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"What is love?" Hitomi asked when they were lazying around the dorm. The bread girl had her body draped over Chaewon, her head resting in the crook of her neck, feeling fingers threading through her hair. It was peaceful, to say the least as the two were the only ones in the dorm; the others had gone out for their weekly grocery run.
"What's with the sudden question?" Chaewon asked. It was normal for Hitomi to ask random questions but today's question was albeit a little different. Her fingers that were running through the younger's hair stopped as it rested at the curve of her back. She watched the pursed lips and slightly wrinkled forehead of the bread girl who slightly lowered her head.
"I don't know," she said softly, snuggling closer towards the warmth of the laying body, "It just suddenly popped out."
Chaewon nodded her head as she pulled Hitomi closer, hearing the small happy sigh escaping the younger's lips. They stayed that way as the clock ticked, a second passing by before it became two and soon they were sitting in silence. Hitomi could hear the slow and calm beating of the elder's heart from her current position, the sound making her feel at ease.
"What kind of answer do you want me to give? A random answer or some well-thought answer?"
"I don't mind, just so you know,"
"You don't but I do," Chaewon said with sudden determination in her voice. Hitomi knowing that she can't just say that she doesn't mind decides to go with the second option.
"Give me a well-thought answer, Chaewonnie," she said as she got up from the comfortable position in Chaewon's arms. She looked at the elder who frowned at the sudden lack of warmth and sat up straight on the couch. Chaewon had her eyes on the bread girl, waiting for her to finish her sentence.
"And tell it to me before we go to bed."
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The moment Hitomi left to retreat to her bedroom, Chaewon started to think about her answer. 'What was love?' she questioned herself. It was something that she knows about but somehow words aren't able to describe her take on love.
She looked at her phone that was on the coffee table and thought of using the power of Google. But her answer wouldn't seem realistic and will be very robotic, to say the least. She thought about the pros and cons of using Google to figure out the answer. Pros of using Google; detailed explanation in a very general way, easy to understand. The cons of using Google; THE ANSWER ISN'T GENUINE!!!
Chaewon finally decided that she will use the mighty power of Google but put in her examples and twists. (Later she would realise that Google wasn't all that mighty.)
Her hand reached out to grab her phone, unlocking it quickly before opening Google. The search bar was filled with the exact words Hitomi had said, 'What is love?', before Chaewon hit Enter. In less than a second, her screen was filled with the definition of love from multiple sources and she scrolled through them briefly. All the websites giving her answers all had the same response.
Love. Is. Complex.
She wasn't even surprised by the conclusion she made after reading 10 different websites that defined love; although they were mainly psychology websites. She looked through each website, silently making notes in her head at the different interpretations of love.
Love is a mix of emotions, behaviours, and beliefs associated with strong feelings of affection, protectiveness, warmth and respect for another person. It can also be applied to non-human animals, to principles and religious beliefs.
"So, to sum it up," Chaewon said softly to herself after reading the short paragraph from a blog, "Love is a form of affection towards something."
She suddenly wished that Eunbi-unnie was at home so she could ask her this question, but she knows the elder won't be home until nightfall with the other members. Chaewon got up from the couch, stretching her back and walked towards the bathroom. "I need a shower,"
Little did she know that Hitomi was silently watching her from the tiny opening of her door, and that the younger girl had a small smile on her face.
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Chaewon let a relaxed sigh out of her lips at the feeling of hot water running down her spine. The sound of the water hitting the floor together with the steam fogging up the glass walls of the shower stall made her unaware of her surroundings. She hummed to a random song that she heard on the radio in the car and swayed her hips lightly to the imaginary beat. Her hands were busy lathering her hair with shampoo as her body started to do a little dance before going into a full-out concert in the small shower stall.
I've been thinking bout' you~
Wondering who's stuck in your head at night~
Wonder if I ever cross your mind~
Keeping you up in your bed at night~
She sang at the top of her lungs as she washed away the shampoo, shouting a little at the shampoo that had found her way to her eyes before continuing with her jamming. She failed to notice that the bathroom door was being unlocked and the light patters of feet that was heading towards her. Chaewon continued with her mini-concert before yelping out in shock at the sudden intruder.
"AHH!!" she shouted, her hands fumbling to cover her naked self. A bubbly laugh echoed through the bathroom and Chaewon glared at the intruder who decided to enter right before she hits the chorus.
"It's just me, unnie~" Hitomi said as she joined the elder under the shower, pushing her away slightly before turning to face her. "Don't bother covering yourself up since I've seen it many times before," she added with a playful smirk on her lips. The shorter reached out to the bottle of shampoo but Chaewon beat her to it.
"Hii-chan, as much as I enjoy looking at you now, but what made you decide to intrude my lovely shower?" Chaewon asked with fake anger lacing her voice and her arms folded as she gave signature glare towards the unbothered bread.
She took back the bottle with ease, tipping it over her palm before pouring some out. She remained unbothered to the glaring radish as she massaged her scalp with the shampoo, knowing that the elder wouldn't ask her to get out. And she was right. Chaewon merely shook her head before joining her.
"So, how is it going so far? Figuring out your answer?"
"It's going well, and I'll be able to tell you it before dinner."
Hitomi nodded her head, knowing very well that the elder had depended on the power of Google to give her answer and decided to play around. "Unnie, you didn't just Google the answer, right?"
She saw out of the corner of her eye the small pause that Chaewon made when she washing her body. The elder's shoulders were tense at the question but she shook her head. Hitomi wanted to laugh at her how funny she looked as she silently panicked for an answer.
"Of course not, Hitoma," she said confidently but the slight waver in her voice sells her out. The bread girl decides to ignore the wavering voice of the taller who had started to list out reasons as to why she didn't use Google.
"-Google will not be able to give you a genuine answer." was all Hitomi managed to catch at the fast ranting of random words of Chaewon and she stifled her laughter. She washed off the remaining soap that was still left on her body and closed the tap. The sound of water dropping came to a halt but the glass wall was still fogged up.
She ignored the bewildered face of the elder and step out of the shower after whispering a few words towards the currently frozen girl. She gave her a wave goodbye with a smirk on her face as she walked out of the bathroom. Chaewon stood still at the corner of the tiny stall, hands left hanging by her side as she could still feel the hot breath of the younger's whisper against her ear; the familiar heat forming below.
"I look forward to your answer, Chaewonnie~"
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Hitomi sat on one of the dining chairs as she waited for Chaewon to come out from her room. She knew she heard small moans coming from the bathroom and she blushed at the imaginary scene of what she was doing the moment she left. The bread girl shook her head at the indecent thoughts, knowing that their dear leader would be looking at her with a big disappointed frown on her face if she knew what she was thinking about.
She heard the front door opening and the members started entering one-by-one, their hands carrying a bag of groceries each. She raised her eyebrows at the cute animal headbands that sat on their heads as they greeted her with a huge smile and Eunbi came in the last, carrying more groceries compared to the other members.
As if on instinct, Hitomi got up from her seat, quickly walking towards the elder and taking some of the bags from her. The leader muttered a small thanks with a thankful smile as she instructed everyone to place the bags in the kitchen. The previously calm and quiet dorm (except for the moans earlier) was bustling with people as voices came from every direction.
"Unnie, there isn't any place in the fridge for my yoghurt!"
"Did anyone remember to buy strawberries?"
"Saku-chan, those are for Kwangbae!!"
She took pity on the leader who was busy instructing every member and started to help out with organising the pantry together with her fellow Japanese, Nako. They greeted each other with a short nod as they began placing all the dried food items onto the shelves.
"What were you and Chaewon unnie up to?" Nako asked as she passed over a box of cereals that needed to be placed in the higher shelves to Hitomi.
"Nothing much," she answered with a small shrug of her shoulders. "We didn't do much actually."
"Now that sounds boring."
"Where did you guys get the headband?" Hitomi gestured towards the cute penguin headband that rested at the top of Nako's head, looking at the wide grin that was on her face.
"We saw a store selling them on our way back from the grocery store and Wonyoung wanted one. So, we told Manager-oppa to drop us off and we bought one for ourselves."
Nako must have sensed that she was going to ask if they bought one for her as she quickly added, "We bought one for you and Chaewon-unnie too! It should be in one of the bags Minjoo was carrying,"
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Dinner was very amusing as Chaewon stared at her members doing their usual shenanigans of pissing off their leader. The eldest had her head in her palms as she ignored the shouts of mayhem going around the dining table. It all started after Yena stole a piece of chicken from their resident foodie's plate and Chaewon could only wonder if the duck knew it meant death.
"YAH!!! CHOI YENA!!! GIVE ME BACK MY GODDAMN CHICKEN!!!"
She winced at the curse word used despite it being a very small one and looked over to the fuming leader whose eyes were following the two 99-liners running around the dining table. A hand came down onto the table causing the two to stop at their positions and turning to look at the eldest with a sheepish grin on their faces.
"When can we ever have a peaceful dinner?" Eunbi-unnie had asked with a stern look on her face as she glared at the usual troublemakers who always disrupts the peaceful dinner.
"To be fair, unnie," Hyewon said as she took away the drumstick Yena had stolen while pointing it towards her, "She started it first."
"Just sit down," Chaewon said softly and the two girls went back to their seats. She stared at the leader who gave a grateful look towards her and she decided to put her focus on the small piece of chicken that had suddenly appeared on her plate. Hitomi looked away as she continued to silently eat her meal but gave a shy smile. The radish smiled widely as she whispered a small thanks before going back to her food.
The rest of the dinner had passed rather calmly with the constant glares from the two eldest members, daring the troublemakers to erupt into chaos. But Chaewon couldn't tell Hitomi her answer yet, saying that she would rather do it in the privacy of their bedroom rather than out in the dining room. Hitomi agrees, saying that the other members would not let Chaewon live if they heard what her response is to the question.
The two escaped towards the room as soon as they finished eating, fleeing before Eunbi could even question their sudden and early retreat. The other members were blank as they stared at the closing door, hearing it lock behind them. Chaeyeon shrugged saying that maybe the two wanted some alone time or wanted to rest early but Yena and Yujin had other ideas.
"Unnie, they wouldn't lock the door if they wanted to rest,"
"Yujinie is right, Chaeyeon-ah. Perhaps they want to have-"
"Continue that sentence, Choi and you're dead."
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"Have you figured out the answer?" Hitomi asked the moment the door closed behind them. She walked towards the bed, plopping down on it before looking at the elder expectantly. Chaewon cleared her throat as she got ready to present her answer, acting as if she was going to give a presentation.
"Good evening, today I shall answer the question that Honda Hitomi-shi has given me," she said out loud much to the amusement of the mentioned. "The question given was 'What is love?' and I shall present my findings."
Hitomi clapped at the short intro and was silenced by the finger Chaewon raised to her lips. "Love is a mix of emotions, behaviours, and beliefs associated with strong feelings of affection, protectiveness, warmth and respect for another person. It can also be applied to non-human animals, to principles and religious beliefs. Love is complex."
Chaewon pauses for a moment, waiting for Hitomi's reaction and was net with a raised eyebrow. "Is that all?" Hitomi questions at the very short answer as she expected more details and explanations. "It sounds like you took it off from Google, Chaewonnie,"
"I'm not finished. Geez, I was waiting for like some reactions," the presenter said laughing before continuing. "Love to some is the adoration of an individual that cherishes them, loves them and puts them above anything else. Some may say love is a superficial feeling caused by some delusions of reaching a happy ending with something. But for me, personally, love is in the form of a girl shorter than me and pinchable bread cheeks. Love to me is Honda Hitomi."
Hitomi blushed scarlet at the sudden confession and she bit back a smile threatening to form on her face. She stared at the elder with seriousness as she waited for her to continue.
"Why do I say this person is what love is? Because I don't know how can people not love her, with her fluffy cheeks, cute voice and the way her eyes crinkle when she laughs, her eyes filled with innocence, her magnificent abs that keep making me go 'WOW' and how can I forget her sweet singing voice," By then, Hitomi was red all over as she stared at the smirking Chaewon who knew that the answer pleased her to no ends. A wide toothy grin was on her lips and the elder mirrored her expression as she signalled that she didn't finish yet.
"The way her hands fit perfectly into mine and the way she would always be the little spoon when we're cuddling. No matter how many people were in the room, it always felt like it was just the two of us. How every little thing she does makes me smile like a fool. And she is what love means to me."
Chaewon ends her short speech and Hitomi immediately jumped at her, crushing her into a hug and she stumbled back slightly at the sudden weight. She steadied herself as Hitomi muttered somewhere along the lines of "Damn you, Chaewonnie," and "I love you too," against her shoulder. The radish pulls away to stare at the shorter whose eyes were glistening in tears from happiness and asked, "Did my answer satisfy your curiosity, Honda Hitomi-shi?"
Lips were on hers the moment she had asked, Hitomi's hands coming to wrap around her neck as Chaewon held her face as she reciprocated the kiss. Hitomi smiles as they pulled away as she answered, "Yes," before crashing their lips together again.
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The couple laid in bed, their arms wrapped around one another as they stared at the ceiling. It was a quiet night with the whirring of the air conditioner being the only sound either than the calm breaths of the two.
"You know, Chaewonnie, I saw you googling for answers the moment I left for my room earlier," Hitomi confesses and she smiled cheekily at the blushing cheeks of the other who tightened her hug.
"Oh... So you saw all of it?"
"Yepp~" Chaewon laughed embarrassed, now knowing that Hitomi was watching her all along and Hitomi gave her peck on her cheeks. "It's fine~ At least the answer you gave me was," she quotes, "Genuine."
"I guess that's true,"
They were engulfed in silence again and Hitomi turned over to lay her head on Chaewon's chest, listening to the usual calm beating of her heart as Chaewon kissed the crown of her head. The sound was calming and the bread felt her eyes fluttering close and she remembers the radish telling her good night as she fell asleep.
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