Work Text:
Chaewon woke up feeling happy knowing that a bread girl had slept over the night before. She rolled over to her side, looking forward to see a bread girl next to her but woke up to the cold air. She sat up confused as to why she was waking up alone when she knew that the girl had slept over.
She laid back down thinking about the night before if Hitomi had mentioned she was leaving early but couldn't remember. She stared at the ceiling. hearing the chirping of birds at the sunlight hits her face. She rubbed her hands over her face, frustrated that she woke up in an empty bed.
She remembered the girl walking towards her house, then knocking on her door. Chaewon wasn't expecting guests over so she was shocked that the bread girl had showed up. "Hii-chan, what are you doing here? "she said staring at the bread girl, with red cheeks.
Chaewon sniffed at the air smelling the faint smell of wine over the girl, and ask if she had been drinking. The bread girl nod at the accusation and rubbed her hands over her bare arms, feeling a cold breeze blowing. She asked the still Chaewon if she could go in, but the elder wasn't responding. She cleared her throat gaining the attention of the elder who had red cheeks, and immediately ushered the cold bread inside.
The bread girl made her way towards the fireplace that Chaewon had, warming herself up as she was feeling cold outside and Chaewon went to get a cup of hot chocolate for the younger. Hitomi accepted the cup, muttering a small thank you, and took small sips of the drink.
“What brings you here, Hii-chan?”
“I had no other places to go to. My roommate had her boyfriend over and I don’t want to disturb them,”
“You could have gone to Minjoo’s house?”
“I don’t want to disturb her,”
“So, you decided to disturb me instead?”
“Rather than disturbing, I just...wanted to know you better, unnie.”
Chaewon felt a smile forming on her face at the words of the younger girl as she felt happy that she was finally wanting to open up to the elder girl. Hitomi sat quietly, turning to face the smiling elder before smiling on her own.
“So...What do you want to know?”. Chaewon said with a smile looking at the latter, expecting a question. Hitomi shook her head at the question, “Tell me about yourself,unnie.”
“My name is Kim Chaewon, and look rather similar to a radish. I enjoy singing since I was young and my mom is a famous theatre actress. Some people like to say that my voice is like an angel, but I like to think it is an exaggeration. I’m currently single, but I do have my eyes on someone.”
“Ooooo...Do I know this person?”
“You know her very well,”
“Tell me more, unnie,”
“About what? My love interest or myself?”
“Yourself, unnie. But if you do want to spill the tea, go ahead. I’m not complaining,”
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Chaewon spent the night telling the curious younger girl of her days as a high school student, laughing at the one memory that came to mind. It was near the midterm examination, and Chaewon was in the school library, studying when a couple of juniors came stumbling in.
“ Sunbae. Would you like to play a game?” The tallest that Chaewon knew as Yujin asked. She tilted her in confusion, wondering what type of game they were talking about. Yujin must have noticed her confusion as the girl quickly replied, “Let’s play hide and seek, sunbae”
“ Um...Where??”
“In here, of course!” The junior replied with a cheeky smile. Chaewon eyes almost fell out of her sockets at the words of the taller girl.
“ W-WHAT!?”
“ Please, unnieee...Plleaseeee..”. Chaewon turned to look at one of her favourite junior, Wonyoung pleading at her with the damn puppy eyes and the radish couldn’t refuse. She agreed, with the condition that they don’t make too much trouble.
“ YEAYYY !!!!!”
The girls briefly explained to Chaewon the rules and gave her tips on where to hide. Yujin was going to find them and the girls started to run, finding the best spot to hide. Chaewon ran towards the one spot where she knows all those girls wouldn’t be able to find and hid there. The library had an attic, which overlooks the entire library but no one would be able to see her.
The radish climbed up the stairs as slowly as possible before hiding herself near the front of the attic. She looked at the juniors that were scattered around the library, and Chaewon smiled knowing the positions of all of them. The moment Yujin counted to 10, the excited puppy immediately ran around, easily spotting all of the girls except Chaewon.
The girls went around the library, finding for a certain radish but gave up after 10 minutes of non-stop searching. Some of them believed that Chaewon had left the library when in reality Chaewon was silently laughing at all of them. Deciding to stop worrying about her juniors, she stepped down from the attic slowly and walked towards them.
“ You guys couldn’t find me, you say??”
“ UNNIE!!” Wonyoung shouted, at the emerging figure of Chaewon. The elder girl winced at the shout, silently thanking that the librarian wasn’t in at the moment.
“ Where did you hide, unnie? We couldn’t find you at all,”. Chaewon winked at the girl, smirking as she told them that she would never tell them where she was. The next few days were the same, where the girls would play hide and seek every lunch break they had. The unions could never figure out where Chaewon was hiding, and would always be searching for the radish but Chaewon was nowhere to be seen. Sometimes, the radish would pack a lunch box and ate as she watched the girls scrambling around to find her.
One day, on their usual hide and seek, the door to the library was opened by the headmistress followed by the school’s chairman’s daughter. She had a proud smirk on her face as she tattled on to the headmistress about what they had been doing. The headmistress would have steams coming out from her ears in a cartoon as her face turned red.
“ WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK YOU ARE DOING !!!”
The shout caused Yujin to stop chasing Wonyoung and multiple heads popped out in between the shelves. Chaewon nearly dropped her chopsticks but stayed still. She could see the girls looking down in embarrassment and Chaewon tried to gain the attention of the nearest junior of hers.
“ Psst..hey...Nako..” The midget turned around finding the source of the voice and saw Chaewon. She widened her eyes at the elder girl, now knowing the hiding spot of the girl before signalling the girl to stay put.
“ Chaewon senpai...Shut up and stay still, if you don’t want to die,”
“ B-but-”, Nako glared at the elder girl and the radish shut her mouth. The headmistress was going on about how disappointed she was at all of them and proceeded to scold them for violating school rules.
“Ma’am, someone is missing,” the prat who tattled on them said as she looked around.
“I’m guessing she ran away already,”. Chaewon could see Nako signalling her to not move and the girls listened on as the headmistress started talking about their punishments. The girls sucked in a breath as the headmistress announced that they would be sent back home, and those with positions as a prefect would be removed.
“Why do I smell kimchi,” the prat mumbled out, and everyone in the room started sniffing at the air. Chaewon cursed silently realizing she haven’t closed her lunchbox and doing it now will expose her position. The headmistress turned into a brighter shade of red as disbelief was written all over her face.
“ WHO ATE IN THE LIBRARY ???”
Nako facepalmed herself as all the girls started to deny the accusation. The headmistress was even more angered at the denying girls until she shouted out loudly, “ YOU ARE ALL SUSPENDED FOR A WEEK !!”
Numerous gasps could be heard around the room, and Wonyoung cried softly with Yujin by her side. The prat was smiling so gloriously at her action, sneering at all of the girls. Chaewon couldn’t accept it so she decided to show herself. She threw her lunchbox towards the laughing betrayer, the kimchi spilling onto her clothes as she let out a shriek.
Everyone was looking around, finding the source of the flying kimchi and Chaewon jumped down from the attic, landing perfectly on the floor. The headmistress looked at the radish with shock written all over her face as the prat ran out of the library.
“ Kim Chaewon, what are you doing !!”
“ Hey Ma’am. Erm... You see... I was the one who recommended them to play because they were so stressed out by the upcoming examinations. Also, I was the one eating because I always get hungry when I’m studying.”
“Y-y-you-”
“I sincerely apologized for the troubles that my juniors have caused, so punish me instead,” Chaewon said putting on her apologetic face as she bowed at a perfect 90 degree towards the still in disbelief teacher. She rises back up, with tears rolling down her face as she apologized again.
“See me in my office, Chaewon”
In the end, none of the girls were punished as Chaewon had admitted to being the one behind everything. But the radish wasn’t punished nor expelled, the school said that it was fine as Chaewon might had have her reason for doing so as well as the fact the she was often representing the school in multiple competitions.
————————————————————————————————————————
“ So..you’re telling me you were some hotshot during your school years?”
The radish nodded her head proudly as the bread girl started laughing at how ridiculous she sounded but didn’t comment on it. The clock signalled it was 2 in the morning and Hitomi said that she would be heading home. The bread girl stood up, thanking the elder girl once more but a hand went to grab at her wrist as Chaewon muttered, “ Spend the night with me,”
Chaewon reasoned out, saying that it was very late and no taxis were coming to her neighbourhood, but she just wanted the bread girl to stay. Knowing that there was no point in arguing with the elder girl, Hitomi caved in.
The two girls laid in Chaewon’s king-sized bed in awkward silence. Chaewon could hear her heart beating out of her chest as she looked up to her ceiling. She could hear the calm breathing of the other girl and concluded that the girl had fallen asleep. She turned around, facing the sleeping girl but froze when she heard the girl talking.
“Are you asleep, Chaewon unnie?”
“No,”
“You still haven’t told me who you liked,” Hitomi said as she rolled over to face the taller girl. The room was dark except for the moonlight shining through the windows and Chaewon could briefly make out her face. The bangs that were swept to the side, the perfect curve of her eyebrows, the soft brown eyes that Chaewon often got lost in, the cute button nose, the one side of her cheeks that was squished by her pillow, and the pinkish lips that looked tempting.
“Are you that curious?”
“I’ll be lying if I said I wasn’t,” Hitomi replied with a laugh.
“Her name starts with an H,”
“Hyewon unnie?”
“No..”
“Hyeri sunbae?”
“She’s younger than me,” Chaewon said, amused by the random guessing of the younger girl who proceeded to name everyone that they know of starting with the letter H.
“Aish...I can’t think of anyone else,” Hitomi pouted her lips, as she decided to stop guessing. “Just tell me who it is already, unnie. I’m dying from curiosity.”
“Has the thought of you being the one ever crossed your mind?” A smirk was on Chaewon’s lips as she stared at the younger girl. Hitomi had open her mouth in surprise and immediately turned around, not facing the elder girl.
Chaewon let out a chuckle at the cute expression of the younger girl and scooted over to her, wrapping her arms around the waist of the blushing girl. She could hear some incoherent mumbling from the younger girl but concluded that it was simply because she was embarrassed. Chaewon was spooning the bread that turned around to face her. Her brown eyes were looking at the elder’s face that might signal that she was joking, but felt her breath hitch at the loving gaze the elder was giving her.
“It’s true, Hii-chan. I’m not joking,”
Hitomi leaned forward, locking eyes with the elder girl until their lips were a few millimetres away and whispered, “It’s good to know I wasn’t the only one who had feelings,” and pressed their lips together.
————————————————————————————————————————
Chaewon blushed slightly at the memory but looked around, not seeing the bread girl anywhere. She went to get herself cleaned up, and looked around her house for any clues or notes that Hitomi might have left before leaving. When she found none, Chaewon cursed out as she realized that maybe Hitomi never meant it when she said she liked Chaewon as well.
The rest of the day went by with a sulking Chaewon whose behaviour didn’t go unnoticed by her senior at work. “What got you in a pissy mood, Chaewon-ahh?”. Chaewon glanced at her senior not wanting to talk about it and went back to her work.
“Nothing,unnie.”
“What do you mean by nothing!? The whole office can feel a depressing aura coming from your desk, and you say it’s nothing !?”
“It’s none of your concern, Eunbi unnie,”
“It is my concern when my best worker is slumping around like someone died.”
“It’s fine. It’s just-...Love problems”
Eunbi gave a pitiful look at the radish and decided not to bother the girl anymore. Chaewon stared at her phone as she contemplated on whether to send a message to the younger girl or not but decided not to. She let out a sigh and got back to work.
By the end of the day, Chaewon haven’t received a text from the bread girl at all and walked towards a bar, wanting to get a drink to clear her mind. She walked in, listening to the live jazz band playing some tunes and the small murmurs of people, sitting at the counter.
“What can I get for you?”
“Anything would do,’
“Rough day?” The bartender said as he wiped his cups. Chaewon nodded her head, and he said,“ One Moscow Mule coming right up,”
A copper cup was placed in front of her, neatly decorated with 2 slices of lime at the top of the ice.
“ Vodka, ginger beer, and lime juice creates a drink with a refreshing taste and is perfect for any situation. Enjoy,”
Chaewon thanked the man and chugged down the entire glass, placing it down on the counter as she asked for another. She took out her phone, staring at Hitomi’s contact and ruffled her hair. She was trying to figure out what had gone wrong the night before but couldn’t think of anything. She grabbed at her hair trying to think but nothing came out. The bartender must have noticed her stress and offered her a stronger mix, Chaewon chugged it all down.
A few hours later, Chaewon was drunk from the number of shots she had swallowed. The bartender tried to avoid pouring the girl more glasses saying that she was drunk, but Chaewon didn’t care. Soon enough, she was passed out on the counter and the bartender decided to call the person who had just texted her.
————————————————————————————————————————
Hitomi entered the bar as she looked around for the elder girl. Someone had called her saying that Chaewon had passed out after having too much to drink, and let out a sigh in relief at the sight of the bob-haired girl. The bartender was pacing around nervously and brightened up at the sight of the bread.
“You must be her friend, right? Your friend drank too much over some love problems and passed out,”
“I’m sorry for the inconvenience,” Hitomi apologized as she grabbed the handbag of the sleeping girl.
“It’s fine, Miss. But do you need some help?”
“Er...Yes, actually. Could you help me carry her to my car?”
The two figures emerged out of the bar, with Chaewon thrown onto the back of the bartender who helped Hitomi. The girl was mumbling in her sleep and he placed her down gently in the backseat of Hitomi’s car. The bread girl thanked the man before apologizing for the troubles caused.
“It’s fine, Miss. Good night.”
Hitomi ran into some trouble in carrying the girl to her apartment. She cursed at the flight of stairs that she has to climb towards her apartment, suddenly regretting buying the unit. She had to wake the girl up so she could at least half drag the girl, so she slapped the girl.
“Chaewon unnie.”
*smack*
“Can you please wake up,”
*smack*
After a few slaps, Chaewon woke up startled as she looked around and her eyes landed on the bread girl that was less than an inch away from her face. She suddenly remembered what had happened in the morning so she stood up and walked away angrily, startling the younger girl.
“Where are you going, unnie!?” Hitomi’s shouted alarmed.
“I’m going back home!”
“What nonsense are you talking about, unnie. You’re drunk!!”
“Where were you in the morning, Hitomi?”
“W-What..?”
“I said, where were you this morning?”
“I-...This isn’t the time to talk about it unnie. You’re drunk! So get back here and we can talk about it in the morning when you’re sobered,”
Chaewon scoffed in disbelief as Hitomi looked at her worriedly. She could see the elder girl walking up towards her, glaring as she spoke, “ In the morning?? Why?? So you can disappear again??”
“What are you talking about, unnie?”
“Where were you this morning? Because when I woke up you weren’t there, and you didn’t even bother to text me or even left a note,”
“As I said earlier, we’ll talk about in the morning, unnie,” Hitomi said tiredly but elder the girl stood still.
“Let me guess. You were at Minju’s house, after all, I’m just the side girl, right?” Chaewon spits out the words with her voice filled with venom at the younger girl. She smirked as she saw the expression of the younger girl who was holding her anger.
“I didn’t know you were such a sl-” The sound of Hitomi slapping the girl ringed in her ears as Hitomi glared at the elder with tears in her eyes. Chaewon scoffed as she held her sore cheeks glaring at the younger girl.
“I was at the hospital, after receiving a call from my father saying that my brother was in an accident. How could you think that I was at someone else’s house!?” Hitomi gritted her teeth as Chaewon started to become more sober. She felt ashamed of herself for doubting the younger girl and was about to apologize but the younger girl cut her off.
“Enough. Just-.....leave,”
Chaewon looked at the retreating back of the younger girl as she cursed at herself for being so stupid. She waited until the girl had safely entered her apartment before slowly walking back to her own.
————————————————————————————————————————
Chaewon cried in her room with a bottle of whiskey in her hands as she drank it. She messed everything up and ruined her relationship with the bread girl. She cried herself to sleep every night, regretting the words that she had said when she was drunk and remember the hurt expression of the younger girl. She destroyed everything and Chaewon couldn’t find a reason for her to be happy.
Eunbi came to her house a couple of times to check on the radish, and tried to persuade the girl to at least show up to work but the girl didn’t care anymore. She was filled with regret and guilt from the night that kept replaying in her head every hour of the day and Eunbi would sometimes just give up with the attitude of the younger girl.
“Hi-chan isn’t doing that well as well you know,”.The mention of the bread girl’s name gained Chaewon’s attention as she looked up at the elder girl. Eunbi sighed at the reaction and continued.
“She’s been waiting for you to apologize to her.”
“She doesn’t deserve me. Not after what I said,”
“OH MY GOD, KIM CHAEWON!!! SHE LOVES YOU, YOU IDIOT!!!” Eunbi shouted at the girl that looked at her with widened eyes.
“She forgave you already, and she’s just waiting for you to apologize to her. She knows what you are doing every day because she is worried!!”
“Y-you-re k-kidding,”
“ I. AM. NOT. So, get your shit together and apologize,”
————————————————————————————————————————
Chaewon found herself in front of Hitomi’s door with a bouquet of roses in her hand. She felt nervous about the thought of the girl rejecting her and hating her, but she trusted Eunbi so she knocked on the door. A small voice telling to wait a moment filled Chaewon’s ear and soon the door swung open.
Chaewon stared at the bread girl who was shocked at her presence and looked down at her shoes. “Chaewon..unnie..?”. The taller girl cleared her throat as she asked if she could come in and Hitomi stood aside welcoming the girl. The two girls made it to the living room and an awkward silence envelops them.
“ I apologize for the words I said the other day, Hii-chan,” the elder girl broke the silence as she kneeled on the floor, passing the flowers to the younger girl who was flustered.
“EH...Why are you kneeling? Stand up, unnie.” She said as she tried to persuade the girl to stand back up.
“I don’t think I should be forgiven after what I have said because they hurt you.”
“U-unnie...It’s fine, just stand, please. Or even sit on the couch.”
“NO!!! It isn’t fine, Hii-chan. I hurt you.” Chaewon said as her voice broke at the end as tears started to fall.
“I shouldn’t have said those words to you, sober or not. And I understand if you hat-”
“I never hated you, unnie. Yes, I was mad at what you said but I was more disappointed that you doubted me. Tell me unnie, do you love me?”
Chaewon looked at the younger girl in shock and replied immediately, “Of course, I love you.”
“Then apology accepted,” Hitomi said as she brought the kneeling girl to stand. The two girls stared at each other as Chaewon was still crying.
“I don’t deserve your forgiveness, Hii-chan.”
“You do, Chaewonnie...You do..”
“No..I don-”
Chaewon was cut off by Hitomi placing her lips onto hers as the bread girl’s arms went around her waist. Chaewon pulled away, shaking her head in disagreement but stood still when Hitomi started talking.
“Kim Chaewon, I love you so much, and I know you love me as well. I admit that the words you said to me was hurtful, but I forgive you because I know you didn’t mean it. So just shut up, stop resisting or disagreeing and kiss me,”