To Kim Yoohyeon, Kim Minji was not a complete stranger. Their worlds had always revolved around each other, but not quite so. 

To Kim Yoohyeon, Kim Minji was just a classmate, a friend of a friend, whom she had never gotten the chance to talk to nor had she ever found it necessary. For years, they had known each other; never personally and relied mostly just what they had heard were little pieces of information about each other from their own group of friends.

Minji wasn't exactly the most popular girl at school. Her friend, Bora, however, was well-known not just among students but also among school staff. With her incredible leadership skills, astounding grades, and athleticism, it was no wonder she became the center of admiration among the students of their school. As likable as the girl was however, Yoohyeon found it quite dreadful to talk to her.

Yoohyeon was known for her mistakes. Her carelessness was both her strongest and weakest point. While there were people who found it easy to confide in her due to her open-mindedness and easy-going nature, ultimately becoming one of her friends, there were also those who viewed her as an incompetent person, a clown who took nothing seriously due to the easy smile that lay on Yoohyeon's face. She was very generous when it came to smiling.

And Bora was one of them.

Ever since the incident where the two had been teamed up for a project and Yoohyeon had messed up four times in the course, Bora had simply had enough and was resolute and unwavering when it came to her dislike of the other. Her frustrations were expressed to a few of her friends.

Unfortunately for Yoohyeon, Bora was popular, and her words had power when it came to influence.

Though it had never been known whether Bora intended for such an effect, Yoohyeon was scared of her nonetheless. For what seemed to go on for years, Yoohyeon had fallen victim to the teasing of her friends. They had never gone as far as to attack her aggressively or even lay a hand on her, but Yoohyeon could tell what sarcasm sounded like. Their words may have sounded nice to others, but she felt the intent from their constant eye contact with each other as they commented about little things Yoohyeon had done. And it hurt, so much that insecurity grew within herself. It drove her to a point where she constantly worry about how she seemed in the eyes of others.

They were twelve years old at the time.

Over the course of five years, things had changed.

Their childish manners had diminished as they grew closer to adulthood. They were only seventeen, but changes could be seen both physically and mentally compared to how they were five years ago. Bora no longer voiced her criticism of someone to the others but instead confronted them directly and voiced it right away. Her tone was less accusing and more professional, which Yoohyeon found more reasonable. Bora spoke with such seriousness and no longer worried herself as much about other people. Though this created a little bit of distance between her and her friends, one person had never left her side. 

Kim Minji.

By this time, Minji had been elected as class president. She became increasingly prominent in Yoohyeon's life, as not a day went by without Minji standing up and leading the class when greeting the teachers. Minji had gone around doing errands for their class, and she was sure to be at least acquaintances with everyone in there, Yoohyeon included.

Although the two had never known each other on a personal level, their opinions of one another were still heavily influenced by their friends.

Throughout the years, Yoohyeon had improved in terms of self-confidence. The once reserved girl, driven by fear of judgment, was slowly becoming a more assured person. She no longer hid her interests or fixated overly on her imperfections, but instead indulged in one of her many artistic talents, photography.

Minji loved getting her pictures taken; it wasn't a shock, as she was far from lacking when it came to her looks. While she didn't attract attention due to her humble personality, those who knew her were aware that she was gifted with good looks.

The first time Yoohyeon had ever heard her name spoken by Minji was at a school festival.

"Kim Yoohyeon!" Minji called out loudly as she jogged closer. She took a deep breath and asked, "Can you take a picture of me?"

Yoohyeon agreed, as she always does, to everyone and asked Minji to pose as she got ready with her camera, closing one eye to look into the lens as she focused on Minji. Minji posed and a click could be heard, which made her do another pose, and it went on for a few times before a cheerful "thank you" could be heard.

Yoohyeon checked the photos with Minji leaning close, wanting to have a look herself, and she let her. She studied Minji's expression with a doubt that she might not like it due to the serious expression Minji had, but soon a bright smile appeared and Yoohyeon sighed in relief—mentally, that is. "Can I have your number?" Yoohyeon asked as she took out a mini notebook and a pen from her pocket. "What?" Minji's eyebrows were raised as she stared at Yoohyeon in confusion.

"For the pictures," Yoohyeon blinked, washing away Minji's confusion along with it, "you want me to send them to you, right?" With a smile back on her face, Minji muttered, "Oh, right, silly me, haha," and gave Yoohyeon her phone number. Minji complimented and thanked her once again, then they both parted ways and continued on with their day.

In February of their seventeenth year of living, Kim Minji took the first step beyond classroom duties towards Yoohyeon.

Yoohyeon had quite a spike in popularity. She had been quite invisible in the past few years, so when she started going around with a camera and the school's photography club t-shirt on, it caught the eyes of the other students; the juniors especially, as they apparently had never seen her before. It didn't help that the pictures she took were amazing, so she quickly became one of the most sought-after during school events by those who recognized her talent. Yoohyeon called them her 'loyal customers'.

The people find Yoohyeon charming in a way after spending more time with the photographer.

Since she felt accepted by the others, Yoohyeon rarely doubted herself anymore and was much more comfortable conversing and sharing jokes. She often teased the juniors with overdramatic gasps and compliments. One junior in particular, Lee Gahyeon, was Yoohyeon's favorite. The bold girl had the most amusing reactions when Yoohyeon said some original, but quite cringy pick-up lines in a joking manner, and Gahyeon would laugh so loud that she attracted the attention of those around them and embarrassed herself. Yoohyeon found that quite funny, and Gahyeon seemed to enjoy Yoohyeon's play.

The two got closer and found an interest they both shared: gaming. Gahyeon was a huge gamer, so severely addicted to first-person shooter games that Yoohyeon was shocked when she found out that the girl literally aced almost all of the subjects in her class while they were hanging out at her house. To be fair, it was quite the stereotype that gamers lacked when it came to academics, but Gahyeon proved otherwise.

They had several gaming sessions, and at one point Gahyeon would just walk into Yoohyeon's class uninvited to play a game with her during break time.

This attracted Minji's attention when she realized that someone who was not her classmate was sitting at the back of the class with Yoohyeon. When break time was over and Gahyeon left, Minji approached Yoohyeon and asked her if she was her friend. Yoohyeon admitted it. The question was asked without anger or annoyance; Minji's expression alone showed that she was merely curious about the new face.

When Minji asked what game they were playing, Yoohyeon answered enthusiastically. Minji's face lit up when she heard the name of the game, and she expressed her interest in it, but she bit her lip when she admitted that she wasn't sure how to be good at it. Yoohyeon, being the friendly person she was, offered to help.

In March of their seventeenth year of living, Kim Minji and Kim Yoohyeon bonded without the influence of their friends.

Every weekend, Minji would text Yoohyeon to help her out with a boss in the game, and the latter would almost always accept. When they first started, they only chatted through the in-game chat box, but over time Yoohyeon found it quite a hassle, since she would have an outrageous amount of typos when she was rushing, so they settled on a voice call.

A new routine began in both their lives on Friday and Saturday nights.

Through this personal interaction, Yoohyeon realized how saintly Minji was. She began to question how she had ended up with such a group of friends who were notorious for being quite intimidating to be around. However, Yoohyeon had only ever seen Minji with Bora. Those two were inseparable and sometimes during their calls mid-game, she would hear a familiar voice belonging to none other than Bora.

They started with one game and moved on to another. Yoohyeon found that horror games were the most enjoyable. Hearing Minji's laughter every time she made a joke about the ghosts as she was being chased made Yoohyeon grin from ear to ear. Yoohyeon also found it amusing that, even though Minji was scared of ghosts, horror games were still her favorite to play when they were together. 

This went on until Minji started getting busy with her dance practices.
Minji spent almost the whole weekend practicing with the school's dance team, so she was too tired to play during their usual game time. Yoohyeon sometimes texted her, asking about it, only for Minji to reply the next day saying that she had fallen asleep. Yoohyeon wished she could take back the questions she had asked.

Sometimes at school, Yoohyeon would pass Minji a bread, which Minji was more than happy to accept due to her known love for food, specifically sweet things. When asked, Yoohyeon would just say that her mom gave her bread every day, even though she didn't like it, and it would be a waste to throw it away, which was only half true. Yoohyeon knew that she would never dare to throw away food her mother gave, even if she wasn't a big fan of it; her mother's happiness came first, then her food preferences.

Though it seemed as if Yoohyeon's kindness had started something, Minji had always been a very touchy person and Yoohyeon was not excluded from it. Over time, it seemed that Minji became bolder to the point where she would touch Yoohyeon every time they crossed paths, but Yoohyeon did not care. She was aware, but she did not care since Gahyeon was the same.

Yoohyeon found the touches a little odd. It wasn't like the touches to her shoulders, back, or head that she was used to. Instead, Minji would often touch her waist, neck, and elbows, which she wasn't used to, but perhaps it was just her.

So, she pushed away whatever suspicions she had on her mind.

In May of their seventeenth year of living, Kim Yoohyeon finally took interest in their school dance team.

She had never really cared or even wanted to, not when Bora was in the same team. She was even the so-called main dancer, which meant the dance was mostly choreographed to give her the most spotlight and make her shine. Yoohyeon knew she was biased, but she wondered why it had to be Bora when Minji was right there, looking ethereal with her eye-catching movements. Yoohyeon had a hard time looking away, but she knew better than to look like a sore thumb, sitting in the school hall cross-legged in the front row with agape, watching a certain someone. Instead, she lifted up her camera and start snapping pictures.

Most of them had Kim Minji as the main focus.

Yoohyeon was bombarded with new feelings she had never felt before, which she labeled as deep admiration for a friend. But Yoohyeon wore her emotions on the sleeves of her school uniform, and her friends were quick to catch on when Yoohyeon slipped.

"I think I like Heesoo," her friend started. "She's so humble and a great leader."

"If that's your type, why not like Minji or something?" Yoohyeon said nonchalantly. "She's probably better, no?" She didn't voice it, but Yoohyeon knew Heesoo had a reputation for dating girls only to dump them after a few months to chase after one guy, and it had always been the same guy. It almost seemed as if girls were merely a distraction whenever she and her boyfriend fought.

“It sounds like you’re the one who likes her,”

“No? I just admire her,”

The mention of Minji's name raised an eyebrow, but her friend didn't press any further for an explanation.

It was no doubt, Yoohyeon was in denial.

Because by the time she’d realized, she was already in way too deep.

In June of their seventeenth year of living, Kim Yoohyeon experience what one would call a crush on none other than Kim Minji.

But at the same time, Yoohyeon caught Bora’s attention.

Bora was suspicious of how nice Yoohyeon was to Minji. Yoohyeon was in no way a mean person, but it seemed that she was extra careful around Minji, putting in full interest whenever Minji voiced an opinion as if it was the most important thing in the world. While Bora would do the exact same, this was Kim Yoohyeon, the girl who had avoided her like the plague.

Seeing Yoohyeon treating Minji with such care, Bora came into a conclusion. 

Yoohyeon had ulterior motives. 

She knew Yoohyeon was very accepting when it came to uality and knew that she was friends with someone who was openly admitting to being gay, so it would not be impossible for her to approach Minji harboring feelings. Bora also knew Minji very well.

She knew her dear friend well enough that, if pressured, Minji would say yes regardless of how she really felt.

Bora also knew what would keep Yoohyeon away.

"So, as I was saying..." Gahyeon stopped the words from coming out of as she stared at the stranger beside her, who was standing with her hands clasped behind her back and just stared down at Yoohyeon, who was seated across from Gahyeon. The three of them eyed each other, but the stranger was specifically eyeing Yoohyeon.

"Hi, what were you talking about?" She asked, looking at Yoohyeon while snickering could be heard from the group of people she was with. Gahyeon looked at the source of the snickering and saw familiar faces she had seen in Yoohyeon's class before, but it didn't drive away her confusion.

“Oh, nothing,” Yoohyeon replied.

“Hm...sure,” and the stranger walked away. 

The exchange was so strange that Gahyeon completely forgot what she wanted to say, instead focusing on Yoohyeon, who didn't seem to be in the mood to listen to any more of her rambling. Yoohyeon seemed a little nervous and disturbed, and Gahyeon could tell from the way she was clutching her pen as she scribbled on the paper. It was almost as if something had triggered her, so Gahyeon suggested that they both go back to their own classes for now, as she had something to do - one of Gahyeon's excuses. She knew Yoohyeon wanted some time alone.

Yoohyeon and Minji no longer played games together. Instead of playing games, Yoohyeon decided to indulge herself in other things to clear her mind. She took self-defense classes, ran marathons, went on hiking trips, and did several other physically tiring activities. She distanced herself from Minji and it was easier now that they were both busy with their own things.

It was easy. It felt like she had moved on from Minji.

“I thought we’re friends?”

Yoohyeon took it back, it wasn’t easy and she was far from moving on. 

The teacher teamed up Minji and her for after-class duties, which meant they had to stay at school for a while and this annoyed Bora to the core. She couldn't do anything about it as she had tuition to attend to and, being a diligent student, she stomped away, sending a glare towards Yoohyeon before leaving. Minji just chuckled, thinking Bora was joking around, which seemed like it if one knew nothing about her sour relationship with Yoohyeon.

Yoohyeon knew she would never have a chance with an angel like Minji. "No, we're not," she said. ‘Your friends hate me,’ she wanted to add, but she kept the silence.

For a moment, Minji looked hurt; a frown was visible on her beautiful face, and Yoohyeon took a moment to admire it, as she had always done. It was unfair to look so pretty even when bearing such an unpleasant expression. “What do you mean by that?” Her voice was a blessing to Yoohyeon's ears, and she wished to hear more of it.

But Yoohyeon knew better; greed only leads to the abyss, so she took a step back. “I don't want to be friends with you anymore,”

"And my heart might burst if I keep my feelings for you a secret any longer," then, she took two steps forward. "I like you, Kim Minji."

In November of their seventeenth year of living, Kim Yoohyeon confessed to Kim Minji, expecting a broken heart and nothing else in return.