She feels odd when she wakes up. Like this significant realization has lifted a weight off her shoulders that she didn’t even know was there. She feels lighter somehow, like breathing is easier.

She stretches out her limbs, realizing the space beside her is now empty. She must have rolled away from Wheein during the night, because she can’t imagine the other girl possibly writhing herself free from her arms without waking her. 

The shower is running, and Hyejin frowns when she looks over at the clock to see that it’s only eight o’clock. They have at least another thirty minutes to sleep before they have to get up for schedules. She wonders what sparked the other girl to get up this early. Whether it was thoughts of the previous night that had woken her up, and whether those were good thoughts or bad thoughts. 

Hyejin mind drifts to the previous night, thinking of the way her lips had moved against Wheein’s and how her hands had pulled at her shirt. How her warm body had fallen asleep in her arms despite her brief panic, and how it had all felt so right. She can’t imagine it felt wrong to her.

She rolls onto her stomach and finds herself pathetically smiling into a pillow, stretching out like a starfish. She waits for sleep to come over her again, but her bladder screams for her to get up.

She pushes herself off the bed and enters the bathroom, opening the door with no second thought. Wheein’s back is turned to her and she’s singing softly to herself as she washes the shampoo out of her hair. When Hyejin sees her, she suppresses the urge to join her in the shower. That would be crossing into new territory. 

It’s become a habit for them to shower together the mornings after she stays over, but now she sees her body in a new light. She’s still the Wheein she has always known, but there’s something more now. Joining her would be a step too big.

When Hyejin sits down on the toilet, Wheein finally turns around after having seen something shift in the corner of her eye. She physically jumps when she sees her, and when she stops singing and turns away, Hyejin's heart drops. 

She’s hiding again. The way she hugs her body shows she’s clearly uncomfortable being in front of her, despite it being such an ordinary thing for the two of them.

The shower is turned off just as she flushes the toilet. Hyejin observes her through the mirror while she washes her hands, watching as the other girl covers her s with one arm. She stretches the other to grab a towel from the rack, but it’s just out of reach.

Hyejin wordlessly walks over, grabbing the towel and handing it over. Eyes seem to be avoiding hers at all costs. She’s embarrassed, and apart from the disappointment Hyejin feels because of it, it also sparks some annoyance in her.

“Wheein.” 

“What?” she asks, wrapping the towel around her body.

“We should talk about last night.” Hyejin is not one to avoid her issues, but she knows Wheein differs from her in that aspect sometimes. Her ability to ignore a problem instead of facing it head-on is something that annoys Hyejin endlessly at times, especially when it’s a problem between the two of them.

She sighs exasperatedly, still avoiding the younger girl’s gaze.

“Wheein.”

She finally looks up at her, pointing at the towel wrapped around her in annoyance. “Can I get dressed first, or what?” 

Hyejin is slightly taken aback by her irked reaction, but she knows it’s because she doesn’t know how to deal with the situation. She recognizes her inner turmoil by the way she shuts Hyejin out.

“Fine,” Hyejin says.

Wheein quickly steps out of the way when Hyejin reaches over to turn the shower back on. When she pulls her shirt over her head without hesitation and notices the other girl’s eyes almost popping out of their sockets, she thinks she could’ve perhaps been a little less careless.

She’s always been c