Seulgi inhales slowly, paying attention to her breathing, trying to keep it steady and even.

 

One, two, three. One, two, three.

 

She extends her left hand, pulling the bowstring with her right hand in one swift move, bringing the string to sit just against the side of her face.

 

The arrow points forward, perfectly aligned.

 

If she shoots now, she can get a good six.

 

If she waits a good three seconds, follows her breathing, she can get her ninety-sixth ten pointer in a row if she added all the ones she’s gotten from the other days she’s been here.

 

Which one does she go for?

 

The ten, of course.

 

One, two, three.

 

Shoot.

 

She lets go of the string, feeling it brush against her cheek before it shoots the arrow perfectly and watches it hit the target board for—

 

Boom, solid ten.

 

The arrow impales just right on the line of the ten-point margin and Seulgi blows her black bangs out of her face, something she does whenever she scores a ten.

 

She’s getting ready for one more arrow when she catches a glimpse of an arrow hitting the one point margin for the sixth time.

 

In fact, Seulgi has been watching whoever has been shooting those from the other side of the archery range for a while. Mostly do to the arrows being shot in a very awkward way that no wonder whoever is shooting them keeps getting only one point.

 

Seulgi takes a moment to look at the time on her phone. 3:47 PM, she should get home soon, she has a lot to do with the dance competition she’ll be participating in soon. But archery, oddly, helps relieve her stress. It’s accelerating, going for the shot and watching the arrow hit the rather board with ease, easily scoring a ten.

 

If only she could easily score as good as she does in archery as she does in college.

 

Seulgi sighs, setting down the bow to take off the quiver around her waist. She takes a moment to glance back at the board that has only scored ones, seeing that the archer shoot another one and... 

 

Point: one

 

A laugh leaves , not a mocking laugh but more of an 'I can’t believe this' laugh. After taking the quiver off her waist, she heads for putting the bow and quiver away when she sees that the archer has shot another bow. This time, they score a two.

 

There’s a loud squeal that sounds like victory and Seulgi tilts her head. Two isn’t the best of numbers to get, but whoever shot that acts like they just shot the best score in the Olympics.

 

The brunette heads for putting the equipment away when she finally gets to see who has been shooting the arrows that have only scored ones— well, scored a lot of ones, zeros and a single two.

 

The archer is a cute girl (that’s the first thing Seulgi notices? Out of all the things) with long, purple dyed hair in a ponytail, bangs sitting perfectly on her forehead. Seulgi watches as the cute girl goes to pose for another shot, and Seulgi is surprised at how perfect she looks with her stance. Perfect stance while completely focused, and the arrow points perfectly at the target board. But there is one thing Seulgi catches that is the main reason the girl doesn’t get a better score.

 

Her breathing. It’s uneven. Seulgi can count it.

 

One, two, three, four— shoot.

 

Point: zero.

 

“You should focus on your breathing,” Seulgi suddenly says, not sure why she does. Maybe she doesn't like watching someone with a perfect posture get just low points.

 

(Or maybe she just wanted to talk to the girl.

 

Maybe it is both.)

 

The girl looks at her, tilting her head as if asking if she was talking to her.

 

Seulgi blinks, taking her own bow and taking a spot next to the girls.

 

“Um, you should focus on your breathing. It can help—yours is uneven. After three breaths, try to  shoot when you are exhaling the third breath. That's how I do it,” Seulgi hastily explains, using her own bow as an example, getting into position with an arrow in hand. One, two, three— and she shoots.

 

Point: ten.

 

The girl next to here awes like she’s just seen a magic trick, and that suddenly makes Seulgi feel really proud of herself for impressing the other girl.

 

“You’re good,” the girl finally speaks up, her voice a little husky for a small girl like herself.

 

(But Seulgi likes it so she definitely does not mind)

 

“Thanks,” Seulgi replies, eyeing the bow in the girl’s hand. “You try.”

 

And so she does, gets in position - can someone look this good getting ready to shoot an arrow? - with Seulgi watching her chest breath.

 

One, two, three— shoot.

 

Point: seven.

 

The purple haired girl looks at awe at her one score, then looks at Seulgi with a large grin on her face that makes her feel like she just struck a perfect ten in human form, with a dimple under her right cheek that makes her heart stutter like when an arrow hits the target board.

 

“I actually got a good score for once, thanks…?” The girl seems to want Seulgi’s name, so she doesn’t hesitate to give it to her.

 

“Seulgi. Kang Seulgi.”

 

The girl smiles again and that dimple, oh no—

 

“Son Seungwan.”

 

Seungwan.

 

A name you should keep in mind, Miss Seulgi.

 

“Nice to meet you, Seungwan.” Seulgi goes for a handshake and the girl - Seungwan - follows her lead.

 

“Likewise,” she says, shaking her hand and wow, is her hand soft.

 

Stop it, Seulgi. Don’t be so weird.

 

Seungwan lets go of her hand, looks down at her bow before looking back at Seulgi.

 

“This may be sudden but, would you mind me treating you to something to eat as my way of thanking you for helping me?”

 

Seulgi blinks for a moment. Seungwan panics.

 

“I know it might be weird—you know, it’s the only way I can think of thanking you—if you don’t want to that’s fine,” Seungwan’s words spill out in stutters and her hand gestures seem foreign with how they move, kind of like a cartoon character.

 

How cute.

 

“I’d love to,” Seulgi replies because she really is.

 

Seungwan widens her eyes, before forms into a tilted grin, that dimple showing more than before.

 

“So, you ever been to the cafe not too far from here?”

.

.

.

After the two put up their equipment and leave the archery range, Seungwan shows Seulgi to a cafe not too far from it. Seulgi has never been here, but she regrets not finding this place sooner with how beautiful it is inside.

 

“Here, take a seat. I’ll get you my thank you treat.” Seungwan gives her a small smile before going up to the front counter and ordering for two.

 

Seulgi takes the moment to check her time. 4:01 PM, she should get home by five if she wants to wake up early tomorrow.

 

Seungwan comes back quickly with two drinks in hand. One a coffee and the other a tea.

 

“I got you a tea, because of not many people like coffee even when they come to cafés. And you just look like a girl who likes tea. Hope you don’t mind.”

 

Seulgi doesn’t hate coffee, but she wouldn’t say she likes it. In fact, tea is better. To her, that is.

 

“I don’t mind, thank you.” Seulgi takes her tea, quickly taking a sip and moans at how good it tastes.

 

Seungwan chuckles. “That good?”

 

Seulgi feels a blush paint her cheeks. “Yeah, it’s, uh, really good.”

 

“Are you a college student?”

 

Seulgi notices the small talk Seungwan wants to have.

 

“Yeah, I take it you are too?”

 

Wendy nods. “I’m a psychology major.”

 

“You want to become a psychologist?”

 

“I wish to, but I have a long way to go,” Wendy takes a making to drink her coffee. “What’s yours?”

 

Seulgi suddenly feels embarrassed of her own major.

 

“Dance major,” she mutters. “It might not be as big as yours.”

 

Wendy shakes her head. “Don’t think that. Every major has its own abilities. To compare it to another major isn’t something you can really do when they're both completely different. Yours is perfect on its own.”

 

The brunette notes that, drinking her tea in a moment of silence. They talk for a little longer, the time passing by too quickly to Seulgi's liking.

 

Wendy suddenly looks at her phone. “Oh, I have to get going. I have a final coming up and I need to get ready. Sorry, we couldn’t get to know more about each other.”

 

Seulgi shakes her head, trying to hide that she doesn’t wanna the other girl to leave yet. “That’s okay, I should get home too, my roommate is probably worried.”

 

“Then we should both get home quickly. It was nice meeting you Seulgi, maybe you can help me with archery again the next time I see you.”

 

Seulgi likes the sound of that.

.

.

.

It’s been two weeks since Seulgi has first met Seungwan and since then, they exchanged phone numbers, gone on dates—hanged out together, and introduced themselves to their own group of friends.

 

And for these two weeks, they’ve opened up. Seulgi now knows that Seungwan has an English name Wendy and likes to be called that instead. She lived in Canada some of her life which is why she speaks fluent English (which sounds really attractive by the way). She also knows that Seungwan can sing. Like, really sing. It was when they were meeting up to go watch a movie, seeing Seungwan jamming out to a song with her earphones in, singing along perfectly to the lyrics.

 

There’s other stuff too like all the little questions had about her that Seulgi wanted to know. What’s her favorite color? Her favorite artist? How many instruments can she play because apparently, she can play a few? What does she like doing in her free time?

 

(Is that order: blue; a British singer named Jessie J; piano, guitar, flute, and saxophone; she likes cooking)

 

For these two weeks also, Seulgi has fallen in love with a girl who is multi-talented, looks beautiful when she laughs, has a dimple under her right cheek that makes her chest jitter, and who has eyes that hold millions of galaxies in them.

 

But she still isn’t good at archery, though.

 

Seulgi has been teaching Wendy archery, mostly due to the other girl saying she can be good at it. So Seulgi took the days she has off to come to the archery range and help her score a ten.

 

Sadly, today, she seems to have lost her motivation when all she is hitting is, again, only ones and zeros

 

“I really at this,” Wendy mumbles.

 

Seulgi frowns, putting her hand on Wendy’s shoulder. “Come on, you can do it.”

 

“I could if I had motivation but just simple words might not help.”

 

“I’m being encouraging.”

 

“Encouraging isn’t all just words, Seulgi.”

 

Seulgi groans, then an idea comes to mind.

 

“If you can get a perfect ten in one try, I’ll take you to that new amusement park.”

 

Wendy’s eyes seem to sparkles. “Really?”

 

“Yes, really.”

 

Wendy looks at the target board then back at Seulgi.

 

“Can I add something to it?”

 

“Sure, I guess. Go ahead.”

 

“Make it a date. A real date.”

 

Seulgi coughs on air. “What?”

 

“Make it a date,” Wendy repeats. “Meaning, we go and act like a couple. It’ll be fun.”

 

For you, but for her— she might combust.

 

Seulgi gulps. “Alright. I’ll make it a date.”

 

Wendy pumps her chest in victory, goes back into position and ready herself for the shot.

 

One, two, three, shoot.

 

Point: perfect ten.

 

Wendy looks back at Seulgi with the smuggest smile she’s ever given her.

 

“Shall we get ready for our date, my love?”

 

Seulgi’s doomed.

.

.

.

Remember when Seulgi said she was doomed?

 

She wasn’t joking.

 

Because Wendy is actually treating this like a date.

 

She dressed up nicely. Skinny jeans, a way too attractive leather jacket around her torso and her purple hair straightened perfectly.

 

(Hopefully, that was the only straight thing about her)

 

She linked arms, gave flirty touches, fed her cotton candy, called her babe more than once and that is not fair—

 

She even wiped a piece of ice cream from the side of her lip with her finger and it off like it was normal.

 

That was when Seulgi was ready to combust.

 

She’s so, so doomed.

 

“You look like you just saw a murder.”

 

“I wish I did instead of this.”

 

Wendy only chuckles, takes a hold of Seulgi’s hand, intertwining their fingers.

 

Soft, slender, warm.

 

“Come on, let's go relax for a bit.”

 

Seulgi follows, her attention on the owner of the hand holding hers.

 

They take a seat on a bench where it’s cut off from the crowd of adults and children in the amusement park.

 

Wendy looks at Seulgi with a smug smile that makes Seulgi want to pinch her cheeks to get rid of it.

 

“Seulgi, do you like me?”

 

—too sudden.

 

“What?”

 

“Do you, Kang Seulgi, like me, Son Seungwan?”

 

Seulgi blushes red and is thankful that the night sky hides most of it.

 

“I—well, I do like you but what way do you mean by like?”

 

“The, ‘I look at you during our archery lessons like I want to kiss you senseless because you’re absolutely beautiful’ type of like that you give me.”

 

Seulgi huffs. “You are so full of yourself. Where is that confidence from?”

 

Wendy frowns. “So you don’t find me beautiful? I guess I read it wrong, I’m sorry…” She pouts as she looks down at her hands.

 

She is not playing fair.

 

“Nonono, you’re beautiful, really beautiful. Have you seen yourself in the mirror because wow you are so beautiful and funny and your smile makes me want to squish your cheeks because you look so soft—”

 

“You can if you want.”

 

“I can what?”

 

“Squish my cheek, they are soft.”

 

“I—Really?”

 

“Mmm-hmm, go ahead.” Wendy scoots closer, moving her head for Seulgi’s hands.

 

What kind of girl lets you just touch her cheeks? Apparently this one.

 

Seulgi lifts her hands, takes her time to touch Wendy and when she does oh—yeah, she wasn’t lying.

 

“Awe, they’re so soft. God, I might die from how cute you are.” Seulgi rubs her thumbs on Wendy’s cheeks, and watches as Wendy opens her eyes - she closed them for some reason - and looks at her, her brown orbs painting the moon from above in them.

 

Seulgi gulps, her heart beating like the first time she got a perfect ten when she first went to the archery range. She doesn’t take her hands away and instead, she leans in, wanting to feel lips now rather than soft cheeks.

 

She hesitates when Wendy moves her head, but she finds her to tilt it for room for her to kiss her.

 

And she does, tastes softness instead of feeling it and she thinks this is what a real perfect ten is like.

 

After what seemed like too long - but that’s fine with Seulgi because she got lost in vanilla tasting lips - they both pull away, Seulgi’s hands still on Wendy’s cheeks, both girls clearly out of breath.

 

One, two, three.

 

“Took you long enough,” Wendy chuckles, her lips.

 

“Huh?” Seulgi isn’t really paying attention because she actually got to kiss the girl she wanted to for awhile.

 

“You think I just wanted to make this a date for fun?”

 

Seulgi furrows her eyebrows. “You didn’t?”

 

“No,” Wendy shakes her head. “I did it because I like you too, except I was better at keeping it hidden while you were see through.”

 

“You like me?”

 

“Yes, Seulgi,” Wendy answers, bringing her hand to hold one of Seulgi’s hand that is still on her cheek. “I have for a while and still do.”

 

Seulgi stares at Wendy, seeing the sincerity in her eyes, her voice, her cheeky grin.

 

Maybe she isn’t doomed after all.

 

“Wow, okay,” Seulgi lets go of Wendy's cheeks. “Well I, um, I like you too. A lot.”

 

“Yeah, I know. I’m irresistible and great at everything.”

 

“Except for archery.”

 

“I might at archery, yes, but I shot a perfect arrow into your heart.” Wendy mocks a bow and shoots at the other girl a finger heart.

 

“Never say that again.” Seulgi cringes.

 

“But it was a good one.”

 

“God, why do I love you?”

 

“We’ve upgraded to love? Already? You like taking it fast.”

 

“I will shoot you with an actual arrow if you are this cheesy during our relationship.”

 

“You’re mean.” Wendy pouts. But then she smiles, looks at Seulgi with a crooked grin.

 

“What?” She asks, averting her eyes to the amusement park rides in the distance.

 

Wendy suddenly cups her cheeks and brings her into a kiss, a lingering kiss that stains her lips with vanilla.

 

She pulls away, looking at Seulgi with what could be called as love.

 

“I just wanted to kiss you again.”

 

One, two, three.

 

Bullseye.