What's with the number three? It's an odd number. You can't divide it into two. Joohyun scratches her head in confusion. Three's a crowd, or so people say. Some even say that in a group of three friends, two will fall in love and one will feel left out. But that will never be the case with them. To them, there is no such thing as a third wheel.

A fourth year theatre arts major, a second year painting major, and a second year (foreign exchange) music major.

Diverse. But the three of them go well together like peas in a pod or more like ketchup, mayo and mustard. Or better yet like burger, fries, and coke. A combo. Yes, that's it. They're a combo. Each can be taken by itself but if taken together, it's even more enjoyable. 

Three. It could also be a magical number. And like the three bears in that story, the three of them had a home they lived in. Okay, so maybe the three bears illustration falls short of parallelism - the travel club room is far from being a home because it hardly has a functional bathroom. 

Still, it's where the three of them gather. With it's walls covered with posters and photographs, both faded and newly printed, ancient patched couches, bean bags with colors muted with age, and the single round table on the center, it has been and will always be their place.

Joohyun shifts in her seat on the couch, sandwiched between Seungwan and the arm rest. Seungwan looks at her, eyes curious.

"Should I move? Are you feeling uncomfortable, unnie?" She asks, lightly hits Seulgi, who is at her other side, to make her move.

"Ah, no. It's fine." Joohyun says but Seungwan has already turned sideways, lifting her legs up so that it drapes across Seulgi's thighs. She smiles at Joohyun as she leans back to her, her head on her lap. 

"Well, that totally ate up even more space. Thanks, Seungwan." Seulgi remarks, sarcastic, but nonetheless adjusts Seungwan's legs to a more accomodating position.

Seungwan ignores her, shakes her head from side to side like a puppy. Joohyun's hand automatically runs through her hair, caressing it mindlessly as she goes back to reading her manuscript. Seungwan closes her eyes and starts to hum as the older girl's fingers gently brush against her scalp, getting all tangled up in her locks but in a good way. 

"Guys," Seulgi suddenly speaks up. 

Neither of the two answer or give any indication that they heard her but she still continues anyway.

"Are we ever going on a trip?" Joohyun puts her reading down, looks at Seulgi. "I mean, this is the travel club but we never go anywhere."

"We need funds for that." Joohyun replies.

"Tiffany sunbaenim says we have funds." Seungwan mumbles.

"Yeah, unnie. When was the last time the club went out on a trip?" Seulgi presses on.

Joohyun purses her lips, thinks hard. What once was the most prestigious student organization in the university had ceased to live up to its name, to travel.

"The last time we went out on a trip... was the time I joined. It was during Freshman year, I think. We went to Osaka."

"That must've been cool." Seulgi comments. "We should go."

"Go where though?" Seungwan asks.

"Anywhere. To the sea. To a museum. To a park. It doesn't have to be far." Seulgi yawns. "We should just go somewhere. You know, do something we're supposed to."

"That would require a lot of planning and we can hardly hold up with our own academics." Seungwan stretches her arms, reaching for the ceiling.

"Oh, yeah." Seulgi trails off. "That's why we're here all the time." She nods in understanding.

Joohyun stays quiet, wonders if that's really the reason why. Are they really just too busy with other things? The club members have dwindled down to a handful from a hundred since the time Joohyun joined. Events or activities are no longer held whether for promotions or for fundraisers. Maybe people just got tired. Maybe they just grew up. Travelling is fun and is luxurious. University doesn't even allow the luxury of eight hours of sleep, how much more a vacation?

Joohyun is too deep in thought to notice that the half inch thick bundle of paper that is her script has been snatched out of her hand by Seungwan.

"Forget about what Seulgi said. You have a play to practice for. You're the lead role, unnie. You have to do well." She says to her, strict but by all means, cute.

"You wanna practice with me?" She asks, smiles shyly.

"Should I read the guy's lines?"

"Yeah, okay." Joohyun smiles, brings her face closer to Seungwan as she flips the pages of the script, points to where they should start reading. "You start off with 'wait'."

Seungwan nods, smiles at Joohyun as she leans away.

"Wait," She reads it the way she thinks it's supposed to be said, ignoring Seulgi who has started snickering.

"I have to go. I can't miss my plane." Joohyun reads her lines, dramatic as it should be.l

"I... I have to tell you that - wait I can't say it! It's too damn cheesy!" Seungwan exclaims, laughs hard. "Who writes these things? 'I have to tell you... please don't go because if you do, you'll be taking my heart with you'?"

"Yah! You're not helping me at all, Seungwan." Joohyun frowns.

"Seriously, unnie. How do you even pull this off without laughing on stage? It's making me cringe." Seungwan says, sits up a little. "I mean, c'mon. You try it, Seulgi."

Seulgi frowns at her but takes the script and skims through the lines.

"Oh my gosh." She exclaims. She covers with her fingers.

"See? See? Even Seulgi-"

"'I'll come back to you like the sun always comes back to rise over the hills. I'll come back to you.' I'm so glad I didn't take theatre as a major." Seulgi laughs too. Seungwan turns to Joohyun again, shakes her head at her in this belief.

Joohyun has heard and seen enough. She doesn't like having her coursework laughed at. She jabs at Seungwan's side, fingers digging into the spot by her ribcage, tickling her relentlessly even as she screams, fights and flails, throwing herself over to Seulgi's side in a low attempt to escape. 

"Stop! Stop! Unnie! I'm sorry!" Her voice comes out loud and high pitched but Joohyun pretends to not hear.

"What's that? I can't hear you!" She grabs Seungwan's arm with one hand to prevent her from blocking and uses the other to continue attacking.

"Stop! That tickles! That tickles! Seulgi, help me!" Seungwan manages to say in between laughs.

"You didn't say please!" 

"Okay, okay. Enough." Seulgi raises her voice a little, catches Joohyun's hand and, at the same time, embraces Seungwan to shield her from the older girl.

"Ah, wow. Really, Seulgi? I'm your unnie, you know." Joohyun says with a scoff.

Seungwan laughs at the offended look on Joohyun's face. She sticks her tongue out at her once before going back to lay her head on her lap. As she turns, she fails to see the wink that Seulgi sends to Joohyun and the nod that Joohyun gives Seulgi in affirmation.

"Now, Seulgi!" Joohyun's arms wrap around Seungwan's shoulders in a lock and Seulgi's hand fly to Seungwan's waist up to her sides and she's giggling and screaming for mercy yet again.

She struggles, thrashes around until she falls sideways off the couch. With a grudge, she yells her words of defeat.

"Seulgi! You traitor!"

"Sorry, Wanie. Joohyun hyung-nim's word is law." Seulgi says, faux apologetic look on her face. Joohyun laughs, beams with pride.

"I'm so gonna get you for that." Seungwan says.

"Oh, you're going to get me but not Joohyun unnie?"

"I thought you said she's Joohyun hyung-nim?" Seungwan picks herself off the floor, dusts her clothes off and settles back on the couch.

"You like her too much." Seulgi sulks, crosses her arms over her chest, forehead creasing and lips pouting.

"Oh, but I like you too, Seulgi." At this, Seulgi looks satisfied, loosens up the tight posture. "You guys are my two bestfriends." 

Seungwan hooks an arm each on their necks, pulls them close in a sideways hug. The position has their noses almost touching. Joohyun tries not to think much of it. What she does know is that she has to say something.

"Hmm, cheesy." She comments.

"Yeah, you sure sound like the one who wrote the script for Joohyun unnie's play." Seulgi agrees but she's smiling so Seungwan knows it's not a bad thing even if she has more cheese than a four-cheese pizza.

Without a word, they break off the hug. Seungwan lies back down, Joohyun leafs through her script, and Seulgi stares into space like nothing happened. But they're all smiling so widely so there is that light-hearted feeling in the air and anyone would know that they're just enjoying the moment.

A minute passes in silence where the only thing that can be heard is the ticking of the old wall clock on the far end of the room.

"Should we go out and get snacks?" Seulgi's voice rings in the room.

"Ddukbokkee?" Joohyun asks.

"Ddukbokkee." Seungwan confirms, sits up quickly and swings her legs off of Seulgi's. 

She gets up first and stretches. Joohyun tidies up her things, ready to leave too but Seulgi has trouble locating her wallet and they're held back a few minutes because of this.

"If you wanna go sooner, help me find it." Seulgi says to her friends but only Joohyun seems to hear because she springs into action but not without grumbling. 

Seungwan wanders off to the corner, eyes skimming the wall plastered with photos, maps, and posters that she and some other club members have posted from way back. She runs a finger absentmindedly on the edges of a picture of her, Joohyun, and Seulgi. In this photo, she stands between Seulgi and Joohyun like she always does, arms linked with theirs. Joohyun is smiling shyly as opposed to Seulgi whose smile could blind anyone. 

A warm feeling spreads through her chest and she smiles. Melancholy and something akin to nostalgia. She looks and she sees just how much Joohyun and Seulgi mean to her. She met Seulgi first, bumped into her during freshmen orientation. They ended up having almost all of their classes aligned. They became friends pretty quick. And then they decided to join the travel club. That's where they met Joohyun, the princess of the theatre department who is nothing like what everyone on campus says she is.

"I found it!" Seulgi raises her wallet in the air after freeing it from having wedged under the couch cushion. 

Joohyun sighs. She heads for the door, pulls it open and waves her hand back and forth, indicating for Seulgi to exit. Once Seulgi does, she turns to Seungwan who's still facing the wall.

"Seungwan-ah," Joohyun calls, holds out her hand. "Let's go?"

Seungwan looks at her, smiles and nods. She takes the offered hand and pulls at Joohyun just as the older girl checks the room for the last time. Joohyun swears something's different with that wall but she couldn't quite say what because Seungwan's fingers lace with hers. The door closes and Seulgi jumps to Seungwan's other side. Seungwan's other arm snakes around Seulgi's and they're walking side by side down the hall.

"We should really go somewhere though." 

Seungwan's voice is soft, unlike the way she usually talks and it catches both Joohyun and Seulgi's attention.

"One of these days." She adds, gives them a small smile.

Seulgi nods vigorously, smiles back brightly, eyes forming crescents.

Joohyun only watches her carefully. When she feels Seungwan squeeze her hand, something inside of her wants to say yes, wants to promise that they will go on a trip. She doesn't stop it.

"Okay, we'll go. Sounds good, Seulgi?"

"Yeah!" The younger girl agrees.

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A/N: Hey there! Thanks for subscribing! Sorry for the delay but yeah, here it is. As you can see, I've decided to divide the story in parts. Well, just sit back and see how the story goes from here. Please comment if you have the time. And Happy New Year in advance!  -Bluekimchi