Asking for love advice probably wasn’t the worst idea, but coming to her friends with it was. 

“Repeating”, Jeongyeon deadpans. “Repeating”, Nayeon agrees, nodding. “Thats the plan? Building up mutual habits and patterns?” Jeongyeon makes two peace signs and bends her knuckles when quoting what Nayeon said confidently earlier. “Just keep annoying her like you already do”, Dahyun nods, too, “She’ll grow attached to you eventually. Like Sana’s snorting, in the beginning I couldn’t stand it, but now? Can’t even fall asleep without it.” 

“I want to be more to Mina than just an annoyance, Dahyun”, Jeongyeon groans. 

(“I snort?”, Sana asks Dahyun, and Dahyun is suddenly utterly interested in her fingernails.) 

“I dont think thats possible”, Nayeon frowns, “you’re kind of a pain in the .” Jeongyeon throws a bag after her. 

Jihyo - the only one giving the issue the appropriate thought - smiles at Jeongyeon encouragingly. “Doesn’t hurt to try it, does it?” 

Jeongyeon doesn’t think so - it comes from Nayeon and Dahyun, after all -, but in the end she doesn’t have any other options. 

She wishes she had. 

Mina’s face when Jeongyeon sits down next to her without a word of explanation during lunch is priceless. Jeongyeon would have probably laughed if she wasn’t so nervous and, well, if it wasn’t the ethereal, smart, graceful Myoui Mina. She gulps - her knuckles, clasping her meal tray, turn white – and then starts eating. Her hands are shaking. She tries to focus on the dull lettuce she’s chewing, but the only thing she can sense is Mina’s glimpse burning on her skin. 

“You’re Yoo Jeongyeon from literature class, right?”, Mina eventually says - states - and Jeongyeon almost chokes on her food, trying to answer as quickly as possible. 

“Yes, we also have Math together, but it’s no wonder you didn’t remember, I sit in the back and because of that I have to wear my glasses, my friend Chaeyoung- do you know her? She’s an underclassman, but I think she’s known for her art and stuff.. oh, anyway, she says I look like a whole different person with my glasses because they’re kind of old fashioned and round, but I think they’re still very pretty, do you want to see them?” 

Mina blinks once, obviously overwhelmed with Jeongyeon basically spouting words, and Jeongyeon can feel the burning heat of embarrassment crawling up her neck.

Great job, , now she thinks you’re a loser.

“Sure”, Mina answers, sounding anything but sure, and Jeongyeon panics for a second because she forgot what she asked - being too busy scolding herself - and then she fishes her glasses out of bag. (She takes her time so her face can cool down a bit. It must be as red as the ketchup besides Mina’s French fries.)

“Here they are.” She puts her hand out, clearing her dry, so dry throat, and Mina takes them with caution. She looks at them for a moment and then gives them back.

Jeongyeon suddenly realizes that she probably didn’t know what to look at - it’s just a ing pair of glasses - and her embarrassment reaches its .

“Thank you for sitting with me today, Yoo Jeongyeon, but I have to go now”, Mina says, her voice as quiet as usually, and yet it rings loud in Jeongyeon’s mind. She bows her head quickly in her direction - Jeongyeon’s face flushes even more - and walks out of the cafeteria before Jeongyeon can say anything (something along the lines of “Wait”, “I love you” or “I’m sorry for being a creep”).

Jeongyeon stares into the air for a second (processing the whole scene) before burying her face in her hands.

She was so going to jump off a cliff.

(Needless to say, she was never going to take advice from Nayeon ever again.)

(This statement doesn’t include her other friends.)

While her friends are having fun, Jeongyeon sits in a corner, alone, and sulking. Why did she think talking to her was an good idea? She should have just ignored her in classes.

Why, why, why?

Momo jumps next to her, sitting down on the couch. “Are you still pouting?”

“No”, Jeongyeon grumbles.

“Come on, I’m sure it wasn’t that bad.”

“You’re right, it was even worse than that”, she scoffs. Momo nudges her - more or less gently. “Wanna hear a tip?”

“Not really, no.”

“You always have to be the first.”

“What?”

“When she falls, you have to be there to catch her. When she’s sad, you have to comfort her. Make her need you. With that, she’s going to fall for you in no time.”

Jeongyeon frowns. “Who are you to give me date advice? You have zero.”

“I dated!”

“Who?”

“I made out with Nayeon once, remember?”

“That’s not what dating is, Momo.”

But despite her mocking words, Jeongyeon is convinced.

(This was probably going to be another bad decision.)

The next days, Jeongyeon watches Mina. Of course, she doesn’t want something bad to happen to her, but it would be a good chance to act like - damn, she doesn’t know - a prince, maybe? (Sana said girls like to be taken care of, but Jeongyeon doesn’t trust her when it comes to an opportunity to expose Jeongyeon’s inner loser or, to be straight, to make her die from embarrassment.)

When the chance pops up, Jeongyeon almost s up, but she gives herself an C for the overall act.

Mina trips and falls to her knees - Jeongyeon didn’t know Momo meant the falling part literally -, and Jeongyeon hurries to help her up-

And slips, too.

Mina looks at her for a second, already half on her feet. “Did you fall on purpose so I wouldn’t feel bad?”, she asks, her cheeks pink, and Jeongyeon reddens, too.

“Uh, I wanted to help you and-”, she stops herself. “Yeah, that was totally the plan.” She hears a light chuckle and is already close to jump on her feet to fight whoever the is laughing about them when she realizes it’s Mina. “Thank you, I appreciate it”, she says, covering with her hand and Jeongyeon is both really amazed and overwhelmed - because she just made the ethereal, smart, graceful Myoui Mina laugh and , she’s cute when she smiles that way. It’s the kind of the smile Jeongyeon wants to see every single minute of every single day in her life.

“No problem”, she squeaks, and in the end Mina helps her up because her knees are suddenly made out of jelly and she can’t move at all. “See you in class, Yoo Jeongyeon”, Mina says, still chuckling. Jeongyeon widely grins at her and they stay like this for a moment, until they both part their ways. Jeongyeon brushes her left hand, where Mina touched her, with her right index finger. She’s is flying, floating, free. Her heart is light and her smile bigger than ever. (Chaeyoung tells her that she looks like an lovestruck idiot, but she doesn’t care.)

Her relationship - if you can call it that way - with Mina is finally evolving, and she hopes Mina can forget her awful first impression.

Slowly, literature and math become her favorite subjects, even though she doesn’t spend any attention to them.

Jeongyeon really, really wants to sit next to Mina, but she has found friends that now surround her whenever she’s alone, even if it’s just for a second. (Jeongyeon is glad Mina has someone she’s close with, but why can’t she become close with her, too?)

So she just glares at Mina when she can, wondering how a single person can be this pretty.

(She doesn’t notice that Mina turns her head in Jeongyeon’s direction from time to time.)

This time, Mina isn’t baffled when Jeongyeon sits down on her table. Or rather, their table - her new friends are right next to her, eyeing Jeongyeon with confusion.

(Jeongyeon can understand that, after all, Mina has probably never even looked at yet mentioned her. They must think she’s crazy.)

“Hi”, she smiles, and even though it’s a shy one, Jeongyeon is melting. “Guys, this is Yoo Jeongyeon. This is Lisa”, a girl whose hair-ends are dyed in neon green waves at Jeongyeon, “that’s Mint”, the small girl smiles brightly, “and this is Sorn.” Sorn has a small, cute face and makes a peace sign before giggling. Jeongyeon greets them, suddenly shy rather than brave. “How did you guys meet?”

“There is a schedule for foreigners so we can get to know Korean culture better”, Lisa says.

“Yes, we met Minari there”, Mint adds with a cute accent, stressing each syllable of her nickname for Mina. Jeongyeon nods, unsure if their relationship is stable enough for her to tease Mina about the pet name. (She wants to, though!)

She tangles her phone out of her pocket when it starts ringing and answers it. “Yes?”

(In the meanwhile Sorn asks “Minari” how Jeongyeon and her met, and Mina struggles to answer. She also blushes. Jeongyeon doesn’t notice.)

"What are you doing, you idiot?”, Nayeon’s voice snarls directly into her ear. She can hear Sana laughing in the distance. “Hah? What do you-”

“Get that girl’s number! Make up an excuse to leave and then smoothly transition to something like ‘Hey, I just noticed I’ve lost my number, can I have yours?’”

Jeongyeon scoffs, forgetting that four to six people are watching her (she’s not sure if Nayeon and Sana do, but Mina and her friends sure glare at her). “Get lost”, Jeongyeon mumbles into her phone before hanging up. “Everything alright?”, Lisa asks politely. “Yeah, uh, sorry, need to go. Catch up on school. Didn’t spend lot of attention at class today.”

“Yeah, I noticed, you were staring at M-”, Mint starts but ends up muffling since Sorn quickly put her hand on .

Mina blinks.

Jeongyeon knows she’s practically a genius, but still hopes she doesn’t figure, can’t put one and one together because if Mina notices that Jeongyeon has a massive, stunning crush on her she will literally die from embarrassment.

(Jeongyeon is bothered by the presence of Mina’s friends, she thinks it’s just an introverted thing, but without the typical signs of it, her heart and stomach act up, but it’s in a different way. When she tries to explain it to Sana and Momo, they just share a glance with each other. “Maybe you should try to avoid her for a while”, Sana suggested, nose crunched, and Momo continues:“ So she’ll miss you.” Jeongyeon, however, decided not to do that, mainly because she simply cannot. Mina has become a part of her daily life. The world is uninteresting and dull and bland without her and she can’t live like that anymore.)

“How is it going?” Chaeyoung asks, obviously bored, and lays her head on Jeongyeon’s shoulder, trying to read the book that’s opened in Jeongyeon’s lap. “With Mina? Great!”, she beams and turns her head to Chaeyoung. “I think sitting together at lunch became our habit now. Like, when I was sick the other day she even asked Sana where I was. And she’s really shy! I think we are really getting to know each other. Getting warm with each other.”

“That’s cool and everything, but, uh, I was asking about you studying, Jeongyeon.”

“Oh.”

“But I’m glad it’s working out for you”, Chaeyoung lets go of her and sits down on the chair next to her, running her hand through her hair. “Though I think you’re lacking in romantic actions. Poor girl probably thinks you just want to be her friend in a very desperate way and not that you want to get in her pants.” Jeongyeon scoffs. “I’m not trying to get into her pants, Chaeyoung.” (At least, she wasn’t for now.) “Also, what do you mean with ‘romantic actions’? Everything I did so far was pretty romantic.”

“I’m just saying you should show your love better. Buy her flowers, make her some genuine compliments, take her out. That kinda stuff.“

Jeongyeon gets goosebumps.

Love, huh?

She isn’t sure if she loves Mina.

Love is a grave word and Jeongyeon isn’t one to play lightly.

She wants to, though, because loving Mina sounds magical, as magical as Mina herself is, and Jeongyeon has always been the type to believe in some this big, this great.

“Mina”, Jeongyeon starts almost immediately when Mina sits down in front of her (today her friends aren’t with her, and Jeongyeon’s clique accepted a dozen lunchtimes ago that Jeongyeon wasn’t sitting with them anymore).

“Yes, Yoo Jeongyeon?”, Mina asks, smiling lightly, and it turns Jeongyeon’s fluttering heart as light. Everyone else would have made it sound too polite, too dull, but when Mina calls her by her full name, it gives it an almost teasing vibe, something she isn’t known for, but it only gives Mina yet another side Jeongyeon is amazed of.

The ethereal, smart, graceful Myoui Mina has turned into her funny, clever, lovely friend, and it’s even better than before.

As the leafs begin to turn into deep red, pale yellow and strong brown - the colors she associates with Mina, they’re livid yet calm, warm yet cold, pretty in the traditional sense but also in a deeper one only few can guess - her attraction turns into a spark that’s soon to be ignited by her feelings for her.

It’s a dumb thing to say and incredibly, awfully, terribly cheesy, but once Jeongyeon realizes she does, she falls all at once. Mina is now one of her closest friends, if not her favorite person, and Jeongyeon only avoids thinking that because it’s scary how much she suddenly means to her, always meant since their first meeting, just in another way now.

The advice her friends gave her along her way - “Be always there for her”, Dahyun told her, and Jihyo said that she always had to see right through her - naturally became her way of thinking as she wants to take care of Mina well, wants to protect her and wants to make sure no one or nothing will ever, ever harm her.

She  doesn’t make her presents often, though, because she knows Mina wouldn’t appreciate bought stuff as much as hand picked flowers, self-made chocolate, a necklace with a heart shaped locket for a picture Mina can choose. (She doesn’t know what Mina put in. She hopes it’s a picture of her.)

“Where do you live?” Mina blinks, and then makes a movement with her hands as if she would draw a rainbow in the air. “In the moment.”

Jeongyeon stares at her for a second before bursting out in laughter. Mina’s expression changes from deadpanned to smug because her joke worked. “Really didn’t expect that, Myoui”, Jeongyeon grins. It’s adoring to see parts of her own personality in Mina’s, and she noticed that some of Mina’s characteristics were added to her own. They’re complementing each other in a nice way that keeps Jeongyeon warm at night.

Mina smiles widely, her eyes almost disappearing. From all of Mina’s smiles, this is probably Jeongyeon’s favorite. (Just kidding. All of them are her favorites. She could never choose.)

“My parents own a house in Gangnam”, Mina says when they both calmed down. “What about you?” She doesn’t brag, just states, there’s no pride in her voice.

(Jeongyeon loves it, but she loves everything Mina does, so it probably doesn’t really matter.)

“I live with my older sister in Seocho”, Jeongyeon hums. Mina looks like she wants to ask further - the way she blinks and gazes more intensely and her chest rises -, but in the end, she doesn’t.

“Do you want to stay at my place at the weekend?”

Jeongyeon hears herself asking - she doesn’t know why she chose to do so, but it happened instinctively. Maybe it’s because she wants to be closer, even closer to Mina - so close they will ask each other right away when they want to know something. No, she’s sure this is it.

Mina looks at her, eyes soft. “I’d love to, Yoo Jeongyeon.”

Jeongyeon is nervous, which is something she hasn’t felt in a while. Not with Mina.

“Let’s play a game.” Jeongyeon glares at Mina when she lays her index finger on her lips, acting like she is thinking about declining the offer (even though both know she wouldn’t. At least not without a reason).

“What are the rules?”

They sit on Jeongyeon’s floor, leaning against a wall that’s covered in photos from Jeongyeon and her friends, sometimes selcas with her sister.

(Jeongyeon is proud that Mina likes - loves - her room. She knows that because 1. she sees the glowing in Mina’s eyes when she first entered and 2. because she told her herself. Almost in those words.)

“I ask a question and you need to answer as honest as you can. Then it’s your turn.”

“That’s just talking”, Mina laughs, and Jeongyeon grins. She cannot not when she’s with her.

“It’s a game to get know someone’s desires and stuff! So, Myoui Mina, when was your first kiss?”

“Oh, it’s that kind of game? Jeongyeon!” She gives her a light slap on the wrist, gasping, but smiling right after so Jeongyeon doesn’t think she’s serious.

“So? Remember, you need to be honest.” Jeongyeon tangles her hand with Mina’s, with caution, because they were never really the touchy type of people ; but suddenly, if it’s Mina, Jeongyeon wants to touch her more than everything. Wants to know what her hair smells like and wants to know if her lips are as soft as they look like.

Mina squeezes Jeongyeon’s hand and it sends a jolt down her spine. “My first kiss, huh?” She stares in the air, thinking about it, and then says:“Last year of middle school.”

"With who?”, it slips from Jeongyeon’s tongue before she can stop it, and Mina smiles.

“Isn’t it my turn?”

Jeongyeon puckers her lips.

“Yeah. What do you want to know?”

“How many…”, Mina hesitates, “boyfriends did you have?” Jeongyeon glares at her. Mina’s voice flattered when saying the word “boyfriends”, and she’s sure she’s interpreting it the right way. Suddenly, Jeongyeon feels incredibly confident. She has to suppress the everlasting smile that always comes up when Mina’s there.

“I had a girlfriend last year”, she says softly. Mina’s mouth turns into an implied “o”. When Jeongyeon turns her head to the side she can swear she can see Mina smiling to herself, but when she looks at her again, it’s gone (but it stayed in her eyes for she could tell).

“Who stole your first kiss, Myoui Mina?”, Jeongyeon asks, whispers, she can feel her voice vibrating in . “I don’t even remember her name”, Mina mutters, voice unusually husky. Jeongyeon’s heart starts to beat faster, wants to escape the its ribcage and be with Mina’s forever. They’re definitely blurring the line now. If she tried to grab the electric air, she could.

They stay like this for a little while and no one can really disturb them. Mina’s thumb idly brushes over Jeongyeon’s index finger, there is no need for any words.

Jeongyeon realizes that she’s fine if it’s just the two of them, eternally, and even if that amount of time sounds awfully long, Jeongyeon doesn’t mind spending it with

Mina. At all.

“Yoo Jeongyeon?”, Mina asks, breaking the silence, but it doesn’t feel like a sharp cut, rather than dipping something in honey, because that’s what Mina’s voice right now is like - sweet and slow and almost sacred.

“Yes, Myoui Mina?”, Jeongyeon stares at her lips, trying not to, but she couldn’t suppress it if she tried, anyway.

“Do you have a crush on someone?”

Mina’s voice became stronger with every word and Jeongyeon loves it. It means that Mina is overcoming her shyness, that they become closer. If her funny, clever, lovely friend Myoui Mina can be brave, Jeongyeon can be, too.

“Yeah”, she says, almost choking on her words because they want to go, go, go, break out of her heart, “do you?”

“Yes”, Mina breathes out, and Jeongyeon knows they’re experiencing the same thing right now. “I do.”

Mina hesitates for a second, but it doesn’t matter because Jeongyeon knows what she’s going to ask and she’s bracing herself to answer.

“Who do you l-”

Seungyeon tears open the door and Jeongyeon and Mina jump apart, untangling their fingers. Mina looks like a deer facing a car’s light. Jeongyeon isn’t sure if she wants to faint or slap her sister for interrupting them like that. “Um, the pizza arrived”, she says, at least looking appropriately sheepish. Jeongyeon nods, killing Seungyeon with her eyes until she closes the door behind her. Mina stays silent and Jeongyeon stands up, offering Mina her hand ; she takes it immediately. But the spell is broken and they share an unusual tensed silence while eating.

The evening fades and makes space for the night, and they sleep next to each other, side to side, and when Jeongyeon wakes up, the first thing she sees is Mina’s face, looking peaceful, and it makes her calm. She stares at Mina’s nose, lips and jaw line, and when her eyes open, fluttering, she panics, but doesn’t look away because she wants Mina to know how much she adores her. They’re passing the phase where they’re denying their feelings slowly ; at least Jeongyeon thinks that - she’s sure her crush is mutual. She isn’t the type to get blinded, she can see the signals Mina’s sending her, she isn’t just hoping Mina likes her.

Then why does she feel they’ve hit a low point with delaying that conversation (confession)?

It’s the first time since weeks they don’t sit next to each other and Jeongyeon is close to a break down. Mina isn’t in the cafeteria - hasn’t been in school all day -, and she can’t think about anyone else.

"Where’s Mina?”, Tzuyu asks, chewing her noodles. “She must be ill”, Jeongyeon responds, sounding pressed.

Tzuyu nods, and then asks:“ Have you already told her you love her?” Jeongyeon isn’t eating - too anxious, she wouldn’t get one bite down -, but she still chokes on her saliva.

“What?”, she splutters, waving her hand in front of her face so it’ll go from red to its normal color.

“You love her, right? You should always show your love well”, Tzuyu says, frowning.

Jeongyeon glares at her when she calmed down. To her, Tzuyu is still a child, mainly because she takes what she wants. Not in a selfish way, but she doesn’t think about what people could think, she just takes the risks.

“Yeah”, Jeongyeon says, kind of amazed by the conclusion she got into herself, “I love her.”

“Don’t give up, Unnie”, she answers, focusing again on her food. “Take the step.”

When Mina opens the door and looks at Jeongyeon standing in front of her, it awfully feels like their first official meeting. According to Mina’s smile, not only Jeongyeon thought about it. “Hi, Myoui”, she says, grinning. Her anxiety is flaking off slowly, she’s been never relaxed like this with anyone else. Only Mina has this influence on her and she loves it.

“What are you doing here, Yoo Jeongyeon?”, she asks, leaning against the door. Jeongyeon lifts her bag. “Mind if I stay over?”

It’s the same situation as the one last week, but it’s also completely different. Mina’s parents are gone, so they have the whole house - actually, it’s a villa - for themselves. Because it’s late (the stars came out a long time ago, Jeongyeon is just glad she didn’t disturb Mina) Mina suggests they go straight to sleep after dinner.

When they were at Jeongyeon’s they ate pizza on the couch while watching a Chinese movie both didn’t understand, and it was comfortable and chill and calming.

Now, as they are at Mina’s, they sit at a long table with candles and eat something the Myoui’s private chef (they have their own cook) made for them. It gives Jeongyeon family vibes - like they lived together and had their routine, and both ways just felt so right. Everything feels right with Mina, no matter what they’re doing, when they’re together it just clicks and fits like they’re a puzzle with the solution included.

“Hey, Jeongyeon”, Mina whispers. “Are you awake?”

It’s dark in Mina’s room, the only source of light comes from the small gap from the slightly opened door. “Yeah”, Jeongyeon whispers back.

“Want to continue that ask game?”

Jeongyeon can’t suppress a smile. “Would love to”, she mutters, carefully trying to reach for Mina’s waist so she knows where she’s laying. Mina comes a bit closer and now Jeongyeon can see her vaguely. She looks stunning in the soft light (when does she not?).

“It was your turn, right?”, she teases when Mina doesn’t speak up immediately, and Mina snorts (it’s very cute and Jeongyeon melts).

“Who do you like, Yoo Jeongyeon?”

Jeongyeon has never been particularly what they call brave. She may doesn’t look like it, but she’s more the shy and - it hurts admitting it - cowardly type. How often did she have to stop Nayeon jumping down from the climbing scaffold when they grew up, always without the courage to do it herself?

However, Yoo Jeongyeon believes Myoui Mina changed her.

And if she hasn’t, her desire to confess is big enough for Jeongyeon’s courage to reach its maximum.

(Well, almost. She still doesn’t dare to say it. Rather, she-)

Jeongyeon takes Mina’s face in her hands, leans forward and finally kisses Mina, and it’s the best feeling ever.

Mina kisses her back - almost as if she foresaw and solely waited for her to take the step -, and Jeongyeon can feel Mina smiling and she wants to spend the rest of her live like this, with Mina, just kissing the love of her life, because honestly, that’s what Mina is for her. And Jeongyeon has no time to lose so she tells her, tells her that she loves her and did since months and Mina chuckles and says that she fell for her months ago, too, and Jeongyeon can’t help but smile and Mina smiles too and they’re in love.

Jeongyeon loves Mina and Mina loves Jeongyeon and everything is alright.

They’ve come a long way, awkward strangers to close, close friends. A spark that eventually led into fire, and it wasn’t like the love stories in movies, books, comics, it wasn’t a big firework from the start, and honestly, it’s even better this way.

They’re ablaze and Jeongyeon loves it.