Lilies

Chapter 3

Haerin woke up shortly after the sun rose, exhausted. The night was long and tiring, the walk wore her down and her body was in pain. She came home late, only had a few hours of sleep before having to get up for work.

But today, though tired and exhausted and what else, there was no groan when rising. She was looking forward to the day, looking forward to it much more than she usually did.

Across town, Danielle was being shaken awake by her mother.

"Danielle! Young lady! Get up, please, your father and I want to go somewhere." Danielle made a sort of grunting noise into her pillow.

"We want you to come with us, Danielle. Get up, now." Another incoherent noise. Her mother sighed.

"You shouldn't doze off so much. If you hadn't dozed off, you wouldn't have had to walk all the way home with God knows who and you wouldn't be so tired in the morning."
Danielle began to snore.

Her mother sighed again as she left the room and closed the door behind her.

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Haerin was walking the path to work again, thinking about Danielle today. She was thinking about her promise, was wondering if she should go visit Danielle today, or perhaps tomorrow, or perhaps in two days.

She could hardly wait, and smiled happily on her way to work joyous thoughts putting a bounce in her step.

She reached the dairy with a wide smile on her face, wanting to tell Minji about her night. She looked around for her and realized she wasn't there. Haerin approached her manager.

"Mr. Sim, do you know where Minji is?"

"Oh, Haerin, I wanted to talk to you about that."

"Yes, sir?"

"Minji called in sick this morning, and we really have to get some of this milk out. We need you to cover her shift today. It might take a little longer than usual, but we'll give you double pay, alright?" Haerin could not say no, sighed a little bit and nodded.

I guess Danielle will have to wait until tomorrow.

"Good, Haerin! Thanks, I knew I could count on you," Mr. Sim laughed.

"When you're done with your route you just come back here and pick up Minji's load, alright?"

"Yes, Mr. Sim."

Never before had she been so desperate, so disappointed.

She tried to smile when on her route, was even quieter than usual. She avoided all the people today, did not bother to ring doorbells and exchange greetings, only leaving the milk on the doorstep and leaving without a word.

Never before did she think so much about what she wanted it had been a long time since she thought about her own desires. Haerin eventually returned to the store, for her lunch break, missing Minji, missing Danielle, feeling sorry for herself.

I need to stop this. I need to stop this now.

She heaved herself up with a groan and picked up Minji's load, heading out the door, determined to be detached.

She failed.

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The sun was beginning to set, and there was only one set of bottles to go. Haerin looked at the address with her tired, tired eyes.

21234 Mason Drive

Her eyes shot open and she felt her heart skip a beat, the corners of her mouth curved upward involuntarily, and she walked with haste now.