Jungyeon and Dahyun look up from their soup when they hear Chaeyoung giggling at herself as she slurps on her own soup. They turn to look at each other with questioning looks and nods at each other with an evil smile. Moving their chairs closer to Chaeyoung, Dahyun clears . “Miss Son, you are under arrest. You are allowed to keep your silence, but whatever you said can and will be used against you in court.”

"So..." Jungyeon folds her arms. “What did you do?”

“Detective Yoo, I think the accurate question should be ‘Who did you do?’ instead.” Dahyun chuckles as she pulls Chaeyoung’s hoodie lower, revealing bluish bruises all around her collar. Chaeyoung slaps Dahyun’s hand away and pulls her hoodie back up. “Was it Nayeon-unnie?”

“No,” Chaeyoung and Jungyeon answers at the same time and it’s Chaeyoung and Dahyun’s turn to look at Jungyeon incredulously.

“How do you know?” Chaeyoung asks.

Jungyeon slams her chopsticks back on the table as she rolls her eyes. “You have the audacity to ask! She was so upset you couldn’t spend the first snow with her that she went to drink and got herself dead drunk. I had to send her home and she even puked all over me.” Jungyeon shudders as she recalls the events of yesterday. “But now I know why you are missing.”

Jungyeon wiggles her eyebrows as she fist bumps Chaeyoung, and the latter pats Jungyeon on the back gratefully for taking care of her girlfriend. She knew she can depend on her best friends when hits the fans. Dahyun just swerves back to focus on Chaeyoung. “Anyway, so who was it?”

“The car-accident-girl.” Chaeyoung says nonchalantly as she puts a spoon of rice into . The two of them stare at her with their mouths agape.

“So you really did it!” It was Jungyeon’s turn to pat her little friend on the back, proud of her achievements. Dahyun nods and shows two thumbs up at Chaeyoung. “So is the deal with the settlement fee resolved?”

Chaeyoung shrugs. “I don’t know, we don’t talk much.”

“Why? Wasn’t that the original plan?” Dahyun questioned with a raised brow.

“Yeah babo-yah,” Jungyeon chides as she knocks Dahyun on the head, “they obviously put their mouths to much better use.”

Chaeyoung face palms at the way Jungyeon words it, but realizes it’s true. She got closer to Mina for the main purpose of resolving the settlement fee for the car accident, but along the way, she has forgotten all about it, too enamored with Myoui Mina for her own good. Now, she’s in this even iffier situation where she’s not able to say no to Mina at all, so she really doesn’t know what to do if the girl ever asks her for it. Her phone lights up at a notification and she grins as she picks it up. Speak of the devil.

Thanks for the hangover tea.

Chaeyoung chuckles. The girl is curt as always. But that's what she likes about her anyway. She shoots a reply back and focuses back on her friends.

“So, what’s your relationship with car-accident-girl now?” Dahyun asks.

Chaeyoung thinks hard about Dahyun’s question. Mina is confusing, difficult to understand and the feelings Chaeyoung have for her are the same. Is it just lust, or is there love? She wouldn’t consider Mina as a FWB, but she wouldn’t consider her as her lover either. “I guess, I get laid when I see her.”

“Then what about Nayeon?”

“I see her when I want to get laid?” Chaeyoung answers jokingly, but she feels a pang of guilt run through her veins but she brushes it off.

Dahyun just gapes at her and gives her thumbs up as Jungyeon stuffs her face with food. Their oldest friend just mumbles with a whole mouthful of food. “Just make sure you don’t get caught, cub.”

--

It’s warm, Mina thinks as she pulls the blanket closer to herself. And it's been a while she felt such warmth. Her eyes shoot open at the realization and she groans as she hears the low hum of the heater. Throwing off the covers, she rushes over to switch the heater, standing there to hear the buzzing of the heater fade to nothing. She sighs and hugs herself, trying to hold on to the last bits of warmth provided by the heater. It’s been so long since it’s been used, rendered dysfunctional because of Mina’s non-existent financial capability. She doesn’t remember turning it on last night… and then it hits her right in the face as the events of last night come back to her.

She groans as she hides her face in her palms, embarrassed even if there’s no one here to see her. It’s only then that it dawns on her that she’s in her birthday suit, flushing red before hurrying back into the covers, hoping none of her neighbors saw her. She slips into the covers, suddenly hyperaware of the cold. It would be good if someone was here to hold her, but Mina stops the thought right there. Let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves here, Myoui Mina. The kid has a girlfriend.

She sighs and reaches for her phone on the bedside table, only to come into contact with the lukewarm surface of a cup. Propping herself up, she sees the cup and a note pasted on her phone.

Hangover tea for you, just in case you have one.:)

A small smile finds its way to her face as she holds the note close to her chest. Unlocking her phone, she types a message, wanting to send it to Chaeyoung.

Did you get home safely?

She deletes it. That sounds overly attached. Thinking harder, she finally decides to go with a more nonchalant text. She can’t sound desperate. She clicks send and throws her phone on her bed as she flails around. It didn’t even take a minute before her phone ping and she immediately picks up her phone to check the reply.

Have you eaten? I can get some food for you.

Mina giggles as she rolls around in bed at Chaeyoung’s reply. She doesn’t even need to think as she shoots back a reply.

Okay. 

--

Chaeyoung whistles as she swings the plastic bag of food she's holding. She enters the apartment complex, takes a look at the “Malfunctioned” sign that is permanently on the elevator doors and heads to the stairs. The thought of being able to meet Mina makes her so happy that she doesn't even mind having to climb 5 flights of stairs to reach her (although she might mind if Mina stays on a higher floor).

She’s on the fifth floor stairways when she hears commotion. Pushing the door slightly open, she sees an old man seemingly reprimanding Mina as the girl just bows at him apologetically.

“Pay up by next week, or else I really have to evict you!” The old man huffs, making sure he gets Mina’s acknowledgment before he leaves.

Chaeyoung takes a step back just as the stairway doors swing open, and the old man jumps a little seeing her behind that door. She puts her index finger on her lips, signaling for him to be quiet as she peeks at Mina’s apartment. She sees Mina frowning as she closes her door and Chaeyoung feels something tug at her heartstrings. She bows as she turns towards the old man.

“Ahjussi, how much does she owe you?”

The old man looks her up and down, as if doubting her capability. “2 months of rent, which is about 600k won.”

Chaeyoung scratches her head as she thinks about it. This girl holds two jobs but still doesn’t have enough to money to pay rent? What is she doing? Putting those thoughts aside, she wracks her brain thinking of how to churn out 600k won in a week. It seems like she has to ask for money from her parents again, although it’s unpleasant just thinking about the harsh words her father is going to spew once again. She sighs. “I will pay you by next week, so don’t evict her please.”

The old man side glances her, obviously not looking very highly upon this small little girl. She clears and he drops his pointed glance and clears this throat. “We shall see when I get the money.”

She nods and bows as he makes his way down the stairs and Chaeyoung exits the musty smelling stairway, making her way to Mina’s door. She takes a deep breath to compose herself before she presses the bell. She heard shuffling and the door opens, Mina’s glum face immediately wiped off when she sees Chaeyoung. Chaeyoung lifts up the plastic bag she's holding, shaking it as she smiles at Mina. “Delivery!”

--

Chaeyoung lies down beside Mina, propping herself up with her elbow as she watches the raven haired girl read her script. She has gotten closer to Mina, that's for sure, but why does it feel like there's still so much she doesn't know? It's as Mina is an onion, with many, many layers. Chaeyoung wonders if she will ever be able to peel off all the layers of this particular onion.

Unbeknownst to her, she has been running her fingers through Mina’s hair and the latter is looking at her questioningly, her attention (finally) taken off the script in her hands. Chaeyoung gives a small smile and knows better to leave the questions she has in her head left unasked. “Is this how you treat your guest? I'm bored.”

“I didn't even invite you.”

"But you let me in.” Chaeyoung jests and Mina rolls her eyes a little, turning back to her script again.

“Ahhh pay some attention to me!” Chaeyoung whines as she removes the script in Mina’s lap and lies down on her lap. She holds up the script, scanning through the page she's on. She scoffs. “What are all these cheesy lines?! ‘As long as I'm with you, I’ll be happy even in hell.’”

Chaeyoung gags but Mina doesn't even flinch at the cheesy lines as she gently pries the script away from the former. “That's not my line anyway.”

Mina goes back to her script and Chaeyoung knows she doesn't want to be disturbed anymore, so she just lies down on her lap and watches Mina silently. She sighs as she pokes Mina’s cheeks. “You are so unfair… How can someone be this beautiful?”

Seeing only a slight blush on Mina’s cheeks, Chaeyoung hums up a rhyme. “I’m serious though, how does your eyes, nose and lips just look so pretty no matter how much I look at them?”

She sees a tint of blush appear on Mina’s face before she holds her script higher to cover her face. “That's cheesier than the drama dialogue you were complaining about.” Mina mumbles from behind the script.

Chaeyoung smiles as she takes over the script from Mina (who just turned a shade darker), proud that she has made the latter flustered. “Which scene are you practicing? Let me help.” Chaeyoung asks but she's just flipping through the script.

“Ohhh! How about this?” Chaeyoung suggests as she holds up the script to a particular page where there is a kiss scene. Before Mina can reject, Chaeyoung flips to another page with another kiss scene. “Or this?”

She’s about to flip to another page to look for (what Mina presumes to be) another kiss scene when Mina just restrains a smile as she leans down to peck her on the lips. Chaeyoung gapes at her and Mina tries to reach for the script but the former just holds it further away. She puckers her lips. “One more and I will give it back.”

Mina rolls her eyes as she leans down to plant a kiss on Chaeyoung’s forehead, nose, before giving one last one on her lips. She pulls away to see a grin on her face, the dimple showing and Mina pokes at it, a small smile growing on her face as she stares at the younger girl. Chaeyoung throws the script across the room and pulls Mina’s shirt to crash their lips together. Needless to say, the script practice is long forgotten.

--

Bonus:

“Stop following me!” Nayeon growls as she turns around to face Jungyeon, almost tumbling down if not for Jungyeon’s grip on her arm.

Jungyeon hums as she helps the girl to stand up straight. “I’m not following you, we just happened to be going to the same area.”

Nayeon staggers and almost falls backwards and Jungyeon just huffs as she tightens her grip on the former’s arm. “Can you please,” Jungyeon grunts as she pulls Nayeon on her back to give her a piggyback, the girl automatically curling her legs around her waist, “get a grip on yourself?!”

“Goodness!” Jungyeon heaves to get a better grip on Nayeon and begins the long walk back home.

--

Jungyeon throws the girl on the couch, dropping to the floor once she does so. She groans as she stretches her legs. Nayeon may be skinny, but it still hurts having to walk so far carrying an additional weight. She turns around to glare at the comatose girl on the couch, flicking her on the forehead as revenge. “That’s for causing me so much trouble.” She grumbles.

Surprisingly, Nayeon opens her eyes and stares at Jungyeon. She stumbles back a little, feeling scared that she was caught being rude to the older girl. “Look, I didn’t do that…”

Before she can finish her sentence, Nayeon throws up all over her and passes out back on the couch.

“ARGH!”