Junghee’s gaze lingered on other girls rather than boys, relishing the airy smiles and sweet voices. Her gaze lingered on their bodies too, but she couldn’t really gaze for long, feeling her cheeks heat up the moment they landed on the curves. She was already an awkward teenager, being silent, but otherwise, a stuttering mess when anyone, especially, a girl came over to her, smiling and inquiring in a kind voice.

On the first day of 12th grade, her gaze lingered slightly longer on the new student, Eunsook, who had a softer voice, but not a timid one. She had a charming smile, but somehow it was restrained, and her hair was a pretty kind of dark, unlike the colorful dyed mess that was her’s, neat in a ponytail, bangs combed down on her forehead, slightly overgrown, beginning to fall upon her tiny eyes.

She averted her gaze, making noise as she completely changed her posture, embarrassed that Eunsook’s gaze had met with her’s and from the soft footsteps she could hear, it was evident that Eunsook was going to take the empty seat beside her and not beside the so called hot guy on the other side of the class.

“Hi, I am Eunsook.” She whispered, and Junghee could feel both nervousness and excitement drip off her tone, and Junghee turned to her, “Sorry, I think you already know that,” Eunsook chuckled to conceal her embarrassed mess up, “What’s your name?”

“Jun…Junghee.” Junghee managed to stutter out and bit her lip, cursing under her breath for stuttering.

But Eunsook didn’t laugh, she just smiled, “Can we be friends, Junghee?”

Junghee glanced to Eunsook, finding her smile genuine, crinkling her eyes, her cheeks a little pink, and Junghee nodded, pushing her textbook between them to share.

Eunsook was clingy and very outgoing. Junghee had begun to call her ‘unnie’ instead on learning that she was actually a year older and had started school late. She actually felt relieved, because Junghee was too conscious of speaking Eunsook’s name and always ended up stuttering. On the other hand, Eunsook was a chatterbox, she was always the one chattering away, she was always the one making plans, but she always asked Junghee if it was fine and never forced anything on her. She was a little tease too, intentionally with her words and unintentionally with everything else. She liked to crack jokes and make puns, she liked to play little harmless pranks but she forever made it up to Junghee with treats and favors. Junghee had mellowed down to her presence, she didn’t stutter often, she spoke to her about a lot of stuff, they studied together and hung out a lot in all their favorite places. Junghee even enjoyed shopping with her, despite their style being poles apart.

Junghee sometimes actually liked having a little distance between Eunsook and her, not because she was tired of her presence or anything- she actually enjoyed it too much. But sometimes, she really wanted to take in her whole appearance. She felt like she was a ert, she felt so guilty, but she really did yearn to see Eunsook’s beautiful side profiles, her pretty, slender back, her little smiles to herself when she solved math problems with ease, how she fixed her hair and uniform, thinking no one was looking, how she tried to fix her cardigan especially, trying to drown her curves in the loose folds. She was conscious of her curves, always wearing an extra layer when they were out or amongst people, but she was carefree when they hung out at her home. Junghee looked forward to her visits to Eunsook’s house, but she was forever uncomfortable, trying not to gaze at Eunsook too much, trying not to let her tank tops and shorts affect her.

But it had begun to get hot outside and Eunsook loved summers, yet she chose to stay in because it was too hot to be outside in a cardigan. Junghee hated summers, and hence choosing to keep Eunsook company inside was never a hard decision.

But Junghee felt her heart drop a little whenever she saw Eunsook gaze out the window in the middle of homework, a little wistfully, watching the other girls and boys in their summer uniforms, lounging on the grass, enjoying the breeze or having a water fight. One of those times, Junghee decided to be a little brave and asked, “Un-unnie, wanna come with me this weekend? I-I’m going to my grandma’s…she has a big yard, even a pool.”

Eunsook looked to her, slightly taken aback, and Junghee blushed, getting nervous, knowing that her question was so well-timed that Eunsook now knew why she asked it.

But Eunsook spoke before Junghee could utter her messy words, “I’d love to.” There was a soft smile on her face, and her cheeks were a pretty pink, like how they always were when she smiled in thought.

“Then it’s set.” Junghee muttered, furiously writing her formulae, all the math in her head racing around into a mess due to Eunsook’s pretty smile.
 

It was a fun Saturday, and it passed like a breeze. They had played in the water to their heart’s content. Junghee was slightly disappointed because Eunsook’s swimming clothes were just a full-sleeved light tee and leggings, but the disappointment drowned in the waves, in the laughter, in all the times Eunsook splashed her with water to get ahead in some unimportant squabble or silly race they had.

They had showered and were now drying each other’s hair, discussing the list of movies they wanted to add to their movie marathon. When it was all set, they walked down to the store and rented out the movies and bought snacks, before snuggling into the thin blanket in Junghee’s old room after switching on the AC.

They might have watched three movies when Eunsook finally called it quits and laid down, taking off her sweatshirt before doing so. Junghee switched the tv off and dimmed the light a little, knowing that Eunsook was afraid of sleeping in complete darkness (even she was). But she stopped in her tracks when her eyes settled on Eunsook, yawning as she checked her phone, turning to her side and exposing more of what had gotten Junghee frozen.

Junghee averted her gaze in panic, lying down immediately, turned away from Eunsook as she tried to calm herself. But the image of Eunsook in a tank top was keeping everything inside her racing.

“Junghee?” Eunsook called softly and Junghee turned after taking a few deep breaths. Eunsook was shuffling closer, and Junghee froze because she had never been so close to her before.

Eunsook’s soft finger grazed her cheek and Junghee’s gaze broke, but before she could register anything, she felt Eunsook’s lips on her’s. It was a little peck and Eunsook had shuffled away, smiling a little, her smile almost smug, playful, and Junghee finally knew, that Eunsook had always known about her big sinful crush on her.

Junghee could hear her heart beating wildly in her ears, she was perhaps hyperventilating inside, and she turned away, clutching at her chest, hiding her face as finally, everything settled in.

“Junghee-ah?” Eunsook called again, this time, a little nervously and Junghee turned at her call, revealing her aflush face, “Un-unnie…” She breathed, “Don’t wear such clothes again.”

“What?” Eunsook asked softly, a little confused.

“Don’t wear them!” Junghee exclaimed, “It makes me wet.”

Eunsook looked to Junghee and her embarrassed face, the palm that had gone over in shock, but before Junghee could do anything, Eunsook put an arm around her, “I’ll think about it.”

But Junghee knew from that little evil glint in her eyes that she already had made a decision.

Years had passed and now Junghee and Eunsook were living together in an apartment. Junghee was working freelance so she had crazy schedules and that meant Eunsook had to wait quite a while for Junghee to come back home some days.

One day when Junghee got home, she found Eunsook on the couch, hair prettily tied in a bun, in Junghee's shirt, in only that shirt over her underwear and stockings, buttons all open because they obviously wouldn’t button up anyway, revealing her pretty lacy bra. Eunsook turned to her with a playful smile when she found Junghee enter and Junghee just stopped in her tracks, getting flustered at both her appearance and expression.

“Welcome home, Junghee-ah.”

Junghee stuttered, “Un-unnie, why-why are you wearing my shirt? And like nothing else...”

“I missed you and the shirt smelt of you so…” Eunsook replied, her playful smile dissipating into pure innocence.

Junghee grew more flustered because she knew Eunsook was just faking it and she stepped forward, taking off her jacket and dropping it on Eunsook, “Unnie, you know-”

Eunsook pulled Junghee into the couch and pinned her down, her smile finally taking that playful turn, “I know.” She leaned in, whispering, “Is it working?”

Junghee didn’t care to answer because she was sure her face was doing a pretty good job at it anyway.