Chapter Text
one
Hanbin winced as Gyuvin laughed a little too hard at the joke Matthew just pulled and threw her head back, nearly slamming it against the wall she was propped against. Luckily, Taerae’s hand shot out right on time and Gyuvin slammed right into it. Oblivious to the near disaster that almost occurred, Gyuvin continued to chortle away to herself, slapping the pillows of Hanbin’s bed as she did so.
“That wasn’t that funny.” Taerae mused, almost to herself as she leaned back onto her hands and plopped her feet onto Hanbin’s pillows. (Gross, Hanbin should tell her to stop doing that, but she’ll just trade her pillows out her Taerae’s later. That’s what she gets for disrespecting her precious pillows.)
“What are you talking about? It was hilarious!” Matthew spluttered from her seat on the floor, covered with a big, fluffy carpet that was always a pain in the ass to clean.
Though she didn’t verbalize it, Hanbin had to disagree. Matthew’s jokes tend to fall flat and leave an awkward silence in its wake as people struggle to force out laughs to appease her. Hanbin would know, as she was constantly around Matthew as her best friend and roommate, and therefore suffered the most from Matthew’s unfortunate attempts at humor.
She was momentarily pulled from her thoughts when her phone vibrated on her desk. Recognizing the familiar pattern, she immediately picked it up to read the message she just received.
hao-jie <3
hey baobei
just finished my first exam
all i could think about was you
if i fail i’m blaming you
AHHHH congrats jiejie i’m so proud of u!!!
i bet u did great!!!!
nooo jiejie pls i’m innocent :((((
hehe thank you baobei
now we both know you’re FAR from innocent baby
not after all these years together
shhhhh don’t talk about that rn i’m with company
oh mattchu and taerae?
yep!!
gyuvinie is here too
ah yes one of the nonbelievers
well she WOULD believe if we called rn
nice try binnie
btw your dance concert is next week right?
yea next friday
ur last exam is next thurs right?
mhm
that means i’ll be able to arrive before ur concert starts
…
arrive?
ur not joking rn right?
haha no baby
i’m coming to visit you for the break
surprise!
Hanbin squealed, naturally catching the attention of the others in the room, who all turned to look at her in surprise.
“Unnie…? Are you okay?” Matthew asked in part concern and part amusement. Hanbin quickly sent Hao tytyty ilysm!!!! followed by a string of hearts and kissing emojis before turning her attention to the rest of the room.
“Hao-unnie’s coming! She’s coming to visit next week!” Hanbin sing-songed, spinning herself in her chair as she threw her arms into the air.
“Hao-unnie? You mean your girlfriend?” Gyuvin placed air quotes as she said the word girlfriend, which made Hanbin frown as she halted her chair to face her.
“Yes, my very real girlfriend whom I love very much.” At this, Gyuvin’s face scrunched up and she reached out towards her with both hands.
“Unnie,” Gyuvin gently cupped Hanbin’s hand between hers. “Let me hold your hand when I say this, but ‘Hao-unnie’ doesn’t exist.”
Hanbin let out a groan as she pulled her hand away from Gyuvin roughly. “God, for the last time, Gyuvin, Hao-unnie is real! Just ask Matthew and Taerae!”
At this, Matthew nodded her head furiously. “Yeah, Gyuvin, Hanbin-unnie is right. She was totally real last night in her dreams! How else do you think Hanbin gets off?”
Taerae giggled and Gyuvin fell backwards with her laugh as Hanbin shouted in protest. Hao was not a figment of her imagination, and Matthew knew it!
In her first year of college, Hanbin had gotten lost while on her way to class and was near tears when she practically rammed into the prettiest girl she’d ever seen. It was her luck that this pretty girl was in the same class as her and seemed to know her way around despite looking like a foreigner, which she was, by the way.
The girl had introduced herself as Zhang Hao, a Chinese student on a study abroad program. She was double majoring in musicology and geoscience, neither of which Hanbin had never heard of but had immediately searched up after she’d returned to her dorm that night. After two hours of whispering remarks to each other about the boring lecture, Hanbin had left the room with a new number in her phone and a flush on her cheeks.
Over the course of the next few months, Hanbin and Hao had texted each other nearly daily, exchanging cat memes and anecdotes from their daily affairs. When Hanbin finally gathered the courage to meekly ask Hao if she wanted to meet up for a coffee, Hao had agreed with a simple “it’s a date!” and they’d been in love ever since. Even after Hao returned to China, Hanbin downloaded WeChat so they could talk regardless of the thousands of miles between them.
Now, of course, Matthew and Taerae knew all of this as Hanbin’s roommates. Matthew was even present the first day Hanbin met Hao when she witnessed Hanbin throw herself on her bed and groan about how she’d met the love of her life. If anyone should’ve known that Hanbin’s girlfriend was very real, it was them who had to deal with Hanbin’s nightly video calls where she love-strickenly listened to Hao rant about her day.
However, for some unfortunate reason, none of Hanbin’s other friends ever believed her. No matter how many pictures she’d show them, they always brushed it off as photoshop or catfishing or another ridiculous excuse for why Hao wasn’t real. Which was so not true. Hao was very real and very pretty and very much Hanbin’s extremely real girlfriend.
When Hao had heard about the struggles Hanbin had to suffer, instead of sympathizing with her, she’d laughed and encouraged Hanbin to make people think she was lying. Which wasn’t very hard, by the way. Short of flying Hao out from China and presenting her to her friends in person, nothing convinced them of her existence. It didn’t help that Hao refused to call Hanbin in the presence of her friends to keep up the ruse. She’d even pulled Matthew and Taerae, who she got along with way too well for Hanbin’s sake, into calling Hanbin’s claims delusional.
Which was what they were doing at this instance.
“Hasn’t this been going on long enough, unnie?” Gyuvin said between her giggles. “It’s okay to be single, you know? Everyone else in this room is too!”
“Not for long, I won’t be.” Taerae hummed as she checked her nails. “Hanbin’s gonna ask me out this week, I can feel it.”
“Sure, if he can finally grow some balls and talk to you.” Matthew snorted. Hanbin pouted as Taerae grabbed and threw a pillow at Matthew’s face with scary accuracy.
“Guys, stop, Hao is real! And I have proof!”
“Here she goes again.” Gyuvin sighed, splaying herself out on the bed and nearly pushing Taerae off the edge.
Hanbin ignored the wrestling match that sparked between Gyuvin and Taerae as she pulled up the latest selfie from Hao she’d screenshotted and saved in her album labeled “loml” (9203 pictures, some solo, some with Hanbin, all containing Hao in some shape, way or form). Hastily, she reached over to shove her phone in Gyuvin’s face.
“Look! Look, she’s real!”
Gyuvin went cross-eyed to look at the picture, glancing for only a second before she let out a low whistle. “Gosh, unnie. With the amount of pictures you’d pulled from this girl, you must be the sole provider for her ulzzang income.”
“She’s not an ulzzang, she’s my girlfriend!” Hanbin rapidly scrolled through the album until she landed on a selfie of the two of them that Hanbin had taken the last time they’d met in person. She turned the phone back towards Gyuvin in exasperation.
“Come on,” Taerae snickered. “That’s obviously photoshopped. Why’s the lighting different on the both of you?”
Curiously, Matthew propped herself on the bed to look at the photo as well. Hanbin spluttered as she turned her phone to look at the photo and okay, maybe it did look a little photoshopped. In the photo, Hanbin was grinning at the camera while Hao was in the far distance, striking a generic pose. Almost perfectly, the shadow of some structure out of the frame of the photo landed over Hao, making it seem as if she really was just edited poorly onto the photo.
“Wait, hold on. This was a bad photo. Let me choose another one!”
Gyuvin laughed as Hanbin rushed to find another photo that’d look more realistic than the last. (Which was totally real!!! Hanbin just sucked at taking photos and being aware of dimensions and angles and lighting, which Hao always complained about.) She hummed as she scrolled through the thousands of screenshots of their video calls, which would sadly not hold up against Gyuvin’s accusations of photoshop, she feared. She wasn’t even close to finding another photo when Gyuvin’s phone suddenly pinged with a message.
“Oops! Sorry guys, Ricky just texted me to head back to the dorms. Apparently, Haruto from across the hall is dying his hair and everyone is pitching in to add some dye.”
“Well that doesn’t sound pretty.” Matthew winced.
“Nope!” Gyuvin jumped up from the bed. “I gotta join in! See you guys later! Good luck finding your girlfriend, Hanbin-unnie!”
Hanbin began to protest, but Gyuvin was out the door before she could say anything substantial. She sighed, falling back against her chair in defeat.
“Nice try, unnie.” Taerae laughed, standing up with Matthew to leave the room. “Maybe next time."
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two
Hanbin tried to enjoy the party, she really did. She was dressed uncharacteristically in a lacy black corset that accentuated her chest and booty shorts that left little to imagine, the music was hype, all her friends were dancing around her, and there was a strong buzz in her veins from the cheap party beer Taerae had handed her earlier. It was a Friday night, so she had no classes tomorrow and could therefore get totally shitfaced. She was hot, surrounded by her loved ones, and in the perfect setting to let loose and have fun. But all she could think about was how Hao had bought her this corset and how Hao loved this song and how Hao should’ve been here to dance and drink gross party booze with her.
Just one more week. Hanbin thought to herself.
She sighed as her hips swayed automatically to the beat, the dancer instincts in her ruling out her disinterest. The music was beginning to feel too loud and the bodies closing in on her making her feel overwhelmingly heated, so she turned to tap Matthew, who was dancing with Jiwoong and Taerae to her side, on the shoulder.
“Seokmae, ‘m gonna go get ‘nother drink.” She yelled over the music. Hanbin couldn’t even hear herself, but Matthew gave her a thumbs up, so she took that as her signal to start shoving her way through the crowd. The buzzing in her head was beginning to become unbearable as she finally broke through the border of the gathering and into the hallway. She gasped a breath as she could finally relax without the press of unfamiliar people around her.
The frat house this party was being held at was not unfamiliar to Hanbin and her group of friends, so she easily made her way to the kitchen. She beelined to the fridge and pulled out a beer from the top shelf, popping the top open and taking a long swig. The alcohol burnt her throat and the taste made her gag, but it did the trick. The buzz in her head strengthened, and with the bulk of the party in the distance, she was able to feel herself drop into a fuzzy, comfortable headspace. Just as she was about to take another sip, she felt rough hands encircle her waist from behind.
She let out a yelp and tried to twist away, her beer dropping from her hand at the sudden movement. The fuzziness from before faded away as she struggled to identify the person who was holding onto her.
“Hey, baby. What a coincidence to see you here.” Hanbin wrinkled her nose when the stench of the stranger’s beer breath hit her nose. As her vision began to focus, she recognized the guy as someone she’d briefly seen in the crowd when she had first arrived at the party. She’d only remembered him because he’d been staring at her and she had made a remark to Jiwoong about how creepy he was.
“Ge’ off.” Hanbin grumbled, trying to punch the guy in the face, which usually would’ve landed if not for her drunkenness and the ease that he’d subdued her with a tight grip on her wrist. “I have a gir’friend.”
The guy tipped his head back and let out a loud laugh that pierced Hanbin’s ears in the worst way possible. She winced as the buzzing in her head become unbearable once more.
“Nice try, pretty. I saw the friends you came in here with. They were all over each other, not you. I have to admit though,” the guy raked his eyes down and up Hanbin in appreciation, causing Hanbin to gag as she tried not to vomit all over the creep in front of her. “That’d be pretty hot. Maybe we could recruit one of your little friends into a threesome, what’d you say?”
Hanbin whined, raising her other hand and slapping the guy so hard across the face that he finally let go of her. She stumbled back, hunching over the floor and gagging as the beer stirred in her stomach. The room’s temperature seemed to fluctuate as she felt a drop of sweat drip off the bridge of her nose. To the side, the guy was clutching his face and letting out a string of curses that reminded Hanbin briefly of Taerae in the middle of a particularly heated match of Valorant.
She pushed down the vomit that was threatening to violently spew from her mouth (okay, maybe not the best image, but it got the point of how she was feeling across) and stumbled toward the hall that would lead her back to the heart of the party and her friends.
“Oh no, you don’t.” Hanbin screamed as her hair was yanked back painfully and she fell backwards, knocking over a bowl of nachos on the island as she struggled to regain her balance. The guy had his hands weaved painfully into the roots of her hair and he pulled her towards him again, causing another shriek of pain to escape. “God, baby. You make the prettiest sounds. I wonder how loud you’ll be in bed.”
The churning in Hanbin’s gut intensified at that, and she jerked forward as all the beer from earlier spilled out onto the floor in front of her. Instantly, the hold on her head released and the guy jumped away from her in disgust. “Oh, what the fuck!”
Hanbin gagged around the burn in her throat, hiccuping as tears fell one by one down her face. She struggled to keep from collapsing into the pile of her own bile and stumbled back and into a pair of much more familiar arms.
“Woah, Hanbinnie. What happened here?” Jiwoong’s voice was steady, but even through her drunken haze, she could identify the threat in her tone.
“Unnie,” was all Hanbin could force out between her hiccups. Her face must’ve looked like a mess, but for some weird reason, the guy was looking at her with a more predatory look than before.
“We were just playing!” The guy laughed and made a move to step towards them, but Jiwoong backed away with Hanbin’s back still pressed against her chest. “Are you the girlfriend she was talking about? Yo, no need to get so pressed. How about we hit one of the bedrooms upstairs? You look like you need some loosening up, and I’m great a—”
The guy was cut off when Jiwoong twisted Hanbin to the side and swung her leg up, slamming the point of her platform boots into his groin. “Fuck off, bastard.”
“Ohh, you bitch!” Jiwoong easily sidestepped when the guy lunged at her. Hanbin barely realized what was happening before she was on Jiwoong’s back, arms thrown over her shoulders as she stepped back into the crowd. Hanbin looked behind and saw the guy hunched over satisfyingly at the arch to the hallway.
“You’re such a dumbass, Binnie.” Jiwoong grumbled below Hanbin. Hanbin frowned at the accusation, offended that Jiwoong would insult her right after saving her from near death. “You could’ve at least lied about having a boyfriend instead. Guys always take those more seriously than girlfriends.”
Hanbin let out a gasp at the statement, slapping Jiwoong on the shoulder and causing her to let out a shout when Hanbin nearly fell off her back. “Nah a lie! Hao-unnie’s real. She’s my gir’friend hehe.” Hanbin struggled to force the words out as her tongue was beginning to feel heavy in her mouth and her head heavy on her neck. She decided that resting it on Jiwoong’s head would be more comfortable, which it was. Hanbin hummed in satisfaction at her brilliant choice of action.
Jiwoong let out a sigh of what Hanbin registered to be exasperation before she succumbed to sleep.
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three
In the time Hanbin wasn’t polishing her dances in one of the practice rooms on campus, she was at the daycare center located about twenty minutes away from the main campus by bus. She worked there as an intern to fulfill one of the requirements for her secondary major in child development. As much as the job was exhausting, it was fun and solidified Hanbin’s dreams of becoming an elementary school teacher.
Well, maybe not every part of the job. Like right now, where Hanbin was chasing a giggling three year old around the room in an attempt to convince him to put his pants back on. Unhelpfully, Jaehyun was laughing as she tried not to trip over the knee-high toddlers scattered across the room in her wild goose chase. Very helpfully, Sohee grabbed the zooming toddler right as he tried to dash around her and lifted him into the air to prevent his further escape.
“Gotcha, you little rascal!” Sohee giggled, swinging the squealing kid around in a circle as Hanbin limped over. Hunched over to catch her breath after the cardio session she just experienced, she silently offered the pants to Sohee.
Almost effortlessly, Sohee slipped the pants back on the toddler’s legs as he was distracted by the funny faces Jaehyun was making across the room. The kid was placed back onto the ground and he immediately toddled over to the playing blocks to join another group of kids who were bashing the blocks against each other. (Luckily, not on each other’s heads like last week. That was a nightmare to deal with.)
“Thanks for the help, Sohee-ah.” Hanbin groaned, creaking back up to a standing position. “This is why you’re my favorite.”
“Noona!” Jaehyun pouted as Sohee let out a giggle at his outburst. “That’s so unfair! You can’t favor Sohee, she has a girlfriend!”
“What does that have to do with how I’m obviously the better dongsaeng?” Sohee flipped her shoulder length hair over her shoulder in a very showy move.
Jaehyun scrambled to stand next to Hanbin, throwing an arm heavily around her and nearly knocking her to the floor. “Us singles need to stick together! You can go be Seunghan’s favorite! I claim Hanbin-noona!”
Hanbin laughed at Jaehyun’s cheekiness, squeezing his cheek with the hand that wasn’t trapped against his body before she registered what he had said. “Wait, us singles?”
“Yeah,” Jaehyun chirped with an innocent glimmer in his eyes. “You and me, single as a pringle and ready to mingle!”
Now that was an extremely incorrect statement. Hanbin hadn’t been single in three years, and she wasn’t about to let her honor be disrespected like that again! “You mean you are the single and ready to mingle one, right? I have a girlfriend, Hyun-ah.”
Hanbin tried not to feel a flash of annoyance as Sohee and Jaehyun exchanged exaggeratingly skeptical looks.
“Is this about Hao-ssi again, Hanbin-unnie?” Sohee stated this in a polite tone, but Hanbin could practically hear the disbelief in her voice.
Hanbin threw her arms up into the air, knocking Jaehyun’s arm off of her in the process. “Oh my goodness, why does no one believe that Hao-unnie exists? Do I really seem like I can’t pull that much?”
“Well,” Jaehyun dragged out, placing a hand on Hanbin’s shoulder as he steered her to sit on one of the uncomfortably tiny chairs placed at the closest desk. “You’re gonna want to sit down for this, but…”
He trailed off, looking at Sohee for help. Hanbin looked on unimpressed as Sohee and Jaehyun maintained eye contact for an alarmingly long time before Sohee sighed. “Hanbin-unnie, you are way too busy for a proper relationship. You literally go to class, dance, come to the daycare, sleep, and rinse and repeat everyday. I honestly think you spend more time here with us than you spend in your own room.”
Jaehyun nodded wildly in agreement as Hanbin let out a laugh of disbelief at the slew of words that Sohee just spat out. “And also, noona! You and your fake girlfriend are kinda infamous around school. Everyone on campus knows about your delusions.”
The first thing Hanbin felt was offense that Hao was just referred to as her delusions. She did not spend all those sleepless nights building up the courage to ask her out just for everyone to discredit her and call her single . The next thing was confusion when Hanbin realized that everyone called her single. “Wait, guys, everyone knows about Hao?”
Jaehyun snorted, throwing himself into the kiddie chair next to Hanbin while Sohee elected to drag a chair over to gracefully place himself into. “You have no idea, noona. Do you know how many people in this school have a fat, celebrity crush on you?”
Hanbin blushed at the idea that anyone thought of her as a celebrity. It was quite embarrassing, especially when Hanbin’s own celebrity crush (Jung Jaehyun, the only man ever) popped up in her mind.
Across from her, Sohee chimed in with a remark. “Everyone thinks you make up Hao-ssi to avoid getting asked out. I guess it kinda worked though since most people are too intimidated by the imminent rejection to try asking you out.”
Hanbin scrunched up her nose at the idea of being asked out by anyone other than Hao. The idea of even entertaining the thought of dating another person disgusted her beyond belief. The idea was so foreign, it made Hao look like a native Korean.
“No, Hao-unnie is real! Look, I even have my matching promise ring with her on right now!” Hanbin proudly lifted her right hand to show off the sleek ring on her ring finger, topped with an engraving that read—
“Hanbin.” Jaehyun read the name engraved on the ring, squinting in his effort to discern the loopy cursive of the font. “Wow, noona. Self-love. Love that for you.”
Sohee nodded, eager to support Jaehyun’s remarks. “Yes, unnie! It’s okay, you are super pretty and nice!”
Hanbin let out a strangled noise as it finally registered to her that she currently had the wrong ring on. Crap, she forgot! Hao and Hanbin had accidentally switched rings last time they showered together and noticed only when Hao had returned to China. They had brushed off the mistake with a laugh and promised to return the rings to their rightful owners when the time came. Which was only in a couple of days now. Holy fuck, she was gonna see her girlfriend soon!
She was snapped out of her thoughts when Jaehyun clapped his hands loudly in front of her face, so close he almost smacked her nose. “Noona! You spaced out. Is the ring really that embarrassing to you? You know, I have a pair of underwear with my name embroidered in it. There’s nothing to be ashamed of!”
Hanbin shuddered at the piece of knowledge she just unwittingly received, and she heard Sohee mutter to herself, “we should all know less about each other.”
“What? What’d I say?” Jaehyun tilted his head, looking like he genuinely didn’t understand what was wrong.
“Forget it.” Hanbin groaned. She splayed her upper body over the table, whining in distress. “No one believes me. Gosh, I wish Hao-unnie was here earlier.”
At this, Sohee perked up. “Here earlier? Is she visiting?”
Hanbin brightened at the sudden interest from the other girl. She popped up into her seat and clapped her hands excitedly. “Yes! She’s gonna be here for the dance performance at the end of the week!”
“So we’ll see if she really exists, huh?” Jaehyun mused, nudging Hanbin with a teasing grin on his face.
Hanbin rolled her eyes, throwing her hands up in the air. “She’s literally on the lock screen of my phone! Have you guys never noticed that? She’s so real!”
At this, both Sohee and Jaehyun exchanged a brief glance before launching themselves over the table at Hanbin. With a squeal, Hanbin was tackled out of her chair and immobilized by the weight of Jaehyun’s whole body engulfing her and pinning her to the ground. Next to her, Sohee began running her hands up and down Hanbin’s sides, forcing squeals and peals of laughter out of her.
Vaguely, she registered the kids starting to gather around them and giggle at the spectacle, but she was more focused on trying to throw Jaehyun off of her than anything else.
“Aha!” Sohee cheered, holding Hanbin’s phone up into the air. At the grand gesture, all the kids around them cheered as well, screeching and slapping their hands sloppily together in attempts to clap. Immediately, Jaehyun clambered off of Hanbin, even going as far as pulling her up and helping her readjust her skewed clothes.
“What the heck, guys!” Hanbin wheezed. “You could’ve just asked for my phone.”
“Not as fun,” Sohee hummed as she opened Hanbin’s phone. She paused, squinting at the screen before frowning slightly. At her off-putting reaction, Jaehyun popped his head over to look at the screen as well.
“Geez, your girlfriend looks awfully like your sister.” Jaehyun commented.
“You idiot,” Sohee deadpanned. “That is her sister.”
At this, Hanbin scrambled to snatch her phone away. Sure enough, her lock screen displayed not the usual picture of Hao with her arms spread out in front of her as if she was waiting for Hanbin to jump into them (which she had done after she had snapped the quick photo) but a picture of Areum poised on top of the rock wall of some playground, biting down victoriously on the medal around her neck. Hanbin bit her lip to stop the string of curses that were about to spill out.
“I forgot I switched the lock screen to celebrate Areum making it to nationals.” She lamented, throwing her hands over her face and holding back a scream.
“Believable.” Jaehyun muttered.
“What a coincidence.” Sohee snorted.
Hanbin tried, once again, very hard not to scream.
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four
Three days before the big showcase, Hanbin was seated across from Taerae at a cafe located on campus. Like the gremlin she was, Taerae sipped on a black espresso while Hanbin nursed a hot vanilla bean latte like a normal person. Taerae snorted when Hanbin verbalized this, calling her a weak little girl for her distaste towards entities like plain black coffee.
“If Matthew was here, you know she’d agree with me.” Hanbin huffed. Matthew was supposed to have joined them for their impromptu coffee date, but she had a sudden last minute emergency that came up and she couldn’t attend.
Taerae and Hanbin both made a bet on whether the emergency was with Jiwoong or Gunwook this time. Hanbin believed that only a call for help from her lover Kim Jiwoong would warrant such a response. Taerae believed that Matthew’s soft spot for her baby Gunwook could rival her love for Jiwoong. Hanbin believed she’ll gonna end up twenty dollars richer by the end of the day.
“But she isn’t,” Taerae harrumphed. “So I win.”
“Now hold on.” Hanbin gasped, about to continue her argument when she felt a hand rest on her shoulder.
“Hanbin-ah?”
She jolted at the touch, turning around with a jerk. At the sight of the familiar face standing above her, she relaxed and smiled up at the newcomer.
“Hey, Yeonjun-oppa! What a coincidence seeing you here!”
Yeonjun laughed, squeezing Hanbin’s shoulder before dropping it to his side. “Yeah, I was just dropping by to grab a quick drink before heading to class.” Hanbin watched his eyes slide over to Taerae as if he was just noticing her presence. “I see that you’re here with a friend.”
“Kim Taerae, pleased to meet you.” Taerae reached her hand out politely, which Yeonjun shook with a charming smile.
“Choi Yeonjun, Hanbinnie’s TA for her dance culture class.”
Taerae whistled. “Wow, sounds like a very fun class.”
Hanbin winced and Yeonjun let out a boisterous laugh. “No need to lie, Taerae-ssi. The class is as boring as it sounds. And as boring as it gets.”
“I don’t even know why I’m still taking it.” Hanbin murmured. It was supposed to be an under-her-breath remark, but Yeonjun seemed to catch it still and shoot her with his grin.
“Because you highly value my presence and enjoy being able to talk about the beginnings of ballet to me after class?”
Hanbin snorted at Yeonjun’s confidence. “Sure, something like that.”
Yeonjun seemed like he was about to comment, but then the barista at the front counter called his name and pulled his attention away. He excused himself and made his way to retrieve his drink.
Immediately, Taerae pulled Hanbin forward by the collar of her shirt over the table and hissed at her. “Girl, he likes you.”
Hanbin yelped in shock, nearly knocking over her drink in her haste to balance herself in the precarious position Taerae put her in. “What? No, Taerae-ah, what are you saying?’’
“He likes you.” She aggressively shook Hanbin back and forth to emphasize her point. “He was flirting with you. What was that hand on your shoulder? Did you even pay attention to the eyes that he was shooting at you?”
“What eyes, Taerae? What the hell are you even spouting right now? He’s just a kind senior, nothing much!” Hanbin frowned, reaching over to flick her on the forehead. “You’re thinking too much.”
“Unnie—”
“Hanbinnie!” Yeonjun reemerged with a drink and a paper bag in his hands. Taerae promptly released Hanbin and settled back into her seat, sipping her coffee like nothing ever happened. Hanbin glared at her in a silent warning to behave before turning around to face Yeonjun. “I have to go to class now, but I was wondering if you’d like to talk again over dinner sometime maybe? Preferably alone?”
Hanbin’s jaw dropped at the request, and though she wasn’t facing Taerae, she could already see the infuriating smirk Taerae had probably donned. “Oh, um, sorry oppa. But I have a girlfriend.”
Yeonjun blinked, seeming taken aback by Hanbin’s response. “Oh, I didn’t know I made you uncomfortable like that. I’m sorry if you feel pressured right now or anything.”
“What? N-no, I’m not uncomfortable! Not anything like that!” Hanbin reached up to run a hand through her hair, letting out an awkward giggle to try to improve the mood of the situation. She tried to ignore Taerae’s snickering behind her and focus on the confusion that was spreading across Yeonjun’s features.
“But don’t you use the girlfriend excuse when people ask you out and you’re uncomfortable? You don’t have to lie with me, Hanbin-ah. I won’t be upset or offended if you turn me down.”
Trying not to feel too offended by that, Hanbin focused on the fact that Yeonjun seemed genuinely clueless rather than malicious. She let out a laugh, reaching out a hand to pat Yeonjun on the arm. “Oh! You mean those rumors! Right, um, they’re false. I do have a girlfriend! I’m not feeling any discomfort, oppa, I promise. I mean, I kinda feel flattered actually. Erm, not that I’m saying you should keep liking me! Or, uh, I guess you can’t really control it. So you can keep doing that if you want? Or not? Oh god, I’m rambling right now. I’m sorry, please ignore me. Or uh, ignore this? Or if you want, you can just remember this and like, leave. If you want, of course! Or— I’ll just shut up now.”
Hanbin’s ears burned in embarrassment, Taerae’s boisterous cackles behind her not helping dampen her shame at all. Luckily, Yeonjun didn’t seem put off by her flustered babbling. Instead, he sported what Hanbin would almost label a fond smile.
“Of course, Hanbin-ah. Let’s just put all this behind us, okay? I hope we can still be friends…?”
He trailed off, a questioning tone in his voice that let Hanbin know that the ball was currently in her court. She swallowed down the rest of her embarrassment and squeezed Yeonjun’s arm once. “Of course, oppa. Nothing will change with our friendship.”
That seemed to comfort Yeonjun more than the rambling from before, a dazzling smile breaking out across his face. Hanbin had to admit, it was quite attractive. If she wasn’t so devastatingly in love with Hao, maybe she would’ve humored Yeonjun’s idea of a date in another universe, though something in her tells her that she was in love with Hao in every universe out there.
“Great! Then, I’ll see you in three days?” At Hanbin’s confused expression, Yeonjun added, “For the showcase? I’ll be there, so watch out for me in the audience!”
Right, Yeonjun’s best friend was on the dance team. She couldn’t believe that she almost forgot, considering how many times Yeonjun had dropped by during practices with the excuse of bringing Wooyoung dinner or snacks. She had even started believing they were a thing until Choi San had jumped the barricades during one specific concert to kiss Wooyoung on stage after his first solo. That was quite a spectacle that the dance team had teased Wooyoung about for ages.
Hanbin nodded mutely, watching as Yeonjun made his way out of the cafe with his pastry clamped between his teeth to wave goodbye to her. Once he stepped through the doors, she turned back to Taerae, who was smirking with her phone screen faced toward her. Hanbin groaned, throwing her head to the table as Matthew laughed at her misery through the screen.
“Oh, I’m so telling Hao-unnie about this when she arrives,” Taerae mused.
Hanbin responded by reaching over to smash the button to end the call on Matthew mid-laugh.
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five
A day before the dance showcase, Hanbin was nursing a crappy cup of alcohol. It was better than the one she drank from the party nearly a week ago, but considering the fact that it was bought by a bunch of broke college students, it wasn’t much better. The rest of the dance team was gathered around the room, all thirty or so of them crammed into a lopsided circle with an empty beer bottle in the center. Like any cliche college party, they were playing truth or dare, alcoholic style.
After Wooyoung finished running around the room with Shotaro and Wonbin hanging onto his front and back, he fell back onto his seat on the couch, heaving and glaring at a cheeky Seo Won for her cruel dare of physical activity. He reached toward the bottle with his whole body, spinning it so violently with his foot that it flung itself and slammed into Yujin’s legs where he was sitting on the carpet.
“Ouch,” Yujin whined, but everyone’s attention was on the bottle and which direction it was pointing. Eyes trailed and followed the bottlehead’s orientation to land on Hanbin, who was leaning against Matthew with her cup raised to her lips for another sip. At the realization that everyone in the room was staring at her, Hanbin sighed, took a long swig of the drink, winced at the burn down her throat, and slammed her now empty cup to the floor.
“Dare.” She answered the nonverbal question, causing everyone in the room to cheer and Wooyoung to smile wickedly.
“I dare you to…” Wooyoung started, trailing off for a dramatic effect. His eyes raked the room as he drew out the last syllable, causing everyone in the room to groan at his theatrics. “...to kiss the most attractive person in this room!”
Hanbin flushed, pushing herself off of Matthew with a splutter. “Oppa!”
“Kiss or chug, Hanbin-ah. It’s your choice.” Wooyoung smirked, placing his hands behind his head, then wincing at the ache that was still lingering from having to clutch onto Shotaro to make sure he wouldn’t fall off his front.
“Kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss!” Yujin and Gyuvin began to chant mischievously. Soon enough, the rest of the people in the room were joining their chant, egging Hanbin to reveal who she thought to be the most attractive person in the room.
Unfortunately, the most attractive person in Hanbin’s life was not in the room, but was on a plane heading toward her at the moment. So she reached over to take the can of beer from the case sitting at Hyunjin’s feet, popped open the tab with her teeth, and began to chug it down like water. Immediately, boos echoed around the room, Matthew’s being the loudest as she dramatically slapped her hand against Hanbin’s leg.
Choking down the last of the sip of the drink, Hanbin swiped at her mouth with the back of her hand and slammed the can down hard against the carpeted floor. She retched, letting out a nasty burp that caused the people around her to whine in disgust. She only laughed drunkenly, slumping back against Matthew once her stomach had settled enough.
“Boring,” Wooyoung whined. “Are you scared of telling us who you think is most attractive?”
“Aw, Hanbin-ie has a little cwush on one of us.” Ryujin pouted, slapping her hands onto her cheeks for added effect. “Tell us, babe, which one of us do you like?”
Hanbin flushed at the accusation, a little offended at the mere idea that she liked someone other than Hao. “No,” she slurred out with a lisp that only appeared when she got really drunk. (Hao loved this lisp. She always found it adorable and would fuck Hanbin so hard, she’d pass out from overstimulation.) “No one. I like Hao-jie. Hao-jie is most ‘ttractive.”
At this statement, collective complaints rose around the room. Wooyoung threw himself at Hanbin, who yelped as she tumbled back at the weight. Stubbornly, Wooyoung placed himself on top of Hanbin’s lap, hovering slightly so his full weight wasn’t crushing her, pointing an accusatory finger down at her. “When will you stop lying to us and tell us the truth?!”
“Yeah, unnie.” Yujin butted in, sloshing her cup of non-alcoholic apple juice as she waved her hands around. (Just because she couldn’t drink didn’t mean she would be excluded from the fun. That’s why she, Gunwook, and Gyuvin were nursing identical cups of apple juices as the youngest and only underaged members of their dance team.) “We already know you’re lonely and will never find someone to love. You don’t have to pretend with us.”
“We’ll love you anyways!” Gyuvin joined in enthusiastically, pushing her cup out so half of its content spilled onto the carpet below her. Zihao winced, taking the cup out of her hands to prevent any further accidents on her carpet. Thankfully, with all the experience of hosting these parties for the last couple of years he’s been on the dance team, Zihao had the foresight of exchanging his normal fluffy beige rug in favor of the ugly, patterned carpet that already sported a number of stains on it from previous accidents the dance team had inflicted. (Near where Hanbin was seated, there was a slightly darker patch on the carpet to mark the time their alumnus Chungha had emptied her stomach after too many skipped dares. Though it’s been nearly two years, no one has been willing to touch that spot. It’s become a dance team bad luck charm, which the team’s older members occasionally text Chungha about to remind her of her humiliating legacy.)
“Are you on the asexual spectrum?” Gunwook added. “That’s fine, you know, unnie? We won’t discriminate, right, guys?”
A chorus of assent echoed around the room, but Hanbin, despite the younglings’ attempts at soothing her, felt her face heat up with more embarrassment. “No, guys, Hao-jie’s real ‘nd she’s my girlfriend .” The serious tone of her voice was disrupted by a hiccup that escaped, shaking Hanbin so hard she would’ve slid off of Matthew’s shoulder if not for her arm around her shoulder. “Jus’ ask ‘thew. Seokmae-ah, tell ‘em about my daily calls with Hao-jie.”
Matthew, like the traitor she was, tilted her head in confusion. “What calls, unnie? I’ve been your roommate since freshman year, and I’ve never seen you call anyone named Hao.”
Hanbin gawked at her, feeling betrayed by her best friend. “Traitor! You lying traitor! I’m not inviting you to Hao-jie ‘nd I’s wedding anymore! Taerae's maid of honor now!”
Matthew gasped, pushing Hanbin off of her in a drunken fit of rage. “You wouldn’t! Unnie, you wouldn’t!”
Before an all-out war could break out, Gunwook quickly stepped in as one of the only sober people in the room. “How about you call Hao-unnie right now, Hanbin-unnie? This way, you can show us all that she's real!”
Of course, everyone in the room knew that wouldn’t happen. Hanbin would always make up some excuse like “she’s busy studying for her finals” or “she’s in violin practice right now, she can’t be interrupted” or even “her little brother fell off a building and broke his arm so now she’s at the hospital to scold him for being dumb.” She’s never accepted calling Hao before, and she definitely wouldn’t start now.
As expected, Hanbin deflated, pouting as she played with her fingers. “She’s on a plane righ’ now. Can’t call.”
“Plane?” Karina asked. Hanbin immediately brightened up again, jumping to her feet so quickly that Matthew fell back to avoid being stepped on.
“She’s coming to Korea! She’ll see our showcase ‘morrow! You’ll see! She’s real!”
“Really?” Karina asked in doubt. “She’ll really be there?”
“Aya, trust our little Hanbinnie, ‘rina.” Seo Won laughed, mussing her hair affectionately. Karina grumbled, batting away the other’s hand in favor of running her hand through her hair to restore her wolf cut’s natural style. “She says her Hao-unnie will come, so her Hao-unnie will be there. Right?”
Sated by Won-unnie’s faith in her, Hanbin settled back down next to Matthew, humming happily. “Right, unnie. She’ll be there.”
With that final note, she spun the bottle and watched as it landed on its next victim.
When Hanbin was awoken the next morning by an annoying series of buzzing, she was sprawled on the carpet, her head pillowed by Matthew’s thighs, face dangerously close to Wooyoung’s socked toes, and feet tangled with Karina’s own.
Wincing at the pain in her head, she slapped around the floor until her hand landed on her phone. When she opened WeChat, her heart fell to her feet.
hao-jie <3
hey baobei. the flight got delayed because of some plane issues and they said the departure time is 6pm tomorrow.
i don’t think i’ll be able to make it to the showcase :(
i promise, i’ll make it up to you when i arrive!
Sent 00:49
hey baobei, did you see my message?
are you okay?
oh, right. i forgot about the pre-showcase dance gatherings
when you read this, just remember that i love you, bin-ah.
jie-jie is sorry. i’ll truly make it up to you, i promise.
Hanbin threw her phone aside, feeling numb as she slumped back against Matthew’s legs. She whimpered, closing her eyes to stop the tears, but the floodgates were open, and soon, her tears were staining the pretty purple of Matthew’s skirt as she silently sobbed.
⋆ ˚｡⋆୨♡୧⋆ ˚｡⋆
plus one
Usually, before these showcases, Hanbin’s nerves would be calmed by listening to Hao-unnie’s soothing voice over the phone or reading her encouraging messages. However, she hasn’t spoken to Hao since this morning when she’d read the messages delivering the news that she wouldn’t make it to Hanbin’s showcase. It was unfair of her to ignore her unnie and her attempts to check in on her after she left her on seen this morning, especially since the plane troubles and delay weren’t her fault. However, the pain in Hanbin’s heart at the thought of her unnie missing out on this showcase was too overwhelming. While she could usually shoulder past the idea that Hao couldn’t be at her concerts to support her, she had been promised her presence this time, and to have it taken away from her caused a piece of her heart to shatter.
This showcase, specifically her next performance, was making Hanbin more nervous than usual. She was going to read through some of Hao’s old messages to feel better, but she’d seen the recent messages left with no reply from the older, and she couldn’t scroll any further down their chat history. Therefore, she only had herself and her breathing exercises to ease her jitters.
“Hanbin-unnie.” Hanbin turned her head, looking up from her phone to face Matthew as she approached. She was decked in a lacy purple halter top and white leggings that flared out at her shins. She was heaving slightly and glistening with sweat, evidence that she’d just performed her last dance of the night, which was with a group of underclassmen, who would all be performing the choreography that Matthew herself made over the course of the last few months. Hanbin had left immediately after the last beat of the song had finished to continue brooding in a stray chair hidden backstage behind layers of curtains. It seemed that Matthew had noticed and followed her.
Hanbin herself was dressed for her last performance, which would be a solo performance consisting of waacking combined with hip hop and a little bit of contemporary (a bold decision, really, but it seemed to work out great as it got a great reaction from the rest of the dance team when she’d presented it to them). Her sheer gold dress was cinched in at her waist, and the collar of her v-neck ended right at her chest, showing just the tops of her breasts and displaying the tattoo on her collarbone for the whole world to see. Her skirt billowed out underneath, landing just half-way above her thighs in the front and above her knees in the back. The yellow leotard underneath hid away whatever the dress revealed of her more intimate body parts. When she’d first shown Hao her outfit over one of their nightly video calls, she’d been forced to come three times from her fingers and Hao’s dirty promises only. Now, the tightness of the outfit on her skin made her want to drop to the floor and throw an ungodly tantrum uncharacteristic of her.
“Is Hao-unnie here? I thought she was gonna come watch, but I didn’t see her in the audience at all.” Matthew asked innocently. Hanbin winced, refraining from running her hand through her hair and messing up her styled ponytail.
She hadn’t told Matthew about Hao’s rain check yet. When her best friend woke up this morning, Hanbin had been lounging at the dining table, tear streaks washed off her face. Matthew hadn’t questioned the dampness of her skirt, only making a comment that it was probably a drink she spilled last night and didn’t notice. When Matthew asked about Hao this morning, Hanbin had brushed off the question by feigning a migraine, which wasn’t hard considering the strength of the hangover that hit her.
Now faced with the question that she couldn’t avoid any longer, she sighed and passed her phone to Matthew. Wordlessly, she read the messages that Hao sent this morning, along with the ones she sent at noon, and the ones she sent every couple of minutes since then. The last message’s timestamp read 6:07PM, dating nearly two hours ago. Matthew seemed to put the pieces together in her head, giving Hanbin a look of sympathy.
“Oh, Binnie-unnie.” At the soft tone of Matthew’s voice, Hanbin felt tears start to welt up again. She thought she’d already drained herself of anymore tears this morning, but the glossiness of her eyes clearly told another story.
Immediately, Matthew surged forward and envelope Hanbin in a crushing embrace, tucking her face into her chest. Hanbin immediately pushed against her, protesting that she'd stain Matthew’s top with her makeup, but she stubbornly pressed Hanbin’s face tighter against her top.
Giving up and resigning herself to her fate, Hanbin whimpered into the soft lace of Matthew top, clutching onto her leggings with her clenched fists. After a moment, she took a deep breath and gently pushed herself off of Matthew. This time, Matthew easily let her go, but not before swiping gently at her eyes with her thumbs.
“Go get your makeup retouched, unnie. You’re gonna go up soon.”
Hanbin took the hand that Matthew offered her and allowed herself to be pulled out of her seat. With her phone back in her hands, she took a deep breath and headed to the portable room that was serving as the female changing and prep room.
As soon as she stepped through the doors, the girls that were still lingering in the room threw greetings at her. She nodded back to them and plopped herself at one of the vanity chairs. She tried to ignore the youngest members of the dance team whispering in the corner of the room, occasionally glancing over at her as they gossipped. She could take a guess at what they were discussing, but she only stared straight ahead at her reflection to check the damage that her little breakdown had done. Surprisingly, none of her makeup had smudged noticeably, and the only real evidence of what had just transpired was the red rimming of her eyes that wasn’t placed there by any makeup.
She reached over to scour through the makeup bag on the vanity desk into front of her for some concealer and eyeshadow. (The bag most likely belonged to Ryujin, who always shared her makeup with the rest of the dance team.) As she pulled the desired items out of the bag, she felt a hand gently press against her shoulder. Looking up, she saw Gunwook standing behind her, smiling a bit weakly as Gyuvin and Yujin very obviously spied on them behind the magazines they were reading upside down.
“Hey, Hanbin-unnie! I just wanted to ask if you needed some help touching up your makeup?” This was obviously a ruse set up to get Hanbin to talk about what made her upset. She accepted anyway.
As Gunwook gently patted the concealer under her eyes to attempt to hide how red and puffy they were, she spoke, trying to seem nonchalant. “So unnie, how was your day?”
A loud resounding smack echoed throughout the room behind them, accompanied by a muffled groan that could’ve only come from Gyuvin. Hanbin bit her lip to stifle her giggles, mood already improving. “It was great, Gunwook-ah. How about you? Did you do anything fun today?”
The conversation continued like this, awkward on Gunwook’s end and easy on Hanbin’s. Gyuvin and Yujin must’ve gotten bored of waiting in the back because after a bit, they joined in on their debate over the religious status of veganism. Hanbin laughed, heart already feeling much lighter even though the question of the presence of Hanbin’s so-called girlfriend hung in the air, which was apparent from the glances and not so subtle whispers that the other girls exchanged in the room.
Right before Yujin could passionately share her counter argument to Gyuvin’s statement, the door burst open and Matthew’s head popped in. “Hanbin-unnie,” she called. “Your number is coming up soon.”
The nerves from before hit Hanbin like a truck as she raised herself from her chair, allowing the younger dance members to fuss around her one last time before she had to leave. “Got it, Seokmae. Wait for me, I’ll be there in a bit.”
Matthew nodded, leaving the door ajar behind her as she popped her head back out of the room. Gyuvin, Yujin, and Gunwook were all lined up in front of Hanbin, clutching onto her arms with big, round puppy eyes and pouts on their lips.
“Will you be okay out there, unnie?” Yujin asked, nervously squeezing Hanbin’s hand between her own.
“We’ll be in the audience cheering you on!” Gunwook promised.
Hanbin laughed, shaking her head fondly. “This isn’t my first solo performance, guys.”
“Yeah, but you said that your girlfriend would be here, but she is—” Gyuvin was cut off when Gunwook slapped her hand over her mouth and bodily dragged her away. Hanbin chewed on her lip, staring off dazedly after them until Yujin took her other hand and snapped her out of her stupor.
“Kill it out there, unnie. We love you.”
Hanbin tried not to cry again as she surged forward to gather Yujin quickly in her arms, pressing a kiss on her head before rushing out of the door to where Matthew was waiting for her.
When she stepped on the stage, loud screams erupted from both behind the curtains and the audience. Thanks to the outdoor setting of the showcase, the brightness of the moon shone down on Hanbin, and she swore she could almost feel Hao’s eyes on her for a moment. At the thought, she smiled to herself and placed herself on the stage in preparation for her performance. She held her breath, counting to only twenty before the music began to play and her body automatically surged forward to follow the choreography that she had spent such a long time practicing.
All those hours spent in the practice room with her phone propped up against the mirror, filming videos of herself to send to Hao. All those hours of sleep lost as she rehearsed the moves over and over again that she could probably dance them in her sleep. All the excitement leading up to the showcase down to the crushing disappointment she was served last minute. As Hanbin glided across the stage, she felt the exhilaration of performing that she always felt, the anxiety from before fading from her body. She held back a smile, which would’ve been very off-brand for the song she’d chosen, and instead raised her eyebrows at the front row of the crowd, shooting them a flirtatious smirk that she’d practiced in the mirror for hours. It had the effect she’d hoped for, as the screaming only got louder for her just as the music approached its climax.
Performing always felt easy to Hanbin, and performing in front of the crowd right now felt natural. By the time the song ended, she was breathing heavily, sweat dripping down her forehead as the crowd screamed their approval from behind the barricades separating them from the stage. She allowed herself a brief smile, feeling it tug her whole face tight as she squinted from the force of the bliss coursing through her. She ran off the stage, nodding to the next group of performers as they positioned themselves for their own dance.
She barely made it backstage before she was pulled forward into a crushing embrace by Gyuvin, who was shouting into her ear about how good she had done. She laughed, allowing herself to be pushed around until she was in the center of a small fraction of the team.
“Unnie, you looked so hot!” Gyuvin gushed. “If I didn’t have a girlfriend, I would’ve totally dated you!”
Hanbin felt herself flush at the praise before Gyuvin’s comment hit her. “Girlfriend? You have a girlfriend?”
“Yeah!” Yujin interjected, clearly excited and a little bit envious at the news. “She’s super pretty too! She even came to the concert today with her cousin!”
“Who’s visiting from China! Can you believe that? Isn’t it so cool?” Gunwook added.
Hanbin felt overwhelmed at the onslaught of information and enthusiasm they were throwing at her, laughing as she allowed them to gather her more tightly in their embrace.
“Yeah, Gyuvin. Congrats, I guess! I didn’t know you had a girlfriend.” Hanbin pouted at this. “Sorry for that.”
Gyuvin looked down, seeming more bashful than Hanbin had ever seen her. “It’s okay, unnie. It’s a new thing.”
“Make way, guys! Shoo, shoo!” A familiar voice called out. Hanbin laughed, letting her arms fall open as her best friend threw herself at her. “Unnie! I knew you’d do great! You looked so sexy up there!”
Hanbin snorted at her comment, pushing her face away as she felt her ears heating up. “Thanks, Seokmae-ah. You always give the best compliments, huh?”
Matthew’s eyes were swimming with mirth as she bounced on her heels, backing away from Hanbin. “That’s not all that I’m giving you tonight. I brought another gift. Look!”
Hanbin’s breath caught in her throat as Matthew gently pushed Seo Won and Wooyoung to the side, revealing Hao in all her glory with a big bouquet of camellias gathered in her arms. Time seemed to stop as Hanbin stared in a daze, not believing the sight in front of her.
“Surprise?” Hao said, her velvety voice rumbling something deep in Hanbin’s chest. At once, Hanbin bursted into tears. She stumbled forward clumsily, a juxtaposition to the grace she’d had mere minutes ago on stage, and fell into Hao’s open arms. She threw her arms over Hao’s shoulders, standing on her tippy toes to bury her face into the soft cashmere of the pink cardigan she was wearing, which was so overwhelmingly Hao that she let out another sob into Hao’s arms.
“Baobei,” Hao murmured, pressing kiss after kiss onto Hanbin’s head despite how much it must’ve reeked after hours of sweating and dancing under the heat of the spotlights hitting the stage. “Baobei, I’m here. I’m here and I’ve missed you so much.”
Hanbin tried to respond, but all that left her mouth was a string of blubbering ending with a loud whine as she twisted herself to bury herself into Hao’s neck. The laugh that shook Hao’s body after was so familiar and Hanbin let out another embarrassing sob, tightening her arms around her neck.
“You did great up there, baobei. God, you did so amazing. You were so hot, baobei, all I could think about was tearing off that dress and making you scream right up there in front of everyone.”
Hanbin hiccuped, slapping Hao’s arm as hard as she could, which wasn’t very hard as she still refused to unbury herself from Hao’s neck.
“Well, I guess I’m the best gift-giver ever, huh?” Hanbin lifted her head, looking over Hao’s shoulder to see Matthew with her hands on her hips, an air of smugness surrounding her.
“Wait, wait, wait.” Gunwook spluttered. “I’m confused. Is this Hanbin’s girlfriend?”
Hao gently detached Hanbin from her, causing Hanbin to let out a whine that she silenced with an arm looped around her waist. “Yes, that’s me.” Hao laughed, reaching out a hand. “I’m Zhang Hao, Hanbin’s girlfriend. Hanbin’s told me a lot about you.”
“Woah,” Yujin let out a breath. “Hold on, you’re, like, real? Hanbin-unnie, you can pull?”
Hanbin blew a raspberry at Yujin, which probably wasn’t very effective considering the tears that were still streaming down her face. Next to her, Gyuvin was white as a ghost, frozen in shock as she stood with a finger pointed at Hao.
“Hey, Gyuvinie.” Hao smirked. Hanbin looked at her in shock, tilting her head in a silent question of how the fuck Hao knew Gyuvin. Hao only winked back at her conspiratorially.
“Unnie,” Gyuvin stuttered, making Hanbin frown at the familiarity of the statement. “Unnie, you— you’re—”
“Ricky is waiting for you in the changing room.” Hao interrupted swiftly. “Tell her that I’ll treat her tomorrow for hiding me in your dorms today.”
Gyuvin immediately dashed off to the changing rooms, Yujin and Gunwook reluctantly following behind, both shooting glances of disbelief at Hao as they passed by.
“I’m gonna go see what’s up with them.” Matthew stated, already rushing to follow behind the youngsters. “You guys should find somewhere more private to chat!”
Hanbin barely spared her a glance as she looked up at Hao between her eyelashes, feeling suddenly bashful at her public outburst. Hao smiled down at her, the familiar glint of fondness in her eyes sending Hanbin’s heart racing just like it did three years ago when this all started.
“Hey, my doll.”
Hanbin’s face flushed at the nickname. Her thoughts drifted to the last time Hao had called her that name, right after she’d eaten Hao out and slurped her clean more than three months ago. Clearly aware of the effect of that nickname, Hao smirked, leaning down to tenderly kiss Hanbin square on the lips. Hanbin melted into the kiss helplessly, gripping onto Hao’s sleeves in order to stay upright, not trusting her jelly legs to keep her up.
When they parted, Hao pressed her forehead against Hanbin’s, letting out a puff of breath. Hanbin frowned up at her, pouting as she wrapped her arms around Hao’s waist.
“You lied to me.” She grumbled, squeezing Hao’s waist so tightly she let out a yelp. “You told me you wouldn’t be able to make it.”
“Well, how could I have surprised you if you were gonna be expecting me?” Hao murmured, fondly cupping Hanbin’s face and allowing Hanbin to nuzzle her palm.
“But you got my hopes up,” Hanbin pouted, “then crushed them.” She pushed her cheek against Hao’s to emphasize her point, gently nuzzling at the sensitive spot below Hao’s ear. She smiled in satisfaction when she felt Hao shiver slightly against her.
“Not fair, Bingbing.” Hao said breathlessly. She twisted her face to Hanbin’s, allowing Hanbin to see how blown out her pupils were.
Just as Hao began to lean in for another kiss, this time definitely more heated, Hanbin pulled away, unwrapping her arms from Hao’s waist (reluctantly, but the idea of revenge was too sweet to ignore) and stepping back to put some space between them. “Let’s go properly introduce you to the others, Hao-jie.”
Hao let out a whine, pouting at Hanbin in an attempt to coerce her into giving her what she wanted. Hanbin almost fell for it, but she resisted despite the throbbing between her legs. “I’ll show you what’s truly not fair, jiejie.”