Eunbi... and me?

Wait, why is my name there???

I never said yes???

But with all the eyes on me, the first thing I do is turn to Yuna, whose hand loosened around mine. There's hurt in her eyes, and all I want to do is run away with her right now.

"Yuna..." Before I know it, one of the host's friends comes up to me.

"You're Jung Yerin, right?" he says loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Y-yeah, but—" 

"Alright!" He comes behind me, and starts to push me forward, earning cheers and woops from everyone. I lose Yuna's hand, and it started to feel cold.

I end up face to face with none other than the little devil herself in front of the closet door. The look on her face mirrors mine, and it tells me she doesn't want to do this as bad as I do. Yet, why do I have the feeling that she's responsible for this?

We don't exchange any words in front of the crowd. Before they close the door, I try to catch a glimpse of Yuna, but she wasn't there. "Timer starts now!" I hear from the other side.

Eunbi and I both look around the closet rather than acknowledge the other that is two feet away. There's some jackets, shoes, boxes, caps, the only light source being the light slipping through the space around the door, a broom– a real dirty one, s—

"Literally anyone else would be fine, yet I'm stuck with you?" She mutters it quietly, as if not wanting the people outside to hear it. Facing the wall, I can only see her back towards me.

"I don't want to be in here either, but here we are."

I can sense she wants to say something, but she hesitates. "What did Yuna say?"

I sigh heavily. "Nothing, but she's obviously unhappy. Not because of this, but she thinks I don't see her as my partner." Even if I can't stand Eunbi, I know she's a good friend to Yuna—

Which is probably another reason why she hates me.

"I don't know why or how my name got in, but I swear on my life that I didn't do it myself."

"This is the longest five minutes of my life." She finally turns around, and of course she's glaring at me.

This is possibly the longest conversation we've ever had, so I decide to finally say some things to her face. "What is your problem with me?"

"My problem? What is your problem?" she scoffs. "You're the one that hates even looking at me, yet pretends nothing happens when you're with Yuna."

"Oh please, if you knew how to apologize and mind your own business, maybe I wouldn't dislike you so much."

"You're just mad that for once in your life, someone has bested you in sport." Eunbi takes a step closer, but it doesn't intimidate me. "You may have been the best where you're from, but here you're not."

"For you information, I currently have more points against you."

"Why the hell are you keeping track?"

There's no way I can explain why while keeping my pride, so I switch thoughts. "I know you don't like me and Yuna together, and I know you well enough to say that it's for the stupidest reasons."

"You don't know me at all." 

"One minute!"

The only sound I hear right now is from the distant chatter on the other side of the door, and Eunbi's heavy breathing.

"I can so easily ruin your relationship, but I would never do so because Yuna is my friend," she says through clenched teeth.

"How petty can you be?"

Eunbi laughs, and it sends a chill down my neck. "I'm petty? You're the one that uses two measly judgements of me, and thinks you know my whole life story."

"Six, five, four—"

"The deal is off. Go have fun with your not-girlfriend." The moment the door unlocks, Eunbi pushes past it and walks away. I so badly want to chase after her and tell her that Yuna is my girlfriend, but being left alone and dejected in the closet, I can already sense some people feeling pity for me, while others giggling because I got rejected. I don't care.

I need to find Yuna.

The party resumes, and I've already been forgotten as more alcohol is consumed. I try calling Yuna on her phone, but she isn't answering. Five times, no answer. I step out of the house to see if she's outside, then I hear someone calling me from behind.

"Yerin! Yerin, wait!" She jogs to catch up to me.

"Sojung! I can't find Yuna. Have you seen her? Is she with you?" Instead of answering, she hugs me and whispers an apology. "What's wrong?"

"MJ's an idiot. I told him to call you and Yuna so that you guys can have your moment since you told me you two have been struggling getting alone together, and Yuna really wants to kiss you, but for some reason he said Eunbi's name an—"

"Wait. Sojung." Why? Why would she do that? "You're the one that did that? Sojung, don't you realize what you just did?" With how drowsy she looks, I can tell she's been drinking and partying. Hell, she might not even remember this tomorrow. "Did you really think Yuna and I would want to be forced into a closet? Did you think that was going to be romantic? With about a hundred people outside the door? Now, I can't find her and she's not answering any of my calls."

"Yerin, I'm sor—"

"Not now, Sojung."

Walking further, I finally see Yuna at the bus stop across the street. Before running to her, I stop when I see Eunbi talking to her next to her. With how sad Eunbi looks, I can only think she's explaining what happened earlier. Yuna nods to whatever she's saying, and they end with a hug. 

I try calling Yuna again, but not before hiding behind a telephone pole. I take a peek, and she's looking at her phone in hand. She puts it up to her ear, and I hear the call go through on my end.

"Hello?"

I don't need to try to keep calm, because her voice already does that for me. "Hi, Yuna. I've been looking for you. Are you okay? Are you somewhere safe?" I look again, and Eunbi's rubbing her back gently. They exchange looks, and Yuna smiles at her, as if she is telling her she's okay.

"I'm okay, Yerin. I'm just tired from all the partying. I'll be heading back to campus soon."

"Do you want me to come with you?" I ask, hopeful and desperate.

"It's alright. Eunbi's with me. You should go with Sojung, because she's going to need some help."

"I will."

"Get back safe, Yerin."

"You too, Yuna."

The call ends, and I see the bus arrive. From the window, Eunbi turns my way, and I hide my face. The bus leaves, and all I can do is go back to the party and try to find my roommate again.

-

I wake up late. I almost panic, but then remember it's Saturday morning. There's a bad taste in my mouth, and it's most likely from the drinks left on my tongue. I turn to the other bed and see Eunha and Sojung still fast asleep. Sojung definitely needed help, and so did Eunha because she's too small to carry her girlfriend. When I got out of the shower last night, they were already passed out. I wasn't with them the whole night, but I could tell they drank enough for a hangover.

I get disappointed when I don't see any texts from Yuna. She might still be asleep.

"Babe, I can't breathe..." I see Eunha prying Sojung's arm off her, and it's funny hearing the small girl whine.

Last night was a lot. From Yuna, to Eunbi, then there's still the Sojung thing– I need to fix things. First, Yuna. I wash and get dressed, and almost step out the door when the couple start to wake up. 

"Ugh, my head is killing me," Sojung groans.

"Well for an archer, you're terrible at beer pong." Eunha pushes herself up, and notices me with her half-open eyes. "Hi Yerin..."

"Good morning." I grab a Gatorade from the mini fridge, and hand it to her for them to share. At the sound of my voice, my roommate jolts up and looks at me with wide eyes.

"YERIN! I'M SO SORRY ABOUT LAST NIGHT!"

"Sojung, calm down. It's fine." I ruffle her hair, and make my way to the door. "I'll be back in a bit!"

The sign that says '207' has never felt this heart racing. "Good morning, Yuna," I text her. Should I send my next message? Or should I wait for her to reply first? Should I call her? Should I knock on her door?

The three dots show up, and I release the breath I didn't know I was holding. "Good morning, yennie," it read.

"Did you sleep well?"

"I've slept better"

"can i see yo—" 

I erase that immediately. Too soon. I go to type a new message, but the door in front of me swings open, causing me to yelp.

"Yuna–" She grabs me by the arm, and starts walking down the hall.

"Have you eaten yet?"

"No, I haven't."

"Good." She smiles at me, and I feel like things are going to be alright. 

We end up at a ramen place across campus, and it's so sobering and heartwarming. This place has probably been around for decades, and is a family business.

"Eunbi told me all about last night. And Sojung did too. It was all just a misunderstanding, and I'm sorry for that." 

"Eunbi and I didn't do anything in there. We would never do anything to hurt you."

Yuna chuckles. "She also told me about you two— how you don't exactly get along." I purse my lips, and that's all she needs for confirmation. "I don't know why, but I know if you guys tried, you'd find you have more in common than you think. For now, I'm not going to force either of you to hang out with each other. But! When we all hang out, you guys have to talk to each other. Don't think I didn't notice the glares you give each other."

I blush out of embarrassment, and she squishes my cheek. We stop by that same bakery I got the cupcake from before after our meals are finished. Yuna wanted something sweet, but at the same time healthy. 

"Oh! It's that cupcake Eunbi had before," she points at the display. "Did she buy it from here? Why would she buy something with grapes?"

"What's wrong with grapes?" I ask, curious.

"Eunbi's allergic."

...

Is that why she was going to throw it away? 

Why didn't she just tell me?

Right. Because we hate each other. Of course she wouldn't tell me. If I got her a different cupcake, would she have reacted the same?

The trees are starting to lose their leaves, and the sun doesn't burn as hot anymore. At one of the quads on campus, we lay on the grass under the shade of a tree. Yuna laughed at me for accidentally sitting on a pine cone, but I get her back by leaving a leaf in her hair.

"Yuna?"

"Yeah?" 

I pause as I formulate the right words. In the past three months, I don't think we've ever vocalized our feelings for each other, and I want to change that. "How do you feel about me?"

She rolls on her front and leans on her forearms so she can look at me properly. "I like you. A lot. You make me feel like a kid again, and it makes me really happy. You keep up with my energy in a different way than Sojung."

Yuna cups my cheek, and my whole b