"What did you just say?!"

Jinsol showed a meek smile to her best friend, it was just now she realized that she haven't mentioned how she has a plan for her project before... despite a full day already passed.

"Girl, stop your video editing and look right at me!" Haneul proclaimed as she pulled herself up into a sitting position on her bed so she could focus on this situation fully. Jinsol sighed, as she swerved her chair around away from her laptop so she could face her. "You found a boy to help you with your project?"

Jinsol gave a nod.

"And not only that, but this happened to be the same boy that you accidentally video recorded that one day?"

"I-I was recording the dog rather than him but, yes..."

A small shriek left Haneul's lips. "And you have his number?!"

"Y-Yes..."

"Oh my god, Kim Jinsol! This is a call. The fates, your destiny, the cosmos are telling that this is it!" Haneul replied with so much enthusiasm, clapping her hands for her. Jinsol couldn't help but grimace at the overreaction. "So, have you messaged him back yet? What was his name again?"

"It's Kunhang... and I haven't messaged him yet."

"You HAVEN'T?!"

"Can you shut up?" Jinsol hissed at the younger girl. "It's late at night and you'll wake up the other girls in the dormitory if you keep this up."

"Message that boy! What are you doing not messaging him? You got a project to do, right?"

Jinsol bit down at her lip as she peered over at her awaiting cell phone. She couldn't bring herself to text the boy... Every time she would scrounge up the courage for an attempt, she would end up throwing her phone back down.

It wasn't like she was afraid of talking to boys or anything. She could be friends with boys just fine.

She just never encountered a boy that told her she was cute within their first meeting.

And his comment would just replay over and over in her head, making her heart go into a frenzy. She just met Kunhang and she was already in full panic because of him. Jinsol kept telling herself that she shouldn't be so worked up over it, people can compliment each other.

Also, Jinsol knew nothing about this guy. Kunhang could just be naturally flirty, which makes her cautious.

Honestly, Jinsol was worried about the whole thing.

In the midst of her thoughts, Jinsol didn't notice that Haneul had snatched her phone from the counter. The moment she came back to her senses, the other girl was already typing out a message to send to Kunhang. Blinking in shock, Jinsol burst out while pouncing on top of her, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

Haneul was quick to wriggle out of Jinsol's attack and continued to type. "Now, now. Who's the one yelling?"

"Haneul! Give me back my phone!"

"Done~" She then tossed the phone into Jinsol's hands. However, the deed was done. She had successfully sent a text to Kunhang. Jinsol could feel her heart drop down to her stomach. Just as she was about to explode to Haneul, her friend just held up her hand to halt her. "You need to take the initiative, Jinny! This boy is willing to help you, and he sounds nice from what you said, so let's just use him."

Jinsol scowled, "You do know how wrong and horrible that sounded, right?"

"Well, it is true, isn't it?" Haneul shrugged. She smacked Jinsol's arm. "You'll thank me! You need to get to that project as soon as possible. Just read the message, it's not even that bad."

With a frown, she did just that. She glanced down to the small lit screen.

| Kunhang |

JS: Hey! I thought about it and
I would really appreciate your help :)
If we could start as soon as possible,
like the day after tomorrow,
that'd be great! ❤️

"Why on earth did you add a heart?" Jinsol growled, her eyebrows furrowed.

"Oh, come on! A heart is harmless, Jinny." Haneul plopped back onto her bed, sprawled across the sheets. "We gotta have him warm up to you to help you. For all we know, he could be the worst actor, but we are desperate, aren't we?"

Jinsol pressed her lips together. That is the case. And Kunhang did come when she was feeling her lowest about the project...

She then felt the buzz of the phone in her hand. From her surprise, she dropped the device, having it fall onto the bed. This earned Haneul's attention immediately.

"Is it from him?"

Jinsol looked at the notification.

It was from him.

"What did he say?" Haneul asked excitedly, staring at her like a puppy waiting for its treat.

Picking the phone back up, she read the grey box. She blinked again. "He said... sure."

"Really?" Haneul grasped her phone again to look at the text herself. She oohed in a high pitched voice... quite the overreaction. "Omo, he added a little happy face too! He sounds super duper cute! I can't wait to see him myself." She handed the phone back. "Okay, give him all the info, girl! We going head on for this!"

"You know, you make it sound like this is your project rather than mine..."

"Well! I just want the best for my roomie and good friend! I want you to get that bread!" Haneul chided, throwing a fist into the air. "Shall we ask if he can bring friends?"

"That's pushing it, Haneul..."

"It's worth a shot, hmph. You can't leave me to third wheel while we work on this!"

Jinsol rolled her eyes as she got off her bed to return back to her desk. "Whatever happens, we're there to work, not to date, Haneul."

She turned back to her laptop, the video she was editing still brightly on screen. It was just random shots she took of the park, but she wanted to put it altogether. It was turning out well.

Her phone buzzed again.

KH: Sure ^^
Just lemme know when
and where to meet!
I'll make sure to be of use 👍🏼

Jinsol tried to push down her frantic feelings as she tried to reply to him.

JS: thank you seriously
I'll send you a draft of a script
so you know what to expect
We can meet at the boba place

KH: Where we met?

JS: Yeah...

KH: I'll see you then 😊

Jinsol was doing everything within her power to not completely breakdown from this short conversation. After his message, she decided to put her phone on silent and set it aside... or rather throw it on her bed far from her so she wouldn't be distracted by it. She exhaled, and she went back to editing her video.

Except, it was too late. Her mind was far too occupied. She can't put any ounce of focus on her personal project. She grumbled to herself as she went ahead to just collapse onto her bed, her mind swimming with a million thoughts.

How could she let an actual stranger do this to her?

Ridiculous.

•  •  •

Jinsol and Haneul sat at their favorite table in Azalea's Tea shop.

Just the day before, Jinsol sent Kunhang the script for their video. She could only hope he had, at least, skimmed through the pages. It made her nervous out of her mind thinking how this would all turn out from asking a random person to help her with a big project.

Now that the day had come for them to meet and actually get this project rolling, Jinsol truly believed she had gone crazy for allowing this to happen.

The pigtailed girl was fumbling with the zipper of her camera bag anxiously, as the two of them waited for their guest.

Haneul turned to the anxious Jinsol and sighed. "What's with you? You look like you're about to shit your pants." Jinsol gave a frown in response. "Can you please look excited? I'm thrilled for what today brings."

"Because you keep babbling about wanting to see Kunhang," Jinsol shot back. "I'm just worried because I literally know nothing about this guy who's going to be the main star for my video!"

"You never know. He could surprise you! Besides, why would he agree? He should have some sense on what to do, right?"

"I guess so..."

As if on cue, the chime of the glass door caught both of the girls' attention. Haneul let out an audible gasp, her head whipped back Jinsol. She smacked her arm giddily. "What the? I thought you weren't going to ask him to bring some cute friends?" The younger girl asked in a low whisper.

Jinsol blinked, daring a glance at her friend. "I... didn't."

Coming in the tea shop were three boys, only one Jinsol could recognize. One of the boys had a simple look, a white long-sleeve shirt paired with his black sweatpants. His face made him seem intimidating, thick brows and intense eyes. The dangling earring completed the cool aura he exuded. The other boy Jinsol never met had boyish features. He held a bright, wide grin, his seemingly brown, shaggy hair covered under a bucket hat. His outfit consisted of an oversized shirt and shorts. Yup, he definitely seems like the youngest of the three.

Jinsol peered over at Kunhang, and honestly, he didn't look thrilled that the two others were following after him. She stood up quickly to greet them as they reached their table. Kunhang murmured with uncertainty in his voice, "Jinsol, I'm sorry. My two friends wanted to tag along too..."

"We wanted to meet you!" The young-looking one chimed up, his Korean a bit broken, just like Kunhang's. If Jinsol had to guess, the two boys were Chinese just like him.

Jinsol stared at them in bewilderment. "W-Wanted to meet me?"

The chic boy nudged the other and stepped forward. "Because Kunhang mentioned the project. We got interested and wanted to see for ourselves."

"Ah... I see."

Kunhang wedged himself between his two friends, looking over at Jinsol with an apologetic expression. "I can send them off, if you want?" He said. It earned displeased looks from the other two, but he only waved them off. "It's your call... or if you want, they can help?"

Jinsol wasn't sure what to say. She wasn't expecting more people to join in. Before the pigtailed-girl could say anything else, Haneul had popped up behind her. Her hands settled on Jinsol's shoulders, Haneul answered in an overly joyous tone, "Of course they can stick around! The more, the merrier! We would love the extra help too, right Jinny?" Jinsol glanced at her best friend. They shared an intense stare down, before Jinsol just merely nodded. "Sorry, we should've introduced ourselves to each other by now! This Miss Piggytails is Jinsol which you might have known already, and I'm the ever so optimistic, Haneul! Moral support and helper for today!"

"Well, I'm Dejun," The thick-browed boy introduced himself.

"I'm Yangyang!" The other unknown one piped in. "Thank you for letting us join you! We also kind of wanted an excuse to not stay back in the dorms and do nothing."

"Dorms?" Jinsol and Haneul asked in unison.

Kunhang nodded. "Oh, yeah, we all live together in a dorm."

"Do you guys go to our college?" Haneul questioned next. "I feel like I would have seen you guys around, if so!"

"Ah, no, we're not," Dejun replied next. He exchanged glances with the two males. "We don't attend college... at least, not yet."

Jinsol noticed how invested Haneul seemed to be in the boys. If she let her have it, their conversation would never end. Haneul would go full investigation mode if she doesn't jump in now. "Well, anyway, thank you all for coming. The help will be great. We can walk over to campus where we will set up for the first scene in the script, if that's okay?"

"Yeah! We'll give you guys a tour too, if one day you want to attend it," Haneul chimed, her hands clasped together in excitement. With that, to Jinsol's relief, they all exited the tea shop and began their stroll. Naturally, Haneul lead the way with YangYang and Dejun by her sides, as she rambled on and on about Korean culture and what not. Jinsol walked along with Kunhang, which gave her the perfect moment to ask about the script.

"You read through the script, Kunhang?" Jinsol asked him.

The shaggy haired boy nodded. "I did. I had to get help from my friend about some of the Hangul but I think I got the gist of what you're going for."

Of course. Why didn't Jinsol take into account that Kunhang might have had some trouble reading the script that was all in Korean? She felt stupid for forgetting that. "Ah, I'm sorry. I could've made it more simple. I totally forgot..."

"Jinsol, you're fine. You didn't even give me that much lines. I think I'll get through it," Kunhang replied. "You can trust in me."

"Erm, yeah, sure."

They continued their stroll. Looking ahead, Jinsol could see the three laughing altogether. Really? They all seem like close friends already. Jinsol has to admit she does get jealous of how open and friendly Haneul was sometimes. It just came naturally to her. Haneul lived off of interacting with people, whether it be people she knew or not. It was different to Jinsol, who would rather meet people if she had to.

But maybe that's why they clicked... opposites attract?

"So, your dream." Jinsol flinched to Kunhang's unexpected voice. She turned her focus to him again with curiosity. "You want to be in the film business, right? What made you so interested in it?"

The girl hummed as she thought through her answer. To be asked such a question made her so giddy. "I watched a lot of things when I grew up. I've just loved how things are filmed. A whole story could change just with how a video is edited, filmed, and whatever. I love the idea of that. I love how... we can perceive things in different ways just by how someone films."

Kunhang nodded with a smile. "I totally get you. That's the beauty of it. What exactly do you want to film?"

"Well, of course, one day, it would be so thrilling to help be a part of a full length movie," Jinsol chimed, the enthusiasm bubbling inside her. "But I'm totally satisfied with anything. Small skits, commercials, music videos? I'd be more than happy to be participating in the process."

Jinsol noticed that the boy besides her didn't reply. She peered over and caught him staring straight at her. Her whole face began to burn, not quite used to the intense attention she was getting. "What is it?"

The Chinese lad looked straight ahead, a sheepish expression on his face. "It's nothing. It's kind of amazing to see you so passionate. It makes me want this project to be successful."

What the heck.

Jinsol's heart was thumping against her chest so hard. She should try to change the subject, or else she'd melt into mush from his saccharine-sweet words. "Enough about me. I should know more of my main actor," she chided all of a sudden. Kunhang raised a brow at her. She gulped and continued, her gaze back on the enthusiastic three in front of them. "Like, uh, you must have your own dream. You, Dejun, and Yangyang are all from China, right? You all must have come here for a dream too, am I right?"

Kunhang's lips twitched to a small grin. "Yeah, you're right. We all want to be idols." The girl's eyes widened at the revelation. She gawked at him, seeing him in a whole new light. A small chuckle left his lips at her reaction. "You seem impressed."

"I am!" Jinsol gaped. "Training to be an idol here in Korea is so dang tough! Plus, you're ways from home so you can be one? Of course I'm impressed!"

"So, when I debut, you'll support me, then?"

"Wha~ For sure! Me and Haneul too!"

"That makes me really hopeful. Maybe one day in the future, we could work together for a music video, or something!"

"That sounds really amazing."

When the five of them reached their desired spot on campus grounds, Jinsol and Haneul moved fast to prepare for their small shoot. Dejun and Yangyang proved themselves to be helpful too as they worked. And when it came to actually recording their first scenes of the script with her camera, Jinsol was only further surprised. Kunhang was a good actor, much better than she could ever imagined.

Ever since this project began, this was the first time Kim Jinsol felt confident.

Yes. She was going to put her whole in this project and get that internship. This was the time to put everything she learned and show everyone how competent she is to deserve that internship.

Finally, she wouldn't have to feel she was following her sister's shadow.

She did this all by herself.