Two Hearts

Preparations

January 25, 2020, 2 p.m.

Days passed by quickly and Yejin's workload drowned out the IG incident on her mind. Aside from preparing for her lectures and checking class requirements, she had to prepare for an upcoming conference where she would present her research group's latest output. She also had to prepare for Thirdy's party, which would be the highlight of her week. Aside from her passion for decorating, she really has a knack for taking care of children. She took care most of her nieces and nephews (at least from her sisters) and they're all grown up now, the youngest in her middle school, so she missed having babies to take care of. That's why she turned to her friends' babies to "satisfy" her passion, and the very reason why they kept on bugging her to get married and have her own, so that she won't "steal" their babies.

That weekend before Thirdy's birthday party, she and Junghyun, Thirdy's mom, met to prepare for the decors. They met at Joyparty to buy the party decors they will need.

"Woah, I'm so excited for this Yej, Thirdy will be giddy seeing all these animal stuffed toys." Junghyun waved the tiger stuffed toy enthusiastically, clearly excited for her firstborn's first birthday. "And it's now my turn to benefit from your talent!" She smiled, reminding Yejin of her pledge to their Cinderella group that she will be decorating at least the dessert table for her friends' children's 1st birthday.

Yejin has done it for Song Yoona's 7 y/o son, Oh Yoona's 13 y/o son, and Lee Minjung's 5 y/o son. So after four years, it's Junghyun's son's turn. Among the seven of them, it's only her and Hyojin who are still single while Jiwon doesn't have a child yet despite being married for almost 2 years now.

Their Cinderella group was formed when they all became dorm mates in SNU. And they called themselves cinderellas because of the strict 12 m.n. curfew in their dorm, such that they had to always end their hang outs, may it be for study or fun before 12 m.n. Their friendship was built and solidified over time, having gone through all the ups and downs, despite working in different fields and having different personalities. But they share similar values when it comes to relationships, family, career and life goals, plus they're all hardcore loyal.

They've been constantly in each others' lives and they made it a point that they'd always hang out together at least once a month. And in so doing, her friend's partners have become close friends as well to the point that they'd also like to come up with a moniker for their group, except that they wanted to do it when the last two single ladies have their own "contribution" to the group.

Yejin joked that if any of her or Hyojin was to remain single forever, she should just leave the group to not complicate things for them. They took it seriously and tried to introduce men to the two of them. However, they couldn't just break her firm "no" since they know her past dating record and her cinderellas smacked them in the head after hearing their banter with her.

Luckily, they scored one in Hyojin when she agreed to meet a man they introduced to her after several tries. It didn't surprise her why Hyojin agreed though, since she knew, being the closest to Hyojin in the group, that he's been her long-time crush. Hyojin saw him in a conference last year and giggly told her about it, keeping it a secret to the rest of the group, as it felt just like a highschool crush for her. Well, she's happy for her friend and as of the current time, the guy, Jo In-sung, has been pursuing her for months now since their first date. And she somehow has an inkling as to where it would lead, she's just waiting for the wonderful announcement from her friend and a shout of victory from the boys, for the very first "project" the group had. She would have to prepare to defend herself again from these boys, knowing that she'll be the last single lady in their group. Or should she just leave? Nah. She loved them and considers them a family and she can endure all their teasings. She knew they're just concerned for her and she has somehow got used to their banters and find it funny how these men, of various dignified professions, turn into boys when it comes to that topic. How they beg her for her "contribution" to their group. Well, she also wondered about that.