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It is the start of second semester and the students around the campus are busy getting to their different buildings. The second, third and fourth year students seemed comfortable as they knew where they were going. For the first years, they were now more accustomed to how the life of a university student worked. They were not as afraid or scared of the big step into the next chapter of their lives.

It was always going to be difficult whenever there is a transition in your life- whether that be graduating from eighth grade, grade twelve or even graduating from the four years at a post-secondary institute.

Stepping into high school was a new experience because all the friends you had grown up with for the majority of your childhood may not have gone to the same high school you were. It was difficult because you did not know most of the people walking the same hallways as you everyday. It was difficult because you did not know where and how you would fit in sometimes.

However, once you reach your senior year of high school, everything starts falling into place. You realize what it is that you want to continue studying and you step forward to pursue that dream. Even then, you may not be together with the friends that you have now made in high school.

High school is an awkward stage in our lives. We begin feeling the pressure of having to get good grades or else we would not make it into higher education. We feel the pressure of making sure we did not stand out and become the new object of gossip for everyone. We had to feel the pressure of growing up.

But that was all okay because in some form or another, we had support. Your friends, your family, your teachers and even your parents- whom I can safely say that we have all gotten mad at for no reason. Honestly, parents should get more credit sometimes.

We have to endure at least seven hours of classes each day for four years in a row. We have to smile to the teachers, talk with our friends at lunch and remember to write down the important notes during class. It would be no surprise that by the time we got home, we would be exhausted. It was always difficult to explain to my parents as to why I was suddenly so upset, or why I would suddenly lash out at them when they had done nothing wrong.

I did not know either.

Stress upon stress just built up over the few hours we were at school and it just took a little more to completely push us over the age.

But again, that is okay because we are still growing. Everyone has their moody days. We are still young and youth is always going to be a messy ride.

Then comes university and college where most people start living in campus residence or on their own elsewhere. It feels as if your responsibilities will have increased tenfolds because for some, they may no longer have the support of their parents on a daily basis. No more cooked meals, drives to and from school, a close walk to everything familiar in the neighbourhood and so much more.

This is also the time in your life when you are expected to know what you want to do. If you are studying biomedical science, are you going to be a lab assistant in the future? If you are studying music, does that mean you will become a musician? No.

For some, it may click into place what it is that they want to do but for some, it will take some more time to explore what they truly want.

School is difficult, trust me, all of us students know. Having to cope with the stress of all these assignments, trying to appease to your friends, and to manage all those extracurriculars that we do?

Unimaginable.

So how exactly have we survived this far?

It is because we were taught to. We were taught this our whole lives and this is all the we have known. Each and every one of us will suffer through the same hardships because we are still growing up. We sometimes have to learn from pulling an all-nighter that we should not have left this assignment worth 10% of our mark until the day before it is due.

Just know that you are never alone. There is always someone by your side to help you through your tough days.

And trust me, teachers and professors are not only there to ruin our lives.

The typing sounds of the computer came to a halt and Haneul let out a satisfied smile at the screen in front of her. She clicked onto the button to post her new blog entry and then closed the screen of her laptop.

She spun around in her chair to grab her phone off her bed and the display to check her messages. A smile graced her lips when she saw that she had a new message.

I’m starting to hate music. Who even likes it? Definitely NOT me. How can ANYONE sit in front of a musical instrument for more than two hours?! -_-’’ fml please come save me

She chuckled when she read it over and she typed in a reply before leaving her phone on her desk and climbing into bed for the night.

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Jungkook threw the headphones off his head in frustration. He had a music composition project due the next day but he had no motivation or inspiration to even start it. He looked at the composition program in front of him and groaned. Sometimes, he really hated technology.

He went to play what he had made so far but as he started listening to it, the chord progressions and the uneven rhythms bothered him more and more.

He sighed as he went back and deleted what he had completed so far to restart his composition from the start. He looked up when the door to his room opened and his roommate poked his head in.

“Hey, want me to get you lunch-” Mingyu looked the other boy up and down before letting out a low whistle. He walked over behind Jungkook to peer over his shoulder. “What’s got you so pissed off?”

Kim Mingyu was Jungkook’s roommate. Coincidentally, they were both studying performance music and they were both from South Korea. It made it easier for the two of them to communicate and they had bonded within the first week of living with each other. Not to mention, they were the same age.

“This,” Jungkook sighed as he gestured towards the screen. Mingyu squinted his eyes and looked over what Jungkook was showing him. He straightened back up and scrunched up his face in thought.

“Usually I just go out with my headphones and play some music. That way, I can get inspiration from the music and from the outdoors.”

Jungkook leaned back in his chair. “Whatever, I’ll just finish this tonight. Let’s go get some food, I’m starving.”

The two of them left their dorm room and headed towards the cafeteria. There were less people inside as the lunchtime rush passed and it was now three in the afternoon.

They walked over towards the food bar and grabbed a plate and filled it up respectively to their own tastes. They met back with each other at one of the tables and began eating.

“How ready are you for the music exam this Friday?” Mingyu asked. Jungkook let out another groan at the reminder. “I wouldn’t say I’m unprepared but I’m definitely not as prepared as I would like to be.”

“Same. We could go to the practice room tonight once you’re finished with that composition.” Mingyu suggested. Jungkook nodded at the suggestion. He looked up at the other boy sitting parallel to him and tilted his head.

“So how is it with your girl?”
 

To add onto the list of similarities these two boys had, their girlfriends were also in South Korea. They attended the same university but they had yet to really meet each other. The two boys often joked about how they would become friends right away and team up on their boyfriends together if they met.

“She’s doing okay. I’m just constantly worried about her getting sick and having no one to take care of her.”

“Bad immune system?” Jungkook guessed. Mingyu nodded.

“Same. I know exactly how you feel.” Jungkook sighed and Mingyu laughed.

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Haneul looked up from her laptop as she continued typing her notes. Her eyes passed by the professor standing in front of the projector at the bottom of the lecture hall. She stifled a yawn as she glanced at the bottom right of her computer to check the time. She let out a mental sigh of relief when she realized that there was only five minutes of class left. She could manage that.

Once the professor ended the lecture, all the students in the classroom began packing their belongings to either go to their next class or return to their dorm. For Haneul, she was able to return to her dorm because on Thursdays, she only had two morning classes.

She walked out of the literature building and walked past all the other buildings towards her residence area. She walked into the apartment and made her way up to her own apartment at the fourth floor.

When she applied for campus residence, she picked the apartment style option. That meant she had her own kitchen and bathroom. The only inconvenience was that she had to bring her laundry down to the first floor once in awhile but she could overlook that.

Luckily for her, her one and only best friend had also chosen to attend the same university and they were able to share an apartment together.
“Hi,” Minjung greeted as she bent over to tie her laces. Haneul smiled and gave her a pat on the head as she hung up her coat. “Work?”

Minjung let out a groan as she grabbed the hair tie from her wrist and pulled her hair up into a tight ponytail. She threw her purse onto her shoulder and opened the door.

Minjung paused by the door and looked back. “I’m working until nine today so you don’t have to wait for me to eat dinner.” Haneul gave her a nod and lightly nudged her out.

“Good luck.”

Once the door closed, Haneul turned back inside and went into her bedroom. She threw her backpack onto the floor and plopped onto her bed with a tired sigh. She draped one arm over her eyes and stayed still for a few seconds. It wasn’t until her phone began ringing that she peeled her eyes open and reached for it.

It was a video call from Jungkook.

Without bothering to sit up properly or to even fix her hair, she pressed the green button to accept the incoming call.

“I like how we’ve gotten to the point that you don’t even try to impress me anymore,” said Jungkook. Haneul rolled her eyes and stuck out her tongue.

“But it’s okay because you impress me without even trying,” he added with a wink. Once again, she rolled her eyes but her lips tugged up into a grin.

“Did you finish your composition?” Haneul asked as she shifted onto her side so that she was in a more comfortable position. Jungkook nodded as he reached over to grab his laptop and turned the camera so she could see.

“Here, I’ll show you.”

Haneul smiled as she listened to the different instruments he put together. She could hear a soft duet between an acoustic guitar and a grand piano. Once it was over, he turned the camera back to face him.

“What’d you think?” Jungkook asked. Haneul let out a hum. “Why is there no lyrics?” He laughed. “It’s a composition, you dork. It doesn’t necessarily have to have words.”

“Wow, okay there, music genius.”

Jungkook chuckled at her sarcastic tone. “If I have to add words to it, you should sing it for me. Would you?” Haneul raised an eyebrow. “I hope you know I have a lot of homework already.”

“I know, I know, but how hard would it be for another music student to help out another?”

At first, Haneul had wanted to go into psychology. It took her many trips to the counsellor at school before she finally had an idea of what she wanted to go into. She took a lot of those stupid personality quizzes to see where her interests were and the majority of the results showed that she had a passion for music.

That was why her counsellor suggested she look into music therapy. It was a perfect mix between music and psychology.

“Yeah, but I’m not in music performance.” Haneul reminded. Jungkook smiled. “I know, but it’d still be nice for us to make a piece together, right?”

She nodded at that. “Yeah, it would.” They sat there for a second before he suddenly exclaimed out and grabbed for his laptop again. She watched as he quickly typed something in and turned it to show her.
 

“I read your blog post this week,” He pointed out. She raised an eyebrow. “And?”

“And I’m waiting for the day you write about meeting a handsome young man named Jeon Jungkook and how you fell for him-”

“Jungkook.”

“Yeah? That’s my name.” He grinned and he knew he had won their little bicker. He reached over to close his laptop.

“You’ve gained a lot of people who read your blog now,” He commented. Then he suddenly narrowed his eyes. “How many of them are males?” She furrowed her eyebrows. “Am I supposed to know the demographics of my readers?”

He nodded, as if the answer was blatantly obvious. “Yes, because I need a list of their full names and their addresses.”

“Yeah? And for what reasons?” She challenged. Jungkook let out a cough, “I may or may not hunt them down if they try to flirt with you.” And another fake cough. She rolled her eyes. “You’re so dumb.”

“I know, I know. Doesn’t change the fact that I’m getting good grades though, does it?” He smirked. Haneul shot him a glare. “Could you not?”

He laughed once again and she felt her prickle of annoyance wash away almost instantly, just like he always did to her.

“You still haven’t told me the website you use to write your online novels.” Jungkook tilted his head. Haneul blinked back at him. “Why should I?”

“So I can read them, duh. You know I liked your writing.” Haneul shook her head. “Yeah, but this is something you can’t read.”

He pouted. “Why not?” She looked away from the screen for a second to not fall for his expression.

“Because it may or may not be about you.”

Jungkook threw his hands up in frustration. “Isn’t that all the more reason for me to read it?!” She shook her head once again with a small smile. “I’ll send it to you when I feel more comfortable with it.”

He sighed in resignation when he realized she would not change her mind tonight. “Fine. I should just ask Minjung because she’ll probably know.”

Haneul raised an eyebrow. “You could try but I doubt she’d tell you.”

“You’re so mean to me sometimes.” He let out another pout and she chuckled. “I don’t see why the other guys say you’re the most manliest when you do this all the time.”

“Only with you.” Jungkook grinned when he saw her cringe.

“You’re gross.”

She frowned in concern when he yawned. She took out her phone and checked the time. Her eyes widened.

“Hey, you should sleep. It’s so late and you have an early morning class tomorrow, don’t you?” She softly chided. Jungkook nodded while at the same time rubbed his eyes and covered his mouth when another yawn came through. She inwardly smiled at his cute behaviour.

“You can leave your phone on. I’ll sing you a short song.”

Jungkook blinked up at her after he dimmed the lights. “Whoa, really? The Lee Haneul is going to sing little ol’ me a lullaby?”

“I swear to god, I’m going to hang up.”

She saw him panic as he waved his hands in surrender. “Okay, okay! I’m sorry. Please sing me to sleep.”

She pushed herself up so that she was in a sitting position and left the phone on the bed in front of her.

"You know, I really like your voice," He drowsily mumbled out.

After a few verses, she heard nothing from the other line. She picked up her phone.

“Jungkook?”

When there came no reply, she knew he had fallen asleep.

"Goodnight, Jungkook." Smiling, she ended the call and placed her phone back onto her desk and took out her books to start her homework.
 

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Author's Note: Omg, hi hello hi. I'm back! I'm sorry it took so long but a lot of stuff came up with life and ugh. (and tbh, I wrote this chapter after my frustrations with university was over LOL so you might have felt the desperation through my writing)

I'll get to writing all those HaneulxJungkook moments you guys requested in the Google Forms soon too! So keep an eye out for that!

I missed you all! Just as much as Jungkook missed Haneul T_T How have you all been?

Funny story, my boyfriend stumbled upon my fanfic and I literally had to beg him not to read it because oh god, how embarassing would that be? Instead, he read the comments you guys posted on Next Stop, Insanity (he loved them by the way). He literally drove me insane that night. I think he's found a new way to annoy me to the max.

AND EXCUSE ME BTS, WHAT THE HECK IS THIS FIRE MV? EXCUSE ME JEON JUNGKOOK. YOU CAN'T JUST BOB YOUR HEAD UP AND DOWN WITH YOUR FINGERS UNDER YOUR CHIN AND SMILE AT ME. STOP THIS. STOP THIS RIGHT NOW, YOUNG MAN. I'm actually dead because of BTS. Who's with me?

Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. Leave your comments and questions below! I'll definitely reply as soon as I can.

Once again, I missed you all but thank you so much for the lovely comments and the support. I can't thank you enough. Thank you to all the 800+ of you who subscribed with just the foreword posted! I love you all so so so so much. (As much as I love Zelo and Jungkook omg)

lol did not edit this chapter yet as usual shhhh