Chapter Text
From the moment a 5-year-old Nayeon took an astronomy book off the shelf in the library, the universe became the most fascinating topic for her, from way the universe would expand every second, to the way stars explode, leaving an elegant and divine trace of their existance. It always had a special place in her heart, and she knew from then on, she wanted to study the universe, from its beginning to the its end.
Which is why—15 years later—Nayeon is standing infront of the most prestigious school in South Korea, Seoul National University, pursuing a Bachelor's degree in Astronomy alongside Jeongyeon and Jihyo who have been her best friends, since elementary.
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(Flashback)
It was the first day of fourth grade. Nayeon stood infront of the school she had just transferred to, still holding onto her driver's hand as she tried to calm down the jitters she felt. The driver chuckled, feeling how firm her grip on his hand was. No matter how many times her family moved from one place to another, it never got easier for Nayeon.
"Can you come inside with me?" Nayeon look up at her driver
"Of course, we still have to find your classroom, don't we?" He smiled and led Nayeon inside. The pair made their way towards the receptionist office and asked where Nayeon's classroom was.
"Transferee Im Nayeon... room 159," the receptionist smiled "let me show you the way" she said polietly and led the two towards the classroom.
"Are you gonna come inside with me?" Nayeon looked at the driver, who sighed and kneeled down to Nayeon's height.
"If I could, I would Nayeon-ah, but I'm not allowed beyond this point" He said, pointing at the door "You'll do well; you've done this a million times," He smiled
"B-but..." Nayeon pouted, the driver gently smoothed Nayeon hair and spoke softly "Try focusing on one thing in the classroom, pretend that your talking to it one-on-one. It helps me when Im speaking in public" Nayeon nodded and hugged the driver. He felt more like a father than her actual father did.
Nayeon let go of his hand, letting her arm fall to her side. The driver, looking at the somewhat brave Nayeon, smiled proudly. Seeing this, Nayeon felt some of her worry wash away. The receptionist knock on the door and went inside with Nayeon. The driver watched as Nayeon introduced herself to the class, He soon went back to the car and drove back to the Im residence.
Inside the classroom, Nayeon felt her anxiousness grow again feeling all pairs of eyes on her as the receptionist called out that they had a new transferee. Ms. Lee, Nayeon's homeroom teacher, thanked the receptionist now known as Ms. Min who left.
"Nayeon-ah, why don't you introduce yourself to the class?" Ms. Lee suggested gently at Nayeon who fidgeted with her feet, stumbling slightly.
Nayeon faced the class, suddenly feeling conscious of how tight her collar was, how quiet it was, how small the classroom felt.
Focus on one thing Nayeon looked around the classroom and made eye contact with a girl who was smiling encouragingly at Nayeon. It made Nayeon feel more confident.
Pretend your taking to them, one-on-one She took a deep breath and smiled keeping her focus on the girl
“Hello, my name is Im Nayeon, hope we can get along” She bowed.
“Welcome Nayeon-ah,” the teacher greeted “go take a seat next to…” Ms. Lee looked around, “Jeongyeon..” she pointed to a girl who looked rather displeased with her new seatmate.
Nayeon nodded and made her way to sit beside Jeongyeon, who barely acknowledge the new girl. Nayeon noticed this and decided against talking to her, not wanting to annoy her and possibly make an enemy on her first day.
The class went on as normal. During break however, her seatmate left, leaving Nayeon on her own. She stayed still not knowing what to do when a girl came up to her, she recognized her as the girl who was smiling encouraging at Nayeon earlier, following behind her her grumpy seatmate, Jeongyeon.
“Hello,” The girl smiled widely “Im Jihyo, Park Jihyo, and this is…” Jihyo introduced herself, then nudeged Jeongyeon forward “Introduce yourself...” Jihyo scolded at her friend
“I’m Yoo Jeongyeon” She muttered.
“Im Nayeon” She smiled widely, unaware that this was the start of their lifelong friendship
(Flashback end)
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"Nayeon-ah!" Nayeon glanced around, wondering who was yelling her name. Her eyes landed on Jeongyeon who was waving at her enthusiatically, beside her was Jihyo, who was smiling at her friend's antics, with her hands in her pockets, feeling the chilly weather.
Nayeong giggled and made her way towards them "where's Tzuyu?" She asked the two.
"Apparently she's already in the lecture hall" Jihyo informed as the three made their way onto campus.
Once they got into their assigned lecture hall, they scanned the room looking for their friend. They found her sitting in the middle of the room, not too close, not too far from the stage where the professor will teach. The three made their way to Tzuyu and sat beside her, with Tzuyu sitting between Nayeon and Jihyo, while Jeongyeon sat beside Jihyo.
"Your here early" Nayeon commented
"My parents didn't want me to be late, so they woke me up 3 hours early" Tzuyu sighed
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(Flashback)
"Nayeon!" A teacher called out, trying to grab the attention of the said girl, who turned around looking at Mr. Sam
"Yes, sir?" She asked, walking up to him. "What do you need?" She asked polietly
"You know the new transferee in your class?" He started "We think it's better if she has a tutor so she can catch up on the lessons" Nayeon thought for a moment.
The new transferee was Tzuyu, from Taiwan. She just transferred her in the middle of the semester, so she had a lot to catch up on.
"Uhm... sure, why not" She smiled. Nayeon was top of her class followed by Jihyo and Jeongyeon
"If you want you can also ask Jihyo and Jeongyeon to help you" He added.
The tutoring started on the same day, The three of them followed Mr. Sam into a study room where Tzuyu was already waiting.
They introduced themselves and started, making sure Tzuyu understood everything with ease, not giving to much to understand. They took it little by little. Surprisingly enough, with the help of the three. Tzuyu became on of the top students along side Nayeon, Jihyo, and Jeongyeon.
(Flashback end)
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The professor soon enterned the classroom, he explained the point of the class, Cosmology 1. Where in they will be taught the basics of the origins, evolutions, and structure of the universe as a whole.
After talking about the syllabus, they started with introducing themselves. There were more than 40 students in the classroom, and it would take awhile for Nayeon to introduce herself, so she busied herself by scrolling on her phone.
Until she heard it, her voice. The same high-pitched and giddy voice, that almost ruined Nayeon's senior year in highschool.
"Hello, Im Minatozaki Sana"
Minatozaki Sana she looked at the said girl for a second before turning her attention back on her phone.
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As a kid, Sana was never interested in space. She lived in the city and no matter how many times she stared at the night sky, she didn't see anything that captivated her interests.
what's so interesting about the sky? she stared at the dark, dull sky, that only displayed the moon and nothing else.
But it all changed when her parents took her to the province to visit their grandparents. Sana and her family was outside, in the prairie behind her grandparents house. They were having a picnic. Sana and her cousins ran around and fell asleep on the picnic blanket by 4pm.
They were soon awoken by their grandparents. The first thing that caught Sana's eyes, was the sky. She could see the big and small stars, sparkling, lighting up the sky beautifully.
I understand that was the only thing that bounced around Sana's mind. She stared at the faint glimmer of each and every distant stars, the stardust that surrounded them, and the captivating hues of the night sky, that left a lasting impression in her mind.
Eversince that night, Sana went out each and every night, not wanting to miss a day to watch the shooting stars pass by and how slowly the stars moved across the sky.
15 years later, she stood infront of her dream school, Seoul National University. She looked up at the big building infront of her, The department of Physics. She stood there admiring the building, taking in its architecture from the largest to the smallest detail.
"Are you done admiring?" Her friend Momo teased, draping her arm around Sana's shoulder.
Mina walking up behind, them smiled, "lets go, don't wanna be late on our first day, right?". The two girls turned their head to the youngest and hugged her from both side before making their way inside the building.
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(Flashback)
Sana and her family had moved to Korea when Sana was about to start her junior year in highschool. It was a new environment, a new culture, and a new beginning. Her father had recently been promoted, however, it also meant that Sana's family had to move.
"Your here for the Korean lessons right?" The lady at the front asked in Japanese. Sana nodded and the lady led her to a room.
So this is where I will be learning Korean? She looked around the room and saw 2 other Japanese students and a few other foreigners. She took a seat at the back of the classroom, refusing to draw any attention to herself.
As soon as the class start, they had to introduce themselves in their native language.
When it was Sana's turn, she stood up and confidently introduced herself, she took a peak at the two Japanese students she had seen earlier and they were already looking at her.
Sana knew that she wanted to befriend them, so the minute class ended, she quickly gathered up her things and built up the courage to introduced herself to the two.
"Hi, my name is Sana, Minatozaki Sana" She smiled. The two introduced themselves aswell. From then on, the three were unseperable. Only had fights every now and then, over the smallest things. Like when Momo ate Sans's snacks thinking they were hers.
(Flashback end)
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The three sat on the left, beside the window. Where the light shined into the dimly lit room, letting the natural light fill the room.
"Where's Dahyun and Chaeyoung?" Sana looked at the time. It was almost the start of class, yet they were no where to be seen.
As if on cue, a blue-haired Dahyun and a black-hair chaeyoung entered. Dahyun saw her friend immediately and dragged Chaeyoung towards them.
"Almost late of the first day?" Sana tsked, feigning disappointment.
"Key word Sana: almost" Dahyun smile
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(Flashback)
Sana was seated at a bench that overlooked the school garden. She was reading a book, when she heard a couple of whispering and giggling.
She looked up and saw a pale girl animatedly talking with a shorter girl, she moved her hands violently as she told her friend a story. She payed them no mind and continued reading.
That was when she hear a thud, followed by a boisterous laugh and a groan heard from below. Confused, Sana put down her book beside her and saw the short girl on the floor groaning.
She choked out a laugh before quickly covering her mouth "a-are you okay?" Her voice wavering as she didn't want to laugh at the poor girl. She walked up to the girl and helped her stand up, patting away the dust that got caught on her shoulder.
"You got a scrape on your knee," Sana pointed out "you should go to the nurses office"
"Where... is it?" The short girl asked embarrassed.
Sana giggled "C'mon, I'll lead you both there" she took her book and assisted the injured girl, while the pale girl tried to keep her laughter at bay.
"Oh by the way, Im sorry for laughing at you earlier... your friend's laugh is kinda contagious" Sana apologized, chuckling softly, remembering the way the shorter girl looked on the floor and how the pale girl just laughed at her friend.
"Its fine, dont worry about it" she smiled "Im Son Chaeyoung and this is Kim Dahyun" Chaeyoung introduced herself
"Im Minatozaki Sana, pleasure to meet you both..."
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"If you walked slower, you would've been late" Sana whispered to Dahyun, seeing as their professor enter few seconds after the two.
After talking about the syllabus. It was time to introduce themselves. She payed attention to them as the other introduced themselves, she wanted to be polite, she she tried her best to listened to the student. Tried. Because the moment the second person began introducing themselves, she couldn't help but sigh and look out the window, watching as the birds outsude flap their wings and fly around freely without a care in the world.
Then she heard a slightly low toned and honey voice, a voice she could recognize anywhere.
could it be? Sana froze
Please don't be her she closed her eyes
it's just someone who sounds like her, right? she turned to face the girl speaking, and internally groaned
"Hi, I'm Im Nayeon"
The only girl that was able to make Sana's blood boil with only her voice during her last year in high school. Im Nayeon.