"Truth or dare. Once you pick one you can't say no, okay?" Yena says after playing a round of UNO, Minju lost and as her punishment she had to play truth or dare.

 

"Then I'm saying no right now, since I haven't picked one yet." Minju took a piece of chip and ate it proudly, thinking that she got her way out of it. But if there's anyone you wouldn't play these tricks on, it's her. She's the game master for a reason.

 

"But you lost the game, there's no way out of this, Minju. Pick one and face your punishment."

 

"But you said—"

 

"You can't trick me. Now, choose."

 

"Fine." Minju sighed, accepting her defeat. "Dare." Everyone in the room cheered.

 

"Hug Hyewon for a whole minute." Yena smirked as she looked at her best friend who's quietly enjoying her bag of potato chips.

 

"That's easy." Minju got up and walked towards Hyewon who was sitting at the corner, clueless of what's going on.

 

"Unnie," Hyewon looked up to see Minju standing in front of her. Minju chuckled when she saw a few crumbs of the chips on the corner of the former's lips.

 

"Yes?"

 

Hyewon unnie's really cute!

 

"I lost the game." Minju pouted like a kid and it took all of Hyewon's strength not to pinch her cheeks.

 

"Oh. That's sad to hear."

 

"Yes, indeed. Will you let me hug you for a minute?"

 

"WHAT?!?" Hyewon shouted and stood up so suddenly, and everyone looked in their direction to see what happened. Realizing what just happened, she looked around, scratched her neck, and sat down again. "I mean, what?" She said, calmer this time.

 

Minju was amused by what she just saw. It was her first time seeing the older girl panic, since Hyewon was always looking so composed. "Yena unnie made me choose between truth or dare, and I chose dare. She said my dare was to hug you for a whole minute. Can you please help me?"

 

Choi Yena, you're dead meat. Hyewon thought while glaring at her best friend who's laughing her off.

 

"But if you're not okay with it, I can just ask them for—"

 

"No." Before Minju could finish her sentence, Hyewon cuts her off. "It's okay, you can hug me."

 

"Really?" The smile on Minju's face grew and Hyewon swears she could feel her heart perform gymnastics.

 

"Yes, but can you do it while sitting down? It's kinda awkward to do it while standing up." And the image of them doing that made the both of them laugh.

 

"Okay, but how should I do it?" Minju asks and now it's really starting to get awkward.

 

Hyewon gulped and her face heats up. "Well, I- I don't know either." She cleared hoping that it would take her mind off whatever is going on. "Just— just do whatever you want."

 

Hyewon continued to eat her bag of chips when Minju suddenly sat behind her, leaned her front against the older girl's back, rested her head on her shoulder, and carefully wrapped her arms around Hyewon's waist. "One, two, three…" Minju counted softly just a few inches away from Hyewon's ears, and she could feel the younger's breath grazing her skin.

 

Hyewon froze and it's like everything around her faded. She couldn't think of anything but the girl behind her and if she could hear her heart beating— because for Hyewon, it's beating so loud it drowned all the noise in the world.

 

"33, 34, 35, ..." The sound of Minju's voice gradually slowed down. Until it came to a stop. Hyewon could feel Minju's body relaxed and her breathing even. She glanced at her over her shoulder and found the younger girl sleeping.

 

Hyewon melted at the sight of Minju sleeping soundly on her shoulders and she couldn't help but smile. They stayed like that for a couple minutes more and Hyewon was very cautious of her movements in order to not wake the sleeping girl.

 

A few minutes passed when Hyewon felt Minju move. The latter let out a quiet groan and Hyewon looked at her.

 

Minju looked back at the older girl and was confused for a second. Hyewon laughed softly, "You fell asleep."

 

"Oh." Minju said, still out of it. And then it hit her, "Oh!" Her eyes widened and Hyewon bursted out laughing. "I'm sorry. I was counting and then I lost count, and I didn't know what happened after, and—"

 

"You don't have to explain yourself. I know." Hyewon held her cheeks and she felt like there was electricity when their skins touched. "The girls decided to call it a day after another round of UNO, they left already."

 

"I- I guess I'll have to go now too." Minju stood up and gave the older girl an awkward smile.

 

"I'll drive you home." Hyewon also stood up and picked up the empty bag of chips and an empty can of soda. "I’ll just get my keys and throw these away, then we're good to go."

 

"You don't have to, unnie. I can just call a cab—"

 

"It's getting late and we don't know what could possibly happen out there." Hyewon explains. "I just want you to get home safe, that's all."

 

"Well, if you insist." The younger girl smiled softly.

 

"Okay, wait for me."

 

***

 

The whole car ride was quiet. They let the windows down, letting the cold air inside the car.

 

Minju found it nice when the bustling city by day turns into this quiet and peaceful city by night. Only the moon and faint lights from a fe