You're The One I Want | Winrina

The Basic Stuff

They went out for coffee after breakfast.

In their university days, the two of them had hopped between as many different coffee shops in town as they could, trying to find the best one possible. It took their whole first year of exploring every inch of the town to find the one they were most happy with. They'd found it on the last day of first year, the two of them on a high after finishing their exams, running around the city to try and see everything they hadn't seen already before they left for the summer. It was a small place, and unless you knew it was there or happened to stumble upon it by accident, you wouldn't have found it. It had large sofas with plush cushions, the best coffee and some of the friendliest people working there, and in the coming years, it had quickly become one of Jimin and Minjeong's most frequented place in town, besides the bar that Minjeong worked at.

They both ordered a coffee and claimed ownership of the window seat as they always did, looking out into the street outside, sinking into the seats while steam from the coffee swirled into the air.

"So I had this idea," Jimin said, drumming her fingers up and down on her mug.

Minjeong took a sip from hers. "Dangerous," she remarked.

"I was thinking about this reunion business," she said, ignoring her comment.

"...And?"

"...And I was thinking, well maybe, what if we pretended that we were a couple?"

Minjeong choked on her drink. She coughed for a little while, batting a hand against her chest as she laid her mug down on the table and stared at Jimin with wide eyes. "Jimin, when I told you to sleep on it, I didn't mean for that to be your solution."

"I know, I know, I was just thinking that it would only be for the weekend, and we'd be able to shut Yuqi up, and it would make my Mum happy, and then... then if she asks about it, I can just say that it didn't work out, she can't be too heartbroken about that, right?" Her voice fizzled away, and she stared down at her cup. Minjeong was suddenly very hard to look at.

"Jimin..." Minjeong said, still staring wide-eyed at her, frozen in space. "This is crazy, you know that, right?"

Jimin sighed, and looked back down at her coffee. "I just thought – y'know we're friends, we know each other well enough that it wouldn't, y'know, mess anything up and actually you know what, forget it, it's a terrible idea," she gabbled, slinging the mug back onto the table, burying her head in her hands, sinking back into the sofa.

Minjeong stared at her for a moment, eyebrows raised. "I feel like I just watched a car crash of a thought process," she said. "Horrifying, brutal, and somehow I just can't look away."

"Ha, ha," Jimin said, rolling her eyes and sweeping her mug into her hands and taking a long swig.

Minjeong let out a laugh and shoved her gently in the shoulder. "I mean, c'mon," she said, "There's got to be a simpler solution to this."

A few moments passed, and they both focused their attention on their drinks.

"In any case, wouldn't your parents already know who I am?" she asked, breaking the silence between them.

Jimin fiddled with the handle of the mug and didn't speak for a few seconds before looking up at her again. "I've never really told them about you, Jeongie."

Minjeong blinked. "You haven't? Not ever?"

"Maybe in passing. But not, like, by name."

Minjeong stared at her, her eyebrows raised.

"Don't like to talk about my life to them," Jimin muttered, waving a hand in front of her face. "Gives them more to criticise."

She said nothing at that, and Minjeong shook her head. "Don't worry about it," she said. "It was stupid idea. I'll think of something else."