The sound of a car fast approaching invaded her ears. It was loud, obnoxious.

Joohyun.

Rubber tires were screeching noisily against the road as it inched closer, overbearing any other sound that was present there.

Joohyun.

Blindingly bright headlights made itself known as it reached her line of vision. Her heart hammered wildly inside her chest as the vehicle was barely a meter away from her and—

"Joohyun!"

The raven snapped out of her daze at the worried voice calling out to her, and it didn't take a long time for her vision to zero in on her roommate's questioning gaze.

"I've been calling your name for the past minute but you seem so out of it," Jennie said with furrowed brows, "Are you okay?"

It was only now that Joohyun noticed she's been standing at the open entrance of their shared room for quite some time now, the plastic bags still being gripped tightly by her hands.

The girl took it upon herself to wordlessly shut the door close behind her, successfully masking any of the background noise resounding in the big dorm's bright hallways. Joohyun placed the bags she brought at the nearest desk before approaching her bed and plopping down onto it, with a soft sigh in sheer exhaustion from today's events.

It was silent in the spacious room for a moment, but Jennie waited until she got her answer.

"Well, let's just say something crazy happened on my way back here." Despite Joohyun's muffled response due to her face being nuzzled into the soft sheets, Jennie was still able to decipher what the captain said making her sit up straight in her own bed, curiosity now piqued.

"And what exactly happened?"

Just as those words left the setter's lips, the door suddenly busted open with a loud thud, causing the two poor girls to shriek in surprise.

"Good evening peasants! Your gorgeous roommate is here to bless you with her presence!"

Joohyun's hand which was previously clenching her chest retreated back to her side as she rolled her eyes, the shock in her heart now dying down. "We weren't exactly 'blessed' just now, Sooyoung. We nearly had a heart attack because you just can't open the door like how normal people would do."

The scolding tone caused Sooyoung to mirror the captain's actions as she closed the door, though way gentler this time much to Joohyun and Jennie's relief. "Oh hush unnie, you know you love me, I mean who wouldn't?"

"Your persistent sense of narcissism is stunning." Joohyun snorted.

Sooyoung grinned as crossed her arms at the captain's words. "It's okay to disagree with me unnie, I can't force you to be right."

"We're three sarcastic bestfriends the world gets it now." Jennie raised a brow at them. "But anyways, I don't know how you do it Sooyoung, but you somehow manage to always appear whenever tea's about to get spilled."

"Oh?" Sooyoung's ears perked up at the mention of gossip. The tall middle blocker then hurriedly left her slippers at the entrance and approached her bed which was placed right beside Jennie's, meanwhile Joohyun's was on the opposite side of the room facing theirs.

"Why did something happen?"

"I was actually going to talk about it before you rudely barged in like there's fire or something." Joohyun frowned.

The taller girl merely scoffed while sitting down, easily dismissing her comment as her mind only focused on the 'tea' that Jennie mentioned. "So? What's the tea?"

"As I was saying," Joohyun paused for a moment and sighed as she sank further into her cozy, warm bed, relishing in the much needed warmth after previously exposing herself from the cold outside air. "Something crazy happened on my way back."

"Which is?"

Joohyun rolled her eyes for the nth time now at Sooyoung's impatient tone, but she immediately schooled her expression into a much softer one as she finally mentioned her situation from earlier, with her gaze fixated downwards.

"Well, I almost wasn't able to make it here if it weren't for this random stranger saving me from a car accident." The girl said through a sigh.

Then there was silence.

Joohyun slowly looked up and watched as her bestfriends' eyes simultaneously widened in complete shock from what they just heard.

"WHAT?!"

Being ever so sensitive to loud sudden sounds, the volleyball captain flinched for the second time in the past five minutes at the two's loud outburst, successfully breaking the silence that previously covered the room.

"Oh my God, unnie are you okay?" Sooyoung worriedly said as she stood up approached the older's bed, a big contrast to her tone and attitude from earlier.

Sooyoung may always appear as the confident and mischievous prankster among them, but their tight circle knew that she'd go through hell and back just to protect the people close to her heart from any form of harm, and the same mindset goes for all of them too, having formed a deep bond over the years they knew that they would always look out for each other despite all the playful banters.

Jennie hurriedly followed in suit, and soon both the setter and middle blocker were situated at Joohyun's bed, worried eyes following the captain's every movement.

Their actions were more than enough to warm Joohyun's entirety more than her cozy bed ever could, causing her to shake her head and give them a soft reassuring smile, "Don't worry, I'm fine."

And for some reason, as she said that her mind suddenly wondered back to the similar words the kind stranger reassuringly said to her earlier, effectively reminding her of similarly tense but nonetheless warm and reassuring monolid eyes.

"Are you really sure you're fine?" Jennie asked again as she scanned her bestfriend's form for any injuries.

"Yes, I already said I was, Jen." Joohyun chuckled, but it didn't erase the frown that was marring the two's face.

"You know why we're asking, unnie." Sooyoung muttered with a hint of caution in her voice.

Joohyun stilled for a second. She knew exactly why they were asking but she didn't want to dive deep into that topic, or at least not now. So instead she shook her head once again, "I can guarantee you guys that I'm a hundred percent fine."

Sooyoung and Jennie's face held suspension as they stared at her, but they decided to let it go for now and Joohyun was silently thankful for that, more especially when Sooyoung jumped to another topic.

"Okay, but whoever this 'stranger' is, I really need to extend my thanks," Sooyoung said. "Do you perhaps know them, unnie?"

Jennie released a mocking laugh, unknowingly changing the once tense atmosphere. "That spike to the head from Dahyun earlier must have messed you up, Joohyun wouldn't call them a stranger if she knew them, ."

The captain's face morphed into a smirk as she joked. "It wouldn't make a difference, Jen. Sooyoung's just stupid through and through."

"If you didn't just come from a near-death experience I would've fought you head on right here right now." Sooyoung scoffed as she crossed her arms. "But because I'm awfully considerate too I won't, and don't even remind me, for a libero Dahyun sure can spike."

"Don't underestimate shorties, Soo, and most especially never think low of my team." Joohyun raised a brow at the taller girl, who only committed a tiny laugh at the older's confident statement.

But even she couldn't deny it though, after all their team wasn't considered the best in their league for nothing.

"Wow, you turned into Captain Bae for a second there, Joohyun." Jennie chuckled.

The aforementioned captain just shrugged, fully knowing that she said nothing but the truth. As naturally humble as they are as peop