Chapter Text
The sermon always morphs into white noise after about half a second. The discomfort of the wooden pews fade away, as all senses are replaced with spacing out and an empty mind. This is not time to think of god, but to focus on the only interesting thing in the room. A girl with straight black hair and nice posture. Always staring intently at the preacher like he had her full attention, she wished she’d found this interesting.
She always hated church, god, and generally anything related to religion since she was eight. There were many reasons, but above all, the person who hurt her the most preached god every Sunday morning. How can someone who preaches god do such horrible things? Say such horrible things? Call himself her father?
She isn’t sure why her dad still makes her attend church, he knows she doesn’t care about it. But at least she catches her weekly glimpses of the angel in the front row. At least.
——
One day at Easter breakfast, the angel approached her. With a bright smile, she introduced herself as Wonyoung. Jang Wonyoung. And with wide eyes, Yujin did as well.
——
Church wasn’t even close to boring. Why would it be? The rush of adrenaline when she would excuse herself, only to go and do each other’s makeup, make jokes, and play around. It really felt like the most rebellious thing to do at the time. Yujin’s father hadn’t noticed that she would excuse herself every Sunday at eight-thirty. Or that she would be gone for thirty minutes. Or that Wonyoung always got up at the same time. Because of course he didn’t notice.
Wonyoung’s father was too occupied to notice his own daughter missing from the crowd. He was always so passionate in his preaching that he tuned out the rest of the world. Much like they themselves did in the bathroom.
Somehow, in all of the so-far thirteen Sundays (not that she was keeping track) that they’ve maintained their bathroom adventures, not once has anyone interrupted them. The first time, it was a bit awkward, as it wasn’t a planned meeting. Both girls decided they needed a break during a specific passage that hit a bit too close to home for them. And it happened to be the same one, she recalled, thirteen weeks ago…
~
“Who is Leviticus to determine what is detestable?” Yujin thought to herself as she locked herself in a stall. For no reason in particular of course. Knees pressed tightly to her chest, she knew she just needed time alone to collect herself, but much to her dismay, the bathroom door slammed open. Yujin jumped at the loud sound, losing her balance and almost falling off the toilet.
“Bullshit if you ask me,” she heard a familiar voice echo in the room, but her voice had an edge to it this time, followed by a loud sigh. Then the water started running, she heard splashing and assumed she was rinsing her face off. Maybe they both needed a break.
Once the water stopped running, all she heard was silence. A long and notable silence. So long, in fact, that Yujin tried to peek under her stall door to see if she was even still there, only to see no shoes.
“Did she leave? Why didn’t I hear the door?” She thought to herself as she noticed her own hair touching the ground. Quickly retracting her head, she was about to take her leave before she heard a sound, many sounds actually. She soon discovered the sounds to be Wonyoung, who was still in the bathroom, now singing a song. Singing quite well, if Yujin was in any position to judge. She wasn’t sure what the song was, but she was sure it was sad, and she was sure she shouldn’t interrupt her. So she didn’t, she just listened until it stopped. Suddenly when it did, she heard a reasonably loud thud. And then another. And then another. And more?
She eventually decided after the tenth thud to leave her stall. As awkward as it would be to reveal that she’d been “hiding”, she was growing curious (and concerned) over the noises. So she sighed and hopped off the toilet, unlocked the stall, and walked out as casually as she could manage.
What she was met with was Wonyoung, sitting cross-legged on the counter, facing the mirror that she appeared to have been banging her forehead against. They made eye contact in the mirror, not saying a thing but still somehow understanding each other.
~
After that day, their understanding of each other was more of a silent acknowledgment than anything they discussed. What was discussed in the later meetings, however, was almost everything else. Every day was a new topic for them, and they would talk at length, not even noticing the time flying until their alarms went off. Exactly thirty minutes each day. No more, no less. A verbal agreement not out of fear, but out of principle.
On day three, they spoke about their fathers. About how they felt invisible and ignored. But both left out some details.
On day seven, they spoke about their favorite movies. Apparently, Wonyoung was quite the romantic. And apparently Yujin was quite the adrenaline junkie.
On day eleven, they spoke about their favorite music. They both discovered a shared passion for Taylor Swift, but Wonyoung had a special passion for music, she discovered.
On day twelve, they spoke about a topic they had yet to broach. They had already been talking for a while, Yujin was leaning against a stall door and Wonyoung was sitting comfortably on the counter as always.
“So what’s your type? Like what do you want your boyfriend to be like…” Yujin asked carefully, eyes looking anywhere but Wonyoung’s. With a curious and equally-cautious look, she replied “Who said I’d want a boyfriend?”
Her eyes locked onto Wonyoung’s, understanding what she meant. They maintained eye contact for at least a minute, or two, or five, she honestly had no idea. But suddenly, the alarm rang and Yujin rushed out of the bathroom. Leaving behind a worried Wonyoung.
After that incident, Wonyoung was worried that their talks had come to an end, but she showed up on day thirteen regardless (not that she was counting the days). She showed up out of principle, of course.
Everything changed on day thirteen.
—-
Wonyoung showed up first. That never happened, meaning she was fully prepared to sit alone for the whole time, waiting to no avail for her friend to show up. But to her surprise, Yujin came five minutes late. “Sorry, I had to hold my mom’s bag while she went to the car.” she excused without looking into her eyes.
“Oh. No worries.” Wonyoung stated plainly, staring down at her freshly-manicured nails to hide her relief.
There was a long pause. Neither spoke. It seemed like they both vividly remembered the events of last Sunday, even after a week.
Wonyoung was the first to break the silence, asking with a curious and almost teasing eyebrow raised, “So what’s your ideal type?”
At first, Yujin just stared into her eyes. As if trying to find the answer to a question she never asked. But Wonyoung’s eyes met her own strongly, showing almost nothing but anticipation for her reply. Yujin felt small under her confident gaze, so she meekly answered “I guess black hair, tall, nice, funny, cute, you know your typical guy..”
The last part came out weekly, and at some point Yujin’s gaze once again hit the linoleum-tiled floor, while Wonyoung’s remained as steadfast as ever.
“That doesn’t sound like your typical guy.” she stated matter-of-factly, causing Yujin to move her hands around nervously in front of her. It was a small change, but it didn't go unnoticed by Wonyoung.
“W-what do you mean I think it sounds typical.” Yujin defended, sounding like she was trying to convince herself more than anyone else.
“Cute? A cute guy?” Wonyoung asked. Not really a question, but she said it like it was one.
“Yeah I mean that can be typical, everyone has different tastes..” Yujin answered without any falter in her voice. Her hands stopped moving, like she finally told some ounce of truth that brought relief to her. And Wonyoung noticed this.
“It sounds like me.” Wonyoung stated boldly after a long pause, and Yujin’s eyes finally shot up to meet hers. Yujin laughed nervously, trying and failing to make it sound like she thought it was a joke. The blush on her face made it obvious she had been caught in her lie.
“That’s ridiculous, and it’s not even possible. I mean you're just my friend Wonnie, don't joke like that…” Yujin rambled, voice getting smaller with each word she added to her pointless defense. Eyes once again darted around to anywhere but Wonyoung’s. A dead give away.
Somehow, at that exact moment, the alarm went off. Yujin motioned to quickly walk toward the exit as fast as she could without it seeming like she was running away. But given the situation, her intentions were far too obvious.
Wonyoung quickly hopped off the counter and grabbed her wrist. A soft look in her eyes as they finally stood at eye level, she reached for Yujin’s phone and stopped the alarm, turning to place it on the counter softly. They stood in silence, the blush on Yujin’s face fading, only to reemerge at Wonyoung’s next words.
“Are you sure it’s not me? Are you sure I’m not your type?” she asked, tilting her head, gazing deep into her eyes like she already knew the answer, like she could see the part of her heart that even herself ignored.
She stood there like a fool, mouth slightly agape, throat going dry, resolve growing weaker as she still felt the warm hold on her left wrist. She contemplated what to say next, but Wonyoung beat her to it.
“Because you’re my type. I like you , Yujin.”
After those words, Wonyoung held her gaze intently, assuredly. Yujin didn’t know what to say next. She wasn’t sure she could even speak. So she didn’t. Her head was so empty, that her heart had to take over. She closed her eyes, leaned in, and kissed her more emotionally than she ever thought possible.
Wonyoung released the grasp on her wrist, deciding to cup her face instead, fully reciprocating the only response that Yujin could muster. Suddenly, Yujin felt better than she ever had in her whole life. She felt better at that moment than she ever had in the past ten years, and she never wanted it to stop. So as they pulled away, both of them breathing heavily for air, Yujin didn’t wait long enough before meeting her lips again. Forcefully this time. With so much unexpected power and emotion that Wonyoung found herself stumbling backwards and bumping the counter. With their lips still locked tightly, she resolved to hop back on the counter, arms now draped securely around the back of Yujin’s neck. They stayed like this. Kissing themselves out of breath and pulling back with reddened faces, only to start again too soon. They both forgot about the timer, the church, and the entire rest of the world, because none of that mattered when they were high on this feeling.
——
Now it was day twenty, and never again have they set an alarm. They figured no one missed them anyway, and they always seemed to call it when the time was right. Luck seemed to be on their side.
They don’t see each other outside of church. Always on Sundays and sometimes on Wednesdays, but they never met in the bathroom on those occasional Wednesdays.
Today, Wonyoung said something that was very shocking.
“I have a boyfriend,” she stated casually as always. Like it wasn’t really a big deal. But it was. Kind of.
Yujin was shocked, silently staring at her, as if waiting for an explanation without needing to ask for one. And reading the room, she added, “He goes here, to this church, and my school. My dad really likes him so we’re dating but it’s not like that, we don’t like each other like that and well… it’s really confusing but-“ she rambled, suddenly being stopped by Yujin’s hand on her mouth, much to Wonyoung’s surprise and relief. Wonyoung actually seemed nervous now, rambling on like she got caught cheating even though she’s the one who suddenly confessed she had a boyfriend.
Yujin finally took the hand off of her mouth and calmly began “It’s fine Wonnie, you don’t need to explain. You can have a boyfriend, I’ll still kiss you if you want me to, because I want to if you want to. If you’re ok with cheating on him, I’m not gonna say no to you.”
As is usual for them, silence followed a serious moment. Due to their new close proximity, Wonyoung decided to lean her head forward, letting it fall on Yujin’s right shoulder as tears fell from her eyes. She wasn’t sure if Yujin understood what she was trying to say, but judging from her response, it didn’t really matter.
Yujin could probably feel the girl’s tears slowly falling, but she reasoned that it was preferable to her seeing them. Yujin placed a hand softly on her head, a reassuring touch.
“What’s one more sin? Right?” Yujin spoke out with a joking tone. An attempt to lighten the mood, it pierced the previous silence of the bathroom, and forced a weak laugh from her.
“Right.” Wonyoung responded, a slight crack to her voice that she hoped went unnoticed by her confidant.
—-
They also text each other a lot. Not just greetings and wishes. They text for long hours, sometimes into the night, neither one wanting to say goodbye yet. On one of these nights, they found out that they lived a twenty minute walk from each other. A twenty minute brisk walk, so for some people maybe more than twenty, but it still excited them nonetheless. They could meet outside of church bathrooms, an amazing discovery for them.
Wonyoung is perfect. So perfect. These were Yujin's thoughts as she walked to the pizza place fifteen minutes from her home. They’re finally meeting up, super exciting. And nerve wracking for some reason. They’re just friends meeting up is all, yeah. Just friends who kiss secretly in church bathrooms and haven’t really addressed the fact that it may not be the most normal thing to do on Sunday mornings, but it doesn’t really matter.
She’s perfect because of her bunny teeth, her puffy cheeks, beautiful eyes, and her amazing laugh. Perfect for any reason someone can name, and then more reasons because most people don’t even know any of the good ones.
But those thoughts came to a halt when she saw the very girl infesting her mind standing on the corner. She walked faster toward the place now, nervousness all but fading away.
“Hey Wonnie,” Yujin greeted happily, clearly excited to be seeing her on a Saturday. Wonyoung smiled her signature smile back. She looked like a bunny.
“Great to see you outside of church clothes, you look much better,” the girl said back with a wink, quickly turning to go inside of the restaurant. Yujin was flustered, but still excited, she couldn’t wait for what they could do now, outside of church.
—
So much happened outside of church now. It was summer break so they went to all sorts of places. Some places fun, and some boring, but they weren’t really boring because Wonyoung was there.
They also did all sorts of other things. Some things that friends do, and some things that friends don’t do. Things like sneaking kisses when they’re really high on adrenaline, or when they’re really tired in bed.
Church still happened. But it was every Sunday and Wednesday now because it was summer, so they met in the bathroom on Wednesdays now too. They couldn’t get enough of each other’s presence.
Eventually, the exciting summer ended, and they were about to start highschool. They were anticipating starting school, because they got to go to the same one for once. They’d even be in the same grade now because Wonyoung skipped a grade. She wasn’t sure if she did it so they’d be in the same grade, she wanted to think so, but it didn’t matter, she was just glad Wonyoung was so smart.
It was a christian high school. That part wasn't so exciting, but they’d rather go to this high school together than regular ones alone. Everything was better together for them. Always.