lover | (chaesoo)

we were lying on your couch, i remember

It was the night before graduation.

It's funny because Jisoo and I aren't even from the same faculties, but for some reason, we got the same graduation date. The same venue, the same timing, even. Maybe it's because the School of Linguistics and the School of Biological Sciences didn't have that many students to begin with, and maybe this is the school's way of cutting costs as if they didn't milk us out of funds for the last four years.

But, whatever, at least we've finally reached the end.

Most people have already moved out of the dorms a week prior in preparation for graduation. For some reason, Jisoo and I decided to stay in this dorm we've called home the last four years, savouring the last few moments we have before we go back home tomorrow afternoon.

"I'm going to miss this," Jisoo suddenly said. 

I was sitting on one of our seats in the kitchen, going over the list of things we need to handover back to the school. Dorm keys, that crap mattress they gave me on our first year that I kept in the storage all this time, and also that poor excuse for a fridge that could only hold four bottles of water and an apple that Jisoo and I chucked in one of the cabinets under the sink.

I looked up from what I was doing, a little surprised to find her already staring at me from the living room couch. Jisoo loves that couch. She has spent the most time sitting there, either just lying down and staring at the ceiling, or heavily immersed in one of her games. I always used to say that there is only two places you can find Jisoo in: either at a computer shop that operates 24/7 and has the latest high-tech gaming equipment and games to match; or on our living room couch.

More often than not, I would come home to find Jisoo just there: sitting on that couch, on the same exact side. I would often joke to her that her butt has an imprint on that side of the couch, always making her roll her eyes at me in return as she laughs at my rather corny attempt at a joke.

"Miss what? That couch?" I joked, making her crack a smile at me in return as she shook her head.

"Well, yes, but also this," she began. "You and I living together under one roof."

"Jisoo, you talk as if  you're never going to see me again," I said, chuckling. "You do remember that we live two blocks away from one another, right?"

"You know it's not the same," she said in a tone so gentle I almost didn't catch what she said. There was an expression painted on Jisoo's face that I had a bit of a difficult time trying to decipher. Was that expression of sadness? I can't tell. All I know is that she's right: I do know it isn't the same.

Jisoo and I just ended up looking at each other, before she broke off our staring contest by smiling gently at me. "Come here," she said.

I immediately got up from my seat to walk over to the couch, Jisoo patting the empty space next to her. As soon as I sat down, I turned my body to face Jisoo, who now had her arms wide open, inviting me for a hug. I complied by leaning my body against her front, her arms now encircling me.

There was a sense of comfort that engulfed me the moment my body crash into Jisoo's, a sense of warmth that surged through my entire system the moment I found myself caught in her arms. It's strange, I thought, one would think that this one-sided, unrequited love would have somehow dissipated or at least lessened throughout the years, but as I sit here with her arms around me, I can only feel my heart growing in size for her.

How naïve it was for me to think that this love would have disappeared at all when all she ever gives me is more reasons to fall deeper into her.

"A penny for your thoughts?" Jisoo suddenly spoke, breaking me away from what I was just thinking.