The warm rays of the sun came through one of the windowsills, escaping between the thin fabrics of the curtains and going through the room until they reached directly to the peaceful face of Yoon Seri.

The heat and light annoyed her more with each passing second, interrupting her restful sleep. Awake, Seri remained with her eyelids closed and took a deep breath to flood her nostrils with the smell of fresh coffee that came from the kitchen, making her smile.

That coffee was her favorite, it had been since the first time she had tasted it more than twelve months ago. Perhaps the coffee was not of the highest quality, but it had something that no other of the coffees she had had before from large and prestigious brands had. It was delicately and lovingly prepared exclusively for her.

Finally, she got up from the bed and hurriedly walked to where the person responsible for everything was, who, hearing the soft sounds of her footsteps on the wooden floor, turned to see her with his sweet dimpled smile.

"Good morning," Jeong Hyeok said.

"Good morning, pianist Ri."

"It's not decided yet." He said with an embarrassed smile.

"It's not difficult to imagine what their decision will be, I'm sure they'll discharge you from your duties to be choose as a pianist in the National Symphony Orchestra. They'll be lucky to have you."

"What are your plans for today?" Jeong Hyeok asked putting a mug of hot coffee in front of Seri and trying to divert attention from him.

"I'll see the comrades later. Yeong Ae is organizing a beauty session at her home and I promised to prepare some rejuvenating masks for all of them. "

"Some what?" Jeong Hyeok without having a clue what Seri was talking about.

"Just a couple of mixtures of grapes with honey and apple with egg yolk. A few minutes on your face and voilà! Magic happens."

"Do you have to put that on your face?" Jeong Hyeok asked a little scared at the idea of ​​putting such a thing on his face.

Seri smiled complacently and nodded.

"Anyway, it's not like you need them, your skin is perfect. On the contrary, I urgently need them; my skin looks terrible." She wailed.

At Seri's words, facial markings appeared right between Jeong Hyeok's eyebrows.

"I think you look pretty," he said shyly.

"Tch!" Seri exclaimed. "You know? You don't have to tell me nice things, you already have me."

"I don't do it because I have to, I do it because I want to. Besides, it's the truth. "

"Ow, Ri Jeong Hyeok. You're definitely my type." She said, as his cheeks turned a little pink. "What about you? What are you going to do today?"

Jeong Hyeok quickly turned his gaze to his own coffee mug and took a sip before answering. "I have to go to the office for a few hours and then I'll see the Senior Coronel."

"Hmm, I see," Seri said. "Then you'll be back late."

"Most likely, yes." He, who seemed to find his mug very interesting, confirmed. "Perhaps you could stay up late with the comrades and go with them wherever they go. Besides, I don't like you being alone so long."

"Ow, Ri Jeong Hyeok, what am I? a little girl?" She, who was always secretly pleased to hear how much he cared for her, complained. "But it's okay, I'll spend as much time with them as possible."

"I have to go now. The boys must already be waiting and there's still a lot to do." He said, consulting his late brother's old watch and heading for the door.

"The boys? I thought you were just going to do your paperwork." Seri asked puzzled, causing Jeong Hyeok to stop in his tracks.

"Yes of course. They'll help me with the paperwork." He said with his best poker face.

It was no secret that Jeong Hyeok was terribly bad at lying, especially to Seri, who was looking at him suspiciously, but since she was in such a good mood, she had decided to let it slide.

"OK. Then you better hurry." She answered him as they both headed outside.

At that time of the morning, the streets of the North Korean village were full of people coming and going to run their errands and daily tasks and, although they were used to it, even after a year, some of them still stopped sneakily to see the couple say goodbye.

Outside, Seri and Jeong Hyeok stopped straight ahead each other, right in front of the heavy dark emerald door, they looked into each other's eyes and he took between his fingers a lock of hair that had escaped from Seri's ponytail, put it behind her ear and he smiled remembering that time she had forced him to do something similar.

"I'll see you later." He said and left for duty.

*

Seri hurried to get to Yeong Ae's house and was surprised to find that, in addition to her good friends, it was full of many adult women who were anxiously waiting for her.

"Oh Seri, what a relief you're already here!" Myeong Sun exclaimed, a little worried.

"What's going on? Why all the fuss?" She asked.

The others approached them with Wol Suk behind, who had an unfriendly face, as if she had been scolded by someone.

"It may be that comrade Wol Suk and I had a few drinks last night and she invited all the women in the village to get free masks." Ok Geum explained a little embarrassed.

"What? For everyone?" Seri said with a shocked face. "I'm still not used to saying this, but: I don't have enough money to buy that much. What were you thinking Wol Suk? Tsk!" She clicked her tongue.

"You said you were a beauty expert, that you could make anyone have beautiful healthy skin! I just bragged about what you can do." Wol Suk defended herself.

"Well, that's true." Seri nodded.

"Good, now I want you to tell me what we're going to do with all of them!" Yeong Ae exclaimed.

"Ok, I have a plan, if we all cooperate, maybe we can make it happen. I'll teach you how to make the masks and you'll help me to take care to all of them." Seri planned and they all got to work.

None of them imagined how fun and memorable this girls' morning would be.

*

"Ms. Yoon?" Said a man's voice.

"Ms. Yoon, are you okay?" The voice said again, which she recognized as Mr. Hong's.

Seri blinked repeatedly back to reality.

"Ms. Yoon, you're scaring me again."

"Tsk! Don't be exaggerated, Mr. Hong."

"Today you're very thoughtful, is it for something good or something bad?"

"I'm inspired today, Mr. Hong." Seri said determinedly. "I need you to call the whole team for an emergency meeting, I have our new launch prepared for this spring."

"So suddenly? Last night you said you had no id..." Seri's penetrating gaze cut off Mr. Hong's words.

"Well, that was yesterday, today is a new day."

"And what will it be this time? Clothes collection? Perhaps we will venture into the field of...?"

"Face Moisturizers." Seri said satisfied with herself.

"Uh? Face Moisturizers? But we already ha... "

"But these are special, Mr. Hong. Are you questioning my judgment?"

"Of course not, Ms. Yoon. I wouldn't dare to. I just wonder what's special about these ones. "

"These are lovingly thought out."

"Do you already have some ideas? Formulas? Names perhaps? "

"Of course, I do," Seri nodded. "Saudade. The collection will be called Saudade." She said as a nostalgic smile appeared on her face as she remembered the people who had inspired her: her good North Korean sisters.

She hoped that, if Fate was on their side, Yeong Ae, Myeong Sun, Wol Suk and Ok Geum, one day, would be able to have that special commemoration of their friendship in their hands and that it would make them understand how much she appreciated them and how much she would treasure her memories with them.

Her answer seemed to convince Mr. Hong or, at least, reassure him.

"I'll get to work on it, Ms. Yoon. I'll let you know when everything is ready." He said and left the office.

Seri watched as the man, whom she was so amused to make nervous, walked to the door. Both had developed a somewhat strange friendship to see between a boss and an employee, but the truth was that their relationship was the result of the appreciation and admiration they felt for each other.

However, despite her trust in Mr. Hong, it wasn't until he left the office that Seri allowed herself to remember the end of that wonderful dream she had last night.

*

The masks had been a success. Seri, along with her friends, had created masks for all skin types and all the women had left Yeong Ae's house with a satisfied smile.

"Look how shiny my face is!" Wol Suk exclaimed.

"And mine!" Ok Geum agreed.

"My cheeks feel like velvet." Myeong Sun said smiling.

"Oh, Seri, this is wonderful, we should have done it before." Said Yeong Ae, who, without Seri noticing, had glanced at the clock hanging on her wall. "You know? I think we should do something for you, as a thank you."

"Yes, I think the same!" Wol Suk said with too much energy.

"Poof! No, you don't have to do anything. The truth is that I had a great time doing all this."

"Please, Seri. Let us do something for you." Myong Sun asked her.

"Ok, fine." She accepted.

"I have an idea, why don't we take her to the place we like to go so much?" Wol Suk said.

"Oh? Which place? Have you been going there without me?" Seri asked offended.

"Of course not." Yeong Ae told her after shooting Wol Suk an angry look. "It's just a place we used to go when we were young to admire the view."

"We should put a wool piece over your eyes so you'll be surprised when we get there." Ok Geum proposed somewhat suspicious.

"I don't think that's a good..." Seri started to say, but Wol Suk was already putting a piece of cloth around her head at eye level.

"You trust us, I'm sure you'll love it." Yeong Ae said as she took Seri by one of her arms to guide her to their destination.

*

"Hey, I feel like we've walked too far already, my feet are hurting." Seri said in a little girl's voice.

"We are here, just a few more steps." Yeong Ae reassured her and led her to a suitable point.

"Done, you can take off the blindfold." Myeong Sun told her.

With quick movements, Seri removed from her face the barrier that she had had for several minutes and blinked repeatedly, trying to adjust her eyes to the orange rays of the sun that afternoon.

At the first glance, she had had to close her eyes and open them again. She wasn't sure what she expected to find when she got there, but it was definitely not Jeong Hyeok and the rest of Fifth Company standing right behind a pile of clams neatly arranged in a large circle.

It all made sense to her when the people who were there loudly yelled "surprise!". It was her early birthday party.

Seri opened and closed her mouth repeatedly, but her mind refused to formulate a coherent sentence and her eyes filled with tears as she felt the arms of her girlfriends around her, while the boys approached her.

To say that she was seriously moved was an understatement.

Birthday parties had long since ceased to be a relevant thing. With a family like hers, the only person who still remembered congratulating her was her father and no one else. Years ago, that fact caused her a lot of distress, until she had understood that sometimes, in order to be good with yourself, you have to let many people leave your life.

So, she had chosen to spend her birthdays working, at night she would just go to her apartment and have a glass of wine while enjoying a nice bath in her tub; But that lonely life in the South was behind her, now she was surrounded by people who frankly appreciated and loved her for who she was, not for her money or her position, but for being her.

Eun Dong was the first of the boys to hug her. "Seri, did you like the surprise?" He asked with his characteristic innocent emotion for the simplest things in life.

"Of course! I loved it." She replied, touching her little brother's head affectionately.

"It was all the Captain's idea." Ju Meok said hugging her.

Seri turned her mischievous gaze towards Jeong Hyeok, who was looking at her with his sweet smile, as he approached her.

"The truth is that I still don't understand why all the fuss." Pyo Chi Su mentioned in his usual annoyed tone.

"Well, if you want you can go now." Seri replied, following their already common exchange of words.

"I think I'll stick around to make sure you don't get anyone in trouble." The Master Sergeant attacked again, without avoiding approaching her to give her a hug as well. The truth was that he always enjoyed his little fights with that annoying South Korean woman.

"Won't you give me a hug, Gwan Beom?" Seri asked the handsome Fist Lieutenant, who approached her and hugged her without saying anything, but all at once. He was grateful Seri had come into the life of his much appreciated and admired Captain.

"Guys, I can't believe you did all of this for me. And my birthday is tomorrow!" She exclaimed. "Come here again." She ordered the soldiers as she extended her arms to all of them.

Seeing that the second hug for his troop members was taking too long, while he hadn't received any, Jeong Hyeok interrupted them, standing next to Seri.

"Well, I think we should start now. Seri must be hungry" He told the others and they all rushed over to the giant concrete slab that was laying on the ground, on which were all the clams they would eat that afternoon.

Jeong Hyeok and Seri, who had been left behind, finally had a moment for themselves.

"I thought you had a meeting with Senior Colonel this afternoon, Jeong Hyeok." Seri told him.

He looked at her a little embarrassed. "For a moment I thought you'd discover me."

She sighed deeply. "Ri Jeong Hyeok, what am I going to do with you? I still can't believe this."

"You liked the surprise?" He asked with hopeful eyes.

"This is the second-best birthday I have ever had in my life." She affirmed.

"The second best?" He asked, pouting.

Seri took his hand and, with her best flirtatious smile, assured him: "The best was the first one I spent with you." And she walked over to where their friends were, spraying gasoline on the clams, leaving the Captain of the Korean People's Army with a smile on his lips.

This was one of the best afternoons Seri had ever had, the clam bulgogi had been delicious and the soju had been fabulous on her. To her delight, the boys had taken the task of spending the entire afternoon teasing Chi Su and it seemed that no one could stop laughing.

It was then that, seeing the people she loved the most in the whole world being so happy, Seri, who for many months had done her best to return to her home in the south of the Korean peninsula, realized how much her life had changed in the last year.

It was there, surrounded by the people who made her feel loved the most in the entire world, that Seri realized how much the concept of home had changed for her. Now she was able to understand that home is not a place or a physical space, but the people who make you happy, and right there, in that place and moment, she was at home.