After a long day's worth of presentations, and listening to student's experiences during their internships, Minju was finally able to take a break. 

Exiting the classroom, she bumped into Eunseo who came out of the class next to hers.

"How did it go?" The older girl asked, putting her hair into a ponytail.

Minju kept her notes in her tote bag and said, "If only it was present and leave, it would've been so much better."

"Sat for too long?" Eunseo chuckled, dismissing the stale air between them when she recalled what the end of the internship was like for Minju. "How about a drink? To keep your mind off things for a bit."

"What things?"

"I mean," the older girl nudged her shoulder lightly. "Jiyeon will be there."

"I'm not third wheeling."

"Yujin—"

"I have a shift later," Minju cut her off. "I'll head off first."

Eunseo watched her beeline towards the entrance of the building without turning back, wondering what she had said wrong.

—

Restlessly swiping the cloth back and forth the counter, from side to side, Minju glanced at her phone settled next to her. She was waiting, but what for? It's not like she'd receive anything from Yujin and she respected her decision for wanting some time alone, not sure how long.

A ping from her phone made her heart race. Unfortunately, it was an advertisement email she had forgotten to unsubscribe from.

The brunette sighed, letting the quietness of the night spread throughout the cafe.

For the past week, she used up one or two days dragging Chaewon out of her groove—expanding the cafe's market with the help of Hyewon's network. And also to separate them for a bit because they're constantly stuck to each other's hips, they were giving Minju an eyesore.

But Hyewon eventually managed to tag along when they decided to blow off some steam at the arcade—something Minju hadn't done in years. Truth be told, the brunette realised she couldn't escape from being the light bulb when ALL (the only two) of her friends were hopeful romantics.

As easy as she thought it might be to not constantly think about Yujin's well-being, she failed terribly and at the whole no-contact thing and let Yujin embrace solitude. She was miserable. Too attached. But of course, she still had her together.

"Did the two of you fight?" Yuri came from the back kitchen, deciding to help out when she heard Minju was taking the closing shift for Chaewon.

Grasped from her daydream, the brunette hummed, "Hm?"

Settling on the chair, Yuri goes, "Yujin." She leaned into the chair. "Because you are disturbingly quiet." She inched forward, putting her elbows above the counter as if she could make the girl talk. "For the whole week."

"We didn't," Minju said. "We—"

The sound of the door opening caught their attention. As usual, the brunette's heart tingled thinking it was Yujin who appeared at the most spontaneous timings but no.

Instead, it was Juyeon.

He too was perplexed to see Minju here. Smiling, he entered the cafe fully. "You work here?"

Minju nodded. "My friend's cafe." She gestured around.

Yuri inched closer and whispered, "Who's this?"

Juyeon folded his sleeves neatly. "Juyeon. I'm her classmate. Clinical classmate," he introduced.

Yuri nodded slowly, letting him take the seat next to her when his gaze looked like he wanted it.

"Hot chocolate, please," he ordered. "Should I make it myself?" He felt bad for making Minju move.

The girl shook her head and went on preparing the drink. The other two sat there quietly while Yuri inspected him with an intense gaze.

"I'm handsome. You don't have to make it too obvious." He catches her.

"I detest men like you," Yuri stated.

"What? Full of himself?" He questioned. "You can't waiver the fact that I'm actually good-looking." He swiped his hair back to prove his point but made none to the petite girl.

"I have a girlfriend." Yuri scoffed, clasping her hands together before saying, "And my friend here is gay. Very gay. She has a girlfriend too if you didn't already know that. So you can stop trying to do whatever you're trying or planning to do."

"Did my good looks do something to you? Enough to get you all worried?"

"You're comparable to the drain cover."

"Harsh," he hissed playfully. "Where's this girlfriend then? I don't see her here."

Minju's intrusion with the cup of hot chocolate got them to stop bickering. "You guys literally just met."

"She started it first."

"He started it first."

The two pointed at each other and frowned. Juyeon then reached for his phone so he could pay for the drink, tapping it onto the reader Minju extended to him.

When the brunette goes to settle the payment, Juyeon turns to Yuri with slightly narrowed eyes, earning a challenging gaze back.

Minju returned, watching them have a staredown while Juyeon sipped on his hot chocolate.

Yuri sat up. "I don't like him."

"What did I ever do to you?" Juyeon was offended.

The girl glared at him.

"Quit it," Minju interrupted. "I'm going to have a headache listening to the both of you." She dragged a chair over.

"Did something happen?" Juyeon asked with slight worry.

"Slept more than usual," Minju said and sighed. "It happens."

The guy could only nod. The presence of Yuri put his questions on hold, not wanting to create a commotion by asking too much. He ended up finishing his beverage and left for his errands despite it being nighttime.

Yuri stood up from the chair, grabbing the empty cup. "Come on. We're closing early."

"But—"

"No one will come in the last ten minutes."

Minju watched her disappear into the back kitchen, suddenly recalling the person who ever turned up at the last minute of closing.

—

Back again at the old school bar, Minju was already onto her third can of beer, not leaving out the soju she mixed them with.

And within that time, she told Yuri all that happened the past few weeks. Not too detailed yet not too vaguely. Yuri could only wonder why she wasn't made known of the situation, let alone the dorm members. Or perhaps they had just kept it to themselves.

"So, you decided to leave her alone for now?" She asked cautiously, seeing her best friend nod slowly.

Minju stretched her arm over the table before laying her head on it. "It's all my fault."

"You know it's not."

"I was...too caught up telling her she'll be fine when I'm supposed to be there. I forgot how hard it was to..." The brunette recalled the last memory she had of the person she had lost.

Yuri sighed, seeing her friend in this state. She rested her cheek against her palm, putting a piece of snack into and watching Minju bury her face into her arms, fingers ruffling her hair in frustration.

"It's all my fault..."

Yuri heard her mumbling.

"I should've been there for her. Now that I can, I can't do anything but leave her alone. I don't want to leave her alone but I have to. Has it always been this difficult to stay away from someone?"

Before she knew it, Yuri went through a whole series of what-ifs that the girl had to say.

With more drinks, maybe tears, they were enough for the brunette to knock out cold on the table.

Yuri shook her. "Get up." She tried again but to no avail. "Every damn time. You're going to be the death of me." She pulled out her phone, about to call for a hitch but was shocked to see how much the prices had been hiked up because of the untimely hour.

"There's no way I'm paying fifty. Should I just drag you home?" She looked at her best friend who was sound asleep with a snack clasped between her fingertips. "I'm not risking backache."

Bringing the brunette back to her school dorm was out of the question when there was a new rule in place, that no outsiders should be spending the night.

Her next idea was to call Chaewon. After a few rings, the girl picked up panting her lungs out.

"Why are you calling me at this hour?"

"Why are you breathless at this hour?"

"I'm...busy."

"Are you with Hyewon? I need a ride."

"Call a hitch."

The older girl ended the call without hesitation, annoying the hell out of Yuri.

Looking at her phone screen, the name of the person who likely owned a car appeared right above Chaewon's. Yuri glanced at Minju, worried for the aftermath but she had no other choice.

—

In a silent room filled with sleeping bodies, the constant ring of a phone disrupted the night.

RING

Yena tossed in her bed, whining for it to stop. "Ahn Yujin...turn off that damn alarm." She groaned, hitting the side of the bed.

The younger girl unconsciously reached for her phone, silencing it with a press of the power button.

RING

Yujin, finally awakened by the constant ringing and vibrations, turned to the bedside and flipped her phone. Blinded by the brightness, she squints to see Yuri calling.

Double-checking the time, she wondered what could possibly be the reason behind the call, and several missed ones.

She picked up and hummed.

"I'm sincer