MAKNAE [twd]

【109】

"Guys.. Am I still unconscious? This is a dream, right? I'm still insane?" Daniel asks, looking around Oceanside.

"What?" Tara asks him.

"Or did I take my meds too much and I'm drugged up..?" he wonders.

Ben's hand raises near Daniel's head like he was about to tap him with his knuckles until Jae grabs his wrist.

"Don't," Jae warns.

"I wasn't gonna!" Ben complains, dropping his hand to his side.

Ahead of us, Natania laughs, pulling us into another house where there were a few more women already preparing dinner.

"Cyndie, honey, come here," she calls.

"Busy," Cyndie glumly responds- the girl at the table with her head in a book.

"I have some new guests you might want to meet," Natania adds.

Cyndie's head snaps up, her curls framing her face and I'm pretty sure I head Daniel choke.

"New.." Cyndie mutters, slamming her book shut and rushing over, "New people?"

"Everyone, this is my granddaughter, Cyndie. Cyndie this is Hana, Tara, Taeyang, Ben, Daniel, and Jae," Natania points down the line.

"Oh my god.. Hi!" she happily waves, looking between us then to Natania.

Natania chuckles, resting her hand on Cyndie's arm, "I took what you said into consideration. You're right. We should be accepting to people again as long as they're safe."

Cyndie's eyes nearly well up in tears and she happily reaches out to grab Tara and I's hands, "It's.. It's so good to meet you. Really."

"Come on in, everyone. We have a big enough table for everyone," Natania urges, waving us further into the house.

"Hope you like fish," Bea comments, setting a pot of food on the table.

"I.. like anything.. everything, really," Daniel mutters, Jae nudging his arm.

"Well, you'll get sick of it here," Cyndie flashes a smile, "Living by the ocean kinda preps your meals for you every day."

Cyndie waves for us to follow as well as I hear Daniel under his breath saying something about 'so prepared'.

"Take a seat, take a seat," Natania smiles, motioning for us to all sit down.

As we do so, I find myself placed between Taeyang and Ben, across from Cyndie who placed her book in a bag and set it to the floor- smiling the whole time.

Natania takes notice of Cyndie's face as well as she comments, "I haven't seen you smile this much in years. If all I had to do was this, I would've done it long ago."

"I promise we're not that interesting. But, thanks for being so happy about us," Tara says from one of the head of the table spots.

"We haven't had new people here.. ever," Cyndie whispers, "This is like the best day of my life."

"Mine too," Daniel whispers on the other side of Jae.

Natania glances to Daniel questioningly, giving Tara and I a look.

"He's harmless," I assure, "Just not the brightest here is all."

She laughs, nodding as she sits at the other head of the table, "Well, everyone dig in."

As everyone begins to make their plates and fall into conversation, I watch Taeyang carefully as he reads the marker on one of the paste bottles.

"You guys have black bean paste?" he asks Beatrice, holding the bottle up.