Chapter 20: Competition Day (Part 2)

Dahyun was scared to death. They were already on the subway, heading towards the club in which the competition was being held.

What if her parents found out? What if the principal called her parents? What if Chaeyoung’s plan failed? What if her parents grounded her for the rest of her life? Her father was already strict enough with her, she didn’t want him to get angry and be even more strict.

 However, she couldn’t stop herself from feeling just a tiny bit excited about the whole thing. She was skipping classes, something she never thought she’ll do. Going behind her parents’ back wasn’t exactly her thing.

“How much is the ticket?” she asked her friend.

 She knew this type of competitions weren’t free, she had been in a few music competitions with her music academy, so it seemed a little weird that Chaeyoung hadn’t mention anything about money.

“Oh, don’t worry ‘bout that” Chaeyoung answered.

 Dahyun raised an eyebrow.

“What do you mean?”

 The shorter girl shrugged.

“I made you come here, least I can do is pay for your ticket”

 Okay, so, that made sense.

 But it was not going to happen.

“Don’t be ridiculous” Dahyun chuckled.

“I’m serious unnie”

 Dahyun sighed. Of course, she was.

“I can pay for myself, it’s no big deal”

 Chaeyoung rolled her eyes.

“No”

 Geez, Dahyun forgot how stubborn the girl was.

“Just tell me how much it is!” Dahyun whined.

“Stop it, no, I told you, I’ll pay” Chaeyoung crossed her arms over her chest.

 Dahyun sighed in defeat.

 Only she wasn’t going to give up just yet.

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

Yes, Chaeyoung was nervous as .

 No, Chaeyoung hadn’t forgotten about the kiss.

 Yes, Chaeyoung was scared to death about Mina’s sister, Momo.

 No, she wasn’t going to back down, she told Mina she’ll be there.

 Yes, Chaeyoung would to think of some excuse to use on her sister in case the school called her.

 No, she hadn’t think of anything yet.

 Yes, Dahyun was way more nervous about the whole thing than she was.

“Unnie, I promise we won’t get in trouble” Chaeyoung assured her for what seem to be the tenth time.

“You keep saying that, but how can you be so sure? Especially when you have the tendency of getting yourself in trouble quiet a lot”

 Chaeyoung rolled her eyes.

“That’s not true!”

“Uhm… I’m pretty sure it is true”

“Shut up” Chaeyoung groaned.

 Dahyun laughed at her friend.

“We’re almost there” she said.

 Chaeyoung clenched her fists together. She was nervous.

“You know where we have to buy the tickets?”

 Dahyun nodded.

 Chaeyoung nodded back. She knew Dahyun was going to try and pay for the tickets even though she told her not to worry about it. But she meant what she told her friend. She was the one who begged Dahyun to come, she wouldn’t make her pay for something she was almost forced to do.

 Besides, she already had the money. All it took was a whole lot of begging, some explanations and a promise of not getting in trouble, lot of “if anything happens you call me” and of course “if Jeongyeon founds out, I had nothing to do with it”. But hey, Seokjin gave her the money so it was worth it, although he didn’t exactly know the truth.

 Of course, when he asked why she needed the money she lied. Kind of. She told him she wanted to hang out with a friend and didn’t want to make her pay for everything… Of course that was far from the truth. She wanted to see Mina. She didn’t care about her competing or not, she just wanted to see her. And maybe kiss her. Okay, not maybe, she wanted to kiss her.

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

 Nayeon couldn’t believe what was going on.

 She knew she liked Jeongyeon. She knew, as soon as Jeongyeon opened the door of her room the other day and started talking to her, that if the girl didn’t stop getting so close then Nayeon wouldn’t be able to stop herself. And she was right.

“How much longer you think Jihyo-yah will be mad at me?” Jeongyeon asked out of nowhere.

 Nayeon smiled empathically and hugged the girl lying next to her.

“I’m sure she’ll get over it by the end of the week, I already talked to her”

 Jeongyeon sighed.

“I hope so” she said before hugging Nayeon back.

 She pulled Jeongyeon closer to her.

“You smell nice” she mumbled.

 Jeongyeon chuckled.

“You are weird”

 Nayeon chuckled.

“Yeah, but you like me anyways so it’s okay”

 When Jeongyeon didn’t answer, Nayeon worried. Had she gone too far? She moved her head backwards just a bit, enough to see Jeongyeon staring at her with the softest smile ever.

 Nayeon couldn’t help but smile back.

“What?” she whispered.

 Jeongyeon sighed and rested her head on Nayeon’s chest.

“Nothing, it’s just weird, you know?”

 Nayeon chuckled once again.

“Yeah, I know… You like it, though? I mean, being like this… Does it make you uncomfortable or-“

“Unnie” Jeongyeon cut her off “Stop rambling”

 Nayeon blushed.

“Mian”

 She felt Jeongyeon’s hand on her own.

“If I was feeling uncomfortable, I would have moved away as soon as you climbed on my bed”

“Yeah… you’re right…” Nayeon said awkwardly.

 Honestly, she didn’t know what Jeongyeon would’ve done.

 So, here’s the thing: Nayeon liked Jeongyeon. A lot. But, Nayeon didn’t know Jeongyeon that well, at least not as much as she’ll like to. However, Jeongyeon seemed to be able to read her like an open book ever since they’ve known each other. So, who could blame her for being a little paranoiac when it came to Jeongyeon?

“Unnie” Jeongyeon said softly.

 Nayeon really loved the way she said it.

“You are zoning out”

 Nayeon blinked once before looking at the girl next to her. She smiled.

“Sorry, bad habit of mine”

“You were making a really funny face, by the way” Jeongyeon added before using her elbow to lift her body from the mattress “It was cute” she said before pecking Nayeon’s lips.

 Nayeon giggled, still not being able to believe she was finally kissing Jeongyeon.  She moved forward and capture the girl’s lips with her own.

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

 Jihyo had to admit that even though she lived with Nayeon, Namjoon was definitely the most useless human being in the whole while universe when it came to cooking. Even if he didn’t hold the knife the other way around, like Nayeon usually did, he managed to burn the pan… when the only thing inside it was water! And he cut the onions so big they resembled potatoes before being fried. Jihyo didn’t understand how he did it, but somehow, he burned the oil too…

 Luckily for them, especially for her, Seokjin got him out of the kitchen before he could set the house on fire.

“But hyung, I wanna help-“

“I SAID OUT OF MY KITCHEN!”

 So yeah, spending time with them hadn’t been so bad.

 What was awful though, was finally going back to her apartment.

 She found out Nayeon was finally back, which made her jump of joy… Literally, she knocked Nayeon down. She also found out Jeongyeon was still there… and she was furious at her.

 Don’t get her wrong. Jihyo loved being around Jeongyeon and was extremely grateful towards her since the first day they met. But now, right now, she couldn’t even look her in the eye. Not after she made Nayeon go away.

 She couldn’t understand what had gone wrong with those two. One day they hated each other’s guts, the next day they are holding hands and giving these weird looks to each other, and the next day they went back to hating each other’s guts. What the heck was wrong with them?

 She didn’t want to speak with Jeongyeon, she couldn’t. Because she couldn’t understand what kind of excuse she had for screaming at Nayeon as much as she did that day, or what she said that made Nayeon storm out from the front door looking like a mess.

 That’s why she didn’t understand why on Earth would Nayeon, out of all people, be the one who was asking her, Jihyo, to forgive Jeongyeon. It didn’t make any kind of sense for her. She was away for days! Because of Jeongyeon!

 That’s why she was decided she’ll find out what the heck was going between those two… And she needed Chaeyoung’s help.

 Of course, Chaeyoung would probably either refuse or just ignore her because teens are teens and lately she had been doing her own thing more than usual… Speaking of which, Jeongyeon’s phone had rang a few minutes ago and Chaeyoung oh, so lucky it was Jihyo who picked up and not her older sister. Jeongyeon and Nayeon were out grocery shopping, how convenient.

 Apparently, she skipped classes, but not only that, she was seen running away from the school grounds. With another classmate.

 The wheels inside Jihyo’s head started spinning at full speed. Was Chaeyoung seeing or dating someone? If that was case, why on Earth couldn’t she wait until school was over and then wonder around with her little boyfriend?

 She had a little suspicion but for Chaeyoung’s sake she really, really hoped she skipping school had nothing to do with visiting her classmate’s home. Because if that was the case, Jihyo would make sure Chaeyoung understood how freaking stupid that was.

 But since suspecting was not very useful because she didn’t even know who she skipped classes with, she decided the best thing to do was call her and let her know she owed her. Big time.

“So, tell me, how furious you think Jeongyeon-ssi would get if I let her know your principal just called?” She asked as soon as Chaeyoung picked up.

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

 .

“W-what are you talking about?” Chaeyoung asked, her voice almost shaking.

 .

 She was ing screwed.

 Not only her, she didn’t care about whatever Jeongyeon would yell at her, Mina was worth it. No, the sick feeling in her stomach was guilt. She felt extremely guilty because it was her idea, she was the one who begged Dahyun to come along. Dahyun really didn’t want to come, but she didn’t listen and kept on insisting until her friend gave in.

 .

 She still had some hope, Jihyo hadn’t mention ‘a friend’ or ‘classmate’ or any clue about her not being alone. But then again, why would her?

“Chaeyoung-ah, isn’t that one your friend’s academy?” Dahyun asked next to her.

 She felt a nod in . Jihyo sighed on the other end.

“You owe me”

 Chaeyoung breathed once again.

“Unnie…” She whispered.

“I won’t tell your sister” she made a pause “or Nayeon-unnie”

 Chaeyoung sighed. Still, she was still worried about Dahyun. She could handle Jeongyeon, she could handle Nayeon, dang, she could handle whatever Jihyo had in mind to ‘pay her debt’. She couldn’t handle Dahyun parents’.

“D-did he mention-“

“Your friend, yeah” she answered quickly.

“You know if they called her parents?” She whispered once she checked Dahyun wasn’t paying attention.

 Jihyo stayed quiet for a few seconds, it made Chaeyoung more anxious if that was possible.

“I didn’t ask, they probably did… Who are you with?”

“Dahyun-unnie” she answered right away.

 Hopefully Jihyo would understand the huge problem she got her friend into.

“What the- Are you kidding?!”

“No!” She whispered.

“Damn, Chaeyoung! Why- Are you crazy? How did you even-? Ugh, kid, you’ll really owe me”

“Why would I-?”

“I’ll try to call your school, hopefully they didn’t call and those two don’t come back too quickly”

“What do you mean those tw-“

“I’ll text you after I call, bye”

 Jihyo hanged up.

 Chaeyoung sighed heavily.

“Something wrong?” Dahyun asked with a worried face.

 The shorted girl shook her head.

“Nope”

“Chayeoung-ah!” someone yelled from behind her.

She almost fainted, fearing it might be Jeongyeon, however as soon as she turned around she smiled.

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

 Dahyun wondered how did Chaeyoung know so many people.

 So many good-looking people.

 Dahyun knew people, but all resembled potatoes, why the girls standing a few steps away from them looked like freaking models.

“Anneyong-haseyo, Sana-ssi” Chaeyoung greeted politely.

“Oh, hey there!” A girl, the once who called Chaeyoung, noticed her “Anneyong, I’m Sana” she introduced herself with a smile.

“Uhm, anneyong-haseyo” she greeted the stranger “I’m Dahyun”

 The girl smiled once again.

“Oh, these are Momo-chan and Tzuyu-yah!”

 She looked to the girl’s right where a slyly taller girl was staring at her. She felt uncomfortable and moved her sight to the girl’s left. Tall. The so called Tzuyu was tall, really, tall.

“Mina-chan’s about to compete, you came to see her?” The girl, Sana, asked.

 Dahyun observed Chaeyoung’s face. She had never been more confused.

 Why on Earth did Chaeyoung look so… “caught-red-handed”.

“Uh… yeah” Chaeyoung doubted.

 Dahyun made sure not to frown.  There was something weird going on here… And, who the heck were these people?

 The girl, Sana, smiled. Dahyun swore she was about to jump of happiness or something.

“So what are you guys waiting for? Come on, they already announced her group!” Sana said enthusiastically.

 Before she knew it the girl was dragging both, Chaeyoung and her, to the seats.

 She swore she heard a soft chuckle behind them, but she didn’t turn around to see who it came from.

 As soon as they sat down Dahyun could notice this whole other part of Chaeyoung she didn’t see at school.

 Chaeyoung was nervous. She was nervous. Son Chaeyoung was nervous!

 Even worse, she was acting all shy!

 She wondered why. What could possibly make her friend change her attitude so drastically? Because she remembered pretty vividly how she was all bossy at the subway station...

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

“Unnie, are you sure no one will see us here?” Jeongyeon asked not even trying to hide how worried she was.

 Nayeon chuckled.

“You are cute” she chuckled again “People are either working or at school, so relax and kiss me already”

 Jeongyeon wasn’t too convinced but as soon as Nayeon’s lips touched hers she forgot what she was worrying about in the first place.

 They had told Jihyo they were going to buy groceries… Lies. All lies. Although they did go to the store first, just to make sure their excuse was covered.

 What happened was a needy Nayeon and an uncomfortable Jeongyeon.

“I won’t kiss you with Jihyo around!”

“Why not?”

“Because!”

“You’re so lucky you are cute”

 And that was when Nayeon grabbed her hand, dragged her to the front door, shouted to no one that they were going to “go grocery shopping” and left the apartment.

 She was trying really hard to relax and just let go, and it was going just fine until she heard steps. She moved away from Nayeon, almost pushing her off her lap.

“Yah” Nayeon said softly.

“Mianheyo, thought I heard someone…”

 She heard Nayeon chuckling.

“Damn, you are a little too paranoid, aren’t you?”

 Jeongyeon frowned.

“There’s no one around” Nayeon insisted.

 Jeongyeon kept on frowning, she was waiting. She knew she heard something; she wanted to know who she heard.

 She felt something grabbing her hand. Nayeon. Jeongyeon intertwined their fingers. She sighed.

“I’m sorry”

 She felt Nayeon’s lips on her cheek.

“It’s okay Jeongyeon-ah, I get it”

 Jeongyeon looked at her.

“You do?” she raised an eyebrow.

 Nayeon smiled at her. She nodded.

“Yeah… I mean, we’re both girls… I’m scared of what people might say too, it’s okay”

 Jeongyeon blinked once, twice.

 She didn’t really think Nayeon would understand her fear of people seeing them while they… did this kind of things, mostly because it seemed like Nayeon didn’t mind what people thought at all. Jeongyeon wondered if Nayeon was really scared or she was just bluffing to make her feel better.  Whichever the case, she appreciated the gesture.

“Well… it seems like your mind was tricking you” Nayeon teased.

 Jeongyeon smiled, she held Nayeon’s hand tightly.

“Yeah…”

 Nayeon moved closer. Jeongyeon felt her shoulder getting heavier; she smiled when she noticed it was Nayeon resting her head on it.

“Jeongyeon-ah…”

“Hmm?”

“Remember what I told you about my mother?”

 Jeongyeon’s body stiffened. She nodded.

“You know, I can’t stop thinking about what she did… I mean, was she trying to get Hongbin-ssi away from me or does she really not care about me at all and just wanted me out of the way?”

 Jeongyeon frowned, she stayed silent.

 Nayeon sighed.

“I’m sorry, it’s just something that’s been on my mind lately”

 Jeongyeon squeezed Nayeon’s hand.

“Of course she cares about you” she said without a doubt.

 Honestly, she was sure Nayeon’s mother did care about her. Although she didn’t know her, she knew that no parent could just leave their kids at the mercy of the world and not care at least a little about what the heck they were doing with their lives. She hoped Nayeon’s mother wasn’t the exception.

“It surprises me you haven’t seen her earlier”

“I think I have” Nayeon quickly said.

 Jeongyeon moved her head so she was staring at Nayeon.

“Really?”

 Nayeon lifted her head from Jeongyeon’s shoulder.

“I’m not a hundred percent sure, but I think I’ve seen her a few times around town…”

 Jeongyeon have her a soft smile, not sure of what to say or do. She grabbed Nayeon’s hand.

“How you feel about that?”

 Nayeon frowned.

“About what?”

“Her… you know, being around and all”

 Nayeon closed her eyes and left out a big sigh.

“I’m terrified”

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

 Chaeyoung was trying to mentally prepare herself for what was coming next. She had never seen a ballet performance before, so she didn’t quite know what to expect, but what was really driving her nuts was Mina. Mina and her outfit. Damn, she looked gorgeous.

 Mina’s group was already on the stage, they were on position and, Chaeyoung guest’s, they were just waiting for the music to start.

 Chaeyoung was right, when the music started, so did their dancing. And wow.

 Mina looked gorgeous, plus the way her body moved around so gracefully, was driving Chaeyoung crazy.

 She felt someone nudging on her arm. Hard.

“Ouch!” she whispered.

 Sana chuckled.

“You are too cute” she giggled.

 Chaeyoung blushed but said nothing. She heard Sana chuckling again.

“What?” Chaeyoung asked, just a tiny bit annoyed.

 Sana smiled.

“Nothing, I just think it’s cute how you drool over Mina-chan, that’s all” she shrugged with a knowing smirk.

 Chaeyoung’s face fell, she felt her whole body suddenly heating up.

 She turned to look at Dahyun, just to make sure she didn’t hear anything.

 Sana chuckled once again.

“Relax, your friend wasn’t paying attention”

 Chaeyoung frowned.

“I wasn’t drooling-“

“Oh, please” Sana laughed “I wasn’t born yesterday, Mina-chan inviting you over, her keeping you company downstairs… I mean, something’s going on, I’m not that dumb, and I know her”

 Chaeyoung kept quiet once again. She felt Sana’s hand on hers. She freaked a little but tried her best not to pull away.

“Anyways, whatever is going on between you guys, I haven’t seen Mina-chan so happy in a while… So, thanks, you know, for being her… friend” Sana smiled at her.

 Chaeyoung smiled back, however she was a little taken aback. First off, she didn’t think she was being that obvious. Second off all, she didn’t expect Mina’s sister to be okay with… whatever was going on. Because, seriously, what was going on?

 They had known each other for a few weeks, it’s not like they knew each a lot. Sure, Chaeyoung knew Mina loved dancing, she’d been learning ballet since she was a little kid, she was Japanese, her sisters didn’t want her to go to the Underground Hideout, she didn’t live under the best conditions… and what else? Chaeyoung had no idea which school Mina attended, which grade she was in (to her credit, she did try to ask, but Mina just avoided the subject completely), she didn’t even know how they ended up in Korea, with no parents. Although she had a little hunch that Mina would tell her about it when she felt comfortable enough.

 So really, how much did they know each other?

 I know Mina enough to like her, Chaeyoung thought. And yes, it was true.

 The girl was gorgeous, kind, shy, funny, and her dancing skills had Chaeyoung mesmerized. She had to admit ballet was a little… well, new. She was used to hardcore dancing, with lots of flips, stunts, break-dancing and more… uh, lively music. However, ballet fitted Mina just fine.

 Her movements were so elegant and delicate. And her clothes made her look so damn good.

 The music stopped, and the group stayed still in their last position still for a few seconds, once the music died completely the crow started clapping.

 And, so did Chaeyoung, although she had zero idea if the performance was good enough for the judges (because seriously, she didn’t know anything about ballet), she clapped with a smile on her face.

 She saw Mina was looking around, probably trying to spot them. When their eyes met Mina smiled brightly and looked like she stopped herself from waving, she was still on stage after all. Chaeyoung smiled back and winked at her trying to say “I told you I’ll be here!”, although she really doubted Mina could understand her.

“Well, someone’s happy you are here” Sana teased next to her.

 Chaeyoung rolled her eyes but didn’t stop smiling, Mina was still looking at her.

 The smile on Mina’s face banished however when the judges announced they had the scores.

 She had this serious, and oh, so attractive, look on her face.

 Chaeyoung had no idea what the heck the judges were talking about but when they finished talking Mina’s group was all smiles and giggles… That could only mean they did good… hopefully.

 Well, when in doubt, ask, right?

“Sana-ssi?” Chaeyoung whispered.

 Sana turned to look at her with a bright smile.

“Huh?”

“What were the judges talking about?”

 Sana chuckled.

“They were scoring their technique, performance and giving their opinion on some movements they did, for example, they were really pleased with Mina’s Fouetté”

“Her fout-what?” Chaeyoung asked confused.

 Sana laughed.

“Mianhe, a fouetté is that spinning thing Mina-chan did when she was at the front, remember?”

“Oh!”

 Chaeyoung kind of understood… However, Mina did a lot of “spinning things”… she’ll just ask her about it later.

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

 Dahyun heard chuckling next to her, she blushed a little. It was the same chuckle she heard before.

 She turned to her right and, to her surprise, one of Chaeyoung’s friends was sitting next to her. She couldn’t remember her name though.

“What’s with the face?” The girl asked.

 Dahyun was confused.

“What face?”

“The one you were making just now, something like-” The girl tried to make a serious expression, which looked more funny than serious.

 Dahyun couldn’t help but laugh.

“I didn’t look like that!” Dahyun whined, a smile on her face.

 The girl nodded.

“You did” she said dramatically.

Dahyun rolled her ey