Yujin's POV

I didn't know sleeping on the couch could be a comfortable thing. I stretched my arms, opening my eyes to see Minju just sitting on the floor, looking at me.

"Hm? What are you doing here?" I blinked, still feeling a little groggy.

"Where else am I supposed to go?" Right.

I slowly sat up, staring into blank space before looking at her. "Did you sit there the whole night?"

She nods. So she watched me sleep. Great.

I took the blanket away. Why was there a blanket? I don't recall taking it last night.

"You didn't set an alarm."

I scratched my head. "I don't have other schedules today." I gathered my hair, putting it into a ponytail.

"Your off day?" I nodded and walked to the bathroom.

"Then what are you doing here? You could've just gone home yesterday."

I washed my hands. "There's not much of a difference," I said and splashed cold water on my face.

"Are you going home?" I heard her ask as I reached for the small towel.

I wiped my face halfway to see her standing a foot away from the door. "Do you want to come with me?" I tossed the towel into the basket, seeing her eyes light up.

I don't know why I asked that. But she likes going places she has never been.

Why do I have a feeling she already had that in her mind?

She answered with the brightest smile instead. I walked out, gathering the pieces of paper and placing them neatly in the file I had.

"You live alone?" she asked, sitting on the couch.

"Yup." I closed the laptop, sliding it into the cover. "My parents live in Daejeon."

"That's 2 hours away," Minju said.

I hummed, putting everything nicely on the table. It's been long since I've been home. I always stay in the hospital for convenience.

They have everything here, so why not?

"Then where do you live?" she asked.

I grabbed my coat, draping it over my arm. "One of the apartments nearby," I said. "Should I just stay here?"

She stood up and said, "No, let's go."

"But—"

"I'll be fine." she tried pulling me towards the door. Why is she so excited? Even I'm not excited to head home. I'm worried something might happen.

"We can't risk anything."

"I want to watch Netflix."

She wants to what?

"The tv here doesn't have it." she pouts. "And AOS has already finished airing."

"AOS? What's that?"

"The drama. Alchemy of Souls," she said. "I've been wanting to watch it for ages so let's just go to your place. You have Netflix, right?"

"No." I don't watch dramas.

"I can just log in to mine." she starts dragging me out of the room.

"If you want to watch it, you can just do it on my phone." I stopped walking.

She tugs on my arm again. "It's more comfortable with a tv."

I gave it a thought. She has three more days, it shouldn't be that big of an issue.

"Fine, but I think I should shower first."

"You can just do that at home." she looks at me.

"And hold your hand while I shower? Not doing that."

—

Before I could leave the hospital to go home, someone unexpected came.

Wonyoung didn't tell me she was coming. I thought she'd be busy.

She gave me a small wave as I felt a tug on my sleeve.

"Who's that?" Minju asked. "Is she saying hi to you?"

Wonyoung stood in front of me before I knew it. "I knew I would see you here."

"Where else would you see me?" I laughed.

She started doing what she does, hugging me and everything. I could feel a stare right beside me.

And it's coming from Minju.

"Where are you going?" Wonyoung asked.

I looked at her. "Off day. Home." I said.

She nods.

"Why are you here?"

"To find you." She smiles.

"Suddenly?" I didn't think she'd be this free after joining the animal hospital.

Minju squeezes my hand, wanting to know what's going on.

"You wanna head out? We can go to the cafe nearby if you haven't eaten."

I looked at Minju and back at Wonyoung. I had no choice but to say, "I'm a little tired."

"Oh." She sounded a tiny bit disappointed. I mean, I usually say yes whenever she brings me out.

But not today. I have things to do.

She told me she could just go find her dad for some stuff and left me alone.

"Who is she? Why did she grab you like that?" The tone Minju used was a little different.

I chuckled. "She's my best friend. Come on." I pulled her to walk.

"You're not going to eat with her? She came here for you."

"I'd rather go home."

I saw that tiny smile on her face because this means I'll not be leaving her in the hospital.

—

The moment I opened the door to my apartment, Minju went, "Oh my god."

"Why?"

She looks at me and smiles. "It's so cute!" she runs into the house, forgetting about the hand she was holding.

"Hurry up." she forced me into the house, making me think whose place this is.

She probably hasn't been into an apartment before with this reaction of hers. Walking around the tiny living room, peeking into all the rooms that were a foot away from each other.

Literally, this place is small. So small that I can get to every corner of the apartment within 5 steps. I live alone anyway, plus I'm not here often. There's no need for such a big space.

And the thing is, I'll have to follow her wherever she goes.

"You even have a balcony?" she made me open the sliding door.

"Why are you so excited?" I chuckled as she looks at me. "I've never been to someone's house before."

"You're kidding. Don't you have friends? They don't invite you?"

"They come over," she said. Right, it only makes sense that her place can hold more people. I wonder what kind of house she stays at.

Stand-alone, landed, penthouse, or villa? She has never brought it up before but I don't wanna ask.

"Why don't you have anything in your house?"

We came back into the living room while I the rotating fan that was on the floor. "I don't stay here often."

Her eyes kept roaming around. "Where's your room?"

"You don't wanna see that."

She grins. "Now I wanna see." It isn't that hard to just barge into the rooms since there are only two.

She walks through one of the doors which made me run into the door. "Yah." I rubbed my forehead while she steps back out.

"I can't walk through doors stupid."

She chuckles. "Sorry—who are you calling stupid?"

"You." I opened the door and walked in first.

She smacked my arm but stopped when she saw the interior.

My walls are covered in photos I've taken ever since I found out about photography. Probably 6 years' worth of photos.

"You took all these?" she points around, walking deeper into the room.

I hummed, letting out a deep sigh. Looking at all the photos just gives me that nostalgic feeling. It brings me right back to when those little events happened.

Like the saddest 20th birthday when Yuri accidentally set my cake on fire, Hyewon trying to confess to someone but failed badly, or even that one time when Yena pushed my into the sea on her 23rd birthday.

Apparently, she said pushing someone into the sea would make her wish come true.

I doubt so.

Minju walked and walked. That's when I realise I wasn't holding onto her hand.

"Unnie." She turns around and hums. She glanced at her hand. Nothing's happening to her.

"How are you..." I narrowed my eyes, walking to her.

She hums in confusion. "Why am I not disappearing?" she looks at me.

I do recall the shaman telling me that a person's belongings hold their energy. Is that true? Because it looks a lot like it is.

"You're asking me?" I took her hand, worried something out of the blue might happen.

"Hold on," she said and let go of me.

She held onto my hand again and lets it go as if the's trying something. "It feels a little weird if I don't hold onto you."

"Like what?"

"But I'm fine." she looks pleased.

"You wouldn't just disappear?" I reached for her hand.

"I just feel drained but not too much."

"Are you a battery or what?" I laughed, but part of me felt lighter to know nothing will happen to her. "Just hold onto me. That way your energy won't die out."

She nods and continues looking at the pictures. "Why is it all black and white?" she asked.

"Ink print is too expensive." I pointed at the photo printer I have sitting on the study table that had a bunch of medical books stacked behind it. "Black and white looks nicer to me anyway. All these are taken on my phone, I don't have a camera. Sadly."

I heard an alarm on my phone. She looks at me while I checked what it was.

"Uh oh."

"What is it?" she peeked.

"My rent's overdue." I quickly threw my phone on the bed and dragged her out of my room.

I went into the other room where I usually work at.

I quickly sat at the desk, turning on the computer while putting her hands on my shoulder.

"What's all this?" she amusingly snickers.

"Passive income," I said and went into my trading platform.

She leans forward, right beside my head, taking a closer look. "What can you not do? You should be in business, not me."

"This just covers the rent. It's the easiest way." I clicked on my portfolio, going into my cash wallet.

"Ahn Yujin.