The two of them sat in pin drop silence after Nayeon’s words, neither of them saying a single thing. Sana didn’t know how to respond to what Nayeon had said and Nayeon wanted Sana to say something at least.

“Uh, I’ll try.” Sana responded.

“No! No trying. I don’t want to come back here someday to see the room on fire.” Nayeon firmly denied, shaking her head.

“Are you ever going to let that go?” Sana whined, hiding her face in her hands from embarrassment.

“Who knows? It’s fun teasing you about it.” Nayeon shrugged, sitting back on her bed.

Sana pouted, but did not show any other reaction, crossing her arms as she observed Nayeon from a distance.

Was this a step in the right direction? Not really being enemies anymore… more like friends? She felt like it was the right thing.

Really, you wouldn’t have caught her saying that she’s friends with Im Nayeon at the start of the semester but look how far they’d already come. It was definitely a nice feeling, and less stressful too. Had it gone on for longer, Sana wouldn’t know what would have happened.

Also, mid-semester was just around the corner and their secretary did tell them that availabilities would increase for room changes once it hits that time.

But, maybe she’d be able to room with Nayeon without any problems or complaints. Things were liveable between the duo.

That’s what you call character development.

“Hey, did you start on the film analysis assignment already? The one due in a few weeks?” Nayeon asked, pulling Sana out of her thoughts.

“Huh? Nayeon, that’s like a month away. Why are you worrying about that now?” Sana frowned.

“It’s worth half of the unit weighting – I didn’t want to leave it until last minute.” Nayeon sheepishly admitted, focusing on her laptop to avoid looking at Sana.

Oddly, Sana found that sight really adorable, shaking her head as she realised where her train of thoughts were taking her. She understood Nayeon’s attempt to evade being embarrassed and didn’t let her suffer for long. “Let me have a look.”

Nayeon grumbled but let Sana sit next to her on the bed, watching her put her glasses on. She found it interesting how Sana scrunched up her nose to adjust to what she was looking at. Okay, it was cute – but you didn’t hear that from Nayeon.

“Let’s see what we’re working with.” Sana mumbled to herself as she browsed through the assignment criteria. “Are you having troubles with something in specific?”

“Just with the instructions. It says to show evidence of watching the movie but we can’t get movie tickets for older movies.” Nayeon frowned.

“But who said it had to be movie tickets? Just take a photo of the DVD case or the title screen?” Sana pointed out, making Nayeon realise her lack of broad thinking.

“Oh.”

“I think you might have been overthinking that one.” Sana chuckled, patting Nayeon’s shoulder.

Sana was moving away when Nayeon realised that she might as well ask her about her opinion for the rest of her assignment. God knows what else she would’ve been overthinking about while reading the instructions for the torturous assignment.

“Wait, I have more questions.” Nayeon pulled on Sana’s hand, making her fall back on the bed.

“All this time I’m spending with you, without anything in return? That’s not really fair now, is it?” Sana raised her eyebrow at Nayeon teasingly, flustering the girl. Sana looked down to where Nayeon was holding her hand, Nayeon following her gaze and gasping as she let go.

“Sorry…”

“I’m just kidding. I’ll help out, for free.” Sana emphasised, chuckling as she looked over their assignment.

Nayeon mumbled under her breath but had no witty comeback for Sana’s words, keeping shut. There was nothing she could say, without it backfiring on her, she knew it. Instead, she browsed over to where Nayeon had her next set of questions. It was really useful having Sana as a roommate; Nayeon was grateful.

The duo dived straight into the assignment, Sana breaking it down as much as she could for Nayeon to understand. By the time they’d finished discussing it, hours had gone by, much to the surprise of them both.

They managed to talk to each other without provoking or teasing – what a miracle.

“Did we really–?” Sana gasped exaggeratedly, earning an eye roll from Nayeon.

“Only because the true instigator was distracted – which is you.” Nayeon snickered, getting off the bed to grab two cans of grape soda out of the fridge.

“You just have that kind of face, you know?” Sana teased.

“What? My face is beautiful.” Nayeon mumbled.

“Uh-huh. It actually is.” Sana replied sincerely, making Nayeon choke on her drink.

Sana watched her with a teasing glint in her eyes as she opened the can of grape soda that Nayeon brought to her.

“Clearly, you aren’t thinking properly.” Nayeon commented, taken off-guard completely by Sana’s compliment.

Sana chuckled at Nayeon’s demise, finding her rejection of her own compliment quite amusing. Admittedly, Nayeon is pretty. In Sana’s opinion, she was probably one of the prettiest girls in their course at least. It’s just that Sana preferred not to focus on that when she was busy trying to prank her and get revenge… which is no longer important.

She wanted to be a bigger person than she had showed herself as when they met and that would start from not holding a grudge about the past. Well, not a big grudge. Maybe a tiny one?

A pillow to the face was what brought Sana out of her thoughts, glaring at Nayeon.

“You know, you daze out and think about things way too often.” Nayeon crossed her arms. “I’ve been calling you for a whole minute.”

“For what? I have no energy to explain any other assignments.” Sana shook her head.

“It’s late. Let me take you out for dinner.” Nayeon suggested, Sana’s ears perking up at the offer.

“Really?!” Sana responded with excitement.

“I won’t be risking cooking in the dorm after your mishaps so let me take you out instead. Just to thank you for the assignment help. And I think we might as well get a bit more civil before we leave for the trip.” Nayeon explained.

“You just had to go back to that again, didn’t you?” Sana sulked. “And… I think we’re pretty civil now. Not arguing for hours even while sitting next to each other? Agreeing on points?”

“Hmm… I think there’s a start. Who knows, maybe you have ice pick under your bed to kill me.” Nayeon muttered.

“Did you just… use a rated movie plot as an excuse?” Sana questioned as she pulled on her jacket.

“Well, you’ve clearly watched it too – since you knew where it was from.” Nayeon smirked, grabbing her keys and leaving a flustered Sana behind.

“I don’t think an ice pick would be my choice of weapon anyway.” Sana shouted, slapping her hand over when she realised it could be taken weirdly by others around their room.

She chased after her roommate, hiding her face as she received strange looks from others who stayed in the dorm with them.

Nayeon smiled at her flustered reaction, shaking her head as Sana walked blindly ahead of her. That girl was really not looking at where she was heading – she was going to bump into something, or someone.

With hurried steps, Nayeon chased after Sana, who was just about to bump into one of the tallest girls of their dorms. Not only was she tall, she was always angry and annoyed, meaning that Sana would suffer from her wrath if she even touched her. Nayeon had managed to pull Sana out of the girl’s way, but her right arm had brushed along her arm. The duo panicked as the girl turned to face them, Sana inching backwards slowly with Nayeon’s arm wrapped around her waist.

Out of instinct, Nayeon pushed Sana behind her, clearing as she felt the girl come even closer. She closed her eyes as her face came nearer, bracing herself for what was to come.

“Tzuyu? Please tell me you’re not tormenting someone again?” A soft voice made Nayeon open her eyes.

Tzuyu, Nayeon guessed, was this tall tower in front of her. Well, she didn’t seem to be as scary as the girl was blushing like a red tomato with someone hugging her from the back.

“Hi! I’m Dahyun. Sorry about her, she gets a little bit intimidating sometimes.” The smaller girl greeted, offering her hand for a shake and smiling widely.

Tzuyu growled at the introduction, but one look from Dahyun had her huffing in defeat.

“Oh – uh, nice to meet you Dahyun. I’m Nayeon. We were just heading off somewhere but my friend here, Sana, just bumped into Tzuyu so, we’re just going to apologise and leave.” Nayeon rushed her words.

Sana finally peeked out from behind Nayeon, apologising to Tzuyu, who was looking the other way. Dahyun elbowed her and Tzuyu nodded in acknowledgement.

“You say sorry too.” Dahyun pulled Tzuyu’s ear.

“I didn’t even do anything!” Tzuyu argued.

“You scared them – I’m sure Sana didn’t even bump into you. Stop acting like you’re a badass when you’re nothing close to one.” Dahyun smacked Tzuyu’s head.

Nayeon was left astounded as Tzuyu smiled. She smiled at Dahyun for smacking her? Was she seeing things?

“Alright. Fine. I’m sorry for scaring you.” Tzuyu apologised, before leaving the other three behind. Dahyun apologised too, one last time before chasing after the tall giant and pulling her into a headlock.

Nayeon remained frozen as she realised the two of them had escaped unscathed by the tall giant. Though, she found it really adorable that Dahyun had that effect on Tzuyu. She would have never considered that the girl could blush – let alone smile.

“You okay?” Nayeon turned to face Sana, who nodded in return.

“I think you can let go of me now.” Sana cleared , blushing at the fact that Nayeon was still holding on to her.

Nayeon’s eyes widened as she realised that she still had a grip on Sana’s waist. Dropping her arm, she had the audacity to blush and look away, creating a distance between them as they walked towards their dinner location.

Though, the mood had significantly changed from the time they walked out of their room. More sensitive touches while they shared food at their table and more hidden glances towards each other. They were trying to tip-toe around each other but it was causing them to interact more, than create avoidance.

“Thank you for dinner.” Sana mumbled, as they walked inside of their dorm.

“It’s nothing, really.” Nayeon smiled. “Have you started packing for the trip with Jihyo and Lena?”

“Yeah, I’m already packed.” Sana grinned as Nayeon panicked, noting Sana’s duffle bag by her bed.

“Oh, shoot. I’ll get it done now.” Nayeon ran to finish the task.

“Need help?” Sana hesitantly asked.

“No, you should get some rest. You seemed shaken up because of Tzuyu.” Nayeon teased.

“Hey! You pushed me back before I had a chance to react.” Sana argued.

“Yes, because she has a reputation that involves hurting others.” Nayeon rolled her eyes.

“What if they’re just rumours?” Sana pushed.

“Then, I’d change my way of thinking. It’s not that I’m listening to other people’s words. I’ve seen her in action before.” Nayeon validated her reasoning.

“But, there is a reason everyone does something, isn’t there?” Sana contemplated. “What if she did it for a certain reason?”

“I don’t know if she did. But in that moment, she was the one who was scaring the person who was in front of her.” Nayeon frowned. “Where are we going with this conversation?”

“I… just wanted to know why you protected me first.” Sana asked, moving to gaze at Nayeon, who had frozen in her spot.

Why had she moved to protect Sana first?