Nocturnal Buddies ✩ Yang Jeongin

Chapter 14

The sounds of her instructor's voice started to become white noise as Hyunjoo drowned out the ongoing lecture. Her chin rested itself on the palm of her hand, head nodding as the tiredness throughout the day slowly took hold of her. She blinked a multitude of times before her eyes fell onto the device propped up in front of her, displaying the slides that had stopped moving a few minutes prior.

Unable to hold it in any longer, a quiet yawn escaped her, drawing the attention of her friends who knew she was dozing off. Their eyes flickered from the lecture to their friend, whose eyes had uncontrollably fallen shut. Deciding to let the girl rest, they returned their attention to the professor, taking notes on her behalf.

By the time the tired girl opened her eyes, the class was already drawing to an end. Her instructor went over which chapters they needed to read before attending the next lecture. With those reminders, the other students surrounding Hyunjoo started to pack up their belongings- if they haven't already. Sounds of chatter quickly filled the lecture hall as students made their way out of the room, laughter following along with them.

"Let's go, Hyun." Jaehyun nudged his friend, who hadn't moved from her spot.

Areum's eyes flickered towards the front after realizing her friend was fixated on the slides still on display. "We took notes, so we'll send them to you."

Hyunjoo finally drew her eyes away from the large screen, turning to look at her friends. With a helpless sigh, she nodded her head, running a hand down her face. "Thanks, you guys are the best."

She used whatever energy remaining to offer them a genuine smile, causing their lips to curve up. They lightly teased her for being a bad student as she gathered her belongings, causing a brief chuckle to fall from her lips. Once she was all packed, the three friends headed towards the exit, bidding their instructor a farewell along the way.

"What should we do now?" Jaehyun hummed, as the three made their way down the somewhat crowded halls filled with other nursing students.

Hyunjoo remained quiet as she pulled out her phone, checking the time displayed on the screen. "I have to pick Dohyun from school in an hour... Pretty sure Sohee should be home by now," she said, mainly muttering the second sentence to herself.

Her friends hummed in acknowledgment as they brushed past the other students, finally stepping out of the building. The sun blinded them, causing them to instinctively squint as their eyes adjusted to the bright intensity. They stopped in their spots after moving away from the entrance. Hyunjoo decided to stand with her friends for a while, as the two decided what they wanted to do with their free time.

"What do you think Taeyoung is doing?"

Despite the question, Areum had pulled out her phone, ready to ask the boy about his whereabouts. Jaehyun simply shrugged, eyes falling onto the older girl who had fallen quiet. Her eyes fixated on her phone as she typed away on her phone. She drew her lips into a thin line before she turned off the device, drawing her eyes up to the boy before they locked eyes. His eyes lingered on her, as he tried to decipher the emotion she was currently displaying.

"Something wrong?" he decided to inquire.

A sigh fell from her lips before she shook her head, running a hand through her hair. "Apparently Sohee woke up late, so my mom couldn't bring her back to the house. She wants me to pick her up and bring her to a friend's place now."

"Why can't she just ask her friend to pick her up instead?" Areum's question was fueled with clear irritation for her friend's sister. Her eyes moved away from her text message with Taeyoung and to the tired girl.

Hyunjoo simply shrugged, hand falling onto the strap of her backpack as she adjusted the way it rested on her shoulder. "No idea, but I should probably go now, especially if I want to pick up Dohyun on time."