Just Friends!

"I like you," Minjoo repeats it again, shuddering as she inhales deeply, yet her voice sounds steadier and clearer compared to her first confession. "I like you a lot. I like you too much, Tomi. I like you too much that I don't think it's platonic anymore."

"Minjoo," Hitomi tries to say, but Minjoo clasps her hand together as if pleading. It effectively stops Hitomi from talking. "Please," she pleads, when Hitomi tries to resume speaking, "let me finish this, alright?"

Hitomi is reluctant, but she closes her mouth, nodding after she lets out a breath.

"Thank you," Minjoo smiles sadly. "I think I've--known this for a while. Maybe since that day we crossdressed. Or maybe even before! But I always denied it, thinking it might be because it's some petty platonic jealousy because I'm not used to you being showered in affections that didn't come from me."

"But when I saw how Chaewon unnie kissed you. I swear I almost punched Chaewon unnie."

"And it's just holy shit, I like you. Not Chaewon unnie. I like you. And it scares me."

"Because we've been best friends for more than half of our lives. Sure, we had our fights, but this time it's different, Tomi. This will definitely change things. I like you so much that it hurts to see you being all lovey-dovey with someone else. It scares me how it will change how I will act towards you. You know how I can't hide my feelings well, don't you?"

Hitomi nods, smiling faintly when Minjoo does so herself.

"You said that there shouldn't be any secrets between the two of us."

"So I told you. I like you."

There's a tense silence following that confession, a silence that Hitomi reluctantly has to end with a remorseful apology. She is sorry, but what's more to be said? "I'm sorry," she finally says after that torturous silence, exhaling deeply as she does it. She opens her mouth to add something else, yet words seem to fail on her tongue, and Minjoo catches it wrongly.

"No, it's alright," Minjoo sighs deeply, looking awfully dejected and sad as she runs her hand through her hair. "It's expected, you know? You like Chaewon unnie, so you must have liked her back, even just a little, to be her girlfriend after just a date."

"Min, listen to me," Hitomi tries to interrupt to no avail.

Yet Minjoo doesn't listen. She doesn't seem to hear it, frankly speaking. "Wow," Minjoo shudders out a pitiful laugh. "It's not enough that my ex-crush likes my best friend instead of me, and then somehow I like my own best friend, who is now dating my ex-crush? Geez, my love life sucks."

"But well, at least you're happy with Chaewon unnie, Tomi," she earnestly says, again with that sad smile on her face and eyes that looks too tearful for Hitomi's liking. "You two look good. She's cute, you're cuter. You two make a good couple."

And Minjoo is about to add something else, maybe a joke about how pitiful her love life is again, or something else; but Hitomi stops it, not wanting to hear any of it, and surges forward to silence her best friend with a method she knows best.

A sharp gasp escapes Minjoo's lips as Hitomi grabs her collar, pulling her closer until her lips crashed to Hitomi's lips. It was just a meeting between lips to lips at first, but then Hitomi starts moving her lips, then boldly snakes her hand to Minjoo's nape, inviting her further into the dance she enacted.

Minjoo's lashes flutter shut. She melts, surrendering herself to Hitomi's tune, tilting her head gently to the side to deepen their kiss, with her heart hammering against her ribcage and blood pounding on her ears. She embraces Hitomi, coiling her arms around the other girl's smaller frame, and just loses herself in Hitomi until their lungs burn in extortion, seeking oxygen they badly need after that breathless encounter.