“Quick, Ji Kyung! We’re going to be late!”

His tensed voice echoed in her ears, breaking the morning silence and peacefulness. She washed her hands, shook off some of the water and grabbed the paper bag placed on the dining table. Before rushing her way to the entrance where Myungsoo was standing there tapping his foot impatiently, she double checked the content in the bag to ensure that she did not miss out anything she was supposed to take. Satisfied, she ran to Myungsoo and stuffed a piece of toast into his mouth.

“Here, I know you skipped breakfast again.”

He was surprised by the girl’s sudden action, evident in his widened eyes, but it took him another second to gobble up the toast well and smiled.

“Thanks, you’re the best!”

After locking the door, the couple hurriedly made their way to the nearest bus station, and fortunately for them, the shuttle bus to their university was still waiting at that spot so they wasted no time to get on immediately. They also managed to find two empty seats, so Ji Kyung sat by the window while Myungsoo to her left. When they finally settled down, it didn’t take long before Ji Kyung doze off eventually.

In her sleep, she was having one of those dreams about her past again. Flashbacks of the bittersweet memories she shared with Byunghun began to play in her mind like a movie. They were laughing together over something trivial, they were running to school hand in hand because they were late for class, they were messing around during lunch… The memories were supposed to invoke happiness in her when she recalled them, but now she was only left with tears and despair. Everything changed, and time will not turn back anymore. It was a pity, how things ended this way…

When the memories began to fade into darkness, her logical mind took over and reminded her to focus on the present, especially on Myungsoo. She was still crying in her dream, but she knew she should listen to her rational side on this. Time will not turn back, so it was useless to constantly drown herself in the past and ignoring what she had in her hands. She knew she had to put in more effort to completely shake away from her past self, but, a part of her was still resisting to let go of Byunghun, for fear that she might regret forgetting such a genuine love.

And so, she concluded once again for the nth time, that she was still unsure of her next step.

“Ji Kyung, it’s time to wake up.”

By then, she could feel someone's gentle touch on her shoulder, and then patting of her head. She squirmed in her seat and moved her body to the other side.

Pabo (fool), just when will you learn his true intentions?

“Ji Kyung? Ji Kyung, are you crying?”

The gentle touch was no longer there, but she perked up her ears to the familiar voice and opened her eyes. Her cheeks were wet, so she hurriedly wiped the tears away with the back of her hand and shook her head to his question.

“N-nothing.” She lied.

The bus driver then began to step on the brakes, slowing the bus down in front of the main gate of the university. The students left the bus one by one with order, and the both of them followed after.

“Alright, let’s meet up at lunch.”

He said, right after they reached the hallways filled with a number of lecture halls. She nodded, and was then pulled into his arms as he gave her a peck on her forehead. The two smiled at each other, before separating and went their own ways.

“Ji Kyung! I miss you so much, my dear!”

A petite sized girl with long brown hair was seen skipping merrily towards Ji Kyung’s direction. The hem of her dress danced along with each of her step, and Ji Kyung chuckled with her arms opened to welcome a hug from the excited girl.

“You’re so dramatic! We just met like, two days ago, Luna-sshi.” Ji Kyung spoke.

The girl returned her a chuckle, before clearing and said, “Aigo, how I wish I could see you every day! But nah, I can’t snatch you from your dear boyfriend.” She ended her sentence with a playful pout.

Ji Kyung narrowed her eyes at Luna, before another smile escaped her lips.

“Luna-sshi, jealous and sarcastic again? Aw come here, my friend.”

As soon as Ji Kyung finished her sentence, the both had a friendly hug once again before they finally sat down in their usual spot. Luna got busy getting her writing materials out from her bag, while Ji Kyung spent a good few seconds glancing at her best friend of ten years. It was amazing, she thought to herself, how the both of them had so much similarities, from studying under the same roof since elementary school to picking the same subjects in university. And because of the long span of time spent together, they became closer than ever, to the point that Luna knew more about Ji Kyung’s likes and dislikes than Ji Kyung herself. They have shared years of happy and sad memories together, and Luna was there for Ji Kyung when she lost Byunghun, so she knew the pain as well as how she used to suffer. To Ji Kyung, it was a very precious friendship that she vowed not to lose it easily.

---

Meanwhile, Myungsoo was struggling to keep his eyes open during the lecture. He yawned lazily, then took a glance at his watch. There was still 40 minutes until the class is dismissed. He inhaled deeply and looked at the lecturer, but he was no longer paying attention to what the lecture was about. It was a very boring class, but there was no escape for him since it was a compulsory subject.

“Gosh, can the lecture speed up?” He groaned and mumbled to himself.

I know right.

He jumped when the voice interrupted his train of thoughts. Unfortunately, the jump from shock caused him to fall out from his seat and landed on the floor with a loud “thump”. The lecture hall went silent for a few seconds, and there were weird stares from everyone around. The lecturer had stopped teaching, and was now walking towards him with a dissatisfied and inquiring look.

“Kim Myungsoo, is there anything wrong?” He questioned.

Myungsoo blinked his eyes a couple of times at the lecturer, then scratched his head guiltily before shaking his head in denial. The lecturer was heard letting out a sigh, before returning to his place in front of the hall. When the lecturer left, Myungsoo’s eyes were completely focused on the figure of the mysterious man as he slowly got back to his seat. He gulped nervously, trying to maintain his composure. The guy was still smiling eerily, but none of them spoke anything for a while.

What? You miss me already?

Myungsoo shook his head slowly and carefully. Another gulp down the throat.

Or perhaps, wondering why am I here?

He nodded.

“Myungsoo?! Why are you shaking and nodding your head to me?”

Suddenly, Sungyeol who was sitting beside him asked in a low whisper, his eyebrow was raised in curiosity.

 “A-ah... N-nothing...”

Myungsoo replied embarrassingly, forcing a weak smile at his seatmate and scratched his head again. He glanced at the guy, his name and identity still unknown to Myungsoo, then back at Sungyeol who must have been unable to see the ghost like he did. He groaned silently to himself, then grew frustrated thinking about why he was the only one dragged into this “crap”. The mysterious guy noticed his non-verbal actions, and then said,

There’s a reason why I’m here, it’s not like I am that free to come and haunt you every day.

“H-huh?”

Myungsoo responded with an inquisitive look. At that moment, he was still clueless to why the ghost was here.

You heard me. Oh, I haven’t introduced myself properly to you yet, since you cut me off last time... Well, I’m Lee Byunghun.

“C-can we... Talk later?”

Myungsoo whispered cautiously, hoping that his seatmate didn’t catch what he was doing or he will be seen as ‘acting crazy’ again. Thankfully for him, Sungyeol was listening to the lecturer attentively, unlike him, while Byunghun responded to his request positively with a nod and disappeared in a blink.

When he lost sight of Byunghun, he could finally let out a relieved breath. Just when he thought everything went back to normal, a sound echoed in his ears again, causing him to hold his breath and widened his eyes in surprise. He could almost feel his heartbeat stopped at that moment too.

So Kim Myungsoo, when is your lunch break again?

“I-it’s 20 minutes from now...”

He whispered as soft as possible to Byunghun, wishing that he heard what he said and get lost as soon as possible, just to stop giving him heart attacks.

Alright, see you later.

His eyebrows tightened upon hearing the response, but the strange voice was no longer ringing in his head and there was no sign of Byunghun in the hall, so he didn’t have the chance to express his resistance. Another sigh escaped helplessly from his mouth, followed by another grunt at the thought of how Byunghun is going to interrupt his quality time with his girlfriend later. Feeling defeated, he stared at the lecturer absentmindedly, while waiting for the remaining time to pass.