#6: i spy with my little eye

Tags: Humor, ??, POV Outsider 

Notes: Can be read as a canon-setting thing if you wish, but that's not strictly so.  

Summary: Yerim watches her unnies.

Yerim first realises that something’s different when she crashes straight into Joohyun and Seulgi only to realise that no, she didn’t fall because of how the arms of her unnies were practically glued into each other’s.

“Hey, Kim Yerim!” Joohyun barks, annoyance clear in her voice. “Can’t you be more careful?”

Yerim blinks as she staggers back into an upright form, dusting herself. Seulgi and Joohyun are no longer intertwined as one. In fact, they were a whole foot away from each other.

“Sorry, can’t help it if you guys were in my way.” For this, she earns a smack on her shoulder from Joohyun and a sigh from Seulgi. “C’mon, the hallway’s so narrow… I’m going to be late, , , … But since you guys are both here anyway – Seungyeon-unnie’s asking if you guys wanna watch that last Harry Potter movie together tonight.”

“Oh?” Joohyun and Seulgi share a look. Something passes between them that Yerim can’t really decipher.

“Tonight?” Seulgi repeats at the same time as Joohyun reminds Yerim to watch her language, which Yerim elects to ignore.

“Yeah, at around eleven?”

Another glance between the two. “Hmm,” Seulgi begins, “I’d love to… but…”

“But? What would you rather do than go out with me, Seulgi-unnie?”

Without missing a beat, Seulgi responds, “Many other things.”

Joohyun chimes in, “Isn’t going for a movie at eleven going to make you miss your bedtime, Kim Yerim?”

Yerim shrugs. “It’s Harry Potter! Please. As if I wouldn’t want to watch it for the third time. Like, it’s so bad – I forget that neither of you read the books yet, gosh, but Voldemort’s totally not supposed to explode so dramatically like that… I can totally lend you the books if you guys buy me food. But you guys have to read the books! And Prisoner of Azkaban? Best thing ever. Hey, I’d lend you the books if you’d buy me a time-turner. Doesn’t even have to be one of those overpriced official merch, y’know. I accept knockoffs.”

“Driving a tough bargain, aren’t you?” Joohyun shakes her head. “I suppose we now know what you want for your birthday.”

We?

Seulgi glances down at her watch. “Speaking of time, aren’t you supposed to be somewhere right now?”

“Oh, oh, yes, , I’ll tell Seungyeon-unnie that you guys aren’t coming tonight then?” At their nods, Yerim starts to race away again. “Catch you guys later!”

*

If someone catches her in the darkened stairwell peeking through the dusty window where the corridor’s in plain view before her, she would swear up and down that she’s there because she wants to catch a breather. Even if the stairwell’s dark and dusty at its best and claustrophobic and its air so stale it almost felt as if your breath was slowly being snuffed out of you. Oh, cross her heart and hope to die – she’s not spying. Not at all.

The door to one of the rooms opens. She’s excited for about half a second before she realises that it’s only one of the trainers calling it a day. Huh.

Then, oh, hey, it’s Joohyun!

She makes herself as scarce as possible behind the glass, with only her eyes and hair visible from the outside.

But disappointment rushes over her again when she sees Suho appear from the other end of the corridor and call out to Joohyun. Joohyun turns, a grin on her face. Suho says something to Joohyun that Yerim can’t really decipher. Joohyun’s head tilts to the side, listening attentively.

Or so Suho probably thinks.

From where Yerim is, she can tell that Joohyun… wants to get out of the conversation, her body shifting and her feet turning away and tapping on the ground lightly for five seconds. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Then stops. If the glass window’s any cleaner, she’d be able to see that Joohyun’s tensed her right leg in a personal reminder to stop her outward displays of agitation.

Damn it, Suho-oppa, can you just leave yet?

After an actual eternity, Suho pretends to pout and Joohyun laughs, shaking her head, and probably tells Suho that he really should stop being a baby as he walks away. Yerim ducks as Suho walks towards her position to take the turn towards the cafeteria, and hears him say something like, “Next time then?”

Once she’s satisfied that his steps don’t sound like they are right outside her door, she returns to tiptoeing again. Joohyun leans back against the wall, not moving from her spot. Yerim and Joohyun stay like that for a few minutes, and Yerim’s slowly beginning to wonder if she should just make her escape soon. Oxygen’s running low. And it’s so hot in here. Gosh, do they ever ventilate this stairwell? There aren’t even windows in here for any colder drafts to come in…

The door opens again and finally, Seulgi emerges, wiping the sweat on her forehead with a towel. She says something to Joohyun to which Joohyun shakes her head. From what Yerim can make out from her amateur attempts at being a proper spy, Joohyun’s probably saying that it’s okay, I don’t mind waiting.

Then oh! Seulgi wipes her hands on her shorts before reaching for Joohyun’s hand. It’s a little disgusting, the way Joohyun’s smile takes on a shy quality, her cheeks immediately a faint pink. But it’s also a little cute. Just a little.

When they’re finally away, she bursts out of the stairwell, in a lungful of air, and lets out a squeal.

“I knew it!”

*

Yerim appears before Seulgi and Joohyun with a stack of books in her arms.

“Hello Seulgi-unnie, Joohyun-unnie. I have come to present my Harry Potter books to you.”

“Oh?” Joohyun’s brow arches upwards. “You’re lending them to us, just like that?”

Yerim nods. “Yes. But you’ve got to tell me something.”

Seulgi shrugs, says, “Sure," as she looks up from her pile of homework. (Not that Seulgi’s really conjugating the Japanese verbs. Yerim spies a series of elaborate doodles along the margins of the paper. She holds back a snort as she sees various iterations of Joohyun’s name in Seulgi’s cutely misshapen handwriting.)

Joohyun’s eyebrow remains fixed high on her forehead. Yerim knows she’s suspicious. Nothing really misses Joohyun’s notice, does it?

But well, that doesn’t matter. Yerim’s victory is secure. She’s sure of it.

Gently, she places the books down.

“So.” Wham, she smacks her fists onto the table with deliberate vehemence. “Seungyeon-unnie and I have a bit of a bet going on. I want to win. Did you start dating Seulgi-unnie before Chuseok?”

Joohyun’s eyes widen. Seulgi drops her pen.

“What?”

“Yeah, you heard me, Joohyun-unnie. Seulgi’s agreed to tell me, didn’t she?”

Betrayal flits across Seulgi’s face for around a millisecond. Then, Seulgi sits upright and she shrugs again. “Well… if you really need your answer… no.”

“What?” This time, it’s Yerim who nearly yells, only to be shushed by the both of them. “The ? But… but… all this time… I saw you guys holding hands in summer!”

“What? Oh, never mind. I don’t need to know if you’ve decided to stalk us or something. And language, Kim Yerim. I guess we could’ve told you after we actually put a name to it after the holidays, but… really, a bet?” Then, Joohyun cackles. “Does this mean you’ve lost to Seungyeon?”

Yerim groans, sinking to the ground as she thinks of the chicken that she could’ve bought with the two 10000-won notes that she’s going to have to surrender to Seungyeon tonight. Maybe she should’ve gone with a smaller bet.