"—KYAAKKKKK," yeri shrieked as she tripped over an uneven stone tile, squeezing her eyes shut and bracing her arms for the impact.

 

except, what hit her wasn't the floor, but a soft body and a pair of arms that had looped in support around her torso. she stiffened up, too embarrassed to look up at the stranger who had caught her from tumbling down (all the way down the street, perhaps). she inwardly cursed at herself for having been too preoccupied in her thoughts.

 

a familiar voice spoke up instead.

 

"yah, enjoying my embrace too much, princess?"

 

yeri whipped her head up to look at the stranger.

 

"sooyoung?!"

 

the brunette smirked. "yes, it's me, your princess charming to the rescue. aish, are you dumb? were you walking with your head in the clouds?"

 

yeri crinkled her eyes cutely and scratched her head, too distracted to react to the insults. "heh, i guess i was. thank goodness you were there to catch me."

 

the comeback was accompanied by an arm hooking around her neck. "of course i had to catch you, or else who can i terrorize if you get hurt?"

 

weakly swatting at joy's arms, yeri couldn't help the sense of warmth that spread within her chest. sooyoung was always one to display her affection in a joking manner, and this was her showing her concern.

 

yeri pulled the arm from around her neck and interlocked their fingers.

 

"ah yes thank you so~ much sooyoung-ssi! omona, should i repay you with my love?"

 

suddenly, yeri brought her free hand up to cover her chest.

 

"gasp, or do you want my body?!!!"

 

 

***

 

 

joy semi-dragged yeri along for the rest of the walk to her house, antagonized by how the girl made multiple sudden stops just to enact dramatic lines. while it would've been entertaining on other days, she knew there had to be something on yeri's mind, judging from how the girl sounded less chirpy than normal in their phone call prior. yeri had already been en route to joy's house before the stumble, but luckily, joy had followed her gut feel and decided to walk out to pick yeri up, guessing that something was amiss.

 

seeing the frown on yeri's face even from a distance away, joy had picked up her pace to approach her, but yeri had been too deep in thought to notice. and she was almost reaching that damned misplaced tile on the pavement joy used to trip over on the way home when she was younger. lo and behold, showing no hint of spatial awareness, yeri's shoe caught at the edge of the tile and joy found herself sprinting before she even mentally processed it.

 

at first, she had been angry at yeri's lack of care for herself, but the girl just had to slightly tilt her head and give that shy, small smile while thanking her and joy's heart had softened almost immediately. while she cringed at how weak she was for yeri's unintentional display of aegyo, she silently thanked the heavens too that she managed to save the little pup from getting hurt. brushing the earlier feelings of worry aside, she had pulled the girl towards her and ruffled her hair, which yeri had barely resisted against, only shifting joy's arm from over her shoulders to a death grip in her hand.

 

joy assessed her best friend's body language. the girl was squeezing her hand from time to time, but it didn't seem like she realized, raising a brow whenever joy turned to her.

 

yeri had run off with a skip to her steps just that morning (yelling, "YOOHOO MY BEST FRIEND LOVES ME TOO!", which was embarrassing but also endearing), but now, her shoulders slouched, and her eyes and lips drooped by just that fraction of an inch.

 

if joy hadn't been paying attention to every feature of yeri's for the past year, she would've missed it.

 

yeri had just been over to her halmoni's house and something must have happened there, joy figured. if it was about the two of them getting together (she prayed, desperately, that it wasn't that), then yeri was probably feeling crushed at that moment. giving the girl's hold a squeeze of her own, she raised their interlocked hands to her lips, placing a gentle kiss on their interlaced fingers.

 

yeri stared at joy with wide, accusing eyes, although her blush betrayed how she had enjoyed joy's sudden act of affection.

 

"w-what was that for?"

 

joy smiled, the soft kind that wasn't as devilish as her usual grins nor the playful smirks that were meant to come off as arrogant.

 

"i won't let go of this hand. whatever you're worried about, i hope we can work it out together."

 

 

***

 

 

 

reaching sooyoung's house to sleepover for the night, yeri gingerly peeked around the corners in the house.

 

"don't worry, nobody's home. everyone left for that family trip with my grandaunt, remember?" sooyoung reminded.

 

yeri laughed nervously. "yeah, just being careful."

 

feeling more at ease, yeri allowed herself to stare at sooyoung. the taller girl was treading carefully around her, and yeri suddenly felt apologetic for causing sooyoung to have to behave so uncomfortably. never mind that they had been friends for years — they had just agreed to take their friendship to the next level, and this wasn't how yeri wanted their first day getting together to be.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

yeri silenced those thoughts as quickly as they had come.

 

it was wretched to complain about having such encouraging parents, even though it made her wish she went through a rebellious streak just so they would pay attention to her feelings more. she nuzzled into sooyoung's neck, taking in a breath of mint shampoo which easily relaxed her.

 

she opted to think about how the girl kept her anchored. in sooyoung's company, she had a safe space to be her own childish self, playing with and pranking each other without any fear of judgment and consequence. she also remembered bae-halmoni, how she would tease yeri sometimes and how she would tease the old lady back, resulting in whines uncharacteristic of someone at that age; and yeri felt a sense of assurance, knowing bae-halmoni was another reminder to herself that age was just a number.

 

she'd have lots of chances to act like the kid that she was in future. for now, the priority was on how to assure sooyoung that she was OK. 

 

the hands of the clock ticked loudly from the bedside table.

 

 

"sooyoung-ah, you must be worried, right?"

 

the taller girl hummed into yeri's crown, softly acknowledging her concern without prodding too much. yeri reluctantly pulled away from the scents of mint and security and sat up, pulling sooyoung's head to rest on her lap instead.

 

taking a deep breath, she started, weaving her fingers through sooyoung's hair as she spoke.

 

"so, i was telling bae-halmoni about us..."

 

 

***

 

 

yeri emerged from the bathroom after her shower, rubbing a towel in her hair. hungrily following the smell of food, her nose led her to the living room, where sooyoung had set up a portable dining table near the TV and was, for once, waiting for her to start on their bowls of ramyeon.

 

she chuckled at the sight.

 

"i told you to start without me," yeri teased. "or, are you sad it's not chicken?"

 

instead of retorting with a witty remark as she usually would have, sooyoung brushed it off and looked at her noodles for a while, and yeri could tell she was thinking about anything but the noodles.

 

she waited, confident that sooyoung would share her thoughts so long as she had some time to collect them.

 

after a few frowns and glances at yeri, which yeri responded to with a raise of an eyebrow or just slow blinks on an expressionless face, sooyoung spoke up.

 

"i was thinking... i might know this person bae-halmoni was talking about."

 

yeri couldn't help her surprise (she was thankful they hadn't started on their noodles, or she would've choked). "what?!"

 

"i didn't think about it at first, but while i was cooking, and you're right, wishing that we had chicken to go with our ramyeon, i suddenly remembered a story i've heard of chicken bulgogi... and a confession."

 

sooyoung placed her hand on yeri's lap and yeri realized that she had been bouncing her crossed legs up and down, probably due to the anticipation.

 

she stilled herself.

 

"i think," sooyoung looked a little too intense that it unstilled yeri, "it's my grandaunt wendy."

 

goosebumps rising on her skin, yeri tied bits and pieces together in her mind.

 

she had only met grandaunt wendy a few times in the years she'd known sooyoung for, usually when the old woman dropped by sooyoung's house with gifts from various countries. the first time grandaunt wendy had seen yeri, it had been coos and gagas and promises of teaching yeri and sooyoung how to bake when she came back to Korea to stay for good; except, that hadn't happened yet.

 

 

"sooyoungie, it's good to know how to express yourself better. be it to your family, your friends, or one day, to the someone you love. loving them is as important as having them know you love them."

 

the advice had hit her in the gut, a reminder of how she opted to keep her worries to herself instead of burdening her parents with them, a reminder of how she always listened to her sisters' complaints patiently, but never sharing her own. did they know she loved them?

 

to some extent, she was grateful to grandaunt wendy even, because she realized how it had probably played a role in her decision to confess to sooyoung, her confession that morning having been a result of several sleepless nights and contemplating over whether to verbalize her feelings.

 

now, she felt the shivers running down her neck and back. if it was indeed her, everything made sense. the description fit.

 

"sooyoung-ah, i think we need to pay bae-halmoni a visit."

 

 

***

 

the next morning, yeri and sooyoung set out, drearily rubbing the sleep away from their eyes.

as the morning sun shone through the foliage above them, yeri hugged sooyoung's arm, finding herself again thanking the celestial powers for the girl. they had stayed up late to chat and cuddle, both unwilling to fall asleep on their first official day together.

the couple discussed everything from pet names to wishlists, and yeri had felt a huge burden lift off her shoulders when sooyoung reassured that they didn't need to label themselves in front of anyone else, and that who they were in each other's hearts was what truly mattered. although she knew sooyoung was right, but the skeptical (or was it realistic?) part of her mind told her that, eventually, one day, they'd have to come out officially to their families if they were planning to be serious about it. the world didn't revolve around the two of them and they had to be accountable to other people as well.

but, for now, she held on to sooyoung's beliefs like a lifeline, a lifeline that kept her afloat despite her heavy concerns for their future. yeri sighed unknowingly. it was only day one, so why was her heart already swelling with worries?

besides, there were more pressing matters at hand. there was now a glimmer of hope that bae-halmoni could reunite with her first love — a hope that bae-halmoni could salve her feelings of regret. the old lady had exposed a vulnerable side that yeri had never seen before during the visit, and yeri felt a strong sense of obligation to do something about that, to reverse the roles and protect and care for her favourite halmoni for once.

the leaf litter crunched under her heavy steps. she hoped she could fulfil that obligation, but at the same time, she was mindful that it could be an utter disappointment if it turned out that grandaunt wendy just happened to have vaguely similar experiences to her halmoni. confessions and heartbreaks were part and parcel of everyone's lives, after all.

yeri looked at sooyoung. "sooyoung-ah, let's keep our suspicions from bae-halmoni first?"

thankfully, sooyoung caught on to yeri's worries immediately. 

"yeah, and that also means we need to take care not to be too obvious about asking too specifically about the person."

yeri nodded. sooyoung had always been more adept at navigating through sticky situations more than she was. it was expected, what with the way yeri preferred to hide and bury her problems deep inside her heart. she massaged the stiffness away from her neck, hoping they could pull it off without a mishap later.

 

***

 

bae-halmoni wasn't ironing her clothes this time, yeri noted much to her own chagrin. the old lady was listening to the radio as she had her meal, seated on the floor slightly away from the sunlight that shone into the hall.

yeri ran towards bae-halmoni, bowing and shouting her greeting.

"good morning halmoni!"

startled, bae-halmoni dropped her spoon on the table, noisily clanging against the metal bowls. she shot yeri a grumpy look.

"yerim, why are you here again?"

yeri rubbed her neck sheepishly as sooyoung stepped into view from behind her.

"bae-halmoni, long time no see!"

sooyoung got on her knees and gave a big bow, and yeri marveled at the smile that lit up on bae-halmoni's face. as expected, the old lady was traditional and a er for formalities, though not only that, but yeri was also proud of her best friend for being so respectful and considerate.

sooyoung answered bae-halmoni on her behalf.

"yerim told me you already know about us, and that you're accepting of us... thank you so much. it means so much to us, and especially to her," sooyoung pulled the petite girl to sit down beside her, "so we thought to come over first thing in the morning to see you, together."

"aigoo, that's too nice of you! yerim is lucky to have you, sooyoung-ah."

not bothering to hide how pleased she was, bae-halmoni pat sooyoung on her lap a few times before clamouring up, muttering something to herself about having to dig up some dishes for polite, lovely sooyoungie.

as soon as bae-halmoni slid the screen close, yeri smacked sooyoung on the lap, a violent mimicry of bae-halmoni's actions.

"aigoo, looks like bae-halmoni likes you a lot huh, sooyoung-ah?"

sooyoung grabbed yeri's hand and rubbed circles on its back, hoping it soothed the girl, but little did she know that yeri was too thankful to be angry. she puffed her cheeks in a pout, enjoying sooyoung's pampering too much to drop the pretense. slowly realizing that yeri was just playing with her, sooyoung rolled her eyes and laughed, throwing yeri's hand back at her in mock annoyance.

before yeri could smack her again, bae-halmoni re-emerged from the corridor carrying a new tray, numerous side dishes and two bowls of rice carefully arranged on top. sooyoung quickly got to her feet and went over to relieve bae-halmoni of the tray, and again, yeri couldn't help but allow her lips to tug upwards.

sooyoung was such a catch.

she reminded herself to memorize these little details about her now girlfriend, and maybe, they'd be stories she herself could share fifty years into the future.

 

***

 

after finishing their meal, joy shared yeri's confession from her point of view, which proved to be agonizingly embarrassing for yeri. under the pretext of chiding her, yeri shot joy a look asking her to bring up the topic that had been at the back of their minds. joy quickly caught on and looked back at bae-halmoni without missing a beat, continuing the topic. 

"halmoni, we're new at this, is there any advice you can give to us?"

bae-halmoni chuckled, looking out at the yard, as she often did when she was thinking. it was no wonder yeri and bae-halmoni got along well, joy thought. they both seemed to be the contemplative, insightful type, and joy respected that immensely. thinking was so underrated these days.

"you kids are still young, it doesn't hurt to learn a little through mistakes here and there."

"aiii~ share some stories with me too, please?" hiding her panic at the answer, sooyoung put on her best aegyo, hoping to move bae-halmoni.

bae-halmoni began to clear the dishes in front of them, nonchalant about the deliberate display of cuteness. "i'm sure yerim has shared whatever i told her with you," she slowly got to her feet, as if the energy had been out of her. bae-halmoni picked up the tray and shook her head dismissively.

"you kids go off and have a good date together, and give this old woman here some peace and quiet," a sigh, "i didn't sleep too well last night."

turning her back to them, bae-halmoni pulled the screen firmly to a close, as if emphasizing the finality of her words.

yeri and joy turned to look at each other. seemed like they had another person they had to talk to to figure out the puzzle.