amidst the winter season | kittyz

six

"Hello!"

When Hanni turned up at the café the next morning, she did not bring Cola with her. That morning, Haerin had announced that she would take Cola with her to the town, where she was supposed to meet Riki.

Apparently, the two of them wanted to spend the day together at his place. Of course, Haerin had not told this to Hanni, she barely even looked at her the entire morning, but while Jong-suk and Kyun-sang had gone out to collect more plants, their wives had stayed behind, chatting at the kitchen table.

Hanni had joined them, listening to their conversation and sometimes chiming in as she had munched on her cereal. Strangely enough, Haerin had gotten up after her this morning, coming down the stairs when Hanni was already halfway finished. She had eaten her toast standing at the counter, loudly proclaiming what she was about to do that day. Hanni ignored her.

"Hi there!" Yunjin opened the door for Hanni and let her into the café, "Back to work again?"

"Yes," Hanni sheepishly rubbed her neck and started to take off her jacket, "I really enjoyed helping you out yesterday. At home, I'd just be alone all day so it was an easy decision."

"Well, I feel honored that you'd rather work with me than have a relaxing day to yourself," Yunjin chuckled, "I didn't have time to set the tables yet, would you maybe do that?"

"Sure!" Hanni took the tag from Yunjin's hand, pinning it to her chest again and then started to fill the mugs on the tables with serviettes. Yunjin was cleaning some glasses, occasionally going into the kitchen to look at the cakes she had in the oven. There was a delicious smell of cake and coffee wafting through the room, and Hanni inhaled deeply a few times.

"You're staying with the Kangs, right?" Yunjin asked all of a sudden and waited until Hanni nodded, "Don't they have a daughter your age? Why aren't you spending time with her?"

"Um..." Hanni arranged the mugs on the table she was working on without meeting Yunjin's eyes, her cheeks turning red, "Haerin and I don't really... we don't really get along."

"Oh, what's the problem between the two of you?" Asked Yunjin, "I've only met her once or twice but she seemed like a nice girl - and I'd say the same about you, so...?"

"Thanks," Hanni got even redder in the face, "I don't really know to be honest. She seemed to hate me from the minute she met me. We've kind of been ignoring each other for the past weeks but it's still weird."

Yunjin began to analyze the situation. "Is that why you came here yesterday?" She asked, "You didn't want to spend all day with her?"

"Kind of," Hanni admitted, "she skis the whole day and I... I don't want to be around her too much so I go out a lot as well. I think she's annoyed by my presence."

"Well, I certainly am not," Yunjin smiled at Hanni, "so if you'd rather spend all day here at the café, you can always come over."

"Thank you," Hanni returned the smile and brought the leftover cloths back to the table, "I always have to be back before her, though. She doesn't like it when I leave her dog alone - or when I take him with me, for that matter."

"She seems to care about him a lot."

"She does," Hanni sighed, "about two weeks ago, on my second day here, she snapped at me because I went on a walk and left him at home."

"I'm sure she'll come around," Yunjin reassured Hanni, leaning against the counter and running a hand through her long hair, "maybe she's just not used to having someone else around all the time."

"That's what I thought as well," Hanni said, "I'm okay with peaceful coexistence and for now, us ignoring each other is probably the closest we'll get to that."