lonely • astro

t w e n t y o n e

"Nari-ssi here's your lunch." Park Sun-Hee brought a tray upstairs to Nari's room. She was curled up in her bed with a blanket around her. She has been waiting the boys to answer her. They had gone and had left her there looking like a complete fool in front of her mother.

She was relieved that they had a Christmas break so they'll have a few weeks free. She thought about her brother coming over for the Christmas break. She had missed him so much, last time she saw him was 10 months ago.

Park Sun-Hee left the tray with the food on Nari's desk and turned to look at the girl. She hasn't been eating well the past few days and Park Sun-Hee couldn't help but wonder if her new friends were the reason behind this.

"Agasshi you need to eat-

"You can leave now Ahjumma." Her voice was sweet but steady. Park Sun-Hee knew that the little agasshi wasn't rude nor disrespectful but by judging the tone on her voice, she wanted to be alone. Park Sun-Hee nodded and bowed before making her way out of the door.

"Is she eating?" Park Sun-Hee bumped into the mother when she was closing the door but she just shook her head. Min Solji breathed heavily and looked down. Her daughter's behavior has been worrying her for the past three days. She hasn't leave her room and refused to eat or take baths.

Nari rolled on the bed and her eyes were stuck on a pile of papers on her desk. She knew it was her manga project. The need of finishing crawled up to her body. She knew she had to work in another one but she needed to finish the first one, somehow she thought she had worked so much on it and it'll be a waste of time to leave it like that.

She stood from the bed and sat on the desk. A few pencils were scattered around, she grabbed one and began to drawing on the pages. She let her mind flow and released through her fingers.

Soon she was disturbed when a knock on her door made her jump on her seat. "Ne?" She said a bit harshly.

"Agasshi there's a friend downstairs waiting to talk to you - Nari didn't even let Park Sun-Hee finished, she opened the door quickly and her brown eyes met Sun-Hee's.

"Who is it?" She asked with widened eyes. For some reason her heart longed to be Eunwoo or one of the boys but her hope vanished when Park Sun-Hee pronounced Keiko's name. Nari looked down and breathed heavily shaking her had.

"Ani, I don't want to see her." She said closing the door, without giving an explanation. Park Sun-Hee frowned at the girl's behavior and couldn't help but worry about Nari's situation.

She made her way downstairs and met the girl at the door. She had brought a box with sweets to share with Nari. "Keiko-ssi I am afraid the agasshi is a bit indisposed right now." Park Sun-Hee said apologizing for Nari. Keiko pouted and looked down to the box full of sweets.

"Omo what a shame I wanted to share these with Nari-yah... But can you please give them to her when she's better?" Keiko asked handing the box to Park Sun-Hee. She grabbed it and nodded.

"Ne." Park Sun-Hee smiled. She thought about how sweet Keiko was and thought about the other friends and how rude they had been.

"Kamsahamnida." Keiko said leaving.

***

"Honey?" The mother asked while she entered to the room. Nari was coming out of the shower, she was wearing a bathrobe.

"Eomma." She said. The mother looked at Nari who looks pale now and it seemed like she has lost a bit of weight. She toured around the room and saw a mess of papers scattered around.