----- Dec. 26 -----

"Are you sure you've got everything, Tiff?" Heejin's mom asks her sister. 

"Of course! If not, just send it back to me through your owl." 

Heejin's relatives were finally taking their leave and she was both relieved yet sad. Probably because she doesn't get to see them often.

"Keep me updated, will you?" Heejin tells Yiren. "I got to know what your mom is going to say about Hyunjin and I to the rest of the family."

"You know I will," Yiren reassures. She looks to the side and nods her head to make Heejin follow her line of sight. "Although I have a feeling that it's all going to be great things."

Heejin's eyes land on her aunt who was currently talking to Hyunjin animatedly. Seeing the pair interact positively made her believe in her cousin's words. It seems that her aunt had noticed her staring, however, and gestured for Heejin to join them. When she reaches the pair, she's engulfed into a hug by her aunt. 

"I'm going to miss you, my dear," Tiffany says before releasing her. "I really am happy for you. The two of you," she adds as she looks between the couple. 

"You know, if the two of you weren't dating, I think I would've tried to set you up together," Tiffany winks. "It's such a coincidence that I had already heard great things about Hyunjin thanks to Yiren's fangirling-"

"Mom!" Yiren says in embarrassment suddenly. 

"-But I think that even if I didn't know anything beforehand, the chemistry between the two of you is evident and hard to ignore."

Heejin's eyes widened slightly at the comment. Had their chemistry really been that obvious to everyone around them except for her? She and her aunt share a few more words before the older woman heads out the door and is replaced by her younger cousins. Heejin and Hyunjin kneel down a bit to meet their eye level and take turns giving them each a hug. 

"You boys are growing up too fast," she says as she ruffles the hair on their heads. "I feel like I'll blink and then suddenly you'll be at Hogwarts and start dating," the Ravenclaw pouts.

"Ooo! When I start dating someone, I hope they're as cool as you, Hyunjin," Sunghoon says as he looks at the Slytherin. 

"Aw, thanks bud, but I think you're still a bit young to start thinking about that kind of stuff," Hyunjin laughs. "If anything, I think my girlfriend is way cooler than me."

Hearing Hyunjin call her as 'her girlfriend' had left Heejin with a range of feelings at once. She's heard Hyunjin call her that many times in the past, but knowing how they are now, there's no doubt that there is much more meaning attached to it. So she smiles at the words and her body feels light as she turns smitten. Yet, something can't help but weigh her down a bit. Were they actually girlfriends now? 

The two had yet to have a proper conversation to talk about what had happened last night so Heejin's not sure what they are exactly. The only thing she's really sure about is that the two were past a fake relationship and definitely more than friends. Besides that, they haven't had the chance to place a specific label on their relationship.

Her thoughts are postponed as she has to give a final wave goodbye to her relatives as they pull out of her driveway. Once out of sight, Heejin, her parents and Hyunjin go to the living room and they all let out a relieving groan as they sit down on the couches.

"You guys weren't kidding about them being a handful," Hyunjin says out of the blue and Heejin was taken back at the bluntness of the other girl's comments towards her relatives. She looks to see how her mom was going to react.

"I told you!" the woman says with a laugh. "I'm glad you made it out in one piece, Hyunjin."

"Me too," her dad adds and gives Hyunjin a thumbs-up as if he were proud.

With that, it was clear to her that her parents had now grown even more comfortable with the Slytherin despite only spending nearly a week with them. The way Hyunjin seems to be easily liked by adults makes her wonder if the girl was the same in any of her previous relationships. The family and Hyunjin do a bit more small talk before the parents announce that they're going to go out and run some errands after seeing the dire need to restock on groceries and what not. 

"Now, I trust both of you," her dad begins as he puts on his jacket. "But! I still feel the need to tell you that you both better not go and do anything inappropriate while we are gone, okay?"

"You got it, sir," Hyunjin responds almost like she was a soldier talking to their sergeant while Heejin just groans in embarrassment.

"Okay, okay!" Heejin starts to push the man out the door. "Now hurry before mom gets mad at you for making her wait in the car for too long."

When the door shuts, Heejin turns around and looks at Hyunjin. 

"So, what's the plan, baby girl?" Hyunjin says nonchalantly when they're completely facing each other.

"Hmm, I'm not quite sure," Heejin replies as she makes her way towards the Slytherin. Once close enough, she wraps her arms around Hyunjin's neck and soon after Hyunjin wraps around her waist, pulling them closer together. 

"Although, doing a bit of this," Heejin rises on her tippy-toes and kisses Hyunjin on the lips. "Never seems to get old," she smiles with a glint in her eyes. 

"B-But I thought your dad said not to do anything inappropr-," Hyunjin's cut off when Heejin steals a kiss from her again. 

"Since when has kissing been considered inappropriate?" Heejin smirks knowingly. 

"Well, I feel like it would depend on where exactly one was kissing-"

"Will you just kiss me you goody two shoes?" Heejin interjects and to her absolute delight Hyunjin does just as she says. 

After eventually breaking apart, the pair decided to make some hot chocolate and put on a movie that wasn't scary per Heejin's request. 

"Darn, I was hoping to get an excuse to hold my girl's hand again," Hyunjin playfully pouts.

My girl...

"At this point, do you really need an excuse?" Heejin says, reaching out to hold Hyunjin's hand just as the movie begins. Hyunjin sends her classic eye-crinkling smile at the action before moving her focus to the screen. 

Heejin tries to focus on the movie too, but the thoughts that were swirling in her head prevented her from doing so even as they began to cuddle on the couch.

For some reason, she thought of their first kiss. She wanted to slap herself because she felt like such an idiot thinking back about it. It was impulsive and kind of immature of her, but yet at the same time, she definitely does not regret it. Sure, it wasn't that romantic or like something you'd see in some cliché movie. But no, she doesn't regret it.

As she reminisces about their first kiss, the night of their first quidditch game had suddenly flooded into her mind. She nearly smiles at the memory because it seems like that was the night where their relationship had truly taken a turn for the better. 

She starts to recall how Hyunjin had suggested that turn.  The memory nearly made her smile again, but then there was one specific line that Hyunjin had said that made her thoughts come to a halt.

~ "Up to now, everything we've done is simply in the context of using each other and nothing else. So in a way, our actions could be seen as meaningless." ~

The word "meaningless" had stuck out like a sore thumb.

She's not sure if Hyunjin had meant it like this, but she had practically called their first kiss, her first kiss, meaningless. Is that what she had really thought whenever the two had done anything together in the past? Of course, one could argue that Heejin had probably been thinking the same considering that she wasn't entirely excited whenever they did something, but surely she did not consider any of that meaningless.

She wonders why it was only up to now in which she had finally taken notice of Hyunjin's wording from that night, but maybe it's a sign? Or was she just overthinking again just like she had the night before?

Before she knows it, she looks up to the screen and sees the ending credits scroll on the tv.

"Holy crap. You were right, this movie was amazing," Hyunjin says in awe as she goes back to the Netflix home screen. "So, what do you want to do now, babe?"

"Um, do you mind if we just sit here for a bit? It's been a while since I've had any real peace and quiet," Heejin asks. "I know that doesn't seem that fun, but we can do something else if you want."

"No, no, no," Hyunjin reassures. "We could literally do nothing and that's better than not being with you at all."

"Oh my god," Heejin groans playfully. "Stop being so cheesy."

Hyunjin just smiles in response and then the two readjust on the couch to get more comfortable. As they cuddle in silence, Heejin questions whether or not she should bring up her concerns to the other girl. What if she scares the other girl away? But then again, Hyunjin doesn't seem like the type of person who would run away.

"Hyun?" Heejin starts hesitantly.

"Hm?"

"I didn't tell you yet, but your love song was amazing," Heejin shifts her eyes down to her lap as she slowly starts to make her way to the questions she really wanted answers to. "I didn't think you were actually going to write one for me so it was a surprise."

"Of course I was going to write one for you! I never break my promises. And you know, I had a feeling you forgot," Hyunjin laughs lightly. "Thank goodness that we have magical bags that can carry huge things or else me carrying the guitar case around would've given it away. Still, I'm glad you liked it."

The Slytherin gives her a small squeeze and it brings Heejin comfort, "I loved it."

A couple more seconds of silence occur before Heejin speaks up again, "Before you sang it, I remember you told me that the song would explain whether or not you meant everything you said to my dad... so, do I- do I really mean so much to you?" she says shyly.

"One thousand percent. You really do, even if I haven't really shown it these past couple of months," Hyunjin admits. "Not going to lie, sometimes I think back about that conversation and I'm kind of embarrassed about how long I talked about you. But don't get me wrong, I definitely don't regret it. It was nice finally being able to tell someone about it."

After hearing that last sentence, it makes Heejin start to grow curious on just how long Hyunjin had liked her. Heejin had only recently realized her feelings for the girl, but there's no doubt that Hyunjin was aware of her own feelings much longer. Knowing this should make her feel better about their relationship, right?

"At least I didn't tell your dad about how hot you look when you're mad," Hyunjin chuckles to herself as she continues to talk. "Can you imagine me going like: 'By the way Mr. Jeon, your daughter is incredibly y when she gets all feisty.' Gosh, I think I would've wanted to pass away on the spot."

The two giggle as the scenario plays out in their heads and once their laughter starts to die down, Heejin decides to continue to make her way towards the more pressing questions. If she wants to be at ease, she needs to get answers whether she likes the results or not. "When did you know?" Heejin says after a couple of moments.

"When did I know what?"

"That you liked me?"

Hyunjin doesn't answer right away and instead appears to take a moment to gather her thoughts. As time starts to pass, Heejin begins to get worried. She starts to think that Hyunjin needed time to make up an answer because she still finds it hard to believe that their fake romance had now become reality. What if Hyunjin was just toying with her? Or even worse, what if Hyunjin is looking back and starting to realize that maybe she doesn't like Heejin the way that she thought she had?

"To be quite honest, I'm not really sure," Hyunjin says and in a way, the answer doesn't bother Heejin because she too wasn't really sure when she started to like the transfer either. Yet, her skepticism continues to hold.

"But what I will say is that I really didn't think you were ever going to like me back," Hyunjin confesses. "I mean, in the beginning you seemed to have only tolerated me for the sake of our arrangement and even when we got closer, you never showed any signs of interest in me."

"I thought the exact same thing actually," Heejin replies, now finding an opening to one of her concerns. "Especially after you called our first kiss meaningless."

"I what?!?" Hyunjin sits up straight as soon as the words left Heejin's mouth. The Slytherin moves her back off the couch and faces Heejin to meet eye-to-eye. "When did I say that?"

"The night of our first quidditch game, in the infirmary," Heejin says, her tone clearly disheartened. "You didn't say it explicitly, but you practically implied it."

It only took Hyunjin a couple more seconds before it hit her. "Oh ," Hyunjin mutters under her breath as she remembers her wording and soon after reaches out to hold Heejin's hands a bit frantically.

"Believe me," Hyunjin squeezes her hands lightly. "The last thing I want you to think is that everything up to that night meant nothing to me."

Heejin just stays silent as Hyunjin keeps talking.

"And that kiss.. if you told me at that time that you had never kissed anyone in the past, I wouldn't have believed you. You left me and practically the whole Inn speechless. And I mean, it was pretty hot," Hyunjin chuckles at the memory of having to walk out awkwardly. "So, was that kiss meaningless to me? Babe, that kiss would replay in my head every night following and it was driving me insane. I honestly don't know what I was thinking for saying that, I'm sorry," Hyunjin finishes sincerely. 

At that, Hyunjin leans fowards and places a soft kiss against Heejin's forehead and keeps it there for a few seconds. The Ravenclaw's shoulders suddenly feel lighter after hearing the other girl's words.

It's moments like this that make Heejin believe that she does truly care for the Slytherin because of the way she makes her feel. She's much more aware of the fact that her heart flutters when she's with the girl and that she didn't get a weird feeling in her tummy when she'd see the Slytherin because she disliked her, but was because it was instead quite the opposite. Not to mention that Hyunjin always seemed to know the right words or the right things to do to the point where Heejin shouldn't even be surprised that she ended up having feelings for her. Hell, she's gotta admit that even when Hyunjin would , she secretly enjoyed it.

So no, Heejin wasn't captivated by Hyunjin because the girl simply gave her the opportunity to experience what it's like to be in a relationship. It's because Hyunjin was the one she got to experience it with.

All that's left now is to gain a bit more clarity on how Hyunjin feels about her. 

"Actually, now that I think about it... it's not like you had called me out on saying it was meaningless either," Hyunjin teases after she pulls back and playfully her chin like she was thinking, now trying to lighten the mood with banter. "So I believe you that made me think you weren't into me even more!"

"Bull!" Heejin's face scrunches in annoyance as she pushes Hyunjin slightly. "You were the one who called it meaningless in the first place!"

Not wanting to see Heejin in anger any longer (even though it was quite amusing for the Slytherin to see), Hyunjin pulls Heejin into her with a small laugh, "I know, I know. I'm just teasing ya."

The two lie back down on the couch with Heejin now cuddled up to Hyunjin's side once again, feeling a bit more content. There was only one more thing Heejin needed to know now.

"Can I ask you one more question?"

"Of course, go for it babe," Hyunjin says without hesitation. 

"What are we doing?"

"Uhh cuddling on the couch?" Hyunjin responds, confusion evident in her voice. 

"I know that, dummy," Heejin smiles up at the Slytherin but soon after becomes timid. "What I mean is.. what I'm trying to ask is what are we?"

All she wants to hear is for Hyunjin to call them girlfriends. That she is Hyunjin's and Hyunjin is hers. When she hears it outloud, that's when it'll all feel real to her. She anticipates the answer, the nervousness reminding her of how she felt during the Sorting Hat ceremony. 

And Hyunjin just laughs in response, causing Heejin's eyebrows to knit together almost immediately.

What's so funny about that question? Heejin asks herself and it makes her start to think that Hyunjin is just taking this as if it's a joke. The idea just adds another mark to her already nerve-racking thoughts. 

"Isn't it obvious?" is all Hyunjin says. 

Not to her.

"It's-"

"We're home!"

Their conversation is cut short as the pair on the couch immediately turn their heads towards the voice. What they see is Heejin's mom carrying a few bags in her hands, "Can you two help with the rest of the groceries, please?"

It didn't take much longer for the two to get off the couch and put their jacket and shoes on to go grab the remaining bags. It wasn't until Heejin placed the last bag on the kitchen counter that she realized that she had never got the answer she desperately wanted. 

Why do things always get cut off when it comes to this kind of stuff?!

For the rest of the day, the topic of 'What are they?' never came back up seeing that the moment seemed to have passed and it wasn't like Hyunjin had wanted to clarify her answer (or her question, to be more specific) to Heejin after the fact. 

The two also had to start packing since they were going to be leaving to go to Hyunjin's house for the rest of Winter break tomorrow. Heejin had actually forgotten that they were going there momentarily because she had been so caught up in her thoughts for the past day up to now. So, even the idea of bringing up their conversation before they were cut off was swept off of her mind as an even bigger worry had arisen.

It was her turn to meet the parents. 

----- Next Day -----

"Mom, we're going to miss the train if you don't stop hugging me," Heejin says with her voice a bit strained due to how tight her mom was holding onto her. 

"I'm sorry, dear. It's just that I'm going to miss you so much!" her mom gives her one final squeeze before letting her daughter go. "Now, you're positive that you didn't forget anything?"

"I'm positive," Heejin says with certainty. "The real question is did you forget anything?"

"Of course not," her mom responds instantly. Everytime Heejin leaves the house and will be gone for a while (like when she leaves for school), her mom tends to give her something whether it be a gift or something her mom thinks Heejin may need (like any traveling snacks).

After her mom answers, she hears her dad stifle a cough, "Hhm-you did-hhm..."

"No, I didn't," her mom smiles proudly, although it looked mischievous "I already put it in your bag," she says without elaborating any more details and both Heejin and her dad were shocked at the older woman's preparedness. "Now, will you please check your room one last time before you go?"

"Fine," Heejin surrenders and starts making her way up the stairs. "How come you're willing to send Aunt Tiff's stuff if she ever forgot anything, but not me?"

"Because you're special," her mom laughs. "And because I don't want Mr. Owl to fly too much. He's getting old!"

Heejin shakes her head and chuckles to herself when she hears her mom's pet owl name before entering her room. After a semi-quick search in her room, she's shocked to find out that she completely missed her phone charger that was plugged into the wall. When she heads downstairs, she sees her mom looking up at her while her dad and Hyunjin were talking on the side.

"Did you find anything?" her mom asks with a raised eyebrow.

"No," Heejin tries to play off in hopes that her mom won't give her the old 'I told you so' look.

"Mmhm," the older woman hums. "Well, I'll be right back. I have to go get the camera for some farewell pictures."

"Do we really have to do this every time?" Heejin whines playfully and her mom laughs in response, knowing well that Heejin actually really loves it.

When her mom leaves, she turns to her dad and Hyunjin who seemed to be having both a serious yet cheerful conversation. Out of curiosity, she heads over to them and the only things she manages to catch is her dad telling the Slytherin, "I'm proud of you," and "I'm glad it all worked out," before the conversating pair took notice of her.

"Glad what worked out?" Heejin asks once close enough.

For a moment, Hyunjin looked flustered at the new presence and before she could open to respond, Heejin's dad beats her to it, "Hyunjin thought she had lost your train tickets."

"You what?!?"

"Y-Yeah," Hyunjin hastily agrees with her dad, yet something felt off. "But, I found them so no worries!" the Slytherin awkwardly laughs and reaches up to rub the back of her neck.

Heejin looks between the pair in suspicion and before she had the chance to ask any more questions, her mom returns, urging the younger ones to start posing for pictures. Once finished, the woman looks at the clock and her eyes widen at the time. 

"Oh my goodness, you two need to get going or else you'll miss the train," her mom tells them in panic. "Now, Heejin. Do you remember where you're supposed to apparate-"

"So we aren't seen by muggles, yes mom," Heejin finishes her mom's sentence to try to reassure her. 

Her mom and dad give her one last hug and then afterwards her mom hugged Hyunjin, "It was lovely to meet you, sweetie. I hope we can see you around more."

"Me too, Mrs. Jeon," Hyunjin says with a bright smile once apart. Then, the Slytherin turns to Heejin's father and the two shake hands. 

"A firm handshake as expected," her dad cracks, a callback to when they had first met. 

"You know it, Mr. Jeon," and the man gives a hearty laugh at Hyunjin's response. With the last of their farewells, Heejin and Hyunjin join hands as they get ready to apparate.

"Be safe!" her mom says knowing that apparition was risky, but she trusted her daughter and her skill. Then, a loud crack was heard and before they know it, the pair were in some dark place. 

"Umm, babe?" Hyunjin says, both confused and a tiny bit scared. Heejin can feel the Slytherin's grip tighten around her hand. 

"Don't worry, we're in the old janitor's closet. We used to keep the light on, but we realized that it'd be too suspicious since technically no one should really be accessing it," Heejin reaches out to try and feel for the door knob. "Aha! Here we go!"

She opens the door slowly, peaking into the hallway to make sure nobody was around, "Coast is clear."

The two make their way still hand-in-hand towards the platforms and once they found their designated train, Heejin let Hyunjin pick which compartment they'd sit in since she had gotten to last time. Surprisingly, Hyunjin chose one around the front. The two do their best to get into comfortable positions seeing that the trip was going to be around a day's worth. As the sky darkens, Hyunjin was the first to fall asleep and the Slytherin's head was now lying against Heejin's right shoulder.

With Hyunjin knocked out and no one to talk to, Heejin's mind starts wondering again. 

Seeing the peacefulness on Hyunjin's face makes Heejin wish she didn't have such conflicting thoughts about their relationship. There's been moments that should have surely reassured her by now that Hyunjin definitely likes her. Yet, there's a voice in the back of her preventing her from thinking so. Reminding her that she's still in the dark on what her and Hyunjin's relationship is. Heejin wants to think that they're girlfriends now, but does Hyunjin think the same? 

As she peeks out the window, memories during their time together floods in her mind yet again, but this time it was of their first date. More specifically, the part where they had decided to start to fake dating. She's reminded of the circumstances the two were under at the time that had led to the deal.

I needed space from others and Hyunjin needed....

Her mind comes up blank. She remembers that Hyunjin had initially suggested it to make up for being part of the reason why she needed the space in the first place, but she also recalls asking the girl how it would benefit her as well. She never got a clear answer and up to now she never bothered to get more clarification because in the past, she didn't even think it'd be something she'd care to know.

Maybe the reason why Hyunjin suggested their arrangement will be the key to end her worrying.

A/N: Will Heejin ever live in peace? What was Hyunjin's reason?

I know you're probably thinking, how can Heejin still be skeptical of Hyunjin despite everything she's done for her (ex. The love song, rant to dad, etc.)? As hinted at earlier, Heejin's the type of person who wants labels because it makes things seem more valid to her. And if she's in a relationship, she wants to make sure that she and her partner are on the same page.

So now, we just gotta hope that Heejin gets that validation....

(Also, I realized I've been misspelling Yiren as Yerin, so I did make corrections in case my re-readers are confused :p)

Lemme know what your thoughts are and thanks for reading!

- S

(@rv_twice5 on twitter)