chaewon and hyejoo always waited since the start—since they were 8. their parents were friends and the moms both gave birth. chaewon was older than hyejoo but acted more as the baby. they were currently at the park having a picnic while looking at the trees and ducks. hyejoo stared at a strange looking tree and nudged chaewon, pointing at the direction of the tree with her head without a word. chaewon softly giggled, noticing how funny it looked. it was probably an old tree, the branches looking like a jungle gym while the leaves fell every now and then. hyejoo commented that the tree kind of looked like yerim, wild and crazy but also happy at the same time. chaewon then added, “her hair gets everywhere too.” and the two laughed together, chaewon’s laugh entering hyejoo’s heart for the first time.

chaewon leaned over to the basket filled with drawing supplies and grabbed a pair of safety scissors, jumping out of her seat and running off to the tree. hyejoo quickly followed after her, almost bumping into chaewon’s back after chaewon turned around abruptly with her hands on her hips.

“grab your scissors from the basket too, hyejoo-ah! i have an idea,” chaewon ordered with a puff of her cheeks. hyejoo nodded and saluted like a soldier, stumbling off to the blanket set nicely on the floor. at the time, chaewon was taller than hyejoo by 2 inches. it wasnt much of a height difference, but chaewon liked to tease hyejoo.

“i have them,” hyejoo said flatly, raising her hand to show the small scissors equiped.

chaewon’s lips quirk up into a smile. it was contagious (to hyejoo) so hyejoo smiled after her. chaewon had her chin in her hand, nodding, turning to the direction of the tree.

“..so, what are we doing?” hyejoo asked, lifting her head a bit to see chaewon’s eyes.

chaewon pointed at the center of the tree, her eyes sparkling. “we’re going to make this tree ours!” hyejoo tilted her head, confused.

chaewon stabbed the tree, her head covering what she was doing to the poor tree. after she was done, she took a step back to admire her work:

it said:

park chaewon + son hyejoo

best friends forever !!!! >:D

aka the owners of this tree !

hyejoo nodded in fascination, getting the idea too. chaewon took another step back so hyejoo could have her work space.

DO NOT TOUCH!!!

(except for chaewon and hyejoo :). )

—hyejoo added the “DO NOT TOUCH!!!” in a big font. she crossed her arms to her chest, hearing the loud claps of chaewon. the two locked eyes and stayed like that in silence until they both laughed in unison. chaewon heard her mom, jiwoo, yell from the distance. chaewon widened her eyes and hyejoo knew the drill. the two ran off to the basket and dropped their scissors in the basket. they sat back down on the blanket and tried to look calm—chaewon being the obvious one.

a woman appeared shortly, she had red brownish hair with bangs. it was chaewon’s mom! the two children both had lesbian parents, but growing up in a society where they didn’t accept lgbt was hard. they both got bullied for having lesbian parents, but hyejoo once punched a kid for making chaewon cry. the two had each other’s back, they didn’t know what was wrong about being gay anyways.

a taller woman ran after jiwoo, she had long black hair with a huge smile on her face. she looked like sulli and sunmi combined. it was chaewon’s other mom, sooyoung. she passed by jiwoo, hugging chaewon and picking her up to twirl her up in the air.

“how’s my baby?” sooyoung asked, putting chaewon back down next to hyejoo.

jiwoo playfully slapped sooyoung’s shoulder and looked down at hyejoo with a bright smile. “you mean, BABIES.”

hyejoo smiled, grabbing at jiwoo’s legs so she could pick her up too. jiwoo knew what hyejoo wanted and picked her up even if she was 8. hyejoo and chaewon were still babies in sooyoung’s and jiwoo’s eyes. the family walked down the hill towards the pond. hyejoo’s parents, jungeun and jinsoul, were on the bench talking to each other. hyejoo’s sister, yerim, was at the pond, dangerously close to a duck. she had bread in her hand, cooing at the bird to come.

jinsoul noticed hyejoo and waved to her child, mouthing “i’m talking to your mom.”

hyejoo nodded, jiwoo putting her back down on the ground. sooyoung did the same with chaewon, placing her down. “i’ll go get the blanket and basket and bring them down here so people won’t steal.” and off she ran. sooyoung almost tripped on a pebble, but caught her balance, disappearing into the distance.

chaewon and hyejoo sat down on the grass, chaewon noticing a car. she pointed at it.

“i want to drive!” she announced with a lisp.

it brought a smile to hyejoo’s lips. “let’s wait til we turn 16.” hyejoo replied, turning her head to look at the face that made her smile everyday.

chaewon was still staring at the car. she hummed softly to the air and nodded, looking at hyejoo. “yeah.”

a yell and splash was heard. jiwoo and jinsoul screamed their lungs out. yerim fell in the pond after chasing after the duck.

——

now chaewon and hyejoo were 12. hyejoo was now 5’1 and chaewon was 5 feet. they were at chaewon’s house, expecting to have a nice sleepover without any interruptions—but luck wasn’t on their side. hyejoo held chaewon in her arms, muttering soft words of encouragement to stay strong. but chaewon’s parents yelling and arguing were only filling chaewon’s head. hyejoo raised her hands to cover chaewon’s ears, placing her chin on chaewon’s head. she just wanted to protect chaewon from all of her problems, but she couldn’t.

there was another yell, sooyoung basically screaming at her wife, jiwoo. they were arguing about debt, how sooyoung wasted all of her money going to the club. jiwoo didn’t even care anymore, she’s used to sooyoung coming home drunk with another girl in her arms.

chaewon shivered and shook in hyejoo’s arms, her tears making a small pond on the sheets of the bed. hyejoo glared at the locked door, she wanted to just yell at chaewon’s parents and give them a full lecture on how they were also hurting chaewon. but if she did that then she would leave chaewon alone, probably even more hurt.

it had passed an hour, the yelling dying down. chaewon could finally relax a bit, her breath shaky from the incident just a while ago. hyejoo hugged chaewon tightly and kissed chaewon’s hair.

hyejoo could see chaewon’s eyes peeking up from her arms. chaewon whispered under her breath, “are these arguments ever going to stop?”

hyejoo sighed, her hands entwined with chaewon’s. she spun their hands a bit, staring at the sight until she looked chaewon in the eye.

“maybe,” hyejoo paused for a moment before opening again. “let’s just wait.”

——

years passed by and the two were 17. they were in high school and it was about time they finally separated for a bit and got new friends. chaewon got along well with basically anybody while hyejoo was a shy one. but at the end of the day chaewon gave her full attention to hyejoo. they were still best friends and they forever will be.

but things changed again. chaewon went on a date with a boy and she’s been spending all of her time just on him. the dude hogged chaewon. hyejoo barely saw her for weeks until her best friend came crying to hyejoo. the darn bastard broke up with chaewon because he found another girl.

hyejoo’s eyes lit up with anger, her hands balling up into a fist. she was going to find him and kill the dude. hyejoo was about to leave and beat him up but chaewon pulled her back.

“i just need you right now.”

hyejoo looked down at the tinier girl.

“please.”

and they stayed in the same position with chaewon hugging hyejoo for at least an hour. some would let go in under 30 minutes, but chaewon needed the hug—hyejoo didn’t complain, she loved chaewon and she would do anything for her.

“hey.” a soft voice made hyejoo look down. “when am i ever going to find real love?”

hyejoo kisses chaewon’s forehead before answering her question with the same reply as always. “let’s just wait.”

————

they were now 20, currently in college. chaewon’s parents divorced and gave chaewon some money they had left, the two going in different paths shortly after. chaewon was sad, of course, but hyejoo was there for her so why should she be sad? her happiness was right in front of her and her name is son hyejoo.

they decided to go to the same park with the same tree with the same carving they had placed. hyejoo wore her leather jacket and chaewon wore her pink fluffy jacket. they were holding hands, walking up the short hill to find the same tree still there.

chaewon let go of hyejoo’s hand, running to the tree. the writing they printed on it was a bit dull now but you could still read it. chaewon smiled brightly, turning around expecting to see hyejoo’s smile too. but it was more of a frown.

“hey, what’s wrong?” chaewon asked, approaching hyejoo.

“there’s something wrong with the tree,” she replied bluntly.

“wha?—“

hyejoo grabbed a nearby stick, it was sharp enough on the tip to make a change so she chose it and walked towards the tree. she crossed out “best friends forever !!!! >:D”, crossing her arms.

chaewon looked a bit furious. “hey! why did you do that, hyejoo!”

“because i want you to be my girlfriend instead,” hyejoo said.

chaewon was about to open to say something but she closed it. her dilated eyes looking up at hyejoo in the moonlight.

“this is what i meant by waiting for true love, chaewon-ah.”

hyejoo knelt down and wrote on the tree:

SOULMATES 4EVA !

she got back up to her full height and stared at chaewon, waiting for a reply.

they shared a kiss under the tree.

“there’s no waiting anymore.”