A not-so-normal morning

"Wake up, we're here."

Slowly, I open my eyes. After blinking a few times, I look to my side and find Seo-yoon in the driver's seat; checking her makeup and ponytail one last time. She is already beautiful, but she always makes sure to look flawless.

"It would be perfect if you just give me a ride every day."

"You live too far away."

She says that, but often, out of nowhere, she calls me and says she's at my door. Basically, when she feels like it, and doesn't find it necessary to let me know in advance. She knows I'll be there so, whatever.

"Sure." I shrug.

"Why don't you live with me??" Seo-yoon hits my thigh hard.

"Ouch!!! You'll buy me a coffee for this!!!" Her strength is no joke!

What a great way to start the day! We look at each other angrily.

They say our relationship is the love-hate kind.

"Let's start our day over, please". I snort.

"I'm sorry!!!" She hugs me. "My best friend in the world!"

With the seatbelt on, this hug only causes more pain. I just pray to get out of this car as soon as possible!

"My hair..." She sees her slightly messed up ponytail with a glance in the mirror and lets me go.

This is my chance to run. I leave the car while she is busy fixing her hair.

What have I done in my past life to deserve such a person glued to me? I laugh looking at the window.

It doesn't take long for her to come after me.

"Wait for me~"

"Don't want to!" I laugh and walk faster than her.

"Hey! I'm not paying the coffee!!!"

Okay, now that we are close to the co-workers, we change our posture and our expression. I also remember the meeting Kyung-soo talked about yesterday.

"Hyun-joo!"

In the middle of my troubled mind, a deep and now familiar voice calls to me. Don't tell me...

Yes, it's him. Won-shik comes running in my direction, startling me.

"W-Won-shik?" I could hardly believe my eyes.

His hair was a little messy from running; the strong wind helped, but he still looked good.

Still, I was more surprised to see him again since I thought yesterday would be the last time.

"Did something happen?" I ask.

Won-shik looked at me worriedly, then took a small box out of his bag.

"You forgot it yesterday."

Opening the box, I find my glasses. So it was with him. I laugh to myself, remembering how I made a big fuss that got me nowhere. Today I brought Ji-hun's glasses in case I need them.

"But you could have left it with someone here, why bother coming all the way here...?"

"I asked a girl, but she said she didn't know you. Anyway, I'm going to the gym which is right on the corner of this street." He explains.

"Wait a minute!" Seo-yoon pulls me aside by my arms, far enough so that Won-shik can't hear us. "What's this? Why is he with your glasses?"

Seo-yoon pulls me aside by my arms, far enough away that Won-shik can't hear us

Why did he have to come right when I'm with Seo-yoon? She's not going to leave me alone and keep talking about it.

"Seo-yoon." I try to be as calm as possible. "Don't say anything, I'll tell you later."

All happy, she gives me an okay sign with her hand and we go back to Won-shik, both of us smiling, for different reasons. I'm just grateful, while she's probably imagining a thousand situations straight from the movies.

"Well, thank you for bringing it back."

"It's nothing."

"How about joining us for lunch? To thank you." Seo-yoon jumps between us.

What happened to not say anything?" She even agreed!

I curse her internally and before I could say anything, Won-shik opens a big smile.

"Can I?"

"Of course you can!" Seo-yoon was almost jumping with excitement. "Just say my name and they'll let you in, oh right, I didn't tell you my name, it's Kang Seo-yoon."

"Ohh, I didn't introduce myself either. My name is Lee Won-shik." He bows to her.

"No need to be formal."

While they are talking, I simply watch them, totally outside, like a side character observing the situation. Wasn't it because of me that he came? Then why did they forget about me? I can't help but feel angry.

"Well, we'll be waiting for you, around 12 o'clock."

Smiling, he bows to us, saying goodbye.

His smile reminded me of yesterday's shock. This expression, this face, wasn't there. Even the voice, it is the same deep voice, but with a different feeling. Seo-yoon probably won't believe me if she doesn't see it with her own eyes.

"Tell me everything and don't hide anything!"

All this excitement coming from her just made me sigh, tired. The day has just started and it's already like this....

"We had lunch yesterday."

"And?" Her eyes are sparkling, waiting for more.

After looking at her for a few seconds, I decide to be honest and admit it.

"We just talked about work, but it was good." I look away from her. "Talking to him is good..."

"See?" She grabs my arm, hugging it. "You'll still thank me for that one day."

"Yeah, sure, sure." I give up talking to her.

We go to drink coffee, and Seo-yoon changes the subject. Her expression is a mixture of curiosity and concern. I can already guess what this is about.

"Right, how was everything yesterday? I was busy at lunch and you didn't answer me in the evening."

Reply to her? Did she text me last night? All I remember is watching the videos, then I had dinner with Ji-hun and slept. Oh, now that I think about it, a notification came and I was going to reply later, but I forgot.

Since we still have time, we decided to sit for a while.

"Well, you know, it was hell." I skip the part that I ignored her. "It's been a long time since I've done any kind of animation..."

As I sipped coffee, Seo-yoon just nodded. She probably went through that too. Not sure why, I also cut off Kyung-soo's part.

"At least for me, drawing still is so much easier that I can do it with my eyes closed."

"Of course, you're used to it. You draw every day, even when you don't have to." She rolls her eyes. "Just do the same."

Seeing her nonchalantly saying heavy things as if they were light, I sigh.

"You don't understand." I stare at my cup, almost empty. "I love to draw, drawing is tiring sometimes, but I feel at peace. It is different for you because you're simply doing one of the things you're good at."

"Hmm..." She widens her eyes, looking at nowhere and nodding her head again. "I like what I do, but not on the same level as you."

The mood between us suddenly became so dark, my shoulders slumped, and I was about to rest my head on my hand when I came back to the present.

Even though it was cold - which is obvious since it's winter - the sun appeared, a little shy. The sky isn't gray, the coffee is great, and I am with my best friend.

"Why are we having such a deep conversation so early? Isn't this the kind of thing we talk about at night?" I ask her, almost laughing.

"Not exactly, at night we're too wasted to remember what we said the next day." She is right.

"You are very wasted." I correct her.

"Don't play nice, you just don't remember."

"Neither do you."

Seo-yoon knocks the empty glass on the table, her eyes burning with determination.

We argued about a silly thing as if it were a big deal.

"Let's check it out next time we go out drinking. See who gets drunker."

"Yeah, sure." I laugh.

We talked a little more about nothing in specific, until it was time for my meeting. Seo-yoon clenched her fist, wishing me luck. I try to fill my mind with only good thoughts, being positive for whatever lies ahead.

In the meeting room, the first one I saw was Jeong-ho, my current former boss, and Na-ra. Eyes completely focused on some papers, she didn't even notice my arrival, again. Before I could enter, I felt a cold presence behind me - Kyung-soo. I bowed politely to my current boss... who just glared at me and headed to his seat.

"The song is ready, but some scenes don't fit...". Jeon-ho starts after everyone gets into their seats.

On the computer, he puts the MV base and the song together. Indeed, some parts don't fit the lyrics or the beat. In other words, we have to do it all over again.

Haha... I'm so happy... I'm almost crying inside...