A ray of bright light shoot straight into her room ,onto her face, and surprisingly, she woke up. She got up from bed, rubbing her eyes as her vision became clear, and when she finally got to really take in her surroundings, she felt something slumped in her heart. Maybe it was her heart itself.

The room was basically empty, with only a few boxes on the floor here and there, and near the door stood her own suitcase. An idea just hit her. She had been living here for 10 years now. And tomorrow, all of this would be gone. This place, this room, the people, her friends. Her heart felt even emptier when she saw the bed next to hers was empty, too.

She picked up her watch from her nightstand. 07:00 am.

She was Jessica Jung. She never woke up at 7 in the morning if she didn’t have to. And yet, right here, right now, she wished that she hadn’t sleep at all last night. 

07:00. That was exactly 24 hours before she had to leave Korea.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yoona’s fingers tapped anxiously on the table, making subtle noises which rarely caught anybody’s attention. Only one noticed. Another girl who sat next to her sat up just a little to see if Yoona was paying any attention on the professor at all. But after glancing at her notebook, she decided that Yoona’s mind was nowhere near the school.

She didn’t blame her, for she also couldn’t focus today,either, which was rarely seen in her usual behavior. But nothing about today was usual, she silently said to herself.The professor was talking about how Greek mythology had influenced modern theater and all that. It used to be interesting. That was why they had applied for graduate school in this department in the first place. But not today. Nothing seemed interesting today, even the idea of coming to school seemed boring and unnecessary.

She took another glance on Yoona’s notebook and saw her scribbled down a long line of numbers. She leaned in to take a good look at it. Yoona was never a big fan of numbers, but now she’s here doing mathematics instead of learning arts?

“1 day=24 hrs,24hrs=1440mins.1+4+4+0=9.”

And Yoona circled the number 9 with her red pen.

She suddenly felt the urge to cry. She quietly slipped her hand into Yoona’s. And with another hand, she wrote down on Yoona’s notebook,

“I love 9 too.”

She was returned with a sad but knowingly smile. And that was all it took to make her tears fall.

-TBC-