Dear Chapter 9

Jung SoMi~

“Where is my white shirt? I swear I had it washed and ready to go for today.” I groaned, searching our room for my blouse frantically while SooHyun was applying her makeup.

“I’m just surprised how you’re not falling asleep right now. You came back home from WooHyun’s in the middle of the night. How many hours did you even sleep?” She asked with her back towards me as she was staring into the mirror to do her eyeliner. Flipping through the hangers in my wardrobe, I gave her an honest reply.

“Well, I woke up at 6, so around three hours?” My room was becoming messier and messier due to me ransacking my closet and bed. “That’s it! I give up!” I exclaimed, yanking a black lace blouse off the hanger and slipping it on and then my plaid blazer.

Glancing at the clock, I realized how late I was. This only increased my panic levels. Forgetting breakfast, I used the time to get ready for the midterm presentation. I checked my outfit in the mirror and then hurriedly gathered the presentation materials and chucked them into my tote bag. I ran a brush through the lengths of my long, ebony hair and tapped SooHyun’s shoulder. She needed to hurry up if we weren’t going to miss our bus. SooHyun and I fortunately caught the bus in time despite how late we were running.

In all honesty, I didn’t feel as prepared for the group presentation as I should be. With the hectic week I had, I was just willing myself to get through the day. I met up with my team members inside the lecture hall and they were all dressed professionally for their parts. Our professor gave us ten minutes to finalize everything and within those ten minutes, we all made sure how we were going to present. My team members asked for me to begin the presentation and then to wrap it up, so I reviewed the slides that I would be speaking for. Then YeSeo boldly raised her hand, volunteering for us to present first.

Once we finished our presentation, we all sat down at our seats with the class applauding us. The next group began to present and then I began to zone out, staring blankly at the screen as my posture sagged in the chair. My hand clapped together after each group finished. My stomach growled and I was parched, but then realized that I forgot my water bottle at home.

I went through my day, acting out the routine I established for myself. Only after my shift at the café ended, did my routine began to crack. SooHyun, Yeri, and JooHyun were waiting for me at a table while I carried their cups of coffee to them. I treated them with my employee discount and sat down next to JooHyun.

“Next month is our winter break. If we get everything for the road trip ready before our finals, then we should be good to go. Where should we go?” I sipped on my decaffeinated cup of tea as SooHyun searched up affordable villas near the seaside. I suggested that we go fishing, for it was something I wanted to try, but they disagreed. I gave into their wants and scribbled down the trip details into my planner when my phone rang. The caller ID was Pawnshop Ghost. I found myself with an expectant grin. My friends stopped talking as I answered the call.

“Can you go somewhere with me tomorrow?” Even the mere sound of his voice lifted my low spirits, eliciting a faint, yet authentic grin to appear on my face.

“Of course.” I spoke into the phone softly, feeling my friends’ curious stares on me.

“I’ll pick you up from your apartment. The dress code is black.” I had an idea of where he was going to take me. It was late November after all.

Placing my phone down, I returned to my friends. They remarked about how the caller id was unique and asked whom it was. I frankly told them that it was a friend of mine. Returning to the conversation at hand, I wondered about what WooHyun was planning on doing. He did say that he wanted to spend winter break together. How could I please both my boyfriend and friends at the same time? I knew that pleasing them both would be hard, since SooHyun and WooHyun both hated each other. I felt sorry to my friends, knowing that having my boyfriend come with us wasn’t a part of their plans. However they went along with it and told me to fill him in on the amount of money we were splitting for the gas, rental car, food, and villa.

Zipping up my black dress, I thought of my mom. She never even had a proper funeral or burial. I didn’t even have her ashes… I quietly walked out of the bedroom, for SooHyun was sleeping in and went outside. TaeSik opened the door for me to his car. I didn’t waste any effort in faking a smile, knowing that I didn’t need to with him. The brief exchange of our pensive gazes said everything. The bouquet