Chapter 6: Taking Chances

Sooyoung wondered if it was time that stood still or if maybe it was her who actually stopped breathing. Her heart was threatening to burst from her chest and her wrist was burning up. She could feel the sweat gather on her forehead as she waited for Sunny to answer her.

Sunny’s eyes were slightly wide for she had no clue that Sooyoung would be so direct. It’s not that she never thought about going out with her, in fact that thought would constantly bother her in the middle of the night. But she had made a promise to herself years ago to never fall in love, to never go on a date, to never succumb to her feelings.

But this was different.

Before when she was faced by the question by her best friend in high school, a boy named Sungmin, she didn’t even think twice. She knew he liked her, and he knew she refused to fall in love. But he was moving away and he wanted to try. She told him no without holding back and she doesn’t regret it at all and never did she even linger on the thought of it.

But here, standing in front of this beautiful girl with so much hope in her eyes, Sunny couldn’t find the will to say no right away. Sunny bit her lip and wondered if she had the courage to say yes, to give Sooyoung a chance and take the plunge.

“Y-You don’t have to answer me right away,” Sooyoung spat out, not wanting to pressure Sunny. That and she couldn’t take the silence anymore. Even the store clerk was watching them from afar.

Sunny shook her head, “You know what Sooyoung,” she started, smiling widely at the tall girl, “I’ll accept your offer.”

Sooyoung’s eyes widened and she wondered if they were going to pop out of her head. She squealed in response and suddenly grabbed Sunny, squeezing her into a hug and spinning her around. She was light as a feather and Sooyoung felt like she could lift a hundred men with how giddy she felt.

Although taken by surprise, Sunny let out a loud laugh that was practically music to Sooyoung’s ears. She thought she was going to pass out and she could feel her knees getting weak.

“This Saturday at 6, come over to our place,” Sunny said after Sooyoung finally put her down.

“Y-Y-Your place?” Sooyoung shouted, open so wide that she could probably fit her fist inside.

Sunny raised her eyebrow before blushing, “What are you thinking about, ert? I just know a good place near me so I thought it would be a good idea to meet there.”

Sooyoung laughed nervously, “Sorry.”

Sunny just giggled in return before paying for Jessica’s banana milk.

“I’ll see you soon then,” Sunny said, giving Sooyoung a wink before heading to the door.

“Goodnight!” Sooyoung shouted as Sunny left.

“Night!” she heard a muffled reply as Sunny waved at her and hopped onto her bike.

As soon as Sunny was out of sight, Sooyoung fell to the ground and squealed again, rolling around on the dirty store floor. But she could care less, she said yes!

---

Friday couldn’t pass by any faster.

Sooyoung zoomed through her classes, had dinner then headed to bed at exactly 8PM. Yoona had whined about Sooyoung not hanging out with her at the library and Taeyeon couldn’t stop laughing when the girl texted her goodnight so early.

You’re ridiculous, you know? I hope you’re unable to sleep. Kekekeke…

Sooyoung rolled her eyes at her roommate’s text and tossed her phone onto her side table. She was snug in bed and she tried her best to fall asleep.

But much to Taeyeon’s prediction, all she could do for the next half hour was toss and turn.

“I’m going to kill that girl. This is all her fault,” Sooyoung grumbled to herself as she threw off her blanket in frustration. Somehow the time seemed to pass by even slower and for what seemed like hours was only half an hour.

Her phone buzzed again and she growled, knowing for certain that it was her roommate texting her to even more. Grabbing her phone, she glared at the screen only to be surprised by the name that popped up on her screen.

“Sunny?” she muttered to herself.

Like a ten year old screaming at her teen idol, Sooyoung fell back on her bed and kicked her legs while making dog like sounds. She couldn’t believe it!

Hey Sooyoung! Taengoo told me your number and that I should text you. She said you were having trouble sleeping?

She wasn’t sure if she was supposed to strangle Taeyeon when she got back or if she should give her soul to the girl. Her face was feeling hot and she was unsure of how she should respond.

Her fingers trembled over her keypad as she thought of multiple replies. She rehearsed them out loud then typed them out, wondering which one looked the best.

Sooyoung also wondered if she was supposed to wait a bit before replying. Would it seem clingy to respond right away? Or would Sunny be offended if she didn’t respond right away?

It seemed that seducing her would be more difficult than she thought.

Try listening to this song. I’m not sure what your type of music is, but this song helps me sleep.

Sunny had sent a link to the song To Whom It May Concern by The Civil Wars. Sooyoung had heard the name of the band before since she was certain that Taeyeon liked that band too. She had never heard any of their songs before but she made certain to listen to Sunny’s recommendation.

Thank you, Sunny! I’ll listen to the song right away.

Sooyoung usually listened to pop songs or even hip hop and R&B. She had different moods for different songs but once the song started she decided that she liked it. She never really listened to anything acoustic before but she instantly decided that she liked the song since Sunny sent it to her.

She closed her eyes and let the lyrics sink in. Each silky word entered her ear and made her melt. The lyrics seemed to tell a familiar story. The words seemed to respond well to her heart.

I don’t really know why you’re sleeping so early, but I have a feeling I know the reason. Sleep well, Sooyoung.

Sooyoung was certain that Taeyeon told Sunny the very reason why, but she couldn’t find it in her to be mad at the girl. She was too engrossed with the song and the soft melody was doing a good job at making her feel sleepy.

Goodnight, Sunny. See you soon!

She managed to reply before tucking the phone under her pillow. Tomorrow would come fast, she just knew it.

Taeyeon got home only an hour after Sooyoung fell asleep. The song was still playing on repeat on her phone and Taeyeon’s guest couldn’t help but smile.

“She seems to like the song,” Sunny whispered, trying her best not to awaken the girl. She smiled at the sleeping figure and something in her tempted her to go over and her hair while she slept.

“I’ve been telling her to listen to them forever and now she listens because you said so,” Taeyeon mumbled as she shook her head at her roommate.

“Well she likes me more I guess,” Sunny teased with an exaggerated shrug, “She doesn’t want to listen to some shorty.”

“You’re one to talk,” Taeyeon retaliated with a glare, “Whatever, she totally likes me more. It took her a million years to ask you out so.”

Sunny’s smile fell at the thought of their day the next night. She couldn’t help but have a few regrets to saying yes. Perhaps she should’ve waited a bit longer, or perhaps she should have made sure that the date was purely platonic. Just a little get together, or something.

But at the same time, her body somehow felt relieved at the thought of having a date with the tall girl. The ache in her wrist seemed to dim and she wouldn’t admit it, but she was really looking forward to spending some alone time with Sooyoung again. Their encounter at the convenience store seemed to ease her somehow.

Since Sunny wasn’t responding, Taeyeon glanced over to her best friend to see her staring intently at Sooyoung. She smirked, wanting to about their date for the next day. But before she could open again, Sunny spoke up first.

“I’ve been dreaming about her,” Sunny whispered, her lips curling into a small smile, “She’s like some sort of disease, plaguing my mind. I wonder if it’s all the gem’s doing or if maybe my heart really wants her.”

Taeyeon nodded, her mind going back to that summer with Jessica.

“I know exactly what you mean,” she responded, her fingers delicately probing her covered gem. “I couldn’t tell the difference between what my heart wanted and what my gem wanted. Was this fate’s doing? Or was I really and truly falling for Sica.”

Sunny sighed, “That’s why I hate these damn things. They complicate everything.”

Taeyeon lifted her hand to lightly pat Sunny on her bum, “Unfortunately, they’re a part of life. And there’s no way to get rid of them. But I’m glad you’re giving Sooyoung a chance despite everything.”

Sunny laughed airily, her head shaking as she looking down at the faint glowing under her bandages, “My therapist had been insisting that I made the first move since I’m the one who put up the boundary. Surprisingly, the kid had more guts than I thought.”

Taeyeon raised her eye brow at the girl next to her, “You still see that crazy woman?”

“I told you already Taeng, I need her,” Sunny said with a low tone, her voice almost a whisper. “I’m afraid I’ll go crazy if I don’t see her. You still have family, you have Sica. I don’t have anyone else.”

Taeyeon grabbed Sunny’s hand and held it close to her face, “You have us,” she whispered, “And maybe you’ll have her too.”

“I don’t know about that,” Sunny replied, squeezing Taeyeon’s hand repeatedly, “It’s just a date. I pretended everything was fine and dandy last night but honestly, I’m scared.”

Taeyeon looked at Sunny, her head tilting to the side, “Scared of what?”

“That this is some mistake. That I’ll hurt her, that she’ll hurt me.”

Sooyoung stirred in her sleep, her limbs twitching and moving slightly. Sunny and Taeyeon watched the girl with wide eyes, afraid that she would wake up. But instead, she just turned over and cuddled closer to her pillow, mumbling something inaudible.

“She’ll never hurt you,” Taeyeon responded, smiling at the silly looking girl under her covers, “And I’m sure you won’t hurt her. Just don’t think about it too much, and have fun with this, okay?”

---

It was 10AM when Sooyoung’s alarm clock went off.

HER WHISPER IS THE LUCIFER!

“Shut that thing off!” Taeyeon shouted from her bed, tossing one of her stuffed bears at the other bed.

In that instant, Sooyoung shot up out of bed. She was just in time for Taeyeon’s bear to hit her square on the face.

Sooyoung grunted upon impact and she whipped the bear right back with much less force for she wasn’t very strong at all.

“Ugh, what time is it,” she mumbled as she wiped the sleep away from her eyes. Having been asleep for so long she seemed to have forgotten her place in the universe. But when she looked at her phone her alarm blared the answer to her.

DATE WITH SUNNY TODAY!!

She screamed when realization hit her and she practically leaped out of bed.

“What do I wear?” she yelled out, horrified that she didn’t bother figuring this out the night before.

“You have more than six hours to decide that!” Taeyeon groaned from her bed. But although she sounded grumpy, she couldn’t help but have a smile on her face. She was almost as excited about this date as Sooyoung.

“I didn’t bring enough clothes! What am I going to do?!” Sooyoung whined from her small closet, clothes being tossed everywhere.

Taeyeon slowly arose from her bed and kind of regretted supporting Sooyoung and Sunny’s relationship. It seemed like today would be a long day.

Yoona had been recruited to bring lunch for Sooyoung for the girl was still deciding her outfit. It was 3PM and apparently she still had no idea what to wear. Yoona was still shocked to find out that the girl hadn’t eaten yet and even more terrified to find out that Taeyeon apparently passed out from the lack of food.

Apparently they didn’t even have breakfast! Such a world didn’t exist with Sooyoung, so the crisis had to be a big one.

She brought with her a huge family combo for the two girls (and maybe just a bit for herself) and tapped her foot impatiently as she waited for the elevator.

When the door opened, she zoomed inside and almost pressed the button to close the door when she heard voices telling her to stop.

Two other girls rushed into the elevator, one with a paper bag with most likely food and the other giving her an eye smile of thanks.

Yoona thought that both girls looked very pretty and wondered if maybe they were in the same year? But with the closed space of the elevator, she could barely breathe let alone ask the two questions about their school grade.

“Do you think Tae Tae is okay?” the shorter girl asked, “Her roommate sounded really frantic on the phone.”

The taller girl nodded, her face looking incredibly stern as she held the paper bag closer to her, “She has to be okay, unnie. I’m sure we’ll make it on time.”

Yoona wasn’t certain, but the two must have been talking about Taeyeon. She turned to them and stared by accident, uncertain of how to bring up the issue of the two girls.

“Yes?” the shorter girl asked when she noticed Yoona’s staring.

“You do know it’s rude to stare, right?” the taller girl asked, slightly scaring Yoona.

“Seobaby!” the shorter girl yelled, lightly hitting the other girl, “Don’t be so mean to the poor girl.”

“A-Are you talking about Kim Taeyeon?” Yoona asked, trying to brush off the words of the two other girls. She wasn’t sure why she felt so nervous all of a sudden. It must have been the environment.

“Oh, you know my unnie?” the taller girl asked, approaching Yoona and piercing her with her sparkling eyes.

“Yeah! She’s my best friend’s roommate,” Yoona answered happily, loving the warmth radiating form the tall girl.

The shorter one pointed to her huge bag of food, “Is that for them?”

“Yeah, and I’m gonna guess that’s for Taeyeon unnie too?”

The two girls looked at the bag of food in their arms and the huge one in hers before the taller one spoke up.

“They’re going to eat all of this?!” the shorter girl yelled in surprise, “This looks like it can be enough for a family of five!”

“Don’t worry about it,” Yoona answered with a chuckle, “Sooyoung will be more than capable of finishing this.”

The other two girls looked at each other incredulously, very much doubting the truth to that statement.

Once the elevator door opened, the three walked towards the direction of their friends’ dorm room. It was a little silent, except for Yoona’s occasional giggles at the thought of Sooyoung going to surprise the two girls with her huge appetite.

“So I’m Tiffany, and this is Seohyun,” the shorter girl introduced, giving Yoona a wide grin. She felt that they needed to break the silence before entering the room.

“It’s nice to meet you two,” Yoona replied, bowing politely at the two other girls, “I’m Im Yoona, a first year here.”

“Oh really?” the girl named Seohyun said, her eyes widening, “I’m a first year too! What program are you in?”

Before Yoona could answer, a loud groan echoed through the hallway. Yoona immediately recognized the sound.

“We should hurry inside,” Yoona said, her eyes rolling at the thought of her best friend pathetically waiting for food. “I think she’s dying.”

Tiffany and Seohyun were sitting on Taeyeon’s bed, watching in shock as Sooyoung practically inhaled the entirety of the bag’s contents. Taeyeon was happily eating her wrap, instant gratification on her face. She watched Sooyoung eat, unaffected by her slobbish and monster like habits being used to it by now. And Yoona was looking through her closet for something nice to wear.

“How about this?” Yoona asked as she took out a baby blue sun dress. It was cute and plain with a flowy skirt. She remembered that Sooyoung looked super cute in the dress the last time she saw her during the summer break.

“She had that on her maybe pile this morning,” Taeyeon said through bites, “Then she put it back in because apparently blue makes her look fat.”

“She can look fat?!” Tiffany asked in shock, suddenly moving after being left open for so long.

“Fany!” Taeyeon shouted at her friend, getting her to calm down.

“Sorry, sorry I was just taken by surprise.”

“I think your friend is still in shock,” Yoona giggled, pointing at Seohyun who was still staring at Sooyoung who was finishing the last of her final burger.

“Is she speechless because of the amount of food she’s eating or because all she ate was burgers and fries?” Taeyeon asked Tiffany, elbowing Seohyun whose mouth was still hung open.

“I think both,” Tiffany answered with a shrug.

“Does she not like those?” Yoona asked, surprised that anyone can not like the simple deliciousness that is fast food.

“She has this saying, what was it Tae?”

“Unhealthy diet accumulates and then you die,” Taeyeon mumbled as she recalled Seohyun’s ‘words of wisdom’.

“That’s…intense,” Yoona answered, her eyes wide open in shock. “Is she a health…” she couldn’t say freak, that would be rude. “..nut?”

“That’s one way of putting it,” Tiffany laughed as she shook her head, “I’d say that I was a health nut and Seobaby is perhaps a few steps further than that.”

“Guys, guys, it’s 4PM and I’m still not decided on an outfit!” Sooyoung interjected, the girl finally standing up and running to Yoona at her closet. “The date is in only two hours! I’m going to pass out!”

“Sooyoungie! Calm down! It’ll be okay, it’ll be okay!” Yoona yelled, gripping onto Sooyoung’s shoulders and shaking her. “It’s just a first date! I’m sure Sunny unnie won’t care!”

“Wait a second, hold up just one second!” Tiffany spazzed loudly, almost piercing Seohyun and Taeyeon’s ears, “She’s going on a date with Sunny?! Sunny is dating? Wait what?!”

Taeyeon pressed her palms firmly against her ears, waiting for Tiffany to calm down. Tiffany looked at her, excitement and shock clear on her face. was spread wide open in a big smile and her eyes looked like they were threatening to pop out of their sockets.

“It’s a long story,” Taeyeon answered, patting Tiffany on her back.

“Is that why Sica unnie said she couldn’t come with us? She said she had something important to help Sunny unnie with,” Seohyun said as she recalled her previous phone call with Jessica before they headed over.

“Is she struggling with her outfit too?” Taeyeon asked with a chuckle. She could only imagine what kind of disaster was going on at their apartment.

---

Sunny was flipping through her sketchbook, doodling every once in a while as Jessica raided her closet. She honestly wasn’t very worried about her date at all, probably going to put on some sweater and short shorts before meeting up with Sooyoung.

However, Jessica had other plans.

“How do you not have any nice clothes?!” Jessica screamed in annoyance. Sunny’s clothes were everywhere but Sunny didn’t seem to care much. She knew she could just stuff her clothes back in her closet later.

“Sunny! This is your first date, you should care a bit more!” Jessica groaned, throwing a random pair of shorts at the girl who was carelessly lying in bed.

“Sooyoung won’t care about what I wear,” Sunny responded with a roll of her eyes, “Calm down Sica.”

“I am not going to calm down,” Jessica retorted as she held up the one top she thought was decent enough for the girl’s date. “You seriously need new clothes. The ones you have right now either have paint stains or rips or are not even close to being nice enough for a date.”

“Why do you care so much anyway?” Sunny asked as she stared at her fuming friend who was covered in her clothes. “You’re not the one going on this date.”

Jessica glared at Sunny before pulling out her phone and opening it, throwing it at her.

“Apparently, Sooyoung has been up since 10AM picking an outfit. So you could put in a bit more effort in your wardrobe as well,” Jessica said as a matter of factly, presenting the one top she liked.

Sunny read through Taeyeon’s whiny texts of how Sooyoung seems to be panicking for the past few hours. She laughed to herself at the ridiculousness of the situation and felt flattered at how much the younger girl was preparing herself for her sake. She got up from her bed and walked over to Jessica.

“Fine, let’s see what we have here.”