Salmon Bagel and a Hot Chocolate

7 - Initiative

"Say it."

"No."

"Say it!"

"I don't wanna!"

"Say you love me!"

"I don't want."

"Please?"

"No!"

"Jihyo said you have to."

"She said it was part of the process," Minjeong groaned. "Which means I can take my time with it."

"But I want you to say it to me now." Yizhuo pouted.

"If you keep forcing me, I won't say it," Minjeong shrugged. "Let it come out naturally."

"As if." Yizhuo scoffed, taking a sip of Minjeong's hot chocolate.

"Hey!" Minjeong huffed, swatting Yizhuo's hand away from her drink. "Get your own!"

Yizhuo hummed, "Your pretty barista makes it nicer for you."

"Giselle made it," Minjeong pulled the mug towards herself and held it close to her. "You're so annoying."

"I'll take bullying as your way of showing me love," Yizhuo scrunched her nose. "So, what else happened?"

"She suggested therapy." Minjeong muttered, not the biggest fan of the idea.

"And what did you say to that?"

"That I'd think about it," Minjeong shrugged. "I wanted to ask you first. Yunjin as well, for a more professional input."

"I say if Jihyo the professional is suggesting it, then you should do it," Yizhuo told. "But also take your case and assign it to an imaginary person– would you tell them to do the same?"

"You want me to pretend I'm counselling someone?"

"Yeah," Yizhuo nodded. "So you can have your own professional opinion about it and see whether or not therapy is what you need."

"I'm gonna save myself the trouble of doing that and just go," Minjeong chuckled. "It should be fine. I trust Jihyo."

"She knows what she's doing." Yizhuo assured.

Minjeong hummed, wanting to move on from this topic, "How are things with Giselle?"

"Good." Yizhuo muttered under her breath.

"Uh oh..." Minjeong looked at Yizhuo in worry. "I know that tone. What happened? What did she do?"

"Nothing," Yizhuo sighed. "She's doing nothing."

"I'm confused."

"I'm always the one taking initiative!" Yizhuo huffed.

"First date?"

"Like, after that," Yizhuo muttered. "She barely texts back during the day."

"She's working during the day and you should be too," Minjeong reminded. "Yizhuo, it seems to me like you're just looking for problems."

"I'm not!" Yizhuo quickly said.

"You do this all the time," Minjeong pointed out. "The moment you fully start falling for someone, you try to run away from it."

"I do not do this all the time," Yizhuo scoffed, crossing her arms. "I like her! I wanna be with her. Why would I run away from it?"

"Tell me what she's doing that isn't up to your standards." Minjeong asked, shifting all her focus to Yizhuo.