Dahyun looks at Sana with a look of disbelief.

“Unnie, you realize it’s way past midnight, all the subways have stopped. And we don’t have a car at the dorm right now.”

“But we have bikes!” Dahyun can feel a headache coming on.

“Do you even know how far it is from our dorm?” Dahyun says pulling out her phone. “Last I recall, it takes over half an hour to get there by car.”

“That’s not that far right?” Sana asks pouting.

“By car! Look it says it’s over 35km from here” Dahyun says pointing to her phone. “That means it would take at least 2 hours of non-stop biking for amateurs like us. But if you consider all the traffic stops in the city, and maybe needing rest stops in between, we could be biking all night.”

“But if we leave now, we’d surely get there before sun rise though.” Sana springs up in bed.

‘That’s not the issue here!’ Exasperated, Dahyun feels like yelling. “Why does it have to be Achasan? We have plenty of parks close by.”

“That’s not the same! I want to watch the sunrise.” ‘with you.’ Somehow after all she’s done that night, Sana was too shy to say that last part out loud. What silly creatures we are sometimes.

Dahyun wonders what’s wrong with watching the sunrise from a park, but that’s beside the point right now.

“Aren’t you tired? Are you sure it’s even safe for you to be maneuvering a bike in your current condition?” Dahyun’s not entirely sure they would have the energy to bike all the way there, or to even get there in one piece.

“I feel totally fine! I’d even forgotten I had been drinking until you mentioned it just now.” Somehow Dahyun doubts that. But looking at Sana’s beaming face with her eyes still red from crying, she feels somewhat relieved. After all the rebuffing she’s done tonight she almost felt obliged to comply with this relatively harmless wish for a night stroll if only to keep that smile on her face… ‘right? Maybe some fresh air and a change of place will be good for us both.’ Dahyun rationalized with herself as Sana looks to her expectantly with her eyes wide open. But for a moment Dahyun was lost in her own thoughts and forgot to respond.

“I guess if you are too tired then I’ll have to go on my own…But I’m not sure if I know the way…and I feel a little...” Sana suggests tentatively, her expression turning a little sullen.

“No I’m coming.” Dahyun definitely wasn’t going to allow her to go on her own in her current condition.

“Yay!” Sana jumps up from the bed, turning around so that Dahyun couldn’t see the smirk across her face.

“I’ll go find the bike keys and the camera!” Sana says excitedly as she takes off like a little kid ready to go on a field trip.

‘We are going to need a lot more things than that…’ Dahyun didn’t get to say anything in response as Sana’s already out the door, leaving her to marvel in wonder at her boundless energy. ‘Don’t we both have the same schedules? How does she keep bouncing around on no sleep at all?’

Dahyun grabs her backpack from the closet, and starts mentally putting together a list of things to do in preparation: ‘bottled water, extra jacket, a blanket, maybe two, insect repellent, flashlights, masks so they don’t get recognized, planning a bike route there, check the weather, check to make sure the park is accessible at night, download the trail map, check the bike tires, lights, breaks, check if they have hangover relief pills left in the cabinet, check if there’s anything she could bring along for snacks…’ The list just kept growing, but Dahyun finds this somehow comforting as it helps her take her mind off of the other events of the night. Then she marvels again at how Sana is able to come up with these spontaneous plans for a trip without actually planning any of it.

After spending over 30 minutes checking all the items off her list of things to prepare and bring, Dahyun throws on her favourite hoodie and makes her way to the front door. Already giddy and waiting is Sana holding a backpack of her own.

“What’s in your bag? I think I’ve already got most of what we need. Here’s your water.” Dahyun asks while rationing out Sana’s share of water for the trip.

“Oh nothing, just my digital camera and phone and things. I know my Dahyunnie is always most reliable.” A mysterious smile playing across her face as she gives Dahyun’s arm a good hug ’n squeeze. Dahyun didn’t notice anything as she’s still busy doing a final double take to make sure she’s got everything ready.

“We need to stop by the 24hr convenience store to pick up a few things on the way.” “Okay, you got the keys to the bike locks?” Sana nods. Dahyun checks her phone, the time is quarter past one. “Then, let’s go!” They pick up their bikes from the garage and heads out into the night.

A dazzling full moon illuminates the star-studded early autumn night sky. The brisky night air feels refreshing against their skin. Dahyun had to take a moment of pause to relish in the vast beauty of the celestial canopy that envelops them. Taking a deep breath she grabs Sana’s hand and gazes up at the night sky, all her worries feel diminished and insignificant in comparison to the miracle of how lucky she feels they are to be here standing next to each other. She looks over to Sana and smiles. “Isn’t the moon beautiful tonight?” Sana beams back at her, and responds in Japanese “Tsuki ga kirei desu ne Dahyun-chan.1” Dahyun resisted the urge to lean over and kiss her as they shared a knowing laugh together. “Let’s go. Follow me.”

Dahyun tried to pick a more scenic route to the park that avoided going through too much city traffic so that they could enjoy a relatively more peaceful and safer ride, the downside of course being that it took longer. And for the most part it was relatively peaceful, aside from a few group of drunk students trying to holler at them but ended up puking by the side of the street, and a homeless dog that got upset for some reason and chased them for a whole block. But it certainly wasn’t an easy ride. Between their detours and their lack of sleep, they had to take many rest stops in between. By the time they arrived at the mountain park it was already almost 5am. After parking their bikes at the hill of the mountain, they decided to take another break before starti