Between the Pages

I Am a Part of All I Have Read
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It only took two days for Seulgi to make another appearance. While forty-eight may not seem like a long time to most people, to Joohyun (who is not most people), it felt like a stretch of eternity. The English major’s head was on a constant swivel. Everywhere she went, Joohyun searched for Seulgi’s face. Joohyun looked through the throngs of other students trudging to classes for ripped skinny jeans and Doc Martens, but they never turned out to be Seulgi’s.

She watched the countless faces lining up in the cafeterias or in the line for Starbucks. On Tuesday, Joohyun thought she’d spotted her grabbing a coffee as she was walking by. Rooted to the spot, Joohyun’s heart leaped at the idea of seeing Seulgi again. She almost started walking towards the girl but stopped herself when it turned out to be someone else who merely looked like Seulgi from behind.

Disappointment radiated from her small frame the entire day after that and Joohyun quickly moved along, feeling a little silly. Not even her friend’s playful teasing at lunch could alleviate her crushed mood after that. She even scoured the cafeterias for any sign of the younger woman, all to no avail – there were far too many students around.

“Maybe Seulgi brings food from home?” Seungwan commented offhandedly on Tuesday. The four of them are seated around their usual table in the student union and Joohyun can’t help but feel distracted. By then, her friends had definitely noticed her odd behavior but no one was brave enough to bring it up.

“Hm?” Joohyun mutters absentmindedly. Her eyes were trailing over the multitude of students lingering around. Dozens of tables and booths scattered about were bustling, all occupied by SM’s finest. She caught tiny bits of conversation here and there, outbursts from friends who hadn’t seen each other since last semester, sparkles of laughter. But still, no Seulgi.

“You know, like, maybe she packs her own lunch?” Seungwan bites the inside of her cheek. Her eyes dart nervously between Sooyoung and Yeri’s quizzical expressions. Hesitantly, she shrugs, “That would explain why the four of us have never seen her around the student union or any of the dining halls.”

“Hm,” Joohyun muttered. Her eyes remained unfocused and distant, glazing over their surroundings. Seungwan turns to the other two girls, eyebrows raised, silently prompting them to chime in.

“Well, if she does, she’s smart as hell,” Yeri cackles. She snatches up her empty Chipotle bag from the table and begins waving it wildly in the air as if it were a rebel flag. Sooyoung snickers in amusement before Seungwan swats both her and Yeri on the shoulder. “Hey! Ouch!” Yeri scowls, rubbing her arm. She shoots a death glare at Seungwan that would stop a football player in his tracks, but Seungwan remains unphased.

She sticks her tongue out at Yeri and turns back to chowing down on her food. “I can’t believe I actually have to pay for this giant meal plan,” Yeri continues a beat later. “I only come here and buy food because I’m not getting that money back at the end of next semester.”

Sooyoung snickers into her plate of freshly made chicken nuggets. She dips a nugget into her container of ranch sauce, munches on a fry, and takes a sip of her strawberry flavored milk shake.

“Right?” She swathes another golden fried nugget into her ranch and pops it into . “College is a scam if I’ve ever seen one,” she says, full. Seungwan winces at the sight of Sooyoung simultaneously talking and chewing.

“Gross, Sooyoung.”

The taller woman flashed her a wicked grin, munching away.

“Anyways, good thing I’ve got that sweet, sweet tiny commuter student meal plan. I’ll actually use it up and whatever’s left is going to go towards my tuition for next semester!”

Yeri sighs dejectedly and pokes at her burrito bowl sulkily. “I can’t wait until I can move off campus,” she groans. “Oh, …that means I’m going to have to pay for rent, though! God! Why do nice things have to be so expensive?”

Seungwan and Sooyoung laugh, but Joohyun’s still zoned out, no doubt searching the crowd for the slightest hint of Seulgi’s presence. Her friends share a pointed look. You do it, Seungwan motions to Yeri, who shakes her head with such a fervor it looked as if she were about to break her neck . No, you’re the second oldest - why don’t you do it? In a matter of seconds, a heated but silent argument breaks out between both of them.

Sooyoung’s eyes narrow as she watches the spectacle unfold. Yeri’s jabbing a finger at Seungwan, her face red from holding back from yelling. Meanwhile, Seungwan holds her cup of coffee in hand, mouthing back with the same ferocity as a startled house cat.

You guys can be so childish sometimes.

“You feeling okay, Joohyun?” Sooyoung says finally, nudging the older woman with her shoulder. Joohyun looks over at her as if she’s just been startled awake from a dream.

“Yeah, I’m good.” She blinks rapidly, turning her attention back to her lunch. She realized she’d hardly touched her own food. Her stomach growling ever so slightly, Joohyun took a bite out of her tuna salad sandwich. She could feel Sooyoung’s sharp gaze still trained on her as she looked around the room once more. “Why, what’s up?”

Silence.

Then, “Seeing Seungwan just accidentally snorted coffee up her nose and you haven’t even noticed, I just wanted to be sure,” Sooyoung replied, cracking up hysterically.

“Oh?”

Joohyun whipped her head around and sure enough, Seungwan was dejectedly wiping splotches of dark brown off of her shirt while Yeri howled with laughter beside her.

“I bought this last week,” the Canadian whined, pouting at the stain marks covering her blue and white checkered flannel. “Hey! Yeri, you better stop laughing right now, so help me god!”

Joohyun’s face broke out into an easy smile, bemused by the scene in front of her. Sooyoung was leaning over with a fistful of napkins in hand, daubing away at the stains. Once Yeri finished smacking the table with her open palm, she wiped a tear from her eye and did the same. Her friends might be clowns, but they always did their best to take care of each other.

With a soft chuckle, she shook her head and rummaged around in her backpack. When she found what she was looking for, she raised it triumphantly to the ceiling as if wielding a sword.

“Here, this’ll help.”

She passed the tube to Seungwan and watched her friend’s eyes instantly lit up with relief.

“Joohyun, you’re an absolute lifesaver!”

“Um…,” Yeri stifled another snicker. She was clutching her stomach with her free hand, no doubt finding it difficult to breathe after laughing so much. “Since when did you start carrying around Tide Pens, Joohyun?”

“I thought you’d never ask,” Joohyun said, her voice overflowing with barely contained excitement. Joohyun loved few other things than describing her love for Tide or Downy. “Last semester, I had this speech class and we had to wear business casual for presentations. Everything was going really well until this one guy came in late with his entire shirt soaked with coffee. The entire front and half of a sleeve of his shirt was this nasty translucent shade of brown.”

Sooyoung’s nose crinkled up in disgust.

“Apparently, he was running late to class and ran straight into some girl carrying a giant iced coffee. He didn’t have enough time to go back and change so he just kept going,” she trailed off, throwing her hands up in the air. “Isn’t that insane? Our professor was super strict and she deducted his grade by three points because of it, so I decided I’d never be put in that dude’s shoes.”

Seungwan hands back the Tide Pen after successfully getting most of the stains out. Sooyoung admired the Canadian’s handiwork, brushing a finger against the fabric. The taller girl’s finger lingered there for a half a second more, as if testing the waters of Seungwan’s boundaries. Joohyun watched with quiet curiosity as the pair exchanged shy smiles. Her eyebrows began to furrow.

Wait a second. Were they…?

“Ah, that’s our mom friend,” Yeri teased. She threw an arm around Joohyun's shoulders, physically jarring her from her thoughts. With a blush creeping up the back of her neck, Joohyun moved to tuck her Tide Pen back into her backpack. “Always taking care of us.” When she felt brave enough to take another glance at the pair, both had respectively returned to eating their lunches. The gears in her brain were still churning. She’d have to ask Seungwan about it later.

“Someone’s got to!” Joohyun said, feigning exasperation. “If I don’t do it, who will?” Joohyun playfully rolled her eyes as her friends protested at her outburst. She waved them off with a grin and took another bite of her tuna salad. The Mom Friend: that was her, alright. Joohyun had earned that nickname after years of looking out for her friends.

At first, she’d hated the title. She thought the girls were only referring to her age, that it was something to be ashamed of. After all, she was going to turn twenty-one later that year. Her three other friends were still in their teens. In fact, Yeri had just turned eighteen. Sometimes Joohyun felt worlds apart from them because of that. But when she found out the phrase represented how much love she had for the girls, her heart melted.

Joohyun spent the rest of their meal together completely present, chiming in with witty remarks and cracking jokes and enjoying her friend’s company. When she was packing up her things to leave, she missed her friends shooting each other triumphant smiles. As she trudged to class, it suddenly dawned on her: that had been the first time since their encounter in the library,

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smiley-seulgi
Hey, everyone! I'm hosting a giveaway for Red Velvet's summer comeback! The prize is a Summer Magic album (regular version) ! Check this tweet for the details > https://twitter.com/smiley_seulgi/status/1026139751559163904

Comments

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jmjdumpx #1
miss u 🥹
jmjdumpx #2
Chapter 11: miss you 🥹
phoenixcloudburst #3
Chapter 11: noooo it's been so long since the last update. i'm quite devastated to see it still unfinished. but still thank u as i had reading this for the past hr
jmjdumpx #4
Chapter 11: I'm still here 🥲
bluejin #5
Chapter 9: AHHHH WHY ARE THEY SO CUTE
seulrene_xx
#6
will reread this :(( waiting with respect authornim! have a great day ^^
seulrene_xx
#7
Chapter 11: i still come back here if there's any new updates for this fic :< still waiting with respect authornim :>
agentprincess #8
Chapter 11: waiting with respect for the nexr chapter
JDSaint
#9
Chapter 11: Conflict? There's going to be a conflict?? I was pretty sure that wenjoyri will love Seulgi. You got me intrigued. :O
JDSaint
#10
Chapter 10: Omg the amount of kilig I have on this chapter gsjdjsknskskan (๑>ᴗ<๑)

Also, I love the part of Sana's cameo on this. Hahaha The gay queen blessing seulrene I'M—