Wonyoung's groan echoing through the bathroom woke both the other two up.
"Whas' goin on?" Liz mumbled, tapping her knuckles on the door.
The sound of plastic packaging ripping followed after. Wonyoung stepped out and switched the light off. "Getting my period right after a nightmare. Wonderful," Wonyoung grumbled under her breath, walking a few steps past Liz. Rei sat up in her own bed blinking sleep from her eyes, groggily watching Wonyoung clutch her arms around her tummy and trudge into the room.
She hopped off her bed and settled on the foot of Wonyoung's, together with Liz who sat at the side and tucked Wonyoung back in.
"I'll go get you a towel," Liz offered, patting her head. "You look like you have a fever."
"Just had a nightmare," Wonyoung whispered, aware of the thin sheen of sweat still covering her forehead.
"About?"
I don't remember. All I know is that I don't have what - who - I need now.
"I forgot," she lied. Rei yawned and crawled forward, stopping near at Wonyoung's feet and sitting.
"I don't buy it," she said, stretching her wrists, "but I think it's about something only you would understand."
Wonyoung looked away guiltily. She reached for Rei's hand and gingerly held her index finger, like a child who had gotten scolded. Rei took her hand and pat it.
"We're here to support you no matter what, alright?"
"Okay," Wonyoung finally whispered. She pulled Liz and Rei into a hug and basked in their embrace for a few good minutes.
Later, they all squeezed into Wonyoung's bed, limbs overlapping over the covers to cool down under the air conditioning.
Wonyoung slept with a soft smile on her face, content for now.
.
Gaeul wondered where Yujin got the energy to fall asleep at 4AM and get up at 5AM to buzz around like a bee that had been dipped in Red Bull.
"I'm going to lose it," Yujin fretted, running around and tearing up their closet as Gaeul brushed her teeth. "You know what? Maybe Hyunseo's right," she bleated, staring at herself in the mirror and tracing her eyebrows with a finger. "I'm a loser! I haven't seen another girl since five years ago."
Gaeul spat in the sink. "Of course she's right, look at how you're behaving now. You almost trod on Azzo. And, she probably wasn't showing us any girl yesterday."
Yujin breathed a sigh of relief.
"It was maybe just a picture of a cat she saw on the way home. She's a little prankster," Gaeul snorted.
"Do I look ugly, Gaeul?" Yujin whimpered, staring at her reflection in the mirror.
"Are you dumb or are you messing with me? You're pretty, Yujin. Sickeningly so," Gaeul scoffed, pinching and pulling Yujin's cheeks with both hands.
"But I haben't been od a date for so log," Yujin said with her teeth bared as Gaeul continued squishing.
Gaeul walked out of the bathroom and flung open their closet to dress up for class. She picked out a white tank top and black jean shorts, then dabbed some lip tint on the apples of her cheeks and bottom lip with the pad of her finger.
"That's no problem girl, your face will do all the talking. Why are you so worked up about this blind date anyway?"
"Because I have to get over her," Yujin mumbled, a soft and shameful confession. "It's been five years. It'd be awfully pathetic if I were still in love with her."
Yujin clapped a hand over her mouth as Gaeul's head whipped back.
"No- no!" Yujin stuttered, waving both hands. "I'm not- That's not what I meant, I couldn't be in love with someone who broke my heart five years ago, that'd be dumb, and I'm not, I promise I'm not. I just have to get back in the game, that's all." Yujin laughed nervously to shake off the momentum, unwanting the tension. "Anyway, have fun at school! Be back early tonight."
She spun around to pick Azzo up and hurried out of the room.
.
Gaeul had thrown on a red oversized baseball jacket that read IVE GOT IT ALL in bold white letters on the back, feeling like the previous outfit was too plain.
"Hi girls!" she called out, bounding over to Liz and Rei in the distance. She backhugged Liz, who yelped in surprise but giggled after, turning around to hug her back.
"Where's Wonyoung?" she asked, noticing an abscence of a third girl.
"In the dance studio. We should go for practice now," Rei told her, breaking Liz and Gaeul apart with her hands, palms pressed together. She linked arms with both of them. "Let's go!"
.
Yujin stared at the puppy in her hands, taking a break from painting.
"Should I bring you along with me as a conversation starter?" she mumbled, looking over his soft white fur and stub of a tail. Azzo wriggled forward and licked her nose.
"You silly," Yujin laughed, putting him in her lap to pet him. She sighed, then slumped forward.
She looked at her work. Progress was going unusually slow this week.
She put Azzo onto the floor where he sat and started playing with a thread (possibly from Yujin's fraying apron).
There's no way in hell I'm still in love with her. I won't have it, no matter what.
Yujin picked up her pen again to continue drawing individual bricks into a wall. Tomorrow, a dealer from the Gangnam gallery would come to collect her newest piece.
I'll meet someone new and finally get my head cleared.
It would definitely fetch a handsome reward, the paper being over fifty centimetres in width and two hundred in length.
"I'll buy you something nice to eat tomorrow," Yujin said gently, reaching down to pat Azzo's head.
