It had been a week since Sooyoung had been discharged from the hospital meaning she had about another week to rest up at home before returning to work. Although she was hesitant at first, Sooyoung slowly began to take advantage of everyone treating her nicely. Yerim was constantly running back and forth from their room to refill the girl’s water while Sooyoung studied from her bed. For the time being, she was taking it easy by writing her notes out and listening to the recordings that her classmates would send her. There weren’t any problems with her getting up and moving around but Seulgi suggested it would be best she give herself a couple of days of down time before going back to school. Sooyoung was beginning to think that she would be okay to go back to classes within the next day or two and while Seulgi was hesitant, she respected the girl’s wishes with a promise that Sooyoung would take breaks and not overwork herself again.

Yerim came into the room with a full glass of water for probably the hundredth time that day and handed it to Sooyoung who gulped down half of it within a couple of seconds. She smiled at the younger girl and set the cup down. “Thanks,” She blew her a kiss and Yerim rolled her eyes before making her way to her desk where her books were laid out for her to study.

Yerim was shifting uncomfortably in the chair and couldn’t bring herself to concentrate as she had a lot running through her mind. Not only did she have to focus on school but she had been secretly looking for a job as well to help out around the house once summer break began. She knew that her two older housemates would be strongly against it but she was thinking of ways to bring it up to them so that they would say yes. She also knew it would be best to strictly look for a job that would only last for the summer to further appease them. There was something else bothering her lately as well but she couldn’t quite bring it up to Seulgi so she turned her head slowly towards Sooyoung and studied the girl for a moment.

Sooyoung didn’t notice that she was being watched and Yerim didn’t make it known for a couple of minutes. The older girl had always been pretty and hardworking and Yerim admired her just as much as she admired Seulgi. She smiled when Sooyoung ran her hand through her hair in quiet frustration and let out a deep sigh before glancing up and making eye contact with the younger girl. Yerim’s heart skipped a beat at the sudden eye contact and she smiled,

“Sooyoung…” She mumbled, watching the girl nod her head for her to continue.

Yerim cleared and glanced at the door. She knew that Seulgi wasn’t home but it was sort of a precaution, “Hasn’t Seulgi been off lately?” She asked, twirling her pencil in her hand and turning around fully to face Sooyoung.

The older girl hummed and nodded her head slowly thinking back to all the late nights from the past week. Seulgi, who had a weird but happy hop in her steps just a couple of months ago, seemed to die down into a gloomy soul. It was almost as though Seulgi was forcibly dragging herself around to do what she had to do and the only time she looked genuinely happy anymore was when the three of them, or four whenever Seungwan came by, were sitting together and talking about their day. But even then there was a clear distance set between Seulgi in the others, almost like she was lost in her own world that nobody could quite understand.

“I noticed but I don’t really know what to tell you, I’m not sure what it is either…” Sooyoung trailed off and picked the glass of water back up from the side table and downed the rest of the water.

Yerim just gave her a small smile and watched Sooyoung’s eyes close while she took in the refreshing feeling the water had on and then open again to stare back at her. They both giggled softly before going back to their studies, with Yerim’s heart skipping a beat once more at the sound of Sooyoung’s laugh. Shaking her head, Yerim sighed quietly to herself, adding another problem onto her already full plate.

***

Seulgi came home from work and unlocked the door of her apartment, stepping inside. She set down her backpack on the kitchen table and found herself downing two full cups of water. The apartment was silent, as it was pretty late and the other two girls had school early in the morning. Moving quietly, Seulgi found some food that the two had wrapped up for her and left in the oven to keep warm. Within a couple of minutes, she was sitting at the kitchen table, practically inhaling the food that was in front of her. Her phone was in her left hand and she scrolled through it, nearly choking on a bite of food at a funny post by a classmate of hers. A banner dropped down from the top and Seulgi glanced at it, noticing it was a text from Seungwan. Opening the text, Seulgi read it out loud to herself,

“Class is cancelled tomorrow, rest up.” Seulgi whispered and then smiled to herself.

The past two weeks had been incredibly busy between worrying over Sooyoung, studying for upcoming exams, and working long and late shifts. It had been easier a few months ago when she had a certain face to look forward to seeing but she hadn’t seen that person in quite a while. Curiously, Seulgi typed the girls number in and watched their conversation pop up. She stared intensely and began to make calculations in her head on the consequences of texting the girl this late. Joohyun’s name stood out on the top and Seulgi shook her head and locked her phone only to slam it down on the table. She got up and washed the plates she had used before grabbing her backpack and heading down the hall to her room.

As she changed into more comfortable clothes, Seulgi pulled out her textbooks and settled them onto her desk. She had work the next day but it wouldn’t be until late at night so she thought it would be best to get a head start on studying. Two hours passed by until Seulgi’s eyes couldn’t stay open anymore. It was time to give in for the night. The girl half-jogged to the kitchen and grabbed her phone before running back to her room and sliding into bed. She unlocked the phone and seeing that her conversation with Joohyun was still open, she tiredly typed something in, pressed the blue ‘send’ button and then tossed the phone aside to close her eyes. Whatever the consequences — if any — she could deal with in the morning.

***

I hope you’re doing okay.

Joohyun had been staring at her phone all day, analyzing the text as much as possible but seemingly going nowhere. Was Seulgi being sarcastic and rude? Or was she genuinely curious about Joohyun’s wellbeing after weeks of being apart? The tone of her text didn’t seem to translate properly through text, leaving the woman anxious as to what the intent of the message had been. Joohyun shook the thoughts from her head knowing that her therapist would kill her if she were to somehow put herself into the woman’s head. She tapped her fingers on her desk mindlessly and sighed.

For the past few weeks she wanted to reach out to Seulgi and apologize, and then maybe tell her how she really felt. But all her anxiety and depression was holding her back and she knew, or thought rather, that Seulgi probably hated her and didn’t like her anymore. Especially not after what Joohyun had cruelly put her through. This was the exact reason why Joohyun always promised herself to never get too close to anyone. It just brought out all of her insecurities because she couldn’t believe that people actually wanted to be close to her. So when Seulgi came around and showed genuine, friendly and romantic interest in Joohyun — the older girl had to back down immediately and say no.

Before her thoughts could fall into a deeper, darker hole of her self-hatred, the door to her office swung open and the restaurant manager was standing in front of her smiling widely. “Sooyoung’s first day back!” He clasped his hands delightfully and even the normally cold businesswoman Joohyun broke out into a smile.

The last two weeks without her best employee had been manageable but it was about time she came back because Joohyun simply could not put up with people’s stupid questions anymore. She stood from her chair and walked past the manager who closed the door behind him and followed the woman. An employee from the kitchen called out to him and he apologized to Joohyun before scurrying off to sort out whatever issue had come up. Joohyun stood in the shadows of the restaurant, not wanting to be seen by anyone at the moment while she studied a certain employee. While Sooyoung didn’t particularly take a natural leadership role, she was very hardworking and smart which easily made up for her inability to lead a group of people. That was something that could probably be worked on soon enough. Joohyun followed the girl with her eyes and before she knew it, a good amount of time had passed by.

The restaurant ran smoothly that night and Joohyun felt comfortable sitting in her office until closing, taking care of the many papers that were scattered around her desk. She received a short phone call from her father asking how things were going and asking if she would be able to meet up within the next month as he was opening some other restaurant in the heart of the city. Joohyun reluctantly agreed and hung up, not realizing how much time had passed until she took a look at her phone. Standing up, Joohyun grabbed her coat and threw it on. The restaurant had already been closed and locked up, presumably by the manager, and so Joohyun had to unlock the door to let herself out before turning to lock it again.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see someone leaning against the wall but their face was hidden in the dark. When she turned fully to face whoever it was, she easily made out the person’s figure in the dark.

“Sooyoung?”

The girl looked up from her phone and smiled, stuffing it into her coat pocket. “We thought you already left…” The young girl laughed softly and took a step towards her boss, stepping into the light.

“Are you waiting for a ride?” Joohyun asked her, fiddling with her car keys and waiting for an answer.

Sooyoung shook her head before stopping to think and then nodding quickly, “Not quite a ride but I have...someone coming to pick me up…”

“Are you sure? Would you like me to drive you home?” Joohyun offered, noticing the girl’s hesitance earlier. Again, Sooyoung shook her head.

“I’ll be fine! You should get going though, you worked yourself too hard today.” Sooyoung smiled and Joohyun wanted to insist but changed her mind.

She didn’t realize how exhausted her body was until Sooyoung mentioned it and thought it was best to get home as soon as possible. So Joohyun gave the girl a slight nod of her head before walking away across the street towards the large garage building where her car was waiting for her. As she stepped closer to the building, she heard a loud laugh and turned to see Sooyoung clutching onto someone’s arm with her head thrown back in laughter. She narrowed her eyes realizing the person was someone she recognized quite easily. Seulgi jokingly tousled Sooyoung’s hair and the two laughed some more before waving down a taxi and getting inside. Joohyun turned back around and mindlessly walked towards the elevator, hitting the button for the tenth floor.

Her mind was clouded as she tried to piece together what she had just seen. The two looked rather intimate, almost as though they had known each other for years and Joohyun knew there was only one reason why that could be so. Clearly, she was right about Seulgi having moved on from her and realized the the text to her earlier in the day was probably sent mockingly. Seulgi intended to hurt Joohyun. She didn’t like her anymore. Or, Joohyun thought, she never did. Gripping onto her bag tightly, Joohyun somehow found herself standing by her car and got in quickly. She laughed at herself for ever thinking that someone could have any genuine interest in her.

***

Seulgi wiped down a glass and set it down on the counter. She tossed the towel aside and observed the two girls who were currently in the living room watching some kind of animated movie. Taking small steps towards them, she made sure her presence wouldn’t be noticed. Yerim, whose eyes were glued to the TV, reached out to grab some popcorn only to find that the bowl was empty. Her head whipped towards Sooyoung who hadn’t noticed the younger girl’