“Study…at home?”

“Yep.”

Minkyung putted her laptop aside. “I’ve talked with my parents and the school. We all agreed this is the best option.”

“…I see.” Kyungwon knew what this could mean. Even if she was more at ease when Minkyung stayed at home, the cut in her chest was stinging and unable to ignore.

“Hey, don’t make that face.” Minkyung poked her cheek. “You can come at any time, you have free access of my room! And I’m gonna need you to bring me the notes of the courses we both selected. Is that ok?”

“O-Of course. I can go to every of you course and take notes if you ask me to.”

“I know, but I won’t do that. You’ve got too much to do for me already. We have three courses in common, right?”

“Right…” Kyungwon sighed. “I’m gonna miss to have you sit beside me when we have same classes. And at our biweekly class meeting.”

“Me too. But at least I’m here.” I’m still here now. “Like I said, we can meet whenever we want.”

They turned to the door as they heard Xiyeon’s exclamation. She and Eunwoo went out with Kyulkyung and Nayoung for a double date, Minkyung thought she wouldn’t be home before dinner.

“What is she yelling about? Why doesn’t she come in?”

“I think I heard Eunwoo’s voice too…I’ll go take a look.”

Kyungwon was fast to react so before Minkyung could stand up, she already left the room and headed to the front door. Minkyung wanted to follow, but almost the moment she stood up, she fell back to where she was sitting at.

Debility. She felt that in her legs right away.

Her movement did not cause loud sounds, the girls were talking at the doorway and no one noticed the anomaly. Minkyung gripped the cloth around her knees, the wrinkles were not as much as they should be. She tried again, one hand on the nightstand this time, more careful and concentrated. When she was on her feet, the floor was like soft and unstable mattress from the way she was feeling.

“Minky?”

Kyungwon poked her head out from behind the door. “What’s wrong?”

“N-Nothing. I accidently knocked off my phone so…yeah. I was picking it up.”

“Well, you should come and take a look. You don’t want to miss this.” Kyungwon reached out a hand. “Come.”

Minkyung followed, hoping mentally that Kyungwon wasn’t aware of the thin layer of sweat on her palm.

Turned out it was a kitten Kyulkyung found in the bushes of a park. They didn’t even go to where they had planned to go, taking the kitten to the vet and accompanied it during the therapy had cost them the whole day. The kitten was very cute, its eyes were like pure sapphires that can clear the earthlings’ worries, how Minkyung wished she could hold it close and rubbed its belly until it fell asleep on her lap.

“Allergy is a trouble, huh?”

Kyungwon patted her shoulder in comfort. “I can totally relate.”

Kyulkyung and Nayoung had taken the kitten home with them and made a deal with Eunwoo that she would take care of it two days later. Minkyung sighed and smiled lightly, sitting back on her bed.

“Yep. Furry stuffs are never friendly to me. I don’t think I even had a plushie after I was, like…10 years old? The dog plushie we won at the arcade, I had to put it in Xiyeon’s room…Sorry about that.”

“You don’t have to be sorry at all. I should’ve picked some other stuffs.”

The shadow in Minkyung’s orbs were visible. Kyungwon noticed, and she tried to do some little things.

“Have you ever have a pet?”

“No. You?”

“Kang Yebin and I had some guppies when we were kids.”

“Guppies?” Minkyung blinked, showing interest and Kyungwon knew it was a good start.

“Yep, we had about…5? They didn’t live long though, but it was a good memory. Our moms had to stop us from feeding them too much all the time and we always made a mess when cleaning the tank.” Kyungwon chuckled. “We even named them. Blue, red, speckle…Oh, speckle was my favorite! I almost cried when it passed away.”

“That was cute. I always thought of puppies, kittens or bunnies when talking about pets, never thought that fishes can be pet, too!” Minkyung smiled and Kyungwon felt her heart lightened a bit. “I don’t know much about guppies, but I think they are small and…shining?”

“And don’t cause allergies.” Kyungwon said expectantly, “You wanna give it a try? All you need is a space for a fish tank!”

Minkyung hadn’t kept up exactly. “Sounds…good…But I have no experience, what if…”

“Do you want it or not?”

“…I think so?”

“Cool.” Kyungwon checked the time on her phone. “Too bad the aquarium store had closed at this hour…Never mind. We can start this tomorrow.”

Minkyung didn’t know if she was ready to have those fishes with her, but Kyungwon was excited, and she appreciated all the things and ideas Kyungwon supplied to cheer her up.

If she thinks I’ll like it…then I’ll like it.

The next day, the Kangs again showed up outside her room window while panting, which made Minkyung think they had run all the way here instead of taking a cab.

“You literally get a blue, a red and a speckle.”

“I spotted them the moment we walked in the shop, I feel it was destiny.” Kyungwon dropped down the fish tank which was about the size to fit in a volleyball. “Kang Yebin picked the other 3. We bought 3 males and 3 fe...”

“We’d better start settling.” Yebin nudged her, “The water’s leaking, there might be a hole on the plastic bag…”

“Oh .”

Minkyung grabbed over the tissue box on the nightstand. “What can I do?”

“Just sit and wait…”

“Can you unbox those color stones?” Yebin interrupted Kyungwon. “And get us some old newspapers? We will try not to make a mess, but…just in case.”

“Sure.”

Kyungwon frowned but didn’t stop Minkyung from leaving the room. Then she hissed to her cousin.

“This is her gift, she’s supposed to wait and watch us present!”

Yebin sighed, also lowering her voice. “Oh, c’mon. She wants to help.”

“She shouldn’t do physical works! The more rest…”

“It’s just some newspapers, even this bag of fishes is heavier than that. Plus, if I was her…I would feel you see me as a disabled person.”

“I do not…”

“So let her be part of this. It won’t hurt.”

Yebin thought Kyungwon would bring up another quarrel, but she sighed heavily and turned her attention to the guppies.

“I’ll go clean the tank.”

Maybe it was because Minkyung would be back in any second. Maybe she was really convinced. Or maybe she was more worried about the leaking plastic bag. Either way, Yebin was glad she gave in.

Time passed quickly when doing something interesting and required high concentration. Most of the works were done by the Kangs, by the time Kyungwon plugged on the LED light, the sky had turned into dark blue without them even noticed.

“So…what do you think?”

The way Minkyung leaned close to the tank with glittering eyes was like a little girl receiving her Christmas gift.

“It’s so beautiful...”

“I know it’s beautiful, your nose is almost on the tank wall.” Kyungwon chuckled and patted Minkyung on the back. “Pull back a little.”

A tinge of fluster flashed through Minkyung’s eyes, followed by the pink that tinted her cheekbones. Cute, Yebin murmured, and hoping the other two didn’t hear her. Minkyung spent a couple minutes simply gazing at the now floating aquatics, her minds seemed to have lost, Yebin noticed that and so did Kyungwon. Just when they wanted to ask what was wrong, Minkyung turned back.

“Would you like to…stay for tonight?”

***

It was funny to watch Kyungwon and Xiyeon tease Yebin with that red sleeping bag. Minkyung poked herself, it was real. She wasn’t imagining this pure and vivid scene.

Mrs. Park was surprised when Minkyung said she wanted the Kangs to stay with her for a night, but after making sure her daughter really wanted this, she made a tasty meal for them and also prepared some new and fluffy comforters. That sleeping bag was just something Mrs. Park took to Minkyung’s room accidently because she thought it was a comforter, Minkyung didn’t think it was a problem either until she heard Xiyeon’s loud laughter.

“I can’t believe it, I can’t believe it! This is supposed to be child-only but you can actually fit inside!”

“Shut up, you are not even an inch taller than me…”

“C’mon, bro, get in it again, I’m begging you…I have to take a picture, this is hilarious!”

“Me too! Nunu will laugh her off!”

Yebin didn’t feel embarrassed with those two’s non-stop teasing, but as she saw Minkyung by the door, looking at her with that amused and bright smile, her cheeks started to heat.

“Guys, don’t be so childish.” Minkyung walked over with light giggles, clearly enjoying the scene. “Give it to me, no one’s gonna use it to sleep on the floor.”

“But your bed is not big enough.” Xiyeon shrugged, “It is enough for two, but three? I don’t think so. Unless one of you are gonna sleep with me.”

“I was thinking we can use my couch.” Minkyung pointed at the cream-colored couch at the other side of the room. “But there’s also one problem.”

“What?”

She looked at Yebin with a sheepish smile. “Only you can sleep on it without curling your legs…”

***

The clock on the wall showed that it was already 11:30. Minkyung was the first to finish washing up and get ready for sleep. It was a cold night, but the warmth in the bed and in her heart was keeping her comfortable. She laid on her side after taking her pills, eyes locked on the fish tank that was on the corner of her desk. She had had a doll, a small trophy and a cactus on that position, it was new to have some living and moving creatures in her room.

The guppies were beautiful. And carefree. The way they swam between the colored stones and aquatics made Minkyung wonder when the last time she went to a pool was. The pools and waterparks w