"How can he go serve when he only have one semester left for his graduate courses?"

Eunhye submitted her resignation as TA long ago but she was still called to the meeting. Chanyeol, as the newly appointed head TA, insisted she attended, pointing out that it was not approved yet. It would be a bit challenging now that the one handling the TA assignments was a professor that both of them did not want to talk to. They were currently faced with the predicament because Kim Myungsoo had been drafted.

"It was his last extension," Chanyeol explained. "He actually though he had more months but the letter came already."

She sighed, knowing there was no point in arguing. "So are you telling me, L did not give my resignation to the professor, and now you want me to forget about it."

"We're already one man short, and no applications this semester," he answered. "So, I have no choice but to reject it. I also discussed this with the Dean and he agreed. Even if you go around me, it'll be the same."

"We'll talk about it later," she said dismissively. "Get on with what you wanted to say. I have to go somewhere."

He went into discussing other TA matters. Eunhye was impressed at how professional he was whenever he addressed Mark Tuan directly. It was still awkward between the two of them after that time when they all thought he cheated on Eunhye. It was history for her and Mark but her friends held grudges. If only they knew it was her fault they fell apart and not his.

Aparently, there were a lot of schedules that overlapped with each other, especially now that she and Myungsoo were no longer helping. There were courses left blank because all three of them had classes (and she was free) . She noticed two of them belonged to that professor. No matter how much she tried not to be affected, she was bothered that the solution could be for her not to resign, which was probably why Chanyeol wanted her to attend this meeting.

There was a knock on the door to the small TA Office and she opened it to get away from their discussion. She was surprised to see a familiar face that she did not expect to see in front of the office, let alone school.

"Nayoung!" she greeted happily, getting a feeling she was going to be excused for this guilt-trip meeting her best friend dragged her to. "What are you doing here?"

"Eunhye-eonni, are you busy?"

When Eunhye turned to the table the three TAs were, they were all looking at them. Of course, someone as pretty and tall as Im Nayoung would turn all their heads. She almost laughed at them.

"Are we busy?" she asked Chanyeol.

Her best friend shook his head. "Let her in."

"Oh, I was hoping to talk to you, actually," Nayoung said, talking to Eunhye. "I asked one of the Engineering students and they knew you and thought you might be here."

"Me?"

"I didn't have your number," the younger girl explained. "I tried to visit you at the hospital, but something came up. I thought I needed to apologize for what happened."

Eunhye's heart softened. "You don't need to, silly." She lowered her voice to a whisper. "But I would appreciate it if you could save me from this ambush."

"Yes, I'll do anything."

She straightened up and addressed her best friend, ex-boyfriend, and hoobae. "Looks like I'm gonna have to go. Bye, guys. Good luck with this semester. Fighting."

With that she hooked her arm around Nayoung's and walked her away from there before Chanyeol or Minkyuk dragged her back to that wretched meeting. She only felt a little awkward when they were out of the building with arms still linked and she slowly gave Nayoung hers back.

"So," she started. "Really, you don't need to apologize. There was no way you could have known what would have happened. It's my fault."

"But you were hospitalized," Nayoung insisted. "And Eunwoo had to..." she pointed to her own neck.

"Gosh, that must have been gross to watch," Eunhye thought out loud. "Glad I was out when that happened. Sorry, you had to see that."

Eunhye's phone vibrated in her pocket and she paused to check it.

ParkYoda: introduce me
ParkYoda: i'll buy dinner
Eunhye: sign my withdrawal from TA position
ParkYoda: deal
ParkYoda: i'll give it to douchebag myself

"Hey, since you're here," Eunhye said as smoothly as she could. "Do you want to join me and my friend to dinner? He's buying."

She felt bad about using Nayoung to get what she wanted from Chanyeol, but she was getting free food, so she chose to think it was good enough. Besides, Eunhye was the one who needed to apologize after that fiasco with the cookie.

Thanks to Chanyeol, their dinner was not boring. Of course, she made sure that he did sign the resignation letter before telling him that Nayoung agreed. He did all the talking. Not surprisingly, the meal ended up with them knowing more about Nayoung than she could even if she spend the whole day with her. She did not really have a chance to get close to her at that birthday party even though she wanted to. For some reason, Nayoung made Eunhye felt like she needed to protect her as a big sister, just like how she felt towards Minkyung and Jieun. 

So she learned that she had been friends with Jeonghan since middle school, and so had been close with him even after they graduated high school. She was also a member of the basketball club, which Mingyu and Wonwoo turned out to be members of, too.

"I didn't know Wonwoo was into sports."

"I think Mingyu forced him," Nayoung agreed. "But he quit after a few months. Not sure why."

"I'm going to have to dig that up," she said. "Thanks for the tip."

Chanyeol came back after making a phone call. "Uh, where are you guys, going after this? I need to pick my sister up, but I can drive you if it's on the way."

"Just the coffee shop," Eunhye answered. "I need coffee."

So he dropped them off to the coffee shop Wonwoo worked for, only for Eunhye to remember she promised to visit him so they could go home together after his shift. She also realized she had forgotten to text him that she was going to be late.

She was so excited to see him and she had to stop herself from skipping all the way to the counter. Minkyung welcomed her with the brightest smile, far from the one Wonwoo gave her when he emerged from under the counters. As best as she could, she did not let that break her high spirits, but then he started being prickly about anything.

"Thanks, Gyungie," she said anyway to the girl behind the cash register and led Nayoung to her favorite table. Sorry about that. He's not usually like that. I think something bad happened to him that ruined his day."

"Does he have to take it out on you, though?"

She chuckled. "I'm also thinking he's still mad at me about the allergy thing," she explained. "It WAS my fault and he's probably scared it might happen again." She gave the counter another look and saw that he was not there. "He'll cool down in a bit."

"Does he get mad at you a lot?"

"Not really," she replied but then sighed. "Just recently. I don't know. We did not use to fight but nowadays, he's always on edge. I'm getting used to it. It's probably better if he let it out on me than other people."

"Eonni, if you keep getting the brunt of it, you'll get tired."

Eunhye's heart softened at the younger girl's concern. "I know. I tell him whenever he's crossing a line anyway. Besides, when it's my turn to lash out, he doesn't complain and just take it well."

"I never saw that side of him before," Nayoung commented. "Well, it wasn't like we were that close or anything."

"What was he like in high school?" Eunhye asked, suddenly curious. This was someone who would not have a bias when answering unlike asking Jeonghan and Seungcheol.

"He was very quiet," the younger girl replied. "And kept mostly to himself. He would hang out with Jeonghan and the others, but he would be at the back of the group. He and Seungcheol stayed most of their time in internet shops, so I won't really have more information other than that. By the time we started talking, I was busy in Senior year."

That brought a smile to her face because she could imagine it. Also because it was not far from her high school life. If not for Chanyeol and Zico being so extroverted, she would probably have no friends. And most of her free time was spent in internet shops, too, so that part she could totally relate to.

"What about girls?" she went on. "Was he popular?"

Nayoung took a sip of her drink before answering. "Their whole gang was popular. I think, Wonwoo tried to be invisible? But I'm sure there were girls who confessed to him or something."

"Let me guess, Mingyu was the most popular one."

"Actually it was Jihoon."

"Jihoon? Our Lee Jihoon?" she repeated. She could not imagine that cute, quiet kid, being popular with the girls. While he stayed in the same apartment unit as Wonwoo and Eunhye would come to visit, he would be in his room (particularly on his bed) and not coming out unless there was food.

"Yes, he was the best catcher in baseball our school had ever been. We even thought he might go pro but he said it was just a hobby. Then he got into music school, so there's that."

They were soon joined by Minkyung who took her break when Wonwoo came back. The latter did not come to their table even for a brief moment. Mostly he was behind the counter or out back doing whatever Eunhye was sure unnecessary. She even suspected he reorganized the whole inventory, just so he could pretend to be busy.

"It's getting late," Nayoung said after thirty minutes. "I should probably go."

Eunhye left her stuff and walked her outside of the establishment. "Thanks for checking up on me," she told the girl. "And don't worry too much about what happened, okay? And here." She handed Nayoung her phone and asked her to put in her number, then dialed it. "Save it. Wonwoo would actually probably appreciate it if I hang out more with female friends."

Nayoung looked shocked at her last sentence. "Is Wonwoo the jealous type?!"

She just rolled her eyes in response. "Well, given that my two best friends since kids were Chanyeol and Zico, and I'm an engineering major... You get the idea."

They flagged a taxi and Nayoung got in.

"Let's go for karaoke some time," Eunhye suggested, waving. "I'll tell Minkyung."

She wanted to get to talk to Wonwoo after Nayoung was gone, but he was nowhere to be seen when she came back. In the back of her head, she thought of the words she would say to nag him about leaving Minkyung to fend for herself, but she decided it was best if she kept them to herself for now.

"He went to take the trash out," Minkyung told her when she came up to the counter. "I think we'll be closing early. It's been really slow today."

"Did something happen today?" Eunhye gestured around the cafe.

"Not that I remember," she answered. "He was fine all afternoon."

That did not make sense, but she nodded in understanding before going back to her seat again. She took out her copy of the book, Jane Eyre, while facing the counter so she could read and check on Wonwoo at the same time. After fifteen minutes, he came back and started cleaning up the display rack by putting the cakes in the fridge.

The bell at the front door sounded and in came the owner. "Yow," Baek Seungheon greeted with a mock salute before heading for the counter. "Why are you cleaning up already? We have a reservation around nine that's why I'm here."

The rest of their conversation were behind the counter and hushed so Eunhye just went back to her book even though she had no recollection how she got to the current chapter. She had to backtrack the last two chapters to get an understanding of what was going on. The moment she was getting immersed in the happenings in Thornfield, Wonwoo's shadow blocked her vision.

"I get to leave early," he announced with a small smile. "Hyung said he'll get one of the part timers to come."

Eunhye looked past him and checked on Seungheon. He waved at her and winked, miming her and Wonwoo hugging. "I'm the best boss," he mouthed.

"Ready to go?"

One of her eyebrows shot up. "In a better mood now?"

He did not answer that and instead took her things from the chair opposite her. "I'm hungry. I thought someone was going to come here with my favorite lunch boxes but I can see you're empty handed."

Was that why he was so grumpy? Well, she already knew he was always sensitive when hungry. "Sorry. I had school this morning and Chanyeol ambushed me with that TA meeting. But, I got him to sign my resignation paper in exchange for him buying me and Nayoung dinner."

They headed out of the place, giving Minkyung and Seungheon a last wave. A bus ride and a walk later, they were at Wonwoo's favorite burger joint by a park beside Han River. This time, they sat by the concrete steps under the bridge. Eunhye tried her best not to look at the columns so she stared out into the night.

"I'm sorry," Eunhye started when she had enough of their quiet. "I know that allergy thing scared you. But I promise I'll be extra careful this time. I know what I'm allergic to, more than any blood or skin tests they could give me, so please. Stop worrying."

"I should have been there. I could have checked it. I could have stopped you."

"I would just have snuck a bite behind your back," she admitted. "But I won't do that anymore. It scared me, too."

He stared into her eyes so intensely she had an urge to shrink away. "Good."

"We're good now?" Eunhye asked and he nodded with a bigger smile this time. He had the largest size of the cheese burger, he should be in a better mood. "So tell my why you were so prickly at the coffee shop?"

"Nothing. Just some rude customer before you came." Wonwoo was looking at her eyes the whole time he said it, so even though Minkyung already told her nothing happened there, she decided to believe him. "I'm sorry, I took it out on you. And then the strawberry thing."

"Nayoung said she visited me in the hospital," she went on. "Do you know anything about that?"

"Why would I know about that?"

She wiped a stray drop of the burger dressing off his chin. "I don't know. I just thought maybe you saw her while I was sleeping or something."

Wonwoo shook his head. "Didn't she come with everybody else? I don't remember. There were a lot of them there. Even Jun's girlfriend."

Her eyes narrowed but she let it pass. "Nayoung's a sweet girl. She even went to the school personally to apologize to me even though none of it was her fault. She reminds me of my freshmen days."

"Believe me, you two are not one bit alike."

"Ya!" she yelled, slapping his arm. "Are you saying I'm not sweet?"

He cackled in laughter and she felt triumphant that she was able to turn his day even just a little bit brighter because hers sure became complete the moment she saw him.

***'

Thursday morning felt like it was already afternoon. Wonwoo had been so used to the break when he could sleep in because the only schedule on his day was his job at the cafe. Now school was back and he had two classes that morning.

"Let's just eat at the Engineering's cafeteria" Changkyun suggested. "We'll have to go back in an hour anyway for lab class."

Wonwoo sighed. A lab class that he had no idea who would be handling. Their schedules just showed the professor's name that he did not like seeing but the name of the assigned TA with whom they would be working with most of the time, was left blank. He guessed they had trouble finding Eunhye's replacement. If there was anyone else teaching Cloud except Prof. Lee Junki, he would have taken it no matter what the schedule was. But since no other teacher taught that major subject, he did not have a choice.

"Sure," Wonwoo agreed half heartedly.

He missed Eunhye's lunch boxes but lately, she had been busy with school. Ever since that allergy thing, she had been withdrawn, even though she tried not to show it. Wonwoo was suspecting it had something to do about his outburst at the coffee shop but when he asked her about it, she said it was nothing. Eventually, he let her be, fearing he would be smothering her. Eunhye loved her space.

"It's galbitang," Soonyoung smiled widely, joining them after having ch