The dome is packed and is filled with lights and screams from adoring fans. Nayeon sings her heart out for the crowd. She worked hard for years for this. She’s finally living her dream… until the sound of her alarm went off. She groans. Damn it. That was an awesome dream. She thought to herself and wished she could go back to sleep so the dream could continue. But she has a train to catch. She planned to buy a ticket for the first trip to Gyeongju, her hometown.

Nayeon just quit being a trainee after training for five and a half years for two companies. The second company she was under gave her hopes of debuting but she was never promised of it, so when she turned 22 this year, she gave up on her dream of becoming a Kpop idol because no one's going to want to debut her anymore at this age. She's too old to be a rookie in the industry. The last company she was in promised to debut her but a year after that promise was said, it still hasn't come through because of financial issues, until the company decided to let her go. An apology was all she received. Fortunately, she passed the audition at another company—a bigger one where she got free lodging accommodations. She's now 22 years old and has no savings. She spent all the money she got from part-time jobs for her living expenses.

Nayeon and her trainee friends-slash-dorm mates had a goodbye dinner the night before because they wouldn’t be there the next morning once Nayeon wakes up because all of them would have gone to school or to the company to start their vocal, dance, acting, and language lessons.

Nayeon takes a final tour of their dorm with her camera on for reminiscing purposes. She’ll miss the dorm, the trainee life, her friends, the streets she would walk in everyday, the places they would go to for dinners, snacks, and many more. She’ll miss everything and everyone, except the excruciating diet practice the managers had to force them to do. If it wasn’t for the diet, maybe Nayeon would have considered to endure the training longer. But she remembers telling herself that she would give up once she’s used up the two years that she supposedly spent in college. Two years were already too much to waste. She half regrets trying to reach her dream of becoming a Kpop idol but she thought she would regret it more if she didn’t. Besides, how will she know if it’s really for her or not if she doesn’t try, right? The end of her contract without debuting was a sign enough for her to realize that it’s not for her. But, oh well, she wasn’t even offered a renewal.

Bye bye dorm. Take care y’all. Fighting! Nayeon sends to their group chat with a selca that shows half of her face and a picture frame behind her. It’s a picture of her and the batch of trainees that she started training with.

She takes a deep inhale and lets out a long exhale as she steps out of the dorm and into the world—the world that she’ll have to face now with a different dream. But what that dream is, she doesn’t know yet. The only direction she knows that she needs to go for now is the one to her home. Home. The thought of going back there both excites and scares her. She’s scared that she might get stuck there. But she’s excited to sleep on her bed which is bigger than the one she had back in the dorm. She’s also excited to see her family and friends again. It’s been a year since she last saw them.

//

She takes the seat that’s printed on her ticket.

“Hello.” A stranger greets her who is occupying the seat in front of hers.

“Hi.” Nayeon greets back.

“Mina.” The stranger offers her hand for a handshake.

Nayeon takes it. “Nayeon.” She doesn’t like sharing her name to strangers but she doesn’t want to be rude so she always shares it to them.

“Where’s your destination?”

“Gyeongju.” Nayeon smiles with closed lips.

“Home?”

“Yeah.”

Mina notices that the girl doesn’t have any luggage with her. “Came here for a short trip?”

“Nah, I got my stuff delivered ahead a few days ago. It’s four years’ worth of stuff so it wouldn’t fit here.” Nayeon chuckles.

Mina nods. “Oh.”

“What about you?” Nayeon asks.

“I don’t know. Maybe I should go to Gyeongju, too.” Mina shrugs. “What’s a good place to visit there?”

“There’s a lot, like, um…” Nayeon tries to think. “There are traditional villages. There’s also the Tumuli Park. It’s a nice place to stroll. There’s many more but that’s all I can think of right now. It’s been a while since I went to places there aside from my neighborhood.”

“Cool. Thanks.”

“If you search it up on Google, I’m sure there’ll be directions on how to go to those places.”\

“I don’t really like Googling stuff when I travel. I’d rather figure it out by myself.”

“Oh. You seem cool, uhh…” Nayeon tries to remember her name.

“Mina.”

“Right, Mina.” Nayeon shyly smiles. “Sorry, I’m not good at remembering names right away.

“And I know, I’m cool. I hear that a lot.” Mina continues, with a smug. Nayeon gives her a weirded look. “Nah, I’m kidding! I’m kidding.” Mina laughs.

Nayeon laughs too. “You’re so friendly. It feels nice to have someone like you to sit in a train with for the next three hours.” She’s never had a seatmate this friendly.

“I don’t really talk to other passengers. It’s my first time initiating a conversation like this. Kinda scary but you’re chill so I don’t feel nervous at all, so thanks for being chill.”

“Well, thank you for calling me chill. Haven’t had anyone tell me that my whole lifetime.” Nayeon chuckles.

Mina gasps with her hands on her chest and bows for a dramatic effect. “I’m honored. Well, you’re the first one to say I’m cool, too.”

“Really? I would assume many people have already called you ’cool’”

“Nah, really. You’re the first one. I’m not usually talkative.”

“Then, I feel honored, too.”

Both girls laugh. They continue talking about anything until the conversation turns to Nayeon’s journey as a trainee and how she just left today.

“Must be tough to leave?”

“Hmm, yeah. It’s bittersweet.”

“I totally get you. I just quit my job in Seoul, too.”

“Why’s that?” Nayeon asks.

“I got bored. I wanna do something else but before I start on that, I wanna travel Korea first, and then go to my dream destination—Europe.”

“Oh, that’s cool. Would you mind telling me what that ‘something else’ is?”

“I wanna do music.”

“Oh!” Nayeon remarks with widened eyes. “I wanna continue with that path but I don’t know. Maybe it’s only meant to be a hobby for me and not as a job.”

“I’m not sure about it either. After travelling, I’ll go back to Korea and start working on the songs that my trips will produce. I’ll give going indie a shot. If it doesn’t work out, then I’ll just find other things to do. Or I could go back to my parents and take up their offer of being the heiress of their company.”

“Oh, so you’re rich.”

“I hope you don’t kidnap me for ransom or anything.” Mina jokes.

“No.” Nayeon laughs. “Don’t worry, I won’t. I’m not a criminal. I haven’t even stolen a single penny from my mom’s purse.”

“For real?”

“Yeah.” Nayeon proudly responds.

“Not even stealing someone’s heart or stealing a kiss?”

“Maybe.” Nayeon shrugs with a smug look that confirms that she has stolen a kiss. “I might even steal yours.”

“Which one? A kiss from me or my heart?”

“I might just steal both.”

“You’re such a tease and we've only met since…” Mina looks at her wristwatch. “What? It’s already been an hour and a half?!”

“Looks like I already stole your time.” The two laugh.

“Nah. It was at my will.” Mina chuckles.

“By the way, I was just teasing, alright?” Nayeon clears. “Hope you didn’t take them seriously.”

“Of course.” Mina scrunches her nose. “I’m not dumb.” She laughs.

Another hour and a half passed and a voice announces that they’re already at Gyeongju.

“You sure you wanna go to Gyeongju?” Nayeon asks the no-more-stranger Mina.

“Yeah. As long as you go with me.” Mina said in a more interrogative than declarative way.

“I don’t see why not.” Nayeon smiles at her kindly with closed lips.

“Thanks. You’re really chill, you know.”

“Thanks for letting me know.” Nayeon laughs.

//

They arrived in Gyeongju. Nayeon offers Mina to have lunch at her family’s house.

“Would that be okay with your parents?”

“Of course! We’re friends now, aren’t we?”

“Yeah, we’re friends now.” Mina nods and lets out a tiny “yay!” to which Nayeon smiled. She thought it was cute—her tiny voice, her smile, her. She would be lying to herself if she doesn’t think the girl is very pretty. Her beauty is simple and…she’s just… simply beautiful.

Simple is what Nayeon is and what Nayeon wants. Mina is all that despite her elegance. She’s simple and easy and comfortable.

She snaps out of her thoughts when she hears the pretty girl’s voice calling her name. “Nayeon. Hey, you okay? You look like you’re looking at a ghost or something.” The girl chuckles.

Fortunately, she’s quick at making things up. “Don’t move!” She pretends that she’s been looking at the other girl’s hair.

“Why?” Mina asks and her eyes trace where Nayeon is looking.

Nayeon pretends to remove something from her hair behind her. “There. It’s gone now.” She grins and and also lets out a tiny “yay” and forces a laugh.

//

Nayeon introduces Mina to her family as a friend from Seoul. They didn’t mention they just met that day because they thought Nayeon’s family would be weirded out if they knew about that. It wasn’t tough pretending though because they already seem like they’ve been close friends for a long time.

Later that day, the two women went to where Mina booked a hotel room. After checking in and leaving her stuff, Nayeon offers to be her tour guide. They went to a couple of places that most tourists frequented. Mina didn’t like the crowd but she loved the nature, so she enjoyed it. Nayeon brought her to a Mexican restaurant for snacks because the other girl had mentioned about craving burritos.

Later that day, they went back to Mina’s hotel room.

“How much do I owe you?”

“No, no, no.” Nayeon hastily waves her hands. “You don’t have to pay me. It was my pleasure. Besides, I wanted to wander around, too.”

“Thanks. Today was awesome. But can you at least allow me to treat you dinner?”

“Sure!”

Since they’re tired, they took advantage of room service and Mina said yes to Nayeon’s request for chimaek—chicken and beer. She shared to Mina how she and her co-trainees were once caught having them late at night at their dorm and she hasn’t had them ever since.

Nayeon moans into her first bite of the fried chicken and another into her taste of the alcohol in her tongue. Mina chuckles as she watches her.

“I forgot the times I enjoyed something with such intensity.” Mina remarks.

“What you wanna do? Something you intensely enjoy.”

“Hmm. I might need a lot of time to think of one.”

After finishing their meal and cleaning up, Mina offered for Nayeon to stay for the night and the latter just said yes immediately because she’s just too tired and a bit tipsy to even have the energy to walk to the elevator, let alone going home.

//

The next morning, they woke up late. They had brunch at the hotel’s restaurant, then Nayeon took her to another tour. She takes her to a Tumuli Park. It’s nature-y, which Mina loves. She’s amazed at the serenity the place exudes.

“Can we just stay here until evening?” Mina asks her.

“Sure. I’m actually glad you asked. I love this place.”

“You do?”

Nayeon nods, memories from the past coming back at her.

They walk around and finds a place to sit down.

“This is one of my favorite places to go to. I used to go here, daydreaming with my friends.”

“I think this is my new favorite place now. I wish I could live here.”

“With the dead?” Nayeon chuckles. “You’re not scared?”

“The tombs doesn’t look scary, so I think I would be fine.”

“If I wasn’t a scaredy cat, I would love to wake up every morning to this beautiful view, too.”

Mina her teeth. “Hey, I just got this crazy idea. Can we, maybe, sleep here?”

“Tonight?”

“Yeah?”

“We can, I guess. We just have to not get caught.”

“Or...” Mina says with a smirk. Nayeon looks at her with curiosity.

After a while, Mina’s dusting off her hands ostentatiously. She offered the security guards money to allow them to sleep at the park and it worked! One of the guards happens to be one of Nayeon’s childhood playmates, so that helped.

The Tumuli Park is only several kilometers away from Nayeon’s house. They go to the latter’s house first to get some pillows and blankets. They also had their dinner there.

“Mom, dad, can I have another sleep over at the hotel Mina’s staying at?”

“Sure, hunnie, but why do you need extra pillows and sheets?” Her mom asks.

“It’s for something. Don’t worry, I’ll return them safely.”

“Okay.” Her mom says with a concerned look.

//

On the way back to the park, they buy another set of chimaek. They only bought two cans of beer, one for each, for safety purposes—the park’s safety, because they never know when their drunk selves decide to cause troubles.

They don’t know how but they managed to make a fort that could fit the two of them.

They sit down. Their knees bump into each other. Mina reaches out to the other’s knee but their fingers meet halfway. The latter gives up. It was awkward but Nayeon continued to reach out and Mina’s knee. The latter looks at the hand on her knee then flashes a closed smile at the other girl.

Nayeon takes her beer and raises it in front of Mina.

“Cheers!” They make a clinking sound with their beer cans, and take a long sip.

They let out a big exhale, looking up at the clear sky. There’s many stars above them. They stay there, silently, until they finish their beers. Then, they go back inside their fort once cold winds start blowing.

“What a lovely house we made.” Mina says, smiling and looking up like a child. She looks at Nayeon and suddenly kisses her.

Mina, quite surprised, pauses for a moment and looks at the other girl with agape.

“How dare you steal a kiss from me?” Mina says sarcastically and with a smirk. They’re not drunk and yet they’re this bold.

“You can take it back if you want.” Nayeon raises an eyebrow. She closes her eyes as the other girl closes the gap between their lips.

Nayeon’s was just a peck but Mina takes more than what was stolen from her. They allow the alcohol to control their tongues and lips. It was Nayeon’s first kiss with a girl, and, just like how Katy Perry’s song goes, she “liked it”.

Mina breaks the kiss first.

Nayeon opens her eyes.

“The alcohol’s hitting you hard tonight, huh?” Mina says, smiling amused at Nayeon.

Nayeon seems to wake up from a dream. “I fell asleep?”

“At first I thought you weren’t because you were talking, but you didn’t respond when I talked to you, so I figured you were talking in your sleep.” Mina laughs.

“. What happened? I don’t remember falling asleep.” Nayeon is confused.

“We went in because it was getting cold and then I just went out to fix something because the fort seemed unstable. When I got back, I saw that my beer’s all consumed up and it’s lying beside yours.” Mina points to Nayeon’s side and true enough, the two cans are there.

“Oh gosh. And you said I talked in my sleep?”

“Yes. You were so funny.” Mina laughs.

“Did I say or do something weird?”

“I didn’t understand what you were saying. You were murmuring something and then your mouth started going like you were eating something.” Mina laughs again.

Nayeon’s relieved. She’s embarrassed but Mina tells not to be. She looks at the time on her phone. It’s almost 1am.

“Why aren’t you sleeping yet?”

Mina hums. “I’m just… thinking.”

“You should try. It’s late.”

“It would be easier for me if I had alcohol to drink.”

“Turn around.”

“What?” Mina confusedly asks. “Why?”

“I’ll scratch your back. When I was younger, my mom would scratch my back when I’m having trouble falling asleep. It helps. Trust me.”

Mina turns around and Nayeon starts giving soft scratches on her back. It’s relaxing and Nayeon’s hums adds up to it. I like this one. Mina thinks to herself. She’s simple and easy and comfortable. Mina’s thoughts subside and her eyes start getting heavy. She falls asleep like a child that night—like in the comforting hand of a mother. Something she hasn’t felt in a long time and she didn’t know she’d want to feel it again until this night.

Nayeon watches as her breathes become slower and steady. She smiles. She’s never done this to anyone before and it felt good—like she did a huge favor for someone.

 

People say you’ll know the one if they give you peace and not nervousness and butterflies.

//

The next day, Nayeon takes her to two other places that not many tourists know about. Turns out, both of them liked going to unpopular places.

Nayeon tries to forget about their kiss in her dream last night but as the day goes by, she can’t stop the thought from lingering in her mind. It’s making her go crazy inside.

It’s normal for the hands or arms to hit or brush against each other while walking side by side, but the way it makes Nayeon feel shifted. It used to be nothing, but now, she’s conscious about everything that involves Mina. The latter just seems cool about everything and all the skin and eye contacts were nothing, but to Nayeon they’re something. After all, it’s because of her coolness about everything since day one that made them click with each other and that made Nayeon trust and like her so easily.

Later that night…

“What do your parents do?” Nayeon asks.

“Can we not talk about them?” Mina pleads, smiling, as she dodges the question.

Nayeon is curious about why the girl doesn’t want to talk about them but she doesn’t wanna be force-y, so she just says, “Okay. Then, what do you wanna talk about?”

“Anything but not anything about my family.”

“Hmm.” Nayeon tries to think. “Ah! What about we play ‘20 questions’?”

Mina raises an eyebrow for a couple of seconds before she shrugs and says “Okay.” Because why not? It could be entertaining.

As usual, the game begins with simple questions.

“What’s your favorite color?” Mina asks.

“It’s baby blue. What’s yours?”

“Hmm. I like wearing red, does that count as my favorite color?”

“Yeah.” Nayeon shrugs. “Favorite colors aren’t a big deal to you, huh?”

“Yeah. I just pick whatever color to wear and match.”

As the game went on, the duo got drunk, and of course, their questions went beyond twenty and they started asking questions that are more private and personal.

“Do you like girls?”

. Why are you asking me that? Nayeon thinks to herself. She tries to respond coolly as if it’s not bothering her or something. “Last time I checked, I didn’t. Lemme check again.” Nayeon curves her fingers and makes a hole with one hand and the other covers the bottom of it. She looks through the hole.

Mina laughs at the ridiculousness she’s witnessing. “You’re drunk.” She says but she copies what the other girl is doing.

“Look who’s talking.” Nayeon laughs, glancing at Mina.

“Are you done checking?” Mina asks.

“Yeah.” Nayeon hums. “I was never closed about the possibility of, you know, liking girls. And, you know what…” She squints through the hole in her hands. “There’s been a change. The record says…” She looks through it again.

Mina’s laugh cuts her. “There’s a whole archive in there?”

“Yep.” She chuckles. “It says that the modification was made on February 20, 2021, when a beautiful girl stole a kiss from me.” She didn’t really say that. It was just a dream, Nayeon. “…when a beautiful girl came with me at my parents’ house and introduced her to them like I’ve known her forever.”

Was that a confession? Now it’s Mina’s turn to mentally ask herself stuff.

“What about you, Mina?” Nayeon asks—for confirmation before making her growing feelings for the girl less subtle.

“Oh.” Mina could feel her cheeks begin to get warm. Before the other girl sees her blush, she says, “Let me see mine.” Mina joins her hands and makes a hole on one while the other covers the bottom, just like how the other girl did earlier. She squints her eyes through it. “Hmm, it says that I’ve been into girls since high school.”

“Are you easy to fall? Because you’re so easy to fall for.” Nayeon mutters almost inaudibly.

“Hmm?” Mina genuinely didn’t get what she said.

“Nothing. I’m just drunk.” Nayeon excuses and just grins at her.

“Okay, bunny teeth. Whatever.”

“Bunny teeth?!” Nayeon chuckles.

“Don’t worry, they’re cute to me.”

Nayeon could feel her cheeks warming after hearing that remark.

They remain silent for a while, staring at each other with a slight grin on their faces.

Mina sighs. “Feels like I’ve known you for ages, yet I still have a lot of things I want to know about you.”

“What else do you want to know about me?”

“Hmm, like, where your favorite hangout place is.”

“I like going to riverbanks or the beach and then just stare at the nature in front of me, while listening to music. I also like going to parks at night.”

“Oh, same! Me, too.” Mina excitedly says. She hears a sigh from the other girl. “You know what? I got this idea of wanting to know somebody by going to the places where they made great memories or just going to places they like.”

Nayeon just looks at her and maybe falling somewhere that she’s not sure about yet.

“What?” Mina chuckles.

“You’ve got a great mind, do you know that?”

“I don’t think it’s that special.”

“Maybe.” Nayeon shrugs. “But you’re the first person I’ve heard to say that and I just think it’s different, like your mind, it’s unusual. Yet you also seem mysterious. And it’s cool. You’re cool.”

“You think I am?”

“Yeah. And you know what else I’m curious about?” Nayeon smirks.

“What?”

“I wanna know how you kiss when you’re falling in love. I wanna know you through your kisses. Am I too crazy for this?”

Mina looks at her, amused. “You know what, you’re crazy. Just say that you want to kiss me.” She chuckles.

“I deny the truth of that, miss.” Nayeon pauses for a moment. “But what if it is?”

Mina doesn’t respond and just leans in and kisses her. The kiss is languid and it’s all lips, just like how one should do when having their first kiss with someone they like. Careful. With an intention to please them. After several more kisses and head-tilts, she finishes it with a peck. Nayeon’s satisfied.

“Gentle and soft. I like it. You must be a softie, huh?”

Mina laughs and raises an eyebrow. “You were, too.”

“Everyone’s got a soft side.” Nayeon says with one eye closed, smiling, attempting to be cute.

They take sips from their beer bottles. They look in front, watching what’s happening on the random channel they picked. Mina sees from the periphery of her vision, the other girl turning to face her so she turns to face her, too.

“I wanna know you more, Mina. Be my girlfriend.” Nayeon boldly says. It isn’t even interrogative but more of an imperative. Ever since they met, they’ve always been bold with each other. Is this how easy things feel like when you find your soulmate?

A look of concern is suddenly painted on Mina's face. “You know we’ve clicked and hit it good right off the bat and we’re already like best friends or something and I’d like to take your offer but-“

“Of course, there’s a ‘but’”. Nayeon cuts her, throwing her hands up and dropping them lazily in complaint.

“You have to know something first.” Mina curses. “You didn’t even have to know, but I guess, now you do.”

“What is it?” Now, Nayeon’s getting too curious.

Mina closes her eyes and lets out a heavy exhale. “Tomorrow’s my wedding day.”

“What?!” Nayeon’s body jerks up from leaning on the bed. She raises a hand in front of the other girl. “Hold on a sec.” There’s suddenly an angry look on her face and Mina can see it. She’s about to continue talking but the other girl cuts her.

“Before you get mad-“

But Nayeon cuts her, too. “I’m already mad!” She huffs. “Wha-what is this? A bachelorette party? Did you not have anyone to invite so you just chose some random girl on the train?!”

“No!” Mina sighs. “Let me explain first. I- it was arranged by our parents and they planned it without telling us. The day we met on the train was the day I knew about it. And that was also the day I ran away.”

Mina tells Nayeon that the job she had was given to her by the parents of the guy she was arranged to marry. Their parents were in an agreement to be business partners for a future company and to avoid sidesteps, they arranged a marriage between their children. Mina’s older sister, Sana, is already married, and her oldest sister is in Japan, already having a high ranking position in one of their company’s branches, so Mina was the only candidate available.

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” Nayeon asks.

“Because I was already getting too into you before I knew it.”

“Goddamit! Why did we have to fall too fast? I was never like this.” Nayeon softens, because how can she not? She’s a softie afterall.

“Neither was I.” Mina whispers.

Heavy sighs are heard between them.

They have to thank the alcohol’s work again because if it wasn’t for it, maybe Nayeon would have acted out for the sudden news. But Mina begins to tell her the whole story and she listens closely.

“I wanted to die then, but hell no. if I’m gonna accept defeat, at least I’m gonna accept one that I fought for.” Mina sighs. She reaches out to lay her hand on the other girl’s. “Hey, I’m sorry if things went too stupidly fast for the past three days. I guess I’ve just been too vulnerable. But I really do like you. To be honest, if I were being impulsive, I would've asked your hand in marriage. We could do the getting-to-know-each-other process within the marriage. It would be fun.

Nayeon totally agrees. “I would even say yes if you proposed right here, right now.” But they are just two stupid 22 year-olds right now. They shouldn’t rush into stupid decisions.

Mina continues. “You’re really likable, Nayeon. And you got dreams. Catch them first, before catching feelings, yeah? We should part ways and if life brings us to a place somewhere, at the same time, maybe then I can accept your offer.”

Nayeon nods with a hum. She closes her eyes. Tears start rolling down her cheeks. Mina, seeing this from the corner of her eye, lets out the tears she’d be holding, too.

Nayeon lets out a heavy sigh. A question lingering in the air between them that Mina doesn’t have to hear.

“We have to. We need to grow and stop being stupid and falling for people too easily.” Mina teases. She meant it but she had to say it in a less serious way to lighten up the mood. “I'll see you when I see you. Take care.”

“Same to you. But you take extra care of yourself because you’re too easy to like.”

“Let’s not be too dramatic and go to sleep.” Mina says, preparing to lay down on the floor.

“Cheers?” Nayeon raises both their beer bottles. Mina takes hers from her hand and they clink them together and take gulps to help them pass out which successfully did.

 

The next morning, Nayeon wakes up first. She washes up and picks up her jacket but notices that its sleeve is under Mina. She tries to carefully pull it but the other girl is awakened by the movement. She sits up. Opens her arms for a hug. Nayeon gives it to her. It isn’t tight and it is short, as if they’re going to meet each other again soon and not going to be gone from each other’s lives. Then, Nayeon leaves.

Everything that had to be said had been said last night.