Chaewon, Hyejoo, and Yerim make their way up the metal steps, talking excitedly between themselves about the main and final event of the night: the Ferris wheel. They had been anticipating it all day and couldn’t wait to finally ride it, until a boy dressed in the amusement park uniform stopped them, an arm reaching out across the entrance gates.

“Only two allowed at a time.” The young attendant says. 

The girls just stared back at him blankly, their feelings of excitement instantly crushed. Hyejoo turned to the two girls next to her to find pouts on their faces. They were clearly disappointed and it made her heart sink.

She turned back to the boy, determined. “Even if we all went at once we still wouldn’t reach the weight limit…” Hyejoo reasoned but the lanky boy just sighed, adjusting the worn uniform hat on his head. He did not seem to be having a good time, despite the fun nature of their current environment.

“Look sorry, it’s the rule. You’ll have to split up.” Clearly, he wasn’t up for arguing about it. Chaewon, Hyejoo, and Yerim looked between each other, conflicted. 

“Um, we can just ride a different-” Yerim started before she was cut off by Hyejoo.

“No that’s okay. You guys go, I’ll wait here.” She couldn’t let Yerim pass up the chance to ride the Ferris wheel, the older girl had been gushing about it the past five hours. Hyejoo had tried to get them to ride it earlier so that she would stop talking about it, but Yerim insisted that they had to ride it at night so they could see all the stars and lights better, and Chaewon agreed. So naturally, they waited.

Hence, Hyejoo didn’t understand why Yerim looked sad now… she was finally getting to do what she had waited for all day.

The disappointment in Yerim’s eyes was an awful sight to look at. Hyejoo felt her stomach turn, hating knowing that Yerim wouldn’t get the experience she had imagined: all three of them, sitting together at the top of the Ferris wheel, watching the tiny people move around below them. She pushed the feeling down, willing herself to not be bitter at the boy. He was just doing his job, after all.

Hyejoo grabbed one of each of the girl’s hands. “Really, just go.” She insisted, hoping to convince them. She gave their hands a quick squeeze before letting both of them go and hurriedly motioned for them to move up the steps, as there was a growing line behind them.

She offered the girls a small smile, which was eventually returned to her from the two other faces, but she couldn’t suppress the pang in her heart as she watched Chaewon clasp Yerim’s hand in her small one, leading the younger girl up the metal stairs to the cart that was waiting for them… without her.

She tried not to sulk, but she wished she could have gone with them. Hyejoo grumbled to herself as she watched her girlfriends settle themselves in the hanging seat. She shoved her hands into her pockets as she stepped away from the ride’s platform, walking over to a matted patch of grass to the side so she could get a better view as the ride began.

The ride had just started to shift and Hyejoo saw Chaewon and Yerim’s cart slowly inch towards the top. It came to a halt a few seconds later after only having moved a few feet though, stopping to let more passengers on.

This is going to be a long wait … Hyejoo thinks to herself.

All of a sudden, she sees two small heads poke themselves out from the top of one of the carts. One blonde and one brunette. She squints her eyes and sees two hands waving at her furiously.

“Hi Hyejoo!!” Chaewon yelled down to the girl still on the ground.

“I miss you!” Yerim adds after, despite it having been less than two minutes. But Hyejoo appreciates the sentiment.

Hyejoo giggles to herself like a fool, her heart now suddenly feeling a hundred times lighter. She pulled both hands out of her pockets to wave back.

Soon enough, the ride started moving again and Yerim and Chaewon slowly faded out of her vision, all Hyejoo could see now was the bottom of their cart. A light blue color painted over the no-doubt rusted metal. Hyejoo sighed lightly and returned her hands to her pockets, using one of them to pull out her phone and start scrolling through it as she waited for the next time her girlfriends would come around again.

A few minutes had passed of Hyejoo uninterestedly looking at her phone when a notification popped up at the top of her screen. She tapped it, leading her to the group chat Chaewon, Yerim, and her shared.

[ yerimie ] 1 image attached

[ yerimie ] look at this baby

[ chae ] aww :(((

[ chae ] small little tiny baby 33333

Hyejoo rolled her eyes as she opened the image. It was so zoomed in that she could barely even tell that it was of herself, but she recognized the clothes she was wearing from the few pixels she could make out. Looking up, she saw the familiar light blue cart at the very top of the ferris wheel now. It must have been about 200 feet up, so Hyejoo understands the extreme zoom-in. She chuckles to herself.

[ hyejoo ] i wish you dropped your phone when you took that

She typed out, not actually meaning it, but acting faux-mad in response to her girlfriends ganging up to .

Hyejoo was the youngest of the three and Chaewon and Yerim definitely didn’t take that lightly. They took every opportunity they could to … babying her, helping her with tasks she could surely do herself, always making sure to be overly affectionate.

Hyejoo acts like she hates it, but really, she finds it extremely endearing.

Her smile stays on her face as she pockets her phone and makes her way to a picnic bench a few feet away from where she had been standing, figuring she might as well sit down while she waits for Chaewon and Yerim to come back to her.

. . .

Up in the cart, Chaewon and Yerim are having the time of their lives. Yerim can’t stop gushing about the stars, about how bright and clear they are. She insists that she can see them even better now that they’re up some 200 feet closer to them. Chaewon just laughs and nods, letting her girlfriend be excited. 

“And that one’s Scoprius.” Yerim continues, flexing her astronomy knowledge. 

“Which?” Chaewon asks, completely unaware of anything Yerim had been showing her for the past five minutes. 

“That group there.” Yerim repeats, grabbing Chaewon’s hand and manually pulling out the girl’s index finger, pointing it in the direction of the constellation. “You and Hyejoo share that one.”

Chaewon hums absentmindedly. She hadn’t even been looking at the stars, instead favoring to look at the girl next to her, whose eyes were shining and twinkling in a way Chaewon was sure no star could match. 

Yerim turns to her a few seconds later, surprised to find Chaewon’s eyes already on her.

“Hey you’re not even looking!?” Yerim exclaims, expressing faux betrayal. She shoves Chaewon playfully before scooting in closer and leaning her head on the older girl’s shoulder. Her conflicting actions have Chaewon giggling. “I was trying to teach you.” Yerim pouts. 

“So cute.” She mumbles, pressing her cheek against Yerim’s hair.

They sit like that for a few minutes, neither of them talking, just enjoying each other’s company as they stare out at the open space in front of them. The flickering lights of signs and buildings aren’t as pretty as the stars, but it’s still a beautiful view. It makes a certain feeling stir in Chaewon’s chest.

“Yerim...” She breathes out, her voice impossibly quiet so as to not disrupt the atmosphere.

“Hmm?” The girl answers, nodding against Chaewon’s shoulder. 

Chaewon’s stomach does a flip. Staring ahead, she steels herself, willing her sudden surge of nerves to calm down for a second. She has something she wants to say. Chaewon counts down in her head. 3… 2… 1…

But nothing happens.

Spit it out! She reprimands herself, embarrassed by the expectant pause she left Yerim with. She wants to say it. Wants to tell Yerim so badly, but it’s hard. She doesn’t know why, maybe she’s embarrassed, maybe she’s scared. But Yerim deserves to hear it, so she tries again.

Chaewon takes a deep breath, picturing the girl from a few minutes ago, her eyes glittering and twinkling as she excitedly points out the stars that were significant to her and Hyejoo. 

Hyejoo… Yerim and Hyejoo. She forgets her words for a moment and her heart swells at the thought of them. How lucky she is to have them. How well they all understand and care for each other. How much she appreciates them. 

And then her heart sinks, an overwhelming feeling that she’s been failing to make her appreciation clear to one of them. And it wasn’t Hyejoo. 

She feels like she could cry. Her heart was beating fast and her hands had become clammy. Her mind was running a mile a minute, but there was only one thought repeating over and over again in her head at that moment. One sentence overbearing everything, screaming at her to let it out.

So she let it out.

“I love you.” Chaewon whispered finally, her pinkie tentatively reaching out to find Yerim’s hand that was resting on the seat between them.

“W-what…” Yerim choked out as she jolted upright, surprised at the confession. She had heard Chaewon say those words to Hyejoo before -many times actually- but it had never been directed at her. It had been so long that she almost thought Chaewon didn’t actually feel the same way about her as she did for Hyejoo. It was an irrational thing to be anxious over of course; they had been dating almost a year now and their relationship was nothing but loving and safe and supportive and everything a good relationship should be, but the thought was always at the back of Yerim’s mind.

The thought that she wasn’t enough.

That no matter how much she did, she would never have the bond Hyejoo and Chaewon had.

That she was just a third in their relationship of two.

But hearing those words from Chaewon, spoken so soft and honest, Yerim knew she was foolish for ever worrying about it. She felt light, like she was soaring. Like she had butterflies fluttering in her stomach -and it wasn’t just because she was suspended 200 feet in the air.

“I love you, Yerim.” Chaewon repeated, reinforcing her words  more strongly now, with her hand moving to fully grasp Yerim’s. She wove their fingers together like they’ve done so many times before, but now it felt different.

“Chae…” Yerim started tearfully, feeling her emotions getting away from her. “Oh, I-I...” Yerim was getting choked up, her bright smile contradicting the tears that were beginning to form in her eyes. But they were happy tears, after all.

Chaewon looked over to Yerim at the sound of her small voice and her heart leapt to .

“Oh no, Yerim… Yerimie, please don’t cry…” She pleaded, worry in her voice as she untwined her fingers from between Yerim’s and moved them to her face, cupping her jaw. Her thumb swept away the tears that were rolling down her cheeks. “Yerim…” She said again, waiting for the younger girl to look at her.

“Yerim, I’m sorry it took me so long to say. I-I told Hyejoo because she told me first, and she seemed to want that confirmation. But with you... I guess I just grew comfortable with us showing it in other ways.” She rambled, slightly panicked at the sight of the younger girl in tears. “But I’m sorry… I would have told you earlier, seeing how much it means to you.” Chaewon sniffled. “I should have. Yerim, I love you. So much. Thank you for waiting for me.”

Seeing her girlfriend begin to cry as well, Yerim pulled the smaller girl into a hug, patting her back and smoothing over her hair as she held onto her. “It’s okay, Chae.” She said quietly before pulling her closer and nestling her head into the crook of Chaewon’s neck, letting out a muffled whisper that Chaewon couldn’t quite make out, but what sounded an awful lot like an ‘I love you too’.

. . .

It’s about 10 minutes later when they finally reach the ground, the two girls climb out of their cart, eager to be back on solid ground and find Hyejoo. They didn’t have to look very far though because Hyejoo was right there by the exit waiting for them, ready to welcome them back.

Yerim ran the few steps it took to get to Heyjoo, pulling Chaewon behind her by their hands that were still clasped together. She ran into Hyejoo’s arms, shocking the younger girl for a few seconds before she eventually returned the hug -albeit a bit awkwardly.

She could feel Yerim sniffling lightly into her shoulder.

“Ohh, Yerimie… What’s wrong?” Hyejoo cooed, dropping her stiff exterior to comfort her girlfriend. “Was the ride too tall? It looked scary.” She rubbed a hand slowly against her back.

“Noo…” Yerim mewled, her voice coming out muffled from the thick fabric of Hyejoo’s hoodie.

“Then what happened, hmm?”

Yerim just shook her head, burying herself deeper into Hyejoo. “Nothing bad.” She mumbled and wrapped her arms tighter around the taller girl. 

“You’re okay?” Hyejoo asked just once more, wanting to make sure. 

“She’s okay.” Chaewon answered for her, stepping up to the two girls and placing a soft hand on the small of Yerim’s back, rubbing it soothingly. Her other hand went to Hyejoo’s ear, pulling it playfully to get her attention. The black haired girl turned to her, giving her a concerned look to silently communicate her worries. It wasn’t rare that Yerim cried, but it was rare to see it come seemingly out of the blue. In a place where Hyejoo thought Yerim would have been her happiest. 

Chaewon knew what Hyejoo’s look meant and gave her a reassuring smile, nodding before letting her free arm wrap around Hyejoo’s shoulders, her other arm still circled around Yerim. She thought it was endearing how worried Hyejoo was, but she didn’t want to let her worry too much. 

They stayed together like that for a few moments before any of them moved, not caring about anything that was going on around them, just enjoying being all wrapped up in each other’s arms. Yerim is the first to move, but she doesn’t pull away, instead she pulls the two girls in even closer to her.

“I love you guys.” Yerim mumbles, her voice coming out even more muffled now that she was in the middle of a hug from two girls instead of just one. “Hyejoo and Chae… I love you so much.”

Hearing this, Hyejoo shoots a surprised look over Yerim’s head, her eyes instantly meeting Chaewon’s. The older girl was already looking at her. Hyejoo couldn’t quite read the expression that was on Chaewon’s face… endearment… pride… love?

“Oh, um. Yeah, me too…” Hyejoo stutters, tripping over her words awkwardly in her confusion. There was a lot going on. “I love you too Yerimie.” She tries again. Then she feels a pinch on her arm and lets out a little yelp. “Ah-! You too Chaewon! I love you too.” She adds on quickly. 

Chaewon and Yerim giggle at the panicked confession, finding flustered Hyejoo to be extremely amusing. 

Hyejoo waits for them to calm down but grows impatient, feeling embarrassed at the teasing. “Okay, okay, enough guys.” She mutters, rolling her eyes as she pulls away from the two girls. When Yerim finally comes out of her shoulder, Hyejoo is relieved to see the familiar shining face that she loves so much staring back at her. Yerim is looking at her with so much love in her eyes that Hyejoo can’t help the blush that paints her cheeks. 

Yerim stretches herself up to give Hyejoo a peck on the cheek, waiting a beat before turning her head and doing the same to Chaewon. When she pulls away she is pleased to see both girls staring back at her with warm eyes and lopsided grins covering their faces. Yerim grabs one of her girlfriend’s hands in each of her own and pulls them along. 

“One more ride -that all of us can go on- and then I think we’ll have to leave.” She says cheerfully, her heart feeling light and incredibly lovesick with the two girls she had trailing behind her.

They let Hyejoo pick the last ride, insisting that she had to since she wasn't able to join them on the Ferris wheel. Hyejoo wants to ride the teacups, so they do, with Hyejoo spinning the wheel furiously, making the other two girls cling onto her arms for dear life the whole time.

. . .

It isn’t until they’re on the bus home that they all finally begin to calm down. It’s late at night and the bus is completely empty save for one other person in the very front, so the three girls decided to take the back row, smushing themselves in as close together as possible.

The ride back is long and the girls are exhausted from their day of running around in the hot sun all day, completely dehydrated after only drinking soda and lemonade instead of water, so it’s no surprise when Yerim begins to nod off, letting her head fall lightly onto Hyejoo’s shoulder. Hyejoo smiles at the familiar weight and looks to her other side, gently nudging Chaewon and flashing her eyes in Yerim’s direction as if to communicate a silent ’ look at her ’.

Chaewon follows her eyes and smiles softly at the sleeping girl. “Cute.” She whispers to Hyejoo. Hyejoo nods, careful to not move too much. She thinks for a few seconds before lightly tapping Chaewon on the hand and then tapping her own shoulder, silently offering it to the other girl. Chaewon smiles again at the thoughtful gesture, leaning in closer to Hyejoo and planting a soft kiss on her jaw before resting her own head down. 

Hyejoo feels her heart bloom. She couldn’t ask for anything more than this, so thankful to have these two girls in her life.