The sun shines brightly outside her window and she can hear the birds singing their good mornings to each other.  She spies a squirrel, scurrying around the fresh patches of grass in her garden.

Spring is here. Finally.

After the long winter nights, she is definitely looking forward to warm weather and sunny days. 

She turns around and places her coffee cup in the sink and washes her hands. Popping into the bathroom to wash her face, she examines her face in the mirror.  She critically appraises her eyes - wide and almond-shaped, with a healthy shimmer. Her gaze travels down to her upturned nose and pink, supple lips. She tucks her hair behind her ear and notes that her cheeks are still slightly swollen from sleep, and perhaps that bowl of ramyeon she had the night before. She narrows her eyes at the one offending pimple on her pointed chin and resists the temptation to squeeze it.  Her skin is fair and smooth.

Alright, slightly dry from winter.

She slaps on some moisturiser, remembering to apply some on her neck.

There.

Considering all the late nighters, she's not too bad for a twenty eight year old.

She catches her eye in the mirror and smiles encouragingly at herself.

You can do this woman. Finish this bloody paper and go home.  

A doctoral student in her final year, Jihyo cannot wait to leave London and return to Seoul. Just a few more months to go till she hands in her thesis, and another three till she is done with her viva. 

She huffs loudly as she thinks about the next few months of sleepless nights, probably spent bent over her laptop as she churns out word after word. She wishes that she is not so alone, and not so lonely. Yes, she made new friends and loves them all.

Still, it's not really the same. 

She wishes Jongkook is there to wrap himself around her frame when it gets too cold. Or reassure her when she gets too despondent about her work.

Or just be there with her.

Three years on, and the only guy on her mind is still him. 

Jihyo stares blankly at herself in the mirror. In her mind, she can still see the hurt in Jongkook's eyes and hear his soft quivering voice the day that they broke up. Or rather, the day she dumped him. 

They met when they were in university back home. He was her sunbae at uni. She was nursing a heartbreak then, and had spent many nights staring at her laptop, willing her ex to come online. He was there and they chatted casually, on those nights. His presence helped take her attention away from her cheating ex-boyfriend and took the edge off when she was on the verge of begging her ex to return to her.

At first, he was merely a concerned sunbae and she didn't think too much about his attention. Slowly, she opened up to him when he started asking her out for a lunch at uni here, a coffee break there.  Conversation between them flowed freely when she found out how much they had in common and she felt genuinely comfortable whenever around him, like a soft wooly blanket on a cold winter's night. 

And somehow, they became an item.

He had asked, and with the knowledge of how much he has done for her, she couldn't say no. 

She remembers his soft eyes, looking at her as he gently brushed the hair away from her cheek and tucked it behind her ear. She remembers the feeling of his strong arms around her, as he kept her safe in his embrace. She remembers how how their fingers would interlace naturally together, as he indulged in her requests for late-night walks, talking about anything and everything under the moonlight.

A gentle smile plays on her lips when she recalls how he would sit at the next table, playing a random mobile game, whilst waiting for her as she rushed through her assignments beside him, waving him away whenever he came over to disturb her.