Sohee paced back and forth along an empty patch of grass, staring at her phone, waiting for him to answer. Why wasn’t he answering?

She had decided to eat lunch alone today despite her friends protest. It was already 11 pm. He was usually just studying by himself during this time. Was he busy with something? He usually told her— he picked up.

“Oppa?”

“Hello?”  The voice was English, definitely not Taehyung, it was a female voice. Sohee felt her shoulders tense immediately.

“Excuse me who are you? Why are you answering my boyfriends phone?” She spouted out before realizing that she was speaking in Korean to an American. 

“Um… Who Are You?” She enunciated in the English she knew.

“Sarah, Kim Sae Ra.”  Kim Sarah, Taehyung had told her about his group of friends many times. But this was Sohee’s first time talking with her or any of them. She sounded drunk. Had they been drinking together? Was it even legal to drink in America? 

Sohee knew she shouldn’t assume. Taehyung was responsible. She breathed out calmly before continuing.

“Where is Taehyung?” She asked as clearly as possible. 

“He’s busy… but are you his girlfriend?” Her Korean was broken. Not bad considering she probably lived in America her whole life.

Suddenly on a dime, the girl’s tone changed. “Ya! Are you really are that pretty in person? Are you as pretty as that photo he keeps in his wallet?” The tipsy voice interrogated. 

Sohee wasn’t sure how to respond, the words sounded like gibberish when said so fast.

“Screw off! I like Taehyung… and you get to date him… with your pretty face… you look like a doll.”

There were a lot of English words in that sentence that Sohee did not understand. But she got the gist of it. This girl liked Taehyung. Sohee had been suspicious of it, though she tried to deny it. The way Taehyung talked about how friendly this Sarah was to him. How they would study together at the library for hours... How could he be so dense sometimes?

Of course Sohee had no idea whether the girl on the phone was pretty or not. But clearly, she seemed confident enough in herself to challenge someone’s girlfriend directly. 

“Are you even that pretty? Did you get plastic surgery?” 

Sohee clenched her fist, she couldn’t understand anything until plastic surgery. Was this girl questioning her? She wanted to slap her right then.

“Ya! Sarah what are you doing over there? Isn’t that Taehyung’s phone?” A male voice called out in the background. 

“Come on, let’s play another game!”

Sohee realized the more she heard the more frustrated she felt. She quickly hung up the call. She raised her arm about to throw her phone in fury. But finally calmed herself and took a seat on a nearby bench.

What was she expecting? 

He was smart… maybe a genius, though he intentionally acted dumb in front of her. He was kind and didn’t have a temper, nor was he stuck up. Add on the fact that he was good looking… his small adorable face, beautiful intense eyes. Sohee could go on and on about her boyfriend and why she had fallen for him.

It wasn’t a surprise that many girls would fall for him. She had feared this happening. But what could she do now? She didn’t want to lose him. She knew that he cared about her. But still she worried. 

She had fallen for him because unlike other guys, he didn’t treat her like she was a painting to show off. He cared about her feelings and always worked hard to make sure she felt happy. However, she also knew that he was like any other guy, if she suddenly wasn’t pretty enough for him. He would have thoughts of drifting. 

Maybe this was as far as they went. In the end, perhaps the distance was just too much for them. 

A tear finally slipped from her eyes. Am I not enough? 

Her phone began to vibrate. It was her boyfriend calling again.

She wanted to wait, to make him suffer. But she couldn’t… it wasn’t his fault. “Hello?”

“I’m sorry.” It was his voice answering the phone this time.

She sighed in relief, slowly loosing her tight grip around her phone. “What?”

“I’m sorry. I should’ve been more careful.” His voice was stern. She could hardly tell that he had probably been drinking. “I was with friends and I had to use the bathroom. She was drunk and—”

“Just tell me.” She pleaded interrupting him, her voice shaking. 

She knew that he didn’t need to apologize, but he still did because he was that type of person. “Just tell me that you still want us to work.”

“Sohee. I’m dying inside that I can’t be there with you right now.” He confessed.

“Me too.” She wiped off a tear. Trying her best to mask the fact that she was crying

“If I were there right now, I would hold you in my arms, and kiss you a hundred times.” His cheesy line made her cringe, but she grinned in satisfaction. 

She was blushing. She sniffed as she wiped away the final tears.

“Don’t cry. Don’t cry when I can’t be there to hold you.”

“I love you Taehyung.” She confessed.

“I love you Sohee. I miss you a lot. Every night I think about you.” 

“Only at night? You ert.” Sohee teased.

“Is it my fault you’re that pretty?” 

“Ya, what else? Huh? Is that it am I just pretty?”

“You’re smart. You’re kind. And you make me a better person.”  His voice was genuine, especially at the last line. He had gotten smoother. Should she be more impressed or fearful?

“And?” 

“And? Um, let’s see and, you’re… really really beautiful.” 

Sohee chuckled. “I know.” 

“Really?” 

“Of course.” Sohee replied smugly arching her back upright. “Every time I look in the mirror.”

“Ok, my friends are calling me right now. But I promise I’ll call you later. Just let me know when you’re done with class.”

“That’s ok, just go to sleep after you’re done. You better call me tomorrow though.” Sohee ordered.

“Deal.” 

The call ended, and Sohee wiped the last of her tears off her face.

“Sohee?” Sohee turned around to see her friend Jungkook waiting patiently. 

She was surprised to see him here instead of with their other friends at the cafeteria.

“Are you ok? You look like you’ve been crying.” He had a comforting voice, a bright smile. “Is it your boyfriend again?” 

He walked over to her and offered his hand.

“I’m fine.” She answered taking his hand. “We have class together now, don’t we?”

“Yes ma’am. Ready to listen to Professor Kang teach for 3 hours?” He was cheerful as usual.

In another world where she didn’t love Taehyung. Maybe she might’ve fallen for him. He was taller than Taehyung, a little more well built, but didn’t have the deep eyes that he did or the goofy charm that Taehyung had. 

“Of course.” She answered sarcastically. “Can’t wait.” 

Sohee grabbed her bag and began heading towards the large lecture hall. Jungkook walked beside her, his bag slung cooly around one shoulder.

“I hear international calls are expensive these days.” He remarked out of the blue.

“They’re pretty expensive.” Sohee answered. 

“He must be some boyfriend. To make you cry so often, yet you still stay with him.” Jungkook commented.

Sohee nodded, it was true that her relationship took a toll on heer sometimes… but she was also just emotional. Something she hated about herself. She knew she had to be more understanding of him, this was just what came with long distance relationships.

“He’s my first love.” Sohee explained. “Of course I knew long distance wasn’t going to be easy.”

“It’s too bad you didn’t live in Seoul.” Jungkook announced stretching his arms nonchalantly.

“Why?” She inquired curiously.

“Because then you would’ve had me as your first love.” He joked confidently.

Sohee rolled her eyes, she wasn’t really sure why she was friends with such a confident jerk. But he was friendly and helpful with classes. Not to mention her other friends all adored him. “Maybe, but you know what turns me off the most?”

“What?” He questioned, tilting his head slightly calling attention to his wide shoulders.

“Arrogance.” Sohee teased before running up towards the glass doors of the lecture center.

“Did you just call me arrogant?” He questioned chasing her playfully. 

~~~~~~~~~~~ Summer 2012 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Taehyung walked through the campus which was impressively large. Sure, American campuses were large in a different way, but Seoul National was condensed in the center of Seoul yet still felt so large. He had been walking for almost 10 minutes past brick building after brick building.

Then there was the fact that there were so many people, his people. Large groups of guys and girls were congregating talking, laughing. 

“You look lost. Need help?” He turned and met a boy maybe a little older than