Chapter 15

The next morning, Sophia woke up first like most of the time. She walked down the stairs, walking by the couch where Yoonchae was still asleep, and then she stopped right in front of the smaller couch, eyes widening at the sight.

There on the couch, curled up into each other, legs tangled, lay Megan and Dani sleeping soundly.
Megan had her hand tightly clenching Daniela’s hoodie like she was scared the girl would disappear, her head rested on her chest, while the latter had her arms wrapped around the younger girl.

They looked so peaceful. Sophia quietly took out her phone, opening the camera app, making sure the flash was off before snapping a picture of the two girls, grinning.
She then put her phone back inside her pocket and walked to the kitchen, planning on making some breakfast.

——————

About 30 minutes later, Dani woke up, feeling a weight on her chest. She slowly opened her eyes, confused at first, then she looked down and was met with soft brown eyes looking right at her.
She froze, memories of last night flooding her brain—the messy and awkward confessions, the tears, the fact that Megan said she liked her too, the way she had wanted to kiss her so bad but didn’t, the way she still wanted to—and—and the way Megan was looking at her right now wasn’t helping at all.

“Hi.” Dani’s thoughts were cut off by Megan’s soft voice. The girl was smiling at her.

“Hi,” Dani mimicked, and suddenly she felt way too aware of everything—the way Megan’s face was still on her chest, the fact that Megan was holding onto her hoodie—she hadn’t realized that before.

She felt heat creeping up her neck, her ears started to burn, and suddenly any physical contact with the younger girl felt too much.

She wanted to run.

She needed to get away.
“Mei, I need to pee—” she said quickly. ‘Smooth, real smooth, Dani,’ she thought to herself. She, in fact, did NOT need to pee, but that was the first thing she came up with.

Megan immediately pulled away, muttering a “sorry” and got off of the couch. Dani would be lying if she said that the sudden loss of contact didn’t make her heart ache, but she had no time to think about it. She got off the couch and climbed the stairs so fast she almost fell.

Once upstairs, she ran to her room, opening the door, almost crashing into Manon.
“Shit, I’m sorry—”

Manon looked at her suspiciously. “Damn, what’s wrong with you?”

Dani sat down on her bed. “What do you mean? Nothing is wrong!” Her voice was uncharacteristically high-pitched.

Manon let out a small laugh. “Girl, you look as red as a tomato right now,” she smirked.

“Urghh,” Daniela groaned, hiding her face in her hands.

Manon sat down next to her. “Seriously, what’s up?”

“I talked to Megan last night…” she said, looking up, “told her I kinda liked her.”

“OH MY GOD,” Manon squealed, “tell me everything!”

So Dani did—from the moment the others left the room, to Megan admitting she liked her too, to the awkward panic this morning.

Manon was frowning. “So you didn’t kiss?” Dani shook her head no.
“But you wanted to?” Dani nodded.
Manon let out a dramatic sigh. “And you thought running away from her this morning was a good idea??”

“I panicked…” Daniela said sheepishly.

“I’m telling you this because I love you,” Manon said, calm but firm. “You have got to stop letting your fear control you. Because this girl? She’s not going to wait forever.”

Daniela looked down. “I didn’t mean to…”

“I know,” Manon said, voice softer. “But you still did.”

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Meanwhile, downstairs, Megan was sitting stiffly on the couch, staring at the black screen of the TV. Daniela had been gone for maybe twenty minutes.

Everyone was awake and downstairs except for Dani and Manon.

Megan was lost in her thoughts. Dani had said she needed to pee, but… Megan wasn’t stupid. She knew it was a lie. The way she ran upstairs, practically tripping over herself…

What if this was too much?

Sure, it was just cuddling—but what if Dani had been uncomfortable? What if Megan holding onto her hoodie, laying on top of her, made her feel weird? What if she regretted everything they said last night?

The couch dipped beside her. Someone had sat down. Megan turned, part of her secretly hoping it was Daniela.

But it wasn’t.

It was Sophia.

“Hey, Megan. You okay?” she asked gently.

“Uh… yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?” Megan replied quickly, trying way too hard to sound casual.

Sophia tilted her head. “You’ve been sitting here for a while. I was just worried.” She paused. “Where’s Dani?”

Megan frowned, “I don’t know, she woke up, said she had to pee and ran upstairs…”

Sophia nodded. “So that is why you’ve been sitting here looking like a kicked puppy.”

Megan awkwardly scratched the back of her neck. “Maybe…”

“I wanna show you something,” Sophia told her, taking her phone, fiddling with it before putting it in front of her face.

Megan’s eyes widened, face immediately turning red. She looked at Sophia, who was smiling, proud of herself.

“Sophia, why would you take a picture?” Megan stuttered, cheeks burning.

Sophia shrugged. “You both looked so peaceful, I wanted to capture the moment.”

“Whatever you do, please do not show it to anyone, especially not Lara.”
And as if she was summoned, Lara popped up behind the couch.

“Too late, she already showed me!” she said, smirking.

“Betrayal,” Megan muttered.

And then Manon and Dani finally came down. “Hi guys,” said Manon brightly.

Everyone turned to them and the girls all fell into easy conversations.

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It was about 6 p.m. when the girls finished with rehearsals and got back home. They were all exhausted. They all took showers, and then Yoonchae immediately went to her room, while Sophia had some paperwork to do. Manon and Lara were in Manon’s room, probably gossiping.

Dani and Megan were in charge of picking up dinner. Everyone was too tired to cook, so they decided on ordering from the girls’ favorite Korean place downtown.

The ride there was… quiet.

Not in an angry or cold way, just… heavy. Like there was too much left unsaid and neither of them knew where to start. Megan was staring out the passenger window, fiddling with the string of her hoodie. Dani was gripping the steering wheel like it had personally offended her.

She wanted to say something. Anything. But every time she opened her mouth, her throat closed up.

Megan finally broke the silence.
“You really didn’t need to run away this morning,” she said, voice low but not angry.

Dani flinched, then laughed awkwardly. “Yeah, I know. That was… not my best moment.”

“Did I make you uncomfortable?”

Dani slammed the brakes a little harder than necessary at a red light. “What? No! No, not at all. It’s not you, it’s—”
She hesitated, hands tightening on the wheel.
“I was just overwhelmed. I wanted to kiss you so bad, and it freaked me out.”

Megan turned toward her slowly. “You did?”

Dani glanced at her, cheeks bright pink. “Yeah.”

Silence again. Not awkward this time — charged.

The light turned green. They kept driving.

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By the time they reached the restaurant, Megan’s heart was beating out of her chest. They walked in, grabbed the order, and walked back out.

Still quiet.

They reached the car, Dani unlocking it with a beep, but instead of getting in, Megan stopped and turned to her.

“Can we… talk? Before we go back.”

Dani nodded, immediately nervous again. “Yeah, of course.”

They leaned against the car, bags of food resting between them. The sun was setting, casting everything in a warm, soft light. It made Megan’s hair glow golden.

“I didn’t think you liked me,” Megan said quietly. “Not really. Not like that.”

“I didn’t think I was allowed to,” Dani confessed. “I mean—I tried to push it away, date boys, be normal, but none of it felt right. I kept pretending. But last night, holding you… it was the first time I didn’t want to pretend anymore.”

Megan’s lips parted, and her voice came out shaky. “Then why did you run this morning?”

Dani looked away, ashamed. “Because I felt everything too much. I’m scared of messing this up. I didn’t want to ruin the first good thing in my life that actually feels real.”

Megan stepped closer. Her voice dropped to a whisper. “You won’t ruin it.”

Dani turned her head slowly, their faces just inches apart now. “What if I already did?”

“You didn’t.”

For a moment, neither of them moved. Just staring, eyes locked, breaths shallow.

And then Megan leaned in.

Just enough that Dani could close the distance.

And she did.

Their lips met, soft and hesitant at first—like testing the waters, like asking “is this okay?” without words. Megan’s hands slid up, cupping Dani’s cheeks, and Dani’s arms wrapped around her waist instinctively, pulling her closer.

It wasn’t a desperate kiss. It wasn’t rushed or messy. It was gentle, slow, full of every unsaid thing between them. The months of tension, the near-misses, the quiet longing—all of it poured into that one moment.

When they finally pulled apart, foreheads pressed together, neither of them spoke right away.

Until Megan whispered, smiling,
“That was… worth the wait.”

Dani laughed softly, eyes still closed. “I think I forgot how to breathe.”

Megan pulled back, just enough to look at her properly. “You okay?”

“I’m great,” Dani said, beaming. “Like… really great.”

Megan reached down, grabbing the food bags. “Come on. Let’s bring them their dinner before they riot.”

Dani opened the car door for her, grinning. “They’re going to know.”

“They already do,” Megan said, sliding into the seat. “Sophia has proof.”

“Of course she does.”

As they drove off, their fingers found each other over the gear shift — and this time, neither of them let go.

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AN: Its here hope you enjoyed