“Hello, party peopleeee!” Chaeyoung shouted loudly while slamming the door open. She made a grand entrance on her first day back to their dorms for another school year.

Tzuyu and Dahyun were in their respective beds, already arriving hours earlier than the baby cub. They looked at each other and dragged the shortest girl to her bed. They sat her down and stood in front of her, arms folded.

“Umm why do I feel like I am being interrogated?”

“You are. What happened to last winter break when you suddenly cried and asked us to get you home, huh?”

Oh, now she remembered her sudden breakdown after Dahyun advised her that she should not miss the last club meeting in every year. She just needed to go home that badly that day so what Dahyun said basically ruined her I-want-to-leave so bad.

“We were so afraid you’re gonna drop out because you failed your test or something, you know,” Tzuyu seemed concerned, “normalize telling us things, Chaeyoung. We are your friends too, you know.”

“Yes,” Dahyun agreed, “imagine if you have yet another fight with Mina unnie and we don’t know stuff.”

“H.. How do you know?”

“Well, um, I have my own sources,” Chaeyoung squinted her eyes as she thought she saw Dahyun’s face blushed a bit, but she couldn’t quite pinpoint why. “ANYWAY, so what’s with you and Mina unnie?” “What do you mean?” “Like I said before, I didn’t know you and Mina unnie were close? At school back then, you never talked to her.”

“We didn’t talk to each other in front of you guys because.. I mean, what for? She has her own friends and I too have Tzuyu and you and my major friends. So in school in real life, we will talk with our own friends but me and Mina unnie would also, in parallel, exchange texts and tell each other about our life. Does that make sense?”

“Ouch..” Dahyun looked at Tzuyu comically, so Tzuyu decided to play along.

“So, based on my understanding, in daylight you showcase me as your friend but, plot twist, I am actually the side actor in your friendship mapping because the main actor is the one you’ve been secretly sharing your day with, like that?”

“Oh my God, Chou Tzuyu you made it sound bad! Of course you are also an important friend to me, it’s just different with her, you know!”

It’s true though. Chaeyoung believed there was no such thing as a one-fits-it-all friend. Tzuyu was her companion for her mischief acts, the one she went to when she’s feeling vulnerable, for her borderline jokes (poor innocent Tzuyu) and all. Dahyun was the go-to-friend when she was feeling a little bit adventurous, the one who truly gets with her dad jokes, and though they were only apart by a year, Chaeyoung felt happy being babied by Dahyun.

It was different with Mina, there’s no denying that Chaeyoung was super comfortable being friends with Mina, but their starting points were already different. When they met, Mina had already established her social position and Chaeyoung feared that their apparent friendship in public would be seen as something not out of pure intention from Chaeyoung’s side, like she was taking advantage of Mina. Probably this fear also stemmed from what Tzuyu said the night Chaeyoung told her she was neighbor with Mina, but Tzuyu wasn’t wrong. That was most probably what the general public would think. Chaeyoung was also quite conscious not to show her childish side to Mina. She hated being seen as the kid when it’s with Mina. In short, she sort of tried to present her best self in front of Mina?

“Bro? Why do you look stunned like that, it’s creepy..” Dahyun snapped her fingers to bring Chaeyoung back to reality. “Ah, sorry. Where were we?” “We asked why you kept your friendship with Mina unnie in secret. Gosh, you really need to fix your habit of spacing out.”

“I didn’t keep it a secret.. I just don’t want people associating me befriending her as something transactional, she was the school president and I was no one! But trust me guys, you are not less important. I tell lots of your stories to her!”

“Chaeyoung, we will definitely not think of you as someone like that. Also please don’t share stories about us, we don’t want Mina unnie to know what stupid things we did with you. ”

Chaeyoung stayed silent to that statement. “Of course you did! Arghh where should I put my face when we have high school student board reunion..” Chaeyoung felt guilty but she tried to cheer her Dahyun unnie, “Unnie, it’s okay, you already have that kind of image ever since your eagle video at your church got exposed.” “NOOOO don’t you remind me of that ever again,” she fled to her bed to hide herself under her blanket.

Tzuyu was still in front of her, “Why did you fight with Mina unnie, then?”

“It was nothing. Some misunderstanding and all, you don’t have to worry.”

“Okay sure sure, you do you and I believe you. But Chaeyoung, this kind of ,” Chaeyoung gasped as Tzuyu used profanities, I have broken Tzuyu!, “whatever it is, happens in friendship. I know you are a pacifist and in text it’s easy to avoid conflict. Now that the intensity of your friendship is out in the open for me and Dahyun unnie,” Dahyun groaned agreeing to that while still hiding her face under the blanket, “please don’t keep things to yourself. We will try to understand your weird nature of friendship, can’t let you ruin your studies over things like this.”

“Thanks, Tzuyu. Thanks, Dahyun unnie!” Dahyun groaned once again.

*

Since the forever animal-lover Tzuyu went to vet school, Chaeyoung needed to find other friends to stick with in uni.

She was generally awkward to make friends with new people, that’s why she only had Tzuyu throughout her high school days. In uni, however, Chaeyoung had decided that she wanted to start over. She activated her super rate extrovert energy on the first day of orientation and managed to make friends with total strangers.

She now had a peer group. Her peer group was quite popular among students in the faculty, as they were smart academically, active non-academically, and seen as the friendly clique.

Kim Yerim was the first person Chaeyoung approached on the orientation day. She was strongly hailed as the president of Yonsei pilates club in this academic year, excelled in the debating club, and was the joker of the peer group.

Kim Ji-Woo was the bubbly kid that Chaeyoung felt bad for because she seemed to have no one to sit with on their first public lecture. She led Yerim to sit with Ji Woo and they became together ever since. Ji Woo was notoriously known for her academic excellence. She was a big help for Chaeyoung and Yerim whenever they got lost with school after being too busy with their club activities.

Son Chaeyoung herself continued with track running. She included her splendid records in high school in her admission portfolio and she was sure that earned her a seat in Yonsei. Mina’s story in her own school also inspired Chaeyoung to be active in her student organization and she was leading the research team.

“AAAA,” Yerim suddenly screamed, startling her two other friends who were busy with their own laptop.

“What’s wrong?”

“I have a case building homework from my debating coach but he keeps on giving me feedback on areas I have revised before.”

“Let me see..,” Chaeyoung moved closer to Yerim, “it's corporate law stuff?” “Yessss and I’m so done with this.” Chaeyoung looked at Yerim’s laptop. She read them for a while, “I think I get what he meant. Your motion sounds weak because you did not add any supporting example. I have seen this kind of question once, you should only look at the termination in New York since the rest of the US, if I’m not mistaken, uses the same at-will policy.”

By the time Chaeyoung finished her speech, two of her friends looked at her in disbelief. “Son Chaeyoung! What’s this? Have you been joining a secret debate club?” Ji-Woo said with her hands covering . “Not gonna lie, you looked y while saying that stuff,” Yerim added, agreeing with herself. At that, Chaeyoung looked around frantically, “You idiot! What if Sooyoung heard?!” She only waved her hand, “Oh, don’t be silly, she isn’t here. Besides, she knew lah she’s the only one for me.”

“Lovestruck idiot.”

“Oh, shut up! So, where have you been learning about this!?”

“Hmm a friend of mine has been in the debating club since high school so I see her documents often.”

“Why are you suddenly so shy?” “Yeah, Chaeyoung, who is this ‘friend of yours’?” “Wow, is this why she keeps turning down people, Ji Woo-ssi.” “I think so, Yerim-ssi, she isn’t even looking at us now.” “Omo! You know she sometimes looks so silly smiling at her phone?” Yerim nodded. “I think it’s him. Or is it a she, huh Son Chaeyoung-ssi?”

“She is a friend okay!” she was a bit annoyed now, “And you won’t know her anyway, she doesn’t study here.”

“Nooo that’s too bad, I thought she’s one of our sunbae and I know her in the club.”

“Is she a medicine student?” Ji-woo asked. “How did you know!” “That explains your weirdly vast collection of health trivia, despite your,” she gestured her finger at Chaeyoung as if she’s some kind of object to assess, “very unhealthy lifestyle.”

“Ma’am I’m literally a runner, if that slipped your mind. I definitely work out more than you,” she looked at Ji-woo, who indeed was the least physically active of them three. “You are what you eat and you only eat junk food when you remember to eat, I rest my case,” Ji-woo stuck her tongue out and they continued bickering until their break ended that day.

Chaeyoung was planning to invite her two friends to Mina’s party, but now she was afraid that they would to no end and made Mina feel awkward. Chaeyoung was very sure that those two wouldn’t be able to keep their mouth shut or from becoming less obvious with their face expression. So instead, she brought along Tzuyu and Dahyun who both already knew Mina, Jihyo, and several other mutual alumni from high school.

“I honestly don’t get why we should accompany you to a party at the other side of the town,” Tzuyu said while driving them to SNU. Her parents bought her a car and for the occasion, they decided to use it for a good cause. It wouldn’t be convenient to take the subway in the middle of the night after the party.

“Said someone who was the most excited before,” Dahyun sneered.