For the following days, Jina hasn’t seen much of daylight, if you didn’t consider the single lightbulb in her office. She completely loaded herself with all different types of Miss Yoon’s paper work and responsibilities, overworking to the morning, but she didn’t mind.

She needed anything she could get to get her mind off of Jungkook and over the small heartbreak she just experienced.

“I barely knew him,” Jina says to herself while she glazes her fingers over her pen. “But why does it hurt so bad?”

She sighs, placing the pen behind her ear, before getting back into work again. While their run together was short in the grand scheme of things, she was amazed at how much he’d impacted her within that time. She had the best of nights, exploring downtown with him and singing alone with him.

When she was with him, she felt joy. And that was something she hadn’t felt in a while since her dad passed.

Like how Miss Yoon said, this would be her reality: being her personal assistant for the rest of eternity. And though Jina herself wasn’t over the moon about how it end up to be, she didn’t actually mind it. Tucked away in an office to live in, concealed from the rest of the world.

Though she didn’t want to think about it, she was reminded (through the hundreds of flyers around campus) that the mixer was today.

Jina sighs, just subtly thinking about what could’ve been. She could’ve been singing with Jungkook, she could’ve been with Jungkook. All of these events--with her deleting her website and Jungkook’s betrayal--she didn’t even know what to think about singing anymore. It seemed like the more she got deeper into it, the more it ended up disappointing her.

Jina didn’t want to think anymore and immerses herself into the paperwork instead. Distracting her, her phone rings and Jina sees that it’s Taemi on the caller ID. Truthfully, Jina has been avoiding everyone--staying quiet and just being obedient to Miss Yoon. She had blocked out Taemi, and she realized just then how unfair it was to her.

“Hello?” Jina replies once she picks up the phone.

“Woah--you actually picked up. You know this is about the 30th time I’ve called you.” Taemi says on the other line, partly in disbelief.

“Yeah… Sorry. I’ve just been down, so haven’t been really talking to anyone.”

“I understand, Jiji. But hey,” Taemi answers, “I know this is really ty of me to say right now, but--do you want to go to the mixer tonight?”

“Uh, ha,” Jina laughs at how awkward the situation is, “did it just.. pass your mind that that’s the very reason why I’m so sad?”

“I know, I know! I’m sorry! But, hear me out--you’ve been MIA for so long, and I heard this is going to be the best mixer yet. I’m horrible-I’m sorry-but I just thought it would be just a little fun for you.” Taemi tries to reason with Jina.

Jina ponders for a few seconds, “No. I couldn’t take it hearing Jungkook.”

“Then we can leave for that part! Please, Jina, it will be a lot of fun. Let’s have quality time together.”

“Uhm, well…” Jina tries to think of another excuse, but her mind is blank right now.

“Please, Jina.” Jina can hear the urgency in Taemi’s voice, and she, unsurprisingly, submits to it.

“Okay, fine. I’ll go. Happy?”

“Yes, yes! I’ll pick you up at 7! Look nice, we’re going to have so much fun!” Taemi says before hanging up. Once she puts the phone down, she turns around to face Jungkook, and gives him a light high-five.

“It worked! I honestly didn’t think I could do it.” Taemi says to Jungkook, who can’t stop smiling at the success of their plan.

“You’re so great--thank you so much Taemi.” Jungkook says earnestly and gives her a hug. “I have to go and figure out the specifics--let me know any updates with Jina?”

“You got it,” Taemi says and smiles as she watches the boy run away, with more pep in his step than usual. Taemi genuinely wanted the best for Jina and for her happiness, and she believed that what she was doing was the right thing to achieve that.

--

“This is insane,” Jina is able to mutter through the boisterous sounds of the equipment and stage getting prepped. The concert was placed in the school’s outside field with the vast open space of grass available for all of Kyunghan’s students to sit and watch the show.

Jina watches in awe as she sees the performers, all from the singing department, whizz by her shoulders in their stage outfits. Some are daring: they wear studded jackets and have the coolest, most voluminous hair Jina’s ever seen on a person. Others are dainty, like they sing contemporary R&B, and then there’s a scattered bit of people who are confused with their genre.

“It’s so fun, right? I’m so glad that we got accepted here. Imagine if we were studying, like, Chemistry at a normal college right now, slaving away in the library. And now, instead of memorizing the periodic table or whatever they do, we’re here at a student concert!”

“I’m basically slaving away for Miss Yoon, so I can’t relate,” Jina chuckles.

“Oh yeah, speaking of the ,” Taemi points over to the stage area, where Miss Yoon herself is talking to one of the setup crew with a disgusted expression on her face. “Are you safe to be here? We can hide out in the back.”

“No, we’re fine. She actually told me to come so I could support EunAe and EunBi with their performance. It blows my mind how she doesn’t see how much I loathe them just as much as I do her.”

“Yikes, I forget those two are singing majors. How in the hell did they get accepted into the program? I hear them hum sometimes in class and a squirrel is more on key than them.”

“Have you met their mother?” Jina sighs. “They make Miss Yoon go in the system and give failing grades to girls they are jealous of. Wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if she fudged some marks for