The weekend ended in a really good note thanks to my mom’s act of kindness, we didn’t have to deal with the rain again and I returned to spending time with my girlfriend just how we wanted, relaxing, not worrying about anything, no grades, no games, only me and her...And Yeri of course.

 

Figuring out my feelings for Seulgi made everything both more enjoyable and a little scary at the same time, but scary in a good way, I don’t understand how this girl managed to get under my skin this badly but she did, when I think back at mom’s words I can see clearly how I’ve always thought about her this way.

 

How didn’t I notice before? Everyone around me keeps on praising me for being smart but it doesn’t seem like I am when the subject is relationships. But it’s pretty obvious now, it was the word love I wasn’t aware of, the feeling was always there but it wasn’t until mom’s slip up that I was able to realize it, bless that nosy woman.

 

Saying the words out loud is a whole different story.

 

“Seriously, Irene, are you spacing out again?” Joy complains clicking her fingers in front of my eyes. “We’re never going to finish our homework like this, put yourself together.”

 

“Sorry.” I show her an apologetic smile.

 

“I don’t want to be stuck doing homework all day.” She taps my notebook with her pencil. “So get to work so I can copy yours already.”

 

“I’m not letting you copy me.” I mumble returning to my work.

 

“What has you so distracted anyway?” Joy ask still focused on her homework. “Please don’t say Seulgi.”

 

“Ok, I won’t say it.” I suppress a chuckle.

 

“But it is Seulgi.” I can almost hear how she rolls her eyes at me.

 

“Yes.” I don’t deny it to her, she knows way too much to even try.

 

It’s been happening a lot lately, it doesn’t help Seulgi has been extra sweet and attentive making my head go there, to those three words that have been haunting me these past few days, I keep thinking of how would I say it, if she would say she loves me back.

 

What would I do if she doesn’t say them back?

 

And it’s happening again, I’m getting distracted.

 

“Have you asked her about...” Joy whispers after we’re done with the work, she closes her notebook spinning her chair around to face me and pokes me on the shoulder with her pencil. “You know who?” She whispers.

 

“Why are you whispering?” She points at Yeri who’s also doing homework on my bed.

 

“Answer me, Bae”

 

“You’re really desperate, huh?”

 

“You haven't asked, huh?”

 

“...I haven’t, sorry.” I confess feeling guilty, I’m such a bad friend only thinking of my own thing. “But I didn’t forget! It’s because we’ve been busy.” I mumble closing my own notebook and giving the disappointed girl my attention. “I’ll ask her when we see each other again.”

 

“So busy, right?” She scoffs with a knowing smirk. “You mean-”

 

“Shut up.” I glare at her and point towards Yeri but the girl isn’t there anymore. “Dammit.” Joy moves her chair closer to mine and leans very close to my ear and I embrace myself for whatever teasing she has prepared for me.

 

“Locker room.” She whispers then blows air into my ear causing me to shudder for more than one reason, I glare at the girl and delicately push her away from me with my shoulder while Joy laughs wholeheartedly, she’s been insisting for details but I’ve refused every single time, that’s her fault for always asking in public places. “Come on, let’s talk about it, pretty please?”

 

“There’s nothing to talk about.”

 

“Oh, really?”

 

“Yes, really.”

 

“Come on, don’t be like this!”

 

“There’s really nothing to talk about!” I reply back just as loud. “I told you already, the rain did a number on me, Seulgi rescued me and then she made me change my wet clothes so I wouldn’t get sick and that’s it.”

 

“Oh I’m sure your clothes got wet.” She burst out laughing, I try to hold back my own laughter playfully glaring at her but I soon have join her not being able to contain it anymore.

 

“That was a good one.” I admit.

 

“Thank you.”

 

“I walked right into that one.”

 

“You did.” She sighs contented and quickly returns to being her fake serious persona. “Now spill the beans.” Oh she’s so not letting this go, but to be fair, if the roles were reversed I wouldn’t either.

 

“Joy, why are you asking me what you already know?” I give a knowing look, we both know it happened, still, I’m not willing to give any details of it.

 

Unless she coerces me into doing it.

 

And that is so going to happen.

 

“I knew it!” She exclaims overly excited and hitting the desk.

 

“Yes, that’s what I just said, crazy.” I scoff. “It was obvious so don’t act like you’re a genius for figuring it out.”

 

“So..”

 

“So...we were talking about Wendy.” Joy rolls her eyes at me clearly being displeased by my change of subject. “Has there been any progress?”

 

“Not really.” She shrugs. “Although...we did have a very nice and interesting conversation the other day.” She grins in a mischievous way.

 

“Yeah? About what?” I don’t like this grin of hers.

 

“Oh you know...about our respective best friends doing it in the locker room.”

 

“You did not!” I scoff in disbelief.

 

“Relax...I only noticed because I’m your best friend.” I sigh feeling relieved, one thing is her knowing about it and another is other people noticing us being so careless. “You're ruining my nice segue.”

 

“Fine! What do you want to know?” I finally give up.

 

“How did it happen? Who started it?” She fires the first round of questions without wasting any time, I swear I can see her eyes sparkling right now. “How? Forgive me but you’re not exactly let’s do it in the locker room material.”

 

“I know!” I agree with her, after the rush was over I felt ashamed for letting myself get carried away so easily, in the locker room of all places.

 

Not that I regretted it.

 

“Actually...I started it.” I confess a little ashamed, I’ve never seen this expression on Joy’s face, hanging open, her eyes widened, the hand on her chest grabbing a fistful of her blouse, the silence isn’t helping either.

 

My mom should take notes, this is how you react to me mentioning .

 

“How- I mean-” She fails to find the right words to say, she takes a deep breath and tries one more time and settles for something simpler. “What?”

 

“From the beginning.”

 

“From the beginning.” She repeats while nodding very slowly.

 

“We were there to change my clothes because the rain really made a number on me and Seulgi was worried I’d get sick, you know, typical Seulgi stuff.” I begin my storytelling with the most innocent facts. “So she took me to the locker room and then she made this huge speech saying some sweet stuff while I was changing.”

 

“Typical Seulgi stuff.”

 

“Yeah...and it worked.” I shrug.

 

“In the locker room?” She says in disbelief

 

“In the locker room.”

 

“And you started it?”

 

“That’s right.”

 

“Wow, I mean…” Joy pushes her chair away from me. “Wow.”

 

“Why are you acting like you didn’t know what happened in the first place?” I roll my eyes at her dramatic self.

 

“My first thought was that Seulgi must have started everything because…well, you know why.” I rapidly nod agreeing with her. “But wow.”

 

“Joy…” I threaten, that’s it she’s not getting any details.

 

“No, oh no, it was my own child who did!”

 

“I am not a child, specially not your child” I scoff offended.

 

“Wow.”

 

“Joy!”

 

“Ok, ok. But on a serious note, as much as I’m both happy and very jealous of your new spicy life, you have to be more careful.” She says suddenly turning serious. “What if you both have gotten caught?! Seulgi is not the only one after a scholarship.”

 

“I know.” I reply feeling ashamed, I already thought of it. “I’m sorry, mom.” I try to joke and feel a little better when I notice her holding back a smile.

 

"Damn, I should have made a move on Seulgi when I had the chance." Joy makes a comical disappointed expression.

 

"Hey, more respect, please!" I slap her arm.

 

“But on another serious note.” She leans in to slap my arm back. “At least wait for the school to be empty, please.”

 

“Now you’re actually talking like my mom.” We both burst into laughter. “You know, when Wendy becomes your girlfriend, I’ll be as annoying as you are with me.” I warn her putting two fingers up to my eyes and then pointing towards her.

 

“When we become a thing we can talk all you want about anything.” She stretches the last world and wiggles her eyebrows while I pretend to gag with the insinuation.

 

“Who’s Wendy?” We both turn our head to the door where Yeri is standing holding a plate of cookies and her favorite mug with a frown adorning her face, Joy and I look at each other with our eyebrows raised and holding back our smiles.

 

Little Yeri is jealous.

 

“She’s a friend of us.” I say to the upset girl but it only makes her pout harder.

 

“You said girlfriend.” She says to me. “I’m her girlfriend.”

 

“I thought I was your wife?” Joy corrects.

 

“Yes, wife.” She replies with her frown getting progressively deeper.

 

“We were joking.” We can’t risk Yeri telling this to Seulgi. “You remember Wendy, right?” I try to distract her, she thinks for a moment before shaking her head in denial.

 

“You know her, she’s on the team with Seulgi.” Joy complements. “She’s the other really tiny one, we’re making fun of her.” She whispers as if it was a secret, Yeri furrows her brows deep in thought before breaking into a smile, bless children's attention span.

 

“Oh yeah I know her, she makes really cool passes!” My little sister says very excitedly and spilling the milk on her mug. “Is she Seulgi’s friend? Is she coming over too?” She moves around excited spilling more milk on the floor.

 

“Be careful with your milk, sweetie.” I warn her before she makes a real mess on the floor, Yeri looks down and grins cleaning the stain with her sock. “Yeri, no.” I groan putting a hand on my face while Joy laughs at the little girl's actions.

 

“You’re having a little snack?”

 

“No, this is for you!” Yeri responds walking towards Joy and offering the plate and the small mug to her, my best friend pouts and looks at me touched before quickly taking the things of the little girl's tiny hands.

 

“For me? How did you know I was hungry?” She takes a bite of one of the cookies. “Let’s share.” She pats her legs and helps Yeri sit on her lap. “Oh, look at this, you’re finally growing up, about time.” She kisses her cheek making Yeri giggle.

 

"Why are you bringing Joy cookies? You never share your snacks."

 

"Seulgi says you have to make sure to treat your girl like a princess!" To me it sounds like a direct quote from the great basketball player, I can hear Joy laughing by my side while I shake my head, what is Seulgi teaching her exactly.

 

"Alright, little Kang." Joy jokes and kisses her head. "You have to admit, your girlfriend is a good influence on her."

 

"Yeah, she's turning her into a mini Kang." I roll my yes while Joy laughs.

 

"You say it like it's a bad thing." It really isn't, we can only hope something from her sticks to little Yeri and she grow up to be like Seulgi, but I won't say this out loud, it's too embarrassing.

 

“Is Seulgi coming over?” The little girl asks again about her hero while chewing on a cookie, she loves her too much.

 

“No, no, she’s busy today.”

 

“Really, busy on a Saturday?” Joy says surprised, I shrug and prepare myself for her reaction taking a deep breath.

 

“She’s….at the hospital visiting the kids.” I scrunch my nose up, Joy mouths an oh my God in my direction while shaking her head.

 

“I hate you so much.” She jokes making me break out in a smile. “Come on Yeri, I don’t want to sit next to your sister anymore.” She lifts the girl up and brings her to the bed with her along with the plate of cookies. “Show off...”

 

“Hey, you asked!”

 

“Don’t talk to her, Yeri.” She makes the confused little girl laugh by poking her stomach. “I’ll help you with your homework, come on.”

 

“Don’t put my sister against me.”

 

“I’ll forgive you if you finish your story.”

 

“What story.”

 

“You were...playing in the locker room with Seulgi.” She refreshes my memory wearing a sly smile. “What happened next?”

 

“Right, we were playing in the locker room.” I have to stop myself from laughing at the word playing.

 

“Hide and seek.” Joy interjects.

 

“Sure, hide and seek.” I say squinting at her.

 

“Then what happened?” She urges me to continue.

 

“You know you’re being really annoying, right?”

 

“Yes, continue.”

 

“She was...looking for me…” Joy chuckles very amused. “Alright… she was looking for me really well and then.” I bite my lip embarrassed while my annoying best friend hurries me up with a look. “Then she kneeled down and...found me.” Joy blinks several times processing the information.

 

“I see.” She says in a monotone voice.

 

“Yes.” Joy then proceeds to grab a cookie and throws it at me successfully hitting my face.

 

“Hey!”

 

“I hate you so much!”

 

+++

 

It started raining pretty heavily around the time Joy had to leave, completely ruining the rest of the day for us, now it’s night time already and I couldn’t do everything I was supposed to, grocery shopping included.

 

Luckily for me, Seulgi's little updates during the day made everything more bearable, her freaking out about running into my mom at the hospital was the best one, she said she hid behind a pillar to avoid her but my mom had already seen her from afar and she ended up looking like a fool.

 

“I’m bored.” Yeri says peeking her head through my bedroom’s door frame. “Can we play?”

 

“There’s not much to do if its raining, isn’t it?” I put down my book and give her some attention. “What do you want to do, sweetie?”

 

“Let’s just play something downstairs.”

 

“Sure thing, but first, did you finish your homework?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Good girl, want to play video games?”

 

“Yeah!” She runs to my bed and grabs my hand dragging me out of my room. “You don’t know how to play so you can watch me.”

 

“Ouch. But you’re right.”

 

“When is mom coming home?” She asks the same thing every day when she works at night. I let her sit on the couch while I turn everything on for her.

 

“Late.” I mutter.

 

“What are we having for dinner?”

 

“Actually...I don’t know.” I furrow my brows. “Want me to check it out?” She nods rapidly.

 

“Bring me a snack, please?” She says in her cute manipulative tone.

 

“You think because you’re cute you can keep having snacks?” I playfully scold her and she just grins wider, we both know she does it because it works like a charm. “I’ll think about it.” I stick my tongue out at her and leave.

 

While I’m looking through the empty cabinets I get another text from Seulgi but I don’t have time to reach for my pocket thanks to a thunder startling me and making me yelp and forget all about it. “Oh, not this again.”

 

“I’m not hungry anymore, come join me please!” I hear Yeri scream from the living room.

 

“Scared?” She nods when go to the living room and I take a seat next to the girl, she immediately glues herself to my side. “I don’t know this one.” I say pointing at the TV to distract the girl from the ongoing thundering. “Is it a new one?”

 

“Because it’s Seulgi’s, it’s really cool.” She explains relaxing against me. “She lend it to me.” I smile at the mention of my girlfriend, thinking of her I take out my cell phone remembering she had sent a text.

 

“Hey y, what are you up to?” It reads, I contemplate on whenever text her back or calling her instead, I easily settle for calling after another particularly loud thunder breaks in the sky making me yelp...again, Seulgi’s voice will be better to ease my mind off things for sure. “Babe!”

 

“Hi, honey.” I bite my lip. “Are you home yet?” She said she would stop by at Wendy’s place after her hospital visit, she felt bad for neglecting her friend when I told her I was hanging out with Joy myself.

 

“Honey isn’t home yet, I’m getting dinner first.”

 

“Let me guess...fast food?”

 

“You got that right… hey, you saw that?” She talks about the flickering lights a moment ago. “Seems the rain is only getting worse, huh?” She casually says not really affected by it.

 

“Yeah...”

 

“It’s pretty windy too, maybe it’s turning into a storm.”

 

Storm.

 

“Anyways, should I order an ice cream or a shake?” She mumbles pensively. “Babe?”

 

“I’m here.”