as the end credits to “merchant of venice” rolled across the screen, ryujin shook her head a little to wake herself up. although she loved the book, she didn’t find the 1986 adaptation nearly as interesting to watch, especially since it was in black and white.

“alright class, please be sure to complete your reflection on the movie by tomorrow, and we will be talking about our group project in class tomorrow as well,” announced the english teacher, ms. byun.

a student in the front row three desks to the right of ryujin raised her hand.

“yes, soojin?”

“will we be able to pick our own partners for the project?”

soojin snuck a couple glances at ryujin along with several other students in the class.

“well… i was just going to randomly assign them, but what do you guys want?”

a chorus of voices erupted from the class, “pick our own partners!”, “we should pick our own partners!”, “let us pick!”

“alright, alright!” ms. byun raised her hands to silence the class. “i will let you pick in class tomorrow. you need to all have groups of 4, no more and no less!”

just as the class was starting to partner up, the bell rang, signaling the end of class.

ryujin started to put her things away, but barely a minute had passed before her desk had become noticeably crowded.

“ryujin!” exclaimed hyunjin as she raced to beat everyone else to ryujin’s desk. “do you want to be partners for the shakespeare project?”

“uh, sure!” replied ryujin. she knew hyunjin could be counted on to do her work. actually, she was hoping hyunjin would ask her so that she wouldn’t have to reject the many other students that she definitely did not want to team up with. 

“now we just need one more-,” before ryujin could even finish her sentence, replies came from all the students around her.

“i’ll do it!”

“ryujin, can i be in your group too?”

“can i be partners with you ryujin?”

so many people were talking and raising their hands at once, ryujin couldn’t keep track of who was saying what. “uh…i-”

suddenly a strong arm latched around ryujin’s shoulders and pulled her closer to the arm’s owner, “ryujin-ah, let’s be partners shall we?”

it was somi, another senior who was one of ryujin’s good friends. they used to take the same dance classes together.

“ya jeon somi,” ryujin raised her eyebrows. “will you actually get your work done this time?”

“of course! c’mon, it’s going to be acting and you know i’m down for that,” somi flipped her long brown hair. “plus you need someone overly dramatic, and you know i’m all flair.”

ryujin sighed, wondering if she would live to regret this decision, but thinking of no better options, she decided to take a chance on somi. maybe it was the senior-itis truly hitting her, but she figured that maybe having a fun last project for her senior year wouldn’t be so bad.

“alright fine,” agreed ryujin, putting the last of her stuff in her backpack.

somi smirked and cheered. she let go of ryujin’s shoulders to high-five hyunjin to celebrate scoring the smartest student in class.

as ryujin stood up to leave, one of the half dozen girls surrounding her desk spoke up, “wait, isn’t that only three people in your group? don’t you need one more?”

before ryujin could even answer, somi shook her head and replied, “ah, don’t bother. ryujin’s always partners with chaeryeong-ah.”

the crowd of girls turned their heads towards the back of the classroom. the aforementioned girl was standing near the door, completely immersed in her phone and unaware that anyone had even mentioned her name.

a chorus of groans filled the air as the last chance of being ryujin’s group member disappeared. ryujin and chaeryeong never sat together, so it was easy to forget that they were best friends. although they shared a number of classes together, ryujin always had other people clamoring to sit next to her, and chaeryeong never felt the need to fight with them.

chaeryeong was happier sitting in the back while ryujin played the goody two-shoes at the front. she did like school, but she didn’t want to draw attention to herself if she didn’t have to.

after saying goodbye to her other friends, ryujin headed to the door where chaeryeong was waiting. as they walked to the senior locker banks, ryujin informed chaeryeong of adding somi and hyunjin to their group to which chaeryeong merely nodded and focused back on her phone game.

the halls of their school were bubbled with lively conversation. there was a sense of everyone becoming alive again as spring approached the edge of summer. the buds on the trees encircling their courtyard were almost finished flourishing, and ryujin felt an urge to change something similar to how the seasons were changing.

a gust of wind blew through her hair, perfumed with the faint scent of flowers. ryujin took a sniff but almost regretted it because it smelled disgustingly sweet, like nectar in from some poisonous fruit.

she’s reminded of the prince of morocco from the merchant of venice who chose the gold casket and failed to win portia’s hand in marriage.

“all that glitters is not gold”

now that ryujin was 20 and about to graduate high school, ryujin was scared that she wasn’t wise enough to face the real world. what if she got caught up in greed like the prince and turn into someone that she wasn’t?

ryujin looked at chaeryeong beside her and somehow her worries faded. she was extremely lucky that both of them had gotten into the same university. she had always felt the most grounded when she was with chaeryeong, like everything would be okay no matter what.

as they walked, chaeryeong was somehow gracefully navigating the herds of students while keeping her eyes trained on her phone. ryujin waited for chaeryeong to inevitably bump into someone.

eventually, ryujin was watching so intently that she almost walked bumped into someone herself.

both girls came to an abrupt stop as yena, a freshman, suddenly appeared in front of them holding a small bundle in her hands.

“um, hi, ryujin unnie, chaeryeong unnie,” mumbled yena, her eyes glued to the floor.

“ryujin-unnie, i, i just wanted to give you this lunch that I packed. for you. it’s nothing really! i just had some extra food, and i heard you really like spicy stuff so i made you some kimchi fried rice, and i know this might be really weird, and you don’t have to eat it if you don’t want to, but i wanted to make something for you because i know you guys have a competition coming up soon and-“

yena stopped herself from rambling on any longer. she shyly bowed and offered the bento box wrapped in a bandana adorned with japanese cats.

ryujin, shocked yet flattered, was about to push the lunchbox away and respectfully decline when chaeryeong stopped her hands.

the brunette carefully took the lunchbox from yena and gave it to ryujin. dumbfounded, ryujin looked at chaeryeong to question her and noticed that chaeryeong was staring at yena with a proud motherly gaze.

“yena-yah, i’m so proud of you for doing something this sweet and for following your heart. i will make sure that ryujin eats every last bite of your lunch, ok?”

before ryujin could say anything, yena fervently bowed several times, “thank you chaeyreong unnie! thank you!”

chaeryeong yena’s hair and patted her on the head, “don’t mention it, sweetie. i’ll also make sure to save you a copy of our dance team yearbook ok? make sure to come grab it next week at the yearbook sale!”

yena nodded again multiple times, her ponytail bobbing up and down. “yes of course! thank you so much!”

after one last bow, yena ran off down the hallway and the two girls watched as she joined a group of students who were watching from afar, many of them probably freshmen. the girls jumped in excitement and visibly clamored over yena, who was now probably a hero in their eyes.

“chaeryeong, why did you do that? now she’s going to think that i actually accepted her feelings,” said ryujin, looking at the neatly wrapped bow on the cute lunchbox.

chaeryeong flipped her hair over her shoulder, her previously warm tone gone from her voice. “oh please, yena knows you don’t like her, she was barely even confessing. she just made you lunch because she’s a nice girl and wanted to give you a gift.”

the two of them climbed the stairs and arrived at the senior locker banks. chaeryeong opened her locker and began swapping out the books she would need for her afternoon classes.

“besides, she comes to all of our competitions and buys all of our merch! do you have any idea how much money the dance team gets from her?” chaeryeong looked at ryujin.

ryujin crossed her arms and put her back up against the lockers, “so you basically just used a young girl’s feelings for economic profit?”

“no!” chaeryeong closed her locker. “i was protecting her! trust me, she would’ve been a lot more hurt if you didn’t take the lunchbox.”

“and now suddenly you’re the expert on teenage girl emotions?”

“hey, i am a teenage girl!”

“well it’s hard to see with all those money signs flashing in front of your eyes!” ryujin teased and waved her hands in front of chaeryeong’s face.

“i don’t see money signs! hey, i could care less about how much our team actually earns, but seeing that flustered look on your face whenever someone confesses to you? priceless!” chaeryeong reached towards ryujin’s face and pinched her cheeks, “our little ryujinnie looks so cute when she’s embarrassed!”

ryujin pushed chaeryeong’s hands away, “stop it, i do not look flustered!”

“mmhmm, sure you don’t,” agreed chaeryeong, clearly not convinced. “i’m just saying, all she wanted was to give you lunch, don’t read too much into it! this is probably only the first out of a hundred lunchboxes you’ll get now that we’re so close to graduating.”

“what do you mean?”

“you know know what i mean! this month is the last chance that people have to chase after the great shin ryujin before she graduates,” chaeryeong put her hands together in mock admiration and stared off into the distance, “‘oh ryujin unnie! please don’t go! i’ll bake you a hundred mocha breads if you’ll just go out on one date with me!’”

ryujin shoved chaeryeong into the adjacent lockers causing chaeryeong to lose her balance, but she barely noticed since she was already laughing so hard.

“you’re just saying that because you’re probably going to eat all of the lunches i get anyways,” said ryujin.

chaeryeong slowly started to get up and recover her breathing, “why would i do that? i don’t want to eat your lunches, i have my own lunch to eat.”

ryujin suddenly remembered that chaeryeong was pretty picky about what she ate. chaeryeong didn’t even eat that much at all now that she thought about it.

actually, ryujin had forgotten to grab her lunch this morning so yena was doing her a huge favor. ryujin ruminated about whether she could eat the lunch without letting the guilt eat her.

“so you really don’t think it’s misleading to take yena’s lunch?”

“of course not,” said chaeryeong.

“alright, if you say so,” replied ryujin.

chaeryeong lifted the straps of her backpack back onto her shoulders and fixed her skirt. she then fished her phone out from of her pocket and started playing ‘Omok’ again as she walked the familiar path to ryujin’s locker.

the floors of the senior locker banks were littered with little things like half of a breakfast bar wrapper, a ripped up piece of notebook paper, and someone’s forgotten water bottle could often be found on top.

but generally, the senior locker banks were the cleanest of all the grades since the seniors had the special privilege of getting to sit in their locker banks during their lunch periods. eating food was prohibited, but seniors had the option of sitting here instead of squeezing in with all the other grades in the cacophony of the cafeteria. small groups of senior friends would often sit here and talk amongst themselves, feeling quite decidedly privileged compared to the underclassmen.

ryujin and chaeryeong didn’t do this very often, however, since they shared their lunch period with yuna, the freshman student who was also on their dance team. most days, yuna would come to ryujin’s locker and the three of them would walk down to eat lunch in the cafeteria together.

plus, if ryujin was being honest, most people who sat in the senior locker banks were couples and ryujin didn’t think it would help her appetite very much to watch people ogle at their significant others. what would be the most awkward would be when she had to step over some of them on the way to her own locker; just like she had to do now as she sidestepped one of the most obvious couples at school- jennie kim and jisoo kim.

rose and lisa were friends with them and they were also a couple, but they were much more appropriate with their PDA in comparison. they were sitting next to the kims on the floor and waved apologetically at ryujin and chaeryeong while their friends kissed as if they were in their own little world.

“yah, at least stop when there’s other people around!” ryujin heard rose chastised as she walked away.

ryujin was glad she wasn’t the only one who was uncomfortable with seeing other people kiss in public. even though the locker banks were slightly secluded, they were still a very well-traveled area and ryujin really had no other way of getting to her locker.

of course, chaeryeong didn’t even look up from her phone.

ryujin sighed and thought she had enough thoughts about relationships for the day.

as ryujin started putting her own books away, her phone started buzzing in her backpack. the caller ID read, “princess yuna”

“hello?”

“ryujin unnie! is chaeryeong unnie with you?”

“yeah,” she turned to chaeryeong who was now paying attention.

“okay good! you have to come to the main entrance right now!” yuna’s bright voice burst through the phone.

“what? why? we have to go to lunch!”

“we are still going to lunch, just come down here, there’s a surprise for you!”

with a click, yuna hung up the call and ryujin looked dumbfounded at chaeryeong.

“do you know anything about a surprise at the main entrance?”

chaeryeong shrugged, “not any more than you do. yuna didn’t tell me anything.”

“this dork better not get us in trouble. if she got one of those fan food trucks using the dance team’s money i swear to god i will make her do laps until those giraffe legs of her fall off,” ryujin shook her head and finished gathering up her stuff.

the two girls walked the opposite direction away from the cafeteria and downstairs to the school’s main entrance. as they neared the wall of glass doors, they saw yuna waving at them excitedly from outside. the bright noon sunlight bared down on them and the two girls had to squint when they opened the door.

“yuna, what are you doing?” asked ryujin.

before yuna could respond, a voice came from behind her.

“ryuddaeng!”

ryujin traced the sound of the voice to a silver car parked in their school’s drop-off driveway. the voice belong to none other than yeji, their dance team captain who was sitting in the driver’s seat with their other dance team member, lia, in the passenger seat.

“yeji unnie! lia unnie!”

the two girls immediately ran to the car to see their old school mates. the two had graduated from their same high school last year and were now attending university together. outside of dance practices at their dance studio, they were not able to see each other on school days which was why their sudden appearance was so surprising.

“what are you guys doing here?” asked chaeryeong, her wide eyes scanning over the brand new car.

“yeah, who’s car is this?” asked ryujin.

“why i am so glad you asked. it’s mine!” yeji clamored. “i finally saved up enough money this past year and i just bought it this weekend!”

“oh my gosh, seriously? congrats unnie!”

“well come on get in! i’m treating you guys to lunch. you guys can still leave during friday lunch periods right?”

“yeah, we can!”

ryujin was beyond excited as she climbed into the backseat. a chance to leave school and get lunch with her favorite unnies? she couldn’t have asked for a better Friday.

despite being the tallest, yuna was relegated to the middle seat since ryujin and chaeryeong wanted to stick their heads out the window.

“wow, unnie it still has that new car smell! this is such a cool surprise!” said chaeryeong.

“look chaeryeong unnie, there are even warmers for the backseats! this is so fancy!” exclaimed yuna, playing with the settings at her feet.

“yuna, look there’s a sunroof!” chaeryeong pointed to the window above their heads.

“unnie, can i stick my head out the sunroof, pleeeease?” yuna begged yeji.

“no! that’s too dangerous, i’d probably get pulled over for letting you do that,” yeji laughed at her dongsaeng’s excitement. “we can do that later when there’s not so many people around.”

yuna and chaeryeong fist pumped into the air at the promise of sticking their head out the sunroof later, already making plans for how they were going to record an re-enactment of the titanic.

pretty soon, they arrived at a korean food restaurant not too far from the high school. the five of them would frequent this place after practice and bond over their intense love for food and eating. yuna sometimes complained about them never going to a pizza place, but she never seemed to complain as she always ordered extra portions of tteokbokki.

“and today’s lunch will be my treat!” yeji announced as they stepped out of the car.

the rest of the girls cheered and hugged yeji as they approached the door of the diner. besides the amazing food, they had become pretty close with the owner of the restaurant, Mrs. Kim, but she always asked them to call her taeyeon unnie because Mrs. Kim made her feel too old.

“why hello girls! you don’t usually come in during this time. you guys aren’t skipping class are you?” taeyeon looked up at the group of teenagers as soon the door bell rang.

lia unnie shook her head, “no taeyeon unnie, we promise we’re not skipping class. yeji is just treating all of us to lunch and then we’re going to drop the babies back off at the high school when we’re done.”

“i see, is there a special occassion?”

“i just bought my first car!” yeji beamed and puffed her chest out like a little kid.

taeyeon smiled warmly at the sight of how proud yeji looked. “well, that’s very exciting! then i’ll throw in a free spam musubi with whatever else you guys order. consider it a congratulation gift!”

“thank you taeyeon unnie! you’re the best!” yeji replied.

after everyone ordered, the girls sat down at a circular table in the corner facing the window.

ryujin peered at yeji sitting next to her and felt her chest swell with pride as she thought of how long her unnie had been saving for her new car and how much she had secretly wanted it so that she could drive everyone to dance competitions instead of having to take public transportation. yeji was always thinking of doing more for the team, never just for herself.

“here you go!” said taeyeon as she dropped off their plates of food.

ryujin asked if yeji wanted some of her bo ssam and put some of the meat on yeji’s plate. when yuna saw, she whined at ryujin until ryujin shared her meal with her as well. yeji and lia wordlessly started trading parts of their meal that they knew the other person would like and chaeryeong snapped a picture of her food and showed yuna who nodded enthusiastically.

just as everyone was starting to moan at their first bites, chaeryeong made eye contact with ryujin and flashed a wicked grin.

“oh ryujinnie~ aren’t you forgetting something?”

while chewing a lettuce wrap in , ryujin paused to think for a couple seconds. an image of cute japanese cats popped up in her mind. ryujin gasped and started choking and coughing violently.

“ryujin unnie!”

yuna eyes widened in shock and started patting ryujin’s back to help her get through the food.

“here, do you want some water?”

ryujin chewed through her food and swallowed quickly so that she could finally breath again. she graciously took the water from yuna and gulped down a couple mouthfuls to help her bite go down.

“jeez, are you okay?” asked lia.

yeji was also patting ryujin’s back at this point and was looking at the younger girl with a concerned gaze.

the only person who wasn’t worried was chaeryeong. in fact, she was trying really hard to not laugh too loudly.

“i’m fine, i’m okay now,” ryujin replied after a couple last coughs.

“jeez, what did you forget?” asked yuna, looking between ryujin and chaeryeong.

ryujin narrowed her eyes at chaeryeong and silently cursed her for bringing up yena’s lunchbox.

the real reason she had choked was because she had genuinely been planning on eating it, but now she felt bad for completely forgetting about it and leaving it in the car.

“our ryujinnie got a homemade lunchbox from one of her fans today,” teased chaeryeong.

“you did? from who!?” yuna turned to stare at ryujin.

“um, that freshman yena?”

“oh my gosh, i knew she had a crush on you! she always buys extra copies of the yearbook so that she can get your photocard!”

“okay just so you know i didn’t want to take her lunch! i was going to give it back until chaeryeongie made me take it.”

all the girls then looked at chaeryeong with puzzled faces.

“why did you make her take the lunch?” asked yuna.

chaeryeong put her chopsticks down and clasped her hands together like she was a wise sage beyond her years who was about to pass down her wisdom.

“i was trying to protect the poor girl’s feelings. it wasn’t like she was confessing or actually asking ryujin out, she was just giving her a gift. that kind of stuff happens all the time at our competitions. so, i accepted it on ryujin’s behalf.”

“you know she has a point,” lia pointed out. “yeji’s gotten a couple lunchboxes from fans at school before too.”

“exactly, so there was no harm done,” said chaeryeong, satisfied that someone agreed with her.

“plus, ryujinnie forgot her lunch at home today so yena had perfect timing.”

ryujin’s eyebrows raised in surprise. she didn’t tell chaeryeong yet that she had forgotten her lunch. but then she remembered chaeryeong’s other reason for taking the lunchbox.

“um, aren’t you leaving something out there? who was it that reminded yena, ‘don’t forget to come buy our yearbooks next week?’” ryujin pointed her chopsticks accusingly.

yeji stopped eating to defend herself, “okay, i never took lunchboxes so that people would buy more yearbooks!”

“hey! so i wanted to keep our highest-paying fan happy, where’s the harm in that?” chaeryeong pretended to play dumb and all of the girls laughed.

“yah, lee chaeryeong, you’re a little too good at being social coordinator you know that?” lia elbowed chaeryeong.

“it’s what i do best.”

chaeryeong smiled smugly, flipping her hair over her right shoulder and displaying her classic ‘oh well’ look. she and lia then started laughing and smiling at each other, their eyes crinkling into crescents.

as everyone resumed eating and talking about other things, yuna found herself unable to move on from the lunchbox. she didn’t know why, but something unsettled her about ryujin taking lunchboxes from people her age. since when did it become appropriate for first years to date seniors?

she looked over at ryujin who still seemed a little sheepish at having forgotten yena’s lunchbox, but was feeling better as yeji reassured her that it was no big deal. yuna knew that ryujin wouldn’t have accepted the lunchbox if chaeryeong hadn’t made her because yuna knew ryujin better than anyone.

chaeryeong suddenly slapped her chopsticks down and clapped her hands together.

“oh my gosh now that yeji unnie has a new car, we should do something car-related for our summer fundraiser!” chaeryeong exclaimed. “we should do a car wash!”

although yeji was the leader, everyone else on the team had developed unofficial roles over the years to fund their dance team. they had a lot of things to pay for like weekly instructors, choreographers, a practice studio, costumes for their competitions, and registration fees.

chaeryeong was the one who started their social media accounts and advertised their competitions. she also came up with the idea of selling yearbooks, hosting fundraisers and arranging fanmeetings.

unfortunately, chaeryeong was hopeless at math so yuna was the treasurer and she made sure the team always had enough money to compete with for the next year.

lia designed their outfits and had a knack for keeping track of cheap online auctions.

yeji acted as the main representative for the team while still being responsible for logistics like planning when they would have practices and for how long.

ryujin acted almost like vice-captain as in she helped out in everyone else’s tasks. ryujin also happened to be extremely good at mixing different songs together and would often pick the music that they danced to.

“but won’t that be a lot of work for just the five of us to wash a bunch of cars?” asked ryujin in a skeptical tone.

“i can ask hyunjin oppa! he could probably also get some of his dance team members to help too…”

then, an idea popped into yeji’s head. “wait, what if we made it like a collaboration?”

“between who?” asked lia.

“our team and hyunjin oppa’s team! they also have a lot of fans, and we’ll definitely be able to get through a lot more cars if we team up with them,” said yeji.

“oh wait, i could also ask chaeyeon unnie’s dance team to help too!” said chaeryeong.

“chaeyeon unnie has a dance team? since when?” asked ryujin.

“she’s trying to form a new one through this exchange program with a japanese dance studio. i think they’re going to send over some dancers and form a team for the summer. we could use the car wash to help them promote and get fans as well!”

“how many people are going to be in her team?” asked ryujin.

secretly ryujin was hoping the answer would be a low number, like five. but chaeryeong quickly burst her bubble.

“i think like thirteen! it’s going to be a bunch of dancers from chaeyeon unnie’s university,”

“okay… but where would we even host it?”

“we could do it at my house!” lia offered.

most of the girls were from relatively well-off families except for lia. her family lived in a large mansion with a driveway long enough to line up at least a dozen cars.

“really lia unnie?”

chaeryeong’s eyes glistened at the rare chance to visit lia’s mansion. the last time she was there, she couldn’t help but stare at the enormous home theatre.

“yeah! it’s not like my driveway is being used for anything anyway, and maybe i can get that lazy brother of mine to help out if we host it.”

“are you sure it wouldn’t be too much of an imposition unnie?” asked ryujin.

“no it’ll be fine! my mom loves you guys and it’ll save us the trouble of having to worry about doing it in a random parking lot.” lia reassured ryujin. “the only problem will be trying to prevent my crazy dad from wanting to jump in.”

“so it’s settled!”

“but wait, we don’t even have supplies, and how would we know what to charge, and we don’t even know if we’ll be good at washing cars!”

ryujin always tended to think two steps ahead and usually had to be the voice of reason when chaeryeong came up with crazy ideas that were too big for reality. something was telling her that this carwash wouldn’t be a good idea.

“how to wash a car? it’s basic stuff! and we can just buy the supplies from the store, people do it all the time, it’s not rocket science!” argued chaeryeong.

“yeah, my dad might even have some supplies already because he likes washing his cars when it’s hot out. i can ask him for some pointers,” said lia.

“yeah, ryujin-ah, stop trying to poke holes in my plan!” chaeryeong stuck her tongue out at ryujin.

“i’m not trying to poke holes in your plan! i’m just thinking that washing cars may not be as easy as it looks.”

yeji looked closely at ryujin to see if she was actually upset. she could usually tell if ryujin was really upset or angry.

“please ryujinnie? i think it’ll be fun! plus we’ll have so many people helping us, it won’t even be that much work,” yeji pleaded. “but it’s up to you, we won’t do it if you don’t want us to.”

ryujin just wasn’t convinced by the idea. chaeryeong probably thought that having a car wash would just be them playing around with a bunch of soap and hoses and didn’t think about how tiring it would actually be for them to be under the hot sun all day.

but when ryujin saw how happy yeji looked at the idea and how she was looking at her with those puppy dog eyes, she knew that yeji was the sun and that she wouldn’t mind melting under that gaze any day.

“alright that’s fine, i guess a car wash sounds good to me too.”

chaeryeong and lia high-fived and cheered while yeji wrapped her arms around ryujin in a tight hug. ryujin felt her heartbeat quicken at yeji’s touch but she was so used to this kind of interaction that she hugged her back good-naturedly, knowing that yeji definitely didn’t know how it made ryujin feel.

“oh my gosh, guys we have to get back to school!” yuna looked at her watch to see that it was close to 1pm.

yeji looked at her phone and almost spit her water out.

“oh my gosh, you’re right. your parents are gonna kill me if they found out i made you late to school. everybody go get in the car!”

yeji quickly paid for their meal and everyone loaded back into her car. the date for the car wash was set for next saturday and everyone was buzzing with excitement.

yuna was in the middle of the backseat again, and as chaeryeong was going on about what kind of pictures she would post to advertise the event, yuna noticed that the first thing ryujin did when she got back in the car was look for yena’s lunchbox. once she found it on the floor, yuna could tell that ryujin was taking extremely good care of it by brushing off any dirt and smoothing out the wrinkles in the fabric.

yuna felt a gnawing at the pit of her stomach as she watched ryujin fondly stare at the gift in her lap.

“ryujin unnie, are you actually going to eat that?”

ryujin turned to see yuna staring coldly at her for reasons ryujin didn’t understand.

“um, yes? it’d be a shame to let it go to waste…”

ryujin looked closer at how yuna’s arms were crossed and how she was avoiding direct eye contact with her. something then clicked in her mind.

“aww, is someone a little jealous?”

yuna scoffed, “no! i just… i don’t think yena’s a very good cook.”

that was a complete lie. yena’s dishes were always very popular in home economics class.

ryujin laughed and softly ruffled the younger girl’s hair, “don’t worry yuna-yah, i’m sure you’ll get tons of lunchboxes when you become a senior too! once you find someone willing to take care of a princess.”

“what’s wrong with being a princess?!”

“nothing… princess.”

ryujin winked and yuna started slapping her shoulders.

“don’t call me that!”

“but it’s true! you’re our little baby princess!”

“am not!”

yuna huffed and stopped slapping ryujin when she noticed that they were clearly not having any effect on the older girl. she would just have to get her back another time.

“gosh, i feel bad for whoever does end up trying to give yuna a lunchbox. they’re probably going to have to get a professionally trained chef or something in order to satisfy her taste,” said chaeryeong who had, of course, filmed the entire interaction.

“but i don’t want yuna to get any lunchboxes!” said lia from the passenger seat. “she’s too young to be thinking about dating!”

“says who?” said yuna.

“says me! you’re only a freshman, you can’t start thinking about that stuff yet!” replied lia.

“but-“

“wait, are you saying you have thought about it?”

chaeryeong started lifting her eyebrows suggestively and nudged yuna several times.

“yah, stop it chaeryeong unnie! of course i haven’t! who’s got the time when i have to deal with you four unnies all day?”

ryujin then latched herself onto yuna and started pouting.

“so as long as we keep bothering you, our baby yuna princess won’t grow up and start dating? then i’ll make sure to never stop bothering our yuna~”

yuna and chaeryeong stared incredulously at this sudden aegyo from ryujin.

“oh my gosh, what is with this unnie recently! ryujin unnie are you okay?”

“yeah, ryujin-ah, is the change in weather making you delirious?” chaeryeong asked as well.

“no, i’m just kidding! but seriously, my heart hurts a little now when i think about yuna growing up.”

“me too!” piped lia. “she was so young when we first met and now she’s almost finished with her first year of high school!”

both of the older girls started fake tearing up and sniffing like moms thinking about their children growing up.

“alright, alright let’s not act like i’m dying here or anything!” yuna looked out the window. “oh look we’re here! at the school where we’ve all been! because we’re all not that different in age!”

“yeah, but we’re still a little different,” teased ryujin.

“anyways, thank you yeji unnie! this was really fun, and i’m super proud of you unnie for buying this car,”

ryujin gave yeji a backhug from the backseat and had to remind herself to let go before it got too long.

“yeah, unnie this is so impressive!” said chaeryeong, giving yeji a thumbs up.

“thank you guys, i appreciate it!”

“so does this mean you’ll pick us up for dance practice tomorrow?” asked yuna.

“yah, shin yuna,” scolded ryujin. “you expect yeji unnie to wake up at 6am and be our personal chauffeur just because she has a car now?”

yuna looked down at her hands shamefully, “i was just asking… i didn’t mean that yeji unnie has to. i’m sorry.”

“no it’s okay! i should be able to pick you guys up, it’s no problem!”

ryujin looked at yeji worriedly. she knew that yeji would do anything for them but her university was on the other side of town. it would take her at least an extra half hour to drive all the way to their houses. she would have to sacrifice hours of sleep she probably desperately needed with schoolwork, a job and leading their dance team.

“but yeji unnie-“

“seriously ryujinnie, it’s totally fine. now that lia and i live together, that takes out one extra stop so you don’t have to worry about it, really.”

“ryujin-ah,” called chaeryeong softly.

ryujin met chaeryeong’s gaze which reflect the same concern for their leader unnie. chaeryeong knew there was no talking yeji out of this either.

“how about yuna and i come to your house in the morning? your house is the furthest from the studio so it makes the most sense for you to be picked up, but this way yeji unnie only has to make one stop.”

ryujin was stunned and impressed at how fast chaeryeong had thought of her same worry and had already come up with a solution in the same time.

apparently ryujin wasn’t the only one because lia was already clapping and praising chaeryeong’s quick thinking and yuna was bearing a wide smile.

“chaeryeong unnie that’s perfect!”

“i mean, if that’s alright with your parents of course,” added chaeryeong.

ryujin shook her head and overcame her initial shock.

“um, no it shouldn’t be a problem,” ryujin still looked over at yeji to make sure yeji was sure that she would be okay with this. “are you sure yeji unnie?”

“oh my gosh ryujinnie, of course i’m sure! it won’t even take that long to pick you guys up, really,” replied yeji.

“alright, if you’re sure…” conceded ryujin.

“yay! so i’ll see you girls tomorrow?”

“yup!” replied chaeryeong cheerfully.

“now c’mon ryujin-ah, i don’t want to be late for math, ever since mr. son shaved his head, he kind of scares me.”

the three girls scooted out of the backseat and waved goodbye to their friends before running inside the school building. exactly one minute later the bell rang signaling the end of lunch.

after they watched the younger girls leave, yeji and lia were alone in the car as yeji drove them back to their dorm.

lia gazed at her best friend beside her and felt her heart fill with warmth at yeji’s smile that hadn’t disappeared the entire day. lia knew that yeji had been waiting for this friday for a while, for the chance to show everyone the fruit of all her hard work, and she was so happy for her.

wordlessly, lia took yeji’s hand that was resting on the center console and squeezed it gently.

“what was that for?”

“i’m just so proud of you, leader-yah.”

lia smiled her iconic crescent eye-smile and yeji saw the sunlight hit lia’s eyes just right and in that moment she swore they actually sparkled. yeji really couldn’t believe that this girl was real sometimes.

yeji brought their interlocked hands to her lips and kissed lia’s hand.

“thank you lia-yah, you know i couldn’t have done it without your support.”

lia blushed at the kiss and turned away from yeji’s gaze. ever since they had started living together as college roommates, yeji had started acting way more romantically towards her. lia knew yeji think of it as flirting or anything, she probably just thought that’s how everyone treats their best friends, even though it was really more like how most people treat their significant others.

yeji was good at a lot of things, but she was unbearably oblivious when it came to her own feelings. unless someone printed a sign saying “you like choi jisu” yeji probably wouldn’t ever come to that realization on her own.

but that was alright with lia. she liked all the parts of yeji’s personality, even the slow parts. she realized that it would probably take an act of god for yeji to discover that she liked lia as more than a friend, but lia was content with how they were right now.

she was yeji’s and that was all that mattered.

lia felt yeji’s thumb absentmindedly her hand and she relaxed under yeji’s touch as the floral-scented wind blew through the open car window.

yes, she was content with being yeji’s. for now.