Another splash of coffee greeted . It was as if water was never an option for a hangover. Tipping a sachet of powdered ginger lemon tea, water finally introduced itself, merely to dissolve the powdery bits.

Forcing down the mixture, Yena squirmed internally as she struggled to force it down. It was retribution for finishing a few more bottles of soju at home, after the mid-day alcoholic adventure.

Just as she was about to force down the last mouthful, the caller id on her phone made its grand appearance on this fine hell of a morning.

Frowning to herself, she clenched her jaw tightly as she grappled with thoughts as to why a certain someone was calling her.

But it wasn't like her to turn down a call from her friend, as of the moment. It couldn't go back to that moment, just yet. Moreover, it could be an emergency, perhaps a fire broke out somewhere.

A heart to be more exact.

"Hello?" Yena cautiously uttered as she slid her emotions back into a defensive block.

Silence filled the lonely apartment before a raspy voice spoke on the other end.

"I didn't think you'd pick up." The other voice answered back, a hint of surprise evident laced with a tinge of happiness.

At least what Yena unconsciously believes it to be.

Frowning again at the response, Yena returned a sentence, a question. Either which was left for the other end of the line to figure out.

"Well, why wouldn't I."

"I don't know." The ball returned to her side of the court.

'Of course, you don’t. You never knew. You don’t know. But the moment is the past. Now we are living in the present.' Yena silently thought as she took out a marker. To take down whatever the other lines’ thoughts brought her.

"So I've been thinking about certain things."

'You've always been thinking. I have been too. It's just we never thought about how our thoughts needed a voice of it's own' Clenching the marker tightly, Yena gave up on it after a few seconds. Besides, it was too early to get angry. 

Since when did she even think that anger needed an appropriate timing to appear?

"Go on." Yena replied dryly as she absentmindedly wrote a certain name, before hurriedly swiping it off with a finger.

"I'll be seeing someone else." Specks of blue ink stuck itself on her finger.

"So?" Yena retorted at the statement.

"I'll be going on a date with someone." The other line spoke, each syllable knocking a nail into Yena's heart 

"I don't see the problem here. You and I, we are merely friends. Maybe acquaintances at this point." Yena spoke acidly before continuing, her tone dampening after that last statement.

Silently regretting the words, Yena drooped down onto a stool, leaning into her forehead just to stabilise her emotions.

"Look, whatever it is. You're free to see whoever you want. You are you. Just don't think that other people have an influence on you."

‘And I don’t want you to be subjected to one view.’ Yena silently thought as she let her last sentence echo in the conversation.

"I just wanted to let you know. I'm sorry if it came out with other intentions to you." This was by far the most sincere apology that Yena had heard since that period.

She visibly hears the other line sigh before continuing, the hint of desperation sacratching at the walls she placed round herself.

"I should go." The other line spoke softly, as if she didn't want Yena to hear, but perhaps only for the wireless connection in her phone.

‘Then go. What’s the point of waiting for each other when the present is waving at us?’

Silence engulfed the call. Neither party wanted to hang up but they should, shouldn’t they?

She didn’t want to pry open into certain matters but betrayed her own boundaries that she had forced between them.

"Who is it?" Yena spoke softly, knowing the response very well. A time machine would just simply waste her time.

"Kang-" Without waiting for her to finish, Yena hung up. The lone syllable hung up in the still silence, mocking her loudly.

She knew very well which Kang it was. Just one Kang, one Hyewon. A Kang Hyewon who now took refuge in her heart. 

It was a cozy spot, at least for a year. Before the forces of attraction between their magnets began to weaken to a mere blackness.

It was foolish love. A fool in love. Blind leading the blind. To think that they could have worked out the temporary magnetism between them into something permanent.

Others were able to escape the temporary attraction that binds them in exchange for a permanent ring on each other’s finger. So why?

Why not them? It was unfair. She felt it was unfair. As if the rules that magnets held upon them were mocking her. Taunting her for wasting her time to pursue a temporary vessel.

Reminds Yena of the quote, “Empty vessels usually make the most noise.”

But neither of them made noise, allowing time to quell the whole affair into the past. 

Scoffing to herself, she strapped her shoes, allowing room for her toes to breathe. Maybe she should do the same, allow room for herself to breathe.

Speaking of rooms, a certain Kim that she shared a room with, a few drinks with and a round of pool, manifested herself into her mind.

But what was the use of all these worthless pining against people she couldn’t see again. Hell, it was as if she dreamt the entire scenario up. Maybe there’ll be a huge hole in her bank account when she wakes up.

To wake up from this dream seemed like a waste, especially when there was a change. It was different. New perfume, new hair? Yena could figure it out one day but she knew she needed to wake up from this dream for the nightmare of life to begin.

Maybe closing and opening her eyes would work? And so she did.

Blackness came first followed by the sight of her red little scooter parked away at the corner, greeting her view.

The same drawing of a sand cat from last night, albeit faded, still stuck onto her onto the back of her hand, like the stubborn remains of a sticker.

Sighing to herself, it was ridiculous. Besides, every breathing second is a nightmare to her, having to keep up with expectations. 

Whose ones, you may ask?

Society, of course.

Parental figures she needed to drop by every month, just to assure them. Not to assure herself, it was never about her in the first place either way. A simple talk over a well-seared steak, each one done to each of their likings, each bite harder to swallow as more questions pour out of wine bottles. Ones that began to challenge how she truly saw herself in her parent’s eyes.

All she concluded, each one with the same intention but different words, that she was merely something that they had to take care of, pour their heart and wish for the best outcome that she could return.

The thing is, it was hard to be the best outcome when Yena could merely become a better version with each breath she takes, yet she could never reach the best version they wanted in the store of life.

She was grateful to them, for many things. It was the least she could be grateful for when she looked round to the other side.

They gave her the first home to grow up in, a warm environment despite her own worsening medical condition. Though she eventually recovered, scars of the past reminded her in every x-ray she took, medicine which slowly diminished yet they returned in a stronger formula, a different coloured bottle of an eccentric shape.

Days of relying on banana flavoured syrup, a handful of tablets slowly found itself drooping in numbers as the hours as an outpatient increased.

It was only when her condition fully recovered, not a single relapse or the yearly hospital visit from a simple flu which attacked her brutally, she heard her parent’s smile and saw them sigh in relief. 

A statement from the countless doctors, declared her fit to breathe in air that was not weighed down by pressures of wanting to be healthy by medicine’s standards.

The boulder of worry which sank heavily on her parents rolled over to a blackhole, a significant change in their attitudes to mark the celebration. A party to mark the days of spending money on outpatient bills.

However, a pile of pebbles lay hidden on their daughter’s shoulder. 

Alone

waiting for the other pebbles to tell their story when the time comes round.

_____________________________

The same routine from the day Yena stepped foot in Yonsei University, played out in every nerve, each one finely tuned to ensure that she made minimal contact with anyone.

Today was a tinge different. Chaeyeon came over to greet her, a pink haired lady with undeniably large eyes following behind. It held a hint of innocence that Yena wasn’t used to. To add on to the pile, Chayeon seemed a little tense on the shoulders.

‘Exchange student by the looks of it.’ Yena assumed as she gestured towards the pink haired lady who was looking around curiously, as if the school’s trash bin was something that had yet to appear in her own sight.

“So Yena, this is Miyawaki Sakura. And Sakura would suit her just fine. She came here on the juniors’ exchange program” Chaeyeon then proceeded on to translate Yena’s name knowing well that it was slightly too early in the morning for her mind to register another language.

Japanese language wasn’t exactly her strongest forte but she knew the basics, enough for her to withstand a decent conversation in Japan, given that she pushed herself to learn after being impatient on the slowly subbed anime.

Sticking out her hand at the end of the introduction, Sakura shook Yena’s hand gently on her own while commenting something along the lines of fingers.

A bout of stifled giggles came out of Chaeyeon’s mouth as she translated Sakura’s remarks, forcing Yena to retract her hand swiftly from the slight grasp that Sakura had on hers. 

"Cream puff?" Yena sputtered out in disbelief as she held her hands up.

Staring at her hands which were marred with lines and faded scars from the equipment from their workshop, she couldn't find a single bout of resemblance to a cream puff.

"What she implies is that it's chubby and thick like the filling of a cream puff." Chaeyeon resolved the situation as she gestured for them to head on to classes.

Yena watched as the pink haired lady leaned in towards her friend, a tinge of redness creeping up on Chaeyeon’s ears as the two held a muted conversation.

Coughing slightly to allow Chaeyeon's system to register oxygen before the exchange student could unknowingly blow her up, Yena conversed in Japanese.

"Where are you from?" Starting off with the very basics, Yena watched as Sakura’s eyes lit up upon her words. It reminded her fondly of a child being treated to a well deserved ice cream.

"Kagoshima Prefecture but I've relocated to Tokyo due to school." Sakura explained as she glanced back at Chaeyeon who reverted back her gaze at the pillar littered with old programmes.

"Kagoshima? Naples cousin?"

"Eh, something like that. I’m just curious, can you speak Japanese well?"

Sakura prodded round the last question.

“Enough to hold a simple conversation.” Yena smiled politely before glancing round, a familiar base of a tattoo of the past floating past before it disappeared round the corner.

‘It can’t be her.’ Yena reasoned to herself. Besides, she knew some groups of people have matching tattoos unknowingly.

“Yena?” A slender hand waved itself in front of Yena’s vision, prompting her back into focus.

“Sakura and I will get going.” Chaeyeon muttered softly, her voice reaching a new low as Salura linked their arms together, whisking them away, not without a little wave from both.

She could only chuckle slightly at her friend's demise, there was no curtain to cover the glass closet of Chaeyeon’s unannounced feelings towards the exchange student.

Entering another class, she caught sight of her other batchmates huddled to one end as opposed to spreading out like spores. 

Foreign faces to add to the new foreign face she saw today littered her view.

Glancing round to hopefully find a seat that was not a poten