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There’s something so poetic about crying in broad daylight in front of a half-eaten tomato omelette. At least that’s what Sooyoung thinks.
Hyunjin squints at her from across the table, unsure if she should sympathize or laugh, effectively twisting her face into a grimace that almost makes Sooyung laugh herself.
“I feel like I shouldn’t be here, nor should I ask what’s going on,” Hyunjin says slowly.
Sooyoung answers with a sniff, sliding her phone towards her.
weird but it was nice receiving kisses from you even in just a dream
Hyunjin barks out an obnoxious laugh.
“Jinsol unnie texted you this?” Hyunjin asks, incredulous and hysterical.
Sooyoung glares at her as she snatches her phone away with a huff.
“Asshole.”
Hyunjin only snorts, reaching for Sooyoung’s abandoned omelette with her own fork. “You’re not answering that are you?”
Sooyoung sighs, wiping the snot that sat on her philtrum. “I’ll be fine.”
Hyunjin’s brows furrow. “That’s not what I’m asking, unnie.”
The sincerity behind her voice surprises Sooyoung. Sooyung appreciates it, really. Hyunjin rarely pries into anyone’s business, never trying to intervene unless someone is on the brink of fucking up and cast the stone that obliterates the entire building.
But Sooyoung is notorious for being a (self-proclaimed, Chaewon would argue) good decision maker. She basically raised Hyeju and Yeojin. Sooyung wouldn’t pick up that stone. Sooyoung is the site foreman that oversees the building. Sooyoung doesn’t miss Jinsol. Sooyoung hasn’t even thought of Jinsol. Nor the way Jinsol kisses. The last time they kissed was forty six days ago. 8:43 PM. Not that Sooyoung was counting.
So she reaches up and pokes at Hyunjin’s dimple with the hand that just wiped her nose. Hyunjin swats it away.
“I’ll be fine,” Sooyoung says with a little more conviction.
Hyunjin raises an eyebrow at her. “Right.”
Sooyung falls asleep on her arm.
She opens her bleary gaze into a screen. There is also Haseul lying her head on the coffee table in a mirror image to her, except Haseul is still unconscious. There is also a puddle of whiskey next to her foot.
i can make it happen it real life
“What the fuck,” Sooyoung whisper-screams.
Jinsol replied with two interrobang emojis and a hand over mouth emoji. Sooyoung stares at the rest of their text history in horror.
Already so confident at this hour?
wouldntu like that
I mean i’d like to see you try
Sooyoung groans. In embarrassment. And maybe the fact that she’s also a little turned on by the thought of Jinsol’s mouth on hers again. All this from a text.
the word try implies that there will be a possibility of failed attempts?
Wait what I just woke up can you rephrase
Sooyoung convinces herself that she might just be astral projecting into another universe where these texts are real and closes her eyes once more.
I'd really like receiving kisses from you for real
Sooyoung, now fully sober, Schrödinger's-cats the texts. Except Jinsol from her phone actually shows up in the flesh while she’s digging through the freezer of the 7/11 just across her apartment.
“Oh,” Sooyoung intelligently says. She remembers Jinsol also gets the munchies at this god forsaken hour.
Jinsol stares. Sooyoung thinks she’s just as surprised, Jinsol’s gorgeous AI-generated looking eyes boring a hole through her head. She had her glasses on, shrinking the size of her eyes by a fraction. Sooyoung thinks she’s never beheld anything as beautiful as the sight of Jinsol in her moss green frog pajamas and white sweatshirt that Sooyoung always liked to steal.
“Hey,” Jinsol tries, “happy new year.”
It’s January 14.
“Happy new year,” Sooyoung echoes. She is the pinnacle of communication.
Jinsol gives her a lazy smile. “Sooyoung,” she says. Like a question. Her lips are there and Sooyoung feels like she has been punched in the gut.
Sooyoung clears her throat. “Do you want…” Sooyoung gestures to the ice cream pile in front of them.
Jinsol nods and takes two strawberry sundaes without a word, dragging her feet towards the counter. It was never Jinsol’s favorite, but she knows it’s Sooyoung’s flavor of choice when she’s feeling particularly weird. The memory of her head on Jinsol’s lap with her hair being played with hangs heavy on her chest.
Jinsol looks over her shoulder with a look and tips her chin towards the door. Sooyoung takes it as an invitation to follow her outside, keeping a respectable distance. Jinsol hands her her ice cream, slender fingers brushing against her own.
They stand there awkwardly for a bit. Nothing but the monotonous hum of the lightbox sign hanging above them and the occasional roars of traffic from a distance.
When Sooyoung finally gathers the courage to look up at Jinsol, Jinsol is already licking her spoon clean. Sooyoung tries her very best not to let her mind wander.
“Your ice cream is melting,” Jinsol says with a sheepish smile, the spoon trapped between her teeth. Sooyoung wants to lick her incisors.
“Listen, Jinsol–”
“Sooyoung,” Jinsol interrupts, “we don’t have to talk about it.”
Sooyoung searches her face for–what, Sooyoung doesn’t really know. All there is is Jinsol smiling at her, the way she always does when she’s trying to gauge a reaction out of her. Six long years of Sooyoung expertise.
Then again, Sooyoung is great at making decisions. Proven when Jinsol readjusts her fingers to hold Sooyoung’s entire hand instead when Sooyoung tries to loop her pinky around Jinsol’s own.
Sooyoung thinks she sees Jinsol’s shoulders sag in relief. Almost chides her for her horrible posture. Not that she’s any better.
“I fell asleep,” Sooyoung mumbles. Jinsol inches closer so that her ear is next to Sooyoung’s mouth.
“I fell asleep,” she repeats. Jinsol is looking at her legs now. Sooyoung almost forgot that she was only wearing shorts and flip flops.
“That’s…” Jinsol trails off, eyes wide still. “Good to know.”
Sooyoung squeezes her hand. Jinsol squeezes back.
A pause.
Sooyoung squeezes her hand once more. Jinsol squeezes back twice. Sooyoung rolls her eyes.
“You are insufferably competitive.”
Jinsol laughs. “You are worse.”
In the ensuing silence, Sooyoung frees her hand from Jinsol to trail the pads of her fingers along Jinsol’s exposed neck. Jinsol lets out a deep breath as she leans into her touch. Sooyoung watches her eyes flutter shut.
“I’ve been angry for three days,” Jinsol huffs. Sooyoung rakes through the hairs on the back of her neck.
Sooyoung hums. Why?
Jinsol opens her eyes with a pout. “You know why.”
“My selective memory is failing me. You have to walk me through this,” Sooyoung lies.
Jinsol narrows her eyes at her. Sooyoung doesn’t miss the glance Jinsol leveled at her lips. Sooyoung dodges her gaze, buries her face in the crook of Jinsol’s neck instead. Her ice cream falls apart in her hands.
“I’m not me anymore, Jinsol.” I’m not the person you fell in love with.
Jinsol lets out an exasperated sigh, free throws her empty cup into the bin nearby and misses. Sooyoung snorts into her collarbone.
“I've seen lots of versions of you in the past, some of which you dislike. I get it,” Jinsol says like she’s stumbling over her words, “some parts of you changed over time anyway, some no longer exist. I didn’t mind it back then, nor do I mind it now.”
Sooyoung looks up at her and blinks, stunned.
“It’s not that shallow, Sooyoung. I don’t just love certain versions of you. It’s the entirety of you,” Jinsol punctuates with a tug at Sooyoung’s sleeve.
Sooyoung wants to cry right then and there.
“You can’t just say that,” Sooyoung says shakily.
The kiss nearly kills Sooyoung. Jinsol’s lips land on her own softly, sticky and sweet. There is a wave of need that crashes into her so strong, roaring in her chest like a dormant volcano that erupts out of nowhere.
But it’s Jinsol. Jinsol is safe. Jinsol is hers.
Jinsol holds her cheek when she pulls away.
Sooyoung chugs her puddle of ice cream in one go before leaning back in.