One week.

That was the time Minkyung had been off from school. It was longer than expected, too long for waiting.

The midterms would last for at least two weeks, most of the girls had some of the exams and assignments done in the first, the rest would be taken in the following week. Minkyung had missed a few exams, the assignment she needed to hand in was sent to the teacher via Xiyeon.

Yebin found it worrying, even though she had kakaotalked Minkyung several times during the week, she wanted to make sure she was ok like she said in those messages. Kyungwon found it frustrating, even though Minkyung had talked to her on the phone, she was still anxious because of the husky voice she heard each time.

“UgRRRR!”

At two different places, the same time, Kyungwon and Yebin groaned and earned concerned looks from the other girls who were with them.

***

It was Friday night, the weather was warm, street lights lit up one by one after 6 and faded the dark blue sky. Minkyung let out a tired but relieved sigh while looking out the window, leaning her back against the headboard. She had felt a lot better today, her mom rushed to the kitchen to get her something to eat the moment she said she felt hungry.

A week’s absence was long for her especially considered of the midterms. There would be many things she had to deal with when she came back, she was kinda troubled, but she’d better not tell her family, at least not now, not again. They had already scolded her for concerning the problem which was definitely her last concern.

She was also a bit troubled when thinking of her friends. Xiyeon said they all asked about her, and she appreciated that. She just couldn’t help but be silly to think she wouldn’t be able to catch up with what she had missed with them, or she wouldn’t be treated like normal.

“Ringgg—“

Her phone interrupted, in a good way, because her mood was lightened when seeing who was calling.

“Hey.”

“Hey, Minky.” Kyungwon greeted softly. “You sound better. How are you feeling?”

“Much better, like you said.” Minkyung smiled. “Wouldn't you be tired of calling me like this?”

“Are you tired of me calling you?”

“No, absolutely not.”

“See? It’s the same to me.”

“Is it?” Minkyung’s head lowered. “I miss you…you guys.”

“You don’t have to, I’m outside. But it’s just me.”

“What?” Her back straightened in surprise.

“Look out the window.”

Minkyung did as told almost immediately. Someone was beckoning from the alley. She squinted her eyes, the slightly vague figure became clearer. She got off the bed and walked to the window, Kyungwon jogged over, with that trademark foolish but cute grin.

“You weren’t expecting this, were you?” A tinge of apprehension was added on Kyungwon’s pupils. “You look pale.” She then touched her forehead. “…And you’re cold. Maybe you don’t have a fever and I know it’s summer, drink more hot water and don’t turn on the aircon.”

“Yes, mom.” Minkyung sniggered. Kyungwon scratched her cheek in embarrassment.

“I didn’t mean to lecture you…”

“I didn’t think you were lecturing. Do you want to come in?”

“Not today, you have to rest, not chat with me. I just drop by to make sure you’re ok and…” A black USB was put on her palm. “…give you this.”

“What’s inside?”

“I’ll let you find out by yourself. Hope you’ll like it.” Kyungwon checked the time on her phone. “I have to go to the theater now. Don’t worry too much, we’re all here for you.”

“H-Hey, I haven’t thanked you.” Minkyung didn’t know if she said this to thank her or simply kept her for a bit longer. “Xiyeon said you accompanied her to the professors and asked for leave for me. I know they are difficult to find sometimes.”

“No problem. Did she tell you about it? That they all said you don’t have to hand in formal applications, just call them and arrange a time to take the make-up exams.”

“Yeah, she had told me.”

“Ok.” Kyungwon chuckled with a sigh. “Wish I had asked a leave for tonight.”

For a short moment, Minkyung thought Kyungwon was gonna pat her cheek, but in the end she patted her hand.

“See you.”

Her words were earnest and her hands were warm. Her vision lingered on her for few seconds before turning and jogged away. Even if the lights from the houses and along the street sides were glaring, none of those could cover the brightness Kyungwon just brought to her.

Slowly tugged herself back in bed, Minkyung played the USB within her fingers for a while. Curiosity won the battle against patience, she sat up and grabbed her laptop on the nightstand. There were a file and a txt, Minkyung clicked the txt open, the sentence on it made her smile.

“These are the instrumentals I like and are good for relaxing. Enjoy and let me know which one you like the most when you come back. Get well soon.”

Minkyung clicked the file and found about a hundred instrumentals, all in alphabetical order. She browsed through them and picked one with the title of More Than Friends. It was indeed beautiful and soothing, she clicked the replay button, and soon decided to put it on loop.

She listened for a couple more instrumentals when she was eating. Star Sky, Heart, Never Give Up On Your Dream…Not all of them were slow or gentle like Adagio, but all of them were epic. Already a fan of music, Minkyung was attracted. Her mom asked her about it, she just said those were good music recommended by a good friend.

After her family had gone to bed, Minkyung turned the volume to a minimum and continued on listening, wasn’t even aware when and how she fell into the deepest slumber she had had in this week. When the night ended, the sunrays went through the curtains and warmed her cheeks, she moved a little, but still didn’t wake up from her dream.

“Unnie…Minkyung unnie.”

Xiyeon had to dab her to make her conscious.

“Huh? What?” She opened her eyes and was surprised to see the time on her laptop showed 8:45. It was rare for her to sleep passed 7 o’clock.

“You scared me! I knocked on your door several times but you didn’t respond at all!”

“…Sorry. I must have slept heavily. I didn’t hear you.”

Xiyeon finally sighed in relief. “That means you’re getting better. You started to feel hungry and sleep well.”

“I thought so.” Minkyung rubbed her eyes. “Can’t wait to go back to school.”

“You haven’t checked your message, have you?”

“Why? What happened?”

Xiyeon handed her a notebook. “Yebin stopped by and gave you this.”

“S-She was here? You should’ve woken me up!”

Minkyung was fully awake and grabbed her phone. There were two messages, both sent more than an hour ago.

“Morning, Minky. Have you got up? Is it ok if I go to your place?”

“Your mom said you’re still sleeping so I think it’s better not to bother you. I got you the notes of Western Music History and the previous exams’ sample questions from my seniors of the team. All three exams you have to take are here, the seniors said the professors like to use the similar test papers. Good luck and see you soon!”

…I didn’t even hear the doorbell rang. Minkyung was regret she slept through the chance of seeing Yebin. Either I was too tired or Kyungwon’s instrumentals were too soothing.

“I told you, we got your back on the midterms.”

Minkyung found her sister had read the messages with her. “So she left long ago?”

“Yep. She was gonna go deal with some stuffs before joining us at the library.”

“What stuffs?”

“Volleyball related, I guess.”

“I want to go with…”

“No.” Xiyeon cut her off. “You have to rest for at least two more days.”

“But I…”

“Yebin would want you to do that too. You can meet her and thank her in person after this weekend.”

It was impossible to argue with Xiyeon when she was talking in that tone. Besides, Minkyung could also imagine how Yebin would react if she showed up today. She didn’t want Yebin to keep worrying about her condition and lose her focus on her studies.

“Go wash up, unnie. I’ll bring your breakfast here.”

***

“Ah! Finally!”

Xiyeon tossed her pen and leaned back, almost lied on the chair. “After three weeks’ torture…My midterms are over!”

“Shut up.” Sungyeon murmured. “I still have one, and it’s the hardest.”

“Don’t be grumpy, you’ll get a reward after the test.”

“What reward?”

Xiyeon made a face. “You’ll see.”

“I hate you, Park Ddiddi.”

Sungyeon turned to grab her bag from the seat behind and saw someone. She snickered.

“Never mind. You have your problem to handle now.”

Xiyeon frowned and looked out the door. Eunwoo—Cha Eunwoo, a boy from Public Administration Department whom every girl thought was Prince Charming, also the captain of the basketball team, was waiting for her. Sungyeon patted her head, fled quickly and left her alone.

“I hate you, BaeSung.”

***

It was 4pm when Minkyung left the department office. She let out a long exhale and stretched her arms, the crepitus only showed how long she had been focused on her test papers with the same posture. Two of the three professors asked her to take the make-up tests this afternoon, it was tiring but Minkyung was glad that the things she missed had finally been settled.

Wait. Only the school works.

She fished out her phone from her bag but surprisingly, disappointedly, no messages or missed calls from Yebin. She checked again, zero. Yebin had a match at noon which she had missed because of the exams, she didn’t know if they won or lost, but in either way, there shouldn’t be no news. She was about to message her when a call came in. It was Kyungwon.

“Hey, Minky. You finished your exams?”

“Yeah, I just came out of the literature building. Do you know where…”

“Has Yebin contacted you?”

They asked almost at the same time and Minkyung blinked.

“…No, she hasn’t. Why?”

“