Strings of curses escape Lisa's lips as she races towards the turnstile. If it wasn't because of Jisoo's birthday party last night, she wouldn't have drunk herself to sleep with a morning class the next day.

The turnstile beeped red after tapping her transit card onto the card reader. "Great! Why does the delay happen when I am running late?"

Lisa rarely rides trains on her way to university. She's the kind of woman who prefers taking a bus and walking a distance. Lisa wants everything slow so she could observe the people and her surrounding better. Sometimes she sneaks in some street photography session on her way, but since she's running late to her 7 am class which she thinks should be illegal, she has no choice but to use the train.

The 6:45 AM train arrives as soon as Lisa finishes reloading her card. She runs towards turnstiles, jostles through the waves of the crowd and lucky enough she's able to get inside the train car before it closes its doors.

The train needs to make five stops to reach her station by 7:00. From there, she needs to run 30 metres uphill, and if she's fast enough to climb three floors of her building, she would make it by 7:15 am, just in time before the grace period ends.

The train car becomes more jammed as it stops to a station. Lisa, standing near the door, holds her ground strong making sure she'll not get carried away by the swarm of incoming people.

This is really bad, Lisa thinks. With her veins pulsating madly in her temple, a hammering hangover, and missed morning coffee, Lisa could actually delay her graduation. Unfortunately, even if she arrives late today, once her professor (who she thinks must be from the pits of hell) finishes her roll call, she'll mark Lisa's third absence. And three absences in this class means you automatically fail the subject; thus, Lisa will not graduate this year.

Lisa isn't a religious person but she shuts her eyes and prays to all saints and gods that the spawn of Satan will arrive late too which she knew never really happened, not even once. Lisa feels she's asking the impossible so she wishes that her professor will have mercy on her instead.

Lisa attempts to cover her eyes from the blinding morning sun with her left hand but she almost loses her footing when she released her grip from the handrail. So, to avoid public embarrassment, she dodged the rays by turning her head on the other side of the train car.

And there she is, Lisa thinks. The most angelic woman she has ever seen. Blonde locks tied in a half-up pony flow in flawless waves with few short strands hang loose on both sides of her face. The sunlight is reflecting her honey pools, her plump cheeks tinted with a soft blush and her kissable lips. Oh god, how could Lisa ignore those kissable lips?

Lisa is pretty sure the woman is an angel. Oh, if she could only describe the scene much better. Is it as if the heavens open up its windows to shine upon this woman, to tell Lisa she is the one that god sent to guide her back to the right way. Lisa could hear the heaven's trumpets and the angels' hallelujahs on the background. Everything is slow and peaceful she feels her feet floating a few inches off the ground.

Okay, that's too much of exaggeration or maybe it's the effect of the lingering hangover. If only she's not running late and blocked by a handful of commuters, Lisa would definitely use the traces of alcohol left in her bloodstream to swallow her fear and shame and ask the lady to have a cup of coffee.

Lisa could see the woman humming, probably the melody of the music she's listening through her earphones. She notices the lanyard the pretty woman is wearing. Great, it says she studies at the university four blocks from hers. Lisa breaks her stare before the stunning woman catches her and thinks she is a creep.

Since Lisa knows they both get off at the same station, she already rehearsed in her head the lines she'll use to introduce herself, and maybe to get her number. Jennie was right, she at this. She's only swooning on Instagram but she's a puppy when it comes to flirting face to face.

Lisa's overthinking her script too much that she hasn't noticed she already arrived at her station. She gets off the train with her eyes following the young woman. When both of them passed the turnstile almost at the same time, Lisa makes her way to the blonde's direction. Her hands are cold and sweating and her heart beats madly against her ribcage. The closer Lisa gets to her, the wobbly her legs become.

"Hey," Lisa taps the woman's shoulder and when she turns to her, Lisa's jaw drops. The woman looks strikingly beautiful up close. Despite her minimal makeup, she is drop-dead gorgeous. Lisa was wrong, she isn't an angel, she's a goddess.

"Hi," the woman looks puzzled, she removes her earphones when Lisa did not reply. "Hello?"

Lisa snaps back to reality and picks up her jaw she left dangling.

"Hi," Lisa's blushing madly from embarrassment and has become redder like a tomato when the woman let out a small laugh. "Ho - how are you?" Her script is nowhere to be found and her tied tongue is not helping.

"Oh, I'm good, thank you," the blonde replies with confusion clouding her face, "I'm sorry, did we...?"

"No, no, no. We haven't met before." Lisa smiles and might be pissing herself right now from nervousness. "I'm just... I mean... I like to..."

The blonde's alluring eyes leave Lisa stuttering, fortunately, the woman patiently waits for her to finish her sentence.

"Would you like to grab some coffee?" Lisa finally says. The woman makes a little O with her lips. "I know a coffee shop nearby that serves great espresso. I haven't had my coffee yet..." Her words fade out when the blonde wears her sorry smile.

"I would love to but I have a class to catch." She definitely looks sorry for Lisa and Lisa knows she isn't the only one this woman turned down.

"It's okay, I have class, too and I am-" Lisa sees the clock above them saying it's 7:05, "-actually late for it, shi-oot! I gotta go!"

The woman giggled at the halted profanity, "Maybe next time." She smiles.

"Yeah, definitely next time," Lisa says while jogging backwards, "see you around!"

The blonde chuckles and nods in response.
-
To Lisa's luck, her terror professor was called by the dean's office even before she starts her class. Despite having her saved, Lisa is sulking the entire day. How could she forget to ask the woman's name?

"Oh c'mon, Jennie. Help me!" Lisa whines in front of her phone face time-ing her friend who happens to be studying in the same university as the woman Lisa met on the train.

"Okay, fine! What does she look like?" Jennie lets out a huff.

"She's tall, blonde and really pretty." Lisa says with a dreamy face, remembering how beautiful the woman is.

"Girl, are you okay? Half of the population here are blonde es. And I don't talk to blonde es, those es hate me."

Since Jennie is not helping her and Jisoo just laughed at her misfortune in love life, Lisa has to do her ways alone.

Lisa's class usually starts at 10:00 in the morning for the rest of the week except on Tuesdays. However, this Wednesday, Lisa decides to come to school as early as seven hoping she'll see the blonde woman again. The woman is nowhere to be found. She plans to do the same on Thursday, Friday until next Tuesday, even if the dean's office will not save her this time.

Lisa's plan did not go as smooth as she wanted to on Tuesday. She was supposed to board the 6:30 AM train and wait for the pretty woman on the station.
It was Jisoo's fault again she's running late for the midterm exam of her damn professor. Jisoo brought her dog, Dalgom in their shared apartment on Sunday and since then Lisa hasn't gotten a decent sleep. Dalgom is a cute and quiet puppy to everyone except for Lisa. It must have been Lisa being a cat lady that Dalgom hates and resents so much. He barks at her with his tiny gritting fangs every time they are on the same space.
Lisa races to the turnstile, thankfully no delays this time and then forcefully squeezing herself to the jammed 6:45 AM train. For god sake, Lisa tries to remember all the things she has read but those goddamn annoying barks ring in her ears instead.

“Oh, good lord, help me with this one,” Lisa whispers. When she opens her eyes, there she is again. The angel god sent to her.

The lady is in the same place just like last week. But this time her blonde hair is not tied up. All of it flowing gracefully on her shoulders to her back like a majestic waterfall. She still has the pink blush on her plump cheeks with her lips moving seductively, probably singing a song in a soft voice. On her right shoulder hooked a huge black thing what Lisa thinks a guitar case.

This sparks Lisa’s curiosity about the woman more. Lisa considers crossing through the shoulder to shoulder crowd between them, but in the end, she chickened out. However, she notices a white mark on the woman’s guitar case. Lisa squints her eyes, it was the woman’s name written using a white-out.

Lisa squints more, maximizing the ability of her poor eyesight. God, why didn’t she get a new pair of glasses yesterday after Dalgom gnawed her old one on the day of his arrival?

“Park,” Lisa reads, the rest of the name is faded and already illegible.

Lisa tries to follow the lady after getting off the train but she lost the woman into the crowd. Another missed chance for Lisa, but at least she knows her surname.

-

“Park?” Jennie yells at the screen.

“Yes, Park,” Lisa gleamed at the older girl.

“Do you know the probability of having a student whose last name is Park in every program in this university?” Jennie lets out a deep sigh.

“How would I know, Jen? Gays can’t do numbers - Oh, shut it!” Lisa throws a pillow at Dalgom who is barking non-stop at the background.

“Hey, I saw that, Lisa!” Jisoo yelled from the kitchen.

“At least we have a lead, Jen,” Lisa adds, “Her surname is Park, she’s incredibly pretty and blonde and has a guitar. Maybe she’s enrolled in a music program or part of your university band. Please, Jen. I need your help.”

“You are unbelievable, Manoban. Okay, I’ll try my best.”
-
Lisa knows Jennie hates helping her with this but the older girl has no chance to refuse since it was Lisa who helped her with Jisoo before. It is time for her to return the favour.

Jennie used her connections inside and outside the university to find this Park woman the entire week. Checked all the students enrolled in the music program, visited pubs nearby the campus hoping she’ll find the lady there performing, even Jisoo helped her with it but the weeklong search was a failure.

Lisa is sulking the whole week but when Tuesday finally arrives, her face brightens with eyes and smile full of high hopes. She sticks to her plan last week, taking an earlier train and waiting on the station. No delays or whatsoever happened but Lisa has not seen even a glimpse of the woman she longed for.

Her entire Tuesday was gloomy. Her midterm exam result was not she’s expecting, she ran through the rain to reach her second class on the opposite side of the campus because someone stole her umbrella, and she sprained her ankle on the final round of their dance practice that lasted until 11:30 PM today.

It’s 11:45 PM and Lisa decides to have an espresso at the café near the train station. Her steps are small and careful on the puddled pavement enduring the stinging pain of her ankle. Only a good espresso can mend Lisa’s bad day.

The aroma of roasted coffee beans wafted around the warm café. Some jazz music plays on the radio softly while different kinds of people enjoying their caffeine. Most of them are alone and quiet at the table just like her, probably they had a rough day as well.

After ten minutes, Lisa gets up on her feet and walks to the station for its last trip. Unlike every morning, the station is peaceful and silent. Only two people are on the platform, Lisa and a nurse who’s in the far right side of Lisa. The train arrives with cars empty of passengers.

Lisa enters the last train car when it stops in front of her. She immediately slumps into the nearest seat and closes her eyes. She rested her head on the window, her tired back slouching on the seat with both of her long legs carelessly sprawled. Lisa lets out an exhausted sigh aching for her soft bed. The entire time Lisa thought she’s alone in the train car until she heard a soft hum.

She opens her eyes and trails it to the source of the sound at the opposite corner of the train car. There sitting an incredibly gorgeous blonde woman whose surname is Park with a novel in her hand and guitar laid on the seat beside her.

With all of the strength left om her body, Lisa stands up. She walks towards the woman, her heart beats madly in her rib cage, her palms go cold and wet, the closer she gets to the woman the wobbly her exhausted legs become. Nevertheless, Lisa never felt so energized the entire day until she stands in front of the woman. Her face lights up brighter than her gloomy Tuesday.

“Hey, it’s you,” Lisa greets. The woman looks up and Lisa gets lost in her eyes the moment they finally meet again. There she is in front of her, the angel she is longing for.

“Hi,” Lisa has never seen a smile as beautiful as hers. It is something she will never get tired of, something she would look forward to every day and every night.

“My name’s Lisa,” Lisa gestures a handshake. Maybe it is the caffeine in her bloodstream and not alcohol that made her tongue move swiftly, not even stuttering on a single letter. Lisa will never know.

The woman reaches for Lisa’s hand, smiling shyly making her cheeks plumper, letting out tiny giggles under her breath.

“I’m Chaeyoung. Park Chaeyoung.”