Joohyun slumped on her bed the moment she got into her room, feeling tired from what she had witnessed downstairs – her parents are at each other’s throats again – she wishes someone just could take her out of this suffocating place. She heaved a deep sigh, as if. Joohyun lifted her right foot and kicked off her shoes, freeing herself. For her it was the closest thing to liberation, having strict parents who would always keep her whereabouts in check, when she was finished taking her sneakers off she adjusted her position so she could fully lie on her bed at the same time she heard a soft thud coming from her room’s small balcony.

Joohyun halted all of her movements and waited, trying to hear any other sound, maybe it was just some stray cat or something. She craned her head and stared at her glass door; she saw nothing. What she saw next got her soul jumping out of her body, even though it was a familiar face but for that someone to come jumping in sight threw her off-guard.

She glared at the newcomer for a second as she regained her composure. She heard the person say, “Open up, Joohyun.”

Joohyun smiled widely the moment she realized who it was, she stood up and dragged her feet towards the glass door, opening it, “What are you doing here, Seungwan? You know my parents are gonna flip if they see you here.” She managed to let out, almost like a whisper, though what she’s saying completely contradicts what she’s feeling right now, she’s happy that Seungwan came and at the right time at that.

The blonde just rolled her eyes, not giving a care about what just the brunette said, “By the noise they’re making right now, they wouldn’t notice.”

Joohyun just shook her head and stared at the other’s eyes. She felt herself drown in brown pools owned by the girl in front of her, Seungwan, the girl who completely stole her heart when she approached her during sophomore year. The same girl who makes the butterflies in her go wild, the one who makes her stomach tied in knots and her heart thumping hard against her chest. But Seungwan doesn’t need to know that, so she kept her secret for more than a year now.

“Earth to Joohyun?” Her friend’s soft voice pulled her out from her trance, “So, want to get out of here and escape the noise from downstairs?”

“What?”

“You heard me.”

“My parents are going to kill me, Seungwan and it’s like what, six?”

“We’ll be home before they know it,” Seungwan raised her right hand and placed it over her chest, just right on top of her beating muscle. “I, Son Seungwan, swear to you Goddess Bae Joohyun, to return you safely without your parents knowing that you were gone.”

Joohyun shook her head and hung it low, trying to hide her now reddening face, she doesn’t know where to react. Is it to Seungwan calling her ‘Goddess’ or to the ridiculous offer of going out after her curfew.

She wanted to go out but she’s afraid of her angering her parents. She was about to reject when she felt the girl’s hands wrapping around hers, and it felt warm, “I promise.”

With the way Seungwan was holding her hand: firm and warm, added to that is the blonde’s intense burning gaze on hers, Joohyun threw her fears away, “Okay.”

Seungwan grinned at her response, then made her way towards Joohyun’s room, looking for the latter’s shoes when she noticed the brunette is barefoot, “Wait you need your shoes.”

The sight made the brunette smile, Seungwan, as always is so attentive to her and for whatever reason, Joohyun doesn’t know. After she wore her sneakers, not one second that passed, she felt Seungwan’s hand on hers again and the next thing she knew they were sneakily climbing down from her balcony to the sturdy columns at the side of her house.

It felt fun, liberating even. Being with Seungwan makes her feel free.

As the blonde drove their way out of their small town, Joohyun rolled the windows down and felt the rushing wind against her face, she closed her eyes and smiled as the air’s brushing through her soft features. She hasn’t felt this kind of thrill before, not until Seungwan came into the picture. Seungwan isn’t the type to break the rules of authority, she just - she knows how to have fun.

Joohyun then heaved a deep sigh and closed the car’s window, leaving it half-open enough for the night breeze to get in to the vehicle. She turned her head to look at the driver, “I just realized something.”

A hum.

“Where are we going?”

“I’m actually trying to kidnap you and sell you off,” She heard the blonde say.

If it wasn’t for the blonde’s struggle not to laugh, she would believe her, well, she’d believe whatever Seungwan says anyway, she trusts her that much, “You wouldn’t get a high gain then.”

The blonde was now laughing at her response, she hastily turned to look at her to give her a soft smile and then back to the road, “You’re worth more than a million, Joohyun. You’re far more important than money.”

Joohyun furrowed her brows in confusion, she’s been getting this kind of statements from Seungwan and it’s not helping that she has a small, okay a huge crush on her friend and she doesn’t know where all of these are coming from so suddenly. So, she played it cool even though her insides are in ablaze right now, “Don’t change the topic, Son or I will really think that you’re off to selling me.”

She smiled when she heard the other burst into laughter, “The beach, you know, just to blow off steam.”

Joohyun nodded and ran her eyes towards the blonde who brushed her hair with her hands to fix the mess and Joohyun never thought that she wanted to kiss her right then and there. She quickly deflected her thoughts to somewhere else before she could think of something wrong.

“The beach is perfect.” She said as she placed her elbow against the car’s window and her hand on her face, cooling it off from the heat she’s feeling from it right now, as she let herself drown in her own thoughts of Seungwan.

They were driving for almost an hour now and as they were brushing past through places, Joohyun noticed that they were moving a bit slower than earlier, she wondered why is it so. She turned to her side to a