Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

My name is Im Nayeon. One of my favourite things in the world is flowers. I have always thought they are extremely beautiful; there are so many, but so different, so colourful... they also smell good and attract cool little bugs. I have always been amazed by them, so when I entered high school I joined the gardening club without thinking onto it too much. Watering the flowers, making sure the grass is cut, looking up to the tall trees we had there... it all makes me so happy.
The fact that the tennis courts are just next to the little garden I spend my afternoons in helped a lot too. And it is because Yoo Jeongyeon is not only the president of the tennis club but also their best player. She has won many prizes and has represented our school multiple times. Actually, our school got kind of famous because of her. She is tall, has short brown hair, and the prettiest eyes I have ever seen. I have only seen her with sporty clothes (she doesn’t really wear my school’s uniform, but since she’s the reason our school is remotely known now, teachers let it slide) but I’m sure as hell everything would look good on her. She’s really friendly and chats a lot with actually everybody.
Everybody but me. And it’s not because of her. I’m just really shy and don’t know how to function, especially when I’m around cute girls. But God, how I wish she talked to me, smiled at me, maybe even kissed me... She’s so cool... Yoo Jeongyeon...
The alarm interrupted my dreams. I opened my eyes slowly, assimilating I had to get ready for another awful day at school. I turned off the alarm and fell onto my bed again “just five more minutes...” I thought.
My mother woke me up after what had seemed like 5 minutes, but had actually been almost an hour. I ran out of my house with the toast she made for me still in my mouth. “I can’t be late again” I thought to myself. I felt like choking on it so actually stopped, devoured it and started running again.
I got to school 2 minutes before the lesson started. “You’re lucky you live just next to the school” I heard a voice behind me, turned around and saw Mina, my best friend, leaning on the wall. “Hurry” she said, and we headed to the classroom.
I entered and gave a peek at that particular sit, but it was empty. I bit my lip.
My sit was just next to the window, on the last row. Mina sat just in front of me. I sat down and looked through the window melancholy when I saw _her_.
Yoo Jeongyeon. She was walking slowly, with one of her hands on her bag and the other one in her pocket. She had her short hair tied on a ridiculously small ponytail. I had never seen the popular Yoo Jeongyeon with such a cute thing. I felt my heart skipping a beat.
“What are you looking at?” Mina interrupted my thoughts. I couldn’t even answer, because the teacher had just arrived, but she raised her eyebrows. I took a quick peek at the window and saw Jeongyeon and her friend Momo playing around, entering the building.
I spent the whole lesson looking at her. I didn’t know exactly why I did it. Why I felt my heart beating fast and my cheeks turning red whenever she looked at me. I had never actually dared to talk to her. The classes were actually kind of enjoyable, and when I noticed I was already on my lunch break. My eyes instinctively looked at Jeongyeon, but of course she left to eat with her friends. Mina and I stayed in the classroom and ate there, as we always did.
I wondered if Jeongyeon would play tennis on the court that was just next to the garden I use to take care of. I wanted to see her play, not only because I had the biggest crush on her but because she was so good that even I, someone who has never exercised before and can’t run for two minutes without getting out of breath, thought about joining a sports club. But Jeongyeon...
“Nayeon. “Nayeon.” “NAYEON!” I looked at Mina, and just realised I had actually been ignoring her for a few minutes. “Are you even listening to me?” she said, and looked kind of angry. “Mmm” I answered, as she sighed. “I don’t even know what’s going through your mind nowadays, but keep yourself together, alright?” I smiled shyly and nodded. Everyone was chatting and laughing. I realised I should have paid more attention to Mina.
Mina, unlike me, is actually quite popular. She has quite many friends. Her pretty smile made her popular, and even if we attend an all-girls school, many people have confessed their feelings to her (but she had rejected every girl). We are childhood friends and that’s why she hangs out with me. Sometimes I feel bad, thinking about how Mina could spend her breaks with the popular and cool kids, but had to actually spend it with me.
“Damn, I wish I was popular amongst girls too” I thought to myself.
I like girls. I don’t know when I had realised that. I just remember kissing some guys during middle school and totally hating on it, and then seeing Jeongyeon around in High School and thinking that kissing her wouldn’t feel that bad. After that I thought that actually, kissing _any_ girl would feel much better than what I had experienced with guys.
However, I haven’t told anyone about my sexuality, not even Mina. I’m not sure how she would take it, and don’t want to risk her friendship. Mina has never made and homophobic comment, but she hasn’t showed support either, so I really don’t know how she feels about the topic, and I don’t want to know anyways. Not knowing was better. I love Mina with all my heart and if she rejected me I would be devasted.
The fact that Mina was in the tennis club, and that she was indeed in good terms with Jeongyeon and her friends, didn’t help much either. I would die if Jeongyeon knows how I feel for her.
I chatted with Mina until the break was over. She invited me around to her house to have a sleepover that night, and I agreed, hoping that I could make up for the lack of care I had showed towards her today. I love Mina so much.

Chapter Text

I was watering the flowers, hearing the tennis club playing, and trying really hard not to look at them. The clubs activities ended at 7pm, and it was already half past 6, but today I had to stay a bit longer, wait for Mina to take a shower and change clothes, so we can go to her house together to have the promised sleepover. Not that I really cared. I love my flowers so much that I could spent hours and hours doing nothing but looking at them.
I heard the tennis club chatting about their practice today, and figured it was already 7pm. I looked at my watch to confirm it. “Great, now I only have to wait for Mina to come” I thought, as I finished watering the flowers, smiling.
It hadn’t even been 2 minutes since I stopped hearing the tennis club chatting, when I heard a voice saying my name just behind me. “Im Nayeon?” I almost fell to the ground when I recognised whose voice it was.
I turned around and saw Yoo Jeongyeon, with her hands in her pockets. She was wearing her sporty clothes, and she was still sweating from the practice. I opened my mouth and then closed it again. I had already forgot what she had said.
She came closer to me, took the hose I had in my hands and filled an empty bucket with water. “So it is you who keeps the flowers this beautiful?” She wasn’t looking at me, but at the bucket she was filling, so she really didn’t see me nodding. She then looked up to me, smiled, and emptied the bucket on her head. “Great” She said, all wet. “They are beautiful, so keep up with the good work!” she smiled again and left.
Mina found me 20 minutes later banging my head against the wall.

—

“So. Are you going to tell me what happened or...?” Mina looked at me half worried half amused.
“Mmm” I started. “Well, your friend Yoo Jeongyeon, the one who is in the tennis club with you, you know...?” I acted as if I didn’t really know her nor cared about her. Mina nodded. “Well, she came up to me, and you know I’m... really shy... so I didn’t say anything.” I tried to remark as much as I can that I am indeed very shy and that was the only reason why I couldn’t talk to Yoo Jeongyeon, but Mina raised an eyebrow “you didn’t say ANYTHING?” I nodded slowly “like nothing, not even a word...?” I nodded again, this time looking at the ground and not actually at her. “God Nayeon, I know you’re shy but... anyways, what did she say?”
I smiled and looked up to her again. Mina looked surprised I was smiling so my huge ass smile disappeared. “Mm not too much really... she only asked me about my flowers”
Mina sat on her bed. “Well. That’s kinda cute actually. Couldn’t tell Yoo Jeongyeon was interested in flowers at all”
Mina looked at me, bit her lip and then looked down. It seemed like she was hiding something.
“Mmm?” I started, sitting on her bed too. “What happens?”
“Nothing” She said. I was fully aware of the fact that she was hiding something, but I decided not to ask her further into it, since I was also hiding a lot from her. I was hiding that I like Yoo Jeongyeon.
I was hiding that I like girls.
We watched netflix, played wii and ate pizza for the rest of the night. I enjoyed it a lot, it had been too long since I spent so much time around Mina. She eventually fell asleep on me. I looked at her and thought that one day. One day I will come out to her. I will tell her everything I’ve been hiding. She will be the first one to know.

Chapter Text

The sleepover we had on friday actually ended up lasting the whole weekend. I found myself watching anime alone at 3am on sunday night (more like monday early morning), with mina by my side sleeping peacefully since 10pm. I knew I had to get up in only 3/4 hours, so I had actually thought about pulling and all nighter. “It’s okay.” I thought to myself. “I can actually sleep only 3 hours. Plus, Mina will wake me up”
Mina did actually try to wake me up. Multiple times. The last thing I remember is opening one eye and seeing Mina already with the school uniform on, hair combed, make up on (which meant she had already had breakfast and brushed her teeth), her hands on her hips, threatening me to leave alone. I closed my eyes, thinking that Mina wouldn’t actually leave without me.
Well, she did, and I can’t really blame her. When I left her house I was already 10 minutes late, I hadn’t had breakfast, combed my hair nor put on any make up: I had only found time to brush my teeth and put on my uniform at the speed of light. Mina’s house was a bit further from the school than mine too, so I had to _run_. I got there in 5 minutes, which actually meant I ran quite a lot, but I was totally out of breath, so I had to lean on a wall before entering the classroom.
I peeked a shadow going into the garden. My garden. I followed it slowly, trying not to make any noise. Who would want to get into my garden?
I tried really hard not to scream when I saw Yoo Jeongyeon standing just in front of my flowers, staring at them intensively. The shock was so big that I think I actually made some kind of noise, because she noticed me. She stared at me, her cheeks turning red.
“Mmm” she started. “I... I just wanted to make sure you were taking care of the flowers, okay?” she stuttered. “Good job” she said after a few minutes, and started leaving.
I had actually frozen by that time. Why was Yoo Jeongyeon suddenly so interested in my flowers?
“So are you going to come or not?” I turned around and saw Jeongyeon standing near the halfway, looking at me. “The teachers won’t say anything if you come with me”
The teachers really didn’t say anything to us when we entered the classroom, but I could hear my classmates whispering. However, they stopped when Jeongyeon looked deadly at them.
I looked at Mina, whose wide-opened eyes went from me to Jeongyeon and from her to me. She actually smiled to me a bit before turning around to actually listen to the lesson.
I told Mina what had happened on our way to the changing room (we had PE now). Mina laughed and said “I don’t know if that’s weird or cute”. Again I got the feeling that she was hiding something from me. I saw her bitting her lip and looking down. I frowned, but didn’t say anything. Then she proceeded to tell me about how some of our classmates were planning to throw a party on friday, and how we should go.
“Come on” she said “I know you don’t really like those type of things, but you’ll be with me. And it is a good opportunity for you to make some friends”
I knew Mina was right, so I agreed to go with her to that party, even if I didn’t really want to.
The PE class started. I was actually kind of scared because I knew that we were going to start playing tennis. Now I suck at every sport, but most of my classmates are really good at tennis (take Mina, Jeongyeon and Momo as an example) so my nonexistent skills on sports would stand out even more now. The fear grew as the teacher announced that she would set us in pairs, so we could practice together. Even if I’m an atheist, I started praying to every God I could think of.
“Im Nayeon” the teacher started. “You go to court six with Yoo Jeongyeon”
Mina gave me a funny look while I felt my world scattering in pieces. I looked up to the sky and whispered to God “What have I ever done to you? You shouldn’t be homophobic you know, you are God. This is the reason I don’t believe in you”.
Now you would think that being partnered up with my crush would be a good thing for me, but it is actually not. I don’t even know how to hold the racquet. Jeongyeon loves tennis, and if she had been partnered up with someone like Mina, she could actually use this time to practice, get better, have a good time, you know. But now she would be stuck with me, who didn’t know ANYTHING. She would only lose hours and hours.
“It’s okay” I though “I’ll ask the teacher to partner me up with Mina after the class. I’ll say I don’t want Jeongyeon to get worse at tennis because of me. Jeongyeon is really important to the school so the teacher will listen to me. I got this...”
“So uhm” Jeongyeon scratched the back of her head “let’s start, alright? do you know anything?”
“Mm no, not really...” I said, not looking at her directly at her eyes. I was too ashamed to do that.
“Okay, don’t worry.” I couldn’t really tell if Jeongyeon was annoyed or... shy? “I’ll teach you the basics”
She showed me how to hold the racquet and how to position. She threw some balls at me and even if I missed the first ones, I could actually send back some. I felt good, and even had a good time (mind you I had never felt “good” with anything remotely related to sports).
“Thank you” I said at the end of the class. “And sorry they had to partner you up with someone as incompetent as me”
“Oh no!” she laughed. “You were actually really good! I mean, it’s your first time playing tennis so...” she looked at me and smiled. I couldn’t help but smile back. This all felt a lot like a dream I didn’t want to wake up from. “...so I’ll make sure you get even better, alright? call it a bet!” and laughing, she left.
Mina found me 5 minutes later standing in the middle of the tennis court, smiling like and idiot.

Chapter Text

I woke up thirty minutes earlier than I usually did that day. Why? Because we had PE.
You may remember how I said I would talk to the PE teacher to ask her if she could change my tennis partner (Jeongyeon). Well, I didn’t.
Since that day we had had two more PE classes and even if I knew what I was doing was wrong (Jeongyeon should be able to practice with someone who actually knew how to play tennis, and not with me) whenever I got to play with her I felt so... happy? She was really sweet and understanding with me and taught me many things I wouldn’t have managed to learn in any other classes.
So me, being a huge egoist bitch, decided that if the teacher partnered me up with her was because she had a reason to do so, and that it was none of my business.
My mom gasped when she saw me coming downstairs, at a decent time, already dressed, to have breakfast. “Nayeon? Are you okay? If you feel sick, you can skip school today...”
“I’m fine mom” I said smiling “I’ve never felt this good”
I hummed an invented melody as I ate my toasts. My mom gave me a worried look as she said goodbye to me.
When I got to school Mina was already there “Who are you, and what have you done with my Nayeon” she side, eyes wide open. “Shut up” I answered, laughing.
It was a pretty day, the sun was shinning and it was chilly, a perfect day to do some sports. “Good did I actually think that” I shivered. “The things you do for cute girls” I thought to myself.
Jeongyeon and I played as we always did. First she taught me some moves, or remembered old ones. Then she would throw some balls at me. Finally we would try to have a mini match, with, of course, me failing to send back most of the balls and Jeongyeon failing some on purpose so I wouldn’t feel bad.
As long as Jeongyeon was as cheery as she usually was, that day she seemed like she was wanting to tell me something. I didn’t have to ask, because at the end of the class, she came up to me and asked me if I was doing something that day “If you are free, I would love it if you came to cheer for me on a match”.
I opened my mouth, then close it, the opened it again. “Of course, yes, I’ll cheer on you” Jeongyeon smiled widely. “Cool. Could you give me your number so I can text you the details?”
And so I left the court with Jeongyeon’s number and an invitation to cheer on her that Friday.

—
“On Friday?” Mina looked at me, took a bit of her apple and swallowed it slowly. “You said you would go to the party our classmates are throwing on Friday with me”
My smile vanished. I had totally forgot about it.
“I...” I started, but Mina interrupted me.
“It’s okay” she said. “You should go cheer on Jeongyeon, if she asked you then it’s because she really wants to you to go” she smiled, took another bit of her apple and looked at me again. “Not that I know why” she said, uncomfortably, when she saw my expression.
“Mina... are you sure?”
“Yes!” she said, and she looked like she really meant it. “Actually, I think I’m catching the flu, so it would be better for me not to go either. Have fun with Jeongyeon!”
So I decided to go to cheer on Jeongyeon, even if I wasn’t as happy about it as I had been some minutes ago.

—

*2 weeks ago. Mina narrates*

It had been a long day of practice, but I felt so good. It was a bit hot that day so I was sweating profusely.
I love tennis. Actually, I love any kind of sport, but even if I had only been playing tennis for half a year, it had already gotten a special place on my heart.
I hummed a melody my mom used to sing to me when I was younger as I headed into the changing room. Just when I was about to enter, I heard two voices. I stepped back immediately when I recognised them.
They were Hirai Momo’s and Yoo Jeongyeon’s voices. Those two were best friends, and they were also in the tennis club with me. I got along with them quite well, especially with Jeongyeon. And it was because, since I had the biggest crush on Momo, I could barely talk to her without sounding like a total idiot.
Momo was very intimidating. She had a fierce look. I thought that she could kill people by only staring at them. Yes, she could definitely kill me if she stared at me long enough.
Jeongyeon, on the other hand, was a big dork. She was the jokester of the class, the entertainer. Teachers, classmates, seniors, juniors, everyone loved her and her goofy personality.
There were rumours going around about Jeongyeon being a lesbian. I had seen her flirting with girls multiple times, but most of them I couldn’t tell if she was joking or not. She hadn’t told me directly either, so I didn’t know if she was really a lesbian or that girls liked her so much because of her “girl crush” aura that they made those things up.
“God, I wish girls were interested in me as well” I thought to myself, as I looked down. I had never dated anyone, because only men had proposed to me. I told everyone that it was just because I didn’t want to date yet, but I would be very interested in dating a girl. Especially if that girl was Momo.
I realised I had been standing there for some seconds. They were silent now, so if I turned and went back I could make some noise, and so they would think I was spying on them.
“I will wait for them to start taking again, then I will leave quietly” I thought to myself.
A few seconds went by. I started to get nervous.
“Just think about it okay?” Jeongyeon said.
“Time to go” I thought.
“If you tried to open a dance club again and made people join it, you could dedicate your life to dance professionally, like I do with tennis.”
“Wait” I thought.
The dance club. I remember I had been wanting to get into a dance club at the beginning of the year. I wasn’t completely sure because I specialised in ballet, and the club looked like it was looking for another type of dancers... maybe modern dancers. Just when I had made up my mind to join the club, I realised it was no longer available. It kind of made me sad, but I thought that maybe someone was telling me that I needed a fresh new start. I missed dancing so much, though.
“...and it’s not like you have to give up on tennis either” Jeongyeon continued. “You could play with me like, whenever you wanted. I’m always up for a good-“
“Stop it, Jeong. I won’t try to create a dance club again. Nobody joined the dance club the first time and no one would join it a second time. I’m over it, really.”
“Actually I would join” I thought
There was another uncomfortable silence and I thought that it was time for me to go. Or else they would catch me and call me a stalker. I was just turning around when.
“So how are things going on with the florist?” Momo said. I froze.
“Florist?” I thought.
“Shut up.” Jeongyeon groaned.
Florist? Flowers? There was only one person that came to me mind when I thought of them.
“”I get all the girls” she said. “I could have any girl I wanted” she said.” Momo said, presumably quoting Jeongyeon.
“Stop it!” Jeongyeon laughed. “Okay yes I may have a crush on the ONLY girl that hasn’t shown any interest in me. But as Ariana would say, AND WHAT ABOUT IT”
I made a huge effort not to laugh at that.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about” Momo laughed.
“God, I hate people who don’t have twitter so much” Jeongyeon said, and after a few seconds she continued “But really. It is worth it having a crush on her. She looks really cute while watering the flowers. She takes good care of them, I see her everyday when we practice. Even on rainy days, when we cancelled our practices, she was still there, at her little garden, making sure everything’s perfect. She likes flowers so much. Beautiful.”
“The flowers or her” Momo chuckled.
“I was talking about her, but both.” Jeongyeon said, completely serious. “I think she’s as pretty as her flowers. She looks like one of them actually. You know anything about flowers? I know nothing” she sighed.
“God, Jeong” Momo laughed “You really are head over heals for her. “Go ask her out or something”
“I would die before doing that” Jeongyeon said, and looked like she really meant it.
“Oh? The funny girl Jeongyeon is scared to talk to a girl? The famous Jeongyeon, whom all girls love? That Jeongyeon?” Momo laughed harder. I couldn’t see them but I was pretty sure Jeongyeon was staring at Momo deadly. “Okay okay. But really. If you are scared to talk to her, then talk to Mina. She’s always around her.”
I had to cover my mouth with both hands to prevent me from gasping.
“Okay. Okay. Time to fucking go. Let’s go Mina. Bye girls. Let’s go. Let’s go and stop fucking stalking some poor girls.”

2 days later, Jeongyeon came up to me and asked about Nayeon.

Chapter Text

Mina managed to get me out of bed at a decent time (I slept over at her house again for no specifically reason) but she ended up staying at home because she had really caught the flu.
“Have a good time today cheering on Jeongyeon” I blushed a bit. “And come over tomorrow again” she looked at me. Her face was red and she was sweating. She also got a nasal voice because of the flu, yet she still managed to be incredibly beautiful. “I have something to tell you.” She coughed.
“What? You can’t just say that and expect me to leave normally. Now you have to tell me.”
“No.” She said, and didn’t look like she wanted to play around. “You’re gonna be late again. Go away, I will talk to you tomorrow.” She turned around and pretended to sleep.
“Whatever, Grumpy”. I said, sighing as I left her room dramatically. “Hope you get better by tomorrow, don’t want to be infected by those ugly viruses of yours.” I joked. Mina groaned as a response.
So I left her house and headed to the school. I was humming a melody that Mina was always humming when I saw Jeongyeon.
She was standing in the hallway, probably waiting for someone, and that someone being probably her friend Momo. She looked up and noticed me staring at her like an idiot. “Shit” I thought “Now she will think I’m weird.”
But she actually smiled and waved at me. I felt a bright smile growing on my face, and I was about to wave back, when a group of girls went up to Jeongyeon. They were from the class next door.
“Jeongyeon! See you at the match today!”
Jeongyeon’s gaze left me. She completely forgot about me and started talking to the girls about the match. So I was left waving at nothing.
“Of course” I thought to myself. “She’s really popular, knows a lot of people. She invited many girls over to cheer on her. I’m not special or anything. I should have known better.”
I don’t know why, but my heart was racing. I felt frustrated even if I didn’t have to. Jeongyeon didn’t owe me anything. She didn’t have feelings for me.
“I think I’m actually going to the party tonight” I texted Mina as I got out of school.

—

“Hello. Is this Nayeon?”
I looked at the unknown number as I was getting ready for the party.
“Nayeon. I KNOW YOU’RE ONLINE. ANSWER ME. WHY AREN’T YOU GOING TO CHEER ON JEONGYEON?”
I decided to ignore Mina as I had been doing for the entire afternoon and instead answer the mysterious number.
“Yes. Who are you?”
“I’m Hirai Momo. I got your number from Jeongyeon, hope you don’t mind it. We’re in the same class. I just wanted to ask you about Mina, I know you’re friends with her.” I frowned as I read. “She’s been absent today, is she okay?”
“Yea. She only caught the flu, guess she will be back on Monday.”
“NAYEON ANSWER ME OR I WILL LITERALLY GO TO YOUR HOUSE AND RIP ALL YOUR HAIR OFF” even if that text scared me a bit, I continued ignoring Mina and waited for Momo’s response.
“That’s a relief. See you tonight at Jeongyeon’s match then.”
My heart jumped. I didn’t want to left Momo on read by didn’t want to answer that either.
“NAYEON. IM NAYEON”.
I ignored Mina for the 50th time and decided to change the subject with Momo.
“Why didn’t you ask her tho? Aren’t you guys in the same club? You must have her number.”
Momo took a bit to answer that. After a few minutes writing, she only said. “I didn’t want to annoy her.”
“What does this mean” I thought. “She doesn’t want to annoy her but has no problem “annoying” me?”
“Think she would be glad to know her club mates worry about her! you should text her next time.”
“I will, thank you and sorry for taking your time!” Momo said and even added some emojis.
“Aw that’s so cute” I said out loud, and texted her some emojis too. “Didn’t think the fierce Momo would be this cute”
My conversation with Momo ended, so I decided to read all of Mina’s texts (she hadn’t stopped texting me since she read my text about not going to cheer on Jeongyeon)
“Momo just asked me about you”
The texts stopped, but she was still online.
“What” she said after a few seconds.
“She asked why you were absent today. I mean she could have texted you. I don’t know why she texted me but anyways.”
“Oh” Mina said “I see”
“Shocked?” I laughed “Maybe she liked you or something.” I played along. I had never seen Momo around with anyone that was not Jeongyeon, honestly. She always looked in her own world, didn’t seem to notice anyone that wasn’t Jeongyeon. I mean. Same tho.
“What arw you talkign about” I chuckled reading Mina’s text.
“Are you, Myoui Mina, perchance, mistyping? Is this real life? Are you really that sick?”
“Stop it Nayeon, and answer me instead. Why aren’t you going to cheer on Jeongyeon? You seemed very happy about it just this morning?”
“I just don’t feel like it, okay. I think that going to the party is a better idea instead. I could make some friends.”
“But Jeongyeon asked personally to go cheer on you for her? I think you should definitely go to cheer on her.”
“She asked many people to go cheer on her, not only me.” My throat felt dry.
“Does that matter? I think Jeongyeon really wants you to go. Will you listen to me at least once?”
“Sorry Mina, but I don’t feel like it.”
This time, Mina’s response took a bit longer.
“Okay, do whatever you want. Text me if you need to get out of the party, I know you aren’t very good at socialising. And again. You should go to the match.”
“Don’t worry about me, Mina” I said, and went back to getting ready for the party.

—

Mina was right. I wasn’t good at socialising. I hadn’t spoken to a single person up until then, and it was already really late. Even worse, I think that some people were laughing at me for being alone and on my phone all the time.
I looked at the clock. Jeongyeon’s match must had ended a long time ago.
I was deciding on whether I should text Mina to get me out of there or leave on my own when I heard a murmur growing. The music was really loud but it felt like suddenly everything stopped, everyone stopped dancing and started murmuring. I looked up and saw Jeongyeon walking up to me, and literally everyone looking at her.
“Come with me for a minute.” She said, and grabbed me by the wrist. Everyone started talking even louder and all eyes were on us. Jeongyeon either didn’t care or didn’t notice, but I could feel my face getting red.
Jeongyeon got me out of the house. We walked for a bit. She stopped after a while; we were alone, and you could hear the distant music.
“Sorry. I heard from someone you were here.” Jeongyeon stopped. She was a few steps further, and I could only see her back. “And that you were alone. So I thought I should come and get you out of here.” She finally turned and looked at me, a sad smile on her face. “People on our class aren’t really friendly, huh? You should hang out with people from the class next room better.”
I didn’t know what to say. She came here only for me. To get me out of here. When I didn’t go cheer on her.
“Thank you” I said, but my voice was even lower that what I wanted it to be, so I wasn’t really sure that she had even heard it.
“Nothing.” she said awkwardly. “Want me to walk you home?”
I looked up to her, and I felt tears on my eyes. Hoping she wouldn’t notice it because it was dark and she was still a few steps further, I asked: “Aren’t you mad?” my voice cracked, but I continued. “Because I went to a stupid party with people I don’t know instead of going to cheer on you?”
Jeongyeon scratched the back of her head. “Huh, well. I must admit that I really wanted you to go. I looked at the stands every two seconds, but you weren’t ther- oh my god why are you crying” Jeongyeon hurriedly cane up to me, and suddenly I was on her arms, and she wiping away my tears. “Don’t worry! it’s nothing, really!” she laughed “You know I play a lot of matches. You can come cheer on me next time. Stop crying, oh my god I’m so sorry!”
“It is I who should be sorry!” I almost screamed. “I didn’t go to your match because I saw you invited many people over, so I thought you didn’t really care if I went or not... Sorry, this sounds really stupid... I’m so sorry... I will do anything to make up for this.
Jeongyeon laughed. “I didn’t invite anyone else over! they invited themselves! you were the only one I wanted to be there, really. Well, you and Momo, to be completely honest. But it’s okay, just make sure to be there next time, got it?” Jeongyeon laughed and punched me arm playfully. I nodded and laughed as I whispered another twenty “I’m sorry’s”.
Jeongyeon seemed to just notice that she was hugging me, so she dropped me and stepped back immediately. I wiped my tears awkwardly as she scratched the back of her head again.
“So huh mm. About the “I’ll do anything to make up for this part.” Jeongyeon took a deep breath. “Wanna go out next Friday?” I opened my eyes a lot. “I... mm...” she continued. “I really wanna know about your flowers.”

Chapter Text

“And that’s basically everything that happened” I had just finished explaining to Mina everything that had happened the day before at the party. I had tried not to sound too desperate about how Jeongyeon got me out of there and asked me out on a... date?
Mina took a bit to answer. She was still sick, but she looked much better now. She was eating some chips and looking at the ceiling. I knew she was analysing the situation, trying to give me the best response.
“What do you think?” I asked after a few seconds. I couldn’t hide how much I wanted to know what Mina thought about it. I had to know if I was overreacting or if it seemed like Jeongyeon was really interested in me.
Mina finally looked at me. “I see”. She said. I was just about to yell at her and ask her if that was everything she had to say when she started “Nayeon, I’m going to tell you something, but I need you to answer this first.” She made a dramatic pause, and I actually got scared, anticipating the question. “You like Jeongyeon, right?”
I opened my eyes a lot. I thought I was a good actress and that she believed I was straight for all these years. Well, it didn’t seem so.
“W-what do you mean?” I stuttered. “Jeongyeon and I? But we are both girls.”
Mina blinked. “...and?” she said.
I didn’t know what to say. After a long pause, Mina whispered “Wait... so... you don’t like girls?”
I threw a pillow on her. “YES!!! YES I DO!!!” I said, covering my face with other pillow. I had always hated the fact that Mina owned like a hundred pillows and stuffed animals, I thought they were taking too much space of her bed and wouldn’t let her sleep comfortably, but now I just had to thank God for having many things to throw on her and to cover my messed up face.
Mina laughed. “What’s got onto you?” she laughed even harder. “You really thought I didn’t know?” she fell off the bed laughing.
I gave her the angriest look I could pull off. Even if I was relieved, I was still shaking.
Mina knew I liked girls and she didn’t mind it.
“Good thing you know now.” I whispered, trying to sound angry. “I won’t have to pretend anymore.”
“PRETEND? YOU PRETENDED YOU WERENT INTERESTED IN GIRLS ALL THESE YEARS?” tears were running through her face at this point. She looked so pretty when she was laughing, even more than usual. “God Nayeon... hope you don’t want to become an actress or anything... I don’t want you to fail miserably on your career.”
Mina laughed on the floor for a bit longer. I continued giving her the angrier looks I could pull off, as if her dismissing my acting skills bothered me, but actually I was extremely relieved. I took a glass and poured a bit of coke onto it.
“Wait” she said, and suddenly stopped laughing. I started sipping the coke. “You... know I like girls too, right?”
I had to make a huge effort to not to spit the coke all over Mina’s bed. When I stopped choking on it, I looked at her and screamed “you WHAT NOW?!”
Mina laughed a bit, and moved her hands. “I thought it was obvious! Wow, you really can’t take a hint.”
I opened my mouth, and then closed it again. “So when all those guys proposed to you... and you said you didn’t want to date yet... it was only because you were interested in girls?”
Mina nodded. “Yea, basically” she said smiling “sorry for not... saying it out loud? I didn’t think I had to come out... at least not to you... I just thought it was too obvious? Sorry again.” Mina blushed a bit.
“It’s.. okay I guess... sorry for not telling you either. And sorry for being completely clueless, too.”
Mina started talking about every time I had made it obvious I liked girls, and times she did too. She listed every girl she thought I had had a crush on (and guessed correctly every single one of them) and then told me every girl she had had a crush on too.
“And finally... now... you have a crush on Jeongyeon. Am I right?”
I chuckled. “Guess I don’t have anything to hide now... Yes I do like Jeongyeon.” I said, my heart racing. It was the first time I was saying it out loud. It felt more real. “I don’t know how or why or when it started. I just know I like her a lot.” I breathed in, and looked at Mina. She was smiling at me. Then she scratched her arm.
“Good.” She said. “Now I will tell you about a conversation I overhear a while ago.” I opened my mouth. “Don’t ask me how or why.” She said, before I could even think what I was going to ask.
I nodded, and Mina started talking about how Momo supposedly had teased Jeongyeon about me, and how after that she had asked her about me.
I threw one pillow on Mina, and then another, and another. Finally, I took one more and screamed onto it, while Mina was laughing. “STOP LAUGHING!!! YOU SHOULD HAVE TOLD ME BEFORE!!!! BEFORE I DECIDED TO SKIP HER MATCH TO GO TO A STUPID PARTY!!!!”
Mina smiled at me. “True. I should have told you earlier. I just didn’t know how to do it, and felt it wasn’t fair for Jeongyeon... I thought that maybe you would find out she was interested in you at the match. I didn’t know you would skip it. Why did you do it, by the way?”
“I hate you so much. So so much” I threw more pillows on her, evading that question. I didn’t want to admit that I skipped it because I was jealous Jeongyeon had invited over more girls apart from me.
“Okay, okay.” Mina laughed. “But see, if you had gone to the match you probably wouldn’t have a date with her on Friday.” She smiled at me. “So? Who wins?” She said, and seemed excited about it.
I threw myself on Mina’s bed. “Are you really that excited about my love life?” Mina threw herself on me, nodding and smiling. “Well, there’s no use. There’s no way Jeongyeon would be interested in me. I mean she’s Jeongyeon, The Yoo Jeongheon. The Myth, The Legend, Yoo Jeongyeon. And I’m... only me.”
“What are you talking about? Nayeon, you’re extremely funny and cute. You just need to learn how to function around girls other than me.”
Mina went on a bit about how she was convinced Jeongyeon liked me and how I was extremely interesting. Even if it boosted my confidence a lot, I still thought it wasn’t real.
“Anyways.” I concluded. “Tell me about your love life now. Do you like anyone?”
Mina stopped laughing and stared at the ceiling. “Mm” she started. “Let’s see. Can you guess?”
I tried to think about every girl Mina had ever talked to or seemed remotely interested in her. She was so popular that it was difficult, tho. She looked at me, expectantly. I was just about to give up when I felt something click on my head. “Could it be... maybe... Momo? Hirai Momo?”
Mina looked away, blushed, and bit one of her pillows while nodding. “God, is it so obvious that even you, who had been thinking not only that I thought you were straight but also thought that I myself was too, noticed?” she chuckled.
I screamed a bit. “You really like her? Like for real?” I moved my legs, excited. “You have a crush on my crush’s best friend. How cool is that? We could go on double dates...”
“Calm down.” Mina chuckled again. “I don’t think she’s interested in me at all so...”
“What are you talking about? she asked me what had happened to you when you had been absent for only one day. She did all that when she could have only asked you, too.”
Mina laughed, and took my hands. “Let’s not get too excited okay? First, focus on your date on Friday. We’ll worry about me and Momo later.”
I hugged her tightly, smiling. “I love you so much, Mina.”

—

*Mina narrates*

I’m not one to pull an all nighter. That’s a Nayeon thing. But she had decided on Sunday at 10pm, the time I usually go to bed, that she wanted to create Mii’s. She started creating a Mii of Jeongyeon, and tried to make it interact with hers, but they kept falling asleep. Then she told me to create one of Momo. The next thing I remember is me looking at the clock, with tons of Mii’s (celebrities, fictional characters, classmates, childhood friends we hadn’t seen in years and even Nayeon’s dog) and it being 5am. I didn’t let Nayeon go to sleep, because I knew she wouldn’t make it to class then.
So we actually just created a few more Mii’s before getting ready.
Honestly, I felt happy. Very rarely I went to bed past time. Even on nights I played overwatch or fortnite, I always stopped at midnight. So I didn’t know why doing something so silly felt so entertaining. Guess it was because I did it with Nayeon.
It was already club time. The classes had gone extremely slowly that day, and my head hurt a lot. I wanted to go home and sleep more than anything. It was probably the first time I wasn’t feeling like playing tennis.
I hummed the Mii plaza theme as I headed to the changing rooms. It was a bit late already (guess because I was so tired I couldn’t function properly) so when I got there there wasn’t anyone. Or that’s what I thought.
I was still humming the Mii plaza theme when someone tapped on my shoulder. I screamed and jumped away, turned around to find Jeongyeon, who seemed amused, to say the least.
“Hey Mina.” she smiled, looking like she was trying really hard not to laugh. “Sorry for scaring you. I wanted to ask you something.”
“U-uh yeah. What is it?” I said, trying to act cool. However, I knew my red ears were betraying me.
Jeongyeon looked really happy. She moved her legs. “You know I have a date with Nayeon on Friday, right? I know you’re friends with her.” she said. She looked as she had only wanted to say out loud that she had a date. I raised and eyebrow and nodded. “Well, I thought I should take her out somewhere to eat. Do you know which places she likes the most?” her smile was so bright I thought it could blind me.
“I hope she isn’t this confident with Nayeon, or else she will literally die” I thought to myself.
“Uuuh.” I started, thinking about how Nayeon practically fed herself with pizza, burgers, and basically every type of fast food. “Why don’t you ask it her yourself?”
I said, and noticed I had sounded too rude. “I mean.” Trying to make it up. “You should talk to her about the things she likes. She likes talking a lot, you know.”
“She does?” Jeongyeon laughed, and blushed a bit. “I tried texting her but she always replies with nothing but monosyllables. Thought she was a bad texter, but now that you say that I’m actually worried...” she scratched the back of her head.
“Oh no.” I said. “She’s probably just shy.”
“Oh? Really? Cute” Jeongyeon smiled.
“I MEAN.” I said, worrying I was revealing too much information to Jeongyeon. “She’s always really shy, so...”
Jeongyeon laughed and moved her hands, brushing it off. “It’s okay. I want it to be a surprise, too. So it’d be nice if you told me. Please?”
I noticed she was still blushing. “And Nayeon still thinks she’s not interested in her...” I thought to myself.
“Okay then. She loves pizza.”
“Pizza?” Jeongyeon looked surprised. “I was thinking about something a bit more... romantic.” She said the last part lowly, and then blushed profusely.
This time it was me who was trying not to laugh. “She isn’t really interested in those type of things. Think she would much rather eat some pizza. For real.”
Jeongyeon smiled at me. “Noted! Thanks a lot!” she said, and finger-gunned me.
“You both are here.” I heard a voice coming from the door. “I have looked everywhere.”
My eyes widened when I saw Momo. I remembered I must look horrible from the lack of sleep, and immediately cursed on Nayeon, myself, and everything or anyone I could think of.
Momo got closer to us. “How are you?” She said, smiling at me. “Heard you were sick over the weekend.”
“U-uh yes... I’m better... Thanks for asking.”
I knew I was sounding extremely awkward, and suddenly I felt like banging my head against the lockers.
“Aw, I’m glad!” she said, smiling even more, with that cute voice of hers. I felt my heart racing even faster.
She stared at me, smiling, for a few seconds, and I just stared at her back, because I was a mess and didn’t know how to function around her.
Jeongyeon coughed. “Are you done staring at each other as if one of you were just about to leave for 30 years?”
“W-what are you talking about?” Momo looked up to her, looking annoyed.
Jeongyeon threw one arm around her, turned away and headed to the door. “Aw Momo, my dear friend. Wanna play Wii tonight?” she said, and turned around to smile at me just before leaving.
I could hear an “Again, what are you talking about” coming from Momo.
I leaned against the lockers. I needed sleep desperately.

Chapter Text

“So... where are you two going?” Mina was laying on my bed, reading some manga, while I was trying to choose something to wear. She had come over after school to help me get ready for the date.
I stared deadly at her. “Mina I told you already I don’t know. And that’s why I’m stressing so much over what to wear. Should I wear something casual? Formal? What would Jeongyeon prefer? Do you think she likes it when girls have make up on or not? How is she going to be dressed?”
“Okay okay wait” Mina got out of my bed and stood next to me, facing my wardrobe. “First of all, it doesn’t mather if Jeongyeon likes girls with make up on or not. Wear it if you want to because you like it yourself. Don’t wear it if you don’t. Also, I don’t know where you’re going.” She paused for a bit and I thought I could see her smiling, but it was for such a short amount of time I wasn’t sure if I had imagined it. “But I wouldn’t suggest going all dressed up. I would go for casual clothes.”
Mina then picked some high waisted jeans, a marvel t-shirt and some converses for me.
“But what if she doesn’t like marvel?”
“If she doesn’t like marvel, find a new crush”
I thought it was enough of a reason.
Mina applied some make up on me (I don’t usually wear much make up, not because I don’t like it, but rather because I don’t know how to apply it). When I looked at myself on the mirror, I thought I looked good, maybe not good enough for Jeongyeon, but being good enough for her was impossible.
“Are you nervous?” Mina smiled at me as she walked outside of my room.
I could feel my heart racing. Incredibly fast. If it continued like that, I worried that Jeongyeon would be even able to hear it.
Jeongyeon had texted me saying that she could pick me up so the place we would go was a total surprise, and it was almost the time she said she would come over.
“Ermm... maybe... a bit... yes...”
Mina laughed. “Don’t worry. It will go well. You got this. And remember you have to tell me every detail of it tomorrow! bye!”
I stared at my door even after Mina left. After a few minutes daydreaming about Jeongyeon, I looked at the clock. I froze, and suddenly started feeling extremely nervous.
Five minutes later, I heard a doorbell.

—

*Mina narrates*

After I left Nayeon’s house, I sprinted back to mine. I had a shower on a record time, got dressed, and left the house just as quickly as I could.
I hadn’t told Nayeon because I knew she was already very nervous about her date and didn’t want her to get involved with my love life, but the day before Momo had texted me and told me she had heard that I used to dance. We talked for a bit about it and she told me we should meet someday to dance; even if our styles were a bit different, we could learn from one another.
I smiled as I ran to the high school. Apparently, they had a dance classroom there we could use (probably the classroom we would have used on the dance club Momo tried to form).
When I got there, a bit out of breath, Momo was already dancing. I unlocked my phone to look at the time and realised I was a bit late. I decided not to interrupt her, and stared at her dancing from the door.
I could feel my blood going up to my head and gathering on my cheeks. Her moves were so powerful, yet so defined. She didn’t only dance well, you could tell she put a feeling on her moves. It was almost as if you could feel what she was feeling, her passion, her love, her dedication.
Halfway through her dance, Momo noticed me. “Oh you’re here!” She said, and stopped dancing immediately. She turned around to stop the music. “Sorry I hadn’t seen you.”
I went up to her. “Yeah, sorry I’m late. I know it’s not an excuse, but I was with Nayeon.”
“Oh?” Momo turned and looked at me, smiling. “Heard she has a date today?” I nodded, and she laughed. “Hope it goes well. Jeongyeon is really excited about it. And don’t worry about being late.”
Her smile was so bright I felt like crying. Why was she so beautiful, so kind, so cute, so angelic? Why did I ever think she was intimidating? Just because she was distracted easily and always looked in her own world doesn’t mean she’s intimidating. Right now I thought it was really cute.
I felt like banging my head against a wall for being such an idiot, but instead smiled at her with the prettiest face I could pull off. “Really? I must say Nayeon is too. But she’s also really nervous, so I’m a bit worried about her...”
Momo stared at me, then blinked a few times, turned around, and coughed. “Yea well anyways... let’s dance”. She had looked as if she had been distracted with something. I thought she might have got into her own world again.
Momo and I danced for a long time together. I had the best time of my life, she showed me about her style and I showed her about mine. After that, we fell in the floor, next to each other, covered in sweat, but laughing.
“Wow!” Momo almost screamed, smiling brightly. “That was amazing! You are amazing, Mina!”
“No, it’s you who are amazing!” I laughed. “God, I missed dancing so much.”
Momo went silent. After a few minutes, in which I thought I should talk about something else, she said “You know I actually tried to open a dance club?” she laughed nervously “but no one joined. I wonder why. Dancing is amazing, right?”
I took a breath in and decided I wanted to tell her. “It was you who started the dance club?” Momo nodded and I continued. “I tried to join, but didn’t know if I wanted to continue on dancing or would rather try something else. By the time I had made up my mind and decided I wanted to continue dancing, the club wasn’t available anymore. I’m sorry, maybe if I had been a bit faster we could have pulled off a dancing club together...”
“Oh my god” Momo said after a few seconds processing. “That’s... cool.” I blinked at her, not knowing what was going through her mind. “I mean, maybe if you want to, we can try to form one next year? If you want? Together? And meanwhile we can dance whenever we want. The two of us.” She said, smiling brightly.
I could feel my heart beating loudly on my chest. “Yea! Sure! That’s amazing Momo, I would love to dance with you. I had so much fun today!”
Momo laughed, excited. She took her phone, but put it down almost immediately. “Oh, I was about to tell Jeongyeon, but I shouldn’t bother her now, right? I wonder how they’re doing.”
She smiled at her phone. “You two are really close, right?”
Momo nodded. “Yes, we only met last year, but we’ve been inseparable since. I was quite alone before... I’m not really good at making friends. But being friends with Jeongyeon is so... easy? I’m glad I met her.” Momo smiled at me. “What about Nayeon and you?”
“Oh, I’ve known her since we were little. Our parents know each other too and are good friends, so there isn’t actually a moment in my life I don’t remember being next to her.” I chuckled. “Also, I must say that I thought you were intimidating at first, but you’re really not and I’m sad I thought like that! You’re easy being friends with too.”
Momo laughed shyly. “No way! You really think so?” she paused for a bit. “Actually many people think I’m intimidating too... I don’t know why... I try my best to be friendly, I’m just easily distracted, you know...”
“Oh... sorry if it came out as rude...” I could feel myself getting red again. “I didn’t mean-“
“It’s okay, it’s okay.” Momo laughed. “Don’t worry! Really! I must learn from Jeongyeon”
“Oh no! I like you this way.” we stared at each for a few seconds, and then I realised what I had just said “I MEAN-“
Momo bursted our laughing. And then I did too. We stayed for a few minutes like that, next to each other, sitting in the floor and leaning against the wall, laughing. I could feel her warmth next to me. Just when I felt my heart starting to race faster again, Momo tilted her head to me. “Mina?” I looked at her, expectant. “I just thought we could, someday, go out together and do something apart from dancing. I mean dancing too, of course. But something like going out for ice cream, or to a coffee shop. Just the two of us.”
I took more seconds than what I would like to admit to process that. “E-eeeh. Mmmm. Yea, s-sure!” I smiled “If you want, I think it would be a good idea.
Momo smiled at me. “Really?” she looked at her clock. “is it too late to go out and grab something to eat?”
I unlocked my phone to check the time. “It isn’t late... but I don’t have any clothes to change here. So if you would wait for me to go change... that’s okay then...” Momo nodded, excited. I smiled brightly. “But... it would be... weird if we met Jeongyeon and Nayeon, don’t you think so?”
Momo chuckled. “Don’t worry, Jeongyeon told me where they’re going, so we can just go somewhere else.”
I nodded in agreement, excited about going on a “date” (was it a date?) with Momo. The day couldn’t go better.
“Meet you at 9 then?”
“Sure! Also, where are they going?”

—

I looked at the bowling ball I had just thrown. I could feel Jeongyeon staring at me, even if I couldn’t see her.
Every single pin was knocked down. A spare. I could hear Jeongyeon screaming in despair, turned around and saw her with her hands on her head. I smiled at her cutely.
“HOW THE HELL ARE YOU SO GOOD AT THIS? ARE YOU SURE IT’S YOUR FIRST TIME TRYING?”
“Of course it is. I wouldn’t lie on such an important matter. Also, calm down, you’re making a fuss.” I said as I noticed many people staring at us and shaking their heads.
But Jeongyeon didn’t care. “The hell Nayeon. I came here to impress you. “Oh my God Mina, the perfect Jeongyeon isn’t only good at tennis but also good at bowling. She’s indeed the perfect Jeongyeon, isn’t she?” THAT had to be you. What should I do now? My reputation is over.”
“Oh!” I smiled as I handed her a bowling ball. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone you totally suck at bowling. Also take this one, it’s very light. Maybe this way you can handle it better.”
Jeongyeon looked at me and acted as if she was going to throw up.
She didn’t actually suck at bowling. She just wasn’t as good as me (this had to be my hidden talent, because I really hadn’t tried it before). She threw the ball and knocked down every pin but one. She screamed and everyone stared at her and shook their heads again. For a second I thought they would kindly ask us to leave, but when I turned the girl who worked there, I caught her smiling at Jeongyeon.
She had seemed to know her. I thought Jeongyeon must really have been there many times, so many that she became friends with the people working there. Actually not necessarily that many. Jeongyeon could easily become friends with anyone in a second.
A semi-spare. “Wow! You really suck.”
“”You really suck”” Jeongyeon imitated me. I laughed, and she smiled at me. She didn’t really seem mad because I was totally beating her at bowling.
We continued playing, and of course I ended up winning.
“Thank you! I really had fun today, Jeongyeon.”
“Oh? but the date isn’t over. Aren’t you hungry?”
I almost fell on my knees. She just said it was a date. I wasn’t used to it. I was in a date with Jeongyeon. The girl crush Jeongyeon. The perfect Jeongyeon. But Nayeon didn’t notice me having a mini breakdown because she had just called our date a date, because she was staring at one of those claw machines in which you could win a plushie.
“Jeongyeon?” I tilted my head towards her. She turned, looked at me, took my hand and dragged me to the claw machine.
Once again I almost died because Jeongyeon was holding my hand. Jeongyeon! was! holding! my! hand!
“I love these machines!” Jeongyeon jumped around it excitedly. “Which one do you like? I’ll get you one.”
“But... those machines don’t actually work. The chances of actually getting a plushie are extremely small. You could try many times and still-“
“THAT ONE LOOKS LIKE YOU!” Jeongyeon pointed at a bunny. Without saying anything, she took a coin out of her purse and popped it into the machine.
“HEY! Are you listening to me or not?”
But she didn’t seem to be listening to me at all. Of course Jeongyeon couldn’t get the plushie. But she tried again. And again. And again.
And again.
“I told you. It’s almost impossible to-”
And the bunny fell. Jeongyeon picked it up excitedly. “I’m sorry? What are you saying? I can’t hear you over this crowd cheering for me because I got- YOU!” she laughed at the bunny. “Like literally, look at this... this is YOU!” she handed it to me. “Take it. You should have yourself. Please name it Nayeon.”
I took the bunny. “You sure you want to give it to me?” I said, but I was already really excited about the fact that Jeongyeon had just won a plushie for me.
“Actually no WAIT!!” I froze and handed the bunny back to her. “Oh no not that. I just thought you shouldn’t name it Nayeon. Better name it 2yeon. That’s us. Our children. Look how much he has grown.” She acted as if she was weeping her tears.
“2yeon... What?” I frowned, confused.
“It’s our ship name. NaYEON and JeongYEON. Get it? Because there’s two yeon’s. 2yeon.” She laughed.
“Oh my God... That’s so cheesy... I love it” I said, blushing.
“Really? I came up with it myself. Thank me later. I’m hungry!” She turned around and headed to the exit with her hands on her pocket. I thought she looked a bit nervous now, but I was probably just imagining things. The amazing, perfect Jeongyeon wouldn’t get nervous because of me.
I hugged 2yeon and followed her. We didn’t talk on our way there, she seemed as if she was thinking about something, so I just stared at 2yeon while we walked. I could feel hearts coming out of my head, and my eyes becoming the shape of two hearts too. 2yeon was really cute, yes! it looked like me!
“Where are we going? I asked after like five minutes talking. Jeongyeon tilted her head and smiled. “You’ll see soon.” She looked as if she wanted to say something else, but I didn’t ask anything because I was probably just imagining things.
We soon got to a pizza place I had never been before.
“Oh!!” I smiled “Nice!! I love pizza!!”
“Really?” Jeongyeon chuckled. “Who would’ve said...” I frowned, confused, but before I could ask her what she meant she turned to me and asked me if I had been there before.
“Really? But they make the best pizzas! Tell me. How you like it. Which toppings do you like.”
I moved my head, and then my body too, as if I was dancing with 2yeon. “I like it with pineapple on, of course.”
Jeongyeon didn’t say anything, so I stopped dancing and looked up to her. She was staring at me with the most disgusted face I had ever seen on someone. “You...” Jeongyeon started, but didn’t continue and just acted as if she was about to throw up (for the second time on the day).
She paused for a bit, looked down and then clapped a bit. “Anyways! It’s been nice to know you, but I have to go like immediately. You’d get along with Momo, by the way. Bye!” she acted as if she was going to leave.
“Jeongyeon!! I laughed, and took her arm, stopping her from leaving, even if I knew she wasn’t actually going to. “Don’t leave!! Pineapple on pizza is like... a masterpiece. It’s not my fault you have horrible taste.”
“Yea that must be the reason I like you then!”
I opened my mouth, and closed it again. Before I could process what she had just said, she had left to order our food. I felt like running away and hiding somewhere far from there. My cheeks were burning.
“What are you doing standing there?” Jeongyeon said in a completely normal voice. “Go get a table while I wait for the pizzas.”
By her tone I thought she had just been joking around, but when I sat down and looked at her waiting for the pizzas I could see that her ears were red and that she was scratching the back of her head. I had noticed a while ago that she did that when she was really nervous, which wasn’t too often.
She came back with the pizzas. We ate them while talking about random things. We talked about marvel (Jeongyeon turned out to be a big fan of it), about anime, about our dogs, and finally about Momo and Mina. She told she had met Momo the year before. By that time Momo seemed a bit left out and that’s the reason she approached her. She also told me before Momo she hadn’t really had like a best friend, she just was friends with everyone, so she was glad to now have someone she could actually rely on and tell her her problems. I then told her I had known Mina since I could remember, and talked a bit about our childhood.
“Those kids...” Jeongyeon said finishing her pineapple-less pizza. “I wonder how they’re doing.”
I didn’t really know what she meant, but before I could ask Jeongyeon got up and picked our stuff to throw it on the bin.
“I’ll walk you home!” Jeongyeon said, picking 2yeon from my arms and playing with it.
“Are you sure? It’s a bit late already...”
“Don’t worry, your house is on my way home. Let’s go!”
The last minutes before the date ended, on our way to my house, went by incredibly fast. I was kind of sad; I didn’t want it to end.
But we finally got there. It was really dark already.
“So...” Jeongyeon started. “I had fun today. Hope we can do this again.” Even if the streets lights barely allowed me to appreciate her face, I could tell she was smiling.
“Sure! I had fun today too. I can’t wait for the next time I get to beat your ass in bowling.” I said, chuckling.
“Mimimimi” Jeongyeon mocked me. I laughed loudly.
“So...” Jeongyeon pointed at my house. “Get in.”
“You go before.” I said.
“I’ll go when you get in.” Jeongyeon moved her body, and put her hands in her pockets.
“No, you leave before.”
Jeongyeon sighed, and then laughed. She stared at me. “You won’t get in, right?” I moved my head. After a few more seconds staring at me, she starting getting closer and closer.
“Is she going for a kiss or am I just imagining things?” I thought, as I felt the wall on my back.
But Jeongyeon was still moving closer and closer. Her lips were already really close to mine. I could feel her warm breath. I closed my eyes, and...
...I heard my phone ringing. Jeongyeon jumped quickly and in a blink she was like a meter apart from me. “Hello? Oh mom... I’m almost here, don’t worry. No, I’m still with Jeongyeon. Don’t worry, she said our house is on her way. Yes. Yes. Yes. Don’t worry, she’s really strong. I’m already here mom, I’m going to hang up. Yes. Yes. Yes. Bye.” I turned to Jeongyeon. “My mom said to be careful on your way home.”
I could barely look at her. What had just happened?
Jeongyeon’s hands were in her chest. “Damn it, Nayeon. What did you set your tone, to the maximum volume? I almost had a heart attack.” She laughed nervously.
“Not really... Oh wait yes... I did” I said, looking at my phone.
Jeongyeon laughed nervously again and scratched the back of her head. “Uh... Anyways... I’ll go now then.”
“Yea! Text me as soon as you get home so I know you arrived safely.”
Jeongyeon nodded and finger-gunned me.
We turned around at the same. I made a huge effort not to look back at her.