67th date. It had been 67 times that Momo and Tzuyu spent the day together with just the two of them. That was what Jihyo told Tzuyu when she texted her about her day plans. Why her friend was keeping count in the first place, she didn’t know. If Jihyo was trying to prove something to her, she didn’t care. 67 times or a hundred, it didn’t matter. Tzuyu could spend time with Momo anytime for as long as she wanted to.

But Tzuyu had to admit that there were times when she thought if Momo would ever arrive at the point where she sees her as more than a friend. They’d reached the point of comfort where they could just message each other without regards to the time of day. One time Momo messaged her at 4 am to get yogurt at a convenience store because she was craving it. Momo was drunk that time. The point was, surely they were close enough that she would invite her out at the goddamn hour of 4 in the morning.

Tzuyu stood behind Momo while she browsed through the various clothes in the store. She was looking for something, but didn’t know exactly what she was looking for. Momo told her she’d know when she sees it. It was the third store they visited.

“You’re not planning on searching for this unknown something in the whole mall, do you?” Tzuyu asked.

Momo made a slight whining sound. She sounded like a lost puppy; Tzuyu found it adorable. “It’s you know… that one that one actress wore. It has a dude’s name in the front,” Momo tried to explain. She gestured a circle with her hands as if that would help her figure it out. She groaned, “Let me call Sana.” Momo pulled out her phone. “Sana-yah, do you know where I can get that outfit. The one from that one movie...  You know, the really cute one.”

How the hell is she supposed to know that, Tzuyu thought.

“Oh, okay! Thanks!” Momo got off the phone, rushed to one of the store’s workers and asked for something. A few minutes later, the worker came out with a black, sleeveless shirt and Momo took it with a smile on her face.

“Really? That was it?” Tzuyu looked at the shirt. It was a Tommy Hilfiger shirt with the brand name plastered across the front; it was slightly cropped. Furthermore, how did Sana even understand that?

“It’s cute, isn’t it?” The Japanese spread out the shirt in front of her to show Tzuyu. The tall girl nodded. Momo ended up buying it. She didn’t hesitate to wear her newly bought item as they spent the rest of the day at the mall’s food court.

Momo ordered malatang while Tzuyu got ramyeon. As the Japanese chewed on her first bite, she started pouting again. “It’s more fun when we eat with everyone else. There’s more variety,” she said.

Tzuyu bit her lip. She was starting to get frustrated of being led on with empty hopes. What was she doing anyways? She thought to herself. She had mountains of work she had to do. Her desk was still messy from last night’s cramming just so she could spend the entire day with her. She crammed just to be sitting in the food court, eating food she could’ve saved money from, and being the most supportive person she could ever be by letting the girl drag her around the building to find that one shirt she wanted. Tzuyu took a deep breath to calm her fumes. “Then why didn’t you ask everyone else to come?”

“Eh? But aren’t we on a date?” Momo asked, her head slightly tilted, her spoon halfway from .

The younger one paused and stared at her. “We are…?” Sure, she always considered it in her head as a date whenever they hung out alone together, but she didn’t think Momo felt the same way. After all, it wasn’t like they necessarily broadcasted it as a date.

Momo nodded and kept on eating as if the information didn’t bother her one bit. Am I the only one panicking right now? Tzuyu asked herself. She watched the older one going about her day without much thought. She wanted to ask her how she felt about the two of them, if she’d thought about Tzuyu’s confession at all, but the younger one couldn’t get the words out of .

She left the conversation hanging because she was