Work Text:
2022, spring.
Somewhere along the line, things get messy.
“You got offered a scholarship to study in Italy?”
If Hyunjung was brave enough to look up at Juyeon, she would see how her eyes begin to water. She would see the way her bottom lip quivers ever so slightly and the grip on her backpack’s strap tightens.
But Hyunjung isn’t a brave person, never was.
So, she settles on nodding in silence, gaze not daring to move from her fidgeting fingers.
“So, it’s true,” Juyeon scoffs, “and you didn’t think to tell me?”
“I wasn’t planning on accepting it,” she begins, but is quickly shut down.
“That’s not the point.”
Once more, silence fills up the room. It’s suffocating, almost.
“You really don’t get it, do you?”
Hyunjung’s lips part, searching for the right words – for any words – to say, but nothing comes out. She feels trapped, like it doesn’t matter what she does say, because it will just have her digging her grave deeper and deeper.
She sighs and reminds herself that she brought this on her own. Juyeon has every right to be upset at her. And it’s not like she has enough time to build a time machine from zero and erase her mistakes, so she does the next best thing: apologize.
“Juyeon-ah, I’m so–”
Or rather, tries to, but is met with a door slamming shut.
—
Three days go by, and Juyeon is nowhere to be found.
She doesn’t reply to Hyunjung’s texts, doesn’t even bother them, which just makes things worse. She doesn’t answer her calls either. She also doesn’t open the door or tells Hyunjung to go away when the older girl stops by her dorm on the second day.
“Have you talked to her at all?” Hyunjung asks, setting her things on one of the corners of her bed.
Sojung and Juyeon aren’t exactly that close – most of the time the two interacted was when Hyunjung arranged get-togethers for the trio. It’s kind of a long shot, but she’s still willing to take it.
“I texted her last night asking if everything was okay, but she didn’t answer.”
Hyunjung’s body defeatedly falls on top of her bed at that. It’s the answer she’s expecting, but she can’t help the small part of her that was holding onto the hope of it being different.
She grabs her phone for the third time in the last ten minutes (but who’s keeping track, right?), checking to see if maybe she missed a notification.
“Can I ask you something?” Sojung speaks again, sitting next to her friend.
Hyunjung nods.
“How come you didn’t tell her?”
“I don’t know, I just –” She pauses to let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. “I couldn’t find the right time to. And it’s not like I was even considering leaving.”
“What if she’s not upset about that part?”
“What is it, then?”
“No idea, just throwing stuff out there.” Sojung shrugs, and it’s Hyunjung’s fault for expecting her friend to have all the answers to magically solve her problems. “You’re smart, though, you’ll figure it out.” She pats Hyunjung’s head lightly, trying her best to offer a reassuring smile. “Until then, just give her some space.”
The two of them settle on ordering takeout and watching Studio Ghibli movies for the rest of the day.
2021, spring.
“Dude, just talk to her. It’s not like you’re asking her to marry you.” Sojung remarks with so much confidence, that it could’ve easily fooled Hyunjung.
That is, if she didn’t know her like the back of her own hand.
Here’s the truth, neither of them finds it easy to have enough courage to take the first step when it comes to things like this. It’s gotten to a point where not even liquid courage is enough to help them most of the time, rather leaving them making empty promises the next morning about how next time it’ll be different (it never is).
It’s still a mystery how the two of them became friends in the first place.
Somehow, Sojung always forgets how shy she is when the issue being faced isn’t one of their own and this is one of those times.
Hyunjung just sinks into the couch, still scrolling through a certain someone’s Instagram feed instead of acknowledging her best friend’s words.
After Sojung got sick of hearing her complain about her newest project, one that involved photographing people (read: Hyunjung’s biggest nightmare, for a handful of reasons that her best friend has already heard too many times), she sent her Son Juyeon’s Instagram profile, claiming the girl would be “perfect for the job”, despite never having met her.
Son Juyeon has dark brown hair and apparently a weird affinity for hats – baseball caps, beanies, bucket hats and occasionally berets.
Hyunjung finds herself opening a set of pictures of the girl wearing a fluffy lime beanie, her ears popping out in a way that would have anyone wanting to reach into the screen and poke them. The girl is also pouting for the camera, and Hyunjung can’t help but to find the sight of it… well, cute, for a lack of better word.
She closes it, resuming her little journey through the rest of the pictures on the girl’s profile.
She isn’t blind – Son Juyeon is extremely pretty. And, from her posts, she can tell that the girl knows this, too. So, maybe Sojung is right, Son Juyeon would be the perfect model for her project. At least, she certainly would make this whole annoying-ass-portrait-shooting a lot less dull.
Hyunjung sighs and presses the Message button.
When a new page pops up, though, she doesn’t write anything. Instead, just lets her fingers hover the keyboard, allowing her brain some time to try and figure out the best way to spark up this conversation. If she really decides to do it, of course.
“You know what,” and there’s Sojung’s voice again.
Before the older girl can piece what’s happening, her phone is already on her best friend’s hands and all that she can do is watch with a mortified expression as Sojung’s grubby fingers happily type away.
“What are you doing?”
She swears she can feel the way her heart drops from the hypothetical twenty-story building inside of her chest and can also vividly hear the way it shatters when a haunting “woosh” sound echoes the living room.
“You’re welcome.”
Hyunjung ignores Sojung’s smirk, far more worried about reading the message her best friend just sent. When she finally does, everything stops.
She shuts her eyes and starts counting.
One… two… three.
When she opens her eyes again, she expects to wake up in her bed. She hopes that this is just some sort of unfunny joke that her subconscious is trying to play on her.
She groans defeatedly after finding herself on the same couch, the dreadful message still there, staring back at her.
seola_s
hey ur sexy and i need a model for my project
what do u say ;)
“Are you a twelve-year-old?”
Sojung just laughs, and if it wasn’t for the fact that Hyunjung needs a way to fix this and save her reputation quickly, she would’ve probably already jumped her best friend in attempted murder fashion.
She decides to leave that for later.
seola_s
sorry my friend thinks she’s funny
please ignore that
Sojung is already long gone when her phone pings again, and Hyunjung finds herself taking a long, deep breath, making an effort to regain her composure before looking at the reply.
eeunseo._.v
lol
so you don’t need a model for ur project?
seola_s
well
i do
eeunseo._.v
and you don’t think i’m sexy?
…
you know i can see u typing and stopping right
i was just kidding anyway :p
starting to think this friend of urs doesn’t exist tho
seola_s
oh don’t worry
ill make sure she stops existing soon
eeunseo._.v
ooo so scary for someone who needed to get their friend to message me
seola_s
???? she did that on her own will
eeunseo._.v
for you!!!!
im just messing with you
dont kill me next please D:
—
“So, how come you prefer film?” Juyeon is the first one to break the silence ever since they ordered not too long ago, fingers slowly tapping against the glass of iced peach tea in front of her.
“You know, you don’t have to make small talk.”
“Yeah, but you said something about preferring to capture moments, didn’t you? I’m trying to create one.”
It comes off as a pleasant surprise that Juyeon remembers something Hyunjung mindlessly shared during the texts they exchanged before finally setting a date to meet up.
Not because she expected Juyeon to completely ignore everything she said, but because Juyeon seems a lot more like a talker than a listener (so if what Hyunjung told her ended up getting lost along the way, she would understand it). It shows in the way she’s the type to send in six texts something that could be easily summed up in two, and in the way she loves spamming random emojis and obnoxious stickers.
Hyunjung is pretty much the opposite, she prefers to be straight to the point than risk wasting her, or anyone else’s, time. Plus, if she’s being completely honest, she doesn’t understand what most emojis even mean, and why there needs to be so many of them.
When she looks up at Juyeon, she watches as the corners of her mouth lift slowly. It’s a small smile, one that doesn’t quite reach her eyes, but it’s as expectant as it is inviting.
This Juyeon feels a bit different than the Juyeon she’s been texting, and the reason for this lies on the fact that she’s teasing her a lot less. Hyunjung assumes it’s because she’s still testing the waters, trying to get a bit more comfortable, considering it is the first time they’re face to face.
Hyunjung stops her thoughts for wandering off too far away and answers.
“Believe it or not, I like how long the whole process is,” she shrugs. “I may not be the most patient person in the world, but there’s something nice about finally getting to reveal all those pictures you took before. Most of the time, you forget a lot of them, so seeing them again is like reliving those moments, even if it’s just for a little bit.”
“Isn’t it kinda frustrating, though? I mean, you can only take like one or two pictures, so you don’t run out, right?” Hyunjung gives her a slight nod in response, watching her with clear amusement. “That’s not enough!” Juyeon groans, and the older girl can’t help but to chuckle slightly at it. “You’re telling me you just take them and pray for the best? I think the anticipation of not knowing whether I messed it up would kill me.”
“Has anyone ever told you that you’re a little dramatic?”
Juyeon rolls her eyes at first, but in just one blink she’s smiling at Hyunjung again, wide and bright.
This time, her nose scrunches up, her eyes turn into these miniature versions of themselves and Hyunjung swears she caught a glimpse of a dimple on her upper cheek, but it disappears just as quickly. It’s a sight, though, and what a sight.
Hyunjung’s camera is right next to her, within fingers’ reach. It would take her less than a minute to snap a picture of Juyeon and get one step closer to finishing her project. It’s also the perfect moment for her to do so, but the selfish part of Hyunjung decides to keep this smile just to herself.
More opportunities will arise.
—
Son Juyeon proves to be as annoying as she is beautiful.
The more the two of them meet so that Hyunjung can keep snapping the pictures she deems needing, the more comfortable Juyeon gets when it comes to winding her up like she loves to whenever they’re back to messaging each other.
“You know I’m older than you, right?” Hyunjung asks, with a raised eyebrow, lowering her camera slightly so she that she’s no longer to eyeing Juyeon through the lens.
“You don’t think I respect you, Hyunjung-ah?” There’s a pause, long enough for Hyunjung to see the mischievous glint in Juyeon’s eyes. She puts her camera on the floor and grabs the nearest object she can find. It happens to be her backpack, which she already emptied previously so it’s not like it would cause any actual harm, but it still looks big enough to be threatening. “Unnie! I meant Hyunjung unnie!”
“One of these days, I’m really going to punch you.” Hyunjung aims for it to sound like some sort of a promise rather than a threat, but she knows that one quick glance at her arms is more than enough to make the whole intimidating aura she’s going for disappear. Besides, she’s seen Juyeon in a sleeveless shirt before, and let’s just say that there is a clear winner between the two.
“You can’t harm my face!” Juyeon holds her hands up, shielding herself. Hyunjung uses this as an opportunity to reach for her camera again and press the shutter button – it’s a picture that probably won’t have much use for her actual assignment, but she decides to keep it for… blackmailing purposes. “Seriously, it’s not easy to look this perfect. Don’t even try to ruin it.”
“You’re really conceited.”
“You didn’t deny it! Besides, I’m your one and only model. You should make sure to treat me well, so that it reflects on your work, or something. You can’t just use FaceApp to stop me from looking miserable in every picture.”
“I don’t know about that, I could deliver a pretty good sad story and make it work.” Hyunjung shrugs. “All I’m hearing, though, is that as soon as we’re done with this, I can finally get my revenge.” She adds with an innocent smile that completely contradicts her words.
“Or, or,” Juyeon begins, pointing at the air, “you could start investing on some… I don’t know, anger management lessons, for example!”
“That’s too expensive. But you know what’s free?”
“What?”
“Throwing stuff at you.”
Instead of answering, Juyeon gets up. Her hands start reaching for something that doesn’t quite exist behind her back, which prompts a crease to form on Hyunjung’s face. It only clicks after a few seconds that she’s untying and taking off some sort of… metaphorical apron?
“I quit my job.”
Hyunjung rolls her eyes.
“No can do, you signed a contract.”
“You forced me to sign a blank paper without telling me what the actual terms are.”
“Like I said, a contract.”
—
Hyunjung’s phone vibrates about a hundred times (if she stopped exaggerating so much, she would say the total amount is five, maybe six at most) while she’s trying to pay attention to class.
With each message, her guilt for ignoring them builds up, the less reasonable part of her worrying about it being some sort of emergency.
from: chu sojung (derogatory)
OMGGG
DUDE
THAT TERRIBLE LOOKING HORROR MOVIE WE TALKED ABT THE OTHER DAY
ITS FINALLY OUT
WANNA WATCH TONIGHT?
Already having accepted that she’s now far too distracted to be able to catch up on what her teacher has been saying, she decides to entertain Sojung for the time being.
to: chu sojung (derogatory)
ahhh i can’t. promised juyeon i’d meet her
from: chu sojung (derogatory)
i thought u already finished the project tho????
to: chu sojung (derogatory)
i did!!
but she wanted to hang out
from: chu sojung (derogatory)
and you said yes?
like… WILLINGLY?
to: chu sojung (derogatory)
yes?
from: chu sojung (derogatory)
they grow up so fast……
i’m gonna start tearing up fr
to: chu sojung (derogatory)
please stay far away from me
from: chu sojung (derogatory)
I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU LIKE SOMEONE
Hyunjung almost drops her phone after reading Sojung’s text, smiling apologetically at the person who turns around at the sound of it hitting the table. It’s not unusual for her best friend to make ridiculous assumptions at quite literally any given moment, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t still catch her off guard most of the time.
to: chu sojung (derogatory)
who said anything about liking her???
we’re just friends
ish..? i think?
from: chu sojung (derogatory)
righhhhtttt okayyyyy
have fun with your “friend” ;)
UR WELCOME BTW!!!!!!
I DID THIS
—
Somewhere along the line, they do become (actual) friends.
“Shaki.”
Juyeon’s voice fills the previously quiet room, but there is no response.
“Shaki…” She tries again.
It’s almost like she’s calling someone, and Hyunjung has to remind herself that only the two of them are in her room right now, and neither of them are called “Shaki”. She looks up from her laptop to the younger girl, who’s sprawled all over the opposite side of the bed, hands holding her chin as she just… pouts.
“Who are you talking to?”
“You!”
Hyunjung’s eyebrows furrow in confusion, too busy trying to put two and two together to acknowledge the way Juyeon chuckles.
“That’s not my name, though.”
“I know, unnie, but I’m calling you Shaki from now on.”
“What does it even mean?”
“I don’t know, but I think it would make a cute cat name.”
“I’m not a cat.”
“Are you sure about that?” Juyeon pulls out her phone and no matter how hard Hyunjung squints, all she can see is the girl picking the first page that pops up after she Googles something. “Cats are very sensitive to their interpersonal space. You refused to let me sit on your bed the first time I was here, so… check! Cats are subtle in their display of friendly behaviours. Hm… also check! Cats are—”
“Okay, okay! I get it!”
The last thing Hyunjung sees before feeling a pair of hands squeezing her cheeks is Juyeon’s playful grin. “My little Shaki, so adorable!”
“I hate you,” she attempts to say, but the muffled sound comes out as something closer to “I hmpfh foo”. She quickly smacks Juyeon’s hands away from her face, and the younger one settles for grabbing her hand and intertwining their fingers.
Hyunjung used to protest to it, but not anymore, having somehow come to terms with the fact that Juyeon’s love language is physical touch, from the way she’s often trying to cling to her.
It’s still something she’s not very used to, though, a feeling of wanting to run away as far as possible often sticking to the back of her head like glue whenever someone gets too close – both physical, and emotionally.
For some reason, Juyeon clouds that feeling to a point where it’s ignorable. She makes Hyunjung’s mind travel to the way Juyeon seems to enjoy mindlessly playing with her faintly calloused fingers, and how she doesn’t mind how warm it feels all that much.
“If I’m a cat, then you’re a golden retriever.” Hyunjung states, after a few moments of the two listening to her playlist (quietly, unless you count Juyeon interrupting to ask if she had any songs that weren’t by Taeyeon or Baek Yerin in it).
“Because I’m tall?” Juyeon raises an eyebrow, but Hyunjung dismisses it.
“Because they’re really affectionate.” She corrects. “Plus, much like you, I don’t think they can sit still for longer than a minute.”
—
Hyunjung unlocks her phone, cursing under her breath when the brightness punches her eyes with full force. She looks at the missed call notification from an unknown number and then lifts her gaze to the time that reads 3:12.
She needs to wake up again and get ready for classes in about four hours, which means she doesn’t exactly have time for whatever late-night prank calls this person is trying to play on her – so, she closes her eyes.
Her phone rings again, not even two minutes later.
She sighs, staring at the ceiling while she debates on what to do. It’s not like she will be able to fall asleep that quickly anyway, especially not if whoever is on the other line keeps trying to make her go insane.
She decides to answer this time.
“Hi! This is Hyunjung, right?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m Kim Jiyeon.” The name sounds familiar, but she can’t quite figure out why for the first few seconds. But then, it finally hits: Sojung had been mentioning it for the last two weeks.
(“You never told me Juyeon knows Kim Jiyeon, dude!” Sojung says, sounding a lot more defeated than annoyed.
“Who’s Kim Jiyeon?”
“Just the prettiest girl this campus has ever seen.”
“Here we go.”
“No, I’m serious!” Sojung argues, grabbing her phone and looking something up, that Hyunjung assumes is a picture of her to prove a point. And it’s not that Hyunjung doesn’t believe her, but Sojung is the type to call almost any girl she sees pretty and obsess with her for a few days until she finds a prettier one. “She’s a goddess that was put on this earth to prove to people that deities do exist.”
Hyunjung snickers at that, shaking her head slightly. “You just fall for everyone you see.”
“Look at her!” Sojung’s phone is practically hitting her face, and she grabs it in order to be able to properly look at the profile. “She’s so hot it’s seriously unfair.”
And okay… she is pretty. There’s some sort of ethereal vibe to her that makes Hyunjung understand why she makes Sojung sound even more embarrassing than usual. “Alright, as ridiculous as you sound, you do make a good point.”
“Exactly! Please tell Juyeon to give me her number.”
“How much will you pay me?”
“Is my friendship not enough?”
Hyunjung tilts her head, as if debating it for a couple of seconds. “Absolutely not.”
“You know what? I don’t need your help. I’ll make her fall for me somehow.”)
She’s brought back to the present when Jiyeon continues on the other line, “I’m really sorry for calling you this late, but Juyeon over here drank a little too much and she keeps insisting that she wants you to pick her up.”
“I, uh, why me?”
“No clue. I’ve been trying to get her to shut up about it for, like, half an hour, but nothing is working. I’ll text you the address, though! See you in a bit!”
“I didn’t say I c—” before Hyunjung can finish her sentence, the call already ended.
Shortly after, she gets a text with an address she thankfully recognizes as not being too far away from the dorms, along with a ‘please hurry, she’s trying to get on top of the tables again’.
Hyunjung is still confused: it’s not like she’s ever been around drunk Juyeon for her to be deemed as the emergency contact in situations like this, or why Juyeon seems to insist that she’s the one who has to bring her home.
Still, she throws on a hoodie that was previously on the floor, along with the first pair of joggers she finds and starts making her way.
“Shaki, Shaki!” Hyunjung barely has time to process how excited Juyeon sounds before the younger one is throwing her arms around her and squeezing her with a little bit too much strength.
“How much did you drink?” She asks, squinting slightly when she’s finally able to look at Juyeon’s face, trying to guess it herself.
“I missed you.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
“Yeah, but I missed you.” Juyeon drags the ‘you’ out, making it sound more like a whine than anything else.
“You saw me last week, Geundeok.” Hyunjung states, poking Juyeon’s nose.
“I like when you call me that.”
“I—uh,” Hyunjung stumbles both on her words and her own feet, seemingly having less balance than the drunk girl in front of her who’s apparently still fast enough to grab her arm and stop her from falling and embarrassing herself. “Let’s… Let’s get you home, yeah?”
“I need to get back now, but if you need anything else call me, okay?” Hyunjung says after sliding the cover over Juyeon’s body, who just nods with a dumb smile on her face. “Just make sure to get some rest and drink a lot of water.”
“Wait, you forgot something!”
Hyunjung starts to enumerate all the steps they took until now to try and find the one she missed. Suddenly, she feels a pair of soft lips crash against the corner of her mouth, making her brain short-circuit for a few seconds.
“Goodnight, Shaki.” Juyeon says before turning around and snuggling the pillow next to her.
Hyunjung’s lips part to say something, but she decides to leave Juyeon’s room instead.
Juyeon is drunk, probably too drunk to tell her cheek apart from her mouth, which is why it happened. There’s no sort of second intentions or lingering feelings. That wouldn’t make sense. Juyeon being too intoxicated to know what she’s doing, though, that seems logical enough.
As for the way Hyunjung’s chest burns slightly and her fingers linger on top of the spot Juyeon kissed… well, there isn’t really an explanation for it. If there is, Hyunjung locks it inside a box she titles ‘things to ignore until I forget about them’ and throws it as far as she possibly can.
She needs to get home and see if she can squeeze a nap in until it’s time for her to get ready, which means she can’t exactly waste her time thinking about things that don’t make sense.
Still, it doesn’t leave her mind until the next day, that she spends by the river ignoring everyone around her and justifying it by saying she got distracted while taking pictures of the ducks (it’s only half a lie, really).
2021, summer.
There’s many things Hyunjung enjoys about coming back home, and one of them is rearranging her room; either by placing random Moomin plushies she bought on a whim while walking around the mall with Sojung, or by taking out her old work and replacing it with new memories.
Today, she’s doing the latter.
She picks up one of the several pictures scattered all over her wall – some of animals (mostly cats, specifically of her own, even if he always ended up moving whenever she tried to capture him), some of her favourite flowers, and a lot of them taken during the night-time – and she stores it inside of a decorated box that’s been with her since she was a kid, a few letters sprinkled on it to make up the word Hyunddongie.
Hyunjung takes advantage of the now empty space to put up a picture of a familiar figure. Much like the pictures around it, this one was taken at night, and the girl just loves how the light seems to bounce back from the figure’s skin. Oh, and the way she’s looking up at the sky, smiling and seemingly nothing.
It’s a night she remembers perfectly. Mostly because it’s the same night when Juyeon almost broke her precious film camera trying to take a picture of her (read: another one of Hyunjung’s nightmares). She can still see the terrified look on the younger girl’s face and, although she finds it easy to laugh at it now, she was too busy counting all the ways she would’ve killed her then.
It’s also the first and only picture of a person that makes it onto her wall.
“What?” She asks, feeling a pair of judgemental eyes on her after she’s done taking a couple of steps back to stare at the collage. “That one is like, objectively some of my best work! Professor Kang said so.” Her professor’s actual words were something along the line of ‘looks like you finally found your muse, huh?’, but she’s been trying her hardest to ignore the implications that would come along with admitting it.
The small cat next to her just meows, as if arguing.
“It has nothing to do with her,” Hyunjung continues, but at this point, she’s not sure if she’s still trying to convince her cat or herself. “Besides, I have like five pictures of you here! Stop being so dramatic, Yangmal.”
She hears a purr that she assumes is his way of expressing content, soon feeling a light weight rub against her leg.
—
“Shaki, do you miss me yet?” Hyunjung hears the familiar voice on the other line. She can’t help but find the question a bit funny, considering Juyeon was the one who made her pinky promise she would call her every day.
“It’s barely been a week.”
“That’s not what I asked.” Juyeon whines, and Hyunjung knows that if she could see her now, the girl would be looking at her with the same sulky expression she always wears whenever Hyunjung doesn’t feed her antics.
“I guess I do miss having someone pestering me every five seconds.” The older one gives in (as well as she can, taking into account how much she hates any sort of feelings-related conversations), almost kicking Yangmal in the process of searching for a more comfortable spot in bed.
“Then how come you didn’t invite me to go with you?”
“Do you want to stay over this weekend?”
“Yeah, yeah. Are we gonna braid each other’s hair too?” She rolls her eyes at Juyeon’s comment.
“I’m serious.”
“Oh, uh– really? I was just teasing, you know. You don’t have to invite me.”
And it’s so typical of Juyeon, always making sure that everyone around her is comfortable. It’s one of the things that Hyunjung appreciates the most about her, as well as one of the reasons it was so easy for Juyeon to burst her little bubble.
“I want to, though.”
—
“Oh my god!” Juyeon practically screeches, making Hyunjung trip at the surprise. “You never told me there was a mini you!”
“We’re nothing alike!” She groans, picking up her cat and holding his face up right next to hers, ignoring the way he squirms at first to try and escape before finally accepting his fate, the point she’s trying to prove being the most important thing now. “See?”
“Hm,” Juyeon tilts her head, gaze jumping from Hyunjung to her cat a couple of times, as if she’s playing some sort of real-life spot the difference. “You’re right, he’s cuter!” She pokes the cat’s nose, her own scrunching up slightly.
“You’re annoying.”
It takes Hyunjung about five seconds to win the fight against the part of her that urges her to reach out and prod the crease that forms in the middle of the younger girl’s eyebrows.
“Are you jealous?”
Hyunjung starts to feel her ears burn and thanks past-her for not putting her hair up this morning, because she’s about ninety percent sure her ears are gaining a red-ish tint, against her own will, of course.
For her own mental well-being, she chooses not to over-analyse whatever it may mean.
“Why on earth would I be jealous of a cat?”
Juyeon gasps, extremely fake and exaggerated. “You’re getting better at lying!”
Another groan, but this time Hyunjung sets her mind on taking action and easing her suffering. Her hands land on Juyeon’s shoulders and she pushes – with no luck because the girl barely moves.
“What are you doing?!”
“I’m kicking you out.”
—
Hyunjung doesn’t, in fact, kick Juyeon out.
Not after the girl tries to negotiate truce by offering to cook dinner for the two of them. Which is an unfair trade, considering that she’s hungry, and she’s tasted Juyeon’s food enough times to know how good it is.
Juyeon has quite a few talents. Besides being the next Gordon Ramsay (as crowned by Sojung, after having tried what she called the best sundubu-jjigae of her life – it isn’t all that surprising, though, since her diet consists of instant ramyeon), she’s also good at playing the piano, for example.
She previously shared with Hyunjung that growing up, she used to jump from hobby to hobby, which makes sense, considering Hyunjung has yet to find something that Juyeon can’t do.
Learning how to play the piano was apparently one of the few things that she didn’t give up on, which meant there was a big panoply of songs she knew how to play – songs she claimed to have forgotten as soon as Hyunjung asked her to play something for her.
(“Seriously? Not even Happy Birthday to You?”
“I can’t play that! It’s bad luck if it’s not actually your birthday.”
“You’re no fun.”)
It took Hyunjung about a week of pulling (correction: trying to pull) the same cards Juyeon always did when she wanted something to convince her.
They ended up with an agreement, Juyeon would play her three songs of her choice, and Hyunjung would play the first chords of 11:11 in her guitar in return (mostly because they were the only thing she learned before leaving the instrument to collect dust in the corner of her room).
“So, you live alone?” Juyeon’s voice makes her snap back into reality.
“Yeah. Dad was never around much and my mom, uh– well, she’s not around anymore.”
“Oh. I’m sorry for ask—”
“It’s okay.” Hyunjung interrupts, pressing her lips together for a couple of seconds before continuing. “It’s been long enough for it to still be a big deal.”
“Does it ever get lonely when you come back for break?”
“A little, I guess,” she admits.
There are a few seconds of silence that Hyunjung uses to debate on saying her next words, watching as Juyeon turns around to resume cutting up some vegetables. It seems to be enough for her to mumble, “I doubt any of that will cross my mind while you’re here, though.”
“Hm?” Juyeon asks, prompting a sigh from the older girl.
“Nothing.”
“Oh, because I could’ve sworn you just said something nice to me.”
Hyunjung doesn’t have to look at Juyeon’s face to know she has the most annoying smirk known to humanity slapped across her face.
“You are so infuriating, did you know that?”
“Yup!”
—
“What are you doing?” Juyeon asks, watching as Hyunjung slides a single foam mattress from under her own bed, and walks up to her closet to look for some covers to throw on top of it. “You’re not sleeping on the floor.”
“No, you are.”
“No way.” Juyeon sits on the bed (big enough for the two of them, might she add), claiming her rightful spot on it. “I’m staying here.” She shrugs and fluffs the pillow behind her before getting into a more comfortable position. “So comfy.”
“Get out,” Hyunjung shoves Juyeon’s shoulder slightly. “I’m not sleeping on the floor.”
“Why can’t we just share the bed? Are you scared of us cuddling, or something? I’ll have you know I’ve been told to be a great big spoon!”
The thought of spending the night with Juyeon holding her hadn’t crossed Hyunjung’s mind before, probably because she was already set on the two of them sleeping in different places. They’re friends – close friends, even, it should be more than okay to spend one night like that.
That is, if she wasn’t being haunted by some stupid feeling deep inside of her stomach whenever anything Juyeon related crossed her mind ever since the ‘drunk incident’, as she refers to it.
Maybe it was some sort of weird long term food poisoning (at least, that’s what Hyunjung was using to convince herself).
“I can’t promise not to kick you out of bed during your sleep.”
“Bold of you to assume I won’t just bring you down with me.”
—
“Can you tell me where we’re going already?” Juyeon asks for the fifth time, scrolling through her phone to find the next song to play.
“Just wait, and you’ll see.”
“I feel like I’m being kidnapped.” She groans.
“You know it’s not kidnapping if you entered the car willingly, right?” Hyunjung asks, her eyes leaving the road for a couple of seconds to glance at Juyeon who’s on the passenger seat, perfectly resembling an impatient kid.
“Maybe I have Stockholm Syndrome!”
“Be quiet.”
“All this secrecy over the Han River?” Juyeon asks after Hyunjung has parked and they’re already walking around aimlessly.
“Shut up.” Hyunjung shoves her lightly. “There’s this spot where you can see the sunset perfectly. I always go there whenever I come back, so I thought maybe you’d like to tag along.”
“It’s almost like you’re trying to sweet-talk me, do you do this with every girl you bring back home?”
She knows Juyeon is just teasing her, yet she can’t help but to roll her eyes. “You’re actually the only person I’ve thought about bringing.” Hyunjung admits, pressing her lips together.
“Not even Sojung unnie?”
Hyunjung shrugs – it’s not that she wouldn’t bring Sojung to her spot, she obviously would. It’s just that she never felt like she had to do it, if that even makes sense. With Juyeon, though, she wants to do it. She wants to show her this place, and probably a hundred more.
It’s a weird feeling.
If Hyunjung was blue like the sky above the two of them – tranquil, comfortable –, then Juyeon was yellow like her favourite flowers – cheerful, and so very warm. Together, they’d make a green. Ironically, that’s the same colour Hyunjung keeps seeing wherever she goes.
It doesn’t take too long until the two of them are sat on a towel Hyunjung brought along for the ride, watching as the sunrays reflect from the water and the sky begins to gain a pink tone. It’s one of Hyunjung’s favourite sights, and she’s said multiple times that if she could, she would probably permanently move to this exact same spot just so she could see the sun setting every single day.
“This place is so pretty.” Juyeon whispers, making Hyunjung’s gaze travel from the river to the younger girl who’s still admiring the view with a content look on her face, the wind softly making some of her hair strands fly in the air.
“Yeah, it really is.” Hyunjung agrees, but her eyes never leave the younger girl.
It’s dangerously easy to fall for Juyeon, and, somewhere along the line, that’s exactly what Hyunjung does. She doesn’t know it yet, though, or perhaps prefers to pretend she doesn’t, choosing to bask in the whole ‘ignorance is bliss’ everyone preaches about.
2022, spring.
Somewhere along the line, they find their way back to each other.
When Hyunjung opens her door, she doesn’t expect Juyeon to be standing there. She definitely doesn’t expect the girl to not even say hi before she barges into her room, leaving her dumbfounded for a few moments before she’s closing the door.
“Geundeok, I’m sorry about—”
“Don’t.” Juyeon says, pacing around the room before stopping in front of Hyunjung, her gaze not quite reaching the older girl’s eyes yet. “That’s not why I’m here.”
“Then, uh, why are you?” Hyunjung hates the way she sounds like an idiot – her brain telling her that she should be able to know everything without being given any sort of context, which she knows makes no sense.
“I should be the one apologising.” Juyeon finally looks at Hyunjung and the latter has to stop herself from grabbing the girl and embracing her – now is not the right time, maybe when they’re done with the conversation.
“No, you’re not. I should’ve just told you.”
“That’s not – I shouldn’t have ignored you. I was just… I don’t know, upset. For so many reasons that I don’t even have the right to be upset about.” She pauses, taking a deep breath. “At first, I was upset that you didn’t tell me, because whenever something happens, I always run to tell you stuff, but that’s not fair because it’s not like you weren’t going to ever tell me, you were probably just waiting on the right time and I get it now, I think. But then… then I was upset at the thought of you maybe leaving because you’re probably the most important person in my life and I like you so much that I don’t think I could handle that happening.”
Hyunjung just gulps, looking anywhere else.
“Sorry, I probably shouldn’t have dumped all of that on you either, I sound like a clingy idiot.” Juyeon sighs, taking a small step back. “I’ll just go. We can talk whenever you’re ready to.”
Before Juyeon can reach for the door, her body is being turned back around and pinned against it. “Don’t ever ignore me like that again.” Hyunjung says, using the small amount of confidence that took over her to cup the younger one’s cheeks and crashes her own lips against Juyeon’s. It’s messy at first, because it takes Juyeon by surprise, but soon enough she’s wrapping her arms around Hyunjung and pulling her closer.
When they finally pull away, foreheads still touching each other and a triumphant smile slowly appearing on Hyunjung’s mouth, Juyeon speaks. “What was that for?”
“I like you, Juyeon-ah. So much that it’s driving me crazy.”