Hi all! Back again to writing. I'm rusty, as always, and I'm trying hard to improve. Fair warning: This is probably, like, the longest part/chapter that I have ever written (it's 24 pages and I usually stop around 10), so be prepared! I'm taking the third part slower than the other two because this is kind of in the present for Joohyun (as compared to Seungwan and Minho being in the past). :)

It had been a year since Joohyun graduated college.

She was sharing an apartment with a close friend she fortunately made after her breakup with Minho. Park Sooyoung was chatty with her words and noisy with her actions, it was a wonder how Joohyun managed to be around her still. Her housemate was reminiscent of the friends she had back in high school, and Joohyun thought she would no longer associate with anyone who was remotely similar to them. However, things changed and Sooyoung was not too horrible to be around. She met the girl, who was two years younger than her, in one of her business classes and they were paired up to do a group project together, which granted them the opportunity to learn more things about each other on a personal level.

Sooyoung listened to her well when Joohyun was found crying one night on the living room couch. She spilled all of her pent up frustration from the past few years onto the younger girl, who probably had her mind jumbled with a lot of information from her two exes. However, Sooyoung did not think about her differently after that, and Joohyun was glad she was able to come home to a livelier atmosphere from her demanding retail job in one of the high-ends shopping mall.

Joohyun groaned as she climbed up to the fourth floor in her heels and tight, formal outfit. Work was a drag for her when the holiday season was coming around. Patrons of a middle class shopping mall would pour into where Joohyun was standing, acting polite to each and every person who entered. Unfortunately for her kind soul, there were some persistent customers who would incessantly pester her about the newest bag on the fashion line when it was clearly being sold out by the minute. Some of them could not seem to take “no” for an answer regarding the handbags.

When she finally reached the door to her apartment, she almost fell inside if it were not for her hands gripping tightly onto the shoe rack in the foyer. A breath of relief was released when she took off her crushing heels and stacked them onto the rack, her aching feet using up the last bits of effort to drag her onto the nearest form of comfort, which was the living room couch.

“Another long day, unnie?”

Joohyun’s face was pressed against the cushion, not realizing she had interrupted Sooyoung in the middle of her watching a television drama. She lifted up her head to the point where she could see Sooyoung out of her peripheral.

“Yeah, there was a customer who was yelling at me for something stupid,” Joohyun grumbled, and she swung an arm around to the big, white bowl in Sooyoung’s lap. “Is this popcorn?”

“Yup,” Sooyoung said with a mouthful.

Joohyun grabbed a few pieces and popped them into . “Mm, nice. I’m hungry.”

Just as she had her few moments of rest from a long, typical day at work, she made her way to the kitchen to whip up something more filling to eat. Sooyoung was not paying much attention while popping the popcorn into one after another until she saw Joohyun looking into the fridge.

“Oh, yeah, unnie!” she called out. Joohyun spun on the heels of her feet with a raised eyebrow. “There’s mail for you on the table. One of them looks pretty fancy, by the way.”

The raised eyebrow remained as Joohyun closed the door to the fridge. All thoughts of fixing up something to eat vanished when she approached the round, dinner table, hands reaching out toward the messy stack of envelopes in the middle. She grabbed the “fancy” red envelope first, square in size and unusually thick in shape. Sooyoung was equally as curious as her when she came around the table with the bowl of popcorn still glued to her hands.

“What is it?” she asked.

Joohyun shot her a look. “I haven’t opened it yet, dummy.”

When Sooyoung pouted, Joohyun averted her gaze back onto the envelope for the sender. She wished there was not any reaction upon the familiarity of the name. There was no explanation as to why Son Seungwan would be sending her a letter, and how the heck did she know where to send it to? The two were not really on speaking terms ever since Seungwan stepped onto the plane, and even if they did not end their relationship on a horrible note, Joohyun still thought it was awkward to attempt any form of communication.

She tried to calm down her rapidly beating heart by sitting down at the dinner table. Sooyoung followed suit on the other side, but more so out of curiosity with what was inside that letter that was making Joohyun feel this way.

“Are you okay, unnie?” she asked. “Who is it from?”

“It’s from Seungwan… The girl I told you about the other day,” Joohyun replied. She grimaced when she looked at the letter. “Do you think I should open it?”

“Well… why not?” Sooyoung replied with a shrug of her shoulders. “From what you told me, it didn’t seem like you hated her when you guys broke up.”

“Yeah, but…” Joohyun heaved a heavy sigh. “It’s kind of bringing back unwanted feelings all of a sudden.”

“Well, I say you still open it,” said Sooyoung. “It might be something really important, like, oh, she’s sick and this is her last let—“

“Sooyoung!” Joohyun exclaimed with a frown. “I don’t want to think about it that way.”

Sooyoung smiled sheepishly. “Sorry.”

Joohyun twirled the envelope around for a few more seconds before laying it flat on the table. She carefully peeled the flap open, going as gradual as possible, and was immediately hit by a strong scent of lavender. Her nose crinkled at the smell. She remembered Seungwan’s hair smelling like lavender back in high school, and it would become especially prominent whenever she would wrap her arms around her from the back. Joohyun usually felt at ease when embracing Seungwan, her nose buried in her silky hair with her eyes closed as if she was in a dream.

Her heart clenched at the thought, and she tried to brush it away with a shake of her head.

Joohyun felt a sturdy piece of cardstock inside the envelope and she pulled it out. It was a folded, white invitation with gold swirls surrounding the borders of the card. The tips of her fingers gently grazed the glitter decorated onto the gold before she opened the card.

Her breathing hitched and her heart felt as though it dropped to the pits of her stomach. She had not realized her hands were trembling when Sooyoung pointed it out, the other girl reaching over to carefully hold Joohyun by the wrist with a worried expression painted over her face.

Joohyun gulped a dry lump in and set the card down as gently as possible before pushing it away.

“Joohyun unnie…?” Sooyoung’s voice was light and careful. “Are you… okay?”

            Joohyun’s bottom lip was caught in between her teeth, refraining the aching traveling from her stomach to .

            “I’m-I’m okay,” Joohyun said, albeit not confidently. “I’ll be okay.”

            Not trusting her words, Sooyoung desired to know what was behind that card which made the older girl appeared uneasy. She grabbed the card, with silent permission, of course, and cautiously scanned the containments written inside.

Mr. & Mrs. Son Seungwoo

Cordially invite you to celebrate the marriage between

 Kim Junmyeon

&

Son Seungwan

on 15 January 2017

at

Cathedral of Seoul, Seoul, South Korea

5:00 PM

            The grip Sooyoung had suddenly loosened, the cardstock slipping out. She averted her gaze to Joohyun, who was staring up at the ceiling with tears welled up in her eyes and her hands tightly locked beneath her nose.

            It was funny how Joohyun thought all of her feelings for Seungwan completely vanished, but honestly, who was she kidding? She knew that although it lessened throughout the duration of dating Minho, it was still there. It never left, and it was terrifying how much she clung onto a first love. It was not like she never truly loved Minho—she did, and she did not regret having dated these two special persons one bit.

            But when you received an invitation to attend one of your ex’s wedding at a time where your feelings have not truly died down, then it did some unexplainable damage.

            “I’m sorry, unnie…” Sooyoung mumbled softly.

            Joohyun attempted to smile, but the corners of ended up twitching, and she decided to drop it all together.

            “It’s okay. I’ll be fine.”

            She said it to herself more than anyone else.

**

            It was another long day at work with Christmas being a few days away. White snow was falling from the sky and chilled breaths were exhaled from mouths. Joohyun bid farewell to her co-workers who were heading off to the opposite direction of her because of traffic in the morning forcing them to park on opposite wings of the mall. Her store was located at the west wing; however, she had to walk over towards the south wing where her car was parked, and she never usually found a purpose there unless she was shopping on her day off (and those days were rare to begin with).

            A few changes were made at this side of the mall, which Joohyun heard about from one of her co-workers, actually. They mentioned about another store opening up, and although their focus was not retail, it still garnered a lot of attention for being one of the few gift shops with adorable stuffed animals and toys.

            Joohyun’s pace almost stopped when she spotted said store just closing up. The owner was pulling down the gates and locking it up, but right before she did, Joohyun was able to catch a glimpse of what was inside—plush toys ranging from all sizes on the display window and a set of pillow bunnies.

            “Oh, hi!”

            Joohyun quickly averted her gaze from the bunnies to the owner, who wore a bright smile on her face. She was slightly taller than her, slender, and looked like a typical Korean beauty, but there was a charming feature about her that was entrancing. Joohyun could not quite pick it out though.

            “Sorry, if you were looking to buy something, we just closed up…”

            Joohyun was alarmed. “Oh, no! I wasn’t—I wasn’t doing any shopping…”

            “Oh!” the girl giggled a little bit, and it was comforting to hear, making Joohyun believed that she was the type of person to try and ease up any awkwardness in the air. “Sorry about that, I just thought you were… yeah….”

            Joohyun shook her head. “Oh, no. I’m a sales associate up at Hermes.”

            The other girl turned around to fully face her, stuffing the set of keys to the store in her bag. Joohyun couldn’t help but give her one glance from head to toe, noticing how wonderfully slim yet toned she appeared in casual clothing. She fidgeted a little bit in her tight blouse and pencil skirt.

            “Ah, I see,” the girl acknowledged, her hands wrapping around the handles of her bag while staring at Joohyun. “Oh, I’m sorry! I forgot to introduce myself. I’m Seulgi.” She delivered a full ninety degrees bow.

            Joohyun made an incoherent sound, baffled at the sudden sign of respect. She bowed in return.

            “Joohyun….” she replied with a soft voice.

**

                 Kang Seulgi was her full name.

                 She was the daughter of the store’s owner, actually, and Joohyun thought it was cute and fitting to see a charming, polite girl like her stacking up stuffed bears and bunnies around the shop. Seulgi mentioned some time during the many conversations they would have around closing time that she was in her first year of college, pursuing a degree in Music and Theater. Joohyun smiled bitterly to herself when she realized she was entranced by yet another individual who was remarkable in some type of music.

                 This time, Seulgi was an extraordinary dancer.

                 Joohyun would have never believed her if it were not for Seulgi and her dance group performing an act at the mall’s annual talent event. She found it a little bit humorous to know that the owner of this mall put in so many efforts to make every employee acquainted with one other. Joohyun had no problem with it, it was just that there were so many individuals to keep up with. But because Seulgi’s parents weren’t as mobile as their daughter was, Seulgi came out with her hip-hop group and put up one heck of a show. Joohyun hadn’t realized her jaw was slack until a co-worker playfully pushed it up, causing her to swallow the dry lump in and cover her face. So much for the cringe worthy skit that she and her Hermes crew put up.

                 “It’s okay. You’re not the only one who’s smitten,” Jongdae said.

                 He wasn’t wrong. Ever since that day, employees from all over the mall would rush down to see Seulgi on their break or when she was closing up Morning Glory. They saw how ridiculously gorgeous she looked while dancing, hand running through her hair and all. Joohyun felt a little bit bothered at the idea, considering how she didn’t walk by the south wing anymore since holiday traffic was long gone. She saw how nice Seulgi was, not once rejecting her potential suitors, all smiles and laughter. Joohyun sometimes wondered if Seulgi knew the underlying intentions behind some of these people.

                 It had been a month since their first encounter with small talks here and there. Joohyun didn’t think she would be able to get to know a person through conversations that revolved around pulling down gates and dangling car keys on fingers. Seulgi was refreshing to talk to; she was different, she was always smiling, and she seemed too good to be true to even exist. It was almost like she was a walking angel of some sort—more so than Seungwan was in her eyes.

                 Which abruptly brought her to a thought about said girl. 

                 With the holiday season beyond them, it was a week until Seungwan’s wedding. Joohyun had not had the time to even think about attending let alone find a dress fitting enough appear in. But it was Seungwan, her first love… if Joohyun didn’t go, then wouldn’t that just put a bad name for herself? Although the feelings weren’t as strong as it was when she was dating Minho, it was still apparent enough to have her stomach stirring and her chest clenching.

                 No matter if the wedding was tomorrow, a year later, or even a decade later, it was still going to hurt in some shape, way, or form.

                 Joohyun remembered about RVSPing the very last possible moment for Seungwan’s wedding, so when she went to search for the lavender-scented invitation, she only found an empty red envelope.

                 “Sooyoung, have you seen the wedding invitation anywhere?” she called out.

                 Sooyoung glanced from the bowl of popcorn. There were about five more bags left she still had to go through.

                 “Oh. I sent it back for you, unnie.”

                 Joohyun’s body froze up after shooting Sooyoung a disbelieving look. “Y-You what?”

                 Sooyoung popped a few more popcorns into . “I marked that you were attending, and I’m going to be your plus one.”

                 “W-W-Wait a second here, Sooyoung.” Joohyun forced herself out from her rooted position, red envelope clenched tightly in her hand. She wanted to laugh, thinking that this was all a joke that Sooyoung was playing on her because knowing her, she wouldn’t be surprised. But Sooyoung didn’t have that mischievous glint in her eyes she would usually have before breaking into full laughter. She had a raised eyebrow and a face that spoke, “what, you think I’m joking?” Joohyun scoffed. “You’re telling me that I’m going to Seungwan’s wedding, which is only a week away, might I add!”

                 Sooyoung sighed and gently placed the bowl of popcorn onto the coffee table. She stood up to face a frantic Joohyun who was threatening to tear apart the envelope with her nails.

                 “Joohyun unnie,” she started. She carefully placed her hands onto the other girl’s shoulders, thumbs rubbing up and down. “She was your first love and you felt like you had the world with her, I know. I could tell the moment you talked about her compared to your other ex, Minho. But you didn’t end on bad terms with Seungwan. You had multiple of chances to love her again, and I’m sure she did, too. But I think it’s good for you to go to her wedding. It might really give you that closure of feelings you need.”

                 Joohyun slumped and dropped the envelope. “…But I…”

                 “Unnie, think about it.” Sooyoung pulled Joohyun down onto the couch, allowing her to relax against the soft cushion. “If you see her loving someone else, then wouldn’t that ultimately make you break? I think you need that in order to finally move on.”

                 “You’re saying that I should go… to have my heart broken… again...?”

                 “Wouldn’t you want her to be happy with anyone she chooses to be?”

                 Joohyun dragged her nails against her thighs. The tears were starting to well up in her eyes again. “I’m just scared of what I might do when I see her… when I thought that back then was the last time I’ll ever see her…”

                 Sooyoung observed her for a little bit before sadly smiling. “That’s why I’m your plus one, unnie. I’ll be there for you, okay?”

                 Seeing Seungwan love someone else….

                 Knowing Minho found someone else….

                 Joohyun believed it was her time for her to move on as well.

                 “…Okay.”

**

                 The day of Seungwan’s wedding came closer than Joohyun wanted it to. She had to miss the reception part of the wedding because she was unable to find a cover for work, which was why she was frantically running around in her room, rummaging through her vanity desk to apply some makeup.

                 “Unnie, calm down! The ceremony is just another hour and a half.”

                 Joohyun was in the middle of rubbing on lipstick. “There is traffic, Sooyoung! We already missed the reception, what do you think they’ll say when we’re late to the actual ceremony as well?”

                 Sooyoung paced into her room donning a beautiful lavender dress with the top half of her burning red hair pinned back, making her lovely facial features pop out more. She walked up to Joohyun, who was sitting at her desk, and placed her hands on her bare shoulders.

                 “Unnie, you’ll be okay.”

                 They both knew the real reason why Joohyun was nervous and rushing with her appearance was because she was going to see Seungwan again after five years. Joohyun thought that the faster she dressed up, the faster everything else would be. Oh, how she wished that was the case.

                 Joohyun looked at Sooyoung through the mirror. And she looked back down. “Thank you, Sooyoung.”

                 “Unnie, you missed a spot here,” Sooyoung pointed out to a pale spot on her lips. “Here, let me help you with your makeup.”

                 It wasn’t long until Sooyoung finished with her makeup, and now they were putting on comfortable shoes with their fancy heels in their hands, walking down the apartment complex to Sooyoung’s car. Sooyoung offered to drive because who knew what kind of frustration would harbor within Joohyun if she were to be the one behind the wheel.

                 Road rage beyond the imaginable, probably.

                 Sooyoung pulled up to the venue safe and sound with Joohyun fidgeting every now and then, of course. The latter did not exactly prepare herself beforehand—what was the first thing that was going to come out of when she saw Seungwan in a wedding dress, how would she react whenever someone spoke to her, whenever someone from their high school saw her there? It wasn’t like Joohyun had a dress rehearsal about this. All Sooyoung did was help calm her down, but that only worked out for brief periods of time.

                 “Unnie, we’re here,” Sooyoung said after a moment of silence and looking from afar.

                 Joohyun remained immobile, seatbelt still buckled and eyes peering off to the entrance of the cathedral, people of all ages filing into the worship structure. Her fingers clasped tightly around the neatly wrapped gift box in her lap, a tag hanging off of the ribbon that said, “From: Hyun.”

                 “We should head in,” Sooyoung pressed on again. “Don’t want to be a minute late, right?”

                 Joohyun looked over at Sooyoung. She grimaced and nodded.

                 Churches were never anything fancy to Joohyun since all they provided was a place for individuals to worship their deity. However, when she stepped foot into this castle-like church, the ceilings were high up to the point where Joohyun thought it could go for miles and miles to try and touch the sky. The aisle, draped with a red velvet carpet, had arches of white lilies connecting from one row to another row on the other side. On the sides of the church were more arches, but this time it was for the actual structure itself. Window panes allowed the afternoon glow of the sunlight to peer through and paint a beautiful orange hue upon those who were walking around in the range.

                 And Joohyun did not expect to see someone she just began to know strolling around with the sun shining down on her.

                 Someone who had the very same adorable crescent-shaped eyes whenever she smiled, someone who grinned and laughed widely to show all of her white teeth, someone whom Joohyun learned to adore the more she crossed paths with her.

                 “Kang Seulgi?” she softly called out, but more to herself than anything.

                 Seulgi managed to pick up her voice, though, and turned to stare right at Joohyun. Her surprise wasn’t any different.

                 “J-Joohyun unnie!” she exclaimed. She jogged lightly to Joohyun. “Wow, you look very nice.”

                 Joohyun looked down at herself. She was just wearing an old black one-piece that was on sale a couple years ago. It matched her mood pretty well, though.

                 “O-Oh, this? It’s just some thing I threw on….” she said, her tone dropping a bit.

                 It was true, what she said, but if she were to say this any other day, people would beg to differ. But she didn’t want to focus on herself anymore and instead scanned Seulgi from head-to-toe. Seulgi, who did not fail to amaze every single time, was dressed as feminine as she could be compared to the casual clothes she would don for Morning Glory. At one glance, Joohyun wouldn’t have believed Seulgi to be a first year in college, someone who hadn’t completed a full year of education from high school just yet. Her long, straight hair draped over one shoulder, falling down onto the bodycon turtle neck dress she looked so magnificent in.

                 “Y-You look very n-nice yourself….” she finally managed to utter.

                 Joohyun couldn’t tell if Seulgi smiled at her, but Sooyoung interrupted her thoughts anyway, stepping forward with a hand jutted out to Seulgi.

                 Oh, right. Sooyoung was just by her side.

                 “Hi,” Sooyoung greeted. “I’m Sooyoung.”

                 Seulgi gently grasped onto Sooyoung’s hand. “Seulgi.”

                 “I didn’t expect to see you here, Seulgi….” Joohyun mumbled.

                 “Oh, yeah. I’m friends with the bride,” Seulgi said. And she continued on, “Seungwan.”

                 As if Joohyun didn’t know who in the world the bride-to-be was.

                 As if there wasn’t already a nail pricking her heart already.

                 “What about you?” Seulgi asked, eyes darting back and forth between Joohyun and Sooyoung. “Who are you here for?”

                 Joohyun grimaced. “I’m here for the bride as well….”

                 “I’m just the plus one,” Sooyoung said.

                 “Ah.” Seulgi looked innocently in awe. “I didn’t know that you also know Seungwan.”

                 Joohyun scanned her surroundings. More and more people were starting to fill up the cathedral, some even taking a seat on the benches already. The pastor was making his way up to the front to begin the ceremony shortly. Seungwan and Junmyeon were most likely preparing at their respective stations before the wedding.

                 “Yeah…” The corners of Joohyun’s mouth tugged up a little. “I went to high school with her.”

                 Sooyoung touched her arm. “So, Seulgi, what store do you work at for the mall?”

                 Joohyun was absolutely grateful that Sooyoung decided to come as her plus one. The latter seemed to notice her discomfort, which prompted her to stray Seulgi away from the conversation. Luckily they were able to engage in a very passionate topic about stuffed animals like Gudetama and Rilakkuma, which would have been entertaining for Joohyun to listen to if it were any other day.

                 “Hello, everyone.” Joohyun looked up to see the pastor speaking loudly with his strong voice. “Please, take your seats now.”

                 Seulgi turned around from the pastor and motioned for the three to sit together, which Sooyoung and Joohyun agreed to. They sat at an empty row in the middle of the left side of the cathedral.

                 Joohyun rubbed her hands up and down her thighs, breathing short and chest heavy.

                 “We will now begin the wedding ceremony for Son Seungwan and Kim Junmyeon.”

**

                 Joohyun managed to stay for the whole ceremony.

                 She followed everyone’s actions—she smiled, she laughed, she clapped, she cried.

                 She noticed Sooyoung stealing glances at her every now and then, but she knew it was to check up on her and see that she wasn’t suffering inside. Luckily for the both of them (Sooyoung didn’t have to deal with a sobbing mess that was Joohyun again), Joohyun blended in with everyone else, admiring the whole spiel that was the ceremony, watching the handsome Junmyeon standing at the altar with his hair swept back and his hands locked in front of him, and the beautiful Seungwan in her gorgeous wedding dress, walking down the aisle with her arm looped around her father’s.

                 Seungwan never once glanced at her direction during the whole ceremony, which was understandable, considering how she looked like one of those love-struck puppies staring into the eyes of their significant other. Junmyeon sported a foolish grin practically the whole time, struggling to keep a straight face to listen to the pastor well, but his expression wasn’t anything new. In fact, it was all too familiar to see how he was gazing at Seungwan. He was madly in love with her.

                 Joohyun smiled.

                 Seungwan and Junmyeon looked good together.

                 And Joohyun hoped that stayed true until death actually did them apart.

**

                 Joohyun lied.

                 When she thought that by staying throughout the whole ceremony made it okay for her to move on with her diminishing feelings for Seungwan, she thought wrong.

                 She just never had any face-to-face interaction with her first love during that whole time, which made it easy.

                 Until now.

                 “Hyu—Joohyun... it’s so good to see you again.” Seungwan had reached down to hold onto her hands, and Joohyun would have held onto her longer, if it were not for Junmyeon lingering next to her, arm around her waist. “Thank you so much for coming tonight.”

                 Joohyun shook her head and peeled her hands away. “No, thank you for inviting me. I… I’m glad I was able to witness such a beautiful marriage.”

                 “I’m going to be staying in Seoul now,” Seungwan said, her head tilting up to look at Junmyeon, who smiled at her. “So, I hope that we’ll be able to see each other more often.”

                 Joohyun nodded and laughed a little bit. “Yeah. Yeah. That, uh, sounds good.”

                 If only it actually did.

                 “Wannie! Congratulations!” Joohyun perked up at the sound of Seulgi’s voice, which was higher than usual. The girl had clomped Seungwan into a tight embrace before reaching over to Junmyeon to do the same. “I’m so happy for you two!”

                 The three engaged in small talk with short but genuine laughter here and there. Joohyun continued to linger around a few steps away from them, acting like she was being pushed out of the circle, or looking as if she was trying to merge her way in. After their small catch up and making of future plans, Seulgi was throwing glances at Joohyun every now and then. She excused herself from Seungwan and Junmyeon, saying that they should greet other people now. Joohyun didn’t catch her saying her name because she was now half-running half-jogging out of the cathedral.

                 “Joohyun?” Joohyun didn’t stop until she reached the courtyard, stepping up into a gazebo wrapped around with nature and sitting down onto the white bench. A glance at Seulgi was not spared until the latter called her name again. “Is everything okay?”

                 Joohyun nodded; she lied.

                 It wasn’t like she could spill her whole love story to this girl who wasn’t exactly in that stage of knowing yet. But Seulgi knew she was lying, creeping closer to her on the bench and carefully wrapping an arm around her, gently rubbing her bare arm. Joohyun leaned into the gentle touch. She hadn’t realized how sensitive and devoid of emotional support she was until now, feeling her heart swelling up and the waterworks starting again.

                 But she kept strong.

                 At least she knew now—how much Seungwan and Junmyeon really loved each other.

                 How Seungwan didn’t seem to have longing glances anymore.

                 It was closure in some way.

                 Joohyun rested her head against Seulgi’s shoulder and closed her eyes.

                 At least she didn’t have to think about the what could have been’s anymore.

**

                 Seulgi wanted to hang out with her about a week after that. It wasn’t like they magically got so much closer because Seulgi happened to be there at the time where Joohyun’s feelings started to become uncontrollable, but Seulgi thought it was somehow a start to get closer. Even if this wasn’t the most ideal beginning anyone had in mind.

                 Joohyun agreed anyway. She didn’t think there was any harm to hanging out with Seulgi; besides, the girl was nice and sweet and tugged some heartstrings here and there, but that feeling was ignored most of the time.

                 When Joohyun walked by the south wing during closing time (because traffic forced her to park there again), Seulgi was talking about a really good movie that was coming out in theaters really soon.

                 Which was why Seulgi turned around from the vendor, pacing to Joohyun with glee and with two tickets in her hands just a few days later from that conversation. As Joohyun was scanning the big picture frames of the top-selling movies that were showing nowadays, she realized a lot of them had to deal with thriller or horror. There was only one romantic comedy on display.

                 “What movie are we watching again?” she had to ask because she wasn’t sure if the title that Seulgi said was the romantic comedy one or not.

                 “Annabelle!”

                 Joohyun’s eyes popped out as she was staring exactly at the mentioned title, feeling creeped out by the scary looking girl on the movie poster.

                 She failed to mention that she was scared out of her wits when watching horror movies. Heck, she was scared at anything that abruptly moved.

                 She uneasily smiled at Seulgi, who was sporting the same big grin on her ridiculously attractive face.

                 “Do you not want to watch it anymore?” Seulgi asked.

                 Anymore? When did I agree in the first place!? Joohyun thought, and then her mind warped back to the time where Seulgi casually mentioned a movie she has been wanting to watch but had no one to go with. And foolish Joohyun, who did not completely listen, offered to go. Oh. That’s right.

                 She contemplated on rejecting Seulgi. Not a chance did she want to have to deal with paranoia and nightmares again. The last time she accidentally watched a horror movie was back in first year of high school, and she had to sleep in the same bed as her younger sister for a good month. With the lights on. It was a nuisance for her younger sister and she eventually kicked the elder out when she couldn’t sleep properly anymore.

                 But then Joohyun looked down at the tickets in Seulgi’s hands. She would feel bad since the younger girl already paid for the tickets and the showing time was in ten minutes.

                 “N-No, I’ll… I’ll watch it with you,” she stammered. “Sorry, I forgot to mention… I don’t really do well with horror movies….”

                 “Oh…” Seulgi started, her hands slightly crumpling the tickets. She was still holding it in front of her chest, like it was some precious toy she couldn’t bear to drop. If her vision served her right, Joohyun thought she saw a frown marring Seulgi’s beautiful face for the first time. And then a smile magically appeared again—a small one, though. “Well, we don’t have to watch it! I don’t want to force you to watch something that you don’t like.”

                 Joohyun’s heart sunk. Here she went, making a girl a few years younger than her feel guilty of her choices. She reached out for Seulgi’s hands and shook her head, starting to drag her through the doors of the theater.

                 “No, it’s okay. We’re going!” she said. “I did say I was going to watch it with you. I’d be a bad unnie if I went back on my words.”

                 “Are you sure?”

                 They reached the line between two different parts of the world—reality and two hours of fiction (or those creepy based-on-a-true-story type of thing). An employee was waiting for them to make their decision so he could do his job of ripping tickets and monotonously telling them which theater house they were going to be in.

                 “Yes,” Joohyun said confidently. She grabbed the tickets from Seulgi’s hands and gave them to the employee. “I am sure.”

                 She wasn’t.

                 Joohyun had her feet up on the seat, her face burrowed by her knees and her jacket (no longer on her back) now looped through the front. She used the hood to cover her eyes every now and then to avoid seeing something gruesome or scary occurring in the movie. The house was almost full, but they still managed to get good seats somehow. And that meant sitting smack dab in the middle where Seulgi and Joohyun could get a great view of all the action.

                 If she were to watch this alone (not that she would in the first place; she’d turn off the screen before it even began), then she would have been screaming her head off. But she was with Seulgi and a bunch of other strangers who would probably sock her in her pretty face for being such a nuisance. So, she opted to whimpering every now and then, just as long as she didn’t open and accidentally let out a loud scream.

                 Seulgi looked at her and her makeshift defense. “Are you scared, unnie?”

                 Joohyun was practically shaking. “Is the movie almost done?” she asked meekly.

                 Seulgi nodded. “I think so.” Joohyun saw her staring out of sympathy. “Sorry, unnie.”

                 Joohyun shook her head. “No, it’s okay. I did this to myself. I said I was going to watch it with you so don’t—AH!”

                 She involuntarily let out a loud scream at a sudden noise from the movie, and what was embarrassing was that it wasn’t even at a scary or suspenseful part either. Seulgi averted her gaze from the screen back to Joohyun, and she giggled a little bit at how easily freaked out she was in this setting.

                 There should be about ten more minutes left until the movie was over, Joohyun thought, so she should be able to be in this fetal position for ten more minutes and bear with only the sounds. None of that viewing bull—she couldn’t do it anymore. She already knew that she was going to have nightmares tonight and she probably would have to sleep next to Sooyoung.

                 But she freaked out a little bit when the armrest in between her and Seulgi started to move backwards. Thank God she didn’t let out a scream at the time, especially during a part in the movie where it didn’t ask for screaming.

                 “Come here.”

                 Joohyun carefully peered up from her hood. Seulgi was opening her arms and asking her to come into the side of her body. She didn’t have to ask twice for Joohyun to snuggle up against her, face buried in the crook of Seulgi’s neck and arm tightly clenching onto the other side of Seulgi’s body. Being around anyone but herself was comforting even in the scariest of times, but she managed to feel very safe with Seulgi, especially with her arms wrapped around her and all. And she was very warm as well.

                 A few more minutes passed with Seulgi intently watching the movie and Joohyun practically buried into her. Though, the movie finally came to an end and the credits rolled, lights following right after. Patrons started to gradually stand up and leave the house, but Joohyun remained in Seulgi’s arms until they were one of the last people left.

                 Seulgi’s arms tightened around Joohyun. “I’m sorry again, unnie,” she apologized, but in a playful, whining tone. A part of her must have enjoyed seeing this side of the elder.

                 “N-No… it’s okay,” she said for the nth time, but breathless this time around. She finally opened her eyes to find a lit up theater house. Lifting her head slowly, her face were just mere centimeters away from Seulgi’s, hazy eyes scanning over the latter’s features up close. She knew she was attractive from the start, but to receive the opportunity to actually count every single lashes there were and how clear her skin was made Joohyun’s heart skip a beat.

                 Just one beat.

                 And Joohyun didn’t even realize it.

                 “Um…” Seulgi made a motion to get out of her seat; however, she barely moved an inch, stuck in the same trance as Joohyun.

                 Joohyun’s eyes naturally fell down onto Seulgi’s lips when the other girl made the soft noise, eyes yet again doing the wandering as it traced the shape of , noticing the tip of her tongue peeking out just slightly to wet the bottom lip. Thoughts of all kinds were running about in her mind at the moment, wondering just what would happen if a small force were to push Joohyun just slightly, what would happen if Seulgi decided to remain still, what would happen if Joohyun just closed her eyes for that second and wait for Seulgi to take the next step, what would happen if—

                 Joohyun yelped and jumped in her seat at the sound of the loud clanking of plastic hitting the floor. Her widened eyes immediately zipped toward one of the entrances of the theater only to find an employee doing his rounds of cleaning up spilled popcorn and throwing away half-filled sodas.

                 “W-We should get going so h-he can clean up….” Seulgi quietly proposed, and Joohyun didn’t have to wait a second longer to follow suit.

                 The employee, unbeknown to what just occurred, bid them good night, and Seulgi and Joohyun were back in reality again.

     “Thank you for coming out with me tonight,” Seulgi said once they stepped outside.

                 Joohyun peered up at Seulgi and saw her glancing down, hands locked behind her back, pace coming down to that of a snail. She didn’t think she would get enough of staring at how Seulgi’s mouth curled up into a smile.

                 “It was my pleasure.”

                 When they reached the parking structure in conjunction to the movie theaters, Seulgi walked Joohyun to her car in comfortable silence.

                 Joohyun turned around, fingers lightly touching the door handle on the driver’s side. Seulgi had one hand on her nape and the other touching her forearm, apparently looking vulnerable with the way her arms are positioned to guard her body. Her head was lowered, eyes fixated on the floor, body slightly swaying from side-to-side. She looked as though she was about to say something, though, not really knowing how to say it in the first place.

                 Before Joohyun could even say something, Seulgi made up her mind and took a step forward. The toned arms that she now correlate with warmth and affection were wrapped around her frail body once again.

                 “Good night, unnie,” Seulgi whispered into her ear.

                 She quickly took a step back, her nervous laughter echoing in the parking structure. With a small wave of her hand, she retreated back to her car which was way on the other side of where Joohyun parked.

                 Joohyun hastily climbed into her car after standing there looking like a fool. Her hand shook while trying to place the keys into her ignition, but after numerous failed attempts, she ended up dropping her keys onto the center console.

                 Her car was eerily silent—

                 except for her rushed breathing,

                 and heart beating.

                 When Joohyun returned home that night, she ended up sleeping next to Sooyoung like she thought she would. Annabelle scared the crap out of her and she wasn’t going to be thinking about a creepy little girl popping up in her room. But as she laid still next to a sleeping Sooyoung, blankets up to her chin, fingers clenching over the hem, all she could think about was Seulgi.

                 She smiled.

                 Kang Seulgi.