The doorbell rang and Jeongyeon ran to answer it. "Hi, guys! Glad you could make it!"

Sana stepped through the doorway, "Of course, we made it, silly! You threw this party for my birthday, remember?"

"Oh, right." Jeongyeon blushed.

"Hey, guys." Nayeon gave a nonchalant wave from the living room couch.

"Hi, Nayeon! Hi, Jihyo!" Momo rushed in, kicking her boots off, eager to escape the cold.

Jihyo offered a quick greeting from the ottoman next to the couch when her eyes landed on Ketchup Keychain Girl (Nayeon always kept her in the loop) tentatively stepping into the house, picking up Momo's haphazard shoes.

After neatly lining the shoes up by the door, Mina began to remove her own snow boots when a pair of grey socks stepped into view.

"You must be Mina!"

Mina's eyes trailed up from the socks to the connecting legs to the oversized hoodie until they landed on a smiling face.

"Hi, nice to meet you! I'm Jeongyeon!" The blonde held out her hand.

Mina's heart rate quickened from the sudden greeting; she instinctively looked to Sana for help. Sana recognized the alarm in Mina’s eyes and smiled gently in return, calming her almost instantly. If Mina could count on anything to calm her down, it was Sana’s smile. The older girl then motioned for her to take a deep breath and nodded her head in encouragement.

Mina followed her directions and took a calming breath, a faint determination glowing in her eyes.

"H-hi, thanks for inviting me," she responded softly and took Jeongyeon's hand. Sana gave a thumbs up.

"We've heard a lot of things about you from Sana and Momo," Jeongyeon helped her to her feet.

"Oh." Mina looked to the other side of the room at Momo, who raised an eyebrow to gesture her to try to keep the conversation going. "Good things, I hope."

Jeongyeon chuckled, "Of course. They were all good things."

Sana moved to sling an arm around Mina's neck, "We love our Minari! Why would we ever say anything bad?"

"There's nothing even bad to say," Momo stated, a sincere look in her eye.

"Shut up,” Mina mumbled, letting her gaze fall to the ground shyly.

"Aw, Mina," Sana pulled her in for a kiss on the cheek. Mina immediately pulled away and rubbed her cheek with a pout as the older girl attempted to nuzzle closer.

Jihyo watched Momo shake her head with a smile and walk over to join Nayeon on the couch. When she returned her attention to the entryway, she noticed Jeongyeon's initial bright smile starting to fade away.

"Uh-oh, I know that look." She sprang off the ottoman and rushed to join them by the door.

"Hi, Mina! I'm Jihyo!" Jihyo slid across the tile floors. "Ah, those must be the famous cookies Momo and Sana were gushing over! Why don't we go find a plate for them in the kitchen, eh, Jeongyeon?" Jihyo snatched the container from Mina, shoved it into Jeongyeon's hands, and literally pushed the taller girl down the hall. "You two go ahead and make yourselves comfortable in the living room with Nayeon and Momo. We'll be right out!" She called out behind her.

~

Inside the kitchen, Jeongyeon got a serving plate down from the cabinet as per Jihyo’s abrupt suggestion out in the hallway.

"So, Mina seems cool, right?" Jihyo asked, trying to keep her tone aloof as she popped the lid off the tupperware.

"We literally just met her," Jeongyeon focused on transferring the cookies to the plate.

Jihyo busied her hands. "But I mean she, like, doesn't seem like a bad person."

"I guess," Jeongyeon trailed off, thinking. What was Jihyo trying to get at, rushing her in here and questioning her about Ketchup Keychain Girl?

"Jeongyeon," Jihyo turned to face her fully, "they're just friends."

"What are you even talking about right now?" Jeongyeon kept her eyes on what she was doing.

"So, she's gonna play it that way, huh?" Jihyo huffed.

"Hey," she halted Jeongyeon's hands with her own, "I know."

The taller girl looked over, curious as to what she had to say, "You know what?"

"I know about you and Sana."

Jeongyeon's heart dropped. She wasn’t quite sure what she was expecting the brunette to say but it certainly wasn't that.

"What about me and Sana?" Jeongyeon returned her attention to the cookies, picking them up with shaky hands and clumsily dropping them on the plate.

Jihyo paused to examine her friend's current state. Jeongyeon's ears had turned a light shade of pink and her hands moved awkwardly as she snapped the lid back onto the now empty container.

"That you like her." Jihyo started slowly, gauging her reaction.

Jeongyeon's eyes widened in panic and she nervously laughed, "What?"

"You've been acting different ever since we first met her and Momo back in September." Jihyo pushed a little further.

"I don't like Sana," Jeongyeon forced a scoff.

"Oh, really?" The dark haired girl raised an eyebrow, “Then what was with that look out there?”

"What look?"

"Come on," Jihyo was starting to get frustrated. She knew Jeongyeon was hardheaded but wasn’t this a little too much?

Jeongyeon threw her hands up and shook her head, "What look, Jihyo?"

"Seriously?" Jihyo raised her eyebrows even further, a wrinkle creasing her forehead.

Jeongyeon shrugged.

"That's it." Jihyo was done tiptoeing around the subject.

"I saw the way you were looking at Sana when she was hugging that Ketchup Keychain Girl!" Stunned at her own outburst, Jihyo searched Jeongyeon's face for any sign of retaliation but it was blank.

They stood in uncomfortable silence until Jeongyeon clicked her tongue, "Okay, fine. You caught me. So what if I do like her?"

"N-nothing!” The sudden honesty took Jihyo by surprise, she didn’t know how to respond to such a blatant question.

There was another awkward pause when Jeongyeon had a sudden realization, “Does Nayeon know too?”

Jihyo remained silent and averted her eyes away sheepishly.

She and Nayeon had always speculated the idea on their walks home. (Actually, now that Jihyo thought about it, Nayeon had started to act a little strangely whenever the subject came up.)

“Am I that obvious?” Jeongyeon groaned.

The shorter girl patted her friend on the shoulder, “Just a little.”

Jeongyeon banged her forehead down on the countertop.

“Don’t worry!” Jihyo urged, “We don’t think Momo and Sana have caught on.”

“Which is hard to believe with the way you just stare at her.”

“They haven’t?” Jeongyeon lifted her head.

“I don’t think so,” Jihyo reassured her. “Which means you shouldn’t let your feelings get in the way of judging Mina. They might get the wrong impression.”

“They won’t, they’re not.”

The younger girl narrowed her eyes, “We literally just talked about the way you looked at them when they were hugging.”

Jeongyeon squinted back.

“They're just friends." Jihyo enunciated.

"Ughhh, I know you're right but still," Jeongyeon started to play with her hands, "It's just kinda hard not to get jealous."

Jihyo watched her fidget. "You must really like her."

They locked eyes before Jeongyeon looked away, nodding, the corners of pulling up at a slight angle.

"Jeong! I've never seen you like this before!" Jihyo reached up to ruffle her blonde locks.

Whining, Jeongyeon swatted her hand away.

"I know!" Jihyo removed her hand from Jeongyeon's head to firmly grip her shoulder. " Since they're such good friends, why don't you try to get to know Mina better? Maybe if Sana sees how enthusiastic you are about getting to know her, she'll like you more!"

"Oh my god, Jihyo, that actually might work. You're a genius!" Jeongyeon hugged her.

"I have my moments." Jihyo pulled away and flipped her hair. "Now let's go out there and get to know this Ketchup Keychain Girl."

~

"Aaand we're back!" Jeongyeon announced as she and Jihyo made their way into the living room. She plopped down in the empty spot on the ground next to Sana.

“Finally!” Momo and Sana pounced on the plate of cookies as soon as Jeongyeon set it down on the coffee table.

Jihyo walked around the commotion to assume her spot on the ottoman, next to the end of the couch where Mina was sitting. “So, what were you guys up to?”

“Jush introdushing Minga an Nayeong,” Momo said through a mouthful of cookies.

“Yeah, it lasted for like a second before they started obsessing over those cookies,” Nayeon poked Momo’s cheek.

Momo finished chewing and gulped audibly, “How can we not? These cookies are the best cookies I’ve ever had in my entire life. They're amazing.” She swiped two more with both hands.

“I don’t know about amazing...” Mina’s quiet voice came from the end of the couch.

“Oh, don’t be so modest, Mina. They are amazing.” Sana was still nibbling on her first cookie (or really her third if she was counting all the ones she and Momo split before) when she began to reach for another.

“Speaking of introductions before obsessive cookie talk, sorry about the quick one out there before disappearing into the kitchen. Allow me to reintroduce myself: I’m Jihyo.” The brunette beamed and extended her hand towards the couch.

Mina shifted toward the ottoman and was immediately drawn in by Jihyo’s round eyes. There was something about them, something warm, something safe. She couldn’t help but smile back. She didn’t know why but Jihyo didn’t make her as nervous as most people would.

Her eyes softened as she shook her hand, “Nice to meet you, Jihyo. I’m Mina.”

“So pretty...” Jihyo stared. Realizing she was still holding Mina’s hand, she broke out of her trance.

“Okay, now that all the introductions are out of the way, we may continue on with the obsessive cookie talk.” She leaned over to grab a cookie off the plate. “Let’s see what all the fuss is about.”

“Wait!” Jeongyeon threw her hand up.

Jihyo almost dropped her cookie at the sudden exclamation, “What?”

“Let’s take the first bite at the same time.” The blonde suggested.

“Good idea!” Sana clapped her hands in excitement.

“We should g