CHAPTER ONE 

She’s running her hands through her hair; putting fallen light brunette strands back from its place, tucked right behind her ear filled with tiny piercings, trying her best to make herself look decent as if she weren’t stressed at all.

Chaeyoung’s sitting down in a personal pod at the university’s library, eyebrows scrunched and nose buried in a romance novel that she’s been trying to focus on for hours just to gather a tinge of inspiration for her to write about. Though this isn’t really particularly her “supposed” priority since she’s a business major (with a lot of paperwork to do, mind you), she finds herself frustrated since she couldn’t immediately finish what she usually found easy for her.

She’s efficient when it comes to being assigned to anything; she’s particularly detailed and she makes sure to maximize her free time properly so she can get to finish things the way she wants it to be, creating her perfect output.

So when her potential agent asked her to compose a love song, she’s suddenly at a loss.

“You definitely got talent, kid. You’ve written songs well, but I’ve notice you’ve never done anything about love. How about trying that for a change?”

She groans inwardly, slamming her head on the book to punish herself for always having her mind floating onto different things. She couldn’t believe that her body had refused to move its own limbs. It wasn’t always like this for her, really. Chaeyoung’s been writing about most of her experiences in life ever since: from her surroundings, her sadness, to friendships, and losses. She’s never ran out of creative juice when it comes to writing a new song, but it seems like there’s a first for everything.

She’s hit a wall.

Chaeyoung’s suffering from a slump due to the lack of experience in the romance department.

She gives up on the book, closing it shut and slamming it on the table, strong enough for it to make a thud sound. She stares at the warm, yellow light suspended above the room, deep in thought about her and romantic relationships. She then places her arms on the wooden surface, elbows propped up as she buries her face onto her hands, already on the verge of giving up. She’s well-aware that she’s an emotional person, and she knows that it won’t be too long until she caves in to her feelings. At some point, tears will well out from her eyes, and she’s certain that she’d probably be better off if she were to write about the stress that came along with writing a song.

A love song, in particular.

Already feeling the hot liquid coming out from her doe eyes, she wipes them off with the knitted sleeve of her cream sweater as soon as she could to mask the frustration and to save herself from being caught in her emotional state. Wouldn’t want to be caught and be embarrassed, she thinks. She removes the sleeve from her face, then something suddenly hits her.

Her make up wasn’t water-proof.

She checks on the cloth near the armholes of her sweater, the dark ink smeared on the creamy cloth. She curses herself from her dumb mistake, then picks up the messenger bag on the floor to rummage the tissues found inside. As soon as she took sight of it, she pulled out the roll and tore a couple of pieces for her to wipe smeared make up that ran down earlier from her face. She rubs away the remaining mascara that stuck on her face, not even bothering to use a mirror to know where the spots were.

“Stupid, stupid Chaeyoung,” she mutters to herself, not bothering to keep it in her mind anymore.

“Quiet!” the librarian reprimands from afar, causing Chaeyoung to yelp. She swears that her words were of minimal volume, but it seemed like the librarian had animalistic hearing senses.

The student sighs, grabbing the book and the tissue roll to return it back to her bag. She slings the strap to her shoulders, then zips the bag to close it up. Standing up from her chair, she then proceeds to walk towards the exit, head dipped down in self-disappointment due to the lack of productivity. She grabs the silver knob then turns it around, leaving the building silently. Crowds of students chatter inanimatedly while the still wind greets her face. She watches each of her steps intently, observing the pace that she kept while a variety of leaves on what seemed like an infinite pavement appear as she took a step further.

It wasn’t too long before she bumped in to someone, causing her to flinch out of shock. She takes time to gather herself from her jumbled manner from a few seconds ago, breathing in deeply. As soon as she inhales, an evident floral scent enters through her nostrils, reminding her of summers spent in serene gardens as the faint sunrays gleam to warm up her skin. The thought makes her giddy, but she soon shakes her head and blushes at the incongruous thought she just had.

She bows, apologies all ready to come out from , “I’m sorry! I wasn’t looking where I was going, I should really pay attention next time.”

“It’s alright, don’t worry,” a feminine voice with a raspy undertone assures Chaeyoung, but