Life, Once Again!

* * *Soojin stood up after lying down in a daze for a while. Her body felt heavy, almost as if she was sinking in a swamp. She couldn’t just keep sleeping though, so she decided to take a shower for now. Soojin avoided the little dolls she started making last night to enter the bathroom. She turned on the showerhead on max heat, and threw her body in. After a while, she exit the bathroom wiping her reddened skin with a towel, and looked down at the phone next to her notebook. Her phone was blinking, showing her a new message arrived. Soojin tied up her hair with the towel before reaching for it. The first message was from Miso, thanking her for the recipe from last night. When the woman asked her for it last night, Soojin started wondering if Miso got a girlfriend. She didn’t want to make Miso angry with that question though, so she just gave away a decent recipe she had. Soojin flipped to the next message with a small smile.“.....”Soojin bit her lips as she read the words on the screen: ‘Are you doing well?’ She tried to write a message in response, but she kept making typos. It made her pretty annoyed for a brief second, but she managed to finish her sentence regardless.[I’m doing fine.]A new message came a few minutes after her response.[Why don’t you come back home? We miss you.]Soojin stared at her screen for a few long minutes before moving her fingers again.[I’m busy. I’m sorry.]And a new response.[I see. Stay healthy.]Soojin threw her phone on her bed. The phone bounced, landing straight on the floor. Soojin’s body felt heavy again. The shower she took had no effect on her. Soojin kneeled and hugged her knees. Her dad probably wanted to say a few more things to her. She could just feel his emotions emanating from his texts.“Hah.”Soojin felt awful. She felt mad at herself, because she knew she was at fault for feeling awful to begin with. She wouldn’t feel so bad if she received a response for the mail she sent a while back. She knew she shouldn’t feel like this, but she just couldn’t help it. Soojin put on her clothes almost as if she was controlled, and picked up her dolls.“I should… play with the kids.”Today, she once again filled her car with dolls and headed to the kindergarten. That was one of the few places where she could feel safe, and at the same time, repent.She should smile.Soojin smiled. She smiled as brightly as she could. Surely the kids would like it. Right as she entered her car, she got a message from Maru.[I arrived in Suwon station.]Soojin slapped her cheek to snap herself out of that daze, and looked at the back mirror. She looked a little sadder than usual, but she didn’t look all that strange.[I’ll be there soon.]She started her car as soon as she sent the message.

* * *“You worked hard.”“You too, Maru. I’ll see you next week.”“Sure.”Maru watched Soojin drive off in her red car before turning away. He started doing this to gain an interest in acting, but at this point, it’s become a habit. It was still fun, so he didn’t feel like it was a waste of time at all.‘Today was pretty nice.’Soojin looked quite nervous in the morning, but she calmed down a lot after receiving a message. She should be able to sort out her problems from now on. It was 2pm. The day ended surprisingly quickly, so Maru decided to buy a toast sandwich from the station before going home. Right then, he noticed two familiar faces in the distance. It was Geunseok and Yurim.

* * *“Oh, it’s Maru,” Yurim said.Geunseok looked at Maru with an uncomfortable expression. The boy was walking towards the two of them with a toast sandwich in hand. Yurim tried to remove her arm from Geunseok’s hand, but he tightened his grip. “Date?” Maru asked.Maru was a strange kid. The guy complained about the acting club arrogantly, but never actually left. As a matter of fact, he was even attending practice now with a role. Geunseok thought Maru’s character was nothing special, but quickly realized that wasn’t the case after a while of practice. Instructor Miso gave Maru a difficult character for sure.Geunseok, for one, couldn’t understand what instructor Miso was thinking. Why did she give such an important character to a guy like him?‘Why not me?’He got the main role just like last time, but he didn’t feel good about it at all. Maybe it was because he was only getting criticisms recently. Instructor Miso never complimented him for anything, despite showering everyone else around him with praises. In that sense, Geunseok didn’t like Maru. The guy never got scolded.“Good times. Hope you have fun.”Even those words sounded almost like mocking to Geunseok, which made him twist his lips in annoyance. Geunseok pulled Yurim closer towards him.“Let’s go.”Yurim spoke to him in a sweet manner.“He’s probably like that because he’s jealous, right?”“Probably.”“Of course he would be. You’re just too cool, Geunseok.”It was a bit embarrassing to hear, but Geunseok didn’t hate hearing that. Yurim looked at him. She only took care of him, not others. Plus, she was pretty cute.‘Big sis Suyeon would probably be better though.’Geunseok’s gotten a little tired of Yurim recently. The girl was just too attached to him. She treated him almost like her phone that she always used to fiddle with. On the other hand, big sis Suyeon takes the lead pretty well. Every second he spent with Suyeon wasn’t boring at all.‘Then again, Yurim needs me.’Geunseok walked towards a popular pizza place nearby, with Yurim still stuck next to him.