“Hey, are you Im Nayoung?” comes a voice from behind her. Nayoung stops in her tracks, turns, adjusts her book bag.

“Oh good,” the source of the voice says and the owner hurries up to her, hand outstretched, “So uh, can I buy you coffee or something real quick?”

Nayoung eyes the hand warily.

The girl looks at her, looks at her own hand, then back up.

“Oh,” she laughs as it probably clicks, “no, not like that. I just have something I want to talk to you about that might take a while.”

Nayoung frowns.

“You know Kim Minkyung?”

Nayoung nods, wonders what Minkyung might have done this time, idly hopes that it’s not something stupid enough that this girl, whoever she is, is now looking to exact revenge on Minkyung’s roommate, i.e. one Im Nayoung.

“Good, good,” the girl’s smile widens into an impish grin, “so how about that coffee?”

Nayoung supposes that as a good friend of Minkyung’s, she should at least hear this girl out. If it really is a revenge plot, perhaps she can stop it before it begins.

---

“Before you buy the coffee,” Nayoung finds herself saying as they come to a halt outside what is a fairly cute cafe.

“Uh huh,” the girl looks up from her phone, shoots her a broad smile, “yes?”

“This,” Nayoung scratches the back of her head, “this isn’t a revenge plot, is it? Because I like Minkyung and I don’t want to hurt her.”

The girl’s eyes narrow slightly, “Like? Like, what kind of like?”

Nayoung hears the cicadas buzz, “Like, she’s a nice person and I like sharing my apartment with someone who will remember to buy toilet paper before we run out kind of like?”

The look is cheeky if a little relieved, “Yeah, it isn’t a revenge plot. Far from it.”

---

“So,” Nayoung sips her coffee, “You wanted to talk. About Minkyung. And it’s not a revenge plot.”

“Yes,” the girl says, rummages through her bag, “I hear that you’re pretty good friends with Minkyung?”

Nayoung nods. 

She’d like to think of herself as pretty good friends with Minkyung. They hang out on weekends a bunch when Nayoung’s friends from high school aren’t in town because Minkyung’s chill. She’s attended a bunch of Minkyung’s final presentations as a warm body who takes up space but does not ask questions, they live together and buy groceries, Minkyung tries to get Nayoung drunk enough so she doesn’t remember that Minkyung whines about that one cute girl who Minkyung keeps seeing around but who doesn’t know she exists, it’s not quite a bad state to be in.

“Cool, cool,” a notebook comes to the table, a light lavender spiral-bound notebook that definitely was not bought in the discount section of the college bookstore, “let me just talk to you about this then.”

Nayoung takes another sip of her coffee.

“So,” her coffee companion says, slides a phone, iPhone X, expensive-looking case, across the table, “let me introduce you to Kang Yaebin.”

Nayoung does not spit her coffee back into her cup but she does barely avoid choking.

“Oh,” says the girl, “so you have heard of Yaebin. From Minkyung, I’m hoping?”

Nayoung looks up into the other’s twinkling eyes, breaks out into a wry smile of her own, “oh, have I heard about Yaebin.”

“Good,” a smirk, “my name is Jieqiong, by the way. It’s nice to meet you, Nayoung.”

---

Nayoung wants to break out into laughter when she closes the door to their shared apartment behind her and Minkyung literally pounces on her.

“Unnie,” Minkyung whines, “Where were you? You said you’d be home so I can go over my speech.”

“I am home,” Nayoung says, slides her feet out from her shoes, turns them around the right way.

“Yeah but your class ended at 2 and it’s 4 and we only live fifteen minutes away and that’s if you stop at the bakery to pick up bagels for breakfast but you didn’t because I don’t smell bagels.”

“I was busy,” Nayoung says, pries Minkyung off of her, “I’m going to shower. You can deliver your speech from outside the bathroom if it’s so urgent. It’ll help you practice projecting your voice.”

Minkyung smacks her shoulder but detaches herself, sticking out her tongue, “Fine, be that way.”

Nayoung smiles and feels a little guilty that she is about to participate in a plot to get Minkyung together with that girl who supposedly doesn’t know she exists but actually totally does and is totally crushing on her too. Or maybe Nayoung doesn’t feel guilty at all.

Logically there is nothing to feel guilty about. Logically this is a good idea. Minkyung likes Yaebin. Yaebin likes Minkyung. Get their paths to cross and voila, no more late night sob story drinking sessions of unrequited love and the unfairness of the universe and hello happy Minkyung. And Yaebin. Easy peasy.

Right?

---

“Yo,” Minkyung whispers as she puts her bottle of water down on the table that Nayoung has claimed for this session.

Nayoung looks up from her laptop, “You ready?”

Minkyung shrugs, “I gue- holy-”

“Hm?”

Minkyung leans all the way down to Nayoung’s ear, hisses, “What. Is. She. Doing. Here?!”

Nayoung bites back a smile, “Who?”

“The girl.”

Nayoung bats her eyelashes in a way that she is sure fools no one except maybe Minkyung in her current state of panic, “Girl?”

“Unnie,” Minkyung whines, “You. Know. Who.”

“She’s here?!”

“Shhhhhhh,” Nayoung sees Minkyung barely restrain herself from smacking her really loudly (which would have defeated the purpose of the ‘shh’, also sees the eyes of one Kang Yaebin fly to their table.

“Oh,” Nayoung says, “her. Dunno. Maybe she’s here to hear the speeches.”

Minkyung does whack her on the shoulder, “Well yeah, of course she’s here for the speeches. Everyone is here for the speeches.”

“Except me.”

“I love you too, Nayoung, but she’s coming this way so I have to run real fast. I’ll see you at home.”

Nayoung knows she’s grinning rather uncharacteristically but honestly cannot be bothered to stop, “Break a leg Minky. You got this.”

Minkyung just nods and scoots away at record speed and Nayoung turns back to her laptop, grin disappearing from her face. Two hours of speeches - well, she can at least get some work done while Minkyung isn’t speaking.

A tap on Nayoung’s shoulder and she turns to her other side to meet smiling brown eyes and wavy black hair.

“Hey, uh,” Zhou Jieqiong smirks, “Nayoung, right? Is this seat taken?”

Nayoung’s lips twitch into a smaller smile as she sees Kang Yaebin hovering hopefully behind them, shakes her head.

“All yours.”

---

She can see Minkyung hovering around, waiting but not coming up because Kang Yaebin, two seats down, is also doing some form of hovering and by goodness all Nayoung wants is for them to just maybe talk to each other. It would be cute.

“Thanks for sharing the table,” says Jieqiong, Cheshire cat grin on her face - Nayoung rather thinks that Minkyung would see through this immediately if she had her wits about her but she clearly does not. 

Nayoung just nods, picks up her things and sees Minkyung visibly slump in relief as she starts heading over.

“What took you so long,” Minkyung says, “you literally have a laptop and nothing else out.”

Nayoung shrugs.

Minkyung pauses, frowns. Nayoung just starts walking in the direction of home.

“Wait,” says Minkyung.

“Hm?” Nayoung slows but does not stop, turns as they approach a light.

Minkyung's smirk is wide, “Oh, I see how it is.”

---

I… think she might know.

Know? 

Minkyung. She said something suspicious just now on the way home.

What did she say? 

“oh, I see how it is.”

What does that mean? 

I don't know for sure, but she might be suspicious.

We'll just have to be more careful. I won't bring Yaebin to the exhibition tomorrow then, I'll just come alone?

Alone? 

Yeah, so it won't make her suspicious of Yaebin.

Right, but why would you come if you're not bringing her?

It'll be easier to plan events she likes if I get to know her better.

…Yaebin talks about her this much?

Oh, my dear Nayoung, you have absolutely no idea. 

---

“Nayoung,” comes the voice from inside the bathroom, “are you ready?”

Nayoung runs fingers through her hair, “Yeah. Our ride is coming in 5. You should hurry.”

“I still don't get why you're not just driving us,” Minkyung mumbles as she emerges from the bathroom, tosses her hair behind her shoulders, lets it cascade in a wave, “it'd be more convenient.”

“Parking downtown on a Saturday evening is expensive,” Nayoung deadpans, “and you were the one who complained last time about how long it took to find a spot.”

Minkyung rolls her eyes, grabs her purse, takes the opportunity to survey Nayoung’s outfit in the dim entranceway light.

She lets out a low whistle.

Nayoung smacks her and Minkyung laughs all the way to their ride.

---

“No, but really,” Minkyung laughs, “you should have seen her face - the first time I saw her it was like whoa what is this who am I where am I who is she, it was the best.”

Nayoung nods slowly, vaguely does not remember her own freshman orientation because nothing interesting had happened to her during that and she had probably spent half of it asleep. Probably. 

“Weren't you there?” 

“At my orientation?” 

Minkyung snorts as they come to a halt in front of a bronze sculpture of a bull-like thing with a unicorn horn. Or maybe it is just a really muscular unicorn. Nayoung cannot tell. 

“No, , I know you're too good of a student to skip your own orientation even though you probably slept through it instead - still not sure why you even bother going if you're just gonna sleep but we can discuss that another time - I meant for last year's.”

Nayoung draws a blank.

Minkyung reads the placard to the sculpture, takes a few paces, “I mean I think I dragged you there because someone said the freshmen were cute.”

It is Nayoung’s turn to snort, “they say that every year though, and it only gets creepier as we get older.”

“It's not creepy,” Minkyung says though she looks uncertain for a moment. 

Nayoung pats her on the shoulder, “it's not,” she says, knows they are now discussing something just very slightly different, “Your crush on that girl has got nothing to do with age so it's not creepy.” 

“I don-” 

Nayoung raises her eyebrows.

“Fine,” Minkyung mumbles in front of a painting of feathers, “I do have a crush on her.”

“Praise the heavens,” Nayoung says dryly, “Someone's finally being honest. Only took you an entire half year.”

Minkyung rolls her eyes. 

“Speaking of crushes though,” her voice drops, “I'm going to go to the bathroom real quick.”

“Wait, wha-” 

“Have fun, unnie,” Minkyung grins as she saunters away.

Nayoung frowns, turns back to this one depiction of a gala. Crushes? What does Minkyung mean by crushes? Are there other people in their friend group having crushes? Kyungwon would have texted, right? Yeah. Kyungwon would have texted. Whatever. She traces the dance scene in her mind, fingers of her right hand moving accordingly.

A tap on her shoulder.

“Hey.”

Nayoung turns around.

“Oh, hey. You look nice today.”

Jieqiong smiles, very obviously gives her a once-over, “And you're not looking too shabby yourself.”

Nayoung shrugs, “You just missed Minkyung. She went to the bathroom.”

“Mm,” Jieqiong hums, “I saw. But I also got the chance to see quite a bit of her so it's not been so bad. This exhibition was her idea?”

Nayoung nods, “We know the curator and she invited Minkyung.”

“Not you?” 

Nayoung shrugs, “Art is cool but Minkyung's always been the one who's more into appreciating the abstract.”

Jieqiong nods, looks up at the painting of a medieval court scene.

“And you dance, right?” 

Nayoung blinks.

Jieqiong’s lips twitch, “I did my research. Had to make sure she wasn't already dating you before I approached you because boy would that be really dumb.”

Nayoung nods hesitantly. Yeah that would have gotten really awkward really fast. Dating Minkyung… Is that really what other people think she might be doing? Nayoung supposes people have probably thought stranger things about her. 

“Yeah,” she says, “I dance.”

Jieqiong turns at her words, smiles.

Nayoung turns back to the painting. She does not know anything about Jieqiong other than the fact that she is Yaebin's friend and, for some reason, very motivated to see Minkyung and Yaebin get together. Nayoung wonders why but does not ask. That feels like need to know information and she probably does not need to know.

“Oh,” Jieqiong breaks into her thoughts, “looks like she's coming this way. I have a thing tomorrow that Yaebin is attending. You guys should come. I'll text you.”

She disappears out the door in a whirl of black chiffon and Nayoung turns back to come face to face with Minkyung.

Minkyung raises an awfully gleeful eyebrow.

Nayoung waits for her to say something but she does not.

“...yes?”

“Don't you ‘yes’ me, Im Nayoung. I want the details.”

“Details?”

Minkyung rolls her eyes, “Am I going to have to get you drunk for this?”

Nayoung is honestly so perplexed she is sure it shows on her face because Minkyung just sighs. 

“She who just walked out the door after talking to you. The pretty one. Joo Kyulkyung from our school.”

“Oh,” says Nayoung, “is that her name?”

Minkyung raises her eyebrows, “You have a crush on her and you don't know her name? I didn't take you for this kind of person, Nayoung.”

“I don't have a crush on her though?” 

“Uh huh.”

“Don't you ‘uh huh’ me, Minkyung, there's nothing.”

“You let her sit next to you yesterday and you didn't come scrambling out and then today you actually talked to her for more than five seconds. You don't talk to strangers for more than five seconds, Nayoung. I haven't seen you do it in a long time. And yes, that time you talked to that cute American boy all you literally said was excuse me.”

Nayoung opens , “But I don't have a crush on her. Really. I don't.”

“Uh huh.”

---

You said there was a thing?

Oh yeah. There's a recital tomorrow. I invited Yaebin but I have more tickets.

Evening? 

8pm at the recital hall just south of campus. Here, the poster.

What do I tell Minkyung that won't make it weird? 

Weird? Why'd it be weird?

She thinks I have a crush on you.

Lol what?

I don't, but never mind that, it's not important. Our mission is important. What do I tell her?

Well, actually… 

Actually? 

It would be convenient if you had a ‘crush’... 

What?

No, not like that, lol. Like. Then it's easy for you to invite her to things. 

But I'd be lying to her.

It's for her own good. We can take one for the team. And you don't have to say you have a crush if that makes you uncomfortable. Maybe I could be the one. Doesn't matter as long as we get them in the same room enough times for one of them to say something.

...hm.

It makes a lot of sense and you know it.

…it does. 

;) 

---

“Hey, Minkyung?” 

Minkyung looks up from her phone, chews the toast and swallows, “Yeah?” 

“You busy tonight?” 

Minkyung's eyes narrow.

Nayoung holds her hands up, “I'm just asking.”

“Depends,” Minkyung says, “I was gonna catch up on the One Piece I missed out on during midterms.”

Nayoung presses her lips together to stop herself from smiling. It does not work.

“Don't laugh at me, miss-for-goodness’-sake-Minkyung-don't-talk-to-me-for-three-more-episodes-of-this-drama-or-I'll-change-the-keys-I-swear-I-will.”

“I-”

“But yes,” Minkyung says, “I have no other plans for the evening.”

“Uh,” Nayoung says, “then do you want to come with me to a recital?” 

“...recital.”

“Yeah.”

“Not a concert...”

“Not a concert.”

“Just a recital.”

“...yes?” 

Minkyung slides off of her chair and pads up to Nayoung.

Nayoung holds the spatula out protectively in front of her.

“What kind of recital is this?” 

Nayoung can see the beginnings of a smirk forming in Minkyung's face. Take one for the team, she thinks.

“Well, uhm.”

Minkyung raises her eyebrows, smirk growing,“I'm waiting, Nayoung. I'm waiting.”

“You know what, never mind, I'll go alone. Uh wait, no, uh, I mean…”

“Nayoung?” 

“Y-Yeah?” 

“It's a simple question. Just needs a simple answer.”

Nayoung sighs, “Jieqiong invited me yesterday. Said I should invite you too.”

Minkyung squeals. Literally squeals. Nayoung blinks rapidly as arms are thrown over her shoulder.

“Oh. My. God. My baby is growing up oh I'm so proud of you Nayoung!!”

“So are you-”

“Am I going? You bet I'm going. Oh my God. Wait til I text Kyungwon and let her know. Our baby is in love I can't believe it! And you never said a thing to us-”

Minkyung wipes an actual tear from her eyes. Nayoung chants ‘for her own good’ in her head.

“Wait no, don't text Kyungwon it's not-” 

“Oh, you want to tell her yourself. I got you. But wait you said she invited you yesterday? So you've met her before then? Was it during my speech? Oh my God am I responsible for this? She's cute and she knows Yaebin, so she has to be a good person, I approve.”

Nayoung can feel her own face reddening.

Minkyung squeals again and pinches Nayoung’s warm cheek, “You're so cute, I'm so proud of you and I'm so happy for you! Also very glad to know she's not entirely straight after she dated that boy but I suppose it's irrelevant now that y'all are- oh my goodness I'm so excited and I don't even know why I'm so excited.”

“So you're coming this evening.”

“Nayoung, the sky could be falling down and I'd be dodging the falling pieces just to see you two in the same place.”

---

I gave your tickets to Yaebin instead of will-call. Aren't I a genius?

So she knows?

Yaebin's pretty sharp so she'd already picked up on there being something between us - I just uh, redirected it.

Between us? 

Like plotting.

Right.

And I'm guessing Minkyung ‘knows’ too? 

Yeah. Well, I just said you invited me and she made up the rest in her head.

Good. Because I gave Yaebin 2 tickets next to each other in the back corner and 1 VIP ticket near the stage and I'm hoping she's smart enough to do the right thing.

You're scary.

Gotta run, see you in a bit. Wish me luck.

Good luck.

---

“You're Nayoung,” all 161.5cm of Kang Yaebin in a pretty summer dress and Dr. Martens says, “Kyulkyung was right, you are pretty tall.”

Nayoung nods, “and this is my friend, Minkyung.”

Nayoung watches as Yaebin tries not to make a gargled sound of distress and dismay as the smaller girl's eyes flick to the tickets in her hand. She decides Yaebin needs an extra push. Just in case.

“Jieqiong said she had a VIP ticket for me?” 

She watches Yaebin slowly pull the silver-rimmed VIP section ticket out from between the other two, tries really hard to not snicker at the dawning look of horror on Minkyung's face.

“If you'd excuse us for one moment,” Minkyung says as she turns Nayoung around by the shoulders.

“You. Didn't. Say. I'd. Be. Sitting. With. Her,” emerges in a hiss between clenched teeth.

“I didn't know either. Surely it can't be that bad?”

“I'm going to die.”

“You're not going to die. Just sit there and enjoy the performance. It'll be OK. You'll be OK. You look nice tonight.”

“Thanks but that's not the point. I'm not ready.”

“You don't have to be ready. Just treat it like a movie or something and focus on the stage. It's gonna be fine. She's a good performer.”

Nayoung assumes she's a good performer - people who are bad wouldn't invite other people to a recital, would they?

“I know