She really was a model. Lately, Sojung had a surge of confidence when strutting down a runway. Her aura felt bigger than ever and, in all honesty, happier than she’s ever been. Perhaps it was the change in diet or her sudden (but common) growth-spurt overnight but she wasn’t complaining. The source of happiness, however, was unknown.

Looking out the windows, Sojung sighed heavily and relaxed on the couches. Since her department was so close to the art building, the stench of paint thinner had a tendency to blow over and cause a pounding headache for the girl. For all Sojung knew: it would make her high — but that wasn't the case. Aside from that, the skies looked nice to go for a walk. Luckily, she’d get that walk when she finishes relaxing. She smiled at the thought.

The sight of clouds was replaced by a blinding light that vanished as quick as it flashed.

Sojung rubbed her now burning eyes. “Hey!” Much to her disappointment, her sight was still well enough to see the person who decided to use flash by a window.

“Ah, sorry. I just thought you looked really pretty Sojung-ssi.” A few of the photography majors came over to so-call “collaborate” with their sessions. Of course, they were amazing and Sojung couldn’t have asked for more but this little had the audacity to snap a photo of her while she was relaxing.

“Note for you photographers,” Sojung stood up, towering over the shrinking student. “Never take a picture of me without consent.”

Calming down was far from the girl's to-do list. Her nostrils flared, steam coming from her ears as she stared down the student. No matters! He won't do it again, she'll make sure of that. Glancing at the photography major once more, Sojung quickly packed her things up and strided out of the door. How dramatic but that's who she was — and since she was so dramatic: it was better to leave after saying something so affirming. 

Except that the damn paint thinner was stronger outside! Why were the art majors even painting out there? Sojung scowled, scrunching her nose as she hurriedly along the sidewalk. Her eyes drifted towards a few painting students and was honestly amazed by their talent. She may hate the smell of chemicals and pigments but the art majors were no joke. So much for being happy and her newfound aura.

While being distracted by the bright colors of paints, Sojung didn’t even notice the small bump on her chest. She was lucky to not accidentally kick the person and quickly jumped back at the touch of something against her leg.

“Oh sh—!” In the midst of crying in surprise, Sojung’s jaw dropped. “Oh my god!”

The second Sojung realized she knocked someone over, she immediately kneeled down to help them up. When she turned to look at the victim in hand, Sojung didn’t realize she could be enchanted by eyes in just a second. Control over her motion was lost as Sojung stared blankly at the girl with bubblegum colored hair. Her hand stayed frozen in the air but before Sojung could snap back to reality, the girl had already stood up.

“Excuse me.” The girl sputtered, a little baffled by Sojung frozen stature and odd expression. “Are you not going to apologize?”

“Apologize?” Sojung gulped as she stretched her legs upwards. She didn’t realize how intimidating her height was until she saw the shadow casted over the girl.

The latter was clearly surprised by Sojung’s height, avoiding her eager attempt to make eye contact. “Yes…?”

“Sorry.” Sojung said stoically, her face as blank as a canvas. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to, it happened more unconsciously, but she was too distracted by the girl’s cute appearance and pouting lips. Sojung was too captivated at this girl's big bunny-like eyes, physically melting at the gaze she was given. The gaze in question was not loving or affectionate at all, it was completely the opposite; scolding and offended.

“Um, okay…” The girl gave Sojung an odd look. She rolled her eyes and swiftly walked past the girl.

The lost sight of her bubblegum hair caused Sojung to unfreeze and whip backwards to grab the girl’s wrist. 

“Wait!” Sojung shouted. And for once, the great Kim Sojung was speechless! Speechless by this tiny bunny-like girl. “Uhhh…”

“If you have nothing to tell me then let me go.” 

“You’re pretty.” She blurted out. Sojung couldn’t let the girl go, in terms of walking away although she found herself not wanting to let go of her wrist aswell. “Like really pretty.”

For a spilt, milisecond of time, Sojung considered that it was love at first sight. Her heart throbbed at whoever this girl was and wanted to embrace her in one of her so-called "teddy bear hugs". Even their height difference was perfect! Sojung let out a lovesick (if she could call it that) sigh, taking the time out of their conversation to simply admire the latter's beauty.

The bubblegum haired girl stared at her like she was crazy. “Um, thank you?”

Being so invested in staring, Sojung froze up again and smiled like a mad-man. She mentally face-palmed. She didn't have the experience to make small talk or ask someone out! Never being the one to confront another first made her situation difficult. She was the Kim Sojung! It wasn’t her fault that everyone came up and claimed their attraction to her! For goodness sake, Sojung knew she gay panicked often but this took the cake. How does one even talk to a cute girl anyway? 

“Ah, wait I’m sorry, please don’t take this in the wrong way!” Sojung bowed 90 degrees, her eyes b with tears from embarrassment. “I didn’t mean — I mean like I did mean it but —” A grunt left in frustration.

“Sojung-ssi, it’s fine. I get it, no hard feelings.” The girl raised her hands up and smiled.

Butterflies fluttered in the taller girl’s stomach, a blush tinting her cheeks as Sojung raised up to look at the mystery girl in the eyes. She knew her name, I repeat, she knew her name! Sojung was tempted to let out a scream but that would definitely scare the girl away. Was it possible for someone to look this beautiful? Sojung tried hard to not swoon and straightened her posture (a bit too much).

“Can I get your name?” She said, hiding her blush behind a shy smile.

“Jung—”

“Eunbi~!”

A mental “eh?” froze Sojung’s mind as a guy came running up behind the girl. Her smile stiffened, unable to move into a frown. Why was it this time the pretty girl has a boyfriend? Sojung sighed, her posture noticeably slumping, while watching his arm sling around the girl’s (Eunbi?) shoulders.

“Ah, hah… what’re you doing…?” Eunbi’s face scrunched up at the space between hers and the guy’s face.

“Eunbi~ Come on, don’t be like this!” He said happily, turning to look at Sojung. His expression fell into a grimace. “Is she bothering you?”

Sojung looked at the student blankly. It was just a hunch but it seemed like Eunbi was almost uncomfortable around her supposed boyfriend. Of course, he could always be a friend but the way his eyes gazed at Eunbi’s, Sojung guessed otherwise.

“C’mon, babe, let’s go.”

And there it is. The boyfriend coming to rescue like in a show — oh. A strangled noise escaped her lips before Sojung guffawed. That's what it is... maybe he watched too many dramas during his studying time but this was not it. Eunbi looked uncomfortable when he called her and that was the first odd sign. It was the way she leaned away from his touch and looked at her with crystal eyes, begging for help. In all honesty, Eunbi was probably more tense around this er rather than Sojung herself.

“Woah… you’re ing delusional.” Sojung scoffed. “Get your hands off of her and leave us alone, thank you very much.” She pushed him back, his arm finally falling from Eunbi’s shoulders. If he wasn’t going to let go of her, Sojung was going to force him to.

“Excuse me? You knocked her over and didn’t even bother to help her up! What kind of person are you?” His voice lowered into a softer tone causing Sojung to grit her teeth.

What a little .

“You were watching us?” Sojung raised her eyebrows.

Bullseye. The boy’s face fell, clearly tempted to run away from Sojung’s growing aura. She couldn’t complain with his reaction. Sojung knew she was intimidating. It seemed as if it was only Sojung and whoever this irrelevant person was, were isolated in a dark room. He was trapped in Sojung’s sharp glare.

“Eunbi, do you know him?”

The girl shook her head almost immediately. “He’s only in my class, nothing more than that.”

Ouch. The truth hurt and it wasn’t even Sojung’s lie. An innocent smile formed on her face, pushing the guy by the shoulder, replacing him as she stood next to Eunbi. Leaning over to look him face-to-face, Sojung neatly placed her hands behind her back.

“Now off.”

He flared his nostrils, turning his back to walk away before stopping. Sojung almost ran after him but when he looked over his shoulder, she stopped her actions mid-way. A smug expression spread on his dry- lips as his eyes curving into slits.

“Kim Sojung found a new plaything, hasn’t she?” Giving Sojung no time to react, the student scrambled off.

A flame burned inside of her stomach. Never before she wanted to pummel someone into the concrete and break their bones in half. Maybe Sojung was exaggerating, maybe not. For a second, she was going to run after him and kick him to the ground. But Sojung was better than that. Wasting time on a side-character to her own story was meaningless.

“Little too scared to face me.” Sojung said with tight lips.

“Thank you for that.” Eunbi tugged at Sojung’s sleeve. The girl’s smile was absolutely devastating, weakening Sojung’s legs and draining her gay panic meter.

Ignoring the heat growing on her face, Sojung smiled back at her. “It’s really nothing.” 

Eunbi watched the fleeting figure for a brief moment. “So, plaything?”

Sojung’s jaw locked up. Now that she heard it outloud, Sojung found it unbelievable how people could make up such rumours. She liked to be intimidating at times, yes, but for people to think she played with girls was an exaggeration. A scoff left . The situation was simple: she didn’t play with a single person. It was more like she was confessed to and Sojung rejected them. Sure, she may have dated some people but that was temporary like all relationships are.

“And you end up playing around with them – what happened with that one girl? I forgot her name.”

Yerin’s words echoed in her mind. Even her best friend thought of her like that. Sojung shook her head; the girl had a tendency to joke around, surely Yerin doesn’t actually think that. It wasn’t her fault that she couldn’t, more like didn't want to, commit to anyone.

“It’s just a misunderstanding.” Sojung said simply.

Eunbi nodded slowly and looked down at her feet. “Okay.” Her words were quiet, barely above a whisper. “It was nice meeting you, Sojung-ssi. I have to go now, my classes start soon”

The said girl raised her eyebrows, her words getting caught in . “Oh… bye.” Sojung sputtered out.

Eunbi gave her another soft smile, which may or may not have made Sojung swoon, and ran off to the building close by. She watched her scramble around the corner of the building, a laugh unconsciously escaping her lips. The last strand of pink hair finally left her view. Sojung’s smile quickly fell, returning to her usual cold facade, and made her way back to the dorm.

The smile wasn’t fake whatsoever. It was as real as ever, more real than the smiles she gave to Yerin or Yuna. She didn't know what caused her face to fall so suddenly but Sojung knew it'd eventually come to her. Despite not know the name of the emotion, Sojung could just barely define it:

It was like an explosion — a warmth overwhelming her body. As her right foot hit the side-walk, a gust of wind blew past her. The next thing she knew, she was walking into the fiery plains of the sun. There was soft thumping in her ears as she took a step forward. The emotion wasn’t familiar to Sojung, she never felt many emotions before except for the simple ones like happiness or sadness. It was like a rose blooming inside of her, a flame igniting brightly, crackling underneath a dark sky. Something beyond what she could describe.

It almost felt wrong to feel this yearning or desire. It was scratching at the bottom of her feet, the fear of this soon-growing emotion.

But Sojung didn’t like to focus on the negatives — Jung Eunbi was not one of them. Just from the thought of the short girl and her pink hair, Sojung let out a swooned sigh. How tempted she was to just turn around and at least get to know her more. The pink of her hair reminded Sojung of a sweet treat, like a pale rose that sought to grow from her heart. 

Her back was turned against the pink-haired girl, a smile creeping onto her lips.

Sojung never really liked pink but her favorite color was now bubblegum.

Commitment reminded her of ice. At first it's cold and awkward, with sparse conversation in the air. She'never had a problem with the first stage. It was awkward, a certain thickness weighing in the air before the ice could become warmer. When the ice starts to melt is when they will warm up to each other. Eventually, it'll grow into something deeper than just commitment. But Sojung could not leave the last stage.

When the ice melts.

"Is it wrong to be afraid of commitment?"