After their classes had ended, Sarang and Kyungsoo ran into Jongin in front of their university. He was sitting on his motorbike, pushing his hair back preparing to put on his helmet.

“Jongin-ah!”

Jongin paused and looked to his left where the voice came from.

“Sarang” he waved with a wide smile as the other two made their ways toward him.

“What are you doing here?” she asked as she gave him a little hug and before answering her he greeted Kyungsoo, too, with a high-five.

“I came to see Yoonseul” he said, “She’s been busy with studying lately, I don’t see her much. And since she had a thirty minute break I thought I’d drop by.”

“How nice” Sarang smiled.

“I’m glad I saw you two, too” he added.

“Yeah, it’s been a while since all of us gathered up” Kyungsoo said. “Everyone is so busy with studying for midterms and projects. If it weren’t for attending same classes, we wouldn’t be seeing each other often either” he referred to himself and Sarang.

“Right” Jongin agreed, “I hope Yerim isn’t having a hard time. I always feel like she’s working the hardest.”

“She is” Sarang sighed, “She can’t afford to lose her scholarship and move back with her parents, and med school isn’t easy at all. She’s making extra effort.”

“Hey, her birthday is coming up soon” Kyungsoo quickly said when he remembered. “We should do something” he suggested.

“Ohh, right! We’ll plan something out” Jongin said and Sarang nodded excitedly.

“By the way, how are auntie and uncle?” Sarang asked her cousin.

“They’re well. Mom was just saying yesterday that she has missed you” he smiled, “I’m going home now. You wanna come over?”

“Ah should I?” she thought aloud, “I suppose I could also visit my parents since it’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve seen them… I’ve been pretty busy with everything” she sighed.

Sarang and Jongin weren’t just cousins and best friends, they used to be neighbors too when Sarang still lived with her parents. Their parents’ houses face across the street, that’s why the two used to hang out a lot.

“Hop in, then” Jongin nodded at the seat behind him and gave her another helmet.

After saying their goodbyes to Kyungsoo, the two wore their helmets and Jongin took off.

~

“Mom!” Jongin called when he entered their house followed by Sarang, “I brought you a visitor!”

“Eh?” his mom’s head popped out from the kitchen’s door.

The older woman was wiping her hands with a small kitchen towel. Her hair was tied neatly, and her apron that she wore whenever she was cooking had no stains at all. It always made Sarang think that there is no need for the apron, she’s already too tidy and neat.

“Auntie!” Sarang almost squealed when she saw her. It’s like only after seeing her face she realized how much she’d missed her.

“Sarang-ah!!” the woman hurried and threw her arms around Sarang giving her a motherly hug. “I have missed you so much dear.”

“I’ve missed you too…”

“Hey” Jongin interrupted the moment when he felt it was getting emotional, but he was smiling cheesily. “I’m hungry.”

“Tshh this boy” Sarang made a face, then looked at her aunt. “I’m starving, too” she admitted. She always treated her aunt like her mom so she spoke comfortably.

Jongin’s mom laughed at the two kids. “Lunch is ready” she said, “Let me set the table first.”

“It’s okay, mom, we’ll do it” Jongin referred to himself and Sarang who quickly nodded.

“Yes, we’ll help” she agreed.

“Oh my God, Jongin, this is so cute!” Sarang squealed as she held a frame having a few photos of him with Yoonseul. He was always so sweet to her it made every other girl jealous of her for having an amazing boyfriend like him.

“This was when we went to the beach” he pointed at one, smiling. “And this one,” he pointed at another one, “We were skiing and she slipped” he laughed out loud at the memory, “She didn’t harm herself though.”

“You guys are couple goals” Sarang pouted as she sat on Jongin’s bed, still looking at the frame in her hands. “I wish Chanyeol and I could be like this.”

“I thought things were better between you now” he plopped next to her, “Or at least that’s what Yoonseul said.”

“It is” Sarang said, “Much better than the beginning, actually. But we’re still far from being a couple, you know? He’s been heartbroken before and he’s just so scared of the idea of loving again.”

“Oh… that’s tough.”

“Yeah” she sighed, “Sometimes I feel like he likes me a lot but when he realizes it he backs away again and we return to the start point. I just want to show him all my love but he always blocks me.”

“Then show him all your love even if he blocks you” Jongin shrugged.

Sarang looked at him with a confused expression making him smile warmly.

“I mean don’t wait for him to allow you” he explained, “You love him, and you want your relationship to work, right?” he asked and Sarang nodded. “Then don’t hesitate to show it. Don’t wait for him to tell you ‘okay Sarang you can love me now’” he said. “It’s not your love that he doesn’t accept. It’s the fact that he’s feeling the same toward you. So if you want my advice, don’t give up on him. Keep showing him your love until he accepts that there’s someone new in his life, and that this someone wouldn’t hurt him the way he had been hurt before.”

Sarang thought for a moment then looked at Jongin.

“So how do I do that?” she asked sheepishly, making him laugh lightly.

“Just be genuine” he said, “Like you always are. In other words, just stay like you are. Don’t hesitate to treat him nicely, or take care of him in any way. Don’t be discouraged if he said he didn’t feel the same because based on what you’ve told me, he’s only trying to fight those feelings of love toward you but they do exist. If he’s been badly hurts, he really needs your patience until he can learn to trust again and love again.”

Sarang thought again and nodded, convinced.

“Why aren’t you studying psychology…?”

Jongin laughed out loud, “Are you mocking me now?”

“No! I’m glad I talked about this with you” she smiled. “By the way, I should get going now” she stood up ready to leave, “Because I wanna visit mom and dad.”

“Alright,” he nodded as he stood up to walk her downstairs.

***

After flipping through so many TV channels and finding nothing to catch his attention, Chanyeol tapped a little bit on his phone then lied down on the couch. Whatever he did was still boring.

Sarang wasn’t there. She had already told him that she was going to visit her parents.

The place was too quiet and he forgot when the complete silence started feeling wrong. He used to enjoy lying down alone with no sound at all but recently he couldn’t stand it anymore. It bothered him, like there was something missing.

He stirred and turned from side to side trying to find a comfortable position but even that he couldn’t do.

“Aishhh” he shook his hair frustratingly as he sat up straight. He didn’t know why he just felt like kicking something.

Chanyeol checked his phone for the time and clicked his tongue in annoyance when he saw 7:13 PM. He was about to throw the phone aside when Sarang’s name flashed on the screen making him skip a heartbeat.

“What are you doing now?” Sarang asked after greeting Chanyeol.

“I’m working” he lied. He didn’t know why he lied either, but he didn’t want to sound too bored and jobless at the moment.

“Oh… so you’re busy” Sarang concluded. “Have you eaten? Are you hungry?”

“I’m not hungry” he said.

“But you should eat!”

“What about you? What are you doing now?” Chanyeol tried to sound casual.

“With my parents” she answered. “My phone battery is about to die, so I figured I’d call check on you before it does. They asked a lot about you… They asked me to sleep over.”

Chanyeol involuntarily frowned, “You’re staying there?” he asked quickly.

“I guess” she said. “Uh- Do you want to—“

Sarang’s voice disappeared and the phone call disconnected.

“Hello?” Chanyeol called, “Sarang?” he said but there was no answer.

“Her phone must have died” he sighed.

What was she going to tell him? Was she going to ask him to go there? Did she miss him? Did she want to see him?

Because no matter how hard he tried to convince himself the opposite, he missed having her around.

Maybe he just missed her cheerfulness around him. He’d usually be doing something and there’s always Sarang somewhere around him saying something or just singing randomly, not caring if she failed to hit a note or missed the beat.

But now that it was quiet, it felt empty.

Maybe he just missed her lovely smile that he saw every time he glanced at her, even if it wasn’t directed toward him it still brightened his mood.

Or maybe he just simply missed her. Everything about her.

It’s not like he hadn’t seen her in days. It was just this morning, when he woke up and she was curled up next to him looking warm and peaceful.

But when she woke up she went to take a shower and he was already done and he had to leave, that’s why they didn’t talk much in the morning and now suddenly it felt like he hadn’t seen her in too long.

***

“Sarang-ah, stop playing with your food and eat well” Sarang’s father told his daughter who was moving the food around with her fork but not really eating.

“Ah, yes” Sarang quickly stuffed with food, only now realizing that she wasn’t eating and that she had no appetite.

“You seem absentminded” her mother remarked, “Are you thinking about your husband?” she teased making Sarang almost choke as her cheeks blushed.

It’s like her mother read through her mind. She was thinking about what Chanyeol would be doing right now. Is he feeling relieved that she’s finally not there and he has time to stay alone? Or could it be that he missed her? What if… he went out to see Hwasoo?

She frowned at the last thought.

“Why didn’t you tell him to come over for dinner?” her father asked.

“I was going to… but my phone died in the middle of our phone call” she sighed.

“It’s not like we don’t have phones here…” her mother said.

“I know mom, I’m not that stupid. I just didn’t memorize his number” she said. And in addition to that she didn’t think he’d want to come.

Sarang’s mother was going to say something when the house bell rang turning everyone’s at