Limerence (Chaelisa)

Chapter 15: Fine with a Capital F

"Checking the time every two minutes isn't gonna make it pass by any faster," Jennie says from her spot next to me on the couch. Even though I promised myself that I would never touch the couch again after seeing Jennie and Jisoo making out on it, the couch is—depressingly—still the most comfortable thing in this dorm.

After returning from my final class of the day an hour ago, I got prepared and dressed up for my date tonight with Chaeyoung. I did everything I could do; I took a shower, dried my hair, put on the dress I got at the mall yesterday, and redid my makeup. And now I'm left with another three hours before the date.

"I don't know what to do," I whine as I sink further into the disgusting couch.

"Your homework?" Jennie suggests.

"The last time I practiced the choreography in here,  I knocked over the lamp."

"Oh yeah," Jennie recalls, "I'm still mad at you for that."

"Jennie, help me!" I dramatically exclaim.

"Don't you have work from four to seven every weekday?" Jennie asks.

My eyes bulge out of their sockets and I quickly scramble off the couch. "Holy shit I do," I realize. "Why didn't you remind me earlier?"

"Cause I don't really care," Jennie deadpans.

And so, I get my things and rush to the shop. By the time I get there, I'm already twenty minutes late, but thankfully, the manager isn't here today to see that. I'm about to send Chaeyoung a text telling her that I'm gonna be about ten minutes late when I realize that I don't even have her phone number in my contacts. And then it hits me that she might not even know where to meet up. "Dinner at the noodle shop closest to my campus at seven," I had said. There were tons of noodles shops that were close to the campus, how in the world was she supposed to know which one I had meant. I had gotten so scared by her roommate that I ran out of there without specifying anything.

"Idiot," I groan.

After two hours of working and thinking and working and thinking, the clock strikes six o'clock and I've come up with three ways on how to go about the situation.

Solution A: Run into every noodle shop within a half-mile radius of the campus until I see Chaeyoung in one of them.

Solution B: Run to Chaeyoung's apartment and pick her up there.

Solution C: Hopefully Chaeyoung will remember I work here from four to seven o'clock and show up here.

Solution A sounded really tiring. And even if I did eventually find Chaeyoung in one of the noodle shops, I'd be from about ten to thirty minutes late. If I went with Solution B, I'd have to skip work and leave thirty minutes earlier in order to catch her at her apartment. But considering the fact that I was already twenty minutes late to work today, I'm pretty sure my coworker would snitch me out to the manager. And then we have Solution C, which sounds the least tiring but we have the problem of Chaeyoung not remembering and not showing up.

I had finally got on good terms with Chaeyoung again and we were at the start of beginning a beautiful relationship. How do I manage to screw it up this badly?

Luckily, everything happens according to my Solution C plan and Chaeyoung steps into the shop about ten minutes before my shift ends. The shop is filled to the brim with customers and I don't even register her face before asking, "Welcome to Bubbly Boba Shop, how may I help you—CHAENG!" I end up exclaiming when I finally realize it's Chaeyoung. And oh my god she looks Fine. And yes, that's Fine with a capital F. Chaeyoung with a her hair done in a half-up half-down style was never something I thought I needed, but now I can't live without it. There's a slight blush on her chubby cheeks, and I can't tell if it's her makeup or if she's actually blushing; however, I know that I'm beet red in the face and it hasn't even been a minute since she walked in.

"Wow, you look really nice," she says before checking the time, "We still have ten minutes. I'll just wait until your shift finishes."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay," I brainlessly mumble as Chaeyoung steps off to the side to let the next customer order.

When it's finally seven o'clock, I hastily pull the apron off and leave with Chaeyoung through the door.

"Sorry for how I acted yesterday," I admit. "I wasn't sure if we were going to see each other today."

Chaeyoung softly chuckles. "Yeah, I wasn't sure what to do, either. It was Youngmi who told me to meet you here."

"She knows about us?" I ask, and then realize how stupid my question was. "I mean, of course she knows. She saw us yesterday. But she knows where I work?"

"She's been my roommate since last year," Chaeyoung explains. "I tell her everything. I told her about how I felt about you before I told you about how I felt you. It's kinda like how you have Jisoo and Jennie. I have Youngmi."

"Speaking of Jisoo," I remember, "I found out about what she did to you and I'm so sorry. I tell her everything as well and she's just protecti—"

"It's fine, I did deserve it for how I treated you back then," Chaeyoung cuts me off. "By the way," she changes the subject, "where are we going?"

"To the best restaurant in the entirety of Seoul!" I exclaim as we arrive at a bus stop.

We lapse into a few beats of comfortable silence, and I start thinking about whether or not Chaeyoung has told anyone else about us. It's not something that would absolutely mortify me if she told all her friends about our relationship, but it's just something that I don't want to happen yet.

To everyone, I've been straight my entire life. Sure, I've liked Chaeyoung since we were young but it was nothing anybody knew about. I denied my feelings for her all those years to the point where I didn't even know what love was anymore. Even Jennie and Jisoo weren't sure about my true feelings for her until I told them yesterday. What would it be like once I came out? Would anybody even care? How would my parents react? Are Chaeyoung and I even going to be a thing for a long time? Or is this thing between us just not going to work? Will we continue to be friends if it doesn't work out? Or will we never speak to each other again?

"Lisa?" I hear Chaeyoung ask. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," I automatically say. "It's fine."

My answer is unconvincing and Chaeyoung looks like she's about to ask something else but before she can, I notice the bus turning the corner and coming to stop. "Come on, let's get on," I say.

I pull out the change from my purse and pay for both Chaeyoung and I's bus fares.

"Thanks," Chaeyoung softly mumbles from behind me.

It's rush hour, but we manage to find a pole to hang onto near the back.

"Chaeyoung, are you sure you're okay?"

I pretend to be interested by the advertisement on the T.V screen at the front of the bus. "Yeah, of course I'm okay."

Chaeyoung obviously doesn't believe me and presses on. "Lisa, please."

I heave a sigh. "It's just that..." I trail off. "Are we making our relationship official? As in other people know about us?"

And now it's Chaeyoung's turn to mindlessly stare at the advertisement. She thinks for a while be saying, "The only person who've I told about us is Youngmi."

"The only person who I've told is Jennie and Jisoo."

"So do you want to tell other people about us?" Chaeyoung asks.

"No," I confess. "Or at least, not yet. It's just that I'm not sure if this is going to work out.

It comes out sounding worse than I intended it to be. I just meant that I didn't want to make it a big deal if our relationship was short-lived. It's not that I'm ashamed of her or my sexuality. Speaking of which, what is my sexuality? Chaeyoung's the only girl that I've ever liked, and I've had a few crushes on a few different guys through how school and my time at university.

Chaeyoung disrupts my train of thought when she curtly answer my previous statement with an, "Okay. If that's what you want."

Did I just screw everything up?

a/n: hey guys. so i'm thinking that i'll update every 4-5 days with slightly longer chapters that are about 1000 words long. i rly wanna finish this this summer instead of going on a one year hiatus again eeeeeek