Sooyoung knows that the fact that cargo trains pass by her apartment every night has nothing to do with her, but when it’s 2:00 am and you are having a hard time falling asleep–even without the noise–it sure seems like it must be karma.

She is not quite sure when the insomnia started, it was sometime during her second year of university, everyone tells her it’s just stress caused by the intense course load and it would soon get better. It’s been over a year and no improvement so far. She went from being able to sleep through an earthquake to taking hours to even fall asleep and then waking up at the smallest noise.

Moving somewhere quieter would be an option if only she could afford anywhere else, at least in her current apartment she is close enough to campus so she saves money on transport and rent is much better than any other place.

Sacrificing sleep for a cheap rent, the perks of being a broke university student.

Of course it is not all bad, lying in bed struggling to sleep gives her a lot of time to think, and thinking about life is an important part of improving as a person in Sooyoung’s opinion.

She has recently gotten into creating scenarios in her head of all the ways she could change her life, her favourite is an adventure where she hops in one of these night trains and travels somewhere far without anyone noticing. When she gets far enough she can start anew in a city where no one knows her and there is no university work to stress her out.

Somewhere along the way of creating alternate universes with her imagination, Sooyoung finally went to sleep. Too soon for her liking an alarm went off and it was time for a new semester, starting off with Introduction to Ethics as the first thing in the morning on a monday.

Right now the idea of enrolling in this class sounded like the worst idea possible, but back when she was choosing classes with her friends it didn’t seem as bad. Especially considering they did it right after a marathon of The Good Place.

“Wow, you sure look excited for class!”

“I’m way too sleep deprived to deal with you right now, Yeri.” Sooyoung said while dragging herself to a seat two spots away from her friend.

She decided to rest her head on the desk and close her eyes for a bit before class, even while terribly tired she wouldn’t be able to fall asleep so she was still aware of her surroundings. After a couple of minutes she heard someone moving close to her and even without looking she knew it was Joohyun as soon as she felt a gentle squeeze on her shoulder.

“Still can’t sleep?” Joohyun asked with a slight worry on her tone.

“Nope.” Sooyoung replied before opening her eyes and sitting up straight, “I honestly have no idea how to fix this, I tried everything over break and yet…”

Their conversation was interrupted when Ms. Young–the professor for this class–entered the room, so all Joohyun could do was give Sooyoung a smile and another squeeze on the shoulder before sitting between her two friends.

As expected for the first class in the semester the focus was on explaining the syllabus and not much else, by the time Ms. Young was halfway through detailing her grading system a short blonde entered the room. She tried really hard to find a seat as quickly as possible without attracting attention, but she still got some judging looks from the students although the teacher didn’t seem to mind.

Ms. Young finished her explanation and proceeded to tell the students to get into groups of five as 50% of the grades would come from group assignments throughout the semester. The room was soon filled with noise from students moving around and trying to figure out who they would group with. Sooyoung didn’t know anyone but Yeri and Joohyun, so she had no idea who else they could get in the group.

“Yeri!” said a girl approaching them.

“Unnie! I didn’t know you were taking this class!”

“Yeah...I need to get some of my elective credits and this was the only class available,” she sighed before continuing, “but I don’t know anyone here. Can I be in your group?”

“Sure. You guys are okay with Seulgi being in the group right?”

They both nodded and Joohyun started a conversation with Seulgi and Yeri. Sooyoung was busy observing the blonde from earlier, she was talking to the professor and her body language screamed anxiety. Ms. Young pointed in their direction and even though she wanted to stop staring she couldn’t, her curiosity would sometimes get the best of her. Soon the girl was standing in front of Sooyoung’s desk.

“Hmm...So…Hi?” She shifted her weight from one leg to the other and cleaned , “I don’t have a group and the teacher said you guys look like you are missing a person, so I could maybe join you?”

“Who are we to say no if Ms. Young herself suggested?” Sooyoung replied, making the girl in front of her look even more nervous.

“Don’t pay attention to her, she thinks she’s funny. We were looking for a fifth member, you are welcome.”

“Thank you.”

“I’m Joohyun, these are Yeri and Seulgi, and this rude child is Sooyoung.”

“I’m not a child, you’re just old.”

“Hey!” Joohyung gave Sooyoung a light slap on her nape, “I’m not old!”

“And you shouldn’t speak informally to your elders, Sooyoung-ah” Yeri said before also getting a slap.

The blonde girl couldn’t help but laugh at their antics.

“I’m Wendy by the way.”

Wendy sat on the chair by Sooyoung’s side and looked at her with an adorable smile.

At that moment Sooyoung thought that the idea of having an ethics class every Monday at 8:00 am wasn’t so bad, perhaps her life could change without leaving everything behind.

That night Sooyoung fell asleep thinking about Wendy and how she had just moved from Canada, how cute she looked when Yeri annoyed her until she spoke English, and also how attractive it was when she did.

She wasn’t awake by the time the train passed by her home, whistling loudly through the cold air of night. Maybe things would start to get better now.