ENTRY 5

                 —And I did leave, with a small laugh on my lips at his strange but humorous actions.—

            I guess that last statement in my latest entry didn’t quite hold up. It’s been about a week and so since I last wrote in this journal. Should I apologize? I’m not quite sure why people address their journals are real people…

            Anyway, I guess I should briefly recap what’s happened, if I can remember.

            Last I wrote, I’d apologized to Minseok. The following days weren’t too rough. I’d gone to the diner as usual, quite early in the morning for most university students. I ordered my usual coffee and toast (though I believe I had a croissant maybe a few days ago… is that an important detail?), caught up on some studying and note-taking in the few minutes before I took off for my day.

            I’d like to believe that my classmates and fellow students have eased up on their hostility…  I think I’m just getting more used to ignoring them, but that can’t be entirely true. I’ve had a few conversations with one or two classmates, one of them a commuting student named Do Kyungsoo, a surprisingly stoic music and business management double major (I have yet to find out how he manages those two course loads together), and an international student from Japan, Kita Honoka, who studies finance.

            Most of the time, we discuss one or two class assignments, even venting a bit to each other on how much of a pain our reading or essays can be. Once, Kyungsoo even invited me to go study with him at the library with a couple of other business-related major students (which I had to unfortunately turn down because of an appointment I’d made to see one of my professors). He was rather kind and suggested for me to come next time (which would be tomorrow I believe), and I happily accepted the invitation.

            Honoka was even okay with hanging out with me outside of class, taking me to a campus café for a (very strong) coffee and some hurried essay writing (because procrastination is the ghost that haunts all college students).

            I can’t say much else has changed in the past week. My schedule has finally settled down and now all I have to do is figure out what to do in my free time. I mean, I can’t just stay idle all the time, lying around watching TV.

            Now to recap today. I have to admit that lately, I’ve been getting up early purely for the intention of getting to the diner within Minseok’s shift. To be quite frank, I don’t have to be up that early every day. My class schedule varies, and while I do have to be up quite early on three days, the other two weekdays, I don’t have classes till the late afternoon. Regardless, I wake up early seven days of the week, and slowly, it’s taken a toll on my body. I stay up late working on homework, wake up early to get to the diner, and in the mean time, I never realized how little sleep I’ve been getting.

            So this morning, as I pushed through the familiar glass door of the diner, I was immediately greeted with an exasperated sigh, and a finger pointed toward the door.

            “You look utterly exhausted,” said Minseok directly. “For one day, you should probably sleep in just a bit. No sane college student should be up so early.”

            I shook my head and told him I was fine, but being the seemingly stubborn person he is, Minseok narrowed his eyes at me in an attempted glare.

            “Your eye bags are just about to reach the edge of your face, and you’re yawning every few minutes.”

            I blushed in that instant, for I’d yawned the second he said, “yawning.” I replied that yawning has nothing to do with being tired.

            “Well, anyway, you look like you’re about to collapse right there! I have the right to refuse service, and I am refusing service to you until you get more sleep!” Just as he said this, he walked out from behind the counter. “Would it kill you to sleep in on the weekends? It’s Saturday! Sleep till noon, lounge around, and maybe go hang out with some friends in the evening.”

            I nearly scoffed when he mentioned friends. I don’t suppose I can consider Honoka or Kyungsoo friends yet. I don’t even know if they’d be open to being friends with me.

            “Just head home and crash on your bed. Sleep in today and tomorrow, and when you finally look like you’ve slept for more than two hours, I’ll give you your usual order,” said Minseok, pushing me by my shoulders back out the door.

            “Are you really kicking me out of the diner for not sleeping enough?” I’d asked.

            He cheekily smiled. “Well, I’m not literally kicking you out. Just strongly suggesting that you should go home and skip the strong coffee this morning. Plus, college students are the most sleep-deprived beings on this earth, in my opinion.”

            “Is that backed by any scientific evidence?”

            “It’s probably out there somewhere!” he exclaimed. “Anyway, as you’re probably already sleep-deprived from all your school work without forcing yourself up so early, I’d say taking a few days to sleep in wouldn’t be such a bad idea. I’ll be here on Monday to give you your coffee and toast, but till then, act like every other college student!”

            “You mean drink my worries away into the sunrise of Sunday mornings and spend the rest of the day complaining about my hangover?”

            Minseok groaned and gave a light slap to his forehead. “No! Sleep in till the sun’s about to set and slink around your dorm room or apartment room or wherever lazily in your pajamas, savoring the days you don’t have classes!”

            I think I mentioned something about weekend homework at this point.

            “Don’t all college students procrastinate still? Come to your senses!”

            I said that most people would warn students against procrastination.

            “But that’s how you get in the extra sleep and the relaxing and life-enjoying on the weekends,” he replied.

            I then asked whether making all of these things up spontaneously was a talent of his.

            “Why, yes it is!” Minseok said before waving his hand cheerily and pulling the diner door closed, walking back to his spot behind the counter with a carefree ease. As he turned around to face my direction again, he gave me a few hand gestures, as if they were blatant signals for me to leave.

            And I did leave, with a small laugh on my lips at his strange but humorous actions.

            Minseok’s quite the odd one. I don’t think a typical diner employee would express such concern for customers. Then again, I don’t think Minseok was ever a typical person. At least, he’s never acted ordinary whenever I saw him… But then again, all those times were just at the diner, so I can’t genuinely say how he is as a person.

            And now I’m rambling. Can you ramble in a journal? I guess you can.

            Well, as Minseok suggested, when I got home, I kicked off my shoes and dropped by purse by the front door, dragging my feet as I trekked back to my bed and tumbled down on it. I must’ve really needed the sleep, because I barely remember even pulling off my jacket (which I’m guessing I did before I slept, seeing as it was off when I woke up) and falling asleep.

            By the time I woke up, I think it was three in the afternoon. I tossed together a quick lunch and ate as I caught up on some class reading (I was pretty determined to not procrastinate too much at the beginning of the school year, and I’m still struggling to keep that up). When I finished, I changed into some running clothes and went out for a quick jog around the neighborhood. It’s been a while since I actually went on a run, so it felt good to get in some exercise. Maybe I’ll add that into my regular schedule. Should I make that a note-to-self?

            The rest of the evening finished out as normal, with a mediocre dinner (I’m not exactly an outstanding cook) and a few TV shows that happened to be running after my late dinner.

            To finish out this entry, I just hope that things continue in this direction. Nothing particularly great has happened, but nothing bad has happened either, and things have been looking up for me. Maybe this is the turning point, and maybe my old memories of Korea will be joined with more uplifting memories I’ll make in the future. Who knows? Not me, that’s for sure.

 author's note Hello again! It's been a little while since I last updated, but here it is, the fifth entry! Hope you guys enjoy the chapter and continue to follow along on this story. If you like it so far, please subscribe and upvote. If you have any feedback you'd like to share with me (random comments, whether you like this story or not, any critiques or criticisms), please feel free to comment them down below. I truly enjoy writing for you guys and hope to continue writing on AFF (despite my rather sporadic and spread out updates). Thanks so much for reading and I'll talk to you guys again in my next update :)!

~DespisedSecret

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