Work Text:
Sangah hunched over her screen and agonized over a video editing project that she unfortunately had to complete before the night ended. She had just arrived home from her second job at the library. It’s a nice job with perks of free software, tools, and books- it’s just a long commute.
Luckily, she enjoyed the train rides to and from the city. It was the only time she could sit and read, or listen to the new alternative albums her best friend Minji talked about. She could close her eyes and be in a world of her own where she would find a song that she loved. She stowed her favorite songs away in her brain to share with a future girlfriend who would ideally like the same music as her.
She rubbed her tired, screen-melted eyes, and continued to scroll to the impending commercial project for the night. Commercials made Sangah want to bash her head into her laptop, but these were the only high paying commissions available for the time being. Her roommate, Hyunja, texted her and said she won’t be home tonight because she’ll be out with her new girlfriend. Lucky her.
Sangah, being the good friend she is, would never make Hyunja feel bad for being happy. Still, she wished a girl would come up to her and beg her to take her out on a date—at least once. The most action Sangah got was when she’d find a new position on her chair and her heel dug in between her legs while she did her at-home freelancer work. Come on.
The program loaded the relevant video files. Commercials were not favorable nor exciting, but they were easy enough to complete quickly. She clicked on the thumbnail to the first video and Sangah’s yawn immediately turned into a jaw-drop when the most beautiful actress appeared on screen.
The woman’s smile gleamed through the screen, her sharp pearly canines reflecting the toothpaste’s power to achieve the look. This advertisement worked overtime on her. Sangah blinked her dry eyes away and slapped herself across the face to focus. They won’t pay unless they get something by midnight.
Sangah took more time than usual. Like a good, well-trained editor, she played through all of the clips, just for quality assurance… and maybe to catch a name.
The director immediately annoyed Sangah when he pressed way too hard on the actress’s tone of voice. Her normal speaking voice sounded as sweet as the breeze that brushes through an open field of lilies. The dimwit wanted her to squeak her voice up like a speaking baby doll. Sangah hated the sound of the male director’s voice in her headphones, it made her skin crawl with disdain.
Sangah never understood the childlike appeal in a woman’s voice. He would definitely hate to hear how deep and almost monotone (she could never tell) Sangah’s speaking voice was. Her missed cues and lack of tonal control played a huge factor in Sangah taking on post-production roles instead of being in front of the camera in film school.
Yeojoo–a staff member said as they combed her tethered fringe away from the middle of her face.
“Yeojoo,” Her name aloud is like nectar on Sangah’s tongue. The credits said her surname was ‘Yoo’. Sangah’s reward for finishing the project is to find this woman on social media. She only used her personal Instagram to catch up on everyone’s business once or twice monthly— the rest was for professional use.
Sangah surprisingly found Yeojoo instantly. Because as it turned out, she was a mutual friend of Minji from university, and she had tagged photos with her. She completely missed these photos since they dated before Sangah remembered she had this account.
“Minji…” Sangah grunted as she whipped her phone out to call her best friend, but the time read one o’clock in the morning. If she called now, Minji would have a heart attack and think that it was an emergency. She waited reluctantly until the next day.
“Do you think you could tell me about your friend, Yoo Yeojoo?” Sangah asked casually after two minutes of catching up.
“What? Oh- Yeojoo! She is so sweet! Why are you asking?”
“No good reaso–”
“Liar. Are you trying to get me to pimp my old friend from uni to you?”
“No one is saying that. I just, dunno, think she’s kind of cute? I was hoping for you to play wingwoman and slowly get her to talk to me… I would feel like such a creep if I was a random mutual requesting to be her friend.”
“Girl,” Minji laughed. “I haven’t spoken to her in over a year. I know her, but we only followed each other on Instagram to keep in touch. Why? Do you want me to invite her to a spontaneous outing where you organically ‘bump’ into me and naturally I introduce you two, then you hit it off while I buzz off somewhere else?”
There was a pause that eventually turned into static. Right, this would not make Sangah look like a desperate weirdo. “Hello?” Minji pleaded.
“Minji, you fucking genius.”
“...wait, you want me to actually do that?”
“Please, I am begging you. I just want to get to know her. PLEASE!” Sangah jumped up and down and kneeled to the floor as if Minji could see her dramatic pleas.
“Okay, damn. I’ll text her later today.”
Sangah bit her lip to hold back her scream, punching the air to let the excitement out.
Minji planned a dessert bar outing and Sangah sat near the window to soak up the winter sun’s warmth. Minji politely waited outside for her friend, rocking back and forth from her heel to toe, hands in her sweatshirt pockets.
Sangah did her makeup today, and not just eyeliner, a full face. She fucked up her bronzer blending though. She felt the products sitting heavy on her face, aware of the setting powder she piled onto her nose. She also painted her nails, then the paint chipped off on two fingers.
She fidgeted with her phone and looked around the cafe for any distractions besides picking at her messy nail polish. It was a well-lit, pinky place with plants adorning the walls, wrapping around rattan styled framing added to the vibe. The music played a bit too loud for Sangah though, it made it difficult to zone-in on her appearance to make herself look relaxed and nonchalant when Minji enthusiastically waved at someone coming up to the store.
Sangah’s heartbeat pumped louder and louder into her ears when Yeojoo embraced her best friend. She had a white wool-blended coat with fox ear muffs adorning her chocolate wavy hair. Yeojoo was even more beautiful in person.
They made their way inside and Yeojoo sighed in relief at the heated space. That smile and confident demeanor lit up every corner of the room. She said something to Minji as she shook her coat off. Sangah’s face burned as she turned her attention away from the way the blue ribbed turtle neck hugged her torso.
After they ordered their treats (Yeojoo liked chocolate, Sangah noted), Minji texted her the signal to walk over to their table. Sangah was not an actress, and she can’t be nonchalant around pretty women. Her limbs froze in place. What was Sangah thinking? She can’t do this.
Minji peeped over Sangah's direction and cocked her head towards Yeojoo.
I can’t. Sangah mouthed.
What’dya mean you ‘can’t’?! Minji mouthed back.
Yeojoo looked back and Sangah shot her attention away from the table. Damn. DAMN!
She left in a panic.
“Is everything okay?” Minji asked over the phone. Sangah was on the bus to go back to her neighborhood to crawl back into her dungeon like a timid street cat.
“Sorry. I’m sorry. I really don’t know what I was thinking, she was just too… I was going to say something really stupid.” Sangah buried her face into her hand, cringing at what could’ve happened.
“Sangah, don’t worry, you’re okay,” Minji calmly said. “Yeojoo was really keen on meeting up again. Do you want to do something?”
“Can’t think right now.”
“That’s okay! Well hey, I got some info on her. She lives pretty darn close to you. She moved here a few weeks ago, chances of you running into her are pretty high.” Minji said that last bit as if she were smirking on the other line.
“I don’t know how I feel about her seeing me at my worst buying groceries.”
“Enough of that mopey-dopey attitude. You are a cool girl. You have tattoos and dress in alternative clothing styles… I think she would like you. Oh, and she told me that she’s an actress now!”
Sangah pretended to not know about this. “Maybe she can get me some video projects or something.”
“Well, yes, that’s a start. She’s doing commercials right now, but she auditioned for a new show,” Minji hummed over the line, then snapped her fingers. “If it makes you feel better, maybe I could meet with her again and talk about your video editing? Then she’ll get to know who you are as a soft launch.”
“I’m twenty-five years old, I can’t believe I’m still hiding behind my best friend.” Sangah whined.
“The best friend you hide behind will help you get a wife, one way or the other.”
Minji fought hard for her. Not that Yeojoo put up a fight in the first place, but she succeeded in her promise.
According to Minji’s detailed report, Yeojoo perked up at Sangah being a video editor who went to film school. Minji, the trooper she truly was, shared Sangah’s portfolio link. Yeojoo was impressed (of course, Sangah was good at editing!) and said that she would love it if someone good with post-production could help her with audition angles and her clunky editing choices. She asked Minji to pass her number over to Sangah.
Sangah felt like she could catapult into the Pacific Ocean— this was her god given chance.
Minji didn’t know what she was talking about when she said Sangah is cool. There was nothing cool about her. She was a hot panicky train wreck that had poor time-management and clinically diagnosed anxiety. Her thumb hovered over the keyboard, hesitant at what she would even say. What if Yeojoo wasn’t even queer at all?
An Instagram notification popped up— yooyeoooooo has requested to follow you.
Sangah dropped to her knees and powered off her phone. She laid onto the cold tiles for a while to process before she powered her phone back up to double check her own page only to make sure she didn’t post anything off-putting before accepting the request and following her locked account back. Yeojoo instantaneously granted her access.
Sangah held her breath as she tapped onto her page.
A recent post of the behind the scenes reel from the toothpaste commercial caught Sangah’s attention. She exhaled as she played the video of Yeojoo sitting in a makeup chair as the artist carefully applied a peachy-pink lipstick onto her plump bottom lip that jutted out a bit more when her face relaxed. Sangah felt a pleasant shiver down her torso at the thought of getting close to those soft, pouty lips.
She scrolled a bit more through the grid of photos and videos. Yeojoo had pictures of the places she’d travelled to and more clips of her actress escapades. Sangah fell under the powerful cleavage hypnosis when she tapped onto the image that showed Yeojoo wearing a small black bikini top on a foreign tropical beach. The caption read, sun’s out, girls out! ;) followed by a series of her friends leaving fire emojis and exasperated thirst comments.
There was nothing that deliberately spelled out ‘I’m gay’ on her account, but if Minji knew her, then she wouldn’t waste her time trying to set them up together. Although, her friend tended to have optimistic outcomes, so it still remained unclear. Sangah reckoned that it’s important to acknowledge that there wasn't a single male profile picture in sight of her comment threads.
Sangah eventually got over the irrational fear after another well-needed pep talk from Hyunja. It happened after Sangah’s edited commercial aired on television, and Sangah couldn’t act normal about it. Hyunja knew how to pick up on the nervous energy in the room. She had a watchful and experienced eye for social situations. She was a few years older than Sangah, so she knew exactly how to navigate the sapphic sphere. She said she’ll know if Yeojoo likes women, it’s not about her interests or appearance, it’s in the way she takes interest in you.
Sangah nodded and texted the woman of her dreams.
Hi :) I’m Sangah, Minji’s friend. She said you were interested in some video production and editing advice?
Sangah wanted to throw up at how desperate this text sounded. Hyunja shook her head and reassured that it was a basic question, don’t worry about how it sounded. It showed interest.
Hello Sangah<3
I’m so happy you texted me!!!! I was wondering if you’re free this weekend for a coffee or tea or whatever you’d like and we can talk about basics?
Sangah ran away from a giggling Hyunja and typed, I would love that, what time or day were you thinking?
Saturday, Sangah walked up to the same dessert bar where she fumbled her first chance. She was overwhelmed with the responsibility of choosing where to go, though Yeojoo seemed really happy about coming back to the café.
“Sangah?” That sweet breeze voice announced from behind Sangah.
Sangah turned around to face Yeojoo. She wore the same coat as before, with her adorable fox ear muffs, smiling with her rosy cheeks dimpling near her eyes.
“Hi,” Sangah croaked out from not speaking aloud for the entire day. She awkwardly cleared her throat. “Hey, nice to meet you, Yeojoo. Please come inside, it’s freezing.” Sangah opened the door for the shivering woman.
“Oh, thank you!” Yeojoo chirped. The bitter wind picked up on her dreamy vanilla-musk perfume.
Sangah let go of the door a bit too early and it slammed against her heel. Yeojoo yelped and held onto her to keep her from keeling over. “Are you okay?!”
“No–Yes! Don't worry, we can go sit.” Sangah squeaked and tried to mask a limp to the nearby table.
“They should fix the door, it shouldn’t slam so suddenly!” Yeojoo said, hovering over Sangah to ensure she got to her seat comfortably.
She slipped her coat off, revealing a u-shaped form-fitting button up long sleeve that displayed a generous amount of cleavage. Sangah’s ankle wasn’t the only thing that throbbed a bit when the girl in front of her scooted further into her booth.
“Minji’s told me all about your freelancing, you seemed like someone who knows your way around buttons.”
“What?”
Yeojoo blinked and her smile faded as if she said something disastrously wrong.
“Oh, I’m sorry, yes! I have a decent home set-up and everything. I’ve been editing for about six years now? I’ve done some editing for television shows on streaming services as well. Those were fun, but challenging.” Sangah felt her own cheeks burning. Smooth.
Yeojoo nodded, her grin returning. “I hated editing in film school, but always thought that anyone who can tolerate it was so cool,” Sangah heard the word ‘cool’ and perked up a little. “I never had the patience. Even now while I put together a simple video portfolio for roles, I get really annoyed because I somehow convert to the wrong file.”
“It is time consuming. The only reason why I liked it so much is because I love working with creative visual projects, but I could never be in front of the camera.”
“Aw, why?” Yeojoo pouted as she sorted through the menu with her short, well manicured nails. Sangah heard Hyunja’s voice inside her head that nail length always mattered.
“I’m not,” Sangah gestured her hands around herself. “Not really actress material, I think.”
“What? Who said that? You could land a role for something like The Matrix or something. I love the short, black hair, I could totally see you as an action girl like Trinity.”
“That’s one of my favorite films,” Sangah smiled and bashfully tucked her hair behind her ear. “But you saw me back there! I’m too clumsy for action. The stunt double might as well act for me.”
Yeojoo laughed boisterously. Sangah didn’t think it was that funny, but anything to make her laugh was worth it.
Yeojoo shared her experience in auditions and on-set stories. Sangah couldn’t help her face twisting into disgust when she talked about how men would teeter borderline creepiness. Yeojoo assured her firm stance against men once that boundary line crossed. However, the fellas needed to know that despite her clumsiness, Sangah earned a brown belt in Taekwondo. Yeojoo twirled the ends of her hair when she asked more about it.
Time seemingly coasted by as they chatted over some delicious desserts. At one moment, they clunked forks together as they reached for the single serving of cream brûlée at the same time. Yeojoo giggled and prompted Sangah to open her mouth. She fed her.
Unfortunately, it was closing time at four in the afternoon. Sangah couldn’t believe that she hadn’t tried this place earlier. Still, she was satisfied to experience it for the first time with someone who’s entertained by her tangents and silly little-known facts about the film industry. Those brown eyes twinkled with interest, hanging onto every word Sangah said.
“This was so fun,” Yeojoo said. They were walking to the bus station together. The sky was a vibrant orangey-pink, the last halos of light touching the horizon.
“Yes, I had so much fun.” Sangah agreed.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve really had a nice time with someone I just met.” Yeojoo causally said. Sangah didn’t know what the appropriate response was.
“I’m happy for you to come to mine, for um—editing things, any time.”
Yeojoo nodded looking down at her heeled boots, gently kicking the concrete, hands behind her back.
“I would love to.”
If Sangah’s eyes were correct, Yeojoo made a poor attempt to hide the blush that took over her entire face from the offer.
Sangah barely got into the vivid details of the date and it already had the lesbian stamp of approval from Hyunja. “Either she’s an oddly homoerotic straight woman or she’s into women. I doubt the latter. Did she wear something that showed a lot of—” she motioned her hands over her chest. Sangah nodded, flustered at the reminder.
“In winter. I see. Did she talk about men at all?”
“Only about how weird they can be in the film industry and nothing positive.”
“She is definitely into women—you specifically.”
This was something Sangah had trouble picking up on. Some women she liked would be friendly, but nothing more. She mistook platonic interactions for invitations to pursue anything romantic. Sangah repeatedly fell for the same booby-trap (literally) throughout university, and nearly all of the lesbians and sapphic people were in commitments or too fresh off a breakup.
She caught Minji up in a voice memo. Minji sent a reaction picture of herself with a thumbs up and a devious grin. Sangah having her first lesbian date YIPPPPEEEEE!
Sangah’s steps felt like she was walking on air, whistling and chirping a song without a care in the world.
Yeojoo followed up and initiated multiple meet ups for her editing. Sangah curated a playlist to play in the background while they edited, hoping she knew a few of the songs. She hummed happily to most of them and asked about the ones she didn’t know. It’s not that she needed to edit that many things, but Sangah loved the excuse to order takeaway while they watched films or listen to music together.
Tension weighed heavily in the air. Sangah’s bed was only a couple steps away. Yeojoo scooted closer and closer to her each time, asking Sangah questions she probably already knew the answers to.
The large file said it needed about an hour to convert for uploading. Yeojoo auditioned for a lead role in a queer mystery film. Wishful thinking, she said, she knew she’s a good actress, but receiving a rejection was devastating. Her agent could only pull up victim roles or female characters in films that potentially would not pass the bechtar test.
“M’tired,” she yawned, head leaning onto Sangah’s broad shoulder. “Sleepy.” She slinked over to Sangah’s comfy duvet and buried her face into a pillow.
Sangah’s heart leaped into her throat. Bed. Girl on the bed. Yeojoo, on her bed.
“I can take my laptop and wait outside.” Sangah insisted with a voice crack.
“Nooooo,” Yeojoo protested. “Stay here. Cuddle with me.”
Sangah practically dropped her laptop back onto her desk and sat at the end of the bed. The butterflies inside her tummy swirled in an aggressive nature. Her clammy hands reached out for her hand, then Yeojoo pulled her in like a fish caught on a hook.
Their faces were centimeters away from each other. Yeojoo smiled and peered down at Sangah’s lips. “Kiss me.” she whispered.
Those lips were as dreamy as Sangah imagined.