A/N: Hi y'all! Welcome to this rollercoaster ride of a story. *evil laugh* Just kidding. Anyway, I am shookt and grateful for the number of subscribers that we already have. Thank you all so much! :) The evidence that 16nators are deprived of content is so strong. LOL. Well, thank you for anticipating and I hope you all stick around. Enjoy the first chapter! Have a great week ahead! Please leave comments! And thank you again!

Word count: 3,430 words

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The water splashes around the bathroom sink, spilling to the sides, which is Nayoung’s cue to turn the knob a little to the right. She straightens up and sees her wet reflection on the mirror. She gives herself a few seconds before she dabs on her face with a towel, uses her free hand to wipe down the sink with a rag. When that was done, she wrestles her long hair into a high ponytail.

She’s just zipping up her tracksuit to her chin when her phone vibrates on the band in her left upper arm. Sighing, she presses the receiver on her Bluetooth headset.

“Nayoung-”

“I’m coming. I’m coming.” She cuts off the caller. “Jesus. I’m not even five minutes late yet.”

There’s a groan from the other end of the line and Nayoung can already picture the other girl rolling her eyes. “And I didn’t even say anything yet.”

“Whatever. I’m coming. Start stretching.”

Nayoung exits her apartment, takes the elevator down, and speed-walks to the park just across the street. She spots Kyungwon on the ground by their usual spot, reaching for her toes.

“Hey,” The younger girl greets her.

She only replies with a grunt as she places her water bottle down on the plant box, right next to Kyungwon’s. She starts stretching too, places her hands under her chin as she looks up at the still dark sky.

“Had a rough night?” Kyungwon asks, looks at her curiously from her spot on the floor.

“Not more than the usual, why?” She replies, now spinning her arms in a circular motion.

“I don’t know. You just… seem a bit grumpier than usual?”

“I am not,” Nayoung grunts, hearing her back pop as she continues stretching. “A morning person.”

Nayoung finishes stretching and starts to jog. Kyungwon matches her pace and they run in silence for the next five minutes. Nayoung focuses on her breathing and the music playing through her earphones at low volume but knowing Kyungwon (the girl can’t keep quiet for more than five minutes) she knows she won’t get to enjoy this for longer. And she’s right.

“Minky told me she’s trying to get you to meet someone. You up for it?” Kyungwon looks at her with both eyebrows raised.

“Eh.” Nayoung shrugs. “Where is she, anyway? Minkyung?”

Kyungwon lets out a ‘tch’ before she replies. “Sleeping in. You know she’s got someone to cuddle with in the morning.”

“And that gives her every reason to sleep in? That’s bull.” Nayoung spits the last word.

“No, unnie. That’s love.” Kyungwon says a matter-of-factly. “Back to my question, she’s trying to set you up with someone. Are you up for it? Why not?”

Nayoung spares Kyungwon a look, enough to show her the distaste in her face. “Because I don’t do that – date.”

“No, listen. I think I got this whole thing figured out.” Kyungwon says. “This girl she’s setting you up with is Yebin’s friend, correct? That means, Yebin was the one who talked her into getting you to meet with the girl.”

“Yeah, I figured out that much too. Where are you going with this, Sherlock?” She raises one eyebrow at her now, wary of what’s Kyungwon going to say next. She does have a tendency to make people uncomfortable with her conspiracies.

When Kyugwon finally answers, Nayoung wants nothing more than to sink in the ground. “Yebin wants you to find someone so she’ll feel secure of her relationship with MInky.”

“What?”

Kyungwon takes Nayoung’s incredulous reaction with innocence. “Because it’s you and you’re always around Minkyung and she feels threatened-”

“I have to be around her because we’re workmates. It’s not like I have a choice-”

“Which is exactly my point.” Kyungwon throws a finger in her direction, marking her said point.

Nayoung’s eye roll notches up to intensity 8. “I’m having second thoughts about running with you.”

“What? I’m just telling the truth! Nayoung unnie! Hey, wait!”

Nayoung presses forward, puts a couple hundred meters distance between herself and Kyungwon and her weird theories. She circles back to their plant box, marking her first lap. She slows down a little to check the time on her phone which allows a breathless Kyungwon to catch up with her.

“As I was saying,” Kyungwon starts off again, panting. The younger girl overtakes her a few steps so that she’s in front of her. “Yebin feels threatened with you… Only a blind person wouldn’t!”

“Well, she shouldn’t.” Nayoung narrows her eyes at her. “And I know she doesn’t, okay? Minkyung and I are just friends, you know that!” She takes off one earphone rather aggressively.

Of course, Kyungwon knows that. The three of them have been friends since university. But the look of feigned innocence on her face makes Nayoung want to drive her arguments home so she continues.

“And for goodness sake, they’ve been together for a year already! They’re in love and they trust each other so stop it with this garbage, Kyungwon.” She sharpens her tone at the end, clenches her jaw around the girl’s name.

“Aha! So, you do believe in that stuff?” Kyungwon says, eyes wide, looking like she just caught Nayoung.

Nayoung groans and throws her hands up in the air. “Can’t we just run in silence? Jesus Christ! Why do you have to be so crazy?”

“I’m not! I’m just saying maybe you should take up Minky’s offer.” Kyungwon raises her eyebrows at her again, gives her a knowing smile.

“Really? You could’ve just said that from the start!”

“You’ll just shoot me down the minute I say it. I have to exasperate you first and you know it.” They trade looks for a few seconds before Nayoung shakes her head at the younger girl.

“I’m never running with you again!” She yells as she pushes past her.

“But you will tomorrow and the day after that and the day after that because you’re never gonna get rid of me! Ever!” Kyungwon calls after her.

Nayoung curses under her breath because knows that Kyungwon’s telling the truth and she hates it.

&&

With only an hour left before she has to be at work, Nayoung hits the shower fast. She gets dressed quickly and checks her e-mails for a bit before she sets off to grab coffee and breakfast on the way to the science museum.

She walks to the employees’ entrance at the back and spots Seungcheol by the security panel, a box of supplies in his arms.

“Good morning,” He greets her. She nods in reply, presses her thumb in the scanner to clock in.

“How’s your exhibit coming?” He asks as they set off down the hall.

“It’s… coming. You know how Heehyun gets really aggressive at beating deadlines. I have to keep up or I’ll be the one that gets the beating.” Nayoung replies. Seungcheol thinks for a moment.

“I don’t think you would get beat up. I mean, Heehyun looks less violent these days. She’s chipper.” He says.

“She is?” Nayoung hasn’t noticed. She doesn’t have enough time to look at her colleagues to see what’s different and what’s the same with them so she changes the subject.  “Anyway, what about you? Are you in charge of doing the demos again?”

“Not really. I’m just covering for Jonghyun today.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Pressure.” He reaches into the box and pulls out a fountain bottle and a couple of blown up balloons to show her.

Nayoung smiles at him. “Alright, good luck, Seungcheol.”

She heads to the offices on the second floor. With every step, she goes through the list of things to do on her planner and item no. 1 is Get posters printed out before Heehyun arrives!!! But she’s barely reached her cubicle when Minkyung jumps in front of her, blocking her path with her long arms and long, self.

“Unnie-”

“Don’t start. Kyungwon’s already said enough.” She says, glares at the taller girl. Minkyung opens but she holds her hand up at her. “Minkyung, please. I have a lot of work to do. Now, shoo.”

A pout is sent her way but she doesn’t let it shake her. She gently pushes the younger girl aside so she can enter her cubicle. Minkyung makes sure she sees her walking away, looking dejected but it doesn’t matter, it doesn’t make her feel guilty. Nayoung knows the girl will probably come to bother her again later.

&&

Heehyun does look happier these days. Nayoung only notices it now as she watches her said colleague give out instructions to their assigned construction helpers (they’ve both done a handful of exhibits to know their way around but they still need help with setting up contraptions and such).

“-never mind with the painting. Nayoung can do that pretty well so just focus on putting up the panels. Right, Nayoung?” She’s smiley and friendly today which is unusual. She’s known to giving out orders in a dictatorial fashion.

“Yeah. That’s right, Mr. Song.” Nayoung catches herself, offers a polite smile to the head construction man. She turns quickly to Heehyun, gestures at the unrecognizable bits of spheres and cylinders on the floor. “Should I start with the serotonin?”

“Yeah, go ahead.” Heehyun says to her, sits next to her on the floor to work on the other molecular model – Oxytocin, Nayoung remembers.

“You look… happy. Did something happen?” Nayoung asks, genuinely curious. Heehyun looks up at her, trying to read her expression.

“I just am.” Heehyun replies. “There’s a lot of reason to be, you know?”

Nayoung frowns in concentration because she doesn’t know. She tries to remember if anything significant happened that she should know about. It can’t be work related. The boss announced a couple of weeks back that they’re on a tight budget since their funding is being limited thanks to some congressman. It can’t be related to graduate school either. Heehyun is in all of Nayoung’s master’s classes (they’re both taking Master’s in Science Communication) and things are looking pretty bothersome – their professor’s been hinting on getting them to publish another paper even though they’ve done the required publication already.

“Do you want to switch models? You look like you’re going to give yourself aneurism.” Heehyun’s voice brings her back to reality.

Nayoung blinks at her for a bit before she chuckles. “Nah. It’s not about this. I’m just wondering why you’re so happy.” Heehyun laughs, shakes her head good-naturedly.

“You’re always late with the news, aren't you?” Heehyun waves her right hand in the air once and Nayoung has to close her eyes over the glint of the silver ring on the other girl’s finger. It catches the light and twinkles brightly.

“You’re engaged?” Nayoung allows her jaw to drop because she did not see that one coming.

Heehyun nods. “I’ve been for a week now. Where’ve you been?”

“Around.” Nayoung mutters sheepishly. “I’ve only been paying attention to scrounging up enough materials for this project. With the budget cut and all.”

“Yeah? Can’t say I blame you.”

“But… congratulations, Heehyun. No matter how late it is.” She says.

“Yeah. Thanks, Nayoung. I appreciate it.” Heehyun gives her a genuine smile and Nayoung’s mind starts to wonder.

The two of them choose to work in silence for a bit, building their respective models. But after a while, Heehyun starts to talk again.

“I know you’re not into the whole dating thing now but maybe you should get back to it?”

Nayoung laughs. “Did Minkyung put you up to this?”

“No, nobody put me up to this. I just want to say this to you. As a friend.” Heehyun continues.

Nayoung feels disarmed for a moment but she catches herself. “No thanks. I still get enough serotonin and oxytocin from-”

“Casual ?” Heehyun supplies. “That’s not very healthy, Nayoung. And I’m not being judgmental here. This isn’t about STDs or morality.” She clarifies upon seeing Nayoung frown. “I’m worried about your feelings. Isn’t it exhausting?”

“Heehyun, you were a biochemistry major before you shifted. You know as much as I do that ‘love’ is just brought about by the chemical reactions in one’s head. A handful of serotonin and a dash of oxytocin. Throw in some dopamine and endorphins and – voila! – happily ever after.”

Heehyun shakes her head at her. “No, Nayoung. It’s more than that. It’s much more than that and you know it. Science can only explain a bit of what happens when one is in love. The rest is still unexplained. The rest still remains to be felt. You shouldn’t settle for alternatives and call it quits.”

Nayoung takes a deep breath. “Yeah, I, uh, appreciate your concern but I’m good.” She says in a what she hopes is a dismissive voice because it isn’t even lunch time yet but her day’s starting to feel really crappy already. Stupid hormone exhibit.

&&

Minkyung talked over lunch as Nayoung busied herself with her convenience store kimbap. And now it’s dinner time and she’s still talking. Nayoung can’t decide if she wants to eat her pasta quickly or if she wants to stuff it in Minkyung’s mouth to get her to shut up. Why did she agree to have dinner with her again?

“So, I’m saying it’s only going to be temporary. Yebin’s friend is just here for a summer internship. So, if you don’t like her, you won’t have to see her again. Like ever! Unnie, please?”

Nayoung stops twirling her fork, looks blankly at Minkyung. “Did you really not have anything to do with Heehyun giving me that talk?”

“Unnie, why would I? That’s all Heehyun unnie’s doing because she’s whipped. I’m not even responsible for what Kyungwon, that dumb pup, did. I swear.” Minkyung says, eyes burning intensely with something (determination? Nayoung’s not really sure). Still, Nayoung finds the urge to look away.

She chooses to drop her gaze to her plate and asks just to change the subject. “Aren’t you supposed to be with Yebin?”

“The kids have a rehearsal tonight. And I promised her that I would get your answer by tonight, too. So please, unnie, will you say yes? It’s just one date.” Minkyung begs, puppy eyes and all.

&&

Her apartment door closes behind her and she’s greeted by the silence like any other day. She stands under the light in the foyer, her eyes automatically drifting up the wall, to the half dozen picture frames there. She clears . This won’t do. She has to call her best friend tonight.

Nayoung pads through the dark apartment to her laptop on her desk which she always leaves on hibernate. She flicks the desk lamp on and wastes no time setting up skype. She finds the right contact and clicks the call button. She waits for the pickup but she doesn’t have to wait long.

“Heeeey,” The girl’s face fills up her screen, her voice fills the apartment with sound.

“Chungha, hey.” She greets back, feels her tiredness drain just a little.

“I wasn’t expecting you to videocall until later.” She can see Chungha rest her elbows on her desk, getting comfy so she leans back on her chair. “I thought you’d be at the bar or wherever it is you go to.”

“Nah, not tonight.” Nayoung says with a shake of her head.

“Bad day? Work too hard?”

“Just busier than usual. That and Kyungwon’s up to her old tricks. Minkyung still won’t stop bugging me about that blind date. Heehyun actually added up to it too.” Nayoung recounts, pouts a little. Chungha only looks back at her curiously.

“Heehyun? Heehyun two doors down from college? That Heehyun?”

“Yeah, I thought I told you she’s at the museum with me and Minkyung. I didn’t?”

“Must’ve slipped my mind.” Chungha shrugs. “What’d she do?”

“She advised me to start dating again because I missed out on her engagement news.” She deadpans.

“Ooh, engaged! Good for her!” The other girl exclaims, excited. She calms herself a little, seeing the look on Nayoung’s face. “Well, what did you think of it?”

“Think of it? I was annoyed!” She throws her hands up in the air to express her irritation.

“But did you think about it?”

“Well, I can’t help but to. I feel like everyone’s conspiring to get me to do that. Go on dates. Fall in love. That kind of bull. No offense.” She adds the last part, fears that she’s been too insensitive.

“None taken.” Chungha replies. She pauses, thinks hard. “But… what if this is it? What if this is a sign? What if it’s really time?”

“Chung-Ha-Ya,” Nayoung enunciates each syllable of her name as a warning.

“Na-Young-Ie,” And Chungha does the same. “I’d like to ask you a question.”

“What is it?”

“Why not?” Chungha looks through the screen, gives her a wide-eyed gaze, much like Kyungwon’s look of ‘innocence’.

Nayoung sighs, lets her shoulders drop. “Because you very well know what happened before. I just can’t allow myself to let it happen again.”

“But it won’t.” Chungha says, sounding very sure.

“How do you know that? You don’t know that.” Nayoung shakes her head in disbelief.

“Then, do you? You don’t know that either. And we won’t know until you try.” Her voice becomes gentle. She brings her face closer to the screen as if wanting to touch Nayoung to pat her hand or give her a hug.

“I just don’t want things to turn to again.” Nayoung admits.

“I know you don’t. I don’t want that for you either. But I really don’t want to keep seeing you like this.”

“Like what?”

“Like you’re not living.”

“But I am living.” Nayoung pinches her own cheeks to prove that she’s made of flesh. “See?”

Chungha gives her a blank stare. “You know that’s not what I meant. And what you’re doing isn’t it either, Nayoungie. If you really think it is, tell me then, are you happy? Do you really think you’ll be happy this way?”

Nayoung frowns. “I don’t really believe-”

Chungha doesn’t let her finish. “I know but put that aside for a moment. All of your science theories or whatever and just think about this. Are you happy? Yes or no?”

Nayoung blinks. The silence that follows seems far too long that Nayoung wonders if Chungha is still waiting for her answer. When Chungha raises an eyebrow at her, she chooses to be honest. It’s Chungha after all.

“No, not really.”

“There you have it.” Chungha claps her hands together once. “I think that’s enough reason to give it a try.”

Nayoung takes a deep breath, lets her friend’s words mull in her head for a few moments. “Just once, okay?” She asks, feeling resigned.

“Okay,” Chungha looks over her shoulder. Nayoung can see her eyes light up a little even through the computer screen.  “I have to go now. Sejeong just came in. For now, sleep on it. Tomorrow, if you still feel like you shouldn’t do this, tell Minkyung to buzz off.”

“Okay.” Nayoung mumbles. “Tell Sejeong I said hi. And good night, Chungha.”

And so, she thinks it through that night.

She had hoped that Chungha would be on her side. A small part of her feels betrayed but a larger part feels confused. Why does everyone think that she should do this dating thing? Is it because they’re all into it? But Kyungwon isn’t dating anyone. And they all spoke out of concern, apart from Minkyung who’s doing it more for Yebin than for her (how dare that hypocrite call Heehyun whipped?). Should she really do this? Chungha’s already made a point that not doing it doesn’t make her happy. But would doing it make things different? Will this make her happy?

Daybreak comes and Nayoung finds herself in the bathroom again, washing her face in front of the mirror just like she did yesterday. And the day before that. And the day before that. Which gets her to think.

Oh, it.

Nayoung strides to the bedroom to retrieve her phone. She’s very well aware that it’s 5:30 in the morning and the younger girl is probably in deep sleep but she doesn’t care anymore.

“H…hello?”

“You said that it’s just going to be one date?” She waits for a more coherent answer. “This girl’s only going to be in Seoul for the summer? Are you sure?” When Minkyung says yes, Nayoung takes a deep breath.

When she exhales she finally makes her decision, “Okay,”

“Okay?” comes Minkyung’s surprised reply.

“Okay.” She says more definitively.

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A/N: So I said in the foreword that it's napink x science. I don't know what you were expecting but it's going to be something like this. Just small tidbits and trivias in the chapters. I obviously won't be going all technical since it could ruin the flow or it could dilute what I'm trying to put emphasis in. So that's that. Thanks for reading! I would appreciate your feedback :)