Chapter 9

Two weeks ahead following the first date, Jihyo spent the weekend on her girlfriend’s apartment with the excuse of getting to know each other better. There were different reactions she received from her friends; Mina and Momo had nothing against the idea, fangirling Nayeon and freaked out Jungyeon. However Jihyo promised to not do anything extreme naughty beside spending time with her girlfriend and sleep over. Jungyeon had to agree with the idea nevertheless in the end.

When Jihyo stepped into the house during lunch on Saturday, Soojung had other visitors to which Jihyo was familiar with. Soojung was spotted sitting with Jisoo at the dining table setting the utensils and bowls of rice while Jiae scooped the main dish into a bowl.

“I’m sorry for being late,” she said as soon as she greeted the three girls. Jiae and Jisoo both welcomed her happily while Soojung beamed a loving smile at her way. She was offered a seat beside her own girlfriend while the other two seated on their opposites.

They began to dig in the meal cooked by Jiae. The spicy stew was tasty and the rice was well cooked that it made Jihyo ate the food deliciously. It had been a while since she ate proper meal for her lunch and she couldn’t even remember when was the last time she ate home cooked one, especially since she started her diet.

She had gotten used to her noisy friends whenever they gathered and eating together so the silence during the meal time at the moment slowly killing her. Jihyo had no idea Soojung was even quiet among her close cousin and friend. However the silence broke when Jiae started to feed Jisoo and the latter ate gladly. Jihyo was amused to see the couple’s sweet gesture and felt envious at the same time.

“I have no idea you two are dating…” she said, her huge eyes glistened in fascination looking between Jiae and Jisoo. A smirk crept up on Jiae’s face. “I guess Soojung unnie didn’t tell you much!”

Jihyo pursed her lips upon the words came out from Jiae’s mouth. What was Soojung being so secretive about? Jihyo told her girlfriend almost everything regarding her friends so why couldn’t Soojung do the same? Many types of questions running on her mind that had caused a frown appeared on her forehead unconsciously.

Soojung noticed the changed of expression on her girlfriend’s face thus began to feel bad. Jihyo must have felt upset at Soojung about what Jiae had said. She glared at her cousin before putting down the spoon. “I got it. I’ll tell you everything about my friends after this.”

Honestly, she avoided topic regarding her friends because she didn’t want to remind Jihyo how Myungeun and Yein were indifferent to their relationship. Hence she even forgot to say that Jiae and Jisoo were dating thanks to Soojung who set the both of them up.

Jihyo tilted her head to her girlfriend and shot a reassurance smile. She was brightened up a little after Soojung had said that. Seeing how Jihyo’s mood had gone up again, Soojung smiled in relieve and resumed eating the remaining lunch meal.

After lunch, they proceed to drinking tea which was Soojung’s idea to extend Jiae and Jisoo’s time being with them and let the two girls caught up stories with Jihyo. They chatted, laughed and made fun of one another. Jihyo finally felt so blessed and close to them. One absolute good thing about the lunch gathering was they had great time together.

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The night came, Soojung and Jihyo were in the master bedroom with the latter sitting on the bed, waiting for her girlfriend who was searching for something in her drawer. Jiae and Jisoo had gone in the evening as they spent time with each other watching movies. That was when Soojung started to tell regarding her friends.

Jisoo was her junior during college days and happened to be one of Mijoo’s friends. Due to their major and mutual friend, Soojung spent time with the both of them and was very fond of Jisoo’s bright and positive personality. She shot an idea to set Jisoo on a blind date with her cousin, which the younger girl agreed and started dating Jiae afterwards.

On the other hand, she got to know Jiyeon because she’s a close younger friend to Jisoo. Mutual interest and hobby was what brought the both of them to work together with her, set up their studio and business on their own. Younger Sujeong later became Jiyeon’s other half and everyone could see that coming after they first met each other thanks to Myungeun. The latter and her sister, Mijoo were the main masterminds behind Jiyeon and Sujeong’s growing relationship.

When Soojung had found the item she was looking for, she came back to Jihyo with a grin appeared on her face. The other girl quickly formed a smile whenever she saw that sight coming from her girlfriend. Given that she had a petite body Soojung looked cute in whatever things she did. The said girl settled to be seated beside her girlfriend as her hands stretched up revealed the item she said she had been meaning to give Jihyo.

A silver necklace emerged from her hand leaving Jihyo’s jaw dropping. Simple open heart pendant was the gift Soojung especially bought for her girlfriend, in promise to treat Jihyo better and gave all the things in the worlds like she deserved. It touched Jihyo’s heart as a crystal clear of tear dropped from her eye. “Thank you,” she softly uttered.

Soojung did not mean to make it a tearful night thus immediately raised her hand to her cheek and wiped the pearl away. “I’m not giving it to you if you keep crying!” the words successfully brought Jihyo to laughter and hit Sooung’s shoulder. “Don’t tease me!” she whined as lips curved into a wide smile, revealing her white teeth.

Not wasting any more time, Soojung leaned in to put on the necklace around Jihyo’s neck. The smile formed on her lips confirmed she was satisfied to see how great the item looked on Jihyo. “You look great,” she said and closed the gap before kissing Jihyo’s soft, tender lips. After pulling away from the kiss, Jihyo flushed at the contact and shyly averted her gaze on Soojung’s neck instead.

Coincidentally, Soojung was wearing an accessory around her neck as well with a pave leaf pendant silver necklace. The design was eye catching and Jihyo’s eyes literally formed hearts instantly. “Your necklace was pretty as well.” She had said with no other intension than just admiring the work of a person’s design, and Soojung looked hella good wearing that too. Soojung’s hand made its way to hold the pendant before saying, “This was a gift from me to Mijoo. Now that the owner has gone, I thought I should just wear it.”

It didn’t take that much time for Jihyo to comprehend Soojung’s words although she seemed to be spaced out after the former had said that. God, who knew she could be so stunned and – WOW - her fragile heart stung at the real meaning of the necklace.

No Jihyo, you couldn’t possibly be j-jealous now, the reminder rang inside her mind repetitively. The girl tried to keep her cool and summoned a sum of courage to beam a sincere smile towards her loving girlfriend. “It’s surely looked super good on her.” She slowly uttered referring to the deceased girlfriend of Soojung and the accessory around her neck.

“Indeed it was…” Soojung replied in monotone, probably reminiscing the time when Mijoo would wear the necklace given by the older girl and flashing her prettiest smile ever. Shaking her head and shrugging the past memory away from her mind, her eyes focused back on her present girlfriend seated right before her. She initiated an awkward hum to dismiss the sudden tension arose in the air and stared at Jihyo before asking. “Do you like it?”

It would be a lie if Jihyo said she’d love the pave leaf over the open heart pendant – hell Jihyo was a really corny person she could be when she wanted to – but the pave leaf was unique and new to Jihyo so she’d prefer that anyway. However she was sane enough to not cause a stir that might lead the couple to a petty bicker later so, “Yes,” she said.

There, pair of dimples formed on Soojung’s cheeks as curved into a whipped smile upon hearing that from her girlfriend. She then went on to plaster a soft peck on Jihyo’s forehead. “Let’s sleep,” she told and ushered the girl to rest her body in the bed comfortably as Soojung lied down beside her.

Jihyo would love to wash the bad thoughts away and sleep for the night peacefully, but the fact that Soojung wore a gift for her past girlfriend bothered her still. Squeezing her eyes shut, began muttering to calculate the sheep to get some sleep, but to no avail her body didn’t give in to what her brain told her to.

A warm, light breathing tickled her ear before a soft voice came out, singing a lullaby for her. J