“Nice scam, you ing ,” Hayoung punched Sejun in the arm roughly, the latter letting out an inexplicably loud ow.

“What the you on about?”

“The goddamn pills you gave me last time, you promised eight hours!”

The boy rubbed his arm with his palm in circular motions as he gave her a distasteful look. “How the should I know why your tolerance is so high?”

“Then don’t promise me a time frame, you idiot.” Hayoung sat a lit cigarette between her teeth, leaning her back against the grey-and-red brick wall. “It was expensive, too. Waste of my money.”

Sejun ran his tongue across his teeth and shifted his weight against the wall too, next to Hayoung. His usual playful grin was etched across his face again, this time shamelessly unapologetic.

“Hey, don’t get mad at me,” He tilted his head to try to catch her eye contact, but Hayoung turned away childishly and bit down on her cigarette instead. “I just deliver, I don’t make those, you know that.”

“Nice try, scammer,” Hayoung pulled the tube from between her clenched teeth, the end already flat and crushed. “Your boyish charms won’t work on me, Peter Pan. You should know this by now.”

“That’s a lie. I’m irresistible.”

“Intolerable narcissist.”

“Then I should thank you for tolerating me!”

Hayoung gave a snide snicker, the corners of her lips uncontrollably going upwards already. 

Sejun knicked the cigarette from Hayoung’s lips and placed it in his mouth instead, rightfully earning another slap on his arm. He was still grinning from ear to ear, his lips pursed into a thin line and his impossible dimples beaming at her. He nudged her softly once, and Hayoung would forgive anything this kid would do.

“You free Friday? We’re planning a sesh.”

“Ah, , no.” Hayoung scratched the back of her head. “I’ve got prior commitments.”

“Commitments? , and I was so sure that the sole two friends you had in this world were me and some good old drugs.”

“Shut up, I would come if I could, okay? I’ve got this stupid math thing.” She couldn’t wipe the smile off her face either.

“Math? I thought you were good at school?”

“I am, you idiot, that’s why I’m on this math team thing. They’re making me do it, because of all of skipping.”

“Damn, you actually show up enough to let them punish you? That’s low, my friend.”

“No, they talked to my sister.” Hayoung answered surly. She didn’t like the look in Chorong’s eyes when she sat her down to tell her about her “mandatory extracurriculars”. It was somewhere a mixture between disappointment and guilt, but whatever it was, Hayoung hated it.

“Well, at least have fun. I hear they got cute nerds in those clubs.”

Hayoung looked towards the distance, watching bright neon signs flash over the same adverts she had seen everyday, the same words that were engraved in her mind. She was familiar with this area: there was a small art supplies shop on the alley just beyond the signs, that she had visited more than a few times, accompanying a certain long-haired art nerd.

Once, the long-haired girl had accidentally knocked over a ladder while trying to find her paints between rows of tall shelves in that tiny shop. Hayoung couldn’t remember if it were acrylics or watercolours, but she could remember the way that row of shy front teeth dug into that set of full lips as the long-haired girl frantically apologized to the shop owner over and over again; and how the sight of that had made her forget how to blink.

She couldn’t peel the smile off her face if she wanted to.

“I know enough cute nerds.”

•

“So,” Bomi carelessly pushed words out through the gaps between her loud munching. “These fish cakes are so damn good.”

The sight was far from what you’d find at your normal corner-of-t