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“Minjeong and I are dating.”
Aeri’s brow arches. “Yeah and the sky is purple.”
“We are!” Jimin repeats, throwing her hands up in exasperation.
“You think you’re gonna get me. Haha! April fool’s day!” Aeri dryly laughs, comfortingly patting her shoulder before she walks away, “Try harder next time, Jimin.”
Dejectedly watching her go, Jimin sighs.
“But…I wasn’t joking though,” she pouts.
-
On the phone with her girlfriend, Jimin is currently playing with her hair and wondering if it’s worth killing her scalp to go blonde. Ever since Minjeong bleached her hair, Jimin’s been feeling a little restless. Maybe a haircut, maybe another piercing, maybe her first tattoo if she lets herself get carried away!
Jimin picks off a split end. Her hair is just barely thriving after she dyed it last year. But blonde looked good on her! She humors the thought some more. She and Minjeong can be like gay, little Barbies that live together in their gay, little apartment that now has too many damn beds since Minjeong always ends up in hers at the end of the day.
“I tried to tell Aeri but she didn’t believe me!”
Minjeong groans on the other end of the line, complaining too. “Ugh, Ningie didn’t believe me either. She thought I was pulling her leg!” She whines. “I even showed her pictures of us! Tiktok’s! Texts! She thinks we fabricated it all to pull off a crazy, elaborate prank. Maybe we shouldn’t have told them on April Fool’s Day, Jiminie.” Shaking her head, Jimin flops back onto her bed, listening to the background noise on Minjeong’s end. She hears her quietly murmur a small, “Excuse me, thank you,” before her voice returns in full volume in the receiver. “I’m getting a little snack right now but I’m gonna get drinks at that one place later. Do you want anything? That grapefruit ade drink you like?”
She hums out a sound. Her tongue wants the taste of the drink. “Yes, please.” Thinking about how they might prove their relationship, Jimin sulks. “Why won’t Aeri believe me? I know I’m playful and joke around too much sometimes, but I wouldn’t lie about you. I can’t play around with your feelings!”
“To be fair,” Minjeong starts, “you’ve never really been able to be serious about me.”
“That’s a lie! A blatant lie! I’m serious about you! I’m your seriously committed, very much in love, girlfriend!”
“I didn’t mean it like that, loser,” Minjeong laughs out. “I know you’re serious about us. But baby,” she coos, “you’ve been calling me your girlfriend since you were five.”
“You’ve been my girlfriend in my heart ever since I liked you. Ever since I confessed to you on the monkey bars! So what if it took you almost seventeen years to give me an answer back!”
Laughing incredulously, Minjeong answers back dramatically, “Well sorry I couldn’t exactly give you my answer when you fell! I was freaked out about you spraining your wrist!”
“So you’re blaming my lack of coordination when I was a toddler for never getting back to me? That’s low, Mindoongie,” Jimin teases.
“You can very easily be single, Jimin. I can end it right now.” Minjeong pointedly retorts.
“No!” Jimin begs, “I like being your girlfriend! I’ve waited for so long! I’m being so serious; please don’t break up with me!”
As Minjeong laughs, bright and chittering, she thanks the worker for her food breathlessly. “See, Jiminie, this is why they can’t take us seriously.”
“Whatever,” she dismisses, playing with the cuffs of Minjeong’s dress shirt that she left behind. “They’ll believe us at some point.” Bringing the yellow button-up to her nose after she slips her arms through the sleeves, she inhales softly, letting the familiar, sweet scent wrap around her. “I miss you. Can you come over now?” Hearing a faint jingling sound, Jimin’s fingers work on fastening the buttons of Minjeong’s shirt.
“I’m gonna be a while. I wanted to walk to yours.”
Jimin almost audibly sighs.
(She’s missed her girlfriend something terrible. Minjeong’s been woefully busy with studying. She hasn’t seen her in a few days thanks to school ripping her out of her grabby hands. But now that she’s done and clobbered her finals, it’s Jimin Time. As consented to by Minjeong herself, Minjeong’s time is Jimin’s and Jimin’s time is Jimin’s, meaning Jimin will spend her and Minjeong’s time by being annoyingly clingy and kissy.
She’s not touch-starved. Minjeong touched her plenty the last time they met. Jimin’s just Minjeong-deprived. Her battery is only good for 48 hours and anything after is left for her to deal with in the trenches.
She supposes that Minjeong lets her have her way with her more than she should. Minjeong’s always given her a looser leash. Or more like, no leash, no collar, no nothing to keep her touchy hands and unhinged ideas and comments to herself. It’s one of the things Jimin loves about Minjeong. She just…takes her for who she is. She understands her heart, her mind. Not to say that Jimin compromises herself around other people, but Minjeong is one of the few people she can stand to be unabashedly herself around.
She can be desperate as she wants, as needy as she wants, as silly as she wants. In a world that plays favorites, Jimin thinks she might be the most favored. The universe doesn’t just give people like Minjeong. Jimin’s already long since sworn to cherish her. She probably made that promise when she was five and told Minjeong she fell for her. And then proceeded to tumble off of her seat atop the monkey bars.
Maybe she took “fell for” too literally and actually fell off but the point stands. Yu Jimin made Kim Minjeong special to her in one fell swoop. One sprained wrist, one confession, one girl who chose her person for life before she could even properly say “ankylosaurus.”
(She’ll always pronounce it ankle-saurus in her head. Five, twenty-one. It doesn’t matter the age or that she knows how to say it now. It’s ankle-saurus just like how Minjeong is hers. Indubitable.)
The beauty of knowing Minjeong for this long, other than the fact that Minjeong is her heart’s walking-talking-breathing home, is knowing Minjeong so well that she might as well be a Min-kipedia that specializes in all things Pookie Kim Minjeong.
Meaning she can annoy her. Like, not just a silly whack on her shoulders annoying. But, silent treatment kind of annoying. Though, Jimin hates going that far. She’s a big fan of Minjeong. In any regard. But talking with Minjeong is genuinely her favorite pastime and hobby and passion all wrapped into one, cutie patootie, puppy-shaped human. Annoying her to the point of Minjeong ghosting her is decidedly unfavorable.)
“Okay,” she says, trying to hide how she’s definitely feeling sulkier. “Enjoy your walk, baby.”
Jimin has to listen for Minjeong harder as city chatter leaks into their call. “I can hear you pouting. I can get an Uber if it’s killing you.”
It almost feels like it does. Jimin nuzzles into the collar of her girlfriend’s shirt.
“How far are you?”
Minjeong hums, mumbling about street names. “Um…about an hour or so away? I shouldn’t take too long at the cafe. I already put in a mobile order so I’m just picking up.”
An hour! Jimin almost kicks her legs from a temper tantrum. That’s sixty minutes too long.
“I’ll…,” she lowly encourages herself, “I’ll…be fine.
“Baby, you don’t sound like you’ll be fine.”
A cry bleeds from her lips, full blown whine that contradicts her sentiment, “I can do it. I’ve survived a week. What’s another hour?” She tries to convince herself. An hour. Sixty minutes. Six ten’s, Twelve five’s, one episode of Boys Over Flowers and additional time to dick around on her phone. That’s…that’s manageable.
If Jimin was normal about Minjeong.
Oh, it’ll be hell. It’s like Minjeong has a hand on her face, stopping her and pushing her away from holding her.
“Are you sure? I don’t mind…”
“Yeah,” Jimin drawls dejectedly. “You’ve been cooping yourself up to study. I bet you miss your walks. I…have…stuff I need to catch up on.”
“Is stuff watching dramas and playing Gardenscapes?”
“…Maybe.”
Minjeong laughs into the receiver. It’s almost like Jimin can take the sound and wrap it around her like a shawl.
“I’ll be as quick as I can, Jiminie. I miss you, too,” she coos. “More than my walks. More than going out and getting a sweet treat for myself. I miss you more than anything.”
It’s like Jimin’s heart is squeezed. She places her hand over it to soothe its aching.
“I’ll see you soon, Minjeongie. Clear your schedules because I’m the only thing on it!”
When Minjeong hangs up, it’s after she says, “I love you,” and Jimin thinks it’s fucking ridiculous that Aeri and Yizhuo don’t believe them.
Minjeong is the softest, sweetest, most considerate, and sentimental lover. Maybe even more than her. Which is saying something because Jimin’s loved Minjeong longer than she’s had some of her kitchen cutlery, more than she’s ever loved all of her favorite things combined.
Experiencing Minjeong as a lover is probably one of the best things Jimin’s ever known.
Aeri and Yizhuo will believe them soon.
It’s only a matter of time.
-
Convincing their friends is turning out to be much harder than Jimin predicted. Even amping up their PDA was fruitless!
“Minjeong, you’re ambidextrous?”
Jimin turns her attention to Aeri.
“Um…not really? I can do things with my left hand but I prefer not to.”
Aeri nods to herself, completely ignoring the fact that Jimin is purposely holding Minjeong’s hand on the table.
“Yah, Jimin, I can’t believe you’re making Minjeongie’s life harder and making her eat with her left hand.”
“Hey! That’s not-”
Their friends even crashed their date! It was supposed to be a cozy night in—cooking with each other, seriously trying if they’re on the right track and fucking around if they’re bound to call for delivery. Minjeong was even wearing Jimin’s hoodie! Head to toe, she was decked out in Jimin Couture, except for the fuzzy couple socks Jimin got for her that one time Minjeong confessed that she was fine with wearing couple items.
But instead, it turned into girls’ night in because apparently Yizhuo’s date was boring and Aeri’s spin class was canceled due to the gym experiencing some issues that Jimin zoned out listening to.
She was really looking forward to persuading Minjeong into rolling around in bed with her. She even wore her nice lingerie. Whatever. Jimin’s already determined “forever” to be her time with Minjeong so she can just use it next time.
But it’s getting tiresome! She and Minjeong are girlfriends! No space between the words, no “I think she’s just being nice!”, no delusion, no fantasies, no jokes!
She’s closer to being Minjeong’s wife than she is to being just a friend. This is absurd.
She’s even kissed Minjeong in front of them. Sure, it was brief because she was running late to her shift, but she still kissed her bye!
It didn’t go the way she wanted.
Not at all. Because the next time they saw each other, Yizhuo quickly pecked Minjeong goodbye. On her lips. Right in front of her!
Minjeong was frozen and shellshocked, gaping at her friend. Yizhuo, so nonchalant and unfazed, shrugged and lilted over her shoulder, “We’re kissing our friends goodbye, aren’t we? I love our friendship!”
Jimin could scream. She could pull her rehabilitating hair out from her scalp.
They aren’t friends!
Minjeong and her aren’t friends! Jimin isn’t just her date to ward off ugly guys who approach Minjeong at the bar. She’s her, honest to God, girlfriend that’s all over her because, hello! Minjeong is her hot girlfriend! Why wouldn’t she be all over her?!
It’s frustrating to say the least. They could even get married and have Aeri and Yizhuo as their maid of honors and they still wouldn’t believe them.
“Minjeong, I can’t take it anymore.”
Her girlfriend, lounging on their couch, puts down her phone. “What? What’s wrong?”
“Aeri and Ning! Why don’t they believe us?! We’ve done everything!”
“Well…”
“I’m not making out with you in front of them. The last time I kissed you, Ning kissed you. No repeats!” She harrumphs.
“Okay,” Minjeong drawls, “But I think it’d get the point across. I also don’t think Ningie would make out with me.”
“No chances!” Jimin petulantly fights back.
“I don’t know how else you want to prove it then,” Minjeong walks over, sitting herself on Jimin’s lap to play with her hair and press some pretty, little bruises on that pretty, long neck of hers. “They’re probably just fucking around with us. They have to know by now.”
Jimin sighs to herself.
Yeah. They’re probably just messing with them.
-
“Hey Minjeong, are you free Friday?”
She isn’t. Jimin has plans with her to go watch Godzilla: Minus One in 4D. She’s been anticipating it; it’s been on their calendar for the past week and a half.
“I’m not. Why?” Her girlfriend asks.
“There’s this cute girl in my class,” Yizhuo’s eyes sparkle with mischief.
Oh God.
This is never good.
“She’s totally your type! Tall, pretty smile, crazy face card, funny and super sweet, very flexible, has abs,” Yizhuo wiggles her eyebrows suggestively. “She thinks you’re cute!”
And? Jimin finds Minjeong plenty cute too! Jimin’s tall—most importantly, taller than Minjeong—and has a pretty smile and she looks nice enough and has abs! She’s funny! Minjeong loves her jokes! They like the same, silly stuff! Sure, she’s not the most flexible, bendy ruler in the box but she’ll fold like a fucking collapsible chair for Minjeong if she wanted it so that more than makes up for it! Having all that doesn’t make that girl special!
“She’s been eyeing you for a while and wants your number. Can I give it to her?”
“Um…” Minjeong fidgets, glancing over at Jimin who does not care at the least to hide her annoyed glare. “I’m not interested though? I could try being her friend but I don’t want to be with her like that.”
“Not even a shot?” Yizhuo innocently asks.
“I have a date with Jimin,” Minjeong bluntly says, hoping it’ll end the topic.
“Geez,” Yizhuo winces. “She really doesn’t have a chance if you’re using Jimin as a cop out.”
“I’m not!” Minjeong yelps. “She’s my girlfriend! We have a date!”
“Dang! Okay! Minjeong, I’ll tell her you aren’t interested. You don’t have to keep pretending!”
Minjeong drops her head into her hands, groaning.
God. Why is this so hard?
-
Aeri is pestering her. This must be what it’s like to be annoying. This must be how Minjeong feels.
“Please, come with me!”
“I can’t go with you on a double date!”
“Why not?” Aeri whines with a drawl.
“The other person isn’t Minjeong! I don’t go on dates with people that aren’t her!”
“You act like you’re her girlfriend or something,” Aeri complains.
Jimin blinks. Once, thrice, five times.
How could she be so close and yet so far?
“I am,” she plainly replies. “I act like one because I am.”
“I know you’re too nice to say no sometimes. I can take a hint,” her friend relents. “I’ll just ask Yizhuo.”
Jimin’s given up on trying to persuade them.
-
It’s Jimin’s birthday and she’s put her phone on silent.
Minjeong decided to give her a lovely present (herself in a pretty, little thing) and Jimin’ll be damned if anyone interrupts their time. It’s her birthday! She should be allowed the freedom to do whatever she wants with her gorgeous, gorgeous girlfriend.
Apparently not to Aeri and Yizhuo.
“Oh my God!”
“Oh my God! What the fuck?! Look away!”
Aeri and Yizhuo practically bury their faces into drywall.
“Why are you naked?!” Yizhuo screams, muffled.
Jimin, tangled in sheets and Minjeong’s limbs after frantically trying to cover her nude body with their blanket and herself, rushes out a panicked reply. “Why are you here?! How did you get in?!”
The two girls helplessly, and simultaneously, babble replies.
“Sorry for knowing that your password is the sum of your birthdays!”
“Can’t you put a sock on the door or something?”
“A sock?! Why?! We live alone!”
Minjeong, dying from embarrassment, is still tinged ruby red.
“You guys are fucking?!” Aeri screeches, in disbelief. “Are you FWB’s?!”
“Friends with benefits?” Minjeong cries out incredulously. She’s only just a little bit (so terribly, irrevocably) in love with Jimin to the point of crying a little whenever she thinks about how much she loves her.
After handing Minjeong a shirt and covering her with the blanket when she reaches for the pair of sweatpants on the floor, Jimin makes sure she’s good to go before looking back at their friends.
“We’ve been trying to tell you guys for months!” Jimin buries her face in her hands before tiredly wiping her eyes. “We love each other. We live together as a couple. Which means we aren’t just…fucking,” she spits out, disdained to call what they do something so ordinary as fucking. As if Minjeong isn’t blowing open her mind and world to the possibility that heaven exists and it’s chosen to live inside of her.
“Oh gross. Don’t say you’re…” Yizhuo flinches, “…making love.” She sobers up with a serious look. “Not that that’s bad or that we don’t like you two together. I’m very happy! But making love is too cheesy for me to say when the last girl that liked me liked herself more than talking to me.”
“So…” Minjeong squeaks out. “You believe us now?”
Aeri, no longer covering her eyes, shrugs, blasé. “Mmm. Yeah. Congratulations on figuring out your feelings. I thought y’all were dating when we first met.”
Jimin frowns. When they first met, she was hellbent on repressing her feelings for Minjeong. Was she really that down bad even that couldn’t hide her affection?
“You met us when Jimin was hooking up with every other pretty girl who came onto her to forget about me.” Minjeong curtly says.
Jimin winces. Not her greatest decision. She was too much of a player when she was in complete denial of her simp residence in Loving Minjeong Land.
“Yeah, I thought y’all were having a crazy situationship thing like all gay girls do. Just thought you two were going through it and broke up after deciding you were better off as friends. Lately, I really believed you guys were just being more codependent than usual.”
“Uh…you mean when Jimin finally confessed to me? And stopped wasting her time with other girls?”
Jimin winces again. Minjeong is rightfully still a bit sensitive about how she dealt with…all of that. She’s not proud of how she ran away from her feelings. But she’s not like that anymore. She’s fully accepted, and surrendered, her heart and its feelings to Minjeong!
“When was that?” Aeri asks for clarification and orientation.
“My birthday.”
“Hmm. Yeah!”
“Oh my God,” Minjeong mumbles.
“That’s-“ Jimin quietly says.
“Yeah, I know.”
Yizhuo, keeping up, finally asks, “So New Year’s is also Minjeong’s birthday and your anniversary?”
At this, Jimin smirks. “Actually, we decided that it’s the day we met. When I first confessed to Minjeongie. May 12th!”
Aeri and Yizhuo balk.
“May…12th?” Aeri and Yizhuo look between each other, doing mental math.
“Yup!” Jimin grins, soundly kissing her girlfriend (since the age of five) of twenty-something years.
“You…met…”
“Yeah,” Minjeong bashfully confirms, “We met on the day of the sum of our birthdays.”
“Your password is your anniversary, oh my God. You’re meant to be. Aeri, how did we miss this?”
With their friends discussing their relationship amongst themselves, Jimin notices Minjeong fussing around, playing with the drawstring of her pants.
Oh yeah. They were in the middle of something.
“Can you guys, like, go? We…were kinda…”
“Oh shit, yeah, sorry. Text us later! Happy birthday, Jimin!”
-
“Well…they believe us now!”
Minjeong buries her head under her pillow. “They saw me naked!”
Jimin, despite her blush, pushed forward. “They’ve seen you naked before though?”
“Yeah, not naked with you!”
Laughing awkwardly and trying to play it off, Jimin fixes a goofy smile on her lips. “First time for everything?”
“It better be the last.” Minjeong says, mortified. It’s one thing to be naked with The Girls on a drunken night doing stupid things that girls that are genuinely friends do. It’s another to be naked and do things with her girlfriend! “It was so embarrassing!”
Nuzzling into Minjeong’s shoulder, Jimin kisses it softly, lovingly. “I can go streaking the next time we see them so it’s even?”
“Please, don’t do that.”
“Oh, thank God. I didn’t want to.”
“But you would?”
“Yah, Minjeong, you could tell me to create gravity again and I’d find a way to keep falling for you to prove new laws of gravity.”
“Okay, Jimin Newton,” Minjeong teases. “I won’t tell you to do that. Kiss me instead?”
Jimin grins at her.
She could totally do that.