“Park Sooyoung! Park Sooyoung!”

Someone calls out, just as the girl was returning from the showers. Hair sleeked back and dripping wet. Even with the heater in the works, it’s still winter and it’s still freezing.

She stops anyway, because she knows whose voice that belongs to.

Ever since the university tennis star Kang Seulgi got in a little trouble, she’s been helping her with her bad knee by using swimming as an exercise. And her cute little friend, Seungwan has been going out of her way to give her little thoughtful gifts as a sort of thank you. First it was a pack of gummy bears, a pair of slippers, so on. The swimmer thinks that the small timid smiles she gives her every time were mistaken for encouragement to get her more gifts.

Honestly? If she was asked, her phone number would have sufficed.

“Have you been well, Seungwan?” She asks away as she puts her towel (also a gift) on top of her head, thinking it would soak the water by itself. It should, because it’s a fancy microfiber one.

“You cut your hair. It looks good on you.” Sooyoung compliments. She remembers when her hair reaches past her shoulders. Or even before she started her sessions with Seulgi, where she’d see the girl dye it to different vibrant colors, bangs or without. She also remembers how beautiful she looked in every style. That’s the beauty of university; not much rules on how you’re supposed to look.

“Ah, thanks.” Seungwan shyly answers, tucking a lose hair behind her ear. She didn’t think the other girl would notice. “Where’s Seulgi?” She looks for her friend while not moving in front of Sooyoung as she gathers her things, getting ready to leave.

“She’s almost done showering, I think.” Sooyoung says as she slings her bag pointing to the general direction of the shower rooms.

The short-haired girl nods, but even with the conversation between them reaches past the 10-word maximum (at best) today, she still doesn’t want to stop talking to the girl in front of her. Although her eyes are looking everywhere but, landing on the red keychain on Sooyoung’s duffel bag zipper facing backwards to her.

“Hail Hydra!” Seungwan chirps with a weak fist mid-air. The taller girl looks at her puzzled, tilting her head slightly just to make Seungwan speak more.

“Your keychain!” Seungwan points out, with an embarrassed giggle. “Red Skull.”

Sooyoung removes the towel from the top of her head as she looks at her bag, and snorts as she shows the misnamed red thing.

“This…is Elmo.” It wasn’t Captain America’s enemy the shorter girl finds out, but rather a friend from Sesame Street.

A small oh is all Seungwan can mutter, as she tries to smile the embarrassment away. Luckily, she still has to look for Seulgi so they can go home. She haphazardly says goodbye to the girl as she zooms past her; determined to look for her friend and leave her embarrassing moment in the showers.

“Kang Seulgi! Let’s go! Let’s go!” She announces as she reaches the shower rooms and finds Seulgi sitting on a small bench putting her socks on. Being too much in a hurry, she kneels in front of her and puts her socks and footwear on herself.

To her disappointment, she even forgot to give her her gift today, but looking at the bright side, their next conversation might be even longer.  

//

“Hail Hydra?” Seulgi asks in confusion as she sits on the dining chair, cupping her instant ramen. She was not laughing…yet.

The other girl groans as she hides her face in her hands. The memory of what had happened playing repeatedly when she closes her eyes. Just how ever could she face her again? “Why didn’t I just shut myself up, Seul?” She ruffles her own hair in embarrassment. “She’s probably gonna think I’m weird.”

Seulgi still doesn’t get it, but she tries. “Ah, don’t be like that, Wannie.” She consoles as she removes the lid off completely and lets the steam hit her face. “It’s fine. She’s nice! I think I’m actually getting better now.” She reports happily as she rubs her knee.

Yes, Seungwan wouldn’t want anything else but to see Seulgi up and healthier than ever again. She believes she was even more disappointed than Seulgi after finding out that she wouldn’t be able to play for the season. With the slow progress she’s getting with her, she just wants to give up the hope of being close with the swimmer altogether.

She removes the lid off of her cup too, trying to cheer her disheartened self up with food.  

//

Sooyoung chuckles out of nowhere again, making the girl adjacent to her roll her eyes.

Joohyun already found it weird when Sooyoung entered the tea shop smiling and in a daze, but she was paying it no mind. However, this was the third time in an hour that she laughed to herself, and she was both curious and worried.

“Alright, spill.” Joohyun demands as she puts her pen down. The sound of the pen hitting the table shakes the taller girl out of it; looking at her friend with a confused look that turns into a patronizing one accompanied with a smile. Joohyun hated that, so she flicks her forehead to “wake” her up.

“What? No.” The swimmer rubs her forehead as she clicks her pen, ready to start fake studying. She’ll shake her head every now and then, just to take a cute, short-haired girl out of her mind. come to think of it, she hasn’t asked Seungwan anything about herself since she started her swimming sessions with Seulgi. What are her hobbies? What type of music does she listen to? Seulgi is a lucky girl for having someone like her around, she thinks.

Joohyun comes up with something menacing as she flips a page of her book, not looking at the person she’s talking to. “Either you tell me now, or we wait for Yeri to come here and we can both make fun of you.”

Yeri was running late again; something about buying stickers and making perfumes, Joohyun vaguely remembers.

The said girl comes half an hour later; the cup of tea resting on their table has gone cold by now, and the youngest sits down and takes off her scarf. “Sorry, I’m late.”

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