Work Text:
Minjeong can feel a drop of sweat running down her face while posing with a tiny human for the hundredth photo of the day. She’s cursing Yizhuo in her head at least five times per minute, because of course this was her idea.
Yizhuo’s parents (and the shop owners), were complaining about the low movement in the store after another ice cream shop opened a few blocks from them. Apparently they had a bunch of exotic flavors and toppings, making the TikTok influencers go crazy. And Yizhuo, a specialist in social media trends, suggested to decorate the shop with a theme for the rest of the summer.
That’s how they ended up with Shin-chan cups, a new strawberry and pineapple flavor to match his colors, a lot of stickers, and of course, a human-sized Shin-chan.
Well, Minjeong. Minjeong is the Shin-chan.
After Yizhuo pulled the "I’m the boss’s daughter" card, Minjeong only accepted her fate, putting on that stupid costume and waving to kids outside the shop. At least it seemed to work since a lot of families were entering the shop after taking a picture with Shin-chan. That doesn’t make Minjeong suffering any less painful though.
Her last break was two hours ago and she’s exhausted already. The line for pictures only gets larger and the bright sun is not helping at all.
"Are you sure we’re in the right place, Jimin?" Aeri sighs for the fifth time, following Jimin through the street with tired steps.
"Yeah, don’t worry! Just a few more blocks…" She answers without looking up from her phone, determined in not messing up the directions again.
After they spent at least twenty minutes walking in circles until Jimin figured out how a GPS worked, Aeri definitely regrets showing Jimin this ice cream shop that popped up on her Instagram feed.
"Look! There’s even a real-life Shin-chan over there!"
Aeri snorts after following Jimin’s line of sight, both of them walking past a giant line to enter the ice cream shop. She pretends not to see her best friend's eyes sparkling.
"Yeah, Shin-chan after a car crash… Ouch!" Aeri pouts, rubbing her arm after Jimin’s slap.
Enjoying the air conditioner inside the shop, they wait in line while Jimin takes a few pictures of the decorations around them. Aeri likes to pretend she doesn’t find cute how obsessed Jimin still is with the cartoon even after all those years. She’s the same little girl with Shin-chan bandaids all over her knees at the playground.
"Hi! What can I get for you two?" The cashier asks, startling her.
"H-hi.. I’ll have a-" Aeri’s eyes browse faster through the menu, embarrassed by how cute this girl is. "Two chocolate scoops with sprinkles on top." Her cheeks warm up when she hears a small laugh. "Sorry, is that too childish?"
"Don’t worry, you’re good." The cashier answers, still smiling. "And you?"
"Oh, a Shin-chan special, please," Jimin says with a lot more confidence, not even batting an eye while ordering.
Jimin pays for both of them and Aeri grabs a table to escape the cashier’s stare, too embarrassed to wait for their order.
"Two chocolate scoops with sprinkles on top," Jimin mocks her before giving Aeri her order, sitting in front of her with a teasing smile.
"Shut up."
"Sure, Lover Girl," she shrugs, eating her red and yellow ice cream happily.
"Please…"
"Are you kidding me? There’s at least fifty kids in front of us."
"It’s going fast! Look, they just take a photo and go." Jimin points to a little girl taking a picture with Shin-chan before going to her mother.
"Fine, but I’ll only take it for you. Don’t even try to take me with you," Aeri sighs, crossing her arms.
After thirty minutes, it’s finally Jimin’s turn. Ignoring the nasty looks from a few moms behind them, she stands beside Shin-chan with a smile. While Aeri takes a few pictures, she hears a girl’s voice behind the costume.
"Aren’t you a little too old for this?"
"I’m sorry, what did you say?"
Jimin turns to the character with a scoff, hands on her waist in a defensive pose.
"You heard me," Shin-chan shrugs in a funny way, red shoulders going up.
"Well, since you fit that costume perfectly, I can’t even say you’re too old for it," Jimin retorts with a sarcastic laugh, eyeing their height difference.
"What the fuck? You’re not even that taller than me,” the girl’s voice goes a little higher, clearly offended.
"So?"
Aeri can't hear anything from where she's standing, but judging by Jimin's stance and the way Shin-chan is flailing his cartoon hands, it definitely doesn't look good. At least three moms have already dragged their kids away, and some guy is filming on his phone, screaming, "Fight! Fight! Fight!"
"Oh, fuck me."
She’s ready to break up the fight when her angel with wings shows up. The cute girl rushes out from inside the shop and pulls Shin-chan away, apologizing to Jimin with pleading eyes while offering a lot of coupons.
"I’m really, really sorry. I don’t know why she’s like this. Please, take these."
Noticing how Jimin is still fuming, Aeri steps in, resting a hand on her shoulder as she takes the coupons for her.
“It’s okay,” Aeri says to the girl, ignoring Jimin’s nasty look.
"I’ll have a talk with her, I’m really sorry again. She never argues with customers,” she explains, before disappearing back inside the store.
"C’mon, let’s go."
When they get home, Jimin spends at least thirty minutes writing a bad review about this Minjeong girl on the ice cream shop's Google page.
Yu Jimin
Local Guide - 6 reviews - 3 photos
★★ 11 hours ago
the ice cream was delicious and the decoration was really good, but the worker wearing the costume was so rude!!! dont take your kids there!! shin chan will shame them for liking cute things!!
"What the fuck, Minjeong? What were you thinking?"
Minjeong closes her eyes, taking off the costume’s head and throwing it somewhere in the break room before sitting down.
"I don’t know." She sighs, resting her forehead on the table. Even if she’s not exactly sorry for calling that girl out, she feels guilty about scaring the clients away.
"Just go home, Sohee and I can handle the shop for the rest of the day." Yizhuo dismisses her with a wave of hand.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, it’s better that way. Can’t have you throwing ice cream scoops on customers next."
She jokes before going back to the front.
College is kicking Minjeong’s ass. Between midterms and work, she sleeps only for a few hours a day, always waking up with the worst mood ever. That was the first time her mood interfered with her work, though. It has been a few days and she can’t wrap her head around it. She regretted it as soon as the words flew off her mouth, but her proud self could never back up from a fight. At least Yizhuo agreed to not tell her parents, apparently she didn’t want them to be disappointed with Minjeong. Which feels like a reach, if you ask her.
Now, she’s sipping a cheap coffee while reading and taking notes for her quantum physics class. She’s used to killing time in the library until her shift starts, the silence soothing her brain until she has to deal with customers.
She’s so immersed in subatomic particles, she doesn’t register her pencil rolling on the desk, dropping to the floor with a small thud. That was her first mistake.
Her second mistake was looking up when a hand offered her pencil back. Yu Jimin, as her Google account stated in her review, is looking directly at her.
"Hey, I think you dropped this."
She’s smiling. Why is she smiling? She called her short and pathetic a few days ago. Minjeong stares at her for thirty long seconds until it clicks.
She doesn’t know her. She knows Shin-chan.
"A-ah, thank you." She takes the pencil off her cold hands, thanking her while slightly bowing her head. Jimin takes a look at the books piled up on the table and raises her eyebrows in surprise.
"Must be though."
“I know it's crazy but I actually enjoy it.” Minjeong smiles cheekily, trying to act composed. Then, her mouth is running again before she can stop. “Y-you seem like an artsy girl.”
Jimin’s figure is more clear without the costume’s head in her way. She can see the girl properly now. Her long brown hair, the bangs sticking to her forehead because of the heat outside. Her bag, full of pins and trinkets resting off the strap. Her clothes look expensive just like her. Brown eyes full of curiosity.
“Artsy… You can say that.” Minjeong can tell it's not the first time she heard that. “Linguistics, actually.”
“Oh. That's cool too.”
Minjeong awkwardly agrees with her head a few times. Jimin opens her mouth to say something, but a masculine voice calls out her name, distracting her. Timidly, she smiles at Minjeong and waves before going away.
Damn.
"We decided this three weeks ago, Jaemin,” Aeri says as she sits down beside her. She’s running both hands through her face in pure distress, completely done with the blonde boy. Now she understands why Jeno was calling her. The two of them have been doing this back and forth since Jimin left for the bathroom.
"Yes, but we still have time to change it, so why not?"
"We’re already late enough! You couldn’t finish this one and now you want to start another?"
"This one is boring!”
"It’s a classic! Grow up!"
Ah, the beauty of group projects. Jimin can only watch with tired eyes and smile awkwardly at Jeno, who still tries to pacify the discussion. Silently, she’s grateful for Aeri because she also doesn’t want to change the book, but verbalizing this seems like too much work.
"Classics can be boring! And this is one of them,” he points to the book in his hand. "We still have like… two weeks. We have time."
"How about we take a vote?" Jeno asks, slightly raising his right hand to get their attention.
Jimin agrees with her head before looking around the library. The blonde girl from physics is slowly gathering her things, glasses almost falling from her nose while she piles the books in her arms. She's smaller than her, baggy jeans pooling around her shoes while strolling through the library to return the books. It's really cute.
“Jimin?”
Aeri’s voice cuts her line of thought. Staring back at the group, she's surprised to see them all looking back at her in expectation. Her best friend is raising her right hand, silently urging her to do the same.
“Sorry, I think I dissociated for a second.” She copies Aeri without much thinking. Apparently, Jeno copies her, raising his hand in sequence.
“What the hell, Jeno? Really?" Jaemin gets up from his chair in disbelief, shoving the book back in his bag. "You’re a traitor."
Jeno scratches his nape, apologizing repeatedly while standing. He tries to stop him from going, but Jaemin just shoves him back. He stomps through the library, ignoring the nasty looks from the old librarian. Jeno just smiles at them and points in Jaemin’s direction, going after him with a guilty stare.
"Jaemin is such a bratty bitch. I can’t." Aeri rolls her eyes, adjusting the beanie in her head. "Jeno isn’t fucking him good enough."
"What? Are you serious or this is one of those intuitions of yours?"
"Deadly serious." Jimin stares at her for a few seconds. Aeri’s eyes avert hers for a moment before she gives up. "Fine, it is an intuition. But you see it too, don’t you?"
"Kind of?" She shrugs. "I agree they’re into each other. Fucking it’s another whole story."
"We’ll find out eventually, my dear Watson."
"Two blueberry scoops, no toppings,” Minjeong rereads the order out loud, wetting the scoop before serving the ice cream on the small cone. She hands over the ice cream to the client with a small smile. Yizhuo is cleaning the counter beside her while Sohee is out there being Shin-chan in her place.
Today is a slow day. There’s an old couple sitting outside with a dog and a kid with his mom inside, on the table by the window. To help Yizhuo, she starts to clean the empty tables, shaking her head to the song playing inside the shop, courtesy of her best friend’s playlist.
Adjusting one of Shin-chan’s napkin holders, her mind can’t help but drift to one Yu Jimin. At first, Minjeong was feeling guilty for disappointing her best friend. But now, her guilt is a lot more consuming after meeting the girl properly. She’s dramatic like that. With a sigh, she approaches the counter and sits in front of Yizhuo.
"I saw that girl today."
"What girl?" Yizhuo eyes her weirdly.
She sighs again before answering. "Yu Jimin."
"Who?"
"You know… Incident girl…"
She raises her eyebrow. "Two stars review girl? The one you attacked for no reason?"
"Attacked? You make it sound like I punched her!” Minjeong whines a little and runs her right hand through her face. "Yes, that girl."
"Did you apologize?"
"Of course not! She doesn’t know who I am anyway."
“Oh, yeah, I didn’t think this through,” Yizhuo comments while pursing her lips. She thinks for a few moments before she grasps her arm, a scandalous expression. "Wait, did you flirt with her?"
"What?" She pulls her arm away, an expression now similar to Yizhuo’s. "Of course not!"
"Hmm… No need to get so defensive. I’m just curious."
"Sure you are."
Minjeong rolls her eyes, because she is familiar with the teasing smile Yizhuo is throwing her way. It’s the one that makes her feel like she’s caught in the act, her best friend’s eyes looking directly into her deepest thoughts.
"You should really apologize to her though." She turns serious all of a sudden. "That review really messed up our ratings, like, two stars? That was rough. I used two burner accounts and still couldn’t fix it."
"I was going to! But now it’s more awkward because she was nice to me,” she answers childishly, both palms on the counter.
"No, now it’s awkward because you have the hots for her!"
"I don’t!"
"Yeah, right." Yizhuo rolls her eyes just like she did seconds ago.
She’s definitely not doing this, so when the bell above the shop’s door rings, she makes sure to return to her spot behind the counter quickly, as far away as possible from Yizhuo.
Ninzo Guyih
1 review - 1 photo
★★★★★ 5 hours ago
Delicious ice cream . Really nice workers especially the brunette one . Definitely going back !
Later, in the confidence of her own room, lying on the carpet while Julian Casablancas sings in the background, Minjeong indulges the urge to do some stalking on the internet. Typing "Yu Jimin" into the Instagram search bar, she quickly finds who she's looking for.
She’s a little disappointed to notice there’s only six posts on the profile, even if that’s more than Minjeong has on hers. The first one posted is a pink-orange sunset. It’s pretty, I guess. The second one is just a bunch of books above a library’s table. Of course, she’s smart and studies hard, ugh.
Both posts were from 2019 and had a few likes and comments. Minjeong is fairly intimidated, her mind travelling through time because of Jimin’s blurry camera. 2019-Minjeong was a high school loser, anime club member level. She was only invited to her equally outcast friends' birthday party’s, which had no alcohol most of the time because Mark Lee’s mom was really strict about hard seltzers.
Jimin has the energy of someone who has been cool and popular all her life. Probably because she looks confident. Minjeong can’t relate, that’s why she’s stalking her late at night like a loser.
The third post is more recent and actually has Jimin in it. Jimin with an orange fat cat. The background looks like a gym, and from the post caption, Minjeong can imagine that the cat is not actually Jimin’s cat. That makes sense. Who takes their cat to a gym? In this picture, her face isn’t really visible but the glimpse of Jimin's short hair makes Minjeong spend a few minutes admiring it.
Carrying on to her stalking, the fourth post shows a picture’s collection of Jimin’s pink haired friend from the incident day. It seems like a birthday post. Minjeong learns from the caption that her name is Aeri. Unfortunately, the account tagged in the post is private.
The fifth post is a photo of a bunch of colorful flowers with a poem as a caption. No comments and a few likes. Boooring.
Finally, the sixth and latest post is a selfie. Jimin’s smile is contagious and Minjeong’s glad she’s alone in her room. No one to see her smiling at her own phone. It is a recent picture, posted just two weeks ago, and of course it has four hundred likes. Damn.
Her hair looks extra fluffy in the picture, bangs covering her eyebrows as she stares at the camera lens. Minjeong can’t help but zoom a little into the picture. Is that a mole? That’s cute…
Wait. Why’s there a heart in the picture?
She barely registers her finger slipping from the zoom motion, accidentally liking the picture.
"No, no, no, no, no,” she repeats for a few seconds, screaming in pure agony after. She takes off the like from the picture as fast as she can, locking her phone and throwing it on her bed after. "What have I done? Stupid fucking phone."
[yujiminn]: minj.eong and 2 others liked your post.
"Huh."
"What?" Aeri asks her after taking a sip of her coffee.
They’re at a cafe near campus, sipping on overpriced coffee. Jimin’s scrolling through her Instagram until an unread notification at the top corner catches her eye.
"Nothing. It’s just, do you know who this is?" She shows her phone’s screen to the girl beside her.
"Yeah, of course I know who is this person with twelve followers and a dog profile picture." Aeri laughs at her own sarcasm while Jimin looks at her annoyed. "Why?"
"Curious,” Jimin shrugs.
Aeri takes the phone out of her hand, inspecting the profile with curiosity. Her fingers work fast between the following and followers tab, reading all users on the screen.
"Well, Ryujin follows them, it’s probably someone from here."
She returns the phone, resting her back on the seat. Jimin looks absorbed in thought, staring at the screen for a moment before agreeing with Aeri.
"Is this person bothering you or something like that?" Aeri asks with worry, taking her hand in empathy. "If you need, my cousin knows a guy,” she deadpans.
"What? No!" Jimin smacks her hand. "And your cousin is thirteen years old."
"And he’s smart!" She gestures, pointing it out. "Anyways, why are you so hung up on this then?"
"I’m not hung up. I just wanna know who’s stalking me, is that so weird?"
"People stalk your profile all the time. You’re pretty, deal with it,” Aeri shrugs. "Remember that guy who commented on all your posts with a ton of emojis?"
Jimin grimaces with the memory. "Yeah, I guess you have a point."
"I always have a point,” she answers with a smug grin. "And my next point is that we should go to that party tonight!"
"Not this again." Jimin sighs, almost banging her head on the table.
Aeri’s has been talking about this fraternity party for weeks, something about blowing some steam off after midterms. Jimin hates fraternity parties: it’s always too crowded, terrible music, puke everywhere, insane lines to the bathroom and of course, ugly jocks that can’t take hints. Aeri just likes to go to these for the free booze and to make out with that morally dubious blonde girl.
Suddenly, she looks at her with a teasing smile, knocking her red nails on the table. "Well, don’t you wanna know more about your stalker? Perhaps Ryujin’s gonna be there."
"I don’t think I’m interested enough to endure this kind of torture, Aeri." Jimin shakes her head.
The track’s bass resonates through the house walls, encouraging people to dance in their own weird ways. Currently, Minjeong is watching a tall boy trying to do the worm move at the improvised dance floor in the center of the room. She’s wielding the red cup in her hand like it’s a sword, mildly scared.
Yizhuo ditched her to play beer pong, which is funny because she’s also the one who insisted on Minjeong's presence. She tried to argue, but after Yizhuo scolded her for never leaving the house, Minjeong gave in. And because technically, she owes Yizhuo after the ice cream stunt.
Taking big gulps of her beer, she crosses the room between drunk bodies and sweat until she’s in the kitchen, filling up her cup.
"Minjeeeeong! Ma’ man!" Ryujin slaps her back, words slurred.
"What? Ouch." Minjeong pants a little with the hit. "It’s not even midnight and you’re drunk." She says, but it’s most to herself.
"Just a little." She laughs, showing her fingers in a small motion.
Minjeong rolls her eyes and opens the fridge, searching for a bottle of water.
"Why aren’t you playing beer pong? It’s sooo fun!"
"So fun. I’m sure." She switches the cup in Ryujin’s hand for the water bottle, downing the liquid inside her cup in one go.
"Oooh! My drink! Naughty Minjeong." Ryujin shakes her head as Minjeong grimaces with the bitter taste.
"You should thank me." She crosses her arms, staring at the drunk girl while she sips on her water. "Where’s Yeji?"
Ryujin’s eyes light up as she’s reminded of her girlfriend’s existence. "Yeji! I think she’s…" She thinks about it for a long moment, until she finally sighs. "I don’t remember."
"Great. Well, I’m gonna find her and you can stay here drinking your water, okay?"
"Suuuure." Ryujin slides on the wall until she’s sitting on the ground, closing her eyes. "Wait, Minjeong!" She yells without even opening her eyes.
"What?" She answers, ignoring the weird looks from the group entering the kitchen.
"Jimin was looking for you. I didn’t know you knew each other!" Ryujin says with a smile, hugging her bottle of water.
"Fuck."
She bolts out of the kitchen, walks fast to the beer pong table and interrupts Yizhuo mid-play with both hands on her shoulders.
"Where’s Yeji?"
"I have no idea." Yizhuo answers, irritated. "I’m in the middle of something here, you know?"
Minjeong ignores her, whispering loudly in her ear. "That Jimin girl is after me. She knows!"
"How?" She raises one of her eyebrows, confused.
"I don’t know!" Minjeong throws her hands in the hair, stressed. She thinks for a moment and then her eyes widen. "I think I got caught when I was stalking her Instagram."
"You did what?" Her friend nearly yells and points at her accusingly. "You totally liked some post from 2018, didn’t you?"
"Kinda?" Minjeong grimaces. "Not from 2018, though."
"Wait. How is Yeji connected to this?"
"She’s not, but Ryujin is almost passed out drunk in the kitchen." Minjeong huffs, ignoring the dirty looks from Yizhuo’s opponents.
"Look, just go home. I can find Yeji,” Yizhuo sighs, dropping the ball on the table. "Wonbin, you’re up." She points to the boy, switching with him.
"Thank you. I owe you!" Minjeong smiles from ear to ear before running from the scene, oblivious to Yizhuo rolling her eyes.
"Yeah! You do!"
Minjeong sighs in relief when she’s out of the house, her steps now slower. There’s at least two jocks passed out on the grass and a few smokers sitting on the sidewalk. She’s mentally preparing for her walk to the dorm until a voice interrupts her thoughts.
"Hey! Wait!" She turns to the voice instinctively and immediately regrets it, because it’s the very girl she’s running away from. "You’re really fast, wow. Almost didn’t catch you."
She’s stunning tonight, wearing a pretty black dress with a lot of accessories adorning her neck. It’s definitely contrasting Minjeong’s look, which consists of a physics department hoodie and baggy pants. Minjeong laughs awkwardly, scratching her arm in nervousness. Jimin is staring at her with a weird smile and suddenly all the beer she drank gets to her head.
"I’m sorry!" She practically yells, gesticulating hard. "You don’t need to say anything, I know I was an asshole and I’m really, really sorry." Minjeong runs her hands through her face, ignoring the confused face Jimin is making to continue her word vomiting. "I was having an awful day because my professor is an asshole but I shouldn’t have taken it out on you. You’re really nice and pretty and I’m so embarrassed because what if you like Shin-chan? I don’t have anything to do with it! I am such an idiot."
Jimin is now opening and closing her mouth in shock. Minjeong’s eyes are trembling in shame and she takes a few steps back, exhaling hard. "I have to go." And then she runs, ignoring both Jimin’s horrified expression and the stares from the bystanders.
Jimin checks the time on her phone and sighs. Aeri has been laughing for at least three whole minutes.
"It’s not that funny."
"Yeah, it is!" Aeri shrugs, sitting with her legs crossed on the couch. "I wish I was there, god." She wipes out the tears in her eyes with a wave of hand, shaking her head.
"She didn’t even let me speak. She bolted down the street, Aeri. Bolted." Jimin is terrified every time she remembers their interaction. "I was so angry that day but now I feel kinda bad?" She furrows her eyebrows, thoughtful. "She looked really guilty about it, I don’t know…"
"I mean, if I was her I probably wouldn't do all this, so yeah, saying she was feeling guilty is an understatement."
"You wouldn’t apologize?" Jimin judges her with a look, crossing her arms.
"I would!" Aeri gestures in defense, lowkey offended. "But with something like ‘Hey, I’m sorry’, and not ‘Hey, I’m really really really sorry, you’re so pretty and I’m a gay loser who word vomits’." She says the last part with a voice that should resemble Minjeong’s voice but it doesn’t at all.
Jimin laughs a little but shakes her head. "It was not like this! But I get your point."
"Why don’t you go there tomorrow? Maybe you can talk to her,” Aeri shrugs like it’s a simple idea, but deep down she knows it’s not.
"Are you kidding me?" Her eyes widen, staring at Aeri like she’s crazy. "What would I even say? She probably just wants to forget about this whole situation."
"Yeah, probably. But who knows, right?" She smiles and lifts both her eyebrows, teasing Jimin without saying another word.
Jimin rolls her eyes and kicks her leg from the other side of the couch. "Get out of my face."
"This is just sad."
Yizhuo points it out, opening the curtains in Minjeong’s room to let the sunlight in. It’s been a few days since the most recent incident with Jimin and every time Yizhuo tries to talk about it, Minjeong just groans and shakes her head.
"Why can’t you just leave me alone?" She rolls on her bed, sitting with her legs crossed.
"Our shift starts in one hour and you look like a mess." Yizhuo sits beside her, mimicking her legs. "It’s not that bad, you know? You were honest and apologized, even if it took four beers to do it."
"And now she hates me,” Minjeong murmurs, picking at her nails.
"And that’s her problem! There’s nothing to be done about that."
"I think I’m just embarrassed,” she shrugs. "It’s like that time when I bumped into that random guy and spilled coffee all over him."
"Oh, I totally forgot about that." Yizhuo snorts, remembering Minjeong’s desperate voice on the phone. To make it worse, the guy was an asshole and took almost all of her pay that month to clean his expensive clothes. She thinks about it for a moment before turning to Minjeong. "Wait. See? People forget about these things."
"Yeah, I guess,” she agrees half-heartedly with her head.
"C’mon, we have to work. I need five star reviews!" Yizhuo nudges her to get out of the bed, standing up.
Minjeong groans again but gets out of bed, heading to the shower. "I can’t promise a five star performance!"
She’s once again in her Shin-chan costume, sweating and waving to the customers with enthusiasm as they enter and leave the store. Definitely a three star performance. Unfortunately, Sohee got tired of wearing the costume after he slipped in front of at least five kids and a mom with a camera. Yizhuo tried to comfort him saying that the viral video was a good promo but it wasn’t enough for him to wear again, so here she is.
A few weeks have passed since they started the whole Shin-chan theme and there’s not as many new customers as there were in the beginning. Minjeong won’t ever say this in front of Yizhuo but she’s happy without a twenty-something line of kids waiting to take a picture with her in this insufferable heat.
She’s in the middle of taking a picture with a little girl when she spots someone familiar. She can’t really see well inside the costume, but the sight of pink hair is impossible to not recognize. Jimin’s friend enters the shop with confidence in her step, disappearing as quickly as she showed up. Fuck, is Jimin here too?
Since Minjeong is composed and mature, she takes advantage of the low movement and walks fast to the back of the shop, hiding herself behind the dumpsters. Like the composed and mature woman she is.
Sohee is sitting on the backdoor stairs, smoking a cigarette while watching Instagram reels. "Minjeong? What the fuck?"
"Shut up."
"This costume’s about to stink even more,” he sighs and shakes his head in disapproval.
Minjeong rolls her eyes even if he can’t see it. He’s the one responsible for the terrible nicotine aroma in this costume. "Where’s Yizhuo?"
He sits up and opens the door a little, peeking through the gap to see the counter. Sohee watches for a few seconds before gasping and closing the door.
"She’s flirting with a customer,” he says with an unbelieving expression. "She can, but I can’t?"
She ignores his remark and asks him another question. "The customer with pink hair?"
Sohee gasps again. "How’d you know?"
Minjeong just shakes her head, facepalming with Shin-chan’s hands.
Later, when she and Yizhuo are eating on the couch while a drama plays in the background, Minjeong just stares at her suspiciously. Since she can’t prove it, she stays silent.
"Sooo…" Aeri starts with a smile that screams danger, interrupting Jimin’s reading time. They are stalling for class on a bench, watching students walk around. She’s currently reading a book for a class while Aeri scrolls through her timeline.
Jimin just stares at her with a raised eyebrow. "What?"
"Annie’s party. We’re going, right?"
God, she totally forgot about it.
"Oh, no,” she groans before facepalming.
"C’mon, we talked about this one week ago." Aeri pushes her shoulder lightly.
"I know, but it completely slipped my mind."
"Well, it’s not like you actually missed it,” she shrugs. "Don’t be dramatic."
Jimin sighs but agrees, falling into silence for a moment before pondering. "We need a gift."
"A gift?" Aeri snorts. "Jimin, this girl has at least three different cars. What can we possibly get her?"
She’s not wrong. Annie’s favorite hobby is golfing and that says a lot.
"I don’t know? But it’s her birthday!"
"Fine. We can search for something." She rubs her temples. "The point is, we’re going. No but’s."
Everything is spinning. The four walls surrounding her, the drinks in everyone’s hands, the people dancing on the improvised dance floor. Her throat is still burning and it’s Yizhuo’s fault for making her drink that last shot, something about "Don’t be a pussy!". Whatever. Now she’s alone, watching everything spin while the music flowing through the speakers vibrates almost the entire house. She wonders for a moment how the police aren't there yet. The neighbors are probably deaf at this point.
At least, this time they aren’t in a fraternity. It’s a birthday party for someone. Yizhuo’s friend whom she only met today for the first time: a rich girl with diamond earrings and a really bad taste for alcohol. She’s the first one who slipped a shot into her hand, actually, an "welcome shot", which she politely accepted and drank with a grimace. Both girls laughed at her face before engaging in a conversation Minjeong couldn’t hear.
Thirty minutes into the party, Yizhuo disappeared, saying she had to go to the bathroom. It has been twenty minutes since that and now Minjeong's the one who has to go. She takes the stairs with slow steps, focused on not tripping or stepping on anyone's foot, her vision unfocused. This house is fucking huge, she thinks while crossing the corridor.
After she pees and washes her hands calmly, she realizes that if there wasn’t a line to the bathroom, she probably shouldn’t be here. Usually she had to wait at least fifteen minutes outside the bathroom while a couple fucked and three different people knocked on the door. Now, she opens the door in silence, looking both ways before leaving and crossing the corridor again. She’s almost safe until a door opens and a body crashes into her.
"Fuck!" Her own body crashes into the wall, feet caught in each other while she subconsciously tries to get support onto the other person’s body, gripping an arm. Brown hair blocks her vision entirely and when she finally raises her head, her soul leaves her body.
"Oh. Hi." Yu Jimin is staring back at her, crooked smile and all.
Minjeong’s mouth opens and closes a few times, trying to say something. No success. "A-Ah.."
The hand on Jimin’s arm goes loose, her ears burning in embarrassment. She forgot that Jimin’s taller than her. She forgot that Jimin is really really pretty. She blinks and everything from the last party displays in her head, making the situation worse.
"I’m sorry," Minjeong says, barely audible, while she steps away from her.
Jimin smiles kindly and Minjeong can’t figure out why. "It’s okay."
"I-I have to go." Minjeong points to the stairs behind her, continuing to step out from the situation.
"Wait." Jimin reaches for her, taking her arm. She can’t run away now, great. "Are you okay? You seem dizzy."
"I’m fine," she answers immediately, looking at the hand wrapping her arm.
"You don’t look fine, c’mon. Did you drink water?"
Minjeong just shakes her head negatively. The only thing she drank tonight that wasn’t alcohol was soda. She usually doesn’t drink water anyway, that’s a problem.
"I don’t like water."
Jimin laughs, her eyes closing for a second.
"Why not?"
Minjeong doesn’t have a good answer for that, so she just shrugs. One part of her wished she could think about something funny to say, only to hear Jimin’s laugh again. Fortunately, Jimin maintains her smile and pulls her softly. She can untangle from her grasp if she wants, but Minjeong pretends she can’t so she has an excuse to follow Jimin around.
"Come with me."
She takes her to a room that is bigger than her whole dorm, full of white furniture and frames on the wall. There’s a queen sized bed on one of the corners with a lot of decorations and a small sofa by the window. Minjeong enters slowly, eyes fixed on one of the frames to avoid making eye contact with Jimin, who’s now sitting on the sofa.
"Annie’s room is pretty cool, right?"
"Who’s Annie?"
Jimin snorts. "The birthday girl."
"Oh." Now that Jimin mentioned it, Minjeong recognizes the girl in the picture she’s staring at. It’s the same girl who gave her the "welcome shot", Yizhuo’s friend whom she wished a happy birthday to. "Yeah, it’s cool." She agrees without much thought.
Both of them fall into silence, listening to the muffled sound of the party downstairs. Minjeong continues to explore the girl’s room, dazed from the alcohol still running through her system. Midway analyzing Annie’s bookshelf, Minjeong turns to Jimin with her eyebrows franzed.
"Should we be here?" She gesticulates to the room. Jimin laughs again, which seems to be a common occurrence now.
"Don’t worry, she knows I’m here," Jimin shrugs, comfortable on the sofa. She rests her chin with her hand, giving Minjeong full vision of all the rings that adorn her long fingers. It’s charming. Her black dress is contrasting to her band hoodie and Minjeong can’t help but notice how different their styles are.
"You seem close," Minjeong says and grimaces, catching her weird tone.
Jimin doesn’t seem to mind, agreeing with her head with a teasing smile. "I guess so." She crosses her legs and takes Minjeong’s comment to ask. "How did you end up here, Minjeong?"
"I had to pee," Minjeong answers defensively. Jimin doesn’t flinch, only raises an eyebrow. "You meant in the party, of course." She sighs, murmuring to herself before continuing. "My best friend made me come, she’s friends with Annie too."
Jimin makes an agreement noise, before dropping a question with a soft voice. Her intentions in not scaring Minjeong away is clear. "She made you come to the last party too?"
Minjeong frowns a little with the mention but tries to be casual. "Yeah. I’m clearly out of place, right?" She laughs, humorless. She always falls into a depreciative path.
"No, no. That’s not what I meant." Jimin stands up and denies with her head. "I just-" She thinks for a moment before continuing. "You’re in the right place, Minjeong. I was just curious."
Minjeong can’t think of anything to answer, nodding along with her head in understanding. Shy enough to sit beside Jimin on the sofa, she slides her back through the wall and sits on the floor, staring at the girl subtly.
"Why are you here, tho?" She gesticulates to the bedroom. "I mean, you were already here, right?" Minjeong forces her mind, trying to rewind to their encounter in the corridor a few minutes ago.
"I got a little overwhelmed,” Jimin shrugs.
"Not used to parties?" Minjeong teases lightly.
"Well, no." She laughs. "I actually went to my first party this year. My parents were pretty strict in high school and my first year in Uni was hell so…"
Minjeong shakes her head in understandment, remembering her own first year. All the numbers and laws wouldn’t stick to her head no matter how much she tried, until Yizhuo caught her crying all over her books and forced her into contacting a tutor. Definitely saved her university year.
"I feel that." She hugs her own legs. "Kinda. My parents are chill but I was never into it."
Jimin beats her to it. "So you were always a nerd."
"Shut up." Minjeong laughs and rolls her eyes.
"Do you feel better?" Jimin asks after a moment, her worried eyes scanning Minjeong’s body.
She agrees with her head, sleepy. "Yeah, just tired."
Jimin suddenly sits up, striding until she’s in front of her, offering her hand. "C’mon, let’s go."
Minjeong accepts it, too tired to protest but still confused while she stands up. "To where exactly?"
"I’ll take you home."
Minjeong tried to talk her out of it for at least five whole minutes but Jimin insisted with a firm grip in her sweaty hands. They’re out of the party already, strolling through the street while Minjeong guides them to her dorm.It’s already after midnight so the streets are majorly empty, save by a few people outside a convenience store and workers from a bar closing up. Even with the cold breeze, her cheeks feel warm just by being this close with Jimin, shoulders brushing at every step. She tells herself it’s just because of the alcohol.
"Aren’t you cold?" Minjeong asks, looking at Jimin’s dress.
"A little,” Jimin shrugs. "It’s okay, we are close, right?"
Minjeong doesn’t answer, though. She stops right in her tracks, letting go of Jimin’s hand to take her hoodie off with a little trouble. Her head gets stuck and Jimin can’t help but laugh, gripping her arm to stop her.
"It’s okay, I’m not that cold." She tries while Minjeong continues to struggle. Eventually she gets out of the hoodie, blonde hair all over the place and pure embarrassment, but offers it to Jimin anyway.
"Take it."
Jimin gives up and wears it, Minjeong’s faint citrus scent taking over her senses for a few seconds. It's just right and warms her up. She takes Minjeong's hand again, eyeing her white thin shirt.
"Tell me if you get cold,” she says, trying to get as much closer as she can while they walk.
"Hmm."
After two more blocks, they finally get to Minjeong’s dorm. Jimin takes the stairs with her to the lobby, standing a few steps down while Minjeong fidgets with her keys.
"My job here is done,” Jimin says and does a ridiculously reverence, bowing in all hoodie-dress combination glory. Minjeong laughs, shaking her head.
"Thank you,” she answers, softly.
They stare at each other for a few moments, lost in what to say. It’s funny to recap how they went from a public fight to ditching a party together, holding hands in the city. Minjeong’s mind is trying to process if Jimin is just being friendly or she also feels the same pull as her. Jimin is charming and magnetic in a way she’s still learning to handle, pulling Minjeong into her orbit and making her hungry to get closer, to get near her nucleus, her heart. It’s almost similar to physics.
Jimin breaks their staring contest to walk up a few steps, stopping a step lower than Minjeong. They’re at the same height now. "Maybe I’m that taller than you."
"You’re not." Minjeong gets on her tip-toes, towering over Jimin with frowned eyebrows.
She laughs and kisses her cheek, disarming Minjeong completely, who falls into her feet again like a deer in headlights. Jimin steps down the stairs slowly, smiling.
"See ya?" She asks, walking backwards. Minjeong can only agree with her head to avoid combusting right there.
Jimin only realized she was still wearing Minjeong’s hoodie when she got home.
She’s working, as usual. Sohee ditched the Shin-chan costume the second he saw Minjeong entering the shop to start her shift, accusing her of skipping too many days in wearing the costume. He's not wrong, so she doesn’t complain.
It's been two days since Jimin took her home and kissed her cheek and that was all Minjeong thought about for 48 hours. She’s missing one of her favorite hoodies for two days but she can’t bring herself to be mad. Jimin has something with her smell. Inside her house. She told Yizhuo as soon as her best friend got home and found her lying on the living room's floor, completely out of it.
It was just a kiss on the cheek, she knows that. The thing is, Minjeong is clearly touch-starved. She doesn’t have an ex or failed "situationships" because she never actually got there with anyone. Yizhuo says her e-dating past doesn’t count and honestly, she's right. Her best friend also tried to push her into sending a message to Jimin but she doesn’t want to seem too desperate. Even if she is, in fact, desperate.
She's taking photos with a bunch of kids from a school when she sees her. She barely can see anything with this costume but she clearly sees her. Jimin stares at her with a smile before entering the shop. She talks to Yizhuo for a few seconds, laughs at something her best friend said, buys a cup of ice cream and leaves the shop, walking straight to her.
Minjeong is defenseless. After hours of gesticulating and playing with kids, now there's not a single soul to save her from talking to Jimin using her stupid costume.
“Take a picture with me,” she says as soon as she gets close to her, quick and easy.
Minjeong snorts, taken by surprise. “Really?”
“Why? Am I too old?” Jimin teases, crossing her arms.
“Shut up.” She slaps her arm, embarrassed. Her voice is partially muffled by the costume. “How will we take a picture?”
“Hmm.” Jimin looks around, searching for someone until a client walks by.
She asks for the man to take a picture, posing next to Minjeong while holding her ice cream. Minjeong simply raises one of her hands, trying to make a thumbs up. It’s full circle and she smiles inside the costume while remembering the last time they were in this very situation. She thanks him and gets her phone back before walking up to Minjeong again.
“Was that so hard?”
“No, it wasn’t.” Minjeong rolls her eyes even if she knows Jimin can’t see it.
She laughs, eating her red and yellow ice cream as she stares at Minjeong again.
“Sorry, I just came to bring your hoodie.” Jimin searches her bag and takes out the black hoodie, folded and clean. “I know you can't take it right now but I can leave with your friend, if you want?”
“Oh, you didn't have to.” She coughs a little seeing Jimin raise an eyebrow. “I mean, no rush! But yeah, you can leave it with her. I'll take it when I finish my shift.”
“And when is that?” Jimin asks, seemingly curious.
“In two hours? I think?” Minjeong stupidly tries to stare at the sun and figure out what time it is exactly. Jimin thinks for a moment before answering.
“Then I'll return this in your hands in two hours.” She smiles. “Do you have somewhere to be tonight?”
“I don't think so, no.”
“It's settled, then.” Jimin grins dangerously and Minjeong knows that she’s fucked.
Yizhuo sprays perfume all over Minjeong after she gets out of the costume, claiming that she doesn’t want her best friend to stink on her "date". Minjeong doesn’t think this is considered as a date but she also knows Yizhuo isn’t losing this argument. She doesn’t actually mind the perfume since the Shin-chan costume basically smells of cigarettes and sweat. It’s Sohee’s fault.
She checks herself in the mirror at least five times and brushes her hair with fervor, trying to tame the blonde locks. It’s a tough job but Minjeong manages and after a few minutes she’s satisfied with how she looks.
Minjeong waits for her in front of the shop and Jimin arrives perfectly on time, looking exactly how she looked two hours ago. Of course, she’s effortless. She walks up to her slowly, shamelessly checking her out and Minjeong blushes because she’s stuck again with her baggy jeans and physics department t-shirt.
"Long time no see." Jimin smirks, one hand holding her bag’s strap.
"Hi." She adjusts the glasses on top of her nose and stares at Jimin. She seems to feel her confusion about this whole hangout as she takes her hand and pulls her into walking beside her.
"Are you hungry?"
"A little?"
"Are you asking me?"Jimin laughs. Minjeong glares at her for a moment before smiling with her.
"I’m a little hungry, yes,” she rephrases, nodding along.
"Fried chicken? I know a place. It’s a short walk, don’t worry."
"Hmm, sure. I don’t mind walking," Minjeong shrugs. She feels a little nervous and suddenly self-conscious about her sweaty hands. Holding Jimin’s hand has a pattern apparently, but the girl doesn’t seem to mind as they walk side by side.
Jimin wasn’t lying when she said it was a short walk because after a few minutes they’re safely seated inside the small restaurant, it’s a little stuffy and crowded, but somehow cozy. Minjeong sips on a soda while Jimin gulps her beer with a carefree look, watching the people around them.
"You come here a lot?" Minjeong asks after she stops chewing. It’s tasty.
"Yeah," she nods. "Since my first year. I come here every time I have a bad exam, so yeah, a lot."
They laugh together and for some reason, everything Jimin says is always relatable to her. It defies electrostatics and all of the things Minjeong learned during her lectures. They don’t suffer electric repulsion even if they share similarities. Instead, Minjeong feels attracted to her.
"It’s really good." She nods towards the food. "I’ll probably adopt this habit too, if you don’t mind. It’s definitely better than crying in bed."
Minjeong searches her eyes after her little joke, expecting to laugh with Jimin again but instead, her eyes get serious for a moment, putting down her beer to lean forward into Minjeong’s space.
"I don’t mind. As long as you don’t bring other girls over here."
Oh, she’s crazy.
"W-what?"
"You heard me." Jimin smirks, those eyes burning into Minjeong’s rosy cheeks with mischief. "It’s our little secret now."
Minjeong can only nod in wordless agreement, completely flustered under Jimin’s gaze, who giggles as she watches her shy reaction, clearly amused by the whole situation. Somehow, Jimin already knows how to push her buttons and it’s almost unfair. Almost. In the end, she’s into it.
"You’re annoying." Minjeong says after she pulls herself together.
Jimin shrugs. "I know."
As they talk, Minjeong learns more about Jimin. Shin-chan is her comfort character—but she already knew this one. Her favorite color is blue. Her mom is more strict than her father but she says it’s out of love. She has an older sister and they call each other every Sunday. She loves animated movies. Jimin chose Linguistics as her major because she always loved writing but in the end fell in love with the idea of being a teacher.
Minjeong is comfortable enough to share about herself too, no matter how silly she feels talking about how she wanted a pet alien as a kid, or how she was born in winter. Jimin proves to be an attentive listener, asking her questions between the stories with pure interest. She’s never been on a real date but this seems close to one and she’s secretly hopeful.
A worker interrupts their chatter to tell them the restaurant is closing soon and Minjeong can’t believe almost three hours passed while they talked about anything and everything. This time, Minjeong insisted on taking Jimin home, since apparently it was her “turn”, as she said. It was a fairly long walk, so they rode the metro.
"Sit." Jimin nodded her head to an empty seat. Minjeong shook her head right away, gesturing for her to sit instead. Of course, Jimin didn’t back out and they started a war of "go ahead" gestures to each other.
"You must be tired from standing all day at work,” Jimin reasons.
"I just sat for three hours straight,” Minjeong counters.
They keep debating for a few seconds until an old lady enters at the next station, ignoring them both to sit on the empty seat. Minjeong opens and closes her mouth, out of words.
"Oh."
When Jimin finally hands over her hoodie, Minjeong is dumbfounded. The whole silly excuse to hangout had completely slipped from her mind as soon as they left the ice cream shop. It’s funny.
She hugs the hoodie to her chest, staring at Jimin. "Thanks."
They are on the sidewalk just in front of Jimin’s home, a charming small building that’s relatively close to the metro station.
"No worries,” Jimin answers with that annoying deep voice, crossing her arms. "Thanks for bringing me home."
"Of course."
It’s so fucking awkward and it’s probably Minjeong’s fault. The restaurant chatter felt so far gone now.
"I’ll get going…?" Minjeong nods towards the station, dragging out her words.
“Yeah, get home safe,” Jimin replies, a little unfocused. Her eyes flick from Minjeong’s eyes to her mouth, back and forth, eventually watching her wave, turn, and walk away, parting ways.
Minjeong takes exactly eight sad steps until she feels it. A pull at her arm. Suddenly, Jimin is close enough that she can feel her breath against her face, brown eyes boring into hers with expectation.
"Can we do this again?" She relaxes her grip, but doesn’t let go of her arm. "It was fun, right?"
Minjeong agrees slowly with her head, the air feels far from her lungs now. "It was. Really fun."
"So, I’m not misreading this, right?"
"I don’t think you are,” she whispers.
She doesn’t know who closes the gap first, but after a few seconds of just staring at each other, she can finally feel Jimin’s soft lips on hers. At first, it’s just a faint touch, but then, Jimin is moving slowly and Minjeong catches up with her own lips. Her hands slide to Jimin’s hair, sinking her fingers into the brown locks while the girl hugs her waist with an arm, pulling Minjeong closer.
It’s a short, soft kiss. Jimin gives her one last peck and slight moves away, giggling shyly. Minjeong mimics her, lowering her hands to hug her neck. Their foreheads are touching and Jimin is smiling at her sweetly. Minjeong is one lucky bastard.
"Oh, wow." She laughs more freely now. "I thought calling you old had blown off my chance of ever doing this."
"You’re so stupid." Jimin rolls her eyes before kissing her again.
Yu Jimin
Local Guide - 7 reviews - 5 photos
★★★★★ 3 hours ago
the shin-chan ice cream saved my life. also the blonde employee is so sweet and cute she definitely deserves a raise!!