The pillow battle only lasted ten minutes. The victor was obvious. Yong and Hyejin had the unfair advantage of being a bit more serious about their training and therefore had the upper hand immediately. While Byul and Wheein put up a decent fight, their lack of a fighter’s intensity was their undoing.

As such, it was the victor's choice as to what they would do today And the victors decided on finding a place to eat first, preferably somewhere within walkable distance. Luckily the apartment is within walkable distance of many restaurants. 

“Wait, so why did you two come here anyway?” Wheein asked as they all walked along the sidewalk towards the downtown area. 

“Well, our original plan was to just surprise you two then get some things we need,” Yong answered nonchalantly.

“Your mom threw someone against a desk and broke it so we need a new one,” Byul answered dryly. 

“You threw someone?!” Wheein and Hyejin asked at the same time but with very different reactions. Hyejin had a look of awe and amazement while Wheein had the look of confusion with slight horror. What did that person do to be thrown?

“First, he asked for it,” Yong stated matter of factly.

Everyone paused for a moment yet nothing came.

“You can’t just say first and leave it at that, Yong,” Byul said incredulously. Surprised yet not surprised at the same time. 

“Uh, yea, what’s the second part?” Hyejin asked.

“More importantly, why??” Wheein’s look of confusion never left her face. She knew her mom could do questionable things, and has done questionable things, but this is the first time she’s hearing about her mom throwing someone and breaking a piece of furniture. Just how pissed off was the dragon?

“Last night a drunkard came into the gym and was asking for a fight and when no one gave him one he started to throw a hissy fit. One thing led to another and I had to throw him in order to stop him.” 

“Yo, what the ?” Hyejin said what was both on her and Wheein’s mind as they both gave Yong a concerned look. Just what was going on back home?

Yong simply waved their concerns away.

“No one got hurt--”

“Just the desk.” Byul interjected.

“Yea, just the desk.”

“But mom--”

“What’s done is done. No need to dwell on it. The only thing that needs to be dwelled on is where are we going to eat?” Yong’ s tone told them to drop the topic but both young girls kept the incident tucked away in the back of their minds. 

Without skipping a beat, Hyejin answered Yong’s question.

“Oh! We can go to this oyster bar place that just opened up nearby.”

“Bar?” The other three said at the same time.

“Wow, so much harmonization today. But it is a bar but it does actually have food!” Hyejin defended herself when she saw their questioning gazes. 

“How far is it?” Byul asked while grabbing Yong’s hand. 

“Not very far. If we go through here and make a couple of turns then we’ll be there,” Hyejin pointed down the open alley way  with her right arm as Wheein had wrapped herself around Hyejin’s left. 

“Well then, let’s go!” Yong marched on while dragging a sighing Byul behind her. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The place was crowded. Even with the open outdoor areas around the main building, everything was packed. There was a brief moment where they considered going somewhere else, but their grumbling stomachs told them to stay. So, with losers having to go wait in line to order food, the victors were left to find a table.

After fighting the sea of people, Yong and Hyejin managed to find a spot that would fit all of them. Tucked away in a corner of the opened space, near the playscape, Hyejin and Yong guarded their spot.

“WHy is there a placescape at a bar??” Yong asked while she saw the children play on it. 

“Family friendly??” Hyejin answered as she wondered the same thing.

“What’s family friendly about a bar??”

“Maybe something about community??”

Yong looked at the playscape then at Hyejin, who could only shrug. Despite asking around, even she never got a clear answer as to why there is a playscape. In all honesty, she thought the playscape was for the drunk college kids but looks like she’s wrong. 

After a couple of more minutes in silence, Yong started to get a little impatient. She knows that the service in college towns varies but come on. This was pushing it. She turned to Hyejin to tell the youngster that she was going to go up there to see what was the hold up but what she saw made her freeze.

Hyejin was silently crying.

 While looking at the playscape, Hyejin saw one little kid that sort of reminded her of herself. It was only on the superficial level but then the kid said a combination of words that made Hyejin crack just a little bit. The words that she also used to say so long ago. So long ago and never again will say. 

While the child was playing, an adult called the child over. The child eagerly scampered over to receive whatever the adult was holding. Upon receiving what Hyejin assumed to be a gift, the child cried out in glee. Looks like the child got a gift that they wanted. And despite being a bit far away in a crowded place, Hyejin heard their exchange clearly.

“Wow!! Thanks! You’re the best uncle ever!!” The child’s glee was as bright as the sun.

“Hahahaha. Of course, I am. I will always be the best uncle! Now, go on. Tell me what you think,” The man ruffled the child’s hair and beckoned them to go play with the gift. But the child had something to say first.

“Will you always be the best uncle forever and ever??” The child questioned.

“Till the end of time,” The man held a pinky finger out, “I pinky promise.”

“Pinky promise to be here forever and ever?” The child asked with innocent eyes. 

“Yup! Who else is going to be your best uncle if I’m not here?” The man answered with a proud huff.

The child giggled and quickly wrapped their pinky around their uncle’s.

“Now, go be a menace!” The man gave one last ruffle to the child’s hair before the child took off.

During that whole exchange, Hyejin didn’t know when she started to cry. She didn’t feel the tears flowing down her face until it was too late to stop them. One minute she’s watching them and the next her tears are covering her face. Before she could even try to recover, Yong pulled her into a deep hug. 

As much as she wanted to cry, as much as she wanted to relieve the pain that was built up from seeing a familiar exchange, she couldn’t. She couldn’t let herself cry freely in a public space such as this. Especially when she’s with others. And yet here she is. Silently crying while Yong held her close. 

Before she could mentally berate herself for being so weak while in public, Yong interrupted her thoughts.

“It’s alright, Hyejin-ah. Just let it out.”

Just let it out? 

Just let it out??

Despite wanting to, despite the need to just cry out her heart again, she couldn’t. Something about being in public, about not wanting to cause any sort of scene, made wanting to express vulnerable emotions difficult. She wanted to cry, she wanted to just let it out, but being in the public eye stopped her.

And it hurts.

She struggled in Yong’s arms. Split between wanting to get an emotional catharsis now or deal with the eyes of strangers being focused on her. Worst yet, being an emotional wreck and having Wheein return to witness it. As she mentally struggled, she physically struggled as well. She fought to keep herself from crying out loud. She fought herself to keep her breathing steady. She fought herself to keep from drawing too much attention.

And it all hurts.

Seeing Hyejin struggle, Yong sighed. It was a struggle she was familiar with long ago. The struggle of wanting relief but also keeping face. It was a struggle she wanted to take away from Hyejin but she couldn’t. As cruel as it sounds, the struggle of keeping face and the struggle of being comfortable with oneself is a battle that is fought alone. Sure, there are outside forces that can help or hinder, but it is still up to the person.

But, in this case, Yong could help ease the burden a little bit. She could help delay that battle a little bit to where Hyejin would be more emotionally ready to face it. So, she did what could only do. 

Talk.

She talked about what has been happening at the gym, and how the students are progressing. She told Hyejin about the new students and how they are faring. She told Hyejin about how Ms. Manju has been doing lately. She told Hyejin about a couple of new restaurants that opened in town. She told Hyejin about how there is going to be a bike and car show in town in April and how that would be a great date idea.

She told Hyejin everything that interests her so Hyejin could have something else to focus on. But she had an ace up her sleeve, something that she was going to save till later but everything was on the table now. 

“Ah, before I forget, someone challenged the gym again.”

Yong felt Hyejin perk up. She was going to continue talking but Hyejin wiggled out of her embrace. Looks like she regained enough composure. Only the hint of red in her eyes gave her away. Hell, she regained more than enough composure. A fact that did not go unnoticed by Yong. To regain enough composure after almost breaking, well, that’s a clear sign that it’s a common occurrence. 

“A real challenge?” Hyejin’s eyes sparkled with intrigue. Her attention was captured. She regained face.

“As far as I can tell. They want to fight after the holidays so it’s not immediate.”

Hyejin cocked her head, “ Why so far in advance?”

Yong could only shrug. She asked herself the same thing. 

“Maybe to train more?”

“Or maybe to save themselves from the embarrassment of losing and having to explain it to relatives during the holidays.” Hyejin mused.

“Maybe. Which brings me to my main point, they asked for a fight with a tag team. So, Hyejin, have you been keeping up with your training?” Yong has a feeling she knows the answer but she still needs to hear it anyway.

The deer in headlights look that Hyejin gave was all the answer Yong needed. That and the confirmation from Wheein once she and byul returned with food in hand.

“Nope! She hasn’t even been to the gym since the start of the semester.” Wheein said while handing out the drinks to her mom and Hyejin. Not failing to notice how red Hyejin’s eyes were. 

“Wheein-ah!!”  Hyejin never felt so betrayed.

“You have a couple of months so chop chop!” Byul chimed in as she laid out the food in front of everyone.

“Can’t have you wait till the last minute to begin training again. By that point you’ll be too rusty,” Yong stated matter of factly. 

Hyjejin looked offended but took a bite out of Wheein’s meal first before saying anything.

“Whadda mean I’ll be too rusty?" Hyejin glared at Yong.

“Our biggest rivals challenged us so we need to be in tip top shape,” Yong said while she stole a bite from Byul’s plate. 

Byul and Wheein only exchanged tired glances.

“Wait, so they finally are doing something? They’re not just being all talk??” Hyejin asked with a questioning squint.

“Yup. This would be the perfect chance to finally put them in their place and shut them up for a bit, don’t you think?” 

“Huh, I better get back to training again,” Hyejin stated with such determined ferocity that all hints of any emotional vulnerability from earlier vanished. The fire in her gaze easily matched Yong’s. 

So, all throughout lunch, the dragon and the lion plotted while the hamster and the puppy happily, but tiredly, ate.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By the time they returned back to the apartment, they were drained. But a satisfied sort of drained. The satisfaction that comes with spending time with the people that you love and enjoy being around with. 

Hyejin immediately plopped herself onto the couch while Wheein collapsed on top of her. They laid like that for a solid ten minutes. Just enjoying the feeling of the other. Hyejin was enjoying the comforting squeeze of being between the soft couch and Wheein. If she could purr she would. Wheein was enjoying having Hyejing being so close. Nuzzling her face into Hyejin’s mane, she hummed in contentment. 

Everything felt right in the world.

It was Hyejin who broke the mood. She shifted from under Wheein and let the poor girl fall onto the couch while she stretched and began to move away. 

“Hyejin-aaaaaaah,” Wheein whined as she grabbed Hyejin’s shirt to make her stay. 

“Awww, was someone comfy?” Hyejin asked with a teasing grin.

“I was about to fall asleep,” Wheein mumbled while she tugged at Hyejin’s shirt.

“Sounds rough buddy,” Hyejin began to leave again but Wheein didn’t let go.

“Hyejiiiiiiiin,” Wheein continued to whine while she was dragged along the couch.

“Wheein-ah, it’s time to take a shower,” Hyejin huffed.

“No.”

“Fine, a bath.”

“No.”

Hyejin just stared down at the still clinging Wheein. She wondered what she should do and then it hit her. A genius idea. A sly smirk made its way on her lips. A smirk that Wheein didn’t notice until it was too late. 

“Well then, we can take a bath together if you don’t want me to leave you.”

Before Wheein could even comprehend the words that Hyejin just said, Hyejin quickly scooped her up and carried her to the bedroom. Wheein barely had time to recover before Hyejin began to also plant kisses on her face and neck. 

“Wh-waitwaitwait, what?” The only words that Wheein could sputter out.

“Hm?” Hyejin placed Wheein on the bed while she gathered their pajamas and placed them in the bathroom for easy access. After that was accomplished, she scooped up a still dumbfounded Wheein.

“Wait, wait!” Wheein managed to squirm out of the hold Hyejin had on her.

“You don’t want to take a bath together?” Hyejin asked innocently. While her tone carried innocence, her eyes carried mischief.

“I--” She was caught between the wall and the sword. She wanted to but at the same time being exposed like that without the ual context seems more vulnerable. If that makes sense. As if just being bare with Hyejin, without a desire of sorts, seems more exposing. As if she’s baring her body to be judged even though she knows Hyejin won't judge. It just seemed more intimate. 

Seeing Wheein’s internal conflict, Hyejin gently cupped her face and gave a gentle forehead kiss.

“We don’t have to, you know? I’ll just go take a shower first,” Hyejin made a move towards the bathroom but Wheein stopped her short.

“No, I want to,” Wheein’s voice was a bit shaky but her face was determined. 

Hyejin softly smiled at her and gently took her hand and led her into the bathroom. Ever mindful to keep her desire in check. Ever mindful to make sure Wheein is comfortable.