The day finally arrived.

Her apartment had never been extravagantly decorated in the first place, but watching it now completely bare and empty brought on a wave of unexpected nostalgia. Her move to Seoul was real, it was happening.

The more Yongsun thought about all of this, the more nervous she grew. Eric’s talk last week about making friends had stuck with her. She knew no one at that school. Yes, she was from Seoul and her parents still lived there, but hanging out with her parents all the time was not an option. Some of her classmates from SKKU worked in the capital, but she had never been close with the ones that she knew for a fact were there. Eric was the closest thing to a friend that she had, and he was staying behind in Suwon.

Her pessimistic thoughts were cut short by her cell vibrating on the kitchen counter. “You’ll live long,” she said into her phone.

“Uh, I called to say that I arrived and that I was making my way up to your floor, but what’s this about me living long?”

“It’s a saying. If someone is thinking or talking about someone else and then the person they were thinking or talking about contacts them soon after, people say, ‘You’ll live long.’ It’s like, ‘Oh, I was thinking about you and then you popped up.’”

“I see,” Eric responded skeptically. “Open your door.” For once, she followed instructions, walked to her door, and opened it. There in all of his non-glory stood Eric.

“What’s with this outfit? Do you think you’re a celebrity or something?” She critically assessed him from head to toe as she spoke. He stood in her doorway with a smirk on his face. Black hat, black mask, black short-sleeved t-shirt, black shorts, white crew socks, black Vans. Completely ignoring her snark, he brushed past her into the villa apartment. After closing her door, Yongsun turned to find Eric standing a few feet away, smirk still in place. “What’s so funny?”

“You were thinking about me?” He wagged his eyebrows at her.

“What?” Confusion. She was confused.

“You said I’ll live long. Then you said that that means someone—you being that someone—was thinking or talking about someone else—me.” His satisfaction at this was unacceptable to Youngsun. She had to kill it immediately.

“Yeah. I was thinking about how annoying you are and how excited I am to finally be away from you.”

“Lies!” Although his words were for Yongsun, his focus was on scanning her packed belongings to figure out what would be taken to the vehicle first. “I know you. You talk all this big talk, but you’re going to miss me. It’s okay to say it.”

“Anyway, Mr. Celebrity, what’s the plan for this stuff?”

“You don’t have as much as I thought you did. I borrowed a friend’s pickup truck and was concerned everything wouldn’t fit in one trip, but if we pack the vehicle properly, we should be good.”

“I feel like you’re making up all these friends of yours.”

Bending down to pick up one of her boxes, Eric dryly responded, “Ha ha. You are so funny. It’s like you’re the funniest person ever to have funnied. Could you get the door for me, please? I’m going to take this down then I’ll be back up.”

Holding the door open for him, Yongsun fussed over his well-being, “Are you sure it’s not too heavy? Are you sure you’re good? We can carry it together if it’s too much.”

Eric chuckled, “Aww, see, you do care about me. I’m good, though. It’s not too heavy and you live on the second floor so it’ll only be one flight of stairs. I’ll be right back.”

There wasn’t much more talking for the next hour as Eric and Yongsun carried things to the pickup truck. They did well to empty the villa apartment and carefully pack the vehicle. He had showed up around 11 am. By 12:30 pm, they were on their way to Seoul. The drive was only a little more than half an hour, not long at all. For most of the ride, Eric drove while Yongsun laid her head on the passenger side window; one of his playlists served as background noise for them both. Soon after they entered Seoul, Eric lowered the music, a pressing question having suddenly come to mind.

“Coach Lim came in and asked about you the other day. You didn’t you tell her or any members of the team that you were heading to SNU?” At that, Yongsun lifted her head.

“I . . . did not.”

As a college student, Yongsun had worked several jobs each semester. Her last year in college, she continued as a student worker in Marketing, but also had two additional jobs—both with the SKKU Women’s Basketball team. One was as an Office Assistant for the team’s coaches; the other was as the team’s manager; her main responsibility being videotaping practices and games, and creating video edits for team film sessions. The latter of the jobs ate up most of her time while basketball was in-season. She had to attend all practices and traveled with the team to all of their games. It was a lot of work, but it was also probably her favorite of all the student-worker jobs she had. Not only did she get to travel the country and sleep in nice hotels, she was also afforded the same perks as the athletes: free clothing and sneakers, per diem money over winter break for food, and access to varsity athletic training facilities. To the coaches and team members, she was part of the team. They treated her as such. She had grown close with a few of the team’s members, and due to her job as an Office Assistant, she had grown exceptionally close with the coaches. Coach Lim grew fond of Yongsun, so much so that she took time to help the senior with her job search as graduation approached. Once Yongsun began her full-time job as a Marketing Intern, she saw the team and coaches less frequently, but whenever she did, she was always received positively.

She needed to call Coach Lim once she got settled in to share the news of her going to graduate school.

Interrupting the brown-haired girl’s thoughts, Eric gently scolded her. “Come on, Yongsun. You know she loves you.”

“I know. I was so occupied with getting things together that it slipped my mind. I’ll call her.”

“You definitely should. I’d recommend reaching out to some of the players from your year, too. I think a couple of them are in Seoul. You were fairly close, close enough to get in touch with them and find time to hang out. I really think they’d be happy about it. The entire team liked you.”

“I guess.”

“And SNU plays SKKU twice each season, so it would be cool to go watch your old school play against your new school. Make an event out of it with some of the former players. Get together to watch the game, go out for drinks after, it could be a lot of fun!”

“That’s not a bad idea. Look at you, using that brain of yours,” she playfully poked his head while she said this.

“I’m driving here.”

“Oh please. We’re practically already here. You’re such a drama queen.”

Eric rolled his eyes but said nothing. She was right. They had arrived.

“Yongie! Wake up. Wake up, baby.” Gentle fingers ran through Yongsun’s hair, soft lips on her forehead.

“A few more minutes, omma.”

“Come on, don’t fuss. You have to get up and start getting ready. Remember, your father said he’d take you back around 1:00 pm. It’s already 11:00 am.” Although the content of her mother’s message was less than favorable, Yongsun couldn’t be annoyed. Lee Soyoung’s voice was well-known to be soothing and comforting.

“Okay,” she mumbled, “I’m up. I’m up.”

“Good girl. I made breakfast and am almost finished cooking some food for you to take back with you.” Her mom placed another kiss on her forehead before turning to exit Yongsun’s room.

After helping her move into her apartment, Eric treated Yongsun to dinner. It was full of their usual banter. Before leaving, though, he made her promise once more to be proactive about making friends and reminded her that she agreed to go up to at least one person and start a conversation. He also encouraged her to take the next 3.5 weeks before classes started to grow comfortable with the campus.

“Walk around,” he had said, “Explore new parts of campus every day. Explore the neighborhood around campus. Don’t just stay cooped up in your room.”

Yongsun took his words into consideration. The very next day, she headed to her parents’ home. Technically, she didn’t completely ignore Eric’s recommendation. She explored campus and the surrounding neighborhood enough to find the train station.

For the past three weeks, she had been living her best life at home with her parents. Maybe “best life” was a bit of a stretch, but it was exactly what she needed when she needed it. For the first week, her parents understood that she may have been tired, and let her sleep for hours on end. She grew restless doing nothing, though, so started helping her mother out with chores during her last two weeks at home. Her mini-vacation was now over, though. Releasing a huge sigh, she grudgingly rolled out of bed, her brown hair swept all about her face. Yongsun grabbed her cell phone from the nightstand next to her bed. 11:17 am.

Thirty minutes later, she sauntered into the kitchen, hugging her mother from behind.

“Everything smells so good, omma,” she said in a baby voice.

“That shower must have been wonderful. You were grumpy earlier and now you’re in such a good mood,” her mom responded happily. It had been a while since she got to spend so much time with her youngest. The past three weeks had been a dream for her. She knew that Yongsun worked exceptionally hard to get to where she was, and a large part of her felt guilty for being unable to ease some of her baby’s burdens. It was her pleasure, then, to dote on Yongsun. Her daughter deserved a break, and she did her best to provide her with one.

“It was,” Yongsun released her mom and stood next to her, watching her seasoning the food on the stove. “I feel better about going back now. Being back in Seoul, being near you and appa, will help a lot.”

“We’re happy that you’re closer, too. There’s breakfast on the table. Go eat, I’ll finish this and pack it up for you.”

“How much did you cook?” Yongsun asked surprised as she saw the containers of food in plastic bags on the living room table. “You know there’s food at school, right?”

“But this is good food. Nothing beats a home-cooked meal.” The pride in her mom’s voice made Yongsun smile.

“You’re right. You’re right. Thank you. I really do appreciate it.”

“Of course. Anything for my baby.” Her mom walked closer to her and pinched Yongsun’s cheeks.

“Ah, omma! Stop. I’m not a baby!”

“You are. You’re my baby. And you always will be.” Yongsun rolled her eyes at her mom’s antics, but secretly loved being taken care of by her parents. Their financial situation often prevented them from providing her with material things, but the amount of love and support they offered meant more than any amount of money.

*

After eating and making sure she had left nothing behind, Yongsun and her dad set off for SNU. The drive with him was quick. Quiet. He was a man of few words. The silence wasn’t uncomfortable, not to Yongsun at least. Any time with her father was healing for her. His presence made her feel safe and secure. She didn’t want them to have to part so soon.

As he pulled into University Village’s parking lot, she blurted out, “Do you want to see campus?” Shyly, she continued, “I’m not very familiar with it yet and was going to walk around today, but since you’re here, maybe we can do it together?”

After a few beats, her father responded, “What about your apartment? You don’t need help setting it up?”

“Eric helped me move in and unpack. Everything is done up there.”

“Ah. Eric.” Kim Kwangsun and his wife had met him at Yongsun’s college graduation. He didn’t have much of an opinion on Eric, but he seemed like a nice enough young man. “You know,” Kwangsun turned to his daughter conspiratorially, “your mother thinks that you’re secretly dating him. Don’t tell her that I told you that, though.”

“Ew! No. We’re just friends!”

Kwangsun wasn’t sure if his youngest was freaking out over the fact her mom thought she was dating Eric, or the fact that her parents discussed her love life. Either way, he was enjoying watching her act like a child. Yongsun was quickly growing into an intelligent, independent, beautiful woman, and although he didn’t share it with her, he often worried that she’d outgrow him. As such, he drove her to SNU with the intention of offering to help get her apartment in order; he wanted to be useful and craved quality time with her. A walk around campus, though, was a better, less strenuous alternative. “Good, you’re too young for that anyway,” he joked.

“No I’m not,” she whined, “I’m twenty-three!”

“Okay, okay,” he placated her, “I trust you to make smart decisions when it comes to dating. Be safe.”

“Oh my goodness. Can we not talk about this please?”

“I’d be glad to stop talking about this. Take the food your mother prepared for you upstairs, then we can walk around the campus.”

Part of him found it odd that Yongsun had never discussed dating with her mother, but he and his youngest were very similar when it came to discussing anything dealing with feelings—they just didn’t—so he understood why she’d be hesitant to do so. He sometimes wondered if she was dating at all. There’s no reason that she wouldn’t be, but then that would mean that she was and that wasn’t something he wanted to think about either. This is why he adopted a need-to-know philosophy. She’d let him know about her dating life when and if she felt he needed to know. Until then, he’d leave the matters of young people to the young people.

*

One thing Yongsun didn’t realize until today was how large Seoul National University’s campus was. She and her dad had walked around for a couple hours already, stopping here and there to sightsee, and had only seen about half of the entire campus. That was good enough for her. She’d figure the rest out another day. They began the trek back to University Village when her father asked, “Do you have all of your books for classes already?”

Yongsun’s mouth fell open. Classes started on Monday and she had somehow completely forgotten to purchase books for her classes. Kwangsun chuckled.

“Based on your reaction, you don’t. The bookstore should be on our way back, right? Let’s stop there and I’ll buy them for you.”

“Appa, books are really expensive. There are cheaper alternatives I should probably look into anyway.”

“Yongsun-ah, your studies are important. You need books. I don’t want you to have to rent them or whatever other things students do to acquire books these days. You should have the most updated books and you should own them. If this is the career path you want to pursue, commit to it fully.”

Hearing her dad speak so passionately about her studies made her realize that she needed to be better at accepting kindness, especially from her parents. “You’re right. Thank you, appa.” Kwangsun felt accomplished as she placed a kiss on his cheek.

The trip to the bookstore turned out to be a lot of fun. Thankfully, her classes didn’t require many books as the students would be expected to read a lot of research articles, so her dad didn’t have to shell out too much money. Yongsun decided to get her parents some SNU paraphernalia as a token of her gratitude.

She had paid for her parents’ gifts and decided to wait for her father in the SNU Café that was connected to the bookstore. Sitting down, she looked around, trying to familiarize herself with the space. In doing so, she caught a glimpse of an icy blonde sitting in the furthest corner of the establishment. The girl wasn’t doing anything special or exciting—she was simply sitting there scrolling on her cell phone—but she looked so cool, and that wasn’t a word Yongsun used very often to describe anyone or anything. She had no words for it, but this girl just exuded cool. Cool and athletic.

Doing another quick scan of the place, Yongsun checked to see if there was anyone that looked like they were with the girl. It didn’t make sense for her to be in this café on a Thursday afternoon by herself. Then again, maybe she was waiting for someone. That would make more sense.

Eric’s words rang in her head: “Instead of waiting for others to talk to you, try to be proactive. One person! Just one. Go up to one person and start a conversation with them. You can do that.”

At the time, she thought he was full of it. In this moment, though, she was strongly considering approaching the girl. When else would everything line up so perfectly?

The universe chose then to remind her of her reality.

“Yongsun-ah, are you ready to go?” Her father had finally finished his purchase and easily found Yongsun at one of the café tables closest to the bookstore exit.

Taking one more quick look at the blonde girl, Yongsun gathered herself and got up to leave. “Yup. I’m ready.”

She enjoyed the final moments with her dad, but as soon as he left, an overwhelming sense of frustration consumed her. Café girl stayed on her mind for the rest of the day. Yongsun never approached people. She never even thought of approaching people, yet there she was, contemplating going up to some stranger in a café. What would she even have said to her? Nothing. She hadn’t thought it through.

Grabbing her cell phone, she texted Eric:

To: Eric

Screw you and your stupid “be proactive” plan.  6:27 pm

Promise is off.  6:28 pm

Yeah, she wasn’t going to be approaching anyone. Forget that.

Note: Cannot thank you all enough for supporting this story! I absolutely love reading comments. If you feel so inclined, let me know what your thoughts are on the story thus far! I promise, this arc is coming to a close; things have been developed well enough (I would hope) that we can dive into the next stage of this story.

Your patience is so appreciated, you don’t even understand.