Fall between two stools [idiom] : they are unable to decide which of two courses of action to take and as a result they have not done either of them successfully.

________

It was a regular day in Shuhua’s life, meaning that she had woken up slightly late which ended up with her running all around the duplex in her haste, probably knocking down a chair or two while rushing past the living room to the front door.

Once she made it to the fairly inanimate sun kissed streets she was already a heaving mess but still ran towards the bus station with hope. If she doesn’t catch that darn bus, not only she’ll have to walk to her university but also face the fact that she won’t be there as what one might consider early. (Just fancy words to say that she’s probably late without the bus)

Konkuk university wasn’t far from where she lived with Soojin, thankfully, but this didn’t mean that the walk was none the nicer. The morning was slightly chilly and she had decided to wear a one-piece dress, like she usually does, however this year’s autumn had decided to freezingly make her remember that nice summer was now long gone and the high temperatures along with it. 

Her bag was not helping the back pain she had as well, sleeping while studying on her desk didn’t do her any good as expected and she could phantom Miyeon scolding her for it inside her head. The simple thought made a shiver run down her aching spine as the morning breeze blew her long black locks into the wind. 

Anyway, this was not an unfamiliar morning for her, waving good morning to the nice grandma holding a discreet Chinese restaurant she liked to eat in with Yuqi every now and then, the woman walking with her dog and that cute cat perched up on a wall who greeted her with a stern meow. Yup, it was all part of the routine she had kept for the past four years. 

Being a veterinary student was not easy, especially as a foreigner but she somehow made it work though it didn’t come without sacrifices. She had to bargain with the university to get a place in their program although she had no real language qualifications at the time, moreover, she also had to gain that scholarship through hard work and a lot of phone calls to the administration office. They ended up settling with 2 years in a language course before beginning the real vet studies. 

Right now she had just finished the 2 years of the pre-veterinary program and was finally getting onto the real stuff. She had worked so much to get to this point and was determined to become what she always wanted to be, a successful and earnest vet. She had to prove to her family that she could do it and also return all the support her friends had shown her since day one by completing her studies with flying colours. 

With that determination in mind she mentally cursed when she saw the bus coming although she was still a street away from the bus station and it didn’t take her long to decide to make a run for it. If she wanted to be a vet, she first had to go to class, even if it meant chasing after a bus like a madwoman with shoes on fire.

XXXXXXXX

It was a Friday and she knew that she’d have to see the crew tonight as per tradition but as the teacher gave yet another project and a paper to finish before next week, she started thinking of an excuse to slip away from her unnies’ dead grip. Soyeon and Soojin wouldn’t be too hard to convince as they understood that Shuhua needed space and time to study. Minnie would probably sulk a little but also come to the conclusion that studying was important. Therefore the real problem lied in Yuqi and Miyeon. 

Yuqi would probably try to tell her how one night with them won’t make a difference and that working too much was counterproductive. Basically, she’d use her extremely loud voice to forcefully make Shuhua stay with her as the latter’s ear drums would be in such pain that she would comply with whatever the Chinese says just so she stays quiet. 

As for Miyeon … Miyeon on the other hand would start with whining and trying to persuade her. This would be followed by them arguing nonstop until one relents, usually Miyeon (yes, she starts an argument only to lose it, just typical Miyeon if you ask me.). This, so far, was manageable, what was out of control though was that Miyeon would probably stay in her room while she’s working on her papers to ‘keep her company’ as the older one would say with such an innocent smile on her face. 

And lord, how was Shuhua supposed to focus when Miyeon would not leave her alone for just one second. One time, she had to literally lock the older girl outside of her room by placing her desk chair under the doorknob so the business woman couldn’t even open her door. Needless to say, Shuhua’s back had hurt for weeks from studying on the floor and Miyeon had a sore after staying sited against that door for several hours on end. This goes without mentioning how much Miyeon was a champion of not being able to stay put, sure, she liked to take naps and had just one too many times fallen asleep in Shuhua’s room by accident, but she also liked to bother the younger girl by asking random stuff every once in a while, something that a frail shrieking door couldn’t possibly shut off. What a way to shatter Shuhua’s focus. 

She could only sigh in despair as she will probably get her papers started after their meeting and once again disregard her sleep in favour of getting them done. That is if she doesn’t pass out after drinking with Yuqi. She didn’t have quite a good alcohol tolerance or at least not enough to entertain her friends long enough as she would usually fall asleep while the party was just getting started. Hopefully tonight will be fairly tame or else she’ll have to power though her weekend and rain check her schedules for Sunday.

Now back to reality, Shuhua was done with her classes today and had plans with Soojin, eating lunch together before meeting with her group mates to get their project started. Soojin had kindly offered to bring lunch to Shuhua so she wouldn’t have to go far away from her campus. Talking of which…

“Seooo Soooozin ~!” She screamed at the sight of her roommate walking her way. The latter only ducked her head in shame as many passersby turned their heads to look at the source of the commotion while she only grew redder by the second. 

“I told you to not do this in public !” Soojin had slapped Shuhua on the shoulder when  she finally reached the laughing vet student. To her dismay, Shuhua was not done with the teasing.

“What can I do ~ I just saw the love of my life coming towards me.” Shuhua replied with a cute voice that made Soojin roll her eyes.

“I honestly can't tell if you are talking about me or the seaweed soup I made.” The older one snickered and she regretted her poor choice of words as she heard another scream, something weirdly in between a wail and a shriek that reminded her of a choking rooster. For an introvert, Shuhua knew how to be loud and attract everyone’s attention when expressing her likes and dislikes. Especially when it involved her stomach (or a certain business woman).

“Seaweed soup !? YOU MADE ME SEAWEED SOUP ?!” 

________

“-so I have to start the project with my group. I’ll probably be home by 6pm, maybe later if they decide to eat together.” Shuhua explained as she finished her last spoon of rice.

“Don’t be too late, the girls want to celebrate tonight. I heard that Soyeon’s song was approved and will become a title track for some big group.” Soojin said, eyeing the way the Taiwanese in front of her was already yawning.

“And just last week she had her first pay as a composer and song-writer. Meanwhile I’m still stuck as a student.” Shuhua sighed, all her friends had successful careers of their own except for her. She has a long way left until she graduates and an even longer one until she gets a proper job.

“But you’ll be the one earning the most. And also the one with such a prestigious job, don’t you know how rare and precious vets are nowadays.” Soojin reassured while moving to sit next to her younger friend. Placing a comforting hand on the girl’s lap as a means to cheer her up.

“That’s if I even graduate and pass the national exam.” Shuhua grumbled a little disheartened, lately all that studying had taken a toll on her and it was slowly making its way to her head. No matter how much effort she puts in or how determined she was, even a hero has moments of doubt and insecurity and she was no exception to the rule.

“Come on, out of us all you’re probably the smartest one. I mean, it’s hard to even understand science and you do it effortlessly. Believe me when I say that being hardworking and smart is the key to success.” Soojin comforted her with a somewhat motherly voice, grabbing Shuhua’s hand as she knew that this sort of skinship often soothed the anxious girl. The gesture effectively made the Taiwanese relax just a little, her shoulders only slightly dropping but at least she wasn’t plagued by pessimistic thoughts anymore. Soojin was one of her mental support and like a sister, someone that would scold her when necessary but also be there when she wasn’t feeling well. After living together for so long and in the absence of her family, she was glad to be able to rely on Soojin when she needed a shoulder to lean onto.

“Oh by the way, Miyeon told me to get you this. She said that your back ached from falling asleep on your desk.” Soojin spoke up and pulled out a tube of cream out of her bag. 

At the mention of that name Shuhua’s heart slightly trembled and she blamed it on eating a little too fast. Nonetheless, she took the cream and made a mental note to thank her later tonight, probably by shoving her.

“Oh and she even stayed to clean your messy room and dry your hair when you fell asleep. You’re lucky to have her seriously. I wonder why she cares so much about you when all you do is annoy her.” The older of the two lamented on the reality of things. 

Shuhua simply pretended not to care but the way her heart stuttered slightly once more couldn’t hide how she was affected. Thankfully no one could hear her heartbeats or else they might bring her to a cardiologist to get it checked. All in all, Miyeon will get two shoves tonight. 

Right, that’s what she deserved. 

__________

“Oh I’m early ?” Yuqi exclaimed as she stepped inside the emptied bar, locking eyes with Soyeon who was already there in advance.

“Minnie is in the restroom and Soojin is fetching our dinner.” Soyeon told her while motioning for Yuqi to sit down with her.

“So we’re missing Tom and Jerry. Anyway, how’s my rich, wonderful and awesome composer doing ?” Taking the seat right next to their captain, Yuqi purposely placed an arm around her shoulders with a smirk.

“It’s on Minnie tonight. She invited us. I ain’t buying you even a drink, loser.” Was Soyeon’s harsh reply as she slapped Yuqi’s arm off of her, only earning a grumble in return. 

“We all know that Soojin will end up saying that the drinks are on the house.” Minnie was heard coming their way and then plopped herself right in front of the duo. She first bumped Yuqi as a greeting before eyeing the two girls in front of her with a knowing smile. 

“You can always sneak up money in her cash register.” Soyeon pointed out, successfully evading the Thai woman’s gaze. 

“Aishh I ain’t risking her getting angry at me.” Minnie shook her head before laughing a little when they all agreed, after all an angry Soojin could be really scary.

“Anyway, are there any good things going your way ?” She then demanded. She herself was recently a little busy with her own project and had but little time to catch up on the group.

“Oh I learnt how to ride a horse, it was super fun. I’m still editing the vlog for it.” Yuqi eagerly exclaimed while showing a picture of the horse she rode earlier this week.

“oh my god it’s sooo cute. On my end I just started a project, a short movie that I wrote and is currently directing. I’m not even asking Soyeon, our superstar.” Minnie teased and chuckled when she saw the redness dusting their captain’s cheeks. 

“I’m not a star yet…” she had mumbled in sudden shyness which was somehow cute coming from the usually intimidating woman.

“And to think that not so long ago she was rehearsing with me for her meeting with her co-producers.” Yuqi fondly added while playfully nudging Soyeon who was suddenly a puddle of flustered mess.

“Ohhh please ~ I remember her asking me if she could practice dissing when she was still an underground rapper. Now she’s a composer of her own. Next year she might hold her concert. Or better a world tour.” Minnie brought back some old memories from the time they all worked together and it made them feel a mixture of amusement and nostalgia, looking back at how far they came from up to where they are today while also looking forward to the years to come.

The door suddenly opened revealing Soojin and Miyeon carrying several bags of food in their arms. Minnie immediately stood up to help them out which was rewarded by two very thankful smiles.

“Wow, are we feeding an army or something ?” Soyeon commented at the sight, doubting that this was all for her. 

“Nope, but we are going to feed an upset Shuhua.” Soojin answered and they all understood that the plethora of food was now mandatory to appease the fuming gremlin.

“Now that makes sense. By the way, where is she ?” Yuqi asked, looking through the window in hopes of catching her friend, instead, she did catch the older of the bunch’s attention when realising that Shuhua was indeed missing.

“That’s the thing, apparently something with her project went wrong and she’s still working on it. She said she’ll be back in less than an hour though.” The bar owner explained while placing down several plates before fishing her phone out in hopes of receiving some sort of updates from her roommate. It has been half an hour since she said she’ll be back soon and so far she was still missing.

“It’s kinda late though, is it okay for her to walk alone ?” Minnie voiced her concern and Miyeon nodded at that, her earlier worries filling her stomach in an uncomfortable knot.

“I mean.. it’s Shuhua, she’s probably fine on her own if that’s what you are worried about. But I can’t tell if she’s actually okay though, she seemed a little down when I saw her for lunch.” Soojin truthfully said, remembering Shuhua’s behaviour when they shared a meal earlier today. However this was probably Miyeon’s last straw who felt uneasy just at the thought of her younger friend being alone and sad.

“Do you know where she is ? I can fetch her so she isn’t alone in the streets.” Miyeon spoke up, probably not hearing the part when they said that the Taiwanese was perfectly able to walk back here on her own. She stared intently at Soojin who definitely knew where the younger woman was.

“Uhhh she’s at XXX, the coffee shop just next to her university.” Soojin replied quite unsure if saying this was the right thing to do. 

Nonetheless, it didn’t take much longer before Miyeon was seen zooming past everyone and making a beeline towards the front door, effectively leaving the rest of them in the dust. As much as Miyeon was considered a slow person, if it was something involving Shuhua they could all expect her to go from 0 to 100 like a Ferrari. Miyeon Macqueen wasn’t so far from reality.

_________

Her empty stomach growled and she could care less if anyone heard it or if the poor staff eyed her with pity. She had to get this done now or else she could say goodbye to her peaceful weekend and hours of sleep.

Her tabs were filled with several online research papers regarding Distemper, a common disease often leading to dog fatality when infected. The homework was a simple presentation with a ppt that must last around 10 minutes, it must cover the origin of the virus, its symptoms and treatments and what to look out for as future veterinarians. It must be intelligible enough for other students to learn about it as next week they’ll have an exam on a few randomly picked diseases that were presented. So this wasn’t just work for herself and to impress the teacher with fancy knowledge but also the key to her classmates’ success on the next test. And that made the whole deal more complicated. Sure, Shuhua could just make a concise text and fly over more complex details but she didn’t have the heart to put her classmates in a bad spot. 

Hence here she was, trying to figure out how to explain this without copy pasting the whole Wikipedia page. Her Korean, although much better, was not on a Shakespearean level and she had trouble making sentences that wou