It’s lunch time and Yongsun is sitting alone in the bleachers, stuffing her face with homemade kimbap. Well, not for long. Barely 5 minutes into her rare moment of solitude, she hears excited chatters coming from behind her, unmistakably the voices of her best friends.

“Yongsun shi, I’m joining you for lunch whether you like it or not~” Wheein says in a cutesy sing-song voice as she makes herself comfortable next to Yongsun.

“Yah, you shouldn’t have ditched us at the cafeteria like that!” Hyejin pouts, biting on a ham sandwich. They are their usual chatty selves, but something feels off with these two.

Yongsun doesn’t respond to her friends and finishes up her kimbap in silence. The truth is, just a while ago, Yongsun was on her way to the cafeteria for lunch when she spotted Moonbyul leaving the school building in hurried steps. Out of curiousity, Yongsun had stealthily followed Moonbyul to the school gate where she saw Lisa waiting for her with a huge smile readily plastered on her face. As soon as Moonbyul was out of school grounds, the girls greeted each other with a long embrace that felt quite intimate in Yongsun’s point of view. It was Moonbyul and Lisa’s first time seeing each other since Moonbyul returned to Seoul two days ago.

Failing to contain her emotions, Yongsun informed her friends that she wanted to lunch alone today but of course Wheein and Hyejin wouldn’t listen.  So here they are now, eating in silence because Yongsun doesn’t want to bring up Moonbyul and for some reason Wheein looks like she’s ignoring Hyejin.

“Are you guys okay?” Yongsun asks her friends slowly, deciding to push her personal problem aside first for now.

“That’s a question for Miss Jung Wheein.” Hyejin says, not looking at either of her friends.

“Yah, Wheein ah, what’s up with you two again?” Yongsun slowly turns to Wheein now.

“If she’s my best friend, she should know what’s upsetting me.” Wheein replies, annoyed.

Hyejin stands up and folds her arms across her chest as her eyes go squinted in anger.

“Can you not act warm and cold to me whenever you like? I’ve had had enough of your bullsh1t!”

Yongsun looks up at Hyejin with widened eyes, not sure how to react right now. She’s praying her best friends don’t start clawing at each other’s faces.

Wheein climbs up two bleacher seats so she’s now the same height as Hyejin and clenches her fits tightly.

“So I’m the nuisance now? Perhaps I wouldn’t be if you’d just quit talking about your secret admirer!”

Yongsun swallows her last bit of kimbap and inches backward to a few rows behind, not wanting to be stuck in the middle of this brewing war.

“Guys?” Her voice quivers.

“Shut up!” Hyejin and Wheein snap at Yongsun simultaneously. Yongsun mouths an ‘okay’ to herself, hoping this screaming battle would end without any blood spill. Wheein and Hyejin raising their voices at each other - now that’s a first.

“Yah, do you know how often you talk about that secret admirer of yours? And yesterday you forgot about our weekly sleepover because you were too busy reciting your stalker’s latest love letter to me on the phone over and over again!” Wheein shouts, tears slowly forming in her eyes. Yongsun gasps. Well, that’s a bit insensitive of Hyejin.

“It slipped my mind and I was talking to you on the phone – did it not occur to you to remind me or were you just waiting for me to screw up so you can hold it against me forever? People forget all the time! Didn’t you also forget that you were the one who told me to get a boyfriend? Why can’t you be happy for me?” Hyejin yells.

Yongsun’s mouth forms an ‘o’ shape – she really hasn’t been catching up with her friends’ lives as often as she likes to think she does.

“I blurted that out because I had no idea how to react after you confessed to me!” Wheein yells back, stopping when she realises what she has said. Hyejin sighs and buries her face in her hands, memories of admitting her feelings to Wheein and the rejection that comes immediately afterwards flood her mind. Her face flushes red, partly from embarrassment and partly from anger.

Yongsun is rendered speechless. She searches her friends’ faces for answers but even if they don’t say anything, the situation is obvious. Hyejin had taken the liberty to confess to Wheein but was turned down so they decided being friends with benefits was the way to go and now that Hyejin is moving on to another person (though Yongsun thinks a secret admirer isn’t the best rebound),Wheein isn’t exactly taking the news well.

“But, but, afterwards, we weren’t exactly doing things friends do…” Hyejin calms down and sits down. Yongsun starts to feel sorry for Hyejin who now looks dejected and confused.

“The truth is, I’m still trying to figure out my feelings for you. But it hurts to see you falling for some faceless cheese factory. You don’t even know who he is!” Wheein snaps.

“Wheein ah, you’ll always be my best friend. I made a mistake confessing to you and I know things have changed between us since that day, whether we like it or not. Your answer was clear. I’ll always be just a friend to you and I understand that, but please, don’t make this any harder for me by dragging it out. This isn’t even about the anonymous admirer anymore.” Hyejin gathers her lunchbox in silence as tears filled her eyes. “I need some time alone.” She says, hurrying away from the scene.

“Why is she so sure that I don’t have any feelings for her?” Wheein asks softly, to no one in particular.

“Love is a .” Yongsun exhales, remembering Moonbyul skipping school for Lisa today and feeling extremely bitter about it.

//

Yongsun grabs her backpack and slings it over one shoulder before leaving her last class. Today she doesn’t expect Wheein or Hyejin to be waiting for her to walk home together after their love spat at lunch earlier, so she leaves the school building alone. Without Wheein and Hyejin around her discussing stupid things like, is Bob a good name for a pet chameleon or can elephants walk backwards, to distract her, Yongsun has plenty of time to think about Moonbyul and Lisa who are probably at someplace private right now, catching up and rekindling their love for each other. Also, the nagging question that’s still left unanswered, why has Lisa come all the way to Seoul looking for Moonbyul?

Just as the thought leaves her mind, Yongsun’s phone rings and she stops in her tracks, surprised, as ‘Moonbyul’ flashes across the screen of her phone.

Yongsun hesitates a little before answering Moonbyul’s call.

“H-Hello?”

“Yongsun ah, where are you now? Are you still in school?” Moonbyul asks.

“No, I’m on my way home. Right now, I’m standing in front of Hotel X. Hey, is everything okay?” Yongsun asks, genuinely concerned. It’s not like Moonbyul to ask two questions in one sentence.

“I’m not good at asking people out, but would you like to hang out with me today?” Moonbyul asks quietly.

“Like at a café? I’m pretty exhausted…” Yongsun says, fully aware that Moonbyul has just stated that she’s asking her out but tries to suppress her excitement, remembering what Moonbyul’s father has said to her. She sighs internally, frustrated that Moonbyul isn’t making this easier for her.

“No, like at Lotte