A/N: Hi. I've just been through hell. I'm not sure if I'm out of it yet, so please help a sister out. Bear with me for the next few weeks or months. Blease. Updates are gonna take Time but don't fret because I won't ever abandon this universe. Anyway, this is the promised intro/intersection of the viseul, lipsoul, and yoerry arcs. Enjoy.

Word count: 2,215 words

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Yeojin looks out the window to see the usual Friday night traffic. Private and public vehicles surround the bus that she’s on, at all sides, as it’s currently stuck on the crowded main road. She wrinkles her nose in distaste. These traffic jams just get worse every week.

She looks over her shoulder, hopes that there was a vacant seat she had missed when she boarded, but she finds none. She turns back to the window again and thinks, it certainly would’ve been easier if her parents had let her and her sister rent out a flat closer to campus instead of having them commute an hour back and forth every day. She wonders if it’s because their dad’s a total cheapskate or if it’s because he’s really just that attached to their home and their neighborhood.

Yeojin ponders over this some more for the next five minutes which causes her to fail to notice that the bus had pulled up on a stop where a half-dozen people hopped off and another half-dozen got on. She’s just coming to the conclusion that it’s more likely the first reason (her dad’s the biggest cheapskate! He doesn’t even bring his car to work and carpools with Kahei’s dad as often as possible!) when she feels a tap on her shoulder.

She turns around abruptly, ready to throw a punch if needed, only to see Jeon Heejin smiling at her. Behind the theatre department’s star student stands Yeojin’s neighbor and childhood tormentor, Kim Hyunjin (also, Heejin’s girlfriend). Yeojin will never not find it strange how a barking weirdo like Hyunjin landed a popular, talented, and Russian royalty-looking gal like Heejin.

“Uh, hi?” Yeojin mutters, eyes darting from Heejin to Hyunjin who’s now scowling.

“Heading home now?” Heejin asks, brightly.

“Yeah. You guys too?” Yeojin replies, still wondering what this is about.

“We’re heading to Hyun’s, actually.” Heejin says, trades a gooey look with Hyunjin, which Yeojin tries to ignore (PDA is gross, okay?).

Heejin looks back at her as if she’s expecting something, making Yeojin wonder. She’s bumped into them on the commute several times already. If not on the way to uni, it’d be on the way back home. But they’ve never approached her like they did just now.

“Anyway, since we’re going the same way, wanna sit with us?” Heejin says, finally cutting the chase.

Yeojin looks at Hyunjin for some indication that she’s in on what her girlfriend is offering her, but the older girl has already walked off to the other side of the bus where there are two available seats.

“C’ mon, don’t be shy.” Heejin smiles again and proceeds to grab her hand.

The girl leads her to settle on the window seat and then debates with Hyunjin on who should take the other one. Heejin insists that Hyunjin takes it while Hyunjin argues that Heejin should be the one seated. Yeojin has to awkwardly watch them for five minutes until she decides they’re arguing for too long. She makes to stand and give her seat up to get them to quiet down, but Hyunjin sees her and frowns at her.

“Sit your down, lentil bean.” The older girl says.

Heejin looks taken aback at that but she recovers. “Don’t call her that, Hyun.”

“But I’ve been calling her that all my life!” Hyunjin defends herself,  shrugs.

Yeojin rolls her eyes and lets out a sigh. “Will one of you just please sit down?”

Hyunjin, being the taller and stronger one, utilizes that to her advantage, grabs Heejin by the shoulder, and pushes her to sit as gently as she can.

“Thank you.” Yeojin mumbles.

Heejin gives her a shy smile while Hyunjin reaches for the handrail overhead.

They don’t say much for the duration of the ride but the silence that lingers isn’t awkward. While the couple discreetly held hands, Yeojin resumed looking out the window.

The bus rolls onto far less crowded and increasingly familiar streets. Yeojin spots the noodle and congee house she runs to whenever her Haseul unnie gets sick. Now that doesn’t happen often but she remembers every single time she goes there. Call her paranoid but she never, ever wants to see her sister in pain if she can help it. Which makes her wonder if she’s ever getting back together with Jungeun. She liked Jungeun for her unnie. She knew Jungeun made her unnie happy and that her unnie made Jungeun happy too. But nowadays, whenever she brings it up, Haseul just tells her that it isn’t as simple as that. Haseul said that in time, she’ll get to understand why. Whatever that means.  

A couple of blocks ahead of the noodle house, the bakery where Hyunjin takes her to whenever her jokes come too far and she’s in need of redemption comes on sight. Her aforementioned childhood friend catches her eye and smirks at her as if they were thinking of the same thing. As they grew up, Hyunjin having to bribe her with bread to make her stop crying became less and less, but it’s still a fond memory. Call her easy but she always did forgive Hyunjin for whatever nasty prank she pulled on her regardless of what baked thing she buys her. Deep inside, she knows it has nothing to do with her being easily placated, but rather it’s because she knows that Hyunjin truly does care about her. She just has a weird way of showing it.

Some more blocks past the bakery is the turn that leads to the roller skating rink where Kahei worked part-time every summer. Yeojin never did understand why the older girl had to work there. It’s not like she needed the money. Her family’s filthy rich (they live in the biggest, fanciest house within a six-block radius and had a handful of helpers running around their mansion). But whatever the reason is doesn’t really matter to Yeojin because she enjoyed all the times she, Haseul, and Hyunjin came to the rink to bother Kahei when she was on duty. Call her boring but she’d always pick hanging out with her people in that dusty, smelly roller skating rink over anything anytime.

They finally reach their stop and Yeojin puts a cap to her reminiscing so she can follow Hyunjin and Heejin as they hop off the bus. They walk the last couple of blocks leading to their street in deep silence until Yeojin decides to break it.

“Hey guys, would you rather just commute like this every day until you graduate or would you get a dorm or flat that’s closer to campus for convenience?” She wonders aloud.

Heejin looks at her, thinks. “Mhmm. The convenience does sound appealing but I like going home to my family still.”

“Yeah, same for me. I like coming home here. I get to see my mom, my dad, and my brothers. And I don’t have to cook my own meals either.” Hyunjin adds the last part cheekily, making Heejin laugh.

“That makes sense.” Yeojin says, nods.

“Well, this is us now.” Heejin says as they come to a stop in the walkway leading to Hyunjin’s front porch. “Bye, Yeojin! See you in class!”

“Yeah, bye, bean.” Hyunjin calls in a nonchalant tone that is betrayed by the familiar amiable sparkle in her eyes.

Yeojin waves to them both before she runs the last few meters to their house. She sees the lights in the living room but still bothers with using her own keys to let herself in instead of ringing the bell. She’s tired and she’d rather not risk getting an earful of from her mother tonight ( I’ve told you time and time again to always bring your keys with you! ). She steps in the hallway and her sister rounds the corner.

“Oh, you’re home.” Haseul says, frowns. “Did you walk by yourself? I keep on telling you to call me when you get off the bus so I can meet you at the corner store! Do you know how dangerous it is-”

“I didn’t walk alone, unnie!” Yeojin cuts her off. “Hyunjin unnie and her girlfriend got on the same bus as me and we walked together.”

Haseul closes . Yeojin stares at her, challenging her to say more and she does look like she wants to, but Kahei comes out of the kitchen holding a bowl of popcorn.

Yeojin’s feet move of their own accord. Before she knows it she’s run the short distance to embrace her favorite neighbor.

“Unnie! You’re here!” She exclaims in delight.

“Aww, Yeojinie. I missed you too.” Kahei chuckles as she hugs her back just as tightly. “Even though we totally saw each other in campus earlier.”

The sight of them being clingy with each other has Haseul shaking her head, but there’s a smile on her face that doesn’t waver that has Kahei raising an eyebrow in her direction. For something to do, Haseul takes the bowl of popcorn from her and leans against the wall behind her, allowing Yeojin to steal Kahei’s attention again.

“Have you had dinner?” The older girl asks her as she pulls away a little, to look at her face better.

Yeojin shakes her head, drops her arms to her side, and steps back.  

Kahei exchanges looks with Haseul again. “You go eat. Auntie left some beef stew for you. The two of us already ate.”

“Oh, right.” Yeojin turns to her sister this time. “Where’s mom and dad?”

“They’re on a tennis club thing with Kahei unnie’s parents.” Haseul replies. “Well, grab some food. We’re about to start a Brooklyn 99 marathon.”

Upon hearing that, Yeojin drops her backpack on the floor and runs to the kitchen. When she’s supplied with a bowl of rice soaked in stew, she pads to the living room hastily, but she stops in the hall after hearing her phone vibrating inside her bag. She takes it out of the front pocket and balances her bowl of food in one hand while taking the call on the other.

“Hello?”

“Well? Are you home now?” Comes an impatient voice from the other line.

Yeojin winces. She forgot to call again. “Oh, yes… Yes, I am.”

“I told you to call me when you get home! It’s past nine! Do you know how worried I was getting?”

“Uh, I literally just got home.” She reasons but weakly.

“And were you just about to call me?” The caller presses on.

“Yerim unnie ,” Yeojin pauses, takes a deep breath. “I’m sorry but I’m hungry and it really hasn’t even been ten minutes since I got here.”

“Hmph. I knew it. Remember to call as soon as you get past your front door next time, okay? And don’t forget to bring an extra shirt to change into for tomorrow’s rehearsals, alright? We plan to finish the entire dance routine for Act II by sundown.”

“Yes, yes, I will.” Yeojin chuckles. “Are you… are you with Jinsol unnie right now?”

“Yeah. We’re with her friend. We just had dinner together and the two of them are dropping me off.” There’s a pause in the line, some scuffling, and then she hears Yerim laugh. “Jinsol unnie says hi and that she’ll see you tomorrow so you better perfect those spins she taught you for Born To Hand Jive.”

Yeojin smiles because she can just picture Jinsol trying to take Yerim’s phone from her. She doesn’t say anything and just takes the moment to listen to her best friend’s breathing from the other line. It’s a pity that Yerim seems to have other things to do.

“Anyway, that’s everything. Gotta go now. Good night, Yeojin.”

“Yeah, okay. Good night, Yerim unnie.” Yeojin says, tries not to feel too regretful when the older girl hangs up. She stares at her phone screen for a bit until Haseul impatiently calls for her.

“Yeojin! Hurry up! We all have to be seated for the opening!”

“I’m coming!” She slips her phone in her back pocket and makes a run for the living room again.

“And don’t leave your bag in the hall. Your mom’s going to flip.” Kahei reminds her.

She turns right back, grabs her bag, and slides it to the back of the couch. She then vaults over the furniture and plops down on Kahei’s other side just as Haseul presses play on the remote.

“You better be careful with that. I will not cover for you when mom asks why the sofa’s stained with dinner.” Haseul warns her with narrowed eyes.

“As if you won’t.” Kahei mumbles under her breath with a slight shake of her head.

“I heard that.” Haseul replies, pokes Kahei on the side.

Kahei catches the girl’s hand, mid-poke, with her own. “Haseulie, just admit that you’re soft for your sister.”

Yeojin lets out a hah! and snorts into her food while Haseul rolls her eyes at Kahei.

A minute passes where they just all stare into the television screen with dumb smiles on their faces.

“You’re lucky I love you both.” Haseul finally says.

Yeojin puts her bowl on the coffee table and tackles both her and Kahei in a hug.

“That’s so soft!”

“Get out of here!”

“Can we watch the show? Can we PLEASE watch the show?”