Friday nights at the Karaoke bar had to be what Jimin looked forward to the most. After meeting Minjeong by chance at a Red Velvet concert, the two girls made it a habit to meet up and sing their little hearts out. 

It’s been about three months now, roughly translating to about 12 karaoke sessions, factor in a few more lunch dates and the one-odd sleepover, and it could be said that she has become one of Jimin’s dearest friends.

Minjeong is just effortlessly charming and oh-so-easy to be around.

Jimin should be having all the fun in the world. Not only is one of her favourite songs playing, but the girls also invited a friend each, Jimin bringing Aeri and Minjeong bringing Yizhou. Despite only meeting for the first time, the girls effortlessly clicked with each other.

But Jimin felt sad.

She felt sad because out of all of the possible days she had to have this scratchy throat, it just had to be on Friday, making it difficult for her to sing with her friends.

The server walks into the room, telling the girls it’s time to go.

Ning is drunk out of her mind, furiously chanting “Encore! Encore!” as she wiggles against the plush seat. Aeri reaches out an arm to support the girl.

“Minjeong, you’re friend is way too far gone. How does she get home?”

“She takes the 140.”

“Oh, I go the same way, I’ll make sure she makes it home.”

“Thank you Aeri.” Minjeong turns in Jimin’s direction.

“Uber?”

Jimin gives the phone in her hand a shake in response.

Jimin and Minjeong lived about 4 roads down from each other, taking about 15 minutes by walking, so the girls always made it a habit to get home together.

Minjeong isn’t drunk, but surely a little tipsy, and tipsy Minjeong is clingy as all hell. In the cab she squeezes up to Jimin as close as possible, reaching for the older girl’s smaller fingers and playing with them.

She pinches Jimin’s thumb, giving it a gentle wiggle.

“This little piggy went to market.”

She then reaches for the index.

“This little piggy-”

Jimin laughs wholeheartedly at the absurdity in front of her.

“The are you doing?” She asks, genuinely confused.

Minjeong turns to her, “Your parent’s never played little piggy?”

“Yeah they did but why are you doing it to me?”

Minjeong giggles, before fully flopping over Jimin, resting a majority of her weight against the sober girl.

“Cause you’re a bababaybee”

“Right…” Jimin smiles.  “I’m the baby? Whatever you say.”

Okay, maybe Minjeong was a little bit drunk.

To stop Minjeong’s onslaught of nursery rhymes, she grabs the younger girl's hand with some force and intertwines their ‘little piggies’.

All the way home.

The uber stops at Jimin’s house first and she politely thanks the driver.

“Thank you. Minjeong, message me when you get home.”

"Wait, I'll be back!"

“Huh?”

“I’ll get something from my house and meet back at your place.”

Jimin smiles and nods, closing the door to the cab.

About twenty minutes later, she hears a rhythmic knock on her door.

As soon as she opens the door, like an impatient puppy, Minjeong pushes herself past the welcome mat and into the house. Her arms are protectively wrapped around something as she hobbles toward a table.

"Look, look, look!" Minjeong finally settles the object down in the kitchen, which turns out to be a see-through teapot with a transparent dark blue liquid.

Jimin looks apprehensive as she inspects the pot.

"You've given me..  poison. Thanks."

Minjeong dramatically rolls her eyes and makes a tsk sound.

"No, silly. It's butterfly-pea tea. And watch!"

Minjeong giddily pours a cup of the beverage, taking out a squeezy bottle of honey and… half a lemon?

With all her might, Minjeong squeezes the citrus over the cup, causing the tea to turn a deep purple colour.

"Oh, what?" Jimin says in surprise, picking up the cup.

"Isn't that so cool? Anyways, your voice sounded really scratchy earlier so I brought you something so you can get better soon."

"Thank you Minjeong, that's so sweet of you."

Jimin brings the cup to her lips and takes a drink. The drink starts to soothe , causing Jimin’s eyes to widen.

She looks to Minjeong impressed, until the bitter aftertaste results in her sticking her tongue out.

Minjeong lets out an infectious giggle.

 "You forgot to put honey, honey," she says as she adds about a tablespoon in.

Jimin takes another taste again, it’s far more pleasant this time, with a sweet floral flavour further accentuated by the honey.

"Much better."

"Okay, well I'm going to head home. It's late." Minjeong sets down a packet of tea leaves on the table with an audible shake.

"Get better next week so we can have a proper sing-off. Me and Aeri versus you and Ning! Oh actually, what about we have a full-on party?"

“I don’t know about that- Do you even have more than one friend?”

Minjeong slaps Jimin’s arm at the comment. “Excuse you, I am plenty sociable.”

Jimin gives a condescending stare with one eyebrow raised. “Right. The same girl who walked around the park alone while her friends were having a picnic.”

Minjeong pouts, “My social battery ran out okay.”

"Okay, whatever you say. Thank you again for the tea."

"No problem. Love you!"

"Love you too."

Jimin double-checks that she’s locked the front door and gets ready for bed. She smiles as she stares into her warming cup of tea, and thinks about how sweet it was for Minjeong to run all the way to her house, just to make feel better.

It's a shame that her efforts were in vain though, as Jimin feels a cough coming.

She coughs.

And coughs.

And coughs again until finally, she felt something dislodge from her windpipe.

There it was. One small petal.

And yet with its insignificant size, being only about a bottle cap, it confirmed what Jimin was dreading.

Yoo Jimin likes girls.

That should have been blatantly obvious by now, considering that most people got their first bloom when they were about sixteen, right about the time when people find out what love is, or at least, think they do.

But not for Jimin, she never got those butterflies when she was around any man and truth be told, she never really saw herself with a man either.

And so, rather than breakdown in tears like most people do when they face a potentially fatal disease for the first time, a part of her is relieved. She’s not broken, just a little gay.

Jimin sighs as she inspects the petal further. She gives it a gentle as she admires its baby blue colour.

Jimin stays calm, taking a deep breath before she rings her best friend.

“Jimin, you better have an excuse for calling me at piss in the morning.” From the groggy tone of Aeri’s voice, Jimin can tell that she was very much snuggled in bed, probably annoyed beyond belief.

“Aeri, it happened,” Jimin says with a nervous laugh.

A dramatic intake of breath is heard over the line, followed by a tousle of sheets as the girl sits up on her bed.

“No way, Jimin has a crush? Girl, I thought you were aual this whole time!”

“I thought I was too, not gonna lie-”

“Okay, don’t panic. This happens to everybody,” Aeri says assuringly.

“I know Aeri, I’m not panicking,” Jimin says rather plainly.

“Are you not panicking cause you think they like you back?” Aeri’s voice is raised in excitement and another dramatic gasp follows.

“Wait, wait, wait, is it that pretty boy who walks you back from yoga?”

“First off, no. Not yoga boy. Second, I’m not sure if they like me back, but the confessing part is easy so I’ll be fine.”

“Well, who is it?” Aeri is getting impatient now.

Jimin sighs.

“It’s Minjeong,” Jimin says, barely above a whisper.

“Who- No way! Karaoke girl?”

Jimin giggles, “yeah, karaoke girl.”

There’s a pause over the line.

Jimin furrows her eyebrows, a little confused. Maybe the call got cut out.

“H-Hello? Aeri?”

“You’re gay?!”

Ah, there she is.

“I guess so.”

“I knew it!” Jimin can almost see Aeri’s goofy smile through her voice alone.

“Oh zip it, you said you thought I was aual!”

“Shhh shhh. Okay, so what are you gonna do?”

“Shouldn’t be too hard, I’ll just tell her I love her.”

It should come pretty easy, Jimin thinks to herself. I mean, they say it to each other all the time.

“Damn girl. Brave. When I had hanahaki I just got my dad’s colleague to remove it.”

Jimin couldn’t help but smile at her friend's nonchalant attitude towards the potentially deadly illness. Normalising the situation made her feel a lot safer, and less worried about perishing.

“Oh right. Well. If that doesn’t work could you help me get an appointment?”

“Of course! I’m not gonna let you die.”

Jimin chuckles over the phone.

“Thank you, Aeri, my angel.”

“Gross. Save that for Minjeong.”

“I can’t believe my best friend got her first hanahaki at 23 years old, now that's a late bloomer.”

As Jimin is about to continue the banter, she suddenly feels another petal travelling up her airway. The coughs, releasing it into her hands.

“Oh, what flower did you get?”

“I’m not quite sure, but the flowers are like, baby blue.”

“I’ll send you a pic, wait.”

“Okay.”

“Jimin, I’m tired so I’m going to bed. Love you!”

“Love you too! And thank you.”

“No problem. Go get her!”

The line promptly hangs up.

Jimin gets ready for bed, changing into a set of fluffy pajamas. She sends Aeri a picture of the blue petals before hovering over Minjeong’s icon.

Taking a deep breath, she opens their chat and sends a message.

Hey, are you free sometime tomorrow for lunch?

There’s no answer for several beats and Jimin realises she's probably gone to bed.

Plugging in her charger, she slips under the covers and closes her eyes.

Until she hears her phone vibrate a few minutes later.

She reaches for the phone, temporarily blinding herself in the process as the harsh white light attacks her eyes.

Miss me already?

I’m not free tomorrow but I can meet you for dinner after work on monday?

Jimin sends an eye-roll emoji

Ill see you monday

gooooodnightttt

gnnn

The weekend seemingly takes forever to pass. These petals just keep getting in the way of everything. Worst of all, trying to sleep is an absolute hell, with the petals threatening to spill just when Jimin loses consciousness. Even sleeping for a few hours results in a temporary blockage, filling her trachea. Jimin almost felt like a cat swallowing down hair balls. Gross.

Thank god it’s finally Monday.

After work, Jimin picks Minjeong up at the art museum where she works at. The short-haired girl currently works as a guide, occasionally giving tours and rambling about the different pieces and their significance.

“Jiminie!” Minjeong calls out affectionately as she pulls the taller girl into a hug.

“Hi Minjeong.”

“Are you ill?” Minjeong reaches for Jimin’s forehead, which is the only part of her face that is exposed. She’s wearing a black face mask, which almost looks a little too large for her.

Jimin clears . “I just have a bit of a cough, but I’m okay.”

“Oh dear. Drink more tea, baby.” Minjeong reaches for Jimin’s hand and leads the way through the different exhibits.

Minjeong’s dream is to become an artist of her own. She’s always been more creative than anything else, gravitating towards music, dance, painting- anything physical and tactile.

Being a tour guide also meant that she got to show Jimin around, pointing out little things that she never would have noticed before. Minjeong’s eyes seem to almost sparkle as she engages in her passion, leaving Jimin amazed at the seemingly limitless knowledge she had about art.

Somehow, she even made a blank blue square seem like one of the most important innovations art has ever seen.

After a mini fifteen-minute walk through the museum, the girls finally start heading out to a restaurant.

The dinner went well, as always. You can never really go wrong with Korean barbeque. Perfectly grilled, fatty and delicious morsels of meat, wrapped by a crispy lettuce leaf and a sweet and sour daikon radish just to cut through all the richness. The perfect balance.

“This is the life,” Minjeong says as she does her best to fit the wrap in all at once.

Jimin laughs as she glances at Minjeong, cheeks almost bursting as she tries not to choke.

“Take smaller bites you clown,” Jimin comments as she passes the younger girl another piece of pork belly.

“But then it doesn’t taste as nice,” Minjeong just about manages to get out, with her cheeks still full of food.

Jimin’s heart constricts at the younger girl’s natural cuteness. She coughs again, feeling another petal travel into . Rather than spit it out, she instead chews on it slightly and swallows again. At this stage, the petals are more annoying than anything. But luckily, they’re still fresh and are quite easy to hide.

“Maybe we shouldn’t have come to barbeque if you still have a sore throat.”

“It’s okay. Sore throat is temporary, hanwoo is forever.”

Minjeong grins in agreement, “well said”.

The rest of the dinner is filled with more small talk, with the occasional joke and belly laugh as a result.

After dinner, the two girls walk together towards their homes, arm-in-arm as the cool evening breeze passes by.

As they stop by Jimin’s door, the taller girl decides to have courage.

“Wait Minjeong, before you go, I have to say