Bae Joohyun is an enigma for Seungwan.

Her campus senior may seem simple to most people. They would often describe her as 'the SNU's it girl'. Not only that she has friends in all the campus' departments, she's loaded, incredibly smart, and ridiculously pretty — like, seriously, Wendy has thought before meeting Joohyun that there's no way the older girl was as attractive as she looks in the photograph (oh, but how Joohyun just goes beyond). So, yes, Joohyun is the textbook 'it girl', 'Queen B', or whatever title you attribute to the most popular student on the university.

However, once you get the ultimate privilege to be friends with Joohyun (like this normal in-all-aspects ordinary Seungwan here), you will learn that Joohyun is full of surprises.

Bae Joohyun is the leader of their student union on campus. She has stood up in front of thousands of new freshmen, delivering a welcoming speech. She has marched up to their vice-chancellor's office to protest the university's lack of mental health support system. But she is also Bae Joohyun, Seungwan's peculiar senior. Joohyun once shrieked and ran hiding behind Seungwan's back like a damsel in distress because of a bubble. A freaking soap bubble one seven-year-old kid blew at the park. (Joohyun's defence was that it was a particularly large bubble.)

And she confuses Seungwan. Bae Joohyun is a subject she will never understand.

If there is one definite fact that Seungwan is sure about Joohyun is that the older girl loathes losing.

Joohyun simply doesn't allow herself to lose. Ever.

Be it  about becoming the future valedictorian of her batch or a little mundane bet on a Sunday morning against Yerim (they didin't even have any prize for Joohyun for winning that one).

Seungwan knows perfectly well that there's no force on earth capable of stopping Joohyun until she wins, so she definitely has no excuse for why she is stuck in this current situation.

"What the f—"

Seungwan smiles as she watches Joohyun's jaw drops. The older girl's eyes widen and bore holes (figuratively, thank gods) into Seungwan's laptop screen. A second later, Joohyun's left hand slam onto the table in frustration before streams of profanities run out of her pretty mouth.

"This game is impossible!" Joohyun claims, turning to her friend next to her for support, though she is saying all of that while her finger clicks on the mouse for another try. She complains more before the screen shows that she's up for a new game, then quickly turns all her devotion to Seungwan's poor laptop.

Seungwan sighs silently and put her attention on the animated creature — Fallguy 2129, the subject of Joohyun's curses for the past three hours — jumping and running for its life on her device's screen.  

Yes, Bae Joohyun has been glued to this mean of entertainment for three hours. No, Joohyun hasn't won even once throughout it all. How did it come to this? Hmm... an on-point and crucial question that unfortunately has a mediocre and anticlimactic answer.

Three hours ago (three long hours ago), Seungwan had just finished her MGMT20001 or commonly known as Organisational Behaviour class's essay task and was looking for ways of distressing her tired and weary brain. So her great mind decided that it was a good idea to open up a recently hyped and notably hard-to-win game on her laptop with Joohyun sitting beside her.

Because nothing could go wrong with that impressive choice of action.

A weight sloping on her stops Seungwan from mulling over her past decisions. Joohyun leans on her, her hands gripping on her shirt, and mumbles some incoherent words on her shoulder. Seungwan ignores the tickles on her neck caused by the other girl's strands of hair and pats Joohyun's back sympathetically. She looks over to the screen. Apparently, Joohyun has just been eliminated in the second round.

"I lost a tail, Seungwan. I lost it three seconds before the round ended. That green bastard stole my tail," Joohyun whines, now resting her cheek on Seungwan's shoulder.

"What a jerk," Seungwan contributes supportively. Joohyun then follows it with a complaint of how the game's title should be changed because somehow, the objectives to win it doesn't only involve not falling, but also collecting tails, winning a football match, or even memorising fruit pictures.

"The developers must have lost their original intention somewhere along the lines," Joohyun grumbles, staring at the monitor like it is showing the most despicable thing on earth. Yet, seconds later, Joohyun is already back on her seats, shoulders tense, her back hunches towards the screen, her focus entirely set on Fallguy 2129.

Despite it all, Seungwan smiles. It's 3 AM in the morning. And for the first time in a while, Seungwan actually has a plan today at 11 AM on this fine Saturday. That is eight hours away. Minus the thirty minutes she needs to go back to her dorm and the hours she has to spend in the morning to get ready, Seungwan calculates that she will have less than enough hours to sleep.

That's a bad idea. Sleepy Seungwan is not a pleasant companion for a first date. She'll get quiet and stoic and become a less funny person than well-rested Seungwan. And Yerim would be disappointed with her, considering how invested Kim Yerim is in this date between her and this cute girl she met in the campus's cafe.

Seungwan takes a glance at the screen, noticing that Joohyun has finally reached the final round, where the only thing left she need to do to win the game is to be the first to grab the floating crown. She is pretty sure that Joohyun would let her take the laptop and go home if she asks the older girl. Pretty sure because competitive Joohyun is a wild card. But Seungwan doesn't have the heart to stop Joohyun now. She knows that if she went home now, Joohyun would mop around because she wouldn't get a chance to win. Joohyun would be grumpy for the whole day tomorrow until she could get her hand on Seungwan's laptop again.

Moreover, it's not like Seungwan is all miserable by accompanying Joohyun playing this game straight for three hours. Watching Joohyun plays is oddly entertaining, and Seungwan is always happy to spend time with her campus senior.

And concentrated Joohyun, with her eyebrows furrowed and lips bit, is a beautiful sight. A very, very beautiful sight.

The smile she was unconsciously wearing for the whole night drops.  

It feels strange. It's as if she was in a peaceful dream, and all of a sudden, the things that have been happening become clear. The puzzle pieces no longer look jumbled, and Seungwan is no longer confused about what the final picture would look like.

It's like waking up.

The upcoming date doesn't sound that exciting anymore. She doesn't look forward to it like when that cute girl sat in front of her in the cafe or when she was shopping for a dress dedicated for the occasion with Yerim yesterday's afternoon. Was she ever happy about that date?

She realises that she said yes to that cute cafe girl only because she has no reason to say no.

But now, she has one.

Joohyun jumps from her seat and squeals in delight. She pulls Seungwan to stand up with her and then wrap her in a giant hug as if she is not one tiny woman. She doesn't notice that her friend is distinctly stiff. Instead, she is jumping in her place in celebration. She doesn't realise that she has won something entirely different than the game of Fall Guys.

"Seungwan, I did it! I got first place! I won!" Joohyun chants merrily.

Seungwan looks at her, really looks at her. A happy Joohyun, eyes glowing in joy and lips curving widely, is a beautiful sight. A very, very beautiful sight.

Apparently, Fallguy 2129 was not the only one falling for the past three hours.

She gulps. Crap.