Joohyun had not thought this through. Looking back, she couldn't remember the last time she had voluntarily approached a stranger. Especially in the middle of the night, when the streets were almost empty and anyone who came too close was seen as a possible threat.

The further she got from her apartment building, the deeper her doubts, but also the feeling that it would be ridiculous to give up and turn back. So she walked on, attempting to keep a reasonable distance between herself and her target while she racked her brains for the step in her plan that came after “follow stranger through the streets at night”.

The woman disappeared behind a corner. Moments later, Joohyun reached the same corner and turned as the woman had done.

She nearly bumped into her, suddenly much closer and holding some sort of device in her hand.

“I'm sorry, but you've been following me for a really long time and it's really late and...” The woman paused mid-sentence. Joohyun finally identified the device as pepper spray. She most definitely had not thought this through. She cringed away, attempting to protect her eyes with her arms. The woman still hadn't sprayed her. She lowered her arms slowly to glance at her and saw a slight spark of recognition in her eyes. “Joohyun?” the woman finally exclaimed in amazement.

Joohyun studied the woman in surprise, wondering if they knew each other. She had a unique face, with high cheekbones and beautiful, captivating eyes which squeezed nearly shut when she smiled, as she did when she greeted Joohyun. She could see why Seungwan would fall for her.

But she did not look familiar at all. “How do you know me?” Joohyun asked, sighing in relief as the woman put away her pepper spray.

“Seungwan said you were really pretty,” the woman replied simply, smiling widely once more. “And you only showed up when I left her at home, so it makes sense,” she added.

“And who are you?” Joohyun asked quickly, before the conversation could return to the topic of people who might be following other people.

“I'm Seulgi,” the woman stated, extending a hand as if by reflex. “Her best friend,” she elaborated,

Joohyun shook her hand. “Yes, I think she's mentioned you,” she offered absent-mindedly. So Seungwan was in love with her best friend. That made things more difficult. What new perspective could she find that Seungwan wouldn't have seen already, if this was the person she was closest to?

They stood in silence. Joohyun wondered what she should say next. She needed to learn more about Seulgi, so she should begin some sort of personal conversation where the woman would volunteer information about herself that Joohyun could then discuss with Sooyoung. How did one start a personal conversation, again?

“So, uh...” Seulgi began uncertainly. “I do still need to ask why you were following me.”

Right. She'd already forgotten about that. She reached into her coat pocket, searching for something other than her keys. “You dropped this,” she said as she pulled out a hair tie. Seulgi looked at her strangely.

“Um, no, that's not mine,” she replied in a curious voice.

“Well, it was on the floor,” Joohyun deadpanned, before putting it back. “Might be Seungwan's then, I'll hold on to it.”

Seulgi watched her in silence for a moment. “Right, Seungwan said you were like this,” she said with a grin.

Seungwan had spoken about her? What did she think? “Like what?” she asked with curiosity.

“Very considerate,” Seulgi replied quickly, still smiling.

That was nice. What a nice thing to think about her. “Oh, I'm glad she feels that way,” Joohyun remarked with a small smile.

“Yeah, she really likes you,” Seulgi continued. Joohyun felt a pleased blush colour her cheeks. It was nice to know her friend felt that way.

But this wasn't about Seungwan's feelings for Joohyun, it was about her feelings for Seulgi. Joohyun needed to focus on the task at hand.

“Are you on your way home?” she asked, surprised for a moment at her ability to improvise. “I could accompany you,” she added. In two simple sentences, she'd already managed to extend their interaction for several minutes. She was doing much better than anticipated.

“I'm actually going for pancakes,” Seulgi replied. She pointed at a diner across the street. “It's right there.”

Oh. They'd already arrived at her destination. That threw a snag in Joohyun’s plans.

“Want something to eat? My treat,” Seulgi offered with a wide, inviting smile.

Joohyun assented happily and they crossed the street towards the diner. She couldn't believe how well things were going. It was almost as though Seulgi was going out of her way to be polite and welcoming. Joohyun could see why Seungwan would like her so much; even at first glance, she seemed to be the kind of warm person who immediately put others at ease. The kind of person that others immediately liked.

They sat at a booth by the window, neither of them glancing through the menu. Seulgi apparently had her order memorized and Joohyun would be happy with some tea, to make up for the one that sat half-drunk at home. She took a look around the place while she wondered what she should say next. Seulgi smiled at her reassuringly.

She thought back to a conversation she'd once had with Sooyoung. She'd casually remarked that she was surprised she'd managed to find such good friends and Sooyoung had replied with a sigh, like she was upset at her.

“Joohyun, you're the prettiest, nicest person I know. The only reason people don't flock to you is because they're all scared,” she stated with an eyeroll, as though she couldn't believe those people's stupidity. “You have kind of an RBF,” she added, like it explained anything.

“A what?”

“Nevermind. You just look a little unwelcoming, so it makes people more scared to reach out or open up or whatever.” Sooyoung shrugged at the inevitability of it all. “If you smiled, you could probably get them to do anything for you.”

Joohyun was surprised at the thought. It seemed unlikely enough. As Yerim was walking back from the kitchen, Joohyun stopped her. “Yerim, would you get me some tea?” she asked with a wide smile. Yerim stared at her for a moment.

“What's wrong with you?” she asked with a raised eyebrow. “Did Sooyoung do something? Did she give you drugs?” She turned to Sooyoung. “Did you give Joohyun drugs?” she demanded in a recriminating tone.

Sooyoung rolled her eyes again. “I meant,” she started gently, “people who don't know what you're like.”

Well, Seulgi didn't know her.

She turned to Seulgi with a hopefully disarming smile. “So, how did you and Seungwan meet?” she asked pleasantly.

(…)

(Seulgi POV)

Seulgi couldn't believe how well things were going. When she'd discovered Joohyun was the one following her, she'd realized this was a precious opportunity and not to be wasted. Well, first she'd felt very relieved that she wouldn't have to pepper spray someone, but the realizing came right after.

But what was really surprising, even more than the fact that Joohyun had followed her to return a hair tie – side note, why would someone pick up a hair tie off the floor? -, was that she'd seemed genuinely eager to spend more time with Seulgi. It would make sense to want to know your new friend's best friend better, but not so much if you were Joohyun as Seungwan had described her.

To be honest, Seulgi had been waiting for Seungwan to introduce her to her new friends. She didn't want to pressure her, because she knew how nervous she got with new people, so she was patiently biding her time until Seungwan felt comfortable enough to have them meet. But the reason she was waiting in the first place was because she'd assumed she'd need Seungwan to mediate, since according to her, Joohyun was closed off, cold and scary to strangers.

But here Seulgi was sitting down at a diner with a smiling, friendly Joohyun who'd just asked her how she and Seungwan had met.

She was beyond confused, but she decided to just roll with it and see where things went. Plus, she'd soon have pancakes, which was always a comfort.

“Well, we went to college together and we took a lot of the same classes,” she started. “And now we're working at the same place, so it wasn't hard to keep in touch.” She was careful to keep the details of their work vague. She knew Seungwan was a bit sensitive about it and preferred to mention it herself.

“Oh, so you must have many common interests,” Joohyun commented. Thankfully, she seemed more interested in their relationship than anything else. Seungwan's secret was safe. “What... sort of things do you enjoy doing?”

Seulgi considered the question for a moment. “She really likes baking, I help her out sometimes. Then I help with the eating,” she added with a grin. Joohyun only nodded along. “We also go out to have lunch on the weekend,” she continued. She should probably mention something that didn't have to do with food. “I like parks and fresh air, so we also do that once in a while.” She wondered if there was something else. “Oh, and video games. We play at her place.”

She finished quickly because she could see the pancakes coming their way. The waitress set down her plate and a steaming mug, then she smiled and walked back to the kitchen. Seulgi attacked the pancakes at once, waiting for the next question from Joohyun. She wondered how she should guide the conversation towards how great Seungwan was.

Joohyun took a slow sip of her tea. Finally, she set it back on the table. “So, you've known Seungwan for a long time. Several years,” she remarked. “What made you become friends?”

As if by magic, the perfect opportunity fell on Seulgi’s lap. It was about time to hype Seungwan up. “She's a little shy, and I'm more outgoing, so it was mostly me bugging her a lot,” she said with a chuckle. “I was having some trouble with one of our classes and I asked her for help because she had the most elaborate notes I'd ever seen. Lots of colours and arrows and bullet points and diagrams.” She gestured as she spoke, animated at the memory of Seungwan's mythical notebooks. More than one teacher had complimented her on them. They were something else. “She was really nice and didn't tell me to buzz off and I ended up doing really well on that class.”

She smiled fondly, remembering the times before she knew Seungwan like the back of her hand. She'd been so reserved that Seulgi spent a long time wondering whether her new friend even enjoyed her presence. It was only when Seungwan had started relaxing and showing her more dorky side that Seulgi realized she'd been holding back out of fear of embarrassing herself. Nowadays, she seemed more comfortable with it. From their conversations, it seemed to Seulgi that she was opening up to her new friends a lot more easily than she had in college. She was really proud of her Wannie.

She realized she was smiling and looking into nowhere. She straightened her shoulders with a playful snort, acknowledging her own spacing out. “After that, we just started studying together for all our shared classes. It helps her understand things when she talks them through with other people,” she finished at last.

She returned her attention to her pancakes, which must have been getting lonely. Joohyun took another drink from her mug. She hadn't really hyped Seungwan much, unless Joohyun needed help with her homework.

“And then we stayed friends because she's super funny and nice, obviously,” she hastened to add. It was true, but it felt a little bare. Maybe she should have shared that through some heartfelt anecdotes or something.

Joohyun nodded thoughtfully. “Yes, she is funny and nice,” she replied matter-of-factly. She didn't elaborate, so Seulgi just went back to her pancakes, secretly rejoicing at the fact that she got to relate those words to Seungwan. Now she was 100% definitely convinced Joohyun didn't hate her friend and wouldn't have to worry when she argued it to Seungwan anymore.

She finished her pancakes while Joohyun remained in uncharacteristic silence. Seulgi wondered if it was her time to ask questions. Then Joohyun suddenly looked up from her drink. “What would you do if one of your friends was in love with you?”

She was glad she'd already finished eating or she might have choked on something. This was unexpected. Did Joohyun suspect Seungwan? Was she the one in love? Seulgi absolutely needed to figure this out, because she couldn't drop something like this on Seungwan without a plausible explanation.

“Oh, uh, well... I guess I... Would be sorry that I couldn't feel the same way. And I'd say that to them, and ask if they were okay with staying friends or if they wanted some space.” It wasn't the hardest question to answer, considering she'd already been in this exact situation. Being friendly and outgoing did have its downsides. “So, why do you ask?” she quickly interjected, hoping to get to the bottom of it.

“Curiosity,” Joohyun replied. She looked away. “I watched a movie about it and started wondering.”

“Seungwan said you didn't watch a lot of TV,” Seulgi commented innocently. She had to be careful not to spook her.

“Sooyoung made me watch it. She wouldn't go to the theatre alone because she said it made her look sad and lonely,” Joohyun elaborated.

It wasn't the likeliest story, but Seulgi couldn't be certain it was a lie. From what Seungwan had shared, it did seem like something Sooyoung would do. She might have taken Yerim, but if it was a cheesy romance, like it seemed to be given the major plot point, the younger woman would most likely refuse to go. Probably insult Sooyoung's taste over it.

Seulgi knew too much about Seungwan's friends.

Regardless, the food was gone and the check would be arriving soon and now she had this time bomb to dismantle. Seulgi clenched her jaw, trying to think of a plan of action. First, distract Joohyun.

“What about you? What would you do?” she returned casually, trying to buy some time. If she couldn't ask directly, she had to do it indirectly. She had to probe Joohyun's thoughts on Seungwan somehow.

“Well, the question can hardly be posed,” Joohyun answered with a small laugh. “Yerim and Sooyoung see me more as a bothersome parental figure, I doubt either of them would develop romantic feelings for me.”

“And Seungwan?” This was probably not the subtle indirect probing Seulgi was supposed to be going with.

Joohyun paused halfway through finishing her tea. She smiled mysteriously, her lips half-hidden behind the cup. “I don't think I need to worry about that.”

Joohyun had no idea. Seungwan was so lucky. Seulgi should probably keep the strange question to herself anyway, Seungwan would just obsess over it and assume Joohyun had some mysterious secret friend that she'd fallen for or something.

The waitress arrived with the check, which Seulgi paid right away. She saw Joohyun rummage through her pockets, then settle back in her chair looking flustered. She must have left her wallet at home.

She walked Joohyun home, obviously. When they got there, Seulgi called for a cab, which she waited for in Joohyun's company. She suggested exchanging numbers, but apparently Joohyun’s phone had also been left at home, so Seulgi simply scribbled down her own number on the back of the receipt from the diner and handed it over, urging Joohyun to call her if she ever needed anything. As she saw the cab approaching from down the street, she turned to Joohyun.

“Hey, I know I already said it, but Seungwan's pretty shy and she might not show it enough, so... She really likes you, okay? She's really glad you guys became friends,” she said earnestly. Joohyun received her words with a surprised smile. Her cheeks had a rosy tint, but it was hard to tell whether it was just from the night air. “She talks about you all the time,” Seulgi added, already stepping into the car. This time she was almost sure she'd seen the colour in Joohyun’s cheeks intensify.

They waved goodbye and Seulgi was off.

(…)

(Seungwan POV)

It was Saturday afternoon, Seungwan's head throbbed painfully every time she tried to get up, and Seulgi was standing in the middle of her living room sharing the most unbelievable story.

Seungwan pressed the cold compress harder against her forehead, the sensation helping slightly with the pain, but of course doing nothing for the nausea that also perked up every time she moved. She really should have had that glass of water.

“I must be more hungover than I thought, because I could swear you just told me Joohyun chased you down the street then had tea with you in the middle of the night,” she croaked. She had intended on chuckling, but the effort seemed untenable.

“No, that's pretty much what happened,” Seulgi confirmed. Seungwan had the sensation of having travelled to some alternate dimension with very different rules. It was becoming a familiar feeling.

“And she smiled and asked questions and never stared at you with what looks like simultaneous disgust and total indifference?” Seungwan questioned further, beyond bewildered.

“Yes, she did those two things and never did that last thing,” Seulgi reassured her with a nod.

Now her head was starting to hurt for an entirely different reason.

“Are you sure it was the same Joohyun?” Seungwan offered desperately.

“I doubt there's another beautiful Joohyun who lives in your building and knows your name,” Seulgi pointed out. She was right, of course. But that still somehow sounded more likely than this bizarre situation.

Unless.

Seungwan pinched the bridge of her nose, not so much angry at the universe as she was disappointed. “I know what happened here,” she sighed out. “This is what I was afraid of.”

Her hand covered her eyes, but she felt Seulgi's gaze on her, awaiting an explanation.

“She met you and now she's in love with you. It's the only explanation. You're too perfect and beautiful and nobody can resist you,” Seungwan declared dramatically. She heard Seulgi's giggles. “This is the nightmare scenario,” she added, slumping further into the sofa.

“That's obviously not true. You can resist me just fine,” Seulgi reminded her with a grin. She raised her foot and prodded at her leg. How mean, knowing Seungwan couldn't fight back.

“Yes, and that's why you like me so much. I keep you grounded, humble,” she explained. “But now you've met Joohyun and it's over for the rest of us.” She wanted to roll over onto her side and hide her face against the sofa pillows for emphasis, but she was afraid her stomach wouldn't agree with that course of action.

Seulgi prodded her leg again. “Wannie, nobody's in love with anyone.” She paused. “Well, I guess you're kind of in love with Joohyun. Or maybe just into her? I'm not sure how you'd describe it.” Seungwan laughed despite herself. “But Joohyun's definitely not in love with me. And you didn't even focus on the good part!”

Seungwan turned her eyes to Seulgi. “What good part?” she asked in a sombre voice, as though she doubted its very existence.

“Joohyun said you were funny and nice. And she was happy when I said you liked her,” Seulgi reminded her.

“Oh,” Seungwan replied simply. “I must have missed that amidst all my existential despair.”

“Well, there's no need for existential despair. Things are going great,” Seulgi insisted.

Seungwan grunted. “I will admit, under duress, that maybe things only seem so bad because I'm very hungover.” Seulgi was already nodding excitedly along. “So I'm going to ask you to bring me my cat and buy me a burger and by the end of the day I'll let you know how the situation develops.”

Seulgi was more than pleased to help. She disappeared from Seungwan's view for a moment then returned with an upset ball of fur, which Seungwan trapped against her side until he'd accepted his new life and settled down. Then she reached for Seungwan's keys and promised to be back quickly.

Lying on the sofa, Seungwan used one hand to keep the compress in place while the other petted Mr. Fluffers. “Did you hear that, Fluffy?” she asked the cat, who didn't seem to respond to the question. “Joohyun thinks I'm nice. And funny.” She continued petting Mr. Fluffers, pleased with his contented purring. “And she's glad I like her,” she whispered to the empty apartment.