𝚁𝚘𝚕𝚕 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙳𝚒𝚌𝚎: 𝚀𝚞𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝙵𝚘𝚛 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙴𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚛𝚘𝚌𝚔

🅓🅡🅔🅐🅜🅢

7. DREAMS

『 Kyujin's  POV 』

Bae unnie and I were the first to wake up. Jiwoo was still asleep, so we decided to leave her and step outside. When we got to the main area, we found Edlynne and Huening Kai already awake.

"Good morning!" Bae unnie greeted cheerfully, bowing politely.

"Yeah, good morning," I echoed, also bowing.

"Good morning," Huening Kai replied, "but you don’t have to do that."

"Say good morning?" Bae unnie asked, confused.

"He means you don’t have to bow," Edlynne clarified.

"Oh, okay," Bae unnie said with a nod.

"Good morning to you both," Edlynne said, smiling. "There are fruits, tea, and cakes if you’d like."

"Thank you so much!" I said excitedly.

As the others started waking up, Jinni unnie and Yuna unnie joined us in the kitchen, followed by Sunoo oppa and Jungwon oppa.

"Good morning, unnies and oppas!" I greeted before taking a bite of the cake.

"Good morning," Bae unnie echoed.

The room quickly filled with sleepy but warm "good mornings" from everyone.

Edlynne suddenly turned to me. "You're Kyujin, right?"

"Yeah, that’s me," I confirmed.

"What did you mean when you said 'unnies and oppas'?" she asked. Her curiosity made sense—our cultures seemed very different.

"Oh, those are honorifics we use," I explained. "‘Unnie’ is for an older sister or an older female friend, and ‘oppa’ is for an older brother or a close male friend who's older." It felt odd having to explain something so natural to me.

"Then I guess you would call me unnie," she said thoughtfully.

"Yeah, that’s right!" I replied with a smile.

Before we could continue, Bae unnie spoke up. "And now, the three people who woke up last have finally arrived—looking as sleepy as ever," she announced as Sullyoon unnie, Jiwoo unnie, and Niki sunbae stumbled into the kitchen.

Soon, we finished breakfast.

"How did you all sleep?" Sunoo asked.

"Well."
"It was great."
"Really comfortable."
"Like a log."

Responses varied, but I noticed that Bae unnie stayed silent. She looked troubled. I decided to ask her about it.

『 Bae’s POV 』

"Unnie, is something wrong?" Kyujin asked, concern in her voice.

I hesitated. "No," I said, forcing a smile.

"Unnie," she pressed, clearly not convinced.