“Yah, hurry up!” Wheein wailed as she watched her friend struggle with her keys.

“It’s not working Wheein-ah…help meee,” Hyejin drawled with a pout, giggling when her friend let out a whine in protest and tried for herself. The door opened with a click, only making Hyejin laugh harder as the pair entered her apartment.

“Finally,” Wheein yelled dramatically as she kicked off her shoes and ran to the bathroom in desperation.

“Beer or soju?” Hyejin called to her friend as she swayed contently into her kitchen and opened the fridge.

“Both,” Wheein yelled back, wiping her freshly washed hands on her shirt as she exited the bathroom and joined her friend in the kitchen. She walked to the fridge, placing her chin on her friend’s shoulder and closed her eyes with a content sigh. Hyejin grabbed two cans of beer and a bottle of soju and closed the fridge. She held the alcohol in one hand and reached for two glasses with the other, Wheein still resting on her shoulder comfortably as she followed her.

“Jung Wheein,” Hyejin whined playfully and shook her head in big motions attempting to rid herself of her friend, but Wheein simply nestled her chin further into Hyejin’s neck and wrapped her arms around her waist as she followed her into the living room.

They separated for a moment when Hyejin placed the drinks down on the small table in front of the bed and Wheein flopped back on the bed excitedly. She reached under Hyejin’s pillow for the remote, knowing the girl always kept it there from the countless times she had slept over, and turned the tv on, flicking through the channels before settling on a colourful animation. She laid with her head on the pillow as she smiled widely at the screen.

“Here,” Hyejin said, passing the girl a drink and taking long gulps from the one she’d poured for herself. She set it down on the table then hopped onto the bed and wriggled into the space behind Wheein, sitting cross-legged with a frown. “Please not this one again,” She begged, sliding her hand over Wheein’s stomach and up to where she was clutching the remote tightly to her chest.

“But it’s so pretty,” Wheein sighed dreamily, her words slow and slurred making Hyejin smile in amusement.

“You can watch it tomorrow when we wake up, okay? Put music on instead,” Hyejin tried again, proud when Wheein rolled over and looked her in the eye from where she was laying.

“Promise?” Wheein asked, suspicious that her friend would give her free reign of the tv in the day time, especially on a day when they would be hungover and her friend would usually cure herself with Leslie Chung re-runs. Hyejin nodded firmly and Wheein smiled back.

“Okay,” she said, pressing on the remote and changing the channel to a music one and letting out a loud gasp followed by loud laughter as she pointed at the screen. “Hyejin-ah, Hyejin-ah, Hyejin-ah,” Wheein said through laughter and Hyejin sighed instantly when she saw what, or rather who, her friend was laughing at. “It’s our boy Sung Hoon,” Wheein teased as the advert starring the man played through.

“Yah, Wheein-ah,” Hyejin sighed, shaking her head with a pout and folding her arms childishly. “He’s not our boy.”

“You look just like him like that,” Wheein said with a bright and annoyingly playful smile as she turned back to her friend. “That’s his ‘Hwasa just rejected me for the hundredth time’ face,” Wheein said, giggling proudly to herself when Hyejin groaned and covered her face with her hands.

“Did you see him tonight in the club?” Hyejin asked, looking at Wheein through the gaps in her fingers as she kept her hands on her face to hide the embarrassed pink that had flushed her cheeks, and Wheein nodded shamefully.

“ ‘Hey Hyejin-ssi, uh, I like…you look…yeah…drink?’ “ Wheein mocked in a low voice and Hyejin couldn’t help but laugh at the accuracy of her impersonation. Her best friend was certainly talented.

“You’re so annoying,” Hyejin said, pushing Wheein playfully as moved to lay down beside her. “Wheein-ah, move over.” She nudged her friend and linked arms with her as they stared up at the ceiling, Wheein’s head once again finding safety buried in Hyejin’s shoulder.

“Byuli did good,” Wheein slurred contently as her eyes danced across the ceiling, taking in the colours of the constellations scattered across the room.

“Yeah she did. But she only bought it because she said I should always be reminded that the stars are the most beautiful thing in the universe, and that she is the prettiest one,” Hyejin giggled, and Wheein fake gagged at her bandmate’s cheesiness.

“I don’t know how we’ve survived this long with her as an unnie,” Wheein sighed dramatically and Hyejin laughed in agreement. They were quiet for a minute, the alcohol in their systems beginning to make them feel drowsy as they listened to music and watched the projection of stars dance across the ceiling. Wheein unlinked her arm from Hyejin’s and searched for the girl’s hand instead, intertwining their fingers and bringing both hands up to rest at her chest. “So do you like Sung Hoon, then?” Wheein asked, turning her head so she could study her best friend’s face.

“He’s hopeless,” The younger girl said, shaking her head with a small smile.

“He’s creepy,” Wheein said plainly, making Hyejin frown.

“Why do you say that?” She asked curiously and Wheein shrugged, running her thumb repeatedly along the back of Hyejin’s hand.

“The way he was looking at you tonight…it was like he was hunting his prey or something,” Wheein trailed off and Hyejin moved to sit up on her elbow, resting her cheek on the palm of her hand as she looked down at Wheein.

“Well I guess I really am a lion-yah?” She dead-panned, eliciting a loud laugh from Wheein who slapped her arm playfully, embarrassed that her friend could make such cheesy jokes. Moonbyul’s antics had definitely rubbed off on her.

“Do you really like him?” Wheein asked, looking up at her friend and watching her think thoughtfully about her answer. Hyejin sighed, slumping back onto the pillow they were sharing and turning to face her friend. Wheein did the same so they were both in the same position, their noses faintly touching and their hands still tightly linked together between their bodies. Hyejin’s slightly bloodshot eyes traced the entirety of Wheein’s face as she spoke.

“He’s nice. And he’s hot. But no. I don’t think he’s good for me,” Hyejin answered.

“Why?”

“Think he likes Hwasa more than Hyejin,” the girl said with a shrug and Wheein frowned, suddenly sitting up.

“What a ,” the girl said, unlinking their hands and reaching over to grab the two glasses from the table, handing one to Hyejin as she cleared obnoxiously. “I’m making a toast,” Wheein said, jutting out her bottom lip in deep thought as she tried to focus on what to say, the alcohol running through her system making it hard to concentrate. She took a sip from her drink, using her own logic that there must not be enough alcohol in her blood which was why she couldn’t think straight.

“What are we toasting to?” Hyejin asked and Wheein brought up a hand to silence her friend.

“We’re toasting in honour of Hyejin. And the fact that Hyejin is very cool and very nice to me and that she should be nice to me forever and-“

“Uh Wheeinie I don’t think that’s how a toast work-“

“And that I will be nice to her forever too and that no man will ever be good enough for her,” Wheein finished with a nod of her head and raised her glass to meet Hyejin’s. “We toast.”

Hyejin shook her head in endearment at her friend’s antics. “We toast,” she said, clinking their glasses and taking long gulps of the beer-soju cocktail. She finished and eyed Wheein doing the same, taking her empty glass from her and setting them both back on the table. They both sat facing eachother cross-legged and happy. “I really love you Jung Wheein,” Hyejin said with a goofy smile, reaching over and patting Wheein’s head, earning a growl and almost bite from her in protest.

“Yeah, yeah,” Wheein said nonchalantly brushing off Hyejin’s words, then noticing the girl’s face fall. Wheein flung herself on her friend and wrapped her arms around her tightly. “Love you too, you absolute idiot.”

Wheein didn’t let go for a while, long enough for her to memorise the scent of the perfume Hyejin was wearing and the unsettled beating of her heart through her shirt.

“Are you going to stay like that all night?” Hyejin asked, and Wheein finally sat up and narrowed her eyes at her friend.

“Did you just reject me?” Wheein asked, her face feeling suddenly hot from the alcohol. Yeah, they really shouldn’t have had all those shots in the club. Hyejin simply smiled contently at Wheein in response, frustrating Wheein even more. “Yah, stop being strange,” Wheein whined, stumbling over her words as the alcohol really began hitting her.

“You’re so cute,” Hyejin cooed.

“Tell me something I don’t know,” Wheein said with an eye roll and Hyejin tilted her head in thought.

“Uh…you don’t know that…hm…that you’re my most favourite person?” Hyejin tried with a hopeful smile. Wheein shook her head.

“Already knew that,” Wheein said, absentmindedly taking one of Hyejin’s hands and drawing patterns on her palm. Hyejin watched her carefully.

“I can’t think anymore. Can we just lay together again?” She asked hopefully and Wheein nodded, slumping back into the bed and pulling Hyejin with her. Hyejin settled her head on her friend’s chest and wrapped an arm around her waist. “You’re so comfy.”

“Uh huh,” Wheein grunted in response, bringing a hand up to repeatedly run her fingers though her friend’s long hair. Hyejin sighed contently.

“I really mean it, y’know. You’re really my favourite,” Hyejin said in a low voice against Wheein’s chest, and Wheein could feel the vibration of her words literally through her skin.

“I know,” Wheein said, looking down at her friend and smiling sweetly when their gazes met. “You’re mine too.”

As if they’d both choreographed it, and without much thought, their eyes closed and their heads moved nearer to each other until their lips met in a gentle kiss. Hyejin released a satisfied sigh against Wheein’s lips and their mouths moved together easily, with Hyejin changing her position laying on Wheein to essentially straddle the girl, while Wheein’s hands found solace locked around the girl’s neck, pulling her back down to meet .

“I can’t believe,” Hyejin breathed between kisses. “We let it happen again.”

Wheein let out a soft laugh against her best friend’s lips and pulled back, her eyes wide and bright as they stared up at the girl on top of her. “Guess I really am irressistable, huh?” Wheein said cockily, wiggling her eyebrows in a way that made Hyejin shake her head with a bashful smile before leaning down and kissing away the smug smirk on Wheein’s face.

“It feels good, right? Too good?” Hyejin said breathlesslessy as she pulled away, watching as Wheein bit her lip and nodded.

“We’re basically soulmates. It’s bound to happen,” Wheein replied, pushing back on the pillow to sit herself up and coming face to face with her friend’s chest. She gulped, choosing to look up at the girl still straddling her instead.

“It’s my favourite thing about getting drunk with you, y’know,” Hyejin smiled softly and Wheein nodded in agreement as she wrapped an arm around her friend and laid her back gently on the bed.

“What’s that saying…’third time lucky’?” Wheein asked with a playful smile as she placed a quick kiss on Hyejin’s lips. Hyejin nodded. “Well thank God it’s our third time, then. This should be interesting,” Wheein joked before feeling the familiarity of her best friend’s long nails grazing the nape of her neck as she was pulled into another kiss. Their wide, bashful smiles resulted in a mess of teeth and lips, but both were much too giggly and excited to care as they readied themselves for another night as ‘soulmates’.