Kwon Yuri let loose a soft, blissful sigh that didn’t go unnoticed by her best friend and teammate— Choi Sooyoung. Her fingers were moving deftly, stuffing her tracksuit and other track-and-field related items into her bag, but all that was done rather halfheartedly as shown by the glazed look the Black Pearl had in her eyes, a fatuous smile at the edge of her lips.

“Yuri-yah, what’s up? You’ve been acting this way throughout training and it’s starting to scare me a little.” 

The Black Pearl blinked, passing her equally tanned friend a cursory glance. She shrugged, that same silly smile still painting her features. “It’s nothing.” And it was obvious between the two of them that, that was a definite lie.

Sooyoung had narrowed her eyes down at her skeptically and Yuri only smiled in that giddy manner ever since the end of their short break earlier. After that whole… ‘moment’ from before, Yuri had been sporting an awfully good mood. Her long and dreary training had floated by quicker than usual and all the hurdles and runs, which thought to be rather tedious and strenuous, had never felt this simple and effortless before. And it was probably all because of a certain girl who had constantly plagued Yuri’s mind all throughout her training for the day.

Jung Sooyeon.

She had noticed the fair and petite brunette ever since she had first stepped into class.

Yuri could still remember that very day with such clarity. 

It had been the start of their second semester of their first year of high school and according to their homeroom teacher, they were expecting a new classmate in the form of a transferee from an international school. Everyone was told to treat her nicely and to guide her along and show her the ropes if need there be. But despite the murmurings of disapproval around her, Yuri had kept a rather open (curious) mind to their new classmate.

And then finally, she had walked in. 

The first time Yuri had laid her eyes on her, she was taken aback by her beauty. 

Her light brown hair that flowed past her shoulders in soft ringlets and curls— it had made Yuri’s fingers itch for just a touch, to see if it was really as soft as it had looked to be— had framed up her small face, consisting of soft and delicate features. Her complexion was fair and utterly flawless and Yuri had wondered if it was even possible to have such smooth skin like hers. But what was most striking about her, were her eyes. They were dark. So very dark. And Yuri had thought that they had looked so distant and sad.

Jung Sooyeon had then taken a step up front, drawing back her shoulders and lifted her chin up slightly, staring up ahead at nothing in particular. Before she spoke, she had released a near imperceptible sigh.

‘My name is Jung Sooyeon, nice to meet all of you.’

Her introduction was short, terse and straight to the point and throughout, her expression had been blank and neutral. She didn’t smile even once. 

There was soft hum in the air as the rest of the class took to whispering and murmuring to each other whilst casting occasional dubious glances at the transferee standing in front of them. It was then, that it was set in concrete that the rest of class didn’t take well to Sooyeon’s transfer.

And with that, she had taken the vacant seat in front of Yuri and had sat there ever since. It was probably from there, that she found herself developing a tiny (Lies. It was a huge one.) crush on her classmate.

“Let me guess, Jung Sooyeon has spoken to you at last?”

That had definitely broken the Black Pearl out of her reverie. It was then, that Yuri finally realized that they were out of school and walking towards the bus stop.

Yuri had blushed almost instantly, biting nervously on the inside of her of lip. “Wh-what are you talking about, Sooyoung-ah?”

The other tanned girl rolled her eyes and scoffed, shouldering her school bag, as they both prepared to leave the school premises. “You’re obviously crushing hard on her, Yuri, I’m not blind.” 

And Yuri only turned visibly redder at that.

Was she really being that obvious?

“Yes, you are.”

Yuri blinked, straightening up rigidly.

Did she just—

“No, I’m not reading your mind. You really have to stop wearing you heart on your sleeves, Yuri-yah.” She paused, giving Yuri a quick glance. “And stop frowning at me like that, you’re going to get wrinkles and Sooyeon’s probably not going to like that.”

Yuri immediately pursed her lips, pressing her lips into a thin line, trying her best to keep the corners of her lips from drooping into a frown. She must not get any wrinkles. Must not. If she did, it’ll ruin any tiny chance of Sooyeon speaking to her or forming any relationship with her.

Sooyoung quirked an amused brow at that and she looked like she was trying to hold back her laughter. “So are you going to tell me why are you acting so giddy and stuff?”

Yuri had cracked a goofy grin in an instant. 

“She smiled at me.” And sighed blissfully yet once again, feeling pretty much like a typical high school girl who’s gotten herself a crush on the popular boy in class. Except. Her crush was a girl and she wasn’t exactly popular.

It had been a coincidence that Yuri had noticed her. The track-and-field team had been having a short break and Yuri was refreshing herself up at that point in time when she had turned her head up towards façade of the school from the sports track. 

And the minute she had seen that mop of light brown hair, bobbing from the window of their classroom, she had instinctively known that it was her — Jung Sooyeon. She had kept her eyes trained on her the entire time. Waiting. Hoping. Praying that she would turn around and look out of the window— look right at her.

And she did.

Their eyes had met and Yuri thought her heart had nearly stopped right there and then, but nonetheless, after managing to calm her throbbing heart a little, she had managed to muster a smile up at her. To which, the unexpected happened and Sooyeon had actually responded back with a small, hesitant smile of her own and Yuri had nearly swooned right there and then.

She had a pretty smile. And Yuri had liked it when she smiled; it gave her the butterflies and made her stomach do flips. She had wanted to see her smile again.

“That’s it?” asked Sooyoung in disbelief, a hint of disappointment buried in her voice.

Yuri grinned, looking completely pleased with herself. “Yes, that’s it.” 

Sooyoung snorted, shaking her head. She rolled her eyes. “And you’re happy just like that.” 

“Yes, I am.” Yuri said proudly. “After all, it’s been difficult to get a reaction out of the crushes I’ve had so far, especially since they’ve always been…” She trailed off awkwardly and frowned, “girls.” She had said it so softly that, one probably wouldn’t have heard it in passing. But she knew Sooyoung did as the girl had steeled her features slightly.

“So? I still don’t see why you shouldn’t make a move on Sooyeon and please don’t tell me you’re waiting for her to make the move because we all know that, that is not going to happen.”

Yuri frowned, shoulders hunching as their footsteps finally came to a halt when they had reached their destination— the bus stop.

She sighed, a defeated one this time and lowered her eyes slightly down onto the ground.

Sometimes… she couldn’t help but wish that she wasn’t… like this— a homoual. Things would be a lot easier for her that way. She had always prayed, always hoped that the next person she would crush on would be a guy.

But it never happened.

Ever since at a young age, Yuri had known that she was slightly different from the girls of her age. While her friends had been gushing over the cute boy who sat at the front row in class, Yuri was staring longingly at the upperclassman, Lee Hyori, who was from a couple years above her own. She was nine at that time and was only starting to get in touch with her own uality and had constantly found herself admiring the curves and softer (less masculine) features of girls around her.

And there was also the case of Kwon Boa, an unnie of hers (also an upperclassman) from the track-and-field team in middle school. She had always treated her well, showering Yuri with hugs and platonic kisses on her cheeks because she thought that Yuri was the cutest thing on earth. And each time she came too close, Yuri had found herself sweating buckets and incapable of proper speech and her crush would let out a happy girlish squeal and hug her even tighter.

Yuri had lots more crushes here and there, but they had always spotted the same trend. Always girls.

And this time it just happened to be a certain Jung Sooyeon, whom Yuri had been sitting behind of since the very beginning of time, but had never really spoken to before. 

It was hard. Liking a girl, that is. Especially when Yuri herself was rather shy and meek. It was even harder.

“So are you going to make a move on her or are you just going to let this one slide like all the other crushes you had befor— Yah, are you listening to me?” Sooyoung gave the Black Pearl shove, jabbing her lightly in the rib.

Yuri merely blinked, looked up at her distractedly and sighed dejectedly. “I don’t know, Sooyoung.”

“You can always try. She sits right in front of you for god’s sake. Making a move on her should be easy as pie.” Sooyoung groaned, sounding progressively frustrated as time passed by. She was waving her hands wildly in the air now. “Be natural and just talk to her, say ‘hello’ or something. I honestly don’t think she’s that much of an Ice Princess everyone’s making her out to be but if she is, then too bad I guess.” 

“Hm,” grunted Yuri non-committedly. 

Sooyoung let out an annoyed huff, throwing her hands up in the air exasperatedly. “If you’re not going to do anything about your pathetic love life, I shall gladly help you whether you like it or not.” 

Yuri raised her brow at the slightly taller brunette curiously. “Just what are you talking about?”

And as if on cue, the bus had finally arrived, stopping right in front of them. With a smirk, Sooyoung flashed Yuri a glance over her shoulder. 

“Just wait and see.”

Without another word, she had promptly made her way up the steps of the bus, leaving Yuri to follow closely behind, perturbed and very curious to whatever ploy she would come up with in the next couple of days.

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