It was half-past eight when you heard the doorbell ring.

You wanted to act cool and nonchalant about the whole scenario. You even wedged yourself in between the dresser and cabinet just to stop yourself from the frantic episode that you were having.

It was a mess.

You changed your sheets twice. You vacuumed the floor—something that you haven’t done in a few weeks. When night time came, you literally have put on every piece of clothing in your wardrobe and tossed them aside after a few seconds.

You were like a girl preparing for a first date or something.

You were battling with the butterflies rampaging in your stomach and you can feel that your head was on the brink of short-circuiting.

Overall: a mess.

“Ddeulgi-yah” you mother called you by your nickname. “Joohyunnie is here.”

 “Moooom! I told you to not call us that. We’re practically grown now!” you said.

“Well not until you’re out of my roof young lady!” she argued with sass.

 You facepalmed yourself as you opened you door. Irene was already halfway through the staircase; one hand carrying a plastic bag and one hand on trying hard not to burst out laughing. You shook your head at her and led her to your room.

“Man, it’s been a while since the last time I came over and your mom is STILL hilarious.” She plopped down at the edge of your bed. You settled on sitting at your floor of your room across from her. “You still don’t stand a chance against her.”

“Yeah well, she’s just like that because she got all excited when she heard of me having a sleepover with you again. She said that it was—quote unquote—‘Adorable and just like the old times’. She even baked some carrot cake just for you.”

“She did!?” Irene asked you with wide eyes. You nodded at her with a smile because she looked so adorable with her over enthusiasm on the idea of having carrot cake. “Wow! I’m really glad that I came over.”

“Well, don’t be surprised if eomma sticks her head here without warning.”

“How come?”

You looked at her. She was lying on her stomach and she had both her hands below her chin for support; looking at you with eyes shining with amusement.

You were suddenly glad that you were sitting a little farther from her because your heart was having a full out beat festival in your chest.

“Uhhhhhh.. She wants to know if-“

“Ifffff??” she chorused like a child.

“If uh-“

“Spill it out Seul”

“Well it’s kind of embarrassing... It’s not even a big deal anyways. It’s just mom being weird and-”

“Really? Am I another person now?”

You wondered if that was a trick question.

But you were probably just overthinking it.

You heaved a deep sigh. She was pouting now and you have always been weak for that.

“She just wanted to know if you still wore the bunny pajamas that she gave you when we were in middle school.”

Silence.

Then she started rolling on your bed and cracking up.

“See? It’s ridiculous. I told her that you’re obviously not anymore because you’ve grown—even though it’s just a little—you’ve still gro-“

A pillow hit your face.

“Yah! What do you mean ‘little’?”

She wasn’t laughing anymore but was giving you the most threatening glare. You gulped and picked the pillow that she threw and held it in front of you like some sort of barrier.

Just in case she gets all wild again and throws something much harder.

“Well it’s true though. I mean I am taller than you even though you’re older than me by a solid year.”

“Yah! That wasn’t the case when we were younger!”

You gave her a playful smirk and a chuckle.

This was one argument that you can probably win.

“But that’s not the case now, is it?”

“You’re not that tall yourself!”

“But tall enough to be taller than you~” you said in a teasing tone.

You can really tell that she was pissed off because she was puffing her cheeks and was probably on the verge of throwing a tantrum. You laughed at her so much that you started to clutch your stomach.

“Well I guess that I’ll be eating all the ice cream that I brought all by myself. Those in favour of admitting that Seulgi is a jerk, please your hand” she said out loud. She raised her own hand which just made you laugh even harder.  “I’m serious though! You’re not going to get ice cream if you don’t stop laughing!”

“Aweeeeeee. Is little Hyunnie upset because I’m taller than her?”

That seemed to push her to the limit because she stood up and went for the plastic bag containing the ice creams that was placed on your table and unwrapped the chocolate fudge flavoured one. She took a big bite and triumphantly smirked at you. You stared at her in shock.

“My ice cream!” you wailed.

She chewed the frozen delight but not a second sooner, she started chewing slower; her eyes widening in the process.

You looked at her worriedly.

Did she choke?!

She collapsed on the floor with her hand on gripping her neck and she hung her head low. Panicking, you rushed quickly to her side and placed your hand on her back. You rubbed small circles on it and asked over and over if she was okay.

“D-do you want some water? A-re you okay? Omygosh. W-wait for me and I’ll fetch some downstairs!”

As you were about to stand up, her hand suddenly gripped your right arm. When you turned around to look at her, she stuffed the remaining ice cream straight to your mouth. The cold treat started numbing your tongue as you looked at her bewilderingly.

“I got ya! Pabooooooooooooo!” she teased.

She playfully pinched your overstuff cheeks and reached for the other ice cream from the bag.  You slumped down on the floor. You weren’t sure if your headache was caused by the ice cream or the fact that she just stumped you again as soon as you managed to get ahead of her even by just a little.

“That was mean” you said.

She laughed and settled beside you.

“I was just trying to get back at you. You were the first one to tease me.” She handed you the ice cream that she was eating. You looked at it rather unconvinced.

“You’re still going to give me that even though you already took a bite on it?”

“Okay. Then I’ll give you my red bean ice cream instead.”

When you heard this, you immediately snatched the half-eaten ice cream from her; your face was sporting a scowl and your eyebrows were furrowed together. She teasingly laughed at you and you can’t help but be swayed by the infectious sound of her laugh.

Eventually, the night went on smoothly.

Both of you played different kinds of games. You won at all video games and she won at all the card and board games. You didn’t really want to get on her nerves when she loses. She kept score on the amount of wins each of you had. So when the last round came and you almost won, you may or may not deliberately throw the game away on purpose.

You really didn’t care.

You were just glad that she came by.

A knock momentarily interrupted the two of you.

“Aigoo look at the two of you!” Your mother said as she pushed the door of your bedroom using her foot. You saw that she was holding a tray with both of her hands so you hurriedly stood up and helped her. The tray had two plates with huge slices of carrot cake on it. “It seems like yesterday when you had your first sleepover here Hyunnie~”

“You didn’t have to trouble yourself with baking Auntie” Irene said.

“Nonsense! This kid right here pesters me all the time for sweets. I can manage to bake your favorite every now and then.”

Sometimes, you felt as if parents have the secret mission to embarrass their children.

“Is that so?” Irene said as she quirked an eyebrow to you. You rolled your eyes at her. “Our Ddeulgie-yah does have a sweet tooth.”

“She’s way past that stage dear. The only form of vegetable that she’ll eat is that cake right there!”

They laugh among themselves while you were disintegrating slowly from the embarrassment that you were having.

You sensed that your mother was about to say something that would degrade you again so you beat her to it.

“Mom” you started to say as you settled the tray beside Irene. “She’s not wearing those pajamas, Give it a rest already.”

“And why is that? You still wear those bear pajamas that I bought you last year!”

“You don’t need to divulge that information!”

You can hear Irene snickering in the background. You clearly had enough so it took all of your effort to finally shoo your mother out of your room. You closed the door and quickly turned to Irene who was staring at you in a kind of mocking way.

“Bear pajamas?” she said.

“Shut up and eat your cake.”

You sat near her and started munching on the cake. Irene was shaking her head at you.

“What?” you barked at her.

“Nothing~ it’s just that you really look like a bear when your cheeks are stuffed like that.”

You said nothing and continued to scruff the cake from your plate. You both ended up finishing the big slices that your mother gave you. The result of being full from sweets was drowsiness. Irene was also yawning a little bit.

The clock on your bedside table indicated that it was nearing midnight already.

“You can go wash up first”, you told her as you started to stand up. “I’ll go after you after I finish cleaning up.”

She answered you with a yawn.

Chuckling, you went near her and pinch her cheeks making her eyes to fly open.

“Okay, okay! I get it geez!”

She half-heartedly lugged her bag on her back and proceeded to the bathroom. You proceeded on tidying up the used dishes downstairs at the kitchen. You also noticed that someone (probably Henry or your father) left some snack wrappers on the living room table. Sighing, you went ahead and tidied the place up. You actually took your time so when you got back, she was already finished and was lazily scrolling on her phone.

Your eyes immediately dart to what she was wearing.

“Seul, hurry up and take a bath! I’m super sleepy~!” she whined.

“Wait a minute, where did you get that?” you asked, not even bothering to answer her question. She looked at you with wonder and followed your finger to where it was pointing.

“Oh this?” she said while tugging the hem of her rabbit patterned riddled pajamas. “Auntie gave it to me as a Christmas present. She always sends me this kind of pajamas. I guess I never really grew out of them too.”

She gave you a toothy smile.

“Now hurry up and change into yours too!”

“So that’s why she wants to ask you that! She already knows the answer!”

“Seulgi...”

“Seriously! She always does this to me! And you of all people go and always scheme with her!”

A pillow connected with your face once again. You felt as if you were just waiting for that inevitable third pillow for that night alone to complete your strike out. The pillow came down with a thud.

“Yah! Kang Seulgi! I told you to clean up yourself already! How many times do I have to tell you that?! Aish! Hurry up because I’m sleepy!”

You bowed down and timidly murmured an apology. You scurried out of your room and shut the door behind you quietly.

She sure has a temper.

You proceeded to the bathroom and took your own time