Mina's POV!

When the music starts, a fire could have broken out just outside the studio and she would not have cared.

Mina doubts anyone else would feel the same way, except for Momo whom she is lying next to on the practise room's cold wooden floor, panting from another routine they had just perfected. Dancing had always been her form of expressing herself in a land so similar yet different, its customs still so foreign despite her year of living here. She glances at the ticking analogue clock on the wall before sitting up with a soft groan, doggedly ignoring her screaming muscles. Momo peeks out from behind her arm, sweat shining from the bright glare of the lights. "Is it time to go?" She hears the older girl whisper from her prone position on the floor. Mina looks down with a tired smile, nodding as she slowly pushes herself up and off the floor. "I don't wanna go back!" Momo whines and Mina finds herself chuckling despite her exhaustion, because even if she was older than her by a month or so, is was not hard to tell who was the more childish of the two. "C'mon, Momo." Mina didn't raise her voice, she didn't need to. Momo obiediently stood up before the pair made their way to their bags. They packed in a comfortable silence, and left the building soon after. As they walked through the quiet roads (it was already quite late after all), Mina heard a loud familiar laughter and apparently, Momo did too. "Somi-yah! Chaeyoung-ie!" She called out before dashing over, leaving Mina behind. Mina saw how the two younger girls heads shot up before a similar bright smile adorned both their faces. Her gaze locked on the shorter of the two, feeling her breath catch in .

Mina may or may not be neck-deep in an uncontrollable crush with the dwarf rapper.

And she didn't even know when it started, how Chaeyoung crept into her normally closed off heart. It just happened and Mina just didn't know how to react. She slowly caught up to Momo who was in the process of hugging the life out of Somi. "You'll suffocate her, Momo." She softly giggled, eyes resolutely not meeting Chaeyoung's big brown ones. She couldn't, not unless she wanted any of her coherent thoughts in her brain to just dissipate, disappearing so cleanly that she couldn't even recall a single drop of what she was thinking of. She was already neck-deep, she did not want to be buried alive, even if that sounded like a very tempting alternative to what she was feeling now. She peeked at Chaeyoung from behind her fringe, registering how the younger girl was not even looking at her, eyes curving into cresents at what Momo was saying. She huffed a silent laugh, she had never looked at her before anyway, why would now be any different? Anyhow, they were all in Sixteen now, that was why she and Momo had been practising in the practise room till so late, it was already close to 12 in the morning already and the only reason Mina could think of when they ran into the two younger girls was that they had been practising together too. She felt the hot swoop of jealousy suddenly flare up in her stomach and frowned in discomfort. She knew being so hung up over someone she had absolutely no chance with would only distract her from getting a place in Twice. That's why she was working so hard, why she made Momo stay in the building with her when they could have been in the dormitory sleeping.

She thinks it's a gift and curse, that Chaeyoung and Somi decides that they should walk back together.

Well, more like Somi suggested it, but Mina's thankful that she at least gets to spend some time with Chaeyoung all the same. "Eonnie, how was your practise?" Mina was shaken out of her thoughts by Somi gently tapping her shoulder. "Sorry?" A light pink flush dusts her cheeks, evidence of embarrassment from being caught not laying attention to the conversation. Somi only shakes her head with a small smile, repeating her question. Mina raised her eyebrows,"But didn't Momo tell you about it already? We were practising together after all." She softly replied, eyes on the ground. "I see, then was your dance nice then?" Mina had already opened , ready to answer when Momo suddenly clung onto her arm. "We killed it! Mina was so y!" The faint blush intensified, Mina nervously laughing as she nudged Momo gently with her shoulder. "There are people sleeping," She chastised her pouting friend before shaking her head at Somi, an apologetic frown on her lips. "We just danced around, that's all." "For 6 hours?" Chaeyoung chose that moment to speak, her quiet voice could be heard in the silence of the streets. Mina looked up in alarm, feeling her tongue tie itself in knots. "You should be resting, you're eyebags are getting heavier." She heard the shorter girl mutter before she plugged back her earpieces, shutting the conversation out again. Mina must have been imagining it then, the concern in her voice.

The trees surrounding her almost seem to be impermeable.

If there was any light in this dark twisted world to begin with anyway. Mina could barely see an inch in front of her, with the only thing she was aware of being her laboured breaths in tandem with her staccato heartbeats. She casts a fearful glance behind her, only to met with nothing but the tall, black trees that towered over her, branches stretching out towards her like old and gnarled fingers, ready to grab her and never let go. She allows herself a moment to think that she is safe and that's when she sees it, the steadily approaching darkness never stopped creeping towards her, no matter how hard she tries to evade it. She's too tired to scream, too tired to force herself to run faster but she does so anyways, feeling her lungs burn in her chest. It's inevitable that she falls, she's just too tired. As she pushes herself into a sitting position, she feels an icy cold hand wrapping itself around , a soft mocking voice not unlike her own whispering her short comings, her failures. "Go away," Mina croaks, praying that mere words would be enough to drive away her unspoken fears. "Please," She begs again, screwing her eyes shut when she the pressure around increases. "Please!" She gasps, bolting upright, heart in . Mina's fingers rake across her eyes, pushing back the hairs that had stuck to her face from the cold sweat that dotted her face, almost as if she could claw away the remnants of the inky blackness that would probably scare her later. The images and feelings of what her dreams were running from have escaped her in a pleading breath, but there’s a burning sensation in the pit of her stomach that stays. Like it knows that fear isn’t a thing, it’s a part of her. It’s a part of her heart that’s keeping her up.

She almost screams when she hears a slight rustle to her left.

"Mina?" It's only after she takes a deep breath to calm herself does she realises that it is only Sana who is sitting up from her bed, hair messy but eyes worried. "I'm sorry, did I wake you?" Her once quiet but clear voice sounds so rusty, even to her own ears and she buries herself deeper into her blankets when she sees Sana swing her legs out if her bed to pad over to hers. "Mina, what's wrong?" It would be easy to lie to Sana, Mina thinks, because even if she did love Sana, there were some burdens she would rather carry herself. "Nothing much, just stressed out from the debut that's all." She whispered, voice so quiet she couldn't even hear herself speak. Sana just narrows her eyes before she sits down on Mina's bed, eyes boring into her own. "Did you really think you could lie to me?" She switches to Japanese and Mina's instantly grateful because she did not want the last occupant in their shared room to know what they were talking about. However, she wasn't really lying before so repeats," But I'm really stressed out," Sana raises her eyebrow, shaking her head as she reaches for Mina's hand enveloping her hand in her own. "We all are, I know you're not lying, Mina. But there's something else, isn't there?" Mina bites her lips, eyes darting to the duck toy she has on her bed and suddenly Sana understands. Because only she knew how deep Mina's love ran for the little midget. And it was her that broke the silence. "You know I hate seeing you like this right?" Her tone made Mina look up, eyes widening in fear. "What are you planning?" The slight tremble in her voice did not go unnoticed by Sana who only leaned down to place a gentle kiss on her forehead. "You need to open your eyes, Mina, then you'll know. I'll try to help you as soon as possible. Now, go to sleep, we have a busy day tomorrow." Sana goes back to her bed and lies down, giggling to herself. Mina can only sigh as she covers herself with her blanket again, praying that whatever Sana has set herself to do, it would not be too drastic.

Oh how wrong she was.

If only she knew that by 'as soon as possible', Sana actually meant the next day, she would have done everything in her power to prevent Sana from unlocking the Pandora's box she was so contented to just leave alone . Mina was completely exhausted from that day's activities and all she wanted to do was to fall face first into her bed and sleep the night, and maybe the day too, away. But feels parched and she frowns as she stands up and makes her way to the kitchen. "You've been staring at Mina a lot nowadays." That was definitely Sana but who was staring at her? Mina quickens her footsteps, tiredness forgotten for the time being. She stops at the doorway, shock flitting across her features as she faces the back of Chaeyoung. "You know that's not what I meant." Sana says and Mina's eyes widen, glaring heatedly at her friend when Chaeyoung doesn't reply. Mina forces herself to not read too deeply into her words, or lack thereof and she almost does it. Almost. The shock causes her to blurt out words she would regret so much into the future. "You like me?" She asks, her heart beating so loud in her ears she was surprise no one else could hear it. But when Chaeyoung keeps silent, she begins to feel her heart sink and as it slowly descends to the soles of her feet, she reaches out a hand towards Chaeyoung, asking her to look at her. And when Chaeyoung dashes out of the room at Dahyun's call, Mina literately feels her world crumble beneath her feet. Or was that her heart. She could no longer tell, only staring blankly at the now-empty seat, hand still reaching for something she was sure she now could never have. "Mina?" Sana was beside her now, hands clasped together uncomfortably. "Mina, I'm sorry... I thought-" Mina just shakes her head, a sad smile on her lips. "It's fine," And with that she exits the kitchen, her body moving solely on muscle memory alone. She passes by the toilet and hears the muted sobs coming from inside. It's like her heart is breaking all over again but this time the pain comes and she leans against the wall, feet suddenly unsteady. "I'm sorry..." She hears through the door and frowns, shaking her head. "I'm the one that should be sorry."

Mina did not know how she survived the next month, it was utter agony.

If you asked her to describe the pain to you, she would have told you it felt a hundred times worse than a muscle tear just one day before an important performance, the combination of physical and mental pain almost enough to drive you insane. She saw how Chaeyoung avoided her and honestly, she expected that. She knew how repulsive she must seem to the younger girl from even suggesting someone else as perfect as Chaeyoung could even love her. But she held her head high, shouldering through the pain that always threatened to break her resolve, tearing and shredding her insides daily. "Even when you have a broken ankle, let nothing show when you dance." Mina grunts to herself as she lays panting on the floor alone, just finished with another high intensity dance. Her old ballet teacher's words ring in her head and she had never heard so much truth in so little words in her 19 years of life. She checks the clock, displeased that it was already 1 hour to midnight. She drags her feet to the phone, unlocking and scrolls through the messages that she had, mostly from Sana asking her what time she would be back. "Soon" She types back and throws her phone into her opened bag. She takes a deep breath before picking up the bag and shouldering it, ready to leave. Just as she exits the building, she sees a van pull up and as the door slides open, hears a very familiar voice. "Somi?" She gasps and sees the ball of sunshine she remembers bound towards her before wrapping her arms tightly around the sweaty ballerina. "Eonnie!" Somi hugs her tighter and as she pulls away, Mina reminds herself to smile.

Somi immediately begins talking, something Mina's thankful for because it would mean she did not need to talk about herself.

And she was getting distracted, lost in the huge barrage of words that came tumbling from Somi's mouth, mind working in overdrive to translate them in time. But then Somi mentions Chaeyoung, asking Mina if she had seen her. "She said she would be here, so I came here to- Mina eonnie, are you listening?" Mina startles before an apologetic smile makes its way into her face. "Yeah, she's inside. I'll bring you to her." And without waiting to see if Somi followed her, she turned around and pushed open the doors to the JYP building again. "She's in there." Somi's eyes widened as she looked at the place Mina was pointing at. "But that's the gym. Chaeyoung never goes to the gym." Mina smiles, the light not quite reaching her eyes before she waves goodbye and heads back up the stairs. But as she reaches the last flight, she sinks to the floor and feels the silent tears come again.

It had been almost an hour, Mina realises as she uncurls from the position she has stayed in, crying quietly to herself.

Mina takes a deep breath as she pushes herself up and feels for her bag. As she slings it over her shoulder again, she casts one last look at the gymnasium and with a small sigh, heads down the stairs. She stops outside the door and sees Chaeyoung with her head on Somi's shoulder. Her heart clenches and half her body screams at her to run away while the other claws at her to barge in to break them up. She listens to the right half but as she turns to leave, Somi lifts her head and their gazes meet. Mina only shakes her head, praying that Somi cannot see the tear tracks from the distance and mouths the words to tell her to bring Chaeyoung home soon. She all but flees, trying desperately to grab at her shattering heart but they keep slipping past her fingers and falling to the ground, where she can no longer find them.

Mina just wants nothing more than to go home and bury herself in her bed.

Exhaustion hit her like a boxer's blow, knocked all the wind out of her, as soon as she steps into the cold morning air. The silence of the streets was welcoming, the only sound she could hear was the soft chirping of the crickets from the bushes. Mina slowly puts one foot in front of the other, slowly bringing herself towards her destination. A deep sigh leaves her as her mind, unbidden, replays the scene of Chaeyoung and Somi in the gymnasium. "It's not you business to care, why do you care so much?" She kept repeating to herself under her breath, fists clenched so hard that she was sure there would be cuts in her palm. The wind whistled past her ears, drying her tears even before they had a chance to fall, but it did nothing to draw her attention from the steady thumping of someone's footsteps slowly getting closer to her. She stops and listens, hearing a familiar panting get louder as she slows down. She freezes in her spot, and the footsteps get closer and closer until Chaeyoung just walks past her. It was the relief of finally being so close to her when all she did for the past month was just avoid her that made the words leap out if Mina's throat. "Where do you think you're going?"

When Chaeyoung goes still, Mina feels the fear of a repition of that night happening again.

And when she greets her, Mina let out the breath she had no idea she had been holding, the feeling of air rushing back into her lungs, allowing her to breathe again. She no longer has any control over her feet as it brings her closer to Chaeyoung, her heart drumming in her chest. She grabs her shaking hands and leans closer, a reaction she is unable to control. When Chaeyoung jumps back, Mina forces herself to hold on. But when Chaeyoung finally admits everything, she can't help the lifeless way her hands went slack, falling limply to her sides. The choked sobs that escape sound foreign to her own ears, as she is unable to stop the torrent of words that just come tumbling from her open mouth, tears making everything blurry. Her world is spinning too quickly and she is unable to catch up to it, dizziness making her want to throw up. So when Chaeyoung kisses her and her world just screeches to an absolute stand-still, Mina doesn't know if she should laugh, cry or do both. It's like her mind stopped working, bliss filling every crevice there was self loathing. Finally, they parted, Chaeyoung leaning her chin on Mina's shoulder. "I've always wanted to do that." She quietly admits, reaching up, threading her fingers through Mina's soft maroon locks. "Same here." Mina laughs just as quietly, almost as if she was afraid to break the calm quietness that had befallen them. "I'm sorry I made you wait, eonnie." Chaeyoung just buried her face deeper into Mina's neck, voice muffled but Mina can feel the frown in the juncture of her neck. "The longer you wait, the better the reward, isn't it?" She playfully nudges the midget in her arms, successfully eliciting a soft giggle from Chaeyoung. "Now, let's go back. We may have no schedule tomorrow but I know Jihyo eonnie's not gonna be happy if she wakes up to find us missing." Mina pushes Chaeyoung off gently, holding her hand tightly in her own, pulling her down the street. As the sun slowly illuminates the previously dark sky, Chaeyoung only smiles and hugs her arms close, tip-toeing to plant a chaste peck on Mina's cheek. "I wouldn't mind, I'll be scolded with you after all." Mina only rolls her eyes but the bright smile on her face could rival the sun, Chaeyoung was sure. "Love you, Chaeng." She feels the rapper thread her fingers through her own, and sees a small smile on her face as well. "Love you most, eonnie. Probably more than you love your ketchup." "YAH SON CHAEYOUNG!"