Arriving back at the apartment, it was empty like I assumed. Hyejung must have been out at some place with Luhan and her laptop. I shook my head and threw myself on the couch to switch the TV on. I let out a sigh as I channel surfed, the silence in the entire room eating at my insides. I was used to hearing Hyejung complain about dress sizes and the old microwave in our kitchen. My thumb stopped poking at the remote after having landed on a kid's channel.

Peter Pan was playing. The familiar boy in green was in the midst of teaching Wendy and her brothers how to fly.

"All you need is a little faith, trust and pixie dust."

I laughed to myself as my thoughts immediately were thrown to Luhan and his story about his last Halloween costume as Peter Pan. I pulled my phone out of my pocket to text him.

My finger hovered above the send button hesitantly. Right. I couldn't bother him and Hyejung. When I pressed on the backspace button, the clicking sound it made annoyed me. I turned my attention back to the movie and tossed my phone to the other side of the couch. I got myself excited for no reason.

"We can fly, we can fly, we can fly!"

I imagined the comments I would make if Luhan were watching with me and I heard his responses to me in my head. Suddenly, I was wishing he was there.

I woke up from the nap I never knew I took later with a small jump. Rubbing my eyes with my palms, my mind attempted to conjure up the last thing I remember before I drifted into unconsciousness. I was watching TV, wasn’t I? As soon as my eyes focused again, they landed on to the TV that was switched off. It made me wonder if watching Peter Pan was part of my dream. The first thing my sense of touch registered was the new fabric that was lying on top of me. It was one of Hyejung’s blankets.

“Your neck is going to be sore.”

My heart almost leaped from my throat. Hyejung’s voice came from behind the kitchen’s island table. “You scared me!”

“I was just warning you. Sorry.”

Throwing my legs off the couch, I rubbed at my nape. She was right—it was sore. “Is your computer virus gone yet?”

“It is. Actually, we— Wait, how did you know?” The fork that Hyejung was beating eggs with made a clang against the bowl.

I spotted the clock hanging on the wall. It was a little over 3:00PM. “Luhan told me. I was about to ask him to hangout again, but he said he was busy with a computer virus.”

“Beat you to it this time.” She stuck her tongue out at me. “But it went as usual. You know, I’m considering faking an illness and then I’m going to confess to Luhan during my final moments only to be miraculously saved after he says he feels the same about me,” Hyejung explained with a dazed expression that said she was half on earth and half out of the world.

“We’re not living in a fairy tale,” I said, standing up to stretch. I noticed I was a little hungry again. Suddenly I was looking forward to whatever Hyejung was preparing.

“I wish. Luhan would be my Prince Charming,” she mumbled. I wondered if she was still talking to me or herself. She sounded like she was in love and still in kindergarten sometimes.

Remembering the notes that I still had to type up on my laptop, I remembered Junmyeon. I stared at Hyejung, my eyes narrowing. How many times would he have to tell me to mention him to Hyejung before I actually did it?

“Do you know Kim Junmyeon?” I asked nonchalantly, nearing where she stood with light steps.

She paused from looking through a drawer to think. “The guy who hit himself in the face with a basketball once?”

I cringed. If that was the way she remembered him... It was tough luck for Junmyeon. “Well, he’s handsome right? And smart.”

“Yeah, I think he’s cute. But, why?” Hyejung’s gaze suddenly snapped up to look me directly in the eyes after a thoughtful pause. “Do you like him?”

“No, no, no.” I shook my head at once. “But do you?”

Hyejung laughed, and it wasn’t exactly the reaction I was going for. I expected a shy giggle or outright denial. “You’re only trying to distract me so you can run around with Luhan!”

That wasn’t all true. Truthfully. Just... aside from my note-taker, Junmyeon was also a great friend. He had a way of looking out for everyone and felt some sort of duty to care for everyone’s needs. I told him I cut my finger once and he ran over with a first-aid kit like I had sawed off my finger, though it was only a paper cut. Junmyeon and Hyejung were alike like that. Whenever I was hungry, Hyejung was there and ready with food already prepared and bought, or she was personally going to cook something up herself. Just like her little gestures to put a blanket over me whenever I was asleep without one.

Instead of dissecting all this to her, however, I simply agreed with her theory. “How did you know?”

During the next few days, I hadn’t gotten in contact with Luhan—let alone see him. I was left to be wondering when my phone would ding with a text from him, though nothing had come through that was from him. I wasn’t desperate enough to call him out of the blue or desperate enough to ask one of his friends what his whereabouts were. I could bet that Hyejung knew where he was, but I couldn’t tell her about my issues of getting through to him. It would only show how much more of the downsides of the bet were weighing on me.

Eyeing Hyejung’s shiny and black car from out the window during an afternoon, it glistened like saying hello to me.

Car rights.

I was doing this for car rights. I took it as motivation to get out and just do something, and soon I was rushing down the stairs of the apartment building.

Just as I reached the bottom floor, I spotted Ms. Choi exiting her doors. Some of the dogs were crowding around her legs, looking around with their tongues hanging out with a sense of obliviousness.

“Jinah, I thought I’d run into you,” she spoke unexpectedly.

I skidded to a stop. “Did you need help with anything, Ms. Choi?”

“Actually, I do.” Ms. Choi re-entered her doors, the dogs following suit beside her, and she later came out with two leashes at her hands. “I need someone to walk these two—Yong and Nuri.”

I stared at the White Terrier and Papillon that were at once engaged in a play-fight with each other. Which one was Yong? Or Nuri? She hadn’t made it clear.

“My husky has an ear infection and I really don’t want to leave him alone,” Ms. Choi explained, gesturing inside her room. “But Yong and Nuri need walking. They’re not much trouble. Just a little jumpy. Could you be a dear and walk them?” I opened my mouth to answer, though Ms. Choi had pulled out money bills from her pocket and forced them in my hands with my palms up.

“Oh, of course I have time,” I muttered. I couldn’t really say no anyway. Ms. Choi handed me their leashes.

“Thank you so much!” She patted my cheek with her bony hand. “I’ll remember to owe you something else. Have them back as soon as you’d like.”

I was wishing her husky a get-well-soon and Ms. Choi retrieved in her room with a grateful smile after another sets of thank you’s. As her door shut in front of me, the situation I was in because more realistic to me. I was stuck with two dogs. Honestly, I wasn’t much of an animal person. I had a hamster when I was nine, but that ended in a sad funeral at my backyard. She had given me the money, and I was a little proud to realize it might have been the first amount I’ve earned myself without my mother having to send me cash from America.

I thought about Luhan and how he was the opposite. He worked to earn money for himself, and that was something admirable about him.

Yong and Nuri were running around until it looked like they were going to strangle themselves with their leashes as soon as I got on the sidewalk. The Papillon pounced and barked a high-pitched sound while the Terrier was the silent runner who avoided attacks.

“Nuri,” I called out, attempting to see which one of them would react to the name. I could tell them apart this way. None of them turned to look at me. “Yong?” I tried again.

The Terrier perked its head up at me almost questioningly. I figured the other was Nuri and he—or she—already decided to ignore my presence.   

We were passing Coffee Republic, and seeing the familiar shop, I recalled that I had been out to look for Luhan. That was the reason I was in such a hurry in the first place. Nuri attempted to swerve off into the road and I gently tugged at the line to keep the dog with me and alive. Trying to settle the dogs with a tight grip on their leashes, I dared myself to look through the glass as we passed the café. I at least tried not to be so obvious and flicked my sight away immediately. With a frown, I knew I couldn’t enter the place because I had animals with me.

A girl who entered the place eyed me strangely as I stood motionless by the door. Bending down, I reached for Yong who was closest to me and I pretended to adjust its collar as I side-eyed the café again. There was someone at the front counter as usual—not Luhan. No one was going about the place greeting everyone who came in and left either. Concluding he wasn’t there, I stood back up and tugged at the leashes as I continued the walk.

Maybe he was at the library? Quickly dismissing that thought, I was disgusted at myself for turning into some sort of stalker. I could just show up for school once in a while maybe...

Nuri barked, pulling at me with force despite being a little dog.