fuck
why did it take me so long
what if she actually hates me now
her legs could only run so fast, but yeojin's brain was running faster.
when she arrived at the library, yeojin almost cried from frustration.
"where the hell is she?"
her next stop was the group dorm, and when she arrived it took her a few moments to catch her breath.
i hope i'm right about this
the knocking on yerim's door seemed to imitate the heavy pounding of yeojin's heart.
yeojin couldn't put into words how happy she was to see yerim's face, she missed her sparkling eyes and perfect lips.
"yerim, can i kiss you?"
yerim's face immediately brightened with a smile that warmed yeojin in every way.
"yes, please."
yeojin pulled yerim in by wrapping her arms around yerim's neck, and she quickly became aware of yerim's around her own waist.
after a second they pulled apart, while still holding each other.
"i'm sorry i was so oblivious."
yerim smiled and tucked a strand of yeojin's hair behind her ear, "it's not your fault. i didn't know how to express my feelings."
yeojin pushed her lips into yerim's again, this time barely withholding a smile.
this is what it's supposed to feel like
✰ ☾ ✰
soon after the realization that there could be connections between everything the four girls have found, they started having meetings. they weren't very productive at this stage in the mystery-solving process, but kahei felt comforted knowing that there were at least some pieces to the puzzle unearthed.
"we can trust yeojin, i promise." yerim beamed with her fingers laced with yeojin's, and no one batted an eye at their sudden display of affection. after a split second of no objections, they both sat down.
"anyways," jinsol moved some papers in front of her, "this is what we have. anything we know, should be in here. does anyone have anything new since 15 hours ago?"
"can i get context?"
kahei mentally grumbled, apparently yerim didn't have the time to explain everything to her girlfriend before inviting her.
"we think something wrong is happening here, or happening to us."
haseul picked up some of jinsol's notes and pushed them to yeojin.
"we found a notebook with each of our names in it, and more items that could lead us to believe we're being watched. jungeun had theories about this possibility, and now she's in a coma."
"a notebook found on the ship, are you guys thinking it's one of the girls here?"
no one had stated the obvious yet, and the air hung cold with the question.
jinsol cleared her throat. "we haven't crossed out the possibility. are there any people that we specifically shouldn't trust?"
"heejin."
everyone turned to yerim, who had a stern look on her face.
"the first night, during dinner, she asked for hyunjin's name. i can't think of a reason why she would ask the name of someone so insignificant to her. it's a stretch, but right now i'm living by 'guilty until proven innocent.'"
"okay, no trusting heejin." jinsol flipped over a sheet and scratched the name down. "i'd also like to add hyeju."
she looked up, "hyeju comes from a family of criminals. why would they take someone like that on a world-wide broadcasted experiment? and on an expensive ship too. a theory of jungeun's was that hyeju made a deal to observe the people here with a worker for this experiment to receive a larger reward to help with bail for her father."
"should we also suspect hyunjin for that reason?" kahei was caught off guard by the sudden faces turning towards her, but continued.
"hyunjin is the least.. thriving... person here. she's been targeted by heejin's bullying too, and hasn't been able to keep a friend this whole time."
jinsol took in a sharp breath, "hyunjin being unable to keep friends isn't suspicious in my opinion, but her being the lowest on the hierarchy is a little suspicious."
kahei quickly realized that jinsol was one of the people hyunjin lost a friendship with and apologized for bringing it up.
"it's okay kahei, you're not the reason she kissed me."
the room fell silent.
jinsol showed the first sign of cowardice all night in that moment.
"sorry..."
the only other person they could suggest adding was sooyoung, but that was quickly shut down by jiwoo who brought up sooyoung's recent isolation from the rest of them.
"three suspects out of the twelve of us here... we have decent odds." jinsol finished arranging the papers in front of her and everyone slowly dispersed.
it was finally time for kahei's favorite part of her day- alone time with her girlfriend.
they already get plenty of alone time, but at night there are no filters and they both feel the most comfortable.
the warmth of haseul's body already led kahei to feeling drowsy- but there were some things she wanted to ask.
"haseul?"
kahei felt her move slightly under her arm, and haseul quietly hummed as a reply.
"do you regret signing up for this?"
"i've never really felt that way," haseul turned her body so they were facing each other, "i don't know what's gonna happen here, but i do know i didn't have much to stay down on earth for."
haseul started combing through kahei's hair with her fingers when she took a breath to continue.
"what i do know, is that no matter what happens, at least it'll be with you. i know that i would be happy to leave my past life as many times as it takes, if i knew i would end up with you."
kahei never had any qualms about haseul's feelings. she knew they both had little to live for back on earth, but it was never addressed.
kahei rested her hand on top of the one that haseul was using to comb through her hair, "i want you to know that i don't regret anything, haseul. i'd be happy to float on this stupid little shitty ship forever, because we would be floating forever together."
she pressed her forehead forward into haseul's, and they took a big breath together.
"i love you, kahei."
"i love you too, haseul."
they both drifted off into sleep.
✰ ☾ ✰
hyeju started to hate waking up. there was nothing new to ever wake up to, it was the same slightly stale toast every morning, the same nothingness all day.
she did have chaewon, but she kept on waiting for the day something went wrong with her. hyeju wasn't used to having someone like her stay, and she was worried it was all a sick joke being played on her.
her clock said it was 7:36 am.
fuck it
she managed to roll herself out of bed and made her routine walk over to chaewon's room.
a smile crept over her face when she saw a messy head of blue hair. never would she think that shade of blue became her favorite color.
she sat on the opposite side of the bed, admiring the sleeping girl she found herself fond of.
chaewon grumbled as she sat up to face hyeju- her eyes showing how tired she was.
"what are you doing here."
hyeju held chaewon's face in her hands, "what, am i not allowed to see the only person i like here?" she planted a kiss on her forehead.
"not before 8am, no." chaewon closed her eyes and let her head fall forward on hyeju's shoulder.
hyeju wrapped her arms around chaewon's waist and breathed in the scent of her shampoo.
"can we do something new today? i'm getting sick of everything."
"if you come up with something, sure. i feel like i've done everything i can to entertain myself," chaewon spoke into hyeju's shoulder.
following a moment of silence, they both fell back on chaewon's bed and fell asleep.
when hyeju inevitably woke up before chaewon, she made the mental decision to forgive hyunjin that day. no more pushing people away.
✰ ☾ ✰