It’s way beyond house parties with the parents gone. Hell, it’s more than storage room break-ins and restricted entrance sneak-ins.

It’s over and above anything Yebin could have ever expected, but she’s utterly intoxicated.

And despite the conscience incessantly yelling at her, she doesn’t want to sober up anytime soon.

#

“You’re gonna smarten up now that you’re a real college student?”

Yebin snickers. “I’ve always been smart.”

“Well, you graduated and got into college so I guess that’s gotta mean something.”

“You act like we’re all stupid when I’m not the first to do this. Don’t pretend you’re not one of us.”

Siyeon gives her a smile that Yebin is all too familiar with in all the years she has known the younger girl – sly, mischievous, and everything others don’t usually expect from her at all.

“One of you?” she raises an eyebrow for a second before straightening her back. “Please, I’m no mischief-maker anymore.”

She’s a princess, a monarch, an example of untouchable glamour. No one would ever expect her to hang out with the people she did. But Siyeon’s exterior has never been a phony façade; she’s a high maintenance girl through and through and Yebin’s always admired her ability to stay true to herself.

“Noted, Park Siyeon.” Yebin buckles the straps of her half helmet under her chin as she swings a leg over her motorcycle. “Let me know the next time your parents are away on business trips. I’ll zoom right over.”

“Maybe, but I’ve matured, you know,” Siyeon says with a chuckle. “Stay out of trouble, okay?”

Yebin revs the bike in a show of bold self-confidence. “I can’t promise you that.”

I’m serious!” Siyeon purses her lips and gives Yebin a hug. “Thanks for stopping by.”

“Of course.”

“Say hi to Minkyung for me?”

Yebin grins excitedly. “Will do.”

They exchange a few more parting words before Yebin rides away. Siyeon stands on the street watching her until she disappears into a corner.

“You’d follow and go to the ends of the earth for her, huh?” Siyeon mutters to herself as she sighs.

Yebin’s tenacious loyalty has always been one of her strongest suits – and most unfortunate weakness likewise.

#

Yebin stands outside the door fidgeting with her keys as and tapping her foot impatiently. Her eyes bounce back and forth from her phone to the number on the door.

Is this the right place?

Minkyung had texted her the address of her home, which unexpectedly took Yebin several detours and abrupt stops at parking lots to fish out a map and re-calibrate her old GPS.

Finally, she arrived at a modest condominium off the busy main road. She chides herself when she realizes that she had been circling the place the entire time. 

But who could blame her? Wealthy Kim Minkyung living in a humble one-bedroom in a two-storey? Yebin kept her eye out for a luxury high-rise, not a building that might as well be mistaken for a decent motel. You know, the ones with free WiFi and railings that aren’t rusted; motels that looked as if maintenance actually cared for the place.

Nevertheless, it’s very unlike Minkyung. Yebin debates texting her again to ask if she’s at the right place, but just as she was about to leave, the door swings open.

And there she stands in all her glory; a whole one hundred and seventy-two centimetres tall (she’s grown taller the last time I saw her…), long hair cascading over her shoulders (she dyed it black?), and sharp eyes. Something in her demeanor has shifted (is it in her eyes? The makeup?) but then she smiles and Yebin knows it’s her.

It’s the same smile she has been dying to see in person again for over a year.

Before Yebin could even react, Minkyung hauls her into a tight hug. Yebin is pulled face first into the crook of her neck and she gets a whiff of her cantaloupe shampoo (I thought she didn’t like fruity scents). She feels Minkyung’s laughter rumble through her chest as she’s tugged into the apartment.

Yebin returns the comforting embrace, not wanting to let go any time soon.

“Kang Yebin, I’ve missed you soooo much!” Minkyung roars. Grasping Yebin’s shoulders, she leans in and stares right into her eyes. Yebin almost falters at the dark brown eyes. “Hey, have you gotten shorter since the last time I saw you?”

Yebin laughs as she lets her hands drop to the small of Minkyung’s back. “No! But you’ve definitely gotten taller.”

Minkyung draws her in to another hug as they sway back and forth in the living room. Yebin ignores the pain in her cheeks as the corners of her lips stretch into a huge grin.

Minkyung makes sure to let her know how delighted she is at their long-awaited reunion and Yebin couldn’t be any happier.

Hearing Minkyung's voice through calls and reading her messages through texts is nothing compared to seeing her in real life.

Yebin's been missing her so much, it kept her up at night. 

#

“Black hair looks good on you. It’s pretty.”

Minkyung smiles at the compliment.

Only when she has settled on the couch with a can of soda does Yebin finally take the opportunity to glance around.

“Nice place.”

It comes out more half-hearted than she had intended, but well, it is a nice place, just not one she’d expect to find Minkyung in.

“Gee, thanks.” Minkyung chuckles. “It’s small, but comfortable. It feels like a secret hideout at times and it’s sort of thrilling. I feel like a runaway.”

Yebin smirks. “You got all that sentiment from a place that could be mistaken for a bed and breakfast?”

“That’s exactly why I like the place,” Minkyung says with a smile.

It’s unusual, Yebin would admit. The Minkyung she knew in high school liked name brands and designer clothing, flaunted her affluence in sly subtlety, and, whenever her parents would be away, hosted parties at her swanky estate that would be talked about in school for a whole week.

Minkyung was untouchable in high school. She was a paragon of charm and charisma, radiating an allure that had any girl viciously envious of everything she had and was. You either wanted to be her or be with her.

Now Yebin revels in her own pride, so she’s always been the latter. She stuck by Minkyung unconditionally in all her mischief and exploits. Together, they were a dynamic duo; like Batman and Robin – or rather, Bonnie and Clyde.

Hopping fences into public pools at dark desolate hours, sneaking into Itaewon clubs even if they were underage, balancing on railways hand in hand at sunset and jumping out of the way just before a train would pass, breaking into storage rooms and skipping classes in pursuit of greater fun.

But it was always just harmless trouble-making by a pair of carefree teenagers. Minkyung kept up a clean image for her parents and Yebin always found keeping secrets electrifying.

It wasn’t really all that surprising when Yebin, always reckless, fell for her.

And she fell hard, head on like a train collision.

Minkyung went through friends as if they were unimportant pages in a phonebook, but Yebin was one of the few that she kept around. With Yebin being treated as if she was a favourite, curious noses suspected the depth of their relationship anyways.

The casual skinship, moments of comfortable silences they could share, the carnal tension after petty arguments broke out, and all those supposedly platonic and playful kisses shared in juvenile games of spin the bottle…it must’ve meant something, at least? A spark? A fire within? Was Yebin wrong to wonder?

So Yebin, always reckless, wasted no time in expressing her feelings. She had nothing to lose.

And to her surprise, Minkyung received them rather easily. However, it didn’t mean she returned them.

But being wrecked by a mere broken heart goes against everything Yebin believed in. She’s far too poised and proud to let unreturned confessions break her.

So she received it with a smile and a nice try sticker. All this time, she had made herself believe she was over it, but no, not entirely. She’s just learnt how to take failures and turn them into fuel.

Their escapades may have halted when Minkyung graduated and moved away for college, but Yebin’s desire for thrill never faded. Minkyung left a bit of her spirit before she left and soon enough, Yebin was the one dragging her friends out for midnight visits to the local pool.

She continued as her carefree self with a close-knit group of friends (Siyeon, far too glamorous to be hanging out with her; Jieqiong, a pretty girl who just seemed to be in it for the ride; Eunwoo, always up for anything and everything), but Minkyung always was and still is Yebin’s golden girl.

She’s a cut above the rest, unrivaled in Yebin’s heart.

“What have you been up to?”

“Nothing much. Working. Eating. Partying. Sleeping. And soon, school. Rinse and repeat.” Minkyung bustles around in the kitchen and Yebin can hear the clatter of plates and the refrigerator opening and closing repeatedly. Minkyung abruptly emerges from the kitchen. “Are you hungry? I can make you something.”

Yebin snickers. “You can cook?”

“I’d like to think so. When you’re living by yourself, you kinda have to learn how,” Minkyung says sheepishly.

“It’s alright. I ate before I came here.”

Minkyung walks over and plops down on the spot beside Yebin, wrapping her long arm around the shorter girl’s shoulders.

“I’ll take you out to a nice restaurant I know and we can have a little date.”

Yebin can already feel the warmth escalating in her cheeks. “I’d love that.”

“In the meantime, I know you just got here, but are you in the mood for a party tonight?”

Now that sounds like the Minkyung she knows and loves. Yebin grins. “Hell yeah.”

#

Yebin is embarrassed to admit that she’s never been to a real party before – the kind that begins when the rest of the city has gone to sleep, the kind with strangers in a place she’s never been to.

All the ones she went to in high school had a sense of familiarity, whether it was the fact that it was at a classmate’s house or with people she saw everyday in class. That didn’t make them any less tame, no, Yebin’s been to many that ended with cops demanding the party to be shut down.

But this.