Minju opened her eyes, and with the aftershock of her blackout, she didn’t notice the presence beside her if the person didn’t tap her shoulder when she sat up.

She looked at the person and was greeted by those sparkling hazelnut eyes, a beautiful pointed nose, and cute little lips – just like as she remembered, but of course, the said features had matured a lot, became more sharp and prominent – her beauty more shining. She still wore her shoulder-length hair down, letting it flow and be blown by the soft breeze going inside the nurse’s office’s window. The girl nervously smiled at Minju before scooting closer to her – just like what she did back when they first met each other.

“Hi,” The girl said, an unsure smile visible on her face.

Minju didn’t speak, blink even, she may look all calm on the outside but Minju’s guessing that the inside of her brain is already looking like a headquarter that has been burning down, kind of like that one Spongebob meme. Her thoughts are all over the place – messy and crazy, all because of this girl who suddenly had the guts to show herself after vanishing as if it was nothing.

“Hey look I’m sorry-“ Yujin tried to touch Minju’s shoulder but it was immediately rejected when Minju abruptly stood up from the bed.

“Stop. You don’t get to just come back and explain and…” Minju closed her eyes, trying to suppress her tears, “expect that you’ll immediately be forgiven and the past will be forgotten as if what you did was just nothing and it didn’t affect me so horribly. Yujin, I was hurt. So hurt. And you’ll just casually return all of a sudden? Oh, that’s what your good at right? Spontaneity?” Minju said before she dashed out of the door and ran outside.

She ran and ran until her feet brought her in front of the student council building – her safe haven for the past years.

Minju buried her head on her palms while sitting like an infant by the stairs of the building. The silence of the whole office amplified her sobs, echoing the sound all throughout the empty place.

Minju cried and cried. She almost started hyperventilating if she hadn’t stood up and done some breathing exercises that would calm her down. She was leaning on a wall, her head hung low when she heard the office doors open.

“Please… Please not now,” Minju whispered, expecting the intruder to be Yujin. But as soon as she felt tiny arms wrap around her, she let her guard down immediately and surrender all her weight onto the person who just arrived.

“Shh… Cry all you need. I’m here.” She heard Yuri’s husky voice whisper softly and felt her tiny hands rubbing her back soothingly.

Yuri was always there for Minju when she needed someone. Back when Yujin left her, the preceding school year, Yuri transferred and became Minju’s classmate. The two of them clicked at their first meeting, sharing the same humor and hobbies, they became each other’s support system and eventually co-council members. Yuri was the one who pushed Minju to do things that are beyond her comfort zone and thank the younger, Minju got to experience the things she thought she couldn’t.

And right now, Yuri was going to push her one last time.

“Minju, I think you need to talk to her…” Yuri said and Minju knows that she definitely should sooner or later but, the sooner the better, right?

“I know,” Minju answered, but after lashing out earlier, she doesn’t really know where to find the Yujin on campus anymore.

“Good, now go out there,” Yuri told her as she slightly pushed Minju towards the direction of the main doors of the building.

“What-“ Minju was cut off midsentence when she caught a glimpse of Yujin outside of the building, sitting on the pavements while her head was on her arms that are plopped up on her knees, kind of looking like she was waiting for Minju.

Minju slowly walked towards the other girl before quietly sitting down beside her. It took a few minutes for Yujin to realize the presence beside her, and when she did, she almost had a mini heart attack, seeing the face of the girl she missed so much.

Unlike earlier where she was so eager to speak, Yujin just kept mum while staring at Minju’s eyes – those orbs that she missed so much. The ones that would always make her feel like she’s safe and she wasn’t alone.

After a few minutes of silence and just the two of them staring at each other, Yujin finally blinked and looked away, clasping her hands together in nervousness before inhaling a deep breath and moving her head to look up at the dark clouds approaching their zeniths.

“I’ll be listening,” Minju whispered so softly that Yujin almost broke down on the spot, thinking that she doesn’t even deserve to be heard.

Nevertheless, she took the chance that Minju graced upon her, never even thinking about running away again and wasting the moment, “I’m sorry Minju. I really am.” She started before pausing once again, needing to take a breather to stop her emotions from rushing out.

“Remember Ryujin?” The younger asked which made the other confused about the sudden bringing up of their senior’s name.

“Yeah, how could I? She got kicked out last month, after years of reports about her.”

“I wish I was one of those who reported about her,” Yujin whispered. Minju was getting more confused than ever, she doesn’t know where this conversation was headed but she kept listening to the younger.

“She threatened to hurt you, Joo. And, I was so young and stupid back then. I didn’t know what else I could do-“ That was it. Yujin’s tears started flowing out of her eyes, she started to sob and whisper endless apologies to the older while the latter kept frozen in place.

“Hurt me?” Minju thought as she looked a