Minjae barely made it inside her room when she heard the front door opening. She gently closed the door and placed the keys back to where she found it. After that, she rushed inside her room’s bathroom and shoved all the trash inside there since she was the one who segregates it. Before she rushed up the stairs, she made sure that the living room was clean and that the kitchen looked untouched. She was fortunate that her parents seemed to have came from the grocery store that’s why it took them some time to get inside the house.

It took a few minutes before she heard footsteps coming from the hallway.

“Minjae, come have some dinner. We have some blackbean noodles.” Her mother smiled fondly at her as if nothing happened. “You’ve worked hard.”

“I’m just going to clean up.” She forced a smile as she pretended to glance at her notes one last time.

When the door closed, she finally heaved a sigh of relief.

The soreness of her body was still there when she went to school on Monday. She woke up pretty early and cooked some pancakes for herself. Her mother always slept in on Mondays and her father couldn’t be bothered with breakfast.

“Minjae.” She glanced behind her to see Youngjae, she peeked over his shoulder and noticed that someone was missing. “It’s the first time he’s kind of late. It’s still pretty early but… yeah, I think he’s kind of tired of the routine of going to school half an hour before the bell rings.”

“You sure he’s not sick?” She asked, remembering what happened from Friday. Youngjae shook his head and smiled at her in reassurance. “Oh well, let’s go. I have a lot of things to get from my locker.”

The day was pretty dull not having Daehyun around. Daehyun, the boy who never missed class, the boy who always ate lunch with her whenever she bothered, the boy who was always ready to copy notes for her because Youngjae was such a selfish friend, the boy who—Minjae snapped out of it when she realized she’s been staring at Daehyun’s seat the whole time. It was the first time he’s missed class and she can’t help but think it must be because of her.

The bell rang signaling that the break has started. Youngjae always rushed off because he knew that she rarely ate lunch. She was left there at her seat, wondering if she should even leave the room or stay at the rooftop. She chose the former. She brought out her phone from her bag and also inserted her earphone in it. She decided to listen to some music as she laid her head on the desk and closed her eyes. She fell asleep that way.

W