Actually, Sooyoung was glad Jinsoul liked her again…a lot because the girl had taken her to her favorite taco truck after she had picked her up. The car ride was awkward, Jinsoul staying silent and Sooyoung too traumatized by Sori. It didn’t feel weird to her, being with Jinsoul after thinking of her like that. Sooyoung was starting to think she didn’t have any lingering feeling for her just had this annoying attraction. 

The blonde is sitting across from her watching her put away the tacos. She’s already ate six of them, four more on the table. Sooyoung moans stuffing another one in . is full when she speaks, “are you sure you don’t want one?” Jinsoul has a funny expression. Her brows are raised and in a small smirk as she shakes her head no.

Jinsoul had bought her the food. Now the blonde was just watching her. After finishing it she washes it down with some soda. Beating her chest she burps earning a few stares of disgust from the surrounding people, but Jinsoul just continues to smile at her. 

Wiping with her hand she apologizes, “sorry…that was gross.” Jinsoul tilts her head and laughs a bit. Sooyoung doesn’t really know what to do now. She wasn’t hungry or anymore. Just tired and wanted to go home. But Jinsoul was looking at her like she was expecting something and Sooyoung tries to ignore it.

It’s too hard though and she lets her eyes travel to Jinsoul. It’s not a surprise when she’s met with soft black eyes, “what?”

Jinsoul jumps in her seat, “Nothing I…sorry it’s just weird.” Eyes that were locked with hers fall to the table. 

“What is?” Sooyoung asks.

Jinsoul brings her eyes back to hers Sooyoung can’t describe the look she’s receiving, “us, I wouldn’t think things would ever go back to normal after I messed up so many times.” Sooyoung narrows her eyes at the girl. Jinsoul was being sincere but there was something she was holding back.

Then again she doesn’t want to talk about the past anymore. Jinsoul was different during that weird phase, but this was the same girl she had grown up with. Or almost the same, there was still something different about Jinsoul now. Sooyoung really couldn’t put her finger on it.

“Hmm, we were never that normal Jinsoul. You remember the garden right? I don’t really see us getting that close again.” Sooyoung leans over the table to look at the girl, liking how a blush forms on her cheeks. But it also makes her think. Did she really want to go back to being that close? The last time it completely ruined her. The thoughts of Jinsoul’s garden left an empty feeling in her chest.

Of course, Jinsoul argues, “do you not want to be? That close again I mean I know it might be-.”

“Seriously we’re friends again isn’t that enough? We don’t have to cling to each other.” Sooyoung snaps and regrets it when she watches the small smile turn into a frown. What did Jinsoul want from her? When they were younger it was easier to do stuff like that. Now it would just be awkward. She wasn’t sure she was comfortable with Jinsoul yet.

Jinsoul turns her eyebrows upward and pouts, “but you love when I hug you and…stuff.”

“That was like ten years ago .” Jinsoul’s pout becomes more effective her cheeks even puffing up. Maybe Sooyoung shouldn’t be so harsh. “You can’t be serious right?” 

Jinsoul nods and brings her fingers to press at her cheeks, “I’ve had a bad day.” Sooyoung would like to tell Jinsoul how bad of a day she’s had but she doesn’t want to invalidate the blonde’s feelings.

“Then what do you want?” Jinsoul smiles when she asks and stands up to skip over to her side of the table. Sooyoung widens her eyes as the blonde squeezes in next to her. Arms wrap around her waist and Jinsoul plops her chin on her shoulder.   

Sooyoung figures out that apparently, affection came easy to Jinsoul after years of tension. She was already comfortable with Sooyoung in a span of a few weeks. She has to remind herself that Jinsoul only apologized yesterday. It was like the girl was waiting on Sooyoung to let her guard down so she can crawl back into her likeness. Jinsoul knew exactly what she wanted while Sooyoung was thrown into confusing feelings.

“Cuddles…we have to make up for all the years when we were fighting.” Sooyoung blinks at the blonde. Although she was having conflicting thoughts about Jinsoul’s intentions she can’t help but like this…a lot. How Jinsoul is wrapped around her, fingers tickling at her full tummy. “Is this too much?” Sooyoung guesses it’s not too bad. Not as bad as she thought. It was nice but it didn’t make her heart race. It just felt safe and familiar.

Sooyoung leans into her and Jinsoul giggles snuggling into her shoulder, “no I guess not.” Jinsoul gives her an opened mouth smile and makes a babyish noise. Sooyoung spaces out as the blonde pretty much makes her body her personal teddy bear.

Jinsoul scoots further into her side, “I missed my Soobunny so much.” She shudders at the pet name and slowly pushes the girl off of her despite the protests. If Jinsoul wanted to be this close again Sooyoung needed to set her boundaries.

Sooyoung holds up one finger, “We’re grownups now you cannot baby me.” Jinsoul gets a little angry and goes to argue but Sooyoung shoves the finger in her face, “you are limited to one display of affection a day.” In the old days, Sooyoung would be suffocated by how much Jinsoul would hug and kiss her. She says the final thing with a wiggle of her finger, “If you annoy me at any time I will murder you.”

The blonde rolls her eyes and grabs one of the forgotten tacos. Sooyoung watches as the girl crams it in. Some of the sauce spilling out of the corner of her lips. She for sure couldn’t handle those lips on her now without doing something stupid.

“I thought it would take you a lot longer to want to be this way again.” She speaks her mind, was Sooyoung the only one having trouble with this? It was like none of that really happened or it just didn’t effect Jinsoul.

Jinsoul shrugs, “I love you okay. Sorry, I’m happy that my best friend is back in my life.” The blonde gobbles another taco down. Sooyoung only had one left. Jinsoul’s words made her feel good, really good. Jinsoul loved her? And was happy? Maybe Sooyoung was blowing everything out of proportion. Friendship was supposed to be easy. Jinsoul was making it so easy so why was Sooyoung wasting so much energy on thinking of the consequences and blurred lines. 

Maybe I should leave it all behind.

Sooyoung shouldn’t be so stubborn should she, “fine two displays of affection a day.” This was natural for them. The past several years have not been normal at all. Sooyoung knew her and Jinsoul fit better than most people. Them making up so quickly just shows. She just hopes it not so quick that wounds don’t heal properly. 

“You know it’s kinda hard to forget how to do something you loved doing something so much,” Jinsoul says before grabbing the last taco and eating it. Sooyoung groans at the girl eating all her food but doesn’t really mind. She was glad to see Jinsoul eating. 

Taking a napkin she wipes the sauce off the blonde’s lips, “and what’s that?” Jinsoul blushes and smiles lowering her head to gaze at her hands. She’s fiddling with her fingers again.

“Loving you.” Sooyoung stares at her side profile. Her brain doesn’t really process it but she takes note on how red Jinsoul’s face gets. Jinsoul loved doing that?

 Then why did you stop when I needed you the most?

Snorting she teases the blonde, “what? Are you gay or something?” Jinsoul’s eyes widen and she raises up to push Sooyoung. She only laughs at the girl. It was so cheesy but what did she expect from her. 

Jinsoul rolls her eyes and crosses her arms, “I was being serious Sooyoung!”

Getting the rest of her laughs out she eyes the blonde skeptically, “me too!” She receives a glare and another smack. Much harder than the last one and it was sure to leave a mark.

“You’re giving me the opportunity again” Sooyoung scoots closer to Jinsoul who is starting to get upset. Pushing the awkwardness aside she wraps her arm around her. “So just let me do it okay?” Jinsoul asks with wide eyes.

“Okay, god…you don’t have to get so worked up.” She chuckles and shakes the girl under her arm. Jinsoul was always a lovey-dovey kinda person…most of the time. Despite having a cold family she was very affectionate and loved when it was returned.  Though Sooyoung was surprised when Jinsoul had admitted that she still loved her. Sooyoung guesses that side of Jinsoul never went away.   

Jinsoul wasn’t like that towards her for years. Those years were the hardest in Sooyoung’s life.

Sooyoung wonders why she was getting so mad at this. “Hey it’s okay we can be best friends again you can love on me as much as you want.” The blonde slowly warms back up again turning to look at Sooyoung. “I’m not into all that gay though.” Jinsoul huffs and stands up to walk off. Sooyoung laughs and turns when the girl yelps. Her face turns ghostly white when she sees whose right in front of Jinsoul.

It’s Sori and her makeup is all run down. “Is this your Sooyoung?” Jinsoul makes an exasperated noise as Sooyoung stands up, squeezing between them. “Well tell her I like you.” Sooyoung thinks if she would ever murder someone it would be Sori. The reality though is the red-head would probably murder her first.  

“Okay and?” They both turn to Jinsoul who is staring at Sori. Sooyoung has to catch the fists thrown towards Jinsoul.

Sori starts crying again and pushes her. Sooyoung falls back a bit and Jinsoul catches her while peeking over her shoulder. The girl has never been this embarrassed before. “Seriously after I give you amazing head and let you beat you run straight to her? I thought we had something?” Sori cries out.

“First of all, it was terrible head.” Sori scoffs and her face contorts to anger. “Second, we met only because you were my weed dealer’s girl and I wanted that night.” Sori’s lips quiver and Sooyoung receives a slap to the face. Maybe she deserved it…and the drink thrown in her face.

She and Sori were nothing. Well in her eyes. Sooyoung wipes the fizz on her face. Her dealer had shorted her one gram so she stole his . He didn’t know Sori was ing her on the side. He also didn’t know that Sori got her free weed. But to Sooyoung’s bad luck Sori fell in love with her and now she was trying to strangle her reestablished best friend. 

After fighting the girl off again, of course, Jinsoul has to open again, “Um we’re only friends I think you have me confused for someone.” 

Sori screams, “No I know exactly who you are Miss Barbie tingz. You and Sooyoung are besties huh? Then why the did Sooyoung-.” Sooyoung slams a hand over the girl’s mouth and starts to drag her out of the area. When they’ll finally out of everyone eating at Taco Shack’s view she starts to angrily whisper at Sori.

“Listen you ing bozo the clown if you don’t leave me alone I will put a restraining order on you.” Sori swings at her but Sooyoung catches her wrist and pushes her back before walking off.

Sooyoung flips her off when the girl yells at her once again, “wait till Miguel hears about this!” 

Jinsoul is cleaning up the mess that Sori made when she returns. “Unlock your jeep I’m getting my stuff and going home.” Jinsoul furrows her brows at her tone. Jinsoul steps closer to her and Sooyoung notices how she’s eying the slap mark.

“Just wait for me I can drive you home.” The blonde reaches out to her face but she pushes her away. Sooyoung really wasn’t in the mood for this right now.

She was too pissed to even argue, “Forget it meet me at the practice nets at six tomorrow.” Jinsoul calls out to her but Sooyoung ignores her. 

Sooyoung was sick of Sori and the last thing she wanted was Jinsoul having a new reason to hate her. How would the blonde feel if she knew that? It would probably ruin all this progress they’ve made and they’d be back at square one. She doesn’t know if Jinsoul would be so apologetic next time. Sooyoung doesn’t know if the girl would ever talk to her again.

Jinsoul is throwing away all the stuff that was scattered on the table. She wonders who that girl was. Was it Sooyoung’s girlfriend? She was really pretty, and hot. Jinsoul felt intimated by the girl especially with how angry she seemed that she and Sooyoung were hanging out with each other. They were just friends though, there was nothing wrong with hanging out with your friends right? 

Does she think we’re something more?

Pausing in her cleanup she stares at the ice littered on the ground. She didn’t even get to clean Sooyoung up. As she’s packing up to leave she feels tapping on her shoulder. Jinsoul turns around and smiles when Sori is standing there menacingly, “so are you ing Sooyoung?” She gasps at the question. Blushing she tells the girl the truth. She and Sooyoung had never been romantic…

“She was ing me and moaned your name like two times, explain that big brains.” Jinsoul doesn’t say anything. She just stares at the girl in front of her. The red-head seems to get pissed at her silence and scoffs, “hello? I thought you were smart but I guess you’re a dumb too byeeee.” The girl flips her off and starts to walk away.

Did Jinsoul hear that correctly? Why would Sooyoung be thinking about her during unless? Jinsoul sighs and starts to walk towards her jeep. She wishes Sooyoung didn’t storm off. She had left practically everything in her car. Hopping into the driver’s seat she looks at the bag. 

Jinsoul knows she shouldn’t but she starts snooping around it anyways. She finds Sooyoung’s phone and wallet. Half empty bottles. A thing of deodorant and some dirty clothes. 

Taking the t-shirt out she inspects it. Sooyoung was definitely wearing this shirt earlier today when she was warming up. Jinsoul checks around her vehicle and makes sure no one is around before bringing the shirt up to inhale deeply.

After she does she leans her head back and sighs loudly, “wow…”

Jinsoul takes a few more whiffs before sticking it back inside she stares at the shirt before pulling it out to sniff one more time. There was nothing weird about that right? She was just curious about the smell.

Just like the way she was curious about her name rolling of off Sooyoung’s tongue.

But no one needed to know that.   

… 

“Can we please take a break?” Sooyoung crosses her arms at the girl bent over, gasping for air.

Shaking her head she drops her arms, “no breaks.”

Jinsoul groans and stands back up to go to the net. Sooyoung tosses her a ball and then another, and then another. It’s like a rainbow of balls with how fast Jinsoul is setting them and Sooyoung wasn’t going to let her have a break until she liked the sets.

They had been going at it since six and it was a little after eight now, just three hours before their first game. “Okay, now you’re going to set it to me wherever I like.” Jinsoul glares at her before wiping the sweat off her brow. It was a bit of a role reversal today. Jinsoul was the one working hard while Sooyoung had stood back and watched.

Stepping to the middle of the court she calls out, “to the right.” She tosses the ball up and bumps it to the blonde before sprinting to the right corner of the net and Jinsoul sets it almost perfect. Sooyoung gets a bit of adrenaline in her system from how good it felt to hit it. She repeats it but this time she calls out the middle. Probably the hardest place to set and hit. It wasn’t ideal but in some cases it had to be done. 

Sooyoung jumps in the air and hits it. A good enough set but there’s only one problem, Jinsoul is still standing there. So when Sooyoung lands back on her feet she’s practically is on top of Jinsoul. Pushing the girl away with two hands she starts to scold her, “you can’t just stand there and look at the ball you got to get out of the way and get back on defense.” Jinsoul lowers her head and Sooyoung flicks at it. 

“You got to stop being so sensitive too.” Jinsoul pouts and shrugs her shoulders. 

She only feels a little bad when Jinsoul looks at her with sad eyes, “yeah whatever you don’t have to call me stupid.”

Sooyoung steps forward and places a hand on her shoulder, “you’re not stupid you just do stupid that annoys me…better?” Jinsoul rolls her eyes and steps back nodding her head that she’s ready but Sooyoung has another idea.

“Actually let’s practice defense,” Sooyoung explains the drill to Jinsoul and the blonde listens closely. It’s a pretty basic drill. Jinsoul pretends to set and Sooyoung goes to hit while Jinsoul falls back into defense. It’s what they should be doing but with a ball. Sooyoung reminds herself that she has to be patient. Jinsoul takes a little time to learn things despite being a genius. Sooyoung guesses it’s a balance.

They do this drill for minutes and even Sooyoung breaks a sweat. She runs back and starts to leap forward as Jinsoul shuffles a way around her in case her hit was blocked by the other team. After Jinsoul gets the hang of it Sooyoung calls it quits. Breathing hard she looks at the girl silently asking her if she’s comfortable with it now. Jinsoul smiles and gives her a thumbs up.

Sooyoung is thankful and goes to grab a ball. She’s leaning over when the blonde calls out to her, “you know your don’t jiggle when you jump.”

Snapping back up she turns to the girl who is awkwardly staring at her, “I mean it does a little…you’re all muscle which there’s nothing AH!” Jinsoul covers her head up in protection as Sooyoung felt the need to put the girl in a headlock and rub her knuckle into her scalp. 

Letting the blonde go she points in her face, “focus.” Jinsoul stares at the finger and Sooyoung prays to whoever is out there when she watches the small smirk on the girl’s face form. Her eyebrows knotting downward in pure mischief. 

The next thing she knows she’s pinned on the ground with her arms crisscrossed behind her lower back. “God it’s so easy to fight you, you’re like a noodle,” Jinsoul teases.

“Shut up!” Sooyoung simply didn’t have the brute strength. Jinsoul, however, was like a Tonka trunk who could take her down in seconds. Sooyoung manages to break free and crawls away quickly. Jinsoul comes after her but she has an idea. Just waiting for the right moment.

The next thing Jinsoul knows is that she’s in a choke hold with Sooyoung behind her. Sooyoung manages to throw her legs around the girl’s waist to and squeezes when Jinsoul reaches behind to pull on her hair hard. “Stop it you ing brat!” She yells in the blonde’s ear when she tugs too hard.

Jinsoul makes a funny noise and starts tapping on the ground when Sooyoung squeezes on her harder.  Letting her go Jinsoul rolls out of the embrace and across the sand with a huff and a puff. They sit there catching their breath for a moment before one of them bursts out in laughter. Sooyoung starts laughing as well because Jinsoul’s is contagious. The blonde is basically screaming on her back, her feet kicking in the air. 

Sooyoung doesn’t think play fighting is that funny but she goes along with it. Jinsoul raises back up and stares at one particular spot. Sooyoung can tell how much the blonde is trying to keep it in. She feels the color drain from her face when the girl points and states something embarrassing, “come on Janet Jackson.”

Looking down she screams and quickly fixes her bikini top. So that was so funny, her being on display. “Seriously Jinsoul? Rude…” The laughing abruptly stops when Sooyoung stands up. Jinsoul just mutters out an apology and stands up as well.

It’s a little awkward then. Sooyoung’s embarrassed and Jinsoul is a little ashamed of her immature behavior. Why did Jinsoul laugh at her that much…was it, “is my ugly?” 

Jinsoul is wiping the sand off her body when she receives the question, “no I mean it’s nice I think.” Jinsoul didn’t really know much about areola aesthetics. “I just thought it was funny how you didn’t notice it was hanging out.” Sooyoung gets relieved at that. She really hopes her s were pretty. At least to Jinsoul but that didn’t matter did it? It was a little awkward the conversation.

While Sooyoung is picking the ball up Jinsoul starts to talk, “you remember when Hyunjin used to beat both of our butts?” She smiles, it was a pretty vivid memory. She and Jinsoul would always gang up on the younger girl only to get their asses kicked. Hyunjin was a powerhouse. No one matched her.

“Yeah, she still could.” Turning Sooyoung sees that Jinsoul is already ready for her. Standing at the net. Sooyoung just shakes off the awkwardness and throws the ball up in the air for Jinsoul to set. This time it’s actually perfect. Sooyoung is amazed as she chases after it slamming it down for what definitely could be an ace. 

Dropping back to the ground she nods her head, “nice set.” Jinsoul only smiles.

“I have a good coach.” Sooyoung blushes at the compliment and waves Jinsoul off.  

“Let’s try a back set.” Jinsoul nods and gets ready. The set is even better than the last. It’s quick and right where Sooyoung wants it. Sooyoung can’t really wait to play now. If Jinsoul can give her sets like this they’ll kill the game. 

After another hour of practicing Sooyoung is sure Jinsoul has been hiding her hidden talents because almost every set she’s gotten has been amazing. The girl is becoming quicker too falling behind her every time to play defense. Sooyoung knows Jinsoul was good. They played indoor together in high school. Back then though teamwork didn’t matter as much as it did here.

Sooyoung figures it’s enough. They still had a long time before the game. “Okay, I think we should just rest up now. Tomorrow morning we’ll work on your offense.”

Jinsoul shakes her hands. They stung a little bit from setting so much. “You think we’ll lose today?” Jinsoul mutters as she picks up a water bottle to drink from it.

“We won’t,” Sooyoung mumbles back. Flopping herself on the sand she starts to relax. The muscles in her body were aching and she was pretty tired. The sand is soft and warm. Sooyoung would love to take a nap but she’s afraid she’ll sleep to long and alarms never work for her. Thankfully she has someone to wake her up, Jinsoul plops beside her as well. The blonde sighs as she finishes up the water.

Sooyoung offers hers when Jinsoul pouts at the empty bottle. “It’s fine I can go refill it.” Sooyoung shoves it onto the girl anyways and Jinsoul finally accepts drinking the rest of Sooyoung’s water as well. “You know you should invest in one of these,” Jinsoul taps at her metal bottle, “it’s better than buying a bunch of plastic.”

She stares at her for a few seconds before laying down, Sooyoung takes her bag and uses it as a makeshift pillow, “tell the water people to stop selling it and I’ll stop buying it.” Jinsoul groans and throws her empty bottle back at her. Sooyoung keeps it close to her so she can recycle it later. 

As Sooyoung closes her eyes she feels an object being placed on her stomach. Opening one eye she gasps when she sees a neatly crusted sandwich. Picking it up she crams it in. One of her favorites, peanut butter and banana. Sooyoung takes a peek at Jinsoul, the girl was only eating fruit. “Here eat this or you’ll pass out later.” The sandwich was huge and even though Sooyoung could finish it in three bites she didn’t want Jinsoul starving. 

“It’s fine I swear.”

“Jinsoul I’ll force it in you if you don’t eat this sandwich right now.” The blonde frowns and takes the other half. Sooyoung stuffs the rest of hers in and lays back down. “Wake me up in twenty.” It doesn’t take long for Sooyoung to find sleep.

Jinsoul slowly munches on the sandwich she made this morning. It was actually really good. It took her about four tries this morning to make it perfect. She wanted it to be perfect for Sooyoung. The first time the banana slices were too thick. The second one there was too much peanut butter and the third one she accidentally cut it in half instead of diagonal.

Glancing to her side she smiles at the already sleeping girl. was slightly open, small snores escaping it. Jinsoul lays on her side staring at Sooyoung’s side profile. Jinsoul thought the girl looked too cute and she had to fight the urge to reach out and touch her. Closing her eyes she turns on her back, she was tasked with waking Sooyoung up so she should focus on that. Twenty minutes exactly so she starts counting the seconds in her head.

Thoughts of yesterday’s game fill her mind but today she wasn’t feeling that nervous.  

As long as she had Sooyoung by her side…everything would be okay.  

…

Five minutes till the game. The other team had first serve. Sooyoung wasn’t for sure what their names were but they were tall. Very tall at that, “Jinsoul what’s their names?”

“Hmm, Park Subin and Choe Tzuyu.”

Sooyoung knots her brows, “chewy?”

Jinsoul snorts and shakes her head while stretching her arms out, “no silly Tzuyu spelt like t-z-u-y-u so it’s like chu-wee or something.” Sooyoung scrunches her nose up. She had never heard of a name like that. She doesn’t know which one is Chewy. Either the one who doesn’t look like she doesn’t give a lying face down in the sand or the one taking a selfie with a ball in her hand.  

Coach V approaches them out of nowhere and sits down on one knee. There’s a fierce glare in her eye, “don’t it up.” That’s all the red-headed woman says as she stands back up to go to the bench. Where her sister, Jungeun, Jiwoo who was asleep and Haseul were sat. Sooyoung notices how Haseul is staring at her.

It’s irritating how clingy the girl has gotten lately. 

Ignoring her personal problems she pats Jinsoul on the back and stands up moving towards the court. Sooyoung was full of energy. She was glad she took that little nap earlier. On the other side of the court, there’s a girl preparing to serve. Sooyoung can tell she could care less if could go over or not.

Getting down and ready she waits for the whistle.

As soon as it blows the ball goes into the net. Sooyoung blinks and stands up. The ball is slung at her and it’s her serve. These girls looked intimidating at first but she guesses not. Stepping back to the line she lets her eyes fall to one of her favorite things to look at, Jinsoul’s . She’s waiting for a signal but she enjoys the view too. Unfortunately, Jinsoul had forgotten already but Sooyoung doesn’t waste the opportunity to appreciate how nice the girl’s wagon was. 

Sori was right on one thing.

Jinsoul had a fat .

Sooyoung couldn’t get distracted though so she imagines Sori’s and snorts at the thought.

“It seems like Ha is laughing at something.” BamBam states at the microphone.

Yeojin nods, “I agree maybe she is laughing at the fact she is carrying the whole beach volleyball associating on her back.”

BamBam frowns, “I don’t think that’s how it-.”

“Shut up I know what I’m talking about.” The younger girl snaps.

The game continues on. Sooyoung thought she was going to have fun but the other team seemed to not give one if they won or not. Most of the points were made by Sooyoung’s serves. The other points were Jinsoul’s serves. Park was worried about looking good for the camera, assumably her boyfriend’s camera. Chewy, however, seemed more interested in…nothing. Their coach was on the verge of crying but he only had one girl left on the bench. 

Only a half an hour later and they’ve won the game. The other team politely congratulates them and walks off. Coach V comes around with a smile on her face, only telling them their next game is in an hour.

Jinsoul scratches at her head, “that seemed too easy.” Sooyoung throws an arm over her shoulder.  

“It’ll only get harder trust me.” Jinsoul leans into her touch humming out in agreement. Sooyoung lets go of Jinsoul and turns around. The site in front of her almost makes her throw up. “Ah if it isn’t Tweedle Dee and tweedle .” Im Jin-Ah or more commonly known as Nana and Kim Doyeon. Sooyoung gives the girls a fake smile. They only tower over her and glare.

“Good game Soopiggy.” Nana states out before checking out her nails. They were freshly manicured. Doyeon is just giving her this look that screams . Sooyoung has never liked these two. Not for years…

“Oh hey…guys.” Sooyoung closes her eyes at the deep voice. Jinsoul, unfortunately, was friends with them.

They had all played volleyball together in high school but they split to go to different colleges. Sooyoung had come to hate them. She and Jungeun always faced them in the season multiple times since their schools were close. It was a rivalry and an annoying one at that. For multiple reasons.

One Sooyoung has slept with both of them…that caused a lot of issues. Two she told one of them that the other one had better …that caused even more problems. Both were a mistake. Sooyoung usually didn’t think with her head when it came to . If someone was willing and she knew that person was trust-worthy then she was down. Except both of them were snakes. She regrets it really. She was in high school and was inexperienced.  

Sooyoung was still stuck on Jinsoul. She was vulnerable then and Doyeon had taken advantage of that. The girl then turned around and told the whole school that Sooyoung had begged for her to take her ity when it was really the other way around. Sooyoung being the teenager she was slept with Nana and told the whole school that the older one ed better and didn’t smell like Long John Silver’s.

Sooyoung also remembers how Jinsoul reacted, it wasn’t pleasant. If anything she was disappointed. Sooyoung could tell by the way the girl had stared at her in the hallways. It should have been her. Sooyoung should have told her then. It should have been Jinsoul in her bed that night. Not Kim Doyeon.

As Sooyoung grew older she realized that none of that really mattered. But in high school it did. When love seemed real and was something that was only shared with somebody you loved. But that was all in the past now and Sooyoung had pleaded to herself that she would never people out of pettiness. She had also pleaded to never have with a meaning behind it. Because it never did have a meaning for her except for a quick fix.

Now her quick fix in the past has led her to this. Doyeon and Nana staring her down like some dog. Jinsoul was just smiling behind her. She seemed to have forgotten about the past. Jinsoul had been doing that a lot these past few weeks. Doyeon rolls her eyes, “if you win this next game you face us.” Nana nods her emphasis, “and you know how that’ll end so might as well lose now.”

Sooyoung is about bite back until someone else does for her, “actually we’re not going to lose this game.” Three pairs of eyes are stuck on Jinsoul who looks a bit angry. “So I guess you better start preparing now because we’re not losing the one tomorrow either.” Sooyoung closes a fist to . She didn’t know Jinsoul played like that. The girls are looking at them with shocked faces when Jinsoul grabs her hand and starts to pull her away.

She just lets herself be dragged off the courts and onto the beach. Even though Sooyoung was hungry she didn’t mind being out her with Jinsoul. Especially with how soft her hand is.

Jinsoul let’s go way too soon though and flops down onto the ground. Sooyoung flops down as well, scooting close to Jinsoul to where they’re shoulder to shoulder. Sooyoung opts out on staying silent, Jinsoul seemed pretty pissed.  

It only takes about five minutes for Jinsoul to start rambling, “I’ve never been able to stand them.”

After watching the waves Sooyoung replies, “oh really? I thought you all were friends.”

Sooyoung notices how much Jinsoul shakes her head, “No we’re only friends because our dads are doctor buddies or whatever.” She can tell how much Jinsoul loves her dad by the eye roll. To Sooyoung’s knowledge, Jinsoul has never been fond of her father. “I hated that they took advantage of you like that.”

“You seemed to be more disappointed in me.” Jinsoul gives her a warning glare.

Shaking her head she digs her heels into the sand, “I was disappointed in you Sooyoung but I didn’t hate you like I hated them. You’re a good person who just fell into their games.”  Sooyoung had dealt with this alone she had no friends then. Who she thought was her only friend had proceeded to disown her. The memory was still an open wound but what Jinsoul says pokes the holes for the stitches.

“I paid them to clear the rumors up I couldn’t take it anymore.” Sooyoung lets her gaze linger on the girl’s side profile. 

Now, why would Jinsoul go and do that? “Seeing you hurt like that…I know it seemed like I didn’t care about you back then but I did Sooyoung. I cared so much.” Sooyoung is totally lost at this point. Just what was Jinsoul hiding from her all those years? The truth got more and more confusing every day. 

Sooyoung is about to ask her but the blonde starts to hit her playfully, “but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t pissed at you!”  

Defending herself she scoots away from the hits that had become a bit aggressive but Jinsoul chases after her, “I can’t believe you let yourself be dragged into that stupid drama!” Sooyoung is whining by the time the slaps stop. She still has her guard up but after a minute of no contact, she peeks from behind her arms. Jinsoul is looking out into the ocean with no expression on her face. 

“I don’t know why I did it.” Sooyoung knew exactly why she did it. She just tells Jinsoul that to not give herself away. Because if she told the blonde I only did it because the girl I loved hated me would be too much of a hint.

Standing up Sooyoung pats on top of Jinsoul’s head before heading off. Jinsoul only watches her go away with a smile. It confuses Sooyoung even more. But Sooyoung tells herself it’s not really the time to be confused when she needed to pee this bad.  

Sooyoung puts on her warm-up clothes before greeting her sisters. It looks like it was only them today. Hyejoo is sleeping spread out in the bleaches and Yerim is laid across her. Sooyoung smiles at the site, she had heard them stay up last night playing Mario Kart.

 When she steps into the bathroom she freezes at who’s standing in front of the mirror. It's Haseul, the girl is washing her hands and when she notices Sooyoung standing at the doorway she freezes as well. Sooyoung wishes she just ran past her because now the girl was pulling her by the wrist towards the sinks. “You’ve been distant.” She tells Sooyoung.

The younger girl knows better though. They didn’t have anything more than just an agreement. But just like Sori, Haseul had gotten attached. “You mean we haven’t been ing.” Sooyoung pushes the girl off and smiles. Sooyoung doesn’t want to be annoyed at the girl. Haseul was really nice and she didn’t want to break her heart. But feelings always get in the way of things and since Haseul has been getting a little too close for comfort lately she knows she should probably cut it off.

“I just miss us okay?” Sooyoung quirks an eyebrow. Haseul turns around and stares into the reflection, “can we meet tonight? My boyfriend is out of town.”

Sooyoung shakes her head, “not tonight I’m not feeling it.” 

The girl scoffs, “you’re never feeling it anymore, it’s like you don’t want me.” Sooyoung thinks for a moment. No, she’s gotten pretty bored with the girl. She’s gotten bored with in general. Maybe it’s because she’s been ing too much. Sori was hard to take care of and ever since her Sooyoung’s libido has deflated.

“I’m just tired.” She hums out before leaning onto a sink.

She watches Haseul’s grip tighten, “yeah right. No, you’ve been stuck up Jinsoul’s lately.”

“Huh?”

“Jinsoul tells me everything, ever since you two became bff’s again you’ve been ignoring me.” Sooyoung has no idea what Haseul is talking about. Did Jinsoul talk to her about them?

Haseul turns to face her, “I thought you hated her?”

Sooyoung is starting to get a little irritated. Was Haseul jealous of her? Or was she jealous of Jinsoul? Sooyoung knows how close they are of friends. But the way Haseul was looking at her Sooyoung was starting to think Jinsoul was Haseul’s problem, “I thought you weren’t annoying.” Haseul opens and Sooyoung smirks at how the anger falls over her face.

“Seriously you’re getting jealous over the stupidest when we started this with the promise to never get attached.” Sooyoung dumbly mocks the girl who in turns gets more pissed. 

Sooyoung leans over to whisper the last part in Haseul’s ear, “but I guess you can’t keep one can you?” With that Sooyoung thinks that she’ll just go to the men’s bathroom to do her business.

Haseul watches her go out, fist clenched in anger. She jumps out of her skin when she hears a stall door open and closed. Turning around she’s facing someone’s chest. A very nice chest at that. Trailing her eyes up she gasps when she sees how gorgeous the girl is. Way prettier than that stupid she just dealt with. “Sorry I overheard that I thought it would be awkward to just step out.”

Nodding she thanks the girl and turns to leave but her wrist is grabbed. The taller girl tilts her head, “are you okay by the way? She was pretty harsh.” Haseul falls into her gaze. It was so inviting. 

“I don’t know Sooyoung was right we promised to-.” 

“Sooyoung? As in Ha Sooyoung?” Haseul nods. The girl smiles at her then and Haseul thinks that it’s nice.

She doesn’t even notice her hair is tucked behind her ear. Haseul is too focused on the girl’s lips, “it doesn’t feel good, does it? To get your feelings played like that.” Haseul doesn’t know why she’s trusting this girl so much. Maybe it’s the way she’s softly touching her. Maybe it’s her smile. Maybe it’s the familiar glint in her eyes.

“I can be there for you tonight instead of her. I promise not to invalidate your feelings like that.” Haseul furrows her brows. Was this girl offering to replace Sooyoung? Haseul didn’t know what her name was but when the girl leans down she can feel the spark.  

“My name is Doyeon by the way…”

Haseul closes her eyes when the corner of is kissed. Doyeon leans back up and winks. It sets Haseul’s whole body on fire, “meet me at the pier tonight at nine. My place is not far from there.” Doyeon then steps away to walk out of the bathroom. 

Haseul brings her hand to her lips, they were still tingling. She smiles at the feeling. She’d show Ha Sooyoung that she didn’t need her.

Meanwhile, Sooyoung had totally forgotten about Haseul in the bathroom and was enjoying a foot long hot dog. Hyejoo was also enjoying the hot dog since every time Sooyoung would look away the girl would sneak over and take a bite. Next time she keeps an eye on the girl but Hyejoo doesn’t care and still takes a bite, “mmmm.”

Sooyoung pinches the girl earning a yelp, “was that mmmm?” She laughs at the now pouting baby and hands her the hotdog. Hyejoo was growing fast and she needed all the food she could get. Sooyoung could also always go buy another hotdog. Yerim is laying down below them making sand angels. Turning back to Hyejoo she laughs at how full the girl’s cheeks are. Grabbing them she shakes her head, “you’re like a little baby.” 

Hyejoo is giving her a death glare as she babies her. Yerim raises up from the sand and starts laughing. Her sister is trying to chew up her food but starts laughing as well and the cheeks in her hands start to shake. “Stop laughing you’re going to choke!” Hyejoo listens to her and stands up. Yerim goes to say something but Hyejoo points a finger at her. Sooyoung’s never seen anyone so focused on eating.

When her sister finally finishes the food she attacks her. Sooyoung screams for help but Yerim just watches with a smile on her face. After getting all the giggles out Hyejoo sits back down beside her. Sooyoung is waiting for her to say something since the girl is smiling, “I’m still hungry.” Rolling her eyes she stands up to get her wallet out. 

“I think they’re selling pizzas at the concession go grab your sister.”

Yerim groans, “but she’s your sister too why can’t you go find her.”

“Because I’m older and I said so now go!” Sooyoung mocks the girl while putting a hand on her hip. Yerim groans again and gets up from the sand before dragging Hyejoo along with her. Sooyoung laughs as they start to play fight when they get far enough.

Walking up she greets the cashier and tells her what she wants, “can I get a cheese pizza?-and a cherry Popsicle.” Sooyoung knots her brows and turns to the voice that added their order on without asking. Her blood boils when she sees it’s Doyeon. The girl smirks and grabs the Popsicle being handed to her. Of course, the cashier tells Sooyoung that the pizza will take a minute. 

Doyeon quirks a brow up and opens the packaging to stick it in. Sooyoung knew Doyeon had a big mouth but she didn’t know it was that big. The girl keeps eye contact as she and on the red ice. Obviously trying to get a rise out of Sooyoung but she keeps her eyes on the taller girl’s. Doyeon makes a slurping sound as she brings the Popsicle out and on her lips. 

Sooyoung blinks when it’s pointed towards her. “You wanna taste…Soobunny?” Scoffing she looks into the stand. She tries to focus on the guy slicing up her pizza until there’s lips pressed against her ear, “we’ve grown past all the drama haven’t we?” Sooyoung shudders when her lobe is nibbled on, “you know they say hate is the best kind.”

Shoving the girl off Sooyoung starts to get pissed. “Don’t you ever call me that.” Jinsoul was the only one allowed to. She had come up with it when they were seven. When Sooyoung’s bunny teeth were prominent and Jinsoul thought it was cute.

“Listen here golly green giant. You and I are never going to again because one you smell like greens and two I hate you, consider yourself lucky to have been with me in the first place.” Doyeon’s smirk falls and finally, Sooyoung receives her pizza.

The redhead says one last thing and it gets under her skin. Something that rarely happens, “you are so full of yourself Ha Sooyoung but you’re just a nobody.” 

“I can’t wait until everyone realizes that. Especially Jinsoul.” Sooyoung turns around to face her but Doyeon has already disappeared. Her insecurities almost resurface. Almost.

Walking back to her sisters all of that deep sense of dread disappears. How could she be a nobody when she was everything to her sisters? They’re looking at her like she’s the second coming of Christ. Joining them in the sand. Yerim slouches over her and sits on her lap while Hyunjin sits across from her and Hyejoo sits to her side. One of them opens the pizza box and Yerim leans over to get her a slice.

Sooyoung starts to give her sister the stink eye when she touches every slice trying to figure out which one she wants. When her sister turns to her, however, Sooyoung gives her the biggest smile imaginable. Even though the twins usually got on her nerves she wouldn’t trade them for the world. But right now she would trade Yerim for a nickel, “Yerine get off my legs they’re numb.” The girl pouts and rolls off only to slap Sooyoung’s legs.

Watching Yerim chew the food up she can’t help but tease, “aww is it good?” 

Yerim turns to her with a menacing stare. Sooyoung raises her brows and smiles before shaking her head, “are we happy?”

“I’m not a baby anymore Sooyoung.” 

Sooyoung narrows her eyes and is about to protest until another voice speaks up, “of course you are!”

She doesn’t recognize it as any of her sisters and when she looks up she can’t stop the smile that breaks out on her face. Jinsoul is standing above them, a blue popsicle in hand with an equally big smile on her face. “Jindori!” Yerim screams and Sooyoung gets the breath knocked out of her when the girl jumps up to pounce on Jinsoul.

Despite not being friends for years Jinsoul still maintained her relationship with her younger sisters. When Sooyoung would go over to hang out at Chaewon’s place she’d always bring the twins. While Sooyoung never left the couch with Chaewon her sisters would always make a beeline for Jinsoul’s room. The blonde never came out of her room back then. Sooyoung blamed herself for it. 

Sooyoung watches quietly as Jinsoul becomes the next best thing. She needed a pizza to make everyone happy. Jinsoul only needed to smile. The blonde sits next to her while chatting with Yerim and Hyejoo who have their full attention on the older girl. Sooyoung would have never thought things would turn back the way they did. Jinsoul slowly inching her way back into her life. But Sooyoung wasn’t trying to fool anyone, she wouldn’t change the way things were right now for the life of her.

Jinsoul pops open the packet to her snack. With Doyeon it was disgusting to watch with how provocative it was. Jinsoul, however, eats her Popsicle cutely. Slowly nibbling at it bit by bit, although Sooyoung wonders if it’s hurting her teeth. The innocence is ruined though when Jinsoul takes a long at it. Sooyoung’s eyes widen at the site especially when she keeps going at it and the melted ice starts to run down her chin. The girl forces herself to look away. She couldn’t handle the image of Jinsoul’s tongue for that long. 

She instead focuses on the game. Sooyoung doesn’t really know who’s playing but they’re both good. She and Jinsoul played next. Probably the winner of this game. Suddenly her hand is covered by another, a much softer one, “you okay?” Sooyoung turns her head to the voice and Jinsoul was looking at her attentively. She smiles at the girl and flips her hand over.

Nodding she smiles wider at Jinsoul’s blush when she squeezes on her hand. The blonde seemed shocked by the display of affection. Jinsoul breaks out into a smile looking at the now intertwined hands. Jinsoul doesn’t say another word to her and goes back to talking to her sisters.

“Where’s Chaewon?” Her sister asks and Sooyoung finally notices that her best friend isn’t here. 

Jinsoul hums, “she’s out with her man.”

Sooyoung jumps into the conversation, “she has a man?”

Everyone is shocked by the news and leans in closely to listen to Jinsoul. Even Hyunjin has crawled into the inner circle to catch the gossip. “Yes, she has actually…three boyfriends.” All of them gasp as Jinsoul nods. It was stated matter of factly. “Now don’t say anything about because she’d kill me if you all knew.” They all pinky swear Jinsoul and ask for more info but the blonde refuses it. 

Yerim asks a question that makes Sooyoung’s heart freeze, “what about you Jindori? You’ve always had cute boyfriends.” Jinsoul frowns for some reason at the question and Sooyoung understands why when Jinsoul tells her younger sister that she’s single. Sooyoung pays close attention to Jinsoul’s features and the way her jaw clenches when Yerim asks next, “are you crushing on anybody right now?” 

Sooyoung’s frozen heart drops when Jinsoul blushes and looks away bashfully. All the girls squeal except her. She doesn’t know why she feels this sick to her stomach. She was over Jinsoul. Sooyoung didn’t have those kinds of feelings for her anymore. Right? “Oh, Jindori tell us what’s he like?” 

The thumb on the back of her hand starts to rub back and forth. Sooyoung blames it on Jinsoul’s nerves, “He can be a bit mean sometimes but I think it’s only a defense mechanism because he’s sensitive. Overall he’s just misunderstood.” The girls nod and Sooyoung scoffs, “really though he’s such a sweetheart. The sweetest person I’ve ever met. So thoughtful and kind.” 

Sooyoung honestly can’t take it anymore. But the grip on her hand keeps her there. “Is he cute?”

Jinsoul nods and glances at her for a split second. Sooyoung would have caught it if she wasn’t staring at their conjoined hands, “the cutest and he’s also y with this charming smile.” Sooyoung rips her hand away from Jinsoul’s and stands up abruptly.

They all give her this worried look so she puts on a fake smile, “I’m gonna go…to the bathroom.” Sooyoung darts off without waiting for a reaction.

The attention goes back to Jinsoul who is a little shaken from Sooyoung’s action, “um but he’s got another smile. A real one.” Hyunjin narrows her eyes at the blonde. Jinsoul was still looking in the direction where Sooyoung went.

“It’s usually when he laughs or is really happy. He’ll smile so big his nose and eyes scrunch up and you can see his bunny teeth.” Hyunjin leans back into the sand, okay yeah this was getting a little too suspicious for her. 

Yerim calls out, completely oblivious, “just like Sooyoung’s!”

Jinsoul’s blush gets deeper, “yeah like Sooyoung’s.”  

“So do you think he likes you too?” Yerim asks.

Jinsoul thinks for a moment before answering, “I don’t know. He hated me for a while but things are getting better now.” 

The girl’s squeal except for Hyunjin who is starting to do the math in her head. Jinsoul wasn’t as slick as she thought she was. “He was my first kiss you know…he tasted like wild strawberries.” There’s something up but Hyunjin can’t figure it out.

It then clicks, the apology board from Jinsoul and Hyunjin remembers being confused by the last reason of ‘why we should be besties again’ and the two words at the bottom. “Yo Jinsoul you like girls?” Everyone turns to her with shocked expressions. 

Jinsoul’s blush is much deeper now, “I mean love is love r-right?” 

Hyunjin smirks, “so you saying you could fall in love with a girl?” Yerim narrows her eyes at her and Hyejoo snorts. Clearly, the blonde was a bit distraught.

The blonde starts to ramble, “It’s not about gender it’s about the soul and how that soul connects to-.”

“Boooring do you like or not be honest.” Jinsoul squeezes her eyes shut.

They all wait for her answer, “I think I could like a girl.” Hyunjin smiles as the twins squeal in delight. She was definitely suspicious of the blonde now. Their fun is ruined when Sooyoung returns and beckons Jinsoul to get up completely oblivious to the conversation that just went on. They all stare at her while she lifts Jinsoul up to drag her away. 

“Let’s warm up.” Jinsoul nods as she stumbles across the sand. Sooyoung was pulling her a little too hard. 

After thirty minutes of warming up, they’re now standing in front of the other team. Heo Solji and Park Kyungri. They’re both tall and a lot more serious than the last two. Or that’s what Sooyoung thinks at least until Kyungri steps forward with a seductive smirk on her face. It’s the coin toss and the girl looks down at Sooyoung before purring out, “I would like head.” The ref looks at the girl with confusion.

That was an unusual way to call the toss but he shrugs his shoulders and flips the coin. Sooyoung is almost about to combust with a sly finger ghosting along her tummy. The coin lands on heads and Kyungri smiles and stares into Sooyoung’s eyes and the finger finally pokes at her making her muscles tense, “do you want it?” 

Jinsoul is behind them staring holes through Sooyoung. “The serve I mean?” Kyungri asks Sooyoung just nods. The taller girl has her in a bit of a daze. “Well too bad…you have to earn it.” Sooyoung smiles at the wink thrown at her and watches the y lady walk away with an extra sway to her hips. Hearing a scoff behind her she turns around to see that Jinsoul’s glaring at her.

“What?” She asks Jinsoul.

The blonde only shakes her head. She hasn’t seen Jinsoul this pissed since well since she broke her nose. Sooyoung doesn’t get a chance to interrogate the blonde because the game is starting and she needs to focus on that. Whatever it was it would have to wait until after the game. She didn’t want Jinsoul actually pissed at her. What if she started to avoid her again?

Sooyoung’s a bit nervous about this game because the other team is definitely serious. But so is Jinsoul and Sooyoung can tell how tense she is. The whistle blows and Park serves it. Jinsoul is the one to receive it and sets it up. The other team obviously doesn’t think Jinsoul is going to hit it from her previous stats. Jinsoul hasn’t attacked once. But today is different because Jinsoul does hit it. 

And she hits hard. 

So hard it slams right into Park’s face knocking the girl to the ground. Sooyoung is frozen in the crouch position as she watches the girl who was just hitting on her lay on the ground.

“GOT DAM WHAT A HIT!” Yeojin had knocked her chair over she had stood up so fast. Jinsoul had an arm on her. The whole crowd didn’t suspect it and everyone is watching in shock. That by far was the hardest hit in the tournament. For sure surpassing any of Kim Doyeon’s or Ha Sooyoung’s hits. 

BamBam who also stood up shakes his head not minding Yeojin’s swear, “…Word.” 

Sooyoung straightens up and walks next to Jinsoul who is just staring at the recuperating girl on the ground with a blank expression. She would like to say something to the blonde but she’s afraid that she’ll be the next one with a bloody nose. Park finally gets her injury taken care of and is ready to get back to the game.

It’s Jinsoul’s serve and Sooyoung gets ready for defense. Jinsoul serves it and surprisingly it’s an ace. It flies so quickly through the air that neither of the girl’s on the other side had time to react. Jinsoul serves three more times before the team gets a hand on it. Sooyoung goes to block the hit but Jinsoul pushes her out of the way to do it instead. She doesn’t say a word and only falls behind.

Jinsoul gets a hand on it and Sooyoung manages to set it up well enough. Jinsoul, however, is able to knock the air out of the ball again and it bounces off Heo’s fingertips and out of bounds. The crowd goes wild at this hit and everyone is loving Jinsoul’s energy on the court. Sooyoung wonders what lit this fire in Jinsoul’s body. But whatever did she would be sure to be grateful for it. The blonde turns to her and speaks lowly, “stay out of my way.” The rasp in Jinsoul’s voice leaves knots in Sooyoung’s stomach.

Maybe she was the one who started the fire.

The rest of the game goes by quickly because Jinsoul is killing it. On defense and offense. Sooyoung has never seen the girl work this hard and takes note of how hard she’s breathing. Sooyoung hasn’t broken a sweat yet. It was amazing to see Jinsoul play this hard. Sooyoung smiles, she knew the blonde had it in her and the sisters definitely had a lot to prepare for tomorrow. There was only one problem with this aggression.

There was no teamwork. Sooyoung was still pulling her weight but there were still conflicts between them. The other teams scored points from those conflicts. Sooyoung tried to work it out with Jinsoul between sets but Jinsoul ignored her and only listened to Coach V who was feeding into the blonde’s anger. 

“Jung Jinsoul is outplaying her own teammate!” BamBam states out into the mic. Yeojin wants to agree but she was Sooyoung’s biggest fan.

Shaking her finger she informs the boy that Sooyoung has still made a lot of points, “No I think Jung has finally matched Ha’s level.” BamBam actually agrees with her for once. 

Jinsoul pretty much wins the game. It’s almost a blowout. Much like their first game but this time they’re the winners. The handshakes a little awkward. Jinsoul apologizes for Park’s face and Sooyoung only smiles at her. The girl didn’t seem too upset. 

After the game, Sooyoung goes to chase after the blonde but she’s pulled back. When she turns to see she’s not that annoyed to see it’s Kyungri. “Hey, I was thinking we should go out sometime.” Sooyoung debates with herself. Kyungri was very y but Sooyoung had promised herself she wouldn’t be getting into these activities for a while. She had other things to worry about. There was also this annoying thought in the back of her mind telling her that Kyungri’s still not Jinsoul.

“I think I have to pass you seem,” Sooyoung looks the girl up and down, “nice but I’ve been busy.” She lies and the girl smiles at her.

“Oh, it’s fine! I just thought we had a little something going on here.” Kyungri gestures between them with her finger and Sooyoung would like to agree. The taller girl leans to the side to look behind her and Sooyoung follows her direction. Jinsoul is staring at them and looks away as soon as she’s caught. “Your teammate seems to not like me.” Sooyoung nods and watches Jinsoul start to pack up. The blonde is throwing her stuff in her bag.

“Bye Sooyoung, find me if you’re ever interested.” Kyungri airily speaks out and Sooyoung doesn’t even react. She’s too focused on Jinsoul. Her feet start to move on her own as she walks up to her teammate who is about to leave with the way her keys are already in hand. 

Standing in front of her Jinsoul slowly looks up, her cold stare still in effect. “Good game Jinsoul you played amazing.” The blonde mutters out a thank you.

Sooyoung sits down beside her and fights back a smile as Jinsoul struggles to zip her bag up. Leaning down she does it for the blonde and receives a blank stare. Sooyoung screams out when Jinsoul hops up to leave, “aha no no no…” Pulling the blonde back down to sit she keeps her hold on her tight to make sure she goes nowhere. “You’re mad at me.”

“No, I’m not.”

“Yes, you are. Tell me what I did to upset you.” Jinsoul looks away but Sooyoung pulls her back by the cheek squishing it between her finger and thumb. “I’m listening, I don’t want you to suddenly start avoiding me again.”   

Jinsoul tells her it’s nothing and Sooyoung pretends to be convinced. The smile on the blonde’s face afterward tells her it would be fine. It was probably something insignificant. Sooyoung probably accidentally ignored her or something. Jinsoul then gets up to leave and informs Sooyoung that their game is not until two tomorrow against the sisters.

Jinsoul also informs her that she’d be waiting for at the nets tomorrow morning. 

…

It’s another rough morning for both of them. The heat was getting to Sooyoung while Jinsoul didn’t sleep a wink last night. Sooyoung stumbles to the sand and Jinsoul follows her actions sitting right in front of her. Sooyoung is breathing hard at all the drills they’ve been doing and eagerly accepts the water bottle given to her. 

Chugging the ice cold liquid down she almost chokes when Jinsoul blurts out, “spread your legs.” Bringing the bottle down she looks at Jinsoul with wide eyes and the blonde is only staring at her tummy. Sooyoung does and groans when Jinsoul crawls between them and leans back onto Sooyoung’s front. 

Jinsoul drapes her arms over her legs while laying her head back on Sooyoung’s chest. “Get off of me you’re hot.” The blonde only giggles and lays her legs over the top of Sooyoung’s as well. She guesses Jinsoul can sit there although she doesn’t know why the blonde would want to. Sooyoung was hot and sweaty probably also a little stinky. But here Jinsoul was laying on her with a smile on her face.

“Hold me Soobunny.” Sooyoung cringes at the name but leans up to wrap her arms around the girl’s waist anyway. Jinsoul hums out contently and Sooyoung tries to ignore the sound. They sit there for several minutes just looking out into the water. It feels right. To have Jinsoul in her arms like this. For them to be working so well together. To be getting along like nothing’s happened.

But Sooyoung knows it’s wrong with how right it feels.

Jinsoul scoots up a bit and places her hand over Sooyoung’s which were folded around the middle of her tummy. “Can you do the one thing where you cover my eyes.”

Sooyoung nods and takes one of her hands to cover the blonde’s eyes up before resting her chin on her shoulder. She feels Jinsoul physically relax in her embrace so Sooyoung closes her eyes as well only focusing on the sound of waves and Jinsoul’s soft touch on her arm. “I’m nervous about today Sooyoung.” 

She doesn’t speak for a moment, thinking of the words she could say, “no matter how you play today whether it be like yesterday or that day at practice I won’t be disappointed as long as you have fun okay?” Sooyoung slowly mutters out. Jinsoul starts to drag her nails along Sooyoung’s arm. The girl just recognizes it as a nervous tic of Jinsoul’s.  

“Maybe you should get someone else to play with you.” Pinching at the fat on the girl’s stomach she scolds her. She didn’t want to play with anybody else, she wouldn’t get on that court if-.

“No Jinsoul I’m not playing unless it’s with you.” Sooyoung snaps out. The blonde agrees with her and brings her hand to remove Sooyoung’s from her eyes. The stare Jinsoul is giving her is intense. Just like the one yesterday. This time it’s not filled anger but determination. 

All she needed was for Jinsoul to believe in her. Then Sooyoung wouldn’t be afraid to face anything. 

…Except now 3 hours later standing in front of the two tallest sisters she’s ever seen. They’re giving them the death glare well only Sooyoung’s receiving it. Sooyoung doesn’t show any sort of hesitation though especially when the other two win the coin toss and Sooyoung recalls how terrible it is to handle Nana’s jump serve. 

Jinsoul is shaking beside her so Sooyoung places her hand on the girl’s back to show support. The blonde nods and Sooyoung knows it was meant for even though she was looking at Doyeon. They break and Sooyoung goes to talk to Coach V before it starts. This was the semi-final so after this, they would move on the championship. She only hopes her coach can give her some encouraging words.

The blonde, however, was grabbing a drink from the complimentary cooler when someone strolls up behind her. “Hey, Jinsoul is that for me?” Doyeon grabs the drink out of her hand and smirks as she drinks it right in front of her. Jinsoul only smiles eyeing the girl as much as she could. “Thanks that’s how you should treat your superior.” 

“When have you ever been better than me?” Jinsoul mumbles out. Doyeon was unfazed though. She had always felt like she was better than Jinsoul.

Smiling she drinks the rest of the water, she was glad it was the last one, “when I ed the girl you were in love with.”

Jinsoul acts like she doesn’t know what she’s talking about. Stretching her neck out while looking up into the crowd, “yeah well didn’t you become the laughing stock after that?” 

Doyeon laughs, she didn’t care for pettiness, “hmm yeah I guess but I still got inside your head didn’t I?” 

Stepping closer to Jinsoul she makes her voice lower. Almost teasing like and starts to talk down to her, “you should have heard the way she moaned my name Jinsoul. It was so sweet almost as sweet as she tasted.” Doyeon has to bite back her laugh that threatens to spill when she sees how hard Jinsoul’s jaw clenches. Sighing she leans back up, “but you were too busy playing trophy girl with my man.” 

“Ha Sooyoung isn’t just some nobody like you.” Doyeon has always admired how strong Sooyoung was. She didn’t take any and she went through everything by herself. Sooyoung was a loner but a fierce one at that. No one felt sorry for her. They felt sorry for the people who had tried to get close to her and were amazed at the people that did. Sooyoung would make something of herself because she had the confidence and will to. She had so much ambition. 

Doyeon plucks at her nails and continues to blabber on nonchalantly like she and Jinsoul were gossiping. “Coach is hoping V s this season up. So he can scout Sooyoung to come to ours, he wants her to go pro.” Jinsoul visibly tenses at that. The blonde couldn’t keep watch on her little Soobunny miles away could she?   

“You study the stars right Jinsoul? Would you agree Sooyoung is like a shooting star?” Doyeon starts off and she knows Jinsoul’s listening the blonde just doesn’t dare to look at her. “So bright and beautiful but they don’t last forever.” 

Jinsoul turns to her finally staring her in the eyes. She couldn’t be more delighted, “It’s gonna be so funny the day she falls out of your view and none of those stupid wishes of yours come true.” 

Shaking her head she goes to grab another water for Nana, “because face it Jinsoul you’re only holding her back. You’ve got nothing to give. Your head is stuck clouds while everyone else is down here leaving you behind.” 

She steps closer one last time, “and I can’t wait for the day she realizes that and leaves you behind as well.” Doyeon smiles at the girl.

“Do you think you’re Maya Angelou or something?” Her smile drops as Jinsoul grabs water out of the cooler. For Sooyoung of course. She only drunk out of her metal bottle. Doyeon watches the girl turn around and walk off. She was dumbstruck really. None of the words got to Jinsoul or Sooyoung. Had she lost her touch on pissing people off?

Sooyoung is chatting with Jungeun when Jinsoul storms up to her and shoves her. Jungeun and Sooyoung both give her a shocked look when she practically screams out, “let’s ing destroy these es Sooyoung!” One Jinsoul rarely cursed, two Jinsoul was never this hype. The older girl doesn’t complain though and shoves the blonde back getting the adrenaline pumping through her veins.

Jungeun watches the two idiots push each other back and forth just shouting random things at each other. They were truly just some bros ready to kick some . Jungeun couldn’t help but be happy at the site of them working well together. “Sooyoung you remember the handshake?”

“How could I forget?” Jungeun then watches the most complicated handshake known to mankind. Much more complicated than Jiwoo’s order at the local café. It ends with a belly bump and the pair make their way out onto the court. Jungeun doesn’t think she’s ever been this excited for a game.

Sooyoung is so ready for this. She gets down since Nana was serving and she’d had to be quick on her feet. Jungeun was always better at defense but Sooyoung was the stronger one in that department with Jinsoul. Staring at Jinsoul she raises a brow at the hand behind the girl’s . The thumb is point towards the left. Was she giving her a set signal? 

The whistle blows and Sooyoung doesn’t have time to think about it. She’ll just go which way Jinsoul’s body is turned. The ball comes flying over quick and Sooyoung has to dive to receive it. It’s a good enough pass and Jinsoul goes to set it, “left!” Sooyoung is confused because the girl’s body is turned right so she fumbles with her direction. 

To her surprise, Jinsoul back sets it perfectly and Doyeon is on the other side of the net while Nana is in defense in the wrong spot. Sooyoung struggles to get to it on time but manages to still get her palm on it. Sending it down the line. The crowd already goes wild and the sisters argue with each other. Jinsoul comes up to her and grabs her by the waist, “I can’t scream it out like that next time you’ll have to pay attention to my signal.”

Nodding at the girl she falls back with the ball in hand. It was her turn to serve. Bending over she eyes Jinsoul’s but with an excuse this time. Six, okay she can place it there. To the left again. Fine, Sooyoung thinks this is great progress to their first game. Tossing the ball up she leaps and angles her arm up to get it to the six-block of the court. Basically the back right corner.  

It goes over Doyeon’s head but Nana is there to get it. Sooyoung is the one on defense while Jinsoul is blocking. The girl makes it a little hard for Nana to hit it but she still gets it over. Thankfully Jinsoul didn’t lay a finger on it so Sooyoung bumps it up to receive another beautiful set. The sisters are prepared this time and block Sooyoung’s hit. Jinsoul is behind her though to save it.

Setting it up for the blonde she hopes the same energy is there from yesterday. Sooyoung’s not surprised when Jinsoul kills the ball smacking it right against Doyeon’s chest. The blonde does a little hop when she lands back down and Sooyoung smiles at the little cocky action. 

The game continues to go on like this. It’s back and forth between them. The sisters are a tough match and hard to keep up with but Jinsoul and Sooyoung manage to do it to the crowd's favor. To Sooyoung’s pleasure, they win the first set. It was almost too easy and the pair across the nets are breathing hard with sweat rolling down their bodies. Sooyoung can see the fear in their eyes and she only smiles.

Walking over to the benches Jinsoul closely following behind talking her ear off in a loud voice. She was glad to see the blonde in such high spirits. They were destroying the other team and they still had so much energy left. Jiwoo jumps from the bench and jumps on top of her, Sooyoung squeals when the little red-head smacks her hard. 

Sooyoung is watching the girl now on Jinsoul primarily her as the blonde tries to push her off. Sitting beside Jungeun she tries to catch her breath. “Sorry, she’s a bit touchy.” The ash-blonde states out. Sooyoung laughs and grabs the water that Jinsoul had brought her. Coach V says nothing to them, only to keep it up and not up. It’s short and sweet. Unlike the other coach who’s giving the sister’s hell with how loud he was screaming.  

“Here we go to the second set! I gotta admit I did not expect for this kinda upset today.” BamBam talks loudly into the mic and turns to look at Yeojin. He gasps when he sees that his cohost has vanished. Turning in his chair he checks the whole studio out and nothing. Leaning over the table he scans the courts and curses when he sees Yeojin down below yelling along with the crowd.

Yeojin is hopping along the sand. This game was amazing. Ha Sooyoung was amazing. Every hit and dig made the crowd jump up and cheer. The girl was truly a beast on the sand. Yeojin couldn’t even imagine what it felt like to take one of her aces.  Her teammate was just as good. Jung Jinsoul had certainly shocked the crowd with how aggressive of a player she was. “GOOO SOOYOUNG!” She yells at the athlete. When the girl turns around Yeojin actually faints when she throws her a wink.

Sooyoung gasps at the fan who just passed out. She can’t pay any mind to it since she had another set to play. It’s their serve this time so Sooyoung grabs the ball from the ref and moves towards the back unaware of the conversation happening close to the nets. Doyeon is staring Jinsoul down and talking her. The ref isn’t paying any mind he was too focused on his milkshake. “I can tell you’re struggling to keep up, stop ing it up for Sooyoung.” 

“Shut up Doyeon.” Even Nana was starting to get pissed at her sister. She just wanted to play a fair game. Nana could care less about all the petty drama her sister is trying to start. 

Doyeon pouts and mocks the blonde’s words, “what was that? Sorry I can’t understand es.” Jinsoul clenches her fist and ignores the redhead's words. She was immature and Jinsoul was not. The blonde kept telling herself to be the bigger person. 

The game starts once again but this time it carries on with a lot more struggle. Doyeon and Nana had picked up a second wind of energy and were in the lead. Even with the skills and willpower Sooyoung and Jinsoul were outmatched. They hadn’t practiced long enough together. Jinsoul may have had a great hit but it wasn’t consistent and it cost them a few points. 

Sooyoung wasn’t going to give up though. She had to win this game for everyone who was looking up to her. Scratching at her head she huffs when Jinsoul fails at a dig and is struggling to get up. Quickly running over she notices something wrong with the way Jinsoul’s face is scrunching up. The blonde kneels on the sand and looks at her wrist.

Squatting down she grabs it, “what’s wrong?” Jinsoul shakes her head and stands up. Sooyoung is a bit worried but she brushes it off. Nana was serving and they were only four points from winning, they were leading by two points. Nana’s serve is not as bad as the first set’s because the girl was starting to get tired. Sooyoung easily receives it but when Jinsoul goes to set it up for her she messes it up.

But she doesn’t even try to go fix it because Jinsoul had screamed out in pain. Sooyoung knew that the girl had done something to it. The blonde is clutching it and shaking as Sooyoung walks up to her, “I think it’s sprained.” Sooyoung’s feeling nauseous as she leads Jinsoul over to the bench. The whole crowd is quiet and she peeks over at the other team. Nana looks worried and a bit pissed while Doyeon is smiling and laughing.

Sooyoung wanted to tear it off her face. Coach V starts to wrap it up while talking the girl down. Jinsoul is surprisingly calm despite this being a crucial injury. “Let them win this set okay? Only bump set it and next game give it your all.” They nod at their coach it was a good plan. If they lost this set they would be a tiebreaker set to go to fifteen. It was possible.

Going back out on the court Sooyoung closes her eyes and says a quick prayer to whoever’s out there. They lose the set quickly and Jinsoul is starting to shake from the nerves. Sooyoung wants to call a timeout but Jinsoul shakes her head no. They had to do this now. 

It doesn’t go to plan. Jinsoul’s hurt badly and every time she sets it, they get worse and worse. Her energy falls and Jinsoul becomes a loose end again. Sooyoung can’t keep up with Nana and Doyeon, she needed Jinsoul. But the blonde was hurt and Sooyoung could only do so much. When the sister’s win by five she Sooyoung bends over to catch her breath. It was going so well but with just one mistake it all crumbled. She almost wants to cry, Jinsoul worked so hard and for what? Standing up she puts her face on and goes to shake hands. Nana apologizes and is actually nice to them telling them they’ve really played the hardest they could. 

Doyeon, however, doesn’t shake Sooyoung’s hand and clutches onto Jinsoul’s wrist squeezing it and making the girl squeal out in pain. Sooyoung shoots under the net and pushes Doyeon and the girl laughs as the whistles start to blow and Nana starts to pull her off. Sooyoung was seething with anger, “meet me in the parking lot .” The red-head nods and spits on the sand. 

Jinsoul grabs Sooyoung and starts to drag her off and she shakes the blonde’s grip off her, “I have a fight I gotta go to.” 

Sooyoung is grabbed again when she starts to follow Doyeon, “no Sooyoung it’s time to go home we lost.” Coach V is yelling at her as well. She doesn’t even notice her teammates and sisters watching from afar. She was way too pissed and she just wanted to smack the out of Doyeon’s head. 

Hyejoo turns to Yerim, “it’s about to be a…”

“GIRL FIGHT!” Yerim finishes. 

Doyeon makes it out to the parking lot and waits. It was off official grounds and they wouldn’t get in trouble if they were caught. After her coach dismissed her she came straight out here. She smiles when she sees Sooyoung striding towards the pavement and when they lock eyes chills run down her spine. 

As soon as Sooyoung sees the taller girl there’s a fire lit in her chest and she starts to run. This fight has been boiling for ages but today was the final straw. Doyeon throws the first punch and misses, the fight starts when Sooyoung lands one on Doyeon’s side. Jinsoul can only watch as they pummel each other to death. Nana trying to break them apart. Suddenly there’s another girl that appears, Hyunjin and she clocks Doyeon right in the jaw. 

They tag team Doyeon and Nana finally fights back. It’s an all-out brawl and people are starting to gather. Hyunjin has Nana on the ground while Doyeon and Sooyoung are equally beating the out of each other until the smaller of the two trips. Hyunjin reacts though and lays off Nana to pull the redhead off her sister. She was always the better fighter. 

There’s whistling around so they stop and Doyeon clearly pissed that her pretty face was beaten to a pulp starts to yell out, “ you Sooyoung!”

Sooyoung’s whole head is throbbing and she can feel the blood pouring out of . Jinsoul is holding onto her tightly. Her arm slung over the blonde’s shoulders, her vision is becoming a little blurry. “Awe look at you two…too bad she doesn’t give a about you Sooyoung! Maybe I should tell you the real reason she cut you off!” Sooyoung doesn’t understand, this fight was between them so why was Jinsoul involved. 

Why was Doyeon saying those things? Jinsoul cared about her right? Looking up at the blonde she stumbles a bit, Jinsoul’s jaw is clenched tightly staring ahead. Sooyoung shakes her head. Jinsoul wasn’t like that. Sooyoung doesn’t know why Jinsoul cut her off. Did she need to know? “Should I tell her Jinsoul? Why you hate me now too?” Sooyoung doesn’t get to hear the rest of it because she’s being dragged away. She stares at the ground watching Jinsoul’s footsteps and at the blood dripping down on her shirt. 

“What is she talking about Jinsoul?” She asks almost desperately.

The blonde only shakes her head, “nothing Sooyoung just ignore it.”

Sooyoung’s led to Jinsoul’s jeep and the girl helps her into it. Sooyoung is tired and the pain makes her want to pass out but the light tapping at her cheek keeps her away. “Stay with me I’m gonna clean you up.” Sooyoung nods and lifts her arms as Jinsoul takes her shirt off. Jinsoul then leans up at the front rummaging through something. Sooyoung gets a bit dizzy and falls forward resting her head against Jinsoul’s waist. 

The blonde comes back though and pushes her back up. Sooyoung looks down at the first aid kit and Jinsoul’s manicured nails. They’re pretty she thinks, Jinsoul’s always had pretty hands. She hisses when the alcohol dab makes contact with the cut on her cheek. Jinsoul laughs at her and softly mutters out, “when are you going to realize that fighting is not going to solve anything.”

Sooyoung finds the words familiar. So familiar it’s making her space out, to a dark place. Somewhere she never wanted to go again. The soft hand rubbing on her thigh slowly turns into a blur since her eyes are becoming filled with tears. Fighting never solved anything. Then why was that the only thing she could think to do?

She’s at the hospital, for fighting again. This time it was a rowdy boy trying to get her number. What she didn’t know is that he didn’t care to hit girls. Sooyoung regrets throwing the punch because now she had a broken rib and a busted cheek. He slapped her down then kicked her. She almost felt pathetic with how weak she was. “Sweetie do you have anyone you can call?” The nurse asks her. Sooyoung just shakes her head no.

The police tried to get a statement out of her but she couldn’t remember the boy’s face. Her mom was at work her aunt was out of town and her Granma couldn’t function a vehicle. She didn’t have enough to pay for the medical bill. They told her that they could send her family the bill but she refused. Her mother had already struggled so much. So now she sat her with a stitched up face a belly full of pain pills and nowhere to go.

Her last option was the only other person she had beside her family. But she was so scared because that girl hated her and told her to leave her alone. That she didn’t want anything to do with Sooyoung. “I’d like to make a call.” The nurse nods and brings Sooyoung to the telephone. The fifteen-year-old picked up the phone and dialed the number she knew by heart. Not only two years ago she was calling this number every night just to talk into the morning. But that was only when the girl wasn’t in her bed sleeping soundly next to her.

Now Sooyoung’s nights were lonely. 

It rings a few times and picks up. It’s Chaewon’s voice, “Hello? Who’s there?” Sooyoung smiles at the babyish tone. The girl was just turning into a teen. 

“Chae it’s me put your sister on the line.” She mumbles out and the younger girl happily obliges like nothing was wrong. The younger girl babbles a moment excited to talk to Sooyoung before yelling for her sister. 

Sooyoung listens closely to their conversation and it hurts. It still hurts. “Jinsoul it’s Soo she wants to talk.” 

“Tell her I’m busy.”

“What? But you’re not just-.”

“I don’t want to talk to her okay?”

Sooyoung grips the phone tighter and yells into it. Loud enough so that Jinsoul can hear. The line is silent for a few moments until some muffled whispers break out. She can’t help but feel her heart melt at the deep tone of Jinsoul’s voice. The slow mutter of her speech relaxing Sooyoung instantly. It was pathetic, how weak she was for Jinsoul. How much of an effect the girl still had on her. 

“How many times do I have to tell you to leave me alone? I don’t want to talk, I have nothing to say.” Jinsoul angrily spits out. Like she was frustrated with Sooyoung.

Sighing into the phone she pleads, “I’m at the hospital I have no money to pay for the bill.” 

She can hear the scoff on the other line, “seriously Sooyoung? What does that have to do with-.”

“Please, I have nobody else.” Sooyoung waits patiently and closes her eyes when the line goes static, she slams the phone back down making the nurses jump. They all look at her with a worried expression. What fifteen year old didn’t have anybody? The emergency contact she had down was an individual who was deceased, the girl wouldn’t give out any more information.

Sooyoung is sitting in the waiting room now just waiting for her mom’s shift to be over. It wouldn’t be until four am…in six hours. Her sisters must be getting worried. Thirty-minutes later she sees a familiar figure wisp down the hallway of the hospital. Sooyoung stands up now better from the pain medicine and slowly makes her way out.  

Stepping out into the hallway her heart picks up the pace tenfold as she watches Jinsoul talk to the nurses pulling out a small black card to presumably pay the medical bill. Sooyoung is thankful because if her Granma found out she was fighting again she would be done for. Jinsoul had on her striped red shirt, the one Sooyoung had got her for her 12^th birthday. It fit her a little tighter now. But it made the girl look even better.

It’s pathetic how the smiles breaks out on her face. Maybe Jinsoul did still care about her. Maybe she still loved her. She was here after all. Jinsoul is shaking her head at something when she turns around. Sooyoung doesn’t know what’s darker. Her eyes or her hair. Jinsoul isn’t smiling like she is, a frown is present on her face. The girl seems like she’s in pain, Sooyoung forgets she’s the one supposed to be hurt here.

Jinsoul starts to walk towards her and passes her up. Sooyoung starts to follow her like a lost puppy, “you came.”

“I did now shut up.” She can’t help but giggle at that. Jinsoul was shorter than her, the girl had hit her growth spurt earlier than her younger friend. Maybe Sooyoung was delusional. Thinking that she and Jinsoul were still the same old best friends.  

Jinsoul was driven here in a sharp black car and she opens the door and crawls in. Sooyoung greets the woman who’s driving. It’s not Jinsoul’s mother. It’s her nanny or whatever they called her. Some hired help. The woman had raised Jinsoul and Chaewon. Not their parents, “can you tell dad you didn’t bring me here?” She nods her head and turns to Sooyoung. She just says a quick hello before turning back around to drive. The car ride is silent. But the tension is loud. Sooyoung notices how Jinsoul is bouncing her legs up and down she must be nervous but why?

Thirty minutes later, almost midnight now, Sooyoung’s in Jinsoul’s fancy bathroom sitting on the expensive sink counter. It was huge. In the middle was a Jacuzzi and to the side was a nice step in shower. It just screams upper class. Jinsoul’s dad did own three hospitals and her mother was a famous writer. It explains why they were never home. 

Jinsoul stood between her legs re-stitching her cheek cleaning up her face, “they didn’t do this right at all.” Sooyoung closely observes the girl. Jinsoul was still baby faced but her jawline was getting a little sharper along with her lips getting fuller. Her eyes were shaking a little as she carefully did the stitches. “Does it not hurt?” The girl asks and Sooyoung shakes her head. Not when Jinsoul was this close to her. Nothing could hurt her.  

Sooyoung makes the mistake of blurting out her feelings when the girl finishes, “Thank you for tonight, I miss ya you know?” The younger girl drops her head down low. It drops along with Sooyoung’s heart. In a desperate attempt to try to rekindle their friendship to reverse whatever happened to them she clings onto the girl. Still to this day she doesn’t know how it became like this. “I love you so much.”

“Stop Sooyoung.” Jinsoul tries to back away but Sooyoung keeps a hold on her.

Grabbing the girl’s face she makes them lock eyes. She doesn’t know why Jinsoul was on the verge of tears. Did she hate her that much? “Why are you doing this Jinsoul I don’t know what I did wrong?” One day everything was normal and then the next Jinsoul was cold. It was like a light switch. 

Jinsoul pushes off of her and backs away, “This! This is what’s wrong you never listen to me! I’ve asked you to leave me alone over and over again but you keep finding a way to…just stop Sooyoung.” Sooyoung hops off of the sink counter. She doesn’t know which emotion is more powerful. Anger or fear. She feels both for Jinsoul.

“Because you’re my best friend Jinsoul am I not allowed to have an explanation or at least try and fix this?” She screams at the girl this is the first time they’ve talked this long in a year. Usually, Jinsoul just brushed her off or ignored her. 

Looking into the mirror Jinsoul starts to slowly mumble out and Sooyoung finally listens, “We are not friends anymore, none of this matters Sooyoung it never did.” Sooyoung still doesn’t understand no matter how much she listens. Jinsoul doesn’t make any sense. It just hurts.

“I was only friends with you because I felt sorry for you.” Sooyoung turns to face the mirror as well. Her cheek is swollen and blue.

Jinsoul plays her own words back on her and the anger rises, “because you have nobody Sooyoung and I was tired of being that somebody to you.”

Facing Jinsoul she pushes the girl. It’s not hard but it’s to release the frustration, “So when you said you’d always be by my side that was a lie?”

“Yes.”

Sooyoung shakes her head, Jinsoul won’t even look at her, “You didn’t mean it when you told me I was your everything?”

“You are nothing to me.”

Stepping closer to the girl she feels the tears start to drop down her cheeks, “You don’t love me Jinsoul?

Jinsoul goes quiet then. There’s not a reply until there is one. In the form of a head shake and a choked sob. Sooyoung shakes her head along with the girl, “bull Jinsoul you’re lying why are you lying?”   

What she doesn’t expect is when she’s pushed back hard and Jinsoul is breathing heavily as she spits out, “ off Sooyoung!” Friends come and go Sooyoung thinks. It’s easy to lose a friend, but Jinsoul was so much more than that. Jinsoul was her first love. They shared everything with each other. Including their hearts. But Jinsoul snatched Sooyoung’s away and took it with her.  

“When are you going to realize that fighting when things don’t go your way is going to fix the problem?” Jinsoul asks her but Sooyoung doesn’t have the answer. “Stop fighting this and me just accept that we are nothing and never will be anything.” It’s the start of something. The start of their true downfall. When Sooyoung realizes that Jinsoul isn’t who she thought she was.

“I’m not the girl you want me to be I’ll never be that girl, I’m not some fantasy. This is real life and you need to grow up and see that people won’t always be who you want them to be.” Jinsoul is shaking terribly still pushing on Sooyoung’s weak body. The pain killers were wearing off now and Sooyoung’s broken rib was reminding her she shouldn’t be here.

“I never asked you to be anything Jinsoul.” She quietly mumbles out. Sooyoung wants to go now. She was tired of this. She didn’t want to try for Jinsoul anymore. 

Jinsoul mutters back, “You asked me to be your friend.” Sooyoung is pushed again, “I can’t be your stupid ing friend anymore.” 

“So grow up and move on it’s your responsibility to let it go no matter if you want to or not.” Jinsoul’s words are like venom now. It stings every time the girl speaks.  

With one last attempt, she asks, “If you didn’t care why did you help me tonight?” 

Jinsoul’s response becomes a scar, “I didn’t do this because I care about you, if something ended up happening to you I didn’t want your blood on my hands.” 

She winces at the alcohol seeping into the cut. Sooyoung stares at Jinsoul, the girl is a little panicky and shakes as she cleans her up. Sooyoung wonders who she was in love with all those years ago. Was it the caring and sweet girl smiling at her right now? Or was it the girl from the second coldest night in her life despite it being the summer solstice. 

Jinsoul smiles at her and rubs at her cheek affectionately, “I’m sorry it hurts,” she’s referring to the cut and the alcohol, “I’m only doing it because I care about you.” Her scar on her cheek from years ago was faded. But the scar on her heart wasn’t close to being healed.

“Only because you care about me?” Jinsoul stops dabbing the alcohol on her cheek and gives her a funny look that’s basically making Sooyoung feel stupid. She had thought she had gotten over everything Jinsoul had done to her. Those constant years of mistreatment. Really she had just buried it and Jinsoul’s expression was the right reaction.

Sooyoung was stupid.

Pushing the blonde off she starts to breathe heavily. Who was Jung Jinsoul again? “Bull .” Sooyoung had gotten her apology but it wasn’t enough. She needed an explanation. No matter how many times Jinsoul apologized it wouldn’t help her move on from the past. It just left her more confused. Why had Jinsoul done that she doesn’t know. “Bull Jinsoul.” But she wasn’t just going to let the blonde back into her life as nothing had happened. It still hurt so much.  

Sooyoung had not realized it until now since it was flashing in her mind. That same feeling she got when Jinsoul had told her she was nothing. Sooyoung had never come face to face with it because she didn’t want to believe it was real. She wishes it was all a nightmare. But no that Jinsoul was real…so real.

“I thought nobody cared about me because of you.” She remembers how hard it was to detach herself from Jinsoul. How much of an effort it was not to think about Jinsoul every hour of every day. Sooyoung was only a kid then when it first started to happen. It was confusing to her. How somebody could love you so much and the next minute hates you. 

Jinsoul knew exactly what she was talking about. It’s something they really didn’t get to talk about. Sooyoung had her tantrum on the beach that one day but she was intoxicated. She couldn’t remember her feelings then but now they were so real. “I forgot that I was somebody to so many people. That so many people cared about me and I disappointed them because I was so strung up on you!” 

Sooyoung pushes the girl again and Jinsoul’s back bumps the car door, “you shouldn’t matter to me because you never gave a about me.” Sooyoung is shaking her head. She can’t even look at Jinsoul right now. She doesn’t want to remind herself of that night any more than she has to. Sooyoung didn’t know who to believe. The Jinsoul from just a week ago or the one from those years. It was hard to tell who was telling the truth. Was Sooyoung everything to her? Or was she nothing.

“But you do…you matter so much to and I just forgave you like nothing because I care about you. I was so happy that you wanted to be in my life again I just forgot about all the ing bull you put me through.” Sooyoung laughs. It was so funny when she thinks about it now. “Seriously you thought a cute poster board was going to fix our past and I wanted it to work so badly.” She can’t make herself though. How much would she have to look over just to forgive Jinsoul?

Sooyoung’s getting lighter by the second. She didn’t know she could be so moody but for some reason, the blonde’s words had pulled all that back out. Her feelings she guesses. Now that she was getting it off of her chest it felt a little better but also at the same time her attachment to Jinsoul was weakening. “I tried so hard for you. To give you what you want but this time I don’t think I can.”

“I don’t know who you really are Jinsoul I don’t know how I’m supposed to know. I feel like you’ve never shown me.” Sooyoung cringes at the sob that breaks out into the car. She finally looks up at the girl and of course, her heart breaks at the site. Sooyoung still loved Jinsoul after all, or she loved the girl she wanted Jinsoul to be. 

It’s hard to distinguish what Jinsoul says but Sooyoung listens closely, “I’m trying now Sooyoung…please just let me.”

Wiping the rest of the blood on her face it reminds her of the day Jinsoul broke her nose. For some reason, Sooyoung thought that hurt less than everything else. That time she felt like she deserved it. “How can I trust you?” It’s a simple question but Sooyoung knows the answer is nothing short of complicated. 

“Don’t do this to me.” It sounds genuine but Sooyoung forces herself to not fall into it. She can’t make herself feel sorry for the blonde. Sooyoung can’t fall for her again. 

Grabbing the door handles she looks at Jinsoul one last time, “I asked you to do the same thing remember?”

“I’m sorry I can’t be the girl you want me to be anymore.”   

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Sorry this is so serious and confusing…but um well I have nothing to say hehe. I hope this is still okay!

This chapter was so long but I had to finish out the tournament. It will go back to being under 10k after this. Now they are enemies again but it will be a little more fun this time. No more SERIOUS stuff I promise. But this angst so I had to do it or whatever.