I unlocked the door of our apartment and slowly stepped in. It was past 3am. and I just hoped that my roommate was fast asleep. I took off my shoes and jacket and I put them away. As soon as I walked into the living room I saw Joohyun sitting on the couch and looking at me worryingly. Please don’t say anything! Please don’t say anything!

“Seulgi…” Her soft voice trailed off. She looked tired, yet there was a small smile formed on her lips. I wondered if I was the reason why she was still awake. “Thank God, you came back.” She got up from her spot on the couch and began walking towards me. “I was… worried.” She stopped at a relatively big distance from me, for which I was glad. Her expression suddenly changed.

 “Hey~ is there something wrong? Did something bad happen to you?”  She tried to get closer to me but stopped immediately as I took a step back. Hurt flashed through her eyes. “Are you hurt?”   She kept on asking and her curiosity was quite evident, but there was something else I could sense in her voice that I failed to comprehend.

“No, I am fine!” Those were my first words since I came. “There is nothing to worry about.” I gave my best to sound convincing.

 “If nothing happened what is your reason for being on the verge of crying ever since you came home?” She took one step towards me.

I froze. Until now, I had never realized that I have been tearing up the whole time. I had to come up with an excuse quickly.

“It’s very cold and windy outside. My eyes were too dry so they started tearing up.” I realized how stupid my answer was, but I tried to make it believable by looking serious.

“Sure, if you say so?” She took another step. “I thought you’d be better at making excuses.”

Joohyun was already standing right in front me. I didn’t feel like I was capable looking into her eyes without starting sobbing, so I looked away from her.

“Don’t.” She said, in a whisper while her fingers graced my skin, forcing me to look her in the eyes. “I completely understand why you don’t want to tell me what’s wrong. Who am I to you, right! But there is no need for you to hide your tears from me, Seulgi. We both know I have already seen them.” She retreated her hand from me. “If you need to talk you know where to find me.” She gently touched my shoulder and went in her room.

I let out the breath I hadn’t noticed I was holding in. I looked at her door and wondered what was going inside her head. Why was she being suddenly so nice? And why did it matter to me? No matter how uncomfortable or awkward I felt most of the times with her, still her presence made me feel at… at  ease.

I looked at the clock placed on the wall: 3:51am. It was that late already? I headed towards my room when suddenly the door of her room opened.

“Ugh, yeah, I almost forgot.” She showed only her head, hiding her body behind her door. “I wanted to say that I am sorry if what I did today hurt you or offended you in any way, it wasn’t on purpose. So yeah, I am sorry and good night!” She blurted out and shut the door.

A small laugh escaped my lips. This girl… she was something.

---

Joohyun and I went to the university together for the first time. It happened rather strange. At least for us. We woke up almost at the same time. We made our breakfast together. I repeat – our breakfast. This was never a thing before. We always made our food separately, except that one time I made her and her uncle pancakes. She was acting too strange for my liking. She was kind, too kind, even her voice sounded kind. And when it was time for me to go, I realized she was putting her shoes right next to me. Usually, she was the first one to go but now, now she waited for me to get ready and with the question “You ready?” she opened the door, waiting patiently for me to go first.

Strangely, we didn’t walk in silence, nor was it awkward. I could see she was putting effort  to have something to talk to, nothing of which was about what happened last night. If there is something I am sure I like about her is that she never preyed on things that happened in the past or were apparent that I am uncomfortable of. I actually could not stop laughing due to her extremely lame jokes and her contagious laughter, which I became very fond of.

We stood for a while in front of the university, waiting for Seungwan, Sooyoung and Yerim, who came, to our delight, fast. They didn’t miss the chance to smirk at the fact that I was with Joohyun. Especially Seungwan and Sooyoung. Sooyoung. I am glad everything is fine between us, particularly after our talk last night.

Flash back

I was crying my eyes out while she had her hands wrapped around me crying weeping as well.

“I am sorry! I am sorry!” I repeated again and again.

“Shh. It’s okay!” She mumbled, rubbing lightly my back. “Everything is going to be okay!”

It took me awhile to calm down. I hated the fact that I showed her such a vulnerable side of me but haven’t I said this too many time now for the past couple of months.

She stood up and brushed her clothes from things that weren’t there. “I think we should go. It’s getting late now. Yerim and Seungwan are probably getting crazy right now. You coming?”

“No..” I muttered. “I am going home.”

“Aah~ Worried that Joohyun is home alone?” She said teasingly.

“Yeah~ Wait! What?” I realized what she just said. I looked at her and she had a big grin plastered on her face. “Oh, shut up! No, never!”

“Oh, come on! She is cute! You can’t deny that. And I see how you two look at each other…” Sooyoung trailed off.

“How? In pure disgust?”

“If you say so. Never mind. I won’t press you on things you haven’t realized yourself.” She said too low but I still heard her.

“What?”

“Nothing. Come on, let’s go!”

End of flash back

 When we arrived at our classroom we mutually decided, without speaking, to sit together in the second row as we still quietly giggled.

Right after the bell rang, I saw Taeyong come into the classroom. He looked at Joohyun, then at me and just walked past us to his desk. The teacher came and the first out of our many boring classes started. As I was writing down the task our teacher gave us I could feel someone staring at me. I looked up, forgetting about what I was writing in my notebook and the first thing I saw was Taeyong. He was giving me such an intense death glare that I got chills down my spine. When our eyes met, I suddenly turned my head in a different dire