"You should get going now." 

It's half past nine when they get to reach Minjoo's home. Yujin insists on letting the older girl wear her coat before getting on their ride back home but she eventually gave up when Minjoo shakes her head adamantly to refuse her, squeezing Yujin's arm to reiterate her point. The last thing that Yujin wanted to do for that day was to upset Minjoo so she didn't put up much of a fight when her attempts to keep Minjoo warm was turned down almost instantly. 

The hallway that leads to Minjoo's apartment unit was vacant, except for their presence so Yujin tried to keep her voice down.

"You sure you'll be okay?"

"I'll be fine," Minjoo tries to reassure her with a smile and waves her off. "You should get going."

"Is anyone home right now?" Yujin throws in another question to her, eyes still fixated on Minjoo. It's just not fair for her to look at Minjoo like that.

Like she's willing to throw everything away just to protect her and Minjoo doesn't know whether to be happy or afraid of this.

Happy at the thoughts of having someone care for her or afraid of what it leads them to. 

Maybe her negativity is taking a hold of her again or maybe Minjoo is too full of herself to think that Yujin thinks of her that way, so Minjoo tries to shake it off by answering Yujin's question after keeping her waiting for a while. "Not really." 

"Should I stay and keep you company until someone's home?"

"My mom won't be home until past midnight."

"Your dad..?"

"..I don't know where he is," Minjoo admits, holding herself from scoffing at the thoughts of the old man. 

That's all it takes for Yujin to stop with her questions. She knew that they had agreed on opening up to each other earlier in the day but there is still some boundaries that Yujin feels like she shouldn't step on and this somehow feels like it. "...Oh. I'm sorry."

"Why are you apologizing? It's not your fault that he's not around." 

"But still," Yujin starts fiddling with her fingers, looking down at her feet like a guilty child - one that had been reprimanded for doing something bad. Minjoo briefly loses herself to this. She thinks it's stupid for her brain to still have the time to find Yujin cute after everything that had unfolded that night. 

Minjoo sighs, not at Yujin's former question but rather at herself. She shouldn't really say anything more and let the younger girl leave on her own accord but she has a hunch that Yujin will probably beat herself up over this for the rest of the night. That's just the way Yujin is. "On second thought, do you want to stay for a little then? Will your driver mind?"

"I don't think he would mind much if I tell him."

The way Yujin's face was quick to change was enough to make Minjoo laugh fondly for the first time of the night. Minjoo shakes her head, turning to the lockpad on her door to enter her passcode. The door to her apartment clicks open and Yujin follows her closely from behind as she turns on the lights. 

It's weird, because they spent the next hour talking in the living room while the tv was running in the background. 

About their lives, their family, their childhood, their hobbies. Just things that they wanted to talk about.

Minjoo learns that Yujin used to be an athlete for the track team at her former school. That her favorite ice cream flavor is green tea and that her favorite color is blue - something that coincides with the color that Minjoo had already associated Yujin with in the first place. 

And Yujin learns that the older girl wanted to be a stewardess when she was young, and that her favorite snacks is gummy bears and that she spends her spare time reading novels. 

It was as if they were meeting for the first time ever and it's weird, simply because it actually made Yujin reminiscent of the time where they first met. 

Everything about it felt surreal.

Yujin jumping off the 1st floor on her first day of school, just to run to save the girl whom she thought was about to fall into the lake. Turns out, it was a misunderstanding from her side but that misunderstanding was the one that brought them together like this.

"Why are you laughing?" Minjoo looks confused to see Yujin breaking out into a laughter of her own as she gets immersed in her own thoughts, lightly slapping the latter on her arm. 

"Nothing. This just feels funny, you know. We're talking about these stuff as if it's the first time we're meeting each other," Yujin says beside her on the couch, as she recollects herself. "Like, we went everywhere and did a lot of things together and only now that this kind of conversation comes up."

"I guess it is kind of funny," Minjoo purses her lips together, the corner of twitching to form a smile. "Aren't you hungry though?"

"Now that you mention it, I kind of am."

"Should we just have instant ramen?"

"I'm fine with that." 

They each settle for a cup of ramen from the kitchen cupboard. It doesn't take long for them to slurp their noodles down after waiting for it to cook, which served as their late dinner.

Given the fact that it approaching late at night, it's only fair for the exhaustion to kick in to Yujin too so when Yujin starts stifling her yawn after finishing her food, Minjoo tries to get her to call her driver for her ride home.

It doesn't take much for Yujin to comply with her.

"Take care," Minjoo says as she walks the younger girl to the door when Yujin's car arrives roughly half an hour later, watching her put on her shoes in front of her doorstep. Yujin flicks her gaze up once she's done, nodding a little. A lazy smile stretches on Yujin's lips and Minjoo's heart swells at this. 

"Yeah, I will. Goodnight." 

Something flutters in the depth of Minjoo's stomach as she watches Yujin's back slowly disappears from her sight, with Yujin making her way down the hallway and to the elevator.

She needs to sort out her feelings as soon as she can. 

"Off to the office?"

They happen to cross path while heading to the student council office a few days later. Minjoo needed to sign a few papers that require her approval since majority of the senior members weren't there, hence her need to be in the office where as Yujin was called in by Nako to cover for one of the members who was on a sick leave. There was a group of students - sophomores it seems, who greets Minjoo when they see her, in which she returns with a smile.

"Yeah, I am," Yujin says as she strolls along next to Minjoo on their way to the building. And it's that moment where the corner of her eyes catches sight of someone who had been staring at her for a bit too long from a distance. Her steps falters for a split second, until she realizes where she had seen the woman before. 

The woman - strides over to her and Minjoo in her red heels, greeting them with a wide grin and a wave of the hand. A look of pure confusion crosses on Minjoo's face, coupled with curiosity. 

"Yujin, right?"

"And you're Eunbi.. unnie right?" Yujin smiles to her awkwardly. How could she not when she's meeting the ex of her close friend? She knew of the fact that Sakura used to date her. After all, Eunbi was often seen with Sakura when the latter drops by her home to bring her light snacks and such. Sakura didn't admit to it at first when Yujin asks her on who Eunbi was, stating that they're just friends. It was only a week after their breakup that Sakura came clean to her about it.

Yujin was young back then but she was not too young to understand the relationship that the two older girls had. Love is love. And she too came to realize that gender did not matter much in a romantic sense.

"Ah, you remembered me!" 

"..Of course I did," Yujin replies, blinking when Eunbi reaches out to ruffle her hair.

"You're so tall now. You used to be slightly shorter than I am," Eunbi says to her, laughter in her voice as she watches Yujin fix the few loose strands of her hair. Minjoo had been silent since the beginning of their exchange of conversation, observing the new stranger invade on their personal space. It's only their first time meeting and she has already developed a feeling of dislike towards the woman. 

"I'm still growing. What are you doing here though?"

"It's my first day here as the school nurse," Eunbi's attention is now on Minjoo. It's hard not to notice a pretty girl in your line of vision. Especially when the said girl had been throwing daggers into your face for a while now. "And you are?"

"Minjoo. I'm the current vice for the student council. It's nice meeting you," Minjoo tries to control her tone, composing herself in front of the older woman. 

"Yujin's friend?" 

"Somewhat. I suppose."

Eunbi catches on to the small pause in Minjoo's words. And it was only then that she manages to piece things together. So, that's why.

"Oh. I see," Eunbi turns back at Yujin, a knowing grin playing on her lips when she senses the air of hostility coming from Minjoo. She pretends not to notice and coyly slides her hand down Yujin's arm, purposely igniting more jealousy from Minjoo before she leaves. "Well, I'll see you kids around."

"Who is she?" Minjoo instantly fires off the question when Eunbi was gone. 

"A friend of Sakura's," Yujin replies, completely oblivious to the change in Minjoo's mood. "..Well, her ex. To be exact."

"She seems like the touchy type."

Yujin's brows furrows at the mention of it. Has Eunbi always been the touchy type? "Now that you mention it, she is."

"You should be careful around those kind of people," Minjoo's voice is dripping with something that Yujin couldn't pinpoint out, so she glances back at her, trying to find any hint of emoti