Slow Journey || 2KIM

Chapter 3

Here it is. Here is the first moment Minju actually gets nervous at college and for college related stuff. After a couple of months of having the time of her life... here she is now, finally getting stressed. Finally realizing that... college is mostly and mainly and firstly coming, all about studies, and the rest comes second... So here she is now, fidgeting with her fingers, playing with the pen in her hands or bitting it from time to time out of nervousness as she's deep in studying the book in her hands, sitting behind the library's counter. Yes, she's studying at work once again. Fortunately for her, working at a library provides her lots of hours sitting down and doing literally nothing —sometimes she use this quiet time to sleep if the girls haven't come over to keep them company with their loudness as they usually say— so she uses those times well to study in silence. And from what she knows since the group chat is pretty quiet these past few days... everyone else is busy studying too. Either at their homes or at the campus library. While here she is, with Sakura, at Sakura's library, both of them deep into studying.

Sakura's phone buzzes for the nth time making Sakura raise it from the counter's desk and look at the text through the notification before she smiles and lets her phone back down on the desk. Minju looks at her carefully before she looks back at her own book again, choosing her words carefully before she says,

"You smile a lot every time Chaeyeon texts you." Sakura flinches slightly before she looks at Minju with a slightly frozen expression, looking like a surprised robot which is trying hard to un-lag itself and work properly again.

"She's funny that's why. She keeps sending funny pictures of herself, I don't even know how she's studying!" Sakura exclaims before she chuckles lightly.

"She's not studying."

"She does."

"She's busy texting you." Minju says before she pauses from reading her book, crosses her arms on it and looks at Sakura. Yes, she might be nervous and stressed that exams are extremely close, but she's not stupid, when there's love she can detect it even if she's not that good at observing things.

"Are you interested in Chaeyeon? Have you made that question to yourself, unnie?" Minju decides to ask her slowly, careful to not put a lot of weight on Sakura's shoulders, just in case she wasn't aware of her feelings yet. Sakura pauses again before she blinks, her eyebrows frowning slightly, looking a bit in disbelief.

"What do you mean exactly? Interested as in... how?"

"Romantically." The more Minju thinks about it and the more it makes sense. Chaeyeon and Sakura have been close for months yet it felt like forever for them and for everyone else around them. Their bond is extremely strong and everyone can see how they both rely so much on each other, how much they trust each other, how they can't be away from one another. Sakura frowns even more though, looking definitely unaware of her feelings and Minju feels a bit in an odd position being the one to make her realize how she feels and what she feels towards Chaeyeon. Did it have to be her out of all people to be by Sakura's side when it comes to this? Minju sucks at these things!

"Eeeehhh!?" She ends up letting out a slightly louder than needed exclamation out of surprise.

"Nani!? How what!? Me and Chaeyeon? How why!? Romantically?" And so Sakura started mumbling out loud incoherent Japanese words. Yes, that's how shocked she was. She definitely wasn't aware of it and Minju regrets making her aware like this. She should have been more careful. Fortunately for Minju, she knows a bit Japanese so she understand what Sakura is saying even if those are incoherent words that make no sense at all.

"Yes, unnie, romantically. Don't act like you don't know. Nako and Hitomi are romantically involved. Haven't you thought at all about your feelings towards Chaeyeon?"