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We all felt the positive after-effects of Hong Kong as we landed back at Incheon Airport. With a more eased mind thanks to her massively successful experience, Anna had finally gotten the sleep she needed on the flight and I, along with mostly everyone else, quickly joined her. But unfortunately, it felt like she’d hardly woken up when she was whisked away to get to work on yet another mini-album.

“They want to try going in a new direction with this one,” she explained to me a few days later, the only chance we’d gotten since returning to meet up. “Plus, they’re only having me record an English version. It’s apparently all part of some theory they have and are trying to validate.”

“They’re working your off all over again so soon so they can validate a theory?” I asked, undeniably displeased. “Sounds incredibly selfish to me."

“I know,” she sighed, unable to defend The Society the way she typically tried to. Even with like this, she knew she owed a lot of her happiness and all of her success to them. “I knew they weren’t happy about how poorly the Korean version of my first mini-album did. I just didn’t think they would never have me release a Korean album ever again.”

“Alright, let’s not jump to conclusions now,” I calmly waved her off. “Like you said, this is just to test a theory. They probably just want something that’ll quickly encourage Korea to see past the Korean failure of your first album. Clearly, your English albums sell well so that’s all anyone’ll see this time around. It’s all about making you look better.”

I had a feeling there was likely more to it than that but I chose to only tell her what would calm her. She nodded in understanding.

“That’s true,” she began before pouting. “Still annoying though.”

Moments like those came and went. I cherished them when they came, especially now that I was really as busy as she was. I couldn’t even be of official help on this second album due to my schedule. I was merely someone who gave feedback and suggestions here and there when she played me bits and pieces of songs.

But there were those occasional nights where she got me to promise a few hours simply in each other’s company, no matter the hour or occasion. We could be relaxing side by side or sitting on opposite sides of the room doing our own things, just as long as we were together. That was all she needed, she’d tell me. And I’d slowly grown to need her so I’d happily comply every time.

My favorite moments were when we’d lie down somewhere and just talk. We were both lazy and talkative so it was a perfect bonding activity for us. I wasn’t much of a cuddler but after endless complaints, she’d get me to give into it. I’d ask her to tell me about America, knowing full and well she commonly got homesick. In return, she’d ask me to tell her anything about myself.

“Really? Anything?” I’d eye her.

“Anything,” she’d confirm with a firm nod of her head. “I like listening to you talk.”

“So, I can really just talk about anything, then. The weather, how ugly each of the guys look when they sleep, that kind of stuff.”

“Noooo, I like hearing you talk about you,” she’d reiterate. “You’re fascinating.”

“What are you talking about? I’m boring.”

“Not to me,” she’d insist, shifting from laying on her stomach to laying on her side. She’d prop her head up on her hand and look down at me. “So talk.”

I smirked at her blunt nature. “About what?”

“I already told you! Anything!” She’d give me a frustrated shove, making me chuckle. “Namjoon told me you have a puppy back home.”

I smiled at her suggested topic for multiple reasons. “Namjoon has really grown fond of you, hasn’t he? You two have brought each other up to me quite often.”

She nodded. “It’s a different dynamic than with Hobi, though. Not so in your face, you know? He's like that wise older brother that steps in exactly when he's needed, which I guess is a good thing. I’ve always wanted brothers.”

“Do you have any siblings?” I immediately asked, realizing it was one of the many almost mindless things about her that I didn’t know.

“One,” she nodded. “An older sister.”

“Ah, so you’re the baby of your family,” I concluded, knowing the feeling. I was a parallel of her with one older brother. “What’s she like?”

“She’s very much unlike me,” she laughed. “Visually, she’s tall, blonde and blue-eyed. Personally, well, she’s in banking.”

“So, she's even more boring than I am?”

“No, she’s fun,” she defended pleasantly, a fond smile gracing her lips. “Adventurous and everything. She’s just… straighter around the edges, I guess.”

I noticed how significantly her whole demeanor changed at the mentioning of her sister. Despite being a kind soul in the first place, she softened a great deal in that moment. Honestly, it made me soften, as well.

“It seems like you’re really fond of her,” I concluded, making her nod bittersweetly.

“We’re really close,” she admitted. “I miss her a lot. My parents, too.”

My heart tightened in my chest. I knew she was homesick but I always wondered how exactly she felt, being so especially far from home. Lots of us here would stop home every once in a while if we got the opportunity. But it was a bus or train ride away for most of us. Anna couldn’t just take the soonest 13 hour plane ride back to America to stop in and cure her homesickness.

I to my side as well to face her, reaching my arm out to give her waist a comforting squeeze. She seemed to appreciate it and shook her head.

“But enough of that. It’s not like they’re dead, I message them all the time,” she said to end that conversation, which I was fine with. She opened up to me a great deal and seemed comfortable doing it. I couldn’t really ask for more without sounding and feeling selfish. “Tell me about your puppy!”

“Ah, yes. Holly,” I smiled. “He’s cute.”

“That’s it?”

“Yah,” I deadpanned. “He’s a dog.”

I’d actually expected her to make a comment on giving a boy dog a girl's name, not on my lack of things to say.

“Dogs have personalities,” she pointed out like a wise . “Plus, you do know that Holly is a girl’s name, right?”

Ah, there it was.

“Alright, you pest. That’s enough from you,” I complained, gently shoving her shoulder.

“Nooooo,” she giggled, a mischievous grin plastered on her face. “I won’t say anything else! Just tell me more.”

I thought about it for a moment, going through the few moments I’ve had with my dog so far.

“He’s a cute little guy. I’m sure if I didn’t tell you, you would’ve thought he was a girl at first sight. He’s pretty good, too. He’s just in that hyper puppy phase so he exhausts me,” I recounted fondly. “But honestly, he’s so cute that I'm pretty sure I spoil the hell out of him. I lose a lot of manliness around him.”

“I’d love to see that,” Anna giggled. “I’m sure you two are very cute with each other.”

“You’ll meet Holly one day, I’m sure,” I told her hopefully. The thought of us two traveling to my home in Daegu together was too pleasant to ignore.

“One day,” she said, as if it was just as much her dream as it was mine. It sent me into a flurry of happy emotions.

Although moments like those didn’t happen as much as either of us would’ve liked, we made them count. But one question kept invading my mind:

When did it stop being just two friends with feelings for each other? When did I get to establish the change to boyfriend and girlfriend? Would that time ever even come?

God, I was so conflicted and I didn’t have the time for it.

I had ended up turning to Jin for his thoughts, as he had lived a normal, adult life for the longest amount of time amongst anyone I knew at SKEES. He went to college and everything, something a lot of us didn’t get to do, so I thought for sure he’d have some knowledge on something like this.

“Why don’t you just ask her what she wants to do?” He suggested simply, but I could only look at him skeptically. He frowned. “What? This is Anna we’re talking about, she doesn’t seem to be very high maintenance.”

“She’s not,” I defended but then understood his point of view.

So I did just as he suggested. Anna and I had decided to hang out on the rooftop of the boys' residence building a few nights later and I felt there would be no better time to talk about it. Anna would be serene under some of her favorite things- the stars, the moon, and the rest of the night sky. That alone made for a good start.

I held off on bringing the topic up for some time, not wanting to aggressively jump right into it. But when it did eventually come up, she was thankfully responsive.

“What brought this on all of a sudden?” She inquired, glancing up from the sushi she’d taken out for a quick, delayed dinner after her schedules. I shrugged, trying to pretend I didn’t feel incredibly awkward.

“I mean, we act like a couple already. I wasn’t sure if it would be better to just make it official already.”

“I guess that would make sense,” she reasoned before breaking into a grin. “But I don’t know, there’s something kind of fun about dating without titles. In past relationships, I hated it because I never quite knew where the guy and I stood. But I know it with you. And I trust you completely.”

If I had really needed any convincing, that definitely would’ve done it.

“Yeah? You’re sure?”

She nodded, readjusting the comforter around her shoulders. “I think so. I mean, we’re happy like this, right? And we live such unpredictable lives that if this is working, why change it?”

I smiled knowingly at her reasoning. It sounded like something I would say. “You make a very good point.”

“I do that on occasion,” she beamed victoriously, her chin lifted high.

“Alright, alright, get off your high horse. You didn’t solve world hunger.”

“Not yet,” she joked and jumped to her feet, heading over to the ledge to look down at the campus she knew so well.

“Okay, let’s not get too close,” I advised like her elder, getting up as well to join her. “I know there’s a barrier but knowing you, you’d still find a way to fall over the edge.”

“I would not,” she protested with a laugh.

“You totally would,” I retorted, stepping up behind her and wrapping her in both my arms and my own blanket. Unlike her crazy self, I didn’t want to drag my entire comforter up to this rooftop and settled with something lighter.

She hummed at the feeling of my body around hers, unconsciously sinking deeper into me. I leaned around to give her a small peck on her cheek, making her giggle softly. I wished I’d had a clear view of her flushing cheeks.

“You know, speaking of titles, Chun Hwa’s given us one of her own,” she recalled, her voice light and raspy in the quiet of the night. I recalled when she’d told me she loved when mine got the same way.

“And that is?”

“She called us the ‘low key couple’,” she explained, saying the title in English as Chun Hwa had and then loosely translating for my understanding. I smirked and nodded, seeing where her younger friend was coming from.

“I mean, our dates do typically only consist of us hanging out at my dorm.”

“We do more than that!” She insisted in mock hurt. I gave her a look, hoping she’d realize her statement could be interpreted in a less innocent way than intended. She shot me a look of her own after quickly getting the message. “Yah, Min Yoongi, not in that way. Get your mind out of the gutter.”

I chuckled. It really wasn’t in the gutter at all, I just loved getting a reaction out of her.

“Alright, I guess we do some other things, too. I mean, nothing is something, right?” I teased.

“We talk and listen to music and watch movies- Disney movies, no less,” she pointed out, listing pretty basic couple things, if I do say so myself. “And we cuddle, despite how much you’ll resist it sometimes. If those things don’t make for good dates, then I don’t know what does.”

“Wow, we’re really so lazy,” I laughed. She joined in, unable to deny it. We were really a match made in heaven sometimes.

“No, we’re a low key couple,” she emphasized, using her roommate’s words to our advantage. Of course, people like Jungkook or Namjoon would argue that it wasn’t an advantage at all and that we were just boring. But this was how we were and I wouldn’t have wanted us to be any other way.

A warm, comfortable silence filled the night’s atmosphere, leaving us both to bask in the moment. The feeling around us was so mutually pleasant that there was no need for words for quite some time. Just our eyes on the stars and two hearts beating as one.

“Anna?”

“Mm?”

I hesitated for a moment. I wanted to ask her one final question but I was reluctant to harden such a soft moment. But I had to try and hope for the best.

“We’re not gonna be like this forever, right?” I asked initially before realizing how incredibly vague the question was. “I mean, I'm fine being title-less for some time. But I’ll get to call you my girlfriend one day, won’t I?”

She smiled, the rosiness of her cheeks growing more prominent. She loved when I was more vulnerable like this, especially in contrast to the tougher front I usually put up. The walls only further came down when she nodded, leaving me eager for the future.

“One day.”