Friday, March fourteenth 1997.

She had held the sign she had scribbled ‘환 윤지’ on for about half an hour, she was sick of waiting, but she sighed in relief when she saw her friend. She stood on tiptoes and raised her arm as high as she could, earning some disapproving looks from older people waiting for their families and friends like her, Yoonji smiled and ran to her. They hugged as hard as they could.

'How can you look so beautiful?! You've got thinner, what diet do you do? Mine doesn’t give me any results.’ Yoonji pouted and looked down. Yebin laughed.

'It's called stress, it's very effective.' Her friend cringed at her answer.

'You've been overworking yourself, haven’t you?'

'It's not overworking myself, I need the money! The bills aren’t going to pay themselves.'

'Can’t your mother send you some more money?' Yoonji looked at her with pity in her eyes.

'I haven’t even asked her, I don’t want to be a burden, I'm living well for now, and I only have one year left in college. No need to worry, this girl can handle herself.'

'Do you know when will she return from China?'

'Well, I talked to her a week ago. She told me her contract is going to expire soon and she’d come as soon as she had enough money for a plane ticket.’ She said with a half-smile on her face, somewhat saddened to speak about her mother. When she and her father decided to divorce five years ago, the two of them travelled to China, where Yebin spent her last two years of high school. When she was going to enter university, her mother gave her a modest amount of money so she could return to study to their native country; money that, unfortunately, had disappeared earlier than she expected to.

'And no news from your father?'

'Missing in action.'

'Oh...'

'Don’t worry, it's been life that for five years already, it doesn’t affect me the slightest.' the girl said before the two left the airport. 'We will take the subway; there is a stop not so far from my house.'

'I'm looking forward to see your house; I haven’t seen it in a long time.'

'It's just as messy as ever, but someone else is living in there.'

'You didn’t tell me you lived with other students, what's his name? Is he from Gwangju?'

'Her name is Ddalgi, it's a gray tabby I found a few months ago next to a dumpster when she was a month old or so.' Yoonji grinned.

'Then we'll get along, I've always liked cats!'

~

Yebin looked at her watch as they exited the subway. Fifteen minutes to midnight. Yoonji would probably want to go buy some snacks for the sleepover, and they still hadn’t gotten home. She was a little nervous, because she didn’t want to run into him. Not after she'd embarrassed herself the way she did the night before. She looked at her friend; who had been talking excitedly about a freshman who had been flirting – in vain, though –with her all year.

'Yoonji, don’t you think we should stop by the convenience store right now? I mean, it's only fifteen minutes to midnight and it would be a bother to have to go out again.'

'Well, I’m totally okay with that, I'm a bit tired.' She smiled nervously.

'Perfect, then we’ll go now, it’s on the same street as my apartment, so we won’t go astray at all.'

And so, as they caught up with their lives, they reached Level’s.

'Well, we're here now. Come in.’ Yebin held the door for her friend to enter.

Mrs. Go wasn’t there either that day but the same nasty guy from the night before, reading a magazine for men, again.

‘I think we should get a lot of sweets, go for a basket, we'll need it.’ Yoonji winked, and Yebin turned around to go and pick up a basket. When she had it in her hands they went to the sweets shelves, and as they discussed what sweets they would choose a male voice surprised them.

'Hwan Yoonji? Han Yebin?’ The two girls turned at the same time. There they saw Jung Hoseok, a childhood friend, smiling at them.

'Jung Hoseok?' Yebin exclaimed, clearly shocked to see the goofy boy who had made them company during their high school years.

'The same.' He winked at her in a playful way and brushed his brown hair out of his eyes.

'You have changed! It's been too long since I've seen you. How’s your life now?’ Yoonji said, still unable to close at all.

'True, you left Gwangju when you finished high school, have you been in here for a long time now? I haven’t seen you around.’ Yebin added, tilting her head.

'Ah... I'm spending my break here, I came only two weeks ago. I was accepted on the campus of Hoseo University in Cheonan, at first I thought about studying chemistry, but it was mid-course when I knew that this wasn’t the career of my dreams, so I left to Seoul and entered School of Performing Arts Seoul of to master in dance, I finished last year. Now I’m doing very well, I met a boy there in SOPA who was majoring in music; he plays the saxophone. We got along really well and he has no one to spend the holidays with because of personal matters so I brought him with me.’ He clarified with a charming smile. 'What about you, girls?'

‘I’m studying meteorology on the campus of the Dankook University in Yongin, I am in second year.’ Yoonji said.

'As for me, there is only one year left for me to get my history degree at Chonnam National University, here.'

'Oh! I am glad that you have done so well, it feels good to talk to you again–‘

'Hyung, I grabbed what you wanted...' Kim Taehyung made his appearance. Yebin's mouth fell agape. Should I hide my head in the dustbin, or maybe throwing myself out the window would be best?

'Taehyung! They are my high school friends. She is Hwan Yoonji.’ He pointed at her hand and she greeted him, chuckling softly. 'And she is Han Yebin. Girls, he's Kim Taehyung, the friend I told you about before.’ Impossible.

‘We already know each other.’ They said simultaneously, causing Yoonji and Hoseok to laugh.

‘I'm going to grab the rest of the stuff while you two catch up, okay?’ She announced with a very noticeable flush spreading on her cheeks, picked up the basket to get out of that uncomfortable situation and got lost down the aisle in the blink of an eye.

As the heat on her cheeks disappeared, she thought about how she could get out of that situation without looking like she had a serious mental illness.

Maybe if you apologized to him, you wouldn’t have to act as ridiculously as you're doing now. She was beginning to have internal battles with herself as she finished grabbing the snacks, but they weren’t senseless battles, it was true she felt bad, especially since he had never been hostile with her. Oh, and he had also got her out of trouble by paying those 8000₩, which consisted of her dinner.

Yebin realized that she had reached the records and VHS shelf, as she had two nights ago, and thought that her friend would most likely want to watch a movie. She decided to grab a pair of movie tapes so that they could entertain themselves that night because the only VHS tapes she had in her flat were documentaries from the ancient civilizations. She left her basket on the floor and stood on tiptoes to reach the romantic dramas that were on the highest rack of the shelf.

'Do you need help with that?'

She recognized that deepvoice, which always addressed to her when she had her back turned, succeeding in surprising her. She turned around and saw Kim Taehyung, he had a serious expression on his face. He also carried a basket with several things. But apparently that day, the first time since she had met him five nights ago, they weren’t wearing the same thing. Yebin frowned and couldn’t help but feel somewhat…disappointed?

'It would be very kind of you if you grabbed these three tapes from up there.' She said pointing at them, and when the boy approached to grab them, she instinctively lowered her head.

'Here you go. I like your shoes.’ He held out the tapes with one hand, while the other pointed at her black combat boots, smiling at her. Is he trying to make me feel guilty?

'Err... thank you. You know… I think I should apologize for everything that happened yesterday ...’ He frowned and tilted his head, as if he didn’t know what she was talking about. ‘I was ungrateful and stupid enough to let my paranoia take the best of me. I know it's not enough; in fact you have every right to not to forgive me if you don’t want to, but I think I should give you back the money you used yesterday to pay for my things.'

'You don’t have to give me anything back, it was only 8000₩.'

'I insist, wait, I'll give it to you now.' She ped her gray gabardine to reach the inner pocket of the coat. She took the money and handed it to Taehyung, who was now looking at her quite puzzled.

'Oh! You're wearing the same t-shirt as me.’ He pulled off his ochre blazer and showed off a long sleeved, black t-shirt that spelled the word DESTINY in white letters around the chest area. They both laughed. 'I think it’s a fate thing after all.'

'I don’t know how I thought you were really a stalker; you are really nice and cute.' Yebin realized that she had thought out loud and she put her hand over , blushing harder than ever. The boy laughed.

'Don’t be ashamed, I thought you were very pretty from day one.' He brought his index finger to his chin, raising an eyebrow and displaying a mischievous smile. 'I think I'll accept your apologies on one condition.'

'What condition?' She asked instantly, interested.

'You have a date with me. Only one, if you don’t like me or I look like a stalker to you after all, we won’t cross our paths ever again, but I'd like to get to know you better. What do you say to that, Han Yebin?’ She smiled nervously.

'I think it's a good idea, I accept your proposal!' Taehyung showed his characteristic boxy smile as his unique way of saying thank you. 'Are you finished picking your stuff? Even if you haven’t, I don’t think it matters either, I doubt those two have finished talking.’ He laughed at the way she referred to their friends.

‘Actually I'm done, shall we go?'

'Yeah, let’s go.'

They went to where their friends were, chatting casually and laughing from time to time on the short trip. Yoonji and Hoseok were really into their conversation, but they still heard them coming.

'I see that you two have gotten along, that’s perfect! We can hang out before Yoonji leaves to Yongin.' Hoseok said happily.

'Yes, that would be fine.' Taehyung replied.

‘Guys.’ Yoonji caught their attention. 'Have you noticed that you are wearing the same t-shirt?'

Hoseok looked at the clothes they wore, and raised his eyebrows, grinning widely.

'That's true, what a coincidence!'

Yebin and Taehyung gave each other a playful look, laughing loudly at the surprise of their two friends.

Maybe it's not so bad meeting people where you least expect it.