If Yerin had been sulking when she hadn’t been able to see SinB for a few days, she wasn’t sure what to call what she was doing now. Umji had dryly labeled it as “brooding” when they’d been studying together the other day.

Yerin had been avoiding SinB, and SinB had been avoiding Yerin for going on twelve days… Not that Yerin was counting. Except she definitely was because she was drowning in guilt for lashing out at SinB for no other reason than being petty and jealous.

Yerin had explained the situation to the girls the following Monday, after SinB had left the group for dance practice without so much as a glance at Yerin. She knew what she’d done was wrong but seeing her friends’ disappointed faces made her feel even worse.

“Have you tried apologizing?” Yuju asked gently.

While a valid question, Yerin could only laugh hollowly. “If you haven’t noticed, SinB is acting like she might catch the plague from me if she even looks in my direction.”

“So what?” Eunha scoffed. “That’s just an excuse not to own up to your mistake, Yerin-unnie. We all know if you actually asked SinB-ssi to talk, she’d agree.”

“It’s easy to think SinB-ah is so cool and tough,” Umji added, “but she really does have a warm heart.”

Yerin had remembered the way SinB had dropped everything, including kissing her, to go help Umji that night in her room. She sighed and assured the girls she’d apologize soon; she even promised when Sowon had given her an all too knowing stare that said she knew Yerin was bluffing. Still, she fervently promised she’d apologize.

It wasn’t easy though.

When she said SinB had been avoiding her, she meant only seeing her with the other girls as buffers and stopping her visits to the cafe entirely. Or so she thought. She’d been talking to Joy one shift when Joy had admitted SinB still came in, just on days she knew Yerin wasn’t working, and when she did, it was usually with Eunseo.

This left Yerin where she was now– lost, upset, and dying to just talk to SinB.

She was working at the cafe, half-heartedly wiping down tables when Sejeong walked up beside her. She didn’t even look at her, assuming she was just picking up cups. Instead, she found a slip of paper in front of her face with Source’s address scribbled on it.

“Why are you giving me this?” Yerin asked as she plucked it out of Sejeong’s hand.

Sejeong smiled. “Chungha-yah told me they’re having a lockdown tonight at the studio. Everyone will be there, including SinB-ssi. At nine, they’ll be in the parking lot doing some group activity. Chungha-yah asked for you to show up. Go talk to her.”

There was no questioning which her she was talking about. “Sejeong-ssi…”

“Yah, here I am helping you with your love life and you’re still calling me Sejeong-ssi?”

Yerin laughed a little. “Just this once I’ll call you this. Thank you, Sejeong-ah.”

Sejeong just squeezed her shoulder and said, “Just get your girl, yeah?”

After work, Yerin had to stay back again to do last minute cleaning and make sure everything was ready to go for the next day. Then she cleaned herself up a bit, fixing her hair and making sure she didn’t have any coffee stains on her clothes. She started walking over to Source, trying to figure out what she was going to say. Of course, she’d apologize, but should she also confess? Everything seemed like a mess. Just a few weeks ago, Yerin was sure she liked SinB and that the attraction was mutual. Now? She wasn’t sure if SinB would even want to talk to her again, especially since she apparently had Eunseo.

All thoughts of Eunseo flew from her mind though when Yerin heard an all too familiar and lovable laugh. She never thought she’d feel so anxious from hearing SinB laugh, but as she approached Source, she felt like she’d just swallowed her heart.

Just like Sejeong had said, a group of dancers were all laughing and doing some sort of team-building exercise. Yerin wasn’t sure how to approach SinB, so she lingered by some nearby trees. Thankfully Chungha saw her and nodded knowingly.

“SinB-ssi!” Chungha called.

SinB suddenly appeared in Yerin’s sight, and Yerin felt her heart clench painfully. She looked happy. She was dressed casually in pajamas pants and a baggy t-shirt, hair tied back in a ponytail. “Yeah, Chungha-unnie?”

“I ordered some pizza. Could you grab it for me? The delivery guy is waiting by those trees. I think we scared him a bit because I got a call saying he wasn’t sure he was at the right place,” Chungha laughed. Oh, she was a really good actress. “It’s already paid for and everything, but I thought I’d stay and keep an eye on these rascals.”

“Sure, unnie.”

Suddenly faced with SinB walking toward her, Yerin began to panic. She looked around as if she could actually find a place to hide, only to trip over some roots just as SinB walked up. Falling on her face right at SinB’s feet wasn’t what Yerin had in mind when she came to apologize.

“Yerin-unnie?”

Yerin couldn’t find it in herself to stand back up, feeling aches and scrapes all over her body. Instead, she rolled onto her back to see SinB’s upside down face staring down at her in disbelief. “I’m so sorry, SinB-ah.”

SinB crossed her arms. “For tripping over some tree roots and crashing my dance studio’s lock-in?”

“Actually, Chungha-ssi invited me,” Yerin couldn’t help but point out. Upon seeing SinB’s unamused face, she quickly continued, “No, not that, though I am sorry I had to resort to this.” Wincing as she did so, Yerin forced herself to her feet to truly look at SinB. “What I am sorry for is getting mad at you that one day when you were only worried at me. You didn’t deserve what I said to you, especially since none of it was your fault. It was mine.”

SinB seemed fairly placated by the apology, but she still looked confused. “I accept your apology. I forgive you even, but I just don’t understand why you were so upset. You were fine when I first got to the cafe.”

Here was the hard part. Yerin had to look away from SinB, moving her gaze to stare at the gnarled roots that had tripped her. “I was… jealous.”

“Jealous of what?”

“More like who,” Yerin sighed. “I was jealous of Eunseo-ssi.”

Yerin was surprised when hands cupped her face, guiding her to look back at SinB. She stopped breathing for a moment when she realized SinB had gotten much closer than before, barely a foot between them.

“Why were you jealous of Eunseo-yah?” SinB asked intensely, softly, almost desperately.

“She’s so close to you. You smile so easily around her… She touches you and you don’t whine and try to move away. There’s something so true between the two of you. I watched the two of you for hours until you left. All I could think was that I wished that was me with you,” Yerin confessed. She closed her eyes in embarrassment, feeling her entire body flush at the truth. She waited for SinB to say something, but nothing happened.

Just as Yerin opened her eyes to see what SinB was doing, she felt SinB press her lips to hers in a chaste kiss. In the midst of her surprise, Yerin nearly forgot to kiss back, barely remembering to when SinB pulled away.

“You’re such an idiot,” SinB practically said into Yerin’s mouth.

Still dazed from the kiss, Yerin could only nod. “Yes, I am.”

SinB laughed and pulled Yerin back in for another kiss.

This time Yerin was prepared. She met SinB’s lips readily, savoring the feel of their lips gliding over each other. She wrapped her arms around SinB’s waist at first, only for her hands to wander up and down her back lazily. Yerin felt like she could do this forever. She kissed SinB a bit more passionately, pleased that her open-mouthed kisses were welcomed eagerly. Lost in the feeling, Yerin’s hand absent-mindedly reached down and squeezed SinB’s . SinB startled at the touch and accidentally bit down on Yerin’s lower lip.  

Yerin yelped and pulled away, trying to ignore the fact that SinB’s lips were swollen. She tried to say something, but SinB wasn’t done yet. She leaned back in and gave the lip she’d just bitten a gentle before pressing a final kiss to Yerin’s lips.

“Wow,” was all Yerin could think to say, making SinB giggle. “I should’ve confessed a long time ago.”

SinB giggled harder and playfully shoved at her shoulder. “Yeah, you should’ve. You’re made of mixed signals.”

“Me!” Yerin scoffed. “How about you?”

“I was always flirting with you! You’d just blush, but then you suddenly started flirting back, and then you stopped talking to me for like two weeks!” SinB countered.

Yerin paused. Okay, maybe she had a point. She pouted and used aegyo. “Yerin-unnie is sorry, TinB-ah,” she said, wrapping her arms back around SinB’s waist. “Forgive me?”

“I could be persuaded,” SinB said, trying to act aloof only to dissolve into her usual laughter. “Come here, unnie.” She kissed Yerin again, this time more confidently, and Yerin could feel her knees wobble at the sensation.

Before they could get much further, a new voice commented dryly, “How’s that pizza, SinB-ssi?”

The girls sprang apart to see Chungha watching them with folded arms and an amused grin. “Oh don’t stop on my account,” Chungha teased. “I just came to tell SinB-ssi that we’re about to head back in.”

“O-oh,” SinB stammered, the most flustered Yerin has ever seen her with bright red cheeks and zero eye contact. “W-we, um I mean, I-I will be there in a second, Ch-Chungha-unnie.” It wasn’t until Chungha nodded and walked away that SinB relaxed and let out a sigh of relief. When she heard Yerin giggling at her embarrassment, she shoved her gently. “Yah, watch it. Chungha-unnie is like an older sister to me nowadays. I never needed to be caught making out by her.”

Yerin tried to hide her laughter as she nodded. “Then you’d better get going.”

SinB nodded back and turned to go. Before she got very far, Yerin grabbed her wrist and tugged her back to deliver one last kiss, giving her own bite to SinB’s lower lip. Apparently SinB liked biting and being bitten in return because when Yerin pulled back, the younger girl’s eyes were glazed over and dark.

“You needed a good night kiss,” Yerin explained innocently. “Now, I just have one more question before go. If I keep you out here much longer, I’ll be on Chungha-ssi’s bad side, and she’s the reason I even got to come tonight.”

“Okay, what is it?”

“Will you be my girlfriend?”

SinB’s face blossomed with a winning smile and rosy blush. “Yes, Yerin-ah.” She blushed harder at the foreign honorific.

“Okay then, Eunbi-yah,” Yerin said, unable to keep the excited grin off her face. Her grin only grew when she saw SinB turn an impossible shade of red at the use of her real name. “Now you really do have to go.”

“Yes ma’am,” SinB drawled. Her sarcasm was ruined by the broad grin she wore. She gave Yerin one last peck before rushing back to the studio when she heard Chungha calling for her.

Yerin slumped against the tree as she watched her go, unsure if she was dreaming or not.

A/N: They're finally together! Woo! Now that our main girls are finally together it's time to move on to the other girls. Also question: while this wouldn't happen until after this story if finished, would anyone be interested in reading a SinRin fic set at Hogwarts?