the distance between us | jeerangz

01. oceans apart

The airport terminal at Incheon was a symphony of orchestrated chaos. The noises were overstimulating to anyone and everyone. To Sarang, it all felt like a distant, muffled roar.
Her entire world had shrunk to the five feet of mud separating her from the girl standing before her, the girl who was about to fly 6,000 miles away.

Jeemin looked impossibly beautiful, even with the exhaustion of travel etched faintly around her eyes. She wore a simple, oversized sweatshirt that made her look smaller than she was, her dark hair pulled back in a messy bun that Sarang had an inexplicable urge to fix. A week ago, this scene would have been unthinkable. A week ago, they were just friends, dancing around a tension so thick you could feel it in the air.

But a week ago, Jeemin hadn't taken her hand under the table at that fried chicken dinner, her thumb tracing circles on Sarang's palm until her heart felt like a frantic drum against her ribs. A week ago, Jeemin hadn't looked at her with that dizzying mix of vulnerability and determination and asked, "Can I talk to you? Alone."

They had ended up on that same balcony where Jeemin and Saebi had their heart-to-heart.
The Seoul skyline glittered below them, a sea of scattered, shiny diamonds. Jeemin had been obviously nervous, fidgeting with the drawstring of her hoodie.

"I don't want to go back without knowing," she had started, her voice softer than Sarang had ever heard it. "I don't want to spend the next few months wondering what if."

"What if what?" Sarang had asked, her own voice barely a whisper, terrified of breaking the fragile moment.

"This," Jeemin had said, gesturing vaguely between them. "Us... I like you, Sarang-ya. A lot. I think I have for a while, and I was just too... everything... to see it. But being here made me realize.. You're what I think about when I can't sleep. You're the person I want to tell my boring academic news to. You're the one I'll miss the most when I leave."

Sarang remembered feeling like she couldn't breathe, like all the air had been sucked out of her lungs. She remembered the way Jeemin's eyes, usually so playfully kind and sparkling with mischief, were wide and earnest, laying her heart bare.

"I know it's crazy," Jeemin had rushed on, misinterpreting Sarang's silence. "I'm going back to California, and you're here. It would be hard. It would probably be the stupidest, most difficult thing to try. But I think... I think you might be worth it... that we would be worth it. I think us could the most beautiful thing ever."

And that was it. That was the moment Sarang, the girl who built walls around her heart so high no one could see over them, felt them all come crashing down. She hadn't answered with words. She had just closed the distance, cupped Jeemin's face in her hands, went on her tipey toes, and kissed her.

It was a kiss that tasted of soju and possibility, a kiss that was an answer to a question neither of them knew how to ask properly.

"Ryu Sarang," Jeemin had breathed against her lips, her forehead resting against hers. "Will you be my girlfriend?"

And Sarang, for the first time in her life, had said yes without a single moment of hesitation.

Now, standing in the terminal, that memory felt both like a lifetime ago and like it had just happened. The final boarding call for Jeemin's flight echoed through the hall, a cruel, robotic voice.

"That's me," Jeemin said, her smile tinged with sadness.

"I know," Sarang managed, her throat tight. She wanted to say something profound, something that would sustain Jeemin across the ocean. She wanted to be poetic and cool.
Instead, she just said, "Don't forget to eat."

Jeemin let out a soft laugh. "I won't. And you," she said, poking Sarang gently in the chest, "don't pick fights with anyone just because I'm not here to back you up."