Satzu - reliable

#5

The tapping footsteps followed her like ducklings and Sana couldn't prevent a warm feeling increase inside of her at the thought of how nice and sweet those children were.

Adding up, it made her remember how she always wished for a sibling when she was younger. Or for a dog. But she grew up with neither and was still convinced to have had a nice childhood.

The sun shined mildly upon her face and as she moved her hand towards her forehead to be able to keep the five children in sight, Sana seemed to realize for the first time how bad she actually was with names. But the last thing that she would want to do was asking the kids for their names again and possibly unsettle them.

That's why Sana internally took notes. All of them were probably between the age of four and six and to make it easier, she decided to number them.

Girl number one and girl number two looked as if they were the spitting image of each other even though both of them had denied being sisters when Sana had asked them. They walked well-behavedly next to the two boys of the group.

The said did not look like each other but Sana was still not able to think of anyone's name. Boy two was the youngest of the group and one of the most adorable kids that Sana had ever seen. Boy number one nevertheless was a bit taller and kicked a little stone with himself by every step.

For a moment, Sana eyed the four children happily while thinking about that she should have started a project like that way sooner as she remembered the only child whose name she knew. That was the case because the little girl had not talked for the whole two hours that Sana had already been with the children.

Sana knew her name, because she had said it approximately 10 times after checking it on her list to animate the little girl, Sally, to do something. In all honesty, Sana struggled to estimate what the problem was. She had never been a quiet and reserved child. In her memories, she had always been the cute little girl who was excited to play with other children or with her parents. So it might be possible that the mysterious girl was just shy, unlike Sana when she was younger.

But something deep inside of her doubted that and that was influenced by the feeling the child gave her. Sana felt nearly intimidated. Internally, she shook her head about herself to be scared of a five-year-old but on the other hand, she had a weird feeling in her chest with the situation. This feeling became even worse as the little girl that she had thought about, stared at her without any blinking.

For Sana's luck, the little group had already reached the traffic light that blinked happily next to their destination and her hands grope the hands of the two children next to her as automatically. "Hold on eachother's hand! We don't want to lose anyone."

After creating a little row by holding onto each other, Sana and the kids crossed the street. Nearly everybody who she knew would have called her crazy for the idea of taking five strange children through the whole, huge city easily like that and even Sana herself might have been a little surprised about how relaxing the way had been.

No screaming, no accidentally running against a car...

Sana felt proud and on the other hand relieved that she did not lose control over the situation.

Nobody could have anticipated that the building that Sana wanted to take care of the children in did not house a kitchen. That consequently meant that Sana felt a bit helpless about how she was supposed to feed the children.

Good for her, she was a really extroverted and social person. Accordingly, she had a lot of pretty helpful friends for every situation. That's why she decided to take the children through he whole city to get food at a small bar that she used to party in when she was a bit younger. A friend of hers who she knew from back then had absorbed the mentioned bar after a while which made Sana hope that she could get food for the children there without having to pay too much.

After crossing the street, Sana led the three girls and two boys through the plain, wooden door of the bar while admiring how different it looked during day time. No blinking lights, no keen smell of alcohol or people and no loud music.

The room with the low ceiling and the huge counter in the middle with bar stools in front seemed to happily welcome the new arrivals. Sana's fascinated staring at the fittings was audibly interrupted by a light coughing from the middle of the room. She looked up and smiled happily at the woman who was leaning at the counter.

"Chaeyoung, you won't believe how happy I am to see you!"

The named person was obviously a few years younger than Sana herself. Her dark, shoulder-long hair was tied into a low messy bun which indicated that she was actually working at the moment.

That impression was reinforced by the way her sleeves were rolled up, showing multiple tattoos on her lower arm that signed off darkly on her pale skin. The tattoos didn't really seem to match her soft facial characteristics and the cute dimples that appeared while smiling at the guests. Only the way she looked that cute suddenly while welcoming the children and her friend seemed to reveal how young she actually was.

Even though Chaeyoung had this young way of looking, Sana had always considered her as if she was about her age, based on the fact that she owned an own bar. It took about a year for her to find out that Chaeyoung would technically be in last year of high school at the moment.

However, the latter had chosen the creative way of life and lived as a free artist since then, as she had explained once.

"Sana, I am also glad to see you. But like.. are all of them yours? Girl, if you had asked me for advice , I would have recommended taking your time with starting a family. May I know who is the dad? Chaeyoung started laughing whereas her eyes seemed to wink happily.

Sana looked behind herself as if she just remembered that nearly a half dozen of children was standing there. Then, she started chuckling as well, shaking her head. "Of course they are not. You would have become godmother of at least one if they were."

The younger one nodded in satisfaction. "I should hope so too." Chaeyoung stood up from the barstool she had been sitting on to greet the children individually with a clasp of hands. Sana observed the interaction with a nearly proud facial expression.

"We actually are in need of your help. The building that I was given for looking after the children does not have a kitchen so I wanted to ask if you cook something for them." She smiled cutely at her friend who got up from the kneeling position that she had been in to greet boy one and smirked a little.

"You can be so adorable sometimes. Has someone told you that lately?"

Sana blushed while shaking her head. "I always think you are flirting with me even though you are clearly not. Could you please stop?" Even though she wouldn't admit it, Sana was often unsure about what her friend actually meant and what she wasn't serious about. The fact that she was a flirty person herself did not help at all and she had the feeling that their friendship might get into a weird direction if she wouldn't stop the younger from time to time.

Chaeyoung on her side started laughing "Girl, calm down. I just said you're adorable and you already know that yourself so it's not a big deal. And yeah, sure. I'd be glad to help you."

Her friend replied by rolling her eyes and ignoring the most part of the before said sentence. "Thank you for helping us. By the way, are you single at the moment?" Sana bit her tongue after those words came out of her mouth. It had sounded way more interested than she actually meant it.

She had just have a really interesting idea including the person in front of her and someone who was probably sitting in mathematics class at the moment.

"Sana, please don't try to hit on me again. that was really stressful last time." Chaeyoung grinned slyly, clearly provoking her friend.

"I was drunk! And I didn't know how young you actually are! That doesn't count!" Sana nearly whined and regretted her reaction in the same second. She should have denied to have ever done that and she would have left the weird situation as the older and more mature one.

Chaeyoung just raised one eyebrow while laughing silently as if she was able to follow Sana's thoughts. "Alright, let's see what kind of food I can make for y'all."

Then, she disappeared into the kitchen, leaving Sana alone with the children who later ran around the room, trying to catch each other.

[This is a double-update. You can read about how Sana meets Tzuyu for the first time immediately after this since the next chapter is already uploaded.]