Ji-yeong flinched when she heard the sound of a loud honk. The hotel they were staying at was placed right beside a big and apparently very active road. She could feel an arm tightening around her, a kiss being settled into the nape of her neck. "It's just a car, it's okay," a tired Sae-byeok reassured her. Her hand moved up and down the girl's exposed stomach, liking the way it felt so warm and smooth underneath her fingertips.
"Yeah," Ji-yeong answered, turning around on her back. "Do you know what time it is?"
The taller girl opened her eyes, looking at her with only one eye due to the blinding rays of sunshine that were leaking in through the pointless curtains. "I don't, no. But I can find out." She turned her head to look at the bedside table, where a small alarm clock was placed. "11.43."
"Do you have any plans for today?" Ji-yeong turned to look at the girl, studying her. Even though her hair was a mess and her face was a little puffy from just waking up, the shorter girl couldn't help the admiration in her eyes.
Sae-byeok rubbed her eye, silently yawning. "I do. I'm gonna go see my brother and then I need to find out some more about getting my mother out of the North." She focused her sleepy eyes on Ji-yeong. "Do you?"
"I mean, I'm not exactly planning on wearing that suit for longer than needed, so when you have time, we could go and get some new clothes?" Ji-yeong asked. "I could stay here while you go do what you need to do, and then you can come back and we can go together?"
"You don't need to stay here. You can come with me if you want to. I'm sure my brother would like you a lot." Just by mentioning the little boy, a soft smile overtook Sae-byeok's features.
Ji-yeong herself also felt a smile creep onto her lips. "I would love to meet your brother."
"Then that's settled," Sae-byeok stated, standing up from the bed. "But I think a shower would do us both a favor right now."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Ji-yeong asked with a teasing tone, an eyebrow kinking up as she waited for a response.
"I-" Sae-byeok felt her ears turning red with embarrassment while trying to find a good answer. But her mind was completely blank, and with every second that passed of her standing there, stuttering and turning even redder, she wished more and more she had just kept her mouth shut.
Ji-yeong couldn't keep in her laugh anymore, causing a confused Sae-byeok to tilt her head and look at the amused girl quite weirdly. "I was just kidding. You're right, we both do need a shower. I suppose you wanna go first?" A satisfied smirk settled on Ji-yeong's face.
Sae-byeok rolled her eyes, not being able to hold back a little smile. "Wow, okay. Yes, I'll go first... moron."
Standing under the warm water for the first time in days was exactly what Sae-byeok needed. How it ran down her body and soaked her greasy hair. The shampoo was absolute shit, though. On the label, it had said that it was scented with real lavender and a bunch of citrus oils, but if she had not read that, she would have never guessed. That it had any scent, to be honest. It just smelled kinda.. sour? "Disgusting," she thought out loud.
When she had dried her body with the towel and gotten on her suit, she returned to the girl in the other room that, apparently, had fallen back to sleep. Her hair was sprawled all over the pillow, eyes peacefully shut.
Sae-byeok, without a word, sat herself down on the bed, next to the resting girl, giving her arm a gentle stroke. "It's your turn," she calmly informed her, when she noticed how the girl had begun to slowly wake up and move her eyes.

YOU ARE READING
but she survived | sae-byeok x ji-yeong
Romance(squid game spoilers) what if they had removed that gun from ji-yeong's head and let her live? what if that piece of glass had never gotten in contact with sae-byeok's stomach? what if their bond had gotten its time to grow? what if ji-yeong's plans...