Sweet - Chapter 5
Sweet - chapter 5
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Sweet
((Chapter 5))
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"We need to talk," she said.
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Seohyun stared forlornly down at her fingernails. The nail polish was a cheery pink color. Seohyun glumly wished it was a shocking, scarlet red. Would such a color suit her? Why did she feel like a little kid in a grown-up’s body? She felt so out of sorts with herself and didn’t quite know what to do. She scrutinized her nails further. Oh, look, the paint was chipping. She’d have to touch it up later. Seohyun was surprised that she couldn’t bring herself to care. A blanket was settled about her shoulders and she blinked at the sudden warmth.
"You’ll catch a cold."
Seohyun shifted over absent-mindedly to give Jessica more room. "Thanks for the blanket, unnie."
"Don’t thank me yet. Sooyoung just might kill one of us when she figures out her only blanket is missing."
Seohyun was roused part-way from her thoughts, smiling a little. "You like to test her."
Jessica snorted. "That’s all Yuri--I just add to the fire because it’s fun."
Seohyun laughed softly and then sighed, reverting back to her wilted, thoughtful state. Jessica frowned. This would not do.
"What’s up, Porkchop?" Jessica said in English, nudging the taller girl in the side. She knew full well what was on her mind, and Seohyun knew that she knew she knew.
Another sigh. Another frown accompanied that sigh.
"Everything has gone wrong," Seohyun said simply. Her shoulders were sagging. She turned to look at Jessica. "I’m tired, unnie."
Jessica’s heart ached. She cupped Seohyun’s cheek affectionately. "That’s because you listened to that silly girl. Yuri means well but she can get too excited sometimes."
"Who else could I ask, then? I’ve asked everyone already!" Seohyun despaired, throwing her hands up in a rare dramatic fit.
Jessica stared blankly at her.
"Is something wrong?"
"…"
"…"
"…"
"Oh yeah! I forgot about Sunny-unnie!" Seohyun clapped her hands together. She looked relieved to have remembered.
"…"
"I guess…not?"
"Dummy, you forgot about me."
Seohyun’s eyes widened comically. "Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry! I really did not mean to--"
"Hush, Seohyun. It’s fine. Don’t look at me like that--it’s not like you kicked my puppy or anything."
"You have a pu--?"
"That’s beside the point. The point is that I’m about to give you the best advice you’ll ever get so you better listen up."
Seohyun clapped her mouth shut.
"Figure it out yourself."
Seohyun blinked. "…I’m sorry?"
The blonde sighed, stretching lazily. "Look, the only person who has the magic formula is you. Yuri’s advice doesn’t suit you because it suits her--it’s what worked for her, not you. So the only advice that will work for you is the advice you give yourself. You know what to do already and you’ve somehow managed to do it."
"But…"
"No buts."
"B--well if the only advice that works for me is my own, then does that mean I shouldn’t listen to your advice of listening to my advice because it’s your advice and not mine and--"
Jessica’s eyes nearly crossed from the confusing monologue. "Hold up. Okay, so maybe my advice isn’t the best, but listen to it. Or else."
"…okay."
"Good."
"But Yoona doesn’t look twice at me," Seohyun continued on sadly. She wilted again, lip inching out further into a heart-breaking pout.
God, Jessica thought to herself, she may be smart but she’s so oblivious sometimes. "That’s what you think."
"She never says anything otherwise," she protested.
"Well, you never said anything about it in the first place."
"How can I!?"
"Then how can she?" Jessica rebutted calmly. "How can you expect her to? She guards her feelings as much as you--she’s just as afraid as you are. Have you ever thought of that, Seohyunnie?" The cool cement of the bench beneath them permeated their clothing, but both girls relished it.
Seohyun twisted her fingers through her hair, tugging lightly and rubbing at her temples to ease the ache building. She wished Yoona was the one with her hands in her hair. She wished--as much as she adored her unnie for doing what she did best and smashing common sense into her head, though she never usually needed it--that it was Yoona pressed against her side, seeking warmth. She breathed out and watched the puff of air dissolve in front of her. Right now, she felt blank. By no means was she feeling empty-headed--no, her mind was whirling about furiously as it always did. But suddenly, the world seemed to slow itself to a manageable pace, and everything seemed to just make sense. It wasn’t exactly an epiphany, she figured, because she probably knew it all along. It was more like her thoughts weren’t aligned just right, and finally it clicked into place. Seohyun pressed her folded hands to her mouth and stared at the weeds growing through the cracked sidewalk.
"Someone’s thinking too hard again." Jessica’s voice pierced through her ponderings (she certainly was not brooding because if she tried to brood one of her unnies would, without fail, laugh and say she looked adorable when she was trying to look suave and darkly sexy). "You know you might get wrinkles if you frown a lot."
Despite herself, Seohyun’s hand flew up to her forehead. "Unnie!" she cried out defensively, pouting a little.
"There there, my little duckling," Jessica chuckled, watching as Seohyun did her clouds of breath mingle in the air between them. "You’ll always look angelic, even when you do get old and wrinkly."
Seohyun heaved a sigh, though different than her previous sighing. It was one uncharacteristic of Seohyun, for it was an exasperated sigh. Naturally, the tone was infused with warm affection. "I give up," she said, unconsciously echoing her earlier words. Jessica didn’t fret too much. Seohyun was sitting up straighter and had that gleam in her eye that foretold of that infamous determination (stubbornness, according to her unnies).
Jessica frowned up at the sky as the wind began to pick up. She may have far more patience when it came to the baby of the group, but the biting chill could snuff the patience out of anyone. She held off the tensing of her facial muscles by reminding herself that while she would have a warm, human to cuddle up against when they returned to their dorm, Seohyun did not and that would simply not do.
Not if Jessica Jung had anything to say about it.
"What would that be?" Jessica prompted impatiently. "What are you giving up on?" she elaborated when Seohyun sent a puzzled glance her way.
Seohyun’s mouth opened in a perfect circle, apparently realizing she had spoken aloud. "My face," she answered promptly.
Jessica pursed her lips. She wondered if she had heard wrong. "Your face," she repeated slowly, as if by enunciating each syllable a clue to the direction of where this conversation had turned would be revealed to her in a poof of glitter and smoke.
"My face," Seohyun nodded. "I can’t help but look as cute and innocent as I am," she said, not even realizing that her words normally would have had an egotistical connotation to them--except that, again, she was Seohyun and ‘egotistical’ did not belong in the same sentence as she. Jessica nodded neutrally, deciding to let Seohyun talk for a bit longer as that stubborn glint returned to her tired eyes. "So instead of fighting it, I’m going to embrace it."
Jessica tried to stop herself. She really did. "Embrace your cuteness?" she cooed. "Let me help you!" She smirked and tackled Seohyun onto the sidewalk, ignoring the cries of how cold it was and did she know how unsanitary sidewalks are? "So," she said, helping Seohyun back onto the bench, "you were saying something about your face."
"Ah, yes," Seohyun brightened. "It has come to my attention that my attempts of becoming someone I am not have a high failure rate."
Jessica made a sound of disagreement. "Tiffany can be a goody-goody, too," she said. A wicked smirk crept across her face. "She can also be very, very bad." She cackled to herself.
"Continuing on," Seohyun continued, ignoring the lecherous expression that had crept onto her unnie’s face, "it has come to my attention that cute can be sexy."
"Oh?" Jessica inquired. "And how did you come to that conclusion?"
Seohyun shrugged, another uncharacteristic, casual gesture. Jessica hid a delighted smile. It seemed Yoona, however indirectly, could influence their straight-laced baby to let loose a little. "Unnie," she answered.
"What?"
"No, I meant Unnie."
"I heard you. I’m right here."
"No, my other unnie!"
"You do realize you have eight unnies under one roof alone?"
"I apologize--I was talking about Yoona-unnie." Seohyun’s cheeks had taken a healthy pink hue, but it was indiscernible if the color had come about from the thought of her unnie (no, not that one--that one) or the cold air.
"And?"
"And I see her as sexy," Seohyun said, lowering her voice adorably when she said the last word. "But I also think she’s cute. So I concluded that it is a matter of perception. Thus, Yoona-unnie can see me as more than merely ‘cute.’"
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Yoona pulled her hair into a messy bun, sighing as the cool air caressed her heated flesh. The crunch-crunch of the gravel alerted her of a presence behind her and she closed her eyes, waiting as the person sat down beside her.
"We need to talk," she said.
"Okay," Yoona agreed readily--because really, it wasn’t within her power to deny her Seohyun.
"You ran away again."
"I’m not now."
"Good. Because I have a few things I need to say to you myself."
She drew closer. "Only a few?"
"There are things much more important than talking."
"Such as?"
"You should know. You were taking such studious notes."
Seohyun didn’t shy away in a blush. Instead she leveled a calm gaze at her bench-mate. "I find that applying theory to real life helps me to further understand. Would you mind assisting me?"
Yoona’s lips quirked. "Depends on what you have in mind."
Seohyun stared hard at Yoona. Unbidden, thoughts of grabbing Yoona’s head in between her hands and pulling her towards her and pressing her lips (firmly, but softly, Seohyun imagined dreamily) into Yoona’s poured into her head. The shock of such bold thoughts (especially in the presence of the costar of her daydreams) startled her out of her staring.
"There is this girl," Seohyun began haltingly, but certain of herself. She snuck a peek at Yoona, who bit her lip to stop from squealing at Seohyun’s sheer adorableness. "And everyone likes this girl--it is quite understandable, of course, because she is the prettiest person I’ve ever seen." Seohyun tugs at her collar, suddenly feeling a little warm. Yoona’s burning stare isn’t helping her state either.
"The prettiest, huh?" Yoona smiled suddenly, and it is breathtaking. Seohyun can’t help but stare a little.
She recovered quickly. "Yes," Seohyun said hurriedly. "She’s the prettiest and funniest and kindest and…and everyone likes her."
"You said that already," Yoona said, amused. She slipped a lock of sleek hair behind her ear. Seohyun didn’t understand how this woman was always so confident, always so sure of herself.
"I did," Seohyun nodded. "I’m nervous," she admitted awkwardly.
"Don’t be," Yoona breathed. Her gaze was still, a gentle caress on Seohyun’s burning cheeks.
Seohyun flapped her collar discreetly. She figures she won’t cool down anytime soon so she trudged on. "Everyone likes her," she repeats, "but I like her more."
Yoona’s lips parted, a soft intake of breath. Her expression was tender and Seohyun couldn’t believe she couldn’t see it before. It felt right. It felt seamless. "Seohyun…"
"I like her more," Seohyun repeated abruptly, firmly. She was tense because in some ways this was her confession to Yoona. This was it. Except not because she was just hypothesizing with Yoona and Yoona couldn’t possibly know she was referring to Yoona, despite the tender doe eyes and the biggest smile Seohyun had ever seen on Yoona’s face. She couldn’t know. She couldn’t.
Could she?
"So, what are you going to do?" Yoona prompted gently, breathlessly, after a few moments.
"I need to make her see she likes me like I like her," Seohyun replied. She was staring hard at the tree across the street, hoping desperately that Yoona would hear the underlying meaning to her words. That Yoona would know that Seohyun wasn’t just in like with her, but that Seohyun was desperately, hopelessly smitten with Yoona. She just didn’t have enough courage to say this to Yoona’s face.
"And how are you going to do that?" Another prompt. How kind Yoona was, Seohyun thought, trying to make her as comfortable as possible.
"I…I don’t know." Seohyun furrowed her brow. "I have always hoped that…she would just like me without me having to be anyone other than myself. So I suppose I’ll just be myself…"
"And hope for the best?" Yoona supplied.
Seohyun sighed. "Yes."
"Oh, Seohyun," Yoona murmured, shaking her head. "How can you not possibly have realized that you are perfect the way you are?"
Seohyun tugged at her collar again.
"And just to let you know," Yoona said, "that in that hypothetical situation of yours? The girl you like would totally love you the way you are." She pursed her lips. "Hypothetically."
"Hypothetically," Seohyun agreed. Her cheeks hurt from the smile that stretched across her cheeks. She was sure this was the largest she’d ever smiled.
Yoona’s eyes smiled right back at her.
"I have a hypothetical situation of my own," Yoona said. "I am hoping that you would be willing to expand upon this with me?"
"I would be most willing," Seohyun said eagerly. It felt odd to feel so light.
"There’s this girl," Yoona began, "and she’s the prettiest girl in the whole wide world--prettier than the hypothetical girl in your hypothetical situation," Yoona added. Seohyun wrinkled her nose to show her disagreement, but remained silent. "And this girl is so genuine and so sweet and I like her a lot. And for a long time she seemed oblivious to my feelings for her, until one day she feels the need to impress me or something to get me to like her--as if I could like her any more than I already do. And I want to tell this girl that she’s adorable and I love her so much for trying but she really doesn’t need to because I like her already and there’s no need to reel me in."
"You love her?"
Yoona’s eyes widened as she noticed her slip. "Ah, yes, well…hypothetically."
Seohyun nodded. "Of course."
"So, anyways, there’s this one more thing. I have this overwhelming urge to corrupt her." Yoona’s eyes lowered at this and she bit her lip, looking up at Seohyun beneath her long eyelashes. "To take her innocence and make her mine." Something smoldered within those dark, dark eyes.
Seohyun swallowed, willing her heart to stop palpitating. "I’m sure," she squeaked (as the bold thoughts entered her mind once again), "that this girl you like wouldn’t mind being a little corrupted."
The two girls sat there and blushed, lost in their own thoughts.
They glanced at each other and looked away quickly, clearing their throats awkwardly.
"This is all hypothetical, right?"
"Right."
"Okay. Good."
"Yes. Good."
"I’m glad we had this chat."
"Me too."
"Yeah."
"…"
"…"
"So, this girl…do you suppose she’d like it if I asked her out to dinner at her favorite restaurant?"
Seohyun’s face flamed red. "Well, uh, I, I mean you--" she shook her head as if to get it on straight. "Perhaps this girl likes knowing the girl she likes likes her?"
Yoona’s eyebrows rose up in confusion. "So I should keep pursuing her like I am now?"
"She would like that very much," Seohyun said in a hushed voice.
Yoona smiled slowly, hopefully. "You think?"
"Yes," Seohyun said. “Girls like being pursued.” She blushed again. She spread her fingers out on the bench between them.
Yoona inched her own closer, biting her lip. They looked at each other shyly.
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"It’s about damn time," Hyoyeon snorted. She peered out from behind the tree. "Aw, they’re so awkward and cute together."
"Can we leave now?" Sunny groaned. "My arms are killing me."
"Oh, hush. You’re the one who wanted fried rice tonight."
"I didn’t think I was going to be the one carrying the groceries home!" Sunny retorted. "Aren’t you supposed to be, like, the butch of this relationship? I mean, you’re wearing pants!"
Hyoyeon laughed. "Honey, I’m the one who cooks and cleans. Besides, you’re the one who catches chickens."
Sunny groaned. "I’m never going to live that down, am I?"
"Well, it was kind of hot…"
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