Lunch is excruciatingly awkward. Well at least for Jeongyeon it is. She couldn’t find the courage or any semblance to it to look up and meet that endearing gaze on her without feeling tensed or without having that heat spread across her cheeks. She couldn’t bring herself to do so, not after she had unconsciously muttered those 4 words a little too confidently, which she, ironically , is lacking right now.

Jeongyeon breathes in, closes her eyes, and tries to gather whatever is left within her to face the being across the table. She manages to take a glance, and sees Mina smiling ever so brightly, quickly forcing her to look down again with a heavily flushed face this time around.

‘Why did I have to say those words.’ Jeongyeon thinks, internally scolding herself. Being a pompous being never did any good to anyone. She never intended to say those words, she wasn’t Nayeon. Even if there is a part of her that is as bold as the oldest member, she could never be that assuming. And when she realized what she had said, Mina already had that smile up, that slight curl of the lips, and a soft ‘I’ll try.’

“Praying for food to arrive early never helped Jeongyeon.” She hears Nayeon tease from the right. She grimaces at the sound of Nayeon’s laughter floating around the room.

“Or having a bigger portion.” Jihyo chimes in, her laughter mixing with Nayeon’s.

This time, Jeongyeon snaps back, her head swinging to the right “I am not-... I-..” but stops midway when her eyes caught Mina’s face .”Just-.. I--”

“Call me when you manage to say something.” Nayeon teases further, laughing louder than before.

“She could pray on that too.” Jihyo adds again.

Jeongyeon stands up and hastily goes to the bathroom, with the sound of Nayeon chuckling her apologies in the background. She could take the teasing, the senseless remarks, and that obnoxiously loud laughter from Nayeon, but what she couldn’t take are those piercing hazel eyes and that smile she had come to adore emanating across her without feeling her goddamn heart pounding insanely against her chest. Because Mina is surely a lot to take right now for Jeongyeon.

.....

....

...

..

.

Maybe confining herself inside the bathroom stall wasn’t a good idea, but necessary things were never convenient for any situation, never in good shape or form, they were always given lacking any consideration for those who need them. And Jeongyeon needed one, and true enough, is ungraciously been given a 2x2m cubicle stall with the sound of toilet flushing from time to time, a necessary space to calm her goddamn heart.

She hears the stall next to her flush, and a door swinging open, and seconds later hears the bathroom door creaking. She exhales, finally finding herself now alone inside the bathroom.

Truth be told, she never had any difficulties in facing any of her members. They’d say things to one another that could make anyone lose their nerves, they even do things to each other that could have anyone weak to their knees, and Jeongyeon never had any problem with those. Normally she would shrug them off, on rare occasions, when she felt like it, she’d spare them with her own clinginess. But there’s nothing normal with Jeongyeon right now- not since she felt those unwanted emotions bubbling within her whenever her eyes catch Mina.

Because recently, her knees keep trembling, her words keep faltering, and her heart keeps pounding heavily across her chest, all the while looking at Mina.

‘I’m just nervous.’ Jeongyeon reassures herself, thinking it is getting into her. And she needs something to fix this before it goes out of hand. She opens the lock, hoping cold water could wash them off but finds the cause of her emotional turmoil leaning by the sink.

For a moment, Jeongyeon hesitated going out the confines of the cubicle stall but saw the ridiculousness behind it. She needs to manage this now, maybe not with cold water, but with some honesty this time. “I’ve-..”

The sound of Mina clearing stops her from talking. Instead, she watches her roommate stand up straight and takes a step closer. 

“If you want to go through with this, you have to stop-.” Mina pauses, travels her eyes up and down at Jeongyeon and twirls a finger around. “This. All of this.”

The nervousness unexpectedly dies down and is immediately replaced by slight annoyance. “Did you come here just to insult me?”

“Look, whatever it is that’s bothering you, stop it.”

“You sure know your way with calming people.” Jeongyeon utters monotonously, rolling her eyes.

“You’re really bad at this.” Mina comments, completely disregarding the dry joke Jeongyeon threw on her. “Am I your first?”

“No. I actually go around asking people to date me”

“Right.” Mina mumbles in a low voice. “I’m guessing sarcasm never got you anywhere.”

“Seriously, are you here to insult me?” 

Maybe Jeongyeon’s voice wasn’t loud enough, or that Mina is too indulged with her own thoughts that she never replied anything back but only took her steps forward. Perhaps Jeongyeon was too, failing to realize Mina was already standing a foot away from her when she felt the other girl’s breath dancing through her skin.

“Jeongyeon,” Mina calls out, a sly smile grazing her lips this time, “Am I your first?”

She feels Mina’s finger tracing her right arm down to her hand, resting her fingers between her own. 

“Am I?” uncharacteristically, Jeongyeon asks back as she looks straight into Mina’s eyes. She doesn’t know where that confidence came from but it sure knows when to come when curiosity strikes.

Mina smiles, withdrawing her hand from Jeongyeon’s hand, and walks back to the sink. Jeongyeon never got the answer she was looking for, and she never dared to try to ask again. After all, if Mina wanted to reply, she would already have the first time.

Mina turns around, and says with a straight voice, “You can’t keep being awkward around me, Jeongyeon.” 

“Believe me, I wouldn't if I could” 

“And why couldn’t you?”

“Well, it’s hard to look at you after saying those embarrassing things.”

Mina giggles, finally catching onto what has been troubling her dear ‘girlfriend’ . She moves closer, now taking Jeongyeon’s arms as she pulls the taller girl to her. “Flirt with me.”

“What?”

“Just try.”

“No.”

“Alright.” Mina huffs, dropping her hold on Jeongyeon’s arms. She curves a smile up, a little seductive much to Jeongyeon’s liking, and presses a hand over the other girl’s chest. Jeongyeon’s freezes in an instant. She wanted to take a step back, heaven knows how much she wanted to have a little space between her and Mina, enough space to keep her sanity intact. But damn that perfume Mina had on, she curses mentally. Who knew that jasmine scent would take her in, captivating her senses and holding her feet chained to the floor.

She feels Mina leaning in, and she tenses at the proximity “What are you doing?”

“Anything you want me to do.” Mina whispers in her sultry voice, something Jeongyeon has never heard her before. 

Jeongyeon swears she never had any problems responding. Jihyo and Nayeon would attest to that. She was a mouthful, Jihyo once said, and Nayeon was certain Jeongyeon would never lack anything to say, even when unwanted. But finding something to reply back at Mina, just anything, she suddenly found it difficult. And the only easiest thing Jeongyeon managed to do was gulp and hold her ground.

Unfortunately(is it though?) for Jeongyeon, Mina took this as an invitation to go further, and she did. She traces her lower lip up Jeongyeon’s neck and softly nibbles her earlobe.

Jeongyeon yelps, pushing Mina in an instant, “What the hell Mina?!”

Mina giggles in response. She couldn’t believe what Mina just did, and how incredibly nonchalant her roommate is about it. And she can still hear her giggling, putting Jeongyeon in a much deeper shade of red.

“We have rules!” Jeongyeon exclaims, hand covering the ear that Mina played with.

“What?” the other girl smirks, putting an innocent face up, “We didn’t talk about the ears.”

That was the truth though. They never talked about the ears. They never even brought that boundary when they set up the rules, and Jeongyeon thought she had it all covered. But now she thinks a revision of those rules is needed.

She hears Mina giggling again, and Jeongyeon’s brows knit at the center at the sound, “You’re enjoying this aren’t you?” 

“Not gonna lie, you do look cute when flustered.”

Jeongyeon squints, nodding her head amusedly, and warns “Oh you’ll have your karma.”

“Can’t wait.” Mina winks suggestively. She is getting a little too cocky now and Jeongyeon wanted nothing more but to wipe that arrogant smile off her roommate’s face. The hell with nervousness- that has been long gone now on Jeongyeon’s system. All she has now is determination to have that karma come as soon as possible. Perhaps, now would be the right time.