"Wait..." Chaewon looked around at them. "W-What?"

"Yeah, what?" Jisu was just as confused. It made sense that Ryujin didn't raise her hand, they just kissed, after all, but... Hyeju?

"Do you want me to explain?" Hyeju asked.

"No, it's okay." Ryujin gave her a reassuring nod. "So, after my ex-girlfriend broke up with me, me and Hyeju... well, we... yeah."

"You kissed?" Chaewon said.

Hyeju swallowed hard. "N-Not only."

"It was just , no feelings attached," Ryujin said. "It was a bad phase for me, I was really sad and vulnerable, and I and Hyeju weren't the kids we were before, we had grown up, and, well, stuff happened."

"When was that?" Jisu asked.

"More than a year ago."

"Was it just one time?"

"Two."

"Three..." Hyeju corrected.

"Three?" Ryujin irked an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Yeah. Don't you remember, we were in-"

"W-We don't need to know," Chaewon interrupted.

Hyeju faced her and cleared . "You're right, sorry."

"So, and what about you, Jisu?" Chaewon asked her.

"We kissed," Jisu said, motioning for Ryujin. "Earlier, during the photoshoot."

Hyeju gasped and smacked Ryujin's arm, almost throwing the girl to the floor as she winced. "You really did it, Ryujin! Wow, congrats guys, for real."

"Thanks." Ryujin rubbed her arm, frowning. "Yeah, I did it. Thank you for putting sense in my head, once again."

Chaewon kept her jaw slack, observing the whole scene. "I swear to god I didn't know it was gonna happen."

Jisu laughed. "It was an amazing setting for a first kiss, indeed."

"I think I'm gonna cry," Hyeju said. "And I don't cry."

Ryujin rolled her eyes. "Aren't you being a bit dramatic?"

"Let me be happy for you, . You deserve that. And Jisu," Hyeju turned to her. "Ryujin deserves the best. Chaewon told me nice things about you, so I'm hoping you can make her very happy."

"You don't need to threaten her!" It was Ryujin's turn to punch her arm.

"I'm not! I'm being encouraging!"

"That definitely sounded like a threat."

"Don't worry, Hyeju." Jisu forced a smile. "I won't give her anything but the best."

But what Jisu had just listened still echoed in her ears. Ryujin and Hyeju... Why didn't Ryujin tell her? Did she, perhaps, had... feelings for Hyeju, deep down?

"Excuse me, I need to use the toilet." Jisu stood up and rushed, closing the door behind her.

She looked at herself in the mirror. Use your rationality, Jisu. Ryujin just said there were no feelings attached to whatever happened with Hyeju, and she didn’t even remember exactly how many times it had happened. She had such a traumatic experience, and yet, she opened up to Jisu, and even though she suffered more than she ever should, she was still giving Jisu a chance. If Ryujin's feelings weren't genuine, she hadn't kissed her just a while before. Also, Hyeju’s reactions when she knew. That had been pure happiness and excitement, not forced.

She took in a deeper breath, allowing herself to relax. There was nothing to worry about.

Jisu made her way back to the living room, hoping Chaewon wasn't already overthinking that information. Knowing her, she was.

"Just give us a little detail!" Hyeju held onto Ryujin's arm, shaking her back and forth. "Was it you? Or was it her?"

"Why are you being so annoying?" Ryujin sighed. She noticed Jisu approaching. "Please help, Hyeju won't rest until I tell her everything."

Jisu chuckled and sat back on her pillow. "We were taking pictures, I was standing with my back towards Ryujin, she called me, I turned, and she was right there super close. And then we kissed."

Hyeju froze, lips parted and shining eyes at Jisu. "That's so cute..." then turned to Ryujin and frowned. "See, was that so hard?"

Ryujin rolled her eyes, and while they keep quarreling, Jisu peeked at Chaewon. At how she kept her head low, fidgeting with her hands on her lap.

"Are you guys hungry?" Jisu asked. "Ryujin, can I go fetch something from the kitchen?"

"Sure. I can go with you."

"No, Chaewon will go with me. I'll bring something for you both!" Jisu stood up, dragging a frowning and whining Chaewon with her. The kitchen was right on the other side of the living room. She would have to keep it low, so she changed her tone to a whisper. "Don't think about it."

"Think about what?" Chaewon irked an eyebrow.

"Come on, I know you. You're thinking about what they said. You heard Ryujin, it didn't mean anything."

"I'm not thinking about anything."

Jisu sighed. "Do you think you can lie to me? You're questioning everything now, regretting , thinking that it's all over and you don't stand a chance."

Chaewon widened her eyes and averted her gaze with her jaw locked. "Fine. You're right."

"Do you think if there were any feelings there, Ryujin and I had kissed? And Hyeju would almost be throwing a party because of that? They're best friends, that happened long ago. If there was something between them, they wouldn't have stopped. And would probably be dating by now. But it didn't happen. Ryujin likes me. She actually... likes me." Jisu got lost in her words, her dreamy eyes focusing on nothing. She shook her head and came back. "And it was Hyeju encouraging her. She only made a move tonight because of what Hyeju told her."

Chaewon's lower lip trembled, and Jisu reached forward, cupping her cheeks before she could start crying.

"I'm sorry, I should be throwing a party for you as well, and here I am, acting like... like an ."

"You're not being an , Chaewonie. You're overthinking, that's all."

"I was just so shocked. When I asked that for the game, it was because I wanted to see if anything happened with you and Ryujin, not because I wanted to know about that."

"Now we do. Imagine if it was the opposite. If that happened between us in the past, you wouldn't want Hyeju to think that you didn't like her because of that."

"Is everything alright?" Ryujin's voice sounded behind Chaewon as she approached. "Sorry, am I interrupting... anything? You were taking a bit, so..."

"Ryujinie, come here." Jisu reached for her and pulled her by her wrist. "Chaewon is-"

"I'm fine!" Chaewon said. "I'm fine now, thanks."

Ryujin raised an eyebrow. "Are you?"

"Yeah, no worries. You can get food, I'm not hungry."

"If there are snacks, she'll eat anyway," Jisu said. "What do you have, Ryujin?"

Fetching a couple of bags of potato chips from the cupboard, they went back to the living room.

"If we have snacks, we need to watch a movie!" Hyeju got on her feet.

"Not a horror one, please," Jisu said, dropping on the couch.

"I'll watch whatever." Ryujin sat next to her, fetching the remote and turning the TV on.

"I feel like watching a Marvel movie," Hyeju said, putting the coffee table back in the center and collecting the pillows from the floor.

"Which one?"

"We still haven't watched Captain Marvel."

"I haven't either, and I really wanted to!" Jisu said.

Since they all agreed, Ryujin put it on right away. She sat so close to Jisu that their legs and arms touched, and it felt warm. Ryujin rested her hand on Jisu's leg, and Jisu got distracted from the TV. She eyed Ryujin, and matched the small smile on her lips. Reaching for her hand, Jisu intertwined their fingers together, and faced the movie again, her insides all mushy.

Around an hour into the movie, Chaewon tapped Jisu's arm.

"Hyeju fell asleep," Chaewon whispered, pointing at Hyeju on her other side.

Jisu had to force herself not to squeal. Hyeju sleeping with her head on Chaewon's shoulder was the cutest.

"Should we wake her up? Or let her rest?" Jisu asked Ryujin.

"She always falls asleep when we watch movies. I don't think she realizes how tired she always is." Ryujin sighed. "And she's not properly resting like that. Do you want to go to sleep already?"

"I don't mind," Jisu said. "We can finish watching the movie some other time."

Ryujin stopped the movie, and Chaewon shook Hyeju.

"Hm, what? Is the movie over?" Hyeju sat upright, barely opening her eyes.

"You fell asleep," Ryujin said, standing up from the couch. "Let's go to sleep."

"No, I wanna watch the movie."

"You say that and you'll just fall asleep five minutes later."

Hyeju faced them and scratched her eyes. "Sorry. Didn't mean to be a party pooper."

"You're not, you're just tired, as always."

Following Ryujin upstairs, they went to her room, where a mattress laid on the floor, right in the middle. Jisu stepped inside, looking around. It looked like an example bedroom from the IKEA website from how tidy it was. Her bed was pushed against the left wall, with several frames hanging on the walls. Jisu approached, to observe the pictures on the frames. Those were all Ryujin's pictures. Jisu could recognize them anywhere, even if they were in a museum hanging among famous shots.

"Can I have some of your pictures too?" Jisu admired them closely, all the sceneries and people Ryujin had captured so well with her camera. "I want to have a few on my wall as well."

"These are your pictures?" Chaewon stood beside Jisu. "They're great!"

"Yeah, the ones I think deserve to get framed. Thank you." Ryujin looked for something in her wardrobe.

"Then just open a gallery already," Jisu said. "Because you have way more pictures worthy of hanging on the wall."

"Right!" Hyeju said. "Even my parents have a couple of Ryujin's pictures in their bedroom."

"They really insisted on having them as frames, I couldn't say no to them." Ryujin smiled as she laid two pillows on the mattress on the floor. "Who wants to sleep here?"

"I assume you'll sleep with Jisu, so, me and Chaewon," Hyeju said.

Jisu pressed her lips in a thin line as Chaewon gave her a widen eyed look.

"I-If Jisu wants to."

"Of course." Jisu smirked, the only way she could tease Chaewon at that time.

Ryujin got herself in her bed, laying close to the wall, and Jisu laid next to her. Her heart beat harder as she rolled on her side, facing Ryujin.

"Now I'm not sleepy," Hyeju said.

"You say that but you'll fall asleep in less than five minutes," Ryujin said. "We just need to tell a story and you'll sleep like a baby."

"Tell us some stories of your childhood, then," Jisu said, smiling and unable to keep her eyes off of Ryujin. "Not a painful one, though."

"I think that's impossible," Hyeju snickered.

"There was this time we were playing soccer at school, we were both part of the team-"

"Wow, what?" Jisu had to interrupt. "You were part of the soccer team?"

"Yep, in middle school," Hyeju said. "Ryujin was captain."

Jisu beamed, imagining young Ryujin with a soccer uniform and the ball under her arm. "That's so adorable."

"And you Hyeju, what were you?" Chaewon asked.

"The keeper."

Jisu rolled and laid on her back, resting her hands behind her head. "You were the cool kids, I see."

"Not to brag, but we kinda were." Ryujin laughed. "But as I was saying, we were playing for fun with the kids of our class, and there was this boy that was pissed because he just couldn't score since Hyeju defended everything. He got so mad he walked over to her, started screaming in her face, and since Hyeju didn't react, he punched her."

"He what?!" Chaewon bolted upright on her bed, staring down at Hyeju. "He punched you?!"

"And do you know what Hyeju did?" Ryujin asked.

"You punched him back, right?" Chaewon said.

"I did nothing," Hyeju said, and Chaewon gasped.

"I wanted to punch him so hard, but Hyeju didn't let me." Ryujin sighed. "She was bleeding from her lip and holding me back like, ‘stop, stop, that won't change a thing.’"

"You should have punched him back!" Chaewon frowned.

Hyeju reached for Chaewon's arm and pulled her down so she laid beside her again. "He seemed even angrier because I didn't react and even stopped Ryujin, so I guess I won. He was a dumb ."

Silence fell over for a few moments. Jisu turned her head to look at Ryujin, and when she met her gaze, Jisu patted her shoulder. Jisu's heart reached new highs when Ryujin scooted closer, resting her head there, and an arm around her

"No more stories?" Chaewon asked.

"I'll tell one, then," Jisu said. "When I was living in Canada-"

"You lived in Canada?" Ryujin interrupted.

"Yeah, when I was younger, until middle school."

"Wow... Sorry, go on, what happened when you were in Canada?"

"In elementary school, there was this girl that didn't like me one bit. I don't get why, I never did anything to her."

"She was jealous. Case solved."

"Of what, though? I was just a normal kid like any other!"

"I bet you were prettier. Or had something she didn't. That's more than enough reason. What did she do?"

Each time Ryujin talked, Jisu could feel her breath on her neck from how close she was, comfortably laying on her shoulder. She wondered if Ryujin could hear how hard her heart was beating.

"I had fear of stages at that age. I hated being on a stage, people looking at me, and all that. And in that year, there was gonna be like a final year festival, with performances by the kids, like theater acts, dancing, singing. And that girl signed me up for a singing performance."

Ryujin gasped. "Without you knowing?"

"Yeah. Then the teacher came up to me like, 'oh, Lia, I saw that you signed up for a singing performance! I'm so happy, I'm rooting for you!' And I was like 'what, but I didn't!'. But too late, I was signed in already."

"Lia?" Ryujin asked.

"It's from my English name, Julia."

"Lia..." Ryujin repeated. "Sounds pretty. Okay but, what a , that girl. She totally did it on purpose."

"She did. I was in panic, I didn't know what to do. But my parents were really supportive, and so were my friends. So I practiced a lot, sang in front of them to get used to it, and on the night of the festival, I went on stage. I was trembling so hard I could barely hold the mic, but I fought through, and I delivered a ing show! I still remember her face, I swear. She wanted to embarrass me, well, she gave me the spotlight. Everyone loved my performance."

"As they should! You sing so well. And your voice is so pretty and soothing, like... like honey."

"Honey?" Jisu giggled, rolling on her side again, her nose brushing against Ryujin's. She dropped her voice to a whisper. "I can sing for you. Whenever you want."

The hand on Jisu's waist gripped her pajama. Ryujin peeked behind Jisu and whispered - "Hyeju? Chaewon?" They waited for a few seconds, but silence was the only answer. "Yep, they're asleep."

"Chaewon knew about this story, and I guess it was boring enough to put Hyeju to sleep."

"It was not, I did say she would fall asleep in five minutes. And with Chaewon next to her? They must be in heaven, those two."

"Are we not?" Jisu rested a hand on the small of Ryujin's back, trying to get even closer.

Not only Ryujin complied, but caught Jisu off guard when she approached and kissed her lips, slow and silent. Jisu's body tensed from how sudden it was, her fingertips digging into Ryujin's shirt.

"I was dying to kiss you again," Ryujin whispered, a hand to her neck.

"You could have. I don't think Hyeju or Chaewon would mind."

Ryujin kissed her again, making Jisu's head spin. Even though they tried to keep it as silent as they could, it heated up still, and Jisu s a hand underneath Ryujin's shirt as several images flashed on her mind.

"W-We should sleep," Jisu said as she pulled away, forcing them to stop.

Ryujin's breathing was heavy. "Yeah. I think I'm okay with kisses for now."

"For now."

Pecking her lips one more time, Ryujin rolled to the other side, grabbing Jisu's arm to rest around her waist. "Good night, Jisu."

"Good night, Ryujinie." Jisu scooted as close as she could, her front pressed against Ryujin's back.

Leaving a light kiss on the back of her neck, Jisu closed her eyes, squeezing Ryujin as she smiled.

—

Morning came. Jisu's eyes opened, adjusting to the lighting bathing the room through the long, blue curtains. She was laying on her other side, Ryujin being the big spoon this time. Jisu smiled, embracing the feeling of happiness and calm that washed over her. Laying down with Ryujin, falling asleep and waking up at her side was something she wanted to get used to.

Only then she noticed how the mattress on the floor was empty. She irked an eyebrow, and both Hyeju and Chaewon's things were gone as well, their bags and jackets. She remembered Hyeju saying she had work in the morning, so Chaewon probably left with her. Jisu wondered if they slept well, giggling to herself.

Rolling on the other side as carefully as she could as not to wake Ryujin up, she stared at her face. Ryujin was so pretty it was unfair. She looked so peaceful, so cute, all Jisu wanted to do was to protect her, to hold her and whisper in her ear that she would always be there.

She couldn't contain herself and approached to plant a kiss on her forehead, and another on her lips. But Ryujin stirred, letting a low grunt out as her eyes slowly opened.

"Sorry, didn't mean to wake you up," Jisu said, caressing her hair.

Ryujin smiled, meeting her eyes. "Good morning."

"Good morning. Did you sleep well?"

"Wonders. You too?"

Jisu nodded. "Hyeju and Chaewon left."

"Oh? What time is it?"

Jisu reached for her phone she left on the nightstand. "Almost ten thirty."

"Right, she had to be at the café at nine. So, we're on our own."

"Uhum. Do you have something to do today?"

"I should edit the pics I took yesterday. And I should study a bit. But I wanna be with you. Will you stay until later?"

"I'll stay until you want me to stay."

Ryujin beamed, stretching her arms up. "We can finish watching Captain Marvel and cook lunch. And you can help me choose the pictures."

"Sounds amazing. But now I want to stay here a bit more." Jisu approached, burying her face in Ryujin's chest. "Feels so good to be with you like this."

Ryujin kissed the top of her head, hugging her. "I know."

The next moments went by in silence.

"Did you have someone before?" Ryujin asked.

Jisu came out from her safe spot and met Ryujin's gaze.

"Sorry, I was just wondering."

"It's okay, of course. You opened up to me, it's only fair I do the same." Jisu tucked a strand of hair behind Ryujin's ear. "I had a boyfriend in the second year of high school. But I soon realized I really didn't like him. Or boys, in general." She chuckled. "It didn't last long, two months, I think. I felt bad for him, he was nice and I think he really liked me. Nothing special happened, really. We kissed, but I didn't feel that spark, you know?"

Ryujin nodded. "Same, but it happened earlier with me, during the first year. The guy kissed me, and I was like, yeah, no, sorry."

"Right!" Jisu laughed. "It was only when I first kissed a girl that I realized what kissing was like. I was like, okay, this is what a kiss is supposed to feel like. She was from my class in the third year, we started dating in the middle of the year, but, you know, college. I stayed here, while she had to move. We tried to make it work, we would call and talk everyday, but it wasn't sustainable in a long term. So, we broke up."

Ryujin caressed her cheek. "I'm sorry. Was it hard?"

"Not as much as I expected. At that time, I thought about it a lot, about what we should do, keep trying, or just end things. We talked about it, and of course it hurt a bit, we cried, but we both agreed that it was for the best. We're still friends, and we talk from time to time, to check on each other. In fact it has been a while, I should see how she's doing, and tell her that I kissed the prettiest and coolest girl to ever live."

"Only that you kissed?" Ryujin held her gaze, her voice serious. "Are we... dating?"

Jisu's heart hit her ribs. "Whatever makes you feel comfortable, Ryujinie. We're doing this at your pace."

"Then let's keep it like this for now. Is that okay?"

"Of course. You're the priority, not the status of our relationship."

Ryujin smiled, kissed her lips, and threw herself at Jisu with such force she had to roll down on her back because Ryujin wanted to claim her shoulder as a pillow.

"Thank you," Ryujin said near her ear. "I want to keep spending time with you and talk about stuff and getting to know each other like this."

"And we will. Saw how many things we learned just by telling stories yesterday? We can do more of that." Jisu kissed her forehead. "But now I really want to call Chaewon and know how she is."

She grabbed her phone and made the call.

"Put it on speaker," Ryujin said.

"Hey, Jisu," Chaewon said, and Jisu complied with Ryujin's request.

"Good morning, Chaewon. Did you leave early with Hyeju?"

"Oh, hm, yeah. She had to come to the café, so I came with her. I'm still here, in fact."

"At café Rosy? Doing what?"

"Studying. Hyeju invited me to have breakfast with her here, and I stopped by my dorm to pick up my laptop and books and all. Heejin is joining me soon. The second I told her Jiwoo was working today, it seemed like she had won the lottery."

Jisu burst out laughing. "Those two... but tell me, Chaewon, did you sleep well?"

"Yeah. Say sorry to Ryujin that I left without warning, and thank her for receiving me so well."

"Alright, I'll do. And did Hyeju sleep well?"

Chaewon sighed, and Jisu could see her rolling her eyes. "I know what you're doing, Jisu."

"Then just give me what I want! Details!"

"There's really not much to add."

"Really? Didn't Hyeju hug you to sleep or something?"

"I wished."

Jisu snorted. "Next time. Oh, you're posting the new video today, right?"

"Y-Yeah."

"She'll love it. Tell me about her reaction, then."

"Maybe there even won't be one. Oh, Heejin is here. Have fun with Ryujin!"

Ryujin waited for the call to be over to ask - "What's the new video?"

"Chaewon accidentally saw that Hyeju looked for a girlfriend roleplay ASMR from her, so, I convinced her to do one."

"Wait, Hyeju what?" Ryujin laughed so hard she rolled on her back. "She looked for a girlfriend roleplay ASMR? I didn't know she was into that. And Chaewon really did one. For Hyeju."

"Of course she won't tell Hyeju it is for her, but yeah, it is."

"Hyeju doesn't need a roleplay, they could just... do the real thing!"

"I know!" Jisu threw her hands in the air. "I hope one of them has enough courage to say or do something."

Jisu's stomach suddenly grumbled.

"I'll cook you something for breakfast." Ryujin kissed her cheek before getting up, Jisu following suit.

---

A/N: It wasn’t angst or anything, just something that had happened in the past, sorry if I scared you all with how I finished last chapter KAKAKAKAKAKA

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