moonbyul enjoyed her job, and she quickly made friends at work. she did not really do much, only really operating the children’s carousel, and keeping it maintained. she took joy in seeing the smiles on children’s faces, at the tiny human beings bouncing up and down in excitement in the arms of their parents, and she would very often be seen with a fond expression on her face.

during her breaks, moonbyul often hung out in the breakroom with her coworkers, having gotten close to 2 in particular.

chorong was her supervisor, keeping a close eye on the younger girl for the first couple of days to make sure everything would be okay, before she left moonbyul to her devices. chorong would occasionally check in on moonbyul even after leaving her be, bringing her small snacks an having small talk with her when there was no one waiting to ride the carousel.

bomi was chorong’s girlfriend, and she was working as a mascot in the amusement park, a hyperactive monkey that often elicited giggles from the children with her antics. the couple had met in high school, and have been together for multiple years already, and moonbyul has never met such a pair. bomi was such an extrovert, very warm and friendly and got along well with everyone, whereas chorong was not as outgoing, and oftentimes people met bomi before they met chorong, but moonbyul was not training to be a mascot, but a park attendant, and she just so happened to be assigned to chorong.

moonbyul hit it off instantly with bomi, surprisingly having many common topics with her, including the interest in dancing they both shared.

irene, the girl moonbyul had bumped into, was someone moonbyul constantly saw, but never approached, at least for the first few days. after the brief encounter the two had – moonbyul was shellshocked, too stunned by irene’s beauty to say anything – moonbyul had questioned chorong about who the mysterious girl was, and chorong had just briefly said that she was a shy person, keeping to herself more often than not, but that irene was a good and kind person, as far as anyone knew.

moonbyul was intrigued by the girl that she found out was a year older than her, which made her the same age as yongsun and chorong. she found herself trying to approach irene, making small talk whenever she would catch the older girl in the break room, bunny head in her arms, complimenting her hair or makeup. moonbyul does not know if she sees wrongly, but she believed the girl’s cheeks turn a little flushed as she hurries to leave the room.

she found herself drawn to this quiet girl, quite unlike any of her friends who usually made the initiative to get to know her. being put in a position where she had to be the person who took the lead, she was feeling very comfortable, something that the girl had not felt ever since her breakup. it almost seemed like this girl was cold to everyone, but moonbyul felt that there was something beneath the surface of this girl, and she felt compelled to dig that out.

//

another few weeks flew by as moonbyul found herself enjoying her job more and more, thoughts of her ex subsiding as smiles repeatedly bloomed on her face. she would like to believe it was the contagious joyful atmosphere of the amusement park that sparked this change in mood, but she knew deep down that it was the change in environment – both physical and social – that caused it.

she had gotten her first pay 2 weeks back, and in that time, found a quaint apartment slightly off campus with rent that was within her budget of her pay and the savings she had from before, sufficient for at least the next 3 months, and a reasonable size for 1 person to stay in. moving in the very next day after signing the contract, she managed to find a new routine faster than she expected.

she loved wheein and hyejin, and appreciated all they had done for her after the breakup, but a part of her was constantly reminded of yongsun being around them, and the new job with her new colleagues, and now with her new apartment, she felt like she could start afresh, and everything would be a breath of fresh air.

of course, not all days were good, as moonbyul would occasionally find herself waking up in her bed, head pounding, with nothing but a few bottles of alcohol on her bedside table and the open balcony door, the faint smell of cigarettes lingering in the air to give her a clue to what had happened the night before.

those were usually the worst days. she only turned to smoking only when her hands were itching to pull out her phone to send a text, or a call to yongsun, with no one to stop her. the cigarettes were her coping tools, occupying the space in her hand that she wished would have her phone in it instead. she was ashamed of this habit, usually remembering how yongsun would chastise her whenever she would come home, or what used to be of it, after a bad submission or theory test, with the smell of perfume being overly potent to cover up the smell of potential smoke.

sure, those were the bad days, but as mentioned, her days were getting significantly better. she would wake up, refreshed and ready to start her day, a spring in her every step as she leapt out of bed, and those were the days she preferred.

she looked forward to going into work, waving to cute children and enthusiastic parents, and gossiping about amusement park events with her co-workers.

//

moonbyul and irene had gotten significantly closer, something chorong and bomi had been surprised at numerous times, especially when moonbyul one day tells the girls about a funny text she had received from the older girl the night before.

they explained that no one had ever gotten casual texts from the ice rabbit – the nickname she had acquired weeks into getting the mascot job due to her almost aloof personality – much less know about the humour she held. for some strange reason, moonbyul felt a sense of pride, happy that she had somehow managed to melt irene’s walls slightly, and got to know her on a level others did not.

that night, she tells irene how grateful she is to have irene talk to her and joke around with her, and irene shocks her when she tells moonbyul to call her joohyun, right when they were about to sleep - for time zoomed when they talked and it was nearing 2am. irene, or joohyun, (moonbyul was still trying to adjust) clarified that irene was the name given to her by her friends when she had moved to Canada for a couple years in middle school, and it was the name she went by in professional settings such as work.

moonbyul’s heart warmed at the thought of joohyun considering her as a friend even outside of work, and something in her was filled with nerves when she sent her last goodnight text, ‘goodnight and sweet dreams joohyun’, before she put her phone to charge on the bedside table.

she laid back down on the bed, staring at the ceiling in darkness, a soft smile playing on her face as she mumbled to herself, “joohyun huh? it suits her, personality and all,” drifting off to dreamland right as the last few words floated out of .

//

wheein and hyejin had been bugging her to take them to her workplace for a fun day out ever since they heard about where she worked at, and she always had managed to successfully weasel her way out each time. it was clear by now that the reason for not bringing them there was not because she did not like her job, or that she was embarrassed by it, to be exact, it was the exact opposite.

she loved her job, and she liked how it was a breath of fresh air from all the recent thunderstorms life had decided to rain upon her. she was scared that by binding the two worlds, even this world she had grown to love and sought comfort in would be thrown into disarray, when the sun had only barely begun to peek through the clouds for her.

it had been over half a year at this point, 8 months to be exact, and moonbyul had decided that she had dragged the inevitable out for too long, after being bombarded by a series of messages in the group they had.

the messages were drawn out texts of wheein whining to hyejin about how much fun an amusement park outing would be during the boring summer they were having – how subtle, moonbyul thought to herself, a snicker escaping. hyejin was trying to be supportive, and to be honest, it was just funny for the girl. she had already decided on bringing the girls, but it was fun to watch the two younger girls struggle for a bit.

she finally ended their futile attempts with a video call, telling them about her plans, and getting an excited squeal from the puppy and an exasperated sigh from hyejin – “couldn’t you have said this earlier byul? i had to deal with her whining for 2 whole months”. hyejin’s words stung, making moonbyul chuckle and mumble a half-hearted apology, using the excuse that wheein was her girlfriend, it would be normal for her to deal with wheein’s whining anyway. they set a date and time, and moonbyul in a deep breath after ending the call, unable to stop the compulsive thoughts of what might the outing bring.

//

the day of the outing had come, and moonbyul was feeling slightly nervous. this was the first time moonbyul was going to the amusement park as a guest, ever since she had started working there. she was decked out in a white graphic tee and a pair of washed out jeans, along with some white sneakers, waiting idly at the bus stop near the amusement park for the 2 younger girls.

it did not take long for them to arrive, wheein skipping around in her denim overalls, with her arm hooked around her girlfriend’s arm, dragging the other girl around. no one could resist not smiling from the puppy’s contagious positivity and moonbyul was no exception. a grin bloomed on her face and soon enough, all three of them were hand in hand, walking down the path to the place moonbyul had gotten oh-so familiar with.

the three quickly purchased a ticket at the ticket booth – moonbyul proudly flashing her staff identity card for the staff discount - and entered the park. pulling her girlfriend by the arm, wheein bolted straight in the direction of the haunted house, “let’s go let’s go let’s go!” she repeated, excitement evident in her voice.

//

the day was coming to an end, the sky turning into a dark navy shade as the sun started to set. the trio was wandering around the park now, just having come from seeing chorong and bomi off. the two were done with their shift for the day early and were going off for a short date together. moonbyul did not know why it was a surprise to the 4 of her friends getting along, as most of them were outgoing, and easy to get along with. she was starting to think that things would not be that bad.

moonbyul was walking backwards, facing the girls, which was something she did often. they were deep in discussion on what to do after they were done at the park.

“moonbyul! behind yo-”

“oof!”

wheein’s cry was too late, for moonbyul felt her back hitting someone hard, till she was stumbling forwards from the impact. the person she had hit sounded to have fallen to the floor, and when moonbyul turned back to apologise, she felt a sense of déjà vu.

on the floor was irene, her rabbit head having tumbled off once again, but this time she had a child in her arms whose eyes were wide open, mouth agape out of shock. moonbyul looked a little to the right, to which was a short line of children and parents, all in the same shocked stupor as the children in irene’s arms.

irene stood up with speed and agility, hoisting the child she managed to protect (moonbyul had bumped into the child and not irene you see) and making sure that they were okay. the children that were queueing looked over to the bunny mascot, now without her head, and a few of the younger ones started to cry.

“oh no, i’m sorry irene, i wasn’t looking at where i was going. hey bud, you alright over there?” moonbyul bent down, making eyelevel with the boy, who gave a firm nod before cheekily smiling.

“wow, miss bunny is so pretty even without the mask!”

he can’t possibly be trying to flirt with joohyun right? this kid looks no older than 10 for crying out loud! moonbyul let out a quiet groan, as the 2 girls who were behind her went to comfort the other kids in the queue. she gave the kid a forced smile, and a pat on the head, before walking away from irene and the boy, to where the bunny head was, abandoned on the sidewalk.

the girl picked up the bunny head, sighing to herself, thinking, i know she’s pretty, everyone does, so why does it bother me…

“-byul! earth to moonbyul!” the girl’s head snapped up, turning to the source of the sound, where wheein and hyejin was standing with the bunny, all the kids and parents gone. she walked over to them and handed over the missing piece of irene’s costume to the older girl, apologising once more.

“no, don’t worry, byul…”

“is something wrong joohyun…?”

it was unlike the girl to be this quiet around moonbyul, at least now, not when the older girl had warmed up to her and grown to be more talkative. it was when she noticed the soundless motions 2 girls happened to be making beside irene. oh…

“hey irene, meet wheein, and her girlfriend hyejin, they’re my friends!” at the sound of their names, each of the girls smiled at the former. she saw how irene peeked up at the word ‘girlfriend’ and the little smile that tried to make its way on her face.

//

the sound of chatter and laughter, along with glasses clinking, was loud in the restaurant, with the smell of meat cooking on the barbeque would have made anyone’s mouth salivate. irene, moonbyul, wheein and hyejin were seated around a table, the grill popping off as servings of meat were being churned out.

after the incident, and introductions were over, wheein and hyejin had proposed that irene join them for dinner, saying that they would wait for her shift to end outside the amusement park. moonbyul had wished that the girl would say yes, but pegged no expectations on it, so it came to her surprise when the girl slowly nodded her head, shyly smiling. moonbyul’s heart melted a little at that sight, her eyes turning into crescents as her lips curled up.

a couple hours later, there they were, eating meat and chatting with just a couple of green bottles scattered on the table. there was small talk going around, wheein and hyejin being naturally sociable, and knowing which questions to ask without making irene feel uncomfortable or put on the spot.

“irene!” wheein started “you’re sooooo pretty you know? no wonder moonbyul talks about you so much,” causing the girl in question to flush a shade of red.

“she talks about me? what has she said? and, no, she’s so much cooler!”

“oh! well, she just said-“

“i! just said that you’re a very nice girl that i enjoy working with, right wheein?” moonbyul interjected, shooting a sharp glare to the younger girl.

“oh, yeahhhh definitely! she also constantly gushes about your beauty, and how your smiles light up her day and that your voice is the highlight of her shifts and-”

“hyejin!”

by this time, moonbyul’s cheeks were on fire, as the other 3 girls burst into laughter. she picked up her shot of soju and downed it, feeling the bitter liquid burn a little before placing it back down on the table, albeit probably a lot stronger than necessary.

//

it was only at the end of the day, when  everyone was home and moonbyul was in bed, exchanging her routine goodnight texts with the extremely fitting bunny-like girl did hyejin’s words back at the restaraunt float back into her mind. did i really talk about joohyun like that? it makes me sound like i like he- .

a/n: this was honestly just me being self-indulgent in my moonrene agenda, and I'm sorry for the cliff-hanger ksjdhfksjhfk you can follow me on my twt and cc (under the same user) if you want to find me! votes and comments are very much appreciated if you could leave some!