Joohyun promised herself that she'll do everything to win Seungwan.

Gone are the days of her picking up girls, leaving them . Joohyun knows it's time to settle, especially when she's met the one.

Except she didn't think it would be this hard.

Well, Joohyun is used to getting it all easy. One wink, few small talks and a smile is all she needs, used to need, to woo a girl.

 

But Seungwan isn't like all of those girls. Which she is thankful for, but really, how dense can Seungwan be?

 

"Seungwan unnie, your bae is here." Yerim called out.

 

Seungwan steps out from the back, in one of Joohyun's sweaters, and Joohyun thinks her clothes look good on her soulmate.

"Joohyun-ssi! Sorry I was trying to look for my-"

"This?" Joohyun pulls out Seungwan's keys and the younger girl laughs.

 

Joohyun thinks her laugh could cure depression.

 

"Ah! You must be used to finding my keys. Thanks!” Seungwan said as Joohyun hands it to her. “What are you doing here anyway?” She asks.

”I was wondering if we can maybe grab dinner?” Joohyun asks hesitantly.

”Yeah sure, as long as it’s not chicken, I’m so used to serving chicken I don’t think I’ll be able to eat any.”

 

-

 

They ended up sitting in Subway, sandwiches in their hands. Joohyun asks how Seungwan's day had been, asking the same to Joohyun.

"But really unnie, why the sudden dinner?" Seungwan asks. 
"I don't know, I guess I just want to know you better."

"You know you're not really required to, right? I mean, not just because I'm your soulmate you're suddenly bound to date me or something." The younger girl laughs.

"Yeah yeah I know. I guess what I want to say is, I don't know. Do you think we can be friends?"

 

Another one of Joohyun's past flings happen to pass by their table holding a take away sandwich. She stops in her tracks, right in front of Joohyun and smiles in recognition.

"Joohyun!" The girl says.

"Uh, hi-um, Chae-chaeyon?" Joohyun tries.

"It's Chaeyoung, but nice to see you here. You haven't been answering my calls." The girl says.

Seungwan chuckled in her seat.

"Uh, sorry Chaeyoung-ssi, just busy at work and stuff." Joohyun looks at Seungwan.

"I see, well, you know where to find me, I guess." The girl waves goodbye, and Joohyun wants to burrow her face in her sandwich.

"Quite the play girl, I see." Seungwan says.

"No, no I'm sorry, it was just-"

"Joohyun-ssi, like I told you, you don't suddenly owe to be loyal to me or something. I mean, we both got our own lives before we even met so I'm not expecting you to be suddenly dropping everything you're used to for me. I mean, I'm hoping you don't expect those from me too?" Seungwan said, staring right into Joohyun's soul.

"Yeah yeah, you're right, no of course." Joohyun said, tucking her hair behind her ears. "But still, would it be too much for me to ask for your number? Just in case, I mean, so you can reach me whenever you need something?"

Seungwan thinks about it and slowly nodded. She hands Joohyun her phone and the older girl types her digits, naming the contact Hyunnie. She dials her number and grabs her phone, saving Seungwan's number as well.

"So, back to what I'm saying. Friends?"

Seungwan reads the name on her phone and smiles. 

"Hyunnie?" She smiles. "Alright, friends." 

-

 

Being friends is such a complicated thing, Joohyun thinks.

Because all she knew about being friends, she learned from Seulgi. They'd sometimes eat together at each other's places, they'd sometimes watch movies together, Seulgi calls her whenever she's got problems, Joohyun does the same thing too. Being friends meant they're each other's wing woman in bars and parties, and going home separately with different dates.

But Joohyun doesn't want that with Seungwan. She wants to hug Seungwan whenever she looks like she's had a bad day. Joohyun wants to kiss Seungwan's pout away whenever she's upset about something. Joohyun wants to be able to hold Seungwan's hand when they're walking. Joohyun wants to rip that guy's throat whenever he flirts with Seungwan, and wants to pull Seungwan near her and whisper in her ear that she doesn't get to flirt with someone else than her. 

Joohyun doesn't want to be friends.

But she doesn't know how to tell Seungwan that.

So she tries telling her in different ways.

She picks her up after work or from campus and makes sure to grab dinner with her everytime. She accidentally would lose her shirts and sweaters just so she can see Seungwan in them. She would text her good mornings as soon as she wakes up and calls her goodnight before going to bed. 
 

And Joohyun thinks that she's never been like this with anyone else, not that she ever liked someone the way she likes Seungwan.

-

"Here comes your bae!" Sooyoung yells. 
"Coming!" Seungwan answers. 
 

Yerim laughs with Sooyoung as soon as they see the disappointed look in Seungwan's face.

"You seem so eager to see her for someone who's just 'friends' with their soulmate." Sooyoung teases. 

"Ugh. You guys, I swear-" Seungwan says, heading back instead, closing the door behind her.

"Unnie, your bae is here!" Yerim yells this time.

"I don't believe you anymore!" Seungwan yells back.

"I swear she's here now, she's got you flowers!" 
 

Seungwan blushes and heads outside only to find no Joohyun. Seungwan swears those two will be the death of her. She heads back again for the third time, and promised herself she's not going to get tricked by those two again.

The two devils left her alone for another ten minutes.

"Seungwan unnie! Your bae is here!"

"Oh shut up my bae isn't anywhere!"

She hears Yerim and Sooyoung giggling.

"I swear she's got you flowers! For real!" 

"Oh well that's so romantic we should probably start dating!" Seungwan yells sarcastically.

Seungwan hears the door open and sees a giggling Yeri.

"Unnie, she was actually waiting for you outside, for real!" 

Seungwan gulps and hesitantly follows Yeri outside. She sees Joohyun holding a bouquet of blue and white hydrangeas, looking at her sheepishly, blush tinted cheeks.

"Oh God, tell me you didn't hear any of that." She says, pulling Joohyun as far away as possible from the two devils.

"I kinda did, tell me you weren't joking." Joohyun said, offering the flowers to Seungwan.

"Hyunnie, I-" 

"Seungwan, I don't wanna be friends. I never wanted to be friends." Joohyun says. "I mean, this is not the most romantic place for this, but I guess I don't know how else to tell you." She said, voice visibly shaking.

"I don't want to be friends with you. I want to hold you whenever we're watching those movies you liked. I wanna hug you whenever you're cooking my favorite dish in your kitchen. I want to kiss you before leaving and kiss you the moment I see you again. I don't want to be friends anymore, Wannie."

Seungwan smiles at her and slowly nods her head.

"Okay, let's not be friends then." Joohyun feels like she can finally breathe.

-

 

"Okay can I open my eyes now?" Seungwan asks.

"Yep, open them now." Joohyun says.

She sees Seulgi and Sooyoung side by side holding a bouquet of flowers and a large stuffed bear. She sees Yeri holding a cake with candles lit, and behind them are letters spelling out Happy Anniversary.

Seungwan bursts out crying and Joohyun coos her, kissing her tears away. She blows the candle and hugs the rest of the girls, thanking them for being part of the surprise.

"Here's my gift to you." Joohyun hands her set of keys and Seungwan chuckled. 

"Is this one of many keys I've lost?" She jokes.

"Not really, but it opens this-" Joohyun says, showing her a rack with five drawers. Seungwan counts the keys and figures out it's one for each of the drawers.

Seungwan opens the top drawer and sees familiar things, things that used to belong to her once, when she was a kid. 
She opens all the remaining drawers, softly crying as she sees everything she ever lost.

"You've kept all of them." She says.

"Uhum. But the one I really want to keep, is you." Joohyun smiles.