Sometime near the end of curriculum, Jongin’s parents moved to America because of their business. Jongin stayed remained in Korea because it would be a daunting task to move all of sudden before he graduated. Education systems in the two countries were completely different. His parents sold their house before they departed. Jongin insisted to do so because he would be lonely to live alone in their large family house, it would be difficult to maintain it too. With his busier schedule in the remaining two years, he’s afraid he would not be able to keep up with his other responsibilities too. His parents rented him an apartment near the University. It’s a simple one with single bedroom, a decent living room and a spacious kitchen. One of the advantages was that he would be able to sleep in for extra half an hour or so in the morning since he no longer had a bus to catch. The university was just a 10 minute walk from his new place. Though on the other hand, he would miss the time of taking bus together with Kyungsoo to go home. On the day of moving, his friends (Sehun, Kyungsoo, Taemin, Jongdae, Minseok and Baekhyun) came to lend a hand. It wasn’t quite necessary though. He decided to bring only the essential things. It took them half the day to complete arranging things in the new apartment. They ordered take out from a fast food restaurant to fill their stomach from the exhausting day. Taemin and Baekhyun left earlier in the evening because they had got some other errands to run. Now there were only five people left including him., all gathering in the living room floor to devour the foods.

“Thank you, guys for helping me today.” Jongin announced in the middle of the meal.

“That’s what friends are for, man! No need to mention that.” Sehun replied with his mouthful of hamburger. The other three nodded their heads agreeing with him.

After finishing their dinner and cleaning the garbage, the sun had already set below the horizon. His friends were gathering their belongings to go home. Jongdae and Minseok lived in the same neighborhood, so they’re setting off together. Kyungsoo came out from the kitchen after setting the garbage bag in the corner. Jongin told her in the living room when she’s getting ready to leave, “I’ll send you home, Soo. It’s already late and not safe for you to go alone.”

“Don’t worry, Jongin. I can go alone. And moreover, you need to rest. The bus route is the same as the one I take from campus to home every day.” Kyungsoo reassured him.

“No, I’m not talking about the route but your safety. No girl is safe on the street alone at this hour no matter which route you take. You know, there’re more crimes on the street nowadays.” Jongin insisted, concerned for his friend’s safety.

Kyungsoo was about to respond, another voice interrupted them.

“You guys stop already. Jongin, you stay here and rest early. If you send her now and come back, it’ll be past midnight. I’ll take her home safely. My place is nearer to hers anyway. Okay? Does it settle?” It was Sehun who suggested the idea shifting his gaze between the two friends before him arguing about the matter.

“Okay.” The other two replied quickly in unison because they sensed the irritating tone in their friend’s voice.

“Okay, then. Let’s go. See you tomorrow, Jongin.” Sehun put on his shoes and turned to open the door. Kyungsoo also said her goodbye and followed him.

When Sehun said he would take her home safely, he said so literally. He accompanied her until the front doorstep of her house and made sure she went in.

Back in the new apartment, Jongin was waiting for the phone call from Kyungsoo to know whether she had got home safely. After waiting for a while, his screen lit up and a familiar name pop up on the screen. He pressed the green button immediately.

“Hey, you got home safely?”

“Yeah, Jongin. I called you as soon as I got into my room. Sehunnie took me up to the front of my house.”

“Good. Take a rest now. See you tomorrow, okay? Good night, Soo!”

“Good night, Jongin.”

Jongin put the phone on the table and got under the cover of his bed. He didn’t fall asleep instantly. Various thoughts wondering in his mind. Kyungsoo and his friendship fell back to normal not long ago. He didn’t realize where they went wrong before that. He noticed Kyungsoo started to avoid him at campus or at friends gathering on weekends. She would always cling to Baekhyun or Minseok. If they were not present, she would stay beside Sehun, making conversation with him or joking each other. He really didn’t understand her change of behavior no matter how hard he tried to remember what he did wrong. When he tried to make conversation with her, it wouldn’t last long. She would divert her attention to someone else after a while. He even tried to spend alone time with her at her home at one weekend. She just got away with some excuse. At last, he stopped trying. May be she’s not in the mood these days or the stress or the girls’ hormone. He just left at it.

When the summer holiday came, he tagged along with Taemin to his hometown. He wanted to refresh his mind. Get away from the routine for some time. Travelling helped a lot. Breathtaking landscape and new experience made him forget his problem for a while. What he didn’t expect, after the holiday period ended and university started again,s was Kyungsoo was being back to previous self. She made conversation with him, went home together, had lunch together and sometimes hanged out with him on the weekend. She didn’t shy away from him anymore. He liked this version of Kyungsoo. What happened to their friendship in the last couple of months forgotten easily and now his only wish was to not happen like that again. He just adored his best friend and valued this friendship very much. He would do anything to maintain this friendship he valued so much to last forever.