“Friends? Yeah. You could say that.” She answers as she chews on her food.  

“Aren’t we best of friends?” Says Dahyun with a smile on her face as she pinched my cheek. I forced out a fake chuckle. I nodded and looked at both Mina and Tzuyu. I can see it in their eyes they do not believe anything we’re saying.  I understand them. If I was in their shoes I’d be hardly convinced too. 

I sigh and look away trying not to mind the fact that of all places in Korea, Kim Dahyun had to live right next to mine. I loathe the idea that in all places, my ex-girlfriend had to live right next to my dorm. 

The evening had its own pace or maybe I had my own pace. My brain had its own concept of time. I am in Chaeng’s world, and in this world, I had my own way of understanding of time. I believe in letting things sit until it's the right moment. I just don’t feel the point of rushing into things. 

Probably an hour after Jeongyeon and Dahyun came that night, the group dinner was over. Everyone helped in cleaning the dormitory, we didn’t really want to live in a filthy place. The funny thing was Jeongyeon unnie became really joyous when she heard it was time to clean the place. Her eyes lit up at the thought of cleaning.

I’d theorize that she has a weird for cleaning. 

Jeongyeon unnie, the clean freak wanted the place spotless. I kid you not when I say she morphed into a vacuum cleaner when we started cleaning. It was weird how she got so compulsive when we all started. 

I don’t know, I think it’s nice how now I’m starting to get to know everyone one by one.

Right after we finished cleaning our dormitory, everyone started to mind their own business. Almost everyone from my dormitory headed to their respective rooms. I’m guessing they all were feeling pretty tired. I wasn’t though. I don’t know why, after all the work I’ve done today I wasn’t ready for bed. I look at my phone and see that it’s still a quarter to 1 pm.

There isn’t really anything to do as of the moment so I decided to take a warm bath. I went inside my room to pick my things for bathing and decided to use some of my bath bombs. I really hope that taking a shower can make me feel relaxed. I really want to sleep, today’s been really exhausting.

I made sure to lock the door after I came in. I stripped down, wore my bathrobe, and set my clothes aside. After all that, I the hot water. While waiting for the bathtub to fill up, I’ve decided to sit on the toilet and scroll through my phone. While scrolling through Instagram, I decided to look at my Kakaotalk and see the group chats that I’ve just been added to. As expected, there were two new groups up in my messages; the one for our dormitory was named 

“NABONG, A BEAUTY”.

What kind of bull is this?

Aish, I really thought Nayeon unnie’s self-loving streak was only for show. But it turns out, she really does think she’s a goddess. This old lady is unbelievable. I click on the group chat to see what was happening. I see a very long thread of them talking about random things. I mean really random things. Things good friends talk and rave about. This makes me smile. The funny thing is, everyone had their own nicknames in the group chat. I didn’t have one though since I was only added a while ago.

Their nicknames were as follows:

NAYEON: Goddess

SANA: Snack

MINA: Penguin

TZUYU: Demon tree

Everyone seemed close. I hope I become closer to them.

Everyone was even sending photos in the GC. The last photo was a selfie of Sana unnie and Tzuyu. It was clearly taken in one of the bedrooms; all bedrooms are the same that’s why I’m sure. I look at the time it was sent and it was only sent less than twenty minutes ago. I shrug. Maybe they’re just hanging out, a sunbae-hoobae type of relationship is what they call it.

[KAKAOTALK]

Snack: Our maknae will be sleeping in my room toniggght!

Goddess: Should I join you guys?

Snack: Why???

Goddess: Some nights tend to become really lonely …

Demon Tree: Ah.

Demon Tree: Don’t you dare bring your loneliness in Sana Unnie’s room

Snack: HAHAHAHAHAHA! Our Tzuyu wants me all for herself! :P 

Goddess: You’re too mean! T_T

Demon Tree: Don’t you dare come barging in.

I laugh as I read the thread. It does seem like everyone is comfortable with each other. I look over to the bath-tub and see it’s already full. I stand up and walk towards it and slowly dip my feet inside the tub. Perfect, water’s lukewarm. I placed the bath bomb in the water and it started doing its work, after that, I get inside the bathtub and feel the warm and scented water around me. I smile and sighed.

I like this.

I remove my hair tie and place it on the floor and started to take a bath. I scrubbed all parts of my body and even shampooed my hair. It took me about thirty minutes to finish my routine. I get out of the bathtub right after since the water isn’t getting any warmer. I put on my bathrobe, got my things and went outside. The moment I stepped outside of the bathroom, it was noticeable that everyone was already asleep. The dormitory was very silent. I walk towards my room and go inside. After the bath, I feel a lot better. I remove my bathrobe and start to dry my body. I put on some comfortable clothes. I looked at my mirror and see myself.

Girl, you look like you’re worth a million dollars.

As I was about to grab my blow dryer to dry my hair, my phone suddenly notified me of a message. I turn my gaze to my phone which was placed on my dresser.

“Who could it be at this hour?” I whisper to myself.

I get a hold of my phone and see a message in my Kakaotalk from someone I didn’t add yet. I quickly opened the message and sighed.

Kim Dahyun:

I’m outside. I want to see you.

I look at it with a blank stare. Jesus, what the hell does she want now? I sigh and place my phone on my dresser again and try to ignore her message. I just loathe the fact that she lives near me. I plug the blower and start drying my hair when another notification alarmed. I received another text from her.

Kim Dahyun:

It is crazy cold out here but I’ll wait for you.

I was still blow-drying my hair at the moment but her text made me turn the blower off. I even slammed the blower on the dresser a little too hard.

What’s up with her? 

I think I’m going crazy. I look at myself in the mirror and sigh. Do I really have to meet her outside? What the hell does she want to talk about? What type of game is she trying to play?

Jesus, Kim Dahyun, we broke up two years ago. 

Annoyed, but I still unplugged the blower and turned off the light before I went outside of my room. I made sure my steps weren’t loud while I was trying to head outside. The moment my feet touched the ground outside of the dormitory, I saw Kim Dahyun standing right outside of my dormitory’s gate. 

How come she still looks so enthusiastic? 

She waves at me. I only look at her, politely. I walk towards the gate and open it. I go outside and look at her. She grabbed my hand and then she led me to a corner where we cannot be seen by anyone from our dormitories. I looked at her, confused. 

“You told me to meet you outside. We could’ve had a conversation right in front of our gate. Why bring me here?” I asked her nonchalantly. I just really didn’t see the purpose of her trying to hide us. There wasn’t really anything to hide.

I notice she’s also changed into more comfortable clothes and that she’s let her hair down. She let go of my hand and just looked at me for a while and then she smiled. She looked the same, Kim Dahyun.

Her eyes, whenever she smiles they smile along. Her pale skin glowed, as usual.

Looking at her, I remember so many things. She’d seem quite the joker. I mean, she’s really funny and she often made me laugh before. She’s really cheerful and bright. I can still remember her bright eye-smile. Her appearance hasn’t changed at all.

But, Kim Dahyun isn’t all sunshine and happiness. Don’t let the facade fool you, she may project herself as easy-going and funny, but she’s really more than that. She’s got this duality. I only got to know that other side of her when we started dating. 

“What are you talking about, Son Chaeyoung?” She smiled. She looked at the sky and then just shrugged. “Don’t act like this is something new to you. Remember? We used to meet like this. We met in places that are hidden.” She looked at me. Her gaze piercing through my body. 

I was caught off guard with what came out of . I just blink, trying to keep my cool. Why is she attacking me all of a sudden? 

“Get straight to the point, Kim Dahyun.” I look at her. My tone, I try to make it sound cold.  I notice that her facial expression turned a little hurt. 

“Straight to the point? First of all, we’re not straight.” She jokingly said. She forced a smile. I can see she’s trying hard to make our conversation work. I look at her with a softer gaze and just give her a smile.

“That’s how you became my ex-girlfriend in the first place.” I chuckle and so does Dahyun. She looked at me and suddenly her fingers reached for my hair.

“Your hair is still damp. Don’t go out like this, you’ll get sick.” She looked at me softly. I nod and  reached for her hand and slowly put it down. I smile at her weakly. 

I don’t want her to get the wrong idea. 

“What is it, Dahyun-ah?” I looked at her. “Is there really something that we should be talking about?” She looked at me and shrugged.

“I don’t know. You tell me, is there something that we should be talking about?” She says this in a serious tone while looking me straight in the eye. Honestly, I never envisioned to cross paths with her again, therefore, I never envisioned for something like this to happen. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I deny. I’m so sure that I sounded really hesitant when I said this. She’s still got this blank face. 

“You don’t know? That’s it? Bull.” She sounded really frustrated and offended. She’s right, how can I say that? How can I act so innocent? 

“Kim Dahyun, please. Can we talk about this some other time?” I ask her, trying to avoid the subject. She looked offended as if she couldn’t believe what was coming out of my mouth.

“No. We can’t.” Her voice trembled, I just look away. I don’t want to see her this way. It hurt me, seeing her like this. Though things between us aren’t the same as before, I still care for her. Hearing her voice tremble made my heart twitch. “It’s been two damn years, I’m lucky enough for such a coincidental event happen to me.” She sounded firm, as if trying to hold back her emotions. 

“Kim Dahyun.” I look at her. “I’m sorry.” Those were the words that came out of my mouth. She looked pained, my heart felt heavy the moment I saw her looking like this. I wanted to hold her but I don’t want her to get the wrong idea.

“What happened to us?” She whispered and she looked around. I looked at her and her eyes, they were sad. Honestly, I don’t know what happened to us either. I smiled and walked past her towards the nearest wall. I leaned my back against the wall and looked at her. She turned around and just looked at me.

“I don’t know.” I check my fingernails, refusing to look her in the eye. “Kim Dahyun, are things still unclear to you?” I looked up and there she was walking towards the spot beside me. She leaned her back against the wall too. 

“You think telling me we shouldn’t see each other was clear?” She chuckled and looked up at the sky. “Yah, Son Chaeyoung! Your exact words were ‘Let’s not see each other anymore.’ and you literally just left after attending my graduation.” She was shaking her head in disapproval.

“Hey!” I call to her attention. “Which part don’t you understand about what I said? I made sure to tell you directly.” I tell her, I was starting to feel our moods becoming a little lighter.

She then gave me a dirty look. “Why bother going to someone’s graduation when all you’re going to say is bad news? You could’ve given me a congratulatory kiss first before breaking my heart, you evil woman.” She slightly raised her voice, just enough to make me give her my attention.

“Yah, Kim Dahyun! Give me a break. I was a kid and I didn’t know what I was doing.” I say in retaliation. It’s true, I was clueless. I looked at her with a dissatisfied look.

“But you sure knew what to do in bed.” She looks at me mockingly. I suddenly blush at what she said and without knowing I smack her shoulder.

“Yah, seriously, stop.” I laugh a little and so does she. “Don’t bring that up. It’s embarrassing.” I look at her pleadingly.

“Nothing’s embarrassing about it, stupid.” she chuckled. “We did things that were normal for couples.” She winked at me.

I smack her shoulder some more, this time though, I smacked her a little too hard to make her stop. She looks at me, her facial expression, it was annoyed.

“I’ve always wondered how you cope up with the lack of height. I’ve figured it out. You cope by hitting people.” She looks at me, her eyes giving me a warning. I smile and just try to ignore the fact that she just insulted me.

“Do you really want to know why I broke up with you?” I looked at her. She nods softly. She’s intently listening to me. 

“Well, I didn’t want to go through a long distance relationship, and it felt like I failed you as a girlfriend.” I look at her. It’s true, I did feel that I was the tiest girlfriend. I hated it. 

“Fail me in what way?” She asks.

“Well, during that time we acted like we weren’t a couple in front of people. It felt like, I wasn’t doing enough. It felt like I was ty since I wasn't brave enough to introduce you as someone I loved so dearly.” I look at her, my voice shaking as I am talking. I smiled at her to show her I wasn’t sad but instead my eyes started watering and I felt like my heart became increasingly heavy. “I’m sorry, Dahyun-ah. We had to end that way.” 

“Yah, Son Chaeyoung, don’t cry.” She smiled at me. I shake my head.

“I’m not crying!” I look at her. “I’m sorry, really. I wasn’t stronger.” I look down.

Silence Follows.

“Thank you.” She says.

“For what?” I look up.

“For this. For this closure. I needed this…” She glanced at me.  “Also, thank you for being a part of my life.”

I look at her and smile. This person right here was everything to me back then. She was my firsts. She taught me so much in the romance department. We did things that I consider special. Funny how time really does change everything. I nod and just look at her.

“Yah, Son Chaeyoung! Don’t get the wrong idea, okay? I wanted to talk because I want us to be just friends now.” She smiles widely, her eyes disappearing in the process. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, you’re beautiful and all that but…” she trails off and looks at me. I understand what she meant.

“So you’ve started lots of dating here, I assume?” I look at her. She smiles in embarrassment. 

“Yeah, I mean, the dating scene here is crazy. You should try it. For someone who’s biual like you, this place is a Haven full of treasure.” She gives me an encouraging look. I just shrug.

“Dahyun-ah…” I trail off. “If the others ask, should we tell them that we dated before?” I look at her, hoping for a clear answer.

“Only if you want to.” She looks at me. She knew everything about me. She knew what made me tick, she knew how I act, and she knew every inch of me. I look at her, blankly. “Still having a hard time getting to terms with who you really are?” She softly whispers. I look at her, she’s currently checking out her nails.

“I know who I really am.” I say under my breath. “We would not have been together before if I didn’t knew what I wanted.” I tell her. 

I do know who I am. I know what I like, I know what I don’t like. But the thing is, even though I know who I really am, I still have a hard time telling people. Am I ashamed that I’m like this? Not really. I just feel like, things like this shouldn’t be taken as a big deal. 

“It’s been two years Chaeng. After our breakup, I always thought you’d have the courage of coming out now.”

“I also thought that. But I guess I’ll always be a coward.”

“Maybe you were a coward, but that doesn’t mean you have to be a coward for the rest of your life.”

I stay silent, not really knowing what to say.

“No one’s forcing you to come out, midget.” She laughs. “Remember how you didn’t really rush things. You always took your time.”

“Yeah, you called it ‘Chaeng’s time’.” I look at her.

“Well, that’s it. Come out when you’re ready. That’s the best way of coming out.” She smiles. I just nod and realize that she’s right. There’s no need to rush things.

“So, friends?” I look at her and smile. She leans in close for a hug. We hugged each other warmly. Finally, after two years, her touch felt friendly. It didn’t feel like how it used to. Butterflies weren’t in my stomach and my heart wasn’t fluttering. To this, I smile. 

“Definitely.” she utters.

The next morning came fast. I woke up just in time to prepare myself for my classes. Tzuyu and I usually walk together to school since our class schedules almost match. This morning, though, she was nowhere to be found. After preparing myself and my things, I came out of my room and was greeted by an empty living room. Same old , but a different day. Everyone is usually busy doing their own thing during this time of the day, so whatever. 

The University where I go to is relatively near where I live. I guess, the walk would only be less than twenty minutes. The walk to the University I’d say is pleasant. The way to the place is surrounded by trees which makes my walk very tolerable. That’s the primary reason why I like walking to school. Since the sidewalks leading up to school is filled with trees, walking to school would not make me sweat.

After less than twenty minutes of Walking I finally arrive. The school, I’d say is huge. Before entering the gate, I swipe my identification card in order for the gate to open. I walk in and start walking to the nearest seat that offered a shade. I needed to check my phone first. I still had time to scroll through my feed since my class doesn’t start until 30 minutes from now. As I opened my phone, I realize I have received a text from a group chat in a class that I belong to. I click for the message and read the text.

[KAKAO TALK]

Class Representative:

Today’s class is cancelled due to a conference which our professor shall attend. There will be no substitute. Use this time well to study! Have a Good day.

I look at the text blankly. What the heck am I supposed to do now? This class is supposed to be my only class for today. I just shrug and look around. Geez. It's times like this that make me wish that I have Tzuyu with me. Even though that tree annoys me a lot, I’d still take her company anytime.

Even though I’m a little annoyed, I’ve decided to just walk back home and take a day off. I stand up and start walking, still clutching my phone in my right hand. I walk slowly when all of a sudden my phone rings. I take a look at who's calling and see it’s my little brother. I answer it immediately.

“Hoon-ah. What’s up?” I greeted him with a bright voice.

“I just wanted to check up on you, noona.” He replies with a subtle gentleness in his voice.

“Is that so? You miss your noona, didn’t you?” I , making it really obvious with my tone.

“Nope. Mom made me call you.” My little brother’s voice sounded flat. I chuckle.

“YAH---”

I was cut off when all of a sudden somebody bumps into me. Our collision was so strong that it made me drop my phone and books in the process. I quickly kneeled down to pick up my books and phone when all of a sudden, a hand suddenly reached for my phone which made me stand straight.

“Yah, next time when walking use your eyes so that you don’t bump into people.” I mutter in an annoyed tone. The moment I look up, I see a guy looking straight at me. He’s just looking at me blankly. I look at him back. He then snaps into reality and profusely bows.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry!” he utters in total regret. I immediately realize that my brother might still be on the other line so I quickly took my phone back and indeed my brother still is on the other line. I quickly put myself on the line and talk to my brother.

“Yah, Hoon-ah. Noona will call you back later. Okay?” I assure my brother and hang up. I immediately look up and the guy is still there. His cheeks visibly flushed from embarrassment. I look at him with a piercing gaze.

“I’m so sorry I bumped into you. I will be more careful next time.” He says as he bowed very low. Is he really bowing in respect or is he trying to hide his face? “I’m so sorry! Let me make it up to you. I will pay for the damages I’ve done.”

The moment I heard the word ‘damage’ I immediately looked at my phone and see that on my phone’s lower left screen, there’s a crack. I look at it carefully and realize the crack was only on the tempered glass. I sigh in relief. I look at him.

“No, it’s okay. It doesn’t matter. Just forget it.” I mutter in a flat tone. He looks at me.

“Please don’t say that. I’d be glad to pay.” He insists.

“I said you don’t have to.” I say firmly and was about to walk away when all of a sudden the guy started walking along my side. I looked at him, confused.

“Can I at least treat you to lunch?” He looked at me pleadingly. His voice full of worry.

I look at him and notice that he’s trying his best to say sorry so I slow my pace down. I see that he’s pretty cute, he looks clean, good hair, he’s tall, and he dresses pretty well. I Stop and look at him directly.

“One lunch and that’s it. Okay?” I look at him. He smiles and I unknowingly smile too.

We both agreed to eat at a bakery near my place since I wasn’t really in the mood to go someplace far. I don’t really know why I agreed to eat lunch with some stranger but I just really felt sorry for sounding too mean to him. Besides, he’s actually cute.

“Hey, you should sit here while I order.” He looks at me. I shake my head in retaliation.

“Nope, let’s order together.” I look at him. I don’t know what’s so amusing with whatever I said because he suddenly smiled. I just shrug what I saw off and walked towards the counter alongside him. The moment we arrived at the counter we ordered our food. Out of nowhere, a familiar face cleaning on the counters shocked me.

“Jeongyeon unnie.” I say as I am obviously shocked. She looked totally different. Professional even. She looked at me and then smiled. She then noticed the person beside me and her smile withered away. She looked confused.

“Oh, it’s short-limbs Chaengie. What’s up?” She looked at me while still cleaning the shelves.

“Oh, I was just about to grab something to eat unnie.” I smile. “Part-time job?” I ask, even though the answer is pretty obvious. She just nods joyfully. So this unnie works at a Bake house. That’s pretty neat.

“Who’s the stranger?” She asks in a hushed tone as the guy I am with pays for the food. I suddenly realize that I am currently having lunch with a person whose name I don't even know. I scratch my head in frustration.

“Hello, I’m Jung Min Woo.” The guy suddenly introduced himself to Jeongyeon unnie whilst he’s still at the counter. I shudder; does he have a super hearing ability or something?

Right after Min Woo introduced himself he suddenly walks towards our direction and he stood beside me boldly. He tells me we should go and sit down since our food was about to be served. I just agree, I tell Jeongyeon unnie I had to go, and we both walk towards our table. Moments later, the food he ordered arrives and we start to eat. While eating I take short glances at Min Woo. He notices this and then smiles.

“I’m sorry.” He stops eating and then he bites his lower lip. “Geez, this is so awkward. It’s not too late to introduce myself, right?” When he smiled, his eyes smiled as well. I just nod.

“My name’s Jung Min Woo. I study Architecture at Seoul National University.” He reaches his hand out for a handshake and I shake his hand out of respect.

“My name’s Son Chaeyoung. I am majoring in Fine Arts at Seoul National University.” I tell him as I take another bite of my food. He just nods.

“Hey, I’m really sorry. You know, about what happened a while ago.” He smiles.

“Do you always smile when you talk? Like, are you always in a good mood?” I genuinely ask him. Since you know, I’m curious. He looked at me, he looked a little shaken with my question. What? Is this the first time some girl asked him something so obvious.

“I mean, I have teeth so…I don’t see anything wrong with me smiling.” He looked at me. Is he trying to make a joke or something?

“For someone who studies Architecture, you’re pretty dull.” I mutter. I wanted to challenge him.

“What?” he looks up. His eyes looked confused.

“You didn’t hear what I said?” I ask him. He just shakes his head. “That only proves my point.” I laugh and then he also laughs. The funny thing is I’m laughing at how dull he is and now he’s laughing with me. What is happening to me? Is Tzuyu taking over my body?

We continue eating more and after a little while we both finish. He then looks at me and nods.

“Should I walk you home?” He asks. I looked at him. I just shrug.

“I don’t know. Should you?” I . He just smiles and then he nods. “But, before that, I have to buy something for the people at my place.”

Right before Min Woo and I headed outside, I opted to buy Tzuyu bread. The Demon tree may sometimes give me headache and frustrate me, but I still care for her. I know how much she loves bread. My conscience would just bug me if I didn’t buy her bread. The girl came all the way from Taiwan to study here, buying her bread is the least I could do for her. After buying bread, Min Woo and I started walking home.

In all honesty, I do not know why I’m letting a complete stranger walk me home. He doesn’t give me the wrong vibe though, he seems alright and well behaved. I’ll just make sure not to let my guard down. Jung Min Woo, this guy is tall. He’s towering over me. I’d estimate him to be at least 180 cm.

During our walk home, we didn’t really talk. I’m  really a talker to people that I am not familiar with. We just walked in silence. It’s almost a quarter to 4 pm right now so the air isn’t as hot as it was a while ago. The walk became comfortable because of this. As we walked some more, I’m already seeing my place. It was less than 30 feet away. To this, I halted and looked at him.

“I’m fine right here.” I tell him. “Thank you, for lunch.” I tell him politely. He just nods and as I was about to walk away when he says something that caught me off-guard.

“Can I at least get your number?” I turn around and look at him. He looked a little hopeful; I can see it in his eyes. I looked at him confused.

“I mean, Son Chaeyoung. I still want to repay you for the crack I’ve caused your tempered glass.” He tried to explain.

Bull.

I wasn’t born yesterday. I know how the world works. I may not be an expert with identifying social cues, but I do know a little bit. This guy right here, Jung Min Woo is obviously trying to flirt with me. I smile at how abashed he got when I stared. I, Son Chaeyoung, a raging biual admit that I find this guy attractive. What’s not to like? He’s polite, he’s got great hair, he’s got this eye-smile that is to die for, and most of all he’s tall.

I walked towards him and reach my hand out, signaling him to hand me his phone. The moment his phone touched my hands, I typed my number and Kakao ID in. I smiled at him, he blushes.

“Be sure to pay for my tempered glass…” I trail off; implying that I know his reasoning was stupid. Who pays for a broken tempered glass? 

Right after we exchanged numbers I made sure that he goes ahead first. Even though I became all flirty with him, I don’t want him to know where I live, yet. Right after he’s gone, I walk to my place while holding the bag that contained the bread I bought. As I walk past the dorm’s gate, I wonder if I was trying too hard in flirting with Min Woo. I don’t know, honestly, I think I’m just bored.

As I enter the place, I hear sounds coming from inside the living room. As the sound got clearer, I realized the noise was coming from the television.

Good timing. I miss having company.

I quickly walked towards the living room and only see one person chilling and watching television in there. She was lying on her side on the sofa and she’s covered with a blanket. She looked like a rock, to be honest. Also, it seemed like she hasn’t moved from that position for weeks. I walk closer and smile when I see who it is.

“You’ll get bed sores if you stay in that position for too long, Mina unnie.” I smile at her brightly.