Momo tossed her bag to the floor and collapsed onto her futon. She had left it unrolled in the morning in her frantic rush to get Sana to wake up so that they could get to school on time. She stared up at the ceiling as her mind tossed over the day’s events and tried to get her head around the coincidences of life. Sana was in the corner, sitting cross-legged as she folded her laundry into a neat pile. Noticing that Momo hadn’t said anything since she had entered the apartment, Sana stopped her folding and crawled over to where Momo was lying.

‘Something on your mind?’

Momo shifted her head to glance at Sana and wondered what to say. Finally, deciding that anything was better than nothing, she plainly described her encounter with Mina. “I met Mina today,” she said. Sana’s frowned as she tried to link Momo’s actions with having met Mina and narrowed her eyes.

‘What? Did she track you down or something? Is she trying to bother you again?’

‘No. Apparently she’s attending Yonsei now and she was in one of my classes. Afterwards, she caught up to me in the hallway and I didn’t know what else to do so I suggested we go to a café and maybe catch up or something.’

‘And is catching up that big of a deal?’

“No but she was aware that I had been ignoring her in our final year of high school. It’s been nearly three years since we last met let alone talked,” Momo explained. Surprise was evident on Sana’s face as she processed this. She was aware and in support of Momo’s decision to cut ties with Mina and focus on her studies.

‘So, what happened? I want details.’

Momo took a deep breath and recounted everything that had happened since she heard someone call out her name in the corridor and then her subsequent conversation with Mina as they tried to somewhat bridge their differences. Sana was quiet and stared forward unblinking while Momo talked but as soon as she finished speaking, Sana her chin and mused, “Well maybe we were wrong. She seems to be really cut up about us ignoring her. I thought that maybe she was just interested in the fact that you were an orphan and that she wouldn’t have cared if we stopped talking to each other.” Momo hummed in agreement as she tried to imagine how she would have felt if Sana stopped talking to her randomly.

‘I thought the same. I feel really guilty about cutting her off.’

‘Hmm. Don’t be. We made the decision and there’s no point crying over spilt milk. And besides, she might still have ulterior motives about meeting you. I mean, why is she attending Yonsei all of a sudden? I heard that she was attending some small university or other.’

‘I don’t know. I didn’t ask her. I’ll ask her next time we meet.’

Sana nodded and patted Momo’s forehead, moving back to her pile of clothes and resuming her folding. Momo’s eyes followed her across the room and she leaned up on an elbow to ask, “So when are you leaving?” “Next Wednesday. Our flight’s in the morning and we’ll be getting there at around mid-afternoon on Thursday,” Sana replied.

‘And I assume that you’ll need someone to help wake you up for that?’

Sana grinned in reply and Momo fell back against her pillow as she thought to her next encounter with Mina. It had been strange meeting the other girl and she rubbed her chest as she remembered how she had felt at the sight of Mina’s face again after their years of separation. Mina had transitioned into adulthood perfectly, her youthful face filled with a newfound maturity that was so different from her chubby cheeks in high school. She dressed differently as well; her clothes exuding an aura of wealth and elegance. It made quite a contrast when compared to her slightly skimpy skirts that she had worn to school. Breathing out slowly, Momo thought about her TA class arrangements and tried to keep her eyes open as sleep claimed her.

~

‘What is love?’

The teacher crossed his arms as he leaned back against his desk, looking over the class. His eyes blinked expectantly as he waited for an answer. There was a brief pause then someone raised their hand in the air and asked the question that was on everyone’s mind.

‘Yes?’

‘Um forgive me for asking Mr. Son, but aren’t we supposed to be studying psychology and not philosophy? How does this relate to the study design?’

The teacher furrowed his brow, straightening up with an admonishing look.

‘I would’ve expected that after all these years of study, you’d have realised that not every subject is isolated in its learning. Everything ties together in the end. So tell me, what is love?’

Momo shared a look with Mina, unsure of what the teacher was aiming at. They were supposed to be learning about coping mechanisms during grief and the question that he had posed was out of left field. Mina shrugged, just as unsure, and they waited for someone to answer. Slowly, seeing that nobody else was going to answer, Momo raised her hand. “Love can be identified in its two forms. Compassionate and passionate. Compassionate love is characterised by mutual feelings of affection and trust while passionate love is characterised by intense emotions such as lust and ual attraction.” The class nodded silently, agreeing with Momo’s answer but the teacher shook his head again.

‘I ask for your own definition of love, not the textbook definition.’

Another student raised their hand.

‘Love is when you feel an attraction to someone and you-‘

‘-None of that poetic nonsense.’

The teacher interrupted the student speaking and tapped a finger on his thigh as he waited. There were confused expressions on many of the faces of the class and nobody wanted to venture themselves forward. Finally, seeing that the teacher would be making no move to continue, Momo raised her hand again.

‘Love is an emotional reunion between two people formed from the basis of a mutual attraction.’

The teacher nodded, contemplating Momo’s words. He seemed as if he was satisfied with the question but then he pointed a finger and asked, “And is all love formed from attraction?” Momo took a moment to formulate her answer. “Well usually you form a relationship by first being attracted to the other person and then forming the reunion.” The teacher shook his head.

‘That’s not an answer. Also, you are placing too much focus on love on this type of relationship. Is the relationship between a mother and her son not love as well? Where is the attraction in this form of love? I’ll give you five minutes to sort out a definition with the person sitting next to you.’

The class hurriedly took out pens and pencils, thinking silently as they obeyed the professor’s instruction. Momo looked to Mina who was deep in thought and thought about some way to summarise love of all forms in a few simple words. A minute passed before the teacher spoke again. “Why isn’t there any talk happening? Where are the discussions? Individual thinking will rarely get you as far as thinking with another person?” At this, the class roused themselves and chatter built up among the tables as the students tried to pin down their definitions.

Momo took a moment to marvel at the professor’s teaching ability and was glad of her decision to become an assistant for the subject before she turned to Mina. “What do you think?” she asked. Mina pursed her lips and her nose crinkled as she spoke. “Well it seems a bit impossible to be able to define love in all its forms. Mother-son love is completely different from the love between two people courting,” she began. “And what of the love between an owner and their pet?” Momo nodded.

‘That’s very true, but it doesn’t really give us a definition.’

She laughed and fell silent as she thought of an answer to the professor’s question when he clapped his hands and called for their attention.

‘Alright. That’s more than enough time to think. Tell me things.’

He pointed to a pair of students near the front of the classroom, waiting for them to answer.

‘Love is the affection of varying degree between two people in a relationship. This degree of affection is decided upon based on the social context of the relationship.’

Mr. Son nodded appraisingly. “That is a bit one dimensional but sound,” he said. “Perhaps you could relate to the other aspects of a relationship to improve the viability of your definition.” He pointed to the next pair who gave their own view on the topic.

‘Love is the basis of a relationship between two people, formed as a result of biological attraction or emotional affinity. Or both.’

‘That’s a bit better but what I said before also applies to you. You need to be more concise when using terms such as biological attraction and emotional affinity.’

The professor continued in this fashion for the rest of the class, listening to the definitions and offering small criticisms. The definitions that the students cooked up were all of a similar vein, differing in the choice of words but still a bit vague when trying to answer the question of ‘what is love?’ Finally, the professor pointed to Momo and she shifted uncomfortably in her seat, having been unable to come up with an answer in the given time. She was saved from embarrassment when Mina raised her hand beside her and looked at Momo as she answered.

‘Love is a connection between two people when there is a mutual need. This need can be affection, lust or any sort of emotional void. This connection comes with obligations of choice such as providing material security or emotional stability.’

There was silence as the professor’s eyes widened and the class murmured their agreement for Mina’s answer. It was succinct to an extent but more importantly, it answered the question without leaving any flaws that had been previously identified in the other definitions. “That is a very good definition. Well answered,” he said. Mina humbly accepted the compliment as the teacher looked to Momo again. “Does our class TA have nothing to offer?” he asked. Momo thought for a second but decided that the best way out was to be honest. “Truthfully, I couldn’t sort out a definition. There are so many forms of love that it is hard to define each iteration as no two forms are bound by the same rules,” she admitted.

Hearing this, the professor snapped his fingers loudly and the class jumped in their seats. “Exactly” he exclaimed. “Love is boundless. That is true beyond any poetic manipulation. Love is characterised by so many things. So what happens when a relationship b