Talking to the moon

Chapter 6

Kyujin's house always felt like a paradise.

It wasn't necessarily grand, just a small ranch tucked away a few streets away from the school the girls attended, but it made up for it with atmosphere. The house painted a light tan inside, with dark brown flooring and white furniture. Family photos covered the walls, ranging from when Kyujin first came to them, to Eunchae and Kyujin on their first day of kindergarten. Both kids were extremely shy, but somehow they found each other that day and had been friends ever since. Some of Eunchae's drawings were even up on the fridge, sandwiched between Kyujin's near-perfect report card and certificates of achievement. Eunchae used to get sad when she looked at their fridge, her mother would never put her stuff on their fridge. Her mother only cared about her when she wanted something. Maybe she would draw a picture to put up on Yunjin's fridge, Yunjin might let her.

Kyujin also had a dog, Gucci. Well, Kyujin really had two, but Wootzu was ugly and mean so she pretended he didn't exist. And she also really liked Kyujin's parents, they were really nice and gave her snacks and food. Sometimes Kyujin would bring her food to eat at school, sometimes Eunchae would starve between her visits to the Ahn household, not that she ever told them. Yunjin had dropped her off a few hours earlier, and they were already ready for bed, coloring on the floor of Kyujin's bedroom.

Kyujin wasn't a good artist, but hey neither was Eunchae, so they both liked to fill in coloring books. Kyujin had a brand new coloring book that she was so excited to share with Eunchae, this one was of different breeds of dogs. She had gotten it as a reward for her grades this semester, choosing a coloring book because Eunchae liked to do them when she would sneak over at night. If Eunchae was upset, Kyujin would pull out some colored pencils and a page of the paper as they laid on the floor and talked about what upset her. Eunchae would do the same when Kyujin was upset as well. Eunchae had picked a small dachshund that she was focused on coloring light tan, Kyujin a fluffy golden retriever she was shading in pink.

"Did you do the math homework last night?" Eunchae asked, reaching over to grab a green pencil to coloring in the grass, "I had a hard time."

"Yeah, did you do the counting thing Ms.Pham had taught us?"

"I did, but I was confused."

"You'll get it." Kyujin smiled, picking up a blue, "Are you still with that lady that picks you up after school?"

"Yes," Eunchae smiled, "I am, isn't she so cool? Did you see her badge yesterday?"

"I did!" Kyujin matched Eunchae's tone, getting excited herself, "Does she really work with Scooby-Doo?"

"I think so! She said there's a dog at her work, it has to be Scooby!"

"We need to go to meet him!"

"I'll ask her if we can." Eunchae smiled, putting down the green.

"You don't cry anymore, I'm happy," Kyujin commented, "It made me sad when you cried."

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay!" Kyujin reached over to take the green from Mina's side of the pile, "Mommy said it's good when people cry, something about letting the bad out. Oh! Mommy wanted me to ask you if you still wanted some of my old clothes, I just got some new ones so you can have that red sweater you like!"

"I'm good, I have new clothes now too!" Eunchae stood up, pointing to the fluffy pajamas she was wearing, "Look, now we are the same!"

"Is the nice lady coming to parents' day? Or is your mommy going to come?" Kyujin looked down at her now finished drawing. It looked like a rainbow had thrown up on, perfect.

"I didn't ask, I might just be alone."

"You can have one of my moms. They both say that you are part of the family."