Soyeon was running late once again.

 

It wasn't surprising though, since she was a law student with a part time job at a cafe nearby her university.

 

When she wasn't studying, she was working.

 

When she wasn't working, she was studying.

 

Sometimes she would even do both at the same time.

 

Like when things were calm at the cafe and she would take a few minutes here and there to learn some legal lexicon.

 

Or when she was cleaning the dishes with a case study stuck on the wall in front of her.

 

She would always carry a book with her, using her commute from her home to university to learn something new.

 

Her days were organized so that every second would be used wisely.

 

She had classes to attend, books to read, studying to do, a job to go to and she also needed to keep a good health and sleep enough every night.

 

Sometimes she was tempted to study late at night, but she always reminded herself that poor sleep leads to fog brain and that was definitely the last thing she needed.

 

When Soyeon decided to go into law school, she knew she would have to make sacrifices but she didn't mind. She had a goal, becoming a lawyer, and she had to make sure she would be successful.

 

That's why she was walking hastily towards the auditorium where her first class of the day would happen, cursing under her breath at the bus who had gotten late, making her late too.

 

Well, she wasn't exactly late as she always made sure to arrive early, but still. She liked to head to the library before her class begun and she wouldn't be able to do so on that day.

 

As she was beginning her second year, she was already familiar with the campus, knowing exactly where she had to go. Actually, last year she had made sure to learn the composition of the whole campus during the summer so she would never get lost and, you get it, waste time.

 

Of course, not everybody was as prepared and as she went through the corridors she could see people wandering, looking from one side to the other with some paper that most probably was some kind of map in their hands, looking panicked.

 

She decided to ignore them, eager to get to the auditorium as soon as possible so she would have time to organize her things before the class started. She hated having to look for something in her bag in the middle of the class and miss bits of the lesson.

 

However, as she was finally about to reach the room, she heard a voice and had to stop her busy steps.

 

"Hi," a girl with the cutest face Soyeon's had ever seen said while bowing, "do you know where's the dormitory? I'm completely lost."

 

Soyeon raised her eyebrow at that, "The dormitory is literally at the other end of the campus." she answered, and the girl looked surprised.

 

"What? No way! I've been following the map, look." She moved closer to Soyeon, completely ignoring the notion of private space, and shoved the campus' flyer in her face.

 

Soyeon took a look (although she didn't really need to) and showed the other girl that she had gone the wrong direction from the university's entrance. The girl's mouth went agape as her eyes examined the piece of paper once again before she let out a frustrated sigh.

 

"Why do they have to make plans so complicated? And why ain't there enough indications on the way? They could add road signs, especially since it's the first week, of course a lot of people are gonna be confused!" She blurted out in one go before adding "Don't you think so?" looking at Soyeon who didn't know what was so difficult in following a plan but shrugged anyway.

 

The girl redirected her look on the map one last time and nodded to herself, "It's not so bad after all, I was just careless."

 

Soyeon eyed her strangely. How did she go from 'this map ' to 'it's my fault' in less than ten seconds?

 

"Thank you very much." the girl bowed and Soyeon barely had time to bow in response before the girl grabbed her suitcase and left happily.

 

Soyeon observed her for a few seconds, wondering who was that strange girl, before remembering that she only had ten minutes or so left before her class started so she definitely had to hurry up.

 

–

 

Soyeon took a sip of her coffee, not even bothering to detach her eyes from the book she was reading. They wouldn't be assigned to read that chapter until a few weeks later, but she believed that it was always better to stay ahead of things. She would have plenty of time to annotate and take proper notes to be fully prepared when that topic would be discussed in class.

 

Focused on the words she was reading, a pencil in her hand and ready to underline any piece of information that would seem relevant, she didn't notice someone approaching her table.

 

"Hi, can we sit with you?" a voice asked, and when Soyeon lifted her head, she recognized the girl she had met during the first week of classes.

 

The latter sat down next to her before waiting for an answer, and Soyeon was about to object when someone else did that for her.

 

"Yuqi, what are you doing? You can't just sit at some stranger table like this! There are free tables over there."

 

"It's ok, I asked. Also she's not a stranger, we're friends! I told you about that girl who helped me when I was lost."

 

"That doesn't make you guys friends though."

 

"Of course it does!" the girl, whose name was apparently Yuqi scoffed, rolling her eyes, "Come on, tell her we're friends!"

 

Soyeon was caught off guard when Yuqi turned to her with expectant eyes. Like the last time they had met, she just shrugged her shoulders.

 

"I don't mind you all sitting here if you want." she finally answered, returning to her text. She had probably already lost one minute with all their fuss.

 

"See?" Yuqi said, with a triumphant tone, "Come on, sit, Minnie."

 

The other girl, Minnie it seemed, was hesitant but did as told, careful not to intrude Soyeon's space.

 

They started chatting between themselves, which Soyeon was thankful for, but after a few minutes, she felt a tap on her shoulder.

 

"What's your name?" Yuqi asked in the most natural way, as if she hadn't acted like they were childhood best friends just before and Minnie bursted into laughter at her question.

 

"I thought she was your friend?" she teased.

 

"Shut up, we don't need to know each other's name to be friends, we felt a connection. A co-nnec-tion." she emphasized every syllable of the word as if doing so was enough to prove her point and when her (actual) friend only laughed at her once again, she redirected her attention towards Soyeon who had been silently observing them. "I'm Yuqi by the way."

 

"And I'm Minnie, nice to meet you." she offered with a smile.

 

"I'm Soyeon." she smiled awkwardly, not really comfortable with strangers, before going back to her book, hoping that they would ignore her and let her finally read in peace. Don't misunderstand, she had nothing against them but she still had to study.

 

However, they started asking what was her major, telling her theirs although she never asked. She learned that Yuqi studied economy and that Minnie majored in art. They were both exchange students, Yuqi was Chinese and Minnie was Thai. Soyeon would have never guessed as they had no accent and Minnie gave a smile in a silent sign of gratitude when she voiced her thoughts. Yuqi on the other side started bragging about how well she had always been at learning languages and how her Korean teacher was fond of her back in China.

 

Before Soyeon knew it, her lunch break was ending and had been wasted in small talk. She mentally sighed as she excused herself, telling them she had to go. Now she wondered why she hadn't done that and escaped earlier.

 

–

 

"So this is where you are when you're not in the library."

 

Yuqi was sitting at one of the tables in the cafe Soyeon was working at, observing the place with curious eyes.

 

Soyeon was confused. It seemed that no matter where she went, her path would always lead her to the Chinese girl.

 

During the past few days, they had run into each other at the library, the bus stop and even in the law building where Yuqi told her she had came here to meet a friend, although said friend never showed up which Yuqi made sure to let her know how upset she was about it, complaining about 'bad people who break promises' and such.

 

Soyeon didn't know what to think as the younger would always pop out from nowhere, almost as if...

 

"I'm sorry but, are you stalking me?" she asked, half-joking, half-concerned.

 

She expected Yuqi to deny (who wouldn't?) however the younger surprised her once more. "Maybe." she simply said, a mysterious smile playing on her lips but after a few seconds, she laughed. "Minnie told me about a good cafe nearby, is all." she added when she noticed Soyeon's perplexed expression. "Don't worry I'm not a creep."

 

"I... never said that." Soyeon quickly defended herself (although it did cross her mind).

 

"Sure." Yuqi smiled once again, "So... Can I have a coffee, please?" she smiled innocently and Soyeon was confused.

 

Like, really confused.

 

She still brought Yuqi her coffee (it was her job after all) and made a move to leave when the younger spoke again.

 

"Why don't you sit?"

 

"You know I'm working, right?"

 

"It's fine, the cafe is almost empty, you can take a break. I'm sure your boss wouldn't mind."

 

She was right. Soyeon's boss never minded her doing other things when all the customers were served and happy. But she would usually use that time for extra studying and had already planned what she would do, some flashcards waiting for her on the counter.

 

"Why do you ask?"

 

"In case you didn't notice, I've been offering you my friendship all this long."

 

Soyeon looked around hesitantly. The few other customers were using their computers or chatting, apparently not needing anything from her.

 

Nothing forced her to stay. She could have easily walked away.

 

However, for some reason she couldn't even grasp, she was soon enough pulling the chair on the opposite side of Yuqi and sitting down.

 

"Alright, I'll give you five minutes."

 

__

 

After that day, Yuqi kept stealing time from Soyeon's schedule, both by unexpectedly showing up and (almost) constantly texting her.

 

The older one didn't like to have her organization messed up but she didn't have the heart to push the Chinese girl away.

 

Eventually, she realized that she enjoyed spending time with Yuqi (and sometimes Minnie too), as she had always been focused on school and had completely forgotten to take time for herself and had highly neglected her social life.

 

She was also surprised to see that it didn't really affect her academic results.

 

Minnie was funny and positive and Yuqi's laugh never failed to make her smile. Also, she found out that an upset Yuqi is the most adorable thing she had witnessed in her entire life. Minnie often , and as she grew more comfortable around them, she slowly began to do the same just to see her pouting cutely.

 

One day Yuqi dragged her to some store, claiming that she wanted to buy some new video game which name Soyeon hadn't paid attention to. When they arrived, they noticed a spot where people could try games for free and Yuqi was quick to take up the challenge.

 

"I'm very good a these, get ready to be impressed!"

 

However, things didn't go as planned for her and the Chinese girl quickly got frustrated and cursed under her breath, a frown and the pout that Soyeon secretly adored appearing on her face.

 

"I thought you were good at these?" Soyeon didn't even bother to hold her laugh.

 

Yuqi retorted and Soyeon had no idea about what she was saying because she was in a trance, admiring her features. And then it just slipped through her lips before she realized that she was saying it out loud.

 

"You're so cute."

 

Both of them froze, Yuqi's complaining ending mid-sentence.

 

"I mean-" Soyeon started but Yuqi was quick to interrupt her.

 

"Don't you dare taking it back." she looked at her menacingly.

 

Soyeon closed , not knowing what to say. She was almost sure she was blushing as she could feel her cheeks heating up and she looked away to avoid Yuqi's playful eyes.

 

"It's okay, I think you're cute too." she said, and when Soyeon dared to look up, she saw the other one staring at her shamelessly, looking totally unaffected by her own confession.

 

Then, she wore a satisfied smirk and redirected her attention on the screen, going back to cursing at the game as if nothing had happened.

 

Soyeon was a blushing mess.

 

__

 

Soyeon wasn't working that Friday night, and she had thought she would have plenty of time to do as much as possible for school since she would be working during the week-end. Yet there she was, in her friends' dorm, sitting on a sofa and trying to pay attention to whatever was going on in the movie that Yuqi had invited (see forced) her to come and see with her.

 

As she was mentally counting the minutes and wishing she could go home already, she would often feel her eyes glimpse on her side where Yuqi was sitting, a bit too close to her liking, her eyes glued to the TV as if they were watching the most interesting thing ever (if you were to ask Soyeon, it wasn't). Soyeon looked at her for a moment, about to object as she could feel some warmth she didn't even want to feel grow into her, but decided against it (because, you know, it would be impolite to speak while watching TV, right? Yep, definitely not because she secretely wanted the other to stay that close.)

 

She did have to say something however when she felt Yuqi's body lean into hers even more, her head now resting on her shoulder.

 

"You know I'm not a pillow, right?"

 

"I'm cold." Yuqi simply answered, not bothering to move or look at her.

 

"And I'm too hot." She managed to hold the 'because you're too close' that thankfully died on the tip of her tongue.

 

"You are for sure." she smiled mischievously and Soyeon wasn't sure what she meant exactly.

 

"Just get out of me, already!" she half-pleaded, her heart going crazy and having more and more trouble in (poorly) hiding her embarassment.

 

Yuqi suddenly turned around, and Soyeon was almost scared by the look on her face.

 

"Stop ruining our date."

 

"What date?" she asked confused.

 

"The one that I asked you on about one hour ago and that you agreed to."

 

"I- No... It's not a date." she argued but it sounded more like a question than a statement.

 

"Yes, it is." Yuqi's voice was firm. "Now shut up, I'm trying to watch." Her head shifted again and her attention was back on the fictional characters moving on the screen.

 

''But-" Soyeon tried after she recovered from her emotions but Yuqi was quick to shush her.

 

Apparently the conversation was over.

 

__

 

Soyeon let out a sigh.

 

She loved her job. She really did.

 

But there were times when she dreaded it, especially when it came to filling paperwork.

 

She had about ten pages to write about her case and she was running out of time as her involved client would arrive in less than an hour to prepare for the trial.

 

As she was going through the papers, she started to hear noise outside.

 

"I'm sorry, Miss Jeon is busy right now."

 

"Alright, I'll wait for her."

 

"Do you have an appointment?"

 

"No."

 

"Then, I'm sorry she won't be able to meet with you today, her day is fully booked."

 

"Don't worry she'll figure it out."

 

"It would be better to take an appointment for later this week, Miss Jeon is a very busy woman and-"

 

"What's going on?" Soyeon put her head through the door of her office.

 

"Miss Jeon, I'm sorry, I told that lady you can't meet her now but she wouldn't leave."

 

There she was, Song Yuqi, the one and only, with a smug grin on her face, looking extremely proud of the commotion she had caused.

 

"It's okay, Miyeon. She's my girlfriend." Soyeon said with a sigh as if admitting the fact was exhausting.

 

Her secretary's jaw dropped, eyes widened and she was quick to bow multiple times to Yuqi.

 

"I'm sorry, I had no idea."

 

"It's okay, I'll forgive you this time." Yuqi said in a solemn way and Soyeon had to roll her eyes at that.

 

"Did you come here just to torture my new assistant?"

 

"No, of course not." she said innocently but her girlfriend knew better.

 

"I'm sorry Miyeon, just tell me she's here next time, okay?" she offered a sympathetic smile and Miyeon nodded.

 

Then she turned around, ready to follow her girlfriend wherever she had decided to take her, but she suddenly stopped in an afterthought.

 

"Also," Soyeon added, "tell Mrs. Kim I'll be a little late."