The time Soojung reached 23, Myungsoo asked her to be his life partner.

It was a cold morning in Seoul as the students of Seoul National University still happily enjoying their sleep in the dorm while wrapping themselves in a blanket to prevent the cold. The exam weeks were already over. Some of the students already left the dorm to meet with their loved ones and celebrating christmas together. But not for the resident of the room 304 though. They were still staying in the dorm because they didn’t want to be stuck in the traffic rush of holiday. They prefer to stay in the dorm and wait until the rush to end, or at least toned down a little bit.

Myungsoo opened his eyes as he heard the sound of his alarm blaring through the room. Myungsoo took his phone from the night stand and unlocked it to see what time it is. Still 7.30 AM. Too early to wake up on a holiday like that. He snoozed up the alarm and put his phone back on the table beside his bed. He closed his eyes again and tried to let the drowsiness to take him into sleep again. Five minutes later, the alarm blasted through the room again. Myungsoo decided to ignore it. Nothing could bother his sleep. He was awaken again by the sound of his roommate grunting and mumbling something that he couldn’t catch.

“Why do you have to be so annoying...” Myungsoo’s roommate said as he climbed down the top bunk of the bed to get Myungsoo’s phone. Myungsoo didn’t care about what his roommate said and continued on crawling under the blanket.

“Myungsoo-yah,” said the roommate. He shook Myungsoo’s shoulder, trying to wake him up. His effort on waking Myungsoo up ended up in a failure as Myungsoo said, “Go away, Sungyeol-ah…”

Sungyeol only sighed and he exited the room to get his morning shower. Sungyeol was the type of hygiene freak so eventhough it’s super cold outside, he would still take his morning shower so that he could do his routine activities with a fresh feeling. He thanked Myungsoo on the holiday though because on daily days, he would fight with Myungsoo to get first shower. And with the holiday Myungsoo, he didn’t need to worry about that anymore since Myungsoo was a sleepyhead during the winter holiday thanks to the cold and snow.

Sungyeol met Myungsoo when they were first admitted to the university. Being far away from home, they decided to take the university’s dorm as their place to stay. Never Sungyeol thought that Myungsoo would be his roommate because they were from two different departments. Myungsoo were studying in the Department of Law and Sungyeol were in the Department of Political Science and International Relations. The day they first met in the dorm was notably the most awkward day that Sungyeol had ever experienced. Myungsoo was practically not talking to him after they greeted each other and busy reading his law books, which was a lot. The next day, Sungyeol decided to lessen the awkwardness by making both of them a toast for breakfast. While eating he asked Myungsoo some basic questions like where did he come from, why did he choose law as his major, which high school did he study at, etc. Myungsoo gladly answered all of Sungyeol’s questions while eating his toast. That morning, he found out that Myungsoo chose to major in law because he thought that justice field blood ran in his family, well except for his older brother who chose to be an engineer and science prodigy instead. Sungyeol also learnt that Myungsoo had a girlfriend who currently studied at KAIST. Her girlfriend took a biology major there. Myungsoo asked back some questions to Sungyeol in which Sungyeol answered calmly. Sungyeol was from a high ranking family since his father was a congressman. His father demanded that Sungyeol had to go the best school in the country. And so he did since he was a little. He always tried to get a good grades every semester not only to enroll in the best school again afterwards, but to impress his father also. He was lonely since his father wouldn’t be home much with his job and his mother would always accompany him. That’s why in college he chose to stay in the dorm instead of in his big house. Myungsoo patted Sungyeol’s shoulder as he said that at least he had company in the dorm and for him to never hesitate to ask him questions. Little did they knew, they somewhat became the closest friends. Whenever Myungsoo was not busy, he always spend his time with Sungyeol. Their activities varies from playing Xbox together or hanging out in the nearest restaurants.

Twenty minutes later, Sungyeol had finished his morning shower. He put some clothes on and entered his shared bedroom again. Myungsoo was already awake at the moment, sitting on his bed while rubbing his eyes. Sungyeol looked at himself in the mirror. He combed his hair when he heard Myungsoo asked, “How much time do you think it will take me to get to the train station?”

Sungyeol put down his comb as he felt that his hair was already tidy enough and then he looked at his roommate, confused. “I don’t know. Maybe with the holiday traffic rush it’ll take you about twenty minutes? It sounds ridiculous right considering on how close it is from our college.”

Myungsoo sighed and got up from his bed. He picked up his cell phone to see what time it is again. It’s 8AM. He still got some time to prepare himself before he had to leave to the train station. He opened up his cupboard and pulled out a brown trench coat and a white scarf, then he put it in the big gift box that he already prepared. He took a seat in front of his study desk and put out some greeting card from his stack of books. He was about to write when he felt his roommate’s presence beside him. He turned to look at his roommate, “What are you doing?”

“What are you doing?” asked Sungyeol back. Myungsoo almost face palmed himself at his friend’s action. He might be from a rich family and not to mention that he’s a smart student too, yet sometimes Myungsoo couldn’t understand his dumbness. Sungyeol never showed his dumbness in front of someone except Myungsoo. Basically because he lived with Myungsoo and he spend his time with Myungsoo most of the time.

“I’m going to write a greeting card. Didn’t you see it?” Myungsoo chose to ignore his friend afterwards and proceed to write the greeting card. He smiled at himself as he wrote down some cheesy words in the card. How could he be this cheesy? Myungsoo blamed Sungyeol and his weekend cable dramas. When he had finished, he put the box and the card in a big paper bag and put the bag on his desk.

Sungyeol on the other hand was busy texting with his brother, asked how he was and said that he would come home soon. His brother, Daeyeol, was still a high schooler in his senior year. His brother often visited him in the dorm because he couldn’t stand being alone in the home, just like Sungyeol. Myungsoo took a like at Daeyeol because he’s as cheerful as Sungyeol, and together they made a great combination of prankster. One time when Daeyeol was coming to the dorm in the dawn, he together with his brother pranked Myungsoo by putting a cream on the hand of sleeping Myungsoo. Sungyeol knew that Myungsoo would always rub his face when he woke up. Sungyeol felt very ecstatic with the thought of Myungsoo waking up with cream all over his face.

Myungsoo went to the bathroom and took a quick shower. Once he was done with the shower, he put his clothes on and went to the main room. He saw Sungyeol already fixed his eyes on the TV as he drank the coffee on his hand. “Yeol-ah, I will go later,” said Myungsoo. He took a seat beside Sungyeol and picked up the TV remote control. Sungyeol put down his cup and stared at his friend confused, “Why? I thought you said you wouldn’t leave until the 23rd?”

“I won’t be going to my home today. I will be going to Daejeon later.” Myungsoo smiled as he found himself a suitable show for him to watch.

Sungyeol knew if Myungsoo said that he would be going to Daejeon it could only mean one thing. He was going to visit his girlfriend at KAIST. It was cute Sungyeol thought. They would take turn to visit one another. It would be Myungsoo who went to KAIST or Soojung who went to SNU. Sungyeol couldn’t forget the first impression that he got when Soojung visited them. Damn, how could his friend could get such a beautiful girlfriend like that? “Ah, you’re going to visit Soojung.” Sungyeol took no interest in watching the show that Myungsoo currently watching.

“Yeah. I will be going home late tonight though. And I might have a dinner with her too so don’t wait for me.”

Sungyeol laughed at his friend’s statement. “It’s not like I’m your boyfriend who you cheated on some beautiful girl in Daejeon.” Sungyeol slurped down his coffee again. “It’s cute to think that you’ve been dating her for 5 years already. It’s also funny to think that you could be all cheerful and cheesy when it comes to Soojung.”

“What do you mean? I’m always cheerful.”

Sungyeol rolled his eyes. “Oh, come on, Myungsoo-yah. Don’t act like I didn’t watch your debate competition a year ago.”

Ah, that one Myungsoo remembered. He got the ‘cold guy’ nickname from that competition. “You looked like you were about to swallow the other competitors as a whole. You were so fierce and cold that time. I couldn’t forget how the girl who sat beside me shuddered as you stared at the other competitors. So much for a cheerful person.”

Myungsoo hit his friend in the shoulder before standing up to take his bag and the gift in the bedroom. Sungyeol just laughed at the action and continued on enjoying his morning coffee while watching TV. Myungsoo put his black coat on and headed towards the shoe racks. He saw a white with black stripes Nike shoes in the rack. It was still so clean and Myungsoo could deduce that it’s a new shoes. And it must be Sungyeol’s since Myungsoo  couldn’t recklessly spend his money on buying an expensive new shoes. While looking at that shoes, the thought of how Sungyeol already countlessly pranked him ran across his mind. He picked the shoes up from the rack and putting it on his feet. Myungsoo thought that one time use won’t hurt and Sungyeol wouldn’t mind. That guy lacked some common sense anyway and so Myungsoo walked out of the room with Sungyeol’s shoes on. “I’m going,” Myungsoo said. Sungyeol with his eyes still fixated on the TV only said yes before Myungsoo closed the door.

The coldness of late December winter’s hit his entire body as he walked out of the building to the outside. He figured that he would take a breakfast first at the nearest food stall before riding a bus to the train station. He took a seat by himself in the food stall and he ordered some kimbap for him to eat and a hot tea. As he ate alone, he saw the people that walked across the food stall. He could see some couples linking their arms together in the guy’s pocket and the boyfriend would hold the girl so that the girl didn’t catch a cold. He wanted to do that too of course. But his and Soojung’s busy schedule wouldn’t allow them to do so. Myungsoo knew the risk when he was admitted to SNU and Soojung got into KAIST. They were apart from each other for three years already. He couldn’t believe that time fled so fast and yet they were still dating. Maybe he didn’t have the thought to last for at least three more years with her when he sent Soojung to Daejeon in the train station. They both didn’t cry at that moment and instead Soojung complained on how far Daejeon is from Seoul and how much did it cost to take a train ride from Daejeon to Seoul.

Myungsoo already called Soojung two days ago that he will go to Daejeon to visit her today. Soojung was very happy to hear the news and said that they had to go to dinner together in which Myungsoo accepted gladly. He joked about how hard it is to get the ticket and how expensive it is to Soojung. When the tone of Soojung’s voice started to be worried, he immediately said that it’s okay and it only took him a couple of minutes to order the ticket. And so Soojung responded Myungsoo’s answer with a hang up.

When he finished his breakfast, he took a sip of the hot tea and let the warmness of the tea going down through his body. He paid for the food and went to the nearest bus station. He smiled at his surroundings. He couldn’t be much happier now because he would get to see his lover in a couple of hours. How much did it take for Myungsoo to visit Soojung since her last visit to Seoul? About 6 months maybe? They all went to a some kind of family dinner with Sunggyu when Soojung stayed in Seoul for her summer holiday. They had a road trip then since Myungsoo already got his license to drive and with Sunggyu’s car they went to the beach.

The memories that flooded his mind made him more excited for the visit. Myungsoo couldn’t wait to see her again.

Soon. He thought.

Soojung was sitting in front of her desk as she stared to the window. Her laptop was wide open in front of her. She was trying to finish her worksheet before she had to go back to her house in the 22nd. She needed to finish it so she could spend her holiday peacefully without the thought of deadline or worksheets. Damn, she pulled an all-nighter just to finish this worksheet. She was the only person in her room right now since her roommate, Jinri, had gone back to her home. She wanted to go back to her home too but she managed to get a train ticket to home on the 22nd. Damn the holiday rush, she cursed. She was currently waiting for her boyfriend, Myungsoo, to visit her in the dorm. It’s been six months since the last time she saw him. The last time she saw him, he took a her on a road trip to the beach using his older brother’s car. They went to see the sunset and she thought that it was the best trip that she had ever went in her life.

Soojung let out a sigh of relief as she was done with her worksheets. She only had to submit it later after the holiday breaks ended. She stood up from her desk and went to her bed with her laptop. She put her laptop in front of her as she leaned down the wall with pillows. She decided to watch a movie to wait for Myungsoo to come. She looked down at her watch, it’s 11.30 AM. He should be here any sooner. His train should arrived at 11AM. Maybe he was searching for a bus ride to her university now. She chose to watch ‘Say Anything’ while waiting for him. She was never bored to watch that movie over and over again. Especially the boombox. She felt a little drowsy because she didn’t sleep last night to finish her assignments as the film still went on, but she tried to stay awake as she had to wait for Myungsoo.

Thirty minutes into the movie, Soojung heard the bell rang through her door. She got up and looked herself up in the mirror. She fixed her hair and clothes before walking to answer the bell through intercom. “Who’s this?”

“It’s me!” replied the man outside cheerfully.

“Who?” asked Soojung back jokingly. How she loved to boyfriend. Sulking Myungsoo was the cutest that she couldn’t stop teasing him every time.

“Yah, Soojung-ah. I didn’t come all the way to Daejeon just to be kicked out by you.” There he was. He was already sulking  now. Soojung tried to hold her laughter as Myungsoo nagged at her right now. “At least let me in and give me a cup of hot chocolate!”

Soojung ran to the door and opened it quick. There stood the man that she missed so much. He smiled at her and waved a bag that he hold in front of her. “I’ve bought you something.” Soojung smiled back and let Myungsoo in. Myungsoo took his coat off before hanging it on the coat hanger. He felt like he accomplished something when he took his (or Sungyeol’s) shoes off when he saw that there’s no scratch or  dirt on them. Sungyeol wouldn’t notice that Myungsoo took his shoes 166 km from Seoul. He should just put it back nicely in the shoes rack.

Soojung sat on her bed again with her laptop still on in front of her. Myungsoo put the gift bag on her desk. And when he saw that Soojung was sitting on her bed with her laptop in front of her, his eyes grew big. “Oh no, Soojung-ah. I didn’t come all the way to Daejeon just to watch ‘The Breakfast Club’ or ‘Pretty in Pink’ for the thousandth times also!”

Soojung patted the space beside her and instructed Myungsoo to sit. Myungsoo obeyed to her as he sat beside Soojung on her bed. He put some pillows behind his back and leaned on it. Myungsoo looked at her laptop’s screen and saw John Cusack in it. He knew exactly what movie they are going to watch. For God’s sake, they already watched this movie for about ten times and Soojung still wanted to watch it. Myungsoo let out a big sigh as he recognized the movie. “’Say Anything’? Again? Really?”

 Soojung threw a confused look at him and asked, “Why? This is a great movie!”

“But we already watched it ten times! Can we watch a horror movie please? I can share the blanket if you are scared…” Myungsoo stated as he didn’t intend something from the previous thing that he said. Soojung replied, “Are you kidding me? Not a chance, Myungsoo. Now watch this movie or you better spend the rest of your day outside of this building before your ride’s back arrived tonight.”

“Why don’t you want to? It’s not like the first time we cuddle.” Myungsoo . Soojung gave him a ‘Are you kidding me?’ look again before she went up from the bed and that’s when Myungsoo noticed that she was annoyed. He got a grasp of her hand before she went up and said, “Okay, okay. I will watch it with you. But, make me a hot chocolate will you? With three marshmallows. Please, please, please…” Myungsoo let his aegyo out and he knew Soojung couldn’t resist him when he’s being cute. Soojung nodded in defeat and Myungsoo let go of her hand before she disappeared to the kitchen counter.

Myungsoo chuckled as he saw his girlfriend preparing the hot chocolate. When Soojung brought back a cup of hot chocolate on her hand, Myungsoo muttered  a low ‘thank you’ as he received the hot chocolate in his hand. Soojung took a seat beside him on her bed again before clicking some buttons in her laptop to play the movie. Myungsoo was about to drink his hot chocolate when he realized that there’s something missing. “Yah, Soojung-ah.”

“What?” Soojung didn’t look interested on holding a conversation with her boyfriend after their little argument on what movie they should watch before. Her eyes was fixated on to her laptop screen as the movie started to play again.

“I clearly told you that I wanted three marshmallows right,” replied Myungsoo. “Why are there only two here?” He observed the cup that he currently hold to find if there’s any hidden marshmallow there. He actually didn’t want to blame Soojung just for a marshmallow, though.

Soojung turned to Myungsoo with a little surprised look. “Really? I must had forgotten that. Let me take—“ Myungsoo prevented Soojung from standing up again and instead standing up himself with his cup in his hand. He walked to the kitchen and when he found the marshmallow’s box, he scooped out one and put it on his cup. He stayed in the kitchen for a while. He drank his hot chocolate while looking around the room. The room was pretty simple since it was inhibited only by two college women who majored in science that mostly spent their days outside of the room. His room with Sungyeol in SNU was better than here since they rented a better room for the sake of ‘studying comfortably’. Myungsoo couldn’t blame his thought back then since he really enjoyed his dorm room at SNU now. He really got the ‘studying comfortably’ part because he mostly spent his days in his room, mostly to read the law books and regulations that he had to remember inside out or reading some cases.

He decided to stay there for a mere fifteen minutes before he walked back towards the bedroom. When he arrived there, he found Soojung sleeping on her bed with her laptop still on playing the movie. He put his cup on the desk before walking to the bed to turn off the laptop before putting it on her desk. Myungsoo moved Soojung’s sleeping body to a more comfortable position before wrapping her body with a blanket. He looked at his girlfriend’s sleeping figure for a while and a smile was plastered on his face.

Myungsoo looked around at his surroundings. The room had two beds on each side, not like his room which had one bunk bed instead. On her desk, there was so much books regarding biology whether it’s about human anatomy, animal’s respiratory system, or plant’s reproduction system. She must had studied hard, he thought. There was no way that Soojung was not a modest student whether it’s in high school or college. There was also some pictures which she pinned on the wall. A few pictures with her family or just her sister during Christmas or Chuseok holiday, a picture with her roommate Jinri, and a few pictures of them together or merely just a picture of him. A picture of them during their graduation, a picture of them during senior prom, a picture of them when they went to a ski resort, and a picture of Myungsoo when he was giving his speech as a valedictorian during their high school graduation. Soojung said that he look ridiculously handsome in the podium that all girls’ eyes were on him. Myungsoo grinned at the memories.

Myungsoo took a seat on the empty bedroom as she watched the sleeping figure of Soojung. Soojung’s sleeping figure was so innocent and looked so breakable that even when the wind blew she could be shattered. She might be a little annoying when she was awake but it all faded when she slept. It’s like seeing an innocent five year old girl playing on the playground all over again.

Myungsoo took out his phone from his pocket and saw a few messages was sent to him. Most of it was holiday greetings in which he ignored and opened a message from Sungyeol instead.

From: Yeol

I bet on 10,000 won that you were trapped with ‘The Breakfast Club’ again there. Or ‘Pretty in Pink’. Or even maybe ‘St. Elmo’s Fire’. I’ll be waiting for the money when you got back. Thank you, Mr. Cold Guy.

His friend knew Soojung’s habit too much that he even dared to make a bet on it. Soojung and Sungyeol unexpectedly went along pretty well. Soojung liked how playful and cheerful Sungyeol was and Myungsoo didn’t like it that much. Not to mention that Sungyeol was pretty good at cooking and he didn’t miss the chance to show himself off in front of Soojung when she visited them. Myungsoo felt a little annoyed at Sungyeol that time but Myungsoo’s victorious smile was back when Soojung tried to feed him in front of Sungyeol. He knew that Sungyeol was not the type of