May 16, 2015

7:12 PM

Parties weren’t really her thing, she didn’t hate them, she just doesn’t have the same energy as everyone else in the room seemed to have. Granted, this wasn’t a straight up party, but a school event that her neighbor invited her to. She had known the boy for quite some time and knew that he had a little crush on her. She thought it was cute because the two of them haven’t really spoken much, which only meant the boy admired her looks. He was the only person that she could bring herself to tolerate ever since the divorce, so when the he invited her to come with him to a college party, she immediately agreed. The boy stuck to her like glue in the first hour, she thought it was sweet that he made sure she wasn’t uncomfortable, but she saw the look of envy in his eyes when he looked over to a group of zany students. She recognized a couple of them, they had stopped by his house a number of times, they were his friends. She told him that he can hang out with them if he wanted to, he initially refused the offer but she reassured him and he eventually went over to them. She had a smile on her face as she stared at him, she was glad to see him having fun.

“You are definitely not a college student,” a girl who approached her by the bleachers said. She wore a condescending smirk that Chaeyoung hated.

“ off. I’m 16, I can pass for college.” She was nearing the end of her sophomore at the moment. She was supposed to be a senior by now but the divorce really took a toll on everything financial. They weren’t poor by any means but she knew that her father made a lot more money than her mother. At first, she thought it that her mother gained custody and she had to hold of school for a little while, but she gradually accepted the situation.

“Hostile, dismissive, alone and refusing to make eye contact. I’m sensing a lot of issues here, Chaeyoung.” She initially wanted to ask the girl before her how on earth she knew her name but saw the nametag taped to her chest and remembered that she was wearing one as well.

“You a shrink?” Chaeyoung asked with an audible scoff.

“Not yet, I’m afraid. I still gotta finish this school year... and possibly a decade's worth more of school years. ” The tone of the girl before her was rather serious and she hadn’t heard a hint of sarcasm in her reply, she was being serious. Things got quiet for a couple of seconds which prompted Chaeyoung to examine her. As much as she hated to admit it, she thought the girl looked stunning and she embodied the phrase “beauty in simplicity.” She sensed Chaeyoung looking at her, so she looked right back. She saw the girl’s expression soften a bit and she gave her a little smile. “Lee Ji-eun,” she said as she held out her hand and formally introduced herself to the younger. Chaeyoung took her hand and introduced herself as well.

8:40 PM

The pair kept each other company for the rest of the night, talking about themselves and engaging in playful banter. They talked about a myriad of topics from college to music and then Hitler for some ungodly reason. The college girl eventually invited the younger out to smoke. Chaeyoung told her that she doesn’t smoke but went outside the venue with her anyway which made Ji-eun smile. Neither of them said it aloud but they genuinely enjoyed each other’s company. The pair stood outside, by the gymnasium’s entrance. They shared a brief moment of silence and let themselves get lost in the atmosphere. The view of night sky, the wind against their skin, the sounds of cars passing by at a distance, it was indeed a beautiful night, at least for the two of them. Chaeyoung let out a sigh of relief as she finally managed to get some quiet with the only prominent sound being Ji-eun and her lighter. The older girl ignited her single cigarette and inhaled deeply, letting the smoke fill her lungs. This was one of the things she hated about herself, the fact that can’t stop this pathetic vice of hers. She hated the fact that she even started, but silently quietly reassured herself that she’ll manage to stop someday. She looked towards the younger girl and saw her looking up at the sky. She thought she looked cute, like a child in a planetarium. “So that guy who invited you here,” Ji-eun started, “close friend? Boyfriend?”

“What? No. He’s my neighbor,” the younger answered.

“Oh. That explains why you just let him leave you for his friends.”

“Can you blame me? It felt like I was holding him hostage.”

“From having fun?”

“Yeah.” The two laughed at the answer. “I admit I’m not exactly the best at these kinds of things, plus this night is more his than mine.” Chaeyoung explained.

“Fair enough.” Ji-eun answered after taking a puff. Chaeyoung was a bit concerned at how observant her new acquaintance was. It made her want to question just how long she had been observing her, but that wasn’t the question she ended up asking.

“So, why me?” Ji-eun thought about asking what she meant by it, but the question was obvious enough that she didn’t.

“Well, the moment I saw you walk through that door, two conclusions came to mind. You’re either an who wore all black to a pastel themed party,” Chaeyoung chuckled a bit at the older’s conclusion of her. “Or you didn’t get the memo and you’ve spent the night hiding your embarrassment.” The boy did forget to mention the theme of the party. Chaeyoung assumed that the boy feared that she might end up not going at all had he told her to change her outfit. “Needless to say, I thought you were interesting.”

“Is this the shrink talking? You gonna ask me about my issues now?” she playfully asked.

“Everyone has issues, my dear. Some people are just incredibly adamant about not addressing them.” Chaeyoung was again taken aback by the serious answer she received.

“What are yours then?” she contested. Ji-eun took a long puff, finishing her stick and flicking it away.

“I think I’m in love with my depression,” she answered as she exhaled. The younger didn’t really know what to ask next for it was the first time she had ever heard of such a thing. She felt the gears in her head give up as she failed to guess what Ji-eun meant. The older girl giggled when she saw the bewildered look on Chaeyoung’s face before she explained herself. “Let’s just say I’m constantly given every opportunity to be happy, to be successful, to feel fulfilled but I don’t take it. I don't want to take it.”

“Why not?” the younger asked, still unable to comprehend.

“I lost someone I cared about a long time ago, a boy. Now being happy just feels… wrong. Like I have to punish myself for feeling it.”

“Because he isn’t here anymore?” The older merely nodded. Chaeyoung didn’t know the feeling, she didn’t even fully understand it, but she’s a logical person and she did see some logic in her statement. Being happy made Ji-eun feel guilty. Guilty that she would be living out her dreams and the person she cared about never even got the chance to live out the rest of his life. The younger girl felt sorry for her. There was logic, yes, but it was all irrational. “You do realize that you just made your own personal hell, right?”

“Yeah, but it’s a hell that I’m aware of… and one I’m willing to live through.” Chaeyoung took note of how oddly calm Ji-eun was when she said it. It made her wonder just how long she had been going through this hell of hers. Another brief silence fell upon them. Unlike the first one, there was discomfort in the air as both of them didn’t know whether to continue their topic or move on to another. The older girl decided to change it up and asked the younger a question. “Hey, can I be honest with you?”

“You’ve been pretty damn honest with me so far,” Chaeyoung remarked. “But go ahead.”

“It's still a ways down the road but I’m actually really nervous about finally becoming what I’m learning to be and there’s this niggling thought in my head telling me I’m not ready yet. So, um…” she paused, rethinking her question.

“Yes?”

“Will you be my guinea pig?” The question caught Chaeyoung by surprise. To her, it was one of those questions that she thought she would never hear in her lifetime and just hearing it felt absurd. She looked the older girl by the eye and searched for any hint of insincerity or mischief, however she found none, it scared her a bit.

“Um, what?” she asked.

"I mean will you be my first patient or something like that."

"Again. What? Why me?" 

“It's not like official or anything. You'll be like a test patient of sorts like—"

" A guinea pig," she said, cutting her off.

"Yeah and to answer your other question, because I want it to be you,” the older girl said bluntly. “We’re still basically strangers. Therapy’s much more effective when you aren’t attached to the patient.”

“I don’t have issues.”

“Like I said earlier, my dear Chaeyoung, everyone has issues. I’ve spent about an hour with you and I can already tell that you’re a child of divorce.” Chaeyoung stared at her, wide-eyed. “Said divorce also occurred simultaneously with your puberty.” Her jaw dropped slightly, utterly baffled by the accuracy of Ji-eun’s statement. She grew a bit more scared of her new acquaintance and also felt a tad insecure about having been secretly evaluated by her all night. She wondered what Ji-eun had to be nervous about, she was clearly quite skilled seeing as she immediately noticed the same pattern of behavior done by children of divorce in her. “Well, what do you say?” the older girl asked. She had a small smile on her face, clearly proud of herself for the reaction she got out of the younger. They stared at each other for a moment, with Ji-eun eagerly awaiting her answer and Chaeyoung wondering what she should say.

“Okay,” she whispered as she broke their eye contact and sighed.

“Really?!” Ji-eun exclaimed.

“You seem like the type who’ll pester me regardless, so yeah. it.” The older girl squealed and captured the shorter girl in a tight embrace.

“I promise I won’t let you down.”

September 22, 2018

5:16 PM

“Ugh, is any of this necessary?” the shorter girl whined. The roommates were still preparing for their friend’s birthday party. They could have left much earlier but as they were about to head out of their dorm, Mina noticed that Chaeyoung didn’t have any makeup on and halted her before she dragged her by the hand and made her sit on her bed. The older took her time browsing through her stuff, thinking about what would suit her roommate best. The younger, on the other hand, was annoyed because she didn’t really like dolling herself up for a party, or any event. She knew, however, that the older girl wouldn’t let this slide and that’s why she decided to stay put and let her do her thing.

“Yes, it is. You’re already 20, Chaeyoung, you should be used to this by now.”

“Why should I be?”

“The hell do you mean, “Why?” When you finally make it big, your days are gonna be filled with moments like these.”

“You mean sitting on my while having some apply makeup on me- OW!” Chaeyoung screamed as she felt a sharp pain on her shin. She looked at her roommate and saw the unamused look on her face. She mumbled an apology and decided to remain quiet. Mina wasn’t actually angry with the younger, she just needed some silence so she could focus her task. Her task being “make Son Chaeyoung look drop dead gorgeous.” She had one last thing to apply to her roommate’s pretty face. Without warning, she pushed the younger girl down and got on top of her. “Unnie!” she exclaimed, having absolutely no idea why what was happening. Her roommate’s face got impossibly close to hers. She felt her heart beat violently against her chest, her unnie’s face was moving even closer. She felt feel her warm breath on hers, she saw just how beautiful her eyes looked up-close and, as if on instinct, she puckered her lips ever so slightly, waiting for the older girl to make her move.

And she did…

For Chaeyoung suddenly felt something lightly brush the edge of her eyelid, tracing it with skill and finesse. She felt her cheeks heat up once she realized what was happening. She felt embarrassed… and a little angry. “Surely she could have done this in our previous position,” Chaeyoung thought.

Mina was having the time of her life, teasing the younger girl. Her intentions weren’t purely to tease, she wanted to see what kind of effect she had on the her. Needless to say, she was quite delighted by the sight before her. Chaeyoung blushing, heat radiating off of her face, the sight of her gulping whenever their faces grew slightly closer to one another, Mina didn’t want this to end.

“There we go. All done.” Mina said with a smirk on her face.

“Really?” the younger asked.

“Yeah.”

“Y-You didn’t apply any blush-on.” Chaeyoung remarked.

“Oh, you seem to have that covered. Why is that, I wonder?” Mina said as she moved to cup the younger girl’s cheek, caressing it with her thumb. She made her gulp again which, in turn, made the older smirk. “Do I make you blush, Chaeyoungie?” The younger girl’s cheeks blushed a deeper shade. It was all too much for her, the proximity of their faces, the gentle touch of her thumb against her cheek. Chaeyoung felt like she was losing her mind. Mina noticed that, despite looking into each other in the eyes, the younger girl was lost in her thoughts, so she tilted her head slightly and leaned in. That managed to get the attention of the younger girl whose breath hitched when she snapped back to reality. She saw the older girl lean in and she closed her eyes in response. She realized how stupid she must’ve seemed, falling for her unnie’s teasing again, but then she felt a hot breath on her ear followed by a whisper of a request.

“Eyes on me, Chaeyoung. Only look at me… and I’ll only look at you.”

5:59 PM

Nayeon’s place wasn’t that far from the pair’s dorm and the birthday girl knew that, which is why she’s annoyed that the pair had the gall to show up half an hour late. When she answered the door, she was more than ready to give the two a piece of her mind and she nearly did, until she saw her “baby’s” face. “My God, Chaeyoung, you look… really hot!” the birthday girl said with a baffled look on her face. The comment made the younger girl smile bashfully.

“Thank you, Unnie-AH!” She screamed as she felt Nayeon’s massive hand collide with her arm.

“That wasn’t a compliment! Who told you that you can use makeup?! Are you trying to get some tonight, huh?!” Nayeon paused and held the younger’s face with both hands. She pretended to weep dramatically before surging forward to give her a hug. “Oh, my baby’s all grown up.”

 “Jesus Christ,” Chaeyoung mumbled as she rubbed her temple. Mina stood beside Chaeyoung and unintentionally held on to their gifts tighter. She knew that it was stupid, and that, if anything, she should be amused by it. Sadly, she couldn’t help but get jealous. Chaeyoung noticed the downcast Mina, the grip that she had on their presents, and chuckled lightly. She found the duality of her friend to be absurd, how she can go from being effortlessly bold to silently envious in a matter of minutes. She decided to make a bold move herself and reached out to grab hold of Mina’s unattended hand. The older girl was caught off guard and she went to look up at the younger girl. She gave her a smile and let go of her hand. It was an unusual smile, it was both soft and a bit mischievous, she immediately deciphered the message that Chaeyoung wanted to convey.

See? My eyes are still on you.

“Okay, I get it. You gonna let us in or what?” the younger girl asked.

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Nayeon asked back.

“Happy birthday, Nayeon unnie!” Chaeyoung greeted with all the fake enthusiasm she could muster.

“Good. Now my birthday kiss.” The pair rolled their eyes before they leaned in and gave the birthday girl a kiss on both cheeks. Nayeon giggled and grabbed the roommates by their arms and gave them the tour of her house.

 7:30 PM

The party was a loud and crowded one, much to Chaeyoung’s dismay. She had no idea Nayeon knew this many people. She was able to manage though, the alcohol certainly helped… and there’s also the fact that she hung around with Mina and their little group all night. She tried keeping to herself earlier in the night, silently drinking in a corner, but for some reason she kept getting hit on by both girls and boys. “Damn this makeup,” she thought to herself. She was quite literally backed into a corner before Mina stepped in and dragged her away. She suddenly thought about how tightly the older girl held on to her waist on the way to their friends. As introverted as she might be, she preferred being with the group all night rather than go through all of that again. She liked the group anyway, they were mostly just drinking and singing as opposed to the ones flirting or playing stupid games. She liked that the birthday girl herself was part of the group, she liked everyone… yes, even Jeongyeon. There was no denying that she liked her the least but they had moments where she genuinely enjoyed being around the short-haired girl. Still, if given a choice between her and anyone else in the group, she’d definitely go with literally anyone else. Sure, Momo’s a bit weird, Sana’s a huge flirt and Nayeon’s incorrigible but they were still far better company. Chaeyoung to a swig of her punch only to realize that her cup was already empty. “Hey I’m gonna go grab some more punch. You guys want any?” she announced to the group. Everyone in the group answered “yes” then Sana told her that she’ll be coming with and the pair headed towards the kitchen.

Mina watched as older Japanese friend clung to her roommate on their way to the kitchen. She was honestly quite frustrated at herself. “This is a party. I’m supposed to be having fun,” she thought. “Ugh, why can’t I get her out of my head?” She heard the birthday girl squeal and saw the excited look she had on her face as she stood up.

“My cousin just texted me, she’s here! Hold on, I’m gonna go get her.” Nayeon said as she made her way to the front door. Just as she left, Chaeyoung and Sana came back with their drinks and they proceeded to hand them out accordingly.

“Sorry it took a while, Chaeyoung decided to play bartender all of a sudden,” Sana said.

“I made one drink that took 2 minutes to make,” Chaeyoung retorted. “Here you go, unnie.” Mina was surprised to find out that the drink was for her. She thought the younger girl had made it for herself for it smelled liked strawberries and vodka.

“What is it?”

“Just a strawberry cocktail. It doesn’t have actual strawberries in it but I found some juice in Nayeon unnie’s fridge.” She was a bit worried since it’s the first time her roommate had ever made her a drink, but she was also quite curious seeing as she was the only one that Chaeyoung made a drink for.

“Thank you, Chaeng.” The younger girl watched her intently, hoping to God that she didn’t up the drink. “Hmm. Not bad,” the older girl stated. “A little too sweet for a cocktail but not bad. Doesn’t even taste like there’s any alcohol in it.”

“Oh, don’t worry, Mina. When that thing hits, it hits hard.”

“Are you trying to get me drunk, Chaeyoungie?” Mina asked with a single eyebrow raised.

“Maybe.” Chaeyoung said with a smirk on her face. The older girl’s eyes widened a bit at the answer, the sight made the younger do mental fist pumps through the air as she had been wanting to get back at Mina for teasing her earlier. Mina averted her eyes from the younger girl which made her giggle. Suddenly, the sound of the overly cheerful birthday girl’s giggles caught her ear and she looked up to see her hand in hand with the cousin that she mentioned earlier. The woman looked very professional with her midnight blue collared shirt, her black pencil skirt and her black high heels. She thought the woman looked quite beautiful.

“Okay, unnie. These are my best friends. Girls, this is my cousin. She’s been in studying in Australia for a couple of years and she just got back last week. Okay, now I’ll leave you the honor of introducing yourself.” The woman took her glasses off and bowed in front of the group before formally introducing herself.

“Good evening, everyone. I’m Nayeon’s cousin, Lee Ji-eun. It’s nice to meet you-” The woman paused as she recognized her, her very first patient. “Chaeyoung?” The group looked towards the direction of the youngest girl. They all saw the dumbfounded look on her face. Mina saw something else, however, she couldn’t quite make out what it was exactly. It almost looked like… hurt.

“Ji-eun, unnie…”

~

I was supposed to post this last week but my file got corrupted for some goddamn reason and I ended up rewriting the whole thing. All things considered, this is better than what I originally wrote, it's a lot longer too. I originally wanted Union to be two parts but there are still some things I wanna tackle here, so I'm just gonna make it three parts. As always, enjoy.

Or not, whatever. Go yourself ^_^