“I still think you should give her a chance.”

A chance?

Joohyun thinks it’s ridiculous that Seungwan gave her such a suggestion. As her best friend of ten years, she should know that her preference has always been leaning more towards men. She knows of her crush on Minho too so why, instead of pushing her to approach him, she’s telling her to go for Seulgi instead? 

Is it because Kang Seulgi is her friend?

However, she knows that Seungwan means well so she’s not upset at her. Giving Seulgi a chance doesn’t necessarily mean that the two of them should immediately date. In Seungwan’s dictionary, it means allowing Seulgi to court her—show her how serious she is about her but why would she want Seulgi to court her though? Joohyun isn’t the type to string a person along.

She doesn’t like Kang Seulgi in that way.

At all.

She has never once thought of it.

So why is it hard for her to think of a proper rejection? If she can reject her admirers at school easily with just a simple ‘no’ or ‘I’m not interested, sorry’, why can’t she do the same to Seulgi who had confessed to her that night?

It’s because she didn’t give her a chance to. She left before she could even say anything, Joohyun reminds herself.

‘I’m sorry but I don’t feel the same way. We can always stay as friends.’

She can tell Seulgi that, right? It’s short and straight to the point. But what if the monolid woman doesn’t want to stay as friends? That would be awkward. Not when Joohyun is starting to get to know Seulgi personally and actually enjoys her presence. Will she stop tagging along with Seungwan after school just so they won’t see each other again? Will Seungwan be put in a position where she has to pick between them? She doesn’t want that for her best friend.

“A penny for your thoughts, Joohyun-ssi?”

Joohyun snaps out of her internal dilemma and looks to her right, her eyes widening when she sees Minho dragging the chair back and taking a seat beside her in the lecture hall. There are still plenty of seats in the hall so why did he choose to sit with her?

“I-I wasn’t really thinking about anything,” she lies, eyes shifting down to her books on the table. From her slouching position, she is now sitting upright, suddenly feeling conscious of herself.

“I hope you don’t mind me sitting beside you.”

Joohyun minds actually but she doesn’t tell him that. When else can she get her crush to be near her like this?

“I don’t mind. It’s a free space after all,” she says.

Hearing the man laugh, she wonders if she has said something wrong.

“You look beautiful today, Joohyun-ssi.”

The sudden compliment causes her to blush but she doesn’t feel any butterflies fluttering in the pit of her stomach nor does she feel her heart racing. This is Choi Minho, her freaking crush, complimenting her so why does she feel… nothing? Is this supposed to be normal?

Whatever.

Joohyun doesn’t want to think of anything at the moment. Not about the lack of feelings when Minho is sitting right beside her and definitely not about a certain bowling club president. Neither of that is going to ruin her morning and her first day of the semester.

Not on her watch.

—

“So your concern right now is that you’re feeling absolutely nothing for your crush that you’ve been crushing on for a year.”

Joohyun frowns. 

When Seungwan puts it that way, it doesn’t sound nice. 

“It’s not that I feel absolutely nothing but I can’t seem to feel the spark between us, you know? I thought having him near me would make me happy but I felt awkward instead. I could even feel others staring at me behind my back and that made me uncomfortable. I wanted the lecture to end as soon as possible.”

“Did he say anything else before you left the hall?”

“No…” Joohyun sighs. “Even if he wanted to say something, I didn’t give him a chance. I left immediately.”

“First, you’re avoiding my friend and now you’re avoiding your crush too? What a way to begin the new semester.”

“I am not avoiding Minho,” Joohyun corrects Seungwan. “There is no reason for me to avoid him.”

Seeing her best friend roll her eyes, she knows she doesn’t believe her. “Denial is a river—”

Joohyun glares at her. “Don’t.”

Seungwan keeps quiet for a few seconds before changing the topic. “Anyway, Seulgi seemed fine when I saw her in class earlier. She looked very happy, in fact.”

And why would that information matter to her? Joohyun wants nothing more than to end the conversation. She doesn’t want to think or talk about Seulgi for the rest of the day. 

However, that’s proven to be a hard thing to do when she sees the said woman entering the indoor sports hall with another person beside her. Seulgi has an arm around the latter’s shoulder and seeing how excited she is as she speaks, Joohyun clenches her jaw and looks away from the sight. 

They look very friendly with each other.

What are they doing here anyway? None of them are in the archery team. (Seungwan isn’t either but she’s only here because Joohyun asked her to come. She couldn’t wait until practice ended to talk to her best friend.)

“Huh, what a coincidence,” Seungwan says, looking at the pair too. “That must be her cousin that I told you about earlier. She’s pretty cute, I must say. It probably runs in their genes.”

Cousin?

Oh.

Joohyun wishes she hadn’t looked up again because when her eyes lock with Seulgi’s that slowly turn into crescents, she finds it hard to look away.

“Seungwan, Joohyun!”

She knows she can’t make an escape now—it’ll only raise suspicion to her teammates and Seulgi’s cousin—but at least Seungwan is with her. Seungwan always knows how to make a situation less awkward.

“What brings you here, Seul?”

Joohyun makes herself busy by starting to set up her bow.

“I’m still showing my cousin around the school since it’s her first day today,” Seulgi answers happily. “Anyway, this is my cousin, Yerim. And Yerim, this is Seungwan, my classmate and that’s Joohyun, her best friend.”

“Is Joohyun sunbae the pretty friend you told me about?” Yerim asks.

Joohyun is lucky she didn’t accidentally drop her equipment upon hearing those words. However, she wishes she’s away from them when she hears Seulgi’s reply.

“She is. She’s very pretty, isn’t she?”

She hates how she feels blood rushing up her cheeks instantly from that simple reply. It doesn’t help that Seulgi is looking at her in pure adoration—the very same look she remembers seeing that night. She can only hide her face away from the trio, hoping that none of them sees how red her face has turned. When will she ever get used to someone complimenting her and not get shy over it?

(Joohyun certainly did not get the feeling of butterflies fluttering in the pit of her stomach and neither is her heart racing from Seulgi calling her pretty. Certainly not.)

“She looks way out of your league, unnie.”

That elicits a laughter from Seungwan who is the only one who finds it funny. Joohyun, on the other hand, out of sheer curiosity, lifts her gaze up to take a quick look at Seulgi’s reaction.

She’s pouting.

How cute.

“I like your cousin, Seul. I think we can get along quite well,” Seungwan says once she stops laughing, the corner of her eyes slightly wet with tears.

“I don’t think I even want you two to get along well with each other,” Seulgi huffs, crossing her arms against her chest childishly.

“Why not I help you bring Yerim around the remaining part