The room went silent for a moment before Joohyun burst into laughter. “That’s a good joke,” Joohyun commented, motioning for Seulgi to pass the remote over to her.

Seulgi stared at her blankly for a moment before letting out a low chuckle. She quietly handed Joohyun the remote while trying to figure out how to react to the unintentional rejection that she had just received. Of course, Joohyun didn’t know that she had just outright rejected Seulgi but the latter was still a little bit hurt with how much confidence she had built up for that exact moment.

Damn. Seulgi thought. I even used up a really good line. Smiling stupidly to herself, Seulgi tossed her head back and stared at the ceiling.

“Are you okay?” Joohyun asked, shoving a handful of popcorn into . She watched Seulgi remain motionless and nudged her arm, “Hello? Kang Seulgi, are you alive?”

Seulgi brought herself back up to sit straight and faced Joohyun, “I’m good, what would you like to watch?”

With that, the two completely forgot about the kiss that had occurred just moments before and put on some drama that was airing its pilot episode. The two adjusted so that they were sitting there with their shoulders touching. Seulgi was staring blankly at the television screen while playing out scenarios in her head where she told Joohyun how she felt. Joohyun on the other hand was too deep in the drama too notice Seulgi spacing out and glancing in her direction every couple minutes. The younger girl closed her eyes and took in a deep breath until it began to hurt.

“Joohyun?” She called out quietly. The older girl didn’t hear her the first time around, “Hey, Joohyun.” The second time she spoke more sternly.

The girl glanced up midway through putting popcorn into and Seulgi couldn’t help but crack a smile. “Yeah, what’s wrong?”

Seulgi cleared and went back to having a serious expression on her face, “I just thought I should tell you I was serious earlier.”

Joohyun watched Seulgi stand up from the couch and begin to grab her coat and phone off the dinner table. Although she had a slight idea what was going on, she needed Seulgi to continue talking for her to make sure she was right.

Right on cue, Seulgi turned to her and continued. “I’m going to go so you can think it over but I like you. A lot. You make me happier than anything else in the world.” Seulgi stated quite confidently although her hands were shaking from the anxiety that this interaction was giving her. Joohyun stood up quickly and took large steps to get to Seulgi who was just about to turn and leave. “Seul.”

The latter turned and was caught off guard in a kiss from Joohyun. They seemed to mold together and fit like the perfect two puzzle pieces. This kiss felt different from the first two that they had experienced and Seulgi thought it was probably because all of their feelings were out there. There was nothing in hiding anymore. When they separated, their faces remained close and a small smile graced Joohyun’s lips.

“I like you too.” She breathed out, her voice barely a whisper. Their thoughts were louder than anything else in the room.

Seulgi giggled a little bit and rested her forehead against Joohyun’s. “I still have to go, give yourself some time to think, okay?”

Joohyun nodded and gave the girl a peck on the lips before they separated. Her eyes never left the younger girl as she hurried to put on her shoes. She was still shaken up and needed to get to fresh air as soon as possible. Fresh air. Seulgi was not craving cigarettes which she found to be significant growth on her part. Joohyun really was her cure.  

“I’ll see you later,” Seulgi waved quickly and bolted out the door.

***

Joohyun laid in bed and thought long and hard. She had spent the last four days ignoring most of Seulgi’s texts and calls although to be fair there weren’t that many. The younger girl was studying after all which gave Joohyun time to think about the events from Sunday evening. In the blink of an eye it was already Thursday and Joohyun knew she couldn’t avoid Seulgi any longer than she already had been. Just as she moved to pick her phone up off her counter, it lit up with a text from Seulgi. Every inch of Joohyun tried to hold back from looking. She shut her eyes tight and clenched her hands into fists. Breathing heavily, Joohyun broke and ended up snatching the phone right up.

Poison: I work tonight if you’d like to swing by? I wanna see you. I miss your cute face.

Joohyun clutched at her head and sighed. There was no way she could keep this up. Throughout the week, Seulgi would send her short, endearing messages and Joohyun tried her hardest to respond enthusiastically but it was clear she was not meeting the other girl’s energy. That was it.

Joohyun brought herself to stand up and threw on a basic outfit. Most of her clothes were in the wash so she went with her favourite black jeans and striped button up tucked in right at the front. She scurried around her house in search of her wallet, purse, and keys and within moments she found herself already out the door. There weren’t that many people out on the street just yet but that might have been