Yebin is exhausted. Both mentally and physically.

The physical part, she can understand and deal with. The mental part is tiresome.

“Seems like you beat a personal best every practice. Good work," the coach says to her as he hands her a water bottle. 

Yebin smiles at him. “Thanks, coach.”

She feels an arm wrap around her shoulders and turns to find Wonwoo grinning at their coach.

“And you, Jeon. Keep it up and you might just get that first runner position in the relay that you won’t stop bugging me about.”

“I’m determined, coach,” he replies with a salute before turning to Yebin, "Let’s go home.”

He flashes her his token handsome smile. (And she believes it, for a second.) The coach makes some humorous quip about love birds before sending them off.

The ride home is silent, save for the distasteful rap music that Wonwoo plays on the radio. Yebin spends the entire time staring out the window. When they arrive at their shared apartment, Wonwoo claims the shower first and then jets off immediately after, saying something about a psychology tutoring session in the library.

Yebin goes to sleep by herself that night.

&

Yebin would think the growing distance between her and Wonwoo would be strikingly obvious by now, but it seems they’re both so used to putting on a show in public that they just automatically go on campus couple mode around their friends. The two of them grabbed attention without even trying; of course, how couldn’t they, when they were two of the university’s top track athletes. Practically household names in the world of collegiate athletics, they are (were?) a love story worthy of a headline.

But the lines blurred a while ago. Love fizzles, unsurprisingly. Still, Yebin goes along with it – or maybe Wonwoo is the one who goes along with it. Who knows, they both think they’re still in it for the sake of the other.

Yebin knows why they haven’t broken up though. They’ve been together for so long – four years officially, nine if you count the years they were “just friends”. They even thought moving in together would be a great idea, but Yebin regrets it now after realizing that she really wasn’t ready to see him that often.

But her family is in another city and all her friends have places of their own. She doesn’t have anywhere else to go. And it’s the same for him. They’re just so used to each other and it’s so terribly ironic that she can’t really imagine her life without him.

Which is why she doesn’t say anything when she sees Wonwoo get close to another person at a party one night, or when Wonwoo goes out and doesn’t return until the next morning, or when she hears him mumble someone else’s name in his sleep.

And truth be told, Yebin doesn’t feel anything at all. Maybe she would’ve half a year ago and maybe even shed some tears in a bathroom (it wouldn’t be the first time), but not now.

Now, she’s just bored.

&

Yebin hears her friends talk about it over lunch one day after a conversation about friends with benefits (Jieqiong’s got a new friend, apparently) turns into a riveting discussion about the industry.

She listens to them debate about the difference between es and escorts. Eunwoo says something about how escorts are “classier, they can wine and dine you, very professional!” and vehemently denies when Jieqiong suspects her of hiring an before.

“They’re basically the same, but an agency sounds a whole lot less sketchier than, I don’t know, a brothel.”

They turn to Yebin to ask for her opinion, but she just blinks at them, blank-faced, and shrugs. She doesn’t know what they expect her to say.

“Yebin’s not interested, she’s got her own Ken doll by the name of Jeon Wonwoo to go home to every night,” Eunwoo teases.

“So, like I was saying, my cousin had a friend who used to work as an . The whole social escorts thing is kind of bull. They’re not just your fake girlfriend or boyfriend. You know, she said she never had a client who she didn’t sleep with,” Jieqiong snickers,“And she got all defensive when my cousin called her a e.”

“Well, duh, so would I. ion is illegal,” Eunwoo quips, taking a sip from her milkshake.

“So my cousin changed it to call girl instead, but apparently she prefers the word . It’s a euphemistic thing, probably.”

Eunwoo hums and slaps Yebin’s hand away when she tries to steal a french fry.

“She said a lot of her clients felt disillusioned with their ordinary lives and that she provided an escape,” Jieqiong pauses to wriggle her eyebrows, “if you know what I mean.” She and Eunwoo break into childish giggles.

Yebin’s ears perk up. An escape? That sounds like something she needs.

&

Plagued by boredom, her friends’ conversation floats into her head uninvitingly and Yebin ends up grabbing her laptop, opening an incognito window on her browser, and searching for escorts in the city.

Out of pure curiosity, she tells herself.

She browses through several websites, from ones that look outright sketchy to ones that could be mistaken for global corporations. Eventually, she stumbles upon a first-rate agency that seems reputable.

I mean, their website is pretty nice… Yebin thinks to herself. The testimonies from clients seem bona fide (but, well, it’s not like they’d put negative reviews on their website…)

It’s expensive. Clients pay per night, not per hour, but are assured that they’ll get a worthy payoff. (Whatever that means.) Yebin feels weirder the longer she stays on the website.

But when Wonwoo doesn’t return home for the third night in a row and texts her a measly pathetic excuse, Yebin acts on a whim and books a girl for a night. 

&

“Is this…normal?” Yebin questions.

She’s in a coffee shop tucked away in a backstreet cul-de-sac north of the city. She only comes to this side of Seoul once or twice a year for a track meet since the campus and her apartment are in the southern side.

Yebin had been told by the agency that the she chose requests to meet up with her clients beforehand. Yebin thought it was unusual, but she was intrigued. Besides, she was told they’d meet in public so any risk of being kidnapped and murdered was significantly lessened. (That’s a relief, at least.)

The woman sitting on the other side of the booth looks at her peculiarly. Yebin tries not to squirm under her gaze, but the woman’s eyes beguile.

She’s an intimidating sort of beauty, but with an elegant charm akin to a daughter straight out of Pyeongchang-dong and its gable-roofed properties rather than a place like Gangnam. Eunwoo was right; escorts are another level of class.

Yebin suddenly feels shy and opts to look around the coffee shop instead.

“I wouldn’t know,” the other woman finally says with a friendly tone. Yebin snaps her head back, momentarily forgetting the question she had asked before it finally popped back in her mind.

She lets out a nervous chuckle. “Why not? I mean, you’re a…” Her voice drifts off as her eyes wander. Yebin knows their conversation would just blend in with the chitchat, coalescing into the bustling murmur of any other coffee shop. But still, she keeps her voice low. “…You know.”

“Well, I’ve never hired an myself before, so,” the other woman replies, opening a packet of sugar to pour into her coffee. “I wouldn’t know.”

Yebin winces at the word and self-consciously glances around. Did anyone hear that? “Right, of course.”

They fall into a silence and Yebin fears the awkwardness, so she takes out her phone and glances briefly at the email she had received from the agency.

“So, um…Roa,” the name of the woman feels as unfamiliar as the situation. Yebin knows it can’t possibly be her real name. “Why are we doing this? Whatever this is… What is this again?” She motions to their general surroundings.

Her company brings the cup to her lips, but stops just short of . Her peculiar gaze returns from behind the cup. “We’re having coffee.”

“Why?” Yebin asks. She herself wonders why she’s even going through with this. She has practice in the afternoon. Maybe this was a bad idea. 

The so-called Roa cuts to the chase. “I’m selective.”

Yebin shifts in her seat. This feels a little too methodical and a little too lofty for her liking, but Roa seems to have read her mind.

“That was just a pretentious way to say that I don’t want strangers,” she pauses. “I meet with all of my clients first.”

“So, what is this? Like…a prelude pillow talk?” Yebin tries not to laugh at herself for even uttering those words out loud. Prelude pillow talk...

Roa takes a sip from her coffee cup, but only after Yebin catches her crack a small smile behind it. Gotcha.

“No,” Roa says, amused, “this is coffee.”

Yebin smiles. Okay. This is coffee.

&

Their first session, Yebin is nervous. Of course, how couldn’t she be?

It’s not her first time (nor is it her first time with a girl either, but that’s a story for another day), but it is her firs