A not so abandoned house

chapter 2

Even though a week had gone, Haruna hadn’t seen Siyoon again, even though she looked at the other girl's house everyday, and found herself in the act of getting ready to go over there. 
When asking her parents about it, neither had heard about a new neighbour, but after a few days they confirmed a married couple with their child had moved in next door, the child was a regular model under Popteen and they had moved there so she didn’t have to commute each way.
Their japanese spirit lived up and suddenly they wanted to cook them a proper welcoming meal, which of course meant Haruna had to work.
Haruna never thought anything against working, especially when it came to food. She wasn't good at it, and only knew simple things but she liked learning.
Reiki often called her sheltered and innocent, because she didn't know much about the world, often thinking in fantasies. Reiki was 'much more mature', which was one of the reasons Haruna's parents disliked her. Reiki's mom had her at a young age, unmarried. She wasn't single, but Reiki's dad just didn't want to get married, he came from a poorer family, and already felt enough stress working 3 jobs to provide for them. Neither one had an education, Reiki had to drop out when she got pregnant, and the father just didn't get one.
Haruna didn't know what had happened to Reiki's father because he wasn't in her life anymore. And the reality of how harsh the Japanese working environment was, hadn't been told to Haruna. 
Her mother was determined to make both Japanese and Korean food. She knew the new neighbours were Korean so wanted to greet them with familiar stuff and new things, so Haruna had to scrub in to help whisk eggs, fry spam, and cut green onions. And so much more.
In a few minutes the kitchen was busy and neither the mom or the child made notice of the father leaving them to cook. He was going to their little garage and got a few different items of decor and started cleaning their house to invite their guests over and eat a luxurious dinner.
Haruna’s mother was one of those very strict moms who often saw their child as an extra pair of working hands, so mother and child didn’t often do fun stuff together, so them in a kitchen awakened a laughing atmosphere in the house of the Osato’s.
In what felt like 20 minutes most of the food was finished (but in reality was closer to 2 hours), Haruna got sent to her room to change and invite the neighbours over for the food. Haruna didn’t let her mom think twice about the request and nearly ran to her room. She wore one of her prettier dresses, she was wondering if it was appropriate to wear a more traditional outfit, but decided against it.
After that she quickly brushed her hair, wore a little bit of makeup that her mom was strongly against but Haruna felt fit the situation. She quickly walked out, over the pavement to their nextdoor neighbours. A little seed of doubt started growing inside her at that point. Who was to say the strangers even wanted to eat with them? Who's to say they hadn't eaten already? She shook her head and knocked at the neighbours door. No way back now. The point of no return.

Siyoon was sitting in her room reading when the sudden sound of the front door getting opened made her put the book down. She heard her dad's surprised laugh and then a yell for her to come downstairs.
She half ran down, her room was on the first floor so when she got to the lower part of the stairs she slowed down a bit looking at the girl who had been in her room when they first moved in.
She had been very confused about the episode for a while but figured it was none of her business. She bowed quickly for the girl, she wasn’t sure if she was a 언니 or a 동생. She muttered a fast hello and looked at her parents. 
Her parents had a quiet discussion as the stranger girl blushed a bit out of awkwardness, that was at least what Siyoon assumed.
“그녀는 아빠에게 뭐라고 말했어?” Siyoon wasn’t entirely comfortable in her japanese yet and decided to speak korean with her parents
“She asked if we want to eat dinner with her and her parents, as a neighbourhood welcome” her dad looked at her quickly.
Her parents were a bit taken aback with the abrupt invitation, especially since it’s been a bit before they had moved in and felt it was unnecessary.
“Come on, let’s do it! It’ll be fun, and it’s so sweet to invite us!” Siyoon felt a need to back up the invitation so she did her best smile, which always won over her parents. They both sighed.
“Fine Siyoon-ya, but go put on a dress so we can look presentable” Her mom smiled at Siyoon and then turned to the girl bowed and apologised about them being a bit late but would be over as soon as possible in japanese.
Siyoon ran to her room after the front door was closed and found one of her newer dresses, it was a white dress her mom had gotten for her to wear when going to and from her model shoots. She wasn’t a huge fan of it in that context but thought it would fit well now.
She put a bit of lip tint on her lips and mascara on and went to wait for her parents. They both finished around the same time as her, and went to the neighbours house.
None of the 3 Koreans expected the smell of home to meet them when they walked into the front door of the Osato house. Siyoon’s mother instinctively relaxed and sighed at the smell. It was Haruna’s dad that welcomed the neighbours in the front entrance, as Haruna and her mom stood in the doorway to the eating room. As the Kim’s were welcomed in, they all bowed to each other. 
Haruna was an I, and felt it was kinda awkward to talk to the other girl, but also exciting in a way.
“I’m Kim Siyoon” the other girl smiled at her, waiting for Haruna to introduce herself.
“I’m Haruna, Osato Haruna.. Uh, 2006” she tried her best to say the number in the korean she knew. Numbers was what she considered the hardest to learn in a language so she wanted to show she at least knew a bit of Korean to the stranger.
“Ah. 2005, but it doesn’t really matter” she looked at the adults already hitting it off, “why were you in my room last week?” she whispered. She had been dying of curiosity, she had been wrecking her head all week, she couldn’t remember if the girl Haruna had mentioned it before jumping out of the 1 story window, and really wanted an answer.
Haruna blushed, she had wished the older girl had forgotten about the incident. But who forgets when someone breaks into your house. 
“The other neighbours moved out, so I used the abandoned house to have a free space. Sometimes I practised some dances there, but I mostly read” she felt ashamed, of course a house being abandoned doesn’t mean you can break the law. Yet she had done it anyway.
“That’s kinda cute” Siyoon giggled a bit, and dug into the food after the parents had properly served them, “you like to dance?”
She said it in her regular tone of voice, instead of whispering, maybe a little quieter to show respect for the adults but that might’ve been it.
“Yes a lot! I’ve been dancing for years! I mostly do heel dance and contemporary, but I’ve recently gotten into kpop so I might practise a few of those”
At the word of Kpop both of the adult Kim’s sighed, “Siyoon-ya has been obsessed with kpop since she was a child” Siyoon’s mother shook her head.
“She participated at the 2010 SBS Gayo Daejun, she’s been an official trainee since 2019” you could easily hear the difference in her mom and dad’s stances on the situation.
Her mom sounded very concerned, and had a worried look in her eyes, filled with only the most motherly love, while her father looked like the proudest dad in the world. He never said those words but one look at him would convince you. He was of course worried for his daughter, but as the only child she was, she had grown up being a bit of a dad’s girl. She was independent, and her dad knew that, knew she’d be able to be successful.
She was still a trainee but used a lot of her time in Japan to model, so her parents had bought the house in Japan, so they could commute as a family, they had an apartment in Korea. Siyoon’s childhood home. Now they also had one for when she modelled.
Haruna ate everything up, ever since being introduced to kpop she had been head and heels with it. Her dance teacher had declined them doing a Twice song for now so she practised them in her room. 
She was saving up for one of their albums, and felt happy in general about her newfound discovery.
“Our Haruna, bless her heart, thinks she should go to Korea to be an idol, but we’re trying to tell her it isn’t that easy,” Haruna’s mom shook her head.
If she was totally honest, she wasn’t that much against it, but backed up her husband with nothing but love on her mind.
“It’s not that bad, but I won’t comment on your business” Siyoon’s father smiled and the conversations about being adult got resumed.
“You want to be an idol?” Siyoon smiled, she loved training, sometimes it felt a bit lonely, but she still had hopes of debuting.
“I don’t know, do you know Sakura?” Siyoon nodded, everyone knew Sakura “and what about Sana?” another nod “or Mina? And Momo!” two nods.
She had listened to all songs by Twice she could find and loved Momo, everyone said Sana was the most japanese idol, but she couldn't help but love Momo more.
Siyoon smiled and waited for the younger to continue, she recognized the fangirling happening in Haruna’s head by the way she said Momo’s name and her eyes sparkling.
“I want to be like them! Especially Momo, she’s so good at dancing” her face was lighting up so Siyoon couldn’t help but laugh.
“Understandable! Maybe your parents will let you audition if you practise a lot! I can help you with korean!” Siyoon wasn’t sure if she believed the younger could be an idol, she hadn’t seen her dance, or song, but she really wanted to have a friend who she could train with.
She wasn’t particularly lonely, she loved her unnies, but she didn’t have anyone her age, and she’d love for this girl to join her.
“Yes! I will! Maybe my parents will see how good I am and allow me after the summer vacation” 
Siyoon nodded and they talked abc and forth how Haruna could go to Siyoon’s house after school and they could do korean and singing lessons together, while Haruna asked her parents for singing lessons for when Siyoon wasn't there, and just in general since Siyoon wasn’t a professional in that quarter.
“My CEO once called me an ace” Siyoon blushed a bit, “but I still have to improve a lot before I debut! I’m pretty good at rapping and dancing but I still have to improve my singing”
Siyoon said it was very serious and made sure the younger one understood it was business and not her trying to downplay her abilities to look more humble.
“They will call you untalented. The closest to a compliment you’ll get is that wasn’t bad, okay?” Siyoon had been practising hard for years but was still surprised by the harsh words of her trainers, she needed her new friend to know that too. Haruna nodded, she was ready for anything, and if she was honest, she had had a lot of backhanded words and outright insults by her peers, especially in her earlier dance classes.
Once she went to America for a dance competition, and while she didn’t know english, she greatly understood how the world was very competitive, she might not understand how much worse it would be, but she was called a lot of rude words when she was there for the competition. Words she knew, and words she googled to find out were so shocking she was kind of scared to mention them for her parents.
“Also, you’ll dance for tens of hours at a time, you’ll be expected to learn a new choreography in a day it feels” Siyoon knew the day's way too well when she woke up and felt like she couldn’t walk, but had to anyway, because she had practice.
“I’m ready for that!” Haruna didn’t even know why she wanted it so hard, it was a dream she had wanted for a week yet it felt like her life depended on her.
“And..” Siyoon hesitated for a bit, she didn’t want to scare the younger “they won’t like that you’re japanese”
“Siyoon-ya!” her mom’s voice sounded strict across the table “that's not nice to say, I really apologise mr. and mrs. Osato, that was way out of line”
Haruna’s parents nodded, and Siyoon apologised.
But Haruna’s eyes didn’t show any hesitation at all, she was ready for the life she had never dreamed of, but now was her only dream.
She smiled a bit, her mother had been sure Reiki was the one influencing her to want the idol life, but in reality it was this newfound friend.
The two girls looked at each other with grave seriousness, they felt faintly like sisters in that moment, a great friendship for the future.