Chaewon wasn't sure where Olivia was dragging her, but she didn't care. She wasn't even sure if she could make it back home on her own because she hadn't been paying attention to her surroundings as they walked through the city. Her eyes remained at their joint hands. Olivia is holding her hand. They are holding hands!

The older girl hoped, the younger couldn't feel her increasing pulse rate as Olivia gripped Chaewon's hand a bit tighter as they weaved in and out of the crowd to prevent them from being separated. Sure, Olivia may have been holding her hand for that sole reason, but that doesn't mean Chaewon couldn't enjoy and feel elated about the little progress in their relationship.

At this rate, Chaewon knew her crush for Olivia would only continue to grow, and she accepted that. The entire point of starting fresh in a new city was to build up connections with new people. To discover herself in a way she had never before, and if she happened to fall in love, then she was willing to dive straight in. That may sound reckless, but she was tired of being treated like a fragile porcelain doll that everyone had made her out to be. Chaewon was fully aware that falling in love could also end in heartbreak. But all these new emotions and feelings that she has experienced thus far in her journey, this new chapter in life, excited her, and she fully welcomed it. She didn't care whether she was into girls or boys. Chaewon was aware people out there struggled with that themselves, and she didn't want to hold herself back. She was willing to follow her heart and, in this case, follow Olivia.

Eventually, the two university students found themselves in front of an arcade. Olivia smirked as she looked down at Chaewon. "I hope you're ready to get your handed to ya."

The older girl finally looked up from their joined hands at the flashing neon blue sign. "Egoist Arcade," she read out loud. Chaewon couldn't help but think that Olivia was indeed after heart for taking her to this location. She turned to face the freshman, "You might be underestimating me. I love video games."

From that last comment, Chaewon finally was able to witness Olivia's smile. Her heart skipped a beat. For the first time since they have met, Chaewon has seen a smiling Olivia, and all she wanted to do was take her photo, save it as her phone background, print the image out to frame it, and hang it on the wall. No, that wasn't creepy. Okay, perhaps just a bit, but seeing such a marvel brought her indescribable feelings. Just like Olivia's voice, her wide gummy smile shattered the cold and chic image she put off. The ravenette's smile was like a ray of sunshine, full of joy and pure youth. 

Chaewon used to scoff and ridicule movie and book protagonists that would easily fall in love with just a simple smile. If her old self could see herself now, would she laugh at how easy it was to fall head over heels for Olivia?

"Oh? But will you pose a challenge?" Olivia teased in full confidence.

Chaewon's smile reached her ears. "Loser pays for our next meal."

Olivia took note of Chaewon's crooked smile, and couldn't help but think it suited her well. It may not be the expected picture-perfect smile that fit her doll-like image, but the asymmetrical smile made her real. It made it feel like Chaewon was attainable, a deity that exists in her life. Other than Heejin or her family members, this was the closest she felt to another person. 

Not to mention that lopsided smile was adorably cute on the upperclassman. Was Chaewon really older than her? Not like it mattered as she set her focus on winning their bet. "Deal."

The two students raced off into the arcade, the competition already starting in who can get their tokens the fastest as they shoved dollar bills into the machines. They weren't sure who won their first 'game' as Olivia immediately took hold of Chaewon's hand and dragged her to the nearest game.

The first game up, a zombie shooter, Olivia had this in the bag, smirking as she quickly slotted the tokens in. They each aimed with their brightly colored machine guns and immediately lit up the digital undead bodies on the screen in front of them. It didn't take long for Olivia to gain the lead in points by the time the third round started.

Chaewon pouted as her character lost their last life, dying in-game. Olivia cast a smug grin on her face as she looked down at the sophomore. "Ha, I won!"

"Yeah, whatever. Shooting games are lame anyway." Chaewon's bottom lip jutted out more, deepening her pout. "I'll kick your in racing."

Olivia chuckled at the pouty sore loser behavior the older girl displayed. Cute. "Okay, princess. Let me beat you at that too."

They made their way to their racing simulators, this time Chaewon grabbing hold of Olivia's hand. The younger girl didn't want to think much of it as she hadn't noticed it previously, but she liked the feeling of her fingers interlocked with Chaewon's. A light blush dusted across her cheeks, her face growing a bit warmer. Olivia blamed it on the temperature of the arcade and how much they were moving around.

The ravenette took her seat next to Chaewon as they got ready for their virtual race. Bright lights flashed on the sides of the screen, red, red, green. The two gamers smashed their foot into the gas pedal, their cars peeling out from the starting line. 

It was a heated battle for first place right from the start. The game NPCs were no match for the skilled gamers and were utterly left in the dust. It was the last lap, Olivia in the lead, and Chaewon was desperate to win. The older girl smiled to herself as she thought of a plan to gain the lead. She reached over to Olivia's simulator and jerked the wheel, causing the younger's car to crash into the wall.

"Yah! What are you doing?" Olivia yelled

The older girl smirked and exclaimed shamelessly, "Sabotaging you!" 

"So that's how you want to play, huh?" The younger girl narrowed her eyes at the latter.

The two stopped focusing on the race as they spent more time physically messing with one another, from shoving to tickling and covering each other's eyes. Eventually, Chaewon became the victor of their race and held her chin up high, a large grin plastered on her face as if she won fair and square.

Olivia scoffed at the silver-haired girl. "You had to cheat to beat me!" 

"Winning is winning," said Chaewon with a sarcastic prissy attitude.

Even though this was their first time getting to know each other, Olivia felt as if they had known each other for much longer. Their back and forth banter with one another seemed as if they were close friends for years rather than strangers that had known each other for only a few weeks. 

Olivia wasn't expecting much from bringing Chaewon to the arcade, but she certainly wasn't expecting to have the time of her life. She figured they were going to quietly game on their own, each in their own world as they would blow their frustration in the virtual world. But seeing Chaewon with her like this made her realize she wasn't the coy and bashful girl she thought she seemed. The older girl was fun to be around; it felt natural and organic. It was easy for Olivia to be herself, to be Hyejoo. For the first time, Olivia was comfortable with a stranger, and it slightly scared her, but it was also exciting. It brought hope to Olivia that her life could be somewhat normal around Chaewon. 

The competition between the two students went back and forth. Neither of them played fair as they repeatedly threw in underhanded tricks to sabotage the other, more so on Chaewon's end. The longer they spend time together, the more Chaewon discovers new things about Olivia that she would never have expected.