EUNJI and Chanyeol set the dinner on a Saturday night as it was the only time in that week when both of them were available.

 

So it baffled Eunji why Chanyeol was meeting her at three in the afternoon of the same day.

 

She did not even expect to see him at the study room rented by Shinah's parents where they held the tutorial session of the weekend. She remembered telling him that she would be tutoring to earn money and treat him a meal but could not recall inviting him to come over. 

 

But here he was in his tall, lanky glorious presence, sitting in front of them. Eunji busied herself giving Shin her practice exercises. Chanyeol went on playing games in his phone.

 

When the break time came signalling the end of the session, they were served some snacks. Shinah's parents must be generous that even the bystander Chanyeol was given his share of the food. 

 

“I want the strawberry milk.” He pointed at the tray. Eunji stabbed the foil with the thin plastic straw and pushed the bottled to Chanyeol. “Thanks, Ji-ah.”

 

“Free snacks for the bummer.” She whispered while Chanyeol rolled his eyes at her and drank his milk happily.

 

Shinah who had been quiet the whole session spoke, “Eonni,”

 

“Yes, Shinah?”

 

“Where is Kyungsoo oppa?” The kid asked.

 

Before she could even answer the kid’s question, Chanyeol had raised another one again. “Do you like parading that guy?”

 

“Shut up. She just met him once. ” She hissed. “Your oppa is busy these days, Shinah.” She replied the kid with a smile. 

 

“Did you break up, eonni?” The kid went to ask again. 

 

Her question made Chanyeol laugh very hard. “Oops, my bad. Sorry.”

 

“We weren’t even together so why would we break up?” She asked laughing nervously and glancing at Chanyeol who was suppressing another laugh. 

 

“Aahhh.” Shinah cooed and nodded. “So you’re going out with Chanyeol oppa now?” Her eyes glimmered with curiosity.

 

Her question this time had Chanyeol shut up and made Eunji feel akward. 

 

“Shinah, what’s with these questions? Hahahaha!” She laughed. “Of course, not.” She turned to face the guy, “Right, Chanyeol oppa?” She repeated how the little girl addressed the giant.

 

 Chanyeol held her gaze for a few seconds before nodding his head again with an amused expression on his face while looking at the girl. "Definitely,"

 

Somehow, his answer made Eunji look away. 

 

When, the tutorial session was over they waited for Shinah's parents to pick her up.  In the end, Chanyeol and Eunji found themselves together again. 

 

It was 4 in the afternoon and the sun was hiding behind the thick clouds. 

 

“Ohmygod. Since when did the weather become this cold?!” Eunji exclaimed as the cold wind brushed their faces when they hit the streets. She had dressed lightly for this cold weather. Wrapping her arms around her, she started jumping to break some sweat.

 

“Were you not listening to weather forecasts?” Chanyeol asked removing the red knitted scarf from his neck. “Autumn is about to end.”

 

She shook her head, “I’ve been busy with my papers lately. I barely sleep, Yeolmae. How do you expect me to still watch—“ Eunji was cut off when Chanyeol pulled her backpack putting halt to her fidgeting. 

 

Her heart voluntarily thumped as Chanyeol stood closer, almost closing the space between them. He was pokerfaced so Eunji tried her hardest to maintain the same expression on her face. He wrapped the red scarf to keep her warm, her cheeks flushed and she could only imagine how it reflected the red fabric around her neck. 

 

“T-thanks,” She muttered breathing heavily. Her mind was telling her to take a step back so that they would have some space between them but somehow her body wouldn’t follow. She remained standing in front of Chanyeol who was now gazing down at her. 

 

Eunji felt nostalgic. This had happened in the not so distant past. 

 

In the library. Back in high school.

 

Her memory recalled, heart frantically doing acrobats against her chest. Eyes fluttering, she looked up to stare right back at him. His eyes were as dark as his locks which he had recently dyed back to its natural color of dark brown.

 

They stood in the middle of that street outside the University looking intently at each other. Chanyeol’s gaze was soft which made Eunji felt weak below her knees.  

 

She desperately wanted to look away, but she couldn’t because it seemed like her eyes only wanted to see Chanyeol too. And slowly, as though he had heard her, he lowered his head. She was sure he was going to kiss her. 

 

 , she uttered to herself as her senses refused to retaliate. She closed her eyes by impulse and felt his hot breath brushing her red cheeks. She remained still for a moment and felt something cold touched her nose lightly. She felt Chanyeol standing close in front of her, then he spoke, breaking the silence between them.

 

“It’s snowing.” His deep voice murmured almost by her ear.

 

Eunji opened her eyes and saw snowflakes falling softly from up above. Chanyeol raised a hand to catch some flakes. His head was already tilted, looking up in the sky. Eunji could only stare at him, a wave of realizations overwhelming her being.

 

She thought of how this whole time, she was guarding her feelings toward him. And  now, she was seeing with her very eyes how the stupid and loud Chanyeol carelessly and cluelessly had ruined all these barriers she had put around herself. It only took her the fleeting moment between them earlier to realize all of that. 

 

Eunji took a small step back to gasp for air. The child-like grin on his face as he caught the falling snowflakes reminded her of the sunshine that had been hiding behind the grey clouds.  

 

“Winter is here, Ji-ah.” Chanyeol uttered, eyelids fluttering, eyes shooting the gloomy skies. 

 

On that winter, as the first snow fell over their heads, Eunji bared her heart for this ray of sunshine to warm her heart.

 

---- 

 

Days passed and before they all realized, the term was almost over. 

 

“The deadline of your paper is on our final meeting before the exam.” Professor Kwon announced. “So I hope everyone has started working on their paper by now. Is everything clear?”

 

“Yes, seonsaengnim!” The Korean Lit class of the Business Department replied.

 

“Then let’s call it a day. Good bye!”

 

“Good bye, Professor Kwon!”

 

The class ended right then. Thankfully, Eunji’s group had started working on their paper few weeks back. They had finished the analysis but the boys had not handed their original work yet. 

 

She stopped nagging them because she herself had not worked on her own composition due to all other requirements she had to do for her major subjects. Now that the Professor had reminded them again about to forgotten task, Eunji was eager to get this project done.

 

“Hey guys, please start sending your original works now so I can begin editing.” She told them as they were leaving the lecture hall.  “We will all be busy with our major subjects as the hell week approaches so we need to finish this one first. Do you understand?”

 

Sehun and Eunwoo politely said, “Yes, noona!”

 

Chanyeol rolled his doe eyes while Eunji smirked. Soon after, the guys left as they still had one class to attend for the day. 

 

The  thing was, they were all quite busy the previous days especially Eunji being a third year student. 

 

So it always caught her by surprise that they still found time to see each other in these busy days- be it in the damned Korean class or when Chanyeol would randomly show up in her college building, or her deliberately messaging him about his whereabouts. 

 

Despite of how annoying Chanyeol could be, Eunji had to admit that she had grown fondness of his company. After all, she was the only one who could tolerate him. 

 

He happened to frequent her mind a lot since she accepted him in her heart on that first snowfall. To put it simply, she liked Chanyeol still-- on top of all his crazy antics, despite her own heart’s protests and after all this time.

 

“I don’t think it’s right.” She blurted out after zoning out for the countless time. 

 

She was reviewing with Kyungsoo now during their free time but her head had been musing about Chanyeol. . She thought as she realized she blurted the words way too loud.

 

“Which one?” The other guy eagerly compared his notes with hers. “What number?”

 

“Oh, no.” Eunji snapped. “It’s not the test question.”

 

“Are you okay, Eunji?” He inquired.

 

“Umh, yeah. I’m sorry. I was just thinking about something.” She murmured whilst shaking her head. 

 

“Something’s bothering you.” Kyungsoo concluded. “You can tell, I don’t mind.”

 

Eunji smiled appreciatively of Kyungsoo’s offer. She loved how their relationship remained platonic after his confession. “Thanks, Soo. But it isn’t anything serious.” She did not wish to trouble other people with her issues that she could not even solve by herself. 

 

“If you say so...” Kyungsoo replied. “Then I guess, we’ll just end here today? I still have to go to the hospital for a check up on my surgery today.”

 

“Should I come with you?” Eunji asked, fixing her things. They were in the library studying for the upcoming finals in their major subject. 

 

Kyungsoo looked outside and shook his head, “Not today, I guess.”

 

“Why?” She asked curiously.

 

Kyungsoo cocked his head to his left and Eunji followed the direction he was trying to point. Her eyes landed on Chanyeol who was walking towards their direction.

 

“What's he doing here? ” She whispered.

 

Kyungsoo proceeded into gathering all his things and hastily left. “I’m going now, Eunji. Bye!” 

 

“Bye, Kyungsoo.” Her gaze followed Kyungsoo's back who was suddenly so eager to leave the scene. Ever since the sleepover, Kyungsoo had acted so cautious around Chanyeol and the other guy seemed to react to him the same way.

 

When she could no longer see Kyungsoo she scattered her notes again, pretending to be busy, hoping Chanyeol did not see her sitting in this very visible area in the library.

 

Slowly, she dropped the book she was reading just below her eyes to see where Chanyeol was only to find the same man looking at her from across her seat, a hand place at his chin. 

 

“You done reading?” He asked casually.

 

She slammed the book on the table that garnered looks from the other library users. She mouthed sorry to them before facing Chanyeol back. He already was smiling at his successful attempt to annoy her. 

 

“What do you need?”

 

“Let’s go eat.”

 

Eunji shook her head, “I needed to finish my original work.”

 

“You haven’t written anything yet?”

 

Eunji nodded, “How about you?”

 

He shrugged. Eunji rolled her eyes. “I’m not leaving the library until I finish my write up. So sorry, Yeolmae. I can’t join you.” It amazed Eunji how two minutes ago, she already wanted to leave and now she just wanted to stay and finish all her activities hoping Chanyeol would leave her alone. 

 

He pouted, “Then I’ll just stay here to work on my paper too.” He said reaching for her notebook to tear a sheet so he could write his composition too. They spent the rest of their Friday afternoon on the library to finish their original works.

 

Chanyeol finished his work a little early and since he still refused to leave, he fell asleep waiting for Eunji to finish hers. Eunji’s original work centered on a story about how a plain evergreen shrub grew fond of the sunshine that kept it alive. 

 

As soon as Eunji finished her drabble, she woke up Chanyeol who was already snoring softly. They went out of university library right before it’s closing time. The two walked quietly out of the campus.

 

“Ji-ah, can I ask you something?” Chanyeol dropped, breaking the thick silence that had separated them since they started walking.

 

“What is it?”

 

Chanyeol looked a bit nervous, “Well, I have this project in one of my major subjects this term. We needed to create a short film.”

 

“Uh-uh,”

 

“I just wanted to ask if you can be one of the actors?” Chanyeol shyly placed a hand at the back of his head. “Sehun and Eunwoo had agreed. We’re filming tomorrow.”

 

“Do you want to have a failed grade?” She looked horrified at the thought of her being an actress.

 

“Since I did not come to school when I got sick, nobody took me in to be a part of their group so I have to work on this project alone.”  He explained.

 

Eunji recalled the time he got sick when she had to take care of him. Sometimes, she regretted sneezing at his face on that rainy night. She would not have to suffer the consequence of that silly act until now. She sighed.

 

“Besides, I can’t think of anymore better than you.” The guy pleaded.

 

“Anyone can be better than me, Yeolmae.”

 

“But Ji-ah,” He pouted. “You’re the only one I’ve got.”

 

Somehow, the words he said were enough to thaw her cold decision. Matched with his signature puppy eyes that had gotten away almost everything that he wanted, Eunji absent-mindedly uttered, “Okay.”

 

“REALLY?!” His eyes sparkled and a smile crawled at the corners of his lips when her word registered in his ears.

 

“You heard what you heard.”

 

“AHHH!” He screamed and squeezed Eunji in a side-hug. “You’re the best, Ji-ah!”

 

She wiggled so he would let her go. “Only if you send your work tonight.”

 

“I’m sending it tonight. Don’t worry!” Chanyeol assured her. 

 

--- 

 

Later that night, Eunji opened her e-mail to find Chanyeol’s composition. 

 

Random Places 

By Loey

 

In these places,

I have lost myself

 

In quiet bus rides

During late night walks

In senseless drabbles

Your morning coffee

My afternoon tea

A crowded street

A shared slice of cake

Or a bottle of drink

Over grilled meat

Silent libraries

In noisy hallways

Empty staircases

Boring classes

Amidst playlists

Between phonecalls

Behind hardbound books

Flower petals on your crown

The warmth of your hand

The brightness of your smile

The look in your eyes.

 

And in the same places,

I have found you.

 

 

That night, Eunji went to bed really late contemplating whether liking Chanyeol again would be good for her heart. She slept thinking who did he lose, who did he find, and how it seemed like there was suddenly a hollow space in her heart caused by the same guy.