Friday, 12:48pm

I woke and found myself in an unfamiliar room. I attempted to sit up to inspect the room I was in, but I was stopped when my head began to throb in pain. My head dropped back to the pillow as I groaned loudly. Through my blurred vision, I could make out a figure in front of the blinds. The said person swung open the blinds without any mercy, and the light from outside poured in. It felt like acid on my eyes.

“Good morning, Sleeping Beauty.”

“You’re the worst,” I mumbled as I my side to face away from the light.

“Wake up, Sana-chan~!”

“Ya, why did you make me drink so much last night, Momoring?” I whined.

Momo climbed over the bed and wrapped her arms around around my shoulders. “That was all your choice, honey~.”

“You should’ve told me not to,” I complained. Momo laughed as if the idea of her taking care of me was such an absurd one.

“Sana-chan~,” she purred, “Wake up.”

“No.”

“You gotta make your move on Dahyun,” Momo explained.

“Once I get over this hangover.”

“Get up! Dahyun’s coming now!”

At that, I immediately broke myself from Momo’s arms and hopped off the bed. Due to how quickly I got up, my already aching head became dizzy, causing me to stumble towards the wall. Momo, in the meantime, laughed. “You’re an idiot.”

“Damn you,” I groaned.

Momo stood and approached me. She wrapped her arm around my waist and helped me off the wall. I let her lead me towards the bathroom.

“You’re gonna tidy yourself up and meet with Dahyun, okay? She’s gonna be done with her classes in a few hours. Take her out on a date or something.”

“O-Okay,” I muttered.

“So, you’ve got a few hours to sober up!” Momo exclaimed as she threw me into the shower, “Let’s start with a shower.”

3:37pm

Momo and I sat quietly in her car, parked outside of the university.

“Dahyun gets out at 3:45,” Momo said.

“And you know this, how?”

Momo shrugged, “She shared her schedule with me.”

“She did?!”

I was appalled. Just a small fact was enough to hurt me a little. Dahyun met Momo a few days after she and I met, and they seemed to have a much closer relationship already. I began to doubt there was any romantic feelings involved, but the mere fact that they were so close didn’t fail to bother me. It was like Dahyun was more comfortable with becoming close with Momo rather than with me. I was still jealous, no doubt.

“She’ll be in that building, third floor,” Momo pointed to the building right in front of us, “The plan is for you to intercept her and force her on a date.”

“Why are you helping me with Dahyun?” I asked.

“The same reason Mina had when she decided to tell you about Dahyun,” Momo said with a soft smile.

“What do you guys see in Dahyun?”

“A big heart.”

I raised an eyebrow, which caused Momo to snicker. “And I mean that in both ways,” she added.

I pushed Momo’s shoulder as she countinued to laugh. “Ya! You ert!”

“Anyway, what are you still doing here? Get on out there!” Momo exclaimed.

Momo shoved my shoulders, urging me to exit her car. So I did, and just as I shut the door behind me, Momo drove out of the parking space and left. Without a “good luck” or even a “goodbye,” she left me in the dust. But no matter, this was something I could do easily.

That was what I thought until I found myself at the door to the stairwell. My forgot what floor Momo told me her class was. As I realized the situation I was now in, my mind wandered to the first day of school.

I was already so distressed that day from the moment I woke up. It had been a while since I had to wake up so early in the day, the last time being for work at JYPE. Moreover, college was a new experience for me. I dreaded having to put myself in an unfamiliar environment. But with how my life was just a mess, I had to. That was what I hated about trying to pick myself back up after getting fired from JYPE; all of this stuff I committed to seemed against my own choice.

Dahyun always showed up at the right times. When I took up the job as manager, she was there to make this job—which was obviously nothing compared to JYPE, money-wise and experience-wise—something enjoyable and less stressful. That first day of school, she found me at my worst and picked me up. Just before I ran into her, I had become much more distressed due to my poor navigation skills. Then I ran into her, and she held me in her arms, and just that alone was enough to calm my stressed heart. It reminded me of the reason why I had fallen in love with her. It also reminded me of how warm a feeling love was.

Dahyun was always there for me. We had only barely met, and yet she still showed so much care towards me. I was utterly flattered. It had been a while since I had felt so wanted.

I sighed to myself before opening the door to the stairwell. Slowly, I walked up the stairs, unsure of which floor I planned to end up at. As I stopped before the door on the second floor, the door on the third floor violently swung open. It hit the wall with a loud bang that resonated throughout the stairwell as students poured in. It seemed a class on the third floor just finished and these students were about to either head home or to another class. Overwhelmed by the flood of students, I stuck to the wall. They paid no mind to me as they ran down the stairs. Finally, students stopped entering the stairwell. As the last person exited the stairwell at the first floor, the same silence as before took over. I was about to exhale in relief when the door on the third floor opened yet again. It was softer this time, and not followed with an alarming bang. Only one person stepped through the door frame. I looked up the staircase at the figure whose face wasn’t recognizable due to the very dim lights. When she lowered the hood from the top of her head, I was able to figure out who it was by the dark, silky hair.

“D-Dahyunnie!” I called.

She looked up from her gaze at the floor and met eyes with me. Then she smiled, and I couldn’t help it when my mind wandered to the moment she first smiled at me, on the first day of practice.

“Ah,” she quickly ran down the stairs and stopped just before me. “Are you lost again?” she asked, her eyebrows furrowed in worry.

“I’m here for you,” I said without shame.

Dahyun shyly chuckled, “What does that mean?”

“I’m taking you out on a date. And this time it’s a date. Not a hangout,” I said boldly.

Dahyun blinked, seemingly surprised at my boldness. “O-Okay, where do you wanna go?”

She looked at me with an expression of curiousness, and my tongue became caught in my throat. I stared quietly at the way her beady eyes stared back and the way her teeth bit her tongue in wait. Damn, she really was cute. The duality of Kim Dahyun was no joke. She would be so cool and hot in her ruffled ponytail and dirtied athletic wear, and then the next thing I know, she would be so cute with those puppy eyes and dressed in an oversized hoodie. Let’s not forget that Dahyun was not only attractive to the eyes, but to the heart as well—as cheesy as that sounds. You got yourself a good one, Sana. Thank you to Mina and Momo; you guys are a pain sometimes but I must thank you for this one. And Chaeyoung, you were blessed to have a best friend like Dahyun. Also, how could you not want a piece of that?

“Sana-unnie?”

I don’t know what made me say it, but I responded instead with, “Sana-chan.”

“What?”

“I’m listed on your phone as ‘Sana-chan,’ right? So call me that.”

“O-Oh. Okay...”

“So?”

“Th-Then...” Dahyun looked down and scratched the back of her head shyly before timidly looking back up at me, “...Sana-chan?”

I only smiled back as a response.

Ha! I bet you still call Momo your unnie!

“Anyway, so where did you wanna go?” Dahyun asked.

I only shrugged, “I didn’t really think about that?”

Dahyun furrowed her eyebrows as her lips curved into a confused smile.

“Ah!” Dahyun snapped her fingers beside her head, “I have to take Ahri out for a walk and then leave him some food. Why don’t we get him and take him for a walk as our date?”

“Ahri?” I rai