The first thing Mina realizes when she wakes up is the pounding pain in her head. She opens her eyes, and it takes her a few seconds before she registers the unfamiliar ceiling she’s faced with. When she does, panic fills her veins, thinking that she had been kidnapped. It’s only when she turns to her side to see Chaeyoung deep asleep beside her, mouth slightly open that she gets her bearings back, recalling where this is. Her sunshine’s sleeping habits only makes her cuter, and she can’t help but smile as she looks at her. It’s very cute alright, and she would have been better able to appreciate it if only her head doesn't feel like it will burst anytime now. Stupid hangover.

Groaning, she pulls herself up, wanting to head to the toilet to wash up first, and her headache just gets worse with every step she takes. By the time she gets to the toilet, she can feel her stomach churning and she barely makes it into the toilet bowl in time before it all comes up and out. She’s hurling up into the toilet bowl, regretting all the decisions she made last night when she feels hands combing her hair back and holding it before a hand pats her gently on the back.

When she’s finally done, she leans back tentatively, and the girl behind her immediately holds her in her arms securely. The girl behind her closes the lid of the toilet bowl, letting her sit there while she flushes the toilet before giving her a cup of water. As she drinks, Chaeyoung takes the time to wipe , cleaning her up. She feels sorry for waking Chaeyoung up, but also thankful that she is here to take care of her.

“I’m sorry.” She mumbles, burying her face into Chaeyoung’s shirt for being a burden.

“Silly, don’t be.” Chaeyoung tells her, patting her head gently. “Are you feeling better?”

Mina shakes her head, but it only makes her headache worse, which elicits a groan from her. “My head feels like it’s going to burst.”

“You will feel better after getting some food, so let’s hurry and wash up.” Chaeyoung prods, trying to pull her away, but Mina doesn’t budge.

“No,” Mina whines, “I just want to stay here with you.”

Mina has always loved affection from her, but this reminds her of drunk Mina yesterday. That was on another level, where the girl didn’t even let her leave her side for one second. Chaeyoung chuckles, “That’s what you said yesterday too.”

Mina pulls away, horrified expression on her face. “I didn’t do anything weird last night, did I?”

“That’s for me to know, and for you to find out.” Chaeyoung teases her as she gets Mina’s toothbrush and squeezes toothpaste on it, handing it out to her. “Come on, wash up, I will be outside.”

Mina takes the toothbrush and starts brushing her teeth begrudgingly, mind running wild thinking about all the things her drunk self could have done to embarrass her.

“You didn’t do anything weird,” Chaeyoung tells her on the way out, putting Mina’s mind as ease as she heaves a sigh of relief.

The little fighter stops and leans against the toilet door, “But you know, if you want to do anything, you can always tell me. I wouldn’t judge, or mind.” She wiggles her eyebrows before stepping out, and Mina nearly chokes on the foam of the toothpaste.

--

“Oh, come on, are you still embarrassed?” Chaeyoung teases as she swings their entwined hands. Mina had been so mortified to find out about the phone call Chaeyoung had with Momo, and she didn’t know if that was more embarrassing, or if her imagined scenario of her drunk self hitting on Chaeyoung would be more embarrassing.

“I’m not!” Mina retorts, but her red cheeks give her away. She has a heart to shake off Chaeyoung’s hand and run off, but she immediately gives up, knowing that she won’t be able to outrun her anyway.

Chaeyoung laughs, before squeezing Mina’s hand, reassuring her that it’s okay. They have been dating for a while now, it’s only normal to want to take their relationship to the next stage. Maybe she will do something about it next time, now that she knows that they are on the same page about wanting to take it to the next level. They are almost nearing Mina’s house, and she has one last surprise for her before she lets her go. (She had planned to give it to her last night, but well, things happened.)

“Come on, let’s sit there for a while.” She tells Mina, dragging her to the playground. Thankfully, Mina doesn’t question her, just follows her along.

She sits the girl on the bench, standing in front of her. “Close your eyes.”

 “Why, what are you up to again?” Mina frowns in suspicion, but complies anyway. Her sunshine is always full of tricks and surprises, and she still can’t get used to it even though she has been on the receiving end of many of such surprises.

“You will see.” Chaeyoung says in glee, putting down her bag to look for a box. Finding it easily, she takes it out and removes the contents of the box, kneeling down in front of Mina. She takes off Mina’s shoes, eliciting a gasp from the girl and she proceeds to put on her present for Mina. She had wanted to get Mina a unique gift for their anniversary, one that you can’t find anywhere else in the world. Combining that with her drawing talent, she decided to get shoes for Mina, drawing on them so that she could truly give her something truly special, one of a kind, one in a million. She sighs in relief when the shoes fit snugly on Mina’s feet, and she looks up to see the girl with her eyes open already and looking down at her.

She smiles, “Happy 6^th month anniversary, my Cinderella.”

Mina is finally able to take a good look at the shoes on her feet, and sees that it has drawings on them, no doubt by Chaeyoung. It’s nothing much, but Mina loves it. She had always loved getting handmade items, knowing how much heart and effort went into making it, and this right here just takes the cake for the best present she has ever received. “Chaeyoung-ah…”

“I know there’s still some time before our anniversary, but I will just give it to you in advance. You know how impatient I get whenever I have a gift for you.” Chaeyoung says sheepishly. This isn’t the first time she had given Mina gifts before their anniversary or her birthday, always unable to wait until the actual day to give it to her. In her defence, why should she only be allowed to give gifts on special occasions? She should be allowed to spoil her girlfriend whenever she wants, screw special occasions. “Just heads up, don’t wear this out on rainy days, the ink will smudge.”

Mina pulls her in to give her a heated kiss, not knowing what she did to deserve such an angelic girl as her girlfriend. They break apart, panting from the lack of air. “I love you.”

Chaeyoung beams at her. “I know, I love myself too.”

Mina hits her, hates how she always breaks the mood at the worse times. “God, why do I love an idiot…”

“Cos I’m your idiot.” Chaeyoung laughs, standing upright again. “Come on, let me walk you home now.”

--

The first thing Chaeyoung notices when she opens the door is the loud sound of the vacuum. She steps in, announcing her return and Jeongyeon nods at her before continuing to push the vacuum against the floor so harshly the little fighter is almost certain that there are going to be scratches left on the floor from the impact. But she also knows Jeongyeon only does it when she’s stressed or angry, and knows better than to bother her. She heads in, catching the eye of Nayeon, who waves at her lazily, before turning back to her drama series playing on the TV.

“What’s wrong with Jeongyeon-unnie?” She asks Nayeon as she plops down beside her on the couch, reaching for some of the chips the bunny is currently munching on.

The older girl just shrugs. “She has been acting weird ever since yesterday, but she will be fine soon.”

“What happened yesterday? Did you forget to throw out the trash again?” Chaeyoung asks, knowing that there are only a few things that can get Jeongyeon so riled up.

“Excuse me?” Nayeon scoffs, “why do you assume it’s me? Besides if anyone should be angry, I should be the one who’s angry. She babied me the whole day yesterday, even picked me up after my blind date like my mom!”

“You went on a blind date?! How was it?” Chaeyoung asks, so engrossed and curious about what she’s going to hear that she doesn’t even realize that the vacuum sounds have already ceased and Jeongyeon is leaning nearer to them to eavesdrop.

Nayeon shrugs. “He’s alright, but I don’t think I will go out with him again.”

“That’s right, you deserve better than him!” Jeongyeon suddenly shouts from behind, causing the two of them to jump in shock. They both turn behind to look at her, who just clears sheepishly before switching the vacuum on again. She is no longer pushing the vacuum cleaner as if she wants to scrape the floor off, her steps are light and there’s a small smile growing on her face.

Chaeyoung shakes her head at how obvious, yet oblivious the both of them are to their own feelings. Anyone can tell there is something between the two of them, with how much they care for each other, but it seems like they are also the only two who don’t know about it. She doesn’t know if they are just refusing to admit it, or just plain dense.

“Well, enough about me. How was your trip with Mina?” Nayeon asks, not even giving a second thought about Jeongyeon’s erratic behaviour. (This is why they haven’t been able to move on from being best friends, both of them are dense as hell.)

“It was great.” Chaeyoung says with a lovestruck sigh, thinking back on the blissful weekend she had with Mina. To be honest, they didn’t do much during the trip, but she still enjoyed herself a lot. It wasn’t so much what they did, but who she went with that made the trip memorable for her. She can’t wait for their next trip.

Nayeon grimaces, pushing Chaeyoung away. “Okay forget I asked, I forgot you guys are the sweetest couple alive.”

Chaeyoung sticks out her tongue as she stands up, going to clean herself up before Jeongyeon screams at her. “You are just jealous!”

--

Chaeyoung enters the gym, and she sees a sweaty Dahyun already punching a sandbag. She first knew of Dahyun from the rapping club in school, both of them joining to spit some verses but then quickly becoming friends. From then on, they are like two peas in a pod. When Jeongyeon told them of this MMA gym that her friend, aka Jihyo, a retired MMA fighter, is going to open, they had both joined together, trying to make something out of it.

“Yo Dubs!” She calls out, and Dahyun stops her reps to wave at her.

“Glad to see you back, buddy. How was the trip with Mina?” She asks, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively. “I want all the deets.”

Chaeyoung shakes her head while chuckling. “Sorry, nothing juicy.”

“Damnit! Now I owe Tzuyu $20.” Dahyun groans, “I was rooting for you, how could you disappoint me!”

“You guys really placed a bet on my life?” Chaeyoung deadpans, going to the benches to place her bag down. But then again, placing a bet on her life is definitely something her two best friends will do. Tzuyu had transferred over from Taiwan in the second year of high school, and after pairing up for a school project, they had stuck together. That was how the two best friends become three. She would say Tzuyu was the most level-headed and mature one out of the three of them, but there is also a reason why they are still friends.

“Come on, you are the only one who can get some game within the three of us, can’t you let us live vicariously, at least through you?” Dahyun laments, walking away from the sandbag and closer to her.

“Why do you assume I’m the only one attached? Tzuyu may have someone too, for all you know.” Chaeyoung doesn’t know if Tzuyu does have someone or not, but the best way to save herself from the hot seat and Dahyun’s intruding questions is to divert the attention away. That is why she is just saying baseless stuff, which thankfully worked, because Dahyun is gasping.

“No way, what do you know! I can’t believe she told you and not me!” Dahyun complains and before Chaeyoung can reply, their coach’s door swings open, and Jihyo runs out with a crazed look in her eyes.

“Chaeyoung-ah!” She shouts, running over to the smaller girl to engulf her in a big hug. Pulling away with tears in her eyes, she looks at the smaller girl proudly. “Guess who is going to make her UFC debut?”

Chaeyoung just gapes, still processing Jihyo’s words when Dahyun jumps off the ring, running to them. “No way! Did UFC call already?”

Jihyo nods positively. “I just got off the phone with them, and they will be down within this week to sign the contract with her.”

Dahyun immediately jumps on Chaeyoung, head locking her. “I knew you could do it!”

UFC is the biggest global MMA competition, featuring only the best MMA fighters, so it’s no surprise that every MMA fighter’s dream is to be able to be signed by UFC. Chaeyoung is undefeated thus far, winning all 5 of the matches she had took part in, and Jihyo had mentioned to her that some UFC scouts have been talking to her, but now that the offer has really come in, it doesn’t feel real.

“Are you for real?” Chaeyoung asks, unable to believe the news.

“Yes, so start training!” Jihyo goes into coach-mode, hands on her waist as she looks at them reproachingly. Chaeyoung immediately sprints out, starting on her warm up runs happily. She hates warming up and cooling down the most, because they always start and end training with runs, but now, she finds that she can run one whole round around the Earth with all the adrenaline pumping in her body from the news. (She can’t wait to share the news with Mina.)

Jihyo looks at Dahyun. “And you, no slacking too. You have a match next month! 5 more reps on the sandbag!”

--

Jeongyeon grins as she puts down the cup of caramel macchiato in front of Nayeon. “One cup of caramel macchiato for the lady boss!”

Nayeon narrows her eyes at her best friend. Jeongyeon is always either snarky or sarcastic to her, so something is definitely very wrong when she’s talking so amicably to her. She points at the girl with the pen in her hand. “Why are you suddenly being so nice to me?”

“Why can’t I be nice to my best friend?” Jeongyeon leans against the counter, staring at Nayeon with the biggest grin on her face. Although she didn’t understand why, she had been in a good mood ever since she heard Nayeon saying that the blind date didn’t work out. It’s quite mean of her to not want it to work out, but the guy just didn’t seem good enough for Nayeon. (She might have only seen the guy for like, 5 seconds but she can judge people really well, okay?)

Nayeon rolls her eyes, obviously not believing her. “Get lost.”

Jeongyeon just beams at her with the biggest -eating grin before turning to wipe the counter. Nayeon just shakes her head, taking a sip of the cup of coffee before focusing back on stock taking. Not long after, the bell chimes, signalling a new customer.

“Wel-“ They are supposed to greet their customers, but Nayeon stops midway when she realizes who the person who just made her way into the café is. It’s a face she hasn’t seen in a long time, and she had hoped not to see her ever again, but alas, she is standing in front of her, an arrogant look on her face like always.

Nayeon immediately crosses her arms, staring squarely at the girl in front of her. “You are not welcome here.”

The girl takes off her sunglasses haughtily and looks at Nayeon as if she’s not worth her time. “I’m not here for you, I’m here for her.”

She shifts her attention to Jeongyeon, who hasn’t caught on to the commotion yet, still busy cleaning the area. The girl softens, voice suddenly so much sweeter as she calls out for her, “Jeongyeon-ah,”

Jeongyeon responds, but immediately stiffens when she locks eyes with the girl. All the past memories she had with her rushed back, and Jeongyeon finds herself clenching her fists. She takes a moment to compose herself, focusing on the present to anchor herself, hoping that her voice doesn’t tremble, “What are you doing here, Bona?”

“I’m here to look for you. Don’t you miss me?” Bona blinks her eyes at her innocently, and the Jeongyeon in the past would have fallen for her tricks immediately.

(“Jeongyeon-ah!” Bona calls out sweetly, batting her eyelids at her innocently. The girl is outside her door, staring at her with puppy dog eyes when she opened the door and Jeongyeon just stares back at her emotionlessly. She had called things off with the girl a few days ago after having caught her cheating. Again. It’s a cycle: she catches her cheating, they break up, Bona comes back to coax her with her innocent googly eyes, they get back together again, and the cycle repeats. This isn’t the first time Jeongyeon had caught her, and it certainly won’t be the last. Jeongyeon is tired of this game they are playing, she doesn’t even know why she forgives Bona time and again when the result will always be the same.

She sighs, wants to ask Bona to go back home, wants to put an end to this game they are playing, when Bona just snakes her arms around her nape, crashing her lips onto hers. The kiss brings her mind to a blank, and she forgets her previous thoughts as she wraps her arms around Bona’s waist. Just one more time, maybe this time, things will finally be different.)

But the Jeongyeon now has been there, and knows exactly what Bona is playing at. Those puppy eyes might have worked on her then, but it only makes her feel like vomiting now as she stares into them now. She turns away and sees Nayeon beside her, glaring at the girl as she taps her finger furiously against the counter top. She doesn’t know what compels her to take Nayeon’s hand into hers, entwining their hands together, as if to show off to Bona (even though there isn’t anything between her and Nayeon). “You should leave.”

Thankfully, Nayeon doesn’t pull away, just tightens her grip on Jeongyeon’s hand as she barks at Bona. “You heard her.”

Bona eyes their entwined hands and scoffs, knowing that she will never be able to talk to Jeongyeon with Nayeon around. The girl has always been an interference to their relationship, then and now. She decides it’s best to retreat for now and catch Jeongyeon another time to be able to talk to her alone, without Im Nayeon around. “I’ll be back. Pick up my calls, if not I will take it as an invitation for me to come down again.” She tells Jeongyeon as she slips on her sunglasses again. Wanting to make things clear to Nayeon, she tells her, “Also, she’s just holding your hand to make me angry, don’t think for a second she has any feelings for you.”

The moment the girl leaves the café, Nayeon snaps and shakes Jeongyeon’s hands off hers. She’s angry that Bona had the nerve to turn up in front of them again after so long. She had always hated that girl, always being obnoxious, arrogant and spoilt, treating Jeongyeon like a slave instead of a girlfriend. But what she hated the most was how Jeongyeon had chose that girl, how Jeongyeon went back to her time and again even though it was clearly a toxic relationship. (What does she have that I don’t?) But she’s more furious that Jeongyeon had used her as a cover-up, because even though it feels good to piss Bona off, she didn’t want to be given false hope. “Don’t hold my hand ever again. She’s your problem, don’t make it mine.”

Jeongyeon sighs as she slumps down on the stool behind her, watching as Nayeon stomps into the backroom. She deserved that, she really shouldn’t have held Nayeon’s hand like that. But seeing Bona again after so long had made her panic, and she did the only reasonable thing her brain could think of; hold on to the older girl. Nayeon has always been a source of comfort for her no matter how much she bullies her, or how clumsy the older girl is. She really needed to feel Nayeon’s presence to calm her nerves, to anchor her in the present, the reality. She sighs, deciding to let Nayeon cool off before apologizing to her later. The bigger problem is Bona, she doesn’t know why the girl is suddenly back after so long, but she just knows this means trouble.

--

Jeongyeon locks the café up, and looks up to see Nayeon already walking off. She runs after Nayeon, grabbing her by the wrist to stop her.

“My bike is over there,” She points at the opposite direction of where Nayeon is heading, but the older girl just throws her grip off. “I know, but the bus stop is over there.”

She has already apologized, so she didn’t expect Nayeon to still be angry at her, but she sighs. “Nabongs, I’m sorry for just now okay? You can continue to be angry at me, but at least ride with me, it’s late.”

Nayeon crosses her arms, annoyed that this type of gestures from Jeongyeon makes her heart flutter, because she also knows that Jeongyeon is not on the same page as her when it comes to her feelings. But she asks, because she still holds a flicker of hope in her that they might be on the same page. “Why do you care?”

“What do you mean, you are my best friend, of course I care about you!” Jeongyeon retorts.

Nayeon’s heart positively breaks and she laughs hollowly. “That’s right, that’s all I will ever be. Your ‘best friend’. Your best friend, I, want some time alone today. Don’t follow me.”

She turns and stalks towards the bus stop, and Jeongyeon had a heart to follow her, but decided against it. Nayeon sounded serious, and she knew better than to push the girl. But she wondered what that outburst was about. They had grown up together, the two of them and Jihyo, so they are definitely best friends. But it seems like Nayeon doesn’t seem to be satisfied with their relationship anymore, and Jeongyeon doesn’t understand what brought the change when they have been like this for almost all of their lives. What else does she want, what else can they be other than best friends?

She ignores the small voice in her head that tells her that Nayeon is acting like this because she wants them to be more than friends, more than best friends, because there is no way the older girl sees her that way, does she? She finds old, suppressed feelings coming up to the surface, ones that she didn’t know still exist. She had always liked Nayeon more than a friend, but had ignored it for their friendship. Bona came along, and she thought she had completely moved on with the rich girl, but she knows now that that’s not the case. She sighs, walking to her bike. This just makes things even more complicated and messy, she has to deal with Bona (the girl wouldn’t give up so easily, so she knows today won’t be the last they see of her), a moody Nayeon and her own feelings now.

--

Chaeyoung is drying her hair when she sees her phone ringing, and she smiles as she picks it up. “Helloooooo?” She stretches out her words cutely, sounding like a fool.

“Hi,” Mina greets back shyly, giggling slightly.

On days where they don’t get to meet each other, they try their best to give each other a call so that they can at least hear each other’s voices for the day. Chaeyoung flops down onto her bed, “How’s your day?”

“Tiring. I had a whole day of classes, and there’s going to be another test at the end of the week again.” Mina complains, whining cutely as she talks about her day.

Chaeyoung frowns and can’t help but worry for her girlfriend. In med school, the exams never seem to cease, which means Mina never seems to be able to take a break from it. She sighs, feeling so helpless at being unable to make things better for her. “What can I do to make you feel better?”

“Take me out on a date on Friday after my exam.” Mina answers without hesitation. “I have been craving for some spicy rice cakes since forever.”

“Sure,” Chaeyoung smiles as she starts planning their date night in her head, wanting to prepare everything so that all Mina has to do is to enjoy herself and relax on Friday.

“How about you? How have your day been?” Mina asks, voice soft.

Chaeyoung clears , suddenly feeling very nervous. She wants to tell Mina about her signing with UFC, but she doesn’t know how the girl will react, knowing how much she hates her fighting. “I… got signed by UFC today.”

She hears a sudden intake of air over the line and then, nothing. It takes a few seconds before Mina replies, “UFC? The one you have been dreaming about?”

“Yeah…” Chaeyoung answers timidly, unable to gauge Mina’s reaction through the phone.

Mina sighs, knowing that Chaeyoung is definitely over the moon over this news, but she also hears the hesitance in the fighter’s voice when she was telling her, and she knows where that came from. She isn’t the biggest supporter of her fighting because she always got hurt, but it doesn’t mean she doesn’t support her being a fighter. Besides, if this is really what Chaeyoung wants to do, she wants to be there every step of the way, supporting her in achieving her dreams like how Chaeyoung is doing for her.

“That’s a good thing, good job baby.” Mina tells her, still proud of the girlfriend despite the worry.

Chaeyoung feels herself let out a sigh of relief. “You are not angry?”

“I’m never angry at you for fighting, Chaengie. I just can’t help but worry every time you step into the octagon, you know.” Mina had looked through countless of websites on the internet dictating about the most horrifying and horrific injuries ever sustained in MMA matches, and she just doesn’t want Chaeyoung to end up on that list.

“I’ll be okay, alright?” Chaeyoung reassures her girlfriend. “I promise you I will tap out the moment I feel like I’m in danger.”

“You better.” Mina stifles a yawn, the drowsiness beginning to seep in.

Chaeyoung smiles, thinking about how cute her girlfriend must look now all huddled up in her blanket, ready for bed. “Go to sleep, I will see you on Friday.”

“No,” Mina whines, not wanting to call it a night already, “I want to talk to you longer.”

Chaeyoung chuckles lightly, “Go to bed, you still have classes early tomorrow.”

“Call me tomorrow, okay?” Mina relents, the fatigue of the day overpowering her as she forces her eyes open just for a little while more to finish the call with Chaeyoung.

“Okay, good night. Dream of me.” Chaeyoung whispers, and only hears steady breathing as her reply. She smiles and hangs up, her heart so full and happy just from a simple call with Mina.