Hyejin has been a constant in Wheein's life since she was in middle school. She's been her first best friend, her first crush, her first love, her first heartbreak.

*

Wheein was not a quiet person. But the first day of middle school, especially because it was a new school where none of her elementary school friends went to, Wheein didn’t know how to mingle. The loud chatters of people who had been friends before, as well as people introducing their friends to each other, made her uneasy. She was squirming in her seat, didn't know how to start a conversation with anyone. The homeroom teacher was taking too long. Wheein couldn't wait for the lesson to start.

"Have you had breakfast?" A soothing voice came from her right. It was a bright looking girl with her hand reached out to her, offering her a piece of bread. Wheein blinked and took the bread from her hand right away. She smiled.

"I actually haven't. Thank you!" She opened the plastic and paused. "Did I look hungry?"

The girl giggled. "You looked like you need to talk to a person." She winked.

Wheein giggled with her, said her name and offered her hand for a handshake.

That was the start of their friendship.

*

They had been inseparable ever since. They found that they had the exact same hobbies. They sang together, danced together, be loud together. Hyejin composed songs sometimes, and she let Wheein sang the songs together. They eventually got into the same high school.

Hyejin had grown into a woman faster than her. Her s were significantly bigger than before, her and thighs were thick in the right places. Meanwhile, Wheein was just a scrawny teenager. At first, Wheein thought she was jealous, just like the time Hyejin got her first period before her. But unconsciously, she kept staring at her best friend's body. No jealousy inside her, not at all.

She realized she had developed feeling for Hyejin and it was already too late to pretend it was jealousy.

*

For years, no one ever came between them. Casual friends remained casual. No boys were good enough for them.

Until Jiho, Hyejin's most favorite performer in the club they went to -secretly, Hyejin's personal gift for Wheein's 18th birthday- asked Hyejin out. Hyejin said yes, obviously. She had been crushing on him since the first time she watched him perform. Hyejin had no problem mingling with the regulars to finally get her way to Jiho. Hyejin was always the more confident one between the two of them.

Wheein didn't like it. Not for a second. But Hyejin had been happier, brighter, and whole. The couple were playful and loud together, more playful and louder than when Wheein was with Hyejin. Jiho was really talented. He composed many songs, and Hyejin's eyes beamed when she discovered that. They began to composed songs together, then sang them together.

Hyejin and Jiho became inseparable then, and Wheein had her first heartbreak.

*

Even so, Hyejin and Wheein were still the best of friends. They managed to get into the same major in the same university; vocal performance major.

They had been tearing up together during graduation ceremony, which was weird because they were going to the same school anyway. They had been best friends for six years and would still be best friends for more years to come.

After taking pictures with classmates, family, and teachers, Hyejin had gone to celebrate with Jiho. Hyejin forgot to tell her and Jiho had apologized and promised her he would introduce his friends to her later. Wheein laughed bitterly.

Truthfully, Wheein didn't really mind him anymore, but she said to her parents that she would go to eat with Hyejin after the ceremony. So now she was left alone, looking down at the ground, kicking pebbles as she walked to the school gate. Maybe she would get some sweets to eat on her way home.

She bumped into something hard and released a loud "Ouch!!" A string of apologies came from the hard surface and it turned out to be Sanghyuk, her witty classmate and smart biology lab partner. Wheein apologized for not looking to the front while walking and he told her not to sweat it.

Sanghyuk, however, looked like he was sweating it, whatever it was. "Do you have somewhere to go?" He asked. His hands were on his back, Wheein heard something rustling.

"No?" Wheein replied, but it sounded more like a question. She hit herself mentally for being awkward.

He brought his hands to the front, along with a bouquet of roses in them. "Congratulations on your graduation." He flushed brightly, his usual pale face looked warmer then.

Wheein was stunned, her feet were stuck on the ground. But she didn't stay stunned for too long. She hated awkward moments, so she immediately grabbed the roses from his hands once she regained her composure.

"Wow. Thank you. Congratulations on your graduation too!! Um. I… I don't have flowers for you, though. I'm sorry?" Damn. She needed to cut on the weird question marks in the end of her non-question sentences.

Sanghyuk panicked. "No no! It's okay, the flowers are for… It's not only… I mean…" He looked like he was trying to say something important but he kept swallowing his words and his face got redder. Wheein's heart started thumping faster than before and she thought it was ridiculous, since she didn't even have feelings or anything for him.

"I," Sanghyuk tried again, "I really like you." He scratched his probably not itchy head. "Jung Wheein, do you want to go out with me?"

The words were not unpredictable, looking at how unusually shy Sanghyuk had been towards her. But it didn't surprise her less.

Wheein thought about Hyejin, and how she left her to eat with Jiho. She thought about Jiho's gross friends who he would introduce to her later. She thought about enjoyable times she had spent with Sanghyuk during her last year in high school, albeit those were mostly being dissecting dead animals and making weird chemical juice.

"Yes?" Wheein said, that question mark was still there. So she reiterated it with less doubt in it. "Yes."

Sanghyuk beamed and Wheein thought, this couldn't be too bad.

*

Hyejin had asked Wheein to share a two bedrooms apartment with her and she had said yes. The apartment was a little bit far from campus but she could never say no to her best friend.

She was doing well, both with university and with her boyfriend. Sanghyuk studied in the same university she went to as well, albeit different major. They went on dates regularly and got along well.

There was one thing that was bothering her, though. Apparently Hyejin chose that apartment because it was close to Jiho's place, so he could come over every day. Wheein wasn't really fond of public display affection, but that was nothing compared to the sound of them ing in the middle of the night. Sometimes, she just left the apartment and went to get coffee at the 24/7 Mc Donald’s next to the apartment building. She would sat there for a few hours until she thought it was safe to go back home.

Wheein couldn't take it anymore so she went on the search of a new apartment to stay. She didn't have much money, so she tried to find ads for people who were searching for a roommate.

The first apartment she went to was from the ad pasted on the wall in front of the dance studio. She emailed the girl, Byulyi, and made an appointment to meet at her place that day. She knocked on the door hesitantly, nervously waiting for her to open the door.

It wasn't long until the door opened and the girl greeted her enthusiastically. They toured around the neat apartment and somehow Wheein felt that it was the right place, the right atmosphere, and the right person. So Wheein sealed the deal and skipped on her way home.

She found it weird that she felt happy she would be leaving her best friend. But the thought of new experience and new roommate made her feel giddy.

*

It had only been a few weeks, but living with Byulyi had made Wheein a lot more cheerful. They found out that they were in the same dance class, but Byulyi hadn't really recognized Wheein since she was a new freshman and Byulyi was a senior who hung out more with her fellow senior friends.

Despite their , they got along very well. Their schedules magically synced so they often had dinner together in the food stall near their apartment, or ate breakfast together in the bakery next to their apartment. Wheein found out that Byulyi was a greasy person when Byulyi flirted more often than not with the food stall lady and the bakery cashier girl. She herself often was Byulyi’s target of flirtation too, much to her delight.

Sometimes, they practiced dancing at home together. They pushed away the couch and coffee table, so they had more room to move. Byulyi always picked the music and she taught Wheein some moves that Wheein hadn’t seen before. Wheein was a good dancer so she followed well and learned fast, making the dance practice efficient. Afterwards, they would collapse on the floor together, side by side. The sound of Byulyi’s pantings made Wheein a little bit uneasy, but the thought of how they were the music to her ears made her more uneasy.

Aegyo was what Wheein always did to get some advantages from Byulyi. She would do aegyo every time she didn’t want to wash the dishes, or when she was too lazy to get snack from the kitchen. Byulyi was apparently weak with aegyo, and she always indulged in Wheein’s slyness. She even asked Wheein to do aegyo for her eventhough Wheein didn’t want to get anything from her. Byulyi thought it was cute, and she had said it to Wheein more than Wheein needed to hear.

The worst part of living with Byulyi was how she didn't hesitate to do a lot of skinship. They cuddled a lot, whether it was on the couch, or on the bed. On Byulyi’s bad days, she would come to Wheein room with her sad puppy face and asked for a hug. Wheein could never say no. She always motioned Byulyi to get in her bed and cuddle with her. They would fall asleep in cuddling position until the morning came.

One day, Wheein woke up and realized that the feelings she had for Hyejin back then were returning, only those were directed at Byulyi this time around.

*

It was their regular movie night that night. ‘Any roommate of mine should accompany me to watch silly movies every Thursday night!’ Byulyi had made it clear when Wheein first moved into the apartment.

The movie was "But I'm a Cheerleader", Byulyi's friend had recommended it to her and she was excited to watch it.

They learned that the movie was about homouals going into a camp that could help them ‘go back’ to being straight.

Wheein fidgeted on the couch. She couldn't look at Byulyi at all. But when she looked at the TV, there were two girls kissing. So she chose to look at the popcorn bowl in her hands.

The TV screen suddenly turned dark and Wheein looked up, then looked at Byulyi as a knee-jerk reaction.

"I'm sorry you're uncomfortable. I didn't know it was this kind of movie, I swear. My friend just told me it was good. I thought it would just be cheerleaders doing their cheerleading stuff." Byulyi looked guilty although it wasn't her fault. She covered half of her face with her hand. "Let's just go to sleep. Ah. I'm really sorry."

Byulyi looked too remorseful and Wheein couldn't help but reaching her hand to touch Byulyi's and drag it down. "Unnie, it's okay. Really." She smiled at Byulyi to comfort her. Unknowingly, her thumb went to make circles on top of Byulyi's hand.

Byulyi looked at Wheein's finger for the longest time until Wheein noticed what she had been doing. She quickly retracted her hand from her roommate's but Byulyi was even quicker. Her hand was now trapped between Byulyi's hands and somehow she had no intention to retract it anymore, for Byulyi's hand was softer and smoother than she imagined it would be.

Wheein was looking at Byulyi's eyes then. She felt her heart beating faster and her face going hot and crimson, but her eyes were unable to look away. Byulyi's eyes spoke louder than words could. She saw fondness, confusion, fear, guilt.

Want.

It happened, undeniably. Byulyi leaned in, and so did Wheein. Their lips touched for a second, two seconds, 5 seconds, until Wheein couldn't count anymore. It felt amazing. Wheein had never felt this good ever since she was born. Not when Hyejin and she won at some singing competition, not when she got accepted into the same college with Hyejin, not when she graduated.

Wait. Graduation. Sanghyuk.

Her hands pushed Byulyi off of her body immediately. She felt so sad to look at Byulyi's confused face, but she also felt really gross that she cheated on her boyfriend.

"Unnie, I, I'm really, really sorry. I have a boyfriend. . I'm sorry. I'm a terrible person." Wheein rambled.

Byulyi smiled weakly, as if it couldn't be helped. "No. I'm sorry to push myself on you."

That was the opposite of what happened, they both knew it. Wheein hated it so much. Wheein hated herself for being an . Wheein hated to see Byulyi blaming the kiss on herself.

"I'm deeply sorry." Wheein apologized again with trembling voice. She ran to her room and cried.

She didn't know what to do. She wasn't ready for the whole thing, yet she jumped into it without thinking of how it would affect people around her. She wanted Byulyi, but Sanghyuk was a really good boyfriend who never wronged her even once.

She wanted Byulyi.