“Happy birthday, Wheein-ah!”

Hyejin wasn’t one for spectacles, but for Wheein, she’d make all the spectacle in the world if it put a smile on her childhood best friend’s face.

“Happy birthday, Wheein-ahhh!” Yongsun joined in from across the table. Her intention for the night was to loosen up and live freely with no regard for what those around her thought. Fun. She wanted to have pure, unadulterated fun this weekend. And while she couldn’t say for sure that the shot she took a few minutes ago was helping her in accomplishing that goal, it certainly wasn’t hurting.

Yongsun, Wheein, Hyejin, and Moonbyul ventured into Seoul proper, opting to take the celebration of their second youngest away from SNU and the neighborhood immediately surrounding it. It’s what Wheein wanted. While the group had plans to party the next night with a handful of Wheein and Hyejin’s other friends, the short-haired girl wanted to spend her actual birthday with her family—that’s what she’d called them. And who was Yongsun to say no to that? Since her birthday, she had been unintentionally neglecting her friends and Jinyoung, favoring instead her job with Kwon Jihun, her classes, and advising the five athletes assigned to her. She owed her friends this weekend. She owed Wheein this weekend.

She often tried to express herself through actions, but Yongsun was aware that she rarely ever verbalized how much she treasured her friends, which was a shame, she thought, because she was so grateful for having them in her life.

Everyone knew about her and Byul. Two peas in a pod. An otherworldly connection. Yongsun could talk about her for hours on end. Moon Byulyi was her person.

Not everyone fully understood, though, her feelings for Wheein and Hyejin. They were the younger sisters she never had. Her babies. Admittedly, the initial stage of her friendship with them went as smoothly as it did because of the effort put forth by the two younger girls. They welcomed her to the group they had with Byulyi, they were proactive about initiating and including her in social activities, they looked after her. Since then, neither had stopped doing any of those things, but as Yongsun found her footing at SNU, she grew into what she believed to be a respectable unnie to the two. When they were stressed with their studies, she organized breaks to get their minds off things. When they went out to eat, not only did she make sure they never paid, she also made sure they had enough leftovers for a meal the next day. If they had worries about something, she listened and tried to give them good advice. A lot of actions that she hoped conveyed how she felt about them, but no actual declaration. That needed to change.

“Wheein-ah, I love you. So much. You, too, Hyejin-ah. I love the two of you. You’re my babies. We can’t ever grow apart, okay?” She spoke as her feet carried her to their side of the table, coming to stand between their seats with one arm thrown around each of them.

“All of a sudden, Yongsun? That one shot must have been powerful,” Byul teased.

“You’re just jealous, unnie,” Hyejin stuck her tongue out.

“Why would I be jealous?”

“Because Yongsun-unnie loves us more than you, right, unnie?”

“I love my babies,” Yongsun quickly placed pecks on Hyejin’s left cheek and Wheein’s right.

“See? She gives us kisses. Does she give you kisses, Byul-unnie?”

Yongsun watched the exchange, noticing the challenging tone of Hyejin’s voice and the humorless laugh Byul let out. It seemed like they were talking about something else, something that wasn’t her business.

“I don’t know what you two are talking about, so I’m going to leave you to your conversation while I give Wheein more kisses. Lots of kisses for the birthday girl.” As Hyejin vacated her seat to occupy the chair next to Moonbyul—an intense whisper conversation promptly began—Yongsun focused on back hugging the object of her affection and showering her with kisses, thoroughly enjoying Wheein’s husky laugh.

It was an adorable scene, one that was cut short by the clearing of a throat.

Both she and Wheein looked up to find an unassuming woman standing at the head of their table. She wore an oversized black bucket hat with her hair in a bun at her nape. Skinny jeans and a baggy short-sleeved charcoal button up shirt adorned her tall and lean frame, a familiar forearm tattoo peeking out.

“Jihye-ssi. Hi.”

“Hi. Uh, sorry to interrupt,” the woman nervously gestured to Yongsun and Wheein. The former still had her arms wrapped around the latter.

“Oh no, you’re fine. What’s up?” Yongsun promptly disentangled herself.

“I was wondering if we could talk? Outside?”

“Sure. Yeah, that’s fine,” Yongsun stammered. She hadn’t expected to run into anyone else from SNU tonight, and she certainly didn’t expect to be pulled aside for a private conversation. Taking in the way Moonbyul eyed Jihye skeptically, Yongsun took a moment to reassure her friends. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

“You sure?” Byul asked, eyes still trained on the visitor to their table.

“Yeah. It’s fine. I’ll be right back.” Before scurrying off, she placed a quick kiss on Wheein’s cheek, causing the younger girl to screech.

“Yah! Unnie!” She immediately covered her face where Yongsun’s lips made contact, the brightest of smiles adorning her glossed lips.

Once outside the restaurant, Yongsun took the opportunity to appreciate the comfortable spring evening. The light breeze, no doubt, helped to calm her rose-tinted cheeks. She was in the middle of a deep inhale when Jihye spoke up.

“Is that your girlfriend?” Yongsun nearly choked on the air she was taking in. Her fists rapped her chest as she coughed lightly to clear her airway.

“Huh?”

“The girl you were kissi-, never mind. It’s not my business. Sorry. I shouldn’t have asked that.”

“Oh! No! No, it’s fine. Um, she’s not my girlfriend. She’s like a little sister to me. It’s her birthday so we came to celebrate. Wanted to try getting away from SNU for a little bit.”

“Yikes. And here I am, bringing SNU to you.”

“I didn’t mean it like that! It’s fine. Really.” She and Jihye weren’t close, so Yongsun didn’t expect them to effortlessly fall into comfortable conversation, but they had spoken a few times before. Never before was it as awkward as this conversation was turning out to be.

“Cool, cool. I’ll make sure to buy a round of drinks for your table. Y’know, for her birthday and everything.”

“That’s very kind of you. Thank you.”

Kang Jihye was a second-year Athletic Training (AT) graduate student. For the duration of her time in the AT program, she worked solely with the Women’s Fencing team as a Graduate Assistant (GA). Her responsibilities included all that one would expect a trainer to take care of, but she also served as the liaison between the team’s coaches and the Academic Support Center for Athletes. In this capacity, she received weekly progress reports from academic advisors on the status of Fencing athletes. For the most part, Jihye was simply taking note of who attended mandatory study hall hours and who didn’t. She got more acquainted with Yongsun, though, because of the five Fencing athletes assigned to the first-year graduate student, one was the team’s academically‑challenged star, Choi Yunseo.

“So . . . I made this conversation sound much more serious than it really is. Sorry about that,” the older woman nervously scratched her neck with a bashful laugh.

“No worries. I thought I did something wrong, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.”

“No, not at all. It’s great news, actually. Yunseo’s grades from the last wave of midterms came in. She’s passing every class now.”

Relief crashed over Yongsun in waves. It had taken months of hard work to reach this point. Yunseo started the semester on academic probation. She was one of the Fencing team’s strongest members and there was a lot of pressure on Yongsun to help improve her GPA to at least a C average. That was all the coaches needed her to achieve, otherwise Yunseo would be academically ineligible to participate in competitions and practices for the remainder of the school year. The two of them met twice each week, coordinating tutoring schedules, assessing Yunseo’s learning style, adjusting her note-taking and study methods. No stone was left unturned—Yongsun worked with the first‑year to completely overhaul her approach to school. Hearing that their efforts were yielding positive results removed a weight from her shoulders that she hadn’t realized she’d been carrying.

“Wow! I’m not going to say that I can’t believe it, because that would be admitting that I doubted my ability to help her, so instead, I’ll say . . . wow. Just wow.”

“Not going to lie, that was my reaction when I found out, too,” Jihye laughed softly.

“Understandable.”

“Right? I love the kid. Excellent fencer, school . . . not so much.” She wasn’t wrong.

“Are you even allowed to say that?”

“Thank goodness I’m not a coach, just a lowly GA. I can speak more freely.”

“Not so lowly. All the fencers I work with love you. You must be doing something right.”

“I paid them all to say good things about me.”

For the nth time since their conversation began, Yongsun’s laughed filled the empty night.

“I don’t remember you being this funny when we talked before.”

“I don’t remember ever being funny. You’re the first person to react this strongly to my jokes.”

“My friends make fun of me for that. I laugh a lot.”

“It’s not a bad thing. That’s a beautiful approach to life to have, though.”

‘Beautiful’ was a bit strong to describe how easily amused she was, but maybe Jihye was that type of person, someone that said philosophical and exaggerated things at times. There were certainly people like that in the world.

“Anyway,” Jihye filled the sudden silence, “the coaches are ecstatic. So is Yunseo and the rest of the team. I was supposed to pass on everyone’s gratitude during our next check-in, but I ran into you here and figured I’d let you know ahead of schedule.”

“I’m happy you did! It’s feel-good news.”

“Yeah, it is.” Jihye was stalling. Yongsun thought they’d addressed the crux of the conversation, but the older woman didn’t seem like she was ready to head back into the restaurant. “Um, we don’t know each other that well, but I feel like I know you’ll reject what I have to say next, so I’m letting you know that I won’t take no for an answer.”

“That doesn’t sound ominous at all,” Yongsun joked.

“As a token of gratitude for all your hard work with Yunseo—all the fencers you work with, actually—I was hoping you’d let me take you out for coffee one day?”

“Oh! Sure! Why not? It would be cool to interact with each other outside of the work environment.” That wasn’t what she expected Jihye to say. Truthfully, she didn’t know what she expected the GA to say, but this was a nice surprise.

“Nice! Thought it was going to be more difficult than that to get you to agree to it.”

“I’m full of surprises.”

“I see that now. We should probably exchange numbers, yeah? Would make organizing this much easier than if we did it by email.”

“Good point.”

They shared contact information before retreating to their respective friend groups inside the restaurant.

*

“What was that all about?” Hyejin hadn’t even let Yongsun sit down before launching into her inquisition. Wheein and Byul were making it no secret that they, too, wanted an answer to that question.

“She’s a GA with the Women’s Fencing team. Gave me some good news about one of the athletes I advise.”

“We’re supposed to believe that a conversation that long was just to give good news about one athlete? I’m not buying it.”

“Not sure what else to tell you. One of my kids turned her grades around and the whole team’s ecstatic about it. Jihye offered to take me out for coffee as a token of gratitude. That’s all.”

“I knew it!”

“Here you go,” Yongsun rolled her eyes. Now was a good time for another drink.

“Say what you want, unnie. As soon as she came over and asked to speak privately, I knew she was going to ask you out. Didn’t I say that, Wheein?”

“You did. She called it, unnie.”

“She didn’t ask me out. Not like that.”

“Not like what? Like a date? She definitely asked you out like that. It’s obvious she likes you.”

“Oh my goodness. You’re being absurd. She doesn’t like me, she’s just being nice. And I’m in a relationship.”

“Literally no one knows that except you, Jinyoung, and your closest friends, unnie.” Hyejin’s roaring laughter was infectious. Yongsun and Wheein burst out in a fit of hysterics.

“I’m mad that I’m laughing. It’s not funny.”

“Unnie,” Wheein choked out between laughs, “it’s true, though. You don’t even post him on social media. He’s like a ghost.”

“No one knows he exists,” Hyejin said, still chuckling.

“How is he, anyway? How was the musical last weekend?” Bless Wheein for redirecting this conversation.

“It was great! Thank you for asking. He’s really talented. Everyone kept saying he has a great voice, but hearing him sing in front of an audience like that, I was in awe. Met his parents.”

“Oh, you two are, like, official official, huh?”

“I guess.”

“Don’t sound so excited to talk about your boyfriend,” Hyejin teased. She was enjoying this a bit too much, Yongsun thought.

“We’re together. What else is there to say? You want the dirty details of everything?”

“Yes, please! I’d love that.”

“Ew, Hyejin,” Wheein giggled.

“Oh hush, the two of them are hot. If someone said they didn’t want to know what goes on behind closed doors, they’d be lying. Right, Byul-unnie?”

The junior gave Hyejin the middle finger and continued eating her food. The satisfied grin on the youngest’s face told everyone that she got the reaction she wanted.

*

“Are you still upset that I missed the game last week? I’ve said sorry a million times. Please don’t be mad at me.” Yongsun threw in a pout for good measure. Moonbyul always gave in when she pouted.

She couldn’t be sure, but it felt like the athlete was mad at her. Byulyi would laugh and joke whenever Wheein and Hyejin spoke, but once the conversation turned to something about Yongsun, the blonde would grow quiet. Their friends excused themselves to the restroom a few moments ago, so the graduate student took the opportunity to clear the air.

“I’m not upset about that anymore.”

“So why are you being weird?”

“I’m not.”

“Yes you are. You’re not even looking at me right now.” She wanted this to be a serious conversation, but Moonbyul turning to look at her with eyes opened exaggeratedly wide made it hard to keep a straight face.

“How about now? I’m looking at you. Is that better?”

“Stop, I’m serious,” she lightly punched the blonde’s shoulder.

“So am I. I swear on everything I’m not mad at you.”

“Okay. Well, for the millionth time, I’m sorry.” At that, Yongsun leaned over to wrap her arms around Byul’s waist and rest her head on the younger girl’s shoulder—they had long since moved their chairs close enough for this to not be a chore.

After what seemed like an eternity, she felt Byul’s right arm drape around her shoulders, both letting out sighs of contentment.

The two had a bit of static between them the previous week. SNU played KU in the finals of the National Basketball Tournament on Saturday evening. Jinyoung had his musical that same evening. Yongsun told Byul the night before that she’d be attending her boyfriend’s event instead of the championship game and afterparty.

“You’re joking, right?” Byul said in a low and controlled voice. It sent chills up Yongsun’s spine.

“I . . . I know it’s the biggest game of the year and I’m sorry. I really am, Byul-ah. It wasn’t an easy decision to make,” she responded faintly. The athlete’s judgmental eyes on her made Yongsun clam up.

“I’m disappointed in you. Of all people, I never thought you’d put a guy before your friends.”

“That’s not fair, Byul. You know it’s not like that. I barely see him. The least I can do is show up for one of his biggest performances of the year. I’m trying to save a relationship.”

“At the expense of another.”

Any possible response she had to that died on her tongue as she caught the look in the blonde’s eyes. They weren’t going to resolve anything that night.

And they didn’t. Yongsun went to Jinyoung’s musical, all the while sneaking glances at SNU Athletics’ Twitter account for video highlights and score updates. It took overtime, but SNU won. Heeyeon was the MVP with 33 points, 12 rebounds, and 4 blocks. Byul wasn’t so bad either—25 points, 11 assists, 5 steals. Yongsun sent her a congratulatory text as soon as the game ended. Moonbyul sent back a stiff “thanks.”

Yongsun figured the best course of action would be to give the girl space. When she was ready, she’d let Yongsun know. The day after winning the championship, Moonbyul did just that via text message:

“My body’s dead, but I remembered the massage voucher you got me for my birthday. Will be scheduling it this week. I forgive you, but only because of your gift-giving skills. The musical better have been good 🙄”

They did their usual “I’m sorry,” “It’s fine” routine and went back to texting and video calling all the time, but with how hot and cold Moonbyul had been with her tonight, Yongsun assumed she was still miffed about the previous weekend. That’s the only thing she could think of that would cause the athlete to be so weird around her.

“Ew, get a room!”

“Go back to the restroom,” Byul shooed Hyejin away.

“Of course you’d say that. You look super comfy right now.” Yongsun felt the junior stiffen slightly, but chalked it up to this back-and-forth she and Hyejin had going the entire night.

“Let’s play a game! Let’s play a game!” Wheein chanted, banging her fists on the table to match her chant’s rhythm.

“What game do you want to play?” Yongsun asked, still nestled in Moonbyul’s arms. Wheein opened to answer, but was interrupted by Jihye.

“Hey, Yongsun. I’m heading out, but wanted to say goodbye to you before I did.”

Yongsun’s attempt to stand up was thwarted by Byulyi, whose arm tightened around her. She looked quizzically at the junior before responding to the GA. “I hope you had a good time tonight! It was great running into you.”

“Definitely. I’ll message you about that coffee get-together.” She tuned to Wheein and said, “I hope you enjoy the rest of your birthday celebration.”

“Thank you! And thank you for the drinks!”

“Any time. I’ll leave you all to it. Have a great night.”

The woman had been gone only for a few moments when Yongsun turned to scold her friend.

“What was that?!”

“What?”

“Don’t play dumb, Byul. I went to receive her properly and you physically kept me from getting up. That’s rude.”

“She’ll be fine. You’re overreacting.”

“I’m not. That wasn’t nice.”

“I’m sorry,” the blonde cheekily responded, a sly smile on her face.

“No you’re not,” Yongsun whined.

“Shhh, Wheein wants to play a game,” the junior deflected. “What game are we playing, Wheein-ah?”

“Yay! Let’s play ‘Truth or Dare, Dare or Dare, Truth or Truth, Smash or Pass, , Marry, Kill’!”

“Huh? All at once?” Yongsun needed clarification.

“Yeah. The person asking gets to choose from any of them. If the person they ask doesn’t answer the question or do the dare, they have to drink.”

“I’m in! Sounds fun,” Hyejin enthusiastically supported the idea.

“Like you didn’t help her come up with this,” Byul rolled her eyes.

“Cry about it. Anyway, my turn.” Of course Hyejin was chomping at the bit to get things underway. “Byul-unnie. Dare or dare: that girl at the table next to ours keeps sending heart eyes your way. I dare you to go get her number.”

The two held each other’s gazes for a few seconds before Moonbyul said, “Yong, pass me the alcohol, please. I’m taking a shot.”

Boos rained down on her as she happily swallowed the liquor, face scrunching as the liquid travelled down .

“That is so weak,” Hyejin objected.

“I’m with someone.”

“Are you, though?”

“We don’t have labels, but yeah. Pretty much.”

“I see. Is Haena-unnie the only reason you didn’t want to do it?”

“She’s one of the reasons.”

“What are the other reasons?” Yongsun caught their youngest sneaking a look her way before focusing on Byulyi again.

“Since when are this many follow-up questions allowed? Wheein?”

“She’s right, Hyejin.”

“Ugh, fine. Big baby.”

They took turns grilling each other, none of them taking the challenges to heart. It was all in good fun. Mostly.

“Byul-unnie: , marry, kill: Yongsun-unnie, Haena-unnie, Sunmi-unnie.” What was Hyejin on? It couldn’t be the alcohol because none of them were drunk. A comfortable buzz maybe, but not drunk. The wry smirk on Byul’s face told Yongsun that the athlete was thinking the same thing.

“Good one, Hyejin,” the junior clapped, some bite in her voice.

“I know. We’re all waiting for the answer.”

“Not killing anyone. ing Haena, marrying Yong.”

“Oh my goodness, look at Yongsun-unnie’s face,” Wheein exclaimed. “You’re so red, unnie.”

“It would be at the same time, though. Would be married to Yong while also ing Haena. I need variety, y’know?”

“You’re a pig!”

“Calm down, Yong,” Byul replied affectionately, grabbing hold of Yongsun’s hands so that the older woman couldn’t hit her anymore. “It’s a joke. I would never marry you, you’re too violent.”

“Shut up!”

“See!” The athlete laughed genuinely, enjoying the scene she’d caused. “It would never work.”

“My turn,” Wheein declared. “Yongsun-unnie, truth or truth: would you date a woman? A bunch of people ask me if you like girls and I’ve never known. Of course, this stays between the four of us. I’m not going to tell anyone, I’m just curious. You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, unnie. For the two of you,” she pointed to Hyejin and Byul, “this is the only question that I’m allowing one of us to not have to drink if we don’t answer.”

It was thoughtful of Wheein to provide as many safety nets for her as she did, but Yongsun didn’t need them. She’d thought about it before. Not specifically if she would date women, but about dating in general. In theory, she was open to dating anyone that she found herself attracted to. The issue was that she rarely found herself attracted to anyone because, until recently—and still, not even then—she didn’t have the time to think about any of that. It had always been school and work. Things with Jinyoung came about because he and the ’91 Club were persistent in nudging her to consider him as a viable option.

“I would, I guess. There’s no reason to not date a woman, I just . . . don’t really think about dating anyone. I’ve always been busy with school and work, but if someone came along that I really liked, I guess I’d give them a chance.”

All eyes at the table were on her. She kept her sights set on Wheein, but Yongsun felt the others staring at her.

“Follow-up question. Will you allow it?”

“Sure, Wheein. It’s your birthday, so go ahead.”

“Are there any women that have caught your eye?”

“I’m in a relationship, so I haven’t really been looking,” she chuckled as Wheein nodded in understanding.

“That makes sense.”

“My turn!”

“Hyejin, you’ve gone like fifty million times,” Byul rolled her eyes.

“So this will be fifty million and one times. Byul-unnie, smash or pass: Yongsun-unnie.”

“Okay, what is going on?” Yongsun asked.

“What do you mean, unnie?”

“Why do you all keep putting me in these questions? Is it because her teammates joke about me and her dating?” Yongsun had eventually caught on to members of the basketball team referring to her as “wifey”. At first she found it weird—they weren’t dating—but she grew to accept that athletes tended to show affection for each other through jokes like that. She was fine with it now.

“Uh . . . yeah, that’s why,” Hyejin said unconvincingly. “It’s my last question about you, though. You’re off the hook after this.”

“I’m not mad or anything, you don’t have to stop.”

“Yes, she does. She does have to stop,” Byul jumped in.

“Whatever. Answer the question. Smash or pass: Yongsun-unnie.”

“Marry.”

“Yah! Byul-ah! You’re so annoying! Why are you like this?!” Yongsun’s tantrum sent them all into hysterics.

*

“Sorry I’m late, Rongie! Had to stay after to speak with my professor.”

“It’s okay. I wasn’t waiting long. Got here a few minutes ago.”

“That’s a relief. Do you already know which flavors you want?”

“I’ve been thinking about it all week.”

“Same.”

Yongsun and Chorong agreed on Monday to meet up on Saturday at an ice cream shop near campus. They both had their Counseling Practicum on Saturday mornings, just different professors. This was a nice change of pace from the previous weekend where she marathon-celebrated Wheein’s birthday.

With their cups of ice cream settled in front of them—mint chocolate chip for Yongsun, cookie dough and vanilla for Chorong—conversation flowed naturally, as it tended to do.

“Can you believe in a couple weeks we’ll have completed our first year of graduate school? How wild is that?”

“Still can’t believe it. Everything went by so quickly.”

“Preach. You’ve had an eventful year, though. Got involved in a lot, found yourself a boyfriend.”

“More like you found me a boyfriend.”

“I’d say I did a decent job for you.”

“Yeah. Jinyoung’s great. We just don’t see each other, which kind of defeats the purpose of being in a relationship.”

Time with Jinyoung was scarce and Yongsun was at wit’s end. Their relationship wasn’t working, and it wasn’t for lack of trying. They were trying, so hard, but things weren’t improving. Neither checked their phones during class, resulting in responses to messages coming hours later. If she had a few hours to spare, he was in the studio, had scripts to read, or would come to her apartment and fall asleep immediately. If he had free time, she was studying, prepping for her advising sessions, or would fall asleep on the phone with him. It wasn’t working.

“Yikes,” Chorong tried to sympathize. Yongsun didn’t want to put her in an awkward position. Jinyoung was her friend, too, and having her in the middle of their relationship, though it never seemed like Chorong minded, was unfair and something Yongsun refused to do.

“It’s whatever. We’ll figure it out.”

“Are you going to drop us if things don’t work out between the two of you?”

“Obviously not. You’re going to be my roommate next year. It would be weird if I dropped you as a friend and had to see you in class and at home every day.”

Yongsun had mentioned in passing one day that Misuk was graduating at the end of this semester. Chorong’s interest was piqued. She was looking to move into a new apartment and asked if she could take a tour of Yongsun’s place in UV. One thing led to another and the two concluded that their living together wouldn’t completely ruin their friendship. She was set to move into the apartment in June.

“You know what I mean, smartass.”

“You all are my friends. I’m hoping that Jinyoung and I can stay friends, too.”

“You’re talking like you’ve already made up your mind to end things,” Chorong observed, devouring a spoonful of cookie dough.

“I don’t know.”

“How long has it been?”

“Counting the time we were getting to know each other, five months. Officially together, two. Not long, but long enough to notice the issues.”

“Do what’s best for you. If things don’t last, no one in the group is going to blame you.”

“That’s a relief.”

“We’re just as much your friends as we are his.”

“Thank you. Hearing that helps ease a lot of the stress I had if things went south.”

“You keep saying ‘if’ like you aren’t planning on dumping him tomorrow,” she laughed.

“I’m not dumping him tomorrow.”

“Okay, fine. Next week.”

“I can’t stand you,” Yongsun snorted.

“Statistically, forever wasn’t in the cards for the two of you, Yong. Marriage or breaking up, those are the only options for any relationship.”

“Well, when you put it like that . . .”

“Exactly. All you can hope is that you learn a lot from the experience.”

“That’s a mature approach to relationships.”

“I guess,” Chorong shrugged. “What’s the biggest lesson so far that dating Jinyoung has taught you?”

It was great question. One she hadn’t before thought of. When it came to Jinyoung, her thoughts always revolved around ways to keep their relationship afloat—things she could do and say to drag them to another day together. Taking a step back, now, though, there was one major takeaway.

“Never date a friend.”

Peals of laughter and spoons scraping the bottom of empty ice cream cups. Not the worst sounds to be accompanied by on a beautiful late-April Saturday.

Note: Did not realize the number of subscribers was as high as it is. Thank you all. Sincerely.

Many wanted to know what Yongsun was up to/thinking. There you have it. My girl is just trying to pass her classes and do well at work but keeps getting caught up in all this romance stuff.

Will throw everyone a bone because I do read all the comments and I know many of you are struggling. At the end of this chapter, it’s the last week of April. School ends early-May. The Olympics happen July/August. Things pick up during/after the Olympics. I usually hate when authors give spoilers/teasers for what’s to come, but I genuinely feel bad that some of you are so close to throwing your phones at me. Don’t get me wrong, I find it hilarious—I laugh so hard at some of your comments—but I’m not cold‑hearted, so that was as much of a spoiler as I could piece together for you. The point: it’s right around the corner. See y’all next time.