"So, Hyejoo, tell me. Where did you find such a pretty girl?" Jungeun asked, taking a sip of her beer after.  

Chaewon felt her cheeks warming up. Were they always like that to everyone? 

She still had no idea how she’d allowed Hyejoo to drag her to the campus bar they seemed to call ‘The Wolf’. Now, she was surrounded by her, that friend of hers whose name was Jungeun but had all sorts of nicknames, like Kim Lip and Lippie, and Jinsol, a girl with impossibly long and healthy platinum blonde hair.  

It was like being around three Hyejoos. Loud, swore every two words, had the same kind of lame humor, and laughed so loud and high pitched Chaewon’s ears screamed in return. 

Well, at least they were nice and funny, and made an effort to include her in their conversation. 

"Funny story, we picked each other's luggage at the airport the day we arrived. I only noticed I got the wrong one when she appeared at my house like, ‘yeah you have my suitcase’."  

Jungeun and Jinsol burst out laughing, leaning back on her chairs and holding on their bellies.  

"How in the world did you guys manage to do that? That could be a plot of a comedy movie or something!” Jinsol said, clapping like a seal.  

"Right?! How could you not notice that you got the wrong luggage, Hye?"  

"Well, she didn't either!" Hyejoo pointed at Chaewon.  

"But she's pretty, so we can forgive her for being an airhead. You have no redeeming qualities."  

"Go eat , Kim Lip. I’m pretty too, and that’s not something you can say of yourself."  

"Son Hyejoo thinks she’s not only pretty, but prettier than me? ing hilarious," Jungeun said, taking a sip of her beer.  

Hyejoo scoffed. "Hey, Gowon, who's prettier, me or miss Lippie?"  

"Your daily quota for calling me Kim Lip is over for today, Lippie is off-limits. You call me that one more time and you're ed."  

Jinsol held her laugh, eyes locked on Chaewon, waiting for her answer.  

"M-Me?" Chaewon pointed to herself because she was not about to give that satisfaction to neither of them.  

"Can't argue with that.” Jungeun shrugged.  

"Gowon takes the point, but we still have to break the tie between us. Jinsol, who's prettier?"  

"Chaewon," she said, earning a glare from them.  

"You're ed, Hye." Jungeun laughed in her face.  

Hyejoo rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, while Jinsol approached Jungeun and whispered something in her ear. Chaewon had no idea and probably didn’t want to know what she told her, but it left Jungeun grinning and red in the cheeks.  

"Hey, Choerry!" Hyejoo called.  

A tall girl with long, purple hair her heels as she rushed towards the counter.  

"One more pitcher?" Choerry asked, walking towards their table now.  

What's a pitcher?  

"That too, but who's prettier?" Hyejoo asked, pointing between herself and Jungeun.  

"You, of course, babe." Choerry caressed her hair while managing to balance a tray of empty glasses with the other hand. "No offense Jungeun, you're pretty yourself, but Hyejoo is Hyejoo." She gave her an apologetic smile and winked at Hyejoo, getting back to work.  

"Take that, Lip!" Hyejoo shouted, punching her shoulder.  

"You went and asked Choerry? She slept with you, how is she supposed to be an unbiased opinion? You know she’s trying to get into your pants agai--"  

"Hey, watch that dirty mouth of yours, will 'ya?" Hyejoo glared at her. "That was one night, I told you already."  

W-what?  

Jungeun bit on her lip and muttered a quick apology. "Why do we keep calling her Choerry? That’s not her name, is it? What is her real name, even?" She laughed.  

"Hyerim? Something like that? Who the hell knows.” Hyejoo laughed along.  

"Choi Yerim. She likes Choerry better, she says it’s unique like herself." Jinsol explained.  

While they talked about Choerry’s real name and whatnot, Chaewon was stuck on what Hyejoo had said a minute ago. She was already taken aback when Choerry called Hyejoo babe, but... They... Had they...  

"What do you mean?" Chaewon asked, not caring that she interrupted whatever they were talking about.  

"Hm?" Hyejoo frowned.  

"D-Did you... C-Choerry?"  

The three girls frowned and shared a look between themselves.  

"You're asking me if I did Choerry?" Hyejoo asked, and even though Jungeun tried so hard to hold her laugh, she couldn't, and that earned her another punch. "T-That happened one time, you know, when two people are attracted to each other and, well things happen."  

"That's... That's so wrong." Chaewon shook her head, still not believing her ears.  

"What, having ?"  

"D-Doing it like-like that!"  

A set of expressions flashed on Hyejoo's face, as she tried to say something. Jungeun and Jinsol had sulked on their chairs, avoiding getting themselves in that conversation. 

"What's so wrong with it, Gowon?" Hyejoo ended up asking.  

Chaewon was bewildered. She stood up from her chair, her chin almost reaching the ground. "I can't believe this, Hyejoo! What's wrong with you?"  

"No, what's wrong with you! What the did I do?!"  

Instead of giving her a proper answer, because Chaewon herself had no idea what to say, she scoffed and walked away.  

Hyejoo blinked and looked at her friends. "What the hell just happened?"  

"I don't know, but boy, that escalated quickly. I mean... That really got out of hand fast." Jungeun hid behind her beer mug, chuckling at her genius use of that quote, as she exchanged a look with Jinsol, who also held her laugh. 

--- 

Chaewon wanted nothing more than to curl up in a ball, sitting on the couch with her knees on her chest and face hidden in her arms. And she was. That is until the bell rang. She huffed and groaned in frustration first, then stood up and moved to the door with heavy steps.  

"If you forget your keys again, Sooyou---" It was Hyejoo. A very pissed Hyejoo, judging by the crossed arms and irked eyebrow. She walked inside, almost bumping into the stunned Chaewon.  

"Care to explain what the got into your head?" Hyejoo asked, her calm voice the opposite of her body language.  

"What do you mean?" Chaewon closed the door.  

"Oh please, don't play dumb with me." Hyejoo rolled her eyes. "Giving me a lecture like that, and in front of my friends? Am I a kid or what?"  

"I gave my opinion. And I still think it's wrong."  

"Why do you even care if I had with Choer-"  

"Don't," Chaewon blurted. "B-Because that's not right, and that isn’t what God wanted for us." She tried to sound serious. "You should do that with someone you like and cherish, not with someone you don’t even care about enough to be with a second or third time... Or for the rest of your life."  

"I like and cherish Choerry, she's cool and we're good friends."  

"Of course." Chaewon scoffed. "You didn’t even know her name when you did it."  

"We call her Choerry since we know her because she introduced to us as Choerry. I don't know like, maybe I remembered it then? It was a week after we arrived or something. Why does it matter?"  

"Did I say it matters?" Chaewon tapped her foot on the floor.  

“It clearly matters a whole lot to you, or you wouldn’t have made such a scene.”  

“Well forgive me for being disappointed when I find out my friends have such weak morals they sleep around with their friends for one night.” Chaewon crossed her arms. “Or maybe it was more than that?”  

"It was just that time, I’m not interested in it anymore. But I do want to know why you’re asking me all these stupid questions."  

"I’m trying to wrap my head around it, okay?" Chaewon tried to eyed her as fierce as she could under her wobble knees. “I’m building a scale of wrong in my head." 

Hyejoo laughed, but it sounded so different from her usual dorky, loud cackle.  

"A scale of what? So now Park Chaewon, the supreme authority of morals, is evaluating me based on who I sleep with, so she can decide whether I'm worth keeping as a friend or not,” Hyejoo spat, walking towards the door. “Good luck with that.”  

"W-Wait, Hyejoo-" Chaewon grabbed her wrist, making her stop and look up.  

"I must be really despicable, ain't I? After all, I smoke, I'm gay, and I sleep around. But that was a bit too ing much, don't you think? Isn’t your God the only one who’s allowed to judge humans or some bull? The big old man in the sky must be real pissed at you now."  

The front door opened with a laughing Jiwoo and Sooyoung stepping inside, giving Chaewon no time to fight back Hyejoo’s insults.  

"Oh, Hyejoo!" Sooyoung said, but the mood died down the second Hyejoo pulled her arm away from Chaewon's grip.  

"Hey guys, I was just leaving. Call me if you wanna go get for a beer or something. I won't be coming here for a while." She threw a last look at Chaewon before leaving.  

“Did something happen?” 

Chaewon heard Jiwoo’s voice, but she felt like her soul wasn’t there at that moment. Her body fell to the couch as the words rang in her mind.  

She had never seen Hyejoo that angry. And it was because of her. No, it was at her.  

When she thought she’d changed and stopped judging others, she had to mess up in the worst way possible. Did Hyejoo mean it? Did Chaewon make her feel... despicable?  

“We...” Chaewon muttered, gulping, but she didn’t have the strength to say another word. It felt like blocked both her voice and her breath, and every feeling was to come out from her eyes. She shot up from the couch, mumbling an apology, and ran to her room. She closed her door and fell face down on her bed.  

She didn’t know how that happened. She didn’t know why she cared so much, but she did, and for what? To have Hyejoo mad and sad and angry at her, because once again, she was judgmental and this time intrusive as well?  

Why? Why did she ask those questions, why did she want to know so bad when it happened or if it still happened? And what if it did? Like Hyejoo said, it was not her business. It’s her life, after all, she could have--- She was free to choose her... partner. Or partners.  

But why did Chaewon feel the urge to tell her to stop doing that, even if she was in no place to do so?  

Chaewon rolled on her bed and sat so fast she heard a crack on her back.  

Maybe it bothered her because they were two girls and she wasn’t still used to it. But if she tried to think about Sooyoung and Jiwoo... it didn’t bother her at all. Maybe because she was already used to being around them.  

She grunted in frustration and let her body fall again, hiding her face on the nearest pillow.  

It still smelled like Hyejoo. Correction, stank. It stank of cigarettes and the expensive fruity perfume she wore to hide it.  

But even so, it felt so familiar, as if Hyejoo was there.  

Because Chaewon didn’t want Hyejoo to have anybody else. Because she was the one Hyejoo sweet talked to. And took on the first ride on Juju, and to try new foods, and took to the beach. And still insisted they were dates.  

Because Chaewon wanted to open her eyes and find her next to her.  

She sat again and shook her head as if she could shake the thoughts out of her mind.  

But there was no more hiding from the capital sin she knew she’d incurred in.  

Jealousy.  

Chaewon bolted from the bed to get down on her knees and pray her Lord for guidance, as she did every night. This time, she needed it more than she ever had. She had to beg God for forgiveness for the dark feelings that had tainted her soul. Beg Him to rid her heart of those feelings completely.  

---

A/N: *hides* H-Hi everyone, I hope you liked the new characters and PLEASE DON'T HATE ME c':

I wanna ask you guys a thing! Can you guess what Jinsol told Jungeun that left her grinning and red in the cheeks? I'll say if anyone actually gets it right on my next A/N kekekeke

Oh, and expect more new characters next chapter ^-^