Dong Wook sat up in bed and looked around his room. His digital clock on the bed side table read 6:58 a.m. He sighed. A feeling of emptiness enveloped his heart. It had been a while since he last felt like this. The pointlessness of waking up early in the morning. He had no business being up so early. The guys at the office wouldn’t expect him to show up until later in the afternoon. In fact, they even urged him to have a good long rest after having worked to the bones days and nights to finish a grant project for 3 days in a row.

Now that the busy time was over, there was no more avoiding this strike of reality. His dull days were coming back to haunt him. There was nothing to look forward to in the days anymore.

Ha In’s ankle had properly healed; she, thus, no longer required his assistance to go around. He had no idea there was such sense of satisfaction just by being somebody’s personal driver. And now all of a sudden, he was stripped off this feeling and instead filled with a sense of loneliness.

Whether or not he wanted to admit it, he madly missed talking to the girl, teasing her, arguing with her, listening to her endless babbling, learning more about her, and most importantly, taking care of her. That was the best part of knowing Go Ha In. He got to scowl at and scold her when she did something reckless. He got to be there and catch her when she got clumsy. Then he got to feel reassured whenever she was in the safety of his protection. He liked to make sure that she was safe and happy. This was the sense of satisfaction of a mere personal driver.

Dong Wook snickered at himself. What was the point of realizing all of that now? He no longer had those privileges. Personal driver’s license had expired. He had no excuse to be around her anymore.

Speaking of driving, Dong Wook groaned at the thought as he got up to get ready to face the day. There was something wrong with his car the day before, and he had Sung Jae take it to the mechanics. Now he had to think of how he should get to work. A troublesome day indeed when he even had to bother himself with something so trivial. He contemplated taking a taxi or calling one of the guys to pick him up, but eventually he dismissed the ideas. For the first time in years, he felt like taking the subway to work.

Dong Wook braced himself as he strode towards the nearest subway station. He hadn’t done this in a long time, he could even call it a challenge. Walking the distance amidst the sea of strangers, pushing through the crowds and squeezing in the awfully packed train. He figured it wasn’t the most convenient change of pace, but it was a change of pace nonetheless. At the very least, now he wouldn’t have the time to worry about his lazy empty day that was to come.

Four stations away from his destination, people started to clear out a little as the train door opened to let people off and on before it started moving once again. In that instant, he thought it was his imagination, but no matter how he looked at it, the person who lazily walked in to take the seat in front of where he was standing was no other than Go Ha In. She had her earphones on and, without a care for the world, nodded off to dream lands. For a moment there, his heart skipped a few beats. He could’ve sworn it did. And he blamed it on the element of surprise. The sudden appearance of the very person who’d been occupying his mind would of course warrant a few skipped beats. Right? Right? But still, it kind of bothered him a little when she didn’t notice him standing there right in front of her. How easy could he be to miss? He always thought he looked quite distinguished. Dong Wook shook his head as he looked at Ha In’s tired face. Surely, she must have been overexerting herself with endless tasks again.

When the person next to her got off, Dong Wook quickly took the seat. This time there was no doubt she really was asleep, and he wondered how it was possible in such a crowd and moving train. Dong Wook frowned when he caught himself staring at her sleeping face. He noticed that one of her earphones had fallen off and, before he could stop himself, picked it up to listen out of curiosity.

You fall asleep to a RAP song? Dong Wook looked at the sleeping figure, bewildered. Sure it was a good song, but a song like this could only wake him up, not the other way round. Or maybe it was just to repel the surrounding noise, he wasn’t sure. He sighed, put the earphone back on her ear and quietly stayed beside her. He was determined to not let her miss her stop. If he wasn’t mistaken, the next stop should be hers. His own would be the one after that.

The name of the station was announced loud and clear on the microphone, but Go Ha In still wasn’t moving. Dong Wook was torn between letting her sleep and waking her up. If it was up to him, he would let her sleep to her heart’s content. She looked like she needed it, too. But of course, she would be troubled later.

“It’s your stop, Go – ”

Bzzzt Bzzzzzzzzt!

And before Dong Wook could finish, Ha In woke with a start from the vibration of her phone.

“Huk. My stop. Urg. Wait!!!!”

And just like that, she jumped to her feet and sprinted off the train before the door closed on her.

Lee Dong Wook, on the other hand, was taken aback by all the suddenness. He didn't realize he was still staring long after her disappearing back with his mouth hanging open until he was snapped back to reality as someone knocked into his knees when they walked by.

Pfft!

“I thought it was going to be a dull day, yet she saved me again.” He chuckled as he looked out the window, not realizing that he actually said that out loud despite not wanting to admit it.

………………………………

“Hey, Ha In.”

“Hey, Haley. What’s news?”

“Guess what? My best friend from home is visiting!”

“Oh, really? So that’s why you’re in such a good mood.” Ha In chuckled at her friend’s obvious excitement.

“Nah, I’m in a good mood cuz we’ll be off to Jeju-do for five days!!!! Ah, I’m so excited.”

“Huh, five days?”

“Yup. Starting tomorrow.”

As expected of the ever sponstaneous Haley. Ha In could tell that all this whole trip thing wasn't even planned ahead.

“What about class?”

“Screw class. Holiday is more important, honey.”

“Haley.” Ha In knitted her eyebrows, making Haley grinned sheepishly.

“Alright. Alright. I’ll study extra hard when I come back. Please let me go?”

“You talk as if I could stop you. You and Yeong Ji both.”

Haley laughed and hugged Ha In.

“Well, I’m asking cuz I know you care.”

Ha In smiled at her excited friend. But at the back of her head, she was starting to panic.

Yeong Ji is already off to Japan for who knows how long and now Haley’ll be gone for 5 days? I’m a dead meat. And with that thought, worries were apparent on her face.

Noticing that her friend was no longer smiling and instead was spacing out, Haley couldn’t help feeling a little worried.

“Ha In?”

“Huh, yeah?”

“You alright?”

“Yeah. I’m good.”

Haley sighed. She was sure Ha In was thinking about something else, but she just couldn’t get her mind off the things that troubled her friend the other day.

“Ha In, listen. About the things I said the other day. Yeong Ji told me why it bothered you so much. You’re kind enough to let it go, but I can’t just brush it off without apologizing properly.”

“I see. It still bothers you.”

“It does. That’s why, I’m sorry.”

“Even though I say it’s not your fault cuz you truly had no idea?”

“Still doesn’t mean I get to run my mouth off judging you.”

“If you’re so adamant, then apology accepted.”

“Thanks. I know you think I shouldn’t be blamed for something I don’t know, but as your friend, I feel that this is something I should know. Something so important. The both of you are so mysterious, so secretive with your back