8 years later
"Oppa, when are you leaving for Seoul?"
"Two days. Why?" he asks then she shakes her head, "Do you want to come earlier?"
"I just need to wait for the confirmation letter from the company. It hasn't been settled."
Sun Ho drops the baby car seat on the back car and closes the door. He looks at his younger sister, raising an eyebrow. "It settled. When the Managing Director says that you are moving to the Headquarter, it means you're kicked off."
She frowns at him, "Why do you make it sound like I'm fired?"
He chuckles, "Go find your sister in law. I need to know where she puts the rest of the bags so I can pack faster."
Eun Ha sighs and eventually goes into the house to find Hye Sun, her sister in law, his brother's wife. Hye Sun is sitting in the backyard with her two years old son on her arm. Sun Ho and Hye Sun have been married for three years now. Everything has changed for the better when his father has to move to Jeju for work. Sun Ho who lives alone in Seoul eventually has a lot of time for himself and finally he meets the one and settles in. It was a wonderful day not only for Sun Ho but for the whole family when the bells rang. As their son comes into frame, Eun Ha can't help but not to be a very loving aunt for her first nephew. She showers him the love like it's her own son.
Now she is sad because the holiday is finally over and they have to go back to Seoul in two days.
"Seo Woo-ya, let's live with aunt okay? Do you want to wait for me?"
Being an active little baby, Seo Woo reaches out his hands and she cradles him into her arms. "He wants to live with me, Unnie."
Hye Sun laughs, shaking her head. "Good luck waking up every two hours in the dawn then."
Eun Ha bulges her eyes out and looks at Seo Woo who is playing with her long brown hair. "Seo Woo, aunt will give you a lot of milk before you sleep, okay? So please just sleep with me." she pouts, giving the baby pat gently on his back.
"Eun Ha, are you sure you're not going to come with us? It's just in two days."
She shakes her head while rocking her body side to side to entertain the baby. "I'm going just the day before my first day at work."
"Are you sure? Even if it's just a few hours flight, it is still tiring."
"No need to worry. I traveled a lot for this job, so Jeju to Seoul is nothing.'' She reassures her attention is back again at Seo Woo who is now pulling her hair and grabbing her face.
Hye Sun looks at her with a knowing look and eventually smiles softly. "Last offering then," she says, catching her attention. "Are you sure you're not going to live with us? You know you can use Seo Woo's room. It's unoccupied for the next few years for all we know."
"Hye Sun Unnie," she sighs, but eventually gives her a tired smile. "I'm 27 now. I really think that I should start living on my own even if it's too late. No, don't worry about saving. I've been saving a lot and the place I found is really near to the office." she quickly adds before she interrupts.
Hye Sun finally gets her point and gives up on persuading her which she is thankful for. For the past 8 years, she hasn't even left Jeju at all. She started a new life here and is planning to do that for the rest of her life, just like when she thought at high school. However life changes, her job requires her to go to the headquarters in the city which happens to be in Seoul. She is anticipating what's ahead. She did so much the best on her job that gets her there. Seoul has been a good and bad memory for her. Two years ago she decided that she has to move forward to whatever she faces next. She doesn't want to be the girl she was in high school, running from the problems. She is lucky she has her parents, but now she is all matured she knows she has so much to face on her own.
One year after she left Seoul, Hwa Young and Ji Yeon still intensely contacted her. They exchanged messages, photos and everything. But it eventually fades away in the second year and there are no communications at all in the third year. It happens naturally and neither of them complain about it. They both had their life to run. New people came and they had to live what's in front of them first. Their friendship becomes something that they only maintain by wishing each other's birthday, congratulating each other on any occasion or occasionally giving likes on their social media. They witness their life through each other's social media nowadays.
The social media that she has is pretty mandatory for her work to promote what she has been doing. That's also why she only uses it for business purposes. She rarely posts something personal but only follows both Ji Yeon and Hwa Young. Even though she passes the memories of the mean girls back in high school, she learns that sharing something personal isn't that important. Someone bad can use it against her and she prevents that from happening. That's why she is closed and anyone in the company can say that they don't know much about her personal life.
The day has finally come when she moves to Seoul. Eun Ho decides to help his older sister with her moving day to her new apartment. He takes two days from his classes just for this. Seoul that they both remembered has changed a lot. When they visited Sun Ho, they really had no time to go around the city but to spend time with him and his family. The visits were shorts due to their busy life and now it's the time they can explore more.
Eun Ha and Eun Ho stroll around their neighborhood and see how many changes there are. They also visited their home to find another family living there. The building isn't the same anymore, it has been under major renovation. The building looks stronger and modern all at once. The memories of their house are nothing left. From across the street, they look at it and smile at the memories.
"I'm going to miss the wooden smell of that house."
Eun Ha nods in agreement, "Then you should buy yourself a house like that."
He scoffs, "What a last year college student like me can do, Noona?"
Both of them laugh and leave the scene. They move towards the busy street where they usually look for something to eat after school. Some of the stores are still there and some of them were replaced by new one. They enter the unchanging one and buy some snacks. They both cherish the feeling of the past on their tongue. It's something that they haven't done in years and now it's so great experiencing it all over again.
Now they are on the way home, Eun Ho finally asks something he has been curious about.
"Noona, are you still in contact with your high school friends?"
Eun Ha glances at him and nods. "I spoke to Hwa Young and Ji Yeon two weeks ago on chat."
He nods, pausing for a moment before he speaks again. "What about In Yeop Hyung?"
The name she hasn't heard for quite a while. Even in the girl's conversation, they rarely brought up that name. However, Eun Ha knows better even if it was for a short period of time, he left a strong impression on her younger brother.
"I don't know about him."
"When was the last time you talked to him?"
Eun Ha tries to remember which clearly isn't very hard. "When he visited our home. That was probably the last time I talked to him."
Eun Ho decided not to ask again. It clearly means that she lost contact with him at all after they moved. It's going to be useless if he asks anything related to him.
In her head, she vaguely remembers the last thing she said to him on that night before he left their house. He wasn't the only one she didn't give a proper goodbye. At that time, she was too scared about his questions that he might ask. She thought the news of her transfer was enough so she didn't say anything to him afterwards. Changing the topic, she switches the questions back at him. Surprisingly for him, he manages to maintain his relationship with his friends. They even know that he's here in Seoul for a day tomorrow before he goes back to Jeju. There he also says that tomorrow he's going to spend a night out rather than staying in her apartment.
"Good for you. Don't miss your flight."
"I won't, I promise." he chuckles. Eun Ha narrows her eyes at him, not quite sure about his words. "Noona, I won't ask for money if I really missed my flight."
"That one's comforting." she sighs dramatically.
Eun Ho clicks his tongue before they break into laughter. They choose to have dinner at Gwanghwamun House as soon as they find it still exists. The restaurant that their family visits frequently almost every week. They never get bored of the taste, nor the food. It's just the two of them tonight because Sun Ho can't make it when they called.
The next day, Eun Ho leaves first. His friends literally pick him up at 8 in the morning then they are off to have fun. Eun Ha sends him off to the door, telling him to remember about tomorrow again which he quickly replies by nodding his head quickly. After he's gone, now that she is left alone she chooses to organize her stuff.
She doesn't bring too much stuff since she doesn't have much in the beginning. She organizes her clothes first, ironing the one she's going to wear the next day to the office. The next thing she does is arrange her kitchen, pulling out what's necessary and cleaning it.
"What should I do next?" she speaks to herself, looking at the unopened boxes in the living room.
In the end, she tidies up her apartment until the afternoon. She stops when she hears her stomach growling and that's when she chooses to take a bath then heads outside. On the way out, she looks over to her finger which has cuts on it when she moves a box of her shoes out of the way at the door. She looks for the small pharmacy on the way out. After purchasing the aid kit, she realizes she is in the familiar neighborhood once again. She looks to her left and knows where the road is going to take her.
After a 10 minutes walk, the familiar building is finally in her sight. The cafe she used to work as a part timer is still there, only the paint changes colors. Her feet move without her realizing. What wakes her up from her daydream is when the doorbell chimes and the worker greets her. Once she is in front of the counter, she takes a while to look at the stuff on the table and find a bucket tip that she used to make is still there. She softly smiles how after all those years, it doesn't even damage at all. After she orders, she chooses the seat near the window and proceeds to apply the ointment on her cut.
"Why does it stick? It's not expired, right?" she mumbles to herself, trying to find the expiry date on the product.
"Here is your coffee and bread."
She frowns at the order then to the buzzer after that she looks up. "I don't think I ordered this bre--" she stops when she recognizes a familiar face. She has to cup her agape mouth as she is too shocked to find him here.
"I can immediately recognize you from the first sight at the door," he adds. "Am I not getting a hug?"
Eun Ha practically jumps into his open arms, making him laugh in delight. He has been someone outside her family that supports her a lot, especially when she learns about her first job.
"Look at you, now you're such a fine young lady. It's a pity not to see you grow." he slightly frowns at the fact, looking like a proud father as he studies her.
"Jong Jin Oppa," she narrows her eyes playfully. "You with your sweet words never change, huh?"
"That's actually my charm, don't you think?"
For the next few hours, they catch up on stories for the past 8 years they missed. That's how it feels to reminisce about the good old days for her. It never occurred to her mind before, coming back here and actually planning to meet all the people that she knows. Even as of today, both Hwa Young and Ji Yeon don't even know about it. She doesn't need to announce such unimportant news. She doesn't even want them to feel obligated to meet her after she broke the news.
As she doesn't even have plans for tonight, Jong Jin actually cancels his plan to meet his friends just for dinner with her. She refuses the idea of him canceling his plan but also touches how he still sees her as someone in his life. The foods are ordinary but the atmosphere they are in is what makes that night so special. She has good laughs about the old days. The first day of her part time work, how she often messed up with the stocks and of course how Jong Jin defended her when customers were upset with her.
It surprises her to know that he had been single for the past years. Focusing on his business becomes his top priority in his life. As of today she learns that he already opens three branches across the city and that's how successful he is today.
Before they separate, they exchange numbers and promises to exchange messages or meet whenever they can.
That night, Eun Ha comes home with a content heart and how she wishes her first day at work tomorrow will be thrilling as well.