Seulgi has known Sooyoung for about four years now. She’s currently 25, and Sooyoung is 23. They don’t have much of a difference in terms of age but their personalities prove otherwise. Even so, they match. At least, Seulgi thinks so.

 

Seulgi is currently studying at a university that’s around a ten minute drive from where Sooyoung studies. She makes it a habit to pick up the younger girl whenever she’s done with classes. When Sooyoung hops on her vehicle, they either talk or they don’t. The radio is there to keep them company. Either way, Seulgi doesn’t mind.

 

Seulgi would drop off Sooyoung to her double storey house. Quite big of a place for one person to live in, she thought. She’s voiced out her concern for Sooyoung’s safety but the latter gave her the Look and she’s never questioned about it since.

 

On weekends they either hang out or they don’t. Seulgi likes it when they do, though. But of course Sooyoung doesn’t know this. Seulgi doesn’t want her to know.

 

Another thing she doesn’t want Sooyoung to know?

 

The fact that she’s falling for her.

 

Seulgi doesn’t know how or when it happened exactly.

 

Wait, scratch that.

 

Maybe she does.

 

Maybe it’s the way Sooyoung’s smile would be the only thing that’s driving her determination to finish her classes every day, just so she knows that would be what awaits her at the end.

 

Maybe it’s the way Sooyoung would say “hi, Seulgi unnie!” every time she gets on her car.

 

Maybe it’s the way Sooyoung would sometimes fall asleep while the radio plays a soft ballad. And Seulgi never forgets to turn down the volume whenever she realizes Sooyoung is fast asleep.

 

Or, maybe it’s the way Seulgi would purposely avoid the holes in the road, just so there wouldn’t be any bumps. And just so Sooyoung could sleep in peace.

 

This is when Seulgi realizes that she’s fallen for the younger girl.

 

She doesn’t know how to stop what she feels.

 

And she’s not sure if she even wants it to stop at this point.

 

The only solution she can think of right now is to avoid Sooyoung as much as possible. She’s not entirely sure if it’s even working, though.

 

---

 

It’s another typical Monday evening when she arrives at Sooyoung’s campus. She parks her car at the usual spot, thankful that it isn’t taken by any other car today.

 

She looks ahead and sees Sooyoung walking towards her car. Even then, she tries her best to make her heart stop beating so fast.

 

Joy opens the car door and hops in, “Hi, Seulgi unnie!” she says with a grin.

 

Seulgi gives off her usual eye smile whenever she greets the younger girl, “Hi, Sooyoung-ah. How was class today?” she asks as she starts the car engine.

 

Sooyoung pouts, “It was fine. My assignments are piling up, though.” She fastens her seat belt as Seulgi does the same.

 

Seulgi sighs dejectedly before responding, “Same.”

 

There is a brief moment of silence between them as they exit the campus area.

 

“Unnie.” Sooyoung speaks up first.

 

“Hmm?”

 

“Do you wanna hang out with me tomorrow? You don’t have classes on Tuesdays, right?” The younger girl says while scrolling on her phone.

 

Seulgi mentally curses at herself. She really shouldn’t have told Sooyoung her class schedules for the rest of the semester. She keeps Sooyoung’s in her notes, though. But that’s beside the point right now. “I can’t, Sooyoung-ah. I’m busy these days.”

 

Sooyoung turns to look at the older girl currently driving, “Are you seriously saying that or are you just trying to avoid me?”

 

Seulgi almost chokes on nothing. It feels like someone dropped a bomb on her. “W-what do you mean?”

 

Sooyoung huffs and crosses her arms, her eyes no longer meeting Seulgi’s, “I feel like you’re avoiding me, unnie. You haven’t been spending time with me and we only talk when you’re driving me home like what you’re doing right now.”

 

Seulgi slowly stops her car when she sees the red light from a distance. Her eyes are only on the road and not to the girl sitting beside her, “T-that’s not true.” She denies Sooyoung’s claims.

 

“You know it’s true.”

 

“…”

 

“Did I do something wrong?” Sooyoung is looking at her now. But Seulgi won’t budge.

“…”

 

“Seulgi unnie..”

 

“…”

 

“Do you hate m-“

 

“No!”

 

Sooyoung is taken aback at the sudden raise of the older girl’s voice. Seulgi has never spoken to her that way before. Now she’s wondering if Seulgi does in fact hate her. It’s stupid, she knows.

 

Seulgi slowly presses on the brake as she sees the red light in front of them. She’s starting to think she may have replied a little too fast. Her ears are turning red. She looks over at the person sitting beside her. Sooyoung looks a bit troubled, quieter than usual.

 

She clears .

 

“I mean, I don’t hate you.” Seulgi reaches for Sooyoung’s right sleeve and tugs at it, as if persuading her, “I can never hate you.”

 

Seulgi waits for Sooyoung to say something, anything.

 

Sooyoung still doesn’t reply after that. The whole car ride turns silent. Seulgi can still feel her heart beating loudly.

 

When they arrive at Sooyoung’s place, Seulgi’s heart still feels uneasy. She feels like she has definitely wronged the younger girl.

 

Sooyoung begins unbuckling her seat belt, ready to get off the car when Seulgi suddeny reaches for her hand.

 

“Wait. Sooyoung-ah, I’m sorry.”

 

When the said girl finally looks at her, Seulgi swears she sees something in her eyes. The look of hurt? Sadness? Disappointment? She doesn’t know. Either way, she can feel her heart breaking at the sight.

 

Sooyoung slowly pulls her hand away from Seulgi’s grip, “it’s okay, unnie.”

 

“When I said I can never hate you, I mean it. Please believe me.” Seulgi utters.

 

Sooyoung doesn’t say a word. Her eyes never meeting Seulgi’s pleading ones.

 

Seulgi takes this as a sign to continue, “I’ll make time for you. Let’s spend time together tomorrow? Hmm?” she says, taking hold of Sooyoung’s hand again and caressing it softly.

 

Sooyoung will never admit it in a million years, but she feels her cheeks blushing.

 

“Let’s watch a movie or something at your place. I miss playing with Haetnim even though she scares me sometimes..”

 

“Hey!” Sooyoung is finally looking at Seulgi now at the mention of her precious baby, her hand raised up in an attempt to smack the older girl.

 

Seulgi only laughs at this, “so all it took for you to be nice to me again is Haetnim, huh?”

 

Sooyoung merely rolls her eyes, “oh, shut up.”

 

Seulgi pretends to zip , “got it, princess.”

 

“Okay then.”

 

“What?”

 

“We’ll watch a movie tomorrow.”

 

“Yeah?”

 

Sooyoung nods and replies, “yeah. It’s a date,” she declares before leaning towards Seulgi and giving her a soft kiss on her cheek.

 

She quickly gets off the car after that, leaving no time for Seulgi to react.

 

Seulgi is left dumbstruck. Everything happened way too fast for an admittedly slow person like her. Even so, her hand reaches up to her cheek. Feeling the spot where Sooyoung kissed her.

 

She feels like she’s dreaming.

 

She can’t stop smiling the whole car ride home.

 

Who is she kidding?

She can never stop her feelings for Park Sooyoung.

 

---

 

It’s the day of their “date” as Sooyoung called it.

 

No, Seulgi will never forget the way Sooyoung said it. No matter if the latter was serious about it or not. The kiss she got on her cheek was more than enough.

 

The first thing she did after arriving at Sooyoung’s place was messing around with Haetnim. She’s glad the puppy is nice to her. She might have seen Sooyoung get a tad bit annoyed for the puppy bonding with her so much, though.

 

“At this point, I’m starting to think she likes you more than me, unnie.”

 

Seulgi giggles as she carries the puppy that’s fervently her face, “you know that’s not true!”

 

“What I’m witnessing right now proves me otherwise,” Sooyoung states.

 

They spend the next few hours watching a movie. Haetnim falls asleep right after.

 

The end credits of the movie starts rolling on the TV.

 

Sooyoung is pressed against Seulgi, almost side-hugging her. Seulgi tries her very best to not hyperventilate. She feels Sooyoung reaching for her arm, caressing and softly massaging it almost. Seulgi tries her very best to not hyperventilate again.

 

She speaks up to ease her nerves, “that was a nice movie.” Such a boring thing to say after watching a movie with your crush. Yes, she knows this. Also yes, you may judge her.

 

“You think so?”

 

“Uhh.. yeah.”

 

“Which part of it do you like the most?”

 

“Well, probably the part where the guy broke his nose, he deserved that. Also, the part where the other guy found his long-lost father. And I think that-“

 

“Unnie,” Sooyoung suddenly says, repositioning herself so her entire torso is facing the older girl.

 

Seulgi is surprised by the sudden gesture, “yes?”

 

“…”

 

Seulgi begins to feel concerned now. She grasps Sooyoung’s shoulder, “what’s wrong? Are you feeling alright?”

 

Sooyoung takes a deep breath before gripping on Seulgi’s hand on her shoulder and setting it down between them.

 

“Unnie, will you close your eyes for me?”

 

“Close my eyes? Why?”

 

“Nothing, please just do it,” Sooyoung pleads.

 

Seulgi doesn’t know what the hell is going on but she complies anyway because it’s Sooyoung. She can never say no to Sooyoung.

 

“Are you gonna give me a present or something? Sooyoung-ah, my birthday was four months ago,” she says with her eyes closed.

 

Sooyoung chuckles, “I know that. I already gave you your present, remember?”

 

“Okay.. so why am I closing my eyes?”

 

“Will you promise to always be my friend?”

 

“Of course.” Seulgi answers confidently.

 

“Will you promise to always be by my side?” Sooyoung continues.

 

“Yes. Why are you asking me this?”

 

“I just wanted to make sure.”

 

Seulgi opens her eyes slightly, just to know the younger girl is still sitting in front of her.

 

“Hey, no peeking!”

 

Seulgi laughs, “okay, okay. Sorry, boss.”

 

“If I do something, will you promise not to run away?” Sooyoung asks, her hands reaching for Seulgi’s.

 

“Do what? Are you finally done putting up with my antics? Are you gonna beat me up?”

 

“Unnieee, I’m serious!”

 

Seulgi laughs out loud, “I’m kidding!”

 

She intertwines their hands between them, pressing them softly.

 

“You know I’ll never run away from you. That’s just not possible.”

 

Sooyoung breaks out into a grin, satisfied with Seulgi’s answer. “Cool.”

 

Seulgi hums. “Cool.”

 

That’s also the moment she feels Sooyoung’s hand reaching up to her neck. Effectively pulling her towards the younger girl. Closer and closer.

 

“W-wait, what are you doing?” Seulgi dares to ask. She has a feeling she knows what Sooyoung is doing.

 

Sooyoung doesn’t answer. Instead, she slowly presses her lips against Seulgi’s.

 

Seulgi feels like she’s dreaming.

 

What the actual is going on.

 

This can’t be happening for real.

 

She gets thrown back to reality when she realizes Sooyoung deliberately pulling away from the lack of response. So, she quickly captures the younger’s lips and kisses her back tenderly.

 

When they both pull away, Seulgi still has her eyes closed.

 

“So.. will you run away?” Sooyoung utters timidly.

 

Seulgi thinks that’s a pretty dumb question coming from a smart person like Sooyoung.

 

But she smiles her signature bear smile and answers her anyway.

 

It’s a regular Thursday evening.

 

Seulgi is on her way to pick up Sooyoung, but this time she’s not alone. She bumped into Hyojung who’s an old friend of her from high school. They caught up and Seulgi offered to give her a lift to the subway station near Sooyoung’s place.

 

Seulgi and Sooyoung have been dating for two weeks. Seulgi still feels like she’s dreaming from time to time.

 

But when she sees the younger girl blushing and smiling at her and kissing her before the day ends, she’s almost certain she’s not.

 

She parks her car at Sooyoung’s campus while still talking with Hyojung. She misses the memories she used to have a few years back.

 

As Sooyoung nears the car, she notices another figure at the front seat. Her expression changes and she start to wonder, who the hell is that?

 

She makes herself comfortable at the back seat with a slight frown evident on her face. That’s when her girlfriend at the driver’s seat clarifies, “Sooyoung-ah, this is Hyojung. She’s an old friend of mine. I’m sending her to the subway station while we’re on the way home.”

 

Sooyoung nods and politely smiles at Hyojung.

 

The two girls in front of her are catching up a lot. She notices Seulgi laughing every minute and covering , a habit of hers. And what’s that? She’s touching the girl’s arm?

 

Sooyoung does not like what she’s sees and she feels like an outsider in that vehicle. She distracts herself by scrolling through her phone, hoping the car ride would miraculously pass by faster than usual.

 

When her conversation died down with Hyojung, Seulgi looks up at the rear view mirror to check on Sooyoung. She spots the younger girl fiddling with her phone, eyes looking outside the window. She smiles. Sooyoung is cute.

 

After what seemed like forever, they arrive at the subway station and Seulgi drops off Hyojung.

 

She turns to the back and looks at Sooyoung who has her eyes still glued to the phone.

 

“Sooyoung-ah,”

 

The said girl looks up, “Hm?”

 

Seulgi pats the seat beside her, “come and sit here with me,”

 

Sooyoung takes a deep breath before pushing herself off the back seat and getting out the car to move to the front seat.

 

Once she settles herself, she breathes out. She realizes Seulgi is still just looking at her and doing nothing but that. She’s getting weirded out for a second.

 

“Unnie?”

 

“Hmm?”

 

“Why aren’t you driving?”

 

“This car won’t move until you give the driver a kiss.”

 

Sooyoung rolls her eyes and chuckles, “is that so?”

 

Seulgi nods, faking a serious expression, “yes, I’ve heard.”

 

Sooyoung shakes her head in disbelief, “you’re so annoying sometimes.”

 

Seulgi reaches for the other girl’s familiar hand and join their hands together, ignoring the remark, “how was class today?”

 

Sooyoung sighs out loud, “it was fine. I have more assignments this week.” Her eyes fixated on their intertwined hands.

 

“I know you will handle them just fine. You’re smart.”

 

“And you’re annoying.”

 

Seulgi can’t help but chuckle at the statement. Sooyoung always says she’s annoying. She doesn’t know in what way but it became endearing to hear after a while.

 

“Why are you laughing? What’s so funny?”

 

“Nothing. You’re cute.”

 

“And you’re still annoying.”

 

Seulgi isn’t fazed, “can I have that kiss now?”

 

Sooyoung turns and stares at the older girl for a bit before quickly leaning forward and pressing a swift kiss on Seulgi’s lips.

 

“There. Happy?”

 

Seulgi simply smiles. That will make do for now. She starts the engine and let go of their hands to have a firm grip on the steering wheel.

 

Sooyoung observes and admires her girlfriend in silence. She likes seeing Seulgi drive. She thinks Seulgi looks cool when she does. But of course, Seulgi will never know this.

 

“She’s just a friend,” Seulgi says out of nowhere.

 

Sooyoung thought she was hearing things, “what?”

 

Seulgi takes a short look at Sooyoung before having her eyes fixed on the road, “Hyojungie. She’s just a friend. We haven’t seen each other in three years. I was happy to see her.”

 

Sooyoung huffs and crosses her arms, “I never said you’re not allowed to be.”

 

Seulgi smiles again, “you’re cute.”

 

The younger girl simply hums, “you’re annoying,”

 

Seulgi chuckles. She expected that response.

 

“… but I still like you.” Sooyoung continues.

 

That, she did not expect. Seulgi feels her ears heating up. She pulls Sooyoung’s hand away from her side and holds it firmly.

 

“I like you too.”