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After what felt like an eternity, Yoon-Ji felt the familiar jostling of a bump in the road, bringing her abruptly out of her slumber. She groaned and rubbed her eyes, trying to shake off the residual fog of sleep that clung to her senses.
Once she came to, she looked through the window and was pleasantly surprised to see the sun had risen in the midst of the hazy afternoon.
The girl took a moment to stretch her limbs while yawning, her body aching from the cramped position in which she had fallen asleep. Afterwards, she leaned back and closed her eyes, aiming to drift off to dreamland once more, but before she could continue, a tap on her shoulder snapped her out.
Her tired gaze slowly focused on Heo-Yool, a store-bought onigiri in his hand, as he expectantly looked at her to take it.
Eun-Ha spoke up from behind, "We already told him to leave you be. But of course, he doesn't listen to anyone."
Heo-Yool responded defensively, "I wasn't even going to bother her; I was just concerned!"
He turned to Yoon-Ji, adding, "It's about past afternoon already; I figured you would want to get something inside your stomach once you wake up."
Yoon-Ji's face warmed slightly as the others teased her about Heo-Yool's actions, while Heo-Yool himself only continued to grin toothily, seemingly unfazed by all the teasing. His attitude towards the situation made her think, and while she admittedly did find the notion a little flattering, she knew that Heo-Yool's actions were not meant to come off as romantic in nature.
'He's just always been mindful like that,' Yoon-Ji thought, feeling grateful that she was close friends with such a great person.
She sent the other a smile before taking the food in hand and swiftly biting out of it. As her tongue touched the cold rice, she was met immediately with an explosion of delectable flavours from the filling.
"Mmh!" Her eyes went wide, and she excitedly looked at Heo-Yool who was grinning back at her. "Tuna Mayo?"
"You bought that from the stop earlier?" Interjected Yeon-Woo, gazing longingly towards the food in Yoon-Ji's hold. "Do you have another one?"
Heo-Yool shook his head no before another friend, Im Eun-Chan, cut in to ask, "Hey, hey, hey... really, When are we going to start?"
Hearing this, Heo-Yool seemed to recall something, and he turned to face Yoon-Ji once more. "Actually, you woke up just in time; we were about to play another round of mafia. A new version of mafia!"
"You're going to join, right? You promised you would join," he pressed, his demeanour comparable to that of a puppy pleading for food.
Although she couldn't remember when she had promised that, she felt bad at the thought of turning down her friend's invitation, especially when he was asking her so cutely.
