Yujin loves blue, she loves all of them, except Monday Blues. It’s the start of a dreary week, she made sure she rested well the previous night so she can attempt to pay attention during the lectures today. If it isn’t for the fact that her grades have to be maintained at a B average in order to remain in the soccer team, she would’ve binged her dramas till late night with Wonyoung.

Engulfed in her white oversized Nike hoodie and matching track pants, Yujin saunters into the lecture hall. She scans over the empty area, picks a seat in the second-last row and drops her bag. There’s no one else except her, because she’s 15 minutes early, not to mention literature class is always the one with the least participating students. Honestly, if she could, she would’ve skipped the lecture too, but she has to get full attendance. And maybe because it’s her only chance to meet a certain someone.

Yujin shoves her hands into the front pockets of her sweater. She sighs, leaning her head back and sinks downwards into the uncomfortable plastic seat, lanky legs stretching out towards the front row. Her shoes tap against the back of the seat in front of her, the rhythmic sound echoing through the empty space.

“Why? Is there someone you like?”

The biting sentence surfaces in her mind amongst the metronomic tapping. Yujin shakes her head to clear it, she had tried to forget what she overheard at the diner last Friday, but she can’t stop wandering back.

So, there is someone she likes…? Yujin sighs.

She was told to throw a few bags of garbage and had just entered from the back door of the diner when she stumbled into a snippet of the conversation. Her face flushed upon remembering how she had embarrassingly tripped over her own foot from the unexpected customers and knocked over a stack of trays, the two girls had almost seen her if it weren’t for her quick reflexes that kicked in.

Pleeeeaaase tell me they didn’t recognize me.

Yujin pulls the strings of her hoodie and tightens it as much as she can, leaving only a breathing hole in the middle of her face. It’s simply too humiliating; to be so affected by one single harmless question. Of course, she had been extremely upset over that for the past two days, but it isn’t her place to be annoyed at all. Minju is in no way closely related to her, she has absolutely no right to feel displeasure about the girl’s personal relationships.

Yujin stares at the insides of her sweater blankly for a period of time, regulating her thoughts and overwhelming regret. Finally, she takes a deep sigh and mumbles to herself, the warmth of her breath shrouding her face.

“Hyewon unnie said I have to overcome my doubt, but I can’t get past the reality against it…”

“What reality?”

“Wah!”

Yujin’s legs jerk up instinctively, and her shin collides against the front edge of the table with a loud, painful thud.

“Ow !”

A gritted curse escapes from , she wants to clutch at the bruised area but forgets her hands are tangled in her pockets. Failing to retract them in time, her sudden wriggling causes her to slump downwards from her chair like a worm and she ends up kneeling haphazardly on the ground, hoodie still wrapped primly around her head.

There is a long awkward silence as Yujin keeps quiet after the rattling sequence of incidents that had just occurred. Her shin hurts like crap but all she really, really can think about is that the voice belongs to a stranger so they wouldn’t have to meet ever again for the rest of their lives. Slowly, she draws her legs inwards and shifts into a cross-legged position. Then she pulls her hands out from her pocket. And then she feels her way upwards, back onto her seat.

Okay. Definitely more embarrassing than what had happened last Friday, nothing can top this.

Yujin feels the scorching heat radiating from her face, her sweater a literal steaming sauna from her self-inflicted humiliation.

Luckily, she grabs onto the last slither of relief, my hoodie’s still on.

A stifled giggle breaks through the quietness. It takes a while for the stranger to calm down from their laughing fit before they open their mouth to speak.

“Are you okay? Do you need me to help you up?”

Wait a second…

Yujin lifts her head towards the voice. She narrows her eyes, peeking through the hole in her hoodie. Immediately, she regrets acting like an idiot. Her first reaction, despite the protest from her barely functioning brain, is to stand up with her hoodie still intact. She ignores the pain in her leg and scrambles up from her feet, brushes off the non-existing dust on her thighs, then uses an unnaturally low voice to speak.

“No, I’m okay. I’m fine.”

“It’s… Yujin, right? Why are you talking like this?”

“No!” Flustered, Yujin instinctively raises her voice to her usual tone, her hands raised defensively. “No, no. I’m not Yujin. Who’s that?” She panics and switches back to her terrible imitation while she shakes the sweater head furiously. Her hands drop to fidget behind her back, desperately hoping the girl will take her word for it.

“Yujin, your blue hair is sticking out.”

“…”

The taller girl stiffens. Since she obviously can’t dig a hole right now and jump into it, Yujin gingerly loosens the hoodie with her fingers. The first thing she sees is a pair of keen almond-shaped eyes that curved from an entertained smile, and although Minju had laughed at her earlier antics, she is directing a gaze of genuine concern at her in that very moment. Yujin relaxes slightly under its effect.

“Is your leg okay?” Minju asks, she glances towards Yujin’s leg worriedly. “That was pretty loud, it must’ve hurt.”

Kim Minju is wearing a black t-shirt tucked into a denim skirt that hugs her curves tightly, pink hair cascading down her shoulders in natural waves; Yujin notes that internally. No matter how the girl is styled, she’ll always look good.

“Yujin?” Minju prompts with a tilt of her head when she catches the athlete staring. “You okay?”

“Oh! Y- Yes, yes I’m perfectly fine.” Yujin nods robotically, feet pinned to the floor. Her face is dyed in a saturated color complementary to her eye-catching blue hair.

Minju grins, shoulders relaxing. “That’s great. Can I sit here?” She gestures towards the seat right next to Yujin’s.

Yujin’s eyes widen.

“Ah, it the seat already taken?” Minju says with genuine disappointment when she notices the reaction.

Yujin curses herself from being a malfunctioning mess at the sight of this girl. “No no no, I didn’t mean that.” she clarifies frantically with fumbling hands. “You can sit here, it’s empty. I’m the only one here.”

“Great!” Minju’s brows loosen. She chirps happily and places her tote bag on the floor between their seats, then realizes that Yujin is still standing. “You’re not sitting down?”

“Oh– I, uh, I’m standing because…” The faulty cogwheels in Yujin’s head spin furiously. “It’s a little hot, so I’m… um, taking my sweater off, ahaha…”

She shrugs out of her hefty outerwear, leaving her in a plain soccer jersey. She isn’t lying, she’s been sweating furiously ever since Minju appeared from thin air. She must have missed the sound of footsteps due to her daydreaming.

Yujin sits down meekly, lowering her head to avoid Minju’s gaze, also making use of her long hair to shield her burning face. The earlier silence resumes. Yujin decides to take out her pen and notebook. She pretends to read her notes, the clicking of her pen resounding. Class is about to begin in five minutes, and their lecturer is about to arrive soon. Minju unclenches her clammy palms, she decides to break the ice first.

“We haven’t met in a while, huh?”

“Hmm? Oh, yeah, it’s been long since our last class,” Yujin replies, her thumb freezing its pressure on her poor pen. Cool, she thanks God for her athletic gift. They didn’t see me at the diner.

“Do you want to… I don’t know, hang out a bit after class? Maybe grab a lunch or something?” Minju suggests hesitantly, her nails drumming the table.

Yujin whirls her head in Minju’s direction. Those weren’t exactly the words she expected to hear from Kim Minju, after all, they aren’t that close. She blinks a few times at the girl waiting for a response.

“I’d love to…”

A small unnoticeable curve forms on Minju’s lips, then it flattens at the continuation of Yujin’s sentence.

“… but I have to rush off for training right after class.” Yujin grimaces.

It’s a pity, really. Somehow, things would always come in between her and Minju, be it her part-time job or her extra-curricular; but she has a chance to make it right this time. She braves herself and makes a move.

“How about tomorrow?”

Minju perks, then crease her brows slightly, bringing her hand to her chin. “I made plans already… It’s alright then!” She tries to sound nonchalant, but her lips quirk dejectedly.

Yujin wants to suggest another date, but she’s worried she might come across as pushy, so she merely nods in agreement and suppresses the clouding gloom. The sound of chalk clacking loudly against the blackboard brings Yujin’s head up to attention.

“Alright fellas, it’s been a few weeks but I’m back, class resumes right now,” Their lecturer announces.

Throughout the lecture, Yujin tries her very best to pay attention and take down notes regarding their upcoming exam. Keyword, tries. Their seats are close to each other and every time her stupid arm shifts a little when she writes, it would unavoidably bump into Minju’s left. She spends most of her time m