i wonder everything about us
minatozaki sana x f!reader || last part from ballroom extravaganza and pt.1
synopsis: your composure is starting to break, and it lands you in front of the very person that started it all.
warnings: fluff ; angst ; cursing ; alcohol ; arguing ; reader is a dumbass/conflicted ; misscommunication ; 127 doyoung and g-idle miyeon appear! ; dahyun, minju, and somi also have a small cameo ; tzushu and seuirene ship ; almost cheating sorta? ; kinda proofread
a/n: wrapping up the sha rich story here. enjoy! :)
there’s been more situations worse than this one. break the eggs and someone’s gotta make the omelet.
“who was that?”
you’re sitting on the couch while mina paces in front of you, arms crossed over with your chest in a self-soothing gesture. sana was sent back to your room, but you can’t help but wish that she was right here and next to you—it would make you feel braver than she was.
“well?” mina demands. “who?”
“my…she’s my girlfriend.” the lie you just spat tastes like ash in your mouth.
“she’s older.”
“not by much,” you protest. “only eight years.”
“eight—? y/n, you’re almost twenty-two. what are you doing with a woman nearly in her thirties?”
“i’m turning twenty-three in a month or so. don’t insult me.”
“i just don’t know what a twenty-nine year old woman would want with a college kid.”
“kid?” you scoff. “geez, that’s so rich coming from you. how old is your business associate again?”
“this isn’t about me, smartass. it’s about you getting involved with someone whose intentions are a big fat question mark!”
“so what?! why would it matter if i’m graduating next semester with my life ahead of me. stop treating me like how auntie was with you!”
mina stares at you, silently, and her lack of reaction only serves to piss you off even more. so you keep going:
“and sana doesn’t have any shitty intentions with me! she’s my—my girlfriend and she’s good to me! she treats me well and she likes me. she texts me everyday and she comes over all the time and—!”
“does she help with expenses?”
you’re stopped dead in your tracks. “what?”
“does she give you money? you haven’t complained about finances recently.”
“i never complain about fiances, mina.”
“i know, but i can always tell when you’re stressed about them and you haven’t been. so let me ask again: does sana give you money?”
“i—” you stammer with the words. you can see the deeper question in mina’s eyes, probing you. forcing you to be truthful. “she…”
“i think if you’re gonna ask y/n about her finances, it’s probably safest to talk to me.”
the both of you whirl around to look at sana. she has her arms folded, foot bent as she leans against the wall. her expression is polite but her gaze is flat, angry. the simultaneous relief and anxiety that swells within you is strong enough to make you unsteady, and you’re grasping at the arm of the couch.
mina, fortunately, is ignorant to this.
“what did you say?”
“i said if you’re asking about whether i give your cousin any money, your best bet is to come directly to me instead of interrogating her.”
“you’ve got a lot of nerve to say that shit to me when this was happening behind my back.”
sana just shrugs. “i just don’t appreciate what you’re implying.”
“and what exactly am i implying?”
“that i have shady intentions towards y/n, which i don’t.”
your heart in chest thuds, staring down at your trembling fingers, clenching them over your lap. mina’s eyes flicker towards sana’s richard mille. “that’s a nice watch. you make money?”
“mina.” you hiss.
“i make a comfortable living.”
mina scoffs and rolls her eyes, muttering something under her breath. “rich people bullshit,” you can faintly hear her say. sana doesn’t reply, face remaining placid. her and mina have a loaded exchange of looks, before your cousin falters, gaze flickering to you.
“you want dinner?” mina inquires.
you blink. “i’m…why?”
“answer the question.”
“i guess im hungry?”
“wonderful.” mina snaps her stare back to sana, voice hard. “what about you?”
sana’s tone is emotionless. “i could eat something.”
“great,” mina says, zipping up her puffer. “let’s go get some thanksgiving dinner then.”
—
you all pack into mina’s car to drive to some restaurant of her choosing, the silence tense enough to cut. when she parks alongside the street, she orders you out of the car, telling to secure a table.
stumbling out, your characteristic grace rendered to nothing due to your anxiety. you step inside the small, hole-in-the-wall pizza restaurant, and ask the hose for a three person table booth. seeing that sana and your cousin aren’t behind you, you allow the host to lead to the table that’s in a corner to the far end of the entrance. after three excruciating minutes, you see the pair walk inside. sana’s expression is blank, and mina’s is unreadable. this does absolutely nothing to calm your nerves.
they sit down, mina across from you and sana at your side. she places her warm hand over your trembling knee, thumb stroking your skin to calm you, grasping it, intertwining fingers. sana squeezes back for comfort.
“so,” you begin shakily. “um—”
“you lied to me,” mina interrupts firmly, eyes hard, reducing you to a feeble child. it angers you. “why did you lie to me?”
“because i knew you would do this. because i knew you were gonna say something about it to auntie sometime later.”
“about what?”
“my decisions. my life. the way i choose to live my life. it’s why you do shit like this.”
mina narrows her eyes, offended. “care to elaborate more?”
“come here under the guise of checking up on me. interrogate me.”
“i only came because i knew you were lying to me.”
“and i lied because i know how controlling you are just like auntie!”
mina’s expression sours. “i’m not controlling like her.”
“yes, you are.” you snap. “you’re either controlling or completely detached. you either forget to call me for two months because you’re busy or you do random check-ins with me everyday for a week. i’m twenty-two years old and you still treat me like this only because auntie’s health hasn’t been well.”
“i don’t have any other choice.” she says tightly. “i don’t know how much auntie has left with time, but—” mina catches herself off, jaw clenching, and looks away from you. you and sana. “we may not be related by blood, but i still consider you my family. i’m sorry if i came off as cold or unmoving, but you’re all i have left.”
sana shifts beside you. “maybe i should—”
“no, it’s fine.” mina says, and glances back up. brown eyes meet yours, a mirror image. “i was just about to leave anyway.”
“what?” you gasp out.
“you shouldn’t.” sana interjects.
mina waves a dismissive hand. “i’ve said everything i wanted to say. to both of you.”
“don’t go if you’re gonna regret it later, mina,” sana warns. mina barks a laugh, tightening her jacket. “if you wanna be apart of our family, sana, learn the way we operate. y.n and i don’t carry regrets.”
she pointedly glances at you and you respond with shaking your head, mouthing a silent no. without any further ceremony, mina shoulders her handbag, moving to step forward. however, she hesitates and looks back at you, stopping in place.
“if you want me to be convinced you can hold out on your one, then act like it. stop giving so much of a shit about what i have to say. i spout just as much crap as everyone else. it’s up to you if you want to ignore me if you want.”
speechless, your mouth is parted, but mina was already on her way out of the restaurant by the time you can think of any words. when you see the black streak of her car driving way, you sigh, burying your face in your hands.
“i’m such a bitch.”
“don’t talk about yourself like that,” sana says, voice firm but touch soft, stroking down the line of your back. “she told me in the car she was gonna leave.”
“why?”
“same reason she just gave just now. she said everything she wanted to say to both of us.”
“and what did she say to you?”
“a better question is what i did say to her.”
you can’t help with the rush of cold fear that grips you. “what did you say?”
“what i felt about you. what you are to me.”
and it’s not the truth because it can’t be the truth—mina would’ve throttled sana otherwise—but the tenderness in her voice implores you to look up from your hands at her, to believe her. she reaches over to brush your hair out of your face, eyes sweet like liquid candy, mouth curling to smile. you crumble, falling into her.
“i’m sorry. i’m sorry you had to put up with that.”
“it’s fine, sweetheart.”
“no, it’s not. it’s awful and it’s unhealthy and i’m dumping my baggage onto you.”
“i don’t care. i want to know everything about you.” you flush, and sana adds, “also, if you think that’s bad you should meet my family. i’ve grown up with struggles of not being up to par with my relatives and being the laughing stock because of my lack of success. it’s half the reason i’m calling out of thanksgiving tomorrow. that and the fact that i’m working.”
“what?” you gasp, sitting up. “you’re working tomorrow?”
sana toys with a lock of your hair. “people get injured everyday unfortunately.”
“we should do something.”
“you don’t want to eat here?”
“i get one dollar pizza with irene at least once a week. we should do something special.”
a grin cracks sana’s face in half, radiant. “what if i made us dinner?”
“you can cook?”
“of course i can. i even have a special bacon mac and cheese recipe.”
“but i don’t have bacon.”
“we can take the subway to the grocery store and then take it back to your house when i can cook. c’mon, it’ll be fun.”
you bite your lip to suppress a smile. sana kisses it free. when she pulls back, you lean into her palm, lashes fluttering against the skin of it.
“okay, you lead the way then.”
—
grocery shopping with sana is efficient.
she doesn’t linger in aisles to windowshop. sana simply grabs what she wants and goes, one hand gripping a pack of bacon and a box of mac and cheese, the other hand clasped with your own. they’re in and out within five minutes.
the subway ride is almost as quick but fun, which is a strange thing to have on the g-train but it’s true. sana crowds you against the pole, shielding you from the other passengers as she whispers her judgment of them in your ears, speculating that the married couple standing across from them is miserable, will always be miserable, because they can’t ever feel what you and sana do.
the game is mean-spirited, you know, but sana’s ridiculousness makes you laugh. makes your stomach bubbly and your body light, fizzy like you’re made of crisp champagne. as sana kisses the curve of your ear, you think that you quite like the idea of being in on an inside joke with her.
you’re stumbling into the apartment within the hour, teeth chattering from the cold. sana removes your coat and scarf, hanging them on your rack before taking the grocery bag and hurrying into the kitchen. she looks excited, her lips spread wide in a near-permanent grin. you settle onto one of the high chairs, watching sana waltz around your kitchen like it’s familiar to her. it must be at this point.
“so. bacon mac and cheese.”
“a family recipe,” sana says, pulling a pot from the bottom cabinet. “my grandma used to make it for my mom when she was a kid. growing up pretty poor so she says this was basically a delicacy to her.”
“i can relate. when i was little, my favorite thing to eat was those cup ramen noodles that mina and auntie used to throw bits of beef and chicken in.”
“cup ramen is always good.”
sana fills the pot with water, placing it over the stove top and setting the heat on high. she then walks to your fridge to pull out a bottle of prosecco. “this is fancy.”
“hardly,” you snort. “i got it for fifteen bucks.”
“all wine target the same whether it’s five or fifty dollars. take it from someone who drinks the fancy shit at parties,” sana says, popping the cork off. she grabs two glasses and files them halfway before passing one to you.
sana raises it. “cheers.”
“happy thanksgiving.”
so you and sana drink. relishing in the sweet, crisp burn of the prosecco as it goes down, the alcohol warming you instantly. sana’s eyes on you are equally warm and dangerously fond. you take another sip to swallow down the mutinous rise of hope.
soon enough, the water starts boiling and sana pours the macaroni in, stirring it. you like it. you like the look of sana in your kitchen, her ease. the domesticity implied. you basically want to sink into it.
you get off your chair to slowly approach sana from behind, sliding your arms around her middle and leaning your cheek against the curve of her shoulder. sana leans into you, and you rise up to your toes, pressing lips to her cheek, kissing sana softly. when she sighs, head tilting down, you kiss sana again. again and again. wanting a tattoo of your affection to be left behind.
dropping back to your heels, and sana’s gaze finds yours, soft as silk. she curls her hand into your hair and brings you close, mouth against your forehead, nose in your hairline, breathing in.
“go sit down,” sana murmurs. “finish your drink.”
you step away from sana, chest hollow like you’re leaving something behind.
—
sana feeds you bites of mac and cheese that tastes a bit burnt.
“a capricorn mars?” sana asks, lips around the same fork. she dips it back into the bowl to fish for more macaroni. “what the fuck is that?!”
“okay so, everyone has planet placements—asteroids too but that’s more specific—and each of the planets has a specific meaning. i already explained that your sun sign—”
“capricorn.”
“capricorn, right—was the core of your personality. your moon sign is your private face, or your emotional center. mercury is communication. venus is romance and aesthetics—which might be an additional for you. and mars is aggression and sexuality.”
“and mine is in capricorn?”
“yeah, and capricorn is the domicile of mars.”
“it means that capricorn and virgo are already ruled by mars. the placement feels natural.”
“ah.” sana’s arms tighten around you, setting you higher up on her lap. “so that means i’m naturally aggressive and sexual?”
“no,” you laugh. “it means that it’s just an easier fit. that there isn’t any friction between the planet and sign. like, capricorns are very expressive in their confidence and humility. grounded with their words and they don’t sugarcoat what they say, they mean it.” you say, tapping sana’s chin, tugging on it with your thumb. “and they do it straightforwardly. mars suits it.”
sana nips at your thumb. “like you aren’t.”
“i’m a gemini,” you say. “a dynamic sign. two sides to show to the world.”
sana grins, and you move your hand up pushing her hair back. “how do you know all this stuff anyway?”
“i had a light…astrology phase in high school.”
“astrology?”
“yeah. my stuff might be off, but that’s to the best of my memory. but i dabbled with oujia birds. summoning, that kind of shit.”
“summoning?”
“i never actually summoned anything,” you mutter, flashing. “none of the spells worked.”
sana laughs, which earns your glare. you shiver when she reaches up and traces the curve of your ear.
“this explains the bit of eye bags to sell the dark look i’m getting out here.”
“pfft,” you stifle a laugh, turning your head off to the side. “the eye bags were from an insomnia phase i had during my first year of college. i didn’t know how to function at times, and my roommate was genuinely concerned when i brought up my terrible last two years of high school. i think i might’ve scared her.”
“really?”
“that’s another story for later, but let’s just say that it wasn’t pretty if you saw me like that.”
“wow,” sana says, impressed with your growth and resilience. “i was totally normal during high school.”
“i see and believe that.”
the only warning before sana flips you over and pins you on the couch is a flash of teeth, a mean smile. you cry, “the macaroni!” but sana already has it safely on the ground, her other hand moving to tickle your ribs. you’re shrieking, jerking in her hold.
“don’t!”
“what?” sana asks, laying over you, fingers sliding up your waist. “you’re ticklish?”
“no.”
“i think you are.”
“i’ll kick you.”
“no, you won’t,” sana says, but traps your thighs between her knees anyway. she lowers her head, mouth warm against your neck. “you’re too sweet.”
“sana—”
she offers you no mercy. with a simple crook of her fingers, she’s tickling you, trapping you against teh couch as you squirm and giggle beneath her. sana’s hands dip past your shirt to find your bare skin, relentless. while you writhe, sana shoves her face into your neck and hums.
“y-you’re–sana, you’re gonna kill me!”
“no, i’m not.”
“i can’t—” you erput into another laughing fit, tears in your eyes. “i can’t breathe!”
“you’re such a baby,” sana says, but slides her hands away to rest them on either side of your head. once you’ve recovered, you wrap your arms around sana’s neck and secure her to you. sana kisses the ridge of your jaw, sinking into you with a deep exhale. as if expelling a weight inside you.
“do you want to watch a movie?” you ask, fingers toying with the ends of her hair.
“sure. something nice.”
“like what? a rom-com?”
“yeah. i like those.”
you laugh. “do you really? i was expecting you to be more of a different answer than that.”
“were you expecting action movies?”
“but you prefer romance?”
“if they’re good.” when you look at sana disbelievingly, defensiveness enters her tone. “what?”
“i don’t know. a lot of people didn’t like them because it set unrealistic standards. or, at least that’s what my ex said.”
“well, your ex was a fucking idiot,” sana says heatedly. “there’s nothing unrealistic about it.”
there’s nothing unrealistic about grand, sweeping gestures and spotanoeulsy confessing your undying love in the middle of an airport?”
sana raises her head from your chest to look at you. “not unless if you’re a coward.”
you snort, a slow start to what would eventually become a full belly laugh. sana’s expression sours with every giggle, but when you throw your head back and knock it against the arm of the couch, sana reaches out to cradle it. while you recover, sana chooses a move, fingers soothing the bump.
—
by the time the credits of the second movie roll, sana rises from her position on your chest to sit up. she rubs her palms over her face, yawning.
“i have to go,” sana says with some regret, her eyes half-lidded. “i have work in the morning.”
you want to protest but feel ridiculously for it, childishly selfish. instead, you give sana a tight smile and follow her to the door, grabbing her coat from the rack to help her in it. you then take her scarf, pretty purple and wooly in your hands, holding out to her. sana smiles and drapes it over her neck. the open door behind her lets in an icy chill, and she binds you against her, broad palms cupping your face.
you love sana’s eyes. it strikes you suddenly as she tugs you closer, dazzling brown swallowing your vision. you wish the whole world could be that color. it could be that beautiful.
“i’ll call you tomorrow,” sana says.
your voice is soft, too small in your throat. “okay.”
sana smiles and ducks down to kiss you, lips warm and sweet and awfully chaste. you surge closer to meet her, trying to deepen it, but she doesn’t let you. she simply pecks the swell of your bottom lip again and leans back to look at you. the overwhelming affection on her face sends a bolt through you, sends a shiver up your spine that she mistakes for chill. concern flares in her eyes as she takes the scarf from her neck.
“are you cold?” sana asks, already pulling it off, settling it over your shoulders. “is it because the door is open?”
“i—” you can’t speak over the wool that covers your mouth. sana sloppily wraps it around you, her own body heat bleeding into you, nestling sweetly like hot chocolate beneath your skin. after she’s thrown the tail over your head, she tucks the scarf under your chin and asks, “is that better?”
“yes,” you manage to croak out.
sana smiles again and kisses you for the last time. when she steps back, the distance hurts. “i’ll see you later.”
“see you soon,” you whisper out to her, hand lingering out. the last thing you see before sana locks the door behind her is her smile.
it almost hurts not to follow.
—
“y/n!”
you pause, just steps outside of the auditorium. turning to see doyoung, your thesis editor and a TA for the psychology and ethics class. you smile as he approaches you, adjusting your coat against the chill. “hi.”
“hey,” doyoung says, grinning. “you just watched the lecture, right?”
“yeah. it was great. i didn’t know you were gonna attend.”
“i didn’t know you would attend either,” he says. “if i did, i would’ve asked if you wanted to sit together.”
smiling, close-mouthed, unsure of how to respond to that. doyoung barrels on before you can settle on anything. “do you want to meet her?”
“who? the lecturer?”
“mrs. cho, yeah.”
suspended in time for a second, you blink. “you know her?”
“yeah! i was one of her research assistants about a year and a half ago. she’s great. do you wanna meet her?”
“uh—sure, i would love to,” you say, a bit mystified, trailing after him when he starts to walk back into the auditorium.
doyoung leads you towards the stage where a woman who appeared to be around your height stands, chatting amiably with one of your professors. when doyoung calls her name, she looks over to you, sending a broad grin.
“kim doyoung?” she asks. is that you?”
“yes, ma’am,” he says, climbing onto the stage, reaching back to help you up. “it’s really nice to see you again.”
“it’s great to see you! how are things?”
“great!”
“and you’re almost done right? got not long now before you’ll be on the way out into the real world.”
“yeah, i’ve got most of the things done before applying for graduation. i even do some editing for other students on the side. speaking of.” doyoung reaches back, setting his hand on your back to gesture you forward. “this is one of the students i edit for.”
mrs. cho shifts her attention towards you. noticing how remarkably pretty she was up close compared to sitting a few rows back. she has bright red hair that was noticeable from far, fair skin with rosy cheeks that encapsulate a bubbly personality when she spoke to the class. for some reason her laugh and mannerisms were similar to a familiar person. you couldn’t put your thumb to it, but the fact that her occupation was also in the medical field should’ve sent the alarms ringing.
“and who this might be?” she asks.
“y/n l/n. she’s a bachelors student in the pipeline for the masters program.”
“y/n–” her eyes shot up. you’re startled by the intense reaction of you, the way her jaw drops like the two biggest dots were just connected. “y/n l/n? are you actually y/n l/n?”
“uh.” you’re glancing at doyoung who seems confused as you were. “y-yes, that’s me.”
mrs. cho covers her mouth with both of her hands, hiding her smile. “my goodness that’s amazing! do you know sana?”
“sana?” your heart swells, stomach sinking as the realization slaps across you ten-fold. how could’ve you been so blind? one of sana’s closest friends, miyeon. miyeon. sana’s shown the pictures of her on that one hangout they had when they were in medschool, dressing up like boys with dad hats backwards and nerdy glasses that looked surprisingly cute and wished sana looked like that for you.
“no way.” you breathe out.
“oh my god!” miyeon echoes. “this is crazy!”
“who is sana?” doyoung asks, reminding you abruptly of his presence.
“my best friend,” miyeon eagerly replies, gaze unwaveringly on her face. “this is incredible.”
“you know me? or at least about me?” you ask, reeling. “sana…she’s told you about me?”
“of course she has! she talks about you all the time. she even mentioned that you were a psychology student, but i didn’t know that you studied at this university.”
your lips quick. “what a small world.”
“it definitely is. so tell me more about your degree. sana said that it had something to do with kids?”
“well, yeah. i’m studying child’s psychology with a cognitive-behavioral focus. doyoung’s helping me with my thesis right now actually.”
well, you might’ve just embarrassed yourself. doyoung already mentioned that to her.
“interesting, but cognitive-behavioral?” miyeon playfully raises her brows. “what are you doing attending the lecture of an exponential researcher?”
“i find it to broaden my avenues, besides being well-rounded.”
miyeon laughs, delighted. “that it does, my dear. sana said that you were bright in studies.”
your cheeks flush, the natural instinct to ask for what else, what else has she said, forming. that is, until doyoung says, “sorry. i’m a little lost. how do you know sana, y/n?”
speechless for a moment, you’re transported back to the soft golden lights and the shine of her oxford shoes, the taste of lemon drop martinis on your tongue. the four seasons and five hundred dollars in your purse, completely unexplainable much like sana is, because there are no words to describe her.
there are, however, words to describe you.
“y/n,” miyeon says, leaning forward to take your chin on her fingers, startling you. “is the greatest gift sana ever had the pleasure of finding.”
and all at once your excitement dashes into nothing, letting dread sink into you, curling around your body like a vice, tigeting around your neck. suddenly, miyeon’s enthusiasm takes a different meaning, another shape. it’s not friendly but sordid. not curious but propositional. maybe, it might’ve been, if sana ever offered to share.
it’s the thought that makes your heart crack open. just a few days ago, she was in your house, laying over you, kissing you with enough affection that you could drown in it. you thought—you’re not even entirely sure why anymore but you thought—it was real. it could’ve been real. the hope was there.
“wow,” doyoung says, laughing awkwardly, but the sound barely registers over the roaring din in your ear canals. “i didn’t know you had a girlfriend.”
she’s not my fucking girlfriend, you’re saying to yourself visioulxy, spiterully. with sorrow. sana’s not your fucking girlfirned and she never was. you were just her gift. a thing to fuck around with.
“i’m sorry,” you say, blinking fast, speaking through the lump in your throat. “i really have to go.”
“oh.” miyeon looks genuinely disappointed, but you can’t be sure. perhaps it’s because she was hoping you’d offer a more nicer regard than what just transpired now. you wonder about the stories sana’s told, if she’s shown miyeon your pictures. “well, it was nice meeting you. i hope we’ll see each other again.”
you nod once, a jerky motion, and a spin of the heel to race out of the auditorium. by the time you reach to the chill outdoors, you’re crying, hot tears streaming down your face, heartbreak nearly forcing you to the knees.
wiping them away roughly, shame makes you red-faced. once you tended to the other cheek, fingers tugging the scarf around your neck, it feels like a collar to a degree–and you’re choking on another sob.
a terrible tragedy it seems, to be owned.
—
avoiding contact, you’re fielding sana’s calls for the next week or so.
you can’t claim that you don’t mean to because you do. every text asking is everything okay? something wrong? gets a yes, of course. every text asking are you okay, are you mad at me? gets a no. no, of course not. why would i be?
how amusing that you have a chock-full of little excuse, but the end result still stands: you don’t want to talk to sana.
this also means that you're miserable.
the tried-and-true method of compartmentalizing your feelings ceases to work when your sorrow over sana bleeds into everything. you can’t focus enough to do your assignments, be mindful enough to smile at work, to write when doyoung says that you should. to eat, even, because it’s hard to stomach anything when you’re angry at her and it’s hard to exist and not speak to her. over the course of three months, sana’s embedded herself into every facet of your life. function without her now is like forgetting how to breathe.
you could say that you’re taking the misery right on the chin, pushing through it like the grown woman you’ve claimed to be, at least proficient enough to hid from everyone else not involved. tzuyu notices this, she notices everything, and she makes it her mission to know about everything.
which is why you’re not surprised when she randomly bursts into your room on a saturday night, phone still buzzing from when she tried to call you.
“get up!” tzuyu snaps, marching over to yank your covers off; you’re curling over the pillow. “come on, get up! you’ve been ignoring my calls for, like, a week and i’m sick and tired of your wallowing.”
voice muffled into the sheets. “‘m not wallowing.”
“yes, you are,” she says and throws open your blinds, exposing the stained brickwall on the other side. “irene told me you didn’t go to class with her this week, which i know means that you were holed up in here crying or something. which, i might add, you never informed me of, so not only are you sad but you’re keeping secrets from me. bad friend behavior, y/n.”
“it’s not bad friend behavior. i just didn’t feel like talking about it.”
“well if you’re not gonna talk about it, you’re gonna do something else.” you hear your closet doors open and perch your head up to see tzuyu rifling through your clothes. after a moment, she makes some pleased sound and toesses a white dress onto your boed, one that sana had bought you a few weeks ago. the memory is blanched just by looking.
“we’re going out tonight,” tzuyu announces. “i have shuhua waiting in the car and i made plans to meet up with irene and a few friends of mine at a club in manhattan. i’m not leaving till you get dressed.”
“i’m not going.”
“yes, you are.”
“no.”
“you are.”
“tzuyu,” you say, with a note of pleading. “i really don’t want to go.”
“and i don’t care! you’re going.”
“no,” you repeat firmly, drawing your knees up to cocoon yourself. “i don’t want to go. i don’t want to drink or go to manhattan—”
“does sana live in manhattan?
“i don’t want to talk about sana.”
“well, it seems like you don’t wanna do fucking anything!” tzuyu throws her hands up, lovely face twisted up with exasperation. she nudges the dress closer. “and like i said, i really don’t care. if you’re not gonna talk about your feelings then do something equally as unproductive and distract yourself from them instead of crying. you’re being ridiculous.”
“no, you are,” you retort acidically, and it seems as though your outrage needed an outlet, because you can’t stop yourself from spitting the vitriol that spills forth. “and you know what? you are ridiculous. in general, you are fucking ridiculous. you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth and you act like it. me signing up for that stupid app was your idea. me meeting sana was because of you. and sana—” calling me her gift, reducing me to something that’s owned, tainting the concept of belonging— “i-it’s your fault. everything is your fault. it’s your fucking fault!”
tzuyu’s face is unchanged, perfect and placid as it always is. finally, while you heave, restraining another fit of tears, tzuyu exhales deeply and tilts her head, expression softening. “are you good now?”
“no,” you mumble. “i’m angry.”
“good.” tzuyu sits down on the edge of your bed and tugs you close, resting your head on her shoulder. “be angry with me. just don’t hole yourself up in your room alone. you’ve done enough of that.”
you sag into tzuyu. “i’m sorry for yelling at you. what happened isn’t your fault.”
“it kind of is.”
“no, it isn't. maybe giving the idea was, but everything i did was because it was a choice i mad. even being hurt now is my fault. i always knew what i was to her.”
“so? it’s kind of difficult to have sex with anything for three months and not get attached to it. i get weepy when i have to throw away my vibrators.”
you snort, pushing tzuyu away. met with a smile of hers with your own, “are you ready to go out now or do i actually have to respect your wishes this time.”
debating, eyes flicking to the dress by your foot. you know how it looks on you, how the fabric shimmers under a certain light and the fit clings to your body. you know it’s effect on sana, even, how her eyes darkend when she first saw it on you, how she raced to get it off. the faded memory stings as the thought of sana always does now, like a sharpened blade, but tzuyu is right. it isn’t healthy to sustain this level of feeling for days on end. maybe it needs a change of pace.
“fine,” you say, looking at tzuyu. “help me get ready.”
tzuyu squeals before grabbing your face to let her kiss your cheek.
—
you and tzuyu greet shuhua by the car just half an hour later, who rolls down the window to wolf-whistle you as they approach. tzuyu opens her coat and grabs you by the hand to spin you around.
“you look hot!” shuhua says. “i’ll be surprised if you don’t go home with somebody tonight.”
cheeks flushing after the compliment. “oh, uh, i’m not really—”
“honey, don’t scandalize y/n so early in the evening,” tzuyu says, popping a kiss to her mouth as she gets in the car. “you know y/n doesn’t talk about ex–say in polite company.”
“since when am i polite company?”
“hi, shua,” you mumble, sliding into the backseat.
“hey, babe. are you excited?” shuhua turs around. both her and tzuyu stare at you expectantly from the front seats, making you feel strangely like a child on their first day of school.
“...yes…”
tzuyu sends shuhua a firm look. “start the car.”
it’s saturday night, the drive from queens to manhattan takes about forty minutes. you’re spending the majority of the ride staring out the window, willing yourself not to think of the familiar surroundings, of the shops along the street that have developed new meaning. luckily, before you can get lost in your budding melancholy, shuhua parks the car along the side of the street and unlocks the door. with a sigh, you step out.
there’s a long line leading into the club that tzuyu bypasses with ease, simply flashing her ID at the bouncer before he allows you three inside. the club is ritzy but stereotypical. brith, multicolored flashing lights threaten to blind you and the pumping music that makes your ears ring. hand in hand, tzuyu directs through the throng of gyrating bodies to a VIP lounge near the back, where you can see a round table filled with people.
irene notices you first, and she jumps out of her seat to rush toward you, bee-lining for you specifically, enveloping a hug that you gratefully sink into.
“you look so pretty!” irene yells when she steps back. “i was worried you wouldn’t come!”
“i did!”
“thank god! come say hi to everybody!”
following her to the table. irene slides back into the booth to nestle beneath the arm of a handsome black-haired man that you recognize immediately, much to your delight. “seulgi!”
she cracks a smile. “sup.”
“i didn’t know you’d be here.” or really, that their relationship had progressed so well. perhaps you might have if you kept in touch more proactively, which suddenly makes you feel like a very shitty friend.
“how are you?” you ask, sitting down next to the pair.
“i’m good. you?”
“i’m…well.”
“uh-oh.” seulgi pushes a drink towards you. “be grateful i can’t cut you off tonight then.”
not thinking of a reply, uncomfortable at having been perceived so clearly, you raise the straw to your lips.
“hey tzuyu! we’re here!”
the three of you look over to see three people ambling towards you, a shorter woman in front, two slightly taller behind her. up close, you can see that she has dark, long hair. she’s wearing a black leather jacket with a handbag to her side. when she catches your eye, she smiles.
tzuyu leaps up from her seat to hug the woman, extricating herself quickly to hug the other two women tagging behind. her voice is a squeal when she screams, “dahyun!”
gesturing to them to sit down next to her, and as they all scoot into the booth, dahyun’s attention flickers towards you, down to your dress.
“y/n! y/n, this is my friend dahyun! she has a brother that works on the same racing team as him!”
“hey.” dahyun says, leaning forward, extending her hand, and you shake it. when you pull away, she wraps her arm around the brunette beside her.
“this is minju,” dahyun says, and points to the blonde at the end of the booth. “and that’s somi.”
“it’s nice to meet you all,” you say.
“it’s great to meet you. you’re y/n, right?”
“yeah.”
“cool!” dahyun’s mouth curls, more a smirk than a smile. “tzuyu has told me all about you.”
“has she?”
“yep. she thinks you’ve hung the fucking moon or something. is it true you volunteered at a women’s shelter for fun?”
you blush at the question. “i wouldn’t say for fun. i just…got along with the kids there really well.”
“a saint is what you are, according to tzuyu.”
“oh, i wouldn’t—”
dahyun surprises you when she stands up and slides over chaeyoung and somi to sit next to you, smelling the rich perfume she put on. your fingers bunch up the dress when she throws her arm over the back of your seat.
“so,” dahyuns starts again, sinking into the vinyl seat, too comfortable. “what else do you do aside from rescuing cats from trees?”
“i’m not a firefighter. never done anything like that.”
“it was a joke, lovely.” your flush depends, and dahyun adds, “but i’m serious. what do you do?”
“i’m a waitress currently, but i’m working towards my bachelors in child’s psychology. masters after, but i’m sure you knew that already.”
“yep.”
“and you?” you ask, taking a sip of your drink, beer bottle sweating around your fingers. “tzuyu mentioned you work with your mom?”
“yeah, just a normal front-desk job. pretty nice until all of the calls get backed up.”
“yikes. sorry to hear that.”
dahyun’s mouth quirks, and you swallow a squeak when she reaches over to ruffle your hair, startled by her familiarity. she keeps her hand there.
“you’re sweet, you know that?”
your face is burning red hot, stomach churning. you can’t think of anything to say but get off. “um—”
“but fuck the job conversation,” dahyun says, leaning closer to you, eyes flashing with mischief. “you wanna get fucked up?”
—
to your better judgement—along with the credit, this is something that you don’t really do on a weekend basis—getting fucked up.
it takes a few beers and sojus to get loose enough to smile freely. you’ve lost the count from five shots onwards to keep you laughing, swimmy. dahyun leads you to the bar to take more shots together—your idea—that’s immediately chased down with lime juice, shoved into your mouth by dahyun’s fingers. the burst of citrus in your mouth.
there’s no food to sober up with, so you decide to get that stored energy on the dance floor, sweating profusely. you switch between the different groups—first spinning around in a mid circle with shuhua and tzuyu, then joining irene and seulgi as they move together. you’re being dragged in between, irene laughing against your neck, head being thrown back into seulgi’s shoulder, the light’s over-bright above you, a shimmering multicolor. you’re laughing, and laughing, and laughing, even when a flash of green against the ceiling makes you want to cry.
it’s so easy to stop thinking.
which is exactly the case when dahyun finds her way onto the dance floor, swaggering. selugi spins you towards her embrace and she catches you, hands securing the waist, fingers sliding down to your hips. her voice rumbles from her chest and into your ears when she speaks, mouth skimming the curve orf it. “you know, tzuyu really wanted me to meet you.”
you wrap your arms around her neck. “she did?”
“yeah, she did. said you needed to meet someone new.”
“oh. i didn’t know.” dahyun leads you into a dance, slipping their knee between your legs. something cold curdles up in the pit of your stomach, but the warmth of the alcohol makes it easy to ignore. have fun, you remind yourself.
“yeah, thank god she did,” dahyun says.
the music, booming club/house hit, robs most of your hearing, but when you sway your hips and she follows the motion of it, moving with you, you can hear the dark rumble of her groan, can feel it when dahyun says, “fuck, you’re so hot. you wanna get out of here?”
that cold pit in the base of your stomach explodes, icy panic flooding your insides. dahyun’s eyes widen with shock as you push her away from you, and when she tries to tug you close again, you bat her away, snapping, “no.”
you stumble to the end of the club, shoving on your coat as you rush out into the cold weather. you tremble more from the alarm than the chill when you pull out your phone and scroll through the contact list.
sana answers before the end of the first ring. “y/n?”
“i’m coming to your house,” you announce, waving widely as you try to flag down a taxi.
“is something wrong? your voice sounds weird. do you want me to pick you up?”
“i’m coming,” you repeat. “to your house. so tell your doorman to let me in.”
“baby, are you sure you don’t want me to pick you up?”
the pet name stings. as does your persistent loyalty to her. wouldn’t have been so freeing to make her hurt? “no.”
“y/n—”
“i’ll see you now.”
you hang up just as a taxi stops beside you. opening the door and climbing into the car, slurring out sana’s address. given that her apartment complex is close, the drive takes under fifteen minutes. you had to swipe your card at least three separate times for the payment to go through. you nearly trip when stepping out, knees shaking and coltish, but right yourself quickly to march into the building. the red-headed doorman gives you a sour look that you meet with a scowl. thankfully, though, he lets you in without a word.
the journey to sana’s apartment is a blur. recognizing the soft elevator music and the ding as it opens. your heels click against the marble floors when you stumble down the hall, hands aligning against the wall to keep your balance. when you find sana’s door, you knock on it hard, speaking into the peephole. “it’s y/n. let me in!”
door swung open instantly; sana must’ve been waiting for you. heart throbbing when you see her, brown hair around her shoulder, barefoot and not-entirely relaxed, but she herds you in before you can get emotional, following you to the living room.
“are you okay?” sana asks.
“no.” you throw your purse down and wrestle to get your coat off. sana steps forward to help you but you shake your head, scoffing at her injured look.
“you’re drunk,” sana observes with disapproval., “why are you drunk?”
“i went out with tzuyu.”
“are you okay?” sana asks again.
“no. i’m drunk.”
sana’s expression shifts, wavering between panic and concern. you wonder what she has to be worried about, if she carries the past week with her the way that you did. but of course not, you think bitterly. why would she care at all?
“do you need water?”
you don’t reply, still struggling to take your coat off, suddenly overheated. sana watches you, making a frustrated sound deep in her throat. she runs her hand through her hair. “i don’t know what you wnat me to do then, baby.”
“i want you to stop calling me baby.”
“what?”
you whirl around. “i want you to stop with the pet names. i want you to stop with the gifts. i want you to stop sending me money. i-i want you to stop—talking to me like you care about me. it’s cruel, sana.”
“y/n, what are you talking about? of course i fucking care about you.” sana’s eyes widening. “did you take any drugs?”
“no!” you yell. “and no, i didn’t take any drugs!”
“then what the fuck is your problem?”
“my problem,” you spit, narrowing your eyes, speaking through your teeth. “is that i don’t want to be your damn sugar baby anymore!”
“what?!”
“yeah! your sugar baby, sana. does it make you feel bad when i say it? because it makes me fel fucking worse.” your voice cracking, shaking your head. “and i take it anymore.”
sana grasps the side of her hair. “take what? take what anymore? what the fuck are you talking about?”
“this!” you gesture between you and sana. “i can’t— i can’t keep pretending that i’m okay with this. that you can go to my house, fuck me, and then venmo me some money after like it’s okay. like i’m your—at first i thought it would be fine. it hurt me, made me feel sick, but i thought….i guess i thought that things would change but they haven’t. they haven’t and it really fucking hurts.”
“y/n, sweetheart, my love—” you flinch—”i’m really gonna need you to start making sense before i lose my fucking mind.”
“what doesn’t make any sense to you? my feelings? did you really expect that you could get to fuck me fore three months and i wound’t feel anything? am i that much of a fucking doll to you?”
“wha—?”
“you know, tonight i met this girl that was really into me,” you say, and giddily watch sana freeze. “tzuyu introduced me to her. she thought we’d be good together. she wanted me.”
sana’s face goes flat, hands stalling in the air between them. your pulse skips at the sudden coldness that grips her, the way her eyes darken, like the brief seconds of peace that precede the explosion of a volcano.
“what?” she asks quietly. “what did you say?”
“but i didn’t want her!” you cry. a jolt of panic runs through you, as fierce as your heartbreak. “i didn’t! she said she wanted to sleep with me and i said no! because of you, sana! because i like you! i really, really, really like you and i have feelings for you, and—”
“are you saying you could have cheated on me!” sana yells. “did you just admit to my fucking face expect me to thank you?!”
“cheat on what? you’re not my girlfriend, you’re my sugar mommy! thats’ what this whole argument is about!”
“i’m not your damn sugar mommy! i told you from day-fucking-one that i hated that shit! i think it’s disgusting! i told you that! if it were up to me, park jihyo would be dead in the fucking ground!”
“oh.” stumbling back. the shock crashing over in waves, realization threatening to wash over you. “i–oh, fuck. god.”
because sana was right. she did tell you that, just twenty minutes into the first meeting. her giving money to you after the first date misled you, given the impression that this was something sordid, but sana never acted that way. not once. she only ever treated you like…
you cradle your face when sana paces in front of you, muscles tense with rage. her fists shake by her sides, knuckles white, and you have the sudden urge to throw yourself down at her feet and kiss them, to beg for her forgiveness.
“i’m sorry. sana, i’m so sorry.” you gaps. “i didn’t—i misinterpreted everything, and i—”
sana stops in place to look at you, blazing eyes rooting you to the ground. your breath twists in your lungs as the words melt on your tongue, leaving you with nothing. because you have nothing. there’s nothing to say.
and sana takes you in, the trembling and tears, you being desperate for forgiveness. she runs a hand over your face, sighing heavily. “you’re way too drunk to be having this conversation.”
“i’m not.” you’re not lying. if you were a tad bit less sober, the doubt would be hurting just as much.
“yes, you are.”
“sana, i won’t be able to sleep unless we talk this through.”
“i don’t give a shit. you’re going to bed.”
you whimper as she marches past you, stumbling after her to follow. she stops when you reach the bedroom and open the door for you to head inside. you do, slowly, like you expect to face some form of punishment or further scolding, but sana only walks to her drawers and fishes for a t-shirt, holding it out to you.
as you take it, she leaves the room, giving you privacy to change. you sniffle quietly as you shove your dress down and off around your feet, and slip the shirt on. just as you bend to take off your shoe, sana comes back into the room, carrying a glass of water. she watches you struggle for a beta before sighing and placing the glass down on her nightstand. you nearly weep when you watch sana kneeled down in front of you, her hands going to your ankles. “sana, i—”
“not now,” she says, looking up at you, eyes still hard and angry, but her fingers gentle, thumb tapping your bone, “we can talk about it tomorrow.”
when sana’s done, she steps back, lining upr your heels against the wall.
“get in bed,” sana orders
“sana, i-i can sleep on the couch,” you say weakly. “i really don’t need to take your bed. i’ve had enough trouble already. ‘
“i don’t care. get in.”
“really, it’s—”
“get. in.”
her tone leaves no room for debate, and you clamber up to slip beneath the covers. you stare up at sana, hoping she’ll offer to climb in next to you, but she pushes the water towards you, instead.
“drink.”
“i’m not thirsty.”
“it’s not for your thirst. it’s so you have enough wits about you in the morning. and, also, for right now. i’m not exactly trusting your judgment.”
sana drops three ibuprofen tablet into your palm. while she watches, you dutifully swallow each one, gilt hollowing out your stomach. you open your mouth to speak, but she nudges the glass up, silently demand you drink. she doesnt’ stop until you’ve downed the whole thing. once it’s empty, sana nods with satisfaction and steps back.
“we’ll talk in the morning. for now, please go to sleep.”
“sana.”
“go to sleep,” she repeats, an edge to her voice. “if i hear anything else, i—” she stops herself. roughly shakes her head. “i can’t guarantee what i’ll do next.”
you flinch when the door slams shut behind her, throwing yourself down onto sana’s pillow. a sob builds in your throat when her scent hits you in full force, and you inhale it greedily, chest stuttering as you curly around it, clinging to it like it can morph into her skin.
and sleep is also unkind. it’s only gracious enough to give you any reprieve when the sun peeks over the horizon. you fall into it fruitfully.
—
you’re awoken to a soft touch, a hand gently shaking your shoulder. “y/n. y/n, get up.”
sana’s voice registers, at first distant and tinny, then overwhelming, a sharp spiek into your barin. you jolt up, nearly headbutting her as you scramble to face her. sana moves to sit on a chair she’s pulled up the side of her bed. she looks at you calmly, her hands folded over her knees, foot bouncing, because she can never be fully at ease. her body doesn’t let her.
“good morning.”
everything that you’ve been feeling the night before suddenly rises to the surface again in an overwhelming rush. you can’t even think to compose yourself. your head and heart aches too much to try.
“i’m sorry!” i cry. “i’m sorry, i’m so sorry. i didn’t— i honestly thought—i don’t know why—no, i do know why but—i didn’t think i was cheating on you. i thought you were my s-sugar mommy and i thought our relationship was transactional. it’s why i was so nervous when you met mina because i thought she’d find out. i had no idea—”
you huff, words croaking out into a sob, and sana moves her chair to the edge of her bed to cup your face. you lean into it, tears smearing against her skin.
“i’m not going to say that i’m not angry, because i am. or that i’m not confused, because i really am. but i think i’m starting to understand where the confusion is.”
“i’m sorry.”
“is it because i gave you money?” sana asks, ignoring it.
you nod. “yes.”
“even after i told you that i thought that shit was gross?”
“it wasn’t then,” you say. “i didn’t go out with you with dual inteitinons. i thought it was a date.”
“which it was.”
“i realize that now.”
“so, it was after? when i sent you—”
“a thousand dollars, sana,” you breathe—still, even now, in disbelief. “which, you have to admit, is a little ridiculous to send someone you met when they were first trying out to be someone’s sugar baby.”
“that’s why i sent it. i knew you needed it. i though you’d understand.”
“i didn’t. and even if i did, can’t you admit that’s strange? or at the very least, kind of offensive?”
“no.” sana slides her hand down, thumb tapping your chin like she did when she first kissed you. “id’ be strange if it was for anyone but you.”
a rosy flush stains your cheeks, spreading high. “i don’t know what that means.”
“i think you do.” she slips her hand away and leans back. her face hardens when she says, “no about that girl—”
“we never kissed!” you say desperately. “we never kissed. she never touched me, not really. we just danced. i only said that because i wanted to provoke you.”
“you nearly did. i swear to god, y/n. i wanted to do something about that.”
you grab sana’s hand and lift it between you two. “i’m sorry. i was being spiteful.”
“it’s fine. i’m not angry with you.”
“you’re not?”
“no. but if kim dahyun—”
“how do you know her name?”
“she texted you. i blocked her number—ever ends up horribly injdured and is brought to me as a patient, i’m passing the cart to the next surgeon.”
“you’re not funny.”
“who said i was joking?”
“sana.”
before you can scold her, sana wraps an arm around you and secrues you to her, heart pouding a slow righym against your ear. you feel her chin drop onto your crown, her hand sliding up your back.
“i love you, y/n,” sana says. her hold tightens when you freeze, but she continues, undeterred. “i love you and it only took me about a week to realize it.”
tears crowd your eyes in earnest. sana’s name comes out as a gasp, but she pulls you back to cup your face, thumbs stroking your cheeks. “i love you. this has never been transactional for me. not once.”
“i—”
“you got something to say to that?”
“sana.” she stops to watch you, eyes going soft as you start to weep. she presses her lips to your forehead, then shifts so that your face falls into her neck. you cling to sana, mouth moving against the skin of her. “...’ove you.”
“what?”
“i said i love you.”
“i know. i just wanted to hear you say it again.”
sana laughs when you pinch her side, and you two settle into a comfortable silence s you sid and hold each other, sinking into bliss. that is until sana says, “does this mean you’re cool with getting married? you know, eventually?”
“what?”
“i told you i wanted to marry you and you said you loved me. that wasn’t a no.”
“you didn’t propose.”
“i thought i was implied.”
“an implication is not a proposal, sana. that’s been our whole issue.” you say as sana frowns. “and i don’t wanna think about getting married until sometime later.”
“so what do you want to do in the meantime, wander around like two hopeless romantics that we are?”
“well—” you rise up to your knees, words purposefully slow as you push sana to the bed and climb over her. her hands find your waist, sliding up. you kiss the grin from her lips.
“just stay close to me. that’s all i ask.”
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