18

20

Joohyun sighed as she stared up at the night sky, the New York lights not allowing her to see many of the stars that she could easily see in Daegu. It was nights like these that made her miss home and made her wonder if she had made the right choice to attend NYU. Her classes were challenging but nothing she couldn’t handle, she made great friends with a fellow student from South Korea named Seulgi and a New York native named Jennie, both of which were her roommates in a rather nice apartment, and one of her professors were working on getting her an internship at a local gallery. So what was the problem that caused her to question her decision? She didn’t know, she just knew that a big part of her was making her regret her move to New York.

Actually, she knew why she felt like this, she just didn’t want to admit it.  She didn’t know when she started to feel this way, maybe after a random phone call with him where they had almost five minutes of silence and it was just...comfortable. Sighing again, the young woman turned and made her way back into the apartment, glancing up at the clock. 11:25 pm - so it would be 1:25 the next day in Seoul. She sat down on the couch and grabbed her phone, dialing a number and silently praising herself for springing for international calling. Leaning back against the couch, she anxiously bit down on her lip as the other line began to ring, eager to hear their voice.

“Hello! Song Minho’s phone, Jieun speaking!” a voice answered with a giggle. Joohyun’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion at the very female sounding voice answering, the woman wondering both who the hell she was and why she had Minho’s phone. Before she could reply, she heard Minho’s voice in the background followed by more giggling and what sounded like a kiss before Minho finally spoke up.

“Hello?” Sitting frozen, Joohyun didn’t know what to say or how to feel. It would be ridiculous to feel jealous over this, mainly because Minho wasn’t hers to be jealous over. He was a friend, a childhood friend...but why did she feel so hurt?

“H-”

“Minho! ...it’s Joohyun...”

“Oh- oh, Joohyun hey! Sorry about-”

“No need to be sorry!” she said as she plastered on a fake smile in hopes to disguise her voice, “I actually have to go anyway, bye Minho!” Not giving him a chance to answer, she hung up and tossed her phone aside. Letting out a deep sigh, she slumped back against the couch and relished in her own foolishness. What was wrong with her? Why was she so upset? She never expected Minho not to get a girlfriend, but she honestly never thought about it. In her mind, he’d just always be there for her, which was rather selfish now that she thought about it. She didn’t own Minho, he was free to be with whoever he wanted. Suddenly, her phone began to ring, snapping her out of her thoughts. She knew it was Minho, and she knew it wouldn’t be a good idea to answer...but she grabbed her phone and answered anyway.

“What’s going on? Are you okay, Joohyun?” Minho’s concerned voice invaded her ears, the young woman losing all of her reservations.

“Who was that that answered the phone?”

“Oh...that was...Jieun...my-”

“Girlfriend? You can tell me Minho. Your girlfriend.”

“...are you mad?” Joohyun scoffed, mainly because she was mad and she didn’t even know why.

“No, I’m not mad, Minho. I just can’t believe you have some girl answering your phone like she’s your damn secretary or something. Why do you leave your phone around for her to answer anyway?”

“I was in the shower and it was in bed with her-!”

Letting out a dismissive laugh, Joohyun stood up from the couch to walk around in an attempt to calm down - it didn’t help, “So, as soon as I leave you jump in bed with someone?”

“Woah, woah, woah! First of all, you are not my girlfriend, Joohyun!”

“I know but-”

“But what?!” Minho shouted, catching Joohyun off guard, “You left! You left two ing years ago! I’m in Seoul, you’re in ing New York!”

“I know where I am, Minho!” she shouted back, growing frustration with the conversation and her own behavior. “I know where I am and clearly you do too because you’re ing some and don’t even care about me anymore! Am I that ing replaceable, Minho? Am I so ing forgetful that some who spreads her legs for you is enough to forget me?!”

“Holy , Joohyun...” an exasperated Minho said, “I can date who I want, I can who I want, I can see who I want. You left. You’re not here anymore.” Silence fell over them. It was unlike their comfortable silence, this one was tense and painful - Joohyun could feel the pressure on her chest that culminated in tears rolling down her cheeks.

“You’re right, Minho. I left, I’m not there anymore. We should keep it that way. Don’t call me and I won’t call you. Goodbye, Minho.” With that, she hung up and even turned off her phone to make sure she wouldn’t call. Plopping back onto the couch, she doubled over and sobbed into her hands. She didn’t know why she acted that way, why she felt that way, or why she just pushed away the only man who meant something to her. She just knew that she was alone and now had no one to turn to.

A/N: So sorry that there was no update last week! It's been pretty hectic with school and I've barely had any time or even energy to write. I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Comments are very much appreciated!