Archive of Our Own ^beta

For all intents and purposes, Yoon Seoyeon is a go-getter. Moving far away from her family in Daejeon to attend university in Seoul—the capital of South Korea—takes guts, and she is nothing if not just that. Now, though, standing in front of a lone apartment door, Seoyeon thinks she’s about to see her own guts come out of her.

It’s not that she’s scared, per say; nervous, more like. About what she’s about to preposition the person behind the door. But Seoyeon doesn’t have a choice, really—her mind plays an endless loop of the conversation she had with her mother earlier that morning.

— — —

“Seoyeon, you’re coming back to visit us for Seollal, right? University isn’t too hard for you?” Her mom’s voice crackles through her earbuds.

“Yes, Mom, I will.” Seoyeon fights the urge to roll her eyes, though she knows her mom wouldn’t be able to see it. “I’m not a baby anymore, you know. I’m already twenty-one!”

“Of course, my baby is all grown up now,” her mom coos. “Does that mean you're going to find a girlfriend soon? You know your mother isn't getting any younger.”

She falls silent, trying to remember which of her automatic I'm focusing on my studies excuses she's already used when her mom suddenly continues. “Or, if you don't have anyone yet, I could set you up? You know, my coworker's son just graduated university and he's looking fo—”

“I have someone,” tumbles out of Seoyeon's mouth.

“Are you sure?” Her mom’s voice sounds skeptical. “You don’t need to lie to me, Seoyeon, a lot of my friends have eligib—”

“No, I’m sure,” Seoyeon interrupts. The last thing she wants is to be set up with a stranger. God forbid. Before her mom can object she continues, “And I want to bring her to Auntie's house, if that's okay? She could meet everyone.”

Her mom nearly squeals in excitement, answering with an “Of course, I need to tell everybody!” before hanging up on Seoyeon. The call swiftly disconnects with a click that settles like a stone on her chest.

— — —

Seoyeon cringes at the memory. In her defense, she was tired of her mom asking and just wanted to get her off her back. And a girlfriend is the easiest way to do that! “Easiest” in terms of what came to mind at the moment, however, not exactly in terms of actually achieving. Curse Seoyeon's loud mouth.

Which is what brings her here, in front of her friend's apartment. Unfortunately for her situation, not a girlfriend. Jiyeon would have my head for that. Even more ridiculously, she's not even here for her friend.

Maybe I should just leave. She turns around. But Mom would kill me. She spins again, raising a balled hand. Before her knuckles can make contact, the door swings open.

“I think we need more cream cheese,” Nien calls back into the apartment, shrugging on a jacket without so much as a glance through the open door. Seoyeon instinctively takes a step back.

The girl nearly topples over her. “Woah, Seoyeon, I didn't see you there!” Nien laughs, shifting to one side of the doorway. “Tone's just inside.”

Seoyeon also takes a step to the side, remaining in front of Nien. “Actually, I wanted to talk to you.”

“Oh! Sure, what did you want to talk about?”

“Ah, well…” Seoyeon glances away for a moment. “Are you busy? I think we should sit down first."

Realization seems to dawn on Nien's face and she cocks a finger gun at Seoyeon. “Gotcha. I was gonna grab breakfast and some groceries, but we can talk over some food at the café.” She takes Seoyeon's elbow. “Do you like bagels?”

Hsu Nientzu is a funny girl. That's what Seoyeon had thought at their first meeting, when their best friends started dating each other. We're like best friends once removed, the girl had said to a then-shy Seoyeon. Since that moment they hadn’t really met, with classes occupying most of their time and limited interactions in larger group settings leaving Seoyeon with little beyond that first impression of Nien.

Now that she's sitting in front of her again, Seoyeon thinks that interesting might be a better word. They've got bagels in front of them, with Seoyeon's being a plain bagel with regular cream cheese while Nien's is an everything bagel with whipped cream cheese. And next to it, an entire bowl of strawberries.

“I used to buy strawberries from the market and bring them here to eat with my bagels,” the girl says as she uses a butter knife to slice the strawberries. “But I think the worker got tired of me asking to wash them every time.”

Seoyeon sneaks a glance at said worker—a young-looking Hayeon, probably a local high schooler—and nods in agreement. “That could be pretty tedious.”

Nien pops a whole strawberry in her mouth. “And then I found out they sell strawberry croissants here? So I could just buy a whole bowl of strawberries for, like, five dollars extra.” She shrugs, swallowing. “Makes it a whole lot easier for the both of us, I think.”

“You don't like strawberry croissants?”

Nien shakes her head. “No, it's not that,” she replies, laying the final strawberry slices on her whipped cream cheese-topped everything bagel. That combination sounds so… acquired. “You know those strawberry whipped cream sandwiches? I like those.”

This only makes Seoyeon more confused. “But you got whipped cream cheese. On a bagel.” Another glance to the counter. “I mean, they literally sell strawberry whipped cream sandwiches here, too.”

Nien hums as she takes a bite. “Yeah, but I also like bagels. You know what I mean?” Seoyeon is not sure she does. “So it's like the best of both worlds. Wanna try?” She holds up her butter knife, about to cut a piece off.

Seoyeon quickly picks up her own bagel and says, “Oh no, I'm fine with mine.” She mirrors Nien’s bite. “I like it plain like this.”

Nien hums again, drawing the sound out for longer this time as she nods. “So what did you want to talk about?”

Ah. Right. “There's kind of no easy way to ask this…”

“Just rip the band-aid off,” Nien encourages her. “I'm sure it's not that bad. I can take it!”

“Okay.” Seoyeon sucks in a breath. “I need a girlfriend.”

Nien's eyes widen, and the girl is silent for a moment before chuckling. “Wow, Seoyeon, I didn't know you were so forward.”

Her whole face flushes—You said to rip the band-aid off!—and she continues quickly, “No, it's not like that. I get it, this probably sounds so weird—”

“Oh! You want me to set you up!” Nien exclaims.

“No no no,” Seoyeon quickly denies. “No, I want you”—she flushes a deeper scarlet—“actually, let me just start over.” She pauses to collect her thoughts. “Okay, so my family is gathering for Seollal, and it's supposed to be a whole week-long thing and we go to Everland or whatever. Except, my mom's been hounding me about getting a girlfriend, and with the rest of my family there it'll be even worse.”

Seoyeon's eyes flick away nervously. “So, l kind of… told her I have a girlfriend already.” She blushes harder. “But I don't.”

Nien, who had picked up her bagel and started nodding enthusiastically while Seoyeon was talking, now swallows her bite as she considers her predicament. “Hm… so you're asking me to pretend to be your girlfriend in front of your family?”

Seoyeon nods, looking away because she’s not quite shameless enough to explain herself while looking Nien in the eye. Stop talking stop talking stop talking— “It's because Tone mentioned that you weren’t flying home that week but now I'm realizing this just sounds so ridiculous, I’ll just go—”

“I didn't say no!” Nien interrupts her ramble with a giggle. “And it’s true, I don’t fly back to Taiwan until the week after.” A devious glint enters her eye when she continues, “But, it sounds like I wasn't your first choice…?”

“You were!” Seoyeon says reflexively. “I mean, you are.”

“Really?” The girl looks almost gleeful as she questions her. “Why?”

She’s got Seoyeon’s tongue. If Seoyeon was going to be completely honest, she had already noticed Nien before they even met, formally. It’s not every day that their university had students who absolutely bounced off the walls with how much energy they had—and Nien was definitely very energetic—and it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that more people knew Nien than Nien knew them. After all, she did stand in front of the entire lecture hall during their freshman orientation and excitedly introduce herself as “Vitamin N, strawberry girl Nien!” To say Nien was known would be an understatement.

And also, Seoyeon isn’t blind. She knows that Nien is… quite attractive, and the so-called “golden retriever ideal girlfriend” of female and male classmates alike. So it’s not like she’s the only one with a small crush, if she could call it that. One that made her clam up as soon as Kotone and Jiyeon introduced them to each other and prevented them from getting closer, besides small quips here and there with their mutual friends. But that’s not really something she could say easily, right here when she’s sitting in front of the girl.

It’s only when Nien coughs awkwardly that Seoyeon is brought out of her memories and she realizes she just let the silence draw out as she stared at Nien’s face. One that’s still waiting for an answer. You’ve really outdone yourself this time.

“I’ll tell you later,” she bursts out, louder than intended. She rushes before the girl can object, “Don’t you want to know what you’ll get out of this? I wouldn’t make you do it for free.”

“Ooh, yes, I do want to know!” Nien exclaims, and Seoyeon doesn’t know if her eyes are playing tricks on her or if there’s a light dusting of pink on the girl’s cheeks. God, Seoyeon, get it together.

“So, like I said, my family want to all go to Everland in that week besides celebrating at my aunt’s house,” Seoyeon starts. “And she’s having my family specifically stay at her house, so it’s not like we’ll be at a random hotel. They’ll be there the entire week, but I’m going to tell my mom that we can’t stay the whole time so you’ll be out of there after three days.” She raises her eyebrows cautiously. “I could repay you with money, or a meal, or whatever within reason. Do you still want to do it…?”

Nien sits back in her chair, thinking. “Hm… I think I do, but on one condition.” Seoyeon leans forward, question already on the tip of her tongue but Nien beats her to it. “You’ll grant me one wish as payment. I won’t take cash, I won’t take KakaoPay, I only want this one thing.”

“What is it?”

“I don’t know!” Nien says, cheery. “I haven’t decided yet. But don’t worry, it won’t be anything weird.” She extends a hand.

Seoyeon slowly sits back as well, weighing the pros and cons. If I agree, then Nien could make me do anything. But, she said it wouldn’t be anything weird, and she’s not that type of person… If I don’t, then Mom won’t leave me alone and she’ll probably set me up with someone she thinks is ‘good for me.’ Do I want a rando, or do I want Nien? Seoyeon thinks the answer is obvious.

“Deal.”

It’s only when they’re actually situated on the train, suitcases next to them as they face each other over the table, that something occurs to Seoyeon.

“We should probably get to know each other more, if we want to be convincing,” she suggests.

Nien nods. “I just realized that, too. You’re not an N, are you?”

“An N?”

“Like MBTI,” she clarifies, then nods again when Seoyeon shakes her head. “Yeah, me neither. That’s probably why neither of us thought to plan this out further before we got on this train. What if they figure us out immediately?”

“Crap…” Seoyeon mutters. “Well, we have two hours, at least. We could say that we just started dating recently, so it’s more realistic.”

It sounds like Nien muses ‘Although I should be N for Nien since you’re S for Seoyeon' to herself before clearing her throat. “That sounds good to me!”

The girl lights up with a gasp, fishing a napkin out of her pocket. “Oh my God, we should make a contract!” Somehow she procures a pen, too, and she slides both items across the table to Seoyeon. “Here, you should write it.”

She picks up the pen with a small chuckle. “Okay, since you seem so excited about this… What should our first clause be?”

“Ooh, clause sounds official too, I like that!” Nien praises, then purses her lips. “Maybe something like, ‘We both keep up the act in front of your family.’ Basic, since it’s the first one.”

Seoyeon writes that down as Nien continues, “We should probably have a PDA clause, too.” She looks at her hesitantly. “Do you—”

“I don’t mind it. Things like hand-holding, hugs, whatever…” Seoyeon trails off with a blush she can't explain.

Nien doesn't seem to notice. “That's good, because PDA is kind of second nature to me.” She holds up her right hand. “Don't worry, though! I won't be all up on you, if you were worried about that.”

Worried wouldn't be the right word, her brain replies automatically, and Seoyeon has to stifle a sound from leaving her mouth. “That's fine,” she says softly before busying herself with the pen. “I think that's it, contract-wise.”

She signs the paper and draws a flat line underneath, sliding the napkin back across the table. “Now we just figure out background things, like how we met and started dating.” The word dating in the context of Nien brings a slight skip to Seoyeon's heart, which she tries to ignore.

“We could say we met through our best friends,” Nien starts as she adds her own signature to the napkin. “That's technically true. And we could say that we knew of each other beforehand, but were too scared to talk until a little while later.”

Nien suddenly grins at her. “I know, my dashing good looks would leave any girl stunned and afraid to approach.”

The way Nien says it, in full confidence complete with an exaggerated wink, is so ridiculous to Seoyeon that she can’t help the laugh that escapes her, loud and disbelieving.

They get a dirty look from a man a couple rows down but Seoyeon continues regardless, dropping her voice slightly. “Let's not get ahead of ourselves now, Narcissis.”

“I know, I know,” Nien relents with a laugh of her own. She looks at Seoyeon. “You know, you have a really pretty laugh. I want to hear it more often.”

The sudden compliment makes heat rush to Seoyeon's face and she tries to stutter out a small Thanks while averting her eyes to the window. Is this part of the contract? I guess we did just sign it, but my family's not even arou—

“No problem!” Nien chirps. “It's a good laugh to go with my amazing jokes.”

“You say that like I'm laughing at your jokes,” Seoyeon shoots back. “I'm just laughing at your absurdity.”

“Which is still a win for me!” the girl crows. She mock-gasps. “Yoon Seoyeon! I just realized you're calling me unfunny.”

“What if it's true?” Seoyeon banters, feeling bold.

Nien gasps again, louder and more drawn-out this time. Another dirty look from the man. “You don't mean that. Just you wait, Yoon Seoyeon,” she points a dramatic finger, “I'll take every opportunity to make you laugh during this trip. Prepare to massage your face, because your cheeks are about to hurt.”

“I'll hold you to that,” Seoyeon tries to say seriously, but a small giggle slips out of her. “That doesn't cou—”

“Oh, yes it does!” Nien cries, and before the old man can admonish them for their volume the train suddenly jolts to a stop.

“ATTENTION PASSENGERS. DUE TO INTERNAL MALFUNCTIONS THE TRAIN WILL BE STOPPING AT SEONGNAM STATION. THE NEXT TRIP TO YONGIN WILL DEPART AT 2:30 PM—”

Widened eyes meet hers. “Shit.”

“—AND ALL PASSENGERS WILL BE COMPENSATED. PLEASE GATHER YOUR BELONGINGS AND PREPARE TO EXIT THE TRAIN. THANK YOU.”

When the announcement ends Nien flips her phone screen to face Seoyeon. “It’s only noon right now, and”—the girl takes a glance towards the front of the train—“I’d guess that it’ll take half an hour for them to get the train working enough to drop us off at Seongnam.”

Seoyeon fills in the blank. “So what are we going to do for two hours?”

Nien drums her fingertips on the table, humming. “Have you ever heard of chemistry training?”

“I’ve never heard of half of the things that come into your head,” Seoyeon replies dryly. “What, like chemicals?”

“Sort of!” comes the girl’s upbeat reply. “It’s like when actors need to build chemistry so they basically hang out and learn about each other so they can act like a couple.” Nien tilts her head. “Kind of like us!”

Seoyeon nods slowly. “And we do need to practice our backstory and actually get to know each other. It’s kind of perfect that this window of opportunity just fell into our laps,” she says with a disbelieving laugh.

“Now you’re getting it!” Nien cheers. She holds out a pinky to Seoyeon.

“Today’s our first date!”

“So you like winter over summer, your favorite food is ice cream, our first date was an ice cream date, and we met through our mutual friends two months ago,” Nien recites, piercing a piece of her tteokbokki. The two of them had made their way to a park table and ordered some food after a resounding grumble came out of Seoyeon’s stomach, to which Nien had declared that they needed Some sustenance for the lady!

The girl chews thoughtfully. “It makes sense. You’re definitely a tsundere-type, cold on the outside but warm on the inside.”

“Why aren’t I warm on the outside, too?” Seoyeon complains.

“Isn’t that a question for you to answer?” Nien counters with a grin. “I still remember when Tone and I showed up to Jiyeon’s party and you slammed the door in my face.”

She does? “Hey, that was so long ago,” she objects, her face heating up. This tteokbokki is really spicy. “I was just surprised, that’s all.”

“Surprised to see guests of a party hosted at your apartment? Said guests including the girlfriend of your roommate slash best friend?”

“Okay, okay, I get it,” Seoyeon cuts her off with an exaggerated roll of her eyes. “In my defense, I had never seen you before at that point.”

“That’s a lie~” Nien sing-songs. “Ms. I can’t believe she just called herself strawberry girl.”

“You remember that?” How good is her memory? “Freshman orientation was, like, a good year and a half before the party. And—”

“I’m very perceptive.”

“—why did you call yourself strawberry girl, then? There must have been more than 300 kids in that lecture hall.” Seoyeon stops. “Or wait, that’s not a problem for an extrovert like you.”

“Because I like strawberries,” Nien answers simply. “And did you think I wouldn’t hear you when you said that, either? You weren’t exactly quiet about it—just like how you almost got us kicked off the train.”

“Hey!” Seoyeon exclaims, blushing harder when she realizes how loud her voice is, proving Nien’s point. “You were pretty loud, too. That old man was about to get up from his seat to scold you himself.”

Nien just shrugs. “Old guys are just like that.” She checks her phone. “Speaking of, we’ve still got another hour and I wanted to check out some of the shops when we’re done eating.”

“You’re just saying you want me to hurry up and finish,” Seoyeon quips, dropping her skewer into the empty tray. Nien just sticks her tongue out at her as she gets up, wordlessly taking Seoyeon’s tray and adding it to the pile she throws into the trash.

“As expected, our Seoyeon catches on so fast,” the girl teases, already starting to pull their suitcases. “Let’s go, I saw a fortune-telling store on the way here!”

“So you would like to know about your prospects for this coming year, correct?” an eccentric lady asks, smoothing down her bright hanbok as she looks at the two of them. They’re sitting at a booth in a dimly lit shop, one that Nien had immediately pulled her into after one glance at the Saju Fortune Telling — a Must Have for the New Year! sign posted outside of it.

“Yes!” says a beaming Nien. “This is my first time going to see a fortune teller, so I’m really happy to take your recommendation.”

Seoyeon kicks her foot under the table. “Why did you say that—now she’s going to take advantage of us,” she hisses.

Nien kicks back. “What am I, gullible?” The girl sits up. “Could you introduce me to saju fortune telling? I’ve seen so much about it online but I’ve never been to one before.”

“Of course!” the lady croons, clapping her hands together. “This style of fortune telling is rooted in the stars!”

Aren’t all of them? Seoyeon thinks.

“Saju means four pillars, so I’ll be taking the exact year, month, day, and hour you were born to read your fate! This includes career prospects, family dynamics, and,” the shop owner pauses with a wink, “romantic endeavors, perfect for a young couple like yourselves.”

Nien grabs her hand when Seoyeon suddenly chokes on her saliva. Her hand is really warm. “Oh, that is perfect! I already know that Seoyeon's the one for me, but,” Nien goes so far as to wink at the teller, “I'll let an expert like you tell me that.”

“Oh, what a smooth talker you are!” The lady, clearly flattered, turns to Seoyeon with a conspiratorial whisper, “You should be careful and hold on tight to this one, otherwise she'll go around breaking hearts.”

Seoyeon tightens her grip on Nien's hand in response. Two can play at this game. “She better not—I'll have her head before she goes chasing after other girls.”

“Wow! You two are a very intense couple!” the shop owner exclaims with a laugh. “I have no doubt we'll see the same sort of intensity when I read your fortunes. Your birthdays, please.”

She can already see Nien turn to her with a face-splitting grin, eyes widened as she nods vigorously at Seoyeon in her peripheral vision. She swallows her final attempt at resistance and replies, “Ah, August 6th, 2003.”

Nien quickly follows with a “June 2nd, 2003!” and the teller hums as she moves some cards on the table between them.

She peers at them over the rim of her glasses. “And when was the hour of your birth?”

Seoyeon's about to respond with ‘I'm sorry, how would we know that’ when Nien suddenly leans forward, dropping her voice to a stage whisper. “Since we don't remember exactly, please use the hour that makes me the most ideal partner for her.”

To Seoyeon's surprise the fortune teller accepts that as an answer, not even sparing Seoyeon a glance as she giggles at Nien. She's my girlfriend, lady, not yours.

Seoyeon startles at the sudden thought and smooths out eyebrows she didn't know were furrowing. Actually, it's better that Nien is naturally charming, she reasons. Makes it easier to seem like we're dating.

Seoyeon clears her throat. “Please make it as accurate as possible,” she requests, shifting closer to Nien and looping her arm around the girl's. “I don't want this one to have too big of a head.”

Nien seems almost surprised for a moment but recovers quickly, crying, “Hey! What's that supposed to mean?”

The pinkness of Nien's cheeks doesn't go unnoticed, however, and Seoyeon fights a smile from taking over her face. She gets closer. “You know what I mean, baby.”

Nien yelps at the pet name, her cheeks darkening rapidly as she splutters for a response. Seoyeon does let a satisfied grin slip as she opens her mouth, another tease already on her tongue.

“Ahem,” the shop keeper suddenly clears her throat, looking at the two of them with an unimpressed expression. “I doubt you two even need my guidance to tell you that your relationship is very hot right now, but—”

She sweeps her hand over the table. “It says here that this coming year will be a very good year for love, both with your families and especially for your relationship.” The teller pauses for a moment, peering closer at the cards. “It appears that while your love is still new, it will soon take root as something very long lasting. In your future, I see happiness and… marriage.”

Both of them choke at the news, and Seoyeon’s face is burning too hotly for her to even look in Nien’s direction. The girl is the first to speak.

“Um, wow! That’s really… how can you see something that far ahead?” Nien asks.

They only get an unfazed shrug from the teller. Surely telling people’s future should make you a little less nonchalant. “That’s just what the cards say. You want to know about your career prospects too, right?” She looks pointedly at the rest of the cards splayed out between them.

In the blink of an eye the tension is broken, and an energetic Nien nearly jumps out of her seat in excitement. “Yes, yes we do! I need to know if the internship I applied to for the summer will work out ‘cause,” her voice drops to a serious whisper, “I kind of need that bag.”

“Who even says ‘need that bag’ anymore,” Seoyeon scoffs reflexively, but her mind is already wandering elsewhere and she lets Nien do the talking for the rest of the visit.

When they finally finish, they’re standing in the doorway of the shop and Seoyeon watches Nien nearly fall over herself in her bow to the shopkeeper, who showers the girl with praise and tells her that she’s just got to come visit again. Seoyeon doesn’t even think anything about how the teller is fawning over Nien like she had before—no, her mind is still occupied with what their so-called fortune said instead. Why am I even still thinking about this?

She looks at Nien again. Really looks at her this time, taking the girl in closely while her attention is preoccupied. I guess she wouldn’t make a bad wife. Seoyeon imagines what always comes to mind when she thinks of marriage: coming home after a long day to her lover, recharging her energy with just a hug. Nien looks like she gives good hugs. The girl is tall, taller than Seoyeon, and if her smile already has the warming power of a thousand suns Seoyeon can’t imagine how warm her hug would be. And—

“Seoyeon?” Said girl’s voice breaks her out of her thoughts, and to her embarrassment she realizes that both the fortune teller and Nien are staring at her. To her credit, Nien’s gaze looks like one of concern instead of the lady’s knowing expression.

“Huh?”

“I’ve called your name three times just now,” Nien says, stepping slightly closer. “Are you okay? We can rest for a little before we head back to the train.”

Her hand reaches to take Seoyeon’s suitcase but she tugs it back with a “No, I’m okay.” Noticing the shopkeeper still looking at them, Seoyeon bows quickly and slides her hand into Nien’s instead to pull her towards the exit. “We really have to get going now but thank you for your time, have a good day!"

It’s only when they turn the corner and the shop leaves their line of sight that Seoyeon slows down slightly, though now Nien takes the lead as she tightens her grip on Seoyeon’s hand. She sits them on a bench.

“Hey, what’s wrong? Do you feel sick?” Nien’s eyes bore into hers and Seoyeon has to make an effort not to look away.

“Your eyes are a mud color,” she blurts out instead.

Confusion colors Nien’s irises for only a second before she bursts out laughing, and she just about clutches her stomach with how hard she’s chortling.

“Why are you laughing? That wasn’t even funny,” Seoyeon protests, though she can’t stop her own smile from appearing on her face.

“I know, but,” Nien wipes a tear, “your expression looked so serious just now, I got worried for no reason.” She gives Seoyeon’s head two light pats. “Good to see our Seoyeon isn’t suffering from sudden brain damage.”

“Why would I have sudden brain damage? From watching you suck up to some random ajumma?”

“Hey! You know that sucking up got us a 40% discount,” Nien exclaims. “It’s crazy what kind of prices people will charge just because it’s the new year.”

“No one said we had to get a saju reading,” Seoyeon reminds her.

“Yeah, but I wanted a saju reading,” the girl drawls. “I’m a foreigner, you know.”

She rolls her eyes. “Your Korean is flawless, though?”

Nien’s eyes light up gleefully. “Aw, thanks for the compliment!”

Damn, I walked right into that one. Seoyeon scoffs again, trying to think of a comeback while her face blooms with color.

“You know, I used to make mud balls as a kid,” Nien suddenly muses.

“Where’d that come from?”

“Mud comes from the dirt, silly!” the girl says with a grin that grows tenfold when Seoyeon rolls her eyes. She opens her mouth to clarify when Nien holds up a hand to silence her. “I know, you meant to say that I just pulled this topic out of nowhere. But really,” she points a finger at Seoyeon, “you’re the one who brought up mud first, when you compared it to the color of my eyes.”

The girl pretends to pout. “Usually, people say chocolate… I’ve never gotten mud before.”

“Why do you want to talk about mud?”

“You wanted to talk about mud!” Nien repeats. She slides her phone out of her pocket. “Plus, we’ve still got half an hour ‘til the train gets here, and I wanna talk.” She juts her lower lip out at Seoyeon. “And no one’s ever asked about my mud balls before…”

Seoyeon sighs exaggeratedly. “Fine, I’ll bite. Tell me about your mud balls.”

“Yay!” Nien claps her hands like Seoyeon just gave her the last Lego during recess. “Well, you know people usually make mud cakes, right?”

“I don’t.”

“Right, but I’m not ‘people,’” Nien continues. “I—”

“You’re a person,” Seoyeon cuts in again, but she can’t stop the giggle that leaves her mouth this time.

“Hey!” Nien laughs as well, stomping her foot lightly. “I’m trying to tell my story!”

“Okay, okay, I’m listening!”

“Like I was saying,” Nien emphasizes with a huge smile, “the other kids liked to make mud cakes but I was never one to follow the crowd.” Seoyeon wants so badly to say I can tell but forces herself to keep quiet, nodding in amusement instead.

“I was probably in third grade at this point? And I sat next to this kid, we’ll call him Huang. So one day, I’m bored out of my mind in class—”

“Like always,” Seoyeon murmurs.

“—and we had just come back from recess. This is where the mud comes in, ‘cause my shoes had these ridges on the bottom, right? It was muddy that day, so naturally,” Nien shrugs, “there was mud caked in my shoes.”

“You didn’t touch it during class, did you?” The question is a formality—Seoyeon can already tell that nine-year-old Nien would do just that.

“Oh, but I did!” Nien affirms gleefully. “And, when I scraped the mud out, I would roll them out into balls and they’d harden right away. I thought I invented rocks, seriously.”

Seoyeon laughs at the absurdity. “And what does Huang have to do with your fake rocks?”

“That’s just the thing, I taught him my method! And then he started showing the other kids, and soon we were all rolling mud ball-rocks in our desks.” The girl nods, clearly pleased with herself. “I’m kind of a visionary, you know.”

“Did your teacher find out?”

“Oh yeah, by the third day she was pissed,” Nien laughs. “Except, I was such a good kid no one ever thought it was me. So Huang ended up getting all the blame.” She holds up two palms. “I did feel bad, though, so I bought him some snacks the next day.”

Seoyeon shakes her head. “Tsk tsk, who would have known you were such a mischievous kid.”

“Still am!” Nien bounds up from the bench, holding a hand out to Seoyeon. “Come on, I think they’ve started scanning tickets. Let’s board quickly so we can snag one of the private compartments.”

Seoyeon’s already on her feet. “You mean I’ll snag a private compartment,” she retorts, already dragging her suitcase behind her as she walks quickly to the conductor.

“Yoon Seoyeon!” Nien yelps, fumbling with her own suitcase handle as Seoyeon speeds away. “The compartments are big enough for two people!”

(Later, after they’ve boarded the train and Nien insists that they should sit next to each other, Seoyeon begins to feel her eyelids drooping as the landscape turns into a steady strip outside their window. Nien opts to quietly watch the scenery, and if she has any objection to Seoyeon’s head falling on her shoulder, Seoyeon doesn’t hear it.)

“Most of my cousins are fifteen or so years older than me so you don’t need to worry about them, but I’ve got a handful around my age,” Seoyeon tells Nien as they rock lightly on a swingset, their suitcases parked on the sidewalk across the sand. “The kids can’t be trusted to keep a secret, and I haven’t told my other cousins either.” She winces. “We’ll have to try to keep up the act in front of everybody.”

“Better for me—I like a challenge,” Nien proclaims, rubbing her hands together dramatically. “Why are we at a playground, though? I’m no expert, but this doesn’t really look like a house.”

“Do you just like to point out anything and everything your eyes land on?” Seoyeon asks exasperatedly. “Actually, don’t answer. We’re here because this park is only a short walk from my aunt’s house but far enough for me to debrief you one last time on my mom. She’s the whole reason why I dragged you here in the first place.”

“Why I voluntarily came in the first place,” Nien corrects.

“Sure. My mom’s the youngest of all my aunts and uncles, and she’s got this fear that she won’t get any grandchildren until she’s on her deathbed.” Her eyeroll is only half-joking. “Even though, like I said, my other cousins are ten-plus years older than me and already have kids because they’re approaching middle age.

“They used to target me and my cousin Yooyeon—she’s two years older than us—but then she graduated and started this nice job at a huge company, so she’s been using that as her defense,” Seoyeon blows a strand of hair out of her face, “while I’m still jobless and the main concern.”

“Ditto,” Nien says automatically, then takes a moment to soak the information in. “And they’ll all be here this week?”

“Unfortunately.” She winces again. “Although I don’t hate my family or anything, they can just be… a lot.” Seoyeon looks at Nien quickly, holding her hands up. “I won't make you stay the whole week, either! In case you want to head back to the school again before you leave… next week?”

She tilts her head quizzically. “Can I ask, why—”

“Why am I not flying home until next week?” Nien supplies. Seoyeon nods and the girl takes that as her cue to start explaining. “It’s my parents, mainly. ‘Cause my dad’s family is in Taiwan, but my mom’s family is in Vietnam. And you know that belief, where you wrap up any final disputes and business before the day so you don’t bring bad luck into the new year?”

Suddenly, a laugh bursts out of Nien. “Wait, let me finish this and I’ll tell you why I laughed after.” Seoyeon can only respond with a noise of expectation. “Anyway, what was I saying?”

“Bad luck.”

“Oh yeah, right! So because of that tradition, my parents like to tie up loose ends and whatnot by taking a bunch of business trips during that first week. And then, we spend the week after with my family in Taiwan, and then another week in Vietnam.” Nien hums. “If anything, that makes my New Year celebrations twice as long, even though it’s delayed by a week.”

She nudges Seoyeon. “And now, because of you, I’ll have triple the celebration this year with your family, too! Maybe that ajumma was right when she said I’d be extra lucky this year…”

“That’s a positive way to look at it,” Seoyeon wonders aloud. “How long has your family been doing that for?”

“Since I was young,” Nien shrugs. “Honestly, I don’t really remember much besides visiting a bunch of different countries with them during their business trips. Although I stopped doing that when I started college…” She sighs dramatically. “Now I just kick rocks at the school or fly back early to hang out with my baby cousins.”

Nien glances at her. “I know you think I’m doing you a big favor and that you owe me or whatever, but I should actually thank you for saving my break from being boring. So,” she extends a hand, “I’ll just enjoy myself here with you and your family, and we’ll call it even?”

“And the wish?”

“That too.”

Seoyeon looks at her for a long moment, then narrows her eyes. “I’m buying you food when we get back.”

“If you insist~” Nien responds at the same time Seoyeon’s phone goes off. The girl leans over to read the text on her screen: unnie i can see you at the park why are you not coming in yet are you hiding from me.

Nien giggles as she reads the contact name. “Alien…?”

“My sister,” is all Seoyeon says, pulling Nien up by the arm. “We should head in now, otherwise they’ll think we’re hiding from them.”

Nien pauses for a second, an unreadable expression on her face before a huge grin splits it in half. “Y’know, the reason why I laughed earlier was because you looked so cute all confused.” She tugs Seoyeon to the sidewalk, batting Seoyeon’s hand away from her own suitcase. “Let me. Lead the way, girlfriend!”

Seoyeon spins around so Nien can’t see her flushing face, mumbling a small Follow me as she tries to get as far ahead of the girl as possible. 

This is a good idea.

Nien trails Seoyeon to the house, taking in her surroundings as she tries not to think about how she’s going to present herself as Seoyeon’s girlfriend to her entire extended family. Totally not nerve-racking at all. It’d be a lie, though, if she said this whole scheme wasn’t giving her a crazy adrenaline rush.

They barely make it to the front door before a mob of pink hair rushes up to them, jumping onto Seoyeon and nearly causing the shorter girl to topple over.

“UNNIE!” the pink mass—a teenage girl—screams at the same time another girl bounds up to them as well, piling onto Seoyeon. In Nien’s peripheral vision she can see two older girls approaching them, already reaching for her and Seoyeon’s suitcases.

“Guys, guys, get off,” Seoyeon gasps, trying to pry the two teens off of her. “Jesus, you guys are so tall now.”

“That’s because you don’t visit us enough, unnie!” the pink-haired girl pouts, though Nien thinks she looks just a little silly towering over Seoyeon. Next to her, the black-haired girl turns to Nien, and she notices that she looks slightly like Seoyeon.

She thrusts out a hand. “Hi! I’m Nien, Seoyeon’s girlfriend. It’s so nice to finally meet her sister.”

“I’m not her sister,” Black Hair giggles at the same time Pink Hair says, “That’s me!”

Nien’s eyes dart between the two girls, then glances at Seoyeon next to her. Don’t say it don't say it don't say it— “You guys don’t look alike though?”

She gets a hard elbow to her side from Seoyeon—“Ow!”—who had been talking quickly with the two older girls holding their suitcases. “Nien, this is—”

A loud giggle from Pink Hair interrupts Seoyeon’s introduction. “Unnie, she’s funny! She just says whatever she wants!”

“Just like you,” the girl pretends to groan. “Well, Nien, this one is Chaewon, my sister.” She points at Pink Hair.

“Alien.” Nien can’t resist the quip, which gets an identical giggle and high five from Chaewon. I like this girl already.

“And this one is Soomin, my cousin,” Seoyeon points at Black Hair. “These two are my other cousins, Soomin’s sisters Yooyeon unnie and Chaeyeon,” she finishes, pointing at the older girls who wave before moving their suitcases towards the hall, probably to where Nien and Seoyeon would be sleeping for the week. She guesses that one of them is about their age, maybe slightly younger, and assumes that one is Chaeyeon.

“Nice to meet you guys,” Nien exclaims, bowing slightly. “Please take care of me!”

“We should thank you,” Soomin pipes up, “for dating our Seoyeon unnie. I can’t believe she managed to get a girlfriend.”

Nien slings an arm around Seoyeon’s shoulder before she can push the younger girl. “No, I should thank Seoyeon for letting me date someone as amazing as her~”

She’s the one who gets the shove from Seoyeon instead, though Nien delights in how her face flushes bright red while the two teens giggle at the two of them.

“Okay, no more thanking!” Seoyeon exclaims, taking Nien’s hand to pull her deeper into the house. She suddenly stops. “Chaewon-ah, how long have you been here for?”

The girl flops onto the couch, and Soomin does the same next to her. “For like, an hour? I just got here.” She tugs Nien’s hand. “Nien unnie, sit down! Let’s get to know each other. Unnie,” she looks dismissively at Seoyeon, “you can stay with us, I guess. Or talk to Mom and Auntie in the backyard, I don’t really care.”

“You’re the one who jumped on me and said I don’t visit enough?” the girl says indignantly, sitting down as well and pulling Nien closer to her. “I’ll stay here to make sure you guys don’t say anything weird to Nien.”

“Only guilty people have weird things to say about them,” Soomin says primly at the same time Nien asks, “So are you guys the same age?”

“Yep!” the younger girl nods, turning her attention to Nien. “We were born in 2007, way younger than this grandma-unnie.”

“Nien and I are the same age,” Seoyeon cuts in. “And we only have four years of difference!”

“Obviously Nien unnie has a youthful, fairy-like vibe,” Soomin argues as Chaewon gasps, “Unnie! You need to give me your skincare routine ASAP!”

Their energy is a lot to take in, even for Nien. She turns to Chaewon first. “Chaewon, come to the bathroom after dinner. I’ll show you my routine and products then, okay?”

The girl cheers loudly and the sound makes Nien giggle. “You guys are so fun,” she laughs, turning to Seoyeon. “Is that why you like me so much?”

“What the heck.” She gets a hit to her shoulder. “Don’t say cringey things like that.”

Still, Nien can see the tips of the girl's ears burning through her hair and the sight is oddly endearing, even more so than Chaewon or Soomin’s antics. Who can blame her really, when Seoyeon is so easy to fluster? 

She brings her face closer to Seoyeon’s, exclaiming, “How can I not, if you’re so cute?” and finally gets a yelp from the girl as she pushes Nien again.

The sight gets a chorus of teasing Oohs from the two teens and Seoyeon stands up abruptly, hauling Nien up as well. “Okay, that’s enough of you two. We should go meet the rest of the family now.”

“Okie doke!” she replies, bounding up from the couch and patting both Chaewon and Soomin’s heads. “You guys are so cute but I’m gonna go with Seoyeon now, okay?”

“You guys are so gross,” Soomin complains as Chaewon pushes them away.

“I never thought I’d live to see Seoyeon unnie get all lovesick, I need some time to get used to this,” the girl says, pretending to shudder. Still, her attention is diverted just as quickly when she pulls a phone out of her pocket. “Soomin, look at this reel I saw the other day!”

Seoyeon, instead of responding to them, pulls Nien along instead. “Come on, Nien,” the girl says.

“We’re going to meet my mom.”

They don’t head for the backyard right away, unlike what Seoyeon had said. She steers them in the opposite direction instead, towards the hallway.

“I need to use the restroom,” the girl explains, stopping in front of a door. She points down the hall, where Nien can see their suitcases through a slightly-open door. “We’ll be sleeping in Chaeyeon’s room because my parents are taking the guest room.”

Nien nods, and Seoyeon leaves her with a final “Feel free to explore!” before promptly shutting the bathroom door. Well, she thinks, Seoyeon did say I can explore… I should check the room out.

Surprisingly, the room is very tidy. It’s not like she expected it to be dirty, but it’s just that there’s hardly anything in there, like no one has slept in it for a while. So Chaeyeon probably does attend university. Traces of what Nien assumes are Chaeyeon’s interests are evident throughout—movie posters on the wall, a Hello Kitty doll on the dresser—and the bed is also neatly kept.

She’s about to walk towards the bed, wanting to sit down while she waits for Seoyeon, when she suddenly hears a voice at the end of the hall. “KIDS! Come out here and help me bring some stuff in!”

Like a sleeper agent, Nien springs up at the command and automatically makes her way to the front of the house, where she sees a woman—no, a box with legs approaching. She quickly takes the front end of the crate, easing some weight off of the small woman carrying it from behind and setting it on the wood flor.

“Thank yo— oh! You must be Seoyeon’s girlfriend.” The woman seems startled as she realizes who had helped her with the box. “What’s your name?”

“Oh, my name is Nien!” she replies quickly, bowing deeply and blowing some hair out of her face when she straightens up. “I’m sorry, I didn’t get to introduce myself properly.”

“Oh no, dear, it’s not a problem! And I didn’t either—I’m Seoyeon’s mother,” the woman says.

“She looks just like you,” Nien blurts out. “I can see where she gets her visuals from.”

For a moment, the woman—Ms. Yoon—doesn’t say anything, and Nien worries that she’s said the wrong thing until she laughs suddenly, giggles seeming to take over her small frame. This is the lady Seoyeon is so scared about?

“You’re too kind! Actually,” Seoyeon’s mom takes her arm, trying to pull her to the couch, “don’t even worry about bringing things in, I’ll have the other kids do that. Just sit comfortably here.”

“Oh no, I couldn’t!” Nien protests, gently pulling the woman’s hands off her arm and shifting to hold both of them in her own. “I want to help! And I’m quite strong, it won’t be a problem for me.”

Chaewon suddenly materializes next to them and grabs Nien’s bicep just as quickly, making her yelp. “Woah, unnie, I didn’t know you had real muscles!”

Before Nien can reply the girl’s mom cuts in with an admonishing “Kim Chaewon!” She lightly slaps her daughter’s shoulder. “You do not go around touching people like that!”

“Aw what! Mom, me and unnie are chill like that!”

Ms. Yoon gives her an unimpressed look. “Chill like what?”

“She means we’re close!” Nien says hurriedly, throwing an arm over Chaewon’s shoulder. “Our Chaewon is just joking around, I really didn’t mind it!”

“Are you sure?” Ms. Yoon’s expression is back to a concerned one, looking between Nien and the couch.

“I’m totally sure!” she affirms, already moving towards the door. “In fact, I’ll have Chaewon help us carry stuff in too! It’s a win-win situation.”

Chaewon’s mom seems satisfied with that answer and starts to pull both of them to the front herself. “Good, because I bought a lot of groceries that need to be carried in…”

Seoyeon does not expect to find Nien missing when she steps out of the restroom. To be fair, she did tell the girl to feel free to explore, but she thought Nien would just wait in Chaeyeon's room while Seoyeon took care of business in the restroom.

(As in, the cheese tteokbokki that decided it didn't sit right in her stomach when it came time for Nien to meet her mom. Was Seoyeon also worried about the two meeting for other, unexplained reasons? Maybe. But it's easier to blame the tteokbokki.)

In any case, Nien is not in Chaeyeon's room like Seoyeon thought she would be, and her first thought is one of panic. Shit, Mom got to her already. It's what makes her burst into the living room to find Nien and her mom seated side-by-side, with bowls of mandu filling and wrappers in front of them.

“Nien!” Seoyeon blurts out, and the sound is louder than she intended. From the floor, Chaeyeon and Chaewon also startle next to her mom and Nien. The girl herself, though, just beams up at Seoyeon.

“Yes, Seoyeon?”

Soomin pretends to gag on the couch. “Unnie, save me!” The girl falls onto Yooyeon next to her, who types something on her laptop. “Seoyeon unnie and Nien unnie are grossing me out.”

“You'll get it when you're in love, Soomin,” the older girl answers absentmindedly.

“Ooh, the L-word!” Chaeyeon exclaims, which makes Nien's cheeks darken (and Seoyeon's too, if the heat emanating from her face was anything to go by). The girl gets a shove from Seoyeon as she sits down next to her.

“Shut up,” she mumbles, and she glances across the round table to see Nien laughing quietly at something her mom says. They're actually getting along really well. She looks at Chaewon, who's practically glued to Nien's other side. It almost looks like Nien is actually my girlfriend.

“Unnie, your eyes are so scary when you look at me like that,” her sister suddenly whines. “If you want to sit next to Nien unnie you can just use your words, y’know. You don't have to stare at me.”

“I'm not staring at you,” Seoyeon protests, and she’s about to say more until Nien cuts her off.

“Sorry, Chaewon, she was looking at me,” Nien sighs dramatically. “Seoyeon always stares at me when she thinks I'm not looking.”

“Seoyeon unnie is a simp?!” Soomin cries, and even Yooyeon—the traitor—snorts at the remark.

“We all just watched her run in here crying like a damsel in distress,” Chaeyeon deadpans, dodging Seoyeon’s hand that comes for her head. “You’d think we’re a den of wolves she just threw Nien to.”

“You guys are a den of wolves,” she argues. Internally, she hopes Nien isn’t taking their words to heart—they’re not actually dating, sure, but she doesn’t want the girl to think she hates bringing her here. Looking across the table though, Nien suddenly catches her eye and mouths Watch this, complete with a wink. God, she’s so corny.

“I don’t know if I’d say pack of wolves,” Nien starts, tilting her head with an exaggerated hum. “I like it here! You guys are fun, and way different from my own family. I don’t have siblings or cousins close to my age like Seoyeon does.” The girl seems to dilate her pupils, somehow, and turns her expression to Seoyeon’s mom. “I’d be happy to stay, if you guys will have me.”

The sentiment is unexpectedly heartfelt, and Seoyeon feels a warmth bloom in her chest. Evidently, her mom seems to think the same with how she absolutely coos at Nien next to her.

“Oh, aren’t you just the sweetest little thing! My goodness, dear, I’d adopt you as my own daughter if I could!” The woman fixes a look at Seoyeon. “Don’t you dare lose this one, or I’ll keep her around myself.”

Nien’s grin—the little shit—only grows wider at the words as she leans into her mom’s cheek pat, not breaking eye contact with Seoyeon. “Plus, I think I could bear anything if it meant I could stay by Seoyeon’s side.”

The words have immediate impact, with reactions ranging from Chaeyeon’s stunned silence to matching squeals from Chaewon and Soomin, the latter deciding to drop the repulsed act. Even Yooyeon laughs, the eldest girl pointing at Seoyeon. “Look at her face, she’s as red as a tomato.”

Seoyeon, in her stuttering, doesn’t know who to look at or where to look, especially when Nien goes so far as to blow her an air kiss. Her eyes snap to her mom—surely this woman has a limit for how much PDA she can see from her children’s partners—but she only joins the kids in their giggling.

Seoyeon opts for pretending to be annoyed at Nien. Keyword being pretend. How the hell is she so good at acting like a girlfriend? She narrows her eyes. How many girls has she flirted with to be this smooth?

Before she can actually say anything, though, someone else suddenly enters the room. “Honey? Your sister is looking for you.”

“Oh yes, that’s right,” the woman remembers, getting up quickly and ushering her husband to take her place. “You help the kids fold up some mandu, and get acquainted with Nien while you're at it.” She drops her voice to a loud whisper. “She’s Seoyeon’s girlfriend.”

Seoyeon can only groan and prepare herself for a long night of relentless teasing.

(She’d be lying to say she hates it.)

Seoyeon’s family, for the most part, is normal about Nien. Seoyeon thinks that the girl—ever the extrovert—is fitting in well, especially with her younger cousins. And, no one seemed to suspect their relationship, though they did have a close encounter at dinner.

— — —

They’re seated around the living room table with her cousins, the kids having chosen the bigger table while their parents sat at the kitchen table. Seoyeon makes sure to keep Nien next to her while Soomin claims the spot on the girl’s other side, much to Chaewon’s disappointment. It’s my turn to sit next to unnie, the younger of the two insists, though Chaewon only relents after Nien reminds her of their promise to share skincare routines after dinner.

As for Yooyeon and Chaeyeon, they seem to prefer to ask Nien questions face-to-face, mostly ones of curiosity asking about what she was studying in university and if she had a job yet—things that a parent would ask their child’s partner. Seoyeon tells them as much, subtly checking Nien’s reactions as well to make sure they aren’t intimidating the girl.

“You can’t blame us,” Chaeyeon shrugs as she takes a bite of her rice. “This is the first girl you’ve ever brought home and for Seollal, no less.”

“I remember you said you only went to university to study and had no time for relationships,” Yooyeon adds at the same time Nien exclaims, “Wow! I’m honored!”

“Yeah, well,” Seoyeon says noncommittally.

They’re about to jump on her response when Nien suddenly makes a noise of delight, chopsticks holding a piece of jeon to her mouth. “Woah,” the girl swallows, “this is amazing!”

“Thanks! I made it,” Chaeyeon smiles as she takes a bite of her own jeon.

Nien nods vigorously, turning to Seoyeon with her chopsticks raised. “Seoyeon, you’ve gotta try some!”

Soomin’s voice blocks her reply. “Seoyeon unnie doesn’t like scallions in her jeon, though?”

Seoyeon sees Nien’s eyes widening a fraction, hand already retracting when she shoots forward, taking the jeon off the end in one swift bite. She swallows. “I’m trying to get used to it! Nien’s been helping me try new foods,” she lies, hoping the girl will drop it.

Soomin tilts her head, silent for a moment. Chaewon sniffs. “That must be true because Seoyeon unnie doesn’t share her chopsticks with anyone, not even me,” her sister says, taking a pointed bite of her own rice.

“Sorry, Chaewon. Girlfriend privileges,” Nien grins, and the conversation resumes as if there was no hiccup at all. When the two youngest invariably start arguing about something—probably related to a game, if Seoyeon had to guess—Nien meets her eyes and mouths a split-second whew.

Seoyeon only pushes the plate of jeon closer to her in response.

— — —

“Chaewon, come take some of these face masks!” Nien’s voice enters the room before she does, with the younger girl in tow. “I’ve brought way more than I need, so feel free to take them!”

“Unnie, you are—and I cannot stress this enough—the unnie I was always meant to have,” Chaewon gushes, already dropping to a squat in front of Nien's open suitcase.

“Should I change my name to Kim Nien?” Or,” the girl tilts her head, already looking at Seoyeon, “Yoon Nientzu?” She pauses. “Wait, why do you guys have different last names?”

“She's adopted,” Seoyeon deadpans.

Nien barks a laugh at that, one that dies quickly when she sees Chaewon is still preoccupied with her face masks on the floor. “Wait, are you serio—”

Seoyeon tries her hardest—she really does!—to hold in a laugh, but Nien's gobsmacked expression makes her double over on the bed.

“No, I'm joking— your face—” she wheezes, only narrowly dodging the face mask Chaewon throws towards her in her fit of giggles.

“God, unnie, how many times are you going to tell people I'm adopted!” the younger girl whines, then looks up at Nien. She pulls on her sleeve, making the older girl sit next to her. “Don't listen to her, we're still half-related!”

“That's true,” Seoyeon concedes, seeing Nien's confusion subside only a small amount at her nod. “Her dad married our mom before she was born, so we're half-sisters.”

“I'm more part of the family anyways, ‘cause I'm Kim but Seoyeon unnie is Yoon,” Chaewon insists. Nien nods seriously at that.

“That's a running joke in our family,” Seoyeon continues, ignoring the stuck-out tongue she receives from Chaewon, “because her last name is Kim, like our cousins.” She shrugs. “While mine is Yoon, but my name has the ‘yeon’ like Yooyeon unnie and Chaeyeon.”

She smiles at her sister. “I'm just playing around, Chaewon, you know I love you.”

“This is why I want Nien unnie as my sister,” the girl responds with an equally large grin on her face. “You can get your ‘I love you’ back when you buy me strawberry ice cream tomorrow.”

“Yeah, don't be mean to my baby!” Nien says as she puts a protective arm around Chaewon, now finally understanding the situation. “If Chaewon was my sister I'd show her off every day!”

“That's right!” Chaewon cheers, snuggling closer to Nien. “You're coming with us tomorrow, right unnie?”

Nien smiles blankly at the girl. “Where are we going tomorrow?”

Chaewon looks scandalized. “Unnie! We're all going to Everland tomorrow,” the girl emphasizes. “Don't tell me you forgot!”

Realization dawns on Nien's face and she starts to say, “Oh yeah, Seoyeon told me when she told me her pla—”

“When I told her I wanted to bring her along!” Seoyeon hurriedly cuts in. She shoots warning eyes at Nien when Chaewon isn't looking. Watch your tongue!

“And told me to play, yeah!” Nien saves herself awkwardly, eyes darting to the youngest girl. “Say, Chaewon, isn't it getting kind of late? What time are we supposed to be at the park tomorrow, again?”

“6:30 AM!” the girl chirps.

“SIX THIRTY AM?!” she and Nien exclaim at the same time. Seoyeon pulls out her phone. “Chaewon, that's in eight hours!”

“We should all go to sleep and make sure we're well-rested!” Nien adds. She gasps suddenly. “Chaewon, you should make sure Soomin won’t hog the blanket!”

The girl snaps into motion. “Oh my God, unnie, you're right!” She holds the face masks tightly in her hands, already running out of the room and down the hall. “KIM SOOMIN!”

Chaewon’s voice reverberates in the walls long after she's gone, and it makes Seoyeon burst into laughter with Nien when the two meet eyes.

“That girl is a megaphone,” Seoyeon says with a shake of her head, watching Nien nod in agreement as the girl gets up to quietly shut the door.

Nien is still giggling as she moves her suitcase towards the bed, zipping up the compartment that Chaewon had pilfered earlier. “She's both like you and not like you,” the girl muses, leaning against the dresser. “You guys complement each other.”

It's not like Seoyeon hasn't heard people comment on her and Chaewon's relationship before—that's her sister of seventeen years, her baby before anything else—but hearing Nien say it makes her curious, for some reason. She tilts her head. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, she's got, like, ten times more energy than you do, for one,” Nien starts. She strokes her chin thoughtfully. “I'd even go so far as to say she could be the next strawberry girl.”

“Whatever that means,” Seoyeon laughs.

“It means a lot!” Nien cries indignantly. “It's a big honor to be a strawberry girl, like me! But like,” she pauses, thinking, “you're both sentimental, I think. I get that vibe.”

Nien suddenly grins. “And you're both easily flustered,” the girl winks at Seoyeon, “and react well to my jokes. Or for you, to my flirting, more like.”

Seoyeon coughs suddenly, looking away from Nien as her face reddens. “Yeah, that's part of the whole plan,” she mumbles. She clears her throat, and her hand comes in contact with the pillow. She looks down.

“Woah, there's only one bed,” Nien remarks dramatically, voicing Seoyeon's thoughts. Still, she looks up to see a hint of hesitation on the girl's features. “I could sleep on the floor?”

“No, they'll get suspicious,” Seoyeon says quickly. She bites her lip, thinking as she looks at the bed again. Thinking about how to fit the two of them on it, of course, and not about the fact that she would be sleeping less than a meter away from Nien. Definitely not remembering how secure her hands feel in the girl’s slightly bigger ones, and how cuddling the taller girl would probably have the same effect but to a greater extent, being that her whole body would be wrapped in the girl’s embrace.

If Nien was really her girlfriend, Seoyeon wouldn’t have to think twice about it. We could cuddle as much as I want.

She squashes the thought. “I mean, it's a pretty big bed, queen size… I think we could both fit on it.”

“I agree,” Nien says after a moment, nodding slowly. She stretches her arms and yawns exaggeratedly. “Then, should I turn off the lights…?”

Seoyeon nods silently, watching the girl pad over to the lightswitch before heading for the bed. She scoots over, trying to give Nien as much space as possible.

“Relax, I won't bite in my sleep,” Nien's disembodied voice jokes, though Seoyeon can make out the vague shape of her shifting body in the darkness. If Seoyeon's eyes aren't failing her, it looks like the girl is about to fall off her own side of the bed.

“I could say the same thing,” Seoyeon retorts, though she shuffles slightly closer. She feels the mattress dipping as Nien does the same. Still, there's a little less than an arm's distance between them.

Seoyeon flips over to face the rest of the room, trying not to think about how close their bodies are, regardless. “Goodnight,” she says quickly, trying to get her heart to stop beating so fast.

When she hears a faint Goodnight whispered into the air between them, Seoyeon finally closes her eyes.

“So we’re going to ride all of the roller coasters together, right Seoyeon?” Nien asks from next to her in the bus, arm already slung around her shoulders. The girl’s already hyper—much too hyper for 6 in the morning, in Seoyeon’s opinion—despite her claims of fatigue when they first sat down.

(She had claimed the seat right next to Seoyeon, making a dramatic show of yawning and stretching her arms, only to let one of them fall across the back of their seats. Seoyeon considered pointing it out, a comment already on the tip of her tongue when Chaeyeon beat her to it, the younger girl speaking up from across the aisle.

“Oh my God, unnies, it is way too early for this,” she had complained, shifting slightly to keep Yooyeon’s head from rolling off her shoulder. “At least wait until we get to the park and you guys can get out of my sight first.”)

Maybe not all of them, Seoyeon was about to say, opening her mouth to reply when she gets interrupted again, this time by a different girl.

“Nah, I don’t think unnie could take all of them,” Soomin asserts, shaking her head sadly at Nien from Chaeyeon’s other side.

“Yeah,” Chaewon chimes in, grabbing Nien’s hand to make her turn her head, “the last time we went unnie refused to go on all the rides with me.”

“Because you wanted to go on every one,” Seoyeon retorts, tugging Nien’s other hand to bring the girl’s attention away from her sister. “And the last time we went was probably six years ag—”

“Excuses, excuses,” Chaewon says over her words, pulling on Nien’s hand again. “Unnie—”

“Woah, woah, there’s enough of me to go around!” the girl laughs at the same time, bringing both of their hands into her lap.

“—I’m just letting you know now,” Chaewon continues, “that this unnie is probably too scared to go on all the rides today. One time we went to this park with a death drop, and Seoyeon unnie was seriously about to chicken out.”

Mischievous eyes meet hers. “Oh, did she now?”

“Almost,” she says quickly, shaking her head.

“Basically,” Soomin pipes up, glancing up from her phone.

“But I didn’t,” Seoyeon insists. “I’m not a scaredy-cat anymore. In fact,” she raises her eyebrows at Nien, “I’d wager that I could outlast you in all the rides today.”

“Are you confident?” the girl asks gleefully, and in Seoyeon’s peripheral vision she notices Nien’s feet bouncing slightly as she beams at Seoyeon. Cute. “You know, I’m never one to back down from a challenge.”

Seoyeon blinks once, jolting slightly. “Wel—”

“Guys!” Soomin suddenly exclaims, breaking her train of thought. “We’re going to hit the gift shop first, okay? I want to rent a uniform.”

“Oh, I’ve seen those online!” Nien says, attention already stolen as she answers the younger girl. Her big, bright eyes meet Seoyeon’s again. “Where couples wear the matching uniforms and go on a date like they’re high school students. We’re doing that today, right Seoyeon?”

“I haven’t worn a school uniform since graduating high school,” she says instead of answering, pretending to roll her eyes.

“And I haven’t worn a Korean school uniform ever,” Nien rebuts, suddenly rubbing her head against Seoyeon’s. “Please please pleaseee, I’ve always wanted to wear couple outfits at Everland.”

“Seoyeon unnie’s already caving,” Chaewon giggles at the same time she says, “Is it really that fun?”

“Yes, it is,” Nien insists, “because when else will we get to come all the way to Everland again? You don’t want to be one of those couples in their thirties wearing the school uniforms, do you?”

Seoyeon ignores the skip in her heart at the thought of them being together in their thirties. “Well, no—”

“That’s why we’re even going,” Chaeyeon adds, clicking her phone off as the bus rolls along. “I’m not going to be young forever.”

“I certainly won’t be,” Yooyeon says dryly, yawning as she lifts her head off Chaeyeon’s shoulder.

“Exactly!” Soomin pokes her palm with a finger. “And we’re going today because all our other cousins are coming tomorrow but they’re pushing middle-age with babies already, so it wouldn’t be fun to go with them.”

“And we’re young and hip.”

“So we’ll enjoy it the most,” Soomin finishes. She leans forward to look sideways at her sisters. “Unnies, you’re getting the uniforms too, right?”

“Nah,” is Yooyeon’s response.

“I didn’t wear a cute outfit today just to change into a uniform,” Chaeyeon sniffs. “I’ll just match headbands with Yooyeon unnie.”

“Then you unnies have to wear the uniforms,” Chaewon suddenly stresses, leaning across Nien to look at Seoyeon with widened eyes. “It can’t just be me and Soomin—we’ll just look dumb because we’re still in high school.”

“I thought we knew that?” Seoyeon laughs.

“Unnie!”

“Okay, okay,” she relents, “I’m sorry for teasing you. Unnie will buy you double ice cream today.”

“No,” Chaewon insists, shaking her head, “the uniforms, too. One strawberry ice cream like you promised, and then you also have to wear the uniform because you teased me so early in the morning.”

“You chose to go this early!” Seoyeon says incredulously, but her vision is suddenly blocked by Nien’s face again.

“Seoyeon, can we wear the uniforms, please?” The girl even pouts at Seoyeon, bunching her eyebrows slightly.

“... Fine,” she relents, slightly out of breath and acutely aware of how close their faces are.

“Ew, unnies, no PDA!” Soomin suddenly cries, which makes the two of them jump.

“Kim Soomin!” Seoyeon scolds as her face heats up. “You can’t just say things so bluntly in a public bus!”

“And you can’t have PDA in a public bus!” the younger girl shoots back, and Seoyeon has to bite back the reply that almost escapes her lips. We weren’t going to because we’re not actually dating. She bites her lip instead, glaring half-heartedly at the younger girl.

Nien, on the other hand, is as cool as a cucumber. “Don’t be jealous, Soomin-ah~” the girl sing-songs, bouncing the hand holding Seoyeon’s in her lap. “I’m sure our Soominie will find love one day.”

“I’m going to be even more obnoxious than you two,” Soomin vows dramatically, and Seoyeon’s about to groan when the bus suddenly rolls to a stop.

“ATTENTION PASSENGERS, WE HAVE ARRIVED AT EVERLAND STATION. PLEASE PREPARE YOUR BELONGINGS TO DISEMBARK SHORTLY.”

“Here’s our stop!” Chaewon says gleefully as she and Soomin bounce up, pulling the older girls up from their seats as well.

“Let’s go, Seoyeon!” Nien declares, nearly dragging Seoyeon off the bus. She can only pull her phone out for a split second—6:25 AM.

Today’s going to be a long-ass day.

“Should I get this headband, or this one?” Nien asks, alternating two animal ears over her head in the mirror. “Hamster”—she holds one up—“or puppy?” The girl spins around. “What do you think, Seoyeon?”

She takes a glance around the gift shop, taking note of Yooyeon and Chaeyeon standing by the other headbands while Soomin and Chaewon try on various uniforms. Which is to say, none of them were near her and Nien.

“I mean, choose whichever one you like.” Seoyeon shrugs. “You’re the one who wanted to wear these uniforms.”

“Of course I did, I want to match with my girlfriend,” Nien replies matter-of-factly, eyes still distracted between the two headbands.

The comment, seemingly offhanded, still makes Seoyeon’s face flush and she coughs suddenly. The others can’t even hear us. “I don’t really mind the uniforms, you know. I was just saying that on the bus to play with Soomin.”

Nien hums noncommittally at that, still not looking at Seoyeon. It makes her skin itch a little bit, in a way Seoyeon can’t really name. She clears her throat again. “Your, uh, tie is crooked.”

Then, before she can think twice, she steps forward and reaches for Nien’s collar, smoothing it out and undoing the necktie underneath. It’s not until she pulls the final loop through, though, that she realizes that Nien stopped moving, had seemingly froze the moment Seoyeon took her tie in her hands.

Her eyes flit up quickly, apology already about to leave her lips when a pair of hands come down on her head. And with them, a fuzzy tan headband.

“Here,” Nien breathes, eyes not leaving Seoyeon’s as her hands adjust the ears on her head. “A hamster headband for you, and a puppy one for me.”

Then—and Seoyeon could swear on this—Nien pats her head, nearly imperceptibly that she could almost believe she was just imagining it if it weren’t for the fact that the girl’s fingers move to her face next, feather-light touches brushing hair out of Seoyeon’s eyes.

The look in Nien’s eyes, so large and nearly dripping with honey, hits Seoyeon with a force so hard that she nearly stumbles backward. Just in time, Nien grabs her elbow and steadies Seoyeon after her knees abruptly buckle. How embarrassing.

“You’re really good at this,” Seoyeon blurts out, suddenly feeling the urge to speak after seeing the confused tilt of Nien’s head. “Just now, it almost looked like you were actually my girlfriend or something.”

When the girl replies a half-beat late Seoyeon worries she’s said the wrong thing, though a dazzling smile returns on Nien’s face just as quickly. “Yeah, I aim to please,” the girl chuckles, taking a step back and putting a respectable distance between them. What’s up with me today?

“I’m, uh, going to ring up these headbands,” Nien continues, pointing between Seoyeon’s ears and the ones on her own head. “Feel free to keep looking, though!”

In the blink of an eye the moment is over, with Nien taking advantage of her legs to take long strides away from Seoyeon. Maybe not away from me, she suddenly thinks, and she catches her reflection in the mirror. Her, in a high school uniform, complete with hamster ears and a light dusting of red on her cheeks. The picture of a girl in love.

She spins on her heel, looking for Chaewon or Soomin and trying not to think about what just happened. Be calm, Yoon Seoyeon.

(“Why hamster?” Seoyeon asks casually, later, when they’re standing outside waiting for the others to exit the store. She keeps her eyes forward, nonchalantly watching the gift shop entrance while she waits for Nien’s reply.

The girl giggles instead of answering, finally bringing Seoyeon’s full attention to her. “You just look like a hamster sometimes,” Nien shrugs, “all tiny but feisty.” She jumps to deftly avoid Seoyeon’s hand.

“And I’m a puppy,” she continues, bumping their shoulders together. “Instead of a cat and mouse, we’re a hamster and puppy.”

The comment—is it even flirtatious, or just quirky?—makes Seoyeon blush, though she rolls her eyes reflexively. It’s when Nien shifts slightly, though, that she realizes that Chaeyeon and Yooyeon are standing on Nien’s other side, pointedly trying not to listen to them. Unexplainably, the warmth in Seoyeon’s chest is replaced by a cold squeeze instead.

“Sure,” she murmurs finally, and fixes her eyes back on the gift shop.)

They hit up the bumper cars first, at Soomin’s insistence. Seoyeon chooses the car between Nien and Chaewon, thinking that the two would just race each other while Seoyeon shows off her driving skills, courtesy of recently getting her license. She quickly finds herself proven wrong, however, when they decide to gang up on her instead.

Specifically, Nien decides to join the two teenagers in terrorizing the rest of their party, which results in Seoyeon getting tailgated by her sister while Soomin and Nien tag-team Yooyeon and Chaeyeon.

“KIM CHAEWON!” Seoyeon screams as she squeezes past two cars, narrowly avoiding a collision. She watches Chaewon expertly maneuver between them, still hot on Seoyeon’s tail. “How are you driving so well?!”

“I’ve been practicing with your car while you’re at uni!” her sister shouts gleefully, sending Seoyeon spinning with a hard BUMP.

“You’ve been WHAT?” At this newly-revealed information Seoyeon quickly turns her car around, now being the one to chase Chaewon across the rink. “You better not have scratched it!”

“I didn’t!” the younger girl insists quickly, bumping into Chaeyeon’s car in an attempt to escape her sister’s wrath.

“Kim Chaewon!” Chaeyeon mimics Seoyeon’s shout from earlier.

“Chaeyeon unnie, help me!” the girl cries. “Seoyeon unnie’s trying to kill me!”

Chaeyeon, who had been getting ambushed by Nien, welcomes the diversion with open arms as she starts heading for Seoyeon instead. “Come on Chaewon,” the girl huffs, “she can’t take both of us at once!”

The threat almost makes Seoyeon turn around—she reckons that could take on both Chaeyeon and Chaewon in a physical fight or otherwise, but not in literal bumper cars—until a bright orange car slides in front of her instead.

“I can!” Nien declares, suddenly charging for their cars. “I’ll protect Seoyeon! I can take both of you at once!”

“No, you can’t!” Seoyeon yelps just as quickly, re-joining the chase. “And I don’t need to be protected!”

“KIM SOOMIN!” Chaewon shrieks to the girl across the rink, backing her car up quickly. “SOS! We need backup! Nien unnie just jumped ship!”

“Chaeyeon jumped ship too!” Seoyeon and Nien protest in unison, which receives another scream from Chaewon as Chaeyeon quickly steers her car away from theirs.

“These unnies are so scary!” the girl shouts, hiding her car behind Yooyeon’s.

The older girl, having finally shaken Soomin off of her, laughs at Chaeyeon’s expression. “I’m not going to protect you, you know.”

Chaeyeon rolls her eyes. “Of course not, unnie, you’re probably just going to tell me the aerodynamics behind the bumper cars.”

“Actually, since I was a science major, it’d be more like the thermodynamics of the constantly-colliding rubber cars transferring energ—”

“Stop, stop, stop.” Chaeyeon presses her hands to her ears, shaking her head as she loudly continues, “We’re at Everland, unnie, not a school.”

Nien suddenly giggles at the sight, and the sound makes Seoyeon jolt as she realizes that the girl had slowed her car to a standstill next to Seoyeon’s to watch Yooyeon and Chaeyeon. (The two teens, predictably, had gotten bored of their unnies and took off to play with their cars on their own.)

“It’s ironic because we’re the ones with uniforms on, but Yooyeon unnie is lecturing Chaeyeon,” the girl snickers, watching the two sisters squabble some more.

“They were like that even when we were younger too,” Seoyeon says into the air. She leans back in her bumper car to catch her breath, taking a glance at Nien doing the same. “Whenever Chaewon and I would come visit, Yooyeon unnie would nag Chaeyeon just as often as she did Soomin.”

Nien snorts, saying, “I can totally see that.” She turns to Seoyeon with a curious smile on her face. “You guys visit each other often?”

“Eh, sort of?” Seoyeon pauses to think. “I mean, Daejeon’s two hours away from Yongin by bus, so not as often as I’d have liked. I think our moms made a point to go once a month, though.” She turns to Nien, only barely catching a flash of melancholy in the girl’s eyes. “Oh, I’m sorry, was that—”

“No, no, you’re good,” Nien reassures her, the usual brightness returning to her eyes so quickly Seoyeon may have just been imagining it.

(Though, a part of Seoyeon thinks that that’s not true, that she really did see the dip in her smile and wants to ask her what that was about, but another thought holds her back. I mean, she doesn’t have to tell me anything. A stone settles in Seoyeon’s stomach. I’m not her girlfriend.)

“Should I tell you about my life in Taiwan?” Nien suddenly says, her eyes boring into Seoyeon’s.

“How did you kno—” she starts.

“It’s written all over your face,” Nien giggles, “and you’ve been telling me things about your family this whole time. I should tell you some things about mine, in return.”

Seoyeon nods mutely, and Nien hums as she stretches her arms, looking up at the ceiling. “Let’s see, where should I start?” She holds up a hand. “My dad is obviously Taiwanese, but he’s the oldest of all his siblings so I’m way older than my baby cousins.”

“My cousins’ kids are in elementary school,” Seoyeon offers.

Nien nods. “Yeah, around that age. They’re little suckers, the whole lot of them. If you think I’ve got a lot of energy, they’re like one hundred little me’s—”

“Oh my God.”

“—and they’re a total handful,” Nien laughs. “I love them, though, especially because I can visit them more often.” She holds up her other hand. “My mom is Vietnamese, and all of her family lives in Vietnam. So I’ve actually got cousins around my age on her side, but I can’t visit them as often.”

Nien frowns slightly, and Seoyeon thinks she feels her heart crack at the sight. “Especially ‘cause my Viet isn’t as good as theirs, so it’s a little tough to understand them sometimes.” The girl chuckles now, a little forcefully as she continues, “That’s the price of being a polyglot, I guess. Jack of all trades, master of none.”

“Hey,” Seoyeon chides lightly, “it’s already incredible that you know three languages. You know, I only know one, and that’s because I’ve lived in Korea my whole life.”

“Guess that’s one thing I’m better than you at, huh?” Nien jokes.

For some reason, Seoyeon’s competitive spirit doesn’t flare up at the jab and she can only pretend to give a reluctant sigh. “Sure, if that helps you sleep at night.”

Nien hums happily. “You know, in school they used to call me Ms. Worldwide.”

“I thought they called you strawberry girl?” Seoyeon asks with a raise of an eyebrow. “Isn’t that where that came from?”

“They did!” the girl exclaims. “And Vitamin N, and casanova, and—”

“Seems like you were pretty popular,” she laughs when Nien pauses to catch her breath. “Or still are, probably.”

“Only for you,” Nien grins, continuing before Seoyeon can realize that the corner they’ve tucked themselves into isn’t anywhere near the others. “I remember I was pretty popular among my classmates after falling from the second story at my school.”

Seoyeon’s head reels back. “Did you just say you fell from the second story?”

“Uh huh,” the girl nods, dimpling one cheek. “It didn’t really hurt, I think? Or I don’t really remember it hurting that much. Mainly I remember a bunch of girls paying attention to me afterwards.” Nien shoots a cheeky look at Seoyeon.

Seoyeon huffs, playing up her annoyance to mask a sudden sour taste in her mouth. “Really? They paid attention to you?”

“Hey,” Nien protests, “why do you make it sound like that’s hard to believe! I was already pretty popular, you know!”

The girl twists in her seat, nearly leaning out of it as she props her head on her palms and plants her elbows on the side of her car for support. She looks up at Seoyeon, pouting slightly. “I was the tallest girl, the fastest runner,” Nien starts, counting off on her fingers, “spoke the most languages, and my teachers absolutely adored me.”

“I don’t know if I believe that,” Seoyeon teases. I believe it with my whole heart. “Why do I feel like you were the delinquent type?”

“Delinquent?!”

“No, not delinquent,” she corrects with a small hum. “Maybe more like rambunctious. Oh wait, you still are.”

“Girls like that, though,” Nien suddenly says, grinning at Seoyeon. “If we went to the same school you’d have seen it for yourself. I bet you’d even have a crush on me.”

The comment makes Seoyeon freeze, and she quickly scans Nien’s face. Does she know? Before the girl can say anything, Seoyeon coughs quickly and rolls her eyes. “Don’t flatter yourself.”

She can’t look Nien in the eye, though, and settles her gaze on the girl’s nose instead. “Besides,” she says with practiced nonchalance, “you wouldn’t have even looked my way if we went to school together. I was that nerd none of my classmates paid attention to.”

“What?” Nien sounds incredulous, and Seoyeon startles slightly when she sees the earnestness in the girl’s eyes. “I don’t believe that for a second,” she declares suddenly, and somehow Seoyeon can’t detect any joke in her words.

“You don’t believe I was a nerd?”

“Huh? No, that’s totally believable,” Nien laughs, but her eyebrows are still drawn together. Why do you look like that? “No, why they wouldn’t pay attention to you is beyond me. You’re awesome, and they’re plain dumb to have thought otherwise.”

Her conviction is sudden and throws Seoyeon for a loop, who can only cough abashedly at the words. “Yeah, well,” she mumbles, “it doesn’t really matter now, anyway.”

“If it were me,” Nien continues, not letting up, “you’d have had to call security to get rid of me.” She grabs Seoyeon’s hand suddenly. “Not in a weird way! But like, hyperbolically. ‘Cause I’d be hanging around you, trying to get your attention like I—”

“YOON SEOYEON UNNIE AND HSU NIENTZU UNNIE! Excessive public displays of affection are not permitted in the bumper cars!” The interruption comes from the intercom, and with a jump Seoyeon realizes that Soomin is the one behind the mic. Next to her, the rest of them are already standing by the exit, watching Seoyeon and Nien with expressions ranging from fake disgust to barely-concealed amusement. “Please exit the rink, we still have a lot of rides to go!”

“Okay, we’re coming!” Nien’s already laughing as she readjusts herself in her seat, starting to glide over to the exit. Seoyeon follows silently, partly because her face is too hot to speak and also because her brain is stuck on what Nien said—or, was trying to say before Soomin cut her off.

“Trying to get your attention like I—” Her words replay in Seoyeon’s mind. Like you what?

She’s almost thrown for another loop when she’s about to leave her car, and a hand enters into her vision to help her out of the rink. Nien. Before Seoyeon can say anything, though, Nien beats her to the punch.

“These cars were kind of low-level, don’t you think?” the girl says, not dropping Seoyeon’s hand and intertwining their fingers instead as they follow the others out of the bumper cars area.

“Obviously,” replies Seoyeon automatically. “We need to ride the more interesting rides, like the Rolling X-Train—”

“Woah, it’s got double loops!” Nien points with her free hand as they approach the ride in the distance.

“—if you’re not too scared?” she finishes with a raise of an eyebrow. It’s a redundant question, of course—from being around Nien so far, Seoyeon could tell that the girl was the type to scale Mt. Everest as her idea of “fun.” Still, it’s easier to say than Let’s ride it together.

“Um, obviously not?” Nien replies indignantly, speeding up to bring the two of them to where the others were already waiting in line. “Unless, you’re asking because you’re too scared to ride alone, and too stubborn to back out?” The girl’s eyes are positively shining with barely-contained glee.

“You wish,” Seoyeon scoffs, giving their joined hands her own tug. Still, she pretends to busy herself with reading the signs, and just barely misses the hint of a smile on Nien’s face.

“I am not going on another roller coaster, thank you!” Chaeyeon is exclaiming as their crew leaves the Rolling X-Train. “That one was more than enough for me, I think I’ve had my fill for today.”

“Aw what, you’re tapping out unnie?” Soomin whines as the older girl holds up an X with her arms, nodding. “But we haven’t even ridden the T-Express yet! It’s the best ride in Everland!”

“I’m out, too,” Chaewon adds, dramatically hobbling as Nien helps her along. She puts a hand to her forehead. “Those corkscrews were just too much.”

“You guys are so weak,” Seoyeon laughs on Nien’s other side, watching the girl pass Chaewon off to Chaeyeon. “That ride wasn’t even that bad.”

“I don’t know,” Nien pretends to say thoughtfully, dusting her hands off once Chaewon’s no longer leaning on her. She looks at Seoyeon particularly brightly, continuing, “Seems like it runs in the family. You were gripping my hand pretty tight back there.”

“Ooh, unnie, are you just going to take that?” goads Soomin.

“Wha— she just dissed you too, you know!” Seoyeon points out.

“At least Soomin can admit it,” Yooyeon speaks up, amusement evident on her face as she joins in their antics. You too, unnie?

“I was not scared,” Seoyeon starts, “and I’m not only saying this to prove a point.” She grabs Nien’s hand, eyes defiant as she continues. 

“The T-Express is Everland’s biggest attraction because it has the longest track, tallest peaks, fastest speeds, steepest climbs and largest drops,” she spits in rapid-fire succession, “out of all wooden roller coasters in Asia, and it’s tied for Sweden’s Wildfire for the tallest wooden roller coaster in the world.”

She sucks in a breath, hardly registering the silence that fell over the group as her eyes continue to bore into Nien’s. “So, I’m one-hundred percent going to ride it today.” She cocks her head. “Are you?”

The girl is silent for some moments, her mouth having fallen open and eyes having widened at some point during Seoyeon’s impassioned speech. Their wordless staring is deafening in Seoyeon’s ears against the sounds of the bustling park, and only a single voice breaks the silence.

“Woah,” Chaewon starts. “I knew Seoyeon unnie was a nerd, but this much of a nerd?”

“Yeah,” Soomin agrees breathlessly. “I didn’t know girls were into random info-dumping.”

“I think it’s just Nien unnie,” Chaeyeon adds, a scandalized expression on her face as she looks at them. “This must be like a weird flirting thing that they do. Yuck.”

“I don’t even do that,” Yooyeon says, which gets a response that sounds something like When was the last time you dated, unnie? from Chaeyeon. The girl says something else, too, but Seoyeon can’t hear it over the sound of Nien suddenly startling as she seems to return to reality.

She fixes Seoyeon with a look. Mischief dances in the girl’s eyes, paired with an unrecognizable emotion that sends a thrill down Seoyeon’s spine along with something else she can’t name.

Nien suddenly drops her hand, and Seoyeon only has some moments to register the loss of warmth before the girl speaks. “Race you there!”

“HEY! HSU NIENTZU!” she screams at the girl’s bolting figure, breaking into her own dash after her. “WAIT FOR ME!”

“CATCH UP TO ME!” comes Nien’s gleeful reply, and their laughter joins the festive fervor in the park’s air.

After their third round on the T-Express Seoyeon considers tapping out. Soomin and Yooyeon had already had enough after just one go, with the older girl having to support her sister off the ride.

— — —

“Okay, I surrender!” Soomin admits, holding her hands up. “I, a sad member of the Kim family, am no match for riding roller coasters. I bow to the queen of coasters, Hsu Nientzu unnie.”

“Aw, thanks my subject,” Nien giggles in response, clapping Soomin on the shoulder. She then turns to Seoyeon. “Do you—”

“Let’s go again.”

— — —

It was fun, definitely, watching their usually-composed Yooyeon unnie have the time of her life on all the drops and twists while Soomin, famous for her pranks and endless mischief, screamed and clung onto her sister the entire time. Somehow, though, Seoyeon found it more exhilarating riding next to Nien, the girl somehow hollering even louder than Soomin in pure, unadulterated joy.

Even if it blew out her eardrums. She even insisted that they alternate sitting in the right and left seats so that her auditory damage would be somewhat balanced, among other things they tried out.

— — —

“We should change it up this time, to make it more interesting,” Seoyeon suggests as they approach the ride entrance. She’s bouncing her phone in her hand, Q-pass open in Everland’s app and ready to show the employee to skip to the front of the line—next to her, Nien is just bouncing on her feet. “Let’s see which one of us can keep a straight face for the entire ride. Which will definitely be me.”

“If you laugh you go to hell,” the girl agrees cheerfully, linking their arms.

Cue Nien pointedly not looking in Seoyeon’s direction for the first half of the ride, though she could see the girl’s lips quivering every time Seoyeon herself purses her lips in self-restraint. It all comes apart at back-to-back airtime hills, when Nien attempts to deadpan, “It feels like they just nabbed my stomach.”

(In the end, neither of them make it to the end without cracking, so they agree to leave it at a draw and a promise on ice cream.)

— — —

Their third run-through consisted of them competing to see who can scream the loudest, with the both of them trying to out-volume the other in shrieks that earned them dirty looks and lightheaded dizziness. The last one might just be Seoyeon, though, who asks for a second to catch her breath after they get off.

“Hold on,” she croaks, one hand clutching the railing as the other holds her throat, coughing. “I need—”

“Water?” Nien finishes for her, hand already reaching into the mini backpack she bought when they rented their uniforms. Before she hands her the bottle though, she pulls out their headbands first and fixes the hamster ears back on Seoyeon’s head with a satisfied grin. “That’s more like it.”

“Sure,” Seoyeon mutters as she accepts the water bottle. Without thinking, she makes the mistake of downing half of it in one go and ends up nearly hacking it back up as she doubles over.

Immediately, Nien moves to pound on her back with her palm and is stopped only by Seoyeon’s raised hand and a shake of her head. “I’m—cough—okay.”

“That ride must’ve taken you out, huh?” The girl is already quick to tease as she accepts the bottle back from Seoyeon. Instead of screwing the cap back on, though, she tilts the bottle and takes her own sip of water. From the same bottle Seoyeon drank from. That’s an indirect ki—

She scrambles to think of something else. “How is your voice not sore from screaming so loudly—

“Louder than you~”

“—back there?” She ignores the jab in favor of her own. “Or maybe I shouldn’t be surprised because you’re always loud.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment!” Nien chirps, and her voice only has a slightly raspy edge, much more dignified than Seoyeon’s wheezes. And sexier, too, her brain supplies suddenly. She turns quickly to keep the girl from seeing the red bloom on her cheeks.

“I bet these employees are pretty sick of seeing us show up in the queue over and over,” Seoyeon says instead, sneaking a glance at Nien. I don’t want to give in first but I don’t know if I can take another ride. “I mean, it’s up to you if you wan—”

“I’ve always wanted to ride a ferris wheel,” Nien muses, glancing towards the large wheel in the distance. Seoyeon allows a split second grin to appear on her face when the girl turns her head. Yes, take the bait!

“Let’s go ride it then,” she says with practiced casualness, already taking a step in the direction of the ride. “And then we can join the others by the food stalls.”

“Sounds like a plan!” Nien readjusts the strap of the backpack and—instead of starting for the ferris wheel right away—extends her hand to Seoyeon, looking at her expectantly. At this point she already knows that none of the others can see them, that the only people around are parkgoers who are entirely irrelevant to their little fake dating scheme.

She takes her hand anyway.

When they inevitably find out that the ferris wheel is no longer functioning (and hasn’t been for the past fourteen years), Nien spots Chaewon first, the girl leading the others as she quickly makes her way over to the two. She’s holding a white paper cup with a stick pointing out—full of tteokbokki, if Seoyeon had to guess.

“Unnies!” Chaewon exclaims when she reaches them, throwing her arms around Nien but somehow not spilling the maybe-tteokbokki cup. “This one’s for you,” the girl says, handing her the cup nearly overflowing with bright red-orange sauce drizzled over rice cakes and fish cakes alike, topped with scallion. (Seoyeon, of course, snuck a peek. I was right.) Chaewon’s other hand, however, is noticeably cup-less—she’s holding a strawberry ice cream instead.

“Hey, where’s m—”

“Kim Soomin!” Her sister beckons their cousin over with a flick of her head, who hands over another paper cup. “That one’s yours, unnie.”

The difference between the two cups is laughable, to Nien’s evident joy. In response, Seoyeon takes her skewer and poaches some of the girl’s tteokbokki, holding her own cup away from Nien’s frantic skewer. 

“Why’s my cup half filled?” she asks around her chewing, raising an eyebrow at Chaewon. Next to her, Nien is making noises of exclamation at the tteokbokki, offering it to Yooyeon and Chaeyeon who say, No, we already ate. That’s for you! as they try to figure out their bus route home. Seoyeon almost doesn’t hear her sister’s reply.

“The guy made your cup last and then the whole shack burned down after,” the girl shrugs, taking a lick of her cone. “Thanks for the ice cream by the way, unnie!”

Seoyeon pats her pocket. “I was with Nien the whole time though? How did you buy that?”

“I nabbed your card after the bumper cars,” Chaewon grins, brandishing Seoyeon’s credit card. “And you don’t need to say it like that, unnie. ‘I was with Nien the whole time.’” The girl emphasizes the last part to Soomin, who laughs at her impression.

The girl gasps. “Woah!” Soomin nearly hollers. “Seoyeon unnie normally would have bitten our heads off for getting ice cream without her. You must have put her under a spell or something, Nien unnie.”

“She says it’s the worst offense in the world,” Chaewon adds, nodding vigorously. “One time, when we were younger, she locked me and Soomin outside because we were eating ice cream without her!”

“Okay, no, that sounds so dramatic,” Seoyeon cuts in. “I just closed the door, not locked you guys out.”

“See,” the girl wails, “unnie’s got this secret evil spirit embedded in her that comes out when she’s ice cream deficient!”

“Wow, Seoyeon, I didn’t know you had that in you,” Nien tuts, dropping a rice cake into her tteokbokki cup. Drops a rice cake…?

“What are you doing?” she asks bluntly. I just lost my train of thought.

“Don’t you like the cheesy tteokbokki?” Nien looks confused, and her chewing slows as she draws her eyebrows together. “Or should I take it ba—”

“No, no!” Seoyeon says quickly. “No, I… I do like cheese tteokbokki. How did you know?”

“You mentioned it a couple days ago, when we went to get food ‘cause the train broke down.” The girl pouts—really pouts, as in bunches her eyebrows together, wrinkles her chin, all that—at Seoyeon. “You don’t remember?”

“Ooh, Seoyeon unnie’s in trouble~” comes Soomin’s teasing voice, and Seoyeon has half a mind to tell her off when Yooyeon suddenly speaks up.

“Guys, we should get going if we want to catch the train in time for dinner,” the older girl says, already walking towards the park entrance.

“Oh, yes!” Nien cheers as she tosses her empty cup in the trash can. “I’ve been craving Ms. Yoon’s cooking this whole day.”

“You literally just met her yesterday,” Seoyeon says, disposing of her own cup as well. “Let’s drop by the gift shop first so we can return these uniforms.”

“Notice how she just said uniforms, not headbands?” Nien points out, already slotting her hand into Seoyeon’s. “I knew you liked the hamster ears~! Maybe I should start calling you hamham.”

She swats her other hand at the girl half-heartedly, ignoring the sound of her laughter blending in with the others.

(The others don’t say much, thankfully, when the bus pulls out of the parking lot and they leave the park with two more headbands than they came in with.)

the coolest batch of kims + yoon + hsu

alien added nien to the coolest batch of kims + yoon

sooms renamed the group to the coolest batch of kims + yoon + 

sooms                        nien unnie whats ur last name

nien                            it’s hsu!!

sooms                        awesome sauce

sooms renamed the group to the coolest batch of kims + yoon + hsu

sooms                        UNNIES!!!!!!!!!!

sooms                        unniesunniesunniesunniesunniesunnies

kim chaeyeon            jesus christ

yooyeon unnie           what is it soomin

sooms                        do ygs know what day it is tmr

nien                            february 10th i think

you (seoyeon)             seollal obviously

alien                           sebaetdon collection day

sooms                        CORRECT!!!

sooms                        [image]

kim chaeyeon            what am i looking at soomin

sooms                        the sunrise is at 7:30 am

you (seoyeon)             Seven In The Morning, Kim Soomin.

sooms                        unnie come onnnnnn

nien                           omg ive always wanted to watch the sunrise on new years :000

you (seoyeon)             i wake up at 6am no matter what anyways so that’s fine

alien                           wow

alien                           we all just saw seoyeon unnie fold in real time right

sooms                        #clipped

Seoyeon clicks off her phone with a small sigh, remembering that she had left the girl on read instead of responding to the message last night. It’s better if they believe that anyway, so they won’t start suspecting our ‘relationship.’ She pauses at the thought. Not that they’re the ones I need to convince.

And anyways, it’s not like she lied. She does usually wake up at 6 in the morning, no matter how late or early she went to bed the night before. (If Nien’s newfound presence has anything to do with how well she sleeps, that’s nobody’s business but hers.) Case in point, it’s 7:03 AM and Seoyeon’s already up, while Nien is out like a light next to her. She glances at the girl, who has all four limbs completely wrapped around an obnoxiously large sausage pillow, and laughs quietly when she remembers why the girl is sleeping with the pillow in the first place.

— — —

“Just a heads up, by the way,” Nien starts as she moves towards the bed, and Seoyeon can barely make out her figure in the dark. (The girl had sprang up as soon as she bade Seoyeon goodnight, saying Oh my God I really need to pee I’ll be right back, and—on her way back—closed the door to block out the hallway light and shroud the room in darkness again.) “I move a lot in my sleep, and I might accidentally cuddle you.”

Seoyeon shoots up so quickly it makes Nien jump, who nearly screams as she rushes to turn the light back on. “Accidentally, accidentally! Or maybe not at all. Sorry, I don’t know why I said that.”

“No, I was just— sorry, I was just surprised,” Seoyeon says hurriedly, seeing the girl watch her with widened eyes. “And, um—”

“Oh, I’ll just use this pillow!” Nien exclaims, walking over to Chaeyeon’s desk chair. She picks up a cylinder-shaped pillow. “So you won’t have to worry about me being all up on you in your sleep.”

With that the girl flicks the lights off with a resounding click, and Seoyeon mumbles another goodnight as she turns back over to hide her suddenly-warm cheeks.

— — —

In any case. She’s usually the one to wake up first between the two of them, and even now Nien’s unmoving in her sleep, mouth ajar and drooling slightly.

“Wake up, sleepyhead,” Seoyeon whispers in a laugh. “You were the one who wanted to watch the sunrise, yet it’s 7 AM and you’re still sleeping away.”

To her surprise, the girl shifts slightly at her words, as if she could actually hear Seoyeon, and what she does next makes her freeze.

Nien tightens her arms around the pillow and, in a nearly-imperceptible whisper, breathes, “Seoyeon.”

In the pin-drop silence of the room, her name rings louder than stadiums and makes Seoyeon’s heart thunder to a stop. She’s frozen in place, having forgotten how to breathe, while she stares at Nien’s sleeping figure, lips breathing out air in puffs.

The girl shifts again, burrowing deeper into the pillow as a hand flops to the side. And pats the empty space between them. Her eyes flutter open.

“Seoyeon?” Then, raising her head: “How long have you been awake for?”

“I—”

“Oh my God, the sunrise!” Nien suddenly remembers, kicking the covers off in a hurry. “What time is it right now? Did we miss it?”

“No, silly, we didn’t miss it,” Seoyeon replies, feeling the tightness in her chest ease as she laughs at the girl. “You were about to, though, if you kept sleeping like a rock.” She gets up, continuing as Nien follows her to the door. “Did you even set an alarm? Or were you hoping I’d wake you up instead?”

“Who needs an alarm when I’ve got Yoon ‘I-Wake-Up-At-6AM-Anyway’ Seoyeon?” the girl jokes as she grabs her jacket on their way out, shrugging it on. “Come on, now’s not the time for chit-chat!”

When they claim a spot at the corner of the patio Seoyeon thinks that it is nice to watch the sun rise, how it bathes the sky in an ethereal ombre of fiery orange that blends into a clear blue. Nien is, predictably, ooh-ing and ahh-ing as they watch, pointing out the rays in hushed, excited whispers. The sight—the sky, she tells herself—seems to impart a warm imprint directly onto Seoyeon. I should treat Soomin later.

“Seoyeon, look here!”

“Hu—”

Click.

She makes a grab for Nien's phone. “I thought you were taking pictures of the sunrise.”

“I was! Or, I am!” the girl claims, though her grin is far too mischievous for Seoyeon's liking. “Wait, lean forward so you get in front of the sunrise. I want a picture with it in the background.”

Her body moves before her mind does. “I haven't even washed up yet,” she complains playfully. Her next words tumble out before she can stop them. “And the others aren't even paying attention to us.”

Instead of a quick comeback like Seoyeon expects, Nien freezes. It's so small, would be imperceptible to just anybody.

Seoyeon's not just anybody.

“Wai—”

“For me, then,” the girl breathes, just above a whisper. It's so soft Seoyeon wonders if she was meant to hear it.

Nien loudly clears her throat. “Alright, look at the camera please!” she says quickly, fiddling with her phone and straining her smile at the corners. “Shoulders down, chin up, that's right! Yes, pose!”

Seoyeon lets go of a breath she didn't know she was holding, accepting the girl's attempt at changing the topic with a laugh. I wonder what that was about.

“Anyone I should look out for today?” Nien remarks as the two lounge on the patio table. It’s still early—the sun had only just risen and the time was only beginning to creep towards 8 AM. She turns her head to glance at Seoyeon, who seems to think as she continues watching the clouds.

“No one in particular, really,” the girl says finally. “Except for my mother, obviously.”

“Wait, why obviously?” Nien asks. “We never went over that part.”

She watches Seoyeon blink, seeming to realize that Nien is right. “Huh, I guess we didn’t.” A pause. “I guess the best way I could put it is that she’s always been kind of weird about me having relationships, ever since I was younger. Probably because of,” she pauses again, frowning lightly before continuing in a quieter tone, “my bio dad.”

“Oh,” Nien says, lamely. Should I ask? “You don’t have to tell me, if you don’t wa—”

“No, I will,” the girl insists. “I’m not too sad, really, because I didn’t know him. He died before I was born.” Seoyeon shrugs. “And I consider my dad—Chaewon’s dad—to be my real dad anyway.”

Nien nods, turning her head back to the sky. “I guess that makes sense.”

Seoyeon makes a soft noise of agreement. “It’s kind of funny, though, how they got together. But it is kind of sad.” She looks at Nien with shining eyes. “Should I tell you?”

The girl continues at Nien’s second nod. “My dad and my bio dad were best friends growing up. Like, they always did everything together and, apparently, some people thought that my bio dad was in love with my dad.”

Nien can hear the downturn at the end of her sentence and she frowns. “Dang, that must have been tough for him,” she sympathizes. “I mean, it’s not like we live in a perfect world nowadays, but homophobia was ten times worse back in their day.”

“They tell me that he would have liked to see how much society’s changed,” Seoyeon agrees. “But, in any case, he met my mom and they hit it off right away, and the three of them became this sort of trio.” The girl laughs, like she’s telling a story about just anybody and not her own parents. “He was the best man at their wedding, you know. They got married after they found out my mom was pregnant with me.”

There’s an extended pause now, one that makes Nien look over to see Seoyeon staring at the clouds pensively. She shifts slightly, moving to rest her head just a bit closer to the girl as she continues. “He was hit by a drunk driver and didn’t make it to the emergency room.”

Nien takes her hand, squeezing it lightly before getting a small squeeze back. “How did your parents take it?”

“They were devastated, naturally.” Seoyeon hums. “And they helped each other grieve their best friend while raising me. He is my dad,” the girl nods, “and a couple years after that they got married and had Chaewon.”

“Dang,” Nien exhales. “And they told you when you were young?”

“When I was about Chaewon’s age, or a little bit younger,” Seoyeon corrects. “So that’s why I find it a little burdensome, sometimes, to talk about relationships with them. Especially my mom—she’s always emphasizing that I have to make sure I have ‘the one’ before settling.”

Seoyeon lifts her free hand to make air quotes around the one, and something about the sight tickles Nien. “Sorry,” she giggles, “it looked like you were petting the clouds or something, just now.”

Instead of answering, though, Seoyeon suddenly turns on her side and lets go of Nien’s hand, propping her own head on her hand. “You know, I was kind of surprised that she liked you right away. No offense or anything, I’m just being honest.”

Nien turns her head, looking up at Seoyeon with a wink. “What’s so surprising about that? I’ve charmed you, and you’re like her carbon copy.”

She gets a push of her shoulder. “Whatever,” the girl says, rolling her eyes and sitting up fully. “Come on, I think we should head inside now. The rest of my family are probably coming soon and we need to help them prepare the food.”

“More chances for me to prove myself!” Nien cheers, rubbing her hands together as she swings her legs off the table. “I’m coming, Ms. Yoon!”

She feels a push against her back, then hears Seoyeon’s laughter as the girl says, “Stop, you’re embarrassing me.”

Nien cackles in response, fingers reaching to intertwine with Seoyeon’s. Don’t worry, Yoon Seoyeon, she thinks. I’m going to make you the happiest girl alive.

“You know you don't need to separate the egg yolk that meticulously,” Seoyeon says from across the kitchen. The girl is standing with her mother by the stove, routinely steaming the batches of dumplings they made and froze the first day. “We won’t die if one piece of shell ends up in the tteokguk.”

Nien holds up two domes of a shell, beaming as she says, “I can’t have you eating egg shel—”

“Oh, yes she does!” Chaewon cuts in from the table. “I am not going to be having any crunch in my soup.”

“Hey, you cut this piece too thick!” Chaeyeon complains from next to her, holding up a piece of green onion. “Look, my slices are thin and uniform, but yours are all over the place.”

“Unnie!” the younger girl complains. “It’s hard to cut it the same, okay! And Seoyeon unnie and Nien unnie are distracting me!”

“You two should stop flirting over egg shells,” Yooyeon cuts in, seated at the other end of the table and slicing meat. “And stop looking at Nien, Seoyeon. The mandu is going to get soggy and break if you leave them for too long.”

“What are we making, again? Is it called tteokguk?” Nien suddenly asks, trying to change the topic. These guys sure love bickering with each other.

“Yeah.” Seoyeon’s answer is immediate, and Nien smiles internally when she hears someone cough whipped. “The tteok is circular and looks like coins, and we eat it to signify growing one year older every new year.”

“Ah,” she nods, and a cheeky smile is already growing on her face when something pops into her head. “Then, should we not eat it and stay young, Seoyeon? Or do you want to grow old together?”

The line induces a coughing fit in the other girl, who suddenly drops a dumpling she was transferring to another plate. Instantly, Nien abandons the eggs on the counter and crosses the kitchen, apologizing profusely.

“Oh my God, I am so sorry I did not mean to make you drop it OW”—she nearly drops the steaming dumpling onto the floor again, placing it quickly on a napkin instead—“that is HOT!”

“Of course it’s hot, dummy, I just steamed it,” Seoyeon says exasperatedly, depositing the last of the batch before taking Nien’s hand. “It didn’t burn you, did it?”

“Let me see this.” Seoyeon’s mom takes Nien’s hand instead. “Come with me, honey, we’re going to apply some ointment.”

“Ah, okay!” she agrees, though she widens her eyes at Seoyeon over her mom’s head. What do I do?!

It looks like the girl mouths back Be calm with furrowed eyebrows, and just be normal.

I can’t be normal! Nien frantically shakes her head in response, but Ms. Yoon already takes her by the elbow and leads her out of the kitchen.

The last thing she hears before she gets pulled into the guest room is “Oh my God, unnie, you’re not gonna die if you go five minutes without Nien unnie,” and an indignant “KIM SOOMIN!”

Seoyeon’s mom quietly shuts the door behind them with a laugh. “That bunch is so loud, aren’t they?” The woman heads for her bag, rummaging through it as she continues, “I always carry first aid supplies with me, especially whenever Chaewon and Soomin are together. Force of habit, I suppose.”

Nien chuckles, taking a seat at the dresser when Ms. Yoon beckons her. “I bet those two got up to a lot of antics growing up.”

“You know, Seoyeon had her fair share of scrapes too, if you can believe it,” the woman hums. “Always falling over in her rollerskates and whatnot.”

“Oh, I can definitely believe it!” she affirms. “It’s one of the things I love about her, how she’s never afraid to try new things.”

Ms. Yoon makes a small noise at that before fixing Nien with a look. “You love that about her? Do you love her?”

Nien blinks, caught off-guard by the sudden question. “Love—” she coughs, strained. Do I love Seoyeon?

“I’m just messing with you,” the woman suddenly laughs, opening a bottle of Vaseline. “You’re very expressive, Nien, did anyone ever tell you that?”

It’s like deja-vu, how she suddenly gets hit with the memory of Seoyeon teasing her for gullibly believing that Chaewon was adopted. Instead of answering right away, Nien watches how Ms. Yoon’s eyes crinkle into her smile and feels like she might be looking at Seoyeon years into the future. 

“Um, yes, actually,” she answers timidly. “Seoyeon told me something similar, once.”

Ms. Yoon is silent again, a faint smile on her lips as she continues to observe Nien. She picks up her hand and starts applying Vaseline. “You know,” the woman starts, “you remind me of my first husband, Seoyeon’s biological father. Did she ever tell you about him?”

“Oh, yes, she did,” Nien answers robotically. Is that a good thing…?

“It’s a compliment,” the woman reassures her. “You remind me of him in a good way. He was very energetic, like you, and loved to remark on just about anything and everything his eyes landed on.” The phrase anything and everything his eyes landed on is eerily similar to what Seoyeon had said of Nien just a couple days ago, and the realization nearly makes Nien gasp. Woah, she thinks, I didn’t know you had a twin, Seoyeon.

“In any case,” Ms. Yoon continues, “I think I might have scared you off before we even met, but I don’t want you to feel unwelcome here. I just get protective of Seoyeon, you know what I mean?”

“She makes you want to protect her,” Nien agrees under her breath.

“What was that?”

“Huh? Oh, nothing, I’m sorry.” She scratches her cheek sheepishly. “I was just talking to myself.”

Seoyeon’s mom seems to accept that answer, though she doesn’t say anything as she puts Nien’s hand back on the dresser. Just keeps observing her, like she’s trying to figure something out.

“Although,” Nien starts timidly. Seoyeon might kill me for this but I think me and Ms. Yoon are on the same wavelength here. “Seoyeon’s pretty independent. I think… I think she wants to prove herself to you, because she respects you a lot. You should let her, Ms. Yoon.”

The older woman is silent for a moment, and internally Nien's already freaking out. Oh my God I just messed it all up by opening my big mouth Seoyeon should just break up with me— no, fake-break up with me— fake up with me? “I mean—”

“Nien,” Seoyeon's mom finally says, “you are the first person to say that to me.”

Her heart drops to her stomach. Oh my sweet baby Jesus what have I done.

“But,” the woman cuts her off before she can start rambling apologies, “I believe you are right. Perhaps… I needed to hear that.”

She regards Nien for another long moment before suddenly walking towards the closet. “I didn’t know if I would be able to use this, but I didn’t want to be unprepared…” With that, she pulls something out—a hanbok.

Nien gasps as Ms. Yoon lays it on the bed. “When my parents arrive the kids will be doing the traditional bow, called sebae. I want you to be part of it.”

She scrambles up as the woman approaches, bending at the hips in a 90 degree bow. “Ms. Yoon, it would be an honor to participate in sebae with your family. I am beyond thrilled that you have gifted me this opportunity, and I apologize for speaking so rashly earlier—”

“Oh, don’t be silly!” the woman giggles softly, pulling Nien up by the shoulders. “Like I said, I want you to feel welcome with us.” Ms. Yoon keeps her hands on Nien's shoulder, features softening as she regards her. “I’ve seen how you and Seoyeon care for each other, and I can tell you two have something really special. I approve of your relationship.”

She suddenly feels moisture pricking at the corners of her eyes and her hands come up automatically, covering her mouth. “Ms. Yoon—”

“Please, call me Mother.” The woman extends her arms. “Come here, you big baby.”

Nien wails incoherently as she hugs the shorter woman, feeling the maternal love hit her in waves. “Oh Ms. Yoon— I mean, Mother, this is the best day of my life! I’m so glad to be here with you, and Seoyeon”—her voice falters slightly as her brain reminds her of the very crucial fact that they are not actually dating and it nearly cracks on her next words—“and the others, celebrating my first Seollal together. Genuinely, this is so awesome!”

“I’m glad you think so,” the woman laughs, patting her back before releasing her. “We should get back to the kitchen— I need to make sure no one burned anything,” she says, moving quickly past Nien. She calls back over her shoulder, “Try it on later and tell me if it fits or if it’s too big!

“Yes, Mother!” she replies cheerfully, already glancing at the hanbok on the bed. “Let me drop it off with my things first, and then I’ll be right there!”

The woman makes a noise of agreement before turning the corner, leaving Nien alone in the doorway of the guest room. Wow! she thinks. My own hanbok and everything!

The voice in her head returns. None of this is rea—

She doesn’t want to think about that. Good thoughts, good thoughts, she chants. I can do this.

Seoyeon doesn’t expect Nien to follow her when her mom tells them to Hurry and get changed, your grandparents are almost here. (She doesn’t expect Nien to start calling her mom Mother~ either, but then thinks that maybe she should have seen it coming.) She doesn’t expect to see a second hanbok when she goes to grab hers, and she definitely does not expect to re-emerge from the bathroom to see Nien decked out in said hanbok and waiting by the door, the colors matching Seoyeon’s.

“Where did you get that from?” she ventures, but inside she already knows the answer.

“Your mom,” comes Nien’s reply, accompanied by a giggle and soft Yo mama! to herself. The girl does a spin, holding out the skirt with both hands. “Do you like it?”

Do I like it? The hanbok is simple, yet compliments Nien's features well. Like a youthful innocence, Seoyeon's mind supplies, and she thinks that the girl's hair, chopped just above her shoulders, looks especially soft as they frame her face in slight waves.

She's breathtaking.

“Seoyeon?” Nien's voice breaks her thoughts and she startles, gasping quietly as air re-enters her lungs.

“You look beautiful,” comes out in a breath.

At the confirmation Nien's eyes widen, and a red dusting begins to appear on her cheeks. Before she can answer, though, a loud voice rings down the hall.

“NIEN!” Yooyeon’s voice is loud and clear. “Come out here, we have to teach you how to do sebae before Grandma and Grandpa arrive.”

“I'm coming!” Her eyes snap back to Seoyeon's, and it seems like she wants to say something.

The girl turns to the door instead. Or maybe not.

“Um, let's go,” Nien mumbles, holding the door open and not looking at Seoyeon.

Not like Seoyeon's any better, because she just passes the girl with an equally shy Thanks.

What is this feeling?

Right hand over left, lock your thumbs. Bring hands to forehead, then kneel, left leg first then right leg. Left foot over right foot, sit back on heels. Lean forward 45 degrees, then get up right leg first. Nien repeats the instructions in her mind like a mantra as she watches Yooyeon and Chaeyeon perform the bow first, kneeling in front of their grandparents. At her nervous exhale, a hand suddenly slips into hers.

Nien turns her head to find Seoyeon already looking at her. “Don’t be nervous,” the girl whispers. “They’ll love you, just follow my lead.”

She nods mutely. “I want to make a good impression,” she confesses softly, eyes returning to the scene in front of her: Yooyeon and Chaeyeon are accepting colorful envelopes—sebaetdon, New Year’s lucky money she remembers the others telling her—and accompanying advice with soft Thank you’s. Then, they get up slowly and take their seats on cushions slightly behind the two elders, facing Nien and Seoyeon. Two pairs of eyes meet theirs. Your turn.

Seoyeon moves first and Nien nearly stumbles after her, before remembering what the others had drilled into her beforehand. Be calm and move purposefully. The intention is most important. She advances slowly towards the elders, stopping in time with Seoyeon’s movements.

In near-perfect unison, Nien completes the sebae in tandem with Seoyeon, even pausing with their heads down for the same amount of time. (Well of course we did, she can already imagine the girl saying. I didn’t make you practice it with me ten times for nothing.)

“Please receive many blessings in the new year,” the two recite, and Nien ducks her head slightly before adding her own piece as well.

“I respect your culture and want to do well,” she says earnestly. It’s only when they sit back on their heels to receive wisdom and Seoyeon’s grandfather says, “Nien, isn’t it?” that she perks up excitedly, perhaps too much so for the occasion.

Oh my God, Nien laments internally, I’m supposed to stay collected and humble. Dang it! “Yes, Grandfather?” she answers respectfully. I’m so nervous I could die.

To her surprise (and relief), the older man laughs heartily. Seoyeon’s grandmother speaks up, saying, “Well, aren’t you excited?” before also giggling at Nien’s vigorous nod.

“You seem to have a pure spirit. I can already see you two will be quite happy in this new year,” her husband continues, “and something tells me you will be a good fit for our Seoyeon.”

“Thank you very much,” she says humbly.

“Stay healthy and may all your wishes be granted.” The two elders hold out similar colorful envelopes from before, and she and Seoyeon likewise accept the sebaetdon with grateful Thank you’s.

Slowly, they rise and shuffle to their own cushions positioned behind Yooyeon and Chaeyeon, with Chaewon and Soomin already approaching to perform their own bows. Nien lets out a sound, somewhere between a laugh and an exhale, and smiles as she turns her head to glance at Seoyeon.

The girl looks like she isn’t breathing. It’s only when she makes eye contact with Nien that she seems to let out a long breath.

What’s wrong? she wants to ask, but Seoyeon wordlessly takes her hand instead, pressing two fingers to her wrist. Under her fingers, Seoyeon’s pulse is rushing.

Nien raises her eyebrows in question, concern already on the tip of her tongue.

“I was nervous,” the girl says simply, a quiet whisper that would have gone unnoticed if not for the miniscule moment of her mouth. Her eyes, though, remain trained in front of them, watching her younger cousins with a careful gaze.

Silently, Nien takes her hand and nods.

“So, Nien, what brings you to Korea?” One of Seoyeon’s aunts looks at the girl curiously, and Seoyeon also glances at her curiously. It’s only in this moment, in front of her entire extended family, that she realizes that she’s never asked.

“My parents travel for their business,” Nien starts smoothly. I did know that, she thinks. “And I’m going to inherit it,” the girl continues.

Seoyeon blinks. I did not know that.

“So you’re finishing your degree here? Why Korea?” one of her older cousins asks.

“The business is in sports equipment manufacturing, and one of our distributors is in Korea,” Nien explains. “My degree is in international commerce, so once I graduate I’m going to look into opening an office in Korea. I’ll probably continue to live here as well, permanently.”

“Seoyeon looks like this is her first time hearing any of this,” Yooyeon suddenly laughs, pointing at her. 

She splutters, about to defend herself when Nien suddenly takes her hand. “That’s natural,” the girl says, “because she’s part of the reason I’m staying.” When she looks down at Seoyeon with a smile—and Seoyeon’s no expert, but she can tell when Nien is joking—she doesn’t see a trace of a joke in the girl’s eyes, ones that seem more genuine than anything else. (Though, lately it’s been getting hard to tell what’s real or not.)

“Aw, that is so romantic,” Chaewon squeals at the same time her dad speaks up.

“That sounds like a big commitment,” Mr. Kim remarks with a raised eyebrow. “Are you sure?”

Nien, however, doesn’t back down. “I’m completely sure, sir,” she answers in full confidence, “and it’s something I’ve been thinking about for a while, even before I had the fortune of meeting Seoyeon.”

“Which is an additional bonus, I’m sure,” another cousin adds, which does little to help Seoyeon’s increasingly warm face.

Nien, to her surprise, also nods shyly. “It is,” the girl replies softly.

“And you said you do rock climbing for fun?” her uncle asks.

This makes the girl perk up, and she says, “Yes, I love rock climbing! I’ve been meaning to take Seoyeon with me, too, I think it’d be so much fun.”

“Seems like you’re pretty athletic, then!” Her uncle laughs suddenly. “God, you remind me so much of Junho.”

A pin could have dropped with how quickly silence falls over the room and all eyes seemed to snap to her parents sitting in the center, awaiting their responses with bated breaths.

One long, excruciating beat passes. Next to her, Nien stopped moving entirely.

Her mom chuckles. “I agree,” the woman says simply.

“Definitely,” her dad agrees, and the tension in the air is broken by his guffaw. “Hold on, let me tell you about this one time he tried convincing me and their mom to go hiking up ten thousand steps in Croatia.”

“Ten thousand?!” Nien nearly yelps, and Seoyeon’s actually interested to hear the story. Only, she glances at her mom and the woman suddenly excuses herself to the bathroom, holding eye contact with Seoyeon the entire time.

The message is clear. Follow me.

With a small mumble to Nien, she also excuses herself from the table and follows her mother out.

Seoyeon is confused. And scared, but mostly confused. She watches her mom with wary eyes, already bracing herself for what the woman is about to say. She catches her grimace in the bathroom mirror. Is this going to be another commitment-scare spiel, again? Is this about what Nien said? Are you about to tell me that Nien is expecting too much and I need to focus on my studies first? God, I didn’t tell her to say that!

(Why did she say that?)

“Seoyeon,” the woman starts, and already Seoyeon winces at her name. Her tone doesn’t seem mad? “What do you think of Nien?”

Huh? “What do I think of Nien?” she repeats cautiously. Her mom nods. Oh, she’s serious.

“I think… she’s energetic, but also realistically ambitious. What she was saying earlier, I didn’t know about all of that,” Seoyeon admits. “But, I can see that she’s totally determined to reach that success. And, she deserves all of it, and more.”

Seoyeon thinks about what Nien had said about her family, about how they’d take her traveling all the time during their business trips. Then, she had thought that it might have been exhausting for the girl to be constantly on the move, but now she realizes that Nien was right in her element. She’s meant to take on the world, Seoyeon suddenly thinks.

“And, she cares for me.” She thinks about their time at Everland—their date, her mind says—and how she was always attentive to Seoyeon, probably in equal parts to how much she’d egg her onto the thriller rides. And she remembered that I like cheese tteokbokki, Seoyeon recalls. Even though that was just a one-off thing I mentioned once. “She remembers a lot of little details about me, and always makes sure I’m comfortable.”

Her mom laughs and suddenly Seoyeon’s being pulled into a hug. What is happening right now?

“Seoyeon,” her mom starts again, and her tone is warmer this time, as if she just needed to make sure of something the first time. Am I not your daughter? Why do I feel like I’m the one being interrogated?

“I want to apologize,” the woman continues, “for how I must have been to you, while you were growing up.

“I wanted to protect you from heartache, like what I experienced with your late father. But,” her mom pauses to wipe a hand at her eye, “I've realized that I cannot control your life. And it's not right of me to try and do so.”

“Oh,” Seoyeon says. Her voice comes out smaller than expected, in a trembling whisper.

There’s a silence, like her mom is trying to find the right words. Finally, she says, “I need to let you make mistakes.”

Seoyeon nods, slowly. “Then… if I—hypothetically—break up with Nien tomorrow, you would let me?”

Her mom’s eye seems to twitch. “Yes,” the woman forces out.

She lets out a low exhale, considering her mom’s words. More than anything, it feels like a weight’s been lifted off of her chest. She reaches forward, now the one to pull her mom into a hug.

“Thank you,” she whispers on her shoulder, “for trusting me.”

She gets a squeeze back, and then a pat on her cheek. “Come out when you’re ready,” her mom says. “I’ll go back to the others now.”

With that, her mom opens the bathroom door and leaves, with Seoyeon about to follow. Strangely, I didn’t cry? So I don’t need to wash my fa—

Two pairs of hands suddenly grab her arms and push her back into the bathroom, shutting the door.

“Chaeyeon? Yooyeon unnie? What are you guys doing?” she asks, alarmed. The older girl puts a finger to her lips, motioning in the general direction of the rest of their family. The younger girl, on the other hand, starts on Seoyeon immediately.

“Did we just hear you say you’re going to break up with Nien unnie tomorrow?” Chaeyeon hisses at her.

Seoyeon opens her mouth, about to protest when Yooyeon cuts her off. “We know you two aren’t really dating, you know. So you’re planning to call it off tomorrow?”

Chaeyeon whirls on her sister. “We WHAT?”

“Keep it down!” Seoyeon exclaims, hushing the younger girl now. “And no, I’m not breaking up— or, calling it off with Nien tomorrow. That was just a hypothetical question.” She pauses. “You guys were listening?”

“Guilty,” Yooyeon mutters, while Chaeyeon turns back to her.

“Hold on, pause for a second.” The girl holds up two hands. “Why did Yooyeon unnie just say you and Nien unnie aren’t really dating? Have you been duping us this whole time?”

Seoyeon bites her lip, eyes shifting between her two cousins. I guess I should tell them. “Yeah,” she says, resigned, “we were pretending to keep my mom off my back.”

“What the hell?” Chaeyeon’s eyebrows nearly disappear into her hairline. “I mean, I knew you and Auntie had issues about relationships or whatever, but you had to do all that?”

She nods at the same time Yooyeon asks, “So what now?”

The older girl raises an eyebrow. “I think we can all see that your mom and dad are both infatuated with Nien, and that’s not even to start with Chaewon or the others.”

Seoyeon lets out a frustrated sigh. “I know, I didn’t expect it either… and I don’t want to inconvenience Nien by having to keep up the act, because who knows how long we’d have to keep it up for?”

Yooyeon seems to mumble something that sounds like ‘til you’re married when Chaeyeon raises a hand.

“Question. Why are you calling it ‘keeping it up’?” The girl makes quotation marks around the last part.

Seoyeon looks at her like she’s grown a second head. “Because we’re pretending, hello? Did you not already ask this?”

“No, you don’t get it unnie,” Chaeyeon insists. “This is not pretend anymore. You might keep trying to deny it but we can all see that you two are actually dating, for real.”

The notion is so preposterous it makes heat bloom across Seoyeon’s face. “What? No, we’re not,” she protests. “We— she doesn’t like me like that.”

“Yes, she does!” the younger girl cries.

Even Yooyeon nods. “She remembers your favorite foods, she goes on all the rides you want to ride long after the rest of us have moved on, she’s always tending to you, she even said she’s going to stay in Korea permanently for you!”

The girl makes a Come on face. “And she agreed to pretend to be your girlfriend without payment.” Pauses. “You’re not paying her, are you?”

“No, what kind of person do you think I am!” Seoyeon says indignantly. “And she’s not doing it for nothing, I owe her a favor after this.”

“What’s the favor?”

“She hasn’t decided yet.”

The sisters nod in unison, unconvinced. Jesus, that's so creepy. 

“And the Korea thing,” Seoyeon adds, “I don’t think she really meant that.”

“There was literally honey dripping out of her eyes, unnie,” Chaeyeon says exasperatedly. “Like, I’m starting to get sick of all the PDA you guys are doing. Who the hell flirts via bumper cars?”

“She’s just that kind of person! She’s naturally flirty, even the fortune teller said so.”

“You guys went to get a saju reading?” Yooyeon tilts her head, like she can’t believe her ears.

“Well, yes,” Seoyeon admits, “it was before we came here, because she was curious.”

“Uh huh,” Chaeyeon nods. “She was curious.”

Her face burns again and she rolls her eyes defensively. “Whatever! That’s just how she is, it’s not like she actually has feelings for me or anything.” Her voice cracks embarrassingly on the word feelings.

“Oh honey,” Chaeyeon says, and she reaches forward to envelope Seoyeon into a hug. Even Yooyeon puts an arm around her shoulder.

“Unnie,” the younger girl starts when she pulls back, and she looks actually serious now, “you need to have a talk with Nien unnie. Sit down and figure out what all this is, because this family cannot take another tragic heartbreak.”

“You’ll end up traumatizing your own future kids,” Yooyeon adds, deadpan.

Seoyeon can’t bring herself to speak, so she nods instead.

“Okay,” she whispers after a moment. “I’ll talk to Nien.”

Saying she’ll talk to Nien and then actually talking to Nien are two very different things. They’re standing a little ways away in front of her aunt’s house, having excused themselves from the rest of the party, and Seoyeon hasn’t said a word for the past five minutes.

“Seoyeon?” Nien starts, concern coloring her eyes. Don’t look at me like that. “Is something wrong?”

“Nien,” she echoes. “Do you remember when I first tried asking you to do all this,” she gestures around them with her hand, “and you said to just rip the band-aid off?”

The girl nods, which Seoyeon takes as her cue to squeeze her eyes shut. “I’m going to rip the band-aid off.”

She hears Nien suck in a breath, and then whisper a small Okay.

“I… I can’t do this anymore.” She opens her eyes but doesn’t look at the girl, focusing her gaze on a nearby tree instead.

Nien laughs, and it almost sounds strained. “If you want to stop, that’s okay… but what will your family think?”

“No,” she says abruptly. “Forget about my family.” Seoyeon looks at the girl straight-on now, saying, “I want to stop doing this.”

There’s a flicker of something in Nien’s eyes, but it flits away just as quickly when she opens her mouth to respond.

“Because,” Seoyeon continues, cutting her off, “I can’t hurt myself any longer.” She rushes now, in a hurry to get all the words out before Nien can stop her, “This is not a joke to me. I don’t know when, but at some point on this trip this whole thing became real to me. Maybe it’s been real to me this whole time.”

Seoyeon laughs bitterly. “Which is dumb of me to think, because you literally told me you were doing this for fun to keep from being bored over the break. I was silly to think that you meant anything that you did, and I’m sorry for wasting your time like this—” She sucks in a gasp, trying to fill her lungs that feel like collapsing. “And—”

“No, Seoyeon,” Nien interrupts, “I’m the one who should be apologizing. You’re— I only said that I didn’t want to be bored because I didn’t want you to think you were inconveniencing me or anything. It was dumb of me to say because sometimes I say things without thinking first.

“And another thing.” The girl holds up two hands in a stop motion, looking at Seoyeon with wide eyes. “I— You’re not silly at all, because I— actually, to be completely honest, I only agreed in the first place because I liked you—like you—and I wanted to get closer to you so I thought this would be the easiest way.”

Nien laughs suddenly, although it sounds closer to hysterical than anything else. “Which is crazy selfish and manipulative of me to do, and I only caused you torment all this time, and— and, why are you laughing?”

At some point Seoyeon started giggling, although now she was in near-manic laughter at the ridiculousness of the situation. She sees Nien pout, eyes shining with unshed tears. “Why are you laughing? I want to laugh too.”

“Nien,” she says instead, grabbing the girl’s hands, “you agreed to pretend to be my girlfriend in front of my entire family because you like me?”

“Yes, and that was wrong of me,” Nien laments. “I shouldn’t have tricked you.”

“Nien,” she says again, slowly and more gently this time, “did you hear what I said? The first part?”

The girl’s eyes are still wide, pupils shaking as she stares at Seoyeon. “This is kind of a lot for me to take in right now and I can’t think that well under pressure—”

“Nien,” Seoyeon says a third time, relishing in how the girl’s name sounds on her tongue. I could say her name forever, probably. “I’ll say it more clearly this time.”

Nien nods.

“I like you.”

Her voice is clear—trembling, but clear—as she says it, waiting for the girl’s reaction. Nien’s eyes—God, her eyes—widen even more, beyond what Seoyeon thought was possible for humans, and her mouth opens in a soft whisper. “Oh my God.”

The girl drops Seoyeon’s hands, brings her own hands to her face before quickly lowering them, makes motions as if to claw at her face but ultimately grasps air, spins and drops to a crouch only to get back up and turn around just as quickly, all in the span of ten seconds.

“Oh my God,” Nien repeats, face flushed as she stares at Seoyeon with still-wide eyes and a wider grin. “Do you mean that? Do you really like me?”

“Yes,” she says, “yes I do really like you.” Seoyeon laughs once, incredulously, then grabs Nien’s shoulders and starts shaking the girl. “You need to give me an answer! DO YOU LIKE ME, TOO?” It’s more of a delirious shout than a question.

“YES!” Nien shouts back, grabbing her shoulders as well. “Yes, a thousand times yes! I like you, too! I—”

Whatever she was going to say next gets cut off by Seoyeon throwing her arms around her neck and finally—finally—Nien wraps her own arms around Seoyeon’s waist, burying her face in her neck.

“Seoyeon,” the girl starts, her voice muffled by Seoyeon’s clothes, “I’m going to cash in my wish now, okay?” Nien pulls her head back to meet her eyes. “Will you be my girlfriend? For real this time?”

Like magnets she can only see Nien’s eyes, so earnest and full of unadulterated adoration. I love your eyes, damnit. Seoyeon answers with a kiss.

When Nien tries to chase her lips as she pulls back for air, Seoyeon cups the girl’s cheek with one hand instead. “Does that answer your question?”

“I need a little more convincing,” Nien mumbles, capturing her lips again.

Seoyeon closes her eyes in response.

“Let me get this straight,” Chaewon starts.

“More like GAY!” Soomin adds. The two of them are sitting on the ground in front of the coffee table, with Seoyeon and Nien sitting on the couch across from them. (She has her legs in Nien’s lap, because now that they’re official she doesn’t care to hide anymore.)

“They were gay before, too. Whether you know or not doesn’t make a difference,” Yooyeon says from the armchair, not looking up from her laptop.

Seoyeon nods as she takes a bite of her strawberry ice cream, then tilts it in her girlfriend’s (!!!) direction when she sees that Nien wants a bite, too.

“Oh God,” Chaeyeon laments, looking up from her phone. “You two have already started acting ten times worse than before. Maybe we were better off not knowing.”

“No, I wanna know,” Chaewon interrupts. She points at her sister. “You asked Nien unnie to pretend to be your girlfriend in front of Mom?”

Seoyeon glances around to make sure her mom and aunt are still out of the house. “Yes.”

Chaewon looks at Nien. “And you agreed? Unnie!”

“Not a very smart move, if you ask me,” Soomin tuts.

“Hey!”

“No one asked you.”

“Wait, so then,” Chaewon pauses, waving her hands, “when we went to Everland, that was fake, too?”

“Not to me,” comes Nien’s immediate answer, at the same time Seoyeon says, “Unfortunately.”

A smile is already starting to spread on her face as she looks at the girl. “You like me that much?”

Nien grins back, mouth ready to respond.

“Oh my God, I don’t even want to know anymore,” Chaewon exclaims, getting up from her spot on the ground. “Let’s go, Soomin, these unnies make me sick.”

“Let’s hit up the convenience store,” the younger girl agrees, also standing up. She glances at the two of them. “I’m happy for you guys, even though it was really obvious and embarrassing sometimes.” Soomin sticks out her tongue and grabs Chaewon’s hand, running out of the living room before Seoyeon could even retort.

“Kids these days,” she groans, turning back to her ice cream.

“Hey Seoyeon,” Nien starts again, beaming. “Did you know I liked you before we even met?”

“No way,” she says automatically, “I liked you first. In the lecture hall during freshman orientation, when you introduced yourself, that’s when I started liking you.”

“Aww, you flatter me,” the girl ribs, but her cheeks darken regardless. “And I didn’t say I liked you first, just that I did before we met. But no, I also liked you first.”

“Prove it,” Seoyeon insists. “That was the first time we saw each other, there’s no way.”

“Wrong, and yes way~” Nien sing-songs. “Registration day, when you were trying to fix something in your schedule. I was in front of you in line but let you go first, ‘cause you looked so distressed.” Her girlfriend taps her nose. “And cute, too.”

“That was you?!” I did go fix my schedule before orientation. “How do you remember something small like that?”

“Your hair smelled like strawberries that day—”

“Chaewon’s shampoo.”

“—and I guess it stuck with me.” Nien tightens her arms around Seoyeon, who shifts closer into the girl’s embrace.

“And—”

“Oh my God, I can’t take this anymore,” Chaeyeon says loudly, clicking her phone off and swinging her legs off the smaller sofa. “You two are basically insufferable now, I can’t third-wheel any longer.”

Even Yooyeon shuts her laptop. “Just, keep it PG around us, please. I don’t need to see some college kids fooling around in front of our family.”

“You just graduated last year!”

Yooyeon—in a very Soomin-like fashion—just sticks out her tongue and takes her leave as well.

Seoyeon waits for the click of a lock before turning to Nien. “Well, we’re not in front of family anymore.”

“Yoon Seoyeon!”