The light filtered through the thin curtains in my cramped dorm room, pulling a loud groan from my lips. Why was the sun so damn bright? My head was pounding, my mouth was insanely dry, and I could still taste the cigarettes I smoked. God, just how much did I end up drinking last night? In all honesty, I was never really a heavy drinker, or a smoker for that matter. I sat up slowly, rubbing my temples, and blinking a few times to clear my vision.

“Dammit, Kyungsoo,” I sighed, throwing my legs over the side of my bed unceremoniously.

Standing up was far more difficult than it needed to be. The typically simple task for most grown human beings had my head spinning. The second my feet touched the ground I felt as though I needed to sit back down. By some magical of luck, I was able to not only successfully walk to my closet, but I was also able to dress myself in a somewhat neat fashion.  I ran my fingers through my hair quickly in an effort to tame the messy locks. I checked the time on my watch before grabbing my worn bag that sat by the door. It appeared as though today would be one of the rare days that I came to class late. Hopefully the professor wouldn’t notice the fact that I had a raging hangover.

I trudged to class, wishing that I could go back to my room and crash on my bed for a few more hours. When I entered the classroom, I was greeted by the unfortunate sound of my classmates chattering loudly. I scowled rolled up the sleeve of my shirt to check the time once more. Class had technically started ten minutes ago, but the professor was nowhere to be found. Perhaps he’d also had one too many the night before- it wasn’t that unlikely. There was a plethora of professors who skipped classes due to drinking related reasons. I glanced out of the door to make sure that the professor wasn’t just running late. With the scowl still present on my face, I left the classroom, and walked down to my favorite individual study room. If I couldn’t deal with my extremely loud classmates today, maybe I could get in some work on my latest time theory.

I walked into the empty space and took a deep breath. Today, silence was definitely more my speed. I set my bag down atop the round table in the center of the room before carefully laying out my various notes and research resources. Once everything was laid out to my liking, I walked over to the board, and picked up a fresh stick of chalk. The feeling of the chalk in between my fingers was incredibly comforting. Physics was what I was good at and being good at something was soothing. The thought of trying something completely new was what terrified me. Though, I suppose my work in the field of physics is essentially changing previous thoughts about time, and creating new ideas that older generations would be wary of.

The next hour or two was spent with my messy handwritten formulas being thrown onto the once blank blackboard and the occasional curse whenever my present stick of chalk broke in half. When I get really passionate about a topic, I tend to go through more sticks chalk. After I felt satisfied with the amount of work I’d done, I put down my chalk before stepping away from the board in order to fully look over my work. Everything had to be correct. Any errors in this stage of my research could possibly ruin my entire theory. I absentmindedly massaged my sore hand whilst combing over my work. I couldn’t help the small sound of joy that came from the back of my throat as I found my work to be error free. Now I could move onto the next stage in my research, and I couldn’t be more excited. Though I was still feeling positively ill from my hangover, this new breakthrough was enough to make the pounding in my head lessen, and the feeling of an impending hissy fit lift.

“I thought I find you in here,”

I turned around slowly to look at the doorway and for once didn’t feel the immediate need to roll my eyes at the intruder.

“Hey, Joonmyun,” I waved in acknowledgement. “What brings you here?”

“Two things actually. One, it’s two o’clock and you’ve been in here all day, which means you probably haven’t eaten anything,” he said, producing a sandwich from his bag, and putting it down on the table next to my things. “Two, I have a letter that Jane asked me to give you. She said it’s from a friend of hers,”

“A letter?” I blinked a few times, looking blankly at the envelope that Joonmyun was holding out to me. Who could it be from? “Thanks,”

I took the letter from his hands and looked it over. The handwriting was impeccable.

“No problem,” Joonmyun smiled with a small nod. “Well, I should get going. See you later, Kyungsoo,”

Joonmyun left and I was alone in the room once again. The letter was still in my hands and I wasn’t able to contain my curiosity any longer. I opened the envelope carefully, wanting to make sure that I didn’t damage the contents, or the lovely handwriting that was on the backside. I slipped the neatly folded paper out of the envelope before unfolding the page.

‘Dear Kyungsoo,

Sorry we didn’t get to chat more last night. As odd as this sounds, my friend, Jane, gave me a bit of a curfew. Turns out that I lost track of time, and I didn’t really get the opportunity to say goodbye to you. Anyway, Jane says she knows someone who attends Princeton with you. Joonmyun I think it is. I thought I’d send this letter to you as my way of apologizing for leaving so rudely, and as a way of telling you that if you want, I’d love the chance to get to talk to you again. I’m always spending time in the local library. I’m sure you’ll be able to find me there almost anytime you’re there.

Sincerely, Jinah’

I smiled at the letter lightly, folding it back up, and placing it back in its envelope. Gathering the rest of my things and putting them back into my bag, I decided that I would be taking a quick trip to the local library- for research, of course.