The rest of the afternoon was a blur for Yoojung. She couldn’t focus on her class work, instead her mind was elsewhere. She kept replaying what had happened between her and Doyeon at lunch, her mind was going to places she didn’t like. She wondered, what would it be like if she and Doyeon did ever date? Of course she knew they wouldn’t, but she wondered how would their friends actually react. Would Doyeon still treat her the same way? Would their friendship be over? She groaned loudly and shook her head.

“Yoojung, are you alright?” Doyeon asked. “You’ve been awfully quiet since lunch time. Are you upset about the ship name?”

Doyeon and Yoojung were now at Doyeon’s house in her bedroom. It was a common occurrence that Yoojung would either be at Doyeon’s or Doyeon would be at Yoojung’s. Their parents would often joke that it was a good thing they all got along so well.

“What?” Yoojung snapped out of her trance, and processed the question. “Oh, no. I don’t mind it, it’s funny.” She smiled.

“Then what’s wrong?” Doyeon tilted her head looking at Yoojung with concern in her voice.

“I just... I,” Yoojung bit her lip. She couldn’t tell Doyeon that she was wondering what it would be like to date her, could she? No way. It would make everything awkward and uncomfortable. So she shook her head; “nothing, it’s nothing.”

“Hmm, why do I feel like you’re lying to me?” Doyeon tilted her head.

“I would never do such a thing!” Yoojung exclaimed pretending to be offended.

“I know you wouldn’t petal,” Doyeon smiled warmly at her.

Yoojung smiled back. Although, her mind was still working overdrive on wondering what it would be like dating Doyeon.

“It is frustrating though, the constant comments about us dating.” Doyeon said. “I mean, imagine if we said they’re dating constantly! They’d get so mad.”

“It would be funny though,” Yoojung commented.

“It would be,” Doyeon agreed.

“Sometimes I wonder...” Yoojung started, but then paused. She wondered whether to say what she was thinking would be appropriate. She could see the curiosity in Doyeon’s eyes, the eagerness and anticipation for her next words. Doyeon always looked at her like that whenever she spoke; she always looked excited to hear what she had to say. “I wonder what would happen if we said we were dating.”

“Oh, they’d freak out for sure.” Doyeon laughed. “I think it would be amusing to see though.”

“Yeah, it would be.” Yoojung nodded. She was still thinking about Doyeon and dating.

“Oh, did you hear about those two people in the year above us that are supposedly dating?” Doyeon asked, before continuing. “I feel like they’re not really dating because they’re known to hate each other. It’s probably fake.”

Bingo.

“Doyeon,” Yoojung looked at Doyeon. She had an idea, but saying out loud she suddenly felt embarrassed and timid. She knew that the worst that could happen is Doyeon reject her idea, but she felt awkward mentioning it.

“Hm?” Doyeon hummed.

“I have an idea,” Yoojung blurted out. . That wasn’t meant to happen Yoojung mentally scolded herself.

“What is it?” Doyeon asked curiously.

Yoojung bit her lip and gulped. She felt far too embarrassed to say it out loud due to her fear of rejection but she’d gone too far to not say it now. She had gotten Doyeon’s attention, and she could see the curiosity grow in Doyeon’s eyes as the seconds passed. “You know how we both wonder how our friends would react if we say we’re dating?” Yoojung started.

“Mhm,” Doyeon nodded.

“Well,” Yoojung thought for a moment. was bobbing up and down but no words were coming out.

“Well?” Doyeon prompted her to continue.

“What if we play along? You know, fake being in a relationship just to see what they’d say?” Yoojung suggested, taking a deep breath.

“You know with the amount of nerves you had in the build up of asking me to be your fake girlfriend, anyone would think you want me to be your actual girlfriend.” Doyeon joked.

“Doyeon, I’m serious.” Yoojung whined.

“Alright,” Doyeon thought for a moment. “You want to fake being in a relationship with me just to see how our friends would react?” She asked, making sure that she and Yoojung were on the same page.

“Yes,” Yoojung nodded. “I know that we’d be lying to them but it might make them stop telling us to date for a while, you know? Plus I want to see how much they’d freak out.” Yoojung reasoned.

Doyeon nodded. “Yeah, it would be funny. I’d feel bad lying to them though.” She sighed.

“It would only be for like a week,” Yoojung told her. “I mean, we don’t have to obviously. I just thought it would be funny.”

“Oh no, I want to do it too. I just don’t want to upset our friends or make them feel like they can’t trust us anymore, you know?” Doyeon explained.

“Wait what? You want to do it?” Yoojung asked with wide eyes and shock evident in her voice and facial features, which caused Doyeon to chuckle.

“Yeah, it would be fun!” Doyeon grinned. “Plus, you’re not bad looking. I could think of worse people to be in a fake relationship with,” Doyeon winked and giggled earning a playful smack from Yoojung.

“Doyeon, be nice!” She huffed.

“But yeah,” Doyeon looked at Yoojung. “I’d like to be your fake girlfriend.”

“How long should we do it for?” Yoojung asked

“Hmm, well you just said we could do it for a week. So maybe just a week?” Doyeon tilted her head. “I mean, I think if we do it for any less than a week then it would look obvious that it’s fake.”

“We’re not going to tell them that it’s fake?” Yoojung questioned.

“No? Because if we do that they’ll probably pester us to date again after a few weeks. We want to stop them pestering us, right?”

“I wouldn’t say pestering, that’s a bit mean.” Yoojung commented but continued. “But yes, I see what you mean.”

“Wait, what if our parents find out?” Doyeon asked suddenly feeling worried. She knew that her parents wouldn’t mind if she dated Yoojung, after all they were always telling her how much of a “good influence” Yoojung was on her and how nice of a girl she was. But she didn’t want to lie to her parents.

“We’ve been best friends for years, Doyeon. I highly doubt our parents would believe it after all they know that we’re just close friends,” Yoojung replied. “If by any chance they do find out then you can just blame me, after all, I am the one asking you to be my fake girlfriend.” Yoojung smiled.

Doyeon hesitated for a moment before nodding. “Alright, deal.”

Yoojung grinned. “Really? We’re really going to fake a relationship?”

“Yes, we sure are!” Doyeon grinned back.

“I can’t wait to see how everyone reacts,” Yoojung giggled.

“Me neither, I’m excited.” Doyeon told her.

“Tomorrow can’t come quick enough,” Yoojung said.

“It needs to hurry up,” Doyeon laughed.

Both girls were without realizing it, maybe a little too excited for the following day. After all, it was supposed to be a fake relationship.