“Good morning.”

Sejeong opened her eyes, trying to figure out what woke her up. She blinked a few times then felt the soft kisses on her shoulder. She hummed and rolled over, wrapping her arms around Chaeyeon. It took her a moment, but Sejeong remembered she was at Chaeyeon’s apartment after their date the night before.

“Wake up, sleepyhead,” Chaeyeon smiled, kissing the corner of Sejeong’s lips.

“It’s too early,” Sejeong groaned.

“It’s almost noon,” Chaeyeon laughed. “Besides, it was your stomach growling that woke me up in the first place.”

Sejeong grinned shamelessly. She rolled Chaeyeon underneath her and peppered her face with kiss, enjoying the giggles caused by them. “Are you sure you don’t want to stay in bed a little longer?” Then her stomach growled, and they both laughed. Sejeong flopped down next to Chaeyeon and said, “Fine, I surrender. My stomach is a ravenous heathen.”

“Now, that you’ve surrendered,” Chaeyeon teased, “I have a favor to ask of you.”

“No more healthy food,” Sejeong said immediately. Whenever it was Chaeyeon’s turn to pick, they ended up eating ridiculously healthy food, and while Sejeong didn’t mind mostly, she really missed greasy, normal food.

“It’s not that,” Chaeyeon reassured her. “My best friend from college is in town for the week. Will you come with me for lunch to meet her?”

Sejeong paused to think about it. She’d been seeing Chaeyeon for almost two months now. It was fun and easy. It wasn’t like she was meeting her parents, but a best friend was still pretty serious. Then again, Sejeong wouldn’t really mind if things got more serious. She liked Chaeyeon a lot.

“I’d love to,” Sejeong said.

“Really?” Chaeyeon said excitedly. She hugged and kissed Sejeong. When she pulled away, she smiled so brightly that Sejeong felt herself melt a little inside. “I can’t wait for you to meet Heehyun. I think you’ll really like her.”

“I can’t wait,” Sejeong replied warmly. “What time did you want to go?”

Chaeyeon grabbed her phone from the nightstand and checked the time and her notifications. “How about we meet her at one-thirty? That’ll give us plenty of time to get ready.”

“Sounds perfect,” Sejeong nodded. She had some clothes she left here from last time, so she could just wear those. “Want to shower first?”

“Why not save time and shower together?” Chaeyeon winked.

Sejeong grinned. “You’re right. I’m such an idiot.”

After a shower that definitely did not save time, Sejeong sat a table at a cafe near Chaeyeon’s apartment, skimming the menu while Chaeyeon was in the bathroom. She glanced at her phone and saw it was almost two. She hoped Heehyun was just running late and not standing up Chaeyeon. She’d never seen Chaeyeon so excited to see anyone before.

“Excuse me, are you Dr. Sejeong Kim?”

Sejeong looked up in surprise to see an attractive woman with sharp features and a knowing smirk. She stood up and held out her hand. “That’s me, and you are?”

“Heehyun Ki.”

“Oh, it’s nice to meet you!” Sejeong smiled. “Chaeyeon is in the bathroom right now, but please, take a seat.” She sat back down while Heehyun sat down across from her. “Chaeyeon mentioned you flew in from Paris last night. How was that?”

“Boring,” Heehyun shrugged. “Jetlag is a pain though. Sorry for being late.”

“No worries,” Sejeong reassured her. “I was still trying to decide what to get.”

Heehyun neatly plucked the menu from Sejeong’s hands and barely gave it a glance. “You want the belgian waffles with their maple glazed bacon.” She gave a smile that said there would be no arguing, so Sejeong raised her hands in surrender and nodded. Heehyun seemed pleased at Sejeong’s easy-going nature and waved over a waiter. She rattled off two orders of the waffles she mentioned and some sort of healthy-sounding dish. “For Chaeyeon,” Heehyun explained unnecessarily.

After the waiter walked away, Sejeong shifted nervously when it looked like Heehyun was going to attack her, but thankfully Chaeyeon came back. She smiled and hugged her best friend, wearing a wide grin. She sat down next to Sejeong and squeezed her hand warmly.

“I was just about to ask your girlfriend some questions,” Heehyun said.

Chaeyeon blushed and glanced at Sejeong. “Oh, we aren’t–”

“Ask away,” Sejeong said, cutting her off. She winked and smiled when Chaeyeon smiled back. Not the most formal way to officially be together, but it worked. “As long as I get to ask you some questions,” Sejeong added. “All I’ve gotten from Chaeyeon is her rambling about you being a hotshot fashion designer.”

“You wound me, Chaeyeon,” Heehyun said with mock hurt.

After that, Sejeong learned more about not only Heehyun but Chaeyeon as well. Firstly, she found out that Heehyun and Chaeyeon had been huge choir nerds back in high school, which had been the root of their friendship. She would’ve teased them for it, but Heehyun gave her a look that made her just smile and let the subject go by. Instead, they talked about every other aspect of their long friendship. They were obviously close, knowing almost every little thing and having a soothing kind of ease around each other.

It made Sejeong ache for her friendship with Chungha who, after the disastrous dinner with her mother, had gone back to basically ignoring her. Maybe she’d finally take up Irene’s offer to get drinks with the other attendings. She needed more friends.

Sejeong could tell it was too soon for Chaeyeon’s liking when Heehyun’s phone started buzzing with several notifications. Heehyun apologized for having to leave but promised to see them again soon.

As she left, Heehyun squeezed Sejeong’s shoulder with a death grip and whispered, “If you hurt her, I’ll hurt you.”

Sejeong had been expecting the threat, but she still flinched. She waved good-bye, trying not to shake too badly in fear.

“Thank you for coming with me today,” Chaeyeon said as they walked back to her apartment, arms linked together. “It meant a lot to me.”

“I was happy to come,” Sejeong told her truthfully. “It was nice to meet someone who’s clearly important to you. It was kind of like meeting another side to you.”

Chaeyeon beamed at her and pecked her cheek. “I’d love to meet some of your friends too.”

Immediately, Sejeong thought of Chungha and smiled weakly. “Yeah, maybe after work one day.”

“Good,” Chaeyeon nodded. “By the way,” she said, biting her lip, “about the girlfriends thing… If you were just saying that not to embarrass me in front of Heehyun…”

“I meant it,” Sejeong said immediately. And she did. She liked Chaeyeon, more than she thought she would’ve when they first met, but the other woman was so kind and open. She’d be an idiot to let her go. “I can ask formally if you’d like. Chaeyeon Jung, the light of my life, the fire in my loins, will you be my girlfriend?”

Chaeyeon was too busy giggling at Sejeong’s dramatics for a minute, but once she recovered, she answered, “I’d love to be your girlfriend, Sejeong Kim.”