Roses and Thorns (Jinlia)

𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘂𝗲

Prologue

WITH ONE last stroke of her pen, Jisu has finally finished her narrative report. She grinned widely, staring at the neatly binded papers between her hands.

Her mother then came knocking on her room's door, “Sweetie! Come out of your room now and let's eat!”

“Yes, mom! Let me just get dressed.” she replied and stood up from her study table's chair to put her hard-earned project in a clean brown envelope and shoved it carefully inside her backpack. She headed over to her wardrobe after and grabbed her uniform.

It's almost seven o'clock in the evening but she was still going to school. She went to the university's president, in other words the owner of the school, and requested for a slot in night classes. Studying two courses at the same time clearly took all her possible free time, and those courses sometimes was overlapping each other's deadlines.

You could never imagine (and probably wouldn't want to) how it feels to be a college student if you weren't the one living that life. The education system would beat you, but she was confident she could manage. Those sleepless nights, the need to cram to reach deadlines, unintentionally skipping meals because of busyness would be all worth it in no time.

In the dining room, Jisu saw her mother preparing the table and she gazed lovingly at her with a sweet smile, and she didn't forget to give her mom a kiss on the cheek before she sat on her chair across her mother.

──⇌••⇋──

After Jisu has put her dishes in the sink, she ran back to her room and grabbed all her school stuffs. Her face crumpled for a moment once the weight of her backpack burdened her shoulders, but eventually she brushed it off and exited her room. “Mom! I'm going!”

“Okay! And please be safe!”

“Understood!” She shut the door behind her softly and tied her hair in a low ponytail, her baby hairs falling out of her fingers' grasp. Jisu then took her bicycle, and took a moment to set her mind straight. Her hands gripped the steering handles, her right foot already on the right pedal. With one last sigh, she stepped on the pedal and rode her way to the university.

──⇌••⇋──

“Good evening, Mister Lincoln!” Jisu mounted off her bicycle and smiled warmly at the security guard on duty for this night.

“Back at you, Miss Choi,” he greeted back. Jisu noticed how his eyes twinkled behind his tough exterior, and she felt already better upon knowing that her presence was enough for someone to smile amidst of stressful and restless commitments in life.

“Come on, Mister Lincoln. I told you that it's all fine to just call me Jisu,” she said, her lips settling into a small pout.

Mister Lincoln chuckled, the wrinkles beside his eyes appearing in the process, “Okay, noted. But you should go on now. Your classes will start soon.”

Jisu saluted to him before striding toward her classroom, leaving her bicycle in the hands of the friendly guard.

──⇌••⇋──

Her chest moved up and down, sweats were already forming on her forehead, and her eyes scanned the crowd in the classroom.

There was no sign of their professor.

“Here at the back, Jisu eonni!” Jisu's best friend's voice rang around the corners of the room, and her gaze followed the trail of voice. Once she confirmed that her best friend was in the last row again, she called her out.