Chapter Text
one year.
for one whole year minji has been crushing on kang haerin, a close friend from her (read: limited) selection of real friends.
minji wasn’t a recluse by any means, far from that.
she was the type that other students could look up to; stuco president, captain of the basketball team, musically and academically inclined.
minji had the brains and brawn; the whole package, teachers adored her, which is why many people tried getting close to her, use her for her reputation around the school.
naturally, minji wasn’t a very big fan of this, only keeping up friendly appearances on a surface level, which is why she only really had one friend group.
the friend group consisted of: pham hanni, the student council vice president.
mo jihye, better known as danielle, the student council secretary.
lee hyein, a freshman that minji adopted when she joined the basketball team.
and finally, kang haerin, the one that’s had minji’s heart in a vice grip.
to be completely honest, haerin really wasn’t that much of an influence to hybe high. she never joined the student council, despite ⅗ of the group being in it.
she wasn’t very interested in sports unless her friends were in the game, if they were, you’d better believe she’s doing her best to cheer. if not for her friends, haerin might’ve been considered as the person with the least school spirit.
haerin was hand selected by teachers to be in the tutoring club because she had exceptional grades, but even then hardly any students ever needed to go to the tutoring club. and when they did, they would be tutored by one of the more experienced members.
minji didn’t really know what the reasoning behind her infatuation for haerin was, and neither did the rest of her friends, excluding haerin.
hanni, with her perceptive nature and her ability to be incredibly annoying when she wanted to, teased minji about it several times. danielle, on the other hand, would offer minji a sweet smile while berating her girlfriend for teasing minji too much.
even hyein, the youngest of their established group, picked up on minji’s feelings for haerin, although she was much more discreet about it.
how haerin wasn’t able to pick up on it though? nobody knows the answer to that one.
｡ﾟ•┈୨♡୧┈• ｡ﾟ
“bro, you’re such a loser”
“hanni!”
minji was once again third wheeling the aussie couple in a facetime call, watching the two bicker playfully back and forth on her phone.
“dani, i’m just stating facts, minji has had zero game since she came to hybe high 4 years ago. i mean, we’re seniors already!”
“baby, if you insult minji one more time i swear to god you won’t see your switch for a week.”
that promptly got hanni to shut up.
minji rolled her eyes at the couple, before returning to her bio paper that was due in 8 hours. “that’s not true, i’ve had game and still do.”
the korean girl could see hanni trying her hardest to not reply like a smartass, the only thing stopping her was her girlfriends threat.
minji furrowed her brows, lifting her gaze once more from darwin’s theory of evolution to her phone screen, “remember chaewon? our senior? we talked for a bit.”
at minji’s statement, hanni couldn’t resist any longer.
“minji, 2 weeks doesn’t count as ‘a bit.’”
minji frowned slightly at her best friend's words, maybe she was right.
hanni, upon seeing the slightly dejected look on her bestie’s and stuco pres’s face, rushed out a reassurement. “well… i mean, you probably have hidden charisma in you somewhere…”
danielle takes control of the situation, speaking on behalf of hanni, “what she meant to say was… you’re a really charming person, minji. there’s more to you than meets the eye.”
minji couldn’t help but let out a laugh at the aussie’s dynamic, their words reassuring her just a tiny bit more. she turned her attention from her phone back to her bio paper, listening to how hanni and dani talked casually to each other.
humming to the tune of taylor swift’s “lover”, she was brought out of focus when hanni had repeatedly called minji’s name 7 times in a row, finally shifting her attention when hanni called minji “clean-up queen.”
“what?”
with a mischievous look on her face, hanni might hve possibly rapped the words that came out of her mouth next. “dani and i have to go now, we’re ringing haerin to the facetime, okay bye-“
just like that, the aussie couple was no longer in call with her. as the gears turned in minji’s head, she began to process hanni’s words before she left.
ringing. facetime. haerin.
holy shit, haerin was gonna join the facetime call.
and minji looked like an absolute mess right now, her hair held up messily with a dark green claw clip. she didn’t have her usual contacts in, she was wearing her glasses. and she was wearing an old black shirt that read out “i <3 milfs” that she got back in quarantine.
minji shivered at the thought of those dark, dark, times.
she was so going to strangle hanni the next day at school when she saw her, not danielle though, she’s an angel.
that was a worry for tomorrow. right now, minji desperately needed to get out of the shirt she was wearing. she grabbed whatever clean shirt she could find in her closet, opting for a plain white shirt. she hurriedly tried changing into the new shirt.
unfortunately, luck was not on her side.
haerin had just joined the call the moment minji started lifting up her shirt, exposing her well trained and toned abdomen for haerin to see.
“bad time?”
minji was a deer caught in headlights, “u-uh no, just erm— seeing if they’re still there.”
“what’s still there?”
“… my abs.”
minji wanted to bang her head on the wall, out of everything she could’ve said, she said that???
haerin let out a laugh, “well, they’re still there as far as i can see. nice shirt, by the way.”
if minji wasn’t red before, she was surely red now.
“it’s an old shirt! i promise…”
minji moved off screen so she could change into her white shirt. returning to the camera’s view, her cheeks had gone back to their normal colour, the tip of her ears still bright red though.
“i’m sorry haerin, this isn’t how i usually act or look, i promise.” minji explained, trying to gain full semblance of composure.
haerin’s soft laugh filled minji’s ears, “don’t say sorry, you’re acting as if we haven’t known each other since forever.”
minji’s heart fluttered at the sound of haerin’s laugh. definitely one of her favourite sounds. haerin always had a way to calm minji down.
the two found themselves falling into seamless conversation, minji finding herself paying more attention to the cat-like beauty on her phone rather than her homework.
the call had gone on for a lot longer than minji expected, a 5% battery warning appearing on her screen.
of course, she didn’t pay attention to the warning, her attention laser focused on haerin’s pretty face as she talked.
“you’re so pretty”
“hm? what was that min?”
damn, did she really just say that out loud?
“oh, uh, you’re so pretty,” minji begins to sing, “when you smile… you know, like, wasia project. yeah.”
haerin snorts at minji’s attempted cover up, “you’re such a dork, minji..”
a silence grows between the two of them, a comforting one though.
“haerin.”
“yeah?”
“i like—“
minji was met with the all too familiar screen of her phone telling her its battery was dead.
what great timing.