“Wanna go for a night walk?” Minji asked as they got to Hanni and Danielle’s room.

Hanni halted in front of her door and faced her. Not like she didn’t want to go, but honestly, all she wanted was to fall on her bed. But spending some more time with Minji… could she say no to that?

“Hey, Minji, we’ll be in your room. Haerin wants to show me a jazz concert!” Danielle chirped. “Wanna join us?”

Hanni and Minji exchanged a look, communicating with their eyes.

“No, you go ahead. Have fun!” Hanni waved a hand.

“Alright, see you later! Have fun too!”

Danielle grabbed Haerin’s hand and they walked away.

“Well, I guess… I’ll be in your room?” Minji scratched the back of her neck.

Was her face red?

Hanni opened the door and turned the small desk light on.

“What were you gonna do?” Minji asked.

“Lay down and exist.” Hanni did just that, falling face front.

“Sounds delightful.”

Except it didn’t, because a weight pressed on Hanni’s whole body.

“K-Kim Minji! Get off me!”

“Make me.” Minji’s low voice sounded so close to Hanni’s ear that it made her swallow dry.

And how unfair was that? Minji was taller, way bulkier. And Hanni was supposed to, what, turn around under her and leave?!

She placed her palms against the mattress and pushed up. Just as she was almost making some progress, Minji’s fingers lightly scratched her sides. Hanni lost all possible strength into a fit of giggles mixed with curses and pleas for her to stop. Minji didn’t stop, so Hanni flailed around.

Her elbow hit something, and Minji wheezed.

“, I’m sorry!” Hanni said, feeling the weight finally leaving. She rolled around, only to find Minji lying next to her, hands over her chest. “A-Are you okay?”

“You hit my !” Minji couldn’t stop laughing as she wheezed through her teeth.

“Oh my god, I am so sorry!” Hanni sat up. “But in my defense, you wouldn’t stop tickling me!”

“You didn’t have to hit me!”

“It wasn’t on purpose, man!”

They locked eyes. One, two seconds, and they burst out laughing once again.

“I demand compensation,” Minji said. “Play me something on the guitar.”

Hanni could live with that. She fetched it from the corner and sat, as Minji scooted closer and leaned against Hanni’s pillows, holding Jerry against her chest.

It would get Minji’s scent again.

“Any requests?” Hanni asked, sitting on top of her right leg so she could turn to Minji.

“A song that’s not just instrumental. A song where I can hear you sing.”

Hanni gripped the neck of her guitar.

“I saw you were nervous during practice,” Minji’s voice was so… caring. “But it’s just me now. And I really want to hear it. Would you sing for me, Hanni?”

Smashing the guitar in Minji’s head crossed Hanni’s mind. Minji was so unfair. And Hanni hated how weak she was for whatever Minji asked her to do.

But she would do this for herself. Hanni would sing to prove herself she could do it. To practice doing it in front of others. Just like she did with Danielle.

And in her repertory of possible songs she could play and sing, she wondered why the first one to pop up in her mind was the one she found herself already playing.

Going back to the corner where I first saw you
Gonna camp in my sleeping bag, I'm not gonna move
Got some words on cardboard, got your picture in my hand
Saying, "If you see this girl can you tell her where I am?"

Some try to hand me money, they don't understand
I'm not broke, I'm just a broken-hearted man
I know it makes no sense but what else can I do?
And how can I move on when I'm still in love with you?

'Cause if one day you wake up and find that you're missing me
And your heart starts to wonder where on this earth I could be
Thinking maybe you'll come back here to the place that we'd meet
And you'll see me waiting for you on the corner of the street

So I'm not moving, I'm not moving

Not once Hanni looked up from her guitar. Her heart thundered in her chest and her whole face and ears and neck burned. Her hands still trembled.

But she did it.

Minji said nothing, so Hanni faced her. Minji hugged Jerry even closer to her chest.

“S-So,” Hanni cleared . “Aren’t you gonna say anything?”

Minji’s lips moved without a sound. “I’m speechless.”

“Why?”

Her eyebrows moved up and down as she still tried to say something. Had it been so bad that Minji was trying to come up with a nice way to say it?

“Sorry, I’m putting you in an awkward position, ain’t I?” Hanni sighed, standing up to put the guitar away. “You can just say it was bad.”

“What?” Minji bolted up in her bed, sitting cross-legged. “Bad? Who said it was bad?”

“I’m assuming, you’re not saying anything.”

“No! No, no, it was amazing! It was… my chest hurt.” Minji placed a hand over her heart. “In a good way. Not because you hit me just now.” She chuckled, making Hanni do so as well. “I was speechless because of how beautiful it was. I… I was not expecting it. I mean, silly me. How could I not expect this from you?”

Hanni blinked, sitting again. “You… Are you for real?”

Minji squinted her eyes. “Who told you otherwise? I will seriously beat them up so bad.”

“No one!” Hanni laughed, shaking her head. “I don’t sing for people.”

“Oh. I must be special, then.”

“You asked me to do it!” Hanni smacked her leg.

Minji shrugged, leaning back against the pillows again. “Dani said you could sing. I had to hear it.”

“Did you like it that much?”

“I loved it. And I’m for real real. You have to sing with Dani. Please do, Hanni.”

“I already said I would do it.” And if she hadn’t, she would say yes now. Yes, because Minji asked. “But thank you, Minji. It means quite a lot.”

“Will you sing for me again?”

Hanni gulped. “I might.”

“For practice.”

“Yeah, call it practice. You just want free, private concerts.” Hanni rolled her eyes and leaned against the wall, pretending to be oh so bothered by that possibility.

“And what if I do?”

Hanni met her eyes. Minji was dead serious.

“Fine. I’ll do it. For practice.”

Minji grinned. Still so unfair…

“That looks uncomfortable. There’s space here,” Minji said.

Barely any space. But it wouldn’t be a problem if Hanni laid against her pillows, on her bed, would it? She scooted back, and Minji opened her arms, that silly little grin still there.

What, did she want to cuddle or something?

Minji patted her chest. “Here.”

Hanni froze.

Her mind asked her what the hell was she doing, and what the hell was happening. But still, she went on. She laid, back against Minji’s chest, her arms coming around her front. Minji’s chin leaned against Hanni’s head, and oh god her heart beat so hard.

“I’m proud of you,” Minji said. “You know, during practice. You spoke up your ideas. It made me so happy. And see, I told you everyone would receive them well. The song is great. And thank you for the help with my drums. I really am learning with you.”

At least Minji couldn’t properly see her red cheeks like that. She didn’t know for how much longer she would last like that.

“Thank you,” Hanni’s voice was so low she barely heard it. “It was because you encouraged me.”

“Nah. Give yourself more credit, Pham Hanni.”

Hanni hadn’t noticed just how tense her body was. Taking in a deeper breath, she tried to relax it, melting even more into Minji’s embrace. It felt nice. Scratch that. It felt so good it was embarrassing.

“I wonder what Dani and Haerin are doing,” Minji broke the silence.

“Kim Minji!” Hanni tried looking up at her. Bad idea. Too close.

“What? Oh my gosh, Hanni, you take your mind out of the gutter! I didn’t mean any of that!”

“I didn’t either!”

“Clearly.” Minji shook her head with a chuckle. “I mean, like… actually, never mind.”

She was going to say something. Minji was definitely going to mention something about them. Did she know something that Hanni didn’t? Kinda like how Hanni knew about Danielle’s crush on Haerin. Did Haerin also talk with Minji about it?

Maybe Hanni was reading too much into it. She wanted to ask more, but that could put Minji in an awkward position.

Minji reached for her phone and Hanni peeked at what she was doing. She opened Spotify, chose Wave to Earth’s page, and clicked on the first song. ‘Bad’ started playing, and she laid the phone on Hanni’s nightstand.

Great. Just… great. Wave to Earth was now officially associated with Minji and there was nothing Hanni could do to prevent it.

“Did you have any boyfriends in the past?” Minji asked, after a long silence that went on for almost the whole song. (Except for Minji’s occasionally singing in a super low tone and volume. Hanni was dead quiet. She wanted to hear it all.)

Hanni frowned, peeking at her by the corner of her eyes. Minji looked down, at how she picked on her nails over Hanni’s front.

“Why the sudden question?”

Minji shrugged. “Just curious.”

“Yeah, I did. One, during high school. What about you?”

The way Minji gulped echoed in the room. “Nah.”

Hanni grabbed Minji’s hands so she would stop picking on her nails. “Really?”

“Yeah.”

“No one at all?”

“No. Why, are you surprised?”

“Honestly, yes.”

“And why is that?”

Hanni let Minji play with her fingers, drawing circles around her nails, and stared at them while thinking about the correct way to put her words. ‘Seasons’ started playing on Minji’s phone. “I mean… you’re beautiful. And caring and cool. I find it impossible that no one ever had a crush on you.”

“Many did. Doesn’t mean I wanted to date any of them.”

There was this question that wanted to rip from Hanni’s lips.

Is it because you like girls?

But Hanni thought she had no right to ask. Or… was it because she feared the answer?

“But anyway, how was your boyfriend?” Minji spoke again.

“Normal, I guess? He was a fellow violinist in the high school orchestra. He was good-looking and funny. But he was also… how do I put this… snobby? Thought a bit too much of himself, and would judge others when they didn’t have high expectations for the future. Like, ‘Oh my god, you do not aspire to play in this or that orchestra and travel the world?’, and no, honey, sorry to tell you, I don’t. Travel the world, yes. Play in big orchestras? Not at ing all.”

“So, you broke up with him?”

“He did.” Hanni scoffed. “It’s kind of ridiculous, isn’t it?”

“Yes, he is ridiculous. him. He had someone like you and had the audacity to break up? Nah, bro, him extra hard.”

Again, that sudden aggressive protective side jumping out.

“It wasn’t that serious, anyway. Like, okay, I’m not gonna say I wasn’t hurt, but… good riddance, I guess. And he was a hypocrite. He judged others but then was jealous of me. Like, ? You saw your girlfriend as a threat?”

“Good ing riddance, indeed. He did not deserve you.”

“I guess he didn’t.”

Minji kept playing with Hanni’s hands. And Hanni’s heart kept hammering her chest.

“You deserve the best, Hanni,” Minji’s words flew in a whisper.

Hanni didn’t know what that best was. There was one thing she knew, though.

During all the time she had spent with her ex-boyfriend, she didn’t remember feeling like that. Nervous, giddy? Yeah, sure.

But feeling like her chest would rip apart? And her stomach twist? All the while she still felt a weird sense of calm and peace?

She had a hunch. About what that was. She had dated, after all. But she didn’t want to think about it. She didn’t want to call it for what it was.

After all, she had never felt that for a girl.

And she was scared. So, let’s call it a close, platonic friendship for now, and let Hanni enjoy the cuddling and hand-holding while ‘Light’ played in the background.

---

A/N - *sigh* brb gonna listen to Hanni's The Man Who Can't Be Moved cover for the 3294823094 time

Also, Hanni's so done for. Oh well!!! (btw the tiktok they posted today??? a died. that was me)

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