Work Text:
There was no other way to put it - Sehee’s morning was turning to shit, and fast. The clicks that her boots made against the footpath when she left her apartment had now turned to splashes, and she could feel the front of her t-shirt starting to stick to her body from the rain. Unfortunately, the oversized blazer she'd hastily thrown over her tee and jeans combo wasn't doing much in the way of keeping her dry. The first of her essays for the semester had to be in the lecturer's in-tray by 5pm, and her watch was ticking dangerously close to 4. Looking up to the sky, she tried to stop herself from cursing under her breath.
The last year and a half of her university life had been filled with stressful deadlines for an avalanche of assessment, killing any sort of social life that she had. The most interaction she'd had recently was Baekhee forcing her to study in the cafe the older girl worked in.
"At least I'll know you haven't withered away into nothing!" she’d chastised. Sehee could still hear the sound of Baekhee’s heels tapping against the tile floor of the café as she scolded her. She knew it was because Baekhee cared, but she’d still rolled her eyes regardless.
She’d already blown her best friend off multiple times over the last few weeks just so she could catch up on her overflowing course load. All of her classes were early ones, and Sehee’s ‘don’t fuck with me’ facial expression was bad enough when she hadn’t just woken up, so any chance of making friends lowered from slim to none. She wasn’t necessarily worried though, she supposed. The fewer distractions, the better.
Sehee glanced down to check how wet she was. Somehow she wasn’t totally ruined from the rain yet, but if she stayed out any longer she would be. Getting rained on was the least of her worries though - she was more concerned about getting to the subway station and getting to the university on time without getting the papers in her tote bag getting damp.
Assessing her options and mentally adding up how long it'd take to get there, she decided she had a little time to wait for the rain to pass before her assessment was due. She pushed through the busy Apgujeong crowd to duck under the awning of an office building, fumbling around in her bag to check it her essay has made it through the rain. She sighed in relief as the plastic case she'd shoved it in last minute had apparently done its job.
"Oh god, no. No, no."
Sehee's head jerked up - apparently someone else had the same idea to get out of the rain as her, but this girl had suffered a much worse fate. She’d clearly been out in the rain much longer and was dripping wet. The handbag that the girl was carrying squelched as she dropped it to the ground and started trying to squeeze her hair out, and Sehee could only watch as the brunette locks now dripped water onto her already soaked white blouse. There was no denying it - the girl was beautiful, even taking into account the way her strong brows pulled in showing her worry… which is why Sehee attempted to avert her eyes when her brain caught up to figure out that this girl’s entire shirt was see-through. Her brain short-circuited as she tried to figure out what to do.
"Uh, excuse me," Sehee cleared her throat, "but I have some tissues? If you need them?" Why did she speak? Was that necessary?
The girl looked up, apparently noticing her for the first time and let out a sort of pathetic whine. "Uh, I mean. Yes? Please?"
Sehee returned to rummaging through her bag and pulled out her travel pack of tissues, not that it was going to help the girl too much in her state. At this point, she was mostly just thankful that she hadn’t blurted out anything too embarrassing. She quickly tried to check herself and keep her expression blank, so she could only hope that the blush on her cheeks wasn’t too noticeable.
She handed the tissues to the stranger, who hurriedly thanked her and started trying to pat down her face and hair. Sehee's heart went out to the girl - she didn't even know where to begin, and clearly had no idea how bad her damage was.
"I don't mean to be the bearer of bad news, but..." Sehee tried to signal to the girl with her eyes that her entire shirt was see-through without having to say it. She shut her eyes and let out a small sigh when it became obvious the girl had no idea what she was on about. “Um, your shirt.”
The girl looked down at her top and Sehee watched the realisation paint her face as she realised that the clinging fabric was now see-through showing off her bra, which appeared to be mostly a plain black with a scalloped edge on the top and two straps criss-crossing underneath the wiring… and was that a little gem dangling down between the cups? Not that Sehee was looking. Obviously.
The girl's only response was what she could only describe as a whimper. Sehee clenched her teeth. "Did you need to...” Sehee coughed, “you can use my jacket, if you'd like," she tried, pulling at her lapel as an offering and looking at anything that wasn’t the girl’s face.
"It’s fine, I'm sure you need it as well,” the girl said softly as she looked to the ground. Clearly, she managed to see the state her shirt was in, head snapping back up as she reassessed.
"It's really okay,” Sehee began. “I live pretty close to here, and I'm not sure if you're from the area, but I'm pretty happy to pass on the good karma." She pulled the blazer off and handed it over to the girl. This was definitely good enough juju to balance the universe for making putting salt in Baekhee's latte when her worrying had gotten too much.
The girl hesitated but seemingly lost the fight her brain was putting up. "Really, I can't thank you enough for this," the girl said breathlessly, accepting the blazer and hesitantly pulling her arms through the sleeves. The girl was a bit shorter than her, but it was enough for the blazer to look oversized and not ridiculous. Sehee wanted to bang her head against a wall. "I really don't want to ruin it," the girl mumbled.
"It's really fine," Sehee said, mostly just thankful that the girl was finally covered up. "Bad luck happens, you know?"
"I guess," the girl said, pursing her lips. "I also won’t have to worry about anyone staring. I can't believe I chose today to wear this," she said, pulling at the front of the now see-through material. Sehee laughed breathlessly and tried to look away, but the girl seemed to want to make her life difficult. "It's so hard to find good bras, I really hope this isn't ruined now."
If Sehee didn't know better, she'd think the girl was doing it on purpose, but the furrowed brow and slightly worrisome innocence in her eyes seemed legitimate.
Where does she go from here though? Does she comment on how pretty it is, the black pattern that she can see? Would that look like she's being creepy? Warning bells started to go off in her brain, telling her to proceed with caution.
"Oh, yeah. I totally agree," Sehee started hesitantly. "I mean, all of the good ones are so expensive, or the rare ones that aren't don’t fit very well."
"Exactly!" the girl said, lower lip sticking out into a pout and heat burning in her eyes. "I can never, ever find nice ones anywhere! The ones that are actually a decent price are always in the most ridiculous sizes, or the hooks stick into your back," she said, gesturing to her back, presumably to prove her point, but only succeeded in pushing her chest further out.
Sehee pursed her lips to hold back an incredulous bark of laughter at how intense the girl was getting about this bra situation. She'd gone from a meek, soaking wet girl to a ball of bra related fury in a few seconds flat.
The girl's eyes widened, and she looked down at her watch. "I have to go! I really don't want to be late... thank you," she said, looking up at Sehee with earnest eyes, and turned to step away. Sehee had to force her expression to stay the same while her brain screamed at her to not let this beautiful, soaking wet stranger out of her sight.
"Wait," Sehee called before she could think better of it. How does she even begin to say 'hello, my brain's starting to dissolve at the fact that I have to try and speak to you while you're wearing a see-through white shirt, but I want to keep talking more?'
"Oh," the girl said, turning back around and rushing right up to her, into her personal space. "Here, give me your phone so I can put my number in and I can give you the jacket back! I can't believe I almost forgot," she said, both hands held out in front of her, wide eyes looking up to meet hers.
Sehee froze. This girl being in her personal space, looking up at her with wide eyes was truly not part of the plan. She fumbled around in her pocket, trying not to let it show that her internal monologue had just completely whited out.
The girl put her number in and handed the phone back to Sehee, and when she looked up it was to one of the brightest smiles she'd seen.
"I didn't even introduce myself! My name is Jungah," she said, with a little bow. "I hope to hear from you soon!"
When Sehee managed to drag her eyes off the girl in front of her running down the street, she wasn’t even surprised to find that she’d put a little bear emoji next to her name.
She pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a long sigh. She could only tell this girl was going to be the death of her.
-
"What do you mean, you didn't even tell her your name? Are you joking?'
Sehee let her head slump against the marble table in front of her, air blowing out of her lungs. "Maybe."
She opened one eye to watch the manicured nails of her best friend and unfortunately first point of call for meltdowns click against the table in front of her. After what she was now mentally referring to as 'The Incident', she'd managed to sprint to the subway and put her essay in her lecturer's in-tray before somehow making it back to Baekhee’s workplace in a daze. She wasn't entirely sure how she got here, but Baekhee was truly a magnet for all stories.
"I can't believe you. How are you going to get anywhere in life if you can't even function like a basic human being in front of someone good looking? If I wasn’t working right now, I swear I would slap you upside the head,” Baekhee muttered.
There were a lot of things Sehee loved about coming to Dssent. The design was incredible, and considering she was studying architecture, she could definitely appreciate the interior - white minimalism with soft pink accents. She enjoyed the music and the fact that it was never quite full. Mostly, she enjoyed Baekhee's presence here, as she was her best friend. But a lot of the time it involved having to make sure that Baekhee concentrated on her job and not just on Sehee.
“It’s fine. She gave me her number, I’ll message her. Get back to work, I still have more assessment to do,” Sehee mumbled, pulling her laptop out of her tote and flicking Baekhee’s hand off the table.
“You’re such a rude little thing, I don’t know why she would heart eye you in the first place,” Baekhee scoffed. She started to turn away, before rushing right up into Sehee’s space and planting a big kiss on her cheek.
“What the fuck was that for?” Sehee grumbled, pushing Baekhee off and wiping her cheek.
“You looked like you needed it. Go get her, tiger!”
---
Over a week had passed since The Incident. She still hadn’t called or texted Jungah, and she really couldn’t lie to herself, it was mostly because she was scared, though she’d never admit it. The unfamiliar combination of fear, indecision and wonder at the entire situation put Sehee entirely out of her realm of comfort. She found herself wondering about Jungah at the most inopportune of moments; during classes, while she was supposed to be writing essays, even when she was trying to sleep. It was only a matter of time, she thought, until something happened.
Of course, something did.
Sehee was back at the café, head bent down, shoulders slouching and one earphone in. The pile of essays she had to do was only getting bigger, and she was already on latte number three when she felt her concentration break. Someone was giggling at the counter. It wasn’t like the café was ever quiet, but usually, Sehee found the background noise helped quiet all of the rampant thoughts in her mind rather than distract her.
She tried to keep working for a minute or two, but eventually, she gave up and looked up toward the sound of the laugh. She couldn’t pinpoint why she felt like she recognised it until she saw the girl at the counter – hand over her mouth, dark ponytail gently swaying as she giggled. It was definitely Jungah and she was talking to Baekhee, who was clearly doing her best to impress. Not like Sehee could blame her. The girl was beautiful.
At the sight of Jungah, she felt a sudden pang of uneasiness about not texting her back by now. Not enough to squash down the fear that was currently climbing its way up from her stomach, but enough to realise that it would’ve been at least polite to check how she was doing and if she got to her meeting okay. She sighed. Hindsight was 20/20, she supposed.
Sehee avoided trying to look up at all, even to sip on her coffee. She kept her head tucked down into her shoulders, and only dared to look up when she knew it was the sound of Baekhee’s shoes clicking on her way to her.
“What’s up with the turtle impression going on here?”
“Leave me alone,” she mumbled. “Don’t you have a job to do?”
Baekhee rolled her eyes. “I don’t suppose this would have anything to do with the hot brunette that just came into the café and who keeps shooting you looks, would it?”
Sehee’s hands froze from the typing she was doing and tried desperately to use the last of her willpower to prevent herself from looking up at Jungah, or worse, looking up at Baekhee.
“You’re not doing a very good job of being subtle, Sehee. Please tell me I’ve taught you better than that,” Baekhee said, flicking her long ponytail in into Sehee’s face before sauntering off.
When Sehee built up enough courage to look up from underneath the rim of her glasses, Jungah was already seated and smiling at Baekhee as the girl put down her coffee with an overly sweet smile. The little shit. If she wasn’t concentrating on shooting daggers at Baekhee’s back, she’d be rolling her eyes.
She’d already started to build up a solid list of reasons why she shouldn’t go and bother Jungah when a small cough pulled her out of her thoughts.
“Hi,” Jungah greeted softly. Apparently, Sehee’s awareness of her immediate surroundings was severely limited and only included Baekhee’s ridiculous shoes on tile.
“Hey,” Sehee replied. Well, it was a start.
“I’m so glad I bumped into you… I just wanted to thank you for the other day, I ended up having to present something to a new client, and it would’ve been pretty terrible if I hadn’t had the blazer,” Jungah laughed nervously, tugging the end of her ponytail in a nervous gesture.
Sehee took a moment to look her up and down before answering. If she thought Jungah was hot while she was a soaking mess (and not in the way Sehee would prefer), it was nothing on what she was now. Dark strands of hair framed her face from where they were falling from behind her ears. Her hands were tucked into sweater paws from the loose, off the shoulder knit she was wearing, and holy shit, the thighs that she could see underneath her dark wash jeans had her brain operating at a slower pace than she actually thought possible.
“Uh, that’s okay,” Sehee mumbled, looking down at her hands. “I’m glad it worked out okay.”
“I was mostly just sad you didn’t message me. I got the blazer dry cleaned, but I wasn’t sure how to return it. I wish I bought it today,” she mumbled, tugging at the edge of her sweater.
“Ah sorry, I got busy.” Terrible excuse. “It’s okay though, don’t stress too much. It’s fine.”
“Do you mind if I sit down?” Jungah asked, hand resting on the back of the chair. The fact that she thought Sehee could actually say no to her was laughable.
“Go ahead.”
An awkward silence fell over them as Sehee took a sip of her coffee. She decided to take pity on the poor girl who was clearly more nervous than she was.
“So what are you up to today? No work?”
“I’m definitely working,” Jungah sighed, running a hand through her hair and looking up at the ceiling before looking back at Sehee. “I work in interior design, and our Shanghai office is over helping us on a massive project for the Olympic games, so I’ve been kicked off my desk because they need the space.”
“Wow, that sounds heavy.”
“It’s not so bad,” she smiled. “They’re working on all of that – it’s all the residential apartments, and I prefer doing businesses and commercial stuff instead. Work pays for the coffee as well, so I guess I can’t complain,” she laughed. “How about you?”
Sehee could feel the emotions bubbling up her throat as she watched Jungah and fought to squash it all down. Everything from the curl at the edges of her smile to the dimples in her cheeks as she laughed were doing their best to distract her from acting like a normal human being. She tried to check herself before replying. “Well, I’m still studying. Double degree in business and architecture.”
“Oh, wow! So, you want to be an architect?” she questioned, perking up. It was cute to see her truly interested. Her eyebrows climbed up in surprise as her body leaned over closer to Sehee. She tried her hardest not to look down her top, but she was really fighting a losing battle here.
“Yeah,” she said, taking a sip of her coffee. “Ideally I’d like to own my own business someday, but architecture is what I really love. I’d like to have a career in that first.”
Jungah smiled and looked down at her coffee. “You’re a smart girl.”
“Um, thank you,” Sehee said in a rush, looking out the window. Her brain was apparently very conflicted on whether Jungah was more adorable or hot, and now she was melting into a puddle at the compliment. She could hear Baekhee laughing at the counter at how flustered she was getting. Asshole.
Jungah hummed thoughtfully. “It’s not an easy industry to get into, but I remember studying and honestly if you’re prepared to take what you can get, it’s not really that bad.”
“I’ve been trying to actually focus more on it now. That’s why I study here, Baekhee’s one of my best friends and pulled me into studying here so that I actually left my apartment.”
Jungah looked up to the counter at Sehee’s gesture to Baekhee, only to find the girl leaning over the counter and waving once she caught Jungah’s eye. “I see,” she chuckled. “Well, since I’ve been exiled here too, we can at least work and study together. I’m happy to look over anything if you need me to.”
More contact with Jungah? In a close proximity? In front of her best friend? “That would be great, thanks.”
Good one, Sehee. Truly. Nothing could possibly go wrong with that one.
--
Jungah and Sehee fell into a routine pretty quickly. Since Jungah forced Sehee to finally text her so they had each other’s numbers, they’d done a good job of keeping up a conversation and actually, dare she say it, making friends. She couldn’t even remember the last time she’d actually been interested in getting to know someone, but she definitely felt like a high schooler when her heart would jump into her throat every time her phone buzzed.
Sehee couldn’t tell if Jungah was a touchy person or if she was overreacting to everything, but she’d decided it was probably a mixture of both. It seemed as if every time she finally got herself into a good, productive headspace, Jungah would lean into her space to ask what she was up to, or would poke her cheek to check if she was still alive.
Despite all of that, she’d been getting a lot of work done. She was completely up to date with her coursework for the first time this semester, and she actually looked forward to being able to study, because that meant time spent with Jungah.
It was a late afternoon when the shift began to happen. It’d been a few weeks since they’d started studying and working together, and what started off as a few times a week had quickly turned into every weekday. Even on the weekends, they’d end up messaging each other, and Sehee found herself spending most of her time out of the café with her head in her phone.
Jungah had a pretty big project she was working on and Sehee had an essay taking up most of her grade in a class coming dangerously close to its deadline, so they’d decided to meet up late in the afternoon on a Sunday. Silence had long settled over them, the clashes of ceramic and the coffee grinder providing enough background noise to keep them both going on their respective projects.
Sehee's ears perked up at the noise of Baekhee's heels clicking towards them. "Guys, we're closing in 10. You almost done?"
“Is it already that late?” Sehee mumbled, sipping the last of her coffee out of her glass. “Wow.”
She looked towards Jungah to see her already looking at her. "Yeah, thanks Baekhee," Jungah smiled, turning towards the other girl. "We'll pack up in a sec."
Sehee saved her document and closed the lid of her laptop before resting her head on top of her arms on the table. She closed her eyes for a split second before feeling Jungah's fingers rake carefully through her hair and twirl it around her finger. Sehee smiled and turned her head so Jungah would keep at it.
"Did you want to keep studying at mine?" Jungah asked, smiling softly.
It was moments like this when Sehee really had to push all of the weird butterflies firmly back into the 'do not open' cage. They were both exhausted, she could see it in the circles around Jungah's eyes and in the softness at the edge of her smile. Sehee smiled as she pushed herself up. Not like her feelings could get any worse at this point.
"Yeah, sure."
They only made idle chatter as they walked down to the subway station to get to Jungah's. Sehee had never been invited over before, and thankfully wasn't as nervous as she'd expected. The overwhelming exhaustion from staying back in classes had started to blur the edges of her vision and she was happy to let Jungah guide her along with a hand on the back of her elbow.
When Jungah unlocked the door and let her in, Sehee used the last of her energy reserves to chuckle. "Of course your place is cool as shit. I don't even know why I'm surprised."
Though Jungah's place beautiful, it wasn't extravagant. It was a large studio with an exposed concrete ceiling and the entire wall opposite to the door was made of glass, looking out over the apartment buildings in the area. Gauzy curtains were tied up so they could see the bright lights of Seoul, and light wood panelled floor kept the mostly white furniture from looking clinical. The only word Sehee could find to describe such a place was soft, and that's exactly how she'd describe Jungah if she could.
"You can take a nap if you need," Jungah offered, walking through the apartment to drop her keys in a glass bowl and hanging her bag on the hat stand near the door. "I don't mind. I'm just going to continue on with drawing a layout I was working on earlier," she said, drifting towards a small desk near the window.
Sehee didn't reply, following Jungah to see what she was working on. There was a two-seater couch in front of the desk instead of a singular chair, so she sat down while Jungah just smiled and followed her lead. Sehee watched as she picked up her pencil and continued on with a sketch of a space she'd clearly already started. All Sehee could tell was that Jungah was drawing up the outline of a cafe or restaurant, and while she was always interested to see whatever Jungah was working on, she mostly just felt cosy and safe, and couldn’t bring herself to stop her eyes from drifting closed as she fell asleep.
-
When Sehee woke up, she felt warm and content. That was strange, because she genuinely couldn't remember the last time she woke up and wasn't actively grumbling at the fact that sleep had been ripped away from her.
Bit by bit she woke up and pieced things together. She'd fallen asleep while Jungah was drawing, and apparently done so very quickly. Sehee cracked opened her eyes to see the faded denim of Jungah’s jeans, so she assumed her head was in her lap. Jungah was clearly awake, trailing fingers up and down her arm with one hand, and as Sehee woke up a little more, she could hear the scratching of Jungah's pencil on the page on the desk above her head.
At this point, Sehee wasn't blind. She'd come to terms with the fact that her feelings for Jungah were more than a fleeting crush, and she wanted to keep her as a permanent fixture in her life. Initially she’d fallen for a pretty face and a see-through shirt, but the more time she spent around Jungah, the deeper the feelings went. Jungah had somehow become a pillar for her; someone she relied on for help and looked up to. It wasn't that she was missing something before, but rather she'd found something in Jungah that only enhanced her as a person.
The question wasn't whether Jungah liked her back - she hoped that much was obvious. It was more of a question whether either of them was going to take that first leap, and when. They both clearly had too much going on to be thinking about anything, but Sehee enjoyed this. She enjoyed the soft touches and the lingering looks, and the butterflies that wouldn't let up when she thought too long about Jungah reaching out to brush a lock of hair from her face.
So when it came time for her to leave that night, she tried to let herself bask in her feelings instead of being sad. Hopefully one day she wouldn’t have to leave.
---
Time was passing too quickly for Sehee to handle. Before she knew it, seeing Jungah had become a staple of her week, rather than a nerve-wracking, new thing. One thing was for sure though – all of the excitement and butterflies she got when she was in her presence had only built up and gotten worse. Now when Jungah rolled up Sehee’s long sleeves when she was drawing plans or brushing back locks of her hair that fell into her face, instead of trying to keep a stoic expression, she just had to try her hardest not to lean into her space and kiss her.
She’d decided that she deserved to spend the extra money on a taxi to the café from her apartment and had arrived earlier than expected. She was supposed to meet Jungah in the afternoon since her company had a full office meeting, but it was only a little past midday as she walked into the café.
“Sehee, honey. Just the person I wanted to see. Step into my office,” Baekhee called from somewhere to her left. She rolled her eyes and walked through to peek around the partition and sit down at one of the tables obscured from the door.
“Since when are you on break this early in the day?” Sehee questioned, pulling out the chair and sitting down before meeting Baekhee’s eyes and seeing her expression. “Oh.”
“Yes sweetheart, it’s time. Did you think you’d be able to hold out details from me for any longer than this?” she ordered, folding her hands underneath her chin. “Spill.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about," Sehee mumbled evasively.
Baekhee’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “Don’t give me that bullshit. I can tell you like Jungah. It seems like she likes you. You’re both disgusting to watch. Tell me what’s happening.”
“Nothing, okay? Nothing is happening.”
“Why?” she questioned. “Because you’re too chicken? Is this a ‘two bros chilling in a hot tub, five feet apart ‘cause they’re not gay’ situation? Please.”
“No,” Sehee hissed, “we’re both busy and stressed. It’s not like we’re spending time having deep heart to heart conversations. We’re working. Something you wouldn’t know about.”
Baekhee didn’t rise to the bait. “Working between throwing sad heart eyes at each other.”
“Stop it, Baekhee. I have enough to worry about.”
“Fine,” she sighed. “I wish you could see yourselves though. It’s awful.”
“I don’t even know if she likes girls!” she whined. "It’s not like I can just ask.”
“It’s 2017, Sehee. People aren’t all like that,” she said softly. “I can tell Jungah isn’t like that.”
“Baekhee, please.”
Sehee was surprised when Baekhee actually stopped. She looked up from the straw wrapper she was tearing apart to see Baekhee’s eyes fixed on something outside the café.
“What – oh.” The first thing Sehee noticed was Jungah laughing in the passenger seat of a car with the window down. The second thing she noticed was that she obviously wasn’t alone.
She kept watching as a man got out of the driver’s side of the car and came around to open the door for her. Jungah smiled at him as she got out and straightened her skirt, and Sehee could see her mouth form around the words “thank you”.
Objectively, Sehee could see the man was attractive. He had strong brows, a crisp suit and clearly had his shit a lot more together than Sehee did. Realistically though, all she could think about was the ugly jealousy that was currently sliding through her veins. He leaned in to kiss Jungah’s cheek, and Sehee ripped her eyes away and reached down to her bag to drag out her laptop.
“Sehee…”
“It’s fine, Baekhee. I’ve got assignments to do. Can you bring me a cold drip when you’re off break? Thank you,” she said firmly, opening her laptop and making sure not to look up at Baekhee.
Baekhee knew better than to push, and only pet her shoulder as a gesture of comfort as she got up and walked behind the counter to start on her coffee.
Sehee’s brain was working on autopilot when Jungah sat down in the chair in front of her with a smile on her face. “Hey! You’re here early. I didn’t think I was going to get out for another hour or two, I didn’t expect you to be here already.”
“Yeah, I hadn’t spent a lot of time with Baekhee recently so I came to see her on her break before I started studying,” she replied, eyes on the screen and fingers flying over the keyboard as she typed out a vague spiel about how the economic downturn around the turn of the century had an impact on the future of architectural design. Even she didn’t know what she was talking about.
“Hey,” Jungah said softly, leaning forward with her elbows on the table. “Are you okay?”
Sehee closed her eyes briefly before building up the courage to look up at Jungah with a small smile. “I’m fine. I’m just stressed. It’s all catching up, you know? I’ll be fine.”
Jungah’s eyebrows pulled in with worry. Sehee just felt awful. “It’s coming to the end of the semester, right? You must be stressed. Have you been making sure to eat real food and actually take time to relax?”
“When am I going to have time to do that?” Sehee rolled her eyes, laughing. “It’s only for another week, and then I’m free to relax for a while. I’ll live.”
Jungah was silent for a while as she pondered. Sehee didn’t know what to do with herself, so she just smiled and went back to her essay. She’d typed a few more lines of what she had already decided was complete crap before Jungah spoke again.
“Just, let me know if I can do anything to help, okay?” Jungah asked, guarded expression up, opening her own laptop.
Well, Sehee already felt bad, but seeing that expression on Jungah's face made her feel even more like shit. Apparently, fucking up was starting to become a new passion of hers.
---
“I’m sick of you sulking around. It’s been over a week,” Baekhee scolded. “You’ve submitted all of your assessment, and I still don’t think you actually understand the concept of leaving the house for enjoyment.”
Baekhee was currently rummaging through Sehee’s closet late on a Saturday night, not that she’d been invited over. She’d kept ringing the buzzer until Sehee had finally gotten up off her ass and out of her Skam marathon to let the girl in.
“I’m trying to relax here, and instead I just have you interrupting me,” she said flatly.
“You need to lighten up a little,” she said firmly, digging through her wardrobe and throwing the one dress Sehee owned and a few jacket options on the bed. Baekhee herself was wearing a low cut silky wrap dress and a leather jacket. She knew what the girl was trying to get her to go out and do – if the GS25 bag of soju wasn’t telling enough.
“Baekhee –“
“I’m serious. I wouldn’t ever see you if it weren’t for your damn girlfriend who’s there every day. You keep telling me it’s nothing, but I see how you are,” Baekhee sighed, walking around to sit on the bed. She grabbed Sehee’s hand. “I don’t know if something happened between you guys, or whether you just haven’t pulled your head out of your ass about that guy, but seriously. Just go out and have some fun and stop thinking about Jungah for a night.”
Sehee pursed her lips in resignation.
--
It was loud. It’s not like she’d never been to a club in Hongdae before – she used to be a regular around here in her first year – but it wasn’t ever something she ever got used to.
Baekhee’s hand was circled around her wrist and dragging her towards the bar, which she was thankful for. If she was going to be deafened, she’d at least like to be more than soju tipsy as well. When they finally got to the front of the line at the bar, and Sehee took one look at the bartender, she knew exactly how this was going to go.
“Ladies, what can I get for you?” smirked the giant of a man behind the bar, pink hair trying too hard to be tousled - and was that gold eyeliner? Jesus.
Baekhee’s eyes were solely trained on him, and Sehee tried to hold in her laughter when the girl clearly pushed her chest out and looked up at him with bright eyes. “Two screwdrivers, please?”
He fell straight for it as he looked down her top and looked a little dazed as he came to. “Uh, coming straight up.”
As soon as he turned around to grab the drinks, Sehee pinched Baekhee’s side. Baekhee locked her grin in place as she started trying to push Sehee off. “Can you fuck off?” she hissed between her teeth.
“Can you at least wait until the drinks are done? I don’t want him to pass out before I even get my first drink.”
The two girls just watched as he poured the mix into a cocktail shaker and tried to impressively shake it all up, despite the fact it was literally orange juice and vodka. Baekhee smiled in delight, Sehee just rolled her eyes.
One the drinks were finally done, she took her drink off the counter and gave Baekhee a look. All she received was a smirk in return before Baekhee’s attention was back on the bartender, so she left in a huff for the dancefloor.
This was how she used to get all of her stress out in her first year – coming here with Baekhee, sometimes even Yixing, her then-girlfriend. But once her studies started eating away at her time and she’d broken up with the girl, Sehee started to grow up enough to not want to be plied with alcohol and deafened by loud music anymore. She found herself trading dance floors for her bed, and tight clothes for her pajamas. God, she’d gotten boring.
At least she knew she was still a lightweight. Baekhee had apparently regressed back into a newly minted legal adult and poured an entire bottle of flavoured soju into a Sprite bottle for the taxi ride over, and by the time she’d gotten out of the taxi they’d already been giggling and falling over each other. So, as the vodka in her glass slid down her throat, she tried to relax her body and move to the music the way she used to.
For a while, she felt good. She wasn’t expecting Baekhee to come over anytime soon, if ever, but dancing alone wasn’t something she minded. The DJ at this place wasn’t entirely terrible, and the crowd on the dancefloor weren’t yet drunk enough to be bothering her.
It wasn’t for at least a few songs that someone behind Sehee kept brushing up against her entirely too often for it to be an accident. She tried moving away, but the presence behind her moved along with her. When she tried to leave the dancefloor to at least get to Baekhee, someone caught her wrist.
“Hey, where are you going so quickly? Come dance with me,” the guy slurred, a sleazy smile on his face.
“Don’t fucking touch me,” she hissed, snatching her wrist out of his hand and trying to refrain from backhanding him. Her reaction sobered her up a bit, and she quickly left the dancefloor to get herself together.
It wasn’t like he’d even done anything awful – he hadn’t touched her inappropriately, and if he hadn’t had that creepy look on his face she wouldn’t have been worried. But everything in her had apparently already decided that she belonged to Jungah, and the touch of someone else had her brain kicking into overdrive.
This was all starting to get too much for her to handle. The looseness of her limbs and the smooth slide of her thoughts was starting to freak her out rather than relax her. Thinking about it all was enough to make the tips of her fingers tingle and the muscles in her shoulders tense up. So, she did the only thing she could think of - she called Jungah.
-
“Get in the bed, Jungah,” she mumbled, flapping her arm down on the bed until she got the hint.
Jungah had been so good to her, she thought. Thankfully, she didn’t seem asleep when Sehee called, and it took her less than twenty minutes to get to the club. Granted, she did have to park the car semi-illegally and buckle Sehee’s seatbelt for her, but the soft touches on her arms and the way Jungah held her hand while she drove had her heart doing somersaults. Sehee thought Jungah was an angel for putting up with her, but then again, she thought Jungah was an angel in general.
So, after all of that, it wasn’t like Sehee was going to let her get away with sleeping on the couch.
“Sehee…” the girl said hesitantly, biting her lip. “Just, sleep, okay? It’s fine.”
“Urgh,” Sehee gurgled, heaving herself up with a dramatic sigh. She scooted down on the bed until she could reach one of Jungah’s arms and forcibly dragged her down on top of the covers.
Jungah fell on her in a mess of limbs. It wasn’t particularly sexy, but it was definitely cute watching her flail around. Sehee just giggled.
“Fine,” Jungah said, wiggling around until both of them were under the covers, “but don’t blame me if it gets too hot under here.”
“That’s a terrible excuse,” Sehee whined, pouting. She rolled over until she’d managed to wiggle a leg between Jungah’s and curl an arm around her waist. “Worth it though. G’night.”
“Sehee…”
“S’fine, Jungah. Just let it happen.”
-
The muted morning light was the first thing Sehee noticed when she opened her eyes. Through the fog of her hangover, she could already tell she was at Jungah’s. She repressed the urge to roll her eyes so hard they got stuck in the back of her head, though whether it was at how much of a lightweight she was or at the fact she’d called Jungah, it was hard to tell.
She second thing she noticed was the click of a keyboard over the other side of the apartment. When she woke up enough to actually lift her torso up and open her eyes, she saw Jungah typing away on the laptop at her desk. She couldn’t tell if her feelings about her cast a soft glow over the girl or whether the curtains were drawn. Her hair was tied up in a messy bun and she sat on her desk chair with her legs crossed like a grade schooler. She was only wearing an oversized grey shirt with rolled up sleeves and a tiny pair of black shorts that seemed to defeat their purpose.
Sehee had never seen anyone look more beautiful.
It only took a few moments before Jungah noticed she was awake and the look of surprise that flicked over to sympathy almost did her heart in. “How’re you feeling?”
“I’ve… felt better?” she tried out, voice gravelly. She covered her mouth to clear her throat and hoped her cheeks warming didn’t actually make her blush. “Thanks for, you know. Everything.”
The smile Jungah sent her in reply made her stomach swoop. “It’s fine. Wanna make pancakes?”
-
Making pancakes mostly involved Jungah doing everything and Sehee reaching for the ingredients and mixing the batter. She slumped against the counter as Jungah started pouring the batter into the pan.
“Do you have plans today? You can kick me out at any time, I honestly don’t mind,” Sehee said, closing her eyes. The sight of Jungah looking so domestic in front of her was making her stomach swoop, and she had to bring up the image of Jungah getting kissed on the cheek to slap herself back to reality.
“Nope,” she sang in reply, popping the p. “The only plans I had for today were to make pancakes. Maybe drive out tonight to visit my parents and the dogs. But that was probably never going to happen,” she laughed.
“What about the boyfriend? Any plans with him?”
Jungah's movements slowed as she turned to look at Sehee. “Boyfriend?”
“Don’t you have a boyfriend? The guy who dropped you off at the café the other day and like, kissed you on the cheek and stuff?”
“Who – Kyungsoo? No, god, no. He’s my best friend. We dated a bit in high school. It was a long time ago. I…” Jungah paused, before turning away from her again. “Well, I figured out that I had a different type.”
“So, what’s your type then?” Sehee questioned, trying to keep her expression level. This… changed things.
“Um. I like people who are really passionate about their careers? People who I can spend time with and not have to spend the entire time talking… someone I can coexist with,” she said, before boldly making eye contact. “I like brunettes.”
Sure, it might not have been a blatant come on for someone else, but that was about as direct as Jungah ever got. Sehee had plenty of information to support the theory currently forming in her head, but had to check to make sure. “And… Kyungsoo, he isn’t that type?”
“I don’t… like men? Actually? At all. Barely even platonically,” she laughed shyly.
Sehee’s eyes widened in shock, her brain taking a minute to process the situation. “Jungah.”
“Haha, yeah?” she asked, breaking the eye contact. Apparently, whatever moment of confidence she had built up at torn down just as quickly. “That was weird wasn’t it. Sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable,” she laughed worriedly, backing away from the food and ducking her head as she went to rummage through the pantry.
“Jungah.”
“Hmm?” she replied, voice too high and hiding her top half in with the cereal. Sehee tried to bite back a smile.
She waited until Jungah was curious enough to poke her head back out, eyes wide and nervous, and a blush high on her cheeks. Sehee slowly walked towards her to back Jungah against the pantry door, and as she leaned in, she savoured Jungah’s quick intake of breath, gave her a little time to pull back, then pressed their lips together.
Jungah froze for a heartbeat before pushing up on her tiptoes and linking her hands behind Sehee’s neck to deepen the kiss. Her lips were sweet, and Sehee could taste the last of Jungah’s peppermint tea.
Eventually, they pulled away, Jungah falling back after standing on her tiptoes and circling her arms around Sehee’s waist. “Well, that was a lot more than I expected out of the day.”
Sehee laughed, pressing her face into Jungah’s hair. “Me too.”
“Will Baekhee kill us if we’re disgusting at the café? I still have a few weeks before I get my desk back.”
Sehee just smiled. “God, I hope so.”
~