As she carefully opened the door of the cosy café, a familiar bell softly chimed as she entered. Bowing to a few customers and workers that had lend her their attention, she made her way to find the extroverted girl she hadn't seen ever since summer because of her trip to the States.
Right when she was about to turn and head toward the left side of the café, she heard an excited voice call her. A voice that she had missed too much.
"Iseul!"
Before she could turn around, she had already been engulfed by a tight embrace, causing them to almost fall over if they hadn't been balanced again.
"Yunjin, I missed you so much." Iseul was quick wrap her arms around the taller girl, inhaling the scent of strawberries and fresh roses. She only now realized how much she had missed the cheerful presence of the funny girl as she felt her eyes well up as tears threatened to roll down her pale cheeks.
Huh Yunjin. Although Iseul wasn't close with many people, Yunjin was one of the few and lucky people she shared a special bond with. She was like an older sister to Iseul. Someone she could find comfort and peace in whenever she had girl problems and dilemmas. Someone who protected her and made her feel better whenever she was down. With Yunjin in the room, her mood was instantly lifted.
The girl made her feel more confident and proud of herself. Whenever she was with Yunjin, she became and extrovert - not completely though.
Even though Yunjin is only a few months older than Iseul, she is very protective of the latter, always making sure no one messes with her. Ever since the first day they had met, they had almost been inseparable.
It all started when they were in the third grade. Jungwon had stayed home from school for at two whole weeks as he had come down with a fever. Usually the stubborn boy wouldn't let little coughs and stuffy noses stop him from attending school to give Iseul company, but this one had been pretty serious.
Iseul, being the shy introvert she was, had trouble finding someone to eat lunch with as she didn't want to tend her meal alone. But she just couldn't bring herself to make introductions and make new acquaintances. So that's how she almost ended up eating lunch alone under the playgrounds castle bridge.
Almost.
That's when Yunjin came along.
Being the very energetic and loud girl she was, Yunjin was sprinting around freely as she was playing tag with a few classmates. When she stopped to take a breathe, she found herself under the bridge of the playground with another kid. Who turned out to be crying.
★
Yunjin stopped running as she found shade under the playground bridge, taking deep breaths to calm down her wildly pumping heartbeat. She had been running around carelessly ever since the bell had rang and dismissed the small pupils to their lunch.
Once she caught her breath, she wiped the light sweat off her glistening forehead, preparing to be met again with the scorching rays the sun was showering them with. That was until she heard an almost inaudible sniff from behind.
Letting her curiosity take over her childish brain, she turned around to look for the source of the sound - only to be met with a small figure.
Crouched down with her arms wrapped around her knees which were pressed against her chest sat a little girl. She was wiping stray tears off her porcelain skin while rubbing her eyes.
Seeing the small girl crying alone like this made Yunjin feel the sudden urge to protect her as she had assumed she was probably a year or so younger because of how tiny she was. Who could have caused such a poor, innocent girl to cry her heart out like this? Especially when every other child was playing around having extreme fun.
She silently strode towards the girl, not wanting to startle her as she was already in a damp mood. Carefully, she crouched down to the height of the girl before gently patting her head, causing the younger to flinch lightly before looking up.
Though her vision was blurred by her crystal tears, she was able to make a fuzzy image of a dark haired girl smiling warmly at her - a hint of worry in her devine hazel irises as her eyebrows were magnetically drawn to each other, furrowed.
"Hey there," She almost whispered, her voice as gentle and light as a feather as she didn't want to startle the girl. A complete contrast to her regular tone - loud and chaotic, full of energy.
As she wiped away her tears, she managed to great the girl back, hiccuping as she found it difficult to speak properly die her crying.
"...Hi." She gave her a sad smile to which Yunjin immediately responded too, widening hers.
"I'm Huh Yunjin," She spoke enthusiastically but still remaining her calm demeanour, "What's your name?"
"Han Iseul."
"Pardon?" Yunjin barged as she could barely hear her meek response.
"Han Iseul." The opposing child spoke loud enough for Yunjin to decipher her words.
With that, Yunjin abruptly stood as she lended out a generous hand and helped Iseul stand up as well. She swiped the rest of her tears away and tucked her hair behind her ears, fixing the pastel pink ribbons that hung loosely around her cute pigtails.
"Well than Han Iseul," She stepped back before fisting her hands on her hips, making her look like some sort of hero, sending the confused girl a goofy, lopsided grin before she proclaimed, "Let's be friends!"
★
And that's how the two came together. Like the sun shining down on a gloomy, rainy day and swerving the weather out of its upset storms, Yunjin was able to enlighten Iseul's day and help her make a new, cherished friend, also brightening her damp mood.
Iseul felt herself pulling the taller girl closer to her own grip, lifting herself up on her tippy toes to press her cheek onto her shoulder. As the older girl gave her a light squeeze to assure her she was there, Iseul couldn't help but finally give into the temptation, letting her wavering waterworks flow free and accepting her loss to her sensitive emotions.
She had missed her too much.
At first, Yunjin was completely oblivious to the tears that had been shed, her sweater collecting all and absorbing each. She went quiet for a moment to try and remember something but all of her thoughts washed away she felt the shorter girls shuddered breaths against her shoulder and heard a light sniff.
She immediately, but gently, pushed Iseul backwards, firmly grasping her shoulders but being gentle enough to not hurt the girl. Once she peered down and saw how effortlessly the drops of salty aqua were she started to panic.
"Iseul, no," She pleaded softly, "Did I do something? Why are you crying?" She carefully wiped the streams off the girls cheeks, causing Iseul to chuckle.
"No it's just... you've been away for too long." She complained playfully as Yunjin pulled her into another quick hug. Looking down at Iseul, she widened her eyes in exaggeration.
"I'm not gonna be anywhere else for a while Iseul," she reassured as she laughed. "Next time I go I'm packing you in my suitcase, you would fit perfectly since you're literally pocket sized."
Before Iseul could protest and defend her height, she had already been dragged by the girl so sit down at the white, wooden table. Yunjin had chosen a more secluded part in the café, knowing Iseul didn't like commotion and crowded places. It was in a small corner with a few fake plant set up for decoration, they were seated right by a window that held a glorious view to the small city outside.
She took notice on how she had already made herself comfortable as she had organized all of her stationary neatly on the capacious space the table provided. Her thick textbooks were stacked up one on another from the largest at the bottom and the smaller ones on top. Her colorful highlighters placed in rainbow by her ballpoint pens and two brand new notebooks, pages blank and clean, ready to be torn out and scribbled upon throughout the year.
What really caught Iseul's eye was the freshly baked plate of chocolate chip cookies that rested neatly next to Yunjin's supplies. As she sat down she swiftly snatched one of the pastries in her grasp, taking a bite into the sweet chunkiness of chocolate and dough. She loved chocolate chip cookies.
Finishing her treat, she brushed off her hands before reaching down into her bag and grabbed the textbooks she had packed. Deciding to start off with chemistry, she flipped through the thin pages before landing on the topic they had been running lately.
Clearing her throat, she pointed her finger through the notes as she carefully explained, watching how Yunjin noted down the important details and highlighted the more complex sections.
Time flew freely for the two teenagers and before they knew it, Iseul had already helped Yunjin catch up on everything they had studied so far. Closing up their textbooks and storing their belongings into their bags, they then sat down, catching up with one another.
"English is easy," Iseul reminded her, "We've just been writing essays and doing paragraph analysing." Yunjin nodded as she noted that down in her brain. She pushed her glasses to sit straightly on her noses before peering down at Iseul, hands holding up her head.
"How are things going on with Jungwon?" She asked nonchalantly, noticing how Iseul lightly blushed at the mere mention of his name. "Anything new?".
Shaking her head, Iseul reached forward to snatch another cookie, Yunjin doing the same.
"We're still friends." She took a bite into the dessert, not wanting to say anything more.
"Just friends?" Yunjin scoffed in disbelief. She had thought that she would come back to find out that something entertaining had been going on between the two.
"...Just friends." Iseul sighed as her eyes slowly dimmed, slightly slouching as she munched slowly on her bite, feeling full all of a sudden.
"Iseul," Yunjin cooed, noticing how the girls mood had immediately shifted from earlier. She watched as the girl miserably laid her head down onto the table between her hands and patted her soft hair in a comforting manner.
"Things will get even better for the two of you Iseul, I just know it."
Hearing the girl let out another deep sigh, her heart ached for her friend. She knew it wasn't easy for Iseul to keep the feelings she had developed for her best friend hidden. She knew that Iseul constantly yearned for a day where Jungwon could confess, or at least show that he felt something more than a friendly bond for her.
"Just have hope Iseul." She encouraged as the quiet girl sat up straight again, smiling at her but Yunjin could still make out the look of longing in her cocoa eyes.
"I wish I could tell him how I feel." She ranted. "I wish I wasn't so shy and quiet, I wish I could just confess to him and get it over with instead of chickening out everytime I think of it. Why am I like this?" She frustratedly ran a hand through her silky hair as she felt hot, bitter tears brim in the corner of her eyes.
"I'm such a coward." She heaved a sigh of defeat.
She immediately regretted the words that rambled out of her mouth once she heard an offended scoff make it's way through Yunjin's lips, passing through.
"Han Iseul, you better have meant nothing of what you said because we both know damn well you are not a coward." She scolded the younger girl, only earning an unconvinced stare.
"You're braver than most people who have been put in that situation," Yunjin admitted, "If you were someone else you would have let your feelings get the best of you and closed Jungwon out."
"But you're Han Iseul." Yunjin simply stated with a proud smile, "You cherish friendship and choose to focus on the present instead of worrying about the future and live the moment. Yes, you may be shy and quiet, but who cares? That's what make you, you. You're the most understanding sweetheart I have ever met and will always be." She finished off before giving the girls palm a reassuring squeeze to which Iseul warmly smiled back.
"Thank you Yunjin." Iseul thanked the girl with a full heart. After her pep talk Iseul had felt better than before.
"It's nothing really," She shrugged off, "We both know you needed it. Remember that I'm always here for you, okay?"
Iseul nodded as Yunjin let out a light laugh, happy that she was able to help her friend cheer up with her small talk.
The sun slowly set as the two pupils laughed the rest of their study date away, drowning themselves in the needed presences of each other. Although the glowing sun faded away and slowly disappeared, their laughter ascended and rose with the moon.
Iseul was very glad Yunjin had finally come back.
author's corner ୨୧
i am so sorry for being so slow with updates life has been exhausting lately and i've been really stressed lately with school n stuff but please bare with me 🙏🏽
hopefully, this chapter wasn't boring though because i wanted to showcase iseul and yunjin's friendship like yes your girl has other friends and not just jungwon 😚🙌🏽 (also bc i just had to add yunjin)
please remember to vote and comment, if you have any feedback let me know !!
- caitlynn