Glasses clinked against each other sloppily as music blared in the background. The bass in the bar was so loud that the girls could hardly even hear what they were toasting to. Jimin was celebrating the summer coming to an end with her group of friends, who seemed to be feeling much less cheerful about it than she was.

While they preferred spending time sleeping and partying, Jimin seemed like the oddball who actually genuinely enjoyed working at and attending university. She was excited to see the fruits of her labor come forth after all the effort she was putting into sustaining her future career.

"Only three and a half weeks left of summer! Let's enjoy it ladies," Aeri, her best friend, said, downing the contents of her glass in one swoop. She grinned at Jimin cheekily before tipping Jimin's glass back to make her drink faster.

After finishing the drink, Jimin set down the glass on the bar counter before making a face of disgust. "Ugh, what even was that?" she complained, causing Aeri to laugh. "Green tea shots, but I may have asked the bartender to make them a little stronger," she admitted. Jimin rolled her eyes in faux annoyance.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed someone eyeing her. Her curiosity got the better of her and she turned her head fully to get a better look at whoever was ogling her, only to find a mesmerizing girl with shorter brown hair staring back at her. She shyly smiled at the girl, who returned the smile tenfold, causing Jimin to blush.

"She's a cutie, go dance with her!" Aeri said, nudging her with her elbow. "Chill, we literally only made eye contact," Jimin grumbled, turning to glare at her friend.

"Well, she's coming over here so have fun making more eye contact," Aeri teased, turning to rejoin their group of friends. Jimin swallowed down her nerves, turning to see the girl was in fact approaching her while quickly maneuvering her way through the crowd.

By the time she got to Jimin, she was slightly winded, but extended her hand out nonetheless. "Hi, I saw you from across the room and I told myself I wouldn't live it down if I didn't at least try to buy you a drink," she blurted out, cheeks tinging pink at her own sudden confession.

Jimin giggled, taking her hand and shaking it. "Well, hi. How about I let you buy me that drink and tell me more about yourself?" she asked, to which the girl responded with a smile that could light up the entire room. "Sure, I'm Minjeong, by the way. What can I get you to drink?" she asked, smoothly wrapping an arm around Jimin's waist as she led her to the bar counter. Jimin felt herself flush again, silently watching as the girl confidently flagged down the bartender.

They got through formal introductions fairly easily while waiting for the bartender to walk over to where they were waiting. Minjeong hastily handed the bartender her ID and a wad of cash while ordering another round of drinks for the two of them. He eyed her a little warily after looking at the ID, before handing it back and turning to grab what was necessary for their order.

"I guess the bartender thinks you're cute too," Jimin teased, while Minjeong chuckled next to her nervously. When the drinks were placed in front of them, she clinked her glass with Jimin's and chugged its contents.

Leaning until she was right by Jimin's ear, she asked if the two of them could move to the dance floor. Jimin grinned and grabbed her hand, excitedly making her way over through the crowd while Minjeong happily followed behind. With the liquid courage coursing through her veins, she pulled Minjeong against her and turned her around so the girl's back was flush against her front, moving in rhythm with the pulsing music.

Minjeong reached back to grasp at her hands and placed them firmly against her own hips, turning her head to meet Jimin's darkening eyes.

*

Jimin wasn't sure how or when they ended up back at her apartment, but the next morning she woke up with the weight of someone's arm slung across her bare waist. Her eyes shot open in a haste before she looked down to see the perfectly manicured hand that was holding onto her. She let out a puff of air in relief when she remembered her interactions with Minjeong from the previous night.

She turned around slightly to face the girl, almost in awe at how precious her sleeping face looked. Jimin let her finger trace the curve of Minjeong's nose before sliding over her full lips and trailing down her jaw. The slight touch caused the girl to stir, steadily blinking sleep from her eyes.

She hummed in greeting before closing her eyes again and nestling her face in Jimin's neck. "Good morning," she mumbled against , causing the skin on Jimin's neck to form goosebumps.

"Good morning. Can I take you out to breakfast?"

Minjeong perked up at that, pulling back to check if Jimin was being serious. When she saw no hint of teasing in the other girl's eyes, she smiled and nodded. "Do you mind if I borrow something to wear so I don't have to keep on my short little dress from last night?" she asked sheepishly, to which Jimin laughed.

While Jimin stood up to pick out some clothing for the two of them to wear, Minjeong took the chance to look around the girl's room which was now more visible in the sunlight. It was endearing to see all the stuffed animals; there were variations of different dinosaur plushies among other things. She took note of the posters strewn across the walls, feeling the corners of twitch upwards when she noticed they were all different girl groups she also enjoyed.

Finally her eyes landed on a family photo which consisted of an adorable young Jimin and who she assumed to be her two parents. The bright smiles plastered on all three faces made Minjeong want to smile too. She was startled out of her snooping when she felt a piece of clothing hit her in the face. She pulled it off to stick her tongue out at a giggling Jimin.

They both got ready for the day, with Minjeong engulfed in one of Jimin's oversized shirts and some sweatpants that she had to fold a few times to keep herself from tripping over them.

They walked to a diner that was close to their campus, making small talk along the way. They slid into the booth across from each other and tried to decide on what to order. After the waitress came by to take their orders, they both resumed their previous conversation.

"So what are you majoring in?" Minjeong asked, fiddling with the cream and sugar packets that were placed in a basket on their table.

"Biology and zoology! I've always wanted to a be a veterinarian," Jimin said excitedly, delving into her different interests related to animals. Minjeong thought the girl looked adorable with such a lively and passionate expression on her face. Suddenly the wide assortment of stuffed animals made much more sense.

"That's cool! I'm a bio major too, but I wanna be a biologist for human-related issues," she explained. Jimin scrunched up her nose in amusement.

"You know a lot of the research that ends up being done on humans is only because they test things on animals first?"

"I never said animal research wasn't super useful!" Minjeong rebutted, but she realized Jimin was only teasing her when she saw the girl chuckling at her defensiveness.

They fell into easy conversation from there, only pausing occasionally to eat the food that was eventually placed at their table. Jimin paid the bill and walked them back to her apartment so Minjeong could change back into her dress.

"So... I hope I'm reading you correctly and this wasn't just a one night thing for you," Jimin started off, nervously scratching at her ear. Minjeong turned slightly from where she was folding up the clothes she borrowed to full-on belly laugh at Jimin's statement.

"Trust me, if this was just a one night thing I wouldn't have stayed til the morning," she confessed, winking just to be annoying.

Jimin audibly exhaled. "Good, so how soon can I see you again?" she asked, shyly peering up through her eyelashes from where she was seated on her bed.

"I'll actually be on campus the rest of the summer since I'm taking a class, so you can see me whenever you want."

"I'll be here too! I have to be here for work, but I should be free most evenings," Jimin replied, pulling out her phone calendar to make sure she wasn't overbooking herself.

"Well for starters, how about tomorrow night, then? Let me make you dinner," Minjeong said, slowly walking up to wrap her arms around Jimin's shoulders.

"As thanks for the breakfast," she added, leaning down to give the girl a chaste peck. Jimin grinned up at her, cheeks aching.

"Sounds perfect to me."

*

"Spill."

"Spill what?" Jimin asked with an eye roll.

"You know exactly what I'm referring to, Jimin," Aeri warned, pointing a menacing finger at her friend. "What happened with that girl you took home?"

Jimin looked away while the warmth spread across her face and neck. "She's coming over tomorrow to make me dinner."

"Oh you sly little fox. Bagged her already, huh?" Aeri quips, shaking her head in amusement.

"She's so pretty, Aeri. And she let me ramble about crocodiles for like ten whole minutes today and didn't even complain once. She was genuinely interested in what I was saying!"

"Hmm. I guess she does sound like a keeper so far," Aeri admitted.

"Anyways, I have to go help Dr. Bae with the questions she wants to add on the first few quizzes. I'll catch up with you later," Jimin said, heading in the direction of her boss's office.

She and Minjeong had exchanged numbers before the girl left earlier that day, so Jimin was eagerly checking her phone every time it buzzed to see if it was a text from Minjeong. She felt herself grin when she noticed there was a good luck text from Minjeong.

She shot back a quick reply before stepping into Dr. Bae's office to get started with her work. With how well she had done in her animal behavior class the previous semester, the professor had asked her to be a teaching assistant for the upcoming semester. She jumped at the opportunity, thrilled to have the chance to help other students appreciate the class more.

She had genuinely enjoyed the class so much, and she felt the job aligned perfectly with the future she had planned for herself. She was sure if she did well as a TA, Dr. Bae would be able to write her a sparkling recommendation to get into a good veterinarian school.

*

"Sorry I'm late, I had to grab groceries on the way," Minjeong apologized, stepping out of her shoes so she could carry the bags over to the kitchen island.

"No worries, you're only 3 minutes late," Jimin said, laughing.

The two moved in surprising harmony as they put together the dinner Minjeong wanted to make.

When they were done with their meals and settled on the couch to watch a movie, Jimin decided to grab something from her fridge before coming back with two bowls -- one full of cherries while the other was empty. She handed the bowl of cherries to Minjeong before sitting down and snuggling up against her.

Minjeong scrunched up her face when she turned to face Jimin. "I hate biting down on cherry seeds," she complained honestly. Jimin couldn't help but laugh at her sullen expression.

"How about I do this?"

She grabbed a cherry and bit it in half, chewing on the half in before skillfully extracting the seed with her front teeth. She pressed the other half against Minjeong's lips, watching with a cocky smirk as the other girl stared back wide-eyed and opened .

"Somehow they taste better than I remember," Minjeong mumbled, before pulling Jimin's face closer for a kiss sweeter than the fruit she was eating.

*

Those three and a half weeks of summer passed by in the blink of an eye. It might have had something to do with the fact that Jimin was having so much fun seeing Minjeong practically every day, but she chalked it up to the fact that it always felt like time was flying anyways.

When she wasn't at work or with friends, she made time to see Minjeong for at least a few hours. The two of them had gone on so many dates at that point that she wasn't sure she could consider their relationship anywhere near casual anymore.

She was seated at a coffee shop on campus with Aeri and her other friend Yizhuo, listening to the two of them complain about classes starting for the fall semester.

"I just want to be laying by the pool right now," Aeri groaned, hiding her face behind her hands. Jimin chuckled at her antics before looking down at her phone that had just pinged.

  Minjeong: good luck on your first official day as a TA! I have a class at the same time, but can I come see you after?

Jimin couldn't stop the smile that spread across her face as she enthusiastically sent a response back to Minjeong.

"Is that the girl you've been dating?" Yizhuo asked, eyeing her curiously.

"We're not dating, we're just... going on a lot of dates," Jimin half-heartedly replied.

"Right, because that's not the same thing," Aeri replied with an eye roll. "Why don't you just officially ask her to be your girlfriend? You already see each other like every day. It's been like what, a month almost?"

Jimin let out a puff of air in annoyance. "Yeah yeah, okay I get it. I need to have 'the talk' with her."

"I'm sure it'll go well. Clearly she must like you a lot too if she's so willing to see you all the time," Yizhuo added.

With a newfound confidence in the idea of having a girlfriend by the end of the day, Jimin walked to class with a skip in her step.

She entered the lecture hall and took a seat at the table in the front of the room beside her coworker Jisu, next to where the professor had her computer set up to project onto the big screen. As the students trickled in to take their seats, Jimin rifled through all the papers she wanted to hand out after the professor went through introductions.

"Welcome to Animal Behavior, or as some of you might call it, BIO 401," Dr. Bae started off. "My name is Dr. Bae and and I'll be your professor for this semester." The professor continued to rattle off information about the course and its prerequisites and expectations. "And if you have any questions outside of my office hours, feel free to come speak to either of my teaching assistants, Jisu and Jimin."

Jimin could feel her phone buzzing in her pocket, but obviously she had to ignore it since all eyes were on her. She gave a small wave of acknowledgement to the class before handing half of the papers to Jisu and walking up the aisles of the lecture hall to distribute the packets.

"The TAs will be handing out the syllabus for this course. Every due date and deadline on there should be strictly adhered to, because I will not be giving out extensions. I don't curve this class so I expect you all to do your very best, and if that's not something you're capable of then feel free to drop this course. I have plenty of students who are waitlisted and willing to join."

The professor's cold demeanor was a shock to most students, but Jimin knew just how kind Dr. Bae was. She held back a smile as she handed out the syllabus packets to more students, noticing their disgruntled faces.

She paused when a hand landed on hers, and immediately her face paled when she made eye contact with the person who had touched her.

Before her sat Minjeong, smiling up at her like she wasn't sitting in a class where Jimin was going to work as a TA for the entire semester. She abruptly pulled her hand back, avoiding eye contact while handing Minjeong the stack of papers and walking back down to the front table.

The rest of the class went by in a blur, and Jimin could only focus on the cold sweat forming on her neck. She couldn't be in a relationship with one of the students, and she definitely didn't want to lose the opportunity to have this job. So much for having a girlfriend by tonight, she begrudgingly thought to herself.

When the class came to an end, all the students got up and started filing out of the lecture hall. Jimin was busy putting her things away when she felt a figure stop in front of her.

"If I had known you'd be the TA for this class I would've worn something cuter so we could just go out together straight from class," Minjeong joked. Her face faltered a bit when she realized Jimin was staring back at her with a grim expression.

"Let's talk outside," Jimin said quietly, pulling on her backpack and leading the way out of the building. Minjeong fiddled with her fingers nervously beside her, before finally stopping to face her when she noticed Jimin stopped walking.

"Did I do something wrong?" Minjeong asked, looking crestfallen. It pained Jimin to see her look so upset, but the other part of her was angry.

"You lied to me, Minjeong."

"Wait, what? When have I ever lied to you?" she asked, incredulous.

"I met you at a bar. If I had known you were younger than me, I would've asked you about your classes so we could avoid something like this."

"How is it my fault you're my TA? You could have asked me about my classes regardless," Minjeong retorted, crossing her arms over her chest.

"No, because BIO 401 is only for juniors, Minjeong. You used a fake ID at the bar, didn't you?" Jimin asked, her voice slightly raising out of irritation.

"Okay, and? Who doesn't use a fake ID in college? I didn't lie to you about anything."

"I never would've met you at that bar if you hadn't used the fake to get in!"

"Jimin, what's your point here? You want me to apologize? Okay, I'm sorry I used a fake ID when we met. Now what do you want me to do?"

"I want us to stop seeing each other," she said with finality. She closed her eyes when she noticed Minjeong's eyebrows were furrowed in confusion.

"I can't date a student in a class I TA for. It's unethical. If someone were to find out I could lose my job."

She heard Minjeong scoff and opened her eyes to meet with the younger girl's narrowed ones. "Jimin, I can't just turn off my feelings. I like you, okay? Can't we at least just try keeping this a secret or something?" she pleaded.

"No."

*

The class was scheduled for Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, for 50 minutes each of those days. Going from seeing Minjeong every day to seeing her three times a week when she knew their dynamics had changed was tough for Jimin, but she couldn't risk anything.

And yet, Minjeong did not seem to take her answer well at all. Rather than respect her decision, the girl did everything in her power to get Jimin's attention whenever she could. She even went as far as attending her office hours even though the class had barely begun teaching difficult material yet.

"Minjeong, unless you have a question, I suggest you leave," Jimin said through gritted teeth. There were other students in her office, but they were sitting on the floor working on the first assignment together in hushed voices.

"I do have a question, actually. Will you be my girlfriend?" Minjeong whispered, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively. Jimin let out a breath through her nose.

"Get out."

Minjeong grinned at her in response. "That wasn't a no," she gloated.

*

"She's driving me insane," Jimin groaned, laying her head down on the table. She was studying in the library with Aeri and Yizhuo, who could only pat her back in pity.

"Are you sure you don't want to just try dating her? I'm sure you could keep it a secret until the semester is over," Yizhuo suggested, but she was shot down by the frustrated look on Jimin's face.

"You know I can't lose this job. I wish she would just understand that," she said with a sigh.

"Well, have you tried telling her you can just date her after the semester ends?" Aeri inquired. Jimin's head swiveled so quickly she almost felt dizzy.

"Oh my god, you're right."

She quickly shot Minjeong a text asking if they could meet up to talk, to which the girl answered immediately.

  Minjeong: Sure, I'll come over after my class

When Jimin let Minjeong into her apartment to talk, she wasn't expecting the girl to wrap her arms around her in a tight hug. "Minjeong, stop," she grumbled, pushing the younger girl off of her.

"I thought you asked me to come over so you could give me a chance." the girl said, frowning.

"Look... I won't deny that I like you, Minjeong. But I just can't date you right now."

"So you're saying we can date in the future?" Minjeong asks, raising an eyebrow skeptically. Jimin nodded back in response.

"If you're willing to wait, that is. I was thinking maybe we could try this again after the semester ends."

Minjeong scoffed. "And what if you find someone else you'd rather date between now and then? Someone who won't jeopardize your job."

Jimin rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "And what's stopping you from doing the same? It's not like I'm cutting you off cold turkey. We can still be friends, you know. I just can't show you any favoritism because I don't want anyone to think I'm helping you cheat in class."

"Great, I get friendzoned and have my integrity