The doorbell rings just as she’s taking her cereal out — still in her sleeping clothes. She sighs, not really in the mood for any disturbances this early in the morning (especially with the swim team meeting in three hours), and walks to her door. With still sleepy eyes behind her glasses, she opens the door — gaze on the floor lazily.

All she sees is a pair of red Keds and the end of some dark jeans. She mutters a “hm?” not bothering to look up.

She hears a chuckle from whoever it is. “Well, aren’t you awfully adorable in the morning?”

Her eyes widen at the voice and suddenly she’s wide awake. Her gaze travels up the dark ripped jeans, up the red long sleeved shirt tucked in the aforementioned ripped jeans, up the long neck, the teasing smirk and tall nose, and stops by Nayoung’s mischievous eyes.

“What are you doing here?”

She sees Nayoung biting back a laugh and scowls. “Well, aren’t you an awfully adorable dork in the morning," she says, tapping the bridge of Sejeong’s glasses fondly, yet at the same time teasingly.

Sejeong glares at her, feeling her cheeks turning hot. “Let me repeat my question. What are you doing here?”

Nayoung shrugs. “I’m going to drive you to class and I need breakfast, figured I’d eat here.” She looks past Sejeong and, with a small tug of distaste on her lips, walks in the (admittedly messy) apartment. “Do you make pancakes?”

“Uh, I don’t have pancake mix.”

The intruder sighs, rolling her eyes upwards. Sejeong suddenly feels really shy. But then she remember this is her apartment and she’s not the one who’s supposed to feel shy. “Um, why are you here?”

“As I said, I’m driving you to class. And I haven’t eaten breakfast yet, but I did get us each some coffee from the shop downstairs.”

“Wait, we’re starting the fake dating thing today?”

Nayoung shoots her an ‘are you ing kidding me’ kind of look before walking over to her kitchen and closing the cupboard where Sejeong’s cereal is. She places the two cups of coffee on the table and takes the pan out.

“Where’s the flour?”

“What?”

Again, the same look is sent to her. She resists the urge to push the girl off the balcony. Nayoung speaks, “I’m craving for pancakes today. I’m making us some. Where’s the flour?”

“Why are we starting today? We literally just met yesterday.”

“This is fake dating, we don’t need a hundred years of history to start it.”

“Okay, that doesn’t explain why you need to make pancakes here instead of, well, your own place.”

The girl isn’t listening to her, however — just rummaging through her kitchen and looking for something, her flour probably. She opens the fridge and hums in approval, taking out a plate of strawberries from inside. “Great, we can probably make some pancakes with strawberry and whipped cream. Do you have whipped cream?”

“I don’t.”

Nayoung sighs. “Is there anything you actually have?”

“Seriously, Nayoung, why are you having breakfast here? Don’t you have, like, a mansion to go home to?”

A laugh escapes the older girl’s lips. It’s a beautiful sound that makes Sejeong’s morning a tad bit better. “I don’t have a mansion. I have a humble studio apartment a few units down yours.” She taps her bottom lip thoughtfully, looking out the open curtains of Sejeong’s window. “And I think I have whipped cream there.”

“In this same building? Why’s it a studio apartment?”

Nayoung drops her hand and shrugs, looking at Sejeong. “I took down the walls. It felt suffocating with walls everywhere.”

“But the rooms are big enough. Why the need to—”

The girl interrupts her, the smile never leaving her face, “Don’t you need to wash up and get ready for class? I’ll make pancakes while you’re getting ready.”

That seems like her cue to leave. And even though this is obviously her apartment and not the other girl’s, she obeys and walks in her room, questions flooding her head.

She’s not supposed to care, this is strictly business anyway. But the haunted look in the girl’s eyes makes her want to know the reason behind it. Makes her want to learn everything about her.

(And maybe protect her from them, but that must be her always caring personality kicking in.

She has to remind herself a few times in the shower that this is strictly business. But then again, she does have the right to care.)

-

She returns to the aroma of freshly brewed coffee and freshly cooked pancakes. She finds Nayoung playing with her phone (are those slideshows Sejeong can see from her spot?) on the dining table, plate of pancakes and mug of coffee untouched.

“Why haven’t you eaten?”

Lashes sweep up and Nayoung staring up at her, face still facing the phone screen. She immediately presses the screen and places the phone on the table. She shrugs nonchalantly. “It’s not good manners to eat first. Besides, I just finished.”

Sejeong nods, feeling warm from this small gesture. She sits across her and smiles. “Where’s the coffee you bought?”

“Oh, they turned cold. I drank them.”

“Both of them?” Nayoung nods. She scrunches her face in disapproval and juts her chin towards the new mug of coffee in front of the older woman. “And I’m assuming you’re planning on drinking that too?”

Nayoung shrugs. “Yeah.”

“Dude, are you trying to kill yourself?”

She receives a raised eyebrow and an amused smirk. “Right this moment? Nah.”

“Throw that away.”

“What?”

“Throw the coffee. You’re not going to drink three cups of coffee in one morning.”

“It’s against the law to waste such perfectly good coffee.” She sends Sejeong a proud look that reminds her of her younger cousins whenever they finish their puzzles, “I made them and I took barista classes for two summers.” Then she shrugs. “Besides, you’re not my mom.”

Her right eyebrow shoots up to her hairline challengingly (and in fascination at meeting someone who took coffee making lessons). “Yeah? Well, I’m your girlfriend. Pretend. And as your pretend girlfriend, I demand you to stop drinking so much caffeine.”

She doesn’t miss the way the intruder’s eyebrow twitches in amusement at the term ‘girlfriend’. She leans forward, mischievous glint in her eyes never leaving. “Not unless you give me a kiss.”

Sejeong scoffs. Although that doesn’t stop the blush from forming on her cheeks. “You don’t kiss fake girlfriends.”

Hana had mentioned it in the email (along with the huge amount of money Sejeong has to pay for each day at the end of this faking thing) that Nayoung’s the only one of the ‘jellyfishes’ who don’t give away fake kisses. And she said it in such a way that makes it seem like Nayoung would rather die than fake kiss anyone.

(Don’t ever ask for a fake kiss. Nayoung doesn’t like them. If you want to continue this fake dating thing, better not ask for the impossible. Don't even talk about it!)

Sejeong doesn’t really need them, so that’s okay.

“You never know. I once kissed a fake girlfriend.”

“Was she dying? Did you have to perform CPR on her? Was it her mother’s dying wish? Were aliens about to abduct you and you had to kiss her for them to leave you alone?”

A beautiful sound fills the whole room. Loud, wholehearted, happy. Nayoung’s laugh.

A smile fights its way to Sejeong’s lips as she watches Nayoung laugh, her whole body shaking, head thrown back, and eyes squeezed tight. Whenever Nayoung laughs, it’s like she just heard the world’s funniest joke — like everything deserves a nice, wholehearted laugh. It’s like she’s absolutely happy right this moment and nothing else matters.

And her happiness oddly brings happiness to Sejeong’s heart too.

Maybe those overly optimistic people on Tumblr were right; happiness is contagious.

Nayoung shakes her head. “Nah, I just thought her lips looked nice. So, I kissed them.”

The amount of nonchalance dripping from her voice is enough to make Sejeong chuckle. “Quite the romantic you are, huh.” Her gaze lands on the coffee and she frowns. “But, seriously, while we’re fake dating, you’re not allowed to drink more than two cups of coffee each day.”

Nayoung leans back on her chair and the teasing smile is back. “Since you look cute in glasses, sure.” Sejeong blushes, again, but then Nayoung adds, “Dork," and she’s scowling again.

“Look, I’m not the one who was reviewing Biotechnology notes while waiting for her breakfast date.”

“You’re not my breakfast date," Nayoung shoots back, then she points at the strawberries on top of the whipped cream of her pancakes. "They are.”

Sejeong huffs. “As if strawberries have much against me.”

“Yeah, they’re, like, the best fruit ever invented.”

“They weren’t invented. As a nerd, shouldn’t you know that?”

The older of the two lets out a mocking insulted gasp. “Don’t call me nerd, dork.”

Sejeong grins. “Nerd.”

Nayoung’s eyes turns into slits, but lips continue smiling. “Dork.”

“Nerd.”

A quick look of roguishness passes through Nayoung’s eyes and the next moment, her finger’s digging on the bowl of whipped cream she placed on the table next to the strawberries and mutters, “I’m not the one with whipped cream on the nose,” as she wipes the whipped cream on a wide eyed Sejeong’s nose.

And then, “Dork.”

“That’s it," Sejeong grumbles under her breath before reaching forward and copying Nayoung, smearing whipped cream on the girl’s chin. “And today’s special is a nerd with whipped cream on top.”

Not wanting to lose, Nayoung continues their whipped cream fight, and Sejeong doesn’t back down either.

Soon the bowl of whipped cream is almost empty and instead of digging her fingers in, Sejeong takes it and dumps it on Nayoung’s nose, grinning as it hangs for a moment before falling on Nayoung’s shirt. And it leaves a mark.

“ing— okay, lend me a shirt like this.”

Sejeong frowns. "No.”

“I can’t go to class with ing whipped cream on my shirt.”

“Fine.” Sejeong sighs, she looks down on the pancakes and pouts at Nayoung. “Can we eat first? I’m hungry.”

The girl lets out an amused huff of air before shaking her head. She grabs her phone from the table and snaps a picture of Sejeong, grinning. “Now we can eat.”

“Well, that’s unfair,” Sejeong muses, taking her own phone and opening the camera, ignoring the unread messages. With one press, she takes a picture of Nayoung.

Nayoung just sends her a cheeky smile. “Do I look cute there?”

Sejeong’s lips curl down. “I don’t think that’s possible.”

“.”

She laughs at the pout on the older girl’s face. Without thinking, she stands and sits on the seat beside Nayoung, changing to front camera and pressing her sticky cheek next to Nayoung’s. She smiles widely as Nayoung frowns at the camera.

They take a few more pictures, different expressions and stories. Nayoung grumbles about being hungry after the ninth one though, and Sejeong takes one last shot before going back to her seat.

She chuckles at the photo: Nayoung pouting like a little kid as she presses her cheek hard against hers, a smile on her face. Pressing the home button, she frowns at the wallpaper. She goes back to the gallery and sets the last pic as her wallpaper instead, a small not-necessarily happy smile on her face.

She looks up at Nayoung. “I needed a wallpaper anyway," she says, shrugging. “Let’s go eat?”

Nayoung does something with her phone first before setting it down on the table next to Sejeong’s and nodding.

They both dig in, whipped cream still sticky against their faces and phones forgotten on the side of the table.

And it’s like they had a hundred years of colorful, vibrant history between them. It’s just so easy with Nayoung. Sejeong thinks it’s her smile. Or just Kim Nayoung.

-

It’s not until they had washed their faces, reapplied the make-up they put on, gotten Nayoung in a black long sleeved collared shirt, and jumped in Nayoung’s fancy white sports car (“My dad bought it for me as a birthday gift during my 20th birthday even though I clearly asked for a motorcycle instead”) that Sejeong checks her phone. A few missed calls from Im Nayoung and Jieqiong, and some text messages.

Im Nayoung: where are you?

Im Nayoung: Kim Sejeong

Jieqiong: Sejeong, where are you? We can’t start the meeting without you and class starts in two hours. Nayoung’s mad. I can’t keep her not-mad for long, you know.

Dodo: bring me breakfast.

Yeonjung: bring me breakfast please.

Her driver drives through the busy streets of Seoul with ease, shoulders relaxed and lips singing along to the radio. Her voice is great, but Sejeong doesn’t say that out loud.

Instead, she just scowls. “My team’s waiting for me and they’re about to kill me.”

The corners of Nayoung’s mouth pulls down in an unamused way. “You didn’t tell me you were going to meet them. If you did, we could’ve skipped the wiping of whipped cream and just ate like what normal people do.” But even as she says this, Sejeong slightly sways backwards as the car gains speed.

“You started the wiping of whipped cream!”

“Well, you were being an awful little brat!” Nayoung retorts, amused glint in her eyes betraying her annoyed voice. “Besides, you wiped back.”

“Are we having this argument? Really? Also, I need to bring two kids some breakfast, can we pass by somewhere?”

Nayoung pouts. “You’re grumpy. But I do know a place on the way.”

-

The place Nayoung ‘knows’ is a small and slightly underrated coffee shop just in front of one of the campus’ not-so-used gates. It’s a nice place – cozy and homey with bookshelves lining the walls and a few couches here and there instead of the usual table and hard chairs combo.

Sejeong likes it. Especially the name, Insomnia Café.

(“It’s named after what FRIENDS was first supposed to be named.”)

As soon as they come in, Sejeong is hit with the smell of freshly baked goods and brewed coffee. The cashier looks up and smiles radiantly at Nayoung.

Sejeong remembers her from her Trigo class, her name’s—

“Chaeky!”

—Chaekyung.

“Nayoung! Why are you here? You never come anymore!”

Nayoung grins easily and Sejeong wonders how someone can be filled with so much happiness only. “My girlfriend here wants to buy breakfast for her team," she says, gesturing to Sejeong. (Sejeong would be lying if she said the term girlfriend didn’t bring some sort of electric current up her spine.) “Give me twelve of my favorite bread.”

“Sure, but it might take a while, Sojin just came in before you.”

“Late again? Sheesh, it’s like she doesn’t know how to sleep early when Xiening’s sleeping over at her place.”

“I can hear you!” a voice yells from the back and Nayoung laughs.

“Morning, Sojin!”

Sojin’s reply is a loud grunt and some noisy clanging of pans in the kitchen.

Nayoung smirks in amusement as she leads Sejeong to one of the tables, not even paying for the cupcakes she takes from the counter. “Sojin’s not a morning person, you see.”

“Sojin’s part of Hire-A-Jellyfish, right? She’s the tall girl who looks like she’s always imagining drowning you all?”

“Yep, that’s her.” Nayoung looks around the place with a small proud smile. “This is our coffee shop.”

“‘Our’?”

“Yeah, Hire-A-Jellyfish’s. We’re not only a drama club, we also have our own coffee shop. No one goes here though.”

“Oh wow,” Sejeong breathes, “you’re all rich asses.”

“Nah, this coffee shop was my grandfather’s. It was pretty popular back then. He gave it to me, well, us, when I turned legal.”

Sejeong looks at her in bewilderment. “A car and a coffee shop? You’re ing rich.”

“I’m not. My grandfather knows I like coffee and baking and gave me this as his, um, kind of like a will. But that’s all.”

Will. Sejeong frowns.

Chaekyung walks to their table though, saving her from thinking up of any awkward ‘that’s okay’s, with a bag of bread. “Here’s your order, Nayoung. Turns out Haebin was here earlier and started baking, so they probably taste better than what Sojin makes. And it’s still hot and fresh from the oven. Not as good as Hyeyeon’s, of course.”

She watches as Nayoung immediately smiles at Chaekyung, bright and happy. She takes the bag and yells ‘bye’ at Sojin before nodding her goodbye at Chaekyung and leading Sejeong back to their car.

She doesn’t have the chance to ask more about Nayoung inside the car though, because Nayoung turns on the engine, smiles at her, asks her where the swim team meeting would be, and drives while talking about the day they re-decorated the coffee shop.

Nayoung talks a lot, that’s for sure. But Sejeong isn’t so sure what Nayoung talks about is what she wants to hear. They’re just fillers, random stories. Nothing really making her feel like she knows Nayoung. But then again, it’s just the second day.

-

Nayoung parks in front of the burger place the swim team likes to hold meetings in. The said swim team’s on one of the tables outside, and Sejeong grimaces at the scowl on their leader’s usually expressionless face. Nayoung looks at Sejeong, questioning. “Do I come with you?”

“Yeah, I’ll introduce you to them," she says, before taking a deep breath and looking out. Chungha’s right there, looking disinterested in anything. She feels a sharp pain on her chest and takes another deep breath. “Let’s go.”

She hears a scoff from beside her and sees Nayoung smirking at her in that way she does when she’s amused at something Sejeong did. “Go on, love.”

The only reply she gives Nayoung is a raised eyebrow at the endearment. Nayoung shrugs. And she finally opens the door and exits the car.

Yeonjung spots her first, waving her hand as if they’re not right there where Sejeong can easily spot them. Still, she smiles and waves a hand. The others look at her with confused frowns, knowing Sejeong doesn’t really own a white sports car.

Chungha’s staring. Chungha’s there. And even though it’s been two months since they broke up, and even though she sees her at least once a week during practice, the throbbing in her heart doesn’t leave. It never does.

She hears the other door open, then close. And sees Chungha’s expression harden. In a moment, Nayoung’s beside her and lacing their fingers together. A small I’m here whispered through the tips of their fingertips.

It’s easy. Comfortable.

Damn, Nayoung’s good at this pretending thing.

They walk to the swim team, ignoring the frowns from Somi, Chungha, and Im Nayoung. “Hey guys.”

“Hey," Chaeyeon greets back, eyes narrowing at Nayoung.

Nayoung’s not a new face to most of them – especially Chaeyeon for sure. But still, the others look at Sejeong expectantly, waiting for introductions.

“Guys, this is my girlfriend, Kim Nayoung," she tells them, eyes trained on Nayoung’s polite expression. She remembers what Nayoung called her in the car and smiles wider. “Love, this is the swim team. Chaeyeon—”

“I know her. The one Heehyun’s crazy about," Nayoung interrupts, winking at Chaeyeon in a very sloppy way that Chaeyeon lightly chuckles at.

Sejeong pouts. “I was talking.”

Nayoung looks at her, eyebrows raising. “I just wanted to say I know her. Sorry, love.” She looks back at the swim team, and Sejeong’s amazed she doesn’t crumble under the glares (mostly from Somi and Im Nayoung) she receives.

“And I know everyone else by names. And, well, I think I can match the names with faces. No need for introductions, really.”

“I wanted to—”

“Love, this is the swim team we’re talking about," Nayoung interrupts again, lips almost touching the shell of Sejeong’s ears as she leans towards her. The smile in her eyes tells Sejeong she’s doing this to annoy her. “Everyone knows who they are.”

Again, she looks back at the swim team. “I’m so sorry for keeping Sejeong too long. She didn’t have pancake mix in her apartment and I had to make pancakes from scratch.”

Chungha blinks at that. And her gazes zeroes in on the shirt Nayoung’s wearing – a shirt Sejeong knows she has seen her wearing before. She looks away before Sejeong can throw her a questioning look.

“To make up for that though, I brought everyone bread. They’re all the same kind, really, but they’re really great. They’re, um, coffee buns with custard filling. And the coffee’s the kind that’ll help you stay awake.”

Sejeong watches as Nayoung hands out the bread to everyone, watches as Yeonjung and Doyeon immediately take the plastics off theirs and take hesitant bites, then hum in appreciation before devouring the bread. Watches as Im Nayoung glares at the smiling other Nayoung as she takes the bread handed to her. Watches as Chungha takes hers with her eyes downcast, muttering a small thanks and just staring at the bread. Watches as Yoojung hesitantly takes hers. Watches as Somi doesn’t even touch hers.

Nayoung merely shrugs and places the unwanted bread in her backpack. “Um, I’ll go back in my car and wait for you to finish your meeting.” She turns to leave but stops as Somi speaks.

“It hasn’t even been three months yet!” Somi blurts, eyebrows meeting as she glares at Sejeong. “And you’re bringing an unwanted guest to our meetings? Have you got no respect for Chungha?”

She flinches back at the harsh tone. She feels an arm protectively touching her lower back.

“Um, sorry I shouldn’t have come," she hears Nayoung’s low voice dangerously close to her ear. As if she’s whispering the words to her. “But please don’t talk to Sejeong in such a harsh voice. I, um, insisted I come along and say sorry for her. Since, you know, it was my fault she was late.”

Somi glares at her. “And you think you apologizing will magically make everything better?”

“Don’t mind her,” Doyeon says before Nayoung can answer. She smiles at Nayoung warmly. “She can be a very huge . But on good days, she’s just a normal sized . I like the bread though, where did you buy it?”

Nayoung simply smiles at her – genuine and so unlike the one Sejeong saw her give Somi a while ago. “Insomnia Café. Tell you what, I’ll get your number from Sejeong and I’ll bring you there some time. My treat.”

Sejeong wants to remind her she didn’t even pay for the bread but Yeonjung exclaims, “Can we go there now?” before she could, earning herself a glare from Im Nayoung.

A chuckle vibrates through Nayoung’s chest, and Sejeong feels it against her arm. “Looks like your leader doesn’t really like that. You have class at three this afternoon?”

“I don’t," Yeonjung and Doyeon say simultaneously as Sohye mutters a, “Can I come too?”

“Great. I’ll pick you three up later in front of the main library.” Her gaze lands on the leader and she sends her a winning smile. Sejeong feels her turning her head and soon a kiss is pressed to the side of her head, and whisper of “I’ll be in the car, love” that she’s sure is loud enough for everyone else to hear.

And then she’s walking to her car and Sejeong only watches, side of her head slightly warm from the kiss. She takes a deep breath and faces her team. “I’m really sorry I was late.”

“The bread was good,” Jieqiong says before their leader can open . She raises the remaining of her bread to Sejeong. “You’re forgiven.”

She smiles. Seems like Nayoung already charmed majority of her team with her bread. She tries not to pay attention to the subtle stares Chungha’s sending her and the glares Somi’s shooting at her.

Throughout the meeting though, the stares and glares are too much to ignore, so she looks up at the parked car near them, the tinted windows rolled down. Sometimes Nayoung also looks up and sends her funny faces or just small smiles. Other times she’s just reading the history book Sejeong saw in the car. And Sejeong just stares, feeling herself smile every time.

(And Nayoung almost convinces her everything’s real. Damn, she’s really good.)

-

Nayoung doesn’t forget to bring Doyeon, Yeonjung, and Sohye to Insomnia Café. Doesn’t forget to charm them with her self-depreciating and sarcastic jokes. Doesn’t forget to promise to give the three special private baking and barista lessons. Doesn’t forget to hover by Sejeong’s side every time she can; a hand on her lower back, a kiss pressed to the side of her head, fingers lacing each other – things Sejeong only received from Chungha before. Doesn’t forget to drive the three back to their dorms.

Doesn’t forget to make jokes and laugh whenever the situation asks for it. Doesn’t forget to keep the atmosphere lighthearted and happy, always making sure Sejeong’s grinning.

She doesn’t forget the goodnight text either.

(Sejeong almost forgets it’s not real. And it’s just the first day.)

A/N:

Told y'all I'll update this really frequently. I finished planning this on paper (something I have yet to achieve for ap&ns) and if things go as planned, this will have eight chapters. I'm also almost done with the next chapter (yay me, productive when it comes to writing fanfics instead of academic papers).

Title from Twenty-One Pilot's Ride.

And I do know it kinda seems like Sejeong's getting all these feelies too early in the faking thing, but there's a reason for that. Don't worry. Hope you all enjoyed this!!