"I can't believe that you have Minjoo unnie as our back-up," Yujin was amazed at Yena's idea of letting the brunette bring the food to their sick friend.

"Actually, it's not really planned, Yujin," the magenta-haired scratched her nape and chuckled sheepishly.

"Are you serious? So, you mean it's just an on-the-spot choice?" She looked at her shorter friend and gasped quietly, seemingly more amused by her suggestion.

"Exactly! At least we gave justice to Chaewon's order, right?" Yena wanted someone to be convinced with her actions, she's a bit guilty of their sudden jaunt to play games with Sakura and Hyewon.

Yujin nodded continually, much satisfied with how will they spend their free time with their gaming buddies.

 

 

"Kkura-chan! Over there. Wow, nice shot!" Yena gave the latter a high five before finishing the game, earning a victory from it.

"Let's play one more game, then I'll treat you all with boba tea," they started to pick their heroes on the screen in front of them and prepared to shove the keyboard with their gaming skills.

"Kwangbae and her rich is finally rising again. You haven't treated me in a while, huh," Sakura shook her head, quite sulking when she realized the pretty girl's unfair treatment towards her.

"If I'll always buy you whatever you want, I won't be able to do it today with our new gaming buddies," Hyewon chuckled while playing with the computer mouse.

"When did you even buy me anything I want? I can't clearly remember," Sakura rolled her eyes as everyone in their circle proceeded with the game.

"Hyewon-unnie is so awesome at this game, I finally recovered from my losing streak these past few days," Yujin grinned wide to enjoy their victory once again.

"You two can just call me Kwangbae, I don't prefer my name with honorifics after it," Hyewon stated. She stretched her arms after exiting the game.

"Does no one call you by your real name?" Yena asked the lass as they went to the counter to buy boba tea.

"N-Not that literally no one calls me Hyewon, I'm just not used to it," the older blushed and looked away. 

Yena and Yujin glanced at each other with a confused look, while Sakura's face was just blank. They thought it might be a private matter for her.

"I wonder how's Chaewon unnie doing with Minjoo unnie, should we call her?" Yujin took a sip at her Taro boba tea and glimpsed at Yena.

"I think we shouldn't, I feel a bit bad about leaving her with Minjoo," the latter bit her lip as she conceded herself. She looked down on the floor.

Yujin chuckled and patted the shorter's head. "Yena-unnie, I know that she would understand. Besides, she's in Minjoo unnie's good hands."

"Minjoo? You're also friends with her?" Hyewon got back to her seat after asking some additions to her boba tea's pearls.

"Kind of, we're not that close to her yet," Yena shrugged.

"That girl, she's interesting even if she's quiet, don't you think?" Hyewon looked at the duo and smiled.

"Yeah. I mean, Minjoo unnie is popular for her prominent face and body proportion," Yujin scratched her nape, quite hesitant if her statement is relevant and impressive to the other girl.

"You're right, she has it all. The looks and brain, the thing is, she isn't that approachable," Hyewon stated. "Glad that I'm friends with her, it isn't that awkward to talk to her. She feels comfortable with how our conversation runs."

"Plus the fact that she's in the department of medicine, you know how strict they are when it comes to admission exam scores to be able to enter that course, right?" Sakura, who just went back from wandering around the PC bang, added Hyewon's impression of Minjoo.

"Speaking of departments, which are y'all from?" Yena asked the two senior students.

"We're both under the department of computer engineering, how about the two of you?" Sakura answered.

"We're studying Political Science with our other friend, too," Yujin smiled as she introduced their department.

"That's a nice course, are you doing well so far? It's our first time getting acquainted with Political Science students," Hyewon crossed her arms, amused with the juniors' courses.

"Uh, it's not that easy, to be honest. We're trying our best to continue pursuing that course," Yena chuckled sheepishly.

"I'm glad you are. You should be studying at this moment, right? But I guess we'll let you pass this time, I know you also need some fun for a while," Sakura winked at them.

 

 

After playing and talking to each other, the four of them left the PC bang. The sun was already down when they went to eat, so they served it as their dinner. 

"Yujinnie, let's buy Chaewon food, she might've not eaten yet," Yena grabbed the taller girl by her hand and proceeded to the counter to order.

When they got there, a familiar woman reached to them.

"Yena, Yujin," the girl approached and smiled at the duo. 

"Oh, Minjoo. You're also here?" Yena was a bit surprised to see the latter. It was a while ago when she asked her to take care of her sick cousin.

"I was about to go back to Chaewon's dorm when I saw you. So, I assume that you'll go there after ordering. You should take this, I bought it for her," Yena held the paper bag Minjoo was asking to give. 

"This is nice, thank you!" She smiled back at the brunette.

 

 

Yena knocked at the door, when no one answered, she unlocked it. The magenta-haired guessed it right when she saw her cousin still sleeping.

She placed the paper bag and the food at Chaewon's table and wandered around for a bit as she patiently waits for her cousin to wake up.

"Yena unnie, let's play a game while waiting?" Yujin gave her suggestion, in which Yena instantly nodded to.

 

 

Right when the game was about to finish, as they were near to victory. The duo looked at the already-awake girl. Chaewon stretched her arms and groaned.

"You're awake! We bought you dinner." 

"Still not going to forgive you from leaving me clueless a while ago," Chaewon said in monotone without looking at her cousin.

"At least Minjoo took care of you, tell me if I'm wrong," Yena grinned.

"By the way, Minjoo also bought you something. It's the paper bag over there," She pointed at the piece, Chaewon stood up to check it.

Yena went back to their game to finish it. "Yes! Another win!" She had a high-five with the younger, they both smirked.

"Look! Chaewon unnie is now smiling," Yujin squealed at the sight of some rare reaction of the short-haired girl.

"Shut up, you two. I'm going to ignore you for the rest of my life," Chaewon gave a sulking hint on her voice.

"But how about us passing together in our course? We need to help each other out," Yena pouted.

Chaewon didn't answer. She picked up a book instead and read it.

 

 

The next morning came and Chaewon went to the campus earlier than she usually does. She is purposely avoiding her friends.

"Chaewon, I thought you're still sick so we went to your dorm to check on you. Turns out that you're already here," Yena pouted in front of Chaewon. The latter just sighed as she faked out scrolling through her e-mail.

Their professor came in after a few minutes so Yena went to her seat then and Chaewon finally have to take her phone away for she wasn't worried about purposely neglecting anymore.

It went like that until lunch came so the short-haired girl has to find a way to continue not paying attention to her friends in case they see each other at the same fast-food chain.

And then she saw Minjoo alone on a table. That's when she got an idea to proceed to her plan.

"Kim Minjoo," Chaewon smiled at the brunette.  "May I sit here?" She pointed at the latter's chair across.

"Sure, it's vacant anyway," and so she finally got to sit without her friends approaching her.

Chaewon wanted to make sure that she wouldn't be bothered by her friends so she started to open up topics for both of them.

 "So, how's medicine life?" While waiting for their food, Chaewon leaned her arms on the table.

"It's just the beginning so nothing much is happening yet," Minjoo just shrugged.

They both looked at the person who served their food and thanked her.

While eating, Chaewon saw Yena and Yujin looking at her direction. The tall girl waved at her. Chaewon faced Minjoo and tried to tell a joke to drift off the gaze from her friend.

The short-haired girl had realized that she's way too comfortable with her current company now. They were laughing at each other's jokes and funny stories for a while. 

"What do you think her reaction was? Of course, she should feel cringe with the video of herself dancing drunk under the rain."

They already finished eating and Chaewon was still waiting for her friends to leave the fast-food chain.

"Can I get your number?" When Yena and Yujin left the fast-food chain, Chaewon stood up impatiently. 

"I'm sorry Minjoo, I have to go now," she apologized to the brunette and went off the food chain after.

Minjoo sighed and leaned back to her chair. Losing the opportunity to continue having a smooth conversation with the girl.

 

 

Friday went well for Chaewon. All of the lectures they've learned for the week were applied to their quizzes. She's relieved, finally having a good rest for the weekend.

She felt relaxed with the green field in front of her. With the fresh air waking up her senses in a good way. Minjoo, who's just beside her sitting on a bench stared at the short-haired girl.

"I guess you did well this day, huh," Minjoo made a reason based on Chaewon's recent mood.

"Absolutely! I have nothing to worry for a while now," Chaewon wrapped her arms around herself and smiled.

"What are your plans for the weekend?" 

"Hmm, maybe watch something. I just remembered! The sequel of my favorite movie was newly released, I should go see the film tomorrow," with sparkling eyes (not literally), Chaewon gazed at Minjoo.

The brunette nodded and smiled at her. "That's good."

"Do you want to go with me?" The short-haired leaned closer to Minjoo, a way of convincing the latter to join her.

On the other hand, Minjoo was a bit surprised by Chaewon's approach since yesterday. She started to wonder why. Nevertheless, she's glad that they're already comfortable with casual interactions. Deep inside she feels contented with it.

"Actually, I have something important to do. I'm afraid I don't have enough time to watch it with you," Minjoo looked away and sighed.

"Oh, it's okay. I'll see it alone then." 

"Why don't you invite your friends with you?" Minjoo was also thinking about not seeing Chaewon with her friends lately.

It's her turn now to look away. "I had a tiny misunderstanding with them recently." She let out a sigh with her reason.

"You should fix it as soon as you see them, it to lose friends like them. I'm sure they're great companions, right?" Minjoo made sure the short-haired will take favorable action to it. 

"Of course, now I feel guilty for ignoring them," Minjoo chuckled when she saw Chaewon pout at her sentence.

"You better do," the brunette smiled.

 

 

The next day, as Chaewon was brushing her teeth after waking up, someone knocked at her door.

"Chaewonnie! I missed annoying you on weekends," She rolled her eyes at Yena's exaggerated expression.

"What made you get up so early?" It's an unusual routine for her cousin to wake up as early as 8 A.M. during weekends.

"I wanna see the movie with you, it's your favorite, right? Don't worry, I'll treat both Yujin and you. I kinda understand why you have to ignore me like that," Yena said while scratching her nape.

"How sweet of you to actually spend your bulked money on your favorite persons in the world," Chaewon copied Yena's expression from a while ago which made Yena cringe.

"Yah! Stop it. I'll wake Yujin up and prepare for our trio date," the magenta-haired smirked and Chaewon nodded at her. "Goodluck on that girl, check the time duration when she actually wakes up, you might break my record of it," Yena laughed at her.

 

 

The weekend quickly passed by and it's already Monday again, but there's one thing that Chaewon discovered from the past few days. 

Her strong expectation of ignoring her friends for a longer period of time was broken by a mere stranger's words, actually, not anymore because she doesn't feel awkward around her after some time.

She took the advice seriously. Their trio date was fun after all, she realized how great companions they really are.

Chaewon thought that she didn't really have to sulk that much. She gained nothing on it.

After their final class dismissed, Chaewon went to the restroom.

When she got out of the cubicle, Minjoo was also there fixing her hair in the mirror.

"Oh, Chaewon," the brunette greeted her.

"Hey," Chaewon greeted back and also got near to the mirror to check her appearance.

"Is it okay if I get your number?" Minjoo looked at Chaewon in the mirror.

"Sure," Chaewon grabbed the brunette's phone and entered her number on her contacts.

While typing it, she thought if Minjoo is starting to think of her as something else, something more than just a friend. Albeit barely starting to know each other, she couldn't help but think of the possibilities of the latter falling for her.

She's not assuming that much, though

But she also couldn't disregard the dare. She's still eager to claim unlimited and free mint choco ice cream as her prize.

Should I tell her my real motive? It's not a bad thing, anyway. I just hope that I wouldn't be losing her as my friend through this.

She gave Minjoo's phone back and sighed before beginning to speak.

"Look," Chaewon began to lean at the countertop and cleared . "I wish you would never think of me other than just a friend. If I ever started flirting with you, it doesn't mean that I wanted to date you. I needed to make this certain guy jealous so I could clarify his feelings for me. I still want to be friends with you so I'm telling-"

"So you want to fake flirt with me?" Minjoo raised an eyebrow.

"Exactly, and my friends also dared me to hit up on a girl to 'spice up' my plan. They bet on me that if I'm not going to end up falling, then they will treat me mint choco ice cream whenever I want to," Chaewon looked down, quite embarrassed with her last sentence.

"You also want to win the bet?" The brunette giggled a bit.

"I know it's kind of shallow. But I couldn't clear my mind thinking if that guy likes me the way I do, so, I need to plan up this whole thing," she sighed heavily.

"What a struggle you have there," Minjoo started to walk behind Chaewon and placed her hands at the countertop, making the latter surprised at their scarce distance and certainly locking her up.

Both of them looked in the mirror. Their faces are close enough to stick, but they wouldn't let it happen for they might kill the smallest bit of comfort left at their current situation.

"I see that I'm being used here, but I don't mind. I'm still willing to help you. We might as well fake date, I'm in," Minjoo smiled, Chaewon felt relieved despite their awkward distance.

"But I got a better option. Fall for me and you'll still win..." The brunette smirked as she looked at the latter's reflection in front of her.

"You'll win my heart, plus I could take you to a mint choco ice cream date anytime. Did you just earn a jackpot?"

 

 

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                                                     when writer's block strikes you hard, this happens. i'm still thankful to all of my readers for sticking with this story. hope to still see you on the next chapters!