— Jiwoo loved her plants. probably more than she should've. her garden had so much variety and color, and the centerpiece of it all was her treasured tomato vines (from which grew the greatest tomatoes in all of gwacheon, no, the world).
jiwoo loved stepping outside in the mornings, feeling the crisp air fill her lungs. it was rejuvenating, it was her lifeline. stepping outside barefoot, feeling the dewy blades of grass bend over under the curve of her foot. smelling the aura of something that can be described by nothing else but the word 'fresh'. seeing the bursts of color reflected into her eyes, the reds, the yellows, the greens.
yes, this was what kept jiwoo happy. this was her happy place.
never had jiwoo felt so safe, so warm, so welcomed, than surrounded by her little garden. she dreamed of maybe expanding her garden into the backyard next door.
every night, jiwoo would sit in her room, surrounded by small foliage and succulents and memories of her hometown, and listen to music. music that she would listen to with her sisters. the music of home.
home wasn't too far away, but just far enough.
the kim sisters would huddle together on a bed, anyone's bed, around the only laptop in the house. they would sit for hours together, watching men (who were, as the sisters would lament, too old for them) dance across the tiny screen as they serenaded their young viewers with energetic pop music.
jiwoo blasted these songs, and she would try her best not to miss home. sometimes the brunette girl would stand up on her bed and try her best to imitate the dance moves she saw on her laptop. jiwoo never worried about being too loud. no one was living in the house next door anyways.
until someone was.
jiwoo didn't know her name, just knew that every morning without fail, while jiwoo sat in her porch, drinking green tea from the same small porcelain cup painting with flowers, the girl (her neighbor) would walk out of her small home and look around her porch.
jiwoo didn't know what the tall, beautiful girl was looking for. so she started to imagine what it was.
was it a letter from a loved one?
a package filled with memories of her old home?
a person?
finally, one day the tall girl walked outside, picked up a tiny teal box, and immediately hurried inside. jiwoo watched all of this, her lips barely touching the rim of her teacup.
the girl never noticed jiwoo when she came outside. even though the small brunette girl lived right next door. jiwoo's neighbor never noticed her until their encounter in their backyards.
seeing the girl up close was different from observing her from the porch next door. jiwoo did think she was pretty (so, so, so pretty) but she also thought there was a better way to describe the girl's, ha sooyoung's, face: serene. jiwoo couldn't imagine the girl ever looking stressed or angry, she just always looked calm. collected. in control.
jiwoo, in contrast, had to keep herself from blurting out whatever came to her mind, and instead didn't ask sooyoung all of the dozens of burning questions jiwoo had for her. jiwoo just introduced herself, complimented her, and apologized for her nightly music-blasting sessions.
later that week, jiwoo almost felt the green monster of jealousy put its hand on her shoulder as she thought of sooyoung in biology class. she was gorgeous, had great clothes, seemed to have never-ending composure, and was the image of gracefulness (like a swan, jiwoo thought later). jiwoo on the other hand, was sure she was completely the opposite of her neighbor.
jiwoo bet sooyoung wasn't as homesick as her.
jiwoo was sure sooyoung came to gwacheon for new opportunities, ones that couldn't be rejected. sooyoung was here for bigger things, jiwoo assumed. while jiwoo, on the other hand, was just attending the local university on a scholarship and a family friend's recommendation in order to get a job.
but at least jiwoo was studying plants. environmental biology was jiwoo's other lifeline. she loved it (not to mention her parents loved the idea of it, and the jobs that could come with it). studying plants was one of jiwoo's favorite pastimes, and she could sit for hours on end splayed out in front of her books.
and the best place to study? surrounded by her little garden, surrounded by its aromas and sights, on a tiny bench in the middle of it all.
