Like A Forest Fire || Bbangsaz

VII.

"Tell me one more time what happened."

Hanni groans in frustration, standing in front of the mirror of the tiny bathroom of her apartment, dress still half unzipped and make up only partially done. "Yunjin... please pay attention." She takes a shaky breath, trying to calm down her nerves. "I already told you - we had coffee and talked and then she stayed afterwards to write and I had to work, but I was obviously kind of distracted because she's just... she's so interesting and passionate about so many different things and she's so attractive, like, I've never seen- well, anyway, I just couldn't really pay attention to work and I thought to myself, maybe I should just do it, you know? Fuck being cliché. So I wrote down my number on one of the coffee cups and-"

"YES!" Yunjin yells out, pumping her fist up in the air, before calling back to the kitchen. "Chaewon, get your ass over here, you owe me twenty bucks!"

"No way!" Chaewon's voice comes from the kitchen.

Hanni frowns at Yunjin. "Wait, what-"

A moment later, her other roommate appears next to Yunjin.

"Damn it, Hanni..." Chaewon mumbles out in frustration. "Couldn't you keep in in your pants for just one week longer?" She pulls a five dollar note out of the back pocket of her jeans and hands it to Yunjin with a frown. "You'll get the rest later. Way to go, Han..."

Hanni turns around to look at her roommates. "What do you mean, what are you talking about?" Her eyes go wide. "You guys made a bet?"

Yunjin smiles proudly. "Chae's idea."

"Kim Chaewon!"

"What?" Chaewon smiles innocently. "Come on, Hanni, any time we said anything remotely close to your job, you start talking about this girl. Minji this, Minji that... and then all this nonsense about never writing your number down on someone's coffee cup - of course we made a bet." She rolls her eyes and shakes her head i disbelief. "I guess I just had a little bit more faith in your stubborn ass than Yunjin."

Yunjin laughs loudly. "Please... We all know that Hanni is whipped as fuck."

"Guys!" Hanni exclaims, feeling herself blush scarlet right away.

Chaewon grins at Yunjin, ignoring Hanni's comment completely. "She totally is, isn't she? Like a smitten fifteen year old."

"Oh my god..." Hanni breathes out, turning back to the mirror. "I hate you. Both of you."

Yunjin laughs. "Your words mean nothing to me, Pham. Remember that one time you would never, ever, write your number down on a Starbucks cup? Look how that turned out-"

She only has a second to back up when Hanni suddenly spins around and tries to throw a towel on her roommate's face.

"You're not helping!" Hanni exclaims, sounding a little desperate. "God - can you please stop being idiots for ten minutes and help me get ready for tonight?" She turns back to the mirror, her voice a little shaky as she adds. "I'm nervous, okay?"

Immediately, Chaewon's face breaks into a sympathetic smile.

"All right, all right," she says, walking up and zipping Hanni's dress from behind, straightening the fabric. "There's no need to be nervous, babe. I'm sure Minji really likes you - and Hanni, you look gorgeous, okay? We're just messing with you a little bit."

Hanni takes a deep breath. " I just - she makes me - God, im so awkward."

Yunjin grins. "That's a fact."

Chaewon shoots her an angry glare, so she puts her hands up in defense and quickly adds, "Hey, but this girl tried to get your number for weeks, right?" she grins, leaning back against the bathroom door. "I'm sure y'all are going to get married one day and do all that romantic, cliché stuff that you always pretend to hate. And Chaewon and I will have a field day because you'll tell us you won't ever do any of those things, and then you'll go ahead and do them anyway and we get to take each other's money for it." She leans forward and slaps Hanni's ass from behind. "Everyone's happy."

Hanni doesn't even bother to reply with something witty. She just stares at her reflection in the mirror, at her messy hair and flushed cheeks. She doesn't even remember the last time she was so nervous about something. Her heart is racing in her chest as she glances at her phone to check the time. In an hour, she'll be picking up Minji for a date. A date, an actual date.

Chaewon smiles at her excitedly, Yunjin just looks smug, and Hanni can't do anything besides blushing and running a hand through her hair.

God - why is she doing this again?