A younger Yena and Chaewon were giddily heading to the convenience store after their last class of the day. The two were forced to sit through hours of pointless lessons (they really aren’t pointless, stay in school kids) and were glad to finally be done with it. Being in middle school wasn’t easy for the two best friends. They were constantly pressured much more than any middle schooler really deserves. Yena from her parents and Chaewon from the immature students around her. Chaewon was popular even when she was young, with a pretty face and a cute smile, it was difficult for boys’ to keep their eyes off her. Like prepubescent boys would often act, she was constantly picked on for the wildest and most random of things. ‘Yah! Kim Chaewon! What’s with your hair? It’s so long it’s like a broom!’ followed by bouts of laughter. Some would even go as far as to mock her for the scar on her upper lip, caused by a cat’s paws many years before. To be fair, the boys really didn’t have any bad intentions behind their constant bothering, they just really really badly wanted the young beauty’s attention, who wouldn’t? But men are trash, so they were obviously being absolute bastards in the way they did things. This would eventually affect Chaewon deeply, causing her to despise her future popularity.

‘Minju ah, shall we go get ice cream?’ Chaewon asked, eyes glazed with a glint of excitement. The two were on an after school platonic (as much as Chaewon hates that) date. Yujin had dragged Yena off in a flurry before the two even saw them, which Chaewon was thankful for. She only has one goal today: to see Minju’s smile again. Not a fake smile plastered on to entertain the masses but a genuine smile she wants to be directed at her. Minju was looking as listless as ever, since the incident with Yujin and her angel, the girl hasn’t been herself. The usual peppy Minju who was the sweetest to the people around her has become gloomy. Spending most of the time in school either keeping to herself or fake smiling to avoid conversations, the model was hiding herself in a shell. Even with Chaewon’s invitation, the younger girl really wanted to reject her, but knowing how stubborn her senior could be, she decided to just tag along. The two would often spend time together, ice cream dates, cafe dates and sometimes even heading to the beach together. And when Chaewon says Minju is dense, she means Minju is really ing dense. The older girl would often insist on paying for dates, insist on fetching Minju places, insist on doing and eating the things Minju loves. But the model never thought of it as anything more than ‘Chaewon Unnie is just a really nice unnie.’ Which she really shouldn’t, because Chaewon is never THAT nice to anyone else, not forgetting to mention the way Chaewon looks into Minju’s eyes like they held the universe and it’s brightest stars within. 

******

The two had just arrived at the convenience store, excitedly picking out their ice cream choices of the day. As usual, Chaewon goes straight for mint choco, much to Yena’s dismay, while the older girl would pick and choose between new flavors she had yet to try. It was after they made their payment that they noticed a sobbing girl standing outside the door, eyes hidden by rubbing hands. She was in the same school uniform as the two. Much like how their future friend Yujin found her angel, Chaewon found hers that day. When the girl hung her hands back at her sides, revealing her puffy eyes caused by the flowing stream of tears, Chaewon’s breath was taken away. What stood in front of her could only be described with one word: Ethereal. The girl had big wide eyes, a sharp nose and jawline and the cutest pouty lips Chaewon had ever seen (mind you, her best friend is a living embodiment of cute pouty lips, so this is saying something). Even when contorted by apparent sadness and tears, the girl was still the most breathtaking view Chaewon had ever laid her eyes upon. It was at this moment that Chaewon realised, maybe love at first sight wasn’t a myth after all.

The two friends had just arrived at the ice cream shop, a fairly average corner shop that held enough space to seat around 10 customers. It wasn’t the most popular nor the most impressive ice cream shop in the area but it was Chaewon and Minju’s favorite. Partially because they had made friends with the owner of the shop and partially because the ice cream was tasty and affordable. ‘Vanilla for you?’ Chaewon asked with certainty, earning a nod from the younger girl. The two have been on enough ice cream dates to know one another’s preferences, even if they would never agree with the other’s choice of flavor. Chaewon had always found vanilla to be much too basic for ice cream while Minju would rather be caught eating a brick than a scoop of mint choco. ‘Hyewon unnie! We’re back~ Just the usuals for Minju and I please!’ Chaewon asked at the counter. ‘Oh Chaewon! You didn’t bring the others with you today? I just had a brand new flavor in today that Yena might like to try.’ ‘Nah, it’s just the two of us today. If all four came, you might need to get a much bigger place. It’s a lot more inconspicuous to come in a smaller group if we didn’t want a bunch of hardheaded ‘fans’ following along.’ Chaewon remarked with a playful smirk. Whenever the four came to the shop together, they had to go through loops around the alleys to lose their avid fans, Hyewon wouldn’t mind the additional customers though.

‘H-hi. Erm… you okay?’ Chaewon asked sheepishly, directing her question at the sobbing stranger. Yena already had her mung bean popsicle in , marveling at the new found weird taste. The stranger stared wide eyed at Chaewon, opening and then closing without a word. Chaewon didn’t know what came over her, she was never one to speak to strangers, much less a crying one. But this time, she just felt like she had to. She held her pint of mint choco ice cream out to the girl ‘Take this. Ice cream is the best when you’re feeling down’ she says with a beaming smile. In response, the stranger just gave a disgusted reaction. curving into a frown and scrunching her nose. ‘Chae, nobody wants your toothpaste, just get her another flavor.’ Yena comments from behind. Not many people are into mint choco after all, Chaewon shouldn’t be offended. Unfortunately, she took personal offense. ‘Yah, what do you mean toothpaste?! Hey, do you not like mint choco?’ she scolded Yena before turning back to question the stranger. ‘I-i I don’t… but thank you, i’ll have it.’ the beautiful girl sheepishly responds with her head down, too shy to turn Chaewon down. ‘Heh, I’m Chaewon and that dumb duck behind me is Yena. Want to join us and hang out today?’ ‘I-i’m Minju. Kim Minju. I would love to , thank you.’

‘Take this. Ice cream is the best when you’re feeling down’ Chaewon says with a beaming smile, holding out her own cup of mint choco ice cream towards the younger girl. Seeing this brings a smile to Minju’s lips, a genuine one. ‘Unnie, you never change do you?’ she responds as she reaches past Chaewon’s outstretched hand and grabs her own cup of vanilla ice cream. Just like that day 5 years ago, Minju is really not at all interested in mint choco, except this time she isn’t too shy to say no. ‘Am I being obvious?’ Minju inquires, confused as to why the older girl was suddenly offering to cheer her up. ‘Obvious about what? Obvious that you’re feeling or obvious that you’re feeling down because of-‘ Chaewon replies before she was cut off by Minju, who put a hand out to stop Chaewon. ‘Unnie… don’t say it. I know everyone knows at this point… What can I do Chaewon unnie… I haven’t even confessed and I've already lost…’ Minju sighs. Chaewon feels her heart tearing at Minju’s words. Of course, she already knew the younger girl was in love with Yujin and she already knew Minju never thought of her in the same way. But hearing it straight from the girl herself has made her feel upset all over again. She tries her best to stay strong, wanting to hold her hurt back and be the best version of herself for Minju after all, she’s here to cheer Minju up. However, before she could even do otherwise, her eyes were turning watery. With tears threatening to spill, Chaewon quickly turned around, attempting to excuse herself from their table. Unfortunately for her, the younger girl had noticed and quickly shot a hand out to grab onto Chaewon’s wrist, holding her back. ‘Unnie??? What’s wrong???’ Minju utters in confusion. She had zero idea as to why the older girl would cry, she’s the one who has been feeling down, not Chaewon.

It didn’t take long for Minju to warm up to Yena and Chaewon. The two girls were always so fun to be around, whether in school or out of school. Since they met in the convenience store, the older girls, or more accurately Chaewon, were always willing to have Minju around. The two didn’t really have any friends apart from one another and having Minju made their days so much better. Minju was always polite and well mannered but when she gets flustered and lets her more childish side spill out from the older girls teasing, it would bring the brightest smile on the two. It really took no time at all for Minju to feel like an adorable younger sister to Yena. Chaewon on the other hand, just spiralled down an endless pit of infatuation as she got to know Minju better. The way her eyes turned into the brightest crescent moons in contrast to her usual large eyed appearance never failed to bring a smile to Chaewon’s face. The way she would suddenly pull an act of aegyo when she makes a mistake sent Chaewon’s heart blasting off into orbit. The way her eyes grew wide as she nods when she finds something delicious made the urge to hug her in Chaewon’s mind grow ever bigger. 

‘I-i’m fine… I just sneezed!’ Chaewon spurts out as she wipes at her eyes in a desperate attempt to rid herself of the tears that were threatening to fall. Minju just looked on in confusion, she would certainly have noticed if Chaewon sneezed. Before she could question the excuse, Chaewon abruptly asked ‘Say Minju, I’ve never asked you about the day we first met, have I?’ Minju just nodded in response, a light tint of pink making its appearance on her cheeks. She was always glad that the girls never harped on the reason behind her tears that day and she never thought she would suddenly be asked to share the truth. ‘Why were you crying outside the convenience store?’ Chaewon questions, suddenly filled with curiosity after the realisation. The older girls never asked not because they were trying to be considerate or anything, mostly because they didn’t know it wasn’t something Minju wanted to talk about, but because they were too excited to make a new friend that it had slipped their mind. Now that she was holding an ice cream and in the opposing position, Chaewon was suddenly reminded of the incident. Unfortunately for Minju, the older girl wasn’t gonna let her curiosity seep to the back of her mind so easily. ‘Unnie, I forgot. It was so long ago’ ‘Yah Minju ah, unnie ain’t dumb you know, even if i’m not the brightest sometimes, you were crying so much how could you forget the reason already?’ Chaewon retorted, determined to find out today. And well, Minju wasn’t gonna deal with a stubborn Chaewon today of all days. ‘It’s a really lame reason’ she sighed. ‘That day… ahhh unnie! It’s so embarrassing’ Minju whined as she buried her head within her palms. Seeing this brought a wide smile to Chaewon’s face, the soft spot she had for the younger girl stirring in delight. Reaching over and patting Minju’s head, Chaewon said ‘if you really don’t want to talk about it you don’t have to Min. I was just messing with ya’. ‘It’s fine unnie, I'll just tell you. I was being bullied by a bunch of stupid boys because apparently my hair was so long and it looked like a broom and i swear if i see those stupid boys again i’m going to take my long hair and wrap it around their necks and wring them like a wet cloth.’ She blurted out all in one breath, too fast for anyone to catch. Well, anyone except for Chaewon as the girl was paying close attention to every word, feeling a strong sense of dejavu. Completely involuntarily, Chaewon broke out into a huge laughter, her wind chime voice filling the small store with its echoes. Hyewon had to rush out of the staff room to see what in the world was going on. Chaewon at this point was gasping for air, unable to control her growing laughter. The tears that were previously from her broken heart were now from her fit of laughter. It didn’t take long for Minju to send a palm to the side of the older girl’s shoulder, whining in embarrassment. ‘I-i’m so sorry Minju… b-but HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA’ Chaewon continued. After what seemed like ages of uncalled for laughter, Chaewon had finally settled down. ‘Minju ah… the thing is, that’s literally the exact damn lines I heard from those damn boys growing up. If it wasn’t about the cat scratch scar on my upper lip, it would be some made up nonsense about long hair being a broom.’ she confessed. ‘I always thought I was the only one who laid on my bed at night wondering what in the kind of drugs those boy were high on. I thought I was the only one...’ she continued, reaching a hand out and ruffling the younger girl’s hair. Minju’s smile was reaching up to her eyes at this point, even though she was confused by Chaewon’s laughs, she was also feeling a boost of serotonin. After the revelation, she couldn’t help but to smile in happiness. ‘Minju ah, I guess neither of us were alone.’ Chaewon ultimately finishes, cupping Minju’s cheek with her palm, smiling endearingly from the sight of Minju’s crescent moon eyes. The two sat and stared at one another for another minute.

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A/N: Thank you for reading this update! Took awhile for me to finish this chapter as I’ve been busy with Lunar New Year and what not. Will try my best to bring the next chapter out soon! Please leave your thoughts for me on my cc https://curiouscat.qa/yuriornothing or in the comments below. Follow and interact with me @yuriornothing on twitter! love yalls!!