Ji Hye turned the corner and kept walking, head down, both hands burrowed into her black jeans pockets.

*don’t look back, don’t look back* was her mantra as her feet brought her farther and farther away from the attractive woman. 

When Hanee unnie told her that her date would be pretty, she didn’t think that she would be that beautiful. Even saying that she was pretty and beautiful really didn’t do the woman justice. She was exquisitely elegant, a personification of art, the chosen few that was personally sculpted by the hands of god.

She chuckled lightly, wow, she only knew her for a few hours, yet she already turned her into a poet. What would a lifetime knowing her would turn her into? A philosopher? 

She almost tripped on her own feet by the last thought. A lifetime. She snorted slightly, a lifetime… what a novel concept in this too real world. She subconsciously caressed her left arm and continued walking, wondering whether she would get a glimpse of the woman again if she waited for her car to move pass. “Waow, Noze-yah, let’s not be that girl.” 

A black Audi zoomed passed her then and Ji Hye chuckled at the universe answer. A literal glimpse, of the car, instead of the driver. Rolling her eyes at the sky, she quickened her pace and took the steps down to the subway platform. 

She checked her phone as she waited for the train to arrive. 1 message from her dad telling her to fix the lightbulb in 1004 and the sink in 1222. 10 messages from her mom, mostly gossips and forwarding unverified news.  2 messages from Hanee unnie asking her about the date. 

19.05 PM
She’s pretty, right? 

19.07 PM
Are you alive? 

She snorted at the last message. Her fingers flew across the keyboard, typing out her reply.

23:23 PM
No, I’m at the hospital right now, suffering from cardiac arrest, because my heart stopped when I saw her. Oh, I suffered from blindness as well, because her beauty is blinding. You have to tell her to take responsibility for me now.

She paused, read it out again and then decided against it, deleting the text entirely, “way to gay, Noze-yah, way to gay.” 

Thumb poised over her screen, she bit her lower lips slightly and threw caution to the wind, pressed the Naver emoticon, fingers quickly typed in ‘Monika’ in the search bar before her brain could come up with another excuses not to. 

Her eyes nearly bulged when she saw the amount of articles, blogs and images that the search engine came up with, “Oh, she’s going to launch her new collection soon.” She took note of the date and continued reading the article, wondering whether it would be creepy if she started saving all of the pictures that she could find. *She’s even more beautiful than her models.* 

She looked up when a recorded voice rang through the subway, alerting them that the train will arrive in 1 minute, before looking back at her phone, “Ah, whatever.” She pressed at the picture and started saving them. 

Stepping into the train, she huffed a sigh of relief when she saw that the train was almost devoid of people. Taking a seat near the door, she continued reading, Jung Woo – she didn’t know when she started calling her by her given name instead of Monika, maybe because it just felt more intimate that way – has quite a lengthy Wikipage. Her career and accolades took up most of the information about her, while so little of her personal life was known to the public. 

She wondered whether it was all the same or the fashion world would be different with their acceptance with same relationship. 

*Do you have to hide too?* 

She caressed one particular picture of the designer, where she was inside a white bedroom, sitting on the bed only with an oversized white shirt, stream of sunlight was her spotlight as she sketched on her notepad. *She looked so soft.* Ji Hye smiled and pressed save, thinking that at this rate, she would probably need a folder. 

Jung Woo in runways, Jung Woo with models, Jung Woo in pictorials, Jung Woo in press conferences. 

Ji Hye furrowed her brows when she saw a paparazzi snapshots of Jung Woo walking with a well-known actor and his possessive hand on her hips, entering an apartment building. She never care much about celebrity, especially about their personal life, but even she knew that the guy was bad news. 

*Was it a publicity stunt?*

Her train of thoughts were cut when her actual train slowly came into a stop and the same recorded voice announced that they have arrived in their destination. 

Dragging her feet to walk the last couple of minutes before she reached the apartment building, she chewed on her bottom lips, mulling over the picture and why did it bother her so much. Whatever it was, it was a long time ago, judging by the blond locks that Jung Woo still sporting. She kicked a pebble, half imagining that it was that stupid actor and half imagining that it was her brain, how in the world that she could already catalogue the year just by the color of Jung Woo’s hair. 

Taking out her phone to check the time, she chewed on her lips again, wondering whether she should just go to Hanee’s unit and demand all information that she knows about Jung Woo and maybe get her number as well. Knowing Hanee, she probably still watching her Disney movie collection even though it already passed midnight. 
“Don’t be THAT girl, Noze-yah.” 

She scolded herself before entering the building, feet automatically went to the lift before she pivoted, slapping her palm into her forehead to get herself a grip. She sighed again and walked toward her actual destination, the Manager Office just right by the Concierge. 

She walked pass the cluttered office, muttering lowly about slob and cleaning up, before going straight toward the back. She punched in the passcode and entered the 48m2 studio that the building owner provided for her father to rest and now became her permanent place to stay.

Stepping off her doc marten, she carefully hung her leather jacket and walked bare footed to her work station, a low working desk at the corner of the room, and charged her depleted phone. Squatting down on the floor, she hummed softly as she woke up her sleeping laptop to choose some music before jumping into the small bathroom stall for a quick shower. 

The third song from Mamamoo’s Blue;s album was nearing the end when she emerged back from the shower, pinkish face freshly scrubbed, a hair tie hanging from her lips as she gathered her long hair into a high ponytail. She checked her phone for a new message while tying her hair, slightly pouting when she didn’t see any new messages, “Did you get home safely?” 

Laying down on her futon bed, she stared at the ceiling, having another round of debate in her head. Logically speaking, she could just ask Hanee unnie for her number, checking up on her safety is the right thing to do, right? 

She was still playing devil’s advocate in her head when the voice of a chain-smoking grandma calling out her name filtered through her door, accompanied by a knock, “Noze yaaaa~~”

A quick gasp left her, followed by a hacking cough as she choke on her own saliva, *speaking of the devil* she hurried on to the door and opened it to find Hanee looking at her with concern, “wrong pipe.” She choked out hoarsely, gesturing to the older woman to come in.  

“Here, drink this.” Hanee hurriedly opened the extremely cold can of beer that she bought, shaking her head at the younger woman that gulped it down greedily. 

“Ahhhhhh, this is good.” She coughed slightly, but her voice at least lost its hoarseness. 

“Right, I’ll be going now, since I have seen it with my own two eyes that you are still alive and well and not dead in a ditch some….Hmmmppphhh. YA!!!!” Hanee yelled out once Ji Hye’s hand no longer cutting off her air circulation. 

Laughing, Ji Hye gave the beer back to the owner before plopping back on top of her bed and patted the vacant spot beside her, signaling the red head to sit. 

“Did you stop using message service now?” Glaring at the younger woman, she smacked Ji Hye’s thigh before sitting down on the fluffy bedding. 

“I was busy.” 

Rolling her eyes to the high heaven, Hanee leaned forward conspiratorially, “So, how was it?” 

“The food? Expensive.” 

“Do you want to get beaten?” 

Ji Hye giggled at Hanee’s serious face and pulled the older woman to lay beside her, “Come here.” Hugging the older woman and snuggling close toward her warmth, Ji Hye sighed, “The place was nice… Ow!” She yelped when the impatient redhead smacked her arm. 

“Ya! Do you wanna die?” Hanee started tickling the shrieking young woman as she tried and failed to dodge the fast attack, “Omma! OMMA!!” she yelled out in defeat, her body went limp as she ran out of breath while Hanee cackled gleefully. 

“It was fine!” Ji Hye yelled, once she managed to even out her breath, “Holy…. It hurts!!” Ji Hye pouted and rubbed her stinging arm and threw Hanee such a pitiful look until the older woman melted. 

“Why are you so cute???” hugging Ji Hye close, she peppered the younger woman with kisses until Ji Hye let out a shout and literally begged her to stop. 

“So, do you like the food? Did she scolded you? Gave you an advice so that next time you won’t be so gullible and trust people?” 

Confused, Ji Hye looked up from the crook of Hanee’s neck to look at her face, “Why would she scolded me?” but quickly dismi