The Baker's Daughter | satzu

8 | a nice day to break bread

S A N A

"Dad, I'm home." I called out as I threw my keys onto the table.

I entered the living room to see my dad shaking hands with another family. "...Dad?"

My dad turned to me and smiled, calling me to come over. I bowed to family and smiled, to be polite.

"Sana, meet Jung Euntae. We're in the middle of finalising your marriage plans."

I froze. "What?"

"You'll be getting married to Euntae."

"I was never told of this." I scoffed. "Did you not think to ask for my thoughts on this before you made your decision?"

My dad just shook his head and looked at me, a tint of disappointment in his brooding eyes. I knew that it was a signal for me to sit down.

Sure, I might hate my dad, but embarrassing myself in front of another elite family? I could never do that.

I sat down and my eyes turned to a guy sitting in a chair. His posture was straight, like a stick. His brown hair seemed to float in front of his eyes, and his little ears stuck out of a bush of his hair. I gulped and turned back to my dad.

"So, Sana, Euntae, we've planned for your wedding to be in about six months time. You two are of age now, and it will be good for both our businesses. What do you say?"

From the corner of my eye, I saw Euntae hesitate nodding slightly as he turned to look at me.

"Great, that's Euntae's confirmation." My dad turned to look at me. "Sana?"

I stopped to think for a moment, feeling the pressure of everyone in the room. "Anytime soon, Sana."

I looked up.

"Fine."

*****

"I'm so sorry you got sucked into this." Euntae walked up to me as I stared out the window.

Sorry? Why was he sorry?

"I wouldn't want to be married to some guy that I don't even know, either, if I were you. I'd rather choose who I'd want to love." He replied, as if he had just read my mind. "Maybe, just maybe, if we do end up getting married, let's just live separate lives so that we can still pretend we're not married."

I looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "You'd... you'd do that?"

He nodded and sighed, turning to stare out the window as well.

The laughs of the adults from the dining room filled the silence between us as we looked onto the lawn outside my house.

"Sana." He suddenly interrupted the silence, turning to me. "I wanna get out of here. I have someplace to go."

"Let's tell our parents we'll be going out together. That'll work. I want to get out of here too."

He nodded as we both turned to go to the dining room, and we high fived each other.

He wasn't so bad after all.

*****

"Why can't you come out?" I cried through the phone. I could hear Dahyun laughing a little from the other side of the phone. "Don't tell me you're with Mina again."

"Sana, please let me stay with her!"

"You're in love with her, Dahyun. You're too giddy about meeting her."

"Sheesh, no need to—" the call came to an abrupt stop, signalling that one of our phones either had no signal, or was broken.

Euntae went to go leave to a friend's house, and here I was, stuck in the park, with nothing to do.

"Mum!" I heard a small screech. "No!"

I turned around to find the baker and the baker's daughter on the pavement, whispering amongst themselves. Finding myself in this place, I might as well just walk over to them, right?

I smiled at Mrs. Chou and her daughter, pointing over to the tree where I was sitting under. "Would you guys like to stay with me? I'm free for the afternoon."

"No, we're—" the daughter began before her mum interrupted her.

"I'm quite busy at the moment, but Tzuyu here would love to get to know you. I'll be off." Mrs. Chou turned around before Tzuyu grabbed her wrist and whispered a few things. In the end, Mrs. Chou shook Tzuyu off and ran away.

I laughed to myself, thinking that these two were quite the pair.

Tzuyu awkwardly turned to look at me and walked up. "What do you want to do then?"

I shrugged my shoulders and looked around. "Let's go out."

She seemed to freeze for a moment.

"You good?" I waved my hands in front of her eyes. She snapped back into reality and looked at me, trying to put on a smile.

"Yeah. Let's go out."
___________________________________________

T Z U Y U

Surprisingly enough, she was quite fun to be with.

And maybe, just maybe: my heart opened up a little for her.

But I had to remind myself that I'm Tzuyu. I'm not Areum, the one she's looking for.

Areum was a cool girl who could speak to everyone and knew everything, and Tzuyu is me.

I am Tzuyu.

"Let's take a photo in there." Sana interrupted my thoughts, my stomach rumbling. She pointing to the photobooth in the arcade after we had finished playing 10 rounds of air hockey. "We can go out and eat once we're done."

"Take a photo? With me?" I laughed. "We barely know each other."

She shrugged. "I barely get to go out. This will be a good memory."

"If you're sure." I smiled at her.

CLICK.