* 𝓼𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓮 // 𝕓𝕣𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥

"On occasion, mommy dearest drops by my messages to send her best regards...delivery confirmations, every so often. Otherwise, no one in particular comes to mind."

"rejection." mimi's response was abrupt, prolonged only by the smile that followed. the single word was already more than she'd like to share, and any further explanation of the fear would require her coming to terms with the underlying truth that she was afraid of how her father would react to her existence being revealed after 23 years.

esports wasn’t really a thing until recent years. until game companies started promoting it, players became competitive, big sums of money were used to buy out talent from across the world. especially in asia, esports such as starcraft and league of legends were dominating the market. however, it didn’t surprise that people didn’t know the inside outs of it. as mimi asks if she will be training, she can’t  help but let a chuckle out.

“no, no. i just interview players! i don’t play professionally, god, i can’t even play semi competitively.“ she had knowledge, she used it when she could, but she knew she stood no chance against any top tier players “once the summer games finish, all the teams start preparing for the world tournament in octover or november. since im pretty new to the scene, i don’t think i will be invited to interview them.“ she explains, taking yet another sip from her coffee “i still will probably write about it and post articles, but i won’t have much to do.“ joohyun finishes with a nod “i really do wish i was good to play, i don’t think there are any professional female esport players in league at least.“

a laugh leaves her as mimi proceeds with her office idea and she shrugs “i’ll bake you some amazing cupcakes for your job then. hopefully they get you the promotion you’re aiming for.” joohyun says, winking at the girl across from her. “anything specific that your boss likes to eat? i can make that instead. get you on his goodest list.”

mimi frowned as her brows furrowed in with disappointment. “well, that’s no fun, is it?” not that she was one to talk about fun occupations. although she was technically involved with the entertainment industry, the younger remained on the opposite end of all the glitz and glamour the field was most famously known for (and she preferred it that way). especially as an intern, still climbing her way up the ladder, her desk was often piled high with paperwork or minial tasks necessary to assist those who shined in the spotlight. 

“i think that you’re good enough to play professionally!” mimi declared, mid-cupcake, shouting confidently with her whole chest. again, it was important to reiterate that she had no idea how any of these games worked, let alone how esports worked. nevertheless, mimi was also a firm believer in doing before thinking, and if it were seemingly impossible, she would just make it possible. “maybe you should do some training anyway. who knows, you might make a new profession out of it.”

when making plans with somin, mimi will go out of her way to ask the other where she wants to go and then do the exact opposite.

mimi often questions whether or not she and somin are actually friends or if it's all just a fever dream.

despite bad mouthing somin to her face and behind her back, mimi will almost always take somin's side in an argument against someone else.

mimi considers somin to be someone essential in her life.

on somin's birthday, mimi will deliver a present anonymously, but claim to forget her birthday every year.

whenever possible, mimi watches two of gweneira's shows during their runs (one always being either opening or closing night) but only informs her of one. she does this in an attempt to take some stress off of her friend's shoulders.

during their sleepovers, mimi always lets gweneira be the one to pick which movie(s) they watch for the night. however, mimi also prefers to stick with physical copy dvds rather than streaming so she can hide movies she doesn't want to watch ahead of time.

gweneira is one of her only friends from their graduating class that she doesn't but heads with frequently/argued with prior to becoming friends.

mimi is very protective and responded angrily, but within bounds to any negative or rude online comments about gweneira in her absence.

“interesting...” she mused, unable to withhold her amused chuckle at the question. “without a doubt, i’d marry eira, obviously. as for the other two...bang kitae and block hayoung, i guess.”

at this point in life, joohyun had considered making a recipe book to actually give out to he friends. she had more than enough she could think of at the top of her head to make it worth the while, but there was no fun in that. right now, she could cook with them, give them guidance and like now, just bring some of her own to share. it was the best part of food, sharing it with someone else.

“ah, yeah!“ she says, a bit too excited “the game’s stop in august, maybe beginning of september and then i should be almost completely free till october.“ she explains, taking another sip from her coffee “then, its not even sure i will participate in the events later on in the year, so i might be done with work till december.“ it was a weird thing, esports, but joohyun enjoyed it never the less. the pay was nowhere as good as when she was a software engineer, however, it was something she enjoyed doing. so the pay wasn’t that bad.

insu and her were something to say the least. the engagement came to a shock to many people in hannam, considering they were only just acquaintances. however, over the years, they had made it work. some times better than others, but work never the less, joohyun appreciated the effort insu would put into this relationship to make it work.

there is a fake gasp that leave joohyun when mimi says what she would do with the bakes goods “if you had those plans, you should have said! i would have brought more.” she says, smile pulling on her lips as she takes another bite of mimi;s cupcake. “yours are still very good.” she makes sure to repeat herself. “i can bake you a pie and you can bring it in, how about that?” she asks, an excuse to find something to do in her free time.

there seemed to be a lot that mimi didn’t quite understand. one of those many things were basics in the kitchen, while the other was gaming. of course, she was a firm believer that anything was possible so long as you put your mind to it (after all, she was learning how to make the simplest of recipes these days). however, despite being able to sit in front of a television screen for hours on end watching drama episodes one after another, mimi simply couldn’t bring herself to sit in front of a gaming monitor to do...well, whatever the objectives were.

“are you choosing not to participate because the game doesn’t interest you anymore?” it was a genuine question that she often pondered on. “or do you take time out of your seasons to train like athletes do?” growing up, mimi never once saw herself working outside of the office. even if she’d never discovered the secret of her father’s identity, she would have found herself in the same position, professionally, that she was in now. if not, then definitely joining her maternal side’s long lineage of lawyers. thus, mimi had never looked into occupations otherwise.

adolescence makes for an ego both prickly and tender, standing in shoes that weren’t hers to fill. glossy lips and shimmery cheeks do little to hide a barbed tongue and diamond-cut teeth, but they’re at the age where that invites admiration as much as it does conflict. somin’s smart enough to pass off as a scholarship student, pretty enough to cover the rest of it with shallow popularity. still, she snaps at every threat, imagined snakes in the grass—and ito misaki counts among them, taking pot shots in the dark, clearly aiming for something that she hasn’t figured it out yet. the other girl bites at her heels with every step, dropping meaninglessly hinting lines in her path when they meet.

but make way for the ultraviolet, teenage riot—bae somin is seventeen, and angry, and not as eloquent as she will be in six years’ time. “shut up, loser,” is her response, replete with an eye roll and a scoff. straight from the handbook of mean girl comebacks. the high schooler kicks at one of the stray chairs lying about, sullen and sour. she’s supposed to be at the mall with eira, or having terrible ideas with junseo, not staying back because of thinly veiled threats about demerit points on her record if she doesn’t clean the stupid storage room of the school’s auditorium by the end of the day. “and that’s your problem, not mine,” she adds, a toss of her perfect ponytail. somin doesn’t need the scholarship, and she didn’t earn it, either; the reminder stings a little more than she’d like it to.

the storage room is filthy. even south korea’s top private high school has one of those never cleaned, tlc hoarders type rooms hidden behind its auditorium, stacked to the brim with plastic chairs collecting cobwebs and crumbling banners from seasons past. prodding one of the stacks of plastic chairs brings up a cloud of dust that makes somin gag. what do the teachers expect them to clean with just brooms and dustpans? “gross,” she grumbles, then decides, with all the classroom power her reputation has netted her, “you clean those,” points at the disgusting, ancient, probably rotting everything in the room, then gestures down to the doorway leading to the auditorium, “and i’ll ‘sweep’.” 

“real mature, bae somin.” she scoffs with disdain at the other’s rebuttal. sometimes mimi found it difficult to grasp the reality that they were both the same age and under the same circumstances. “it is your problem, actually. grow up and take some responsibility in the situation.” mimi was never usually this aggressive. for the most part, the teen did her best to stick to the status quo and get along with the general population (even if it meant lying about an interest or two). but with somin, it was different. she triggered the fight within mimi that she was normally so good at keeping down. 

“if i didn’t know any better, i would think that you didn’t even care to keep your scholarship in the first place.” there had always been a part of her that was suspicious of the other’s intentions on campus. considering her boastful demeanor, mimi was under the impression that there was something more. but her suspicions were just that— suspicions. she had no actual evidence proving that bae somin was anything but the average scholarship student, which kept her biting her tongue, refraining from any direct accusations. 

time spent with others is something that mimi had come to value overtime (although she seldom admitted to such). sleepovers with eira always filled the loneliness of her apartment, even if it was only for a short period of time. mimi never got tired of sharing treats with her close friend as they marathoned the same films as they always did, over and over again. as cliché as it was, she never grew tired of these moments, as repetitive as some may consider them to be. quite frankly, mimi considered their sleepovers to be a tradition of sorts, quietly hoping to herself that these moments would always stay the same. 

“i know i say this every time— and will continue to do so— rose is ridiculous and jack deserved so much better.” mimi huffed, clicking her tongue against the roof of her mouth. titanic was globally known as a classic film (and frequently watched by the pair during these sleepovers). “i really want to like her, truly. but she makes it so damn hard to.” another sigh left her lips before spoiling herself to another mouthful of ice cream. 

it was strange for her to be on campus as often as she was despite no longer attending the school. to some, it was ridiculous to be lying about her internship to her mother. some would even argue that being able to land an internship position directly following graduation was something to boast about. however, mimi’s situation was a particular one, making it much easier on herself to convince her mother that she was continuing her education. consequently, this meant needing to gather “evidence” of such to provide every now and then. from selfies with friends to snapshots of her lunch in the cafeteria, mimi was constantly providing her mother with updates on her wellbeing and campus life. 

lost in thought, mimi was too distracted to keep note of her surroundings, subsequently brushing shoulders without notice. the collision wasn’t enough to cause harm, but enough to cause her phone to fall from her grasp. “shit.” she muttered, watching it drop with a sigh before finally taking action and squatting down to pick it up. upon quick examination, mimi found no visible scratches or cracks, and smiled with relief. 

“i’m so sorry about that, i should’ve watched where i was— oh my gosh!” her apology was cut short as she looked up at the familiar face that loomed over her own petite figure. “yoo sungho, right? i’m ito misaki— mimi. we were briefly at hannam together.” 

being two years older than herself, there was little chance of the other actually recognizing who she was. not to mention, she’d only ever recalled hearing of him rather than actually speaking to him. but tomato, tomato; the past was the past. it was time to start anew and a little networking never hurt anyone. considering hannam’s wide range of alumni, it was one of many benefits that came with graduating from the alma mater. 

“oh come on, you flatter me too much.“ is joohyun’s reply, smile big on her lips as he looks at the cute cupcakes mimi had made. it was in improvement, even visually “they look super cute.“ she adds as she reaches to take one. it was always nice to eat someone else’s food, especially homemade food. it was a weird little thing, but she got bored of her own food way too quickly, turning to takeaway or expensive restaurants for the fun of it. after all, they could all afford it.

she takes a big bite, nodding her head in approval before giving mimi a thumbs up, mouth still full to talk. she reaches for her coffee to take a sip after she swallows the cookies and cream sweet “it’s good, really good. i’ll send you the recipe for my butter cream. i stole i off youtube to be honest.” joohyun admits, taking yet another bite from the cupcake. it was honestly heartwarming to see how much the other had improved, because if joohyun had seen her eat one more bowl of bland rice, she isn’t sure she would have lived past it.

“yes of course, anytime. if you want anything cooked, or baked, you can always message me. i should be completely free from work in a month or so.“ she explains with a nod, smile pulling on the corners of he lips again. at the question from mimi, she can’t help but look at her own cupcakes sitting prettily on the tray. “the molds i have are 24 and insu isn’t a big fan of these cupcakes.“ she lies, because she doesn’t know what else to say. everyone was probably aware of how much of a fuck up her engagement was and continued to be, mimi didn’t need to know the details. “why? you don’t want any? i can take them back.“ she asks, obviously teasing, brow raised as she reaches for the tray to pull it towards her.

mimi listened to the other as she continued to munch quietly on the cupcake in her hand. before meeting joohyun, the younger hardly ever cooked for herself outside from the microwavable cup meals bought at convenience stores. but even heating those up for herself was scarce as mimi chose to either order food directly to her door or dine in at one of many establishments seoul had to offer. anything was better than dishes made with her own two hands, but if joohyun said it was fine, mimi would gladly accept the compliment. 

“completely free from work?” she repeated in a questioning tone, raising a curious brow. mimi was never one to prey into the personal lives of others— after all, she expected other’s to be as considerate of her privacy as she was with theirs. however, if one were ever in need of someone to talk to, mimi was also more than willing to lend an ear. 

at the mention of insu, the younger felt compelled to lighten the mood at the table. over the years she’d come to know the pair as individuals, but hardly as a couple. she’d only ever heard the rumors through the grapevine amongst whispering peers during hannam reunion events. much of the gossip was taken with a grain of salt as mimi knew the only two people who could possibly know the truth were both joohyun and insu. everything anyone else said was meaningless.