Daeun typed the password to unlock the door of her apartment as she sighed. Today had been a long day and she felt worn out already. Not good in general, because it was just the very first day of college. As soon as the door was unlocked, Daeun strode into the foyer and took off her shoes. Her eyebrows furrowed as she noticed there was a pair of familiar pumps that was placed untidily near the shoe rack. Daeun placed her shoes neatly on the very top section of the shoe rack and strode inside the apartment, searching for the owner of the pumps.

The kitchen was empty, and so did the living room. “Unnie, are you home?” Daeun called.

“In the bedroom!” the girl replied.

Daeun went straight to the bedroom and pushed the door open only to find her cousin on the bed with her laptop in front of her and honey butter chips on her hands. Her cousin looked casual, and casual might be the biggest understatement of the year because she looked like as if she hadn’t leave the home all day and decided not to freshen up herself a bit. Daeun glanced at the denim jacket that her cousin ‘stole’ back from her that morning, hung lifelessly on a chair.

“Hey,” Hyemi, Daeun’s cousin who was a year older greeted her younger cousin. She paused the movie which she had been watching and stared at Daeun. “You look wasted,” she commented, scrunching her face.

Daeun scoffed. “And what about you? I think you look as wasted as I am. Or not, because you look dreadful.” Daeun took a seat on the edge of her cousin’s bed, observing her. “I thought you are going to have a date with the guy whose name I don’t remember. Why are you here, looking like a lazy piece of during summer holiday?”

“Hey, don’t be such a sarcastic to a girl who just found out that the guy she likes has never been serious about her and using her as his second choice,” Hyemi scrunched her face slightly, sounded somehow calm but deadly.

Daeun rubbed Hyemi’s back in comforting manner. “That guy’s a .”

“Thanks for not saying ‘I told you so’,” Hyemi chuckled. “I’m fine, though. I ditched him before he had the chance,” she continued, looking extremely pleased. Daeun raised her right hand and Hyemi received it. They high-fived.

“You go, girl,” Daeun mumbled, sounded proud. “So, the date’s cancelled and you decided to have a ‘me time’ to recover?” she asked, gesturing at the laptop and the bag of chips.

“Yes and yes,” Hyemi answered, smiled. “There is the possibility that I will act strange like an unstable teenager for a few days, but I hope you will understand. You will. And I will be fine. Screw him.”

“Screw him,” Daeun mirrored her cousin’s words.

Hyemi leaned over to take the denim jacket from her chair and put it rather harshly on Daeun’s lap. “You can have this jacket back. I think it’s a bad luck for me.”

Daeun sneered jokingly. “So this jacket is officially mine? As in you will never claim it as yours ever again?”

“I don’t think I’ll ever want to wear a jacket that I wore after breaking up with someone. Totally yours,” Daeun could hear a hint of disgust in Hyemi’s tone. Hyemi put aside her laptop and pulled off a judging expression. “Bother to tell me why you looked so wasted? Have you been drinking? God, it’s only 5 in the evening!”

“I haven’t been drinking, Unnie,” Daeun replied patiently, “but I’m famished. I bet you haven’t cooked, so let’s just order for tonight. I’m not in the mood for cooking, either.” Daeun reached for her cellphone to make a delivery.

“Anyway, you can’t cook,” Hyemi stated as she looked at her cousin with funny look, emphasizing the word ‘can’t’.

Daeun smiled. “More excuses to just order food for tonight. What about chicken? Half-fried, half-seasoned?”

---

Hyemi seated herself after bringing a big bottle of cold coke from the fridge as Daeun opened the box of chicken.

“Smelled fantastic,” Daeun commented, eyeing the drumsticks.

“You’re just stating the obvious,” Hyemi handed her a glass which Daeun soon filled with coke.

Daeun sipped some coke and scrunched her face because of the bubbly sensation she got from drinking coke. She loved the sensation, always. She noticed Hyemi already grabbed a drumstick, so she did the same.

“Cheers.”

The two did the cheers with drumsticks in their hands. Daeun took a bite and a warm feeling filled . She hadn’t had a big meal since noon although Yuju asked to go get some lunch. While Yuju was swallowing down her kimchi fried rice, Daeun was just eating kimbap and she didn’t finished it all. Then, she was still not in the mood to eat but now she thought her decision not to eat was stupid.

Daeun finished her first drumstick fast and move on the next piece. She glanced wearily at Hyemi before saying, “I met Kim Mingyu today.”

Hyemi pulled off an oblivious expression for a while, but then her eyes grew wide when she realized who Kim Mingyu was. “The guy whom you had crush on for so long since you were in grade 7?”

Daeun nodded unenergetically, and her mind drifted to the moment when she first noticed Kim Mingyu.

---

Autumn, 6 years ago

Daeun took a deep breath and sipped her hot tea. Autumn wind brushed her face gently, causing her to shiver and took another sip of her tea. It was still quite warm because it was just the beginning of the real autumn. Some leaves were already turning scarlet or tangerine, but not to the point that all trees had turned red.

Lunch break was always burdening for Daeun because just then it would be obvious that she had no close friends. Peer groups were started to emerge although the first semester of junior high hadn’t passed yet. Daeun preferred to stay outside the class, sit at her favorite spot near the soccer field and simply stare afar, watching the wind blowing some trees.

She hated this school. She didn’t want to enroll here then and now. She knew that her circle of friend wasn’t that big, but she would be truly happy if she went to the same school with her elementary besties. Girls whom she knew since the first grade, on the very first day of school. Daeun knew she was not the most easy-going person at the school, so she had predicted that she would have a hard time making friends. Fairly speaking, none of her classmates really isolated her. In fact, they had tried to involve Daeun and Daeun had tried to blend in. It was just the topic of discussion that made Daeun couldn’t stay, because those girls were really shallow in her opinion.

“Three years,” Daeun whispered to herself, “I have to wait for three years, then I’ll graduate and get the hell out of this school.”

Her state of peace was interrupted by some noise, making Daeun focusing her vision to some boys on the soccer field. Daeun didn’t know any of those boys’ names, but she was sure they were seventh graders, just like her. She was contemplating whether to get back to class or not because clearly she her vision was blocked by several boys running around, chasing the soccer ball. After some time thinking, she decided to spend the remaining lunch break time at her usual spot. Mindlessly, Daeun started to watch the soccer match.

Her gaze was stolen by a tan skinned guy, who was the most active at the field. He was shorter than most of his friends, but Daeun decided that his short height advantaged him because he could move swifter than his opponents. Daeun held her breath as the tan-skinned-guy kicked the ball right into the goalpost, earning his team a score.

The tan-skinned-guy made his goal celebration with his friends, but of course he was the leader of the celebration. Daeun chuckled lightly, amused by what she had watched. As if the boy heard Daeun’s chuckle, he turned his head and l