“Unnie, I thought you said Yongsun-sshi’s in trouble.” Seulgi was confused as she looked down at her arms which, for some reason, carried a large bouquet of flowers. Byulyi looked behind her and nodded agreeably. “Then why are we doing this?”

For the past 10 minutes, the two girls had been weaving in and out of shops, with Byulyi throwing a myriad of objects towards Seulgi. Now, she was armed with a mix of pink roses and purple lavender in one hand, the other hand firmly clasped in Byulyi’s.

“Well, kind of, I guess,” Byulyi hemmed and hawed until Seulgi dug the heels of her feet solidly into the pebbled ground. Receiving a very accusing glare from the younger girl, Byulyi rubbed the back of her neck, defeated. “Fine, fine. She’s not actually in any trouble, but it’s more of a, um… Irene-sshi’s not happy, and she wanted us to get something to cheer her up. That’s why Yongsun-unnie told me to tell you that she’s in trouble, then you’d at least get a sense of urgency.”

Seulgi blinked once, twice, processing this new bit of information. “Ahhhh…” Then she straightened. “You lied to me!”

“And you’re slow. If I told you the truth you’d never move this fast.” Byulyi made sense. Wrinkling her nose distastefully, Seulgi shoved the bouquet of flowers into the other girl’s arms, then pulled a reversal by tugging on her friend’s sleeve instead, this time in charge.

She led Byulyi to a supermarket, heading straight for the laundry aisle. “Wait, what are we doing here again?” Byulyi stared at the shelves of detergent, bemused, and jolted when Seulgi handed her a super-sized bottle of… something.

“Unnie loves fabric softener,” Seulgi explained, looking pointedly at the bottle in her arms, making Byulyi snort with laughter. 

Between bouts of lilting laughter, Byulyi gasped: “Are you serious?” Seulgi nodded once, firmly.

“Well, this had better work.”

************************************************

Seulgi and Byulyi poked their heads around the corner of the corridor, trying to blend into their surroundings like spies, which was a rather difficult thing to do when carrying a large plastic bag of fabric softener and a bouquet of flowers. “Why haven’t you and Wendy invited me over before? Your place already looks nice, and it’s right next to an games store. I’m jealous,” Byulyi whined, legs tired from crouching next to Seulgi.

Her eyes glancing up towards the younger girl, she realised that Seulgi had already left her spot to crab-walk along the walls, shifting slowly step by step towards her apartment door. When she finally stood next to her door, she raised one hand and tapped lightly. Byulyi, meanwhile, was very unlike herself, having shrunk into a nervous ball. What if Irene opens the door?, she thought to herself. What if Yongsun opened the door? Do I look okay? She smoothed out her clothes and hurriedly ran her hand down her frizzled hair, and the two girls waited.

The door opened with a creak. “Oh, thank goodness.” A relieved, husky voice whispered from the crack, and chocolate curls of hair appeared, followed by a pair of wide, coffee-coloured eyes. “Hurry up and come in, I don’t know when Irene-unnie and Yongsun-unnie are going to come back.”

Byulyi and Seulgi dashed into the neatly furnished apartment, huffing and puffing while Wendy closed the door behind her. “Right,” she started, putting hands on hips. “Explain.”

As the two girls settled onto the couch in the living room and laid down their version on what really happened in the dance studio, Wendy busied herself with unpacking the bottles of fabric softener and carefully rearranging the flowers in the messy bouquet, all the while listening attentively. When they finally ran out of breath, she sat herself down in front of them.

“First of all, good job at buying what Irene-unnie likes.” Seulgi shot a told-you-so smirk at Byulyi. “Secondly, congratulations on making it here without bumping into the unnies. They went out for a drink,” she said when asked where the older women went.

“But, Wendy, be honest with me,” Seulgi said quietly. “Do you think Irene-unnie actually likes me? Like, in a romantic way?”

In response, Wendy just looked at Byulyi. “Is she being serious?” she hissed not-so-subtly, and cradled her face in her hands. “Oh gods, why is my friend so slow?” The taller woman could only pat her on the back in consolation. Seulgi, meanwhile, had the look of someone who had just seen the light.

“So what are you going to do now?” Byulyi asked her friend who was frozen in shock. “I mean, do you like her, or nah?”

“Of course I like her!” Seulgi blurted out. “She’s so pretty, so caring, and she even does the laundry for me!”

“She does the laundry for both of us, Seulgi,” Wendy deadpanned.

“She cooks for me.”

“I cook, she warms them up for you when you come back late.”

“She buys me pain relief patches.”

“Seulgi, we both do that.”

“Hold up,” Byulyi raised both hands for effect. “Wendy, are you promoting yourself?”

The short brunette quickly shook her head in defense. “No, no, no way. I’m just trying to get this dim bear-” she gestured to Seulgi “-to figure out her feelings. We both take care of her, and each other, so saying that she likes Irene-unnie because she does those things for her is a bit…” She waved her hands in the air, trying to figure out the right words to say.

“The feeling is different,” Seulgi spoke softly, and Byulyi and Wendy had to lean in to hear her speak. “When I’m with Byulyi-unnie, I feel excited, like a fangirl.” Byulyi raised her eyebrows at that. “You’re like a girl crush, you know.” 

“And when I’m with Wendy, I feel like a child being taken care of by my mom.” Wendy blushed a bit at that, hearing those words from Seulgi’s mouth, and covered her face shyly.

“But with Irene- no, with Joohyun-unnie, she’s just… I don’t know, I can’t help but be drawn to her. It’s like she has this quiet confidence that’s really attractive, and when she hugs me I really don’t want her to let go. Not to mention her magnetic doe eyes and ethereal beauty,” Seulgi finished, cheeks reddening like a ripe tomato.

“I kind of understand what you mean,” Byulyi grinned. “I feel that way about someone too, Krystal, but she’s already taken.”

Suddenly, the loud thud of a fallen bag sounded behind them, startling the three girls. “S-Seul…” Irene breathed, running and jumping into the taller girl’s arms in utter joy, having overheard their conversation.

And behind her, with the younger girl’s words echoing in her head, Yongsun could only stare at Byulyi with a broken heart.

_______________________________________________________________________

a/n: ayyy lmao making a comeback on suzette with this chapter

thank you to @fireroasted for reminding lousy me about this story and making me feel like i should continue on with this fic (seriously, thanks)

if any of you have a twitter account you can follow me @ashensprites where i just retweet pics and stuff about mostly rv & mamamoo ^^