❝ if you were to choose between two people-
would you choose the person you love or the
person who loves you? ❞
━ a poignant narrative that weaves through the tapestry of girlhood, boyhood, friendship, parenthood, love, and loss. It follows the li...
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THE SERENE COLORS OF nighttime embraced the sprawling and frenetic downtown of Seoul. Apgujeong-dong—one of the wealthiest shopping locations in the city—laid expansively before Yoon Solbitna's eyes. Luxurious sports cars swarmed the main street all at once, propelling within the white lines of the road with their clamorous high-powered engines. Middle aged women dressed in trendy designer clothing walked along the clean sidewalks with their dazzling stilettos and platforms, producing striking thuds with each step. Solbitna was unquestionably mesmerized by how sparkly they all appeared as they entered the Apgujeong boutiques and exited with multiple purchases in their hands. I wonder how much it would cost to become one of them, she said to herself, trailing slowly behind Yoo Rin.
"Hey," blurted Hwang Yoo Rin suddenly.
Solbitna's eyes rounded at the unexpected call, "Yeah?"
"Hurry up, will you?" She instructed with furrowed brows. "I'll end up losing you if you walk that slow around here."
"Ah." The seventeen year old just recognized how further ahead Yoo Rin was of her. In an instant, she strode quickly towards the girl, smiling sheepishly. "Sorry."
Yoo Rin's frown transformed into a small smile. "You know, it's weird seeing you like this."
"Like what?"
"Like all excited and ditzy," Yoo Rin moved closer and interlocked her arm around Solbitna's. "Since I first met you, I always considered you as that high achiever girl who did nothing else but study. I actually expected that you'd bail on me today so you could go and review your notes or something."
"I think the usual Sol you know would have definitely bailed on you today," replied Solbitna with a sarcastic tone.
"What a bad girl she is," scoffed Yoo Rin, heading into a narrow street. "Today's Sol must be different from the Yoon Sol I see everyday."
"I guess so. But it's only today that she'll be doing this. From tomorrow onwards, she'll probably be the usual Sol you know again."
"Is that so?"
"Yes."
"Doesn't it get exhausting?"
"What does?"
"Living that way all the time."
"What's wrong with how I live?" Solbitna halts in her tracks, pulling away from Yoo Rin.
"I don't mean it like that," Yoo Rin refuted, turning to face Sol who clearly did not look pleased with her words. "I mean like...we're still so young. We still have so much more things to experience outside of studying—so much more people to meet, boys to fall in love with and break up with—stuff like that. Yet, you're here studying your youth away. Don't you get sick of living that way 24/7?"
