The afternoon sun gets less prickly, as the weather slowly cools down, seasons changing. In an act of impulse she knows only Minjeong is capable of, Jimin receives a message in the middle of class, telling her to meet at the campus park for a picnic. 

“And skip classes?” She writes back.

Her phone buzzes not a minute later. “It’s too good of a day to be spent indoors”

As she contemplates an answer, her phone pings again. Another message from Minjeong.

“C’mon unnie, I’m already rolling the kimbap! You never say no to my kimbap”

She is wrong, Jimin thinks. It’s not that she will never say no to Minjeong’s kimbap, it’s that she can never say no to her. With a fond roll of her eyes, she replies with a thumbs up emoji. She can almost see Minjeong, doing her silly little dance in the dorm kitchen, and that proud smirk she always has whenever she gets her way. 

Slowly, torturously, the class ends. And as everyone starts packing up and sluggishly make their way out of the room, her seatmate nudges her, pointing at the door when she looks up.

There Minjeong is, nonchalantly leaning against the wall as students push past. Her blonde hair stands out against the crowd, still bright and happy against the harsh flourescent. And somehow, even while on her phone, she feels Jimin’s stare, immediately darting her eyes up to meet Jimin’s. She gives a cheeky little smile, lifting her hand to show off a whole wicker basket, god knows where she procured it from, and shakes it, perhaps in an effort to hurry her. 

But god, she looks absolutely adorable, hair a little messy, in her jean shorts and plaid shirt. 

When she finally reaches the front, she instinctively helps brush away the stray strands, tucking them behind Minjeong’s ears. There’s a small blush that spreads across her fluffy cheeks when she does so, and it makes Jimin want to cup her cheeks. 

Which she does. They’re so soft, and the way Minjeong stares into her eyes feels even softer.

“Hello Mindoongie.” She pinches one of Minjeong’s cheeks, laughs a little when she hears her grumble. “What brings you to this part of town?” 

“I wanted to make sure unnie comes to the picnic,” Minjeong mumbles, her cheeks still squished, causing her words to be a little muffled. 

She lets go of the soft cheeks, pulling the picnic basket out of Minjeong’s hands, as they slowly make their way out. The basket is rather heavy. She wonders what Minjeong has packed for them. 

“If Minjeong asks, of course I’ll be there,” she states. Clear as day. Nothing more, nothing less. Minjeong doesn’t say anything after, but the hand that holds hers feels a little warmer, grip just a little tighter. It feels good, to be reciprocated. 

When they reach the campus park, the sky is nice and blue, the wind a gentle breeze. And it’s clear that many other students have decided that the weather is too good to be indoors as well, small groups speckled across the wide field. They pick a nice shaded spot near a tree, and Minjeong fights her over who gets to lay down the blanket. 

In the end Jimin wins. She laughs when Minjeong childishly sticks her tongue out at her, turning away to unpack the picnic basket. 

When all the food is unpacked and they’ve settled down onto the mat, she leans back, enjoying the warmth of the sun. She hears a familiar click of the camera, and opens her eyes to see Minjeong with her film camera aimed at her. 

//

The first day of university is honestly terrifying. Even with the Aeri by her side during orientation. But their schedules are not the same, and now Jimin is feeling a little alone, sitting on a random bench in what the orientation leader called the campus park. 

She closes her eyes, taking a deep breath. For how extroverted she is, sometimes it’s a little scary to be meeting so many new people at once. “You’ll be okay, Jiman-ah. You are Yoo Jimin-“ 

Her pep talk gets interrupted when she hears a click to her left, and she turns around to see long blonde hair. 

The camera gets lowered, and Jimin feels stunned. The owner of the camera is a petite blonde, skin fair and lips so, so pink. She is so, so pretty. 

She is also apologising for taking photos, voice getting smaller as she starts mumbling about how pretty things need to be captured and remembered. 

Cute, Jimin thinks. 
 

// 

“Stop taking photos of me~” she whines playfully, tugging away the camera when Minjeong pretends to ignore her. 

“I need to take photos of pretty things,” Minjeong retorts. It’s the same argument every time. She doesn’t think she’ll ever get sick of the determined look on Minjeong’s face “Plus, for an influencer you sure don’t take photos of yourself.”

“I’m not an influencer!”

“Tell that to your thousands of followers, unnie.” 

“Still…”

She decides to change the subject, and stuffs a piece of Minjeong’s famous kimbap into , doing a happy little dance when the flavours explode on her tongue. “Your kimbap is always so amazing,” she compliments, reaching with her chopsticks to feed Minjeong a piece as well. 

“Amazing huh?” Minjeong jokes, an eyebrow raised, lips quirked in that smug way. “Worth skipping class for?”

She stares at her friend, so small, so soft. The sun is hitting her skin in a warm glow, casting her in the prettiest light. 

Minjeong is always worth everything.

“Yea.” 

The gloating face that Minjeong sports at the answer is two parts annoying and ten parts adorable, cheeks bunched up as she smiles while nibbling at her food.

----

When school gets a little dreary, and they find themselves with empty pockets of time together, Minjeong always ends up in Jimin’s room. 

There’s just something about watching her best friend in her socks, her sleepwear, lazing about on her bed, that makes Jimin happy. 

//

“Oh my gosh, you signed up for the single dorm room?” Minjeong looks enraptured, slowly moving about Jimin’s tiny room for the first time, fingers gently grazing across the posters she’s stuck on the walls. 

At the back of her mind, she realises how intimate it feels, watching her new friend take in her room - a room she put together from her heart, little things she adores out there for Minjeong to see. 

“Yea,” she shrugs, sheepish. Not at the conversation, but just a little embarrassed and exposed, watching Minjeong run a finger slowly across her baby photo that is sat on her bedside table. She rambles on, feeling a slight awkwardness from her vulnerability. “I’m always coming back at weird timings, so it wouldn’t make much sense to wake my roommate up if I’m too noisy or something.” 

Minjeong nods. She seems so far away, two steps from her, holding a cat toy Jimin has brought from home to keep her from missing her babies too much. And as Minjeong fiddles with the toy, her eyes are stuck, trained on another one of the photos she’s framed up. It’s her high school graduation picture, her parents and sister enveloping her in a bone-crushing group hug. The smiles on their faces so bright it sometimes brings a pang to her heart. There’s a slight nostalgia in the image, and she misses them so much it feels crushing.

And maybe Minjeong can feel her strange bout of loneliness, turning around around to ask, “Does it get lonely?”

“Sometimes.” When she sees her friend lean over in concern, she immediately tries to backtrack. “But it’s okay! I’m always out and about, and what with school and everything, there isn’t much time to sit in here and be lonely.”

She watches as Minjeong perks up, a smile on her lips. “Don’t worry unnie,” she says. “I’ll be here so often you won’t ever have to feel lonely.”   

//

“Minjeong-ahhhhhh~”

Her best friend is curled up on her bed, above the covers, face squished against the pillow as she uses both hands to scroll through her phone. Tiktok, from the way the random bouts of songs and words get cut off as she scrolls. But her best friend doesn’t acknowledge her. 

She frowns. “Kim Minjeonggg~”

Slowly, the bundle on the bed moves a little. “Mm.” 

“I’m bored.” She swivels in her chair, legs swinging. 

She hears Minjeong let out a little sigh as she shifts more in the bed. “Why.”

“Becauseee,” she replies, dragging out the last vowel. “There’s nothing to do and you won’t give me attention.” 

Her best friend doesn’t put down her phone, though, and Jimin is seriously contemplating stomping her feet, when Minjeong mumbles something. It’s too soft, jumbled words that she cannot decipher.

“Huh?”

“Come here, unnie.” 

Obediently, Jimin listens, shuffling her feet as she rolls the chair towards the bed. From behind her phone, Minjeong huffs, a small amused sigh.

“No, Jimin.” She shimmies backwards in the bed, opening her arms and says again, louder. “Come here, unnie.” 

“Oh.” Happily, she kicks her chair away, lets it roll off and crash against her study table, and jumps into bed. Right into Minjeong’s arms. She hears Minjeong let out a small ‘oof’ when she lands straight on top of her. The bed is small, just a single. And it's supposed to be too cramp for the both of them, but as Minjeong rearranges her limbs to fit, as she pulls Jimin just a little closer, the bed fits them just right. 

She can feel the warmth of Minjeong’s socks-clad toes press against her shin, can hear the steady heartbeat of Minjeong’s under her ear, smell the light fragrance that is so Minjeong envelope her. 

It feels like home. 

Especially when Minjeong wraps her arms around her, and starts talking about her day. She closes her eyes, enjoying her low voice, the cadences of each syllable. “I love your voice,” she says, savouring the rumble when Minjeong pitches down, hitting her lower register.

She can feel a puff of air brush against her hair, when Minjeong lets out a snort. “So you’ve said, many times.”

She pulls back, stares straight into Minjeong’s eyes as she replies. “I’m serious every time. Your voice is my favourite.”

Minjeong rolls her eyes, a small quirk of her lips, light and playful. “Not Taeyeon-unnie’s?”

“Bro, Taeyeon-sunbaenim’s voice is to die for.” She swoons slightly, remembering the powerful voice of her senior at the last talent show. “Plus,” she explains, “technically since sunbaenim’s your sister, it’s basically the same thing.”

“So you’re saying I have to fight being first place with my sister.” Minjeong is deadpan. There’s a slight furrow to her brows, lips pouty. She looks absolutely adorable, eyes so big, looking so serious as she tries to sway Jimin.

“Awwww Minjeongie.” She pulls one arm from around Minjeong’s waist, reaches up to pinch a fluffy cheek. “You’re always going to be my favourite everything.” 

----

The cup falls to the ground in a clatter. 

Embarrassed, she quickly reaches under the table to grab it. It’s rolled a little farther than she’d like, fingers barely able to roll it towards her before she can get a good hold of it. 

But luckily, there wasn’t any liquid in her cup when she accidentally knocked it off the table, so the ground remains dry. She happily tries to pop back up, hoping her blunder remains unnoticed by most patrons in the restaurant, but her head bumps against something. 

The table, probably, knowing Jimin’s clumsy . 

Strange. Why isn’t the table hard? 

She glances up. 

Oh. 

The first thing she notices is Minjeong’s smile. It’s soft. Against the warm lighting of the restaurant, her smile feels like a hug. 

The second thing she notices is Minjeong’s hand. Placed at the edge of the table. Where Jimin bumped against with her head. 

“For someone so graceful unnie,” Minjeong jokes, her smile growing wider. “You sure are clumsy.” The whites of her teeth offset by the pretty pink of her lips. She looks so contented. Happy.

She reaches out and takes Minjeong’s hand. The back of it is a little pink. Hmm, she thinks, she must have bumped against it harder than expected. Her brain starts wandering, and she wonders how much it would sting if her