"Come on, Nari! We're gonna be late!"
The trailer door flew open, and out dashed a short girl with wild blue hair. She tucked it back into a bandanna as she wrenched open the passenger door and threw her heavy cloth sack in.
"Sorry!" Nari cried, hopping into the seat. "Just some morning issues, that's all."
Yeseul gave her a sympathetic look as she reversed. "Dad still unemployed?"
"Yeah," Nari shrugged. Yeseul knew the girl didn't like it when people felt sorry for her, so she changed the topic.
"What've you got in that bag?"
Nari hauled the heavy sack into her lap. "Books," she said, eyes sparking. "I have to stop by the library this morning and return them all, otherwise they'll start hounding me again."
"I thought good girls like you always returned books on time," Yeseul teased.
"Not if said good girls want to keep the books!" Nari laughed.
Yeseul turned back onto Main Street and chugged the Jeep along. "So, have you finished your Hanyang entrance essay yet?"
"No." Nari slouched lower in her seat. "I have no idea what to write!"
Yeseul huffed. "Nari, you are so smart you don't even have to write an essay. The rest of us don't have straight A's like you do."
"You have straight A's," Nari pointed out.
"Yeah, but I don't have a 4.0 GPA!"
"You would if you didn't spend so much time doing your sisters' homework and focused on your own."
Yeseul pulled up to the curb, parallel parking outside a flower shop. "Stepsisters. And all I have to do is kiss up to them for another few months and then I'll be out of here and won't have to deal with them again!"
"Yeah, I know," Nari grumbled, as Yeseul put the Jeep in park and they both jumped out the side. "You'll escape to Ansan, enjoy their University of the Arts, become a famous author-"
"And never see my stepfamily again," Yeseul added confidently.
The shop sign read
C'est La Vie ㅡ flower arranging
Yeseul knocked on the door, and it was swung open by a girl with black hair in braids and wide eyes. "Hi, Beth!" Yeseul greeted. "Can we come in?"
"Sure!" Beth opened the door wider, and the two girls stepped in. "Saeron's not ready yet, but she will be soon!"
A girl about two years older than Yeseul walked out of the back room, with bone-straight black hair and tanned skin.
"Shop opens in fifteen minutes!" She hollered into the back room. "Get your asses in gear! Saeron, your friends are here!"
"Morning, Kahi" Yeseul liked Shim Kahi , the store owner. She ran it with her brother Baekho, and their adopted sister Nayoung. The three of them weren't related to Kahi at all, but had been letting her live with them since her elementary years.
"Good morning, seul" Kahi greeted. She was decked out in a store apron with pink, blue, and green swirls.
Nayoung came rushing out, wearing cat ears with her employee uniform and talking at her usual fast pace.
