When Friday came around, series of rapid knocks battered her front door to which her brother groaned for her to answer it instead. If it weren't for the fact that Kyungwon knew that the insisting people were for her, she would've fired back some petty comment about Yongsoo being too fat and lazy to even lift his own spoon by himself. But instead she quickly flipped him off and went to open the door, which she was sure was about to fall down from the unnessecary abuse it was withtaking.

"Must you do that every time?" Kyungwon fired at a very excited looking girl on the other side of her threshold. Who happened to be leading a small group of very familiar girls, all wearing equally lively looking grins as they stared at her saying 'surprise' with just their expressions. "The hell are you guys doing here?"

A particular, newly-pink haired girl pushed past Eunwoo, shoving the girl who was older aside to fend for herself and instead launching herself at Kyungwon. "My favourite unnie!" Siyeon cooed, attempting to squeeze the life out of her as she wrapped her arms around her waist, her grip stronger than she had last remembered. Kyungwon wasn't so sure she would be able to beat the youngest at a tug of war over the last chocolate milk anymore.

"Uh, excuse me, what am I? A roach?" Eunwoo sassed back, smacking Siyeon's back and therefore resulting in a whining pink haired girl trying to hit her back.

While the two younger ones were bickering loudly, Kyungwon smiled hesitantly at Minkyung, who wore one of the largest smiles she had ever seen her wearing in the past months they had known each other closely. To be honest, her presence scared her, seeing as she was standing outside of her very small, messy apartment which contained her very annoying brother who hadn't bothered to put his trousers back on after taking them off. She should've really tidied up more before wasting her time sleeping and studying. And also, what was she doing here?

"Kyungie." Minkyung shoved the two smaller girls aside, making them stumble and glare at the oldest, then moving to hug her tightly and briefly.

"Hi, Minky." She replied, her voice steadier than she had expected. It had been around two weeks since she realised her true feelings, and to say it wasn't getting easier would be a lie. Perhaps it wasn't something to be proud of, but she had always been exceptionally good when it came to lying, and back in high school she was even in the drama club and was praised quite a lot. So after getting used to pushing her feelings away and keeping check of her emotions that sometimes got too overwhelming, it was as if she really thought of the other as only a friend.

"I hope you don't mind," Eunwoo said, though there was no concern or regret in her voice, just a tone that implied 'you have no choice'. "I invited them because the more the better." She also hugged Kyungwon, adding onto her phrase later. "And this Satan owes me so she's my sugar mama for tonight."

Siyeon knew that she was talking about her, so now Kyungwon had a sulking, pink-haired girl, a cheeky dongsaeng who had no manners and her crush who looked very, very beautiful tonight. Sighing, Kyungwon told them to stay at the door before going back inside to get her bag where she would be able to put all the snacks and phones - she was an experienced unnie who actually knew how to be responsible for prized possessions on group outings. Not counting that time when she lost the bag at a petrol station and they had to go back to get it because it had their phones in it.

After saying a quick goodbye to her brother - who gave her a quick lecture about not doing drugs, alcohol, crimes or boys (yeah, she definitely wasn't ever doing that one) - she locked the door and began leading them back to the elevator, even though she lived on the third floor. It was a pretty cold night, cold enough to force them into wearing three layers of clothing and some scarves or gloves (if you were Siyeon you would choose the latter due to excessive fear of getting strangled by the harmless thing), and it was a shame that the stars couldn't be seen but really, when could you ever see stars in Seoul? Siyeon had immediately attatched herself onto Eunwoo, despite the two constantly fighting over anything and everything, not letting the other leave her side even for a second. Though Kyungwon could tell that her best friend was enjoying the mutual arrangement more than she let on.

So with the two youngest being distracted easily, it only left Kyungwon to loop her arm through Minkyung's and silently enjoy the warmth provided by another human. Minkyung's hair was loosely bouncing, the natural curls making her look only more ethereal rather than real and the color almost looking black in the night sky, her pearly white skin contrasting so much she almost thought she was a vampire. And Kyungwon had always enjoyed reading fantasy books so it wouldn't hurt to procrasinate a little.

The two talked about how their projects were going, or how their families were doing, mundane things that would usually bore the hell out of her but intruiged her whenever it was Minkyung delivering the information. She learnt that the latter was finding life alone in a small condo to be really dull, boring her to the point where she had started to talk to her plant. Kyungwon laughed at the thought, teasing the other about it all the way to the bus station.

"I'm hungry." Eunwoo whined with an annoying display of aegyo that turned a couple of heads. Kyungwon almost beat the crap out of the girl, Minkyung holding her back playfully, not allowing her to get her hands on the unregretful girl.

"Me too." Siyeon joined in, making both older girls cringe and shiver, Kyungwon managing to kick Eunwoo's unprotected legs around the bodies standing in the way which resulted in a couple of insults which earned a scolding from an old lady watching the exchange.

Embarrassed, Minkyung dragged the three troublemakers onto the bus when it arrived, sending them warning glares before sitting down beside the window. Eyes glinting, Kyungwon moved to the empty seat beside her wanting to get as close as she could to her crush, already planning out the perfect conversation inside of her head. Though her plans were ruined by a certain pink haired demon who had violently pushed her forward with her smaller body, making her almost hit her head against the window if not of her putting her hands out in front of her and stopping the impact.

She snapped her head towards the innocent looking girl who was proudly presenting her eyesmile and gesturing to Minkyung, who had held out a hand to steady her. Just then, the bus lurched forwards without warning as it began moving, sending an unbalanced Kyungwon into the former's lap with the help of Siyeon's eager hands pushing her down.

A loud, strained huff came from Minkyung, making a red faced Kyungwon quickly moving to stand back up. "I'm sorry, I really should've taken dieting seriously, I'm so heavy, I should stop eating so much chocolate, oh my god I can't--" Her word vomit was interrupted by a loud laugh from Minkyung and her pulling her back down onto her lap.

"You worry too much, Kyungwon-ah." She giggled, making her face grow hotter by the minute as Siyeon stared at them in wonder and amazement. Kyungwon glared at the younger girl, mouthing 'what' as the younger one just laughed happily and shook her head, tugging Eunwoo's hand to distract her from her phone screen which she had been staring at intently.

Minkyung made her lean back into her, starting up a casual conversation about Halloween and Christmas (even though Kyungwon despised it when that particular holiday was mentioned months before it was actually appropriate to talk about). But she couldn't help but be aware with the way her arms were wrapped around her waist loosely, her hands resting on her upper thigh which made her feel strange things. She was acutely aware of how Minkyung rested her head in the crook of her neck comfortably, looking up at her with glistening eyes full of life and happiness making her silently ask for a share. Or how her body radiated warmth and heat which lulled her along with the rumbling of the bus. Or the sound of her voice falling ever so sweetly on her hears as she talked in a hushed manner, as if this conversation was secret, just between the two of them. The way her smile grew a little whenever Kyungwon's answer was just what she wanted to hear before reverting back to its childlike form.

Kyungwon felt herself being pushed from where she had previously been teetering on the dangerous thin line between her comfort zone and the unknown. There was this pounding in her chest, her heart springing wings beginning to flutter and her stomach churning nervously as she felt herself being pushed over the edge as soon as soft, warm lips brushed her cheek and then a warm, cat-like grin was given to her.

"Thank you for being my friend, Kyungie." Minkyung's voice was hushed, just like it had been throughout their whole conversation. But somehow it had been amplified so it hurt her ears and sent pain across her mind, leaving traces of the words to be implanted in her head.

Somehow she had managed to grip onto the edge of that line and hold herself there.

"It's my pleasure." She brushed off the stinging pain in her chest with a horrible wink and a cheesy smirk. Minkyung laughed and hit her lightly, scolding her for being so greasy.

Laughing, she turned to look at the two younger girls, who she had forgotten about temporarily. Eunwoo's head was ducked down, her eyes fixated on the screen of her phone tilted landscape, giving away the fact that she was watching something with a concentrated expression on her face. Siyeon, however, had her arms wrapped around the standing girl's waist, her head pressed against her body though watching the two older girls with curiosity on her face. The latter gave her a strange smile, dropping her hold on Eunwoo and turning to the two.

"Unnie, love me." Siyeon demanded neadily, spreading her arms out wide with a pout on her lips.

Minkyung tightened her grip, pulling Kyungwon closer. "No, she's busy right now." She stuck her tongue out at the younger, who's pout only deepened further.

"Stop hogging her, Minkyung." Siyeon poked at the older girl, who immediately reprimanded her on not using honorifics and forced her to apologise. "Now give me Kyungwon-unnie, you've had her for too long and I don't think she likes you."

Kyungwon cackled at Minkyung's shocked expression, giving her an apologetic look as she shifted onto the smaller girl who eagerly snuggled into her body and showered her with unnecessary compliments which she replied to with light-hearted insults. The three of them managed to get Eunwoo off her phone (she had been going over her dance to see where she needed to improve) and engage her in a conversation, although it was cut off once Kyungwon realised that the stop the bus had pulled up at and was now leaving was the one they had to get off at. They begged and apologised profousley to the driver, who had glared at them for being so inconvinient, and got off laughing at the stuttering Kyungwon.

Checking her phone for the time, she noticed that one, they would be able to get there on time if they sped up and two, Taewoon had sent her a couple of messages asking her where they currently were. She replied quickly, telling him they had just gotten off at the bus station and that she was bringing along two more of her friends, to which he immediately replied with 'they better not be weirdos like you'. She scoffed when she read the indirect insult, preparing herself to retaliate when Siyeon tried smacking her phone out of her hands.

"Yah, what the ?!" She shouted at the chortling girl, watching with wide eyes as the younger one ran ahead a little as if telling her to start chasing her. And just because behaving like a little kid was fun, she did. "Get back here you little devil!"

Siyeon broke into a full on sprint while laughing her head off, but luckily for Kyungwon, her legs were longer and she used to be on the track team in high school so she was used to running. It wasn't long until the pink-haired girl was being held captive by an angry Kyungwon spinning them around and pretending to throw the smaller girl. She began joining in with the younger girl, throwing her head back and giggling while Minkyung and Eunwoo walked past them as if they didn't exist.

Even after that small race, Siyeon jumped on the older's back and once more demanded for a piggy-back, to which Kyungwon complained about her weight and snobby behaviour yet still caried the younger all the way until they got to the sport building's entrance. She sent a brief message to Taewoon to alert him of their whereabouts, and as if he had been watching them he appeared with a wide grin on his face.

There was the usual cheekiness in his expression, dressed in full black and blue soccer uniform with astro-turf boots on instead of the normal field boots, and his eyes glinted which immediately sent the warning signals off in her head. "Kyungwon-ah, you're finally here." He greeted, casual amongst the presence of the other observant girls as he pulled her into a hug by the shoulder and roughly lifted her off her feet, just like he usually did because he was taller and wanted to remind her of that.

"Put me down, you big ogre." Kyungwon grimaced, smacking his chest. Though proving to be very difficult when your arms were being held in place by a tight, bear hug.

Eunwoo laughed at the interaction, already having experienced their banter and bickering back at the restaurant a week ago. Taewoon finally decided to stop bothering her and introduce himself politely - just because Kyungwon had pinched his side - to the other girls, stretching out his hand to firmly shake theirs before leading them through the wide hallways.

Kyungwon looped her arm through Minkyung's again, much to Siyeon's dismay (the girl was clingy), smiling gently at her slightly uncomfortable looking eyes. "Why the long face?" She questioned, though making sure her tone didn't sound too intruding or insistent. It was something she had learnt to control after being hyper-aware of her behaviour these past weeks.

With an uncertain shrug, Minkyung turned to look ahead where Eunwoo and Siyeon were interrogating Taewoon on his teammates and if any of them were single and up for dating underaged girls. Kyungwon wasn't sure if she should stop that conversation before it became more creepy for all of them. "Just nervous," the dark haired girl beside her revealed with a quiet voice, clearly heard in the empty hallway leading to a soccer field lit up by floodlights. "I've never really liked socialising that much. It makes me too self-conscious and it's not really a pleasant feeling."

Raising her eyebrows, Kyungwon asked, "Really? You've always seemed so warm and open, though." It came as a surprise when Minkyung revealed that because she had never expected such a lively, excitable girl who was always the one who initiated the conversations between them to be so closed off. Or perhaps it was that she herself was even more anti-social.

"Ha, yeah..." Minkyung trailed off, glancing around the overwhelming view of the soccer field from a higher level at the top of the seats. Kyungwon couldn't help but observe as a huffed out cloud left the girl's parted, pink lips that looked soft and glossed under the bright, white light of the floodlights in every corner of the small stadium. "I guess acting lessons pay off, right?"

She almost laughed at just how much she could relate to that, but held it in and instead wrapped her arm around the pensive girl's shoulders, squeezing them supportively. "I get you. Now lets go sit down or Taewoon-oppa will get whiny."

As she felt the other's arm slip around her waist to pull her closer and share each other's warmth, her heart skipped a beat and happiness flooded her entire body, resulting in a wide grin as she lead her down the steps to where Eunwoo and Siyeon were animatedly talking. She always liked when she was in close proxemity of Minkyung. It reminded her that the girl was indeed a real, living thing and not an image of the goddesses out of the greek mythology books that Yongsoo liked to keep all around their apartment. Kyungwon felt as if the two were close, tricking her into thinking that perhaps, in another world, another time, Minkyung would be able to return her feelings with just as much fevor and passion as she felt whenever she heard the sound of her voice.

This was something she had never experienced before, despite having been in one or two relationships in the past. But she realised that maybe it was because her previous partners had been male and she definitely hadn't been attracted to them. What a shame, she had hated having to break her last boyfriend's heart seeing as he was actually one of the most kind-hearted people she had met. What a shame it had to be this way.

She snapped out of it when she felt a pinch on her thigh, already prepared to beat the crap out of Eunwoo who had sat on the same side where she had felt the pinch. Stopping herself when she saw the unsettled expression on the younger's face, she instead leaned towards her so she could whisper comfortably, "Hey, what's wrong?"

Eunwoo turned her head and angled it better so she could whisper in her ear. "There are guys staring at us. On the pitch, dressed in red." Before Kyungwon could turn her attention to where she had hinted at, the younger quickly added, "Make it discrete."

Turning to Minkyung, who was tending to Siyeon's annoying orders, she pretended to try to start a conversation while her eyes scanned the group of three guys, all looking older than them and one of them the clear alpha of the group. She had seen them before when Taewoon played against the same team almost two years ago now, and they had kept throwing looks all throughout their game and even going as far as targetting Taewoon just because they had seen them talking to each other before the game. Back then they had just been frail, skinny looking young adults, but now they had grown into their uniforms with almost visible muscle or with a last minute growth spurt.

Kyungwon turned back to Eunwoo, who was watching her quietly. "Stay here, I need to talk to oppa for a second."

She stood from her seat and walked over to where Taewoon was talking with his teammates, just two minutes before the game began. As she approached, she saw the familiar face of Taewoon's best friend, who smiled brightly at her and greeted her with a ruffle of the hair.

"Kang Kyungwon, long time no see." He announced her name to the rest of the boys turning their attention the the new prescence.

Scrunching her nose in discomfort, she batted his hand away and glared at him playfully. "Stop that, Choi, before I beat your at DDR again." The boy complained that it was only 'one time', but she blatantly ignored his attempts and turned to Taewoon. "You didn't tell me you were playing the three witches." It was more of a question rather than an accusation, yet the man's eyes still filled with guilt as he tugged at his shirt - a habit that he had passed onto Kyungwon.

"Sorry," He replied, though not that apologetic. "but I really wanted to show you that I can handle them on my own. Think of this as a redemption."

Last time, Taewoon's team had been pulvarised with a shocking 5-2 and leaving the whole team disheartened, including Kyungwon despite not even being part of them. She remembered Taewoon almost crying as they were knocked out of the semi-finals after all their hard work in the previous games, which she had had a perfect attendance to cheer them on. After that she developed a hatred for this particular team, especially those boys who had ganged up on her friend and injured which left him out of the league as well.

Hesitantly, she wished him - and the rest of the team - good luck and returned to her seat, where Eunwoo expectantly looked up at her.

"Don't worry about them, I'll beat the out of them if they try anything." Kyungwon assured confidently, pulling her into her embrace and sending a quick glare to three particular figures stretching with the rest of their team.

"What?" Minkyung asked curiously, her face flashing with concern when she saw Eunwoo cuddling into Kyungwon. "Nunu, you okay?"

Eunwoo opened to answer but was interrupted by a loud Siyeon. "What?! Nunu-unnie, what's wrong? Should I get you some water? Are you cold? Here, I'll give you my coat--" Pretending to be annoyed, Eunwoo pushed Siyeon back lightly, rejecting the way the younger girl tried to drape her puffy, pink coat over her. "Come on unnie, you love pink."

"Aish, this kid," Kyungwon laughed at their antics, Eunwoo pushing away Siyeon's advances again. "keep your coat, you'll catch a cold!"

"But unnie, I wanna take care of you." The pink haired girl, pouting as the older girl constantly avoided her arms.

"Siyeon-ah, I don't need to be cared for--"

"Too bad. I'm obviously the man in this relationship."

Kyungwon knew that Siyeon had said it jokingly. She knew that Siyeon was very unaware of other's behaviours, including her own, when it came to things that had anything related with love or relationships. However, she couldn't help the way her muscles tensed up and her eyes widened slightly before recomposing herself and trying to seem nonchalant about the comment. She half expected one of them to say something insensitive about homouality and how it was wrong, but she felt relief washing over her when the small arguement progressed and left dangerous waters.

Maybe she should just relax. Obviously her friends weren't bad people, so they wouldn't discriminate against a large group of people. Why did she have to be so tense all of the time?

Her plans on becoming layed back were thrown out of the window as Minkyung pressed herself closer to her side, manipulating her arm so it lay across the back of her chair before snuggling into her side comfortably.

Kyungwon's heart wouldn't be able to rest tonight.

-

a/n: i'm a little late, and this might be a little rushed or shorter than the other chapters, but i hope it's okay. i didn't proof read cause school is a thing and homework is its punishment so that

btw, thank you for the comments and upvotes, it really makes my day when i see them