“Pssst!”

Kyungwon’s eyes instantly snap open, her chin slipping off her palm and barely hitting the table. She wipes off the drool from the corner of her lips hastily, straining her eyes as she squints to look outside the classroom, the glow of the sun bathing the entire classroom with light - she could get used to window seats.

“Pssst!”

She hears the familiar voice once again, but this time, it’s accompanied with a crumpled ball of paper that kisses her forehead and lands right in the middle of her table. As if she’s following a protocol, she opens the piece of paper, and grins immediately upon seeing the messy handwriting.

Lend me your math homework, you geek, math class is starting in ten, it reads. Kyungwon lifts her head and turns to her right. Sitting two seats away from her is her best friend of seven years and counting, Kim Minkyung, and as the saying goes, a leopard can’t change its spots, and Minkyung never does her homework.

Normally Kyungwon, being the kind friend she is, would offer to lend the other girl her homework. But today, she feels like getting a little more sleep, being a little less caring, so she folds her arms and lets her head rest on them.

~

Ten minutes couldn’t have passed so quickly, Kyungwon thinks, but she also thinks that she hears the school bell ring, thinks she sees her classmates returning after the lunch break, thinks she sees their math teacher entering the classroom. Through her bleary eyes and foggy brain, Kyungwon can only think, so she lets her eyelids droop, but not before she thinks she sees Minkyung raising her hand.

As Kyungwon lets her eyes shut close, she concludes that it’s her imagination running wild, because Minkyung is never the participative type during lessons, not mentioning raising her hand up to answer questions-

“Ma’am!”

Kyungwon thinks she hears the familiar voice ringing in her ears, but it is too real for it to be in her dreams. Sure enough, she hears the dragging of chairs and the sound of Minkyung’s voice again.

“Ma’am, I’m sorry to interrupt, but Kang Kyungwon over there is sleeping in your class.”

Kyungwon lifts her head from the table immediately, ignoring the sudden throbbing and pulsing pain in her skull. Too late, she tells herself, as her eyes are instantly met with the fiery black orbs of her most feared math teacher.

“Detention for one hour after school, Kang Kyungwon,” she hollers across the classroom. Kyungwon nods and lowers her head in shame, but even as the teacher’s loud voice continue to boom in her ears, she manages to hear a mixture of snickers and chuckles coming from one person – Kim Minkyung.

~

Four white walls, a table, a chair, a blank paper and a pen. Just as Kyungwon starts to think that school cannot get any more boring, she’s being thrown into the detention room with one hour to complete her 500 words reflection essay.

Kyungwon thinks it’s easy to write an essay about being wronged by her own friend, and how justice and equality are core values of the school, but putting blame on herself and asking for forgiveness when she hasn’t done anything wrong? Kyungwon doesn’t know how to start. Nevertheless, she picks up the pen, clicks it, hears the sound of its tip scratching the white paper and begins her I-don’t-even-know-why-I’m-apologizing essay.

~

One hour felt like an eternity to Kyungwon as she slips the piece of paper into the correct pigeonhole and makes her way down the stairs from the fourth floor. The school is empty by now, almost creepy, with the way the doors creak slightly as they were left ajar. Choosing to ignore all of it, she scurries down the stairs, hands gripping tightly at her bag straps and she’s almost made it to the first floor until someone screams into her ear.

“What the hell!” she curses, and her use of profanity echoes throughout the school. She glares at the culprit, and of course, it has to be her.

“How was your detention?” Minkyung asks, her voice sounding a little too sweet and caring. She slips her arm through Kyungwon’s, only to have it swatted away.

“Hey, come on, don’t be like that,” she whines from behind as Kyungwon strides past her and towards the school gate. “You know I don’t mean any harm, right? I mean, I love you, Kyungwonnie.”

“Really?” Kyungwon stops in her tracks and wheels around, her face only a few inches away from Minkyung’s.

“Really,” the other girl replies, face stoic and lips pursed.

“Good, because you wouldn’t mind if dinner’s on you,” Kyungwon answers back, fighting the urge to grin. She hears Minkyung groan behind her, but she doesn’t argue otherwise.

~

“How do you answer this question?” Minkyung asks, nudging Kyungwon at the side of her ribcage a little too forcefully. She clicks her tongue, but takes Minkyung’s worksheet in her hands.

“Wasn’t this the same question you asked me fifteen minutes ago?”

“Yes, but I still don’t get it,” Minkyung deadpans, shrugging her shoulders, and Kyungwon can’t decide if she’s being serious or not, so she sighs.

“What do you even do in school?” she asks rhetorically as she scribbles some formula onto the worksheet.

“Have my meals,” Minkyung replies nonetheless, almost nonchalantly, “And, um, find girlfriends. What’s wrong with that?”

Kyungwon stops writing, blinks, before she turns to stare at Minkyung. “You-”

“Shhhhh,” Minkyung says, pressing her index finger to Kyungwon’s lips, “I just broke up with Siyeon, and now I’m with Yebin, but you can’t tell anyone that.”

“Siyeon, as in Park Siyeon? The minor you illegally brought into a club?” Kyungwon whispers back, almost as if she really took Minkyung’s words seriously, “And who’s Yebin?”

“Kang Yebin, captain of track and field and my girlfriend of thirty-six hours and counting,” Minkyung boasts, crossing her arms and Kyungwon can only stare in disbelief. “What’s with the judgmental look?”

“You’re such a player,” Kyungwon mutters under her breath, but the older girl manages to hear it, as she starts to grin proudly.

“I’m not a player,” Minkyung says, flashing more of her teeth as her smile grows wider, cheekier, and goofier, “I’m just an inconsistent lover.”

And Kyungwon sighs, for the loudest time that day, because even as she hears those words for the umpteenth time already, she thinks she still can’t quite understand her friend of seven years and counting.

~

It’s not until seven and a half year into their friendship when Kyungwon decides that Kim Minkyung might be a little more than what she makes her out to be – okay, maybe much more. As she traces Minkyung’s figure with the tips of her fingers, she can only stare in awe as the older girl puts her hair up into a bun, her body fitting perfectly into the white dress and herself looking effortlessly stunning.

“You look beautiful,” Kyungwon says without thinking, before she finds Minkyung staring back at her with one side of her eyebrows raised.

“Well, thanks, but wouldn’t it be awkward, coming from you?”

Kyungwon thinks it might have been awkward, with her saying things to Minkyung now when she could’ve said them the past seven (and a half) years if she wanted to, but as she finds herself being unable to lift her eyes from the other girl, starts to move on its own accord.

“You look so beautiful right now it makes me feel like kissing you.”

Minkyung laughs, letting out soft giggles reminiscent of wind chimes, and Kyungwon laughs along, but she wasn’t joking.

~

Flashing disco lights, loud booming music, and Kyungwon immediately regrets accompanying Minkyung to Eunwoo’s post-examinations party. She thinks she may have accidentally witnessed school council president Im Nayoung and popular transfer student Zhou Jieqiong making out, but in the semi-dark house, she can’t confirm for sure. Regardless, she politely excuses herself from the crowd and awkwardly makes her way towards Eunwoo’s bedroom, squeezing past sweaty bodies and mentally praying that her destination is unoccupied. She knocks the bedroom door loudly, and after waiting for a few good seconds, she turns the doorknob, and luckily for her, there isn’t anyone inside. Heaving a sigh of relief, she scrambles into the bedroom, shutting the door immediately and plopping herself onto the bed.

It feels good to be alone, she thinks, but after fiddling with her phone and scrolling through social media for almost an hour, she’s starting to feel a little bored. She tucks her phone into the back pocket of her denim shorts, and takes a good look around Eunwoo’s room. The girl’s fashionable, she says to herself as her eyes scan the poster-decorated walls and the pile of magazines on her table. Suddenly, her silence is interrupted with a loud thump at the door. She swivels her head around instantly, staring at the door with her eyes widened and her jaw hanging, almost as if a monster would spring in at her any moment.

Kyungwon thinks that the person outside might actually have difficulties entering, because after several attempts at turning the doorknob, the door to Eunwoo’s bedroom remains shut. Kyungwon sighs, and after assuring herself that there will be no monsters to attack her, she strides towards the door, flinging it open, and a body collides with hers.

She feels her back hit the cold marble floor, and with the extra weight of the person on top of her, Kyungwon winces at the tragic fall. She pushes the girl off her as she tumbles to the side, immediately standing up and flattening her shirt.

“What the heck was that?” she whispers, closing the door behind her as the girl on the floor rubs her head, black hair pooling at her shoulders.

“Minkyung?!” Kyungwon exclaims, helping the girl to her feet as she threatens to fall on the other side.

“It’s Kang Kyungwonnie!” Minkyung squeals, her eyes half lidded as she wobbles to the bed, falling to her side with a dramatic plop. Her legs are dangling at the side of the bed as she lies with her arms sprawled on the bed, the dreamy expression still plastered on her face. Kyungwon can’t decide between sighing loudly or rolling her eyes, so she walks over, grabs the heels of Minkyung’s feet, and places them on the bed. Forgetting that it is Eunwoo’s bed Minkyung is lying on, she takes the comforter and tucks Minkyung under it, until she hears the soft, melodious voice uttering her name.

“Kyungwon,” she hears Minkyung murmurs. Her heart almost melts, for no good reason, but the hysterical laughter she hears right after ruins the mood entirely.

“Kyungwon!”

She covers her ears as the other girl continues to laugh, slapping her back occasionally but with full force. It’s starting to sting, Kyungwon thinks, but she keeps her hand around her ears because no way in hell she’ll let them go. After a few good seconds, Minkyung stops laughing, only for her to stare at Kyungwon with two large, brown orbs, as if she’s expecting something. She motions for Kyungwon to come closer, and after the slightest of uncertainty and a hint of hesitation, she does.

“You cannot share this secret,” Minkyung whispers, her soft lips gracing the shell of Kyungwon’s ear, sending a chill down her spine and goose bumps all over her body. “Pinky promise?”

Kyungwon can almost feel her heart racing, hammering against her chest as her palms begin to sweat. She tries to tell herself that Minkyung is drunk, and she’ll probably not remember any of these the next day, but as she looks back at the girl in front of her, with her long, black hair that tickles her exposed collarbones and thin, pink lips that appear innocently enticing, she swallows the lump in and nods. Minkyung smiles, her eyes barely seen and her teeth flashing, and she leans even closer to Kyungwon. Her heart skips a beat.

“Kang Kyungwonnie is a nerd and will never get a girlfriend.”

Before Kyungwon can react, she hears the resounding laughter once again. She blinks, pinches her skin, and makes sure that she’s not the one who’s drunk or dreaming. And, she isn’t. She watches with creased eyebrows and a hanging mouth and Minkyung falls back onto the bed, and she acts before she can even process anything in her mind.

Leaning down on the other girl, her lips are met with Minkyung’s, soft and sweet. The kiss barely lasted three good seconds, before she’s pulling away, her cheeks flushed and her mind hazy. She tries to think, of something, anything, but a pair of arms are wrapped around the back of her neck before she can even do so, lowering her head as the soft pair of lips are moving against hers once again. What happens after that, Kyungwon thinks she still needs a good amount of time before she registers them in her head.

~

Kyungwon sprints into the school compound, dashes up the flight of stairs and makes a beeline to her classroom before the bell rings, signaling the start of the first lesson. I’m not late, she thinks, and dramatically wipes the beads of sweat on her forehead. She cranes her neck to the right like she’d do every morning; but oddly, Minkyung is not in school today. Weird, she thinks to herself. Minkyung might not be especially attentive in class, nor does she do her homework, but she was never one to skip school. And if she were sick, Kyungwon would definitely be the first person she’d notify.

She watches as the homeroom teacher walks into class, and as she reads out the name list and takes note of Minkyung’s absence, Kyungwon’s mind start to wander to the events of the previous day, where they had the party at Eunwoo’s.

~

When Minkyung answers her call, Kyungwon expects a groggy morning voice, or a lazy ignorant voice, or even a shocked “Oh my god I overslept!” voice. What Kyungwon doesn’t expect is to hear Minkyung bawling over the phone, crying about how she’s “screwed everything up.”

“Calm down first,” Kyungwon cups as she talks, afraid that the other commuters in the bus might hear Minkyung’s loud shrieks and wails over the phone, “What happened?”

“W-we broke up,” Minkyung says after a series of sniffles and hiccups.

“We as in-”

“Me and Yebin, you ignorant person!” Minkyung cries out, returning to her previous bawling and Kyungwon can almost picture the other girl throwing herself onto the bed and muffling her voice with the pillow.

“Okay, um, I’ll be reaching your place in fifteen.”

She hangs up immediately after, stuffing her phone into her pocket, because she’d probably have to save up her energy for later.

~

Minkyung never locks her door, no matter how many times Kyungwon tells her to. The door opens easily with a turn of the doorknob, and surprisingly, the house is quiet, with the absence of both Minkyung’s family and her cries.

Kyungwon is starting to get chills, to feel scared, but when she knocks lightly and carefully on Minkyung’s bedroom door, she’s greeted by the owner a second later, her eyes all red and puffy.

“What?” Minkyung snaps, but gestures for Kyungwon to enter the room.

“Are you okay?” Kyungwon tries to pick out her words carefully. “Um, want to talk about it?”

“There’s nothing to talk about,” Minkyung argues back, spinning a pen idly as she sits at the study table. Kyungwon tries not to look at Minkyung, because for the first time since they’ve been friends, Minkyung does look affected by the break up. Normally, it would be her initiating the break up, only mentioning about it after she’s found someone else. But as Kyungwon eyes the trash can, now filled with crumpled pieces of tissue paper, Kyungwon can only conclude that Minkyung really did took her relationship with Yebin seriously.

“Well, um, there are many more people out there who, um, can treat you better,” she stutters, maybe cursing would make her feel better, “And Yebin’s a if she dumped you just like-”

“I was the one who dumped her, actually,” Minkyung says, and Kyungwon has to pause midsentence, process the words, swallows the lump in , and process the words again.

“Why?” she manages to croak, ignoring how stupid she may have sounded. She watches as Minkyung throws her hands in the air, brushes her fingers through her hair and bites down on her lower lip. Kyungwon thinks it’s inappropriate for her to be gawking at her friend and letting bad thoughts run through her mind at the current situation they’re in, but god, Minkyung is hot.

“I don’t know,” Minkyung finally says, snapping Kyungwon out of her reverie. “I just don’t think I like her that much after all.”

Kyungwon looks at Minkyung’s tear stricken face and wants to tell the other girl that she doesn’t make any sense. As if reading her mind, Minkyung snaps her fingers in front of the other girl, clicking her tongue.

“There’s someone else I like,” and Kyungwon frowns, getting more confused with every word that spews out of her friend’s mouth.

“Do you think risks are worth taking?” Minkyung asks randomly, propping her chin with her finger and suddenly the heartbroken girl is gone. Kyungwon thinks, because she’s given a question, and coming up with an answer to a question is much easier than trying to understand Minkyung.

“Yes,” she says, slowly but carefully, “Because with risks, you can expect something better. If you don’t take risks, you’ll never be able to understand things that are out of your comfort zone, and-”

Kyungwon stops as goes dry suddenly. Minkyung is looking at her with eyes the shape of a crescent moon, staring at her with a prolonged gaze so unfamiliar and uncomfortable that Kyungwon fidgets in her seat. What’s weirder is that Minkyung has a smile on her face, not the mischievous grin that she always wears whenever she’s about to pull a prank or to make fun of Kyungwon, but one that is sincere, loving and so captivating that Kyungwon finds herself staring back at her. She shakes her head slightly, and clears .

“What?” she snaps.

“Nothing,” is all Minkyung replies, but her voice is soft and sweet, completely opposite of her usual loud and boisterous tone. For a full minute, Minkyung continues to stare at her with the dreamy expression that Kyungwon can’t quite lay her finger on, so she sits helplessly on the bed, hands awkwardly dangling at her sides as she feels the warmth spreading from the base of her neck to her cheeks and ears. She hears the loud palpitations of her heart, hears the ticking of the clock as every second passes by at an excruciating slow pace, but above everything, she hears what Minkyung says at the end of the full minute, her voice barely above a whisper.

“You’re so beautiful, and I think I’m in love with you.”

~

Kyungwon remembers the first year she spent with Minkyung, awkward and barely significant. 7^th grade was when they first met, when the teacher had paired latecomer Kang Kyungwon with early bird Kim Minkyung. Kyungwon remembers the slight grudge she bore towards Minkyung when the latter ratted her out for being late one of the days, but then again, Kyungwon was never really early. Still, the first impression she had on Kim Minkyung was bad.

Coincidentally, they were placed in the same class again, with Kyungwon having Minkyung as her seatmate, again. The second year commemorating their friendship passed quickly, too, but with Minkyung offering her apology and her promise to never rat out Kyungwon again, her impression on the other girl was a whole lot better than the first year.

Third year was when they started finding out more about each other, and realizing that they live in the same neighborhood. Going home together was one of the things they frequent, and Minkyung would occasionally invite Kyungwon over to her house for lunch. Her impression of Minkyung improved drastically.

Fourth year was when they got separated in terms of classes. Despite that problem, they kept to the routine of going home together, with the rule that the earlier one dismissed would have to stand at the school gate and wait for the other, no matter how long the wait was. Once, Kyungwon fell asleep in class and missed the dismissal time. She paid for dinner that day.

Fifth year was when Minkyung had her first relationship, her first girlfriend. Kyungwon remembers the days when Minkyung would call her in the middle of the night, telling her about how she really, really, really liked this one girl – Im Nayoung, president of the student council. Kyungwon remembers telling Minkyung not to date her, because, well, just because. Minkyung had obviously gone ahead without heeding her advice, and oddly, Kyungwon found it hard to sleep after knowing that Nayoung accepted her request. She did congratulate her, however, the words felt empty.

Sixth year was when Minkyung experienced her first break up, and Kyungwon was with her the entire time after it happened. There is this really cute girl I’d rather go for instead, Minkyung had said, and Kyungwon was partially glad that she didn’t have to witness a tragic breakup like the ones she saw in movies where one party cries till their eyes are bloodshot red.

Seventh year was when Minkyung got out of hand, dating and breaking up with people as if she were changing her clothes. It bothered Kyungwon a little, but she got used to it, because Minkyung never really treated any of them seriously, and somehow that made Kyungwon feel a lot better.

The seventh year entertained Kyungwon a whole lot, with Minkyung ranking the girls she dated based on how well they kissed, and when the descriptions got a little too explicit, Kyungwon found herself doubling over in laughter. It was only a little after the seventh year, Kyungwon found the reason she stuck with Minkyung all this while.

She’s never met someone as optimistic as the other girl. She realizes that she’s only able to smile so widely at school everyday because of Minkyung. She’d sulk in class, groan in frustration when she hears the teacher babble about things she don’t understand, but the moment she steps into the hallway, bumping into Minkyung as if it was planned, she finds herself grinning from ear to ear, and her heart doing somersaults deep inside.

Now, as she interlaces her fingers with the slim ones on her lap, she smiles to herself, feels her cheeks burn and her ears ringing, but suddenly all of those don’t matter anymore. The green grass is blowing gently in the summer breeze, and the stones that she tosses with her other hand are creating ripples on the duck pond, but most importantly, Kim Minkyung is seated next to her, clutching their hands together and leaning her head over, and her world just feels so peaceful and soothing.

“Are you really my girlfriend?” Kyungwon asks, enunciating each word carefully.

“Shhhhh,” Minkyung whispers, and it reminds Kyungwon of the many times she’d made that sound to make sure no one else hears their secret, “Don’t ruin the mood.”

Kyungwon breaks into a fit of giggles, before she realizes that Minkyung is staring back at her, a smug grin on her face.

“What?”

“Nothing,” Minkyung says, her voice dripping with a slight sarcasm that has Kyungwon’s suspicions growing, “It’s just that…” Minkyung leans closer, leaving almost no space between their faces, and Kyungwon’s breath hitches.

“You look so beautiful right now it makes me feel like kissing you.”

Minkyung chortles, covering with the back of her palm, and Kyungwon rolls her eyes at the reference. Before she can open to argue, Minkyung grabs her by the collar of her white blouse, and suddenly she feels the same soft pair of lips on hers.

Minkyung tastes like strawberry, and as Kyungwon leans closer, she smells the flouriest scent coming from her breath, and she knows she would never forget this moment. Minkyung’s lips are warm against her skin as they start to move, reminding her of soft, fluffy pillow and cotton candy. Kyungwon thinks it’ll be horrible to break this moment right now, but as Minkyung’s lips reaches her jaw, tracing the lines of her ear to her collarbone; she starts to giggle, because they sure as hell tickle. She pulls back, and Minkyung frowns at her.

“What?” she snaps, her hands on her hips. Kyungwon knows she’s trying to pretend to be angry, but all she sees is the image of a kid when he or she is denied a candy. She resists the urge to pinch her cheeks.

“Nothing,” Kyungwon says, watching as Minkyung’s frown deepens. She presses a kiss to the top of her forehead, and notices the way Minkyung’s expression changes completely. Her eyes are now twinkling, and she’s fighting the urge not to burst out into the laughter. The wind blows a strand of hair away from her face, and Kyungwon is sure she knows every shape and pattern on Minkyung’s face. Her hair is jet black, flowing in waves to adorn her glowing, porcelain-like skin, and her eyes are framed by long lashes, with full brown orbs that Kyungwon could stare for hours and still not get tired of seeing them. As Minkyung starts to laugh, Kyungwon lets the soft, melodious voice ring in her ears, and she’s never felt luckier. Cupping Minkyung’s face in her hands, she looks into the brown orbs, and whispers, quietly but certainly, “You’re so beautiful, and I’m so in love with you.”

//~//

A/N: Firstly, I’d like to apologize for taking such a long time to update this, since I’ve been busy with college admission stuff. Also, I really enjoyed writing this while waiting for Pristin’s debut. Hope all of you enjoyed it too, and do leave comments!