She's wearing a pink hoodie, one Sejeong can still distinctly remember even when her memories become faint with time. Round spectacles rest on the bridge of her long nose, her hair in a messy bun. Her protruding cheek bones, her soft lips, her eyes in a warm crinkle as she smiles at the bus driver, everything about her is distinctly beautiful in a way Sejeong hasn't experienced before. As the girl slides into her seat, closer to the front, Sejeong finds her eyes bearig into her, not being able to tear away from the mysterious girl. Every one of her actions, from putting in her headphones to stretching her arms, is so strangely graceful. When the bus pulls to Sejeong's stop, she can hardly rip her eyes away as she gathers her things and runs to school. 

 

It becomes a daily routine, waiting for the mystery girl to board the bus, right at the stop at 47th street. Sejeong notices things — the different outfits she wears, what days she wears makeup (Wednesdays) and every aspect of the girls routine. Every Tuesday, the girl gets off a couple stops before Sejeong to go to what she assumes is the coffee shop, as its right next to the stop. Sejeong feels like a bit of a stalker — she's moved her usual sitting spot up towards the front of the bus so she can get a better angle on the girl. One day, the girl accidentally drops her bus pass on the ground near Sejeong's feet, and Sejeong is the one that picks it up and hands it to her. She only catches a quick glimpse of the name on it, next to a striking ID photo (who manages to look this good in ID photos?), and notes it quickly in the back of her head. 

Kim Chungha. 

She feels the quick warm touch of the girl, no, Chungha's, hand, and their eyes make contact. She smiles softly at Sejeong. 

"Thanks." 

Sejeong swears to god she can feel her heart breaking it's way out of her chest.

"Y-You're welcome." she blurts out. 

When Sejeong gets off the bus that day, she smiles at Chungha and Chungha smiles back. 

 

"She's so dreamy." Sejeong sighs. She's laid against the cafeteria table, ignoring her school lunch. 

"Wait, so you're in love with a girl who you have spoke to once?" Yeunjung, sitting across the table, asks, while raising one eyebrow quizzically.

"I never took you as the romantic type." Sohye giggled, taking a bite of her sandwich.

"I'm not in love! Just crushing hard!" Sejeong feebly reached into her bag of potato chips and slowly let one enter .

"I feel like you're more of a stalker."

"She just happens to ride the same bus as me! How is that stalking! You all ." Sejeong frowned. 

"Sure." said Sohye with a devilish smile.

The bell rang, and Sejeong rolled her eyes as she stood up.

 

One Tuesday, roughly a week after the bus pass incident, a golden oppurtunity struck for Kim Sejeong.

Chungha seemed in a hurry today as she slid into her seat, hurriedly rifling through her backpack as if she was looking for papers or something lost. She set her phone down on the empty seat next to her. Sejeong wondered if she could possibly offer a helping hand, but her slight shyness held her back. Chungha looked rather aggravated anyway.

When the bus pulled up to the coffee shop, Chungha hurriedly grabbed her bag, darting out the back doors of the bus. That was when Sejeong noticed she had left her phone behind. 

Sejeong turned around to shout some sort of exclamation at Chungha, any sort of warning, but the bus was already pulling away, and she was already pushing the doors of the coffee shop open in a rush.

That was when Sejeong made a snap decision. She reached over and shoved Chungha's phone in her pocket, and took a deep breath.

 

"You took her phone!?"

Yeunjung did not seem as thrilled with Sejeong's discovery as Sejeong was. 

"What else was I going to do? I'm being a good person."

Sohye leaned in, resting her head on Sejeong's shoulder. 

"Well does she have selfies on there? I want to see this girl you're apparently so in love with."

"I haven't turned it on yet, I haven't had time."

"Well do it now!" Yeunjung punched Sejeong's shoulder. "If you're going to be a creep, at least do it with us." 

"Alright, fine." Sejeong tried to hide her bright smile as she pulled the phone out of her backpack. 

As she turned it on, she was greeted by the wallpaper image of Chungha, smiling in a hoodie, holding a small dog. It looked like it had been taken by a friend, a candid perhaps. 

"Is that her? Holy !" Yeunjung practically gasps.

The phone has no passcode. Maybe that's a sign she's an easygoing person, Sejeong thinks to herself. Sohye and Yeunjung cling to her sides as the phone clicks open. 

"Look at her photos!" Sohye almost yells.

"That's an invasion of privacy." Sejeong hisses, but notes that she might peek later. 

"Try calling the last person she called," Yeunjung says matter of factly, "Maybe they can contact her somehow." 

Sejeong scrolled through Chungha's contacts. The most recently called person was someone labelled 'Kyulkyungie ~ 💘'. 

Sejeong's eyebrows creased at the heart emoji. Did her beloved (from a distance) Chungha have a girlfriend? She suddenly realized she knew almost nothing about the girl, but at this point, she was in too deep to care. She pressed the 'call' button, her two friends at her side waiting eagerly. 

Someone answered almost immediately. 

"Chungha! Aren't you supposed to be practicing right now? If you're gonna skip class, at least come hang out with me and Nayoung!"

The girl on the other end sounded bright, chipper, almost flowery.

Sejeong gulped.

"Uh... I'm not Chungha. I.... I ride the same bus as her and she left this phone behind, I thought I'd call whoever she last called so they could maybe let her know I had it?" Sejeong ended tentatively.

"Oh my god she lost her phone? She can't live without that thing." the girl on the other end gasped. "Nayoung! Chungha lost her phone!"

The girl on the other end gave a refreshing giggle. "I'll tell her as soon as I see her. Are you free around like 3 or so?"

"You mean like after school?"

"Yes! Come over here and bring the phone."

"What is 'here' exactly?" 

"Oh! Produce Performing Arts School."

"Uhm, yeah, thats not too far from here. I can make it."

"Awesome! Ok bye, we have to get to class." The call ended as suddenly as it started. 

"Guys," Sejeong hissed. "She goes to Produce. Shes a performing arts kid." 

"Ooh, maybe she does y dancing." giggles Sohye. 

"Shut up." groaned Sejeong.

 

Sejeong anxiously stood outside of the Academy, staring at the students filtering out from the front doors. She had realized that the girl on the phone — the supposed 'Kyulkyungie', hadn't given her a meeting place or any method of identification. She was about to text her from the phone when someone tapped her on the shoulder. 

"Hey." 

Sejeong whipped around at the speed of light, almost tripping over her own feet. It was Chungha, right there, in front of her, that elegant smile beaming, and Sejeong had to bite her lip to try not and gasp. Behind her were two girls, a tall girl with a tired resting expression—when she saw Sejeong, her eyes crinkles just slightly to express some sense of joy, and next to her was another girl, black hair swept over her shoulder, a giddy smile, and the most beautiful, chiseled-from-marble like features. She immediately knew the second girl must have been the one she had spoken to.

Sejeong dug the phone out of her pocket. 

"Here, here." she said, trying to catch her breath as she handed it to Chungha, staring right into the girls twinkly eyes, feeling that slight warm touch of her hand again. 

She started to step away. Sejeong was normally a bright and sociable person, but something about Chungha made her knees quiver and her heart beat out of her chest. She had to get out of there before her face turned into a red mess.

"Hey!" Chungha's smile widened into a grin. "I don't even know your name, silly."

Sejeong's eyes widened. "K-Kim Sejeong." she said slowly. 

"Nice to meet you!" Chungha's head tilted to the side slightly. "I'm Kim Chungha." 

She paused for a moment, and looked at Sejeong with just a hint of mischief in her eyes.

"Before you give this back to me," Chungha waved the phone in the air, "You should at least give me your number." 

She handed the phone to Sejeong, and Sejeong felt her entire face heat up. Goddamnit.