Having a musician as your roommate is pretty cool. It enjoys many advantages, such as having a vast collection of instruments in the flat, the possibility to improve your skills... or even to make aesthetic Instagram stories...but there were also some disadvantages, and being woken up by a shrill trumpet sound was one of them.

Every morning Yuri would take great pleasure in waking up the whole building, if not the entire town. Fortunately for them, their neighbours were considerate enough not to complain most of the time. But when it was overly loud or too early, Yuri knew perfectly well how to make Minjoo look like she was the sleep disturbance every time someone showed up at their door in their pyjamas. And the older was too kind to deny it, preferring to excuse herself than confront an angry European neighbour.

"We should invest in soundproof walls," Minjoo grumbled, sitting in her night sweatpants on the small sofa covered with a dozen plaids of all kinds. In addition to being noisy, Yuri was always cold.

"They already are," the younger girl giggled, uncrossing her legs to bend forward and grab a new slice of bread. "Not my fault the upstairs neighbours have overdeveloped hearing."

"They're Portuguese," corrected Minjoo. "Not mutants."

The younger girl shrugged while generously covering her toast with Nutella. What better way to start a good day than with a hearty and healthy breakfast? That's what Jisoo would say, perhaps. But for the roommates, Nutella and industrial fruit juice was the perfect combo, sweet enough to last an entire day of college. A good wake-up call, at least.

"So...how did it go with your teacher?" Yuri finally asked, full of bread, back on the couch, both feet buried under a blanket.

Minjoo held back an untimely smile, "Great. We went to Hongdae, then to eat at the river."

"And you ended up in her car," the musician commented, mouth still full, her gaze riveted on the television that was showing a rerun of a drama that aired every morning at dawn and that they'd been following more or less for the past few weeks.

"Of course not!" snapped Minjoo, her heart skipping a beat as the vision entered her mind, not to displease her, but simply inconceivable this early in the day. "Never on the first date! Plus we took the tube."

"Forgot you're a 'not on a first date' type. Goody-goody ing ," Yuri sighed and only shifted her gaze towards Minjoo for a brief moment, still enough to earn a glare. "What? It's true! Did you even kiss?"

"No," Minjoo anticipated her roommate's reaction and hurried to justify herself. "Hey, hey, this is serious this time. I don't want to rush the things out."

"You're gonna drive her crazy," Yuri grunted, grabbing her glass of juice with difficulty but success. For an early riser -difficult to believe given the racket she made when she woke up-, she had a lot to say when it came to teasing her best friend. "I'm going crazy."

Minjoo raised her eyebrows in confusion, and Yuri hurriedly finished her drink before resuming.

"Listen, you tell me Minjeong's teacher was dressed up as a deer, and I'm not judging that, okay? Everyone's got their own kinks and things, but still it's weird as f - wait, let me finish!" Minjoo pulled back, ran a hand through her hair and let Yuri continue. "Then you tell me you two flirted within two minutes, right? Then you ask Minjeong to give her your number, then you lurk around for what-"

"Two days."

"Two days," Yuri proceeded. "Then she texts you, you two ing talk for hours and date the next day... all in less than a week and you dare, you dare tell me you wanna take your time?"

"The day I get amnesia I hope you'll be at my bedside," groaned the older girl, directing her attention back to the television. "You know my life more than I do."

"If I can help," grimaced Yuri, pulling the plaid covering her feet up to her chin. "I'll remind you of all the times you stole my shoes, oh, and that time I took a test for you."

"I thought we were even on that?" gasped the brunette. The incident was over a year old, and at every possible opportunity, Yuri was happy to bring it up again.

"We'll be even the day I decide we're even."

-

The idea and desire to study justice came to Minjoo when she was still a child. A certain young teacher she liked could testify to this; some children have predispositions from a significantly young age. That was the case for Minjoo. Even as a child, she hated injustice and anything that didn't fit in her morals.

Jisoo or her parents would cite as an example the fact that she would start crying in an inconsolable way when they would come across homeless people and beggars in the street so that they always gave her a few coins to offer them. And there were so many other things that touched her deeply, such as fighting for lgbtq+ rights, women's rights and animal rights.

Studying law was, in a way, the culmination of a life philosophy she had been cultivating for a long time. With excellent graduation exams results and coming from a middle-income family, she had been awarded scholarships to the three most prestigious universities in Seoul. She opted for the one closest to her sister's home, Seoul National University.

In addition to the fundamental law and diplomacy curriculum, Minjoo was taking a double major in Japanese law and language.

Indeed, although she met Yuri on a summer trip to Japan, she was there primarily to spend time with her two friends Nako and Hitomi. Despite the language barrier and the miles that separated them, the three girls had such a strong and sincere friendship for years that it was almost inconceivable for them to spend a year without seeing each other. So, Minjoo had enrolled in the complementary course and was supported to spend one week per semester in Japan. The date of her next departure was getting closer, by the way.

--- chaewon

sorry for not replying earlier!

i’m starting once this week is over :)

---

Minjoo smiled as she unlocked her phone, glancing to her left and right to make sure none of her seatmates was peeking, though this was unlikely to happen since they, not like her, were paying attention to the criminal law course.

Despite their slight differences in their schedules, the two young women managed perfectly well to maintain the bond emerging through all these virtual conversations. Sure, it was better in real life, no comparison, but there was something nice about texting with Chaewon. Indeed, literally comforting, as if Minjoo could talk about anything and everything without once fearing to annoy nor being judged by her interlocutor.

Since their date the day before, they had already exchanged a hundred texts punctuated with stickers and emojis making no sense, but that sounded like them.

Minjoo was clearly not the type to get high hopes, let alone illusions. She was rather reserved and rational, but she also knew how to notice little things. And it was this disconcerting percipience that allowed her to understand the intentions hidden behind the young teacher's gaze when they met for the first time and then a second time.

Under no circumstances in her life had Minjoo felt so ogled; the teacher had been devouring her with her eyes, and they never lie.

Not leaving her a number would have been a terrible mistake, wouldn't it?

In any event, Minjoo did not regret it. Even though she was a diligent worker prioritizing studies over relationships, let alone a serious one, she did not regret it. She knew it was a sort of commitment, but she didn't care at this point. Despite the importance of the class that was going on, she returned her attention to her phone, delighted to see the little chat bubble appear when she had just sent her message.

---

it’s a promise?

how is it called again?

chaewonnnn

legend of the blue sea, right?

chaewonnnnn :(

---

She did not regret it at all.

-

Working with young children also meant stimulating their interest and learning through diverse and changing activities. A bit like a class of teenagers, except that unlike them, disinterested children didn't mind letting it be known. And often. So to make up for this, Chaewon made sure to find entertaining activities.

Her classroom was already beautifully decorated. The lanterns decorating the ceiling and lighting up the room on rainy days added a touch of enchantment, along with the reading corner arranged around a narrow arch made of leaves. Chaewon wanted to keep with the quirky theme, so after spending several hours on Pinterest and other websites, she finally came up with the perfect idea; student-decorated hanging CDs.

In just a few hours, she completed her new manual activity programme spread over the whole week. Not all the groups had the same progression, and the crafts shouldn't interfere with the learning process. Thus, it was a real struggle. Nevertheless, she managed to cope somehow, placing the craft activity in the second half of the morning.

To be honest, she had some trouble focusing exclusively on her class these days. In a way, Minjoo was occupying a lot of her thoughts, and it was sometimes difficult to ignore them.

As announced in the message, she slipped her phone into her blazer pocket and clapped her hands a few times until all her students gathered in front of her. Seokjin, dressed as well as ever, did the same on the other side of the courtyard, and Chaewon couldn't help but give him an amused look as his students were once again making a big mess. At least Chaewon's class was relatively quiet.

She squeezed the little hand that had just slipped into hers a little tighter and began to count the heads lined up two by two. You never know maybe one of them hadn't heard the clapping, or in the worst case, had ventured outside the school grounds, which was relatively more of a problem. Two were missing from the count, so she started once more, and finally only one was missing, and it took her a few seconds to realise that it was the little girl holding her hand.

"Comrades," she announced to her students. "To infinity and beyond!"

And so the whole group left the playground and went back to class, as did the few other groups swarming the corridors. The advantage of having disciplined students, unlike Seokjin for example, was that Chaewon could walk to the front without having to turn around every five seconds to check that none of them had run away or some other stupid thing that a five-year-old would want to do. Yeah, she did her job well.

"Teacher Chaewon? Teacher Chaewon?" The little Park Seyoung holding her hand pressed it to get Chaewon's attention, who granted it with difficulty, more focused on not missing a step. "Tonight I'm going to a restaurant."

"Oh yeah?" she gestured, engaging her entire little troupe towards the classroom corridor. "Lucky you. Tell me about it tomorrow, okay?"

"Yes!" as soon as the classroom was opened, all the children rushed in, including Seyoung who let go of her teacher's hand to sit at her table. They all identified their place, and once again, Chaewon was proud of how well she had disciplined them all without using any particular authority.

"Are you listening to me?" she asked, getting about twenty enthusiastic "yes!"in response. "Good. We're going to finish the counting exercise. Then we're going to start a manual activity. Is that okay with y'all?"

To tell the truth, they didn't really have a choice, but everyone seemed to agree, and none of them flinched, so Chaewon continued her lesson, free of her handbag and the briefcase that had been weighing heavily on her shoulders during the break. The counting exercises were not complicated, and on this day, she opted for a fortune game, calling the kids in turn, letting them name out loud the number that came after the one said by the previous student. Then they began the manual activity.

Everything was going so well that Chaewon allowed herself a break. All the students were busy drawing on sheets of paper, intent on making something pretty since their work would be hanging around for a long time. Some of them were chatting with each other, but most were so engrossed in their drawing that they couldn't even do anything else. Therefore, Chaewon slouched on her desk chair, both legs over the armrest. Discreetly, she took out her phone and smiled wryly at all the notifications.

kmj

5 Unread messages.

--- kmj

i’m so done with uni

they ‘forgot’ to tell us exams have been advanced

ugh

goodbye freedom

this is week will be lit hell

---

Chaewon checked that all the children were busy before she tapped her reply, something she would never have done if it wasn't for Minjoo, of course. If a colleague or worse, a kid, was to see her, it might've caused her some trouble. But hey, anything for a pretty girl?

---

surprising coming from snu

when are they?

oh everyone else knew

they just forgot the law/japanese laws groups

2 weeks instead of 4 weeks

ooch :/

you will do well anyway

i guess this means a lot of studying?

yes

sleeping schedule? what’s that?

dates?

free time? never heard of it

---

Luckily her hearing was good enough to catch the sound of a chair sliding against the floor. Otherwise, she would never have had time to hide her phone under her shirt before a student approached her desk, proudly holding his drawing in his hands. It was a close call. But no matter how many times the boy repeated what he said, Chaewon still couldn't concentrate enough to answer him. Minjoo had mentioned dates. Oh, dear.

"Teacher!" The little boy snapped her out of her thoughts for good by shaking her leg. The poor kid with a lisp and glasses bigger than his face was now pouting, and Chaewon hurried to sit decently, attentive again. Finally, after a quick caress under his chin, he returned to his place, and the teacher resolved to gain her professionalism back.

Well, only after a small detail.

---

lol

wanna spend your last night of freedom with me?

i would love to

---

"Teacher Chaewon!" a little one called out to her, and she mentally begged Minjoo to reply faster. Prayer answered the little chat bubble flashed and the text made her smile like a fool, hearting missing a few beats. Boom-Baow, that's how you fix that. "Teacher Chaewon, there's no more red!"

"No more red? Tragedy!" she joked as she slipped the phone into her jeans' back pocket, getting up to properly resume activities, already eager to meet up with the brunette, determined to enjoy this second date.