A Pretty Girl Next To A Pretty Girl

17. Choker (Dayeon)

Nayeon's hands felt cool against Dahyun's neck as a pair of lips glanced across her cheek. The lipstick stained Dahyun with each touch, dark and red and glaring against her white skin. Dahyun couldn't see the marks on her cheek, but she knew they were there, just like they always were.

It was a familiar situation between Nayeon and herself, one that had Nayeon standing so closely that Dahyun could smell the older girl's Magnolia Nobile perfume better than her own Dior Addict. It was a familiar situation, and yet it had Dahyun's heart racing in an uncomfortable way all the same.

One set of long, slender fingers kept Dahyun's cheek in place while the other set clung tightly to the leather choker around her neck. Dahyun shivered and squirmed against the strength in Nayeon's hands, a strength that had her hopelessly frozen in place as the kisses rained down.

A few soft whines of complaint fell from Dahyun's lips throughout Nayeon's torrent of kisses. She could hear whispers of Nayeon's low and seductive voice in her ear as the count increased.

"Eighty four... Eighty five... Eighty six..."

It was a count up to one hundred because whenever Dahyun wore a choker, Nayeon couldn't help but catch her, imprison her, and kiss her one hundred times on the cheek.

"You always say you want me to stop," Nayeon mused, still kissing and counting between her words, "but you never run away. Why is it that you always stay?"

"Ninety one, ninety two, ninety three.'

"B-because you're holding on to my choker," Dahyun muttered, still squirming in Nayeon's hands. "You're forcing me to stay."

Nayeon burst into laughter, giving Dahyun's cheek and her heart a much needed break. She turned Dahyun's face toward her own, capturing Dahyun's wavering eyes in her playful gaze. "I'm not holding you that tightly, Dahyun-ah. You can leave whenever you want."

"But I... I really can't," Dahyun squeaked, much to Nayeon's amusement.

"Shall we test your claim?" Nayeon wondered. And suddenly, for the first time during a one hundred kiss ritual, the pressure on her choker was frighteningly nonexistent. Dahyun was completely free to leave as Nayeon placed the last seven kisses on her cheek, each one slower, softer, and somehow more poignant than the last.

"Ninety four... Ninety five... Ninety six..."

It was agonizing. Dahyun could feel the heat of her blush threatening to burn her skin redder than Nayeon's lipstick.

She never understood why Nayeon always did this to her when she wore a choker, singling her out with affection, always forcing her pulse into the danger zone with a hundred kisses and teasing smiles that drove her crazy. And it would be so easy for Dahyun to just pull away from Nayeon right now since Nayeon's cool hands weren't holding her in place, but...

"Ninety seven... Ninety eight... Ninety nine...'

"You're still here, Dahyun-ah," Nayeon whispered smugly.

A defeated sigh.

"...I know," Dahyun whispered back, eyes closed and waiting for a kiss that she was no longer being forced to receive but somehow still wanted, a kiss she admittedly still longed for.

"Open your eyes," Nayeon commanded her softly, and then the cool hands were back on Dahyun's cheek. For a moment, as Dahyun opened her eyes, she thought that Nayeon was trying to hold her in place again, suddenly concerned that Dahyun would run from the final kiss on her cheek, but then Dahyun felt Nayeon's hand tilt her chin upward, guiding her lips to Nayeon's.

The urge to run was overwhelming, as instinctive as the urge to hold her breath and let the panic consume her in that moment. But as Dahyun's eyes locked with Nayeon's, the older girl's expression still playful and teasing, Dahyun caught a hint of something deeper that rooted her in place, a glimmer of softness and sincerity that kept her motionless as Nayeon leaned into her slowly. No hands were needed on Dahyun's cheek or her choker to keep her still as Nayeon pressed her lips against Dahyun's lips in a gentle yet devastating kiss.

"...one hundred."