sun and star | petalz

14. bet you wanna

When the scene was done, Kazuha ran from the set like there was a rabid dog on her tail.

She felt guilty for leaving Chaewon, but the girl also had to shoot a scene in a few minutes, so she wouldn't be bored for long. However, though, Kazuha needed to get away from Miyawaki Sakura.

"Kazuha-chan, wait!"

Oh no.

That was Sakura.

Kazuha ran faster, her long legs propelling her along as she darted down a flight of stairs, turning briefly to check if-

Something slammed into her.

"Zuha," Sakura breathed out, and Kazuha was silenced as the older girl gripped her arms, staring into her eyes. "What's wrong?"

Kazuha looked into her eyes. Sakura really was beautiful, some odd part of her thought. Her eyes were perfect, brown, and concerned, framed by her blue-gray hair, which fell around her face, messed up by the run. Her skin was pale but flushed from the exercise, and her lips- well.

Kazuha really, really, really wanted to kiss them.

But then Sakura continued to look at her, and the spell was broken.

"I'm sorry, I can't."

"Can't- what?" Kazuha slipped out of Sakura's grip, and turned to continue running. "Zuha, wait!"

"I can't do this!" Kazuha burst out, whirling around at the foot of the stairs to face Sakura. "I can't do this back-and-forth, I can't do you getting angry at me then being confused, I can't do you and Soobin, I can't do you or Soobin, period. I can't do this anymore! I've been professional my whole life, and all these feelings are messing me up!"

No, no, no, shoot.

Feelings.

Sakura knew.

No-

"Feelings?"

Kazuha said nothing. Everything was in such a bad state right now.

"Kazuha."

Sakura was looking at her, all concerned, and it made Kazuha's stomach flip.

She continued to stay silent.

"Kazuha, what is it?"

Sakura was speaking in Japanese now, and the soft tone made Kazuha feel even more on edge.

"Please, talk to me."

"Suki desu," Kazuha blurted. "A lot."

Then Kazuha's fight-or-flight instincts kicked in, and she ran.

- - -

"That was stupid," Kazuha grumbled to Chaewon as the two sat on Kazuha's bed, gaming.

"Mm," was the other girl's reply. Her scene had gone fine, and they'd retired to Kazuha's room to play games and lose some brain cells. So far, it was working great.

Sakura hadn't run after her, probably too shocked to do anything. Kazuha didn't blame her, but it hurt anyway. The girl had just stood there as Kazuha darted through the door and practically leaped into the elevator to get away.

Just then, Kazuha's car ran into a banana peel and swerved wildly. Chaewon, meanwhile, got a power-up, and only went faster.

Kazuha yelped in outrage, which set off Chaewon snickering. The two girls ended up pausing the game and laughing their hearts out for no reason in particular, expelling all of the feelings they'd built up over the past few days. Chaewon's drama with Yunjin, Kazuha and Sakura, the movie, the pressure. All of it flew out as they laughed, rolling on the bed, holding their stomachs.

"You deserved that," Chaewon laughed as Kazuha cackled so hard a tear leaked from her eye. "That banana peel. Gotta trip up those long legs sometimes."

"I hope your power-up makes you drive off a cliff," Kazuha retorted, which made Chaewon laugh even more. They resumed the game, and Chaewon wound up doing just that by accident, so Kazuha slammed the pause button as she bent over, practically shrieking with giggles.

"Sh- sh- shut up," Chaewon gasped, also laughing. The two lay next to each other as their chuckles slowly subsided.

"So, that was a crazy few days," Kazuha said once they were finished, and Chaewon nodded in agreement. "I can't believe we both fell in love."

"We did WHAT?!" Chaewon screamed, and she leaped up. 

It was only then Kazuha realized Chaewon didn't know about her and Sakura yet, and the look the black-haired girl was giving her was scary, so she spilled. She told her about their meet-cute in the hall, Soobin, the rain scene, the office fight scene, the screaming, the chasing and finally Kazuha's on-the-spot confession.

"Wait," Chaewon finally said when Kazuha was done. "Suki desu means what again?"

"Well, it's 'I love you,' but not seriously, more like 'I like you,' like crush-like."

"Why didn't you just say aishitemasu?"

"Chae, aishitemasu is a little extreme, don't you think?"

"Yeah. You could've said saranghae, though."

"We were speaking in Japanese! Cut me some slack, all right?"

Chaewon shrugged and turned over on the bed. "I guess so. That's fair. But still. Wow. You and Miyawaki Sakura, huh?"

"Whoa, don't get ahead of yourself." Kazuha propped her chin up on her hands. "I really do like her, but I don't think she likes me. I really don't think so. She has to like Soobin, or at the very least not like me."

"Hey, hey!" Chaewon slapped her lightly. "She's got to like you, Zuha. I mean, who doesn't? You've got a great personality, and you're pretty good-looking. You seem to have connected with her. I mean, I don't really pay attention to you guys, but-"

Kazuha laughed, cutting her off. "Thanks for the support, Chae."

Chaewon shrugged and restarted the game, and more shrieking laughter echoed from their room as Kazuha slipped on yet another banana peel.

Meanwhile, outside, a certain blue-haired Japanese actress was approaching her room, but heard laughter coming from the one next door.

Sakura stopped and listened, hearing Chaewon laugh at Kazuha, who yelled in indignation.

"Chae, I swear to God, I didn't land on that!"

"It's what the screen says, Zuha! Eat my dust!"

More laughter. "This peel is following me, what the hell- CHAEWON! YOU SENT THAT, I SAW YOU!"

Sakura resisted laughing aloud at the younger's antics, but an interesting pang resounded in her chest as she listened to Kazuha having so much fun with someone else.

It was pointless, she thought. They were coworkers and only that.

But if they were only coworkers, why did Kazuha say that she liked Sakura? In what way did she mean it?

And the biggest thing- Sakura didn't like Soobin. In fact, she was lesbian, and had dated several Japanese idols in the past. Soobin didn't seem to know that, however, and kept trying to ask her out; but Sakura wasn't interested.

The person she was interested in was, in fact, laughing meters away from her in a hotel room.