Usually getting up early in the morning had been normally easy for her, but because she had been busy last night doing last minute unpacking of her belongings and tidying them into their allocated places and spaces, she had failed to sleep early thus making the simple notion of getting out of bed being an excruciating task.

She could probably put the blame on the shipping company she used to ship off all her belongings since she couldn’t take them all with her when she had boarded the plane to Korea. But she did not expect that they would get delayed that long of a wait. It had taken almost at least three weeks before all of her belongings came in, much to her chagrin.

“Ugh, I don’t want to get up anymore…”

“But I still have to check the stock of coffee beans at the café first…” She groaned, an arm covering her eyes as the light filtered through the blinds. It was a little colder here than in Japan and it made it all the more tempting to return back to sleep, which was not a viable option for her since today she has exams for one of her subjects.

With a sigh, she rolled out of her bed and sat up, sleepily glancing at the alarm clock on her study desk and the calendar next to it, the small sentence, “Literature exam on Renaissance period — 10am”, was written in red ink and circled, hinting its importance. After all the trouble she went through to convince her parents to let her study in Korea, she could not afford to miss out even a single day, it would all be for nothing if she were to slack off now.

She still has to show to her parents that her decision to study abroad in one of Korea’s most prominent universities had been the best decision rather than staying back in Japan, pressured and burdened by her parents’ expectations.

“Nnn…Unnie, stop that…I’m not a duck…I don’t kwack…kwack…”

The short haired brunette blinked and stared at the ceiling—or rather, the lower base frame of the second bed of the bunk bed she’s sharing with her roommate.

Giggling, she shook her head and smiled. With a bob of her head, mind focused on her goal, she stood up from her bed and stretched her limbs.

“Alright, time to start the day. Come on Yena!”

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“A stunning first impression was not the same thing as love at first sight.

But surely it was an invitation to consider the matter.”

— Lois McMaster Bujold

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For Miyawaki Sakura, life had been simple as standing up on her two feet and walking, it came just as natural as breathing. Everything was set in stone for her the day she had been born. A girl with a silver spoon amongst the other, money wasn’t hard to obtain for her at least and she’s one of the several children to have lived life without hardship due to her parents’ line of work, her mother being a doctor and her father a lawyer.

During her childhood she had once thought of following one of her parents’ path, it would come natural to her due to her being a genius child of two brilliant people. Even her parents and relatives thought the same, there was nothing less she could be but someone like them.

But all of the expectation and pressure she thought was never there, started to burden her the moment she entered middle school. Everything suddenly did not feel simple, nor was it as easy as solving the math problems.

As time goes by, it had all became suffocating, as if she was thrown into a small cell. Sakura’s only solace during that time was to express herself through artistic means, taking a brush and paper at the start and clumsily creating what would become her gate way to a different path.

Soon Sakura started taking up more interest in arts of all forms—literature, painting, photography and theatre. Her parents let her dwell in them, seeing it as Sakura’s past time and hobbies, so they let her continue on just as long as she kept excelling in her studies.

Sakura knew however that her parents would only let her continue on until the end of her secondary studies, but she had a different idea in mind. She wanted to continue on and make her passion into a career.

So she did what she thought she would’ve never seen herself attempt when she saw the opportunity to apply into a university that offered one of the best education in arts, she took up the chance to apply and secretly undertook the test that was conducted in their school as part of a partnership for a joint project between the Korean and Japanese education departments.

It all went smoothly; she passed the tests and got accepted, but at the cost of her parents’ feeling disappointed and betrayed by her choice.

She couldn’t look at them properly, knowing that she broke their hearts and expectations for the underhanded method she took to escape the path they chose for her.

But she had already set her mind and heart into what she wanted and she left Japan—without the support and blessing of her parents—with what money she has left in her bank account from the allowances she saved up since middle school. It was enough money to last her for at least three months for everything, and seeing as how she didn’t need to pay for her tuition fee due to being on a scholarship program; it made it a little simpler for Sakura.

Still, Sakura chose to get a job as soon as she settled in the school’s dormitory, she wasn’t about to become complacent with what she had at the moment, knowing how unpredictable life could be.

At first it became a trial to try and find a job, even a small one, considering she wasn’t intimately familiar with the workings of the cities and her Korean wasn’t that advance but it was enough for her to be able to converse and write to be able to communicate with people so it might have been off-putting for anyone to hire her just too soon.

But with the help of her roommate and first friend, Choi Yena, she had recommended Sakura to join her in her part-time job and the owner of the café herself was very kind and understanding, which led to her job and current situation today, checking the inventory for their stock of various coffee beans for the week.

Surprisingly, Sakura found herself loving the cute homey café she currently works at, not only was it just a few blocks away from their university campus, the smell of vanilla, freshly grounded coffee beans and cinnamon had become a relaxing scent for her. The café also ran well. While it was never packed, it never ran out of customers.

“I think this is all of it. Are you done there, Yena? ” Sakura asked as she drew a check on her list after checking the amount of bags.

“Yeah, we still have plenty of supply for a week for these. Although we’ll have to ask the manager to call for resupply before the end of the week, but I think we’re good to go unnie.” The younger blonde smiled, tapping a hand on top of the sealed boxes for disposable cups.

“But doesn’t Kim sunbaenim usually come by around 10am? I don’t think I’ll be around to report to her.  I’ll have to leave soon too.” Sakura said as she checked her wrist watch.

“Ah, that’s right! Unnie you have exams today right? I heard your Literature professor’s a total terror during exams! Shouldn’t you have used your time to study instead of helping me out here? You did inform Kim sunbaenim that you would come in later for work.” Yena frowned in worry but Sakura smiled at her.

“The subject isn’t exactly that hard so I think I’ll be fine to help out a bit, it’s just checking inventories anyways, and I’ve been reading up on Renaissance since we hit up the subject so I think I’ll be able to pass just fine, maybe with rainbows even.” Sakura cheekily said.

“I think you should worry about yourself more Yena, I heard Jong seonsaengnim fails students when they only get at least 70% on their papers.” Sakura pointed out to Yena as they both left the room and locked the door, heading back to the employee’s locker room.

“Yah, Sakura unnie! Don’t remind me that! I’m already feeling troubled being in his class! The way he teaches math is like hearing him say alien language.” The younger blonde sighed exasperatedly, pouting cutely like a child, though somehow she still looks like a duck to Sakura.

“It’s just basic business math, you’ll be fine. Besides you only need to take this one class for math and your free from it right?”

“But still! I can’t decode his alien terms! It’s driving me crazy! Help me unnie, please!” Yena whined, grasping Sakura’s shirt with both hands as she stood close to her.

Sakura saw the desperation in the younger girl’s face as clear as day and while she was only teasing Yena, Sakura knew that Jong seongsaengnim from the Math department was not a merciful professor based on the several exhausted students she saw come by the café buying coffee then doing their homework or reviewing for exams there.

She had heard several conversations enough to have a clear understanding that not taking that professor seriously would be any student’s demise. In this case, it would be Yena’s tragic end, or so it seems as she continued to cling close to Sakura in an effort to earn her pity.

“Okay, okay, I get it. Don’t grab my shirt too tightly…! I’ll help you out after finish my Lit class.”

“Let’s meet up after lunch? Although I expect you to treat me to lunch since I don’t tutor people for free.” Sakura told Yena jokingly as she pried the blonde away from her, only for both of her hands to be clasped by both of Yena’s own and shaking them vigorously.

“Anything you want unnie, as long as it’s within my budget!”

“I expect kimbap and japchae at lunch then.” Sakura grinned when Yena eagerly nodded; the younger girl let of her hands and did a little happy dance, much to Sakura’s own amusement. Her roommate and friend never failed to amuse her.

Suddenly Sakura’s phone vibrated, an alarm playing in in what seemed to be a chime of a bell and Sakura tensed up a bit. She had placed this alarm specifically for something ever since after the second week she went to school.

“I should probably go now.” Sakura sighed, running a hand through her short hair. She should already leave now, if she wanted to avoid the risk of bumping or meeting those girls again.

“You should stop dancing there and start preparing to open the store though; you only have a few more minutes before the store needs to open up.” Sakura tapped the blonde’s head with the logbook in her hand on her way out of the locker room, causing Yena to stop dancing and pouting, rubbing the top of her head.

“Geez I know that unnie, you didn’t have to do that…”

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