“So…” the short haired girl swallowed a spoonful of ice cream before continuing, “How was your first day?”

                “It was fine,” Gayoon answered while pulling her hair into a ponytail.

                “Yep, and you sound totally fine,” the observant girl replied sarcastically.

                “Okay, it wasn’t totally fine, but don’t make me verbally repeat and experience what happened today, Jiyoon,” Gayoon crashed down on the couch beside her and shoved a forkful of Chinese takeout noodle into .

                “Venting relieves stress,” Jiyoon glanced over at Gayoon before taking another spoon of ice cream into .

                “Talking about it forces me to remember it which just leads to more unnecessary extended stress, right now I’m opting with eating everything away,” Gayoon lifted up her box of noodle in the air to make a point.

                “Cheers to that,” Jiyoon lifted her tub of cookies n cream ice cream.

                They both continue to eat in silence as the noise from the television sounded the small apartment room. It wasn’t until 11 pm that Jiyoon retreated back to her room for the night leaving Gayoon alone with her empty Chinese takeout box and the re-run of an old drama on the TV. Gayoon watched the show blankly; every word that was pronounced and every image that was on screen escaped her mind the moment they passed. Once it switched to commercials Gayoon let her head fall back on the couch. Her eyes scanned the ceiling but her mind wondered off to the preceding events of her day.

                “That’s wrong,” Jongin pointed out without even lifting up his head from his desk. Gayoon tensed up at the realization. With her back turned to the class, she bit her lips in nervousness. How can she mess up something she has always been so comfortable with? She reanalyzed her work on the board. She tried to make cohesive sense of her work but now they’re all jumbled into a senseless frenzy.  From behind her, she could sense the growing restlessness of the class, her anxiety only increased.

                “Eh, Ms. Heo, do you even know what you’re doing?” a student called out in frustration.

                “Using this time for self-study would be more useful than waiting here for you to correct your mistakes,” another blurted.

                “Maybe you should consider going back to school,” one scoffed.

                “If this is going to be a constant thing, I want to request for another teacher,” one “whispered” loud enough for the whole class to hear. Her friend giggled at the statement. The grip on her chalk tightened until her nails imprinted themselves into the palm of her hand.

                “This is a complete joke.”

                The overwhelming frustration and stress from the entire day finally hit her. Gayoon’s vision slowly became blurred as the tears welled up in her eyes. She sniffed her nose and wiped the edges of her eyes before the tears can stream down her cheeks. She quickly got up from the couch and headed to the bathroom. She sighed heavily to herself and again wiped away the tears that have fallen before she closed the door behind her. She immediately the water faucet and splashed the ice cold water onto her face. The water dripped from her face as she stared at her reflection in the mirror.

                Freezing cold fingers grazed her own as they pried her hand open for the chalk that was in her grip. Her eyes followed the arm going across her body to find Jongin beside her. She felt a sudden wave of relief throughout her body with Jongin by her side, but also a growing sense of shame as she watched him. His expression was indifferent as he erased her mistake and worked the problem to its correct solution with ease.

                “That wasn’t free labor,” Jongin whispered low enough for only her to hear as he placed the chalk on the pen rail.

                Her stare twisted into a glare; she would have rather faced continuous criticism than be indebted to him. She only grew more annoyed when she noticed his amused face as he glanced over his shoulder to only be met with her disturbed expression. He was clearly having fun playing around with her.

                “Ah, as expected of our school’s top student,” one student called out proudly. A flow of praise followed.

                Gayoon immediately broke her gaze with Jongin as he simply broke into a smile at the comments. Only one thing occupied Gayoon’s mind in that moment: his smile looks awfully stupid.

A sudden ring from her cell phone startled her away from her thoughts and caused her heart to quicken. She rushed out of the bathroom and intently followed the sound of her ringtone; she found it lying on the couch.

                “Hello?” she answered.

                “Gayoon-ah, feed me,” the familiar voice behind the line pleaded without an introduction.

                “Yoseob-ah, don’t call me to only ask for food,” she replied, not amused by his aegyo voice.

                “Then how was your day?” his voice immediately changed to its normal tone as he casually changed the subject.

                “Um, alright,” Gayoon lied.

                “You didn’t bully any of the students, right?” Yoseob joked.

                “Of course not!” Gayoon retorted but then the incident with Jongin quickly made its rerun through her thoughts. She winced at the memory.

                “Uh huh.” Jongin’s overly annoying face was now etched in her mind. She buried her head in the arm of the sofa before she put the phone to her ear again.

                “Why are you calling?” Gayoon swiftly shifted the attention to him.

                “A person can’t call his friend to ask how their first day on the job was?”

                “Do you want something from me?” she interrogated.

                “Food,” he reasserted in which he managed to receive a small laugh from Gayoon.

                “Tomorrow?” she said with a smile.

                “Tomorrow?” he repeated her, not really sure by what she meant.

                “Do you want me to buy you dinner tomorrow?” she clarified.

                “No take backs,” Yoseob wasted no time to secure the offer.

                “But it’ll have to be after work,” Gayoon reminded a too enthusiastic Yoseob.

                “Of course! And I’ll even pick you up,” Yoseob assured.

                “Don’t forget then.”

                “I won’t. I’ll see you tomorrow Gayoon. Goodnight.”

                The excitement was evident in his voice.

                “Goodnight.”

                It was almost 12 by the time Gayoon ended the conversation with Yoseob and hung up the phone. She felt more at ease, but exhaustion has replaced the frustration. Her eyelids were beginning to feel heavy as it was harder for her to keep her eyes open for long. By the time she hit the comfort of her bed, she was completely drained of energy; it didn’t take long for her to fall asleep.

                Gayoon felt like she had barely slept a wink when the sound of alarm clock went off in the morning; she immediately regretted staying up until 12 am. The night passed just as fast as she had fallen asleep; the exhaustion had knocked her out completely. She groaned unpleasantly as she forced herself to sit up in her bed.

                “It’s a new day,” she mumbled to herself, still half-asleep.

                “Rise and shine!” an enthusiastic Jiyoon came through the door with a spatula in her hand.

                Jiyoon was always an early riser and Gayoon had always thought that Jiyoon was a little bit crazy for waking up so early in the morning. Even after all this time, Gayoon still find Jiyoon amazing, but even now she would only receive Jiyoon with a groan in the morning.

                Jiyoon simply smiled and said, “I’m making pancakes,” before she returned to the kitchen leaving Gayoon alone in the room once again.

                When the sweet aroma of syrup and pancakes traveled from the kitchen to finally reach their bedroom, Gayoon smiled at the thought of food and finally put in the effort to get out of her warm, comfy bed. She headed towards the bathroom to get ready for the day with more eagerness and determination. This time, she was ready for whatever came her way.