Daegu, South Korea – March 2006
"Ah, Hae-won, stop that!"
"Make me."
"Oh, I will—"
"Hae-won, Yoon-ah! We're being stared at!"
Nari looked around the bus. Several people were giving the three girls some strange looks as Hae-won tried to sit upside down on the seat. Yoon-ah was holding her skirt up, trying desperately to keep at least a little of Hae-won's dignity, and Nari stood, attempting to block everyone's view. Looking back at her, Nari couldn't help but snort and, despite her disapproval, Yoon-ah laughed as well. The people inside the bus looked away, perplexed at the schoolgirls, but tried to pay them no mind as their antics continued.
It was a wonderful spring Thursday. The weather was sunny and warm, and the flowers had been releasing their perfume into the wind for several weeks now. Pink and white petals fell with each gust, lodging themselves into the girls' hair as they stepped off the bus. They stopped by their favourite tteokbokki stand and ordered a few servings to share. As they waited, Nari looked around and saw a boy sitting nearby, calmly munching on his own tteokbokki. Seeing him made her smile. He was there often, or at least often enough for Nari to look for him every time she and her friends came. However, he was always alone and, as usual, when she was just about to go over to talk to him, the cart lady gave the girls' their orders and Yoon-ah and Hae-won dragged her off. Nari glanced at the boy as she passed and, for the first time, he looked up at her too. As they made eye contact, Nari smiled at him, but she was dragged off before she could see his reaction.
Hae-won, Yoon-ah and Nari were on the bus again after walking and eating, and they exited once again when they were near Nari's house. It was, as Hae-won described, "the nicest house of all" and the girls enjoyed spending their study time together in the backyard. Nari's mother, Charlotte, always brought them "fancy milk tea" (once again described by Hae-won) and biscuits for their study time and, when Nari's father, Ji-Hoon, came back from work, he'd always stick his nose outside and give the studying girls an approving nod. Sometimes, Charlotte would bring out some fruit, but if the Englishwoman didn't bring out the usual tea and biscuits, Yoon-ah and Hae-won felt cheated.
"Ugh, this is so good," Hae-won said rather dramatically. "How does she make this taste so good?"
"It's just tea, Hae-won," Nari laughed.
"Yeah, you can say that! Fancy tea like this is normal for you."
"Hae-won," Yoon-ah sighed, "you can get tea like this at the convenience store in England. It's not fancy."
Hae-won threw a biscuit at Yoon-ah and the girls laughed. They studied well into the evening, taking only a dinner break when Charlotte called them in for a special barbecue night. When the daylight had turned to night, Yoon-ah's and Hae-won's parents came to get them. They thanked Charlotte again for keeping an eye on them and Nari waved goodbye to her friends and they walked backwards to their family cars.
Nari helped her mother clean up after dinner and tried to strike up a conversation with her father, but the man received a call the second she'd opened her mouth and he left the room. Nari frowned and sighed, then stuck her hands back into the soapy water to angrily scrub some plates. To cheer her up, Charlotte put on some old R&B and Jazz music, and the two girls sang and danced around the kitchen as they cleaned and prepped some food for tomorrow's dinner.
"Does he have to work this much?" Nari asked. Charlotte turned to her.
"That's just how your father is, my dear lily."1 Charlotte said in her native English. She put her hand on her daughter's head. "There's no point in wishing it was different."
"But we've got lots of money... If he worked less it'd be the same."
"Nari—"
"And you're going back to work soon, too," Nari said sadly. "It's gonna be weird coming back from school and not have you there."
"Well, eomma has been meaning to go back to work for a long time now, Lily, dear. You know this."
"Yeah... I know."
"Hey."
Nari looked up from the marinating side dishes on the counter. Charlotte gave her a sad but comforting smile.
"I'll make you a tea care package," she said. "Everything you'll need to make perfect afternoon tea will be in there. I'll even put in some instructions so you can make the tea extra fancy for Hae-won."
A smile drew itself onto Nari's mouth and she laughed happily. Charlotte smiled back, admiring as her daughter's eyes seemed to vanish as her joy grew, and she shooed her off to bed with a glass of water.
The next morning, Nari was sent off to school with an extra special dosirak and a snack to eat on her way to the bus stop. She nibbled on some melon as she walked, admiring the trees and staring at the people walking around with her. Nari stuffed her empty snack container into her bag as the bus arrived and she climbed in, immediately scoping out an empty seat. After a few stops in silence, Nari looked out the window, eyes searching for a specific person. Her gaze went to the front of the bus again as people began to pile in, but there was no sign of the person she was searching for. With a disappointed frown, Nari looked back outside and waited for another few stops for Yoon-ah and Hae-won to saunter onto the bus.
"Ah, Nari!" Yoon-ah exclaimed as she sat down. She pulled a garishly colourful box out of her backpack and nearly shoved it in Nari's face. "I finally got it!"
"Got what!? I can't see!" Nari laughed, trying to push Yoon-ah's hand back.
"Her dumb, Super Junior album," Hae-won groaned. "She went through the photocards while we were waiting for the bus."
For the rest of the bus ride to school, Yoon-ah put Hae-won and Nari through the worst possible covers of Twins and the group's brand new song Miracle. Nari left the bus faster than she'd ever done before and she and Hae-won nearly ran to class to avoid Yoon-ah's singing. Even through the first period, Yoon-ah was bobbing her head and mumbling some of the songs, and she spent the entire morning trying to find the best layout to put her stickers in on her notebook. Nari wanted to find her ridiculous, but she thought it was nice. She too had lofty dreams of joining a company and debuting as an idol, and if she had fans like Yoon-ah then she'd be happy. Hae-won, on the other hand, kept fake gagging every time Yoon-ah started talking about them.
"I'm trying to eat," Hae-won complained, as they sat down for lunch. She and Nari had exchanged certain side dishes before starting. "I don't need to hear you gush over this Leeteuk guy."
"You can't blame me for pointing out the obvious," Yoon-ah said matter-of-factly.
"I think it's nice," Nari said with a shrug. She shoved a spoonful of rice into her mouth. "Fans like Yoon-ah are the reason groups keep going for years and years."
"You're only on her side because you wanna be the next Park Hyo Shin," Hae-won laughed.
"Shut up."
The girls' lunch period went on in banter and they spent the last two minutes stuffing their faces with all the food they hadn't had time to eat, which gave them cramps for the next several hours. After school, the girls resumed their usual activities. They used Yoon-ah's old iPod to listen to songs, using a half-dead headphone splitter to torture Hae-won with the music as well. After several stops, the girls got off and walked a few steps to the tteokbokki stand they loved so much. The lady who worked there waved as they arrived and began preparing their food immediately.
Once again, Nari couldn't help but look around for the boy. She hadn't seen him on the bus this morning like she usually did, so she was hoping to see him here. However, he didn't seem to be anywhere. A small pout reached the girl's mouth.
"You're pouting. Is your boyfriend not there?" Hae-won called, coming over. She handed Nari her serving of tteokbokki.
"How's he meant to be my boyfriend if I've never talked to him?" Nari asked, rolling her eyes. "But yeah, he's not there. He wasn't on the bus earlier, either."
"Is she looking for her boyfriend again?" Yoon-ah said, walking over.
"Again—I don't know him, how can he be my boyfriend?"
"Whatever."
"Why do you look for him every day, anyway?" Hae-won asked. She and the other two girls had sat down on the grass nearby the cart. "He's just some kid."
"Habit," Nari said with a shrug. "I see him all the time on the bus and here. I guess it's just weird not to." She let out a short breath. "Plus, he's always alone."
Yoon-ah and Hae-won both groaned.
"Not again... You don't have to feel bad for everyone that's alone, Nari," Yoon-ah sighed. "Takes up way too much energy."
"For once, I agree," Hae-won said. "Look what being nice to Min-hyuk in third grade got you."
"Shut up," Nari scolded. She swallowed a few bites of food. "I think the next time I see him, I'll go over and talk to him."
"Are you crazy!?" Yoon-ah and Hae-won exclaimed.
"Girls don't just go walk up to boys on the street!" Yoon-ah continued.
"And what if he's insane!?" Hae-won added. "Like, certifiably insane!"
Nari pulled a face at her friends and shook her head. They continued to talk and eat for a little while and, as they were about to leave, a familiar face came into Nari's field of vision. He seemed to look at the tteokbokki cart for a moment and then kept walking.
"Oh," she exclaimed gently. "He's there."
"He's leaving," Yoon-ah said. "Now's your chance."
"Well—"
"Didn't expect him to be there huh?" Hae-won chuckled. "Think before you talk nonsense next time, Nari."
With a huff, Nari looked over at her friends and jogged over towards the boy as he was leaving. She came up behind him and hesitated for a moment before tapping him on the shoulder. He stopped and lazily looked over his shoulder.
"Uh, hi."
He didn't say anything for a moment, as if trying to process the situation.
"Hi?"
"Yo, Nari!" Hae-won called from a distance. Nari turned to look at her. "Bus is gonna be here soon, we gotta go!"
"Right, okay!" Nari said. She turned back to the boy, ears slowly becoming red. "Uh, sorry, I don't mean to be weird but... you usually take the same bus we do, right?"
The boy looked at her confused and, clearly, a little weirded out.
"Yeah?" he said, unsure.
"Do you wanna sit with us?" Nari asked, stumbling on her words. "I mean, you don't have to, of course. It's just you're always alone and I thought that maybe you'd want some company."
An awkward smile made its way to Nari's face and she hung her head, laughing disparagingly at herself. However, she rose her head again when she heard a quiet chuckle. The boy's face was impassive, but she could tell he was the one who'd laughed.
"I'm heading somewhere else today," he said simply.
"Oh... Well—"
"Nari, come on!" Yoon-ah called.
"Yeah, yeah, hold your horses!" Nari called, turning her head towards her friends.
"The bus can't hold its horses!"
"Hilarious, Hae-won."
"I'll sit with you Monday morning."
The annoyed look on Nari's face vanished and she looked back at the boy, eyes a little wide. Her ears were bright red, now. The anxiety had piled up.
"Wh-What? Really?"
The boy hummed and shrugged.
"Maybe if you realise I'm really boring, you'll stop looking for me every day."
A bright flush of embarrassment rushed across Nari's face.
"Uh, well—"
Nari cut herself off, unsure how to explain herself. The boy gave her one last confused, uncertain and slightly scared look, then turned and resumed his walk towards his destination. After Yoon-ah called for her again and, feeling far too happy for her own good, Nari ran over to her friends with a big smile on her face, excited for Monday to come.