Heejin and Hyunjin had been friends for years (2 years, 4 months, and 7 days to be exact) before they had finally got their together and started dating. And in that time, Heejin would like to think that she had gotten to know the other girl pretty well. Heejin knew her fears and insecurities, all of the little secrets she had never told anyone else, and Heejin was proud of her title as the person Hyunjin was closest to.

She liked to think that she had Hyunjin all figured out. Boy, was she dead wrong. 

For one, Heejin figured that Hyunjin wouldn’t be embarrassed at public displays of affection. After all, they had held hands, linked arms, and hugged all the time when they were just friends! But as it turned out, now that they were officially together, anything more than a brush of their hands in public would make a blush rise to Hyunjin’s cheeks. 

Heejin remembered testing it out one day, daring to press a quick kiss to Hyunjin’s cheek in front of their friends. 

Underneath her lips, she felt Hyunjin start to heat up and Hyunjin laughed awkwardly and took hold of her hand, underneath the table to hide it from their friends’ eyes, of course. Heejin found her reaction adorable and couldn’t help staring at her beautiful girlfriend, even when Hyunjin squeezed her hand to remind her that other people were around and Yeojin fake-gagged at how mushy they were. 

“Shut up,” Hyunjin muttered, annoyed by Yeojin’s over-the-top teasing, “you’re just jealous because I have a girlfriend and you’re still single.”

Yeojin poked her tongue out at Hyunjin - making Hyunjin pretend to lunge at her and everyone at the table laugh. Some things never change, Heejin thought fondly, glad that Yeojin and Hyunjin’s friendship was the same as always.

There were other things that shocked Heejin too - like how Hyunjin sang in the shower in the mornings, the way she'd let Heejin eat some of the food off her plate but not anyone else, her fierce protectiveness.

Heejin’s personal favourite was the fact that Hyunjin actually enjoyed being the little spoon. Even though she was taller than Heejin, Hyunjin preferred to have Heejin wrap her arms around her - not that Hyunjin would ever admit that out loud of course. It was insanely endearing how much Hyunjin loved to be held and cuddled, and Heejin loved to oblige, showering her girlfriend with affection whenever possible.

But the biggest surprise happened when the two found themselves at a house party that Sooyoung was hosting. 

See, Heejin had expected for Hyunjin to be the jealous type. Hyunjin had always acted jealous when they weren’t together yet - annoyed whenever Jiwoo took up all of Heejin’s attention, or envious when Heejin went out on blind dates or other social outings without her. 

Once, Jiwoo had proclaimed that Heejin was her best friend and Hyunjin didn’t talk to either of them for days. Following that, Heejin just assumed that this jealous streak would continue in their relationship, preemptively accepting it. 

Sooyoung’s party was celebrating the end of the semester - the gruelling finals week having just ended the Friday prior. Since Sooyoung’s apartment was close to campus and everyone seemed to know her, the place was packed with students from pretty much every year group and subject. 

Parties weren’t some either of them attended often, neither of them really caring about the free booze and other substances that frequented occasions like this. And if they wanted to socialise, it wouldn’t be too hard to set up a movie night with the few people they actually wanted to see. 

Maybe there were worse ways to spend her Sunday night, but Heejin couldn’t think of one. She didn’t really enjoy all the drunken yelling, or the dancing that was more rubbing against each other than anything else. The song was tacky, purely a beat to dance to, and the beat wasn’t even that good, she thought bitterly - and she could’ve sworn it was the third time it had played over the speakers. 

She had also lost Hyunjin in the crowd not too long ago, which only dampened her mood. Jungeun and Jiwoo left a while ago too - so Heejin felt all alone.

Heejin met eyes with a boy across the room - one she vaguely recognised from one of her classes. He was handsome and well-dressed, maybe someone she would’ve been interested in if she weren’t so happy with Hyunjin.

He walked over to her with a smile, offering her one of the drinks he was holding. She drank mostly out of politeness and because she couldn’t excuse herself, as it was obvious she didn’t have anywhere else to be. 

He seemed nice, if a bit boring. All he could think of talking about was how difficult the Japanese exam was - oh, so we do share a class! - and whether or not Heejin had studied much. And if Heejin remembered correctly, he had a boyfriend (studying Physics, a little taller than him, a year above) so there wasn’t any harm in chatting.

So when his voice turned flirty and his gaze went lower than her eyes, Heejin was more confused than anything. 

“How’s your boyfriend?”

He stiffened. “We broke up last week. Apparently, I’m less important than exams.” He rolled his eyes, but seemed to push his annoyance down to turn on the “charm” once more. He stepped closer, too close for Heejin’s comfort. “I’ve been meaning to get back out there. Meet some new people. Find someone I liked. I actually came over here because I wanted to ask if you--”

“Oh, there you are!” Heejin’s favourite voice called out, just a few metres away if Heejin had to guess. “I was looking for you!”

Turning her head to the direction of the voice, Heejin was glad to see Hyunjin walking towards them - two drinks in her hand. Once she got to them, Heejin took one of the drinks, swapping the drink he had given her for it, and sipped it.

“This is Hyunjin,” she told him. “My girlfriend.”

His eyes went wide and he stammered out an introduction, making it very clear that he had just been flirting with her. Heejin felt a little bad for him. She waited for Hyunjin’s response - for her to get angry, stake her claim, anything to showcase her jealousy. But instead, she smiled at him - offering him the other drink in her hands.

“No,” he denied a little too quickly, “I, uh, actually need to go. Right now. I need to go right now.”

“Alright?”

As soon as he was out of earshot, she shot a puzzled look at Heejin. “You know some weird people, babe,” she said, completely nonplussed by the situation.

“He was flirting with me,” Heejin pointed out, because if the years of them pining over each other were anything to go by, Hyunjin could miss even the most obvious of cues.

“Yeah, obviously,” Hyunjin said, rolling her eyes. “I’m not dumb. You’re pretty!”

“But…” Heejin tilted her head in confusion. She hadn’t expected Hyunjin being so blase and unaffected about it.

“But?”

“I expected you to get jealous,” Heejin admitted. “You were always jealous before we got together.”

Hyunjin shrugged. “Yeah, before. We’re together now.” A soft smile came on Hyunjin’s lips as she trailed her fingers down Heejin’s arm and gently took hold of her hand. “I trust you. And if he sees how great you are and hits on you, all that means is that he has good taste.”

Heejin couldn’t help it - pressing up on her tiptoes to press a kiss onto Hyunjin’s lips. Pulling away, she laughed as she watched Hyunjin’s face turn red with embarrassment.

“You never fail to surprise me,” she told Hyunjin fondly. “Come on, we can go home now.”