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Haerin has a routine.
It’s a simple 10-step plan that goes a bit like this, more or less:
- Wake up to Minji’s snores ringing through the apartment.
- Make a cup of coffee.
- Get to campus, avoiding as many people as possible.
- Finish her lectures for the day, with the goal of having minimal discussions with others.
- Go to the campus library to finish off the rest of her work.
- Afterward, find her way back home, avoiding as many people as possible.
- Get home to Minji not being there.
- Answer her mother’s insistent calls. (“Yes, I’m keeping up with my grades. No, I don’t have a boyfriend.”)
- Eat dinner.
- Sleep.
And she makes sure to stick close to this plan, repeating it every single day for as long as she can remember (on days where she doesn’t have lectures, it becomes a 9-step plan instead).
It was safe, reliable, and has kept her out of trouble in the 2 years since she started university. Haerin’s an extremely rare case of this—and she takes pride in it.
So why did she find herself staring into the window of the local animal shelter? (‘PAWS Rescue’ the molding sign at the front would read.)
Haerin can’t pinpoint when this addition to her now-11-step plan occurred. She did recently begin walking her way home, as a result of way too many people now taking the campus buses (which effectively hindered her goal of avoiding as many people as possible), making her pass by the shelter each time in recent afternoons.
Let it be clarified that no, Haerin is not interested in adopting a pet.
Her mathematically rigorous program in economics does not give her the time to take care of one. Plus, generally not having any strong feelings towards animals in particular.
She’s also pretty sure Minji would be no better—in fact, she feels as if Minji would see it as an opportunity.
("Have you seen how well pets do on TikTok these days? Come on, Haerin, you just got to do a little role-play and call yourself ‘mommy’ and we’re all set for the next 5 years!”
“I don’t think TikTok’s creator program would be able to suffice us for 5 whole years.”
“Zip it, economist. Listen to the business manager speaking.” Is how Haerin believes the conversation would go.)
What does interest her, however, is the board that can be viewed from the window she is looking through right now. One that is updated on a weekly basis with ‘Furry Fiends of the Week’ .
Similarly, there is one that is labeled ‘Furry Friends of the Week’ right next to it (but that doesn’t interest Haerin nearly as much).
See, what made Haerin more interested in the criminals of PAWS Rescue is that there only seemed to be one consistently, each and every week: a ginger kitten’s picture would be hung up, who, at this point, has numerous crimes under his claws.
(Some of these included, but are not limited to:
- Stole treats from Socks, his BLIND littermate.
- Anklebiter extraordinaire (+ has moved up to elbows—written in messy black marker with a sad face).
- Has been bullying senior cats. What happened to respecting elders?
- Shown desire to watch the world burn.)
When peering through the window, seeing the ginger kitten's crime listed as simply: ‘He knows what he did.’ Haerin actually finds a familiar orange fluff-ball staring up at the portrait of the menace as if they were admiring the consequences of his actions.
It’s at this moment, for whatever reason, Haerin decides to stray away from her beloved routine by stepping foot into the shelter.
When she walks in, a little ‘rrring!’ from the door’s hanging bell chimes through the reception. This prompts orange fluff-ball to turn their head towards the noise, and Haerin realizes it’s PAWS Rescue’s #1 offender.
Surprisingly though, no one came to greet Haerin. Rather than a human voice she is welcomed by faint barks, meows, and even the occasional squawks and mimicking of ‘you cutie!’ coming from the back.
Orange fluff-ball AKA Al Catpone approaches an aimless Haerin. He looks up at her with those amber eyes (which look much clearer in-person, compared to the rough print-work done on his wanted posters), Haerin balls her fists—in anticipation of what act of violence the kitten would inflict onto her.
After a deadly staring contest between the kitten and Haerin…
He begins rubbing his head against her leg with a mewl.
This leaves Haerin to blink back at him in somewhat disbelief (wishing she could mentally google ‘what to do when a kitten rubs against you???’ and receive an answer. STAT.), orange fluff-ball responds to her with a slow blink back before turning around and trotting towards a recliner; Haerin mindlessly follows.
Haerin may be the valedictorian of not just her high school cohort, but also missing social cues, however! She is able to pick up on the fact that the orange fluff-ball wants her to sit on the battered recliner, scratches into the leather are prominent across it.
Honestly, Haerin almost feels like a hostage at this point—so who is she to deny this request? She seats herself down onto the recliner which almost immediately falters backward from the weight, following her is orange fluff-ball, who jumps onto her lap.
Her hostage situation is now like this: orange fluff-ball has made himself comfortable on Haerin’s lap, purring from the totally-demanded chin rubs that Haerin is giving (not because she’s a weak soul).
This stray from her usual routine has given Haerin a sense of uneasiness as she’s now stuck on this recliner for who knows how long. It’s all up to orange fluff-ball at this point: would she be able to complete the last 4 steps of her plan for today?
For the first time, Haerin is unsure.
(She finds herself feeling light-headed, drifting off after completing the tedious task of chin rubbing once orange fluff-ball has properly fallen asleep on her lap.
For a brief moment, she hears a faint honey-voice calling out to her: “Hello? I’m so sorry, oh my gosh!” Followed by an even fainter: “Dingus? What are you doing here?!”
She tries to fight off the drowsiness in order to give honey-voice a face. But, it eventually succumbs to her as blurry vision turns to one of pitch blackness.)
Haerin has caramel (with a tinge of nut) filling up her nostrils.
Out of instinct, she scrunches her nose at this, but she ends up finding herself basking in this scent. In addition, some cloud-like entity is sprawled across her lap; the same sort of softness supports her back.
You know what? Maybe Haerin has done enough good in her life. Maybe she’s been sent straight to heaven as she deserves.
She hums at this prospect, proud of herself for the totally-long-list of kind deeds the angel on her right shoulder has documented (first on the list should be willingly becoming Minji’s roommate).
Good on you, Kang Haerin—
A mewl rudely interrupts her.
She opens up one of her eyes to find orange fluff-ball-slash-bastard laying across her lap, slowly blinking up at her before mewling for attention again. It seems that (unfortunately) Haerin is very much still alive and breathing.
“Dingus? What’s wrong?” A familiar honey-voice asks, Haerin catches the click of heels approaching. “Oh! You’re awake!”
Honey-voice comes closer to where Haerin is sitting, the smell of caramel (with a tinge of nut!!) has returned. “Here, coffee. I made it for you when you’d wake up but…” Honey-voice takes a quick glance at her wristwatch, letting out an awkward laugh, “It might be a bit late for that now.”
She takes the chilly mug from, in comparison, honey-voice’s warmth, letting herself murmur out a “thank you” .
(Haerin prefers her coffee cold, anyway.)
As Haerin takes a sip from the paw-printed mug, her focus shifts to finally giving honey-voice a face: one that reminded Haerin of a doll.
Her eyes were big, full of sparkles as they filled with glee—honey-voice has complied to orange fluff-ball’s insistent cries of attention with cheek scratches. Her wavy light-brown hair fell over her shoulders as she coo-ed to the kitten, her teeth presented in a captivating grin that caught the attention of not just said-kitten, but Haerin too.
Haerin ponders: how can someone look this bright so late into the afternoon? (She wonders if she really hasn’t been sent straight to heaven, and honey-voice isn’t an angel.)
Honey-voice has now situated herself onto the arm of the recliner, still making sure to give orange fluff-ball his undeserved pets. “You know actually, I’m really shocked. Dingus never cuddles up to people like this, just scratches at them.” As if on cue, he claws at honey-voice’s finger, “Like that!” rewarding Haerin with another giggle.
She tilts her head in slight worry for honey-voice’s finger, the ginger kitten also tilts his head towards honey-voice’s chuckle.
“Ah, maybe it’s ‘cause you two look like each other?” Honey-voice fake gasps.
Haerin visibly frowns at this then looks down at—what did she say his name was? —Dingus. Besides both of them having ginger hair (which Haerin argues isn’t even fair, her locks are much darker! With a hint of red, mind you!), she doesn’t see it.
Dingus frowns back at her. Haerin furrows her brows back at him.
“But, you alright? You seemed really tired from how long you’ve passed out.”
Haerin snaps back into reality with a firm nod to doll-like honey-voice, she starts apologizing profusely for her choice of place to take a nap. An animal shelter. Where honey-voice should be taking care of the fostering animals. Not a passed-out, drained, economics student.
Honey-voice stammers out an “it’s no worries!” at Haerin’s notes app-apology-verbalized. She gets up from the armrest of the recliner, holding out her hand in which Haerin reluctantly shakes. Haerin finds herself surprised at the firm and confident grasp of such a soft-looking girl.
“Anyone who Dingus approves of, I approve of. I’m Danielle! But you can call me Dani too.” Honey-voice—Danielle—points to her name tag (how did Haerin not notice that?). “And you are…?”
“Haerin.”
“Pretty. Nice to meet you, Haerin! So, what brought you inside?”
Haerin actually spends quite some time with Danielle in PAWS Rescue that evening.
Danielle makes the entire atmosphere just comfy, maybe it’s a mixture of being able to play with Dingus whilst talking to her (or that the mere sight of Danielle would brighten even the Grinch’s day), Haerin doesn’t know.
She finds out Danielle actually goes to the same university as her, full name being Danielle Marsh, though in a different department: she studies veterinary biology. She started volunteering at PAWS a few months ago.
Danielle couldn’t stop rambling about how adorable she found each and every animal she shows Haerin that evening— even the typical ones that make Haerin seethe. She presented Haerin with an offer to tour around the shelter, all because Haerin said she wasn’t actually looking for a pet! Just interested to see what’s inside after having passed by for so many afternoons.
( A lie.
Haerin couldn’t bring it in herself to admit that she has incorporated looking into the shelter’s window, reading the updates on ‘Furry Fiend/Friend of the Week’, as part of her routine.
How embarrassing.)
When Haerin actually gets back to her apartment, walking in after an originally failed attempt at fishing out the keys from her bag, she raises an eyebrow when she spots that of Minji sitting on the living-room sofa watching some Fresh Prince of Bel-Air blasting through the TV (AGAIN, Haerin swears she can hear Will Smith’s voice in her nightmares).
Minji shoots an eyebrow back, her cheeks full of Samyang—the sauce messily stained around her lips which makes Haerin grimace. “Why are you staring at me like that?”
(She first met Kim Minji the first year she came to university, Minji was part of the business department’s freshers-welcoming committee.
Haerin wasn’t planning to attend any freshers events as advised by her mother—who insisted most kids at those events are bad news. However, to the despair of Haerin, Minji spots her and whisks to turn around and face her, exclaiming loudly: “Hey, I’ve never seen you around. And trust me, I know and have seen everyone.”
That day Minji boasts about how her father, the top radio show host across the country—‘JET SET RADIO! Turn on 69.7FM in your Mercedes folks!’—throws insane parties.
Haerin is convinced people like Minji are why business students have such a bad rep.
But it’s when Kim Minji takes pity on a second-year Haerin, who confesses she wants to live off-campus. She brings up the proposal of being roommates, and that’s when Haerin has to begrudgingly confess to herself that she is grateful for Minji.)
“Nothing.” Haerin dismisses, dropping her bag onto the floor in front of the sofa, then dropping herself down on the opposite end of where Minji is sitting.
Truthfully, Haerin didn’t expect Minji to be home.
Especially on a Friday night when she’d usually go out clubbing and find another girl’s place to crash at. This is because Haerin made sure to make Minji sign an agreement that prevented her from bringing girls over.
(“This is built like an employee contract?!” She’d scoff. “Who’s the real future CEO-slash-entrepreneur between us? I’m only signing this if I’m on zero hours.”
Haerin would roll her eyes at the reminder that Minji wants to kick-start a slime business, and become so famous that they’d become a distributor for Nickelodeon, who would slime their stars in it.)
They sit in silence for a few minutes, Will Smith’s voice echoes throughout the apartment before Minji questions. “Why are you back so late?”
Haerin stays silent.
Minji places her bowl of Samyang on the tableside. “Hey,” She crawls towards Haerin, placing both hands on her shoulders. “Kang Haerin answer meeeee!” Minji whines in a stupid baby tone, a stark contrast to her normally low voice.
Haerin lets out a gurgle at the constant pushing of back-and-forth Minji does to her shoulders, continuing to cry out for Haerin to fess up.
She does. “I was just at PAWS Rescue, that’s all!” Haerin cries out in-between breaths after Minji has spared her mercy, dropping the facade.
“Ohhh,” Minji acknowledges in that familiar deep tone of hers. “The one you pass by to totally look at that cutie, Danielle Marsh, through the window.” She gives a firm nod to her connection, picking up the bowl of Samyang again.
Haerin clenches her fist, raising them up to land a punch straight to Minji’s shoulder. “It’s nothing like that, you twat. I was just there to see the animals.” Haerin defends herself, grinding her teeth at a maniacally-laughing Minji at her weak punch. (Wait , how did Minji know her name? Haerin takes a mental note to interrogate her about this later.)
Minji pinches her cheek, affectionately stating “My Haerin has grown up! She’s made a first move! The years really do fly by.” She sniffles, patting grown-ass Haerin’s head as the cherry on top.
Haerin lets out a grumble, standing up and grabbing her bag to hurriedly bolt to her room and not have to listen to Minji’s nonsense.
“Hey! If things work out, tell Danielle to tell Pham Hanni to give me a second chance, would you?” She’d hear the headache shout.
“AND REMEMBER TO GET TESTED BEFORE ANYTHING!”
Haerin slams the door shut.
She puts PinkPantheress on full volume, equipped with Miniso headphones as she works on assignments that night, trying not to acknowledge the fact that Minji was right about one thing: she has seen Danielle Marsh through the window a couple of times.
("I know I shouldn’t be watching, ‘cause every time I feel the pain." rings through her headphones.)
Haerin sticks to her routine.
She passes by the shelter, rather than going in, the following weeks. Just as god intended Haerin thinks, mentally patting herself on the back.
Of course, she makes sure to peek in through the window to keep updated with the devils and angels at PAWS Rescue. (Not to catch a glimpse of the angel that is Danielle Marsh, of course.)
When she peeks in on a particular Thursday, however, she notes that two more figures are not Danielle.
She finds Danielle cradling a hissing Dingus at an agitated Pham Hanni (the one Minji can’t shut up about), whose hair is frizzing up as she points accusingly at Dingus. Lee Hyein (the university’s local ‘Instagram baddie’) is seen to be holding up her deep purple iPhone 14 Pro Max, taking a selfie with the ‘Furry Fiend/Friend of the Week’ board whilst sporting a peace sign and a wink.
At this rate, Haerin believes if she didn’t walk into the shelter, Dingus would be on the news for manslaughter.
When she enters, she’s greeted by a "Who the fuck—"
“Haerin?”
“Who is a Haerin— WAIT. ”
Hanni whips around to point accusingly at Haerin now. “You’re Minji’s roommate.” She says with a sense of loath. “Wait, Dani, don’t tell me this is the Haerin you—“
Hanni apparently loves to get cut off, Danielle slaps a free hand right across her mouth before Hanni could even finish her third attempt at a complete sentence.
Danielle laughs increasingly louder as Hanni tries to make herself heard through muffles. “H-Hey Haerin! It’s been a while.”
“Yeah, she was really upset you didn’t come to visit her.” Hyein chimes in, preoccupied with doodling on the board with decorations for the upcoming week (a lot of flowers and bunnies in particular were added).
“You mean visit Dingus!” Danielle quickly corrects her. The Dingus in question squirms in Danielle’s arm.
Hyein hums at her pieces of art, closing the lid to the marker and turning towards Haerin. “No, yeah, totally, Dingus and Danielle.” She grins wickedly.
“Haerin, she was all like—‘Woe is me! When will my new favorite ginger stay with me for another evening? Where can I look and fall deep amidst her beautiful eyes? Isn’t it that Friday’s child is loving?’—But since it’s Thursday, I would like to say: you both have far to go.” Hyein finishes her monologue whilst pointing back and forth between a confused Haerin and a blushing Danielle.
Danielle would frantically express to Haerin “Just– Just ignore them, alright? But look, Dingus really missed you.” She crouches down to free Dingus from her arm (and Hanni from her palm). Dingus immediately pads towards a still-bewildered Haerin, jumping up at her knee with a meow.
Haerin squats down herself, her hand having a mind of its own as she scratches behind Dingus’ ear, now purring happily.
“Do. Not. Pet. That. Gremlin. HE DOESN’T DESERVE IT!” Hanni protests, catching her breath — hands on her knees and everything.
“You’re just salty he scratched at you.”
“Multiple times!”
“Get over it, he does that to everyone except Dani.” Hyein gazes toward Haerin who’s staring down at Dingus. “And apparently, miss Haerin too.”
Haerin looks up from purring-Dingus, flicking her fringe out of her face to get a clear view of the trio. “…Well, if he scratches you, I guess you deserved it.”
Immediately, two of the three hollers. The only one that doesn’t is the victim herself: Hanni.
“You know what? I should’ve expected this from Kim Minji’s roommate.” Hanni boils, clenching her fists. Haerin merely shrugs because rather than Hanni being intimidating, she gives the vibe of a kicked kitten with the pout added on—which does not make Haerin fear for her life.
Danielle and Hyein continue to giggle, and Haerin tilts her head at them. She just stated the truth, she would stand by Dingus no matter what. Seeing Danielle in particular though, heaving at something Haerin said? It makes her heart swell with pride. (When was the last time Haerin felt pride in something that wasn’t her 11-step routine?)
After this comment delivered by Haerin, Dingus rubs his head on her palm, as if what Haerin stated was Dingus-approved. Sadly, he leaves her palm to jump onto the counter (not without trying to swat at Hanni, who effectively shrieks), disappearing towards the back of the shelter with the laughter dying down.
Well, at least Danielle’s laughter died down.
Hyein was still dying herself with the combination of Haerin’s comment and Dingus’ attempt at violence towards Hanni. This causes Hanni to commit an act of violence against Hyein, shoving her shaking shoulders—but with Hyein being so tall, and Hanni being so short, it comes out as futile (not even a fly would get hurt by Hanni).
“You better zip it right now, Lee, before I kick you out from the prestigious position that is Movie Go-ers social media manager.” Hanni threatens.
Hyein wheezes. “As if. I got us an additional 300 followers in my first week on the job! You need me, Pham!”
The girls’ bickering serves as a good white noise when Danielle asks. “Actually Haerin, would you like to come with us to Movie Go-ers?”
“Movie Go-ers…?” Haerin thinks out loud.
“Yes, Movie Go-ers!” Hanni interrupts by sliding in front of Danielle to face Haerin, clearing her throat before speaking in a tone that reminds Haerin of a weatherwoman. “The only society you’ll ever need to join in your uni life! We have it all: movies, of course, drinks, snacks, people, uh…”
“Oh, you should totally come. I need more cute girls on our Instagram page—follow us now at moviegoerssoc, bee-tee-dub-uh-you. Ones that aren’t Hanni, Dani, and Chaewon.”
“Hey! I’m the president of course I have to be on there— wait, did you call me cute? Awww, Hyein c’mere!”
“Gross, get off me!”
The girls are fighting, once again.
Haerin fidgets with her thumbs. She’s contemplating actually ditching her routine again, an urge that only seems to surface when there’s one Danielle Marsh involved.
Danielle looks at her with those doll-eyes, wide in anticipation but filled with so much care.
Right as Haerin is about to succumb to the urge, her mother’s voice from last night’s call slams her back to reality.
(“Remember, Haerin, you aren’t there to make friends. You’re there to study. Keep on track, okay?
And always send your grades to me at the end of every semester.”)
Instead of a firm ‘yes’, Haerin stammers. “I– I can’t, I got some assignments due for international trade soon. I got to work on them.”
Danielle’s eyes shift to a reflection of disappointment and Haerin’s chest aches. She’s got to come up with something so she doesn’t have to bear this sight. If Hanni was a kicked kitten, Danielle looked like a kicked puppy.
“But– I’ll join next week for sure. If you guys are having something then.”
Danielle’s invisible tail seems to start wagging then. “Of course! We always meet up on Thursdays to watch a new movie.”
“Alright then, I’ll meet you here?” Danielle nods, reaching out her hand which Haerin shakes in a familiar, firm handshake.
“It’s a date!”
Haerin’s eyes widen slightly at the word date.
Eventually, Danielle’s manager comes through the door with a ring, signaling it’s time for her shift to end and depart with Hanni and Hyein to Movie Go-ers.
Haerin watches as Hyein links arms with Danielle and adjusts her sleek, faint-red sunglasses over her eyes. “Toodle-oo Haerin!” She exclaims, wriggling her fingers.
Haerin clenches her jaw.
Her week goes by as normal.
She finishes her assignments and gets a respectable grade, one that places Haerin at the top of her international trade class (as expected from her mother).
After the results came out, Minji made Haerin play Just Dance with her as a way to “celebrate” and “let off some tension from sitting in your room all day, have you seen your posture?” Haerin chooses to ignore the last bit.
It ends with Haerin on her knees after the 3rd song, with Minji’s name flashing a bright blue ‘SUPERSTAR!’ and 5 rainbow stars under it—for the 3rd time in a row.
Once Thursday rolled around, Haerin texted Minji after her lectures with the information that she’ll be home late due to attending Movie Go-ers. Minji promptly responds with MOVIE GOERS? HANNI’S SOCIETY?? WITHOUT ME??? I WILL NEVER FORGET ABT THIS BETRAYAL!!!!! She continues to spam grossly about Hanni being her eye candy, or whatever.
Haerin makes her way to the shelter to see Danielle. The last time they “communicated” was just the day before when Danielle sent her a post on Instagram (she insisted they followed each other) of a kitten named ‘Snuggles’, whose favorite hobby is apparently napping. The text after the sent post states: you!!!!! xx , various emojis follow after.
Haerin likes the message and leaves it at that (because how exactly does she respond to Danielle’s excitement at this revelation? It makes Haerin flustered and lose the ability to function).
When Haerin walks into PAWS Rescue, she’s met with the sight of Danielle playing with two golden retriever puppies. Both wag their tails as they paw at her for more pets selfishly.
It doesn’t even bother Haerin that it took a good few seconds for Danielle to acknowledge her presence—watching her and the puppies alone seemed to cause a neuron activation, her heart beating quicker.
Haerin nods to herself that yep, Danielle is just like those puppies. (And Haerin doesn’t blame the puppies for wanting all of her attention.)
“You came!” Danielle cheers before grabbing her Fjällräven Kanken (plastered in buttons and keychains, cute) and intertwining fingers with a not-at-all-prepared Haerin.
“Bye Mr. Park, Bubbles, and Lucky!” She waves towards her manager and the two goldies, turning to Haerin with a beam. “Ready to go?”
Haerin forces herself to nod after a gulp.
She’d find herself heating up even more on the trip to Movie Go-ers—Danielle Marsh has made it her life mission to have as much physical touch as possible with a touch-deprived Kang Haerin.
“I knew you’d say no, so I have prepared a 20-page presentation on why we must experience the viewing pleasure of Pearl, 2022.” Taehyun explains, snapping his fingers towards Huening Kai to turn on the projector.
Instantly, a plain white google slide with arial, size 30 font displayed with the words: ‘FUCK HANNI, HYEIN, AND DANI LIVES. MOVIE-GOERS 4 PEARL (2022)’. Taehyun gasps and shoots an accusatory glare at Huening Kai. “What happened to my theme?!”
“It came like this?”
Hanni rolls her eyes. “Tae, save it for presentation night. We’re a democracy so everyone for Pearl 2022, which, by the way, fuck you too, raise your hand.”
To the dismay of Hanni, Hyein, and Danielle, they are beaten 4 (Taehyun, Huening Kai, Chaewon, and Haerin) to 3 in favor of watching Pearl.
“WE SHOULDN’T HAVE INVITED HER. We could be watching Trolls World Tour! Red Velvet is in it!” Hyein dramatically faints on the worn-out beige couch, her legs slung over the arm of it as Chaewon puts on 123movies.
“How was I supposed to know she loves slashers?!” Danielle whines, laying on the khaki rug with her head resting against Haerin’s thigh, who’s sitting on the same couch Hyein fake-fainted on. She almost twitches.
Hanni plops herself in the middle of the two, her arms folded with furrowed brows. “This was a planned conspiracy.” She declares.
Chaewon sets up her beach chair on Hyein’s side of the sofa, hitting play on the bulky laptop and the movie begins. Taehyun and Huening Kai sit next to Danielle on the rug, still bickering about what happened to Taehyun’s slideshow theme. (“I had to make 5 Slidesgo accounts. 5!” “Everyone knows SlidesCarnival is better.”)
“It is what it is.” Chaewon explains to no one in particular, the opening scene of Pearl (2022) illuminates the Movie Go-ers base of an abandoned garage.
…
Haerin has severely underestimated Danielle’s strength, physically and mentally (while also underestimating her strength against Danielle).
Danielle is clinging onto Haerin’s leg—she’s pretty sure when Danielle lets go, Haerin would find a deep burning mark of her handprint. Haerin herself attempts to reassure the frightened girl with rubs on the back (with much hesitation) but it’s not that much use. She’s secretly grateful the shivering girl is too preoccupied with trying to obscure any viewing of the film playing, to the point she can’t notice Haerin’s legs are shaking on their own.
“OH MY GOD!” Hanni shrieks as the infamous scarecrow scene comes on.
“Quiet, grape-head!” Huening Kai throws a pillow on top of Hanni and Hyein’s faces, Hyein having let out a deafening scream herself.
“Kai, be careful of my popcorn!” Chaewon scolds through munches.
Haerin takes a deep inhale at the ruckus that’s going on (something tells her that, no matter what, Movie Go-ers would always be chaos), usually if this was any other circumstance, she would be irritated—but she’s got her own predicament to deal with.
She can feel a gust of warmth as Danielle is breathing even harder than her. Haerin calls out to her in genuine concern. “Are you okay?”
“Can I sit next to you?” Danielle murmurs, bravely looking up at Haerin with a plea.
And that’s how Haerin helped hoist Danielle up onto the couch, Danielle fitting herself into the crook of Haerin’s neck that makes her undeniably stiff—not because of Pearl (2022).
Haerin fights for her life to make it through the remainder of the movie, the same can be said for Hanni, Hyein, and Danielle but for entirely different reasons. Danielle lets out a croak once the credits finally start playing.
“I think we need to kick out Taehyun.” She suggests, her clinging to Haerin’s arm relaxes but doesn’t let go of it just yet.
“Like I said, we are a democracy. So those in favor of kicking Taehyun out for making us sit through that, raise your hand.” Hanni immediately raises her own hand, Hyein following, Huening Kai doing the same (“You wanted to watch it too?!”) . Haerin is forced into participating in the vote as Danielle raises her own, making sure to intertwine fingers with Haerin (again) so her arm can go up as well.
“That’s 5 to 1, Chaewon?”
Chaewon shrugs, flicking a piece of popcorn at Taehyun. “That’s my answer.”
“Alright, 6 to 1, Taehyun you’re getting the boot.” Hyein concludes for Hanni, sticking out her tongue at the now-expelled member of Movie Go-ers.
“Oh hell no,” Taehyun scoffs. “Who else is going to remember and bring the drinks for you brats?” He throws his thumb behind him, signaling towards a portable fridge plugged in at the corner of the garage.
Chaewon tsk-es. “Damn, he’s got us there.” Then goes back to munching on the last few bits of her popcorn.
“Damn, he’s got us there,” Hanni mimics. “No, listen carefully Taehyun, we’re going to find a way to get you off this society.”
“Who’s ‘we’? I want my drinks.” Huening Kai has already made his way toward the fridge.
“Ditto.” Hyein agrees, following him. (“Didn’t you guys vote for me off, too?”)
As the five gather around the fridge to get their refreshments, Haerin grabs her bag from below Danielle’s Fjällräven. “You’re leaving?” The owner of the pale blue backpack asks, ruffling her hair when she stands up with Haerin from the couch. “You sure you don’t want drinks?”
(Haerin hates that Danielle seems to pay so much attention to everyone, but most especially her. Haerin recoils inwardly at having to reject the sun, again. Especially when she looks so ravishing as she does now, messy hair and all.)
Haerin shakes her head, waving the invitation off. “Sorry, the course goes by quickly. I have to catch up and do some reading.” She learned this mentality from her mother, who always promoted the ways of early reading—never let them know your next move!
Danielle frowns, and an unreadable crinkle appears between her eyebrows. She grabs onto Haerin’s wrist, blurting out “Wait, let me walk you home.”
“...Okay.”
“Guys, I’m taking Haerin home.”
“Already? Wow, they were right about sapphics moving quickly.”
“Hanni! Not like that, you freak!”
When the two of them walked back to Haerin and Minji’s apartment that night, it reminded Haerin of the first time she formally met Danielle.
Danielle has a superpower that makes Haerin’s hectic mind actually calm at the moment.
Begone overthinking, instead, her brain is clouded with the questions Danielle constantly asks her (that she always answers) and discreet thrown-in compliments (that never fail to make Haerin flush). She succumbs to the peace that is hearing Danielle’s honey-voice.
Later in the night while revising, Haerin logs into her Spotify to create a new playlist dubbed “finding an energy booster better than coffee” (the playlist cover being that of a puppy and a kitten curled up together) to make her focused.
She thinks about Danielle and her homeliness the whole time she curates it.
Haerin’s routine has changed drastically.
The first change is that she ends up going to Movie Go-ers quite frequently (dragged willingly by Danielle).
The second change is that she visits the shelter, inside, even more frequently—to be with Danielle—to see Dingus. Haerin has opened up to the fact that she and Dingus are soulmates, in more ways than just being ginger, much to Danielle’s pleasure.
Much to Haerin’s dismay, however, Minji never fails to make an unnecessary sly comment each time she gets back to their apartment a bit too late. (“Did you guys do it this time?” “You’re disgusting.” “Woah, I meant hugging, of course!”)
It’s a typical Wednesday when Haerin is playing with Dingus, he lays in his ‘fatty fat fat basket for mean fat cats’ (as gifted by Hanni and Hyein) whilst swatting at the feather Haerin flails above him with a stick and a string attached.
“Haerin, are you coming for Movie Go-ers tomorrow?” Danielle asks from behind the counter.
“Hm? Maybe?”
“We’re having our termly presentation night tomorrow, it’d make me really happy if you did come.”
At the mention of making Danielle happy, Haerin agrees right away to attend the presentation night tomorrow.
Minji somehow catches wind of this and spends the evening rummaging through her collection of hair clips, asking which ones Haerin thinks look good on her.
“Since when have you ever been this nervous? You’re just going to a university society.”
“Nuh-uh. It’s Hanni’s university society. I got to look my absolute best, it’s part of the requirements. ‘Cause let’s face it, I always look good.”
Haerin rolls her eyes and brings forth a small black and gold one from Chanel and clips it onto the right side of Minji’s hair, flicking it behind her back to showcase her multi-pierced ear as well. “This one.”
Thursday comes and presentation night begins, apparently, Minji was actually invited by Hanni for “something special”, obviously Minji could not say no to this and she was on the edge of the couch when Hanni came up to kick-start presentation night with a cough.
“Welcome Movie Go-ers members and special guests to our termly presentation night!” The 7-member audience hurrahs in varying degrees of energy.
“As president of Movie Go-ers, I would like to begin this night with a presentation I have made that’s very dear to my heart. This is for you.” She motions toward Minji, who’s grinning wildly at the acknowledgment.
The light inside the garage clicks off, and everyone’s view gravitates towards the brightly-colored title stated in bold ‘Top 10 Reasons Why Kim Minji Should be Sent to Hell For an Eternity of Listening to Rihanna’s Umbrella — by Hanni :)’
Saying Minji was flabbergasted is an understatement.
Presentation night continues, ranging from Taehyun’s ‘tae’s fav phonk songs bc y’all got to leave beabadoobee, lana del rey & taylor swift alone’ (“SHUT THAT OFF RIGHT NOW TAE AND PUT ON SOME GLUE SONG!”), Chaewon’s ‘The Full Guide to Toxicity: Gaslight, Gatekeep, Girlboss.’ (“What about for the guys?” “You guys don’t deserve the privilege of being toxic.”), Huening Kai’s surprisingly wholesome ‘introduction to my plushies :]’ and Hyein’s ‘which Riverdale character you all would get with — AND WHY! (excluding me bc i’m normal)’ (“Hyein you know lying is a sin, right?”)
Finally, it’s Danielle’s turn. She clears her throat as the subject of her presentation appears on screen: ‘the best dingus moments of this year (so far)!!’ It goes without saying that she has Haerin’s undivided attention throughout this.
The presentation is littered with a lot of photos of a candid Haerin and Dingus, ones that Haerin wasn’t even aware were taken. Did Danielle just have these in her camera roll the entire time? Haerin gulps.
She misses the fact that Minji, Hanni, and Hyein are looking back and forth from Danielle and Haerin’s shameless stares—all three of them snicker.
Presentations wrap up with an applause, as part of tradition the Movie Go-ers (including Minji) get ready to go karaoke-ing.
Haerin halts herself here, her mother’s voice in her hectic mind instructs her not to go. She has to prioritize her studies filled with assignments, the ones after those, and the ones after that, and—
“Haerin, you okay? Are you coming?”
Danielle lends out her hand for Haerin to take. Haerin blinks.
Well, Minji is here, and most importantly, Danielle is here. Danielle’s honey-voice, her loving gazes with those doll-like eyes, the way she always makes sure that Haerin is okay, the way she takes care of Haerin better than Haerin can take care of herself.
One night wouldn’t hurt, right?
She takes Danielle’s hand.
Everything’s loud at karaoke. It’s not Haerin’s usual scene.
“To the D to the E to the L-I-C-I-O-U-S!” followed by a “HIT IT FERGIE!” are echoed off the walls in the private karaoke room, a Fergalicious rap delivered by Hanni and Chaewon is about to wrap up.
Following that, Girlfriend by Avril Lavigne is sung by Minji. She makes sure to emphasize the lyrics “I could be your girlfriend!” towards Hanni, this leads to Hanni dragging Minji out of the room by the ear—she wasn’t even able to see the score she got.
Once the two made their grand exit, Danielle stepped up to sing. She (bless her soul) decided on Halo by Beyoncé as her karaoke debut.
Haerin believes this song was actually dedicated and written with Danielle Marsh in mind.
However, while Danielle’s on the last chorus, Haerin’s phone starts to continuously vibrate in the pockets of her cargo pants. She takes her phone out and sees that she has missed at least 15 calls from her mother—Danielle’s singing has an effect on her that makes her totally engrossed (but that could be said about anything Danielle does for Haerin).
Haerin murmurs out an “excuse me,” and exits the room into a corridor with a dark navy lighting cloaking it, the only other signs of bright light come from the other karaoke rooms and their own TV screens that display the lyrics of whatever song.
Haerin bites her bottom lip when she hears the ringing of her attempt to call back her mother. “Hello?” She rasps out.
“Kang Haerin, why didn’t you pick up immediately?” Her mother begins, and she can hear a tut after the question.
“Sorry mom, I—” Haerin has no time to explain herself (lie about her whereabouts) as her mother continues to explain the importance of picking up her calls. An explanation Haerin has been hearing since middle school.
“You know I just want the best for you. That’s why it’s important to keep me updated and call me, I feel like I’m the only one calling these days.” A sigh makes Haerin’s throat clog up in guilt.
One of the karaoke rooms is way too loud, a reminder that this isn’t Haerin’s scene and she shouldn’t be here. A soon-to-be verbal reminder as well once Haerin’s mother has picked up on the screeching that runs across the corridor. “Wait, Kang Haerin, are you not in your apartment? What are you doing? That doesn’t sound like the library. I thought you had an assignment next week? Are you not taking your studies seriously?”
Her mother hears nothing from Haerin’s side as she begins berating Haerin for not keeping focus, how her grades are ultimately going to fail because of this and all her efforts are for nothing if this is how Haerin wishes to spend her university days—because she decided to go karaoke-ing for one night.
“Do you understand?”
“Yes.” Haerin says.
“Alright, get home safe, okay? Text me when you do. I love you, Haerin.”
The call ends with a click, and Haerin slouches against the wall.
She tries to brainstorm ways she can leave discreetly back to the apartment without causing worries for the others, but her head pounds and pounds the more she thinks—and suddenly she feels her eyes go foggy and her cheeks are being stained.
Haerin continues to stand there, slouching (her mother would be scolding her for this, too). Instead of the screeching voices of nearby karaoke rooms, she can only feel and hear the snot that clogs up her nose and her shaky wheezes after each draw-in of breath.
She clenches her fist, preparing to scream all the resentment caught up in her throat—
“Haerin?”
Danielle shuts the door behind her, eyes wide when Haerin looks up from the floor towards her. She walks over with her arms wide. “Come here.”
Haerin falls in and straight-up wails into Danielle, who envelopes her with a tight hug. “I’m not letting you go, so just let it out. I got you.” Danielle whispers, causing Haerin to cry and cry into the crook of her shoulder.
“Everything I do— it’s for her.” Haerin finally hiccups. “My mom— she– she never believes it though.”
With no response yet besides strokes on the back, Haerin continues. “I thought– I thought university is the time for people to be free and find out who you are, all that bullshit I heard. So why do I feel so trapped?” She retreats from the comfort of Danielle’s shoulder to look straight at her.
“Can you tell me, Dani?”
Danielle cups Haerin’s tear-stained cheeks which have now turned too red for her own good, almost resembling that of her eyes. “Look at you, always trying to find the truth and meaning of things,” She places her forehead against Haerin’s. “Even with things you don’t need to know the truth and meaning of—to know that you don’t deserve it, to know you don’t deserve to feel this way.”
Haerin feels like the waterworks are coming back but Danielle goes on, and whatever Danielle does or says, Haerin makes sure to give all her attention to it. “Haerin, I can see how beautiful of a person you are—inside and out—and the effort, the hard work you put into everything you do, in just a few weeks. Yet your mom has known you for your whole life and can’t acknowledge it? I think that blows.”
Danielle’s lop-sided grin makes Haerin feel on top of the world, never has she felt so much more than she does now: feeling like her soul is all for Danielle to look into.
It even gets a scuffed laugh out of her at how bizarre it all is; how quickly she opened up herself and fell for a PAWS Rescue volunteer named Danielle Marsh, studying veterinary biology, an avid member of Movie Go-ers, one of the two people the ginger cat named Dingus (recurring superstar of ‘Furry Fiend of the Week’) can tolerate, the one that always sends posts that reminded her of Haerin, the one Haerin wants to be with.
“Thank you.” Haerin heaves, leaning in to peck on Danielle’s cheek.
Danielle says nothing besides an agape mouth appearing on her face and that’s when it dawns on Haerin. “Wait! Sorry, I didn’t mean to–” She tries to save face before getting cut off.
“Can I kiss you?”
Haerin sucks in a breath. “...Yes, yes you can kiss me.”
Danielle smiles with those stupid (lovely) twinkling eyes. “It would be my honor.”
She leans back in.
Haerin finds her arms wrapped around Danielle’s waist, Danielle’s own arms wrapped around her neck as they get interrupted by Hyein hitting Chuu’s high note in Hi-High from inside the karaoke room. It’s a bit silent before all they can do is laugh.
“Hey, why don’t we go and have dinner, just the two of us?” Danielle strokes her thumb across Haerin’s now-dry cheek (a hint of lip gloss smudged on it from the way Danielle left her multiple smooches across her face).
How could Haerin say no to that?
Danielle still has Haerin’s cheek cupped and Haerin still has a firm grip around Danielle’s waist when a certain Pham Hanni and Kim Minji walk into the view.
They look disheveled, both of their hairs sticking out in ways that didn’t represent their usually well-kept appearances. Minji has some faint lipstick stains around her lips, which is definitely not her shade—Haerin notes. Hanni herself is not completely guilt-free either, sporting the Chanel hair clip that Haerin picked out for Minji yesterday.
The pairs blankly look at each other up and down.
“Not a word about this.” Hanni points between her and Minji. “And we won’t say a thing about this.” She gestures towards Haerin and Danielle’s position before grabbing Minji’s hand as they go back into the karaoke room.
Minji mouths towards Haerin: ‘WE WON’.
Haerin used to have a routine. She isn’t sure when her routine started to adjust a Danielle Marsh into her life, who doesn’t like following plans.
It’s been like this for a few years now.
Haerin pats Dingus, who’s now graduated from being showcased on the boards of PAWS Rescue and right into Haerin’s lap in her now-shared apartment with Danielle.
Recently, Dingus has found some stardom on Instagram, thanks to the help of a local social media manager and designer for her own clothing brand at the age of 23: Lee Hyein. (“Follow now at dingusworlddomination!”) Taehyun, Huening Kai, Chaewon, Hanni, and Minji make sure to comment on each of Dingus’ (Hyein’s) posts.
Speaking of Hanni and Minji: Minji successfully kick-starts a slime business that distributes to Nickelodeon, this causes Hanni’s cognitive-behavioral therapy clinic to have an influx of Nick stars as clients. Haerin has to admit they make a good duo.
Whilst Dingus purrs in her lap, Haerin finds her back resting against Danielle’s chest, cradled in her arms—she slips out a heart-shaped lollipop from her lips and gives it to Haerin who takes it into her mouth with a hum. (O’ how far Haerin has come from being disgusted by some Samyang sauce being spilled throughout her and Minji’s kitchen floor.)
She feels like she’s just been sent straight to heaven (and Danielle is her guardian angel).