real life
HYUN Dallia is doing her best to not classify her life as 'boring,' but right now, well into the afternoon, her life looks pretty boring. She's spent nineteen years of her life doing the same thing; waking up for school, falling asleep during her classes, bullying her friends just because, then falling asleep after watching a few episodes of random k-dramas she finds on Netflix. Dallia's considering putting her life as the definiton of 'Boring,' on Urban Dictonary. (Seriously. That's how boring her life is).
Dallia's shoulder has been aching recently. Dallia thinks it's from carrying around her heavy school bag for most of her life, letting it dangle from one shoulder instead of both. See, Dallia would spend money on getting a massage to ease the tension out of her shoulder, but Dallia's a university student — does she look like she takes baths in piles of money? (The correct answer would be no).
Resting her head on her arms that were folded ontop of her desk, Dallia struggles to listen to the lecture occuring before her. Dallia's not stupid; she didn't take a seat in the first row of the lecture hall! She made sure to take one up the back and out of the professor's sight so she can peacefully get her naps in. Dallia doesn't think she has a napping problem, but her friends do, even her peers think she does. Dallia's ready to prove them wrong each lesson she enters, but Dallia's too weak and eventually takes a short-lived nap on her desk.
Yeah, Hyun Dallia's life has been the same for nineteen years and Dallia's sure it'll never ever change. She's still trying to figure out if she likes that fact. Does she enjoy her mediocre life? Or does she want something out of a k-drama? Does she want romance that blossoms like the trees in Seoul during spring? Does she want a fast paced, action-thriller adventure like the movies in America? Or, does she want a nostalgic, life changing coming-of-age movie?
Dallia's honestly up for anything, as long as it doesn't include horror — that's the one genre she can't stand. Dallia honestly won't mind any kind of genre, as long as she doesn't end up looking like a fool. A big, fat, fool. Just the thought of being scrutinized and being made into a fool makes Dallia's skin itch. She likes being in the know of things, she likes assessing things before dramatically leaping into the waiting embrace. Sometimes, Dallia's too cautious for her own good, but at the end of the day, Dallia walks away without becoming the fool.
And that's about to change.
Dallia's tuned out her professor and shuts her eyes, listening to the sound of her own breathing, feeling her chest rise and fall with every inhale and exhale. This is how Dallia falls asleep.
Dallia's dreaming about falling. Her heart is in her throat, her stomach feels light, she feels like a puppet dangling from loose strings. Dallia feels a vibration beneath her falling body, sending signals throughout her body. It's not stopping. She feels something digging into her sides repeatedly. This is how Dallia wakes up and becomes the fool.
Her classmate, Lee Mi-Young, was poking her repeatively, her phone in one hand, a pencil digging into Dallia's sides. Her eyes were wide and alert, desperate to uncover the truth about something.
"What?" Hisses Dallia in a hushed voice. Her phone is vibrating on her desk.
"Is it true?" Mi-Young asks eagerly.
"Is what true?" Dallia asks, an edge to her voice.
Mi-Young huffs exasperatedly and shoves her bright phone into Dallia's face, "this!"
TOMORROW X TOGETHER'S YEONJUN CONFIRMS RELATIONSHIP WITH A SEOUL NATIONAL UNIVERSITY STUDENT.
Dallia looks at Mi-Young and raises an eyebrow, "what's this got to do with me? Also, who do you think it is?"
Mi-Young groans and snatches her phone back from Dallia, who grows even more frustrated and confused. Mi-Young shoves her phone back into Dallia's hand, to which the girl reads the piece of article Dallia had scrolled too. This is how Hyun Dallia's life changes for the first time.
Dallia's mouth drops open and she looks at Mi-Young who still had eager eyes, "this has to be a joke. Is this a prank? Are you pranking me?" Dallia re reads the article again. And again. And again. She shoves the phone back to its owner, picking up her phone which has finally stopped vibrating; but Dallia is faced with many texts from old friends and family members.
What the fuck.
Dallia looks back at Mi-Young, then back at her phone, then back at Mi-Young, and at her phone again. Dallia shakes her head furiously, this has to be a dream. Dallia would know if her best friend since middle school was dating a fucking K-Pop idol! Dallia thinks she's a pretty observant girl! But, apparently not. And now, Dallia feels like a fool. She can see all the signs and red flags appearing in her head; the late nights, the — now — weird excuses, Yang Jia smiling at her phone for long periods, Yang Jia blasting TXT through their apartment on a daily basis. God, Dallia's so blind.
This has to be a fucking dream. Dallia picks up the textbook on her desk and whacks herself with it. It created a louder noise than Dallia expected and now the professor has stopped talking and people are looking at Dallia, some whispering, others looking confused, and others rolling their eyes. Abruptly, Dallia stands up and packs up her things, ignoring Mi-Young confused look.
"Sorry," Dallia calls out to her professor, "but I have to go — family emergency!"
Dallia was flying out the door before her professor had time to protest. Hyun Dallia's heart was pounding as she dials her other friend's — Kim Hye-Jin — number. She was flying across campus, her mind out of focus. This was life-changing for Dallia. She was unsure of whether she'll be able to handle this change.
"Dallia!" Shrieks Hye-Jin, "I'm in the bathroom right now freaking the fuck out!"
"What the fuck!" Pants Dallia, her feet pounding the ground beneath her, "now that I know, it seems so obvious. Jia sucks at hiding things from us!"
Hye-Jin laughs, "what do we do now? Should we hire bodyguards? Should we disguise ourselves?"
"I don't know!" Stresses Dallia, "which bathroom are you in? I'll come to you."
"Let's meet at the —"
"Wait! I see you!" Dallia spots Hye-Jin exiting a building, she was also running, "turn around!"
Hye-Jin turns to see Dallia waving her hand through the air like a maniac, Hye-Jin laughs and hangs up, waiting for Dallia to reach her. Dallia comes to a stop in front of Hye-Jin, bending over to catch her breath. Dallia's never running like that again. She hates doing any kind of physical activity.
Dallia meets Hye-Jin's wide and confused eyes, "what the fuck," Dallia says again, this time much softer than her previous exclamations. "I'm going to beat the shit out of Jia when we see her later."
"Oh my God. . .Didn't she say she had a work meeting today? Her work never has any meetings."
Dallia turns to Hye-Jin, linking their arms together as they walk off their university campus, heading for the coffee shop the three girls love and adore, "everything makes so much sense now! Jia definitely had a meeting, but maybe it was for this announcement!" Dallia's brain was no longer wired. Dallia felt like she was watching herself. Nothing felt real.
"This is big. Like, super big. My parents were calling me during class, and I was totally confused because they know I'm in class. I didn't pick up any of their calls in case they were like, testing me or something, and then the girl sitting behind me asked me if I knew Jia was dating Yeonjun. I've never been more confused in my life, so I looked up Jia's name and voila! I found numerous of articles all citing quotes from some statement HYBE released like, twenty minutes ago. I then asked to go to the toilet." Hye-Jin explains to Dallia in a rapid pace as they walk towards the cafe.
Dallia explains to Hye-Jin her own story as they take a seat in the cafe, hunched over together and speaking in low voices. Neither girl knew what to do now with this new information. They didn't know how to process it. How were they supposed to process it? Dallia and Hye-Jin spend a few hours in the cafe mulling over ways to approach this conversation with Jia.
"Let's just wing it, I'll throw in some insults and you can be the mediator if things get too heated," Dallia tells Hye-Jin as they finally leave the cafe after many hours of deliberation and staring at the cute barista Hye-Jin likes.
"Fine," relents, Hye-Jin, "let's just do that."
Finally reaching the apartment complex the three of them live in — courtesy of Hye-Jin's parents being quite rich, they owned an apartment within this complex for whatever reason and gave it to Hye-Jin to use for university purposes; like studying and stuff — Dallia happily waits for the elevator to take them to their floor. Dallia's dreaming of the leftover food in their fridge, her bed, and seeing Jia.
It's a long wait for Jia to arrive, most of it is spent watching Strong Girl Bong-Soon for the sixth time while eating leftovers from the previous, but hearing the door unlock, the two girls sit upstraight, turning off the k-drama and wait for Jia to enter the living room.
"Let me do the talking first," Dallia hisses to Hye-Jin, who shrugs, deciding to let Dallia do what she likes.
Jia enters the living room with a wide smile on her face, but upon seeing Dallia and Hye-Jin, her happy face disappears, "I can explain —"
"You bitch!" Dallia exclaims, catching both girls off guard, "you're lucky Jinnie and I are stupid, because you suck at keeping secrets, but apparently Hye-Jin and I suck more at seeing what's right in front of us. You're dating a fucking K-Pop idol? And you didn't even think to tell us? What are we? The leftovers you never eat in the fridge because you're probably out eating at some rich restaurant with your rich and hot boyfriend? Jia, friendship works two ways, y'know."
Jia clears her throat awkwardly and moves to the side, "Dallia, Hye-Jin, this is my boyfried, Yeonjun. Yeonjun, these are my friends, Dallia and Hye-Jin."
Dallia and Hye-Jin's eyes widen as they scramble up from their sitting postions on the couch. Oh God. Dallia just embarrassed herself in front of a rich K-Pop idol! Could Dallia's foolishness get any worse?!