Mina noticed that Sejeong was acting kind of weird lately. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but it had something to do with the new transfer student. Sejeong seemed to be all over the place, hot one second, cold the next.

She came home last night so noisily that it woke her up. She could hear her squealing through the walls of the apartment, along with the squeaking of the bed as she rolled around. She was mumbling to herself too, and if she hadn’t known Sejeong for so long, one would probably think she’d been possessed or something. Yep, something big was happening to her unnie.

The next morning, Sejeong came out of her room in a daze as if she wasn’t completely awake. Mina watched her make a beeline from her room to the bathroom, rummaging through the drawers, then promptly came out and walked into the kitchen, not noticing her presence, and opened the fridge and stared at the contents for what felt like forever. She had a goofy smile on her face the whole time.

Something was definitely going on with her.

But Mina didn’t mind though, in fact it made her somewhat relieved? It had been a long time since she saw Sejeong really smile, and as long as her unnie was happy, Mina was too. It was just something she had to get used to she supposed. A smiling Sejeong was rare to see ever since the breakup.

Hana and Nayoung definitely need to hear about this. She cursed Nayoung for being away at a

“conference” at this critical time in her best friend’s life. In reality, it was just an excuse to be with her girlfriend who happened to attend Wangguk Academy—SKYY’s rival school. Nayoung seriously misses out on everything.

While she pondered on the best way to deliver the good news, Mina noticed that there was a burning smell coming from the stove. Looking up, she noticed that Sejeong was spaced out in front of the stove. “Sejeong-unnie?” Mina tried catching her attention, “Unnie! The eggs are burning!” She pointed to the frying pan.

Sejeong quickly turned off the stove and apologized for blanking out.

That was definitely weird. Sejeong never spaces out like that. However, Mina decided not to pursue the topic anymore since she was late, and Hyeyeon was waiting downstairs for her. So she left the house quickly and made her way to the entrance of the dorms.

The moment she exited the building, she noticed a sleek black sedan parked to her right. Hyeyeon’s head was peeking out from the window as she rested her chin on the door, looking bored. She perked up, noticing Mina’s presence.

“Hey!” the younger girl grinned, looking up at Mina.

“Sorry for making you wait,” Mina returned her smile.

“I didn’t wait long, so don’t worry.” Hyeyeon beckoned Mina to get in.

The car stopped in front of a polished, luxurious looking building, where students were entering the building in a steady stream.

“Whoa!” Mina exclaimed in surprise, “this is the hagwon (cram school) you got me into?” Mina’s mouth hung open, she couldn’t believe it. This was a top tier school, only the cream of the cream got to go here, that or if you had a boat load of money. It was nothing to scoff at. “Are you sure about this?” Mina turned to Hyeyeon, worried filled her face, “I don’t know if I can accept this…”

“Don’t worry about it,” she grinned, “the director owes my dad a few favors anyways, so getting you in was no biggie!”

“But still… won’t people think that I’m taking advantage of you?”

Hyeyeon frowned, “but you’re not.”

“People will think that I just got a free ticket here…”

“There’s no point of worrying about others’ opinions… just consider it like a two for one deal okay?”

“Okay…” Mina wasn’t convinced.

“I wouldn’t come here if you weren’t able to attend as well.” Hyeyeon crossed her arms, “it’d be awfully lonely without you.”

The two entered the reception and filled out some forms to confirm their registration into the various classes the school offered. Mina looked at the prices. fell open in shock. Her mom would faint if she saw how much it costed per month to attend this school. But thanks to Hyeyeon she got to attend the school for free… She made a note to herself to return the favor in near future.

The receptionist handed them back a copy of the receipt and thanked them for joining the school. “The director would have liked to welcome you personally, but he is in a meeting right now. He sends his regards, and he said that if you have any questions or problems, to tell him right away.” The two girls bowed and thanked the receptionist, and then exited the building.

On their way out, the two girls bumped into Sohye who looked exhausted.

“Oh?” Mina seemed to recognize her, “Sohye-ssi?”

Sohye glanced up and saw Mina waving at her, making her flustered. Blushing, Sohye waved back shyly. Mina approached her with Hyeyeon following not far behind.

“You go here Sohye-ssi?” She pointed at the building.

“Yeah I do…” Sohye replied in a daze. She didn’t expect to run into Kang Mina on her way to cram school. I mean, she was really standing in front of her, in the flesh. Sohye could feel the butterflies in her stomach fluttering, sending waves of nervousness throughout her body.

“Oh that’s great! Maybe we’ll be classmates!” She turned back to look at Hyeyeon. “I gotta get going, but I’ll see you at school! I hope you’re feeling better!” She gave a quick smile and turned to walk with Hyeyeon.

Sohye was buffering, and was slow to respond. She managed an “okay,” but by that time, the two girls had walked quite a distance. Sohye wasn’t sure what to do now. Life had presented her with an opportunity to get closer with her crush. But Kang Mina was totally out of her league. To top it off, she had the social skills of a cardboard box. What to do with this opportunity?

Sohye shrugged it off, and tried not to think any more of it. She didn’t want to get her hopes up. But the thought of seeing her outside of school was enough to make Sohye smile. Maybe there luck is on her side this time.

//

“What the heck?” Chungha blurted out loud. Why is the Jung Chaeyeon sleeping on Heehyun’s bed?

Chungha approached the sleeping girl tentatively, and bent down to get a better look. Holy . It IS her. She took a step back in surprise. “What the…” she breathed out, “what is she doing here? And why the hell does she have the code to our apartment?”

At this moment, Chaeyeon’s eyes fluttered open. She was a little disoriented and struggled to keep her eyes open. Then she noticed Chungha standing a few feet away from her, with her eyes wide, unable to hide her disbelief.

“You…” Chungha raised her hand and pointed directly at Chaeyeon.

Chaeyeon immediately looked down, and realized she was wearing Heehyun’s clothes. She looked back up at the older girl and blushed. She opened to say something before she was cut off.

“You’re wearing her clothes…” she inspected Chaeyeon from top to bottom, making the younger girl self-conscious. Then she gasped as a thought came to mind, and slapped her thigh. “No ing way,” she paused, “you’re ing Heehyun aren’t you?”

Chaeyeon paled immediately. People weren’t meant to find out about them. Only Yebin knew of their relationship, and that was by accident. Yebin had already voiced her displeasure about their relationship many times. But she had agreed to keep it a secret out of concern and loyalty to her best friend. Yebin didn’t disapprove of her being in a relationship. She just didn’t like who she was with.

But this one moment of carelessness screwed Chaeyeon over. She had gotten sloppy. She stared at Chungha helplessly as she tried to formulate a scenario that could explain this. Unfortunately, none came to her mind as she drew a blank.

“N—no… yes.” Chaeyeon resigned to her fate, “kinda…?” She sighed and looked up at the older girl.

“Damn, I knew there was something going on with her,” Chungha muttered under her breath, seemingly more annoyed at Heehyun for keeping it a secret than discovering Chaeyeon in her best friend’s bed. Chungha glanced at Chaeyeon, “but damn. I gotta admit, her choice in girls… is peculiar.” She scrunched her face.

Chaeyeon deadpanned. She didn’t expect Chungha to be so… calm about them seeing one another? She wasn’t even offended by that passing comment. She was handling things rather well, compared to when Yebin found out. Chaeyeon shuddered at the memory.

“Damn Heehyun. I’m gonna kill her for not telling me about this,” she mumbled, “keeping this a secret from me. ME? Her best friend. Her freaking best friend…” The rest was inaudible to Chaeyeon, but she tried her best to contain her smile, since she was pretty sure Chungha was cursing Heehyun out. She might have pissed off her own best friend, but at least Heehyun’s was taking things pretty well more or less.

After realizing that she was muttering to herself for quite some time, Chungha stopped and approached Chaeyeon. Chaeyeon leaned back in intimidation, and was instead met with a gentle hand on her shoulder.

“Anyways… if she didn’t tell me about you two, then she must have had a reason for that,” she paused dramatically, “I respect that.” Chungha’s expression softened, “Just… don’t hurt her okay? At least not on purpose. She’s been through more than you can imagine. And I know she can be a hot-headed idiot, but yeah…”

Chaeyeon nodded mutely.

“She’s got a good heart.” Chungha finished. As if sensing something, Chungha started toward the door, “I think she’s gonna wake up soon. I’ll let you finish whatever business you had here.”

Heehyun never felt closer to death. If the splitting migraine wasn’t making her feel like , the nausea was definitely doing the trick. Heehyun had never felt seasick ever, but today was an exception. She had outdone herself this time. If this was the result she got for beating Suhyun in a bet, then it was worth it.

A wave of nausea washed over Heehyun, and she could feel her insides gasping for help. Okay, I take that back. Not. Worth. It. She rolled off the couch and hit the ground with a thud. She laid there pondering all the life decisions she’s made up to this point in time, and regret was all she felt now.

Groaning, she propped herself up. She managed to take a few shaky, unsteady steps towards the master bathroom, before another tsunami of nausea hit her. She crawled her way into the bathroom, trying to force the bile that was rising in back down.

After throwing up everything from last night’s adventure, Heehyun leaned against the sink and felt utterly defeated. She needed an escape from everything. She felt so exhausted, she was tired of it all. She glanced outside the door, and noticed Chaeyeon curled up on the bed.

Her eyes widened slightly in surprise, before exhaling in defeat. If Chaeyeon was here, that means she saw her completely wasted and passed out.

Oh Chaeyeon was definitely going to kill her. She would have her head on a pike by the end of the day if she was lucky.

It took some effort to get up. Heehyun grunted as she pulled herself up, and groaned when she felt the soreness sinking into her bones. “Damn, I feel like I just got ran over by a freaking truck or something.”

She walked towards a sleeping Chaeyeon, and inspected her face closely. The sun’s ray hit her face at an angle which softened her features, making her look innocent and angelic. Contrary to the usual cold expression on her face, the sun seemed to warm her features, erasing any trace of that that persona. Heehyun knelt down next to the bed, and leaned over her, blocking the sunlight, and listened to her soft breathing.

Suddenly, all the pain and nausea she felt went away. As if it were away by an unseen force. Time froze in this moment, and she wished it could stay like this forever. No hiding, no commitments, no façades, no family to worry about. Just two people in love. Two girls in love. Not that she could ever say that out loud.

Heehyun took Chaeyeon’s hand in hers and intertwined their fingers. Chaeyeon’s hand was frozen, which gave Heehyun shivers, and she rubbed her thumb in circles on the back of Chaeyeon’s hand.  

She tried to capture this point in time, with every detail engraved in her mind. The way Chaeyeon’s hair parted in the center, to the feeling of their hands intertwined, to the fluttering in her heart every time she looked at the sleeping beauty in front of her. Maybe in another life, they could truly be together.

Chaeyeon started to wake up, and turned to look at Heehyun, who had already let go of her hand. The bags under her eyes were prominent and contrasted sharply against her pale skin. She had spent the majority of the night fussing over Heehyun and Suhyun, watching over them like a worried mother. It was only early in the morning when Chaeyeon decided to go to sleep, not after Suhyun decided to puke on her though.

“Mm? Heehyun-nie?” She rubbed her eyes, “you’re awake…”

Heehyun almost couldn’t contain the swelling in her heart that was determined to show on her face. She wanted to punch her cheeks because of how cute she looked while still half-asleep. “Yeah,” she whispered, “I just woke up not that long ago…” Heehyun leaned her head against the bed to look up at Chaeyeon.

Any anger Chaeyeon had toward Heehyun faded instantly. The way Heehyun looked at her made her feel warm inside. With her lazy smile on her lips, and dreamy eyes, Chaeyeon felt happy just being next to her.

Heehyun sat up. “So… why did you come over last night? I thought we agreed not to meet each other in public and at each other’s houses? Especially after what happened last week…” Heehyun asked with a light tone. It’s not that she was angry at her, in fact she was actually worried for her. If people found out, if her parents found out— the one who would suffer the most would be Chaeyeon. Heehyun didn’t like the idea of her getting hurt or her image being tarnished.

She hummed. “I missed you.”

Heehyun’s heart sped up. Even with just three simple words, Jung Chaeyeon had that effect on her. Heehyun smiled. She brushed off Chaeyeon’s bangs to the side, and leaned in to kiss her on the forehead. “I know.”

Chaeyeon blushed and closed her eyes. Heehyun’s gentle kisses made her feel loved.

“But your parents…” Heehyun trailed off.

“They won’t find out.”

Heehyun looked skeptical, but she dropped the topic with a nod. She didn’t want to think about the what ifs anymore. She was fine with just enjoying her time with Chaeyeon, one day at a time.

Chaeyeon glanced at the ceiling of the room. “Chungha knows about us,” she tried to pass off the comment nonchalantly, “she found me sleeping in your room…”

Heehyun’s eyes widened slightly. “She was bound to find out I guess,” she shrugged, “I’ll talk to her later.”

Chaeyeon nodded and closed her eyes. “Come sleep next to me.”

Heehyun obliged. She felt the younger girl shift closer to her, and snuggle into the crook of her neck. She wrapped her arms around her waist, and glanced down.

Small moments like these were precious to Heehyun. Who knew how much time she would have left?

//

As captain of the soccer team, Nayoung expected punctuality from her members. Especially from Jeon Somi, who happens to always be late during tryouts. Dani had already arrived with all the equipment, and simply shrugged when asked about Somi’s whereabouts. Hell, even Jieqiong was here, and she wasn’t even part of the soccer team. Rolling her eyes, she inspected the candidates.

There were many new faces in the crowd. The more the better. Dhe had a good feeling about this year. This time, they’d reclaim their trophy from Wangguk.

“All right ladies, I want to see you on the line. We’re doing the beep test!” Nayoung shouted. She pointed to the cones that Dani had set up. “Run up to that line where the cones are, we’re going to start in 5 minutes!”

The girls grumbled. Some went to drink some water, others did light stretches, and some were getting pumped up in excitement. You drank some water and did some light stretches to warm up.

“Woo! Hyoseol!!!” Jieqiong cheered from the sidelines as everyone lined up to start the test. You gave her a thumbs up, and smiled. You turned your attention to the cones in front of you.

Nayoung took notice of Jieqiong’s cheers, and followed her line of sight. Nayoung frowned. A tight knot formed in her chest. She didn’t like the attention Jieqiong was giving the new girl.

You dropped after level 10.5, making you the second to last girl to finish. You were completely out of breath and barely managed to crawl to the side of the pitch. You laid on your back, trying to gasp for air. You felt like your lungs were going to explode. Jieqiong quickly ran over to give you a bottle of cold water, which you gulped down immediately. You thanked her in between gasps and dragged yourself to sit up.

After the last girl finished (Eunseo?), Naoyoung announced that the girls would take a 10-minute water break. The girls hurriedly ran to get their bottles of water and sat down to take a rest.

Jieqiong offered you an orange, insisting that it was “good for you.” You reached to take the piece, but Jieqiong pulled her hand back. “Your hands are dirty, here, let me feed you.” She put it in your mouth with a satisfied smile. The cold citrus cut through the burning sensation in your throat, and cooled it down.

Nayoung watched the two girls with an unimpressed look on her face. She felt a pang of jealousy watching Jieqiong feed someone else. The two of them looked close to one another, and she couldn’t help but feel a little jealous. Usually Nayoung was good at keeping her emotions in check, but for some reason she couldn’t restrain them.

The sound of Jieqiong’s laugh cut through her thoughts. Hyoseol must’ve said something to her, because Jieqiong was laughing so much that she was bent over crying. She didn’t like the look in the other girl’s eyes either, it was full of love and adoration. This annoyed Nayoung. Hyoseol had only transferred to this school recently, and now the two were acting like they were best friends, laughing, and touching each other. Jieqiong never showed this much interest in soccer tryouts before, and now here she was cheering and screaming for a girl that she just met. Ugh, she had to get a grip on herself.

Jieqiong played with your fingers absentmindedly. A chill ran through your body. You felt a glare digging into your back, making you look around instinctively. “Uh… your president keeps staring at me.” You pointed subtly at her, careful not to rouse her attention, “did something happen between you guys?”

She glanced back. “No… nothing in particular?”

You met Nayoung’s eyes. But instead of looking at you, her gaze was focused on Jieqiong. She had a sort of sadness in her eyes, but it disappeared as quickly as it appeared.

The rest of tryouts finished without a hitch. To conclude the tryouts, the group of girls were split into two teams for a scrimmage. Dani furiously scribbled notes while next to Nayoung, while Somi kept track of the score.

At the sound of the last whistle, Dani and Somi thanked the girls for participating and announced that those who made the final cut would be contacted by the middle of next week. Somi added that the list would also be posted on the news bulletin.

You walked to the edge of the pitch to Jieqiong offering you a towel. You took the towel gratefully, as she took the bags you were carrying out of your hands.

“You worked hard today!” She gave you a thumbs up.

Smiling, you patted her head, “should we get some bingsu? It’s unbearably hot today,” you groaned.

“Call!”

Nayoung watched the two of you walking away. She couldn’t help but feel slightly hurt that Jieqiong didn’t even say goodbye. Was she losing her? All this time, the girl that was next to her was finally slipping away from her reach. But Nayoung wasn’t even on the same planet as her. They lived in two completely different worlds.

Nayoung felt true despair for the first time in her life. How could she hope to compete with Hyoseol? Nayoung berated herself for letting herself fall in so deep. She loved Jieqiong, but the words never managed to come out properly. Now, she was walking away without ever hearing the three words Nayoung was dying to say. Nayoung was used to being in control of the situation, but this time, the cards were out of her hands. For the first time in many years, she was losing control, and watching another thing she loved fall throw the cracks of her fingers.

 Sorry for the long wait! I had a major writers block after the whole laptop fiasco, so I'm sorry if this chapter was poorly written... I'm thinking of starting another story, which at the moment is really something I have a lot to write about so this story might not be updated as frequently? I'll see... I'll try to overcome my writer's block for this particular story over my short winter break haha. The writer's block is probably due to the stress I had from finals and the fact that my laptop decided to die on me right before exams TT

I'll be focusing on converging the characters relationships in the upcoming chapters! Hopefully the story will come together, I'm kind of a mess right now. I just wanted to update the story, while I had something written down.
As always I am forever thankful for those who stuck around despite everything! You guys are what keep me going :)