She didn’t know what led her to this moment.

The dim lights of the club. The smell of alcohol in the air. Some pop song about a girl in love. Arms around her waist. Her hands pulling soft dark hair. Her lips tasting vodka and something more, something so intrinsically her.

Her.

She was kissing her.

After 13 years of pining.

They were kissing and they were lost in each other.

She didn’t want it to end, ever.

-

Minjeong was only 8 when she met her.

She was playing at the park near her house like she did every Saturday afternoon. Her mother trusted her enough to let her play by herself, all she had to do was follow The Rules and everything should be fine. It was only four rules and little Minjeong was smart enough to follow them with no problem.

Rule 1: Come back home before it’s dark.

Why would she be out there when it’s dark? It didn’t make sense to little Minjeong, it was scary at night.

Rule 2: Don’t talk to strangers.

Duh, Minjeong was an introvert, she wasn’t even willing to talk to the people she knew so it was no problem to not to talk to strangers.

Rule 3: Don’t fight with the other kids.

She was a chill kid and the other kids were pretty cool, they respected her introvert self when she wasn’t in the mood to play with them. There was no reason to fight them.

Rule 4: If something bad happens, call an adult immediately.

Nothing bad ever happened. But she always kept rule 4 in mind.

It was almost dark and Minjeong knew she had to go back before she broke rule 1. Her mom said she would make lasagna for dinner, so that was another reason for her to hurry.

Before she could pick up her bike, she heard a commotion. She looked around and saw a bunch of kids gathered in a circle, no adult in sight. Curiosity got the best of her and she went to check what was happened. Five more minutes wouldn’t hurt, right?

“Get off me! Hey! Get off me!” said a black-haired girl Minjeong had never seen before at the park. She was in the ground with a boy, who Minjeong recognized as one of the few troublemakers that frequented the park, on top of her.

“Not until you apologize” The boy, Sumin, laughed. Minjeong usually stayed away from him, he was older and a bully, but if you stayed out of his way, he would be harmless. The new girl, who was trying hard to free herself from his grasp, probably didn’t know that.

None of the other kids, even the older one, were helping. They were just watching, some of them were even laughing. Minjeong felt bad for her, she was probably her age so she imagined if it was her, she would be embarrassed to be struggling like that on the ground with all the other kids watching.

“Hey Sumin, leave her alone, please” She said in a quiet voice, but it was loud enough for him, and every other kid there, to look at her. She didn’t like confrontation; it made her nervous and anxious. “Whatever she did, I’m sure she won’t do it again, just let her go”

“No, she needs to apologize” After hearing that, the girl tried to free herself again.

“I’m not apologizing for not wanting to be your girlfriend! You are ulgy!” That made all the kids laugh. So that was the reason Sumin was bullying this girl? She called him ugly? Seeing all the kids laughing at him made the boy angry, he lifted his fist to hit the girl and she could only close her eyes and wait for the pain.

But Minjeong couldn’t let it happen. She pushed Sumin from the girl before she could hit her.

After that, everything was a blur.

All she could remember were the other fights yelling a series of “Fight! Fight! Fight!” and being punched on the face. She fell on the ground and closed her eyes, she was in pain. Not only that, she broke rule 3 so she was also in trouble.

Minjeong could swear she only closed her eyes for ten seconds, but when she opened them again it was already dark. Great, now she broke rule 1 too.

She was still on the ground, but her head on someone’s lap. Oh, it was the girl. She was looking at Minjeong with concerned feline black eyes. She hadn’t noticed before, but now seeing her up close, she could tell this girl was pretty, like really, really pretty. She had a mole under her lips, it made her look somehow chic for a kid.

“Oh, you woke up! I was about to go after an adult, but I didn’t want to leave you alone out here” The girl said, talking really fast. “I’m sorry! I’m rambling, I know. Are you okay?”

“Hum, you’re pretty” It was all Minjeong was able to say.

“Thank you…” The tips of the girl’s ears got red, Minjeong thought she was not only pretty, but cute too. “My name is Jimin. What’s yours?” She said helping Minjeong get up. Hearing that Minjeong freaked out a little. She didn’t know this girl, Jimin, which means she was a stranger! She broke rule 2 too!

“I… Minjeong. My name is Minjeong. Where’s everyone?” She had already broke rule 2 anyway so she could as well find out why they were alone when there were at least 12 kids around them before she lost her senses.

“Ah, they ran… I mean, you fell and didn’t get up, I think they were afraid of being blamed for it. The only one who stayed was that stupid boy who started all of this, but don’t worry! I got rid of him” Jimin gave her an evil smile when she mentioned Sumin, it made Minjeong think she looked like a villain of a Disney movie. A villain with the face of a princess. “Thank you, by the way, if it wasn’t for you, he would probably have hurt me.”

“You’re welcome” It was all she could say. The girl in front of her was intimidating. “I-I gotta go, my mom must be waiting for me. Thank you too, for staying with me.”

“It’s ok, you’re cool!” Jimin smiled and Minjeong thought it was unfair for a kid her age be so pretty. Minjeong probably looked like a bag of potatoes next to her.

“Yeah, bye!” She said picking up her bike. She didn’t even want to think about what was waiting her at home. She broke three out of four rules, the situation wouldn’t be good for her.

Before she could go, she felt a hand on her wrist. Jimin’s hand. She looked at the girl, puzzled.

“Hey, can we, hum, can we be friends?”

“Yeah, of course.”

Minjeong did get in trouble for what happened. Her mom said she broke all the four rules because before pushing Sumin she should’ve called an adult, but her mom didn’t understand the urgency of the situation! It was fine, though. Her left cheek got swollen for a week and she got grounded for two, but she also got a new friend.

Jimin didn’t live anywhere near Minjeong. She only happened to be at the park that day because she was visiting her aunt, but that didn’t stop their friendship. She would visit Minjeong at least once in every two weeks and they would spend the whole day playing and laughing. A day every two weeks might seem too little time, but for them it was enough to get to know each other’s favorite colors, favorite snacks, favorites games and everything there was to know about a 8 and 9 years old.

Minjeong felt happy. She had other friends, of course. But none of them made her laugh or protected her like Jimin did and she hoped their friendship would last forever.

A year after their first encounter, Minjeong’s family had to move to another city. It was sudden, she father had been accepted in a better job and it required for them to move immediately. She didn’t have time to tell Jimin. She didn’t have time to say goodbye.

-

She was 13 when she saw her again.

It was at the mall, Minjeong was walking around with three of her friends after school. A local band was supposed to perform at the mall’s parking lot. While waiting for the performance to start, they decided to eat something.

She wasn’t really hungry, but her friend’s mom, who was chaperoning for all of them, offered and she wasn’t the one to say no to free snacks.

They sat on a table talking about school while her friend’s mom went to buy their snacks. She was laughing at something one of her friends said when she was presented with the sight of a familiar black hair.

The girl was five tables away from them talking with another girl. Her back was turned to them, so Minjeong couldn’t see her face, but something about this girl made her remember Jimin.

It couldn’t be her, could it?

Before she could even do anything the girl and her friend got up and started walking away. Minjeong still couldn’t see her face, but she had to know if it was her.

It had been four years since she last saw Jimin, but she could never forget her. Their bond was strong and she had always regretted it not saying goodbye to her friend. She knew it wasn’t really her fault, but that didn’t lessen the guilt she felt so she wasn’t surprised when she could herself running to the direction she saw the black haired girl walking with her friend. Her friends’ voices were ignored. She kept running. She needed to know if that girl was…

“Jimin?” Minjeong called when she was close enough. She hadn’t noticed but she had followed the girl to the parking lot, was she there to see the band too?

The girl turned and oh, it was indeed her.

“Min-Minjeong? Is that you?” Jimin looked surprised and confused. Minjeong couldn’t blame her. She was too. But she was also happy! She found her friend! Jimin hadn’t changed much, she was still extremely pretty.

“Y-yeah” When she ran after the girl, she hadn’t thought ahead so she didn’t know what to say. Could she say she missed her? Because she certainly did.

“Oh, okay” That was all that left Jimin’s mouth. Minjeong couldn’t help but be a little disappointed, Jimin was always touchy when they wear younger, so yeah, she expected more, maybe a hug? “I… I need to go. Take care. Let’s go, Aeri”

Minjeong’s face fell. Maybe she should have taken in consideration that she hadn’t been important to