Wheein stared at Yongsun’s face, awed by the multiple thoughts and emotions she could contour into one expression. Shock was definitely the most obvious one, but there were also hidden tinges of embarrassment, awkwardness, and was that… longing? Now why would that be there, Wheein wondered. The answer came to her in the form of a hand roughly mussing her hair, followed by two bony elbows resting on her shoulders. Ah.

“My little Jung Whee-ron,” Byulyi drawled. “I woke up this morning and my bed was so empty without you.” She faux-sobbed tragically, completely immersed in her role, with hands covering her eyes and mouth twisted into a rather odd and ugly fashion. “My little spoon, why have thou foregone our morning cuddle?”

Wheein pinched the bridge of her nose, cringing her roommate’s exaggerated antics. Next to her, Hyejin looked nothing but thoroughly amused at this woman who had emerged out of nowhere. 

Byulyi then peeked through her fingers at Hyejin, having spied another victim. “Hey there, y,” she crooned, winking flirtatiously. “Wanna hang with me later?” 

Hyejin glared back, obviously not intimidated by the fact that the tall girl was about three years older than her. “No thank you. I’m not interested,” she snapped back.

“Oh my, what a sassy lady, playing hard to get.” With that, Byulyi broke character and extended her hand enthusiastically. “Hi, Hyejin! I’m Byulyi, this loser’s” —she patted Wheein’s head— “roommate. You’re exactly like what Wheein tells me, and I quote, the embodiment of fatality.” She spread her hands out, forming an imaginary mini-rainbow. Hyejin promptly burst out laughing, and Wheein turned multiple shades of pink. 

Getting tired of standing, the light-haired girl shifted, settling down next to Yongsun. Flustered at their proximity to each other, the older girl quickly raised a cup to her lips to take a nervous sip. Byulyi continued, “Cupid’s arrow is well-aimed this time, I must say. Shot through the heart, not shot in the .” 

At that, Wheein and Hyejin simultaneously face-palmed, and Yongsun almost did a spit-take that unfortunately backfired on her, leaving her with a bit of water dribbling down her chin. Byulyi grabbed a tissue from the stack on the table and dabbed lightly at the trickle, leaving Yongsun absolutely mortified. “What’s up, gorgeous?” Byulyi whispered, leaning her body towards Yongsun.

Almost swooning at her deep, husky voice, Yongsun instinctively shoved Byulyi. “D-don’t be so weird!” She ordered, pointing a shaky finger at the latter. Byulyi shrugged in response,  and her nose scrunched up as she smirked. The two stayed like that for a while, with Byulyi grinning at Yongsun, and the older struggling to maintain a stern face as her eyes darted around.

Fortunately, the tension that was building between the couple was broken by the chaotic rumble of Wheein’s stomach. “Ahem!” She cleared , visibly embarrassed. “Byul-unnie, aren’t you hungry? Maybe you should go get some breakfast. Or lunch. Brunch!” Wheein had a natural tendency to ramble on when she was feeling especially self-conscious,  and the other three girls couldn’t help but instinctively feel the need to mother her.

Byulyi let out a small giggle as she stood up. “Okay, Wheein-ah,”she answered, petting the girl’s head indulgently. “Come with me?” She reached her hand out, grabbing Wheein’s eagerly outstretched hand, and walking towards the café counter to place an order for some food.

Yongsun took that opportunity to hold an emergency meeting with Hyejin, who was watching the entire scene unfold with a bemused expression. “Yah, what do I do? You never told me that she would come here!”

“I didn’t realise she was going to come here either,” Hyejin hissed back. “Just roll with it, unnie. Try talking, or flirting, or—”Glancing up, she stopped mid-sentence, noticing Byulyi and Wheein walking back with a mountain of various types of foods.

“We got food!”

—————————

As the quartet conversed over a late breakfast, Yongsun learnt more things about Byulyi, like how ridiculously unathletic she was except in the dance department — “She’s a flop at archery,” Wheein claimed, “and can’t even do a sprint without falling on her face.” — and how accident-prone she really was (“Oh, I got hit by a minibus before, no biggie.” “You got WHAT?”), and all the new information about Byulyi just sparked a greater interest in Yongsun.

When the hands on the clock were nearly approaching 12, Wheein finally decided to start on her dessert, snatching a strawberry yogurt cup from a nearly empty tray of food. She started tearing off the plastic sheet that served as a cap, but stopped midway to stare at it, deep in her own thoughts. 

Ripping off the remainder of the sheet, Wheein then held it in front of Hyejin. “Your favourite!” she announced happily. You could practically hear the rest of the café patrons descend into “aww”s as the short-haired girl took the yogurt cup offered, eyes softening and lips curving upward in gratitude.

“They’re so cute together,” Byulyi muttered to Yongsun. “I wish I had a girlfriend like that…”

“Y-yeah,” she murmured back. Catching Byulyi’s steady gaze at her, Yongsun shyly coughed. “Wait, are you implying—”

“What are you talking about, unnies?” Wheein asked in her ever-loud, ever-curious tone. Hyejin eyed the older couple for a few seconds, then whispered into the other girl’s ear, causing Wheein’s mouth to open into an ‘O’ of understanding. “Byulyi unnie, you—”

Hyejin rushed to shush Wheein, pinching her lips together with one hand. With her other hand, she pointed at Yongsun’s bag, and then curled three fingers into her palm and twisted her hand, making the ‘call’ sign.

While Byulyi watched Hyejin quietly reprimand Wheein, Yongsun dug into her handbag to extract her vibrating phone. She was secretly quite gland that her bag was rather conveniently placed, a half-hearted attempt to serve as a barrier between the cheesy flirt and her. “Hello, Irene?”

“Ah, Yongsun! We’re practising today, right?” Irene asked softly over the phone.

“Oh, of course, of course! Shall we meet in 30 minutes, maybe at somewhere convenient for you?”

“Okay! I’ll see you in the dance studio, the one where I have my Modern Dance classes.”

Hanging up the phone, Yongsun turned back to the other girls apologetically. “I’m so sorry, I forgot that I was supposed to practise my song with Irene today.” Hyejin and Wheein hastily attempted to quell her guilt, assuring her that it was fine with them and agreeing that she should definitely practise with Irene as arranged.

Immediately inspired, Wheein quickly jumped to act as wingman for Byulyi and her new-found friend. “Byulyi-unnie, aren’t you going to dance practice today?” She purposely queried, hoping that her dense roommate would pick up on her hint.

“Yeah, I am,” Byulyi mused. “Hey, unnie, how about I walk you to your practice as well? It’s on the way to my dance studio.” Wheein exhaled, happy that Byulyi wasn’t as blur as she thought. Thank goodness.

Yongsun, struck dumb by this fortunate turn of events, could only nod mutely.

“Excellent! Let’s go, then!” Standing up, Byulyi helped Yongsun gather her things, and proceeded to her to the door as the older girl, in her perplexed state, followed the younger without a word. As Byulyi turned back to wave at Wheein and Hyejin, the couple winked back at her, smirking and wiggling their eyebrows. Wheein even puckered her lips, mimicking a kissing face, before dissolving into hysterical giggles with Hyejin.

As Yongsun and Byulyi walked to their destination, Yongsun came to a sudden realisation. The next 30 minutes of her life, she was walking alone with only Byulyi as a companion. Unwittingly, she brushed hands with Byulyi, and felt the girl take her hand. Yongsun's cheeks started to heat up.

Oh gods, help me.

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A poorly written chapter imo, but i wanted to get it on the road as I head back home, since, well... FINALS ARE OVER! :D

Thinking of including some RV in the next chapter, since I did add the RV tag and the story IS meant to have some kind of MamaVelvet interaction in there, so...

Any desires? Any ideas? Any more cheesy lines that Byul can direct at Yongsun before she dies of the isanghae? You tell me! 

Comments are greatly appreciated!