The rest of the summer break went by fast. Before she knew it, Ryujin came in for her last day on the job.
She found Sana sitting on the stool by the bar, a couple of hours earlier than her shift as always. However this time, she's sitting with someone.
"I knew you'd be here early", the singer greeted.
"Yeah, and why is that?" Ryujin nodded towards the girl sitting beside her.
"Because it's your last day of work, and you're sentimental."
She chuckled at that. She is indeed sentimental. And Sana might have seen that side of her once or twice during their Friday drinking sessions.
"By the way this is Dahyun, she's the boss' sister. You might have seen her around."
Ryujin's face lit up with recognition. She has seen the girl around. She has also seen her once with Sana the day after the party when a certain cat-eyed girl also tried hitting up on her.
"So you guys... are you-"
"Yup", Sana cut her off as she grinned at the already smiling woman beside her.
Wow, what a turn of events. And they look ridiculously cute together, too.
Ryujin was pretty sure the two had already forgotten about her so she backed away slowly.
"Well, it was nice bumping into both of you."
Sana nodded and gave her a wink as she walked away.
The rest of the shift went by smoothly. Because it's mid-week, there weren't many customers who came in. When Ryujin was done, the boss met her and jokingly said that he'll be expecting her next year.
She walked home and found Lia in the living room when she came in.
"Hey Ryu. How was your last shift?"
"It was fine, and slow."
"Have you sorted out your schedule yet?" The other girl asked as Ryujin sat beside her.
"Uh-huh. You?"
Lia nodded. "So you're really gonna TA for that professor in SU?"
Seoul University is a top rated school in South Korea and an expensive one, at that. Only the richest kids can afford to go there. They do give out limited scholarships every year but it was rumored that you have to have some connections if you'd want to be waitlisted.
Ryujin met a professor from the said university one night while she was working at the bar. She was surprisingly humorous and humble. Upon learning that she's a student and is minoring in business, the professor tapped her for a part time job as a TA in one of her classes. The offer was good and the hours were not very hectic so she took it.
"Yup. I was able to fit in a few classes in the afternoon, too. I'm not very busy on Thursdays and Fridays anyway."
"Well, good luck with that. I heard there are lots of extremely rude students there."
Ryujin shrugged it off and proceeded to her room to rest.
When the first Thursday came, Ryujin arrived early at SU's gate to wait for Jihyo, the professor. She stood by the huge tree near the gate and observed the unending rows of cars entering the gates.
Now she understood why some schools need to have gates this big - it's crazy how there's not a single walking person in the area. She felt a little out of place the moment she got out of the cab and realized she was surrounded by fancy cars.
Around 10 minutes later, a shiny black Mercedes Benz stopped in front of her. The windows rolled down and she saw the smiling professor inside.
"Hop in" was all she said when she saw the waiting Ryujin. "I like your new hair color", the professor said while driving.
She dyed her hair back to black before classes resumed. Because she agreed to be a TA in a big Uni, she figured that she at least had to look neat.
When they entered the gate, she understood why a car is a must. It was a long road from the gate to the actual buildings as the parking lot took up a lot of space. The school was probably thrice the size of Ryujin's - and she hasn't even seen the rest of it yet.
When they got out of the car, Jihyo led the way inside the actual campus.
"It's a 10-minute walk", she started. The other girl just nodded. "I thought I'd give you a brief on the class I handle."
She handed Ryujin a piece of paper with some information.
"It's a big class with 66 students. Hence, the need for assistance. We do weekly quizzes and the course is mostly output-based, so I need support in monitoring the class during those quizzes and group works - make sure no one's cheating and stuff. I also need you to collect papers and return them so it's imperative that you know their names or at least where they usually sit."
Ryujin was taking in all the information when they reached the Business department.
She had to pause and admire the surroundings - there are two tall buildings and several small offices surrounding them. Jihyo walked in one of the buildings until they reached the classroom on the 6th floor.
She could already hear the murmurs of the students before they could even go in.
They walked towards the front of the gigantic classroom as the students fell silent upon seeing the professor. Ryujin could also sense the eyes lingering on her, probably wondering who she is.
Jihyo ushered her to sit on the corner stool as she did her intro.
"Okay, class. Welcome back to business management 301."
She pulled out her binder and pointed out to where Ryujin was seated.
"You might have seen me walking in with my new TA. Her name's Ryujin. And you'll treat her with the same respect as mine. You got that?"
She shot them a smile and started the lecture.
Ryujin spent the next half an hour studying the sheet that Jihyo provided. It contains all the student information, where they're seated. When she was able to skim through all of it, she tried to listen to whatever lecture the professor was discussing but it's too advanced for her to understand.
She looked around and observed the students, instead. A lot of them looked intimidating basing on the way they furiously typed on their high-end laptops. Some looked a little older to be college students while some looked just like her - confused and didn't have any idea what to do.
The rest of the class finished slowly and Ryujin was glad that there weren't any required interactions for the whole of it.
"We'll have a post test tomorrow so you'd better know everyone's names by then", Jihyo reminded as they said their goodbyes.
*
Missing a class on the first week after summer break isn't on Yeji's plans at all.
She woke up 2 hours late after an unplanned drinking session with Min-ju last night and was frustrated to find out that instead of setting an alarm, she typed in 6:00 on her Calculator app.
She quickly wrote her professor an email and went back to bed.
No more drinking on weekdays. *vomiting emoji
She sent a text to the girl she was with last night.
To which the other girl replied: I'd say you were not a very good influence. But good thing you've realized it on your own. Haha. Good luck with your classes!
The two of them have gotten closer over the past two weeks - physically, at least. What happened on the night of their first meeting happened several more times as it was a much better setup with both of them already knowing all the unspoken rules of the casual scene.
She knows very little about Min-ju but was glad that she at least has the same humor as her. They've agreed on some ground rules and it was beneficial because Yeji would now have less time in meeting other people because of the resumption of classes.
She finished the rest of her classes at 6PM and was greeted by an email from her business class professor when she checked her phone.
"Great, a post-test about the lessons she missed. Aren't I lucky", she murmured while traveling home.
Yeji woke up late (again) the next day. It wasn't as late as the day before but she barely had time to think about what to wear so she grabbed the first set of clothes she saw and drove herself to school.
She applied a quick touch up before leaving the car and ran hurriedly towards her department's building.
If it wasn't for the all-nighter she pulled last night, she would've gotten enough sleep to get through the day.
She might not look like it, but Yeji takes her education very seriously. Despite her path being drawn out for her, she actually enjoys business school and aims to launch her own business one day. Even if it meant working double time for her family's business and for her own.
Business management 301 was one of her favorite classes this year - that's why she's putting extra effort for it. Not only that it's one of the most interesting and hardest subjects she enrolled in, her professor was very good at teaching, too.
When she arrived inside the classroom, she quickly ran towards her seat to catch her breath. Professor Park has just finished her introduction and the exam materials are being distributed to the class.
She was rummaging through her bag for her pen when a familiar girl appeared in front of her. Her used-to-be pink hair is now black.
And she's holding the exam papers - looking a little stunned to see Yeji, too.
Ryujin regained composure first and extended the papers she's holding to the other girl. "I'm the new TA. Please pass these on."
Yeji did not miss the way the other girl smirked at her before moving to the next row.
She shook the questions out of her head and focused on the paper in front of her.
Surprisingly, she felt confident as she was answering the exam. She knew most of the problems and was able to solve them properly.
When she was done, she stood up to hand the paper in. She almost forgot about Ryujin. She made a mental note to send a text to Chaer after class as she walked towards the stool where the earlier is sitting.
She looked up and shot Yeji a knowing smile. Yeji nodded timidly and made her way outside the classroom.
She dialed her best friend and the latter picked up right away.
"Who are we killing? What's up?"
"Why didn't you tell me that your friend from dance class is my professor's new TA?"
"And you called me for that? Wait, who and what are we talking about?" Chaeryeong answered, confused.
"Ryujin from dance class? She was professor's park's new TA. She handed in the exam papers earlier."
"Huh..." the other girl paused. "I didn't know. We don't really tell each other a lot of personal things. But why are you so bothered by this, that you had to call me? You never call during class hours."
Yeji could already picture her best friend smirking on the other line.
She would be lying if she said that she wasn't surprised. It has been a while since the embarrassing walkout scene in the dance studio and she hasn't heard from Ryujin after that one, unanswered message. But there's a certain weirdness to it that they seem to always run into each other unexpectedly.
Later that night, Yeji still felt so bugged by her encounter with Ryujin during her class that she couldn't get herself to sleep. She pulled out her phone and located the message from her.
She didn't save her number but hasn't deleted the message, either.
She started to type in the reply window.
I didn't know you're-
Deleted it, then typed again.
What were you doing in my-
Deleted it, then typed again.
Why do I seem to always run to you in unexpected places? Is this telling me something? Grrskdjslnenawekln
She smashed random keys on her keypad out of irritation.
Unluckily, she accidentally pressed the send button and the message was delivered. It took her a moment to realize what happened.
"What the actual... AGHHHHHHH!!!"
She bounced off the bed with her heart banging loudly on her chest. Her eyes widened with shock when she saw the read receipt, followed by a typing bubble soon after.
"Ugh", she sighed deeply and sat at the end of her bed.
R: *smiling emoji*
R: Sorry that you're not very happy to see me earlier. Too bad we'll be seeing each other for the next 15 weeks.
R: I was glad to see you, though.
R: You looked pretty.
R: Also, I can see you reading my messages through the read receipt, in case you forgot.
R: *wink emoji*
"Wow, she is quite shameless", Yeji muttered.
She buried her phone under her pillow without replying and tucked herself back in bed.