Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Scrolling through her phone and lounging on her sofa, Zoey craved something to eat yet she already had her snacks for the day - needing to go out for snacks another time - and time was getting on.

Her girlfriend, Mira, was out and about still, probably walking home from class but that didn’t make up for Zoey’s hunger and loneliness, she huffed out and scrolled through numerous websites and delivery apps but she couldn’t bare order anything without the older’s input.

The pain.

Still, the evening sky was over their apartment block and she craved something to eat. She had numerous options about where to go and what to choose, just as Zoey was about to text Mira and question her whereabouts, the front door was unlocked.

“BABY!” Zoey yelled and immediately ran to the door, hugging the pink-haired woman and making her stumble slightly, “Someone’s in a clingy mood, huh?”

“You were taking forever today! What gives?” Zoey pouted, making Mira chuckle and she then shimmied out of her jacket, making Zoey step back,

“A classmate needed some help with finding something on the other side of campus and I said I’d help, didn’t really expect to be this long” she shrugged in response, adjusting her glasses and walking towards the kitchen and looking around the cupboards.

Zoey tailed behind her and moved to sit on the counter, her legs falling down and swaying with her, “That’s fun,” she smiled and watched as Mira was looking through the cupboards, 

“I swear I just bought these the other day” Mira muttered, pulling out a bag of half eaten chips with a peg on, “Where does it all go?”

“My bottomless stomach” the noirette grinned, Mira looked over with a deadpan expression and sighed out through her nose, 

“One of these days you’ll stop eating my snacks.” She put her bag away again and closed the cupboards she had opened, 

“Only when they stop tasting good” Zoey teased, giggling to herself as she saw Mira getting irritated,

“You’re unbelievable,” Mira rolled her eyes and went over to Zoey, putting her hands around her maknae’s body on the counter and lowering her head to her ear, “Did you want me to punish you again that badly? Needed to just take what was mine, huh?”

“Now-?” Zoey blushed, gulping, watching Mira immediately change from annoyance to this instantly made her regret her actions but there was desire forming downwards, 

“Not now, I’m famished” Mira moved away and stretched her arms, “Not in the mood to make something and even so, there isn’t much to make with leftover ingredients and snacks.”, the pinkette walked away and towards their sofa, leaving Zoey on the counter still staring at her, mouth agape. 

“BRO YOU CAN’T JUST DO THAT TO ME??”

“Do what?” Mira smirked, “Did you really think I’d do that in the kitchen of all places?”, folding her arms and lounging on the couch, “Hurry up, get your phone and we’ll order something”

“Right-” Zoey mumbles ,her blush  fading as she moves off, “What are you thinking?" the younger stumbles slightly as she moves towards the sofa and collapsing on top of Mira, moving her head to the crook of Mira's neck like she belonged there, phone out and scrolling through her browser, 

“I don’t know, I don't particularly want fish today, so sushi's out the window”

“Right, how about something like pizza?”

“Pizzas fine actually, why not the new place that just opened? What was it again?”

“Gwi-ma’s Firehouse, I think? Who names their pizzeria that anyway, its a cool name but sounds like they sell fire stuff or ribs or are secretly firemen”

“God knows, Zo” Mira sighs, stroking her maknae’s hair slowly, in turn, Zoey smiles and nuzzles closer to the older, showing her her screen as the two looked through the different options.

The majority of flavours were actually spicy, spice ratings out of five and the majority were 3 or four out of five in that chart. Mira looked like she would enjoy them but Zoey’s spice intolerance was certainly not up to Mira’s standards.

They scrolled for a little while till they decided to just go for a generic peperoni pizza, if they messed up a basic pizza then they weren’t worth trying again. Once they paid, Zoey moved onto scrolling through Instagram reels and Mira watched alongside her, just passive noise as they waited for their food.

A particularly cute cat video distracted the two for a long amount of time, Zoey going glossy eyed at the video and wanting to cry over it, desperately wanting a cat but they couldn’t own one due to their landlord, a knock on the door rendered the two frozen for a brief moment before Mira got up and went towards the door, she opened it and froze at the woman in front of her.

“Thank you for ordering at Gwi-ma’s Firehouse, we hope to serve you again!” the woman says softly, rehearsed. 

Mira just stared, the woman had a long purple braid behind her, brown eyes, wearing a cheap uniform of a cap and polo shirt with what seemed to be her workplaces logo embroidered on top. She was holding out the pizza box towards her and smiling softly, small dimples around her lips, she was taller than Zoey but shooter than herself, her voice was perfect as well, it made Mira forget what was even happening in the first place—

Cough.

“Y-yeah. T-thanks.” Mira accepted the pizza box from the girls arms and shamelessly stared, mouth open slightly like she was about to say something before blinking when she felt arms wrap around her waist, 

“Something wrong-?” Zoey asks, poking her head out to see the beauty herself. She as well, stared slightly, “Wowzers-”

“E-everything okay with your order..?” the girl asked softly, seemingly uncomfortable with the two women's stares, face turning red in embarrassment,

“I-its fine. Everything’s fine. All good. Perfect.” Mira stammered out, grabbing her wallet and taking out a few bills, shoving them into the girls free hands, “K-keep the change.” then immediately shut the door.

Silence.

“Who was that?!” Zoey shouted, blushing profusely, “Like- how pretty was she- her eyes they looked so soft, her small smile when holding out the pizzas-”

“I need to see her again my god-!” Mira mumbled out, holding the pizza box in her hand and staring at it, “I’d get pizza everyday just to see her again”

“You get it, I can see why you froze at the door, I thought something went wrong but everything went right” a nudge to Mira’s side.

“We shouldn’t even be thinking about how hot she looked!” the older shouted out, “You’re hotter, Zo” 

“Uhm. No. Did you see that woman?! She’s like a gajillion times hotter than me! But not more than you” Zoey giggles, taking the box from Mira’s hands and placing it on the armrest of their sofa, looking back at Mira who was red and trying to hide her expression with her hands, “We have spoken about this kinda thing before anyway, we can find other people hot, babe”

“I-i know… Just didn’t really expect it.”

“Yeah, I mean you're literally the hottest human being ever possible and then there's some random pizza girl we’ll probably never see again…” a small pout went onto 
Zoey's lips at the thought,

“Unless we order again and ask for her…” Mira smirks, “I know she was embarrassed by us staring but what if we can make her feel other things…”

“Mir!” Zoey giggled, holding Mira’s arm and pulling her to the sofa alongside her, “We’ll never see her again but let's just pretend if we do, maybe we would ask her if she's gay for starters as you can’t just assume!”

“If she isn’t, I’d happily convert her.” Mira said bluntly, folding her arms,

“That isn’t how it works, you know that”

“I’ve been other woman's gay awakenings, I could be hers too”

“Tell yourself that, babe” Zoey kissed Mira’s cheek and sighed out, “That would be cute though, plus if we ever do see her again, I gotta ask her. I’ve never even seen anyone with that long hair before, how did she dye it for it to be that perfect shade of purple! I need her tips”

“I literally dye my hair, Zoey. Ask me.”

“But you were basically born with pink hair, that's different”

“How so?”

“I dunno, it just is” Zoey shrugged and opened the pizza box, the smell hitting them strongly, and it looked like an average pepperoni pizza, nothing special about it, therefore they knew that they would order again, definitely as for the mysterious delivery driver they met.

Time went on and the pizza was eaten, the couple watched a film before they cleaned up and went to their bedroom, Zoey yawned and took off her day clothes before landing on Mira’s bed and didn’t even bother to change into her pyjamas, just her bra and undergarments, Mira smiled softly at her before changing into pyjamas and slipped next to Zoey.

“Night night, Mir-bear” Zoey mumbles, moving to wrap her arms around Mira and dropped asleep immediately, 

“Night Zo.” Mira mutters, kissing Zoey’s forehead before turning off her light and drifting off after putting a blanket on top of them both.

—--------------------------------------

Morning was uneventful, that’s as in, the usual.

Zoey whined when Mira told her to wake up, the younger decided it was smart to have morning lessons and then miserably complain the rest of the time when she actually HAD to go to her lessons. Begging Mira to just sleep, but the older knew better than to give into Zoey's constant needs. She read her like a book and knew exactly where to touch to get Zoey up.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you” Mira chuckled, slowly lowering her hands to Zoey's sides and tickling her, making Zoey scream out and bolt up, “CHEATER!”

“Got you up though, now please don't scream, we can’t have another noise complaint” Mira smugly said, putting her glasses on and stretching up, yawning,

“I’m gonna get you back today.” Zoey muttered out, yawning herself and rubbing her eyes, wobbling over to her room and changing into clothes she wanted to wear today. Mira did hear Zoey go to the bathroom too and leave after a short time before dressing herself.

It was music theory this early in the morning, it was one of the only classes she and Mira shared together. They both signed up for a music major and that’s how they met essentially, they hadn't paid anyone else attention because they just had each other the previous year and this year was no different.

There were numerous new students in the class but they both paid no mind to them, although, the more Mira thought of it, she remembered a classmate having a similar shade of purple hair in her class but barely remembered who it was, probably not that important.

Zoey came walking into Mira’s room with a yellow jumper with a turtle plastered on and baggy jeans, she didn’t want to put much effort into her look today and neither did Mira. Just a simple white button-up shirt and brown flared jeans, both wearing matching converse shoes.

“Breakfast then class” Mira said softly, holding onto Zoey’s hand and dragging her out, Zoey’s hair wasn’t even made properly, too tired to put them into her signature space-buns. But it didn’t matter, Mira thought Zoey looked perfect no matter what.

Mumbling something in response, Zoey moved to the sofa and lazily moved her whole body to take over the sofa, face in a cushion and legs wide out on the other side, she definitely wasn’t having a good day. Not enough sleep somehow. Or her period started and she’s complaining.

“You good?” Mira asked from the kitchen area, Zoey grumbled in response, “Speak up, can’t hear you over the cushion”

“Stupid blood mess, I hate this!” Zoey complained, “Like I knew it was coming but I thought I had more time”

“Poor baby, huh?” Mira sighed softly, smiling at Zoey, not in a mean way, just smiling at the scene. It was cute; Zoey pouted like a child and only Mira knew how to comfort her, “I’ll make you some aspirin okay? You don't need to eat yet, I know you hate eating when its bad”

“Yeah, I’ll eat later or something, right now my guts are exploding and I want to die” Zoey whined more, tearing and sitting up to hold her stomach, “I’m gonna need like fifty shots of vodka just to ease the pain ever so slightly” 

“You say this then act fine after one cup of this” Mira laughs, taking out some pills from their medicine cabinet before placing two in a cup, adding cold water and moved towards Zoey, “Drink up buttercup”

“Thank you” Zoey took the glass and drank slowly, gagging at the taste but taking it like a champ, “When will they invent better tasting drugs”

“When you learn how to swallow pills, you’ll be free of this” Mira shrugged, sitting down next to Zoey and watching her,

“But they are in my throat, I can feel them, it’s so weird and makes me wanna throw them up” Zoey sighed out, taking her last sip of her drink before coughing out, “My days- why can’t I just pretend it tastes like lemonade or something”

Mira chuckled again and held Zoey’s back, rubbing soothing circles and making Zoey feel more relaxed, “That goddamn apple better have tasted like the most holy thing ever or I will kill Eve.”

“Go get her,” Mira egged her on, “Just try and beat up a holy presence and see how it goes, I bet she’d be impressed or whatever”

“I would if I could!” Zoey whined out, sighing out, “I feel better now but I still don’t want to walk to class.” she pouted, folding her arms, looking like an unhappy toddler who didn’t get what she wanted and sulking,

“One class together, then we’re free for the rest of the day, I’ll get you boba” Zoey immediately perked up at the prospect, 

“Okay good deal, nice doing business with you!” Zoey smiled again, jumping up then immediately regretted it, freezing and holding her stomach and groaning, “Tsunami…”

“Be careful, Zoey” Mira got up and held Zoey as she went through temporary paralysis, “You feeling better?”

“Y-yep. Just give me a mo”

“Of course, I’ll grab your bag” Mira left Zoey’s side and grabbed Zoey’s tote bag from her room, she put pads inside before checking if Zoey had the right books in it before nodding and going back to /Zoey who was leaning on the front door and on her phone, presumably scrolling through reels as usual.

“You okay now?” Mira walked up to her and gave Zoey her bag, in response Zoey nodded and handed Mira a breakfast bar,

“One of us has to eat something before we go”

“Right right,” Mira nods, taking the bar and getting her and Zoey’s keys, throwing the younger her keys - Zoey miraculously caught them without even looking up - and the two left their apartment.

Once they left their block, they took their time walking to their campus, a usually ten minute walk took twenty five, Zoey whining about her pains before trying to speed walk and the cycle went on throughout, Mira didn’t mind.

Eventually they did make it, then they had to walk up three flights of stairs which Zoey had dreaded. She would’ve used the elevator but she felt horrible as  she would hate using the elevator when someone who genuinely needed it at the same time was using it, she could rough it out. Somehow.

“Don’t come crawling to me when you need me to pick you up” Mira shrugged and walked ahead, leaving Zoey behind but not for that long, she just waited for Zoey at the top of the first flight of stairs, seeing how Zoey would get through this, but it was fine. Determination was on Zoey’s face as she went up the stairs and didn’t even utter a sound, she was determined to get up the stairs and then cry about it after the warzone.

The two made it up the stairs and Zoey gripped onto the older's arms, “Am I leaking. I feel like I'm leaking.” she stares sternly at Mira who checks subtly as they walk to their classroom,

“You just started today, surely they won’t be that bad- but yeah, you aren’t leaking, you’re fine.”

“Phew, I thought I was gonna explode. Maybe I will use the lift on the way down, I don't think I’ll make it alive down the stairs” Zoey smiles, giggling softly, making a joke out of her misery.

“Sure, but seriously if you need to to piss or change just slide out the room, I’ll cover you if the professor asks” the two enter their room, it was a generic classroom with tall desks and tall chairs, musician’s posters scattered on the walls, study guides in the bookshelves and a gloomy atmosphere, 

“What’ll I do without you huh?” Zoey sighs out, leaning on Mira's shoulder as the two made their way to their usual desk. They sat down and got their notebooks out, preparing for the lesson as other students slowly entered the classroom. Everyone had the same face on, hating their lives and wishing they chose a later lesson.

Then there was someone the two recognised, the same face as everyone else but purple hair, “Wait- isn’t that-?” Zoey muttered out, staring at the girl as she sat in front of them, like she always did.

“I thought I recognised her.” Mira muttered in response, trying not to make the girl hear, she probably didn’t recognise them, just other classmates and definitely not who she went to deliver pizzas to. Definitely not. 

“You thought you recognised her?!” Zoey shouted whispered, anger in her expression as she side eyed Mira,

“I-I didn’t realise it was her okay?!” Mira replied in the same hushed tone,
She looked different to what she looked like the night prior, tired eyes, the smile drained from her face, looking like she hardly got any sleep, baggy hoodie covering her body and leggings on and big trainers. Arm resting on the desk and head on her hand, she seemed like she desperately wanted to disappear like everyone else within the room. Classes at 8am were a curse.

The professor walked in shortly after Mira and Zoey’s discovery and the lesson began, all hope of wanting to talk to their delivery driver phased away as the atmosphere went cold, the professor began talking about the previous lesson and how their last tests were poorly received, their collective scores rounding down to an average of a C, everyone groaned in response and the professor kept going on about the youth and how now young people don’t put in effort.

The lesson turned into an old man's ramblings about the theory of some musical notes and such, everyone wasn’t even listening anymore, just the man rambled on for a ridiculously long time and then the lesson ended. Two hours non stop of him talking about whatever he was on about, hardly any notes were made between anyone. They just fell asleep.

Zoey held her stomach the majority of the time and bashed her head against the desk silently as their professor was boring her out immensely, Mira was just watching Zoey and chuckling to herself at the sight, writing notes in her notebook to try and make Zoey smile throughout and Zoey did the same. Neither listened when the professor was talking. No one else was, so why should’ve they?

Once the class ended, everyone was beelining to the front door and left, Zoey was rushing to the bathroom and Mira was tailing, they arrived and entered, Zoey went into a cubicle while Mira leaned onto the sinks and then looked into the mirror, staring at her reflection before deciding to add a little bit of mascara on, just small, something to do.

After a short while and hearing soft noises, the bathroom door opened and there was the purple-haired woman again. She didn’t even blink, just froze at the sight of Mira looking at her through the mirror, then Mira looked at her normally and froze, eyes wide.

“Pizza girl?” Mira asked, blinking,

“Uhm.” she replied, blinking back, holding an arm to herself and shaking slightly, “H-hi..?”

Mira smiled faintly, she was already making the girl nervous just by looking at her, she wondered what else she could do and what sounds she could make the other made-

“Good to see you again—” before Mira could continue, the girl quickly left the room and  then Zoey left the stall, blinking at Mira and smiling at her, “SO IT WAS HER!”

“Definitely” Mira smiled, “I’d follow her but then I’d be seen like a desperate ex or something.”

“That’ll freak her out” Zoey shrugged, washing her hands, “Nice eyes by the way” she winked, Mira rolled her eyes and folded her arms, leaning back on the sinks and thinking,

“What’s her name?” she muttered, Zoey shrugged again, drying her hands before looking at her phone and scrolling through some pages,

“Seems like her name is… Rumi!” Zoey said, smiling and showing Mira her screen, on it was an old class photo from what seemed like a few years ago, 

“Where did you find this?” she asked Zoey, raising a brow, 

“Connections, plus if something’s posted online it stays forever” Zoey took her phone back and turned it off, “We should order pizza again and ask for her!”

Mira nodded, agreeing, “We’ll ask for her then, see if they actually do that.” Mira looked at the door and somewhat wished that Rumi would come back through the door so they could talk but alas.

It was decided, they would order pizza at dinnertime and try to talk to Rumi that way, then ask her for her number or socials like a normal person, not through Zoey’s way of stalking.

Chapter Text

The night prior made Rumi feel anxious, it wasn’t any different to her new normal yet the interaction she had with the last place she had delivered too made her feel embarrassed. Two absolute goddesses were staring at her, there was something absolutely wrong with her surely, something in her teeth, just something that made them stare.

Why did they even stutter in the first place, she sighed out and stretched her aching limbs and stared at the clock. It now brings six in the morning and she didn’t want to ever leave her room, but she had too. She had an early music theory class which she had to attend or her aunt would be annoyed.

Unfortunately, she still lives with her aunt and the reason why she does have a job is to slowly get enough to make her own way through life yet she still had to go through college. Trying her best at a music degree which she certainly never wanted to begin with but Celine made her do it, guilt tripping and saying it was her mothers last wish. It wasn’t. 

Every morning was the same routine, wake up, wash her face, moisturise her past mistakes and hide them under a shirt. Repeat.

“Our faults and fears must never be seen” was a mantra Celine used whenever Rumi dared to act out of line, it kept her on a leash, under Celine’s words and such; she just had to get out of this house and run away but realistically, she couldn’t do such a thing.

If she dared act out of line again, especially after recent events, she would be forced to quit her job and her personal savings moved away from her. Celine always said she knew what was best for Rumi yet the girl knew past her lies now. She was old enough to understand her treatment was wrong but she was too far to simply strike back.

Sighing out, Rumi put on a grey hoodie on top of a white shirt, putting on joggers and made her way to the kitchen to make herself some cereal before leaving to catch a bus. She was quiet and calculated throughout, needing to ensure she didn’t disturb her aunt.

Once she finished her breakfast she washed her bowl and put on her shoes, after locking the door she put on headphones and made her way to her bus stop before waiting patiently for her morning bus.

It was fortunate enough that there was a bus line that linked to the city nearby, Rumi and her aunt lived in a somewhat remote area and miraculously there was a line from nearby to a stop that was inside Seoul's centre- it took an hour to travel daily but Rumi didn’t mind. It gave her more time to just look out the window with her main character playlist downloaded and contemplate her life on the daily.

She paid for her ticket and went to the back of the bus, only a small handful of people were on as well, she simply watched the world go by, the rural landscape turned into buildings and urban areas. 

Pressing the button at her stop, she got off at the next stop, she thanked the driver before making her way off to campus, which was a ten minute walk. She did have time but not a lot. She could’ve skipped breakfast to get an earlier bus but she wanted something to eat. Unfortunately, she sighed at herself before making her way to the stairway; why did this building have to have thousands of steps just to get to a music theory classroom?

She made her way up the stairs alongside fellow classmates she barely even acknowledged before moving to her usual seat, her expression tired due to walking the whole way up and exhaustion. 

Her shift was embarrassing and she still hadn’t gotten over it, yet she was in class, nothing would be out of the ordinary.

She did hear some whispers behind her, something about someone, she didn’t pay attention, though she swore she could somewhat recognise the voices but shook it off as being sleep deprived. 

Ever the polite student, she was the only one who actually took notes at her older professor's lecture, the notes were detailed and she highlighted things, though the exact topic wasn’t really theory or music related, she wrote it down in case the professor came up with some pop quiz like he tended to do.

After writing so much she realised her pen was leaking slightly just as the lesson had ended, everyone was already belonging to the exit and she was still packing up, she noticed pink hair. Strange. That was the same shade as what was the woman she delivered too’s was like-

Nope.

Shaking off that feeling of anxiety, she got up and went towards the nearest bathrooms, needing to wash her hands, she walked inside and froze, shit. Turns out it was who she delivered pizzas to, how didn’t she recognise her own classmate?!

The goddess of a student had a small smile on before she spoke, pausing her action of putting makeup on just to talk to her, “Pizza girl?” they asked, blinking,

“Uhm.” Rumi replied, blinking back, she felt hot, embarrassed and her throat was closing up, she didn’t want to see this woman again. She felt so embarrassed and her anxiety was worsening. The ink stain on her hand was somewhat obvious so she held her arms to herself, shaking slightly as she tried to squeak out a reply, “H-hi..?”

The pink haired girls smile widened slightly, it looked soft, she surely didn’t mean harm but in Rumi’s mind, everything was an attack, she had to leave before she had a breakdown that was already forming as she tried to calm her breathing,
“Good to see you again—” before she could continue, Rumi decided it was the perfect time to leave before she genuinely did sob her eyes out out of embarrassment, this certainly wasn’t her plan for the day, she bolted out and pretended she didn’t look completely crazy for rushing out a restroom.

She held herself high as her hands trembled and she quickly went to another restroom on the other side of campus, it was away from the usual classes and just hidden. Why didn’t she just go to this one in the first place? She wouldn’t have had to go through an embarrassing social interaction. She groaned at herself and leaned on the sink. Looking at herself, how her eyebags looked horrible, how her hair was loosening from its tight confinement, how her breathing was shallow. 

She took several deep breaths, calming herself and distracting her mind through washing her hands over and over, rubbing her skin raw.

Rumi hated the feeling of her throat closing up, it reminded her of older times she thought she trapped away, yet here they were. Scaring her just because she couldn’t act like a normal human being and have a conversation with someone who seemed to want to talk to her.

She held her head and sighed, hands still dripping, she shakily spoke to herself, “Faults and fears must never be seen.”, she calmed down, drying her hands and trembling still. She took several deep breaths before ignoring the pounding in her head and checked the time. She had a few minutes until her next class and she immediately took charge, moving away and off to the next room like nothing had happened.

The rest of the day went by like a blur, writing notes, ignoring the world, practicing with an acoustic guitar over lunch before going back to another lesson, then her day was over. Or well, her educational day was over. She still had a shift at her job.

Her job. Where she was her classmate in her casual clothes, with her housemate, she completely forgot their names, she groaned and dreaded to think if they knew hers. She never paid much attention to names except her colleagues.

She worked with a few other males in a sweaty kitchen all for extra cash, she knew their names as her only friend Jinu was their friend too. He helped them all get jobs there, it was all college student labour.

Walking to the pizzeria was short, just a few minutes off campus. She entered through the back and immediately went to her locker, picking up her clothes then going into the toilets to change; there not being a staff changing room and all. She tightened her braid and stepped out in her annoying uniform, she hated it with a passion but she dared to never say anything.

“There you are,” a familiar voice spoke, “Was wondering when you’d turn up.”

“Jinu,” Rumi rolls her eyes, stepping to the till, taking over his station, “I came early thank you, I’m like five minutes early”

“Sure, tiger” He cleaned the counter, “Anyway, what was up with you after your last delivery last night? Did someone spook you or something? You were so quiet afterwards” Jinu, the ever so nosey friend asked,

Rumi looked away, focusing on the front door. There were no customers waiting to be attended to at the moment but she still watched, “Just… Nothing really happened. I just.. Got stared at.”

“Stared at? By ugly men? I’ll ban the address if they freaked you out that mu—”

“No- don’t do that. They were women. I mean I think, I don’t want to assume.” She mutters out, “Like there must’ve been something stuck in my teeth, or I looked awkward or whatever.”

”Their tip was massive, so jealous that our tips aren’t shared” he laughs, finishing his cleaning, “But seriously did they make you uncomfortable?”

“No. I mean they did. But that isn’t even the crazy part…”

“There’s more?” he smirked, 

“The two of them are in my music theory.”

Jinu stared, “You didn’t recognise them?”

“WAIT SHIT-” Rumi covered her mouth, “That’s probably why they stared, their own classmate delivering pizzas to them, that's soooo embarrassing” she whined, head moving to the counter and she banged her head on it,

“I’m sure it's fine, Rumi, don’t stress. We all have lives outside of college, surely they’ll forget about it?”

“I ran into one of them in the bathroom after class.”

“How eventful has your life been since last night and now??” Jinu rubbed Rumi’s back, trying to comfort her,

“I don’t even know, I saw the taller one again and she looked like she wanted to talk to me, but I got scared and ran off!”

“Oh you poor unfortunate soul, Rumi my dear, you need to talk to them again, apologise as that sounds embarrassing as hell”

“Not. Helping.” Rumi snarked back, knotting her brows, “Seriously, I don’t know what to do, I realise now that I literally sit in front of them as my default seat and I can’t just change seats either to avoid them, that’ll be ruining the seating atmosphere-”

“Calm.” Jinu held Rumi’s shoulders, trying to stop her from spiralling, “It will be fine. Trust me. You overthink too much, I know it’s kinda your thing but seriously, I’m sure she was trying to be nice, nothing wrong with that”

Rumi sighed out and nodded, calming down before a customer entered and Rumi switched into customer service mode, smiling and writing down what the customer ordered while Jinu went past and cleaned tables.

A few hours passed and the sun had set, it was about to be the dinner time rush and Rumi was moved onto deliveries, she took ‘Romance’s car as he was a chef and she didn’t have a car, yet she had a licence. Made perfect sense.

There were orders coming from all over the city, Rumi quickly managed to deliver the pizzas as normal before her final one. She recognised the address and it wasn’t until she reached the apartment building that she did in fact recognise it. 

She barely even acknowledged the additional note the customer wanted;

“Pls let the pretty lady deliver our pizza again (purple hair) xox”

So there was a reason why Abby wanted Rumi to deliver this order, she just accepted it and went along with the address, now she wished she paid more attention. Sighing out, she ventured through the apartment block and felt the impending doom she felt earlier in the bathroom.

She could just easily cancel the order and their systems would automatically repay the buyers but she had to just breathe. Surely there was a reason why they requested her again.

She took her steps slowly, measured, trying to calm herself, counting how many steps she took, all up until she reached the door.

Palms were sweating, but she knocked softly, moments later the door opened and the shorter girl opened the door with a smile, “Rumi!” 

So they did know her name. Her brain tried to pick at where she might’ve seen their names before, what they were, but her brain short circuited when she realised what the shorter one was wearing.

A loose off the shoulder jumper, she could see the girls bra strap and unholy gay thoughts went through Rumi’s brain before she attempted to say her script,

“Uhm- T-thank you for ordering-..” before she could even continue, the taller one appeared behind the other, an arm wrapping around her waist and Rumi just stared slightly, blinking, “S-sorry. U-uhm. Here’s your pizza.” She held it out like a peace offering before the taller one took it and nodded, “Thanks, Rumi, right?”

She nodded in response, trembling slightly, taking a step back, not knowing what they wanted now.

“Cute name by the way” the shorter smiled out, “Right- you don’t know us really do ya?” she immediately responded to her own question before Rumi could even react, “I’m Zoey and my girlfriend is Mira!”

They were queer. Good to know. Rumi was surrounded by gay men, not gay women. It was different and she did want to be involved in queerer groups but her aunt technically forbade it. Yet, here she was.

“R-right. Mira and Zoey.” Rumi repeated softly, trying her best to sound confident, it barely even worked.

There was a few moment of silence before Mira coughed, “Sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable earlier by the way,”

Rumi blinked, knotting her brows, “It’s fine, I uhm. Sorry for walking off.”

“It's cool, didn’t mean to stress you out or anything,” Mira smiled weakly, “for your troubles,” she handed Rumi a few notes, “This isn’t a pity thing, I just tip all delivery drivers the same,” she shrugs.

Rumi shakily takes it and stares slightly, “Uhm. Uh… S-see you in class?” Rumi cursed at herself, her voice sounded so weak compared to the two in front of her, Zoey stepped out, “You usually sit by yourself, if you want, there’s a seat next to me if you ever just wanted to chat in class and mess around”

Rumi blinked, she didn’t consider that people weren’t paying attention in class, “Did you not pay attention to Professor Yoon’s lecture today?”

“He was yapping about all sorts of things people our age did wrong, how the economy is shit and all that jazz” Zoey waved off, “You know he does his rambles, I wonder why he even is still a professor…”

Mira slapped Zoey’s elbow, “We do listen but y’know. It's just a little fun, don’t stress if it’s not your thing.” Mira shrugs, Mira picked something from her pocket and handed it to Rumi, “Our numbers, if you were interested”

The purple haired girl stared once again, mouth slightly agape, two women wanted her number and wanted to be friends with her?? It was a dream come true but at the same time she thought it would all go down so quickly, she trembled as she accepted the piece of paper, “Thank you, Mira” she weakly smiled at the taller girl,

“No problem, but seriously, hit us up” she folded her arms, Zoey stepped to Rumi and held out her arms for a hug, then immediately took it, Rumi froze, not backing away, but frozen. ”We’ll see you soon then pizza girl?” Zoey chuckled before stepping away and waltzing into her apartment and holding onto Mira, dragging her inside causing the taller to wave a bye.

Rumi waved back as the door shut on her and she looked away, holding the bills in one hand and a piece of paper in the other, staring at the numbers and her face got hot, she immediately walked to the elevator and pressed the button, desperate to escape.

Once she escaped the apartment, she ran to the car and stayed still, comprehending what on earth just happened, breathing before hitting her head on the steering wheel. 

She put her seatbelt on after a few minutes then drove back to her workplace before locking up and giving Romance his keys back, she went to her locker and grabbed her clothes before dragging herself out and clocking out after she changed and went to her bus stop.

She waited patiently for her bus to arrive then got on, listening to songs and blasting out her feelings as she really didn’t have enough time to think through what happened but she rawdogged it, she could finally have new friends who aren't her colleagues, who aren’t Jinu. Actual people who want to be friends with her, not people who only know her due to money.

She sighed out as she got off her stop, she walked to her house and saw that Celine was preparing dinner for the two of them, she took her shoes off before speaking, Good evening, Celine her voice soft,

“Hello to you too, Rumi, you’re back slightly late, was the journey with traffic?”

Rumi washed her hands before moving to help her aunt chop vegetables, “I suppose, I wasn’t really paying attention,” Rumi shrugs, Celine hummed in response,

“Classes?”

“They were fine, I.. think I might’ve made a couple friends?” Rumi smiled softly, her aunt looked over, raising a brow,

“Friends? Rumi, don’t get distracted, I know your social life is shallow currently but you need to focus on your studies, if these friends encourage bad behaviour and your grades slip, I will insist you leave them.”

Rumi’s smile dropped in mere moments, listening to what Celine was saying, she nodded along, she knew this would happen, “Of course, Celine. They won’t distract me,”

“Good,” Celine sighed, finishing and putting what she chopped into a pot, moving to Rumi and kissing the top of her head, “Everything I do is for you and your mother’s legacy, alright? Lets not ruin it by a few small mistakes”

Rumi nodded, she hated that Celine ruined a lot of how she felt but she simply had to take it. Take it as long as she could for as long as she was allowed to stay here, for as long until she could move away and run away from these responsibilities Celine was going to transfer over once she graduated.