It did not take too long for Sakura to be back. She shuts the door slowly behind her, with a slight rustle of the plastic bag she has in her hand. “Sakura is that you?” She hears Eunbi calling her from her room.

“Yep it’s me. Why?”

Eunbi walks out with her bag, all made up and ready to head off. Sakura can’t help but admire Eunbi’s excellent makeup skills, smartly accentuating the different features of her face. Damn, she looks pretty with and without makeup.

“Where did you go?”

Sakura pulls out a pack of disposable mask from the bag and hands it over to the older girl. “I got this for you. It is still windy so the pollen will be flying around. And wait-” She takes a tissue paper to grab a croissant she had just bought. “For you.”

Eunbi carefully receives the croissant. “Oh wow Sakura, you are indeed the best housemate ever. I was actually going to just wear my scarf around my face so thank you really.”

Sakura glances at the clock, “No problem. You better go soon else you will be late.”

Eunbi picks out a mask from the pack and grabs her things. Then to Sakura’s surprise, Eunbi suddenly opens her arms and hugs her. Sakura stands still, shocked by the sudden act of affection and unable to return the hug as Eunbi releases her almost immediately. “Thank you and have fun in school too Kura.” Eunbi beams brightly despite still sounding a bit sore.

Before Eunbi heads out the front door, Sakura manages to let out. “Remember to drink more water today. Especially when you will be talking so much.”

“Yes mother.” Eunbi shouts back jokingly.

The front door is shut and Sakura is left standing in the now quiet house with a silly smile on her face.

Sakura heads back into her room after finishing up her croissant. Seeing the blanket all tousled up reminded her of the deep conversation they had last night. Live my life more than just work huh. She picks up a random piece of paper on her table and pulls out a pen. Running her fingers against the table, Sakura ponders about the things she always tried to avoid. A smile creeps up her face when she thinks of someone.

After that, it didn’t take long for Sakura to come up with more points. She leans back against her chair and lifts the paper up, fully satisfied with what she have written. Eunbi is going to be so proud. Just then, her phone beeps. She picks it up to see a message coming from Yena.

“Unnie, you have the tutorial class later with Prof Sofia right? Shall we go try that paella place after your class? I end slightly earlier with Prof Samuel so if you are up for it, I’ll come over to find you!”

I guess my list has a good start. She proudly strikes off the first point and replies Yena.

“Sounds good, I’ll see you then!”

The sound of birds chirping harmonizes into the bustling environment where students are chatting as they walk around campus. With a sketchbook in hand, Sakura strolls along the campus’ main pedestrian walkway with trees lined on each side. Flowers are starting to bloom as different colors populate amongst the luscious green leaves. It is so beautiful that Sakura cannot resist stopping to take a photo before turning into the architecture building.

I’m early. Glancing through the window, Sakura notices that the class before hers is still inside. She decides to settle somewhere comfortable while she waits. She finds a spot not too far from the classroom and lays her sketchbook on her lap.

“Do you think you can draw me one day?” Sakura suddenly remembers Eunbi’s request from the day of the grocery trip.

Might as well try now to kill some time. She digs through her bag and pulls out a pencil. From there, it did not take long for Sakura to sketch the outline. In fact, she got so engrossed that she nearly missed entering her class. After sprinting in, Sakura settles down hastily by a desk to immediately pick up where she left off. Even when the lecture starts, she actively continues on her drawing.

When Sakura finally puts down her pencil though, she stares hard at her final product. Okay. I definitely can’t give this to her. She unintentionally drew the first thing that came into her mind when she thought of Eunbi - the first sight she woke up with Eunbi’s locks laying over her shoulder, peacefully curling up against Sakura’s arm. Sakura traces the outline of where Eunbi’s fingers are. Why did I draw this?

She continues staring at her work until a voice snaps her out of it.

“Sakura?”

She sits up immediately when her professor calls her from the front of the class.

“Do you have any questions with regards to my comments on the assignment?”

Only then she remembers that they were getting their assignments back today and her professor mentioned that they will use today’s class to run through. “I’m still looking through, Professor. I will come to you if anything.”

“Okay don’t be shy Sakura.”

She grins awkwardly, relieved to have avoided being caught not paying attention. Sakura flips open her laptop and navigates to her school’s webpage. While she recalls Eunbi’s words about taking a step back, it is not easy to let go of the fact that results are very important to her, an indication of her hard work and importantly, the certificate to her future. Instinctively, it becomes unnerving for Sakura to watch as the page loads. Right when it did, she briskly scrolls through the page and spots her result at the end of it. Her heart drops when she sees a ‘B’. To some it may be a good score, but for Sakura, this is disappointing. Unable to give in so easily, she reads through the professor’s comments intently, scrolling through the page again and again; while most of the weightage rest on the technical aspect, namely the drawing of the architecture model, there are still marks given to academic writing. The students were tasked with explaining the reasons behind the choice of material used in their building and relating to concepts they learnt in class - this was where Sakura failed badly. Her unfamiliarity with the Spanish language had caused misunderstandings between what she intended and how the professor had read it to be. Sakura can only sigh as she is in actuality deserving of the grade.

Needless to say, Sakura just wanted to go home. But she had already promised to have dinner with Yena and by cancelling, not only does she disappoint Yena, it also means breaking her promise with Eunbi about trying to live life more than work. Sakura is upset with herself, but when she catches a glimpse of her own drawing, she decides to not give in to her natural instincts.

“Unnie!” Yena excitedly waves the moment Sakura walks out of the classroom.

Sakura’s pout is instantly erased after seeing the bright girl. “Yena! Have you been waiting long?”

“Yes Unnie. What took you so long?” Yena whines cutely to Sakura who stands amused at the energy from her friend. ”Most of your classmates already came out way ahead of you. I am so hungry!”

Sakura’s expression turns sour as she remembers. “I was reading the comments I got for our recent assignment.”

“The one about climates and how they matter in design?”

Sakura nods.

Yena senses the down mood and proceeds on warily, “Did you not get a good score?” Sakura nods again. “It is okay unnie! It’s your first assignment here in this university, it takes awhile to get used to the grading.”

Sakura cannot deny that Yena has a point - even though they are both in the same second year in university, Yena has been studying here for one year whereas Sakura did her first year in Tokyo. “How about this unnie? I can look through your paper for you to see how you can do better.”

“You would do that?” Sakura is amazed at Yena’s willingness to help when they are supposed to just have a nice cheery dinner talking about nonsense and games.<