Since the encounter outside my home, Sana and I have not spoken for a few days.
Like it was not like we were avoiding each other. We greeted each other warmly when we ran into each other etc. but we did not really hang out or have any deep or meaningful conversations with each other. There was always that elephant in the room – trust issues.

“I’m sure it would all work out,” said Jackson during lunch.

“Says the guy who lost Youngji,” Bambam noted to the annoyance of his mentor.

“Says the guy with zero dating experience,” added Jimin.

Meanwhile, Jungyeon seemed awfully quiet on the matter and in a relatively good mood overall.
To Jungyeon relationships just meant problems and she almost had a somewhat “I saw this coming attitude” to my predicament.

“The most important thing is, do you miss Sana a lot these days? What do you miss about her? That would be a good start to reconciliation,” Jimin lectured as if she was an expert.

“You literally just started dating,” Jackson interrupted, judging her confidence in this matter.

“Um, I had years of experience dealing with these two that aren’t dating but might as well be,” she replied, gesturing to the next table where Yugyeom just passed a box of chocolate milk to Yerin awkwardly while taking the seat next to his crush.

“Wouldn’t that make me just as experienced as you…?” Bambam argued and I slowly zoned out as my friend group’s bicker session erupted again.

True, do I miss the lack of interactions with Sana these past few days?

Momo made notes about the choreography in her notebook.
Yes, it would be great if Mina could do a turn here…
Suddenly, an image of Mina doing her ballet pirouette materialized in Momo’s mind, with the same grace and perfection as she remembered...along with some other things

Momo quickly shook her head.
Why was she thinking of Mina all of a sudden?!
AND LIKE THIS?!

Actually, since the dance practices began, Momo noticed Mina coming to her mind much more often than usual…okay, actually, all the time.

When Momo was making breakfast at home, she could hear Mina’s voice telling her to get the ketchup from the cabinet.
When she was doing her homework, she could imagine Mina calling her a baka.

Even small things remind her of her memories with Mina.
When she walked by a Japanese fusion café, she remembered the time they got waffles together after a dance gala where Momo’s dance crew performed as the opening act and Mina’s ballet troupe as the closing act.
When she saw some little girls going to school, she remembered how Mina was wondered how it would be like if they were from the same city and actually went to the same school.
Well, now it has happened, except Mina did not seem super excited about it.

Maybe it was the additional amounts of time she was spending with Mina now, in a dance practice room, that was bringing back these memories.

“Hey.”

The girl in question just walked into the dance practice room.

“Where is Jihyo?”

“I don’t know…” Mina noted, “She is probably still printing campaign posters at the library or something...”

Momo suddenly could not help but notice the slight bit of ketchup on the edge of Mina’s lips.
She must not have wiped her lips properly after lunch.

“Um….” Momo started to comment, then paused.
What would Mina think of her for noticing her lips like that?!

Then again, Momo could not stop looking at that speck near Mina’s lips.
Why was she so focused on them again?!

Finally, Momo had enough and walked over to Mina.

As the girl turned to face her, Momo quickly wiped the ketchup off Mina’s lips with her own sleeve.

“Ya,” Momo commented, noticing the coloring of Mina’s face as the girl’s eyes widened, “Wipe your lips properly next time.”

“WHAT THE HELL DID I JUST DO?!” Momo thought, hurrying away to the other side of the room, as cool as she could.

But to her surprise, Mina spoke.

“You know, I cannot lie…but I kind of miss the naggy side of you.”

I popped open my study guides in the library as the sheet from Ok seonseng slipped out.
As “Future Aspirations” glared back at me, I sighed. Last time, I filled in “Law” and “Business Management.” As a humanities student, these two seemed like the subjects most attainable yet prestigious and parent-pleasing at the same time.

Maybe inspired by Jimin’s words, I not only thought of Sana but also my future job with the same mindset – do I miss it?
Would I miss not applying for either these things?
Compared to the Sana question, it definitely seemed easier to answer.
I honestly did not care much for studying law or business management.
I mean I probably could work in either fields but I was not sure if I would be going to work each day, knowing I would love everything I do.

I pushed my study guides aside.
Studying could wait. I needed to first work out what I wanted to study for.
I reached into my bag for my favorite notebook.

I called it my book of “Thoughts and Quotes.”
Basically, I used it to jot down anything I had doubts about or heard and saw that were interesting.
I flipped through, chuckling at Bambam’s quote of “How do you know I’m not BIG?” and Jackson’s “Good food needs good music.”
There were also more serious things like Confucius and Mencius. And notes on whether I should help Jihyo in her campaign or not.

“I mean I have time anyways, plus Jihyo’s great. She ignored all the bull people threw at her freshmen year and now she is even trying to make the school lives of the people who bullied her better. I doubt I can ever do that myself. Also, she even helped me with Maths back then, even though I was half actually wanting her help and half trying to get more people to chat with her on Facebook…”

I remembered posting on Jihyo’s Facebook wall asking her a Maths question and how she actually answered it in detail.
Later, when I actually needed help on Physics, she helped me cram in the library even though I was a) older than her and she not bother her b) taking away her precious time to study for her own things. I looked up and saw Jihyo printing more campaign posters at the library printer.

Raising my hand, I waved at her.

She looked up at me and smiled as usual, but something in her eyes felt…different, almost conflicted.
She did not come over to say hi and quickly filed away with her freshly printed posters.

I slowly lowered my arm and looked at my “Thoughts and Quotes” notebook.
After Jeju Camp, Jihyo had not spoken to me much or studied with me.

I missed hanging out with her.

“Yes mum, I’m eating well and living well,” Bambam explained as he spoke on the phone in the living room with his mother in Thailand.

“Khun is treating me great as usual,” he added, throwing a finger heart to his cousin Nichkhun who winked back from the kitchen, “He is even making phad thai as we speak!”

“Good to know our Kunpimook Bhuwakul is eating well,” Bambam’s mum noted, adoration clear in her voice, “Now as long as your grades this semester is great as well…”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, IT WILL BE FINE I SWEAR!” Bambam cried, “I will definitely get into university in Korea, earn myself a fancy business degree and come back to make our family Korean restaurant the best chain in Thailand!”

“Ha ha ha…ah our Bambam, you make your mum cry from laughing too hard,” his mother replied, “All I need is for you to do well in school and stay healthy. Whether you run the family restaurant or go do something else, as long as you are happy, I’m happy.”

As Bambam felt warm from his mother’s words, she had to even add, “Also, if there’s anything you miss from home, I can send it over!”

“Don’t worry, Khun has everything we need,” Bambam spoke, as whiffs of cooked Thai food was already floating to his nostrils from the kitchen.

“Cool, anything else to say to other people in the family?”

“Nah, I’m good. I messaged Beer and Bank earlier already and I am sure Baby is tired of me. She always gets info on me from Jackson anyways…”

“Anything to say to Lalisa?”

Bambam sat up from his lazy position, slightly put off guard by his mother’s question. “Oh…yeah, how is she doing?”

“Did you forget she is now in Korea too?!”

“Wait, what?!”

Bambam could hear his mum sighing from the other side of the line.
“I threw in the question as a joke but didn’t expect you to actually forget. She is studying there now too and moved this semester to stay at a host family. I will send you the address later so you can check on her…aren’t you guys great friends when you were younger?”

“Um…like when we were babies? I haven’t really seen her since 2011!? What would you expect? Me to miss her or something?”

“Well, I’m sure she misses you. Go give her a call or something, okay?”

BONUS BABY PIC of BAMBAM & LISA