Butterflies generously indulged themselves in the pit of my stomach, as I silently waited to present my song. Violet, a highly talented composer and Professor Seo’s “star student”, was currently presenting and there had been no flaw in the presentation thus far. Unlike me, Violet had taken a lighter outlook on the project that was assigned; she had composed a four minute song on feeling happy by just being herself. It was catchy, unique, bright, joyful and original, everything Professor Seo was looking for.

Violet’s presentation was nearing an end and the butterflies had yet to cease. Presentations had never been my forte; when it came to presenting in groups I would say a word or two, just to achieve a passing grade. Now that I was older and in college, most presentations I did were by myself.

“Thank you,” Violet politely bowed to Professor Seo and the class. An eruption of cheers sounded as Violet walked off the stage with confidence and grace, while making her way toward Professor Seo to receive her grade. Professor Seo handed Violet her paper. Never in my life have I seen a person’s emotion change as rapid as Violets. A hand shot up to Violet’s mouth, her eyes drooped and her hair covered her face. The only proper sign that she had gotten a bad grade was by the violent shaking of Violet’s shoulders.

“Moon Jihee,” Professor Seo announced in a non-amused tone.

My eyes flickered to the front of the stage as I arose. While grabbing my papers, everything around me felt as if it was moving in slow motion, even the way I walked toward the stage was like creeping through quicksand.

“You may begin when you are ready, Ms. Moon,” Professor Seo placed his hands on his desk and attentively waited for me.

Feeling a rush of adrenaline, I closed my eyes, inhaled deeply and began. It was as if I was on auto pilot mode, but in the moment, it was not as death defying. Every word, which had been carefully chosen, flowed like water off my tongue and into the audience's’ ears. It appeared as if everyone was on the edge of their seat the entire time I was up on stage, however that could have been my mind playing with me.

As I was nearing the end of my presentation I had become less nervous and more eager to officially end this class. “Thank you, and I hope you all have learned something new with this twist on music.” I bowed to the class and then to Professor Seo. My hearing was lost as soon as I stepped out of the spotlight, but I kept myself composed. “Thank you,” I bowed to Professor Seo again, as I took the paper from his hands. Not wanting to look at the paper just yet, I placed it in my messenger bag and hastily made my way to the subway.

 

I had eventually made it into the subway, however I kept postponing the presentation of my grade. In turn I had ended up at Roasted Beans, my second home. Per usual I was greeted by a puppy Hakyeon and an angry Jin.

“Jihee, Jin hit me TWICE this morning!” Hakyeon tugged on my arm playfully. The sound of pounding footsteps against the rigidity wood caused Hakyeon to jump behind me, like the Cowardly Lion. “Jihee! Protect me from the big mean lady!”

“Cha Hakyeon!” A scarily familiar voice greeted our ears. Hakyeon yelped while lowering himself to my height. Jin bursted through the room where I usually sat in and made her way toward us. “Agh! I swear, Cha Hakyeon, I will fire you! Jihee, did he tell you what happened this morning?” Jin peered over my shoulder to eye Hakyeon down.

“No,” A surprised, yet amused tone, left my vocal chords. “Hakyeon, what did you do?”

After much persisting, Hakyeon finally emerged from my back and to the world in front of him. “I may have been two hours late today,” Hakyeon’s voice continued to lower, as did his height.

My eyes rolled as I was prepared to be lectured by Jin. “Because of your little annual movie night, my worker was late; however, because you are such a good girl, unlike your friend here, I am not here to lecture you.” Jin took Hakyeon’s ear and pulled him into the kitchen behind the bar. There I heard Hakyeon’s whines and Jin’s lectures.

A lighthearted laugh escaped my throat as I shook my head So, nothing unusual happened. I made my way to the room Jin was previously in and scouted out my spot. Jin had always placed plates and papers on my table to save the spot for me when I returned. As if I had worked here, I moved the plates and papers to their proper area. Eventually the table was cleared and filled with my computer and numerous, of my own, papers. Closing my eyes and bracing myself mentally, I finally took out my graded paper. One by one I slowly opened my eyes. My calm expression dropped almost instantly, which was accompanied by a stream of tears I did not feel until they fell on the papers around me.

Light thuds hastily approached me with the worried voice of Hakyeon, “Jihee, what’s wrong?” I said nothing and allowed the heavy bearing paper fall to the ground. “Jihee?” Hakyeon crouched down and scooped up the paper. “Oh, Jihee,” Hakyeon delicately embraced my shaking body, “Jihee, it’s okay, Professor Seo is crazy, you know that, you say it all the time! Don’t let this one grade cause you to get all overwhelmed.” Tears clouded my vision, so I hadn’t noticed when Hakyeon took his angelic hands and placed them on my face. With the pads of Hakyeon’s thumbs, one by one Hakyeon wiped away my overflowing tears. My heavy head rested against Hakyeon’s muscular shoulder. “Don’t listen to him, Jihee, you know that was a good song; you spent numerous hours and days on it-”

“And it was a failure, Hakyeon!” My eyes burned from crying as much as I did. It had been  years since I last cried, and it wasn’t over a silly grade. “I try, so hard in this goddamn world to be perfect. I fail to impress my professors, I fail to get into a company, I fail at being a decent friend-”

“Jihee!” Hakyeon snapped, grasping onto my upper arms rather tightly, “Don’t EVER say those words again. You know you mean the world to me, and Jin. You are so talented and I am devastated on how you never see that.”

From the corner of my eye I could see Jin and several customers eyes on the scene I had created. Furious at Hakyeon, I finished off the rest of my tears and stormed away, leaving my belongings at the cafe.

 

The sound of glass shattering rang through Seoul’s night sky. “ONE SHOT!” I yelled at the top of my lungs. It had been an hour since I had arrived at a street vendor and I had already downed two bottle of Soju. “Another bottle please!” My speech was slurred and my vision was beginning to go. The light trickling feeling of running water had drew my attention to my, now, burning hand. Realizing the river of water was not water, but blood, I cackled at the sky. “Ma’am, please give me a napkin! It seems I have injured my hand!” I giggled away, ignoring the pain and embarrassment. The woman in charge of the stand wrapped my hand and gave me another Soju bottle. “ONE SHOT!” My vocal chords strained against my violent cries. A wave of Soju poured into my shot glass and began to overflow. “ONE SHOT!” I cried again, taking a hit of the Soju’s pungent taste.

In the back pocket of my pants, a violent vibration shook my entire right cheek. My injured hand slapped the pocket as I yelled, “SHUT UP, I AM TRYING TO DRINK HERE! AGH, RUINING MY STREAK!” My head hung from the pressure of the pounding headache I was creating with my victory cries. “Damn phones ruin everything!”

“Excuse me,” an annoying, light voice boomed from behind me. My heavy body swung around to face my opponent. Expecting to only be challenged with a short contestant, I was startled when I was faced with their lower stomach.

“You,” I hiccuped and poked the opponent's stomach, “you are the one ruining my streak. I was almost at three bottles! I could have been the world’s best Soju drinker!” My pounding head rested against the attacker’s stomach. I gently tapped the stomach and giggled. “You have a nice stomach.”

A scoff erected from the opponent’s throat. “Pathetic,” the voice mumbled. I felt their weight shift from their left to right.

My once closed eyes flew open in rage, as I swiftly rose from my seat. I dare not meet with the eyes of my attacker, so I looked straight at their chest, which was flat. “What did you just say?” My finger poked their shoulder. A hiccup escaped from my mouth once more before I continued. “No one dare calls the great Moon Jihee pathetic, you swine!” My eyes finally met with my challenger. All color drained from my face as the man’s furious, narrow eyes bore into my skull. Although, at the moment, I feared for my being, I couldn’t help but notice how pretty his eyes actually were. Being mesmerized by the man’s eyes caused me to explore the rest of his beautifully sculptured face. His chiseled jaw was sharp compared to his other softer features. The man’s cheeks were full, like a bubbling baby’s, and his nose was as smooth as silk. His full, pink lips were naturally pouted, making it heavily attractive and hard to look away. No flaws were shown in his snow white skin, which stood out even more against his brownish-red hair. This man was an angel. Without thinking, my hand cupped the man’s full cheek, as I slurred, “My angel?”

The man swatted my hand away in anger and grabbed my phone, which was placed on the table. The man scrolled through my phone and stopped after a few moments. “Who’s Hakyeon?”

My phone was directed in front of my face, making it hard for my eyes to focus on the bright light. I staggered backwards into the table which I once sat at. Feeling myself beginning to free fall, the man caught my back and pulled me forward, allowing me to restable myself. “Hakyeon?” I asked, surprised the man had no idea who the great Cha Hakyeon was. “Hakyeon is my best friend, everyone knows Hakyeon!” Due to my large eye smile, I was blinded. “How could you-”

“Hello? Yes, hi, I am Jung Taekwoon and I found your friend heavily drunk at a vendor’s stand. No. Yes. Do you wish for me to drive her to her place, get her a ride or- Okay, I will drive her right away. Yes, thank you and goodbye.” The man, named Taekwoon, put my phone in his back pocket. “We are going to your home; your friend, Hakyeon or whatever, gave me your address.” Taekwoon grabbed my wrist and began to drag me away from my table.

“MY SOJU!” I struggled against Taekwoon’s strong grip, which was beginning to become increasingly painful. A yelp left my mouth, causing Taekwoon to stop. “Taekwoonie,” I began to tear up, “please don’t bring me back to Hakyeon. He is going to be angry I am like this. Hakyeon blames himself when I am like this.”

Taekwoon dropped his hand from my wrist and steadily approached me. His frightening eyes caused me to cower, amusing Taekwoon. “Well you shouldn’t have let yourself drink this much. What woman in her right mind would let herself drink to excess without another friend there? Are you dumb?” Taekwoon went silent for a moment then said, “And don’t say my name, I don’t even know you.”

Ignoring Taekwoon’s words, due to being caught up in my own thoughts, I began to cry unwillingly. “Hakyeon doesn’t like when I am like this,” I repeated. “If Professor Seo didn’t give me that grade, I wouldn’t be like this; it’s Professor Seo’s fault, he is so biased! He gives everyone else really good grades and then there is me; I try just as hard, if not even harder, than most of the students in that damn class.” Tears flowed from my eyes as if they were rapid rivers. Taekwoon was silent as he continued to listen to me rant, “I’ve been such a disappointment to everyone.”

Taekwoon proceeded to be quiet, but gently took my bruised wrist and brung me to a car, which I assumed was his. The warming hum of the car calmed me, but my tears were never ending. Taekwoon tossed me a box of tissues and told me to clean myself up for Hakyeon. Obeying his orders I began to remove my mascara stains and snot trails.

I moved my head toward Taekwoon and smiled, “Thank you, Taekwoon. I may have just met you, but you seem like a valuable friend, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.” My hand was placed on Taekwoon’s shoulder, gently gripping it for support. Taekwoon remained silent and continued to drive.

 

The door to my apartment opened by a wild Hakyeon. “Hakyeon-ie!” I cried, throwing my arms in the air to further embrace him. Hakyeon softened under my grip and rhythmically pat my back.

“Jihee, you worried me. Why did you go to drink alone? You know that is dangerous,” Hakyeon began to lecture me. Hakyeon’s eyes flickered up to Taekwoon who was standing behind me. “You must be Jung Taekwoon. Thank you for prote-”

“It’s fine.” Taekwoon’s cold presence left, leaving my back exposed to the plain hallway.

My hands tightened around Hakyeon’s shoulder for support as I whispered, “Isn’t he attractive? He is a beautiful as an angel!”

Hakyeon lightly chuckled and led me inside my apartment, “Is he more handsome than me?”

My head furiously nodded, “Yes, of course! Hakyeon, did you not see him?! That man is a God!” I allowed myself to backwards on my couch.

“Jihee, you can barely see straight, how could you know someone is so attractive if you can’t even see properly?” Hakyeon crossed his arms in frustration; of course I knew he was only teasing me. Hakyeon enjoyed having fun with me while I was drunk.

“I can see just fine, quiz me! I bet I can ace it,” I smirked, folding my arms. Mentally I was preparing for Hakyeon’s “impossible” test.

I heard Hakyeon sigh, “Okay, how many fingers am I holding up?”

My eyes focused in on Hakyeon’s fingerless hand. “There are no fingers! You can’t trick me!” I slapped my knee and laughed away.

“Actually I was holding up four.” My laughing ceased after hearing Hakyeon’s serious words. “Go clean yourself up, or else I will.”

I gasped and instinctively covered myself with the nearest blanket. “No,” I prolonged my word for four beats.

“Then go change. I will be here making you tea,” Hakyeon waved me away, proceeding toward my kitchen. It was clear something had been bothering Hakyeon, which upset me further.

Being my outgoing self, currently, I stood up and followed behind Hakyeon. My arms swooped up from behind Hakyeon, who was froze in place. I pulled Hakyeon backwards to seal my most needed hug. “Thank you, Hakyeon.”

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