Time zones .

 

As far as a sleep-induced, thesis-wrecked and a Jimin-deprived Kim Minjeong is concerned, time zones are the worst thing to ever exist in the entire universe alongside capitalism and kiwis (because she is allergic to kiwis and she hates not being able to eat a thing because of her allergies).

 

Time zones are quickly becoming Minjeong’s archnemesis and it’s not looking good.

 

“The last time I saw you sulk like that, it’s because of Karina unnie,” comes Yizhuo’s sleepy remark across her. “I’m guessing she is the same reason you look like a moping maltese again?”

 

The two of them are spending a late night at the university library. Yizhuo has three sets of paper due the following day and she insisted on Minjeong tagging along because I need your brain for further input unnie come on I will bring lots of snacks for us to eat.

 

Minjeong wanted to argue that students are not allowed to eat inside the library but decided against it. Arguing with Yizhuo has always been a lost cause anyway.

 

(And she was sold the moment Yizhuo mentioned snacks. Turning down free food is undeniably the dumbest move anyone could pull and Minjeong is anything but dumb.)

 

“I’m not a moping maltese,” Minjeong grumbles exactly like a moping maltese. “And it’s not really her. It’s more about the stupid time difference.”

 

“What about it?” Yizhuo asks mid-yawn.

 

“It .” Minjeong murmurs, glaring at her still pitch-black phone that she had been eyeing for over two hours, “Why can’t every place just have the same time across the world? Why does it have to be different on each country?”

 

Ever since Jimin’s tour started, Minjeong had to adjust to the substantial changes that followed through. No more 10PM rendezvous at Yeri’s office; no more Sunday free time extravaganza that involved Jimin spending the rest of the day at Minjeong’s apartment with fur babies Myong and Myang; no more stolen kisses and comfy cuddles within the confines of spaces away from the public eye.

 

Smirking and annoying Jimin in flesh almost felt like a fever dream for Minjeong.

 

Above all, it’s the varying time zones that she had to adjust with the most.

 

At first, it wasn’t demanding because the time differences among the countries included in the Asian leg of the tour are relatively smaller (one to three hours tops). Jimin could still sneak in an hour or two of talking with each other before or after the concert and Minjeong used her favorite employee card on Yeri so she could end her shift earlier than usual.

 

(“You will never speak of this to anyone especially Haechan. Just tell them you’re busy with your thesis that’s why I’m letting you off.”

 

“I am busy with my thesis.”

 

“I know. But you’re also busy with Jimin; hence, all this jazz.”

 

“N-not really. I’m also gonna use this time to work on my thesis, unnie.”

 

“Still a denial queen, I see.”

 

“But it’s true!”

 

“Sure Minjeong.”

 

“Unnie!”)

 

 

But when the American leg kicked off, that’s when it became a little bit of a headache for Minjeong. The one to three-hour time difference had ballooned into more than twelve hours and Minjeong was suddenly a day ahead from Jimin. That is something a couple shots of espresso and her favorite employee card cannot make do; Minjeong almost felt like she was experiencing jetlag despite not leaving Korea since birth.

 

Just why did the earth decide to be round and revolve around the sun while rotating on its own axis?

 

“I don’t know unnie,” Yizhuo sluggishly responds. “Go ask a tarot lady. Astrologers know the answer to everything.”

 

Minjeong would have given her best friend a smack on the head for her very helpful opinion if only the girl didn’t look like she could pass out any second.

 

“Are you sure you want to stay up all night doing your paper here?” she asks, momentarily forgetting what she had been grumbling about when she saw how lethargic her friend is, “Hey, Yizhuo. Yizhuo. Ning Yizhuo.”

 

“Eh?” the younger girl shoots up from her chair and blinks, bleary. “’M’awake. I’m fully awake.”

 

“Sure,” Minjeong drawls, unconvinced. “How’s it going with your essay?”

 

Yizhuo in her sleepy state resumes typing in her laptop again with her eyes half-closed, “Looking good. I’m almost done.”

 

“With what?”

 

“The first..”

 

Minjeong felt her brows raising on its own, “First what?”

 

Sleepy Ningning only stared with a blank stare. “First paragraph.”

 

“..of what?”

 

“First paper.”

 

This time, it’s her eyes that Minjeong felt twitching on its own accord. “But we’ve been here for two hours, Ning.”

 

“Yeah I know. You don’t have to state the obvious.”

 

Oh god. Minjeong forgot that sleepy Ningning is ten times edgier than normally-spirited Ningning and she is talking to Minjeong who is Jimin-deprived for a little over two days.

 

“Ning, I think it’s better if we should just go home.” She suggests, choosing the better option of talking things out with the sleepy girl rather than giving her a flick on the forehead, “You won’t be able to finish your papers tonight. Maybe you can work on it in the morning or after you’ve taken a fat nap.”

 

But Yizhuo is not having any of it. “No,” shaking her head and tries to steer her attention back to her laptop, eyes bulging out as if to emphasize her point that, “I can do this. I can finish this.”

 

“After fifty years or..?”

 

“Tonight.” Yizhuo declares, fire in her eyes. “Watch me conquer these freaking essays tonight and prove you wrong Kim Minjeong.”

 

Minjeong stares blankly at the girl, “And if you don’t?”

 

Yizhuo’s eyes flit towards her and for a split second, Minjeong was anxious of what could possibly come out of her friend’s reckless mouth, “We’re flying us to the US to watch Karina unnie’s concert, all-expenses paid by yours truly.”

 

Kim Minjeong almost fell off her seat upon hearing the bet, “No way..”

 

But Yizhuo looks so freaking serious about it, “Yes. Way.”

 

“A-are you sure?” Minjeong finds herself asking to make sure that Yizhuo knows what she is getting herself into, “Like all expenses paid from plane ticket to hotel?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“As well as the concert tickets?”

 

“Duh, we’re gonna go there to watch Karina unnie’s concert of course it will include the tickets.”

 

“How about food?”

 

“Of course. I wouldn’t let us starve, unnie.”

 

Heol. Her best friend is indeed serious.

 

But Minjeong is still skeptical. “And if you end up finishing all those papers tonight?” she inquires. As much as the stupid bet is pretty inviting, she needs to know her end of this bargain.

 

Yizhuo can be canny if she wants to.

 

“You will make all of my essays for the entire semester.” There it is.

 

Of course it wouldn’t be an easy bet. Yizhuo and her clever (not to mention crazy rich) had to bargain for something quite as vital as an all-expenses paid to watch her girlfriend’s concert…abroad.

 

Kim Minjeong had never felt so strongly over Ning Yizhuo’s nonsense bets until tonight.

 

“But I’m working on my thesis..” she hesitates, thinking about the tremendous amount of workload it will be if Yizhuo wins this bet.

 

“So you think that I’m gonna finish these assignments then,” Yizhuo prides, a sly smirk on her face despite her sleepy state. “It’s okay. We can call it off and you can just watch me prove you wrong.”

 

But Minjeong is convinced that Yizhuo is not going to last even an hour before she dozes off. The girl is pretty much the human embodiment of Snorlax, just a lot more beautiful and louder.

 

Minjeong thinks she has the upper hand of winning this stupid bet.

 

“Ani, I believe I can win this thing.” Minjeong guarantees with assertion in her voice, extending her hand for a handshake to seal their deal, “It’s on, Ning Yizhuo.”

 

Ningning grips her hand with determination oozing from her sleepy eyes, “Prepare to lose, Kim Minjeong.”

 

Minjeong could only scoff, “The only one who’s gonna lose here is you together with your thousands of won for the all-expenses paid trip that I’m gonna win.”

 

She squints her eyes in challenge and Yizhuo returned it with her fiery look, albeit a lot sleepier. The two of them falls into an intense staring contest with one looking like a challenged baby husky and the other akin to that of a drowsy Siberian kitten.

 

They were only brought out of their adorable passionate standoff when Minjeong’s phone lights up on the table, breaking her eye contact with a very sleepy Ning Yizhuo.

 

i miss yoo 😣 calling..

 

Minjeong lets out an unexpected squeak upon realizing who the caller is, the tiny sound reverberating through the deafening silence of the library.

 

“Ssshhh!” rebukes the middle-aged librarian from her station. Minjeong immediately presses her lips together to repress whatever shameless sound that may further come out of her stupid mouth, sends a sheepish smile to the librarian and bows her head in apology.

 

“You changed it from ‘Yoo Ahjussi’ to ’i miss yoo’ with that stupid emoji?” Yizhuo snorts with an obvious amusement in her voice, “You’re down bad, unnie.”

 

Minjeong scowls and snatches her phone away from the girl’s line of sight. “Shut it. I miss her so much okay?” she defends. “We haven’t talked for two days.”

 

Yizhuo suddenly smiles at her, like a mom who has seen her daughter gradually grow into a full-pledged adult all throughout the years.

 

“I am so proud of you,” She proclaims, a hand on her chest. “You’ve finally seen the light and has join me in appreciating the perfect human being to ever walk the earth. I cannot blame you if you’ve been longing for Karina unnie, too.”

 

“I’m her girlfriend who’s in a long-distance relationship with her,” Minjeong blankly responds. “Of course I will long for her.”

 

“She is every Karebear’s girlfriend, Kim Minjeong.” Yizhuo responds dreamily, “You cannot escape the strong parasocial relationship we have with Karina unnie.”

 

“Ugh, stop calling it that.” Minjeong’s face crumpled in distaste, “And sorry to tell every Karebear whatever the name is that I don’t share,” grabbing her earphones and standing on her feet. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to take the call of your Karina unnie as the rightful girlfriend that I am.”

 

“Tell her I love her~” Yizhuo’s dreamy tirade continues and Minjeong sends her delusional best friend a stinky eye before walking towards a row of shelves away from everyone else.

 

Stupid parasocial relationship.

 

 

***

 

 

After a couple of shelf-assessing, Minjeong found a perfect spot that is relatively remote from people’s earshot (there are barely people) but with adequate lighting to illuminate the video call.

 

She felt her heart exploding when she finally saw Jimin’s beautiful bare face fill up every corner of the rectangular device.

 

“Hi baby.”

 

Did she mention her heart was exploding?

 

“Hi..” Minjeong murmurs, unconsciously bites her lower lip to stop herself from full on grinning.

 

She feels like a teenager who is about to have her first conversation with her crush and Minjeong never really dwelled on those things when she was at that age.

 

What has she become?

 

“Hi,” comes Jimin’s greeting for the second time. The girl’s beauty insists to stand out even in a 360p video quality and Minjeong tries not to squeal. “I made you wait for two days, didn’t I?”

 

“Yeah, you did.” Minjeong agrees softly. “But it’s okay. You’re here now.”

 

Jimin sends her one of those lopsided smiles she is so fond of. “God, you are so beautiful,” the groggy voice and still puffy eyes telling Minjeong that the girl has just woken up.

 

“Speak for yourself.”

 

A chuckle, “You think I’m beautiful?”

 

“Perfectly so,” Minjeong easily agrees.

 

“Babe I just woke up,” Jimin croaks. “My hair is everywhere and I haven’t brushed my teeth yet. You still think I’m beautiful?”

 

A smile crept its way into Minjeong’s face before she could even stop it. “I think you’re in your most beautiful state,” pausing and tilts her head. “Although, you might wanna get up and brush your teeth first.”

 

She hears a scoff over the line, “So much for being in my most beautiful state.”

 

“What? Morning breath and you hate being nasty.”

 

A quick pause on Jimin’s part. “I hate that you’re right. Be right back.”

 

The view on the phone shifts and everything turned black. Minjeong heard a shuffling and a tiny groan, imagines Jimin’s lanky arms stretching up in the air with her baby noises in the morning. The image puts a smile on her face.

 

Minjeong silently listens to the static of the line with the pitch-black screen and waits for a particular shuffling to come again that would indicate the return of a newly-brushed Jimin. Moments later, the screen lights up and Minjeong was pulled out of her unexpected trance when Jimin’s quail egg face appears again.

 

“I’m back, m’lady.” She says. “I brushed my teeth, washed my face and even tried to tame my hair. Now where’s my kiss?”

 

Minjeong good-naturedly rolls her eyes at the request, “I would if I could.”

 

“You would?”

 

“Hmm.”

 

“How would you do it?”

 

Minjeong finds herself smiling. It was one of those conversations they developed in their current long-distance situation where Jimin would ask Minjeong how she would do a certain thing had Jimin been physically present.

 

It was kind of cheesy but incredibly intimate and Minjeong has taken into liking the effect it would always cause the girl who is oceans away from her.

 

“Well, I would lean down to your face very slowly,” she starts, hushed. “I’d start with your forehead. I would linger on that part because I like it when I’d feel taller than you even just for a moment. Also because I love the smell of your hair under my nose.”

 

“And then?” Jimin murmurs, staring intensely through the screen.

 

“Then I’d travel to your cheeks,” She continues. “Kisses for each cheek so no one would get jealous. I would pamper each side with lots of smooches until you push me away because I’m being an annoying cheek-kisser.”

 

Jimin chortles, “Okay..”

 

“Then to your nose,” Minjeong says. “Your tall, perfectly sculpted nose. One, soft kiss on top of it enough to make you wrinkle them the way I want it.”

 

There was a pause and Minjeong quietly regards Jimin with her eyes. The celebrity’s piercing stare is making her feel things even from miles away.

 

“Then finally to your lips,” Minjeong husks, her lips. “I’m gonna press my lips on yours; not too hard but not too soft either. Just enough for you to feel it. Then I’m gonna take your lower lip because it’s plump it has always been plump I don’t know what’s with that but I like it. I like it so much.”

 

“Yeah?” Jimin breathes and Minjeong feels like she cannot.

 

“Yeah,” she answers, curt and delicate. “I’m going to nip on it like I did the last time. D’you remember the last time? I kissed you before you left my apartment for your early morning flight. Right at my door. Against it. You remember?”

 

“I do.” There was a certain wheeze in Jimin’s answer, “I clearly remember.”

 

“Good… good because that’s how I’m gonna do it,” Minjeong whispers. “I’m gonna chew on your lips as if it’s the last time I could and I’m gonna trace your jaw with my fingers so much you’d drop them. When you do, you would open your mouth for me and I’d get to kiss you better. Slowly. Bit by bit until I hear you whimper against my lips because I’ve given you another one of the best kisses of your life.”

 

When she finishes her sentence, Minjeong regards the girl on the screen with much concentration. She cannot stop the smirk that tugged up at the corner of her lips.

 

Jimin is undoubtedly intoxicated just by her sheer narrative: staring at her with hooded eyes, mouth slightly ajar and her tongue peeking right through the space between her lips.

 

Minjeong did that.

 

“And that’s how I would do it, Jimin.” She finishes, shrugging. “That’s how I will kiss you if I could.”

 

“, babe. That was—” Minjeong thinks that she just heard a gulp coming from her girlfriend. “I can take the first flight in LAX bound to Seoul,” Jimin suddenly mutters, determined. “I can cancel my tour, drop everything here and fly back home right at this moment just so you could kiss me like that again, Kim Minjeong. Just say the word.”

 

Minjeong finds herself snickering at the proposition; not too loud to arise suspicion from the strict librarian but shrill enough for Jimin to hear.

 

“You would do that?”

 

“Yes,” Jimin answers in no time.

 

“Just one word from me and you will drop everything?”

 

 “Absolutely. No doubt.”

 

“Then I’m not gonna tell you to,” Minjeong says, affection oozing from her eyes because gods, Jimin is so willing to leave behind thousands of her waiting fans for her. “Stay there and finish the American leg of your tour, Jimin.”

 

“B-but.. don’t you want these lips?” Jimin pouts, eyes pleading.

 

“I do. I really do,” Minjeong finds her eyes dropping to the girl’s lower face, “Heaven knows how much I want those lips.”

 

“Then let me come home.”

 

“I can’t let you do that,” gently shaking her head but with finality in her voice. “You have concerts to finish and fans to make happy, Jimin. Kisses with Kim Minjeong can always wait until after you are done with commitments. We have plenty of time for that.”

 

The pout on the celebrity’s lips disappears, suddenly replaced with a pair of hopeful eyes and a seeking gaze, “We do?”

 

Minjeong quickly nods, earnest. “We do,” answering the unspoken question behind those eyes that Jimin need not verbalize in order for Minjeong to understand.

 

Their existing arrangement poses a lot of uncertainties after all.

 

Jimin as Karina Yoo in Korea is already an ordeal in itself. What with the always trailing media and the country’s hardly liberal take on the diversity of preferences, it is a challenge to even see each other without being cautious. Even more so that now Jimin as Karina Yoo is travelling around the world with little to no time to pick up her phone and talk with a girlfriend back at home; it is another level of tough.

 

(If the grumbles about the time zones were any indication.)

 

But Minjeong believes in them. She has faith on her and Jimin. She is confident that they are both in to make this work and nothing, not even the Pacific Ocean nor the Mariana Trench (or stupid time zones), can deter the growing feelings they have for each other.

 

Especially not Minjeong’s.

 

“Okay..” Jimin mumbles, looking so contented at the inferred assurance. “What time is it now there, by the way? And where are you? Why is it darker than usual?”

 

Minjeong vaguely looked around and indeed, the lighting in the spot she chose wasn’t as bright as her bedroom where she and Jimin would typically talk.

 

“I think it’s around 1AM here and I’m at the library.” She answers. “Right now, I’m on the aisles of the Philosophy Section, somewhere with Macchiavelli and his Renaissance idea of justifying the means by its end which is probably why it’s kind of dark in here.”

 

Confusion flashes across Jimin’s eyes for a fraction of second and then, “Oh shoot, are you working on your thesis when I called? Babe I’m sorry should I just ca—”

 

“No, no, no!” Minjeong was quick to appease before the celebrity could even drop the call, “I’m not working on my thesis right now. I’m just here because Ning dragged me tonight so she could have someone to um, help her in her essays.”

 

“Oh okay.” Jimin nods. And then, “But why are you on a bookshelf instead of helping her?”

 

Minjeong wants to tell Jimin about the stupid bet of flying to America if Yizhuo ends up not finishing her stupid papers. But she decided against it at the last second, doesn’t want to give Jimin the false hope of seeing each other if Yizhuo indeed finishes her assignments as agreed.

 

“She’s almost done,” she says instead. “She can manage the conclusion parts. She’s a big girl, Jimin,” eliciting a chuckle from the girl over the line. “How about you? Are you guys still in L.A.?”

 

“Yeah. But we’re flying to Dallas in a few hours. That’s the next stop in the tour.”

 

“Huh, which means a new time zone to get myself acquainted with.” Minjeong comments rather to herself; but Jimin clearly heard her.

 

“Yup. Another adjustment for the two-hour difference between Dallas and Los Angeles.” The celebrity informs, “But if it will make you feel better, it’s gonna be a 14-hour difference between Seoul and Dallas compared to LA with sixteen. So…yay?”

 

“Small yay,” Minjeong grumbles, juts her lips. “That’s still more than half a day of difference and Seoul is already one day ahead of America. You are basically living in the past, Jimin.”

 

Her last statement earned an adorable gasp from the girl, “Does this mean I’ve time travelled, Kim Minjeong?”

 

“Omo, you’re right..” Minjeong says, realization dawning on her. “I am from the future, you’re someone from the classical 80’s. And this video call right now is like us going through a time machine where our differing worlds meet and we see each other in between. It’s like a P.O.S. but time travelling.”

 

“A what?”

 

“A P.O.S… Y’know, Portal of Synk.”

 

“What’s that?”

 

“Ugh, of course you won’t get it.” Minjeong quips, “You’re someone from the past!”

 

Jimin snorts. “Gosh you’re so weird,” almost enamored by the bizarre phrases coming out of her girlfriend’s mouth. “Why are you so weird, Kim Minjeong?”

 

“Oh please, that’s what you like about me.”

 

“Interestingly, it is.” Jimin agrees loosely, “One of the many other things that I like as a matter of fact.”

 

Minjeong’s pair of brows teasingly shoots up, “Go on, I’m listening.”

 

“Well, other than your weirdness, there’s your beautiful smile and face; that’s a given.” Jimin starts enumerating and Minjeong can feel her face heating up, “Then there’s your candid mouth which singlehandedly ruined my life-long belief that everyone across the country knows about my wonderful existence.” Minjeong laughs at that, “There’s also your cheeks they’re soooo round and fluffy I wanna bite them. Also your height because I could sling my arm around your shoulder just enough to pull you closer to me.”

 

Then Jimin is suddenly looking at her as if she invented her favorite color blue for her and Minjeong’s heart goes du-dung.

 

“Then there’s the way you take care of people and animals alike, the way you handle me, your kindness and sweetness and assurance you always send my way; the way you think, the way you bring yourself. Honestly, I can think of million other things and I don’t think a day would be enough to list them all down. There’s just a lot of things to like about you.”

 

Minjeong purses her lip to stop herself from grinning. “It’s a good thing then that there are millions of things you like about me because it means I could keep you interested for a long time.”

 

“You can say that. But by all means, even if there are only a few things, your mere existence is enough to tie me up,” Jimin drawls, her soft gaze penetrating through the screen. “You’re amazing like that, Minjeong-ah.”

 

Minjeong-ah.

 

She noticed that Jimin only ever calls her that on rare occasions. Like that first time Jimin left the country to start her Asian tour; the girl hugged her tight with an ‘I see you soon, Minjeong-ah’ before leaving her apartment. That time when Minjeong was clearly having a bad day and she was apparently snappy during a video call with Jimin who just finished a show in Japan; the girl softly asks her ‘Do you want to talk about it, Minjeong-ah?’ albeit being tired herself.

 

Or that time at her apartment just before Yizhuo barged into them for the first time: ‘Minjeong-ah…do you still not find me interesting?’

 

And when Jimin went incognito but she suddenly appeared at the pub, tugging Minjeong to a dark corner where the major leap in their dynamics became manifest: ‘I just missed you. I missed you so much, Minjeong-ah.’

 

There is just something about the way Jimin calls her Minjeong-ah that puts all the doubts and qualms in her to a complete rest.

 

It was sublime and authentic and undeniably Jimin and Minjeong could feel herself falling deeply, deeper.

 

“You’re just as amazing,” she says, gentle smile on her lips. “More than amazing.”

 

A comfortable silence gradually fell upon them, with Minjeong staring in and Jimin simply staring back: just them drowning in each other’s eyes and basking in each other’s presence with no words exchange.

 

Just Jimin and Minjeong in their own world. Jimin and Minjeong in their own bubble.

 

Jiminjeong as couched by Yizhuo.

 

 

(“Jiminjeong?”

 

“Yeah. Jimin and Minjeong. Ji-Min-jeong! That’s like the perfect ship name of all time and it’s for my ship that is sailing! Aaacckkk!”

 

“Ship? Like a boat?”

 

“Noooo. Well, kinda but—oh gosh I totally forgot that you’re so uncultured that’s why you don’t know these amazing terms!”

 

“Hey! I am not!”

 

“Yes you are. If you’re not, how do you pronounce gif? GIF or GIF?”

 

“Uh…aren’t those the same thing?”

 

“See? Uncultured!”)

 

 

And Jiminjeong just like at this moment is Minjeong’s favorite Jiminjeong.

 

Calm and vulnerable and longing, maybe a little cuddle-deprived, but certain. It is Jimin and Minjeong in their most intimate state. Even if someone gives her a mind-blowing 5 million won right at this moment to change all the events that transpired leading to this point, Minjeong would outright decline.

 

She wouldn’t want her and Jimin in any other way, oceans and poor wifi bandwidth included (and stupid time zones).

 

 

***

 

 

Yizhuo was able to finish her essays.

 

For some unforeseen, celestial reason, the girl was able to complete the three sets of assignment during that night at the library.

 

(“You’ve got to be kidding me..”

 

“You only wish I am.”

 

“Are you serious?? Y-you finished them all?”

 

“Yup. Fair and square. Told you I can do it tonight.”

 

“B-but how??”

 

“Eh, let’s just say your obvious doubt pushed me to finally get myself together and finish these stupid homeworks. Now it up, loser. You’re gonna make my essays for this entire semester! Yeeyyy!”

 

“No…what have I done..”)

 

 

Which leaves Minjeong to her current situation: working on Yizhuo’s second essay out of the four, in the middle of her living room, on her supposed free day (not anymore).

 

“Wazzup essayist Kim Minjeong!” comes the girl’s greetings the moment Minjeong answered her incoming video call.

 

Poor Minjeong could only narrow her eyes at the jest, “Shut up. You should be doing all of this, not me.”

 

“Awww. Too bad you lost the bet, didn’t you?” snickers Yizhuo over the line and Minjeong huffs. “Besides, you did this to yourself. You didn’t believe in me when I was at the lowest point of my life!”

 

“You were barely awake when I left you to attend to your essays,” Minjeong reasons. “Anyone wouldn’t believe that you could finish it that night. Unless you pretended to have not yet finished them so I would take the bait and agree to your stupid bet?”

 

Yizhuo gasps, “I would do no such thing.” But something about the way her face crumples and the smile threatening to spill tells Minjeong that maybe she did. “Now you’re coming up with lies to discredit me and my hardwork because you can’t accept your defeat! I’m so close to unfriending you!”

 

“Go ahead,” Minjeong dares, bored. “So I wouldn’t work on these stupid essays about Freud’s theories on the unconscious mind anymore.”

 

“Of course I’m only joking you know how much I love you unnie~” says Yizhuo in her acutely sweet, high-pitched voice that made Minjeong cringe.

 

This kid.

 

“Whatever. Where the hell are you, anyway?” Minjeong squints her eyes, trying to make out of the surroundings behind Yizhuo. “That’s not your place.”

 

“It really isn’t,” Yizhuo chirps. “I’m at the studio with Aeri unnie.”

 

Before Minjeong could even ask what studio the girl is talking about, the scene on the phone shifted and Kim Aeri’s figure suddenly appears.

 

“There she is!” Yizhuo exclaims, more than half of her face now unseen to accommodate the view of Aeri behind her, “She is working on some demo right now. Unnie, say hi to the camera~”

 

Kim Aeri turned her head from tweaking something on a large MIDI controller upon hearing Yizhuo’s rambunctious call. Her face breaks into a blinding smile when she sees Minjeong.

 

“Minjeongie! How are you doing?”

 

Ever since the little fiasco Minjeong got herself into (that incident with flunking Regina wannabes 2.0) where Jimin came along with Kim Aeri in tow, Yizhuo and the producer have gotten closer. Minjeong doesn’t know how it exactly happened but they started hanging out a lot especially as of late. Whenever Minjeong would be too busy with her thesis and cannot accompany Yizhuo with her random play dates, she’d be with Aeri.

 

(Yizhuo, I can’t tonight. I need to work on this part for the initial submission tomorrow.”

 

“It’s okay unnie! I’m with Aeri unnie right now, anyway.”

 

“Ning~ where are you? I’m going to do some sampling for the entire day.”

 

“Okay, good luck! Aeri unnie and I are going to try that newly opened Chinese restaurant I saw the other day!”

 

“Ning-ie, I’m busy today.”

 

“It’s alright! I have plans with Aeri unnie today too.”)

 

 

Maybe it’s the fact that they are foreigners venturing things out in Korea or the same taste they both have at almost everything; Minjeong doesn’t really know. But Yizhuo and Aeri definitely clicked with each other.

 

As someone who had known Yizhuo since high school when the girl initially transferred from Harbin in her sophomore year, Minjeong cannot help but be glad. The younger girl, albeit spirited and very sweet, always had reservations when it comes to opening with people that isn’t Minjeong. 

 

“People that isn’t Minjeong unnie finds me really weird and noisy.” She remembers sophomore Yizhuo sulking during one of their lunchbreaks. “I like Minjeong unnie better because you share your snacks and you don’t find me weird.”

 

“Of course I don’t find you weird. You are so fun to be with!” Minjeong recalls her younger, toothy self responding, “From now on, you stick with me okay? We’re going to have so much fun together, Yizhuo!”

 

“Okay unnie! Accckkk I’m excited!”

 

And that is how they had been attached to the hip up to this day. It was such an experience growing up with a huge personality like Ning Yizhuo. Minjeong is just happy that her best friend finally found someone other than her to connect with in a lot of aspects (also to bug and annoy for the heck of it).

 

“I’m doing horrible.” Minjeong complains. “That girl in your studio just made my semester an extra living hell.”

 

This earned her a cackle from the producer. “Is it that bad?”

 

“Very bad,” she says. “I think I might just drop out of college to focus doing her essays for the rest of the year.”

 

Aeri laughs and the view on the phone zooms back to Yizhuo. “You and your dramatic .”

 

“You and your stupid bet,” comes Minjeong’s grumble.

 

“You can do it Minjeongie!” Aeri howls from the background. “I’m sure Ning-ie would give you a really meaningful reward for your hardwork. Right, babe?”

 

“We’ll see.” says Yizhuo, shrugging nonchalantly and Minjeong thinks tha—hold up.

 

“Babe?” she mouths, totally amused at what she heard. Yizhuo just stares at her with an unreadable stare.

 

“What? She likes to call people with endearments.” The younger girl mumbles, avoiding Minjeong’s gaze.

 

“Right..” Minjeong nods, felt herself smirking at the very interesting thing she may or may not have been speculating for the last couple of weeks.

 

But just before she could go on a full-blown interrogation about what she observed, her doorbell suddenly rings.

 

“Oh, someone’s at the door.” She told Yizhuo who nods affirmatively, noting the look of relief that spreads across her face. “I’d go get it.”

 

“Okay unnie. I’d probably go too. Make sure to finish my papers!”

 

“Yes, Your Highness.” She rolls her eyes with a resigned smile. “Bye for now. Bye Aeri! Please take care of our Yizhuo!”

 

“Bye Minjeong!” shouts Aeri from the background. “And yes, of course I will!”

 

Minjeong sends a teasing smirk at her suddenly flustered best friend before ending the call. She would definitely get back to her later.

 

Her doorbell chimes again and Minjeong shoots up from the floor with a ‘Coming!’ right before she dashes. On the short trip towards the door, she racks her brain for who could possibly be visiting her on a weekend at this relatively early morning. She doesn’t remember ordering a package for it to arrive today nor a group project for a classmate to come and work on it with her.

 

Minjeong felt her heart leaping up to when she opens the door and sees the woman she had been missing for a while now.

 

“Mom??”

 

 

***

 

 

(“What are you doing here, mom?”

 

“Visiting you, of course. Don’t you want your mother here, Kim Minjeong?”

 

“Of course I do! I-I just didn’t...I mean, you didn’t call that you’re coming!”

 

“I want it to be a surprise, honey. Are you surprised?”

 

“Definitely.”

 

“Well what are you doing then? Come get this hug!”)

 

 

***

 

 

“Thank you again for tonight, Miami!”

 

Jimin cries out in English as she takes another long, low bow. She can feel the thrumming in her ears as the crowd continues to go wild in front of her, couldn’t get enough of the rambunctious cheers and hoots from the attending fans.

 

It is yet another successful show in the American leg of her tour; tonight, she concluded one in the Magic City of Miami, Florida. The warm welcome as well as the uplifting, loud roars of the fans always make every preparations and sleepless night all worth it for her.

 

There is just something about the way she would hear her name from the fans and the shrill sound of cheers before, during and after a performance. It always made Jimin’s heart sing. For her, it is thrilling, addicting even; like some sort of a high-class drug she gets high to whenever, wherever. Right now, she is super high in it and Jimin can’t stop smiling even after she went down the stage, even after she bid her goodbye to the fans.  

 

She cannot wait to tell Minjeong about this feeling.

 

Ah yes. Kim Minjeong.

 

The eccentric but very sweet human being who made a leap of fate with her. Jimin never really thought that the girl would seal the deal as she couched it despite laying down the possibility of a long-distance relationship with her.

 

The tour had been part of the project all along. In fact, when the company told her about the planned world tour at the beginning of the year, she was ecstatic. Jimin always had a knack for travelling and visiting places she hasn’t been to. When she was given the chance through the world tour, Jimin began counting days. She couldn’t wait to start her journey across the different parts of the world.

 

But that was pre-Minjeong times.

 

That was before she had a legitimate reason to stay in one place and spend the rest of her days cooped up in a small bedroom, getting lost in the scent of fabric conditioner and strawberry shampoo with two lovely kittens on her feet.

 

That was before nothing mattered to Jimin other than her career and herself.

 

Now, her career and herself still matters. But Kim Minjeong matters now too. Matters the most among everything.

 

So when she was reminded of the world tour a few weeks before the scheduled plan, Jimin didn’t have it in herself to be ecstatic anymore. Not when she would be leaving behind the girl she cares the most with nothing but sheer expectancy and hope of Jimin coming back as a string that would connect them together.

 

But then Minjeong surprises her yet again.

 

Let me be your woman. The girl has said. Let me show you how Kim Minjeong does it without reservation, Yoo Jimin.

 

Jimin swears she had never been swept off her feet so hard by a person up to that point in time.

 

It was just.. she was just..

 

There are simply no right words for it. Jimin and her meager vocabulary would always fail to put a word to what she felt, to what she is still feeling, when Minjeong gave the two of them a real chance. The girl is beyond incredible and Jimin thanks her stars, the universe, any divine hands, for letting her find someone as incredible as her.

 

She could not ask for more because Jimin believes she already has the best in Kim Minjeong.

 

“Is it always this hot in Miami?” she asks her manager once she was changed to her casual clothes, striding across the basement parking lot. The hot welcome of her fans was just as hot as the actual temperature going on across the city. She can feel every crevice of her body sweating bloody murder every time she moves.

 

“Yes,” answers Wendy, handing her a towel which Jimin immediately used to wipe away another trickle of sweat she can feel on her face. “It has a tropical climate and it’s relatively warmer all-year round compared to other states. Has something to do with its geographical location.”

 

Jimin sighs, “I’m melting like an ice cream under the sun. And it’s already midnight here.”

 

“You’re not just used to it ‘cause it’s almost always cold back at home,” her manager chirps, opens the door of the van they already reached.

 

Jimin scrambled to get inside and wastes no time in turning on the car’s AC, heaving a sigh of relief when she starts feeling the cold air engulfing her.

 

“It was a fun night tonight, wasn’t it?” She mumbles, leaning back against the car seat with a smile. “Everyone seemed to enjoy the show. I saw people dancing with me while I performed!”

 

A chuckle from her manager, “It means they love you so much that they started dancing.”

 

Jimin felt her smile growing wider, “Of course they do. I am so loveable.”

 

Wendy just gave her another chuckle and a “Yes you are Jimin.” When the van starts moving, Jimin reaches for her earphones inside her bag and plugs it in her phone. “What time is it back at home right now, unnie?”

 

“It’s probably around—” a quick pause from her manager, doing the math when she looked down to her wrist watch. “past 1PM. Huh, what could Seulgi be possibly doing right now? Has she eaten..”

 

Jimin had no time to comment on the last part of her manager’s statement (could only send a subtle smile towards her direction) because she opens her phone quickly, clicking on Kim Babe⭐️ and opting for a video call.

 

It was answered after a few moments and Jimin has a smile already plastered across her face, overwhelmingly eager to see her girlfriend’s beautiful face again.

 

Her smile freezes when instead of the radiant, gummy smile, she was met with a face that looks exactly like her girlfriend’s (shape of her eyes, tall nose and lips) but a lot more…matured? The woman who was staring at her lacks the round mochi cheeks that her Minjeong has and for a moment, Jimin remembered their random conversation about time travelling a few nights back.

 

No way…could it be…?

 

But before Jimin could even dwell on the bizarre, totally impossible idea, she hears a familiar girl over the line.

 

“Mom have you seen my—” it was Minjeong’s voice, “..phone..” abruptly halting when she realized that the device she was looking for was in fact with her mom.

 

Hold on…MOM?!

 

Jimin felt herself going even more rigid upon realizing that the woman she is currently looking straight at is Minjeong’s mother, the godly creature who carried fetus Minjeong for nine months and has ultimately brought her girlfriend into life.

 

She is staring at her future mother-in-law!

 

“W-why is my phone with you, Mom?” Jimin can hear the uneasiness in Minjeong’s voice and her insides churns for a fraction of uncomfortable moment. She suddenly wanted to be with the girl, hold her hand and ease her obvious anxiety.

 

Minjeong’s mom craned her neck and Jimin finally sees the figure of her girlfriend behind her mother. She is sure her smile had grown awkward at this point while she cannot make out of Minjeong’s expression in the 360p video quality. Stupid signal reception.

 

“I was about to bring it to you in the living room,” the woman answers and Jimin almost melted. Even her voice sounds like Minjeong. “But this call suddenly came and this beautiful woman appeared on the screen, honey. She’s ‘i miss yoo’?”

 

Huh?

 

“Your contact name is saved as ‘i miss yoo’ with a double O, darling.” Mrs. Kim said, hushed. It took a few seconds for Jimin to realize that the statement was directed at her. She can feel her heart beating so fast against her chest.

 

That was the first sentence her future mother-in-law said to her aacckk!

 

“U-um—” Minjeong scratches her chin in kind, “..y-yes, that’s her.”

 

“Who is she Minjeong?”

 

Now that got Jimin gulping for her dear life.

 

Even though there was no venom in Mrs. Kim’s voice, that was still a million-dollar question she didn’t see coming. Not tonight. Not through a video call. Not ever.

 

Nevertheless, the older woman only sounded curious so Jimin was half-assured; she was simply a mother who wanted to be introduced to her daughter’s new found friend.

 

Only that Jimin isn’t just a mere friend.

 

Which is probably the reason why she can hear her heart rabidly pounding inside its cage now. Jimin feels like her entire stomach is in and any sudden swerve of the car could make her throw up the entire salad she consumed a few hours ago (or the remnants thereof).

 

Barfing what she had for dinner is probably not the best way to impress her future in-law and Jimin pinches her leg just to keep it together.

 

It’s also the uncertainty of what Minjeong’s answer would be that probably spiked her anxiety to this level. They were yet to properly to talk about how to break it to Minjeong’s parents. It’s not like it was a taboo subject for them; in fact, it had been a topic of their conversations in passing.

 

(“I’ve never really brought anyone home to my parents before.”

 

“Really?”

 

“Yup.”

 

“Kim Minjeong are you saying that I’m your first in everything?”

 

“Don’t be silly, not everything—”

 

“What?! Who was the person before me and when??”

 

“Well—”

 

“Why did you break up?? Oh god, did they cheat on you?! I swear to go—”

 

“Jimin—“)

 

 

Maybe they should have taken time to really sit down and talk about it before because now, Jimin doesn’t know what to expect from Minjeong. She wasn’t really sure how open her girlfriend is about her personal matters nor about her family’s take on matters that society had unilaterally decided to be unconventional.

 

Minjeong can easily tell her mother that she is just a friend and Jimin can take it.

 

Can she?

 

She can.

 

Maybe?

 

Ugh. She doesn’t know.

 

Jimin braces herself.

 

In the limited viewpoint of her phone, she saw Minjeong stride towards her mother with timid steps. “Well, um..that’s Jimin, mom. Yoo Jimin.” Her girlfriend says, softly; Jimin held her breath. “She’s…she’s my girlfriend.”

 

Jimin suddenly felt an unbelievable amount of happiness course through her veins, can feel herself swallowing a lump in she never knew was there before, can even hear the choirs sing and the heavens rejoicing.

 

And when Minjeong’s puppy eyes momentarily flits towards her, Jimin can feel her soul leaving her entire body akin to that Winnie the Pooh astral projection meme.

 

Kim Minjeong is looking at her like she is the best decision she has ever made in her entire life.

 

“Girlfriend?” Mrs. Kim inquires, looking back and forth between Jimin and her daughter. “Like, girlfriend girlfriend?”

 

Jimin felt her nerves resurfacing at the utter confusion in the older woman’s voice. “Y-yes, mom. Like, girlfriend girlfriend.”

 

Mrs. Kim was silent for a moment, regarding the both of them with only her inquisitive eyes. Jimin can feel both her and Minjeong’s growing anxiety at every tick of the clock.

 

“Are you sure, Kim Minjeong?” Mrs. Kim suddenly asks, “You’re not bluffing your mother right now?”

 

“Eh?” Minjeong blurts out, muddled. “O-of course not! Why would I even lie to you mom..”

 

“It’s just that this girl is really pretty, Minjeong-ah. I mean,” Jimin’s view zooms back to the entirety of Mrs. Kim’s face and she finds herself blushing at the scrutinizing gaze, “She looks like someone you could see on TV. Like an actress or those kpop girls dancing to that trendy song I’ve been hearing...something about being on the next level?”

 

Jimin tries her hardest not to crack a smile at the gravity of the woman’s harmless and obviously genuine question.

 

God, are all Kims adorable like this?

 

The view shifts again and Jimin sees a dumbfounded Minjeong staring at her mother with a lost expression.

 

“Look at her. She’s like someone who shouldn’t even look at your direction, Minjeong.”

 

“Oh wow..” Minjeong drops , looking rather offended; a snicker bubbles out of Jimin’s mouth before she could even stop it. “Wowwww…really mom?? Are you sure you’re my mother??”

 

“Of course honey! It’s just—” Mrs. Kim tries to articulate, “It’s kind of unbelievable okay?”

 

“Oh my goddddd!” Minjeong is basically turning into an angry maltese and Jimin is torn between feeling bad for her girlfriend and melting into a puddle of goo for the cuteness overload happening before her eyes, “Jimin, tell her. Tell my mom that you and I are girlfriends because apparently, she cannot believe that I can have someone as beautiful as you!”

 

Mrs. Kim turns at her and a cat got Jimin’s tongue for a second, “Well, Jimin? Is it true? You are my daughter’s girlfriend?”

 

Jimin gulps down the stomach in . Here goes nothing, “Y-yes ma’am. I am your daughter’s g-girlfriend… like girlfriend girlfriend.”

 

In her peripheral view, Jimin saw her Wendy unnie’s eyes shoot up from her shotgun, looking totally confused at the honorifics she just heard from her. Jimin vaguely gestured a hand to her direction and focuses her attention back to the woman over the line.

 

“See? I told you we’re girlfriends!” exclaims Minjeong, her Busan accent suddenly coming out.

 

“Ssshhh, I’m not talking to you Kim Minjeong.” Says her mother and Jimin hears a groan. She can also hear the thrumming of her temples when Mrs. Kim opens again. “If that’s the case then Jimin, what have you seen in my daughter? Why her?”

 

Jimin did not expect that.

 

Amidst the playfulness of the atmosphere, she can feel the gravity of the question just thrown at her (if the resting face of Mrs. Kim and Minjeong’s sudden silence were any indication). It felt like a test and one that she should pass in flying colors. She needs to say the right words because this is Minjeong’s mother who is asking her such a crucial question. One, wrong move and she might screw everything up.

 

What if she answers the question wrong then she will ruin everything and she won’t see Minjeong ever again and she will be living in forlorn and agony for the rest of her life and and—

 

In the end, Jimin just chose to be honest.

 

“It’s your daughter because she’d given me perspective, ma’am.” She says, serene. “Minjeong puts me in my place but she also makes me feel extra special apart from the rest. You’ve raised a very lovely girl who wears her heart on her sleeves but will not let anyone step over her, Mrs. Kim. She’s the perfect balance of everything and she gives me stability herself. She’s the girl anyone can wish for and I’m just glad she allowed me to be part of her life.”

 

Her eyes darted towards Minjeong and she held her stare. For some divine intervention, the signal reception has gotten better so Jimin can now clearly see her girlfriend’s face. Minjeong is giving her one of the softest looks in the history of humanity and Jimin mirrors it with a smile; quietly prays to any deity that might be listening that Minjeong could feel the sincerity in her words and be engulfed with it like a warm blanket in the middle of a cold night.

 

She means every single word and she said what she said.

 

The candor must have done the magic because the next thing she knew, Mrs. Kim was giving her a blinding smile, “Thank you for telling me this, Jimin.” warm and welcoming and very Minjeong-like. “Why don’t you come over today, darling? I want to get to know more about you.”

 

Jimin’s heart melts at the offer.

 

But then, “She can’t, mom. She’s not here.” Minjeong answers in behalf of her, sends the girl a grateful smile for taking the floor again after that slightly intimate moment.

 

“Of course she’s not here, she’s in a video call. That’s why I’m asking her to come over.”

 

“No mom, like—” Minjeong vaguely gestures a hand, “She’s not here. In Korea. She’s in a foreign country right now.”

 

“Oh...OH!” Mrs. Kim looks like she had just experienced an epiphany. “Are you perhaps a flight attendant that’s why you’re not in the country? That could be the reason you look really beautiful, Jimin. Flight attendants are mostly beautiful people hmm-mmm.”

 

Jimin opens to answer but Minjeong beats her to it.

 

“No mom, Jimin is not a flight attendant.” The girl drones, sounding more exasperated than ever. “She’s um, a singer..”

 

“A singer? A singer abroad?”

 

“Yes. Wait, no. I mean—”

 

And that is how Minjeong had begrudgingly explained to an unknowing Mrs. Kim what exactly Jimin does for a living. It was almost comical to watch the girl getting frustrated at how difficult it was for her mother to understand that Karina Yoo is Jimin and vice versa.

 

(To Jimin’s mind, Minjeong is getting a taste of her own medicine for when she was once as oblivious as her mother. Jimin reminds herself to tease the girl later about how the tables have perfectly turned for her.)

 

By all means, this isn’t what how Jimin imagined her first meeting with Minjeong’s parent to be. She imagined it to be both of them going on a road trip to Busan and meeting Mama and Papa Kim over a nice, delicious meal; not over a 360p quality video call with a constant static as their background and definitely not over her still post-concert get up.

 

But with how Mrs. Kim welcomed their relationship with open arms and without reservation just now, Jimin thinks it’s not so bad after all.

 

Not at all.

 

 

***

 

 

(“So you’re telling me that Jimin is a celebrity?”

 

“Yes exactly! That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you for the past thirty minutes mom.”

 

“And you and her are dating?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“So if you and Jimin, a celebrity, are dating, that means my future daughter-in-law is a very rich, very famous person?”

 

“Yes mo—wait what? Your what now??”)

 

 

***

 

 

Minjeong fluttered her eyes open.

 

Soft, unhurried footsteps caught her attention and being a light sleeper, it wasn’t a surprise that she noticed. She cranes her head up and the woman who walked past her sends her a pleasant smile, totally unaware that she just stirred Minjeong out of her supposed fat nap.

 

She mirrors the smile nonetheless, couples it with a polite bow of her head.

 

It isn’t her to be rude to strangers.

 

Turning to her left, her eyes landed on pair of bundled hair and purple blanket. A smile finds its way on her face.

 

Yizhuo and Aeri look really adorable tangled together; the younger girl is leaning against Aeri’s shoulder while the producer has her head perched atop of Yizhuo, an arm secured tightly around the sleeping ball of energy as if she is going anywhere. 

 

Technically, they are. But there is no way a sleeping Yizhuo would have somewhere to go. Unless…

 

Minjeong brings her arm up.

 

It’s 11:17PM in her watch which means it’s been eight hours since they took off. It’s been eight hours of flying above the clouds and another three to four more before arriving at their destination.

 

Amsterdam.

 

Minjeong didn’t believe it at first. There was no way her broke college could afford flying across the globe towards an unknown country such as the Netherlands.

 

But the universe has intervened in the circle of life yet again so here she is, a thousand meters above sea level, defying the laws of gravity and technically even time, as she and the rest of passengers of Flight KLM208 bound for Amsterdam, traverse oceans and vast land masses.

 

All thanks to her crazy rich, unbelievably loud, but a true god-sent best friend, Ning Yizhuo.

 

The girl said that it was her little consolation for making Minjeong do her essays for the past couple of weeks since winning the bet. Up to that point, Minjeong was still convinced that Yizhuo cheated her way in getting her to do those stupid papers.

 

But the complains about her speculations died in the moment Yizhuo brings out the pieces of paper that could bring her to places.

 

(“What’s this?”

 

“Open it.”

 

“..tickets?”

 

“PLANE tickets.”

 

“Oh my god is this—”

 

“Yup.”

 

“NO WAY??”

 

“Yes way. We’re going to fly baby! We’re gonna see that Karina unnie concert I told you about! Aacckk!”)

 

The American leg of Jimin’s tour concluded a few weeks back, making the initial plan of flying to the States totally moot. But leave it to Yizhuo a.k.a. Karina Yoo’s number one and ultimate fan slash future sister-in-law by heart (her words, not Minjeong’s) to know her idol’s tour dates like the back of her hand.

 

So instead of going to America, Yizhuo booked them a flight to the next stop on Karina Yoo’s “Aurora World Tour” and the home to historical Western civilization: Europe.

 

That brings Minjeong here, suspended in the air with Yizhuo and Aeri beside her cocooned in each other’s warmth, on their way to see Jimin.

 

In a few hours, she’s going to see the girl again. In flesh. Something that she has not been able to do for the last three months or so.

 

She wonders how long Jimin’s already long hair had grown since the last time she saw her; if Jimin had really grown an inch because the girl would sometimes brag about it in their video calls; or if the mole under the corner of her lips was still as attractive as Minjeong could remember.

 

Above all, Minjeong wonders how Jimin, her Jimin, has been doing. She may not know in a personal level the true dynamics of celebrities on a tour; but watching Jimin through the screens gave her a tad bit of idea.

 

The growing bags under Jimin’s eyes. The steady yawns and occasional nodding off during their conversations. The scratch in her voice that Minjeong could hear sometimes. Jimin doesn’t talk about it but Minjeong knows that the constant travelling and numerous sleepless nights for the past months had been consuming her. Jimin may have even lost weight along the way.

 

But the mirth leaking through the post-concert stories Jimin would share, how loud the cheers were and how fun it was on every single show she would do, were all enough to placate Minjeong’s worries.

 

Jimin looks happy; no, she is happy. And a happy Jimin with that child-like grin and silly stories is a happy Minjeong.

 

Nothing brings her more joy other than seeing Jimin’s contented smile whenever she talks about the fulfillment she gets whenever she’s on-stage. Whenever Jimin’s on her element. And in a few hours, Minjeong will witness that Jimin in all her performing glory. She will see Karina Yoo do her thing on stage once again.

 

And this time, Minjeong is going to watch her not as the oblivious dimwit Kim Minjeong who couldn’t care less about Karina Yoo’s existence; but as Kim Minjeong: the ultimate non-fan-turned-girlfriend who defied many laws of physics just to be with the showbiz-exposed, self-absorbed, sometimes annoying, but totally incredible Yoo Jimin.

 

Minjeong can’t wait any longer.

 

 

***

 

 

The concert hall was filled.

 

It wasn’t as huge as the one back at home where Minjeong first watched a Karina Yoo concert; but it was enough to accommodate probably around five to six thousand people.

 

And boy was there five to six thousand people.

 

In as much as she has accepted the fact that Karina Yoo is an annoyingly prominent name in their country, Minjeong did not expect that Jimin is also this known in an international scale. The concert venue is jam-packed and everyone around her is buzzing with excitement to see their Karina unnie, Karina baby boo, Karina my love so sweet, Karina my wife.

 

Ah yes. The parasocial relationship Karebears have with Jimin.

 

Minjeong had always thought that stan culture is amusingly…peculiar. Yizhuo in her fangirl mode always blew her mind regardless of how many times she witnessed it. But five to six thousand of Yizhuo in her fangirl mode? Surrounding her right now? Minjeong may or may not have trickled cold sweat down her neck.

 

But just like the first Karina concert she attended, everyone in the concert hall seemed happy and eager and totally supportive of Jimin. These are the fans who, among others, helped Jimin in becoming the Karina Yoo that she is today. As long as they do her no harm through reckless fangirling and too much of everything, Minjeong is more than alright to hear them claim that Karina Yoo is their um, girlfriend, lover or…wife.

 

At the end of the day, Minjeong knows who Jimin comes home to and that’s what matters.

 

The lights suddenly dimmed and every living soul inside the concert venue started hollering. Unlike the concert back at home, everyone is on their feet in this place. It was fortunate for the three of them to get a spot relatively closer to the stage but not near enough where Jimin can spot them.

 

As if she could. There are thousands of people and it would be farfetched to recognize them amidst the sea of faces. Minjeong chose not to tell Jimin about this trip so the probability of Jimin suspecting their presence in the crowd is rather slim.

 

“Are you excited?” Yizhuo exclaims among the already screaming fans. She is standing between Aeri and Minjeong, with Aeri’s arm easily looped around her shoulder.

 

“Yes,” Minjeong screams back, smiling from ear to ear. “Thanks, Ning. This is the greatest gift. Ever.”

 

Yizhuo beams back. “You’re welcome unnie. Anything for my favorite girls,” snaking her lithe arm around Minjeong’s back.

 

“Does that include me?” Aeri asks beside her and Minjeong’s smile turned smug, all ready to best friend at the undertone of the question.

 

But then, “Of course, love.” Yizhuo replies, certain. “Probably on top of the list at the moment,” which rendered Minjeong speechless, stunned at what she heard and left her racking her brain for what she possibly missed, what happened, when did it happen, what is it even what what what—

 

“Alongside Minjeongie?”

 

“Hmm. Maybe closely above.”

 

“Noice. Above Karina Yoo?”

 

“Don’t push it Kim Aeri.”

 

“Okay..”

 

Before Minjeong could start badgering them with important questions, loud music suddenly blared across the venue together with the deafening roars of fans. Even Yizhuo started screeching like a banshee beside her and she and Aeri could only exchange amused looks with each other.

 

The concert has finally begun.

 

At first, Minjeong couldn’t, for the life of her, see clearly from where they stood. Even standing on the railings a few people away from the stage, the incessant blinking of the lights as well as the heavy smoke coming from the fog machine made it a challenge for Minjeong to fully make out who’s who on-stage.

 

Then she sees her.

 

Clad in sequin-filled dress with a skin-toned leotard underneath, Jimin occupies the stage with her feisty dance steps and honey-glazed vocals. She demands attention and Jimin gets it. Completely. Even her mere gaze and occasional smirks penetrate through the crowd, making everyone go wilder than they ever were.

 

It’s Karina Yoo in the middle of the stage; Karina Yoo in her element, and Minjeong’s heart swells with pride as she watches the other side of Jimin she rarely sees in real-time.

 

This is the same annoying girl who kept pestering her in the past months so much that Minjeong started to grow feelings. This is the same girl who has taken a liking on her and the same amazing girl who kept choosing her everyday despite the distance.

 

This is her Jimin and Minjeong couldn’t be any less proud of her.

 

The show went on with various segments and performances. Minjeong lost count of the number of times she was swept off her feet by the sheer talent Jimin is showcasing. May it be in dancing, singing or rapping, name it; Karina Yoo will clearly deliver.

 

Perhaps that is the reason why she could see fans turn from party-goers who would dance and jump around; spit sick verses when Jimin turns up a rap song (sick because Minjeong thought they were totally going to puke something at how fast they were eating the Korean words); to sentimental, close to tears audience whenever Jimin performs a more mellow track.

 

Even Yizhuo beside her was vibrating in pure adrenaline that Minjeong finds herself getting enthused with the amount of vivacious energy going on around her.

 

It is fun and Minjeong totally understood now what Jimin has been talking.

 

There was also a point in the show where Jimin sat behind a huge piano and started playing a familiar melody. Karina the pianist, Minjeong thinks to herself. Out of the blue, everyone around them brought something up in the air and the pitch-black area infront of the stage is suddenly illuminated with freckles of cosmic-like glow, a perfect combination of purple, green, blue, red...

 

The colors of Aurora.

 

Goosebumps crawled all over Minjeong’s body when fans started singing along with Jimin, collectively swaying their lightsticks up in tune with the melody of the piano as their combined voices resonates all throughout the arena.

 

It was a ing magnificent experience and she, Yizhuo and Aeri could only exchange awed grins as they basked in being part of such a very touching moment.

 

When Minjeong’s attention flits back to the stage, Jimin is already beaming with unshed tears, a quiver in her voice as she takes in the beautiful sight before her. Minjeong finds the corner of her eyes b with tears as well.

 

(She silently berates herself for being emotional at something that doesn’t involve her but oh well. It concerns Jimin and Jimin right now is close to shedding happy tears a few feet from her.)

 

Sue Minjeong for being a softie when it comes to Jimin.

 

A few performances down and Jimin is finally clad in a more comfortable outfit: a simple white tee with a fancy-lettered Karina in the middle of it, denim short and sneakers. Yizhuo told her that ‘it’s going to end soon with an encore, unnie’ and Minjeong thinks back to the first Karina Yoo concert she attended. Jimin was also wearing something similar during the last part of the show as well as in the fanmeet.

 

Time flies so fast indeed because here is Minjeong, amidst the crowd of Karina Yoo supporters once again. But this time, she came to cheer on the girl wholeheartedly.

 

This time, she came as Karina Yoo’s girlfriend.

 

“It has been a fun night, everyone. Right?” Jimin speaks to the crowd. The audience collectively hollered after a translator translated her question both in Dutch and English.

 

“I can’t thank you enough for the warm welcome you’ve given me tonight, yeoreobun.” Jimin continues, “But still, thank you thank you thank you so much for the love and support. I wouldn’t be here standing before you without every single person in this place right now. I promise I will always try to be the Karina you can always be proud of.”

 

Someone in the crowd suddenly yells, “Marry me Karina!!!” that pierced through the nanosecond of silence and everyone, including Jimin, burst out laughing. Even Minjeong snorted at what she heard.

 

“Yeah sorry, marriage is still not an option up to this day. Try again next time,” The celebrity quips with a shrug, earning a collective laugh from her audience. “But I can still sing you a last song before I go. How about that?”

 

The crowd cheers and Jimin grins at the reaction. Music starts filling up the entire arena once again and everyone began swaying along with it.

 

“This song is entitled Think About You and this is for every single one of the beautiful people here tonight,” Jimin suddenly says as the keys of the song fill in, an easy smile dangling off her face. “Most especially, this is for that special someone back at home. I hope you know that I miss you and I’m always thinking about you.”

 

A combined ‘awww’ and hollers from everyone echoed across the place with great zeal. Minjeong felt the heat creep up her face when Yizhuo nudges her with a smirk, even more so when Jimin started singing.

 

The moment I first met you

Became an eternity to me

I can see you even with my eyes closed

My everything is filled with you right now

 

First few lines of the song easily knocked Minjeong to the core, buckling her knees enough to lose her balance. But she was able to keep her feet on the ground and swallow the lump in as she absorbs every lyric by heart.

 

I want to hear all the little stories

At the end of your day

Tell me everything

 

Looking back, it has been quite the months for her ever since her life got entangled with Karina Yoo. It was eccentric yet intimate; an adventure but at the same time domesticated. It was the perfect balance of both and Minjeong had been left yearning for it everyday.

 

I keep thinking about you

All of my times are colored with you

Who shine more than the stars

I keep seeing you

You’re so clear, only in my eyes

You’re always in my heart

 

It is always funny how it all started with a fateful meet at the convenience store on her way to a concert she didn’t even want to attend. Thinking about it, Minjeong wouldn’t have gotten herself annoyed by Jimin had it not been of that stupid altercation brought about by the lone Pink Pringles left on the shelf. If not because of it, they wouldn’t have met under that circumstance which has led a certain superstar to be unbelievably pressed about someone not knowing her existence.

 

But the universe always had funny ways in matching people up and here they are: Minjeong on the same concert of the same damn celebrity but with a completely different set of feelings compared to the first time.

 

All day, you walk inside my heart

As you see me like this, you smile

I wonder what you’re thinking about right now

Do you feel the same way?

 

Right now, all Minjeong can think about is Jimin’s annoying persistence that brought them up to this point. That despite the constant frowns and scoffs she had sent the girl’s way, Jimin carried on with rubbing her wonderful existence on Minjeong’s face, making sure Minjeong knows exactly who she is.

 

And she did. She was able to know exactly who Karina Yoo is.

 

Minjeong was able to get to know Yoo Jimin.

 

The girl behind Karina Yoo who has a heart of gold and a mind of a genius. The girl who may have been the root cause of Minjeong’s headaches but also the same girl who had been painting a goofy smile on Minjeong’s face.

 

The girl who changed everything for her for the good; the girl whom Minjeong feels intensely for.

 

I’m running to you

Words that I can’t say if not now

I’ll say them all

 

So Minjeong finds herself running towards Jimin everyday, feels the need to be close to her as much as their means could given the ocean-wide distance separating them. But right here, right at this moment, standing a few feet away from the woman who made the sun a secondary source of sunshine, Minjeong realized.

 

She realized that she doesn’t need to run towards Jimin because the girl never really left.

 

Jimin is in her morning eggs which reminds Minjeong how much of a terrible cook she is; Jimin is in the chocolate stain on Minjeong’s couch, a memento of that time Jimin spilled it after tripping on thin air; Jimin is in the tiny scar just below Minjeong’s left eyebrow, reminding her of that one time she got into a brawl with Karina Yoo haters; Jimin is in the dog-eared pages of Love in the Times of Cholera trapped in between Minjeong’s yellow-painted shelf because Jimin forgot to bring a bookmark along with her when she borrowed it.

 

(“You’re not human...People who dog ear pages are not human...”

 

“You’ll get over it, hun.”

 

“I won’t! You just tarnished one of my favorite books of all time!”

 

“I just folded a corner of a page calm down.”

 

“Exactly!!”)

Jimin is everywhere she goes. And Minjeong willingly allowed her to be everywhere without so much of a fight.

 

I keep thinking about you

All of my times are colored with you

Who shine more than the stars

I keep seeing you

You’re so clear, only in my eyes

You’re always in my heart

 

Most importantly, Jimin is in Minjeong’s heart, inside that superior muscle beating in the middle of her chest, taking up the space rent free and making sure that she leaves no room for any uninvited intruder.

 

So even if they are miles away, Minjeong knows that things will eventually fall into their rightful places at their rightful time just like before.

 

Because that’s just how it is for the both of them.

 

Always were. Always been.

 

 

***

 

 

Minjeong stares out of the vast window overlooking the magnificent view of nighttime Amsterdam. It was a small city rich in cultural heritage. It depicts a lot of stories, both the untold and told, that are interwoven between the gaps of their intricate canal systems and narrow houses. The city is stunning in every sense of the word and Minjeong cannot wait to walk around the metropolis with Jimin.

 

The celebrity is yet to arrive at her hotel room after concluding her Amsterdam concert. Jimin basically malfunctioned when she saw the three of them at the backstage for the fanmeet, eyes going wide as saucers and completely mindblown because of their physical presence.

 

“W-what are you doing here? How…?”

 

Aeri and Yizhuo mostly did the talking; Minjeong was too occupied relishing the fact that she is breathing the same air as Jimin once again.

 

(She remembers hearing a similar line from Haechan before, even rolled her eyes at how cheesy it actually sounded in her head; but whatever. She’s a changed person now with alot emotions going on.)

 

Yizhuo, being the ultimate fangirl that she was, totally went off about how ‘you were so cool up there unnie aahhhh I was so close to going crazy I even cried and Ning Yizhuo rarely cries!’ all while Jimin grins up at her like she was listening to her daughter rant about her day at school.

 

Aeri was beaming just like Jimin and Minjeong? She has once again bathed herself with the usual secondhand embarrassment courtesy of her bestfriend and her fangirl tendencies. But Yizhuo looks so happy talking animatedly like that so Minjeong may or may not have smiled just like the other two as well.

 

Unluckily, Jimin barely had time to process that they are indeed all in the same city because the concert organizers are rushing them out for the next bunch of fans waiting on the queue. In the end, Jimin has given them (bar Aeri) a set of unreleased photocards just like the last time, Yizhuo losing her wits once again and Kim Aeri questioning Jimin’s decision.

 

(“These are another unreleased photocards??!”

 

“Yep.”

 

“And I get to have one again just like the last time which means I am still the luckiest Karebear alive?!”

 

“Umm—”

 

“This is the best day of my life unnie aaccckk thank you so much!”

 

“How about me? Aren’t you gonna give me one?”

 

“What are you gonna do with my photocard, Kim Aeri?”

 

“I don’t know. Sell it? I heard those things cost an arm and a leg these days.”

 

“You’re rich, shu–wait, these photocards are expensive?”

 

“Yeah. Fans would hunt down PCs and collect them like they’re catching a pokemon. Gotta catch them all.”

 

“But these are just cardboards..”

 

“Exactl—.”

 

“They are not just cardboards! They are sources of happiness for many of us! For me!”

 

“—ly not Jimin! They are very valuable properties that could make people happy. How dare you say those things.”

 

“What—”)

 

Minjeong almost popped a vein listening to that conversation.

 

But thankfully (good god, thankfully), they were ushered away not too long after. Jimin has gently squeezed Minjeong’s arm before they were escorted, pointing to the photocard that was in her hands.

 

She almost need not be reminded.

 

Minjeong knew that her photocard contained another strange message just like the first time, if the way Jimin sent a cryptic smile at her when she handed the cardboard was any indication.

 

And indeed, it was; when Minjeong pulled up the photocard later on, a smile immediately spreads throughout her face.

 

“To KMJ who travelled the world for me,” Jimin’s handwriting reads, teasing and messy as always, “meet me at my hotel room. Don’t be late.”

 

Which brings Minjeong in Room 930 at this five-star hotel overlooking the still busy streets of Amsterdam. Jimin had notified the hotel management about Minjeong’s arrival so it didn’t really take long for her to be accommodated.

 

Jimin is the one taking long. Minjeong arrived a little over twenty minutes ago with no Karina Yoo in sight so she decided to kill time by enjoying the view outside.

 

(It wasn’t really that long since she arrived; it’s just that she is on her toes to have Jimin close to her again and she just can’t wait any longer.)

 

Just then, almost as if sensing her anticipation, the door clicks open. Minjeong breathes out a smile when she heard it shut close.

 

A soft thud of something on the floor and a halt of footsteps. Minjeong can feel her body vibrating at the thought of Jimin just a few feet away from her.

 

“You’re here.” The girl finally rasps and Minjeong almost gasped at the rawness of Jimin’s voice, at the proximity of her presence.

 

But she tried to keep it together. “You’re late,” she says, turning on her heel to look at the girl she’d been yearning to hold the moment her feet landed on this foreign country.

 

Jimin is dressed in a pair of sweatpants and a simple white tee, her now red wine hair freely cascading down her shoulders as her eyes bore holes into Minjeong’s fragile existence. She can feel her knees go jelly under her but Minjeong willed herself not to crumble down.

 

“Yeah, there were lots of picture taking and all that stuff.” Jimin reasons, slowly walking across the room towards the window where Minjeong is perched. “Have long have you been waiting?”

 

“Twenty minutes or so,” Minjeong says, soft. “I already came up with our itinerary until you leave for the next city, including the timetable and duration on each place we’re going to visit.”

 

A snort from the girl, “That’s two days worth of activities.”

 

“Exactly,” Minjeong mumbles, stares up at the girl who is already standing inches away from her. Jimin always looked the most exquisite up close. “That’s how long I’ve been waiting.”

 

Jimin’s low chuckles reached Minjeong’s ears and she almost fell to her knees. “Okay, well. Would you like to give me an overview of what you came up with while I wasn’t here?”

 

Minjeong clears , “Of course,” quietly racks her brain for what was left of the plans she had in mind that suddenly blurred out the moment Jimin stepped into the room. “We can go visit Anne Frank House. It’s where she lived in hiding with her family during the World War II. It’s a museum now and one of the historical places in Amsterdam.”

 

“Okay, we’ll go there.” Jimin nods in agreement.

 

“Then we can do a canal boat ride,” Minjeong continued, getting the hang of her laid out plans once again. “I read that they have an elaborate canal system here and I want to see it for myself.”

 

“Alright.”

 

“Then there’s also bike riding,” Minjeong adds, getting excited. “This is the best time to make up for that bike fiasco you had at the countryside before. We can ride a bike here all day long since there are lots of bike rentals all over the city.”

 

Jimin nods her head in agreement again.

 

Minjeong smiles in delight, “Great. There’s also this pla—”

 

But the long list of places that she was seriously about to spell out dissipated into thin air when Jimin suddenly pulls her in for a searing, soul-breaking kiss.

 

Minjeong was immediate to reciprocate, countering Jimin’s fiery kiss with her own impassioned lips. She can feel her entire body tremble under the mercy of Jimin’s eager hands that are now pressing against her back, finds herself snaking her arms around Jimin’s shoulders so she’d have something to hold unto.

 

Jimin tasted mint and honey and a little bit of chocolate and Minjeong’s head spins so much that her jaw drops and her head tilts, giving Jimin access to most, if not all, of the things that she could offer at her vantage point.

 

Then Jimin nips; chews on her lower lip enough to combust her into ashes and Minjeong is completely done for.

 

All the pent-up emotions and the months’ worth of being away from each other are being poured into this passionate liplock, leaves Minjeong panting against her girlfriend’s scorching hot lips with no intention of stopping.

 

After months of not seeing each other, feeling each other, Jimin is finally here. With Minjeong, panting and pulling and making her question her sanity and they are kissing.

 

They are kissing in front of a majestic view of the nighttime city away from home but not really because they are home; they are each other’s home and they’re here.

 

At this moment, in each other’s presence, in each other’s arm, pressed up against each other, liplocking and exchanging ardent vows in between soft mewls and hushed sweet nothings.

 

“That was intense..” Jimin breathes out when they pulled away to get some air, “D’you think that was intense?”

 

“Yeah it was..” Minjeong whispers, pursing her lips to savor the tang of Jimin in . “It really was.”

 

“I wanna do it again.” Jimin says, soft but certain. “I wanna kiss you over and over again to make up for the times that I couldn’t. What do you say?”

 

Minjeong can feel herself vibrating at the sheer idea.

 

“I say you go for it.”

 

Because nothing can get better than this.

 

 

***

 

 

Instagram

karinayoo_official just posted a photo

 

 Thank you for having me, Amsterdam! 💜 😘

 #AuroraWorldTour

 #KarinaLovesAmsterdam

 #KarinaLovesKarebears

 

Instagram

yoojimaaaan_🔒  just posted a photo

 

  My MJ⭐️

 

aerithegreat commented: im so happy im gonna cry 😭 🤧

yoojimaaaan_🔒  replied to @aerithegreat: i would love to see it😌

 

Instagram

kminj just posted a photo

 

  My JM 💙

 

nnyizhuo_prfctn commented: it’s blur!!! the people wanna see who it is!! 😤

kminj replied to @nnyizhuo_prfctn: the people want u to shut up 🙄

 

 

 

______________________

 

A/N:

 

And that’s it for Getting To Know Yoo!

 

Told you I’m gonna finish this before aespa’s comeback woop woop (which btw would be this 5th October, 6pm KST! please don’t forget to stream the MV and collect those sacred votes so we can get our girls a win this era!)

 

Anyway, thank you so so much for everyone who tuned in, subscribed, upvoted and gave their sweet comments. Some of you even personally reached out through PMs and DMs to tell me how much you guys enjoyed this story and it really warmed my heart. This fic was a product of wordvomits and my 2AM brainrots so I’m still kinda amused that it made sense so much that you guys liked it. But thank you, really. It might have been short but I hope this fanfic had given you joy in the 10-15 minutes read every time I posted an update hehehe.

 

Take extra care of yourselves amidst these trying times, sweets! Get yourself vaccinated if you can to protect yourself as well as the rest of the beautiful people around you. We’ll still see each other in an aespa concert so y’all better be healthy physically, emotionally and mentally until then! :D

 

Keep supporting our soft and very talented aespa babies, everyone~ See you around!

 

- sj