It’s their last night of the term, and they’re celebrating the fact that they’ve survived their first year of college. It had flown by, but Jongin wouldn’t have had it any other way.

The three of them were drunk, or at least very buzzed, and Chaeyeon was all packed for Argentina. They had extended their leases for another year, so they were lucky enough to not need to move out and then move back in.

It would be two months without Chaeyeon. She would be missing Christmas since Korean universities ended in December and started up again in February. She’d miss both his and Kyungsoo’s birthdays too, but that didn’t feel as important.

Nostalgia bubbled in his chest as he takes another swig from the soju bottle, watching his best friends duel it out over a card game that she was fairly bad at. He had let her win, and Kyungsoo knew it.

She eventually lost, like they knew she would, and she scampered off to her room saying that she would be right back. She presented them with wrapped gifts, “For your birthdays and for Christmas. Except you can’t open them until your birthday.”

“Why not?” Kyungsoo pouted, which didn’t really go well with his deeper than usual voice from the alcohol.

“Because.” She said, as if her word was reason enough.

The next day, she flew off, and something about his life felt a little emptier. He took the box home, stowing it carefully