“Siyeon, I have a question.”

The girl raised her head from her plate, blurbing a “Huh-uh?” with still stuffed with food, which gave her cute puffy cheeks and a lost duckling expression that Bora swore was the second cutest thing in the world. She let out a discreet scoff before asking:

“How do you know when it's a crush and not just friendship?”

Siyeon swallowed her food while the dots slowly connected behind her blank eyes.

“Is this about you and Minji-unnie?” she blurted innocently.

Bora felt her cheek flaming instantly. Suddenly, she couldn't seem to remember why she chose to talk about this with Siyeon of all people. Of course the younger one would guess and of course it would be embarrassing.

“Never mind,” the senior student mumbled, preparing her plate to leave the cafeteria.

“No, wait!” –her friend leaned over the table to grab her wrist– “I'm not making fun of you, unnie. Please, talk to me.”

Bora stared at her, her mind wavering between burying this whole conversation along with her feelings or actually listening to what Siyeon had to say for once. The youngest was looking pleasingly at her, a hint of worry in her gaze. She wanted nothing more than to be there for her friend.

The eldest sighed and sat back correctly to have that conversation.

“Yes, it's about her. But don't you dare say anything to her!”

“Of course I won't. Unnie, I know how you feel,” Siyeon replied, slightly offended.

“Of course, I'm sorry,” the senior student said quietly.

Her friend nodded and took back where they were. “So you're not sure if what you feel for Minji-unnie is just friendship,” she stated, not expecting an answer. “Have you tried going on a date with her?”

Bora's eyes widened while all her other features remained still. What the was that advice?

“Wh– What do you mean: a date?”

“Well… I mean, to her, it would be a normal hangout between friends. But for you, it would be the occasion to see how you feel.”

“Just the two of us?”

“Mm-hmm.”

The idea made a few turns in Bora's mind. She had hung out with Minji before, after all they were quite close. However, the boundary had always been very clear. Until it wasn't. Since then, she had always found an excuse to avoid those moments, which in a sense was already answering her first question.

“What if she doesn't feel the same way? We never talked about that kind of thing. I don't know if she ever considered being with another woman…”

Bora paused to look at Siyeon's enigmatic smile. To be honest it kinda got on her nerves. Her love tribulations weren't something to laugh at, damn it! The youngest saw her friend's irritation and dropped the smirk.

“Don't worry, unnie. I'm sure it will be fine,” she said instead with a strange assurance. “Besides, you don't have to make a move. But if you feel like you want to, then it's definitely not just a platonic friendship,” she added in a much lighter mood.

Her unnie observed her silently with squinted eyes.

“You're enjoying this, aren't you?”

Siyeon was too far in to pretend not to. She looked back at her friend with a cheeky attitude and answered:

“I'm just happy that my best friend is considering falling in love again.”

“We’ll see about that,” Bora grumbled, still feeling the heat in her cheeks.

***

Minji had been more than happy to receive Bora’s message asking her to hangout after school. She repeated it at least ten times while they were still on school grounds and once more before they headed out to the shopping district where most teenagers went to spend time together.

There was this new place that Bora knew her crush would love. It was a cute coffee shop specifically designed to feel like one of those old-timey comforting European salons with wooden furniture, a soft yellow light and lo-fi music in the background. Everyone went there, but the two friends hadn’t tested it yet.

“It’s such a good idea, Bora-ya,” Minji squealed in a fake baby voice while strolling in front of her friend in the crowd.

Bora walked behind with an endearing smile hanging on her lips, unable to think about anything else than the girl guiding her. One word to describe Kim Minji was “sunshine.” She liked to appear cute because she knew she could pull it off perfectly, but her demeanor changed depending who she was with. However, the only persistent feature had always been her smile. Whether she wanted to be bold, welcoming, cheeky, flirty, she had to grace everyone around with that wide open smile often accompanied by her characteristic laugh that sounded like a child who was proud of her own jokes. That was, according to Kim Bora, the cutest thing in the world.

When they arrived at the coffee shop, the place was crowded. Obviously that wasn’t enough to deter miss sunshine incarnate so the two waited in the line, making small talk to make the time go by.

“So are you finally done with all your assignments?” Minji asked.

The question surprised Bora before she remembered that was the excuse she had used the last three times the other student asked her to hang out after school. She took on an embarrassed smile, hoping the lie hadn’t been too obvious, because her friend certainly wasn’t dumb and the last thing she wanted was for Minji to think she didn’t want to see her anymore.

“Yeah. It took some time but I should be free for a while.”

“Good! ‘Cause I even had to ask Siyeon for a way to lure you out. I was quite desperate.”

“Oh come on! You couldn’t have missed me that much. We see each other everyday at school,” Bora protested.

“But it’s not the saaame,” her friend whined while clinging to her arm and resting her chin on her shoulder.

Bora’s brain became a blurb of incoherent thoughts for a solid three seconds after that unwarranted attack on her heart. She thought Minji would take a reasonable distance again, but apparently the slightly older girl was determined to stay linked to her until it was finally their turn in front of the waitress. She was still able to manage a “table for two, please,” before they were seated next to the window around a low coffee table.

The concept was slightly different from standard coffee shops to resemble a traditional French café. The two were looking at the menu placed on their table. Bora, in a more focused way than Minji to avoid looking at the other girl in the eyes. All the desserts were taken from around Europe and all looked really tasty. Soon, the flustered girl expressed her hype for absolutely every item on the list. To which her friend only responded with a light musing hum.

“Oh my God, I never tried tiramisu before! Do you think the desserts are home-made?”

In the absence of immediate response, Bora lifted her head to meet directly with two dark pupils peering at her with so much softness it actually stunned her. Minji was resting her hand in her palm, observing with an absent-minded smile full of endearment.

“Minji?” the object of her attention blurted.

“Hum?” the oldest blinked as she came out of her daze. “Oh… I have no idea, but it all looks delicious anyway,” she mused, squinting her eyes slightly behind her big round glasses as she widened her smile.

Bora didn’t know how to react anymore. Was it truly just platonic emotions she was seeing in her friend’s eyes? Or was her desilusion even deeper than she thought? All she could do was blurt some insignificant rambles until she finally decided on her order and they both could have their coffee and dessert.

It was rather late when they stepped out of the shop. It was a good thing both of them didn’t live too far away by bus. The street was significantly less crowded given they were on a week day and most high schoolers who invaded the place had gone home already. This allowed Minji to, once again, walk close to Bora’s side.

“I had a really good time today, Bora,” she said softly with her ever shining smile. “I know I whined a lot about not seeing you, but it truly wasn’t the same.”

Her friend studied her silently. She wanted to say something but she noticed Minji wasn’t done. The girl was holding her arm nervously, her eyes looking down in the opposite direction of the person she was talking to.

“I…” Her first attempt died in the air, but she seemed to gather some confidence again. “I really like you.”

Minji attempted a glance in the other girl’s direction, but her eyes ran away immediately after. Bora was simply dumbfounded. All her senses were telling her to say something but nothing came out of . Even though she was looking away, Minji’s blushed cheeks were still visible from her friend’s perspective which gave no doubt as to what she actually meant by that confession.

“I’m sorry,” the eldest stuttered when she received no answer. “I… Maybe I’m overstepping. I shouldn’t have–”

She stopped her blabbering when she felt Bora’s fingers entangling with hers. She attempted another glance. This time her friend was looking at her with a wide comforting smile.

“I really like you too, Minji.”