Chapter Text
Kitty was faced with a dilemma.
On one hand she had Yuri who was freshly single and no longer the heiress of the biggest hotel empire in the world.
On the other hand she had Praveena who was fresh off the back of a failed fling with Juliana.
The issue? Kitty was now faced with the choice of rooming with either of them.
On her return back to KISS with Min Ho from the tour with his brother, things remained strange between the two of them. The two had a relationship that others looking in could only describe as strange. Both of them failed to make a move over the entire summer, which made things awkward but also helped them grow closer.
Walking onto campus grounds with him, she had a new air about herself. Both her and Min Ho had sworn off of relationships before leaving and had come back feeling refreshed and ready for their senior year.
What Kitty had not expected was the sight of the girl inside of her dorm room after Q had dropped her off before going to find Jin.
“Kitty? What are you doing here?” Yuri was the first to notice the girl come in from where she stood unpacking various snacks into the kitchen.
“I should be asking you the same. I thought you would be staying living with your Mom after everything that went down last year?”
“Oh. Did Alex not tell you? Mom’s been keeping me away from the house while they sort out the lawsuit. Something about “keeping me away from the stress of it all” but I feel like it has more to do with her having to be around Dad all the time now.” The girl responded quickly after turning back around to finish unpacking.
“Yeah I bet Mr. Han can be crazy to be around while his empire crumbles.” Praveena stepped out into the living room after hearing Yuri talking to someone, her face faltering slightly upon seeing who Yuri was talking to. “Oh. Hey Kitty” was all she said before walking back into her room that she was previously in.
It was all quite strange to Kitty. She could’ve sworn she requested brand new roommates this year for the exact reason currently standing in front of her but it seemed she was mistaken. And Praveena had never called her anything but “Kitty Cat” before which made it all just sting worse.
Yuri turned back to her “So. Anything interesting happen to you over the summer? During the tour?” Kitty wasn’t exactly sure how to explain the fact that just spent the entire summer vacation in an awkward limbo with the one boy she hadn’t fully screwed up the chances of dating yet. The times they did text over the summer were Yuri telling her about the lawsuit and how it was affecting her and Dae.
Yuri cocked an eyebrow when she failed to answer “Alright then, tell me later. We’ve gotta wait for our final roommate to figure out room arrangements so you can just sit on the couch if you want.”
Praveena had already picked her room from what Kitty saw, but that was a matter for later. For now she didn’t want to be completely useless so she stepped around to the other side of the kitchen island to help Yuri unpack the snacks and groceries.
They got a good rhythm to it and wound up getting everything put away relatively quickly. The two girls wound up brushing hands multiple times throughout all of this and it made Kitty’s heart flutter. Yuri had essentially avoided her after the ski trip for the rest of the semester, and the two had failed to establish if they were even still friends after everything happened.
Kitty also couldn’t deny that her feelings for Praveena were still present. She wanted to apologize to the girl for basically leading her on but doubted she could ever get anywhere with her.
These thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the room door opening again, revealing Eunice when it closed.
Kitty didn’t get to see her much during the tour since she was always performing, but she was happy to have a familiar face in the room (especially one she didn’t harbor feelings for).
Eunice rushed forward to give Yuri a hug and squealed upon seeing her friend. She sidestepped to pull Kitty into it upon noticing her also next to Yuri. Kitty let herself be pulled into the bone crushing display.
“I didn’t expect to have you both in the same room! Who else is in here?” Eunice’s question was answered for her when Praveena stepped out of her room once again to join the others.
“Alright,” Yuri clapped to get the others' attention “now that we’re all here, we need to decide on room arrangements. As you can see Praveena has already taken a room so you can choose who to room with!” The former heiress exclaimed before turning “What do you think Kitty?”
Truth be told, Kitty wanted to room with both Yuri and Praveena. Don’t get her wrong, Eunice is a perfectly nice girl. It was just a matter of her own romantic endeavors as opposed to getting involved in Dae’s again.
So here she stood. Looking between the two girls who arguably had all shattered each other's hearts in their own ways, wanting nothing more than to have the both of them.
Unfortunately life wasn’t a fairy tale where she could have whatever she desired so Kitty needed to choose.
The thought weighed on her mind for what felt like forever. Eunice and Yuri were friends, so they’d do better in a room together, but Praveena also wasn’t currently too fond of Kitty or Yuri.
“Um. Why don’t you guys pick?” She smiled back awkwardly at the other girls.
“I’d be cool with whatever.” Praveena surprised her with that answer. Kitty thought she had hated her guts since she screwed up and her letter was found on the ski trip.
“Why don’t Eunice and I room together? I’ve never roomed with someone I wasn’t dating.” Kitty nodded as the two of them walked off to the opposite room and turned to see Praveena staring back down at her.
“Guess it’s just you and me Kitty Cat.” The nickname was back. Great. How was she supposed to survive this year?
—
She had updated Q while the group was at dinner, Min Ho deciding to continue what Yuri started last year with another barbecue dinner to celebrate back to school.
“Wait wait wait. You think she hates your guts when she explicitly stated she wouldn’t hate rooming with you and she brought back the nickname she gave you when she was trying to date you? I think she wants to try again.” Q leaned forward to point at Praveena at the other end of the table “And she’s been giving you the eyes all night. I rest my case.”
“But I screwed everything up months ago! Plus I swore off of relationships with Min Ho this summer!”
“Don’t bring me into this! That was just for the summer. I’ll probably go back to being a playboy soon and get a new girlfriend like I had with Madison in your first semester here.” Min Ho looked at her from his spot across from Q and made his point.
“Q and Min Ho have a point, Kitty. You can’t just not date anyone forever. You’re a matchmaker!” Jin leaned back in his chair next to Q to see her face when she heard what he had to say. She rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to her food.
Min Ho sighed and stood up while clinking his spoon to his glass “Last year was a bit of a mess so I will keep this short. All of us had something major happen, even just over the summer,” he tilted his glass towards Eunice and Dae in acknowledgement “So let’s hope for a relatively non-dramatic senior year. And let’s hope that some of us can spend our time finding love in this first last semester!” He made a point to look at Kitty during the last part.
Everyone cheered and clinked their glasses together, celebrating the time they would spend together in the coming year.
“Let’s hope the last part is true for you Covey”
She nodded towards him and everyone went back to eating.
—
The night ended with the friends saying goodbye to each other and splitting up to go to their dorm rooms. Anxiety bubbled in Kitty’s chest as she waved goodnight to Yuri and Eunice and walked towards her room with Praveena.
She quietly unpacked her remaining things before seeing Praveena come out of the bathroom in a bra and shorts. The two made eye contact before Kitty grabbed her things to go change.
She stepped into the bathroom and let go of a breath she didn’t know she was holding in. Kitty quickly did her skincare routine and changed while mentally preparing herself for seeing her new roommate shirtless again.
Praveena was splayed out across her bed looking at her phone when Kitty stepped back out of the shared bathroom and quickly made her way to her bed.
Kitty saw Praveena staring back at her from her side of the room with a raised eyebrow.
“So. How are we going to make this work?”
“I don’t know. I wish we could start everything again.”
“We have all the opportunities in the world Kitty Cat.”
Kitty rose from her bed and crossed to Praveena’s side and offered her hand. “Nice to meet you!”
Praveena took it and shook “It’ll be good to have you back Kitty.” Their hands lingered and Kitty went back to her bed to go to sleep, it would be a long semester with her two crushes in her room.