“You know, I've read somewhere love lasts three years,” Bambam said as he chewed loudly on the meat with his mouth open, which had Jaeha cringing at the disgusting sight. “Maybe that explains why Yugyeom doesn't want to be with you. He probably doesn't love you anymore.”

“Has he really not said a thing to you?” she inquired, not caring about his words.

“No. His behavior was pretty normal this week. There was nothing alarming.”

“And he hasn't said anything about me at all?”

“Not at all. Which is weird, now that I come to think about it. But he has not even mentioned your name once.”

He titled his head and stared at the meat being grilled with a frown, and then looked up at her.

“That's weird, isn't it?”

She sighed, nodding her head in agreement. She also picked up some meat before her friend could eat it all and ate it quickly with some rice.

“It's been a day already,” she carried on. “It's already Wednesday and he won't answer my text messages...”

“Just let him, I'll come back when he feels ready. Maybe he is just really stressed, way more than usual and needs a break.”

“Then he could tell me, I would understand and leave him alone.”

“I'm sure you're exaggerating,” Bambam shrugged off. “You always do.”

Jaeha tsked at his comment while he laughed, proud of his own little joke. They remained silent for a while during which they ate nearly everything they had ordered, and in the end Bambam decided to order even more meat.

“Where do you put all the food you eat seriously?” Jaeha rolled her eyes. “You eat a lot and don't even gain weight. If I inadvertently look at a piece of chocolate I gain five kilo-grammes... lucky bastard.”

“I've just got a good metabolism, nothing special here.”

Jaeha was going to complain once again but her phone ringing stopped her. When she saw it was her father calling, she frowned. He knew she was supposed to be in classes (the keyword being “supposed”) and yet he was calling. She motioned Bambam to remain silent and picked up.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Jae,” her father said with his usual soft voice. There didn't seem to be concern or worry in his voice at all. “How are you?”

“I'm fine, and you?”

“So am I. I was wondering if you were doing something on Saturday. Mark has an appointment in Seoul and I thought I could come with him and spend the day with you. What do you think?”

In front of her, Bambam's eyes lit up when he realized it was not her dad Jaebum she was talking to, but instead it was her father Jinyoung. The Park Jinyoung he kept begging her to set up a meeting with because he was a big fan and so was his mom so he really wanted to get her an autograph.

“Is that really your father?” he asked in a loud voice. “Can I talk to him?!”

“Who is that?” Jinyoung chuckled on the other end of the line.

“A friend,” Jaeha answered, glaring at the said friend who was clapping his hands like a crazy seal while muttering “Oh my God there's Park Jinyoung on the phone!”. “But he won't remain it for a long time if he keeps acting the way he does,” she scoffed.

“Please tell him I say hi!” Bambam added.

“He says hi,” she reluctantly told her dad.

“I say hi too, even if I don't know who this is.”

“He says hi too,” Jaeha repeated to the Thai boy who over-reacted and put his hands on his heart and threw his head back.

“I can't believe this day has finally come... Park Jinyoung has acknowledged me... Mr. Park!” he nearly shouted into the phone and Jaeha had to slap his cheek to remind him they were in public and people were certainly hearing them. “Hello! I'm a huge fan! My mom is too, she really loves you!”

Jinyoung lightly chuckled but Jaeha could tell he was embarrassed and she was too, her friend was embarrassing her in public.

“Could you perhaps send me an autograph? That would make my mom-”

“Alright,” Jaeha sighed as she picked up some meat and forced it into his mouth before he could end his sentence. “Just eat and shut up already. My God... Listen, appa... I don't know what I'm doing during the week-end yet but I'll call you back on tomorrow or on Friday to tell you, alright? When there won't be nuisances around me.”

“Alright, please do so,” Jinyoung lightly answered.

“Alright, thank you.”

“Oh, and by the way, shouldn't you be in classes right now?” suddenly Jinyoung's light voice was no more and was replaced with his serious fatherly tone, the one she didn't really enjoy. She bit on her lower lip, wondering whether she should tell him the truth or not, but she guessed there was no need to hid it for him. Plus, she was twenty, she could do whatever she wanted.

“Bambam needs my help with one of his classes and that was the only moment he had time so... well, I might have missed a few classes too. But that because I'm being good and I'm helping a friend.”

“At a restaurant?”

“How do you know-”

“I can tell by the sounds around you. You're eating meat, aren't you? I can hear it. The sizzling sound of meat being grilled.”

“Damn it,” she cursed which had him laughing.

“Well, while there are parents worrying about their kids skipping meals to work here I am, worrying about my daughter skipping classes to eat. It's fine, really. Nothing's wrong here.”

“Appa... it's just one time...”

“One time this week,” Bambam added.

“Alright, appa. I'm hanging up. I'll call you later. Take care.”

“Yeah, you too take care.”

“Bye Mr. Park I love you-”

Jaeha hurriedly hung up before Bambam was able to end his sentence. Once again, her father didn't need to hear all his nonsense.

“You know that was the first time I was so close of an actor. I must say I'm impressed. My heart is beating so fast right now!” he cheerfully announced as he stuffed his mouth with more food. “I bet I will be even more impressed when I'll meet him in real life.”

“You won't meet him.”

“Why?”

“Because I won't let him anywhere near you. You're too much of a bother.”

“I would be so thankful to have a friend like me, you know? Because where else can you find someone who is willing to listen to all your life trouble and to help you find solution without asking anything back? Well, not everywhere. Be thankful, girl!”

He did this weird gesture thing which Jaeha found absolutely ridiculous, a dab she recalled it was called and rolled her eyes at his antics. He was right, but that didn't give him the right to say it out loud: it hurt her ego every time.

Bambam wanted to order even more food but she dragged him outside the restaurant; they were supposed to study, not spend their afternoon eating. They went to his place, a small studio, and because he didn't have a table but only a small desk and because he only had one chair, they had to move the furniture around so that he could sit on his bed while Jaeha was sitting on the chair on the other side of the desk. They spent at least half-an-hour figuring out how to arrange the whole thing and when they finally sat down, they were tired and it was obvious none of them wanted to work.

But they had to. Jaeha really tried to do her best at explaining him his whole lesson, she looked for example on the internet, kept looking for synonyms for him to understand better but it was really not easy to explain the meaning of a very typical Korean poem to a foreigner.

Two hours into the nerve-wrecking lesson, she just gave up and wrote the whole explanation of the five poems he had to study on a sheet of paper so that he would have to write it back himself and hand the paper to his teacher.

“You don't have to do that,” he said but she knew deep down he was glad she was doing so because it meant work for him. The big smile he was trying hard to conceal was only a proof of that. “Of course, for you who is studying the Korean language it's a really easy exercise.”

“Doesn't mean I'm not struggling though.”

“But less than I do.”

While she was working, he played a game on his phone. Jaeha could have been mad at him, but she was pretty used to it considering all their study sessions ended up like this.

“What are you going to do next year?” he asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Well we're graduating next February. So what are you planning to do? Will you keep studying at the university to have a master degree?”

She stopped writing and looked up at him with wide open eyes. He starred back at her with a similar expression, waiting for her answer.

That was a really good question to which she didn't have the answer. Simply because she had not given this matter a thought. The first semester of her third year was not even done yet, how was she supposed to know what she would do once the second semester would be done?

“And you? What are you going to do?”

“Well first I need to renew my visa and once I'll have it I'll carry on my course. I'd like to have a master degree, just because that sound nice. Girls like men who study a lot and we have plenty of qualifications.”

She remembered Yugyeom had told her he'd like to study abroad, in Japan or in the US. Had he filled the application yet? She didn't know. She guessed he would have told her if he had done so. There were a few people from her course who were also planning on going abroad, she had heard them talked about it a few times and they were often asking teachers for advice. But she had never thought about it.

“I-I don't know... what I want to do, I mean,” she looked down at her paper, suddenly feeling very uneasy. “Do I really have to do something?”

“Well you, probably no. I'm sure you already have enough money to live without working. But normal people have to.”

Normal people. Jaeha was normal too, at least she tried hard to be. She didn't want to stay home and waste her parents' money just because they had a lot. She didn't want to be like those well-off heirs who were doing nothing of their day expect showing off their wealth on Instagram.

But what was she supposed to do then? She wasn't sure if she wanted to keep studying, but if she stopped, then she was she going to do?

“I... I am going to end this and then I'll go home,” she mumbled before clearing . “I have some deep and meaningful thinking to do,” she thought but left this last part unsaid.

Hi guys! How are you doing?

First of all I hope you all had a merry christmas and that you're all doing great!

Second of all, I'd like to apologize for not uploading in such a long time! I've not forgotten about this story, not at all, I was just so busy with school I didn't have time to write and upload anymore. 

But it's finally here, another chapter which should be followed by another one which is in two parts by the end of the week (I(ll try to redeem myself).

Don't forget to leave a comment to share your thoughts with me, and thank you to all of you who subscribed and upvoted, it really means a lot to me! 

See you soon~

xx

Mae.