Forgive her, she couldn’t school her expression into that of a warm, inviting one. Miyeon immediately scowls. Glowering despite the ugly crease on her forehead. 

She remembers alright. It’s not easy to forget a night of hair lashing her in the face, her temper being tested when she’s trying her darn best to be a ray of sunshine. Because of that insanely cocky excuse of a human being who’s now at the doorstep. Eyes widening in recognition then returning an equally steely glare. 

She’s heard about her. How she’s one of those arts kids, a history major who studies dead Angelas and Georges, events that occurred millions of years ago. 

For fun. 

The girl is a special breed, maybe born from the pits of the seventh circle of hell; it’s not simply because she’s a history major. 

Miyeon doesn’t step aside and the girl doesn’t make a move either. Both of them standing at an impasse, locked in an icy standoff. 

“What’s taking you guys so long?” calls Soojin. Turning around, she sees Soojin getting up, coming to the door, a reluctant Minnie detaching from her with a pout. 

Soojin raises an eyebrow, looking back and forth between the two of them. Frozen at the door. “Do you know each other?” 

“Yes,” Miyeon mutters. “Unfortunately.”

“No,” says the girl brusquely. No? How dare this girl forget. Grumbling, absorbed in her thoughts, Miyeon is gently pushed aside by Soojin. Making way for the smiling spawn of hell to enter, smug and outright mocking. 

Miyeon wants nothing more than to punch those sickening lips. 

“Well, this is Shuhua. The grouch here is Miyeon,” says Soojin. Now that she has a name to the face, it’ll be that much sweeter cursing the girl in her dreams. And outside of them too. 

Miyeon doesn’t hesitate to drag Minnie to the bathroom, the door instantly locking behind them. “Kim Minnie!”

“What?” 

Miyeon paces around in the small space, trying to find the right words, her anger turning her into a jittery mess. “Why didn’t you tell me Soojin’s friend is…” 

“Shuhua?” 

“Yes!” Grabbing the other girl by the collar, she shakes her back and forth like a ragdoll. Minnie shoves her back, pulling her brows together in a frown. 

“What’s wrong? You don’t even know her!” protests Minnie.

“She’s the girl I told you about!” A blank look greets her. “The one at the library!” A belated gasp of realization. 

“The one who hogged the holo-text all night so you grabbed it from her, but then you guys simulated a game of tug-of-war so it ended up smashing on the ground?” says Minnie all in one breath. Miyeon is seething. 

“She tried to tear it from my hands.” 

“And you stupidly decided to hold on for dear life.” Her friend reaches for the door and Miyeon quickly slaps her hand away. Not too hard, but enough to send the message across. She’s being serious here!

“I wouldn’t have shown up today if I had known,” Miyeon grits out. 

“For the last time, I had no clue it was going to be her. Soojin didn’t tell me anything that would’ve made me realize, ‘oh! It’s the girl who reduced you to a immature child in public.’”

She has the grounds to be suspicious, judging by the creeping grin Minnie is failing to hide. Was it all a set-up? Minnie wouldn’t intentionally do this, stringing her into a situation with her self-declared nemesis. Proclaimed on a drunken night after finals. 

“Really.” Minnie coughs, now unable to stop smiling altogether, looping an arm around hers. Miyeon unsuccessfully brushes her off. 

“Come on, you know I’ll always be on your side, I would’ve kept her away from you with a ten-foot pole or the heat hawk in my basement so you wouldn’t run into her.”

“You have a super-heated, thermal axe in your basement?” Miyeon is amazed. Leave it to Minnie to possess an illegal, classified level five weapon in her house. The General Institute banned heat hawks since their inception.  

“Yeah, I found an old blueprint deep in the Institute’s archives so I just had to replicate it. You can see it later, it’s fully functional, cuts through anything like it’s cake.” Sometimes, Miyeon hates how smart Minnie is. Damn engineering kids. Always showing off. “But we’re going off topic. Miyeon, you should try to enjoy the rest of the day. Give her a chance.”

“Maybe you guys got off on the wrong foot. She can’t be that bad, Soojin heavily insisted on inviting her,” Minnie adds. Like it makes it that much better, name-dropping her soulmate. 

“Shuhua,” Miyeon clicks her tongue in annoyance, “she pulled out a clump of my hair when we fought.” 

Out of sheer embarrassment, she hadn’t told anyone this before. It’s one thing to lose a fight (that she clearly hadn’t lost), it’s another to see another girl holding bits of her hair in triumph. The rest of it on the ground. She points to the left side of her head, motioning vigorously. 

Minnie offers her nothing. Holding her palms up, shrugging and exuding nonchalance.

“I had to visit the doctor’s to regrow it! So don’t hold me back when I go back downstairs because that deserves what’s coming for her,” she snarls.

“Okay, but before you engage in a smackdown, can you listen to me for a sec?” Miyeon crosses her arms, leaning against the sink. 

“Soojin has only said good things to me about her. How she’s really kind and how she once stayed up all night to help Soojin with her business project.”

“You’ve got to be more convincing than that.”

“She also volunteers at the hospital from time to time?”

“I can’t care less.” 

“She’s so selfless she never takes the last slice of pizza?” 

Sighing, Miyeon resigns herself to her fate or else they’ll both stay in this cramped bathroom forever, debating the merits of that insufferable girl. She could handle one day, she’s better than this. Generally, she has always been a relatively calm person (her own words). No fluctuations in mood or sudden bouts of anger. She can’t remember the last time she lost her temper before the scuffle at the library. 

Something about Shuhua is just plain irritating, making her blood boil. “Fine. If tonight goes wrong, I’m blaming you.”

Squirming, Miyeon sits in her spot. On the ground, beside Shuhua. 

Shuhua gives her a once over, quietly snorting, then her eyes flicker back to the screen. The movie they’re watching was great at the beginning. Similar to many other jump-scare horror films, it devolved into a ketchup stab fest halfway through. 

Safe to say, there isn’t much plot happening and they’ve begun to take bets on who the final girl would be to entertain themselves.    

“Who wants–”

“No, Yuqi,” says Minnie. 

“To play?” finishes Yuqi, producing a micro-cartridge out of nowhere. VR games are one of their favourites and Yuqi would team up with her, Soojin with Minnie. Now that her friends are perfectly paired off with their soulmates, that leaves her with the remainder. 

She has no reason to believe this will end well. 

AN: Thanks for reading.