Not bad, not bad!

 

Finally, Minjoo found her own apartment. It wasn’t too far from her university nor her job, so she really lucked out on this one. It was just the right size for her--plus, there was no angry, disgusting, rude manchild living here with her. That just made it all the better.

 

She no longer had to stay over at Sakura’s place and borrow clothes from her sparse wardrobe; she loved being with Sakura, but it was sometimes a bit difficult when she would jolt awake in the middle of the night because the girl would be screaming at her PC.
 

Currently, she was rearranging some of the decorations and furniture. Her parents had helped her bring in new furniture and some of her old things (after she had finally snatched them away from the old apartment in the company of her friends). Admittedly, she had thought of calling up Chaewon to help, but she shied away from it.

 

Okay, maybe she’s a little nervous about calling or texting her. On one hand, Chaewon said to contact her if she ever needed her; this probably pertained to dangerous situations such as the one before. Although, she reasoned, Chaewon didn’t really specify, and it seemed like she was giving her number to Minjoo for free usage. Maybe.

 

Ah, I don’t know!

 

She really wanted to see her again.

 

Really really.

 

She let out an exasperated sigh as she threw a pillow onto the couch.

 

Despite all the emotional and mental turmoil, at least she had this sweet apartment.

 

It hasn’t been long at all, but she’s already starting to feel like this is home.

 

Knock knock.

 

Her head turned towards the door in confusion. She couldn’t recall anyone saying they’d stop by today.

 

Who could that be?

 

Just to be safe, she peers through the peephole and is greeted by a young woman.

 

Uh, who’s that?

 

The girl looked harmless enough.

 

Wow.

 

As she opened the door, she was greeted by a tall, beautiful girl with a bright smile. She wore a simple, casual outfit with jeans and a t-shirt, but she looked stunning. She almost didn’t notice the container she was holding in her hands.

 

“Hi! I heard we were getting a new neighbor, so my mom and I made you these cookies!”

 

The tall girl held them out excitedly before squeaking in embarrassment.

 

“Ah! I’m Wonyoung; we moved in here recently as well.”

 

She smiled again and expectantly held out the cookies towards Minjoo again.

 

Minjoo had the strongest urge to squish the girl’s cheeks; she was really adorable.

 

“Thank you! I’m Minjoo, nice to meet you.”

 

She notices little drawings on the container: a tiny penguin, little hearts, baby chicks, etc. It’s all so cute.

 

“These doodles are really cute,” Minjoo chuckles as she takes the container and bows her head in thanks.

 

“Thanks! I did them myself,” she grins with pride.

 

“Wonyoung! Wash the dishes!” Comes a voice a bit down the hall.

 

“Coming!”

 

Wonyoung turns apologetically towards Minjoo and bows slightly.

 

“Sorry, that’s my mom. I’ll be going now. Nice meeting you, Minjoo!”

 

She waves as she runs down the hall and into the room two doors down, whining at her mom as she makes her journey.

 

Wonyoung didn’t look too much younger than Minjoo, but she certainly had a very youthful flair to her. She liked her.

 

Wow, a nice apartment and nice neighbors.

 

This certainly was a good start.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Despite all the nice furniture and decor and such she had in her new place, her fridge was grossly empty. She figured that she’d like to have something a little more filling than half a pack of cookies and some water.

 

After Wonyoung left, she stumbled upon this revelation and decided to go shopping.

 

Well, I’m trying to do some shopping.

 

Minjoo wasn’t short, no.

 

But this particular shelf was really testing her.

 

“Whoa!”

 

Minjoo snapped her head to the side and narrowly avoided hitting a girl as she tried to jump to get something off of a higher shelf.

 

“Sorry!”

 

“Do you need some help?” The other girl asked amusedly while pointing towards the bag of chips.

 

Minjoo nodded sheepishly.

 

“That’d be great.”

 

The other girl was just tall enough to grab the bag without having to jump pathetically like she did just now.

 

“Thank you!” She beamed gratefully.

 

“No problem. I’m Yujin, by the way.”

 

Yujin holds her hand out with a wide, dimpled grin.

 

“I’m Minjoo,” she replies as she lightly shakes her hand, “Nice to meet you.”

 

“The pleasure is all mine.”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Somehow, Minjoo ended up walking back to her place with Yujin beside her. After they had parted ways at the snack section, they ran into each other again as they were both leaving the store at the same time. Turned out that they were headed in the same direction, so here they were.

 

She was grateful for the company though, and Yujin was very sweet and nice to talk to; they had already exchanged phone numbers midway through the walk.

 

She somehow met two new amazing people today.

 

“That’s crazy!” She says in response to Yujin’s silly story about how her brother had gotten his tongue stuck on a freezing lamp.

 

“I know! If I were him, I’d ask for ten dollars instead of five, but the idiot did it anyways and got stuck for two whole hours! Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if some kids didn’t come and pelt him with snowballs,” she laughed heartily.

 

“Karma, I guess,” Minjoo chuckles back.

 

“Well, this is me!” She points towards the building in front of them with her thumb.

 

“Again, it was a pleasure meeting you,” Minjoo smiles warmly at Yujin as she moves to open the door.

 

“Same here. I’ll see you later, Minjoo. Let me know if you ever need to get anything off of the high shelf!”

 

Minjoo rolls her eyes and waves at Yujin before heading inside, hearing a laugh behind her.

 

She’s nice.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Okay, I’m just going to do it. I’m just. going. to. do. it.

 

I’M GOING TO DO IT!

 

Right now.

 

Now.

 

And…………… now…

 

Nope I can’t do it.

 

Minjoo has been staring at her phone for the past half hour debating on whether or not she should call Chaewon, but, obviously, it hasn’t gotten her anywhere.

 

She lets out an exasperated groan as she flops onto the couch with her phone in hand, holding it above her head firmly.

 

“I’m going to do it!”

 

In a burst of confidence and determination, she presses the call button.

 

And then it occurred to her that she had no idea what she would say.

 

She had spent all this time thinking about whether or not she should do it yet took no time to actually think of a reason as to why she would call.

 

“Hello?”

 

Too late now.

 

Chaewon picked up the second it started to ring.

 

Oh well.

 

“Uh, hi! It’s Minjoo!” She squeaks out with terribly fake nonchalance.

 

“Minjoo? What’s up?”

 

Oh god what do I say?

 

“I just wanted to, you know, say hi…”

 

She cringes at herself. It could be worse, though. Definitely worse. She could have mentioned how much she’d been thinking about her, or how much she wanted to hear her voice, etc., but she didn’t. Little victories.

 

There’s a little pause before Chaewon lets out a quiet chuckle with a heavy exhale.

 

“Is that it?”

 

“Wannagogetsomethingtoeat?”

 

Oh lord please save me now. What did I just say. This was not part of the plan--there was no plan! This is so embarrassing. I want to crawl into a hole and live there forev--

 

“Hello? Earth to Minjoo?” Came an amused voice on the other end.

 

“Huh?”

 

“I said yes.”

 

“...Huh?”

 

Another laugh.

 

I love that sound so much it’s unbearable.

 

“Meet me at the park in twenty minutes.”

 

And then she hung up. Just like that.

 

Well, now seemed like the appropriate time to start panicking. She’d eaten and hung out with Chaewon before but this was different! Every other time was because the universe decided to have them run into each other over and over again with these weird situations. Now, this was just---this was just so… casual.

 

There was no drunken stupor, no sleazy man, no crazy ex-boyfriend.

 

It was just them wanting to hang out.

 

She wants to, right? She doesn’t feel like she has to say yes, right?

 

Minjoo slaps her face a bit. She was acting like a little schoolgirl with a fat crush on some classmate. She was a grown adult, and she will act as such!

 

---after she stops groaning and rolling all over the couch in nervousness (and excitement).

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

It was kind of embarrassing how excited she was. It was also a bit embarrassing that her heart was beating very, very erratically.

 

After she finished panicking, she quickly threw on a black hoodie and ran towards the park. She knew she’d be a bit early, but she figured that it gave her some time to calm her nerves a bit.

 

She was wrong.

 

As soon as she stepped foot on the playground, she saw a familiar figure lazily swinging back and forth. She could hear soft humming as Chaewon drew random squiggles in the dirt. She couldn’t help losing her breath a little bit; the way her hair was blowing gently in the wind with the light illuminating her feature---she was truly breathtaking.

 

Focus, Minjoo, focus!

 

She mentally slapped herself and made her way towards the swinging girl. When she stopped in front of Chaewon, the other girl tilted her head up and met Minjoo’s eyes.

 

Oh no, not the smile--

 

A little smile played out on Chaewon’s face, effectively rendering Minjoo speechless.

 

How did I get to this point? Why am I such a loser all of a sudden?

 

“You’re awfully odd with your words today,” Chaewon snorted as Minjoo just continued to stare at her dumbfounded.

 

Minjoo grinned back shyly and fiddled with her fingers.

 

“I didn’t expect you to meet me so suddenly.”

 

She just shrugged in response.

 

“Not like I had anything else to do anyways. Plus, I’m starving.”

 

As she says the last part, she hops onto her feet and dusts off her knees lightly. She always forgets that the other girl is taller than her; she should start wearing boots with heels or something. After straightening up, she waves her hand forward and gestures Minjoo to follow.

 

“Where are we going?”

 

“I don’t know; we’ll figure it out eventually.”

 

Not a very satisfactory answer, but she follows anyways (with another eyeroll, of course) and trusts that their instincts will lead them to some place delicious.

 

~~

 

Throughout the course of their meal, Minjoo finds that Chaewon is a very good listener. Minjoo found herself opening up a lot more, saying a lot more, and Chaewon always listened attentively. Of course, Chaewon was still keeping up her walls, but Minjoo found that she seemed a lot more relaxed.

 

Talking or not, she was really glad to be with her.

 

Although, she did find it a bit funny how she’d look up from her food and find Chaewon staring straight at her. It happened multiple times, and each time Chaewon would first avert her eyes and then turn her head away. It was actually really cute.

 

“Why do you keep looking at me? I know I’m pretty, but come on,” she teases.

 

Chaewon just scrunches her nose and says, “No, if I wanted to look at something pretty I’d just look in the mirror.”

 

She snorts in response.

 

“So you were looking at me.”

 

Chaewon just turns her head back towards her food and mumbles, “You’re just seeing things.”

 

It just makes Minjoo smile even more.

 

And Chaewon just hopes that Minjoo can’t see her red cheeks if her head is turned down like this.

 

Somehow, they spend quite a while there. It had already taken a bit of time before they settled on where to eat (“this one has cool tables!”), but with the ample time they spent leisurely eating their meal, the sun was already setting by the time they got out.

 

“Wow! It’s already dark, huh?” She states as she stretches her arms above her head. The nighttime breeze is amazingly refreshing.

 

As she turns her gaze to the side to look at Chaewon, she sees her nervously scratching her neck.

 

She raises an eyebrow.

 

What’s up with that?

 

Before she can say anything, however, Chaewon speaks first.

 

“Wanna see something?” She asks quietly but hopefully, not quite meeting Minjoo’s eyes.

 

Oh?

 

Just to tease the clearly anxious girl, she hums in thought for a few seconds, secretly deriving pleasure from the way Chaewon starts to fidget more with each passing second.

 

“Of course,” she finally laughs, sticking her head in front of Chaewon’s with smiley eyes.

 

Chaewon releases the breath she’s been holding (oh god why was this so nerve-racking) in a relieved sigh and returns the smile shyly.

 

She turns to the right and beckons Minjoo forward with a hand and a tilt of her head--

 

--but she’s not quite ready for when Minjoo grabs hold of her outstretched hand.

 

It was way different from the last time (and only time) they held hands; the situation called for it! But this, this, was making her feel a lot more things than the last time. This felt so much more intimate, something Chaewon was not used to nor was she ready for. It seemed like she was constantly being put into these situations with Minjoo--like with the couch, and the cuddling, and everything else, really.

 

Not that she was complaining.

 

But it made her feel really weird.

 

Despite being crazy nervous herself, Minjoo breathes out a quiet giggle and gives Chaewon’s hand a reassuring squeeze.

 

With that, Chaewon is able to regain some semblance of mental comprehension with another shy smile.

 

“Come on.”