Kwon Yuri was late.

Kwon Yuri was late again.

Kwon Yuri was rushing around her room, grabbing her required materials for the day. She had a piece of bread clamped down in between her strong pearly whites, trying to have her breakfast and pack her bag at the same time. She didn’t pack her bag the night before but that’s because no one packs the night before? I mean, who in the world remembers to pack?

“KWON YURI! WHERE ARE YOU?”

“PACKING, UMMA! HOLD ON!”

Yuri knew her mother was laughing to herself in the kitchen. Mrs Kwon never failed to poke fun at her daughter with every chance she got and Yuri welcomed it, of course – if anything, she was the one who made fun of her mother most of the time. She grabbed her binder and favourite leather jacket before running down the stairs.

“Umma!” Yuri called out and hugged her mother from behind gently, “I love you. See you after class!”

Mrs Kwon couldn’t help but smile at her daughter’s gestures; Yuri was the daughter every mother wanted by her side. Yuri worked to earn her own keep as well as provide for Mrs Kwon as best as she could. Mrs Kwon was working as the lunch lady in school and she didn’t earn much but with Yuri’s persistence in working, they got by fairly well.

“WAIT WAIT! UNCLE!!!”

Yuri ran after the bus as fast as her long legs could carry her, her jacket almost flying off her waist with how quick she was moving. She panted breathlessly when the bus finally stopped, opening its doors for her as always.

“Aigoo, Yuri-ah,” the bus driver sighed, “late again? Please learn to wake up early, okay? I can’t always stop the bus for you.” Yuri rubbed the back of her neck in embarrassment and flashed the driver an apologetic pout, “sorry, Uncle. I’ll try my best the next time.”

The bus driver chuckled and beckoned her to take a seat; he knew all too well that Yuri would only be earlier by a fraction of a minute, which didn’t make a difference – at least she made an effort though. Yuri always took the same bus at the same timing, hence the lack of introductions earlier; they were practically friends now.

Yuri looked around and mentally congratulated herself when her favourite seat was empty like always. She loved seating in the back row of every bus she took; she didn’t know why but it allowed her to feel like she had her own space and privacy. Yuri felt a slight discomfort in her stomach when the same brunette occupied the seat next to hers; did that mean she couldn’t sleep comfortably?

“Oh, who cares?” Yuri mumbled and carefully made her way to the last row, plopping her on the soft cushion. Taking her earphones out of her bag, Yuri released a sigh of relief and plugged them into both ears.

As the song Indestructible by Girls’ Generation started to play, Yuri felt her eyelids get droopy, her eyelids struggling to stay open as her journey continued along the smooth gravel road. Not that it was a new situation, Yuri always fell asleep in the bus anyway.

And the brunette sitting beside Yuri carefully turned to her right, feeling a weight on her shoulder once again. She didn’t know why she had such an uncomfortable feeling in her stomach just because of this tardy tanned girl who always falls asleep on her. Yet, she couldn’t help but feel that she had a connection with her, even with the lack of communication between them.

The journey wasn't long for Yoona, considering that she had her earphones and phone to keep her company. She couldn't help but steal a couple of glances at the tardy girl who had her head comfortably laid on her shoulder; as to why she always laid her head on her shoulder? She didn't know.

As the brunette lifted her hand to press the button to indicate she was getting off at the next stop, she couldn't help but turn back to face Yuri - to wake her or not? A part of her wanted to leave Yuri here because she deserved it for always falling asleep and being lazy but another part of her wanted to wake her up because she wouldn't be able to bear the guilt brewing in her gut. 

Nah.

She went with the latter.

“Yoona-ah!”

Yoona turned away from her locker and saw one of her close friends approaching her with the biggest eyesmile she had ever seen in their years of being friends. “Fany-unnie!” Yoona greeted with a warm hug, “what’s with that megawatt smile of yours?”

Tiffany quickly let go of Yoona and held the younger by her shoulders, shaking Yoona back and forth, “I finally got her number!” Yoona’s eyes widened and she too started to shake Tiffany back and forth, both completely overjoyed that Tiffany had finally achieved her goal after so many months of silent admiration for one of the school’s goddesses.

“Aigoo,” Yoona patted Tiffany’s bum, “I told you it isn’t difficult to get Taeyeon-unnie’s number, didn’t I?” Tiffany’s cheeks painted themselves with the different shades of pink in a couple of seconds simply by hearing her crush’s name. Yoona giggled, she hadn’t seen Tiffany behave like this in a long time, “just kiss her already, Unnie.”

“Kiss who?”

Tiffany and Yoona turned to find a pouting Jessica, feeling horribly left out of her two best friends’ conversation. Jessica had arrived a few minutes ago and she was waiting for them to notice her but none of them did, instead they just continued to talk among themselves. Jessica crossed her arms over her chest and turned away, pouting to herself.

“Oh come on, Jessie.” Tiffany rolled her eyes and went up behind Jessica, wrapping her arms around Jessica’s fit waist, “I was going to tell you when you reached school but you didn’t come to us.”

Jessica huffed and turned around, lifting her hand to flick Tiffany’s forehead. She ignored the huge pout on Tiffany and approached Yoona, greeting the young one with a hug. “Hello, Yoong.” Tiffany joined her two best friends and was about to say something when she spotted Taeyeon pacing up and down near her locker, “Give me a sec, girls.”

“Taeyeon?”

Taeyeon looked up from the ground and released her fingers from her lips, giving her poor nails a break after chewing on them for so long. “Oh. Hey, Tiffany. What are you doing here?” Taeyeon’s tone must have sounded a little cold because she noticed Tiffany flinch lightly after hearing her question. Taeyeon quickly took Tiffany’s hand, “I’m sorry... What I meant was, don’t you have class in about 3 minutes?”

Tiffany smiled warmly, “it doesn’t matter. Why do you look so tense? Are you feeling okay?” Taeyeon let a soft chortle escape her lips and she shook her head, “just waiting for my best friend who’s supposed to be here by now. Guess it’s normal though, she’s never early.” Tiffany giggled and pinched Taeyeon's puffed cheeks, “she’ll be here, don’t worry.”  

“Choi Sooyoung.”

“Here!”

“Kim Hyoyeon.”

“Here!”

“Kim Taeyeon.”

“Here!”

“Kwon Yuri.”

“…”

“I’m not surprised,” Mr Jung said and lifted his pen to mark Yuri absent on the register, “when is Kwon Yuri ever early?”

Taeyeon, Hyoyeon and Sooyoung looked at each other with shrugs, none of them knew where Yuri was. One thing was for sure – Yuri was either sleeping in the bus or she was sleeping on the rooftop of the school. The only reason why they were worried was because Yuri might not have enough energy to come to school after working overtime last night.

“Lee Sunk---”

“I’M HERE! KWON YURI IS HERE!”

Everyone’s eyes flew to the door where Yuri stood, panting and breathing heavily as she leaned against the door to support herself. She had run all the way from the bus station to school after realizing no bus was going to come fast enough for her to reach on time anyway. Yuri silently cursed to herself, couldn’t anyone have woken her up when they stopped in front of the school?

Mr Jung threw the register on the table, massaging his temples tiredly, “why are you late again, Yuri?” Yuri smiled sheepishly and took baby steps into the lecture hall, “I missed the stop…?” Mr Jung pointed to the empty seat between Hyoyeon and Taeyeon, “you were obviously sleeping again.”

Of course, sleep was precious.

-

Lunch hour came and before the four of them knew it, they were sitting opposite another four girls in the same table. Yuri and Hyoyeon were looking for tables when Taeyeon was dragged by another girl they knew as Tiffany and before they could do anything about it, they were already seated at the same table. 

Yuri and Hyoyeon glanced at each other awkwardly, not knowing what in the world they were doing here instead of another table on their own. Taeyeon and Sooyoung on the other hand, they were already engaging in casual conversations with the girls they knew from their other classes.

“Yuri, Hyoyeon.” Taeyeon smacked the both of them, “this is Tiffany, Jessica, Sunny and Seohyun.”

Three of them smiled warmly at Yuri and Hyoyeon with the exception of one, her smile not reaching her eyes like her friends’ were. Yuri squinted her eyes when she saw a familiar head full of luscious brown locks, quite similar to the head she saw in the bus beside her every morning.

Taeyeon noticed and lifted her hand to pull Yuri’s ear, “Yah, don’t stare at people like that. You’re going to scare them off.” Yuri pouted and slapped Taeyeon’s a couple of times, beckoning the eldest to let her ear go. Taeyeon ignored Yuri and left her hand there, continuing her conversation with Tiffany and Jessica about their music classes.

Seohyun couldn’t hold in her giggle, seeing how Yuri was pouting like a toddler with those favourable puppy eyes. She lifted her hand to cover when she noticed everyone staring at her with amused expressions, albeit embarrassed since she and Yuri haven't interacted before.

“We actually have another girl who’s supposed to be here but she had to go for her make-up accounting class so…”

The other girls nodded knowingly, releasing small chuckles. Bad timing couldn’t be helped sometimes, they could only wish the other girl was as nice and friendly as Tiffany, Jessica, Sunny and Seohyun here. Yuri didn’t know why but there was a weird feeling brewing in the pit of her stomach, knowing that there was someone missing at the table – it was a feeling of disappointment.

And the cycle repeated.

Yuri was late - fell asleep and missed her stop.

The brunette left without waking her. 

Until a week later... 

Yuri was wearing a snapback along with a hoodie thrown over her, feeling the chilly weather freeze her. She had ran all the way from home as always and managed to clinch her seat beside the brunette. And she made up her mind - she was going to see if the brunette sitting beside her attended the same school and if that was the case, who she was. 

Just as Yuri was about to bend forward and tie her shoelaces, her puppy eyes caught sight of the stranger's wallpaper on her iPhone 6S - rather familiar people she might add: Jessica, Tiffany, Sunny and Seohyun were all there. Then it hit Yuri, this girl sitting next to her might just be the one who was missing during lunch the other day. 

Yuri was about to tap the stranger’s shoulder and ask her something when her phone started to vibrate in her pocket – it was Taeyeon calling.

“Hello? What is it, Taeng?”