fic: who i was, from the start
Yuri paced anxiously in front of her home insurance company. It would open in less than five minutes but she’d been up since dawn with barely any sleep the night before. All she could think about was moving back into her home. Living with Yoona had been bliss, especially the past week or so but she couldn’t wait to be in much more familiar surroundings.
Inside the offices, a woman came to the front and unlocked the door.
“It’s not very often we get customers the second we open,” the woman remarked, holding the door for Yuri who walked inside like she was a kid walking into a toy store.
“I have all the papers for my house signed and notarized. I’m here to pick up my keys.”
Yuri held the papers out and the woman smiled at Yuri’s excitement.
“This way.”
While the woman checked the papers Yuri had brought in, the heel of Yuri’s foot bounced against the floor. She wouldn’t interrupt the woman, but she needed those keys, now.
“We apologize for the trouble,” the woman spoke up and put the papers back into the large envelope. She walked to a cabinet and opened it with a key from her jangling key ring. “With the economy in such horrible shape, everyone is looking for a way to make a little more money.”
The woman presented a small white envelope and Yuri almost jumped at the sight.
“We will be coming by the house to remove our locks and pick up these keys sometime this week. Once again, we apologize.”
Yuri nodded absentmindedly, her eyes on the keys. She took them for the lady and thanked her politely (though she wished she could curse her instead) and almost tripped over her own feet while exiting the office.
*
The first thing Yuri did was open all the windows to get some fresh air into the stuffy house. Then she went to her room, smiling like an idiot because no one could tell her it didn’t belong to her anymore.
She fell onto the bed, breathing in the detergent she always used. It was good to be home and she didn’t want to bask in the happiness alone. She dialed the number of the first person who entered her mind.
“Guess where I am?” Yuri asked the caller, her smile threatening to split her face in half.
*
Yoona looked through Yuri’s temporary birthday gift once more before getting out of her car and walking to the house. She would have joined Yuri to pick up her keys but Yoona had woken up to find the girl nowhere in sight and not answering her phone. She had to go to school anyway but now that it was over she could celebrate with Yuri.
Yuri opened the door after Yoona had rung the doorbell.
“Yoona! I’m so glad you’re here.” Yuri squeezed Yoona in a hug. It was then Yoona realized Yuri was home, her true home, and wasn’t going to be just across the pool like she had been for the past month. The occasion was a bittersweet one for Yoona. “Come in, we were just about to have champagne.”
Yoona put the present on the dining table, though her mind was stuck on the ‘we’ part Yuri had said. One step into the kitchen and she saw who ‘we’ was.
“Champagne, Yoona?” Tiffany asked, raising the bottle.
It was Yuri’s birthday so Yoona disregarded the urge to scratch the grin off Tiffany’s face.
“Sure,” she responded, disguising her bitterness well.
Yoona stayed polite and kept a smile on her face the entire time Tiffany was there. Tiffany stayed for a small glass of champagne but she knew Yoona wasn’t welcoming her presence. She told them she had an exam that evening, which was true, and left though Yoona was the real reason for leaving.
“So, how does it feel to be eighteen?”
They were in Yuri’s bedroom, sipping the warming champagne glass by glass.
“I’m not sure if it’s because I got the house back today, but it does feel different.”
Yoona ran her hand through the rug she was lying on. Yuri was on the bed, had been there since Tiffany left, like she had to catch up on all the nights she hadn’t slept on it.
“Getting a house is one heck of a birthday present,” Yoona said, smiling, but there was a heaviness in her voice. She knew the burden Yuri had to bear, more or less, alone. The past reared its guilt inducing jaws once more and Yoona physically had to sit up and shake her head to get rid of it. “Be right back.”
When Yoona returned Yuri gave her another glass of champagne, which Yoona downed in a few gulps. Yuri did the same, despite hating alcohol. It only provoked stupidity, but she had her house back, it was her birthday, Yoona was with her-for once, everything was as it should have been and maybe Yuri had afforded some stupidity after being careful all her life.
“Now,” Yoona began, putting the glass down and sitting next to Yuri on the bed, “this isn’t your real birthday present. Your real one will be here by next week, but I thought I should still get you something.”
Yoona held the plastic bag upside down and let the contents fall out. Yuri’s eyes immediately went to the largest thing, which was a magazine. She flipped it to the cover and showed it to Yoona with a widening smile.
“This is a Playboy, Yoona.”
Then Yuri saw the cigarettes, a lottery ticket and a Get Out of Jail Free card from the Monopoly board game. There was some kind of theme.
“I know. I was going to buy an actual porn magazine but those things are kind of filthy.”
Yuri couldn’t contain her laughter.
“What are you trying to do? Warn me of all the addictions out there?” she asked, picking up the Monopoly card.
“No, it’s all the things you can do once you turn eighteen. You can buy cigarettes, buy a lottery ticket, buy porn and if you’re not careful,” Yoona said, grinning smugly as she snatched the card from Yuri’s hands, “you can go to jail.”
“But that means get out of jail free, which doesn’t really exist unless you live in Monopoly world,” Yuri explained like she was an expert on the matter. Yuri’s attempt to act arrogant humored Yoona; it didn’t suit the older girl at all.
“It’s just supposed to symbolize jail. Don’t take it so literally.”
Yoona threw the card onto the half-naked Playboy girl and looked at the champagne bottle. She recognized it as the more expensive kind.
“What did Tiffany get you?”
Yuri leaned back against the headboard, listening to Yoona’s odd change of tone. It didn’t sound like she was jealous, just sad.
“A male stripper,” Yuri responded truthfully.
“Wow, that must have been…exciting,” Yoona said, at a loss for a better word.
“It really wasn’t. He just sat there for half an hour because I didn’t want a lap dance.”
“You probably destroyed whatever was left of his self-esteem.”
Yuri nodded in agreement. They turned quiet and Yuri watched the smile slip from Yoona’s lips. She didn’t like seeing Yoona look defeated. It wasn’t some battle for Yuri’s affections, because no matter what, Yoona would always win anyway. She moved down the bed and sat directly across from Yoona.
“Thank you for the present, I love it.”
“It’s stupid,” Yoona mumbled.
Yuri wasn’t used to this. She never had to comfort Tiffany or reassure her. Tiffany was confident even when she was wrong and Yuri couldn’t remember a time when Tiffany was vulnerable. Yoona kept her head down and asked morosely.
“Who did you call first when you got the keys? Me or her?”
Yuri wanted to lie, she wanted to spare Yoona the unnecessary hurt, but it wasn’t who she was.
“Her,” Yuri said regrettably.
Yoona’s hair hung around her face like she was embarrassed to show it and Yuri brushed it behind Yoona’s ear, moving even closer. But Yoona shook her head, bringing the hair back down, shielding her face again and Yuri withdrew her hand.
“What’s wrong?”
“Never mind, it’s nothing.” Yoona swung her legs and put her feet on the floor. “I think I’m going to go. I have some homework I need to finish.”
Yoona felt like sand slipping through Yuri’s fingers. She didn’t want Yoona to leave but the girl was already moving.
“Can I pick you up tomorrow?”
Yoona turned from Yuri and nodded. Before Yoona could leave Yuri reached for the girl’s hand and held it by Yoona’s fingertips. Yuri had done something wrong, Yoona wouldn’t be acting this way if she hadn’t but she didn’t know how to fix it.
Because it was Yuri’s birthday, Yoona kissed her on the cheek and forgot about Tiffany.
“Happy birthday, Yuri. I hope you get everything you wished for.”
*
Yuri removed her shoulders from a locker as the lock dug into her back. Two more minutes and classes would be out for the period. She could see the teacher and the front row of students, their eyes not on him but on the clock. The window was small and if she moved she would be able to see the back of the room but she didn’t want Yoona to spot her.
The bell rung, doors flew open like they were ready to be ripped off their hinges and the dead quiet erupted with noise. Yuri stayed by the lockers, her eyes darting from student to student until she recognized three heads.
When she was close enough, Yuri could hear Yoona’s voice, lightly tinged with annoyance as she spoke about some assignment and Donghae vehemently agreeing. There were too many people, too much happening; Yoona wouldn’t possibly notice. Yuri did what she came to do and let the crowd devour her.
Yoona spun around, her hand ready to slap the moron who thought he could get away with touching her butt.
“You alright?”
Donghae and Taeyeon had noticed Yoona had stopped walking and they looked to her, wondering why.
No one stood out, everyone looked the same, was doing the same and all Yoona could do was silently curse. She brushed her hand over her butt, the spot where she was touched and her frown deepened when she felt something protruding out of her back pocket. She took the object out and saw that it was a flower, a Gardenia.
Taeyeon ran her eyes through the thinning halls before looking back to the flower Yoona had magically acquired.
“Where’d you get that from?”
There was paper wrapped around the stem and Yoona unrolled it. She smiled as she read the note and took a step backward, much to the worry of Taeyeon.
“Yoona, you cannot skip class again.”
Yoona put the paper in her pocket and began walking backwards, away from the pair.
“Cover for me,” she told Taeyeon, still smiling.
“No, I will not. Im Yoona, get back here, I won’t-” But Yoona had already turned around. Taeyeon looked up to Donghae. “Do something!”
Donghae’s mouth opened and closed, surprised by his frustrated girlfriend’s sudden demand.
“Like what?” Donghae put his arm around Taeyeon and turned them from Yoona. “She’s a goner, Tete. There’s nothing we can do.”
Taeyeon didn’t like the sound of that. Donghae treated Yoona like someone diagnosed with a terminal disease. Love wasn’t a terminal disease. Or it shouldn’t sound like one.
*
Yoona was unnecessarily stealthy about getting to the place Yuri had written in the note. She acted like it was some ninja mission, complete with rolling on the ground and crawling commando style.
Yuri saw the whole thing and almost blew their cover with her laughter.
“You watch way too many movies, Yoong.”
“I was just being careful,” Yoona said, brushing the grass and dirt off her body.
Yuri shook her head and took Yoona’s hand to take her to the garden but Yoona didn’t move.
“What’s wrong?”
The sun made Yoona squint as she looked at Yuri with a small smile.
“You called me Yoong.”
“Should I stop?”
Hearing her nickname without it being regretted or quickly retracted made Yoona feel like everything had become full circle. It instilled a sort of calmness for them to finally be back to how they used to be.
“No, it’s nice.”
They fell to the ground once they arrived at the garden, with Yuri shushing Yoona while the girl silently laughed with her head thrown back like she had gone crazy. Yuri pleaded for Yoona to quiet down but Yoona had fallen into a giggle fit with no signs of stopping. Not knowing what else to do, she brought Yoona’s face to hers and kissed her. It worked.
“So is that why you brought me here?” The giggles passed but Yoona was still left smiling. “I will admit, gardens are more romantic than going behind the bleachers.”
“You were going to get us caught, it was a last resort.”
The clipped grass scratched Yoona’s face as she twisted her neck to look behind her and at the garden. Out of all the flowers, she recognized the gardenias first. The shrub was almost bare, with only three or four blossoms left.
“This is where you’ve been getting the flowers from?”
“It is, but I don’t think I’m going to be able to anymore. It’s become obvious with the state it’s in.”
It was for the best. Winter was approaching and Yoona didn’t want to repeat the same mistake like the incident by the pond when she was younger.
Yoona looked down the length of the garden. There were many more different types of flowers, all of them were aesthetically pleasing, but even as bare as the gardenia shrub was, she liked it the most.
“I’m sorry it took us so long to get here,” Yuri said and Yoona pulled her eyes away from the flowers to find Yuri’s across the thick green blades. They were apologetic and Yoona couldn’t hide the confusion in her voice.
“No it didn’t.”
“I don’t mean the garden, Yoona.”
A sharp gust of wind swiped through and the grass danced wildly between them.
“You shouldn’t be the one who’s sorry.”
There was so much they had to talk about. Nothing from their past had been resolved and if they didn’t at least acknowledge their past mistakes, they’d either be repeated or worse, used against one another.
A shadow passed over Yuri’s face and Yoona thought it was a cloud but Yuri’s eyes widened in fear, their focus somewhere beyond Yoona. Yoona turned her head and met the face of a very angry looking teacher.
“Principal’s office. Now.”
*
“Why didn’t you tell me you had World History this period?”
Yuri wasn’t happy that Yoona had skipped a class Yoona wasn’t exactly excelling in. Even more at the fact she was partly at fault for it.
“It’s not a big deal. We weren’t doing anything important today.”
“You probably say that for each class.”
It couldn’t be helped. There was nothing history did for her, except maybe help her fall asleep.
The principal walked in then, interrupting their brief conversation. The man quickly glanced at Yuri but studied Yoona more closely as he walked to his desk.
“I thought we agreed we wouldn’t see each other on such terms anymore, Yuri.” Yuri straightened in her seat, trying to appear as responsible as she could. “And what’s worse, you’ve dragged a fellow student down with you.”
Yoona chimed in to protect Yuri, “It’s not her fault, I-Ow!” She shot Yuri a look, its expression silently asking, what the hell? as she rubbed her sore calf.
“I apologize, sir. This is my fault, solely. I’ll take full responsibility.”
Yoona was about to object but received another kick from Yuri and kept quiet.
The principal wasn’t convinced but he didn’t care. Everything was made a lot easier for him once someone took the blame. He opened a folder and scanned the documents.
“It seems Ms. Yoona isn’t fairing well in her World History class.”
His eyes remained on Yoona’s grades as he spoke irritably.
“Rather than punishing you directly, Yuri, I’ll have your fate rest on Ms. Yoona’s shoulders. She has a test before winter break and if she does not pass, both of you will be serving detention until I feel like you’ve learned your lesson. Is that clear?”
He looked up and neither girl thought to challenge the verdict.
*
“I really don’t need you saving me all the time.”
Yoona shouldn’t have been complaining but she’d been fine without Yuri’s help for the past three years. She opened her locker and reached for a book but was gently pushed aside. Yuri took Yoona’s shoulder bag and stuffed it into the locker after taking out her gigantic history textbook.
“All my stuff’s in there!”
“Exactly. You won’t need anything where we’re going.”
Yoona interpreted the ‘anything’ in Yuri’s sentence as clothes and was about to ask why Yuri was acting perverted during the middle of school but forgot about it as she was hauled down the hall like a sack of potatoes. Scattered students looked on as the most popular girl was being manhandled by one of the least popular girls.
“I am not going to date someone who’s a history dunce.”
“And everyone says I’m shallow,” Yoona mumbled. “And you know what else, this someone you’re dating? Her leg hurts after being kicked!”
Taeyeon and Donghae watched the scene from their classroom and they turned to each other for an explanation but knew better than to ask.
*
Yoona pulled out a chair at the nearest empty table but Yuri continued walking. She kept her voice low so as not to disturb anyone in the library.
“Where are you going? This table is fine.”
“You’ll get distracted. I know of a better place.”
Yuri’s spot truly was secluded and the only distraction was one of those motivational posters stuck on the wall. It seemed very old and when Yoona tapped a curled corner, dust flew out. Since they were so far from the front, Yoona didn’t bother whispering.
“How do you even know about this place?”
“Free time begets boredom, boredom begets curiosity,” Yuri told her, sitting against a shelf full of reference books.
“Is that a quote or something?”
“No, it’s the truth. Sit.”
Yoona turned from the crinkled poster and saw Yuri pat the floor next to her with a notebook.
“I want you to make an outline for all the chapters your next test will cover.” Yoona opened the textbook and set it in her lap. “Then write the definitions for all the bolded words.”
The work Yuri handed out was more than anything she’d done for the class at a single time.
“This isn’t exactly smart. I have a class so this is considered skipping.”
“Study hall isn’t a class, Yoona.”
Her attempt at lessening her workload failed.
“What are you going to do? Babysit me?”
Yuri leaned her body down a shelf, her shirt riding up and exposing her lower back the farther she stretched. When she returned to a normal position, Yoona’s eyes darted to the barbarian on the cover page of the chapter.
“I’m going to read while you work.”
The book Yuri had taken out had seen better days. A few pages fell out and the hard cover was reduced to mush.
Yoona fixated on the book, wondering why it was here, in the midst of reference books and what it contained. She kept staring until Yuri instructed her starkly.
“Work.”
*
An hour later, Yoona finished all the work she had been assigned.
“My hand is cramping, Yuri, I’m serious.”
Yuri looked over the neat handwriting while Yoona rubbed her wrist and flexed her fingers.
“There are questions at the end of the chapters. You should probably start on those.”
The lone light bulb above them flickered as the final bell sounded. Yoona stood and almost started bouncing from happiness. Yuri put her attention back to the book and spoke without looking at Yoona.
“We’re not going anywhere. Do the questions.”
“But school’s over Kwon Stalin.”
“Stalin is a surname. His first name was Joseph.”
“Kwon Joseph doesn’t sound intimidating at all.”
“Neither does Kwon Stalin, now sit down and do the questions.”
Yoona didn’t and stood there but Yuri proved to be the more determined one. Yoona let out a whine and slumped back to the floor.
The papers rustled violently when Yoona put the book back into her lap. “Half hour and then either we leave or I get a break.”
Yuri responded by flipping a page in her book.
*
Yoona scribbled an answer while out of the corner of her eye she saw Yuri losing to sleep. Yuri’s head jerked up and fell every few seconds as she tried to stay conscious. The half hour was almost up and they both needed a break. She raised her arms and exaggerated a yawn.
“Can I please take that break now?”
Yuri fully awakened and gave Yoona a halfhearted nod.
“Lie down. I want to use you as a cushion,” Yoona said, pushing Yuri to the side.
Yuri complied, though it seemed she only listened because her body was too weak to resist Yoona’s push.
It took less than a minute for Yuri to start nodding off again, her hand turning more and more lifeless with each gentle comb through Yoona’s hair. Yoona watched in amusement until Yuri stopped fighting it, and Yoona closed her eyes, feeling oddly content on a hard floor, in the back of a library.
*
For it to be so quiet was normal but when Yoona awoke to darkness as well, her heart quickened with panic.
“Yuri, wake up.”
Yuri pulled herself up and rolled her neck to get out a crick. “Why are the lights off?”
“I don’t know. I was going to ask you.”
Even if one of the bulbs did go out, there were plenty of other lights around the library, but all Yuri saw was the soft glow of the emergency exit sign.
“I’ll go up front to see what’s going on.”
Yoona scrambled to her feet, latching onto Yuri’s arm.
“I’m going with you. The person left behind always gets killed first.”
“I’m guessing this knowledge comes from movies?”
“No, it’s the truth.”
They walked past the bookcases, listening for the normal sounds that occupied a library-whispering, the beeping the scanner made, chairs squeaking but none of it was there. When they reached the main area, they stopped and Yoona squeezed Yuri’s arm.
“It’s empty.”
Yuri had a faint idea what was going on but hoped she was wrong. She went up to the door with Yoona still by her side and pulled on the handle. The door banged against the lock.
“It’s locked?” Yoona asked, trying for herself but got the same outcome.
The days were getting shorter as winter neared so it was too dark to see the clocks on the walls. Yuri turned to the window and lifted her watch at an angle so that she could see the time. Her arm dropped to her side and she threw her head back, moaning like she was in pain.
“It’s 5:30.”
Yoona stopped jingling the doors, asking, “So?”
“So all staff leaves at five.”
The understanding of the situation came to Yoona slowly but when it did, she exploded.
“We’re locked in here?!”
While Yoona pounded on the doors crazily, yelling for help, Yuri took out her phone and stated loudly over the noise.
“I’ll just call Donghae. He’ll get someone to open the doors.”
The phone was off, which couldn’t have meant anything good. She held the power button and smiled when the little jingle played. The screen lit up for a second before going blank. Her smile vanished and she tried powering it up again, but it did nothing that time.
“Um, Yoona, can I use your phone?”
Yoona’s eyes looked like they were about to burst into flames as she said through gritted teeth, “I don’t have it. It’s in my bag, which is in my locker after you put it in there.”
Yuri nodded and surveyed her surroundings. A vent above the librarian’s station seemed promising but getting to it was impossible without a ladder. Her smile pleaded for Yoona’s forgiveness.
“Think of this as a camping trip.”
Yoona let out a piercing scream.
*
5:43 PM
“…nothing good would come out of studying. If we hadn’t gone all the way in the back, closed off from civilization we probably would have noticed how late it was and that…”
Yoona was rambling and pacing, and being the good girlfriend Yuri was, Yuri listened and allowed Yoona to vent even if it was at her expense.
When she was finished, Yoona crossed her arms angrily, closing herself off from Yuri. She watched as the girl hopped off the counter and walked to her, but Yoona was prepared, she wasn’t going to give into Yuri, there was nothing Yuri could say or do to make any of this better. Her willpower didn’t amount to much, not when Yuri could obliterate it with a soft kiss, making Yoona’s anger vanish in a cartoony poof.
“I’m sorry.”
“I hate you so much.”
Yuri grinned at Yoona’s frustrated whimper and kissed her again.
*
6:20 PM
They were lucky there were bathrooms in the library otherwise the disaster they were stuck in would have been much worse. Hunger was an entirely different problem.
“I’m hungry,” Yoona thought aloud from where she was sprawled out on a table.
Yuri was somewhere in the nonfiction section, browsing authors. Getting free time like this at a library never happened so she planned to use as much of it as she could. Her list was out and she was writing down a few sentences from a book when she heard Yoona’s voice echo. She put the book away and went to her jacket to get her wallet. They were also lucky there was a vending machine in the small worker’s lounge.
“Anything specific you want?”
Yoona’s head hung over the ledge of the table, her throat bobbing as she talked.
“Hershey bar.”
Yuri left to get the bar, smiling at the choice.
Yoona sat up at the clanking of the vending machine and happily unwrapped the candy once Yuri brought it.
“You really like Hershey’s, don’t you?”
The chocolate was divided into small squares and Yoona put four into her mouth at once.
“Mmhm. It’s the only chocolate I’ll eat.”
Yuri had heard a similar sentence once said by someone else.
“Tiffany only eats Hershey chocolate too.”
Yoona slowed her rapid chewing. There wasn’t a name for the feeling Yoona had whenever she heard Tiffany’s name. She was simply wary of the girl. Tiffany had backed off without so much as a peep and Tiffany didn’t seem like the type to just surrender. Tiffany’s threat hadn’t slipped Yoona’s mind either. It was like Yoona had to keep peeking around corners to see if Tiffany wouldn’t pop up and take Yuri away from her.
She ate the rest of the chocolate but it wasn’t enough. Yuri sensed it wouldn’t be and produced another bar from her back pocket.
“I think you and Tiffany have much more in common than you think,” Yuri said, tapping Yoona’s nose once with the chocolate before going back to perusing the infinite books.
“Yes,” Yoona mumbled, eating a new square. “We both have a thing for girls in leather jackets.”
*
6:31 PM
“I’m hungry again!”
*
7:04 PM
Yuri didn’t have enough money to feed Yoona’s endless appetite but after rummaging through her backpack for at least a piece of gum for Yoona, she found half a bag of dried apricots.
They ate together under a window, where the waning moon cast a long shadow of the fixture.
“Won’t your mom be worried?” Yuri asked, thinking of the people who might notice their absence.
Yoona snorted.
“She didn’t even know you were living us until last week when my dad mentioned it. What about Donghae?”
“It’s not like he checks up on me every night.”
There was only one person left that came to Yoona’s mind.
“Tiffany?”
Yuri bit half of an apricot and shook her head.
“She’ll be pissed I didn’t pick up my phone but she’d probably figure I fell asleep or was busy.”
“You guys talk a lot?”
“Couple times a week. Mostly she just calls to complain about her roommate, Sooyoung, or to tell me something that happened on some TV show.”
The way Yuri talked about Tiffany made Yoona envious, not of their relationship but the easiness of it all. The more she learned about them the more she doubted what Yuri had told her. How could Tiffany not fall in love with Yuri?
“What about Jiyoung? Will she be okay?”
“She’s been alone for a night more than once.”
The apricots satiated Yoona and she extended her arm to the light. She played with her shadow by wiggling her fingers, making shapes, a heart with her cupped hands and a flying bird.
“Are you tired yet?”
“Nope. What else can we do in here?” Yoona asked, looking around. She jumped when she felt fingers press into her bare hip.
Yuri whispered hotly against Yoona’s neck.
“I have an idea.”
*
9:17 PM
“Marco!”
“Polo!”
Yoona whipped around and charged to the voice and collided straight into a bookcase. Yuri found her with a complete anthology of Shakespeare’s works around her.
“Maybe we should stop playing this game.”
“This was as bad as playing tag,” Yoona said, while Yuri helped her up.
Tag had ended with Yuri tripping over a chair and a bruise forming on her shin. Yoona had to give Yuri a piggyback ride to a table because her leg hurt too much. Then Yuri suggested playing Marco Polo and its results were just as painful.
After putting all the fallen books away, Yuri advised smartly, “Let’s just sit and do something that doesn’t have the possibility of breaking one of our bones.”
*
10:00 PM
Hangman was fun but hard on the eyes when playing in the dark. They were lying on the floor under the emergency exit sign, a pile of crumpled papers surrounding them.
Yuri was able to candidly study Yoona while the girl concentrated on solving the sentence Yuri had wrote. The colored light gave Yoona’s hair a reddish tint as it fell over her shoulder when she brought her face closer to the notebook. A thought sprang to her mind about her birthday and Yoona’s parting words, how coincidental it was Yoona said them.
“I wished for you.”
Yoona looked up from the paper and grinned at the corny line even though she didn’t really understand what Yuri meant by it.
“For every birthday after we stopped speaking, I wished for you. I wished for a minute with you, even if it was just to say hi.”
Yoona propped her chin up with a hand and Yuri could see Yoona’s smile by the brightness of her teeth.
“Why are you telling me this now?”
“You should know.”
Yuri didn’t know how else to tell Yoona how much she wanted her even when they considered each other strangers.
“Speaking of your birthday,” Yoona tapped the pen on the paper, glad it was too dark for Yuri to see her face and her blush. “Your real present should be here by the end of the week.”
Yuri didn’t need anything else but she wouldn’t deny the sweet gesture Yoona wanted to do.
“Can’t wait.”
*
11:38 PM
They moved to the tables after hangman and were running out of things to do. Sleep was an obvious choice but neither was tired enough.
Yuri took out her list and twirled the neatly folded square on the smooth surface of the table.
“What is that? I’ve seen you carry it around everywhere.”
Yoona reached across the table for the paper and unfolded it. The words were illegible in the dark.
“They’re sentences, titles, authors. Sometimes all three.”
“Of what?”
“Poems, books I like.”
“Why?”
“Sometimes they say things I don’t know how to.”
Yoona had a taste of the poems Yuri had when they broke into her house and she wanted one for her own.
“Things like what?”
Yuri hooked her finger, motioning for Yoona to come closer. She thought Yoona would get out of her chair and walk but instead, Yoona climbed onto the table and crawled to where Yuri was sitting.
It wasn’t common for her to memorize poems, that was what the list was for, but she had found one earlier and thought it fit well and couldn’t get it out of her head.
“You keep me in a little pearl,
barefoot, unlucky,
tasting of apricots…”
She paused, kissing Yoona simply because the girl was close.
“I look and I think,
There's something about you that I adore,
and isn't freedom expensive
when you pay with the shackles you love.”
Yoona wasn’t particularly fond of poems, but this one she could fall in love with.
“Remember when I said you were ridiculously amazing?”
Yuri nodded and kept her lips on Yoona’s cheek as she listened to the whisper.
“You just went beyond that.”
*
By one in the morning they fell asleep under a table and woke up when the janitors unlocked all the doors in the morning. They gathered their things and snuck out, making a pit stop at Yoona’s locker to get the rest of her things.
The parking lot was empty except for Yuri’s motorcycle and Yoona’s car. They promised to see each other in a few hours, when school began again, and then left.
Yoona’s body ached from spending a night on the floor and all she wanted was to shower and get a change of clothes. That didn’t change the fact she would never think of a library the same way again.
**
AN: I love them so.
Poem is "Staying" by Laura O'Callaghan White. Update on the 17th.
Inside the offices, a woman came to the front and unlocked the door.
“It’s not very often we get customers the second we open,” the woman remarked, holding the door for Yuri who walked inside like she was a kid walking into a toy store.
“I have all the papers for my house signed and notarized. I’m here to pick up my keys.”
Yuri held the papers out and the woman smiled at Yuri’s excitement.
“This way.”
While the woman checked the papers Yuri had brought in, the heel of Yuri’s foot bounced against the floor. She wouldn’t interrupt the woman, but she needed those keys, now.
“We apologize for the trouble,” the woman spoke up and put the papers back into the large envelope. She walked to a cabinet and opened it with a key from her jangling key ring. “With the economy in such horrible shape, everyone is looking for a way to make a little more money.”
The woman presented a small white envelope and Yuri almost jumped at the sight.
“We will be coming by the house to remove our locks and pick up these keys sometime this week. Once again, we apologize.”
Yuri nodded absentmindedly, her eyes on the keys. She took them for the lady and thanked her politely (though she wished she could curse her instead) and almost tripped over her own feet while exiting the office.
*
The first thing Yuri did was open all the windows to get some fresh air into the stuffy house. Then she went to her room, smiling like an idiot because no one could tell her it didn’t belong to her anymore.
She fell onto the bed, breathing in the detergent she always used. It was good to be home and she didn’t want to bask in the happiness alone. She dialed the number of the first person who entered her mind.
“Guess where I am?” Yuri asked the caller, her smile threatening to split her face in half.
*
Yoona looked through Yuri’s temporary birthday gift once more before getting out of her car and walking to the house. She would have joined Yuri to pick up her keys but Yoona had woken up to find the girl nowhere in sight and not answering her phone. She had to go to school anyway but now that it was over she could celebrate with Yuri.
Yuri opened the door after Yoona had rung the doorbell.
“Yoona! I’m so glad you’re here.” Yuri squeezed Yoona in a hug. It was then Yoona realized Yuri was home, her true home, and wasn’t going to be just across the pool like she had been for the past month. The occasion was a bittersweet one for Yoona. “Come in, we were just about to have champagne.”
Yoona put the present on the dining table, though her mind was stuck on the ‘we’ part Yuri had said. One step into the kitchen and she saw who ‘we’ was.
“Champagne, Yoona?” Tiffany asked, raising the bottle.
It was Yuri’s birthday so Yoona disregarded the urge to scratch the grin off Tiffany’s face.
“Sure,” she responded, disguising her bitterness well.
Yoona stayed polite and kept a smile on her face the entire time Tiffany was there. Tiffany stayed for a small glass of champagne but she knew Yoona wasn’t welcoming her presence. She told them she had an exam that evening, which was true, and left though Yoona was the real reason for leaving.
“So, how does it feel to be eighteen?”
They were in Yuri’s bedroom, sipping the warming champagne glass by glass.
“I’m not sure if it’s because I got the house back today, but it does feel different.”
Yoona ran her hand through the rug she was lying on. Yuri was on the bed, had been there since Tiffany left, like she had to catch up on all the nights she hadn’t slept on it.
“Getting a house is one heck of a birthday present,” Yoona said, smiling, but there was a heaviness in her voice. She knew the burden Yuri had to bear, more or less, alone. The past reared its guilt inducing jaws once more and Yoona physically had to sit up and shake her head to get rid of it. “Be right back.”
When Yoona returned Yuri gave her another glass of champagne, which Yoona downed in a few gulps. Yuri did the same, despite hating alcohol. It only provoked stupidity, but she had her house back, it was her birthday, Yoona was with her-for once, everything was as it should have been and maybe Yuri had afforded some stupidity after being careful all her life.
“Now,” Yoona began, putting the glass down and sitting next to Yuri on the bed, “this isn’t your real birthday present. Your real one will be here by next week, but I thought I should still get you something.”
Yoona held the plastic bag upside down and let the contents fall out. Yuri’s eyes immediately went to the largest thing, which was a magazine. She flipped it to the cover and showed it to Yoona with a widening smile.
“This is a Playboy, Yoona.”
Then Yuri saw the cigarettes, a lottery ticket and a Get Out of Jail Free card from the Monopoly board game. There was some kind of theme.
“I know. I was going to buy an actual porn magazine but those things are kind of filthy.”
Yuri couldn’t contain her laughter.
“What are you trying to do? Warn me of all the addictions out there?” she asked, picking up the Monopoly card.
“No, it’s all the things you can do once you turn eighteen. You can buy cigarettes, buy a lottery ticket, buy porn and if you’re not careful,” Yoona said, grinning smugly as she snatched the card from Yuri’s hands, “you can go to jail.”
“But that means get out of jail free, which doesn’t really exist unless you live in Monopoly world,” Yuri explained like she was an expert on the matter. Yuri’s attempt to act arrogant humored Yoona; it didn’t suit the older girl at all.
“It’s just supposed to symbolize jail. Don’t take it so literally.”
Yoona threw the card onto the half-naked Playboy girl and looked at the champagne bottle. She recognized it as the more expensive kind.
“What did Tiffany get you?”
Yuri leaned back against the headboard, listening to Yoona’s odd change of tone. It didn’t sound like she was jealous, just sad.
“A male stripper,” Yuri responded truthfully.
“Wow, that must have been…exciting,” Yoona said, at a loss for a better word.
“It really wasn’t. He just sat there for half an hour because I didn’t want a lap dance.”
“You probably destroyed whatever was left of his self-esteem.”
Yuri nodded in agreement. They turned quiet and Yuri watched the smile slip from Yoona’s lips. She didn’t like seeing Yoona look defeated. It wasn’t some battle for Yuri’s affections, because no matter what, Yoona would always win anyway. She moved down the bed and sat directly across from Yoona.
“Thank you for the present, I love it.”
“It’s stupid,” Yoona mumbled.
Yuri wasn’t used to this. She never had to comfort Tiffany or reassure her. Tiffany was confident even when she was wrong and Yuri couldn’t remember a time when Tiffany was vulnerable. Yoona kept her head down and asked morosely.
“Who did you call first when you got the keys? Me or her?”
Yuri wanted to lie, she wanted to spare Yoona the unnecessary hurt, but it wasn’t who she was.
“Her,” Yuri said regrettably.
Yoona’s hair hung around her face like she was embarrassed to show it and Yuri brushed it behind Yoona’s ear, moving even closer. But Yoona shook her head, bringing the hair back down, shielding her face again and Yuri withdrew her hand.
“What’s wrong?”
“Never mind, it’s nothing.” Yoona swung her legs and put her feet on the floor. “I think I’m going to go. I have some homework I need to finish.”
Yoona felt like sand slipping through Yuri’s fingers. She didn’t want Yoona to leave but the girl was already moving.
“Can I pick you up tomorrow?”
Yoona turned from Yuri and nodded. Before Yoona could leave Yuri reached for the girl’s hand and held it by Yoona’s fingertips. Yuri had done something wrong, Yoona wouldn’t be acting this way if she hadn’t but she didn’t know how to fix it.
Because it was Yuri’s birthday, Yoona kissed her on the cheek and forgot about Tiffany.
“Happy birthday, Yuri. I hope you get everything you wished for.”
*
Yuri removed her shoulders from a locker as the lock dug into her back. Two more minutes and classes would be out for the period. She could see the teacher and the front row of students, their eyes not on him but on the clock. The window was small and if she moved she would be able to see the back of the room but she didn’t want Yoona to spot her.
The bell rung, doors flew open like they were ready to be ripped off their hinges and the dead quiet erupted with noise. Yuri stayed by the lockers, her eyes darting from student to student until she recognized three heads.
When she was close enough, Yuri could hear Yoona’s voice, lightly tinged with annoyance as she spoke about some assignment and Donghae vehemently agreeing. There were too many people, too much happening; Yoona wouldn’t possibly notice. Yuri did what she came to do and let the crowd devour her.
Yoona spun around, her hand ready to slap the moron who thought he could get away with touching her butt.
“You alright?”
Donghae and Taeyeon had noticed Yoona had stopped walking and they looked to her, wondering why.
No one stood out, everyone looked the same, was doing the same and all Yoona could do was silently curse. She brushed her hand over her butt, the spot where she was touched and her frown deepened when she felt something protruding out of her back pocket. She took the object out and saw that it was a flower, a Gardenia.
Taeyeon ran her eyes through the thinning halls before looking back to the flower Yoona had magically acquired.
“Where’d you get that from?”
There was paper wrapped around the stem and Yoona unrolled it. She smiled as she read the note and took a step backward, much to the worry of Taeyeon.
“Yoona, you cannot skip class again.”
Yoona put the paper in her pocket and began walking backwards, away from the pair.
“Cover for me,” she told Taeyeon, still smiling.
“No, I will not. Im Yoona, get back here, I won’t-” But Yoona had already turned around. Taeyeon looked up to Donghae. “Do something!”
Donghae’s mouth opened and closed, surprised by his frustrated girlfriend’s sudden demand.
“Like what?” Donghae put his arm around Taeyeon and turned them from Yoona. “She’s a goner, Tete. There’s nothing we can do.”
Taeyeon didn’t like the sound of that. Donghae treated Yoona like someone diagnosed with a terminal disease. Love wasn’t a terminal disease. Or it shouldn’t sound like one.
*
Yoona was unnecessarily stealthy about getting to the place Yuri had written in the note. She acted like it was some ninja mission, complete with rolling on the ground and crawling commando style.
Yuri saw the whole thing and almost blew their cover with her laughter.
“You watch way too many movies, Yoong.”
“I was just being careful,” Yoona said, brushing the grass and dirt off her body.
Yuri shook her head and took Yoona’s hand to take her to the garden but Yoona didn’t move.
“What’s wrong?”
The sun made Yoona squint as she looked at Yuri with a small smile.
“You called me Yoong.”
“Should I stop?”
Hearing her nickname without it being regretted or quickly retracted made Yoona feel like everything had become full circle. It instilled a sort of calmness for them to finally be back to how they used to be.
“No, it’s nice.”
They fell to the ground once they arrived at the garden, with Yuri shushing Yoona while the girl silently laughed with her head thrown back like she had gone crazy. Yuri pleaded for Yoona to quiet down but Yoona had fallen into a giggle fit with no signs of stopping. Not knowing what else to do, she brought Yoona’s face to hers and kissed her. It worked.
“So is that why you brought me here?” The giggles passed but Yoona was still left smiling. “I will admit, gardens are more romantic than going behind the bleachers.”
“You were going to get us caught, it was a last resort.”
The clipped grass scratched Yoona’s face as she twisted her neck to look behind her and at the garden. Out of all the flowers, she recognized the gardenias first. The shrub was almost bare, with only three or four blossoms left.
“This is where you’ve been getting the flowers from?”
“It is, but I don’t think I’m going to be able to anymore. It’s become obvious with the state it’s in.”
It was for the best. Winter was approaching and Yoona didn’t want to repeat the same mistake like the incident by the pond when she was younger.
Yoona looked down the length of the garden. There were many more different types of flowers, all of them were aesthetically pleasing, but even as bare as the gardenia shrub was, she liked it the most.
“I’m sorry it took us so long to get here,” Yuri said and Yoona pulled her eyes away from the flowers to find Yuri’s across the thick green blades. They were apologetic and Yoona couldn’t hide the confusion in her voice.
“No it didn’t.”
“I don’t mean the garden, Yoona.”
A sharp gust of wind swiped through and the grass danced wildly between them.
“You shouldn’t be the one who’s sorry.”
There was so much they had to talk about. Nothing from their past had been resolved and if they didn’t at least acknowledge their past mistakes, they’d either be repeated or worse, used against one another.
A shadow passed over Yuri’s face and Yoona thought it was a cloud but Yuri’s eyes widened in fear, their focus somewhere beyond Yoona. Yoona turned her head and met the face of a very angry looking teacher.
“Principal’s office. Now.”
*
“Why didn’t you tell me you had World History this period?”
Yuri wasn’t happy that Yoona had skipped a class Yoona wasn’t exactly excelling in. Even more at the fact she was partly at fault for it.
“It’s not a big deal. We weren’t doing anything important today.”
“You probably say that for each class.”
It couldn’t be helped. There was nothing history did for her, except maybe help her fall asleep.
The principal walked in then, interrupting their brief conversation. The man quickly glanced at Yuri but studied Yoona more closely as he walked to his desk.
“I thought we agreed we wouldn’t see each other on such terms anymore, Yuri.” Yuri straightened in her seat, trying to appear as responsible as she could. “And what’s worse, you’ve dragged a fellow student down with you.”
Yoona chimed in to protect Yuri, “It’s not her fault, I-Ow!” She shot Yuri a look, its expression silently asking, what the hell? as she rubbed her sore calf.
“I apologize, sir. This is my fault, solely. I’ll take full responsibility.”
Yoona was about to object but received another kick from Yuri and kept quiet.
The principal wasn’t convinced but he didn’t care. Everything was made a lot easier for him once someone took the blame. He opened a folder and scanned the documents.
“It seems Ms. Yoona isn’t fairing well in her World History class.”
His eyes remained on Yoona’s grades as he spoke irritably.
“Rather than punishing you directly, Yuri, I’ll have your fate rest on Ms. Yoona’s shoulders. She has a test before winter break and if she does not pass, both of you will be serving detention until I feel like you’ve learned your lesson. Is that clear?”
He looked up and neither girl thought to challenge the verdict.
*
“I really don’t need you saving me all the time.”
Yoona shouldn’t have been complaining but she’d been fine without Yuri’s help for the past three years. She opened her locker and reached for a book but was gently pushed aside. Yuri took Yoona’s shoulder bag and stuffed it into the locker after taking out her gigantic history textbook.
“All my stuff’s in there!”
“Exactly. You won’t need anything where we’re going.”
Yoona interpreted the ‘anything’ in Yuri’s sentence as clothes and was about to ask why Yuri was acting perverted during the middle of school but forgot about it as she was hauled down the hall like a sack of potatoes. Scattered students looked on as the most popular girl was being manhandled by one of the least popular girls.
“I am not going to date someone who’s a history dunce.”
“And everyone says I’m shallow,” Yoona mumbled. “And you know what else, this someone you’re dating? Her leg hurts after being kicked!”
Taeyeon and Donghae watched the scene from their classroom and they turned to each other for an explanation but knew better than to ask.
*
Yoona pulled out a chair at the nearest empty table but Yuri continued walking. She kept her voice low so as not to disturb anyone in the library.
“Where are you going? This table is fine.”
“You’ll get distracted. I know of a better place.”
Yuri’s spot truly was secluded and the only distraction was one of those motivational posters stuck on the wall. It seemed very old and when Yoona tapped a curled corner, dust flew out. Since they were so far from the front, Yoona didn’t bother whispering.
“How do you even know about this place?”
“Free time begets boredom, boredom begets curiosity,” Yuri told her, sitting against a shelf full of reference books.
“Is that a quote or something?”
“No, it’s the truth. Sit.”
Yoona turned from the crinkled poster and saw Yuri pat the floor next to her with a notebook.
“I want you to make an outline for all the chapters your next test will cover.” Yoona opened the textbook and set it in her lap. “Then write the definitions for all the bolded words.”
The work Yuri handed out was more than anything she’d done for the class at a single time.
“This isn’t exactly smart. I have a class so this is considered skipping.”
“Study hall isn’t a class, Yoona.”
Her attempt at lessening her workload failed.
“What are you going to do? Babysit me?”
Yuri leaned her body down a shelf, her shirt riding up and exposing her lower back the farther she stretched. When she returned to a normal position, Yoona’s eyes darted to the barbarian on the cover page of the chapter.
“I’m going to read while you work.”
The book Yuri had taken out had seen better days. A few pages fell out and the hard cover was reduced to mush.
Yoona fixated on the book, wondering why it was here, in the midst of reference books and what it contained. She kept staring until Yuri instructed her starkly.
“Work.”
*
An hour later, Yoona finished all the work she had been assigned.
“My hand is cramping, Yuri, I’m serious.”
Yuri looked over the neat handwriting while Yoona rubbed her wrist and flexed her fingers.
“There are questions at the end of the chapters. You should probably start on those.”
The lone light bulb above them flickered as the final bell sounded. Yoona stood and almost started bouncing from happiness. Yuri put her attention back to the book and spoke without looking at Yoona.
“We’re not going anywhere. Do the questions.”
“But school’s over Kwon Stalin.”
“Stalin is a surname. His first name was Joseph.”
“Kwon Joseph doesn’t sound intimidating at all.”
“Neither does Kwon Stalin, now sit down and do the questions.”
Yoona didn’t and stood there but Yuri proved to be the more determined one. Yoona let out a whine and slumped back to the floor.
The papers rustled violently when Yoona put the book back into her lap. “Half hour and then either we leave or I get a break.”
Yuri responded by flipping a page in her book.
*
Yoona scribbled an answer while out of the corner of her eye she saw Yuri losing to sleep. Yuri’s head jerked up and fell every few seconds as she tried to stay conscious. The half hour was almost up and they both needed a break. She raised her arms and exaggerated a yawn.
“Can I please take that break now?”
Yuri fully awakened and gave Yoona a halfhearted nod.
“Lie down. I want to use you as a cushion,” Yoona said, pushing Yuri to the side.
Yuri complied, though it seemed she only listened because her body was too weak to resist Yoona’s push.
It took less than a minute for Yuri to start nodding off again, her hand turning more and more lifeless with each gentle comb through Yoona’s hair. Yoona watched in amusement until Yuri stopped fighting it, and Yoona closed her eyes, feeling oddly content on a hard floor, in the back of a library.
*
For it to be so quiet was normal but when Yoona awoke to darkness as well, her heart quickened with panic.
“Yuri, wake up.”
Yuri pulled herself up and rolled her neck to get out a crick. “Why are the lights off?”
“I don’t know. I was going to ask you.”
Even if one of the bulbs did go out, there were plenty of other lights around the library, but all Yuri saw was the soft glow of the emergency exit sign.
“I’ll go up front to see what’s going on.”
Yoona scrambled to her feet, latching onto Yuri’s arm.
“I’m going with you. The person left behind always gets killed first.”
“I’m guessing this knowledge comes from movies?”
“No, it’s the truth.”
They walked past the bookcases, listening for the normal sounds that occupied a library-whispering, the beeping the scanner made, chairs squeaking but none of it was there. When they reached the main area, they stopped and Yoona squeezed Yuri’s arm.
“It’s empty.”
Yuri had a faint idea what was going on but hoped she was wrong. She went up to the door with Yoona still by her side and pulled on the handle. The door banged against the lock.
“It’s locked?” Yoona asked, trying for herself but got the same outcome.
The days were getting shorter as winter neared so it was too dark to see the clocks on the walls. Yuri turned to the window and lifted her watch at an angle so that she could see the time. Her arm dropped to her side and she threw her head back, moaning like she was in pain.
“It’s 5:30.”
Yoona stopped jingling the doors, asking, “So?”
“So all staff leaves at five.”
The understanding of the situation came to Yoona slowly but when it did, she exploded.
“We’re locked in here?!”
While Yoona pounded on the doors crazily, yelling for help, Yuri took out her phone and stated loudly over the noise.
“I’ll just call Donghae. He’ll get someone to open the doors.”
The phone was off, which couldn’t have meant anything good. She held the power button and smiled when the little jingle played. The screen lit up for a second before going blank. Her smile vanished and she tried powering it up again, but it did nothing that time.
“Um, Yoona, can I use your phone?”
Yoona’s eyes looked like they were about to burst into flames as she said through gritted teeth, “I don’t have it. It’s in my bag, which is in my locker after you put it in there.”
Yuri nodded and surveyed her surroundings. A vent above the librarian’s station seemed promising but getting to it was impossible without a ladder. Her smile pleaded for Yoona’s forgiveness.
“Think of this as a camping trip.”
Yoona let out a piercing scream.
*
5:43 PM
“…nothing good would come out of studying. If we hadn’t gone all the way in the back, closed off from civilization we probably would have noticed how late it was and that…”
Yoona was rambling and pacing, and being the good girlfriend Yuri was, Yuri listened and allowed Yoona to vent even if it was at her expense.
When she was finished, Yoona crossed her arms angrily, closing herself off from Yuri. She watched as the girl hopped off the counter and walked to her, but Yoona was prepared, she wasn’t going to give into Yuri, there was nothing Yuri could say or do to make any of this better. Her willpower didn’t amount to much, not when Yuri could obliterate it with a soft kiss, making Yoona’s anger vanish in a cartoony poof.
“I’m sorry.”
“I hate you so much.”
Yuri grinned at Yoona’s frustrated whimper and kissed her again.
*
6:20 PM
They were lucky there were bathrooms in the library otherwise the disaster they were stuck in would have been much worse. Hunger was an entirely different problem.
“I’m hungry,” Yoona thought aloud from where she was sprawled out on a table.
Yuri was somewhere in the nonfiction section, browsing authors. Getting free time like this at a library never happened so she planned to use as much of it as she could. Her list was out and she was writing down a few sentences from a book when she heard Yoona’s voice echo. She put the book away and went to her jacket to get her wallet. They were also lucky there was a vending machine in the small worker’s lounge.
“Anything specific you want?”
Yoona’s head hung over the ledge of the table, her throat bobbing as she talked.
“Hershey bar.”
Yuri left to get the bar, smiling at the choice.
Yoona sat up at the clanking of the vending machine and happily unwrapped the candy once Yuri brought it.
“You really like Hershey’s, don’t you?”
The chocolate was divided into small squares and Yoona put four into her mouth at once.
“Mmhm. It’s the only chocolate I’ll eat.”
Yuri had heard a similar sentence once said by someone else.
“Tiffany only eats Hershey chocolate too.”
Yoona slowed her rapid chewing. There wasn’t a name for the feeling Yoona had whenever she heard Tiffany’s name. She was simply wary of the girl. Tiffany had backed off without so much as a peep and Tiffany didn’t seem like the type to just surrender. Tiffany’s threat hadn’t slipped Yoona’s mind either. It was like Yoona had to keep peeking around corners to see if Tiffany wouldn’t pop up and take Yuri away from her.
She ate the rest of the chocolate but it wasn’t enough. Yuri sensed it wouldn’t be and produced another bar from her back pocket.
“I think you and Tiffany have much more in common than you think,” Yuri said, tapping Yoona’s nose once with the chocolate before going back to perusing the infinite books.
“Yes,” Yoona mumbled, eating a new square. “We both have a thing for girls in leather jackets.”
*
6:31 PM
“I’m hungry again!”
*
7:04 PM
Yuri didn’t have enough money to feed Yoona’s endless appetite but after rummaging through her backpack for at least a piece of gum for Yoona, she found half a bag of dried apricots.
They ate together under a window, where the waning moon cast a long shadow of the fixture.
“Won’t your mom be worried?” Yuri asked, thinking of the people who might notice their absence.
Yoona snorted.
“She didn’t even know you were living us until last week when my dad mentioned it. What about Donghae?”
“It’s not like he checks up on me every night.”
There was only one person left that came to Yoona’s mind.
“Tiffany?”
Yuri bit half of an apricot and shook her head.
“She’ll be pissed I didn’t pick up my phone but she’d probably figure I fell asleep or was busy.”
“You guys talk a lot?”
“Couple times a week. Mostly she just calls to complain about her roommate, Sooyoung, or to tell me something that happened on some TV show.”
The way Yuri talked about Tiffany made Yoona envious, not of their relationship but the easiness of it all. The more she learned about them the more she doubted what Yuri had told her. How could Tiffany not fall in love with Yuri?
“What about Jiyoung? Will she be okay?”
“She’s been alone for a night more than once.”
The apricots satiated Yoona and she extended her arm to the light. She played with her shadow by wiggling her fingers, making shapes, a heart with her cupped hands and a flying bird.
“Are you tired yet?”
“Nope. What else can we do in here?” Yoona asked, looking around. She jumped when she felt fingers press into her bare hip.
Yuri whispered hotly against Yoona’s neck.
“I have an idea.”
*
9:17 PM
“Marco!”
“Polo!”
Yoona whipped around and charged to the voice and collided straight into a bookcase. Yuri found her with a complete anthology of Shakespeare’s works around her.
“Maybe we should stop playing this game.”
“This was as bad as playing tag,” Yoona said, while Yuri helped her up.
Tag had ended with Yuri tripping over a chair and a bruise forming on her shin. Yoona had to give Yuri a piggyback ride to a table because her leg hurt too much. Then Yuri suggested playing Marco Polo and its results were just as painful.
After putting all the fallen books away, Yuri advised smartly, “Let’s just sit and do something that doesn’t have the possibility of breaking one of our bones.”
*
10:00 PM
Hangman was fun but hard on the eyes when playing in the dark. They were lying on the floor under the emergency exit sign, a pile of crumpled papers surrounding them.
Yuri was able to candidly study Yoona while the girl concentrated on solving the sentence Yuri had wrote. The colored light gave Yoona’s hair a reddish tint as it fell over her shoulder when she brought her face closer to the notebook. A thought sprang to her mind about her birthday and Yoona’s parting words, how coincidental it was Yoona said them.
“I wished for you.”
Yoona looked up from the paper and grinned at the corny line even though she didn’t really understand what Yuri meant by it.
“For every birthday after we stopped speaking, I wished for you. I wished for a minute with you, even if it was just to say hi.”
Yoona propped her chin up with a hand and Yuri could see Yoona’s smile by the brightness of her teeth.
“Why are you telling me this now?”
“You should know.”
Yuri didn’t know how else to tell Yoona how much she wanted her even when they considered each other strangers.
“Speaking of your birthday,” Yoona tapped the pen on the paper, glad it was too dark for Yuri to see her face and her blush. “Your real present should be here by the end of the week.”
Yuri didn’t need anything else but she wouldn’t deny the sweet gesture Yoona wanted to do.
“Can’t wait.”
*
11:38 PM
They moved to the tables after hangman and were running out of things to do. Sleep was an obvious choice but neither was tired enough.
Yuri took out her list and twirled the neatly folded square on the smooth surface of the table.
“What is that? I’ve seen you carry it around everywhere.”
Yoona reached across the table for the paper and unfolded it. The words were illegible in the dark.
“They’re sentences, titles, authors. Sometimes all three.”
“Of what?”
“Poems, books I like.”
“Why?”
“Sometimes they say things I don’t know how to.”
Yoona had a taste of the poems Yuri had when they broke into her house and she wanted one for her own.
“Things like what?”
Yuri hooked her finger, motioning for Yoona to come closer. She thought Yoona would get out of her chair and walk but instead, Yoona climbed onto the table and crawled to where Yuri was sitting.
It wasn’t common for her to memorize poems, that was what the list was for, but she had found one earlier and thought it fit well and couldn’t get it out of her head.
“You keep me in a little pearl,
barefoot, unlucky,
tasting of apricots…”
She paused, kissing Yoona simply because the girl was close.
“I look and I think,
There's something about you that I adore,
and isn't freedom expensive
when you pay with the shackles you love.”
Yoona wasn’t particularly fond of poems, but this one she could fall in love with.
“Remember when I said you were ridiculously amazing?”
Yuri nodded and kept her lips on Yoona’s cheek as she listened to the whisper.
“You just went beyond that.”
*
By one in the morning they fell asleep under a table and woke up when the janitors unlocked all the doors in the morning. They gathered their things and snuck out, making a pit stop at Yoona’s locker to get the rest of her things.
The parking lot was empty except for Yuri’s motorcycle and Yoona’s car. They promised to see each other in a few hours, when school began again, and then left.
Yoona’s body ached from spending a night on the floor and all she wanted was to shower and get a change of clothes. That didn’t change the fact she would never think of a library the same way again.
**
AN: I love them so.
Poem is "Staying" by Laura O'Callaghan White. Update on the 17th.