Seoul in the long hours of a Sunday afternoon, is covered in humid weather, people unwinding from a week of subjecting body and mind under pressure, breaking free from the daily routines, if given the chance, less obligation and responsibilities; sometimes its waking up late with no worries on a warm fuzzy bed, but for Lisa this Sunday is about reading and catching up on the letters and numbers jotted down in a notebook at a milktea shop within the concrete jungle.

She releases a frustrated sigh followed by a low whisper of “ Econ” apparently, reading and analyzing is not making sense at the moment, something about computing the supply, demand, taxes and all other intermediate terms that you can come up with, doesn’t quite fit to Lisa’s preference. Hand fidgets on pen and it settles in between middle and ring fingers, she lets it glide, balancing an alternate circular motion with both ends suspended in the air as she finds a way to entertain herself.

On the other end of her eyes is a girl in a smart casual clothing, she wears an ivory cream complexion and a pair of the sharpest eyes she’s ever seen, the girl exudes sophistication without even trying, hands laid on counter as she makes an order and Lisa remembers about hands; thoughts drift into the past few days where fortunate events exactly leads on how she ended up going out with Jennie Kim on a Sunday afternoon.

| A week ago |

“I’m…I’m Jennie” as the brunette reaches out for Lisa’s long and slender hand, still seemingly lost in thought because in her mind she doesn’t know whether to be embarrassed or surprised for possibly having the wrong unit number or the fact that the girl who saved her from an unexpected accident is standing in front of her again. It’s funny though, because Jennie has been looking for her for days and now she appears out of nowhere where she least expected it.

“I’ve been looking for you at the field in my free time to properly thank you for what you did, but I haven’t seen you for days, I didn’t expect to meet you again like this though.” As the brunette forces out a laugh to cover up the awkwardness.

“Is that so? I’ve been busy arranging my requirements because I’m a transfer student and I haven’t been attending practices regularly since I have to settle things here and there, you know how it goes, I’m sorry for the hassle of going out in the field.”

A mannerism whenever she’s feeling awkward, the blonde finds herself scratching the side of her head, only to find the latter’s eyes focusing on something else, then it dawns on her the obvious bandages in hand. Sudden realization hits, soft face features turns into a serious one, eyebrows meeting in the middle and portrays a look that has an undeniable concern and worry all over it, by the time Lisa hides it, it’s already too late.

“Hey… Is that from the accident?”

Caught-off guarded, the taller girl contemplates how to answer the question without causing further worry to the brunette.

“It’s just a mild sprain, don’t worry, it’s okay, it’s almost healed anyway” as the blonde flashes a grin, trying to cover the nervousness surfacing and hoping that Jennie believes her.

Meanwhile, Chaeyoung has finished preparing and has already read Jennie’s text, immediately makes her way outside the room and walks over the foyer to get the front door, suddenly stops as she sees the light which is partly illuminating the side of the interior wall and realizes that the front door is slightly opened. If that isn’t odd enough, she hears an unexpected, distinct conversation that causes her eyebrows to furrow, and her mind seep with curiosity, she takes further steps and peeks outside the door only to discover that two of her friends who haven’t met before are casually talking to each other.

Not the scene she’s expecting but seeing the two girls in front, washes over a wave of relief, but causes her curiosity to grow even more.

Perceiving her thoughts are all over the place, it’s really useless to just stand behind the shadows and think of the possible answers of the growing questions in mind that can only be answered by making her presence known to both girls.

“You two know each other?”

Chaeyoung asked as two pairs of startled and guilty eyes looks at her and both Jennie and Lisa speaks at the same time, explaining the situation at hand to which the girl with the honey blonde hair didn’t understand due to the incoherent words coming out from them; simultaneous explaining apparently doesn’t make sense at the moment.

The back and forth exchanges is cut short by Chaeyoung herself, stopping the two in their tracks as she proposes a solution to simmer down the heat of the situation.

 “Right, since we’re going to the lounge, explain while we’re on the way, Unnie and Lisa, I’ll see you later, okay?” And with that, they settled to an agreement.

“So I guess I’ll see you next time and hopefully with no baseballs heading your way?” The blonde playfully says to the brunette.

“Ha, you won’t let go of that for quite a while huh? Maybe, but definitely not in the field again. Seriously, I’ll think of something to return the favor though. Till then, Lisa.”

“Okay, you guys take care, annyeong!” as Lisa waves her non-injured hand and grins to both girls who waves their hands back.

***

The third time they meet, is on a rainy Thursday morning where the scent of eight o’clock is mild dew grass, wildly eminent in the air, the pitter patter of rain pours gently and placidly cascades down on large window panes, the low humming of air condition as the background noise that makes the students drown in a sleepy haze. Even with the class professor starting off the lecture, Jennie finds herself staring out the window, fascinated by the small drops of water racing to the bottom of the ground. Far from her usually focused self, apparently she’s not an exception to the current ambience exuded by the weather.

The sound of the door opening makes a noise, not loud, but enough to bring most students startled by the sudden intrusion of a person entering the classroom. She directly approaches the professor, polite greetings and apologies for being late, slightly bows and hands a paper to her.

“How do you pronounce this, Mano..Manoban?” the professor asked, to which the girl nods and agrees.

Jennie didn’t bother to look over the new person, still occupied and hypnotized by the soothing scene outside the classroom. Amused, she bets on one of the many falling raindrops to win the race against other raindrops caught in the translucent glass and was disappointed when her bet didn’t make it first to the end of window.

“Calming, isn’t it?” says the person who just seated beside her.

“Yeah, very, it makes me kind of sleepy.” Jennie replied.

Realizing that she didn’t have a seatmate before, the brunette looks to her side and sees a familiar girl taking off her jacket and gently shakes off the rest of the little raindrops caught in her hair, she takes her brush and combs her bangs nice and neatly.

“Lisa, you’re in this class too?” Jennie asked in a flabbergasted tone.

“Yeah, , I mean, this isn’t really a subject where I really excel and unfortunately, I missed days of lecture since I’m a late enrollee, now catching up is gonna be a real headache.” The blonde says as she scrunches her nose in disapproval.

Jennie has been thinking for days in what ways she could pay back Lisa for saving her from the baseball incident, now the opportunity presents itself, the brunette seizes to what seems the most obvious thing to do when the words “catching up” registers in her mind. It may sound bizarre and bold even for her, but she can’t think of any other ways, so she settles with this one.

“I…I can help you with that if you want, I still feel bad about your hand getting bruised because of me, this is something at least I can do, I mean if that’s okay with you.”

“I told you it’s okay, but if that makes you feel better, I’m not gonna lie, I really need some help catching up, only if you’re not busy though, I don’t want to impose and be a bother.”

“No, not at all. Like I said, I want to return the favor. How about this Sunday then?”

***

Lisa’s pen strays out of her hand, when the brunette arrives and Jennie catches it before it falls completely to the ground, places the tray with their drinks on the table and settles in her seat on the opposite side of the blonde.

“The look on your face suggests that you’re having a hard time with that, have you at least finished writing down my notes in your notebook?” Jennie said as she takes a sip on her drink.

“Yeah, I already finished it last night, I understand just a couple of things, but not enough to understand the recent discussions, didn’t expect that you’ve gone through lectures that fast, aigoo.”

“Professor Park teaches her lectures precisely and quickly, it’s really hard to catch up once you get lost in her discussions, that’s why I don’t blame you, though, we better get started since there’s gonna be a lot of catching up to do.”

“Alright, let’s do it.”

They proceed with series of taking turns to talk over things relating to the subject, the occasional sipping of drinks, hands enclosed to a pen as traces of inks splattered across numerous papers, scratches even, with written formulas and examples, the occasional eye to eye contact showing the eagerness to learn while attentively listening to each other, though a bit uncomfortable and awkward at the first few minutes, but eventually gets better and lighter over the hours with casual chats in between.

By the time they finished, red and orange hues have long painted the sky and that’s when they decided to call it a day. Sling bags and milktea leftovers are carried out as they make their way outside the shop, shaking off stress and strain due to the long sitting for hours and exchanges of question and answers. Lisa is grateful to Jennie for having quite the patience with her, because she knows it herself, that she’s not the easiest person to teach, let alone with a subject she doesn’t like dealing with.

A sudden realization dawns that there’s still the rest of the day and the plan is to explore the city alone, but since she’s with the brunette right now, she contemplates whether to ask Jennie to come with her or not, and with a leap of courage, “you won’t know, unless you try, they say” she thought and eventually speaks her mind.

“Uh, do you have plans for the rest of the day?”

“I was supposed to go shopping with Chaeng but she canceled the last minute because her family made a surprise visit to her, so I think I’ll go by myself.”

“I also plan to explore the vicinity today since I didn’t have the chance to do it these past few days, if you need someone to accompany you, I’d tag along, if you don’t mind that is.”

“I don’t mind at all, are you sure though?”

“Yes, I’m quite sure” as a gentle grin appears in Lisa’s face.

The two proceeds to walk as they make their way into an intersection with no specific destination in mind at the moment, rubber soles brushing over pavement, letting their steps take them away to wherever place they would end up in. The sunset has cast its last rays over two figures where shadows eventually turns into stretched out silhouettes of two girls, maybe signifying something bigger that surpasses about owing someone or getting even, that it’s just them and their blossoming friendship found in the suburban of Seoul.

“So how did a foreigner end up in Korea and surprisingly so fluent in Korean?” Jennie asked the long overdue question in her mind.

“I’m a Thai by blood but because of my dad’s work, we migrated to Busan when I finished middle school, then I was offered an athlete scholarship by the university and I thought, it’s too good of an opportunity to let it pass, I accepted it, so here I am.”

“The university must’ve seen your potential as a player, you must be the ace of your old school hm?”

“I wouldn’t consider myself an ace yet, since I haven’t competed in the nationals, that’s why I also transferred in the university, because that would my biggest dream for now, at least.”

“That’s quite something you have there, I think you have what it takes, though, I haven’t watched you in action yet, just the way you passionately talk about it gives me a hint that you’re really good at it.

“I, uhm, I hope that’s the case too, I’m really working hard for it. What about you? You don’t like taking pictures?”

Not used to compliments, the blonde asked as she scratches the back of her head and nervously grins as she points out Jennie’s pocket camera that hangs around her neck.

 “My father likes to take pictures when I was a kid, I grew up wanting to be like him so on my 7th birthday I had my first camera, I haven’t stop taking photos since then, I like it so much that’s why I decided to pursue the course. I guess, my dream is to hold an exhibit and have my own studio someday.”

“I’m curious on what kind of photos you take, seeing what you’d risk for it the firsthand, I’m planting the seed. You’re gonna have your own studio, and when the time comes, I’ll definitely go to that exhibit.”

“Hm, really? I hope that’s the case, thank you though, that’s really nice of you.” Subtle smiles surfaces in her lips and the brunette stealthily gets ahold of her camera, steadies and takes a quick shot of the blonde on her side.

“Yah, what was that for?” The startled blonde said to the unfazed brunette beside her.

“I don’t know, maybe something that would end up in the exhibit?”

“Is that really an option you wanna risk? Why would you put something so horrible in your exhibit?”

“Oh you know, when the softball player, Lisa becomes famous I’d put her classic off guard face and I’ll be the only one has it. Your fans would die to have such a treasure piece you know.”

“Yah! Don’t you even dare, I didn’t know you have it in you!”

Lisa tries to snatch the camera away from Jennie but the brunette luckily dodges the blonde’s arms and dashes away as fast as she could, another pair of legs starts to sprint off and it turns into a game of chase, similarly like how a cat would chase a mouse, but eventually Jennie gives in, considering that she’s running away from an athlete let alone, one with long legs compared to her shorter ones.

“Okay, okay I give up, but it’s not the bad you know, I’ll show it to you.”

The brunette hands over the