Every person who befriended Kim Jaeeun assumed that her parents were strict, that they were the reason the teenager couldn’t step outside of her house without a chaperone and meeting a strict curfew of eight. Close friends were a dream, a dream that was hard the achieve with no social media and the inability to hang out unless the moon, sun, and stars were all properly aligned. When her dictator moved out, she experienced freedom for the first time. 

Upon the announcement that her older brother decided to go to a university a 5 hour train ride away more relief was brought to her mind than excitement for his achievement. The worry she once had that he might attend a university close enough to live at home was lifted and along with the goodbyes she sent with him the stress of being the only kid in class without an Instagram and Snapchat, the sadness of a teenager who had never been to a movie with a friend, and the weight of the depression from being holed away brought her. 

Kim Jaeeun loved her brother, there was no denying that, but she hated being a loner more. Not an ounce of guilt was felt upon the joy she felt through her entire body when he left. Maybe the house would feel a little empty without him, but the new friends shed fill that space with didn’t even make it a worry.