Yearbook | Haseul + Jinsoul

Cleaning is a pain in the ass.

Haseul knows it is. But she does it for the sake of cleanliness, and hopes for a better environment.

It is a Saturday, and what better way to spend the weekend effectively if not by sitting in bed and doing nothing all day. That was what Haseul had originally planned on doing. Unfortunately, her roommate thought it would be a great idea to make it productive.

So here she is, top half disappeared inside her wardrobe, doing a deep clean of her room after years of living in it. She has got dust up her nose and a filthy stench on herself from sweating. Haseul wonders if she has ever worked this hard before during college.

Finally, after what seemed like ages of rummaging, she pulls out a hardcover grey book. She gives it a one over before shrugging her shoulders. "More junk," she says. As she chucks it onto her bed, a piece of paper flies out of its pages. Haseul picks it up, acknowledges it as ancient, and recognizes the handwriting on it in purple ink.

"Wait." She freezes in realization. She glances at the book and moves to flip it open. For a moment, her eyes frantically search for answers. But it all settles down when she finds a page full of drawings. Haseul almost laughs out loud at the ridiculous little doodles.

The Yearbook of 2014. Haseul remembers despising the thought of keeping it but, thanks to her roommate, she has kept it in the depths of her closet. Without much thought, Haseul brings the book outside her room and invades her roommate's space.

The moment she walks in, she sees her roommate seated on the floor with a similar book in her lap. Her roommate, Jinsol looks up at her and chuckles when she notices the object in her hands. "Great minds think alike," Jinsol jokes.

"Yeah, I guess," Haseul says. She joins Jinsol on the ground, leaving little room between them. "Almost threw it away, though. I thought it was garbage." She doesn't mind the fact that Jinsol is so absorbed in the yearbook and looks over.

She finds similar doodles in Jinsol's yearbook as well. "Are we the ones who vandalized these books?"

Jinsol laughs, "Duh? We drew on each other's yearbooks! Don't you remember?"

Haseul can barely remember what she ate three days ago. There is no way she would be able to remember the year of torture (a.k.a. senior year of high school). It was ages ago, for goodness sake. She only remembers parts of it and none of them involved a yearbook. "Is it bad if I say no?"

"Ehh.." Jinsol shrugs.

Haseul takes that as a no.

The two flip through pages of the yearbook, taking the time to comment on tiny little details or telling each other anecdotes from their classes, even making fun of some students (who they are very well acquainted with, as Jinsol said). Skimming over another image, Haseul stops and admires the purple doodles on her yearbook.

"Oh my gosh," Haseul exclaims. As she points at a picture of Jinsol posing in a batch photo, she bubbles up with laughter. "You did not change at all."

In the picture, young Jinsol is holding up two gang signs and tilting her head to the side (specifically, 45 degrees, if Haseul may add) with a crooked smile on her face. Young Haseul is pointing and laughing at her. Haseul remembers the photographer telling her to look into the camera more.

Jinsol shrugs. "What can I say.." There's a pregnant silence before she finishes. "I'm still the same girl I was eight years ago."