Light Into Darkness x Michaeng

Black Coffee and Small Smiles

The coffee date happened a week later when Chaeyoung finally gets time off.

Chaeyoung had Dahyun and Tzuyu help her pick out a casual outfit for the coffee date (is it even a date? Neither of them said it was explicitly a date). She wore a dark sweater with a colorful scarf and light coloured jeans, with a pair of boots with small heels.

"Why are you so worried about how you look, anyway? It's not like she can see you."

"Tzuyu, just because she's blind doesn't mean I can show up in sweatpants," Chaeyoung replied with an eye roll.

"She has a point," Dahyun said. "Plus Chaeyoung should show off her beauty."

Chaeyoung smiled at her best friend.

"I mean, it's not like she's getting any younger. We don't want her to dry up before she's even thirty."

"Dahyun!"

Tzuyu and Dahyun snickered. Chaeyoung sighed heavily and left her bedroom. Being attacked in her own bedroom was nothing new coming from her childhood best friends, but she was actually a bit nervous for this date (again, is it even a date?) considering she hadn't been on one since before Somi.

Jeon Somi. Fuckgirl of the year, according to all of her friends. It was an accurate statement but every time someone said it, Chaeyoung felt like shit. If everyone else had seen it in her before she cheated on her, why couldn't she? Why couldn't she have saved herself the heartbreak of walking in on her with another woman? Chaeyoung sighed and shook her head. There would be no repeats of Somi. Besides, this might not even be a date. She shouldn't be getting so worked up over nothing.

Chaeyoung looked into the mirror and held her chin up. She was a beautiful woman. She could do whatever she wanted and be the confident, smooth person she used to be just a few short years ago. Chaeyoung could charm the pants off Mina if she wanted. Chaeyoung was more interested in getting to know the woman, though.

Except Mina was hardly into the thought of being around anyone else.

"Jihyo, I really don't see why this needs to be such a big deal. I don't need another friend."

Mina sat at their counter on a bar stool and felt around the counter for her water bottle. Why was she being forced to do this?

Jihyo saw the hand sliding around the countertop. "It's three inches to the right of your hand. And you're making this a bigger deal than it should be. You're going out for coffee, not asking her to marry you," Jihyo said, turning around to face her roommate.

Mina huffed, picking up the bottle and twisting the cap off. "You texted her from my phone while I was in the shower after I told you that I had her number. I didn't have any choice in the matter. And that text didn't even sound like me anyway." She took a sip of the water.

A snort was let out from the other side of the kitchen. Mina listened to Jihyo moving towards the counter, socks catching on the tiled floor. "Yes it did. You get weirdly formal when you don't know someone, or when you're annoyed, or not interested in whatever is going on."

"I do not."

"Yes, Minari. You do."

"Whatever. I still don't want to go out."

Jihyo sighed. It had been a long time since Mina had gone out for anything other than the occasional work meeting or to take Ray out for a walk. The German Shepherd needed a lot of exercise and their apartment was definitely not enough for the big lug. It was eerily quiet without him being there. "Mina," she says softly. "It's been three years."

Mina doesn't want to hear this again. She's heard that same sentence leave Jihyo's mouth close to a million times. She doesn't need Jihyo's half hour lecture about how Jeongyeon would want her to live. How she would be annoyed that Mina has practically become a hermit when she had only just pulled her out of the shell she was in. She presses her mouth into a thin line, "Fine. I'll go."