A/N - Yoyo!….never saying that again. So I’ve chosen to make this a Tzuyu one-shot book, so PLEASE LEAVE PROMPTS! Need to have a plot idea not just a ship. Any ship and any plot . So this one is a ChaeYu and the next will be MoTzu/TzuMo one-shot because for some reason I’ve begun to slowly fall in love with the ship. They’re just so adorable and squishy! I don’t have a plot for the MoTzu one set in stone yet so any ideas are welcome.

 

IF YOU WANT TO SEE THIS SORT OF BOOK DONE CORRECTLY READ: “THE SAVAGE-INNOCENT-GIANT-MAKNAE OF TWICE” BY TZUDAENG IT’S PROBABLY MY FAVORITE BOOK ON THIS SITE.

 

The Painter and the Pauper (Chaeyu)

 

Chaeyoung had never had want for anything.

 

Paint supplies she got, art lessons she got, latest games systems, books, technology, everything. Basically she had never known what it was like to go without. She went to the best private school in Seoul and her group of friends were some of the most popular students as most of them were cheerleaders and Jihyo was the school council president. Chaeyoung’s life was easy, she lived a life of luxury and never really understood those who didn’t. She had never left the community she was raised in, only ever frequenting expensive boutiques and five star restaurants. She never really understood why people wouldn’t work as hard as her parents did to achieve the same results. Jihyo had tried explaining it to her once, about how some families simply couldn’t work or get high paying jobs, but Nayeon quickly shut her down.

 

They knew Jihyo didn’t always have money but her parents had worked their way from poverty to riches so Chaeyoung felt she confirmed her convictions.

 

When a girl in her class began dating someone from the poor side of town Chaeyoung didn’t stand up for her. Instead she, like others, abandoned her. Set in her own prejudices. After hearing these things someone would not be surprised to discover that when her older sister told her of a rumour that had been going round she was less than delighted.

 

“Did you hear that they’re going to let those kids from that Chinese school use our gym?” Jeongyeon said as she entered the gym,

 

The Chinese-Speaking School backed on to the very end of JYP Prep. JYP Prep was spread over the invisible line between the rich and poor sides of town with CSS falling on the poorer side. The two schools never really had any interactions other than competitions as students didn’t think very highly of each other. They had somewhat of a rivalry, which explains why two JYP seniors had thought it amusing to flood the rival schools gym making it unusable. The girls were horrified - the gym was their place during lunch and free periods. They claimed the bleachers as their own!

 

“Eww.” Nayeon scoffed wrinkling her nose, “We pay good money for that gym, they can’t just use it!”

 

“Why do they have to use our gym?” Dahyun asked curiously,

 

Jeongyeon shrugged, “Ask Jihyo, apparently our student council president was the one to put the idea forward.”

 

All eyes went to the Thomas Look-alike in question. Jihyo gracefully set down her chopsticks and folded her hands on her lap, “I simply said that since we damaged their facilities we should allow them the use of ours.”

 

Sana groaned, “Can’t we just pay for the repair?”

 

“The school already are,” Jihyo told her, “Besides it will be good for all of you to get out of your privileged little bubbles.”

 

“Then we should go to a soup kitchen, not rent out a VERY expensive gymnasium!” Nayeon said,

 

“I’d pay to see you go to a soup kitchen.” Mina quipped,

 

“Me too!” Jeongyeon laughed,

 

“Babe!” Nayeon whined shoving her girlfriend,

 

Chaeyoung sighed, “It’s going to be just like when Mother makes us get the bus, we just ignore them.”

 

“Why does she make you get the bus?” Mina asked,

 

“She thinks we need to be more grounded, whatever that means.” Jeongyeon told her,

 

“It’s not all bad,” Chaeyoung shrugged, “I get some cool inspiration.”

 

Jihyo clapped, “That’s a great idea! We should all get the bus to school on Monday.”

 

And that’s how after twenty minuets of arguing the seven of them ended up waiting for the bus on Monday morning. Six of them mentally preparing to literally throw Jihyo under it. The girls walked on to the bus, their light blue uniforms drawing some attention as it was rare to see them on public transport. Chaeyoung stood holding the bacteria-ridden support pole in her left hand as she watched her friends all uncomfortably trying to position themselves in between the large sweaty bodies also being forced to stand. The moment a seat opened up Chaeyoung lunged for it - not caring who it was next too. She quickly sent a cheeky grin to her fuming friends before attempting to look out the window.

 

Big mistake.

 

The girl sat there was beautiful. She sat bolt up right staring straight ahead, headphones so loud that Chaeyoung could vaguely hear some of the song that was blaring through them. The girl seemed to be significantly taller than her, long body, legs, arms. Not that Chaeyoung was that tall compared to anyone, in fact she was the shortest in her class. The library even introduced a special stool for her to reach the top shelf books. That was embarrassing. Chaeyoung found herself committing the girls face to her memory, eyes travelling lower until she noticed the girls uniform. Black blazer with a little silver shield, the letters CSS stitched on in black. The short girl flushed. Fighting the urge to stare Chaeyoung instead got out her sketchbook and began to draw. Her stop was at the end of the line anyway so she could fully submerge herself into her art.

 

She never would focus on what she was drawing, preferring to just let her mind project what it wished on to the page. She didn’t know how long she was sketching away, but when the bus arrived at the final stop she was forced to return to reality. As she put her sketchpad away hurriedly she saw the mystery girl stand from the corner of her eye. Her face remained blank as she waited for Chaeyoung to stand also. Feeling brave for a moment the smaller girl sent her an apologetic smile before moving out the way. To her disappointment the taller didn’t return it but simply walked off the bus. Chaeyoung followed her, unable to understand why she felt so rejected, the mystery girl approached another in the same uniform. The other girl had a short bob and round glasses, she was standing near Chaeyoung’s own friends who were bullying Jihyo. Over the noise Chaeyoung could hear mystery girl’s friend talking.

 

“Did you hear?” Chaeyoung was surprised to discover the friend had a Japanese accent, she knew that the Chinese-Speaking School was the only school in the poorer district but she never really thought about other people going there that weren’t Chinese,

 

Chaeyoung didn’t hear mystery girls reply.

 

“We have to use the JYP gymnasium.” Her friend told her, “It’s going to !”

 

Chaeyoung felt attacked. Their gymnasium was everything anyone could want in a sports facility. Why were THEY complaining? Before she could voice this however, the duo walked off towards some others from their school.

 

“What’s with you?” Jeongyeon asked as Chaeyoung looked back at them,

 

“She was staring at that CSS girl.” Dahyun told them with an evil smirk,

 

Chaeyoung shoved her, “Was not!”

 

“Was too!”

 

“Enough children,” Jihyo cut them off, “There’s no harm in it Chae, she was attractive.”

 

“And there are equally attractive girls of our calibre, so try focusing on them.” Jeongyeon told her clapping her sister on the back,

 

“You’re right.”

 

That’s how the conversation ended and the group walked into their own school. During the day Chaeyoung ignored her lessons and continued sketching what she’d started on the bus. It was the silhouette of a girl in front of a large mirror. It was nowhere near finished but Chaeyoung could see familiarity in the drawing. She chose to ignore its likeness to the stranger from the bus. When the end of the day came the group decided to hang out in the gymnasium before going home, Sana, Mina and Nayeon had cheerleading practice anyway so the other three planned to watch. Chae focused back on her sketch as the world went on around her. Nayeon was complaining that they only had use of half the gym since a large rope now split it in two.

 

“You don’t even need the full gym, you barely need a corner.” Jihyo had snapped,

 

Chaeyoung only looked up when she heard the back entrance to the gym open, it was an unused door so it screeched in protest drawing all eyes to it. The artist’s breath caught in . There she was, mystery girl. She dumped her bags at the bottom of the bleachers a few rows away from Chaeyoung. She was no longer wearing her school uniform but instead was wearing a grey shirt with the CSS logo on it and a pair of black shorts. As Chaeyoung watched her pull her hair back into a ponytail the doors opened again and a group of similarly dressed students entered, including the girl from earlier who went and sat next to the bags. One girl approached the object of Chaeyoung’s thoughts and got a basketball from her bag. This new girl wore a different shirt with the words ‘CAPTAIN’ underneath the school logo.

 

Two large boys approached them as well laughing and joking. One of whom Chaeyoung recognised as Wang Jackson - captain of the boys basketball team. This would make the other girl Chong Elkie - captain of the girls team. CSS were famous for their basketball teams, many wanted to play and earn scholarships due to how expensive colleges were. Chaeyoung wished she knew mystery-girls name, calling her mystery-girl was beginning to become difficult. It was then she noticed two pointy ears now revealed by mystery-girl’s ponytail.

 

I guess she’s Yoda for now.

 

Yoda took the ball and made her way to the 3-point line. She positioned herself correctly, bent her knees and threw. Basket. Then she did it again. Basket. And again. Chaeyoung was in awe, no matter where she moved every ball she threw went in. Eventually Jackson decided to intercept the shot, it quickly became a boy vs girls 2v2 match. While the boys had strength to their advantage, the girls were in sync and much faster making the game very evenly matched. Chaeyoung became transfixed by Yoda’s long legs, how the muscles tensed and released as she moved to catch the ball and shoot. When she dunked and was hanging off the hoop for a split second Chaeyoung could see abs, she dropped her pencil that had previously been scribbling absent mindedly.   

 

Suddenly a bottle of water appeared in her vision.

 

“You look thirsty.” Jihyo told her with a grin,

 

“Jesus Chae,” Jeongyeon laughed, “You’re obsessed.”

 

Before Chaeyoung could defend herself something amazing happened.

 

“TZUYU-AH!” The friend on the bleacher called,

 

Yoda looked over to her.

 

“It’s four thirty - you’re going to be late!”

 

Mystery-girl sprinted over to grab her things as quickly as possible.

 

Chaeyoung smiled softly to herself. Mystery-girl had a name.

 

Tzuyu.

 

_______

 

The next time Chaeyoung saw her was the following day at lunch. Chaeyoung and her friends were lazing on their bleachers, Chaeyoung next to Mina sitting in the last row. She was continuing her drawing, unaware of Mina watching over her shoulder. The older girl had a slight smile on her face, it looked like Baby-Chae had a little crush. How cute? The back doors opened and the same group from yesterday afternoon entered. Chaeyoung’s gaze immediately found her muse, her pencil gently adding more details to the sketch. Mina’s small smile became a smirk.

 

“You like her.” She said knowingly,

 

Chaeyoung spluttered and dropped her pencil, “Do not!”

 

“It’s obvious,” Mina told her, “There’s nothing wrong with it, she’s cute.”

 

Chaeyoung blushed and looked back to the tall girl, “Please don’t tell anyone.”

 

Mina placed a hand on her small friend’s knee, “I wont, but you should go for it. You’re a catch Chaengie! Any girl would be lucky to have you.”

 

Chaeyoung smiled at her sadly, “I’ve never even spoken to her.”

 

Mina sighed, “Well she’s right there.” Mina then kicked Chaeyoung’s pencil so that it flew to the centre of the basket ball court,

 

“Mina! You’ll break the lead!”

 

“Oops, you’ll have to go get it.”

 

Chaeyoung glared at her before standing up and making her way nervously towards the basketball court. She noticed Tzuyu’s friend watching her from the bleachers, the girl sent her a small smile which Chaeyoung returned. The short girl then took a deep breath, she just needed to retrieve her pencil. Simple in and out. As she neared her target she overheard some of the conversation Tzuyu and Elkie were having. The tall girl had thrown the ball in the hoop once again and the captain applauded. They sounded like they were arguing about something. Chaeyoung paused, she was finally going to hear her voice. Why did that make her more nervous?

 

“I still think you should join the team.” She heard Elkie say, “Dude, I’ll give you my captaincy.”

 

The pencil was right next to them.

 

“You know why I can’t.” Tzuyu sighed,

 

Chaeyoung froze.

 

All the clichés that Chaeyoung had once laughed at within Sana’s romance novels suddenly made sense. Tzuyu’s voice was soft and quiet while at the same time it sounded certain. Her voice held an accent Chaeyoung couldn’t decipher - it wasn’t Chinese but it was close. Vaguely she could feel Mina mentally mocking her. The pencil was in reach now, but Chaeyoung would have to get their attention if she wanted it. She tried to reach for the pencil carefully, hoping to sneak by unnoticed. Only nothing Chaeyoung wants ever goes her way…..unless she can buy it. So as she reached for the pencil both girls turned round confused. From the looks of it Chaeyoung appeared to be trying to grab Tzuyu’s leg causing the taller girl to step back surprised.

 

“S-Sorry,” Chaeyoung stammered shooting up, “I d-dropped my pencil.”

 

Tzuyu raised an eyebrow while Elkie held back a giggle. Red faced the short girl turned round and walked away.

 

“Wait!” Tzuyu called,

 

Chaeyoung turned to see the taller girl standing behind her, holding her pencil out to her with an expressionless face. As soon as it had been returned to her the taller girl’s eyes moved to the other girl on the bleachers.

 

“Momo-unnie, breaks nearly over.” She called to her friend, Momo, who immediately stood and began gathering their things,

 

As Momo passed her she gave Chaeyoung another smile, this time it was knowing and if Chaeyoung didn’t know better she could have sworn she heard the word ‘smooth’ muttered under the other girl’s breath. Ignoring Mina who appeared to be laughing at her quite openly now Chaeyoung made her way back to her seat. She replayed the past few moments over and over, hoping to commit that beautiful voice to memory.

 

And she did have a beautiful voice.

 

_______

 

From that day on Chaeyoung began trying her best to learn about love and attraction. Mina had vocally cheered her on to pursuing Tzuyu, if not for her own benefit. Chaeyoung had begun to suspect that Mina had a thing for Tzuyu’s Japanese friend, Momo. If Chaeyoung broke their group’s unspoken agreement on not dating anyone deemed unworthy it would mean Mina too could do so. Chaeyoung didn’t mind taking the first leap, Jeongyeon would kill her but that’s future Chae’s problem. It had been about a week since that first day on the bus and Chaeyoung had begun to use public transport to get her to and from school. Through this she knew Tzuyu got on the bus before her own stop and stayed until the end of the line. However, unlike the first day she was never on her own. Momo was usually with her and whenever the Japanese girl caught Chaeyoung staring she’d send the girl a smirk.

 

Long story short: Chaeyoung was a hopeless stalker.

 

She needed help. Her first option would have been Mina, but unfortunately for her the older girl had even less of an idea than Chaeyoung did. Mina had suitors flocking to her so she had been able to inform Chaeyoung what NOT to do….like stalking. But both girls were clueless how to proceed when the shoe was on the other foot. The question now was - who could Chaeyoung ask? Jeongyeon and Nayeon were definitely out and Jihyo could never keep a secret. She looked at Sana who was currently trying to peek under a fellow cheerleader’s skirt ruling her out as well. Dahyun walked over and began to scold her girlfriend and Chaeyoung’s eyes lit up. Dahyun was her best friend! Chaeyoung could totally get advice from her!

 

The next time she and Dahyun were next to each other Chaeyoung began to work up the courage to ask her friend for help. As was usual these days Tzuyu’s friends were playing basketball on their side of the court. The short girl was staring as she drew, unaware that the eagle beside her was already aware of what she was going to say.

 

“I’ve got a crush.”

 

“I KNEW IT!” The older girl shouted,

 

Chaeyoung smacked her shoulder trying to ignore the eyes now staring at them from both sides of the gym, “Could you make it any more obvious?”

 

“It’s the tall basketball player right?” Dahyun asked ignoring her,

 

Chaeyoung blushed and nodded.

 

“Aww,” She wiped away a fake tear, “My baby’s all grown up!”

 

“Shh!” Chaeyoung scolded, “I’ve never even had a real conversation with her.”

 

“But you have spoken to her, right?”

 

“Well….”

 

“Wow Chaeng, you .”

 

“Screw you.” Chaeyoung snapped, “Look I need advice. How do I get her to talk to me?”

 

Dahyun gave her a grin before standing up and marching down the bleachers towards Tzuyu. The girl’s friends appeared to be grabbing a drink leaving the tall girl to do free-throws on her own. Chaeyoung followed Dahyun in an attempt to pull her back to their original spot but it was no good, nobody could stop her when she was determined.

 

“Hey!” Dahyun called gaining Tzuyu’s attention, “You’re on the basketball team right?”

 

“No.”

 

That stumped Dahyun for a moment, “B-But you’re good at basketball?”

 

Tzuyu threw the ball through the hoop, no longer looking at them, “Yup.”

 

“So how come you’re not on the team.”

 

Tzuyu caught the rebound and turned to her, “Some of us have to work for a living.”

 

Savage

 

“Did you two need something?”

 

“S-Sorry about her,” Chaeyoung stammered, “Sh-She doesn’t understand boundaries.”

 

Tzuyu hummed and threw the ball again prompting Dahyun to speak again, “I just wanted to know if you could teach my friend how to shoot a 3 shot.”

 

“A three-pointer?”

 

“Yeah that thing.”

 

“Why does she want to do that?”

 

“She wants too….be a basketball player.”

 

Tzuyu looked Chaeyoung up and down, causing said girl to turn the most fabulous shade of red, “Aren’t you a little short to be a basketball player?”

 

“Aren’t you a little too conceited to make Star Wars references?” Chaeyoung countered automatically,

 

Dahyun let out a laugh and from behind them Mina, who now sat with a gaping Momo, face-palmed. Chaeyoung had been made fun of for being short all her life so comebacks were automatic. Her face flushed deeper, realising who she had just offended. She bashfully looked up to apologise only to see a small smirk on Tzuyu’s face.

 

“Touché.” The tall girl replied, “Okay, I’ll teach you.”

 

“R-Really?”

 

“Sure.”

 

“Tzuyu-ah! 3^rd period’s about to start we need to head back!” Elkie shouted over,

 

Tzuyu nodded to her before turning back to the duo, “Lunch tomorrow?”

 

Chaeyoung just nodded, no longer trusting herself to speak.

 

“Cool,” Tzuyu said with a nod, “I’m Tzuyu by the way.”

 

“Ch-Chaeyoung.”

 

“Nice to meet you Chaeyoung.”

 

She knows my name!

_________

 

The following lunch Chaeyoung was vibrating in her seat between Mina and Dahyun. She was both excited and nervous, far to many emotions for such a small body. The others in the group noticed the small girl’s nervousness but no one thought to comment on it. Any questions they had were instantly answered when the back door opened and Momo and Tzuyu walked in, causing Chaeyoung (who had been aggressively staring at it) to squeal in shock. A noise no one had heard her make before. Dahyun and Mina suppressed their laughter and slowly pushed Chaeyoung to approach the newcomers. When she got close she noted Tzuyu glaring at Momo, the other girl appearing to be teasing her. When they noticed her arrival Momo grinned at them both and skipped over to Mina.

 

Chaeyoung noticed Tzuyu was looking her over again and her blush returned, “Is that really what you’re wearing?”

 

Huh?

 

“Y-Yeah it’s my school uniform.” Chaeyoung told her looking over herself,

 

“You’re wearing a skirt.”

 

“Y-Yes?”

 

“You are aware that when you jump everyone’s going to see your underwear.”

 

While the idea of Tzuyu seeing her underwear wasn’t all that unappealing - she blushed further at the notion of the entire cheerleading squad seeing them. Tzuyu sighed and ped the black hoodie she had been wearing, securing it tightly round the small girl’s waist. Chaeyoung assumed herself to be the colour of the basketball right about now and Dahyun wolf whistling didn’t help. Tzuyu walked Chaeyoung to the 3-Point line and showed her how to position her arms.

 

The first throw was pitiful.

 

The second would have killed her if Tzuyu hadn’t caught the ball after it rebounded.

 

She sent Chaeyoung a smirk as she handed the ball to her again, the smaller girl unable to shake the stupid blush, “S-S-So why aren’t you on the basketball team? Y-You’re really good.”

 

Tzuyu smiled at her sadly, “I was but between school and work I don’t have time.”

 

“W-Work?”

 

Tzuyu’s eyes hardened slightly as the walls returned, “Y’know, what normal kids do when Mummy and Daddy can’t afford to bankroll them.”

 

Chaeyoung cursed herself internally, she noted not to continue to continue this area of conversation. As she was distracted by the new awkwardness she threw the ball so badly that it missed the basket completely and rolled away at rocket speed. Tzuyu sighed and told her to wait as she chased after it. Chaeyoung was about ready to quit, embarrassment eating her alive. Suddenly a hand on her shoulder made her jump, the powerful smell of perfume meant she didn’t have to turn to know it was Sana.

 

“You need to get her to touch you.”

 

“W-What!?” Chaeyoung stammered, going redder if possible,

 

“Trust me! You can’t even begin to flirt if the physical contact boundary isn’t broken.”

 

And then Sana returned to their friends - all watching the basketball lesson. Tzuyu returned and handed Chaeyoung the ball. The shorter girl thought for a moment, if anyone knew about getting girls it was Sana. Before Dahyun the Japanese girl had been quite the casanova, so with that in mind Chaeyoung turned to her teacher.

 

“I don’t think my positions right.”

 

“Bring your elbows closer together.” Tzuyu advised,

 

“Is this it?”

 

She deliberately widened her elbows. Tzuyu sighed and came up behind her causing Chaeyoung to gasp, praying the taller girl couldn’t hear it. She hadn’t thought this through and as Tzuyu’s arms came round her to cover her hands on the ball Chaeyoung was too nervous to even move. Tzuyu’s head rested on her shoulder and Chaeyoung blushed (yet AGAIN) as she felt soft breaths on her cheek.

 

“Like this.”

 

Tzuyu bent her knees, causing Chaeyoung’s to do the same and the shorter girl threw the ball with a small jump.

 

It went in.

 

Tzuyu stepped away as Chaeyoung celebrated and others clapped. Chaeyoung missed the warmth of the girl on her back but tried not to let that effect her. Tzuyu sent her a proud smile which made the other girl send back a big grin - both dimples showing proudly. She did it! Before going to where Momo was calling her, Tzuyu placed a hand on her shoulder.

 

“Well done, Chae.”

 

“Thanks, Tzuyu.”

 

After she left Jeongyeon approached, “Right if you’re going to do this you’re going to do it properly.”

 

Chaeyoung nodded dumbly.

 

She touched me!

 

 

 

 

God that sounded inappropriate.

 

 

_______

 

After that first lesson Chaeyoung and Tzuyu had spent every lunch throwing the basketball around and Chaeyoung was beginning to get pretty good. They began talking less and less about basketball and more and more about each other. Until it was finally the day Chaeyoung’s parents topped up her bank account. Thanks to Nayeon’s stalking the group discovered that every day after school Tzuyu worked at a local diner. So Chaeyoung and her friends planned to go there and eat in order to give their favourite smol time to talk with her crush outside of the gym. While the others found the place greasy and dirty the food was edible and (after Momo happened to join them) Mina especially began praising how good the burgers were. Tzuyu served them well, got their orders right and made small talk - mostly with Chaeyoung. Once they’d stayed past a reasonable amount of time they even left a tip.

 

A tip that caused Tzuyu to angrily storm over to Chaeyoung once she saw her.

 

Today the gym was fuller than usual, the boys basketball team were practising for a gamer that evening as were the full cheerleading team. So Chaeyoung was nervous at the approach of the angry taller girl, money clenched tightly in her fist.

 

“What the Chaeyoung?”

 

“W-What’s wrong?”

 

“This,” Tzuyu snapped throwing the bills at her, “This is what’s wrong.”

 

“Y-You served us w-w-well,” Chaeyoung cursed her stuttering, “You earned a tip.”

 

“A tip is 6000 won,” Tzuyu lectured, “Not 110000₩. What were you thinking?”

 

“I just thought that,” Chaeyoung explained, “If I gave you some money you’d be able to take some time off work to play basketball.”

 

Tzuyu calmed a little, “Look Chaeng, I’m not poor.”

 

“Then why--”

 

“My parents pay for my housing here in Korea but they expect me to work as well so that I remain humble. I work because I want to, I prefer spending money I worked hard to get.” She paused, hurt clouding her features, “Am I just a charity case to you?”

 

“No! Not at all--”

 

“Chaeyoung-ah!” A male voice shouted as Jungkook (captain of their school basketball team) appeared, “She causing you a problem.”

 

Chaeyoung could feel everyone staring, so she just looked down - she hated being the centre of attention.

 

“Chae-”

 

“I think you’ve said enough,” Jungkook said stepping up to her, “She wants you to leave. Get out of our gym.”

 

“Hey!” Jackson shouted coming to defend his friend, “We have a right to be here.”

 

As they argued she vaguely heard Tzuyu say her name but she couldn’t look up. She couldn’t be like that girl in her class - bullied for loving someone of a lower status. She couldn’t take it. The staring alone was enough to place her into silence. If she’d of looked up she would’ve seen the hurt in Tzuyu’s eyes fading and the coldness returning harder than ever.

 

“Come on, Jackson.” Tzuyu said quietly pulling the older boy with her, “They’re not worth it.”

 

Chaeyoung watched them all leave, noting that their side of the gym now looked desolate. She caught Momo’s eye as the Japanese girl left Mina’s side and rather than the amused look she was used to, the older girl’s eyes were sad. Chaeyoung ignored the others as she sat and placed her head in her hands.

 

She hates me.

 

_______

 

The basketball players didn’t appear at all the next day but Chaeyoung wasn’t surprised. She’d taken the bus that morning, hoping to see Tzuyu and explain. Tzuyu hadn’t been sitting as she usually did next to the window. The only sound being the awkward silence of the bus, no loud music leaking through cheap headphones. On the bright side though Chaeyoung had finally finished her sketch, she showed it to Mina who said it looked beautiful yet sad. The mirror that the tall silhouette stood in front of now also had a figure in it, this figure was shorter. Another girl, this one visibly crying. Both figures had their hands over each others, resting either side of the glass.

 

So close, yet so far.

 

Fitting.

 

Two days after the disaster took place the back door opened once more and the usual group shuffled in. This time Tzuyu sat on the bleachers with Momo as far away as she could and settled for watching the others play. It broke Chaeyoung’s heart, she knew how much the tall girl loved the sport and the fact she was the reason the girl didn’t want to play it hurt her. She looked carefully over her sketch, more importantly the girl with tears in the mirror. Reaching out for someone she could see but not touch, feeling only cold glass instead. Mina was right, it was sad.

 

But real life Chaeyoung could do something about it.

 

She ripped the page from the book carefully, attracting attention from those around her in the (once again) busy gym. Chaeyoung never ripped pages of her sketchbook out, it was private. No one else but her friends could see it. She felt eyes on her but she ignored them. The basketball team were only there to assert their dominance over the newcomers anyway. The loudness of the gym, the squeaking shoes, the pounding of the basketballs, the cheers, the talking - all silenced in Chaeyoung’s mind. She didn’t care who saw what she was about to do. She had to be brave.

 

She approached Tzuyu and Momo, the latter looking up and getting out of her way. Chaeyoung carefully placed the sketch on top of the homework Tzuyu was currently working on. The tall girl jumped, having been taken of guard, before looking up. Chaeyoung saw the coldness in her eyes but knew that meant nothing, the way Tzuyu’s jaw set said she was angry with her and the sag in her usual perfect posture showed sadness. Chaeyoung stood her ground.

 

“I’m bad with words.” She said gesturing once more to the drawing,

 

Tzuyu looked down and studied it carefully, “Did you draw this?”

 

“I started it on the bus the first time I saw you,” Chaeyoung confessed, “I doubt you remember.”

 

“I do.” Tzuyu said looking back up, “You looked so cute concentrating that I kept staring.”

 

Chaeyoung smiled sweetly, “It’s an apology, for yesterday. I should’ve spoken up but I’m bad at being the centre of attention.”

 

“It’s beautiful,” Tzuyu told her before sighing and standing up, “But I can’t be friends with you if you’re embarrassed to be seen with me.”

 

“I don’t want to be friends.”

 

Tzuyu scoffed and went to say something but instead she just put down the sketch and made to storm off. Only Chaeyoung grabbed her wrist and pulled her back. The taller girl turned, eye level since Chaeyoung was one bleacher up, to question her actions. Except Chaeyoung didn’t let the words leave her lips, instead she silenced them with her own. Tzuyu froze for a second, causing Chaeyoung to panic but after the initial shock the taller girl returned the kiss. Both feeling relief course through them. They heard wolf-whistles and insults (though Jeongyeon quickly murdered those that said them and buried their bodies). The young couple paid them no mind and instead the only thought Chaeyoung could focus on was:

 

She’s a good kisser.