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If you asked Kyujin what the most fulfilling part of being a student assistant is, being assigned to the Student Affairs office with Jiwoo isn’t something she’d mention. Really, aside from how being a volunteer helps make her resume look better, the free food that supervisors buy for the assistants sometimes is all there really is of note.
Unfortunately for her, the supervisors in the Student Affairs division are not only the stingiest officers among every place she’s been assigned, but they’re also the ones who have nothing for assistants to actually do given that it’s only the second week since school started back up. Which is why Kyujin and Jiwoo currently find themselves in the back office, organizing the lost and found section that they’re sure no one really remembers exists; it would explain the amount of stuff there, at least.
“Damn, how do people lose this much stuff?” Jiwoo complains, pulling out another Hydroflask from a dusty box. “If I lost an expensive water bottle, I’d even go as far as searching up my own ass.”
“Oh please,” Kyujin scoffs, “you don’t even remember things you bought two weeks ago.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“You’ve probably got a whole bunch of stuff in here, and we wouldn’t even know.”
Jiwoo gasps in mock offense. “I’ll have you know I take very good care of items I care about!”
Kyujin waves her off and goes back to parsing through another particularly big box. Her arms are getting tired, and she really wants to sit down, but she’d rather not sit down on the floor like Jiwoo currently is. She grabs another charger and tosses it into the electronics bin. ‘Damn, that’s the fifteenth one, and we’ve only been here an hour,’ she thinks.
“Oh, by the way,” Jiwoo’s voice snaps Kyujin out of her thoughts. “I wanted to ask if you’d be chill with switching Thursday assignments with me. I was put in the library from 4PM until 7PM, but I’m supposed to meet Yoona unnie at that time.”
“Wow, ditching school duties for girlfriend duties? I thought we were in this student assistant thing for real when you forced me to sign up,” Kyujin jokes, shaking her head. Her hands grab an umbrella, which she chucks into the umbrella box. ‘Ninth one?’ she reckons.
“Dude, everyone knows I only signed up for this because Yoona’s the council secretary,” Jiwoo tosses another musty jacket on a chair in the corner. “I can’t let people go around thinking she’s dating some loser with no extracurriculars.”
Kyujin moves towards a smaller box and examines the contents of mostly the same stuff all over again. “I’m supposed to be manning the counseling office from 1PM to 3PM if that works for you.”
“Good with me, I’ll tell Yoona unnie that—score!” She holds a 50,000 won bill up at Kyujin. “Do you think I can keep this and use it on my date?”
Kyujin shoots her a deadpan look. “Doubt it. Plus, where’s your integrity as the student council secretary’s girlfriend?” she remarks, pointing an accusatory finger at her friend.
Jiwoo pouts and rolls her eyes, placing the bill in an unused box. “You wouldn’t get it; love makes you wanna do crazy things, like take money from the lost and found that no one’s claimed anything from since who knows when.”
“…Right.” Kyujin sighs, going back to the box she was preoccupied with. Lab coat, a bunch of pens, broken watch, HDMI cable, scissors, lip balm, and a couple of books. She decides to flip through a few of them to satiate her boredom.
“Of course, your single ass wouldn’t get it,” Jiwoo quips.
Kyujin grabs and flings the lab coat at her. “Whatever! Not everyone can half-ass their assistant duties to go play hooky or look for girls to date,” she defends. “I don’t even want a girlfriend right now!” She tries ignoring her desires for a girlfriend by skimming through the copy of ‘The Great Gatsby’ that she’s holding.
The sound of Jiwoo’s laughter interrupts her.
“Dude, even you don’t believe that! You just told me yesterday that you’re close to downloading a dating app; don’t even lie.”
“Just go back to organizing; I don’t wanna get chewed out by Miss Kang when she sees we barely made a dent in this place.” Kyujin pouts.
Jiwoo waves her off, dumping the contents of a new box onto the floor in front of her. “I’m not the one pretending to read a book.”
“I just wanted to see what the hype is—” Kyujin gets cut off by something slipping out of the book and onto the floor. The two look at each other before Jiwoo grabs it and starts inspecting the… card?
Kyujin moves closer to take a peek. “What card is it?”
“ID card, don’t know whose though.”
“What do you mean you ‘don’t know whose?’ It’s literally an identification card.”
Jiwoo glares at her. “I know what an ID card means, dumbass. This one’s got the name rubbed off though, photo’s kinda clear, but I don’t recognize her,” she says, handing Kyujin the ID.
Kyujin takes a look and has to agree: the ID is mostly faded, lamination film long gone. The only thing Kyujin can make out for an idea of a name is the starting letter ‘M’ for a surname. She’s about to toss the ID into the box with Jiwoo’s earnings before she does a double-take to look at the owner’s face. “Holy shit.”
“What’s up?”
Kyujin finds herself staring at the photo of the prettiest girl she’s ever seen in her life. Short blonde hair, puppy-like eyes, and the cutest smile ever. ‘I think I’m in love,’ she thinks. Dramatic.
“Wow,” she says, flipping the ID over for any other identifying markers, finding nothing. ‘Damn it.’
"What is it? Tell me!” Jiwoo whines, pausing from playing with a plushie she pulled out from somewhere.
Kyujin flips the front of the card over to Jiwoo. “This girl’s so pretty. Do you think I have a shot if I can give her ID back?”
“We were literally just talking about how no one goes to this place for their stuff. That girl probably doesn’t even study here anymore.”
“Dude, don’t ruin this for me, please. Look,” she says, pointing at the barely readable text at the bottom of the card. “Validity says ‘Academic Year 2024-2025.’ She looks around our age too.”
Jiwoo squints, playing along. “And? What about it?”
“It means she’s probably still studying here; it’s only been two years at most,” she explains. “Probably graduating class, which is why neither of us has seen her around.”
“Fine, let’s assume she’s still studying around here,” Jiwoo crosses her arms and huffs at her. “This campus is huge, Kyu! Plus, you just said you don’t wanna date anyone right now.”
“You and I both know I was lying. Anyway, it can’t hurt to return her ID, right?” Kyujin hums. “I’m just going to do a good deed! If I meet a pretty girl because of my kindness, who am I to deny fate?”
Jiwoo tsks at her. “And how do you suggest you’re going to go looking for her? You don’t even know what department she’s studying at.”
“You lack faith in me, Jjyu,” she says, waving a finger. “I have a plan.”
“Which is?”
“My shift at the Student Records Office.”
Kyujin’s plan doesn’t really work.
Unfortunately for her, she doesn’t have actual access to the student records despite being assigned to staff there. Aside from that, none of the record supervisors recognize the girl in the ID either. She can’t help but feel a little sad at losing a potential lead.
“What are you pouting about?” Kyujin’s duty partner, Jinsol, asks. “Jiwoo told me you were looking forward to records duty with me today.”
“It’s not records duty I was particularly excited about.”
Jinsol cracks a teasing grin. “Oh, so you were excited about doing it with me then? I’m so flattered,” she coos, reaching closer to try and pinch at Kyujin’s cheeks.
“Not that either,” Kyujin rolls her eyes, swatting Jinsol’s hand away. “I found some girl’s ID the other day and was supposed to look through the records to see if I could find her. Turns out I can’t do that.”
“Who are you looking for?”
Kyujin pulls out the unidentified girl’s ID from her bag and hands it to Jinsol. “Her. I wanted to return this if I could. Do you recognize her?”
“Actually,” Jinsol scrunches her brows together, squinting at the ID. “She looks really familiar. I think I had a class with her last year.”
That’s enough to kick Kyujin out of her slump. “Seriously? Do you remember her name? Or even just what she’s studying?”
“Calm down, dude,” Jinsol chuckles. “Why are you so determined to return this ID, anyway? It isn’t even valid anymore.”
“I can’t help out a pretty girl who lost something?”
Jinsol bursts out laughing. “Oh my god, no way,” she says, trying to suppress her volume. “You have a crush on her, don’t you?”
“I don’t have a crush on a random girl I don’t know!” Kyujin reasons. “I just want to return her stuff and maybe get to know her; wanting to make new friends isn’t a bad thing.”
“Neither is admitting you wanna date some random girl because you found her cute,” Jinsol teases, sticking a tongue out at her. Kyujin returns it.
“Do you remember anything about her, at least?”
“Sorry, Kyujin,” Jinsol shakes her head. “I just had class with her; we never ended up in the same project groups. I kinda remember she had an accent though; exchange student maybe?”
Kyujin deflates once more. If the girl was an exchange student, that probably meant she wasn’t studying at the university anymore. She sighs; this has to be the worst news Kyujin has received this week.
Scratch that; Kyujin learning she has to man the library alone is probably the worst news she’s received this week. Jiwoo did not disclose that tiny tidbit when she asked to switch schedules.
Kyujin puts her phone back in her pocket after sending another middle finger emoji to Jiwoo for the sixth time within a span of two and a half hours. At least she only has thirty minutes left before she can leave and go back to her dorm.
Finding herself with nothing to do, Kyujin’s thoughts end up drifting back to the unknown girl whose ID she still carries around; admittedly, it might be a weird thing to do, but she decides it’s basically like a random photocard now. Also, she feels bad about throwing it away after she found out it can still open security gates.
“Maybe I should just give it back to Student Affairs,” she whispers to no one in particular. She goes back to zoning out before her thoughts get interrupted by a student asking if they can borrow a few books, handing a pile of three to Kyujin.
“I’ll just check and input the status in the system,” she says, entering the student’s details into the database. The system’s pretty old, leading Kyujin to let her eyes wander from boredom as the computer loads; thankfully, she sees most of the students are cleaning up their stuff and preparing to leave. She’s about to turn her attention back to the computer, but her gaze shifts over to a blonde girl with a pretty side profile making her way to the exit.
It takes Kyujin about five seconds of watching the girl walk before she makes a realization. ‘Wait,’ she thinks, ‘that’s her!’
Kyujin practically jumps out of her chair, scaring the student she was helping check out books.
“Hey,” she shouts after the unknown girl. “Excuse me!” she tries again, words not reaching her, figure already getting farther from the other side of the library’s glass doors.
“What the fuck was that about?” The student in front of her shoots her a weird look.
Kyujin sits back down, grimacing at the loud scene she just made. “Sorry about that. She looked like someone I was looking for.”
The students shoot her a weird look. “Can you just hurry up with my books, man?”
She goes back to the library system, attempting to let the embarrassment subside. At least she knows the girl still goes to this school; not all hope is lost.
“She still studies here, Jiwoo! I saw her leaving the library with my own eyes yesterday!”
Jiwoo doesn’t even look at her as she speaks; far too busy pretending to be busy eating her lunch. “Did you get her name?”
“Well, no,” Kyujin pouts. “She was pretty much out the door when I realized it was her. Not like I could chase after her either since I still had to wait for the library system to work itself out.”
“What about the library system?” Kyujin looks at the owner of the new voice, watching Yoona sit down beside Jiwoo in front of her.
“Ancient library OS made Kyujin lose a chance to talk to her future girlfriend,” Jiwoo explains.
“Future friend! Just friend, okay!”
“Poh-tay-toh, poh-ta-toh.”
Yoona raises an eyebrow at their antics. “Sorry, I’m not following. Are you into someone these days, Kyu?”
“It’s not really like that…” Kyujin groans. “Jiwoo and I found some girl’s faded ID card when we were tidying up the lost and found boxes the other day. I’ve kinda been looking for her so I can return it.”
“Do you have the ID with you?”
Kyujin nods.
“Let me see if I can recognize her,” Yoona says, holding her palm out.
Kyujin takes the ID from out of her wallet and hands it to Yoona, who starts squinting at it.
“Wow, this thing really is faded,” she comments. “It’s a miracle the photo is still pretty clear.”
Jiwoo rests her head on her girlfriend’s shoulder, peeking at the ID. “Do you recognize her, unnie?”
“I might?”
Kyujin sits up straighter at Yoona’s words. Maybe she should’ve asked her sooner; she is the student council secretary. “Seriously, unnie?”
Yoona nods. “I don’t know her name, but I do recognize her as someone from the Department of Arts and Letters. You could try asking Haewon unnie if she recognizes her; she might have an idea,” she suggests, handing the card back to Kyujin.
Kyujin grins, satisfied at finally getting closer to discovering who the girl that’s been occupying her mind for the past week is. It’s a relief that Haewon’s in the same department; Kyujin’s sure she’ll finally get to meet the girl soon.
“Oh yeah, I know her,” Haewon declares, staring at the ID Kyujin handed her.
“That’s great! What does she study? I was looking to return her ID.”
“Nah, I don’t think you need to return this,” she responds, shaking her head.
Kyujin tilts her head. “What? Why?”
Haewon hands her back the card. “She was a Literature major, but she graduated this year. Name’s Lily Morrow. I remember doing group presentations with her a few times; really funny girl.”
A girl even Haewon admits is funny? Kyujin feels like she has to meet her even more now.
“No, that doesn’t make sense,” Kyujin crosses her arms. “I definitely saw her in the library just the other day. Are you sure she graduated?”
“That’s from what I remember. She’s supposed to be a year ahead of me,” Haewon tries to recall. “You sure it was her you saw?”
Well, now Kyujin isn’t even sure anymore. Has her mind really been too hung up on a random girl she doesn’t even know to the point she’s started hallucinating seeing her around campus? Even she can’t believe she’s going this crazy; maybe it’s her curse for being too gay.
Kyujin sighs. “Do you have any way to contact her, at least, unnie? I feel bad hanging on to her ID without even knowing her.”
“I changed my phone last month, remember?” There goes that lead. “Why don’t you just throw it away?”
“Found out it can still access buildings. I don’t wanna get rid of it all willy-nilly,” she explains.
“Oh,” Haewon says, accepting that reason. “Well, sorry, I don’t really know her contacts anymore. Lit majors and mine don’t really have a lot of common classes,” she says, looking regretful at not being of more help.
All Kyujin can do is hang her head in defeat. So much for a lead to her potential future girlfriend. Or friend! That works too!
Shift duty at the Student Affairs office is, unsurprisingly, uneventful once again. It’s been a week since she accepted that she’ll probably never get to return that girl’s ID back to her. She still feels a little hung up on not even getting to meet her, but what can she do?
She occupies herself with organizing student club reports in the back office. Kyujin feels a little bad leaving Jiwoo to man the front desk so close to school events season, but she reasons that an aching heart is a valid enough excuse to skimp out a little on her duties.
Jiwoo interrupts her organizing flow state by setting down a new pile of papers for her to arrange into file boxes. “Dude, I don’t understand why every single club wants to have their own thing during Students’ Week. Like, can’t they collab on a few activities and spare us the trouble of paperwork?”
“It’s Students’ Week. Of course, clubs are gonna show out so they can recruit more members,” Kyujin chuckles.
Jiwoo groans. “Shut up, Kyu. Just arrange these ones too; they’re all approved for implementation, aside from the one from the E-Sports club. That one still needs authorization from Miss Kang,” she says, turning to leave the room and return to her desk. “Ah, right,” she adds.
“What?”
“The Literature Association papers are for last year’s budget archive. Some girl named ‘Lily’ dropped them off, saying she was asked to pass them to us.”
Kyujin feels like the speed at which she turns her head towards Jiwoo is enough to cause whiplash. “Did you just say her name was ‘Lily?’ Is she blonde?”
“Yes… to both… why?” Jiwoo raises her eyebrow in confusion.
Kyujin walks to Jiwoo, shaking the girl’s shoulders in annoyance. “That was her! ID girl, remember? Haewon unnie said her name is ‘Lily’ and she studied Literature!”
“You told me she graduated though?”
“That’s what Haewon unnie told me!” Kyujin facepalms, utterly confused at the entire situation. She genuinely can’t tell why the world keeps teasing her with tiny almost-interactions with Lily only to rip it away when she gets too close. ‘Is this actually the price for me being gay?’ she wonders.
“Sorry,” Jiwoo grimaces. “If I recognized her, I would’ve mentioned you.”
Kyujin sighs, head still in her hands.
“You know,” Jiwoo continues. “It wouldn’t hurt to ask the Literature Association; I mean, they know her enough to ask her to bring their budget papers after all.”
Kyujin lifts her head to stare at Jiwoo. She considers the idea for a moment. Just a moment, though, because a lead is a lead.
“You’re right, Jiwoo,” she says, ignoring Jiwoo’s smirk at being told she’s right. “I’m in too deep into this whole thing anyway.”
“Ha. Guess you could say you ‘fell too deep!’” Jiwoo chuckles. “Get it? It’s about you being whipped for someone you don’t know.”
Kyujin smacks Jiwoo upside the head.
“Haewon unnie!” Kyujin calls out to the girl walking just a few feet in front of her.
Haewon turns back and waits for Kyujin to catch up. “Hey Kyu,” she says, ruffling Kyujin’s hair. “What are you doing in the Arts and Letters building?”
“I was gonna visit the Literature Association’s room,” she says, walking beside the older girl. “Do you know where it is?”
“I do,” Haewon nods, leading them to a different wing. “Is it for student assistant duties?”
“Maybe, maybe not.”
The two of them walk for a few minutes before stopping just outside a room, Haewon knocking at its doors.
“Come in!” says a voice from inside.
They enter, and Haewon gestures for Kyujin to talk to the person sitting at a desk. “Hello, this is the Literature Association, right?”
The person smiles and nods. “That’s us! I’m Hanni. How can I help?”
Kyujin pulls the ID from her bag and shows it to the student. “Do you happen to know the owner of this ID? I think her name’s ‘Lily,’ and she studies Literature here.”
“Oh yeah, Lily unnie! I know her, kind of.”
“What do you mean ‘kind of?’” Haewon asks.
“Sorry, I’m a bit of a newer member, so I don’t really know her that well,” she says apologetically. “She graduated last semester.”
Kyujin shakes her head. “No, that can’t be. I’ve seen her around campus, and she dropped off some papers from your club at the Student Affairs office yesterday.”
“Lily unnie did? That’s weird.” Hanni crosses her arms in thought. “Well, I’m pretty sure she graduated,” she points to a group photo hung on the wall labeled ‘Academic Year 2025-2026 Literature Association Graduates’ with Lily front and center. “See?” she says.
“Oh,” Kyujin responds dumbly.
Haewon pats her on the back. “Dead end again.”
“Any reason you guys are looking for her?”
“Kyujin’s got a crush on her,” Haewon points at Kyujin, who turns to her, horrified. “Also, she wants to return her lost ID.”
Kyujin frantically waves her hands around, trying to save face at being exposed to a stranger who happens to kind of know a girl she (as she now admittedly) has a teeny-tiny crush on. “First statement untrue!”
“Ignore her. Do you happen to know her phone number?” Haewon asks.
“No, sorry,” Hanni shakes her head. “I don’t know why she dropped by here yesterday, but if you leave your contact information, I can probably pass it on to someone who knows her better.”
Sighing, Kyujin relents, deciding to pass off her contact information to Hanni. Another dead-end lead. Damn it, Kyujin might as well just sign up to be a nun right now or go day drinking; whichever works out better.
Fifteen minutes later, Haewon and Kyujin have decided to hang out at the local coffee shop near campus; Haewon claiming it’s ‘too early’ for day drinking and that Kyujin doesn’t ‘even memorize one prayer from any religion,’ as if that matters.
Kyujin can’t help but wonder if ‘hang out’ is the right term for what they’re doing, though, considering all that’s been happening is her ranting nonstop to the older girl ever since they received their drinks.
“It’s just ridiculous at this point, unnie!” Kyujin exclaims. “It’s like the world is playing this big joke on me. I mean, I’ve come so close to meeting her so many times on campus; now I learn she really has graduated? I feel like a lab rat being toyed with a piece of cheese!” she groans, raking her fingers through her hair.
Haewon sips on her americano. “Why not a cat?”
“What?”
“Why can’t you be a lab cat instead? Kyu-kitty.”
Kyujin’s about to kill her. “Can you please take my dilemma seriously?”
“Sorry,” Haewon snickers. “Just trying to lighten the mood.”
Kyujin rolls her eyes, flicking a balled-up napkin at her. “If you’re just here to make fun of me, then you can leave, unnie.”
“I said I was sorry! Anyway, you already left your contact information at her old club, so she’s bound to contact you soon if she wants her old ID back. Maybe.”
“Right. Great. Now I just have to wait an indefinite amount of time before some ridiculous thing happens to me again that’s gonna prevent me from meeting her,” she says, crossing her arms and sulking. “Maybe I should just give up at this point.”
“You’ve been at this for almost three weeks, Kyu,” Haewon reminds her. “Ever heard of ‘sunk cost fallacy?’”
“Three weeks is not that long, unnie.”
“Is when you’re crushing on a girl you don’t know.”
Before Kyujin can fling another napkin at the older girl, she’s interrupted by the sound of her phone ringing: a call from an unknown number. She picks it up. “Hello?”
“Hi, it’s Hanni. You might want to come back to the club room.” Oh.
“Is there something wrong?”
“No! No, nothing bad,” she clarifies. “Lily unnie is here.”
Kyujin sits up properly. “Wait, really?”
“Mhm,” Hanni responds. “I told her I had something I needed her help with, but I don’t know how much longer I can keep her here.”
Kyujin immediately stands up, chair almost toppling over. “Okay, okay, I’ll be there soon! Please don’t let her leave,” she begs the girl on the other line.
“I’ll do my best.”
“Okay, thank you, bye!” she says, ending the call and gathering her stuff.
“Who was it?” Haewon asks.
“The girl from Lit Association, she says Lily’s there,” she explains. “Get your ass up, unnie, we have to go back!” she demands, slapping Haewon’s shoulder for added effect.
“Alright, damn!” she downs the rest of her coffee before standing up. She barely has a moment to pick her backpack up before Kyujin drags her by the arm and starts running back towards the Arts and Letters building.
Haewon has her hands on her knees, desperately huffing and puffing to get her heart rate back to normal as Kyujin knocks on the door. She peeks her head in and locks eyes with Hanni at the desk, discussing a paper with a pretty blonde girl: Lily.
Hanni waves the two of them over. “It’s you guys, come here!”
Lily’s eyes turn to the two of them, and Kyujin feels like her blood is on fire. ‘Oh my god, this is actually happening. I think I’m about to throw up,’ she thinks.
“Oh, hello there,” Lily says, eyes darting between the two of them before settling on Haewon. “Haewon, right?”
“That’s me. Hello again, Lily unnie.”
Lily’s attention turns towards Kyujin. Bad time for Kyujin to remember she’s kind of hopeless against girls she likes. “Hi, there. I’m Lily. Are you a new member?”
Kyujin’s about to respond until it feels like the words get caught in her throat. “No, I’m—I—I’m not. I’m—Kyujin,” she stutters out. ‘FUCK, that was so embarrassing!’ she mentally chastises.
“Oh, okay. Nice to meet you, Kyujin,” Lily smiles.
Hanni looks between the two of them and decides to throw Kyujin a lifeline. “Actually, unnie, she’s been looking for you.”
“For me?” Lily points at herself.
“Yeah,” Hanni nods. “She says she has something that you lost. Right, Kyujin?” she says, turning to her.
Kyujin takes Lily’s ID from her bag and hands it over to her. “This is yours, isn’t it?”
Lily takes it and chuckles upon realizing what it is. “Oh my god! I can’t believe this thing is still intact! I had to go through so many hoops just to get a new ID when I lost it,” she reminisces. “Thanks for getting it back to me, Kyujin!”
“It’s no problem,” she replies, shrugging. “I found it a few weeks ago while organizing the lost and found.”
“This campus has a lost and found?” Lily asks, tilting her head. ‘So cute,’ Kyujin thinks.
“Oh yeah, but I don’t think anyone really remembers it exists.”
Lily hums in response. “Thank you though, it must have been annoying trying to get this back to me since you can barely make it out.”
“Actually,” Haewon speaks up. “Kyujin’s been looking for you for a while now, unnie. Almost lost her mind trying to get that ID back to you.”
“Woah, really?”
Kyujin feels her face heat up at being exposed. “It’s really not a big deal; I just wanted to get it back to you in person. It might have gotten lost again if I didn’t.”
An even brighter smile blooms on Lily’s face, and Kyujin has to pinch her arm to stop herself from fawning over her.
“It’s totally a big deal, Kyujin! I don’t know how to thank you, you’re so sweet!” she asserts, flashing Kyujin two thumbs up.
“Just doing my duty…” Kyujin answers meekly, avoiding Lily’s eyes. ‘Wow,’ she thinks. ‘I’m hopeless.’
A wave of silence washes over the room, no one sure of where they’re supposed to direct the conversation now. Hanni clears her throat. It’s Haewon who decides to throw Kyujin a lifeline this time.
“Kyujin really is a sweet girl, isn’t she, Lily unnie?” she says, petting Kyujin’s head.
Lily giggles at the sight. “Yeah, she is!”
“Such a cutie too, right?” Haewon continues petting her. Where the hell is she going with this?
Lily nods, smile still on her face. “I would say so, yeah.”
“Sweet and cute enough for you to wanna be friends with her as a thank you for getting your very sentimental item back to you?”
For the second time that day, Kyujin looks at Haewon, horrified. “Unnie, what are you—” the words die in her throat as Haewon pinches the back of her neck.
Chuckling at their antics, Lily responds. “Aww, if Kyujin’s up for being friends, then I’d love to repay her for getting my stuff back to me!”
“Actually, maybe friends isn’t the word—” two fingers pinch at Haewon’s waist, cutting her off.
“Being friends sounds great! Yep!” Kyujin declares.
“Great! I’ll give you my number.”
The two of them exchange contact information before Lily says she has to leave and turns to Hanni. “If you need any more help with event reports, you can check in with Gaeul or ask her for my info!”
“Alright, unnie. Thanks!” Hanni responds.
Lily waves at everyone and leaves the room, shutting the door behind her.
Another wave of silence washes over the room. Hanni, once again, coughs and turns to look at Kyujin. “So… that was something.”
“Please don’t look at me,” Kyujin says, burying her face in her hands, embarrassment setting in once more now that Lily’s gone.
So much for a first impression; who would’ve thought that Lily Morrow, who graduated a few months ago and shouldn’t even be showing up on campus anymore, would suddenly appear the moment Kyujin’s about to give up on her?
“I’m taking my Master's in Literature now.”
'Okay, well, no wonder she’s still on campus,’ Kyujin thinks.
A few days after that horribly embarrassing first meeting with Lily, Kyujin received a text from her asking if she was up to hang out at a café as a thank you for getting her university ID back to her. Kyujin accepted the offer after psyching herself up for two hours.
“Oh! No wonder I saw you a few times these past weeks.”
“You did?” Lily exclaims, surprised. “Where?”
“I saw you once while I was staffing the library the week I found your ID; I called out to you as you were leaving, but I guess you didn’t hear me,” she recounts.
“So that’s what that sound was,” Lily reflects, chuckling. “I had my earbuds in, which is probably why I didn’t hear you properly. Anywhere else?”
“Well, technically I didn’t see you; a friend I was on volunteer duties with was the one who received the Literature Association’s budget reports from last year when you brought them to the Student Affairs office.”
“Ah, right. I stopped by the club room and offered to bring it for them since I would be passing by the office anyway.”
“It’s a good thing you did, unnie,” Kyujin grins. “It’s how I found out you were in the Lit Association and got to give you your ID back.”
Lily smiles, eyes practically disappearing from how wide she does. “I still can’t believe you went through all that trouble just to get me back my invalid ID from junior year,” she giggles, stirring the straw in her drink. “You could’ve just left it in the lost and found, you know? My name wasn’t even readable!”
“I could make out your photo though,” Kyujin reasons, taking a sip of her tea.
“So, you decided to go on a hunt for me just because you saw my face?” she asks, tilting her head at her.
Thankfully, Kyujin does not choke on her drink. Almost though.
“No! No, that’s not it,” her hands flail as she tries to clarify. “I just—you know! Thought it would be nice to return it! That’s it, seriously!”
“Aw,” Lily pouts. “And here I thought you wanted to return it just because you thought my face was pretty.”
What.
Kyujin’s mind and mouth start to go at what she feels like are a hundred miles per hour, trying to defend herself. “Oh! Uhm, you are! Pretty—I mean. You’re very pretty, unnie! But it’s not like that’s the only reason I wanted to—not that your face is a reason! I just felt like returning your ID, and I could make out your face, so I just thought, ‘hey why the hell not look for her and return this,’ you get me? You looked really nice—like based on your face it seemed like your personality would be nice!” Kyujin sees Lily trying to hold in a laugh. “So, I just… thought… I’d do something… nice… for a nice… looking person. I’m rambling. Sorry,” she mumbles toward the end.
“You think I’m a ‘nice-looking person?’” Lily teases, mouth growing into a tiny smirk at Kyujin’s words.
“I’m being objective. You look like a nice person.”
“A nice person.”
“A person who has a face that looks nice—looks like they’d be nice!” Kyujin clarifies.
“Uh-huh.”
Kyujin slumps in her seat, wondering why her normally great conversational skills are failing her today. “You’re very nice, unnie.”
“Do you have a crush on me or something, Kyujin?” the older girl jokes.
At this point, Kyujin’s too tired to defend herself anymore. “Maybe,” she murmurs in response, feeling her face heat up at her admission.
Lily claps her hands together. “Wow, I didn’t think you’d be so quick to admit you have a crush on me,” she giggles, endeared by the sight of Kyujin’s blushing face.
“I was unintentionally being kinda obvious,” Kyujin says, scratching the back of her neck. “I guess anyone would’ve noticed it. Sorry.”
“Oh, I probably wouldn’t have realized you had a crush on me if Haewon didn't tell me,” Lily explains. “I’m kinda oblivious with these things.”
Pause. Reel that back. “Oh Haewon did what.”
“I bumped into Haewon the day before yesterday at the Arts and Letters building,” she recalls. “She asked me if we’ve talked ever since the time we met. I said we haven’t, so she might have let it slip that you weren’t just looking to return my ID out of the goodness of your heart.”
Kyujin has to beat Haewon’s ass the next time she sees her. She bangs her head on the table, groaning. “Oh my god, this is so embarrassing. I’m so sorry, unnie.”
She feels a hand, Lily’s, on her head, stroking her hair in an attempt to comfort her. “I think it’s cute, thank you!”
“You don’t have to sugarcoat it, unnie,” she offers. “I still wanna be friends with you, if you’re not uncomfortable with that. You’re really nice,” she says, looking up at Lily who’s still petting her.
Lily smiles. “I wouldn’t be opposed to something more, you know.”
Kyujin stiffens under Lily’s hand, and the latter chuckles. “I mean it, Kyujin. I did say I think you’re cute.”
“You serious, unnie?” Kyujin lifts her head up from the table to stare at Lily.
“Yeah, you’re very cute, Kyujin. Also, I don’t think I’ve ever met someone as earnest as you are,” she says, resting her head on her hand.
“Do you only wanna date me because I’m cute, unnie?” she jokes, jutting out her bottom lip into a pout.
“Didn’t you only want to return my invalid ID to me because you thought my face looked nice?”
Touché.
“Right, sorry,” Kyujin yields. “I got to meet unnie though, that has to count for something?” she shoots Lily a wide grin, teeth and all, which gets a laugh out of the older girl. ‘Heh, still got it.’
“I guess it does, huh? Want a prize or something then, Kyujin?”
“Maybe a date?” she offers. ‘I’m seriously goated.’
“This doesn’t count as a date to you?” Lily counters, biting back her growing smile.
She’s so gonna rub this whole thing in Haewon’s face. “I’d like our first date to not involve me embarrassing myself, unnie.”
“Alright, you win,” Lily chuckles. “I wouldn’t mind if you embarrassed yourself in our future dates though; it’s endearing.”
Kyujin decides that maybe being assigned to Student Affairs duties isn’t all that bad anymore.