It is a casual night in early September. Things look peaceful and calm. It was a long and slightly tiring day and honestly, Yewon would love to head home immediately. But she’s never off work that early without bumping into a friend, or buying something from the convenience store nearby or just having some takeaway. This is her daily life lately. Work, college, meeting with her friends… but it feels… empty. It is empty. Yewon knows it too well. She knows why it feels like that. Yet… she’s not in the mood to go into that train of thoughts again for the millionth time for this week. 

She locks the door of the cafeteria with a sigh. She wishes she could somehow feel this emptiness and numbness in her heart. Sometimes, she just wishes she could only have one minute of seeing Yoobin again. Just one minute is enough. Just to say how deeply she is sorry and that she has totally regretted treating Yoobin like that. She was confused and immature back then. And extremely jealous. She acted so carelessly and made everyone get hurt at the end. She sooo wants to find Yoobin and just apologize. Just apologize, nothing else. 

But things can’t go the way we want them all the time. 

She turns on her heels, leaving the beautiful sight of the night streets outside, and heads towards the counter, in the now dark coffee shop. 

‘Why am I always the one that has to open and close the shop? I’m not even the boss here!’ She thinks with a light scoff and an eye roll. 

“The keys. Do you have any plans for tonight?” She asks her younger coworker. Wait, screw this, nevermind. Her coworkers are younger than her anyway. Both of them. The dark brown taller than her boy raises his eyebrows surprised as he cleans the last glass with a towel. 

“Choi Yewon is asking me for my plans? How did this happen? Are you going to suggest something maybe? A date?” He asks her as he squints his eyes and then giggles. Yewon groans. He laughs more. He extends his long arm and brushes her hair on the top of her head, messing them up slightly, a habit of his. Even though he is younger than her by one year, it doesn't really feel like it. He’s taller than her and they’re both really casual and close with each other so… 

“Very funny Choi Soobin.” She says with a serious expression on. 

“I was planning to hang out with my friends, why?” He says at the end. 

“I was just wondering.”

“Wondering if you can tag along?” He asks her in a teasing way. 

“Soobin I swear if you keep this up-”

“I’m just joking!” He says quickly as he raises his hands in mock defense. His eyes slightly widen and his voice raises slightly out of defense and surprise. 

“Can you walk me home then?”

“The dorm is not too far you know.”

“Yeah but I’m too bored to go alone! Please~” Soobin sighs. 

“You know I can’t say no to you. Not that easily at least. You have a way of convincing people. Maybe your cuteness helps you for that. Lucky you.” Yewon laughs. Soobin picks up their stuff from behind the counter and they both leave from the back door. 

They walk down the dark empty streets of Yewon’s neighborhood as they head towards the campus. Soobin has his hands in his jean’s pockets and walks casually as he hams on a song. Yewon walks by his side mutely as she has her head hung low and is deep in her own thoughts. Without her realising how it happens, she’s thinking of her again. She wants to scold herself for doing so, because it’s obviously pointless yet… she can’t stop herself. She misses Yoobin. And she badly wonders where the girl is, or if she’s alright. After a whole year, has she forgotten about Yewon? Has she moved on? Has she found someone else? What if she has? What if Yewon sees her again? And with someone else? Will she be hurt? Jealous? Will she ever see Yoobin again, actually? 

She sighs heavily and unfortunately for her Soobin hears it.  

“You look troubled. What’s up? I’m a good listener, you know.” 

“I know. But I also know that you can’t really keep your mouth shut.” Soobin laughed. 

“If you’re talking about my gossiping then I assure you I don’t gossip about serious matters and friends’ problems. There has to be a limit in gossiping too, ya know.” Yewon smiled faintly. 

“So, you think of me as a friend?” Yewon asks him in a way. Soobin turns to look at her and smiles casually. 

“Yeah. We have been working together for two years now. Shouldn’t I?” He says. He sounds sure and honest but as he looks into Yewon’s eyes, his smile slightly breaks. He gets confused and looks at her slightly awkwardly, waiting for an answer. Truth to be told, Yewon isn’t a brat. She can be misunderstood like one though. After Yoobin, things got out of hand. Even if Yewon realized how much of a mess she had made and tried to change everything… it was hard trying to fix things, and she often made things even worse. She often confused situations cause this is how Yewon was. Not really clear with any relationships she ever has. So sometimes, friendships can be misunderstood easily to something else. Because Yewon accidentally leads people on. 

“No, I just thought…” 

“You thought…? Don’t tell me you thought-”

“Don’t you even dare say it Choi Soobin!”

“What? You made me assume it was that. If it’s not, then what is it?” 

“Nevermind.” Yewon only says. She never tells him what she has on her mind. She just thinks that Soobin is being friendly and nice because that is who he is and not because he thinks of Yewon as his friend. Plus… Yewon is a bit unsure of her relationship with people around her. If someone won’t put a name on them then… she can never be sure of what she is with that person. She needs to hear that reassurance. 

“So, since we’re friends, wassup buddy?” Yewon groans at the friendly nickname and Soobin laughs. 

“I hate being called that!” She grumbles. 

“Why? It’s a friendly nickname! Like, calling your lover baby! What’s so wrong with that?”

“I don’t mind being called ‘baby’. But buddy? Seriously? It makes me look like your old friend who accompanies you to drinking and actually at it but never accepts it! It’s… silly! It doesn’t suit me.” 

“I… ok? I’ve never thought of that meaning when I call people buddies but ok. If you don’t like it then I’ll respect that. Noona then?” 

“That’s better.”

“Good. But I believe you’re trying to avoid my question, ma’am.” Yewon sighs and smiles awkwardly. 

“You found me.” She says shyly and raises her hands. 

“I know. So? Do you want someone to listen to you?” He says as he crosses his arms on his chest, his beautiful slanted, dark brown eyes staring into hers casually, as he looks too honest to be afraid of anything, or any eye contact. His brown strands of hair fall casually on his eyebrows and almost covers his eyes as well. Yewon smiles as she carefully watches out his silhouette. She thinks about it for a second. The offer looks tempting. She hasn’t said anything to anyone ever since things got down the drain. She lost Jiho, she lost Yoobin and she was left all alone. She’s not alone anymore but months have passed by till she fixed things, kinda, so… talking about the past now seems… weird, or pointless. On the other hand, she’s afraid that the girls aren’t ready for that talk and maybe she’s not ready for that talk yet either. So the offer is here, looking more tempting than ever. To finally speak up and say everything she’s been bottling up for over a year all alone now. She bits her lips before she opens to say something but instead smiles shortly at him. 

“Goodnight Soobin.” She only says as she shakes her head. She has realized that she is standing outside of the dorms only seconds before she’s about to speak up to Soobin so she decides it’s better if he doesn’t know, like everyone else. She waves at him goodbye. He looks slightly sad and disappointed, not because he doesn’t get to know, but because Yewon decides to keep bottling up things. For how long will she be able to do that? She doesn’t know, but she keeps going. She has to… 

___

Yoobin can’t believe she’s truly doing this. She looks around her, almost lost and too overwhelmed by the many memories she has in this place. ‘Is it too late to run away?’ She thinks. She shakes her head and clenches her fists. She’s not a coward. She’s a fighter. She’s been through worse. A lot worse. Returning back to college after a whole year of getting a break isn’t the worst thing that could ever happen to her.  

She drags her suitcase and tries to push those memories and feelings away. Everything is in the past. She can’t change anything now. She’s left all alone but honestly, she has prepared herself for almost half a year now. Ever since she has decided to return back to college, after collecting herself and her mess with the help of her parents and family, she has tried to collect her thoughts as well. She had prepared herself for every possibility. But most of all, she had prepared herself for studying. All she has come here for is that. She is planning to focus on studying, finish off with college and get her diploma. Nothing else. She can use some company and make some new friends maybe but that wasn’t her main plan. She doesn’t even think of fixing her previous relationship with the girls because she obviously knew they all hated her, so there was no reason for that. After all, she was deeply hurt by what has happened, she’s not sure if she’s ready to face any of them again and have any kind of relationship with them again. 

She gets into the huge dormitory building and wanders around, searching for her new dorm room. She wonders if she has a roommate. She probably has. Everyone did. She hopes her new roommate can handle her super organizing self or else… things won’t go well. 

She gets into her new dorm room. It doesn’t look bad. Different for sure. But similar enough at the same time. Small, comfortable, with one single window and three small rooms. A bedroom, a kitchen and a bathroom. She sees a few girly things around the place and on the one of the two beds so she assumes her roommate is already around. She unpacks her own stuff and places them around the room, on her side, obviously. She has no signs of her roommate throughout this whole process and now she gets even more curious as to who it is. 

She decides to go for a walk around the campus and stop by her favourite place; the library. It’s her safe place after all. And now, her work place as well. Yes, she decided to start working there along with going to college. That way her mind is going to be too distracted with stuff to think of anything else and she won’t have too much free time to spend by herself and get depressed. She has planned everything, basically. 

As soon as she enters the library, the familiar smell of books, the comforting silence and the many bookshelves filled with books welcome her. She immediately smiles. The library feels like home. It always did. 

She wanders around the library for a while before she walks to the counter that’s in front of the main entrance of the library. She’s here to ask for her job and her schedule. She stands in front of the counter, clears and looks around, wondering where the librarians are when suddenly, a familiar short girl with short brown hair appears from underneath the counter. 

“Yoobin!” She exclaims. Yoobin immediately smiles happily but is also surprised. 

“Dami? What are you