Archive of Our Own ^beta

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“I’m gay—” The words roll off Seoyeon’s tongue before she can even consider them properly. Anything to get Saerom off her case at this point, really. “I mean. Yes. Me. Lesbian—I like girls,” she keeps going, her brain-to-mouth filter going completely haywire.

The thing is this: Saerom is getting married in two weeks, and despite having low-key harbored a secret crush on her for give or take five years, Seoyeon has agreed to be one of her bridesmaids. It isn’t so bad, really. She’s sharing the title with Gyuri, while Hayoung is the maid-of-honor. Saerom, when she asked, had promised that she really didn’t have to do a lot, and it isn’t as if Seoyeon has ever learned how to say no to her.

Besides, she’d like to think that she’s completely over that crush by now. Saerom has always been painfully heterosexual, and Seoyeon knew this from the get go, so it isn’t as if she has ever actively hoped for anything more than friendship with the older woman. Seoyeon has long accepted that Saerom is only ever going to see her as a little sister; her crush is just a crush – simple admiration.

The problem is that Saerom is the type who thinks that just because she’s happy and in love, then everyone else around her – everyone else that she cares about – should be happy and in love, as well. And so she’s been constantly insisting that she’s going to help Seoyeon find a suitable hook-up at her wedding.

“We’ve been friends forever, and I’ve never seen you date,” Saerom had told her. “Chan has a few friends that you’d surely get along with—I’m on it!”

No shit, Seoyeon had thought. 

Contrary to Saerom’s belief, Seoyeon was far from celibate during their university years. It wasn’t like she got around a lot, but she has been freely dating the last five years. While none of her flings have ever amounted to anything serious, she hasn’t been hiding any of them on purpose either.

She maintains that it isn’t her fault because she’s been dating girls all along, yet somehow Saerom has never realised that she’s into girls, and that half of the “friends” she’s introduced to the older girl were in fact, more than friends. 

Although—okay, maybe that was partly her fault, because even though she will absolutely deny if asked, perhaps she once harbored some sort of secret fantasy that Saerom will one day wake up and realise that she has very romantic, very gay feelings for Seoyeon. It was stupid, really, wanting to appear ready and available for the older’s affections in case that happens – and maybe this, her situation now, is her karma.

All that considered, the fact that she’s finally managed to come out to Saerom at least means that she’s completely over that fantasy. (“That doesn’t make any fucking sense,” she can clearly hear her best friend Jisung shrieking in her head, and goddammit, when did he, of all people, become the voice of reason in her head when he’s always been one of the most unreasonable people she knows.)

“Oh!” Saerom blinks at the news, and Seoyeon winces. 

“I’m sorry unnie,” Seoyeon mumbles softly. This is definitely not a Very Ideal Coming Out; she even feels a little guilty because they have been friends for a long time – she goes to Saerom for advice about almost anything and everything that’s unrelated to her romantic endeavours (come to think of it, that’s clearly why the older has assumed she hasn’t been getting any at all), and if it was her in Saerom’s shoes, she would probably feel upset about being the last to know such a big secret.

But, she reminds herself (and damn, because her train of thought is really going around in circles now), she hasn’t exactly been that secretive either. 

Like during her junior year, when she had dated Jiwon for six whole months. Granted, Saerom was busy then, working a normal job like a proper adult, but Seoyeon brought Jiwon along with her to a few dinners with Saerom, and the older female still just assumed they were nothing more than ‘very close friends.’

(“Yeah, well it isn’t as if you made her think otherwise,” Jisung had called her out for it once, when she told him about it. “If you’d introduced Jiwon-noona as your actual girlfriend, then Saerom-noona would have known.” Seoyeon had simply flipped him the bird, and proceeded to switch topics.)

“Oh—” Saerom repeats now. “Wow—” There’s a blank pause, and Seoyeon studies as her expression slowly changes; then Saerom actually laughs, that sweet but coy laugh that Seoyeon has always enjoyed. “Suddenly everything makes so much more sense now.”

It’s Seoyeon’s turn to blink at her – she hadn’t expected that reaction, but she’ll take it if it means that Saerom isn’t angry at her.

“Yeah, um, so, please, there’s no need to—” She’s about to insist that Saerom doesn’t need to set her up with anyone at the wedding, since she isn’t really into men like that.

Except, she really shouldn’t have underestimated the power of Saerom’s one-track mind.

“That’s okay, I still got you covered!” Saerom chirps, with a renewed sparkle in her eye. “One of Chan’s cousins is flying in from Australia, and I know for a fact that she’s a lesbian, as well. Or bisexual, at the very least.”

Seoyeon stares at her, frozen. “Unnie…” She trails off, unsure how to actually respond.

“I met this cousin once, when we went to Sydney for a vacation, and she’s really nice. We talk occasionally on Facebook, and she’s really into music and traveling and—”

“Unnie,” Seoyeon interrupts her, a little more forceful this time because she can’t take it anymore. “I’m already seeing someone!”

Once again her brain-to-mouth filter fails her, and this time it's even worse because the statement she’s just uttered is a big fat lie.

She keeps on going anyway – she proceeds to explain that the relationship is new, so they haven’t been very public about it, but, 

“But I really like her,” Seoyeon finishes. “So don’t worry too much about my love life, unnie. I can handle it just fine on my own!”

“How about you bring her to the wedding, then?” Saerom suggests. “I’d love to meet her! Please—? It would make me very happy, and this is how you can make it up to me for hiding something this big for so long, especially something that it seems like everyone else already knows?”

Well.

When Saerom puts it like that, how is Seoyeon supposed to say no?

Seoyeon has gotten herself in quite a predicament, and she has no idea whose help she can enlist to get her out of it. 

Ideally, she should choose someone that Saerom doesn’t already know to make the farce more believable – the problem is that Saerom already knows most of her friends because they're her friends, too. She supposes that she can try and pick up a random stranger at a bar and ask them to be her fake girlfriend. Maybe they’ll fall in love and live happily ever after like in the movies – as if.

With her luck, Seoyeon will probably end up dead in a ditch somewhere because she hit on a serial killer by accident.

So, she considers her options.

She thinks about asking Jiwon – they did remain close friends even after their breakup, which had been very amicable and completely mutual. Besides, if there’s anyone in her life who would jump at the opportunity to get involved in a hare-brained scheme, it would be her. And they were attracted to each other, even if they were never really in love, so they wouldn’t have to totally fake anything. But then she recalls that Jiwon is trying to make it work with Jisun – her on/off girlfriend – for the umpteenth time in the last two years, and Seoyeon decides that she really doesn’t want to potentially get in the middle of that.

And then she halfway considers going to Chaeyoung for help even if Saerom is close with her, too – they can maybe tell Saerom that feelings blossomed between them after years of friendship. The older woman is set to buy that; she’s a hopeless romantic after all. But Seoyeon quickly scratches the idea because truthfully, she can’t imagine Chaeyoung reacting with anything other than loud, obnoxious laughter. Which, all things considered, is valid and probably well-deserved. But Seoyeon also knows that her friend is likely to make her jump through all sorts of hoops before even considering to jump on board this trainwreck of a scheme, and Seoyeon isn’t sure all of that will be worth it. Maybe once she exhausts all her options and she’s desperate enough.

She’s sitting on the couch, staring at her phone and scrolling through the names in her address book when she hears the front door of her apartment open, and then gently close a couple of seconds later.

“I’m home!” Nakyung, her roommate of a little over two months announces, and suddenly Seoyeon has an idea.

“Help—” She says, as soon as Nakyung steps into the living room. She looks up, eyes bright, wide and pleading even through the glasses she typically wears when she’s at home. “Help me, Lee Nakyung. You’re my only hope.”

Nakyung blinks, clearly taken aback by the greeting – and then she laughs. “Must be serious,” she answers slowly, “especially if you’re channeling Star Wars.”

“Um, well, yeah. I was wondering if you’d be willing to be my fake girlfriend? Maybe?”

Chaeyoung, who works for the same non-profit organization that Nakyung does, had been the one to introduce the two of them to each other. Nakyung was new to Seoul, sort of. She was born in Seongnam, but her family had moved to Seoul City proper when she was around ten. But then she had studied abroad for almost half of her life anyway – Shanghai for most of high school, and then Shenzhen for university. Even after she’d graduated and gone back to South Korea, the first job she had ever gotten was a posting in Daegu.

She had finally moved back to the capital for good earlier that year, only to start living with her mother and father again for the first time in almost eight years. As it turned out, she’d grown far too accustomed to the freedom of living away from her parents’ watchful eyes; in her own words, “I love them, but I really need to find my own place.”

And because Chaeyoung is actually a pretty good friend when it comes down to it, she had remembered that Seoyeon was looking for a roommate, and had promptly arranged an introduction. 

Right now, Nakyung is looking at Seoyeon like she wants to laugh, and Seoyeon can’t really blame her even though she really does appreciate Nakyung’s attempt not to. It has barely even been two months since Nakyung moved in, but so far, things have been good. They get along just fine, but for the most part, they both keep to themselves – and now Seoyeon has just asked her for a ridiculous favor.

“I’ll cover two months worth of rent,” Seoyeon offers while wincing inwardly. This is going to burn a giant hole in her pocket, rendering the entire point of getting a roommate pretty moot. The only reason why she’d gone on a roommate hunt in the first place was because she could barely afford the rent on her own, to the point when there were days when she had needed to resort to eating free samples for lunch at the supermarket. (To be fair, there were always a lot of sample booths during weekends, enough to actually make her feel pretty full, and she still likes doing sample booth rounds even now, but still. It’s the principle that counts.)

“Three months, and you add in utilities,” Nakyung counters, and Seoyeon’s eyes grow wide. She isn’t sure she can afford that, but – desperate times. She supposes she can say goodbye to a new phone for now.

“Rent and the water bill,” she bargains. “We still split the electricity and the WiFi.”

Nakyung actually laughs – and it’s cute, the way she does it. It starts out as soft giggles that seemingly emanate from her entire body, and then it escalates into fuller, louder, uncontrollable laughter.

“I was just seeing how far you were willing to go,” Nakyung admits, still giggling. “I’ll take three months rent. We’ll split all utilities.”

A wave of relief washes over Seoyeon and she finds herself lurching forward to give Nakyung a hug because somehow, she’d landed an actual angel as a roommate.

“Ey—!” Nakyung laughs, even though it’s clear that the sudden action surprised her. It isn’t as if the two of them were already on hugging terms before – but she supposes that changes now, because after the initial shock, Nakyung is pretty quick to return the gesture. “Three months of rent and an unnamed future favor,” she adds, her hand rubbing Seoyeon’s back in a strangely comforting manner.

“You’re crazy,” Jiheon tells her, and Seoyeon wonders why she even told her. 

Okay – theoretically, it’s because Jiheon is going to be attending the wedding as well, and Seoyeon is going to be needing people to corroborate her story.

“You’re a baby,” Seoyeon declares, even pinching her cheek. “What do you know? Just focus on your studies!”

Jiheon laughs. “I always do! Besides—” She looks at Seoyeon and shakes her head. “You’re the one who came and told me about this yourself!”

Jiheon , of course, has a point, because Jiheon always has a point.

“Whatever,” Seoyeon dismisses, this time pulling at Jiheon’s cheek. When the younger just laughs, but doesn’t say much more, Seoyeon at least knows that she’s ready to go along with the plan, no matter how idiotic she thinks it is.

Chaeyoung, just as she predicts, immediately laughs in response.

“Thanks for the unerring support,” Seoyeon whines.

“Careful not to fall in love with Nakyung like in the movies,” Chaeyoung teases, and Seoyeon is quick to give her a light punch on the shoulder; it’s a good thing she really hadn’t expected actual, useful advice to come her way, at all. Not from Chaeyoung, anyway.

Jisung – the actual Jisung, and not the version that’s somehow turned into the annoying voice in her head, is just as annoying in real life. She tells him anyway because he’s good friends with Saerom’s husband-to-be, which means he’s also going to be at the wedding and he can easily complete the trifecta of people that she’s going to need to have her back during the wedding weekend. 

Also because he’s pretty much her oldest friend, which makes him morally obligated to support her even through insanely stupid schemes; of course he doesn’t hesitate in telling her exactly what he thinks anyway.

“You’re a dumbass,” he says, and really, Seoyeon is starting to rethink her life choices because these are the kinds of people she has as friends.

“Yeah, well, not everyone is lucky enough to find their so-called soulmate when they’re 18,” she mutters, bitterly referring to the fact that Jisung has been with the same guy for the last four years.

“True,” he quickly agrees, a little too smugly for Seoyeon’s liking, and she almost wants to strangle him on the spot. But then she remembers that she’s going to need him for Saerom’s wedding weekend, and she manages to gather enough self-control to stop herself from doing just that.

“So how exactly are we going to accomplish this?” Nakyung asks.

It’s a weeknight, and Seoyeon is feeling generous – or, rather, she’s feeling obliged to be generous – so she decides to take Nakyung out so they can talk about their arrangement over dinner.

She makes Nakyung choose where to eat, and she tells Seoyeon to meet her at a Chinese restaurant that’s close to her workplace. The atmosphere is surprisingly homey, and the menu selection is vast, but the pricing is quite reasonable. (For which she is very grateful, considering she's about to end up penniless because of the entire pretend dating scheme.)

When they order, it becomes obvious that Nakyung is a regular at the place; the Chinese-Korean family who owns the diner knows her well, and their server greets her very cordially. Nakyung speaks in flawless Mandarin when she picks out dishes to order – or, well, it sounds quite flawless to Seoyeon’s untrained ears. It isn’t as if she’s fluent enough in the language to really scrutinize; either way she’s a little impressed, even as she’s reminded that it only makes sense considering all the years that Nakyung had spent in mainland China.

Nakyung poses the question after the waitress leaves, their order presumably listed on her little pad, and Seoyeon and Nakyung are left, simply waiting for their food. 

Truthfully, Seoyeon has no firm answer – it isn’t as if she’s already been in a fake relationship before.

“I mean, I guess—we pretend for the weekend?” Seoyeon murmurs. The wedding is rapidly approaching, only ten days until they (hopefully) pull this off, and every day, Seoyeon questions herself if it’s absolutely necessary. (“It's not,” says the annoying Jisung voice in her head; fortunately she’s had over fifteen years of practice when it comes to ignoring him.) “A few weeks after that, I’ll just tell Saerom-unnie that we’ve ended things amicably?”

“Won’t she find it strange that we’re going to continue living together even after we break up—?”

“Probably,” Seoyeon admits; she hadn’t considered that, but it’s too late to try and find someone else now. “Hopefully, she’ll be too immersed in newlywed bliss to care.”

Nakyung laughs. “I like how you think—I guess.”

Seoyeon shrugs; the point is to simply get Saerom off her back long enough to get through the wedding weekend. Also, hopefully, if she sees that Seoyeon is able to manage her own dating life just fine, then she’ll quit altogether in trying to meddle in her love life. As much as she’s over her crush, there’s something incredibly frustrating and upsetting about having someone you liked for years repeatedly try to set you up with someone that isn’t them.

“So, how did we supposedly get together?” Nakyung is surprisingly gung-ho about this entire arrangement, which leads to a lot of questions – but Seoyeon pushes them all away, because she can’t afford to poke and prod at the moment. 

She hums before answering. “We moved in together, and there was an instant attraction?” It’s not a complete lie, because Seoyeon had definitely found Nakyung cute when they first met – it isn’t as if she’s blind; Nakyung probably can’t say the same about her, but Seoyeon is banking on her enthusiasm for the project to help sell the act.

“Okay!” Nakyung chirps, a little too cheerfully. “That won’t be hard—you’re really pretty.” She’s so casual with the compliment, so quick to prove Seoyeon’s assumptions, that it actually makes Seoyeon’s cheeks feel warm. 

“If she asks how things are going, we just keep repeating that we’re being cautious and taking things slow, so that we can easily say it was an amicable break-up once we decide to fake end things,” Seoyeon continues, playing with paper napkins as she wills her face to calm down. 

“Alright,” Nakyung nods. “I still can’t believe we’re doing this, though!”

Seoyeon half groans, half laughs. “Tell me about it.”

“I feel like I’m in a TV drama,” Nakyung muses, giggling as she fiddles with the steel chopsticks in front of her.

The comment makes Seoyeon curious – is that why Nakyung had jumped at the opportunity to get involved in this silly plot? Is she a drama enthusiast? She realises that she and Nakyung don’t really know much about each other despite living under the same roof. 

She knows what time Nakyung wakes up in the morning, and that she likes almond milk; she knows that Nakyung has cute pink pajamas that has white and gray bunnies drawn all over them, and that she uses strawberry scented shampoo, and while these are all somewhat personal, albeit trivial details, none of them really means that she knows her roommate. When push comes to shove, Seoyeon has no idea what Nakyung’s hobbies or interests are, or what her outlook in life is, or how she would likely react to any given situation.

She never really thought any of that was important before – as long as Nakyung kept common areas of the apartment clean, and she paid rent on time, she was ideal, as far as Seoyeon was concerned.

Right now, however, she finds herself growing increasingly curious.

“Do you love those?” Seoyeon asks. “Dramas, I mean. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you watch dramas.”

“I used to,” Nakyung explains. “When I was in high school. Because I was living abroad, watching Korean dramas and listening to Korean pop idols seemed like the best way to remain connected to home. But then, I kinda kept picking up other hobbies.”

“Like what?” Seoyeon is genuinely interested now, and she wants to know more, not just for the sake of making whatever fake relationship they’re supposed to sell more believable.

“Well—” Nakyung bites her bottom lip and taps her pointer finger against her chin twice. “I played pool a lot when I was in Shanghai,” she shares, smiling. “They have a lot of pool halls there, and me and my friends hung out in them a lot.”

“Are you good at it?”

“I didn’t say that—!” Nakyung laughs. “But yes, I’d like to think so! I was called Billiards Queen for a while.”

The way she says it, Seoyeon can tell that she’s proud of the title despite trying to make it sound like she’s joking. False humility shouldn’t be cute, but on Nakyung it somehow is, and Seoyeon figures that probably says a lot about her fake girlfriend’s natural charms.

“I think you can count the number of times I’ve played pool on one hand,” Seoyeon admits. “My friends and I hung out at arcades and singing rooms more.”

“Oh, maybe I can take you,” Nakyung offers. “Then if Saerom-ssi asks, we can tell her we went to a pool hall on a date once.” She’s grinning, and Seoyeon still can’t figure out why she’s so excited about this.

Moreover, she also can’t help but think that she’d actually like to take Nakyung up on that offer.

“What I’m hearing here is that you went on a lot of dates at pool halls back in the day,” Seoyeon teases with a laugh. “Billiards Queen.”

“Is there something wrong with that?” Nakyung squeaks cutely. “It’ll be fun—what matters on dates isn’t where you go anyway. It’s who you’re with, and how much fun you create together.”

Seoyeon thinks she’s having fun, right at that moment, even though all they’re doing is making small talk while waiting for food, and then she reminds herself that this isn’t a date, but really more of a meeting.  

But Nakyung is still talking, bulldozing through Seoyeon’s thoughts, and steering the conversation here and there. It segues into the topic of interesting dates (Seoyeon shares that one time, someone had taken her wall-climbing for a date; she recounts having fun so she supposes that would have qualified under the category of a good date, but she also had a really tough time because she has really weak upper arm strength, and “Oh, but you have nice arms,” Nakyung casually interjects, “you have a really beautiful shoulder line,” she clarifies; for some reason Seoyeon finds herself blushing), which then segues to a discussion about terrible, horrible, no good, very bad dates (apparently, one time, Nakyung had gone out with a girl who couldn’t stop talking about her pet snake, which at first was “kinda cute, because that was interesting,” but then halfway through their meal, she was still going on, explaining how she would feed the snake with baby mice, and at that point it just wasn’t very appetizing. “And then, when we kissed at the end of the night—and joke’s probably on me because maybe I shouldn’t have let it get to that, but anyway—we kissed at the end of the night, and it was like she was hissing in my mouth. Hissing! Ssssss…” Nakyung had imitated the sound and Seoyeon couldn’t stop laughing).

Conversation goes on, flowing naturally even after their food arrives – in fact, they simply end up moving on to comparing and talking about the weirdest food items they’ve ever had. (Nakyung wins, and Seoyeon easily admits defeat – after all, Nakyung is far more well traveled than she is, so it just makes sense.)

Time gets away from them, and even without trying Seoyeon finds out about Nakyung’s favorite things (she likes the colors pink, and purple, and she loves the tangsuyuk they serve at the restaurant where they at – “I can eat it everyday and I probably won’t get tired of it!”), and interests (she’s a gamer, and now it makes sense why she’s always holed up in her room most weekends). 

“That was a fun non-date!” Nakyung tells her after they get home; Seoyeon doesn’t know why she has to word it like that, but she agrees anyway.

“Hey, what do you think of this?” Nakyung asks as she sashays into the living room, wearing a dusty pink cocktail dress. 

“Oh,” is the only word out of Seoyeon’s mouth after she looks up and takes in the sight. “Pretty,” she murmurs, without having to think about it.

The dress is strapless, with a draped sweetheart neckline that nicely shows off Nakyung’s shoulders. It isn't as if she's particularly gifted up top, but the dress hugs her torso snugly, showing off her petite figure in a very flattering manner.

“You think?” Nakyung spins around, and the skirt softly follows the movement. “Is it okay? For the wedding?”

Right.

Seoyeon almost forgot, even though she doesn't really have any reason to think that Nakyung would model a beautiful dress just for her.

“More than okay,” she answers, grinning and raising two thumbs up as proper response. “Everyone will be jealous of me because I’ll have the prettiest fake girlfriend at the wedding!”

Nakyung laughs and twirls her way over to the couch, where she plops herself down next to Seoyeon. “Except no one will know it’s fake, so everyone will be for real envious of you,” she points out, tongue poking out between her teeth while she continues to giggle.

Her words make Seoyeon laugh because of course Nakyung is right. “Why are you doing this?” She suddenly asks, her curiosity once again bubbling to the surface.

“Doing what?” Nakyung questions back, head cutely tilting to the side.

“Playing along and agreeing to be my fake girlfriend?” Seoyeon shifts and turns so that she’s halfway facing Nakyung on the couch. “And you agreed to it so easily, too!”

“You want the truth?” Nakyung leans in, voice lowering to a conspiratorial whisper; Seoyeon knows she’s simply being playful, but the sudden proximity makes Seoyeon giggles as she nods. “The truth—” Nakyung laughs. “I really like weddings, is all.”

There’s a couple of seconds of pause before Seoyeon starts cracking up. “Are you serious?”

Nakyung ducks her head. “Yes! People are always happy at weddings—and it’s an excuse to get all dolled up! Also I kind of really like wedding cake. I hope your friend has good taste in cake.”

Seoyeon nods slowly; for some reason she completely believes the simplicity of Nakyung’s reasoning. “Saerom-unnie has good taste in cake,” she assures her roommate.

“Well, hopefully it’s better than her taste in girls—because I’m not sure I can trust her taste in general. If she had fine taste, then she would have appreciated you more.” Nakyung’s tone is quick to switch from playful to ridiculously solemn, and it actually makes Seoyeon blush.

“She doesn’t even like girls,” she points out.

“Exactly!” Nakyung exclaims, and that perky mirth is once again back in her tone. “If she had actual taste, then she would have been into girls all along—!”

Most weddings that Seoyeon has attended in the past have been pretty simple and without much fuss. Not that she’s been to a lot – if she were to count, it would only amount to less than a handful in her entire life, and half of those she had gone to when she was not even ten years old. She’s young, and Saerom is the first of her peers and close friends to get married.

Her older cousin had a wedding several years ago, during Seoyeon's last year of high school, and it had been pretty par for the course: a ceremony at a wedding hall, that was officiated by the groom’s godfather, and then a nice reception afterwards, that was also put together at the same wedding hall. Seoyeon heard from her mother that they'd managed to get a hefty discount by availing one of the many budget packages offered by the wedding hall; she hadn't questioned it, after all, she knew her cousin could use all the discounts she can get her hands on, considering she was already four months pregnant by the time of the ceremony.

Saerom's special day, however, is set to be really special. For one, she's been planning it for months – almost a year, even. Her family has money, and so does her groom's, and they aren't being shy about any of it.

The wedding ceremony is to be held at the ballroom of an expensive five-star hotel, where they had also booked weekend rooms for all of their closest family and friends. Truthfully, it feels a little excessive to Seoyeon, but at the same time well-deserved. Saerom deserves to have the fairy tale wedding she's dreamed of as a little girl, after all, and she's lucky that not only can she afford it, but also that she's actually allowed to have it.

“I’m nervous,” Nakyung tells her as they stand together in the lobby of said hotel. It’s D-1 to the wedding, and they're waiting for Saerom to meet them with keys to their rooms. “Why am I nervous?”

Jiheon and Chaeyoung are with them, but they're engaged in a conversation of their own – something about Jiheon's plans for her undergraduate thesis. Seoyeon would care more, but at the moment she can only afford to focus on her own situation.

“There's no reason to be,” Seoyeon assures Nakyung; she gives her fake weekend girlfriend a reassuring smile to go with the words, and just in case that isn't enough, she also goes ahead and takes Nakyung’s hand in her own. It’s surprisingly sweaty, and it makes her realise that Nakyung is feeling genuinely anxious.

“I hope she likes me,” Nakyung comments, and from behind them Chaeyoung suddenly laughs.

“Saerom-unnie will love you for sure,” she comments, stepping forward and squeezing herself in between Seoyeon and Nakyung.

When Chaeyoung moves to put her arms around both of them, Seoyeon begins to loosen her hold on Nakyung's hand, but the latter doesn't allow her to let go, and instead moves to thread her fingers through Seoyeon's.

“Saerom-unnie will like you, because Seoyeon likes you, and they like most of the same things,” Chaeyoung says, and while Seoyeon knows that the taller girl is using ‘like’ in the most general way possible, it makes her flinch anyway, and a light blush spreads across her cheeks, earning her a strange look from Jiheon who has also stepped forward and taken the spot next to her. “And then unnie will kinda hate you,” Chaeyoung is still go ing, “when you and Seoyeon fake break-up, because she isn't going to know that it's fake, and she's going to feel like she's obliged to.”

A small frown curves across Nakyung's lips, which makes Seoyeon elbow Chaeyoung's side. “We're going to have a friendly and amicable breakup because we still need to live together,” she clarifies. “Unnie won't hate her.”

Jiheon laughs, and simply inserts herself into the conversation. “She won’t, but she’ll act like it anyway.”

“Exactly,” Chaeyoung echoes.

“If anything, I’ll make it clear that the breakup is my fault,” Seoyeon insists, even though she knows that her friends are probably right. Saerom is the type of friend who subscribes to blind loyalty, at least when it comes to a select group of people.

“It isn't going to mat—” Jiheon attempts to argue, but she's cut short when the elevator doors open, and Saerom steps out, beautiful as ever. 

Despite fully asserting that she's over her crush, Seoyeon’s breath hitches anyway – she's gay, after all, and not blind, but when Nakyung’s hold on her hand loosens, she feels guilty and she quickly clears her throat.

She's self aware enough to realise that had been a weird reaction.

Saerom lights up when she sees the four of them, and she waves at them enthusiastically even as she crosses the hotel lobby to approach them.

She hugs each of them – Seoyeon first, then Jiheon, then Chaeyoung. And then she turns ro Nakyung, her smile friendly yet cautious, because that's just how Saerom is.

“Nakyung, right?” She confirms, and Nakyung nods. “I wish I could say that Seoyeon has told me a lot about you, but the truth is that she really hasn't.”

“You’ve been busy with wedding planning, unnie,” Seoyeon points out, and it’s not even a complete lie. Sure, the reason that Seoyeon has mentioned next to nothing about her supposed girlfriend is that it’s all a farce – plus the fact that Saerom had no idea she even swung that way until roughly two weeks ago. At the same time, she has been pretty busy with her wedding, and real, adult life in general, which is why Seoyeon hasn’t really had the chance to tell her much, at the very least, about her new roommate.

Her logic is met with deaf ears anyway, as Saerom simply continues to talk to Nakyung, “I’m glad I finally met you! It’s the first time I’m meeting any of Seoyeon’s girlfriends—”

“No, it’s not,” Chaeyoung coughs, and this time Seoyeon’s elbow digs even deeper into her side. 

Saerom gives them a suspicious look, but just as quickly, she’s shaking her head in dismissal at what she likely assumes is their silly antics. “Anyway, you’re sharing a room,” she says, turning to Chaeyoung and Jiheon, and handing them two room keys. “And of course,” Saerom continues, her focus once again shifting back to Seoyeon, “so are you, and your girlfriend.”

‘Your girlfriend’ sounds really strange and foreign coming from Saerom to Seoyeon, and she’s completely reminded of the facade that she has to keep going for the entire weekend.

“So, Jiheon and Chaeyoung get a room with two twin beds and we—”

“Get one queen sized bed,” Nakyung finishes for her.

She sounds pretty unbothered by it, and she acts it, too. She leaves her suitcase near the door, before running over and throwing herself onto the bed.

Seoyeon laughs – if there’s one thing she’s learned from paying closer attention to her roommate over the last two weeks, it’s that Nakyung’s mood is pretty contagious. So if she’s excited, chances are that you’ll be feeling pretty excited too.

Giggling, Seoyeon throws herself onto the bed next to Nakyung, who immediately scoots over to one side to make room for her. 

“Hi,” Seoyeon greets; she’s still laughing, even though there’s nothing particularly funny. Nakyung keeps being giggly, and she feels good, and for the first time in two weeks, she thinks that maybe they can actually make this work.

“Saerom-unnie is really pretty,” Nakyung responds, suddenly going off-tangent. “I mean, I saw her on social media, but—”

“Wait—” Seoyeon interrupts her, surprised. “You looked her up on social media?”

“Of course, I did!” Nakyung clicks her tongue as if Seoyeon’s surprise is quite absurd. “Had to see what your type is.”

“Was,” Seoyeon immediately corrects without even thinking.

“Right,” Nakyung nods, giggling even more, and moving so that she can nudge Seoyeon’s shoulder with her own. “Was. So—what’s your type now?”

Seoyeon blinks, unsure how to answer. It isn’t as if she has a specific type, although she could imagine Jisung arguing with her, and telling her that she likes them pretty. He’d probably have a point, but she would also like to think that she looks beyond shallow things like that, so she only shrugs in response. She considers throwing the question back, but then she decides she isn’t ready to find out what kind of girls Nakyung goes for.

“We have to meet everyone at Saerom-unnie’s room in a couple of hours,” is what she says next instead. The plan is to have a final girls’ night in later in the evening, at Saerom’s bridal suite, and the last she heard, Hayoung had arranged for massage therapists from the hotel spa to come up for a couple of hours, so they can all be serviced.

Nakyung hums. “See, this is why I love weddings,” she comments, chuckling. “I get to partake in all the fun girls’ bonding activities for free.”

Seoyeon groans. “Wish I didn’t have to.”

“Come on! It’ll be nice to be pampered. We’ll get massages and fancy mani pedis—and then, wait. Please, please tell me there will be drinks tonight?”

Seoyeon laughs; she wants to think that night’s plans involve access to the minibar in Saerom’s room. “If that isn’t in unnie’s plans, it’ll be in ours,” she answers confidently.

“Okay.” Nakyung grins. “See? It’ll be a fun day!”

She sits up and starts poking Seoyeon all over, until Seoyeon laughs so hard that she almost ends up rolling off the bed. 

“Yah!” She yells, right before she struggles to get up on her knees, moving to start her own attempt at retaliation by reaching out to tickle Nakyung all over.

It isn’t so bad, Seoyeon thinks. She really lucked out on her choice of a fake girlfriend, because at the very least Nakyung will make the weekend not just bearable, but actually kind of fun.

“So how did you two get together?”

This is it – the question that possibly makes or breaks Seoyeon’s entire weekend, and it comes when she’s completely unguarded.

Seoyeon has just finished her turn with one of the hired massage therapists, and she was just kicking back, decked in a fluffy hotel robe, sipping on mimosa while a nail artist worked on her toes. Nakyung was right next to her, doing the exact same thing, because there were eight of them – Saerom, Hayoung, Gyuri, Chaeyoung, Jiheon, Seoyeon, Nakyung, and Chan’s cousin, Michelle – hanging out in Saerom’s room, and they all had to take turns at getting pampered.

Chaeyoung and Jiheon are parked at the foot of the bed, poring over Saerom’s bridal magazines as they waited to have their nails buffed and manicured. They perk up at the question when Saerom asks it, though, and Seoyeon can tell, from their uncharacteristic silence, that this is amusing to both of them. Meanwhile, Hayoung and Gyuri, who have no idea about what’s going on, both look on with obvious curiosity. 

Seoyeon and Nakyung have practiced this – they’ve discussed this a lot over the last couple of weeks, exactly how they’re going to answer this exact question, but in front of friends, Seoyeon is hopelessly tongue-tied.

So much for feeling like they can actually pull this off, she thinks.

“I asked her out,” Nakyung, when Seoyeon doesn’t say anything, takes it upon herself to answer.  She sounds pretty casual and cheerful, and Seoyeon throws her a brief, grateful glance. “Of course it was a little awkward at first, since we were new roommates, but—”

“Didn’t you move in around a month ago?” Saerom asks, and Seoyeon is able to detect a hint of suspicion in her tone. She knows that the older woman is only being protective of her, but it makes her a little uncomfortable knowing that Nakyung has to be subjected to it, when she’s just doing Seoyeon a silly favor.

Nakyung, fortunately, is completely unfazed, and she keeps on going. She has clearly been able to manage her earlier nerves, and Seoyeon is thankful. “A little over two months ago now, actually,” she casually corrects Saerom. “But my grandmother told me once that if you find something you want, then you should never waste your time going after it! So I asked Seoyeon out after a week—I know that could have easily backfired, but I’m really glad that it didn’t!”

Saerom casts a concerned look at Seoyeon, who quickly remembers to put on a wide grin. 

“What can I say?” She makes a show of sipping her cocktail and casually shrugging her shoulders. “She wore me down pretty quickly.”

Nakyung gives her a look that’s actually fond and halfway flirty, and Seoyeon feels something stir inside her. It’s probably the alcohol, she tells herself. She knows that Nakyung is only acting, after all, and this knowledge makes her consciously chase away the warm fuzzies bubbling at the pits of her stomach.

“Well, I think the two of you look very cute together,” Hayoung announces loudly. “It’s nice to see Seoyeon happy with someone.”

Chaeyoung fails at holding back a snort at that, which doesn’t go unnoticed by Saerom, who tells her, “I guess you’re kinda their matchmaker, aren’t you?”

Seoyeon almost chokes on her drink at that, while Chaeyoung stops trying to hold her laughter in. 

“I guess you can say exactly that,” she agrees, in between chortles.

“I think we’re doing good so far,” Nakyung later whispers to Seoyeon, once they’re done with their nails, and they’ve parked themselves on the bed. 

There’s background conversation going on as the rest of the women in the room discuss – she actually isn’t sure what it is they’re discussing because Seoyeon has had at least a few mimosas at this point, and it isn’t as if she has the best tolerance for alcohol, so she’s feeling a bit buzzed and completely out of focus.

“You’re doing pretty well,” she returns, head resting on Nakyung’s shoulder even as she holds her half empty wine flute close to her chest. “I kinda froze earlier, and got a kind of suspicious look from Saerom-unnie.”

“Lucky for you, you got a perfect girlfriend who saved that day,” Nakyung singsongs softly; her face is a little too close to her own, and Seoyeon has no idea when or how that happened, but Nakyung’s breath tickles, and it makes Seoyeon giggle quietly.

“I just want the weekend to be over soon,” she whispers softly.

Nakyung nudges her side. “You that eager to get rid of me?” She teases.

“You're not going anywhere,” Seoyeon points out, another giggle escaping her. “You're going to continue living in the bedroom across mine.”

Nakyung purses her lips, but from the way her shoulders gently shake, Seoyeon can tell that she's holding in a laugh. “You can't tell me you didn't enjoy the massage though—or, look. We have such pretty nails, now!”

She holds her hands out, newly manicured nails on display and Seoyeon decides that she's right. They do look very pretty – pretty enough that Seoyeon doesn’t think twice about covering one of Nakyung’s hands with her own, and promptly interlocking their fingers together.

“Hey, love birds—!” Hayoung calls out suddenly, breaking the moment that Seoyeon hadn’t even realised that she and Nakyung had been having.

It’s also only just now that she realises that the employees from the hotel spa have packed up and are being sent off at the door by Gyuri, which meant only Saerom’s close circle of girl friends are left for the rest of the night.

“What!!” Seoyeon answers, her voice echoing a little too loudly around the room.

“Stop being noisy,” Jiheon berates her, throwing a pillow her way; it narrowly misses her, and Seoyeon responds by sticking her tongue out at the youngest.

“Michelle suggested that we play games,” Saerom cheerfully chimes in, and Seoyeon’s eyes fall on the said girl, admittedly curious. She’s cute, and Seoyeon is painfully aware that she’s who Saerom would have pushed on her if she hadn’t come up with her fake girlfriend story.

“What game?” Seoyeon’s eyes fall on the girl in question, admittedly curious.

Michelle’s eyes twinkle mischievously, and then she launches into an instructional speech; Nakyung (absentmindedly) strokes Seoyeon’s hair, which completely distracts her from the rules of whatever game it is that Michelle is proposing they all play.

It turns out that Chan’s cousin has been to her fair share of weddings and bridal showers, and because of this, she easily takes charge of the next couple of hours, leading them through various games.

At one point she has everyone tying cherry stems with their tongues – which Seoyeon doesn’t quite get the point of at first, but she gets overly excited anyway when she manages to come in second after she manages to tie five stems in the span of a minute.

Nakyung is declared winner with six, which leads to all kinds of teasing comments.

“Damn, I thought I’d at least place second,” Michelle comments, laughing.

“I feel like it says a lot that these two—” Gyuri gestures at Seoyeon and Nakyung, who have remained seated together the entire night, “—won that game so easily!” She’s clearly teasing and implying something, and as everyone hoots and laughs in response, a deep shade of red spreads across Seoyeon’s cheeks.

“Maybe we shouldn’t make such obvious allusions to their sex life,” Chaeyoung stage whispers; she’s clearly buzzed – tipsy off one too many mimosas just like everyone else in the room. 

“Eyyyy!!” Nakyung protests; her cheeks are pink as well, but Seoyeon assumes it’s also from all the alcohol she’s already imbibed. “That’s private!”

She wags a finger at everyone, and she does it so cutely that Seoyeon has to fight an overwhelming desire to pull Nakyung onto her lap right there and then. The urge doesn’t really make sense, and luckily, she manages to keep it at bay.

“I’ve always wanted to know how it would feel to kiss a girl,” Saerom suddenly interjects, and Seoyeon almost chokes on the cherry that she’d only just popped into her mouth seconds ago.

“I volunteer as tribute!” Michelle immediately calls out, laughing as she waves her hand in the air.

Really, truly, Seoyeon is coughing and practically choking on the tiny piece of cherry that she has to force down her throat, because how did the discussion even take this turn?

“I wonder what Chan-oppa would say about that, though?” Jiheon asks out loud, a hint of disapproval evident in her tone. “If anything, I think Hanyang-unnie should do it. She’s the maid-of-honor!”

“Chris—Chan, whatever you girls call him here—he doesn’t have to know!” Michelle points out. “And let’s be real, he’d probably find it hot—but if Hayoung wants to do it, then by all means!”

“Wait… wait! Why am I being dragged into this?” Hayoung asks, looking very much like a deer caught in the headlights.

“Stop!” Saerom squeaks, hands gesturing wildly in protest. “I didn’t say I was actually going to do it!”

Chaeyoung’s hand shoots up. “I, for one, will say this if Saerom-unnie is so curious—girls kiss better.”

Saerom’s eyes widen, while everyone else lets out various forms of cheers.

“What—?” Chaeyoung laughs. “I was in college. I lived my life. In fact, I actually kissed Seoyeon once—”

At this, Seoyeon has to yell and interrupt, “You don’t have to name names!”

Beside her, Nakyung is cracking up. “Really? Chaengie?” She turns to Seoyeon, curiosity and something else mixed in her expression.

Seoyeon winces; it was a long time ago, during the winter break after freshman year, and Chaeyoung had asked her, because just like Saerom now, she’d confessed to being curious. 

“Don’t worry,” Chaeyoung assures her, voiced loud, and words somewhat slurred. Nothing about her tone is reassuring at all. “I actually kissed Gyuri-unnie twice—” 

“What!?” Even Jiheon looks shocked now, and they all turn to Gyuri as if asking for confirmation.

“Like Seoyeon said, no need to name names!” She says, a faint blush on her cheeks; she shakes her head, and just like that, everyone knows that no one is getting another word out of her on the matter.

“It’s true though,” Nakyung interjects, with the confident tone of someone who clearly has had enough experience to compare and contrast. “Girls generally just do everything better.”

Seoyeon nods firmly in agreement; granted she has only kissed one boy, when she was seventeen, and it was Jisung, of all people, so maybe he was just a bad kisser – at the very least, he was a very inexperienced one, because that had been the first for both of them, and she’s pretty sure that neither of them enjoyed it much, if at all.

“I mean, it’s not like Chan is a bad kisser—he’s pretty good at that,” Saerom declares, smiling coyly and conspiratorially at everyone in the room before continuing, “ and other things.”

“Oh my God!” Michelle winces. “I really don’t want to hear about my cousin in bed!”

“In bed, or out of it—” Hayoung chimes in, and Saerom shrieks. Hayoung laughs, and shrugs, and despite the pained and pleading look Saerom throws her way, she keeps going. “She tells me a little too much sometimes,” she says, and before she can say any more, Saerom actually lunges towards her to clamp a hand over her mouth.

“Well!” Chaeyoung and her big mouth immediately steps in while Saerom and Hayoung play wrestle. “If Saerom-unnie is curious, but doesn’t want to actually kiss any of us for fear of ‘cheating’ then—Seoyeon and Nakyung should kiss by proxy!”

She must really be drunk as a fish to be suggesting this, Seoyeon realises, because what the fuck?

“That doesn’t even make sense!” Seoyeon immediately argues, gaping at Chaeyoung, before desperately looking at everyone else in the room, hoping for some kind of back-up. Unfortunately for her, no one gives it to her – Jiheon even looks on with amusement, clearly enjoying this as she wonders what Seoyeon is going to do next.

Seoyeon’s gaze meets Saerom's, and the latter actually gives her a small, encouraging smile that she can’t quite wrap her head around, because does she actually want to watch Seoyeon kiss her fake girlfriend?

“No way, not in front of—” she continues to protest, only to be cut short by Nakyung.

“Okay! Let’s do it!” She says, much Seoyeon’s complete shock. “Saerom-unnie is the bride, so what she says, goes!”

“B-but—” Seoyeon sputters.

“Syeonnie!” Nakyung grins and pinches both of Seoyeon’s cheeks, cooing at her softly. “Don’t be shy!”

“Nakko—” Seoyeon groans. Their gazes meet, but Seoyeon isn’t sure she can read what the glint in Nakyung’s eyes mean. “Fine. Okay,” she says, feeling cornered and finally giving in with a small exhale.

Nakyung smiles, and lets go of the way she’s pinching Seoyeon’s cheeks, palms cupping them instead. Seoyeon can feel everyone in the room watching them, and she has to willfully ignore them, and forget their presence as she slowly leans closer towards Nakyung.

This doesn’t make sense, she repeats in her head, but she can feel her heart pounding in anticipation anyway. 

In the end, she’s the one who closes the distance – Nakyung squeaks softly when Seoyeon’s lips parts against hers, and for several seconds, Seoyeon truly forgets that they’re supposed to be putting on a show.

Seoyeon doesn't really remember what time she passed out in the evening, nor does she remember bidding the other girls see-you-laters and heading back to the room she shares with Nakyung. Which makes sense when, upon waking up, she finds that instead of sharing their perfectly comfortable queen-sized bed, she and Nakyung are instead squeezed together on the couch in Saerom’s room.

She grunts softly out of discomfort, only for Nakyung to respond by pressing closer against her and pushing her further against the back of the duvet.

She sighs, and considers waking the other woman up, but truthfully, as tight as the space they're sharing is, it actually feels somewhat warm and comfortable – it's probably lucky that they're both pretty small. 

Nakyung's arm is wrapped around Seoyeon’s tiny waist, while her face is snugly burrowed into the crook of her neck. Nakyung’s hair tickles under her chin and against her cheek, and Seoyeon can still smell the faint scent of her grapefruit flavored shampoo.

Sighing, Seoyeon tries to move her arm and wrap it around Nakyung as well, holding her closer so that she doesn't easily fall off the side. The latter's only response is to burrow further into her neck. Seoyeon can hear faint background talk, and she surmises that no one else really made it back to their rooms the night before.

She hears Saerom calling someone cute, saying that it's best not to wake them, and it doesn't dawn on her that the older is talking about her and her supposed girlfriend until Hayoung suddenly peers at them.

“Good morning,” the older greets, and Seoyeon whines at the loud intrusion; Nakyung remains dead as a log. Hayoung holds out a small bottle in offering, her voice lowered into a whisper when she speaks again, “I have some hangover drinks if you want any? Everyone also agreed to go back to their rooms soon, but I don't think Saerom minds if the two of you sleep here for a bit longer. She’s out right now, having breakfast with her parents.”

Seoyeon shakes her head – staying sounds awkward. “What time is it, unnie?”

“Around 9:30,” Hayoung answers. “We don't have to start helping Saerom get ready until after lunch so we all have time to nurse our hangovers.”

Seoyeon nods slowly. “I’ll wake Nakko up,” she says.

“Okay,” Hayoung answers. “I’m off to raid the breakfast buffet downstairs with Jiheonnie!”

She waits until the door opens, closes and there's nothing but silence left in the room.

“Nakko—” She whispers while gently shaking the others arm. “You’re awake, aren't you?”

Nakko hums and presses her face against Seoyeon's neck. Seoyeon feels her face flush from the action, but it also serves to confirm her suspicion.

“We should go back to our room, come on,” she insists, shaking Nakyung's arm harder.

“Don't want to move,” Nakyung whines in a cutesy tone that would probably be annoying on anyone else, but probably gets Nakyung anything she wants when she uses it.

“Sleeping on a bed would be much more.comfortable,” Seoyeon points out.

“Sleeping on you like this is most comfortable,” Nakyung argues with a tired giggle.

“I—” Seoyeon knows the flush on her cheeks probably grew deeper in shade, and she's lucky no one is witness to it. “We can sleep together in our room,” she murmurs. “I’m still sleepy too, anyway.”

Nakyung sighs, but she does start to untangle herself from Seoyeon. “Okay.”

She doesn't know why she does it, but Seoyeon naturally reaches for Nakyung's hand when they step out in the hallway. Nakyung’s fingers slot perfectly through hers, and they walk quietly down the hall to their room.

“I had fun last night,” Nakyung declares softly, once they're back in their room. Seoyeon is starting to loosen her hold on her, but once again Nakyung isn't letting her. “Hayoung-unnie said you don't have to help Saerom-unnie until later and you said you'll sleep some more with me.”

Seoyeon laughs, but she does let Nakyung lead her to bed. “You're like a big baby,” she comments.

“That’s right,” Nakyung answers, smiling as her head hits the pillow. She's finally let Seoyeon’s hand go, but it doesn't matter so much as Seoyeon crawls in after her anyway.

“We haven't even changed out of yesterday's clothes,” Seoyeon comments, looking down at her messily rumpled dress.

“Doesn’t matter at this point,” Nakyung says; her eyes are already closed, and her arm comfortably slides around Seoyeon's midsection.

Seoyeon turns on her side to face her to face Nakyung, only to find an uncontrollable smile tugging at the corners of her lips. “You're—” she starts.

—really pretty even when you're tired and hungover , she almost says.

“I’m what?”

“A big baby,” Seoyeon answers instead, chuckling hoarsely.

“Sure,” Nakyung answers, curling up even as she snuggles closer against Seoyeon. “If that means you'll let me sleep like this, because it's nice.”

Seoyeon laughs even louder, but she does allow it when Nakyung forces Seoyeon's arm to wrap back around her. She feels like she should say something, because it's just the two of them now, and they don't need to be sweet for anyone's benefit.

Her eyes fall on Nakyung’s lips, and they look a lot more chapped than they did last night, and Seoyeon feels the urge to lean in and press her own against them, just to see if they would still feel and taste the same.

Or, if she's being honest, just because.

“Nakko?” She calls out softly, building up the courage to ask if she can do it.

The other girl just hums in return, her breathing quiet and even, and Seoyeon doesn't have it in her to needlessly wake her up with silly inquiries, so she silently closes her eyes, willing herself to sleep as well.

No one's watching them, and this isn't a show for anyone else. Nakyung is warm, comfortable, and wrapping themselves up in each other isn't something they always have to do for the benefit of others.

Seoyeon makes do with a quick lunch paired with the bottle of raisin tea that Hayoung had provided her with that morning, before she deems herself ready to show up at Saerom’s room for her bridesmaid duties – about which she's still not very clear on, but Hayoung had instructed her to show up at around one in the afternoon, so she does just that.

She knocks once, and waits until someone inside Saerom's room yells for her to come in before she pushes the door open, and pokes her head in.

“Hey, sorry I’m a few minutes late,” she announces. Only Saerom and Hayoung are there, and Seoyeon finds herself glancing around because Gyuri should be there, as well.

“We sent Gyuri to get us all coffee from the Tom N’ Tom’s in the lobby,” Hayoung informs her. “I was just waiting for you, because I—” She glances quickly at her phone screen before smiling at Seoyeon, “—need to go and fetch the make-up artist in the lobby.”

“What am I supposed to do?” She asks; she still feels tired, but she’s more than willing to help out, if only because it’s expected of her.

“You stay here and keep me company,” Saerom declares, laughing as she moves forward so she can link arms with Seoyeon. She’s newly showered, hair wrapped in a towel and decked only in the hotel’s fluffy bath robes, and Seoyeon easily smells her orchid-scented body wash.

“Oh!” She nods; keeping the bride company sounds like a pretty easy task, all things considered. “Okay.”

“Where’s Nakyung?” Saerom asks, after Hayoung goes, and she’s led Seoyeon to sit down on the very couch where Seoyeon had woken up just several hours ago, limbs all tangled with the girl in question.

“She went to Chaeyoung and Jiheon’s room,” Seoyeon answers, pulling her feet up and hugging her knees close to her chest. Saerom immediately shifts closer, head coming to rest on her shoulder.

The simple sharing of affection feels familiar, and it's only now that Seoyeon admits to herself how much she's missed this. Even if you take away Seoyeon's once long-standing secret crush on the older woman, they've always been pretty close. She has looked up to Saerom for as long as she has known her, and Saerom has always looked out for Seoyeon in her own way.

Like an older sister would, she can hear Jisung’s annoying voice in her head, mostly because he's tried telling her this before and Seoyeon had willfully refused to listen. 

She wonders if she would have come to the conclusion earlier if her best friend hadn't pointed it out so clearly – she's always been expressly stubborn, after all.

“Hey, unnie?” She calls out softly, turning her head and gently nuzzling against the top of Saerom’s head. “How are you feeling? Are you excited?”

“Yes,” Saerom readily and confidently answers before her voice drops into a more nervous whisper. “But also nervous, and maybe a little bit scared.”

“Scared?”

“That's normal, isn't it? I want to think it's normal,” Saerom murmurs.

“How would I know—?” Seoyeon laughs. “I always assumed you'd know the answers to life before me, unnie.”

“That's not true. I’m not all-knowing, Seoyeonnie.”

Seoyeon hums. “I get that now,” she agrees, and then she adds, teasing, “I mean—I was dating Jiwon right under your nose and you still didn't realise that I like girls!” 

It’s easier to joke about this now, Seoyeon realises. She really doesn't care anymore that Saerom knows because she isn't secretly waiting for her feelings to be returned, nor is she afraid that Saerom will see her any differently, and it feels so damn good.

“Maybe—” Saerom gently nudges her side, and Seoyeon turns her head to look at the older woman, “—I had a feeling all along.”

Seoyeon stares, unsure how she's meant to take the statement; and then she starts to crack up. “Unnie!” She wheezes, “You don't get to pretend you knew all this time! We just established that you aren't all knowing.” She's nervous anyway, despite her own proclamation, and she trembles, just a bit, as she straightens up and pretends to give Saerom a patronizing pat on the arm. “It’s okay, unnie.”

It’s Saerom’s turn to laugh and shake her head. “I definitely don't know everything, but—” she groans, leans away from Seoyeon and rubs her face. “I’m sorry—” she sighs. “I think I ignored the obvious all these years.”

“Unnie—?” Seoyeon frowns; truthfully, Saerom pretending to know or realise, is a lot more believable than Saerom being completely oblivious – it isn't as if she's stupid.

Saerom inhales deeply, and then she twists her body so she can face Seoyeon completely, her expression hard to read. “This is going to sound very narcissistic, but—” she winces, looking like she's unsure if she should continue, so Seoyeon gives her a small nod of encouragement. “I guess I kind of always had that feeling that you—to… me. Uh.”

She laughs nervously, and Seoyeon feels her cheeks turn hot. Shit, she thinks as she fans herself with her hand, because is Saerom actually trying to tell her that she always knew about her embarrassingly hopeless crush?

“Or we can just not talk about this—!” Seoyeon interjects, eyes halfway pleading.

“We could but—” Saerom smiles softly, “I wanted to say sorry. I really didn't want to hurt you, so I guess I convinced myself that I was imagining things. I think that's why I also kept trying to set you up with guys—”

Seoyeon groans. “If you had a feeling, then maybe you should have tried it with women, instead—!”

Saerom gawks, and their eyes meet; two seconds later they're both laughing and clutching at each other because it all sounds like something straight out of a drama. Or a webtoon, at least.

“I’m sorry,” Saerom repeats once their laughter has tapered off; she flashes a genuinely apologetic smile and then she reaches over to tuck a lock of hair behind Seoyeon’s ear. “I handled it very badly.”

“I could have been honest with you from the beginning, too,” Seoyeon sighs. “But I’m over it now, I promise. I’m over you—” She cringes, because it sounds weird to say out loud, “—so can we please stop talking about this? It’s embarrassing!”

“Alright—” Saerom agrees, even cooing as she playfully reaches over to tickle Seoyeon’s chin.

“I’m really happy for you, unnie,” Seoyeon tells her, naturally leaning towards the older’s touch. “Excited, nervous and scared, too—but I have a feeling you'll be just fine.”

Saerom grins. “And I’m happy for you, too, Syeonnie. You and Nakyung—you seem to really enjoy each other. I’m glad—and nervous, scared, excited—” She laughs, “—but mostly glad that you have her now.”

Seoyeon's eyes widen – she really almost forgot about the whole play-acting with Nakyung. It seems so silly now, so trivial, and yet, when she lets Saerom's encouragement settle and she thinks about Nakyung, her heart starts racing, and she can't help but think that probably means something.

After Saerom and Chan declare their I Do’s, and the wedding officiant declares them husband and wife, and the entire wedding venue bursts into cheers, Seoyeon immediately walks over to Nakyung.

“Come on, we’re taking pictures,” she tells her fake girlfriend as she grabs the latter’s hand; it isn’t until she tugs Nakyung closer that she realises that Nakyung’s looking quite misty-eyed.

“Oh my God,” Seoyeon gasps, amusement quite evident in her tone. “Are you—were you crying?”

Nakyung whines and lightly hits Seoyeon’s arm, which in turn just makes her laugh more. It also makes Seoyeon grab Nakyung’s hand, tugging her towards her so she can more easily lean in and peer at her up close.

“Stop,” Nakyung half sniffs, half laughs, turning away and using her free hand to carefully wipe away tears that have welled up in her eyes before they can even fall across her cheeks.

“Cute,” Seoyeon comments with a giggle; she finds herself needing to fight the urge to lean in and kiss the tears away herself. That kind of restraint, she’s realising, has sort of become a recurring theme throughout the weekend.

“I told you I like weddings because they’re happy!” Nakyung huffs. “And those were happy tears!”

Seoyeon can only laugh even more at the petulant tone that Nakyung adopts. “Was I supposed to equate you sharing that, to you being an absolute crybaby?” She teases, and this time she gets Nakyung sticking her tongue out at her. She shakes her head fondly and simply pulls at the other woman’s hand. “Come on,” Seoyeon says, as she leads Nakyung to the front where the guests have all gathered around the newlywed couple.

They participate in a brief photoshoot, Seoyeon not letting go of Nakyung’s hand for one second. Afterwards, they get ushered by the hotel staff out of the hotel ballroom, and towards the reception hall, and this is when Jisung – real life Jisung, of course, and once again not the annoying voice in Seoyeon’s head – suddenly falls into step with them.

“So the two of you are really selling this, huh?” He’s teasing, voice loud yet playful as usual, and he’s grinning as he not-so-subtly nods his head towards Seoyeon and Nakyun’s still linked hands. 

Seoyeon groans. “And here I thought I was actually going to successfully get through the weekend without talking to you!”

Jisung snorts, and turns to give Nakyung a look of feigned disbelief. “She’s really acting like she didn’t miss me!”

“I see you enough on normal days,” Seoyeon points out, and for the most part it’s true. She and Jisung usually see each other at least once a week, either for drinks or dinner. However, her friend has been pretty busy over the last couple of weeks, traveling for work, so for once the only form of communication they’ve had was through instant messages and video calls. 

Beside her, Nakyung chuckles and acknowledges the man with a grin. “You’re Jisung, right?” She confirms.

“And you’re Nakyung,” Jisung returns very matter-of-factly. “Seoyeon’s girlfriend for the weekend. I’m surprised she told me about you.” Nothing about his tone is ‘surprised,’ at all – he even sounds vaguely smug, but that’s pretty normal for him.

Nakyung chortles, and Seoyeon rolls her eyes.

“Nakko, meet Han Jisung, perpetual pain in my ass since we were seven,” Seoyeon introduces them.

“Hey! Hold on—!” Jisung gasps, and dramatically gestures with his hands. “My family moved to Malaysia when I was 11, and we stayed there until I was 16, so—you can’t count that 5 year gap!”

Seoyeon snorts. “Bold of you to assume that your pain-in-the-assery didn’t easily travel across the sea,” she shoots back. “Let me assure you that you were just as much of a pain in the ass through KaTalk.”

“Yah—!” Jisung blanches immediately, and Seoyeon feigns nonchalance with a shrug.

Nakyung has grown quiet, but there’s a hint of fascination in her eyes as she watches them banter back and forth.

“You guys are cute,” she interjects suddenly, and both Seoyeon and Jisung immediately turn towards her.

“Well, yeah, I am,” Jisung declares after he recovers from a brief moment of confusion. “Seoyeon—? Kinda debatable—”

Seoyeon hits his arm at that, and Jisung makes a face at her as he rubs the sore spot. “Where’s your boyfriend anyway? Shouldn’t you be with him?” She asks with a click of her tongue.

Jisung laughs. “Minho-hyung’s at our table. He was discussing something with Hyunjin when I fell away from them after the picture session,” he explains. “Besides, I wanted to finally meet your girlfriend,” he adds, giving Nakyung an obnoxious wink that just makes Seoyeon hit him again, but does earn him laughter from Nakyung.

“Just go,” Seoyeon instructs him, chuckling and playfully nudging him forward. “Go before Minho-oppa files a missing persons report on you.”

“You’re really trying to get rid of me that fast?!”

“Yes,” Seoyeon deadpans, and Jisung dramatically clutches his heart as if hurt.

“Fine, fine—I’m hungry anyway, and they’re starting to serve food,” Jisung gives in. “I’ll come over and talk to you ladies later,” he adds, and then he turns to give Nakyung big, bright, cheeky smile. “And it really was nice meeting you! I can’t believe we haven’t before—but I’m pretty confident I’ll be seeing more of you soon!”

He gives them a quick salute, and then he’s off across the reception hall to join his friends at their table, while Seoyeon starts to lead Nakyung to the table near the front, where she sees that Chaeyoung and Jiheon are already seated.

“I meant it, you know,” Nakyung tells her with a warm smile. 

“Hm?” 

Seoyeon quietly takes not of how, despite all that fuss with Jisung, and somehow their hands are still firmly joined.

“Your friendship with Jisung,” Nakyung clarifies. “It’s cute.”

“Ehh—” Seoyeon quickly shakes her head while laughing; she certainly treasures her friendship with him, but the fact that they’ve known each other for so long also makes it feel awkward to be taking compliments about it.

Nakyung chuckles. “Hear me out, okay?” She asks, and Seoyeon nods, growing silent and listening, even as she navigates their way to the front. “I think it’s great that the two of you have remained so close. Even after he moved away. I mean, yeah, he moved back, but—” Her breath hitches, and when she exhales, it’s slow and deliberate. “You know I studied abroad at a young age, right? I always made friends, but the fact that it didn’t feel like I was staying anywhere permanently always made it hard to remain close with any of those people.”

“Oh.”

“But it’s nice, because I’m here for good now, more or less—” Nakyung grins. “And I’m glad I met Chaengie, and I’m glad that she introduced me to you, and I’m more than glad that we did this weekend! Your friends have made me feel like one of their own, regardless of whether or not they know about—” She gestures between the two of them, her voice dropping to a whispers as she continues, “—our charade. And anyway, all of it has been nice!”

“Hey—” Seoyeon finally lets Nakyung’s hand go, but only so she can slide her arm around Nakyung, pulling her closer in an almost possessive manner; the latter easily melts against her side anyway, and Seoyeon thinks that she truly feels really fond of this girl.

“You two—” And then Jiheon’s voice is interrupting her reverie, and it’s only then that Seoyeon notices that they’ve reached their table. “Stop eyeballing each other like that,” Jiheon tells them, tone teasing despite having her eyes suspiciously narrowed at them. “The lovey-dovey stuff can wait until you’re back in your own room!”

Seoyeon blushes, but once again, Nakyung appears unfazed, just laughing as she removes herself from Seoyeon’s hold so that she can take one of the unoccupied seats for herself.

hiphophan: so.
hiphophan: u totally have a crush
hiphophan: kkk

seoswag: ???

hiphophan: ur fake gf
hiphophan: if u can still call it fake
hiphophan: u totally *like* like her

seoswag: *like* like
seoswag: are we 10 again?

hiphophan: i mean we *are* using kkt ids we made when we were 10
hiphophan: kkkk
hiphophan: but 15 is probably more appropriate
hiphophan: that was the year when u kept denying ur crush on jisu wasnt it

seoswag: wat r u on
seoswag: idk wat ure talking abt

hiphophan: kkkk
hiphophan: pls u know im right!
hiphophan: i know u 2 well!!

Seoyeon wishes she can deny what Jisung is saying, but he’s right – he does know her pretty well, so she simply leaves him on read. She locks her phone, places it atop the bedside table, and then she gets on the bed, spreading out like a starfish, face pressed against a pillow.

She’s so tired because it's been a long day, and it isn't as if she had ample rest the night before. Lucky, their hotel room had been booked for two nights – perks of being good friends with the couple. Seoyeon wanted to take her time washing up after she and Nakyung had headed back to their room, but she didn't really want to hog the bathroom either. Now she's just wondering why she didn't just let the other girl go first – if she had then maybe she would be having a nice warm bath now, instead of dodging Jisung's KaTalk messages.

“Hey!” Nakyung, of course, because Seoyeon isn't surprised at this point, still looks and sounds pretty chipper as she steps out of the bathroom, face bare, hair completely let down and still looking pretty flawless. 

Seoyeon feels like an ugly duckling compared to her, and after just giving Nakyung a brief glance, she goes back to burrowing her face under a pillow.

Nakyung bounces over towards the bed, and before Seoyeon can even roll over onto her back, she's already feeling Nakyung’s weight on her as the latter playfully lays on top of her.

“Nakko—” Seoyeon grunts; she notices that Nakyung smells mostly like toothpaste. “Get off please.”

Nakyung giggles, but she does comply. She rolls off Seoyeon, and then off the bed completely.

Seoyeon moves around, and watches Nakyung walk over to push open the sliding door that led to a mini balcony.

“Syeon! Come here!” She exclaims as soon as she steps out. “Come on!”

She groans, but she finds herself giving in to Nakyung's whims anyway. She gets out of bed and slowly pads over to the balcony, where she's immediate met with gently blowing evening breeze as soon as she steps out. 

“The city looks really nice from up here,” Nakyung comments, grinning as she leans against the balustrade.

“Well, we are twenty-seven floors up,” Seoyeon comments with a glib chuckle, but she does join Nakyung in looking out at the city. “Although I guess you're right, the night lights look pretty from here.”

Nakyung grins at her validation and nudges Seoyeon's shoulder with hers. “It’s too bad we didn't use the room last night,” she murmurs.

“Yeah—especially since the bed is so nice and all,” Seoyeon comments jokingly. “So we should get in and make the most out of it!”

“Ah!” Nakyung giggles and wags her eyebrows. “That sounds like a loaded statement,” she teases, and Seoyeon blushes because she hadn't even realised the possible innuendo in her words.

“Fine,” she says, sighing and turning away from Nakyung. “We can stay out here for a while.”

Nakyung giggles. “Thank you,” she says, and then she moves to lean against Seoyeon. “The wedding was really nice today. My favorite part was when you, and Hayoung-unnie, and Gyuri-unnie sang for them.”

“Thank you, ” Seoyeon returns. “Hayoung-unnie wrote that song back when we were all still in university—I helped her arrange it, but today was the first time in over two years that we performed it again.”

“You sounded really good, and it's a great song!” Nakyung nods firmly. “My favorite part at weddings is when the couple's friends sing a sappy love song for them—it's the cutest, sweetest form of well-wishing. Too bad I’m probably never getting that.”

“What do you mean?” Seoyeon asks, confused.

Nakyung shrugs. “Just that I’m probably never getting married—it's not like I’m allowed to get married in this country.” She laughs, like she's trying to make light of her own statement even though the truth in it stings for Seoyeon as well.

“You can always… have a private commitment ceremony,” Seoyeon murmurs in suggestion after a few seconds of pregnant silence. “I’ll sing for you, then.”

Nakyung laughs. “Seoyeonnie—” She starts, looking like she has something she wants to say that she can't quite put into words, so Seoyeon keeps silent, just looking at her with anticipation. And then, “I’m going to kiss you again now,” Nakyung says, giggling.

Seoyeon is caught by surprise despite the warning, but before she can answer verbally, Nakyung’s lips are already pressing against hers.

They're as soft and sweet as they were the night before, maybe even more because this time Seoyeon lets herself savor the feeling. No one is watching, and the moment is just for the two of them.

She moves her hand up, fingers clutching at the curve of Nakyung’s shoulder as Seoyeon leans in to the kiss. They're both smiling, laughing as their mouths part against each other's.

Shit, she mentally groans, because Jisung is completely right about her crush on Nakyung, and he isn't going to shut up about it, probably, once she admits to him that he's right.

But she can't bring herself to care too much about that right now, not when she's kissing Nakyung.

She can do this for the rest of the night, easy.

Seoyeon doesn't know what it is that she expects to happen once the weekend is over. Originally, she and Nakyung had agreed that she would inform Saerom of the breakup two weeks – maybe three – later. Whatever the fallout, it was going to be Seoyeon's mess to fix, while Nakyung gets to enjoy rent free life for the next two months. 

What they hadn't talked about was developing actual feelings for each other – at least Seoyeon hopes that it's for each other, and not just one-sided on her part. All that kissing didn't exactly lead to an actual conversation, and even by the time they get back to their apartment the next morning, neither of them have really suggested talking about what happened the previous night.

It starts to make Seoyeon feel like maybe they'd both just gotten carried away by the romance of a wedding mixed with the facade of a relationship.

So, she thinks, maybe she should wait a few days before she confronts Nakyung to maybe ask her if they can turn their fake relationship into a real one.

Maybe.

She wonders if there’s even sense in doing that, and she curses herself for getting involved in a real life predicament that sounds like it was yanked straight out of a TV drama script.

She’s in the middle of pondering all these things, while unpacking her weekend suitcase, when the door to her room swings open and there Nakyung is, smiling at her in an uncertain way that Seoyeon thinks is a bit uncharacteristic of her.

“Yeah?” She asks, looking up at her, surprised by her sudden presence.

“Are you hungry? It’s almost 2, and we haven’t had lunch,” Nakyung relays. “We should order something—are you in the mood for anything?”

Seoyeon blinks through her big, round glasses, and then she shakes her head. “Get anything you want and I’ll pay for half.”

“Okay!” Nakyung nods, and takes her phone out. She stays by Seoyeon’s doorway as she fiddles with her phone, presumably going through her food delivery app and picking out what she wants to eat. Seoyeon doesn’t think she has to do that there, but she tries to go back to unpacking anyway.

“Hey, Seoyeonnie,” Nakyung calls out to her again after a few minutes; she looks up, surprised that Nakyung is still standing there. 

“Yeah?”

“This Friday,” Nakyung begins, “will you go on a date with me?”

Seoyeon turns her head so fast that she probably could’ve gotten whiplash. “What—?”

“I mean—” Nakyung laughs, ducking her head shyly, which Seoyeon finds really cute, even though it’s a complete contrast to how she’s usually so unfazed. “I wasn’t lying you know,” she goes on, before taking a deep breath, and then flashing a more confident smile, one that’s more reminiscent of her usual attitude. “My grandmother really did tell me that I shouldn’t waste time in going after things—and people—that I like. So here I am, not wasting time!”

Seoyeon blinks some more, and then she bursts into laughter. All that worrying she was doing just minutes earlier is apparently for naught, because here Nakyung is, making everything clear once and for all. 

“You’re saying you like me,” Seoyeon repeats anyway.

“Please don’t make me repeat it before you answer the question,” Nakyung says, laughing.

“And this is for real, right? You don’t have a former crush that’s getting married soon, whose wedding you need a date for?”

“Do I look like my name is Lee Seoyeon?” Nakyung teases.

“No—” Seoyeon laughs, shaking her head. She really did pick the most perfect fake girlfriend, and now, she’s being given the chance to find out if she’s just as perfect as a real girlfriend.

“Well?” Nakyung laughs along. “Are you going to keep me in suspense for much longer?”

“Friday night,” Seoyeon answers simply. “It’s a date.”

fin.