“What class did you miss today?” 

Dr. Bae smiles at Jimin as she types on her computer. With a pout on her lips, Jimin plays with the magazines on the side table next to the chair she was sitting in. 

“Chemistry.” 

“You like chemistry?” 

Jimin shrugs, “only because I sit next to the window and I can see the field from there.” She brightens into a grin, “Minjeong has P.E when I have chemistry.” 

Dr. Bae snorts, “you sound like a creepy stalker.” 

Tilting her chin up, Jimin lets out a huff. “I prefer to be called an admirer.” 

“You’re just sugar coating it, babe.” 

Jimin clicks her tongue, “hurry up so I can go back to school and see Minjeong.” 

Dr. Bae chuckles, shaking her head. “You moved up one on the transplant list, Jimin.” She glances at Jimin to see a reaction, but the younger girl seems to be very unenthusiastic about it. 

“Why don’t you ever smile when I tell you just how close you are to getting a new heart? This is good news, Jimin.” Dr. Bae was asking a little out of her professionalism, but with Jimin, that was okay. 

Jimin shrugs, “you said there’s a chance that my body won’t even react well to a new heart. I don’t want to get my hopes up.” 

Dr. Bae heaves a sigh, pushing the computer away and going to kneel in front of Jimin. She grasps the younger woman’s hands in hers, and gives her a comforting smile. 

“I’m taking off the white coat, okay?” Dr. Bae says, slipping off her white coat and setting it down on a nearby side table. “Now, I’m just your aunt Irene.” The older woman smiles, “hope is good, Jimin. That’s what you should cling on to. It’s scary, sweetie, I know, but please have hope.” 

Jimin looks down at their hands, not wanting to look at Irene with tears in her eyes that she was desperately holding in.

Dr. Bae rose from her kneeled position after a few beats, sensing Jimin didn’t have any intentions to say anything. She places a soft kiss onto Jimin’s forehead, before snatching her white coat and putting it back on. 

“Alright. Let’s get you out of here so you can go back to being a creepy stalker.” Dr. Bae says to lighten the mood. 

Jimin scrunched her nose, finally raising her gaze to glare at Dr. Bae. “Admirer!” 

_

When Minjeong closes her locker, she jumps slightly when a grinning Jimin appears from behind her locker door. A hand to her heart, Minjeong heaves a sigh of distress. 

“Jesus. You scared me.” 

The taller girl chuckles in delight. Jimin reaches for something in her bag, and Minjeong watches the familiar pink box being handed to her. She stares at it blankly, before glancing at Jimin who looks at her expectantly. 

With a frown, Minjeong crosses her arms. Rolling her eyes at Minjeong’s reluctance, Jimin stands the strawberry milk box on top of Minjeong’s head, balancing it on the crown of the younger woman’s head like a hat. 

“I’m sorry this one came so late.” Jimin apologizes, “I hope English class wasn’t too dreadful without your favorite morning strawberry milk from your crush.” 

Least favorite. Minjeong thought. 

And crush?

Minjeong’s eyes narrowed, but she still didn’t say a word. Jimin blinks at her with doe eyes, “was Ms. Bruné that bad? Did she go on and on about her cats again? Because when I had her last year she used to always—,”

Making a move to turn around, Jimin scurries to catch the strawberry milk that slides off of Minjeong’s head as she starts to walk away. 

“Hey!” Jimin adjusts her bag on her shoulders, before powering through students to match her steps with Minjeong’s. 

“Stop giving me strawberry milk and love notes, Jimin.” Minjeong mumbles out, “I don’t date.” 

Jimin blinks, “alright…then accept the gesture as a pick-me-up from a friend.” 

Crossing her arms, Minjeong turns a corner blindly, which prompts her into almost colliding with a group of football players who were being rowdy in the hallway. Jimin was quick to think, wrapping an arm around the younger girl’s waist, and pulling their bodies together. 

“Hey,” Jimin’s voice turns deeper as the single word bellows through the hallway. The football players stopped in their tracks, smug grins on their faces as they eyed Minjeong curiously.

 “Watch where you’re going. You almost trampled her.” 

Tucking the football under his arm, Jimin eyes the captain of the football team with narrowed eyes. 

“Maybe the new girl should watch where she’s going.” 

Minjeong scoffs, “I see your ego is inflated. Is it the letterman jacket? That’s what’s holding your big head and ego up?” 

The team captain’s smile drops from his face, and his teammates echo their “ooh’s” as other students start to tune into their conversation. 

Jimin’s eyebrows raise in amusement, and she squeezes Minjeong’s waist in encouragement. She knew Minjeong was no saint. The girl had a very intimidating aura that Jimin was drawn to, and when she makes Minjeong smile, it’s like the dark cloud above the younger girl, just poofs, replaced with sunshines and rainbows. 

“You sure know how to make a guy want to hit a girl.” The team captain chuckles, locking his jaw. 

Jimin immediately steps in front of Minjeong, “don’t even try anything, Jake.” 

Jake scoffs, “I’m not stupid, Jimin.”

“You’re still an .” Minjeong mutters under her breath. 

“What the hell is going on here?” A body shoulders her way through the crowd of students formed around the commotion. Aeri pops out of the heap, eyes widening when she sees her best friend’s hands clenched into fists, and half of the football team in front of her. 

“Jimin!” Aeri shrieks. She pushes Jake back, putting her body in between her best friend and the football team. 

“What do you think you’re doing?” Aeri glares at Jake, then towards the rest of his team behind him. “Niki, what’s going on?” She questions her younger brother, who was a new freshman on the football team. 

“U-Uh..” Niki stutters, face going pale at the sight of an angry Aeri. 

“These s almost ran me over.” Minjeong spoke up, but Jimin turned her head to give her a look of warning. She shouldn’t aggravate the situation any more than it should be. 

Aeri rolled her eyes, “wouldn’t be the first time I’ve seen it. How many times do people have to tell you that this hallway,” she gestures around them with her hands, “is not your playfield. So walk through it like norma