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Tal was any girl's dream. Tall, strong, nice enough and beautiful, with long dark eyelashes that only men are gifted with and poreless skin that can only be achieved by cleaning your face once a week with a 3 in 1 shampoo.
Any girl's dream.
So, Minjeong wanted him. He had to be hers, and only hers.
She started to get closer to him and his friend group slowly, seamlessly, wearing different hair styles everyday and increasingly more stunning make up. Then, the gods smiled upon her and she got a seat next to him in one of their shared classes. They started talking more frequently and she felt he was looking at her more than what's considered normal.
Everything was going smoothly, it was just perfect and no one would get in her way.
"Hi, you two. Can I sit here in this class? My seatmate is being a little shit and she doesn't want to do the assignment with me." A girl approaches them, sitting near Tal, her hair clipped behind her ears and wearing a confident smile. She's undeniably stunning and it makes Minjeong play nervously with a strand of her twin tails; her gaze fixates on her plump, shiny lips and alluring eye makeup. "She says I'm too much of a hassle." She sits down afterwards.
"I don't think we've been introduced, I'm Tal." Her soon to be boyfriend lends her his hand and she accepts it, shaking it vigorously. It doesn't go unnoticed how he eyes her. Minjeong's heart drops to the ground with a silent thud.
"Yizhuo." She answers and then she looks at Minjeong, still smiling and Minjeong thinks she sees a tint of maliciousness. "So, can I stay?"
"Yeah, of course! Right?" Tal doesn't even turn around when he adresses Minjeong.
"I guess so..." She answers weakly.
"I'm sorry, I don't think I got your name." The girl, Yizhuo or whatever, calls to her, searching her eyes.
"Kim Minjeong."
"Nice to meet you." Her smile stretches at the sides.
"Same here." Minjeong lies and spends the next hour sinking slowly in between the wall and her chair while Yizhuo and Tal chat and interchange notes.
The class ends a millenia later, just when her bottom lip was feeling tingly from all the nervous chewing she was unconsciously doing, and Tal packed his things before hastly leaving, only dedicating her a half assed wave of the hand. On other days, she was greeted with a squeeze or a ruffle of her hair. She felt like everything was back to square one.
"Hey, so..." Yizhuo's honey-laced voice —which had started to sound more like the buzz of a mosquito over the course of the class— distracts her from her distress. Minjeong looks at her with a kind of resentment; after all, she was the reason why Tal had dropped the intimacy gestures with her. However, she looks a little different now; her behaviour a simile of timidness so unlike what she initially came off as. "I was wondering if, well, if I'm not intruding..."
"Yeah, you are, actually." She cut her off, dry and blunt, her eyebrows forming a new wrinkle in her forehead with the force she was using to bring them together. "He is going to be my boyfriend, and no one else's; so, if that's your goal, gently, fuck off."
Minjeong packed her things hastily and left the class, stomping on the ground without looking back. She did hear a giggle from behind her which made her almost trip and fall.
"Ugh!"
She had the feeling Yizhuo was going to be a hassle all right.
🍓
It's only Tuesday and Minjeong already wants the weekend to come and free her from the torture that is watching Yizhuo bat her eyelashes and smile at her soon to be man. Tal is telling her something about a band he likes, "... you really have to listen to their new single," Move "Move, and even if you tell me you know everything about them, I can't really believe you since, well, I've been a fan since like," Their debut "their debut. So, do you have a favourite? But please don't say it's the" Bassist "bassist; every girl says he is their favourite just because he is handsome and ugh," Minjeong had researched all about the band in order to impress him and has listened five million times this exact monologue.
"It is the bassist, though. He is handsome." Yizhuo interrupts him and she has lifted the left corner of her wine-colored lips at him as she reapplies her lipgloss. She has the gull to have her favourite shade. The one she's been lusting for the past year. It's a naval battle inside her head for a moment, half her neurons yelling at her to ask where she got it and the other half pleading to uphold her pride against that serpent.
It's barely seconds before she spots her again. Yes, again, because Yizhuo has to let her know she's trying to steal what's hers every time she makes a move on him. This time, she interrupts his complaints as she inclines her body towards her, completely invading Tal's desk, and parts her lips. "Does it look good?" Minjeong feels her jaw dislocate and her eye twitch in a way that will be sure to leave cramps —if it's even possible. Her lips are as plump and perfectly defined as the last few hellish days she has been sitting next to them. Yeah, it looks good; it looks insanely good and it drives her mad but she would never say that. Yeah, it looks slutty; it reminds of a movie she saw the day before where the main lead was kissing her rival's shoulder, but she really shouldn't say that or she'd introduce those kind of thoughts to Tal and that's the last thing she wants. However, Yizhuo's tendency to wear low necked, fitted shirts and the way she tilts her body forward, like she's inviting to look at her cleavage isn't working in her favor.
Ultimately, Minjeong doesn't answer, just crosses her arms over her chest trying to pry away the memory of Yizhuo's clavicles. The giggle Yizhuo lets out is infuriating enough. "I'll take it as a yes."
"Well, I think it looks good." Tal points out and the world comes crashing down on her as she realizes that's the tone of voice he makes to attract women. She had witnessed a few times. He had even used it with her.
Yizhuo doesn't look at him. "Thanks."
The two hour lecture comes to an end as Minjeong is still demoralized. Yizhuo is the first one to leave and after follows Tal, if it were not for Minjeong catching his arm, pulling down in order to deviate his attention from Yizhuo's figure back to her. "Should we go to-?" She starts but Tal stops her.
"Yeah, I'm not really in the mood right now." He makes a face, like he ruminates what he's about to say. "Maybe another day?"
Minjeong lets go of his arm weakly. "Yeah... okay." She answers before worrying her lower lip again.
He's gone before she can even react, going down the stairs two steps at a time where Yizhuo is talking to her friend, a pink-haired girl, and Minjeong follows his line of view; Yizhuo's hips swaying side to side. She dams everyone's bloodline as he approaches the two girls and asks them something.
The universe seems to be on her side, because she sees both their heads shaking no. He looks deflated as he exits the class and both girls snicker with each other, sometimes stealing glances at her. Minjeong is infinitely confused but decides not to mull over it too much and gets ready to leave class as well.
As she turns around, she is met head on with Yizhuo and she has to step back to see her well. "Wanna go somewhere?"
"What makes you think I would want to?" She walks past her, unceremoniously bumping their shoulders and begins walking down the stairs.
"So, no?" She smiles, catching up to her.
"No." She confirms. "But if you wanna go somewhere that much, you could go back to your original seat and leave us alone."
"Aw, but Aeri is still mad at me because I left her the hardest part of the assignment." She whines, pouting her glossy lips and Minjeong rips her own hair out imaginarily.
"Then, I would appreciate it if you did something this assignment."
"I don't think you understand, babe, I bring the fun to the group."
She quirks an eyebrow at her response, indicating it really wasn't funny and Yizhuo puffs air out, trying to act cute. Which wasn't. She failed miserably. "Maybe I'll write some words."
"Please, let it be more than your name."
At the last step, Yizhuo's ankle gives to the side and she almost trips and falls but Minjeong catches her arm and stabilizes her. Shocked, Yizhuo turns her head around and smirks at her, purring. "My knight in shining armor." She puts her arms around her neck and locks eyes with her.
Minjeong gets away from her body as if it was made of hot, burning iron. She can feel her cheeks furiously flush and she retorts as she feels all her internalized frustration come out. "If you didn't wear those ridiculously high heels, you wouldn't have almost eaten the ground!"
"They are pretty, though." She looked down at the red boot heels.
"Tal doesn't like them." She spurts and her tongue twists at the last word.
"And how do you know that?" She furrowed one brow. Hah, she got her.
"He mentioned some time ago."
"Ah. You must really pay attention to what he says."
"You don't?"
"No, why would I? I don't care." She answers simply, like it's obvious, and brushes it off as she changes topics. "Say, you still don't wanna go somewhere?"
"No. We are not friends, stop asking." Minjeong picks up the pace until she's sure Yizhuo is far behind her; her last statement had left a bad taste in her mouth.
It's not difficult to reach the conclusion that Yizhuo just wants to have her way with him. She doesn't care what Tal thinks or what he says. The good news is that maybe, once she gets what she wants she'll leave them alone. It doesn't feel good to know, though.
🍓
"We should hang out after class today!" Tal cries the next Friday, enthusiastically, and Yizhuo giggles at her contorted face. "I know a really good bar a few streets down." He throws his big arm around her shoulders and pouts at her. "Please?"
Minjeong catches a glimpse of Yizhuo's jealousy when her lips twitches and proudly straightens her spine as she smiles up at Tal, trying to maintain composture.
"Okay. You know my taste, I trust you." She touched the tip of his nose with her fingertip, making him scrunch his nose.
In another situation, she would have locked eyes with him, but instead, she directs her gaze back at the annoyed girl sitting at Tal's left side and takes pride in winning this round, wearing her chin high and bright smile as a trophy.
When class is finished, they head out and Yizhuo stands between Tal and her —in an effort to win back her hegemony over Tal, Minjeong guesses—, keeping conversation with him and locking arms with her so that she wouldn't run away to his other side, she guesses. She does manage to escape, when Yizhuo's shoelace of one of her tennis is undone and she has no choice but to bend down and fix it. She runs away and holds Tal's arm so that he only looks at her.
The restaurant is beautiful, the chairs are comfortable —would be even more so if she was sitting next to Tal and not to Yizhuo, how did she even get there?—and the food is so yummy it can almost make her forget the way Yizhuo's v cut sweater neck has rolled down her shoulder and Tal can't keep his eyes off her.
He excuses himself to go to the bathroom once he finishes his drink and Minjeong takes the opportunity, pulling the neck of the garment up over her shoulder.
"Hm?" She smiles innocently at her and tilts her head, bringing her shoulder up, her eyes sparkle when the light hits her eye glimmer in the right angles. "It's hot in here." Her hand comes up and pulls it back down even lower than before and Minjeong can see her clavicle prod out. When her eyes travel back up to her face, she finds Yizhuo hasn't looked away. "What? Is it making you nervous?" She asks in a honey dipped voice, and isn't she too close for comfort? Minjeong can't find it in herself to back away.
"Don't be ridiculous, I just don't like it."
She hears Yizhuo giggle. "Is that so?" She is facing her now, holding her drink —malibu with pineapple juice— with one hand.
"Tal seems to, though, so I hope you've achieved what you were looking for." She barks back bitterly but Yizhuo's smile never wavers, instead it grows bigger.
Her hand dips inside her tote bag and pulls out a mauve gloss. She takes the cap out and applies it, rubbing her full lips together. "I have." She confesses, cheerful.
Tal comes out of the bathroom and almost immediately, Yizhuo points at her lips. "Are they pretty?"
She feels the color drip out of her face. Just how is she confident enough to do all that for a boy? Sure, they glow a cold pinkish color now, but she always manages to have perfect makeup all the time. It was infuriating.
She doesn't answer out of spite.
"What were you talking about?" Tal asks and his voice is almost annoying at the moment.
"Nothing important." Yizhuo says, glancing at her with her chin resting on her hand.
The rest of the meal she catches herself feeling her lips with her fingertips abnormally often.
🍓
Unfortunately, the three of them going out on Fridays has been consistent since that time at the bar. Yizhuo has been making way more progress with Tal than she's managed to do since the start of the semester. Tal is looking at her more than at Minjeong in class and outside. He's even talking about Yizhuo to Minjeong when she isn't around.
Day after day, everything is Yizhuo. It's enough to make her jolt in class when her name is said outloud.
But today, she plans on turning that around. After successfully leading them into a street they've never been to, she is leading the unsuspecting group to a game shop. Her diligence pays off as she sees Tal's eyes light up and beg to enter the shop, ignoring Yizhuo's complains.
Minjeong enters and Tal follows suit, immediately looking through games and overexplaining them to the girls. Minjeong is tired after the first two but lets him keep talking until Yizhuo snatches her away to the tiny music aisle in the store.
"Ugh, can't he shut up once in a while?"
Minjeong doesn't answer in fear of giving away her agreement with the statement. She catches a glimpse of a familiar name among the CDs and grabs it.
"Oh, you like them?" Yizhuo asks, suddenly too close to her. She grabs the CD out of her hands and turns it around to look at the list of songs.
"This one changed my life." She says, smiling a bit and Minjeong is surprised to see she's pointing at her favourite track in the album.
"It's one my favourites." Minjeong confesses before she can think it through. Ahe doesn't wanna have anything in common with her.
"Really? Doesn't suit you. It's way too..." She doesn't finish, bringing her hand up and partially covering her mouth.
"What? Too energetic? Too fun?" Minjeong crosses her arms over her stomach. Of course, that's what she would think of her. Minjeong isn't really the party type, she has just enough friends and her favourite hobbies are staying in her house reading and singing alone. Only her looks made her stand out all throughout high school and college.
"Upbeat. I was going to say upbeat." Minejong scoffs. "It's not bad. Calmer persons have their charm."
She smiles while Minjeong examines her expression for any insincerity but finds nothing she can critique. Huh.
While she's caught up in her thoughts, Yizhuo fishes her lipgloss from inside her pockets and unscrews it with a pop.
"How did you...?" She feels her eyes flicker between her shiny lips and her eyes and it makes her loose track of her words. "How did you find them?"
Yizhuo makes a sound like a hum, soft and high pitched and god, Minjeong feels like her eye can't stop twitching. It is going to leave cramps. "They came on shuffle while I was reading."
"Which book?" She asks, genuinely interested in which type of books a person like her likes to read.
"Oh, you know some shitty romance I found on my friend's ebook." Yizhuo makes a motion with her hand, swatting the air between them.
"Oh."
Her gaze focuses on her before coming closer, cocking an eyebrow.
"I really like romance, you know? The thing is, there's not much of what I like; so I gotta suck it up and conform with what I can get my grabby little hands on." She makes a claw with her hands and laughs a little.
"... What do you like?" Minjeong asks, almost afraid of how much she really wanted to know, holding the CD close to her chest.
"Aren't you a curious one?" She scrunches her eyes and her mouth at her. Yizhuo brings her finger to her lips, poking it pretending that she's thinking. "Well," She starts and that same finger is suddenly twirling a lock of Minjeong's hair and tucking it behind her ear. Minjeong thinks she really, really should push Yizhuo away from her. "I like earrings like these." Her manicured nail travels down the skin of her neck, tickling her, and lifts her necklace. "I like this type of necklace." Suddenly, Yizhuo is holding her chin with two fingers. "And I really, really like this lipstick you have on."
Minjeong gets startled and practically jumps away from her. "I meant book tropes!" She cries, bringing her hands up to her cheeks and flushing behind them.
"Oh! You should have said so!" Yizhuo laughs the awkwardness away. "Rivals to lovers and body swap are my favorites."
The change in topic calms her breathing down and allows her to think normally again.
"And yours?" Yizhuo asks looking at her and Minjeong feels like her gaze is carving a hole through her face.
"Well, I think... "
"Girls! I found this really cool game back there just now!" Tal comes back running to them and shows a game excitedly, shouting so loud all the game shop stops in their tracks and judges them for a moment before turning back to their business. Minjeong fights back the urge to sneak away and tries to concentrate on what Tal has to say. Well, overexplain.
🍓
Tal is talking about the same thing for the seventh time that week and Minjeong can just sit and try not to roll her eyes to the back of her skull. One would think by the fifth time he would get tired but there's not even a hint of it in his voice. Even their server is visibly getting tired of his monologue. "Sir, we have been asked for you to lower your voice down." He says, politely, and after he goes, Tal complains about the poor service and swears he will leave no tip.
He goes to pay for the drinks upfront anyways, after both girls urge him to do so.
Minjeong feels Yizhuo turn her girating chair towards her, "Don't you think his constant chatter is a bit... tiring?"
Before she can stop herself, the air escapes her lungs in the form of a relieved sigh and Yizhuo laughs, slow and satisfying. "I knew you thought that as well."
"Oh, you just know me so well."
"It's easy, " She answers. "I can read your pretty pretty mind just by looking at you."
Minjeong arches an eyebrow, not fully believing her.
"You don't believe me?" She defies her and Minjeong lets her keep talking. "You are hungry... And you are mentally cursing at how much your feet are hurting." She has to give it to Yizhuo, those things are true.
"I can feel the callous forming."
"You are thinking how much you want to get rid of me and get that boy to only look at you." Yizhuo is right on the money again.
"Well, I'm always hoping for that." Yizhuo laughs and Minjeong wonders how she still isn't offended. She sighs. "You aren't that bad, actually."
"I just pay attention." She brushes it off.
"I wanna try too." Minjeong states and takes a sip of her beer, watching Yizhuo shift in her seat, positioning her jaw on her hand never breaking eye contact.
"Wouldn't you like to know, weather boy." Minjeong laughs at the bit.
"You are thinking... About the place where you hide the bodies of the people you kill."
Her expression twitches and suddenly, she's let out a loud cackle. "Wow, look at you, making jokes."
"It's not a joke, I know you are a murderer." She keeps the act —she wouldn't admit it, but she was having fun joking around like this.
Yizhuo hums.
"Why?"
"I mean, you can look really intimidating if you want to." And it's true, when she's not smiling and her mouth falls, her looks could kill. She walks like she owns the place and well, sometimes she looks like she could eat you. Yizhuo raises a brow. "Do I intimidate you?"
"You wish." Minjeong weakly pushes her shoulder. "I mean, for men. I think they really like intimidating girls like you."
Yizhuo arches an eyebrow. "I don't care about that."
"Tal likes girls like you. He has said so time and time again when you are not near." Minjeong has started to ramble and, in the back of her mind, she knows she really should stop.
"Wanna know what I'm really thinking about?" Yizhuo speaks before she can make a fool of herself, takes a strand of Minjeong's hair and twirls it around her middle finger. She has been doing that since that day back at the game shop and Minjeong has since stopped being startled by it, she chalks it up to her being a touchy person.
She waits, expectant.
"That he can't talk to you that way."
Minjeong eyes widen like she's ten and she's just spotted a rainbow on the horizon.
"I think he knows you want him, and maybe he thinks talking to you about me will make you jealous but, in my opinion, it only makes him look like a douchebag."
There's a moment of silence.
"... I guess you are right." She admits reluctantly. Whenever he mentioned Yizhuo it made her want to throw up. "If we weren't going for the same boy, I think we could have actually interacted in class."
Her smile only gets bigger, she's showing her gums and Minjeong thinks the beer is creeping up to her brain because she can't stop looking at them. Or stop feeling tugged towards her each time she untwirls her hair.
"An interaction with the Minjeong, how lucky can I get?" They both smile. "I like to think you would have talked to me first."
Minjeong hums.
"I would have asked you where you got that wine-colored gloss you usually wear. It's pretty." Yizhuo widens her eyes and Minjeong swears that there suddenly is more blush than she usually wears.
"You noticed?"
Before she can answer —a very obvious answer, at that—, Tal comes back. They exit the place while Tal chats and the rest of the day it feels like Minjeong is a third wheel; Tal can't keep his eyes off Yizhuo and is seemingly only talking to her.
She feels worthless.
When all of them separate, Yizhuo offers to walk her home, but Minjeong refuses. She felt like crying, not only because Tal was not paying attention to her anymore, but Yizhuo not doing anything to include her in the conversation also... hurt.
🍓
"... And we could go to a summer house, maybe a spa, if you'd like." It has been like a ritual, the past few days Tal has started making plans for the both of them and fantasizing about them. Minjeong follows along. It was like a switch had been turned on; suddenly, she was the center of attention again. Although she was happy about the improvement in their relationship, she felt strangely tired, even more given how drastic the switch up was. "And then, we would wake up together..." She smiles, a bit forcefully; she recognizes it's getting a bit repetitive, especially how he would say cute things like that and leave it open for interpretation while he caressed her fingers. She would have loved it some time ago; going for walks to show him off across the city before entering a motel, and though they hadn't really talked about exclusiveness. People would know he's hers.
Yizhuo entering the class interrupts his ranting. The last days she also seemed tired, surely because Tal wasn't paying attention to her now. As she approaches their table, her eyes fall on their linked hands and her expression turns sour. Minjeong can't contain the satisfactory smile from showing in her face.
However, Tal retires his hand and hides it under the table. Yizhuo displays a not so pleasant expression and sits in the seat on her left —Minjeong had cornered Tal against the wall so that Yizhuo wouldn't sit next to him—. The three of them wait in silence for the professor until Tal suddendly gets up, excusing himself to the bathroom.
Once she saw him walk out of the class, Minjeong turned to Yizhuo and smiled proudly. "We are almost official, so, I'm sorry to inform you that wearing those revealing clothes to try and get his rocks up didn't work out."
"What? Am I intimidating you?" She smiles, one corner of her mouth turning upwards. That question reminded her of something.
"No. And, I advice you to take a seat elsewhere, give us some privacy."
Yizhuo breathes through her nose as a form of laughter and it makes her clench her jaw. "Sorry to inform you that this is my seat. My friend is still a disaster at assignments and I can't just kick a person out of their seat."
Minjeong huffs. "Don't dare talk to him."
"If he's yours, act like it, babe."
Okay, now she is really starting to piss her off. And her previous bad mood isn't helping.
"Don't call me that, for God's sake."
"No, shan't."
When she turns her head to confront her adequately, she finds Yizhuo is fixing her miniskirt. Just, how little respect does she have for Minjeong?
"Ugh." She decided against it and tried to fix her attention to the blackboard or Tal for the rest of the class.
But at the twenty minute mark, she pulled out a gloss out of her tote bag and applied it to her plump lips, leaving a pretty wine color behind. She shook the memory of back when she almost got the answer to that burning question: where she got that damn gloss.
Unfortunately, she caught her eye and Yizhuo had the gull to smile at her as she put her gloss back into her bag but as she maneuvered, the only thing Minjeong noticed was the way her skirt lifted up over one of her thighs. She tried to peel her eyes off the milky skin but to no avail. Even worse, she crossed her legs and the skirt riled up a bit further, letting her see more than she could have ever imagined. Want to imagine. She would never imagine her.
Suddenly, her pencil falls right beneath Minjeong's seat. "Oh, could you get it for me, please?" Yizhuo bats her eyelashes at her and Minjeong grumpily lowers down her body and reaches for the pencil taking it between two fingers. She's upset at the girl but that doesn't mean she has to be a monster; and there's no way Yizhuo can get her pencil without showing everything. Once she looks up, she finds herself face to face with her thighs. Minjeong swallows hard and closes her eyes as she sits back up, handing back the pencil. "Thanks."
"It's nothing." She bites back, oh, how much she wishes she would just go back to her original seat.
As the class progresses, Minjeong eyes fall on her legs time and time again. Firstly, the skirt is too short, she isn't even wearing tights and it's freezing. She even noticed Tal eavesdropping. Secondly, why does it feel like it's lifting up so high? She can almost see her... her butt. That's just information she didn't want to know in the first place.
The class finishes and Minjeong hasn't payed attention, not for a moment, hasn't taken any notes and she is beyond irate.
Minjeong gets up from her seat and goes to the bathroom, leaving a kiss on Tal's temple and looking back at Yizhuo after the action just to make a point. She drags her feet to the bathroom, and she hits jackpot because there's no one there, so, she takes out her makeup and retouches her lips. When she sees the final product, she is reminded of the fucking wine-colored gloss she desperately wants.
However, her success is shortly-lived, as the door swings open, revealing Yizhuo. She spots her immediately and smiles at her.
"Hi." Minjeong lets out a puff of hair and shakes her head.
"Can't you leave me alone for more than one minute?"
"Oh, but Tal is talking about something I don't care again. And I'd rather talk to someone who likes my skirt so much." She mewls, taking the spot beside her on the glass, not really looking at herself but at Minjeong.
Contrary to her resolution, she blushes. Caught. "Couldn't you have just pulled it down? It was really distracting."
"To who? Tal, or you?"
She decides against talking, because she doesn't like the answer. Minjeong starts playing with her hair and almost wishes it was Yizhuo playing with it instead, like she used to just a few couple of days ago. But honestly, there's no way they could ever be friends. She was insane if she ever thought that could be an option.
"The point is, he's my almost boyfriend. So you should just back off."
"Almost." Yizhuo repeats, cool as ever.
"About to, yeah. I'll tell him today we are exclusive." She bites back and finds it satisfactory when Yizhuo's smile twitches.
"You shouldn't."
"You know what? I'm leaving." Minjeong throws her makeup back in her bag and walks past her but Yizhuo takes her arm and pulls her towards herself, almost making her stumble. However, she steadies herself with one hand in the sink, next to Yizhuo's waist, and the other trapped in her hold at her other side and she tries not to look at her directly in the eye.
"Trust me, I know guys like him. You should just leave it in a one night stand. That's everything he wants, anyway."
Minjeong scoffs. "That's everything he wants from you." She points at her skirt. "Since you are only trying to give him a boner."
She rolls her eyes. "This is just a normal skirt."
"My ass it is, it was riling up so high I could see everything! You didn't even let me pay attention to class!" She lets out her frustration, but instead of biting back, Yizhuo smiles predatorily.
"You were so distracted by my legs you couldn't pay attention to class? Is that what you are saying?" The words die pathetically in her throat. Put like that, it sounds...
She tries to explain herself but Yizhuo keeps talking.
"Don't. I know what you are thinking, remember?" She does remember, the night at the bar where she felt they could be friends. What a joke. "Were you looking here?" Yizhuo pulls her skirt up and shows her thigh, up, dangerously up.
"I didn't know you were a pervert, Minjeong."
"I'm not!" She shouts.
"Then, stop looking."
That, apparently, she can't do.
"Why aren't you wearing safety shorts?" She swallows and it's hard to do so, she feels like she's suffocating. She does feel Yizhuo's breath over her.
"Because I don't want to." She says and she takes her free wrist that was hanging limply at her side. "Do you wanna touch? You look desperate to do it."
Before she can answer, Yizhuo guides it under her skirt and the lacey band of her underwear gets tangled between her fingers. Her mouth starts unvoluntarily watering.
Minjeong shakes her head. "Is this what you would do to Tal?"
Yizhuo groans. "You are so dense it's a talent, honestly. I already told you what I wanted from him."
"Well, you aren't going to get it with these... tricks and slutty clothes."
"What? You don't like them?" She pushes her hand towards more dangerous places.
"Fuck, no."
"But look at your hand." She smiles, and the hand in her wrist comes to grab her waist. "Also, your pants aren't any better than what I'm wearing." She hooks one finger in the waistband of her low-rised, flared jeans. "A bit lower and it would be plain indecency."
She tugs a bit lower and Minjeong feels her knees almost buckle. She doesn't know where to look at, her hand under her skirt or Yizhuo's own tugging at every inch of her jeans.
"I couldn't really focus in class either, I was thinking how easy it would be to just pull these down and..." Her voice sounds a bit hoarse, making a point by tugging a bit lower.
At the same time, she guides her hand closer to her back and Minjeong follows tugging a bit on the underwear's waist band as she notices that it's a really, really thin fabric. Something overcomes her as she lifts the side of her skirt to look at it. Yizhuo yelps, but it's red, red lace.
"Gosh, brave, aren't we?"
Yizhuo's hand travels slowly towards the front and Minjeong can feel a chill down her spine. Her hand grabs the side of her pelvis underneath her skirt and Yizhuo squirms, biting her lip, bringing her hooked fingers at the front, dangerously close. So close, she could just tug down and...
"Wanna know why I wore this today?" She's close to her ear, playing with the button of her jeans and her sweet honey voice is driving her insane. She shakes her head, unable to look anywhere else than her hand at her side. "Easy access, for you." She mewls and undoes the button and zipper of her jeans.
Everything happens so quickly it gives her whiplash; she almost jumps in the spot, pulls her hand away from her and steps back, running towards the bathroom door.
She awkwardly zips her pants back and buttons them, hopefully without anyone noticing. As she walks back to class, she dreadfully notices how wobbly her legs are.
"Hey!" Tal waves at her as she enters the classroom. She walks towards him, pulling her jeans up the highest she can. She feels a bit dizzy when he comes near her.
"Hey."
"Wanna go eat something in that cafe I told you about?"
Honestly, she had no idea what café he was referring to.
"Yeah." She felt numb.
He furrows his eyebrows.
"Are you okay? You seem a bit off?"
She bounces back almost immediately.
"Yeah! No worries, I just had a little talk with Yizhuo, that's all."
"Oh... okay. Well, let's go."
The café they went to was decent enough. Tal talked too much, as usual, but he was decent enough that day. Nice eyelashes, nice skin, nice enough overall.
Boring. Unbearably boring.
And when it came the moment to ask him to be her boyfriend, she really couldn't. She repeated to herself all of his good assets.
Nice skin, nice face, popular with the girls.
They stood in awkward silence in front of the bar.
Just ask him.
Instead, he spoke.
"What did you two talk about?" You two?
Ah.
Yizhuo.
Why can't he just forget about her when he's with Minjeong?
"Oh, you know, girl stuff, don't worry about it." She felt a chill up her spine when she thought about what happened in the bathroom.
"Aha... You know, and tell me if I'm wrong..." He starts and Minjeong gets a bad feeling. "I think she likes me."
Detective skills.
"Yeah, and?"
"And you like me too."
"Aha."
"So, maybe. And I'm just offering!" He looks at the side likely imagining something, before looking back at her. "Maybe we could do something the three of us."
"We always do things the three of us." Minjeong corrects him.
🌺
"No, babe. I'm talking about sex." He says, excitedly. Minjeong is apalled. "My house is free this weekend. The three of us can go and you know," He comes closer to her, grabbing her waist. "While you are riding me, she could sit on my face. And then, the other way around. Isn't it hot?"
"I don't think..."
"You don't like that? Then, she could watch as I fuck you, better? You would be the centre of attention, babe."
"I don't really like being the center of attention..." She wiggles around in his embrace when he rubs his crotch against her thigh. Weird, she had been aching to get to this point in their relationship but Minjeong just wants to go.
🌺
"No? Then, the other way around. Plus, I think she looks a bit freaky... I mean, you've seen the way she dresses, right? I bet she'd be down."
She feels her eyebrows twitch.
"I don't want to!" She feels him take a step back and click his tongue. "Really, babe? You would have a lot of fun."
"I don't think it's a good idea. No." She repeats. She noticed how much she hated how he called her babe.
"Ugh. Okay, I'll tell Yizhuo instead."
She feels a chill travel up her spine and she almost bites down on her tongue.
"Do whatever you want." She spits back with annoyance. "I don't care."
"Ugh, are you sure you wanna miss out on this, babe?"
"Don't call me babe."
"You are no fun. I just talked to you because the boys think you are hot, but what a waste of time." Minjeong could see his mask slipping right off and she couldn't believe how blind she had been. "I also invested so much time in making you jealous, I could have gotten laid months ago if I knew before."
"Jealous? What do you mean?"
"Dumb as fuck, I see. Babe," Don't call me babe "I was ignoring you for a while and talking to Yizhuo because the boys told me you would become dependant on me." He smirked. "And look! They were right! You went back to me so easily. I would have preferred you that way. Can't you be more easy to do, like Yizhuo?"
Her eye was going to have cramps the next day. She would turn into a pyromaniac the way she was setting him in fire in his head. And his eye was going to be purple in a few minutes. She lowered down and took her shoe off.
God, Yizhuo was right. He was a douchebag.
🍓
The next day, she felt a bit dirty. She had been thinking about what Tal had said, not because she wanted a threesome but because the image of Yizhuo fucking someone wouldn't leave her mind. Even though she had no answers as to why she felt that way yet.
Although she didn't really want to look at any of the two, she dragged herself into their shared class and took the seat next to the wall. Yizhuo was next and sat down, leaving a seat in between, which was unusual, to say the least. Minjeong panicked. She really didn't want to sit next to Tal. "Yizhuo." She called and the girl turned towards her, looking the most vulnerable she had ever seen her. She wore less makeup today, and she could notice eyebags. She almost looked... Insecure. Yizhuo was insanely beautiful either way, which was still infuriating. Her words were caught in her throat for a moment.
"Could you... Could you sit here? Please?" She asked, signaling the seat next to hers, and almost felt bad for making her seat next to Tal.
Yizhuo furrowed her brows but did as told. Minjeong noticed she was wearing jeans that day. "Thanks." Sighing, she admitted. "It pains me to say it but you... were right... about Tal."
Yizhuo pouts jockingly. "Don't really wanna say I told you. But I'm sorry for that."
"He was really gross yesterday. He also asked me to do a threesome."
"No fucking way, with who?"
Minjeong arched an eyebrow. "With you. He knows you like him."
Yizhuo throws her head back as she laughs. "Fuck no. That's so funny!"
Minjeong lets a puff of air out of her mouth. "I thought I would be ecstatic when he asked me to, you know, do it."
Before she can say anything else, the professor enters the classroom. Both of them sit in silence as the class goes on, which is helpful since none of them payed attention last day.
Tal arrives half an hour late and sits next to Yizhuo. Minjeong notes how the girl shifted a bit away from him. She's about to propose her to change seats but she realizes that's very unlikely under the close gaze of their professor. She recoiled back in her seat and lets herself feel guilty for the seating position.
It's nerve wracking, honestly; each time Tal makes any movement, both of them stiffen up. He never looks at them, though. Luckily, the class finishes without any interruptions. Minjeong wants to talk to her —not really knowing about what but she guesses she would figure it out; however, her friends call her over and she waves goodbye. Before exiting the classroom, she notices the Tal's left cheek was bandaged and she prays to god the shoe mark below is noticeable.
So, she goes to the bathroom. Some minutes later, as she exits the stall, some girls enter the bathroom, who she recognizes to be Yizhuo's friends.
They stop talking as soon as they see her but she waves at them.
"Where's Yizhuo?" She asks, curious as she saw them together as she left.
"She wanted to talk to that boy in private and she asked us to go to the bathroom while we wait for her."
Minjeong felt her body stiffen and after thanking the girls, she exited the bathroom in a rush, back to their classroom.
Was Yizhuo making a move on him? It couldn't be; in class, she didn't really look like she would accept his proposal.
Worse, is Tal making a move on her? The clasroom quickly came in view and before entering, she swore that if she saw them all over each other, she'd kill a man.
However, she heard them before setting foot in the room.
"... so, I'm sorry if I ever gave you the impression I was into you."
"But you are always looking at me."
"I'm not looking at you, honey."
"You have sat right beside me throughout these past months, I'd know where you were looking at." Minjeong gulped, he sounded really annoyed. She prays he doesn't try lift his hand to Yizhuo, since there's no one else in the class.
"Then you should get goggles. I never did."
"Then, why... Ugh, christ, females are so difficult; weren't you both going after me?" Minjeong couldn't help the twisted expression on her face. He really did sound like a jerk. She should be the one getting goggles, really.
"I think you are just confused. We were both going after the same girl."
After hearing those words, she fought the urge to wipe clean her ears.
Oh.
Oh.
What?
What. What, what, what?
"But you made a really, really, wrong move and she doesn't want to talk to you." Minjeong could almost hear her smirk.
"Sorry to break it to you, Yizhuo, but I'm pretty sure she doesn't swing that way."
There were some moments of silence and after it, she heard rustling, Yizhuo was adjusting her bag on her shoulder blade and right after it, her steps could be heard across the space.
Minjeong cursed under her breath and tried to run away but Yizhuo was quicker and was out of the classroom in just seconds. "Minjeong." She called.
Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck.
She bit the insides of both her lips and turned around. "Yeah?"
"You heard everything?"
She changed the weight of her body on the other leg. "I mean... Yeah, I think so."
"So, what do you think?" She stepped closer, visibly blushing, and Minjeong was stuck in place, her bag was three times heavy all of a sudden and her shoes felt like they were glued to the marble of the floor. Yizhuo took her hand delicately and Minjeong fought the urge to squeal. "Do you want me to stop?"
"I... I'm not sure."
Yizhuo smiled a bit. "Thought so." She looked at her rings. "This one is easier, do you want me to stop talking to you?"
Minejong furrowed her brows, offended. "No! I don't hate you, Yizhuo."
Her smile became more evident. "Wow, that's the nicest thing you've ever told me."
"You are making me sound heartless."
She shrugged her shoulders. "I like you like that."
Her mouth fell open and Yizhuo laughed at her.
"Like, like?" She nodded, her hand suddenly felt really sweaty on Yizhuo's fingers. "You are serious about me."
"Have been, for the past months, yeah. I made up that whole friend thing to talk to you. Aeri loves me." Must be the friend with the pink hair, she guesses.
"So, you've never liked Tal."
"Uh uh, never." She shooks her head.
She'd been living a lie.
Yizhuo let go of her hand and sticks it inside her back pockets. "Should have known that back that day in the bathroom, honey."
Minjeong feels her cheeks flush red.
"Hey!"
She giggles, a charming sound, again. "You didn't like it?"
Her voice is suddenly too much and the fact that she can smell her cherry cologne isn't helping. She can almost feel the skin of her legs still against her fingertips.
"Didn't you think about me after it? Not even once? Because I did." She steps closer.
"You did?" She asks, wrecked, unable to tear her eyes away from her face.
"Of course. I hope it doesn't make you feel uncomfortable."
Minjeong can't find it in herself to lie and say it did. She chews on her lower lip and she focuses on the hem of Yizhuo's pants.
"Mm?" Yizhuo cocks her head to the side and shifts her weight on one leg, making her hip pop out. Minjeong feels insane. "You look really concentrated right now, babe."
After hearing Yizhuo calling her babe, she can't ever forgive Tal for using that word on her.
Minjeong lifts her gaze back up to the other's face and squints at her expression. "And you look like you wanna eat me."
Yizhuo shrugs one shoulder and smiles. "Do you want me to?"
Minjeong is going to end up in emergency care if her heart dares pound even faster. She grabs Yizhuo by the waist and kisses her.
She pulls away as fast as she can and makes an attempt to run away, but Yizhuo is quicker and catches her by the arm, pulling her back closer to her body.
"If you are gonna kiss me, at least let me taste you." Yizhuo says, red in the tips of her ears. Did Minjeong really cause that reaction? She lets Yizhuo's hand roam along her backside and lets herself get lost in her dark eyes. She is kissing her before she can register her own action. Her hands come up to play with the hair of the girl who has been tormenting her love life the past months and she flushes her body impossibly close to Yizhuo's, delighting when she feels her fingers squish her sides. She almost wants to beg to do it harder. Minjeong bites her plump upper lip and drags her teeth along the skin carefully.
They halt when they hear the steps of some students crossing the corridor of the university.
Yizhuo looked behind Minjeong and waved before raising her middle finger. Minjeong also looked; her friends. Yizhuo sighed as she stepped away from her. She has lipgloss all over her mouth.
Minjeong signals it to her and while Yizhuo is cleaning herself as best as she can, looking at herself with the camera of her phone, Minjeong can still taste her on her lips. She wonders if she looks terribly stupid watching Yizhuo fix her lips. Minjeong catches her attention when she puts a hand over hers.
"I think I also like you." She confesses, in a tiny voice, like she just told a secret dear to her. Because she just did.
Yizhuo opens her eyes wide and her eyebrows skyrocket to the beige ceiling of their college.
"Shut up."
Minjeong makes a face. Really?
"You shut up."
Yizhuo's friends call to her.
"Sorry, gotta go now. I'll send you a message later... I wanna hang out with you properly." With no Tal in sight, she guesses. And honestly, it would be a lovely change. Minjeong nods and lets Yizhuo tuck her hair behind her ear. "I really like that mole you got there."
She fights the urge to touch it but mumbles a pathetic thanks in return. Minjeong hears her heels as she leaves.
"You cockblockers." Is the only thing she can make out from their conversation and stiffles a laugh.
However, she suddenly remembers something really, really important and chases after them. "Wait! Yizhuo!" Minjeong grabs her hand from behind and the girl turns around, startled.
"What is it? What happened?" She looks a bit worried while she cups her hand with both of hers.
"Where did you get that wine-colored lipgloss you usually wear?" Minjeong asks, puppy eyes, and tugs like her life depends on it.
"Wha-? Oh my god!" The friend with jet black hair starts laughing and interlinks arms with the pink haired girl, also laughing behind her hand, to guide her away from them.
Yizhuo puffs air out her mouth, smiling. She puts an arm around her shoulders. "C'mon, join us; we are going to that store this afternoon."
Minjeong can't contain her bright smile and they catch up to the other two girls, who were talking about class. With an arm around Yizhuo's waist, it dawns on her that she got what she wanted in the end.
🍓