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It’s well into Saturday evening when Tzuyu finally makes her way into their shared living room, hair a wreck and her clothes crumpled from a days worth of use. She’s tired and her body feels rough. She smells like greasy food and the smell only increases when she pulls her hair out of the bun she had it in all day. She needs a shower.
Being a waitress has it’s perks as well as it’s downfalls. There are good days and bad and Tzuyu knows this is just a bad day that will soon pass. Her optimism catches her off guard and she giggles a bit. That’s when she notices the notebook, through a surprised smile, wondering how and when she started believing that life could be alright.
She drops her purse on the sofa and reaches down to pick up the object of her curiosity. It’s most likely Dahyun’s. With a burgundy color decorating the outside and slightly yellowed pages nestled within. There’s a childish lock on the cover (like those could actually keep a determined person out of your business) and Tzuyu can’t help but be curious. I’ve never seen this before. Not that we should know everything about each other... we’re only roommates... but we do. What kind of secrets is she hiding from me?
That would be an invasion of privacy, and Tzuyu knows that but she hears the sounds of the shower running and knows Dahyun won’t be out anytime soon. Just one look.
While Tzuyu flips through the first couple pages, there’s a bit of guilt settling deep in her stomach but it is soon replaced with intense curiosity. It appears to be detailed accounts of Dahyun’s greatest hits... literally. She talks about graduating high school, important family vacations, getting her first job, getting her first car... even getting accepted into her dream college.
This was all before she had met her so she smiles as she skims through the accounts of Dahyun’s happiest days, feeling proud at her accomplishments though she wasn’t there when they first happened. Tzuyu can picture her happy smile that reaches her eyes, nose crinkling and her sweet laugh ringing out, all things that Tzuyu has seen and heard daily for three years now. She keeps reading and smiling fondly at someone else’s happiness until she reaches a slightly peculiar entry.
It’s titled First Day at Uni + Someone Special.
Tzuyu remembers her first day of university well. It was the day she met Dahyun.
It was the whole cliché of her getting lost and Dahyun helping her find her class which also happened to be her class.
Tzuyu is not a details person. Her memories are very big picture. This happened, this didn’t happen etcetera. But she remembers that day completely and fully.
She remembers how she nervously messed with her hair over and over while scanning over the room numbers, somehow missing her own. She remembers the tap on her shoulder, a bright smile and a bubbly voice. “Do you need any help?”
Am I that obvious? Tzuyu thought to herself before nodding. “I can’t find my classroom.” (This was before Tzuyu knew that Dahyun was just as new of a student and might have had the same idea as to where it was.)
“Oh, I’m going there too!” She jumped up and down like a rabbit, clearly excited past the normality. Tzuyu smiled nervously.
Dahyun grabbed her hand, babbling, but all Tzuyu could think about was her hand in hers and oh shit, is my hand really sweaty?
“You’re lucky I’m here and I found you! Don’t want you to be late on your first day! You are a freshman, right?” Before Tzuyu could open her mouth to answer, Dahyun continued. “It’s hard to tell... You’re so pretty, you could be a model, has anyone ever told you that?”
“No, thank you. And yes, I am a freshman.”
“Groovy! Anyways, this is it.” She dropped Tzuyu’s hand and Tzuyu frowned slightly without meaning to. “Also... My name is Dahyun! We should walk together all the time. You’re so nice!”
“I’m Tzuyu.” Dahyun kept smiling.
Tzuyu flipped past the memory fondly. It was the day she met her best friend and her future roommate. Of course she wrote about it. There’s no hidden meaning.
But as Tzuyu kept reading, her mouth dropped, eyes growing wide. Instead of each entry being about important events in Dahyun’s life, they started being all about Tzuyu. She was mentioned in every single entry.
Times when they had hung out after classes, when she met Tzuyu’s parents, when Tzuyu had met hers. It was all there. The history of their friendship, as told by a clueless Dahyun.
She wrote about the time Tzuyu almost kissed her in her car in the parking lot of a gas station. She wrote about the slushies and soft music but she didn’t write about the shame Tzuyu felt when Dahyun didn’t notice her advances. It was fine because Dahyun was being Dahyun and giving herself brain freezes on purpose, smiling widely and holding her sticky hands while overplayed pop music came from the car speakers.
Dahyun wrote about the day they moved in to the dorms together, recalling fondly how they ordered pizza and slept on the floor with nothing but a single pillow and each other. She wrote about cuddling into the crook of Tzuyu’s neck and making jokes while Tzuyu remembers how much she wanted to tell Dahyun she loved her and stay like that forever.
But most surprising of all the entries was when Dahyun wrote about when she failed one of her classes. Tzuyu remembers the anguish in Dahyun’s voice when she managed to pry it out of her. (She would have done anything to make her smile again... And she did.)
She went to the store and got all of Dahyun’s favorite snacks, rented a cheesy movie that she knew Dahyun loved even if she wouldn’t admit it. She persuaded Dahyun out of her room after a lot of complaining and threatening to tickle her. She covered her with blankets and made sure she was her happiest and most comfortable.
Dahyun’s big smile came back after not too long and Tzuyu had a big urge to kiss her. It wasn’t new but it was stronger, a lot stronger than before. She didn’t though.
Dahyun asked her to hold her hands and so Tzuyu did even though it pained her that it wasn’t the way she wanted.
There were a couple more entries before Tzuyu finally got to the end of the journal. The entry was dated with today’s date.
Yes, I left this journal out for a reason. I know you, Tzuyu. And I knew you would open it and read it even though it clearly isn’t for your eyes. Tzuyu blushed because that was exactly what happened.
The truth is, I’m a coward. I have to go out of my way to show that I appreciate you now because I don’t do enough daily just to let you know how you’ve impacted my life. You make me happier than anybody has in a very long time. You give me happy things to write about. Now my journal is almost filled. I thought life would fall flat once I got into university. I figured that I would just put my journal in my bedside drawer and have it collect dust while I struggle through school. But you changed everything.
Tzuyu hears the water turn off and the shower door shut close.
So... Thanks for making me happy and I hope you understand why I showed this to you. It’s because I love you, in a million ways. And you make my heart feel like jelly even though I don’t really know what that means (I’m assuming it’s a good thing).
The bathroom door swings open, there are some footsteps and a drenched Dahyun appears in her vision. She’s wearing a t-shirt that’s a bit too big and now wet from her hair and sweatpants. And she still looks good.
“I knew it! I knew you’d look. You’re so predictable.”
“Oh, am I?” Tzuyu smirks and gets up, gathering all the courage she’s gained since the day she first met Dahyun and fell for her.
Her arms are crossed and she is leaning against the wall smugly in true Dahyun fashion. Her smile is big but it isn’t the biggest it’s ever been and Tzuyu takes a breath before rushing forward.
Dahyun looks shocked for a split second before their lips touch and it is everything Tzuyu wants and everything she has ever wanted in one. She knows that she smells like grease and sweat from her job and Dahyun just showered but at the moment, Tzuyu can’t seem to care. Their lips move together, connecting and working together in all the right ways and it’s exactly the way Tzuyu imagined it. She can smell Dahyun’s flowery shampoo and her mouth tastes like mint, indicating that she just finished brushing her teeth. Tzuyu’s hand is resting on Dahyun’s back and it’s slightly damp from her wet hair. She feels a signature Dahyun smile against her lips.
They pull apart slowly, like neither of them wants to have to stop but they can’t breathe and Dahyun starts giggling.
“I think you understood.” Dahyun speaks onto her cheek, breathless before connecting their lips again.