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Huh Yunjin got very good grades, she was proud to say that she outdid her sister at school and will forever rub that in Rachel’s face. She even ranked 26th in Produce48, which was a great achievement at the age of 18. She thought of herself as someone who follows rules and routines, not exactly fitting the ‘spontaneous’ type.
But now, sitting on the practice room floor, watching her girlfriend and their youngest member as they play swords with a broom and a mop they found in the closet, Yunjin thinks that maybe a touch of spontaneity in her life isn’t so bad.
Amused by their antics, Yunjin found herself playing with the same necklace she’s been wearing for months, laughing loudly as Eunchae playfully prodded Kazuha's butt with the mop, making the girl yelp.
"Hey, the butt is off limits.” Kazuha playfully scolds the younger member.
“Oh yeah? Which one? Your left or your right one?” Eunchae smirks, laughing as Kazuha starts chasing her around with the broom.
This made Yunjin think. Her girlfriend really advocated for the fact that humans have two butts. Her reason? As an athlete, she can move her “butts” separately. Reflecting on Kazuha's unique perspective, she didn’t find it strange when she heard her reasoning, but rather endearing, despite years of studying biology without encountering the idea of dual buttocks. Because it’s Kazuha, and her slight obliviousness about the world held a charm that unexpectedly led Yunjin to fall in love with her. Because as lost in her own world as she is, she always payed the most attention when it came to Yunjin. For example:
—
On a chilly December morning, Yunjin nestled comfortably in her warm blankets when a knock echoed on her bedroom door. Groggily, she got up, shivering at the slight cold room. Opening the door, she faced a fully dressed Kim Chaewon.
"The car is arriving in 10 minutes. Did you just wake up?" The leader scrutinized Yunjin with a concerned expression. There was no use hiding; Yunjin was still clad in her pajamas, with a bare face.
"Oh my God!" Panicked, Yunjin hastily shut the door in Chaewon's face, racing to the bathroom. Completely ignoring her unmade bed, she discarded her pajamas before even reaching the bathroom door.
Yunjin managed to get ready two minutes before their car awaited them downstairs. She wore a mismatched pair of socks and forgot to put her eyelashes on but she got ready in record time. Unfortunately, waking up late left no room for making coffee, instantly signaling a bad day ahead for her.
"Wow, I'm surprised you made it out of there alive. All I heard were fumbling, cursing, and I'm pretty sure you tripped and fell like three times." Chaewon remarked as they descended the stairs.
Instead of responding, Yunjin expressed her displeasure with an obscene hand sign, making sure Eunchae couldn't see. Chaewon chuckled, playfully pushing Yunjin's shoulder as they continued toward the car.
It was so cold out that Yunjin could feel her nostrils sticking together. She was used with the cold air from living in Niskayuna for so long, but Seoul's air was so humid and cold that it left her fingers numb in the brief walk from the building to their car. Adding salt to the wound, their manager said they wouldn't be stopping at the coffee shop due to traffic.
So it was evident that Yunjin wasn't exactly in the best mood. Upon entering the practice room, all she desired was to finish the day and retreat to her warm bed.
Approaching cautiously, like an angel dressed up in Nike tech wear, was a smiling Kazuha. Call Yunjin obsessed, but she could detect the scent of that Iced Americano in Kazuha's hands from across the room.
"Unnie, I got you this on our way here. Eunchae texted and said you guys were stuck in traffic, so I assumed you wouldn't be stopping for coffee." The younger ballerina explained, extending the mouthwatering beverage to Yunjin.
Perhaps Yunjin was exaggerating; the coffee at their company was, in fact, quite good. But in that moment, she had to clutch the lamp next to her to resist jumping into Kazuha's arms. It might not have been a grand gesture for others, but for Yunjin, who stayed up late the previous night feeling homesick, it meant the world.
"God, Zuha. I could kiss you right now. Thank you so much," she exclaimed, her eyes nearly welling up with tears. If her vision hadn't blurred, perhaps she would have noticed the blush forming on the younger girl's cheeks.
"Ah, don't worry about it. I'm glad it brightened your face a little. Your smile is too pretty to keep hidden," Kazuha replied. A natural flirt, Yunjin thought she had grown accustomed to it after knowing Kazuha for so long. However, that morning, it made her feel like a schoolgirl talking to her crush, confusing the hell out of her.
—
One afternoon, they all gathered at Kazuha and Sakura’s apartment after the eldest decided to prepare ramen noodles for the five of them. Sakura, being the most skilled cook among them, typically took charge in the kitchen in order to avoid any of the younger ones setting the kitchen on fire. Younger ones includes Chaewon, who’s not very skilled when it comes to cooking.
Yunjin, on the other hand, was Sakura's right hand when it came to cooking. The two seamlessly synchronized their movements, each knowing precisely what to do and when to do it. However, following a particularly intense day in the practice room, Yunjin accidentally caused the handle of the small pot she was holding, to slip out of her hand. The pot dropped onto the counter, splashing hot water onto her hand.
”Fuck!” The older girl cursed in pain. Yunjin wasn’t usually clumsy, but when she was she always managed to hurt herself badly. “Oh wow, that stings worse than I thought it would.”
“Unnie? Are you okay? I heard something drop.” A concerned Kazuha appeared in the kitchen, seemingly materializing from God knows where, hurrying to Yunjin's side.
Sakura had to make a quick trip to the store with Eunchae to restock on tofu and a pack of fresh kimchi, leaving Yunjin, Kazuha, and Chaewon at the apartment. However, Chaewon was on the balcony talking to her mom on the phone.
"The pot slipped from my hand, and I dropped some water on my hand. It was so damn hot, Jesus Christ." The girl with blonde hair held her burned hand, attempting to ease the pain.
"Oh God, let's run some cold water and put your hand under it for a few minutes." Kazuha rushed Yunjin to the sink, turning the tap on at a moderately cold temperature.
"Wouldn't it be easier to put ice on it?" Yunjin asked, obediently placing her hand under the water. It stung a bit, but the pain gradually became more manageable.
"My mom told me that it could damage the skin. I once burned my forearm when I was 12. I accidentally touched a hot iron," she explained while holding Yunjin's hand under the running water. Her own hand was also getting wet, but she didn't seem to care.
"Come with me; I have Aloe Vera cream in my room. It'll soothe the pain." Kazuha led her by the other hand until they reached the younger girl's room.
Her room was just as she remembered it from her last visit. It carried the scent of fresh laundry detergent and that unmistakable fragrance Kazuha always had around her. Yunjin could never quite pinpoint it. Was it cotton candy? Vanilla, perhaps? She couldn't tell, but it embodied Kazuha's essence.
"Here, sit on the bed. You'll have to let it air dry for now; it's not good to place a bandage right away." The extent of the ballerina's knowledge about treating burns surprised Yunjin. One might think she was a nurse given how well-informed she appeared.
Kazuha retrieved a sizable tube of Aloe Vera natural cream from her bedside drawer, taking a generous amount on her fingers before gently applying it to Yunjin's injured hand.
There it went again—that feeling, the acceleration in her pulse, and the slight dizziness. Yunjin wasn't certain if her hand tingled from the hot water she spilled on it or simply because Kazuha was touching it. These emotions continued to perplex Yunjin in the days following the Iced Americano incident.
Did she like Kazuha? Why did she want to go burn her other hand too if it meant that Kazuha would take care of her like this?
"There, it should heal pretty fast; it's not as bad as I thought. I guess your reflexes were good, and you pulled your hand away fast." Kazuha capped her tube of cream before assisting Yunjin to stand up.
Yunjin suddenly found herself standing just inches away from the girl who always made her heart race. Kazuha wasn’t just beautiful—she was captivating, the kind of beauty that left Yunjin speechless from the first moment they met. But now, with Kazuha so close, Yunjin’s breath hitched in her throat. Every detail—the sparkle in her eyes, the way her dazzling smile seemed to widen every time she looked at Yunjin— it made her head spin.
"Girls? Are you two in here?" A curious Chaewon appeared in the hallway, looking for the girls who had suddenly disappeared from the kitchen.
"Ah, you're here. Are you okay, Yunjin?" The short-haired girl asked, noticing how Yunjin was holding her right hand.
"I just burned myself a bit with hot water. But I'm good now, nurse Zuha took good care of me," Yunjin said, smiling at Kazuha.
"Oh, I didn't hear anything; I'm sorry I didn't help," she quickly apologized, coming over to examine her friend's hand.
"Don't worry about it, I'm all good now. Let's go prepare the food; Sakura will get mad if the noodles aren't boiled by the time they get back," she said, ushering both girls back into the kitchen.
—
Maybe Yunjin was going insane over Kazuha, but in all fairness, the latter wasn't making it easy for her. Yunjin started to notice all the ways Zuha would try to be the first to help her, the first to reach and give her the salt at the table, the first to compliment her outfit, and the first to offer her jacket when it was cold.
They were so different. Yunjin was calculated. She liked to be on time (minus the one time she missed her alarm), she liked to have things planned, and she preferred things to be in order. Kazuha was spontaneous. She would enter a restaurant or any place that seemed pleasing to her, had different routines every day, and always managed to misplace her AirPods.
But it worked, somehow. It didn't make sense, but it did. And all the instances where Kazuha demonstrated to Yunjin why it made sense are the reasons she doesn’t mind the delightful nonsense of it all.
The younger girl was brave. She was the one who started hugging Yunjin a bit longer when they said good night. She was the one who made a habit of getting Yunjin’s coffee order so the older girl wouldn't have to worry about it. Kazuha was the one who kissed Yunjin that one night when they were slightly inebriated after drinking some soju at dinner.
Kazuha, bit by bit, unraveled Yunjin’s composed demeanor. She pulled Yunjin into the same nonsense that she lived, and she stopped caring. She stopped worrying that they were too different, she stopped questioning Kazuha’s strange behavior, and she fell faster than she ever allowed herself.
—
A few hours later, as they took a break from practice, Yunjin sat down next to a wall, leaning her head on the cold surface. A familiar presence joined her, fingers gently brushing over hers, prompting a smile from Yunjin. She turned her head, meeting a pair of eyes that held a gaze she could never resist, accompanied by a smile that consistently made her heart skip a beat. They sat closely together, akin to lovebirds nestled in a shared haven, their hands intuitively seeking one another, as if guided by an unspoken script. After a year of being a couple, they didn’t need much words as their actions told enough for them to understand each other, a silent language only they can speak. And now as Yunjin looked into Kazuha’s eyes, she could tell the girl desperately wanted to kiss her, and she’s sure her own eyes were telling Kazuha the same thing.
”Yah, what are you two doing there?" The youngest member of their group chimed in, causing the two girls to look away from each other, subtly distancing their hands.
"They weren't doing anything, Eunchae. Don't scare them like that," Sakura interjected, seemingly attempting to shield them from unwanted attention.
"I didn't mean to scare them; they look cute like this." Eunchae smiled toward the two girls, who blushed even deeper in response to her playful observation. The fleeting moment of connection and shared glances lingered in the air, leaving a subtle warmth amidst the practice room's intensity.
They continued to dance until their hair was sticking to their flushed faces, the room filled with nothing but the sound of rapid breathing.
“Guys, I can feel my heart beating in my eyelids. Is that normal?” Chaewon said, her hands on her eyes as she tried to regain a steady breathing rhythm.
“I can’t even feel my eyelids,” Eunchae exclaimed from the other side of the room, provoking laughter from the others.
“Okay, let’s gather our things and go home. I think everyone needs a shower,” Sakura suggested, meticulously packing her belongings.
With everyone ready to head out, Yunjin lingered on the couch, waiting for Kazuha, who was in the bathroom.
“You guys go ahead; Kazuha and I will catch an Uber home,” she informed them. They bid their goodbyes, leaving Yunjin alone in the practice room.
The bathroom door opened shortly, revealing a smiling Kazuha.
“You know, they have a really nice scented soap in there. I once had this perfume that smelled exactly the same, and I used to hate it. I don’t know why I like the scent of the soap, to be honest.” Kazuha explained as she made her way towards Yunjin.
Even after hours of dancing and repeating the same choreography hundreds of times, Kazuha's eyes were still full of life, love, and all the things that brought comfort to Yunjin.
“You waited for me,” Kazuha pointed out, reaching to take her bags from Yunjin’s hands.
“You know I always will. Come on, let’s go get some boba at the convenience store and head home,” Yunjin said, grabbing her girlfriend’s hand, and they headed out. She couldn’t wait to spend the night at Kazuha’s place and snuggle into her arms, smelling that sweet fragrance, that she now knows it comes from her jasmine and berries lotion.
In moments like these, Yunjin understood that there’s no one more fitting for her than Kazuha. She was her little chaos that somehow completed her, and in all honesty, she wouldn’t change that for the world. She doesn’t really understand it, but she loves her.