Early next morning, Harin yawned as she dragged herself out of bed to see the other two off early, reassuring them it's fine and that she'd pass on their goodbye and thank-you's to the host later on their behalf.
"It's fine, just go, I'll be staying until noon anyway."
"Still..."
"Remember to thank her for the food."
"Of course, hurry up before your train leaves."
On the train ride home, Younghee and Ari both got as much sleep as they could because the 1 day long vacation they took over the weekend was followed by the start of hell; exam season.
-
Sat in the lecture hall after completing one of their first midterms, Nari sighed out of exhaustion and stretched her arms out on the table and peeked at Younghee who she couldn't reach over the past few days.
"Hey."
She looked at Nari. "Yeah?"
"Wanna come over tonight?"
"Yeah, we can go toge—"
She paused as her phone lit up with a notification. There appeared a rare smile on Younghee's face as she grabbed her phone to reply to the message. After doing so, came her rejection.
"Never mind, I'll come tomorrow," she ruffled Nari's hair gently, fixing it right after before she could whine about it.
Is she seeing someone again?
Nari glanced over at the screen, her eyes flickering before she mumbled, "…alright."
Ari: Youngyoung... I'm sorry but looks like we can't do movie night this thursday, my friends planned for a little study date at the library. Is it ok if we do it tonight?
: Yeah, that's fine.
Ari: Is there anything you want to watch?
: Anything you like
Ari: The devil wears prada?
: Sure
They packed everything up and left the lecture room. Since it was near one of the campus' libraries, and it was noon, there were a lot of people walking about. Having barely made their way out, Younghee felt a hand grab onto hers and pull her into a bathroom. She smirked as Nari hurriedly pushed them into a stall, locking the door behind her.
"You want to do it here?"
As soon as Nari gave a nod, it was like a permission granted for her to take air away as she felt Younghee's lips press against hers aggressive yet patiently, like it was drawing a boundary with every kiss. But she wanted to break that boundary, her lips sucked on the other's desperately, unwilling to let go as the sound of her own heartbeat filled her ears. Younghee smiled, grabbing Nari's thigh and lifted her up, both of them pausing what they're doing as noise filled the bathroom. It was a busy time right now since most people were getting out of their exams, and funnily enough, this bunch were people who had taken the same exam as them just a few minutes ago, now discussing what they'd wrote. The two chuckled quietly as they listened to the conversation full of obviously wrong answers.
"ITT?"
Younghee nodded, "ITT."
They emerged from the stool after confirming they were alone, with Younghee's help, Nari was able to fix her hair and clothes quickly.
"Oh wait," she felt a hand grab her chin before Younghee wiped the side of her mouth gently with her thumb, "you still have some lipstick smeared."
"It's fine, I needed to re-apply it anyway."
"What class do you have next? I'll walk you."
She shook her head, "mandarin, it's on the other side of campus, if you go you'll be late for your's."
-
She hadn't noticed it during their first lecture, but there was actually less people who had taken the language class than expected, so much so that the lecture hall used was one of the smaller ones. Still, one person she'd been looking for stood out as she walked in.
"Hi," Nari said, approaching Ari whose head was laying on the desk. The other gave a small wave back as she blinked heavily and smiled before muttering a reply back.
"Are you ok?"
"Mm.. I'm just tired," Ari yawned, "sorry but can you wake me up when the professor is here?"
"Sure," Nari nodded before sitting down, gently placing the bag next to her as the other turned her head.
Maybe it was because the first few lectures for the class were on pronunciation and basic greetings that it felt like time went extra slow, not only that, the professor always seemed to speak in a soothing way and had a nice voice so fighting the tiredness was extra hard for Ari. Before she could help it, her eyes had closed again and she slumped her head onto the desk. Nari did contemplate waking her but they were out of sight of the professor and she seemed really sleepy so decided to just let her rest.
Luckily neither were picked on during the 50 minute lecture, and as the clock hit time for lunch, class finally ended. Even with the noise of classmates exiting the room, Ari was still sound asleep, sometimes her eyelids would tremble as people passed by them, casting a shadow for a brief moment before the light above hit again. Before Nari packed up her things, she checked her phone and sure enough, like clockwork, Younghee sent a message asking to go to the library. She grinned before typing out a reply, her smile faltered as she heard the latter's name mentioned by a few people still in the lecture hall.
"I asked for her number after that and she didn't even look at me and just left."
"I told you to not ask in the first place."
"Yeah, you already knew how much she sleeps around so why did you bother?"
"Well I didn't think she'd be that bad. I heard there was a girl she's always seen with so."
One of them sighed, "you know that could've just been a friend right?"
"Oh no wait I think I know who she's talking about. You mean the one with brown hair right?"
"Yeah! See?"
"What was her name again? Oh right, Baek Nari or something?"
Just a few rows in front of her, they were gossiping as if she wasn't there. Nari spun her pen in her hand as a few side eyed her during their conversation, some even deliberately turning to whisper to each other and giggling. As one of them met eyes with her, Nari quickly turned away and placed her head against the desk, even more surprised as she made eye contact with Ari. The girl was looking at her with a somewhat displeased look, but before she had a chance to react, she heard some loud cackling and the sound of footsteps walking away.
Ari raised her head as the gossiping group left, a small yawn slipping from her mouth, "hey."
"Yeah?" Nari replied.
"Why didn't you stick up for her?"
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"They were talking about Younghee but you didn't say anything."
"Well why would I?"
"..aren't you her friend?"
"So? What does that have to do with this?" Nari frowned.
"Shouldn't you tell them they're wrong?"
"..oh so that's what you mean," she laughed, "but they're not though?"
"...what?"
"They're not wrong, she does do that."
"How would you know?" Ari asked in a slightly condescending tone.
"Take a guess," she straightened up, "why do you think they said they've seen me with her?"
"..so you're ok with it?" Ari mumbled.
"..." She swallowed the lump in her throat, "why does any of that matter? It's her choice."
Their conversation came to an end abruptly as a hand leaned against the table. It was Younghee.
"Hey, ready to go?"
Although it was a question for her, she was looking at the other girl. Nari nodded as she quickly began to pack the rest of her things away. But she wasn't the only one displeased by the situation as Ari looked at Younghee.
"Where are you going?"
"Just the library, we need to go over some things for our criminal law exam," Younghee smiled. "If you're free, do you want to go with us?"
"I would but I told my friends I'd meet them for lunch," Ari said helplessly.
"..." There was a small and silent sigh from Younghee as she looked away.
"Let's go," Nari interrupted, ignoring the tense air between them as she dragged Younghee away.
"Ah.. I'll see you later."
Ari smiled and waved in response as the other rushed her out.
"Hurry up, we're not gonna have a seat at this point."
"Isn't that because you weren't ready when I got here?"
"...Let's just go."
Despite it's cute concept, study dates were never that appealing to Nari. Was it because she was usually with the wrong friends? Maybe, but at some point she started to like it, after studying with Younghee. Their grades matched but they both had their weak points, which luckily matched each other's strongs, so in the efficiency aspect, studying with her was definitely a smart choice and productive; but that wasn't the only reason she liked it, after all, there was always that sense of familiarity that lingered every moment they were together. Whether that was good or not, she didn't care.
Seeing a wave of people leaving the library, the pair quickly realised it was getting dark outside. Of course, the place was still crowded and open seats were quickly taken by students who just came in; but considering they'd been there since early afternoon, they both decided to call it a day and left.
"What do you want to eat?"
Nari groaned, "I'm not hungry to be honest.. let's just get some boba."
Younghee chuckled as she pulled a jacket over her, "alright, eat something when you get home though."
"Yeah, yeah," she replied half heartedly as they stopped by the milk tea shop, her focus transferring onto a wooden board outside showcasing a few items, "hmm.. they have some new flavours..." Despite showing interest in the updated menu, Younghee knew Nari wasn't going to try anything different.
"Same as usual?" She asked.
"Mm," Nari hummed in confirmation, finally pulling her eyes away from the display.
"Hi, can we get two large taro and a rose milk tea?"
"Of course, that'll be 17,400 won. Cash or card?"
"Thank you, I'll pay by card."
Nari tugged at her sleeve and whispered, "why are you getting two taro?"
"It's for Ari."
"..." An unexpected reply, at least to Nari as she nodded, "oh ok."
-
The lock to the door finally opened as the expectant Ari perked up, she instantly put her phone to the side and smiled as Younghee came back. Excitedly, she pointed to the tv screen whilst the other changed her shoes, "you're finally here, I've got everything set up!" And really she did, the movie was ready to play, the lights were dimmed, curtains shut, she even had a blanket over herself and some snacks on the table.
"I can see that, sorry I kept you waiting," Younghee smiled as she walked over to the couch, placing the drinks she'd bought earlier by the snacks. "I don't know if you ate yet but a drink should be fine right?"
Ari nodded and beamed, "of course, anyway come on sit down, I've wanted to watch this for a while," she hurriedly patted the space next to her. Younghee did as she said and grabbed the remote, but before she could press play, Ari asked an unexpected question, "oh by the way, how did you and Nari meet?"
"Huh? Why do you ask?"
"I'm just curious."
Younghee blinked at the seemingly harmless reason. "Oh, well, we had the same classes and got paired up for a project at the start of the year."
"Hm.. I see."
That was that, the conversation quickly ended as the opening scene for the movie played. Both of their eyes glued to the screen, one pair of pupils with high expectations and the other just happy to rewatch it with her.
-
Nari slumped her bag onto the floor before walking to her room to get changed and hanged up Younghee's jacket by the door. Pulling the pajama top over her head, she paused as she recalled the earlier conversation with Ari, suddenly feeling wronged. Does she think I act like that because I want to? It's only because she asked me to, gosh.
Ugh! This is so annoying...
Her internal monologue didn't end there as she flung herself on her bed, grumbling as she stuffed her head in her pillow before turning sideways. Staring at the jacket that didn't belong to her, her heart throbbed. ...This is weird... They feel too close.. It's not fair.
"..."
Baek Nari sat up and switched a small light on, it's luminance reflecting off of her eyes, creating small sparks in her visual fields as she sighed heavily, "Younghee you can be really mean you know?"