Yongsun always imagined what her first relationship would be like. How it would feel to hold that person in her arms; how her firsts would be like with that person. Would it be like how the books she’s read had described? Would it be like how the movies she’s watched had depicted? Would she also feel the butterflies fluttering in her stomach, making her all giddy in the inside, just like how her sister had said?

It may be embarrassing, but a girl could only hope right? Just like any other human being, Yongsun has always thought about these things. Sometimes, she’d find herself spacing out whilst in the middle of studying just thinking about when she’d finally find the one. At other times, she’d find herself lying on her bed and staring at her blank ceiling as she imagined her imaginary boyfriend or girlfriend. Just anyone, really. Although Yongsun knew that getting involved with the latter was but a blur, just by the thought of it made her smile—it was enough for her, for now.

Throughout the years she’s lived until now that she’s a graduating senior in college, she’s embarrassed to say that she’s yet to experience her first with anyone. Sure her friends would set her up with someone every now and then, but they just never clicked.  Yongsun even doubts if she could consider those as a date. After all, dates should be fun and entertaining right? At the very least, it should be spent with someone you like. In her case, it was rather dull and everything didn’t feel natural at all. She compared this to a puzzle piece being forced into where it didn’t belong.

Her friends always told her that she’d never get a boyfriend if she keeps this up. ‘This’ being her standards that’s always so high, literally no one could get past that bar.

However, Yongsun deflected all those and reasons that it’s just her wanting her first time to be desirable. She just had to look at the brighter side of things, right? But thinking back about it now, Yongsun thinks that maybe she should’ve listened to her friends back then, seeing as she’s still single even after graduating and landing a decent job.

It’s been exactly 5 years since she finished her studies and graduated at top of the class, majoring in Foreign Studies. And now, she’s just a 30-year old Marketing Specialist who’ll, most probably, grow old alone with only her dogs to mourn over her when she dies. All her friends have now married their partners that they met in college, even those so-called High school sweethearts that Yongsun used to fawn over. She knows because she’d been present in every single one of them, and each time she attended, she’s always gone by herself with no one by her side. She remembers being bitter at the reception as one of her friends bluntly told her: “Oh, Yongsun, didn’t you go by yourself during Eun Hee’s wedding as well?”

Yongsun also remembers leaving early that night in a deflated mood. She doesn’t go home, instead, she goes to a bar to drink by herself. Alcohol has somehow alleviated her mood, pulling her out of her misery, but whenever her mind flies back to her friend’s inquiry, her mood goes back to being sour. It wasn’t like she wanted to be single. It’s just that she hasn’t clicked with anyone.. yet.

As she drank away, she began to wonder what it would feel like to be the one in the receiving end of good luck wishes.

----

Yongsun finds herself standing along with the crowd as they cheered for her. She tightly held on the bouquet in her hands, her heart racing in excitement. She couldn’t believe that this was finally happening.

“Congratulations, Yong!” She heard Hyejin, her newly-wedded friend said, giving her a wide grin.

Apparently, Yongsun was the lucky girl who “won” the bouquet toss, meaning that she would be the next one to marry. The thought made her hopeful, but the fact that she’s not even dating anyone spoiled the fun for her.

Not wanting to ruin her best friend’s mood, Yongsun gave Hyejin her a smile as she waved the bouquet in her hand with pride. Oh well, it’s not at all bad to bask in one’s fantasies every once in a while.

Unbeknownst to Yongsun though, she seemed to have caught the attention of a particular black-haired woman who’s been unable to keep her eyes off Yongsun the moment she walked in the venue.

It wasn’t until Yongsun turned around and caught the gaze of an unfamiliar pair of eyes staring right back that she became hyper-aware of the former’s presence. The constant nagging feeling of being watched; the gazes that the woman sent into Yongsun’s way almost felt as if she was trying to drill a hole in the back of Yongsun’s head. It was uncomfortable, to say the least.

Hyejin noticed her friend’s sudden change of mood, and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Hey, relax.” She says, chuckling lightly. “What got you so jittery all of a sudden?”

Yongsun looks at Hyejin with a worried look in her eyes. Why did the sudden attention affect her so much? At that moment, Yongsun makes the mistake of turning around because then, her eyes met the gaze of the black-haired woman yet again.

The woman looked like a dear caught in the headlights when she realized that she just got caught staring. A few seconds later, the black-haired woman tears her eyes away from Yongsun and the latter watched as the girl got lost in the sea of crowd.

“Hyejin-ie,” she begins, and Hyejin raises her eyebrows in confusion, later deciding to follow her friend’s line of sight instead. A smirk crept up in her lips when she realized who Yongsun was looking at.

“That’s Byulie-unnie. Wheein’s best friend and the official photographer of the event.” Hyejin informs Yongsun. “You don’t have to worry, Byulie won’t harm anyone. She’s too soft for that.” Hyejin chortles. Somehow, Yongsun found it hard to buy that piece of information. Was it because of the lip ring that made her look like a delinquent? Her lean physique which looked fairly athletic? Her sharp and stoic facial features that made her look unapproachable? Or was it her eyes that carried a certain kind of intensity and emotion in them that stirred something in Yongsun and that she wasn’t sure what it was that it made her seem scared of the feeling?

Yongsun never saw the raven-haired girl again after that and she went home alone, just like she’s always done ever since. Unlike before, however, her evening did not go as uneventful. Images of Byulyi filled her head that night, making her unable to sleep.

---

Annoyed. Nervous. Betrayed.

If Yongsun had to sum up her feelings in three words this morning, it’d be the three aforementioned above.

She found herself constantly checking her wristwatch as she kept shifting uncomfortably in her seat, her gaze darting towards the entrance of the café from time to time.

How she’s in this situation right now, all courtesy of her friends: Wheein and Hyejin.

They had invited her over breakfast i