A knock on the door made the girl that had her eyes focused on the laptop screen look up. Her eyes fell on a brunette girl that stood in her doorway, a tired smile was on the brunette’s lips, and her hand rose up and gave the girl by the computer a small wave.

The girl by the computer slowly let her hands go up to her ears to remove the headphones that were covering them. Her eyes continued to stare at the girl by the door, and before she knew it a smile graced her lips and she smiled warmly and welcomingly at the brunette that now entered her room after she had closed the door after her.

When the brunette had made herself comfortable on the bed in the room the other girl that had been sitting by her desk turned to fully face her. They continued to look at each other before the girl by the desk broke the eye contact and looked down at the watch around her wrist.

“So, two months, and you’re back?” She asked and looked up at the other girl. The brunette only nodded her head in answer. “Why?”

A sigh left the brunette’s lips and she leaned back on her hands. She bent her head back and looked up at the white ceiling of the room.

“I had a feeling I should go back.” She said and returned her focus on the girl by the desk. The other girl nodded her head and glanced at her laptop before she looked back at the brunette.

“And?” She asked as she felt it was more to what the girl had said.

“My dad won’t be paying for the education Sulli wants.” She said and smiled tiredly.

“Ah,” The girl by the desk nodded her head and let her eyes go back to the laptop screen. The two girls sat in silence for a while before she finally turned back to the girl on the bed.

“What about your mom?” She asked. The brunette shook her head and a knowing look appeared on the other girl’s face as she nodded her head. “Can’t your brothers help out?”

A sour look appeared on the brunette’s face and she shook her head in answer. “No, those incompetent idiots can’t even earn a living for themselves.” She said.

A small smile appeared on the other girl’s lips and she nodded her head. “True,” She said and kept her eyes on the brunette on her bed.

“So you’re back to do what? Work? Go back to school?” She asked later on. Another tired sigh left the brunette and she lied down on the bed with her arms outstretched to the sides of her body.

“Go back to school and hope I’ll find a part-time job so I can save money for Sulli’s education.” The girl on the bed said. The girl by the desk nodded her head understanding.

“Just tell me if you need help. I have contacts, you know.”

A smile graced the brunette’s lips and she nodded her head. “Thanks, Sunny, but I’ll try to find a job on my own first.” She said.

“That’s why I said if you need help.” Sunny said and smiled. She turned back to her computer and resumed what she had been doing before her friend that had been away for two months had suddenly showed up.

Silence filled between them. Sunny was concentrating on what she was doing on her computer while the girl on her bed was lost in thoughts about the place she had come back to. She knew that if she’s going back to school it would be good for her to do that tomorrow as she already had missed so much of the semester so she had a lot to catch up with.

“Taeyeon, are you staying for dinner?” Sunny asked and broke the silence that had been filled between them. Taeyeon shifted in her position on the bed so she could look at the girl that was seated by the desk.

“Will your mom even let me go if she’s making dinner now?” Taeyeon asked back. The girl by the desk smiled and shook her head.

“No, she won’t.”

Taeyeon smiled and moved to a more comfortable position on the bed. The sound of Sunny’s finger quickly typing something on the computer filled the room, and Taeyeon was filled with the feeling of familiarity and calmness as she heard it.

“If you meet Miyoung tomorrow she’s going to kill you.” Sunny suddenly said. Taeyeon opened her eyes, a small smile graced her lips and she nodded her head even though Sunny couldn’t see her.

“I know.” She said and reclosed her eyes and let her mind go back to that calm state it had been in before Sunny had blurted out her statement about the Miyoung girl.



---



She could feel eyes on her as she walked through the hallway. Her grip on the shoulder strap to her backpack tightened and she fought the urge to look around her. She knew it was better to ignore the stares, better to not show you’re intimidated by them. It’s better to show them you don’t care; eventually they will leave you alone.

She finally reached the classroom which felt like it had taken forever. She inhaled and exhaled slowly before she twisted the doorknob and opened the door and stepped inside. The teacher that stood by the whiteboard in the middle of teaching, stopped in his action and turned towards the person that had entered, like every one of his students did.

Taeyeon bowed towards him, trying to not show how nervous she was to show up in school after two months of being absent.

“Ah, Kim, you can take a seat. Good to see you back.” The teacher’s calm voice said. Taeyeon didn’t respond and focused on having her head high, and looking as confident as she could when she made her way to her seat. She could see her classmates staring surprised at her, and the closer she got to her seat, the wider eyes the girl that sat by the desk beside hers got.

“Hi,” Taeyeon meekly said to the girl before she took a seat by her desk. When she was seated the teacher continued on with the lesson which made a few students turn their attention away from Taeyeon, which was to her a relief.

She felt that the girl beside her was still looking at her. She slowly turned her head that way and saw that the surprised expression had turned into a furious one, which wasn’t less expected of her close friend. Taeyeon mustered up an apologetically smile, but the smile didn’t do anything to calm the other girl. She continued to send dagger towards her which Taeyeon had to suffer from the rest of the lesson.



---



“I’m really sorry!” Taeyeon exclaimed but felt the hit against her shoulder. The next punch landed on her arm and she turned away from the girl that was throwing blows at her, but that only made her get hit in the back. She tried to escape from the girl’s wrath but she got captured by the girl that seemed to have turned into the Hulk by the strength she was using.

“Tiffany I said I was sorry!” Taeyeon shouted when she got hit once again.

“Sorry?! You think sorry will make up for your disappearance for two months? Two months without any call, or any news about your whereabouts. I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD FOR A MOMENT!” Tiffany shouted.

Taeyeon screwed her eyes shut by the loud voice. She was pretty sure the students outside of the classroom probably had heard the girl, but that wasn’t something she had time to care about now, she had to focus on dodging the incoming fists and slaps Tiffany was still showering her with.

“A hug and a welcome back would have been enough.” Taeyeon said and covered her head as Tiffany aimed for it.

“ you Kim Taeyeon. I hate you so much right now! I was worried sick about you!” Tiffany said and hit Taeyeon once again.

“You don’t even let me explain why I left!” Taeyeon shouted as Tiffany still hadn’t stopped hitting her.

“If you told me before you left I wouldn’t have been that worried!” Tiffany shouted.

Taeyeon tried to escape from Tiffany’s hands once again and this time she managed to get to the other side of the desk which put enough distance between her and the other girl for her to not get hit. The dark brown haired girl was panting had her face flushed red by anger. Taeyeon proceeded to rub all the sore spots that had appeared on her body after all the hits she had received from the other girl.

“I’m sorry, Miyoung-ah. I- “ Taeyeon stopped as she saw Tiffany only got more angry. She bit her lower lip and moved to the opposite way as she saw Tiffany making her way towards her.

“Okay, okay, Tiffany, I’m sorry. Let me explain.” Taeyeon said and ran to the other side of the classroom and positioned herself behind the other desks to get as much distance between her and Tiffany as possible.

“What can an explanation possible do now?” Tiffany asked through clenched teeth.

“Make you understand why I left and make you less angry?” Taeyeon suggested and moved around the desk as Tiffany now had come to the other side of the classroom and was on her way to the side of the desk Taeyeon was standing at.

“If you told me two months ago I’d have cared, but now I don’t!” Tiffany shouted and grabbed a book that was lying on one of the desks and lifted it up like she was going to throw it.

“Aaaah, don’t throw other people’s books!” Taeyeon said and held up both hands in front of her. To her relief lowered Tiffany the hand with the book and placed it back on the desk she had taken it from.  She let out a sigh of relief and watched as Tiffany made her way back to their desks instead.

“Then I’ll throw your books!” Tiffany said and took the history book she found in Taeyeon’s bag. Taeyeon’s eyes widened and she tried to quickly make up her mind whether she should catch the book or jump out of the way from it. When she saw the book coming flying her way she decided to catch it and try to make her way towards the other girl before she threw more of her possessions at her.

“Please, Tiffany, don’t throw things around.” Taeyeon made her way towards the girl and grabbed the book Tiffany had grabbed and managed to get it out of her grip. The two girls wrestled for a while before Taeyeon had managed to make Tiffany sit down on a chair and she too plopped down on the chair beside her while still clutching to the history book she had had in her hand since Tiffany had thrown it at her.

A sigh left the brunette lips and she placed the book on the desk beside her before she turned to the other girl that sat with her arms crossed and a frown on her lips. Taeyeon looked apologetically at her and glanced at the book before she looked up at her once again.

“See it from the bright side, I didn’t leave for good.” Taeyeon said in hope of making the other girl feel better.

“I thought you had.” Tiffany mumbled and looked off to the side.

Taeyeon clamped shut and looked down on the floor. She moved her feet to the side and to the other side before she managed to look up at the other girl that still wasn’t looking at her.

“I can understand that you’re mad at me. But you see, I didn’t want to be here anymore.”

“I know you didn’t. You always said you wanted to run away, and I thought if you did you’d at least tell me first. But did you? No, you just left without telling anyone where you went! I thought about calling the police but Sunny said it was no use.” Tiffany said still without looking at Taeyeon. Taeyeon only nodded her head understanding.

“I’m sorry.”

“Stop saying that. It’ll lose its meaning if you say it too much.”

“But I mean it.”

“Then you should only need to say it one time!”

Taeyeon clamped shut and looked down on the floor again. Silence filled between them and the only sound that was heard was from the students that were outside the classroom and the clock that was hanging on the wall above the door to the room.

Taeyeon glanced at Tiffany once again but saw Tiffany still looked as angry as before and decided it was better to be quiet and not say anything as she would probably just anger the girl even more. A sigh left her lips and she looked at the history book beside her. Her eyebrows furrowed at the realization she had a lot to catch up with, and without asking she knew the girl seated in front of her wouldn’t help her.

A knock on the door of the classroom broke Taeyeon’s train of thought and she and Tiffany looked up towards the female that had entered the classroom. Taeyeon blinked confused to what the girl was doing here as she had never seen her in their classroom before, but she knew for a fact she went to this school. The blonde hair the girl had stood out among other students in the school.

“Am I interrupting?” The blonde girl asked and looked from Taeyeon to Tiffany. Taeyeon looked from the blonde girl to Tiffany that was shaking her head in answer to the girl’s question.

“No, you aren’t.” Tiffany answered and stood up from her seat.

“Ah, good. I was going to see if you would eat lunch with Hyoyeon and me.” The blonde girl said and pointed outside the classroom where Taeyeon thought the Hyoyeon girl was probably waiting.

“Yeah, if it’s okay with you two.” Tiffany said and made her way to the blonde girl.

“I wouldn’t have come and asked you if it wasn’t okay with us.” The blonde girl said and laughed.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” Tiffany said and went out of the classroom. The blonde looked back at Taeyeon that was left in the room, and without asking anything or saying anything else she followed Tiffany out and Taeyeon was left in the classroom.

When she heard the door to the classroom closed Taeyeon leaned back in her seat and let out a sigh. She didn’t know if it was good or bad that Tiffany left with those girls, but she hoped that Tiffany at least would calm down after she had eaten.  

Her eyes went to the history book that was on the desk. She looked at it for a few seconds before she finally reached her hand towards it and opened the book to the middle page. Her eyebrows furrowed and she closed it again with a sigh. The mere thought about studying made her sick to the stomach. She looked up at the clock in the room and calculated how much time she had left of her lunch break before classes starts again. Seeing how much time she had left of her break she decided she would just stay in the classroom and rest for the rest of the break.



---



“Class dismissed.” The teacher said and watched as the students began gathering their things and started walk out of the classroom. It was their last class for the day and most of them would probably go home now.

Taeyeon remained seated in her seat and slowly gathered her things. Tiffany’s seat beside her was already empty as the girl had gathered her things fast and left the classroom, giving Taeyeon no chance to talk to her. Taeyeon didn’t blame her either, she understood why Tiffany did it. She had known the girl long enough to know how Tiffany’s mind worked.

The classroom was slowly beginning to get empty with students. Taeyeon figured it would be best for her to leave as well and stood up from her seat to leave, but before she could even move away from her seat the teacher came up to her and stopped her from going.

“May I speak with you for a while?” The teacher kindly asked and smiled. Taeyeon looked after the two last students in the classroom that was on their way out before she turned back to the teacher and gave him a nod in answer. He smiled at her and turned around towards the two leaving students.

“Can you please close the door when you leave?” He asked them.

“Okay!” One of them responded before they exited the classroom and closed the door after them. The room was filled with silence; the only sound that was heard was the low chattering from students passing by in the hallway.

Taeyeon looked up at her teacher that took a seat in the seat beside hers. He placed the folder he had been carrying in his hand on the desk beside him before he turned to fully face the student he hadn’t seen for a while. Taeyeon remained quiet as she waited for her teacher to say something, she didn’t even shoot him a questioning look when he just sat there and didn’t say anything.

“So, how does it feel to be back?” The teacher finally broke the silence between them.  Taeyeon looked away from the man when the question had been dropped. She fidgeted in her seat as she tried to come up with an answer. But what was there to say than the truth?

“It feels strange.” Taeyeon replied without looking at the teacher.

“I can understand that. You were gone for quite some time.” The teacher said. “So, how are you feeling in general?”

Taeyeon looked up when the unexpected question had been asked.  She searched the teacher’s face for a reason to ask the question, but she couldn’t find one.

“I noticed that you were down before you left, I wanted to talk to you, but I was afraid you’d get upset if I approached you. Then you disappeared, and I got quite worried something had happened. I asked Ms. Hwang if she knew what had happened to you, but she said she had no idea.” The teacher explained.

Taeyeon looked surprised at him when he had told her her reason. She slowly nodded her head, still surprised that he had even noticed that she had been down. Because she had been, she had been really down before she had left.

“Ms. Hwang was quite worried about you when you had disappeared. She didn’t attend school for a few days, I thought she also had left, but then I heard students say she had been searching for you. Your friend cares a lot about you.”

Taeyeon clenched her teeth and clutched the strap of her backpack. She was aware of how much Tiffany cares about her, even though the girl had strange ways in showing it, but she knew Tiffany cared a lot. So much that the girl easily got hurt, and Taeyeon was feeling guilty as she knew she was the cause for Tiffany’s pain a lot of the times.

“I know,” Taeyeon answered. She glanced at her teacher and noticed he had an understanding look in his eyes. She averted her gaze away from him and focused her eyes on the wall instead.

“But, I’m not going to talk more about that. I should act like a teacher now and tell you about the things that you’ve missed.” The teacher said and grabbed the folder on the desk beside him. Taeyeon returned her focus on the teacher and saw him take out a few papers from the folder and held them out towards her.

“There’s a few things you have to do otherwise you won’t be getting a grade, but with the other things I think I can come up with a compromise that will fit for you, me and the principle.” The teacher said and watched as Taeyeon read through the documents he had handed her. When he saw her eyes widened he smiled and let out a small chuckle.

“If you thought it would be easy to catch up when you’ve skipped school for two months you thought wrong.” He said.

Taeyeon looked up from the papers in her hands. was slightly opened and she looked disapprovingly at the papers with all the assignments she would have to do to catch up. She was mentally beating herself up for being away for so long when she realized the consequences for it.



---



A sigh left the girl’s lips as she entered the apartment. She could hear the sound from the TV from the living room and she started to make her way there. She stopped in the doorway to the living room, her eyes landed on the woman that was sitting on the armchair, her eyes glued to the TV screen, a half filled wine glass was in her hand.

A frown appeared on Taeyeon’s lips upon the sight. Two months away and she gets home only to see nothing had changed. She coughed which earned her the attention of the woman in the living room. The woman stared at her with unfocused eyes. Taeyeon could see the woman was already affected by the alcohol from the wine.

“Hi.” The woman said and turned back to the TV screen. Taeyeon continued to stare at the woman for a while before she turned away.

“Hi, mom.” She mumbled and made her way towards her room.

She went inside the room and closed the door after her. A sigh escaped her lips and she made her way towards her desk and slumped down in the desk chair. She spun the chair around, dropping her backpack to the floor, and faced the laptop on the desk surface.

She hadn’t touched the gadget for two months. She had survived two months without a computer or internet. It’s strange as some teenagers nowadays wouldn’t last a day without it. A small smile appeared on her lips upon the thought and she opened the laptop and turned it on. She had tons of things she had to do to catch up with her school work. Repeating one year wasn’t an option for her right now.

Seeing the laptop had started without any problem she reached for her backpack and took out the necessary things she needed for the first assignment she had to start with. History. She liked the history subject. But the teacher made it so boring she could barely stay awake in the classes.  

Her eyes looked at the paper she had received from her class teacher. Seeing what her assignment had to be about a frown appeared on her lips and she sighed.

Boring. She thought and opened a Word document and her history book. She read the first three paragraphs of the chapter she had to read in the history book before she dropped it and leaned her head backwards.

Why is he making such a fun subject so boring? She thought.

Her ears caught the sound of steps. She straightened up in her pose and turned towards the door of her room that opened. The brown haired woman that had been seated in the living room when she got home stood in the doorway. Taeyeon didn’t say anything and just waited for her mother to say something.

“You’re home?” Her mother asked.

“Yes.” Taeyeon answered shortly.

“When did you get home?”

Taeyeon turned towards the computer and checked the time before she looked back at her mother. “Twenty minutes ago.” Taeyeon answered. She observed her mother to see if she would react by the answer. But the woman only nodded her head.

“Okay, will you be making dinner?” The woman asked and glanced at her daughter.

“Do we have anything to make food with?” Taeyeon asked back.

“I don’t know. You have to check for yourself.” Her mother replied annoyed and turned to leave without closing the door.

A sigh escaped Taeyeon’s lips and she turned back to her laptop screen. She stared at it for a few minutes before she decided she had to leave her assignment for another time.

She turned off the laptop and gathered her book and paper and put it beside it before she stood up from her seat and made her way towards the kitchen. Her mind told her there wasn’t any food, but she had to check the refrigerator what actually was inside. Her brain told her it would probably be expired things which would lead to her having to clean. But she knew if she didn’t do it now it wouldn’t get done.



---



Just as she had predicted there had been mostly expired things in the refrigerator. She had however found some noodles in one of the cupboards, and some cereals, but definitely not enough to make a dinner for two. But who makes dinner with cereals and noodles? She had written a list of things she needs to buy, but she figured that with the money she had she wouldn’t be able to buy everything now.

A sigh left Taeyeon’s lips as she looked at the list. She made a circle around the things she thought were the most important things she had to buy today. The other things had to wait for another time. Her hand folded the piece of paper and put it in her jeans pocket before she turned to the kitchen table. Her eyes landed on the wallet on the table which made her raise her eyebrow. She glanced towards the living room before she looked back at the wallet. Her teeth bit down on her lower lip before she made her way towards it.

She checked how much money that were inside. She concluded it wasn’t enough to buy all the things on the list, but she calculated she could at least buy some more things if she borrowed some of the money from there. Her hand reached inside the wallet and took out some of the money bills before she made her way towards the living room where her mother was.

“I borrow some of your money to buy food.” Taeyeon stated and waved the money bills she had taken out of her mother’s wallet.

“Yeah, will you make dinner soon?” Her mother asked without tearing her eyes away from the TV.

“When I get back.” Taeyeon responded and put the money in her own wallet.

“Get back soon.”

“I’ll.” Taeyeon replied and put on her shoes and made her way out of the apartment and locked the door before she went down the stairs and out of the apartment complex.



---



She dropped the milk cartoon into the basket where the other things she would buy were. Her eyes looked down on the list she had in her hand, reading the next thing on it. A sigh left her lips and she made her way towards the aisle she knew the store had the noodles and rice. She found the cheapest rice and noodles there and put them in the basket as well.

She shifted her hold on the basket before she started to make her way towards the aisle with toilet paper. On her way there she saw a familiar girl with blonde short hair. The girl had noticed her too and had a smile on her face as she waved towards her. Taeyeon nodded towards the girl to signal she had noticed her as she made her way towards her.

“Yo!” Sunny said when Taeyeon had stopped in front of her. “Shopping I see. For your mom?” Sunny asked and looked down in the basket in Taeyeon’s hand.

“Yeah, we had nothing home.” Taeyeon replied and looked at the list in her hand. The short haired blonde managed to catch a glimpse of the list as well and looked at the brunette girl beside her.

“Do you need money?” Sunny asked and observed the brown haired girl.

“No, I’ll be fine.” Taeyeon said and began walking towards the aisle of toilet papers with Sunny walking beside her.

“You know you can borrow if you wa–“

“It’s okay, Sunny. Thanks, but I’ll be fine with my own.” Taeyeon told the blonde and stopped by the aisle she had been about to walk to. Sunny said no more and watched as Taeyeon took some cheap toilet paper and continued her way towards the bread.

The brunette and blonde girl walked in silence around the store. Occasionally Sunny would great some familiar people she bumped into on her way but Taeyeon reminded quiet and focused on the task she had to do. She finally arrived where the store kept the bread. She searched for something that would be cheap while Sunny waited by the side. When she finally had found was she was looking for she made her way towards the cashier with Sunny walking after her.

Taeyeon glanced at the other girl beside her as she walked. She stopped when she had reached the cue and turned towards the short haired blonde.

“Aren’t you going to buy something?” The brunette asked.

A smile appeared no Sunny’s lips and she held up a bottle of coca cola. A knowing look appeared on Taeyeon’s face and she turned towards the cue. Noticing it was her turn she began putting all the things on the conveyor belt before she took out the money out of her pocket and stopped in front of the cashier. The cashier told her the amount of money she had to pay and Taeyeon handed the cashier her money and took the change she got back before she went to pack her groceries.

When Sunny had paid for her things she went to help Taeyeon pack her things and the two girls walked out of the grocery store together. They stopped outside of it and turned towards each other.

“Are you going home?” Sunny asked.

“Yeah, I have to cook dinner for my mom.” Taeyeon said and shifted the plastic bags she was carrying. Sunny nodded understanding.

“Okay, you know where to find me if you want to talk.” Sunny reminded the girl.

“Yeah, I know.” Taeyeon said and turned around. “Bye.” She said and began walking towards the direction her home was.

“Good bye!”

Taeyeon didn’t turn around to when Sunny bid her goodbye. She continued to walk while she tried to come up with something she could cook for dinner. She figured she was too tired to make something big and decided it would be noodles with some meat or something that would be easy to cook.