Sometimes, in the gaps of her packed schedule, Seungwan affords herself a little time to daydream.

In ancient Greek mythology, the story goes that Clytie, the water nymph, fell in love with Apollo, the God of Sun. She would gaze at him lovingly day after day, but eventually his love for her withered away, and he stopped looking at her altogether. Unable to accept the reality, Clytie fell into despair. She turned her eyes skyward like she had done so many times, begging Apollo to come and tell her this was all a terrible dream. With hearts of compassion, the other gods took pity on her and turned her into a sunflower. 

Despite Clytie being constantly broken and falling apart, her love for Apollo was so strong that she loyally watched him move across the sky every day, just like sunflowers do to the sun. 

A lonely, pining sunflower. 

“Yah, sunflowers are so much like you, you know, Wannie?” Seungwan remembers the golden splotches that decorated Seulgi’s cheeks through the yellow petals. “They make your heart feel safe and cosy.”

Seungwan returns her a smile that reaches her eyes. “That’s true! And you can count on sunflowers to never let you down.”

“I won’t let you down either, Wan.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The work never seems to stop, these days.

Finals are just round the corner, a reputable college degree is within reach and her parents’ smiling faces are just an aced exam away. 

Now is not the time for dreams.

Like a switch, her mind reverts back to tomorrow’s History quiz. Black inked paragraphs detailing facts on the Chonson Dynasty stares mockingly at her from the pages, and she presses her knuckles into her brow bone. Chugging two RedBulls on an empty stomach has been a recent bad habit of hers, and it’s already affecting her productivity negatively. She quickly swipes into her phone’s alarm and flips the number dials around. 

Three hours of sleep should be okay. Anything is better than none.

She tiredly goes over her task list for the night. There are still two incomplete online quizzes to do, four calculus worksheets, and an English vocabulary set that she has to memorise before tomorrow's class. At the very end of the list marked with an asterisk is to run for class president. A weak smile forms on her lips when she sees a scribbled bear with a speech bubble above its head that says ‘Hwaiting!’. 

Her soap bubble stupor pops at the sound of her mother’s voice calling from downstairs. Finally dinner time, something to fuel her late night cramming session.

It’s unusually quiet tonight, but Seungwan is used to eating in silence. It’s such a contrast to Seulgi’s family, where everyone’s day would be shared in stories and jokes and laughter. Oftentimes, Seungwan yearns to behave like a typical teenager; she wants to tell her mother about the fun things they did, or beg her father for that really cute puppy she saw in the store window. But she withholds, because there are more important things at hand. Today was report card day, and she knows her parents have already seen hers. It's obvious, by the bland spread of white rice and dakbal soup.

Her