("Yubin, where we goin'? I'm not done yettt.." Minji whined after reluctantly being put in the car by Yubin.

"I'm sending you home. Bora called me already, she's worried about you."

"Oh..." Minji replied quietly. Suddenly Yubin heard soft sobbing coming from the backseat.

"Hey, why are you crying?" Yubin asked with concern as she glanced at the rearview mirror, seeing Minji curling up on her seat.

"'-m sad... wanna tell the world she's mine..." Minji said between her sniffles, "...want her to be happy."

"Why? Is she not happy now?" Yubin's question was met with quiet snore from Minji.)

 

Minji wakes up the next morning retching over the toilet bowl. Waves of nausea clawing up , emptying her stomach content. Whatever dinner she had last night ended up floating in the toilet water. Her nose wrinkles at the sight.

Minji feels a hand rubbing her back and holding her hair. The sound of her throwing up must've woken Bora up.

"Water..." Minji croaks. Dehydration is getting to her.

Bora comes back with a bottle of water. "Here. Go take a shower, I'll make you hangover soup."

Minji takes a big gulp of water before replying, "Mm, thanks, baby."

 

Minji's nose picks up the smell of haejang-guk as she enters the kitchen, all freshened up. crinkles upwards at the sight of Bora's small back, looking so intent stirring the broth.

She makes her way towards Bora and wraps her arms around Bora's waist, towering over her tiny girlfriend. "Hmm smells so good..." she breathes in, and burrows her nose into Bora's neck.

"Me or the food?"

"The food, of course. You stink!" Minji laughs when Bora aggressively shrugs her off her shoulder. "Ah, my head hurts."

"Go away, go sit there. Go. Go."

Minji laughs again as she takes her seat at the kitchen island. Watching Bora making food for her is so therapeutic. Even though sometimes she nags while she's cooking, Minji can feel the amount of love that she puts into her meal. Minji smiles to herself.

"So..."

"So..."

They both say it at the same time once Minji finishes her meal.

"You first." Bora lets Minji talk first.

"So...what happened yesterday?"

Bora lets out a heavy sigh before answering, "Jaehyung got into an accident while he was under influence. He didn't hit anyone, thankfully. But he was caught by the police." Minji is still confused as to where this is going, but she continues to listen, "Before the reporters got wind of this, the company thought a dating rumour would bury his news. So now, I have to be his fake girlfriend for...maybe less than a year?"

"Why did you agree to this? That’s his responsibility." Minji frowns in disapproval.

"Do you think I want to do it? Besides, if it's not me, they're going to ask Yoohyeon. You know she wouldn't say no, right? And a girl group leader with a boy group member? His fans would eat her alive. I'd rather it be me than her."

The mention of Yoohyeon grips Minji's heart. Bora has always been protective of Yoohyeon. That girl is almost like her own little sister. Minji wouldn't want Yoohyeon to suffer too, especially when it's not even her own doing. It's always the girls who would have the disadvantage. The fact that their company would rather risk their female artists just to cover up their male artists says a lot.

"Your company is an ."

"Yeah, tell me about it..." Bora sighs in defeat.

"But... what about the picture?"

"What picture?” Bora blinks, before realizations dawns her face. “Oh! Remember last year when I had a performance with him for the music show? That was after we finished the practice. He offered to send me home because Siyeon was sick that day. The company leaked that footage to make it seem believable that we're dating."

"Okay..." Minji says, still trying to process this whole thing. "Do you have to date him publicly? Going to dates, and all that?"

"No. I firmly said to the company I would not do that. Besides, going out publicly will only fuel the fire, I want this to die down as quickly as it can."

"Okay, I think I can live with that."

-------------------

"Minji...what did you do?" Minji hears Bora mutters to herself.

"What? Why?"

"No, no, nothing," Bora tries to hide her phone.

"What? Give it to me." Minji snatches the phone quickly.

Minji reads the headlines on the phone.

[Kim Minji gets aggressive when asked about best friend SuA: Friendship ended over boys?]

"The headline is so clickbaity," Minji says as she reads the article. She just shakes her head at the way the reporter twists her words, it's not surprising anymore. Minji scrolls down to the comment section. The comment section must've gone crazy cursing her.

"Hey, don't read the comments." Bora tries to take it from Minji, stopping her from reading all the mean comments.

She ignores Bora and keeps reading the comments.

1. [+3,837, -27] What a diva... She's just jealous her best friend has a love life and she doesn't.

2. [+2,258, -18] ㅋㅋ Does she think she's better than everyone?

3. [+1,525, -26] I can't stand her. Her acting is not that good either. She just leeches off our SuA nuna's popularity, I really hope they're not friends anymore.

4. [+270, -7] , you reporters asked her an invasive question about her best friend, do you think she will not get mad? What if someone asked you about your friend's relationship at your own graduation ceremony? You guys are so ing shameless.

 

Minji smiles at the last comment,

At least someone gets it.

-------------------

True to its nature, the public forgets about the dating news as soon as they found another scandalous news to latch into. Two months later, Bora's company released a statement that the couple broke up. The press also never found out about Jaehyung's drunk driving incident. Everything is going in the direction as the company hoped for.

 

They're in the living room, watching Dumbo again, for God knows how many times. Well, Bora is watching. Minji is lost in her thoughts.

Minji has been thinking about it for some time. About herself. About her future. Their future.

With Bora's head against her chest, Minji lightly scratches Bora's head. Something that Minji finds comfort in doing when she's thinking.

"Bora..." Minji taps her fingers on her girlfriend's head.

"Mm?" Bora looks up through her lashes. Minji brushes Bora's fringe aside so she can see her eyes better. So that she can gaze into those beautiful brown eyes of hers.

"I think I'm ready,"

"For what?"

"To tell about us, to everyone,"

Bora sits up, "Are you serious? What about your career?"

"I don't care about that. I think I'll be happier if I could be honest."

"Are you really sure about this?"

"Yeah, for whatever it's worth. I'm not only doing this for us. I'm doing this for myself too."

"Okay..."

"Okay?"

"Yeah, okay, we will do that. I'll call Siyeon tomorrow to let her know we're doing this."

"I'll let Yubin know too,"

"Come here," Bora opens her arms, inviting Minji to come towards her. "I'm so proud of you," Bora says as soon as Minji is wrapped in her arms. Bora leans in to kiss her, full of love and affection.

"Mhm...I love you."

"I- " Bora kisses her on her forehead, "...love-" her cheek, "...you-" the bridge of her nose,"...too." and comes to her lips again.

 

5 years later

Minji is at another year-end award show. But this time, it's Bora she's linking arms with.

Kim Bora, her plus one. Her partner. Her wife. The love of her life.

After the revelation, it was hard at first. No producer would want to take her. There was no job offer at all. Her fans, expectedly, some of them left her, cursed her even. Her mom wouldn't even want to talk to her for months. Though, after knowing that Bora makes Minji really happy, her mom came to terms with it. Besides, who could resist that small bundle of energy's charm?

But even with no job offer, her boss and her company still believed in her. They support her with all they can. And she's really thankful for that.

She couldn't say the same for Bora, though. Her company dropped her before the news was even announced. Minji knew it hurt Bora that her company would betray her like that, but true to Bora's fashion, she said she's glad they dropped her. She's going to terminate her contract anyway. With Bora leaving the company, Siyeon left too. Minji is glad Bora has someone as loyal as Siyeon.

Minji really thought her acting career would finally meet its end, and to be honest, she's okay with that. She has Bora by her side. She can love Bora as much as she wants. But then an offer came from an indie producer. The pay wasn't much but she's content with it.

A year later, the movie is nominated for an award, and here she is, making a comeback after all those years.

It was hard, but being able to openly love someone, it's all worth it in the end.

She glances at Bora who looks up smiling at her. She smiles back.

Bora looks so happy.

And somehow, to Minji, it is all that matters.