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“Why does the kitchen look like a bar?” Jihyo asks, hanging her coat by the door and kicking her shoes off into the corner where a pile of sneakers accumulates.
“Did you forget? I told you that I was hosting a party tonight.” Nayeon responds offhandedly as she continues pinning decorations to the walls.
“Didn’t you just have a party last weekend?”
“Forever ago, I know.”
Sensing that the other wasn’t joking, Jihyo sighs and trudges to her room with the shake of her head.
It shouldn’t have come as a surprise, her roommate was always hosting these kinds of things- much to her own chagrin. And it wasn’t like she had a lot of say in the matter, being the younger of the two, Nayeon usually had more pull than she did (that and the fact that she was actually the proprietor of the apartment helped some).
Don’t get her wrong, Jihyo enjoyed a good party every once in a while; a nice, quiet gathering with some good friends and even better food was really her speed. But the kind of parties Nayeon hosted left the small space packed wall to wall with people and thrumming with loud bass.
(She was certain they were one noise complaint away from being evicted.)
Still, Jihyo had come to terms with the weekly arrangement, and in some strange way, even come to find some enjoyable aspects in the inevitable event.
“Jihyo!” Nayeon’s voice floated in from under the door.
“Yeah!"
“Come help me start on the food!”
Rolling back and forth atop the duvet, Jihyo lets out a long sigh and shucks her socks into the corner of her room before dragging herself out to the kitchen.
-
It’s a quarter to eight and the apartment smells like burnt tortillas and the counters are sticky with a splattering of mango juice.
“Thanks for your help.” Nayeon wraps herself around Jihyo as she continues to scrub futilely at the orange stains marring the white surface.
"You owe me." Jihyo rolls her eyes.
"Sure, whatever you want." Nayeon sings, detaching herself from the younger and wandering into the living room. "Are you going to be here tonight? It'll be fun I promise."
"I'll think about it."
Nayeon pouts but let's the matter slide, knowing not to push her roommate too much. "Mm, okay."
-
(Jihyo's door remains locked, secured in advance after one particular party took a rather predictable turn and she'd had to burn her sheets the following morning after seeing the mess that was left.
Equipped with her laptop and a plate of tacos, she listened for a moment as the noise outside steadily grew before plugging her headphones into her computer and subsequently tuning the rest of the world out.
-
The food is tastier than it looks and Jihyo's content as the Netflix cue asks if she's still watching after six episodes.)
//
The hour is nearing one in the morning and she's startled awake by an intense crash followed by muffled laughter.
Her computer is surprisingly still settled on her stomach, whirring loudly as the fans tries to prevent the machine from combusting and feeling the sweat accumulating underneath her thin t-shirt prompts her to set the device aside.
(Judging by the hour, Jihyo knows the party can't last much longer, and so she decides to venture outside- just for a while before retreating back to the safety of her room.)
Slowly poking her head out of the doorway, her ears are immediately assaulted with the sound of a loud edm track. There are people crowding around each other, laughing and talking and drinking.
Jihyo slides out of her room and tries to find Nayeon, who, after a moment, she spots in the kitchen, mixing a drink that looks rather dangerous.
"You came!" Nayeon practically shouts over the music, abandoning her task in favor of slinging an arm over Jihyo's neck.
The older girls cheeks were flushed, and her smile was a little too wide.
(Clearly she was having a good night.)
"I just came to get something to drink!" Jihyo raises her voice and leans close to Nayeon's ear.
Nayeon's brows come together for a moment, and she's about to repeat herself when the latter rolls her eyes. "You're seriously no fun!"
Jihyo simply shrugs- not taking the comment to heart- before pointing to the forgotten drink laying next to Nayeon's free hand. "Is that for someone?"
"Oh, yeah! Some girl on the couch asked for water." Nayeon nods and shifts away from her. "But I thought that request was kinda boring."
"You're literally the worse host ever."
To this Nayeon simply throws her head back in a fit of laughter. "Eh, wanna take it to her? If you're on you way back anyway."
-
Nayeon eyes her sweetly and in the end, Jihyo pitches the offending smelling drink in favor of digging through the refrigerator to produce a bottle of water. Pushing her way through the living room to the corner where the aforementioned couch sits, Jihyo’s quick to spot the girl.
(And in an instance she's left wondering why she ever left the safety of her bedroom.)
//
Jihyo sits across from Nayeon and Momo, all three seated at a small table in the middle of the restaurant.
"This really wasn't necessary you know." Jihyo smiles weakly, eyeing the prices on the menu.
"Don't be silly, of course this was necessary," Nayeon waves her worries off, "you've been wanting this promotion for a while a celebration is definitely in order."
(Though she likes to complain about Nayeon, even she'd admit, the girl was one of her truest and closest friends.)
"Well, thanks again."
Things settle back into a comfortable silence and Jihyo occupies herself by perusing the menu once more. Everything sounds good really, and so she settles on something between an appetizer and an entrée.
"Are you ready to order?" A soft voice calls from her right, and in lifting her head she's immediately captivated.
(The woman's eyes are soft and her hair is tied into a low ponytail; the small, polite smile playing on her lips is drawing Jihyo in faster than she's ever felt and she knows she's probably staring but she just can't process how someone can look so cute in just a white shirt and-)
Thankfully, Momo is one to always be on task and immediately starts ordering her food, giving Jihyo time to pull herself back to reality. A rush of heat finds its way to her face and she coughs into the back of her hand, eyes darting between her water goblet and the foggy salt and pepper shakers.
"And for you ma'am?"
God, even her voice is cute.
"Uh, I-I'll have a salad please."
"Anything else?"
"Just that thanks."
(And she's so busy over analyzing their brief interaction that she misses when the menus are collected and the three are left to their own devices once more.)
"See something you like Jihyo?" Nayeon is smirking and Jihyo wishes the floor would just open up and swallow her whole.
"What? I don't know what you're talking about?"
"Oh please, you were totally checking Mina out."
"How do you know her name?" Jihyo her head.
"Name tag," Nayeon chuckles, "and I thought you didn't know what I was talking about?"
"I- I don't!" She barely squeaks out, rubbing at her neck and glancing around nervously.
(A bad idea really, because she catches sight of the waitress once more, this time carrying a tray of beverages and it's a simple thing really but somehow when the woman was doing it the action seemed like the most attractive thing ever.)
-
Nayeon prods at her the whole time and she's just about over it all when their food finally comes.
A large bowl is placed in front of her by the waitress- Mina- who leans over her should (and for a moment Jihyo swears she catches the scent of something flowery.) "Thank you."
Both Momo and Nayeon had ordered hot meals, as evident by the faint waves of steam coming from their dishes.
"Careful, these are hot."
So are you.
Now, Jihyo wasn't a shy person, but she definitely wasn't so bold as to tell someone she didn't know anything about that they were hot, however, Nayeon is choking on her drink and she's left blinking because what could have caused that?
"I-I'm sorry, what was that?" The waitress asks her and she immediately feels herself break into a cold sweat because, , did she just say that out loud?
"Uh, excuse me ma'am," Momo (God bless her sweet, oblivious friend), "do you think we could get some more bread?"
-
In short, it's truly a disaster.
After Mina had left to get more bread Nayeon lets out a cackling laugh and Jihyo buries her face in her hands.
("We can never come back here." Jihyo hisses after they make it out of the restaurant.
Nayeon is still laughing and Momo is toting a bag full of takeout. "You sure about that?"
"Never. That was the most embarrassing thing that's ever happened to me." Jihyo shudders.)
//
If she was tired before, now she's definitely wide awake because suddenly, all the noise and all the sweaty bodies melt away and all she can see is Mina, settled in the middle of their faded grey couch.
It's too surreal and she's frozen, water bottle in hand now dripping onto the floor from the built up condensation.
(Mina's blissfully unaware of her predicament- glancing down at her phone ever now and then.
She's breathtaking, objectively speaking. And despite fact that Jihyo feels slightly weird for being so attracted to someone she's never even spoken to, she can't find in it herself to resist that draw.)
And it's no big deal really, Mina doesn't know her- probably doesn't even remember her, so she steels herself and takes strides to stand at the opposite end of the couch.
"Uh- a-are you the person who asked for water?"
(She wasn't ready for the other to turn to her; a look of surprise and slightly opened mouth. It makes her heart beat faster and she's so pretty in her casual clothing Jihyo thinks it's a little unfair.)
"That's me, yes, but you are?"
"Ah, I'm Nayeon's roommate."
Mina blinks.
"The girl who's hosting the party- I'm her roommate."
A look of realization passed over her features and Mina nods. "Oh, I see."
Jihyo laughs awkwardly and suddenly the coldness in her right hand makes her remember why she even approached the woman in the first place. "Eh, oh! Here, the water. The seal is still in tact- just, so you know."
(She cringes at her own words, but Mina giggles and it's a sound that rattles Jihyo to her core.)
"Thank you..."
"Ah, J-Jihyo. My names is Jihyo."
"Well thank you Jihyo."
She's closer now, practically standing next to where Mina is still seated. The latter's voice is still as soft as it had been that day in the restaurant and she strains to hear it through the surrounding noise, and there's something- a small, fleeting glimmer of something in Mina's eyes but Jihyo's certain she images it.
"U-um," Mina gestures for her to lean a little closer, "you wouldn't happen to be the woman from the restaurant, do you?"
(Head tilted to the side, Jihyo blinks and yup, this is it. This is the part where she should spontaneously combust or run or be anywhere but here.
None of those thing happen though and she's left with sweaty palms and a rapidly tightening throat.)
"I just- there was this one customer that I, uh, remember. And you look, really similar." Mina blushes now, matching her own reddening cheeks. "I'm a waitress, that's all and I- yeah. It's nothing forget I even said anything."
(Looking at the situation now, she could either A, deny knowing anything and let Mina be a flustered mess, B, bite the bullet and reveal that it's her Mina is probably talking about (is it her though? She really can’t assume), or C, laugh awkwardly because neither option A or B really sound great.
But if it's Mina bringing it up, maybe she found her just as memorable?)
“I mean- if you’re talking about m-me calling you...hot. Then yeah, guilty.” Jihyo sighs, reluctantly giving herself away. “I-I’m really sorry about that, I know it was probably really uncomfortable for you and it was probably weird on my part.”
“Ah, no,” Mina’s quick to dismiss her ramblings, “I mean- I was just, shocked that day. I think it’s flattering really, especially coming from someone like you.”
“S-someone like me?”
“I- just. I mean you’re really pretty so...”
Mina’s clutching the water bottle like a lifeline and Jihyo really wasn’t expecting any of this (not like she was complaining).
Slowly bending her knees, Jihyo feels herself sink into the edge of the couch. “You um- you think I’m pretty?”
“Yeah.” Mina laughs slightly, picking mindlessly at the edge of the bottles label. “I mean, who wouldn’t?”
Oh?
Oh.
-
(Jihyo ends ups up settled next Mina on the couch, and after an hour of tense silence they eventually make it to a place where they’re comfortably exchanging small talk.
It’s nice, because Mina is pretty, she and thinks that Jihyo is pretty too,and both their faces probably resemble something close to a pair of ripe tomatoes. And despite all that, Jihyo feels a wide a smile beginning to inhibit her face.
Maybe the night wasn’t as bad as she’d originally thought.)