Work Text:
Before meeting Minkyung, Nayoung had what she referred to as lonely spells. It wasn’t that she didn’t have friends, she was quite popular in fact; however, she sometimes found herself feeling alone despite being surrounded by people. She would feel herself slipping into a headspace where she thinks she has nobody she can trust, it would last for several days and in those times, she would completely cut off the people who tried to care for her most.
Unfortunately, even with Minkyung in her life, none of this has changed. Minkyung had made her the happiest person alive. In their short time together, they spent so much time with one another and Nayoung could feel herself falling in love. Despite all of this, her lonely spells were still just as frequent and prominent and Nayoung didn’t know what to do.
Like every time Nayoung is feeling any form of strong emotion, she took to the streets to take pictures of the world around her. When in love, she would take candids of other couples in parks and on beaches; when she’s angry, she would find picturesque objects in dark locations; and like today, when she felt lonely, she would find abandoned areas of town and take in the scenery. After walking around for precisely 26 minutes, Nayoung found herself at Serendipity, obviously her mind took her there on auto-pilot. She knew her girlfriend wasn’t working at that moment so it would be the perfect place to go for some alone time. After ordering a panini and a hot drink, Nayoung tucked herself into a secluded part of the café she’d grown to love. Despite being in a place she usually found comfort in, she never felt more alone in her life.
A single tear rolled down her cheek, the more she thought about this overwhelming loneliness
“I saw you sitting here alone and figured you could use some company” the thin girl explained. “This is my usual spot you see, I haven’t needed it as much recently, but I used to come here when I was feeling sad or alone”. And just like that, Nayoung felt a connection, a sisterhood of sorts to the stranger stood before her simply because she could empathise with her situation. She didn’t trust her voice to not come out slightly croaky from lack of use so she just nodded, shifting over to accommodate the stranger.
“I’m Kyungwon” the girl began, “I’ve seen you here before, with that barista. You guys are cute together”
“Thanks, I think so too”. Kyungwon laughed at that and Nayoung couldn’t help but giggle; the girls laugh being loud and contagious. They laugh for what feels like forever and for the first time in a while, Nayoung feels whole.
“I’m Nayoung”
*
Weeks pass and Nayoung can’t think of a time recently when she had a lonely spell. Between dates with Minkyung, and hanging out with Kyungwon and Yewon, who hit it off instantly, she hasn’t had time to feel alone – in fact, she could confidently say for the first time in a while that she felt content. Her heart felt full and she felt loved. But it was the calm before the storm, because nothing good lasts forever, not in Nayoung’s mind.
She woke up at 8:30am, cranky from getting less sleep than usual, hoping to grab her phone to see a cute wake up message her girlfriend would send her every day. But today, there was nothing. It was such a small, insignificant thing, but with Nayoung already feeling down, it felt like her world was crumbling. Her day kept going like that, little inconveniences that wouldn’t usually affect her, but tipped her over the edge today. By the time she had finished classes for the day, she was beat, physically and emotionally. She hadn’t slept enough, hadn’t heard from her girlfriend all day, her professors set a ton of assignments and to top it all off, she felt lonely.
Her walk to Serendipity played out like a movie. She cried the whole way there with the torrential rain hiding the fact she had even been crying. Thankfully, when she got there, the barista on duty knew who she was and let her in the back to towel her hair off. In the storage cupboard, out the back she realised that not only would she probably catch a cold from her reckless walk, but she also got her bag with all her assignments in wet, which made her day that much worse. Deciding she had made herself look as best as she could, considering the fact that she had been crying for around 20 minutes straight, she left the storage cupboard and made her way to the secluded part of the café that she had grown so accustomed to. And straight away she saw Kyungwon there, reading a book. The slimmer girl looked up from her book in alarm, instantly standing up and wrapping her arms around Nayoung.
“What happened?”
“Everything. Nothing. I don’t know. Life really sucks ass”
“Oh honey” Kyungwon said soothingly, rubbing Nayoung’s back in an attempt to comfort her. She sat her down before looking her in the eyes and talking to her. “Life can suck ass sometimes. I know that better than anyone; my own parents treated me like crap for 18 years then left me with nothing the day I was of age. There were moments when I was ready to end it all, everything just felt so impossible. I didn’t even feel upset, I just felt numb, empty. But the way to get through it is by talking about it, by letting your friends be there for you. I’m here for you now and I’d like to think that one day, when I need you, you’ll be there for me.
We haven’t been friends all that long but our friendship blossomed so quickly, I genuinely believe that I met you on the couch of the café for a reason. We were meant to be friends; which means I’m going to give you hugs, and buy you snacks, and get drunk with you until you feel okay. Got it?”
By now, Nayoung was shedding bucket loads of tears. She was already feeling unstable from all the crying she had done before, but after that speech? There was no way she couldn’t cry. For the longest time, while she had a good life, she didn’t have that one person. Not in a romantic sense, Minkyung is indeed the one (1) for her. But the one she means is a best friend, a friendship like those in books. Where the friends call each other at ass o’clock just because they were feeling a bit shitty. Where one friend can just go over to the others house without warning and just feel welcome because that’s just how they were. Where it’s just them against the world and it feels fucking awesome because they were just meant to be friends. Soulmates. Just like Nayoung and Kyungwon. And while Nayoung still occasionally felt like she was facing everything alone; her soulmate Kyungwon would be right there to remind her she has an awesome best friend, the cutest girlfriend and a kick ass support system.
And Nayoung would feel content.