While You Were Sleeping

“Chaewon, Chaewon,” Hitomi said while trying to shake her shoulder slightly where her friend was currently resting her head on. However, it looked like the girl was out cold.

“She was running around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to make sure she got everything cleaned up before you came,” Yena said, rolling her eyes. “She didn’t want her dongsaeng to be disappointed in how much of a degenerate her unnie had become since she entered university.”

“She’s not a degenerate,” Hitomi said, trying hard not to sound cross with her friend’s roommate who she’d just met. “She’s working very hard even though she’s living away from home.”

“I’m not saying she’s not a hard worker, because she is one for sure,” Yena said while holding her hands up. “But she’s so bad when it comes to basic life skills. She’s terrible at grocery shopping and cooking.”

“Yeah, you guys have nothing but expired stuff in the fridge,” Hyewon said, nodding while holding up the bowl of popcorn. “The only thing that I thought that was safe was the butter and popcorn kernels.”

“She’s careful with her money. And you two share a fridge. If there are a lot of expired stuff in there, some of it must be yours too,” Hitomi countered. Yena again put up her hands as if she were being attacked. Hitomi didn’t think the girl’s reaction was warranted. I’m not that scary!

“Whoa, hold on, we’re just joking around. She’s my roommate and my friend you know,” Yena said with a panicked voice.

“Scary,” Hyewon said with what Hitomi thought was an annoyingly straight face. She acted as if the argument with Yena was the most riveting thing she’d seen as she stared at the two of them arguing.

“Anyway, let’s just finish the movie,” Yena said as she picked up the remote to resume the movie.

“We can’t,” Hitomi said while using one hand to point at the still sleeping girl on her shoulder. She picked up a cushion with her opposite hand and threw it at the older girl. She had meant to just throw it as a warning shot, but her aim had been exceedingly accurate and forceful. She ended up hitting the other girl square in the face much to her horror.

“Oof,” Yena said as she rubbed her face where the cushion had landed. Hitomi could see it had left a bit of a red mark there. “I was just kidding! Jeez!”

“Good aim,” Hyewon whistled appreciatively and unhelpfully.

Hitomi’s face blanched when she realized what she’d just done. “Ah, I didn’t mean to do that. Are you alright?”

“Yeah, that was nothing,” Yena laughed. “Sorry, for teasing you. Of course I will wait for her to finish the movie. She’d kill me if I didn’t wait for her.”

“It’s always fun to see her pout though. She’s like an angry little puppy,” Hyewon noted.

Hitomi nodded in agreement. Even if the statement came from Hyewon, the girl was spitting out facts.

Sheep in Wolf’s Clothing

Yena looked at Hyewon with a raised eyebrow. The other girl shrugged and sipped at her coke as the both of them watched the other pair fawn over each other.

“No, of course I’m going to take you to the station,” Chaewon said as she got up to put a long coat over herself so that her PJs were covered. “You’re so cute. I’d worry about people wanting to jump you.”

“Hmm, it is pretty dark and scary outside,” Hitomi said hesitantly. She even held up hands like a cute little rabbit as she gazed at Chaewon with adulation. “You’re not scared, Unnie?”

“I can handle it,” Chaewon said as she tapped herself on her chest and tried to appear tough. Hyewon wasn’t sure that she succeeded.

“I feel safer already,” Hitomi said admiringly. The look on Hitomi’s face was so disgusting to Hyewon, she couldn’t hide her lips from curling in revulsion.

“Can you believe her?” Yena whispered to Hyewon. “What happened to the girl that nearly got into a fight with me earlier?”

Hyewon shrugged as she watched the pair make their way out the door.

“She’s a cutie though,” Yena said more loudly when she was sure the two were out of earshot. “It’s pretty clear that she’s into our Chaewonnie. Too bad it looks one sided.”

“Chaewon’s got her eye on someone right now. She can’t see really see anything else. I hope that girl doesn’t get hurt.” Hyewon’s gaze lingered on the door.

Yena looked at Hyewon suspiciously. “You sound interested.”

Hyewon blinked. “No, of course not. She’s my student. Besides, I’m pretty sure she hates me.”

Yena brought a hand to her chin and it as if she had an imaginary beard. She cocked her head to the side before laughing and pointing at Hyewon. “You are interested.”

Hyewon didn’t say anything and turned away from her friend. Yena’s senses, while usually dull, were exceptionally uncanny this time. Saying anything more would just incriminate herself further.

Yena was unrelenting however. “You could do a lot worse I guess. She is cute like I said. But the way she talks so seriously while looking so sweet. Brr. I felt chills.”

Hyewon wouldn’t say that it was chills that she felt when Hitomi attempted to stare her down, but that it was a nice tingling sensation. The girl’s eyes were steadfast and seemed to stare straight into her soul.

“I did think it was cool how she tried to stand up for Chaewon when we were joking around,” Yena continued while looking at Hyewon carefully. She laughed when she caught Hyewon nodding automatically at her words. “Aha, I knew it.”

“Okay, I might like her a little. But nothing’s going to happen while she’s my student,” Hyewon said while she stared at Yena. The last thing she needed was Yena attempting to play wing woman.

Still a Baby

“Ahh,” Chaewon made a small shriek of relief as she came back into the dorm. It was scary outside. They lived in a place where there were few lights and the ones that were there flickered ominously.

“Why did you volunteer if you scream as soon as you come back here. Who was protecting who exactly on the way to the station?” Yena asked while shaking her head.

“Well, I couldn’t let Hii-chan go by herself,” Chaewon said as she took off her coat and went back into the kitchen where her two friends sat.

“She looked like she could handle herself,” Hyewon said with a shrug. “At least more than you did coming back here.”

“Hii-chan is delicate you know. She get’s scared of things easily and needs me to hold her hands,” Chaewon said with such an innocent and naïve face it made Hyewon smile.

Yena made a face. “Delicate, my .”

“You’re just sore, because she said your hands looked like cream bread. You deserved it. You told her that her cheeks looked like puff pastries,” Hyewon joked.

“They do! And that was a compliment. And I’m pretty sure her saying my hands looked like cream bread was not.” Yena sulked and crossed her arms, effectively hiding her hands. She was extremely self-conscious about them.

“It sounds like you guys got along well,” Chaewon said with a smile.

“I don’t know if I would say that we got along well,” Hyewon rebutted dryly.

“Oh, they definitely did. They were even teaming up on me. You should ask her out. You guys are made for each other,” Yena said, still sulking.

“A-Ask her out?” Chaeweon asked with her eyes wide as she turned her gaze towards Hyewon. “I mean, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. She is single and you are too. You’re great of course. But she’s still a baby. In Korea, she might be an adult, but in Japan, she isn’t yet.

Hyewon turned to look at Chaewon who was starting to babble. She could see that her friend had become visibly flustered at the mere mentioning it of it. “She’s just joking. She is cute though. I’m sure that she won’t be single for long,” she said as gently as possible.

“Ah, she said she’s not looking. She just wants to concentrate on her studies,” Chaewon said with what sounded like a sigh of relief to Hyewon.

“Even she’s not looking, it doesn’t mean it won’t happen,” Yena said exasperatedly. “She’s cute enough I guess. The personality needs work though.”

Hyewon watched as Chaewon’s face seemed to go through the five stages of grief. “Yeah,” Chaewon finally said as she mulled over Yena’s words.

Sister-Complex

“Hii’s not back yet?” Sakura asked as she looked at the time on her phone.

“Yeah, she said she’s meeting a friend of hers tonight, remember?” Chaeyeon smirked as she watched Sakura move to the balcony to check on Hitomi’s arrival. “You’re not really her older sister you know.”

“I’m just waiting for her to come back so that we can play a game. She said she wanted to learn how to play another game,” Sakura said in her usual brusque tsundere manner. She sighed and relented as her voice took on a softer tone. “She’s alone here. She looks up to me, so I need watch out for her.”

Chaeyeon knew that Hitomi was capable of taking care of herself. The girl wasn’t really the type to seek help from others but only did so for Sakura’s sake. Their youngest roommate also didn’t really care for games just like her, but unlike her, was willing to cater to what Sakura wanted. “I think I hear her now.”

Sakura jumped a little and moved away from the balcony and nearly sprinted back to her position near the front of the TV. “Don’t say anything,” Sakura said as she looked sternly at Chaeyeon.

Chaeyeon laughed and nodded. Sakura was just too shy sometimes. “Welcome home,” she said as the Hitomi stepped in through the door.

“I’m back,” Hitomi answered. “Why are you two still up?”

“I just finished my homework and was watching Saku-chan play games,” Chaeyeon said and nodded her head in Sakura’s direction who was pretending to play a game with the controller upside down.

“Oh, hey, you’re back,” Sakura said nonchalantly. Any sign of her earlier panic and worry was completely gone. If she didn’t know the other girl like the back of her hand, Chaeyeon would have been fooled. “Did you still want to play something together?”

“Sure, let me get changed first. What did you want try tonight?” Hitomi asked as she moved into the living room proper.

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe we can do Detroit: Become Human? I think you’d like that type of game,” Sakura said as she thought about it for a moment.

“Yeah, that one did look interesting. Okay, I’ll be back,” Hitomi said as she moved into her bedroom.

Chaeyeon snickered when Hitomi was out of earshot.

“What is it?” Sakura asked defensively.

“Don’t you prefer those shooter games?” Chaeyeon asked teasingly.

“Sometimes it’s nice to try something different,” Sakura said, shrugging. “I think she’ll like a more story driven game. She’s always watching dramas when she has free time.”

Chaeyeon laughed. Hitomi came out of her room with a surprised look.

“Ignore her Hii-chan. She’s just having one of her fits again,” Sakura said which just made Chaeyeon laugh even harder.

Domestic Bliss

“Why didn’t you wake me up, Saku-chan?” Hitomi asked with a pout as she hastily put on her apron.

Cute, Sakura thought as she looked at the still groggy girl in her cute little apron. It wasn’t like she didn’t try and wake the girl up. Normally, of the two of them, Hitomi was the early riser and Sakura was the one that needed help waking up in the morning. But it looked like yesterday’s activities had tuckered the girl out. Sakura had woken up and gone to Hitomi’s room and froze at the door before turning away. “I wanted to let you sleep in on your day off.”

“Thanks,” Hitomi said grumpily. Her grumpiness faded however as soon as Sakura brought out a basket of buns. “Ooh, are those the buns we made yesterday in the morning?”

“Yep. Did you want one?” Sakura smiled, already knowing the answer and handed Hitomi one of them.

“These are good,” Hitomi said while taking a big bite. Sakura loved watching the girl eat. “Let me try it with some jam.”

Sakura nearly choked out a laugh as Hitomi struggled to open the jar of jam. Nearly everything the girl did was adorable. “Here, let me do it.”

“Thanks,” Hitomi said as she handed over the jar. “Well, what are we making today?”

“I was thinking we could make a cheese omelet or something,” Sakura said, knowing what her roommate really liked.

“Hmm, I shouldn’t. I’ve been eating out for lunch a lot. Just yesterday, I ate a cheese corn dog,” Hitomi said with a regretful tone.

“We can skip the cheese this time and put in healthier ingredients.” Sakura was slightly disappointed that she couldn’t watch Hitomi’s reaction to the cheese pull, but knew the girl had an iron will when it came to her diet.

“Saku-chan, I’ve never seen you diet or anything. How do you do it?” Hitomi asked as she moved to stand next to Sakura by the stove.

“Good genes helps a lot. Chaeyeon also drags me to go to the gym with her. She makes me work pretty hard,” Sakura said while sticking out her tongue with disgust.

“Don’t listen to her,” Chaeyeon yawned out as she came out of her room. “I might drag her there, but she’s the one that pushes us. She always complains about being flabby even though she’s perfect.”

“No, I don’t and I’m not perfect!” Sakura exclaimed as she stared at their other roommate. “You’re always like, ‘Saku-chan, do you think I’m getting fat?’ and then make us do another rep.”

Hitomi laughed and covered her eyes with her hands. “This is too early in the day for me to watch you two flirt with each other. No child should have to see their parents act like this.”

Sakura blushed when Chaeyeon gave her a wink at Hitomi’s comment. She reached over and pinched Hitomi’s cheek to show her what she thought about that.

Author’s Note

Happy holidays! Sakuhii lives rent free in my head. I’m glad they have each other during this holiday season and I hope they’ll have opportunities to still be part of each other’s lives in the future. Let me know what you think!