Neglecting food to do other things is never Minkyung’s thing. Not rushing to finish her assignments and pretending they’re nowhere near the due dates are her passions. But here she finds herself sitting in agony, doing assignment after assignment on her laptop, and neglecting her plate of barely-eaten pasta which she is sure has turned cold.

Sure, she hates doing those things, but she hates failure more. She hates to disappoint herself, which is the reason why she’s willing to push aside her need for food to finish her assignments on time, if not, earlier than expected. Heard that for this time round, the earlier they send in their assignments, the more extra points they’d get. And Minkyung is all up for any offered opportunities – She kind of needs the bonus points.

Eyes scanning each word carefully, fingers typing delicately as she does. Only a paragraph left for this troublesome essay and she will finally get to rest.

Long slender fingers tap dancing across the keyboard, smashing keys after keys.

A bit more, she’s almost there.

The last seconds feel so intense she could practically hear the ticking seconds of the clock. She’s almost there. She takes a deep breath and roughly hits the last button to save her document.

Hallelujah. She lets out a strangled scream and spreads her arms wide, falling back against her apartment’s couch. The couch feels exceptionally soft today. It’s like she’s sleeping deep on a ball of fluff and honestly she could just take a really long nap right there, right at the moment.

Her thoughts get hazy, drifting off to somewhere, anywhere. How many hours of sleep did she manage to get last night? Four? Three? Ah…sounds like it’s raining. Did she leave the window opened? Guess she did. She feels a gust of cold wind hit her gently. She breathes in the smell of rain and thinks of a certain gummy smile. The visualization of that smile alone could leave Minkyung all warm on the inside.

Huh, even on the brink of falling asleep, she still thinks of that smile.

How great… She has fallen too deep.

 

––

 

Minkyung’s dreams had always been unfathomable. They were various kinds of not realistic things. But really, all dreams are unrealistic. Oftentimes, she would understand nothing. This time however, she has never been so sure her whole life. Kyungwon is beautiful, inside out. Kyungwon is lovely.

Kyungwon’s eyes in her dream are the exact same shade of brown as they are in the real word. Her eyes look alive, so lively.

Or is this the real word? Is she still in her dreamland? Is this the real world? She’s not sure anymore. Why is Kyungwon staring at her like this? She shows no gummy smile, but this kind of smile is also great, nothing less.

“Hey,” Kyungwon calls softly.

Minkyung stares for a bit and scans the place; scattered papers on the coffee table along with a black screen of her laptop, the clock’s minute hand and hour hand indicate that it is 8.35 p.m. That was a seven-hour long of a needed sleep.

Minkyung turns her attention back to her left. Kyungwon’s still staring at her. She is leaning sideways, elbow resting on top of the headrest, right palm supporting her head, and her eyes looking fixedly at her.

Minkyung dares herself to look her right in the eyes, giving back the same intensity, basking in the peaceful moment. She notices the dark blue knitted sweater on Kyungwon (she bought it for her last year) fits her just right.

Kyungwon beams, hand stretching out to pat Minkyung on the head. “You looked, surprisingly, harmless while you were sleeping,” Kyungwon utters, voice barely above a whisper as she threads her fingers through Minkyung’s disheveled hair.

Minkyung scoffs and closes her eyes. “I am never harmful, Kyungwon.”

The light massages against her scalp almost lull her back to sleep.

“I don’t think so?” Playful tone. Playful eyes. “You’re always so dangerous. You’re a danger.”

“How am I a danger?” Minkyung swiftly lifts her eyebrows.

“You are a danger to me, to my heart.”

Minkyung unconsciously smiles. She hums, “If that’s the case then I’m perfectly sure I’m doing a pretty good job.”

It’s Kyungwon’s turn to scoff. “God, remind me to never say those words again.”

Minkyung lets out a low chukle. Kyungwon is so amusing. “Well, I suggest you to not start it again if you can’t handle my greasiness.” I’m scared of my own uncontrollably beating heart.

Kyungwon smacks her thigh.

“Let’s eat. I bought pasta.”

Oh no. Pasta.

“I had taken care of your gross pasta. Next time make sure to finish your food before doing something.”

“Yes, mom.”

 

––

 

Minkyung keeps telling herself to just go for it. She needs to step up her game. She gotta do it right. But there’s no need for the rush. She doesn’t like rushing things.

Step by step, yeah.

She turns the knob and pushes the door slightly. She cranes her neck to look inside the room, spots her lying on her stomach, hands holding a book.

Minkyung steps inside and closes the door, her feet automatically bring herself to the bed and the next thing she knows, her body is already fully on the bed, lying comfortably.

Kyungwon doesn’t spare her a single glance. It is like she’s not aware of Minkyung’s sudden presence in her room.

Minkyung blows air in Kyungwon’s face.

Minkyung runs her finger tips up and down Kyungwon’s arm.

Minkyung sings loudly.

“Stop it,” Kyungwon simply commands without tearing her gaze away from the book.

Minkyung arches her left eyebrow, feeling irritated at the lack of attention. Can’t Kyungwon see that she is trying to be serious here? How interesting of a book it is that she can’t even bother to ask why Minkyung is inside her room, at one in the morning?

She peeks through Kyungwon’s shoulder, skims through a paragraph of familiar names and she gasps, “The Notebook?!”

The tone of disbelief successfully makes Kyungwon turn her head, “what?”

“It is so sappy! I can’t believe you.” Minkyung makes a face.

“Then don’t deal with me. I’m one crazy sappy woman, ” Kyungwon scowls and continues her read.

Minkyung stares into the distance.

Step by step, remember.

“Kyungwon-ah,”

Maybe it’s the serious yet tender tone, because Kyungwon finally looks at her in anticipation.

“Are you going back to Gwangju for Christmas?”

Minkyung silently prays that Kyungwon won’t be going anywhere.

“Christmas? Not sure. I still haven’t decided yet,” Kyungwon carefully says. “My mom and my dad are planning to go on a holiday trip for two weeks, but you know, I don’t really want to tag along because they’re so corny I couldn’t stand it.”

Minkyung smiles. Kyungwon’s parents were fun to be around with, until you felt so awkward you would wish to disappear because they would start giving small pecks to each other from time to time.

“So are you going or not?” Minkyung needs a definite answer. She thinks she will not be able to sleep if she doesn’t know whether her first step is a green light or a red light.

“What’s with me going or not going?” Kyungwon closes her book after putting a bookmark and turns her body to properly face Minkyung.

All right. First step. 

“If you don’t have any plans, do you perhaps want to come home with me?” Minkyung tries to make it sound like nothing. Though she herself fully knows that it is not nothing.

“Chuncheon?”

“Yeah.”

Minkyung searches for any change of expressions on Kyungwon’s face, looking expectantly for any sign of responses. Maybe this won’t do.

Minkyung starts thinking of another approach, maybe a better first step. She dislikes failure. Should she just tell her right now? It’s faster that wa–No. Baby steps! 

She keeps chanting baby steps to herself until she finds the corners of Kyungwon’s lips tug into a small smile.

“Of course. I’ve never been to Chuncheon, and I really want to meet your parents and your siblings,” Kyungwon answers excitedly.

Minkyung’s heart pounds so fast. Is she a fool if she says that she feels like she is on cloud nine? Damn Kyungwon.

“Great. That’s settled then.”

 

 

 

Minkyung still ends up having troubles sleeping even though she already got a green light from her first step. She feels like squealing. Her heart still skips a beat every time she thinks of the possibilities. She feels her insides scream pure love and adoration for the gummy smile, the lively dark brown eyes, the crinkles at the end of her eyes, the scrunches of her nose, the mochi cheeks, the stupid laugh, the w– Damn Kyungwon.

So sappy, Minkyung is.