ONE

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She jolted awake from her nightmare, breathing heavily, sweat dripping from her forehead. 

Dahyun's head pounded. Unable to stop the horrible memory from constantly playing in her head, it was as on a never-ending loop. The incident that had haunted her for more than three years suddenly came spiraling back into her life; it was a lot for her to take in. She sat in her bed, trying to process everything that just happened. 

The silence of 4 a.m. felt strange to her. Instead of it being calming and bringing her comfort, she felt odd and out of place. She looked down at her left wrist, staring at the broken numbers, "00:00". Though she had met her "soulmate" long ago, the numbers never happened to disappear. It was a scar that would haunt her forever, and there was nothing she could do about it. 

The clock embedded into everyone's wrist at birth, ticking down to the moment where you've found your soulmate and fallen in love with them. Leaving a scar if the love ended up broken.

The dreadful scar had cursed her with pain that hurt her fragile heart. It reminded her of the hurtful times, and how the "love" she would have thought to have received from was just a lie. Though Dahyun was never one to hold grudges, she hated her soulmate for the pain they caused her. It took time, but after a while, she understood it was uncontrollable, and forgave them. 

Though as nice as forgiveness is, it left her with a wound in her heart. People may say 'time heals all wounds', yet, it never healed Dahyun's, but rather, changed her. 

She wanted nothing to do with love. 

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Dahyun sat cross-legged at the base of her couch, surrounded by open textbooks that were sprawled across the floor. For the first time in forever, she had the whole apartment to herself, meaning she could finally study in peace. Her eyes focused solely on the words in front of her, taking advantage of the golden opportunity she was blessed with, knowing her roommate would come home at any given moment.

Their apartment layout was fairly normal. The kitchen to the left of the front door, and their living room directly after it. Then, to the right of the doorway led to three other rooms. One being the wash, and the rest being the two roommate's living spaces. It was their little humble abode.

Dahyun muttered incoherent words about Mitochondria to herself filling the emptiness of the apartment with some sort of life. Had it not been for the sounds of the pencil writing on paper and her occasional mumbles, one could hear a pin drop. 

She had been studying since her waking point. Migrating from various locations among the shared apartment. Starting from her room into the kitchen, on to the couch, upside-down on the couch, then finally the base of it.

From her outside appearance and high school reputation, one wouldn't assume she was a diligent student. Which is understandable, as she would spend her days sleeping in, missing classes, and partying at every opportunity given to her. But, in reality, she would spend hours reading up and educating herself. It gave her an opportunity to stop thinking and separate herself from reality.

Dahyun enjoyed those type of moments. Being separated from the world for a bit, and just be alone in her personal space. No soulmates. No clocks. No stupid- the graphite of her pencil broke. 

She sighed and shook her head. She clicked the eraser end of her pencil, replacing the broken lead prior. Dahyun finished her thoughts on the Mitochondria, closing her eyes and leaned her head back before continuing on.  "Mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell." She whispered to herself, copying the words down onto the paper. 

As she studied, the door opened and the voice of her roommate filled the room. "Good afternoon, Dubu~!"

"Mm." Dahyun hummed, acknowledging the presence of her friend. "What happened to you?" She asked, without looking up from her books. She continued to read about the different variations of cell organelles and their importance. 

The owner of the voice made her way over to Dahyun's location, careful enough to not step on anything important.  "I had the greatest day ever, Dahyunnie. You wouldn't even believe it! The girl that I met up with is literary amazing. Like, if you were to search up beautiful, her photo would appear."

Dahyun eyes perked up. Intrigued, she closed her books, shifting her body towards her friend. She placed her elbow on the couch, hand holding her head up. "Alright. Tell me about her Chaeng. Spill." 

A smile grew upon Chaeyoung's face. "It was awkward at first, she was very shy," Chaeyoung began, "but, then slowly- I was able to get her to open up to me. And, when we actually started to have a conversation, I was put under a daze! I think we hit it off fairly well." 

Dahyun chuckled, "Sounds like you're falling for them."

"Maybe. Jealous?"

"Nope. Don't mind at all. Just don't take her home and accidentally have in my bed. Again."  Dahyun teased, poking her roommate lightly.

"I. Was. Drunk!" Chaeyoung claimed, her face turning a light shade of pink at the thought of the memory, "And besides- it happens. Why won't you let it go?!" She exclaimed swatting Dahyun's hand away from her.

"Yeah. So~ drunk. More like you were drunk off hormones," Dahyun scoffed. "Also. No, it does not happen. May I just add, I have reoccurring nightmares from that. The image of you their face-off is embedded into my mind. Forever." She shuttered to emphasize her point. As dramatic as it may seem, Dahyun was terrified walking into her room to see her best friend getting it on.

"May I just remind you- I find you with a new person at least every week."

"At least I have clothes on."

"Barely... How can you have clothes on when having , huh?!"

Dahyun shook her head and frowned. "It's usually dark. How can you tell that I don't have clothes on?" She asked, getting up from her position on the floor.  "And- it's called not being a bottom. Don't you wish you could experience that, huh?" 

Chaeyoung laughed at her now standing roommate. "I was joking. But, now you have confirmed my speculations. Also, I can be a..." The younger girl's voice trailed off. "Listen, clothes off are much better than clothes on." 

"Yikes." Dahyun rolled her eyes. "I guess you can