The text from Seungwan came around eleven-thirteen. The morally sound portion of Seulgi’s brain had been hoping that it would never come, but the deplorable portion had been waiting on it with bated breath. And indeed, that latter half of Seulgi’s brain had seized control almost fully; Seulgi was dressed in her favorite black-and-white checkered dress, the one that hugged her frame just right, the one that was a tad too short (the one that Joohyun had picked out for her). Her hair was straightened, a hairstyle that she normally reserved only for special occasions, such as important meetings at school or fancy parties (or whenever she went out with Joohyun).

    She stepped out of her apartment building at eleven twenty-seven, her black high-heels clicking against the concrete with each step, her head swiveling back and forth as she scanned the road for Seungwan’s car.

    Within two minutes, a large, expensive-looking white SUV pulled up directly in front of her. Its black-tinted passenger-side window rolled down, revealing a chubby-cheeked, bright-eyed goddess, harboring her uncanny ability to make Seulgi’s heart initiate a series of frontflips with a mere glance.

    “Hi, Seulgi,” the out-of-place girl called, leaning over, her smile widening, “You look great.”

    “Oh! Uh, thank you,” Seulgi said, awkwardly pulling the door open and sliding onto the leather seat, “You, too.”

    And it wasn’t a lie. The collared dress she wore was the perfect length and fit for someone of her size and stature.

    “This is a really nice car. And really not what I was expecting you to be driving.”

    Seungwan laughed, a genuine, full laugh that was contagious enough to make Seulgi laugh as well.

    “I’m a fan of big cars,” Seungwan explained as she began pulling away from the curb, “The music okay for you?”

    “I’m not really a fan of girl groups, but Blue Velvet is one of the groups I can stand.”

    “You don’t like girl groups?!” Seungwan said in mock indignation, “We should just end this date right now then.”

    Seulgi giggled and looked out the window (Joohyun loved girl groups too).

    “So what kind of restaurant are we going to?”

    “American,” Seungwan said in an almost reminiscent way, “Do you like American food?”

    “I haven’t really had it often enough outside of fast food.”

    “Well, this place is totally different. It’s real American food. Like actual burgers with actual meat and actual cheese.”

    “You sound very excited about this. It’s just a burger,” Seulgi teased, leading Seungwan to set her lips into a jocular pout.

    “You’ll see, the food’s amazing. And I’ve had American food like, from America, and it hasn’t been this good.”

    “You’ve been to America?”

    “I have. Actually, I lived there for a little while…”

    The conversation continued to flow naturally as the pair weaved through the streets of Seoul. Seulgi found that talking to Seungwan required little effort, as almost everything the younger girl said was interesting or noteworthy in some way. She learned that Seungwan had grown up moving back and forth between Korea, the United States, and Canada. As a result, she could speak English fluently. Seulgi also learned that Seungwan had graduated second in her class at med school, beaten only by a girl who was, apparently, both the youngest and smartest doctor she’d ever met. On top of that, Seungwan had been on several medical missions to remote areas of the world, treating people who had no access to proper healthcare. The blonde seemed to have an infinite amount of experience and knowledge under her belt, earning herself a place as one of the most interesting people Seulgi had ever met (second only to Joohyun, that is).

    When they arrived at the restaurant, Seulgi was surprised to find that it was relatively busy for that time of the night; as the dining room was full, they took their seats in the outdoor area. It was a nice night, so neither of them minded. Although the place was, at the end of the day, a burger shop, it was much more refined and proper than Seulgi had expected. The decor was colorful and neat, the servers wore bow-ties, and the food was overpriced. The monolidded girl quietly mourned for her wallet as she looked over the menu (Joohyun had told her that they needed to start saving money for a bigger apartment).

    “The PBJ burger is amazing, if you like spicy stuff,” Seungwan said, leaning over and pointing to the third item on Seulgi’s menu, “Cus it’s not grape jelly, it’s jalapeno.”

    “A peanut butter and jalapeno jelly burger…” Seulgi mused, “I feel like you’re trying to trick me.”

    Seungwan grinned devilishly and batted her eyelashes.

    “I would never,” she added a wink to the end of her sentence, one that threatened to cause Seulgi to break out into a sweat.

    Just then, the server came by to take their orders, saving Seulgi from having to come up with an appropriate response.

    “I’ll have the PBJ burger and a glass of sangria.” Seulgi said, giving Seungwan a sly smile.

    “I’ll have a parmesean chicken burger and a water with lemon.”

    The waiter took their orders and left, leaving Seulgi to shoot Seungwan a curious look.

    “The way you talked about this place, it seemed like you wanted a ‘real’ burger. Like with beef and a bunch of condiments and stuff.”

    “Oh,” Seungwan said, looking away with a nervous giggle, “Well, a chicken burger is a real burger…”

    “You know what I mean.”

    “The other burgers don’t fit into my calories for the day…” Seungwan mumbled, her face growing slightly red now.

    “Calories?” Seulgi said in disbelief, “You track your calories?”

    “Y-yeah,” Seungwan said genuinely, “I used to be kind of overweight when I was younger. I’ve still got some progress to make.”

    “I wouldn’t have thought... it just seems like that natural kind of beauty, you know? You look great where you’re at, anyway.”

    Seungwan’s embarrassment morphed into something else then. Her eyes flitted up to Seulgi’s, filled with seductive adoration. She reached across the table and took both of Seulgi’s hands in hers. The older girl was mesmerised, helpless to stop the goddess sitting before her.

    “That was one of the sweetest things anyone’s ever said to me.”

    “That’s a pretty low threshold for compliments…” Seulgi muttered jokingly.

    Seungwan gave a light laugh before leaning in and pressing their lips together for the second time. It was brief and apprehensive, as if the blonde feared that she would scare Seulgi away again. It was quite the contrary. Seulgi found herself wanting more, found herself not caring that they were surrounded by people, found herself wishing that their next kiss would last forever (just like how it used to be when Joohyun kissed her).

    Seulgi was still recovering when the server brought their food over. She used the meal as an excuse to keep quiet, giving herself time to shut out the intrusive thoughts that threatened to spill out of her.

    Why hadn’t she told the truth? Why hadn’t she stopped Seungwan from kissing her? Why, why, why, why, why?

    “Is something wrong, Seulgi? You look worried.” Seungwan asked, covering as she chewed.

    “No, nothing,” Seulgi replied, pausing to take a long drink of her sangria, “Just thinking about school tomorrow. Gonna be a long day, you know?”

    “I’m really sorry for making you come out so late. I just really wanted to see you. I have a pretty big crush on you, in case you didn’t realize.”

    Seulgi swallowed. It was getting hard to maintain eye contact with the anxious, vulnerable-looking doctor. She took in a deep breath through her nose, steeling herself for the hell she was about to bring down upon herself.

    Just as Seulgi opened to speak, a voice called out from somewhere to her right.

    “Hey, Seulgi! Is that you?”

    Seulgi turned, her heart dropping to her stomach as she saw Jisoo and Lisa jogging over to her table.

    “What are you doing out this late?” Jisoo asked, leaning over the fence that separated the restaurant’s boundaries from the street, “And who’s your friend?”

    “I’m Seungwan.” the doctor said before Seulgi could answer.

    “Oh, I’m Jisoo! And this is Lisa. We talked on the phone before, right? You’re the one from the club, right?” Jisoo’s inflection began to change, and her rapidly narrowing eyes kept glancing over at Seulgi.

    “Oh, you’re Jisoo! It’s nice to meet you! Thank you for giving me Seulgi’s address so I could give her phone back.”

    “No problem… So, what are you guys doing out here, anyway? Just hanging out?”

    “Uh,” Seulgi cut in, “Yeah, hanging out. What about you guys?”

    “We’re on a date,” Lisa said, wrapping herself around Jisoo from behind, “Just had dinner. We’re about to go out and grab some drinks. You guys should come with!”

    “No, we can’t,” Seungwan said regretfully, “Seulgi has work in the morning and I don’t wanna keep her any longer than I have to.”

    “Aw, that’s too bad. Maybe we can all hang out together sometime soon,” Jisoo said, turning her attention fully to Seulgi as she continued, “Maybe, we can even invite Joohyun. That’d be cool, right?”

    Lisa was starting to look uncomfortable now. Seulgi could feel herself beginning to sweat.

    “Who’s Joohyun?” Seungwan asked.

    “She’s my roommate,” Seulgi said swiftly, “I told you about her, remember?”

    “You did.”

    “Your roommate of five years,” Jisoo said, a reminiscent look coming upon her face, “Five long, happy years. Crazy that you’ve known each other so long, you know?”

    “Yeah… well, I know you guys are probably in a rush and everything, so…” Seulgi muttered.

    “Yeah, you’re right,” Jisoo’s tone was heavy now, dripping with false sincerity, her eyes alight with anger, “We should get moving. Nice meeting you, Seungwan. Hope I see you again soon.”

    “Bye!” Lisa called, waving as the couple turned to go.

    “They seemed nice,” Seungwan said, watching the retreating form of the couple.

“Yeah… they’re cool…” Seulgi’s voice came out hoarse and weak.

She found that she wasn’t very hungry anymore. She forced herself to finish the meal though, straining to maintain a full, enthusiastic conversation with Seungwan until they were ready to go.

The drive home was quiet; Seungwan seemed to understand that Seulgi didn’t want to talk, opting to leave the music playing at a louder-than-normal volume, singing along here and there in the merry, innocent demeanor that she always carried. When they pulled up to Seulgi’s apartment complex, Seungwan threw the vehicle in park, turning to look at Seulgi with a concerned look on her face.

“What’s wrong?” she asked plainly, “Something’s been bothering you since Jisoo and Lisa came and talked to us. What is it?”

    Seulgi looked down at her hands. She could feel the tears beginning to well up. Seulgi took a deep breath before speaking.

    “Well, the thing about Jisoo is… she’s my ex. And we had a really rough breakup recently. And seeing her with someone else… I know it’s hypocritical, but, it was just so hard for me...”

    Seungwan reached out and placed her hands over Seulgi’s. The monolidded girl looked up to a see an expression of pure sympathy on the younger girl’s face.

    “I’m so sorry…” Seungwan whispered, rubbing Seulgi’s hand comfortingly.

    Seulgi finally met Seungwan’s eyes.

    “Thanks,” she said with a sniffle, “I just want you to know that, in the little time that I’ve known you, you’ve treated me a million times better than she ever did. Thank you for that, too.”

    Seungwan’s face grew red again.

    “Th-that’s probably not true…” she muttered humbly.

    Seulgi smiled and leaned in.

    They kissed. Seulgi was braver this time, intent on making up for her inability to continue kissing Seungwan at the restaurant. She skipped all pretense, prying Seungwan’s lips open with her own, tasting the warm mintiness of the blonde’s breath. Seungwan let out a small noise of surprise but didn’t resist, instead locking her hands behind Seulgi’s head and allowing the tips of their tongues to come in contact. Tingles of pure emotional electricity surged through Seulgi’s veins and she pressed a little harder, intending on deepening the kiss further. Seungwan detached at this moment, however, though she kept their faces close.

    “Passionate,” the younger girl commented.

    Seulgi bit her lower lip innocently.

    “I’m not usually like that. I guess it’s just your effect on me.”

    The blonde gave Seulgi another kiss, this time a short peck, before pulling away.

    “We can continue that next time.”

    “You can’t just tease me like that…” Seulgi muttered indignantly.

    “I can,” Seungwan said with a wink, “You need to get some sleep. You have work in the morning, remember?”

    “Fine,” Seulgi replied with a frown, reaching for the door handle, “I didn’t know you were such a mom.”

    “Is that really the best thing to be calling me right after making out with me?” Seungwan laughed.

    “I guess not. I’ll see you later. Text me so I know you got home safe.”

    “I will,” the blonde said, flashing that irresistibly pure smile of hers, “See you.”

    Seulgi watched as the SUV pulled away, melting into traffic and disappearing into the night like a candle in the wind.

She checked the time. It was almost 2:30. Seulgi sighed and made her way back up to her apartment. The tiredness had started to creep into her bones. As a result, she trudged her way through her home, stripping off her dress and tossing it unceremoniously into the laundry basket, walking through the kitchen without even a second glance at the dinner Joohyun had prepared for her.

    Just as Seulgi collapsed onto her bed, wearing nothing but her , she received a text message. She opened it without looking at the sender, but soon regretted her decision.

    “From Jisoo: We need to talk.”

    The message was left on “read”.

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Longest chapter of this story yet. Things will really start to pick up from here. Seems like Seulgi's getting used to the lies...

Also props to you if you get the very obscure chapter name reference lol

Thanks for reading<3