Just A Small Difference

Hearing some rustling and a loud bang, Younghee got out of bed and peeked into the hallway.

"Ari, what are you doing?"

A messy-haired Ari looked up abruptly with a face like she'd been caught before shaking her head. "Sorry, I was just cleaning."

Ari stuffed the rest of her clothes into the suitcase that was hidden behind the door and gave a small smile. It seemed like she had already made a decision, but there was one more thing she had to check, just to be sure.

"By the way, did you know Myeong finally opened his shop? I think it's just near the station."

"Oh yeah, I know. I went with someone the other day."

Ari's face dropped a little as she felt a slight pain in her chest. "Who?"

"Just a friend. You alright?"

"Um... yeah."

After a somewhat strange morning whereby Ari had shut herself in her room following their conversation, Younghee made her way to her public law lecture and found the lecture hall completely packed. 

It had come to the point in the school year where most people stopped showing up to class and just watched the recording of the lessons so to find so many of her classmates here was unexpectedly. 

Oh shit, do we have an exam?

She was always focused on her studies sure but even Younghee wouldn't be surprised if she forgotten about an exam so all she did as she made her way to the back of the class was recite every case they'd been taught at the start of the semester, though doing this ended up making her even more nervous.

What was the one to do with national security called again?

Younghee let out a shaky sigh as she sat down and immediately pulled out her phone to search for her old notes. Amidst her state of panic, she didn't realise that she was sat next to the reason so many people had shown up today. 

The excited puppy-like face next to her suddenly died down as she scrolled through her phone with a kind of concentration so hard to break she hadn't even realised the professor walked in. Doyoung gave her a slight nudge and nodded in the professor's direction, half-aware this would make her notice he was there too and smiled as she stared at him in confusion.

"What are you doing?" He whispered.

"I think we have a test."

A panicked look appeared on his face. "Wait what, you do?" Surely if they did, everyone else would been cramming last minute too, right? But no one seemed nervous at all when they came in, in-fact most of them looked happy to be there after seeing 'hi' to him. 

"Yeah, everyone's here today." Younghee paused, "wait, have you always been in this class?"

Doyoung chuckled, keeping his voice hush as he replied, "no, I'm filling in for Nari. But she didn't tell me you guys have a test.. I'm screwed."

Hearing that, she grinned and put her phone down. "Don't worry, we don't."

"Huh? But you just said.."

"She wouldn't miss a test," glancing around the room and seeing occasional heads turning back at them, she suddenly understood why so many people were here today. "... And I feel like everyone's just here because of you."

The lecture went on as normal and Younghee noticed Doyoung was actually understanding most of the content well-enough to take notes, despite it not being useful to him whatsoever. 

"I'm surprised you're actually listening."

"Yeah? Well, it's more entertaining than zoning out the whole time and you don't look like you want to be distracted so."

"Are you going to give the notes to her?"

"Probably, she didn't ask for them but I have no use for it either. I'll just throw it away if she doesn't want it."

Younghee leaned over and took a closer look before pointing with her pen, "that bit's wrong, it's section 37 not 31."

"Oh, why doesn't she write the sevens with a dash…" He grumbled as he crossed it out, realising he made the same mistake a bit further down.

"Is Nari sick?"

Doyoung looked up from his notes, unaware he still had his pen pressed against the paper and that it was starting to leak through as he looked at her with his mouth slightly open. Minju had told him something and he didn't believe it at the time but she did act differently when it came to Nari. It was just a small difference but a difference nonetheless, Younghee cared about her, even if she didn't realise. 

"Uh.. I wouldn't say that. If you really want to know, you should go see her. You know, so you know how she's doing."

"Younghee!"

In the busy hallway right after the lecture had finished, someone had shouted her name. Before she even had time to react, Mina ran up to her, giving her a brief hug. A few weeks had passed since their first meeting and out of gratitude for the necklace, Mina had kept up in touch.

Younghee wiggled out of her grasp and put up a distance between them before asking, "did you end up getting the necklace on time?"

"Yes! That's what I wanted to talk to you about, thank you so much! Our group had the best design out of the whole class."

"Really? Is that official or some self-proclaimed victory?"

"I'm serious! We even got chosen to show the pieces during this little show the department organised. You should come see it." Mina said as she handed her a ticket that seemed way too official for an university fashion show. "By the way, are you doing anything tonight?"

It came even as a surprise to Younghee when she agreed to meet with Mina that night. Nothing had really happened lately and her mind had been wondering around from the boredom so it was natural she wanted to find something or someone to focus on.

"Oh," Younghee let out a small and awkward chuckle as she waved, "hey."

Stood in front of the arcade, there was a slight hesitation on Nari's face as she glanced inside. Her eyes that met Younghee's seemed tired and reddish like she'd been crying and she spoke in a weak voice. "… Hi."

"You alright? How come you didn't show up to lecture today?"

"..Ah.. I just felt a bit ill in the morning."

She flinched as Younghee pressed a hand against her forehead all of a sudden. Before she could tell her she didn't have a fever or anything, Younghee had pressed her forehead against her's, unaware this was what was making her flustered.

"You're feeling a bit warm, don't stay out too late."

It was strange watching her silhouette walking away and disappearing into the distance. Nari hadn't thought she'd be met with her back turned so many times as of lately. It was unfamiliar but she knew it was something she'd had to get used to if she wanted their old routine back.

"She's totally dating someone."

Nari blinked as she turned to Sooah's voice. "What do you mean?"

Sooah looked at her then put her arm around Nari's shoulder as she led them back inside. "I mean look at what she was wearing, that totally screamed taken."

"What screamed taken?" Doyoung gasped as the ball he had thrown just about missed the hoop and the timer stopped, declaring Jumin the victor out of the two of them. "Damn it."

"That girl—"

"Younghee," Nari interrupted her, "she said Younghee's outfit."

"What? Is she dating someone? Jumin, let's go again."

"No way, you know what they say, quit whilst you're ahead. Give me your card."

"What? Fine, but we're doing the shooting one after you come back."

Jumin made a face then chuckled before heading off to buy a drink without giving him a proper answer. 

"Anyway, I don't know her so I don't know but it does look like it, no?"

"You don't know her so how would you know if she was?" Nari snapped at Sooah but quickly changed her facial expressions as the other was looking at her weird.

"Yeah, exactly." Doyoung backed Nari up. Even though he felt like Sooah might've been right, agreeing with her in the situation felt wrong.

Was it the girl she was talking to?

Hm, why do I feel like I'm not allowed to talk about it though?

"Ah!" He jumped as he felt something cold press against the side of his face.

Jumin who had came back quickly dangled a can of soda in front of him and chuckled. "Here you go."

"… You open it."

With both his hands occupied, he gave Doyoung an annoyed look and mumbled something about him being ungrateful before putting his drink down.

Doyoung who had moved a few steps away was looking back at him with his arms ready to block his face in case the can had been shaken up but ultimately realised he was overreacting as it opened up normally.

"Wow, is that how little you trust me?"

"Yes."

"Don't drink it then."

"No wait, I was kidding!"

Sooah turned back to Nari as they fought over the drink and silently watched as she scrolled through her phone. Though she couldn't hide her amusement for any longer as she realised what Nari was doing.

Nari looked at her as she chuckled, quickly clicking her phone shut as if she'd forgotten others can see her screen. "What?"

"I thought you didn't believe me."

"I don't. You don't know anything about her so don't talk like you do."

"Sure but then why are you going through her followings?"

"…"

Sooah grinned as she took Nari's phone, "you know, I think I know who it is. Wanna see?"

Nari knew she might have been right to start with because this wasn't the first time some stranger knew more about Younghee than she did. Even if Sooah was just trying to get into her head, if Younghee doesn't tell her anything, how is she supposed to know what's true or not, right?

"… I left for like thirty minutes, what the hell did you guys do?"

A drunk Doyoung blinked at Minju who was stood with her hands on her hips with a disapproving look. He pointed to Jumin who was lying on the table, asleep, and said in between hiccups, "it was his fault.."

She smacked the back of his head and contemplated if she should hit her brother too but decided it would be unfair to do that when he was defenceless. "What about her?" Minju pointed to Nari.

"Uhh.. Young—" Doyoung quickly slapped a hand over his mouth and slammed his head against the table, pretending to sleep.

Sooah took a sip of her drink as Minju furrowed her brows. Being the only one of them still sober, she grabbed her coat, "I should get going, I can take her with me if it'll make it easier for you."

"… No, it's fine. You go ahead."

"You sure?"

Minju nodded firmly. She pinched Doyoung's ears as Sooah left, fully aware he was faking. "Do Doyoung, if you don't tell me what happened, I'm going to tell auntie you failed your last exam."

Doyoung sat up immediately, "it… technically wasn't a fail.."

"What, happened?"

"… Um.."

Sorry Younghee..

Leaving Jumin and Doyoung in the car, Minju walked Nari up to her apartment - carried, to be more exact.

"Whoa—!"

A small thud followed as they tripped over each other on the way in. Out of breath from getting her up here, Minju decided to just lie on the ground for a while, staring up at the ceiling as the sound of the locks automatically turning echoed. It took her a minute of lying on that cold floor for what she did earlier to sink in, while her friends were having fun and drinking, she ended up indulging in a bad habit of her's and gambled half her allowance for the month away.

Earlier that evening, she had told herself if she stuck with them and kept an eye on everyone, they would have a good time and she wouldn't be able to do something like that but she somehow found herself slipping away from the group and on her own. For someone so disciplined, she still couldn't control her impulsiveness when it came to certain things.

… I really need to stop.

How did I even lose so much.. fuck…

Minju groaned as she sat up. She took a deep breath to calm herself and realised where she was.

She looked through the cupboards, trying to find a glass for Nari before seeing a vase that stood out awkwardly due to its height.

"Why's this here?"

Without thinking too much, Minju placed it on the countertop before getting some water for Nari.

"Nari, wake up."

She shook her gently and it didn't take long for Nari to rub her eyes open and thank her for the water before taking a sip.

"You feeling okay? How much did you drink?"

Nari laughed a little, "don't worry I didn't drink that much. I just fell asleep. Thanks for taking me home."

"It's nothing. Hey, can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"… Why do you like Seo Younghee?"

Nari blinked a few times, clearly taken back by how straight forward yet out of nowhere the question was. Her finger awkwardly tapped against the glass as she thought of an answer, honest or not. "You must think it's weird, given her.. reputation and everything."

"Yeah... But, I guess everyone's taste's different."

In the heat of the moment, Nari ended up making a mistake she would forget as it turned out she drank more than she could handle.

But it would be fine right? After all, Minju was trustworthy.

"You want to know why I like her right? … I can tell you... about a Younghee only I know, but you can't tell anyone else… not even her."