Found my world in a small town | Winrina

Chapter 14- Sunrise Starts with Us

Minjeong and Jimin spent the whole evening and half the night talking — and kissing.

With every time their lips touched, it had felt more and more familiar. By the end of the day when they finally went to sleep, Minjeong could still feel Jimin's lips on her own, the taste of her and the way her skin felt underneath Minjeong's finger. They had kept it quite innocent, only kisses and tentative touches to the exposed skin of an arm or a hip here and there, but Minjeong had loved it. And apparently, so had Jimin.

This night had shown a whole new side of her. In contrast to the self-confident and straight-forward person she had at first seemed to be, she had now appeared nervous and even a little shy. When their eyes met after or during a kiss, her cheeks immediately turned bright red and whenever she talked, she would alter between staring down at her lap and looking Minjeong in her eyes.

Speaking of which, they had also talked a lot the previous night. Jimin had further apologized for and explained her actions until Minjeong pressed a finger to her lips and told her that if she said 'sorry' or something self-deprecating one more time, Minjeong would never kiss her again. That was a hopeless threat because just five minutes after that, they were all over each other again.

Jimin made it a clear point that she was not willing to come out anytime soon and Minjeong reassured her that she would have never asked for that. She understood that the situation was very difficult, if not outright dangerous for Jimin. Whenever there was a noise downstairs, Jimin froze in her position or pulled back from a kiss, wiping a hand over her mouth to hide what they had done. Every once in a while, she would check that the door was still tightly closed and that nobody was outside in the hallway and she kept her voice low the whole time.

Minjeong felt sorry for her. She had been lucky enough to have supportive parents and she could only imagine the emotional pain and distress Jimin was in. She told Minjeong that she could not listen to her favorite songs around the house, that she never watched movies including LGBTQ+ characters downstairs to avoid suspicion and that she cleared her search history after every movie she watched online.

"I think jealousy also played a role in why I was so awful towards you," Jimin admitted at some point, "I always saw how you went over to the café to spend time with Irene and I... I was jealous. I mean, back then I didn't know that you were queer but I knew Irene was gay and the few times I had been there, I felt really good. Because of... you know... because I knew she was just like me. And you had all of that and I didn't."

"I was jealous of you, too," Minjeong confessed, "because your parents accepted your choice to just do nothing except for jobbing at the restaurant. Mine have always made it clear that I was to go to college and get a great job, preferably one that both made me happy and paid the bills. And your parents seemed so effortlessly accepting and loving. But now that I know how they really are..."

To her parents, everything seemed fine, Jimin explained. They had always been great parents, had cared for her and invested a lot of time in having an awesome relationship with her. Skiing together, playing games, having long talks; they had been amazing parents. Up until that one point. And still, her parents completely trusted her — but Jimin did not trust them.

It made Minjeong's jealousy fade more than just a little bit. Granted, her parents had never baked or cooked with her like Irene had done for her, nor had they spent as much time with her as Jimin's parents did with their daughter. But at least she knew that she had their love, once and for all, no matter what she would do or who she would bring home.

"I'm sure you can sneak out some time and go over to Irene's," Minjeong said gently, "even after I'm gone. I'm sure she'll be grateful to have you help her — and you can justify it with broadening your horizon and picking up a second job."