Chapter 2
Minnie was first to wake up. She'd slept as lightly as she could, surfacing into consciousness every so often to make sure the warm weight of her companion hadn't disappeared from beside her. And now that it was morning, she felt an acute sense of relief that Miyeon was still there in her bed, fast asleep.
When she'd brought the pretty stranger home last night, she didn't think she'd be able to keep her for the night. She looked like someone who wouldn't spend the night. Yet of the endless sea of faces in the crowd, her intuition had drawn her to Miyeon, and to the slightly lonely expression that was ever-present on her face. Minnie thought it seemed like she was stuck in a perpetual sigh, even when she was smiling and laughing. It both bothered and intrigued Minnie at the same time, and with the pounding pulse of the loudspeakers that beat its way into her very soul, she'd found her fascination with the pretty stranger morphing into a strange infatuation.
But now, with half her face buried in Minnie's pillow, breathing gently and evenly, none of last night's heaviness was there. In the early morning light, Miyeon's sleeping face looked perfectly content. She almost looked like a whole other person.
Minnie wasn't sure what to do. Part of her worried that the pretty stranger wake up and be annoyed at her for wasting her time and turning their supposed one-night stand into a sleepover. But another part of her believed that Miyeon would have definitely left before morning if they had had sex. She wasn't sure why, Miyeon just seemed like the type.
Minnie had been the one to pull her into the bedroom and drag her into the bed. But just as she had started to slip her hand towards the waistband of Miyeon's jean shorts, the thought had suddenly occurred to her. This pretty stranger was too interesting to waste on one night of sex; she wanted to keep her a bit longer. So she brought her hand back and kissed the corner of Miyeon's mouth instead, a little too gently to have been drunk, and definitely too gently for a stranger. Then she'd fallen back onto her bed, feigning a drunken sleepiness. And she had silently willed the pretty stranger to stay.
"It's okay, Minnie, we don't have to," she'd heard Miyeon whisper, voice soft and soothing.
She's sweet, she'd thought to herself as she'd felt the other girl tuck the blanket up to her neck.
Please stay please stay please stay, Minnie had repeated silently in her head, not daring to open her eyes.
But she'd felt the weight slowly lifting off the side of her bed. Miyeon was trying to leave. So Minnie had panicked and reached out for the other girl's hand.
And then she'd begged her to stay. As pathetically as she could manage. And almost to her disbelief, Miyeon really had stayed. She'd crawled under the covers and held Minnie, stroked her hair, and stayed the whole night. Stared at her face and sighed, quiet breaths tickling her hair, for hours and hours. And Minnie had pretended to be unconscious, wishing the night would last forever.
But now, it was morning and there was no alcohol left in their blood. Just the softness of the bed and the cold brightness of a new day. Minnie hated it.
She turned her head and took a good, long look at Miyeon's face. She was definitely asleep. She wasn't sure why she did what she did next but really, she'd already done a lot of things in the past eight hours that she couldn't properly explain. She nuzzled her head into Miyeon's chest and wrapped her arms tightly around the other girl's delicate frame, not remotely resembling complete strangers who were just waking up from having spent a drunken night together. She felt the other girl stir and make a small, mumbled noise.
"You're awake," Minnie stated quietly.
And she was. Miyeon yawned and rubbed her eyes sleepily. Minnie kept her face pressed tightly against Miyeon's front, slightly afraid to look at her just yet, not sure how she was going to react.
"It's almost seven am," Minnie informed the other girl matter-of-factly, as though they had woken up together like this every morning of their lives.
"Why are we awake at almost seven am?" Miyeon groaned, evidently unfazed. Or maybe it was just too early for her to comprehend the situation. Minnie waited a second for her to react. Maybe she'd push her away and awkwardly start looking for her things, presumably still on the floor at the apartment door where she had abandoned them the night before. But nothing happened, and she wondered if Miyeon was falling asleep again already. She wasn't sure.
"I want to go to Ikea," Minnie announced into Miyeon's shirt.
"Okay," Miyeon simply said, face half-hidden in Minnie's hair, still not even trying to escape from the arms wrapped tightly around her.
Minnie finally looked up. Miyeon hadn't fallen asleep yet, but she didn't look quite fully awake either, and Minnie couldn't help but stare.
"You're even prettier when I'm sober," Minnie told her unabashedly.
Miyeon laughed softly at that, and Minnie noticed that it finally reached her eyes a little. It wasn't a lie, she really did look prettier right now, half-asleep in the morning light, without whatever sadness that had been with her the night before. Minnie smiled back at her, eyes turning into little crescents.
Then she unwrapped her arms from around Miyeon and sat up.
"Ikea?" Minnie asked again, as innocently as she could. Then, worried the other girl might finally come to her senses and leave her, Minnie quickly got out of the bed before Miyeon could say anything. She headed to the washroom to brush her teeth and find an extra toothbrush for the other girl.
Minnie had been waiting and brushing her teeth for more than fifteen minutes by the time Miyeon finally padded into the washroom. Everything about the whole situation felt so strange that for a second Miyeon thought it might have been a dream. She opened her mouth to say something but Minnie noticed and hurriedly cut her off:
"I got you two, so you can pick," She pointed proudly at the two toothbrushes next to the sink, brand new in their packaging.
Miyeon closed her mouth, swallowing whatever it was that she had been planning to say. Minnie let out a silent breath that she'd been holding as she watched Miyeon actually scrutinize the two toothbrushes and reach out to pick one.
--
"Do you ask all your one-night stands to go to Ikea the morning after?" Miyeon said to her once they were in the car.
Minnie laughed and looked over at the girl sitting next to her.
"No, just you," she replied, "do you call all your sleepovers one-night stands?"
Miyeon's eyes widened slightly.
"No, but we... I thought, since, you know...ah, idontknownevermind," a dark pink grew on her cheeks and she tried to let her hair hide her face.
Minnie giggled, surprised at how easily Miyeon got flustered.
"I didn't think you'd actually come with me," Minnie said after a few minutes.
"Me neither," Miyeon admitted, "but I like Ikea."
Minnie turned to look at her, excitement written all over her face.
"Me too!" Eyes returning to the road, she continued, "Probably one of my favourite places ever."
Miyeon found her enthusiasm endearing, and she couldn't help herself from smiling in response to the infectious grin on Minnie's face.
"What were you gonna buy today that required waking up at seven am?"
"Nothing," Minnie giggled again, "I just love Ikea, even at seven am."
Miyeon stared at her for a second, then laughed too. What in the world. She didn't really want to, but she still forced herself to say her next words:
"But why did you - uh, why bring me with you? We...we just-I don't know, this isn't weird to you?" Miyeon had been trying to ignore the strangeness of the whole situation, but felt like she needed to address it at some point. Here she was, still in yesterday night's clothes, sitting in the car of a stranger who she'd just made out with the night before. And they were going on a spontaneous early morning field trip to Ikea, of all places. Most absurdly, Minnie somehow looked completely unbothered, like all of this was completely normal for her.
"What, why not? You don't want to?" Minnie stared at her with an expression that looked wholly devastated.
"No no, that's not what I meant!" Miyeon felt like she'd hurt the other's feelings somehow and quickly tried to backtrack, "it's just-"
"Don't worry, it doesn't have to be a date or anything. It's just Ikea," Minnie smiled at her brightly, and suddenly Miyeon didn't really care about how weird the situation was. Surely she wasn't catching any feelings for the other girl; Minnie was just cute. And she was right, it was just Ikea. Who wouldn't want to go to Ikea with someone like Minnie?
But as they finally got back in the car after somehow spending an entire day outside, Miyeon found herself feeling a strange warmth in her chest as Minnie sleepily asked her if they could take a five-minute nap before driving back. Which is how Miyeon offered to drive instead, and let the other girl rest in the passenger seat. Somewhere on the way, Miyeon heard herself agreeing to go with Minnie to the same club again that very night. Deep down inside, she knew something was not right. She was developing some very real affection for the other girl, stupid as she felt about it. Minnie was very, very strange, and there were too many unanswered questions that Miyeon had about her. And really, it hadn't even been 24 hours since they'd met. But all the same, her heart couldn't help but grow fond of just how precious she found the other girl to be.
--
Later that night when Miyeon approached Minnie's apartment for the second time in her life, she found her waiting patiently, curled up on a couch in the lobby of the building playing some game on her phone. She started to stutter out an apology for being late, some slightly ornamented excuse about the subway being late. But Minnie didn't really look like she minded; she didn't even look like she listening at all. She was just smiling at Miyeon as if she was the very incarnation of the sun itself. Miyeon felt her face begin to grow warm and the words start to dissipate in her throat. She trailed off dumbly and looked away, unconsciously smiling at the floor nervously.
Minnie seemed to snap out of it suddenly and launched herself towards Miyeon, latching on to her arm.
"It's okay," she laughed, the sound a little like music to Miyeon's ears, "let's go."
"O-okay, let's go," Miyeon repeated.
She reminded herself that they were just going to the club. Just girl-space-friends meeting up to hit the club together. This was not a date, not a date at all, absolutely nothing of the sort. They were going to get wasted, maybe make out with other people, and probably never see each other again. Hell, Minnie was probably going to bring home a new stranger tonight. That's what the club was for, and for god's sake, that was how they'd met in the first place.
With Minnie right next to her now, Miyeon caught a whiff of the now-familiar scent of her freshly-sprayed perfume. She found herself leaning in to smell Minnie's neck, where she presumed the fragrance was most concentrated.
"What are you doing?" Minnie giggled, surprised at the other girl's sudden closeness. They'd kept a safe, platonic distance between themselves since they'd left Minnie's bed in the morning.
"Nothing," Miyeon said without thinking, "you smell nice."
Minnie blushed prettily, chirping some happy response, but Miyeon wasn't really paying attention. She vaguely remembered thinking Minnie's perfume had smelled way too sweet at some point, but now, she realized she couldn't think of a more attractive scent in the entire world.
Shit, she thought to herself silently, I might be screwed.
--
Miyeon decided the best way to deal with her new Minnie problem would be to drown it in alcohol. She thanked the inventors of fermentation for their creation of her new best friend, one she could blame anything and everything on. After debating with herself for the entire 20 minutes that it took for the two girls to reach the club, Miyeon reached the conclusion that her golden strategy for the night would be to get drunk as fast as possible.
And that she absolutely did. Less than thirty minutes in, she was absolutely trashed, an incoherent and giggling mess. She was half-dancing, half-pressing against some guy she'd met five minutes ago when she felt a hand on her shoulder.
"Miyeon, what the hell!" It was Minnie, half-yelling at her over the deafening music, "you disappeared!"
"Minnie!" She gleefully yelled back, immediately abandoning her new male friend and practically leaping over to wrap the other girl in a hug that nearly toppled her over.
"Why are you so drunk already?" Minnie whined at her, though simultaneously hugging her back.
"Why aren't you drunk yet?" Miyeon shot back, studying Minnie's slightly frowning face a bit more carefully, and then:
"What, don't tell me-" Miyeon smirked, "are you jealous, Minnie?"
She glanced back at the guy she had just tossed aside. He was still staring at them, confused expression quickly fading and turning into something else. He started making his way towards them, probably thinking he could get lucky with a two-in-one deal.
Minnie didn't respond to Miyeon's drunken remark, and instead started dragging the other girl with her, away from the approaching man. Miyeon let herself get pulled along, arms still loosely encircled around the other girl. But even after they'd lost the guy, Minnie didn't stop, heading straight for the door.
"Trying to take me home with you again?" Miyeon slurred at her teasingly as they exited the club with its thundering loudspeakers and breathed in the fresh, cold air of the night.
"Yes," Minnie said, "I'm jealous."
Miyeon laughed for real this time. She felt stupidly giddy and extremely accomplished.
"What?" Minnie asked indignantly, a small smile pulling at the corner of her lips in spite of herself, "am I not allowed to be?"
Miyeon reached up and cupped her cheeks with both hands. Minnie's eyes widened slightly and she looked like she was about to say something, but Miyeon was too drunk to notice.
"You're so cute, Minnie, you're gonna kill me," she said with a bluntness that she had to credit to the vodka.
Minnie made a noise that was almost a squeak, blushing furiously.
"Then-" she started, fumbling with her words and eventually letting the welcome quiet of the cool evening air take over. Without the blaring music and sweaty bodies of the club, the atmosphere that comfortably enveloped the two girls felt almost intimate. Minnie's gaze settled on Miyeon's mouth, and the shorter girl smiled, closing her eyes expectantly.
But Minnie's mouth barely even ghosted over her lips, stopping next to her ear instead, nearly touching but just short of kissing her.
"Just kidding," she whispered, and then pulled away, laughing hysterically.
Miyeon stared at her, completely dumbfounded and blinking rapidly. She stood there for a minute, watching as Minnie, still giggling, made her way back towards the club entrance, flashing a cute smile at the bouncer and then disappearing completely from view as the door shut behind her.
What the fuck? Miyeon felt herself experiencing a new and foreign range of emotions, none of which concerned staying out of love or trying to not fall for Minnie. She wasn't sure what had happened to the Miyeon of 24 hours ago, but that rationality sure as hell wasn't with her as she walked straight back into the club after Minnie.
She found the other girl at the bar, saying something to the bartender. Her eyes were smiling, the way they always did whenever the girl laughed, and for the first time ever, the sight pissed Miyeon off immensely. The bartender handed a drink to Minnie and smiled back at her. The sound of Minnie's breathy giggle as she thanked him in a voice that was at least half an octave higher than usual was the last straw for Miyeon. She walked over and snatched the glass of whatever it was away from where it had just been set down in front of Minnie, downing its contents in one gulp, regretting it somewhat as the vile liquid burned her throat harshly.
The bartender gawked at her, visibly shocked and very unsure about what he was supposed to do. But Minnie just laughed, watching as she coughed and tried to recover from the burn of the alcohol. That pissed Miyeon off too, and she glared at both of them indignantly. The bartender cleared his throat and opened his mouth, but Miyeon couldn't care less about what he was going to say; she had something else to deal with first.
Miyeon turned to the other girl and grabbed her face without any hesitation, roughly crashing their lips together. Somewhat to her surprise, she felt Minnie kiss her back.
"Whoa, what the-" Miyeon heard the bartender stutter.
She broke away from Minnie briefly to look at him: "Piss off," she spat out, not bothering to wait for a response before turning back to the other girl, not quite done with her just yet.
But something in Minnie's expression stopped Miyeon. She looked almost thoughtful, the smile from earlier having not entirely left her face. Miyeon's head was swimming, unable to really focus on anything, but she idly noted to herself that, in that moment, Minnie looked ever so slightly less innocent than she'd remembered. For a second, she wondered how old the other girl was, where her family was, what kind of life she had lived up till now. How had she spent an entire day together with the other girl and still not learned a thing about her? She reached out and tucked a stray strand of hair behind Minnie's ear absentmindedly. The music was still loud, but Miyeon felt like it wasn't all that annoying anymore.
"Miyeon", Minnie was close enough that she didn't have to yell to be heard.
"Hm?"
"I wanna go home."
"Oh"
And there it was again. Minnie's adorably innocent eyes gazed into Miyeon's, reaching deep into her heart and threatening to wring out every ounce of feeling in Miyeon. Sometimes she wondered if Minnie knew what she was capable of, or even if she did it on purpose. Unfortunately, Miyeon couldn't help but feel an odd sense of responsibility for the other girl, as if she alone could protect her, else the world would ruin her. If she had been sober, she might've managed to shake that idea away. But now, every sense filled by Minnie's sweet and intoxicating scent, her brain didn't feel like thinking about anything else. Not when the other girl was right in front of her, staring at her like she was the entire world.
"Miyeon," Minnie repeated.
Even her voice was cute.
"Yeah"
"Come with me, okay?"
And as Miyeon followed Minnie out of the club for the second night in a row, she thought to herself that even if she lived through ten more lifetimes of unfortunate love stories, she would never be able to say no to someone like Minnie.