IT WAS one lazy Saturday but Kang Seulgi, for the first time ever since she started staying in Joohyun’s house, woke up earlier than the master of the house. She was still in bed with Joohyun, busy adoring the sleeping face of her beloved.

Since she’s always the one who sleeps first yet also the one who wakes up later, she doesn’t have that many chances to stare at Joohyun’s sleeping face. But recently, despite her business as a graduating student and a cafe owner, Joohyun goes somewhere to study for an hour. She just told Seulgi that she was just preparing things for her graduation but Seulgi knows well what she’s studying for.

“Sunbae…” She called in a whisper at the sleeping girl. “Please don’t be too hard on yourself. You have to take care of your health too.”

Her eyes then travelled to those rose-petal lips of Joohyun. Seulgi’s cheeks immediately turned red. ‘No, Seulgi. You can’t steal a kiss like this. It won’t even have an effect on her if she isn’t aware of it!’

Seulgi rolled around and picked her phone up. She decided to just order something to eat for breakfast so Joohyun won’t bother preparing for them. It’s not that she doesn’t want to eat food prepared by Joohyun, she just knows when proper rest is needed. Joohyun won’t even go to the cafe until after lunch since she wants to get some good sleep.

Scanning the menu on the delivery app, Seulgi couldn’t even help but to sigh. She’s having the biggest dilemma of her life.

‘I still didn’t manage to initiate a kiss.’ She thought as she pouted. She couldn’t even focus on selecting which to eat. Her mind was being messed by her appetite for something else.

Seulgi wanted to throw some tantrums but she couldn’t just move carelessly or the sleeping beauty beside her would be awakened so she performed air cycling in the slowest motion that she could make. If Wendy could only see what kind of silly act she’s doing then she would surely be teased for a whole month about it.

After performing those slow-mo’ed kicks, Seulgi put her legs down and caught her breath as if she did some cardio. ‘All I could do is smile, I can’t even build up the atmosphere for a kiss. What should I even do? When was the last time that we kissed anyway!? Are we even girlfriends at this point!?’

She then ordered some random food before launching her phone’s front camera. Silly Seulgi then started mouthing at herself.

‘Come on, Gi. You know that kissing isn’t the basis of being in a romantic relationship!’

‘But I just want to make Sunbae flustered at times. Will I still be considered her girlfriend if I couldn’t even make her heart race!? I am the only one who gets all the butterflies here. I will turn into a butterfly garden soon, Seul!’

‘Gi… You guys hold hands, you go on little dates, everyone in school knows that you are dating her because of that wild announcement of yours. Don’t you think that didn’t make her heart race!? She even broadcasted her first ‘I love you’ in the whole school!’

‘But that’s already a long time ago! We’re about to take our finals soon, Seul!’

“What’s wrong with you?”

Seulgi audibly gasped when she heard Joohyun speak. She stiffly turned to her beloved and found her looking at her with those judging eyes.

“S-Sunbae…” Seulgi called, looking so embarrassed.

“Are you practising for a play or something?” Joohyun then took a stretch synchronised with a huge yawn. “You were really so into it.”

“Ha-ha-ha…” Seulgi quickly turned off her phone’s screen. “I-I was just imitating the drama that I watched on CutFlix last time. The one where the main character has a DID.”

“Ahh…That one…” Joohyun rolled to face her again. She then hugged Seulgi like she didn’t witness the girl doing something strange. She buried her face on Seulgi’s chest before closing her eyes again. Seulgi was taken aback, her heart started to rodeo. “Did you really watch the latest episode without me? You meanie…”

‘Sunbae…’ Seulgi’s face crumpled, not in pain but in unexplainable giddiness. ‘Don’t be so close like this, my heart feels like exploding. I should be the one making your heart race.’

Her face then slowly yet stiffly moved towards Joohyun’s head. Joohyun’s sweet scent immediately attacked her and Seulgi had to move her head back again. ‘She smells so nice even in the morning!’

“Seulgi…?” Joohyun called, which brought Seulgi back to earth from her trip to Mars.

“Y-Yes, Sunbae?”

Joohyun looked up at her and Seulgi immediately froze in awe of that beautiful morning face. “Are you okay? Your heart is beating like crazy. I can’t go back to sleep when your heart is doing a drum concert.”

“R-Really?” Seulgi laughed awkwardly again, avoiding Joohyun’s lovely stare. “Of course, it will beat like crazy when you hug me like this. I-It’s normal.”

Joohyun just smiled with satisfaction. “I see.” She started listening to Seulgi’s heartbeat once again. “I really make your heart race like this?”

Seulgi’s face turned all serious as she wrapped Joohyun in a return hug. “This is normal…” she whispered. “Don’t I make your heart race?”

“Do you want to confirm it?” Joohyun asked.

“Is it fine?” Seulgi answered with a question.

Slowly making a space for Seulgi to move a little lower, Joohyun released Seulgi from the hug. Their eyes met for a moment before Seulgi positioned herself to listen on Joohyun’s heartbeat.

It wasn’t only Joohyun’s fast heartbeat that surprised her but also how the girl wrapped her in a warm embrace. It was a first for her. It was only her own heartbeat that she was aware of all this time but now she was listening to her beloved’s. Also, it was the first time that she felt a sincere and caring hug like that.

‘This can be a chance for a kiss!’ Seulgi thought to herself. She could imagine both her guardian angel and devil cheering for her to make a move.

But before she could even do so, Slowgi was overtaken by the bunny.

“How is it? It’s beating fast, too, right?” Joohyun asked which Seulgi answered with a nod. “Don’t doubt what I feel for you again, okay?”

Seulgi looked up at Joohyun with that panicking face. “I-I-It’s not like that, Sunbae! I-It’s just that… we just need reconfirmation from time to time.”

The older girl sneered at Seulgi’s trailing voice. “Is listening to my heartbeat enough to reconfirm it?”

“This…” Seulgi tuned her ear on Joohyun's chest once more as she closed her eyes. “…sounds so magical.”

“Is it?” Joohyun started caressing Seulgi’s hair. “Your hair really looks like a lion’s mane in the morning.”

Seulgi smiled when she heard Joohyun’s chuckle. “I am a lion who doesn’t know how to roar.”

“You’re a lion that was raised by pandas.”

The two just snickered with that comparison before silence covered them. Only the sounds of their hearts can be heard.

When Joohyun’s heartbeat was already getting used to the extreme closeness, (thank you for your service huge sausage pillow) Seulgi suddenly blurted out words that made her heart beat fast again.

“Sunbae… I love you…”

Joohyun’s cheeks blushed heavily, her hug to Seulgi tightened.

“I love you, too, Seulgi…”

The older girl’s eyes then turned melancholic when she remembered her Uncle’s challenge. Those eyes then located the strange bottle of vitamin that Seulgi has been taking recently.

“I love you so much…”

“TCH!”

Seulgi kicked an empty can of soda (which she immediately went right after to and properly threw in a trash bin) before sitting on the sidewalk like a gangster.

“I messed up again! I failed to initiate a kiss!”

After being wrapped in a warm embrace, Seulgi actually slipped into the dream world, perfectly failing her attempt to make an atmosphere for a kiss. She missed the golden chance.

“Why am I like this?” She asked herself with a deep frown. “Why can’t I make a move to kiss her!? Why is it so hard!?”

She then remembered what Joohyun told her about what happened during the night of the festival. “I was the one who initiated the kiss that time! Do I really need alcohol to be that brave!?”

She bolted up and went towards the direction of the convenience store but she quietly went back to where she was sitting and sat like a gangster again.

“No, at my current situation, I can’t drink alcohol.” Seulgi then cupped her own face. “I can’t depend on alcohol just to give a kiss!”

Realisation then struck her. “Wait, I can ask her for a kiss since I haven’t received the promised kiss from last midterms, right?”

Seulgi jumped back to her feet with a loud clap and walked away only to go back sulking in just a few seconds. “No way… That’s not how it should be. If I asked for it as a reward then Sunbae might actually turn all of her kisses into rewards. I am not that confident with my academics and I only take exams twice every four months! That means I won’t be able to kiss her that often!”

A mother who was walking with her child immediately walked in reverse while covering her child’s eyes. Two old ladies also passed by, casually talking about how Seulgi looked like she’s having nicotine withdrawals.

Seulgi heard what the passersby were talking about. She crouched down while holding her head, her eyes wide open. “What’s even wrong with me, for real!? I thought I was really good at acting but why can’t I even be so cool like always!? I just really want to kiss my girlfriend—”

“Then kiss her.”

Seulgi almost fell to the bushes behind her when someone suddenly talked to her. She looked up and smiled widely when she recognised who it was. “Yeri-ya~”

Yerim, who has gotten used to the nickname that Seulgi gave her, raised her eyebrows up and down as a greeting. The two actually got very close in no time. Yerim is also free of the cast and crutches.

“What are you even doing here on the streets looking like you’ve lost all your fortune in gambling?” Yerim asked the older girl who was already back on her feet, dusting her pants. “Do you really have to do your monologue about wanting to kiss your girlfriend out in the cold?”

Seulgi just laughed, just like what she always does. “I can’t do my monologue while in the cafe, you know?”

Yerim shook her head in disbelief. “You weren’t even in the cafe. You could’ve just done your little roleplay inside the house. Why do you have to go outside?”

“I’m just trying to cool my head.”

Yerim shrugged her shoulders while looking at the direction of the nearby ice cream shop. She then pointed it at Seulgi. “Want to go eat some ice cream then, Unnie? We still have a mission to do. Something more important than the kiss, remember?”

YERIM was observing Seulgi while the latter eats her ice cream. Seulgi, feeling a little conscious, just looked back at Yerim. Her eyes were obviously asking what’s wrong.

“Nothing.” Yerim shook her head, there was a faint smile on her face. “I just remembered my brother with your ice cream choice. He always picks only one flavour and it’s always red velvet.”

“Oh~” Seulgi smiled. “I actually didn’t like ice cream in general that much but after I—”

Seulgi suddenly stopped mid-sentence while giving Yerim that guilty look. The other girl then naturally got curious. “After what? Why do you look like you did something bad?”

“Ha…Ha-ha.” Seulgi forced a laugh, one hand was by her chest. “N-Nothing… It’s just a bit embarrassing now that I think of it.”

Yerim took a spoonful of her ice cream but didn’t let go of the spoon right away. “I think you really need to get that kiss, Unnie. You’re really getting weirder and weirder every time we meet.”

“Right!” Seulgi raised her fist in the air. “I will really get that kiss! I will kiss Sunbae!”

Yerim gave her a meaningful smile. “Who knows? Maybe Joohyun-unnie is just waiting for you to make a move~”

“You think so?” Seulgi’s eyes twinkled in excitement. “You think she’s just waiting for me to kiss her?”

“I don’t know anything~” Yerim avoided Seulgi’s question with a mischievous smile. Seulgi just wouldn’t stop bothering her so she took the initiative to lay out the real reason why she had to see Seulgi after dropping by at the cafe to see Joohyun.

“Seulgi-unnie, did you find the way to break the curse? The one that the fortune teller was talking about?”

Seulgi suddenly turned all serious. “I still couldn’t decode whatever she was talking about. I went back to her place but it was cleared out.”

Right, Seulgi went back to the place of the fortune teller but the said place was empty and had posters looking for new renters. Turns out the said lady wasn’t able to pay her rent and was kicked out.

Yerim let out a deep sigh. “Why is having a lot of things that you’re good at a huge disadvantage now?”

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