“C’mon, in you go,” Eric leads a pouting Minh into her apartment where Sunwoo and Sunni were waiting.
She makes eye contact with her best friends before running over and plopping in between them, throwing herself into Sunni’s open arms. After a few seconds of silence, sobs begin to emit from the girl.
“Minh,” Eric sighs, leaning over and rubbing the girl’s back in a comforting manner, “What happened?”
Minh lets out a few more sobs before burying her head deeper into Sunni’s chest, “I kissed Juyeon.”
“You what?” Sunni gasps, “Again, you were muffled.”
Minh shamefully lifts her head up, brushing the messy hair away from her face, “I kissed Juyeon!”
Minh whimpers going right back to her previous hiding spot in her best friend’s chest, “And he pushed me away! I’m so dumb. I don’t know what came over me I just figured it was the best time and we already weren’t on speaking terms so if I messed anything up-”
“Wait!” Sunwoo interrupts, “YOU kissed JUYEON?”
“Yes!” Minh sobs, “Don’t repeat it! I feel horrible! He has a girlfriend!! I’m a home wrecker!!”
“Well, maybe not for long,” A new voice answers before anyone could.
“Oh shit,” Sunwoo curses, turning his head towards the door, where a panting Juyeon stood with a hand on the wall as he tried to catch his breath.
“Elevator was down,” Juyeon huffs, “Minh, can we talk?”
Minh sits frozen as the boy finally catches his breath. She stays still as he crosses the kitchen over to her.
“Yes!” Eric, Sunni, and Sunwoo answer for their friend.
Sunni pushes Minh off as she looks at everyone but Juyeon. Fear sets in her eyes as the three friends pick up their things and head to the front door.
“Be good!” Eric hollers as they leave the two standing in the living room, “We’ll check up on you in an hour! Bye!”
Silence fills the room as Minh avoids eye contact with Juyeon.
“Please look at me,” Juyeon moves closer, placing both hands on Minh’s face and directing her to look at him, “Please.”
Minh takes a deep breath before finally looking up and meeting Juyeon’s eyes, which are filled with nothing but relief. They hold each other’s game before tears begin to fill Minh’s eyes once more.
“I’m sorry, Juyeon!” She cries as Juyeon pulls her into his chest, wrapping his arms tightly around her body.
Juyeon frowns as he moves to sit both of them on the couch, his arms never letting go of the smaller girl.
“Don’t be,” He shushes her, lifting her head up to look at him.
“There’s nothing to be sorry about, Mini,” He whispers, using his thumb to wipe away her tears, “You did nothing wrong.”
“You have a girlfriend,” Minh sniffles, leaning into his touch, “We can’t do this. You shouldn’t be here.”
“I made a horrible choice leaving you,” Juyeon starts, completely ignoring Minh’s previous words, “I’m in the wrong all because of my stupid feelings. I should be the one saying sorry.”
Minh stays silent as Juyeon continues to caress her cheek, “I was dumb and let my stupid brain tell me what to do instead of listening to my heart.”
“What?” Minh croaks out, “What are you talking about?”
“I thought I was over you after I started dating Chae,” Juyeons scoffs, “I was wrong.”
Minh’s eyes widen in realization as she processes what he had just revealed. She opens her mouth to respond but Juyeon continues.
“I knew you liked me, Minh, and I liked you too. That’s why I loved having you as my tutor and being with you all the time. I was thinking about admitting it to you, but after the past few sessions we had, I saw how stressed and tired you were. I realized that all I brought you was stress and a heavier workload. I didn't want that for you. I wanted you to be free and relaxed. I figured distancing myself would give you more time for your own work and stuff.”
“Are you dumb?” Minh interrupts, sitting up and on her knees in order to be closer to Juyeon’s height, “Are you hearing yourself?”
Juyeon stares back in confusion as Minh moves to cup his face in her hands, “You are so dumb, Lee Juyeon.”
“This isn’t starting off too good,” He mumbles through pursed lips.
“Why would you think like that?” Minh scolds, “Why couldn’t you have just been honest! I should’ve just told you that I liked you sooner because we probably would not be in this mess if I did-”
Minh is cut off as Juyeon leans in and pecks her lips.
“Ju!” Minh gasps, letting Juyeon’s face go.
“You have a girlfriend!!”
“She kissed another boy tonight, too!”
“That doesn’t validate-” Minh is cut off again by Juyeon’s lips.
“Oops,” Juyeon giggles as Minh smacks his arm.
“Wait, she did what?” Minh backtracks, “Who did she kiss?”
“One of her friends,” Juyeon sighs, shifting to lean back on the couch, pulling her into his side, “She was at a party tonight and tried to kiss one of her friends.”
Minh frowns as she looks up at Juyeon, “Are you okay?”
“Do you forgive me?” He counters, looking down at her doe eyes.
“Not yet, but I think the explanation helped a lot.” Minh yawns, snuggling into Juyeon’s side.
“Good. Then, I’m ok,” He reassures, softly rubbing up and down her side, “Sleepy?”
“Yeah,” Minh yawns again, adjusting so that her head was on Juyeon’s chest and arms wrapped around his torso, “Stay?”
“Always.” Juyeons plants one final kiss on Minh’s forehead, “Go to sleep. I’ll be here when you wake up.”
Minh’s eyes flutter close as Juyeon careful pulls out his phone, opening Eric’s contact.
“She’s asleep. No need to come back. I’m staying the night.”
in which Minh just wants to see the real Juyeon
“I can’t believe you agreed to help him out again.”
“I’m this close to getting through to him, maybe this will be the day.”
Everyone knows that Juyeon is talented. Environmental science major by day and co-captain of the varsity football team by night. But when his grades begin to slip and his spot at the playoffs are at stake, it’s up to Minh to save the day, like she always does.
