Three days later:

Seulgi got the call as she was leaving school, headed for the train station a few blocks away. It came from an unfamiliar number. Normally, she would have simply ignored it, chalking it up as a telemarketer call. However, she’d gotten into the habit of picking up unknown numbers now, telling herself that it was because she wanted to let Seungwan down by telling her the truth rather than simply ignoring her. It was the least she could do.

“Hello?” Seulgi answered lazily, expecting an automated voice recording.

“Hi, Seulgi! It’s me, Seungwan!”

Seulgi’s stomach did a summersault, and she nearly dropped the phone in surprise.

“Hey, Seungwan. Wh-what’s up?”

“Nothing, I’m at work right now. But I just checked my schedule and it looks like I’m off this Saturday. And I know you wanted to go on a date, soooo…”

“I’m free too. You know, no school on Saturdays, haha.”

“Okay! How does dinner sound? At sevenish? I know this amazing ramen place near you. Plus, I can pick you up since I already know where you live… was that creepy? I didn’t mean for it to sound creepy.”

“No, no, it wasn’t creepy at all. You should text me the address, since it’s near me I can just meet you there. But listen… we need to talk about something.”

Seulgi couldn’t believe how nervous she’d become from a simple phone call. Was she sweating?

“Can it wait until Saturday? I have to get back to work soon.” Seungwan sounded immensely apologetic, and Seulgi couldn’t bring herself refuse the request.

“Sure, uh… just text me the address to the place.”

“Okay! I’ll do it right now. See you Saturday, Seulgi!”

“See you…”

Seulgi hung up. That same self-loathing came creeping back. She was making a huge mess of things, and if she didn’t set the record straight soon, there would be problems.

The black-haired girl’s thoughts continued to eat away her, and as she took a seat on her train home, she wondered why she was so unwilling to let this girl go. She was in a loving relationship with a perfect girlfriend. Hell, Seulgi had been thinking about proposing to Joohyun soon. So what was it about Son Seungwan that did this to her? How far would this have to go for her to finally draw the line, to come out and admit that she was dating someone and that her and Seungwan could never be together?

Seulgi’s fears were exacerbated even further when she got a text from Seungwan with the restaurant’s address, because this particular ramen place just so happened to be Joohyun’s favorite.

***

Seulgi returned home to find that Joohyun was showering in preparation for her shift that night. Even without the looming idea of seeing Seungwan in a few days, Seulgi was exhausted. Summer camp was certainly more physical effort than regular school had been. Despite her rumbling stomach, she trudged her way directly to the couch, kicking off her shoes and collapsing onto the cushions.

She was nudged out of her slumber by a gentle tapping on the side of her arm. As Seulgi opened her eyes, Joohyun’s worried face came into view, obscuring the overhead light in a way that created a halo around her head.

“I’m going to work soon,” Joohyun said softly, placing the back of her hand on Seulgi’s forehead to check for a fever, “Did you have a long day?”

“Yeah,” Seulgi said, taking Joohyun’s hand and kissing it, “I’m not sick. Just really tired.”

“Good,” the older girl smiled and stood up from the couch, “I had some extra time, so I made you dinner. It’s in the tupperware by the stove.”

“You’re the best.”

“I know,” Joohyun said jocularly, “Oh, and before I forget, my parents wanted us to go visit them in Daegu this Saturday. I’m off of work anyway, and I figure we can spend the night up there and it’ll be like a mini-vacation. I know my mom and dad will be there, but we’ll get to spend lots of time together.”

“Um,” Seulgi began, sitting up, “I don’t know if I can. I sort of promised a friend that I would hang out with them on Saturday night.”

“A friend?” Joohyun inquired, furrowing her brow, taking on an icy lilt.

“Yeah, uh… Jisoo.”

Joohyun’s facial expression shifted from concerned to angry to neutral all in a matter of seconds. She narrowed her eyes slightly.

“What will you and Jisoo be doing?”

“We’re just getting dinner,” Seulgi said, running a nervous hand through her hair, “Jisoo isn’t going to be in Korea much longer, and we wanna catch up as much as possible. I’m sorry I didn't mention it before, she asked me while I was on the way home.”

Joohyun sighed and looked down at the ground.

“I told you I had to trust you more. And I’m going to. But, if it’s alright with you, would you mind texting me a few times while you’re out? It’ll make me feel better.”

Seulgi stood up and pulled Joohyun into an embrace, burying her own face in the older girl’s soft bed of blonde, pressing her lips to the top of her girlfriend’s head. How could she even consider abandoning her loving girlfriend for Seungwan?

“I won’t have to,” Seulgi whispered, “I’ll tell Jisoo I’m busy or something. I’m going to Daegu with you.”

Joohyun hugged back twice as hard.

“Are you sure? You guys never see one another.” she said, although her tone betrayed that she would very much prefer it stayed that way.

“Positive. We’ll go to Daegu and see your parents. What kind of girlfriend would I be if I just abandoned you like that?”

Joohyun beamed and gave Seulgi three quick kisses before detaching herself from the taller girl and heading to the door.

“I have to go now, or I’ll be late. I’ll see you when I get back. Love you.”

“Love you too.”

Seulgi watched Joohyun shut the door before taking her phone out, intent on calling Seungwan. She would make up some excuse to bail on Saturday, then she would just start dodging Seungwan’s calls and texts, and that would be the end of it. The prospect of ignoring the younger girl like that made Seulgi feel even worse than she already was, but it was necessary. It was the best way to go about this.

Just as Seulgi was about to hit the “call” button before Seungwan’s name, her phone began to ring. She looked at the caller ID, a frown of consternation fixing itself upon her face.

It was Seungwan herself. Seulgi picked up the phone, and although Seungwan’s tone was sad, the older girl could feel her heart lifting at the turn of events.

    “So you can’t do Saturday night?” Seulgi affirmed, her body flooding with relief, “Well, that’s okay. Maybe another time then.”

    “Yeah,” Seungwan replied, her voice becoming hopeful now, “But, I have a better idea. I get out tonight at eleven. I know this restaurant that’s open late, even during the week. It’s a little farther away, but I don’t mind the drive if you don’t.”

    “Uhhh… But it’s a school night…”

    “Oh… that’s true. I forgot about that. I’m sorry, I guess we’ll just reschedule for another time, then.”

    The melancholy tone that Seungwan had taken on caused Seulgi’s racing heart to swell with sympathy. The younger girl was clearly very intent on taking her out.

    “You know what,” Seulgi said after a brief pause, “Screw it. I can sacrifice a little bit of sleep for a fun night out.”

    “Really?!” Seungwan said, her voice reaching an almost astoundingly high note from sheer excitement, “Okay, okay, I’ll text you when I’m coming to get you! See you soon!”

    Seulgi dropped the phone from her ear before slumping back onto the couch, face in her hands.

    “What the am I doing?”

--------------------------

I was gonna update this tomorrow night but it turns out I didn't have as much editing as I thought I had to do. This chapter is a bit short, but don't worry, the next one is gonna be long and super eventful! Schoolwork/work is starting to pile up again, so I'm not getting a lot of time to write nowadays. But once a week for this story and whenever I can for my others sounds like a good updating schedule to me. Hope you're cool with it.

Seulgi really just keeps digging this hole deeper and deeper, huh?

Thanks for reading<3