Slamming her exam paper on the table, Chaeyoung dropped herself on the seat with a deep groan. Some of the customers at the shop turned to her, but she didn’t mind them. The little cub was too immersed in the stress she was dealing with.

Tzuyu looked over at the paper from the other side of the table. She eyed the red letter C sprawled on her work. “That’s a pretty big C,” was all she could utter.

The waitress came by and asked them for their order, and seeing as how Chaeyoung didn’t seem motivated to talk, the maknae ordered ramen for both of them. Even when the food came, her unnie remained unmoving with her head rested on the table. Chaeyoung seemed to be dealing with a lot of work, and she would often stay at the university’s library until past midnight. The only time they would actually spend time together was during lunch. Tzuyu was worried that her unnie might not even be eating breakfast and dinner. She practically had to force her to go out for lunch with her, just to ensure that she had some food in her system. Tzuyu knew damn well that if nobody forced her, Chaeyoung wouldn’t even bother eating a proper meal at all.

The younger one reached over and gave her unnie a pat on the shoulder. “It’s okay, you’ll do better next time. I’ll help you study.”

“That’s what I thought last time too,” Chaeyoung muttered without lifting her head up, her bowl of ramen getting colder by the minute. “But this is my third C. At the rate I’m going, I’ll end up failing the class, and I need this class to graduate.”

“Unnie, you can’t say you’re going to fail when you don’t even know what’s going to happen. Try your best for now, and worry about it when it’s done.” Tzuyu pushed the bowl closer to Chaeyoung and started digging into her own bowl.

The older one looked up at her for a moment. Talking to her friend always made her feel motivated, and she appreciated Tzuyu for that. Chaeyoung sat up straight and started eating as well. Swirling the noodles with her chopsticks, she shoved a mouthful into and slurped the broth loudly, causing some of the customers to turn to her again. But the little cub was too busy filling her empty stomach, not even caring that her ramen was no longer hot. She had forgotten how hungry she actually was.

Tzuyu didn’t even get to hit half of her meal when Chaeyoung finished the bowl clean, gently placing the bowl down after slurping the leftover broth. “Wow,” the younger one stared at her. “You didn’t eat breakfast, did you?”

The baby tiger shook her head as she wiped clean with a napkin. Amongst her friends, Chaeyoung was usually the one that finished eating last, along with Tzuyu. For her to eat in such a rush meant she must’ve been starving.

“You didn’t eat dinner last night too, did you?”

Chaeyoung slowly shook her head, causing the younger one to sigh. She placed her utensils gently on top of her bowl, preparing to give the older one a good lecture on how she should take proper care of her health. But as if Chaeyoung knew it was coming, she immediately put her hand up as a signal to stop. “I understand,” Chaeyoung said. “I will eat more frequently from now on. I have to take care of myself right? Forget about graduating if I can’t even last until the end of the semester. That’s what you were going to say, right?”

Tzuyu’s lips went up to a grin. “Did Mina-unnie lecture you already?”

The cub gave a slight pout, her lips protruding ever so slightly. “Yeah… Dahyun told her I wasn’t eating. That little snitch, I swear,” she rolled her eyes as she said it.

“You know we all want what’s best for you. Maybe the reason why you haven’t been doing well in the class is because you’re too stressed. Why don’t you take a breather and take a day off?”

“I don’t know...” Chaeyoung looked down at her glass of water and started swirling the contents with a straw. “I have too much to do. I can’t afford to take a luxury now.”

Tzuyu leaned her arms on the table. “What do you have to do?”

“Well, first I have to finish this project for art. I’m supposed to paint something that symbolizes longing, and I have no clue where I’m going to start.” The short unnie started counting on her fingers, putting out her finger one by one as she gave a list of work that needed to be done. “Then, I have to do final touches for animation class. And my professor required me to write him an essay on why he should give me a letter of recommendation to the company I want to apply for. I need these done by Monday.”

“Unnie!” Tzuyu looked at her with wide-eyes. “That’s 3 days!”

Chaeyoung groaned, “I know! That’s what I get for not thinking about my career until last year. I thought I had everything for my major down, but apparently not. Now, it’s become a major pain in the .”

“Save your puns for when Dahyun-unnie is actually here,” she rolled her eyes. Then, the tall maknae pondered on it for a moment before uttering again, “How about we go to the park or something? You might find inspiration there for your painting. And if not, a breath of fresh air might help calm you down.”

Even with her reluctance to do so, that was how Chaeyoung ended up tagging along with Dahyun and Tzuyu at the park. With her sketchbook in hand and her pencil case in the other, the short-haired maknae walked along the vast field of the park, watching her two other friends mess around on the swings. There was a light glow of the sunset casted on the world, and a silhouette of the people wandering around emerged on the ground. Tzuyu was right, Chaeyoung thought. A light breeze blew upon her face and somehow, she felt lighter.

She placed herself underneath a tree, sat cross-legged, and pulled out her phone. Her finger hovered over Mina’s picture. It was one she took of her on their first anniversary. She remembered how embarrassed Mina felt to have the camera close to her face, which was why the picture was a bit blurry and Mina’s hand obscured a quarter of her face. But Chaeyoung loved that photo so much, she had it as her wallpaper since then. She missed her so very much, but she couldn’t always bother her whenever she saw fit. Chaeyoung knew very well how busy her girlfriend was, and she definitely didn’t want to worry her. The two don’t talk as much as they wanted to. By the time Mina got back to her lodgings, Chaeyoung would be fast asleep, and by the time Chaeyoung had time, the Japanese would be out. However, looking at that picture motivated her to work hard.

Chaeyoung placed her phone next to her. With her sketchbook on her lap and her pencil in hand, she started to draw. Her hand didn’t seem to waver. It was as if the moment the idea crossed her mind, her hand moved on its own, knowing exactly what to do.

Dahyun and Tzuyu watched over their friend from the playground, smiling all the while as they witnessed her going at it with her pencil.

“I’m glad you got her to come,” Dubu said. “That girl really won’t listen to me. It’s like everything I say goes in from one ear and out the other.” She shook her head at her friend’s stubbornness.

“She just needed time, is all. We both know that eventually, Chaeyoung-unnie’s going to be responsible enough to do what’s right for her. That’s why we’re there to support her.”

The older friend turned her head to the maknae and placed her arm around her shoulder, gently patting her. “You’re a good friend,” she said with a faint smile as she rested her head on her shoulder. “I’m going to miss you.”

“You sound like you won’t ever see me again,” Tzuyu gave a light chuckle. “I’m only going for training. I’ll visit every now and then.”

“Yeah, but it’s still crazy to think that we’re all going our separate ways. I knew it was going to happen eventually, but a part of me fantasizes that we’ll all live in the same household even in our adult lives and come home at the same place, watch movies at night.” Dahyun heaved a deep sigh as she thought of her fantasy. “I guess a part of me just isn’t ready to let go.”

“I know, I feel the same way.”

They were still faced towards their artist friend who hasn’t stopped moving her hands the moment she started. Dahyun pointed at her, “But what is she sketching though? There’s literally nothing but the grass in front of her.”

“I have no idea. I don’t understand how artists think sometimes.”

“Neither do I.”

It was then that Chaeyoung finally ceased movements in her hands and looked up. She glanced around for a moment before her sights landed on her two friends. With a huge smile on her face, she raised up her arm and yelled, “I finished!”

The two of them waved to her, with Dahyun sitting straight up. “Good job!” the oldest one yelled back. They walked towards their friend to inspect her work.

“We were so confused on what you were drawing because there was barely anything in front of you,” Dahyun said.

“Ahh… That’s because I was drawing this,” Chaeyoung presented her sketchbook to them.

As they looked over at it, Dubu asked, “What was the concept supposed to be?”

“Longing,” Chaeng replied.

Dahyun smiled, looking over the drawing one more time. It was so like Chaeyoung. The idea, the style, a somewhat mature feeling with a hint of childlike, it had her character written all over it. “It fits,” she said.

~

Do you want to eat lunch together? Dahyun sent the message.

After about 10 minutes, a reply came.

I can’t, sorry! Maybe next time! Love you!

Dubu sighed as she dropped her arm to the side. She sat in her room by herself, wishing that Sana was there to accompany her. She understood that her girlfriend was busy and that her friends had to take care of school stuff, but still, she couldn’t help but remember how there was never a time she felt so alone when her unnies were still at the university. There was always somebody she could hang out with. Dahyun didn’t realize until then how much she took that for granted.

She was bored out of her mind with nothing to do. The dramas she’d been watching, she’d finished. All her school work were done and the theater had no production they were working on. Therefore, she sat on her bed, scrolling through the contacts list on her phone.

Dahyun tried contacting the classmates that she got along well, but they were all busy. She scrolled to Nayeon and Jeongyeon, but neither of them answered. She knew Momo was busy practicing through Jimin’s social media