“I don’t trust her,” Joohyun said sternly, eyes narrowed in suspicion. The object of her scrutiny seemed to shrink under her gaze, trying her best to melt into the sofa, although she didn’t have much room to move when they were all squeezed together side by side.

“Why?” Sooyoung asked tiredly.

“She murdered Seungwan!” Joohyun exclaimed in response, gesturing towards the dead woman herself. Yerim snorted, but she didn’t look up from her phone. This was going to take a while.

“Um,” Seulgi spoke up a bit uncertainly. “Not to interfere or anything, but any of you could have done it. That’s kind of the point of Werewolf.”

“Well, she’s the one I know the least, so she’s the first I’ll suspect,” Joohyun replied defensively. Byulyi shifted uncomfortably under all the attention, looking at Seulgi for help that she couldn’t provide.

Seungwan sighed from her corner of the sofa. “Can I say something?” she asked, raising her hand without much hope.

“No,” Yerim and Sooyoung replied simultaneously.

“You’re dead, you can’t talk,” Sooyoung pointed out, and Seungwan let out a groan before pulling down her hand to rub her eyes.

“Thankfully,” Yerim added. “It’s the only way to shut you up in this game.”

“I just – “ Seungwan tried again, but the two youngest fixed her with glares that didn’t allow for much arguing. “Just please don’t vote this round, it makes no sense,” she whined in a quiet voice.

“I know, you’ve said that every game,” Sooyoung replied simply. It was true, but it was a matter of simple logic that somebody always forgot. After the first night, there were only four people left. If they voted for the wrong person, the werewolf would kill someone else and win the game. They should wait for a turn and then vote when there were only three left, to increase the odds of getting the right person.

Of course, every time she pointed it out they all just groaned and tried to shut her up. Apparently her explanations the fun out of it.

“Seungwan’s right,” Joohyun grumbled with displeasure. At least someone valued her logic. “We shouldn’t vote this round.” She seemed genuinely disheartened at the conclusion and Byulyi, who had finally relaxed, almost started as she was pierced once more by Joohyun’s glare.

“So no voting?” Seulgi asked the room, awaiting the agreement of all active players. Byulyi wasted no time in nodding vigorously. Seungwan reached out to pat her shoulder in an attempt at reassuring her. She’d forgotten how Joohyun was with strangers, especially since she’d been so atypically friendly with Seulgi from the start. From an outside perspective, Joohyun’s coldness was almost cute, but she still remembered how it felt to be the target of those narrowed, unfeeling eyes.

“Yeah, fine,” Yerim said distractedly, tapping something on her phone. Sooyoung agreed with a hum and a half-shrug.

“Okay, then all the villagers fall asleep,” Seulgi said gently, waiting until all active players had leaned back and closed their eyes. Seungwan followed the actions, a little curious to find out who the werewolf was. “And the werewolf wakes up and finds a victim.”

Yerim popped an eye open, turning around to wink at Seungwan, although she was careful not to touch the two women around her. Then she pointed at Sooyoung, waiting until Seulgi acknowledged the action with a nod to close her eyes again. Seungwan slumped in her seat, somewhat relieved that Byulyi wasn’t actually the werewolf. She didn’t want Joohyun to be encouraged in her suspicion.

“Alright, the werewolf goes back to sleep, then everybody wakes up,” Seulgi began, waiting until everyone had opened their eyes to continue her narration. “And Sooyoung’s dead,” she finally added, looking towards the new victim apologetically.

Sooyoung exchanged a glance with Seungwan and immediately understood the situation, huffing in exasperation at her inability to argue the truth. The village was doomed. It appeared that Seungwan’s logic only made sense when the people involved acted logically, which was its fatal flaw. As if on cue, Joohyun gasped and turned to Byulyi, who shrank even further away from her, although she was already so close to Seungwan that she was nearly sitting on her lap.

“I’m voting for her,” she said imperiously, before anyone had had the chance to say a word.

“Cool, me too,” Yerim added quickly, shoving her phone in her pocket and looking up expectantly. Byulyi looked between the two, then at Seulgi, who appeared unhappy with the situation but, as the neutral narrator, was not allowed to argue her case.

“Two votes for Byulyi?” she asked, more for confirmation than out of any hope that they’d change their minds. Both women nodded. “Okay, I guess Byulyi is killed by the villagers.”

Byulyi flipped her card dejectedly. “I was a villager,” she said to nobody in particular, even though Joohyun was the only one in the room who didn’t know that yet.

“And that’s a win for me. Good game,” Yerim remarked, pushing herself up from the sofa. Joohyun looked between the youngest and Byulyi, still wrapping her head around the result. “Now I’ll be going. Things to do, people to see.”

Sooyoung muttered something inaudible, but clearly scathing, since Yerim leaned over to smack her shoulder. Joohyun finally stopped whipping her head around and leaned back into the sofa with deeply furrowed brows. She seemed moments away from crossing her arms and sulking.

Once Yerim had said her goodbyes and left, things got a little more awkward. They were too few to keep playing Werewolf, so they just sat and talked, which was made difficult by Joohyun’s whiplash-inducing jumps between icy detachment and friendliness as she addressed either Byulyi or the others. The newest addition to the group, who sat between Seungwan and Seulgi, seemed terrified of her interrogator and answered all questions in monosyllables, only growing slightly more at ease when Seungwan or Seulgi spoke up.

During a calmer period, when Sooyoung had roped Joohyun into a hushed discussion about a topic that Seungwan couldn’t pick up from the other side of the sofa, Byulyi’s phone rang, interrupting their conversation about the strangest things she’d found on hospital computers. She excused herself and quickly stepped to the other side of the room, answering the call with a teasing “Yong” that was overflowing with affection.

Seungwan watched her as a goofy grin grew on her face, nodding along to Yongsun’s words even though the other woman couldn’t see her. It was almost impressive, the way love was written along every line of her body, every gesture she made. Did Seungwan ever look like that around Joohyun? She couldn’t imagine that she did, because even Joohyun couldn’t have missed such obvious signs.

Seulgi tapped her on the shoulder, returning her attention to the group still sitting on the sofa. She turned to see that the other two had finished their discussion, with Joohyun now studying Byulyi and the way her free hand gesticulated wildly, slicing through the air in seemingly random patterns. She took the woman in with furrowed brows and lips pressed in a thin line, like she was trying to find something, some hidden answer that she couldn’t quite locate.

“So… what do you think?” Seungwan asked slowly. She didn’t really want to broach the subject, but it had to be discussed at some point and she would be the one to do it, as the only person with close ties to both Joohyun and Byulyi.

“She’s… fine,” Joohyun replied tentatively. It wasn’t very convincing and Sooyoung’s raised eyebrows let Seungwan know that she wasn’t alone in this opinion. “It’s just…” she started, but never finished the thought, opting instead to hum noncommittally while sporting a slight grimace.

Byulyi was now pacing around the room, listening with amusement before she finally broke into a large laugh that seemed to breathe joy into her very frame. Joohyun jumped slightly at the sudden noise.

“Was it the flirting?” Seungwan asked. “I told her not to do it, but it’s like telling fish not to swim.” Seulgi nodded, clearly agreeing with the description, and Sooyoung only winced at the memory of Byulyi’s stilted attempts to flirt with Joohyun shortly after she’d arrived. The affronted look on Joohyun’s face would have been priceless if it hadn’t been quite so unsettling. Byulyi got the message quickly enough, but the damage had been done.

“The flirting was a bit off-putting,” Joohyun admitted easily, following Byulyi with her eyes. Still talking on the phone, she had now settled down a bit and whispered words that Seungwan was glad she couldn’t hear, given the coy smirk curving Byulyi’s lips as she spoke. Something told her the conversation had taken a somewhat inappropriate turn.

That Yongsun was a curious case. Given Byulyi’s descriptions, she shifted between squeaking in prudish shock at the mention of something as innocuous as kissing and, well… Behaviour that Seungwan wished Byulyi were private enough to keep to herself. Suffice it to say that she’d heard enough stories about pole dancing and sultry innuendos to make her regret ever getting involved with those two.

Joohyun seemed about to elaborate on her opinion of Byulyi when the latter finally finished the call with a grin and a teasing “Don’t miss me too much,” turning back to face the four women on the sofa. Her beaming face fell almost immediately as she remembered Joohyun’s presence and she was only able to offer an uncertain smile that quickly died off.

“That was… Yong,” she said simply, like the name itself was explanation enough. The way her eyes lit up at the name, lending a softness to her face even when it was tinged with uncertainty, definitely seemed like enough of a hint as to who Yong could be. A glance at Sooyoung, who regarded Byulyi with a shy, knowing smile, told Seungwan as much.

“Yong?” Joohyun asked with some curiosity. Sooyoung almost snorted at her puzzlement and Seungwan was reminded of just how unobservant Joohyun could be in some departments. Her oblivious demeanour was both a blessing and a curse.

Byulyi seemed taken aback by Joohyun’s question, torn between the instinct to escape and the desire to gush. “She’s my girlfriend,” she ended up saying, in a hesitant compromise. She shoved her hands in the pockets of her jeans, fighting off a small smile at the words.

The explanation clearly took Joohyun by surprise. “Girlfriend?” she squeaked out, her head whipping between Byulyi and Seungwan with confusion. “I thought you two met on a date”

“They started dating after that,” Seungwan assured her quickly. Her hand reached out to pat Joohyun’s leg, but Seulgi sat between them and the movement would have involved too much awkward manoeuvring to come across as casual, so she retracted it quickly. Sooyoung seemed to have the same thought, because her hand quickly came to rest on Joohyun’s thigh.

“Seungwan actually helped get them together,” she pointed out with an enigmatic smile. She might be amused at the irony of Seungwan’s life, endeared by the tale of lovestruck friends being brought together at last, entertained by Joohyun’s clueless confusion or just savouring the chance to embarrass Seungwan with the tale. Or maybe it was something else entirely, Seungwan couldn’t claim to know everything that went on inside that girl’s head.

While Seungwan pondered the question, a similar smile grew on Joohyun’s face, so unexpected that Byulyi grew even more unsure. Her eyes darted towards the door for a moment, considering a quick escape with longing.

“Oh, well that’s lovely,” Joohyun exclaimed, sounding a bit strange, although it might just be the fact that Seungwan had never heard her utter the word “lovely” before. “It’s wonderful that you two are together. A friend of mine got a girlfriend recently as well,” she blabbered on, while Sooyoung and Seungwan threw puzzled glances at her and each other.

Byulyi took the pleasant change in demeanour at face value, smiling widely at Joohyun’s words. “Thanks, it is pretty great. I really like her.” She sounded shy yet proud and Joohyun encouraged her with an approving nod. “I couldn’t have done it without Seungwan,” she added quickly, and Seungwan felt herself growing warmer under the excited attention of Joohyun. She smiled awkwardly, trying to draw the conversation away from herself.

“I just told her to do it, she did all the heavy lifting,” she said with a dismissive wave of her hand, bringing the other up to scratch at the back of her neck.

“No, you were the one who got me to really think about it,” Byulyi insisted, her oblivious excitement only growing with every word. She turned back to Joohyun. “She said Yong looked at me like she liked me. I thought if even a stranger saw it, then I had to at least give it a try,” she carried on, eyes sparkling.

“Oh, how did she know?” Joohyun asked with genuine interest.

“I… showed her some pictures of us,” Byulyi admitted sheepishly. Sooyoung caught Seungwan’s eye and raised an eyebrow as if questioning just how bad the date had been. Seungwan would have returned the look if she wasn’t too busy trying to burrow into the sofa. Somehow this cheerful conversation made her even more uncomfortable than the icy atmosphere of earlier.

“Can I see?”

Seungwan dragged her hand up her face, covering and moving up to her eyes before Seulgi turned around to pry it off with a comforting glance and a reassuring squeeze. In front of them, Byulyi leaned forward slightly to flick through her phone’s gallery for Joohyun’s viewing pleasure. She studied the photos with a look of concentration which was only interrupted as the phone suddenly vibrated, announcing a new message.

Byulyi pulled the device back with a frown as she read the text. Then she slapped her forehead. “I forgot! Yong called me because she bought a new Lego set and I said I’d go build it with her. But then I got distracted talking about her,” she said with an embarrassed smile, and it was frankly absurd for a grown adult to sound this cute. Was this all they did? Play with Legos and make fun of movies and… that other stuff Seungwan would rather not have heard about? It seemed like some fairy-tale relationship for people suspended in time and space.

Maybe that was the point. People in love lived in a bubble of their own and they could have fun with anything or nothing at all. As long as they had each other, as long as they could bring a smile to each other’s face with their mere existence, then everything else was just easier.

Once more, she was jealous of Byulyi, of how easily it all came to her. Her smile was free and quickly brought forth, like it was always lurking just below the surface. It wasn’t held back by doubts or uncertainty, not when it came to Yongsun and what they had. She trusted her, trusted that they worked and that she was happy. It had been a long time since Seungwan had felt that way in a relationship, without wondering when and how it would end, when and how she’d disappoint.

“By all means, go ahead,” Joohyun said pleasantly, then paused for a moment as she considered her own words. “Not that I’m kicking you out, you’re also free to stay. But you don’t want to. You want to go see your girlfriend. So you should go do that,” she finished, breathless after all that rambling. Byulyi didn’t seem taken aback and only smiled brightly.

“Thanks, I had fun!” she exclaimed, and she actually sounded genuine. She was clearly quick to forgive and forget. “I’ll see you guys later,” she added in Seungwan and Seulgi’s direction, then turned to extend the tentative invitation to the others before walking off towards the front door.

After she left, they sat in silence, Joohyun still wearing a fond smile while the other three blinked away the confusion of what had just happened.

“So,” Sooyoung started with some hesitation. “I guess you warmed up to her, then.”

Joohyun took a moment to grasp the meaning of Sooyoung’s words, then she grinned widely. “Well, it’s just nice to see people in love, isn’t it?” she asked dreamily, apparently unaware that her current company was composed of two people struggling with their unrequited feelings and one who would never fall in love. Then again, they were probably the biggest hopeless romantics of the group, so she wasn’t completely wrong.

“I’m glad they worked it out,” Seulgi finally spoke up, looking almost nostalgic. “Whenever Yongsun would come visit her at work, they always looked so happy, playing around and throwing chips at each other. We actually had a bet on how long it’d take for them to get together. So, Seungwan, you’ll be glad to know that Sunmi got like 30 bucks because of you.”

Seungwan snorted at the information, wondering whether the bet had been the reason none of Byulyi’s co-workers thought to point out the obvious to those two. Seulgi smiled at her, a smile born from years of friendship and the ability to read her thoughts from a glance at her face.

“The way they looked at each other when they thought the other wasn’t looking… It was like a mirror, the exact same hope and love and fear,” she said slowly, thoughtfully, not looking at anything in particular. “Makes you think about all the things happening right in front of you that you might be missing.”

She smiled again, a small, slightly bitter smile. Seungwan remembered all the friends that had slipped away from Seulgi, all the times she’d thought she had one thing and found another entirely, one she couldn’t manage.

Across from them, Sooyoung sported a similar smile, mirroring the one that must have risen to Seungwan’s lips. They were familiar with the love, the hope and the fear. It felt a lot less beautiful when it lived inside them, when it made their hearts tremble and quake and squeeze painfully.

“Yes, it really does,” Joohyun said quietly, and her smile was bright, the only one untainted by memories or regrets. Seungwan’s breath caught at the sight, dark thoughts leaking away until only awe was left behind. Sooyoung’s eyes were on her and she wondered what she saw on her face.

It was a dangerous thought, one that would normally have her running for the hills, but just for a moment she hoped Joohyun would notice it. Notice her. See what she’d been missing.

Maybe she could have what Byulyi had. Easy smiles, easy jokes, pain that time inevitably turned into nostalgia. Maybe she deserved it too.

That was the thought that jostled her back into reality, nearly choking in surprise. It was something that she hadn’t thought in a long time. Her sudden coughing fit, seemingly brought out by nothing at all, had Seulgi turning to her with concern, slapping her back, and the moment was broken. But the thought was out there, floating around her head. Eventually she’d have to face it.