1. Hyejin

For weeks now, Hyejin thought she was seeing things.

No. Not ghost. Or any other possible corporeal form of imagination.

No. It was much more disturbing than that.

It was lingering looks across the campus hall.

It was the admiration in Wheein’s eyes.

It was the tiny radiant smile on Wheein’s face whenever a certain blond entered the classroom.

It was in the somewhat lingering fist bump that they gave each other.

It was in their interactions, trading insults and jokes at each other, which alarmed other people if not for the huge eating grin on each of their faces which gave it away.

It was in the way they move in perfect concert, the Small Forward and the Point Guard, who could communicate with just glances, devoid of words.

Hyejin could not be happier if Wheein found someone.

However….

A deep frown creased the space between her eyebrows.

The object of her affection is Byul and Byul is a player.

The blond was a new transfer student, yet, in just the short span of months she was on campus, she already breaks enough hearts.

She couldn’t be sure whether it was indeed a silent courtship or it was just a case of Wheein having a one-sided crush and Byul being her naturally greasy and charming self.

It’s not like she didn’t like Byul.

She does.

But Wheein was her childhood best friend. Her soulmate. And she would shred that greasy hamster to pieces if she even dares hurt the thinnest strand of Wheein’s hair.

All in all, it was really none of her business.

Yet, the next time she found herself alone with Byul – cleaning up the basketball court after their weekly practice – she decided to have a small talk with the Point Guard.

“So, you and Wheein seemed to hit it off.”

She watched as three different emotions went across Byul’s features in a blink of an eye – alarmed, curious and then it turned mischievous  – it was subtle, but Hyejin was used to watching people’s face for any minute reaction, so for her, it was unmistakable.

“Just like I hit it off with you, with Yongsun, with Hee Yeon, with Seulgi, what can I say, I’m a joy to be around.”

Hyejin snorted loudly and rolled her eyes, “Sure, whatever you need to tell yourself to make yourself happy.”

“What’s with the sudden question?” 

Hyejin wanted to rant about how Wheein is like a precious gift, someone worth treasuring, someone worth protecting, but instead she just shrugged.

“Just curious.”

“Well, she’s a cute kid, way too many talents in such tiny body, but she’s nice, it’s easy to get along with her. Did I mention cute?” Byul answered jokingly, yet there’s something soft and sincere that lies beneath.

“Right. So, here’s the thing.” Hyejin looked up and locked her serious eyes with the taller woman, “that cute kid? She’s beyond precious to me, so if you ever break her heart? I will kill you myself.”

Byul blinked.

Once. Twice.

“Yes, Captain,” Byul said after a long moment, voice cracking just a little.

Hyejin nodded and smiled at her, bright and brilliant, “Good. I’ll see you around, finished up for me.”

And as Byul watched the team captain leave the basketball court, she couldn’t help but wonder, *what the hell was that?*

2. Yongsun

Byul, for lack of better words, was heaven sent for Yongsun .

Sure, she could be annoying, disgusting, finger-curlingly cheesy, did she mentioned annoying? But they clicked.

As months went by, they settled into each other so well, they were practically glued at the hips. She thought it would take ages to develop this kind of rapport with someone, just like the one that Hyejin shared with Wheein, where every glance from across the room, a simple twitch of an eyebrow, or a slight pull of their lips means something, but with Byul it was instant.

It didn’t take long before she heard the rumor, hushed whispers, watchful eyes, snickers and giggles as they passed the campus hallway.

Moonsun.  The moon and the sun.

And Yongsun itched to set the record straight. She snorted to herself. Straight. Yes, she wanted to shout to the whole campus that she is indeed straight. Not like that greasy limp noodle that charmed every walking and breathing women.

Speaking of which…..

“Rumor has it, you are in love with me.” Byul waggled her eyebrows before plopping herself down beside the brunette, leaning back against the tree after she found a comfortable sitting position.

“They’re all on drugs or hallucinogen, why would I be in love with you, you are annoying as hell.”

“That’s not true, I could be charming if I wanted to.”

“which happened probably once in a red moon.”

“I thought it was supposed to be blue moon?”

“Yeah well that’s too rare and you are not exactly a rare pokemon.”

“Right.”

They both fell into a comfortable silence, watching the kids play at the park, although the silence broke once in a while as Yongsun would occasionally slap Byul’s hand away from her kimbap and muttered something like ‘get your own’ but then gave up and let Byul demolished half of her lunch.

“Is Wheein and Hyejin together? Like together together and not like us together?”

“Why?” Yongsun mumbled through her last three pieces of Kimbap – cheeks almost bursting since she shoved them all at once – just to make sure that Byul won’t be able to steal them from her.

Byul’s eyes twinkled at the sight of her, “You cute. And… uh…. Just curious.”

*The Captain basically warned me off Wheein.* is what she wanted to tell Yongsun, but not sure whether she should say it out loud.

Yongsun tilted her head and looked at Byul intently.

Byul is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. She looked easy going, confident, out-going, fun, yet, she has depth beyond her age. She just never shown them.

Then it clicked.

She thought that the admiration in Byul’s eyes as she watched Wheein play on the court was just a figment of her imagination. The silent gazes when she thought no one was looking. The lingering looks. The way they move around each other. The way they work together seamlessly. The way that they just seemed to fit.

“Whoa.”

A piece of kimbap almost fell out of and Yongsun quickly inhaled her food back in, swallowing and thumbed her chest as the food went down hard.

“Whoa…” she said it again once she got her food intake under control.

She wanted to be happy for Byul. Really. She wanted to root for them and push Byul to confess and she wanted to see them be cheesy and in love and …… yet, she knew Byul. She knew how Byul finds emotion messy and unpredictable. How she didn’t trust easily. How she was hiding the wariness in her heart with careless humor.

“No. They are not together. They’re best friends. Like… Wheein is the heart and soul of our team, she’s basically our angel, so if you are asking me this because you like her? Please don’t. I mean, I love you. You are my partner in crime. My comrades. My best friend. But….”

“I know.”

By the sad smile that didn’t reach Byul’s eyes. Yongsun knows that she does.

3. Wheein

“What are you doing here?”

Byul came up the campus rooftop after practice for some time to think, but to her surprise, her favorite spot was already occupied.

Wheein stood there near the railing, letting the wind caress her long black hair, eyes on the sunset bleeding over the horizon, cheek dimpling from a small smile that seemed to permanently etch on her lips.

Wheein looked back over to her, dimples deepening as she gave Byul a blindingly sweet smile, “You were right! It is gorgeous up here!”

Scoffing, Byul walked forward while shaking her head lightly, “Don’t tell anyone else, I still want to keep this place a secret.”

“So no one would find you when you skip class or skip practice to nap instead?”

“You know me so well, my love.”

Wheein laughed – carefree and light – and Byul’s heart did a little somersault at the sound.

“So I’m your love now? Are you proposing?” Byul noted the thread of humor in her voice, just one of the teasing games between them.

“Do you want me too?”

“I want to wait with baited breath, but I think I would die from asphyxiation.”

“But I’m afraid that you would die from a heart attack if I actually ask.”

 “Here’s an idea, let’s just start with sharing this secret place with me.”

Wheein looked up at Byul with eyes so full wonder that Byul nearly lost in its clearness, “Okay.” Her voice cracked slightly and she had to take a deep breath just to calm the little pounding in her chest.

“Okay.” She said it one more time with a voice an octave lower than her usual voice and smile, a smile so radiant, Wheein nearly taken aback by it.

And so it became their secret place, a tiny little nook where they would fade away for a while, inside their own cocoon where the world can’t touch them.

It was the place where Byul put a smile on Wheein’s devastated face when they lost a home game with just whispered words, a hand on her shoulder and the both of them sitting side by side huddled up inside a blanket watching the stars.

It was the place where they lighted firecrackers and released fireworks into the night sky with glee dancing in their eyes.

It was the place where Wheein tear Byul a new one for being an to the team, word vomiting tirades about how terrible Byul teamwork could be until Byul apologizes and got better just to see the small pleased smile on Wheein’s face.

It was the place where Wheein found Byul, silent tears streak down her face, with a small cut at the side of mouth, tiny specs of blood splattered on her collar, and fingers shape bruise on her wrist.

Wheein quietly sat beside the blond and for the longest time just sat there, not sure what to say, until Byul’s head leaned against her shoulder and her fingers seek Wheein’s, just to have something real to hold on to.

“You know… my dad taught me this trick, whenever I feel angry or hurt or sad, I would… here, let me show you.” The tiny girl adjusted her position to sit face to face with Byul, her hand ghosted over Byul’s face and chest, before turning it into a fist.

“See, I just take away all of your pain, it’s inside my hand right now, I’m holding it. I’m going to make a wish now. Come, close your eyes, I wish… that every stumbling blocks, every tear, every winding road that leads to the pain, will provide me with lessons, that it will make me stronger and make me a better person, from my lips to God’s ears…. Now blow it.”

Byul listened to Wheein’s soothing voice attentively and blew a soft breath to Wheein’s fist and watched as Wheein opened her fist and blew the imaginary pain further away to the sky.

“Your pain just goes away, we change it into strength already, so you’ll be okay.”

Wheein smiled through her misty eyes and Byul cannot help but believe her, the ball size lump at the base of tightened yet the constriction in her chest lessened and she was able to breathe in again, so Byul nodded.

“Stop looking at me like that.” Wheein whispered.

“Looking at you like what?”

“Like I’m the only person left in the world.”

But for Byul, at that particular moment, Wheein is the only person that mattered to her in the world.

“Your eyes are dangerous, I might fall for you if you keep looking at me like that.”

“Will it be a bad thing?”

“Maybe. You are the kind of person that could easily break my heart.”

Byul shook her head, “No, I won’t.”

“Yes you will, silly, because my heart probably going to burst from how much I love you. SO STOP LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT.”

Byul blushed heavily as her heart worked overtime pumping blood into her whole body, especially her face, and her cheeks hurt from smiling a little bit too wide, yet as she intertwined their fingers together and Wheein’s hand warmed hers, she decided that Wheein might be the one person that could burst her heart as well.

4. Wheein

Byul swore that her heart stopped beating for a moment.

She even stopped breathing for a second.

Wheein just slapped her mother. Wheein, her tiny miniature general, just leveled a blow into Byul’s mother face without batting her eyelashes.

“Just because you are her mother, do you really think that you could do anything to her? Abusing her with your words, abusing her with your fists. After all, it’s not like she’s a good daughter, is it? Well, let me tell you this, no matter how much pain you caused her, she turned up to be a good person! Someone who is worthy of love! Something that you probably wouldn’t understand!”

“Who do you think you are!?”

“A person who loves her!”

A spike of pain pierced Byul’s heart.

“You are a sad human being, and you should thank the heaven that you have a daughter as beautiful as Byul! No thanks to you, she still turned up to be the kind of person, which is courageous, compassionate, loving, someone who I’m proud to call my friend.”

Byul’s mother snort derisively, “You love her that much? You could have her then!”

“Then I will.” Wheein’s voice was icy as she answered her mother, yet it thawed the coldness that enveloped Byul.

Those three words echoed through her mind and nearly stopped her heart.

The older woman glared at Wheein, threw the bag she already prepared – Byul’s stuff, or at least some of it, inside of it – and slammed the door on their face, “You two can go to hell.” Were her last parting shot, effectively kicking her own daughter out of the house.

Wheein’s legs nearly gave out and she almost fell to the ground if not for Byul’s hand suddenly holding her up.

“Oh God….Oh God, did I just get you kicked out the house? Oh God, I’m sorry, I just… I just couldn’t stand there and watch her hit you like that and….”

Byul drew Wheein into her arms and hold her, “Enough, Wheein, it’s okay. She gonna kick me out anyway and…“ Byul’s voice wavered and trembled.

“No one has ever stood up for me, not my sisters, not my father, they just let her… I …. If it weren’t for you, I don’t think I would survive, I wouldn’t be standing here, loving you is the only thing keeping me alive and slightly sane.”

Byul stopped herself, eyes turned enormous as she realized what she just blurted out, … …. …..

Wheein’s hands were trembling as she cupped Byul’s face and Byul swallowed nervously, “Whee…” her words were cut off and her brain instantly short-circuited as Wheein crushed to hers, holding her like she is the only thing in the world that matter.

“I love you.” Wheein whispered against her lips and Byul forgot how to breathe, “I love you…” she feathered kisses against Byul’s burning forehead, her eyelids, her cheeks, tasting the saltiness that made Byul’s face wet, “I love you….”

“I love you more…” Byul murmured at last, after a few moments just reveling at the fact that she has Jung Wheein in her arms, holding her, and telling her that she loves her.

Pulling away just enough so that she could stare at the angelic face, she lifted Wheein’s palm and pressed it against the pounding of her heart, “Feel that?”

“You just broke my heart.”

Wheein laughed and tucked her face into the curve where Byul’s neck met her shoulder, “I’m not sorry.”

Byul curled her fingers at the back of Wheein’s neck, cheek resting on top of Wheein’s head as she held her tighter, “I’m not sorry too.”

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Author's Note: 

What supposed to be a drabble, turned into something that is not quite a drabble and not quite a story as well. Trying something new, not really my style of writing, but time is limited right now and ideas are fleeting, so... I hope its enough for those of you that miss my Wheebyul story :) and... I made a lot of grammatical error, so forgive me for that. 

Comments make me happy, so write to me, people! 

Cheers, 

Gabe