Kiss Me
You owe me...

*

Two girls, one seven and the other almost, ran around the vast flower field. The younger one; the shorter of the two was chasing the other.

Laughter hung in the air with a nice ambience bringing an ineffable happiness to anyone watching them.

“I’m gonna get you!” The younger one yelled, paused for a breath, and then ran even faster than before. She never should have suggested they played tag; the older one was a fan of football.

“No, you’re not!”

The chased one stopped and turned around to mock the other. She stuck out her tongue childishly.

“Hey...”

The younger one curiously peered at the other’s features. She slowly approached, the two forgetting their little game of tag.

Innocently, the younger one pressed her lips on the other’s own. The new sensation she felt all over her body was indescribable—it wasn’t weird, but in a way it felt so.

She couldn’t understand any of it.

The younger one backed away.

“Hey, aren’t you supposed to kiss back?”

“I don’t know, I’m still a kid.”

“You owe me a kiss, Jung.”

*

Yuri smiles to herself. It has been about twenty years since the incident at the flower fields back in her home country of South Korea.

Now she is a geophysicist who works at an oil and gas company in America, and she shares a home with a trainer at a security firm who goes by the name of Jessica.

“Happy birthday, Kwon!”

A certain blonde barges into her room, as she always does. Not that Yuri minds. It is one of the many things that make Jessica... Jessica.

If she doesn’t barge into her room on her birthday, or everyday for that matter, she is probably an alien who’d kidnapped Jessica. And Yuri doesn’t want that to happen.

“Why are you smiling? Were you expecting me?”

Yuri looks at the girl.

“No, of course I wasn’t expecting you,” she says, with a splash of sarcasm.

“Oh Yuri, sweet, innocent, pure, lip-stealer Yuri,” Jessica mocks, referring to the kiss from their adolescence.

“Oh, so you remember that you owe me a kiss?”

One side of Yuri’s lips tugs up, forming a smirk; Jessica hates it when Yuri smirks.

“Fudge off, Kwon.”

Yuri laughs. She likes teasing the blonde, even though she knows she has to apologize in the end. But she doesn’t mind, because—she admits from time to time—it is Jessica.

*

“Hey, Yuri,” Jessica says one evening. “I met a guy this afternoon...”

“Hmm?”

Yuri shifts into a more comfortable position. If Jessica is talking about boys, it would be about a good one. Jessica is a reserved person by nature, and people always misjudge her as a walking ice cube who has a -face and no emotions.

And if Jessica is to talk about boys, it is going to be long.

“He’s Korean, and he’s nice, and he’s handsome... I met him at Starbucks during lunch today and we bumped into each other again at the subway station...”

“Hmm...”

“And he says he works as a manager at a Korean restaurant nearby and—Kwon Yuri, are you sleeping? Listen carefully!”

“Geez, Sica, I’m just kidding! Lighten up! So what’s his name?”

Innocently, Yuri watches how Jessica’s lips move as she says the man’s name. She notices how the edges are slightly tugged upwards—somewhat forming a smile; she notices how a part of her incisors show when she talks (bunny teeth; more material to with); she notices how the girl wets her lips after saying the man’s name.

“Donghae. His name’s Lee Donghae.”

Somewhere deep inside her, suddenly Yuri feels her stomach tighten into a knot.

“... and we have a date this Saturday.”

*

Yuri barges into Jessica’s room, totally expecting the girl to sleep with one hand extended above her head. Instead, she is greeted with a pillow thrown square in the face. Damn, that girl’s aim is top-notch.

“What are you doing?” Yuri asks, settling her on Jessica’s bed, leaning on the headboard, tucking herself under the blond beauty’s thick duvet.

“Nothing...”

Jessica, lying flat on her stomach facing the headboard, faces Yuri with big eyes and a look with the ends of her lips tugged upwards... a smile, but not so much.

Yuri chuckles.

“Were you watching , Sica dear?”

“Yes, Yuri dear, I was reviewing the tape we filmed last week for the public domain. Soon your s will be immortalized on the Internet,” the blonde says with a laugh.

“I don’t remember having —oh my, did you eff me in my sleep?!”

They both laugh, but Yuri can’t seem to loosen her tight stomach. She isn’t the one dating the guy, so why should she be the one to feel uncomfortable?

Wait, where did that come from? Is she feeling uncomfortable that Jessica is dating?

The laughter dies, dissolving in the air circulating in Jessica’s bedroom. Yuri by now is lying down fully on her back, and Jessica does the same. They face each other, a smile etched on their features.

“I’m taller than you now,” Yuri remarks with a small laugh.

“You’re still as obnoxious as you were twenty years ago, though.”

“We’ve known each other for twenty years? Wow, you look old.”

“Eff you, Kwon.”

Yuri laughs to herself and looks to the ceiling, she likes laughing; more so when she is laughing with or at Jessica.

The former closes her eyes and sighs loudly, taking in all the moments she has left with Jessica. Soon the blonde will be dating a guy... a guy that can make her smile only by the mention of his name; a guy that affects her even though they’d just met a few days back; a guy who actually has a and a scrotum that can probably give her kids... what a disturbing thought. Yuri grimaces in disgust. Being uncomfortable with the guy her best friend is dating is one thing; being uncomfortable with his having a is another thing entirely.

Yuri feels her something heavy on her stomach and knows immediately that Jessica is sitting on it. She doesn’t mind; in fact, she likes it. Jessica likes to sit on her stomach and , even as children.

“Look at me when I’m sitting on your uterus, Kwon,” Jessica says, lightly grazing Yuri’s chin with her fingers, affecting the latter in a weird way.

Yuri opens her eyes, and grimaces. Jessica’s face is dangerously close to hers, and she can feel the warmth of the blond beauty’s breath.

Innocently, she watches as the girl smiles and looks back at her.

“Hey, Sica...,” she starts. “Your date is tonight, right?”

“Yes...” Jessica trails off warily. She isn’t sure where this conversation is heading to.

“Can I have my kiss now?”

Jessica’s face shows no visible change, but Yuri knows just how taken aback the former is by her question.

Jessica smiles, the one that she wears only when Yuri is around; that one smile that if seen by men they’d fall for her in three seconds flat. It is a smile men wanted on the face of the mother of their children.

She isn’t going to easily let Donghae see that smile.

“May I ask why?”

Yuri sighs. She doesn’t want to tell, but with that smile, she can’t help it. She loses everything to that smile.

“You have met a guy. And this guy is perfect. He’s handsome, sweet, has a stable job, isn’t one of those crazy people who talk about themselves all the time and most of all... he is a man. He can give you kids. You two might end up together—forever, at that matter—and then I will not ever get the chance to have my kiss...”

“Is that so?”

Jessica slowly inches closer to Yuri’s face, paying all attention to her lips. She’d been kissed by the same pair of lips twenty years back... she wonders if they would taste different.

Their lips meld together in a perfect harmony. The same ineffable feeling from twenty years ago resurfaces, tickling their stomachs, although noticeably more intense than that of during their adolescence. The one thing that sticks out the most to Jessica is the fact that it doesn’t feel weird at all.

Not wanting the tickling feeling to stop, Jessica snakes her arms around Yuri’s neck, and smiles into the kiss when she feels Yuri’s warm lips responding to the moves she was making.

Everything around them seems to have disappeared. At the moment, in the world only the two of them exist. Yuri, Jessica... not that it is any more different than the world they’d grown up in.

It was always Yuri and Jessica, the inseparable duo.

When the existence of the world finally registers in their heads, they parted.

They are the best of friends, like they had always been... so why does kissing seem like the right thing to do? Do best friends kiss each other on the lips? Is that socially acceptable?

Jessica inches away from her best friend, straightening her back. She smiles when she sees that Yuri still has her eyes closed, trying to catch her breath.

“You need to get ready for your date,” Yuri remarks. It is already seven, and Jessica is supposed to meet Donghae at eight.

“Okay...”

Jessica gets off of Yuri’s abdomen and lets the girl rest in her bed. The former heads for her bathroom and, without exchanging any words with the younger one, prepares herself for the date she’d been looking forward to the whole week.

*

“Bye, you kids have fun!” Yuri waves her best friend off with her date, a smile etched clearly on her face. “And don’t come home too late!”

Jessica laughs, and links her arm with Donghae’s.

They head to the cinema, and then to an ice-cream parlour a few blocks away from Donghae’s restaurant; Jessica insists not to be treated there, to be fair to the civilians.

“So when did you move here?” Donghae asks with a polite smile, trying to make the conversation all about her.

“Seven years ago... I guess. I moved here with Yuri.”

“Is that so... oh, it’s almost eleven!”

Jessica lets out a laugh, Donghae sure is cute.

“Time flies when you’re having fun, I guess.”

They hit it off like dominoes; Jessica gets his weird jokes, he understands her predicament being misjudged as a walking, talking ice cube...

Donghae walks Jessica to the doorstep of her house and hugs her. The girl smiles in his somewhat warm embrace.

“Tonight was fun,” Jessica says. “Thank you, Lee Donghae.”

“See you... when I see you.”

“Hey, Donghae... can you do me a favour?”

.

Jessica presses the doorbell, and receives no response whatsoever.

“Yuri must’ve gone out,” she remarks, fishing out her keys in her jeans pocket.

Once she gets the door open, she turns to face her date and smiles—a smile that could kill a person from three kilometres away.

“Again, thank you, Donghae.”

“Anytime. Just call me when you want another get-together.”

They say their goodbyes and part, waiting for another chance to meet each other.

*

Jessica settles her on the couch in the living room and leans her back on the armrest, putting her feet up on said couch. She looks up to the ceiling and smiles.

Donghae is something else... she’s had a few doubts that evening, but after her date, she knows what her heart wants.

After resting for a few minutes, she gets up to have a quick shower and change into her pyjamas. She then proceeds back to the living room to watch some good late-night programs gracing her television.

Before she can apply her to the chair, however, she is interrupted by the loud, incessant ringing of the house phone. Being the easily annoyed person she is, of course, she picks up the phone.

“Hey, Jessica.”

“Sooyoung? Do you have any idea what time it is?”

“My dear Jessica, this is important. I have a meeting and I found Yuri balls-deep drunk and she’s trying to drive and—”

“I’ll be right there.”

Who the hell has a meeting at almost midnight?

*

“So how was your rendezvous, Jung?” Yuri asks in her extremely drunken state. “Did you kiss? Did you hug? Or is it something else entirely?”

Jessica looks at Yuri, who is sprawled all over her bed. The former reaches out to strip Yuri off of her clothing and change her into more comfortable ones... but Yuri grabs her pyjama collar and she falls on top of the intoxicated girl.

Yuri looks at Jessica in her eyes, and suddenly laughs as if what she’s done is nothing.

“You two... kissed, did you not?”

“You’re drunk, Yuri.”

“You look better without make-up.”

“You’re drunk, Yuri,” Jessica repeats.

“I guess I am stupid, then,” Yuri blurts out, not having any idea what she is talking about.

“You’re drunk, Yuri—”

Yuri pulls Jessica into a kiss. The kiss they’d shared in the evening. A passionate kiss that heated up the insides of their bellies. A kiss with intense fervour that catches Jessica by surprise, but closes her eyes anyway because that is what her heart wants. A kiss where they dance together with their tongues in perfect harmony, each trying to convey their feelings with every move they make. A kiss where the ineffable feelings from twenty years ago are intensified by the power of infinity; a kiss that makes each of them hungrier for more.

Over the sweet taste of Yuri’s lips, though, Jessica can taste the alcohol transferring to her tongue, and shares it with Yuri.

When reality finally kicks into Jessica, she pushes her best friend away, knowing full well that it is utterly inappropriate to kiss a friend in the manner with which she’d been kissing hers twice in one night.

“You’re drunk, Kwon.”

With that, Jessica leads her best friend to the kitchen and sits her at the counter while she makes coffee to sober up the drunken girl.

“You do know drinking to the point of getting intoxicated enough to make Sooyoung not want to send you home is bad for your health, don’t you?” Jessica nags to herself. “Don’t do that again. You’ll have me worried.”

Sitting at the counter, resting her face on it, Yuri smiles groggily to herself. She can’t really comprehend everything—her head is spinning like a washing machine (a freaking washing machine on full speed)—but essentially she gets the gist that Jessica cares.

Sobering up a little upon drinking Jessica’s strong coffee (she needs a little more practice), Yuri asks: “Hey, Jung... Jess—Sica, can I sleep with you tonight?”

Jessica looks at Yuri meaningfully without any exchange of words, but the latter knows exactly what she is saying with the sparkle in her eyes, even in her now slightly less intoxicated state.

.

“You asked to sleep with me and you brought your oversized teddy bear? You insult me, Kwon.”

“You’re the one who gave it to me.”

“Whatever.”

“Good night to you too, Sica dear.”

Their backs face each other, they pull the thick duvet up. The scent of Jessica’s room reminds Yuri of the kiss they’d had earlier that evening, and all the butterflies in her stomach suddenly transform into bulls and stampede in her belly.

Minutes pass by, but neither of them seems to have even a shred of sleepiness gracing them.

“Hey, Yuri...”

“Hmm?”

“I kissed Donghae tonight.”

The bulls in Yuri’s belly die, replaced with a tight knot and a heavy chest.

“And?” She pushes.

“And... well, I like your kisses better.”

Yuri smiles, and turns around to spoon Jessica. She places her arm around the blonde’s waist and buries her face into the crook of the girl’s neck.

Jessica smiles as well, liking the warmth Yuri is emitting.

“Sica?”

“Yes?”

“Let’s go to that flower field in Korea...”

“And kiss there? That’s kind of childish, Kwon.”

“Why not? Don’t you like my kisses?”

“Yeah, but anywhere is fine...”

“We’re bound to go back there during Christmas, aren’t we?”

“I guess...”

The smile on Yuri’s face gets more prominent, and she sniffs Jessica’s scent again, really liking what is wafting into her nose, blocking off everything else in the world.

“Good night, Kwon.”

*

They are back at the flower fields, in Korea, about two years since the kiss in Jessica’s bedroom, the day she paid off her debt.

This time, however, they aren’t chasing each other; instead lying on the soft, lush grass—Jessica, of course, straddling Yuri by the stomach.

“Look at me, Kwon.”

Yuri smiles, and opens her eyes to meet Jessica’s beautiful, sparkly pair.

“What are we going to tell our parents?”

Jessica doesn’t answer Yuri’s question. Instead, she leans closer, her eyes closed, and captures Yuri’s lips with hers in a soft kiss—again and again and again.

“They’ll understand.”

“Hey, Sica?”

“Hmm?”

“In the past two years... we’ve broken up and made up a lot of times...”

“And?”

“I can honestly say I love you...”

A smile graces Jessica’s lips, and she utters an “I love you too” before planting another soft kiss on Yuri’s lips.

*

“Hey, Donghae... can you do me a favour?”

“Sure, anything. What is it?”

“Kiss me on the lips.”

Nothing. Nothing at all.

OHMAIGAD IT'S FINALLY FINISHED

I originally had this plot bunny a year ago (that's right, shoot me) but never got around to writing it until a few weeks ago. ;A;

I'm honestly really proud of this. The word count is like 2,900 words or something like that

I'm guessing this is the longest one-shot here?

I have a crush on Tom Hanks I can't

Does anyone know where I can find Annie Choi's Happy Birthday or Whatever book? (mention online stores and I'll hunt your down and kill you. I don't have a credit card yet ;A;)

More oneshots to come, do not worry

Also, did you notice? I updated twice in a month! Kudos to me! (Shoots self)