It started a little like this:

The world was on the brink of going mad. A deadly pandemic had taken the world by storm, forcing borders to be closed and social distancing measures to be created and enforced.

For Sakura, her world went mad when she decided to do her University and Med Schooling in South Korea, a country boat ride away from her home in Kagoshima. The exchange was painful at first, having to adjust to not just University, but a new culture, language, and world entirely. But after two years of undergrad, things weren’t so bad. She even made a “good” friend along the way.

("Hey, is that the new chapter of One Piece?"

Sakura nearly screamed in the middle of the Hospital cafeteria, her pirate world interrupted by long brown hair and clothes smelling something like a bunsen burner.)

Sakura rubbed her hands together, blowing gently into them as her slim frame chattered with the bitter wind breezing by. Winter was harsh in Korea; even after five years of living in the country, her body could not withstand the cold. Her wardrobe for the season was more for survival than fashion.

A light from the convenient store drew her attention and she huffed.

‘Thank god.’ She murmured, stepping into the bright place crammed in-between closed off buildings, bathing in the warm light. She finally dug into her pocket for her phone. The gadget had been going off since she left her apartment, but her walk would have been two times slower had she indulged herself into checking the notifications.

‘It's probably Kang-chan, reminding me about tonight's gaming session…’

She had two conversations marked with "unread": one was, true enough, “Kang-chan” while the other was "Yulje Imposters". Sakura arched an eyebrow. Yulje Imposters was a group chat with the students she met through med school, similar medical related, brain rotting struggles inevitably drawing them close.

Automatically marking “Kang-chan’s” conversation as "read", she opened "Yulje Imposters".

[ Yulje Imposters ]

Dongpyo

@Sakura Noona, you're in that first year history class, right?

Sakura

Yes?

Dongpyo

I heard from Minhee that their assignment is due in twenty-four hours

Sakura

What.

Kaeun

Oh, yes, my cousin Yunjin is in that same class and blew up my KKT an hour ago about it.

Kids these days, wondering how to sue their TAs.

It's only the first week.

Sakura

???

Daewhi

Good luck, Noona!

Sakura

I

What

No what

What do you mean good luck??

Hello

Who the Hell

Who gives an assignment due within twenty-four hours?!

Yoojung

your TA lmao

Sakura immediately closed the group chat the moment she saw Yoojung's name appear. Every time Yoojung appeared in Yulje Imposters (which was more often than not), the chat turned into absolute chaos. And absolute chaos was something Sakura did not need if what they were saying was true, that her first assignment in her history class was due in twenty-four hours. So nope, not today, Satan.

She glanced through her emails. There was nothing from the professor or anyone else associated with the history class, so that was a relief. Was Dongpyo trying to trick her? But that was something Yoojung would do, not Dongpyo, right?

She opened the site for her history class, scrolling through it quickly.

The only thing that was listed under the main course was the syllabus that the Professor posted and told them to look over… She checked the lab portion of the website, surprised that it was already opened when labs didn’t start for another week.

And that was the moment she saw it.

Her eyes widened and a bloodcurdling scream threatened to escape her lips (and would have if she wasn't still in the convenience store) when she spotted "Assignment #1" and a countdown timer next to it, indicating that yes, it was due within twenty-four hours (now less than twenty-two if you wanted to be precise). They weren't lying about the first assignment due so soon even though classes literally just started. And it wasn't even a course in her second year of med school, it was some stupid history class she thought would be a good idea to take to expand her knowledge...

She skimmed the description of the assignment, almost scowling at how polite the Korean sounded to her.

Hello Lab Twelve students!

I'm Lee Chaeyeon and I will be your TA for this lab. I hope you are staying safe at home as we transition everything to online for the rest of the semester. I understand the situation is tough for everyone but we can all get through it together.

Please don't be alarmed with the first assignment already showing up on the sidebar. It was assigned early to give you plenty of time to work on it because it may be the most difficult.

There are two documents and a question sheet attached about the Goguryeo period from the time of the Three Kingdoms. I would like you to analyze the documents and answer questions given in the question sheet. This will help me assess your abilities to analyze historical situations and guide you through the rest of the course.

It's a lot (I know!) but this is why I gave it to you early!

If you have any questions, please email me. I may not be able to get to it right away but I will do my best. Stay healthy and remember to wash your hands!

- Lee Chaeyeon

Plenty of time?!

If twenty-four hours was plenty of time to her Lab TA, she would hate to see what less than that would mean. Sakura felt panic settle into her as she faced the reality of the situation. She had to read two long documents about some period in ancient Korean history and write about it. On paper it sounded easy, but when she scrolled through the sheer amount of reading and questions to answer, it was clearly not going to be easy. And above all else, Korean was still her second language, and ancient history vocabulary wasn't something she was familiar with.

She started to wonder why she took this history course.

('Should have taken first year physics.' Her best friend, Kang Hyewon, also known as Kang-chan, grumbled over her plate of fried chicken, chewing loudly to openly show her disdain for History. She gestured to the timetable Sakura penned down, having just finished checking the schedules of her courses. 'I could've at least helped you with physics. I skipped most of my literature classes in my undergrad.'

Sakura rolled her eyes, 'And have you fail me during a lab? No way. I don't think I would be able to handle you making nerd jokes all the time either.'

'You're a nerd too, you would love them.')

Sakura heaved a sigh. Hyewon's annoying voice rang in her ears, reminding her that today was supposed to be reserved for their weekly gaming session, but she knew she had to skip tonight if she wanted to finish this assignment on time. She pocketed her phone, grabbing a basket and gathered the drinks and snacks she would need to stay up for the next twenty-some odd hours to finish this assignment.

(How was it only the first week of class and this already happened?)

[ kkura > kang-chan ]

kkura

kang-chan, i'm so sorry, i need to cancel tonight's gaming session

kang-chan

?

why so suddenly

don't tell me you and your Kaeun friend—

kkura

GOD NO STOP

It was just a tinsy winsy crush

I SWEAR

kang-chan

okay so what's your case

kkura

[ picture ]

history assignment due in twenty four hours

these are my new best friend

sorry

kang-chan

betrayed by let's be coffee

i get it i would betray you for let's be too tbh

kkura

you little —

kang-chan

you really got to stop picking up bad korean words from chat

It was the second time that night Sakura wanted to let out a bloodcurdling scream, but she had to hold it all in to preserve what little dignity she had, coupled with the fact that it had been almost one hour since she entered the convenient store. Time was scarce to her and she had wasted an hour of it not doing work.

Ignoring the rest of the conversation and closing the chat, she dashed to the counter, hastily telling the cashier in jumbled Korean (her mind couldn't think straight) to bag her things while she fumbled with bills and coins.

…………

It's only been thirty minutes, and Sakura was lost. Not even lost on the path from the convenience store back to her apartment, it was worse. She was lost in all the ancient words that made no sense to her, no matter how many different Korean to Japanese translation sites she referenced. She downed her second can of Let's Be coffee, her mind slightly buzzing as the effects of caffeine trickled into her blood.

She was going to need more than this mild buzz to keep her awake and maybe alive throughout this assignment.

She's about to delve (or, more aptly, drown) further into King Taejo and his conquests when a loud knock interrupted her jumbled thoughts. Another scowl crossed her face as she stood up and stomped towards the door. She wasn't expecting any deliveries or visitors so who in Ancient Korean times was coming—

"Yo."

A bag was shoved into her hands and the "visitor" let themselves in, squeezing herself in-between Sakura and the door frame. Sakura blinked and took a minute to comprehend Kang Hyewon intruding into her apartment with a bag of... She glanced down, her nose immediately twitching as the fresh smell of tteokbokki and fried chicken wafted in. started to water and her stomach grumbled, the cup noodles from earlier obviously not enough to satisfy her hunger.

She snapped her head up, hastily shutting the door and following behind her visitor’s steps after as the situation caught up to her. "Kang-chan! Why are you here… shouldn't you be gaming or something?"

"It's boring without your gaming buddy." Hyewon grabbed at one of her cans of coffee, waving away Sakura's noise of protest. She flopped herself on the single couch. "Thought you needed a pick me up anyway."

One part of her brain was thankful for Hyewon bringing her actual food, but the other, excessively fussing part of her also knew that if Hyewon was here, she wouldn't be able to finish this assignment on time.

"Thank you for your uh, pick me up, but I really need to get this done." Sakura gestured towards her computer, where the history documents dominated the screens. A sketch of King Taejo glared at her from one of the opened windows.

"Don't worry about me, I'll just be here helping you drink and eat all these things." Hyewon sipped the coffee and dug into the bag Sakura put down, pulling out the container of tteokbokki and chicken. She started to dig into the food, ignoring Sakura's disbelieving stare.

Sakura blinked, realizing that Hyewon was committed to her words. She sighed and sunk into her chair, reasoning to herself: if Hyewon was here, maybe she could help her with some (or all) the words she didn't understand. She glanced at her screen, checking the timer on the website to see how many hours she had left until her inevitable doom.

6d 23 hrs

She blinked.

"Kang-chan, am I imagining this?" She wheeled her chair to the side, waving for her friend to come over. It took Hyewon a bite of chicken and a sip of her coffee before she came over. When she saw the timer, her brow arched and skepticism wrote itself on her face.

"Were you really telling the truth about your assignment being due in twenty-four hours?"

“Of course!” Sakura was quick to defend herself, grabbing her phone and showing Hyewon the numerous screenshots and even parts of the Yulje Imposters chat when they were talking about the history assignment. She did not want Hyewon to think of any scandalous reason as to why Sakura cancelled their gaming session.

(Especially if she’s going to bring up Kaeun again, god, Sakura endlessly regretted ever admitting her crush on the first year they became friends.)

She was in the middle of watching Hyewon read the portion of group chat she showed when a loud ping rang from her phone. Sakura blinked, leaned over Hyewon’s shoulder, and noticed a new email appearing in her inbox.

It was from “Lee Chaeyeon”, her lab TA for the history class (and the very name she cursed while she was at the convenient store). She gestured at Hyewon to tap it, and together they read.

Lab Twelve students, I hope this email finds you well.

I sincerely apologize for the lateness of this message. I've received numerous of emails about Assignment #1 and realized that I set the due date to tomorrow instead of next week. This seemed to cause a lot of panic not only to you, but other students in other labs since all the TAs set the times up together. The adjusted time should be reflected now, so please check to make sure your timer has restarted.

If you have any more concerns, please email me.

Once again, I apologize for this error.

- Lee Chaeyeon

The caffeine coursing through her system buzzed weakly as Sakura read the email from "Lee Chaeyeon" many times over, making sure she wasn't imagining anything. After the fifth read, it finally settled into her, this long assignment wasn't due until next week, not next day.

"Good thing I came over or else I might have come across a dead body tomorrow." Hyewon rose from her side and walked away to dig back into her food.

Sakura was too relieved to pick a fight over Hyewon’s jab. "I guess I don't have to look at this for the rest of the night." She grumbled, saving everything she had answered before closing it. She turned in her chair, rolling herself towards the table and dug into the containers of tteokbokki and chicken.

"So." Hyewon started after swallowing a piece of rice cake and fish cake. "Ready to start our gaming session? Let's get that chicken dinner."

…………

The pandemic completely took over the world and all of Sakura's classes moved online. Even clinicals were carefully monitored because of the severity of the situation. Hospitals needed to limit the amount of people coming in and out, and the protocols in place were the strictest they had ever seen. Luckily her clinicals didn't start until the year after; hopefully by then the world would be in a better place.

But for now, Sakura was stuck in the comfort of her own apartment, attending numerous online meetings and lectures. In a way, it was a blessing to someone like her, who barely left her house anyway. It also allowed her to do things freely while the lecturer struggled to explain the human anatomy with pictures and diagrams that were too zoomed in on the screen.

(Yoojung sent a message in their group chat in the middle of the lecture.

[ Yulje Imposters ]

Yoojung

do u think if i left the box blank, i could argue with the prof that it's just a zoomed in picture of the arm bone?

Dongpyo

??? what about the muscle that surrounds the arm

Yoojung

i mean if we're just drawing skeletons, it's the same thing right.

Daewhi

Noona, please stop her...

Kaeun

Maybe we can get Yoojung banned from the online lecture.

The threat alone shut Yoojung up. No one messed with Lee Kaeun when she threatened to get you banned.)

After the mishap of Sakura's first assignment in her History class, the rest of the class was relatively smooth. She found out that the difficulty of the first assignment was on purpose, the TAs and the Professor of the class wanting to test the student's limitations. After a proper assessment, suggestions, and advice, Sakura felt more comfortable with tackling historical events.

With the semester coming to an end, even their finals, just like their midterms, were taken online. Despite the self-imposed rule of no eating at the computer desk, Sakura's stomach growled loudly every time she was writing an important exam or paper.

The energy it took to compose sentences, draw diagrams, or analyze the effects of certain drugs and their effects on the human body was enormous and her body would want something in return for all the work. At first, it started out with chips and cookies that her mom shipped to her every week, then it evolved into meals.

Sakura had a steaming bowl of dumpling ramyeon sitting on her desk while she typed away at her history exam. Her exam consisted of three parts: a simple multiple choice exam about the material they studied, reading and analyzing a piece of text, and writing an essay on a topic that they were to choose from a list. If Sakura had to be honest, the second and third parts were easier for her because she knew how to write well.

Multiple choice? Well, that thing—all the existential crisis she had to deal with while considering each option and the looming anxiety of ‘what if my first hunch was right’ every time she was about to change her answer—took significantly more energy out of her, so there was nothing wrong with eating while working.

She slurped her noodles loudly, her lips smacking tastefully against each other as the spice danced on them. Her brain reeled as she tapped away at the exam. Professor Yoonjung really enjoyed asking questions about the Three Kingdoms. No wonder their TA had them do tons of reading and analyzing around those periods.

(She's just a little bit thankful for her TA, Lee Chaeyeon, now. But there's still a part of her that held a grudge for the scare that was their first assignment’s initial deadline.)

She let go of her mouse and leaned back in her seat, cradling her bowl of ramyeon. She needed a moment to relax and allow her brain to reset. As she scanned her exam, she absently fished for a dumpling and raised it to .

But the dumpling didn’t reach .

Instead, it went tumbling down from her chopsticks, slipping from the two wooden pieces that were used to pick them up. The dumpling landed ungracefully on her keyboard, rolling from one key to another before it lost momentum and finally came to stop on her right shift key.

Sakura cursed loudly, dropping the chopsticks and grabbed a tissue to retrieve the fallen dumpling. This was why she implemented the no eating at the computer desk rule. She's quick to clean the soup broth that splattered her keyboard and desk and made a mental note to clean it up more thoroughly after her exam was over—

Right, her exam.

She glanced up at the screen, expecting to see the page sitting on the same question she was on.

8%

She blinked rapidly at the number displayed over her darkened exam sheet. 8%? 8% of what? She searched the webpage and realized what the 8% meant.

It was her final score for the first part of the exam.

parted briefly, but no words, not even a curse, managed to escape her. She stared at her monitor as her life flashed before her eyes. Sakura was smart, she worked hard all four years of her undergrad to get into med school...

Just to get 8% on (part of) her history final.

Sakura stared in disbelief at her screen.

…………

39saku_chan's instastory:

Help.

I scored 8% on my history final because of this stupid dumpling.

I swear I'm not a bad student.

Professor Yoonjung please understand…

…………

Sakura saved the screenshots and attached them to an email to Professor Yoonjung. She had to think of all the polite words she could use in her email that it almost felt too polite, like it was a servant to a master. With the email sent, there was nothing more she could do for now, so with a heavy heart, she opened part 2 of the exam and started reading.

Halfway through the first article, an alert popped up on her screen, telling her she received an email from Bae Yoonjung.

She had to stop herself from ending this part of the exam accidentally to open the email and checked the response.

Sakura.

This was quite an unique story, and I've read many unique tales of the past. I don't think you would lie about such a thing, but unfortunately I am out of my office for the day. I've forwarded your problem to my TAs, asking them to restart your exam. You should see an incomplete written next to it soon. If not, please send an email to the general TA e-mail and they can assist you further.

Take caution next time on where you eat your meals.

Best of luck on your exam.

Bae Yoonjung

Sakura put the bowl of ramyeon away, thanking the God that was Professor Bae Yoonjung for allowing her a second chance. Hyewon wouldn’t allow her to build a shrine for a History professor, so Sakura settled with making a promise to herself to do her best for the remainder of this exam.

She whipped up a quick reply and assured her that she would never eat in front of her computer ever again.

…………

Third year of med school was the start of clinicals. With the world slowly adjusting to the end and the aftermath of the pandemic, the studying medical students were allowed back into the hospitals for longer than the shortened times the previous years were forced to endure.

Clinicals was something Sakura looked forward to, so she was relieved that the pandemic was under control coming into her third year. However, over the semester break, a Japanese notice came up on one of the Campus boards, asking for Japanese students who had time to TA for a higher level Japanese class. With clinicals, Sakura had some time on her hand to help and the experience of helping with students learning her language would be useful.

(Plus it let her speak more in her mother tongue—recently her Mother complained that her Japanese had gotten worse.)

Professor Sashihara Rino was a critical Japanese language professor. She taught her students like how Sakura was taught in school—if one went off center she would deduct marks, if you used incorrect speech tones, she would reprimand you. Even Sakura herself was worried that she might slip into casual by accident when addressing her.

But with her strictness, the students saw a passionate professor who wanted to pass on her language to the others. She wanted to make sure they could use it properly if they found themselves in a working position that used Japanese, or for more minor cases like helping a Japanese tourist in Korea.

Sakura respected that.

Sakura's work was easy in Sashihara's class. Her main job was to help Professor Sashihara, whether it was preparing before and after the class, marking small assignments and homework, or even sharing her own experience with her students.

"Sakura. Could you come here for a moment?"

Sakura blinked, placing the red pen down and went to the front of the class.

Professor Sashihara gestured towards a blonde girl who sat near her desk. "We have an uneven amount of students today, so I need you to work with Chaeyeon. She's an excellent student, so this will be good practice for her."

Sakura followed the professor’s hands, glancing at the blonde in front. She sat tall, her hair falling across her shoulders in a wave. A pair of glasses rested against her nose, but Sakura was sure she had seen her without them before.

Sakura swallowed, feeling her palms clam up. The girl was beautiful and the way she sat was prim and proper, almost like she was the perfect human being on Earth. She idly thought she was face to face with an idol. With a wordless nod, she went over and sat at the desk next to the girl.

"Hello, I'm Chaeyeon! It's nice to meet you."

Sakura nodded awfully slow, thinking to herself that the girl’s Japanese was good—so good that it was almost better than hers. "Sakura. It's nice to meet you too. Uh, I guess I'm your partner today." She realized the slip in her tone and quickly amended it. "I'll be your partner today, so let's do our best."

"Okay, Sakura-san! Let's do our best." The smile that lifted on Chaeyeon's cheeks made Sakura relax. Chaeyeon was eager to talk and learn it seemed, which made it easier for Sakura to be able to bring up any mispronunciations and corrections.

By the time class was finished, Sakura thought Chaeyeon was close to fluent.

"Thank you for your help today, Sakura-san. Your advice was helpful and I learned a lot." Chaeyeon said as she lifted her bag up.

Sakura sheepishly smiled, "You're really good, Chaeyeon-ssi. If I knew we weren't in a language class, I would think you were a native speaker."

The flush that spread on Chaeyeon's cheeks was cute, her hands waving frantically in defence. "That's not true! I still have a lot to learn, right, Sashihara-sensei?"

They both glanced over at the Japanese professor who was cleaning up her desk. Sashihara disagreed, "You're honestly very fluent, Chaeyeon. I would even say on a good day, you're better than Sakura." She playfully hit Sakura's shoulder.

Chaeyeon was quick to reject the praise, glancing worriedly at Sakura, but Sakura gave her a good-natured shrug and besides, not like Sashihara-sensei would listen to her.

"If you have a chance, you should continue to talk to Sakura. It would be beneficial for you to be able to practice your Japanese outside of the classroom."

The smile on Chaeyeon's face was back, then, it seemed to curl up even higher as she glanced at Sakura again. "Is that okay with you, Sakura-san?"

Sakura swallowed carefully again, trying to stop herself from breaking out into some creepy smile. "Yeah, it's fine. If you don't have anything after this, I'm happy to grab a coffee with you or something. I don't have my shift until tonight."

"Shift?"

"Oh, I'm a medical student. I'm doing my clinicals right now."

The way Chaeyeon's eyes lit up at the mention of ‘I’m a medical student’ made Sakura think she saved Chaeyeon's cat from the top of a tree or something.

"A medical student? Wow, I've never learned any medical related terminologies. I would love to hear them!" She shifted her body so she would be next to Sakura. Sakura noticed that Chaeyeon was taller than her, despite being younger because she was most likely an undergrad just finishing up their schooling.

"Please teach me. I'll even buy you a cup of coffee!"

Her passion was contagious and Sakura felt herself fall in it too easily, sinking a little deeper with every step she took as they left the class together.

…………

Clinicals finally took their toll on Sakura.

It was not a hidden fact that interns and studying medical students were overworked during their clinicals. The first few months, Sakura was on a very set schedule, working a typical "9-5" job at her hospital (and the occasional night shift). This was easy enough for her to manage alongside her TA work back at the University (and seeing her new "friend", as Hyewon put it with a suggestive lilt to her tone). However, once the hospital had gotten comfortable with Sakura along with the many other factors of understaffing and overload of patients, they started to work her even harder.

"It's a taste of your future as a Doctor." The senior surgeon she shadowed one day joked with a tired and exasperated smile on his face while they ran through hundreds of files that were piled onto them. "They're not always like this, but there will be days that you will be burdened with seeing hundreds of patients over 48 hours."

The hospital certainly didn’t have the power to hold her for 48 hours, but they could very well hold her for over 12 if she was on-call. Bundling that with her coming in early in the morning the day after, Sakura barely had any time in between to relax and rest. After a particularly long day, she honestly just wanted to go home and sleep, but that night, Sashihara-sensei had sent her some files to look over for the Japanese class the next day. Sakura never wanted to disappoint Sashihara (or Chaeyeon, but that was a different situation all together), so she promised to look at it after her shift. If she had the will to get through a history assignment that was due in 24 hours in her second year, she had faith that she could go over a Japanese worksheet and give feedback on it.

Until she was faced with a "We are very sorry, the espresso machine is broken since this morning so we will not be serving any coffee for the day." sign from the nearby cafe.

She stared blankly at it for a few excruciating seconds, wondering if her eyes were just deceiving her because she had made them suffer for the past week of not being able to see anything other than the hospital and darkness. Maybe they were protesting for not being able to watch anime or play games. She continued to stare at the sign, even watching a couple of girls walk out from the shop, drinking smoothies while chatting about the latest k-pop group.

Sakura stared harder.

The sign didn’t change.

It finally clicked; there was no caffeine to be bought here.

"How does a coffee shop not serve coffee?" Sakura muttered darkly to herself. Her Korean was surprisingly fluent and she would be proud of herself if she wasn't surviving off of three hours of sleep, a can of Red Bull, and many garbage instant coffee packets from the Hospital. "This should be a crime. Maybe I should become a lawyer like Kaeun-unnie's cousin and bring this case to court." Her mind was reeling, the lack of rest making her dramatic. She even contemplated submitting a complaint to the owner, playing the case out in her head as she took one step closer to the front door until it unexpectedly swung open.

She couldn't even bring an apology to her lips, jolting awkwardly to the side when she realized she was in the way.

"Saku-chan?"

The now familiar greeting registered in her mind at the same time her tired eyes glanced upwards, meeting with familiar wavy blonde hair. Sakura blinked. It was Chaeyeon.

Oof.

The edge of Sakura's lips twitched, wanting to say something to Chaeyeon, but she idly wondered if her eyes (and ears) were playing tricks again. There were many things they wanted to see, and truthfully, Chaeyeon was one of them.

(She was desperately trying to hide those feelings and thoughts though, trying to keep it down because they were both so, so busy.)

"... Saku-chan? Are you okay?"

"... Hi." Sakura finally said, rubbing her eyes. She squinted at the person before her, head tilted slightly. "Chaeyeon? Am I dreaming?"

Chaeyeon arched a brow, stepping closer to her and letting the door slide close. "No? It's only 6 PM, Saku-chan. Did you just leave the hospital?" She asked gently, a palm pressing against Sakura's forehead.

Sakura relished in Chaeyeon's gentle touch, wondering if this was real again. "Yeah." She muttered. "But I'll be back again the next day, and the day after that, and the night after that... I'll be there forever." Chaeyeon's hand slipped from her forehead to her cheek, the back of her hand pressing against her skin now. Sakura considered melting into Chaeyeon’s hand, except with her current state of being she might end up toppling over to the side if she tried, so she pulled up a small smile and tutted at the latter instead.

"You know, if you're checking my temperature, that's the most ineffective way to see if I have a fever."

"Yes, thank you for your insight, Dr. Miyawaki." Chaeyeon quipped back, pulling away now with an arched brow.

"I'm not a doctor."

"Yet. But, even under my untrained eyes, I can tell you're not well-rested. Why aren't you at home resting?"

Sakura hummed quietly, her eyes darting to the no coffee sign beside them. "I needed to grab a cup of coffee and do some work for Sashihara-sensei before I can hit the bed." She explained, her eyes returning to Chaeyeon's questioning ones. "But there's no coffee here."

With the unimpressed stare that Chaeyeon gave her, Sakura could tell she was saying something like thanks for stating the obvious. Chaeyeon glanced at the sign and then back to Sakura. "How many cups of coffee have you had today?"

"Three? Four? Five if you count Red Bull."

Chaeyeon reeled back, astonished. "That's too much caffeine in your system, Saku-chan." Her brow furrowed, worry reflecting in her eyes. "You need a good rest, not more caffeine." Her hand gently clasped Sakura's shoulder and her eyes moved downwards to level with hers.

"Where's your apartment? I'll take you home."

"Forty-five minutes from here plus a ten minute walk from the station."

A contemplative hum came from Chaeyeon, as she glanced at the time on her phone. "Why don't you take a nap at my place? My apartment is five minutes away."

Sakura blinked, trying to comprehend Chaeyeon at that moment. Did she just invite her to her apartment? "Your... apartment?"

"Yes. It's quite near from here, that's why I frequent this café often. You can take a nap and then do your work for Sashihara-sensei. I promise I won't look at it." A small, playful smirk curled on her lips, "It wouldn't be a challenge if I knew what the homework was before class."

Sakura, in all her three hours of sleep plus caffeine pumping through her blood, found herself unable to even summon the will to reject Chaeyeon’s offer. A warm bed sounded nice at that moment. And that the invite came from one Lee Chaeyeon, well, Sakura wouldn’t say it didn’t play a big part either.

She sighed. "Okay, just... don't tell Sashihara-sensei. She'll definitely scold me and never let me work with you ever again."

Chaeyeon laughed quietly and Sakura broke out into a grin. Chaeyeon had a distinct laughter that Sakura could pick out almost instantly. It was always contagious and never failed to bring a smile to her face. Chaeyeon's hand gently went downwards and wrapped around her upper-arm to keep her steady. "Maybe that's a good thing, you like marking our homework."

A frown tugged on Sakura's lips as she let herself be led away by Chaeyeon. She really didn't want to go back to marking their Japanese homework for the entire period again.

…………

When Sakura woke up, she initially saw 8:00 flashing on her phone and sighed in relief. A two hour nap was actually refreshing and good enough for her to finish off the rest of her night off before she would have a proper sleep. Then, she noticed the AM part that followed.

... And dropped her phone.

Her eyes darted around, taking in the surroundings as quickly as she could. It was definitely not her room—the walls painted in a soft blue with clouds. There was a plant in the corner of the room with a small desk alongside it. On top of the desk was a towel, some folded up clothes, and a note. She quickly scrambled out of bed and read the note.

She blinked, it was in Japanese.

Saku-chan!

I know I said I would wake you up in a couple of hours, but it seemed like you were in a deep sleep. I didn't want to disturb you from it because you were completely wiped when I met you at the café. Please forgive me!!!

I talked to Sashihara-sensei as well and she understood your situation. She also promised not to scold you (too much).

Please use these and freshen yourself up in the bathroom. Don't worry about the clothes, they're some old clothes that I don't wear anymore. They're clean too!

If you're up early, I'll just be outside making breakfast, so come out when you're finished.

I hope you had a good rest :)

- Chaeyeon

Sakura glanced down at the folded up clothes and towel, then to the exit of the room, wondering how such a kind person like Chaeyeon even existed here in the bustling and uncaring nook of Seoul. Even after spending a considerable time with her for and outside of Sashihara’s class, Sakura still found herself getting surprised at the extent of Chaeyeon’s kindness.

She rubbed her face with her palms, feeling the dried up makeup from twenty-four hours ago still on. Chaeyeon was right, as usual: a shower really would be nice right now.

Clean, refreshed, and feeling more energized compared to twenty-four hours ago (and perhaps even more, Sakura couldn't keep count of all the times she wanted death to take her during her studies), she finally took a step back to look around Chaeyeon's room.

Chaeyeon's room was neat and tidy, a wide arrangement of books neatly organized on her shelf. Her walls are decorated with photos and certificates. Sakura noticed a lot of pictures involving Chaeyeon and her family. It even took her a moment to realize that Chaeyeon had another younger sister—that there were three sisters and not two.

(Chaeyeon and the middle daughter looked almost alike that Sakura passed them as twins at first glance.)

The certificates were various awards, a significant amount coming from dancing competitions. Chaeyeon had mentioned, before, during one of their study breaks, that she used to dance a lot before sacrificing herself to the Academia Gods. Sakura didn't know that she was this good, though. She wondered if Chaeyeon auditioned for entertainment companies before falling onto the Academic path like the rest of them. It would certainly explain her idol-like appearance when they first met, the approachable and charming air she carried with her even from the very first interaction.

Just by how her room was laid out and the scattered pictures of family and friends, Sakura could tell that Chaeyeon had a warm and kind heart. Each moment framed into a cherished picture that she was sure Chaeyeon spent carefully setting up. She even had photos of two dogs wiggling around in two matching knitted sweaters. Despite being more of a cat person, Sakura couldn't resist sighing and smiling at the cuteness of the two dogs. But underneath that, her heart clenched tightly at each picture she saw, missing her family and friends back in Kagoshima. She even missed her bratty cat, Maru, who had probably forgotten all about her since she moved to Seoul.

Yet, Sakura didn't regret any of this. She didn't regret moving to Seoul and entering a foreign University despite the language and culture differences. She didn't regret continuing to study even into medical school despite the large amount of setbacks and struggles she had as a foreigner. She was always the type of person to challenge herself, and she fully believed it was worth it in the end. Because she wouldn't have been able to experience anything like this back in Kagoshima. She wouldn't have been able to meet any of her close friends that understood and helped her every step of the way.

(She wouldn't have been able to meet Chaeyeon.)

With the tips of her hair finished drying and Sakura not wanting to pry anymore into Chaeyeon's private life, she left the room to see if she was still around.

And she was, just by the smell of spices and meat that hit Sakura after she opened the door and the singing that filled the air, floating just above the sizzling coming from the pan. Sakura peered over at the table off to the side, spotting banchan placed on it. Her belongings were neatly arranged on one of the chairs—Sakura vaguely remembered tossing her things there with Chaeyeon's approval but she was sure she didn't put it that nicely.

Sakura’s rustlings must have been loud enough for Chaeyeon to notice her leave from her room, the melody of the catchy pop song lowered as Chaeyeon instantly greeted her with a "Good morning! Sleep well?"

The greeting warmed Sakura's heart and she went over to the kitchen after tossing her phone with her bag. "It was probably my best sleep since the start of clinicals," she admitted, smiling when Chaeyeon beamed in response. She glanced at Chaeyeon's cooking, fighting the urge to drool at the slabs of meat grilling with the onions and garlic while being smothered in gochujang sauce and various spices.

"Do you need a hand?" She quickly asked, wanting to repay Chaeyeon for her hospitality when really, she had no obligation to go this far.

"I'm just about done here, could you set the table? The bowls and utensils are just in the drawers and cabinets behind me."

Sakura nodded, squeezing just behind Chaeyeon as she set to find what she asked for. Chaeyeon thanked her, and went back to her singing as she turned up the music once more. Even though she didn't know the song, Sakura found herself nodding along and enjoying the impromptu Karaoke session she didn't even know she joined.

She slipped out from the small space between her and Chaeyeon, setting the bowls, spoons, and chopsticks down. A small smile curled on her lips as she went through the motion. Even though she liked staying at home and being alone, having someone around like this was nice and made it just a little less lonely.

She wondered, fleetingly, if Chaeyeon thought of her presence as something as relieving too.

Their breakfast was relatively peaceful. In a more casual and free setting, the two of them were surprisingly quiet. Without the pretense of learning Japanese or studying, there was no direction for a conversation or a common topic that needed to be brought up. Sakura enjoyed the silence though, it wasn’t awkward, it felt comfortable and familiar. It let her indulge in Chaeyeon’s cooking to her fullest.

“Is there something wrong with the rice?” Chaeyeon suddenly asked while she was chewing some meat. “You’ve barely touched it.”

Sakura blinked, swallowing the mouthful of kimchi and glanced down, noticing that the bowl was still nearly topped with white rice. She sheepishly grinned, looking up apologetically at Chaeyeon. “Sorry, I actually don’t like rice. I’m more of a bread and noodle person.” Growing up at home, Sakura’s mom always made the best instant noodles, enough to turn Sakura against rice as she grew older. It didn’t help that the bakery near their house served the best bread and pastries, minimizing the importance of rice in Sakura’s eyes even further.

A surprised hum came from Chaeyeon as she placed down her dishes. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know. I think I still have some bagels in the freezer from last time my Sister stayed over…” She left the table and went into the kitchen before Sakura could protest.

“Wait, Chaeyeon, you don’t need to go so far for me—” She stood up to chase after her, but Chaeyeon was already pulling a bag out of the freezer with a triumphant smile. By the time Sakura reached her to try stopping the latter, Chaeyeon already had two bagels out and was bringing them to the toaster.

The toaster clicked down, and Chaeyeon beamed, turning to face Sakura. “It will be a minute, please enjoy the rest of the meal.” Sakura found herself being pushed and sat back down in her seat. She blinked, watching Chaeyeon retreat back to her kitchen, her steps light and airy. She seemed like a feather almost. Without another word and a guilty stomach, Sakura continued to eat, while watching Chaeyeon operate in the kitchen.

After a while, Chaeyeon stared right back at her with a smile.

“Is it okay? The food.” Chaeyeon asked, peeling away to retrieve the bagels.

The food was amazing. Sakura never had enough time to cook during University, so she often ordered take-out or went out to eat with her friends. And when there was a break, she always opted to make something quickly rather than a fully cooked meal, so this was something out of the ordinary. It felt like home.

“It’s great. I feel like a Korean Mother made this all for me.” She praised with a silly grin.

Chaeyeon laughed, “I’ll tell my Mother that. She loves being praised.” She replied, placing the plate of bagels by Sakura’s side. “Do you have your shift today at the Hospital? I don’t mind if you want to stay here until you have to leave for it.”

“Oh no. Not today because of my long shifts the last two days.” Her body sagged in relief, not wanting to even think about doing any sort of work after the horrendous lack of sleep she just went through. She reached for a bagel. “There’s Japanese lessons this afternoon, though.” She gave Chaeyeon a pointed look, playfully projecting don’t miss class through her eyes.

Chaeyeon grinned back, “Ah yes. I still have class.” She checked the time, “I have to meet my supervisor before class too, so I should head to the University soon.” The remains in Chaeyeon’s bowl disappeared after a couple of bites while Sakura still had a lot to go through. Chaeyeon nodded at Sakura’s unfinished meal.

“You can take your time, I still have to get ready.”

Sakura tilted her head, curious. She didn’t know that Chaeyeon worked at the University. Now that she thought about it, she never asked Chaeyeon about herself beyond her interests. “Are you working as an assistant at the University?”

Her question was greeted with a stunned silence, and Sakura blinked even more.

Was that a dumb question?

“Saku-chan… Do you… think I’m an undergrad?”

Sakura’s brow furrowed, “Aren’t you? You’re at least in your second to last year seeing as the Japanese class is one of the higher level ones…”

Laughter peeled from Chaeyeon’s lips as she placed her bowls in the sink and rinsed them. “Oh, no! I’m a graduate student, Saku-chan. I’m in my second year of doing my masters in Korean History.”

“You’re what?” Sakura choked on a mouthful of bagel. She had to gulp down some of the soup Chaeyeon prepared for her, not even caring for the scalding liquid burning down . “You’re a graduate student?!”

(Holy , she was in the same year as Kang-chan.)

“Is there a problem with that?”

Chaeyeon’s joking tone seemed to fade away, replaced by confusion as she placed the dishes off to the side to be dried. She walked by Sakura’s seat at the table, on her way to her room.

“No! No, I’m just… surprised.” Sakura waved her hands immediately in defense, trying to give Chaeyeon the most appealing smile she could muster. “I… I honestly thought you were much younger.”

Even more laughter peeled from Chaeyeon, this time longer and even lighter. A small smile curled on Sakura’s lips and she quietly chuckled along—her laughter was contagious as always. Chaeyeon passed her, slapping her shoulder lightly as she went into her room.

“I’ll take that as a compliment! Now hurry up and finish eating, then we can leave for the University together.”

Together.

Sakura gave an automatic ‘Okay, Mom’ as a joke, which made that distinct laughter of Chaeyeon’s ring even louder in the apartment. A wider smile broke out on her lips as she dug into her food, the word together still echoing in her mind.

It felt right, as if they’ve been together for a long time.

Something inside of Sakura was planted, and was slowly blossoming into a thudding pulse that even she did not know what would become of it, despite constantly studying the human body every single day.

………...

"Kkura on your left!"

In a half-beat of a second with the flurry sounds of mechanical keys and mouse buttons being pressed, walls of wood built around Sakura instantly and she hurriedly returned gunfire to her left. Each bullet landed and the enemy was defeated.

Sakura let out a deep sigh—she was a terrible mess.

Since the whole nap incident in Chaeyeon’s apartment, it was an understatement to say she had a "teensy winsy crush" like the one she had on Kaeun years ago. She was completely heads over heels for Chaeyeon, anticipating every time they would go out for coffee under the guise of expanding Chaeyeon’s already huge enough vocabulary list, anticipating the occasional slip ups of accidental brushes of fingers, anticipating just seeing—

A pathetic sob left her lips—she really was a terrible mess.

"Are you gay panicking over that girl in your Japanese class, again?" Hyewon asked, tone flat and monotonous. She was clearly not impressed.

"What do you mean, again?" Sakura weakly asked but honestly did not want to hear the answer.

"You've thrown our lead in the last two weeks more than I've ed up the triple integrals for that cursed problem in electrodynamics,” Hyewon mercilessly delivered, sighing afterwards. “I'm almost certain you're thinking about that girl, again."

Sakura sank back in her seat. Was it obvious enough that her best friend, who had almost no care about anything else beyond food, physics, games, anime, and the occasional girl, noticed her absolute despair (or love?) for someone?

(She recalled the time Hyewon really liked a Japanese exchange student during their undergrad and turned their hourly gaming sessions into ‘teach me Japanese through One Piece’. The One Piece knowledge stayed; the exchange student didn’t. Sakura wanted to bring it up but Hyewon would probably block her for two days, and Sakura couldn’t afford losing her emotional support for two days.)

"Sorry, Kang-chan. I'm just..." Sakura trailed off as she left the game session, her mind obviously not able to keep up with the game they were in. "I’m just a mess right now."

"What happened? It's unlike you to be this distraught over a girl, especially in the middle of a game."

Sakura shut the game and absentmindedly checked her email and schedule for the upcoming week. "Two weeks ago, we unknowingly met at the café near the Hospital I'm interning at right now. I was basically a zombie that day and I ended up sleeping in her bed—"

A choking sound rang in her ears, Hyewon was probably drinking a can of sprite while she explained her story. "You what—"

"Not like that!" Sakura was thankful that they were just gaming over the Internet and not next to each other because her cheeks were aflame with the implication that Hyewon left in her tone. "Just literal sleep, actual sleep. She invited me over to take a nap and I ended up sleeping the entire night in her bed. The next morning, she laid out a towel, some fresh clothes, and even made breakfast for me. Who does that, Kang-chan? I swear she's actually an angel in disguise." The memories made Sakura giddy, her body twisting a little to show the small bouts of excitement.

Hyewon was surprisingly silent. She must have been thinking about Sakura's circumstances.

"We kind of click and get along well despite our differences in interests and hobbies." Even to her own ears, she sounded so love struck over Chaeyeon. "I just like her that much. Maybe even love—"

"You should be careful, Kkura." Hyewon cut off suddenly, her voice stern—a completely opposite to her usual playfulness. "That's a word you shouldn't be using so lightly, especially over someone you're not even dating."

Sakura sighed again, frowning at her screen. "I know. I know, I just can't stop thinking about her. I can't stop these feelings that pump through my heart, Kang-chan." She explained, idly pressing a hand over her chest, resting against the beating heart. "To me, that's what love is."

Silence filled their conversation again with the exception of idle sips of their drinks. The thoughts about love left an air for both of them to think about their own circumstances and possible future encounters with this all-encompassing feeling—love.

Hyewon eventually sighed, "I have no choice but to support you through this. What is this girl like, anyway? I would like to meet her if she has my best friend all tied up by just her pinky finger."

A small smile curled on Sakura's lips, relieved and happy that she had Hyewon's support. "Well, she's a History major—"

"What?!"

The scream caught Sakura off-guard and she even pulled her headset back to shake the ringing that bounced off of her ears. Did she say something wrong?

"Are you okay?” Sakura inquired first, in case Hyewon encountered a spider or something equally scream-inducing. “She's a history major—" She repeated after a beat of silence, thinking that maybe Hyewon didn't hear her the first time.

It gained her a response this time. A strong one, in fact.

"You're absolutely, not dating a History major."

"What—"

………...

Lunch at the Hospital cafeteria by the campus was a norm for Sakura, something she started back in her undergrad year. Even though it was always buzzing and chattering with life from all sorts of people like the doctors, nurses, patients, and even stray students or teachers from the University, she always found herself coming back. Despite the widespread notion that hospital food , the cafeteria rose above it with an abundant food selection Sakura would sorely miss if it were to be gone. The area was always clean, and the space was wide enough for them to be able to enjoy their lunch in small or big gatherings. It was a place full of memories, from meeting Hyewon here for the first time, to spending late nights with the Yulje Imposters.

Another memory was going to be added to her book, as she called over Chaeyeon, who came walking over with slightly disheveled hair and a short of breath. Sakura quickly moved her things away to make space for Chaeyeon, smiling up at her. "I'm glad you could make it."

"Sorry I'm late." Chaeyeon replied after catching her breath and sitting down next to Sakura. "The Arts faculty is on the other side of the campus."

Sakura was quick to shake her head but a scoff followed by a loud slurp overcame her ‘no it's okay, I'm just happy you're here’.

Hyewon sat across from Sakura, moving away from her iced tea to loudly chew her hamburger. Her eyes narrowed at Chaeyeon as soon as she joined them at the table. "Of course the Arts faculty would be away from the hospital, history major." She grumbled, taking another large bite.

Sakura panicked, eyes widening and heart rising up . Hyewon's pride (read: pettiness) was going to make Chaeyeon think she had strange friends, even though she already warned Chaeyeon about this. "Kang-chan, pipe down." She hissed in Japanese, forgetting that Chaeyeon knew Japanese too. Her foot reached forward to kick Hyewon's, but Hyewon swiftly moved her foot before Sakura's could reach.

"Never."

"Oh, is this your physics friend, Saku-chan?" Chaeyeon innocently asked, her tone light and airy. Sakura lowered her head with a mumbled "yes", growing sheepish at the predicament.

A soft oh left Chaeyeon's lips as she grabbed her lunch box that she prepared for herself, setting it on the table. "Nice to meet you, physics major." Chaeyeon's tone turned just as snarky as Hyewon opened with, eyes steadily meeting Hyewon’s. "I'm surprised to see you outside of your labs. I thought you just stared at electromagnetic waves or particles all day."

Save for the chattering and clinking of utensils and metal chairs, a chilly silence gripped the table of three.

(Sakura had no idea what she had started when she involved two "rivaling" majors to lunch.)

The end of the tomato flopped out of Hyewon's burger because she paused to stare in almost disbelief at the newcomer to their table. Her eyes narrowed, making it obvious that her pride took a slight hit. "Particles are much more interesting because they're related to matters that happen in the present day and can affect the future of how we think of the world." She paused, placing her half-eaten burger down. "Unlike studying about battles from ancient times where they used sticks and stones to fight."

Chaeyeon tilted her head with a hum. "We can learn a lot from past history and apply it to the present to prevent disasters from happening in the future." She said, opening the several containers with various foods she brought for lunch. "While I'm specifically studying Korean history, history itself is a universal concept that is applied to all disciplines of study."

She gestured towards Hyewon. "You just mentioned that you're studying particles, correct? The data from those matters wouldn't have existed unless you looked into the past and analyzed their numbers. That, is still considered history." Chaeyeon dug through her containers, happily digging into some slices of meat she had prepared for herself that morning. She even lifted a piece to Sakura, who still had no idea what was going on.

Sakura opened automatically and Chaeyeon simply slid a piece of beef in.

Hyewon just stared at the two of them (or well, at Chaeyeon).

"You're..... disgusting."

Sakura stared between the two while chewing the piece of beef that Chaeyeon fed to her. For a hot second, she feared that a fight was going to break out between the two and she would be forced to pick between her crush and her best friend in some comical k-drama fashion, but Hyewon instead held a hand out towards Chaeyeon.

"Kang Hyewon."

Chaeyeon smiled, taking Hyewon's hand into her own and shaking it. "Lee Chaeyeon. It's nice to meet you, Hyewon-ssi."

Lee Chaeyeon.

Sakura paused as the two broke out into smiles and started chatting about something related to University, the previous tension seemingly having dissipated into thin air. She tried to recall why Chaeyeon's name seemed to be familiar now, the vague memory coming from a time period even before their first meeting. She knew that Chaeyeon's name was fairly common in Korean and Lee was a common family name in Korea as well, but why did the two together sound so familiar to her?

Her brow furrowed as she absent mindedly scooped spoonfuls of Kimchi stew into while trying to remember where she had heard the two words together before.

"Are you still TAing for first year students?"

"Unfortunately. It's required to stay on my Prof's good side plus get their approval in case I need to ask them for favours in the future."

The doctor-in-training blinked as she listened in on their conversation, her eyes drifting back and forth between them.

"That was me last year until my Supervisor approved of my work and let me stop TAing for this year." Chaeyeon said with a laugh, "It must be hard marking all those papers and wondering how did students get to that point. Did they actually plug in random numbers into any formula—"

"Oh no, please stop." Hyewon groaned, dramatically waving her hand at Chaeyeon. "You actually sound like my first year students."

Chaeyeon's laughter mixed in with the chatter and clatter of the hospital cafeteria, but Sakura could easily pick it out between all the ambient sounds with the way her stomach turned and the smile curled on her lips. The happy noise never failed to bring a smile to her face.

"It reminds me of when I was a TA last year in my supervisor's class. There were some unique mishaps that happened that year." Chaeyeon started to recount all the things that happened in her previous year of being a TA for a history class and Hyewon listened along, adding her own experiences and pains and struggles.

A sigh of relief left Sakura's body again, she thought she may have started the next fandom war (except it involved University departments and not idol groups) but the two found similarities in their very different studies. They were able to find some common ground in their own, weird way. They were bonding.

"I had to reset someone's score because they said they dropped a dumpling onto their keyboard and it accidentally submitted their unfinished work." Chaeyeon fell into a heap of laughter, drawing Sakura’s attention again. From how her shoulders shook along, it seemed to be one of Chaeyeon’s best memories from that year.

Hyewon arched a brow, "Now why does that sound familiar..."

"Oh? Maybe you know the person. My supervisor out the name and gave me their account ID to reset for integrity sake. It was also part of my contract to not give out any details in case I do happen to see it."

Hold on a second.

Sakura sat in absolute silence as Chaeyeon shared this hauntingly familiar story. She slowly blinked, almost missing the egg roll that Chaeyeon had offered to her on her chopsticks. "... Is your supervisor Professor Bae Yoonjung?" She asked quietly, slowly turning her head towards Chaeyeon, expression mortified.

Chaeyeon blinked, the egg roll lowered slightly. "She is! I really admired her and she was honestly one of my inspirations when I started down this path." She paused, "I'm surprised you have heard of her name. Did you take a history class with her?"

"... Last year... She was my history professor in the first year History class I took with the lab... I was part of Lab Twelve..."

The egg roll came back down to Chaeyeon's container as each word from Sakura culminated into a realization that dawned on the both of them.

Lee Chaeyeon was that TA that Sakura cursed in the convenient store.

Even after Hyewon had left, every time Sakura turned the slightest towards Chaeyeon, the latter would burst out into a small fit of giggles. The realization that dawned on them and her eventually confessing to her mistake, the very thing that she had sworn she was going to take to the grave (her and handful of people who actually read her Instastory post), made for quite the story between the two of them. Chaeyeon even remarked that only fate could do such a thing.

At that moment, Sakura hated fate, just because it made her look like an idiot in front of the girl she really really liked.

"I'm not laughing at you, Saku-chan." Chaeyeon said after Sakura held her pout for more than ten minutes. "It's just so... funny." She tried to stop the small fits of laughter from spilling out but it was hard.

(Telling Chaeyeon that she almost considered building a shrine for Professor Bae Yoonjung for letting her retake the exam most certainly didn’t help.)

Sakura shifted her gaze away, the edge of her lips twitching. "Yes, I know. Fate sometimes ."

"Take it as a learning experience. Learn from your past history to apply it to the present and prevent future falling dumpling accidents." The cheekiness in Chaeyeon's tone was so obvious that Sakura had to playfully bat her shoulder with her own.

"Okay, I get it, Professor Lee."

Chaeyeon fought back with her own shove, not even bothering to hold in her laughter. "I'm not a Professor yet, Dr. Miyawaki."

"And I'm not a doctor yet."

They shared a comfortable laugh, falling into another discussion until Chaeyeon had to leave. Sakura couldn't stop smiling for the rest of the day and even when she reached the Hospital for her overnight shift and was hit with a whirlwind of files to read and patients to see and surgeries to assist, she just kept smiling. The warmth stayed, a buzzing presence within her chest.

She knew she was falling hard, and it was something she just couldn't stop.

………...

In the middle of her crazy schedule, there were brief moments where Sakura was allowed to breathe—a moment to just stop and be with her whirlwind of thoughts until the real world dragged her beaten body into the onslaught of responsibilities.

She just finished her round in pediatrics, checking and caring for the kids who were admitted. After spending time in the ward, she thought about how all kids were bright, they were just misunderstood or more keen on other things compared to the traditional structure the world was built on. Sakura was particularly attached to a young girl, Wonyoung, who was regularly in the ward for check-ups because of respiratory issues. Her talk with Wonyoung today brought some unsettling thoughts to Sakura, bringing up an invisible elephant that Sakura had been trying to avoid.

"Kkura-unnie, is there something wrong with my heart?" Wonyoung asked after Sakura pulled away her stethoscope. Sakura blinked, the question alerting her to flip through Wonyoung's records, checking her numbers.

"There's nothing abnormal, Wonyoungie. Is everything okay? Does your heart hurt?" She asked quickly, almost ready to call the head doctor and a nurse to conduct a full examination on her. She sat down next to Wonyoung as Wonyoung placed a hand against her chest.

"It hurts, but not in the way that it hurts if we fall off our bike and scrape our knees." Wonyoung explained, her eyes crestfallen. "I... I can't describe it very well, but sometimes when I see someone, it clenches, making me feel... uncomfortable."

Sakura's brow furrowed, trying to comprehend Wonyoung's explanation and run a diagnosis on what was causing her this pain. "Does it make you sick? Like you want to throw up? Or you have a short of breath?" She asked, mentally listing down symptoms and preparing to find the trouble the girl was having.

"No, not at all! Well, maybe not the throw up part, but a short of breath... maybe?" Wonyoung fidgeted, her fingers rubbing together. "Like, a gasp when they compliment you. Or when the times we accidentally touch, my heart races..."

The mental diagnosis.exe inside Sakura’s head stopped, and Sakura blinked, lowering her head a little to try and make eye-contact with the girl next to her. This seemed too familiar.

"Wonyoungie, do you like this person?"

"Like..." She squeaked a little, her hands lifted to her face to cover her cheeks. "As in, like... like?"

Sakura's shoulders slowly relaxed, the tension leaving as she laughed lightly and wrapped a comforting hand around Wonyoung's shoulder. "I see you are experiencing your first crush. This person is very lucky to have caught such a pretty girl's attention."

A thin line formed on Wonyoung's lips. "I was afraid of this." She whispered but Sakura heard it from her side. "It, it shouldn't be like this."

"Why not? It's natural for people to like others, Wonyoungie."

Wonyoung's eyes drifted upwards and met Sakura's.

She could see confusion and worry reflecting in Wonyoung’s eyes and she frowned, her mind once again trying to piece together the reason behind all of her worries. It was answered soon enough, after Wonyoung pulled out her phone, and showed Sakura a photo.

It was a two shot of Wonyoung with another girl. The girl's hair dropped to her shoulders and had such a bright smile, showing off cute dimples.

It finally clued into Sakura why Wonyoung was so distraught, and squeezed the girl's shoulder once more. "Oh Wonyoungie... You know it's okay to like girls in that way too."

"I'm scared, Kkura-unnie. I-I shouldn't be..." Her voice shook, her demeanor slowly breaking down. Sakura hugged her tighter, being mindful not to squeeze the life out of her. She furrowed her brows, trying to piece together a reassurance.

"Love is a trap, Wonyoungie. You don't know when you will fall into it but gender shouldn't matter. You should love a person based on things like their ideals, personality, and heart. Gender comes after." She took a breath, memories of her own past flashing very briefly, taking her back to the time when she first talked to her Mother and Grandmother about her preferences.

"If your heart screams that it's this person, then that's love, as simple as that."

When Sakura finished her small talk with Wonyoung and reassured the young girl about her feelings and her right in keeping them, she couldn't help but think of Chaeyeon. Chaeyeon, the passionate and studious student, the one who eased her awkward self and made everything between them comfortable, the one who took care of her at one of her lowest peaks (physically), and the one whose name her heart screamed when she thought of love.

Sakura couldn't ignore it any longer. She fell into the trap that was Lee Chaeyeon.

But there was one problem that the rational part of her brain thought of. Despite the simplicity in her realization of her feelings, life was rarely as easy, Sakura’s days jam-packed and energy spread out across hours. Was she ready for a relationship? She barely could take care of herself, being pulled thin between her responsibilities at the Hospital, her responsibilities at the University, and many other things. She felt it wasn't fair to Chaeyeon, if Chaeyeon even liked her in that way, if she couldn't dedicate enough time to her as her partner.

Her heart, on the other hand, just kept calling her. It kept telling Sakura that she's the one. If you don't tell her now, you might lose it. And that thought gave her a twinge that incited dread, a twinge that made her feel restless in her silence, a growing fear of losing.

Sakura sighed, covering her exhausted face with her hands.

She knew she couldn't control her heart, but every time she began to lean towards what it said, her brain listed everything that could go wrong. What would happen if Chaeyeon didn't even like her in that way? What would happen if all these comfort and affections were only in Sakura’s mind? That would make things awkward between them and Sakura would lose such a good friend.

By the end of her break, Sakura could only tell herself to just hold on a little longer, everything will get better.

But she knew it wouldn't until Chaeyeon knew.

………...

Sakura sometimes forgot Chaeyeon was a graduate student, similar to herself and Hyewon, because she was enrolled in a Japanese language class. She teased Chaeyeon during their café outings, always mentioning how young she was compared to her.

(They were only a couple of years apart, but they settled with a dynamic like they were the same age. Sakura seemed to have that effect because Hyewon, who was a year younger than her, treated her likewise. She wondered if she should ever demand them to call her Unnie, but the thought made her shudder.)

She remembered at that moment when Chaeyeon walked into the classroom, way after all the students packed up and left and she and Sashihara were about to finish discussing the plans for next class. Sashihara-sensei moved over to her first, seeing dark rings and the slight sag in Chaeyeon's shoulders.

"Chaeyeon, are you alright? I'm sorry if you sent me an email about your absence just before class, I was preparing for the quiz today."

The weary smile on Chaeyeon's face made Sakura frown. It was clear that Chaeyeon was exhausted and lacked sleep.

(She was all too familiar with that feeling. Being caught in a similar situation many times.)

"I'm fine. It's close to thesis deadlines, so I've been busy." She explained, straightening her back to make herself seem more presentable. "I’m sorry, I should have told you earlier, Sashihara-sensei. Is it possible to do the quiz now?”

Sakura wanted to protest, using her knowledge as a training-medical-professional to force Chaeyeon to rest before her condition could worsen. But she was only an assistant, and the professor would have the final word.

Sashihara hummed, "I have some things to do soon, so I wouldn't be able to stay with you but..." Her eyes fell onto Sakura, and Sakura blinked in response. "You can do the quiz right now and hand it to Sakura. She marked everyone else's quizzes, so she should be able to mark yours and give it back to you after."

In Sashihara’s gaze, Sakura could tell she was asking for more. A silent plea to look after her student as well. Her eyes moved towards Chaeyeon, who weakly smiled at her, apologetic.

“Is that okay, Saku-chan?”

And of course Sakura wouldn't say no. Not when Chaeyeon was like this.

Sakura kept a firm grip around Chaeyeon's arm as they left University together, the latter leaning half her weight on the former. In any other situation, Sakura would pay close attention to the quickening of her heart beat, the clamminess of her palms, and the tenseness in her muscles, but her concern over Chaeyeon well pushed any care about herself to the back of her mind. She kept a careful eye on her from the corner as she led the two of them to Chaeyeon's apartment.

"As a doctor—"

"I thought you said you're not a doctor."

"—in training." Sakura corrected with a cough, "I know you haven't been resting well enough."

"It's... been busy." Chaeyeon sighed, her head briefly brushing against Sakura's shoulder. "Thousands of words to write, hundreds of documents to read... Then when corrections need to be made, the nights seem to be even longer."

"Have you been eating three meals a day and sleeping at least 8 hours?"

"Maybe about half of the sleeping hours and maybe one full meal a day with smaller meals in between."

Sakura frowned, turning Chaeyeon gently in her hold and pressing a palm against her forehead. Her eyes searched the history student's, looking for anything worse than what she already knew. Chaeyeon was dazed at first, blinking a couple of times as Sakura's hand traveled against her face.

"You need to get proper rest and some nutrients into your body. If you continue like this, you'll get sick for sure." She used the same tone as she normally did with her patients, treating them seriously with concern. Her hand fell to Chaeyeon's arm, guiding her along. "Let's get you home. I can make you some soup while you rest."

Chaeyeon fell silent, glancing at Sakura occasionally. Sakura wanted to say something, but every time she nudged her head slightly in her direction, Chaeyeon would turn away. Her brow slightly rose, noticing how timid Chaeyeon seemed to be. She soon passed it as Chaeyeon being exhausted, shoving any other possibilities away.

It felt like deja vu when Sakura entered Chaeyeon's apartment. Everything was as neat as usual, the exception being the coffee table where they had their breakfast together was now filled with endless piles of papers and Chaeyeon's laptop. Sakura vaguely recognized the setup—it was something common among most graduate students.

(She has seen Hyewon's apartment in a similar state, with the exception of more takeout containers and her dog, Zeze, rolling around.)

She quickly ushered Chaeyeon to bed before she could get her hands on her laptop. "No." She snapped the laptop just out of Chaeyeon's reach when she tried to grab it. "Sleep first, paper later."

Chaeyeon hesitated, and Sakura could tell she wanted to fight back, but knew she would be on the losing side. Eventually, Chaeyeon relented and excused herself to her room after she told Sakura she could use anything in the kitchen. With Chaeyeon's permission, Sakura glanced around Chaeyeon's kitchen, familiarizing herself with the location of her pots, pans, and other utensils in addition to what she had left over. Sakura barely recognized Chaeyeon's ingredients, they must be things that were often used in Korean cooking. She settled on making her favourite, kimchi stew, with an instant pack that Chaeyeon had around.

As she went about Chaeyeon's kitchen, frying and cutting ingredients that would be used in the stew, she wondered if this was what Chaeyeon did for her. If Chaeyeon also took special care in how she prepped the ingredients and how she cooked everything to as close to perfection as she could. It left a fluttering feeling in her stomach—somehow, this seemed so... right. Domestic.

Like they were a couple.

(But they weren't. After the day she spoke to Wonyoung about love, Sakura slowly locked up her feelings into a tight corner and formed a mask to hide behind so she wouldn't make a move until she was ready.)

With the stew simmering and the rice cooking, Sakura found time to check on Chaeyeon.

She softly knocked on her door, calling her name out. When there was no response, she opened the door and called her name out again. There's a shift in the familiar bed and Sakura immediately recognized Chaeyeon’s curled form underneath the comforter. She crept closer after quietly excusing herself into the room and sat at the edge of the bed to get a better glimpse at Chaeyeon.

Chaeyeon was clearly passed out, her breathing even, twitching ever so slightly. A soft snore escaped her lips with each twitch.

Sakura laughed quietly. It seemed that this was the first deep sleep in a while for Chaeyeon. She moved to get up, but her eyes linger on Chaeyeon's sleeping face, for a moment memorizing the peaceful lines.

She loved the way that Chaeyeon looked, like this. She seemed so innocent, the responsibilities of the world absent for a merciful second. Her expression was soft, blissful. It was something Sakura wanted to wake up to every morning.

You shouldn't. Her brain cried.

"Chaeyeon." Sakura muttered softly, her hand brushing a stray lock of hair. Chaeyeon's nose twitched and her snores came to a halt.

You should. Her heart cried out after.

Sakura leaned forward, even as her mind and her heart battled for reason. Ultimately, the heart won, because you couldn't stop love with reasons. You couldn't stop the feelings that the heart bled, her want coursing through her bloodstream as she lowered herself with a hushed breath.

Her lips brushed against Chaeyeon's forehead, her eyes closing ever so slightly as if she was in a trance.

She didn't seem to realize what she was doing until Chaeyeon inhaled sharply. The sound snapped Sakura out of her trance-like state and she pulled away abruptly, blinking rapidly. She pressed a finger against her lips, realizing where they just were a second ago. Heat crept to her cheeks but her body tensed, frozen.

Oh no.

"... love... you..."

Chaeyeon mumbled, with a slow smile that would make Sakura take a photo if she wasn't so paralyzed over the words that left the latter’s lips. She did not know the context of what Chaeyeon said, what she was seeing in her dreams as she uttered the two words in a lovely sigh, but it echoed in her ears, whispering as if it was for her.

Sakura eventually forced herself away, pulling the blankets over Chaeyeon's body and tucking her in. She left hastily, shutting the door with a soft click. She heard the soft beeps of the rice cooker announcing the rice being finished, along with rumbles of the stew nearing the point where the heat needed to be turned down.

But her mind was elsewhere, only a pair of words echoing in their chambers. Repeated, like a mantra. Like a spell that withheld Sakura’s breath with every iteration, pulling her down away from the surface.

She leaned against the door, covering her face with her hands again.

They needed to talk. She needed to tell Chaeyeon.

It couldn't go on like this.

………….

Hey, are you busy? Could we meet up after I finish my clinicals for the day?

Sakura waited until after Chaeyeon finished editing her thesis to bring up the very thing that had been eating at her endlessly. She wasn't sure how to approach her but once Hyewon threatened that she would message Chaeyeon on her behalf (after days of endless lamenting and maybe a few matches turned into heartbreaking pity-party), she forced herself to come up with an answer.

She fiddled with the rim of her coffee, twisting the mug aimlessly between her palms. It was already her fifth cup of the day, her mind buzzing from the large amount of caffeine she consumed throughout the hours ever since she woke up. Her heart couldn't stop pounding. She was sure it wasn't from the caffeine, but from the mere thought of what was about to happen. She didn't want to lose Chaeyeon, not after they became close friends, close enough that her heart cried for something more. But her body couldn't shoulder this pain any longer, it would consume her entire being before she would even graduate medical school and could be actually called Dr. Miyawaki.

She could only hope that Chaeyeon wouldn’t walk away within the next hour.

She glanced at the time, she still had ten minutes to recite her entire speech in her mind and note each possible outcome that could stem from this situation. It was starting to look like one of those simulation games she used to play when she was in Japan, with the multiple choices and routes she could take...

"Saku-chan? Did you wait long?" Her heart thumped and her phone slipped out of her grasp.

"Chaeyeon! Er, uh, no." She quickly grabbed the device on the table and shifted whatever she had over. "I ordered your regular. I hope that's okay."

"Oh my, what's the special occasion, Doctor?"

Sakura nearly choked at the word special occasion. Would she call this a special occasion? She couldn't even find herself to fight back at the teasing words. Shyly, she gestured towards the seat in front of her and pushed the drink filled mug. The seat screeched silently and Chaeyeon sat with a hum.

It's silent between the two of them, Sakura trying to swallow her nerves.

"How was your shift at the hospital?" Chaeyeon asked, her eyes falling upon Sakura while she took careful sips from her mug. She showed no suspicion about Sakura's unusual behaviour, whether honestly not noticing or simply being kind enough to not point out, Sakura didn’t know.

She cradled her mug, her eyes shifting towards the side. "It was fine." She remembered her check-up with Wonyoung and how happy the girl seemed to be, talking about the silly things she was doing with the girl she seemed to be crushing on. She wished she could control herself more like her. Sakura swallowed again. "The usual, thankfully."

"Tons of paperwork and your mobile games during your break?"

The way that Chaeyeon controlled the conversation to help form a comfortable atmosphere between the two of them allowed her to lower her shoulders and take a moment to calm her nerves. Her teasing wasn't the same as Hyewon's, where they would break out into friendly banter immediately afterwards, but it seemed to have an underlying warmth to it, gentle prods playful at the same time it’s mindful.

(Or maybe that was her imagination because of how drawn she was to her.)

"I wish." Sakura sighed, shaking her head and matching the lilt of playfulness in Chaeyeon’s tone. "I would take paperwork and mobile games over the stream of endless patients." She took a longer sip this time, adding dramatically.

"Please don't visit the hospital, no matter how much it hurts when you step on a piece of lego.”

"What happens if it hurts so much that I can't walk on it anymore?" Chaeyeon propped her elbow up, pressing her chin against her palm. Her tone changed, slightly, even as it retained the light air. When Sakura caught her gaze, she saw something else in Chaeyeon—she saw a curious woman, always questioning and challenging everything. It must be why her and Hyewon were in grad school, sinking their teeth into the complexities of their majors.

(It must be why the two of them always fought and in similar ways.)

"Then I would schedule you for an x-ray immediately." Sakura replied, raising her shoulders and pretended to jot down on a clipboard that doctors always seemed to carry around. "Any other concerns, Professor Lee?"

"None. But are you okay, Saku-chan?"

The question brought Sakura's head back to Chaeyeon, once again matching her gaze. All the teasing and playful glances dropped from Chaeyeon’s expression, making room for one of pure concern.

"I can see that there's something bothering you, and it doesn't seem to be from work." Chaeyeon paused, cradling her mug. "I'm happy to listen." She leaned in, making it known that her full attention was on Sakura.

Ah, so she noticed.

Sakura pressed her lips tightly together. Every time she stared into Chaeyeon's gaze, all she could see was herself reflected in them. It's as if Chaeyeon only stared at her. It's as if Chaeyeon's world was focused on her.

(And Sakura wanted her world to be Chaeyeon as well.)

She took a deep breath, fists curled and fingers digging deeply into her palms.

"Chaeyeon. I... like you. I like you a lot. More than you think."

The confession hung heavily in the air, their breaths being the only thing telling Sakura that time didn't suddenly stop due to the sheer silence of everything else. Her heart slammed against her chest, her mind spinning in circles, waiting patiently for Chaeyeon's response.

But silence was a silent killer, and Sakura couldn't handle it, as words started to sputter out of to bring life back into the world that suddenly grew so deafening in its quietude. "So-Sorry, that was so sudden. I... I just needed to tell you that." Her shoulders sank and her eyes casted downwards, studying the half cup full of the dangerous brown liquid she consumed on a daily basis. She couldn't bear to see what kind of response was etched on Chaeyeon's face.

There's a small shift, and fingers gently landed on top of hers, grazing the skin.

"Do you feel better telling me that?"

Chaeyeon's voice was soft, no hint of disgust or malice hidden behind it. Sakura dared to take a peek. Chaeyeon's gaze was on her, a small smile curled with a light flush across her cheeks.

Sakura could only stare in disbelief—after a sudden confession, how could someone ask about the other? Was Chaeyeon really an Earthling (as Hyewon nicknamed her), or was she actually a divine being from the heavens above? Or was this some sort of sick, twisted joke for Sakura to fall into? Was there a catch by the end of all this?

"I..." Sakura closed her eyes, trying to evaluate her feelings at that moment. Her heart wasn't ramming itself in her chest anymore and her mind stopped spinning around. She digested Chaeyeon’s question, and looked into herself. While confusion filled her mind, the burden of her feelings didn't threaten to push her down into the ground, the room in her chest loosening enough for her to breathe a little easier.

"Yeah." She finished lamely.

Chaeyeon's quiet laughter lifted her shoulders, filling the air as well as said room within Sakura’s chest, and warmth surrounded her hands with Chaeyeon's fingers now clasping around them.

"Good. Because I like you too."

I like you too.

Sakura’s lips parted, jaw slightly agape. She really wanted to know if there was a hidden camera, or some sort of cruel god at work here to play with her heart because she did not expect that. Or maybe Chaeyeon didn’t get it. Maybe Chaeyeon was talking about platonic love.

In Korean, they used the word like and love a lot (she would know, being into K-pop and watching dramas had taught her that), so maybe this was platonic. Maybe Chaeyeon interpreted her confession wrong. Sakura can still salvage their friendship and play this off as a misunderstanding and laugh it off—

"I like you, Miyawaki Sakura."

The sudden Japanese confession knocked Sakura off her chair (figuratively), the warm hands around hers squeezing tightly. Sakura glanced up to study Chaeyeon once again. Her cheeks held a dark flush, her eyes shifted towards the side, but what Sakura glimpsed from them held a genuine sense of sincerity she didn’t need to pick apart.

This wasn't a cruel joke.

This was very, very real.

"Chaeyeon—"

"I'm sorry,” Chaeyeon cut her off, voice soft and oh, it sounded so aching. Sakura held back the comforting words that immediately wanted to tumble out , choosing to give Chaeyeon her turn instead.

“I, I held back all this time. At first I was unsure of my feelings, trying to distinguish between liking you or just admiring you… because it’s so easy to admire someone like you. But once we became closer, then I knew I didn't simply admire you like that. But, Saku-chan, I..."

Her hands shifted against hers, pulling away. Not even a minute after, Sakura missed the warmth that came from Chaeyeon's hands.

"I don't think I can be in a relationship. My work and studies are my top priorities right now and it would be unfair to you if I ignored you because of that." Chaeyeon's voice was cracking and small tremors shook from her body.

Sakura knew she wore her emotions on her sleeve, unlike her and Hyewon, who seemed to be better at masking them. Chaeyeon was always one to openly express herself.

(It's why she's so good at dancing, Sakura fondly thought, Because she can make us follow her emotions through her movements.)

And Chaeyeon was hurt. Sakura had seen her hurt before—when Chaeyeon couldn't solve a difficult Japanese question even though she should be able to, or when her thesis corrections didn't go through and her superiors berated her, to even those sappy dramas that they ended up watching together during a late night study session. But this was different.

Chaeyeon was heartbroken.

And because of how easily Chaeyeon expressed herself and how easily Sakura soaked in her emotion, she also was heartbroken.

She wanted to pick up those pieces and stitch them together with all the precision she studied and practiced for countless hours, but Sakura knew it wasn't that simple.

"Chaeyeon." Sakura's hands abandoned her mug and reached out for the shaking fingers, lacing them with her own. This time offering her warmth instead of taking. "I understand."

She took a deep breath and mustered her best smile. "Because I feel the same way." She waited for Chaeyeon to turn her attention to her, her heart squeezing when her gaze was finally met with Chaeyeon’s eyes. "I have my own responsibilities and priorities. The reason why I didn't confess sooner was because I didn't want to lose you as a friend or put any sort of obligation on you when I couldn't even give anything back."

Sakura tried to maintain her smile, but it looked pitiful in her eyes. "But, after the night I spent at your house, my heart couldn't hold back any longer, and the mask I carefully crafted cracked." She stopped herself from mentioning Chaeyeon’s sleep talking, how the two whispered words dug deep into Sakura’s subconscious and acted as the catalyst. "So, I needed to tell you all of this."

"Saku-chan..."

Sakura couldn't let go of Chaeyeon's hands even though she knew she had to. She held tighter instead, and opened more. "I like you, Lee Chaeyeon. I really do. But I don't want you to wait for me, you deserve so much more than what I can offer you right now." She could feel the protest coming from Chaeyeon, but shook her head. "In the future, if the opportunity shows itself, then I would like to try. But right now, as you said, isn't the best time."

Sakura should be hurt, Sakura should be crying that she was letting go the person that had claimed her heart, but there was something uplifting about letting it all out, acknowledging the roads ahead of them. If they didn't end up together in the future, she would kick herself for letting her go, but if Chaeyeon was happy, as long as Chaeyeon could be happy, then it was good enough for her.

(Or she hoped, anyway. Her heart would curse at her for days, but that was the process of going through heartbreak.)

"Is... that okay with you, Chaeyeon?"

She moved to pull away her hands, but this time Chaeyeon's grip tightened over them. When their eyes met once again, relief reflected and Sakura wasn't sure if it was hers or Chaeyeon's or from the both of them.

"Yes. I'm okay with that, Saku-chan." Chaeyeon's hands retracted, gently, the brush of their fingers lingering fleetingly before she finally moved them to wipe her teary eyes. "Thank you," whispered softly, preciously, with a weight beyond two mere words of gratitude.

Sakura's entire body relaxed, all the built up tension for the past while relieved with the words of her confession finally being let out. She took the chance to finally let out a sigh of relief.

"I'm glad that we can still be friends."

Chaeyeon laughed quietly as she crushed the watered napkin in her hands. "Of course! ... It would if I lost my Japanese practice partner."

Sakura blinked, arching a brow up at the cheeky smile that greeted her. She rolled her eyes and reached forward, her thumb grazing Chaeyeon's cheek. When Chaeyeon blinked in surprise and shyly tried to pull away, her thumb pressed down, trapping some of the skin between it and her finger. Chaeyeon yelped and Sakura narrowed her eyes as she kept the pinch on her cheek.

“Saku-chan!”

“I’m helping you to be less cheeky.”

Both of them soon fell into a familiar heap of laughter, comfort sneaking then settling down, the heavy feelings from their heart locked away for now, waiting for the day they'll be able to be reunited once more.

…………

[ Yulje Imposters ]

Yoojung

It’s finally here!

It’s been 100 years since we’ve started

This journey together

But now we’ve

Made it

We are the dreamgirls—

Daehwi
Excuse me—

Dongpyo

The way med school has finally taken Yoojung-noona’s brain cells

Sakura

You’re assuming she had any in the first place.

Yoojung

Please

You’re just as happy as I am!

Especially Kkura.

Sakura

What?

Yoojung

Please, we all know ;)

How long has it been?

2 years? 3?

Sakura

…

Dongpyo

Oh! Oh! Oh!

You’re talking about her.

;)

Sakura

STOP

Daehwi

I ran into her the other day, Noona.

She said she was excited to come to the graduation ceremony today.

Sakura

S T O P

Kaeun

Who?

Yoojung
Her, Unnie ;)

You know, Kkura’s one and only

Kaeun
Bae Joohyun?

Sakura

…

Yoojung

…

Dongpyo

…

Daehwi

The other one, Noona.

Kaeun

… Oh.

I see.

… ;)

“You look like you’re going to destroy your phone.”

Sakura was about to toss her phone away when Hyewon cut in, forcing her attention away from trying to delete or block the Yulje Imposters chat. She sighed, pocketing it away before she would lose her mind. “My fellow doctors are going to send me to the emergency room.”

Hyewon raised a brow, the corner of her lips twitching. “You know you have to sit with them during your ceremony, right?” Her hands shifted upwards, adjusting and straightening out Sakura’s robes. “They’ll just bother you there while you wait for your turn to accept a piece of paper you dedicated half of a decade for.”

Hyewon’s words made Sakura groan. “When you put it like that…”

“You’ll be fine, Kkura.” She stepped away, smiling and congratulating her silently before glancing at her phone, noticing a message. “Ah, looks like Chae found seats for us.”

Sakura’s back stiffened at the name. “She’s already here?”

This made Hyewon’s brow arch. “Yes? You know she’s been waiting all month for this after you asked her to come.”

Waiting.

It’s a single word that seemed to be synonymous to hers and Chaeyeon’s “relationship”. While time ticked on since the day they agreed to continue being friends, their relationship didn’t seem to change. The long dates at the cafe they frequent continued, the occasional dinners and check ups at their houses when one was too busy to even take care of themselves still happened…

It felt like they were just waiting for something to happen, willingly floating in the cusp of said something together.

“Kkura?”

Hyewon snapped her out of her thoughts, and she weakly grinned at her. “Yeah, I know.” She heaved in a steady breath. “Do you think it’s time?”

“You two have been dancing around each other for almost three years now.” Hyewon said, giving her a stern gaze. “Only you two know when the timing is right.”

Sakura knew she was right, that this was something that only her and Chaeyeon could decide. But still, doubt scraped up and she breathed out, “Do you think…”

“Kkura, what does your heart say? What has it always said?” Hyewon’s hand draped around Sakura’s shoulders, squeezing down tightly. She didn’t need a spoken answer, the knowing glint in her eyes seemingly aware of what came to Sakura’s mind the moment the question was posed.

It always screamed Lee Chaeyeon. Three years has never changed that.

Sakura swallowed. Satisfied with her silence and what it meant, Hyewon gently shoved her towards the door. “In any case, you still have a ceremony to get through first before you can even find her. Stop thinking too hard, jeez.”

Sakura glanced back at her, blinking. Hyewon made a shooing gesture, and Sakura soon broke into a wide grin. She finally turned around and went inside to join her fellow medical student graduates for the long ceremony that awaited them.

The courtyard was packed after the ceremony was over, students reunited with friends and family in tearful congratulations, warm hugs dappled with endless flashes of cameras. Sakura was pulled in several directions as her fellow graduate students wanted to take pictures with her and share tears of joy. All the cups and cans of coffee, sleepless nights, and piles and piles of stress was finally over.

(Or well, it should be.)

After she finished chatting with Kaeun and her cousin, Yunjin, she broke away from the groups of students to a secluded area off to the side. Finally, a moment where she could just breathe.

Or so she thought, when her eyes fell upon two individuals who were waiting for her.

Hyewon saw her first, and grinned as she waved her over. She nudged Chaeyeon behind her, blocking Sakura from being able to see her despite Chaeyeon being taller than Hyewon.

Sakura arched a brow but joined them regardless with an exhausted smile. “Hi.”

“Took you long enough. I didn’t know you were that popular, Dr. Miyawaki.” Hyewon teased, patting her shoulder lightly. “We were going to run off together if you didn’t show up in five minutes.”

A snort came from behind Hyewon, and the physics professor was tugged backwards. “As if you would run away with a History professor.” With Hyewon pulled out of line, Chaeyeon’s gaze fell onto Sakura, and her exasperated smile seemed to change into something brighter.

Sakura felt a lump gather up in and her heart pound against her chest. Her conversation with Hyewon earlier rang in her ears.

(“Only you two know when the timing is right.”)

“I’ll go get us a table at the usual. Let me know when you two are coming.” Hyewon said, suddenly taking it upon herself to disappear from their sight, but not without a teasing grin and a raise of eyebrows.

Sakura stared at Hyewon’s rapidly disappearing backside, dumbfounded that she actually left her alone with Chaeyeon so suddenly. She glanced back at Chaeyeon, blinking. “... She didn’t even ask to take a picture with me. It’s my big day!”

Chaeyeon laughed, stepping closer to Sakura. “She was hungry. She kept telling me how she could eat a whole cow.” She laughed even louder at Sakura’s pout, reaching out and gently rubbing her head. “There, there. I’m sure Hyewonie will beg to take a picture with you after she’s filled her stomach.”

An urge to point out that Hyewon never begged never made it out of her lips, Sakura’s attention shifting to the gentle hand that ran through her hair instead, the gesture warming her heart. Her shoulders dropped slightly. The tension that coiled inside started to unfurl itself. The words from her heart and her mind started to finally match, after years of pushing and pulling from each other.

“We can take a picture though but first, close your eyes.”

Sakura blinked, glancing at Chaeyeon but did as she was told. “Chaeyeon, you know I don’t really like surprises—”

“Shh.”

Her hands are pulled forward gently, brought upwards as she could hear the rustles of Chaeyeon struggling with something in front of her. Her brow furrowed, opening to ask if Chaeyeon was okay, but then something heavy was placed in her arms.

“You can open your eyes now.”

She did.

And what she found in her arms was a beautiful bouquet full of red roses, actual roses with mesmerizing red petals. Sakura blinked owlishly, knowing how expensive freshly cut flowers were—especially roses, in graduation season. “Chaeyeon, you didn’t have to, these are—” She protested, brows furrowed, but Chaeyeon shook her head, and leaned in close.

Sakura could see the flush that was overtaking her cheeks, and felt her own warm up. Chaeyeon smiled, gaze softening as their eyes met.

“I’m sorry to have kept you waiting for so long, Saku-chan.”

Waiting.

Sakura felt a grin curl on her lips. “I’m sorry too.” She lowered the roses slightly, admiring the shade of red that each one held. She then breathed out, the thudding heart within her chest alight with a song as she added. “But, I’m ready now, if you want to try.”

The gentle hands that were against hers in helping her hold the bouquet slid upwards, clasping her cheeks, tilting her head ever so slightly upwards so that they made eye contact. Sakura could see herself reflecting from Chaeyeon’s clear eyes, just as it had that day in the cafe where they started to thread into the journey of waiting, just as it always had for the past few years they waited together.

“I’m ready now,” Chaeyeon whispered in return.

They leaned forward, lips brushing in a chaste kiss, smiles soft against each other.

It took almost three whole years of waiting, but it was well worth it.

………...

"That should be the last rounds for the day, Dr. Miyawaki."

"Dongpyo, didn't I say we don't have to be so formal when it's just us?"

Sakura groaned as she shot a glare to the person next to her. Every time she heard Dr. Miyawaki, her heart swelled with pride, her long school days and endless hours of being the punching bag of the Hospital was finally over. But, it was still hard to get used to, especially when it was one of your friends from those horrid days that called you that.

Dongpyo just smiled at her. "I know you're eager to leave,” he pointed out, then stopped to make a show of thinking deeply. “Or maybe that was Yoojung-noona."

"She's always eager to leave."

A small laugh comes from the male as he took the clipboard from Sakura's hands. "Give my regards to Noona later." He waved and disappeared around the corner to take his break for the evening.

The mention of Yoojung reminded Sakura of her plans tonight, and she eagerly disappeared into the Hospital's locker room for the staff, fishing for her cellphone and checking it while she prepared to go home.

Her thumb grazed the pop-up that indicated a new message from a certain contact and she smiled fondly. Memories of her graduation day played in her mind, where she was handed a bouquet of beautiful roses and three simple words.

(“I’m ready now.”)

She clicked on the contact.

[ Lee Kkura > Miyawaki Chaeyeon ]

Miyawaki Chaeyeon

I hope work wasn't too stressful!

Somi, the annoying brat texted me last second and asked for jjajangmyeon.

Could you pick up some fresh noodles from the market on your way home?

Lee Kkura

You could say no, Chae...

Miyawaki Chaeyeon

Trust me, Kkura.

If you think your friend Yoojung is annoying when she's sulky.

Somi is 100x worse.

Lee Kkura

...

Then why are you trying to play matchmaker with them, again?

Miyawaki Chaeyeon

Because that kind of chemistry might make for a good relationship.

Besides, they hit it off quite well!

Remember our escape room date?

(“Hey, Yoojung-ssi, I bet the key to get us out of here is up this rat’s .”

Somi held up a stuffed rat, her fingers drummed on the grey fabric of its behind. Yoojung’s nose crinkled dubiously, but the grin on Somi’s lips curled even higher. “If it isn’t, you could stitch back together with your awesome suture skills right?”

A grin matching Somi’s terrifyingly formed on Yoojung’s lips. “I like how you think, Somi-ssi.”

Sakura came back into the room after finding the key in a box, and groaned before demanding an explanation from Yoojung about why she was pulling out her first aid kit to stitch together a stuffed toy, and why Somi’s palms were pressed together as the younger woman murmured a prayer.

“The rat needs to be healed, Kkura! I can’t deny a patient when I’m in an able position to help.”)

 

Sakura shuddered, remembering the absolute chaos that happened when they first introduced Somi and Yoojung and went to do an Escape Room together. After the tragedy of the stuffed rat that happened in their first room, the employees at the Escape Room had to warn them multiple times not to break the door and that the things that they touched were just props and not part of the game.

Lee Kkura

If you're so sure…

Miyawaki Chaeyeon

I'll make it up to you!

... Tomorrow.

Hopefully!

Assuming these two haven't blown up our house.

Lee Kkura

Chaeyeon!

Miyawaki Chaeyeon

Love you!

An exasperate smile curled on Sakura's lips as she put her lab coat away and took out her personal belongings. Chaeyeon was always one to care for her friends, especially the younger ones. She babied all of them and it was hard for her to say no (unless it was something terribly stupid, which for some reason, was about half of Somi's ideas). And of course, Sakura, now being her partner, found it hard to say no to Chaeyeon.

(If she had to be honest, she couldn't say no to her during their school days, either. Nothing had changed since they started on their career paths.)

She typed one last message to Chaeyeon and pocketed her phone, ignoring the one unread message from Choi Yoojung notification.

Lee Kkura

Love you too.

………...

Date night differed between couples. For someone like her friend, Hyewon, who was a foodie at heart and always visited the trendy restaurants and food stalls, she would take her partner to one of those places.

(Except for her current partner, who was apparently too broke for those lavish adventures. The two of them settled for chicken from their favourite restaurant and a night full of button smashing and yelling at each other.)

On the other hand, Sakura was a homebody so naturally her ideal date was a nice home cooked meal and relaxing in front of the TV or computer with Chaeyeon after a long day of work. They occasionally went out, but not as often as other couples.

Chaeyeon was similar, busying herself with crafts at her desk next to Sakura’s, occasionally glancing up at Sakura’s screen and asking her why her little bean dude kept falling off the platform.

(Sakura attributed her winless games of Fall Guys to Chaeyeon’s constant questions and teasing, but she would never tell her that she was distracting her in fear of being forced to sleep on the couch.)

But sometimes, date night included double dates, or as Sakura called it, Chaeyeon taking up Cupid’s bow and arrow and aimlessly firing it at their friends.

"Before I smoke everyone at Mario Kart," Somi declared loudly in the middle of the living room, holding up her controller. "I would like to say that Yoojung can't play tall characters."

"What kind of stupid rule is that?" Yoojung immediately jumped in, trying to hold her controller just as high. "If I can't taste the air up there I can at least taste it virtually."

"Exactly, we have to have proper representation in the game just as we do in real life—"

"Then you should be forced to only play the monkey character—"

"Did you just call me a monkey?!"

Sakura groaned, rubbing her head of the upcoming headache. She seriously did not ask for this. She just wanted a nice night of Mario Kart but with these two, they couldn't even start the game. The characters didn't even matter in the grand scheme of things—

Over the loud ruckus, her ears easily picked out the contagious laughter that Sakura fell in love with since she was a student, compelling her to glance over at Chaeyeon. Chaeyeon was unfazed by Somi and Yoojung's argument, seemingly enjoying it actually, shoulders shaking along her airy amusement as she shifted closer to Sakura.

Sakura couldn't help but smile, remembering how long it took to get to this point. And how it was well worth the wait, headache-inducing double dates and gaming nights aside.

Which reminded her. “Can we play now, guys? Please?”

………...

Chaeyeon was a nervous wreck in front of large crowds.

("I thought you danced in front of crowds all the time when you were younger?" Sakura asked from the bed, her arms crushed under the weight of all the different clothes that Chaeyeon piled on her earlier when she actually took out almost everything in her closet to look for the "best" clothes. She wasn't even the one receiving an award or something and she felt exhausted. Chaeyeon was going back and forth between two floral dresses, looking for the best fit for her.

"The directors always made me take off my glasses and I didn't wear contacts that often back then." She explained, frowning and tossing another dress on top of Sakura. "So, I couldn't even see the crowds."

Sakura was tempted to suggest Chaeyeon to skip wearing contact lenses when she received her award, but she had a sickling feeling she would be subjected to a night of sleep on the couch for that.)

"Does my make-up look okay? It's not too thick is it?" Chaeyeon stumbled over her words, eyebrows furrowed with worry as she constantly played with her hair that the hair stylist they visited before spent an hour tidying up for her. Since they stepped into the large banquet hall that the University used for many events such as awards ceremonies, Chaeyeon grew more and more apprehensive as the time ticked down. Sakura could only reassure her that everything was fine, that she wouldn’t slip, that no one was recording her ready to catch a mistake and immortalize it by uploading it to Youtube (thank you so much, Somi), and that all she had to do was make a speech filled with gratitude and accept the teaching excellence award that the University was bestowing upon her.

Sakura dug through her clutch bag, finding her cat-flip mirror Chaeyeon gave her one day (matching with a dog one that Chaeyeon kept for herself) and opened it for Chaeyeon to check her make-up for the twelfth time that night. "See? It’s fine. It's not as thick as that lady's mascara. You know, the one we saw at the entrance—"

Chaeyeon gasped, shoving Sakura's hand away. "Saku-chan, behave yourself! That's the dean. She's my boss and played an important part in your education too."

Sakura shrugged, pocketing the mirror. "She didn't play that big of a role in it." She mumbled underneath her breath. She probably did, at their convocation, but Sakura could barely remember all the many faces she met and talked there.

She sighed at the flicker of doubt that still clouded Chaeyeon’s eyes, "Chae, dear, you look fine. You're so pretty." Sakura tried to do one of her infamous Saku winks, acting as if she was trying to swoon her Partner off her feet. Chaeyeon stifled her laughter, trying not to catch the attention of the entire hall. A flush spread across her cheeks.

"Stop that, everyone is going to think you're weird with the way your eye twitches." She slapped Sakura's shoulder lightly and they both eventually laughed. Chaeyeon's shoulders finally lowered slightly, the tension easing away with their light teasing.

"Oh my, if it isn't Professor Lee, the receiver of this year's teaching excellence award!"

Sakura blinked, glancing over Chaeyeon's shoulder as a black-haired woman approached them, her arm immediately draping over Chaeyeon's shoulders gently with a bright smile on her face. She didn't miss how close and at ease the other woman seemed to be around Chaeyeon, and how familiar recognition reflected off of Chaeyeon's eyes at the greeting. Her brow slightly furrowed, but she remained silent.

"Eunbi-unnie, it's nice to see you too! You don't need to be so formal with me, you know that."

The other woman, Eunbi playfully pulled away, pressing a hand against her chest. "I'm hurt, Chaeyeon-ah. Don’t need to be so formal? What happens if I want to be called Professor Kwon?"

Chaeyeon made a face. "You'll always be Eunbi-unnie to me."

Light banter erupted between the two professors, as they started talking about the award and the University. The conversation went over Sakura's head, so she stayed silent, nodding her head every so often to pretend she was following along. She recalled Chaeyeon talking fondly about one Eunbi-unnie from time to time, so Sakura wasn't worried about a K-drama plot twist coming along in their life.

(In fact, Eunbi-unnie might even be someone that Chaeyeon’s been eyeing with her wild cupid arrows…)

"And this is my partner, Dr. Miyawaki Sakura."

Sakura blinked as her name was mentioned suddenly in their conversation. She turned her attention to the black haired woman, who smiled at her. "It's nice to meet you, Dr. Miyawaki." She held a hand out to her. "Chaeyeonie has told me a lot about you."

Sakura smiled back at her, taking her hand in hers and shaking it firmly. "I hope it was nothing embarrassing."

"The most incriminating fact she told me about yourself, that really isn’t incriminating, is that you're a big fan of Red Velvet." Eunbi pulled her arm away, casually flicking her hair backwards.

Sakura’s brow furrowed. The aura that Eunbi exhibited and the mere mention of Red Velvet made her recall someone. She inched closer to Chaeyeon, turning her head slightly to whisper,"Is this Jinja nice body Unnie…?"

Chaeyeon couldn't contain her laughter this time and fell into that familiar, contagious laughter that always sent flutters to Sakura's stomach. Eunbi glanced back and forth between the two, wondering if she missed something, but Chaeyeon quickly waved her away, gently pushing at Sakura’s shoulder as if reprimanding. "It's nothing, Unnie! Saku-chan can be a bit crude." She leaned forward, ‘whispering’ to Eunbi, "Her best friend is a physics professor."

Eunbi reeled back, staring at Sakura with an arched brow. "A physics professor, Dr. Miyawaki? I would have never thought."

There was something in her tone that Sakura was familiar with. It was the same tone Hyewon took when Sakura first introduced her to Chaeyeon, the same tone Hyewon maintained when she and Chaeyeon argued about their faculties and made Sakura worry about the possibility of a war breaking out in the Hospital’s cafeteria.

She shrugged playfully, a slight smile turning up on the corner of her lips. "They're good at games, so we get along well."

(She couldn't turn her back on the sleepless nights she and Hyewon had spent staying up playing computer games.)

"I see. At least they have interests outside of staring into microscopes and looking for lost particles." Eunbi's remark didn't contain any malice, just a familiar light jab that Sakura heard often between two rivaling faculties.

Sakura felt obligated as Hyewon's friend to try to defend the (now) physics professor's pride, but someone called for Professor Kwon and their conversation came to an abrupt halt.

"I'm sorry our conversation has to end here. We should grab dinner some time, when we're all not in 3 inch heels and tight dresses." Eunbi suggested, smiling at Sakura and Chaeyeon. She turned her attention to Chaeyeon once more, patting the younger professor's shoulder. "Congratulations once again, Chaeyeon-ah. You deserve it."

Eunbi waved to them one last time, before disappearing into the sea of people.

Sakura immediately rounded on Chaeyeon, "This was the hot literature professor you mentioned before?" She whispered, even switching to Japanese just to mask the potential crudeness of their conversation.

Chaeyeon nodded, shrugging shortly after. An amused curl curved her lips. "You gave her the nickname 'jinja nice body' Unnie. Eunbi-unnie is nice though. She's extremely well-favoured by all of her students and constantly receives praise from other Professors for her teaching style."

The history professor glanced in the direction of where Eunbi disappeared to, tapping a finger against her chin. "... Sounds like someone we know, actually." A smirk curled on her lips when her eyes drifted back to Sakura. "Hyewonie is single now, isn't she?"

"Kang-chan?" Sakura repeated, her eyes widening. "Chae, no. She just broke up with that Choi Yena girl a few months ago."

"Just a future food for thought." Chaeyeon said, gently bopping the tip of Sakura's nose. She huffed lightly, feigning offense. "I didn't say we had to."

Yet. Sakura finished in her head, thinking about the disaster that was Somi and Yoojung months back. She honestly didn't know if she could handle another destructive couple like the two of them.

A hand gently entwined with hers, fingers squeezing firmly. "Don't think too hard about it, Saku-chan. If the opportunity shows itself, then we'll cross the bridge when we get there, together."

Together.

It was the same word that Chaeyeon used when they were students, when the first seed was planted. Now, it was a flourishing flower, with only hopes of growing and maturing. Sakura would never trade this feeling away.

She squeezed Chaeyeon’s hand, smiling.

No matter what, even if she had to wait again. She knew now that they would always find each other, would always give their all to thread and live the word together.

And she would never trade what they had away.

END