YooNa abhored how she could not get herself to sleep.

The all nighter was more than enough to drowse YooNa to a solid state of rest. She was in a fairly comfortable position, head leaning against the side of the window with the soft cushion of her white muffler as a makeshift pillow. Her sunglasses blocked out any straining traces of light that may disturb her eyes from slumber. It felt warm, toasty even, to the point where this fuzzy feeling should be more than enough for her to drift her tired body to sleep.

So why did she feel so awake?

YooNa shifted back and forth from her seat. After around five minutes, started to feel uncomfortably dry. She was thirsty, and the passenger’s cold bottle of water was just inches away from her fingertips. It was a tempting sight. Though she had been eyeing the bottle for some time whilst trying to sleep, she was barely able to muster enough willpower to simply call an attendant for one. Besides, she was certain that the sunglasses were enough to not show the stranger -

"You know you could just ask if you'd like some."

Code red. 

YooNa shifted her entire body away from the man, her face taking an embarrassingly noticeable shade of scarlet. She had to admit that it was rather childish that she would believe mere sunglasses would completely block the man from noticing where her line of vision was placed. Nevertheless, she did not want to start any interaction; she was in no mood to make friends.  

"I could buy you a water bottle if you are the type who hates sharing," the man joked, closing his journal anding turning to her. He held out his hand. "Though you don't really look like someone who cares about that kind of thing. My name's DongHae. DongHae Lee. I don't really like leaving places without making some sort of conversation, especially if they're the pretty ones like you."

Blushing was an understatement.

It was not that she was bad with men; she has had boyfriends and has flirted on occasion whenever she felt the confidence to. 

It was the fact that this handsome stranger just outright called her pretty, and she was embarrassed. YooNa had not slept in days. There was no make up on her face, nor did she properly wash her face that morning. The bags under her eyes were so dark that she looked sick; she probably was sick, since she had not eaten a full, proper meal since last month. YooNa had not smiled at the man since they have started sitting together and had not planned to. She would assume that the first thing she would describe herself to be given her condition was anything but attractive. 

And it was disconcerting the way this man looked at her, like he somehow knew behind all of her stress, like he knew that the bags under her eyes were from the long, tiring nights of writing and working and cleaning. His eyes were sympathizing those weeks of crying over rejected manuscripts and stressful jobs. His smile was comforting, and almost urging her to emit them back. He was comfortable and familiar. It was disturbing. Although she did not want to admit it, Cecilia was rather smitten by his handsomely warm gaze, preferring to believe that she less than enjoyed the way he was smiling at her. All she wanted to do was take a nap, and her failure to do so left her cranky. 

"Are you usually this quiet?" 

There was no answer. YooNa was certain that if she did not budge from her quiet nature, this passenger would stop bothering her. He laughed lightly at her resilience before taking out his black journal again, seemingly going back to his routine as he scribbled down on the pages.  

"What brings you to Seoul? Are you working? A student perhaps? Either way, you look completely done with life, am I right?”

Her lips tightened, annoyed. A copy of the Paper Sentinel was pulled out and YooNa began mindlessly flipping through the pages. 

"A fan of the Paper Sentinel? I'm actually on my way to work there." His voice was noticeably brighter and more energetic, and YooNa felt her fight dying. A defeated sigh ended her reign of silence and she looked back at him, her eyebrow raised. Intrigue took over any feelings of embarrassment or annoyance. It was an interesting coincidence that she was sitting next to a future co-worker, and talking to him would not be a bad idea if she wanted to get acquainted with some connections. 

"I'm actually going to be interning there." Her speech was slightly awkward, but it was an improvement from not speaking at all. “My name’s YooNa. Are you usually this forward or are you just a flirt?”  

"I'd prefer saying that I'm social.” DongHae was laughing.

"Do I need to be your kind of social for this job?"

"Probably not, but it helps. If you kiss up to the staff, then those bags under your eyes would be a little less dark and a little more attractive. Though I guess if you're not about that life there's always makeup." It was YooNa's turn to laugh. The way he spoke gave off such a calm, tender vibe that she found it extremely hard not to smile. "So do you want something to drink?” A small nod was all that was needed. She was mentally finding her crankiness to melt away at DongHae's contagious friendliness.

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