Jeongyeon doesn't know half of the people in her own apartment unit, not when her housemate was the one who invited them all. But luckily, her housemate, the popular it girl from her university, Im Nayeon told her that she could ask some of her friends along too, and so she did. 
 

"Thank God you guys came." Jeongyeon sighed in relief the moment she sees a petite girl and a blonde haired girl walking into her unit. 
 

"Duh, we're not always invited to the cool kids party, of course we have to be here while we got the chance." Dahyun tuts, already grabbing on the glass of mixer the moment she entered the place. 
 

"And you need us here tonight too, didnt you?" Chaeyoung hummed, tipping her toe to wrap her arms around Jeongyeon's shoulder. 
 

Dahyun tried to hold in a chuckled upon the sight of it, "Please stop doing this, it's funny." But failed. 
 

Chaeyoung rolled her eyes as her arms slowly retracted back to the side of her own jeans, sticking it inside the pocket. 
 

"Right... I really need the morale support." Jeongyeon huffed, eyes wandering around the place that's filled by another 10 or 15 more people, Jeongyeon wasn't quite sure. 
 

There she saw Nayeon, dressed in an off-shoulder crop top paired with the red-leathered mini skirt. Her eyes forming a crescent as she giggled at whatever her friend just told her. And it was as if she knew Jeongyeon was staring at her, she turned her face and both of their eyes meet. 
 

, Nayeon's gorgeous. 
 

Then, Nayeon tapped on her friend's shoulder, and Jeongyeon saw how she had left her friend behind and starting walking towards her. 
 

"Oh my god she's heading this way." Jeongyeon whispered in panic, grabbing over Dahyun's drink and chugged it down. 
 

"Hi Dahyun, hi Chaeyoung. Nice seeing you here." Nayeon greeted with a chic smile on her face. 
 

Both of them greeted back, while Jeongyeon was just standing beside them with an awkward nervous smile plastered on her face. 
 

"Thanks for the invite. It's going to be a great one." Chaeyoung returned a smile, as Dahyun slightly judged on Jeongyeon so that she wouldn't look so weird in front of the it girl of their university. 
 

Nayeon giggles, "Anyways, Mina and Sana's at the balcony." 
 

The smiles on Chaeyoung and Dahyun's face grew wider, and Jeongyeon knew what the stupid smirk meant. It means her best friends are going to abandon her and the mission tonight for Mina and Sana. 
 

Jeongyeon grabbed on Chaeyoung and Dahyun's arm, sending them eye signals telling them not to leave. Dahyun yanked her hands away and stick her tongue out playfully, while Chaeyoung just showed her an apologetic smile that says 'Sorry bro, I'm going to go to the love of my life and don't wait for me, I won't be right back.' 
 

Nayeon sent them a wink before they left. So now it's just Jeongyeon with the girl she might have a huge crush on. 
 

"Thanks for letting me hold the party, Jeongyeon." Nayeon smiles, and Jeongyeon feels her own heart skips a beat. 
 

"N-No biggie. I know you were stressed for your final year project before this, so you totally deserve this fun night." Jeongyeon replied, noticing that Nayeon's eyes still looked tired for some reason. 
 

Nayeon laughed out, "Oh, don't remind me about those stressful days." 
 

Jeongyeon laughed too, and nobody said a thing next. 
 

"Enjoy yourself too, yeah?" Nayeon said, hands rubbing on Jeongyeon's arm, making the latter feels the electrifying sensation running through her body. 
 

And Jeongyeon reminded herself not to have too much drinks that night. 
 

/// 

The initial plan for Jeongyeon is to get drunk and tell Nayeon about how she feels, which she is apparently too afraid to say when she's sober. 
 

But it seems like the booze that she's consuming that night aren't working like they're supposed to. Damn it, it feels like even the alcohol is going against her. 
 

"G-Guys, have any of you checked the news?" Somebody's voice ring through the entire place. 
 

"What news?" Dahyun leaned towards Jeongyeon's body, already too tipsy to even check on it while Chaeyoung already took out her phone and was scrolling on the screen. 
 

The petite girl frowned, "Oh no, this is bad." 
 

Jeongyeon snatched over the phone from her friend's hand, reading the headline of the news article, announcing that their city will be having a lockdown for the next two weeks due to the outbreak of Covid-19. 
 

She heard the other people let out inaudible murmurs, and not long after, people slowly left group by group. 
 

It's just 2 hours into the party, so not everybody is as drunk as they've expected. 
 

The host never asked for the guests to stay either, thinking that the news really made a huge impact on the mood of the guests, and the best thing for everybody to do is to follow the orders and practice social distancing. 
 

"Guess it'll be just the few of us then." Nayeon fakes a tired smile that never goes unnoticed by Jeongyeon. 
 

"The lockdown is only taking place starting tomorrow morning, so I'm planning to stay till then." Sana shrugged, pouring a glass of vodka shot for herself. 
 

"How about staying at my place for the night? It's just upstairs." Dahyun smirked, fingers pointing to the ceiling because Dahyun and Chaeyoung's unit really is right above theirs. 
 

"So you and Chaeyoung can take our place." Sana shot a wink towards Mina, to which the latter quickly looked away to hide her blush. 
 

It seems like everybody was having an enjoyable time, Jeongyeon is having fun too, but it feels like her heart was heavy. So heavy like she wanted to get something out of her chest right there and then. 
 

She needed to have some time alone to think about this. To think about whether is it really necessary to confess to Nayeon on this particular night, thinking that if anything goes wrong, it will be super awkward for Nayeon and her to stay under the same roof alone for the upcoming 14 days lockdown. And the last thing she ever wanted was to make Nayeon feel uncomfortable, or to even freak her out. 
 

"Hey, you okay?" Chaeyoung's voice sounded soft but it snapped Jeongyeon out from her own thought, as she turned around from the balcony railing. 
 

"I'm not sure about doing this tonight." Jeongyeon voices out her concern. Chaeyoung has always been a good friend and it was never difficult for Jeongyeon to tell Chaeyoung her true emotions. 
 

"Don't do it if you're not ready. I saw you shoving the shots down your damn throat, but I honestly don't think it's a great idea to tell Nayeon about how you feel when you're drunk." Chaeyoung tucked her own hair to the back of her ears, "If Nayeon ever deserves anything from you, she deserves it from the sober you, because that's the best version of Yoo Jeongyeon. Not this tired, bourbon-stenched wreck." 
 

Well, for some reason, it made Jeongyeon chuckled. 
 

"So you say I should wait?" Jeongyeon asked. 
 

"You've never really spent time with Nayeon, actually. All you did was help her move the boxes into her room on her first day of moving in, and you literally fell in love with her smile." Chaeyoung said, turning around to look inside the window, just to see Dahyun who was doing her infamous eagle dance in front of 3 hot girls. Her eyes stopped on Nayeon's smile, and she gets why her friend was head over heels for this girl. 
 

Nayeon is pretty, literally breathtaking, and she dresses up well. She's seems a little distant at first but once you get to know her, she's nice. Her smile was one of those smiles that you'd never ever forget your entire life, the ones where her eyes formed into a curvy line and how her front teeth is slightly longer than the others. 
 

Then, Chaeyoung's gaze shifted from Nayeon to Mina, the girl who was smiling widely, so wide Chaeyoung feels the butterflies in her own stomach the moment she sees it. Suddenly, it all made sense to Chaeyoung too. 
 

"I mean, I'm not saying that it's impossible to fall in love with somebody's smile..." Chaeyoung cleared as she looked away from Mina, "I'm just saying that you shouldn't rush it, that's all. Just spend these 14 days together, not like you'd get to head out anyways, just talk to her, watch a movie with her, do some hobby together or something." 
 

Jeongyeon kept quiet for a minute before she parts her lips, "Do you think Dahyun's getting laid tonight?" 
 

Chaeyoung chuckled, "I bet you 100 that useless lesbian is just all talk." 
 

... 

"Good morning!" Nayeon sends Jeongyeon a smile, adding a small wave towards the taller girl. 
 

"G-Good morning." Jeongyeon stuttered, because it's rare that Nayeon is the first person that she sees during the day. 
 

"Am I really that ugly in the morning?" Nayeon pouted, seeing the way how Jeongyeon has reacted towards seeing herself sitting in the couch watching the morning show. 
 

Jeongyeon almost choked herself with the gulp of water she just had, "N-Not at all. You're prettier than you ever know." 
 

Nayeon looked up from the tv, and she stared at Jeongyeon with wide eyes. 
 

Then, it was like Jeongyeon suddenly realized the fact that she just flirted with her crush as she quickly shook her head, "I-I don't mean it that way... I just... I just want you to feel pretty." 
 

And a hint of disappointment filled Nayeon's eyes for a short while. She recovers fast, quickly replaced the expression with a playful grin on her face, "I know I'm pretty." 
 

Nayeon's smile doesn't goes off fast this time, and Jeongyeon just felt thankful for it this morning. 
 

/// 

11:17AM dubudubu: Soooo Jeongyeon did you tell Nayeon last night? 
11:18AM yoojeongsunBAE: Tell her what? 
11:18AM dubudubu: ... 
11:18AM dubudubu: Are you kidding me? 
11:19AM yoojeongsunBAE: Oh THAT 

11:19AM dubudubu: Any good news? 
11:20AM yoojeongsunBAE: Nope 

11:20AM dubudubu: NO WHAT?? 
11:20AM dubudubu: She said no or you did not tell her about your overwhelming feelings for her? 
11:20AM yoojeongsunBAE: No as in No, I did not confess to her while I was drunk 

11:21AM dubudubu: wHAT 

11:21AM dubudubu: Istg this Chaeyoung's idea? 
11:21AM dubudubu: I know you're just hiding in your room. Come out now.

11:22AM StrawberryChaeng: wtf u want from me bro 

11:22AM dubudubu: You allowed Jeongyeon to be a coward like that? 
11:23AM: yoojeongsunBAE: HEY I'M NOT 

11:24AM StrawberryChaeng: She's not ready. So there's no point in forcing her to say it. It's gonna cause more harm. 
11:25AM dubudubu: pfftt 

11:25AM dubudubu: Excuses coming from the losers. 
11:25AM dubudubu: COWARD 

11:26AM StrawberryChaeng: Talking about cowards, who was the one who went all gay panic last night when Sana invited to stay over at her place? 
11:26AM yoojeongsunBAE: She did?? 
11:26AM StrawberryChaeng: But the coward turned Sana down 

11:27AM dubudubu: Shut up chaeng

11:27AM StrawberryChaeng: And the coward left Minatozaki Sana hanging 

11:27AM StrawberryChaeng: Bad move 

11:27AM dubudubu: 50 bucks for you to stop talking about this 

11:27AM StrawberryChaeng: Make it a hundred. 
11:27AM dubudubu: Deal
 

/// 

"Wow, you must be famous." Nayeon hummed beside Jeongyeon, trying to peek into the latter's phone when she sees Jeongyeon smiling at the screen like an idiot. 
 

"Nah, it's just Dahyun and Chaeyoung." Jeongyeon replied, still chuckling at the messages in the groupchat. 
 

"They're such great friends, aren't they?" Nayeon placed the cup on the coffee table as returned to her spot beside Jeongyeon on the sofa.

"They're like 70% annoying and 30% adorable but yeah, I'd say they're the best people you could hangout with." Jeongyeon has kept her phone away, turning her head over to look at Nayeon. "How did you end up being friends with the Sana and Mina?" 
 

"Well, I've known Mina since middle school and Sana took the same acting course as me. So one day Sana followed me to the cafe where I've had a coffee date with Mina and both of them immediately clicked. They've been inseparable ever since." Nayeon replied. 
 

"Can I ask you something?" Jeongyeon asked.
 

Nayeon nodded.

"Is Sana into Dahyun?" 
 

"Head over heels." 
 

"How about Mina and Chaeyoung?" 
 

"I'd call them the silent lovers." 
 

"Then how about you? Do you have anybody in mind?" Jeongyeon tried to hide the nerves with a clear of , trying to test the waters. 
 

Nayeon's gaze fixed on the tv screen where an advertisement about the hair shampoo was playing. The air has become cold suddenly, and Jeongyeon wasn't sure if she liked it or not. 

... 

Spending time with Nayeon was a whole new experience for Jeongyeon. 
 

Nayeon is spontaneous, always having some random ideas in mind and dragging her one and only housemate to execute her crazy ideas. And Jeongyeon noticed that she is a very fun person, everything that she suggested is able to cause an adrenaline rush in normal human being (Only if Jeongyeon is half as daring as her). 
 

"Oh my god, look what I've found in my drawer!" Nayeon's voice sounded excited, and it was one of those voice that Jeongyeon knew immediately that she's probably going to propose a crazy idea again. 
 

"What is it?" Jeongyeon looked up from the magazine that she's been reading for the 3rd time during the lockdown. 
 

Nayeon held a ping pong ball in her hand, grinning widely, "I'm pretty sure I could find the paddles, just give me a minute." 
 

Jeongyeon watches as Nayeon turned away and walked back into her room, and as expected, after a short few minutes, the girl returned with two ping pong paddles in her hand, "Let's play this." 
 

"Cool, we can use the dining table." Jeongyeon put the magazine aside, standing up as she pointed at the rectangular wooden-made furniture. It's not exactly the size of a table tennis table but it could definitely help them kill some boredom. 
 

"Seriously..." Nayeon frowned, "If we're using the table then what's the fun of it?" 
 

"So, your point is?" Jeongyeon squinted, trying to understand what Nayeon actually meant. 
 

"I'll stand at the balcony of my room and you'll stand at yours, and we'll play from there." Nayeon suggested, already tossing one of the ping pong paddle to the taller girl. 
 

"W-What? No!" Jeongyeon was extremely surprised by this, but her hands caught the paddle that almost hit her face. 
 

"Why not?" Nayeon asked as she looked at Jeongyeon with curiosity written on her face. 
 

"What if the ball drops and it hits somebody? What if our neighbors saw it and decided to file a complaint? What if--" Jeongyeon blurted. The overthinking side of hers has finally revealed in front of Nayeon. 
 

"So you're going to reject me just like how you've rejected my idea of making our own hot air balloon, ordering a parachute and jumping off from the rooftop, pressing the doorbells of everybody starting from the first floor?" Nayeon asked, already looking disappointed. 
 

Jeongyeon couldn't say a thing, because Nayeon was right. Everything that seems fun in Nayeon's eyes had turned into risky acts in Jeongyeon's mind. 
 

"I--I..." Jeongyeon stammered, hands rubbing on her own nape. 
 

"Fine. I'm just going to wait for this stupid boredom to kill me." Nayeon sighed, making her way back to her own room. 
 

Jeongyeon's heart tugged on its own when she sees how Nayeon reacted. She claimed that she has a crush on Nayeon but her actions were proving otherwise. She should be supportive, and if she can't even comply to Nayeon's crazy ideas, who else would? 
 

Jeongyeon then sighed, as she marches towards Nayeon, waving the paddle right in front of her as she says, "Game on." 
 

/// 

Jeongyeon had never done anything that's as weird as playing ping pong on a balcony. There's a distance between her and Nayeon's balcony, and they need to hit the ball hard enough for it to reach to the other side. 
 

"Okay, Rule number one," Nayeon clapped her hands together and looked serious for a minute before her face broke into the smile, "There's no rules. If you win, you win."