https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PVE1zcC-Dg

Han Seoyoon: Lost Child

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Are we celebrating Valentine’s Day together…or are we not…?

Yoonjung gazed at JB’s contact information on her phone. She was mentally sending him a message to call her, but it wasn’t working at the moment. She didn’t want to be the one to call him either, just in case he might be busy practicing.

Since when did I have to THINK about calling him? I used to be able to call him up whenever I pleased. And now…I have to hesitate. Does this make sense at all? Wy do I feel like our relationship is going downhill? I can’t even think of him as my “bestest” friend anymore. I wish we could go back to those days we were comfortable around each other. Can we return to that moment…when things were perfect?

Chanyeol, who was studying across from her, looked up at her vexed expression.

He wasn’t a mind-reader, and he could be thick-headed at times, but he was no fool.

Obviously, there was something wrong with her, and it frustrated him how she wasn’t behaving like her old self.

Chanyeol sighed and jerked his headphones off his head.

“Hey.”

“Huh?” Yoonjung looked up at him, but her eyes were still clouded with confusion.

“What’s up with you?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ve been staring at your phone for almost an hour now. Did you know that? You haven’t even started on your assignment,” Chanyeol pointed out.

Yoonjung looked down at her chemistry packet. The blanks on the paper proved he was right.

“Oh…I didn’t know.”

“This has to do with JB, huh?”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because you’ve been staring at his name like you’re trying to communicate telepathically with him.”

“You’re not thick-headed at all. You’re way too perceptive, in my opinion,” Yoonjung stated as she picked up her pencil.

“You’re just avoiding the point. Fine. Don’t confide in me,” Chanyeol huffed.

Yoonjung glanced at her phone once more. “…Chanyeol.”

“What? Is JB cheating on you? Did he find some cute trainee chick to be with?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. JB won’t cheat on me.”

“How can you be so sure? He’s a guy. Guys cheat.” Chanyeol shrugged.

Great. Thanks for adding another worry onto my plate, Yoonjung thought as she bit her lower lip.

“What were you going to say to me?” Chanyeol asked.

“…If you were a trainee-“ “A trainee to become a K-pop idol who already has a girlfriend but doesn’t even have the balls to ask her how she’s doing?”

“Like I said,” Yoonjung shot him a look. “You’re way too perceptive.”

“Continue. I’m impatient,” he whined. She asked, “If you were a trainee…would you still call your girlfriend? Would you try to be with her no mater what? Would she take priority over your dreams? Or would your dreams come first now that you’re so close to them?”

Chanyeol folded his arms and leaned back in his seat. “You know, since you’re being so serious, I’ll give you a no bull- answer. If I was a trainee or a med student or a soldier, I would have no time to do anything, much less dating.” Her shoulders slumped. So she was the wrong one here.

“But that’s just an excuse,” he finished, and she gave him a curious look. “Everyone has no time. Everyone is busy. It’s not just people with tight schedules like them. Everyone has a dream, and they all work hard to fulfill it. That doesn’t mean you need to ignore the people in your lives when they’re the very reason you’re trying to hard in the first place.”

His words made her think.

“If I was a trainee…and I had a girlfriend, then I would try my damnest hard to be with her. Strict rules? Hectic practices? Screw them. I can find my way out of those. I can always sneak out. I can always pretend I’m sick. If I really had no time, and if I really couldn’t be with her, then I would break up with her. That would be the best for the both of us. I’m not going to waste her time by pretending I can be there for her when I really can’t. She’ll deserve much more than that.”

Yoonjung looked at her phone and sighed quietly. Then what am I to JB? What are we? Who have we become? What do we mean to each other?

Chanyeol’s phone vibrated on the desk with a message. He checked it then closed his book. He knocked on the table, and she jerked her gaze up to him. Chanyeol nodded towards the door. “Let’s go.”

“Where?”

“D.O and Suho are here. They want us to eat lunch with them,” he said.

“Oh. Okay.” Yoonjung packed up her things and followed him. They went to the courtyard and found the two old friends waiting there.

“Yoonjung!” D.O waved excitedly and hurried over.

Yoonjung broke into a smile as he hugged her warmly. “I missed you so much!” He pulled back and grinned at her. “It’s been a while since we met up, but I suddenly thought of you and wanted to visit you. Suho, too.”

“Hi,” Suho greeted with a warm smile.

“Shhh, don’t tell,” Kyungsoo whispered loudly as he put a finger against his mouth. “We both skipped our study groups to come see you.”

“You shouldn’t have,” Yoonjung berated.

“It was well worth it to come see you.” Kyungsoo grinned.

“I’m glad somebody thinks Yoonjung is worth his time. Not like that selfish boyfriend of yours, huh, Yoonjung?” Chanyeol said out loud.

“Selfish boyfriend?” Suho looked confused.

Yoonjung jabbed Chanyeol in the stomach with her elbow. “Let’s go eat. My treat today.” Kyungsoo animatedly chatted with her as he followed her. Suho lingered behind and walked with Chanyeol.

“What do you mean by selfish boyfriend? Were you talking about JB? Why? Is there something wrong between them?”

“I don’t know!” Chanyeol furiously scratched the back of his head. “So annoying! Hey, wait up! I don’t want anything spicy right now!” He ran to catch up with Kyungsoo and Yoonjung.

Mark left the library and headed back to his dormitory. He stopped by the campus mart on the way to get laundry detergent.

“Mark?”

Mark heard his name and looked back. Suho approached him.

“Hey. It was you.” He smiled affably.

Mark smiled back. “Yeah. I had to buy this.” He took laundry detergent off the rack.

“I had some things to buy, too.” Suho held up his basket.

“Catch you later.” Mark turned to go.

“Mark, wait,” Suho called. He paused and looked back again. “…I don’t know if this is my place or not…” Suho rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “But well, I met Yoonjung today…”

Mark fully turned towards him. Suho had caught his interest now.

“And? Was there something wrong with her? Is she sick?”

Mark furrowed his eyebrows. If that was true, forget the laundry detergent. He was going to race to her right now.

“No, it’s not that, but she did look down and well…it seemed as if she was having problems with JB,” Suho said. Again? Mark’s jaw clenched. “I just wanted to let you know…seeing that she’s your good friend at all. Yeah. I should go. Bye.” Suho left first.

Mark quickly bought the laundry detergent, and once he was outside, he called Yoonjung.

“Hello?”

“Are you okay?”

“Wow. That was random,” she laughed. “Answer me,” he demanded.

“Yeah, I’m fine. What’s wrong?”

“Are you-“ No, don’t mention JB. Not if she’s having problems with him. Don’t bring it up. It’ll only give her more trouble. If there’s anything she wants you to know, she’ll tell you. “Just…is there anything you want to tell me?”

“Um, no…not right now.”

“Okay then. I’ll let you rest.”

“Mark, wait,” Yoonjung called. Mark said nothing but listened. “If I wasn’t okay right now…what would you do?” His heart thudded with both fear and anxiousness. He hated thinking she wasn’t okay. It made him scared, and he wasn’t easily frightened. “Then I would come to you.”

“Right now?”

“Right now,”Mark confirmed. “Do you want me to come?”

“…No.”

“You sound unsure. I’ll come right now.” Mark took a step forward.

“No,” Yoonjung blurted. “Don’t.”

Mark froze. “…You sure?”

“Yes, it was just a silly question. I’m being stupid right now. Don’t mind me. I’ll call you later. Good night.”

Yoonjung hung up first.

Mark stared at his phone and sighed. “It wasn’t silly to me at all.”

Yoonjung gazed at Mark’s contact information for a long time before setting down her phone and going to sleep. She woke up two hours later by a text from JB. ‘Miss you. XOXO.’ Yoonjung didn’t reply but just closed her eyes. She ended up not being able to go back to sleep for the rest of the night.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cc6ZsUZCVnk

Tiny-G: Ice Baby

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Yoonjung bent down in front of the chocolate wands and carefully chose the ones she knew JB would like to eat. She asked the employee if she could wrap them in a bouquet herself and added a heartfelt message to it. To humor JB about their old days (and hoping they could somehow return back to then), she bought a pack of Yakult also. Yoonjung arrived at Dream Entertainment and stared at the huge, diamond-looking building in