They took their time to get to the riverside, and the sky had become a gradient from dark to light blue.  

"Have you ever seen the sunrise?" Hyejoo asked, after sitting on a bench with a good view of the river.  

"If you count the nights I spent awake studying."  

"If you actually saw the sun rising, it counts."  

"I didn't." Chaewon chuckled.  

"Then it's one more thing you'll experience for the first time with me."  

“You sound like a tourist guide."  

"I can be one for you."  

Chaewon scoffed. "Of course."  

Hyejoo smiled. "I'm serious. If you ever want to try something, tell me. I'll do it with you."  

"Like what, bungee jumping?" She joked.  

The color in Hyejoo's face drained faster than a blink of Chaewon's eyes.  

"D-Don't you even suggest that again."  

"Why, is it possible that the mighty Son Hyejoo is afraid of heigh--"  

"Shut up," Hyejoo hissed. "Have you ever thought what would happen if you fell? ing scary, man."  

"Then let's go somewhere high and I'll be with you to make you feel safe." Chaewon smiled at the reaction she got from Hyejoo, who glared at her but bit back a smile. 

"L-Look, it's starting." Hyejoo looked ahead.  

Chaewon knew the sun was rising in the sky because it reflected on Hyejoo's eyes, but somehow, she couldn't look anywhere else. Her side profile was so pretty...  

"You have a hella of a beautiful sunrise happening and you're looking at me? Damn, I must be damn beautiful." Hyejoo said, meeting her eyes.  

"You are," she blurted. "I-I mean-"  

"It's okay, you don't need to explain. You're beautiful yourself, Gowon. Even more than the sunrise." 

It didn't matter how many times Hyejoo told her that, it always made her heart thump so hard it hurt her chest.  

Chaewon couldn't break the stare. Hyejoo did look incredibly beautiful, under the dim light of the dawn, or the moon, or in the dark, it didn't matter. There was something she couldn't explain, but it kept her drawn to her. Either the way Hyejoo's eyes gleamed whenever she held her gaze, or the way her lips always showed the smallest hint of a smirk.  

Her lips. The most unique lips she had seen.  

For a second, a thought flashed on Chaewon's head. She snapped her head forward, taking in the beauty of the sun at last.  

The thought she had been fighting back for so long and that haunted even in her sleep. It scared her how she was losing the ability to suppress and reject what she didn't want to take over her.  

"Thank you, Gowon."  

"F-For what?"  

"For this, for spending the night with me, for bringing me a cake and wishing me a happy birthday. Just... thank you for being here."  

"It's not like I'm doing you a favor. I'm here because I want to."  

And then there was this side that wanted to fight for what made her happy, and Chaewon didn't know what to think or do anymore.  

"Let's watch the sunrise, or else we'll miss it." Hyejoo looked ahead.  

Yes, for now, it was what Chaewon would do as well. 

--- 

After walking all the way back, they stopped in front of Hyejoo's building. She looked at Chaewon and bit on her lip.  

"Stay here."  

Chaewon raised an eyebrow.  

"I’ll be worried if you go home on your own. You did drink a lot.”  

"But it's like five minutes walking, and I’m sober by now--”  

"But my house is right here. You don't need to go."  

“Well if you’re so worried, why don’t you go to my dorm with me?”  

“Because I already crashed in your dorm and now it’s my turn to return the favor.”  

“I can’t argue against that.”  

What a poor excuse, but it was enough for Hyejoo.  

"I'm thirsty." Chaewon walked to the fridge, and she didn't know if she should be surprised or disappointed. "Beer, beer and more beer. Not even cold water you have in this fridge, Son Hyej-"  

Chaewon's throat contracted when she turned around, and it wasn't because of how dried it was. Hyejoo's jacket was gone, and the sweater was going on the same path. Hyejoo raised her arms, making the t-shirt she had underneath the sweater raise as well. The emotions hitting Chaewon all at once were so strong she didn't know how to react.  

She gripped on the kitchen counter and gulped, letting her eyes wander through Hyejoo's chest, traveling down her long torso to her flat stomach. Her heavy breathing caught Hyejoo's attention, who turned around and met her eyes after throwing her sweater to the couch.  

"Are you okay?" Hyejoo asked, squinting as she approached, because she took of her glasses as well. Chaewon tried to take a step back, but her back hit the counter.  

"Y-Yes! It's just, I’m trying to find the water. It’s very hot and all that alcohol dehydrated me pretty bad." Her eyes twitched, trying to focus on anything else but Hyejoo. She ended up noticing a flowerpot by the window, with a couple of white roses. If the situation was different, she would have laughed and teased Hyejoo, but she had other things to worry about. 

"Well, that's why I took off my sweater. Just do as I did. Oh, and I don’t have any cold water but there are some bottles over the counter and I have ice if you like."  

Judging by her voice, Hyejoo sounded pretty casual. But when Chaewon forced herself to look at her, there was something different in her eyes and in the way she stared at her.  

There was this flame behind those dark orbs, and Chaewon felt her skin heating even more as Hyejoo took a step towards her. Her feet glued to the ground in such a way that she couldn't move towards the water bottles.  

Hyejoo glued her body with hers as she leaned forward and to her side, reaching for a bottle without breaking the stare, forcing Chaewon to lean backward, her eyes as wide as they could be. Chaewon took the bottle from her hands, unsure if she’d be able to swallow the water without making a mess.  

She was right. The second she put the bottle to her lips and tried to drink it, half the water went down , and the other half spilled on her sweater.  

Hyejoo stared down at the mess she’d made and shook her head, chuckling at her awkwardness.  

“I did say you should have taken off your sweater.”  

“Uh... Yeah. I d-don't wanna get a cold.”  

“Need help with it?” Hyejoo said almost in a whisper, but it sounded like a shout in the dead silence of the room.  

Hyejoo closed, once again, the space between their bodies, never, even for a split second, breaking the gaze.  

Hands made their way to Chaewon’s hips, sliding up and leaving a trace of electricity along their way until she held on the hem of her sweater.  

Chaewon couldn’t move, or breathe, or think. She hoped Hyejoo would read in her eyes that she had to follow through because she wouldn’t be capable of doing so herself. She thanked her in her mind when her sweater flew above her head.  

The sudden change of temperature made a chill travel from the back of her neck to her back and arms. Or maybe it was because delicate fingertips ghosted on her exposed skin, from her hands to her shoulders.  

Hyejoo’s eyes were no longer in hers, but down, looking at her with parted lips.  

Chaewon shut her eyes down and clenched her jaw when the strap of her black bra slid down on her arm, only to feel soft and warm lips on her shoulder. She had to hold a yelp because Hyejoo trailed all the way up to her ear with small kisses.  

“Chaewon,” she whispered, making Chaewon’s skin turn into a mess of goosebumps and raised hairs.  

Chaewon opened her eyes to witness Hyejoo a half step back, sliding her t-shirt painfully slow up her head.  

This time, she couldn’t hold the loud and heavy breathing she was holding in the back of the throat, because Chaewon had never seen anything so beautiful in her life.  

Chaewon shrunk when Hyejoo’s body met hers, skin against skin, towering over her. She gulped, unable to look anywhere else but Hyejoo's body pressed against hers.  

"You want this as much as I do, don't you?"  

Hyejoo's deep voice made Chaewon look up. There was not a mischievous smirk, or even a smile whatsoever. Only the same flame growing wilder on her eyes that looked at her like no one else did before.  

“W-what is this?”  

“Whatever you want it to be. I’ll only go as far as you let me,” Hyejoo said as she caressed her cheek with the back of her hand.  

"Yes. I do." Chaewon muttered, so quiet she wondered if she had said it out loud or just in her head. 

Hyejoo grabbed her hands and turned, pulling her towards an opened door.  

Her room.  

Chaewon heard the door closing behind her, making her snap back. Hyejoo approached and Chaewon took a step back as instinct until her legs hit the bed, making her sit. She let her body fall back until it met the mattress, as Hyejoo crawled on top of her and sat on her abdomen.  

She held her stare, waiting for whatever would be coming next, aware of how her chest raised with each heavy breath. Hyejoo grabbed both of Chaewon's hands and guided them to her own hips.  

"It's okay," Hyejoo whispered, seeing the surprised look on Chaewon's face. "Do whatever you wanna."  

Hyejoo's skin burned under her palms, but she did as told. She traveled up to her toned stomach, feeling the curve of her waist. Hyejoo’s body moved further down with her touch, until she laid her upper body on top of hers. The sudden proximity made Chaewon hold her breath and close her eyes, focusing on how soft Hyejoo's skin felt against her palms.  

Lips traveled from Chaewon's collarbone up to her ear, in shallow breaths and wet kisses, making her whimper and dig her nails on Hyejoo's back. Hyejoo hissed, grasping on Chaewon's hair in response and earning a low grunt from her, her toes curling with the heat wave rushing on her every vein.  

"H-Hyejoo-" Chaewon called, gasping when Hyejoo bit on her earlobe. "Look at me."  

After one more kiss behind her ear, Hyejoo complied. Chaewon felt her mind spinning around when she took a look at Hyejoo. Red cheeks, a tongue running across her lips, a breathing mess, and eyes that could conquer the world. Chaewon’s world.  

A look Chaewon recognized as desire, even if she had never seen it in someone’s eyes. Even if she could ponder about it over her clouded mind, if it was wrong or right, she didn't want to.  

There was just one thing she wanted that she couldn't hold anymore. For her thoughts, dreams, and fears to become reality.  

Chaewon had to be the one to close the gap between those dreams. To show Hyejoo that she would let her go as far as she wanted to. 

She s her hands to the back of Hyejoo’s neck and closing her eyes, she pulled her lips to her own. Their bodies became one as she finally and unapologetically let out the moan she had been stifling at the back of .  

If being seen as a sinner by everyone else was all it cost for her to have this moment, it seemed like a very small price to pay. Would Chaewon be sent to Hell for this, like she had believed all her life? That didn’t matter so much anymore.  

If being a sinner meant she was going to burn for eternity, then let that be because on Earth, she allowed herself to feel the burn of Hyejoo’s fingers against her skin.  

That would be her own kind of Heaven. 

---

A/N: I know you didn't expect this. Neither did Gowon.