. . . 

Yongsun inconspiciously puts out her cigarette against the wall. It had just occurred to her that her breath might be a bit questionable at the moment, which was why she had opted to let the conversation slowly come to a standstill. She presses her clutch against her stomach, in a way that offers her body some type of warmth. Due to her dedication in running away from the nonsense that Theo was spewing, she had ended up running out of the building without so much as grabbing her jacket. She lets out a inaudible sigh; this night really wasn't working out in her favour.

She feels a rumble against her stomach, to which she jolts a little from the contact.  She glances down at the clutch in her hands and figures that it must be her phone vibrating inside. There was no doubt in her mind that it was a text from Theo; another text that she was planning to ignore. From the corner of her eye she sees Wheein blowing out puffs of vapour into the air from and watching in amusement as it slowly vanishes. Yongsun ducks her head down and suppresses a giggle at the look of innocence in the girl's expression but joins in shortly afterwards, unbeknownst to the girl. 

After a while, Yongsun finally breaks the silence, "It's good to see you again, Wheein." 

The girl stares blankly at her for a moment, unsure. 

Strange. 

Then, as if a light bulb had lit up in her head, she starts to say, "Actually, I'm --"

"Moonbyul!"

Now Yongsun was confused. Her eyes dart from the girl to the man who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. He was busy telling her off for taking a break, which pulls memories from the back of her mind, of the countless times she has had to do the exact same thing to certain people in her department. But then she suddenly realises that she was focussing on the wrong thing. The important thing right now is the fact that the girl standing beside her had just responded to the name that seemed to occupy Yongsun's mind these days.

What are the chances?

Surely not. 

There's no way. But then Yongsun thinks back to the night she first met her. The way she was so sure, purely from the way she said the word 'miss'.

Perhaps . . . 

Yongsun returns her attention back to her, to Moonbyul. The man had somehow managed to disappear while she was deep in thought. She watches Moonbyul's mouth move, words were coming out but she doesn't register them. Her mind was too busy trying to decide on what to do with this information. The feeling that she was currently experiencing was akin to finally finding a missing piece of puzzle that was needed to complete the full picture. Though Yongsun is not sure what exactly this picture will turn out like . . . after all, it was her that was insistent about not revealing each other. But she can't help it. Not when she was staring right at it - her - in the eye. 

"Duty calls," Moonbyul gives her a grin and turns to leave.

Yongsun reaches out and grabs her wrist. 

Okaaay. Now what?

She needed to stall for a moment while she decides on what to do, "Your name is Moonbyul?" 

Always good to double check things.

Yongsun watches as Moonbyul's gaze falls onto her fingers wrapped around her wrist, while she does her best to ignore how warm her fingertips felt against the girl's skin. The girl looks back up, puzzled and then nods. 

Screw it.

She knows that if she doesn't, then she'd probably spend the next few days at least, agonising over 'what ifs'. 

"I'm Yongsun." She says it in a way that was less introductory and more like, 'you know who I am, don't you?' 

She swears that she can feel the girl's pulse increase ever so slightly. Taking that as a hopeful sign, she looks directly at her, searching for any hint of recognition. 

"I'm sorry, I don't . . ." 

Or maybe her mind was playing tricks on her. She becomes aware that she was still holding onto her. With that, she quickly releases her grip with a look of a mixture of horror and embarassment. 

. 

Yongsun lets out a shaky laugh to herself. She was quite close to withering away in embarassment as her mind continuously replays that moment over and over.

Damn, she was so sure. 

She palms her face with a low groan; she didn't want to go back inside. Annoyingly, it gradually became much colder once Moonbyul had gone back inside, which meant that Yongsun was stuck with two options: die of awkwardness by going back inside or die due to hypothermia.

Hm, tough choice.

She shakes her head at herself and with a defeated sigh, she pushes herself up from against the wall and makes her way back into the building. Her mood is lifted a bit when she sees people starting to slowly disperse, indicating that the dinner was coming to an end. This was great news for her since it would make it easier to navigate back to her table, keeping the risk of being swept into an unwarranted conversation to a minimum. Oh the joy.

She lingers a bit at the entrance, her eyes landing on Moonbyul across the other side of the room, just a couple of tables away from her own. The girl was too preoccupied with clearing tables to acknowledge her or anyone else for that matter. Interestingly, the girl wore a slight frown as she busied herself, deep in thought whilst her hands were moving by their own accord. Yongsun turns away and plasters on a look of indifference as she continues on her quest to her table. 

"There you are."

Oh great. 

Yongsun smiles weakly, "Hey."

"Are you heading home?" Theo asks

She nods

"I'll drive you home," he says firmly

"It's alright, I'll just call a taxi,"

"Nonsense. Wait for me outside, I just gotta say bye to a few people first." Without bothering to hear her adamant chorus of 'no's and you don't need to's', he strides over to a group of people, seamlessly joining into their conversation as if he were there all along. Yongsun flares out her nostrils in annoyance as she retrieves her jacket. This night definitely was not working in her favour. She looks back to the spot where Moonbyul was, hoping to steal one last glimpse at her before leaving. Maybe even being bold enough to say goodbye but to her disappointment, she is nowhere to be found. As she takes a few steps back towards the main entrance, it suddenly dawns on her that she could probably slip out the side door, hence avoiding Theo and an inevitably awkward car journey home.

Ugh, sometimes she astounded herself with her intelligence.

After mentally giving herself a pat on the back for her genius plan, she manoeuvres herself around the tables and then suddenly stops in her tracks. There, in front of her, was Moonbyul squatting down, her back turned towards her, hidden by tables. No wonder she couldn't find her a moment ago . . . but why - Yongsun frowns - does it seem like she's hiding? Before she can voice her question out loud, her phone buzzes in her hand, which draws her attention away momentarily.

theo (IGNORE!!!) [10:08 PM] : where are u? 

And just like that, she is reminded of her mission: Operation avoid clingy ex (wow, she'd never thought that she would one day describe Theo as clingy. Life really is full of surprises). Yongsun forces herself to focus on the task at hand and continues on her way, but Yongsun being Yongsun, cannot take more than a few steps before walking back towards the spot she stood in. It was in her nature; being nosy. It's something that she has accepted about herself. It was like an itch she couldn't scratch. Her phone buzzes again, perhaps reminding her that she had an unread text from 2 minutes ago but she ignores that as she observes Moonbyul with curiosity. 

I wonder . . . 

She unlocks her phone and goes into her recent caller list. Here it is, the final test to see if her hunch is correct. If not, no harm no foul. But if it is . . . well, there is only one way to find out. She presses down on Moonbyul's name and brings the phone to her ear. 

Her eyes widen slightly when she hears someone else's phone start to vibrate.

More specifically, the girl in front of her. Moonbyul.

Yongsun smirks at this revelation. She was right. Her genius really knows no bounds. 

"So you do know me."

. 

"Do you want to get out of here?"

Moonbyul is pretty sure she has heard these exact words being said in many coming-of-age movies that she adores. It was always in that moment when suddenly the dynamic starts to shift between the main character and the person of interest. Moonbyul always anticipated those moments in movies, it made her feel giddy and had her yearning for something similiar. Perhaps this could have been that moment but she was now old enough to separate fantasy and reality. Unfortunately for her, her reality is being a broke student and needing to pay rent. For the whole night, she had endured the knots in her stomach, being surrounded by such large crowds normally made it difficult for her to be efficient but surprisingly, tonight went pretty well (minus the part where Ed had caught her taking an unpermitted break). She did not suffer through all that to not get paid in the end. Nuh-uh. 

"No."

Yongsun falters a bit, it was obvious she was not expecting that answer. Upon seeing the flicker of hurt and a hint of disappointment in Yongsun's expression, Moonbyul mentally chides herself for yet again, saying things without proper thought. 

Well done, Moonbyul. 

 She quickly waves her hands in tiny motions, "No, I mean I would love to but I'm still working," she explains

"When do you finish?"

She shrugs, "It depends but I'd say 20 minutes or so,"

"And are you free afterwards?" Yongsun asks with a raise of a brow

"Yeah."

"Okay!" she replies cheerfully. Satisfied with her answer, Yongsun spins around and faces the man who stood to the side and had silently watched the exchange between the both of them with a frown. With a faux regretful smile she says, "You can leave without me, Moonbyul is going to take me home." 

The man seems unconvinced, "Who's Moonbyul?"

Yongsun juts her thumb over her shoulder at the girl in question. His eyes flit towards Moonbyul, his expression seemed cold and unnerving. Gathering her courage she gives him a tiny wave and smiles, "Hi."

He ignores her, "How come this is the first time I've heard about her?" he says to Yongsun

"And why would I need to inform you about my friends?" she fires back

Moonbyul fidgets under the clear tension and says quietly, "I should get back to work." 

Yongsun nods and dismisses her with a wave of her hand, "Come find me later!"

The girl gives a weak nod and for the second time that night, she speed walks away as if her life depended on it.

. . . 

Moonbyul slurps noisily at her milkshake trying her best to not seem phased about Yongsun's piercing stare. Ever since they had sat down in the late night diner, she had not once lifted her gaze from Moonbyul which made it quite challenging for the waitress to get her attention. It seemed as though Yongsun was only now trying process everything up to this point and she was doing so, at her own pace. Her excruciatingly slow pace. Moonbyul shifts uncomfortably in her seat once it occurred to her that her milkshake was finished and now she had nothing to distract her from acknowledging the fact that for once, she had nothing to say to Yongsun. Her mind had gone completely blank. And although she had an inkling as to why that is (she's pretty), she tries her best not to dwell on it too much because for one thing, she genuinely wanted to get to know her and oogling at her like some dazed idiot was not going to help.        

"You're coffee is going to get cold," Moonbyul says weakly

Yongsun's stare does not waver as she brings up the cup to her lips but then she takes a bigger gulp than expected. She flinches, finally breaking her gaze to fan , her face momentarily distorts into an expression of discomfort, and for a glorious millisecond, the woman seems less intimidating, ". That's hot." she exclaims

The younger girl quickly grabs a few napkins and hands them over to her dutifully, "You should've blown on it first."

Yongsun shoots her a glare, "You're the one who told me it was cold." 

"No, I said it was going to get cold," Moonbyul retorts

Yongsun does not respond and continues to fan her tongue in rapid motions.

"Are you alright?" 

"I'll survive."

"Good."

The younger girl clicks her tongue, "So, this is weird, huh?" 

Yongsun narrows her eyes, "Why is it weird?"

"Well," Moonbyul says, rubbing the back of her neck with a sheepish grin, "I mean, our conversations seem to flow better over the phone."

The older girl's face falls ever so slightly, "Oh."

Moonbyul's eyes widen in panic, "No, I mean . . . uh, sorry. I seem to be saying the wrong things tonight."

"I can see that. What happened to the sassy tech support girl?" Yongsun asks with a hint of amusement in her eyes

"Well," Moonbyul takes a long pause, as if she were seriously contemplating the question, "She got a warning from her supervisor to not be too friendly towards customers."

"Seriously?"

She nods, "I'm just too charasimatic, customers just can't get enough of me," she jokes, waggling her eyebrows, eliciting a light laugh from Yongsun, which in turn makes Moonbyul grin in silent triumph. 

"Gee, here I am thinking you only spoke to me that way," Yongsun says, shaking her head in mock disappointment. She leans back in her seat with a solemn expression.

Moonbyul shakes her head with a smile, "You're special."

Yongsun arches an eyebrow, "Oh?"

"You're the only customer who has the privilege of hearing my voice whenever you want, tech problems or not," 

The older girl tries her best to fight back the small smile that tugs at the corner of her lips, "I think you're finally starting to say the right things."

. . .

"So why did you reveal yourself?" Moonbyul asks with curiosity as the two of them step out into the cold, shivering ever so slightly at the winter temperature. They walk side by side down the street. Under the guise of wanting to burn off the calories from their late night meal, Moonbyul had suggested for the two of them take a walk by the river, but really, she just wanted an excuse to spend more time with her. To her relief, Yongsun wholeheartedly agreed. 

Yongsun answers by asking a question of her own, "Well, why did you lie?"

There's something in her tone of voice that makes Moonbyul regret asking the question.

"Hey." Moonbyul abruptly stops in her tracks, it was obvious that the older woman had struck a nerve, "I already apologised for that."

"Yeah I know," she says with a teasing smile, turning her whole body to face her, she begins to walk backwards, with her arms crossed behind her back in a smug manner, "It's just funny seeing your reaction." Being too preoccupied in gauging the younger girl's reaction, Yongsun fails to take notice of the slight crack in the concrete and loses her balance. Moonbyul rushes forward and grabs her arm, steadying her on her feet, "Maybe you should focus more on where you're walking," she murmurs.

Embarassed, Yongsun shakes her arm from her grip and continues along the path, this time, body facing in the right direction.

Moonbyul smiles to herself as she practically runs to catch up with her. 

A comfortable silence settles between the two of them as they walk side by side, with no destination in mind whatsoever. It was at this moment that Moonbyul decides that this was perhaps the highlight of the week - no - the month. The memory of her finding out that she passed all of her classes, with her grades in the top 10% was overshadowed by the mere presence of the woman beside her. It was exciting, to finally put a face to the person who had made her laugh countless of times during late night phone conversations. Moonbyul subtly frowns, but what happens now? What happens after tonight? Did this mean the end of those conversations? What -

"You know, I had a feeling it was you back when we first met." Yongsun admits

Moonbyul breaks away from her ambush of thoughts and looks at her questioningly, "Huh?"

"When we were in the entrance bit," she continues, "When you said the word 'Miss'."

The younger girl looks at her, stunned and then slowly breaks into a smirk, "You've really grown accustomed to my voice, huh?"

Yongsun rolls her eyes but does not hide her smile, "Don't flatter yourself. I am just very detail-oriented." 

"Suurrrree." Moonbyul says, nudging her slightly with her elbow.

The girl draws back and lets out a huff, "You promised you'd let me win," she says referring back to their previous phone call

"I did no such thing." 

"Yes you did!"

"I said maybe I'd let you win," Moonbyul recalls, "I thought you said you're very detail-oriented?" she teases

Yongsun bites the inside of her cheek as she realises that Moonbyul was right but she says nothing which only spurs the younger girl further, "It's alright. Being forgetful is all part of getting old."

And for the third time that night, Moonbyul finds herself chasing after Yongsun.

. . 

"You should grab that taxi," Yongsun nods over towards the car on standby, waiting for late night passengers.

"What about you?" 

"I live nearby."

"Okay. Well . . . " Moonbyul shifts awkwardly on the balls of her feet, "Text me when you get home,"

Yongsun offers her a small smile, "You do the same."

"Okay." Moonbyul stares at her as she ponders on what to do next. Does she hug her? Would that be weird? She mentally groans in frustration, why was this so hard? In the end she sticks out her hand, to which Yongsun stares at for a brief second (which almost seems like an eternity from Moonbyul's perspective) before finally wrapping her slender fingers around the girl's hand. Moonbyul marvels at how incredibly soft and delicate her hand felt against her own. She resists the urge to caress the back of Yongsun's hand with her thumb, because that would be weird, wouldn't it?

How is that even a question?

Of course that would be weird.

Shaking away her brief blip of insanity, Moonbyul takes a moment to appreciate how snugly Yongsun's hand seems to fit in hers but then she realises that the duration of this handshake has far surpassed the normal time limit.

You managed to make things weird. 

When she starts to pull away, however, Yongsun tightens her grip and pulls her in closer, smiling in amusement at the sound of a small gasp from the girl, "It's good to meet you, Moonbyul." 

. . . 

author's note: just to note...next chapter may be quite a while (i know i'm sorry). hope you enjoy this chapter. in the meantime, continue to feed my ego by leaving comments. as always i hope you are keeping safe and you have a good day :) 

kofi: ko-fi.com/fleurly