After her lab where she was thoroughly scolded by the TA, Sejeong finds herself with Yerin and Joy in Joy’s apartment on campus. She’s lying on Joy’s carpet while Yerin and Joy share the couch to discuss some upcoming essay that’s due. Normally, Sejeong is content to listen to them, but today she has something on her mind.

“I think Nayoung knows I’m in love with her,” Sejeong blurts out.

Yerin and Joy pause mid-conversation to stare at her incredulously, and all Sejeong can do is her bury her face into her hands and groan. When Sejeong pulls her hands away, Joy and Yerin are sitting next to her on the ground, concern marring their pretty features.

“I went to see her today, and she acted all weird,” Sejeong explains.

“Weird, how?” Joy asks.

Sejeong shrugs helplessly and tries to explain it. “I don’t know… Well, lately she hasn’t spent any time with the jellyfishes. I think it’s pretty weird since we’re all so close, but when I asked the jellyfishes, they seemed sad but also understanding, so they clearly know the reason. When I asked Nayoung, she gave me some excuse about not wanting to deal with the teasing.”

“That sounds pretty reasonable,” Yerin argues. “The jellyfishes, especially Mina and Mimi, live to tease Nayoung. It makes sense she’d get fed up with it.”

“Do you honestly expect me to believe it took Nayoung almost three years to get fed up with us?” Sejeong retorts hotly.

“Well, people have to draw the line somewhere,” Yerin shrugs.

Joy cuts in between them, sending a warning look to Sejeong. “Just relax for a second, Sejeong. You look about two seconds from lunging for Yerin’s throat. She’s just stating her opinion.” When Sejeong glares at her, Joy only rolls her eyes. “Has anything else been weird?”

“She didn’t seem to want me to walk her to the coffee shop,” Sejeong says with furrowed brows. “She let me hold her hand and all, but when we saw Wendy and SinB, she got all embarrassed.”

“I’d be pretty embarrassed too if my best friend was so clingy,” Yerin teases.

Sejeong sticks her tongue out at her and says, “That’s because you’re the clingy one in your relationship.” She sighs and rubs her temples. “What if she knows, you guys?”

“Then you kiss and date,” Yerin deadpans, and Sejeong grabs a pillow off the couch to smack her with. Yerin lets her, making Sejeong feel slightly guilty. “I’ve been telling you to ask her out for ages,” Yerin adds.

“Why would Nayoung want to date someone like me?” Sejeong asks. “She’s so smart and ridiculously pretty. She’s also so nice and cute. She’s basically a goddess– Stop looking at me like that!”

Joy doesn’t stop making a face that makes her look like she’s a moment away from barfing on Sejeong. When Sejeong scowls, Joy breaks into a grin. Joy says pointedly, “We all know how great Nayoung is, you doof. You wax poetic about her like every other day. It’s pretty gross.”

“I do not!” Sejeong protests, feeling herself flush. She quickly slaps her hands over her ears that undoubtedly bright red, but Joy laughs and tugs her hands away to make her life a little more of living hell. “Joy, stop!”

“What do you think, Yerin,” Joy says way too gleefully, “are her ears redder than that time Nayoung decided to go out in leather pants?”

“Joy!” Sejeong wails.

Yerin is no help in saving Sejeong from Joy because she’s too busy laughing, and Sejeong swears she’ll get her revenge on them. Eventually, Joy releases her grip, and Sejeong curls away from her with a pitiful glare. Yerin manages to lessen her laughter into subdued giggles, but when she tries to comfort Sejeong, the other girl just glares.

“You’re so cute, Sejeongie,” Joy coos, ignoring Sejeong’s death glare and wrapping her arms around her. “Of course Nayoung loves you too.”

At the kind words, Sejeong deflates and leans into Joy’s arms. “Why do you actually believe that?”

“Are you kidding me?” Yerin tsks. “Remember that time Nayoung went on that ride with you at the amusement park?”

“You’re right!” Joy laughs. “The poor girl cried the entire time and still had tears on her face by the time we got off.”

“I didn’t make her ride it!” Sejeong points out.

Yerin rolls her eyes. “Don’t even, Sejeong. You looked at her with your eye smile, hugged her around the waist, rested your head on her shoulder, and asked her to go with you. As if she was going to say no.”

“I don’t know why I brought this up,” Sejeong pouts. “The two of you are no help.”

Suddenly, Yerin’s phone goes off. The said girl goes to check her message, and when she comes back, she’s grinning like the devil.

“What’s wrong with your face?” Joy teases, but there's a thread of tension in her voice.

Yerin doesn’t react though, still smiling. “We are all invited to SinB’s place tonight for dinner, including Nayoung and Wendy.”

“That happens like every month,” Sejeong points out, “so why do you look like that?”

“Because I’m going to get you to date Nayoung by the end of the night,” Yerin replies slyly. Sejeong protests immediately while Joy laughs. However, Joy’s laughter abruptly stops when Yerin says, “Sooyoung, I wouldn’t be too relaxed if I were you. It’s my mission to also make sure you’re dating Wendy.”

Joy’s face scrunches up as she says, “Can’t we go back to hassling Sejeong about Nayoung?”

“Nope,” Yerin hums happily. “Now, let’s get up. I told SinB I’d grab the groceries and you guys.”

After a lot of grumbling and complaining, Yerin lets herself into SinB’s apartment with Sejeong and Joy behind her, all of them carrying groceries. Yerin swears to herself to never go grocery shopping with the other two ever again; they are just like children: whiny, annoying, and wanting to buy every piece of junk food in sight.

“Babe, is that you?” SinB calls.

“Yeah!” Yerin replies. “Joy and Sejeong are with me too.”

SinB appears from the kitchen area, and when she sees Yerin, she smiles like they haven’t seen each other in months. SinB bounds up to Yerin, giving her a hug with enough energy to rival an excited puppy. It’s an adorable sight, but also one that fills Sejeong and Joy with nausea and jealousy.

“Get a room!” Sejeong jokes.

“Yah! It’s my apartment!” SinB retorts as she pulls away. Despite her feigned annoyance, she still gives Joy and Sejeong brief hugs and helps them carry the food into the kitchen. “Thanks for picking up everything I’m missing,” SinB says as she starts unpacking the food.

“Any day Yerin cooks instead of me is a good day,” Sejeong smiles, “so I’m willing to contribute in any way that isn’t actual cooking.”

“I was excited when Yerin said you wanted bossam,” Joy admits with a grin. “It’s been forever since I’ve had it homemade.”

“And if we want it edible, we will leave it to you and Joy, babe,” SinB laughs. She pecks her girlfriend’s cheek and leaves to clean up her living room with Sejeong trailing after her. While SinB starts picking up stray things that found their way to her floor, Sejeong folds some of her throw blankets.

Sejeong tries to feign indifference as she asks, “When do Nayoung and Wendy get here?”

“Soon,” SinB answers, grinning like she knows Sejeong is really only curious about Nayoung. “Wendy needed to run a few errands, and Nayoung offered to go with her.” What SinB fails to mention is what actually happened was that she basically had to blackmail Nayoung into going with Wendy. The reason SinB made Nayoung go with Wendy is that she gave them a list to complete before coming over.

“Promise me you’ll do the things on the list,” SinB had said, giving them puppy dog eyes strong enough to melt anyone’s heart. She even went as far as resorting to her kicked puppy look as she added, “You have to give me a fighting chance to get you with your girls.”

Despite Nayoung and Wendy’s reluctance, they were also curious enough to see if SinB could really pull this off, so they agreed and went on their way.

“What did you guys do at the coffee shop?” Sejeong asks casually, like she’s just making conversation, but SinB hears the pathetic longing in her voice.

“We studied some, but we also talked quite a bit,” SinB replies, keeping her answer purposefully vague.

Sejeong suddenly finds SinB’s Harry Potter throw blanket very interesting as she asks, “Oh, what did you talk about?”

“You ‘96 liners,” SinB teases.

The blanket slips out of Sejeong’s grasp as she stammers, “U-us?”

“Of course, I was just mentioning everything great about Yerin when the others just added on about you and Wendy,” SinB nods and tries desperately to keep the victorious smirk off her face. She tosses the magazines she has into her recycling bin and blinks innocently at Sejeong. “Nayoung mentioned you flirted with a cashier the other day?”

“I did what?” Sejeong sputters, forgetting about folding the blanket entirely as she moves to stand closer to SinB. “When did I do that?”

SinB pretends to think for a moment before shrugging and saying, “I guess whenever you and Nayoung had lunch.”

“That was— I didn’t— I was just being friendly!” Sejeong whines after struggling. She reaches SinB’s side and grabs onto her sleeve like a little kid. “What did Nayoung say?”

“Just that you flirted with the cashier,” SinB says. In actuality, after they had finished studying, Nayoung had done a full-on rant on Sejeong flirting with the cashier. It is apparently a very touchy subject for her. “Also, Sejeong, I love you, but you are an incurable flirt.”

“I am not!” Sejeong gasps as if this is actually shocking news to her. She leans into SinB’s space, pouting and tugging on her sleeve. “SinB, I am not an incurable flirt.” She’s got her face inches away from SinB’s with her hand warm on SinB’s arm, and she’s also looking at SinB like they’re on a date. SinB actually sees Nayoung’s point now.

SinB narrows her eyes and deadpans, “Then what do you call this?”

Sejeong drops her sleeve like it’s on fire and practically runs to the other side of the room. She gapes at SinB like this is some startling revelation, and SinB just kind of wants to smack some sense into her.

Instead, SinB acts surprised as she dramatically gasps, “Sejeong, do you like Nayoung?”

“No!” Sejeong exclaims, face reddening into a shade similar to a tomato. SinB can’t help but laugh, making Sejeong cry, “Yah, respect your elders, you brat!”

Dropping the oblivious act, SinB smiles and walks over to hug Sejeong. The older girl slumps in her arms, and SinB asks kindly, “Why didn’t you ever tell her?”

“Not only is she older than me, but she’s also taller and prettier and smarter,” Sejeong whines. “She’s basically perfect.”

SinB is glad Sejeong can’t see her face as she rolls her eyes. “Try your luck tonight,” SinB tells her sincerely. “I have a feeling it’ll work out for you.”

“Are you sure?” Sejeong asks as she pulls away. “How do you know Nayoung isn’t just going to run away screaming?”

“She’s not athletic enough to run,” SinB jokes but when Sejeong just looks at her like a lost puppy, she adds, “Trust me on this. I know we aren’t close or anything, but I know Nayoung pretty well. Just give it a try?”

Sejeong suddenly looks her suspiciously, so SinB smiles innocently.

“What are you up to, Hwang?” Sejeong inquires slowly. “I swear if you tell her how I feel…”

SinB panics for a moment, scrabbling for a lie, when Yerin pokes her head in and says, “What are you two just standing around for? Nayoung and Wendy will be here soon, and the living room is still a mess. Aish, SinB-yah, you haven’t even grabbed extra pillows for seats.”

“You’re right!” SinB nods, eager to use this as an excuse to escape Sejeong’s question. “Sejeong, why don’t you finish tidying while I go look for those spare pillows?” Before Sejeong can reply, SinB is bolting out of the room.

When Yerin looks to Sejeong questioningly, Sejeong can only shrug and say, “She’s your girlfriend.”

Yerin chuckles and walks back to the kitchen where Joy is cutting the garlic into thin slices.

“Why was Sejeong yelling?” Joy asks, glancing up from the cutting board.

“I’m pretty sure SinB was giving her hell over Nayoung,” Yerin grins as she checks on the pork. Seeing that it’ll still be a little while, she goes to wash the lettuce. “Knowing Sejeong though, she’ll probably accidentally let it slip or something.”

“Nayoung will walk in and she’ll just blurt out ‘I love you’,” Joy jokes.

Yerin laughs and shakes her head. “I have a feeling SinB is up to something, so who knows what’ll happen tonight.”

“Hwang is up to something?” Joy repeats nervously, pausing in her cutting. SinB may be younger than her, but the girl is something of an evil, nosy mastermind. Joy remembers last Christmas when SinB somehow managed to figure out everyone’s Secret Santa and ended up tricking everyone into thinking their crushes had them. And that had just been harmless fun. If SinB was planning something to set people up… She glances at Yerin and asks, “Just for Sejeong and Nayoung though, right?”

Yerin smiles at her sympathetically and says honestly, “I’d keep my guard up tonight. I love SinB, but she really meddles. She means well if anything.”

"You say that like you weren't just threatening to get Sejeong and Nayoung together before we got here," Joy points out

“We're just not as blind as some people," Yerin huffs.

“See, you’re both so meddlesome,” Joy sighs.

“Don’t worry, Joy,” Yerin says in a voice that doesn’t soothe Joy’s nerves in the least, “it’ll be fun.”

A/N: I'm such a liar. This is not going to only be two parts.