at least, more rude than she already was) although she did make a good comment about hangover pills in the morning. You would think after being in this kind of state so many times, you would plan ahead to make the morning after a little bit easier.

They were on their way and Sun was quiet, occasionally looking out the window and seeing the sights that passed by and occasionally looking at the woman who had helped her out and was giving her a ride home. 

It was easy to fall into the flow and smoothness of the rude and Sun felt as though at any moment, she were about to fall asleep. But then the woman spoke, snapping Sun’s attention towards her again “Uhh...” she frowned, unsure if she should tell the truth or make something up. There was a part of her that figured the chances of her seeing the girl again were slim, so whether she went with a truth or a lie wouldn’t matter but what little pride she had wanted to be saved. 

 @247sun

on saturdays, people would be busy hitting the clubs till the wee hours of the morning, on saturdays, people would sleep in till’ 2pm, on saturdays, people don’t have to stay at work ‘till 3am. 

well, jae was the few exceptions. there he was, calling everyone on his contact list, determined to not be alone on a saturday morning. he scrolls through his contacts and asks at least 20 people.

most of them did not reply his invitation kindly, responding with “fuck off it’s 3am” or even worse, “who’s this”. as expected, the life of a policeman was no easy one. his partner bailed on him to go for a two day trip to jeju, and now he was standing in the cold, thinking of what to eat. 

just as he was about to give up, he hears a ding from his phone and quickly fishes for it, checking to see who replied. 

(txt) sun: hey

(txt) sun: usually i’d say no, but i just closed up, beers on you?

jae grinned from ear to ear, quickly replying her with the address of the shop he wanted to go to and rushed over there. 

fast forward 30 minutes, he sees a girl waiting in front of the shop, staring at the sign board, completely taken aback. 

“surprise!” 

“you’re kidding right? you want me to eat chicken feet?”

“nope.”

Sun stiffled a yawn as she closed up for a night and checked her phone to see a text. Opening it, she saw a familiar name and a request and she debated for a moment on declining or ignoring it and going home to sleep but decided to accept the offer.

Sending a response back, she waited a moment before an address was sent her way and made her way to the destination.

It didn’t take long for Sun to get therer and upon her arrival, she realized that she had gotten there first. Since she had to wait for Jaebum anyway, she took this chance to look at the location he had asked her to meet up at and saw chicken feet.

As soon as she learned this, Jaebum seemed to arrive and a short interaction took place.

It was sad to hear his mother still had such a tight hold on Sun. It made him wonder what the woman might have done to her which he didn’t have a clue about. Nothing he’d say would be able to make his little sister think otherwise, he thought. Sun was totally convinced of the fact that his mother would blame her for him being here although she had nothing to do with this. This was all his own choice and doing.

Deciding to not try and convince Sun any longer of the fact that his mother would not blame her for this, because it would prove to be a lost cause anyway according to him, he smiled warmly and grateful over at her. “Thank you Sun.” Keeping her gaze for a moment longer in which he just smiled warmly the freshly graduated lawyer then glanced around the hallway. “So uhm,” he said, turning his gaze back to her, “you got some time to talk with me now? Or did you have some plans right now and I should come back another day? I don’t want to intrude.”

Thinking he should make sure to ask for her phone number, in case he had to leave right now, he actually hoped Sun would tell him she had some time to talk right now. It would be a shame if he had to leave already after that they just had met again.

Sun simply shrugged when Yongguk thanked her. She wasn’t sure why he was and if she was honest, it was a little hard to hear. It wasn’t as though he had missed out on anything when she wasn’t around, but those things she wouldn’t voice out loud. Sun knew it was her own self-criticism that made her see this way. 

“Right now? Ah...” she said, realizing that perhaps he didn’t want to talk there. “Yeah...I’m not doing anything or have anywhere to go...let me just...go change,” she said, offering a small smile before heading back to her apartment and dressing a little more presentable and warmly before going back to where her brother was waiting.

Jaejoong wasn’t sure why it always seemed like he ran into Sun when she was in some state of inebriation – whether or not that was due to the habit being so frequent or if it was just due to him seeming to seek her out to aid her. He was glad he could be there, of course, who knew what else might happen if someone else had the same sort of luck? He hadn’t made any concrete plans for the evening, so it was nice to have something to focus on.

He offered a quiet laugh at her confusion about going to his apartment. “I think it will, yes. I’d love to have you, though,” he confirmed, and he reached out a hand to trace along the small of her back, leading her toward the direction toward his complex. A brow quirked at her words and explanation, seeing the way she seemed a tad confused all in all. But it was expected, who knew how much she’d drank.

“I know what you mean, but you really don’t have to do that. You coming over is more than enough as a gift,” he assured her as they continued to walk. “We can have some tea, I don’t know if you need much more to drink, right?” He didn’t mean to really baby her too much, but he couldn’t help the instinct to protect her.

Sun was glad to hear that Jaejoong truly didn’t seem to mind her being at his place. There was always an honesty to him that she admired, because he never held back his true feelings so Sun could always trust the words he spoke. It was a little thing, but these little things ended up meaning a lot later on.

“But it’d be rude...” she frowned and although her mind was working a little more slowly, she remembered that she was low on funds anyway so she wouldn’t have been able to buy him something proper. She made a mental note to do so in the future. “Tea? Ah...yes, tea...tea would be nice,” she nodded. Sun did enjoy a nice warm cup of tea. Not as much as alcohol, but still.

The two made their way slowly back to Jaejoong’s place and before she knew it, he had unlocked the door and let them both inside. Sun paused for a moment, brows knitted together as she debated on taking her shoes off or not before deciding that it would be polite to do so. Taking them off and carefully putting them to the side, she paused again before stepping in further and looking around.

The night dawns upon the tired woman, tired from her mornings with Jongsuk and tired of not being able to drink until she passed out somewhere near her home. There is a sense of responsibility she’s beginning to feel after working at the animal center, but she knew the darkness inside of her would not leave for mere animals. She is still broken and looking for a quick fix because occupying the mind for a morning could only work for so long. It is the liquor that calls her name more than anyone ever has in this lifetime and she follows what is familiar, what loves her as much as she loves it.

She orders two more shots after 2 bottles of beer had been chugged down in minutes. As she waits, she examines her surroundings, finding some familiar faces among the tranquil atmosphere. The group of men caught her attention as they all stood up, approaching a young woman on their way out. Thoughts of needing to get up and help pop up in her head indicating she was too sober and the situation is beginning to escalate before she can truly intoxicate herself and ignore the matter. Kyungri looks over at the bartender, fixing up drinks for new customers along with hers and time was running out.

“Fuck!” She exclaims purposely for the group of men to listen. Frustration from not being able to get drunk faster along with these feelings of needing to help out built up inside of her. Seeing the girls face made her sick of how vulnerable she looks. The look in her eyes brought familiarity of a mirror she broke long ago and only stared at the distorted reflection of her current sight of herself. Deep down this alarming fear crept up on her when she looked at the girl. She couldn’t just ignore it, not as sober as this. 

She slides an empty beer bottle away from the counter and walks towards the men, her heels clicking with each step. “Can’t you hear the girl refusing or is your head so far up your ass that you can’t?” Kyungri holds the bottle by the neck and slams the end on one of the tables, smashing it on the first hit and even the small murmurs went quiet. “Because I will be happy to dig it out of you.” Kyungri didn’t need another police report on her, but these guys were too egoistic to let anyone know they had been scared away by a woman. “All you have to do is bend down for me, baby.” A corner of her lips rose, her eyes dead-on on the chatty one’s face with the broken bottle next to her face, twirling it around slowly.

Even in Sun’s current state, she knew that it wouldn’t be as easy as dismissing herself and declining them to set herself free from these people. Naturally, she would have to struggle and have them continue to insist, listening as their tones turned more and more rude and along with it, more demanding as well.

The more they spoke, the more Sun shook her head and she was sure that it was about to come loose and fall off her shoulders but whether they saw this or not, they refused to acknowledge it. Sun was about to speak, declining the offer again and debating on simply going home when she hears an unfamiliar voice, causing Sun to look at the source and the men to turn and see a woman approaching them, a bottle in hand. 

Everyone jumped when she smashed the bottle and Sun’s eyes widened. She was at a loss for words and a part of her was thankful for her saviour and another part of her hoped the men were also at a loss for words and that they would leave, but idiots would always be idiots and naturally, they spoke to her in the same rude and perverted tone. 

“Oh good. Let’s start then.” She says excitedly. “You can finish your coffee while I prepare some things here.” She declares, not wanting to rush the girl, looking for some tools inside this black box. With two color palettes in her hands, Chaewon raises them up to the other girl’s face level to find the right colors, but just as she expected, the cool & brilliant deep winter one fits her fair skin, dark hair and eyes better. Nodding at herself in silence, the designer puts them down and turns to her team holding a few options of clothes to eliminate some already and avoid useless distractions.

More than just throwing clothes on the girl and telling her to try them, Chaewon thinks it’s always better if she could understand her choices, so she could do it alone later since she won’t have a personal stylist with her all the time - well, unless she does. Leaving the clothes aside for a second, she takes a few fabrics pieces in the colors of the palette and motions to one of her staff to move a mirror and put it in front of her. “It’s important to know what fits us and what not, can you see the difference between these?” Alternating the right and wrong colors in front of her, so she could see it. “Here. Besides the neutrals, you should invest in vibrant primary colors, fully satured pure pigments. They will make you shine more, which is not the case of dusty warm earth tones, golden browns and peaches. Does it make sense to you?” She decides to ask after talking non-stop.

Thinking about the shapes, the girl has good proportions, which allows her to wear almost everything. “Do you have something you’d like to try? I mean… Some style?” Chaewon wonders, trying to decide if she should go with cool and trendy or something elegant and classic. She could easily choose alone and do a great job, that’s for sure, but she wanted to hear her opinions about it, so she would feel happy and satisfied with the results. More than the right colors and shapes, style is a lot more about personality.

Sun smiled and nodded and quickly worked on finishing her cup of coffee. As Chaewon held up the palettes against her skin, angling her face slightly and thinking this would somehow help the woman work better.

The mirror stood in front of Sun and she felt like an attentive student once more, staring at her reflection and her gaze only pulling away to the fabrics that she held up to her, explaining what kinds of things she should be aiming for. “Oh...really?” she said and of course, this made sense. Her clothes were always much more neutral and made her blend in more, which she hadn’t minded but with a much needed change, she didn’t want that associated with her anymore, even if it was just herself doing the association.

“That makes sense, yes...and by primary colours you mean like yellow and red and green and blue and things like that, right? Basically like colours of the rainbow?” she asked, wanting to clarify that she meant what Sun thought she meant. Perhaps it was stupid to ask, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

“Oh…” For a moment Shinhye eyes Sun, taking in her appearance and gauging whether or not they were going to try and ID check her. Then she shrugs her shoulders lightly. “Well, I’ll order a bottle of wine for myself and if you occasionally take a sip from the wrong glass that’s just an accident.” Her grin is right one again as she states those words. She quickly schools her expression into something more acceptable as she takes the menu from the waiter and opens it up.

Her gaze goes over the options they have to choose from, leafing through the menu quickly to see if she can find any good five course meals. Luckily there are a few to pick from. One with meat, one with fish and one vegetarian. “Oh here we are,” she states happily, turning the menu around so she can show the right page to Sun. “Five course menus, have your pick.” She turns the menu around again so she can decide on which one she wants herself, letting her gaze go over the options.

Deciding to take the meat one, because she’d just praised the place’s meat dishes after all, she then leafs further through the menu to see what types of wine they sell in this place. There’s a few overpriced ones, then a few that are just generally crap. Eventually she finds a decent wine for a decent price, and decides to take that one.

Once done deciding, she lifts her head to look at Sun, looking to see if the girl has made a decision yet too. “Decided?” she asks with a smile, waiting for confirmation before she would motion a waiter over so they could order. “Let’s get a bottle of wine and a bottle of water. Just in case some of the food is too spicy and I need to down half a liter.” She chuckles lightly, looking around to see if a waiter is glancing in their direction so she can motion them over.

Not everyone was so willing to take such a risk that would undoubtedly get them in trouble, especially when they were out in public. Once again, Sun found herself surprised and awe at the other girl. It was true that there weren’t many people like this in the world who were so willing to give so much to a mere stranger. 

Sun opened the menu and simply stared at it for a moment. The prices were fair and reasonable, with the except of something that was really expensive here and there. When Shin Hye spoke, Sun’s attention went to the page she was referring to and flipped her own to match and looked at the options listed. Naturally, the vegetarian option was cheaper.

Sun looked through the three options, knowing that they were all appealing and sounded good and it was hard to make a choice. Her mind knew what to pick, but her stomach wanted something else, but even though the girl had insisted a million and one times she wanted to do this, a part of Sun still felt guilty. 

When she spoke, her attention snapped up and she nodded. “Uh, yeah, I did,” she smiled. “I’m...going to go for the vegetarian one. I’m interested to see what they’ll serve for it in a five course meal,” she explained, which wasn’t a total lie. She was curious as to what the options would be. Undoubtedly they would be good, though.

Yongguk huffed when Sun mentioned his mother. “I don’t care what she thinks of this. She knows I wanted to do this for years now. This time around she simply couldn’t stop me any longer. She should know better than trying to blame you. The only one to blame here is me, if she really has to blame someone.” Even though he didn’t prefer to have this kind of personal conversation in the hallway, if Sun wanted it this way then so be it. He wouldn’t come waltz in her life to tell her how things were supposed to be. He figured, just like him, their parents had told her enough times how things were supposed to be. So he wouldn’t do that to her.

Breathing out a soft and sad sigh when his sister apparently wasn’t able to grasp the fact that he really wanted to a part of her life without any hidden motives, he tried to explain himself once more to her, “After everything that happened, Sun, you’re still my little sister. I’d like to know her.” A gentle smile tugging up the corners of his mouth Yongguk felt a bit unsure then as of how he was supposed to continue the conversation. “I hope you’ll find it in you to give me a chance? I assure you mother will not blame you.”

Yongguk’s surprised Sun. She didn’t know what to expect from all of this, but it certainly wasn’t this. Sure, she hadn’t spent much time with him growing up and get to know him the way their sister had, but she had spent enough time to know when he was putting on a show and when he was being serious. And this time, she knew that he was being serious.

It took a few moments before Sun could regain herself and she shook her head. “No, even if it is your fault...she won’t blame you. It’ll be me. It’ll always be me. You don’t know what she was like to me back then and even now when she contacts me. In her eyes, everything that goes wrong in her life is somehow my fault,” she said, her tone both firm and yet, sounded as though she were defeated. She had been dealing with it for a long time, it was true. She was thankful however, that she was able to be on her own because her parents rarely ever contacted her unless they were letting her know that money would be coming in late for her.

  DaeJung tried to fight off the feeling of fatigue, simply keeping himself awake with the chat they were having along with the hunger he felt. This would be the second meal of the day, even if it was later than usual and might even mess with him a bit. His body was used to an odd kind of routine, thus messing with it never ended up well. Adjusting his slender long body he sighed, heavily knowing well what she was saying and yet stayed true to his understanding of the situation. That time the figure skater felt like death, was glad to lay down and euphoric over the fact he could defy the odds to end up on the podium. The desire to win was strong with him, even now.

  “Sun,” he sighed, feeling oddly tired, before letting out a few dry coughs. “I won, okay. Yes I had to listen to nagging of my trainer, choreographer, mother, father and even my own friends - everyone declared me insane for pulling such a stunt. Even Hanyu - the man who with a cut chin and head wound went on the ice to win the event. Even he!” DaeJung ended up coughing once more, hunching over as the cold seemed to get worse and the slender figure seemed to turn paler than usual.

  “I made more so we can overeat,” he spoke and chuckled, adjusting a bit to slowly get up so he would move over to the kitchen and grab some of his food. DaeJung was happy that his friend was around, simply since she was… “He is.  I am not landing the jumps and generally not at my best, so his choice of words can turn very cruel. Well uh also some other of his students haven’t been ideal and he is someone, who demands the very best from you. The stress of the upcoming season is weighing hard on everyone, which means I get to listen to a lot of Russian cursing.”

  Taking a bowl of the food he slowly ate and moved back to the sofa, sinking into it and enjoying the wonderful taste. “She has three major cases on hand so no real summer vacation, which she seems to prefer as well,” he spoke and looked over at her, pursing his lips. DaeJung knew that his reality was a very hard training regime simply to make sure he would represent his country right and make himself proud. “Uh…I will probably have to train a lot more than usual to get everything right. It is after all the Olympic season is coming up and I want that golden medal. Which means I need to do some hard work.”

The conversation seemed as though it were simply repeating itself with Sun’s worries and concerns and Daejung’s logic and explanation. Neither of them were wrong of course and it was a matter of which way you wanted to look at it to decide who was right. Sun knew she wasn’t going to change her mind but she also knew that her friend wouldn’t either. He was determined and stubborn and it was these things that made him do well and get him where he was now.

Sun waited for Daejung to eat first before she dug in herself. “Daejung, this is really good,” she complimented her friend, her face practically buried in her bowl and she could feel the steam against her skin, making her jump back a little before burying herself in the dish once more.

“Sometimes...when people want things done, they be more harsh because being kind doesn’t work but...I don’t know, I don’t think you’d slack off if he was being nice. You want to do well just like he does so the harshness seems unnecessary,” she frowned. “I would hate if you felt more stressed and on edge because he’s cursing at you in Russian.”

message — SUNkist > it’s been a week since im back! though im not in my apartment, i went straight to jeju! > why do u hv to wear your make up on? relax! wait… does that mean you always wear one when i’m around aha! lucky  ㅋㅋㅋㅋ relx sunsun, u dont have to wear your make up on when i’m around. you look the prettiest even without it! >  ㅋㅋ dont tell me you’re afraid of zombie. dont worry im a good zombie~

✚ — ┇ to ilhoon, sun is a home. in which he rarely describe someone as a home, but if he ever consider it, it has to be sun. for some reason among all the good thing he can list on why he should go back to korea, sun is on the second list after his family. hanging out with her always relaxing in the way that it is just as relaxing as laying in a warm sand of tropical island beach. just with the say she talk and the way her expression change to one another always peak his interest, and it makes him feel like he want to protect her since he is a precious friend. though he hopes that whenever she is feeling blue, she can lean on him more.

          knocking on her door, ilhoon getting himself ready with a big ol smile on his face like there is no other expression aside of him smiling. he wonders that what if he didn’t send the text before and just jump straight onto her front door and surprise her, it will be fun but then he knows a little good manner of greeting someone and he is avoiding the fact there is a possibility for him to get slap (we don’t want that, right?). “ knock knock knock, sunsun! better hurry to open this door or i’m coming in like a storm! come and greet me!  ”

Ilhoon’s response came quickly and Sun looked over her friend’s response, knowing that if he were home he would literally be here in no time so she knew she had to work quickly.

[>>Hoonie~] Wow, a week? You must have been really busy! [>>Hoonie~] You’re sweet, but I need to try and look presentable and nice...I’m pretty much dressed to stay in [>>Hoonie~] I’m not~~ and I have no doubt that you are ㅋㅋㅋ

Sun pressed send on her phone and tossed it aside, quickly running back to her room to quickly apply some simple makeup and dress more appropriately compared to what she had been wearing earlier.

A look at the time told her she had done so in ten minutes and she frowned, wondering if Ilhoon was even in the building because surely he would have been here by now.

Just at that moment, she heard a knock at the door and Ilhoon’s voice booming, announcing his presence and smiled, knowing that it was her friend on the other side. She quickly hurried over and threw the door open, seeing the familar smile on her friend’s face after what felt like an eternity.

It was what Jennie had feared. She sighed and thanked the shop clerk, ready to leave the store to go back but she stopped just before she got to the door. She couldn’t go back empty handed; the little diva would probably throw a fit and try to get her fired because of one tiny little thing (even though, it was her that was being unreasonable). No, she refused to go back empty handed. This was probably her plan all along, she probably had expected Jennie to fail but she wasn’t going to. She refused to. She had almost run around all of Seoul and she wasn’t going to just give up like that. Her stubbornness wasn’t going to let her. 

Jennie spun around to the shop clerk, putting on her most charming smile she could muster in her current condition. It probably didn’t look as good as it normally did but she hoped it would work. “Hi, so I’ve been all around Seoul looking for this book and I would really appreciate it if you could let me have the first copy. I’m willing to pay double the price for it,” she batted her eyelashes, trying to put on her best puppy dog eyes as she clasped her hands together.

A sigh escaped as she figured that she probably wasn’t going to get her to give in like this, Jennie decided to play a different tactic. “Okay look, I’ve been running around the city all day trying to find this stupid book for one of my clients, who has been driving me insane. If I go back empty handed I’m sure she’s gonna try to get me fired. All I want to do is give her the damn book so I can go home and rest, because this damn cold is driving me insane, and I want to be able to relax without worrying about my job.”

Sun smiled and nodded at the girl as she prepared to take her leave. Of course, she felt bad for not being able to help, especially when it came to books. It was a nice (and more sober) escape from the real world for a little while and she was guilty of getting caught up in the stories of character’s lives.

The girl didn’t leave, though. Instead, she whirled around and came back to Sun and she was confused about the way she was looking at Sun, battling her lashes and seeming to try and use her charms on Sun to get her to give her a copy of the book. She remained silent, unsure of how to approach the situation and simply stared at the girl dumbfounded. Sure, this kind of thing wasn’t out of the ordinary either, but it was never anything she could ever prepare herself for.

Then, she seemed to change her tactic and be more blunt and straightforward and Sun wasn’t sure which method she preferred. Either way, it wasn’t easy for her to help the girl. “I’m sorry, I...” she was about to refuse the girl again, wanting to insist that there was nothing she could do but Sun was a human being after all, and her heart went out to the girl. “You’re sick?” she said quietly, taking note of her appearance and seeing that she looked well even though she was sick, which was good but that didn’t mean she didn’t feel terrible. 

Without another word, she went to the coffee station and quickly made the girl a cup of tea before returning and giving her the cup. “Here, this will help a little,” she offering a small smile. “Take a seat here too, don’t stand for so long if you’ve been running around all day, you won’t get better if you do that.”