TW/ almost kidnap scene further into the chapter, it's not too serious, but just in case.

Chaewon couldn't stop thinking. She couldn't stop thinking about Spider-man and the situation from a week ago when she had finally been able to see him up close in action, only to have everything go wrong and—

"Chaewon?"

The girl's head snapped back and her sight landed on the newly pink-haired girl who stood at the foot of the door, smiling at her.

Chaewon felt her heart drop when she saw Minjoo standing there, looking gorgeous as ever with her new hair color. It wasn't like she didn't know Minjoo had pink hair now, for the girl had told her a few days ago she was feeling risky with her hair. But when Chaewon had heard the girl would be going for a more florescent pink, she just couldn't see it. Also, the whole Spider-Man situation was the only thing occupying her mind lately, and the younger's hair plans had been pushed out.

So, to say the least, Chaewon was flustered.

"Do you like it?"

Minjoo tilted her head, making her hair long hair fall off her shoulders.

Chaewon could only nod in response and watch as the younger walked over to sit across from her at the edge of her bed. The older cleared , finally pulling her eyes away from her and turning back to the work on her desk that she had definitely not been working on before the other got there.

"It looks very good." Chaewon had to use every force in her to sound stable and act like the change of color didn't make her feel weak.

Minjoo smiled, satisfied with the answer, but the older did not notice.

"So, are you going to tell me what's had you so distracted lately?" Minjoo asked, tilting her head so she could get a better look at Chaewon's face. The older flushed.

"What do you mean?"

Minjoo rolled her eyes, scooting back on the bed until she was leaning against the wall. Her eyes trailed the older's face and she sighed. "Do you think we haven't noticed? You've been acting weird ever since last Friday. What happened that day?"

Chaewon froze midway writing down some equations. She bit her bottom lip, before going back to writing and attempting to finish her work. But she was distracted. She was so distracted all the numbers in front of her blurred and she couldn't remember for the love of God what a log was. Releasing a long breath, she placed her pencil down gently and leaned back in her chair.

"I don't know, Minjoo. It was all so weird. One moment he was winning, and the next he was-"

A vision flashed through Chaewon's head and she could see that moment so vividly. The moment when she made eye contact with the notorious vigilante and—had she even made eye contact with him? Or was it all some figment of her imagination, something that she made up all on her own because she couldn't handle the idea of him hating her? But she was not one to make things up like that. Chaewon knew what she saw, and what she was the questionable hero staring back at her before getting beat to a pulp and being forced to swing off in shame.

So the question was, why? Why had he looked at her like that? Out of everyone in the crowd, why had it been her? It wasn't like he could have recognized her in any way, even as a news reporter because he was always swinging away by the time she came along. Perhaps, she was just that beautiful? Chaewon instantly shook her head, scratching the idea. This wasn't some movie.

Besides, Spider-Man could be, like, fifty or something. Okay, maybe not fifty, but old. Then again, if he had superpowers, he really could be old, because the superpowers wouldn't depend on his age. Maybe the superpowers could make him healthy for his age, so really, he could be like seventy. Oh no, that would be weird.

Chaewon shook her head once again, this time in stronger refusal.

Minjoo raised an eyebrow, confused by the girl's actions. "Chaewon?"

Chaewon's head snapped back once again, and any remaining questions she had about the vigilante dwindled away.

"What?" The question came rather soft and confused.

And then it hit Chaewon that Minjoo had asked her a question which she did not answer properly. She had gotten too carried away with her thoughts. Perhaps this whole Spider-Man thing really was getting to her.

"Uhm, I'm sorry," Chaewon responded, "but this whole Spider-Man thing hasn't left my mind since Friday and I think it might just be the stress of everything."

Minjoo pouted, feeling sympathetic towards her friend. She knew Chaewon had been going through a lot of stress lately: Her internship, Spider-Man, school, etc. And she only wished to help her.

And just then, an idea popped into the younger's head and she turned to the older with beaming eyes. "I got it, why don't we celebrate you getting promoted?"

Chaewon's whole demeanor changed and the gloomy mood was suddenly gone. Because of how distracted she had been lately, she had forgotten about her promotion.

After finally being able to see Spider-Man in action the previous week, Chaewon went home and typed the whole night of the event, finally being able to write her long-awaited article on the scandalous hero, earning herself that promotion that would enable her to do live reportings. And it helped that the reportage was so different from the usual—with Spider-Man almost getting killed and all.

"I haven't even told anyone else but you. I still can't believe it." Chaewon spoke, a soft and genuine smile easing its way onto her face.

Minjoo smiled back. "I told you that promotion would be yours, remember? I told you to trust me."

"I should do that more often."

And the two girls smiled.

It had been exactly a week since Chaewon last saw Yena and, she would not lie, she missed her friend. Having the older in her life was such a natural presence, she hadn't realized how big it was until lately that she would go missing for days—weeks—at a time, with no notice only to reappear once again with no explanation of any sort. And no one would really question it too much outside of the normal 'Oh, you finally showed up to our hangouts again' or 'Is it school? Is it stressing you out too much?'

Honestly, it was starting to make Chaewon feel guilty. She wasn't sure if it was because she didn't know what was going on with her friend lately, or if it was because slowly, the more she hung out with Minjoo, the more she began to wonder less about the other's whereabouts. She still missed her, of course, but the presence of Minjoo was comforting enough to fill up the emptiness in the air.

Still, the missing presence was strong. She hadn't noticed it before, but Yena and Chaewon spent quite a lot of time together, even when no words were spoken. Whether it was waiting in line together to get coffee before having to head in different directions, or sitting beside each other in the library in silence while getting their work done, or just smiling at each other from across the hall in between classes—the missing presence was there.

And yet, she couldn't come to question the older—interrogate her—on why she was always going missing. Why she was distancing herself lately. Why she couldn't answer her calls or texts. She thought about doing those things, sure, but there was something about actually acting on them that scared her. Perhaps she was scared that it would make her seem pushy? Clingy? Invading? Or maybe she was scared that she could come off the wrong way.

Chaewon took in a deep breath, releasing the hem of her shirt and standing straight, leaning away from the lockers.

The students began to walk out of the classroom, and Chaewon turned sharply to face the door, watching every person trickle out of the room. The crowd of students died down and only a few students were left exiting the large lecture room. And then the last student walked out onto the hall, and Chaewon felt a thud.

Yena looked awful. The bags under her eyes, the slouching of her entire body, the dragging feet—everything about her screamed exhaustion.

"Yena," She breathed out.

The older girl stopped mid-step, holding herself back from turning the corner. She stood frozen in place, her ponytail swinging slowly until it stopped.

Chaewon heard a sigh and watched as Yena turned around slowly, her gaze remaining on the floor until she finally dared to make eye contact. Chaewon scanned her from head down in disbelief, millions of thoughts running through her mind—but they all essentially narrowed down to, What the hell happened to her?

"Are you okay?"

Yena was quick to nod, avoiding eye contact once again. And for that, Chaewon was thankful, because her gaze felt heavy that day.

"Yeah, just, you know, school and all. I'm failing a class so that's really wearing me down, I haven't been avoiding you and the others you know, I've just been trying to catch up on work, so I haven't been going to the hangouts or been responding texts or calls and, uh, yeah." Yena was rambling—it was an act she did whenever she was lying or trying to cover something up.

Chaewon knew that. She knew it so well, but yet—she couldn't bring herself to ask more.

"So, it's nice to see you," Yena said, finally looking back up at Chaewon. Her gaze remained strong.

The younger nodded and smiled in response.

"Uhm, did you want to ask something or...?"

"Oh!" Chaewon snapped, remembering her whole motivation behind hunting the older girl down. She grinned excitedly. And she hoped the news would push the awkward atmosphere to the side and turn things over to the way they used to be. "Guess what?"

Yena's whole demeanor changed when she saw the look of excitement on the younger's face.

"What?"

"When you left Friday, Spider-Man came along and I was able to finally see him up front in action and get a recording of it! I wrote a whole article on it and got that promotion! I'm going live! I was going to tell you before but you weren't answering—oh! And we're all celebrating tonight at my place after I get out of work."

Yena's expression changed once again, the smile dropping from her face in a matter of seconds. Chaewon frowned, the grin disappearing off her face when she saw the other's drift.

"You're actually going to be reporting live?" It was a mumble of disbelief? A refusal of acknowledgement? Devastation?

"Why do you sound so disappointed?" Chaewon asked, feeling every last hope of the old Yena coming back vanishing from her body.

Yena's eyes closed and she shook her head. "I-I'm not."

"Yes, you are," Chaewon spoke, sounding more demanding than she wanted to, "you didn't want me to get this promotion, did you? Why?"

Yena shook her head once again. "No, Chaewon, it's not that, but-" Her eyes closed once again. Yena seemed frustrated with herself for not being able to answer, and Chaewon was growing irritated for the same reason.

"See, you can't even answer." It was soft, but it was harsh. "Look, Yena, I don't know what the hell has been up with you lately because you're always disappearing and making me worry, but then you don't give any explanations and-" Chaewon wasn't sure what she was rambling, but she kept talking and talking, and she finally sighed. "Just, don't take your frustrations out on me, okay? You know how big this is for me and you could have at least acted excited for me. I don't even know why it disappoints you so much to see me this happy but—just talk to me when you're ready to go back to your old self, okay?"

Yena opened to say something else, but the older turned and walked away without giving her a chance to explain. Not like Yena would have been able to explain anyway.

The sun had just set down when Chaewon got out of work and began to make her way home where she was to have a small celebration with her sister and her friends. Eunbi had been so excited, she had headed out of work early to buy food and drinks. And her friends were even more excited than her, only because they were ready to drink that Friday night. Well, those who could drink anyway.

But Chaewon wasn't excited. Minjoo had noticed when she walked her to work after class earlier that day, and she had asked her what was wrong. Chaewon didn't even need to answer for the younger to know it was Yena. She didn't know exactly what happened, but she said she had a feeling the two were falling out lately.

Chaewon only nodded and sighed in response, not going into detail about what happened. She didn't know why, but she just didn't feel comfortable enough to rant about Yena to the younger. Something about it felt morally wrong, and she didn't understand why. Chaewon didn't understand much these days.

As she walked home on her own, she began to think about it in depth more.

What was going on between her and Yena? What was going on between her and Minjoo?

Chaewon felt like she knew. But she was so confused, did she really know anything at all?

Well, starting off, Chaewon probably had a thing for Minjoo. She had liked her years ago, when they were younger, but over the years the small crush had dwindled and faded, and now she was confused because the sight of the younger in pink hair was enough to make her feel weak all around. But was that just lingering feelings? Was it like one of those things where you can never fully get over someone until you move on to the next person, even if you don't necessarily feel the same way anymore? Or was her old crush rekindling? It was probably too early to tell, but Chaewon could already guess in what direction these strange feelings were heading.

Now, Yena. She was a whole other thing. Chaewon was quite aware now that the older made her feel secure in a way that no one else—except maybe Minjoo—could. One of those feelings where just her presence was enough comfort. Not even having to tell her what was wrong, but just having her there. It was a breath of relief.

But that presence was gone, and it made Chaewon see things differently. The missing presence had put a new filter over their friendship, and Chaewon was starting to see things she hadn't before. For example, the heavy gaze. What was up with that? Had it always been there? When Yena had it earlier, it was so strong and felt so jarring.

It was as if Yena had more depth. Of course, she was human, so she had depth. But something that Chaewon hadn't seen before. It didn't seem like the Yena she knew. The look in her eyes was so strong, a ray shinning through all of the exhaustion she exuded, and it made it seem like Yena had deep thoughts running through her mind. But what kind of thoughts? Maybe—

Chaewon felt every muscle in her body tense up and she stood completely frozen.

Someone was following her.

She wasn't sure how she knew, but she did. It was some kind of intuition. She also wasn't sure for how long, but seeing how distracted she had been lately, the person could have been following her since she got out of work.

Chaewon's fight or flight response kicked in and she began to scan the area, her surroundings, for some kind of escape, a third party, a weapon, any sign of hope.

But perhaps she was overthinking this? Perhaps she was just on edge from everything that had been happening lately. Yes, that was what it was.

And with that thought in mind, Chaewon turned around the corner, a small wave of ease crossing her, only to be destroyed when she heard the heavy footsteps continue behind her. She shook her head, trying to convince herself she was nothing more than paranoid because of anxiety.

And she made another turn. The footsteps were only