Ryujin!" Yuna snaps her fingers in front of her face, dragging the girl out of her thoughts.

"Huh?"

"Told you she wasn't listening" Chaeryeong sounds bored, taking a sip from her coffee.

"Jeez, I asked what your plans were for Christmas since finals are done." Ryujin groans with the mentions of finals. Letting her head fall on her hand resting on the table.

"Don't say that f-word," Ryujin mumbles as her thoughts from earlier come back. Why did she have to take math? She swore she would never have to see numbers again after high school and yet here she was. Thinking about numbers and the test she's sure she failed.

"You always stress about finals and yet always pass with flying colors." Yeji butts into their conversation with Chaeryeong following close behind her. "Move over," Ryujin scoffs but does it anyway. Yeji slides into the booth, signaling Chaeryeong to sit on her lap while everyone groans. "Don't be jealous." Yeji shoots out.

"It's gross, no one wants to see that," Yuna mumbles.

"Aren't you and Yeojin ten times worse?" Chaeryeong teases back.

"Shut up," Yuna tries to act nonchalantly but the slight blush on her face gives her away. Her girlfriend Yeojin giggles giving her a kiss on her cheek, making everyone groan.

"Well at least we aren't single... right Ryujin?"

Ryujin sits straight up glaring at everyone who starts to laugh. Yes, she's the only in the group that's single but it's not like she cares.

"It must , being so alone during the holidays."

"Oh leave her alone Chaeryeong, you know she's awful around women."

"Always blushing and panicking—" They all take turns teasing her.

Ryujin doesn't know why she did, maybe it was the stress about her finals or the thought of actually being alone during the holidays or just tired of being the of the group's joke. She doesn't know why but began moving long before her brain could catch up.

"I'm actually dating someone." The laughter died down followed by a second of silence before it got loud.

"What?!"

"Since when?!"

"Who?!"

.

She can't think of anyone since she's obviously lying right through her teeth. Her brain going on overdrive thinking of anyone. Who would be willing to play along?
 

Think Ryujin.
 

And for a second her face flashes by, her sweet smile and warm eyes. Bringing the slight feeling of comfort over. Once again, moves before she can think.

"My roommate." She lies.

"Your roommate as in Lia?!" Yeji being the most surprised out of the bunch. "Why didn't you tell us?" Ryujin shrugs.

"We decided to keep it a secret since finals were coming up and we knew you guys would act...well like this." Ryujin gestures to the four of them.

"I can understand not telling Chaeryeong but me? your best friend?!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Chaeryeong snaps back, glaring when Yeji laughs.

"But you can't tell Lia!" Ryujin spoke a little louder than anyone else. Laughing nervously. "It's just...I promised we would tell everyone together."

"And when were you guys going to tell us?" Yuna asked, eyeing Ryujin suspiciously.

.

Why was lying so hard?

"Oh god, were you guys going to be lame and tell us during Yeji's little Christmas party?" Without noticing, Chaeryeong just saved her .

Ryujin reaches for the back of her neck and rubs it, her nervous laughter continues.

"Actually yeah, it was my idea. I thought it'll be cute." And soon enough, the group groans in disgust.

"Are you guys going to be gross?"

"As long as it's not as bad as Yuna and Yeonjin."

"We aren't that bad!" Ryujin laughs along with them. She'll enjoy this for a moment before she has to think of a way to get Lia involved.

The feeling of panic creeps up but Ryujin ignores it... for now at least.
 

~
 

It wasn't till hours later that Ryujin could no longer ignore that panic. She's pacing back and forth in front of their apartment door. How exactly can she get Lia involved?

"I can beg," Ryujin thinks out loud. Maybe a little pathetic but desperate time.

"Bribe her?" Ryujin shakes her head, her family is loaded, she doubts Lia needs any money. Ryujin doesn't notice the couple walking beside her sending her weird looks and whispering to each other.

One thing Ryujin doesn't need to worry about is Lia knowing, she made the girls promise her not to tell her. It'll give her time to think of a proper plan of attack.

Ryujin sighs. She can't possibly stay out here all night till she finds the right answer. She'll go in and avoid Lia at all cost. Shouldn't be too hard, Lia doesn't get home till late. Even so, she'll move very silently, like a mouse.

Ryujin slowly and quietly opens and closes the door behind her. Slipping her shoes off and placing them to the side. She looks right and then left and as expected, it's empty.

She lets out a sigh of relief. Crisis averted.

"Oh, you're home!" Ryujin jumps and lets a scream out. Placing her hand on her heart as she leans back on the door. "Oh? I didn't mean to scare you."

Lia head peeks from behind the kitchen wall, wearing a very warning smile.

.

"I- Hi, didn't know you'll be home so early." Ryujin laughs nervously

"Early? It's past five, you're actually the late one." Lia moves towards her, placing her hand on her hips as she studies Ryujin's face. "You're acting weird, are you sick?"

Lia gently puts the back of her hand on her forehead, checking for a fever. Ryujin's face heats up immediately at the attention, something that goes unnoticed by Lia.

"I-I'm fine, just hungry." Lia doesn't pull her hand right away, her touch lingers for a moment as a silence moves between them. Eyes locking and as always, there's warmth in her eyes.

Pretty.

"Well, I made soup. I know you're usually the one that cooks but you're late." Lia pulls away and the coldest of the room takes the place of her warmth. Leaving Ryujin a little disappointed. "I wanted to wait till you got home so we can eat together."

Ryujin follows closely behind Lia, relieved that she doesn't seem to know about her little lie. She'll have to think of something fast before everything blowsup on her face.

"I set everything up already."

"You didn't have to."

"I know but I wanted to. You study hard on your finals after all." Ryujin smiles softly. She's always looking after her. Sometimes she forgets Lia's actually the older out of the two, but it really shows.

She's so sweet.

"Thank you." She said softly as she took her seat. The kitchen is small, the whole apartment actually and Ryujin's still surprised Lia even lives here. With the money her parents have, you'll think she'll live somewhere better.

"Anything eventful happened today?" Ryujin straightens up. She doesn't know where to look, she can feel Lia's eyes burning into her.

"Just finals" Ryujin laughs nervously. She hopes this is enough.

"That makes sense, everyone is taking their finals...that's all?" Why does it feel like Lia's interrogating her?

"N-No, that's all." Ryujin curses at herself for stuttering.

"I see." Lia hums happily before taking a sip of her drink. "You must have forgotten the part where you told our friends we were dating."

.

"I can explain! Listen, they were laughing at me for being single and they always do that!" Ryujin speaks quickly. "And the stress of the finals, which by the way was hard! So my mind, I don't know, just thought it and I said it."

Lia's laugh cost Ryujin to finally shut up, once again looking at everything but the girl in front of her.

"You put us in a very interesting situation here Ryujin." There's no anger in Lia's voice to her surprises. She sounds almost excited about this.

"I'm sorry." Ryujin lowered her head. "I'll call them and tell everyone I was lying." They'll make fun of her months but she can survive this. It was selfish and inconsiderate to get Lia involved like that.

"I told them we are dating." Ryujin shot her head up. "I'll play along with my own conditions of course."

"Why?"

"The truth? My parents have been on my back about being single too. We can kill two birds with one stone as they say." Lia places her elbows on the table, resting her chin on her hand.

"Are you sure about this?"

"I am. We'll be in this fake relationship for two weeks. Enough time for both of us to benefit from this, if that's okay with you?" Lia studies Ryujin closely and suddenly she's speechless.

Ryujin thought for sure Lia wouldn't agree with this ridiculous idea but it seems she thought of it way more than she has.

"Sounds great." Ryujin takes a sip from her drink. Lia smiled warmly.

"Now... Who told you? Was it Chaeryeong? I knew not to trust her." Ryujin mumbles.

"It was actually all four of them."

"I'll kill them."
 

~
 

Ryujin had a restless night. To think she's not in a relationship... well fake relationship with Lia all because of a little lie. Ryujin balling herself up to keep warm, watching the snowfall from outside of the window.

Two weeks of pretending. Should be easy but why does she feel so... she doesn't know what she feels.

Two weeks of being her girlfriend.

There's a knock on the door pulling Ryujin from her thoughts. The door slowly opens and Lia pokes her head in.

"Good Morning."

"Morning." Ryujin mumbles.

"Can you get dressed? We need to go shopping."

"Huh? For what?" Ryujin sits up, rubbing the sleepiness from her eyes.

"Christmas tree. We need one since it looks like we'll be spending the holidays together." Lia places her hand on her hips. "And besides, my parents are big about Christmas and we need to decorate the place."

Ryujin groans and lays back down.

"It's so early." Lia giggles before pulling the blanket off her. Ryujin shivers at the unexpected coldness of the room.

"Hey!"
 

~
 

"It's cold," Ryujin mumbles, following close behind Lia, passing Christmas trees as they walk by. "Why aren't any of these good."

"Stop being so grumpy. Aren't you excited for the holidays?" Lia smiles brightly.

"No."

"You're such a grinch." Lia takes her phone out. "And besides, we need some pictures."

"For what?"

"For the apartment? I told my parents we have been dating for months and it'll be weird not to have photos around the apartment."

"I didn't think of that."

"And that's alright, let me do all the thinking" Lia gently pats Ryujin's head.

"Also, I'll be moving some of my things in your room... to make it more believable. Couples don't sleep in separate rooms, right?" Ryujin doesn't understand exactly why but she finds herself blushing.

 

Couple.

 

Ryujin feels a pang at her heart and she lets Lia grab her hand and drag her around the shop. She doesn't put up much of a fight when Lia asks her to do something. Ryujin says it's only because of this favor but that doesn't seem like the truth. Doesn't seem like that's the only reason.

Ryujin could be wrong about this but Lia seems happy for this whole thing— fake or not she looks like she's enjoying herself.

And that's something Ryujin can't stop but smile at.

She's cute.
 

~
 

In a matter of a few days, Lia transfers the apartment to something else. Ryujin helped of course but this was her doing. The Christmas lights look beautiful all over the small apartment. The tree isn't big but it's perfect for them, standing tall at one of the corners.

The ornaments look extra pretty when the lights of the tree shine on them. There are pictures of the two on the tree as well, Lia stating they have to make everything look real. Photos of them all over the apartment, it actually looks like they're dating.

 

Fake dating.

 

Ryujin shook off the sudden feeling of... disappointment? She's been feeling things she doesn't really understand. It's weird and frustrating all at once.

"Hey, Lia? Where are my socks?" Not only the decorations around the apartment are new, as well as Lia moving her stuff into Ryujin's rooms. From her shirts to their pants, everything is suddenly mixed together.

"Check our sock drew on the bottom left!" She yells out.

 

Our?

 

Ryujin doesn't question it, not when she sees her socks mixed together with Lia's. Not when she's gotten used to seeing their photos together. Ryujin doesn't say anything, especially when a part of her yearns for this to be their new normal.

 

It's just a fake relationship.

 

She'll repeat it till it sticks.

"Ready?" Lia leans on the door framing watching Ryujin slip her shoes on. Wearing that warm smile she's now looking forward to seeing it every day. "Remember, we have to act like a couple. We have to make the others believe us."

Ryujin stands in front of Lia and today, Lia looks so much taller with her heels on. She gently brushes the hair on Ryujin's face to the side.

"Like we practiced?"

"To the very last detail." Lia reached her hand out and Ryujin took it quickly.

"Let's be the best couple there."

Lia doesn't say they're pretending and Ryujin doesn't remind her.