𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞 - 𝐜𝐡𝐮𝐮𝐯𝐞𝐬

(THIRTY-ONE)

"Hyunjin, I'm gonna lose my shit if you don't help me," Jiwoo complained.

Her sister rolled her eyes and leaned her head onto her girlfriend's shoulder. "You like her," she teased, "It's that simple."

Jiwoo groaned loudly and flopped over the arm of the couch. "I'm sorry," Heejin interrupted, "I feel like I'm missing something here. Why is it such a bad thing for you to like Sooyoung? She's in my literature class, and she's a really nice girl. You'd be cute together."

The oldest girl covered her face with both hands so her voice would be muffled as she finally admitted, "I kissed her."

"You what?!" Heejin and Hyunjin shouted together.

"Why's that a bad thing?" Hyunjin asked, "You like her, so what's wrong with it?"

Jiwoo slammed her face into a pillow and screamed. "What's wrong with it?" She mocked. "Isn't it obvious? It's wrong because I liked it."

She rolled off the couch onto the floor and clutched the pillow close to her chest. She let out a rather annoying shrill whine as she continued to overthink the situation. She had kissed Sooyoung without asking, and she hated herself for it. But Sooyoung didn't pull away. And she didn't ask any questions about the kiss. But Jiwoo still couldn't help but feel bad because Sooyoung was her best friend. You shouldn't like kissing your best friend, right?

Little did she know, only a few blocks away Sooyoung was freaking out in the exact same way. She had called two of her friends to come over and help her talk through it, but it was mostly her hugging a pillow and rolling on the floor.

"Sooyoung," Jinsoul snapped, "Stop losing your shit for one minute and tell us what happened."

Sooyoung sat up and hugged the pillow, burying her face in it. "So, uh... Jiwoo might have kinda, sorta kissed me."

"That's great!" Both friends tackled Sooyoung to the floor and laughed. Sooyoung still seemed uneasy.

Jungeun knew this look. "You're overthinking again," she pointed out, "What's going on in your head?"

Sooyoung sighed. How could she explain her dilemma without spilling Jiwoo's secret? Sure, Jungeun and Jinsoul had never met Jiwoo, but Sooyoung wanted to honour the importance of what Jiwoo had trusted her with. Finally she found the words.

"I'm just worried she might regret it. That she might be uncomfortable or upset with me. We didn't talk about it, you know?" She threw her pillow across the room. "And I feel like a really bad friend for it. I didn't ask her first, and I really wish I would've..."

Jinsoul flicked Sooyoung's forehead. "You said she kissed you first, dimwit," she said, "So you couldn't have known in advance to ask if she wanted to kiss you. But clearly she did."

"No..." Sooyoung grumbled, "She kissed me to get other people to stop flirting with her and hitting on her. I don't think it meant anything to her, and I feel really bad because it meant something to me. And it shouldn't."

Hyunjin tapped Jiwoo in the shoulder with the toe of her shoe. "Seriously, Chuu," she nagged, "If she didn't want to kiss you she would've pulled away or hit you or something. She's not gonna hate you for kissing her." 

"Yes she will," Jiwoo whined, "I'm a bad friend and I don't know how to bring it up without making things weird and I don't want to change things because she's my best friend—"

Heejin placed a finger on Jiwoo's lips to shut her up. She joked, "You know you have to breathe when you talk, right?"

Both Sooyoung and Jiwoo spent the rest of the night pondering how to handle the situation, and they both decided they'd bring it up first thing in the morning on their way to school.

Neither of them knew the other's plan.