She traced another string of color to the painting, hoping it would come out as good as she was picturing it inside her head. If you had asked anyone else, they would be astonished, which wasn’t quite a surprise for the people that already knew her work. It was the kind of drawing that would make people feel so much, yet they wouldn’t know how to describe it. But it wasn’t good enough. Not to Miyeon at least.

She let out a sigh, annoyance clearly visible in her delicate face. She decided to stop for a while and make herself a tea. She had spent the whole weekend trying to come up with something new. Guess that’s what happens when you pull an artist away from their work for a while. Is not like she wasn’t grateful to her friends, she had to admit that the last week had been pretty amazing.

Yuqi had shown up at her door on Monday, asking her to prepare a backpack. Miyeon, still asleep, hadn’t been able to process what the younger girl was saying. Who could blame her though? It was 06:45 in the morning. The Chinese girl was lucky that Miyeon had got up from bed to answer the door in the first place. After a quick explanation (which basically consisted on Yuqi telling her that they were going to kidnap her for the week) and Soyeon supporting Yuqi when Miyeon refused to leave her apartment, they were ready to hit the road.

It was perfect, from beginning to end. They all had been really stressed during their exam terms, which also forced them to be away from each other for a while and they missed each other. Actually, only two of them shared degree; Soyeon and Yuqi, which obviously had brought them closer than they already were. While this two chose the path of music and composing, Soojin herself wasn’t too far from it, since she was majoring in dancing. Shuhua on the other hand, had chosen acting. That let us with Miyeon, who of course was determined to stick with her passion in art.

After their exams were done, all Miyeon wanted to do was rest and paint what she felt like, not what a piece of paper required her to. But in the end, she realized that her friends were right, they needed a much-earned reward, and a trip to Jeju island seemed ideal. What Miyeon wasn’t expecting though, was all the beautiful scenarios they would come a crossed with. Sure, she had been to Jeju before, but that was only when she was five years old. She didn’t remember how beautiful it could be. The rest of the girls told her to stop thinking about putting all in a canvas and enjoy. And she did, much to her displeased.

That was one of the reasons why she was having so much trouble now. She wanted to rememorate their time there by painting it, but she couldn’t remember all the details. Miyeon wasn’t majoring in realism, she was usually more abstract with her masterpieces, but she wasn’t bad at it either, not at all.

Not to mention the weird feeling she had every now and then since they came back from their vacation. It was like a pressure installed in the chest and wouldn’t let her. She felt it the most during the night, she didn’t have much sleep since then and it was kind of worrying her. Was she stressed? But for what? She had no idea, she had a great time with her friends recently, her exams went smoothly… She couldn’t bring herself to think about what could it be.

Of course, her friends would notice. And now that they saw each other more frequently on the campus it was more than obvious. The next day they gather together to share their first day after the small break.

“What’s gotten into you?”

Miyeon diverted her gaze towards the voice, wondering what the girls had been talking about. But she wasn’t quite ready to see all eyes on her. Soyeon rising an inquiring brow, urging her to answer.

“Sorry… what do you mean?”

“It’s true unnie. You’ve been a bit… off lately. Is everything alright?” asked Soojin politely, in her characteristic quiet tone. The girl visibly concerned.

“Everything is ok guys. I’m just a bit distracted, I guess.”

Miyeon felt a bit guilty, she didn’t want to lie. But is not like she knew what to answer! Plus, she was ok, nothing really happened, she’s just feeling weird.

“Omg Miyeon unnie! Are you seeing someone?” started Shuhua, jumping up and down on the benches they were sitting on.

“Don’t be silly, Shuhua! She would’ve told us” Yuqi made a pause “… Right?”

Miyeon started laughing, not believing what she just heard. Shaking her head and raising her hands she recovered her composure. Still smiling she said:

“No, I’m not seeing ‘someone’ Shuhua, where did you get that from?”

“I think she just wants you as far away from Soojin as possible, she’s even looking partners for you.”

All of them laugh at Soyeon’s joke, except for Shuhua, who had her arms crossed and a pout on her face like the little baby she was. Soojin chuckled and gave her a kiss on the cheek and she immediately calm down.

“For real though, you are ok, right?” Soyeon was a bit more serious this time. The short-hair girl cared a lot about their group and all of them knew, of course.

Miyeon nodded, smiling. She was very thankful for the girls; she could have never asked for better friends. She momentarily forgot about that sensation in her chest, throughout the rest of the day she’d feel light and content, they went to a coffee shop after lessons were done and returned rather late to their respective homes.

She wasn’t really hungry so she made herself a salad and threw herself onto the couch. She was still a bit pissed with her painting, looking at her from the corner of the small, yet cosy, living room. She decided she would get rid of it the next day. She would focus on her conceptual style, maybe after a while, her mind will allow her to keep going with the Jeju-inspired ideas.

Lazily, she reached for the remote. She felt like watching a cheesy romantic movie, or even a drama. In the end, she felt inclined towards the movie.

When the film had reached Miyeon’s favorite part, she heard something, something that didn’t come out from the Tv. She paused the movie trying to listen more carefully, she stayed like that for what it seemed like minutes, but nothing happened. She brushed it off, telling herself that probably her neighbor dropped something, even though it was too late for that to be likely. She waited a few more seconds and returned her attention to the screen. But exactly when she pressed play, a different sound made its way to Miyeon’s ears, making her startled and dropping the remote in the process. She got up instantly, pressing the cushion she was using against her front. She might seem crazy, but she thought that the sound came from somewhere in her apartment.

The sounds themselves weren’t clear for Miyeon. The first one seemed to be a ‘thud’, like if something had fallen to the ground. But the second one… It was a sob. Which is why the Korean girl didn’t know what to do.

Was she really hearing someone inside her own apartment? That couldn’t be… right? She had used every room when she came back from the café AND she had locked her apartment before doing anything else. So how could someone get in there? Was she going crazy?

Another sob came out from the other end of the hall. With quiet and slow footsteps, Miyeon made her way towards the entrance of the living room and stack her head out, leaning against the door frame. The whimpers were coming straight from her bathroom.

Should I call the cops? Miyeon didn’t know what to do. Whoever she was, at least she thought it was a girl, she was crying in her bathroom, could she be dangerous? If she was there the whole time, she could have hurt her already if that was what she wanted. Plus, Miyeon’s heart was too pure, she didn’t like to think bad about people without knowing them… But this person had broken into her apartment!

Without even realizing, she was already in front of her bathroom’s door, the crying was very noticeable now, she wasn’t crazy. At least that’s what she thought, because when she pushed the door open, she saw nothing nor no one.

“Wh-what…?” Saying she was confused was an understatement. was opening and closing like a fish, she didn’t understand anything… She was, indeed, going crazy.

She turned her body towards the hall, she decided that she had enough Tv for today, she was going straight to bed. But just when she turned, she saw a silhouette sitting right in the middle of her living room. Apparently still crying.

She let out a loud scream as the lean on the wall, hand over her beating heart. The unknown-woman looked up, she looked scared as well, like she hadn’t notice Miyeon before. She pressed herself against the other wall, pretty much imitating Miyeon.

They stayed like that for minutes, none of them said anything. But Miyeon knew that they couldn’t continue like that, so she started to get close to the girl, who now had her head above her knees and was shaking. When she heard Miyeon getting close she let another sob out.

“D-don’t h-hurt me please” she pleaded.

Miyeon was taken aback. Ironic, she thought she was the one in danger, but that girl seemed to be even more afraid than her. Her hearted ached. For some reason she didn’t like seeing the girl like this.

“No no, don’t worry. I won’t harm you” Miyeon hesitated “B-but… Would you mind telling me who you are?”

The girl stared at her; confusion filled her face while more tears left her watery eyes.

“I- I don’t know.”

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Sooooo, this is it for the 1st chapter! I actually don't know if this is good enough, I don't know if someone will like it. So let me know if you want me to keep going with it :) I don't think it will very long, maybe one or two more chapters. 

Did you already guess what's happening? You can tell me your thoughts and ideas in the comments :)