Dahyun didn’t know how she always managed to get stuck with the closing shift.

Maybe it was because she wasn’t much of a “no” person— she didn’t like disappointing people. So whenever her manager practically begged her to work the 9-3 (in the morning) shift at the store, Dahyun always said, “Yeah, no problem!” with a big smile, because she didn’t want to inconvenience him.

It wasn’t really that bad, anyway— after midnight, there weren’t very many customers. Usually just young people looking to buy alcohol or people traveling through town on the highway. There was the occasional weirdo, but Dahyun’d never had to use the bat her manager hid behind the counter “just in case” (thank God). Besides, Dahyun was a broke college kid, so she needed every dollar she earned working here.

This shift was particularly mind-numbing. Usually she just fiddled with her phone, texting her friends or playing games. Tonight, however, that wasn’t an option as her phone screen was completely shattered and in desperate need for repair. Dahyun blamed her phone’s untimely demise on her best friend Chaeyoung— it’d been her idea to go sledding (in the middle of the summer) after all, and she’d insisted on having Dahyun try to film it all. Cue a broken phone for Dahyun and a sprained wrist for Chaeyoung.

So in lieu of her phone, Dahyun busied herself with a back issue of some magazine on gardening. It wasn’t a topic she was particularly interested in, but she was so bored out of her mind that within minutes she found herself absorbed in an article written about the growth patterns of peonies.

That is, she was completely absorbed in that article until she heard a sudden loud clang, what Dahyun recognized to be the sound of the metal trash cans outside being knocked over. Dahyun instantly froze, peeking over the top of her magazine to gaze out the front windows of the shop. Maybe it’s just an animal? But no, she definitely saw movement out there, and Dahyun could have sworn she saw the figure of a person. They weren't coming inside, either, which had to be a bad sign.

Trying not to freak out, Dahyun’s eyes fell on the baseball bat tucked under the counter. “Oh God, I’m not getting paid enough for this,” she whined under her breath before reluctantly picking it up by the handle. Slowly she crept to the door, pushing past it with the bat outstretched in front of her defensively. Not seeing anything except her beat-up old car sitting in a parking space out front, Dahyun rounded the corner toward where the trash cans were.

No, it definitely was not an animal knocking them over. Her heart racing in her chest, Dahyun’s panic somewhat subsided when she realized the person standing on top of one of the trash cans was a young girl her age, and not some giant scary thug. Dahyun released a sigh of relief, drawing the girl’s attention.

The stranger was in the process of reaching up to grab onto the drainage pipe but, at Dahyun’s sudden sigh, she stopped moving and her head whipped around to face Dahyun. The girl’s gaze dropped down to the baseball bat and, her eyes going wide, she called out, “That really won’t be necessary.”

Deflating a bit, Dahyun gave a nervous little
laugh and shrugged. “I hope not, I don’t think I could do that much damage anyway. I’m not really a brawler.” The stranger smiled a bit at that. The realization of how strange it was to find a young woman like this trying to climb to the roof of a convenience store at 2 am suddenly hit Dahyun. “Uh, I’m gonna have to ask what exactly you’re trying to do, though,” she added, rubbing the back of her neck and squinting up at the other girl.

The lamps posted at the side of the building gave off enough light for Dahyun to see the somewhat mischievous smile that spread on the stranger’s lips. “I wanted to look at the stars,” she replied matter of factly, pointing upward with her free hand.

Dahyun wasn’t sure what excuse she was expecting the girl to give, but she supposed that was the most normal one she could receive. It seemed harmless enough, anyway. Dahyun’s head tilted back to look up at the sky— they were in a rural enough area that there wasn’t too much light pollution, so you could clearly see the dark night speckled with stars.

“Why’d you want to come here, though?” Dahyun asked, still confused. “I mean, couldn’t you just look at them from home or something?”

The girl hesitated before shrugging and looking away. “I don’t want to be home right now.”

Dahyun frowned, wanting to ask if the girl was alright but not wanting to intrude. “Okay,” she said slowly.

There were a few beats of silence, neither girl moving. “So,” the stranger began all of a sudden, making eye contact again, “will you let me climb up here and look at the stars for a bit? I promise I won’t disturb anything.”

Dahyun thought the girl was certainly bold for asking that instead of just apologizing and running off like most other young people who messed around here sometimes. Dahyun considered her options— she knew what she should do, what her manager would want her to do. Technically, she should call the police on the girl for sneaking around and, what, did this count as trespassing? Dahyun wasn’t sure but she knew that if her boss was here, he’d probably be on the phone within a few seconds.

But this girl wasn’t some thug or criminal-looking type. She looked harmless, and besides, Dahyun believed the girl when she said she was genuinely just trying to find a place to look at the stars. What harm would come from letting the girl climb to the top just to sit quietly for a few hours? Dahyun mentally sighed. I really am incapable of saying no, aren’t I?

“I guess that’s fine,” Dahyun said eventually, leaning the baseball bat against the wall. The girl grinned and began scaling the drainpipe on the side of the building, which admittedly wasn’t very tall. Still, though, Dahyun was impressed.

She was going to just turn around and go back into the store, but then she heard the girl calling out from the roof, “You aren’t going to join me?”

Dahyun knew she should really say no. She should go back into the store to her place behind the counter, just in case a customer came in even if she hadn’t seen one for an hour and a half. But the girl sounded so hopeful, and it really was a beautiful night, and ugh Dahyun could get into so much trouble but at that moment she didn’t particularly care. (She’d just have to delete the security camera footage after, that was all. If her manager asked, she was sure she could make a convincing argument that it must be broken.)

“I will, actually,” she replied, “Just let me close up.” So Dahyun went back into the building and turned all lights except the exterior ones off, flipped the sign from ‘open’ to ‘closed’, and locked the doors. I can’t believe I’m potentially sacrificing my job to spend time with a complete stranger, Dahyun mentally bemoaned, wondering where her sense of self-preservation disappeared to.

Admittedly, the girl was a very pretty stranger, though— when Dahyun returned to the side of the building, she was lingering nearby on the roof, perhaps to give Dahyun a hand up. She was dressed in dark skinny jeans and a flowing cream blouse, both of which looked way more expensive than what Dahyun could afford, with a small backpack slung over one shoulder.

Dahyun couldn’t help but be embarrassed— this girl was wearing designer clothes, while she was dressed in her gaudy red and yellow polo work shirt and hat, both with the logo for “E-Z-Mart” stamped onto them. Not exactly the outfit she’d choose to be wearing around a beautiful stranger while they looked at the stars together.

Stepping closer to where the girl had pulled herself up, Dahyun looked at it with a grim expression. She managed to carefully climb up onto the top of the trash can, but from there, the rest of the way seemed daunting. It was then that the other girl reached out a hand for Dahyun to grab, giving her an encouraging smile.

“Take my hand, I’ll help give you some momentum!”

Despite Dahyun’s better judgement (which she routinely ignored anyway, if the antics she always got into with Chaeyoung were any indication), she took the girl’s hand and climbed onto the drain pipe. With their combined efforts, Dahyun was able to heft herself up onto the roof, crouching at the side with a satisfied huff.

The other girl didn’t let go of Dahyun’s hand at first, making Dahyun a little nervous. She hoped her palm wasn’t as sweaty as she imagined it to be. The stranger gave her hand a little shake, her smile widening as she said in an almost teasing voice, “Now that we’re partners in crime, I guess I should tell you my name. I’m Mina.”

“I’m Dahyun.” As soon as she said it, of course she realized how silly it was to introduce herself when she was still wearing her name tag. “Aaaaand you probably already know that,” Dahyun added, somewhat embarrassed.

Mina just smiled, releasing Dahyun’s hand and standing up from her crouch. Without further ado, she made her way further into the center of the flat roof, unpacking from her bag what looked like a picnic blanket. The girl wasted no time in stretching out on it, laying on her back to gaze upward at the sky. When Dahyun didn’t immediately follow, still lingering at the edge of the roof, Mina tipped her head to the side to give her a warm smile and beckon her over.

Nerves bubbling in her stomach, Dahyun moved closer, slowly sitting next to Mina on the blanket. Their new proximity made her heart race, especially when Mina poked Dahyun’s side and teased, “You’ll hurt your neck looking up at the stars like that. Lay next to me.”

Who was this girl, anyway? Who comes to a convenience store in the middle of the night to look at the stars and ask the worker to join them? Dahyun couldn't help but wonder if maybe this girl was kind of a weirdo. Still, Dahyun did what Mina told her, sliding down to lay on her back. Mina was only inches away, and they fell into a companionable silence.

Dahyun couldn’t believe she hadn’t thought herself to climb up here to observe the night sky. Actually, she could believe it— she wasn’t exactly keen on getting fired if her boss found out. It wasn’t like she hadn’t had plenty of silence in the store downstairs that night, either, but there was something more comforting about this kind of silence. Cicadas buzzed all around them and Dahyun could hear the distant sound of cars occasionally passing on the highway, but the most distinct sound to her was that of her and Mina’s soft breathing, naturally falling in sync. It was… peaceful.

When Dahyun tilted her head slightly to the side to look at her companion, Mina’s eyes were intently trained on the sky. As if sensing Dahyun’s eyes on her, Mina murmured, “Do you ever think about what the stars are thinking, way up there? What they’re feeling?”

Dahyun stared at her suspiciously for a few seconds. “You’re not, like… on something, right?” she eventually asked, discomfort crawling up .

Mina’s head tilted back and she laughed, her eyes crinkled shut and the biggest gummy smile on her lips. She bumped her shoulder into Dahyun’s, “No, dummy, I’m not on anything.” Her smile fading a bit as she suddenly sobered, Mina focused on the sky again. “I just wonder if they get lonely sometimes.”

“Well, there are billions of stars up there, right?” Dahyun pointed out, allowing herself to relax next to the other girl. “So how can they get lonely?”

“Don’t we?” Mina replied simply, with a shrug. “There are billions of people on Earth, too, yet we still get lonely.”

Dahyun wanted to mention the obvious fact that the difference was that humans were sentient creatures with thoughts and emotions, while the stars were not. But Mina had sounded so sad when she said that... Are you lonely, Mina? Dahyun didn’t know what to say, so she just stayed silent.

Mina released a little laugh. “I’m sorry, I didn’t come here and ask you to join me just to make you feel bad.” The girl looked over at Dahyun with a hopeful, shy smile. “Do you want to hear some astronomy facts?”

For the next hour and a half, Mina pointed out constellations to Dahyun, sharing their names and their stories. She talked about the history of space travel and future projects, all with this bright, excited look in her eyes. It was cute, honestly, and Dahyun was more than happy to listen to Mina talk about what she was clearly so passionate about. There were more periods of silence, too, when both girls would just lay there and observe the night sky.

It was during one of these periods of silence that Dahyun realized how exhausted she was. Her eyelids were heavy, and she had to fight to keep them open. Even though she didn’t really want to leave since she was having such a nice time with Mina, she longed for the warm embrace of her bed.

Dahyun pushed herself up into a sitting position with a sigh. “It’s really late… I should probably get going,” she murmured to Mina, with a faint sense of disappointment lingering in her voice.

The other girl turned her head to look at Dahyun again, and Dahyun could tell that she was disappointed too. She almost thought that Mina would ask her to stay a little longer— if she did, Dahyun knew she wouldn’t be able to say no. It wasn’t like she technically had anywhere to be right now, anyway, although a few hours sleep was pretty tempting.

But Mina just sat up as well, nodding silently as she climbed up onto her feet. Dahyun did the same, and once Mina had packed up her bag, they padded to the edge of the roof. Mina went first, and then Dahyun— she could sense Mina’s hands hovering near her legs and back, just in case she lost her balance. When both girls were firmly on the ground, they looked at each other.

“Thanks for letting me do that. I know you could get into a lot of trouble.” Mina tucked her hands into her jean pockets, smiling sweetly at Dahyun.

Dahyun just shrugged like it was no big deal. Mina’s previous comment suddenly came back to her, and Dahyun knew it was none of her business, but she had to ask. “You’re gonna… be alright at home, right?” Her voice was cautious, slow, as if not to provoke the other girl, but Mina didn’t seem to mind.

“Oh, yeah, don’t worry about me,” she replied with a casual shrug, “My parents are probably done arguing by now anyway.”

Once again Dahyun felt bad for the other girl, but she was still somewhat a stranger, and Dahyun wasn’t going to push the issue. She had to believe that Mina was telling the truth.

Realizing that all that was left of this (very unexpected) encounter was to say their goodbyes, Dahyun felt a sudden desperation to see this girl again sometime. “C-Could I get your number, or something?” she asked abruptly, her cheeks warming in embarrassment. “I mean, not in that way o-or anything, you’re just nice and, and it’d be good to see you again maybe? My phone’s broken but once I get it fixed maybe I could, um, text you?”

Mina smiled throughout Dahyun’s somewhat panicked ramblings, apparently patiently waiting for the other girl to finish. Eventually Dahyun managed to shut up, miserable at her own complete and utter lameness. (Chaeyoung would be hysterical if she were here to see this right now.)

“I’ll see you around, Dahyun,” was all that Mina replied, a cryptic smile on her face.

Dahyun couldn’t help but be disappointed, feeling like she just got rejected, but at the same time her interest was further piqued by this mysterious stranger.

She wanted to say, “No, wait!” But Dahyun wasn’t much of a “no” person, so she just said “Yeah, okay,” and watched as Mina walked away, her figure disappearing into the night.

What a strange girl, Dahyun thought, praying that she would get to see her again sometime, even if it meant breaking the rules.