“Come on,” urged Minjoo gently, “you can do it, Hii-chan!”

“I—” Hitomi absolutely could not do it, now if only her friends could please realize that—

“She’s here!” Nako pushed Hitomi without preamble, towards the door sliding open.

“Don’t fall!” Yuri supportively whispered, absolutely of no help.

Hitomi braced herself, stumbling and steps barely halting on time as the subject of their discussion strode into the room. The senior of the drama club, a certain Kim Chaewon.

Whose gaze immediately settled on Hitomi before she could even calm her heartbeat.

“Oh,” Chaewon said, a smile crossing her lips. Hitomi’s anxiety spiked up. “Hello. Hitoma, right?”

“Uh—” Hitomi swallowed, “It’s—Hitomi!”

“Right, right. My bad—”

“No, no, it’s okay.” Hitomi shook her head vigorously, hands waving in front of her chest. “I’m, uh, terribly sorry for bothering you like this, Sunbaenim, but—”

“Bothering? You aren’t.” Chaewon’s smile deepened, now tinted with amusement. “I just walked in and we exchanged greeting. Of course you’re not a bother.”

“CanIborrowalipstick?” Hitomi blurted out, wanting to get this over with as well as failing to properly brain at this moment. She knew being in a close proximity with Chaewon had a negative effect to her braincells, she just didn’t know it’s this bad.

Chaewon blinked. Hitomi wanted to die. Then Chaewon blinked again,

“Lipstick?”

Remind me to never take any flirting advices from Nako again. She nodded weakly, angling slightly to gesture at her friends—who were still huddling in the corner not far away from them, very clearly spying, the traitors—

“Oh,” Chaewon said, bringing a fist into an open palm as though saying eureka. She peered at Hitomi with an observing gaze, “Are you doing a dare?”

A what now? “Um,” Hitomi haltingly said, “no, my friends just think I could use some and—” oh oh no she should have said yes why didn’t she say yes— “and, well. The colour of your lipstick looks good on you, so.”

“Ah.” Chaewon snorted, “Really, did they say that?”

Well, not really, but. “Yes.”

“I think you already look good.”

Hitomi blanked out. “Pardon?”

“I’m not against lending you my lipstick though,” Chaewon continued lightly, breezing past Hitomi’s confusion. “But we might need to check if it looks good on you first,” she said, taking a step forward.

Head dipping down slightly, catching Hitomi’s lips in a kiss.

(“Mmm,” Chaewon hummed after, a smug smile curving as she pulled away. She tilted her head as she gazed at Hitomi’s lips, eyebrows furrowing like she’s thinking. “Alright! You know what, I think my lipstick looks better on you, Hitoma.” A light peck on Hitomi’s lips for the last time, as though the previous kiss wasn’t giving her enough meltdown—

“I’ll lend it to you after our drama practice. Find me,” Chaewon winked cheekily, tapping Hitomi’s nose before turning around to leave. Hitomi stood still on her spot, lips still parted slightly, jaw hanging low and a blush stealing across her cheeks. She’s still trying to go through it.

Remind her to never take any flirting advices from Nako ever again; she’s sure she almost died.)