speeding up my heartbeat / purinz

06

Yunjin is recounting the last pile of ten thousand won notes when Sooyoung comes into the office.

"Hey, we're going for some drinks once we finish up," she says, in a voice that makes it sound like less of a question if Yunjin wants to come along and more like telling Yunjin she is coming along. "How's the till?"

"The cash is a little out, but the cards balance perfectly." Yunjin leans back in her chair, groaning and running a hand through her hair. "Always a miracle when it's as busy as it was today."

Sooyoung snorts. "Yeah, today was rough. Hence the drinking, so you better hurry up. Are you almost done?"

"Yeah, I just need to drop the cash into the safe and update the books. How's it looking upstairs?" Yunjin asks, scooting across the room to get an envelope for the cash.

"Pretty much all done," Sooyoung says. "Chaewon's mopping the bar and Yerim's sweeping the floors, the recycling just needs taken out and then we're good to go."

"Cool. I should only be another five or ten minutes. I assume we're going to Eclipse?"

"Of course," Sooyoung grins in a way that implies some drinks is going to be closer to several drinks rather than just one or two. "I'll see you upstairs."

There's a bar a couple blocks away called Eclipse that's the usual destination after Eden shuts and someone suggests going for drinks. It's open till 3AM, the drinks are good, and Yunjin has lost count of the number of times she's ended up there after a particularly hellish shift at Eden.

When they arrive, it's as crowded as it usually is at just before 1AM on a Friday night, but there's an empty booth that's clearly just been vacated if the empty glasses and wet napkins strewn over the table are any indication, and Sooyoung makes a beeline for it to claim it before anyone else does.

After a quick discussion, Yunjin and Yeojin get sent up to the bar to buy drinks, and when they get back to the booth the others are already sitting down, which is when it becomes clear that the booth is only meant for four people.

Currently, there are six of them; Yunjin, Sooyoung, Yerim, Yeojin, Jiwoo and Chaewon.

And of course, thanks to another stroke of bad luck from the universe, or just God saying fuck Jeong Yunjin specifically, after Yeojin squeezes in next to Yerim, the only space left is next to Chaewon.

Chaewon gives her another one of those amused little secretive smiles, like there's some big secret that only the two of them are in on. Which of course, there is, but Yunjin doesn't want anyone to know that, so she pretends not to see it, doesn't look at Chaewon, and insteads starts paying attention to the impressive rant that Yerim is going on about a rude table she had earlier.

It's hard to keep focus on Yerim's tale of woe though, because while she might be actively not looking at Chaewon, it's incredibly hard to ignore the fact that Chaewon's entire left side is pressed up against Yunjin's entire right side. She can feel the heat of Chaewon's body bleeding through her jacket and Chaewon's shirt, their knees keep bumping under the table, and they're close enough that she can smell Chaewon's perfume. It's sweet and fruity, and Yunjin hates that she recognises it from Wonderland, that it was the same scent that lingered in her bed the morning after until Yunjin chucked her sheets into the laundry.

While Chaewon is suitably distracted by the conversation — Yeojin is now gleefully verbally annihilating some woman who complained that her piña colada wasn't lactose-free — Yunjin sneaks a glance at her; she's changed out of her work clothes into looser light blue jeans and a low-cut white tshirt that offers a devastating amount of cleavage. Yunjin looks away quickly, feeling her face warming up already. Not that it matters much; she already knows what Chaewon looks like without her clothes, and her mind has already conjured up the memory of Yunjin leaving a trail of hickeys down Chaewon's chest. Idly, she wonders how long it took before Chaewon could wear something low-cut after that.

An hour and three drinks later, Yunjin is at the bar getting another round for Sooyoung and herself, when Chaewon pops up next to her. It's probably those three drinks that give Yunjin the strength to act normal — although she does feel her ears go red, but she can just blame that on the alcohol — and she's feeling loose enough now to smile at Chaewon and say hi, and then, when the bartender comes up to her a second later, to ask Chaewon what she's having.

Yunjin orders their drinks, a Malibu and pineapple juice for Chaewon, a blackberry cider for Sooyoung, and a whiskey sour for herself, and when she turns back to Chaewon she sees her nose wrinkled in the most adorable way.

"Are you going to insult my drink choice again?"

Chaewon laughs. "Wouldn't dream of it."

The bartender places Yunjin's drink down and before Yunjin can react Chaewon reaches out, picks it up and takes a sip. Yunjin stares at her. Chaewon hums thoughtfully, and then hands the drink back to Yunjin. Their fingers brush and Yunjin almost drops the entire thing.

"It's alright, for a whiskey sour," Chaewon says, smile curving into something a little more dangerous. "Mine taste better though."

Yunjin huffs out a laugh. "I still haven't tried one of yours. They better live up to the hype."

"I think you know that I'm not all talk," Chaewon says, the glint in her eye beckoning to Yunjin like a siren.

This— this is not flirting. They're talking about a fucking drink. The most boring and basic of whiskey cocktails after a highball. There's nothing flirty or sexy about a whiskey sour.

And yet.

Maybe it's the dim light and warm air of the bar, or the fact that this is the closest she's been to Chaewon since Wonderland, or just that Chaewon's voice apparently makes everything she says sound vaguely suggestive thanks to Yunjin's stupid horny lizard brain.

Chaewon clinks her glass against Yunjin's in a little cheers. "Thanks for the drink, Yunjin-ssi," she says, and then she disappears into the crowd on her way back to the booth, leaving Yunjin to stare at the faint lipstick print on the rim of her glass.