“You must be really desperate if you’re asking me, of all people, for romantic advice.”

 

 

From across the room, Sana glares at her roommate for two reasons. First, she is only asking because Chaeyoung is literally the only other person around, and second—

 

“I’m not asking for romantic advice!” Sana protests. In response, Chaeyoung swivels in her computer chair to turn away from her laptop screen and give Sana an unimpressed look. “I’m just asking if my plan is okay or if it’s insane.”

 

“And you’re planning a romantic gesture,” Chaeyoung retorts. “Just admit it. I’m your dating guru now.”

 

Sana huffs, shaking her head as she sits up from her bed. “Look at you being so smug. And all because you finally got Momo to date you after years of pining.”

                                   

“What? I was just crushing on her!” Before Sana can point out how Chaeyoung talked about Momo ninety-nine percent of the time (where the remaining one percent was made up of complaints about her classes), Chaeyoung continues, “Besides, if anyone’s been pining here, it’s definitely you. Haven’t you liked Nayeon since forever?”

 

“I wouldn’t say that. I mean, sure, she has always been my favorite person, but I never actually thought of dating her until she suggested it last Valentine’s Day,” Sana recalls.

 

“And you never stopped thinking about it ever since.”

 

“Please. You make it sound like I’m in love or something.”

 

“No, you make it sound like you’re in love or something,” Chaeyoung corrects. “You should hear yourself every time you talk about her.”

 

“I’m not in love!” Sana insists. “My feelings are so casual!”

 

“So you’re gonna casually commute for two hours just to see her on Valentine’s Day, huh?”

 

“I knew it! My plan is insane!”

 

“It’s insane because that is your whole plan,” Chaeyoung clarifies. “You haven’t figured out anything else. Like are you gonna bring flowers or chocolates? What are you gonna do when you get there? What if she already has other plans?”

 

At that, Sana’s heart sinks. All three questions were valid, but she never really thought about the third one.

 

All this time, she’s been worrying about how Nayeon sees her without even considering that Nayeon might already be seeing someone else. Sure, Sana may have asked about it when they saw each other over the winter break, and Nayeon said she’s “so single I already started naming my future cats.” Still, they barely talk when they’re not on vacation, so who knows if something has already changed?

 

“That last question got to you, huh?” Chaeyoung asks, breaking the long silence that Sana didn’t even notice she was causing.

 

“What? No.”

 

“Then why do you have that kicked shiba inu look on your face?” Chaeyoung questions Sana’s denial. “Not in love my .”

 

“I just don’t know the answer to all the things you asked is all.”

 

“Oh, come on. The other two can’t be that hard. She’s your best friend.”

 

“Well,” Sana starts, “I know she prefers chocolates because she doesn’t know what to do with flowers. I actually have no idea what her ideal date would be like though.”

 

“Then ask her about that and about whether she already has a date or not,” Chaeyoung seriously advises before teasingly adding, “you know, casually.”

 

Sana stops herself from throwing her pillow at Chaeyoung’s mocking face and changes the subject instead. “What are your plans anyway?”

 

“Aquarium date. Momo wants to try those close-up dolphin shows where you’ll get splashed with water and get soaked from head to toe.”

 

“Because that’s the only way you can get her wet?”

 

“Well, if you must know—“

 

“No!” Sana exclaims, covering her ears with her hands for good measure as if she’s innocent and wasn’t the one who made a sly innuendo in the first place. “I don’t need to know!”

 

“—we already went swimming and I think that’s as wet as it can ever get,” Chaeyoung finishes wholesomely, making Sana drop her hands. “I even had to teach her how to swim because she didn’t know how to. Isn’t that cute?”

 

“Ah, yes, there’s nothing cuter than someone’s lack of basic life skills,” Sana deadpans.

 

“You called Nayeon cute when she used the wrong edge of a knife,” Chaeyoung counters.

 

“She was trying her best!”

 

“Whatever, pot. Just stop calling the kettle black.” Before spinning her chair around to face her desk and going back to studying, Chaeyoung adds, “Maybe call Nayeon instead.”

 

---

 

Sana does call Nayeon.

 

(She still refuses to call Chaeyoung her dating guru though.)

 

She kind of wishes she just texted, however, because when she sees Nayeon from the other end of the video call, she forgets everything she was planning to say.

 

Nayeon skips the greeting. Instead, she says that she looks weird wearing her glasses but she’s blind and she needs it while studying. She also apologizes because she’s had a long day and she knows she looks tired and messy.

 

Sana just thinks Nayeon looks adorable.

 

But that is not what Sana called Nayeon for, so she keeps that thought to herself and sticks to telling Nayeon her plan.

 

She had the perfect excuse to show up on Valentine’s Day. Nayeon will be moving out of her dorm on the following day since all of her exams will be over by then, so Sana will come and stay overnight to help Nayeon with her stuff in the morning.

 

“It’s all good since I’ll be on my break by then and I have nothing better to do,” Sana says, even though her travel time to Nayeon’s place will actually be longer if Sana is coming from her own home instead of her campus.

 

“Plus I want to see your place,” Sana adds, even though she knows that what she wants to see is not a place but one specific person.

 

She holds her breath, preparing herself for all of the possible scenarios she can come up with: Nayeon saying she already has plans, or making up some lame excuse just so she won’t have to say directly that she’s blowing Sana off to go on a date, or suddenly confronting Sana about her feelings, or—

 

“Okay, sure.”

 

… Or that.

 

When Nayeon starts adding something leading with “but,” Sana cuts her off and tells her to go back to studying. (Of course, it’s because she cares about her friend’s education and definitely not because she’s scared of Nayeon taking back her confirmation.) Sana says they can figure out the details later, and without letting Nayeon say another word, hangs up.

 

It turns out that Nayeon just wanted to remind Sana that she still had an exam to take the day Sana is coming over.

 

If she’s being honest, Sana feels more relieved than disappointed about that.

 

This means she doesn’t have to think about what to do with Nayeon on that day. She’ll just have to be around while Nayeon spends most of the afternoon reviewing and be left to her own devices while Nayeon takes her exam. It will already be nighttime when Nayeon gets back to her place, and although Sana did suggest going someplace nice for dinner, Nayeon made it clear that she just wants to stay in because she’ll be too exhausted to go out.

 

Now, all Sana has to do is show up.

 

---

 

Sana does show up.

 

She even gives Nayeon a box of chocolates since she “read it’s good for studying because chocolates help your memory or something” and—

 

“Is that for me, too?” Nayeon asks with excitement in her voice as she eyes the small shiba inu plushie that Sana is holding in her arm.

 

Instead of giving a verbal answer, Sana simply hands the toy to Nayeon. “I’m gonna have to leave tomorrow, but this one’s staying in your dorm. Maybe then you’d remember me and call me more often.”

 

“So cute,” Nayeon coos as she hugs Sana’s present. “Also, you know I’m moving into another dorm for next semester, right? You’re literally here to help me move out.”

 

“Right.” Sana chuckles nervously. Of course, it’s easy to forget that reason when it’s just a lie to cover up the real reason why she wants to see Nayeon. “I just meant wherever you’re staying, you better take that with you.”

 

“Okay, okay. I’ll get you a bunny plush over the break, so you’ll always remember me too.”

 

Internally, Sana snorts and thinks, you don’t have to get me anything. I think about you all the time.

 

“You do?”

 

Ah, of course, she said that out loud.

 

“I mean, I used to see you everyday and now I don’t,” Sana tries to justify. “I just wish you weren’t so far away.”

 

“Me, too.”

 

That’s when Sana realizes how much she actually meant those words. Even disregarding her romantic feelings, Sana truly missed having a friend like Nayeon around.

 

She’s certain that Nayeon meant it, too, with the way Nayeon said it and the way Nayeon is looking at her and—

 

“So are you gonna let me in now?” Sana asks, putting an end to that moment before she slips and confesses something again without even noticing.

 

“Oh, sorry.” Nayeon chuckles in embarrassment before moving aside and letting Sana enter the flat. She leads Sana past the living room opposite the adjoined kitchen and dining room and opens one of two adjacent doors.

 

(Sana smiles to herself when she sees Nayeon’s messy room. Some things never change.)

 

“Make yourself at home,” Nayeon says as she sits in front of her study table, and Sana heeds, plopping down on the bed after placing her overnight bag beside it. “My roommate already moved out, so you can help yourself to anything you find in the kitchen. You can borrow my laptop later too when I leave.”

 

“I’ll live. Don’t worry.”

 

---

 

Sana does live.

 

All she needed were her phone charger and the wifi password to entertain herself.

 

While Nayeon was still in the room reviewing, Sana would occasionally sneak glances at her too, in addition to looking up random videos online.  She found herself grinning and shaking her head whenever she would catch Nayeon looking at her Facebook feed instead of lecture slides.

 

(“I’m taking a break!”

 

“Every two minutes?”)

 

She survives thanks to Nayeon’s leftover cereals, too, but her hunger is less of a problem than her impending boredom. Knowing how long Nayeon’s final was supposed to last, Sana had to wait alone longer than expected, but finally Nayeon arrives with a large plastic bag, an apology, and a complaint about how the line at the nearby convenience store was so long. 

 

“Wow, that’s a lot of chocolates,” Sana remarks as Nayeon pours the contents of the bag onto the bed.

 

“Well, it is tradition.”

 

That was it.

 

That was Sana’s perfect chance to bring up their pact to end their lonesome cycle of getting together on Valentine’s Day every year and filling the emptiness they feel with lots and lots of chocolate, their deal about dating each other if they’re still single by Valentine’s Day this year.

 

Unsurprisingly, she wastes the opportunity instead of taking it.

 

“Except we used to get these for free.”

 

“I’m not saying I don’t miss the free sweets, but I’m definitely okay with leaving our high school suitors behind,” Nayeon replies as she sits on the bed beside Sana and unwraps a chocolate bar. She takes a bite before continuing, “Honestly, I’m looking forward to having an actual relationship now that I’m in uni.”

 

“Do you like anyone?” Sana asks, masking her anxiety with a forced smile. “You said that like you already have someone in mind.”

 

“What? No, I don’t.” Nayeon denies in a suspiciously high-pitched voice. “Maybe you met someone.”

 

“If I did, why would I be here? Also, why are you being so defensive?”

 

“I’m not!” Nayeon exclaims in the same unconvincing tone. “I’m just kinda longing for romance. That’s all.”

 

“Okay, then, humor me. What’s your ideal date?”

 

Sana mentally gives herself a pat on the back. She thinks even Chaeyoung would be proud of her for being able to ask that so casually. She’s preparing herself to take note of every single detail Nayeon is going to provide in her answer when—

 

“I just want a date with you.”

 

Wait, what?

 

“Look, I don’t know if you forgot about it or if you didn’t mean it when you said you’d go out with me if we’re both still single by now and you just want to keep our friendly tradition going,” Nayeon continues. “I mean, you’ve made it pretty clear that you’re only here with me right now as a friend, but it doesn’t change the way I feel about you.

 

“I still wish that you asked me what my ideal date is like not because you’re just curious but because you want to make it come true. I still wish that you got me chocolates not because it helps me study but because you wanted to get me a gift for today. I still wish that you went here not because you don’t have anyone else to be with but because you wanted to be with me.”

 

“But I do,” Sana confesses. “I want to be with you.”

 

“What?” Nayeon blinks in confusion. “I thought you were friendzoning me the whole time!”

 

“Are you kidding? I even slipped and said I can’t stop thinking about you!”

 

“Because ‘I used to see you everyday and now I don’t?’” Nayeon echoes Sana’s words from earlier that day. “Is that really the best you can do?”

 

“Okay, so maybe I’ve been giving platonic excuses for my actions,” Sana digresses. “I was just downplaying my feelings because I had no idea what yours are.”

 

“Well, you do now. So…” Nayeon trails off.

 

“So?”

 

“So shall we do as we planned last year?” Nayeon finishes. “A deal is a deal, right?”

 

“You mean it?”

 

“Of course.”

 

“Like for real?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Are you really, really sure? Because I can give you time to—” Sana starts, about to go into a long monologue about how Nayeon should only get into a relationship because of the way she feels and not just because of some stupid agreement, but Nayeon cuts her off.

 

Sana doesn’t mind it one bit.

 

She never knew chocolate could taste any sweeter until she tasted it on Nayeon’s lips.

---

A/N: I'm at twitter.com/minamyouwu