Chapter 13: Shame 

To: Son Chaeyoung :)

I have to get inside the practice room now :( I will texts you latier :)

From: Son Chaeyoung :)

Arasso, good luck unnie!! :) Remember to ask if you can go this weekend!! ^-^

 Mina smiled at her phone before putting it inside her backpack.

 She was still getting used to Chaeyoung calling her 'unnie'. The word was just weird, foreign to her ears and eyes.

 Still, she liked it.

 However it was weird the first time she heard it from Chaeyoung.

 It was the middle of the night, Momo and Sana had gone to the hide-spot, they had asked if she wanted to go but refused.

 She was lying on her bed when her phone rang. She jumped a little, surprised, before looking at the screen. Immediately she felt anxious. She took a deep breath before answering.

"Hi?" She asked tentatively.

"Annyeonghaseyo Mina-ssi!"

 She could hear loud background music. She smiled nerviously.

"Chaeyoung-ah, how are you?" She said without really being concious of her words.

"All good, how about you?"

"Good"

 She could almost feel the uncomfortable silence that was about to happen, but Chaeyoung spoke up before it turned awkward.

"I saw your sisters around, but you weren't with them, did you get lost again?" The girl chuckeld.

 Mina bit her lower lip and smiled.

"Aniyo- Ani, I'm home"

"Ahh... I see" Chaeyoung sounded disappointed.

 Mina bit her lip again, she started playing with the edge of the blanket.

"Uhm... Why? Are you okay?"

 Mina smiled again.

"Yes, I'm just really tired"

"Why?"

 Chaeyoung's voice had this tiny hint of concern and curiosity which made Mina feel happy.

"Well... Uhm" she hesitated.

 Did she really want to tell Chaeyoung the real reason? Wouldn't she think she was boring?

"Uh? Wait, I'm going to get out of here" Chaeyoung said.

 Mina could hear how she told someone she would be right back.

"This is better" Chaeyoung chuckled "So, what has you so tired?" She asked in a mocking tone.

 Mina smiled again, insecurities gone.

"Remember I told you I do ballet?" Chaeyoung hummed in acknowledge "Well, I have a competition in a month so we've been practicing more than usual" she explained.

"Daekbak!" Chaeyoung said sounding impressed.

 Mina chuckled.

"I want to see you dance sometime"

"Go to the competition" Mina said without thinking, she panicked "I mean, you could go... You know if you want to and... Yeah"

 Chaeyoung chuckled through the line.

"Sure, just send me the details, you know place and time, and if I have to pay a ticket or something like that"

 Mina smiled.

"Okay, I'll ask about that... You sure you wanna go? It may be a boring to watch if you don't really like ballet" she said, her smile disappearing from her lips.

 Chaeyoung chuckled again.

"Of course, I don't care if I have to see a bunch of people wearing tutus for an hour or two, I want to see how much of a ballerina you really are" She said and laughed.

 Mina laughed too.

 She felt heat over her cheeks.

"Alright then... Uhm... What were you doing?"

"I was just watching the freestyle dancers, and right now I'm walking around" she chuckled "I'm walking past the basketball court"

 Mina chuckled too.

"Are you going to force another stranger to play?" She joked.

"Force?" Chaeyoung laughed "I didn't hear you complain that night"

 Mina laughed too.

"Because I was having fun!" She answered without a second thought.

"Really?" Chaeyoung happily asked.

 Mina blushed.

"Uhm... Yes"

 Chaeyoung chuckled. Mina yawned.

"Someone's sleepy" the younger girl teased.

"Sorry" Mina said quickly.

 Chaeyoung laughed.

"That's okay, you should sleep, you must be really tired"

"Kinda" Mina chuckled.

"Go to sleep unnie, text me when you wake you and feel bored" she chuckled "Jalyayo unnie"

 Mina was taken by surprise.

"Good night, Chaeyoung-ah" she said, still getting over her little shock.

 Chaeyoung had used a new honorific with her without any warning.

 She felt her cheeks turning pink, her body suddendly became warmer.

---------o---------

 Sana was right. It had been a bad idea.

 Momo hadn't listen to her, the usual.

 Kim Hanbin was a nice guy, handsome, gentle, kind, and whatnot. He just wasn't her type. Still she had given him a chance, just like Momo insisted.

 Sana knew from the very start the date would be a disaster.

 She tried her best to start small talk but he really didn't seem that interested in whatever she was saying, even if he tried to continue the chat.

 She told him he appreciated his kindness, but she wasn't feeling comfortable. He worried, Sana laughed and told him not to worry, she was the one being weird.

 Which was true.

 Hanbim had to be one of the very few, if not the only, boy who hadn't treat her like she was some kind of 'free kisses' stand. He had been really sweet when he asked her out.

 Sana had heard he had this kind of crush on her, but she didn't really mind it at the time. When Hanbin asked her out she really didn't feel like it.

 She liked dates, they were fun. However, she didn't like dating, which according to the rumors was what Hanbin had in mind.

 Relationship just weren't for her. Why stay with one person when you can have fun with a bunch of them without breaking anybodies heart and not feeling awkward when they around?

 Some people called her a , which she really didn't mind at all. So what if she was? Which she wasn't, she was having fun while the rest spent their time judging what she did with her private life.

 Shame on them.

 As far as she was concerned she hadn't cheat on anyone, she had done nothing wrong. Besides, opposite of what people thought, she hadn't slept with that many guys... Not really.

 But nobody really believed her, not even Momo. She wasn't sure what Mina thought about her, but she hoped she didn't think of her as some playgirl who wandered around in search of a different guy to sleep with every night.

 That wasn't the case, she just had fun. Kisses were fun, and they made you feel happy. So why not?

 She checked both sides of the street before crossing, she was going home.

 Hanbin had offered to walk her there.

"It's the least I can do, and it's pretty late, is not really safe"

 She had declined the offer as nicely as she could. He insisted a little more before he finally got the hint, she didn't really want to spend more time with him.

 She sighed.

 When she heard screams, she looked around, wondering what the heck had that been.

 She was about to cross another street, she looked to her left and saw the shadow of someone running. She panicked, but kept on walking, her eyes still on the other block.

 She stayed in the corner for a bit, next to the street light.

 She was sure she shouldn't be waiting to see if other people were running too. She shouldn't check if there was anybody chasing the first person. She shouldn't for her own safety.

 Just went she started moving again, she saw a bunch of people running, they had crossed the street. They were chasing someone.

 She cursed, now she was really in panic.

 She started walking faster and faster.

 Home is safe, home is safe!

 She was so concentrated in her own comforting thoughts that she didn't notice someone was running towards her, not until she felt a strong ache on her chest.

"!" She cursed in Japanese.

 She lifted her head, a tall, slim girl was in front of her. She looked terrified. Sana noticed she was panting, she was out of breath. She also noticed sweat on her face, her hair was messy and she was shaking.

 Sana was sure her night couldn't get any worse.

"They are chasing you?!" She whispered in Korean, just in case.

 She had never seen someone nod so quickly and with so much energy.

 Sana panicked for who knows how many times already.

 She forced her brain to work.

 She quickly ped her jacket. She handed it to the girl who looked extremely confused.

"Put it on!" She urged in a whisper.

 The girl did as told.

 Sana grabbed her hand and guided her to the porch of  a little house. The light was really low there, hopefully it would be helpful.

 The girl seemed to hestitated when Sana walked into the porch.

"Hurry!" Sana said softly.

 The girl nodded.

 Sana stood in front of her. Her hands traveled behind the stranger's neck. The girl tensed up. Sana pulled the hoodie up and tugged the girl's hair inside it.

"There" she whispered.

 Both froze when they heard yelling.

"For 's sake! Where the is she?!"

 The voice was from a man, which scared Sana to death.

 She looked at the girl, she seemed as scared as Sana.

 They could hear steps and voices getting closer and closer.

 Sana panicked yet once again.

 She grabbed the girl's arms, rested her own body against the wall behind and pulled the girl closer. The girl pushed back a little, probably surprised.

"I have an idea" Sana whispered as softly as she could.

 The girl nodded softly.

 Sana's hands were behind the stranger's neck once again. She pulled her face as closer as she could. The girl seemed to understand, her hands moved to Sana's hips.

 Voices and steps became louder.

 Sana was sure she was going to have a heart attack anytime soon.

"Mianhaeyo" she whispered softly.

 She pulled the girl even closer and closed her eyes. Even if their lips weren't touching, Sana still felt dizzy and her stomach was having a weird flips competition with her heart.

 She felt tingles when the girl breathed out. Her hands moved nerviously behind the girl's neck. It didn't get any better when the girl moved her feet closer and was almost hugging her waist.

 Sana gasped when she felt the girl's lips next to the corner of .

 So close...

 Sana felt the girl pulling her closer.

 She was sure she should be freaking out right now, but is not like she wasn't used to a stranger's touch.

 She was more worried about boys or men or whatever who were chasing the girl, than if the girl had any kind of intensions with her.

 She felt the girl's mouth travelling from the corner of her lips to her ear. Sana felt shivers.

"G-gone?" The girl asked in a soft whisper.

 Sana was confused for a minute, she opened her eyes. She could see the street. She pushed the girl even closer, when she saw three boys walking right in front of them.

", we are so dead" one of them sighed.

"Wait, there's someone there" another one said.

 Sana had never been so scared in her whole life.

 She blamed how nervous she was for her following actions.

 She untangled her hands from behind the girl's neck. As quickly as she could, she cupped the girl's cheeks.

"Mianhaeyo" she whispered before joining their lips.

 The girl tensed up for a moment, but then kissed back. Way more eagerly than Sana had expected. The girl moved her hands behind Sana's back. Sana gasped. The girl kept on kissing her and Sana could only kiss back.

 It wasn't the first she had kissed a girl.

 She had gone to a lot of parties, she had met a lot of people, lost lots of games, and won others. It wasn't exactly new. Still, she felt her stomach competing with her heart again to see who could do more flips in one second.

"Just some dude making out with her man, come on, keep going before JB-nim strangle us"

 Even after they heard the steps far away enough they kept on kissing. Sana didn't mind it, really.

 Damn her lips, she's so good

 She frowned and pouted when the girl pushed away.

"Gone" the girl said against her lips.

 Sana hummed, pout still on her lips. She really wanted to feel those lips again.

 She was about to pull the girl in for another round of those cotton-soft lips when the girl moved her hands away. Sana got the message and pulled her own hands back. The girl took a step backwards.

"Joesonghaeyo" the girl said and bowed.

 Sana shook her head.

"It's okay"

 The girl nodded.

 They stared at each other, not really knowing what to do.

 Sana had so many questions, but she wasn't going to start an interview on the girl when they weren't exactly... Safe.

"Where do you live?" Sana whispered.

 The girl stared at the floor, her hands joined together in front of her. Sana smiled sadly.

"Come on, let's go"

 She grabbed the girl's arm and dragged her across the sidewalk. Sana was a little taken by surprise when the girl didn't try to push her hand away.

 She wasn't protesting at all, which was both a relief and something to worry about. She glanced at the girl, she extended her hand and tugged a fallen strand of hair inside the jacket's hoodie.

"My name is Minatozaki Sana by the way" she said with a smile.

 The girl nodded but stayed quiet. Sana felt awkward when the girl didn't offer her name back. But the paranoia she was feeling was bigger. She moved towards the girl's ear.

"Do you think they are gone?" She whispered.

 The girl nodded. Sana sighed in relief. They kept on walking, they were a few blocks from the studio apartment.

"Tzuyu"

 Sana glanced at the girl.

"You said something?" She asked cautiously.

 The girl looked at her.

"Tzuyu" she said again.

 Sana smiled.

 When they were finally inside the building, the girl, Tzuyu, let go of her arm.

"Don't have to" she said.

 Sana frowned a little.

"You are not Korean" she stated.

 Tzuyu glanced at the floor. Sana froze.

 Without giving it a second thought she hugged the girl tighly.

"It's okay, you can stay here" she whispered next to the girl's ear.

 The girl awkwardly hugged her back.

 She unlocked the door of their department as quietly as she could. She turned to Tzuyu, her index finger on her lips. International sign for 'silence'. Tzuyu nodded.

 When she opened the door she jumped in surprise.

"Did I scare you?" Momo laughed.

"What were you doing behind the door?" Sana asked confused.

"I was bored" Momo shrugged with a sheepish smile.

 Sana rolled her eyes with a smile.

"You are back just in time, I'm starving" Momo whined.

"There's food on the fridge though" she said an fully opened the door.

"There was food on the fridge" Mina corrected from her bed "We were hungry"

"You eat all of it?!" Sana asked surprised.

"I trained all day! I need energy!" Mina defended herself.

 Sana laughed.

"Who's that?" Momo asked, smile and playful mood completely gone.

 Sana held Tzuyu's hand and walked inside.

"That's our jacket?" Momo asked with a frown.

 Sana closed the door without turning around.

"She's Tzuyu-ssi she's going to stay here" Sana explained.

 Momo frowned and crossed her arms over her chest.

"I'm sorry, but when did this become a hotel?" She asked harshly.

 Sana rolled her eyes. She turned to Tzuyu.

"There's the bathroom" she told her in Korean and pointed at the door "After all that running I figured you may want to use it" she said with a smile.

 Tzuyu's face lit up a little, probably relieved she could finally understand something of what they were saying. She nodded. She took the jacket off. She closed the zipper and handed it to Sana.

"Thanks" she said and bowed a little.

"No problem" Sana smiled at her.

 She watched as Tzuyu walked to the bathroom, her head slyly facing the floor. When the girl closed the door behind her, Sana braised herself.

"Who's that?!" Momo urged in a harsh whisper.

 Sana sighed.

"Look, it's a long story" she said.

"Oh yeah?" Momo asked sarcastically "Weren't you on a date with Hanbin-ssi? How is it that you ended up bringing a girl home?"

 Sana rolled her eyes again.

"Is nothing like that" she said while she tried as hard as she could to push the memory of their kiss away "She's not from here, there was people chasing her, you expected me to leave her alone?"

 Momo frowned.

"What do you mean she's not from here?"

 Sana gulped, she glanced at the floor.

"She's not from Korea" she explained "And I'm pretty sure she was not being chased just for the sake o