I'm not using italics for this chapter because it is all a flashback

**

(7 Years Ago, May 2016)

Bae Joohyun couldn't quite pinpoint when Shon Seungwan had become part of her life over the past two months. All she knew was that she had asked for Seungwan's phone number, and after that, everything had happened so quickly.

Even though they were in different departments, Seungwan never missed an opportunity to spend time with Joohyun. If they both happened to have a free class, they would go out for lunch together or spend hours in the central library, with Seungwan stealing glances at Joohyun's face for hours on end (yes, Joohyun was aware, but she pretended not to notice).

Other times, Seungwan would come to the convenience store where Joohyun worked part-time, and sit there to keep her company.

They also spent hours video calling each other at night, and Seungwan would often fall asleep while keeping Joohyun company as she studied. Joohyun didn't want to admit it, but seeing Seungwan's peaceful sleeping face on her laptop screen made her chest feel tingly.

This had become their routine, and to the point where if it was disrupted, it made Joohyun upset, like it was right now.

12.15 PM
To Seungwan:
Where are you?
I just finished my class.

12.15 PM
From Seungwan:
Sorry unnie, looks like I can't have lunch with you today.
Prof Yoon just gave us an assignment ☹
I'm going to the library with Sooyoung.

Joohyun furrowed her brows reading Seungwan's message. Especially when she saw the name 'Sooyoung'. Who's Sooyoung? She had never heard that name from Seungwan before.

12.17 PM
To Seungwan:
Who’s Sooyoung?

12.18 PM
From Seungwan:
Sooyoung is my friend in the fine arts major.

12.18 PM
To Seungwan:
Pretty?

12.19 PM
From Seungwan:
Huh? Who? Sooyoung?
Well…Yes, I guess? Why?

12.19 PM
To Seungwan:
Oh. Nothing.

Joohyun sighed in annoyance for the umpteenth time after reading Seungwan's chat. "You guess?" She squinted her eyes as she read the message again. Feeling even more annoyed, she put her phone back in her pocket.

She headed to the cafeteria. She still had an hour before her next class started. She sighed again because Seungwan couldn't have lunch with her today. She was forced to have lunch alone.

After tapping her student card on the meal ticket payment machine, Joohyun started taking a tray to fill it with food. The cafeteria was quite packed because it was lunchtime. Joohyun had a hard time finding an empty seat. After a few minutes of walking around the cafeteria, she saw a familiar back across the room.

Her eyebrows furrowed again. This was the nth time she had done this today. She walked faster when she realized that the person she was looking at was indeed someone she knew.

"Seungwan?"

"Cough...cough..." The person called choked when she heard Joohyun's voice.

"You said you were going to the library? No?" Joohyun didn't know why she was asking this. It was clearly none of her business if Seungwan didn't go to the library. Clearly, she shouldn't be bothered seeing Seungwan having lunch with the tall and slender woman sitting in front of her.

Yes, she shouldn't care, but yeah, worked faster than her brain. And now she regretted asking that question.

**

"Seungwan?"

Seungwan's eyes widened when she heard the all-too-familiar voice. The bite of rice that was supposed to go into her esophagus chose this moment to go down the wrong pipe.

"Cough...cough..." The poor younger girl tried to pat her chest, her hands busy searching for her drinking cup.

After successfully swallowing the lump stuck in , she turned around to see her senior carrying a tray of food and staring at her coldly.

“You said you were going to the library? No?” If the cold stare earlier pierced Seungwan's soul, then Joohyun's cold voice this time could kill her instantly.

Seungwan fidgeted with her fingers, a new habit formed whenever she felt nervous around Joohyun.

"Sooyoung asked me to have lunch first, after this we will go to the library."

She didn't know why she was struggling to explain, it felt like she was being caught cheating. Even though Joohyun and she were just friends? junior-senior? sisterhood? Whatever it was, they were definitely not girlfriends.

Joohyun snorted softly, she placed her tray down roughly and sat down next to Seungwan.

"Do you want to eat at this table?" Seungwan asked, it was unusual for Joohyun to be happy with the presence of a new person.

It seems like Seungwan had made the wrong move, that question earned her a deadly glare from Joohyun. Her senior snapped back, "Yes? Why? Am I disturbing your date?"

Joohyun stared at Seungwan and Sooyoung alternately, her eyebrows raised, waiting for an answer.

"What? No..." Seungwan trailed off, "I'm just afraid you're feeling uncomfortable..." Seungwan tried to explain even though she was honestly confused.

Joohyun ignored Seungwan's words, with quick movements she stuffed with rice. It was clear that the aura of the woman next to her was showing a dangerous level.

Park Sooyoung, Seungwan's friend, also seemed uncomfortable seeing her senior's presence at their table. Although their majors were different, Sooyoung knew about the popular student Bae Joohyun known as Irene Bae.

"Umm..anyway this is Park Sooyoung...my friend..." Seungwan broke the silence by introducing Sooyoung.

"And Sooyoung..this is Irene Bae sunbaenim..." This time Seungwan turned her gaze to Sooyoung.

"Hi Irene Sunbaenim, I'm Park Sooyoung, it's nice to meet you..." Sooyoung opened her voice while bowing slightly as a form of politeness.

Joohyun stared at Sooyoung for a moment with an uninterested gaze, but finally she spoke, "Hmm...Irene Bae, Class of 2012, Business Major.." she said, her eyes focused back on the food in front of her.

Once again, silence fell, Sooyoung glanced at Seungwan, signaling that this atmosphere was very awkward and scary. Seungwan, who understood Sooyoung's meaning, just shrugged her shoulders, not knowing what to do.

"So you're the pretty friend that Seungwan told me about?" Joohyun opened her voice.

That question made Seungwan's face blush and also invited a confused look from Sooyoung.

"Seungwan said that?" Sooyoung asked in disbelief.

"Hm yeah, she said you're pretty." Joohyun replied casually. Her tone was calm but it was undeniable that the cold aura still lingered.

"Of course! All the girls in the world are pretty right? Hahahaha..." Seungwan laughed dryly, she didn't know how to react. This was a really strange situation.

"I'm pretty sad, I thought you considered me pretty huh, Wannie?"

What the heck is Wannie? This was the first time Seungwan had heard such an endearment. What was her senior really trying to do?

"Wh..what? I..I mean yes..you're pretty too unnie!" Seungwan stuttered to answer Joohyun's question. What kind of complicated situation was this?

Sooyoung, who had been watching their interaction the whole time, caught something fishy. Suddenly a smile spread across her lips. She could already grasp what was going on between her friend and the senior in front of her.

"Seungwan you're also pretty!" Sooyoung exclaimed with enthusiasm.

Seungwan's eyes darted towards Sooyoung, her brows furrowed, wondering what her friend was doing. Why was she pouring gasoline on the fire?

Joohyun tightly gripped the unfortunate spoon in her hand. If it were a plastic one, it would have snapped in half. Joohyun had sensed it from the beginning; surely, this girl named Sooyoung was interested in Seungwan.

No, she wasn't jealous, but as a caring senior, she only wanted to ensure that Seungwan's choice of partner was the best. It wouldn't be wrong to assess that Park Sooyoung girl now, would it?

“Oh, so you think Seungwan is pretty? Are you interested in her?” Joohyun bravely asked Sooyoung, her face pretending to be innocent as if she knew nothing.

Seungwan beside her merely covered her face, now as red as a boiled crab. She didn't understand what was happening between Joohyun and Sooyoung.

“Yeah, Seungwan is pretty and very popular in our major, although not as popular as you, Sunbaenim. But many have tried to get close to Seungwan!”

This time, Seungwan truly wanted to drag Sooyoung as far away as possible, to gag her, tie up her hands and feet, and lock her in the storage room. That girl was insane! Why would she tell such things in front of Joohyun?

“Oh? That's new information. You never told me, Seungwan?” Joohyun's attention turned to Seungwan. Her tone was harmless, but her gaze was sharp.

“I..I think it's unnecessary to mention something unimportant like that…”

Seungwan prayed in her heart for this torture to end. She truly couldn't bear it under the deadly gaze of Bae Joohyun.

“Oh, don't belittle yourself like that, Wan-ah! Yesterday, a boy confessed to you, right?” Sooyoung seemed to enjoy this. She kept pouring fuel onto the small fire to make it bigger.

“WHAT?!”

Seungwan and Sooyoung were shocked to hear their senior shout. For Seungwan, it was the first time she heard Joohyun raise her voice like that. But it seemed Joohyun quickly realized she had just done something embarrassing; some students looked towards their table, curious about what made Irene Bae scream.

“Ehem..I mean why didn’t I know about that? So did you accept his confession?” Joohyun tried to neutralize her voice. Her eyes looked at Seungwan with curiosity.

“What? No! I don't even know that boy! Why would I accept him?!” Seungwan exclaimed, not believing that her senior thought she would accept a confession from an unknown person.

Seungwan didn't know why, but after she said that, relief washed over Joohyun's beautiful face. At this moment, she had to leave the cafeteria as soon as possible; Sooyoung couldn't be allowed to speak more, or her huge crush on Joohyun would be revealed!

Pretending to look at the time on her phone screen, she said, “Oh gosh! Park Sooyoung, we have to go to the library now, our assignment deadline is tonight!”

Sooyoung, who saw Seungwan's acting, mouthed "your acting !"

Of course, Seungwan was too smart just for a Korean art history research paper that she could probably finish in a few hours. She felt embarrassed that her acting was caught, she tried to kick Sooyoung's leg under the table, her eyes pleading for Sooyoung to leave the cafeteria now. Feeling sorry to see Seungwan's pleading eyes, Sooyoung finally relented.

“Yes, we need to go now, Seungwan. Let’s go…” Sooyoung got up from her seat, carrying her tote bag.

“Once again, nice to meet you Irene Sunbaenim…”

Grateful that Sooyoung caught her signal, Seungwan also got up from her seat, slinging her backpack over her shoulder.

“See you later, unnie, I will text you, okay? Bye,” Seungwan said, following Sooyoung in front of her.

Suddenly, Sooyoung's steps halted, “what? Did you forget something?” Seungwan asked.

“Ah yes, wait here…” Sooyoung turned around and went back to the table where Joohyun was sitting.

Joohyun, seeing Seungwan's friend turn back, raised an eyebrow, “Did you leave something?” Joohyun looked around her table, but couldn't find anything.

Sooyoung approached Joohyun, leaning closer to the senior, and whispered something in her ear.

“Sunbaenim… don't move too slowly, or Seungwan will become someone else's.” With that, she spun on her heel and left Joohyun gaping at her words.

Furious, that seemed to be the apt description for Joohyun at the moment. She couldn't believe Seungwan's friend dared to speak to her like that.

What did she mean by saying that? Yes, Seungwan was nice, attractive, warm, intelligent, had a beautiful voice, and she smiled a lot. Joohyun enjoyed the attention Seungwan gave her, but that didn't mean she had any special feelings to Seungwan, right?

Besides, she didn't have time to dwell on such matters. In a few months, she would graduate. She needed to focus on finding a reputable job and earning a lot of money. Right now, she was already struggling to balance studying, working on papers, and still having a part-time job at night.

Yeah, she didn't have time for fun. She believed she had to keep working hard if she wanted to survive. Her situation was different from most people. She didn't have the privilege to spend her young adult years partying or hanging out with friends her age.

**

(Joohyun’s Family Apartment)

Fatigue was evident on Joohyun's face as she glanced at the clock, which read 5 PM. She would soon have to head to the convenience store near her apartment for her night shift. The 22-year-old girl dragged her feet reluctantly