two pair of warm hand grabbed wheein by her waist then engulfed her in an embrace. the poor woman yelped in surprise. she grimaced at the horrible sound but it must have sounded different to the woman behind her as she heard her laugh– something wheein has come to love and memorize over the past four years. byul sounds like she was amused as she cooed over wheein.

"hey, bub!"

"unnie!" wheein whines as byul started to mess her hair again. it's wheein's pet peeve but byul always manages to get away from her wrath. wheein wonders if her head has some sort of magnet because byul's hand would always gravitate there.

"oh, look at you! baring your sharp puppy teeth at me!" byul scolds wheein when the latter peeled herself off from her making byul immediately miss wheein's warmth.

wheein raised her brow when byul started sulking.

"are you perhaps... sulking?"

"i'm not!" but her pout says otherwise.

"seriously, unnie? you're the one messing my hair yet you're the one who's sulking?" okay, wheein is now amused when byul started to squirm under her eyes.

"you're so mean! i only wanted some warmth in this cold night but you're depriving me of that! is that how younger sisters treat their unnie?" byul said accompanying her pure argument with grandiose hand gestures.

wheein tried her best not to falter at the s-word. she chuckled dryly as she entered the code of her apartment, with byul's head resting on her shoulder, her arms snaking on wheein's waist.

unnie, you're so mean.

"now, you're using me just to keep you warm?" her empty apartment welcomed her. it was emptier since ggomo wasn't around since she has to leave him with her mom and step-dad in jeonju. her chic baby boy was a big tsundere. he, most of the time, ignores wheein when she becomes clingy but when his favorite human gets busy, he would wrap his body around her and distract her from what she was doing. because of this, wheein would end up babying ggomo and later cram all the things she was supposed to finish.

"that sounded bad," byul mumbled against wheein's hair, "you say that but what you don't know is that i'm doing this for your sake."

wheein opened her refrigerator and gathered the ingredients for their dinner. she hummed every once in a while, pretending to listen to whatever nonsense byul was spouting.

"you have too much warmth in your body wheein! and you know that having too much is bad for your body and that is why i'm saving you from your demise!" wheein wondered if byul have drank before going home. now that she remembers, she have sniffed a subtle smell of alcohol from her earlier.

"it's thermodynamics!" byul continued rambling, "you ought to transfer hea-" wheein can't take it anymore! she grabbed a slice of bread and shoved it to byul's mouth. "that ought to shut your mouth." she said and served their dinner.

byul chewed the bread fast as the food was served before her. wheein then looked up after swallowing her food when byul giggled out of nowhere. "unnie, i didn't know you've drunk a lot."

"i did drink a bit but not enough to make me drunk." she said as a matter of fact.

that's what the drunk always say.

"so," she hesitated, "you and yongsun-unnie?" she just hoped that she sounded uninterested but not too much. just enough to make it sound like she's making small talks.

"what about me and yong?"
 

"she did mentioned it in a passing that you two were going out for a drink. was it today?"

"oh, ah...yeah. i had something to do, that's why." she mumbled, playing with the food. when wheein scolded her– no playing with food! - she immediately saluted. wheein can be scary sometimes.

"you two are close," wheein said, "and it hasn't been long since yongsun-unnie started working in the daycare. we aren't even that close. it seemed like she's kinda wary of me."

"is that how she acts around you?"

yongsun started working at the daycare around 5 months ago. wheein is pretty shy to new people but she did try her best to be friendly and approachable to yongsun. they somehow got along in the first two months but then something shifted. yongsun just kinda started getting fidgety around her as if she was walking around eggshells. and around that time, she and byul started to get along. byul does visit her every now and then. byul sometimes also wait for wheein to finish so that they could walk home together. knowing byul, she introduced herself to yongsun when she first saw her. then a few days after that, they started getting chummy with each other that they even started messaging through KaTalk.

"even hyejin noticed that." hyejin is wheein's bestfriend since middle school. she owns the cafe that they all frequent that was near wheein's working place.

"well, we kinda just get along. you know... uh, we're only a year apart so it's easier for us to talk about things and whatnot." byul said after she took a bite of the chicken she had bought before coming over wheein's apartment. byul kinda talked her way to wheein to drink a bit and now the two of them are in wheein's living room with the television to a random channel. "so, hyejin... did she say something else?"

"hyejin? what about hyejin?" why is she now interested in what hyejin thinks? "and no, she didn't say anything."

"o-oh." why did she looked disappointed? something was fishy but wheein just can't put her fingers around it. but she knows that she's onto something.

"shall we play truth or dare?" oh yes. the classic truth or dare. where hot piping teas are spilled.

"all of a sudden?" byul asked after taking a shot of soju but didn't object. she gave wheein the empty bottle and then started the game when she spinned it.

the sound coming from the television come off as white noise, it wasn't loud but enough for them to converse with each other.

it pointed to byul. "truth." wheein smirked knowing that byul would choose truth. byul's too comfy on her seat and wheein knows that byul doesn't want to move around once she has settled herself comfortably.

she did not beat around the bush and asked, "are you and yongsun-unnie going out?"

"w-what the hell, wheein?" byul spluttered, fortunately she wasn't drinking or else. wheein immediately covered her face to protect herself from byul's fireworks that contain amylase.

"don't even think of lying!"

"w-we're not!"

okay, she wasn't lying. but wheein is not satisfied. byul is surely hiding something from her. she can feel it in her guts.

"hmm, okay."

"my turn." and byul spinned the bottle and pointed right back at her.

"w-what the," wheein laughed at byul's comical face.

"you at this, unnie." she teased the woman who in turn gritted her teeth. "well, truth or truth?" wheein was enjoying this and byul knows this.

"i hate you."

"do you like yongsun-unnie?"

"yes."

wheein brought this. wheein brought this to herself. she kinda saw this coming but maybe there is a part of her hoping that she was wrong.

well, i only have myself to blame, right? at least i can finally start moving on. yes. haha. i can finally start getting rid of this stupid crush on her for the past four years.

byul noticed how wheein quietened down. it was as if she was thinking about something deeply.

"uh... i mean i like her as a person. yes! that's it! i- i don't like like her like that."

stop it. stop it wheein. don't get your hopes up. no matter what happens, there is no way that she'll like you back like that. because in her eyes, you will always be jung wheein. someone she sees and treats like a younger sister.

wheein laughed dryly. not even friendzoned but she got sisterzoned.

"it's alright, unnie. no need to get embarassed. i can see that you really like yongsun, no need to hide it." she said after downing a shot of alcohol. the liquid slowly burning . "i mean, it's only me. you can share everything to me. i'm like your younger sister you can spill your secrets to. i promise i won't tell anyone!" and wheein crossed her heart.

she can feel her heart breaking and it hurts. maybe inflicting pain would make her numb? cause that is what she is doing to herself. maybe it's easier to move on? they have said that when you start facing your problem head-on, you start getting indifferent until it doesn't hurt you anymore.

"wheein-ah, i think you're drinking too much." byul tried stopping wheein from pouring herself another shot of soju but wheein was faster as she downed the liquor.

"i'm not drunk." she laughed, "besides, it's saturday tomorrow." lame excuse but who cares?

wheein grabbed the bottle and started to spin it around. sure, karma was fast and it landed on her. well, at least she got what she wanted. it doesn't matter anymore where the bottle ended up pointing to.

"yes! now it's your turn!" wheein chuckled when byul pumps her fist to the sky. stupid. why does she even look adorable? she looks like a child flexing as if she had won a prize.

"truth or dare!"

"truth." wheein, same as byul, doesn't want to move from her spot. her is already comfy and she doesn't know what byul would make her do if she chooses dare.

but it seems like wheein made the wrong choice as she felt the uneasiness building up inside her as byul started smirking her way. as if she had something.

"w-what?"

"hmm," byul teases, "nothing." nothing but her smirk is making wheein feel nothing but everything. she thinks that byul has acquired hyejin's teasing manner of speaking as if she has something on you.

"j-just ask me already."

"impatient, aren't we?" byul quipped as she places her chin on her palm. "so, about this crush of yours," oh no "tell me more about this person."

"really, unnie? your wasting your chance for this?" wheein said instead of answering the question but try as she might to divert her attention, byul was firm on her ground.

"what's wrong about my question? and it's your fault in the first place!"

"huh? me? why me?!"

"