It happens on a Wednesday night when Moonbyul is out drinking with Wheein, wallowing in the sorrows of her supposedly unrequited love for

“Light of my life, sun of my stars, my vitamin Solar!” Wheein swoons, exaggeratedly scrunching her nose and squeezing her face into a triangle shape.

Moonbyul swats at the younger girl as her cheeks color from more than just the alcohol. “Shut up! I’m not like that…”

Wheein picks up the last chicken skewer and smirks. “That’s exactly what you’re like. Hyejin-ie has all those lines you’ve said recorded. Actually, I think your ‘vitamin Solar’ is her text tone for Yongsunnie.”

“What.” Moonbyul sighs and glares at the table. “Why is Hyejin so mean to me…”

Wheein smiles and pats her shoulder. “You make it easy unnie.”

Moonbyul sits up suddenly, putting both fists on the table and the movement makes Wheein jump back with belated surprise. “I can’t go on like this!”

A pause.

“Like…being a -monkey?” Wheein asks.

“No! Well, yes that, but I mean about Vitamin Solar – I mean, Yongsun.”

Wheein giggles at her stutter and puts down the bare skewer she’d been chewing on. “Did you have too many glasses already?” Her own face has a decent flush on it, and she knows they’re both close to their limits. But…

“It’s the weekend. There’s no such thing as too many.” Moonbyul declares and she pours herself and Wheein both a shot. She holds it up and gives a toast to her own miserable gay . Wheein follows en suite.

When she sets her glass back down a woman is sitting at their table.

Moonbyul blinks. Wheein blinks. The woman smiles. Moonbyul swears this woman is somehow familiar.

“Um-“

“Sorry to interrupt,” the mysterious lady cuts Moonbyul off, “I just happened to overhear some intense heartache happening over here.” She turns her attention fully to Moonbyul and stares into her eyes.

Wheein isn’t drunk enough that this isn’t incredibly strange, but she’s definitely drunk enough to sit back and watch how this is going to play out.

Moonbyul, though, feels like she’s getting dizzier by the second, between the alcohol spreading through her system and gazing into this stranger’s familiar eyes. She goes for Moonbyul’s hand that’s still wrapped around the shot glass and uncurls it so that she can trace her fingers over the wrinkles in Moonbyul’s palm. The stranger never breaks eye contact, and then she speaks, light as a feather.

“You’re Moon Byulyi, right?”

Moonbyul feels a jolt from her palm electrify her body and her heart skips a beat. Suddenly, she feels all numb.

This sets off enough warning bells in Wheein head. She doesn’t know what this woman did, if she’s got some weird hypnotic pheromones and reads minds or something, but she knows Moonbyul’s full name and now her senior looks stupid. Well, more stupid than usual.

She stands up and grabs Moonbyul’s hand out of the stranger’s. “Unnie, I think it’s time for us to go back. We have a brunch date with everyone tomorrow remember?”

Moonbyul finally snaps out of it, but she still feels heavy, mentally and physically. “Yeah. Yes. Um…” She looks at the woman who still hasn’t taken her eyes off her and gives her a slight bow, just out of confusion. “Uhh, goodbye.”

The stranger smiles and finally breaks her gaze, looking between Wheein and Moonbyul. “Shall I send you two home?”

“That’s okay.” Wheein scrunches her brow. “We’re fine enough to walk and you’re a little weird.”

The woman quirks an eyebrow and shrugs as they stumble away from the table and out the flaps of the food tent.

A fryer boy walks over to the table with a small paper in his hands. “So…are you picking up their tab?”

The woman’s smile drops.

“Wheein that was a little rude to say.”

Wheein snorts and elbows Moonbyul’s arm, making her stumble. “Whatever. She was a little rude when she just sat down without asking. And when she eavesdropped on our conversation. And when she grabbed your hand. And when she started hexing you.”

Moonbyul pauses under a streetlamp and tilts her head. She still feels a little hot. “Hexing me?”

Wheein wheels around and puts her hands on her hips, but she spins too fast and ends up grabbing the wall. “Yeah. She was like, using her spells to try and seduce you. It was happening right in front of me.”

“And somehow I didn’t notice her magic powers.” Moonbyul chuckles. “I wouldn’t mind some love spells right now.”

“You’re lucky I was there to keep you faithful. Speaking of, you said you wanted to do something about your pining,” Moonbyul groans at the word, “Why not just tell Yongsunnie?”

Pop.

“I don’t know. I’m scared.” She looks at the moths fluttering around the streetlight.

Pop.

“She’s so important to me Wheein, I think…if I were to lose her over this, I might really die.”

Pop.

She smiles when she sees the moths plink into the light and bounce back, confused, only to round back directly into the bulb, repeatedly crashing like they’re addicted.

Pop.

“I guess I love her too much.”

Pop pop.

Wheein stares in slack-jawed awe. “U-unnie, I can see your love leaking out.”

Moonbyul looks back at Wheein and pulls a face. “Okay, sorry for sharing.”

“No, there’re actually hearts coming out of you.”

“What? Wheein you’re not that drunk.”

“I’m not! They’re there, turn around.”

Moonbyul rolls her eyes but turns to entertain Wheein. Sure enough, there were hearts floating behind her. Wheein could be so ridicu-

“WHAT?!” She doesn’t believe her eyes. Wheein reaches past her and grabs for one of the hearts. It’s palm-sized, round, and a little squishy.

“Holy , it’s warm…”

“You’re saying this thing came out of me?”

“Yeah,” Wheein released the heart back in the air and it floats towards Moonbyul. “They just popped out when you were talking about Yongsunnie.”

At the mention of her name, Moonbyul hears a ‘pop pop’ and there are more of them around her now. Wheein claps in wonder. “Woooow, our Byulie-unnie, a heart factory.”

Moonbyul slaps her cheeks and stares at the little hearts floating lightly in front of her. “Wheein you’re drunk. I must be more drunk than I thought too. This can’t be real.”

“No unnie,” Wheein grabs a heart again and gives it a good squish. “Maybe you actually got hexed.”