Krystal Jung Soojung is not an unknown name at SM Academy. Far from it, actually. She is so unbelievably famous that most, if not all, alumni and people in the city know her name at the very least. That’s to be expected considering her background as the famous model, Jessica Jung Sooyeon’s younger sister, but then again the girl herself has some awesome qualities that separate her from the others.

For instance, Soojung, as she usually wants to be called, has what might be the prettiest face in the country, comparable to her sister. She has beautifully flowing brown hair, cat-like pair of eyes, pronounced jawline, and a pair of pink, luscious lips. She also has a pale, porcelain-like complexion, very well-built abs, and ideally-shaped body. Her height is perfect, not too tall but definitely not too short. A walking, living Barbie doll indeed.

To complete it, she has very brilliant personalities. She is intelligent, always placing her name on the top two ranks. She is impossibly kind and bright. She might look cold at first glance, but that’s actually her defense mechanism as she’s quite a shy person. Once you get to know her, she’s simply the friendliest girl around. Often, if you’re close with her, she acts funny and cute, showcasing aegyos only she can pulls off perfectly. She still has her own moments of cold acts, though.

Soojung has a few people who she calls as her best friends, namely Amber, the famous tomboy, Luna, the top student who competes with her often in ranks, and Victoria, the student council president. There are many more she can call her close friends, but with those three, Soojung has never been closer. They’re practically inseparable, like sisters (other than Jessica). Amber, Luna, and Victoria have known Soojung like the back of their palms. They know of Soojung’s secret love of Korean dramas (often preparing tissues because the youngest can be so random with her outbursts of tears), of Soojung’s hobby of singing weird odes while doing some weird and random movements (she calls it ‘dancing’ but Victoria feels offended because she’s sure those bizarre moves can’t be called ‘dancing’) at the rooftop where they always meet together for lunch, and of Soojung’s apparent dislikes of relationship (not hate, because according to her, ‘hate is a very strong word’).

Yes, Soojung dislikes relationship. She thinks relationship is a stupid thing, a manifestations of temporary feelings that can wear off within time. She doesn’t believe in relationship, she thinks it’s stupid to engage in one. However, she’s not a player, far from it. She is, as Amber will call it, a ‘’ when it comes to relationship. Very clueless, very naïve, but only when relationship is the main topic. That is Soojung.

Soojung scoffs a lot whenever Amber talks sweetly with Henry, her musician boyfriend. Soojung rolls her eyes a lot whenever Luna feeds Onew, her boyfriend of one year and a half, with his favorite chicken. Soojung sighs a lot whenever Victoria texts Zhoumi, her boyfriend from the nearby university, with a huge grin plastered all over her goddess-like face. Soojung does that not only because she dislikes relationship, but because she’s gay.

That’s another secret only the trio knows. No one, not even the trio, has ever thought that the perfect Krystal Jung Soojung is a closeted gay because she never admits it nor has she explicitly shows any interest in her same-gender friends. She always said it’s just because those boys aren’t attractive enough for her, but when Amber caught her secretly ogling over a hot female model named Summer Choi when the latter came to play with Jessica at the Jung residence, she finally admits that she thinks she might be ‘just a tiny bit’ gay. Not that the trio will judge her anyway, they’re quite open-minded and are okay with Soojung’s ual preference.

But still, Soojung is quite stubborn with her opinion. Usually, the three of them are fine with Soojung’s obvious dislike towards relationship, but they, especially Amber because she’s the closest with Soojung, eventually feel worn out with the brunette’s constant behavior around their boyfriends, because Soojung can’t make it obvious enough that she doesn’t like PDA in the slightest. They’re afraid that their boyfriends will feel uncomfortable, but they’re also afraid that Soojung will feel sad and heartbroken if they just suddenly tell her to stop doing whatever she always does whenever Henry, Onew, and Zhoumi are involved. Soojung is their friend after all, the most fragile one too. They don’t want to hurt her feelings.

So when Amber comes to Luna and Victoria with a plan in her head, the two have never feel even happier. They’re determined to get this to work. They’re going to change Soojung’s opinion at all cost.

“We have to succeed!” Amber shouts, “For Soojung’s happiness!”

“For Soojung’s happiness!”

Sulli Choi Jinri lives in the more urban side of the city, full with thugs and beggars and whatnot. For a girl, a beautiful one at that, living under constant fears of and theft and murder comes as an unwanted extra perks. But Jinri is different. Jinri smiles when those thugs are stripping her off her clothes with her eyes. Jinri smiles when she puts a dollar onto the beggar’s open palms. Jinri smiles even when she comes home to an empty, small apartment she calls home, exhausted and starving.

Jinri isn’t rich, but she isn’t poor either. She’s standing at the thinnest line between saving money for living and starving herself to death. Jinri doesn’t worship money nor does she think it is the most important thing in the universe. She puts everyone’s happiness over her own, and if money has to be involved then so be it. Jinri’s source of living is everyone’s smiles.

Jinri claims that she isn’t a workaholic, but it’s hard to believe considering the amount of part-time jobs she has. Jinri works at the small café near SM Academy as a barista, at the seafood restaurant near the Han River as a waitress, at the neighborhood houses as a housekeeper, at the bookstore behind the café as a clerk, at anywhere, thus she becomes famous for almost everyone has seen her at least once during their time in the city. Jinri works to keep herself busy so that she won’t have to remember how hungry she is after only eating a toast of bread for breakfast every single day. But whenever she sees the smiles plastered on everyone’s face as they praise her for her great work, she always remember that she does all this not because she has to, but because she wants to. Jinri is special like that.

Jinri is beautiful, like an angel sent from heaven to brighten the gloomy Earth. She is tall; standing at 170cm. She has a long brown hair, porcelain-like complexion, mesmerizing legs, childishly cute voice, baby-like charms, and hypnotizing pair of black orbs that curve into a crescent-like shape whenever she smiles. Jinri’s smile is unique; so innocent and childish yet holds so many secrets and gives off a very mellow vibe. Mysterious and captivating.

It’s not hard to be her friends. Jinri is impossibly friendly, but still being carefully selective of her choice of friends. Her friends aren’t all as famous as she is, but they have their own charms that make them lovable. Take Bae Suzy, for example. The same-aged friend of Jinri is almost equally as innocent, plus the cute bunny teeth that makes her pretty and mesmerizing with her own charm that differs from everyone. Or Kang Jiyoung, another friend of Jinri who looks somewhat older than she is, but still look young enough to be pretty and lovely, especially with her bubbly personality.

Together with the two, Jinri works at a special place only open during summer known as ‘Summer Lover agency’. The agency works in the ‘timed relationship’ where you request any of the employees (all of whom are female) to be your or your friend’s girlfriend for a limited amount of time, the longest being 30 days. You will then be allowed to either make the ‘summer lover’ your official girlfriend or just move on with life and get another girl besides the other employees (of course you can’t ask anyone else in the agency to be your girlfriend. That’s just plain rude). However, the agency doesn’t work as a matchmaker or some sorts, instead more of being ‘a place where the young empty souls can find someone to fill their heart with during summer season’.

So far, Jinri has yet to receive a client simply because she’s new and is barely experienced with relationship. It’s not that she wants to, but because she doesn’t have time to, as she has too many things to do to even bothers with anything else. The other reason is that she’s a lesbian, or more like a ‘half-closeted, half-out’ type of lesbian. Only Suzy and Jiyoung, both are lesbians themselves, and Amber, her friend who’s a regular customer at the small café where she works as a barista, know about it (Amber accidentally found out when she was secretly ogling at Jessica Jung while reading a fashion magazine).

So when Amber asks her to be her friend’s (who’s apparently a girl) girlfriend, she doesn’t know if she should accept for the sake of friendship, or refuse because she’s not experienced enough and because according to the tomboy, her friend has never been in a relationship before. She doesn’t want the other girl’s first relationship (albeit a half-fake one) to be awkward and not worth remembering (in a good way, of course).

But Jinri puts everyone else’s happiness before her own, so of course her answer will be a ‘yes’.

Now all she can do is hope that she will do a good job.

“Amber Liu, you better have a very convincing reason for dragging me out of my cozy house at ing ten in the morning and disturbing me from my beauty sleep that I so desperately need!” Soojung’s words flow so fast the tomboy barely manages to understand, “uh… well… I’ll explain later, okay? Just come with me to the usual place, please? Luna and Victoria have their own things to do and so is Henry…”

“WHAT THE HELL!?” The Korean-American explodes, “So, I’m just some replacement because Henry isn’t there to babysit you!?”

“N-N-NO! ING NO! I don’t mean it like that, I swear! Gosh, Krys!” Amber groans in frustration, messing her short hair, “God, you and your morning temper!”

“Shut up,” Soojung hisses in irritation. The older sighs, “Look, I’m sorry for pulling you away from your stupidly cozy king-sized bed but you can’t just stay rooted there forever, right? C’mon! It’s not every day we can hang out together, just the two of us, while the sun is still brightly shining!”

As irked as Soojung is, she can’t help but agree with her best friend. Before holiday, they both were so busy they barely had time to do stuffs friends usually do. It doesn’t help that Amber is the star player of SM Academy’s own basketball club and Soojung being the sister of Jessica often gets love calls from many fashion magazines asking her to be their photo-shoot model. And even when they did have time together, Victoria and Luna always came into pictures. Not that the youngest hates it. The two are practically her sisters, but Amber is a bit more special because she was the first person Soojung had ever befriended.

“Krys? Hey, you there?” Amber’s voice breaks her from her reverie. Smiling slightly, she shakes her head, “nothing… fine, let’s get this over with. Where are we going to, stupid llama?”

The tomboy laughs, which earns her a confused stare from the Korean-American, “what? Why are you laughing like an idiot?”

“You, Krystal Jung Soojung, are the idiot one here,” she tries to stop herself from laughing before using her index finger to make an invisible circle in the air, a gesture they use to say ‘look at your surrounding’. Soojung raises an eyebrow but does as told nonetheless, and as soon as she realizes what her friend means her face reddens in embarrassment. They have actually arrive at their usual café near their academy, but she was so busy ranting she didn’t notice it at all. Amber laughs again at the silly scene in front of her, “you’re so weird, Krys.”

“S-Shut up…” the younger murmurs under her breath, locking her gaze to the ground as she can’t bring herself to look at the tomboy. After her laugh subsides, Amber searches for the waitress from her seat, motioning her to come and write down her and Soojung’s orders.

“I want Caramel Macchiato and an Oreo cheesecake,” she says to the waitress before looking at the silent Soojung, “hey, Krys, what do you want?”

The called girl, meanwhile, is busy staring at something else that she doesn’t hear the older’s question. Amber huffs in annoyance but follows her gaze nonetheless. Soon, a knowing smirk spreads across her face.

Soojung is staring at someone, a girl to be exact, who is busy behind the counter preparing another customer’s orders in swift movements and full concentration. She sees the tall barista wiping her sweats with her work outfit’s sleeve and her tongue at the same time as she pours the black-colored liquid into the white porcelain mug.

“Black coffee for Mr. Kim!” the beautiful barista calls gleefully, placing the filled mug on top of the counter, leaving it alone as she prepares for another orders. Soojung wonders how someone as tall as her can have a cute kid-like voice that sounds so innocent and youthful.

The older girl who has been looking at the brunette sighs and turns her gaze to the waitress instead, “sorry… but I think my friend is still lovestruck. Can I have Americano for her? Oh, and a piece of red velvet cake, please.” The waitress nods and jots down the order onto her notepad. Just as she is about to leave, Amber calls out suddenly, “wait! Can that cute, tall barista bring our order when they’re done?”

“Amber!” Soojung snaps her head to her best friend, shock written all over her face. The other just smirks and ignores her. The waitress, though unsure, nods slowly before leaving for real, making her way to the tall barista and hands her the order. She also whispers something to the baby-faced girl, which makes her brows furrow in confusion. Only when she sees Amber and Soojung do her confusion disappears, replaced with a smile. She nods and starts preparing the orders right away.

The brunette shoots her best friend a deadly glare, “what the do you think you’re doing, Amber!?”

“What? What do you mean?” the tomboy feigns innocence, but Soojung knows better, “what are you planning, actually!?”

Uh oh, this is bad. Quick, Amber! Say something!

But before the short-haired girl can say anything, a tray of foods and beverages makes contact with their table, surprising both girls as they look at the intruder with shocked face, but soon replaced with two different expressions, awestruck for Soojung and knowing for Amber. The latter greets the barista who’s looking at them with a smile, “hey, Sulli!”

“Hey, Am!” Jinri greets cheerfully before looking at the spacing out girl with a confused smile, “uh, is she your friend?”

“Yeah! She’s Krystal, Krystal Jung Soojung,” as soon as the name escapes Amber’s mouth, Jinri’s eyes widen and forms an ‘O’ shape, “so, this is her?”

“Yup!” the older answers all too happily. She looks at Soojung and realizes that her best friend is practically ogling the taller girl shamelessly. What a good reaction. This’ll be easier than I thought, Amber thought.

“Hey, Krys! You okay?” she jokes and snaps her finger in front of the younger’s eyes, snapping her out of her stupor. Soojung glares at the grinning tomboy and looks back at the taller girl nervously, fidgeting her fingers under the table. She wants nothing more than to disappear right now because she thinks she’s going to melt because of the barista’s radiating beauty. All her life, Soojung has always been surrounded by gorgeous and y women, but the tall girl is on a whole different level. The girl’s natural beauty and cute charm can put even the Goddess of Beauty, Venus, to shame.

Good God… Am I in heaven right now because no way is this girl a human being. She must be a fallen angel or something…

“I-I’m K-Krystal Jung… B-But call m-me S-Soojung…” she mentally scolds herself for badly stuttering. She then hears giggles from above her and when she tilts her head upward, she blushes immediately. The taller girl is stifling her laugh while showing the brunette her beautiful eyesmile.

Soojung has seen so many eye smiles, from her sister’s model friend Tiffany to her own friend Luna, but never has she seen such a perfectly shaped eyesmile. The curves those pair of onyx-colored eyes make when she curls the end of her lips upward looks so perfectly shaped that the Jung can’t help but be mesmerized. So beautiful… she thought.

“I’m Choi Jinri, but you can call me Sulli!” the taller girl introduces herself, “nice to meet you, Soojung-ssi!”

“Oh n-no! D-Don’t call me like that!” Soojung intervenes, earning yet another confused stare from the eye smiling girl. Dear God, this beauty and her cute confused face will be the death of me…

“I-I mean…” she gives her best friend a desperate look that screams ‘help me!’ but the tomboy whistles and looks away, pretending not to know anything. The brunette makes a mental note to kill Amber after this is over. She clears awkwardly and looks back at the barista, “y-you can j-just call me S-Soojung… w-without any formalities…”

She discreetly sends Amber a death glare when she sees the older girl trembling on her seat with one of her hand covering and another clutching onto her stomach, trying her best to hold in the laughter that threatens to burst out. It’s not every day you can see the confident and cold-looking Krystal Jung Soojung stuttering like she’s going to piss herself and blushing like a ripened tomato. I should have brought my camera! Too bad Vic and Luna aren’t here to witness this epic moment, the short-haired girl thought.

“Oh, okay… so,” Jinri beams yet another heartwarming eyesmile, and Soojung is sure that a part of her dies due to cuteness overload, “nice to meet you, Soojung-ah!” said the tall girl happily.

“Choi Jinri! Come here and starts brewing these coffees or you’re in trouble!” an authoritative voice emanates from the kitchen, surprising the called girl. Jinri looks at her friends and smiles apologetically, “I’m sorry; I have to go back to work…”

“It’s okay, Ssul! We’ll wait for you, ‘kay? Let’s hang out together after your shift’s over!” Amber says and nudges the still-blushing younger girl, “right, Krys?”

“A-Ah, y-yeah…” the brunette stammers nervously, but happily, “we’ll… we’ll wait for you.”

“You don’t have to, really. But thank you!” Jinri smiles again, “It’ll end soon, so just wait patiently, okay?” she says before returning back to her station.

“Cute girl, don’t you think?” Amber starts, only to gulps when Soojung gives her yet another chilling death glare, “don’t you dare, Amber Liu. Just think about your boyfriend.”

“Eii, someone’s jealous~” the tomboy chimes playfully, but looks away immediately in fear, “let’s just drink, okay?”

Soojung sighs and looks at the glass in front of her, filled with black liquid known as Americano coffee. She cringes, “why the did you order Americano for me?”

“I know you don’t like Americano but trust me, Sulli’s Americano is the best in the whole world,” Amber says, a bit more serious than usual, “you won’t regret it. You have my words.”

The Korean-American looks at her friend with doubts as she brings the lid of the mug closer to her lips. But the moment the liquid enters , she almost chokes herself in surprise, “this is… so good!”

“What did I tell you, Krys?” Amber smirks and sips on her own Caramel Macchiato, “Sulli’s the best when it comes to coffee, really.”

Soojung doesn’t say anything in response as she continues to drink her Americano. She has never like coffee before, but now she can say for sure that Americano, or Jinri’s Americano to be exact, is her favorite drink in the whole world.

Soojung almost chokes on her red velvet cake and blurts out all profanities and curses she can think of when the news comes to her like a wrecking ball. Amber shrieks when the younger girl lunges at her and almost strangles her to death, “Y-Yah, Krys! I-I’m sorry, okay!”

“WHAT SORRY YOU FREAKIN IDIOT LLAMA! How dare you hook me up with that Sulli without my consent!” Soojung yells in sheer anger and frustration. Sure, Jinri is beautiful, gorgeous even, but that doesn’t mean her views in relationship changes. Nope, not at all. No, really…

Okay, maybe just a tiny little bit, like really little, but she isn’t ready to get into one. Not at all!

“You better cancel it now, Am!” she fumes, hoping that maybe this entire ‘summer lover’ thing can be cancelled. But to her disappointment, Amber shakes her head, “I can’t! I already pay and there’s no way I can cancel it!”

“See! It’s paid! It’s not sincere-” Soojung rants on but the older girl interrupts her, “trust me, Krys. They’re professionals, and by professional, I mean they’re going to pour 100% of their feelings and time to make sure their relationship works! You don’t know how many girls who used to work at that agency quit because they found their true love.”

“Besides,” the tomboy continues, “she might be beautiful, but Sulli has never been in a relationship.”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“Nah, I’m dead serious.”

“No ing way,” Soojung breaths out. A girl as angelic as Sulli has never date before?

“Well since she’s so angelic in your eyes, it makes even more sense to try this out, right?” Amber laughs. The brunette gasps, “you can read minds!?”

“No, silly. You said that out loud,” Amber laughs again as she stands up and places a couple of dollars on top of the table, “I gotta go, Henry texted me and said that we are going to watch a movie together. Enjoy your date, Krys!”

“Y-Yah! What am I supposed to do!?” Soojung asks in panic. Being so inexperienced in love, she doesn’t know what people do on ‘dates’. There’s no way she’s going to bring the barista to the movie theater or to the shopping mall like what her three best friends usually do, she had just met the girl today for God’s sake!

Wait, why does it seem as though I’m dating that Sulli!? Sure, we might be ‘summer lovers’ or whatever right now but-

“Just ask her! You bring your car, right? Just drive her around!” Amber answers dismissively, “gotta go. See ya tomorrow, Krys!”

“Wait, Am-” but too bad, Amber leaves the café immediately. “Screw you, llama!” the Korean-American scoffs in irritation.

“Hi, Soojung-ah!” the called girl jumps on her seat when the familiar cute voice appears from behind her. She turns around and sees the barista now wearing more comfortable and casual clothes consisting of checkered shirt and denim vest with long black jeans and a pair of pink Nike sneakers. , she still looks so beautiful even with plain clothing… Soojung thought. Jinri’s eyes wander around the café for a while before she asks the brunette, “where’s Amber?”

Somehow, Soojung feels disappointed that the idiot llama is the one Jinri is looking for. “She went home to prepare for a date with her boyfriend,” she sneers. Jinri laughs, “ah, with Henry? Somehow, that’s not very surprising.”

“You know Henry?” Soojung asks in surprise. “Yeah… well, not really. Amber told me a lot about him but I never meet him personally.”

“I see…” the shorter girl nods. Silence begins to envelop the atmosphere between the two girls and Soojung thinks it is awkward, like really awkward. “Uh… do you wanna go somewhere?” she asks the taller girl, mentally patting herself on the back for not stuttering like a fool this time.

“Hm? Well…” Jinri places her index finger on her chin, thinking. Somehow, the brunette finds the action cute and y at the same time. “I think I’m going to go to the supermarket.”

“Alright, let’s go. I’ll drive you there,” the Korean-American announces and walks away, but stops when she feels that Jinri isn’t following her, “what’s wrong?”

“Err, you don’t have to… I can walk there by myself,” Jinri says sheepishly. Cute.

“It’s okay,” Soojung says, suddenly being a bit happier than usual, “besides, we’re supposed to be dating right now, right?”

The barista laughs. “So Amber told you,” she says.

“Yeah… and as much as I hate relationship,” the brunette fishes out her car key, “I hate wasting money more, especially if that stupid llama is the one paying for me.”

And because you’re so beautiful, it’ll be stupid of me to leave you alone.

“So, why don’t we like, uh, introduce ourselves in more details since this is our first day meeting each other?” Soojung asks as she turns on her car’s engine. Jinri chuckles while putting on her seatbelt, “I suppose. So, my name is Choi Jinri but most people call me Sulli. I’m 18 this year, born on March 29^th 1994, came from Busan, and my favorite color is pink!” finishes the taller girl gleefully. She the looks at the brunette beside her who’s smiling while still focusing on the road, “your turn, Soojung-ah!”

Soojung’s smile turns into a grin, “my Korean name is Jung Soojung, but most people call me with my American name which is the English version of my name, Krystal. I’m the same age as you, born on October 24^th, so that makes you older than me. I’m from America, San Francisco to be exact, and my favorite color… is black, I guess?”

“Cool!” Jinri exclaims with a wide smile on her face, “Now, do you want to have a Q&A session, Soojung-ah?”

The younger girl laughs, “Q&A? Really?” but when she glances at the figure beside her she sees that Jinri is pouting cutely, her lower lips jutting forward. , she’s so cute…

“Alright, alright… Who’s asking who first?” Jinri’s smile returns, “me, me! So, Soojung-ah, what do you do?”

“I’m a student,” Soojung answers curtly, “my turn. What do you do, Ssul?”

“Ssul?” Jinri suddenly asks out of the blue. The brunette realizes her slip of tongue and bites her lower lips, “s-sorry, since I thought that we’re in a mock relationship, I kinda got carried away-”

“No, it’s fine! It’s just, this is the first time anyone has ever called me like that,” Jinri chuckles, “and I think it sounds so cute. You can keep calling me that, Soojung-ah!”

Hearing that from the slightly older girl makes Soojung’s heart flutters suddenly which makes her uncomfortable, but she likes the feeling. “But, Soojung-ah is too mainstream!” she protests, “If I am to make you a special nickname, you should make one for me as well!”

“Oh, okay! Hmm…” Jinri stares out of the window for a while before her face brightens, “how about ‘Jungie’?”

“Hmm… I like that!” the Korean-American’s smile almost threatens to split her face into half. Just like how Jinri has never been called ‘Ssul’ before, Soojung too has never been called ‘Jungie’ all her life. She decides that she likes that nickname, especially if Jinri’s innocent and cute voice is the one saying it.

“Alright! Uh, what was your question again?” Jinri asks. “I asked the same thing you asked me. What do you do, Ssul?”

“Oh, I work part-time at various jobs,” Jinri’s smile falters slightly, “and I… don’t go to school…”

“What? Why?” the other girl asks, surprise written all over her face. The taller girl smiles at her but it doesn’t reach her eyes, “that’s… a story for another time, unfortunately.” Soojung feels slightly disappointed, but shrugs it off. She tries to believe that Jinri isn’t ready to open up deeper secrets of hers yet.

“Now’s my turn!” the passenger continues, “Jungie, do you have a sister?”

The brunette gasps, “Ssul, you didn’t just ask me that, right?”

Jinri frowns, “what? Why?”

“My sister… Is Jessica Jung…” Soojung can’t believe it. She doesn’t like to admit it, but she’s famous for God’s sake! How come Jinri doesn’t know that!?

A gasp follows soon after, “Really!? The y runway and magazine model, Jessica Jung Sooyeon!?”

An unfamiliar feeling suddenly appears within Soojung, a feeling she doesn’t even know exist. She feels so upset at Jinri for calling her sister ‘y’, although she can’t deny that fact. She doesn’t know why, but she wants Jinri to call no one but her ‘y’.

Why the hell am I thinking like this?

“Jungie?” the taller girl calls softly, making the driver turns to meet her confused eyes, “what’s wrong? You suddenly become so quiet…”

“Nothing… and yeah, she’s my sister,” those words come out colder than she originally wants, which surprises her considering Jinri didn’t do anything except calling her sister ‘y’. Why do I feel so… angry?

Jinri too is shocked by the cold tone used but she smiles nonetheless, albeit a sad one, “u-uh… sorry…”

“For what?”

“For… upsetting you?”

Soojung laughs lowly, “you did nothing wrong, Ssul. Don’t worry, forget I said anything okay?” she smiles when Jinri unsurely nods, “how about you?”

“I have an older sister… but I haven’t met her since I came here from Busan,” Jinri finally smiles genuinely, “she’s here, though. In Seoul.”

“I see… what’s her name?”

“Sooyoung… Choi Sooyoung.”

“Maybe I can help you meet her someday,” Soojung flashes the taller girl a smile, “and we are here!”

After doing groceries shopping, Soojung offers to drive the taller girl home since the latter says that her home is close to the supermarket. Although Jinri initially refuses, she eventually gives up when the slightly younger girl starts being stubborn. What she doesn’t know is that Soojung actually wants to see where Jinri lives out of curiosity (no stalkerish motives included).

She is shocked beyond belief when she finds out that the angelic girl lives at the more dangerous part of the city, so shocked she can’t help but scold the barista, “why in the world would you live here, Ssul!? This place is not safe!”

Jinri only smiles, “I can only afford to live here, Jungie.”

That statement makes the younger girl frowns, “but… it’s… that’s…”

“Sure, I can try and move somewhere safer,” the slightly older girl says softly, “but then I won’t have enough money to eat at least once a day… And I’m only eating a slice of toast bread just by living here… imagine if I have to move somewhere else. This place is the cheapest in the whole Seoul, everywhere else are costly…”

“Still, I can’t allow this,” Soojung says firmly and stubbornly, “look at those thugs wearing spiky vest and ripped jeans! Their aura screams ‘dangerous’! What if you get hurt? What if-”

“Ssh, Jungie…” Jinri hushes her by placing her index finger on the younger’s parting lips, “I won’t get hurt, okay? Don’t worry about me…” she smiles sweetly, “and I’ll move out from here as soon as I have enough money. Trust me; I want to go away from here as much as you do.”

Soojung keeps mum not because she’s still angry nor because she doesn’t have anything else to say, but rather because of Jinri’s finger on her lips and the way her sweet, childlike voice slurs out those assuring words slowly but surely. It sounds so innocent but so sensual the Jung can’t help the blush that creeps out on her face all the way to the base of her neck, making her face as red as heated charcoal and as hot as burning fire.

“Jungie?”

“Y-Yes!?” The brunette blurts out in surprise, finally out of her trance.

“I said I have to go now,” the jet black-haired girl says, sounding quite amused, “so, please open the door.”

“O-Oh, okay!” the flustered girl clumsily opens the car’s door, “I-I’m going to you to your apartment!”

“What? There’s no need-” but she gets interrupted, “I won’t let you walk alone and that’s final.”

Jinri can’t help but smiles gently at the shorter girl, “Aww, that’s so sweet of you. Are you sure you’ve never been in a relationship before, Jungie?”

Soojung freezes. What does that supposed to mean? Is this… Is this how relationship works?

“Positive,” she quickly says, “Come on, I want to see your apartment.”

After walking Jinri back to her apartment (which also includes glaring at those erted thugs who look like they’re undressing Jinri with their eyes), Soojung gets into her car with a light feeling. She can’t describe what it is, but she feels as though she’s flying (no, she’s not high on drugs. She doesn’t even do drugs) and happy as well. She looks out of the window, all the way to a still-lit window of Jinri’s apartment and a smile creeps out on her face.

Maybe being in a relationship isn’t such a bad thing after all…