They ended up ordering pizza, despite Seungwan’s offer to cook for them.

‘‘You can show off your amazing cooking skills to Joohyun another day, let’s just go for the easy way tonight’’, said Seulgi decisively. Joohyun nodded slowly, taking her side. She would have felt guilty and a bit uncomfortable if Seungwan cooked for them, since they had only met a few hours ago. Besides, Joohyun could not help but feeling like she would have been rude, by taking advantage of her like that while she herself had barely spoken to the neighbour. Despite that, she was curious about how skilled Seungwan was at cooking, a question which Seulgi answered as if she had read her mind.

‘‘You really need to taste her cooking one of these days. It’s incredible. She makes the best Tteoguk, I swear! Trust me on this’’, Seulgi stated as she dreamt of a bowl of rice cake soup. Seungwan slapped her on her forearm.

‘‘Don’t put pressure on me like that!’’, she laughed. Her eyes ran from Seulgi to Joohyun, the oh-so-typical-Seungwan-smirk appearing on her face Joohyun gulped. She had already seen that facial expression several times today, but she felt like it would have an effect on her every time and forever. And it seemed like Seungwan was very much aware of that fact.

‘‘I would gladly cook for you one of these days’’, the emphasis she put on the word gladly, made Joohyun’s heart skip a beat. The thought of Seungwan cooking for her, and her only, had flustered her. And it also made her anxious, as she was not comfortable with social contact, especially when she was alone with someone she did not know well. Joohyun just never really knew what to say to keep the conversation going, so she would always wish for a friend to accompany her or her conversation partner to do all the talking.

Joohyun felt herself blush, and quickly rested her chin on her arms, which were crossed over her knees, hiding her cheeks and red evidence. She considered herself lucky that Seulgi never had caught these reactions from her. She was 100% sure that her best friend would have teased the living hell out of her. Having Seungwan like this, or at least she concluded that the girl did this on purpose, was already torture enough.

‘‘So, how long have you guys known each other?’’, Seungwan asked as she grabbed another piece of pizza.

‘‘We met during primary school. I was 10 years old and she was 12 years old.’’, Seulgi answered. Joohyun quickly exchanged looks with Seulgi, sending her a silent message, unnoticed by Seungwan who was observing the piece of mozzarella pizza in her hand before taking a bite. Primary school was not a time Joohyun liked remembering.

‘‘Wow, how did that happen?’’, Seungwan raised her brows. Seulgi tried moving on from the subject.

‘‘Sorry but it i-‘’

‘‘I was being bullied and Seulgi stood up for me’’, Joohyun interrupted, sounding monotone and deadly serious. She left out the details of the situation and prayed Seungwan would understand. The latter smiled softly.

‘‘Well good thing Seulgi was there. We all need a person like that in our lives, don’t we?’’, she responded and poked Seulgi in her shoulder, who lifted her arms, mimicking the Superman position. Joohyun let out a breath of relief she did not realize she was holding. She felt herself slowly heating up from embarrassment, as she thought about how snappy she had been, an opposite to her usual timid self. Had she been too rude? Did Seungwan dislike her now? Maybe she should have kept shut. Had she lost a potential new friendship again? How could she be so impulsive? Joohyun felt a knot in her stomach, as distressing feelings took over her. However, she had mastered the skill of concealing everything she felt and not showing any evidence on her face. It always worked. Seulgi was an exception, she knew her too well. Joohyun felt a hand carefully caressing hers. Her heartbeat was loud in her ears. This hand was not Seulgi’s. She looked up, meeting Seungwan’s eyes.

‘‘It’s fine, I understand it’s a sensitive topic. Don’t feel bad okay?’’, Seungwan’s gentle voice caught Joohyun off guard, for she could not get herself to reply, so she nodded.

Seungwan leaned back, and Joohyun felt her warmth fading away. But the heat within persevered. She made eye contact with Seulgi, trying to communicate without words, as they generally did whenever they were in the presence of someone else. However, her best friend did not show any expression of emotion, and just stared back. Unusual.

‘‘So, you guys have known each other for a very long time! I am guessing you two have got some crazy stories to tell!’’, Seungwan enthusiastically remarked. Seulgi’s eyes grew twice as big.

‘‘Oh god yes, in fact I got a good one!’’, she replied, a smirk plastered on her face. Seulgi turned her head towards Joohyun and wiggled her eyebrows. ‘‘Remember that time during middle school with Mrs. Park when I forgot to turn in that very important assignment?’’

Joohyun instantly smiled at the memory.

‘‘I used to have this habit of always missing the deadlines an-’’ Seulgi started, only to be interrupted by Joohyun’s cough.

‘‘You kind of still have that habit’’, Joohyun teased. Seulgi dramatically lifted her hand, her palm covering Joohyun’s face.

‘‘No interrupting, that is rude. Anyways, usually, I would escape the punishments just fine. This time however, we had a new strict teacher, Mrs. Park, and good lord what was she a ing pain in the ! And the most screwed up thing was, that this assignment was the most important one of the year. I just had to do something about it. So, I came up with the most brilliant plan!’’

‘‘You mean idiotic’’, Joohyun commented drily, resulting in a very amused Seungwan. Joohyun’s cheeks reddened at the thought of making her neighbour laugh like that. She could not lie, that she felt proud of that and the smile on her face was inevitable. Joohyun suddenly thought of Seungwan’s hand on hers and hid her cheeks and mouth behind her arms, that were resting on her folded knees.

‘‘I convinced Joohyun here to help me out.’’

‘‘You mean manipulate me with best friend excuses.’’

‘‘Shush! My plan was to sneak into the classroom and secretly put my assignment between the others on the table. However, there was one tiny little problem. The room was locked.

‘‘As all the rooms are when the teacher leaves.’’

Seulgi ignored Joohyun’s latest comment as she enthusiastically continued her story. ‘‘Good thing, I had spotted the amazing open window in the room,