- 00:00:01 -

“So class, today we will be covering the cellular biology of yeast.”

As the lights dimmed in the room, my eyes naturally closed as well and my head headed for the desk. The lack of sleep my dreams have been causing was doing a great job of the life out of me too. Thud. When I opened my eyes, I saw the usual frown on Youngjae’s face as he pointed to the professor going through his lecture powerpoints.

“If he catches you sleeping again, the highest grade you are getting in this class is a D.” He muttered quietly.

There he was at it again, nagging away. At home, I had my mom and at college I had Youngjae. As usual, I rolled my eyes at him before closing them again.

We had been friends since middle school, but I thought our friendship was going to end when we were working on our college applications. President of our high school, perfect attendance, enrolled in all the honor societies, captain of the track team, first chair in the orchestra, and 4.5 GPA (like how do you even get past 4.0)... I was for sure Youngjae was going into an Ivy League. But instead, here he was with me. In an average college for the average student. He says that his parents didn’t want him to go out of state, but last time I went to his house, it was filled with Harvard, Yale, and Princeton college apparel.

“Ms. Song maybe you would like to explain to us how yeast cells move.” The familiar voice of the professor boomed across the room. Oh, so he wanted to pick on the sleeping student game... again.

Raising my head I glanced at the powerpoint which had some picture of a cell. Ugh. That wasn’t going to help. But if I didn’t say anything I was going to get a D in this stupid class. “Um... so the yeast cell-”

“Professor. I don’t think it’s fair that you asked her a question about something we didn’t even go over yet.” Youngjae interrupted me as I slowly saw the smug expression on the professor disappear. “I don’t think anyone in this class would able to answer your question.”

“Oh- um- oh I must have been way ahead of my notes. Thank you for pointing that out Mr. Yoo.” He stuttered as he quickly went back to his slideshows.

Like what I was saying before... Yoo Youngjae why are you here.

☆ ☆ ☆

“So Youngjae stood up for you in class again?” Diane whispered as she sat in front of me with her plate of food. She always had a huge grin on her face. Always found a way to keep herself entertained.  “Girl, how long are you going to ignore the fact that he is deeply, crazily, and madly in love with you...”

Diane was a close friend of mine since elementary school. We learned how to braid our hair together, we learned how to recover from breakups together, and we most importantly learned how to live our own lives separately, but together at the same time. It was by fate that we somehow ended up in the same college after she moved halfway through high school.

“Shut up before I actually throw my food at you,” I muttered back quickly glancing around to make sure Youngjae was nowhere near us. “He is just a friend... and he will always be just a friend. Plus, nothing you imagined happened in class. Like I told you before, the professor is literally out to get me... he wants me to be stuck in his class for my whole college career.”

Diane just shook her head before digging into her lunch. Before she even swallowed her food she started to talk again, her usual habit. “You know it’s only hurting him more. Seriously, you are the only one who can’t see it. Youngjae is infatuated with you... like some deep connection thing. Since you guys were friends for so long-”

No. He. Isn’t.

“Just please... keep eating for goodness sake,” I muttered.

No, Diane, you don’t understand. We can never be anything more than fri