The ice cream in Dahyun's hand is sweet. It is creamy and cool in the face of a warm summer day as she licks at it slowly, savoring each bite.
"You eat so slow," Momo chuckles.
She is sitting beside Dahyun, on the park bench, her fingers gently intertwined with the younger one's free hand. Her ice cream cone is long gone now, devoured in an instant. With nothing left to do as Dahyun eats, Momo is merely sitting on the bench and gazing at Dahyun fondly, her head propped against her arm on the bench's backrest. Momo's fingers drum out a tune of impatience on the back of Dahyun's hand, but Dahyun knows that the older one would wait a lifetime for her to finish her ice cream if that's what it takes.
In response to Momo's observation, Dahyun licks her ice cream languidly, her actions slowing deliberately, knowing from years of practice l that her teasing drives Momo mad. And as Momo scrunches up her nose at Dahyun, eyes narrowing into an affectionate and dangerous glare, the younger one merely kicks up her legs and continues licking her ice cream with a smile.
There's something comforting about the way everything seems to be holding steady as the years of their friendship grow. There are patterns of behavior that never ever change, like how Momo always waits for Dahyun without fail and how they always hold hands no matter what they do. How they share mugs of hot chocolate during the winters and how hot summer days are for ice cream on their favorite park bench. How Momo always eats quickly, devouring her ice cream recklessly, risking brain freeze with big bites and yet she still rushes in head first anyway. How Dahyun always eats slowly, her actions taken much more cautiously, no risk whatsoever in the careful way she eats.
People always question why they always hang out together when their personalities are opposites. Momo is loud while Dahyun is rather quiet. Momo is outgoing while Dahyun is reserved.
It's like fast and slow, hot and cold, recklessness and caution. But it doesn't matter to Dahyun how their differences outweigh their similarities. As long as Momo smiles at her in the gentle way that is possessing her right now, it's enough for Dahyun to know that she wants to stay with the older one for as long as she can.
"Dahyuni," Momo says, the affectionate and familiar tone drawing Dahyun out of her thoughts. "Can I..."
Dahyun laughs as she holds out her ice cream. It is normal for Momo to take a bite of her food even after finishing her own, so Momo doesn't even need to complete her question for Dahyun to understand. A gentle laugh follows and then Momo takes a bite rather than a lick of the ice cream, most likely to help Dahyun finish it even though Dahyun wanted to eat all of it on her own.
Dahyun tightens her grip on Momo's hand, a reflexive action whenever something surprises her. Perhaps their friendship isn't so steady after all whenever Momo does something absurd like that. But Dahyun really doesn't mind. She only rolls her eyes at the girl and then puts her focus back on enjoying her ice cream.
The walk back to the apartment is a real struggle for Momo, as Dahyun decides that what Momo did wasn't alright whatsoever, almost eating half of her ice cream. It is only when Momo grabs Dahyun's hand and drags her to run behind her that makes Dahyun stop complaining.
Well, when they arrive there, Momo gets into big trouble again. They step into the living room where the girls are watching TV and Chaeyoung, being the humorous person she is, immediately starts teasing Dahyun.
"It looks like your face ate more ice cream than you did, Dahyun." Chaeyoung points at the girls lips.
With that, Dahyun immediately runs to the bathroom to look in the mirror. Shortly after, a groan can be heard. "Momo! I have chocolate all over my lips! Why didn't you tell me?"
"I didn't feel the need to," Momo says with a grin as she comes up behind Dahyun, placing one hand on the girl's waist and raising the other to her face.
