SOUR

'Remember i brought her up and you told me i was paranoid,'

milli.

The sun is setting, and I grasp my bag just a little bit tighter. I never used to be afraid of walking alone, though now I'm off school campus, and every time I see someone that looks remotely like Professor Young, I nearly turn around and run back to my room. But nevertheless, I'm determined to make it on time. I'm determined to not let him affect my life like that.

I feel a tap on my shoulder and I whip around. "Gah!" I yank the pepper spray keychain off my jean pocket and I aim it with my eyes closed.

"Holy Shidjfkjdl--Don't shoot!!" he says.

I slowly open my eyes. Hyunjae is tall. His shoulders are broad and he has light brown hair. I know it's him because he looks exactly like the type of guy Sunwoo would hate.

"I'm so sorry!" I put the spray away.

"It's alright, I kind of snuck up on you didn't I?" Hyunjae laughs. He has a kind smile, though one you're not really sure is real or not. He reminds me of me.

"yeah. I-I mean no! I'm just paranoid, I guess." I say.

"Then let's go inside shall we?" He says.

I nod and we walk in silence to a nearby cafe.

"You want anything?" He asks.

"No, I'm good," I say.

We slide into an empty booth and for a moment we just stare at the table with awkwardness.

"So you're friends with Sunwoo yeah?" Hyunjae asks.

"Yeah you could say we're... we're more than friends." I tell him. I glance up at him and he breaks into a grin.

"Thank god." Hyunjae says.

"Why?"

"I called you here because Sola has been worried sick recently. I guess it's been a really long time since she's heard from him, and he doesn't text her back and she's praying he's not worried and hiding alone in his dark room." He says.

"You can assure her that's not what his life is like." I say.

"I've tried so hard to tell her that he's probably fine, but she doesn't believe anything until she sees it with her own two eyes....so I was thinking it's time to butt into their business!" Hyunjae grins.

"Business?" I ask.

"Not that they have any feelings for each other or anything!" He says quickly. "I merely meant I think they would both feel relieved if they made amends with each other. I went to high school with them and-and they were best friends. Like really besties."

I nod. "I've heard."

"Yeah. And I'm starting to get worried for her because I know she won't call him directly, and blah blah blah. Has Sunwoo said anything?"

"He mentions some random things occasionally, but it seemed like a sore subject so I never wanted to snoop."

"Ah, that's probably good." Hyunjae says. "But I'm nosy, so I was thinking we could have them meet up sometime. What do you think?"

"Shouldn't we ask him about this?" I ask skeptically. "I mean personally I think it's a good idea but I don't want to force him into anything."

Hyunjae sighs. "Okay you can't tell him this yet, but Sola and I are taking a trip to Japan. And it's a long trip, like a couple months. I just think they'd both regret it if they never saw each other again."

"I agree," I say.

"Right? Like imagine if we were best friends and I was going to move to Australia or something and we never got a chance to figure out our shit from high school. That's rough." Hyunjae says.