“Hey Seul,” Sooyoung said from behind the locked shutters of Seulgi’s eyelids. “Hey, wake up. It’s almost noon.”

    Seulgi bolted upright. Hot spikes dug into her temples, her stomach groaned, and felt as though it were coated with sand. Ever the glutton for pain, Seulgi gritted her teeth and bravely fought against her hangover.

Sooyoung handed her a water bottle along with a handful of red pills.

“It’s just Advil,” Sooyoung said, noting how Seulgi eyed the medication.

    “Yeah, I know. I just want to make sure I can keep them down.”

    Sooyoung patted her on the back. “Wild night?”

    Seulgi shook her head, took her drugs, and chugged half of the water bottle. The liquid sloshed around in her empty stomach, and she stifled a belch.

    “I don’t even know. More weird than wild.” Seulgi inspected Sooyoung, who hadn’t been home last night when Seulgi clamored into the dorm at three. The younger girl was showered and dressed, hair done up in a neat little bun to top off her unintentional mockery of Seulgi’s condition.

“I’d say,” Sooyoung said. She handed over a miniature tube of original Pringles, which Seulgi gratefully accepted. “Summer and Evanie abandoned you, huh?”

“Kind of? They ran off, saying that Tyler got himself into trouble. But they let me know beforehand.”

“Oh,” Sooyoung said, rolling her eyes and sighing. “That. Yeah, remember that girl he was looking for while we were at the party? With the black coat or whatever? Apparently, he found out where she was, and left about five minutes after that.”

    “Right,” Seulgi muttered, thinking. “I… hm, well, I thought something else was going on there.”

    Sooyoung chuckled. “Tyler’s a weirdo. I probably would have done it, but all he seemed to care about was that girl with the jacket. Anyway, back to your night. How was that Galactic Bar place?”

    “Galactic Lounge,” Seulgi corrected, grimacing as the ghost of a burp tried to work its way up . “It was the nicest bar I’ve ever been to. Everyone was dressed formally, the drinks were super expensive, and I met some really, uh… interesting people there.”

    A sparkle appeared in Sooyoung’s eye, and she leaned in, supporting her chin with her fists. Seulgi knew that look well. It was the same reaction that Sooyoung gave every time the slightest inkling of a romance was hinted by her roommate.

    “We can talk about it after I get myself together,” Seulgi said, checking the clock on her phone. Eleven forty-seven. Her heart dropped. She still had a paper to write, two exams to study for, and a tutoring session to lead at five. “Though, based on how much time I’ve wasted sleeping, that may not be for awhile.”

    With a dramatic sigh, Sooyoung moved aside, allowing Seulgi to drag herself out of bed.

    “Well, at least give me an abbreviated version,” Sooyoung said as Seulgi worked to uncover her toiletries and a fresh set of clothes from the clutter of her closet.

    “Her name’s Joohyun. Beautiful woman, a little shorter than me, literally perfect. Way out of my league. Like, she was on a different planet compared to me. Seriously.”

    “Okay, I get it, she’s the second coming of Jesus Christ. What happened?” Sooyoung said, practically pleading now.

    Seulgi paused, arms filled with the plethora of items she’d collected. “Somehow, she seemed like she was actually into me. She talked to me first, asked me about myself, and bought me drinks. Then, when I threw up-”

    “Of course you did.”

    “Er, yeah.” Seulgi said, blushing. “When I threw up, she came and took care of me, got me into a cab, and said I could make up for the cost by meeting her at the Lounge next Friday night.”

    Sooyoung beamed, rushed forward, and began smacking Seulgi about her arms and torso. Seulgi tried to shy away from her roommate’s girlish glee, but it was useless. She merely had to wait until Sooyoung’s mad episode of excitement was over.

    “Do you know what this means?” Sooyoung demanded, grabbing Seulgi by the shoulders. “You have a date, Seulgi!”

    “Uhhh… I guess,” Seulgi said, shaking her way out of Sooyoung’s hold and picking up some of her dropped items. After a moment of pause, Sooyoung helped her as well. “It wasn’t explicitly stated or anything.”

    Sooyoung displayed her trademark eyeroll - complete with dramatic sigh - and gave Seulgi a motherly pat on the head. “Shockingly, I’m more excited than you are about this. You have a lot to learn, Seulgi. And I’m more than willing to teach you.”

    Ignoring the younger girl’s obvious innuendo, Seulgi bid her goodbye and retreated to the girl’s shower room. Sharing a stall with every other woman on the floor was one of Seulgi’s least favorite things about living in that dorm. There was always a lingering illusion at the back of her mind, conjured murmurs out of her view, wondering whether she was trying to catch a peek at the other girl’s while they bathed. It was a silly thought; most of the other girls had no idea she was a lesbian, and those that did had been nothing but accepting about it. However, old scars were often the sorest of all, and Kang Seulgi had plenty.

    Seulgi was still groggy when she undressed herself, so she just barely caught the flash of movement as a tiny black object fell from her jean pocket. She bent to pick it up, heart jumping into . It was one of Joohyun’s earrings. The gem was in the shape of a multifaceted disc with a gold backing. It pulled the light from the room in a unique, hauntingly alluring way, as though it were a droplet of space itself. How’d she gotten that? Had Joohyun dropped it in the taxi as they’d said goodbye? Seulgi could have sworn the woman was still wearing both of her earrings outside, but she wasn’t particularly confident in her latter memories of the night.

    Seulgi supposed that it was good that she’d be seeing Joohyun later in the week, anyway. She must have been searching everywhere for an expensive gem like this.

***

    Seulgi’s weeks at school tended to fly by, and the following week was no exception. For reasons that she would rather not explore, she kept Joohyun’s earring in her pocket during all of her waking hours. The piece of jewelry had a calming quality to it that she couldn't explain. Its reassuring shape and weight helped to quell the baseline tension she experienced in her everyday life.

She spent the remainder of that Sunday tucked into her books, leaving her dorm at four forty-five on the dot in order to make her tutoring appointment. After reviewing the nuances of introduction-level chemistry with four pleasant but overall clueless freshmen, she retreated back to her dorm to finish her paper. Three hours into early Monday morning, she hit “submit” on the fourteen-page writeup, punctuating the completion of her assignment with the dry flick of a lighter.

Tuesday and Wednesday streaked by in a haze of calculus, genetics, and early spring thunderstorms. The prospect of seeing Joohyun at the end of the week made both of the normally stimulating lectures drag on. Seulgi wasn’t the type to take notes, but she usually paid attention to her professors out of genuine interest for their subject. That week, however, was different. Instead she drifted in and out of creative contemplation, tapping her foot to sappy piano-led ballads that played in her head. She was able to shake off her artistic daze in order to participate in her biology lab, but even that was half-hearted, requiring constant mental effort in order to keep herself on track.

At Sooyoung’s incessant urging, Seulgi agreed to go out for dinner on Thursday evening. There was a small Mexican restaurant less than ten minutes by foot from their dorm, one of the few mom and pop places on their campus. It sat at the center of Caldwell Square, jammed between a gaudy movie theatre and a sterile health food store. A flickering, purple-hued “Open” sign met them as they entered, and the pair greeted the young Spanish man behind the counter as they took a seat beside the window.

“So you’re going to see Joohyun tomorrow,” Sooyoung said, accepting a menu from their server.

Seulgi looked away from the layered colors of the distant horizon and was unsurprised to find a mischievous grin on Sooyoung’s lips. “Yeah.”

Sooyoung leaned back and crossed her arms over her chest. “You’ve gotta be excited right? An older woman who probably has money.”

“Honestly? Yeah, I’m excited.” Seulgi admitted. “But not for those reasons. She’s just the first person in a while who’s shown an interest in me that wasn’t strictly platonic… or strictly physical.”

Sooyoung’s face fell slightly and Seulgi felt the sour bite of regretfulness. She hadn’t purposely poked at her roommate like that, and she wanted to apologize, but she wasn’t sure how. So she sipped her water instead.

“That’s good, then,” Sooyoung said slowly. Her tone pitched up and she flashed a smile that erased any inkling of hurt from her features. “I was actually thinking of checking out the Galactic Lounge Friday night. I heard they had great wine. What time were you gonna be there again?”

All thoughts of offending Sooyoung vanished from Seulgi’s mind. “Sooyoung, no.”

A playful gleam pranced within Sooyoung’s eyes. Unfortunately, the younger girl’s response was interrupted by their server.

Seulgi ordered a chicken quesadilla and coffee (she had some last minute studying to do for her exam tomorrow afternoon), Sooyoung a plate of street tacos and a margarita, heavy on the tequila.

“Thirsty Thursday,” Sooyoung said, shrugging at the pointed look Seulgi gave her. “You don’t see me judging you for smoking weed literally every night.”

“Right. You got me there,” Seulgi said, sighing. “I assume you’re going out tonight. Why don’t you go check out the Galactic Lounge after this, instead of tomorrow?”

“Because it wouldn’t be nearly as fun. Plus, it’s not like I’m going to try and interfere with anything. If you wanna know the main reason for me going, it’s for the possibility of finding a similar man or woman. The place seems upscale enough to find a future husband in the right salary range for me.”

Absently, Seulgi took Joohyun’s earring from her pocket and began rolling it over the surface of the table. It produced a satisfying push against the inside of her palm that relaxed her.  “I know that’s not the reason, Sooyoung. If you wanted to be a sugarbaby, you’d have accepted one of the fifty offers you get every week on your Instagram.”

Sooyoung glanced up from the margarita-brandishing photo she was taking of herself and gave a chuckle. “I guess I’m just curious about this girl. Can’t be too careful nowadays. Gotta make sure she isn’t some kind of weirdo. What’s that, anyway?”

Seulgi followed her roommate’s gaze, then palmed the earring, pulling it close to herself. “It’s actually Joohyun’s earring. I found it in my pocket on Sunday morning. She must have dropped it, and I must have picked it up while I was out.”

Sooyoung reached over, prying Seulgi’s hand open with gentle insistence. As Sooyoung turned the tiny gemstone about between her fingers, Seulgi felt jealousy rising within her. She wanted to snatch the earring back from Sooyoung, pull it close again, hide it away from her roommate’s regard.

Shame engulfed Seulgi, and she banished that jealousy, crushing it like a cockroach.

Finally, blissfully, Sooyoung returned the earring, dropping it into Seulgi’s outstretched, too eager hand with impossible indifference.

“It’s a nice piece of jewelry. Onyx, maybe? My mom has a lot of pieces like it, but that one seems weirdly clean. No marks on it.” Sooyoung smirked, gave a wink, and finished her margarita. “Or have you been cleaning it for your darling?”

Seulgi shook her head, returned the earring back to her pocket, and excitedly dug into her food. The quesadillas here were always perfect: just the right amount of spice on the chicken, crispy tortillas and thick, gooey cheese.

After dinner, Sooyoung and Seulgi walked back to their dorm. The sun had set, the rain had stopped, and the nighttime orchestrations of frogs and crickets were fully underway.

“I might study out here tonight,” Seulgi said, adjusting her backpack, checking to make sure she had the right textbooks and notes. There was plenty of outdoor seating in Caldwell square, and the open space prevented the sounds of others’ voices from distracting her. A few of the metal tables and benches remained dry, sheltered by overhangs or umbrellas.

Sooyoung wrinkled her nose. “Ugh. Studying on such a perfect Thursday night? Disgusting. Absolutely abhorrent.”

    “You say that about any night of the week.”

    “Doesn’t make it any less true,” Sooyoung said as Seulgi picked out a single-person table and sat. The younger girl looked down at Seulgi and gave her a pat on the shoulder. “Well, good luck with studying. I’ll be pregaming in the dorm with some of my friends, if you need me.”

    “If it’s Summer or Evanie, let them know that I still don’t forgive them for abandoning me,” Seulgi said. And then, with a smile, “But it was probably for the best. I got to meet Joohyun.”

    “I haven’t seen them since that night, actually,” Sooyoung said, “But I’ll be sure to text Summer and let her know.”

    With that, Sooyoung left at a brisk walk, gait steady despite the three margaritas she’d just chugged.

    Seulgi flipped through her biology book and embarked on an exciting adventure in the world of plant reproduction. The beginning of her studies involved transcribing the chapter’s main points into her notes. It was mostly monotonous work, serving to give her a familiarity with the material. She wrote with her right hand, toyed with Joohyun’s earring in her left. As the shade of night fully fell upon the campus, she was thrown into a puzzle-piece of illumination and shade. Triangles of pale orange interlaid with bars of dimness stretched across her table and books.

    Seulgi wasn’t sure when she first noticed the phenomenon, but upon later reflection, she believed it to be subtle at first. A swimming out of the corner of her eye, a faint impression of movement that she attributed to ocular exhaustion. Things like that happened frequently to her; she did spend the majority of her days poring over books and computer screens. Then, the changes became pronounced and she paused. She looked around, pencil frozen, opposite hand still caressing the onyx gem like a child cradling a blanket.

The shadow of the umbrella above her was moving.

Seulgi looked up, ensured that the wind wasn’t playing tricks on her, then looked back at the brick floor. The streaky, round, eight-point shape seemed to be… quivering. Vibrating with a consistent, subtle intensity that would be tough to notice at a quick glance. As she watched, the edges of the shadow began to undulate, sending out tiny “shadow waves” that seemed akin to ripples on a pond. Seulgi sat back, letting both objects in her hands drop to the table. As she did, the shadow became immobile, leaving no sign of its paradoxical motion.

“What the hell?” Seulgi wondered out loud, standing. She walked over to the shadow with tentative steps. The ground remained solid beneath her sneakers. She squatted at its center, placed her palm at its edge. Nothing. Just a normal shadow.

Seulgi looked around, relieved that the few others outside with her hadn’t seemed to notice her behavior. Was she that tired? She didn’t feel it, but that hallucination had seemed so real. Worried, she gathered her things and hurried in the direction of her dorm. She held her books tight to her chest as she went, head down, observing the reaching silhouettes of the newly budding trees, inspecting them for any sign of independent movement. She found none.

On her journey back to Caldwell 2, the world remained unaltered by apparitions. Driven by a near-obsessive search for a reproduction of her prior experience, she nearly bumped into the door as she walked up to it. She dug in her pocket, searching for her key, brushing aside Joohyun’s earring in order to-

    Seulgi inhaled sharply, jerking her head toward the waves of ink that had begun to emanate from the partially formed shadow of a lamp post. It had gone as quick as it came. Without thinking, Seulgi slipped her hand back into her left pocket, key forgotten. Her fingers met the cool surface of Joohyun’s earring - it was always cool, regardless of its surrounding temperature - and she froze as the shadows continued their expansion.

Each curve that rippled from the edges of the silhouettes faded as their distance from their origin increased. Some remained attached to that lamppost’s shadow, connected by threads that appeared to flow like sinuous black rivulets. As Seulgi stared, the onyx earring clutched in her moist palm, the pull of the earring became apparent to her. It seeped through her skin, traveled into the soft tissues of hand, wove between her tendons and ligaments like a sixth sense. The night became starker, malleable, alive. An enormous dreamscape that was fundamentally connected to this tiny piece of jewelry in her hand. Seulgi understood that the world she’d known was nothing more than a superficial glimpse at the true depth of her reality. Beyond the shadows lay geometric impossibilities, hiding in plain sight, tessellated spheres and rounded cubes that begged to be manipulated. They aligned with that earring like pieces of a puzzle, and Seulgi was struck by the awareness that, should she desire it, she could take control of those shapes, alter the fundamental framework of the world in untold, inhuman ways.

Shaking, forehead glistening with sweat, Seulgi allowed the earring to drop from her fingers. Careful not to touch the gem again, she took her key from her pocket, unlocked the front door to her dorm, and marched upstairs. Soft music drifted from behind the door to her and Sooyoung’s room. Pianos and drums, a three octave voice, melancholy tones. Even in her stupor, Seulgi registered the oddity of Sooyoung’s song choice. “Someone Saved My Life Tonight” was not a very “Sooyoung” song. Perhaps she was feeling down about the whole Tyler thing.

This is impossible, Seulgi thought. I’m… going crazy. Overworked. Tired. Whatever. I need to rest.

Seulgi opened her door. Sooyoung lay on her own bed, hands folded behind her head, reading from an “Intro to Communications” textbook.

“I thought you were gonna be studying outside today?” Sooyoung said, eyes peering up from above the top of the textbook.

“I got distracted,” Seulgi said, sitting in her chair. Joohyun’s earring pressed against her thigh as she did so. “I think I’m overworked.”

Sooyoung gave a sardonic chuckle. “You think? You’re taking twenty credits this semester, plus your tutoring job, plus you write and post something on your blog every week. If you ask me, it’s…”

Sooyoung’s voice became background noise as Seulgi removed the earring from her pocket, clutched it in her fist. Yes, there it was; Sooyoung’s shadow, thrown by the weak lamplight behind her, began to tremble. A wavering body double of her roommate cavorted above the unknowing girl, looming and shifting with semi-liquid, semi-gaseous maneuvers. Calmly, Seulgi placed the earring back on her desk.

“...Don’t you think?” Sooyoung asked.

“Hm? What?” Seulgi said, starting.

Sooyoung gave an exasperated sigh, shook her head, and returned to her book. “Invite’s still open to go out tonight if you want. Delta Sig party this time. Lots of sorority girls are gonna be there.”

“I have a date with Joohyun tomorrow…” Seulgi muttered without looking away from the tiny gem before her.

More auditory buzzing from Sooyoung, making a joke about Seulgi’s dedication, something about it being mistaken for desperation. But Seulgi’s thoughts were elsewhere, fixated on a crucial connection that she knew she should have been able to make earlier.

Joohyun. The things Seulgi was seeing may imply a shattering of her sanity, but none of the strange phenomena had appeared in her before she’d obtained the woman’s earring. Seulgi had pulled all-nighters, operated for up to three days on six hours of sleep, filled herself with caffeine and Adderall until her chest ached and her underarms were sticky with sweat.  Light-headedness and pseudo out of body experiences had plagued her, but never had the world been so brazenly altered.

Seulgi picked up the earring one last time to confirm. The darkness bent toward her again, curving over the walls, the floors, across Sooyoung’s back. The hallucinations (if Seulgi could call them that; she now firmly believed them to be real) were tied to her contact with Joohyun’s earring.

Sooyoung placed her textbook back in its designated spot under her bed, then began to change clothes and put her makeup on. In order to avoid conversation, Seulgi opened up her Biology book to a random page and pretended to stare at it.

“Do you want me to leave the music on?” Sooyoung asked midway through applying her lipstick.

Sooyoung’s playlist must have been on shuffle, because the next song that played was “Of Moons, Birds, and Monsters” by MGMT. The lead singer’s twangy, unique voice rang out above alien orchestrations.

“Yeah, that’s fine.”

A pause. Then, a hand on her shoulder and the worried face of her roommate looming above. “Are you sure you’re alright, Seul?”

“Just tired,” Seulgi said, unable to meet Sooyoung’s eyes. “I’ll get some good rest tomorrow night.”

“Okay.” Sooyoung said, lingering. “Just make sure to sleep well before your exam.”

With that, Sooyoung headed out to her party, leaving Seulgi alone in her room, sitting before a textbook she was unable to read. The urge to sprint outside, hop on the nearest bus, and make a beeline for the Galactic Lounge was almost irresistible. The thought of doing so, however, of abandoning her studies and risking anything less than a perfect score on that exam, brought her such dread that she was unable to move.

After several minutes, Seulgi was able to return to her work, careful not to touch the darkly sparkling earring sitting at the corner of the desk.

-------------------------------

Yet another chapter without Joohyun ): She'll definitely appear in the next one, however, and things are going to pick up soon. Especially now that Seulgi's starting to notice that something isn't entirely right with Joohyun and the Galactic Lounge. I wonder how Joohyun will react when Seulgi confronts her about this (;

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Thanks for reading!