2017

[...]

"This is Shuhua! My friend" The Thai smiled as she placed both of her hands on Shuhua's shoulders, who felt like a dog being used to get a beautiful girl's phone number at the park or something. 

Miyeon gave her a genuine, sweet smile and Shuhua smiled back, shy, before she looked at Minnie who looked mesmerized by the other girl and the sight was enough for Shuhua to feel her heart hurt before she looked at Miyeon again, looking at her up and down. Looking for what Miyeon had that she didn't. 

She was pretty. In a princess kind of way, like one of the actresses she saw in the korean dramas her mother has been watching nowadays; Miyeon was taller than her and Shuhua wondered if Minnie liked tall girls. 

"She's part of the basketball team!" Minnie said, suddenly and Shuhua just realized they were casually talking to each other while she was spacing out and turns out Minnie had a good time talking to Miyeon while using her as a topic for their conversation. "We both are actually"

"Minnie will be our next captain," Shuhua said, proud of the older girl who just chuckled and mumbled something about it not being 100% confirmed yet. 

"That's really cool," Miyeon said, Looking from Minnie to Shuhua. "You two look really talented"

Minnie blushed at the compliment. "T-Thank You" There was hesitance in her actions before she spoke up again. "uh, Unnie what about we go out-"

Shuhua quickly interrupted, knowing where this was going. "Minnie, we should go now. We'll be late" 

"Oh…" The thai looked at Shuhua and then back at Miyeon. "Oh yeah you're right. Sorry, Miyeon-Unnie. We have to go now" 

"It's ok. We can talk later" The girl replied before she turned to Shuhua. "It was nice meeting you, Shuhua" She said, with the same sweet smile and Shuhua fought the urge to frown. 

"Me too" She replied and as they quickly bow to each other, the duo leaves while Miyeon walks away; Once they're out of reach from the older girl, Minnie sighed loudly.

"Gosh! She's so pretty" She said and Shuhua nodded. She was and the younger hated it as much as the dreamy look in Minnie's eyes. "My hands are sweating!" She said, grabbing Shuhua's hands to show her. 

"I didn't think you liked her that much" The younger said. 

"Yeah, But she probably doesn't like me back" The girl said as they walked and Shuhua didn't reply this time.

'I hope she doesn't.' It's all she could think. 

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When she entered highschool, Yuqi's plans was to just stick with Shuhua like she did back in middle school, go to the same clubs and play video game at home, now the girl was standing alone in front of her locker while Shuhua was off somewhere else, probably following Minnie around like she always does; A few months ago Shuhua had told her about how happy she was that she managed to get in the basketball team.

Yuqi decided not to tell her about how she was planning on entering the cooking club too just so they could be together for a few extra hours before going home. 

As much as she said she isn't, The chinese girl can' help but feel this is a competition and she's losing to someone who's not even trying to take the taiwanesse girl from her and that only adds up to her frustration but she tries her best to not Shuhua noticed anything and it worked, she didn't; Or maybe she was just too oblivious. 

"Yuqi! Yuqi!" She heard Minnie call her and held back a tired sigh.

"What?" She asked, without looking.

"We have great news!" It was Shuhua who said it this time and the other turned around, a little bit worried about what the good news was about.

Minnie put her arm around Shuhua's shoulder and pointed at Yuqi. "Yeh Shuhua is our new basketball team's captain!" The older girl announced and Yuqi looked at Shuhua, surprised.

"For real?"

"Yeah!" 

The Taiwanesse pulled both girls into a hug as they congratulated her over this achievement, ignoring the other students passing by and looking at them weird; Yuqi was happy for Shuhua and seeing her smile so brightly and for a moment she forgot any grudge she had against Minnie. 

However she knew, deep down, that those news meant that they would be spending more and more time together and she doesn't know how else to keep Shuhua from slipping through her fingers.

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"... Are you wearing perfume?" 

Shuhua ignored the question and kept on brushing her hair, ignoring Yuqi leaning closer and sniffing near her shoulder, frowning at the sweet strawberry scent. That was weird, the chinese thought. Shuhua hated strawberries; She leaned over a bit to look at Shuhua and frowned even more.

"... Shuhua you're wearing makeup?!" She asked, shocked once she noticed the younger girl's lipstick. 

"I'm just trying to be prettier" 'Like Miyeon.' She thought and stared at Yuqi. "Is it… bad?"

"No!" Yuqi's ears turned pink once she noticed how high she spoke as well as the subtle voice crack. "You look pretty… Beautiful even" She added, trying to sound as casual as possible. "Huh… Are you going out or something?" 

Shuhua shaked her head. "No, I just wanted to see if I could use makeup and look nice"

"Well… "Yuqi coughs. "You look really nice"

"Miyeon-Unnie invited us to her party," Shuhua said, turning to look at herself in the mirror. "You'll go right?"

"Of course" The older girl replied, mostly because she didn't want to leave Shuhua alone, not with Minnie. "Aunt and Uncle are okay with it?"

"They are since you and Minnie will be there with me" Shuhua said before going to her bed and sitting down. "Also I don't think anything too wild will happen at this party" The whole school knew Miyeon wasn't exactly a crazy party girl so most of the very few parties she threw were calm, just loud music, snacks and non-alcoholic drinks, everyone was used to that by now.

"That's true" Yuqi sat next to Shuhua. "Is Minnie gonna pick you up?"

"She's gonna pick both of us," Shuhua replied. "and I hope you act nice" 

"Hey, You talk like I'm always rude to her" She wasn't. She tried her best to be nice to the older girl but it wasn't her fault jealousy was speaking louder than it should nowadays, she felt threatened both as a friend and as someone who liked the girl sitting next to her.

"Right." Shuhua rolled her eyes. "Just please don't act like she's out to get you or something"

"I'll be on my best behavior!"

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They bumped into each other as Shuhua turned around the corner in a hurry, not wanting to be late for class, and ended up spilling Soojin's drink all over the floor and a bit on her uniform. 

"Oh gosh, I'm so sorry!" The girl was quick to say and Soojin shakes her head. "Do you need me to grab you