Yujin lets out a sigh of exasperation as she rakes a hand through her short hair. She’s been lying in bed on her back for a while now, with the same thoughts troubling her mind. But no matter how many different ways she approaches her problem, she just couldn’t find the solution. 

Why is Minju strictly all about Kim Chaewon when Chaewon told her Minju could be hers?

Why won’t Minju give her a chance?

When can she ever find someone as cool as Minju to marry? 

Turning onto her side, she hears a knock at the door. Lifting her head up, she sees her mother pop her head in through the crack. 

“How are you feeling?” the older woman asks. Yujin hums in response and slowly sits up as her mother brings in a glass of water and medicine on a metal tray. “Here have some for your headache,” the woman urges, holding the platter closer to Yujin. 

Earlier Yujin used headache as an excuse to go to her room and spend some time alone. But at the moment, she’s glad that she had lied. Because after thinking about Minju and Chaewon, she got a headache. Picking the pill up with her thumb and index finger, she pops it into the back of before pushing it down with the water. 

As her mother takes the empty glass from her and sets the whole tray on her desk, the woman helps herself onto the edge of Yujin’s bed. Gently, the older grabs Yujin’s hands and pets it a bit. 

“Yujin, since it’s come to this. What do you think about Wonyoung?” 

Yujin can hear the sadness and carefulness in her mother’s voice. Of course, for any mother, it’d hurt to hear other children curses theirs out. But she’s too distracted to be thinking of the young lady her mother just mentioned. 

“Mom, if I show Kim Minju how much I want to be with her, do you think she’ll change her mind?” 

Misun clicks her tongue and scoots closer to Yujin, “You can’t,” she blurts out quickly, “The way she talk, I hate it. If she can say such foul things to you in front of us, what else can she say when it’s only the two of you? I’m against it.”

Yujin forms a thin line with her lips before her hands’ trade places with her mother’s. “Mom, I like her a lot. She fascinates me. I want to become closer to her, to learn more about her.” 

Misun shakes her head and retracts her hands from underneath Yujin’s, “No,” she says loudly before springing up to her feet, “Didn’t you hear me? I said I’m against it! Just marry Wonyoung. She’s a good girl. They’re a family of judges and are also Christians, they’ll make fine in-laws,” Misun says all in one breath then folds her arms across her chest sternly, hoping Yujin will take the hint. 

But the younger heaves a sigh and only pushes her hair back again. Mostly to hide her frustration. If anything, she wanted her mother to tell her that Minju could be hers if she wanted. However, after the meeting, Yujin hates it that she can understand why her mother’s changed her mind.

“I’ll think about it, mom.”

Standing on the other side of her boss’s desk, Chaewon flinches and clasps her hands together tightly when Chungha sets her fist down on the tabletop with a bang. The older woman then curls her brow and arches it in a cold manner. “I let you borrow the academy and you didn’t even tell me it was to discuss your engagement?” 

Chaewon hangs her head, “My bad, Director.” 

Chungha leans forward and over her desk with a growing smile, “Which one was she? The pretty one you sat with?” 

Chaewon gasps, wondering how much of it did her boss watch and witness. “Eh?!” 

“It’s not the tall one with short hair, is it? Or the one that kept rolling her eyes when someone else was talking?” 

Chaewon assumed the latter part is about Minju and that got her curious. “What do you think of her?” 

“Which one?” Chungha asks, still in possession of a proud and happy-for-her kind of smile. 

“The last one...the one rolling her eyes…” 

Her boss leans all the way back in her seat and breathes a beam, “I thought she looked cool. A little mean but cool.” 

Chaewon processes it for a second. Normally her Director doesn’t acknowledge just anyone else unless she truly means it. And the last time Chaewon heard her say that was when one of her seniors received a certificate for his effective teaching style at another academy. A good and strong man, the student Chungha treasured before Chaewon. 

“Seriously?” Chaewon questioned, gulping in disbelief. Her eyes were open so wide, Chungha thought they would