Chapter Text
Earlier that day, Kim Minji found out that she was being sold at eBay.
By this, she, Minji as a person, and not her belongings. The advertisement looked like a desperate attempt to get her laid. Or something just as worse. In that instant, she immediately knew just who was the culprit behind this scandalous attempt. She remembered how nervous her secretary was when she entered her office. And when Minji asked her employee what the problem was, the woman had shown her cellphone, and yes, she saw her picture.
You just have to directly contact the address with the username of BoBoRaRa_2020.
“For God’s sake, Minji Kim, will you please stop being a drama queen?” Bora huffed before stuffing her mouth with a mouthful of sandwiches.
The two of them were having their lunch at a small restaurant far from their respective offices. Because of this, Bora had all the freedom to eat like a caveman. Without being crucified for violating acceptable dining etiquette.
“Excuse me?” Minji remarked, her tone being sarcastic. Something rare for someone like her, “If it was not for your own loudmouth, I would not have found out that you signed me up for Tinder without my consent. And now what, eBay? Are you insane, Kim Bora? No, don’t even answer that. You are. And wipe your mouth, please. How old are you, three?”
Bora sighed but dabbed a napkin as she was told, “Come on, Minji. Don’t you think that you should live a little? You know, bury the hatchets and show that sexy booty to the world?” she added while bobbing her head to a beat that only she can hear.
Minji raised an eyebrow towards her friend’s direction, “Again, for the nth time, excuse me?”
Running a hand through her jet-black hair, Bora leaned back to her chair for safety measures just because Minji’s look is getting more murderous as she breathes.
“Well, not the world, per se. I wouldn’t like you hooking up with each nationality like an ambassadress for a hooker organization.”
Minji stared at Bora in disbelief, “I am alarmed by the frequency of hookers in that sentence, and, no, I am not sleeping around with anyone. I have no intentions of being involved in careless affairs founded on such primal instinct. I am not a teenager anymore, Bora. And of all the people, I should know how such endeavors can change one’s life completely.”
“That’s the point.”
“You have a point?” Minji remarked in disbelief.
Bora gave her friend a look before continuing, “How can you say that you don’t like it when you haven’t tried it! What if you found someone that will make you lose your mind over rendezvous based on primal instincts, in a good way?”
From that point, Minji decided to pretend that she was eating alone.
She was not making her point across her friend’s head anyway. Because that was just how Bora is when she’s set on something, she gets it, the rest be damned. And the amount of trouble Minji had been involved with due to her friend’s impulsiveness still gave her horrors.
It’s still a wonder how someone like her, who effortlessly gets elected as a president of something, is friends with Kim Bora, whose attendance in disciplinary office fared significantly better than her class’s presence.
Bora continued to rant, “I mean, it’s not like it has to be a serious relationship or I’m selling your hand for marriage to the first good-looking man or woman--”
Minji almost choked on her vegetable salad, “Woman?”
“Well, you know, if you do give me the honor for a flashback, once upon a time in Brazil, there was this hot Brazillian lady….” Bora trailed, and her snicker grew into a full-blown guffaw when she saw how red Minji became, “That was still the best spring break I had, and the first and last time I ever convinced you to come with me. Good days.”
Minji scanned her head in paranoia as if someone was listening to their conversation. And that, for some reason, knew what exactly happened, then she glared at her, the shorter woman.
“I do not know what devious spirit had possessed me at that time, so you had somehow managed to convince me to go on that trip, but may I remind you that you had sworn on your tomb that we will never speak of this again.”
Then the pink-haired drank her water in one go as if to replenish her fading lifespan as she spends more stressful moments with Bora, “And in my defense, I was very much drunk that night. If you can remember, I took nine tequila shots. Nine.”
“Oh, I recall.” Bora had this wicked twinkle in her eye, “I recall you took all nine shots from different parts of that lady’s body.”
Minji groaned in surrender, “Okay, fine. That was one time.”
“Actually, no.” Bora replied, determined to make her friend suffer even more, “When we were in college, remember this girl who had a mad crush and you. She was so crazy about you that we had to ask for Jin-oppa to scare her off?”
Minji grumbled, “You are very much welcome, Bora-ssi. I am pleased to see you experience such joy in making fun of my life.”
“Well, I’m just saying, I can set you up on dates with both ladies and gents, and as your friend, I solemnly swear to be the best wing woman there is, all the birds would call me diva!”
With one final eye roll, Minji stood and grabbed her purse, then she threw a playful look towards the shorter girl, “Lunch is on you, sweetie.”
“Minji-ah, love is love!” Bora’s loud voice can be heard as Minji left the establishment.
* . * . *
Minji would have run towards her unit if only it would not be weird.
She can feel her fatigue slowly fade away as she reached her condominium unit. She set her bags on the couch. God, she wanted to see---
"Eommaaaaa!!!”
A pint-size ball of loudness crashed into Minji’s side. It felt like it popped out from nowhere. The kid was like a cat in some ways. It’s hard to pinpoint where she lurks, then she suddenly jumps and expects Minji to catch her.
Oh, well, at least, it just shows that the kid trusts her, which is definitely a good sign, according to this one book she read. She was thankful that there are people who write manuals for parenting these days.
She swooped the little girl into her arms and spun her around. Minji peppered her cheeks with kisses. These were returned with Spongebob-like peals of laughter, which Minji swears is the best sound in the world, and she lives for this kind of validation.
“I missed you, my precious little gummy smile Gahyeonie.” she cooed.
“Eomma, I’m not little anymore!” little Gahyeon replied, pouting.
Minji was shaken down to her last cell, “Why? You don’t want to be my baby anymore?”
“Uncle Jin said that little kids can’t be married, and today I decided to marry Handong!” her kid’s determination was giving Minji mixed feelings.
A part of her, who would be forever doting on her child, wants to fangirl but, at the same time, is alarmed. Is it okay for kids this age to know the concept of marriage?
“Sorry, the kids watched too much Disney. I had to let them do something because, I swear, my consciousness is giving up on me. And when they asked me why are these 2-D people kissing each other, I came out with that answer, and now I feel like I just had said something that should not be said. And I just wish Joonie is here.” he rambled.
Minji looked at the tired man in pink pajama and an oversized pink sweatshirt with a statement of real men wear pink. She puts her kid down, and the little one came running back to her bedroom where, Minji assumes, Handong is.
“It’s okay, Jin-oppa. You look awfully tired. Take a seat. I’ll make you some coffee.”
Jin threw him a soft smile before making himself comfortable on the couch. Minji and Jin met during their college days as they were both parts of the baking club. They instantly bonded over their love for pink. Jin acted like her brother, fending off unwanted strangers. Like the one, Bora had mentioned earlier.
They had stuck together like siblings by blood. Jin resides in a simple two-story house near Minji’s, and he lives there with his husband Namjoon and their adopted child, Handong. On his breaks, he brings his kid to play with Gahyeon.
Minji handed him a cup and took a seat next to her broad-shouldered friend.
“What drained the life out of you, oppa?” Minji asked.
“I just spend several all-nighters to make the perfect cake for my client’s wedding.” he finished with a yawn.
Wedding? Is everyone settling down and tying the knot these days?
Bora’s early intrusion, Gahyeon’s declaration, and now, Jin’s cake. Is the universe telling her something?
She felt a gentle nudge.
“What’s bothering you?”
Minji began telling him about what had ensued during her mealtime. Truthfully, she was expecting Jin to come into her defenses. Knowing him, he can be really overprotective towards Minji. And even if he won’t tell her, Minji knows that Jin feels partly responsible for her unexpected pregnancy with Gahyeon. He probably felt like he failed as a brother.
That was why, Minji found it rather hard to believe when Jin gave her a grin and said, “I would like to volunteer myself as a part of the committee. Do you think I need to sign up, or Bora accepts walk-in volunteers?”
“Oppa….” now this is Minji whining.
“I hate it to break it to you, darling. But your mom had four, I repeat, four, boyfriends when she stayed in California, and you don’t even have a single date.”
The mental image of her mom grinning at her made Minji groan. Bora and Jin are teasing her enough already. Minji doesn’t feel like involving her mom anymore.
Jin looked at the room where Gahyeon and Handong should be playing. And when he’s sure that no minor is about to pop out from nowhere, he told the younger girl in utter seriousness, “Perhaps Bora is right, Minji. You should get out more, have some other routines than your office. It would do you some good to meet new people, and truth be told, it has been a while since you had sex. So go on, have fun.”
“You, of all the people, oppa? Telling me to go out with some people I don’t know, have sex, to you know, have fun?”
Jin chuckled, “I mean, be responsible, of course. And that’s why I will be participating in this project. To make sure that you would not end up with some disturbed people.”
She sighed, “Fine, I will think about it.”
She said just to end the conversation. Knowing Jin, he can be persuasive and stubborn as Bora and will never leave her side until she bends over his will.
* . * . *
What changed Minji’s mind, however, was the little talk she had with her kid.
She cuddled with Gahyeon on the bed, and the little one talked about her new obsession. Trees. She wanted to have a storybook about talking trees. Minji promised to look for one because she’s whipped for her daughter.
Then she asked Gahyeon, “Why do you want to marry Handong-ah?”
The reply came faster than she expected, “Because Handong is my best friend and I would want to grow big together with Handong. Then we can take of you, and uncle Jin, and Uncle Namjoon.”
The statement gave her an unexpected warmth that Minji almost cried. Her irrational fear of being abandoned by her baby when she finally grew up faded. She was relieved. But when the little one eventually fell asleep, Minji started to feel lonesome.
She felt like a clingy obsessive mom. Perhaps this was because her world revolved around her kid. Don’t get it wrong, she is happy with her job, she feels grateful for her friends, and she feels blessed to have Gahyeon in her life. But she’s not just a name in the fashion scene. She’s not just a friend and not just a mother.
There is another part of Minji that longs for something. It was not even the sex. And the talk with her daughter helped her figure it out. Minji is longing for a best friend. Not a platonic one. A best friend she can kiss, make love to, and spend her whole life with.
God, I must be getting crazy.
She called Bora, and even before the girl from the other line, Minji said, “I’ll do it. The dating, whatever, thing.”
Bora was had made all the possible loud noises she can do, “Thank you for that devious spirit for retaking charge of you.”
“I have a condition, though.”
“Sure, everything for my precious best friend, what is it?”
Minji rolled her eyes at the terms but decided not to point it out, “A babysitter.”
“You want me to set you up with a babysitter? Are you serious? I was thinking of someone of the same status…or close?”
Minji sighed tiredly, “I don’t care about status or whatever, Bora. But, no, I’m not referring to me. I mean, I need someone to take care of Gahyeon. My previous babysitter would be returning to Taipei, and I can’t bother Jin all the time.”
She can hear Bora giggling, “Consider it done.”
* . * . *
Consider it done, my arse.
Minji mentally grumbled as she scampered her way through the busy streets, hailing a cab. Minji can guess the Bora had invested too much time for prospect date that she almost forgot about finding a babysitter.
Minji bet that Bora just set her up with the first decent-looking babysitter she saw. Minji mentally made a note to strangle the loud woman when she saw her again. There was not much information to go by, except that the girl was currently a student from Somnia University. The babysitter must be an intelligent kid.
Minji was a bit nervous. For some reason. She wondered when was the last time she talked to a university student.
There won’t be much of an age gap. She reminds herself. But still, she had been surrounded by people of the fashion world that it almost feels foreign to meet a senior university student. Also, Minji wishes that whoever that person is, she recognized her first.
Jin’s business was fortunately empty except for some old lady, a guy busy with his laptop, and a girl in her early twenties looking at her. When their eyes sights met, the younger one waved at her, a bit awkwardly. Minji walked towards the younger girl.
“You must be Kim Minji?” the gray-haired stood and held her hand out, “I’m Kim Yoohyeon.”