“You should be sleeping,” Minjeong says as she sees Jimin yawning over her iPad.

“No, I’ll wait with you,” the raven-haired girl stretches her body, “I had never seen a meteor shower before.” Minjeong could only shake her head at this comment, “I shouldn’t have mentioned it to you.”

“Oh please.”

“Are you sure about this? You should be resting now, not stay up late with me just to do some stargazing.”

Jimin smiled as she heard the worried tone in Minjeong’s voice, “Don’t worry about me. I had enough rest during the travel.”

Jimin’s family decided to go on a vacation to the beach. It’s rare for them to be complete so they are making the most of it. Jimin invited Aeri as her family wants to get to know her more. Both Minjeong and Yizhou were also invited as well but declined.

“You should have come with us, Minjeong-ah. Jisoo Unnie misses you.” Jimin was now on her bed in her hotel room, which she shared with Aeri, who the latter was in the bathroom. Minjeong scoffs, “for sure, your sister just missed teasing me.” Jimin chuckled at this, “still, the scenery is really nice here.”

“Next time.” Jimin sees Minjeong fixing her telescope and camera through the video call. 

The reason why Minjeong stayed was for this event, the Lyrid Meteor Shower. It was an event that happens every few years and Minjeong doesn’t want to miss it. At the same place where they celebrated Jimin’s birthday, Minjeong prepared her typical stargazing set up: her telescope, her camera, her guitar, mini chair, and the trailer which has all of her essential stuff.

“You’re really going to sleep in the trailer?” Jimin asked.

“Yeah. It’s not like it’s my first time to do this.” Minjeong laid out a blanket on the ground to sit on. Once she’s comfortable, she takes her guitar and strums some chords as she waits for the meteor shower.

Jimin smiled looking at the blonde girl, she hadn’t seen or heard her play for years. She moves to a more comfortable position, now on her stomach and facing the camera, "Can you play me a song?"

"A song? Right now?" Minjeong thought for a second, “okay, wait.” The blonde girl adjusted her stance and played some chords.

****(Adam Levine's Lost Stars)****

Please, don't see

Just a boy caught up in dreams and fantasies

Please, see me

Reaching out for someone I can't see

As Minjeong sings the song, she glances onto the girl watching through the video call. It makes her smile, seeing the raven-haired girl enjoying her performance.

Take my hand

Let's see where we wake up tomorrow

Best laid plans

Sometimes are just a one night stand

I'll be damned

Cupid's demanding back his arrow

So let's get drunk on our tears

Jimin can’t help but smile watching the other girl play her guitar. She always liked watching her go into her element when she sings and plays her guitar, it was a sight to see. It was then she noticed something odd. At the lower part of the pick guard, she sees the initials J.M.J.

Wait, is that the guitar I bought for her birthday? Jimin thought. She’s not really sure, because the screen of her phone is too small to see it clearly. 

And, God, tell us the reason

Youth is wasted on the young

It's hunting season and the lambs are on the run

Searching for meaning

But are we all lost stars

Trying to light up the dark?

Minjeong finishes the song and Jimin cheers for her. “Still as good as I remember.”

“Geez, stop the praises.” Jimin laughs at this. Minjeong is never a fan of compliments, which made the raven-haired girl want to compliment her more. “Wait, I stand corrected, you are better now than before.”

Minjeong pouts and puts the guitar aside, “you know what, I won’t play you a song anymore.”

“Okay, okay, I won’t praise you anymore,” Jimin laughs for a bit before contemplating about the guitar. She bit her lip, “Ah, Minjeong?”

“Hmm?”

“The guitar, is that the one I bought for your birthday years ago?” Minjeong looked over the guitar and nodded, “Yeah, I left mine at the dorm house so I repaired this one for me to use here.”

“Oh.”

“Why? Is there a problem?” Jimin shakes her head, “I guess, I’m just happy to know that you’re using it.” The guitar was the last gift Jimin gave to the blonde girl before their fallout. She mentally notes herself to make up for lost time and buy more gifts for the blonde girl.

Around this time, Aeri got out of the bathroom looking fresh and ready to sleep. "Jimin, we should get to sleep now. It’s late."

"You should listen to Aeri," Minjeong expressed, which made the raven-haired girl roll her eyes. Aeri looked over to her roommate and saw Minjeong over the video call, “oh hi, Min.”

“Hi Aeri,” the blonde girl waved at her friend. Aeri inquired, “Is Yizhou not with you?”

“No, she’s still recovering from the flu. She’s actually devastated not being able to see the meteor shower so I am taking a video of it.”

Aeri yawns, “oh cool. Show it to me too, cuz’ I don’t think I can stay up late along with you guys.” She plumps on her bed and is about to turn on some music for her to sleep, “is it okay if I play some music?”

Jimin nods, “it’s okay, I’m heading outside anyway.” She slowly got up from her bed and headed to the balcony. As she opened the door, a cold breeze welcomed her. She immediately covered herself with her blanket. “You are really staying up late with me, huh.”

“As I said, I want to see the stars, especially the meteor shower.” Minjeong chuckled as she looked up in the sky.

Jimin leaned on the balcony and stared up in the sky to admire the stars, “Minjeong-ah.”

“Hmm?” 

“Can you tell me more about the stars?”

“What do you want to know?”

Jimin thought for a bit. Minjeong had shared to her before the stars and constellations that were easy to be seen in their town. The blonde girl also had shared a lot of information about the moon. Now, she wants something different. “Tell me something interesting, like a story or a myth. Anything.”

“Anything, huh, ” the blonde girl smiled, “I had thought of something.” She adjusts the iPad and her sitting position to properly face the raven-haired girl. “Did you know that the stars also have myths that are famously known as love stories?”

“I didn’t know that.”

“There was one,” Minjeong smiled sadly, “it was a tragic love story.”

“Originally a Chinese myth, this was more popular in Japan. It was a story of two people who love each other very much but are separated over distance." 

"Once upon a time, a celestial princess fell in love with a mortal. They love each other very much, however, they could never be together because they are different. What they had was a forbidden love, if I may say, I think they are the original star-crossed lovers.” Both of them chuckled.

Jimin was listening intently to what the blonde girl was sharing, ”They say ‘love will always find a way' which they did. The princess promises the mortal for them to be together once they ascend into the heavens. However, the celestial king learned about their relationship and was furious. He still fulfilled the wish of his daughter for her and her lover to ascend in the heavens.”

“However, he didn’t tell them that they won’t be together. The king made sure both of them were separated from each other. The celestial princess is what we now know as the star Vega, and the mortal, as the star Altair. And the one that separates them is our very own galaxy, the Milky Way.”

“Yes, both of them had ascended in the heavens, but the distance between them was too great.” Minjeong reaches out to the sky sadly, “they long for each other all year long. Until one day, on the 7th day of the 7th month, a bridge of magpies in the skies would connect the two for them to meet.” 

Jimin could hear the sadness in the voice of the blonde girl, “still, even with this chance, Altair struggles as his journey to his lover, Vega, is a harsh and dangerous one. But his love for the princess is strong even after many years. He knows that he will eventually reach the princess and be with her forever. As for the princess, she longed for her lover, but her love for him makes her hopeful that one day, they will eventually meet again.”

“That...is so sad.”

“You asked for a story, so I gave you one,” Minjeong chuckled. “I didn’t ask for a sad one though,” Jimin retorted which made the blonde girl laugh more. 

“It’s still beautiful,” Jimin expressed, “even though they were separated, both of them still love each other, even after a long time.”

“Yeah,” Minjeong smiled sadly, “it is.”

"I wish I could experience that kind of love."

"You want to be like the princess? And be separated for a long time?" Minjeong was teasing the other girl, "I didn't peg you as a masochist, Jimin-ah."

"Wha-" Jimin immediately explains her point, "what I meant is I want to have that kind of love. That never-ending endless love that princess and the mortal had. That one where no matter what happens, they still loved each other very much." Minjeong nods in agreement, "they do have that one kind of love that is hard to find."

"Yeah." Jimin yawned once again which made Minjeong pick up her iPad, “I think I am making you more sleepy with these stories.”

“I guess so,” after recovering from yawning, Jimin stared at her screen. For the first time in their video call, the camera was really close to the blonde girl’s face. Jimin was taken aback by it, “Jimin? Hey, are you there?”

“Huh?”

“Did you just sleep? You didn’t respond for a second there.”

“Ah,” the raven-haired girl forced a laugh, “my brain just lagged for a bit.”

“You should sleep,”

“Nah, it’s almost midnight. I won’t back down now.” Minjeong sighed defeatedly, “okay.”

“Let’s talk about something else,” Jimin expressed as she was getting distracted by how close the camera was to Minjeong’s face. She can’t help but look at the other girl’s lips.

“Ah, I forgot to tell you,” Minjeong starts off, “Wendy Unnie invited us to her mother’s birthday party. She said Auntie wants to meet us both, this time as a couple.”

“Oh.”

“You can decline if you don’t want to,” Minjeong sighed, “my big family tends to treat birthdays as a family gathering so my relatives will be there. It’s going to be rowdy and tiring.”

“When will it be?”

“The day after you come home from your vacation.” Jimin hummed in response. “As I said, it’s okay if you decline. You might still be tired after your vacation.”

Jimin shakes her head, “it’s okay. I’ll go.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah.”

“If you say so.” 

“Do we need to do some preparations?” Jimin asked as she adjusted her blanket as it was getting colder in her place. She sees Minjeong thinking over what she said and her eyes again landed on the blonde girl’s lips. C’mon Jimin, get over it already. It was just a kiss, nothing more.

“I guess, we should start implementing the endearments we decided before,” the blonde girl pointed out, “we haven’t tried that out, yet.” Jimin nodded in agreement. Actually, she thought of calling Minjeong babe or baby a lot of times already but hesitated because she doesn’t have the guts to say it. 

She sees Minjeong looking straight at her on the screen, “Babe.” Jimin immediately blushes. Yes, she chose that endearment because she thought it’s cute. But now, she is slowly regretting it.

Minjeong tilted her head to the side, confused by the lack of response from the raven-haired girl, “Babe, are you still there? Is your brain lagging again?” Jimin couldn’t take it anymore. She moved the phone away from her as she was scared the blonde girl would notice her face getting redder. Who knew by being called babe would result in this kind of response.

“Babe? Jimin? Hey, are you okay?”

The raven-haired girl composes herself by doing some long breathing before facing Minjeong again, “I’m good.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’m good.”

Minjeong planned to ask more but then she immediately noticed the changes in the sky. The Lyrids Meteor Shower was starting. She stood up from the ground and looked up at the sky in awe, “Jimin, do you see this?”

Noticing the excitement in Minjeong’s voice, Jimin also looked up at the sky and was in awe by what she just saw. For the first time in her existence, she had seen a meteor shower, and it was breathtakingly beautiful.

Comfortable silence overcame them as they enjoyed watching the beautiful sight. There were no words to describe what they felt witnessing the meteor shower.

It was beautiful.

It was perfect.

It was also better, as they watched it together, even from a distance.

“Thank you,” Jimin broke the silence. Minjeong glances at her over the screen, “why are you thanking me? I didn’t do anything.”

Jimin smiled at her, “I want to thank you, for introducing me to this wonderful thing, Minjeong.” She looked up at the sky once again and admired the view, “I will never trade this experience over anything.”

Minjeong smiled at her and looked up at the sky, “me too.”

------

On the day of the birthday party, Minjeong decided to pay her best friend a visit in the morning. Yizhou had been recovering well from her flu. However, she wasn't allowed to go out yet, so she's stuck at home.

*knock knock*

"Come in." Yizhou looked over her door to see who knocked, "looked who decided to visit me?"

"I brought you a care package."

The Chinese girl scoffs, "like I even need that." She was on her bed drawing on her iPad. Minjeong went up to her and silently handed out the package. Yizhou glared at her best friend before accepting the care package, "tsk, I hate you."

"I love you too."

Yizhou sat up on her bed as Minjeong took a seat beside her. “Cool that you remembered you had a best friend.” The blonde girl rolled her eyes, “you are actually bitter? Of me spending more time with Jimin? Last time I remembered, you rejected my offer to be my girlfriend.”

It was Yizhou’s turn to roll her eyes, “I am not jealous of you and Jimin Unnie, I am actually happy that you guys seemed to be friends again.” 

“Then, what’s the problem?” The Chinese girl gave her a knowing look, “what?”

“I don’t know if you are dense or stupid, which one fits you the best?” Minjeong slaps her best friend’s arm, “Ow, hey! I am still sick!”

“Sick, my .” Minjeong slowly retreats from the bed to leave, “if you don’t want me here, then I will go now. It seems you prefer Aeri over me.” Yizhou immediately grabs the blonde girl’s arm. “Hey, don’t leav