After eating dinner, both Yizhuo and Aeri were at the bed, somewhat cuddling. Yizhuo was busy drawing on her iPad as Aeri was back hugging her. 

“Huh,” Aeri was surprised.

“Hhhmm, what is it, babe?”

“Minjeong has my day stories,” Aeri deadpanned as she stared at her Instagram. She had known Minjeong as a person who doesn’t use her social media as much as them. The blonde girl does occasionally update, but never stories. “She uploaded a lot.”

“Wait, for real?” The Chinese girl immediately abandoned her iPad and looked over her girlfriend’s phone. Indeed, Minjeong had posted multiple my day stories on Instagram.

“C’mon, Minjeong-ah.”

“I don’t want to.”

“But you lost the game, remember? Now, do the punishment.”

“Wait,” Yizhuo focused more on the story, “Jimin Unnie’s taking the video?”

Minjeong looked at the camera hesitantly, clearly forced to do something. The blonde girl put both of her hands near her face and, “Ruff ruff!”

“So cute!!”

“Did she just,” Yizhou was too speechless to continue, “Yeah, I think Minjeong just barked,” Aeri added.

The other stories that were posted on Minjeong’s Instagram were mostly about them teasing each other and doing punishments during their apparent date at the Amusement park. Yizhuo and Aeri were both surprised to watch them as their friends literally acted like a couple on a date. “They are really taking this fake dating thing seriously, huh,” Yizhuo uneasily commented.

“I guess so.”

Yizhuo immediately took Aeri’s phone, “we should check out Jimin Unnie’s account. For sure she posted something.”

“Babe,” The older girl nudged her girlfriend, “hhmm?”

“That’s my phone,”

“I know.”

“I should be the one-”

“Hush, love,” Yizhuo silenced her lover, “I’ll return your phone after this. Oh, here it is.” They looked over Jimin’s profile and saw some updates. The raven-haired girl not only made a lot of stories, but she also posted a picture of her and Minjeong’s hands intertwined and captioned it, Date ❤.

“That’s...sweet,” Yizhuo commented. Aeri, on the other hand, had a bad feeling over this. She had already talked to Jimin about her guarding her heart against Minjeong and her giving the blonde girl some special treatment. But it seemed Jimin continued to contradict what she said. Oh, Jimin.

Aeri whispered to her lover’s ear, "Babe, let’s look at her stories.” Yizhuo immediately checked. 

Unlike Minjeong’s that were videos, Jimin's stories were pictures of her and Minjeong as they enjoyed their time at the amusement park. The pics radiate happiness, which, in some ways, made both Yizhuo and Aeri happy and worried.

They are happy to see their friends happy, but knowing the circumstances surrounding Minjeong and Jimin, they can’t help but feel worried.

*rings*

Yizhuo’s phone suddenly rang. She took it out from her pocket, only to see her best friend's name on the screen. The younger girl immediately thinks something was wrong as she couldn’t think of any other reason as to why the blonde girl would call her at night.

“Babe,” she kissed Aeri’s cheek, “I’ll take this call for a minute, okay?”

“Okay, babe.” 

Yizhuo immediately left her room and went to the end of the hallway, where she knew her girlfriend wouldn’t hear. “Hell-”

“Ning, can a person kiss deeply and passionately without having feelings for the other person? I mean, it’s normal, right? There’s no meaning behind it? I don't think it has any meaning at all.”

“Wha- Not even a Hello? Really, Minjeong Unnie?”

“Sorry.” She hears the other girl groan and nonchalantly says, “Hi Ning Yizhuo.” She rolled her eyes, “the lack of sincerity and enthusiasm sure makes me feel happy.” She sighed, “Anyway, what is it you want? I think I heard some questions?”

“You really want me to ask again?”

“Duh! You blabbered too fast, I didn’t catch it.” She heard Minjeong gulp, “I was asking about...”

“About?”

It was silent for a while until she heard Minjeong sighed heavily, “I was asking...can people kiss deeply and passionately without having feelings for each other?”

“That’s your question?”

“Yes.”

“Huh, did you and Jimin Unnie kiss again?”

“Wha- that’s not- why are you assuming things, Ning Yizhuo?!?” Yizhuo could definitely tell Minjeong was panicking.

“Maybe if you react and ask properly then I wouldn’t speculate.”

“Just answer my question, okay? Geez..”

Yizhuo shook her head, “Of course, people can kiss passionately, whether they have feelings or not. I mean, actors do that if necessary, remember?”

“Yeah, you’re right.”

“Is that all?”

“Yeah, thanks.”

“Okay,” Yizhuo was weirded out as to why her best friend was asking a simple question, after all, both of them are Performing Arts Major students, and this topic had been discussed is no biggie for them. “Why do you ask, by the way?”

“Ah, nothing.” The blonde girl’s voice was a pitch higher than normal. She was being obvious. “It’s definitely not nothing, Unnie.”

“It really-”

“Don’t lie, Unnie.”

She heard Minjeong groan, “It’s...from a movie I watched a while ago.”

Yizhuo facepalmed herself, she wasn’t amused at all. “Yeah, right. The earth is also flat, Unnie.” The Chinese girl sighed. She knows how her best friend tends to lie a lot when put on a corner, “Just spill it to me, Unnie. You know there's no point in lying.” She hears Minjeong sighed for the nth time, “You...are right. Jimin and I...kissed again.”

Yizhuo wasn’t surprised by this. After what she saw in their Instagram posts and the randomness of the older girl’s call, she knew something was up. “And now you are trying to convince yourself that the kiss was nothing, aren’t you?”

“It wasn’t serious.”

“Not serious? Tongues were involved.”

“Wha- Ning Yizhuo!”

“Did I lie?” The younger girl could hear her best friend making random noises she prefers not to acknowledge, “As I said, you are literally convincing yourself it wasn’t serious.”

“Because it is not!”

“How can you be sure?”

“Because,” Yizhuo waited but it seemed the other girl couldn’t finish her sentence. “Because?”

“Because I know she’s not in love with me.”

“Really, Unnie? Cuz’ if not, then why did you guys kiss then?”

“I don’t know,” Minjeong sounded frustrated, “I guess, we got into the mood or something. We were just talking on my bed and the next thing I knew we were kissing.”

“You guys talked on your bed?”

“Yeah.”

“Dude, of course, something like kissing would happen. The bed is where the miracles happen.”

“But we’ve been hanging out normally these past few days, even on my bed. Nothing happened. And now-”

“Babe,” Yizhuo immediately put her phone away and looked over to where the voice came from. Aeri back hugged her, kissed her cheek, and whispered, “I’ll be in my room, something came up. Call me if you need me.” Yizhuo smiled at her lover and nodded.

The moment Aeri went inside her room, Yizhuo’s attention went back to her best friend, “you were saying?”

“Did I just hear Aeri say babe to you?”

“You must have misheard her, Unnie.”

“No, I was su-”

“Unnie,” she groans, “don’t change the subject. You’re the focus, remember?”

“No, I’m not.”

Yizhuo rolled her eyes, “You were saying?”

Minjeong groaned, “As I said, nothing happened. It was just a kiss.”

“If it was just a kiss, then why are you so worked up, then?” Minjeong was silent on the other line. It was getting a bit longer, it made the younger girl worried, “Unnie, you still alive there?”

“Yeah. It’s just,” Minjeong sighs and softly says, “I remembered our first kiss and,” she paused, “everything came back to me.”

“Oh.” Yizhuo didn’t expect that. She thought her best friend was just gay panicking over a kiss. It seemed it was deeper than that. “Are you okay?”

“I am, I am.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah.”

“What are you going to do now?”

“To be honest, I really don’t know.”

“Well, Unnie. You need to address the kiss.” She hears Minjeong groan, “I know it’s hard, but Unnie, it’s clearly the elephant in the room. If that kiss affected you, Jimin Unnie would have been, too.”

“Do you think so?”

“I’m not entirely sure, but the possibility is high. Did you guys talk afterward?”

“Mom called and interrupted us. She left before we could even talk about it.” Yizhuo hummed in understanding, “Jimin Unnie’s affected for sure.”

She hears Minjeong groan again, “this is getting too complicated. I shouldn’t have involved her in this.”

“Well, Unnie, you did. It’s a done deal.” She sighs, “Right now, you need to try and talk to her about it. If it means you guys talk about what happened in the past then so be it.”

“I don’t think I am ready for that.”

“Yeah, well, you need to, Unnie. She needs to understand your side, too. Why you ran away before and you getting involved with Seohwan Oppa-”

“I didn’t run away, and my involvement with Seohwan Oppa was...the timing was bad, I know.”

“For you, you think you didn’t run away, but for Unnie, it is what it is. You still didn’t face her for weeks. With Seohwan Oppa, oh don’t get me started.”

“I needed time to process-”

“Hush, Unnie. Save your speech to Jimin Unnie.” She could hear Minjeong murmuring nonsense.

“So,” Yizhuo added, “you went on a date today.”

“How did you know?”

“You flaunted it on Insta, remember? Not only Jimin Unnie posted a pic of you guys holding hands, but both of you also posted stories. Wait, let me highlight that part, YOU POSTED STORIES. What kind of food did you eat at the park for you to do that?!?”

“I lost, okay. I lost in a lot of games, which was a rare occurrence. One of the punishments was me posting humiliating stuff on social media.”

“Yeah, I saw you barked.” She heard her best friend groan in embarrassment, “it was cute, though.”

“Shut up.” Yizhuo laughed as she heard her best friend express her embarrassment.

As her laughter died down, she softly asked, “Unnie?“

“Hhmm?”

“Please be honest with me,” the younger girl expressed, “are you still not falling for Jimin Unnie?” She could only hear silence, “Unnie?”

“I...I can’t fall for her. I just...can’t.”

“But you are falling? Tell me the truth, Unnie.” She gave the older girl time to answer as she knows this was a sensitive topic.

It took a while until Yizhuo heard a murmur, “I never stopped.” 

That was the confirmation Yizhuo’s been looking for. She sighed in relief, knowing that her assumptions were correct. “At last, thank you for being honest with me now, and clearly admitting that you lied to me before.”

She heard Minjeong scoff, “You’re so petty.”

“I know, and you love me for it.” Both of them chuckled. Yizhuo wanted to lighten up Minjeong’s mood even for a bit.

“Any plans on confessing to Unnie?”

“Nope, not a chance.”

“Kim Minjeong, my dumb best friend. You are clearly in love with your ex-best friend now fake girlfriend, THE YOO JIMIN. And you have no plans to confess? Are you insane?”

“As I said before, Jimin doesn’t feel the same way, so why do I need to confess?”

“Uuuhhh, dude. I've clearly been one of the spectators of your relationship with Jimin Unnie since day one, and from where I’m at, I think Unnie might be head over heels in love with you.”

“Ning Yizhuo, please. Don't push this agenda to me. You don’t have to lie.”

“I’m not like you, Unnie. I’m too awesome to lie.” She continues, “My point is, you clearly have a chance with Jimin Unnie, what’s stopping you?”

Minjeong was silent again. Yizhuo decided to walk to her room as she was slightly tired from standing, “Unnie?”

“There’s a lot...a lot of things, Ning. I can’t just confess to her, just because I have feelings, it’s...too complicated.”

“Complicated, huh. How?”

“Too many things are at stake.”

“Oh, really. Like?”

“Our friendship.” Yizhuo stopped from her tracks and rolled her eyes, “Sorry Unnie but let me break this to you, you and Jimin Unnie will never be friends.” She sighed, “You guys had a complicated past already. With feelings involved, you guys will never be friends.”

“That’s why I am trying not to fall for her deeper.”

Yizhuo smirked at this as she entered her room, “How’s it going so far?”

“Failing,” she hears Minjeong sigh heavily, “miserably.”

“See?”

“I’m trying, okay?”

Yizhuo sat on her bed, “I’ll humor you for a bit. Let’s say it’s the end of the fake dating thing, you planned on being friends with Jimin Unnie?”

“Yeah.” 

“Can you, really? I mean, do you really think you guys would be able to go back to how it used to be? Unnie, you guys crossed a line already.”

“We-”

“Don’t even try to deny it to me, Unnie. Maybe you can say the previous kiss was necessary, but this recent one, that was out of passion, out of feelings, Unnie. You can’t go back from it.”

Yizhuo hears Minjeong’s small voice, “I know,” the blonde girl sighs, “but Jimin and I could still try.”

“Try?” Yizhuo scoffs, “Unnie, you do know you’re in love with her, you can’t just unlove her just to save your friendship.”

“Ning,”

“What is it Kim Minjeong? Are you starting to see things a bit more properly?”

“It’s not just that, there’s Ryujin, too.”

“Ryujin?” It made Yizhuo think for a minute, “Wait, you mean Jimin Unnie’s ex? She’s not even in the picture anymore, Unnie, why are you scared of her?”

“It’s not that I’m scared, it’s just...,” 

“Just?”

“If I were to pursue Jimin, I could never par up to Ryujin, ”Minjeong expressed, “what she had with Jimin was something special, Ning. They had a great love, epic love in some sense, I could never compete with that.”

“But she’s in the past, and you’re the present.”

“She’s coming back, remember?” Yizhuo rolled her eyes, “So what? You just need to get Jimin Unnie first before she comes back.”

“That’s...that’s not easy. I can’t just do that.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m scared, okay?” The older girl paused, “I don’t want to pursue her and fail. I don’t want to hold onto something where I’m sure I will fail in the end.“ Yizhuo could clearly hear the trembling voice of her best friend, “I don’t want to experience it again.”

Wait, Yizhuo was confused. This was new information to her, “Unnie, what are you talking about?”

“Nothing.”

“That was clearly not nothing, Unnie.”

“Let’s...let’s not talk about it, for now, Yizhuo,” the younger girl was taken aback by how vulnerable MInjeong sounded, “not now...please.” As much as she wants to know more, she also wants to respect Minjeong’s space. “Okay.”

“Sorry,” Minjeong said softly.

“It’s okay, Unnie. Just,” Yizhuo softly adds, “just know that I’m here for you, okay? You can call me anytime.”

“I know. Thanks, Ning.”

-------

Even after talking to her best friend, Minjeong was still in the shambles. 

What Yizhuo said was true, she really needs to talk to Jimin about the kiss, their current relationship, and most especially, what really happened in the past. But she is scared.

She is scared to take that step.

She is not as dense as other people think she is.

She knows.

She knows that both she and Jimin are standing over blurred lines. 

She is aware.

She is aware that her actions might have an effect on Jimin, as the raven-haired girl’s actions had an effect on her. She is also aware of the possibility that Jimin might have feelings for her. However, she tried to deny that possibility. 

She had that thought before and it backfired, hard. 

She can’t slip up now. 

So she tried to play it cool. 

She tried to not mind it, after all, they are just pretending. 

Pretending to be together. So there’s a chance what she sees right now, Jimin's actions, are all just an act.

At the end of the day, they are just fake dating.

But she can’t help it. 

She can’t help but think maybe, just maybe, she does have a chance. 

A chance for them to be together. 

She can’t help herself be clouded at the thought of Jimin as her real girlfriend.

But she knows she couldn’t think like that. She couldn’t be blinded by her own desires and feelings. She ed up before because of it, and she doesn’t want to go through it again. 

However, she also knows that she shouldn’t be stuck in a delusion that everything is okay. 

Cuz’ it’s not.

They are not okay.

Their relationship is not okay.

No matter how much they try to move on unless they face the past, they could never move forward. I guess, I really do need to confess.

She knows she isn’t ready to face Jimin and tell her the truth, as it will open the possibility of her spilling her real feelings and be rejected again. And worse, losing whatever they have now. But if it's for the best, then she has no choice but to be ready.

But is she?

Is she willing to put everything on the table for the truth? Or is there another way for all of this to be fixed without destroying or spilling everything?

Uughh, she ruins her