Archive of Our Own

Yubin made a feeble attempt at biting back a smile. Her left hand paused its repetitive motion of combing through Jiwoo's long, almost unending locks, which had been dyed chestnut brown just a week ago. The taller girl lay sprawled out on the mattress, blissfully oblivious to Yubin's fingers in her hair and the tapping of an Apple Pencil against Hyerin's tablet. 

The youngest of the three tossed Yubin a knowing grin, hoping to fight the warmth swelling within her own stomach.

"She's cute, isn't she?" Yubin whispered, shifting herself closer to Hyerin. Vague notes of vanilla-scented perfume diffused into the air. Hyerin inhaled the fragrance without a second thought, tracing a line from Yubin's enamoured eyes to Jiwoo's sleepily shut ones. 

"You've been using her perfume so much these days..."

"Says the one who's drawing her on Ibis Paint. Just admit it, Hyebam. You like her as much as I do." Yubin shot a teasing smirk at the younger girl. Hyerin flashed her a quick side-eye in return, before diverting her attention to her drawing.

A half-finished digital sketch lay before Hyerin, its rough edges and unsatisfactory shading seemingly out to taunt her. She sighed, willing her Apple Pencil to outline the details of Jiwoo's bear onesie. The taller girl let out a loud yawn, noticing Yubin's hand on her shoulder the moment she stirred. Hyerin immediately switched her device off. Jiwoo was now awake, her slightly bleary eyes open and meeting Yubin's gaze.

"I bought this bear costume for you three years ago, Jyuu. Why do you still wear it every other day?"

"The answer is obvious, Gong Yubam." Jiwoo drawled, her voice still thick with sleep. She heaved herself up to a sitting position, glancing at the iPad in Hyerin's grasp. "Rine, are you drawing something new?"

Hyerin swallowed. A specific substandard sketch of a dozing Jiwoo was the last thing she wished to think about. Had the contours of its frame mirrored those of Jiwoo's body, Hyerin would have been able to shove some guilt into an abyss. Yubin's eyes lingered on her, patience barely concealing a hint of anticipation which she noticed right away. 

"Yeah, but I'm...not done."

To Yubin, the drawing probably did not do Jiwoo's features any justice. To Jiwoo, it would have come across as a low-effort token of affection - one which was endearing, but not aesthetically pleasing enough to be admired. Hyerin could not visualise her sketch in Jiwoo's possession three years down the road. At the end of the day, it only paled in comparison to the bear onesie gift from Yubin.

Yubin.

Hyerin released the iPad from her grasp, allowing her arms to slide around Yubin's waist. She felt the older girl's body heat radiating onto her skin and coursing through every inch of her bloodstream. Yubin turned to Hyerin, opening her mouth as if to say something. However, the latter was only met with silence. The tint on Yubin's cheeks was a mere illusion.

Jiwoo watched, her eyes glazed over with a sheen. It was unreadable to Hyerin - but not to Yubin, who hesitantly prised the younger girl's hands off her waist.

"Newsflash, Jiwoo. Our Hyebam here drew you while you were napping," Yubin announced. "Sometimes, I wish I were you."

"No you don't. Do you seriously want an ex who spreads rumours about you being a playgirl?" Jiwoo exhaled sharply, picking up her phone from the bedside table. "Chaeyeon's been stalking me lately. She's been stalking us three."

"She's not entirely wrong. You literally play games and play the guitar all day. How is that not playgirl behaviour?"

Jiwoo threw her hands up in defeat. "That's not the point. Yubam, we literally have a stalker..."

Hyerin shrunk into the space where the bed's top right corner met a wall. She switched her tablet on, exiting the Ibis Paint app without allowing herself a final glance at her drawing. The all-too-familiar iPad homescreen greeted Hyerin without much thought. It was her first group photo with Yubin and Jiwoo.

Four years ago, she and Yubin had been a mentee-mentor pair in their school's dance club. Back when they were friendly but far from being close, Hyerin had observed how Yubin constantly hung around a member of the women's ice hockey team. Three years ago, Yubin had brought her to a concert - in which said ice hockey player performed a song written for Kim Chaeyeon. 

Hyerin recalled speaking to ice hockey player Lee Jiwoo for the first time, her cardigan stained with leftover tears from the performance. That night, Yubin's hushed voice had uttered "I can be a better girlfriend than Chae". Hyerin recalled her heart catching fire on the bus home, the faces of two girls vividly emblazoned onto her mind. Even then, she did not see herself seated on a bed with them.

Undeserved dreams. 

Why are they coming true now?

"Earth to Jeong Hyerin! Are you alive?" Yubin clapped her hands right in Hyerin's face, causing the younger girl to blink abruptly. "You missed the tea on Chaeyeon, you know."

If not for three years ago, Yubin and Jiwoo would have been the perfect pair - soulmates without any need for reasoning. Hyerin was an impurity, tainting their sacred connection by intercepting their wavelength. Alas, loving two girls who loved each other was not a conscious decision on her part.

It's wrong, isn't it?

"Oh, Chaeyeon...I wonder if she knows about Enhanced Flower," Hyerin muttered offhandedly. "Still can't believe Jiwoo wrote that song for a freaking stalker."

Yubin chuckled lightly, paying no heed to Jiwoo who buried her face in her palms. She leaned on Hyerin's shoulder, her line of sight instantly gravitating towards the younger girl's homescreen.

"Feels like it happened yesterday. How was that two years ago?"

"Three years, Yubami," Hyerin corrected, mock exasperation evident in her voice. "When I first met Jyuu."

"When I first performed Enhanced Flower," Jiwoo noted wistfully. "Chaeyeon broke up with me that night. I honestly don't know why I still use her perfume..."

The bottle of said perfume sat unbothered on the bedside table. Yubin lifted it off the wooden surface, uncapping it before playfully spraying its contents into the air. The mist evaporated almost immediately, leaving behind an unmistakable vanilla scent in its wake. 

"Don't worry, Jyuu. I'll use this every day...until it starts to remind you of me instead," Yubin grinned mischievously.

"You really do like me that much, don't you?" Jiwoo grabbed the nearest pillow, threatening to smack Yubin's face with it. The older girl let out a shrill scream, eliciting peals of hearty chortling from Jiwoo.

Hyerin inhaled a large whiff of vanilla perfume. The calming fragrance infiltrated her lungs, settling in their depths with minimal hesitation. To Yubin and Jiwoo, Hyerin had never been anything more than a younger sister. However, clouding her senses with the scent of their love was enough.

That was, only for the time being.

"Well, she definitely likes you," Hyerin interjected. "She called you cute while you were sleeping."

"That doesn't count. I blame it on my bear onesie," Jiwoo fiddled with the fluffy chocolate-brown fabric of her outfit.

Hyerin smirked, her gaze briefly shifting to a furiously blushing Yubin before returning to Jiwoo. "She bought it for you. That says a lot."

The string binding Jiwoo's soul to Yubin's was too strong to be invisible. In times like these, Hyerin inevitably remembered her friends who knew about love.

She remembered Chaewon ranting to her about 'Hayeon spending way too much time with Shion'. She remembered the way tears had trickled down Mayu's face upon finding out that Kaede loved Dahyun. She remembered how Jiyeon's involvement with Seoyeon had angered Yooyeon beyond comprehension.

Meanwhile, Hyerin only remembered how fervently she had wished. Love was better off multiplied rather than divided - and she wished to enter the world of Yubin and Jiwoo. Hyerin grabbed the perfume bottle from the mattress, gently spraying the fragrance at the older girls before aiming mist at herself.

"Great job, Hyebam. We all smell the same now," Yubin remarked, sniffing the air in exaggerated motions. Jiwoo inhaled slowly, seemingly savouring each and every breath. Her body went limp against Yubin, eyelids fluttering shut as the latter wrapped both arms around her. 

Once again, Hyerin found herself greeted by a familiar warmth. It rose from the pits of her stomach and flowed to her heart, stirring its core more viscerally than before. Alas, Jeong Hyerin had never belonged in a vanilla-scented university dorm with Gong Yubin and Lee Jiwoo.

That was, until the brief silence shattered.

"And we're all part of the same...thing, or whatever you want to call it. All three of us," Jiwoo opened her eyes after a pause, meeting Hyerin's vision in a heartbeat. Time froze for the younger girl, but not for Yubin, who fiercely pulled her straight into the embrace. Hyerin's senses blurred out within milliseconds. The fabrics of Jiwoo's bear onesie and Yubin's knit tee were so close to her face - and definitely not alleviating the perfume-induced intoxication in any way.

"Jyuu, Yubam, I..."

It was too much for Hyerin to utter a complete sentence.

"Yes?" Jiwoo and Yubin answered in unison, before exchanging flabbergasted glances. Hyerin bit her lip, attempting to stifle the smile tugging at her cheeks.

You both feel like home.

"I'll show you my drawing now."

Hyerin reluctantly broke the huddle, reaching for her iPad and entering the Ibis Paint app. Her sketch of Jiwoo had not magically fixed itself. It remained the same, complete with all its uneven lines and skewed proportions - lying in plain sight before Yubin and Jiwoo. The vanilla scent was glacially dissipating from their room. 

However, Hyerin did not feel the need to worry.