It was dark. Her vision was pitch black. She's sure she was still somewhere else unconscious until the sound of two people talking not so far from her caught her ears vaguely. 

She wanted to wake up and open her eyes to see who they were but her eyelids still felt too heavy. And feeling too exhausted, she didn't have the energy to lift them up. Slowly, the sound began disappearing from her hearing and she let unconsciousness take her back to dreamland.

xx

An alarm went off. The raven-haired girl shifted in her bed still half-unconscious trying to reach out to the small squared gadget placed on the nightstand beside her bed. Once successful to shut it off with her memorized finger swipe gesture, she heaved out a sigh before slowly lifting her eyelids open to check the clock from her phone.

It’s currently showing 7 AM and she would have a class at 9 AM. I guess sleeping for another 30 minutes would still be okay. The tall girl thought before hugging back the Kuromi plushie with a sudden image of a certain blonde girl slipped in her mind. With a mind of its own, her hand reached for her phone again to check for any unread messages from the younger girl and check if perhaps she had replied to her messages last night or not. Once again she let out a sigh. Not sure why but she felt kinda disappointed knowing she had replied to her but then she didn't get any replies back from her. She was expecting it.

Probably she's already asleep when I replied. It was so late anyway.

Not wanting to burden her mind in the morning with such complicated thoughts, she shifted to find a more comfortable position before letting her sleepiness take her back to dreamland.

xx

"Geez. I shouldn't let myself fall asleep again after the alarm." Rushing to the campus, Jimin grumbled under her breath as her eyes kept taking glances at the watch on her wrist for every few seconds.

She mentally cursed herself. She also blamed this certain blonde girl who kept on bugging her mind last night and disturbed her study time. Resulting in her taking longer to study and finish her assignments.

As she arrived at her first class, the professor was already there. Some students gave her a look of disbelief after seeing her messy appearance standing in the doorway, knowing Jimin was never late to her classes before. It was her first time. Ignoring the stares, she apologized for being late - which was accepted and waived immediately by the old professor and she began roaming her eyes around the classroom to search for her best friend Giselle who kindly always saved a seat for her whenever she’s unable to attend classes on time for her other college-related matters.

"I didn't know the miss perfect would finally be making her debut to be late." Giselle teased as she welcomed her best friend while at the same time disregarding her bag from the vacant seat.

"Ugh"

"So what is it this time?"

Contemplating to tell her or not, Jimin heaved out a sigh while taking out her notebooks and pencil case. "You might be laughing at me for sure. But let's just wait till later."

With an anticipating smile plastered on her face, Giselle nodded excitedly.

xx

It's been the nth times that day for Jimin to sigh in frustration. Not getting any spam messages from the younger girl felt unusual and empty but that's not the only point of her frustration for the day. She forgot to bring one of the assignments that needed to be submitted today. And of course, she got scolded and what made it worse, it happened for the subject which the professor dislikes her a lot for no reason. Envious? Maybe. It’s like finally, she let her opponent take the chance to attack her in her negligence. But she paid no attention to that. Her mind was just too occupied with a certain blon– no no no. It's just because of lack of sleep, Jimin. That's it. Nothing is related to her. And Jimin wanted nothing but to go home as soon as possible. Her head was getting more aching.

"Ji, you okay? You look pale. Did you stay up late again last night?" Giselle who had been observing her friend from their first-class asked, getting worried. "Can you please eat your lunch first and stop with whatever you're doing? I'm getting sick just by looking at it." 

Jimin dropped her pen on the table before shrinking in her seat. "Ugh, this is weird. I mean I usually stay up late too sometimes–"

"Yea but sometimes you often forget that you're still a human too, Jimin." Giselle rolled her eyes. "Now come on, pass all your books to me, and eat your lunch first. Looks like you need to rest. I'll drop you off after this." Giselle announced while her hands were busy stuffing Jimin's notebooks in her bag. It was a surprise for Giselle that Jimin didn't protest this time. Usually, she would go berserk about it. Should I be thankful that my dearest best friend is finally back to be a normal human? 

Busy with her unnecessary thoughts, the half-Japanese girl was caught off guard once again with what Jimin said out of the blue, "Can you please also skip classes with me? Just for today?" 

"What?!" Giselle snapped her head to the girl beside her who's taller than her just by a few inches. "Did I get an insect inside my ears or what?"

"Giselle~" Jimin whined as she's not in the mood to joke around.

"Wow seriously though. What happened to you? There must be something happening during your day-offs."

As her best friend wouldn't stop talking, Jimin sighed. "Nevermind–"

"Ya chill okay.. I'll stop talking now. But we're still ditching classes right?" Giselle said, wiggling her eyebrows. Jimin rolled her eyes before nodding.

"Great! Let's eat yummy food today. My treat!" Happily, Giselle skipped ahead to the parking lot.

Seeing her best friend was already quite far away from her walking ahead, she checked her phone for the last time in her hand before slipping it in her bag after noticing still no replies from the younger girl.

Nevermind Jimin. You already thanked her for the dinner she cooked.. it should be enough reason to not think about it.

xx

In a silent room with cream-colored walls surrounding the place – and the slightly dimmed light illuminating the room, Winter was lying on the bed helplessly with an IV being attached to her vein on her left hand. A roll of bandage was wrapped up around her head to cover up the wound she had at the back of her head. As she slowly regained her consciousness, she opened her eyes slowly and blinked multiple times – trying to get her vision cleared. It was after a few seconds when she began roaming her eyes around the unfamiliar room. Glancing at her body, she heaved out a small sigh of relief knowing she's still fine in one piece – until a sudden great throbbing pain began attacking her from the back of her head with no mercy after a sudden move she made with her head.

She screamed in pain.

Not long after that, the doctor who's in charge of monitoring Winter's health progress came rushing inside with a nurse following behind.

"Miss, please calm down and don't move too much." A doctor who's in his 40s who's known by the name of Yunho spoke as he injected a painkiller into the IV cannula after checking Winter's condition.

"It should be okay. Just calm down and take a deep breath. It will help to lessen the pain." Yunho spoke once again to calm her down while checking Winter's heartbeat for the last time.

Passing some information he got from checking Winter's current condition to the nurse behind him, a guy came in.

"So doctor, how is her condition now?" The unknown guy asked worriedly after noticing the commotion.

"She's okay. Just make sure to keep on reminding her not to move that much especially with her head. She lost quite a lot of blood last night so dizziness and headaches will still be coming back anytime whenever." Yunho explained, his eyes taking a glance at the patient who's now lying on the bed with a weak gaze to the ceiling.

The guy nodded in response and let the doctor along with the nurse out of the room.

As there were only the two of them in the room, Winter threw her gaze to the guy who's now standing beside her bed.

"...hi." 

Winter watched the guy looking at her with pity.

As Winter wasn't saying anything, the tall guy reached for the sealed mineral water and was in an attempt to open it while offering it to the younger girl. "Are you thirsty?"

He suddenly felt awkward with the stare being directed to him.

"Who are you?" With her eyelids half opened, Winter spoke in the silence. Looked like the painkiller was working slowly lullabying her to sleep.

"...I'm Jaehyun." 

"You're the guy who saved me right?"

Jaehyun nodded as she watched Winter staring at him – or more to the bruises on his face.

"...thank you."

xx

It was then Winter knew his name was Jaehyun, a 25-year-old guy with his red hoodie who saved her.

After being able to make a call with Winter's parents, with a lot of trust issues and confrontations, Jaehyun was finally able to convince them to come to the hospital that he had mentioned during the call to see their daughter. They’re currently on their way.

Rubbing his bruised knuckles, Jaehyun decided to sit at the vacant chair provided as the room facility while waiting for Winter’s parents to arrive. He’s still there to keep the younger girl company - afraid she might wake up from her sleep and something happened again just like a few moments ago. He would also need to explain with more details regarding the incident that happened to them last night - or their precious daughter specifically.

xx

After a lot of bows were given by Winter's parents to the young man as an appreciation for his help in saving their daughter, Jaehyun then bid goodbye to go home after reassuring them that he’s fine on his own.

"She's worth the fight." With an image of Winter passing in his mind, Jaehyun smiled before walking out to the parking lot to fetch his car.

At the hospital

"Umma.." Winter called for the attention of her mother who still looked so young despite already being in her 30s.

"Yes, sweety?" Still, with a pained look visible on her face, Taeyeon answered her daughter.

"What time is it?" 

"It's 8 PM now. Why did you ask?" Taeyeon asked while rubbing her cold hand gently.

"Have you informed my rector regarding this?"

Taeyeon nodded. "Don't worry, I know what you want. I've informed him that you'll have an important family gathering so you'll be excused until next week.”

"Thanks, umma.." Winter smiled.

"Gosh Winter.. you're worrying me too much. I guess it's best if you just go back to live together with us–"

"Umma.." Winter took her mother's hand in hers. "I thought we've talked about this?"

Taeyeon sighed. Being the only child of the Byun family, there's no way Taeyeon didn't spoil her daughter. With Winter finally being able to live on her own, it took almost the whole two weeks for her mother to give her father a cold shoulder for agreeing and supporting her to live on her own. Even looked like until now, her mother still wished for her to go back to their house.

"Yes, but you couldn't even keep your own promise to be all safe and fine.." Taeyeon sighed as she closed her eyes. Seeing her current daughter’s condition pained her. It's been so long since the last time she met her daughter. And when she was finally able to see her, it should have been in a situation like this.

"I'm sorry, umma." 

Winter watched her mother and felt sorry. She was suddenly being reminded of the incident that happened a few weeks ago too when someone was trying to harm her by following her to the apartment building. She guest it's better not to tell her parents especially her mother about it. She's sure, she would be forced to move back to her parents' house if they ever found out.

"That’s okay, I’m thankful you’re still fine and no serious damage to your head. So don't think about it. Just focus on your recovery for now, okay?" Taeyeon said gently as she pecked her daughter’s forehead.

Winter nodded.

xx

With a lot of thoughts running in her mind, suddenly an image of a certain tall girl popped out.

"Umma, may I have my phone?" Winter asked the mother who's busy texting – probably chatting with her dad.

"No. Your head is still wounded and you may feel dizzy later." After typing for a while, the mother finally looked up, "do you want to get something? Appa is on his way from the office."

Winter pouted. "Nothing. I just want my phone, umma." 

Taeyeon sighed. "If it's not important, you better rest, Minjeong."

"Just for this one, umma.." Winter begged while her eyes slowly roamed around the small table beside her hospital bed until it fell to Taeyeon's handbag. It must be inside that bag. "It's quite important, it's about the project that I need to do with my friend.. I will need to inform her."

"Fine. Just don't be too long." Taeyeon spoke while rummaging into her handbag to retrieve the yellow squared gadget. Before giving it to her daughter, Taeyeon faced her daughter, "Anyway, your phone was too noisy earlier with the vibrations, so I turned it off while you're sleeping."

Winter nodded in acknowledgement and Taeyeon just sat there watching her daughter checking her phone.

With a small smile, Winter typed down her reply.

My bae Jimin❤

Thank you for the dinner.

'You're welcome!' Will that be okay? Do I need to add an emoji? 'You're welcome Jimin 🥰' but she was mad. I guess this will do.'

My bae Jimin❤

You're welcome :)

I should have used this emoji instead 🥲 she didn't text me anything other than a single appreciation to my efforts 🥺

Exhaling, Winter dropped her phone onto her lap. Taeyeon who saw this spoke, asking for her phone. "You done?"

Waking up from her misery, she shook her head, "still not done yet, just a little bit more."

Taeyeon nodded.

Checking back her chatroom with the older girl, she mentally cheered as the latter hadn't seen nor replied to her single You're welcome text. Probably busy studying. I should start thinking about how to let her know.

My bae Jimin❤

Anyway unnie,

Sorry to inform you so late,

But starting tomorrow I won't be able to attend my classes until next week.

And don't worry! I've informed my rector to pass the information to my professors. So you'll be free from attending my classes for the time being.

Take a rest well while you still can Jimin! 🤭

Thank you and good night! 🥰

After waiting for a while in case the older girl read her chat and replied as soon as possible, but actually, even after waiting for a minute she's still not getting anything nor the read sign, she decided to turn off her phone and gave it back to her mother.

Her pout couldn't hide her own disappointment, for letting herself think the older girl would actually be looking for her for her missing regular noisy spamming messages that she always sent to the older girl or she would expect the usual type of messages from the tsundere Jimin who silently asking for her company.. looks like she's enjoying the finest peace of her life at the moment without my presence.

That’s okay Winter, give her a break.