Tall People Problems

Tall People Are Not Gods

Wonyoung wakes up to quiet sniffling in a dimly-lit room. Confused, she sits up, trying to discern the source of the sound. She leans over the railing of her bed, checking on the girl on the bottom bunk of their bed. It's empty. Wonyoung quickly checks the time: 8 in the morning. That makes sense then, she thinks, Sakura must be having breakfast with Chaeyeon outside. The bed across from Sakura's is usually inhabited by a sleeping Yuri, but Wonyoung recalls that Yuri snuck off last night to, in Yuri's words, "hang out" with Yena in the other dorm, although Wonyoung knows exactly what she means by "hanging out". Thank goodness they've decided to spend their couple time in the other dorm; Wonyoung has lost count of how many times she's walked into the sickly-sweet couple making out, or even worse, cuddling while saying stupidly cheesy things to each other, lost in their own world.

Wonyoung shivers at the memory.

That leaves the girl across from her: all-time small bean, Yabuki Nako. Where the girl should be Wonyoung only sees a blanket burrito. No, she thinks, burritos are long -- this is round and tiny. This is a blanket dumpling if she's ever seen one. Wonyoung watches as the figure hidden under the blanket shifts around, pausing only to throw out a crumpled tissue.

"Nako?" Wonyoung tries. The blanketed figure freezes. "Are you okay?"

"Yes," the girl squeaks out. She must be trying really hard not to show she's been crying, Wonyoung realises. She doesn't usually do this, not even when Chaeyeon or Eunbi come to rouse her for school, but sometimes, some people were worth getting out of a warm bed for. She climbs out, and stretching her long legs, easily steps over to the ladder on the other bed. Clinging onto Nako's bed, she pokes the blanket. It squirms away from her.

"Nako, what's wrong?" Wonyoung asks. She tries to tug the blanket away from Nako, but the smaller girl has a death grip, refusing to let anyone look at her.

"Nothing," Nako replies, sniffling. "Go away, Wonyo."

Wonyoung draws her face into a pout. "If you're not going to tell me, I'm going to tell everyone else that you're crying."

She counts down from ten as Nako contemplates the mortification that would follow such an event. At five, Nako's head pokes out. Wonyoung can feel her heart tremble at the sight of red-rimmed, teary eyes and messy bed hair. Reaching out, she wipes away the tear rolling down Nako's cheek. "Do you want me to get you more tissues?"

Nako nods. Wonyoung jumps down and grabs their box of tissue from the dresser, then leaves it on Nako's bed. "Wanna tell me what's wrong?"

Nako sighs, rubbing her eyes. "It's nothing. Just me being silly, really."

Wonyoung crosses her arms and looks up at Nako. "I'll be the judge of that."

Nako sighs again. "Have you seen the news?"

"Um." Wonyoung scratches her head. "I just woke up, so... nope."

"Then-"

"Nako!" A giant ball of energy bursts through their door and beelines for Nako's bed. Wonyoung immediately moves to block her best friend from attacking her roommate. "Have you seen the news?" Yujin pants as she attempts to climb over Wonyoung.