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“Almost done,” Jeongyeon says. She’s on the top step of the ladder taping floral decorations on the wall. Spring had come and the RA, Jihyo, asked if Jeongyeon could do her a favor of putting up nice decorations around the halls of the dorm. Apparently, spring time was also prime time for prospective students to visit the school, and more importantly, see the dorms.
Jeongyeon was hesitant at first, but Jihyo said she’d buy Jeongyeon lunch five times anytime she asked. Naturally, Jeongyeon obliged.
It was currently 2 AM, and Jeongyeon was almost done. She had started about three hours ago and was almost done. Her dorm building was quite different form the traditional type, it was more like an apartment than an actual dorm. There were only three floors, and ten rooms per floor, so she was thankful for once how small her building was. Had their dorm looked anything like the traditional multi floored dorm, she would have immediately said no to decorating the dorms.
Jeongyeon was about to tape her last paper flower to the wall when something hit her ladder, causing it to shake, prompting Jeongyeon to lose balance and fall off. She bumps into a body and they spin for a millisecond and Jeongyeon ends up with her back on the ground and an unfamiliar body on top of her. To top off the situation (no pun intended?), her lips are pressed against someone else’s.
Jeongyeon immediately opens her eyes to see the person, a girl, still on top of her with their lips still in contact. They look each other in the eyes for a moment before the stranger immediately gets up and starts apologizing.
“Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” She offers a hand to help Jeongyeon up. “I didn’t even see you and the ladder, I’m so sorry!”
Jeongyeon rubs her butt, massaging the pain away. “It’s uh, okay.”
“I was too focused on my phone and completely missed you and my duffel must’ve hit you. I’m so sorry!”
“It’s totally fine, are you alright though?”
“Yeah,” says the other girl, then her eyes widen. “Oh my god, I’m so horrible! I didn’t even ask if you were alright! Are you alright?”
“I’m fine,” Jeongyeon laughs off.
“You’re laughing,” the other girl pouts, “that means you’re okay, right?”
“Yeah, trust me.”
Then there’s just awkward silence between them. The other girl looks down, Jeongyeon looks up. Neither of them know how to continue moving on from what had just happened.
“You know,” Jeongyeon starts, “what would make me feel even more better is if you told me your name.”
The girl looks at her innocently, then blushes. “Sana.”
“Nice to meet you, Sana.” Jeongyeon offers her hand out and introduces herself, “Jeongyeon.” The two girls shake hands.
“Nice to meet you, Jeongyeon.”
“I’ll let you get back to what you were doing,” Sana says as she lets go of Jeongyeon’s hand.
Jeongyeon watches as Sana walks towards the end of the hall and stops at the last door on their right. The girl turns to Jeongyeon and waves. Jeongyeon waves back.
She’s left speechless as Sana goes inside, leaving Jeongyeon alone in the hallway.
A couple of days pass by since that night but Jeongyeon hasn’t stopped thinking about Sana, the feeling of Sana’s lips on hers. Yeah, it was an accident, but Jeongyeon, although she’d hate to admit it, felt like something more could’ve happened from the event.
You’re just being dramatic, says her inner conscience.
“You’re probably right,” Jeongyeon says to herself.
“Who’s right?”
Nayeon walks into their shared dorm room and sits down on her desk chair.
Jeongyeon sits up. “Do you know who this is?”
Jeongyeon pulls up Sana’s Instagram account on her phone and shows it to Nayeon, who looks at the profile as she unpacks her bag. “Sana? Yeah, I had her in my bio lab a couple semesters ago. Why do you ask?”
Jeongyeon takes her phone back and scrolls through the account, which would probably mark the fifth time she did so that day.
“Do you like her?” Nayeon asks.
Jeongyeon ignores the question and continues scrolling.
“Want me to talk to her?” Nayeon continues.
Jeongyeon’s attention is caught. “God, no! The last time you tried to talk to a girl for me things didn’t turn out so great!”
Nayeon scoffs. “Well. How was I supposed to know Seulgi was already dating some hot girl from the Theatre Department!”
Jeongyeon rolls her eyes. “As I was saying, the answer is: no.”
Nayeon pouts. “Fine. How do you know her?”
Jeongyeon stops scrolling then looks away. “Um. About that…”
Nayeon takes a sip of her drink then waits. It’s clear she won’t do anything until Jeongyeon responds.
“We - uh. Kissed?”
Nayeon spits out her drink. “Hey! Watch where you’re spitting!” Jeongyeon screams.
“I’m sorry, but did you say, kiss? Jeongyeon, what the fuck?!”
Jeongyeon remains silent but continues smiling.
“Well? Go on?” Nayeon says quite loudly.
“I was hanging up decorations around the dorm for Jihyo -”
“Oh yeah, I saw those! They were nice by the way.” Nayeon interrupts.
“Thanks! Anyway, I was hanging up the decorations, and I’m on the ladder right? Then out of nowhere, something hits my ladder and immediately I stumble. Before I could even make a noise, I’m on the ground, Sana, I didn’t know her name at the time, is on top of me, and our lips are pressed together.”
“Oh. Wow.”
“I know.”
“So now you can’t stop thinking about her?”
Jeongyeon looks down at her phone. Sana’s profile is still displayed. “Yeah.”
“I get it. I mean, psychologically speaking, you tend to feel an emotional bond or connection with someone when you experience something drastic with them.”
Jeongyeon furrows her brows in confusion at Nayeon. “Uh, okay, Ms. Psychologist.”
“I’m just saying. Your feelings toward Sana despite barely knowing her? They’re valid.”
Jeongyeon locks her phone then slumps back onto her bed, sighing at her inescapable feelings.
She wasn’t sure if it was the fact that she hadn’t known Sana that Jeongyeon thinks she’s never seen her before, but ever since that night, Jeongyeon found herself crossing paths with Sana quite often. She wasn’t sure if she was just being overdramatic again.
A week from that night, Jeongyeon decides to finish up her Philosophy paper at coffee shop off campus.
“Hey,” says a soft voice from behind her while she’s standing in line. Jeongyeon turns around.
“Sana? Hi!”
“Are you gonna study here?” Sana asks.
“Uh, yeah. You?”
“No, I have to get to class in a bit and was just going to get another iced tea.”
“Oh,” Jeongyeon says, a little saddened.
“Um, it’s kind of busy and since I was just about to leave, you can have my seat.” Sana points to an unattended table near the window where a backpack was placed on top.
Jeongyeon’s face lights up. “Really? That’s so nice of you.”
“It’s cool,” Sana says.
You’re cool, Jeongyeon thinks to herself.
“What?” Sana asks.
Jeongyeon’s confused now. “What?”
“You said I was cool,” Sana giggles.
Jeongyeon pauses. She furrows her brow, thinking. “Did I?”
Sana nods, “Yeah.” She’s clearly amused by Jeongyeon’s dumbfoundedness.
Jeongyeon feels her face heat up in embarrassment. “Well, that wasn’t embarrassing.”
Sana only laughs again. “It’s fine. I’ll pretend it never happened, but thanks. For saying I’m cool.”
I would suffer a thousand embarrassing moments if it meant making you smile Jeongyeon thinks to herself with her mouth shut. “Why don’t I pay for your drink?” is what Jeongyeon says instead.
Sana looks like she’s about to hesitate, but she just smiles at Jeongyeon. “Okay.”
About a week after that incident, Jeongyeon bumps into Sana again, this time in the girls’ bathroom. What was interesting about this situation was that Jeongyeon’s Art History class’ location was changed to a different lecture hall on campus, an area in which Jeongyeon had never been to before.
Jeongyeon, in the process of cleaning up, grabs a couple squares of toilet paper when she sees a slight splash of red on her underwear.
“Fuck,” she says out loud.
A giggle erupts from the stall next to her, then the sound of a toilet flushing.
Jeongyeon, trying to keep her butt planted onto the toilet seat, stretches her core as far as she can to her backpack and starts rummaging for a pad.
“I swear I had one,” she complains to herself. She continues looking through her bag, sighing in disappointment upon giving up. She had just started her period, found no pads in her bag, and she still had two more back to back hour and a half long lectures before she was done with classes for the day.
“Jeongyeon?”
Jeongyeon sits up in surprise and looks around. “Where’d that come from?”
“From the stall next to you, it’s me, Sana.”
“Sana?!”
A thick light green square slides from under the divider and hits the side of Jeongyeon’s shoe. She picks it up and recognizes it immediately.
“It sounded like you needed one,” Sana says.
Jeongyeon had never felt more relieved. And in love.
“You’re a lifesaver!”
Sana laughs. “Where would you be without me?”
She’s right, Jeongyeon thinks to herself.
“I know,” Sana says. “You seem to have a weird habit of saying what you’re thinking.”
Jeongyeon face palms.
“I’ll see you around.”
Jeongyeon hears the stall door shut and sees Sana’s figure walk past her.
“Thanks for the pad!” Jeongyeon tries to let out before Sana leaves.
“All good!” Sana says as she walks out the door, her voice audibly far away.
Jeongyeon purses her lips but eventually lets out a laugh. “God.”
About two weeks after that, it’s no surprise who Jeongyeon bumps into again, this time at the campus bookstore.
“You aren’t stalking me, are you?”
Jeongyeon turns her head in the direction in which she heard the voice. “No way.”
Jeongyeon was shopping for grid paper and stopped in the Asian stationery aisle to look at the array of colorful pens and paper.
“I know we go to the same school and all, but it’s pretty big, and we always manage to bump into each other at the most random times, despite living in the same dorm building,” Sana says. She’s holding a couple of, what Jeongyeon assumes to be, textbooks, in her arms.
“Right?” Jeongyeon agrees. “So what are you doing here?”
Sana looks down at the books in her hands then back up at Jeongyeon, “Just picking up some extra reading for my Poli Sci class. You?”
Jeongyeon holds up the pack of grid paper in her hand, “Needed some grid paper.”
“Do you like stationery?” Sana asks, eyeing the colorful display next to Jeongyeon.
“Yeah, although I probably shouldn’t stick around longer. God knows how much money I spend on cute stationery that I never get around to using.”
Jeongyeon hoped Sana didn’t find her slight stationery addiction odd.
“That’s cute.”
You’re cute, Jeongyeon thinks to herself.
Sana blushes.
“Did I say that out loud again?” Jeongyeon asks.
Sana nods, trying to hold back an embarrassed laugh.
“Well. I guess that’s my cue to crawl into a hole and wallow in embarrassment for the rest of my life!”
“You’re cute.”
Jeongyeon, who was hiding her face shyly behind her wrists, peaks out from behind them. “Me?”
“Yes, you.”
Jeongyeon doesn’t know how to respond, but she doesn’t break her eye contact with Sana. It feels like time stops for the two of them and suddenly only two of them exist.
“Book store closes in fifteen minutes. Lines for register will close in ten.”
The illusion is shattered.
The voice from the speakers cause the two girls to look away from each other.
“We should probably get going,” Sana says.
“Yeah.”
The coincidences of them crossing paths with one another don’t stop there. They bump into each other again at the local grocery store, at the 7/11 off campus, and on the third floor of the library.
“I don’t wanna say it’s fate,” Jeongyeon keeps telling herself. “But it’s fate.”
Jeongyeon’s about to head back to the dorm after her 10 AM lecture finishes when she gets a text from Nayeon.
wanna get lunch?
Jeongyeon had already decided earlier that morning that she was going to crash and take a nap once class was done.
no
why not? :(
i’m gonna take a nap bye
i’ll pay for you!
Now Jeongyeon starts considering Nayeon’s offer.
where are you
campus cafe, near dunkin donuts :)
As much as Jeongyeon wanted to go back to bed, she could never turn down the opportunity to get free food, especially if it was coming from Nayeon. Then again, that gave Jeongyeon more reason to be suspicious.
Jeongyeon’s suspicion proves justified the moment she walks into the campus cafe and sees who else but Sana sitting with Nayeon.
When Nayeon spots Jeongyeon walking through the doors, she waves with a big smile on her face. Jeongyeon rolls her eyes back at her. Sana then turns around and sees Jeongyeon and smiles at her. Jeongyeon immediately changes her facial expression to smile back at Sana.
“Hi,” Jeongyeon says awkwardly as she puts her bag on the table.
“Go get yourself something nice to eat,” Nayeon says, throwing a twenty dollar bill at Jeongyeon. It lands in the middle of the table.
Jeongyeon picks it up, looks at Nayeon, then flashes her a fake smile. “Thanks.”
On her way to the sushi stand, Jeongyeon thinks about the ways in which she can get back at Nayeon. It’s a bittersweet moment, but she can’t help but feel a little animosity at Nayeon for having surprised her this way. Knowing Nayeon, Jeongyeon was only expecting more embarrassment to come from today.
“Oooh, that looks good!” Sana says, eyeing Jeongyeon’s tray when the latter returns. From the sushi stand Jeongyeon bought a spicy ahi bowl topped with extra furikake and a side of gyoza.
“It is,” Jeongyeon replies, giving Nayeon another fake smile. Nayeon devilishly smiles back.
Jeongyeon starts eating her food when she realizes Nayeon doesn’t have any food in front of her, but Sana does.
Nayeon checks her phone and Jeongyeon, from across the table, is able to make out that Nayeon has no notifications on her lock screen.
It’s when Nayeon makes a face of shock that Jeongyeon immediately knows what she’s about to do.
“Oh no! I forgot I scheduled a meeting with my advisor today! It’s supposed to be in five minutes!” Nayeon looks at Sana.
“Oh, you should get going then!” Sana says with her mouth full of curly fries. Jeongyeon finds it so adorable, the way her cheeks puff up.
“I don’t wanna leave you guys though,” Nayeon pouts.
Jeongyeon only furrows her brows at Nayeon.
“We’ll be fine. Right, Jeongyeon?” Sana says, turning to Jeongyeon.
Again, Jeongyeon immediately changes her facial expression and smiles. “Yeah, totally, we’ll be fine without you!”
“Let’s hang out again!” Nayeon says as she quickly gathers her things.
“Yeah, for sure!” Sana responds. And just like that, Nayeon’s gone, leaving Jeongyeon and Sana alone.
“Did you want a bite of my spicy ahi?” Jeongyeon gestures to her bowl with her chopsticks, trying to start up a conversation between them before things get awkwardly silent between them.
“Yes!” Sana says, sounding more eager than Jeongyeon expected. It causes Jeongyeon to think about all the spicy ahi dates they could go on, seeing Sana so excited to be eating some of her food.
“Sorry,” Sana says, “I hope I didn’t sound too desperate. I thought I was craving curly fries and a burger but when I saw your tray I immediately regretted my decision.
Jeongyeon lightly laughs at Sana apologizing. “It’s fine.” Jeongyeon wants to buy her a bowl but she’s short on cash so instead she does something else.
“Maybe I can take you out for spicy ahi one day? I know a really good spot in town that makes the best ahi, even better than the one the school makes.”
Jeongyeon doesn’t know what came over her to be so bold in coming right out and asking Sana on a date.
“I’d love that!” Sana responds enthusiastically. She gives back the bowl of spicy ahi to Jeongyeon. “Thanks, by the way.”
“It’s cool, I saw the way you eyed out my tray when I came back with my food, and you looked like you really wanted a bite.”
Sana grows embarrassed. “Ah! Did I? Sorry!”
“You don’t have to keep apologizing, Sana.” Jeongyeon smiles reassuringly.
The two go back to eating their food. Had it not been for the noise of other students that filled the room, it would have been just complete silence between Jeongyeon and Sana.
Jeongyeon gets through nearly two thirds of her spicy ahi bowl before Sana breaks the silence.
“So uh, what do you major in?” she asks. Her tray is empty, probably the reason why she spoke up.
“I’m still undecided,” Jeongyeon says naturally. It’s become such an automatic response whenever the question comes up she doesn’t even feel bad about it anymore. Everyone around her seems to have their college plans figured out, but Jeongyeon? Indecisive and undecided. She used to think it made her seem inferior, but after a while, she got tired of feeling that way and decided it’d just be easier to simply not care. Eventually, I’ll figure it out, she always tells herself.
Sana nods her head a couple of times. “What year are you?”
“Third. I’ll probably end up graduating a semester or two late, but it’s fine. What about you?”
“I’m also a third year, education major.”
Jeongyeon’s lips form an ‘o’ shape. “That’s cool. I hope this question doesn’t bug you as much as it does me, but what do you plan on doing after graduating? I’ve met a couple of education majors and most of them have said they wanna pursue teaching.”
“I don’t mind it at all, but to be honest, I’m not too sure myself. I’d like to work with kids though, I know that much.”
A woman, Jeongyeon thinks to herself.
“Oh, you like kids?”
Sana chuckles at the question.
“Sorry, that sounded mean. I don’t hate kids by the way.” Jeongyeon hopes she wasn’t messing up her chances with Sana by making it sound like she hated kids.
“I’m sure you don’t,” Sana says jokingly, “but yeah, I love working with kids. Might start off being a teacher then maybe make my way up the system.”
Jeongyeon furrows a brow, “The system?” Okay, now we’re talking, Jeongyeon thinks. They were finally about to get into the nitty gritty details of each other’s passions, and Jeongyeon was ready.
“Did that sound too much?
Jeongyeon lets out a light laugh, “No, no! I find that actually quite interesting. Were you planning on making some big systematic changes in the future, or something like that?”
“Hm,” Sana responds. “Yeah, something like that.” She smiles at the thought.
“Okay, enough talk about the academics and the unforeseeable future. What do you do outside of school?” Jeongyeon asks.
“Um, well, I’m on the school’s cheerleading team.”
Jeongyeon’s mouth drops. “What?! Like the school’s official team?”
“Yeah.”
“No way! I’m on the volleyball team!”
“Wait, you are?” Sana thinks for a second, then speaks again, “Yeah, you are! I remember seeing you!”
“That’s so crazy,” Jeongyeon says. “We’ve probably seen each other so many times before we met!”
Jeongyeon tries to think back on all the games her team’s played where the cheer team was present. She always thought the girls were gorgeous, but she never really paid them much attention. She was kind of sad to realize that Sana was on the team the whole time and she never took notice of who she was.
“Life’s weird,” Sana says. “Really weird, especially when you think about the circumstances in which we formally met, and how we kept bumping into each other after that.”
Jeongyeon nods, “You’re right.”
I knew I wasn’t being dramatic when I said this was all fate, Jeongyeon thinks.
“Hey, that means I’ll see you at the game next week?” Sana asks.
She’s referring to their school’s volleyball match with another school from another state. Now that they knew who each other was, Jeongyeon felt even more excited to play. “Definitely,” she says.
“Good, I’ll cheer you on. I mean, I’ll be cheering for the whole team anyway, but you can take my cheering as being only for you.”
Jeongyeon felt like none of this was real. How could a girl as pretty, funny, and as kind as Sana, be flirting with her? How could someone of such qualities even show an inkling of interest in her?
Of course, Jeongyeon knew what she was worth. It was just that it had been a while since she’d met someone she was really interested in, who showed as much interest back at her.
“Jeongyeon?”
“Huh?” Jeongyeon doesn’t realize she’s been dozing off in her own thoughts.
“Sorry to bother your daydreaming, and sorry to leave you so soon, but I have a team meeting I have to get to.”
“Oh! It’s no prob, I’ll see you later?”
Sana’s already packing her bag at this point, “Yes!” And she’s already out the door.
Jeongyeon sits there in her seat, full off of affection and infatuation, and spicy ahi.
“Go Jeongyeon!” Jeongyeon’s able to single out Sana’s voice over the cheers as she waves to the crowd once her name is announced. When the announcer moves on to introduce the next player, Jeongyeon flashes a smile towards Sana’s direction. Sana waves back and smiles at her. Jeongyeon suddenly feels like she has ten times more strength and energy to play now that Sana was there.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough for Jeongyeon’s team to win that night’s game.
But was it a complete loss considering the amount of times Sana and I looked at each other?, Jeongyeon thinks to herself. Despite the loss being a rough start to the season, Jeongyeon’s never felt better.
“I’ll see you guys later!” Jeongyeon tells her teammates as they’re packing their duffel bags and getting ready to leave the locker room. It was a Tuesday night and most of them, if not all, still had class to go to the following day so there weren’t any plans for a post-game hangout.
As she exits the locker room, Jeongyeon’s phone starts ringing.
Sana.
“Hello?” Jeongyeon says.
“Look to your left.”
Jeongyeon puts her phone down and looks to her left.
As if from straight out of a movie, Jeongyeon sees Sana standing under the light. She’s changed out of her uniform and is instead sporting a pair of sweats and a hoodie, but her hair is still up and very much curled. Her makeup seems to have been taken off, but Jeongyeon still thinks Sana’s never been prettier.
You sound like that Drake lyric, Jeongyeon thinks to herself when mentally commenting on Sana’s appearance.
“You guys played a great game out there,” Sana tells Jeongyeon as she walks over to her.
Jeongyeon pouts cutely, “Thanks. We lost though.”
Sana smiles. “Not you though, you won in my heart.”
Jeongyeon makes a face, somewhere between a cringe and an almost smile.
“Was that too cheesy?” Sana asks. Jeongyeon nods, “A little.”
“This might seem out of nowhere,” Sana starts, “but did you wanna get some ice cream? I know a place close by that’s still open, pretty cheap too. My treat!”
Jeongyeon internally freaks out a little. As much as she wants to get ice cream with Sana, and Jeongyeon really wants to, she has an exam the next morning for her 9 AM that she was sure as hell she didn’t want to wake up late for.
Jeongyeon drops her head.
“What’s wrong?” Sana asks.
“I have an exam tomorrow. At 9 AM.”
“Oh.”
Jeongyeon can hear the sadness from Sana’s voice and it shatters her heart. She wants to do something to make it up to her but doesn’t know what.
“Well, we might as well walk back to the dorms together then, right? Since we live in the same building.”
When Jeongyeon looks up at Sana, she’s surprised at her expression. Rather than a frown, Sana looks hopeful, and of course, she’s smiling. “Okay,” Jeongyeon says.
The walk from the school’s sports area to the dorms is actually quite a long one, and Jeongyeon’s anxious about what to talk about with Sana on their walk. Luckily, Sana strikes conversation first.
“I hope you don’t take this the wrong way, but your volleyball uniform makes your legs look really good.”
It’s not quite how Jeongyeon would expect one to start a conversation, but it’s definitely an interesting statement. “Thank you?” she says questionably.
“Ah, sorry, I didn’t mean to sound like a perv!” Sana laughs. She puts a hand and Jeongyeon’s arm to hold her up from laughing over. It’s a new quality of Sana’s that Jeongyeon’s exposed to and one that she’s already completely accepted.
“Uh, I think you looked cute in your cheerleading uniform,” Jeongyeon says, somewhat out of consolation. She feels awkward saying it, but nonetheless, it’s how she feels and thought that she’d let Sana know.
“Really? Thank you!”
Jeongyeon wants to keep complimenting Sana, because she loves her smile so much, but she holds herself back.
They continue walking in silence for a bit. They’ve made it out of the sports area of the school but still have quite a walk ahead of them until they make it to their dorms.
Jeongyeon slightly shivers as they walk, her body reacting to the cold air. She’s only wearing her uniform, meaning her legs and arms are completely exposed. She crosses her arms in front of her to maintain her body heat.
Sana seems to have seen Jeongyeon shiver because suddenly she wraps her arms around Jeongyeon’s right arm. Jeongyeon stops then looks at Sana.
“You’re cold. I’ll keep you warm.”
Their height difference isn’t much, but Sana’s crouched herself down so she’s much shorter than Jeongyeon, looking up at her with a bright smile. “Thank you,” Jeongyeon says.
They continue walking, bodies pressed close side by side. Jeongyeon’s heart warms up at the feeling of Sana clinging onto her. Physically, there might not be much being done to keep Jeongyeon warm, but internally, Jeongyeon feels like her insides are on fire, a passion burning for Sana.
There’s one thing that catches Jeongyeon’s attention as they’re walking: the night sky. The stars are strikingly bright and Jeongyeon’s surprised at how much they stand out, considering how her and Sana are still on campus walking amidst other buildings that give off light in her peripheral vision.
“Huh, the stars look really nice tonight,” she says.
Sana looks up. “Oh! You’re right! It’s so pretty!”
Jeongyeon realizes the both of them must look ridiculous right now, the two of them walking arm in arm, heads up at the sky.
“Hold on,” Sana says as she pauses. She brings out her phone and opens up the camera app.
“Are you even gonna be able to capture the stars through the phone’s camera?” Jeongyeon asks, genuinely curious. Sana ignores her comment and proceeds to taking a couple pictures of the sky.
Even the way Sana stands with both hands holding up her phone aimed at the sky - Jeongyeon finds cute.
Sana brings her phone back down to eye level and looks closely at the pictures. “You’re right. All I could capture was darkness.”
Jeongyeon thinks of a way to make her smile again. “Here,” Jeongyeon offers her hand out, “Give me your phone, I’ll take a picture of something even brighter and more prettier than the stars.”
She says it so casually that Sana hands over her phone, no questions. Jeongyeon holds up the phone in front of her, making sure Sana’s viewed on screen well. “Smile!” she says.
And it works. Sana’s jaw drops and she blushes, “Ah, stop!”
Jeongyeon’s thumb is constantly pressing the capture button. Sana, who can’t stop laughing, tries to reach for her phone back, but Jeongyeon dodges her attempts and continues taking candid pictures of Sana. “You’re such a flirt!” Sana tries again but fails to get her phone back.
“Okay fine, hold on. Take a picture with me,” Jeongyeon says. Once Sana’s next to her, extremely close, Jeongyeon brings her arm out and aims the front view towards them.
They start taking selfies together with no difficulty. Sana’s got her chin rested on Jeongyeon’s shoulder, to which the latter knows Sana has to tiptoe to do, which makes Jeongyeon’s insides feel even more like mush. They capture a couple pictures of themselves holding up v signs, finger hearts, and making wacky faces.
After their mini selfie session, Jeongyeon scrolls through the photos. “We look so cute!” Sana says.
“I’ll send these to myself,” Jeongyeon says, already selecting the photos and clicking the ‘share’ option.
“How’d you even get my number?” Jeongyeon asks as she works on sending the pictures to herself.
“Nayeon put it in my contacts the day we had lunch.”
Jeongyeon sighs. “Of course she did.”
They continue to make their way back to the dorms, their arms linked once again. Because they walk in silence for the remainder of their trip they’re able to reach their destination in no time.
“Well, this is my floor,” Sana says once their elevator reaches the third floor. “This was fun.”
Jeongyeon smiles. “Yeah, it was.” She wants to say more but the elevator’s about to close its doors, causing Sana to hop out quickly. “Bye, Jeongyeon!” she tries to yell out.
“Bye, Sana!”
“Get some rest! Don’t stay up too l-”
The doors close. Jeongyeon leans her back against the elevator wall then sighs. “Wow.”
The sun shining through Jeongyeon’s blinds wake her up the Monday morning of spring break. She blinks her eyes for a moment, letting her eyes adjust to the room’s brightness.
She looks around the room and sees that she’s alone. Nayeon had gone on a family trip to NYC so Jeongyeon had the whole room to herself for a whole week, which wasn’t so much a rare occurrence since Nayeon was always out who knows where doing who knows what.
Sloppily getting out of bed, Jeongyeon catches herself thinking about Sana. It’s been a couple of weeks since their night under the stars, and they haven’t bumped into each other in a while. Jeongyeon’s had two games since that night, which were basically the only times they’ve seen each other since the team’s first match.
Jeongyeon admits, she kind of misses Sana, but she pushes the thought away. She’s already far beyond feeling so attached to someone she’s only friends with. But Jeongyeon knows there’s something there.
While waiting for her water to heat up, Jeongyeon opens up the ‘messages’ app on her phone. She starts a new conversation and adds Sana’s name. wanna hang out?, Jeongyeon types in the message box. Her thumb hovers over the send button.
“Come on, Jeongyeon. Just hit send,” she tells herself.
In the end, Jeongyeon deletes the message, closes the app and locks her phone. She’s disappointed in herself but the feeling goes away once her water heater signals the water being done, which means she can proceed to make her coffee.
Jeongyeon gets up from her desk and spreads the blinds open, letting more light enter the room. It changes the atmosphere and mood of the room significantly. From her floor, Jeongyeon gets a view of the lower campus, and farther off in the distance, a view of the sports field. Because it’s spring time, the view of colorful flower beds across campus greet Jeongyeon.
She stands in front of her window for a bit, enjoying the view and sipping her coffee. There’s no one really walking around campus so Jeongyeon, who likes to people watch more than she admits, doesn’t have to worry about people seeing her from her dorm thinking she’s some creep watching from above.
Jeongyeon proceeds to think about what she wants to do that day. It’s only the first day of spring break, but it wouldn’t be so much of a problem if her day amounted to nothing since she still had the whole week ahead of her to do what she wanted to.
But the desire to text Sana runs deep in Jeongyeon. She sets her empty mug of coffee on her desk, “Okay, fuck it.” She grabs her phone and repeats the process she went through earlier that morning.
wanna hang out? “Send.”
Jeongyeon throws her phone onto her bed, trying to calm her nerves about Sana’s response. To distract herself, Jeongyeon decides to get dressed.
There are still other students in the dorms who stayed on campus for spring break, but so much less that when Jeongyeon goes to the showers, she seems to be the only one there. She doesn’t have to worry about having someone else waiting on her to finish so they can shower, which she finds comforting so she can take her time washing up.
Once cleaned, Jeongyeon takes another twenty or minutes or so in her room getting dressed. She lets her hair air dry, which takes up most of her time, then straightens it and puts on light makeup. She opts for only mascara and some shimmer in the inner corners of her eyes, and a deep pink lip. She tucks some her hair behind her left ear and pins it back with two hair pins.
As for her outfit, Jeongyeon chooses to tuck in a white ringer tee into a pair of high waisted shorts. She puts on a pair of white crew socks and her white sk8-his.
“Absolutely stunning,” Jeongyeon reads from the phrase on her shirt as she looks in her full body mirror. “You’re absolutely right!” She puckers her lips then grins at her reflection.
Ding! Jeongyeon jumps at her phone’s message tone. It’s only then that she remembers having texted Sana earlier. “Fuck,” Jeongyeon groans.
Jeongyeon slouches over as she picks up her phone. She doesn’t have the message preview setting on so Jeongyeon has to actually open the messages app to see what Sana sent.
jeongyeon! :D sorry i cant today, im working :( should we plan for another day though?
“Hmph.” Jeongyeon feels like she’s gotten dolled up, albeit slightly, for nothing. Then again, she shouldn’t have automatically assumed that Sana was free to hangout anyway.
aw :’c yeah lets def plan for another day! im free this whole week :p hbu?
Jeongyeon bites her lip as she hits ‘send.’ She doesn’t want her preparation in getting ready and looking nice go to waste. Fortunately, she receives a notification from her Groupon app.
today only: bogo 50% at select local sandwich and dessert shops in the city!
Alas, Jeongyeon’s opportunity to go outside has come in the form of a Groupon coupon. Grabbing her keys, wallet, and board, Jeongyeon leaves the dorm and heads toward the city.
Skating into the city, Jeongyeon’s greeted to a clear blue sky and sky high towers. It’s only 10 AM, so the streets aren’t completely filled with business people out and about getting lunch, which makes it literally smooth sailing for Jeongyeon on her board.
There were a couple of ice cream shops Jeongyeon passed as she skated through the city but none had caught her eye.
It’s not until Jeongyeon reaches the arts district of the city that she finds a spot that interests her. She skates to the little shop with a neon sign of a dripping ice cream cone on the window.
What catches Jeongyeon’s eye about the shop is how minimal it is. It’s a nice contrast with the district arts scene as a whole, whose shops and walls are painted in bright colors and various murals and paintings. The shop has two big glass windows with a simple glass door between them.
Jeongyeon takes out her phone from her pocket and matches up the store name to that of the list giving out discounts on the Groupon app. “Checks out,” she says.
The bell on the door rings as Jeongyeon steps inside. The place is bright, a lot of natural light coming through the big windows shining on the glossy white interior, from the walls to the floor down to the tables and benches. There’s a heavenly presence to the place.
“Hi, welcome to - Jeongyeon!”
Jeongyeon turns her head to the ice cream counter. Now she understands why stepping into the shop felt so heavenly. “Sana? Sana!” She walks over to the ice cream counter.
“What are you doing here?” Sana asks with a big smile. Jeongyeon hates herself for finding literally everything about Sana amazing, cute, perfect, flawless, etc., but she can’t help it. Standing across from her, Sana looks even more stunningly gorgeous. She has her hair styled in loose curls with her bangs falling generously over her forehead, with hair pins holding up the outer strands of her bangs, and a pair of oversized heart earrings.
“Uh, I got a Groupon alert for bogo on ice cream.” Jeongyeon replies. “Thought I’d skate over and check out the different ice cream shops in the area.”
“Ah, I see.”
There’s silence between them again. There were only a few customers sitting in the shop and Jeongyeon was the only person in line, so there wasn’t much of a rush to get the conversation going.
“Oh! Sorry, did you wanna order something? When I saw you come in I assumed you were looking for me,” Sana laughed. “It didn’t even occur to me that you were here for ice cream.”
“Well,” Jeongyeon starts with a mischievous smile, “now I can say that I’m here for both.” She puts a heavy emphasis on the last word. Her remarks cause Sana to momentarily look down and blush.
“Sorry I couldn’t hang out today,” Sana apologizes.
“No it’s totally fine!” Jeongyeon immediately says. “I probably shouldn’t have assumed you were free today, but it’s funny how I still managed to bump into you, huh.”
Sana’s pout turns into a smile. She tucks her hair behind her ear. “Yeah.”
Before any of them could continue their conversation further, another girl emerges from the door to the right of them and walks up to Sana. She smiles at her, looks at Jeongyeon, then looks back at Sana. “Everything alright?”
“Yeah, everything’s fine. Did you need something?”
The girl, who Jeongyeon seems to be the store’s manager by the tone of authority in her voice, gives Sana and Jeongyeon both a look and smiling suspiciously before responding. “No, actually, if you want, you can leave early.”
Jeongyeon and Sana’s eyes widen and jaws drop at the same time. The other girl laughs, “Wow, look at you guys! The two of you are so cute!”
“The both of you are just looking back at me like you can’t understand what I’m saying.” The girl waves her hand in front of Sana’s face. “Hello? Earth to Sana?” She reaches her arm out over the counter and waves her hand in front of Jeongyeon’s face. “Hello? Earth to Sana’s girlfriend?”
“UM.”
“Wha-?.”
“What are you two still doing just standing there?” The girl asks. “Bye!” She starts untying Sana’s apron and gently pushes Sana from behind the counter to Jeongyeon. The two look at each other, sharing the same sort of confusion, but before either of them can say anything, the girl comes back with a purse, puts it in Sana’s hand, then grabs two premade ice cream cones from the refrigerator and hands one to Sana and the other to Jeongyeon. “Okay, off you two go!”
Next thing they know, Jeongyeon and Sana are outside of the shop, the girl waving at them from inside. The customers give the three of them weird looks. The girl makes a gesture with her hands from behind the counter that says she’s shooing them away. Jeongyeon looks at Sana, “Well. That wasn’t weird at all.”
“Yeah,” Sana responds anxiously. “Where do you want to go?”
Jeongyeon thinks for a second. She lets Sana compose herself first.
“This sounds so cliche, but do you wanna walk in the park? It’s a really nice day outside.”
“I’d like that.”
Jeongyeon offers her arm out and Sana links hers with Jeongyeon’s.
The park Jeongyeon has in mind is only a five minute walk away from the arts district, and what Jeongyeon loves about it is its wide sidewalks (mainly so she doesn’t have to worry about sharing it with people walking when she skates), and its glorious view of the lake that the greenery surrounds. There are also different pathways one can take so a walk in the park doesn’t seem so dull.
They begin eating their ice cream once they reach the park.
Jeongyeon drops her board and puts her foot on it when Sana suddenly stops her by the arm. “Wait.”
“Hm?”
“Can I ride?”
Jeongyeon furrows a brow at Sana. “You know how to ride?”
Sana smiles awkwardly. “Heh, I don’t.”
God, you’re so cute, Jeongyeon thinks to herself. “Do you want me to pull you while you ride on the board?”
Sana nods in response.
“Alright.” Jeongyeon steps off and gestures Sana to get on the board.
Sana puts a foot on the board then immediately grips onto Jeongyeon’s arm, which takes the latter by surprise so abruptly that she stumbles forward a bit. “Sorry,” Sana says shyly.
“Okay, I’m gonna need you to push one foot off the ground so we can move,” Jeongyeon says. Sana nods at the instruction. She’s hesitant at first but Jeongyeon gives her a smile of encouragement.
After what looks like a couple seconds of internal battle, Sana gently pushes off her foot, propelling her about an inch forward. Sana smiles, a more questioned look on her face.
“Sana,” Jeongyeon laughs, “I need you to push a bit harder.”
“That’s what she said,” Sana says mischievously. It earns her a playful slap on the shoulder by Jeongyeon. “Okay, fine. I’ll push harder.” Sana tries not to giggle.
This time, Sana grips harder onto Jeongyeon’s arm. Sana tries one more time and successfully, they’re propelled further, allowing Jeongyeon to walk along and gain control to lead Sana freely on the board.
“Oh my god, it’s working!” Sana cheers. She has the brightest smile on her face, genuine happiness. Sana closes her eyes and stretches her free arm out, enjoying the breeze. “This feels so nice.”
Jeongyeon watches, practically with hearts in her eyes. She’s so beautiful, she thinks to herself. It’s hitting her even more intensely now how hard she’s falling for Sana. At this point, she couldn’t deny that her feelings were just mere physical attractiveness and a school crush, but more.
“Ah!” Sana screams. Jeongyeon snaps out of her daze and stops. “Oh!” Sana cries as she loses her grip on Jeongyeon’s arm and her board continues moving slowly.
Jeongyeon grabs onto Sana’s arm, causing her and the board to stop. “Sorry! What happened?”
Sana pouts and sticks her hand out. Jeongyeon sees that ice cream’s dripping down from its cone and has made its way onto Sana’s hand.
Jeongyeon laughs. “You’re so cute,” Jeongyeon says as she gives her ice cream cone to Sana to hold. She takes out small sheets of napkins that she keeps tucked in her pocket and hands it to Sana.
“Did you mean to say that?” Sana asks as she wipes her hand of ice cream.
“Yeah,” Jeongyeon says boldly. She’s not sure where the sudden boldness comes from but she’s hoping it’ll work in her favor in some way, if any.
“We’ve truly come full circle.” Sana gets on the board and the two of them start from where they left off, with Sana riding the board as Jeongyeon pulls her along.
Finally, Jeongyeon takes a bite of her ice cream. “Mm! This is so good?” Her ice cream flavor was what she assumed was a simple pralines and cream. Sweet caramel swirled in vanilla ice cream, mixed with crunchy praline pecans. She enjoyed the contrast of flavors and textures. “What flavor is yours?” she asks Sana.
“Cheesecake with strawberry and blueberry swirl.”
Jeongyeon’s mouth forms an ‘o’ shape. “That sounds good!”
“Wanna try?” Sana offers. When Jeongyeon nods, Sana offers out her cone and lets Jeongyeon have a bite. “How is it?”
It’s a lot of different kinds of sweet mixed into one, but Jeongyeon likes it. “It’s good!” she says. “Thanks!”
“Oh?” Sana gives Jeongyeon a weird expression as the latter continues walking them forward. “Pause,” Sana says. Expectedly, Jeongyeon stops.
Sana brings her hand that was gripping Jeongyeon’s arm to her shoulder. Then, unexpectedly, she brings a finger close to Jeongyeon’s mouth. From then on, the entire scene plays out in slow motion, as if it were a movie with sultry saxophone music playing in the background.
Sana’s thumb brushes against the corner of Jeongyeon’s lip. She holds up the finger between her and Jeongyeon’s faces. “Got some ice cream on you,” she says playfully before licking the ice cream off her thumb and smiling cheekily. Jeongyeon remains frozen, her eyes wide the entire time.
Hhhhhh, is all her mind registers.
It’s as if time’s frozen. Jeongyeon knows she’s being dramatic at this point. She replays the scene over and over in her head: the way Sana placed her hand on Jeongyeon’s shoulder, the way her thumb brushed against Jeongyeon’s skin, the way she licked her thumb then smiled. It was driving Jeongyeon crazy.
It was a matter of seconds until Sana resorted to shaking Jeongyeon by the shoulders to snap her out of her daze. “Jeongyeon? Hello?”
Jeongyeon blinks a couple times then shakes her head. “Sorry, what?”
“You’re so cute,” Sana says, cutely mocking the way Jeongyeon said the same thing earlier. “Let’s keep going.” Sana offers hand out and Jeongyeon lifts her arm out for her to hold, but Sana shakes her head in disapproval.
Jeongyeon’s confused for a second but then she realizes what Sana wants based on the way she’s holding her hand out lower than waist level. Ah, she wants to hold my hand, Jeongyeon thinks. A second lated does it really click. Oh my god, she wants to hold my hand! She looks at Sana’s hand before finally joining hers with Sana’s. There’s a sudden warmth Jeongyeon feels inside of her that soothes the nerves she’s been having to deal with the past couple minutes.
Sana smiles at the feeling of her hand interlocked with Jeongyeon’s. She doesn’t say anything and tugs on Jeongyeon’s hand, gesturing her to continue walking.
Because of the fact that Jeongyeon has to pull Sana on the board, they’re not quite moving next to each other. Jeongyeon has to be a couple steps forward with her arm stretched behind in order for the board to move. So Jeongyeon’s back isn’t the thing Sana looks at as they stroll through the park, she walks backwards. “You’re gonna be my set of eyes,” she tells Sana.
“Okay,” Sana agrees. “Also, sorry about my manager by the way.”
Jeongyeon smiles empathetically. “It’s cool. She seems very, um -”
“Annoying?” Sana interrupts.
“I was gonna say ‘enthusiastic,’ but I guess whatever floats your boat.”
As Jeongyeon walks backwards pulling Sana, she continues eating her ice cream. “So how long have you been working at the ice cream shop?” she asks. The visual of Sana calmly holding onto Jeongyeon’s hand as she stands on the moving board is so amusing to Jeongyeon.
“Not long,” Sana says. “I normally work a shift once a week or every two weeks since I’m too busy with practice and classes.”
“I assume you probably picked up a couple more shifts now that it’s Spring Break?”
Sana takes a bite of her ice cream before answering, “Yeah. Got a shift every day this week. But I finish around two so if you wanna ever hang out after, I’ll be free.”
Jeongyeon smiled mischievously. Okay, so she definitely wants to see me over the break, Jeongyeon thinks. “No other plans?” she asks.
“Nope, all my other friends either went back home or traveled. You?”
“Same. I was probably gonna spend the break lounging around doing whatever.”
“Oh?” Sana says. “Does that mean you have the dorm all to yourself for the week? Since Nayeon’s away.”
The question makes Jeongyeon think. Does Sana have ulterior motives? Motives that might align with Jeongyeon’s needs and desires? She shook the thought away. “Yeah! Why? Wanna come over? My bed’s pretty big.” She didn’t mean to say that last part but it just came out anyway.
Sana laughs at Jeongyeon’s unexpected boldness. “You know, I swear you weren’t this bold before,” she says.
“I’m a changed woman,” Jeongyeon replies with a blissful smile.
Sana giggles. “I wonder if that has anything to do with you having met me,” she says playfully.
“Maybe,” Jeongyeon teases.
By the time they’ve finished their ice cream, they were reaching the end of the path they walked on.
“Wow,” Sana says. “That felt fast, but it also felt like it took us forever to finish our ice cream.”
“Hm, you’re right.”
Jeongyeon pauses as they reach the end of the path. They’re now back where they started near the entrance of the park.
Sana steps off the board and it isn’t until she lets go of Jeongyeon’s hand that they both realize how sweaty their hands are. They look at each other momentarily, then break into laughter.
“I’m so sorry!” Sana says while laughing.
“I should be the one apologizing, it was probably my sweat,” Jeongyeon says.
Sana, nonchalantly, grabs Jeongyeon’s hand, the same one she held while on their stroll, and holds it in both of her hands, casually swaying it left and right. “No, it’s okay,” she says playfully.
Jeongyeon looks down at their hands. There’s an exciting feeling that blossoms in her chest and Jeongyeon is very much aware of her feelings. It’ll be a matter of time before she actually acts on them.
The bed shifts and the figure that Jeongyeon was clinging onto suddenly disappears. It wakes her up immediately.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you up,” says a small voice. Jeongyeon blinks her eyes a couple of times to adjust to the brightness of her room. She sees Sana sitting at the foot of her bed putting her shoes back on.
“Leaving already?” Jeongyeon asks with a whine.
It’s Thursday morning, and Sana had slept over the night before, the same way she had the prior three nights, only waking up early the next morning to go to work. It had become sort of a routine since that first day Jeongyeon stumbled into the ice cream shop she worked at. Jeongyeon would meet up with her when Sana was done with her shift, they’d have lunch in the park, then go back to Jeongyeon’s room and binge a couple of movies or tv shows, then fall asleep (sometimes in each other’s arms).
“Yes,” Sana says, audibly sad.
“Can you stay and cuddle for five more minutes?” Jeongyeon pouts. Normally Sana was the one who acted cutely when wanting something, but having spent more time with her, the behavior seemed to have rubbed off on Jeongyeon too.
Sana moves closer to Jeongyeon. “You know I have work.”
Her hand is in arm’s reach of Jeongyeon’s so the latter holds onto it just as Sana gets up. She’s pulled back down onto the bed and Jeongyeon pulls her into an embrace, then squeezes her tight. “I’m never letting you go!”
“Jeongyeon!” Sana giggles. Jeongyeon continues holding Sana in her arms.
Only after a couple of seconds does Jeongyeon ease her hold, allowing Sana to slip out of her embrace. “Someone’s especially clingy this morning,” Sana says.
She wasn’t wrong. Normally Jeongyeon was fine every morning letting Sana leave for work, but that morning was different. That could probably be attributed to the nightmare Jeongyeon had earlier in the night. Most of it was already lost in Jeongyeon’s mind, but she remembers it had something to do with tragically losing Sana.
“I’m just sad you have to go so soon.” There’s a tone of worry in her voice, and judged by the change in Sana’s expression, she registers the sadness in her tone.
Sana sits back on the bed next to Jeongyeon. “Hey, I’ll be done in a couple hours okay? We’ll do the same things we did the past couple days, and everything’s gonna be alright.”
She must’ve heard me talking in my sleep, Jeongyeon thinks to herself. Whenever she has nightmares, nine times out of ten she’ll talk and react in her sleep.
Out of nowhere Sana does something out of the ordinary: she kisses Jeongyeon on the forehead.
“See you at two, right?” Sana asks.
Jeongyeon, a little flustered, barely responds, “Yeah.”
We’re just friends, Jeongyeon reminds herself. Friends who so happen to do a little more but aren’t quite past a certain level.
It’s Sunday, their last day of Spring Break before class resumes. Jeongyeon and Sana are in Jeongyeon’s room huddled on her bed watching some Netflix documentary. They had spent the entire morning since they woke up watching random documentaries and comedy specials, barely leaving the bed but also, barely moving away from each other.
Sana gets up from the bed. “I’ll go make another bowl of popcorn,” she says before picking up the empty bowl from off the ground and walking towards Jeongyeon’s little food cabinet. They couldn’t keep microwaves in the dorm and she liked popcorn so she always kept a couple large bags from Costco in her room.
Jeongyeon’s attention, not that it wasn’t ever not on her, is now directly focused on Sana. She’s wearing one of the many sweaters that Jeongyeon owns. “Why do you have so many of these things?” Sana asked the first night she slept over. “They’re easy to slip on and style,” Jeongyeon responded.
The curls in Sana’s hair are all loose now, a result of second day hair, somehow still managing to make her look glamorous despite her wearing a baggy sweater and pajama shorts.
Sana makes her way back to Jeongyeon’s bed and sits next to Jeongyeon with her legs out in front of her. With their backs against the wall, they continue watching whatever was on Jeongyeon’s computer screen.
Every now and then, their hands touch as they reach for popcorn, and Jeongyeon has to hold back from letting her fingers linger onto Sana’s every time.
When the film finishes, Jeongyeon doesn’t realize Sana’s head is resting on her shoulder. Sana had completely fallen asleep.
Jeongyeon smiles at the beauty of it all. For fear of waking her, Jeongyeon doesn’t move to exit the film from full screen on her laptop. She just remains sitting, restorting to staring out the window.
The silence doesn’t last long for Nayeon walks in the room. The hands of shopping bags hang over her arms while she tries to walk in the room with her luggage rolling behind her. The noise definitely wakes Sana up.
“Oh?” Nayeon says as she spots Jeongyeon and Sana. “Didn’t know we had company!”
Sana lifts her head slowly from Jeongyeon’s shoulder. She looks around then her eyes widen when she realizes it isn’t just her and Jeongyeon in the room anymore. “Nayeon! You’re back!”
“I sure am,” Nayeon responds.
“Uh, I’ll let you two catch up,” Sana says.
“So soon? Why don’t you stay?” Nayeon protests as she drops her bags on the floor, causing a couple loud thumps. What in the hell did this girl buy? Jeongyeon thinks.
Sana gives Nayeon an empathetic smile, “It’s fine! I’ve got a ton of homework to catch up anyway.” She turns to Jeongyeon, “I’ll see you later?”
Jeongyeon nods and smiles, “Definitely.”
As soon as the door shuts, Nayeon pounces on to Jeongyeon’s bed, causing the bowl of popcorn to bounce up, making some of the popcorn to spill onto the bed. “Sorry,” Nayeon says looking at the tiny mess on Jeongyeon’s bed. “Anyway, spill.”
Jeongyeon scratches her head. “Uh, spill what?”
Nayeon gives her an unamused look. She starts eating some of the popcorn on Jeongyeon’s bed. “Don’t act dumb with me. Are you two a thing now?”
Jeongyeon avoids eye contact. “We’re uh, just friends.”
“Sure, just friends.” Nayeon gets up and starts unloading her suitcase, completely avoiding the mess on the ground that are her shopping bags. “As long as you two didn’t fuck on my bed, I’m good.”
“We didn’t fuck,” Jeongyeon clarifies. “We just,” she pauses, unsure of what exactly to say.
“Cuddled,” is what she settles for.
Nayeon halts her unpacking and looks at Jeongyeon with a furrowed brow. “Cuddled?”
“Yeah?”
“Jeongyeon,” Nayeon starts. “We don’t even cuddle, and we’re closer than two pods in a pea.”
“I think the saying’s ‘two peas in a pod.”
“You know what I mean!”
Jeongyeon smiles awkwardly, “Just saying. And even if we did fuck, why would we do it on your bed?”
“Trust me, it happens to some people.”
“Well, rest assured that I’d never do that to you. Not when I perfectly have my own bed to fuck on.”
“Okay,” is all Nayeon says. Jeongyeon thinks that’s the end of the conversation but she’s proven wrong only seconds later.
“So when are you going to tell her how you feel?” Nayeon asks. “It’s obvious you like her, and there’s obviously something going on between the two of you because she seems just as into you as you are of her.”
Jeongyeon thinks about Nayeon’s words for a bit. Jeongyeon was aware of how she felt, she stopped denying it a long time ago. As for Sana, she wasn’t quite sure what her feelings toward Jeongyeon were. The latter just assumed that she was the type of person who enjoyed flirting and a lot of skinship.
“Well, I’m gonna go down to the cafe and see if there’s any good food. Want anything?”
Yeah, Sana.
“I’m good,” Jeongyeon replies.
“I’ll probably be gone for about an hour so if you wanna invite your girlfriend back, feel free to do so,” Nayeon says cheekily. It earns her a pillow tossed to the side of her head. “Hey!”
Jeongyeon looks away, pretending she never threw the pillow.
“Bye!” Nayeon says as she leaves the room.
“Bye!” Jeongyeon yells back.
With Nayeon gone, Jeongyeon’s left alone to think about her thoughts. Rather than let herself get swallowed in her feelings, Jeongyeon proceeds to look for another documentary to watch.
There’s a chilliness to the room that suddenly wakes Jeongyeon up from her slumber. She’s surprised to see the time when she glances over at her desk clock. 4:09 AM, reads the clock.
She must have fallen asleep while studying. The last time she remembered checking the time was around 1:30. What’s unusual is how Jeongyeon doesn’t even remember getting into bed. It was probably exhaustion that took over her body, considering how her desk lamp was still on.
What Jeongyeon doesn’t realize also is the fact that her bed and Nayeon’s have been pushed together. It takes her a second to even register that her desk was now on the far side of the room, where Nayeon’s bed would be. Not only was Nayeon’s bed now pushed with hers, the person in Nayeon’s bed wasn’t Nayeon. Jeongyeon then begins to remember how those things came to be.
Finals was around the corner and over a couple weeks, as a result of Jeongyeon and Nayeon spending more time with each other, they have both come to realize that they make great “study buddies.” They don’t necessarily study the same thing considering they don’t have the same type of coursework, but they enjoy being in the other’s presence while studying.
Jeongyeon typically likes to study alone because it means less distractions. Any past experiences she’s had studying with someone else never really turned out great for her. But with Sana, Jeongyeon enjoys that she’s just as focused as she is when it comes to studying, and when they do pause their studying to talk, they do so in a manner that doesn’t end up in a two hour gossip session.
As for Nayeon, she’s been crashing over at the dorm of a “friend” from her chem class, at least that’s what she told Jeongyeon. The latter thinks that when Nayeon says she’s sleeping at her friend’s place, not only is she sleeping there, she’s most likely sleeping with the person there. Either way, both of them benefited from the situation.
There’s a slight fumbling between Jeongyeon’s fingers. She had been lying on her back after shifting to check the time, with one arm outstretched on her bed and Nayeon’s. Jeongyeon turns her head to look at her hand. What she sees then immediately warms her heart.
“Hi,” Sana says softly. Her eyes are half open, and of course Jeongyeon thinks she’s the cutest when she’s half awake.
Sana’s fingers are playing with Jeongyeon’s as she’s lying on her stomach on Nayeon’s bed. Their fingers go back and forth, tapping and touching one another, before Jeongyeon feels bold enough to interlock their fingers. Sana’s eyes fully open at the sight. They look at each other for a bit, eyes taking in the the presence of the other, hands familiarizing the touch of the other. It’s as if time stops again and only two of them exist.
Jeongyeon isn’t sure if the atmosphere of the moment, the dim lighting, the almost purple night sky visible through the window, the slightly chilling air in the room, is what influences her to do what she’s about to do but she takes her chance and concludes that she really has nothing to lose at this point.
“Sana?”
“Hm?” Sana responds, her facial features shifting slightly upwards as she tries to smile with a tired face.
Don’t hold back, Jeongyeon, you got this, Jeongyeon thinks to herself. And she doesn’t.
“I like you.”
The words don’t come out as quickly as Jeongyeon imagined, but rather, to her credit, in a slower, more intimate way. Jeongyeon hasn’t taken her eyes off Sana since they interlocked hands, but judging by Sana’s face, the full impact of Jeongyeon’s words doesn’t hit her until a few seconds later.
“You mean…” Sana starts. She has a questioned look on her face. The way she’s squinting out of tiredness and confusion makes her more adorable to Jeongyeon, and the latter hesitates on whether or not to confirm her words in fear of having to see Sana’s expression change.
Jeongyeon decides to smile fondly, hoping it comes across as a sign of confirmation.
And it does, judging by the way Sana’s expression relaxes then slowly becomes more bright. She brings Jeongyeon’s interlocked hand close to her and kisses it. “I like you too,” she says.
It feels as if a weight is lifted off Jeongyeon’s shoulders.
They don't say much after that, there isn’t much to be said anyway. It doesn’t take long for the two girls to fall back asleep, neither one having let go of the other’s hand.
1 month later
“She should be here any minute now,” Jeongyeon says while looking over the time on her phone. She and Sana are out having lunch together at one of the cafes on campus waiting until Nayeon arrived.
“You’d think that for someone who’s getting their food paid for that they’d actually be here on time,” Jeongyeon says. She had previously invited Nayeon to have lunch with her and Sana. Since finals and preparing to move out of the dorms for summer break took up most of their time, the three of them weren’t able to spend time together since Jeongyeon and Sana started dating.
They ordered a large pizza and some mozzarella sticks, which Jeongyeon was worried would go cold soon if Nayeon hadn’t arrived any minute now.
“Hey!”
The distant but familiar voice comes from behind the two girls, prompting them to turn their heads around.
“You’re late,” Jeongyeon says.
Nayeon takes a set across from Jeongyeon and Sana. “I never said I was gonna be on time.”
Jeongyeon scoffs. “Anyway, now that you’re here, we can finally eat.”
Sana opens the box of pizza and mozzarella sticks. The three of them immediately start digging in, grabbing a slice of pizza for themselves.
“Mmm!” They say in unison after taking their first bite. Jeongyeon ordered a large pizza topped with pepperoni, mushrooms, onions and extra cheese with a stuffed crust. Judging by their reactions, the combination was a delicious one.
“So...how’d finals go for everyone?” Nayeon asks with her mouth still stuffed. “I assume it went well, considering the amount of time you two spent studying.”
Jeongyeon swallowed down the food in her mouth before speaking. “Oh, it definitely went well. I’m sure the same can be said for you, hm?”
Sana watches as there’s tension in the air. “Are you guys alright?” she asks, genuinely curious. She knew how close Nayeon and Jeongyeon were but wasn’t aware how snippy they could be with each other.
Nayeon condescendingly looks at Jeongyeon before smiling at Sana, “We’re good, just fun banter between two friends is all!”
The three girls proceed to continue eating. The silence doesn’t last long before Nayeon decides to speak again.
“So, the two of you, huh. Who would’ve thought?”
Jeongyeon, mouth still full of pizza, stops chewing and looks at Sana fondly. “Yeah, who would’ve thought that an accidental kiss would’ve started this all?”
Sana looks back at Jeongyeon with just as much love and adoration, then smiles. “Don’t talk with your mouth full,” she teases.
Jeongyeon blushes. She downs her food then apologizes, “Sorry.”
Sana reaches over and squeezes her cheek, tugging it playfully. “It’s okay,” she cooes before offering Jeongyeon a mozzarella stick, who in turn happily accepts the food into her mouth.
They go back and forth a bit, cooing and feeding each other. Nayeon, disgusted, looks at them.
“What?” Jeongyeon asks innocently, although she isn’t innocent; in fact, she’s completely aware of how grossed out Nayeon is by her and Sana’s PDA.
Nayeon scoffs. “Do you guys really have to do all that in front of me?” she asks.
“Actually, yes,” Jeongyeon replies. “Some payback for the time I had lunch with you and Sana turned out to be there, then you left like not even ten minutes after I arrived.”
Nayeon’s jaw drops, “Wow.”
“I honestly had no part in this,” Sana says innocently, her arms slightly raised.
Nayeon glares at Jeongyeon and Sana for what feels like forever before grabbing another slice of pizza. “Whatever, have your revenge.” Nayeon takes a bite then continues talking, “I’m just glad I got free food out of this.”
Jeongyeon, refusing to feel defeat, sticks her tongue out at Nayeon before going back to eating.
“So what’re you guys gonna do this summer?” Nayeon asks with her mouth full.
Jeongyeon looks at Sana, indicating that she wanted her to answer. Sana smiles shyly before responding.
“We’re actually gonna be moving in together.”
The jaws on both Jeongyeon and Nayeon drops. When Sana sees Jeongyeon’s reaction, her expression turns into one of surprise.
“What?” Nayeon asks.
“Actually, what Sana meant to say was, that we’ll be roommates at my sister’s apartment for the duration of the summer.”
“That’s practically living together,” Nayeon says.
“We’re not like, actually, moving in together. You know how my sister lives in the city right?” Jeongyeon pauses then continues when Nayeon nods. “Yeah, so she’s going abroad for a business trip for two months and she didn’t want her down payment for the apartment to go to waste, so, yeah.”
“What Jeongyeon said,” Sana chimed in.
“I can’t even begin to imagine the kinds of things the two of you will get up to this summer,” Nayeon says mischievously.
Jeongyeon turns to Sana then smiles, “Yeah, me neither.”