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The froth swirls, her gaze zoned out to the slow spiral. She snaps out of her trance when she hears her name being called.
"Wheein!" The girl with whisker dimples greets her brightly, which makes her nod in acknowledgement.
"Hello, Byulyi unnie." Wheein smiles, her lips curving slightly upwards. She watches her senior place a pile of book by the table space in front of her, a sigh coming out from the older.
"Always early, never noisy." Moonbyul shakes her head in amusement as she busies herself with her lecture notes, a ball pen now tucked by her right ear.
Wheein doesn't answer and opts to take a sip of her now cold coffee. Today is one of their silent hell week preparation days— they review together in total silence, only talking in small breaks to not let themselves get too much into reviewing.
It isn't just the two of them. Speaking of which, Wheein looks overhead behind Moonbyul, the sight of two students walking to their direction revealing before them. "Unnie, Hyejin-ie and Yongsun unnie is already here." Wheein says, which made the older turn around in excitement.
Due to the policy of the study space to noise levels, they hush their greetings to each other as they both prepare to review. Hyejin sits with Moonbyul as usual, while Yongsun finds herself comfortable to the presence of Wheein, her junior.
The four of them has started by 8 in the morning. Wheein divides her review into two parts— recalling and summarizing. While skimming through her lecture notes, she can feel Yongsun's skin bumping against the side of her arm every now and then.
For some reason, Wheein feels her heart skip a beat to the touch.
She steals a quick glance to the older— Yongsun's cheeks are puffed up, lips pouting with visible confusion. Wheein swears that she has never looked this cute before. They have been reviewing together for months now— why is she finding Yongsun cute all of a sudden?
Her pen lingers to the pack of sticky notes that she saved for her recalling part. She cannot concentrate for now, and she wants to do something else.
Maybe I should try to cheer her up, but just putting "fighting!" sounds so lame. Perhaps, a quote will do.
Wheein gulps. I have the note. Now, I should buy her a cup of coffee. She excuses herself from the group, steps hurried downstairs to order an iced vanilla latte and Americano.
An hour later, Yongsun stretches back from her seat when she realized that there was a cup of coffee in front of her. Wheein has bought her a drink. A note was stuck on the cup, making her giggle silently to what was written.
Sometimes, you need to look at things from a different perspective.
Meanwhile, Wheein has also realized how she loved seeing Yongsun like this.
So precious.
-
It is day two of their group study, and Wheein is already halfway done in reviewing seven of their subjects altogether. Something has inspired her this much to focus this hard. When she went home yesterday, her head was throbbing with dull pain, but remembering Yongsun's pretty smile and giggle made it all worth it.
She plans to do the same for today. Wheein fetches the sticky note pack from her notebook, her pen gliding to write something for her adorable senior.
"I'm just gonna go downstairs." She says, but halts on her tracks when she sees Byulyi and Hyejin grin at her with the cheekiest one that she has ever seen from them.
The two girls look at each other briefly before going back to Wheein, mouthing "We know." as their gazes and pouted lips now pointedly land to Yongsun, who is completely focused and unaware of their conversation.
Wheein rolls her eyes in faux annoyance. A faint blush creeps in her cheeks as she holds the note in hand a bit tighter.
Well, it's not like Yongsun unnie will be interested in me or anything. She's a model student, so she would probably be into proactive people.
With the iced vanilla latte and Americano in hand, Wheein pastes the note again on top of the latte.
It is almost lunch time when Yongsun snaps from her focus, an iced vanilla latte and a note on top appearing before her table space once again. She grabs the note right away, a wide smile forming in her lips as she reads the note silently.
my sunshine, so bright—
your smile compares to the warmth
of the soft sunlight
The older looks up to the silent gaze of her junior, Wheein's eyes lighting up the moment their gazes met.
At that same exact moment, Wheein has realized once again how she loved seeing Yongsun like this.
So precious, so pretty.
-
Today is the final day of their review. Next week will be the start of their finals week, and Wheein has finished reviewing ahead of the three. Hyejin and Byulyi have nagged her to review even thoroughly, but that is how overthinking takes over her judgement in exams.
Observing Yongsun so far is the most entertaining thing that Wheein has ever done in the two years of her high school life. She has never noticed the older this much before since she is the type to stay quiet unless someone comes up to talk to her. She is also the secretary of the student council, so she must have so many tasks in her plate after the exams.
Wheein is wondering on what to write to her for today. Her heart is skipping beats everytime Yongsun is looking at her while she stretches out. Maybe it's weird for her already. Should I stop? But I wanna keep doing this.
She settles her mind later on when she sees the two previous notes she wrote, cleanly pasted on top of Yongsun's notebook.
That is more than enough to give her the push that she needs. Wheein lets her pen take over her mind and heart, her raw and genuine feelings take into the form of letters and lines.
Informing the two again, a teasing look from the two, and an eyeroll— Wheein has the iced vanilla latte in hand. She carefully places and fixes the two haphazardly jointed sticky notes on top of the cap, sneaking in front of Yongsun's table space.
Whatever happens, I know Yongsun unnie will stay friends with me. Or if she doesn't, I'm not gonna lose anything, anyways. We'll stay as study buddies—
Her thoughts stop in surprise as Yongsun has broken away from her focus, almost as if she has been waiting for Wheein all this time. The older takes the cup of coffee, reading the note in which Wheein's feelings has been laid bare.
i walk into countless places
quiet and alive, vivid and colorless
your presence is somewhere
in between home and happiness
to wander into your horizon—
so endless, so calm,
is everything that i want to do
and to be yours,
and for you to be mine,
is everything that i dream of you.
Before Wheein can realize what was happening, she is being pulled by Yongsun towards the exit of the building, her shoulders now encased by the older's arms into a warm embrace. She hesitates to return the hug, but she eventually gives up as Yongsun hugs her tighter than ever.
The older pulls back, eyes teary from the little confession that was written in the note.
"Wheein-ah, I feel the same. Okay?" Yongsun says. "I've always liked you." She stifles a sob, a genuine smile of happiness drawing across her lips.
And with that, Wheein feels the world slow down around them, her heartbeat hammering against her chest as her arms wrap around the older's waist, hugging Yongsun tight as reality sinks into her mind.
Yongsun unnie feels the same. All this time, she liked me. How could I not realize that?
Yet, Wheein knows that what matters the most is this moment right now. The subtle signs, the fondness, and the calmness that she has felt in Yongsun's presence has led up to this point.
She has already fallen for her a long time ago.
So, she now loves Yongsun like this.
So precious, so pretty, so patient.