afterward, it's not awkward. the movie ends and they decide to walk around a bit. 

the weather is nice, they notice, it's would be a shame not to. they hold hands. 

it's like a floodgates that had opened with one touch, now seungwan can't keep her hands off joohyun, it seems like. with every move they brush against each other, their shoulders, arms, elbows, knees, anything that could keep bumping against each other. seungwan doesn't notice.

or at least she pretends she doesn't, the tips of her ears are still red from the time their hands had first touched. joohyun is starting to wonder that maybe it's natural for seungwan. maybe her ears are always like that and she just didn't pay that much attention before. but seungwan keeps massaging them, combing her hair above her ears as if she can feel the heat coming from them. it must be uncomfortable, joohyun muses with a slight satisfied smile. of course, it's satisfying to bring someone to that kind of state without much trying. her mind steers to the r-rated territory and she shakes her head. it's not time for that. not yet anyway. 

joohyun walks seungwan home.

it's not far and they wanted to talk a little more about that project seungwan wants to start. she started writing up the proposition and she's wondering if she's doing a good enough job. joohyun has a lot to say as she's done propositions before. as they talk seungwan unconsciously swings their arms back and forth, joohyun finds it cute that she doesn't notice she's doing it. 

they stop in front of seungwan's house, joohyun knows what she has to do. 

"thank you so much for accompanying me to the movies." seungwan slightly bows, now awkward since they let go of each other's hands. her one hand massages the other, "it was a lot of fun actually, i don't know what i was expecting." 

"for it to be boring?" joohyun jokes. 

"no," seungwan laughs pushing joohyun's shoulder back. "maybe a little." 

"why? because i'm such a boring person?" 

"you're not boring. i just usually see you in serious places. i mean, school mostly." 

"i can be fun, too." joohyun smirks, making seungwan blush a little. 

"i know. people have many different sides to them." seungwan says, looking down. she scuffs the ground with her shoe then looks up as if she just gathered the courage to. "we should do it again." 

"sure." joohyun shrugs. "i'll pick a movie next time."

"great." seungwan's shoulders drop as the tension leaves her body. 

joohyun feels the moment nearing, she drops her eyes to seungwan's lips and she seems to notice because not only her ears but her whole face turns red. it's so clear that seungwan is inexperienced with a human's touch, she probably didn't even hold other person's hand except her family's. while talking she's fine. she can joke around, she can hold a serious conversation, she can emphatize. but hold her hand and she'll stutter, trip over her feet. joohyun wonders what kind of reaction she'll get when she'll kiss her. 

"i had a great time, too." joohyun murmurs, still staring down at her lips. 

"i'm gl-glad." 

feeling brave joohyun puts her hand on her elbow and slides it to her fingertips, much like on the day of the rally seungwan doesn't do much of anything, just stands there and lets it happen. joohyun assumes that her touch is wanted because of the way seungwan's body reacts to her. looking up, she gazes into her eyes making sure. to her surprise it's seungwan who makes the next move. she nods her head, allowing joohyun to put her hand on the side of her neck, pulling her in. as their lips are about to touch joohyun's eyes catches someone looking through the window of seungwan's house, so she steers her lips to the side and kisses seungwan's cheek instead.

"i think your sister wouldn't enjoy the free show." joohyun whispers into seungwan's ear as an explanation and an apology at the same time and hugs her instead, wrapping an arm over seungwan's shoulders. after a moment seungwan's arms encircle her waist. 

"thank you again." seungwan pulls back, red in the face.

"don't mention it." joohyun smiles, slowly letting of seungwan, as if she doesn't want for the hug to end. 

"i'll be going then." seungwan gestures at her house. joohyun assumes her sister is about to hear some words from her. 

as much as she thinks, she can't help but come to the conclusion that it's embarrassing. they were about to kiss and joohyun backed out at the last second of course it must be embarrassing. how do you look someone in the eye after that? after you basically gave permission for the kiss to happen only it doesn't. should she have pretended not to see her sister and kiss her anyway? that wouldn't be fair on them both. she's sure seungwan didn't want her first kiss to be witnessed by her sibling and by her perking through the window nonetheless. 

she has to fix it, she can't have seungwan overthinking this. she doesn't even realize that she's the one overthinking as she sits by her desk at home, spinning a pen between her fingers as she thinks about it.

what would be a good way to have your first kiss? joohyun didn't even think about it at first - that it was seungwan's first kiss - she just figured after a date there should be a kiss to end it. that's what all the movies showed. that's what all her friends talked about; gushing about their dates and the heart-achingly good kisses they received by the end of the night. 

seungwan definitely wanted it so it was a good decision but what is she supposed to do now? she obviously has the permission. she just needs the timing and a place. it's the least best fake girlfriend could do. 

"there will be firework testing, so we'll have some students run that. we need the placement to be perfect so everyone could see them." jennie says. "this homecoming festival should be our best one yet."

"of course, it's us who are planning it." kibum smirks. 

"let's wait to say that after everything is done smoothly." joohyun laughs under her breath. 

"ooh, look at this smiley cat." kibum pokes her side. "what got you happy?" 

"happy?" joohyun frowns. 

"you have been smiling more often." jennie squints her eyes. 

"i haven't. i've been smiling the same amount." 

"if you say so." jennie shrugs. 

"someone is working hard." kibum nods at seungwan nose deep into a laptop, writing her proposal. "haven't seen anyone as passionate while working as joohyun." 

"that's because you're all lazy." joohyun deadpans. 

"your expectations are just too high." seulgi pipes up and kibum points at her nodding his head. 

"impossibly high." 

"how's seungwan doing in your eyes, joohyunnie?" jennie asks. 

"great, why?" 

"great?! i've never heard that word coming from your mouth! ever!" kibum gasps. 

"shh, keep it down." joohyun waves her hands around. 

"it's what love does to people." seulgi sighs. 

"love?" joohyun laughs at them. 

"here we go." jennie rolls her eyes. "love doesn't exist." she mocks joohyun's voice. 

"it's a temporary feeling. like eating something sweet the taste fades away. love does it too." 

"what you're talking about is crushing. love is different." kibum tilts his head. 

"no, it's just fascination with a new person." 

"don't knock it till you try it, unnie." seulgi smiles gently. "you never know when love will find you." 

"ah, seulgi, our hopeless romantic." kibum sighs with a smile. 

joohyun stays back.

everyone leaves one by one and she pretends she still has something to do. she arranges to get papers in her backpack, then makes tea and drinks it but seungwan still sits and tries to write a perfect proposal by herself. 

she clears to get her attention, offers some tea, offers her help. nothing gets seungwan away from her paper. it's frustrating. never have she's been mad at someone for doing their job diligently.

after two whole hours - but seemed like an eternity - seungwan stretches wide, making cute noise as her back cracks.

"seungwan, can you help me over here?" joohyun calls, following al