The beeps of the door lock echoed through the apartment, in steps Hyewon whose hands were full of plastic bags. She lightly kicked the door to close it, quickly settling down the heaviest bag that contained food she got on the way back.

"Are they all asleep?" She took off her shoes and noticed light peeking out from Yujin and Yena's room.

With the aroma of tteokbokki slowly filling the air, in the next few seconds, doors started opening as if the smell invited them out.

Yena was the first to rummage through the plastic bag, followed by Yujin who quickly scampered to the kitchen to get utensils.

"Where's Jiwon?" Hyewon asked, washing her hands halfway. She too was excited for supper.

Yujin carefully carried the tub of tteokbokki to the coffee table. "Kim Jiwon!" She called, not too loudly.

The said girl strolled down the small hallway and instantly took the couch, getting handed chopsticks as if this were part of their routine.

Yena coos at the seaweed rolls, cheeseballs and the main dish of spicy tteokbokki topped with mozzarella cheese. "It's been so long since we did this." She splits her wooden chopsticks, rolling them together.

Before things got busy for them, supper was part of their routine, at least once a week. Usually, on days when Hyewon finishes her night at school, she'd get something on the way back, having their favourite dishes memorised.

Tteokbokki for Yujin, Kimchi Jeon (Pancake) for Yena and Cheeseball for Jiwon. Also, they're the easiest dishes to get near midnight.

And since Hyewon had no preference, she usually finished whatever they couldn't or didn't like about the dish. For example, the pancake where Yena only eats the Kimchi.

Hyewon watched Yujin slip a piece of tteokbokki into without blowing and instantly regretting it. "Eat slowly." She swiftly opens a can of Sprite and hands it to her.

She turned to Yena who started picking out the kimchi on the pancake. "When will you eat it whole?"

"I have you. Why do I have to eat it whole?"

Hyewon sighed softly, finally picking up chopsticks of her own. When she saw Jiwon shoving the cheeseball into her cheeks, she flattened her lips. "No one's stealing it from you." She reminded the girl who smiled adorably, sitting on the couch with the phone in her hand.

Yujin wrapped two pieces of rice cake with mozzarella, feeding it to Hyewon who hadn't started eating. "We can't be the only ones eating," she said.

Yena in a breath of air when the spice kicked in, finger busy scrolling through social media.

Hyewon saw Yujin showing a peace sign to her phone that was busy taking a video of their supper. "What are you doing?"

"Bubble," the younger girl settled her phone on the table before reaching for another piece of rice cake.

Telegram bubble, she meant. It wasn't new to her but it was to Minju. The older girl was still figuring out how the function works, not one to keep up with the way of communication.

Yujin smiled when she received a video message back—Minju having her own supper with Ryan.

"Who's that?" Hyewon asked when she saw an unfamiliar guy.

"Her friend," Yujin replies simply.

The older girl was a little surprised by this reaction of hers. Yujin used to ramble on in the past whenever there was someone else spending time with her love interest.

"Friend?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Nothing." Hyewon puts a piece of cold radish into . "I heard you haven't asked her."

That statement instantly earned the other two's attention, even Jiwon who couldn't leave her phone for a second.

"You haven't asked her?" Slight frustration mixed with confusion gathered in Yena's voice. "What was all of that for then?"

"What was all of what?" Hyewon was lost, turning to Yena.

"She spent the whole month ruining my sleep, folding these stupid paper cranes at 2 in the morning as if her life depended on it. You're telling me you haven't asked her?" Yena scoffed in disbelief. "What are you waiting for? You said you liked her a lot. What happened to a simple phrase of Do you wanna be my girlfriend or Will you be my girlfriend? She clearly likes you. Are you blind?"

"I'm waiting."

"For what? Christmas?"

"The right time," Yujin said. "In fact, I gave it to her."

Three pairs of eyes widened.

"But I told her not to open it yet."

"Oh god." Yena sighed.

"Why?" Jiwon was curious.

"Oh, darl—Yujin." Hyewon cleared .

"The three of you wouldn't understand anything."

"What I understand is, you should stop hesitating." Jiwon gave her input. "Can't believe you did nothing when you go to her place whenever you can."

Yujin gave her shoulder a jab, earning a twisted look from the blonde girl who couldn't care less about how she met people.

"I'm not hesitating," Yujin said, knowing well why she hadn't asked the brunette.

"You not asking her is hesitating," Hyewon spouts. "Did you back down halfway or do you need a little push?"

"She needs a huge push," Yena cut in, shoving her phone between them, and showing them a post from the school's page. "You want a right time? This is the right time."

"She's not even from our school." Yujin examines the poster about the fall dance happening in two weeks' time.

"I heard they're hosting it at Sierra this year." Hyewon has passed by the hallways of marketing and some intel from her parents.

"Sierra as in Sierra Grand Hotel?" Jiwon's eyes doubled in size when she heard a hum. "All this time I thought they only had the budget for school halls."

"And it's free," Hyewon said. "Just this year. Apparently, someone's generous enough to host a university fall dance."

"Uh huh, we're all going. I'm not missing out on free stuff." Yena was already spreading the message, only to get halted by Jiwon.

"You're so boring. Who asks someone out to fall dance through a text?" The blonde took the phone from her. "I say we do it the traditional way." She earned a few nods from the two but not Yujin.

The girl had been quiet for the past few minutes, lost in a maze of thoughts. She knew today was the last day of Minju's rotation for emergency medicine. In the next few weeks, she'll be caught up with her tests.

She was worried that the fall dance would hinder it.

—

"Help me shift this whole thing there." Yuri pointed at the books stacked up against the wall.

Minju goes to it. "You don't even read." She was bewildered by the number of romance and mystery fiction as she started transferring them to the new shelf given by the dormitory.

She was over to help build that wooden thing since Yuri couldn't get Yena to help.

"I buy books but that doesn't necessarily mean I read them. It helps with composing," Yuri claimed. "Sometimes." 

She watched Minju arrange the books in chronological order and asked, "Is there something bothering you?"

"What is?"

"You sound like an old man with those sighs of yours. Do you have difficulty breathing?"

Minju being too preoccupied with her thoughts didn't notice at all. "It's the books. They're heavy."

"And you're lying straight through your teeth."

"It's nothing."

"Are you sure?"

"No?" Minju couldn't help but sigh the nth time, finger fiddling with the edge of a book. "But it's not a problem."

"Then what is it?"

"It's more of..." She sighs again, thoughts colliding in a maze. "Should I make the first move?"

Yuri was bewildered by that question, never imagining those words coming from Minju.

"What am I waiting for? I mean, I can wait—can I wait? Why don't I want to wait? She's waiting. Why? Was I not obvious enough?"

Yuri's smile couldn't get wider when her old friend was back to her crazy self. "Oh, I love this." She sat on the edge of the bed, seeing that look of confusion on Minju's face. "I love this, this sense of desperation as if you're some cat with separation anxiety. You're worse than my cat. Keep going."

"What?"

"You're going to make the first move?"

"I don't know. Should I?" Minju was asking in the most concerned yet worrying way.

"Nothing's stopping you from making the first move. It definitely is out of your comfort zone—I swear she's the only person who could do that. She makes you do things that you know you never would. What did she do to you?"

"I don't know? But it feels like I'm going crazy." Minju plunged onto the desk chair, letting out a sharp breath.

"You're already crazy since the day I met you. What are you talking about? I don't think I've seen another person who voluntarily asks if they could do another person's homework." She thought about the days math was their nightmare, back in kindergarten where one plus one felt like a whole mystery.

"And the way I still remember it to this day, says you're crazy. You're such a weird person but grew up so beautifully." Her insult somehow turned into a compliment.

"Thank you."

"Oh, how pretty." Yuri admires her best friend with that fool of a smile on her face. "Anyway, what are you going to do?"

"What should I do?"

"I say you should ask her. Don't expect her to make the first move. She could, but if you're this desperate. You should try doing it."

Minju scoffs. "I'm not desperate." She saw Yuri's Really face and went, "Maybe I am—you would be if you were me." Her mind was filled with a bunch of Yujin's antics.

"I won't be because I have what's mine," Yuri said and gasped softly, yet dramatically. "How sad. She's not yours." She pouts teasingly.

Minju's eyes did a slight roll before she went back to arranging the books.

"So, when?"

"What?"

"When are you going to ask her?" Yuri crosses her legs. She wants a clear answer, highly expecting one but sees her dear friend hesitating. "Okay, I don't like what I'm seeing."

Minju tapped the book against her palm. "The thing is..."

"Is?"

"I'm going to Daejeon," she said. "For two months."

Yuri sat up. "When?"

"Mid-December. For internship. And I don't want to just—"

A door knock interrupted them, cutting in at a crucial point.

While going to the door, Yuri says, "What luck do you have to be doing long distance before anything starts?" She opened the door to see an unexpected guest. "Yujin?"

Softly, Minju mumbles, "I don't want her to—"

"Who's doing long distance?" Yujin overheard part of Yuri's sentence but the older girl gave a sheepish smile.

"No one," Yuri said. "What are you doing here?"

Minju stood behind her, peeking past the door at the younger girl who made eye contact with her, that usual gleam of a smile present in those bright eyes.

"Yena told me you needed help," Yujin said and got invited into the room.

Yuri turned to Minju. "And she told you who was here?" She looked at Yujin who nodded and clearly, her gaze couldn't help but shift onto the brunette.

"Is that the bathroom?" She pointed at the only door against the wall and earned a nod.

While she uses it, Yuri mutters, "I really thought she was here for me." Her hands left her hips, going to inspect what the younger girl brought with her.

Minju heard a few clicks of the light switch and saw Yujin fiddling with it, looking at the ceiling. "What's wrong?"

"It's flickering."

Yuri stood next to Minju. "I swear I told the maintenance guy but it has been two weeks since I heard anything from him. I don't even know why I pay a fee for this." She shook her head in disappointment.

"You just have to change out the light bulb."

"Does it look like I have a ladder here?" Yuri asks an obvious question for a dorm room so small.

Yujin reached her arm up and managed to take hold of the glass casing surrounding the source of light. "Can you turn off the circuit for the time being?"

Yuri had never been called this short her whole life. "Wow." She quickly went to the main door and opened the hidden compartment in the wall. She turned off the main switch, causing the whole room to dim down.

Minju watched the younger girl take the casing off, absolutely in awe.

"Hold this for me. Be careful." Yujin passed it to her and started twisting the light bulb to take it off.

Once she was done, she gave Yuri the light bulb. "Get another one of this and twist it back. It should work fine."

"I didn't know you could do these things." Minju might've underestimated the girl when it comes to appliances. She does it so effortlessly, that some might miss it in a blink of an eye.

Yujin's nose wrinkled at the tiny proud yet surprised smile Minju had on her face. She retrieved the glass case from her and put it on the study desk where it was safer.

"I'm more than willing to be your personal electrician." Her hand briefly hugged the back of Minju's head as she saw Yuri slipping on her shoes.

"I'm just go