#ellyn

You dreadfully woke up to the sound of your alarm. With a groan you grabbed your phone, careful to not wake your sister, as you turned it off .

You sighed quietly as you sat up, turning to look at the sleeping mess next to you. You pulled Sun-hee's cover over her and gave her a small kiss on the side of her head.

"I'll go fix your things" you whispered with a small smile.

You got up with a yawn then walked to the rack of clothes. You grabbed your sisters uniform then walked to the Ironing board.

As you ironed her clothes you heard her move around on the pile of blankets that was your bed.

"What time is it?" Her small and tired voice asked from under the pillows.

"Its still really early, go back to sleep," you spoke softly as you hung her clothes up, then walked to the small kitchen.

You heard her move around more, "Do you need help?" She asked as she sat up and rubbed her eyes.

You grabbed the eggs out of the fridge, "No I'm fine, but go back to sleep Sun-hee the sun hasn't even risen yet"

"Okay" You heard a small thump as she flopped back down into the pillow.

You fixed her breakfast, then yours, setting it at the old broken down table. You walked over to her and lightly rubbed her arm, "Wake up little sis"

She yawned then opened her eyes, smiling at you.

"Food's on the table" you stood back up, offering your hand to help her up.

She grabbed your hand and stood up. "Thanks"

"No problem."

When she sat at the table and began to eat, you threw your uniform on then walked over to the table to eat with her.

"What time do you get off of work today?" Your sisters voice broke you out of your thoughts.

"Um," you played with a piece of egg on your plate, "Probably late again"

"Oh..." you heard her sigh quietly.

You looked up at her, "Whats wrong?" You asked as you set your silverware down.

Sun-hee looked down at her lap, "Its just that, today is the day ya'know. I was hoping you could walk me there and back from home" she spoke quietly.

Today was the day Sun-hee was auditioning at an entertainment company. She's loved dancing since she was little, it was the best way for her to cope with everything that had happened throughout your childhood.

"I know, I don't want to miss it. How about I just go in late today to walk you there. Then I'll try to see if they can let me go a little earlier than usual."

Sun-hee quickly looked up with a small smile, "Really?"

You nodded with a small smile, "How about we even take a cab?" You prompted, pulling your wallet out of your pocket.

"Wow someone is feeling fancy today," she smiled, then she quickly frowned. "Are you sure you want to spend your money on that?"

"Why wouldn't I? It's for you and plus I got a small bonus two weeks ago that I've been saving to use on anything you might need."

"You're the best," she got up to run around the table and wrap you up in a hug.

You laughed then patted her back, "as much as I would love to hear more compliments, I have to go," You stood up, "Your uniform is ironed and I already packed you something for lunch."

"What about you?" She lightly tilted her head as she watched you put your shoes on.

"Um, I'm good. The breakfast should fill me up for the rest of the day" You stood up and grabbed your backpack.

"Are you sure? You know you can get sick if you don't eat three meals a day, right?"

You looked up at her with a small smile, "You know that's just something older people say to get kids to eat" You squeezed her cheek, but you could see the sadness in her eyes, knowing you avoided saying the word Mother.

"Okay" her voice came out quietly.

"I'm fine honestly, I'll just go across the street and get myself a bag of chips or something" you smiled, knowing that wasn't true.

You never ate at school because you just couldn't afford it. With all the bills you had to pay, and having to take care of your little sister, not being hungry was never at the top of your list. As long as you had a roof over the both of your heads and Sun-hee was taken care of, it was worth it.

Sun-hee nodded then she walked up to you grabbing your hand to look at it. "When are you going to get burn cream? Your hand isn't looking any better"

"Sun-hee, it's fine, I'm used to being in a kitchen. It's just a small burn I'm fine." You tried reassuring her.

"Yeah just a small burn, what about all these cuts and the rest of these burn marks?" She looked up at you.

You looked down at your own hands and had to admit they looked pretty beat up, but that's what eight hours in a kitchen does to you.

"Look it's fine, if you stop worrying I'll try and get you that teddy bear you've been wanting, deal?" You smiled at her.

She sighed then nodded quietly, "Deal"

You smiled then kissed her forehead, "I have to get going kiddo or I'm going to be late" you grabbed your wallet and gave her some money, enough for a cab ride and a snack.

"What's this for?"

"Just in case I can't get off early enough to get you home, take a cab it's too dangerous to ride the bus at night."

"Okay" she nodded.

You grabbed your phone, "Bye kiddo" you opened the door.

"Bye" she waved at you.

You waved back then walked out.

You started your thirty minute walk to school thinking of how you were going to be able to get Sun-hee to Next Level Entertainment in time for her audition, while still getting to work on time.

As you were walking you saw an older lady struggling to carry some bags up the steep hill so you ran over to her. You grabbed her bags and walked next to her.

"Oh my, thank you young lady" she smiled at you.

"Its no problem at all Ma'am" you smiled back.

You walked until you arrived at a really nice restaurant.

"You can set the bags down at the front door, I'll just ask my grandson to bring them in" the older lady said.

"Are you sure? I can bring them in, it's no problem"

"No No no, it's okay" she reassured you with a motherly smile, a smile you wish you had seen more in your childhood, "you have school to get to in time"

"Oh... right" you almost forgot, then set the bags down. "I better get going now," you smiled at her, then you dismissed yourself.

"Wait" the older lady spoke before you left, "Here" she held out some money.

You looked at the money then back up at her, shaking your head almost immediately, "No no, it's fine."

She grabbed your hand and set the money in it. "I can tell by your hands that you are a hard working young lady, you deserve this," she smiled.

"T-thank you.. um.." You paused not knowing what to call her.

"You can just call me grandma"

"Grandma?"

She pointed up to the sign above the restaurant, and you read it, Grandma's Kitchen .

"Oh Grandma" you mumbled then looked back at her, "Thank you Grandma, this means a lot."

"Come by anytime for a free meal, and bring your sister with you one day" she offered with a sweet smile.

"My sister?"

"Yes, the younger one who you are always walking down the road with"

"Oh" you smiled again, "Thank you again, Grandma" you dismissed yourself again then walked towards school.

You checked your phone 7:35  "Oh crap!" You stuffed your phone and the money in your pocket before taking off in a sprint to your school.

_

You were taking deep breaths by the time you made it to the school gates, you checked your phone 7:48 . You had two minutes.

You ran all the way to your classroom barely making it before the bell rang, you felt the sweat on your forehead begin to run down your face. You quickly wiped you face with your sleeve then walked to your seat in the back.

You heard whispers and laughter as you walked, then you felt a piece of wadded up paper hit you in the back of your head.

"Look, Ms. Homeless actually made it on time" you heard someone whisper.

You sat down in your seat and tried catching your breathe, looking down as you knew everyone was staring.

You felt someone tap your back and you clenched your fist, getting ready to feel something hit you. Then you remembered, no one sat behind you. You turned around slowly and were greeted by, what you could tell by her height while seated, a tall girl with long brown hair.

She smiled at you then she held a small package out to you, "Need a tissue" her voice was as soft as her skin looked.

You blinked then looked at her hand, you reached out and grabbed a tissue, "Thank you"

You could tell, you could always tell, that she was looking at your hands. You quickly moved them away and thanked her again before turning around.

You wiped your forehead then grabbed your notebooks out of your backpack.

_

Usually you could have fallen asleep by now during your fourth period class since Algebra was really easy to you, but the quiet humming coming from behind you kept you awake. It didn't bother you at all, instead you rather enjoyed it.

"Do I have a volunteer to come up here and solve this equation?" Your teacher prompted as she looked around the room.

You looked at the equation on the board and figured it out quickly, it was fairly simple. You raised your hand.

"Would you come up here and attempt to solve it?" Your teacher asked you with a smile.

You shook your head, "There's no need ma'am, the answer is X equals 7 plus or minus 4i square root of 13 over 2."

You teacher looked back at the equation then at you, "Can you show me your work?" She began to walk towards you.

"Um, unless there's a way to project what's going on in my mind, I highly doubt I have any work to show you ma'am"

You teacher stopped walking when she was next to your desk, "You solved that whole equation in your head?"

"Well yes, if I would say so myself. That is if I got it right ma'am"

Your teacher crossed her arms and looked as if she was trying to figure something out, "Well do you think you got it right?"

You looked back at the equation on the board then nodded when you solved it again, getting the same answer as before. "Yes ma'am" you looked back over at her.

"Hmm" she looked back around at the classroom, "did anyone else get anything different?" She asked the rest of the classroom.

You could hear a pencil quickly scribbling something down behind you.

"Nope, we didn't even attempt it, we thought Ms. Homeless knew what she was doing" the class clown answered.

"Yeah looks like someone isn't as smart as they hoped so" His buddy answered after him.

You looked down at the table, wishing you never even spoke.

"Haha looks like she's not just Ms. Homeless but she's also Ms. Dumbass" someone else added, you didn't even bother to guess who it was.

"That's enough!" Your teacher's voice shut everyone up. "If I hear anyone else say anything else about this young lady I will directly escort you to the office, understand!?"

A bunch of muttered "Yes ma'am's" and "Yeah's" filled the room.

"Now did anyone else get anything different?" She asked again in a more irritated voice.

You heard the pencil stop scribbling behind you.

"Yes Ms Kim?" Your teacher spoke again in her softer voice.

"Um I got exactly what she got," the girl behind you spoke.

Your teacher smiled and clapped, "Of course you did!" She called your name causing you to look up at her.

"Yes ma'am?"

She bent down to speak to you, "I knew you were correct, I just couldn't believe it myself. But you, even when I couldn't believe it, you never doubted your answer." She smiled and looked at the girl behind you, "Doyeon, thank you sweetheart for backing her up."

"No problem ma'am."

Kim Doyeon, so that's who you had to thank. You couldn't help the small smile that formed on your face.

"Do you know what makes an intelligent person, well intelligent?" She directed the question to you.

"Um, their brain?" You answered and asked slightly confused.

"No, Ms Kim?" She looked at Doyeon.

"The person never doubting their answer even if others don't believe them?" You could hear the smile in her voice.

"That's exactly correct Ms kim." Your teacher looked back at you, "Never ever doubt your answer, even when other don't believe you don't ever doubt yourself or change yourself for anyone," she spoke to you in a soft motherly tone, which made your stomach feel weird. "Meet me after class, okay?" She whispered.

"Yes ma'am" you answered.

Your teacher stood back up and began walking back towards the front of the classroom, "Alright class.." she began to speak again.

You turned around to look at the girl behind you, "Thanks" you mumbled quietly while shyly looking at her desk instead of her.

"No problem, and how did you do that in your head? Look how much writing it took me to do," She showed you her journal that had a ton of work scribbled on it which you then realized that that was what she was aggressively scribbling back there for.

"Oh, I don't know. It's just really simple I guess"

"Simple? Wow you have to tutor me because this is going to kill me."

"I'm sorry" you mumbled, "I have to rush to get to my little sister's school so I can take her to an audition while also rushing to get to work on time."

"Oh, I was just joking"

You looked up at her then immediately looked back down when you felt your face heat up, "S-sorry" you turned back around in your seat.

You heard her giggle quietly and that only made your face even more red.

You opened your notebook and began to take notes, which you were probably never going to look at.

_

When the bell rang for lunch you stayed in your seat as everyone else got up to go to the cafeteria.

You closed your eyes, letting out a soft sigh, as every one walked out of the classroom.

When you opened your eyes you noticed a note on your desk, already knowing it was another hate note you slid it in your note book.

You gathered your things then stood up to walk to you teachers desk.

"Ma'am?" You spoke quietly.

Your teacher looked up at you and smiled, "Pull up a chair"

You nodded then did as she asked.

You played with your fingers as you watched her type something in her computer, then she turned to face you.

"You normally don't speak in class so I never hear anyone talk about you, but does this happen often?" She crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair.

You looked down with a sigh, nodding, not wanting to speak.

"How often?"

"Every day ma'am."

You heard her chair squeak as she sat back up, "You're a very smart kid."

"Tha-" you started but she cut you off.

"Wait let me finish"

"Yes ma'am" you mumbled quietly.

"Why do these kids pick on you? You have the highest grades in your class but you still refuse to be class president, why? Your attitude is very put together but your presentation isn't, why? I have many questions for you young lady."

You looked up at her, "They pick on me because I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth, they pick on me because I actually have to work to survive, that I have to work to provide for my little sister and myself, that every moment out of this school I have to fend for not only my life but for my little sister's. And I don't want to be class president because that will put more attention on me and I don't have the time. And I may not look as well put together as the rest of these kids but I sure do try my best to be more respectful than any of them. And I don't look as well put together because I focus more on my little sister's presentation because I want her to be better. This year has already been too much. So excuse me ma'am if all you're going to do is dig into my life I would like to be excused" You didn't even notice how hard you were clenching the arm rest.

The look of shock on your teachers face was quickly replaced with a calm look, a look you could probably never achieve.

"Please calm down, I was just trying to see if you needed help with anything. And if you do don't be afraid to ask. If you're ever if trouble and you need somewhere to sleep I have a guest bedroom where you and your little sister can stay. I would be more than happy to help you" She spoke as her motherly tone made you feel something you never felt before, it made you feel as if the world wasn't as horrible as a place as you had thought it was.

You looked down as tears built up in the rim of your eyes. You quickly wiped your eye as soon as a tear slipped, "I'm sorry" you mumbled quietly.

"Its fine, we all have a breaking point" she reassured you in her calm motherly tone.

You buried your face in your hands as you began to cry quietly. "T-thank you" you mumbled in between sobs.

"May I see your hand?" She asked as she held her hand out.

You nodded slowly and put your hand in hers.

She examined your hand then she put it down, getting something out of her drawer. It was a medical kit.

"What do you do after school?" She asked as she pulled a tube, from what you could tell it seemed liked burn cream, out of the box.

"I um" you wiped another tear with your free hand, "I work in two different restaurants" you answered quietly.

"Two?" You teacher looked up at you in surprise.

You nodded and slightly flinched when she began to put the cream on your hand, "Yes ma'am, one is a restaurant a couple blocks away from the school and my house and the second one is a catering business"

She reached for your other hand and put cream on the burn marks, "So you cook?"

"Yes ma'am, well I try my best to cook"

"Which restaurant do you work at?"

"I work at the restaurant right next to that shoe store, it's called Taste Of Love"

"Taste Of Love?" She put your hands down when she finished tending to your wounds.

"Yes ma'am" you nodded.

She looked at you and she slightly tilted her head, "So you work at a restaurant, well two basically, but you look like you barely even eat or even try maintaining your health, why?"

"Well being fed isn't my top priority, My-" she cut you off again.

"Your sister is" She finished for you quietly.

"Yes ma'am that is exactly correct" you nodded.

She grabbed something else then handed it to you, "Here."

You looked at what she gave you and it was a coupon for a free ice cream with a purchase of a burger, and enough money for a burger, from the burger place across the street from your school.

You put it down and shook your head, "I'm sorry ma'am, I'm not a beggar."

"You're not begging, I'm giving" she put the coupon and money back in your hand.

"Well thank you but I'll just give this to my sister" you mumbled quietly as you put it in your pocket.

"No, this is for you, right now. Now you will either go across the street and eat or I will walk with you and get you something to eat."

You looked up at her then nodded, "okay, okay.."

She smiled then she stood up, "Okay well you better get going before you waste too much time to where you can't eat"

You stood up as well, "Thank you," you quietly dismissed yourself.

As you began to walk out your curiosity got the best of you and you pulled out the note from your notebook that was left on your desk.

You normally would just throw them away on your way to work but now that you had to actually walk across the street, you needed something to occupy yourself with.

You read the note to yourself as you headed to the front doors of your school. "𝙃𝙞, 𝙄'𝙢 𝘿𝙤𝙮𝙚𝙤𝙣, 𝙄 𝙨𝙞𝙩 𝙗𝙚𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙙𝙞𝙙𝙣'𝙩 𝙖𝙡𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙮 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩, 𝙬𝙚𝙡𝙡 𝙄 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙙𝙤 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙝𝙖𝙝𝙖, 𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙬𝙤𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙪𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙥 𝙩𝙪𝙩𝙤𝙧 𝙢𝙚. 𝘿𝙪𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙡𝙪𝙣𝙘𝙝 𝙞𝙨 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙚, 𝙄 𝙢𝙚𝙖𝙣 𝙞𝙩'𝙨 𝙪𝙥 𝙩𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪. 𝙄 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙥𝙞𝙘𝙠 𝙪𝙥 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙞𝙡𝙮 𝙞𝙛 𝙞𝙩'𝙨 𝙩𝙖𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙚 𝙨𝙡𝙤𝙬𝙡𝙮. 𝙋𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙚 𝙡𝙚𝙩 𝙢𝙚 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪'𝙧𝙚 𝙤𝙠𝙖𝙮 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙞𝙩. 𝙊𝙠𝙖𝙮 𝙗𝙮𝙚 ♡- 𝙆𝙞𝙢 𝘿𝙤𝙮𝙚𝙤𝙣"

You couldn't help but smile at the badly drawn heart, automatically knowing that she was rushing to write the note. You stuffed the note in your pocket as you made your way down the halls.

You heard footsteps behind you but you ignored them. Then you heard them get faster and not before long there was a tap on your shoulder. You turned around and were greeted by the notes author.

You looked at her in confusion, "oh hey?"

Stared at you with a big smile, "Did you get my note?"

"Note..?" You tilted your head to the side before lifting your head slightly, " Ah, You mean this one?" You pulled it out of your pocket.

She smiled and nodded, "yup"

You stuffed it back in your pocket then shrugged, "Nope, sorry. I have no idea what you are talking about."

"Haha very funny" she laughed sarcastically. "But what do you say?" She looked at you with a small smile.

"Um" you rubbed the back of your neck, "ah sure why not, but um if I don't go and get something to eat from the burger place out front, our teacher is going to kill me so.. yeah."

"Oh that's perfectly fine, I can go with you" she smiled and began to walk towards the doors.

You followed behind still trying to process why she was even talking to you, did she not hear what everyone was saying about you? Surely by now she'd have the same thoughts about you. You knew deep down that she was just going to be another person you wanted to avoid.

When you got to the burger place you ordered exactly what the coupon stated it was good for. You went to sit down at a booth, waiting on Doyeon to finish ordering her food, then she proceeded to sit down next to you.

You looked at her slightly confused, "Um I don't really have friends so I don't know exactly how these things work, but uh aren't you supposed to sit on the other side, like that..?" you pointed to a guy and a girl who were sitting across from each other in a booth across the fast food joint.

She smiled then pulled out her math notebook, "Yeah that is what normal people do, but it's easier this way for you to show me how to do these problems" she said pointing at her homework, which you had already finished during class.

"ah okay.." you nodded slowly. When you heard your number being called you looked at Doyeon, "Oh, my number was called" you showed her your receipt.

"I'll go get it for you, stay here." she stood up and walked away.

"Jeez what am I, a charity case" you mumbled before looking over the equations on her paper.

You felt her slide in next to you, sitting a little closer than she was before she got up to get all the food.

You had already written the answers to all ten problems while she was gone.

"Wow" she mumbled as she looked at the paper, then she looked at you, "Where's the work?"

You pointed to your head, "Um it's kind of all in here, but don't worry I'm still going to show you how to do them."

"Oh okay.." she nodded slowly.

You began to show her how to do the first few problems, going through the steps slowly while finding simple ways to explain the steps, then soon she was able to do the rest on her own, letting you check them as she finished each one.

When you both finished eating you checked your phone, "We better get going, we have five minutes till the bell rings" you put your phone back in your pocket.

"Oh already" she looked up at you.

"Yeah" you nodded, "I'll throw the stuff away"

"Okay" she slid out then you followed behind.

You picked up all the trash and threw it away. You put your hand over your stomach, feeling weird since you usually only ate in the mornings and sometimes late at night.

You walked back to the table and watched as Doyeon had begun packing all of her school work, following her lead, you gathered your own belongings.

"So.. about what you said earlier, what did you mean by that..?" Doyeon started the conversation as you stepped outside the fast food restaurant.

"What are you talking about..?" You kept your eyes looking ahead as you crossed the road.

"You said something about getting a sibling to an audition, do you mind if I ask you for what..?" She continued as you looked up at her with an amused look in your eyes, "Ah sorry, I just find these sort of things interesting, sorry if I crossed the line."

"Oh no, not at all," You started as the two of you walked through the school's main gate, "Uh well my little sister is a really great dancer, she's always been dancing since she was little, she was a natural at it. So she came up to me one night saying that she wanted to try taking dancing more serious but since we don't have the money to send her to a dance academy she wanted to try out in some entertainment company's auditions so she could basically get free dance lessons." You took a second to catch your breathe, "And it just so happens that one of those auditions is today. So I have to figure out how I can rush over to her school, so I can take her to the company where the audition is being held and still get to work on time."

"Oh wow, that's awesome. I hope your little sister makes it." She smiled while shaking her fist in the air.

"Ha, thanks I hope she makes it too. It will help keep her busy while I'm at work." You pulled your phone out of your pocket. "Want to see a picture of her..?"

"Huh?" Doyeon looked at you in surprise before nodding her head. "Of course."

You stopped walking and unlocked your phone, showing her your wallpaper. It was a picture of you and Sun-hee together in front of a bridge, it was an older picture and due to your phone's quality it was pretty blurred.

"Oh wow, she's tall.." Doyeon mumbled as if she herself wasn't a tall person.

You smiled and nodded your head, "Yeah and this was a while ago, she's grown even more." You looked up at Doyeon, "Actually I think she's about your height now. She's 174 Cm (5'9)"

"174? ah no she has me beat, I'm only 173 Cm (5'8)" Doyeon mumbled, "How old is she..?"

"She just turned 15, ah she's growing up so fast." You opened your gallery and showed Doyeon a more recent picture you had taken of your sister.

"15? Wow, hmm..." Doyeon looked at the picture, "The two of you don't look related.." She mumbled more to herself, not really meaning to say it out loud.

You let out a small sigh before nodding your head slowly, "It's because we're not." You turned your phone off and placed it back in your pocket.

"Huh..? Oh but you said she was yo-"

"I know, we were adopted together when she was a baby and I was just a toddler.. and then we were abandoned together.." You whispered the last part so quietly it was hard for Doyeon to catch it.

"Oh really..? Well blood isn't the only thing that makes you family." Doyeon smiled before reaching out to lightly pat your shoulder. "You have a beautiful little sister, she's lucky to have such an awesome big sister."

You couldn't help the small smile that made it's way onto your face, "Thank you. She's a great kid, I'd do anything for her."

"I bet, you seem like a really great per-"

Before Doyeon could continue you grabbed onto her arm and hurried inside, "We have like a minute until the bell rings. What class do you have next?" You asked as you led her into the building.

"Uh, oh I have history next," Doyeon said as she just followed your lead, a slight blush coating her cheeks.

"Room 262..?" You asked as you made your way through the halls.

"Oh yes!" Doyeon said when she remembered the number from her schedule that she had studied all morning.

"Okay, we're headed to the same place then." You were finally able to slow down when you made it to a door with the numbers 262 above. "We're here." You finally let go of Doyeon's arm to open the door for her. "After you.." You gestured for her to step inside the classroom.

"Thank you, I had no idea where I was going." She looked you in the eyes with a genuine smile before walking in.

You walked in behind her, "My seat is in the back, there's a few empty seats nearby." You pointed to the back of the classroom.

"Ah, ok.." Doyeon mumbled when she noticed everyone staring at the two of you, whispers spreading around the classroom.

Doyeon noticed right away the moment when you finally heard what was being said, your shoulders dropped and your eyes focused on the ground, it absolutely broke her heart to see you that way.

"Well I'll leave you to find a seat.." You turned away from her to begin walking to your desk, but when you heard her footsteps follow behind you, you paused and turned around. "Don't sit near me unless you want to be treated like I am here. You shouldn't get close to me." You bowed your head down at her, "I hope you understand why I say this. You deserve to have friends here." And with that, you walked away from her, leaving Doyeon to just stare at you while everyone around whispered about the two of you.

At the sound of the bell ringing, Doyeon was knocked from her daze, deciding on where to sit.

"isn't that reporter Kim Seoyoung's daughter? What is she doing hanging out with that loser?"

"Kim Seoyoung's daughter? No wonder she looks familiar.."

"You don't think the two of them are friends do you?"

"No way, the daughter of such a famous reporter would never be friends with some homeless loser."

"haha you're right, you think I should try asking for her number?"

"dude her mom is the hottest reporter for SBS, do you really think you have a chance with her daughter?"

"Doyeon, I told you not to sit near me.." You whispered when the taller girl sat down next to you at the shared table.

Doyeon took all her stuff out of her bag and placed it on the table. Once she was satisfied with how everything was laid out, she looked over at you, her eyes locking onto your own. "If sitting next to you means not having to be friends with those terrible people then I will sit with you every chance I get." A soft smile took over her features as she reached over to place her hand on your arm, "You're the only person here who has genuinely been nice to me. Thank you." She gave your arm a soft squeeze before facing away to greet the teacher that walked in with the rest of the class.

You stared at the side of her face, your hand sitting atop the spot on your arm where her hand was just seconds ago.

_

The rest of your day was spent with Doyeon following you around so she could navigate her way through the halls to class, and with her schedule perfectly aligning itself with yours, it couldn't be better. She wasn't lying when she said she would sit next to you every chance she could get, your mind had never been as occupied with thoughts other than your school work before. This new girl was just all you could think about. You had never had someone be this nice to you, you knew you couldn't get too attached to her, you were just waiting for the moment when she would become like everyone else.

The final bell rang and so you slowly packed up all your belongings as everyone made their way out of the classroom. This had become routine for you, you found it easier to leave without conflict once everyone else was along their merry way.

"Huh? What are you still doing here?" You asked when you noticed Doyeon was still next to you when you finished zipping up your bag.

"Me? I'm waiting for you!" She smiled brightly.

"Why?" You asked in genuine confusion.

"Because we're friends, and friends wait for each other." She answered as she stood up to place her bag on her shoulders.

"We're friends..?" You asked, copying her movements of putting your own bag on.

"Well.. I was hoping we were.. Are we not?" Her head tilted to the side as her eyes read your facial expression.

"Um, I mean.. If you want to be. I've never had a friend at school before.." You admitted to her quietly.

"Really? So I'm your first??" She asked excitedly.

"Uh... yeah? I didn't know that was something to be proud of," Your eyebrows turned up in confusion at her reaction.

Doyeon laughed before shaking her head, "It's really not, honestly It's kind of sad but... you have to turn your negatives into positives! And I'm probably the best positive in your life!" She smiled as she placed her hands under her chin, fluttering her fingers.

You couldn't hold your laughter in at the sight of that dumb smile on her face. "You're so weird.."

"But I made you laugh, no..? That's all that matters!" She gave the top of your head two light pats. "Now let's go, we have to get your sister to her audition in time." This time it was Doyeon who grabbed your arm and led you out of the classroom and through the halls.

"huh? We? What do you mean we?" You asked in confusion as you just allowed yourself to be dragged around by her.

"Well I want to meet your little sister, I can't let you take her to a random company all on your own." Doyeon flashed you a smile before looking ahead.

"Ah, um okay..? Also do you even know where you're going..?" You looked at where she had led you... the front doors were on the complete opposite side of the building from where she was leading you.

"Nope not a single clue, I was hopping it'd come back to me as we passed through some of the halls but nope. Nothing.." She smiled as she continued to blindly lead you through the halls.

"Okay, well take a left here. We're too far to go through the front doors so let's just go through here." You gestured to a metal fire escape door.

"Huh? Won't it sound an alarm..?" Doyeon finally stopped walking, pausing in front of the metal door.

"No, trust me. I go through here all the time." You took a step forward, opening the door and gesturing for her to walk through.

"Okay then, if we get in trouble I'm blaming it on you." She hummed before walking through the door to the outside.

You followed behind her, your eyes taking a minute to adjust to the bright sunlight. "See, no alarm." You walked out until you made it to the path that wrapped around the outside of the school building.

"Wow, you were right.." Doyeon mumbled as she followed you.

"Of course, I'm always right." You led her to one of the side gates. "Okay, well seriously, I should let you leave now. I have to hurry to my little sister's school." You gave her a small head bow before trying to turn away.

"Hey wait," Doyeon grabbed you by your shoulder, stopping you from turning away from her. "I wasn't kidding about what I said earlier. I'm going with you." Her hand made it's way down from your shoulder until she held your hand in hers. "Follow me." She led you along the side walk until she saw what she was expecting. She walked up to a black car that was parked on the other side of the street.

You watched as the man that was behind the steering wheel stepped out to greet Doyeon with a respectful bow. He went to reach for the back door, but paused when he saw you, sending Doyeon a questioning look.

"She's a friend. We have somewhere to go." She smiled at him. "I'll call my mom in a little bit, don't worry!"

"Yes ma'am," He answered her before opening the door.

"Go on.." Doyeon gestured for you to get in first.

"Doyeon, you can't be serious.. I could've taken a cab." You looked from the car back to her.

"Don't be ridiculous, get in." She stared at you, seeing as you weren't going to take another step forward she got in first, tugging on your hand until you got in with a huff. "There we go, now was that so hard..?" She smiled as she let go of your hand so she could buckle you in.

"Where to ma'am..?" The driver looked at Doyeon through the rear view mirror.

Doyeon looked at you. You whispered the address to her and she repeated it to him.

"Okay, we'll be there soon." The driver smiled at her and then to your surprise after he pressed a button a black divider lifted itself from between the front seats and where the back seats were.

"Wow.." Your mouth fell open as you looked at the divider in surprise.

Doyeon just smiled as she placed her own seatbelt on. She reached over to hold your hand in the both of hers.

You looked over at her in surprise, "I'm already in the car, I can't run away now.." You joked with her to downplay the blush that made it's way on your cheeks.

"I know," She ran her thumb over your knuckles, "I just wanted to.." She whispered quietly before looking out the window on her side.

"oh.." you looked out the window on your side as well, hiding the smile on your face. You hated to admit it, but spending the whole day with Doyeon had partially relieved some of the stress you had been feeling lately. For the first time in a while you actually felt happy in life.

The car came to a stop and the black divider slowly lowered itself. "We have arrived, miss."

"Thank you, just wait here for a minute, we'll be right back." Doyeon told him as she unbuckled hers and your seatbelt, reaching to open the door.

"Wait miss I have to op-"

"Don't worry about it, I can open my own door." She smiled at him before opening the door and helping you out of the car. "Okay and now where is this talented little sister of yours at..?" Doyeon asked with a smile.

"Oh she should just be getting out of class now, we can go wait by the front entrance." You pointed to the front of the school's building.

"Sounds good." Doyeon hummed before grabbing your hand to lead you to the entrance.

The two of you waited by a light pole as students made their way out of the school.

"Oh there she is!" You raised your hand in the air to get Sun-hee's attention. Once your little sister finally noticed you she ran over.

"Big sis! You're here?" Sun-hee's eyebrows raised in surprise before she hugged you.

"Of course I am, I wouldn't miss this for anything." You hugged her back before pulling away to fix her hair. "How are you feeling..?"

"Oh I don't feel nervous at all, I'm so excited!" Sun-hee bent down a little bit so it was easier for you to fix her hair. "Oh, who's this..?" Your little sister looked over at Doyeon, who was just smiling by your side at you and your sister's whole interaction.

"Oh Sun-hee say hello to Doyeon, she's a friend from school." You stood next to Doyeon as you introduced the two of them to each other. "And Doyeon this is my little sister, Sun-hee."

"Hello Sun-hee, it's nice to finally meet you. Your sister talks about you a lot." Doyeon smiled at your little sister before sticking her hand out towards her.

"Ah, Well hi Doyeon, it's nice to know my sister has a friend to accompany her in school." Sun-hee accepted Doyeon's handshake. "You never mentioned you had a friend at school, I thought you just studied on your own all day." Sun-hee said once she faced you.

"It's cause I didn't, today was her first day at our school." You answered the questioning look in your little sisters eyes.

"Your sister here, is the one that showed me around all day. Well I kind of forced her to show me around, I stuck by her all day. So technically I forced her into being my friend." Doyeon wrapped an arm around your shoulders.

"Oh I see, so if you don't mind me asking, did you follow her all the way here too..?" Sun-hee's head tilted to the side as she focused on the arm that was wrapped around you. Now Sun-hee was your younger sister, but who says younger siblings can't be as protective over their older siblings like how older siblings are over their younger ones.

You stepped forward, letting Doyeons arm drop, and placed both of your hands on Sun-hee's uniform's blazer, straightening it while you spoke to her. "Doyeon here actually gave me a ride here so I could take you to your audition. Now are you ready to head on over to that company?" You smiled at Sun-hee as your hands moved to hold onto both of her arms, giving her a small squeeze.

Sun-hee stared at Doyeon a little longer before smiling at you with a nod. "Yeah, I'm ready. I looked it up earlier and it's just about a thirty minute walk from here."

"Oh really? That's not bad at all. Well let's say bye to Doyeon before we head on over, okay..?"

"Okay big sis, we can say bye to your friend first." She gave you a funny look before looking over at Doyeon.

You turned around to face Doyeon, Sun-hee looking at her from behind you. "Okay Doyeon, well I'll let you go on your way now. Thank you for the ride, I really appreciate it. Me and Sun-hee are going to go ahead and head over there."

"No way, there's no chance I'm letting the two of you walk over there. Come on, the car is waiting over there." Doyeon smiled at the two of you.

"No, Doyeon really, you don't need to do that. We'll be okay, really we're used to walking everywhere anyways." You looked up at your sister, "Right Sun-hee..?"

"Yeah my sister is right, we walk everywhere together, we'll be okay." Sun-hee placed her hands on your shoulders.

"Guys come on, I know I don't need to do this, I want to do this. Now will the two of you please just get in the car. Please." Doyeon gave the two of you puppy eyes.

And after exchanging a look with your younger sister you sighed, "Fine, we'll go with you, Doyeon."

"Huh? Really?? Okay, follow me then!" Doyeon's eye's lit up before walking over to the parked car, you and Sun-hee following behind her.

"Is she always this energetic..?" You sister whispered to you as you followed behind Doyeon.

"I honestly don't know, like I said earlier I've only known her since this morning. But she's really nice if that accounts for anything." You shrugged.

"Ah okay, well I'm glad you have a friend now big sis, now you can focus on something other than me for a while."

"Nothing in this world will ever be a bigger priority to me than your health and well-being." You smiled at your little sister, "I have to pat myself on the back, I think I've done a good job so far, especially with seeing how tall you've gotten."

"Of course you did a good job, I couldn't have asked for a better big sister."

You and Sun-hee paused behind Doyeon who stood next to the open door.

"Oh, um Sun-hee do you think you can slide in first. Your sister is the shortest one so it would probably be best to put her in the middle don't you think." Doyeon suggested to your little sister with an innocent smile.

Sun-hee stepped infront of you, a smile on her face. "It's okay, I can sit in the middle."

"Oh..? Are you sure..? I didn't want your legs to get cramped especially before an audition." Doyeon shrugged, "Well sit however your comfortable with arranging yourselves."

You walked up, grabbing your little sisters arm, "It's okay Sun-hee, I can sit in the middle. Doyeon is right, you should be comfortable before your audition." You walked up to the car door, pulling your little sister with you. "Go on." You smiled when she gave you a funny look, "It's okay, go ahead and get in. We don't want to be late now do we..?"

Sun-hee let out a small huff before shaking her head, "No we don't." She mumbled something quietly before nodding her head, "Okay, I'll get in first."

"Yay," You joked with her as she slid in the back, sitting behind the driver seat. You turned around to face Doyeon, "Sorry about that, she has a hard time with letting me get close to people she doesn't really know that well."

"It's all good, I understand." Doyeon smiled before gesturing for you to get in.

"Ah, right." You made your way into the car, sliding in next to your little sister.

Doyeon stood at the door for a few more seconds, taking the time to study you and your little sisters small actions. She smiled to herself as she watched the way you took care of Sun-hee's appearance, fixing some strands of her hair and pulling the bottom of her uniform's skirt to cover her legs.

"She's pretty..." Doyeon whispered as she watched the way your eye's twinkled when you spoke to Sun-hee. "And nice, the perfect person in my eyes." Doyeon got in the car, closing the door behind her. As soon as she shut the door the black divider rolled down.

"Where to miss..?" The driver spoke to Doyeon.

"Ah, give me a second." Doyeon pulled her phone out before facing you. "What was the name of the company..?"

"It's called Next Level Entertainment." Sun-hee answered for you.

"Oh" Doyeon met Sun-hee's eyes, "Thank you." She typed the company's name into her phone and looked for the address, once she found it she read it out loud to the driver.

"Okay, we'll be there soon miss." The driver said before pressing the same button from earlier causing the black divider to go up.

"Was that thing up for the whole drive over here..?" Sun-hee whispered to you, pointing at the divider.

"Yeah it was, why..?" You whispered back, not quite being able to read the look in her eyes.

"No reason.." Sun-hee mumbled before grabbing both of your hands and holding them in her lap.

You couldn't help but laugh on the inside at how protective your little sister was being. "Sun-hee, you have to put your seatbelt on first."

"Oh right.." Sun-hee mumbled before looking past you to stare at Doyeon.

You pulled your hands away so you could buckle her in. "Sun-hee, it's okay. You don't have to be on guard. Take this time to relax." You whispered in her ear as you clicked her seatbelt in place.

Sun-hee hesitated before nodding her head. "Okay, I just don't want to see you get hurt again by someone we don't know."

"It's going to be okay, alright..? Do you trust me..?" You fixed the way the seat belt crossed her body, making sure it laid flat against her upper body and it wasn't digging into her body.

"Of course I trust you." She sighed, "But okay, I'll try to trust your friend. If you're that adamant about her being a good person then I have no choice but to try to trust her."

"Okay there we go." You gave your sisters arm a small squeeze, "Thank you for worrying about me Sun-hee, but let's leave all the worrying to me. Okay..?"

"I can't help it, youre so small I can't let you try to defend yourself because then you'll just get hurt."

"It's all going to be okay, alright..? Just relax, you got a busy day ahead of you. Try taking a nap."

Sun-hee nodded before leaning her head back, slowly closing her eyes.

You let out a small huff before putting your own seatbelt on. Your buckle was on the other side, on Doyeon's side.

"Oh sorry I didn't see your hand there.." You quickly apologized when your hand bumped into Doyeon's as she was also buckling her seatbelt in at the same time.

Doyeon let out a small chuckle, "It's all good, there's no reason to apologize." She placed her hand over yours, buckling your seatbelt in all the way. "There we go. All buckled in." She gave your hand a small pat.

"Thanks." You told her, trying to keep your voice down so Sun-hee could try and take a small nap.

"Is she sleeping..?" Doyeon matched your hushed tone when she noticed Sun-hee's closed eyes.

You hummed, "I told her to try and get some rest before we get there."

"Oh really..? Then we should probably give her some more room so she's not all pressed against the door." Doyeon moved over more towards her door, gesturing for you to move closer to her.

"Ah right.." You nodded before sliding over just a little bit so you and Doyeon were closer together and Sun-hee had more room for herself.

The back seat was silent for a while before Doyeon finally spoke again. "You're a really good big sister."

"Huh..?" It took you a moment to register that Doyeon had spoken since you had gotten used to the silence in the car. "Oh thank you, I'm really not, but I try hard for her. She deserves to have a sort of normal childhood. I want her to be able to make friends and have fun while she's young."

"Basically all the things you gave up to raise her.." Doyeon added quietly.

It took you a moment to respond as what she had said echoed in your head. "Well I never thought of it in that way. I just wanted her to live as close to a normal life as she could."

"I see..." Doyeon smiled at you, "Like I said before, she's got a great big sister."

You and Doyeon continued on with small talk until the car finally came to a stop, the black divider slowly rolled down.

"We have arrived Miss." The driver informed Doyeon.

"Thank you," Doyeon answered the driver before turning to face you, "You can wake her up now." She gestured over to Sun-hee who was still sleeping.

"Ah right.. hey, Sun-hee, we're here. C'mon wake up.." You slowly tried waking up your little sister.

After a few more seconds of you trying to wake her, Sun-hee finally spoke up. "Hmm..? okay, I'm awake.." It took a little bit longer for her to open her eyes. "I'm awake now.." She smiled at you.

"I see" You fixed her hair and smiled back, "Well are you ready..?"

"Of course! I'm going to crush this audition then I'm going to become famous and make enough money so you never have to work again." Sun-hee's eyes sparkled.

"Wow, you're feeling ambitious. But we both know you're going to crush this audition, no one dances better than my baby sister."

"Ah, stop I'm not a baby." Sun-hee scrunched her nose when you pinched her cheek.

"I know I know, but in my eyes you will always be three year old Sun-hee."

"I'm fifteen now, I'm basically a grown up now. You don't have to baby me anymore." She pulled your hand away from her cheek.

"Ha, no. You need to live your teenage years as a teenager, leave the adult stuff to me. Okay..? All I want you to focus on is crushing this audition."

"Okay big sis, you can trust me. I'll make you proud." Sun-hee smiled the brightest smile you'd seen in a while.

"Hey, I'm always proud of you. No matter what you do, I'll always be proud of you. Okay..? So let's hurry and go so miss Doyeon here can get on with her day."

"Oh, right. We should hurry then." Sun-hee nodded at you.

You turned to face Doyeon, who just smiled at you. "Oh did you guys want me to open the door..?" Doyeon asked.

"Yeah, if you don't mind. I don't want Sun-hee opening the door into traffic." You gestured to the cars passing by, just a few paces away from the parked car.

"Oh, right. Okay." Doyeon gave the both of you one last smile before opening the door on her side and stepping out. You followed behind her and then Sun-hee was the last one out.

"Wow.." Sun-hee looked at the front of the entertainment building.

"Wow..." You echoed as you also took in the view in front of you.

Doyeon giggled as she quickly pulled her phone out to snap a picture of the two of you just staring at the building, mirroring each other's expression.

"Big sis... I wasn't nervous before but now.. I'm starting to feel a little nervous.." Sun-hee finally looked away from the building to look at you.

"No, don't be nervous. You'll be okay. Come on, I'll walk inside with you to see where you have to go." You gave your little sister an encouraging pat on the back.

"Okay, well let me get my bag out of the car then." Sun-hee walked back to the car to pull her backpack out.

"You look nervous, are you okay..?" Doyeon asked, once she walked up to you.

"Me..? Yeah I'm okay." You feigned a small smile, you didn't know why but your stomach began to feel weird.

Doyeon smiled before placing her hand on your arm, "Your little sister is growing up and chasing her dream, it's okay to feel nervous. She's going to be okay. Trust me." She gave your arm a small squeeze before letting go.

"Thank you for that, I just can't believe she's already so grown. I swear she was just a kid a few days ago."

"The both of you are technically still kids. So don't stress out too much." Doyeon joked, giving you a small nudge on your shoulder.

"Actually, I'll technically be an adult next year. I think.. I don't remember.."

"You don't remember when you were born..?" Doyeon asked in genuine confusion, but before you could respond Sun-hee made her way back, squeezing in between you and Doyeon.

Sun-hee smiled, "I got my backpack. I'm ready to go in!"

"Okay, well lets go inside." You took a step back so you could see Doyeon, "You don't have to come inside if you don't want to. I know you're probably busy."

"Are you kidding..? No I want to see this through, nothing is more important than your little sister making it through her audition." Doyeon smiled at both you and Sun-hee.

"Okay, but you can leave at any moment, I don't want you to feel like you have to be here." You grabbed Sun-hee's hand, "Let's go."

"Okay!" Sun-hee smiled, before looking at Doyeon and moving closer to you.

Doyeon couldn't help but laugh at how protective your little sister was over you.

The three of you made your way into the building, there were no signs pointing to an audition so you took the role of walking up to the main desk to ask for help, Sun-hee and Doyeon stayed further back to watch you talk to the main desk worker.

"Hey I have a question.." Doyeon whispered to Sun-hee.

Sun-hee looked over at Doyeon, taking a few moments before answering, "What is it..?"

"Why don't you like me..?" Doyeon asked outright.

"Huh..? What are you talking about..?" Sun-hee was confused at the question.

"You just seem to not like me. Did I do something wrong..?"

"No, you haven't done anything wrong. I'm sorry if you got that impression from me. I don't dislike you."

"Then, why do you seem to have an issue with me being around your sister..?" Doyeon's eye's showed that her questions were sincere.

Sun-hee let out a small sigh before turning to face Doyeon. "Because my sister is kind of dumb when it comes to knowing what other people are thinking and feeling, so I have to take it upon myself to make sure she doesn't get hurt. She does everything for me so this is the least I can do for her." Sun-hee stood a little taller so she was just barely above eyelevel to Doyeon. They were almost the same height, but Sun-hee just barely had her beat.

"So what does that have to do with me getting close to your sister..?" Doyeon had to tilt her head up a little to look Sun-hee in the eyes.

"It's just pretty obvious that you have certain feelings towards her. Now I don't want to make any astute assumptions on what those feelings may be, whether they're just platonic or maybe even romantic, I just want to protect my sister. She's never been close to anyone before and in my eyes from just the few interactions I've seen and heard between the two of you,  you are pretty insistent on wanting to maintain a relationship with her. Once again I won't make an assumption on if that relationship you want is platonic or romantic, that is up to you and my big sis. I just know that my sister does not see you as a permanent figure in her life yet. Once again that is not your fault, it's just the way my sister is. No one she meets is someone she see's as a permanent figure in her life, except for m-"

"Except for you.." Doyeon finished Sun-hee's sentence for her. Doyeon had to admit, she was really impressed by the way Sun-hee spoke and carried herself. You had really done a good job on raising her.

"Yeah, except for me." Sun-hee nodded.

"I see. Well thank you for explaining that to me, it makes me feel better. I thought I did something to you. But you're right. I do want to establish a relationship with your older sister, and I would be lying if I said there were not any romantic feelings there either. I just want you to know that I will not act on those feelings, I just want to establish a friendship with your sister."

"Why..?" Sun-hee asked bluntly before shaking her head and speaking again when she saw the slight shock in Doyeon's eyes. "I mean, why my sister..? Nothing against you, it's just no one has ever wanted to be close to her. Plus I thought the two of you just met."

Doyeon smiled before nodding her head, "We did, and I don't know how to explain it. Your sister is just a really good person. It's been a long time since I've been around anyone that has treated me like a decent person. Plus she's really pretty." Doyeon's cheeks reddened in embarrassment at the look Sun-hee gave her.

"Hey that's my big sis, just because you're nice doesn't mean I want to hear you gush about her." Sun-hee rolled her eyes before laughing, "I'm just joking. But on a serious note, If you do go about trying to pursue anything with her, just be nice to her. She's done a lot for me and she's never really taken care of her own self, so please just keep an eye on her for me. I would appreciate that, Doyeon."

"Oh trust me, I have kept my eye on her.." Doyeon mumbled.

"Okay, ew.." Sun-hee pretended to throw up.

"What..? You don't think your sister is pretty..? Because you'd be surprised by how much she brags about you. She's complimented literally everything about you." Doyeon laughed at Sun-hee's expression.

"No, I know my sister is pretty, but hearing it from someone else that I now know likes her is just weird." Sun-hee scrunched her nose before joining Doyeon in laughing.

"Hey you two, what's so funny..?" Your voice made the two of them freeze. "Um..?" You looked at them in confusion as Sun-hee shot Doyeon a look. "Did I miss something..?"

"Huh..? Oh no, uh Sun-hee here was just telling me about something funny that had happened at her school." Doyeon answered once she cleared her throat.

"Ah, was it the story about the teacher that farted in the middle of your exam..? Or about that kid that sneezed when he was eating soup in the cafeteria..? Or when your principal left the intercom microphone on and everyone heard his conversation with the vet about his dog's bad diarrhea..?" You asked Sun-hee with a smile.

"Uh.. it was the fart one." Sun-hee smiled and looked over at Doyeon while nodding, "Right..?"

"Ye-yeah, it was really funny, ha ha.." Doyeon looked at Sun-hee like she was in distress.

"um.. okay, well anyways I found out where we need to head to." You cleared your throat before continuing, "We need to head down that hallway," You pointed to a hallway that headed to the left, "And then three doors down on the right side there should be a sign that says something about the audition and then we head in and find the name tag with your name on it."

"Oh okay, well then lets go." Sun-hee smiled before making her way to the hallway.

"Hold on, wait for me.." You told her before rushing off behind her.

"Oh, and me!" Doyeon yelled before running to catch up to the both of you.

"1... 2.. 3.. ah there's the sign." Sun-hee stood next to the door and pointed at the sign on it.

"Oh wait, stay right there, this will be a good picture.." You smiled as you pulled your phone out of your pocket, opening the camera app.

"Hey, what are you doing, go stand next to her. I'll take a picture for you." Doyeon pulled her own phone out.

"Oh, are you sure..?" You looked at her, unsure on whether or not you should put your phone back in your pocket.

"Yes I'm sure, hurry." Doyeon smiled as she gestured for you to stand next to Sun-hee. "Okay, ready. 1.. 2.. 3.. Perfect!" Doyeon showed you the picture.

"Oh, that came out good. Can you send that to me..?" You showed Sun-hee the picture.

"Ah I can, I just need your number." Doyeon opened up to the dial pad on her phone and handed it to you.

"Oh right, okay."

You didn't notice Sun-hee shaking her head behind you as you typed in your number.

"Smooth" Sun-hee mouthed to Doyeon.

Doyeon simply shrugged with a sly smile, "What can I say?" She mouthed back.

"Here you go." You handed Doyeon her phone back before turning back to face Sun-hee, "Let's head in to find your name tag."

"Okay!" Sun-hee smiled and opened the door.

"Oh good, looks like there isn't that many people here yet." You walked through the open door with Doyeon following behind.

"Oh, hey!" A girl that was going to walk passed you stopped when she saw Doyeon.

"Oh, Seheun..? What are you doing here?" Doyeon said to the girl that spoke to her, Seheun you assumed.

"I should be asking you that, I'm here to audition. I thought you gave up on wanting to be a singer..?"

"Uh.. big sis, I'm going to go look for my name tag." Sun-hee whispered to you before walking to the table with name tags on it.

"I did actually, I'm here accompanying a friend." Doyeon answered her before gesturing to you and Sun-hee who was now reading over all the name tags on the table.

"Oh she's pretty, is she the one auditioning..?" Seheun asked.

"Oh no, her little sister is auditioning." Doyeon pointed to Sun-hee.

"Little? She's tall for being the little sister. Anyways, it's crazy seeing you here, I haven't seen you since you moved schools." Seheun smiled as she spoke to Doyeon.

You just stood there awkwardly not knowing exactly what to do, but that's when Sun-hee came running back over to you, with a big sticker that had her name written on it.

"Well I have to go, I'll see you soon Doyeon. Take care!" You were distracted by the huge sticker on Sun-hee's shirt to hear what Doyeon had said in response to the girl before she walked away.

"I found my name tag!" Sun-hee smiled as she pointed to the sticker that was now on her shirt.

"Yeah that's kind of hard to miss." You joked as you pulled your phone out once again to take a picture of your sister.

"Here I got it," Doyeon said before snapping a few pictures of Sun-hee for you, "Go stand next to her."

"Ah right. Okay." You walked over to Sun-hee and gave her a half hug for the picture.

"Got it, looks good." Doyeon smiled as she showed you the picture.

"It does, thank you Doyeon." You let Sun-hee look at the picture before turning to look at her. "Okay well I think this is as far as we can go with you, so I'll have to leave you here now. Do you still have that money I gave you this morning..?"

"Yes, it's in my bag." Sun-hee nodded.

"Okay, well take that money to get a cab to the restaurant and I'll walk with you home from there. Okay..?" You placed your hands on her shoulder.

"Okay big sis. Thank you for being here today. I hope you're not late to work." Sun-hee gave you a small smile.

"Ah it's going to be okay. You're more important than my job. All I want you to focus on is crushing this audition, okay..?"

"Okay, I'll do really good for you!" Sun-hee smiled before hugging you.

"I know you will, just don't be nervous and have fun. That's all that matters." You hugged her back. "Call me if you need anything, okay..?" You pulled away to look at your sister.

"Okay, I will. Be careful on the way to work. I'll see you later." Sun-hee smiled as she waved at you.

"Alright Sun-hee, I'll see you tonight, have fun." You waved back at her.

"Oh and bye Doyeon, thank you for the ride." Sun-hee then waved at Doyeon.

"Hey, anytime." Doyeon smiled before following you out the door.

"Wow, I hope she does good..." You mumbled as you made your way down the hallway.

"Hey she's got this. She has the best role model in the world. She's going to do great." Doyeon grabbed your arm. "Don't be nervous."

You let out a small sigh before nodding, "You're right, she's got this."

The two of you made your way out the door and you walked with Doyeon to the waiting car. You finally snapped out of your daze when she opened the door.

"Oh no, I can walk from here, I've held you back enough today. You probably have other things you need to do, I can get to work on my own." You pulled your arm out of her grip.

"Hey, don't be ridiculous, you know there's no chance I'm going to let you walk to work. Get in." She grabbed your arm and pulled you towards her, it wasn't aggressive but it was enough for you to get the hint. She wasn't going to take no for an answer.

You had to let out a small smile, "I've never met anyone who was so aggressively nice before."

"There's a first time for everything I guess. Now get in the car before I pick you up and put you inside the car myself." She smiled before nudging you to the car.

"Okay okay, I'm getting in." You got into the car, sitting where Sun-hee was just moments ago.

Doyeon got in and closed the door after her, "There we go, see how easy that was..?" She smiled at you.

"You know I'm starting to feel like I'm about to be kidnapped, should I start screaming now or should I wait a little bit longer..?" You joked with her.

"Ha ha very funny, now buckle up young miss. Don't need you getting hurt now do we..?" Doyeon reached across you to pull your seatbelt across your body and buckled you in.

"Thanks.." You mumbled once she wasn't leaning so close to you.

"Now that's all better.." She smiled at you and then the black divider made it's way down again.

"Where to now..?" The driver asked Doyeon.

"Oh right, where do you work..?" Doyeon turned to face you.

You told her the address to the restaurant you worked at and then she relayed it to the driver.

"Wow that's crazy, one of my mom's co-workers had recommended that restaurant to us when we first moved to this side of town."

"Really..? Well I'm glad it has a good reputation. There's a lot of hard work that goes on behind the scenes at that place.." You subconsciously ran your finger over the burn scars on your hand.

"I bet, they're lucky to have such a hard worker like yourself working with them." Doyeon complimented you like it was nothing. And maybe to her complimenting people truly was like nothing, but to you every kind word she said seemed to lift your mood.

"Ah thank you, that means a lot."

For the rest of the car ride to the restaurant Doyeon just asked you random questions to try and get to know you better.

_

"We have arrived miss." the driver spoke, you didn't even notice the car had stopped moving or that the divider had gone down.

"Okay, thank you." Doyeon replied to him before the divider went back up.

"Well I guess this is where we part ways then." You took your seatbelt off and looked her in the eyes. "Once again, thank you so much Doyeon, you didn't have to do this."

"I already told you, I did all this because I wanted to. You don't need to thank me." Doyeon took her own seatbelt off. "I'll walk you inside." She opened her door and stepped out.

At this point you knew there was no talking her out of it, whenever Doyeon said she wanted to do something you knew she was going to do it. "Okay."

Doyeon held her hand out to help you get out of the car, you stared at her hand for a moment before taking it into your own and stepping out of the car. Doyeon closed the door behind you and the both of you made your way towards the restaurant.

"Well I have to go into the back now, thank you so much Doyeon." The two of you paused at the door leading into the restaurant. There didn't seem to be many people there yet but you knew that the dinner rush wouldn't start for another few hours, which meant a lot of prep work had to be done.

Doyeon let out a little groan, "Fine I guess I have to let you go now." She let go of your hand, "Thank you for keeping me company today, it's been a long time since I've genuinely had a good time."

"Oh, and if you don't mind can you send me those pictures you took earlier..? I might try going this weekend to get them printed out."

"Of course, I'll send them to you soon, but I guess I should really let you go now. I don't want you to get in trouble because you're sitting out here talking to me." Doyeon took a step back and gestured for you to head inside.

"Okay Doyeon, I'll see you tomorrow at school." You waved at her before walking into the restaurant.

Doyeon stood outside just taking a few more moments to herself to look inside the restaurant. She watched as you interacted with a few of the customers there and then headed to the back. Doyeon would have spent a bit longer just standing there but her phone ringing snapped her out of her trance.

"Hello..? Oh hello mom, yes I just had something to do. No everything is fine, I just found out earlier so I couldn't give you much of a heads up. No I can still make it in time, It's all good. I'm sure, yes of course. Okay I'll see you in a little bit. Bye Mom." Doyeon hung up then she jogged up to the car.

"Are you ready for your meeting now Miss Doyeon..?" The driver asked when Doyeon buckled herself in the back.

"Yes we can head there now." Doyeon gave him a small nod as she pulled her phone out.

"Yes ma'am, we'll be there shortly."

Doyeon scrolled through her pictures, a small smile on her lips as she admired your beauty in each picture. She opened up her messages and started a new conversation with you, she sent you all the pictures with a small message attached at the end. "Have a good shift at work, don't over work yourself and make sure you get something to eat."

After she sent you the message she moved down to a previous conversation with a different contact, "Xeheun", She typed in a message and sent it. "Hey can you let me know what time everything over there is finished. And can you keep an eye out on my friends little sister for me. Message me whenever she's finished with everything please."

Doyeon exhaled as she leaned her head against the head rest and she closed her eyes.

_

Your work shift seemed to go by pretty smoothly, there wasn't that big of a rush for dinner like everyone expected so everything in the kitchen was running without an issue. Right now everyone was cleaning up for the night before getting ready to leave. You were just getting done with mopping up the floor as everyone else finished up what they were cleaning.

"Alright guys, everything looks good, once you finish what you're doing you can head home. Thank you for all your hard work today." Your manager spoke as he walked through the restaurant helping everyone with what they were doing. You heard him call for you so you leaned the mop against the wall and walked away to find him.

"Yes sir..?" You found him in the back helping one of the cooks clean off the stove.

"You can head home." He looked up from where he was scrubbing to smile at you.

"But I still have to finish mopping up the front.." You looked at him in surprise.

"It's okay, I can do it. Head on home now, it's getting late." He placed the rag he had in his hand down and walked up to you. "If you were my daughter I wouldn't want you walking home any later than now, so head on home. I can finish mopping."

"Are you sure..? I can do it.." You mumbled as you gestured to the front of the restaurant.

"Yes I'm sure, I know you can finish it but I'd rather you get on heading home, it's been a long day. You need some rest. Go on now." He gave you a small nod before heading back to finish helping the cook with cleaning the stove.

"Okay.." You let out a small sigh before walking to the back to gather your things then you headed to the front door.

The manager you were just talking to had just started working at this restaurant and it was your first time working with him on the night shift. He had came down from working at a really popular restaurant from a neighboring city.

You pulled out your phone to call Sun-hee, you wanted to see where she was at. You walked out the front door with your phone up to your ear but before your phone could even dial Sun-hee's number you heard someone call out to you.

"Oh big sis, over here!" You heard Sun-hee's voice before you even saw her.

"Oh Sun-hee, you're already here..?" You walked up to her, she was standing next to a tree with.. Doyeon standing next to her. "Wait, what are you doing here..?"

"Hey, nice to see you too." Doyeon smiled as she walked up to you with Sun-hee next to her.

"No yeah, it's nice to see you too but what are you doing here..?" You gave Sun-hee a hug then looked at Doyeon.

"I just wanted to make sure the two of you made it home safe." Doyeon answered with a beautiful smile. "And I also wanted to make sure you got something to eat for the night."

"Oh Doyeon you worry too much, we would've been fine. You didn't have to come all the way out here." You finally took the time to look at what she was now wearing, her clothes looked a lot more formal and she had make up on, she looked pretty.

"I wanted to." She smiled and then placed a hand on Sun-hee's shoulder, "Plus I wanted to hear about how her audition went."

"Big sis she looked really cool, I walked out of the building and she was outside leaning on her car. She looked like an actress." Sun-hee smiled as she flattered Doyeon.

Wait why the sudden change in attitude towards Doyeon..? You questioned as you looked at the both of them but decided to keep that question to yourself.

Well what was the sudden change in Sun-hee's attitude towards Doyeon, well here we go.

_

An hour earlier.

"Hey Sun-hee, over here!" Doyeon called out to the crowd of girls walking out of the building in front of her.

"Doyeon? What are you doing here? My sister isn't here." Sun-hee walked towards the girl leaning against her car.

"I know, I'm here to pick you up." Doyeon answered the younger girl.

"Me..? For what..?" Sun-hee raised her eyebrow in suspicion at the older girls words.

"So I can give you a ride over to your sister's job. Here get in, we'll talk more in the car." Doyeon opened the passenger side door and then walked around the front of the car. "Get in" She told the girl again before getting into the drivers seat.

Sun-hee looked at the car hesitantly, it was a different car than the one they rode in earlier that day. She took a little longer before getting into the passenger seat and closing the door.

"Okay what did you want to talk about..?" Sun-hee asked as she put her seatbelt on.

"You, how did your audition go..?" Doyeon checked her rear-view mirror before pulling away from where she was parked.

"Uh, it went well. I passed." Sun-hee answered as she looked at the older girl in confusion.

"That's good, you're sister will be excited to hear that." Doyeon kept her eyes on the road as she drove through the late night traffic.

"Yeah she will, is there anything else you wanted to know..?"

"No, I just want you to feel more comfortable around me so I figured going for a drive wouldn't hurt until we wait for your sister to get off of work. Speaking of which, what time does she get off..?" Doyeon stopped at a red light and looked over at Sun-hee.

"Um.." Sun-hee looked at the time on the car's media display, "She normally gets off at around ten, so in about an hour or so." Sun-hee answered her.

"Okay, well did you want to go anywhere while we wait..?" Doyeon turned down a road filled with a bunch of shops.

"Um no I think I'm good." Sun-hee looked out the window at the passing store fronts. It had been so long since she got to ride in a car.

"Hmm.. well I want to stop by somewhere if you don't mind the small detour." Doyeon smiled to herself.

"It's your car, I'm fine with whatever." Sun-hee kept her eyes focused on the people passing by.

"Okay sounds good to me then." Doyeon drove around for a little longer until she found somewhere to park. "We're here." She announced as she parked the car and turned it off.

"Ooh where are we..? I've never seen this side of town before." Sun-hee finally looked over at Doyeon.

"It's one of the shopping points here in town, they have a lot of stores here with a variety of items. I just needed to pick something up real quick." She unbuckled her seatbelt. "You can leave your bag in here." Doyeon got out of the car and waited for Sun-hee to do the same.

Sun-hee left her bag on the floorboard in the front then she walked up to where Doyeon was standing.

"Oh wait." Doyeon walked to the backseat and opened the door. She pulled something out and handed it to Sun-hee.

"What's this..?" Sun-hee took whatever it was out of Doyeon's hand.

"It's a hoodie, you changed clothes and I don't know if you want to walk around here in that top." Doyeon gestured to the top Sun-hee was wearing.

"Oh, I guess you're right. This is good for dancing but not so much being in public.." Sun-hee mumbled as she put the hoodie on. "Done." She smiled at Doyeon once she had it on.

"Okay good, follow me." Doyeon waved her hand to gesture for the younger girl to follow her. Sun-hee walked next to Doyeon, often times letting the lights coming from the stores next to her distract her. "In here Sun-hee." Doyeon snapped her out of her gaze and led her into a store.

"Oh wow.." Sun-hee looked around in shock, she had never been in a shoe store as nice as this before. "This place is nice..."

"Over here." Doyeon walked over to one side of the store. The wall was covered in athletic looking tennis shoes. Doyeon glanced down at Sun-hee's shoes then back up at her, "What size are you in shoes..?"

"Huh..? Why?" Sun-hee looked at Doyeon in shock.

"If you're going to be dancing more often then you need a good pair of shoes. They get worn out pretty easily." Doyeon answered her with a smile.

"Oh I know that but why are you asking me that..?"

"Just consider this a gift from a friend, so what size are you in shoes..?" Doyeon began to look through the shoe boxes.

"No don't be crazy, I can't accept that from you." Sun-hee walked up to Doyeon to stand between her and the shoe boxes. "You don't need to do this, I'm fine. My sister usually buys me new shoes every year."

"You and Your sister are very stubborn when it comes to letting someone help you. Please just accept it, we're not leaving here until you get new shoes." Doyeon crossed her arms as she looked at your younger sister.

Sun-hee let out a groan as she didn't know what to do. She could just accept the shoes and then come back at a later time to return them and give the money back to Doyeon somehow.

"Fine.." Sun-hee ran her fingers through her slightly damp hair before telling Doyeon what size she was.

"See was that so hard Sun-hee..?" Doyeon smiled as she walked down to a specific spot and pulled out a box that had Sun-hee's shoe size on it. "Here try these on." She handed the box to Sun-hee.

"Okay.." Sun-hee took the box and found somewhere to try the shoes on.

"How do they feel..?" Doyeon asked once Sun-hee had the shoes on.

"Oh wow, they feel really nice." Sun-hee walked around in the shoes, her feet instantly falling in love with the soft material inside.

"Not too big or small..?" Doyeon asked as she looked at the shoes.

"No they fit really well."

"Okay good, you can put them back in the box." Doyeon said as she walked back over to the wall of shoes. "Here try these on too." She handed Sun-hee another box.

"Huh..?" She looked at the second box in shock but knowing Doyeon she just had to accept it. "Okay.." She tried on the second pair of shoes.

"Do you know what size your sister is in shoes." Doyeon kept looking around at the multiple shoes in front of her.

"Uh yeah.." Sun-hee finished putting the shoes on and then told Doyeon what size you were in shoes.

"Okay, thanks. And how do those feel." Doyeon pulled another box out and set it aside as she looked at the shoes on Sun-hee's feet.

"They feel good too. They fit."

"Okay you can put them back in the box." Doyeon went back to looking through the different shoes again.

Sun-hee placed the shoes back in the box and then she stacked both boxes that Doyeon handed her on top of one another.

Doyeon walked back over with another box in her hands. "Okay can you bring those two up to the front?" She gestured to the two boxes Sun-hee stacked, as she grabbed the other box she had set aside earlier.

"Yeah I can." Sun-hee grabbed the boxes Doyeon told her to grab and she followed her to the front.

Doyeon placed the boxes she had on the front counter and Sun-hee did the same. "Can you go wait by the front door, I'll come over there when I'm done." Doyeon told Sun-hee.

"Me? Uh, okay." Sun-hee gave Doyeon one last confused look before walking away to stand near the front.

Doyeon got all the shoes rung up and then she paid for them. "Hey can you do me a favor and write on the boxes that there's no returns or refunds." Doyeon spoke to one of the workers behind the counter.

"On the boxes..? But we offer returns within thirty days of purchase." One of the workers answered her.

"I know you do, but this isn't for me, it's so that a friend doesn't try to bring them back, please." Doyeon pleaded with the employee.

"Oh, um then sure. As long as you are aware of our return policy." The employee shrugged before pulling a black permanent marker out of the drawer. She took her time to write on all the boxes before placing them in a bag. "Here you go." The employee handed the bag over to Doyeon.

"Thank you so much. You have a great night!" Doyeon smiled at the employees before walking towards Sun-hee with the bag in her hand. "Come on," Doyeon told Sun-hee as she walked past her and headed towards the door.

"Okay" Sun-hee caught up with Doyeon and followed her out the store.

The both of them walked over to the car and Doyeon opened the trunk. She placed the bag inside then she looked over at Sun-hee. I paid with a card so there no returns. These are for you and your sister. I don't want them, they are for you." She closed the trunk then she started walking in the opposite direction from the shoe store.

Sun-hee scrambled to catch up with her. "It's going to take a lot of convincing for my sister to accept them, you know that right..?"

"I know, which is why we'll drop them off at your house first before we go to pick her up." Doyeon walked into another store and Sun-hee followed her.

"My house..? uh.. I don't know if my sister would be fine with having company over.." Sun-hee mumbled as she followed Doyeon.

"I didn't say I would go inside. I don't want to invade your privacy without permission." This time instead of walking around Doyeon walked up to the check out desk and the employee standing there recognized her and pulled out a few bags from behind the counter.

"Wow.." Sun-hee's eyes widened in shock as she saw all the bags the employee was placing on the counter.

"Thank you." Doyeon smiled at the employee before grabbing some of the bags and handing them to Sun-hee. "Here hold these." Then she grabbed a few bags to carry on her own.

"What's all this..?" Sun-hee asked as she followed Doyeon out the store.

"Well you're going to be dancing a lot so you need clothes that are comfortable to dance in, right..?" Doyeon spoke as she walked towards her car.

"No, I don't. I have a lot of old clothes that I can wear. I don't need all this." Sun-hee stood next to Doyeon as she opened the trunk. "Also when did you buy this..? You don't even know what sizes I wear.."

Doyeon put her bags in the trunk and grabbed the one's from Sun-hee's hands, placing those in the trunk too. "We're the same height, well almost. I just bought the sizes that fit me. They should fit you." Doyeon closed the trunk. "Get in, we just have a little longer until your sister gets off.

Sun-hee got into the car at the same time Doyeon did. "You know you really do not need to be doing any of this. I really do not have any ill feelings towards you."

Doyeon turned the car on, "I know, once again just consider this a gift from a friend." Doyeon pulled her phone out and handed it to Sun-hee, "Can you type in your address..?"

"Mhm," Sun-hee hummed before typing in her address into Doyeon's phone.

"Thank you." Doyeon did something on her phone and then the directions to your house popped up on the media display in the car. "Seatbelt." Doyeon reminded Sun-hee as she placed her own seat belt on.

"Right.." Sun-hee put her seatbelt on as  she stared at the display in awe.

Doyeon drove away and she followed the directions on the screen in front of her. Sun-hee was quiet for the rest of the drive so Doyeon put on some music to softly play in the background.

"Is this the right street..?" Doyeon asked Sun-hee as she looked around.

"Yeah it is, the house is just up there, you can park anywhere." Sun-hee pointed further up the road.

"Okay," Doyeon found an open parking spot and parked her car. She pressed the button inside to open up the trunk then she got out.

Sun-hee got out as well and met Doyeon out by the trunk of the car.

"Here I'll let you take all this inside, I'll stay out here."  Doyeon handed Sun-hee some of the bags.

"Okay, I'll be quick." Sun-hee took the bags with her and she headed of to your house.

Doyeon stayed by her trunk and she pulled her phone out of her pocket. She checked her messages to see if you had ever responded but no, you didn't.

"Okay I'm back," Sun-hee huffed as she reached in the trunk for the rest of the bags, "I'll close the trunk for you." She slid the bags up her arm so she could close the trunk.

"Thank Sun-hee, I'll wait in the car for you." Doyeon walked around to the drivers side and she got in. She watched as Sun-hee walked away. "hmm, she must be really busy if she didn't answer..." Doyeon sighed as she placed her phone down. "Why am I so attracted to her in the first place.." Doyeon asked herself with a little laugh. "She is really pretty, and so nice. I don't think I've ever been around anyone so nice before.." Doyeon continued to talk to herself as she waited for Sun-hee to get back.

The passenger side door finally opened and knocked Doyeon out of her thoughts.

"You know where my sister works right..?" Sun-hee asked as she buckled herself in.

"Yeah, I got it from here. We should be there soon." Doyeon smiled at her before driving away.

_

"Big sis, Doyeon is really cool." Sun-hee whispered to you as the both of you followed Doyeon to her car.

"When did you become such a big fan of her..? You seemed super skeptical of her earlier today." You whispered back.

"Well that's because I didn't really know her and she had you giggling and all that weird stuff. I had to make sure she was cool before I let you get close to her." Sun-hee playfully rolled her eyes.

"Oh so you're going to let me be friends with her now, Ma'am..?" You joked with her.

"Of course, she passed my personality check, she seems genuine." Sun-hee nodded with a goofy smile.

You just shook your head before walking up to Doyeon. "What did you do to my sister..?"

"Hmm..? What do you mean..?" Doyeon looked over in surprise.

"She's turned into a fangirl of yours. It's weird.." You pretended to shiver in disgust.

"Haha, really..? I didn't do anything, I just picked her up from the audition and I talked to her like a normal person. We just chatted for a bit as we waited for you to be done with work." Doyeon answered as she walked up to the parked car her and Sun-hee were in earlier.

"Wait you picked her up from her audition..?" Your eyes widened in shock. "Doyeon, seriously you don't have to be doing all this for us."

Doyeon laughed and sent Sun-hee a look, following that look Sun-hee got into the back seat, giving you and Doyeon some privacy. Doyeon pulled the keys out of her pocket and turned the car on from them.

"Here, come over here." Doyeon gently put her hand on your arm and pulled you away from the car to talk.

You followed her as she walked by to some nearby benches. The both of you sat down and faced each other.

"What..?" You asked Doyeon quietly as she just stared at you.

Doyeon cleared her throat, a small smile making its way onto her lips. "God she's so pretty..." She whispered to herself.

"Hmm..?" You hummed as you didn't catch what she had said.

"Okay, look.." Doyeon started, "I just want you to know that everything I've done and everything I will continue to do is by my own will. I wanted to do everything I've done, and I will continue to want to do the things I will do. There are some things I want to do more than others..." She paused for a split second to look down at your lips, but just as fast as she looked down she snapped herself out of it, "Please don't thank me for anything. I'm not doing this to earn brownie points with you or Sun-hee, I'm doing this because I want to. I don't know how many times I've already told you that I'm doing all this because I want to but I will continue to tell you every time you thank me for doing something."

"But why..? Why are you so nice to me and Sun-hee even though you've only known us for less than a day..?" You asked as you looked her in her eyes.

"It's because of you." Doyeon simply stated with no other explanation.

"What do you mean..?"

"I don't know how to explain it but there's just something about you that I really like. You're just such a nice and genuine person, I want to get closer to you. I feel like if I don't try to maintain any sort of a relationship with you I will be greatly disappointed in myself in the future. Being around you all day at school made me super happy, I can't even explain to myself why but just being near you makes me happy. And then seeing the way you treat Sun-hee makes my heart even more happy. You're just such a beautiful person inside and out. I don't want to miss my chance to establish a relationship with you. So please just let me be who I've been, let me be there for you. Let me treat you the way I have been, all I want is to just see you smile." Doyeon finished as she subconsciously reached for your hand and held it in-between the both of hers.

It took you a moment to reel in everything she had just said but you couldn't hide your smile, "You know, if I didn't know any better I'd almost assume that this was some sort of love confession." You laughed, unknowing that Doyeon was practically screaming in her head.

Doyeon had to smile, "I mean it could be if you wanted it to be.."

"What was that..?" You asked, moving closer to her to hear her better.

"Uh, nothing. It was nothing.." Doyeon squeezed your hand and let out a small sigh.

"Okay, well thank you miss Doyeon for everything you've done for both me and my sister today. I don't think I've ever met someone as nice as you before. I feel bad accepting everything you've done for me but if you truly insist this much then I guess I have no choice but to accept everything. I've kind of already learned early on that trying to turn anything you do down is kind of impossible." You joked with her, smiles appearing on the both of your lips. "But honestly, thank you so much. You don't know how much of a relief it is to now know there's someone around to be nice to me."

"Of course, you're such a great person it feels illegal to be mean to you." Doyeon ran her finger over your knuckles.

"Well, you'd be surprised by how many other people don't feel that way. I've done nothing to anyone yet I'm hated by everyone..." You sighed as you thought about how everyday of your life has been spent since the moment you gained consciousness.

"Well those people don't deserve to have you in their lives." Every word she spoke was so genuine it made you go crazy.

The two of you just sat there for a while longer, just enjoying each other's presence.

Doyeon was the one to break the silence, she let out a small sigh before giving your hand another small squeeze. "Come on, let's go get you something to eat." At the look you gave her she continued, "Don't even say anything cause you know what I will tell you. Let's go, I don't want to keep Sun-hee waiting for longer than she needs to, she's probably hungry too."

"Ah you're right, oh my I didn't even ask her how her audition went.." The blood drained from your face at your realization.

"It's okay, she wanted to wait until you ate to tell you." Doyeon reassured you.

"Oh really..? Okay then, we should head back."

Doyeon stood up first and you followed behind her. The two of you talked on the walk back to the car. Doyeon walked up to the passenger side door with you and she opened it for you.

"Thank you." You got in and buckled yourself in as she closed the door for you.

"Psst, big sis.." Sun-hee whispered to you as Doyeon walked around the front of the car.

"Yes..?" You turned to look at her.

"The two of you look good together." Sun-hee gave you a thumbs up before leaning back into her seat as Doyeon opened her door.

You stared at her in shock as what she had said stayed in the back of your mind.

"You good..?" Doyeon whispered to you as she put her seatbelt on.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm good." You smiled at her before readjusting yourself in your seat.

"Okay, well I already have a place in mind to go eat if you don't mind. I probably should have asked you if there was a specific place you wanted to go but I feel like you would like this place." Doyeon said as she adjusted the temperature in the car.

"Wherever you want to go is fine with me, I trust your judgement." You replied as you let out a small sigh.

"Okay, well it's not that far so just get comfy." Doyeon gave you one last glance before driving away.

_

"And then when it was my turn to go the speaker they were using stopped working so we had to wait another twenty minutes for them to get it working again. So I was just standing in the middle of the practice room as everyone was focused on fixing it."

"Wow so did you get to choose which song you got to dance to or did they choose for you..?"

The three of you were now sitting at a table at one of those outside tent street stalls, Doyeon had said that this was one of her favorite places for late night eating.

"Mmm," Sun-hee finished eating the food that was in her mouth before continuing, "We all got to perform one dance that we prepared before hand but then they gave us all a song that we had to listen to and come up with a dance to. We got split into pairs and the girl I was paired up with was named Seheun, she was a really good dancer big sis. Like her dancing was way better than anyone else I'd ever seen, I got lucky getting paired up with her. We were able to come up with a choreo right away." Sun-hee spoke happily as she recalled her auditioning process earlier that day.

"So then how did that go..?" You asked as Doyeon placed more food on your plate.

"We were told by the company's main choreographer that we did the best out of all the other pairs. So me and Seheun were pretty much guaranteed a spot after that. So when all the other pairs were done everyone that they deemed as passing were told to sit on one side of the room. It was me, Seheun and like three other girls. We were able to watch as everyone else had to go through other little test and things like that. Then once they finally kept who they wanted we had to go to this other room and we had some interview questions thrown at us. Oh, and then we had to sing, which I was not prepared for at all. I just went for the dancing but apparently we all had to sing. Luckily one of the other girls that had passed the first part of the auditions was friends with Seheun and she gave me some quick tips on what to do. I believe her name was Yujin. I got pretty lucky and did an alright job. They told me I had a little bit to still work on when it came to singing but since my dancing was really good they said we could always just work on it as time went on." Sun-hee's eyes sparkled as she continued to speak about her audition process. "So after all that only about half of the girls that made it through the first part were left. We then had to go to another room and get our height and weight checked, oh and during all this they had a few people following us around with cameras. It was so crazy big sis, I just wanted to pass so I could get dancing lessons and here they were treating us like we were going to be singers."

"Wow they even checked your height and weight..? That's crazy in depth, I didn't think they would be doing all that just for some simple dance auditions." You shook your head before taking a sip of the water Doyeon had brought you.

"Yeah I thought it was crazy too, but after that only a handful of girls were left and we just had to sign more paperwork. But yeah, now I'm officially what they call a 'trainee' of Next Level." Sun-hee had the biggest smile on her face as she took another bite of food.

"Oh Seheun and Yujin? Yeah they passed, they were amazing big sis. I can't wait for you to meet them, they're really nice and they're the same age as you too."

"Wow 'trainee', what are you in the military or something.." You joked as you shook your head. "So did your other two friends make it as well..?"

(a/n i just want you all to know that the word "trainee" gives me pretty bad ptsd after BMT lol)

"Okay well I'll meet them whenever we have the time to. I'm glad you were able to make new friends." You slid your plate over to Doyeon to let her know that you were done eating.

"Okay big sis, I'll let them know." Sun-hee finished the rest of the food on her plate.

"So what is your schedule going to be like..?" You grabbed her plate and stacked it on top of your own.

"Um well we have practice every weekday, they said everyone should show up at around five and that they will try and let us out at around ten every night if the schedule allows for it. They also said that there wasn't any set practices on the weekends but if it seems like some of us really need to show up for longer practice then it will become mandatory for those that need the extra help. And on the weekends we can go and practice if we want to, it would just be self practice if it isn't mandatory for you." Sun-hee finished the rest of the water in her cup.

"Wow.." You were happy that Sun-hee had passed her audition but now that this all was finally real you were starting to feel worried about how she would get home every night. The thought of your little sister walking home at night didn't sit well with you. "What about your school..? This isn't going to affect your grades is it..? Remember school comes first."

"No it shouldn't, I'm passing all my classes and I do my homework early all the time. They even told us that they would offer us free tutoring if practice interfered with our grades. This company really has it all planned out big sis." Sun-hee handed her empty cup over to Doyeon.

"Okay well we'll talk more at home about how we're going to get you there and back home everyday, okay..?"

"Okay big sis." Sun-hee smiled at you before getting up to stretch her legs.

"Hey.." Doyeon got your attention.

"Yeah..?" You turned to the side to face her.

"I could take her to practice everyday and take her home every night. That way you don't have to worry about it."

"Doyeon, don't be ridiculous." You let out a laugh as you shook your head.

"No, I'm being serious." Doyeon's face showed that she was truly speaking from the heart.

"And so am I, I can just try saving up to get her a bike." You stood up, keeping eye contact with Doyeon the whole time. "I'm serious Doyeon."

Doyeon got up as well, she moved to stand right in front of you and then she leaned forward, causing you to lean back against the table. "No, that's unnecessary, let me do this for you." She placed her hands on the table, one on each side of you. "I'm not joking, I don't want you to be worrying about something else when I can help you."

"But Doyeon, that's asking way too much of you, I don't want to be a burden to you. You have other things you need to worry about." You couldn't lean back any further so all you could do was look her in the eyes.

Doyeon let out a small laugh before shaking her head, her eyes locking onto your own, "You just don't get it, do you..?"

"Get what..?" The look in her eyes made you feel weird inside.

"Nothing you do will ever be a burden to me, I am willing to do anything for you. You've worked hard your whole life, let me try and help relieve some of that stress for you." Doyeon tilted her head to the side as she leaned closer to you. "Let me help you. Please..."

Your words got caught in your throat as you just stared in her eyes. It took a moment to finally get some words out. "Doyeon, it's harder then you think it is."

"Why..? Please let me know why it's so hard for you to accept my help, because I can promise you that this is genuinely coming from my heart. I don't expect anything in return, I just want to see you happy."

You took a small moment to look around, you forgot you were still in public, and with the way the two of you were standing, you didn't want anyone to get the wrong idea. "Doyeon, can we talk about this later. In private. Please."

"Huh..?" Doyeon seemed like she snapped out of a trance then she looked around, "Oh right.. Okay we can talk about this later then." She pulled away from being so close to you. "Sorry.."

"No don't apologize, it's okay." You stood back up. "Here, lets clean up." You gathered everything up on the table, throwing away all the trash.

Doyeon quietly helped you and Sun-hee just watched the both of you, a small smile on her face.

"They're gonna date, I'm calling it right here.." Sun-hee whispered as she watched you begin a conversation with Doyeon to get rid of the awkward silence.

"Sun-hee, are you ready to go..?" You called out to your younger sister once you and Doyeon finished cleaning up.

"Yeah I'm ready!" Sun-hee walked over to you.

The three of you walked with Doyeon to her car, a calm silence washing over all of you. As you approached the car Doyeon opened the door for you.

"Thank you." You got in and put your seatbelt on.

"Mhm," Doyeon hummed as she closed the door. "What..?"

"Right in front of my salad, seriously.." Sun-hee shook her head as she crossed her arms.

"What..?" Doyeon asked again in more confusion. "Salad? You had a salad?"

Sun-hee let out a sigh before laughing, "It's an internet joke. Also if you want to kiss my sister please don't do it in front of me, I'm not trying to be traumatized for the rest of my life."

"Huh?? I wasn't.. what.. what are you talking about..?" Doyeon rubbed the back of her neck in embarrassment.

"Sure, whatever you say miss Doyeon." Sun-hee gave her an exaggerated eye roll, "Kids these days.. tsk.." Sun-hee got into the back seat.

Doyeon walked around the front of her car thinking about what Sun-hee said. "I wasn't going to kiss her. No, I mean do I want to..? Yeah but that's a whole other conversation.." Doyeon let out another sigh as she opened the door and got in the driver's seat. "Uh... your address." Doyeon handed you her phone that was opened up to her maps application.

"Hmm..? Oh, okay.." You grabbed the phone from Doyeon's hand. You typed in your address and handed her her phone.

"Thank you." Doyeon smiled as she made the directions show up on the car's media display. Doyeon already knew how to get to your house but she didn't want you to know that she had already been there.

On the drive over to your house music played quietly in the background as you looked out at the passing streets.

_

"Sun-hee head in and wash up for bed, I'll be inside in a little bit, okay..?"

Sun-hee unbuckled her seatbelt and nodded, "Okay big sis, see you in a bit" Sun-hee gave Doyeon a look before getting out of the car and heading inside.

It took a few more moments of you and Doyeon just sitting in the car as music played before either of you spoke up.

"So.." Doyeon cleared her throat and placed her hands on her thighs.

"Hmm..?" You finally looked over at her.

"Um, well I don't know how to start this off other than me just asking for you to accept my help." Doyeon made eye contact with you, "You keep saying that it's not easy for you to accept it and I just want to understand why that is. Can you please tell me..?"

"Doyeon, there's just not a simple explanation for it. I don't know how to put it in words." Your voice was shaky, the look in her eyes made your stomach feel weird.

"Well then I can sit here with you all night and we can find the words together." Doyeon smiled at her attempt of lifting the mood.

"Why are you so nice to me Kim Doyeon..?" You smiled as well, every time she smiled you couldn't help but smile back.

"I already told you, but I will keep telling you. I just want to see you happy. And this," She pointed at your face, "This smile, I want to keep seeing this, everyday." She placed her hand back down.

Your face started to warm up, "I.. Doyeon, I don't deserve this."

"Says who..? Where in this universe does it say that you don't deserve to be happy..? Hmm..? Because in my eyes you are someone who deserves nothing but the best, and I feel it in my heart that I'm the one that can give it to you." Doyeon shifted her body in her seat so she could face you better, "Don't ever tell me that you don't deserve something, because I will just go out and do something even more extravagant for you."

You couldn't but laugh at her, "Doyeon, you are just something else."

Doyeon had a satisfied smile, "And that laugh right there makes this all worth it."

You shook your head as you unbuckled your seatbelt, "I'd better go before you make me fall in love with you Miss Doyeon." You joked with her.

"Wait so you haven't already..?" She teased you back.

"Just because you're pretty doesn't mean you need to be cocky." You rolled your eyes at her.

"Wait, you think I'm pretty..?" Doyeon's eyes widened and her smile had never been bigger.

You let out an exaggerated sigh before reaching for the door handle, you couldn't believe that you had just said that out loud but now you had to play it off.

"Wait," Doyeon reached over and grabbed your hand, causing you to look at her.

"What..?" You tried to avoid eye contact with her.

"Do you really think I'm pretty..?" Her voice was soft and quiet, her eyes never left your wandering ones. After a few more seconds of you not answering she asked you again, "You think I'm pretty..?"

"Doyeon, I, yeah, I mean who doesn't." You finally looked her in the eyes, "You're the prettiest person I've met." You let out a small laugh, "There, are you happy...?"

Doyeon shook her head, "No, say it like you really mean it."

Your eyebrows went up in surprise at her response, "Like I mean it..? But I did..?"

Doyeon shook her head again, "No, it didn't sound like a real answer. I want to hear it from your heart and not your brain. You think too much, sometimes you need to let your heart do the talking. Not everything you say has to be so thought out and calculated. I want to hear what you truly have to say."

"From my heart..?" You sat in silence for a moment as you tried to let whatever came into your mind form a sentence. "Well um.." You tilted your head to the side as you tried to speak, "Doyeon, I think.. no, that doesn't sound right." You let out a small huff, "Um.."

Doyeon smiled, she reached out with the hand that wasn't holding yours so she could lightly grab your chin, gently moving your head so you were looking her in the eyes. "You're really struggling with this aren't you."

"Yeah.." You're voice was quiet as all you could focus on was her hand holding your chin.

"Here, I'll show you how to do it." Doyeon let go of your chin then she cleared her throat. "You are the most incredible person I've ever met. Everything you do is amazing in my eyes. You're so kind and sweet, you have a heart of gold. You're so pretty but every kind thing you do just makes you so much more attractive. I'm so lucky I got to meet someone like you... No, I'm lucky I got to meet you. Every moment I'm around you I just feel so happy. You're incredible and if no one has ever told you before well then I will. I think that you are one of the most beautiful people to walk this earth. There are no words to describe your beauty." Doyeon's voice was a little lower than her normal speaking voice and her eyes never left yours.

She left you speechless as all you could do was look her in the eyes. You were stunned, you really had the most beautiful person in existence sitting here speaking good things about you, what did you ever do to get this lucky. Wait, maybe this was exactly what you should say, this is what you were feeling in the moment and Doyeon did say to speak from the heart. So that's exactly what you did, you didn't notice the moment where your inner thoughts became you're own dialogue.

"Doyeon, I don't know what I did to get lucky enough to have the most beautiful person in existence tell me good things about myself. My whole life I've been having to put up with being treated like garbage and like I was never good enough. I've gone through times where I just wanted to give up completely but now I'm glad I never did since I get to sit with you in this car in this moment of time. You've made all that worth going through."

Doyeon's smile made you finally breakout of your trance. "Wow.. Now you see how easy that was."

"I said all that.." You pulled your hand away from Doyeon to put it over your mouth in shock, "Out loud..?"

"Yes, you did. And I'm very glad you did."

You shook your head, "I've got to go, you're going to drive me insane." You reached for the handle and opened the door. "Bye Doyeon," You got out and stood by the door, "Drive safely and have a good night. Bye!" Before she could even say anything you had closed the door and ran towards your house.

Doyeon let out a small laugh in disbelief as she placed her hands on the steering wheel. "That girl doesn't even realize the effect she has on me." Doyeon shook her head, small smirk on her face, "I'm going to get her to fall in love with me."

_

"Uh big sis.."

"Yes Sun-hee..?" You finished putting on your school uniform and you were about to head out for the morning.

"Um.. Come here." Sun-hee motioned for you to come over to the window.

"What is it Sun-hee..? This better be important because you still need to finish your breakfast and get ready for school." You walked over to where she was. "What am I supposed to be looking at..?" You looked at wherever Sun-hee was pointing too and that's when you saw what she was talking about. "Oh my god, this girl is going to drive me insane." Doyeon was outside standing by her car.