Moving On With You, Jinjoo

6: Broken arm

In the middle of a workshop sat a girl whose eyes were squinting at the paper propped against a drawing board. Yujin meticulously traced her sketches with a thin marker, ensuring they weren't out of line.  

She straightens her back, hearing a soft crack. "I've been here too long." She groans, putting down the pen. She rotates her wrist a few times, stretching her fingers. Tapping on her phone screen, she checks the time.

It was two in the morning and she hadn't left the school campus.

A girl enters her mind when she thinks of midnight. By the shores, in the car boot, doing nothing but talking. Yujin was amazed they could talk for hours without feeling bored. There was always something to talk about.

Maybe because she just met Minju. They were nothing but strangers who met not long ago. There was a lot to know about the older girl.

Yujin hasn't seen her since that day. It's been a week. She was busy and often, it was because she didn't have Minju's number. And she wants to respect the girl's boundaries, giving her space instead of constantly going to the cafe.

But today, she wanted to see her. Too bad she stayed on the campus for too long.

Yujin returned to the apartment, light with her steps because she didn't want to wake anyone up. When she was walking to her room, the lights suddenly turned on which made her stop.

"What are you doing?"

Yujin turns to see one of the girls she shares the apartment with. Kim Jiwon.

"Why are you back so late?" The girl heads into the kitchen, originally coming out of her room to get some water.

"Workshop."

Jiwon nods, sipping on her water. She walked back to her room, unbothered. "Good night."

Yujin continues tip-toeing back into her room. She walks in the dark, putting her things aside gently so she doesn't wake Yena up. Not wanting to sleep, she goes back out and decides to go on a walk. She does it very often and has a designated route for herself.

But recently, that route changed because of someone. Yujin passes by the cafe Minju works at, peeking into the darkness. "I should've ended earlier." I would've been able to see her if I did.

It's Wednesday. 

She sighs and continues walking, enjoying the cool breeze with soft music playing in her ears. Scrolling through her gallery, she saw the picture she took at the beach, trying to capture the stars in the night sky.

Dark but memorable. They both failed badly since light pollution was a thing.

"We didn't take a single photo." She realises. They were so immersed in their conversations that phones weren't a thing while they were together. "Too bad." She lets out another sigh.

—

Two days later, Yujin enters the cafe in the evening, thinking of getting the Iced Americano she hasn't drunk for the past week.

She goes to the counter, eyes looking for Minju but she doesn't see the girl. All she saw was the staff that spilt a smoothie the last time she was there.

Chaewon came to her. "Are you looking for Minju?"

Yujin shakes her head but ends up nodding. "She's not here."

"She's not here," Chaewon repeated her words. "I heard she didn't give you her number. You would've known why she's not here if you asked for it."

"She didn't want to give it to me."