Siyeon yawns into the palm of her hand. Her study session ran past the time she set for herself and before she knew it, it’s already nearing dinner time. Her friend is not going to be happy with the fact that she already missed their designated dinner time.

Siyeon sighs and tiredly hoists her textbooks further up her arm. She opens the door leading outside to the university lawn area when she sees a large crowd gathering by a stage. There are strobe lights moving about and loudspeakers playing dance music. Absently, Siyeon remembers seeing a flyer for a friday event. Something about performers coming in to entertain the students of Yonsei University after a grueling exam period.

But for her, the loud music and hyped up atmosphere are not to her taste so she tries her best to walk quickly through the lawn. It proves to be a difficult task as bodies are swaying to the hypnotizing music and drinks are being passed around. A few students from Siyeon’s program recognize her and try to get her to party.

“Er, no thank you.” Siyeon declines a suspiciously blue drink in her batchmate’s hands.

The girl doesn’t give up and slings her arm around Siyeon’s shoulder. It’s a bit awkward considering the girl is much shorter than Siyeon is, making her bend down uncomfortably. All she can think about is how dangerously close the drink is from spilling onto her expensive textbook. Either that or her clumsy self will drop the books onto the dirt.

“C’mon Si! Lighten up! Free drinks! Great music! Hot dancers!” The girl practically shouts into her ears as if she couldn’t see everything going on around her herself. Siyeon sighs, already feeling the annoyance creep up. She didn’t like people being so pushy with her nor did she like to be touched by someone she didn’t consider a close friend.

“No thank you. And don’t call me ‘Si’. My name is Siyeon” Siyeon says with the coldest stare she could muster. She wonders if the girl could even register anything she was saying or doing considering she just took a swig of that blue drink in her hand.

“Lame.” The girl finally lets her go and goes into the crowd to do who knows what. Siyeon dusts her shoulders off and reminds herself to get this jacket dry cleaned at least three times to get rid of the gross germs from that girl. Siyeon continues on her way, ignoring random catcalls and strangers bumping into her.

This night can’t get any worse, Siyeon thinks but then the music switches into a song Siyeon has heard in passing. Absently, she takes a glance at the stage when the crowd goes wild at a new person stepping up.

The girl on stage is dressed in a white button up shirt with black underneath and black shorts. Her blonde hair and smokey makeup gives her a dark but seductive look. She begins to dance to the Billie Eilish song, causing the crowd to roar. Siyeon has to admit, she is a tad impressed by the dancer as it is obvious how much the other girl worked to reach that level of performance.

But Siyeon is only interested in getting home and sleeping so she continues on her way out. By some of fate, Siyeon decides to give one last glance to the girl on stage. To her surprise, they make eye contact in that brief window.

Siyeon breaks the weird eye contact and leaves as if nothing happened, making the girl on stage wonder about the girl with a cold expression.

--

“Minji, am I a bad dancer?”

“Bora, it’s 2am, please go to sleep.”

“Okay.”

Bora her side to look at her friend in the dark.Their performances went well tonight and Bora couldn’t be more proud. Really, she couldn’t. But she also couldn’t help but think of that student she saw in passing. Bora remembers almost messing up her own choreography at the disinterest she saw in those eyes. Admittingly, it was dark so maybe Bora just misinterpreted the situation.

Deep down, she knows that still isn’t the right explanation.

“Minji, am I ugly?”

“For god's sake, Bora!” A pillow hit the shorter girl on the head, shutting her up.

--

They meet again, much to Bora’s surprise. It’s her day off so she’s wandering the city alone, enjoying the anonymity the mask and hoodie granted her. She enters a ramen shop slash cafe that lets customers customize their ramen to their liking. It was pretty popular among her friends due to the similar taste it has with traditional Japanese ramen.

The oak interior of the shop makes it seem like a cafe but the counters are filled with ramen ingredients and nutrition facts. On a normal day, Bora wouldn’t allow herself to indulge like this lest she gain weight and get scolded by her management. But just one day wouldn’t hurt right? She resolves to work out twice as hard tonight to make up for it.

Bora is looking at a selection of recommended combinations when she sees the girl she never expected to see again.

What are the chances?

That girl who sometimes appeared in Bora’s mind at random times of the night is right there. That very same girl with the expressionless face, piercing eyes, and round specs on her face was there, looking at the selection of ichi ramen instant noodles very seriously.

Bora watches her pick up two packets, nodding resolutely to herself like she just made a life-changing decision. It was then that Bora realizes that this girl is actually quite cute, except for her aloofness. She shakes her head from side to side to snap herself out of her weird thoughts.

“Get a grip, Kim Bora...” She mumbles to herself, walking to a shelf with her favorite cup ramen. Today, she feels like having something extra spicy to get rid of the stress from the week. Unfortunately for her, the flavor she wants is all the way on the top. Bora gets on her toes to reach for it but it isn’t enough. Suddenly, there was an unfamiliar warmth near her back and a hand reaching out above her to grab the cup she wanted.

Bora turns around, ready to yell at a potential ert when she comes face to face with those eyes again. They regard her differently this time, unlike that night. They aren’t exactly warm or friendly but they aren’t disinterested either.

“You could hurt yourself if you aren’t careful.” The girl says with her head tilted. Her voice was of the husky sort, sending shivers down Bora’s spine. She hands her the cup ramen and resumes waiting at the counter for her food like she didn't just fluster Bora. Bora stares at the cup in her hands, contemplating on just leaving the cafe but she’s really hungry and it’s cheap.

Bora sighs and brings her head back up. Her eyes catch the cashier squinting at her before looking back at a huge poster on the wall and then at her again. Bora catches on and tugs her mask up higher. Unconsciously, she moves to hide behind the taller university student.

The girl notices her movements and turns back around. “Is everything okay, miss?”

“I-uh...” Bora stutters, unable to get her thoughts together. The other girl must have misunderstood Bora’s fidgety behavior so she took the cup from her hands and offered to pay.

When Bora tries to protest, the girl shakes her head. “You look like you need it. Don’t worry, I can afford to treat someone else to cheap ramen once in a while.” The girl walks up the counter and gives it to the cashier boy. The boy squints behind the tall girl, causing Bora to look away.

“Is there a problem, sir?”

The boy is startled by the intense look the girl is giving him. “Oh, um, no. I was just wondering about your friend. She looks familiar...”

Bora takes a quick peek at the interaction and is surprised to see the girl narrow her eyebrows. “Even if she does look familiar, you shouldn’t stare like that. You’re making her uncomfortable.”

If Bora wasn’t thankful for the girl before, she sure was now. The boy apologizes and hands them their meals. The girl gestures to the table with a few books and papers scattered about. It was small but it was in the back, which was perfect for Bora. The girl tells Bora to sit on the inside while she sits opposite of her, effectively blocking her from prying eyes.

“Thanks. For the meal and for earlier.” Bora starts. The girl simply nods and focuses on her noodles, much to Bora’s amusement. Normally, people love to hear how nice a good deed was or ask for more but, this girl didn't seem to care about any of that. It was refreshing in Bora’s constant life of praise and hate.

They both eat in silence for a while, only the sounds of slurping could be heard from their table. Bora usually loves talking and interacting during meal time but for some reason, she found herself comfortable with the silence.

Bora finishes her meal first and simply takes the time to get a good look at the girl in front of her. Round eyes, pointed no