one summer | winrina

➥ six

"Truthhhh orrr dare?" Yunjin slurred, holding up her glass as Chaewon kept her arms secured around the other girl's waist to keep her from flopping over.

"Dare," Jaehyun answered, also holding a glass but splayed out on a lawn chair. "Make it hard."

"Hmmmmm," the orange-haired girl wondered, turning to Chaewon musingly and earning herself a brief peck on the lips from the other girl. "Tell the person here YOU know the least your deeeeepest secret."

Jaehyun turned to Minjeong, who looked at him curiously. "I know the least? It's Minjeong, obviously. So, my deepest secret is this." He leaned closer to her and whispered something in her ear that made her jaw drop.

"Seriously? For how long?" Minjeong exclaimed.

Jaehyun shrugged mysteriously, eliciting laughs from Jaemin and Jeno, while Jimin crawled over to Minjeong.

"What's the secret?" she whispered in Minjeong's ear, her lips grazing Minjeong's neck and causing the other girl to blush. "I won't tell anyone."

"I- uhh," Minjeong answered. Her heartbeat was starting to speed up due to Jimin's proximity.

Minjeong didn't really like to define herself, but she knew that she wasn't straight. Her immediate hostile reaction to what she'd heard in the bathroom just went farther to prove that. Her increased pulse rate at Jimin's closeness proved it also.

Oh god... am I developing a crush on Jimin?

No. 

She couldn't. Not yet, anyway. She barely knew her. They were just two girls who had to stay together for the summer, for a bit. No no no, not already.

"Pleeeease?" Jimin pleaded, leaning so close she was almost on top of Minjeong.

Sheesh. Jimin was a touchy drunk. "Um. I'll tell you later."

"Okay," Jimin agreed, snuggling into Minjeong's side. Minjeong awkwardly moved so the girl had more space. Jeno watched them both, confused, as Jimin continued to grin and Minjeong continued to just look at her.

❃

After another hour or so had passed, Yunjin, Jimin, Ning and Jaemin were all incredibly drunk. Jimin slumped in Minjeong's arms as the girl tried to carry her upstairs without hitting anything.

"I've got Yizhuo," Aeri announced, and then carried off the other girl. Minjeong was thankful for that. She couldn't handle one more drunk tonight. She trusted Jaehyun with the boys.

"Wake up, Jimin," Minjeong whispered softly, slapping the girl's cheek gently. Jimin groaned and turned over, mumbling, "Did the others leave?"

"Yes."

"Jeno... too...?"

"Yes, him too."

"Did he say... bye? To me?"

"He was trying to help poor Jaemin. He didn't get much of a chance."

"Oh," Jimin pouted, then looked up at Minjeong, confused. "Why don't you talk more?"

"Huh?" Minjeong looked at Jimin, confused.

"You talk nice. I like listening to you talk." Jimin gave her a sloppy smile, then went back to lying drunk on her bed.

"Really? Why?"

Jimin shrugged. "You seem to know a lot." Then she collapsed on the bed with a tremendous snore.

Minjeong laughed softly and stood, brushing the other girl's hair from her face.

"Good night, Yu Jimin."

Then she turned and left the room.

❃

Over the course of the next few days, Jimin and Minjeong grew closer.

Close enough for Haesun to comment on, close enough for Minjeong to earn herself confusing looks from Jeno, close enough to go into each others' rooms and talk easily. Maybe it was because their relationship was tinted with the shadow of short-livedness.

"How do you feel about the fact that we'll probably never talk like this again?" Jimin wondered to Minjeong, who was lying on her bed reading.

"Talk?" Minjeong snorted with a laugh. "You're doing most of the talking."

"Hey!" Jimin swatted her, and Minjeong dodged, laughing. "I don't talk that much. Do I?"

"Even when you're drunk," Minjeong answered, flipping her book shut.

Jimin stared at her, openmouthed. "I forgot you saw me drunk. Hopefully I didn't do anything too weird?"

Whispered into my ear. Made my heart race. "No, not really."

How would she define her feelings towards Jimin? Her heartbeat sped up and her palms sweat every time Jimin walked into a room. Obviously, this could be pure physical attraction, but a quiz Minjeong had looked up a few days ago thought differently. This one presumed that those feelings, coupled with Minjeong's jealousy, insecurity around Jimin, yet also the easy ability to talk and spend time with her was more than just a crush.

Minjeong was in love with Jimin, the quiz claimed. And Minjeong was all down for being in love... with the coffee maker back in Yangsan. With a schoolmate in high school. With a neighbor. Not with someone she would never see again after this, someone with Jimin's looks and Jimin's personality and Jimin's smile and Jimin.

Jimin, Jimin, Jimin.

The only person who'd ever made her feel like she was flying whenever they talked.

One look at Jeno and Minjeong could tell her feelings for Jimin trumped his- but he did have determination, she would give him that. Interrupting conversations to pull her out, texting her when he knew Minjeong and Jimin would talk, walking with her when the friends went out. It was getting annoying, especially since Minjeong and Jimin weren't anything.

And they probably would never be.

But that didn't do anything to stop the growing love Minjeong had for Jimin.