With nothing but the end of her lit cigarette warming her entire body, Seungwan stomped it out in impatience. Seulgi should’ve been here by now. The crowded center of people surrounding the mall square was quite lively, dissimilar to her current mood. Her friend was late, she was cold, and that was her last cigarette. Moving to buy some cheap tasting hot chocolate from a random booth nearby instead, hoping her hands would warm up while she drank it. 

Carding a tired hand through her short blond hair and shoving the other in her leather jacket. She was up early cramming for her morning classes, added living in the city can make things a bit, hectic. 

To be honest, she didn’t even like the mall. It was her beloved friend, Kang Seulgi, that decided to drag her here so she could tag along while the older girl looked for presents for her girlfriend. Yuck, another thing she was still sour about. Seulgi and her girlfriend were, as much as she hated it, annoyingly cute and every time they hung out she ended up being the third wheel. 

“It’s because you turn down every person I try to match you with,” Seulgi told her one time, while they were eating lunch, the three of them. 

“Unnie, I know some people at work that would—”

“It’s alright, Sooyoung-ah, I’m fine.” She cut off Seulgi’s girlfriend, pinching the bridge of her nose in annoyance. 

The truth was, she didn’t need anyone. People were too bothersome to deal with and the idea of her being hurt in the near future because of that someone brought a frown to her face. It was an unavoidable option, her getting hurt. Because that’s just who she was, someone that loved with every fiber of their being until there was nothing left, nothing left to give or take. And she hated that about herself. She couldn’t even have casual hookups without getting sentimental, she was too much of a big baby—as she would refer to herself in her head. 

Mindlessly wandering the vast expanse of the semi-outdoor shopping mall, she found herself in the restaurant area, occasionally looking through the joints windows to see if anything—food, presumably—caught her eye. But this time, it wasn’t food. Eyes flitting up to the restaurant nameplate quickly, she sees the words “Double Patty” above the door. Inside was probably the most beautiful woman she’d ever seen. And not some random diner eating there, instead, it was a waiter. A small woman, hair pulled up into a high ponytail,  her cute ears sticking out with a few strands of stray hair tucked behind them, a complexion paler than a blank sheet of paper, and eyes that looked like she’d get lost in them. 

She didn’t realize that she was caught staring until a familiar body bumped into her’s. About to turn around and give this person a piece of her mind when her expression quickly fell, it was Seulgi. 

“Sorry I took so long, Wan. I had to make up a good excuse so that Sooyoung wouldn’t get a whiff of what I was doing without seeming too suspicious.” Her friend, one that she had known for quite some time was standing next to her. Standing a few good inches taller than her, with long layered cut black hair, was her childhood friend—Kang Seulgi. 

“Not a problem, Seul,” she sighed, unbothered. 

“What are we looking at?” Seulgi turned to position herself as Seungwan was originally standing, peering in front of them. She read the restaurant’s name, “Hungry for…burgers?” 

“Y-yea, I haven’t eaten anything all day.” She lied, jumping at the chance to see the beautiful stranger up close. 

“I didn’t know you liked burgers?” She and Seulgi entered the vintage American-style diner and were seated immediately. 

Not really paying attention to what her friend was saying as she was looking around for that waiter. Not being able to spot her unforgettable face, she turned her full attention to the menu. She didn’t like burgers, they were too greasy and made anyone who ate one smell heavily of onions after but she just wanted to see that girl again, “Uh-huh, yeah.”

“So, I was thinking about getting Sooyoungie that bag she was talking about a long time ago…Or maybe a nice necklace from Dior instead?” Seulgi might as well have been talking to herself, Seungwan had her priorities elsewhere. 

But knowing Seulgi, the bear would end up paying way too much for a Christmas gift for her lover. Seulgi was just like her, she loved wit her whole soul, only she was lucky enough to find someone who loved her back. Also knowing that both of them, the Sons and the Kangs, came from rather affluent families with fat wallets; which made her feel less worried about Seulgi splurging on her girlfriend’s gift. 

“Hmm, what looks good.” She picked up a menu, flipping through its laminated pages before stopping at the large burger selection.

“Or would she like that dress that just came out, you know, the Chanel one?” Seulgi was still going on about her stupid gift. She could get Sooyoung a pile of rocks and the latter would still love it, as long as it’s from Seulgi. 

“It’s still early, December only just started. We can look around later. But now—”

“Food, yeah I know.” Seulgi sighed, picking up her menu. “Ha, can’t remember the last time I’ve eaten a burger.”

“I know, it’s all lobster and caviar with you.” Seungwan rolled her eyes playfully. 

“Hey, I don’t eat lobster that much.” She pleaded with innocence. “At least I eat, compared to the time you spend holed up in your room.”

The two best friends were also roommates, under the guise that living together would make commuting to university easier since they were inseparable. Living in a rather large complex her dad owned. 

“Are you ready to order?” A sweet voice interrupted their ongoing squabble, catching Seungwan off guard. 

It was her. God, she looked even better up close, smaller too; not that that’s saying much since she, herself, was only 5’2”. Blinking twice before she realized that the waiter was staring at her, waiting for her burger order.

“Um, I-I’ll have the #4 with n-no tomatoes please.” 

“I’ll have the same, extra cheese.” Seulgi said without batting an eye at the woman standing at their table.

The small woman taking both their orders before navigating through the sea of tables that were slowly being filled up. Seungwan watched her go, in a hurried manner, all her movements were precise and practiced like she knew what she was doing. 

“What’s up with you?” Seulgi nudged her, sipping on a coke someone else brought to their table. 

“M-me?”

“Yeah, first you suggest we eat burgers—might I add that I’ve never seen you eat a burger in my entire 10 years of being your friend—and then you stare that lady down like you’ve never seen another human before.” She leaned back in her chair.

“Maybe I need more sleep.” She rubbed her eyes with the palms of her hands before letting out an annoyed groan. 

“Now that I’ve been thinking about it, you have been staying up later these days.” Seulgi resided. 

Their food was brought out only a couple minutes later, the perks of coming at a conveniently nice time in the day where the restaurant was bust but not too busy. Much to her surprise, the burger was very good, might’ve even changed her whole perception of them. Maybe she’d just have to come around more…  

“$50!” Seulgi gasped, looking at the bill after she had devoured her meal. “$50 per burger!”

Well, maybe that explained why it was so good. The two of them splitting the bill as to not take too much of a punch to their bank accounts. They leave the place full and a lot happier, Seungwan still thinking about that girl—but not before Seulgi tears her away from her seat to drag her on a series of shopping trips before she finally decided on a gift for her lovely girlfriend.

___

Sitting in the corner of the buzzing kitchen, Joohyun types furiously on the laptop balanced on her knees. The small little milk crate she was placed on being her makeshift chair as she tries to pump out a whole essay assignment on her 15-minute break. She only had another 2-hour shift left before she would finally go home. The only benefit of working insane hours at some boujee burger joint was the pay. This job was the only reason she was able to go to college and pay for the small apartment that she and her sister lived in. 

“Unnie, you don’t need to take that extra shift when I start working, I got commissioned recently! Once I get more traction, we won’t need to keep saving.” Her younger sister, Yerim had said to her optimistically earlier this morning. 

God, that would be nice. Living carelessly instead of paycheck to paycheck. Her feet hurt, she was tired, and she just wanted to go home and spend time with her sister. The both of them being in college didn’t help either. But Yerim was smart, she had a scholarship that covered the bulk of her expenses, majoring in music composition writing. She had one too, a scholarship, but it was taken away. 

That one damned opinion piece she wrote in junior year that pissed off her teacher enough to fail her. The topic was about Korean society and it’s enterprise, the assignment was to create a prompt with the focal point on societal issues and she chooses: “Write a story set in a historical era when men and women’s roles were dramatically different than they are today.” And of course, it was political, and of course, her teacher was a bigotted airhead that would fail her for simply sharing her opinion on radical feminism. 

“Why the hell would you let me pick my own prompt then!” She remembers screaming to herself when she opened the letter that her scholarship had been revoked as a consequence of failing