Work Text:
Will You Let Me?
Falling in love with Jeong Jinsol wasn’t hard. It wasn’t on purpose either, but to Sooyoung, it felt like she was something natural, like it was meant to be. And Sooyoung wasn’t one to fight destiny’s hands.
They had started as something achingly close to friends, but not quite there yet. The two just happened to have a weird amount of friends in common, and those friends liked to hang out a lot . They weren’t strangers or anything like that, Jinsol always acknowledged her when they saw each other around campus, or on the occasional bump around the college’s coffee shop. But Sooyoung couldn’t remember ever actually speaking to the girl for more than three sentences when they were alone.
Actually, scratch that. She couldn’t even remember ever being alone with Jinsol for more than three minutes.
But somehow things seemed to work out and destiny would surely get its way.
Everything started when Sooyoung almost flunked her Biology I class, by almost I mean, she could ace her assignments and get a good grade on her finals and probably (emphasis on the probably) get a grade good enough, so she wouldn’t have her mother breathing down her neck for it. But who knows, huh?
Now there she was, after dance practice, splayed out in the middle of the studio floor wondering/moaning to Heejin about how would she be able to achieve such a feat. Maybe she could drop out and find a sexy older woman to pay her bills, and then she would be set.
“Not to doubt your potential of finding a sugar mom and stuff, but I think it would be way easier to ask Jinsol to help you, you know?” the younger was in a position similar to hers, phone in hands, a stupid smile on her face. “She’s a great tutor. Helped me when I had that economics class last semester.”
Sooyoung crossed her arms over her face, she was too tired to be musing over her academic failures. “Why would I do that? I don’t think I’ve ever held a full conversation with her before, Heejin.”
“She is a Marine Biology major, Sooyoung. Can you think of someone better to help?” Heejin rolled over, sitting up, so she could take a better look at the older girl. “Actually, back up a bit. We’ve been hanging out almost all year, and you haven’t had an actual conversation with her? What the fuck?”
Lifting one of her arms off of her face and cracking open one eye, “First, can you not sound so surprised? Second, have you seen how many people there are in our friends' group aside from us? There are ten other people there, Heejin, and we only see each other when the whole group hangs out.” Sooyoung sighed, closing her eyes again, she could fall asleep right there. She was so. fucking. tired. “Also, how the fuck am I supposed to ask someone I barely talk to for help? I will look like an asshole.”
She heard Heejin move and felt the girl lay her head to rest over the older’s stomach. “I mean, you are an asshole,” she could hear the smile in her voice, and Sooyoung scoffed in response. “But… I could ask Hyun to talk to her. Maybe say something about you needing help in Bio, and then we see how it goes from there?”
“Would you do that?” Sooyoung let out a deep breath, moving one arm to run a hand through Heejin’s hair. “I really want a Snickers bar right now.”
“Anything for you, Soo. I’ll text Hyunjin and see what she says,” Heejin responded, already typing on her phone, “D’ya wanna stop by the vending machines on the way out?”
“Sure,” She replied, eyes closed again, smiling softly “Thank you, kiddo. I’ll treat you and Hyunjin to food sometime, alright?”
“Yeah, it’s alright. As I said, anything for you, Sooyoung.”
After idling around the room for another fifteen minutes, the girls decided to pack up to leave. Making a stop by the vending machines outside to replenish their sugar supplies. Sooyoung ran a hand through her short hair, thinking if she could get away with eating five Snickers bars for dinner or not when the younger’s phone dinged. She watched as Heejin got her phone out of her pocket, a smile spreading instantly across her face.
“Hyun just texted me back. She-” The girl announced, already typing a reply.
“You guys are disgusting.” The taller one interrupted, leaning down to grab her candy bar.
“I’m going to ignore that. Jinsol said that you could text her to set up a day to meet.” Heejin said, not taking her eyes off of her phone. “You do have her number, right?”
“We’re in the same group chat, Heejin. Of course, I have her number.” Sooyoung replied, shoving her snacks inside her bag and throwing some at her friend. “Again, thank you, Heej. Tell Hyunjin that I said thanks and that I owe her one. Don’t tell her that.” The young one laughed at that, and she continued, “I gotta go now, but please take care, eat real food, sleep well, Yolo, all that shit.”
“Yeah yeah, got it. Take care, Soo.”
Sending a text shouldn’t be complicated. Texting Jinsol, someone who was supposedly one of her friends wasn’t supposed to be a hard task.
Sooyoung wasn’t nervous, and she would rather be caught dead than admit to Heejin’s teasing remarks about her being nervous. So, no, she wasn’t nervous. She was embarrassed, embarrassed about having to ask for help from someone she barely spoke to but somehow was part of her friend's group nonetheless.
All this brought to light the weirdness of the situation and made her wonder how the two of them never had a conversation before.
It wasn’t that Jinsol was intimidating, actually, she was far from that. For someone of the same age as her, Jinsol always had a welcoming and soft aura around her, something about how she carried herself, how she laughed so freely and patiently, seemed to make the people around her feel comfortable. While Jinsol was warm and bright, Sooyoung thought of herself as quite the opposite. Her friends always said that they found her intimidating at first, and she was sure to use it to her advantage in a lot of situations. Sooyoung seemed cold to most people, but when they got close, they could see that it was more of a being emotionally constipated thing than an “I’m a cold-hearted bitch” kind of thing.
After fretting for some time and finally gathering the courage to suck it up and text the girl, she ended up getting beaten to it when Jinsol texted her first.
[Jeong Jinsol]
Hey, Hyun said you needed help in Bio
[Ha Sooyoung]
Hi
Yeah, I was going to text you earlier, sorry about that
She said you could help me
[Jeong Jinsol]
It's alright
I'll be glad to help
When are you free?
Choosing college as their middle ground and scheduling to meet at the coffee shop near campus a couple of days later, so they could just, in Jinsol’s words, get a feel of things and just talk through how much help Sooyoung needed.
And now she found herself taking the opposite seat from the other girl in a quiet corner of the coffee shop, Jinsol had a small smile on her face as she asked, “So, how screwed are you?”
" Very much so " she responded with an embarrassed smile of her own, "I'm really sorry for asking for help like this when we aren't like the best of friends."
"It's okay, Sooyoung. I'll be glad to help however I can." Jinsol said, "Now let's get into it, alright?"
“Actually, can I get you a coffee first?” She said, pointing to the empty cup in front of the younger girl. “As a thank you for all this.” She observed as the girl raised her eyebrow slightly before responding, the smile never faltering.
“Sure, go ahead.”
And that’s how they spent most of their afternoon, Jinsol questioning Sooyoung about the subjects of the classes she did attend , which to be honest weren’t a lot. And Sooyoung questioned if the young girl shouldn’t be taking notes about that, only to receive a “Like you were supposed to do in class?” as a response.
But when their meeting ended, a very grateful Sooyoung was left with a promise of a PDF of a study guide being sent her way later in the day. “Can I walk you to your dorm?” She had asked as they left the coffee shop, offering her arm to the other girl.
“I don’t live on campus, Sooyoung,” Jinsol said with a small laugh, before linking her arm with Sooyoung’s offered arm and guiding them towards their school’s parking lot. “But, you can walk me to my car.”
“Do you think it's weird?” Sooyoung asked once, two weeks later, at the same coffee shop their first meeting was held, fiddling with the straw wrapper in her hands, “That we have been sort of hanging out for almost a year and I didn’t even know what your major was? Or that we haven’t even had a real conversation.”
Jinsol lifted her gaze looking up from the essay Sooyoung had given her earlier, taking a few seconds before answering, tapping the pen on the table. “Not exactly? I mean, there are at least ten other people involved when we hang out, and it isn’t like we hang out and talk about school and stuff.” She looked back at the paper, writing down a few notes, and kept talking, “I only know what I know about you because I do hang out a lot with Hyunjin, and she and Heejin are a package deal. But I can’t say that I actually know you , Ha Sooyoung.”
“And what’s that supposed to mean, Jeong Jinsol?” letting a small laugh and looking at the girl in the seat across from hers who was taking a sip of her coffee and looking amused.
“You’re quite the mysterious one, Sooyoung, not in a bad way. It’s… How should I say? It’s amusing really.”
“Huh? How come?”
“You have all this bad girl vibe around you. People seem to be pretty intimidated and infatuated by the star of the dance club, you have quite a group of fangirls around campus. But I have a feeling that things aren’t exactly how they look, it seems that you’re quite the soft one, aren’t you Sooyoung?” Jinsol had said with an amused smile on her face, leaning forward and resting her chin on her hand.
“I’ll have you know that I am a bad girl-” Sooyoung had started her defense, but was interrupted by Jinsol letting a low laugh and saying,
“Oh, are you really a bad girl , Ha Sooyoung?” Showing no traces of the playful behavior from before, now adorning a strangely charming smirk and a sharp, almost predatory, gaze in her eyes. Sooyoung couldn’t help but flush bright at that statement, tearing her eyes away from the intense look, she heard a chuckle and saw the girl pull away from the table, leaning back on her chair before lifting the paper again. “Okay, let’s move on.” Her tone was light again, with no sign of the previous storm that she held before.
“She said WHAT now?”
That was Heejin’s reaction later that week when she recalled the bad girl incident to the younger while they waited for Hyunjin in front of Sooyoung’s car “Please don’t scream, Jinnie” Sooyoung said, rolling her eyes, running her hands through her hair. “That’s it, she just said that, and we went through with the session. Nothing else happened.”
“What didn’t happen?” Hyunjin had said as she joined them at the parking lot, giving her girlfriend a gentle peck on her lips, before getting into the backseat of the car, “So... Is anyone going to answer me?”
“Jinsol flirted with Sooyoung,” Heejin responded, putting her seatbelt on, “and Sooyoung, as the disaster lesbian that she is, malfunctioned.”
“I’m going to throw you off the car, and then I’m gonna run you over, Jeon Heejin.” Sooyoung already getting out of the school’s parking lot. “Listen… I didn’t malfunction, I just didn’t know what to say.”
“Ah, she did mention something like that happening.” Hyunjin said with an amused smile on her face, leaning a bit, so she could poke Heejin on her shoulder before speaking “I take that I should have warned her about Sol’s flirting thing then?” she said and at that Heejin laughed loudly, hand reaching behind her seat to grab the other’s hand.
“Her flirting thing?”
“She does this thing sometimes. It isn’t on purpose most of the time , she just looks at people like she wants to eat them ali-A certain way, I mean, or says something without thinking and by the time her brain catches up to her mouth she has already made a mess of the situation” the younger girl said playing with Heejin’s fingers, “But, did she apologize?”
“Oh, she didn’t say anything. I don’t think she needs to, to be honest. It wasn’t a big deal.”
“Ah, then she actually meant it,” Hyunjin said nonchalantly, with a shrug of her shoulders as the car reached a stoplight, giving a pat on Sooyoung’s shoulder before continuing. “Congratulations, Sooyoung, and may the odds be in your favor.”
"And what the actual fuck is that supposed to mean, Kim Hyunjin?" Sooyoung said, turning to look at the girl on the passenger’s seat. "Heejin, why does your girlfriend have to make everything weird?"
At that statement, Heejin just snorted a laugh and replied, "Hyun, give Sooyoung a break. It isn't like you didn't have a crush on Jinsol yourself."
"I can't confirm nor deny such accusations made on my behalf, but I'll let it be known that I feel deeply betrayed," Hyunjin said dramatically, pouting slightly, but still holding her girlfriend’s extended hand. "By my own bro, nonetheless." Sooyoung laughed loudly as they kept on their way toward the restaurant.
“Please mind your choice of words and don’t EVER call me your bro ever again,” Heejin said, annoyance clear in her voice and Hyunjin laughed at her girlfriend’s irked expression.
Since starting their tutoring sessions, Sooyoung seemed to notice Jinsol around campus a lot more. Was it just walking across campus when she was on her morning run, talking to Hyunjin in the cafeteria, or going somewhere with Jungeun - who seemed to be always attached to her hip when she wasn’t with Jiwoo.
Jinsol seemed to be a constant presence on the sidelines, was it always like this, and she just hadn’t noticed?
Maybe she shouldn’t be so surprised at the sight of Jinsol in the middle of the convenience store nearest to her apartment, looking thoughtfully at the store’s soju selection at two in the morning with dark make-up on, a black cap on her head, wearing dark ripped jeans and an oversized denim jacket over a black shirt.
“You look like a peaches kind of girl,” Sooyoung said, sliding to the girl’s side, making Jinsol turn to look at her. A surprised expression on her face, lips turning into a small smile.
“Sooyoung, hey! You’re not completely wrong.” The girl responded, grabbing one bottle of blueberry flavored Soju and a peach one. “I’m not very picky. So, what brings you here at two in the morning, Ha Sooyoung?” Glancing at Sooyoung’s still empty shopping basket.
Sooyoung shrugged her shoulders, thinking if maybe she should also get something alcoholic to drink. “I should be the one asking you that. I live two buildings down, and as far as I know, you don’t live anywhere near here.” At this point, a smaller girl appeared from behind Jinsol, taking the girl's cap and placing it on her own head, making Jinsol turn to look at the newcomer.
"Cute," Jinsol said with a smile, fixing the cap on the girl's head, moving her hands to grip the smaller girl’s waist, eyes focused on her lips. "Do you want anything?"
"Nope," the girl replied, popping the end of the word, her gaze fixed on Jinsol's own. Sooyoung almost felt like she was intruding. "I'm gonna wait for you outside, ok?" The girl said, leaving a kiss that looked too close to the lips to be considered friendly before going her way.
Jinsol turned to Sooyoung, who had an eyebrow raised after watching the interaction.
"So, that's why you're here, huh…" Sooyoung said, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively, making Jinsol laugh openly, punching Sooyoung on the shoulder lightly.
"She's a friend" The girl replied before turning around and picking two bags of honey chips and placing one into Sooyoung’s basket.
"Uhuh..."
"Just a friend."
"I didn't say anything, Jinsol."
"I'm leaving"
"HAVE FUN!"
"You're insufferable."
“I didn’t know Jinsol had a girlfriend,” Sooyoung says, feigning not being interested, when she goes out shopping with Jungeun and Haseul during the weekend, and she knows she failed on her task when the girl only snickered in response, not tearing her attention from the pair of pants she had on her hand.
“Oh? Are you interested?”
“I’m not! I’m just-” Sooyoung replied, trying to distract herself by shuffling through the t-shirts on the rack on Jungeun’s opposite side. “I saw her and a girl a couple of days ago, at like 2 AM, in the convenience store near my place. And I got curious and shit.”
“Who are we talking about?” Haseul said, approaching her two friends.
“Sooyoung saw Jinsol with a girl the other day.” Jungeun shrugged noncommittally.
“Oh my god! Did she see you? Did you see the girl? Was she hot?” Haseul grabbed Sooyoung’s arm, shaking it excitedly, and the youngest of the three just laughed at Sooyoung’s mortified complex.
“Seul, you’re going to rip her arm off.” Jungeun quipped, and that made Haseul finally stop shaking her arm. “Now spill!”
“Who knew that the way to get your attention away from shopping was gossip, Kim Jungeun, who would've thought.” She answered, earning a punch from the young girl, “Ouch!” Then turning Haseul’s way, she continued, “Yeah, we spoke for a bit.”
“Was the girl hot?” Haseul prodded again.
“She was cute?!” She shrugged, and beside her Jungeun rolled her eyes, but Sooyoung didn’t dwell on that too much.
“Why am I the only one excited about that?” Haseul asked, looking around the store. “Ugh, you guys are boring.” She said, then left to look around the store.
Jungeun just chuckled lightly, before bumping her shoulder with Sooyoung and saying, “If you really want to know, Jinsol is very much single.” She then turned on her heel, towards the shoe section of the store, leaving Sooyoung on her own with a hideous pair of pants in her hands.
Apparently, Jeong Jinsol was a fuckboy and Sooyoung was watching all her previous misconceptions of the girl crumble right in front of her eyes.
Sooyoung observed, from her seat on the bench by the business building, as the dark-haired girl leaned against the building wall talking to a girl that Sooyoung had seen previously around her own classes. The girl had her hand on Jinsol’s arm while she spoke, the taller one smiling at what was being said to her, leaning down to whisper something in the ear of the girl in front of her, as if she felt that they were being watched her gaze shifted and met Sooyoung’s, one of the most infuriating (and beautiful) smirks she has ever seen appearing on the girl’s lips, mouthing a greeting and winking Sooyoung’s way.
Jeong Jinsol was a fucker.
“Oh god. Not again.” She heard coming from her side and turned to see Jungeun, placing her things on the free seat at the bench she was sitting on, before taking her phone out of her pocket.
“Again?” Her focus was back on the pair, obviously flirting.
“She tells me to meet her for lunch, vanishes, and then I find her somewhere on campus with a random girl attached to her neck like some kind of leech.”
“If I didn’t know how in love you are with Jiwoo I would be worried you were jealous of these so-called leeches, ” Sooyoung said, laughing at Jungeun’s annoyance.
“Look, it happened like once , and it was a long time ago.”
“What?” Sooyoung looked at the younger girl, shocked. “You and Jinsol?”
“You didn’t know?” The blonde averted her eyes from what she was typing on her phone, and gestured vaguely at the pair, “That’s exactly how I met her.” Observing the older woman's surprised expression, she continued, “I really thought everyone knew.”
“I thought you’ve been in love with Jiwoo since forever?”
“I have,” Jungeun paused, looking deep in thought, “but before we got together, things weren’t great. I was miserable, and misery does love company.”
“So you hooked up with Jinsol?”
“Yup,” She rose from her seat, looking at where Jinsol was still attached to the same girl, who was now blushing profusely at what Jinsol was saying. “And then she drove me home and annoyed the shit out of me until I confessed to Jiwoo.”
Jungeun then strode towards the couple, interrupting their moment. The smaller girl for sure was scary when mad, and she could only pray for the poor soul that was Jinsol’s company as the girl stuttered something and walked away. Leaving a pouting Jinsol and an annoyed Jungeun.
Sooyoung couldn’t help but laugh at the sight.
“Will you ever stop doing that?” Jungeun complained to the dark-haired girl beside her.
“I was just talking to Yojun!” Jinsol tried to defend herself, pouting, as Jungeun just ignored her and started getting her things from the bench.
“Talking my ass. You were this close to ditching m-I didn’t even know you knew her!” The blonde sighed, exasperated, as the taller one just shrugged.
“She’s friends with a friend.” She then looked at Sooyoung and smirked sweetly, and Sooyoung swore that for a second she understood all the girls that succumbed to this very same smile. “Fancy seeing you here, Sooyoung.”
“Nope. Stop it. You’re not doing this with me here.” Jungeun slapped the back of Jinsol’s head, looking at the girl sitting at the bench. “Wanna join us? It’s her treat.”
“Can’t, I have class in...” She picked up her phone to look at the time, “Five minutes ago.” She completed already standing up to leave.
If she had spared a glance back, she would’ve seen the disappointed pout that Jinsol sported and Jungeun teasing her for it.
A month had passed of Sooyoung being tutored by Jinsol bi-weekly, and things were going smoothly in the academic scheme of things. A few flirty remarks had been made after the bad girl incident (Yes, Sooyoung was still calling it that.), and after witnessing Jinsol and, as Jungeun dubbed her leeches . But she had let the flirting slide, sometimes quipping with her own flirty comeback. But that was it.
“Aren’t you an angel?” Jinsol said as Sooyoung set the girl’s coffee in front of her. Her long dark hair cascaded over her shoulders smoothly, eyes boring into Sooyoung’s own.
“Missed me?” She replied with a smirk, placing her own drink on the table and taking her seat in front of the younger girl.
“I always do,” Jinsol responded, leaning back on her seat, taking a long sip of her drink, and looking at Sooyoung from head to toe, before continuing. “Can you blame me?”
“I know, I’m pretty hot.” Despite the blush on her cheeks, she still managed to reply.
“Oh, that you are, baby.” The girl in front of her said without a beat, a sly smile on her lips, before pointing to the notes on the table, “Shall we start?”
On one of their Thursday study sessions, she found herself going to Jinsol’s apartment since the weather was freakishly cold and the younger of the two had texted her earlier asking if they could study at her place instead since the coffee shop would be probably crowded by students seeking shelter and studying themselves. So now there she was on her way to the girl's apartment, her notes and some warm drinks in tow;
When she arrived, Jinsol was waiting for her at the reception area in all her glory, wearing a simple flannel and some sweatpants, long hair tied up in a ponytail, and with a dorky smile on her face. She looked cozy.
“You know you could have buzzed me in, and I would come up by myself,” Sooyoung said, handing one of the drinks in her hands to the other. “I’m not completely dumb, I know how a doorbell works.”
“Thanks,” she said, accepting the drink and raising one of her hands to show a bunch of papers on her left hand, “had to check my mail, figured I could wait for you, and then save myself the job of buzzing you in.”
When they got to the apartment Jinsol opened the door and went in first, holding the door open, so the other could step in, “Welcome to my humble abode,” she said as she stepped out of her shoes, leaving them in the shoe rack by the door and leaving her mail on top of the small table along with her keys. Sooyoung did the same with her shoes and stepped further in.
The place was really simple, it was a studio apartment, with dark blue walls and enough space to have separate areas for a makeshift living room, with a maroon leather couch, a coffee table and a TV mounted to the wall in front of it, and the window at the side had a chair in front and a small table with an iPad and a yellow ashtray on top. An open kitchen area, with a counter and two tall benches. And the area that was the bedroom had simply a bed, a dresser and an office desk that was apparently used as a vanity more than an actual work desk since Jinsol’s laptop was sitting on the coffee table.
On the living room space , against the blue wall, there was also a white shelf with a couple of books, and a few transformer-looking things - Which she was schooled later that day that they were Gundam Models. - what looked to be an orange lego cat, that she was sure she saw in one of Chaewon’s Instagram stories one late night. Right in the middle of the bookshelf was a fish tank with one lone bluefish inside. “Her name is Loona, Yerim gave her to me for my birthday.” Jinsol had said with a smile.
An hour later, they found themselves sitting on the floor, with their things scattered over the coffee table. Sooyoung was tired and far from being focused. Jinsol was looking at the last draft of her essay, which was due in two days, so she took the time to take the other girl in.
She looked relaxed as she twisted the pen around her fingers, her flannel sitting loose on her body and Sooyoung could see a shadow of something that looked like a tattoo by her collarbones and seemed to go to her upper chest. Was it always there? She tried to remember seeing it before, but couldn’t even remember ever seeing Jinsol in something like a t-shirt or a tank top, not even on hot days or around campus, and she would like to think that she would remember the sight of a pretty tattooed girl like Jinsol.
“You know I expected you to be at least a little more discreet about ogling girls,” the girl had said amused, snapping Sooyoung off her daze and making her blush a little “can’t blame you though. I am quite a sight.”
“Big headed much?” Sooyoung said looking at her, “Have you thought that maybe I wasn’t trying to be discreet at all? It’s not every day that I have the chance to be alone with a girl as pretty as you.” she added with a smirk on her face.
“Oh, so the kitten finally shows her claws.” She had uttered the words bemusedly, but Sooyoung could see a faint blush on her cheeks. “Here, there are only a few corrections, and you should be great to go”
Yes, Jinsol apparently was very fond of changing subjects in the most subtle way, like throwing a brick on a glass panel.
There was no moving from square one.
At this very moment they were in one of their groups' outings - I mean, Sooyoung was, Jinsol was late as always, she wondered if it was because of the plethora of girls she had after her and couldn’t help but feel a little pang in her chest, that she refused to associate to jealousy. - the group had decided to go to a small bar near their school, so the ones that lived on campus could get there safely. But apparently, other people had taken the weather finally clearing up as a sign that it was time for party rockin’, so the bar was crowded.
“I’m not staying here,” Hyeju said as soon as they stepped inside the bar.
“Who’s missing?” Haseul asked, doing a quick headcount, “Jiwoo, Jungeun, and Jinsol? Ok, we’re ditching. Chaewon, text them to meet us at the river and to bring snacks, we’re getting the drinks.” she said, already making her way out.
And that’s how Sooyoung found herself sitting on the grass with everyone else watching Hyunjin and Hyeju in a weird rock, paper, scissors competition and Heejin screaming “YOU GO KIM HYUNJIN” every time the girl won and "YOU'RE LOSING THE GAME BUT YOU'RE WINNING MY HEART, BABY!" every time she lost.
But there was still no Jinsol in sight.
“SOL! SOL! SOL!” she heard Yerim shout as she took off running somewhere, turning in that direction she saw Jinsol walking their way with McDonald’s bags in hand and almost dropping them when Yerim threw herself at her.
“Yerim! Careful, baby.” she laughed loudly, hugging the younger one and patting her on the back gently, “Are you drunk already? You didn’t wait for me?”
As soon as they joined the others and sat down, Yerim plopped herself onto Jinsol’s lap, rummaging through one of the bags of food and munching on the chicken nuggets happily. The older one of the two turned Sooyoung’s way, a lazy smile on her face.
“Hey, kitten,” she said, giving Sooyoung one of the bags and biting the nugget Yerim was attempting to feed her, “Is everyone already drunk? I just got here,” she added with a pout.
“You’re late, though” Sooyoung quipped back, grabbing a pack of fries and popping a couple in her mouth, “but that’s not surprising. You’re always late.”
“Were you waiting for me?” she said with a smirk as she looked at Yerim that was now getting up and running to join the now Rock, Paper, Scissors Championship, taking some of the McDonald’s bags with her.
“You wish.” Sooyoung scoffed, and the other girl snorted with laughter and the older one threw a couple of fries in the girl's direction, which only made the other girl start to shake with laughter.
“Hand me that bottle, will you, kitten,” Jinsol said, motioning towards one of the Soju bottles, smiling when Sooyoung picked the peach flavored and downing it straight when it was handed to her.
“What are you doing?” the older asked with an inquisitive look, but porting an amused smile.
“Catching up.” She said simply as she finished up the bottle and got up and started walking towards the others, then she stopped and turned around, the moonlight making her look prettier than usual - Sooyoung thought. “Don’t brood too much, okay, kitten? I’ll come back for you.”
And then, without waiting for an answer, she turned back and kept on her way.
An hour later, Sooyoung had a very inebriated Heejin laying down with the younger’s head on her lap, while the girl full-on sobbed. She watched as Vivi stopped in front of them, looking at Heejin curiously. “What’s up with her?”
“Hyunjin is pretty, and she’s in love,” she said, stroking the younger's hair, “also, she forgot that she is Hyun’s girlfriend.”
And said girlfriend was nowhere to be seen, having gone somewhere with Jinsol, Yerim, and Hyeju.
Vivi laughed at that statement and took a sip of her drink, Heejin stopped sobbing for a while and stood up abruptly, looking like she had her million-dollar idea.
“Do you think I can make her break up with her girlfriend?” Heejin said with a determined look on her face, “I can sing, I’m talented, and I have abs! WHO DOESN’T LIKE ABS?” she said as she motioned to lift her shirt.
“Please keep your shirt on,” the taller one said, not really making any movement to stand up or halt the girl’s actions, “I don’t want to run after a shirtless Heejin again.” Remembering the new year's party where the youngest of the three ended up taking her shirt off after one too many shots and ended up Naruto running around the party while her girlfriend cracked up before noticing that her girlfriend was shirtless in a room full of strangers , and that’s how Sooyoung and Hyunjin spent half an hour trying to catch Heejin.
She really didn’t want to repeat that experience.
Vivi laughed loudly, looking between the two of them and after a small sip of her drink she said, “You know you have a girlfriend too, right?” which made the younger halt her movements, looking absolutely flabbergasted.
Seriously, how much had this girl drank?
“BUT I’M IN LOVE WITH HYUN!”
“I would sure hope you were, Heekkie” they heard someone saying from behind them, turning around to see the three missing ones, Hyunjin had a big smile on her face as she approached Heejin and hugged her from behind, saying something in her ear, making the girl blush and grab her hand, pulling them away from the others.
“Gross,” Yerim said from her place on Jinsol’s back, as the older one was giving her a piggyback ride, then said something in her ear as Jinsol lowered her and nodded, smiling. The young girl then grabbed Vivi’s hand and pulled them towards Yeojin and Haseul, leaving Sooyoung and Jinsol alone.
Jinsol sat right in front of Sooyoung, looking at her eyes intensely. Making the older of the two feel somehow exposed by the intense gaze, raising one eyebrow as she analyzed the girl in front of her, Sooyoung noticed a few things.
She had a very dazed look on her face, her smile open and lazy. Like she wasn’t aware that she was smiling. Her eyes threatened to close, red-rimmed and wrinkling at the corners because of her smile. Also, she smelled like weed.
Wait a minute , Jeong Jinsol was high.
Very much so, and that was proven when she, in one smooth motion, took Sooyoung’s face into her hands, getting impossibly closer and moving to press a small kiss on her forehead, and then another two by her cheeks. Pulling back for a second before leaning closer again, almost too close, her intense eyes flicking between Sooyoung’s own and her lips, and then she leaned, and Sooyoung swore she felt her heart skip a beat, but the girl just pressed a soft kiss on the older’s nose. “You’re the prettiest girl, kitten, so soft and kind. You’re very pretty, d’you know that?” she said softly, a finger gently tracing Sooyoung’s jaw, “I want to take care of you, if I asked, would you let me?”
She felt like she was on fire.
Sooyoung was stunned, looking like she was cosplaying a fish, mouth opening and closing, no words coming out. Blushing bright red. The other one lowered her hands to Sooyoung’s neck, massaging it delicately. She seemed to consider something, leaning in again. Sooyoung placed her hand on Jinsol’s thigh, maybe letting go wouldn’t be so bad.
Their moment was interrupted by a very loud Jo Haseul running towards them and shouting, “JEONG JINSOL, HAVE YOU BEEN GIVING WEED TO THE KIDS AGAIN?” trying to lunge herself at Jinsol only to be stopped by Vivi holding her by the waist.
“Seul” Vivi said softly, “it’s just weed, and it’s Jinsol, not some random stranger.”
Jinsol looked at Sooyoung again, giving her a gentle smile and nodding her head slowly before turning around and replying to the furious girl, “Do I have to remind you who was going through my stash two months ago, Seul?” she said with a laugh, getting up and walking towards the girls before adding “Also, you don’t have to worry, you know I wouldn’t let anything happen to any of them.”
And at that, she started to leave towards the younger ones that were playing around on the grass.
“DON’T YOU DARE LEAVE ME TALKING TO MYSELF, JEONG JINSOL!” a wild Haseul shouted and Vivi just sighed, letting the girl go after Jinsol, looking towards Sooyoung apologetically. And then Jinsol took off running.
What the fuck had just happened?
They hadn’t spoken about what Jinsol said at the river, and Sooyoung honestly didn’t know how to approach the subject. Or even if she wanted to. There was also the chance that if she did, Jinsol would do her weird changing subject thing.
But Sooyoung was intrigued by the girl, very intrigued.
Jinsol had said all that time back when she started tutoring Sooyoung that she was mysterious. But who was she to talk? Jeong Jinsol was an even bigger mystery. She was like an incredibly mismatched puzzle where none of the pieces seemed to fit or even make part of the same picture.
So Sooyoung took her time with the other girl as an opportunity to learn more about her, she wanted to learn everything about Jinsol, what made her tick, what she liked to eat in the morning, what she thought about before bed, if she had more tattoos, how was the girl so warm, if she got lonely and if that happened would she call her to keep her company.
There wasn’t warmth without cold, right?
One of the things she learned was that Jinsol was incredibly patient, unbelievable so.
Because, a few weeks after their hangout, evidence showed that Sooyoung wasn’t the only one getting fucked in the ass by Biology. And when she noticed they were doing a joint study session, with none other than Kim Jiwoo. But said Kim Jiwoo wasn’t studying, she was doing the furthest thing from studying and apparently was set on taking everyone down with her.
And how Jinsol hadn’t completely killed one of the two dumbasses locked with her in this study room was completely lost on Dumbass #1. She was about to kill Dumbass #2.
“We should get food, I’m hungry” Jiwoo had said pouting, looking at the others hopefully, getting no answer she decided to try again “We should totally go get some snacks guys.” which again, got no answers.
Jinsol was focused on grading one of the mock tests they did, and Sooyoung was just as focused on trying to figure out what in the name of god was written on this slide. But it had been 7 minutes since Jiwoo started complaining about being hungry, or being sat on this uncomfortable chair for too long and now her butt would be stuck on a square shape for all eternity.
“For the love of g-” Sooyoung was ready to throw hands, or Jiwoo or herself, out of the window of this study room.
“Hey, Jiwoo,” the long-haired girl interrupted, placing a hand over Sooyoung’s smoothly, like it was something that they did every day, getting Jiwoo’s attention, “can you go get us some snacks from the convenience store downstairs? It’s my treat.” grabbing her wallet from her backpack and handing a dark card to the other girl that promptly gave her a huge smile, nodding enthusiastically and took off the room.
“By the time she comes back you’re going to be broke, you know that, right?” She looked at their hands, turning her own slightly, intertwining their fingers.
“I don’t think she would be able to make even a dent, but she is welcome to try.” Jinsol laughed softly looking at their joined hands, giving Sooyoung’s a soft squeeze. “How are you doing, kitten?” She had spoken so tenderly that Sooyoung couldn’t help but feel that it wasn’t meant to be small talk. But there was the thing about Jinsol, she always sounded like she cared so much about everyone. Was she like this to the girls she flirted with too?
“I’m good,” she sighed feeling dejected, her routine of countless dancing practices and trying to cram everything that she missed in her classes was starting to catch up to her, she just wanted to sleep for a bit. Sighing, she closed her eyes and rested her forehead against the cold table. “Everything is just… I’m tired.”
She felt Jinsol let go of her hand and shift her chair a bit closer to her own, feeling then a hand run up and down her back, stopping at her nape only to scratch it slightly and moving to her hair. Getting goosebumps at the sensation, she felt almost like purring at the feeling of the younger’s hands on her scalp.
“You have to rest, kitten.” Her tone was stern but gentle, never stopping the movements of her hand. Sooyoung felt herself relaxing and then sighed contently as she fell into a deep slumber.
She was woken up about forty minutes later by the sound of someone placing something on the table. There was still a careful hand caressing her hair.
“Shhhhh, she’s asleep.” she heard Jinsol say from her side, “Did you have fun spending my money on your girlfriend's endless supply of candy?”
“Uhm!” she caught Jiwoo saying enthusiastically, and she could imagine the girl smiling her big gummy smile at the older one.
There was a little movement beside her, some ruffling through a bag, and Jinsol spoke again “Got you guys something for dinner at least?” she sounded almost the same way she did when she said that Sooyoung should rest, almost.
“Yeah, thank you, Sol!” Jiwoo sounded like she was beaming, genuinely thankful for her friend’s gesture, “I love you, you know, right?”
“Uhm, love you too, Wooming.” Jinsol said through a mouthful of something, and then there was some moving, “Here, you did good today. Go over these and talk to me if you have trouble with anything, ok? I mean it.” Sooyoung presumed that she was giving Jiwoo some assignment of sorts.
“Okay! Do you want me to wake her up?”
“Nah, I’ll stay here for some time. Do you know if she has practice today?” Fuck. Dance practice. Sooyoung had completely forgotten that she had dance practice after tutoring today.
“I think Jinnie said something about practice today at 6,” she heard Jiwoo collect her things and then the sound of the door opening, “Bye, Sol!”
“Bye, Wooming. Text me when you get home, ok?”
There was silence for a few more minutes, Sooyoung swore that she was almost falling asleep again then the hand on her hair stopped for a bit, the girl beside her sighed, and the hand moved to her back stroking it slowly.
“Kitten.” she heard, softly, “I know you’re awake, let me get you dinner before you have to leave for practice.” Sooyoung lifted her head and looked at the girl, Jinsol had a relaxed smile on her face, looking her deep in the eyes. “Will you let me?”
For a moment everything was still, she was brought back to their moment at the river. Was Jinsol asking the same thing again? Before she could answer, they were interrupted by her phone ringing. Picking it up quickly, she looked at the Caller ID, it was her mother. Yeah, she should get that.
“Fuck fuck fuck. Sorry, I gotta go, Sol.” She was genuinely apologetic and started rushing to get her stuff, and Jinsol just smiled, handing her one of the bags Jiwoo had brought earlier.
“It’s okay,” her smile never faltered, “You know where to find me when you have an answer.”
That day Sooyoung learned that: yes, Jung Jinsol was stupidly patient, incredibly kind, and annoyingly charming.
And she was extremely intrigued by whatever was happening between them.
Sooyoung had gotten into it thinking Jung Jinsol was just a soft nerd, with a dazzling smile and a very defined jawline. But she could see now that the girl wasn’t so smooth, she had her sharp edges.
And those showed up when she least expected it. It wasn’t only the fact that the girl seemed to have her own fangirls around campus.
She was supposed to meet Jinsol half an hour ago, but Sooyoung wasn’t one to be late. It was instilled into her soul from a young age that she should be at least fifteen minutes early for all appointments. Also, being late was Jinsol’s thing. But she didn’t expect to be actually held back by her Biology professor, who was extremely suspicious about her sudden evolution and improvement in his class. She was just getting tutored by an awesome tutor, who happened to be a very pretty girl that Sooyoung definitely didn’t want to disappoint.
Rushing through the door of Jinsol’s building that was being held open by one of the neighbors that saw Sooyoung come over many times throughout the weeks, she was greeted by another unexpected thing.
When Jinsol opened the door she was on the phone with someone, the girl looked absolutely exhausted, wearing only a sleeveless top and some loose sweatpants, Sooyoung could see an amazing number of tattoos - Seriously, how many tattoos did the girl have?
Jinsol looked completely done with whoever she was talking to as she gestured for Sooyoung to come in.
There were a couple of empty mugs on the coffee table, and Sooyoung could see another one on the small table by the window and one full of steaming coffee by the girl’s open computer.
“Sir, I know you’re busy bu-” the girl inhaled and then let out her breath loudly “It couldn’t have been misplaced, sir” she started to reach for the coffee mug, but Sooyoung moved it away, and she raised her eyebrows looking almost like a kicked puppy. “Yes, I’ll take a look at it again tomorrow and do the report. Thank you, sir.” and at that she just hung up the phone, looking at Sooyoung before getting up silently and making her way to the bathroom.
Sooyoung was left there awkwardly for at least ten minutes, she assumed Jinsol was trying to cool herself down. So she took another look at the place and got up, starting to collect the stray coffee mugs, already thinking about what she could make with whatever the girl had in her fridge.
Jinsol had said she wanted to take care of her, and the girl seemed to always want to take care of everyone.
But who was taking care of her?
Ten more minutes and still no sign of the other girl coming out of the bathroom, the older one was seriously considering knocking on the door just to check if she was at least still alive. When she finished with the dishes and was ready to go that way, the girl erupted back from the bathroom, still with the same shirt and sweatpants that she had on previously, but her hair now tied up in a top knot, looking a little refreshed.
“I was starting to think you had fallen asleep in there,” Sooyoung said looking at the other girl with a tender smile on her face, making the other crack a little smile of her own “are you okay, Sol?” she asked, moving towards the fridge with the intention of looking for something to cook for the younger girl.
“What are you doing?” Jinsol was behind her, hands on her hips, forehead resting against her back.
“Taking care of you,” she responded, placing her hand on top of Jinsol’s, stroking it delicately.
“But we have to go through the last piece of material today, Sooyoung.”
“Later, babe.” she squeezed the hand slightly as she felt the girl sigh against her back. “Go take a nap. I’ll wake you up when the food is ready.”
“Thank you, kitten,” Jinsol murmured faintly, removing her hands from the girl's waist, wrapping both arms around Sooyoung’s thin waist in a back hug, and giving the girl a soft kiss on the back of the neck before moving towards her living room.
They hadn’t spoken about what happened at Jinsol’s apartment that day, just like the day at the beach. Jinsol was apparently very focused on not talking about whatever was happening between them, and Sooyoung was more than glad to just go with whatever.
It didn’t mean she wasn’t interested in this thing having some sort of progress, in whatever way the other girl would give her. But it didn’t mean she wasn’t scared of having the same faith as the other girls she saw Jinsol with, even if it has been a while since she saw anyone other than their friends around Jinsol.
The late-night calls started with Sooyoung having a genuine school-related question and turned into them calling each other just because they could. She would call to make sure that the other girl had put some kind of sustenance on her body that didn’t consist of purely caffeine, and in return, Jinsol would call to check if she wasn’t overworking herself.
“You have to get at least eight hours of sleep every day, Sooyoung!” the girl would say to her every time, and Sooyoung would answer with a “I’ll start listening to you when you stop making coffee at midnight just because you can. You know your Instagram stories stay up for twenty-four hours, right?”
And Jinsol would just mumble some excuse about having to do some school work or about how she couldn’t sleep anyway.
Sometimes they would just ramble about their days, the younger would complain about this one guy at her job that kept misplacing his reports when she was sure that he wasn’t even doing them. Sooyoung would in turn talk about how dance practice was going and their preparation for showcases.
“Kitten, would you like to come over?” Jinsol had said out of nowhere once, stopping in the middle of her rant about how small in comparison to whales, the human being is. Sooyoung rolled on her bed, looking at the alarm on her bedside table, it was almost midnight.
“Sure,” she got up from bed and went to get changed, “Be there in a few.”
When she got there, Jinsol opened the door with a lit joint on her lips, taking a long drag, a smirk on her face.
“Didn’t think you would actually come,” she said before pulling her in and moving to sit in front of the coffee table where an array of Lego pieces were strewn across and one documentary about whales ( why isn’t she surprised about that one?!) was playing on the muted TV.
And this is one of the things that proved to her that Jeong Jinsol was a huge nerd.
She was an even bigger nerd than Jeon Heejin, and to surpass Jeon Heejin on nerdiness levels was a very big accomplishment. Even if Heejin spent weird amounts of time planking around the dancing studio and acted like a cool artsy girl, she was still a Naruto Loving nerd.
“Did you actually want to invite me, or was it the weed talking?” She asked as she laid down on the sofa behind Jinsol.
“I always mean what I say to you, Kitten,” she said, resting her head back against the couch, turning a bit, so she could look at Sooyoung. She closed her eyes for a bit, and Sooyoung reached her hand, so she could play with the girl’s hair. “You make it seem less lonely here,” she said almost in a whisper, eyes still closed.
She sat up on the couch, Jinsol didn’t move as she placed her legs on each side of the girl sitting on the floor, moving her hands to her face, she tilted the girl's face and leaned down, pressing their lips together.
“You don’t have to be alone anymore, Sol.” Leaning away, opening her eyes, she saw Jinsol smile lightly, eyes still closed, and she couldn’t help but lean in again even if her chest felt aflame. “I’ll take care of you.”
Now, you see, she used the study guides Jinsol made for her, she theoretically was ready to go , but here she was - in the middle of the hallway, thirty minutes before her test - freaking the fuck out.
It was only a test, was it really that hard?
But what if she had done everything wrong and messed up, or sent the wrong file, or Jinsol was wrong, and she was hopeless and could not be saved from the failure that was for sure coming her way in the form of a Biology course. She would fail this grade, and then another one, and then she would lose her scholarship, her parents would freak out and everything would be lost. What if everything went wrong?
Yes, Sooyoung was freaking out. Everything was getting darker and her breaths were starting to get quicker, she held her hands as fists tightly. Trying to ground herself.
Oh God, what i-
“Sooyoung. Baby. Kitten,” Jinsol was suddenly right in front of her, cradling her face in her hands and looking at her with a very worried expression adorning her beautiful face. “Breathe with me, come on” At this point, Jinsol had taken her hands off of Sooyoung’s face and moved them to take the girl's hands on her own, moving them closer to the wall and pulling the girl down, so they were now crouching “count with me, alright?”
For the next few minutes, Jinsol stayed like that across from her, counting to ten and then starting over when Sooyoung stopped counting with her. Her hand never stopped rubbing the small circles on the back of the elder's hand.
“Are you okay, baby?”
“Thank you,” She said, nodding slowly and starting to get up, Jinsol just smiled kindly at her, pulling her into a hug “What are you doing here?”
“Came to see how you were doing before the test,” she said, pulling away from the hug, “And I’m glad I did. You have nothing to worry about, alright?”
“You don’t know that.”
“I’ve been the one tutoring you for all this time, we’ve been doing mock tests for weeks straight.” she put her hands on Sooyoung’s waist pulling the girl closer “I believe in you, kitten, you will be just fine,” she said, placing a sweet kiss at the corner of her mouth, before letting her go and motioning with her head to the classroom where her professor was about to go in.
“I’ll see you later?”
“I’ll be waiting.” Jinsol nodded with a huge smile on her face, “Go crush this shit.”
One hour and a half later, leaving the classroom, she was greeted by an unexpected sight. I mean, it wasn’t like she was expecting a lot of the things that happened that day, but one of these for sure wasn’t an entourage formed by Heejin, Hyeju, Chaewon, and Jinsol sitting on the corridor floor waiting for her, she didn’t even expect the Jinsol to actually wait for her to finish the test.
“HOW WAS IT?” the girls all said in unison, getting a few judging glares from the fellow students that were leaving the room after her.
“Why are you all acting like I just came back from a fight or something?” she said, still standing looking at the girls, “It was just a test.”
“It might as well have been a fight, we heard you complain about it for months, you fucking hag, MONTHS.” Hyeju said, getting up from the floor and extending her hand to help Chaewon get up, “Can we go get food now?”
“Go ahead,” Jinsol finally spoke up, looking at the younger ones, “We will meet you guys at the parking lot.” at which Heejin just smiled like she knew something and started dragging the other two outside with her.
“WE’RE GETTING HYUN AND YOU GUYS ARE PAYING!” she said before turning around with one unamused Hyeju and a Chaewon excited at the prospect of free food.
“You didn’t answer the question,” Jinsol said, approaching her with her arms open for a hug, “did you crush it?”
“It was good. You didn’t have to wait for me,” she responded, getting deeper in the embrace and nuzzling the girl’s neck lightly, taking in the girl’s musky scent. “Thank you, though.” Jinsol just hugged her tighter before pulling away, looking at her with adoration in her eyes before pulling her closer once more, giving her a slow kiss on the lips.
“I’m proud of you, kitten.”
Sooyoung had thought that since she didn’t need to be tutored anymore that things would go back to how they were before, and she absolutely didn’t want that, but she hadn’t seen Jinsol for almost a week after her test, not even around campus. They were barely texting, and to be honest she was starting to freak out, thinking that maybe she had read too much into things.
Luckily for her, since their finals had ended their friends had planned to meet up to grab a few drinks and hopefully, the source of her worries would show up, but she still had a couple of hours of nothing to do until then, maybe she should go home and take a nap, grab a snack or something. Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a screeching sound, and she looked up to see a seemingly furious Hyunjin dragging Jinsol her way by the ear.
“I don’t care, you’re not getting back to work today.” she heard Hyunjin say as they got closer “Here, she’s your responsibility now,” she said looking at Sooyoung and letting the other girl go from her grip.
“What did she do?” the taller one questioned, stretching her legs and opening her arms open, gesturing for Jinsol to settle down in front of her, hugging her from the back as she sat down, feeling the girl relax against her front.
“Aside from ghosting me, not leaving her place for almost a week, and overworking herself?” Hyunjin said with an unamused face. “Just keep her distracted until we have to meet up, please? I would ask Yerim or Chae, but it was already a hassle to get her here, and I don’t really want to track them down. And Jungeun would probably kill her on sight.”
“Can you guys stop talking like I’m not here?” the long-haired girl interjected with a dejected sigh, “I’m a full-grown adult, for fucks sake.”
“Then behave like one, stupid.” the youngest of the three responded, not looking at them while she typed furiously on her phone. “You know all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, right? Catch you guys later.” she said before going on her way.
They just stayed there in comfortable silence, watching people pass by. Jinsol leaned back against Sooyoung, playing with her fingers absentmindedly.
“Why were you ghosting her?” she asked, leaning her chin on the girl’s shoulder, turning her face to leave a small kiss on Jinsol’s neck, feeling her tense a bit before releasing a sigh, relaxing again.
“I haven’t been ghosting her,” the girl responded sheepishly, looking away, “I was just… Busy, I guess.”
“With your friends ?” She asked, emphasizing the last word, trying not to sound bitter. Jinsol leaned her head back, trying to look at Sooyoung, who averted her gaze.
“Is someone jealous?”
“Should I be?” She mumbled, if the girl wasn’t glued to her, she probably wouldn’t have heard, but the deep sigh the young girl released gave her away.
“I haven’t had time for that,” Jinsol said, lacing their fingers together. “You see, I’ve had my attention somewhere else for a while.” She chuckled lightly, “And I wasn’t lying when I said I was busy. I had to sort some stuff. Hyun was just being dramatic.”
Sooyoung had to suppress a laugh at that last statement, yes, Hyunjin was apparently very fond of being dramatic. But knowing Jinsol, the girl was probably running only on caffeine, not checking her phone, and dreaming about work for the whole week.
“Did she feed you?”
“What am I to you guys? A child? An animal?” the long-haired one retorted, turning, so she could look at her face with a small glare, before continuing “She just intercepted me when I was getting off of the lab.”
“Let’s feed you then,” Sooyoung said, getting up from the grass and extending her hand to Jinsol “Don’t want you passing out on me later.”
When the time came for them all to meet up, Jinsol was already well-fed and Sooyoung was considering just driving the girl home since she looked absolutely drained, but she knew that the other couldn’t be trusted to be left on her own, since she seemed to have a plan to either hide or overwork herself to death.
So now they were all sitting down inside some crowded pub that Vivi had somehow found. Sooyoung distractedly rubbed small circles on Jinsol’s back as the girl had her hand resting on her leg, caressing it calmly while she was being lectured by Jungeun about taking care of herself properly and how sending a simple text stating that she was alive shouldn’t be that much of a hassle. Sooyoung was sure Jinsol had stopped listening five minutes into the rant, and she thought that Jungeun noticed it as well when she stopped talking.
“I’m still older than you, you know?” the raven said to the younger girl, leaning back and resting her head on Sooyoung’s shoulder.
“That means nothing when you’re lacking in the basic thing that is taking care of yourself,” Jungeun countered. “I’ll let you be for now, but I’m keeping your car keys.” she said before turning to her girlfriend and joining her conversation with Heejin and Haseul.
“You can barely drive, Jungie.” Jinsol retorted, and Sooyoung chuckled. “Wanna go outside for a bit?” the young girl said in her ear, at which Sooyoung just nodded simply before motioning with her head for the girl to go ahead, following her once she got off of her seat, noticing a couple of their friends looking at them and pointed to the pub’s exit.
Stepping outside the streets, she observed as the other leaned back against the wall, hands rummaging through her jacket pockets until she finally found what she was looking for. Pulling one small cigarette metal case and opening it, Sooyoung observed as Jinsol grabbed a joint holding it between her lips, putting the case back in her pocket, and pulled out a small red lighter.
"Do you mind?" She asked, looking at her.
"Go ahead." Sooyoung replied sheepishly, leaning against a lamp post across the other, taking in the vision of how beautiful Jinsol looked while lighting the joint and inhaling the smoke slowly, eyes closed, opening her lips to exhale and then letting a relaxed smile appear. She watched as the girl took a couple more drags, not really saying anything, before Jinsol extended the joint her way, opening only one eye to look at her.
"Sure." Sooyoung moved from beneath the light post, getting closer to the girl, and made a motion for the joint, but Jinsol pulled her hand back, placing it between her own lips and taking a long drag. Hooking a finger on the belt loops of Sooyoung’s jeans to pull her closer, she then moved her hands to each side of Sooyoung's face and pressed their lips together as she blew the smoke gently. Sooyoung closed her eyes as she inhaled the smoke, putting both her hands on the girl's waist, trying to keep herself steady and pulling the other closer.
Jinsol watched with hooded eyes, as she took the smoke in and then exhaled before leaning further in, kissing her on the lips fully.
A sweet but firm kiss, nothing like the innocent pecks they had been sharing lately. Jinsol was kissing her like she meant it, moving her hands to the back of Sooyoung’s neck while she gripped her waist tighter. Pulling them closer together somehow. She couldn’t help but lean further in as she felt Jinsol nip at her lower lip, pressing the girl flush against the hard brick wall, releasing a low breath as she felt blunt nails raking at her nape. Gripping Jinsol harder, feeling a low moan escaping the girl’s lips.
Their moment was short-lived as they heard a couple of chuckles coming from their side, pulling away from Jinsol but still being kept in place as the girl moved her grip to her shoulder, they watched a few drunkards leaving the pub. As they watched the group leaving, Sooyoung placed her head on the girl’s shoulder, suddenly realizing the reality of what they were doing before, feeling a familiar heat rise from the pit of her stomach, and blushing when she felt rather than heard Jinsol letting a low laugh, kissing the side of her head.
“Let’s go back inside before they come after us, okay?”
“So, what are you and Jinsol doing?” Heejin had asked as they sat themselves on the floor of the practice room, having gone through their choreography for the thousandth time that day, “She told Hyun that you guys kissed the other day.” she completed when Sooyoung didn’t reply.
“I don’t really know what is going on there, Jinnie.” she said pulling her legs closer to her chest, “I don’t even know where it came from, it just happened once, then it happened again, and it keeps happening.”
“Do you want it to stop?” Heejin had said, leaning back against the mirror.
“Not really, I jus-”
“You just want to know what’s going on.” Sooyoung sighed at that, she just wanted to know what was going on for once, this unspoken thing they were doing was fine. She was fine with whatever Jinsol had to give her. But she wanted more, she wanted the late-night calls to mean more, to hear everything and anything she had to say, to hear her soothing humming tone as she studied and ran her hands across Sooyoung’s back, to count the tattoos on her body, to kiss her firmly against the door, feel her firm hands on her hips pulling her closer, feel her warmth against her body.
She wanted so much more than what she was being given.
“Firstly, this was the sappiest shit I’ve ever heard coming from your mouth. Second, have you thought about asking her what is going on?” Heejin spoke up, and Sooyoung realized that she was speaking out loud all this time. “Communication is key, yada yada yada.”
“Sure, I’ll just go up to her and say: Hey, we’ve been doing this weird flirt thing for a while, and we made out the other day, wanna do it again? Without clothes on, though. And I don’t even know what’s going on with her and the other girls I’ve seen her with.” Sooyoung snarled her reply.
“I was talking about talking about your feelings, you know? But if you wanna go all ‘ hey let’s bang’ I guess it works. And from what Hyunjin told me, Sol hasn’t been paying attention to anyone else for a couple of months.”
“Isn’t that whole ‘let’s fuck’ attitude that got you a girlfriend in the first place?” she said, pushing the younger one’s shoulder playfully, “Or did you forget how your train wreck of a plan to bang that one hot chick from the soccer team turned into you drunkenly approaching Hyunjin and saying that you wouldn’t give her a yellow card if she took off her shirt? I don’t even know how it worked.”
“We don’t talk about my freshman year, Sooyoung, I thought I made that clear.” the girl groaned, hands covering her face, then she turned towards Sooyoung, taking a deep breath before speaking again. “You bottle a lot in, Soo. At least ask her where you guys stand, I don’t want any of you to get hurt because you’re both scared of talking about shit.”
“I’ll try,” she responded, patting the other’s head gently.
“That’s all I ask for.”
Sooyoung liked being in control, she liked knowing how things were going to go, she liked when things went as planned or having this false illusion that they were going her way.
But right now, being pressed roughly against a door wasn’t exactly how she planned her night to go, and it was definitely Heejin’s fault. But you won’t see her complaining about that.
It all started when earlier that evening the junior busted into her apartment demanding they went to this random frat party since it was the last party of the semester or something along these lines, and after five minutes of pleading and Heejin making a disgustingly adorable puppy face, Sooyoung ended up being dragged to a crowded frat house, with loud music being blasted and very cheap drinks being served.
Oh boy, was she glad that she convinced Heejin to at least pre-game at her place before leaving.
So a couple of hours later and several drinks in, she had already lost the other girl, and was already too far gone into drunk behavior. Dancing in the middle of the makeshift dance floor with a bunch of sweaty people until she felt a strong grip on her waist, a strange body getting closer to hers, getting ready to turn around and smack whoever thought that getting handsy with her was a good idea, but she was kept in place as the person pressed their body against hers and spoke onto her ear.
“Thought I had seen you around.”
Jinsol.
Jinsol was there, pressed close to her back, a slim hand making its way to her stomach.
Her skin was burning and felt the urge to turn around rise again for a completely different reason than before as the hand was pressed flush against her abs, nails scratching the area slightly and the act approximated them even more. And so she did turn around, but the predatory look on Jinsol’s face made her almost regret her decision. The girl had a devious smirk on her lips, eyes dark and hazy that made Sooyoung shiver. The hand that was once on her stomach got to her hand, grasping it firmly, then she was being pulled out of the dance floor and into an empty room.
And there came her actual predicament, as soon as they were into the room, her body was pushed roughly against the door. As the other leaned in for a kiss, a kiss with the same firmness of the one they shared outside the bar, but there was almost no sweetness or slowness like before, there was something else, a purpose of sorts, and it made her feel like she was being engulfed by flames. The hold on her hips tightened, and she had to suppress a moan as she felt Jinsol pull away from the kiss, biting her lower lip in the process and keeping her in place with a thigh applying pressure against her legs.
“Fancy meeting you here, Sol.” she said a little out of breath and flushed as Jinsol let a low laugh out, her mouth making its way down Sooyoung’s neck, pressing open-mouthed kisses and small bites. Sooyoung felt like she was already melting.
“Didn’t know frat parties were your thing.”
“T-They aren’t,” she stuttered lamely, feeling smooth hands traveling upwards inside the crop top she was wearing. “Heejin dragged me here.”
“Remind me to thank her later then.” the girl in front of her said as she left an excruciatingly long kiss below her earlobe before nipping at it slightly. Her hands instantly traveled up to the girl’s hair, and she heard a low chuckle, slender fingers pressing strongly against her ribs.
“Fuck.” She gasped, pulling Jinsol’s hair a bit, trying to catch the girl’s lips between her own in a languid kiss, tasting the drinks she must have had beforehand. She whimpered when Jinsol’s hand traveled down, squeezing her ass firmly, pressing their bodies together, getting lost in the kiss. Rough knocks echoed in the bathroom, while someone impatiently complained about the room being locked.
“Can I take you home, Kitten?” Pulling away from the kiss, but not letting Sooyoung go, Jinsol asked, her voice hoarse, lips a breath away from her own.
The cab ride to Jinsol’s place was silent, but the girl held a firm grasp on her thigh. The predatory smirk was long gone, but the deep look was still there in her eyes, dark and alluring. Like a Siren pulling Sooyoung to the dangerous waters or a demon trying to bring her to the flames, ready for her downfall.
When they got to the girl's place, the hand only moved to hold her own, pulling her into the building. Even on the elevator ride, she felt like she would burst into flames anytime soon, while Jinsol only hummed a low tune, her gaze fixed on the elevator doors.
Sooyoung was starting to think that the girl had a thing with doors since as soon as they got into the apartment, she was pushed against a door again . Sooyoung huffed a desperate sound when Jinsol bit the place where neck and shoulder met, surely leaving a mark there.
What was it with the biting? Was she a fucking vampire? Was she going to fuck a vampire ?
Wait, were they really going to fuck?
She had told Heejin that she would try to talk to Jinsol, and she planned on doing so. This wasn’t talking. This was the furthest thing from talking.
She was brought back to reality when the hands that were previously holding her against the door started making their way inside her shirt for the second time that night, fingers gripping her sides with possessiveness, and she gasped loudly at the sensation, making the hands stop suddenly.
“Hey, kitten, you’re still with me?” She heard the question and opened her eyes to see Jinsol looking at her with a tender smile on her face, the aforementioned rough touch being replaced by gentleness, but her eyes remained hooded, pupils blown wide.
“Uhm, I’m here.” She stopped herself from talking by grasping the other girl’s face between her hands, taking her lips on a heated kiss. “Fuck, Jinsol, what are you doing to me?” she whispered breathless as they pulled apart, a ghost of a smirk making itself known on the girl’s lips.
“Will you let me take care of you tonight, Sooyoung?” The girl responded, the sound of her name coming from Jinsol’s luring her into deeper waters, placing a gentle hand on her hip and an even softer kiss at the corner of her lips. Sooyoung nodded quickly, pulling the younger one in for a messy kiss before letting herself be dragged over towards the bed.
She was cold.
That was the first thought that ran through Sooyoung's mind the next morning, then she came to notice that she was also naked.
She was naked. In a bed that wasn't hers - nothing really foreign to her to be honest.
But the memories of the past night came through quickly, memories of gasps and moans filling the walls around them as slim hands worked their way across her body, the same hands that kept her held tightly in place as her body went through spasms, again and again, a velvety voice whispering praises like " You're doing so good, Kitten, I'm so proud. " on her ear all through the night.
Jinsol's voice; Jinsol's hands; Jinsol’s warm mouth and velvety tongue; Jinsol's body against hers; Jinsol.
Jinsol who wasn't in bed with her right now. The same Jinsol that she was supposed to have a talk about what they were doing.
Oh god, she had sex with Jinsol.
She opened her eyes and sat up on the bed quickly, a dumb decision on her part, since her head hurt like hell, and she felt like death incarnated. She heard a small chuckle and turned her head to see Jinsol clad in only a towel looking at her with amusement in her eyes, a familiar lazy smile adorning her lips.
"Go freshen up, there's a toothbrush for you on the sink," the girl said as she moved towards her dresser, "I'll leave some clothes for you here, okay?"
"We had sex." Sooyoung said, still in her dazed stage. "Sol, we slept together."
"Yes, we did, Kitten." The girl responded simply, pulling a couple of sweatpants and shirts from her drawers and placing them on top of the bed, moving towards her, towel still tightly wrapped around her slender frame. She held Sooyoung’s chin firmly, placing a contrasting gentle kiss on the confused one’s lips before pulling away and completing, "And we can talk about it over breakfast, ok?"
As she showered, slowly, since she wasn’t really excited about having whatever talk they were going to have once she got out of the shower. Her thoughts kept rushing through her mind at an impressive speed. What was Jinsol feeling? She seemed weirdly calm about everything. But that was the thing, Jinsol was rarely anything other than calm. Was everything just a one-night stand for her? Perhaps she would propose an arrangement like she had with her so-called friends, and Sooyoung would gladly bite that bullet if it meant keeping Jinsol close.
Sooyoung wasn’t exactly ready to hear the other one’s thoughts on that matter, but she had told Heejin that she would try to talk things through.
As she stepped out of the bathroom, wearing the clothes that were previously lent to her, she could hear the faint sound of the coffee machine working and looked over to see the television turned on mute, the news playing. Moving towards the kitchen area, she saw Jinsol, who was now thankfully wearing clothes, in front of the waffle maker holding a cold bottle of water against her forehead, eyes closed shut.
So she wasn’t the only one feeling like shit.
“You know painkillers are a thing, right?” she said with a small giggle, leaning against the threshold.
“Already took them,” the other retorted without opening her eyes, but showing a silly smile and pointing in the general direction of the kitchen counter, “there’s some for you over there, in case you need it.”
Getting the painkillers and a bottle of water from the fridge, Sooyoung settled herself on one of the counter seats, keeping her eyes on the girl who was still in the same position as before, “Are you alive up there?”
“Barely, I’ve ordered some food from the bakery nearby, d’you like pastries?” she responded when the doorbell rang suddenly, moving from her resting position to answer the door. “Can you get the coffee?”
Setting their mugs full of steaming coffee on the small coffee table and sitting with her back resting on the couch, Sooyoung listened as the other girl spoke to the delivery person, finishing the transaction and closing the door behind her. She watched as Jinsol placed their food on the coffee table, looking through the small bags before handing a couple to Sooyoung and sitting beside her.
“What do you remember?”
“Everything.”
“Good,” Jinsol retorted, taking a bite of the croissant she picked from the bags, “Do you regret it?”
“No.” How could she? She hadn’t let go like that for a while, but everything had felt so right, everything about the other girl felt right. “Do you?” she asked, trying to sound nonchalant, but she could see that she failed as the girl tried to stifle a laugh while she took a sip of her coffee.
“You don’t have to be so nervous, you know?” she answered smiling, but then got serious as she continued without looking in the older’s direction, “I can’t find it in me to regret anything involving you, Sooyoung.”
She couldn’t find words to answer the other, fiddling with the mug she was holding, but she was beaten as Jinsol kept talking.
“I shouldn’t have gone about this the way I did, though, I’m not very proud of that.”
“What do you mean?” she questioned, looking at the girl beside her, who was looking at her own cup of coffee.
“You deserved so much better than some half-assed flirting when I was high, drunk, or both,” the grip on the mug tightened a bit, before she let go, gaze moving to the TV in front of them, then to her eyes. “You’re too precious for this, Sooyoung.”
“It worked though,” she retorted with a smirk and then sighed exasperated, running her hands through her short hair. “I like you, Sol, I like you so much that it’s fucking stupid sometimes. I don’t even know when it started.”
“I’ve only really wanted to take care of you, you know?” she flushed red as she heard those words, being reminded immediately of the previous night, and Jinsol laughed openly at her reaction. “Not like that, you pervert.” She said, pushing her shoulder lightly, “I mean, not only like that. You’re always paying attention to everyone else, always worried about something. I wanted to see if I could make you let go of all this for a bit.”
“You’ve always made me feel like I didn’t have to think so much about what I was doing or saying.” She said low, almost a whisper, looking at everything but the girl by her side. “But Heejin says I overthink things a lot, and you made me go kind of stupid most of the time we spent together, besides, seeing you flirting with a random girl every time was kinda of off-putting.”
“You’re so fucking adorable,” Jinsol said with a chuckle, picking her coffee mug up again, wincing at the now lukewarm liquid “I like you too, you know? I’m just… I get messy with these things, feelings, I mean. They get all over the place sometimes, and I get careless and do stupid shit.” she made a vague gesture with her free hand.
“Like show up drunk out of your ass at random frat parties and making a move on the girl you’ve been high key flirting with for months?” she said, getting another shove and a loud laugh out of the other girl.
“Yes, something like that.” She ran her hand through her long hair, exhaling before speaking again, “That week, when I went MIA, I didn’t lie when I said I was busy or when I said that I had my attention somewhere else, but I had to tie some loose ends and do some thinking. It wouldn’t be fair of me to you if I just jumped straight into it without considering my past.”
Sooyoung nodded, thinking for a second before responding, “Believe me, I get the whole feelings thing. But do you think maybe we can try to figure it out? Figure us out?”
“There’s nothing that I would like more than that, Kitten.” Sooyoung saw her place the mug back on the coffee table before turning her way, taking her face gently and capturing Sooyoung’s lips between her own in a gentle kiss, tender and warm. The taste of her strong coffee invaded Sooyoung’s mouth. She could feel the storm that was going inside her mind before settling down, being replaced by slow waves, embracing her. The younger girl pulled Sooyoung onto her lap, where she settled and Jinsol rested her hands on her lower back, kissing her deeply once more, before pulling away with a dopey smile “Will you let me take care of you in a totally non-sexual way , kitten? I mean, we could do it the sexual way too, if you wanna.”
Sooyoung chuckled deeply before replying.
“Only if you let me take care of you too, dumbass.”