The first thing I asked Jin Woon on the second night I discovered him waiting was why he came. “This area is not safe,” He said simply, eyes glazing over as though the subject was closed. And I never broached the topic again. Not that night and the others that followed. After the third time, I took it for granted that the tall singer would be standing by my bicycle whenever I knocked off. I had no idea how he knew when I would be working because he never asked me and would always turn up as if he could read my mind. Kwon gave no indication that he had any knowledge of this unwritten arrangement. So I accepted Jin Woon’s companionship as a matter of fact.

This was something I had not told anyone but sometimes I could get quite spooked on the route home – it could get quite lonely at that time of the night when there wasn’t a single soul - I wasn’t that brave. Although we were barely acquainted, I never felt inclined to fill the frequent bouts of silence. In fact, I was surprisingly comfortable with this gentle giant.

I didn’t have many good friends, much less males, and I had totally skipped the boy-crazy phase that teenage girls went through. I already had the teenage dream of a boy by my side. Kris taught me everything I had to know about men, especially in the bell jar we lived in in Beijing - which wasn’t plenty. When Kwon first burst onto the scene, this life of the party introduced me to the crazy world of aspiring musicians and artists that was as far away from the safe bubble of my childhood as I could get – I was watching a show, on the outside looking in.

My friendship with Jin Woon was a whole different story. It was interesting how much I could discover about a person in just half an hour each day. His body language was easy to read. When he was uncomfortable with the topic I brought up, he would clam up, including his body. But when he spoke about his music, words flowed out easily and I seemed to be able to see into his music-related dreams, goals and inspirations. I soon grew accustomed to reading his actions like the tell-tale signs of nervousness of tapping his feet continuously whenever he performed on stage.

Besides turning up as my , Jin Woon started joining Kwon and me for lunch. The two of them just behaved like normal boys hanging out and stealing each other’s food. Once or twice, I did wonder whether they ever discussed me in private but I shoved these thoughts to the back of my mind.

It was only a matter of time before Kwon counted me in to play the part of faithful fans on occasion at the bar. After his performances, Jin Woon would come over for a drink. On those nights when he slipped away after just one pint, I did ponder for a few seconds where he went. The need to find out his destination wasn’t pressing, just fleeting and curious.

The semester flew by at its normal super-sonic speed. On the surface, nothing had changed from the year before. The modules that I was taking were a relative breeze. According to Uncle Wu, my father was one of the most brilliant pharmacists that he had even known. He was disappointed when I had shown no inclination towards Chemistry; he had surprisingly high hopes for me to take over the research and development department that my father has headed. However, I did well enough to top my class every year. So Uncle Wu figured that I could always help him in the company with any degree I did. Except he had not foreseen that I would choose to pursue Economics in Korea. The Korean language was sure as hell tough to master and for more than once, I thought of giving up during the foundation crash course in Korean that I had to take. I guess it paid off in the end.

In a surprisingly turn of events, it was Kris the rebellious one who ended up obeying his father for once and chose Business Administration and Finance to major in. After all, ultimately, he would be the one to take over the company, where Kris was fond of saying that we would rule as a husband-and-wife team.

I had never thought about the future. It seemed all planned out for me.

My roommate was a Business undergrad too. And like me, Luna waitressed at a restaurant – it was chi-chi and in the city. She had asked me to interview there but they weren’t that interested in hiring a tomboy like me. Their waitresses had to be cute and girly. There was no loss though, I would die if I had to wear that frilly minidress uniform every day for work. She was saving up for the graduation trip that she had been planning for since year one. Every so often Luna would cajole me to backpack through Europe with her when we would be finally done with university. I didn’t know how to tell her that I couldn’t, just like how I had to fib every holiday I was going home instead of Tokyo because I just didn’t know to explain the situation with Kris. Plus, knowing the younger Mr Wu, he would probably have some epic graduation plan for both of us that I couldn’t say no to.

It was midway through autumn, late in October when I stepped out of the restaurant to see a squatting Jin Woon fiddling around with my bicycle. “Whatcha doing?” I was bemused at his concentration. The boy just continued engrossed in silence. So I just stoo