classroom.

@ye heiran. had heiran noticed? had the other girl seen her drawing? was the anonymity of her work compromised? yeoreum certainly hoped that it wasn't the case, but the split second in which heiran's initial smile had faltered, made her doubt otherwise. anxiety flooded yeoreum's mind, the alias account she drew under was the only thing that was truly hers—her own, from start to finish. it was where she could hide, get lost—express, heal and improve. it was bad enough that someone would know that she was the artist under the account, but to have ye heiran know? it would be complete devastation.

unknowingly, she hugged herself loosely, her body moving without conscious thought. her eyes lost focus, and the tips of her cheeks and ears burned bright red. yeoreum dug her nails into her forearms, and it was only at the realization and sensation of pressing pain that she was reminded—she still needed to surpass the current situation before her. the clarity to her vision then returned, making yeoreum blink a few times in succession. giving heiran a curt shake of her head, she looked away, facing the front of the lecture hall.

if it weren't for her suspicion that heiran may have seen the contents of her ipad, yeoreum would have attempted to at least greet the other girl back reasonably. it was heiran after all, the latter being someone she admired and had hoped to talk to—perhaps, even befriend. however, in such a heightened, paranoid state, yeoreum's reaction was to either freeze or flight.

@han yeoreum. "hey, heiran can you get han yeoreum to join the official gc for the art department?"

"sure but why she hasn't yet? none of you invited her yet or what?"

the silence following after was an answer enough. heiran knew what it meant. she also knew nothing but ill feelings would brew if she pried further into the matter. and she likes her new friends on campus even though they have some flaws — who doesn't. she could only smile, nodding as they approached the class.

"see you guys later. i am going straight to my work studio after class."

it wasn't difficult to spot han yeoreum. in fact, she had always been aware of the other but a chance for direct interaction never presented itself until then. and heiran herself was slightly guilty for not approaching yeoreum herself.

better late than never.

"oh," yeoreum hastily shoving her ipad inside startled heiran and the smile on her lips wavered a little, worried that she had intruded upon the other.

within the span of seconds, heiran went through the dilemma of apologising and moving away to somewhere else — she knew the feeling of others invading your work space. or she can it up and see whatever happens.

the worst could be yeoreum having an unfavourable disposition towards heiran. which she dearly prays wouldn't be the case.

"hello! good morning, yeoreum!" Heiran managed to utter in a soft and uncertain timbre while she was able to pull herself to smile amicably, "I'm Ye Heiran by the way. we've been together in the same class for a while….. is it okay to sit here? I'm not bothering you, am I?"

@ye heiran. she was drawing away, filling in the details to the sketched scene on her ipad. the deadline for the next episode was soon approaching, and any time that yeoreum had to spare would go towards completing the webtoon's weekly episode. the looming goal was more so etched in her mind this week, due to a stupid online fandom war that she hadn't meant to start. yeoreum frowned, recalling the particular issue.

the problem had arose when one of her favorite vloggers, heiran, had strongly voiced her opinion about her webtoon. having seen heiran around school, yeoreum knew that the latter was genuinely kind, being not only popular for her vlogs, but also for her lovely personality. from freshmen to seniors, everyone knew of heiran, and if they didn't already, it wasn't long before they did. it was only sheer coincidence that yeoreum had one day gotten to find out that heiran went to the same school as her. she had recognized the popular vlogger sitting in one of her classes, on the other side of the room. the moment had been so surreal. yeoreum had been ecstatic, spending the entire lecture internally fangirling over heiran. ever since then, she had debated numerous times, whether she should say hi to heiran, but as always, yeoreum never did. due to this lack of interaction, yeoreum knew of heiran, but she wasn't sure if the other girl knew of her. she probably didn't—didn't know of her existence, period. but, heiran knew who hyperline was.

nobody knew of her alter artist ego; /hyperline/, an online artist that seemingly had no previous works or mentionings. not even yeoreum's friends knew, because she didn't want anyone to know. the webtoon and artwork she poured under the certain name was for her own escape, a way to cope. thus, of course, naturally, heiran wouldn't know that the webtoon's artist and creator was actually her. being a fan of the other girl's, yeoreum had been bummed out that while heiran had appreciated her art, the older girl hadn't been fond of her webtoon's plot. in honesty, neither was yeoreum. she too, wished how differently things could turn out...

annoyed with the lashback that they both started to get from heiran's recent stream, yeoreum had posted a single status on the hyperline account; "don't like, don't take interest." she had written it to tell off the 'fans' whom were both dragging heiran's and her name through the mud, but some of heiran's fandom had twisted the intention of her words into maliciousness, stating that she had been indirectly shading heiran for her bold statements.

consumed in her own thoughts and work, yeoreum barely noticed that someone was taking the seat next to hers. as if she was hiding something highly taboo, yeoreum hastily locked her ipad, before shoving it into her backpack that had been left ajar. already, she was feeling uncomfortable. someone was going to be sitting next to her—a mundane feat of school that she absolutely despised—hated, with a passion. she turned her head, looking to see the foolish person who had chosen to sit beside her.

it was if the universe had somehow infiltrated her head—speak of the devil, it was no other than heiran.