someone // jiyoo

vi

Minji led her into a small lounge area at the back of the cafe, where she sat down on one side of the sofa and patted the empty space next to her. Yoohyeon timidly sat down, keeping a noticeable distance from the other girl, but Minji didn't seem to mind. She just sat there in silence while Yoohyeon sipped on her straw, keeping her eyes on her drink. Unfortunately she soon finished it and it would be weird to stare at an empty cup, so she had no choice but to turn her attention to Minji who was watching her with a smile on her face.

'Sorry, you just looked so cute like that.' Minji apologised, unable to hide the growing smile on her face.

There it was, another compliment. As hard as it was to trust that Minji truly didn't want anything from her, she was willing to try for her. 'My name is Yoohyeon,' she awkwardly offered, finding herself wanting to break the silence. Minji beamed at her words. 'Ah, that's a cute name for a cute person. I'm Minji.' She pointed to her name tag, stating the obvious.

The room descended to silence again and Yoohyeon looked around the small but cosy space, noticing there were a lot of different photos hanging on the walls. They ranged from photos of a baby looking into the camera with big, innocent eyes to a little girl riding her bike or eating ice cream. She was about to ask about them when she heard Minji laugh. 'Yes, that's me. My parents put them up, even though I told them not to.' Seeing Yoohyeon's confused expression, she added, 'My family owns the cafe.'

No wonder. Yoohyeon stood up to have a closer look at the photos, but an arm stopped her. 'Please don't look at them. I look horrible in those photos.' Minji begged, jokingly pulling her face into an exaggerated frown.

'You look cute though!' Yoohyeon argued while struggling to get out of Minji's hold, but she wasn't letting her. 'God, you're so strong!'

'For your information, I failed PE.' Minji declared, and Yoohyeon looked at her in disbelief. It was until she realised the other girl was joking that she let out a nervous laugh.

'Jokes aside,' Minji led her back to the sofa, her face suddenly all serious. 'I'm not going to push you to tell me what's bothering you, since we just met and all that, but I'm here for you if you want to.'

Yoohyeon nodded. 'I really appreciate that. But like you said, we just met so...' She looked down at her hands, feeling guilty. Minji was being so nice to her, all for her to say no.

'That's okay. I said I'm not going to push you, so I won't.' Immediately Yoohyeon felt her guilt fade away. 'Thank you,' she whispered.

'No problem. I respect your privacy,' Minji gave her a warm smile. 'And I'm pretty sure you're way cuter.'