Color Outside the Lines

Chapter 7: The Third Color

Yujin's suspicions were correct. Wonyoung wasn't a malicious person, nor did she ever want to become a troublemaker. It was just how she was perceived so she had decided to play along with it. She was misunderstood and therefore misguided.

'Why did you superglue the automatic doors?' Yujin asked.

The superglue. Where this whole assistant thing really kicked off.

'It was the automatic doors to Professor Yoo's office. I caught him cornering Maurice in the hallways the day before and she looked scared so I wanted to show him that karma was gonna bite him in the ass.'

'Maurice?'

'Ms Seo, the receptionist. I like calling her Maurice.'

'Her name is Nakgyung, I'm pretty sure.'

'Whatever. It's Maurice to me.'

Yujin laughed. Wonyoung was way too cute for her own good.

'Well, then. I guess that's all there is to it.' Yujin clapped her hands. 'I started liking you first week of freshman year and I've liked you ever since especially because I kept catching you working hard on all your paintings. Also it didn't help that you had the growth spurt and lost the baby fat so you became CUTE cute.'

Yujin stopped her ramble, sheepishly scratching the back of her head.

'This feels weird talking about this to you because I usually only talk about you like this to Minjoo unnie and Nako so I'll just shut up now.'

Wonyoung hummed in amusement and bit her lip to surpress the chuckle threatening to escape her. She had to admit that Yujin was pretty charming in a weird way.

There was silence between them for a bit as thoughts ran through Wonyoung's mind. Yujin just lay in bed cursing herself for her ramble. Then suddenly Wonyoung sat up.

'Yujin?' Wonyoung said, her voice quivering a little bit.

Yujin instantly sat up too. 'Hey, hey. What's wrong?'

Wonyoung scratched her head.

'Nothing. I just...'

Then Yujin felt a pair of arms wrap around her shoulders in a tight hug. Yujin returned the hug in a split second, knowing that Wonyoung really needed this. She felt Wonyoung snuggling her face into her neck.

'Thank you.' Wonyoung said. 'For being so nice to me.'

They sat there hugging for a while, Wonyoung letting a few tears roll down her cheek. When they pulled away, Yujin turned around to grab some tissues from the side of her bed.

'Here. I always cry at night so I just keep these nearby.' Yujin joked around to try and liven up the atmosphere a little bit. Though, she assumed that Wonyoung was crying out of happiness.

Wonyoung wiped her eyes. 'You? Crying? Over what?'

'My life isn't as perfect as it looks, Wonyoung. That's why I strive for perfection everywhere else.' Yujin said. When Wonyoung didn't say anything, she took it as her cue to continue.

'You saw my siblings. I'm not as smart and as talented as them. Not going into medicine or law. Not volunteering in Tasmania-'

'Tanzania.'

'Tanzania to build houses! I don't even want to go into an academic field. I want to play softball professionally. Sports!' Yujin let out a laugh, her eyes squinting into crescents. Contrary to her happy demeanor, Wonyoung could tell that she was hurting inside. 'If I wasn't class president and doing all these extra curriculars I'd be disowned.'