Sera was this close to calling in sick for the rest of the day.

University freshers— as per the popular belief— are one difficult specie to deal with, but Sera had always underestimated the statement. Well, it was somewhat expected from her as looking back, one just would not find the college-going Sera defying any campus rule, let along acting as a delinquent. Circling her thumb on the corners of her forehead, Sera elicited an astronomical sigh as she made her way out of the lecture hall.

The freshmen had still not gotten the hang of their schedule, which would ultimately result in them hampering Sera's usual lecture deliverance on a daily basis from the past one week. That doubled her fatigue enormously— reverting back to introducing the topic of her presentation every time a new figure would pop up out of the blue, had begun to torment Sera pretty badly.

But she was not provided with an assortment of options to begin with, was she? After all, her paper of specialisation was not even in line with the sophomores' syllabus anyway.

Recalling how her situation had been the exact same from the last two years around this time of the year, all she could muster in the name of self-encouragement was her own hand patting her shoulder. It did not matter how tiresome that particular set of months would prove to be to her, she was not a first-timer anymore and hence would eventually get through it all.

She had to, anyhow.

"What are you complimenting yourself for?" A low-voice addressed her out of nowhere, causing her to clench the books she had settled well in her arms, as if a ghost had just materialized before her.

"You scared me!" Sera, with her rounded eyes and a pout, mouthed to Gaeul as carefully as she could, not forgetting even for a second that they were present in a public space whose decorum must be maintained throughout.

Not at all taking in account how her soul was ready to leave her body, though.

"I did?" Gaeul looked away at first, appearing to be contemplating her behavior, but snapped back at Sera right the next instant, "But isn't it something I always do?" while baring her teeth at her rather maniacally.

"What the fuck are you doing? People are all around us right now!" Sera gritted her teeth at Gaeul, who waved it off by grinning amusingly at how vigilant Sera was pretending to be at the moment. She could not refrain from passing yet another displeased gaze at Gaeul when she instead caught her laughing at her consideration.

Her blood boiling and even evaporating in the meanwhile would surely be a euphemism.

"Hey, I think you should sto— What the fuck?" Sera's initial addressee was definitely Gaeul, but when someone amongst the flock of diversifying literates had held her wrist— gripping it tight—all hell seemed like shifting to break loose on that person instead.

What on earth must be galloping in his mind to catch Sera—of all people— by surprise?

It was not like he had not experienced the chaos that tended to kick in once Sera would get startled.

"It's me." The stranger whispered, lifting his baseball cap a bit high only to attack Sera with a wink. It was indeed an unusual manner to introduce oneself, but its peculiarity was precisely what had made a lightning strike through Sera's brain.

"I told you not to come here, it's dangerous for you! Why don't you understand? Why have I got such dimwits as my friends? I'm sure I don't deserve this... I definitely deserve better." And there went Sera, wailing like a lost kid in the supermarket— with no clear motive in thought as to why she was crying.

"Now that escalated real quick." Gaeul mumbled under her breath, but it was loud enough for Sera to overhear and raise her pitch higher at that, "Stop it, what are you doing? And who is this fella? How does he exist? As much as I remember, I'm the only friend that you have in the entire country!" She bombarded the already-stressed female with yet another series of her unanswerable queries, also prompting simultaneously the apparent stranger to finally step in.

"Bad for you then, because she's mine from now onwards. See you later!" The man fastened his grasp around Sera's wrist as he speedily managed to haul the latter along with him towards the exit while uttering the same to Gaeul.

"I'll tell you everything, I promise." Sera wordlessly ran her mouth and internally prayed for Gaeul to comprehend it right away amidst all that commotion.

For in case she did not, Sera was abreast what the reason behind her death would unfold to be.

"Seriously though Jimin, you need to accept that you're definitely not from among us to be roaming around so mindlessly. Pay a little more heed to your safety, that's all I'm trying to say here." Sera's voice had showcased how disgruntled she felt due to her boyfriend's carefree attitude.

There was a point behind celebrities having so much security round the clock, something that Jimin was not absorbing the necessity of.

"Okay, okay. This is gonna be the last time I'll visit you in the university, alright? I give you my word. You don't need to get worried because of me now." Jimin replied, putting his efforts in the best possible way for Sera to realize that he had indeed taken her advice.

He then ventured to reach for her hand in order to assure her, though she could not help but jolt on her own spot when she felt a sudden warm touch.

"Jimin! Somebody will see us!" Sera whisper-shouted at Jimin at the very juncture of time he had fully clasped her hand in his own, spurring the distance between his eyebrows to get blurred into one.

"But that doesn't matter!" Jimin responded in a nick of time, making Sera cast a doubtful glance at him, "I've already informed the company anyway, and I can't wait for the world to know about it too." He had toned his voice down to a bit mellower, his smile accompanying the briefing, melting Sera— an assumingly obvious chain of events.

Little did he know that Sera's concern was more or less worth the deliberation. That an official announcement was not the only way to keep up with your favorite celebrities' daily lives.

That the impact of a well-backed rumor could not be corrected properly even with a thousand clarifications.