Hayoon’s footsteps echoed along the empty halls of her residence. Winter break had started and all students  have hurried home, eager to forget their duties as students and celebrate the upcoming holiday with their loved ones. For Hayoon, this was one of the rare periods where she could enjoy her solitude without the fear of disturbance. Returning to her room after a quick trip to the supermarket to top up on chocolate and junk food, Hayoon made herself a warm cup of tea while waiting for her laptop to switch on. Munching on prawn crackers, she checked her email when she received a group video call request from Baekhyun. Clicking the green ‘accept’ icon, she was greeted with three familiar faces on her computer screen.

“Sunshine~ Missed us?”

“She’s probably overjoyed to not see your face everyday Baek.” Chanyeol joked.

“You better not be studying all the time Go Hayoon, now it’s the time to be relaxing.”

Hayoon gave a light shrug in response to Soojung’s statement. A tiny part of her did miss their presence. However she was not going to admit that out loud or Baekhyun would take that as encouragement to go off on one of his rants about how magical Christmas was and no one should be spending it alone and how Hayoon was making a grave mistake yet again.

The conversation went on with them nagging at the lone girl, telling her to keep herself warm and to not be a complete hermit. They reminded her that she was welcome to spend the holidays at any of their homes if she wished for a change of scenery. After much teasing and joking, the call ended with Baekhyun blowing a big kiss towards the screen, earning a loud ‘yuck’ from Soojung and a grunt of disgust from Chanyeol.

Sighing in content, Hayoon took a big sip from her tea, readjusting her senses to the silence that drowned the room following the end of the call. She frowned however when another video call request appeared on her screen, this time from her mother. Hesitating, Hayoon hovered the mouse over the red ‘reject’ icon. She decided against doing that after much contemplation because she did not want to deal with the consequences of ignoring her mother’s call.

“Took you long enough to answer.” Her mother’s sharp voice cut through the speakers of her computer. “You haven’t forgotten about your family have you?”

Like always, no greetings or pleasantries. The lady of the Go household went straight to business. The accusatory tone in her mother’s voice did not go unnoticed by Hayoon, however like always the young girl opted to ignore it in the hopes of ending the call as soon as possible.

“How could I possibly forget about my own family?” She replied in a flat tone.

Mrs Go proceeded to launch into yet another one of her rants, unloading on Hayoon all her frustrations and annoyances that had accumulated since the last time they spoke. Unable to concentrate, Hayoon zoned out, her mind wonder