Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
He sat there restlessly, accompanied by lots of big paper on the table and his backpack near his foot. A week of sleepless night is not a match for the tense feeling waiting for someone to greet him. On the way to the dreamland, a dry voice shouted his name, making him rushed to the oak desk next to the big window.

It’s another long pause before the man in front of him finished assessing his set of drawing.

“No, Jinki. You need to work again with your space arrangement. This is too narrow. It wouldn’t even fit two people in it!”

“That’s exactly what I want to achieve. This is a museum about how a country struggling to fight for their independence. With this kind of setting, they would experience not only by looking but also by feeling.”

His professor seemed like cursing under his heavy breath, “You still need to display something!”

Jinki pulled out another rough sketch from his bag, “We can put built in diorama on the sides like I’ve drawn here. Or series of pictures we managed to collect from the past. It would still fit the width.”

“But a tiny rabbit hole like this won’t do!” he raised his voice after make a big circle with a red marker on his draft layout.

“This is one person experience, Sir! I purposely make it only 1200 millimeters just so people would go through this section one by one. Therefore in the finish line, they would have their own perspective!”

“Can you just make it at least in standard? In a wider space?”

“Why should I?”

His expression got stiffer after Jinki’s innocent question.

“Why should you? Because I said so! Listen, it’s okay to have imagination and idea and dream and so on, Mr. Lee! But you couldn’t forget about the standard! You’re an architect for God’s sake!”

“Standard can follow the concept, Sir! I use the standard in other area, but this section, I need it to be like this! After all, this is what I want to present to the public! Another approach on how they saw the content of the museum!”

“You can always provide it in bigger size! Gosh, Jinki! The more spaces you make, the more it allows people to come! I can’t take this, go home and make some revised concept! Or go back from the start!”

Jinki clenched his teeth while collecting all his splattered paper. His mouth kept shout while his lecturer mumbling another problem he encountered every single time a stubborn student like Jinki came over to discuss their project.

“Listen carefully now, young man. You really need to consider how many people you could have in your museum. Think about capacity.”

Finished with his belonging, he dragged his chair further from the desk, “With all due respect, Sir, I’m making a museum, not an exhibition hall.”

***

“Where are you?”

Jinki picked up his phone once he’s outside the academic building, “Heading home I think. My head hurts like hell. I need to sleep at least until tomorrow.”

“Can you check first whether there’s a purple box at the back seat?”

“What’s with you and purple?! Really?”

“Is there or is not?!!?!?!” Taemin’s shouting from the other line.

“I barely reached parking lot!”

“Okay, tell me when you get there,” Taemin stopped for a while, “Dude, are you alright?”

“Nope,” Jinki’s not good at lying, especially to his brother.

“So coffee after my class?”

“Are you deaf or stupid? The only thing in my mind right now is my ing bed and I don’t care whether my drawing would be done by Sunday and I get to make the rough presentation or not! I hate my life.”

Eyes are all on him right now, a perfect picture of a mad man yelling through the phone. Jinki does have no to give today.

“Wow. Sounds terrible.”

“You’d never know,” Jinki throws his project on the back, and slam the door really hard before adjust himself behind the wheel.

“Hey, you’re in the car. So, is there any?!”

“What?”

“Purple box, idiot! You’re lucky I’m not there with you or I just splashed your face with this banana smoothie in my hand!”

“Oh,” he cocked his head to the backseat and found a purple box under his jacket, “Yeah. I saw it.”

Taemin still grins sheepishly even though his brother cannot see it, “Can you drop it to me before taking your nap?”

He scratches his head furiously before buckled up, “You owe me. Big one.”

***

The sky is painted magnificently above him, soft blue with perfect white cloud, reminds him to cotton candy he used to eat back in London. Reminds him that he should be at home on his fluffy bed. Not waiting for annoying brother like this. Jinki rested his arm on the rolled out window after he lighted a cigarette. He barely can open his eyes, but patiently waiting for Taemin anyway who said he’s coming almost 10 minutes ago.

It’s about time Jinki picked his phone to dial some numbers when a thin figure with purple hair approaching in a small run. And how hard Taemin pulled out the biggest grin ever, Jinki just sighed, opened the door and got off the car.

He slipped the cigarette in his corner of the mouth, taking care his belonging before Taemin ransacking the backseat and done something with his infamous magic hand.

“What’s inside that’s so important you wasted my nap time?”

“Some copies for my next class,” Jinki’s way blocked before he could reach the door, “You need to cut that.”

Taemin pointed his chin to Jinki’s hand which the latter only shrugged, “I have a bad day.”

“Tell me when exactly you are not having a bad day.”

“The other day. I’m not grumpy the other day.”

“Whatever. I’m leaving.”

Jinki leaned to the side of his car for a moment, inhaling his cigarette and let his mind wandering once again. About his project. His professor. His nightlife stage hoping with Taemin. His anxiety about future. His life. His heart. His heart which full of uncertainty.

Speaking of the devil, right before Jinki opened the door, a couple walked closer to his direction, side by side. They haven’t realized a pair of eyes drilling right through them. Until they reached the passenger door.

“Here you go.”

After mirroring the perfect horror plastered on Jinki’s face, the girl ducked her head down and looked straight to the front. She didn’t even look to the side while pulling the seatbelt. Jinki throw away the half done cigarette and stepped on it with all his might. He gets inside the car before slammed the door rather hard. When finally that girl cocked her head to the right, Jinki stopped thinking for a split of second and chose to step the gas and leave immediately.

“Is that Minho’s friend brother?”

“Hmmm.”

“Do you know him?”

“I don’t know.”

Jinwoon smell something fishy with her answer but Gwiboon really doesn’t know. She doesn’t know whether he still wanted to act like he knew her or not after that one deflated look.

***

“Miss Kim, you should take care of that trim near the collar. I won’t tolerate any wrong stitches excuse in the future. Just because I like your concept, I let you go this time. Understand?”

She nods weakly and watched the old lady passed her table to curse to another design on the next table. Her hand almost reached a scissor when her professor yelled again, “I want it to be finished by tomorrow afternoon Miss Kim. Or else, you may forget the vacant space on the next winter exhibition.”

Gwiboon almost fell off her heels, she couldn’t miss that opportunity for sure but her body appeared to say the other. Her mind and her soul didn’t cooperate well with her motoric skill. When a person sing song behind her, that’s when she finally snapped.

“This is not her. She’s screwed up. Well, a likes her sh–– “

“What did you just say?”

“I didn’t say anything!”

“How dare you talking like that with your filthy mouth!”

“Excuse me?!”

“Excuse y––“

“Miss Kim! Take all your stuff. Now. I’ll see you in my office.”

Gwiboon gritted her teeth so hard not to stomp her feet and be more childish than people thought she was. She grabbed her sketchbook, shoved in inside her bag, and left after grabbed the fabric in one hand and condemned the door behind her.
Outside the study hall, people stopped for a while to witness Gwiboon’s mental breakdown which counted as perfect sweet escape since watching the untouchable queen messed up with her life is not for every day. She closed her eyes momentarily and flipped her hair before walk down the hallway.

But life has not finished making everything more complex, she bumped into Minho and Taemin. Why now, God?!

“Hey, what’s happened?” Minho handed her a lemon water bottle which she took it quickly and gulped down almost half of it.

“Another day of es inside my class not satisfied with their life and tried to drag me down.”

“How bad is that?”

“Not really. She’s out of my league, she knew it,” she gave the bottle back to Minho.

“Speaking of league, someone keeps bickering that he’s not your league and I do feel really tired hearing all those crap. Because seriously, which one of you doesn’t attracted to the other?”

Gwiboon and Taemin exchange intense eyes. The latter just shrugged to her, confusing Minho at the background.

She properly cocked her head to Taemin’s direction – casually, though she couldn’t really help the groggily voices came out from her bow lips, “I really don’t know what you are talking about. Is someone having a problem with me?”

“Looks like you’re the one who has a problem, girl,” Taemin raised his brows playfully and shot Gwiboon’s cheeks red.

“Tell whoever he is to come after me by himself if he has something to talk about! Don’t be such a coward!”

“Is that an invitation?”

“No. This is an intervention!”

***

Jinki hates the fact he couldn’t think clearly. The paper on his hand had been crumpled in a perfect ball and thrown to the bin, following the former others. He glances to the table calendar which full of his colorful arrow, marked the schedule he supposed to follow. So many things to catch up but he already missed some.
He dragged his chair back and opened the only window on his semi-basement. He pulled a cigarette and sit on the bean bag under the window. Instead of his design, the image came first on his mind is Kim Gwiboon with her perfect eyes and skin and hair and all, walking in other man’s arm.

Taemin said his name was Jinwoon – her personal satellite, never really ex but never really boyfriend. 

Taemin said, they recently what people called getting back together.

Taemin said, that muscle man had been following her this past two weeks.

That’s exactly around the time they bumped into each other and that eye-sickening view. And Jinki keeps it to himself the fact that his life started being ridiculous since then.

His heart almost jumped up to the throat when his phone went off.

“Jinki’s speaking!”

“Dude! Where have you been?” Jonghyun crispy voice greets him brightly, a bit annoying actually, since Jinki is not in the mood talking with any acquaintance of The Ice Princess.

“Here and there, but mostly buried myself inside my room. What’s up?”

“What’s up?!?!!!?!! Mr. Park is up looking for you every two days. Have you gone crazy?!”

Jinki stayed silent for a while before deciding to say something.

“Taemin’s right. His brother is out of his mind. No wonder he’s screwed.”

“Mind your own business, young lady! Get lost and never come back!”

If there’s a voice he desperately wanted to hear right now, there would be Gwiboon’s. No matter how painfully it sounds, still, it’s better than not hearing anything from those little cute lips.

“I’m sorry, Jinx. I don’t know why she even existed.”

A bitter chuckle slipped from his throat, “It’s okay, Jong. She’s