It was already deep into the night.

She had her feet up the coffee table, a bag of chips beside her. Joohyun was mindlessly watching a movie.  She couldn’t sleep a wink after tossing and turning herself on her bed for hours and two pills of melatonin. She decided to not sleep at all.

Joohyun couldn’t remember the last time she’s had a good sleep. She’s always found herself depending on sleeping pills, and that would only last for a bit. She’s gotten so used to taking them that it doesn’t even affect her body anymore – even if she doubles her dosage.

But whenever it does its job, Joohyun would always go into what she calls fake sleep.

Joohyun hears their door creak. Out of reflex, she grabs the TV remote and looks back.

It was only Joy, her younger roommate. Joohyun laughs and switches the appliance off, standing up and walking to Joy. She rests her glasses up her head and playfully pushes Joy’s shoulder.

“Where have you been off to this time, Sooyoung?” Joohyun asks. Joy pulls of her earphones and laughs as if she was hiding something. Joohyun slowly turns her head and squints her eyes at Joy. She might be sleep deprived, but she knows when she’s being lied to. “Nothing much, Unnie…” Joy whispers, hoping to shoo off her older roomie.

Joohyun then sniffs continuously, then Joy knew she was done for. “You’ve been drinking again?” she asks, but she wasn’t angry. Joy reeked of alcohol. She scratches the back of her head as she explains that she might have been drinking a bit with her classmates.

Joohyun then takes Joy’s bag and jacket. She tells the taller girl to take a shower and call it a night.

“Aren’t you going to sleep, Unnie?” her junior asks as she carelessly throws her phone onto their small couch.

“Can’t sleep as usual, Sooyoung.”

Joy could only give her unnie a smile and a soft squeeze on her shoulders. She knew that Joohyun was dependent on sleeping pills and has been noticing that they haven’t been taking effect lately.  “Just take care of yourself, unnie.” She says.

Joohyun laughs again. “I should be the one telling you that, you binge-drinker.”

“Hey!”

Almost covered in her own sweat, Joohyun was out of breath. She throws herself onto her seat, surprising her seatmate Heejin. Before she could say anything, Joohyun looks around and sighs out of relief, as their professor wasn’t there yet. She slams her phone and a box of cigarettes onto their shared desk and hangs her bag behind her chair.

Heejin noticed the box of cigarettes. She gives Joohyun a stern look.

“Hey, Hyun. You’ve been out of it