Chapter 24
I CLOSE MY EYES, FALLING DEEPER AND DEEPER into our kiss with her body pressed against mine and my hands cradling her face.
How could I have ever thought I could stay friends with her?
When we finally break apart, Minjee grins. She’s so cute that my heart aches.
“I’ve wanted to do that for a very long time,” she admits.
“Same here,” I say.
She rests her forehead on mine. We stay there for a long, quiet moment before pulling away again.
“Oh crap.” Minjee points at her taekwondo uniform and protective gear. “I forgot that I’m still wearing this. And I must have been still sweaty, too. Ew.”
“It’s okay,” I reply. “I didn’t notice. I was way too distracted by what just happened between us.”
Minjee gives me a shy smile, and it’s enough to make me want to kiss her all over again.
I can’t fully describe the mix of emotions I feel. Part of me is so glad that she feels the same way I do, that it wasn’t just me losing my mind over what I thought I sensed between us. But I’m also terrified because I know how big of a deal this is.
Celebrity relationships are kept hush-hush in this industry enough, but a queer celebrity relationship is almost unheard of. It’s not like Hollywood, where queer couples are relatively more accepted and publicized. If we’re not careful, whatever’s between Minjee and me could ruin both our careers.
If we do end up dating, we’ll have to stay in hiding and be extra careful not to get caught.
I’m uncertain if this is the life I want for either of us.
“What does this mean?” I ask. I want us to be sure if we’re really going to do this. “Do you want to date?”
She laughs. “Isn’t that obvious?”
“Okay, not going to lie, but I didn’t even think you were into girls.”
“I didn’t think you were into girls, either!” Minjee exclaims in an overly dramatic voice. “Isn’t life so funny?”
We laugh together for a little bit before we grow serious again.
“It’s not going to be easy,” I say. “We’re going to have to be careful.”
“Yeah.” Minjee nods thoughtfully. “But hopefully it’ll all be worth it.”
She holds out her hand. I take it, this time letting myself fully enjoy just how warm and nice her hand feels in mine.
Minjee gets a mischievous look on her face.
“So,” she says, “do you want to spar or not?”
I gulp. I do want to try training with Minjee, but I still remember how thoroughly she beat Bryan. And I remember Bryan’s warning about her infamous roundhouse kick.
“Only if you promise to really go easy on me,” I say. “I did karate back in Florida, but I was only a yellow belt.”
Minjee gives me a deceivingly innocent smile. “I promise. What kind of pathetic black belt would I be if I beat up a yellow belt? Go ahead and get yourself some protective gear. They’re in the closet.”
When I finally manage to find gear that’ll fit me, Minjee helps me put it on. After I’m all set, I get ready in what I hope is a suitable on-guard stance. “Okay, well. Let’s go.”
“Hah!” Minjee lets out a yell as she punches the air in front of me.
I parry with a sideways block and try a punch with my other arm. Minjee sidesteps away.
“Good! Maybe I shouldn’t go easy on you.”
“Please do. I don’t have a death wish.”
“Duly noted.”
In slow motion, Minjee kicks in my direction, giving me plenty of time to move away.
“Okay, not that easy,” I say. I jump forward with a roundhouse kick.
In a blur of movement, Minjee dodges and hits the floor rolling before jumping back up to pin me down.
For one second, we look into each other’s eyes, breathless.
“Was that enough of a challenge for you?” she says, a grin playing on her lips.
And just like that, we’re kissing again, fully taking advantage of the fact that we’re alone in the dojang.
In the days after, I have to repeatedly remind myself that this isn’t all a dream.
You choose our next date location since I chose the last one , Minjee messages me one day, adding a winking emoji at the end.
Oh, so we’re counting the Hanok Village day as a date?
I grin widely just at the thought.
Yup. And Namdaemun. But I’m counting today as our official day 1.
Things like “this is our day 1” seemed so corny when I saw couples talk about it in K-dramas, but getting that message from someone I care about makes my entire day. I can’t stop smiling, and I even catch myself humming when I’m doing my schoolwork later that night.
Since there is so much to do in Seoul, it’s hard to choose our next date location, but I ultimately go with the Kakao Friends Flagship Store in Hongdae.
I’ve been obsessively following their official Instagram account for years and always wanted to go but never got a chance.
From what I’ve seen, it seems more like a couples’ spot anyway, so I’m excited to go with Minjee.
“I can’t believe you’ve never been there,” Minjee says on our way to the store. “Don’t you love the Kakao Friends characters? We both use them all the time in our chat!”
“I didn’t want to go alone,” I admit sheepishly. “People from school always go there on dates.”
“True. Well, I’m glad I can go with you now.”
In one big dramatic movement, she wraps her scarlet-red scarf around her neck, making me smile.
We both agreed to wear more understated clothes during our dates to avoid as much attention as possible, but I’m glad that didn’t stop Minjee from adding a touch of her usual flair to her otherwise all-black outfit.
I squeeze her hand, and she gives me a warm smile. I wish I could kiss her right then and there. But I can’t. Not in the middle of the street in a popular location like Hongdae.
Hongdae is a bustling nightlife district where students of nearby universities like to hang out.
It’s also a popular tourist attraction, so there’s a bunch of people from all over the world walking in the streets.
On my way to meet up with Minjee, I hear people speaking not only Korean but also Mandarin, English, French, and Japanese.
People are dressed in everything from the latest Korean street fashion to various school uniforms. Music blasts in the streets, either from the stores’ speakers or from the buskers performing live music or dancing K-pop cover dances in front of crowds.
Since Hongdae is really packed, both Minjee and I have face masks on to make it harder for people to recognize us. The crowd at Hongdae skews younger, so there’s a bigger chance that they watch our show.
We cross the street, and Minjee spreads out her arms in a ta-da pose. “There it is!”
I gasp out loud when I see the store in front of me.
Even from the outside, the Kakao Friends store is super cute, with big-eyed, round characters peering at us from the windows.
Currently, the storefront still has decorations up from New Year’s.
Huge light-up snowflakes fill up the windows, along with the cute animal figures celebrating in different ways.
Minjee laughs at my reaction and gives my shoulder a squeeze.
“Let’s go in,” she says.
We enter the store. There are endless rows of plushies in all shapes and sizes, from huge ones the size of little kids to tiny keychains.
The store has other merchandise, too, like travel pillows and phone cases.
And weaving through the products and the different life-size statue photo-op locations are dozens of people either grabbing for merchandise or lining up to take pictures.
“This place is unreal,” I say as we get in line to take pictures with a bunny statue.
“Did you know that the bunny character is actually a yellow radish in a bunny costume?” Minjee asks me when we’re almost at the front. “Its name is Muzi because it’s short for Danmuji, like the word for pickled yellow radish!”
I give the statue a horrified look. The not- bunny stares back at me with a wide grin.
“This is why I have trust issues,” I say.
Minjee laughs. “You’re so ridiculous.”
When it’s our turn to take pictures, we leave our masks on for obvious reasons. But even with our masks on, we still manage to take a few cute selfies together.
“We should post these later to tell people we were here,” Minjee says. “The store will appreciate the shout-out!”
I nod. One perk of us both being girls is that posting pictures from our dates won’t cause a riot like photos of Bryan and me did. If anything, everyone would probably think we’re just friends and say we’re cute. Heteronormativity is annoying, but at least we get something good out of it.
“There’s also a café at the very top of the store,” Minjee says when we’re done exploring the first floor. “We can eat something there.”
I was hoping we could keep this date relatively private, but when we reach the second floor, a girl approaches us and asks, “Excuse me, are you two Jin Hana and Park Minjee? I’m a die-hard fan of Fated Destiny and am so excited for this week’s episodes. Can I have your autographs?”
And that’s enough to attract the attention of a few other people around us. Minjee and I stop to meet the fans, and the handful rapidly becomes a whole crowd.
“Minjee! Minjee!” shouts a guy, while a girl yells, “Hana!”
Minjee and I share a look.
“Your call,” she says. “I’ll do whatever you want to do.”
I nod, and then slowly, I take off my face mask. Minjee does the same, flashing the crowd a brilliant smile.
“Hey, everyone,” she says with a bow, instantly launching into celebrity mode. “I hope all of you are having a good day.”
I bow, too, and match her smile. “Thank you for watching our show! Your support means the world to us.”
“Are you friends in real life?” asks one of the girls in the crowd.
“It’s so cool how you hang out in real life even when you’re enemies in the show!” exclaims a guy.
I have to laugh at that one. If only they knew the truth.
But after that, things are relatively chill compared to the other times I got recognized out in public. Some people come up and ask for a selfie or an autograph here and there, but everyone eventually goes back to shopping, giving us space as we continue going through the store.