For as long as they could remember, Jung Jinsol and Kim Hyunjin have been rivals. 

If you were to ask Hyunjin, she would tell you the story of how she and Jinsol kept competing for Wong Kahei’s attention. She was the new girl, and had piqued the curiosity of both Jinsol and Hyunjin- to the point where it had become nearly unbearable for the other children. If Kahei was around, Hyunjin was around, and so was Jinsol, which meant chaos would ensue. When Hyunjin wasn’t throwing things at Jinsol, Jinsol was drawing all over Hyunjin’s paintings- something that often ended with all three of them getting in trouble, despite Kahei being the innocent party in this ordeal.

 

“Enough!” A five year old Kahei screamed, “Stop yelling at each other!” she’d said before leaving the lunch table. She’d refused to sit with them until they had reached some sort of truce.

 

“This is your fault,” Hyunjin told Jinsol, before grabbing a fork and throwing it at her, “I hate you.”

 

“I hate you more!” Jinsol said, picking up the fork and throwing it back at Hyunjin.

 

Ever since, Jinsol and Hyunjin had harboured a deep disdain for each other, but their hatred for each other wasn’t explosive, it was cold and distant, as they knew that their fighting would lead to the demise and split of their friend group, as the girls would find themselves forced to pick a side, leading Jinsol and Hyunjin to silently agree to disagree- on virtually everything.

 

Everything since then had been a game of one-upmanship between. If Jinsol made it to any sports team, Hyunjin made sure to become the captain. 

If Hyunjin scored higher than Jinsol on any test, Jinsol would make sure to work twice as hard to upstage her on the next one. 

 

They didn’t seem to mind the fact that their respective successes- academic and in sports- were both built on hatred and spite. 

 

**

It had all started innocently enough- a fairly normal lunch conversation had turned into something way bigger than it should have, and naturally the subject of first kisses had popped up. Hyunjin had grown redder and redder as her friends all counted their stories, while she’d stayed silent and tried to blend into the background. Jiwoo was talking about her first kiss, a random girl from her elementary school, something that had landed them both in the principal’s office, when she accidentally coughed, causing everyone to look at her.

 

“Stupid ing cough,” she thought to herself everyone’s gaze was suddenly diverted to her.

 

“How about you, Hyunjin?” Jinsol asked, smirking.

 

“Yeah,” Sooyoung piped in, “What was your first kiss like?” she finished, resting her head in the palms of her hand. For a second, Hyunjin wondered whether she was doing it on purpose- she and Sooyoung hadn’t always been the best of friends, and she could only imagine how having Jinsol in her circle of close friends affected the way Sooyoung perceived her.

 

“Uh well… I…” she racked her mind for an excuse, a name she could use, anything, before caving in under Sooyoung’s piercing gaze. She looked over at Heejin, who shrugged and shook her head as to tell her she was on her own,  “I… I haven’t had my first kiss yet, to be honest.”

 

“Oh,” Sooyoung said, suddenly disappointed in the lack of juicy details, “Well, that’s okay. Tons of people haven’t had their first kiss by the time they reach twenty-”

 

“Save it,” Hyunjin raised her hand to stop her, “I know it’s weird.”

 

“It’s really not,” Heejin chimed in, probably feeling guilty for abandoning Hyunjin earlier,  “I mean, we all kind of got lucky. I know a girl who hasn’t had her first kiss and she’s like, twenty-two. So yeah, nothing weird here,” she shrugged, “And besides, boys are mean.”

 

“You’re saying that because you went to an all girls school,” Hyunjin scoffed, “Also, you’re gay:”

 

Yeojin raised an eyebrow, “Plus, you’re scared of everything,” she added, “You even said you used to be scared of flowers when you were little.”

 

“True, but,” Heejin raised a finger, “I mean it, when I say boys are unkind.”

 

**

Hyunjin decided she was better off not wallowing in self-pity. So what if she hadn’t had her first kiss yet? Not everyone was focused on the romance aspect of adolescence- not that anything was wrong with doing so- Jiwoo seemed to have a lot of fun breaking hearts and taking names during her teenage years, but she was too busy with her athletic training to even think about boys- or girls, for that matter. 

 

She was walking down the corridor when she heard a small whisper, “Hey, Hyunjin. Psst ,” Jinsol said under her breath, before pulling Hyunjin in by the arm.

 

“What the are you doi-” she almost yelled as she was pushed against the door of the supply closet, the other girl slightly hovering over her, before being shushed by her. She wanted to scream bloody murder in protest, but finally decided against it when she realised it would do her no good.

 

“Shh, they’re gonna hear us!” Jinsol retorted as quietly as she could. Hyunjin could feel the urgency in her voice but decided not to question it.

 

“What do you want, Jinsol?” she sighed, feeling slightly exasperated by the situation at hand.

 

“Alright,” Jinsol said before peeking out the door to make sure no one was listening, “Remember when you said you hadn’t had your first kiss?”

 

Hyunjin bitterly chuckled, “Considering it happened an hour ago, yeah.”

 

“I,” she started, looking down on the floor before looking back up at Hyunjin, “I haven’t kissed anyone either,” she finally admitted, her cheeks flaming red. Hyunjin gasped in surprise, her arms falling to her sides.

 

“B-but you said-” she stammered, “You said you’d had your first kiss at prom with some random kid?”

 

“Yeah, well,” Jinsol ran a hand through her hair, “I lied,” she sighed, causing Hyunjin’s eyes to widen. Was Jinsol also ashamed of not having had her first kiss?

 

“Why would you do that?” Hyunjin frowned.

 

“I lied because, well,” she hesitated, “I thought it was weird that I haven’t kissed anyone yet, being twenty-one and all, but that was before I knew you hadn’t either.”

 

“Yeah,” Hyunjin scoffed, “Thanks for reminding me, by the way,” she rolled her eyes at the other girl. 

 

“Look, I know we don’t like each other, but, I say…” Jinsol started, pinning Hyunjin against the wall, “Let’s be each other’s first kisses.”

 

Hyunjin immediately choked on her saliva, coughing until she was out of oxygen.

 

“Oh god, uh,” Jinsol’s eyes went wide, “Are you okay?”

 

“Yeah yeah,” Hyunjin said, trying to process what had just come out of Jinsol’s mouth, “You want us to do what ?” She nearly shouted.

 

“One kiss,” Jinsol said, holding up her finger, “One kiss so we can be done with it,” she said, the way her eyebrows moved along with her finger nearly hypnotizing to Hyunjin, who had to shake her head in order to refocus. Jinsol continued,“That way we’ll both be able to say we’ve had our first kiss, and basta.”

 

“B-But-“ Hyunjin spluttered, feeling the heat rising to her cheeks. She sighed, before shrugging- usually she would find herself against doing such a thing, but she found herself nodding before she could even think of an answer.

 

Her mind finally caught up to her actions, and she decided to go along anyway, “Alright, make it quick.”

 

Jinsol immediately grabbed Hyunjin by the collar of her dress shirt and smashed their lips together. It was clumsy at first, with neither of them knowing what to do, but Hyunjin felt almost electrified as a jolt went through her body, causing her to finally close her eyes. She was jittery, her stomach filled with butterflies, as she tasted the other girl’s lips- strawberry lip balm with a little hint of vanilla. Hyunjin pulled her closer, giving in to the temptation. She hoped for every kiss to feel like the first one.

 

Hyunjin finally pulled away when she had to come up for air.

 

“Wow,” Jinsol said, “That was…”

 

“Something…” Hyunjin finished her sentence for her, before exiting the closet, still in a daze.

 

**

“Hyunjin,” Jinsol said the next day as the girls sat down for lunch, “I love your hair today.”

 

Hyunjin simply frowned, “Uh, thanks?”

Was something wrong with her hair?

 

**

Hyunjin had a hard time deciphering Jinsol. 

 

After the kiss, the other girl had become nicer to her, almost to the point where Hyunjin was starting to wonder whether it was all a joke- she found herself on edge every time Jinsol complimented her, and she found it utterly ridiculous that she was the one getting shamed in this situation when Jinsol was so clearly scheming against her.

 

“Am I the only one who thinks Jinsol’s acting kind of weird?” she one day decided to ask the other girls.

 

“You always think Jinsol is acting weird,” Chaewon pointed out, “Which she often is- I’m allowed to say that since we’re sisters,” she added, “But also, don’t tell her I said that.”

 

“Plus, you hate her,” Haseul wisely pointed out, “No wonder you think she is acting suspiciously.”

 

“It’s not that I hate her,” Hyunjin said, “It’s just that-”

 

“We don’t get along,” the other girls all said in unison.

 

“Look,” Jungeun started, raising an eyebrow, “You two don’t like each other, fine. But don’t pretend this animosity doesn’t exist, because it’s very real,” she said, pointing an accusatory finger at Hyunjin, “And you should be glad she’s nice to you, rather than sitting there plotting your downfall like she used to in fifth grade. Be nice to her, see where it gets you. It’s always better than always being at each other’s throats, no matter how discreet you two think you’re being. Did something happen between you two?”

 

Hyunjin blushed at the memory of the kiss, and decided it would be best not to speak of it, “No. Nothing happened.”

 

“Alright,” Jungeun said, narrowing her eyes at the other girl, “If you say so.”

 

** 

The next day, Hyunjin was hanging out with Chaewon at the Jung household when she got a text.

 

to: Hyunjin

from: Jinsol

Are you with Chae rn?

 

to: Jinsol

from: Hyunjin

tf do u want

 

to: Hyunjin

from: Jinsol

Come to my room. Make up some excuse

to: Jinsol

from: Hyunjin

tf do u want (2)

 

to: Hyunjin

from: Jinsol

Please.

 

to: Jinsol

from: Hyunjin

K

 

“I need to use the bathroom,” Hyunjin said as she shoved her phone in her pocket.

 

“Alright,” Chaewon said, “Remember, second door to the left. Wouldn’t want you ending up in Jinsol’s room and have you two squabble about some useless bull.”

 

Hyunjin shook her head, getting up and walking out of the room, making sure to close the door behind her. She got up on her tippy toes, making sure Chaewon wouldn’t hear her.

 

She braced herself when she saw the door of Jinsol’s room, not knowing what to expect. She took a deep breath, hesitating ever so slightly before turning the handle and entering the room, before closing the door behind her.

 

She found Jinsol sitting on her desk chair. The other girl dramatically swiveled around, a little smile etched onto her face.

 

“Hyunjin,” she said, getting up, “I was expecting you.”

 

Hyunjin simply furrowed her eyebrows, before crossing her eyebrows, “Jinsol, what do you want?”

 

“I was thinking,” she said, walking towards Hyunjin, “About that kiss.”

 

“I-I,” Hyunjin started, her face growing redder with every step the other girl took. Jinsol was at her level now, and she once again found herself pinned against the door, “W-What kiss?”

 

Jinsol chuckled, “You know what I’m talking about. I haven’t been able to get it out of my mind,” she said, her face inching closer to Hyunjin’s, “And you know, I haven’t been able to get you out of my mind.”

 

Jinsol closed the gap between their two mouths and gave Hyunjin a kiss. Contrary to that other kiss, it was soft and sweet, and this time Jinsol’s lips tasted like banana rather than strawberry. It didn’t last for long, just a few seconds, but Hyunjin wanted more. She didn’t know why she was feeling that way or how- for a second she wondered whether Jinsol might be a witch who cast her under her spell, but god damn, it just felt really good.

 

This time, it was her turn to grab Jinsol by the collar of her already crumpled dress shirt, and pulled her back in for another kiss, this time much more frenzied.

 

“I still ing hate you,” Hyunjin said, in between kisses.

 

“I know,” Jinsol answered, nearly out of breath, “I don’t care.”

 

They were abruptly interrupted by Chaewon’s voice coming from the other side of the door.

 

“Jinsol, have you seen Hyunjin? She said she was going to the bathroom but there’s no one in there.”

 

Oh, .

 

“Uh…” Jinsol said, her eyes going wide, “What do you want me to say?” She whispered, the panic in her voice more than evident.

 

“I’ll handle it,” she whispered back.

 

“Uh, Chae? I’m here,” she shouted back, “I got the wrong door, that’s all,” she said, opening the door of Jinsol’s room.

 

“Your hair is all messy…” Chaewon said, raising an eyebrow, “Were you two wrestling or what?”

 

“Yes, this is exactly what we were doing,” she lied, not wanting her friend to know she had been busy doing something entirely different with Jinsol instead.

 

“Oh!” Chaewon clapped, “A fight! Who won?” She said, a huge smile making its way onto her face- Chaewon loved chaos.

 

“I obviously did, Jinsol can’t fight to save her life,” she smirked, following Chaewon to her room.

 

“Didn’t you want to use the bathroom?” Chaewon asked. Oh, . Another thing she’d forgotten about.

 

She scratched the back of her head, “Yeah, I don’t feel like going anymore.”

 

“Ah,” Chaewon said, opening the door to her room and walking in, “I guess fighting will do that to you.”

 

“Fighting will do what to you?” Hyejoo asked, as the two other girls walked into the room.

 

“Hyunjin and Jinsol fought, again,” Chaewon explained, “Wait until Jungeun hears about it.”

 

**

It was getting harder and harder to ignore Jinsol. 

Whenever Hyunjin would see the other girl, she’d think about the passionate kiss they’d shared, and immediately go red in the face. She thanked god for the fact that it was summer, so she could blame her constant blushing on the heat, but truth is, she’d be mortified if anyone found out the real reason she was behaving that way.

 

She also found herself daydreaming about the other girl more often than ever- Jinsol’s jawline, the curve of her lips- she shook her head at the thoughts.

 

“Jinsol’s your enemy,” she told herself, “You hate her, dummy,” she tried to remind herself.

 

Still, it was hard to think of Jinsol as her nemesis when their last shared memory was her pinning Hyunjin against the wall and kissing her senseless.

 

She sighed in defeat as she pulled out her phone, typing out a message and hitting send without thinking twice.

to: Jinsol

from: Hyunjin

wanna come over?

 

to: Hyunjin

from: Jinsol

Yes.