The Tiger King (Chaelisa)

37| Confessions: Part 2

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"Stress eating, huh?"

Dahyun lifted her head up from the burger she was gulping down. "Oh hey Chae. Going to Mina's?"

"She still got half an hour to go before she's free. Mimi?"

"Cramming in dance practice."

Chaeyoung dropped into the diner seat in front of Dahyun and stuck her hand out to sneak a fry from Dahyun's tray. She wiggled her eyebrows mockingly when the other girl made a disgruntled noise of protest at the action.

"Get your own food! The cashier is just behind you!"

"I gotta run back to class soon, it's just one measly fry—"

They chatted back and forth for a good while, mostly complaining about their workload or laughing about Lisa and Somi's antics.

"Hey, Dub, I know we're not hanging out much lately, what with school and stuff—"

"By stuff, do you mean banging Mina at her apartment on a regular basis?" Dahyun winked, "cos' I gotta say, you two have one hell of a libido and one hell of a stamina too, or so I heard."

Chaeyoung's face flushed red. "What—no, no! I mean....who told you anyway?"

"I have my sources, like all good journalists do," Dahyun smirked as she settled back in her seat. "Maybe if you tone it down with the bedroom gymnastics, we wouldn't be here right now and you'd look slightly more alive. Mina must be quite a handful. They always say the quiet ones are the wildest in bed."

"Whatever, I'm not here to talk about me right now," Chaeyoung said hastily, "I'm here to talk about you because we haven't checked up with each other lately. How are you holding up over that Hirai jerk?"

Chaeyoung hadn't known her until they both discovered they enjoyed boxing and struck up an unlikely friendship—with the quieter, thoughtful Dahyun a contrast to blunt, easy-going Chaeyoung—but since then, the stocky boxer had been there for her through her ups and downs with Momo. She checked up on Dahyun regularly in her casual nonchalant manner. She had comforted Dahyun and organised a girls pyjama party with Somi where they all scoffed ice cream, played games and watched movies. And when Dahyun got sniffly at one point, Somi and Chaeyoung encouraged her to cry it out, sandwiching her between their hugs.

"I'm good," Dahyun assured as she sipped on her cola. "Really Chae, you worry about me a little too much. You should be worrying about grades right now."

Chaeyoung fidgeted with her nails. "It's just...I don't mean to pry but I wonder if it's wise to jump into a relationship with Wang so soon..."

Dahyun sipped her drink too quick and spluttered, coughing harshly. "Wha—I didn't—I told you we're not together—"

"Oh. You hang around him so much these days I thought you had started seeing each other by now."

If only you knew, Dahyun thought inwardly. She cleared her throat. "He's nice, he doesn't treat me any differently even though he was right there that day...he's just fun to be around with. I like him but not like that."

"Alright then," Chaeyoung nodded and stood up, "I gotta go pick up Mina. Just take care okay? You'll get through this. Call me if you need something."

Dahyun gave her a wan smile. "Yeah...for sure..."

She settled to brood in relative silence once her friend left the café still teeming with students craving a quick caffeine fix or junk food. Although her laptop was open in front of her, she couldn't bring herself to start on work—she was too busy contemplating her peculiar position.