Chapter 4

As Yona rushed up the stairs to go change into her warmest Pjs, she mentally went over all the areas she had managed to cover studying that day. With Hak's help, she was relieved that she was now pretty sure she could get away with a mid-eighty tomorrow, so long as she kept a cool head while writing the exam.

After she finished changing and pulled on her fluffiest socks she flopped back on her bed for a moment to catch her breath, sending two of her pillows falling to the floor.

Despite all the hard work, she had actually had a good day. She felt more confident in her knowledge, got to explore a new part of the forest and best of all; just spend some time alone together with one of her longest and dearest friends.

Days like this, seemed far too rare in more recent times. Each one seeming to be fewer and further between the next.

She would have to get Hak a really good present this year for Christmas, to say thank you for everything he had done for her. Not just today either, for everything he had done for her this year. For comforting her and staying right by her side after the death of her father, never mind offering her his home as a place to stay.

For always looking after her, growing up. For being, well, him.

The only problem was, Hak was always exceedingly hard to buy for.

He was one of those people that never seemed to want anything, and more often than not just asked for whatever practical thing he needed at the time for a present over something for fun.

Maybe on the drive back to Mundok's she'd have enough time to think of something good. Right now, she just needed to get some hot food in her belly so she could call it a night and go to sleep. All those consequence exercises just about drained her of any energy she had left for the night, never mind the long walk back home afterword.

Until dinner was ready, she might as well get started on packing.

Mustering up whatever remaining energy she had left, she heaved herself off of her bed and practically rolled onto the floor before shuffling over to her closet to look for her bag.

It was an old and simple thing, worn at the edges, a bit dirty, but it had been on many childhood excursions and lived to tell the tale and for that reason alone, she kept the old thing around if only for memories sake.

Now that she was at university however, it worked well enough to pack enough clothes and other small things for making short trips to friend's places or for going back home.

Pulling down shirts and sweaters from their hangers and throwing in a few pairs of pants and undergarments onto the floor before neatly folding and packing them away, Yona made her way over to her nightstand to grab one more thing before she'd dump her bag by the door.

Carefully sliding open the bottom drawer and reaching to the very back, she pulled out a small piece of cloth, neatly wrapped around her little treasure.

It was a small shard of Lapis Lazuli that she had found while rock pooling with Hak when they were kids. A lucky find if ever there was any. At the time she had quickly squirreled away her find in the pocket of her skirt so that she could keep the little treasure to herself and not risk Hak teasing her by taking it out of her reach and making her jump to get it back.

She rolled her eyes at the memory, knowing full well that the same thing would probably still happen had she found the thing today. She guessed neither of them had changed that much, and yet in many other ways, they each had.

They'd grown up.

And that changes everything.

No longer carefree, now they had their futures to think about, less time for rock pools, more time spent proof-reading essays and endless nights finishing off assignments last minute.

She liked to keep the shard around as a reminder of those days where the world held nothing but adventure. It made her heart feel less constrained.

Just as she finished tucking it into the small inner zip pocket of her bag, she heard the distinct call of;

"Stretch or starve Princess, dinner's done!" coming from downstairs.

"Coming!" she yelled in back, as she hitched the strap of her bag up on her shoulder and made her way down, dumping it by the front door as she made her way into the kitchen.

{*****}

"All finished packing then?" Hak asked as he set their dinner down on the table before grabbing himself a drink from the fridge and tossing Yona one as she sat perched on the edge of her chair.

"Yup! All ready with my bag by the door" she replied, back to her usual spirits.

He was glad to see she was doing well, even with all the anxiety he was sure she must be feeling about tomorrow, but they'd studied together and while she made mistakes here and there, she knew her stuff.

He had full faith in her that she'd do well on the exam and was just pleased to see she seemed to have gotten that into her head too.

With that in mind, he joined her at the table as they both dug into their dinner, happy to have a hot meal as they warmed their hand on the sides of their steaming bowls.

Just then however, their peaceful meal was interrupted by the sound of someone fumbling with the lock on the front door before the ever-grinning Droopy Eyes, walked through.

Inwardly, he sighed, already trying to keep his tolerance for the man in check.

"Seems I may have interrupted something, should I head back out?" he asked, smirk already set in place as he glanced over at Hak who was giving him his usual, unamused expression.

"Welcome back Jae-ha! We were just getting ourselves some dinner before crashing out. Where have you been all day?" Yona asked, ever happy to see one of her housemates and friends.

"Yona dear! I thought you were supposed to be staying over at Lili's before your exam, ah well, always good to see your lovely face around the house. As for me, I've been a little bit of here there and everywhere" Jae-ha replied, with a wink as he ruffled her hair and made his way over to the fridge.

Insufferable flirt as he was, and while he could be intolerable to the guys with some of the antics he pulled, at least he was a polite enough to the ladies, if albeit of a suck up, Hak supposed. He was trying to remind himself that the man did, in fact, have some redeeming qualities every now and then.

Ultimately, now matter how annoying and nosy he got, all that mattered to him was that he could count on the guy when it really mattered, and he had proven himself worth that much at least when he had helped look out for Yona, way back at the beginning of the year. He had helped her escape some rather sleazy looking frat boys that had managed to corner one afternoon, right when Hak himself, had been stuck in a lecture, unaware of the danger she had been in until he had come home and she had told him what had happened.

"Never one, to stay in one place for long are you? Come and join us, I think there's some more pasta left over in the pot" Yona said, using her foot to nudge out one of the extra chairs around the table as she got up to grab him a bowl.

"Don't mind if I do" Jae-ha replied as he sat down in the spot beside hers and across from Hak.

Once Yona returned with another bowl in hand, she placed it down in front of Jae-ha before sitting down and resuming her own meal.

"So, I guess you two are off tomorrow, then are you?" he asked.

"Ya, are you sure you don't want to join us?" Yona replied.

"Nah, I wouldn't want to intrude. Plus, I rather like the idea of getting the house to myself for a while, maybe throw a Christmas party or two –"

"Top floor is off limits. I don't need anyone coming up and trashing our room while I'm gone, and you better have this place habitable by the time everyone comes back, or Yun will have your head" Hak interrupted before he could finish.

"Yes, yes I know, I'll have it looking just like it usually does by the time everyone comes back, cross my heart and hope to die" He replied with a teasing smile as he mimed the pledge by drawing an imaginary "X" over his heart.

Giving him only a dubious look in return, Hak simply went back to finishing his meal before getting up to wash his bowl and dumping it in the dishwasher.

"Well, I better finish packing my own stuff before we head out tomorrow, you should probably get an early night Princess, so all that studying doesn't go to waste, no staying up and cramming alright?" He said giving her a stern look.

"Ya, ya I'll be sure to head in for the night once I'm done here" she replied, standing up to wash out her own bowl.

As she finished she called out a quick "Night Jae-ha!" with a smile and a small wave.

"Good-night Yona dear, good luck tomorrow, I'm sure you'll do great"

"Thanks!" she said with a final wave as she headed upstairs to bed.

"Make sure to put the dishwasher on when you're done bro, last time you forgot and we had to turn it on and hand wash everything in the morning" Hak said as a way of final greeting before heading upstairs himself, hearing little more than a chuckle and a faint "Will do" echo up the stairs behind him.

Once he was back in his room he made his way over to his bed and dug out his old backpack from underneath before shoveling a few piles of clothes and things he wanted to drop off at home, inside.

The last thing he always packed was his guitar.

He didn't trust Droopy Eyes not to mess around with it while he was gone, to show off to a girl and end up scratching the thing. It had happened before, he thought back ruefully.

As he went over to the closet to try and look for the soft case he usually kept for it in there, he stopped to kick some of his roommate's crap over onto into the corner and out of the way, before returning to pick up his guitar and recline on his bed.

His usual nighttime routine included practicing a few chords and lines to unwind before he crashed out. It really did seem to help him sleep, as he was a light sleeper to begin with and usually had a hard time falling asleep.

And as he lay back to lean against the headboard of his bed, he was brought back to yesterday night, where he had sat and played, just as he did every other night, but with a song he dared not show anyone else.

At least on purpose, as it seemed that hadn't bit exactly gone to plan.

Yet, three floors up he knew Droopy Eyes wouldn't hear a thing, likely already crashed out on the sofa in front of the tv in the living room, and so he found himself strumming the same tune as before, humming the lyrics softly as he let his mind wander.

She hadn't known it was about her, but she had said she loved it all the same.

Why not for the both of them, send themselves off to sleep with the sound of a lovesick lullaby filling their dreams? He thought as he let his fingers play on their own.

{*****)

As Yona finished setting her alarm for tomorrow and lay back to rest her head on her pillow and pull the covers up tightly to her chin, she heard the soft sound of music emanating from just next door.

It was the same song as last night, and as she sighed in contentment, letting the familiar, gentle melody take her away, she softly hummed her version of the lyrics before letting sleep take her.

{*****}

Hey guys! Thank you once again for reading this far, and for everyone who's taken the time to follow this story. I hope not to let you down!

In particular I wanted to thank punchagoddamnnazi from tumblr.

Your ask was so encouraging, so if anything the motivation to get at least one more chapter out by this weekend was from you.

For reference my tumblr is: wrath-of-dawn

I'll probably take a break until at least the 10th or so (I have a shit ton of bio work due this week and on the Monday of the 9th) but I hope to make up for it by trying to make the next chapter longer. Usually at a minimum I won't put out a new chapter unless it's at least around 2000 words long or so, because I know for myself, anything less than a thousand I usually don't bother getting invested in. So hopefully we can get around 3000+ next chapter.

Review are always much appreciated, whatever you want to say!

Love you guys!