He slowly exhaled the air out of his lungs which was filled with nervousness.

"Hey Eun Chae, help me count down from three, OK?"

"One...two...three."

Yu Jin opened Gmail, and what he saw on the screen could not be a bigger dismay for him. "We are sorry to announce that you are not selected for the SNU scholarship," that devastating announcement was all he could see. He was rejected once more, for the third time this year. The first time, his personal statement was declined. The next time, he reached the interview stage but he could not perform well there. And then, until the last time, he had done an amazing job at his interview. He could not find any reason for SNU to turn him down again. But it seemed that life did not want to go so easy on him, he still could not make it. Losing was, of course, very sad, but losing when he thought that he was about to win was even more crushing. He felt like there were thousands of daggers stabbing his heart.

"What the h..." He went totally speechless, "No...no...this...this is not true, it can't be true! No..."

"Hey Yu Jin, calm down, please!" Eun Chae rubbed his back, trying to appease him.

"Why...why did they? I've done well. This is not true!" He shouted in frustration, tearing his hair out and then covering his face with his hands. He began to feel something wet in his eyes, while his nostril felt like there was smoke burning in it. He really wanted to cry, but he tried not to do that in front of Eun Chae.

"Yu Jin, you good?" Eun Chae tried to hold his hand.

"No," he groaned and then dropped his face down on the table. He seemed to be weeping while Eun Chae was still trying to help him pull himself together. "What am I gonna do now?" He smashed his fist onto the table, and then sat up, tilting his head back so that he could stop the tears from welling.

"I know that you're really upset, but let's try to calm down. Being frustrated like this will only worsen your mood," she looped her arm around his shoulder.

"I need to be alone," he quickly stood up and blankly walked into his room without even turning off his laptop.

"No, I want to stay with you!" Eun Chae followed him into his room.

"I...I've got enough of this. I'm not applying for med anymore," he said in despair and put his hands down his desk. His eyes were fixed on the bunch of science and biology books placed there. To Eun Chae's horror, he angrily flung all of them off the desk and shouted out loud. She had never expected such a reaction from him as he always seemed to be very calm and gentle. He was the type of guy who neither liked to express his emotions nor would get outrageous so easily.

"Hey Han Yu Jin, what kind of mindset is that?" Eun Chae ran over to him. Her voice suddenly became so loud that it nearly cracked, "Is becoming a doctor really your dream, are you really gonna let this drag you down?"

"It's my dream, my biggest dream ever, but what could I do now? I'm just...not good enough," he raised his voice. Eun Chae could easily see his exasperation in his glistening eyes.

"If it's your biggest dream, then don't give up! You dared to leave your home to come here for med school although your family insisted you stay and study law. Are you gonna disappoint your family once more? You really want to let go of it that easy?" She shouted into his face.

"Just shut up, will you? I don't wanna hear anything from you. Who the hell are you to judge my decision like that? This is none of your business. It's my life, my choice so just stop disturbing me," he yelled and rolled his bloodshot eyes at Eun Chae. But as soon as he did that, he realised it was not really right of him. "Eun Chae, leave me alone...please!" his voice started to soften.

Eun Chae did not respond. Her lips were tightly puckered. She just glared at him with her eyes filled with disappointment, sorrow and anger. Yu Jin could see tiny beads of water gushing out from her tear ducts. They remained standing there and merely staring at each other for a while.

"I was just...trying to make you feel better. I know that you are upset, but who gave you the right to hurt me? If you cannot say anything good, then keep your mouth shut," Eun Chae wiped out her tears and bemoaned, purposefully slowing down when she said the phrase "keep your mouth shut." She was looking straight into Yu Jin's misty eyes, making him even more flustered. She then irritatedly walked back to her room.

Meanwhile, being left alone, Yu Jin had no longer any reason to hold back his tears. He collapsed to the ground and cried like a child. He could do nothing but keep bawling his eyes out, letting the tears drop onto the floor while his eyes started to become blurred because of the water.

Yu Jin tossed himself on the bed as usual and put his face into his pillow. He cried so much that his pillow and blanket soon became dampened by his tears. Exhausted by all the pressure on his shoulder, he fell asleep before he could even notice.

Until the next morning, there was still tension between them.

"Hi Eu..." Yu Jin greeted Eun Chae when he saw her walking out of her room. But he got nothing in return apart from her deafening silence and scary glare. She ignored him and strode straight into the bathroom.

Yu Jin could do nothing but let things go as they would. He did not even know what else to do. It was true that she used to be mad at him before, and he managed to reconcile with her. However, this time was different. He hurt her and he knew that it would not be easy to make her forgive him. It was Yu Jin's mistake that fuelled a cold war which had been lasting for a few days. And it showed absolutely no sign of ending.

******

In an afternoon, while Yu Jin was working at a cafe, he received a call from his father. He did not want to pick it up, but considering that his father had not been talking to him for months, then this call must be for something really important. So he asked his boss to go out for a while to answer it.

"Hi dad!"

"Your sister has told me, have you just failed to apply to med school again?"

"You haven't spoken to me for a few months, and this is all you wanna say?"

"Han Yu Jin, how long do you need to understand this? You have no talent for biology, so stop dreaming about getting into med school. Do you know how competitive Korean education can be?"

"Dad, are you serious?" He awfully scoffed, expressing his utter vexation. "Do you know how many medals I have won for bio and science? I could have competed in the world tournament but for your stubbornness," he suddenly raised his voice, "Dad...how dare you say that I have no talent. Can you even define what talent is?"

"Hey Yu J..."

"You have never asked me what I wanted, what I was good at or what my dream was. You have never cared about my feelings. You don't even appreciate the fact that I have been performing well for science and trying my best to get into med school. You just forced me to go to the literature tuition class and scolded me whenever I could not do as well as my sister. All you know is that you want me to become another version of you. I don't want this anymore, it's my life, not your life," he shouted at his phone.

"Hey Han Yu Jin, stop talking to your dad like that. We only want the best for you. Instead of spending fifteen years of your youth studying medicine, then why don't you just choose law. It takes way less time. And even if you graduate med school, who can ensure that you will get a stable job..."

"I will be a doctor no matter how hard it is. Can you stop all this pointless nagging, please?"

"Son...we have a law company, just be happy with studying law and take over it later on will you?"

"Dad, I don't care about all those things. It doesn't matter to me how long it takes to learn medicine, how tough it is to become a good doctor or how big your law company is. I love bio, and I am doing the things I enjoy. So just stop babbling about how good studying law can be! You know that I won't listen, right?"

"People do what they hate for money and then use that money to do what they love, son. I hope you understand that," his dad sighed in exasperation.

Suddenly, Yu Jin saw his friend coming close to him and reminded him to hurry up. It seemed that he was arguing with his father longer than he thought.

"Dad, if you call me just to say things like this, then goodbye, I don't wanna hear them. And don't ever call me to talk about such things again, please!" He angrily said and hung up.

******

It was about nine o'clock in a rainy evening when Eun Chae came back home after a tiring day. She had lectures, was on duty at the library and then tutored maths for a secondary school girl. Yu Jin could easily spot out the exhaustion on her face when she sluggishly dragged her feet into the house.

"Hello Eun Chae, why do you come back so late?" Yu Jin inquired.

But Eun Chae did not answer. She took off her shoes and tiredly walked to the table. As she removed her jacket, she soon realised that her wallet had been gone.

"Holy crap!" She muttered.

Eun Chae started to become flustered and anxiously looked in vain for the wallet in her pockets and her backpack. However, she could not find anything.

"Where is it?" Her voice began to quiver.

She tousled her hair and rubbed her forehead. She had just paid for her food a few houses away from her home, so she was certain that her wallet must have come off somewhere nearby.

"What's the matter?"

"My wallet, I lost it," she rubbed her temple.

"You remember where you saw it the last time?"

"It shouldn't be far from here, I must go and find it," she mumbled, put on her raincoat and hastily ran out of her house. Yu Jin also rushed after. He was in a hurry to catch up with her so he did not have time to retrieve his umbrella. However, he did not really care about it as the only thing which mattered to him at that moment was that he needed to help her.

Eun Chae was so focused on frantically searching for her wallet that she was not even aware Yu Jin was also finding it together with her in the middle of the rain with neither umbrella nor raincoat.

"Han Yu Jin, what the hell are you doing? Come back home," she shouted when she saw Yu Jin standing under the rain looking for her wallet.

"Don't worry, I will find it for you," he said and went on staring at the street ground to look for that wallet.

After nearly half an hour, he finally saw a pink wallet with the astronaut keychain exactly the same as the one he bought her. Opening it, he saw Eun Chae's student card.

"Hey Eun Chae, I found it," he jubilantly exclaimed and waved it in the air to attract Eun Chae's attention.

In a blink, Eun Chae ran over to him and took a look.

"It is, it's really my wallet. Thank you a lot, Yu Jin," she held it tight and exhaled in relief.

Looking at Eun Chae's face at that moment, Yu Jin felt like all of her anger from the quarrel a few days ago had vanished and got replaced by a sense of relief.

Finally, they could come back home together in consolation.

Right after entering the house and taking off her raincoat, the first thing Eun Chae did was to get Yu Jin a towel to wipe his water-streaked hair as well as his drenched pullover.

"Rest a bit and take a warm shower. Don't do that again, OK? What if you catch a cold?"

"Don't worry, I'll be fine," he meekly smiled, "By the way, I'm sorry Eun Chae...for hurting you," he looked straight into her eyes and grabbed her wrists.

"Huh?" She quizzically stared at him.

"I'm really sorry for hurting you that evening, I was just too upset so I could not control my emotions. Everything I said was not what in my mind. Eun Chae, forgive me please..." He held her wrists tighter. "Can you be with me please? I...I just...cannot get through this alone." 

Thank you very much for making it this far! If you enjoy reading my story and are excited to find out what is going to happen next, don't forget to click the star to vote for me as well as recommend my story to your friends. You votes really motivate me a lot^^