Chapter 1
Yoohyeon didn’t care for parties. Her roommate didn’t either and that was what made them the perfect duo. She smiled at the various pictures they had plastered on their fridge and walls, happy that they shared a small apartment together. It was her second year of university and quite frankly she couldn’t be happier. Siyeon, her roommate, was in her third year, and more focused on her majors rather than anything else. But so was Yoohyeon.
“I’ll be leaving here around seven,” Yoohyeon spoke when she saw Siyeon walk by.
“Another night stargazing?” Siyeon asked her.
“Yup,” Yoohyeon smiled.
She didn’t mind being one of the few people in the Astronomy club. There were a few that had mixed it up with Astrology and she actually despised those people. She hated that they truly believed that the planets and stars ruled over their lives when there was clear-cut science that proved a person was the way they were for various other reasons and not because Mercury was out of sorts with the sun and causing the person to act like an asshole.
A person was an asshole with and without a planet being out of sorts.
“Well… I’ll be home,” Siyeon shrugged. “I’ll be working on my build if you want to come home early,” She smiled.
The two were the best of friends, not once truly arguing over minuscule things. They acted like an old married couple, but they were just friends with one another.
Yoohyeon sat on her blanket, her little telescope in front of her as she looked through the eyeglass. She loved seeing what space had to offer. Her major was everything to deal with robotics and artificial intelligence but, only because space was just a little daunting to her. Not because of what could be out there, but because of what she could find. The different stars, the different planets, the everything that space had to offer both terrified and excited her.
She used her special camera to take a few photos of what she thought was gorgeous, knowing that she couldn’t entirely view them until in the morning when she was completely done. She wasn’t going to spend another two hours adjusting the settings just to take more photos.
When morning came, she felt like a sloth walking into her class. It was still relatively early in the semester and knew that some kids would be dropping the class and some swapping in. She didn’t expect to see more people, and quite frankly, she didn’t like that her own favorite subject was being overrun by idiot jocks who thought Astronomy was an easy A.
“Miss Kim, glad to see you alive this morning,” Her professor chuckled. “I assume you stayed out very late?” He asked.
“Yeah, I’ll have the prints at the end of the week, I only got a few shots, and I slept through my alarm so I couldn’t see what I got pictures of,” She explained with a nervous chuckle.
“Don’t worry about it, take all the time you need,” He smiled.
Yoohyeon made her way to her usual spot, near the front, and off to the side, well hidden from the new people that joined her morning Monday and Thursday class. She listened to the lecture, and everything was going fine until her professor announced a group project. Yoohyeon let out an internal scream at the idea of socializing with someone from her class. She was perfectly fine with her one friend outside of the class, but that was it.
“Now, I have made the pairings already,” Her professor listed the names and Yoohyeon screamed internally when she heard the name after hers. She didn’t know who this person was and why she had to be stuck with this person for a month.
She stayed at her desk, not moving until she heard a small cough.
“Are you… Kim Yoohyeon?” Yoohyeon glanced up, frowning at the woman that stood in front of her.
“Y-Yes…” Yoohyeon whispered.
“We’re assigned partners,” The woman sat at the desk in front of her, smiling. “I’m Dong,” She introduced herself.
Yoohyeon slammed the door to their shared apartment, her entire chest still heaving from the absolutely horrendous interaction she had earlier in the day. Her morning had been ruined by the surprise partnership and with someone like that?! Of all the people she could’ve been paired with?!
Siyeon looked up from her computer, frowning when she saw her best friend so clearly distraught.
“What happened to you?” She frowned.
“My professor paired me with a gorgeous lady and now I can’t even focus,” Yoohyeon whined while walking through the apartment. She shed her shoes at the door, her jacket on the couch, and then her jeans right before she walked into her room. Siyeon rolled her eyes at just how comfortable the woman was.
“You know, you could just get over it and focus on your work?” Siyeon suggested.
“How can I focus on the group project when she’s so pretty!!!!!” Yoohyeon shouted.
Yoohyeon walked back out, this time in a pair of sweats and a hoodie that she had been wearing for the past week. Her hair was tied up in a bun, groaning at the entire day she had.
“I was so out of focus that I made so many mistakes on my exam,” She complained.
“Oh no, the smart Yoohyeon messed up an exam!” Siyeon teased. “Her entire average will drop by two points! Oh no!” She gasped, earning a pillow to be thrown at her. “I was kidding!” Siyeon laughed.
Across campus, Dong walked into the small apartment, letting out a small sigh. She saw her best friends seated on her couch and joined them almost immediately.
“How was practice?” Yubin asked without moving her focus from the tv.
“Fine, Minji said we needed to work on more of everything. Instead of helping us, she kinda just said everything needs to be fixed.” Dong shrugged her shoulders, ignoring the past horrible practice.
“You know… She’s being a rude bitch because you dumped her,” Gahyeon pointed out, finally breaking her focus on the tv screen. “Why did you even date her?” She frowned.
“She was pretty, and she still is but I didn’t know how rude she would be. That and… Other things were great,” She smirked.
“Disgusting,” Gahyeon chuckled.
“Why are you here? Taking away my fake girlfriend from me… How rude.” Dong sighed with a small smile.
“We were watching our show!” Yubin smiled. “You know, the history one you hate,” She explained with a small laugh.
Dong was incredibly grateful for them watching it while she was gone, but she was only teasing. Certain parts of the show caught her interest, but not entirely. She didn’t understand how the two loved the show so much, but she had her weird interests too.
“I got assigned a partner in Astronomy,” Dong whispered after Gahyeon had left for the night.
“Oh? Are they stupid?” Yubin asked.
“No, she’s the smartest one in the entire class. And she’s kind of cute…” She smiled. “She’s really timid and couldn’t focus at all. Kept tripping on her words… It was really, really cute,” She laughed.
“Thinking about asking her out? Because if you do that, then we need to break up,” Yubin frowned.
“What would be so bad about us breaking up?” Dong frowned.
“Nothing! If we break up, then… then I can ask someone else out!” Yubin’s cheeks tinted pink, earning a gasp from the older woman.
“I knew you didn’t just join the student union because you cared about people! You like someone there!” Dong pointed.
“I do not! She’s just… A person of interest!” Yubin shouted.