There was something about her.

 

Something different. 

 

. . .

 

Her first “crush” that she remembered was Kim Jennie. 

 

Dahyun's first meeting with Jennie was when the older girl was showing off her light-up white sneakers in the sixth grade.

 

“Hey!” The smiling girl called out to her. “You like them?”

 

Dahyun looked down, watching as the colors alternated every second to another bright tone. 

 

It wasn’t Dahyun’s kind of style.

 

She nodded anyway. 

 

They shared classes at their middle school, and from there, everything blossomed. Dahyun was always shy and timid, but it seemed that Jennie brought her out of her shell. 

 

The two koreans would often mess around with each other, teasing and making little bets. 

 

"I don't think I'm going to stay in first place, Jennie." Dahyun furrowed her brows together, a slight frown on her face. 

 

The whole class was playing a math-based game to see who could solve the most problems correctly, and she was currently leading. 

 

Meanwhile Jennie had already given up the game, choosing to watch the other.

 

Jennie scoffed, rolling her eyes. 

 

The pale girl was insanely smart and yet she refused to acknowledge it, instead opting to put herself down every time.

 

Jennie hummed as an idea popped into her head, catching Dahyun's attention, who motioned for her to speak. 

 

"If you get first place, then you have to get me some of the candy prize," Jennie smiled smugly from where she sat across the table. 

 

Confident.

 

Dahyun pursed her lips together in thought. 

 

Jennie teased, sensing the hesitation. "What? Scared?"

 

Dahyun narrowed her eyes at that before leaning in closer, quirking a brow. "Fine, bet." She grinned.

 

It was fun.

 

The bets continued throughout the year, the two girls often challenging one another. 

 

"I bet I can stuff my cheeks with more marshmallows than you,” Jennie said cockily, during one of their winter school parties. 

 

Those marshmallows were supposed to be for making smores for the other kids. 

 

Oh well. 

 

Dahyun narrowed her eyes. “Bet.”

 

“You’ll owe me a whole bag of trollies when I win.”

 

Dahyun found it strange that she kept thinking of Jennie, even when the girl wasn't near her. How she thought of ways she could make the girl laugh, or even crack a smile at her antics. How she envisioned scenarios of them hanging out, having the time of their lives. 

 

She pushed it to the back of her mind. 

 

It wasn't important. 

 

But then they soon grew apart and Dahyun quickly forgot about the infatuation she had. The questions that had plagued her mind collecting dust as they laid in the depths of her mind. Forgotten. 

 

True they remained as friends, but definitely not as close as they had been before.

 

It was hard to explain.

 

Looking back on it, Dahyun questioned how she had even developed a liking towards Jennie. Sure the older girl was pretty, funny, and whatnot, but it just wasn't the same.

 

And it never would be.

 

The awkwardness between the two grew for some unknown reason, and Dahyun disliked it. But there wasn't anything she could really do, even if she tried her best, so she chose to forget it entirely and leave it in the past as she quickly moved on. 

 

Years later and sometimes she remembers that she still owes Jennie that bag of trollies. 

 

. . .

 

Dahyun thought something was wrong with her.

 

And she was frustrated. 

 

Why did she always seem to feel this way? Why was her mind always plagued with thoughts of another? 

 

She didn't understand and was scared she never would. 

 

Dahyun thought all her little infatuations as she so called them had ended, and it really seemed that way.

 

Not until she met her . 

 

They shared the same class, but didn't interact with each other much. However, the day their teacher had assigned a group project changed it all. 

 

Dahyun didn't know any of her classmates, so she decided to just pick those that piqued her interest. 

 

It was an awkward process, asking if they would like to join her group but thankfully, it went smoothly. 

 

And Dahyun ended up with a girl that looked an awful lot like a bunny, a short little blonde, a tall beauty, and a seemingly out-going brunette. 

 

They created their own group chat to work together on the project that had been assigned to them and got to work with the deadline in a few weeks. 

 

Their group's dynamic was a strange one, yet being fun at the same time. 

 

It was a bit crazy. 

 

The bunny-looking girl was loud .

 

And though Dahyun could end the description there, she had to admit that the older kroean was smarter than she looked, but she could get a bit annoying. She was the only who seemed to be challenging Dahyun's ideas and thoughts with her own, yet Dahyun would be surprised since she hadn't thought of things that way. 

 

She was a pretty valuable asset. 

 

Meanwhile, the blonde and Dahyun got along really well and Dahyun could see her being a close friend. The blonde was unique and interesting and incredibly creative in her ideas that she had offered to the group to discuss. Dahyun liked her silly personality. 

 

Moving to who Dahyun deemed as the smartest in the group and very helpful, the tall beauty was silent and looked cold with her stoic expression, but Dahyun could tell that she was just a softie underneath all of that. Dahyun hoped the girl would be comfortable enough to let Dahyun see that side of her, hoping they grew closer. 

 

Dahyun had thought the cheery brunette would've been like the majority of her project partners, the ones to slack off and not do anything despite taking the final credit in the end. 

 

And she gladly found herself to be wrong. 

 

To which she immediately felt guilty for assuming the worst. 

 

The brunette worked hard and tried her best to help the other members. 

 

Dahyun thought she was cute and instantly developed a liking towards the girl. The girl seemed to be very energetic and prone to making friends easily. 

 

Dahyun wanted to be one of them. 

 

Yet, Dahyun didn't realize how complicated it would get. Complicated in different ways. 

 

. . .

 

"Hey, Dahyun!" The taller girl had called out, quickly settling over with her against the wall as they waited for their class to begin. 

 

"Oh, hey Kyulkyung," Dahyun smiled at her. 

 

Dahyun had known Kyulkyung the longest out of all her little crushes or infatuations or whatever they were. 

 

Since elementary school, but it wasn't until the start of middle school in which they actually became friends since they shared a couple classes together. 

 

Dahyun doesn't remember how it happened, it just did. 

 

She just knew that she had considered the girl as a dear friend that she held close to her heart. 

 

Kyulkyung had been fun to hang around with, though there were times that she could be a tad bit annoying to Dahyun. 

 

Dahyun pushed that aspect out of her mind. 

 

She would find herself energetic and ready to go to her least favorite class 'Speech and Debate' only because Kyulkyung was there to make it bearable. 

 

She really enjoyed talking to her. 

 

Kyulkyung was the first friend that she had long phone calls late into the night with. 

 

And this is something that Dahyun thinks is important since it kind of broke her out of the shell that was surrounding her. Dahyun would cherish the moments and remember how nice it was. 

 

Dahyun remembered sneaking into her room just to accept the call, with her being all excited and happy. 

 

She had risked getting in trouble to talk to the girl, and had even gotten caught a couple times. 

 

She thought it was worth it though. 

 

"I called so late because I had a haircut and it just lasted for a really long time, like I don't know what..." Kyulkyung talked as Dahyun sat in the back of her room, eyes on the closed door in front of her. 

 

That day, Kyulkyung had walked past her in the hall and in that split second where they had been beside each other, the girl's voice rang out. 

 

"Call me." 

 

Needless to say, Dahyun had been confused and looked back only to see the girl's back walking away from her. 

 

Dahyun hadn't called her. 

 

So, here Kyulkyung had called her instead. 

 

Dahyun made a small noise of acknowledgement to let the girl know she was listening. 

 

"Are you even going to talk?" Kyulkyung's voice cut in and she laughed while Dahyun cracked a smile at that. 

 

Dahyun hummed in response, eliciting another chuckle from the girl. Dahyun wasn't much of a talker and it had felt too awkward for her at that moment, aside from the fact that she was about to get caught on the phone. 

 

Dahyun continued to be teased by the other for a couple minutes before the topic was switched back to Kyulkyung's day. 

 

"Well, anyways..."

 

Dahyun got caught shortly after quickly hanging up on the girl when there was a knock on her door, receiving a lecture from her parents about calling friends for unnecessary reasons. 

 

And it wasn't until about three years later that Dahyun remembered the call and thought that something was wrong about the whole thing.

 

She just couldn't put her finger on it. 

 

But Dahyun never realized until way after that maybe being friends with Kyulkyung wasn't necessarily a good thing. 

 

The taller girl had done many things to upset her, even threatening to betray her in something so trivial and fake, and it was always Dahyun that had mended things between them. 

 

Always the one to apologize.

 

Dahyun was younger back then and didn't realize. 

 

And maybe she let her own little adoration for the girl blind her. To the point where she was unable to really see who Kyulkyung was as a person and a "friend" to her. How her personality was horrid at times. 

 

But they didn't talk anymore and Dahyun wasn't sure if she was upset about that fact. 

 

. . .

 

They had exchanged numbers for the sake of the project, but they had somehow started texting separately from the group chat with the others. 

 

Their conversation diverted from that topic of their assignment and onto random ones. Like those that included memes.

 

Meet-ups happened occasionally just to hang, and there was never a moment of awkwardness between the two. 

 

They had just clicked that well together, and Dahyun was oddly already comfortable with the brunette. 

 

So comfortable in fact that Dahyun had even shown her famous eagle dance video, eliciting the brunette to keel over in laughter, having to wipe tears away from her eyes. All the while, Dahyun laughed alongside her, liking the way the brunette had the habit of leaning into her. 

 

Texting turned into phone calls, not that Dahyun was complaining. 

 

She was just surprised. 

 

The calls came when Dahyun least expected it, ranging from early morning to the dead of night. Though unexpected, Dahyun never hesitated to pick her phone up and answer. 

 

It was usually just Dahyun listening to the brunette ramble on as she lay on her bed, staring up at the ceiling, a smile tugging at her lips.

 

The girl's voice filled up the silence that typically enveloped Dahyun's being. 

 

Or sometimes it was just silent on both ends of the call.

 

"Dahyun?" The girl's soft, soothing voice reached her ears. Checking to see if she was still awake. Breaking the silence. 

 

And Dahyun would let out a deep exhale. 

 

"I'm here." 

 

Then it would continue. 

 

Phone calls soon turned into video calls and Dahyun couldn't wrap her mind at how good the older girl looked despite a scuffed camera. On the other hand, she looked like a whole mess and she cringed at herself. 

 

"Hey, where's your pretty face? My eyes should be blessed this early in the morning." A cheeky smile.

 

"Stop, you're exaggerating," Dahyun's eyes could clearly be seen rolling fondly as her face popped into view. 

 

Screw her messy bedhead and the giant frames resting on the bridge of her nose. 

 

Eyes narrowed playfully with a hint of seriousness. "I speak only the truth, so you better believe me, Dahyun." 

 

A hum of disapproval as Dahyun rubbed the sleep from her eyes and the brunette fought the urge to coo at how adorable it was. 

 

"You look really ing cute right now." 

 

They hadn't even known each other for long, yet their bond with one another had grown so much. Strengthening with every interaction. 

 

The brunette seemed to randomly take up her thoughts and Dahyun would smile softly every time. It happened more frequently now. 

 

She couldn't believe she had found someone like her. 

 

Someone that excluded the energy of the sun, someone that always seemed to be filled with giggles and grins, someone that Dahyun really liked. 

 

Someone that was Minatozaki Sana. 

 

. . .

 

"Go!" 

 

Two girls rushed up the stairs, feet stomping against the steps as they raced each other. 

 

"I'm going to trip and fall, Gahyeon!" Dahyun yelled, a giant smile on her face as she continued upward. 

 

Only a laugh was heard from the girl to her side, and it eventually turned into a yelp of victory as Gahyeon reached the top of the stairs a slip second before Dahyun. 

 

The pale korean let out a groan, but the race wasn't completely finished as the girls raced up the last flight of steps. 

 

Loud stomps and laughter could be heard echoing around the corridor as the noise bounced off the walls. 

 

One last step up. 

 

And when Dahyun raised her head, she saw Gahyeon standing at the top of the stairs staring with a smile on her face.

 

Waiting for Dahyun. 

 

Dahyun tilted her head back, hands on her hips as she tried to regain her breath. 

 

She felt a laugh bubble out and she let it, eyes crinkling into small, dark crescents. 

 

But Dahyun hadn't realized that a couple girls were right in front of them, and one of the brunettes turned around at the ruckus. 

 

The girl looked behind at the two girls who were out of breath with a questioning gaze, and Dahyun only flashed her a bashful grin in response. 

 

The girl returned the smile, amused. 

 

Dahyun then p