Closer with you (ongoing)

CHAPTER 8

"Where were you last night?"

"I told you I was heading to the Commons to get a late-night meal."

"Yeah, you said you weren't staying long and that you'd be back soon . . . and then it was midnight and you still weren't back."

Moonbyul did, in fact, tell Heeyeon that she was making a quick run to the Commons. To be fair, she thought it'd be quick. She never expected to end up in an hours-long conversation with a stranger. Byulyi couldn't help but smile as she remembered the encounter with Yongsun the night before. It was pretty awkward in the beginning. She—Byulyi—was awkward in the beginning, but playing the full conversation back in her head, she thinks she got it together. She got the grad student's number, so she couldn't have done too poorly.

"What are you smiling about?" Heeyeon's question brought Byulyi out of her thoughts.

"It's a crime to smile now?" She's not sure why, but she didn't feel like telling Heeyeon about Yongsun. Her teammate would probably make a joke about Byulyi hooking up with the first-year master's student, and she wasn't in the mood for that at all.

"It's not a crime, but it's the second day of school, it's hot as hell, and we're walking to a 9:30 am class. It's pretty shitty. Not much to be happy about."

"You're just like this because you hate the mornings. At least be happy we didn't have to lift today before class. Once mandatory weight training sessions start, you're going to wish you could go back to days like this." Heeyeon sucked her teeth and walked faster, leaving Byulyi behind.

Moments like this made everything better for Moonbyul. Heeyeon was right. The walk from University Village to the building that their class was in was a long one. There wasn't much fun about it. Studying Business Administration was difficult. The program was one of the mot rigorous in the country and balancing her studies with basketball was tough, but having Heeyeon by her side through it all helped ease the stress. Byulyi couldn't imagine what she'd do once her partner in crime graduated this year.

She'd worry about that later though. Yelling for Heeyeon to wait for her, Byulyi jogged ahead to catch up to her cranky roommate.

*

"Unnie, why didn't you get more of this? You know I like this a lot."

"Because I got food for myself, Hyejin. If you want an entire tray of food that's to your liking, you can buy it. The stall is literally right there."

The Food Court in the Student Center was always too busy for Byulyi's liking during the school year, yet she found herself here during the day anyway because of her schedule. She had one hour to kill before her next class and it would take too much time to head back to her apartment. By the time she'd get there, she'd have to turn right back around and head to class. So here she was, at the busiest time of day, dealing with Hyejin eating all of her food.

"Don't get cranky. I'm doing you a favor. You texted me asking if I wanted to get lunch. I was planning on staying home all day and sleeping because I have no classes today." Moonbyul sighed.

"You'd do that even if you did have classes." Hyejin vigorously shook her head as her mouth was full of more of Moonbyul's food.

"Mm mm," she disagreed, "I'm taking my studies more seriously this year." At Byulyi's skeptical eyebrow raise, Hyejin further defended herself. "I swear! I even went to class yesterday."