Time was flying by.
After coming back from the headquarter that day, Arya just lazily stayed at Jin's home for the next two days doing nothing where Jin was barely home.

After three days she discovered that two people were working in the house. She didn't know that people were allowed to this house except for them. And she didn't notice them cause the usual time of her waking up was in the afternoon as she always spent her nights in insomnia.

It made sense now who took care of the garden and the fishes and Sae while Jin was away and also how she always found foods ready in the kitchen after waking up from her sleep.

She discovered the two people cause she woke up early that day, almost right at the time of breakfast.

The elderly woman was busy making breakfast in the kitchen when Arya walked in a puzzled state.

"Hello." Arya bowed towards the woman who looked at her a bit awkwardly.

"Did I wake you up, madam?"

"No, it's fine." Arya grabbed a tool to seat near the counter, "But madam is a bit too much. Call me Arya. Who are you people may I know?"

The woman eyed the younger male watering the indoor plants and nodded a bit, "We are nobody, we just cook and clean for the young master."

"Young master?" Arya giggled, "Are we still living in the medieval era?"

"It's just, master wants us to address him like that."

"Who is the master now?"

"His father."

"Looks like he has a sturdy father just like him." Arya chuckled.

"Young master is nothing like him. He is gentle and kind." The young male remarked in Jin's defense from the side who was minding his own business.

"Who? Jin?" Arya disagreed, "He is such a cold bastard."

"Then you have yet to see our master." The woman finished her cooking and wiped her hands on her apron.

"That bad, huh?"

She didn't answer rather looked at Arya with scrutinizing eyes.

"What?" Arya was confused and looked around and pointed one finger at herself, "why are you staring at me like that?"

"My apologies." The woman bowed a little and kept her head low,  "I was curious about you."

"Why? Do I accidentally have three arms now?" Arya giggled for a while amused by her own joke.

When nobody joined her, she was dishearted and questioned, "Wasn't good? No? Whatever, why we're you curious?"

"Young master never brought any girl home before."

Arya eagerly leaned towards her and asked, "Really? No girls? Never?"

"No." She shook her head right to left.

"Any boys then?" Her voice had mischief in it.

This time the lady missed the innuendo and answered, "His few friends come over once or twice but never stay over."

"He has friends then! Impressive."
Arya remarked absentmindedly.

Jin has changed.
He has friends now.
They even come over.

It wasn't like that before. Jin wasn't the kind who doesn't have friends rather he was the one who kept himself away from every possible human interaction.

Out of the blue, Arya seemed to remember something. Something very vague but vivid at the same time that she suspected that it was probably a dream.

The day was hot.

Arya woke up from the unpleasant heat and glared at the sun from under the shade of the bus stop as if she could have smacked the hell out of it if she had the chance right now.

She yawned and stretched a bit before rubbing her eyes to make herself wake up from the tired nap.
Last night, she had a long travel from Gwangju and couldn't sleep on the train due to the anticipation of the upcoming excitement and spent the whole journey conversing with a team of school students who went on a school trip.

After reaching the bust stop, she took a small nap leaning on her luggage which she picked up on the bench. Her head felt light but looking at her watch, she became aware. It's almost time.

Looking around, she discovered a figure sitting on the opposite end of the bench.
In front of his leg, there was luggage as well as his backpack.
He was probably waiting for the same bus she has been waiting for for the last hour.

Arya grinned instantly realizing her assumption to be true as the person had a leaflet in his hand too just like herself.

"Hey?" Arya called for the person.

The moment the person looked in her direction, Arya felt that the blazing sun has probably dimmed down its angry heat for a few minutes.

The boy seemed like a deity himself in that white clothes. His clothes and even his snow-white trainer were so immaculate that they could even be cleaner than other people's clothes. His features and skin were so flawless that it seemed they were carved out of ice.
His eyes were a shade of night sky twinkling with the sparks of an undeclared purity and elegance.

"Holly molly!" Before Arya could control her mouth, the words came out faster than light, and the pair of eyes locked on her sharpened their gaze immediately.

The face was indifferent but their eyes were so intimidating that could repel anything along the way.
But his face was so beautifully delicate that Arya had an immediate desire to touch the face and she instantly broke into a light laugh realizing the absurdity of her thoughts.

The boy still didn't avert his gaze and Arya remembered that she was the one who called him first.

"Oh," Arya quickly gained her composure back and waved towards him and closed the distance between them, and asked, "Are you going to Seungmudae?"

"Mnn." The boy averted his gaze and nodded.

"Wow. Me too." Arya quickly closed the remaining distance between them and eagerly leaned towards him, "I heard it's tough there, do you know anything?"

The boy shifted a little away from her which she either decided to ignore or didn't notice at all.
"It's good that I get to meet a coursemate before. It's better to have a familiar face there than jumping in a totally unknown pit, No?"

The boy didn't seem too eager to carry on the conversation, but Arya didn't mind or not did she wait for his reply,
"well, I am Araya Akaishi. You can call my Arya also. My most friends call me that."

The boy didn't answer.

"And you are?"

A slight frown formed in between his brows before looking at her and the proximity of their position and shifted again to his side.

"Name, name. Quick." Arya pushed him.

"Kim Seokjin."

"Too proper" was the first thought that came to her mind apart from the sense of familiarity of the name.

"Did you see, those girls are checking you out." Arya tapped on his shoulder not noticing his flinching in surprise,
"Boy you got some looks in you!"

Jin carefully moved his shoulder from under her palm but she again placed this in the same place, grinning at the same time, "Bro, smile. Those girls will faint now. Try it, try it, let's see what do they do."

"Don't touch me." This time, Jin's voice was gentle yet irritated.

"What?" Arya concentrated on him.

Jin looked at his shoulder where Arya's hand was resting.
Following his gaze, Arya also looked down and removed her hand awkwardly, and smiled, "So Jin, where are you from?"

"It's Seokjin." His voice was calm.

"Seokjin, Jin...it's all same." Arya defended and smiled, "Do you have any idea about the academy? I heard that they don't allow female officers to be pilots, is it right?"

Jin looked at her with that cold and unconvincing eyes and looked back without saying anything.

"Hey! Help out a friend, will ya?"

"You are going to be in a profession of which you have no idea at all?" This was the longest sentence this boy told to her.

Unlike Arya, his words were textbook perfect with clear and elegant pronunciation without any evidence of dialect.

"Studying is boring." Arya grinned,
"But you seem like the intellectual one, so tell me."

"They allow."

"Thank God!" Arya exhaled finally, "I had to run back if they didn't."

Jin looked at her with the grimace still on his brows.

"What?" Arya rolled her eyes. "I am a bit obsessed with flying. If they don't allow females to be fighter jet pilots, I should as well try elsewhere."

The boy seemed to understand what she was saying and quietly remarked,
"Don't worry, they have female pilots."

"How many?"

"Very few."

"10?"

"Less."

Arya just sighed and leaned on the backrest of the bench.
"Why life is difficult for females?"

Jin didn't answer and stayed silent.

"Maybe I shouldn't have chosen to come here." Arya quietly stated, clearly very discouraged at this point, the cheery personality seemed to be masked under worry suddenly.

"You can do it."

The sudden words from the quiet guy made her a little surprised.

She looked at him who was still staring at the front sitting in a very upright and perfect posture.

"If you want." The boy added a few seconds later.

"There's nothing I want more." Arya smiled.

Jin just nodded and again went mute.

"Hey, listen." Arya again eagerly leaned towards him, "In the Academy, if you need any help anytime, just let me know, ok?"

Though Jin was gentle, at the same time, he was irritated with her extra enthusiasm.

"As you can tell, I got a reputation for making friends easily. Believe me when I say I'll come of use in time," Her grinning face was innocent yet cocky.

"No need." His answer was plain and blunt.

"Come on! We are friends!"

"I don't need friends," Jin got up dismissing Arya's word as soon as the bus halted in front of them with the ROKAF logo on the body.

"Heyyy...wait for me!" Deciding to not listen to whatever Jin said, Arya instantly followed him.

Arya was waiting in front of the door to see her luggage get loaded in the bus when a shout came from inside,
"Cadet! Why the fuck are you waiting for??"

Arya felt like someone just ripped off her eardrums.

Arya looked around to see who was that man talking to only to realize the targeted person was her.

"Me...me?? The luggage..."
Arya started but instantly was stopped in a mid-way, "How dare you to talk back like that you useless shit! Get your feet moving."

"Chill dude!" Arya climbed into the bus, "No need to shout!"

The person shouting was a man with an iron face with an airforce uniform on. Hearing her answer his face was a sight to see.

Arya was still in her chill mood but seeing the bewildered expression of the occupants of the seats in the bus, she realized she fucked up. All eyes were glued on her with fear and pity.

"First day, Cadet. Report to me when the bus stops in the academy. You need to be taught some manners before you set foot at the Academy. Got it?"

"Yes," Arya answered.

"Yes, what?"

"Yes sir," Arya replied.

"I can't hear you."

"Yes Sir," Arya shouted at the top of her lungs.

"Now go inside. Dismissed."

Arya instantly moved at the back of the bus releasing a stretched breath.

What a way to start!

Almost all the seat was occupied. Seeing a seat empty, she asked the boy sitting beside the seat, "Can I sit here?"

"Sure," The boy moved a little to the side and Arya took the seat.

"Brave for you to pull a stunt like that in front of the officer in charge!" The boy was curious.

"How would I know he'd get mad like that?" Arya scoffed.

"By the way, I am Hoseok, Jung Hoseok."

"Araya Akaishi, call me Arya."

The boy was quite a talker. They both were on the level of low-key talkative and expressive to the least. Almost half the road they spent arguing over the flavors of ramen and mint chocolate. Arya liked him. He was a ray of sunshine among the all serious and nervous faces in the bus. She felt she could have suffocated among those proper people if it wasn't for Hoseok.

They didn't notice when their voices raised with the unique laugh of Hoseok resonated in the bus.

Hoseok slowly shushed with one particular gaze thrown at him from the seat across in front of them.

Seeing his look, Arya followed his eyes only to meet Jin's piercing eyes, and instantly a smile appeared on Arya's face as she quickly waved towards Jin in recognition.

Jin looked away a second later, finding this clingy talkative girl utterly irritating and extra.

"Hey, Jin?" Arya called him which he ignored by facing forward.

"You know him?" Hoseok confusedly asked.

"Yes, we are friends," Arya assured him.

"Wow! That's amazing!"

Seeing Hoseok's excitement, Arya was confused, "why are you so hyped up now? Having a crush on him?"

Hoseok totally ignored her words and kept on rambling, "I can't believe you are Kim Seokjin's friend."

"Wait, what? You know him?" Arya stopped him in middle.

"Of course, everyone knows him!"

"How do you know him?"

Sensing Arya's confusion, Hoseok was confused too, "Didn't you say you are his friend just now?"

"Well, I met him at the bus stop."

Hoseok rolled his eyes and blurted out, "Ah...I should have known."

"But you were saying something about everyone knowing him?" Arya reminded him.

"It's a pity that you don't know him. Where have you been living, under a rock?"

"Hoseok..."

"Really? You don't know The Kim Seokjin? He is the national champion in fencing and archery for the last four years. He was the youngest fencer ever gone to the Asian games. And he is still holding the record for taekwondo in the junior championship."

Arya instantly remembered the name. That's why the name sounded so familiar earlier.

"Ohhh...I remember now."

"I heard he is a total nutjob." Hoseok lowered his voice to almost whisper.

"Why?"

"He is a nerd. He placed positions in all national-level exams. And guess what? He aced the recruiting exam too.  Doesn't have any friends. Perfectionist and very very very talented. He barely talks, all textbook prim and proper."

"Seemed quite ok to me." Arya disagreed.

"That makes you one," Hoseok confirmed.
"Never you will find him on the fun side, always so righteous and honest. Piece of advice, while doing something fun, do not invite him. He'll report you himself if you break rules."

"That tough?" Arya didn't believe him but later that year she realized how right Hoseok was back then. But that's an entirely different story.

"It's better if you ignore him and stay away if you want an enjoyable time up ahead."

"Noted." Arya nodded.

"Nobody calls young master as 'Jin'. You do. It's new," The male quietly added to the words the older lady said before.

Arya was still in her thoughts remembering what she was reminiscing the whole time. Memories are so clear sometimes but sometimes it's so blurry that it frustrated her. This is the first time she remembered something from that back. How much time has passed since then?? A decade? Twelve years??

Arya sighed and got up from the tool when she noticed the plenty of products on the basket behind the counter, "Why these many foods?"

"Oh, young master didn't tell you? His friends are coming today."