When they’re eight Doyeon and Yoojung would have sleepovers at Doyeon’s house. They’d build blanket fortes out of Doyeon’s mother’s expensive linen and lie underneath them. Doyeon brings in the flashlight and a bed time novel and they lay side by side, taking turns reading out loud – but not too loud because they’re afraid they’d wake up Doyeon’s family.

Sometimes Yoojung giggles and it doesn’t take long for Doyeon to follow suit, after all they did say laughter was infectious. There’s a knock on the door and the girls cover their mouths and immediately switch off the flashlight. “Girls, didn’t I say it was bed time?” it was Doyeon’s father, his voice low and rough, still clearly half asleep.

“Yes dad,” Doyeon squeaks, trying to suppress her laughter as she looks at Yoojung.

When the door closes, they both breathe a little easier. Yoojung places the book down beside her pillow and they tuck themselves underneath the blanket. “When we grow older we should live together,” Yoojung whispers. “We can take turns reading each other bed time stories and be as loud as we can without bothering anyone else.

Doyeon nods in agreement and raises her pinky, “Promise?”

“Promise!”

+

When they’re fourteen they develop vastly different tastes.

They’re at Ikea for the first time. Doyeon’s parents are buying things for their new house.

“Don’t get lost ok! Stick nearby!” Doyeon’s mother shouts as they run off around the corner to the display rooms.

Doyeon picks furniture that looks like they’ve got a story to tell. Bold patterns, bright colours – things according to Yoojung that looks like they’d give you a headache if you stared at it for too long. Yoojung on the other hand picks black – and some beige – pieces for their imaginary houses.

Doyeon sits in the egg shaped chair and twirls on the spot as Yoojung takes a seat on the lounge set up. “I want to get this chair,” Doyeon says as she curls up inside it.

“So long as you keep it in your room. I think our living room needs to be clean and more colour neutral.”

“By colour neutral you mean boring?”

“No, I just don’t want our guests having headaches when they leave our house.”

Doyeon snorts, “I mean it’s our house anyways, let’s just not have guests over.”

“It’s going to be boring if it’s just us two…”

“Have you met me?” Doyeon laughs boisterously, “I’m all you need!”

+

In their senior year of high school they go camping.

It’s late at night and they’re around the camp fire, roasting marshmallows, singing songs and Doyeon suggests that they tell ghost stories. Yoojung glares at her and Doyeon nudges her slightly, “It’ll be fun, trust me,” she whispers and Yoojung grumbles under her breath how Doyeon’s idea of fun is totally messed up. After all the girl spends her spare time reading scary stories on the internet.

“As she looked through the keyhole all she saw was red…” Doyeon’s voice was low as Yoojung placed her hand over her ears, humming to block out the sound of Doyeon’s voice. She closes her eyes real tight and holds her breath when she feels a pair of cold hands caress her cheeks. She writhed from the cold and opens her eyes slowly to see Doyeon staring at her with wide eyes. “Boo,” Doyeon screams and Yoojung leaps and slaps her hand away.

“Is it over?”

Doyeon flashes her a wicked grin and nods her head, “Yeah we’re all going to bed now, you coming?”

Yoojung hurriedly gathers her blanket and stands up, and follows closely behind Doyeon as they both head back to their shared cabin.

That night, no matter how hard she tries, Yoojung can’t fall asleep and she has Kim Doyeon to blame for it. Whilst her friend slept soundly in her bed, Yoojung could barely close her eyes for fear of waking up to a ghost with red eyes hovering over her head. She looks outside the window and wishes she didn’t. The shadows of trees swaying outside in the window casted itself onto the walls of their cabin and Yoojung swears she hears howling. She pulls the blanket over her head and says a few prayers hoping that it’s enough to calm her down.

Except it doesn’t, the wind outside grows stronger causes the tree branches to tap against the window and now something’s pulling at her. Yoojung prays faster and a little louder before the blanket is completely taken from her. She screams and flails her arms around in the air, “Don’t touch me,” she shouts and kicks her legs up in the air.

“Yah! Hey! Choi Yoojung!”

Yoojung slowly opens her eyes to see Doyeon hovering over her, looking slightly annoyed at being awoken at two in the morning. Doyeon has Yoojung’s hands pinned to the bed as both girls catch their breaths. “What are you doing?” Yoojung says accusingly, loosening her arms from Doyeon’s grip. She wipes away the tears that had formed in her eyes. She’s thankful it’s dark and Doyeon can’t see her to make fun of her.

“I don’t know what’s scarier, my ghost stories or having you huddled up in a corner repeating the same prayer a hundred times over.”

“You know I hate scary stories!”

Doyeon rolls her eyes, “If I sleep with you will it make you feel better?” She’s in no mood to argue with the other girl, especially when they were going to be awoken in five hours. Yoojung nods her head meekly and shuffles over to allow Doyeon to fit. The taller girl slides in, wraps her arms casually around Yoojung’s waist and tucks the smaller girl underneath her chin.

“You don’t need to hug me,” Yoojung protests as she tries to push the other girl away. “Just lay nex…”

“Just go to sleep,” Doyeon grabs a hold of her hand to stop her from pushing.

“I’m not your body pillow…” Yoojung mumbles.

“No, you’re more comfortable…” Doyeon says beneath her breath, eyes closed as she takes a deep breath. Silence fills the room again all but the sound of the howling wind outside and the tree branch that tapped against the window every now and then but Yoojung’s already forgotten about the things that scared her outside the room.

“Aish…” Yoojung says and rolls her eyes.

“You’re warmer too,” Doyeon says beneath her breath.

“Just go to sleep, Doyeon…” Yoojung adjusts herself and the blankets over their bodies as she molds into the curves of Doyeon’s body.

“Goodnight, Yoojung-ah.” Doyeon says after a moment, eyes closed. The taller girl takes a deep breath and Yoojung feels the weight of her body a little more as her body relaxes and Doyeon slowly falls asleep.

Head placed near her chest, Yoojung listens to the sound of Doyeon’s heart beating loudly as she drifted off to sleep. Yoojung deducts that it’s probably loud because taller people’s hearts need to work harder to pump blood around their entire bodies. “Goodnight, Doyeon…” Yoojung whispers and closes her eyes.

When morning comes, Doyeon is the first to awake. She brings her hand over her eyes to let it slowly adjust to the lighting in the room. Doyeon glances over at the smaller girl beside her who had her thigh wrapped around her legs making it harder to move. Doyeon laughs to herself at the sight of an unruly Yoojung till she runs her hand across her shirt and notices a wet patch on her collar. Yoojung had drooled on her shirt as they slept much to Doyeon’s dismay.

“Yah, Choi Yoojung,” Doyeon says in a stern voice and rolls the smaller girl off her.

+

It’s their second year at college and Yoojung lives on campus with a roommate that couldn’t be more like her. Chaeyoung and her stand shoulder to shoulder, love dancing and both list their talents are imitating Donald duck. That aside Yoojung adores Chaeyoung. She’s as lovely as she is talented, a modern Picasso, Yoojung would complement her much to Chaeyoung’s delight. Doyeon teases her sometimes that they have more things in common with each other than she does with Doyeon. “Is she your new best friend?”

“Please, you left me for a year to go to Europe.”

“To study!”

“Right, study and to meet French boys – or is it Russians now? I’ve read those postcards you send me.”

Doyeon sends her postcards from Europe. Each from a different country and so far Yoojung’s collected seven. She attaches a photo of herself as well and Chaeyoung teases about how it looks like Yoojung’s beginning to build a shrine for Doyeon in her room on her cork board.

They’re on summer vacation over there as well and Doyeon’s making the most of her time by travelling country to country. It’s not hard to visit three countries in one day when you’re in Europe, Doyeon tells her over their Skype conversations.

“I was just joking! They’re not my type…”

“Sure, and your type is?” Yoojung asks.

Doyeon smirks, rests her chin o