It has been a hellish week for art student Wheein.

Deadlines after deadlines after deadlines…and now she’s exhausted.

“One more,” she mumbles as she sits at her desk, sketching pencil ready in one hand while she fights to keep her eyes open with the other, “one more and I can rest. Yeah, just one more…”

But that’s when her obnoxious roommate decides to barge in.

“Hey, roomie,” Wheein’s roommate Byulyi sidles up to her desk and shoves a paper in Wheein’s face, “look at what I won~”

Wheein glances at the paper and then sighs. “You won the photography contest again? Good for you. Now can you please let me finish my work? I have to submit this in two days.”

Byulyi frowns. “Hey, have you even rest? You don’t look so good…”

“I’ll rest when I’m done. So can you please…?”

Byulyi throws up her hand in surrender and slowly walks away.

‘Finally, some peace and quiet,’ Wheein thinks as she starts sketching.

But it’s too much to expect Byulyi to keep quiet for long.

“So, wanna go somewhere after you’re done?”

Wheein groans. “For the love of…can you please not talk to me today? Or at all?”

“Sorry, roomie. I just wanted you to have something to look forward to. That’s all.”

“All I’m looking forward to is some alone time. With myself.”

Byulyi doesn’t respond.

‘She’s quiet. Good. Now, I just need to-’

“You need to get laid, roomie.”

Wheein throws up her hand in frustration and glares at Byulyi. “What is wrong with you? I don’t need to get laid.”

“I mean with all the stress-”

Wheein slams down her pencil and marches herself up to Byulyi, cornering her against their shared closet.

“What will it take to shut you up?” Wheein growls.

Byulyi smiles. “When you put that pencil down and rest, roomie.”

“I told you,” Wheein takes a deep breath, trying to calm herself down, “I have a deadline. I’ll rest when I’m done.”

“I think you’ll work better when you get some rest,” Byulyi Wheein’s cheek and then pinches it slightly, “you look like death right now.”

Wheein feels a little jolt at Byulyi’s touch, and she tries to dismiss it because she really wants to focus on her work right now, but her eyes seem to have an idea of their own as they linger on Byulyi’s mouth, currently at her eye level. Wheein her bottom lip and tries to steady her heartbeat while her mind is racing.

‘Maybe Byulyi’s right. Maybe I do need to get laid.’

‘No, no. Work first. Work-’

Before she realizes it, Wheein hears herself whispering, “If I kiss you, will you shut up?”

Byulyi chuckles, but Wheein could somehow tell that she’s a little surprised. “I know you don’t mean that, roomie. So-”

Wheein feels a little irked that Byulyi doesn’t take her seriously so, to prove a point, she stands on her tiptoe and silences Byulyi with . She keeps her eyes slightly open and feels a tingle of excitement in her chest when she sees Byulyi’s eyes widened in surprise…and then replaced with something else.

That “something else” quickened Wheein’s heartbeat and Wheein knows she’s going to be in trouble if she doesn’t step away now.

So, she did. Reluctantly.

“Now please,” Wheein says as she heads back to her desk, not looking back at Byulyi because her face is currently too warm for her liking, “leave me alone.”

It takes a few heartbeats before Wheein hears Byulyi’s quiet reply.

“…yes, ma’am.”

Wheein suddenly feels a tinge of guilt and quickly turns to apologize, but Byulyi is already gone.