Verity living nearby to Ji-Hyun, at least relative to her other friends, meant that they always saw each other during the summer holidays. Of course, she’d seen lots of Verity during the school trip, but that had still left a lot of time where they hadn’t seen each other. And, more to the point, they hadn’t properly spent time together since the trip. Hospital time didn’t count, and Micah had been on the trip. It wasn’t that Ji-Hyun didn’t want Micah on the trip, she had been relieved that he was there, but it meant that things had been a tiny bit awkward, after the confession.

And that meant that it was only now that she was going to spend a day with Verity to offer comfort through the best medium of all, food. Ji-Hyun had brought the ingredients, as promised, because spicy food was second only to ice cream as comfort food, and if they were going to have comfort food then she wanted to cook! It was one of the things she was good at, and that way it would be fresh.

But, for all her preparations, Ji-Hyun was nervous as she waited for Verity to answer the door. She had been expecting Verity to confess, but not Micah saying no. She’d been so sure of it, and she’d encouraged them, and now Verity was hurt and Micah felt bad and they’d been awkward around each other at the end of the trip. And of course none of it was anyone’s fault, but it was still not – not great. Ji-Hyun was hoping that if they had a little time apart, they would be able to move on and be okay by the time school started, but she didn’t really think that would happen. They would still be friends, but things were going to be a little tiny bit awkward for a while. Hopefully not for long.

That was the reason for seeing Verity, they would be able to talk about it (and Ji-Hyun would apologise for encouraging them) and hopefully Verity would feel a little better about it and everyone would be a little more cheerful when school started. She wasn’t dreading it, she was sure everything would be okay in the end, because they were all friends, but she wished that they were meeting just to talk and have fun, without that additional layer of… stuff.

Finally, the door opened, and Ji-Hyun’s frown smoothed out instantly, replaced by a smile, “Verity! You look amazing,” reaching out to hug her while being careful of the things in her hands. “I brought food! We need to cook first, though. But it shouldn’t take too long, and I know the recipe by heart. How are you? Are you glad to be home from hospital?” Ji-Hyun didn’t like hospitals. They were always so busy and they looked so devoid of personality, and all of the tubes were just bleugh. Not to mention hospital food was super gross.

After the summer trip, Verity had retreated into a state of solitude, trying to work out the feelings she had stupidly been harboring for the past year. And then her 17th birthday rolled around, and she prepared for the moment she had been waiting for since she told her parents that she was a girl. That time seemed like ages ago, yet simultaneously only the other day.

The mediwitches and wizards at St. Mungo's had done an amazing job making sure that she was comfortable and felt safe and secure before the ritual, and truly she would be hard-pressed to ever have a better birthday present. Afterwards, the healers wanted to keep her there for monitoring how the potion and spells held up and to make sure that there were no side effects. Thankfully, some of her closest friends visited her while she recuperated, but Ji-Hyun had seemed apologetic whenever she visited. Verity frowned slightly as she remembered how guilty her best girl friend had looked. But now she was coming over and she had told her that she was going to cook! I just hope that she doesn't blame herself...

She heard someone at the door, and ran down her steps to open it. As she opened the door, she saw Ji-Hyun standing there with several containers and she smiled warmly and hugged her back. "Thanks, I feel well tidy! I'm so glad that you came! Here, let me help you with some of those," Verity took some of the ingredients from her friend, and led her friend into her home and towards the kitchen.

When Ji-Hyun asked how she was doing, Verity scrunched her face up slightly before answering. "I'm doing well. Don't tell anyone, but when I got home I went to the bathroom and just stared at my body for well over an hour. Is that vain? And you can't imagine how glad I am to be home. All of the people at St. Mungo's were beyond kind towards me, and it was a great experience overall, but I can go my whole life without ever seeing Jell-O again."

"Now, how are you doing? Have you seen Theo since we've been back? Or Micah?" Verity almost didn't ask that last question. She didn't want to make Ji-Hyun feel like she was in the middle of them. But when he hadn't visited her after the ritual... It had stung. She shook the melancholy away and placed a smile back on her face. "Words cannot describe how excited I am for your cooking."