Suggested music:

“You can do it, only a couple more days and your finals will be over! Then we can see each other again,” Sehun said as he tried to comfort Taerin over the phone.

“But Sehun-ah, all this studying is making me crazy! I keep getting distracted…and I really miss you,” Taerin replied as she wanted to rip out all the strands of hair on her head from stress. However she said the last part in a whisper; it was hard for her to say things like that so easily.

“Aw, when did you become so cheesy? “ Sehun chuckled at his girlfriend’s sudden change of mood. Taerin frowned at his joking voice. She was seriously excited to see him again on Christmas Eve, after being separated for a year.

Their relationship was raw, new, like all first loves. They had been dating for a month during the middle of their high school junior year before Taerin had to move back to her birth town, Los Angeles. Her grandfather had fallen ill and her parents moved back to take care of him, bringing Taerin along. She tried to convince them to let her stay in Seoul, but they wouldn’t negotiate any further than agreeing to let her go back after she finished high school in the states. Taerin was furious, and scared. She had already gotten so used to life in Korea for the 5 years that she’s been there after moving during 6^th grade.

In those 5 years she made irreplaceable friends, met the love of her life, and found her passion for dancing. Leaving it all behind in Seoul, and moving back to the U.S. was hard. She didn’t want to lose it all, especially the only boy she ever loved.  Nevertheless, Sehun convinced her that it’s not a ‘goodbye’ but a ‘see you soon’; promising to wait for her so that they can attend Yonsei University together when she came back.

Almost a year had passed and now Taerin and Sehun are both half way through their senior year.

“Shut up, you’re not any better! Mr. cry-alone-in-the-corner-when-I-miss-my-girlfriend,” Taerin teased as she recalled all the updates on Sehun that Luhan had given her after she left.

One of the facts was that Luhan would sometimes see Sehun alone somewhere crying about how much he missed Taerin. When Taerin first heard about it she called Sehun to mock him about how he was being such a cry baby, even though he was the one that said everything would be okay. She might have come off as cold hearted, but all she really wanted to do was cheer up Sehun; of course she’d be sad about the fact that they were thousands of miles apart.

“Don’t bring that up! Luhan wasn’t supposed to tell you…and that was before! I don’t cry anymore,” Sehun pouted and Taerin could imagine the blush that covered his cheeks at that moment. She was touched when she heard about it from Luhan but now hearing that he stopped makes her wonder if he stopped missing her too.

Taerin chuckled with a smile, “Whatever Sehun, go on and hang up! I know you’re about to start practice with EXO, I can here Kris yelling in the background. Besides its midnight over here, I have my math final in 8 hours.”

“But…I don’t want to go,” Sehun whined as he turned his head to glare at Kris who was ushering him to hurry up. Taerin didn’t want him to go either, she had no idea how long it’d be until the next time he called.

“YAH OH SEHUN! HURRY UP AND GET YOUR OVER HERE!” she pulled the phone away from her ear as Taerin heard Kris yell.

Sehun sighed and took in a deep breath and covered the phone’s receiver, “I’LL BE THERE SOON! HOLD YOUR DRAGONS KRIS-HYUNG!” Kris was about to yell back but Suho had encouraged him not to.

Sehun held his cellphone back up to his ear, “Hey Taerin-ah, I’ll call you back soon! Good nights, and good luck on your final for math, love you!”

“Ah, thanks! Nigh---, “before Taerin could finish her sentence the silence from Sehun’s side informed her that he had already hung up. She sighed and lay on her side on her bed, cellphone in hand, while staring at the picture that stood upon the night stand. It was a picture Sehun and Taerin took at Lotte World during their first date. He had white bunny ears on as she had white cat ears, they both looked happy, smiling…and in love.

She wouldn’t deny that she was still as in love with him as she was when they first started dating; heck she grew to love him even more because of the distance. It made her realize how precious their relationship was, and how easy it was to break it.

 But then for the past two months Sehun had started to become more distant. The phone calls that used to come every day, drifted to once a week, now once every two to three weeks. Whenever Taerin had tried to call him herself, he was either too tired to talk, or it’d go to voicemail.  When Sehun did pick-up his cellphone their conversations wouldn’t last longer than five minutes before he had to study or go to practice.

Her heart was wavering, Taerin was so sure before that they both could pull off this long distance relationship but now she’s thinking twice about it. Can they really last another half year like this? She was scared, scared by the fact that Sehun might’ve lost interest in her and have developed interest with someone new, someone within reach…

She glanced at the clock and it read 1:00 am. Shocked that an hour had flown by during her thinking process, Taerin placed her phone under her pillow and closed her eyes. She tossed and turned, not being able to keep those doubting thoughts out of her mind. It was going to be one sleep deprived night.