Kim JungEun was on a mission. An impossible mission. One that has been stretching out for months and she's on the cusp of giving up... She considered it after the attempt #386 to be exact (yes, she's counting).

"I didn't say it before to not hurt your feelings, but this is becoming ridiculous." A heavy sigh and a long stare that could only mean 'I love you, but every single cell in my body is judging you right now' was thrown her way. SooYoung wasn't one to measure her words and even though JungEun appreciated her friend's bluntness most of the time, now it was just adding salt to the injury.

"You said that plenty of times actually." She replied, closing her notebook with a huff. A hand messing with her blond locks in a visible display of frustration. It wasn't like JungEun didn't know what she was doing was ridiculous, but it's all she got! SooYoung didn't seem to sympathize with her predicament, not anymore anyway. There was nothing but pity in her eyes.

"Because I can't take this anymore!" The brunette said with a whine note lacing her words. She drank her latte to calm herself down. JungEun did the same with her coffee... It was cold. Great. She frowned in disgust and put it aside. Not even her favorite café, her special drink order and the presence of her not so much now best friend was making this day any better.

"Well, imagine how I'm feeling then!" Her arms automatically crossed in a defensive manner.

"If it bothers you so much, woman up, and go talk to her!" SooYoung hit the table lightly, probably her wish was to slap JungEun square on the face to put some sense into her head, but the brunette had to content herself with the wood surface instead.

"What a preposterous idea!" She couldn't believe her ears! She didn't spend months elaborating intricate strategies to approach the woman of her dreams so SooYoung would come up with something as... as boring, ordinary and effective as simply going to talk to her!

"Preposterous?" SooYoung's brow raised a small smile threatening to break loose on her lips. Now she was just amused, all of her fake anger gone.

"I've been reading a lot lately." She's been reading a lot since this whole ordeal has started. From cheesy romantic books to psychology books. She was desperate, okay!? Maybe she used the former to concoct some plans (and she's going to tell ya that life isn't in any way similar to those romantic comedies stories! Stuff doesn't work like that! Can Y'all believe those falses advertisements!?) and the latter to try to understand what could possibly be going on in the most fascinating girl on the planet's head. They also didn't help, but she could get a psychology degree now with all she knew about the area, so it wasn't such a waste after all... Besides, the university library was the only place she could stay for hours glancing above the book's cover and watch endlessly the target of her infatuation being flawless and unbelievably adorable while she scrunched her nose trying to understand what she just read.

"You're persistent, I'll give you that." SooYoung snapped her out of her reveries "Dumb, but persistent."

"Aw, thank you, sweetie." She plastered a sweet fake smile on her face "Now, I didn't call you here for you to shower me with affection. I need new plans!"

"Nope," she popped the 'p' in an annoying streak "I'm not doing it anymore. I already gave you my two cents. T-a-l-k t-o-h-e-r."

"Argh, I hate reasonable people!" She hit her head on the table with a loud thud. All eyes in the establishment turned to the source of the sound, but she didn't care about them or the red mark she probably would get.

"Hey! What are you gays talking about?" A cheerful voice reached the blonde's ears and she wiped her head right up. There she was, hoping happily to their booth with a radiant grin gracing her features. JungEun couldn't be gladder to see the only friend who fully supported and endorsed her actions.

"Yerim! We're discussing attempt #387!" The girl plopped down at JungEun's side immediately.

"Oooh, let me help! Let me help!" She took the notebook from the blonde's hands without even ask and skimmed through it with laser focus, nodding her head while doing it. JungEun laughed.

"Be my guest, I'll meet JiWoo because some of us actually succeeded at having a girlfriend." The older pronounced, gathering her things and raising from her side of the booth.

"Ouch. That one hurt..." She placed a hand over her heart, pouting. Yerim gasped in horror. SooYoung had the audacity to laugh at their faces. "Need I remind you that I would have a girlfriend by now if Chuu's idea hadn't failed miserably!" She would never forget how the girl had chimed in and said that stalking was and she quotes 'a good way to make somebody notice you! People always know when they're being followed around!'. Needless to say, all of her friends just stared at her with horrified expressions and SooYoung had hugged the crying auburn haired reassuring her that she wasn't crazy.

"It worked for us! You can't blame her!" She pointed out. JungEun rolled her eyes and snorted.

"It worked because you two are weirdos."

"You're one to talk. Anyway, enjoy your chase." She winked and then left.

"Can you believe this !?" JungEun murmured under her breath.

"Language! Don't say stuff like that in front of the baby!" Yerim exclaimed, bumping their shoulders.

"What baby?" She actually looked around the shop in search of an infant, but couldn't find one in the vicinity. Yerim snickered and JungEun only got even more confused.

"Me." The brunette replied sweetly, a smile bigger than her face. The blonde would die before admitting she melted at the sight. Who the hell put sugar on her coffee!?

"Ok, baby... Tell me, what do you have in mind?"

"Glad you asked, unnie! So..." The girl whipped her hair dramatically, fully facing the older. JungEun braced herself for what was coming from Yerim's mouth next.

~×~×~×~×~

The first time it happened, HaSeul didn't give it too much of a thought. She was running late to class, not aware of her surroundings (as per usual) when a body crashed into her. It was all very fast and the unknown girl apologized profusely before, quite literally, running away. HaSeul could only catch a glimpse of gold hair before she disappeared in a corner. She shook it off as an accident and watched her lecture as if nothing had transpired.

The second time it happened, however, HaSeul was pretty aware. She had woken up early, ready to check the notes one last time for the test she would take. With a satisfied smile on her lips and a coffee in hand, she walked calmly through the campus when that same blonde from before (she presumed), went all out on her. HaSeul felt like part of a goddamn football team! There was no way the other girl didn't see her, although she seemed to be making a considerable conscious (she might add) effort to keep herself focused on her turned off phone screen. It almost looked like she did it on purpose, but... what kind of person would do something like that on purpose? She couldn't believe this possibility. Besides, the blonde apologized vehemently, (HaSeul was sure it was the same person when that melodic voice graced her ears) and offered to pick up the stuff scattered on the floor. Though, nothing could be done about the spilled coffee.

The girl left without another word, not giving the redhead time to thank her, to be mad or to register the spark she felt running through her body when their hands briefly touched.

(HaSeul failed an exam for the first time on that day).

On the third time, HaSeul was sure none of those encounters were mere work of fate. She was sitting on the library trying to figure out the complex language of an oriental literature book when something hit her on the back of her head. HaSeul rubbed the hit spot turning around to find the culprit for such a childish act... This was college, for God's sake! Throwing paper balls was something to be forgotten at the tragic years of primary school. The aggressor was nowhere to be found, but the proof of the crime was laying on the floor. A frown marred her features. She unwrapped the paper and noticed there was something written on it with a terrible handwriting.

"Sorry for the coffee..." She whispered, reading the words.

Her eyes immediately traveled across the place, anxious to find the blonde hair which became so familiar. This could only be hers! Then, HaSeul saw her. Standing right there at the entrance of the library, seemingly expecting something or someone. That was when their eyes first met. The redhead held her breath. The girl freaked out. She hid her face and fled the place in a rush.

It was too late.

HaSeul had already seen her.

How come she never noticed the face of the most beautiful girl she's ever laid her eyes on!? Was she such an airhead to the point of ignoring altogether the blonde's beauty!? Who was she to begin with!? Surely this week's encounters weren't the first occurrences where they crossed paths... Now that HaSeul thought about it. Why her heart is so out of control beating on her chest all of a sudden!?

"I'm going crazy..." She turned forward, shaking her head and trying to resume the reading, but it was impossible with her cheeks burning like that. She was hallucinating! HaSeul concluded. Too many hours in front of a book about fantastic and surreal worlds could only lead you to see angels following you everywhere you go.

She took a sip of her coffee to try to re-center herself. Hands dead cold compared to the warmth of the drink. The shock elicited goosebumps. It was a pleasant feeling, but...

Wait.

Where did this coffee come from!?

It was exactly the way she liked it, how that was even possible? Did God himself took mercy on her soul and send this gift?

(HaSeul smiled for the rest of the morning when she realized who left the drink for her. Spoiler alert: it wasn't God, but a goddess. Yet, she didn't finish the book that was essential to complete an important assignment).

The redhead started longing for the moments when a certain blonde would do something unexpected to get her attention every day. Her routine wasn't complete without the girl's intervention. It was truly fascinating, through a distraction from her studies. HaSeul has always been a dedicated student, maybe more than it was considered healthy and her grades only proved the loins of her efforts. However, lately, her grades started to sink, her attention to the classes reduced and even the teachers noticed the change. HaSeul knew exactly who was the one guilty for her joy, but also for her recent failures and lack of focus.

Kim JungEun.

That was her name. The blonde that tormented her thoughts and frustrated her even more than the red on her report card. She found out her name in a non-conventional way (like everything seemed to work with that girl). JinSol, one of her classmates, told her when she commented in passing about a certain blonde chasing her, both in real life and in her dreams.

"Kim JungEun!"

"What?"

"She wants to let you know that her name is Kim JungEun."

"JungEun..." The name rolled easily in her tongue and sounded oh so sweet pronounced by her voice.

Why didn't the girl just talk to her then? What was going on JungEun's mind? Did she like her? Did she hate her? Was she trying to sabotage her? Was everything just a cruel and thoughtless prank? HaSeul questioned and questioned and questioned...

The truth is: she didn't know how to feel in regards to JungEun! She couldn't take this situation anymore. She would flunk if things continued to go that route and she couldn't allow that to happen. Although it broke her heart in two, HaSeul made a decision. She started to completely ignore the blonde's weird attempts to approach her, nose buried deep in piles of books and notes in order to save her academic life. She was too busy to notice the world around and the cute blonde staring longingly at her.

"Unnie, you gonna die if you keep studying like that." YeoJin tried to warn her for what must have been the hundredth time, just to be ignored yet again. She left the older's room murmuring under her breath "Just be sure to pass your bedroom to me in your inheritance..." which gained her an eye roll, a smile and a pillow thrown at her before she could close the door.

YeoJin was right (not an everyday occurrence). HaSeul should take better care of her health and that's why she closed the notebooks on her desk, turned off all the lights and decided to go to bed earlier. She was determined to sleep a whole eight hours and nobody could stop her from doing just that. After all, she deserved a rest from this rough week.

Her head barely hit the pillow when loud music started to play right outside her house.

She grumbled, closing her eyes in the hopes of snuffing out the sound with the power of her slumber, but it was to no avail. The sound, in fact, just appeared to have gotten louder.

"Ah, why now!?" A pillow came to cover her ears. It worked to a certain extent...

(HaSeul slept for two miserable hours that night).

"Wow, you look like ." And that was the flattering greeting which she received as soon her foot touched the classroom floor in that Monday morning.

"Thank you, HyunJin, you look gorgeous as well." HaSeul did her best to flash her trademark radiant smile, but it ended up coming off as a veiled cry for help. She plopped down defeated on her chair, head following suit and hitting the table.

"What's wrong?" HyunJin's tone let transparent her concern and HaSeul turned slightly to have a better look at her friend.

"Nothing..." A sigh left her lips. Her eyelids were heavy "I didn't sleep well because somebody thought it was a good idea to blast a whole playlist right down on my window."

"Oh, that's awful. I would've punched them in the face." The brunette emphasized her point by hitting her own palm.

"I considered that for a moment." HyunJin went silence, gazing the redhead for a good whole minute with shock written all over her face. She was trying to figure out if the girl was kidding or not. HaSeul must be really tired if she considered resorting to violence for even just a second.

"What kind of songs they were playing?"

"Does it matter?"

"Yes. Good songs you can at least enjoy..." HyunJin shrugged as if her statement was obvious and HaSeul didn't even need to ask such a thing. This took a laugh out of the redhead.

"Kim HyunJin seeing the bright side of a situation!? Oh, I'm really sleep deprived right now." She finally raised her head trying to fix her mess of a hair at least a little bit to be considered decent.

"Someone has to do it and you better get back to your usual self, 'cause I can't keep this up for too much longer." She said dead serious, but her expression showed nothing but fondness and the sincere wish to see her friend better. HaSeul was touched.

"Thank you... They were good songs, by the way. Mostly ballads which are my favorite."

If she wasn't so out of it that morning, she would have connected all the dots right there at that moment.

However, she did not.

~×~×~×~×~

Choi Yerim was a genius that nobody could comprehend. Don't get her wrong though, when the girl suggested something so impossible and displaced as to her to confess her feelings, JungEun almost threw herself out of the café they were at.

"Calm down, there are ways and ways of confessing! You don't need to do it directly!" She explained like a tutor trying to teach something as simple as 1+1 to a not so bright student.

"Hm... So what? Are you suggesting a love letter? A serenade?" JungEun laughed nervously of her own ideas while mentally she was nodding to every single one of them. Those were things she could definitely try, even though they were very direct in her humble opinion.

"Well, yes! Music is the best way to reach someone's heart!" She said with a dreamy sigh "Everybody loves a good ballad and there're plenty of very beautiful romantic ones that you could play for her! She can't just ignore that!"

"Ahn, actually she can." Not only HaSeul could as she probably would exactly the way she did with her other attempts.

JungEun was at her limit... It wasn't obvious by now to the other girl that she was interested? What else was needed for HaSeul to realize!? A smoke signal!? 'Cause, Christ, she would do that if this was it took to make the redhead acknowledge her.

JungEun knew deep inside why she hadn't given up yet. What she felt towards the other girl went beyond just a simple crush, beyond the thrill originated from this chase game... She was utterly and unabashedly in love. Not only that, JungEun loved HaSeul in a way that she doesn't recall loving anyone else! For that reason, she was so afraid. Afraid of losing the little she had with the other girl. Afraid of ruining everything with a step in false. Once she confessed there was no going back. If she got rejected all would come crashing down and she didn't know if she would be able to survive such pain. The blond preferred living of the uncertainty, living of hope and bittersweet 'what ifs'... They were all better alternatives to the mere prospect of getting her heart torn into pieces.

"She can't if you play right in front of her window at night." Yerim sported a devilish smirk and every single cell of the blonde's body shook at the sight. The duality of her spirited friend was striking, to say the least.

"You're scaring me and that's crazy!"

"Love is a sweet crazy thing!" She countered with determination burning in her eyes. The younger closed the notebook and deposited in the hands of a terrified JungEun " This is attempt #387! Now go get your girl!"

It was what JungEun did against her better judgment.

The blonde just wasn't expecting it to take three long days for HaSeul to even open the window in order to verify the source of the music. JungEun truly underestimated the redhead's power of ignoring her existence and overestimated her own capacity of staying sleepless for several nights in a roll. Damned, be the day she listened to Choi Yerim!

On the third day, however, HaSeul blessed JungEun with her presence. She opened not the window but the front door of her house and...

Suddenly JungEun wished she hadn't appeared at all.

~×~×~×~×~

"Unnie, if you don't kill this girl I will!" YeoJin banged at her door. HaSeul screamed messing her hair in frustration. Three nights! She didn't sleep for three nights! Now even the sound of a pin dropping to the floor made her flinch traumatized with the smallest of sounds. It was too much to bear.

"Oh, I'm killing this girl tonight! Don't worry." HaSeul opened the door of her room fuming. YeoJin froze on the spot seeing the murderous look her sister had, taking ten steps back until she was inside her own bedroom. She didn't want to be around to testify a homicide. HaSeul considered it a very wise decision.

She descended the stairs and took the front door out of its hinges with the force she pushed it open. HaSeul was barefoot and wearing pajamas, but she paid no mind to the cold traveling through her spine. Not when she had the anger and the excitement of seeing Kim JungEun, sprawled carelessly on a red car's hood, to keep her body warmed. The car was opened, sound system exposed and blasting her favorite song at maximum volume. It was a wonder the blonde herself wasn't deaf by now.

HaSeul gulped, hesitant for a moment. The girl in front of her hadn't noticed her presence yet, head bobbing to the sound of the music supported by her bended knee. , so inviting with that red as blood lipstick, moved silently whispering sweet nothings at the rhythm of the beats of HaSeul's heart. JungEun was wearing a leather jacket (it should be a crime look this good if somebody asked for the redhead's opinion) and her long golden locks, the hair HaSeul learned to love and seek out in a crowd, cascaded down her shoulders. It was a mesmerizing view, a sight that expelled all the oxygen from HaSeul's lungs and the strength from her limbs.

Their gazes met when JungEun turned her face towards the still astonished redhead. It was the second time ever that they made visual contact and this time around both of them allowed to immerse into each other's eyes. The blonde, however, didn't manage to hide the surprise from her features much less cover her face as she did at the library and in all their previous meetings. This reminded HaSeul of what she was doing outside in the cold in the first place... She was there with the intention to fight.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!?" The harshness of her tone came as a surprise to even herself, but she blamed the lack of patience due to all this week's complications. Besides, it was really hard to set her thoughts straight when JungEun looked flawless... It was annoying. She didn't know if she wanted to punch or kiss that beautiful face.

"W-W-What?" The girl stuttered and fell awkwardly from the car's hood. Even when she was clumsy she managed to be cute. HaSeul thought, softening her edges just slightly.

"Do you have any idea what you've been doing to me these past months!?" She stepped closer, dangerously. Her steps slow and calculated. JungEun soon saw herself trapped between the vehicle and the redhead's body with nowhere to escape. "You, Kim JungEun, has been driving me crazy! In more ways than one!"

"I-" The blonde begin to say but was cut by HaSeul who pointed an accusatory finger at her chest.

"No, you'll listen to me! I don't sleep, my grades are sinking, I can't focus on any of my activities because of you!"

"I'm-" She tried again, but this time HaSeul took hold of the jacket, pulling her forward. They were never this close before and JungEun was sure that she would pass out before the end of this speech. She knew she should be feeling guilty for everything she made the girl been through, but the blonde couldn't help but think how incredibly hot the redhead looked when she was angry.

"What's your problem!?" HaSeul screamed. She wanted to understand. Understand why the blonde was tormenting her that way, making her suffer and mostly, why her heart was making her feel those things whenever JungEun as much as glanced at her with those eyes full of what she could only describe as love.

"You! My problem is you!" JungEun screamed right back. The hold on her jacket getting stronger. HaSeul's eyes began to fill with water and the blonde could tell those weren't tears steaming from sadness. Uh Oh. What the hell did she just say!? That definitely didn't come out the way she wanted. Jesus, that's precisely why she hadn't said anything to HaSeul until now. She at expressing herself, especially when she was this close to the redhead, getting intoxicated by her natural perfume, by her erratic breathing caressing and warming her skin.

"I'm your problem!?" HaSeul shook her head, not believing what she just heard and laughing without a trace of humor. She was at her boiling point "Yah! You've got the courage to say that after-"

JungEun didn't want to hear another word embedded in anger and so much confusion leaving the other girl's mouth. She couldn't let HaSeul think that she hated her and that everything she did was somehow to make her feel bad! So she did the only thing that shouldn't be done. The only thing that could condemn her more than any confession direct or indirect.

JungEun kissed her.

JungEun kissed her desperately like her life depended on it and in a sense, maybe it did. That kiss would be decisive: it would either be the beginning of something beautiful or the end of everything.

HaSeul's words died down in , suffocated by the sudden presence of soft lips on her own. The initial shock wasn't enough to prevent her body from reacting before her mind could comprehend what was going on. Every single molecule that constituted her system was infatuated with Kim JungEun right now, screaming her name and making the redhead forget her own in the process. The blonde was sending her senses into overdrive, legs giving out, heart pounding at an alarming rate and if it weren't for the other's strong arm sustaining her, the hand gently massaging her hair in a soothing manner, she would have fallen and lost her sanity.

What kind of sorcery was this? How could a simple kiss be that powerful!? Oh, that wasn't simple at all, that was far from simple.

She was supposed to be fuming, she was supposed to be with so much anger! HaSeul couldn't let Kim JungEun get away with everything with a kiss, no matter how heavenly it was and how much everything inside of her was begging for more than a taste of it. The blonde pulled back a little when teeth came into contact with her inferior lip. She smirked at the action. The nerve she had... smiling that infuriating smile of hers when she had just slain HaSeul's entire existence. It wasn't meant for her to enjoy the bite nor for her to be that cocky about it.

"Are we even now?" JungEun whispered and oh how dare she? The insufferable smile still firmly in place while she deliberately slow slid her tongue through the cut. The butterflies living inside HaSeul's stomach threw a whole party at the movement and she forced herself to look away, blushing redder than the JungEun's car. She did that with the other's lip... It was a reckless action, one that she didn't regret one bit.

"Not even close." She murmured with a pout. JungEun put her fingers gently below her chin, the mere touch eliciting goosebumps in its wake while moving her head to face her. HaSeul realized, up close and now with the proper time to drink in all the details in the other's face, how even the blonde's eyes sparkled in gold. She was drowning in them and for some reason, the redhead wasn't scared of diving even deeper, not when those eyes held so much promise, so much adoration. HaSeul wasn't scared at all, she felt safe inside of them.

"I'm so sorry," JungEun whispered and it sounded so small, so sincere that HaSeul couldn't do anything besides forgiving her for every childish attempt to get her attention when it wasn't even necessary. The girl owned her heart a long time ago "I was dumb. I'm dumb. I thought you were so amazing and unreachable that I needed to come up with all those plans to get you to notice me. " She laughed self-deprecating and ashamed. HaSeul reached for her face, caressing her cheek in what she hoped was a comforting act. JungEun leaned helplessly into the touch and HaSeul melted "I should've been honest with you... I should've told you that I like you. I should've-" A finger met her lips, halting her confession. For the first time that night HaSeul smiled. The one that made JungEun fall in the first place. The one that set her into this crazy mission. Did the redhead know how helpless she was for that smile?

"That's ok. I found your attempts endearing, I'll admit." She said, raising one of her shoulders in an adorable manner.

"You did!?"

"Yes. It wasn't completely your fault too, I should've realized sooner that you were saying 'I like you' in different ways." Yet, JungEun was saying so much more.

"I'm glad you noticed." The blonde sassed which gained her a light slap on the arm and a laugh. Oh, that laugh was better than any song JungEun could play "Ouch! I mean, it took you long enough. My list of ideas was running short and I was getting really desperate!"

"How many more attempts before you actually considered talking to me?"

"Hm... Probably a few more, maybe A LOT more." She pretended to be making the math.

"You're an idiot." It was said with so much affection and, dare JungEun hope, love, that she wouldn't mind being called idiot that way more times.

"I'm your idiot now, though." Their noses bumped. None of the girls cared about how freezing they were. JungEun held HaSeul closer, arms around her waist.

"Indeed." HaSeul closed the distance initiating the second kiss they would share that night. However, not the last...

Oh no, never the last.

Attempt #387.

Succeeded.