Kai picked up his pace as he stormed through the flooded hallway of loud and busy students, before taking a sharp turn to enter his class. Rushing towards his preferred seat, he dropped his notebook onto the desk and gently kept his laptop down. He slowly pushed his cup of coffee to the side, watching it slide along the surface.

“Good morning!”, he exclaimed in a cheerful tone as he plopped down to his seat. Shifting closer to the person beside him, he added, “You look stupid.”

“Good morning to you too.”

Beomgyu sighed, shaking his head at the younger’s antics. He then returned his attention to the front of the class, waiting for the professor to arrive. “I could barely sleep last night. She’s going to give out the results of last week’s test today, the one test that I didn’t bother studying for, and it also happens to be the most important one this semester. How amazing is that?”

Kai let out a small giggle, far too enthusiastic so early in the morning. “Tests aren’t worth giving up sleep for. You should know that by now.”

Three years ago, perhaps Beomgyu could’ve fought back with the fact that Kai was heavily obsessed with playing videogames, but he now knew that was a line he couldn’t cross anymore. Instead, he cleared his throat and changed the topic instantly, “Did you see Taehyun today?”

Kai took a quick sip of his cold coffee, holding the cup near his lips as he spoke, “Uh, not really, but he told me he had to get to his class early today because of some exam or something. I guess he left the dorm before us. Did he not tell you?”

“Not really, no. He didn’t actually come to our dorm last night. He was probably at a friend’s place.” Beomgyu straightened his posture as he saw the professor walk in with a large stack of papers that brought about an uneasy feeling in his chest. “We sort of hit a wall last night, and it’s awkward. I think he’s avoiding me, but to be honest, all I care about right now is that test. Now that my mom knows how to access my student portal, she’ll see my updated score and I really cannot afford a bad grade now.”

“Can’t use the ‘I’m still recovering from what happened’ excuse anymore, can you?”

Beomgyu finally let out a hearty laugh. He looked to his side and smiled, grateful to have Kai by his side quite literally.

Everything grew rather messy after the incident. The first two weeks were calm with the team getting along, arranging hangouts and meetings of all sorts at cafes and restaurants, working on assignments together, and so on. However, it didn’t take too long for such a large group to split into smaller ones due to mutual interests and connections, and like any group of friends, misunderstandings and arguments fell into place one by one, except there was no time for them to repair such conflicts and reconcile – no, they had to part ways and seek for jobs to make a living for themselves.

Time just wasn’t on their side, and although they tried their best to forget the horrendous event, it wasn’t easy with all the subtle reminders: unexpected but not surprising social media posts and headlines, the grieving looks on the faces of people that lost many loved ones, as well as the therapy sessions that some of them opted for.

“Alright, be quiet now. She’ll call for us any moment now.”

Beomgyu kept his eyes on the professor, inspecting the latter’s movement carefully, moving his head here and there to catch a glimpse of the papers sitting on the table. He sat with sheer anticipation, seeing students walk to the front of the class to grab their paper one after another. With his thumb in between his teeth, he tapped his feet continuously, anxious about the grade he would receive. He didn’t want his day to be any worse than it already was.

“Choi Beomgyu!”, the professor called out.

He took that as his cue to step away from his desk, gesturing Kai to keep quiet. As he made his way to the front, he picked up his paper and shut his eyes, afraid of his final score. Never before had he been so nervous about an exam, but with all that had happened recently, he needed something to pull him out of the dark.

“Well done.”

At that, he finally opened his eyes, breathing out in relief as he kept his gaze fixed on the bold numbers at the top of the page. Walking back to his seat, he couldn’t help but smile. “Kai, we should go out for ice cream later today. My treat.”

Kai shifted in his seat, completely disregarding his own paper. He turned around to face the other properly, clapping his hands as he said, “Wait, really? Maybe I should be praying for your good grades instead of mine. Keep studying hard, Beomgyu-hyung! Make me proud!”

Later that day, as the duo walked out of their last class and headed towards a busy street a few blocks away, Kai decided that he should initiate conversation, considering Beomgyu was treating him to some delightful ice cream on such a beautifully sunny day.

“What happened with Taehyun? He hasn’t been with us today at all, and you didn’t mention him either.”

“Oh.” Beomgyu’s voice was rather quiet. “He just messaged me some weird stuff last night, telling me that he’s sorry and that he still loves me, telling me that I should forgive him, so I asked him what the hell he meant by that because it was nearly midnight, and I was too tired to be solving riddles. He never responded after that.”

Kai chose not to comment on that, unsure of what to say. Instead, he kept walking alongside the other, paying close attention and nodding along. He had a feeling that Beomgyu simply needed to share his thoughts, and not necessarily be advised and comforted.

“I just went to bed immediately after that. What did he want me to do? Tell him that I’ll love him always? No, that. I hope it’s not someone from dance class.”

“What’s wrong with people from dance class?”

Beomgyu gave the other a disappointed look. “They’re a bunch of y, self-centred, unnecessarily competitive idiots. There are a few golden gems though.”

“They all seem like wonderful people to me.”

“That’s because