maybe it's not our fault
When Minjoo gets to her seat there’s a child sitting in the seat beside her.
“Hi!” she immediately turns her attention to the older woman, “I’m Jiheon and I’m flying alone today.”
“H-hello…” Minjoo stammers as she takes a seat beside her. Minjoo isn’t sure about what to do with this information, if anything she was hoping for a quiet plane ride. She already had enough on her mind without having to think of the minor sitting beside her.
“I’m going home to see my rabbit Marshmallow.”
Minjoo tries to keep up the pleasantries. She finds out that Jiheon is six and three quarters and she was travelling back to Korea alone to visit her grandmother and also her pet rabbit that they had to leave behind when they moved. She quietens down once the flight attendants begin their demonstrations about the safety procedures. Once it’s over Minjoo notes that Jiheon has been holding onto her wrist tightly whilst taking deep breaths.
“Hey are you ok?” Minjoo leans over to see tears streaming down her cheeks.
“I’m scared…”
“Hey-hey, what are you scared about?” Minjoo isn’t sure what to do.
“I don’t like flying, I’ve never flown by myself before, I want to go home…” Jiheon’s voice starts increasing in volume and Minjoo panics as she notes wandering eyes land on her. The last thing she wants right now is for someone to think that she was abusing the poor kid when she wasn’t. Quickly she hits the button above her head, calling for the flight attendant who comes rushing over. Minjoo figures she must’ve been looking already considering how fast she reacted.
“Can I help you with anything?” Minjoo reads her name tag, Kim Chaewon.
“I think she’s really nervous,” Minjoo looks at the flight attendant who immediately lowers herself down to meet Jiheon’s eyes and reaches for her hands.
“You’re Jiheon right?” Chaewon asks. The girl nods her head, “It’s your first time flying alone right?” Chaewon asks her a bunch of questions that seem trivial but Jiheon’s not screaming anymore so that’s already enough of an improvement.
Minjoo can feel the anxiety melting off of her now that Chaewon was there taking care of Jiheon.
“It’s fine to be nervous, but you don’t have to be…”
“It’s just all of the things about the oxygen masks falling down, the life vest, I don’t remember what position to get into if something happens to the plane…” the young girl starts going off on a tangent and Minjoo can hear the hysteria in her voice. “What happens if we have to land on the water? I can’t swim! I’m too young to die.”
Minjoo wonders what kind of six year old talks like this. She’s certain that her vocabulary wasn’t as vast nor was her thought processes as developed as a child of that age.
“Flight attendants please get ready for take-off.” The captain's voice crackles through the intercom and Jiheon’s grip on the both of them tightens, small hands curling around their wrists on either side of her.
The plane had been driving around the tarmac getting ready for take off as the other flight attendant moved to their designated seats. Chaewon smiles and sits down in the empty seat to Jiheon’s right and buckles up her seat belt. She reaches out to stroke Jiheon’s head to soothe her. “It’s going to be fine, situations like that rarely ever happen. But if it does you’ll have your life vest on you, and I’ll be there to catch you right at the bottom of the slide.”
“S-slide?”
“Oh yeah! It’s this really cool giant inflatable slide you get to slide down. It’s actually really fun!”
“Have you gone down it before?”
“Of course I have!” Minjoo tenses and Chaewon immediately clarifies, “For training! You have nothing to worry about Jiheon-ah. The pilots are my friends and they’re one of the best we have.”
The plane engine roars louder as it begins to pick up speed on the tarmac which doesn’t go unnoticed by the bright-eyed six year old who starts crying over the sound. “Jiheon-ah it’s ok.” She tries to soothe her but it does little but Minjoo notices how she doesn’t waver as the child cries.
“So what do you do...?”
“Minjoo,” she introduces herself. Jiheon looks over at the other woman and wipes her eyes furiously, “I’m a pianist, I travel the world to perform for some really important people.”
“Who do you perform for? Anyone famous?” Jiheon’s immediately distracted by the thought that the tears cease immediately.
“Not anyone you’d be interested in kiddo.”
“Who’s the most famous person you’ve performed in front of?”
“Well the President for one, last time I pl-”
“What music do you play?” Jiheon’s already bored but of course a six year old wouldn’t care about the President of Korea.
“Uhmm, well anything so long as I have the sheet music but mostly classical.”
“Can you play EXO’s music? I like them!” Jiheon straightens up and looks at her with the roundest eyes.
“What’s your favourite song?”
“Tempo!”
Minjoo scratches her chin, “I’m not sure I know that one. I’m sorry…” she doesn’t miss the disappointment on Jiheon’s face when she breaks it to her.
Maybe she should’ve lied.
“Are you going back to Korea for a performance as well?” Chaewon asks. Minjoo purses her lips and nods her head. “Anyone famous?” the flight attendant maintains eye contact with her, the smile never leaves her face which Minjoo suspects has to do with her training. How can someone be so happy all the time.
“Not telling,” Minjoo winks at Jiheon as she presses a finger to her lips, “It’s a secret.”
“Pwettypwease!” Jiheon begs and grabs onto Minjoo’s arm. She laughs nervously.
“It’s for my friend who’s getting married.”
“Is she famous?”
“She was pretty famous on our university campus,” Minjoo lets out a snort. The joke goes over Jiheon’s head but isn’t missed by Chaewon. Minjoo clears her throat at the lackluster reaction, “No, she’s not...” her voice trails off, cheeks turning a rosy hue.
“That’s not fun,” Jiheon huffs and crosses her arm this time.
“Tell me about it,” Minjoo leans in and whispers into Jiheon’s ear and nudges her slightly. Jiheon giggles, her grip loosening on both of their hands but still firmly holding onto them.
“She’s so lucky to have such an experienced pianist as you playing at her wedding then.”
It’s not long before they’re in the air and Jiheon’s a lot calmer now that the plane isn’t shaking like it’s going to collapse in on them. The seat belt lights turn off and Minjoo lets out the breath she hadn’t realised she had been holding since take off. Minjoo looks down at the small red prints around her wrist and back over to Chaewon who was leaning closer to Jiheon.
“I’ve got to go to the toilet now!” Jiheon whispers to her, demeanour suddenly different to how she was twenty minutes ago as Chaewon helps her unbuckle her seatbelt.
“Do you need me to accompany you?”
“No, I’m old enough thank you,” Jiheon quickly rushes off leaving Minjoo and Chaewon sitting alone bewildered and laughing.
‘Thank you’ she says to Chaewon but she’s not sure if she hears it over the sound of the plane engine.
+
The hotel that they’ve booked is a grand one.
From what Yujin’s told her, the likes of Song Joongki and Jeon Jihyun have all had their weddings here. Not like she was anyone special though. It’s mostly because Wonyoung came from a wealthy family and her parents were insistent on a grand wedding. Otherwise knowing Yujin she would’ve happily walked into the courthouse and signed a marriage certificate. That or maybe get married at her favourite burger joint.
Minjoo wanders through the giant lobby, observing the sky high ceilings that surrounded her. Her feet echoed in the grand building despite the amount of people in the lobby around her. “Kim Minjoo!” she feels the impact before she can register an appropriate response.
Yujin wraps her arms around her arms, pulling her into a bone crushing hug. “I’ve missed you so much,” she says through gritted teeth whilst lowering her back down onto the floor.
“I think you just reset my spine,” Minjoo laughs and tries to wriggle free from her embrace.
Yujin hasn’t changed much since she’s known her. She’s still got the same round, bright eyes, brilliant smile, except her usual shoulder length hair is now just about halfway down her back. Her fashion sense is still simple - oversized hoodie, skinny leg jeans, black cap and white sneakers to finish off. Still she wouldn’t be Yujin if she didn’t look go no matter what she wore.
Wonyoung is standing behind her, baseball cap covering her eyes but Minjoo can see the wide grin on her face. “Nice to see you again. Glad you could join us,” Wonyoung hugs her warmly, wrapping both arms around her.
“Ah well, when you leave me fifty messages, spam my e-mail and then threaten to physically escort me here I realised saying yes was the easiest option.”
“You should’ve kept resisting, Wonyoung would’ve sent a private jet to haul your butt back here.”
Wonyoung snorts, “The things I would do to make this one happy. You don’t understand how adamant she was in making sure that you were here for our special day.”
Yujin nods her head rapidly in agreement, leaning into Wonyoung and taking her hand. Minjoo knows all too well that all it takes is for Yujin to pout or smile and the world bends in favour of her. She can’t imagine Wonyoung being all that different.
“Ah, you shouldn't have…” Minjoo says behind a forced smile and nudges Yujin. Minjoo wants to ask her why she was so adamant in having her there. Why she couldn’t have left her just in her own bubble, far away from here but it’s like Yujin reads her mind.
“What kind of wedding would it be without my best friend?”
“Had to turn down a job in the states for this but how often do your friends get married right?” she mumbles under her breath.
“Alright, alright. We’ll write you a cheque for your time, Miss Kim.” Yujin rolls her eyes and crosses her arms, having heard her remark. “You could at least be more enthusiastic about how much you miss us. It’s been a year at least since we last saw each other.”
“But only a week since we last spoke over the phone,” Minjoo grins which only earns her a slap on the shoulder from Yujin. “I’m just kidding!”
It’s the nerves talking. It’s causing her to speak her mind too candidly, which made her seem quite blunt. To the many that didn’t know her, this can come off as unpleasant to be around. Not Yujin though. She knew by now how Minjoo talked, she understood Minjoo’s intentions. All that mattered was that Minjoo was here for the wedding.
“Yujin-ah, Wonyoung-ah, the minister is here and she wants to talk with you.” They all look up at the older woman Minjoo recognises as Yujin’s mother. She waves to the older woman who smiles curtly back at the familiar face.
“Sorry…” Yujin turns around and reaches for her hand to comfort her but Minjoo pulls away and places her hand on Yujin’s shoulder gently.
“What for? Go get ready for your big day. I’m going to check in and rest up. The flight was a bit crazy.”
“Tell me more about it later, yeah! I’ll come find you, ok?”
Minjoo nods and waves, watching as Yujin chases Wonyoung across the lobby. Yujin loops her arm around Wonyoung’s shoulder and drags her along behind her and they’re running head first like children behind her mother. There’s a flurry of laughter that disappears with Yujin and Wonyoung and it doesn’t take long before the loneliness settles in again.
+
Minjoo settles down in the hotel bar, despite the fact that she hasn't had dinner yet.
The small bowl of olives they serve should suffice if anything. Otherwise it’s hard to muster up an appetite given the circumstances she had found herself in so it was better to just simply drink the night away. Plus you get drunk faster if you haven’t eaten - past experiences have taught her this. She orders a cocktail first - Sakura’s wish - a gin mixed with orange and cherry blossoms.
She stares at the petals floating in the drink floating around the ice as she swirls it with her straw. In a trance Minjoo lets the fatigue of the day consume her. She’s not entirely sure how much time passes when she realises that someone’s talking to her.
“Hey stranger. Fancy running into you again.”
It takes her a second before she recognises who it was. She looked different out of her uniform, hair no longer in a bun but it sat in loose brown waves over her shoulders. She’s wearing an oversized blue dress shirt, top two buttons undone with fitted blue jeans and high heels. Still pretty.
Minjoo tries to remember her name but the alcohol is beginning to sink in. Still it must’ve been obvious enough for her to introduce herself.
“It’s Chaewon.”
“Of course.”
“Minjoo right?”
“You remembered,” Minjoo is beginning to feel guilty for forgetting so soon, but she blames it on the alcohol and empty stomach.
“I always remember a pretty face,” Chaewon smiles guilelessly. “Mind if I take a seat?” she gestures to the empty seat and Minjoo nods her head slightly.
“What brings you here?”
“Just came back from dinner, thought I’d get myself another drink. What about you? What are you doing here?”
“Having dinner,” Minjoo points to the olive pits and new drink the bartender has served her. “Actually,” Minjoo calls back the bartender with the flick of her hand, “What would you like? It’s the least I can do for the way you helped me earlier on the plane.”
“Ah it was nothing, after all it’s part of the job.”
“Still,” Minjoo insists, “Had it not been for you I couldn’t have imagined how I would’ve been able to deal with her.”
“Not good with kids?”
“Not crying ones…” Minjoo tilts her head, remembering that the bartender had been standing in front waiting to take their order.
“Oh, I’ll have what she’s having,” Chaewon points to the pretty drink in front of her. She takes a seat on the tall bar stool beside her, placing her clutch down between them. “So I’m guessing you don’t live here since you’re staying at a hotel as opposed to being at your house right now?”
“Nope, I moved overseas almost three years ago.”
“Any reason why?”
“Wanted a change of scenery.” Whilst it wasn’t entirely a lie Minjoo doesn’t divulge into the main reason why she really left. Not like it mattered or that Chaewon would or should care.
“What about you or are you too busy flying there’s no point in having a home?”
Chaewon laughs, “I have a home, but it’s too far out to go home when I’m flying off to Dubai in a few days. Plus I think I’d go insane if I had to live alone in hotels for the rest of my life.”
“Oh don’t say that, I’m pretty sure you'll find a partner who will happily stay behind and order room service whilst they wait for your return.”
“Are you offering?”
Minjoo sputters and spits out the drink back into the glass. She can hear Chaewon giggling on the side whilst she reaches for a bunch of napkins. Chaewon dabs at the liquid on her thigh and up on her chest. In her haste Minjoo grabs Chaewon’s hand and shakes her head.
She coughs, swallows her spit, hard, and grabs the tissues from Chaewon’s hand.
“I can do it myself.”
“Sorry, occupation habit.” Chaewon’s eyes never leave Minjoo. Observing closely as she dabbed the alcohol off her body. “Are you ok?” she asks.
“Yeah, fine,” she lies. There’s an uncomfortable feeling of water in the wrong pipe, her nose feels a bit sore and so does her throat. “Also, I wasn’t offering…”
Chaewon shoulder rises and falls and a chuckle escapes her lips. “No of course not...” Chaewon picks up her drink and finishes it, eyes watching the way the ice sank to the bottom of the glass as she drained the liquid from the glass.
“Look sorry, I’m just not in a good headspace right now to be looking for anything serious…”
“I’m sorry, did I ask you to put a ring on me?”
Fair point.
The last time Minjoo was in a relationship was a very short one of six months after she moved to Japan. Hitomi was the same age as her and they both had an interest in languages. Minjoo needed to learn Japanese especially if she was going to be staying there long term and Hitomi was interested in Korean. But maintaining a relationship is hard especially when you can barely have conversations with each other.
It fizzled out quickly and here Minjoo is, still single and maybe she’s alright with it. Mostly. Until she’s invited to the wedding of the girl she maybe never got over.
“Someone on your mind?” Chaewon asks and Minjoo looks over her bewildered.
“Is it obvious?” she responds, lips loose, feeling candid and friendlier now that the drink was beginning to sink in.
“Just a little.” Chaewon says like she’s trying to not rub salt into whatever wound Minjoo was nursing, “An ex?”
“Not even, we were really good friends, but it was just bad timing so nothing ever happened.”
“Is she coming to the wedding?” Chaewon strings together the clues from their conversation earlier.
“It is her wedding.”
“That’s rough… wait… you’re here to play for the wedd-”
Minjoo’s eyes meet hers and it’s enough of an answer but still she nods her head. “Yup,” she says, lips making a popping sound.
“Did they guilt trip you?”
“Felt a little like that.”
“So why don’t I help you forget her then?” Chaewon’s eyes slowly rise to meet her gaze.
+
Minjoo wonders how long it had been since she had been lying there, eyes wide open staring at the ceiling as she began to lose sensation in her arm from the weight of the other woman’s head resting on it. She tugs ever so slightly to ease the tension on her arm which only makes Chaewon stir and the arm wrapped around Minjoo’s waist to tighten.
She holds her breath, hoping that she wouldn’t wake her too soon before she could escape. But escape to where? In her haste Minjoo had led the flight attendant straight back to her hotel room and so the only other viable option she had was the hotel rooftop. Still she couldn’t stay here. Minjoo was beginning to sober up and the longer she stayed in her room the more she could feel the nauseating feeling of spite and self loathing bubble up from inside of her.
Minjoo lets out a sigh and gently lifts up the arm from around her waist. She sits up, trying to steady herself on the edge of the bed as she climbs to her feet. In the darkness Minjoo searches for her clothes before hastily slipping into her jeans and t-shirt and fishing for her phone off the floor. The screen flashed as she picked it up, 1:39AM and a message from Yujin sent just ten minutes ago. She shoves the phone back into her pocket without checking the message and pads her way to the door.
When she swings the door she catches Yujin with her arm in the air mid knock. “Oh my god,” Minjoo gasps, holding onto the door frame for support. Immediately she turns back around to see if the woman in her bed was awoken by it. When Chaewon doesn’t move after what feels like an eternity, Minjoo turns her attention back towards Yujin, “What are you doing here?”
“Are you with someone?” Yujin asks with a raised eyebrow suddenly standing on her tiptoes to try and peer inside.
“No,” Minjoo clears her throat and steps outside, using her body to push Yujin away from the door. Once the door shuts behind them and Minjoo can breathe a little easier she notices that Yujin doesn’t look like she’s ready for bed either. “What are you doing up?”
“Couldn’t sleep, didn’t you get my message?”
“Uhmmm,” she pulls out her phone, “I was about to read it.”
“Come get a drink with me?”
“Don’t you have to be up in a few hours?”
“I need a drink to get me to sleep and I didn’t want to do it alone.”
“Where’s Wonyoung?” Minjoo asks. The last thing she really wanted to do was to go for another drink as she was beginning to fight off the throbbing headache coming on.
“She’s asleep, plus I wanted to catch up with you properly since I wasn’t able to earlier.”
Minjoo knows that resistance is futile, especially for her when it came to Yujin. It always has been. “Alright, one drink,” Minjoo says, letting out a heavy sigh but the soft expression on her face told Yujin otherwise. She taps the back pocket of her jeans realising that going back in for her wallet would risk waking up Chaewon. “You’re paying though right?”
“Wouldn’t have it any other way,” Yujin chirps, looping her arm casually around Minjoo’s and bodily drags her down the hallway.
Minjoo wishes in that moment that maybe she had stayed in bed with Chaewon, because despising herself for hooking up with a total stranger at her best friend’s wedding would’ve been better than realising how much she had missed Yujin.
+
“You must have the world’s worst luck to have been placed next to an unaccompanied minor.”
“It does feel like that sometimes,” Minjoo confesses, eyes meeting Yujin’s eyes only briefly.
“Well I’m glad the flight attendant helped you out. I’m also glad that you sat through that just so you can be here for your best friend’s wedding,” Yujin swings her arm around and cuddles up to Minjoo, nuzzling her face against Minjoo’s. Minjoo tries to pull away but she knows that there’s no point in ever trying to resist Yujin. So she lets Yujin do whatever she wants. When she eventually pulls away Minjoo notices the glaze in her eyes. “Can I be totally honest with you?”
“What is it?” Minjoo asks, suddenly feeling nervous.
“I didn’t think you were going to come.”
Minjoo wants to tell her she honestly didn’t want to come. Afterall, it hurts seeing the one you love marry someone else.
“Of course I’d come,” she lies, “I’d do anything for you - clearly…” Minjoo tries to disguise her sincerity with sarcasm but Yujin sees right through it.
“Me too…”
They’re sitting at the bar, two silhouettes side by side on the tall stools where neither of their feet touch the ground. Yujin’s finger traces the rim of her drink whilst Minjoo swirls her drink, head shrinking into her shoulders. There’s a bubble of silence that engulfs the both of them, the bar a lot quieter now than when it was earlier when she was with Chaewon.
“I’ve missed this,” Yujin lets out a breath she hadn’t realised she’d been holding. She blames her nerves, but also the time and the distance apart. She had been worried - despite Minjoo’s reassurance - that they had drifted apart.
“The drinking or my cynicism?”
“Both, just mostly you, us hanging out like this, talking.” Yujin leans into the bar and props her head up with her hand, elbow on the table and the alcohol beginning to settle in making her feel relaxed and light. “Do you remember when we used to stay up so late talking that we would often watch the sunrise before either of us would suggest heading to bed.” Minjoo sits in silence nodding her head as she nurses her drink. “We would always have something to talk about even if we had already been talking for hours already...”
“Yeah it was because you always left your assignment till the last minute…” Minjoo rolls her eyes good naturedly, “...We had a lot of time back then.”
Back when they were in university and classes started in the middle of the day, or that they could skip morning lectures in favour of a few more hours of sleep. Back when they only had each other.
They met in their first year of uni at a freshman gathering. Minjoo doesn’t remember much except for Yujin forcing herself into her life and eventually it just became a thing. The silence and calm in Minjoo’s life was suddenly replaced with Yujin’s loudness and chaos but she liked it. Liked how Yujin had so much life and warmth to her, liked how she wanted to be with someone like Minjoo.
They spend the next hour talking, Minjoo’s cold exterior melting with each glass of wine she downs and they talk like nothing’s changed. Like they’re freshman in college, staying up late doing their assignments, like Yujin isn’t engaged to be married, like the only thing Minjoo feels towards her is love and not bitterness.
“Are you going to head to bed?” Yujin asks as she hops off the seat. She wobbles a bit from the wine and grabs onto Minjoo to steady herself.
Minjoo holds her breath when she remembers that there was still a naked woman lying in her bed. Minjoo wonders if it would be ok to return, that maybe somehow Chaewon had woken up and gone back to her own room. “I’m going to hang here for one more drink, you go first, it’ll be a busy day today.”
Yujin pauses, digesting Minjoo’s words, forgetting that it was already almost four in the morning.
“Remember that rehearsal is at 10 AM!”
“That’s as early as our comms lecture, and you know we never made that especially when we were up this late.” Two hours had gone, almost verging on three as Minjoo took a quick glance at her watch.
“That’s true, but I can deal with one angry lecturer and you don’t want to offend the minister. She can talk to God or something like that,” Yujin tries to stifle a laugh which morphs into a snort.
“Alright but if I’ve slept in you’ll know where to find me.”
“Kim Minjoo!” Yujin’s eyes widen as she places her hands on her hips, puffing out her chest.
“I’m just kidding, I’ll be there.”
“Goodnight Mindyu,” Yujin gently squeezes her arm before walking away and Minjoo tries her best to not look at her silhouette moving further away from her.
“Can you get me your strongest drink, please.” She was going to need something a lot stronger to put her to bed.
+
When Minjoo returns to her room an hour later Chaewon is gone and she’s completely tanked. Relieved she falls face first into the bed and buries her face into the sheets. Minjoo falls asleep with the smell of vanilla and lavender lingering on her bed sheets.
+
She wishes that when the alarm goes off the next morning that it was all a dream. That she wasn’t in some hotel room where the bed sheets still smelt of the woman she slept with last night. She wishes more so that she wouldn’t have to meet with Yujin and Wonyoung in the giant hall on the 22nd floor in twenty minutes for the wedding rehearsal because in fact she hadn’t rehearsed her own part.
It had been a few months since Minjoo had last touched a piano and whilst she was certain that she had practiced enough in her youth to commit it to muscle memory she still dread the thought of performing in front of familiar faces. If it wasn’t for Wonyoung’s persistence Minjoo wouldn’t have agreed. In fact Minjoo would’ve made some other dumb excuse to avoid the wedding altogether. Yet here she was, hauling herself out of bed with a throbbing headache (shouldn’t have had that last drink) trying to make herself look decent before she stepped out in public.
After washing up and brushing her hair, Minjoo slips into a comfortable oversized hoodie and jeans before legging it out the door. It was five minutes before eleven which meant given some time for the elevator to arrive on her floor and carry her down to level 22 she would have arrived at the hall with approximately three minutes to spare.
Despite not being late, it would still seem that Minjoo is the last to arrive. There are about ten other people casually dressed as well in the hall when she arrives.
“Minjoo-yah!”
The small redhead catches Minjoo from behind, swinging her arm around her shoulder and holding onto her from behind, “I’ve missed you so much.” She reaches up and tousles her hair before letting her go.
“Eunbi unnie… it’s been so long.”
“We’ve got so much catching up to do!”
“We do!” Minjoo tries to exclaim politely.
Eunbi was Yujin’s cousin who was a few years older than the rest of them. At the start they would often run into each other on campus and it was Eunbi who got Yujin and Minjoo into all the senior parties.
“Come have lunch with me after the rehearsal today.” Minjoo’s stomach grumbles at the mention of lunch, the sound catching both of their attention. “Guessing that’s a yes?”
Minjoo nods.
“Great! I can’t wait for you to join us.”
“Us?” Minjoo furrows her eyebrows together, “Who’s us?”
“Oh it’s just me and Chaewonn-ie...” Eunbi twirls the other woman around slightly to meet Minjoo who freezes on the spot. She hopes in that moment that the reaction she was portraying wasn’t one of pure horror that she felt internally.
“Chaewon…”
Chaewon’s eyes widen as she nervously looks over at Eunbi and back to Minjoo. “Have you two met before?” Eunbi asks suspiciously, drawing an invisible line between the two.
Minjoo is about to deny when Chaewon cuts in, “Yeah she was on my flight when I was coming in. She helped me look after an unaccompanied minor on the flight…”
“Were you slacking off again Kim Chaewon? Making your passenger do your job for you,” Eunbi teases her, nudging her ribs slightly.
“Unnie!” Chaewon whines, “You know I’m the hardest worker there is…”
“Working hard or hardly working if you ask me. You get to travel the world and stay at nice hotels at the company’s expense and you can’t even do your job.”
“Well maybe you should’ve picked a job that lets you travel the world and stay in nice hotels at the company’s expense.” Chaewon sticks her tongue out, the both of them seemingly ignoring Minjoo who was still trying to collect her thoughts.
“Sorry…” Minjoo finally speaks up and both of them turn their head slowly. The resemblance is uncanny, it’s almost frightening.
“Sorry! Where are our manners? Chaewon is my kid sister-”
“And Yujin’s favourite unnie…” Chaewon chimes in.
“And this is Minjoo, we went to the same college and she’s Yujin’s friend. They’ve known each other since the first year of college.”
As Eunbi draws the lines for her, Minjoo can’t help but feel like the walls were closing in on her as she struggled to breathe.
+
To be fair she’s never really asked about Yujin’s extended family.
She knew Eunbi from college but they would only hang out with Yujin and even then the topic of their families never came up. Minjoo hadn’t even known Eunbi had a sister, always assuming that Yujin took on that role considering their relationship.
They’re standing down the hallway from the rehearsal hall, far from everyone else. Minjoo’s pacing back and forth so much that Chaewon’s convinced she could burn a hole through the floor if she kept moving.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were here for the wedding?” Minjoo speaks in a loud whisper.
“How was I supposed to know that when you said you were here for a wedding to think that we’d be going to the same one. Millions of people get married everyday, and I know for a fact that there’s five other weddings happening this weekend in this hotel as well...” Chaewon huffs at the accusation, she’s not even sure what she’s being blamed for. “Also I was hardly about to tell a stranger my schedule regardless.”
“Stranger?” she scoffs in disbelief.
“Oh, I’m sorry - are we friends?” Chaewon crosses her arms and cocks her head slightly, for someone who was shorter than her, Chaewon had an immense powerful aura - one that Minjoo never thought the polite stewardess could have. There’s no more pleasantries between them, at least not in comparison to last night. “We only slept together last night...”
“That’s not what I mea- ” she stops abruptly. Minjoo knows she’s right. She thinks back to last night and all of the questions she could’ve asked, would’ve asked - if she knew, if they both knew. “Look I’m sorry. It’s just this was a huge mistake.”
“Ouch,” Chaewon winces.
“That’s not what I meant either!”
“Well you really need to figure out what you mean before you speak.”
Chaewon notes how Minjoo’s expression darkens by the moment, everything she felt written like a novel on her face through the wrinkle lines that formed in the way her eyebrows furrowed and lips curved downwards into a pout.
Chaewon loosens up and tries to release the tension in her shoulders, “So the woman you’re still in love with who’s getting married is…my baby cousin…”
Minjoo wants this to be a bad dream. A really bad dream. But if there’s one thing that Minjoo has learnt best how to do is to remove herself from situations she didn’t feel comfortable in. She turns around and starts walking away from Chaewon, “Where are you going?”
“I just need some fresh air…” Minjoo shouts back at her.
“Minjoo, it’s fine…” Chaewon chases after her. “Honestly, why are you even stressing?” she grabs Minjoo’s arm but the taller woman swings her arm backwards to get away. She sees the hurt in Chaewon’s eyes and a wave of guilt washes over her. “Look, I don’t know what to say - but I’m sure that this is all fine. We’re going to continue acting like we don’t know each other and in a few days when the wedding is over we’ll never have to see each other again. No one will ever find out.”
“Yah Kim Chaewon! Kim Minjoo! What are you two doing here?” Eunbi rushes down the corridor towards them with her handbag over her shoulder. “Are you both ready?”
“Ready?” Chaewon asks, looking at Eunbi.
“Yeah, Minjoo said she’d join us for lunch today.”
“Look unnie, I’m not feeling all too well…”
She puts her hand to her stomach and also her forehead and lets out a puff of air. She’s really not feeling well but this isn’t something that you can see either so it’s hard for her to sound convincing.
“Nope,” Eunbi shakes her head, “I’m not taking no for an answer. Let’s go!” She fills the awkward space between the two, linking arms with the both of them as they head out.
+
“What have you been doing since?” Eunbi asks after only taking a quick glance at the menu. She seems far more interested in what Minjoo has to offer as opposed to looking at the food apparently.
Minjoo twiddles her thumbs and tries to focus on Eunbi entirely, but she catches glimpses of Chaewon from the corner of her eye regardless, seemingly not paying attention to the conversation as she scans the menu.
“Oh, nothing much. You know me, I spend days practicing in between performances. I’ve been picking up some photography as well since there’s always so much to see in Japan.”
“Yah, you rascal. You were meant to invite me over once you settled. It’s been three years and you still haven’t.”
Chaewon laughs out loud, lowering her menu, “Unnie, I’m certain that the issue isn’t about Minjoo-sshi here inviting you, it’s whether or not you’d take a holiday and travel.” Minjoo is surprised to see Chaewon talking so casually despite everything. It’s probably all the training she goes through, learning to deal with a variety of social situations. Afterall when you’re thousands of meters in the sky in a small tin box, if something gets awkward there’s really nowhere to run.
“She has a sister who’s a flight attendant and she still wouldn’t travel with me. At least I had Yujin to accompany me on a few trips...”
“I know,” Eunbi rolls her eyes and kicks Chaewon under the table. The younger of the two winces in pain and moves her chair away from her and closer towards Minjoo. “I just wanted to give her a hard time because she hasn’t even been bothered to return home to visit her friends in the past three years. The next time we’ll see you is at someone’s funeral, you rascal.”
“Unnie, I’d at least visit you on your deathbed,” Minjoo says this so sincerely that it makes Chaewon burst out into laughter at Eunbi’s reaction. The older woman was rendered speechless by Minjoo’s innocence.
“Yah! It’s still years from now! That’s my point…”
Minjoo tries to keep a straight face but finds it too hard with Chaewon laughing beside her to maintain. She chuckles at first and turns back to Eunbi with a mischievous grin on her face. The oldest of the three glaring at the both of them.
“Maybe it’s a good thing you two have only met now, would’ve been hell on earth having you two together.”
“Unnie, you wouldn’t want to encourage this would you?” Chaewon tilts her head towards Minjoo and smiles sweetly, raising her finger to her cheek, trying to act cute and innocent. The only thing Minjoo notices is how close Chaewon’s head is to resting on her shoulder but the issue of proximity and Chaewon seems trivial when she remembers that she’s been in her pants.
Minjoo instead lets herself get carried away by the atmosphere and releases some of the tension she had been holding in her shoulders.
“Yah, don’t corrupt Minjoo, she’s innocent.”
“If she’s friends with you and Yujin she’s already corrupted!”
Eunbi sticks out her tongue playfully and Chaewon mimics her. They feel a bit reminiscent of the way Eunbi and Yujin sometimes acted as well. There was no doubt that Chaewon wasn’t part of the same family.
“Are you seeing someone?”
Minjoo wrings the cloth covering the table, “N-no,” she stutters, so apparently aware of Chaewon despite the fact that she didn’t seem to be paying attention anymore as she skims through the menu.
“Why?”
“Well, I mean does anyone ever know the answer to that?”
“Sometimes. Like are you not looking? What aren’t you looking? Is there already someone and you’re not there yet?” Eunbi claps her hand and points her finger at Minjoo causing Chaewon to jump in her seat. Maybe she had tuned back out.
“No, I’m not looking.”
“Why?” Eunbi asks and Minjoo lets out a groan from the back of her throat.
This is why she hates weddings. For some reason one couple getting married seems to make others think it’s ok to discuss everyone else’s relationship status.
“What about you?”
There are probably far more interesting things to talk about rather than the topic of her non-existent love life. There’s nothing deep about her not being in a relationship. She just hasn’t found the one, nor is she looking. Minjoo’s more of a let-it-happen-natrally kind of person.
“I’m still with Hyewon. Going on eight years...”
“Still not married yet though,” Chaewon drawls from behind the menu and flicks the page.
“Giving you some time to catch up, baby sis,” Eunbi leans over and pinches her cheeks. Chaewon rolls her eyes and swats Eunbi’s hand away with the menu. “You know mum’s disappointed you didn’t bring anyone to the wedding. She told me to keep an eye out for any of Yujin’s single friends to introduce you to.”
Chaewon wants to laugh. “Mum’s always disappointed, I’m not breaking new ground with anything.”
Their mother’s idea of happiness for her was to always stay by her side in Korea instead of flying all over the world, settling down with someone and starting a family.
“Don’t make it awkward in front of Minjoo,” Eunbi says in a hushed tone but still loud enough for Minjoo to hear.
“Honestly it’s fine, so long as you’re not dissecting my love life go for it.”
Chaewon grins, mimicking Minjoo’s expression whilst Eunbi looks at the both of them with narrow eyes. “You two…” she draws an invisible line between the both of them, “You’re like two peas in a pod… I don’t know if I like this”
+
There’s an incessant knock at her door that drives her insane - more so since she’s trying to take a nap in the afternoon. Afterall she hadn’t had the chance to nurse her headache when she was thrown into the spotlight and her body was beginning to catch up to her.
“There’s a sign-” she’s about to combust at the person on the other side of the door when she realises it’s Yujin leaning against her door frame.
“W-what are you doing here?”
“So I need your help.”
“What do you mean?”
“Can you put on some shoes?”
“Where are we going?”
“Please don’t ask, just put on some shoes…”
Minjoo reluctantly slips into the pair of shoes by the door and lets Yujin take her by the hand, whisking her away from her room.
+
Minjoo’s always had a problem saying no to Yujin. So much that she had to move countries as an excuse to not see her.
She’s standing in the giant ballroom with the entire bridal party, feeling completely under prepared for what was about to come. “So Chaewon’s partner for the wedding isn’t here yet and we were wondering if you could fill in her place before the wedding.”
“I can’t dance. Nor do I know the choreography.”
“It’s alright, don’t tell Wonyoung but everyone’s pretty much forgotten it as well. We’re using you as an excuse to go slow and re-learn the choreography.”
“Yah, do you want to die?” Minjoo says through gritted teeth, voice low and stern.
“No, which is why you’re here…” Yujin rolls her eyes and immediately changes her tone and posture when she notices Wonyoung walking towards them. “Baby,” Yujin calls out to the other girl.
Minjoo shudders, the pet name almost sounding like nails on a chalkboard in the way that Yujin says it.
“Are we ready yet? They’re going to do a slow run through before we figure out our formation.” Minjoo’s eyes follow Wonyoung’s hands as they slide down Yujin’s arm and laces themselves together. “Thanks for helping us Minjoo unnie...” Wonyoung winks and skips back into the middle of the dancefloor with Yujin as they both take their starting position.
The main couple starts dancing first together before the entire bridal party is meant to enter, twirling around them in a graceful display and then dancing off again so it ends with them. At least that was the gist of what Yujin had told her.
“You can’t say no, can you?” Chaewon stands beside her and crosses her arm, nudging her slightly.
“What makes you say that?” Minjoo snorts, letting herself be the butt of the joke. She turns around and looks at Chaewon’s hand, waiting for hers. Minjoo grabs her hand and lets Chaewon guide her on where to place them. She knows she should be watching the instructor’s guide but she feels a bit too preoccupied with the scent of vanilla coming off Chaewon’s head.
They side step awkwardly trying to get used to the proximity and adjusting their bodies so that they melded together better. This didn’t seem to be an issue when they were together last night without any clothes, in fact if she thought about it, Minjoo remembers how easy it was to match rhythms with Chaewon. She also remembers how impossibly smooth her skin was and the way-
“Are you a good dancer?” Chaewon asks, interrupting her train of thought.
Minjoo feels a fire rip through her cheeks. She swallows hard and meets Chaewon’s eyes briefly.
“I don’t know, never really tried. You?”
“A bit of a prodigy if I do say so myself.”
Minjoo wonders how she so effortlessly ignores everything that has happened between them in the last forty-eight hours whilst Minjoo lives in fear of being caught. If Yujin found out that she slept with her cousin Minjoo couldn’t imagine ever facing her again.
Before Minjoo knows it Chaewon’s twirling her around on the spot and it’s not long before she lands back in her arms.
“Showing off now?” Minjoo asks breathlessly.
“This isn’t even the half of it,” Chaewon takes the lead, and picks up the pace, spinning them both around on the dancefloor.
“This isn’t even dancing anymore,” Minjoo laughs out loud, throwing her head back and gripping onto Chaewon even tighter as the force from the spinning threatens to tear them apart.
“What’s wrong? Can’t keep up?” Chaewon teases and it riles Minjoo up. She stiffens up and her feet lock up sending Chaewon dipping backwards. Minjoo sees the quick flash of shock in her eyes as she tumbles right into Minjoo’s arms.
“You caught me,” Chaewon pants, hand curled around Minjoo’s neck. They’re both still in the position, trying to regain their focus from the excessive spinning.
“Ladies! Focus!” the dance instructor shouts at them and Minjoo quickls stands her up.
They giggle like they were in high school, caught out by their teacher. “Yah, what was that,” Chaewon playfully smacks her shoulder. Minjoo straightens herself out and clears her throat, offering her hand out again for Chaewon to take.
“M’lady,” Minjoo snorts.
+
They drag her out to dinner that night with them - Wonyoung, Yujin, Chaewon, Eunbi and her partner Hyewon.
Minjoo hates it.
She had only intended to be back in Korea temporarily and yet she’s found herself thrusted into every conceivable social situation she had wished to avoid.
“So what are you doing for the bachelorette party tomorrow…” Wonyoung eyes all the older girls at the table before finishing on Yujin who merely offers her a shrug.
“I know as much as you do.”
“Aye, you can trust us with Yujin, she’s with family, what’s the worse we could do...” Chaewon wraps her arm around Yujin’s shoulders and pulls her away from Wonyoung.
“No - save me,” Yujin breaks free from Chaewon and latches back onto Wonyoung, drawing laughter from the table. “If only you were around when we were growing up…” Yujin’s eyes dart back between Eunbi and Chaewon, “They always bullied me because I was the youngest. Well look who’s laughing now! I’m taller than the both of you.”
Chaewon raises her eyebrows and glances over to Eunbi who mimics her expression. Both women nod their head, a smirk on their lips and immediately Yujin regrets it.
“Unnie-deul…” she says sweetly, tone switching immediately. “I love you.”
Even Minjoo lets out a snort.
“It’s not that I don’t trust you, I’m just so curious. My own friends won’t tell me what they’re doing for my hens night.”
“I have complete faith and trust in your friend Yena to ensure you have a good night,” Chaewon flashes a sheepish grin. “If all the previous times we’ve hung out has been an indication of anything.”
“I’d actually be more worried for you than you should be for Yujin,” Eunbi interjects.
Minjoo feels like an outsider watching as they spoke about people she has never met and plans she had only just heard of. She sits in silence, observing the interactions between all of them. Like how Hyewon is resting her head on Eunbi’s shoulder so casually whilst the older woman scanned the drinks menu in front of her.
There’s Wonyoung who has her hand resting on Yujin’s thigh, leaning into her as she tried to have a conversation with Chaewon who sat on the other side of Yujin. Then there’s Yujin, looking straight at her mouthing something that she figures out to be an ‘Come with me to the toilet?’
Minjoo nods.
“Alright, if you could excuse me, ladies, Minjoo and I need to go to the bathroom.” Yujin flicks her wrist, gesturing towards Minjoo.
Minjoo pushes out her seat and follows as Yujin weaves her way around the tables and chair, to the bathroom.
“How are you?” Yujin asks, once they’re inside and alone.
“Tired, afterall my nap time got disturbed because of you,” she says whilst sitting in the toilet stall beside Yujin.
“I’m proud of you, Minjoo! You’ve finally stopped being a grump and you’re really trying to make some friends.”
“Hardly.”
Minjoo opens the door of the stall only to be greeted with Yujin’s reflection smiling at her cheekily.
“I saw you and Chaewon unnie earlier having fun during the dance practice, the old Minjoo would’ve never done that.”
“What does that mean?”
“Please, we used to go to so many college parties and all you would ever do was stick to my side, even when there were so many people who were interested in talking to you.”
“I doubt it was me, we all know it’s your personality that attracts everyone.” Minjoo rolls her eyes, bumping Yujin’s hip to move her out of the way so that she could wash her hand.
“Wow, so childish,” Yujin teases, reaching across Minjoo for the pile of paper towels on the other side. Her face moving so obnoxiously close it makes Minjoo jerk backwards as to not bump heads.
Minjoo grumbles something under her breath about being childish as well whilst suppressing a laugh. She splashes water upwards right into Yujin’s face and cracks up laughing.
“Kim Minjoo!” Yujin shouts, scoops a handful of water and throws it back at her.
“Ahn Yuding!” Minjoo cries back in protes. She’s more unfairly drenched from Yujin’s handful than Yujin was with her flick of water.
Yujin’s eyes widen in shock before morphing into crescents. She reaches for the tissues and hands them to her in bunches, “Sorry,” she says with a laughing tone, helping Minjoo pat at the beads of water hanging on her hair. “You really don’t know the effect you can have on people…” she says softly.
“Hmm?” Minjoo snaps out of her daze, wondering if she had heard correctly.
Yujin scrunches the paper towels and throws them into the bin beside them, “The parties…” she says, “You had a few people too who would always be vying for your attention, but you always seemed too dense to notice.” Yujin pushes the side of her head gently.
Minjoo smirks, “Maybe it wasn’t that I didn’t notice, maybe it was because I was just interested in something else…”
Someone else.
“What happened to you?” Chaewon smirks the moment she spots Minjoo coming back from the toilet, hair looking a little flatter than before and t-shirt with a bunch of wet spots.
“Ask Ahn Yuding over there.”
Everyone snaps their head in the other direction at Yujin who looks at her accusingly, “She started it!” She points her fingers at her.
“Minjoo would never…” Eunbi winks at her from across the table.
“You guys really do treat me as a threat, don’t you?” Yujin pouts and leans into Chaewon who strokes her head lovingly.
“Aigoo,” Chaewon hugs her, “Don’t worry, as your maid of honour, I’ll protect you...up until the wedding.”
“Only up until the wedding?” Yujin asks in disbelief.
“Well I mean, after that you have your wife.”
“Wait, that’s what I have to do as her wife? That’s going to be a hard job...” Wonyoung says, jokingly.
There’s a burst of laughter at the table as they watch Yujin cuddle up to Wonyoung.
+
They’re supposed to gather in the lobby at four in the afternoon the next day.
Minjoo’s leaning against the couch, leg casually crossed over each other whilst she waited for everyone to arrive. It would seem - despite everything that she was too eager since she’s the first one there. That being said, by all means Minjoo was actually on time. She arrived in the lobby at exactly four on the dot. Afterall it wasn’t really that hard to leave her room with a minute to spare.
She’s dressed in an oversized black suit with a black camisole underneath.
“Didn’t expect you to be the first one here,” Minjoo looks up at the familiar voice heading in her direction.
It was Chaewon, dressed in a single strap black dress that ran just past her knees with a split down her thigh. Minjoo notes the way the dress hugs all of her curves, long brown hair in waves, make up darker than she’s used to with a deep red lip.
“You look good.”
The comment catches Chaewon off-guard, causing a grin to creep on her lips. “You look good too,” she says. Good is an understatement, that dress is sin, she wants to say - especially on Chaewon.
Minjoo hates how, despite the fact that she had been in bed with her, that she’s found herself so much more aware of Chaewon. It’s no longer just about the way her skin feels beneath her finger tips, or the way her lips feel on her neck or the way she moans her name. It’s more now.
Like the way she winks and how she playfully hits people when she laughs. Like whenever she’s concentrating she tends to tuck her hair behind her ear and pushes it out of the way over her shoulder. Like how Chaewon looks good in her stewardess uniform, hair tied neatly into a tight bun or sweatpants with a white t-shirt, simple black pants and a blouse and well - this.
“Thanks, bought it this morning since I wasn’t really expecting to be joining.”
Chaewon steps closer towards her to get a better look, she brushes something off Minjoo’s shoulder and straightens out her blazer. “I love it…”
“So can you tell me what we’re doing tonight? The only clue I got from Eunbi was ‘look hot’.”
“Oh you know, the usual pre-wedding hijinks, good food, good company, plenty of drinks and we don’t go home till the sun rises.”
“This is standard wedding hijinks?”
“Oh and a magician.”
“Like a magic-magician, or like a magician where he’s going to be Evanesco-ing some clothes…”
“Evanesco-ing?” Chaewon raises an eyebrow.
Minjoo closes her eyes and nods, “Sorry, Harry Potter reference. It’s a vanishing spell…” she stumbles over her words ungracefully. She curses internally to herself, certain that easily one of the prettiest women she’s ever met probably now thinks she’s the biggest dork if she didn’t already realise that.
“I see… you’re into Harry Potter?”
“N-no. Well yes…” she says, sounding resigned.
“That’s cute...nerd,” Chaewon says affectionately, fingers playing with the hem of Minjoo’s blazer. Minjoo feels her ears burn up, brain melting into a puddle, “But I guess you’ll have to wait to find out more as the night unfolds.”
“This isn’t even my bachelorette party.” Minjoo whines in protest. She pouts her lips and shakes her shoulders a little.
There’s just something about being around Chaewon that makes Minjoo lower all of her guards, turning her into a version of herself she barely recognises. She doesn’t mind it all too much though because seeing Chaewon’s smile somehow makes it worth it for her.
“How are you holding up anyway?” Chaewon asks. “The last few days must be rough.”
Truth be told Minjoo goes through it in waves. There are moments where she’s accepted it. It’s easy to ignore what’s going on around her when she’s being forced to focus on something else. It’s only late at night when everything is quiet that she feels most out of her depth. Right now however, she feels fine.
“Can’t complain…”
“Good, I’ll make sure to keep you occupied tonight,” Chaewon winks.
“I’ll keep you to it.”
“Wait a minute, I thought we were going to Yujin’s wedding?” Eunbi’s voice draws their attention, making both of them turn their heads to find the other three walking towards them.
Minjoo suddenly notices how close Chaewon is standing to her and awkwardly turns her body so that she faces Eunbi. If Chaewon notices it she doesn’t react. “You’re ten minutes late.” Chaewon complains.
“Yeah but we have the loot,” Eunbi points to Yujin.
“Are you ready, Yujinnie?” Chaewon meets her eyes, corner of her lip tugs into a smirk.
“Nope.”
“Well tough luck, the limo is waiting.”
+
The magician was in fact an actual magician.
He was an act during their dinner party at a reservation Eunbi had made in Gangnam. It was actually Hyewon who suggested the rooftop area for dinner overlooking the city below them. Except it’s not a bachelorette party until they end up at some obnoxious night club, fighting their way through the ocean of bodies to get a space on the dance floor.
Minjoo’s sitting at the booth that Chaewon had reserved for them, offering to mind their drinks in case anyone wanted to try something funny.
She notices from across the room the bridal party. Eunbi, Hyewon and Yujin were dancing the night away with a few other of their friends that had caught up with them at the club. Minjoo knows a few of them, old college acquaintances mostly - who seemed surprised to Minjoo there after so long - and then there were a few of Yujin’s work colleagues she had never met.
Chaewon’s at the bar, talking to man. He’s got that sharp jaw, hair perfectly styled, dress shirt showing off his broad shoulders aesthetic and they have been talking for at least twenty minutes at this point - not like she’s counting. She definitely has, however, counted the number of times that man’s eyes has trailed down to Chaewon’s chest - five to be exact.
“Kim Mindyu!” Yujin stumbles over into the VIP section where their booth was, security guard eyeing her closely with Minjoo reassuring him that she’s got her. “What chu lookin’ at?” Yujin slurs as she takes a seat beside her. Yujin leans over, bumping her head against Minjoo’s shoulder before settling into the crook of her neck.
“Just keeping an eye on you guys,” Minjoo says, which isn’t entirely a lie.
“There she is!” Yujin straightens up when she spots Chaewon from their table. It was the perfect vantage point where they were placed to see the entire floor below them. “She disappeared for a while and we thought she was back here with you…”
The guy laughs and leans in closer, whispering something in her ear. “Is this a normal occurrence?” Minjoo asks.
“Chaewon unnie? Getting hit on? Yeah…” Yujin snorts, “You should’ve seen her when we were in high school. I pretty much had immunity for being Kim Chaewon’s cousin. Everyone wanted to get in my good books so I could put in a good word for them with her.”
Minjoo throws her head back and lets out a loud laugh, “And I’ll bet you abused that so much.”
“She gave me her blessing - so long as they were being nice to me she hardly cared.”
“Was anyone ever good enough?”
“In high school? Nah… at least not for her, I thought there was some potential… some relatively rich kids she could’ve gone for,” Yujin snorts. “There was someone a few years back but I guess it didn’t work out…” Yujin’s voice trails off and she turns her head suspiciously to Minjoom “Why? Are you interested?” Yujin asks. She moves in so close that she’s right in Minjoo’s face causing Minjoo to recoil backwards. She’s not sure why but it feels like a test from Yujin.
“No,” Minjoo denies immediately.
“Are you sure?” she asks, “I saw you guys earlier in the lobby, you two looked like you were really close.” Yujin narrows her eyes.
Minjoo wonders what the harm would be if she told Yujin about everything. It wasn’t as if she did it on purpose and how was she supposed to know that Chaewon was her cousin having never met her. Plus, why would any of this matter regardless, it’s not like she cheated on her or anything.
“Anyways, Chaewon’s pretty and smart, she knows so much about the world because of how much she gets to travel…anyone would be lucky to have her.”
“Like mister perfect jawline with the sharp nose over there?” Minjoo cocks her head sideways to where Chaewon was and raises an eyebrow. Deflecting was always a strong point. She grabs her glass off the table and finishes the rest of the drink.
“Get him, Chaewon unnie,” Yujin cheers from her seat, watching the way Chaewon had her fingers wrapped around his bicep, playfully pushing him away as he leaned in closer. The man uses this opportunity to put his hands on her, caressing her arm and pulling her a bit closer to him.
“Hey, that’s your cousin…aren’t you supposed to be protecting her?” Minjoo grumbles, feeling ill in the stomach suddenly. Maybe she needs some water.
“She’s old enough,” Yujin sighs and leans back into the couch, grabbing one of the pillows on the chair to hug. She closes her eyes slowly to stop the nauseating spinning sensation she was experiencing.
“Are you ok?” Minjoo asks, one arm resting on her shoulder.
“Yeah, I’m fine!” Yujin says loudly, “I’m really happy. Happy to be here, happy you’re here,” she points at Minjoo’s face, “Happy - happy!”
“I’m going to go get a drink. I’ll bring you back a glass of water?”
Yujin looks at her and nods, “Thank you, Mindyu-ya,” she says before flopping back onto the couch.
Minjoo walks down the stairs from the second level and weaves her way through the crowd on the dance floor. The sweat from people’s hair flicks onto her face making her grimace in disgust. Some of them even try to dance with her as well but Minjoo quickly dodges and swerves out of the dance circle beginning to form around her.
The guy shoots her a look over Chaewon’s head to Minjoo who was marching in their direction with determination. “There you are,” Minjoo interrupts them, placing a hand in the middle of Chaewon’s back.
“Minjoo, hi,” she says, raising her eyebrows, leaning into her hand. “Are you alright?”
Chaewon turns her body around, resting her hand on Minjoo’s waist. It’s hard to see but despite the darkness she’s trying to examine Minjoo’s face.
“I’m fine.”
“Minjoo, this is Bomin,” Chaewon turns around and gestures towards the man she had been talking to for the past half an hour.
Bomin’s smile is a bit strained - already too aware that when another girl walks over to her friend at the bar that she’s very highly likely to be led away. “Nice to meet you,” Bomin extends his hand out but if Minjoo sees it she ignores it completely as she whispers something into Chaewon’s ear.
Chaewon turns her head to the second level where she barely makes out Yujin’s body lying flat on the couch.
“Sorry, I’ve got to go…” Chaewon apologises and grabs Minjoo’s hand.
Minjoo flashes him a smile and follows closely behind Chaewon.
“Wait, I didn’t get your num...ber…” he sighs in defeat.
+
“Can you please hurry up, she’s not light,” Minjoo grunts, arm wrapped around Yujin’s waist to keep her up whilst Chaewon fumbled for Yujin’s room card in her wallet.
“It’s a bit hard when you’re seeing double of eve- found it!” Chaewon raises the card in the air victoriously and inserts it into the slot, pushing the door open for Minjoo.
Minjoo stumbles past Chaewon with Yujin in her arms, making a quick dash for the bed. She drops her on the edge of the bed and crashes in a pile right next to her. Chaewon follows behind after closing the door behind them and taking off her heels. She walks over to the bed and sweeps the loose strands of hair away from Yujin’s face.
Satisfied with her work Chaewon walks over to the other side of the bed and plops herself right on beside Minjoo on the remaining gap on the bed. They both close their eyes, ready to let the sandman take them away when Yujin turns and drapes her limbs across Minjoo. The sudden movement makes Minjoo jolt and Chaewon to open her eyes.
“What do we do?” Minjoo groans, lying stiff beside Yujin. The other woman snakes her arm around Minjoo’s waist and buries her face into her shoulder. “Wonyoung isn’t back yet and we can’t leave her alone…”
“I can stay with her if you want to head back to your room,” Chaewon suggests.
“I don’t think I can actually leave, regardless.”
Chaewon rolls over to her side and chuckles when she sees Yujin holding onto Minjoo like a body pillow and snorts, dropping back onto the bed.
“I guess we’ll both stay then, less awkward explaining to her fiance why there’s just her and one other person in her bed as opposed to two others…”
“Ha-ha,” Minjoo rolls her eyes, “Very funny…” she gulps, the thought never having crossed her mind.
They have slept together before - in the most harmless way of course. Laying side by side in a tent during an MT, sleep over in each other’s dorms when they both stayed up late doing their assignments or weekends at each other’s homes during movie nights. A lot of this was however before Minjoo developed her feelings for Yujin.
“Tell me something about you,” Chaewon asks, propping her head up on her arms.
“What?”
“Well, we’re both two of the people that Yujin considers close and yet we know so little about each other. The only thing I know about you is that you’re a pianist who’s played for the prime minister, have a shocking lack of knowledge about mainstream music and you smell like daisies.”
“Seems like that’s all you need to know,” Minjoo teases.
“Hey, come on…” Chaewon pokes her gently.
“Well, I think that gummy bears taste the best, especially in the morning. Despite performing a lot I always get nervous before each performance and I do a killer llama impersonation.”
“Do it!”
“Not now, you’re gonna laugh and wake up Yujin…”
“You have that much confidence in it?” Chaewon raises an eyebrow.
“Don’t underestimate this face just because it’s attractive. It can be funny too…”
Chaewon rolls her eyes good naturedly, “Fine but you’re doing it next time for me.”
“What about you?” Minjoo yawns, feeling the adrenaline beginning to disappear and fatigue settle in again.
“I love mint chocolate but only the ice-cream, I am terrible at drinking coffee - I still find it too bitter for my liking and I have a terrible habit of losing things, like I’m surprised I came home with my clutch and phone today to be honest.”
Minjoo snorts, “Me too, a bit. Actually there’s one more thing you need to know about me,” Minjoo turns her body to face Chaewon, Yujin’s arm still around her waist.
“What is it?” Chaewon’s eyes travel up from Minjoo’s lips to meet her eyes.
“I had a really great time tonight.”
“Was it because of the magician?” Chaewon teases, remembering the way Minjoo blushed when she told her that she liked Harry Potter.
Minjoo fights off the urge in her body to kiss her. Not in the all consuming, hungry kind of way but chastely on the cheek, or sweetly on the lips to settle the butterflies in her stomach.
“Because of you.”
+
When Yujin awakens the next morning she struggles to adjust to the blinding lights in the room. She sees first, a series of black spots in her eyes. She brings up her hands to shield her eyes, allowing them to adjust slowly before she focuses on the person beside her.
She looks at Minjoo asleep, her cheek squished against the pillow, dribble spilling from her lips, face dangerously close to her own. Slowly she raises her hand to Minjoo’s face, brushing away the loose strands of hair off her face and caresses her cheek gently, a smile creeping on her face.
“You’re awake.”
Yujin retracts her hand quickly and turns around to see Wonyoung with Chaewon standing behind her.