Fire and Ice | A TzuKook FF

9. Strides and Stumbles

"So are we deciding on this as our thesis?" Jungkook asks me. Even though it's only three-thirty in the afternoon, I have to resist the urge to close my eyes. I'm so tired. I shouldn't be, technically I haven't done anything physically straining today, not even my morning run. Sleeping five hours a day hasn't helped I would wager, but even then, I feel unusually drained. I'm shivering a little, even though I know the room is warm. Classic signs of an illness, I think darkly. It was probably just a cold - after all, I've always been sensitive to changes in the weather.

"Yeah, it should be fine." I slump a little in my chair, fighting back exhaustion, and brace my forearms on the table.

"Are you okay?" he asks, frowning, "You look a little pale."

"I'm fine," I say, shrugging it off, "Just a little bit tired. Anyway, the thesis is fine, I think socio-economic impacts alone will be more than enough to occupy the word limit. We don't need the cultural impacts."

"Still, don't you think we should at least mention them? They're big enough that I'm not really comfortable with just ditching them."

"I still don't think it merits changing the thesis. There's no way cultural impacts can make up a third of our report. If you really want to mention it, I guess we could briefly reference them in the context paragraph."

"Sure. Sounds good to me."

"So all that's left now for this preliminary stage is to finish the methodology outline and we can submit our plan right?"

He hums in agreement. "If you can work on the primary methods, I can do the secondary and tertiary ones."

"Alright."

The next hour and a half was spent in relative silence, neither of us speaking unless we had something to check with the other.

I feel my mind starting to wander again, my eyelids heavy with sleep.

Jungkook's voice snaps me back to reality. "It's past five now Juhee. We should get going. I think the library is closing early today." He starts to pack his things up and I slowly follow suit, rubbing my eyes blearily.

"Let's go."

~

"So I think, after tomorrow, we can hand in the plan for sure," Jungkook says, as we make our way down the stairs, "How far along are you with the primary methods? I'm almost done with the others, so I can help you finish the primaries if you need."

It's curious indeed to see Jungkook so invested in schoolwork. As far as I could remember, he had always hated studying, grumbling that it was a waste of his time when he was just going to inherit his father's company anyway.

"I've done about half." He raises a curious eyebrow at my short reply but doesn't question it. Finally going home now.

"That's fine," he says, the gates coming into view, "We can probably finish that tomorrow..." He trails off, seeing the lone figure waiting at the gates. I take a closer look, not quite recognising her.

"Isn't that ... your girlfriend?" I say, feeling a headache start to flare up, "Did you tell her we would be here?" He shakes his head slowly, turning back the way we came.