It was past three in the afternoon, all classes for freshmen had ended but instead of going home or studying, all freshmen of Media and Communication major were gathered inside the faculty’s mini hall for a briefing. It was already the fourth week of their first semester but aside from orientation task, the freshmen were not given any additional task by the seniors. Some freshmen speculated that it was time for membership training or MT, which was always be held every year for freshmen. Basically, during MT some seniors who were the committees of MT would arrange a trip for all freshmen where they all could gather together and make bonds.

Daeun was not excited of the possibility of this MT thing happened because she knew the seniors would arrange some really weird games and it annoyed her to think that she had to do those kinds of things without actually willing to do it. Some seniors could be straight up mean and mischievous at the same time. Moreover, there were some seniors who held grudge from their previous MT experience with their seniors and wanted to take it all out to innocent, new freshmen.

The mini hall was filled by freshmen, but it seemed like the head of committee hasn’t arrived yet, so the meeting had to be pushed back. A few freshmen slept in their chairs, while the majority of them were chatting with their friends. Daeun’s eyes wandered around the hall but Mingyu was nowhere to be found. She frowned a little—where is he? Out of the blue, Daeun’s phone rang, indicating someone calling her. It turned out it was Hyemi who called her.

“What is it, Unnie?”

“Daeun-ah, Mira unnie asked us to babysit Miran tonight. Come over to her house right now! I’m on my way,” Hyemi was panting heavily as she spoke. “Aish, all these stairs are making me tired already. You’ll come, right?”

“I’m still at the university, all freshmen have to attend a meeting with seniors,” Daeun explained. She heard Hyemi groaned. “The other day I babysit Miran alone! It’s your turn now.”

“Come over when you’re done,” Hyemi threatened. She sounded pretty serious.

Daeun let out a defeated sigh. “I get it.” She ended the phone call and put her phone inside her bag.

“Is that your cousin, Daeun?” Yuju asked curiously. “The one whom I saw the other day? The girl who is tiny and all cute? What was her name again?”

“Hyemi,” Daeun answered, “she asked me to join her babysitting our niece. The other day I had to babysit alone because she couldn’t come, so I made her promise to babysit alone when it was her turn but she still managed to make me promise to come when we’re done.”

Yuju laughed. “She sounds persuasive.”

“That makes me remember a thing,” Daeun suddenly murmured. “The last time I babysit alone, I met Mingyu in the elevator. The lights were out and we were trapped inside the elevator for like 10 minutes long, it was suffocating as hell.”

Yuju widened her eyes as she gasped. “Trapped in an elevator? I’m glad that’s not me. I’d panic if I got trapped in an elevator even for 5 minutes.”

“I got panicked a little,” Daeun admitted, feeling defeated. “But Mingyu talked to me and suddenly I forgot the suffocating feeling.”

Yuju opened in awe. “He’s a really nice guy.”

“He is nice,” Daeun agreed, “but, you know… I have to draw a line between us.”

“Why?”

Daeun raised her eyebrows seeing Yuju’s reaction. It seemed like she forgot to tell Yuju that she had a boyfriend. When your boyfriend was so far away and it felt like you had no boyfriend, it was possible to forget that you really had one.

“You have a boyfriend?!” Yuju gasped in excitement. She clasped her palms together and stared afar with dreamy eyes. “So that’s why you are so distant to Mingyu. It’s like you want to get closer to him but you know you can’t, so you awkwardly draw a line between you and him.”

“Am I that awkward when I’m with him?”

“Not really…” Yuju didn’t sound convincing. “But I knew something was off! Ha! My instinct was right. So, where’s your boyfriend, Daeun-ah?”

Daeun stared down at her foot. “He’s at the army. He entered after finishing his first semester at Yonsei.”

It looked like Yuju was doing a calculation in her head because she didn’t respond immediately. When she was finished, she let out another gasp. “Oh my! He’s a senior? Sunbaenim?”

Daeun just nodded as she studied Yuju’s reaction. Yuju squealed so hard, making some freshmen took a curious glance at them for one second. “That’s my dream! I really want to date older guy but I haven’t. When did you guys met?”

“My sophomore year and his senior year at high school,” Daeun answered as she reminisced some memories of it. She smiled bitterly remembering how they met and became a couple. When you chewed a gum for too long, the tasty flavor was gone and you were left with a lumpy, plain gum that you couldn't swallow. That was what Daeun felt for the past months. She wondered whether Seungcheol felt the same way.

The other girl didn’t seem to realize Daeun’s bitter smile because she squealed hard for the second time and said something about a teenage romance novel. As if my relationship is as great as those relationships in romance novel, Daeun thought. “Haven’t you been in a relationship before?” she asked curiously.

“Well, I have but that was one time and it didn’t last long,” Yuju smiled sadly. “I accepted him just because he asked me out before my crush did, and then he found out about it and asked for break up. It was my fault anyway, I shouldn’t be complaining that I’m single now.”

Daeun was stung by Yuju’s story. It was a familiar story-line for Daeun. She decided not to bring up relationship stories because she didn’t want to talk about it and she was sure Yuju also didn’t want to talk about it. “Karma is working her off, making you single.” She laughed a little at her own joke

“How do you know karma is a ‘she’?” Yuju asked in confusion.

Daeun stared at Yuju and shook her head in disbelief. “Look, Yuju-ya. When karma isn’t on your side, she’s basically a . So she’s a she, right?”

Yuju lost it this time. She burst out laughing so hard to the point she almost fell down from her chair. Daeun was secretly proud of her logic as she tried to calm Yuju down. She didn’t care when some freshmen spun their heads toward their direction out of curiosity.

Finally the senior in charge came and the meeting had begun. The freshmen who were so busy chatting fell quite, waiting for the senior to speak. After one or two minutes of opening chat from the senior, finally he revealed that two weeks from now the membership training would be held. The majority of freshmen cheered hard, including Yuju who sat beside Daeun. The shorter girl jumped excitedly in her seat. MT was another opportunity for guys and girls to get closer with their romantic interests or simply with the most attractive freshman according to their own standard.

“During MT, there will be a lot of games to be played in groups but there also will be games that has to be played with your orientation partner. We shouldn’t forget about the aim of this MT itself—we play to bond, not to win over