Found my world in a small town | Winrina

Chapter 8- Injured Girl is Homophobic?

At exactly half past ten, Minjeong walked up the driveway to the café with two books clammed under her arm, her hands shoved into the pockets of her jacket. Irene was already outside, shoveling the fresh snow away to clear the driveway.

"Good morning!" Minjeong greeted her and quickly brought the books inside to save them from the snow before she came back outside, "Do you have a second shovel so that I can help you?"

"Yeah, it should be in the shed."

Minjeong nodded and went to work herself. For a few minutes, Irene and her worked in silence until there was a wide passage through the masses of snow in the driveway.

"Let's head inside," Irene leaned her shovel against the wall of the house, "my hands are freezing."

The two women headed inside and took off their jackets. Minjeong shook the melting snowflakes out of her curly hair and quickly took off her shoes.

"Do you have anything I can eat? I haven't had breakfast yet."

"Sure, you can just take something out of the fridge," Irene smiled her typical wide smile at the younger girl, "tea?"

"I'd love to."

When the water was boiling in the kettle and Minjeong was chewing on some toast, she finally told Irene all about the previous evening.

"It was awful!" She confessed, "I mean, Jimin's friends are nice and all but I felt so uncomfortable the whole time, like an intruder who had snuck into a stranger's house."

She paused for a moment.

"That's probably how Jimin sees me, anyway."

"Don't let her get to you," Irene advised her kindly, "people that are rude to you are not worth your time."

"Thank you... — I'm really glad I can come here everyday. I wouldn't know what else to do, stuck at home all alone. Or worse, together with Jimin."

Minjeong giggled about the words she had said but Irene suddenly seemed flustered.

"Speaking of which..." Irene sheepishly ran a hand through her carrot-colored hair that was partially wet from the snow, "I'm afraid you won't be able to visit for a little while."

Minjeong let her continue without interruption, anxious yet curious to hear what Irene had to say.

"Seulgi gifted me a three-week road trip to Australia yesterday!" Irene beamed and could not help the wide smile that spread on her lips, "We're going to leave in a couple of days and then we'll rent a van and travel through the country. Neither of us have been to Australia before so we're really excited."

Seeing how happy Irene was about her upcoming vacation, Minjeong could not bring herself to be mad or truly disappointed. She smiled back at Irene, even though there was a small voice in the back of her head, quietly whispering 'but what will you do when the café is closed?'.

"That's awesome!" Minjeong said, "When is your departure day?"

"On Friday," Irene replied happily, "we plan on flying to Vancouver to spend two days over there. Our flight to Australia leaves on Sunday evening."

As it was Tuesday this very day, Irene's departure was only a couple of days away.

"And when will you be back?"

"Probably around the beginning of march. We haven't booked our flights back yet."

The two got to work and Irene got all the cakes from the fridge while Minjeong prepared the tables. The day went on without any notable events but below the surface, Minjeong's mind was racing.