The President felt extremely upset that night. She had felt terrible for treading upon Seungwan’s painful memories on the very first night they shared a room together. Joohyun’s mind then began to run wild with her the possible reasons that Seungwan’s behaviour might have been connected to the passing of her sister. The more she thought, the more she realised that sleep would be impossible to come.

“President.”

Joohyun gasped in surprise at her name being called so suddenly. Seungwan must have heard her gasp but chose to ignore it.

“Try to sleep,” Seungwan advised.  

“You aren’t sleeping too,” Joohyun countered.

“That is because I know you aren’t asleep yet.”

Joohyun sighed loudly. “I can’t sleep,” she admitted.

Without any other words being exchanged, Joohyun heard Seungwan climbing down from her bed and felt her own body tense up as Seungwan neared her.

“May I?” Seungwan asked.

Joohyun shut her eyes, trying to calm her heart which was picking up speed. Does she want to allow Seungwan in her bed? The answer that came back was a definite yes. There was not even a need for hesitation. The President knew she had fully fallen for Seungwan a while ago and this was practically like a dream come true for her.

Heaving out a long sigh, Seungwan then climbed into the bed with her President. This was a pretty crazy thing to do, especially when it was the first night they are spending with each other.

The instant their bodies made contact with each other, Joohyun’s body had tensed up and that made Seungwan nervous too. This was not the first time they were in such close contact with each other, so why were they feeling so much more jittery about it? Possibilities…

“Seungwan.”

Seungwan hummed an “mm” in response.

“You are really amazing do you know that?”

Seungwan blinked as she let those words sink into her mind. Tears threatened to emerge but she would not let them, Seungwan could not let them. How could she cry when it was the first night of her stay with the President?

“I hope you can think more highly of yourself, Seungwan,” the President said again.

“Please… stop… I don’t deserve this,” Seungwan pleaded.

Concern was evident in Joohyun’s voice as she asked. “Why do you say that, Seungwan? Can you answer this at the very least?”

Why did it sound oddly familiar?

“Son Seungwan! Why have you changed?!” Sooyeon shouted.

Seungwan gave no response as she stared at an empty space on the ground.

“You want to keep quiet? Fine, then tell me, where have you been to using my ID card? Surely you can answer this at the very least.”

The semblance between Sooyeon and Joohyun was so apparent at that moment and it had almost thrown her into an abyss of memories. Stop! Seungwan had to command her mind to stay focus on the present but found it difficult to do so.   

It was then that Seungwan regretted having stayed the night. This only made things tougher, for her, for both of them. Seungwan screwed her eyes shut tightly as she concentrated her thoughts on what she would do.

There were two solutions that presented itself to her; to numb her feelings or to distract herself with other things or perhaps both. As she looked into Joohyun’s piercing gaze directed right at her, she knew which she would choose; neither. Joohyun’s eyes reflected stubbornness in wanting to get her answers but there was fear in them at the same time too, fear that she might have pushed Seungwan too far.

“Okay, it’s okay, if you do not want to tell me now but-”

“I have done many things which I have regretted,” Seungwan replied curtly and heard a sharp intake of breath from the President.

The two girls were once again blanketed with silence. This time, with copious amount of nervousness infused in it.

“Regrets, guilts, we all have them. I may not know the intensity of the regrets that you may have but I am willing understand them. Seungwan, will you let me understand you?” Joohyun asked in a sincere plea.

Those words, despite how simple they might seem, felt like the best consolation that could be offered to Seungwan, like water that was presented to the parched wanderer. Stripped bare of her emotions, Seungwan nodded as she buried her face into the crook of Joohyun’s neck. Such intimacy… if it was Seungwan moments ago, she would have been hesitant and worry about Joohyun’s reactions towards her actions but the Seungwan now did not care. She wanted to lean as close as possible to Joohyun, to thoroughly appreciate her presence. Then she felt the small of Joohyun’s hands sliding up her back and the tightening of her arms around her and Seungwan enjoyed it, every single bit of their contact.      

Despite no other words being exchanged, the two girls still found solace in each other’s comfort as they willed their minds to rest.

Goodnight Joohyun.

**

“Pancakes again?” Seungwan asked as she saw Joohyun return with a box of pancake mixture.

Joohyun nodded as she placed the box of pancake mixture into the shopping cart and flashed a crooked smile at Seungwan as she sighed.

“Love your pancakes but please use lesser butter this time round.”

“That is not possible, they will end up burnt, again,” Seungwan replied with a hint of bitterness in her tone. The girl remembered how she tried to improvise and reduce the amount of butter used but ended up burning the first pancake she made for Joohyun, eliciting much laughter from the President.

“Well… they weren’t too badly burnt. Anyway, we still finished it up,” Joohyun stated and headed off, pushing the shopping cart along as she went. 

The day’s breakfast making went as peacefully as it could have been. With the students returning to their homes, the dormitory was pretty emptied out and this lent Joohyun and Seungwan the privacy that they very much appreciated.

Usually after their breakfast, besides revising whatever had been taught in the first half of the semester, the two girls worked tirelessly on their stock pitch competition which was to be held right after the break.

Seungwan tried her best to not let it show but Joohyun knew that this competition was weighing her down. This was made especially apparent whenever they viewed video c