“Let’s date.”

 

Two words and Eunbi is blown away.

 

“…what?” Eunbi can see the other girl sighs right away and it successfully puts a frown on her own face.

 

“You heard me. Let’s date. Be my girlfriend.”

 

Eunbi’s frown grows deeper. This is truly unexpected, she thinks.

 

Eunbi has all the rights to be confused and skeptical to the current situation. Well, with this underclassman coming to her class out of nowhere and asking her to follow her is already enough of a reason to make her feel suspicious.

 

Lee Chaeyeon? Asking her out? Eunbi internally snickers. They have never even talked to each other until today.

 

Right now, right at this moment at the school’s backyard, the two girls just stare at one another. Chaeyeon doesn’t seem to back down any time soon. Her eyes are so stern, so insistent. Eunbi wants to ask why, wants to know what is on the girl’s mind.

 

But all of the questions are kept tight inside.

 

Eunbi decides to be crazy for once.

 

“Okay. Let’s date.”

 

Eunbi believes she is never the type to act on impulse. So what is she doing?

 

The younger girl looks quite taken aback, her eyes widen a bit. Though seconds later Eunbi sees her expression change back to a nonchalant one.

 

“It’s settled. You’re now my girlfriend, sunbaenim,” Chaeyeon declares.

 

Eunbi nods, all the while questioning her sanity. What’s she doing?

 

“Anyways, my name is Lee Chaeyeon. I hope you won’t forget my name after this talk.” Chaeyeon throws a small smile.

 

And just like that, Eunbi is left alone. The girl who now holds the status as her girlfriend walks out of the scene leaving her more confused than ever.

 

Eunbi shakes her head.

 

This is ridiculous.

 

She snaps out of her thought and briskly walks back to her class as the school’s bell rings to mark the start of the first session of the day.

 

 

––

 

“Spill, Eunbi.” Eunbi chokes on her banana milk. She roughly wipes and glares at the person who just hit her back.

 

“Yena, I swear I’m going to kill you one day.”

 

“No, sweetie. I’m too precious to be killed.” Yena shakes her head before giving an annoying pat on Eunbi’s head.

 

“But for real, why did Lee Chaeyeon come to our class just to meet you?” Eunbi turns her head to her other friend, Hyewon.

 

“Yeah, why did she want to meet you? What did you two talk about?” Yena settles down beside her.

 

Eunbi contemplates for a while whether or not to tell what she encountered this morning. Her friends surely won’t believe this.

 

“Don’t even try to lie.” Hyewon points her finger to warn.

 

Eunbi closes her eyes and opens them again. “She asked me to be her girlfriend,” she almost laughs at how both Yena and Hyewon look to be so shocked at her revelation, “and I agreed.”

 

“Wow. You called her cute once and now you’re girlfriends,” Yena says unbelievably.  “Do you even like her enough to agree on that?”

 

Eunbi takes a sip on her drink before telling what’s been on her mind the whole two sessions.

 

“Actually, it’s more like: does she even like me?”

 

“What do you mean?” It’s now Hyewon who looks puzzled.

 

Eunbi thinks back to the moment when Chaeyeon asked her out. She didn’t show any necessary expressions that should be there when one confesses. Chaeyeon didn’t look shy, nervous. Didn’t look like she was in love with her. But come to think of it, Chaeyeon didn’t say she liked her. She just asked her to be in a relationship with her.

 

This realization just adds to the ever growing list of reasons why she thinks Lee Chaeyeon is interesting.

 

“I’m interested in her. I want to know more about her,” Eunbi confesses instead.

 

“Well, good for you because you don’t have to secretly stare at her now that she’s your girlfriend.” Hyewon gives her a nudge.

 

Eunbi curses under her breath. Was she that obvious?

 

 

––

 

It’s been two days since the last time Eunbi saw her girlfriend. No sights or whatsoever.

 

It’s so weird. Are they really lovers now? Chaeyeon never shows up after that one morning. They don’t even have each other’s numbers.

 

Eunbi starts to think that maybe Chaeyeon was joking. Chaeyeon just pranked her, didn’t she?

 

She should’ve known better. It’s not like she doesn’t know Chaeyeon is known to never take relationships seriously. The younger girl was often seen with different girls or boys for god’s sake.

 

The sudden rustles of her classmates’ movements wake her up from her reverie. Her last class has come to an end. Eunbi sighs as she packs her belongings.

 

She’s just about to stand when Yena’s disastrous voice blasts through the whole classroom.

 

“Kwon Eunbi! Your girlfriend is here!”

 

Eunbi looks at the entrance of her classroom. Yena is right–there stands Chaeyeon, who appears to be waiting for someone.

 

Eunbi ignores the murmurs that come from the people around her and struts out of the classroom. Truthfully, she has seen it coming. Chaeyeon’s quite popular among the juniors in her year, though from her observation she knows that Chaeyeon’s not comfortable with all the attentions she always gets.

 

“Hi sunbaenim, I will take you home today.” Chaeyeon motions for her to start walking.

 

Eunbi can only nod and matches with Chaeyeon’s steps.

 

They’re now outside of the school gate. They keep walking with Eunbi being slightly ahead of Chaeyeon. No small talks. No smiles. Nothing.

 

Eunbi’s getting frustrated at the dreadful silence, but she won’t show it.

 

Minutes have passed. Eunbi just walks with head straight, both hands holding onto her bag straps. Less than twenty steps to reach her house.

 

After Eunbi stops right in front of the gate to her house, she turns around to face Chaeyeon.

 

“See you.” Chaeyeon says before turning to leave.

 

Eunbi can’t believe this. All the time during the walk, Chaeyeon wouldn’t even initiate a talk. All she did was quietly following Eunbi. If this is what Chaeyeon means by dating, then Eunbi won’t even mind to try to last another day in this relationship anymore. Two days of no news and now this? She totally looks like a fool!

 

Screw her curiosity about Chaeyeon. She’s going to ask for a break up.

 

––

 

“I’m going to ask for a break up today.”

 

Yena and Hyewon have to stop slurping on their bowls of soup to look at Eunbi. It’s not until three seconds later that Yena starts to laugh uncontrollably.

 

Eunbi’s really on the verge of slapping the hell out of this moron.

 

“Oh man, I was wondering what break up you meant until I remembered you’re already dating.” Yena chortles, bringing a finger up to wipe away her fake tears.

 

Eunbi can’t really blame Yena for saying that, so she just sighs and munches on her bread.

 

“Why would you want to break up? I thought you have an interest in her.” Hyewon tries to nicely ask.

 

At least Hyewon is willing to hear her out.

 

“I don’t even feel like I’m dating, Hyewon. It’s been four days but all she did was walking me home once. She didn’t even ask for my number.” Eunbi shakes her head, doesn’t even want to hide her frustrations anymore.

 

“I believe you’re aware of how she acts on daily basis. She always exudes that mysterious aura, if you know what I mean,” Yena says.

 

“You accepted her. Why did you even accept her if you knew it’s going to turn out like this?” Hyewon asks a question that Eunbi’s not sure how to answer.

 

She’s been curious about Chaeyeon since the first time they bumped into each other in the school’s hallway. She’s been quietly observing her whenever the girl’s within her sight. But that’s all.

 

She strongly believes she doesn’t like Chaeyeon in a romantic way.

 

Eunbi opens to retort only to get a cautious look from Hyewon and a sign from Yena to look what’s behind her.

 

Eunbi knits her eyebrows and turns around. Her eyes lock with Chaeyeon’s as the younger girl is nearing their table.

 

Chaeyeon’s legs are slender and long–it’s not hard to notice–so it’s no wonder Chaeyeon reaches their spot in no time.

 

“Hello,” Chaeyeon greets all of them.

 

“Hi, Chaeyeon, right? Eunbi talked a lot about you.” Yena greets back amicably.

 

“Ah, is that so?” Chaeyeon smiles and looks at Eunbi.

 

Eunbi holds the strong urge to shove her remaining bread into Yena’s annoying ducky mouth.

 

“Eunbi sunbaenim, I will take you home today.” Chaeyeon states.

 

Eunbi averts her gaze to her bread. Chaeyeon’s rare smile is too much to handle. It’s not really a smile, though. Is that even a smile?

 

“Okay.”

 

“Good. But do you mind waiting for me? I think I’ll get held back for a few minutes. You know how Mr. Shin’s class is.” Of course she knows how Mr. Shin is, that old man is always so engrossed in his own self-talk.

 

“I don’t mind.” Eunbi reassures with a smile.

 

“Thank you, sunbaenim. You can just wait in your class, I’ll go get you,” Chaeyeon leaves but not before sending a polite small to Yena and Hyewon.

 

After Chaeyeon’s out of her sight, she glances back to her friends who are looking at her with smirks on their faces.

 

“What?”

 

“You are totally the submissive one in your relationship,” Yena playfully wiggles her eyebrows and continues to laugh loudly, but her laugh soon turns into weird cries for help as Eunbi shoves her half-eaten bread down .

 

Yena takes a sharp intake of breath, “I’ve already told you I’m too precious to be killed!”

 

“But she’s not as bad as how you put her in words,” Hyewon says as she finishes the last bit of her soup.

 

“I never said Chaeyeon is bad!” Eunbi defends.

 

“Oh~someone is whipped.”

 

“Yena, shut up.”

 

“God, alright.” Yena sighs, hands up in the air. “Real talk, do you still want to break up with her?”

 

Eunbi keeps mum, does she want to?

 

“I don’t know..”

 

Eunbi really doesn’t know. If they'd asked her minutes before the younger girl came, she would’ve said yes. But after seeing how Chaeyeon spoke a full sentence to her, her plan to end all of this is completely shattered.

 

She wants to be closer to Chaeyeon.

 

––

 

Eunbi waits in her class just as what Chaeyeon told her.

 

She’s all alone–she refused her friends’ offer to accompany her. Eunbi stares at the clock on the wall, 03:58pm. What takes Chaeyeon so long? It’s been more than thirty minutes after the last bell. As much as Mr. Shin likes to go over the period, it never lasts this long. Chaeyeon better has a reasonable explanation to this.

 

The clock’s short hand ticks for a full round and Eunbi decides she can’t wait anymore. She walks out of her classroom and is headed to the area of where the second year’s classrooms are located.

 

She slowly strides along the corridor with her eyes scan for Chaeyeon’s class. Class 11-3, if she remembers it right.

 

11-1

11-2

11-3. Eunbi halts to a stop. 

 

She puts her left ear next to the door only to hear nothing. It’s dead silent, like there’s no one inside. She peers through the window and is welcomed with a sight of a girl sleeping.

 

Not just any girl, though. It’s her girlfriend.

 

Eunbi pushes the door open, her steps are faint and slow.

 

She examines Chaeyeon’s serene face.

 

The autumn wind blowing from the window adds to the dramatic effect on Chaeyeon’s hair. Time seems to stop. Eunbi can only think of how the sleeping girl wastes no time in becoming one of her most favorite objects to gawk at.

 

Eunbi is too lost in her thought, not realizing the other girl has cracked her eyes open.

 

“Sunbaenim? What’re you doing here?” Chaeyeon raises her head from her table.

 

Eunbi should be mad.

She should be mad, right?

 

“Why did you sleep here? I thought you were going to walk me home?” Eunbi reminds her, lips tugging into a fond smile. Oh how easy a smile could bloom.

 

Eunbi suppresses her laugh when Chaeyeon’s eyes are about to fall out of their sockets. She didn’t know Chaeyeon could be this comical. The younger girl snaps her head to look at the only clock in her classroom and loudly exhales.

 

“I’m sorry. Guess I fell asleep,” admits the younger girl.

 

Eunbi wants to scream at how adorable the girl looks right now. She badly wants to pinch Chaeyeon’s cheeks, but ends up pinching her own arm. She collects herself, not wanting to be an embarrassment in front of her girlfriend.

 

“It’s alright. Let’s get going.” Eunbi takes a hold of Chaeyeon’s hand and drags her up and out of the classroom.

 

They’re walking along the corridor while holding hands. Neither of them breaks the hold. Eunbi throws a quick glance at their loosely conjoined hands. She’s allowed to hold her hand, isn’t she? Chaeyeon is her girlfriend after all.

 

This walk is not any different from their first time walking home together. Silence still engulfs them. Eunbi wants to think this as their special way of enjoying their time. At least they’re holding hands now.

 

It doesn't last that long though–Eunbi’s secret smile is quick to be wiped off when she feels Chaeyeon pull her hand away. She doesn’t question her.

 

Eunbi’s still very much confused about all of this.

 

She knows it’s too soon of her to develop something for the younger girl. But her greediness proves otherwise. It’s easy to fall for Chaeyeon anyways. They’ve only talked for a few times, but she just knows Chaeyeon’s someone she feels comfortable to be around with.

 

Never in her life did she ever imagine that she’d be this much of a fool in term of love. But the heart wants what it wants, right?

 

So Eunbi decides to be bold.

 

She gets a hold of Chaeyeon’s left hand and intertwines their fingers. Chaeyeon’s slender fingers feel real cold to her own skin.

 

“Let’s hold hands more often. You obviously need my warmth.”

 

 

––

 

 

They’ve reached Eunbi’s house. Their hands now are back to their own sides. They last a minute just standing doing nothing.

 

Chaeyeon breaks the silence first, “I guess I’ll take my leave now.”

 

Eunbi unwillingly nods her approval.

 

However as Chaeyeon is already meters away, Eunbi starts running to chase her while calling out for her name. Chaeyeon stops dead in her track, turns around to find Eunbi tiredly walk towards her.

 

“What is it, sunbaenim?”

 

“Stop calling me that.” Eunbi spits out. “Why did you ask me to be your girlfriend? I’ve spent days thinking about this. Why me? Do you even like me?”

 

The younger yet taller girl is startled at her outburst. She seems to be thinking for a while before genuinely smiles at her.

 

“Why else would l ask you to be my girlfriend if not because I like you?”

 

Eunbi’s lost for words (also lost count of how many jumps her heart is doing).

 

“Sunbaenim, you’re my first ever girlfriend, and I want to cherish you. I apologize for my way of asking you out four days ago, I realized that was not romantic at all. You see, I’m not really good at this kind of thing, but please, don't ever think that I’m not serious with you,” Chaeyeon ends with a sincere look.

 

Eunbi looks away, cheeks reddening while mumbling, “I told you to not call me that.”

 

“Ah, do you perhaps want me to call you with pet names?” Chaeyeon shyly asks.

 

“That’s not what I meant!” Though that’d be nice. “You can call me unnie, or Eunbi. We’re only a year apart anyways.” Eunbi bites a tiny portion of her lower lip.

 

“Can I?” It’s cute how Eunbi can hear the excited tone in the girl’s question.

 

“Of course, Chaeyeon.” Eunbi might go crazy soon as she notices the evident red hues on Chaeyeon’s cheeks.

 

“Can I have your number, unnie?”

 

“I thought you’d never ask.”

 

 

––

 

 

Eunbi plops down on her bed after spending almost an hour in the bath. Her mind won’t stop replaying the scene that happened three hours ago.

 

Chaeyeon likes her.

 

She rolled around until her forehead comes in contact with the cold, hard wall of her bedroom. She winces in pain, but smiles seconds after.

 

Oh God knows how much she enjoys this.

 

Her hand reaches out to get her phone and presses a button to lit her phone up, checking for any new notifications. Eunbi sighs, still no messages from Chaeyeon.

 

Maybe she should wait a little more?

 

 

––

 

 

As soon as Eunbi wakes up the next morning, her hand automatically searches for her phone. She frowns after finding nothing come from her girlfriend. No good night or good morning.

 

Should she message her first?

 

Her thumbs hover over the screen for a good minute before she starts typing out a good morning, have a nice day. She re-reads ten times and clicks send.

 

Eunbi internally screams and throws her phone away. She gets up and runs into her bathroom.

 

Twenty minutes later, Eunbi steps out of her bathroom with only a towel wrapping around her body. Her feet automatically brings her to her bed where her phone lies. She daringly hopes for something, c'mon, just an emoticon will be enough.

 

The cold morning breeze that snucks in through the small gap in her room's window reminds her to dress up hurriedly. She disheartenedly locks her phone. Looks like she has to get used to this.

 

 

––

 

 

“Can your pretty little head stay still? A girl wants to enjoy her lunch here.”

 

“Two girls.” Hyewon is fast to correct.

 

Eunbi sharply eyes her two supposedly friends. “I hope you two choke on your food.”

 

“That’s not a nice thing to say, my friend.” Yena puts on her cutest pout.

 

Eunbi grimaces at the horrible sight before she’s back to scanning the crowd in the canteen again.

 

“Are you looking for Chaeyeon?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Why don’t you just message her to come to meet you?” Hyewon curiosly asks. From the explicit information in their group chat, they’ve exchanged numbers yesterday.

 

“She didn’t reply to my text.” Eunbi nonchalantly tells while unlocking her phone. Eunbi pauses when she sees a notification with Chaeyeon’s name in it.

 

“She replied!” Eunbi nearly shouts.

 

Eunbi can’t stop smiling. It’s nothing much, only a short “good morning too”. But her heart warms at the simple greeting.

 

“It’s gross how you smiles so wide over a text.” Hyewon takes a bite of her freshly-baked tiramisu cake.

 

“Let me live, Hyewon, let me live.”

 

 

––

 

 

Walking home together has been Eunbi’s and Chaeyeon’s thing. Chaeyeon is still the same, not saying much, not texting much, but it’s fairly compensated with them holding hands all throughout their walks.

 

Eunbi wonders if Chaeyeon’s always been quiet like this. She realizes she also starts to like the silence they create–Eunbi thinks it’s beautiful. But she also likes to listen to Chaeyeon talk. She’s willing to always be the one who opens every talk.

 

“Chaeyeon-ah?” Eunbi calls.

 

Eunbi doesn’t hear an answer. All she gets is a gentle squeeze from Chaeyeon’s hand. Eunbi looks down on her feet. Even the simplest act from the younger girl makes her think a lot. She likes this a tad bit too much.

 

“You said I’m your first girlfriend? Is that true?” Eunbi’s curiosity finally takes over. She’s been dying to ask this to the taller girl. Eunbi couldn’t really believe it after all the people she’d ever seen Chaeyeon was with.

 

“I didn’t lie, unnie.”

 

Eunbi still holds an unconvinced look, which successfully draws out Chaeyeon’s giggles.

 

“You’re my first girlfriend. First lover. I like you, not anyone else.”

 

Chaeyeon may not say much, but once she talks, she talks sweet. Too sweet that Eunbi is melting.

 

“They were the one who kept following me. I didn’t see them as disturbances, so I didn’t say anything about it. They were actually nice,” Chaeyeon elaborates more.

 

“If they were nice, why did you stop going out with them?” Eunbi certainly never intends to sound like a jealous girlfriend, nevertheless, she can’t help to sound like one.

 

“Isn’t that obvious? I wanted to start to take serious steps towards you,” Chaeyeon murmurs, smiles sheepishly with a hand rubbing her nape. “I must be out of my mind on the day the first time I went to your class. And I swear I couldn’t sleep at night when you agreed to my crazy request. Tell me unnie, wasn’t I kind of rude to have abruptly asked you like that?” Chaeyeon’s stopped walking by now, pulling Eunbi to properly face her.

 

Eunbi never knew her heart could beat this fast. But this is Chaeyeon. Lee Chaeyeon is always capable of making her do anything.

 

“Honestly? You were so rude. Who even comes up to someone she’s never talked to before and just demands that person to be her girlfriend? And on top of that, you left me right then and there after declaring me as your girlfriend. Wow, so rude, Lee Chaeyeon.” Eunbi rambles in one breath and finishes with a huff.

 

She doesn’t expect Chaeyeon to laugh after what she just said.

 

Eunbi wants to act like she’s mad, but it’s futile when her beautiful girlfriend has such a contagious laugh.

 

When Chaeyeon finally calms down, Eunbi receives the gentlest smile from her. Almost a month into their relationship, yet Eunbi still can’t handle this side of Chaeyeon.

 

“You didn’t even look for me the next two days, until you suddenly showed up at my class,” Eunbi absentmindedly pouts.

 

“I was nervous, unnie. I couldn’t think of anything but you. My heart had always sped up every time I saw you. Up to this day I still couldn’t grasp the fact that you’re now my girlfriend. How did I even have the gut to talk to you in the first place? I still couldn’t believe myself.” Now Chaeyeon absolutely looks like the most adorable being on earth. 

 

“I didn’t know you could talk this much.” Eunbi bemusedly smirks.

 

The younger girl blushes a deep shade of red at her remark. It’s so not her to act like this—Chaeyeon had always been so good at keeping her thoughts to herself. 

 

Chaeyeon opts to say nothing,instead she takes Eunbi’s hand into hers and continues on their journey to her home.

 

 

––

 

“Unnie, can–”

 

“Stop calling me that.”

 

“What?” Chaeyeon bewilderedly asks.

 

“You should start calling me with only my name. Leave the unnie out. I don’t mind, Chae.” Eunbi latches onto her arm with expectant look.

 

“Ugh. If that’s what you want, Eun- um, Eunbi.” Chaeyeon’s suddenly in need of a glass of water.

 

Eunbi chuckles, who thought Lee Chaeyeon could be this awfully cute. “What were you going to say again?”

 

“Oh that. Never mind.” Chaeyeon keeps her eyes fixated on a channel that’s currently airing a cartoon.

 

“What? Just say it.” Eunbi shakes her body, tickles it without any mercy.

 

“Fine! Fine! Stop it!” Chaeyeon catches her breath first. Eunbi’s dreamy look just makes her more nervous than ever.

 

“Can I kiss your cheek?” Chaeyeon slowly and cautiously asks, as if she’s afraid Eunbi will slap her.

 

“Oh my God, Chaeyeon!” then Eunbi’s boisterous laugh fill the whole living room. “You don’t have to ask, stupid!” A sweat trickles down Chaeyeon’s temple when Eunbi brings her closer by her neck.

 

Eunbi closes their gap and breathes out a light air into her right ear (or is it her left ear? Chaeyeon’s not sure. She loses all her senses whenever Eunbi’s this close).

 

“You can even have my lips,” Eunbi devilishly whispers right before she dives in and causes Chaeyeon’s mind to completely shut down .

 

Stupid Yena has to take back her words for saying she’s the submissive one in her relationship.

 

 

––––