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It’s only in the moments when the two of them are alone that Eunjeong sees the real Yerim. The Yerim that isn’t putting on a performance.
The two are alone in Eunjeong’s hospital room. For the past month that Eunjeong’s been resting in the hospital, Yerim’s been there every night to comfort her. Eunjeong knows it’s tiring for Yerim, and she’s tried convincing her she doesn’t need to come, and she’ll be okay if she misses a day, but the shorter girl refuses.
It’s no different today. Yerim’s dance practice ran a little late, and she missed the end of Eunjeong’s physical therapy session. She came running into her room, apologizing profusely and Eunjeong told her it’s okay, but Yerim wouldn’t accept that.
The two talked for a while. Eunjeong asked her if she’s sure she’s okay with not making her debut, like always. Yerim responds with the same answer: yes. Yerim asks about Eunjeong’s physical therapy and her leg, which has been feeling a lot better. Eunjeong tells her that she’ll be able to leave the hospital in the next two weeks. Yerim celebrates the news, because Eunjeong’s house is closer to the dance studio than the hospital and she doesn’t have to travel so far.
An hour passes, and Eunjeong notices Yerim’s yawns are growing more frequent. She knows she’s exhausted from the day. “Yerim, you need to sleep.”
Yerim looks up at the other girl. She was about to protest but was stopped by the empathetic glare from her eyes. “I guess. I don’t want to leave you alone, though.”
“I’ll be fine. You need some rest before you head back home and fall asleep on the bus and miss your stop.”
“That would be bad.” Yerim chuckles.
Eunjeong takes the second pillow from behind her and hands it to Yerim. “Take this.”
“Fine. But wake me up in thirty minutes.” And she lays her head down on the edge of the bed.
Eunjeong pulls up an article on her phone and reads it for a while, until she notices the other girl stir in her sleep. She watches Yerim now, noticing from the soft light from the moon how it illuminates her face. She’s so beautiful, Eunjeong thinks.
She loves to watch Yerim sleep, because it’s the only time Eunjeong gets to see her fully relax. When Yerim isn’t holding the weight of her idol career on her shoulders. During the Pyramid Game, she was always playing a performance with their friends. They all were. Because they needed the votes to stay out of the F rank. But Eunjeong’s grateful now. Because of Suji, Yerim’s been happier in her life. More peaceful. She isn’t burdened by the pressure of popularity and Harin in their life anymore.
It’s five minutes until Eunjeong was instructed to wake Yerim up. She doesn’t want to wake her up, she would watch Yerim sleep for forever if she could, but she can’t do that. The nurse would perform their nightly rounds and find Yerim in the room after hours and kick her out. It’s happened before.
Eunjeong ponders for a while, deciding how to wake her up. Should she tap her? Call her name? Shake her awake? She needs an answer that wouldn’t startle her. She’s overthinking this, she knows. But she overthinks everything when Yerim’s around. She’s the one person in the world that makes her that way.
Then she thinks back to the night in the school. When Eunjeong was returning to class to grab her bag after hours and found Yerim sleeping at her desk. She doesn’t know what came over her, but the only thing she could think about was how much she missed Yerim. How much she missed sitting next to her, and writing notes on each other's papers in class, her holding her shoulder. How much she loved her. Yerim was like a magnet, always pulling Eunjeong to her. No matter how much she tried to stay away from her, she would always come back, and that night was no different. The only thing she thought when looking at her was how much she missed her and wanted to feel her. So, she decided to kiss her cheek. An affection that she knew people did when someone was falling asleep. But the closer her lips got to the other girl's cheek, the growing reminder she promised herself she would stay away from Yerim. So, she pulled away.
But now, their relationship was different. They were back on speaking terms, the Pyramid Game was over, and Eunjeong still felt the same way towards her. But there was a change in the dynamic, after all their fights and yearning, it made the line of their relationship hazier. And Eunjeong felt that same pull to kiss her cheek again.
She shifted in the bed to get closer to the sleeping Yerim, careful not to wake her. She slowly leaned in. Her heartbeat grew faster, and she was scared it was loud enough to wake Yerim. Thoughts clouded her mind, wondering if this was a good idea, but she didn’t listen to them. All she wanted was to give the affection to Yerim that she desired from her.
As she got closer, she hesitated for a bit before deciding to screw it and lightly pressed her lips to her cheek and pulled away. Time stopped for a second, and Eunjeong started at Yerim as a wave of panic engulfed her body.
Yerim stirred, and then a smile formed on her lips. She opened her eyes and saw Eunjeong staring at her before Eunjeong quickly looked away, pretending to fiddle with her nails. It made Yerim’s smile grow bigger. “Hey,” was all she said.
Eunjeong started directly at her nails, refusing to make eye contact. “Hey,” she replied in the most deadpan voice she could use. It wasn’t until she heard the other girls chuckle that she looked over to her.
“You’re so cute when you're flustered.” Yerim says, and Eunjeong feels her heart drop. Her mouth grows agape, and Yerim begins packing her stuff.
Eunjeong doesn’t say anything. She watches as Yerim packs her stuff, then gets up ready to leave. “I’ll text you when I get home.” Yerim says, and heads towards the door.
“Yerim?” Eunjeong asks, stopping the other girl in her tracks.
Yerim turns. “Yes?”
Eunjeong clears her throat. “Was it okay I kissed you?” She doesn’t know what made her say that. Maybe it was the sudden confidence she gained.
Yerim’s the one left frozen now. She was taken aback by Eunjeong’s sudden confidence. Frankly, she likes it when Eunjeong shows physical affection. It’s rare, but genuine. It makes her heart flutter, but she can’t say that. She doesn’t define her feelings for the other girl, but she doesn’t want to lead her on. She keeps walls around herself, that sometimes she breaks down. Moments that she slips up and lets a hint of how she feels slips through, but she can’t break it down fully. Then everything else in her life that balances on top of them would come crumbling down.
“Yes.” Yerim says with a smile and walks out the door.
Eunjeong processes what she said for a moment, and smiles.