It’s a nice day at the cafe, soft chatter in the background and the warm smell of coffee wafting in the air. There aren’t too many customers this early in the morning and Chorong takes advantage of the time to relax behind the counter. She loves quiet mornings like this.

“Unnie,” Namjoo nudges Chorong with her shoulder, sliding a plastic cup into her hand absently, “Are you going to make that macchiato or just sit there ogling at…” Namjoo’s voice trails off for a second before a cheeky smile stretches across her face. Suddenly, the drink is of no interest. “Is that your type?” Namjoo’s eyebrows wiggle suggestively, her chin jutting out at a girl Chorong has been staring at for hours. She’s sporting a rough leather jacket and a pair of ripped jeans, scrolling through her phone with a cup of coffee at her side. Chorong swallows hard when the girl runs a hand through her hair, smirking at something on her screen.

“Hello?” Namjoo sings loudly and waves her hand frantically in front of Chorong’s face, “Are you even listening to me?”

“Heh?” Chorong answers finally, startled and flushed a dark shade of red when she realizes Namjoo had been talking to her. She’s met with a teasing chuckle.

“You should go talk to her,” Namjoo suggests while turning around to help out the next customer. 

Chorong just glares at her threateningly and snags the empty cup, “I’ll make the macchiato.” 

It doesn’t take long for Chorong to whip up the drink, but by the time she’s done, she finds the girl she’s been watching talking to a boy. Chorong recognizes the boy from one of her classes; he’s a Biology major and the son of a large corporation. She can’t help but cringe when she watches the boy press a kiss against the girl’s cheek before leaving. Chorong wonders why she’s so curious, why it stings a little to see the affectionate touch, and why she feels so drawn to the mysterious girl. She’s forced to turn away when more customers start rolling in and by the time she looks back at the seat by the window, the girl has already disappeared.

Chorong is in a hurry when her shift at the cafe ends. She hops onto her bike with her phone clutched tightly in her hand, kicking off in the direction of the university. It’s only a couple blocks away, but when she starts to hear the gears of her bike groan, she knows she’s going to be more than late. It’s an old bike, slightly rusted and worn down from six years of use. She’s thinking of stopping to take a look when she almost crashes into a door flinging open. The bike jerks forward and Chorong tumbles off, tripping backwards right when the girl she had been drooling over back at the cafe stares back at her with wide eyes. There’s a girl that Chorong recognizes to be Naeun next to her; long, slim, and undeniably beautiful. She has an unamused expression on her face that only darkens when the girl from the cafe rushes to help Chorong from the ground.

“Are you okay?”

“Uh, yeah,” Chorong stammers, flustered and bright red as she scrapes off the gravel from her knees. She spots her bike strewn on the sidewalk, a gear wrenched out and the pedal still spinning helplessly. 

The cafe girl seems to notice because she straightens her back and rubs the back of her neck awkwardly, before chuckling softly, “Sorry about that. I should’ve paid more attention before opening the door so abruptly.” Chorong thinks she hears Naeun mumble something under her breath but the cafe girl sticks out her hand charmingly, a flirting smile on her face as she says, “I’m Eunji by the way.”

It’s odd to introduce herself to a random girl she just bumped into on the street, but Chorong remembers how long she’s been staring at this girl only thirty minute ago and timidly accepts the hand shake. She has a firm grip. “I’m Chorong,” Chorong tries not to flush harder when she realizes Naeun is smirking at them. She’s been quiet for quite a long time, but then she gives Eunji a light pat on the cheek that gives Chorong a queasy feeling in her stomach.

“I’ll get going now,” Naeun says curtly and then waves gracefully before Eunji can even protest. There’s a beat of silence as Eunji and Chorong watches Naeun disappear around the bend and just when Chorong thinks Eunji will turn back to talk to her, Eunji lets out a loud sigh of relief.

And suddenly, Eunji’s personality shifts. It’s not as noticeable from how natural Eunji is, but Chorong pinpoints it automatically: the way her stance relaxes, the smug smile stretched across her face, and the absence of politeness from before. She still looks over at Chorong brightly, but it’s more amused than anything. “Do you have a class to get to?”

“Uh, yes actually,” Chorong tries not to look skeptical of the strange feeling she’s getting from Eunji. She’s always thought of herself as good at reading people, but Eunji felt impenetrable. It made her uneasy.

“I’ll see you around then?”

“Yeah,” Chorong answers quietly, “See you around.” She picks up the gear from her bike and stuffs it into her pocket, rolling the rest of the bike down the sidewalk with her head overflowing with thoughts. Personally, Chorong doesn’t like to consider herself as particularly curious, but in the moment, she couldn’t help but glance over her shoulder. Eunji was still standing in front of the shop, a white envelope and a bundle of cash in her hands. Chorong furrows her brows; something was very off about this girl.

Chorong doesn’t know when she starts to notice, but suddenly, she spots Eunji wherever she goes. The girl is a ball of sunshine and has already fitted herself with some of the most popular people in every major. And as Eunji only grew more sociable, Chorong only became more cynical of her presence.

“It just doesn’t make sense!” Chorong shouts out to Namjoo one day. They’re sitting in the middle of the courtyard with some takeout and coffee –– a typical lunch for the two friends.

“What doesn’t make sense?” Namjoo protests with full of chicken, “That an attractive, bright, funny girl has friends?”

“She’s not that attractive,” Chorong mutters irritably and slaps Namjoo’s shoulder when the loud girl bursts out laughing.

“Aren’t you the one who was undressing her with your eyes that one day at the cafe?”

“I was not!” Chorong is instantly repulsed by the idea, but flushes a bright red nevertheless. That was before she had known of Eunji’s shady nature. Chorong shoves another bite of food into to avoid saying anything, ignoring the way Namjoo chuckles at her. 

Namjoo considers poking fun at Chorong more, but quickly figures that would put her in danger and decides to redirect the conversation instead. “Where’s your little sister by the way?”

“Hayoung?” Chorong looks up at her, puzzled, “I’m not sure. She said she’d eat with us today.” Her last words trail off when she spots her said little sister waving frantically at her from across the courtyard. The sight would have been cute if not for Eunji walking right beside her, arm around Hayoung’s shoulders.

“Hey, unnie!” Hayoung pipes up, “Sorry I was late. I forgot about the time while I was talking to Eunji unnie.”

“Oh.” is all Chorong manages to say as she clears off a space for Hayoung to sit. There’s a beat of silence and then Namjoo is inviting Eunji to sit with them, which she gladly does. She’s being all bright and charming again as always, but Chorong is careful not to fall into her trap. Instead, she watches for that smugly arrogant smile Eunji wears when nobody is looking. 

It doesn’t happen.

“I should get going now. I have class,” Namjoo announces after they’ve cleared all their food and drained their coffees. “Come with?” Namjoo motions to Hayoung who gives her a curt nod and stuffs the rest of her cookie into . The two share loud goodbyes with Eunji and take their leave, chattering excitedly as they enter the buildings.

“They get along well.” Eunji says suddenly, setting down her sandwich to stare straight at Chorong. Chorong shifts uncomfortably in her seat, fiddling with her hair as she gives Eunji a weak smile.

“I’d rather that you stay away from my little sister.” The words leave Chorong’s mouth before she can stop herself. She’s full of instant regret when Eunji laughs at her.

“Overprotective sister, I see?”

“Not overprotective,” Chorong mumbles inaudibly.

Eunji tucks her chin between her hands, leaning close to Chorong. “Then why should I stay away?”

Chorong doesn’t answer at first. But she’s come this far, so what the heck? “Something’s just fishy about you.”

“Hm. First time I’ve heard something like that,” Eunji sings with pretend thoughtfulness. She taps her chin playfully and gives Chorong a sneaky smile, one that makes Chorong want to kick her right off the seat. “So what makes me so fishy?”

“I-I don’t know,” Chorong stammers, confused why Eunji was being so adamant on getting to the bottom of this, “It’s just a hunch.”

“Hunches don’t form from nothing.” Eunji murmurs, crossing her arms and leaning back, “What did you see?”

Chorong considers taking everything back and pretending like it was all a joke, but she knows that won’t work. Not with someone as sly as Eunji. Perhaps the truth was all this needed. “The day we met. I saw you with an envelope of money.” Chorong starts off and checks the look of surprise cross Eunji’s face, “It’s not that I’m judging you for just that, although it is odd for college students like us to be handling such big money. But your charming nature, the way you hang out with the richest kids in school…”

“What are you implying?” Eunji asks softly. Chorong had hoped she would look a little frightened, but there’s not a hint of timidness in Eunji’s expression. Maybe she’s got this all wrong.

“I just don’t feel good about associating with a swinder.”

“A what?”

“You heard me. A swindler.” Chorong presses her lips into a firm line when Eunji just stares at her in disbelief before bursting out into laughter. She laughs so hard, tears form at her eyes and she has to grip the edge of the table to keep from falling off. Chorong is left to watch with her arms folded in front of her chest, a disapproving look on her face. When Eunji finally quiets down, she leans forward and snags at Eunji’s collared shirt, pulling her so their faces are inches apart. “If you dare try to scam my little sister, I’ll have you skinned alive.”

“Woah woah woah,” Eunji’s hands instantly shoot above her head, eyes darting from Chorong’s death glare to her fisted shirt, “I’ve got no intentions to harm Hayoung, princess.”

“Don’t call me that,” Chorong snaps, but lets her go anyway, shrinking back to her seat when she realizes there are a couple people still watching them. She clears awkwardly, tempted to flatten out Eunji’s shirt for her, “So why are you hanging around Hayoung anyway?”

Eunji hums in thought, still a little flustered by Chorong’s sudden rage from earlier but to be perfectly honest, she has dealt with much worse before. “She’s cute. Like little sister cute.” When Chorong gives her a skeptical brow, Eunji sighs and elaborates, “I bumped into her the other day trying to buy some ice cream but she was a dollar short so I got it for her. We went to the park for a bit so she could eat it and boy, did the kid scrape that thing clean.”

“She really likes ice cream,” Chorong grumbles under her breath. Unsurprisingly, Eunji’s story does make her feel a little better.

“Hey, listen,” Eunji says suddenly, “I’m only telling you this because I feel like you’re onto me anyway, but I got all that money from Naeun, the girl that was with me when you bumped into me.”

“So you are a swindler!” Chorong yelps, appalled that she had even thought of trusting her. Eunji clamps a hand over and shakes her head, waiting for Chorong to calmly reposition herself again before continuing.

“I’m more of a, um, how do I put this?” Eunji asks herself, tangling her hand in her hair and biting down on her lip inquisitively. Chorong feels go a little dry. “So I’m kind of not-friends-with-benefits type of thing with Naeun and a couple other people on campus.”

Chorong feels her jaw drop. “So you’re like a sugar baby?”

“Blegh,” Eunji reacts instantly, shaking her head in distaste, “I don’t like how that sounds.”

“But that’s what it is!” Chorong protests in frustration. She doesn’t know what she’s done so wrong to have stumbled upon this information. If only Eunji had stopped with the Hayoung story, maybe she would not be scarred for life.

“Well to be clear, Naeun and I are actually friends,” Eunji interrupts but then adds, “with benefits.” Eunji instantly realizes her own disastrous attempt to wrap up the situation. She’d say that’s what finally scares Chorong off.

“Oh look at the time! I have my literature class in two minutes! I better get going!” Chorong quickly gathers up all of her things and starts jogging away from the courtyard, unknowingly going the opposite direction to the literature building. Eunji can’t help but smile.