Nayoung smiles to herself at the thought of her friends telling their goodbyes, she had to leave for a field trip to Shanghai. Only a few selected students were brought as a class, fourteen boys and girls.

“Don’t forget about us.” Byul-yi fake cries while giving her a tight hug, only to whisper into her ear “If you see any cute girls give them my number.” Nayoung pushes her away.

“Unnie.” Chaeyeon attached herself to Nayoung’s arm “Bring me back a souvenir, hmmm?” and the older rubs the top of her head “Of course, the most expensive.”

“I want an expensive one too!” Heehyun says.

“But I wasn’t planning on bringing you back anything.” Nayoung watches as her same age friend throws her a look. “I hope you get lost.” Heehyun mutters and Nayoung replies “I heard that.” followed by a “Good I said it loud enough for you to hear.” by Heehyun.

They all walk outside, Nayoung’s mom honking her car telling her daughter that they’re going to be late. Heehyun punches Nayoung’s arm “Stay safe.” and Nayoung rolls her eyes playfully “I’m not you, I can take care of myself.”

The four all hug a goodbye and Nayoung arrived at the airport. Although she didn’t want to admit it, she was a little nervous. Going to a different country was a big deal and the fact that she wasn’t with her family or friends made the butterflies in her stomach flutter a little more.

They were staying at a nice hotel and Nayoung couldn’t help but stare in awe, there wasn’t any places like this where she was from. Nayoung even lucks out because her roommate for the trip falls ill and she has the room all to herself (sorry Sojung.)

Their class first stops at museum, apparently it was famous and Nayoung felt out of place. She wasn’t dressed for the occasion and even felt like a typical tourist. It was a bit boring hanging out with the uptight students of their school too.

If Byul-yi was here she’d probably try to flirt with one of the paintings, Chaeyeon herself would be considered art and Heehyun wouldn’t even understand the meanings of the pieces. Nayoung pulls out her phone writing her miss you’s in their group chat.

“Who are you?”

“Unnie, did you buy my souvenir yet?”

“Where are you?”

When Nayoung gets back to the hotel, she’s ready to pass out but the caffeine she had drunken earlier just to keep her alive during the tour wasn’t going to let her sleep. is dry and Nayoung decides to go downstairs to the lobby to buy some water.

There was loud music coming from one of the event halls and she wants to peek her head in just to see what was happening. She was about to open the door when the door flies open and tons of people start flocking out.

The event must’ve ended and Nayoung almost forgot why she even went downstairs in the first place. She knows she saw a vending machine when they got checked into their rooms earlier.

She finds it and puts in her coins, pressing the button and she watched as her water bottle comes out. Nayoung opens the bottle as she walked back to the elevator. She feels a tap on her shoulder and Nayoung turns around to face a girl, a pretty girl at that.

The girl talks to her in Chinese and Nayoung doesn’t know when she should stop her to let her know that she doesn’t understand a single thing coming out of . The girl finishes whatever she was saying and Nayoung gives her an awkward smile, in her broken Chinese “I don’t….understand.” she points to her ears and then head.

The girl throws her a surprised look before she points at the bottle in Nayoung’s hand “Where?” she repeats that same word in her own accented English three times. Nayoung knew at least that much so she turns her body, looks at the girl in the eyes just to make sure she would follow her gaze and points at the machine she was just at.

The stranger throws her a bright smile thanking her in her mother tone and leaves to the vending machine. Nayoung walks back to the elevator and was grateful to have met such a pretty girl.

---

Byul-yi holds the straps of her backpack tight and takes a deep breath as she walked into the library. She can’t believe she’s going to do this. Byul-yi had basically ran from school after it had ended to beat her crush to the table she normally sat at, passing by Chaeyeon and Heehyun who stood confused by the oldest skipping over them.

She huffs and wipes the sweat off her forehead as she took a seat. It didn’t take long for Yong-sun to come to the table she normally sat alone at, maybe five minutes. They don’t exchange any words, Hell Byul-yi didn’t even look up to meet her eyes.

Byul-yi pulled out her homework and pen bag. She then looked at the thick book that Yong-sun was currently studying, her eyes then traveled to the girl’s face. Yong-sun couldn’t be younger than Chaeyeon but also didn’t look any older than Nayoung and Heehyun.

What would be a good pick up line to use for the girl who sat across from her. Byul-yi then starts digging in her lunch kit and pulls out two chocolate milk cartons. She stands up and Yong-sun couldn’t help but look up to the girl.

Byul-yi then looks at one of the cartons before stretching an arm out offering it to Yong-sun “My name is Moon Byul-yi. Do you want to share a drink with unnie?” Byul-yi even throws her a lopsided smile that only came natural to her.

Yong-sun looks the girl up and down with an amused smile, more specifically her school uniform “I am getting a little thirsty.” she accepts the drink anyway. “And my name is Kim Yong-sun, I can call you unnie right?”

And Byul-yi thinks hearing unnie coming from Yong-sun’s mouth was the best she’s ever heard yet (sorry Chaeyeon.) “Of course, are you having any problems with any of the questions?” Byul-yi then makes her way to sit beside the girl.  She looks at the book and tries to hide her shock at the difficult book that was placed in front of her. Immediately she regrets even offering to help.

Yong-sun shakes her head with a smile “I’m just going over some stuff.” she then looks at Byul-yi’s homework “You should probably finish that first before anything.”

Was this her way of saying not to bother her anymore? Accepting defeat she goes back to her seat to  finish her homework. And Moon Byul-yi actually finishes her homework the night before it was due instead of the morning of.

She comes back the next day, keeping the hand warmer in her pockets as she approached the seated girl. Byul-yi grabs the girl’s hand, pulling out the packet and placing it in Yong-sun’s hand “Unnie will take care of you.”

“Unnie should take care of herself first.” Yong-sun stifles a laugh and then points at Byul-yi’s red nose.

Byul-yi decides to sit beside Yong-sun this time, pulling out her homework and Byul-yi throws her a cheeky smile. She continues to do her work until Yong-sun points out “You have really good handwriting.”

A girl that Byul-yi recognized walked towards them with a smile on her face, she studied with Yong-sun every once in a while. She had a confused look on her face as she got closer “I didn’t know you picked up tutoring.”

Was she asking Yong-sun that? “I didn’t.” Yong-sun leans back into her seat and then faces Byul-yi with a playful smile. The girl doesn’t bring it up anymore as she takes a seat across from the two “My name is Bae Joohyun. I’m Yong-sun’s friend.” and the way the girl worded the friend part, emphasized that she was the same age as Yong-sun.

Byul-yi leans back into her seat as well and crossed her leg “My name is Moon Byul-yi, you can call me unnie too.” and Joohyun throws Yong-sun a look, almost not believing how the girl was introducing herself. This time Yong-sun doesn’t even try to hold back a laugh and Byul-yi just furrows her eyebrows with a polite smile lingering on her lips.

Joohyun waves her hand “Wait I think you misunderstood? I’m confused, did you want me to call you unnie?” Oh did Joohyun not want to have a senior-younger relationship?

“If it makes you uncomfortable, you can just call me Byul-yi.” Byul-yi throws her a smile, still confused on what made Yong-sun laugh in the first place.

“Um..okay. I’m older than you?” Joohyun has an amused smile on her face as well “I’m twenty and…” she takes a look at Byul-yi’s uniform “...you’re what..in your second year of highschool?”

Shock only came after being offended “I’m in my last year of highschool.” her eyes then widened, a hand over “You’re twenty?!” she says in a hushed whisper. She then snaps her head towards Yong-sun her other hand pointing to her “You’re twenty too?!”

“You didn’t tell her?” Joohyun wants to laugh herself “You’re too evil, Yong-sun.”

Byul-yi’s face turns red and she suddenly sits up, uncrossing her leg. She looks down at her homework as Yong-sun and Joohyun converse over their studies.

---

Nayoung’s feet hurt aftering touring a college, and she’s positive that her dream of studying abroad was ruined. She was home sick, it was too much walking and she didn’t even know another language.

When their class returns back to their hotel Nayoung was surprised that the event was still going on. When was the last day? She still didn’t know what was going on in there and Nayoung figures she’ll come back after their supervisors call it a day.

She takes a shower just to save her sleep in the morning, does her same routine and waits for the clock to strike nine. Nayoung goes downstairs and feels her phone vibrating once she stepped into the elevator.

It was a video call from Byul-yi. She accepts it and walks out of the elevator, holding her phone in the air. Byul-yi had the phone close to her face, showing only her nose and eyes “Hey, how are you doing there?”

“It’s a bit lonely but I’m having fun, it’s totally different than what I’m used to.” Nayoung decides to sit on one of the lobby’s couches.

“Have you met anyone cute yet?” and Nayoung’s head went straight to the girl she met yesterday “Actually yeah I did but we didn’t talk.” she laughs “We struggled a lot.”

Byul-yi smiled through the screen “If you see her again, give her my number.”

Please Subscribe to read the full chapter