Hello everyone! Today I'm trying out putting the a/n at the top of the chapter instead of the bottom. Which one do y'all prefer? I actually wanted to publish this in a few days, but since Decalcomanie had its first win today, I'm putting this chapter up now! :D Enjoy~

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Wheein sat curled up on the wooden floor with a white-and-caramel kitten dozing on her lap and a bottle of strawberry milk in one hand, and laughed while she watched her girlfriend try to navigate through the twining tails of the many furry felines that could be found in the local cat café. Waving one hand at Hyejin, she belatedly remembered the fact that the cobalt-haired woman was, in fact, ever so slightly allergic to cats, and was therefore sporting a black mask that protected her nose and mouth from accidental inhalation of fur. Wheein felt a bit bad at that, forgetting about her girlfriend’s condition. But only just a little, teeny-tiny bit.

Shooing the gathering pets away from Wheein’s loving caresses, Hyejin nestled herself into a comfortable spot just next to the long-haired brunette, and leaned against her. Wheein patted the male kitten that was nibbling gently on her index finger, and raised it to nuzzle her nose against his. “Hyejin-ah,” she turned the cat around to face the other girl, “this is Como. Como, this is Hyejin.” She brought the kitten closer to Hyejin’s face, and Hyejin was more than extremely grateful for the existence of face masks and their ability to obstruct pollution… and animal fur. Hyejin patted the kitten anyway, just to appease Wheein.

But Hyejin was here for business. 90% planned business, and 10% of just enjoying Wheein’s presence. “Wheein!” She exclaimed, startling the little Como in the girl’s hands, where he jolted and squirmed about until Wheein put the kitten down. “Yongsun-unnie is not herself.”

“Then who else can she be?” The girl asked out of pure curiosity, her hands busily calming the kitten in her lap down. She caught Hyejin’s eye, judging and bemused. “Ah… what happened?”

Hyejin laid it out for the clueless brunette, piece by piece, with her own thoughts and ideas added into it, like a puzzle being fitted on the spot. She explained how Yongsun had missed classes yesterday — very unlike the woman, she emphasised — and according to her older sister, had been utterly miserable whole of the past week. To find out that the poor girl was this way because of an accidental hearing in of Byulyi’s conversation, where the latter had mentioned her inclination towards the campus’s infamous ice princess had absolutely shattered Yongsun’s delicate heart.

Wheein winced at that. “Honestly, though,” she pursed her lips in distaste. “Krystal-sunbae is already dating Amber-sunbae, and Byulyi-unnie knows that. It’s just a silly infatuation, I’m sure of it. I mean, Byul-unnie’s like, her number one fangirl, but that’s about it. No lasting romantic feelings between the two whatsoever. Isn’t that right, little Como?” She cooed at the tom kitten that was nudging its small nose against her arm.

“Well, I guess,” Hyejin glared at Como, the singular kitten that ever dared to steal Wheein’s attention and would live to tell the tale. “But Yongsun-unnie doesn’t know that, does she?” She tapped her fingers on the wooden floor, a habit she sometimes displayed when deep in thought. “How do we find out what Byulyi-unnie feels about Yongsun-unnie, and if it’s anything positively helpful, what should we do?”

“Hyejin-ie, I’m pretty sure our intuition is correct. Byulyi-unnie’s dense when it comes to these things, so her body reacts much earlier than her mind registers.” A lightbulb flashed on in Wheein’s head, and she allowed a scheming smirk to spread across her face. Como fled from her lap when she stood up suddenly, and she placed two hands on her girlfriend’s shoulders.

“Hyejin, let’s kill two birds with one stone. I’ve got a great idea.”

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

“So, what am I supposed to do…?” Wheein continued to grin her Cheshire-cat grin at the mystified man that sat in front of her, and next to her Hyejin was already starting to question the credibility of this proposition. Although, she had to admit, Wheein had good tastes when it came to men. Not that it mattered, since the girl wasn’t attracted to them in the slightest.

Wheein’s senior from guitar club fidgeted in his seat, and through his awkwardness Hyejin could identify the characteristics that made him quite the popular choice among the girls in the university. He was a good few years ahead of Yongsun-unnie, and was a student in his final year specialising in Business Management and Hospitality. It was an apt course, perfect for him and the well-polished, polite mannerisms he picked up from his years in America. If Hyejin wasn’t absolutely in love with Wheein, she’d have half fallen for him when he held the door open for them and waited until they were comfortably seated before taking a seat himself.

So she tried to clarify their current situation, and their plan. “Eric-sunbae, we need you to, uh, pretend to date a friend of ours.”

“Yongsun-sshi, right?” Eric confirmed. He knew a bit about Yongsun, everyone did. The second-year was known to be able to pull off the double-edged sword called ‘cutie-y’, in which if even a tad too cute or too y the balance would not be there, and it would be really quite odd. His Music major peers in guitar club had gushed over Yongsun, and he learnt about her there. “But, you want me to do this… to make someone jealous?”

“Yup!” Wheein leaned forward, eyes already sparkling with great anticipation. “If you and Yongsun-unnie act cute and lovey-dovey, that may cause Byulyi-unnie to actually notice her feelings for Yongsun-unnie.”

“Well, okay…?” Eric wasn’t too sure about this plan still, but thought he wouldn’t mind playing along with his juniors. It’d be interesting, that was for sure. “But, does Yongsun-sshi know about this whole strategy? Does she agree to do it?”

Hyejin, throughout the whole conversation, was texting Yongsun, and whipped her head up at those questions. ing her phone towards Eric’s face, she nodded in approval at his consideration. “She says yes. And even better, she and her older sister, Yonghee-unnie, are going to come in here in a while and discuss this extremely clever plan in detail.” 

“My girlfriend is a genius!” she crowed, planting a noisy smooch on Wheein’s cheek. Both girls leaned back simultaneously, and grinned triumphantly.

“Congratulations Eric-sunbae, you’ve just got yourself a girlfriend.”