They say ignorance is bliss.

So Yebin would rather not know about the small locked box she finds beneath Minkyung’s bed. Or the safe in her closet.

Not that it’s strange to secure valuables, but Minkyung’s always been a pretty open book, especially to Yebin. Her entire class in senior year and all her friends probably knew her locker combination. Yebin surely did.

Yebin would also rather not know about the prescription pills, saline bottles, and multiple sticks of Vicks vapor inhalers in the bathroom drawer.

Not that any of those are unusual things to have in a bathroom, but there’s a little too many of each considering only one person lives in the apartment.

Rather than thinking about the possibilities, Yebin dismisses them and returns to the living room. She isn’t supposed to be snooping around anyways; she just wanted to clean up the place while Minkyung was gone.

#

Minkyung comes back with a thick envelope and a bag of groceries.

“Sorry to keep you waiting. I thought I’d stopped by for some food on the way home.”

While she retreats to her room, Yebin takes the liberty of unpacking the groceries. 

“I hope you don’t mind that I cleaned up a bit,” Yebin says sheepishly when the older girl returns.

Minkyung grins. “So that’s what felt different. I saw that you made my bed. You probably think I live in a pig sty, don’t you?”

“No!” Yebin chuckles. “Not at all. It’s just like any other apartment of a college student. Nothing surprising or out of place.”

They exchange smiles and Minkyung’s is too warm and faultless for Yebin to suspect anything.

#

“Are you guys dating?”

“No!”

“You practically live together.”

“We don’t! I have a dorm room on campus. Minkyung just lets me come over a lot.”

Yebin sees Eunwoo smirk at her on the screen. It's just as irritating on the laptop as it is in real life. 

“Just ask her out again if you like her so much,” Siyeon chirps off-camera.

Yebin chews on her bottom lip. “I don’t know if she likes me like that.”

“Well you’ll never know if you don’t ask h–”

“Where is she? Let me see her!” Jieqiong interjects and suddenly pops into view, shoving Eunwoo aside. Pushing glasses up the bridge of her nose, she leans into the screen as if getting a closer look would make Minkyung appear.

“She’s in the bathroom taking a shower.”

Speak of the devil, the bathroom door opens not a second later and out steps Minkyung in nothing but a towel. Yebin swallows thickly.

“Let me get changed first!” she shouts before disappearing into her bedroom.

Unfortunately, Yebin had momentarily forgotten that she was on video call and her expression couldn't be missed by the prying eyes of the impudent trio on the other end of the call.

“Hey! Kang Yebin!”

“Did you just see her or something?”

“Stop ogling, ert!”

Her friends' unwelcomed remarks and roaring laughter from the laptop jerks her out of her daze. Yebin whines for them to stop with a sheepish pout. If she knew all they’d do is tease, she wouldn’t have agreed to a video call in the first place.

Eunwoo snickers. “If you stare that obviously, Minkyung would’ve surely noticed by now.”

Minkyung emerges from her bedroom, now fully dressed and not dripping wet much to Yebin’s relief. She can only send the three subtle warning glares when Minkyung plops down on the couch beside her.

“What are you guys laughing at?” Minkyung says with a chuckle.

“Eunwoo’s just being an idiot.” The screen turns abruptly to Siyeon’s wide grin. “Minkyung! We miss you sooo much!”

Eunwoo grabs the laptop so it's facing her again, ignoring Siyeon's childish groan in the background. “Minkyung, how have you been? Hey, treat Yebin to a date sometime, alright? She’s a girl with needs, if you know what I mean.”

Yebin winces. If only she could reach through the screen and stuff a sock into Eunwoo’s mouth. Maybe then she’d know how to shut her presumptuous trap every once in a while.

“Is that so?” Minkyung cheekily replies, catching a glimpse of the girl beside her with a subtly lifted eyebrow.

Under Minkyung’s glance and her friends’ teasing laughter, Yebin tries to keep herself from blushing.

She feels like she’s back in high school all over again.

#

Yebin doesn’t want to admit that she wants to thank Eunwoo, but well, she wants to thank Eunwoo. The girl is the living embodiment of arrogance and Yebin would rather not inflate her head any larger than it already is, but she’s got to hand it to her. Eunwoo knows when to flat-out shove wherever a push wouldn't have been enough.

Because Minkyung has indeed taken Yebin out to two dates – or at least, Yebin would like to think so. Minkyung never actually called them dates so Yebin didn’t dare utter the word once, but she’s satisfied interpreting them the way she wants to.

First, a picnic at the Han River (in which Yebin would argue is an ideal date place and come on, a picnic?) and another at a fishing reservoir (Kyungwon’s idea of a “fun hangout” in which her and Nayoung actually tagged along, but Yebin got to team up with Minkyung and that’s enough for her to declare it a double date).

Yebin gives optimism a try because if all their fleeting glances and exchanges of easy smiles mean anything, then she’ll eagerly jump on the chance for another shot at the possibility of them; Yebin & Minkyung, Minkyung & Yebin. Versus the world. 

#

“Ack, gross, that didn’t go down very well.”

Yebin slams the shot glass on the coffee table with unwavering conviction.

“Here’s to completing your first week of college.” Minkyung taps Yebin’s flushed cheek with the lip of a bottle before taking a swig.

“Are we gonna do this every week? I won’t mind. We can cheers to completing my seventeenth week of college and my twentieth, my thirtieth, my thirty-second…hell, we can celebrate everyday.”

When Minkyung had told her they had to celebrate, a rebellious part of Yebin wished they would go out and break into a store again.

But to the rest of her, a night of exultant drinking sounded a whole lot more ideal and realistic. Much to her relief and expectations, Minkyung is treating her to just that.

And the best part is that they’re not at a bar or at someone’s house surrounded by Minkyung’s college friends and strangers. They’re alone at Minkyung’s place, just the two of them with the much-needed alcohol and a greatest hits compilation of some singer from the 90s playing in the background like a soundtrack to a coming-of-age romance.

It’s everything Yebin had hoped for and more; an upgraded version of what they used to do in high school without all the tip-toeing, the stealing of alcohol from the wine cabinet of Minkyung’s dad, and Yebin’s parents calling her every thirty minutes to remind her of curfew. All the adolescent scheming that pale in comparison to the college life they've completely and utterly thrown themselves into. 

“Let’s do a love shot of champagne,” Minkyung suggests, handing Yebin a glass of clear golden liquid.

They hook arms and Yebin catches the twinkle in Minkyung’s eye under the dimmed lights. Her head feels faint and she knows she’s drunk even without the telltale sign of slurring in her words.

“Cheers.”

They clink glasses and a bit of champagne spills over the edge onto Yebin’s hand.

It would’ve gone ignored if not for something Minkyung does that completely jolts Yebin into sobriety if that was even possible.

Minkyung dips her head and kisses Yebin’s hand where the drops had landed, her lips moving across the skin where the champagne had trickled.

Yebin can’t bring herself to do anything but stare in awe.

She’s not sure if it’s all the alcohol she has consumed, but she’s suddenly overly aware of everything.

Yebin feels every hair on her arms stand in goosebumps; hears the beating of her heart suddenly amplify over the muffled sounds from the speakers; tastes the bitterness of the previous shot when she subconsciously runs a tongue over her lip; smells the scent of Minkyung’s lip gloss; sees the scarlet tint of her cheeks emanating heat.

Minkyung would never do this sober. Was it deliberate? Or is this a new drunken habit of hers? Catching spilled alcohol on people’s skin? Kissing hands?

Or kissing lips, apparently, when Yebin unexpectedly feels a pair of lips against hers and she’s so taken aback, that her head starts spinning faster than it already was.

Minkyung tastes of peaches and stars, fruity and intoxicating all at the same time.

And Yebin can’t tell if it’s the champagne or the gloss she’s tasting off her lips, but she finds herself savoring and kissing back naturally as if this was always meant to happen.

They move soft and slow, arms still hooked and champagne glasses still in hands. Yebin’s already too far off the deep end so she offers herself completely to Minkyung.

Because this is real and it’s happening and Yebin’s waited for this moment for far too long to ruin it with her carelessness.

The glass is taken out of her hand and she’s pushed to the carpeted floor before she could even react. They part for a breath and Yebin finally gets a chance to look at Minkyung. She finds a pair of dark obscure eyes staring back.

Yebin expected to see the cosmos, not an abyss.

But she gets lost in them anyways.

Her eyes flutter close at the feeling of soft lips ghosting over her jaw, sending a current running under her skin. A spark is ignited at the pit of her stomach when she feels Minkyung’s fingertips trace the waistband of her shorts.

Yebin lets her hands wander to Minkyung’s waist and under her shirt as she gives herself up in every way.

She holds on tight because if not, Yebin feels like Minkyung will slip right past her fingertips.

#

Yebin pinches herself just to mak