It was only three days left before this month ended which also meant Joohyun’s ticket to have some days off would be expired soon. For the past four days, she had been nothing but a mess, literally. It seemed like she had lost more than half of her life, she didn’t even know how to apply some make-up, how to get enough sleep, how to manage her daily meals, how to basically do everything. She was like a dead soul in a woman body.

“Bae Joohyun-ssi,” her boss’s voice was heard through the call. He just got a call from his father regarding the girl. “You’re not coming today?”

“I’m really sorry, Sir, I’m not in the best condition at this moment,” Joohyun wiped her itchy nose. Her voice indicated how tired she was. “I’m not sure I can go to the office. I’m really sorry.”

“Have you seen the doctors?”

“Um, no, but I’ll get myself checked up tomorrow if you don’t mind giving me one more day off,” Joohyun tried to sit up on the bed, combing her messy hair with her fingers.

“It’s fine,” Lu Han replied, “but about the task, the due deadline remains the same, it’s in three days from now.”

Jesus Christ!

Joohyun grabbed an empty plastic bag and rubbed it against her phone in purpose to make noise. “Sir, I can’t really hear you? It’s probably the connection again, I’m sorry. I’ll call you later. Good morning and have a nice day.”

Joohyun hanged the phone and placed it on the nightstand, “I’m sorry Lu Han. But you’re not helping, you’re just making me feel under pressure,” she threw herself on the bed, counting the mistakes she had made until this time. That was not the first time Lu Han called her to talk about her task. The past few days the boss noticed that Joohyun’s works weren’t as good as they used to be. She came late in the morning, sent the daily work at least four hours after the due time, even accidentally fell asleep in the office. She started worrying about this assignment the college had given, so did Lu Han. He was scared he had to ask her home without giving the approved paper.

Across the wall, the guy who held the girl’s life couldn’t stop staring at the pink coloured book. He was still not sure if it was really a good idea to keep the book until this long. But he wouldn’t deny the fact that he noticed how Joohyun gradually changed. Little did he know he was slowly ruining the girl’s life.

“Guys, do you think I should give this book back to its owner?” Chanyeol waved the book in the air as he eyed his bandmates who were taking a break from practising.

“I don’t know, just give it back, you’ve been keeping it way too long,” Sehun answered without looking at the latter, he was still busy with his guitar.

“Baekhyun?”

The shorter guy named Baekhyun, watching his favourite television show on the lazy chair, held up his thumb, giggling at the cartoon occasionally.

Right at this moment, the front door was open, showing a young lad in a black hoodie. He was bringing a bag full of food and drinks.

“It’s colder than usual,” he commented after closing the door, rubbing his own forearms before placing the bag on the table then grabbing his cola. “I think starting tomorrow there will be heavy rains, keep yourselves warm, everyone.”

Sehun only hummed in response, Baekhyun didn’t even notice someone was talking.

“Jongin-ah, you got my diet cola?” Sehun asked, trying to practice the new song they recently had written. “Why can’t I get the feeling when playing this part?” he grunted.

“It’s in the bag.”

“Jongin-ah!” Chanyeol suddenly pulled Jongin’s arm once the lad making his way to the couch.

“Ack!” the lad squeaked, pushing the drummer away. “Ya! Can you stop doing that, hyung?”

“Should I give this book back to Joohyun noona?” he asked, ignoring the younger’s previous words.

“You’re still having it with you?” Jongin’s eyes widened as he saw the book in Chanyeol’s hand. “Woah, Chanyeol hyung, I don’t know that you’re really this mean,” he shook his head.

“Then what should I do?” Chanyeol growled in somewhat frustration. He started to realize that he had been doing the wrong move.

“Give it back to her,” Jongin interrupted, “but in the most romantic way.”

“Wow, tell me how to do that,” Chanyeol leaned his body a little, getting interested in this topic. Jongin was the only member in the band who wasn’t single and also was the love guru. He had been with his girlfriend Soojung for almost 4 years and that was like his biggest achievement in life.

♡

Joohyun placed her night mask on as she lied her on the bed. Since she got forced days off, thanks to Lu Han who couldn’t see the girl like this, she’d rather sleep than do her work properly. She knew her life was already messed up and she wouldn’t try to make it worse by continuing her work when she was not capable of it. She thought of keeping her body physically healthy by adding more hours of sleep.

Joohyun massaged her face gently, controlling her breath, “calm down, calm down, everything is gonna be alright,” her eyes were busy staring at the ceiling while her mind was trying to arrange her schedule for tomorrow. She was going to see a local doctor here to get medicine or some therapy or anything that would work.

Her phone rang. Joohyun lazily accepted, turning the loudspeaker mode on so she wouldn’t bother placing it on her ear. She slightly wondered who could be calling her at eleven past thirty in the midnight.

“I’m still alive,” she said, expecting that it was her Seungwan or her mom that was calling.

“Hello, is this with Bae Joohyun-ssi?” a husky voice was heard through the phone.

“Yes, who are you?” Joohyun took a glance at the screen after noticing the unfamiliar voice. She was taken by surprise at the unknown number that she didn’t even save. “Who is this?” She half yelped, the thought of those serial killers suddenly hit her like a truck. Being killed in a foreign country was never crossed her mind.

“Ah, I just found a pink book with a bunny picture on the cover. It has your name and number on it, I’m supposing that it’s yours?”

Joohyun quickly got up once she heard the word ‘book’ mentioned. “Oh Gosh, are you serious? I mean, Sir, yes that’s my book. Oh God, where did you get it? No, wait, I need that book back, please.”

“I’m having this with me but I really have to go now.”

“Wait, can I please have your address, Sir? I’d like to go there tomorrow,” Joohyun got off her bed, grabbing a note and a pen, ready to write.

“I’m sorry, Bae Joohyun-ssi, but I won’t be in this town tomorrow, you have to see me now if you want this book.”

“But, Sir, it’s almost midnight and I–”

“Ah, too bad then.”

“No, Sir. Send me your location now, please, I’ll be there in minutes,” Joohyun quickly replied, not thinking any more about what might hap