Chapter 21: Phones

 Momo wasn’t sure what the heck was going on. She didn’t mind it though.

 She had met Dahyun a few hours ago, yet they had been talking on the phone for about forty minutes already while Momo, Sana and Tzuyu waited for Mina to come out from the changing room.

 Talking with someone over the phone, that was new.

 She had a few friends, Yuta being the first on the list. Sana and Mina didn’t count, they were already family, sisters to her. And… okay, maybe Yuta was her only friend, as in friend, she knew other people, but she wasn’t too close to them.

 Momo sadly smiled at the thought.

 She never really cared about having or not having friends. She didn’t have time to think about friendship when she was younger, too busy trying to gain enough money so they wouldn’t starve. Now, she didn’t have time either, she spent most of her time making choreographies and then rehearsing them for the next competition. She didn’t have time for friends… But for some weird reason, she didn’t mind befriending Dahyun.

 She was relieved when Dahyun told her she didn’t get in trouble. She’d never been to middle school or high school, but she could imagine how important it was not to get detention when you were about to graduate, especially when you were trying to get accepted in college, which she was pretty sure was Dahyun’s case.

“The only bad thing is Chaeyoung-ah is getting detention anyways” Dahyun’s voice said through the phone.

 Momo made a face.

“Didn’t you say she usually got herself in trouble anyways?”

“I mean, yes but, but still, her sister’s going to be so mad at her, I probably won’t be able to hang out with her for a while, and she’s my-“Dahyun stopped herself.

 Momo frowned.

“She’s your?” She encouraged.

 Dahyun sighed.

“She’s my only friend” she whispered.

 Momo frowned once again.

“Okay, let me stop you right there” she said without thinking, she hesitated for a minute before speaking again “I mean, we can be friends, right?”

 Dahyun stayed in silence. Momo panicked, was it too much?

“I- I’m so-“

“You’re serious?” Dahyun asked and Momo could hear hope in her voice.

 Momo smiled.

“Dead serious”

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

 Mina’s thoughts were all over the place.

  CHAEYOUNG HAD KISSED HER.

 Her first kiss. It was with Chaeyoung.

 Mina couldn’t help but smile.

 She didn’t care that Chaeyoung had to leave earlier, in fact, she was kind of relieved. She wouldn’t see her dancing with her stupid partner who did try to kiss her. She was fast enough to dodge his lips, their ending pose ended up being nothing like what they had practice but still managed to look good. At least it didn’t cost them any points with the judges. Good, because their teacher was mad enough.

“Moon Jongup-ssi, what was that?!” She yelled once they were backstage.

 Mina ignored the whole conversation, they had a high score, which was the important part.

 After half an hour more of performances, the judges needed fifteen more minutes to make their final decisions.

 They won. Second place in the group category, third in the duet category and an upperclassman won first place in the solo category. Their teacher couldn’t be happier.

 Mina was beyond excited. It was the first time she could compete and it had been amazing, all their hard work paid off, a feeling she loved.

 Sana, Momo, and Tzuyu were waiting for her in the hallway, right next to the door that leaded backstage. They hugged her so hard she was scared of dying… Okay, Sana crashed her bones, Momo hugged her with a proud smile and Tzuyu congratulate her with a bright smile.

 Yes, it was a good night.

From: Chaeng<3

Heeeyy, how did it go? You won right? I can’t be on the phone for too long, or I’ll be calling you… Anyways, tell me how it went

From: Chaeng<3

 and…

From: Chaeng<3

 Your lips are reaally soft >.<

From: Chaeng<3

 byeeee

 Mina blushed. They were walking back to the apartment, Sana and Tzuyu walking ahead of them, arms linked. Momo was next to her, not talking much. However, when Mina picked up the phone, she raised an eyebrow.

“Who’s that?” she asked.

 Mina panicked. She hoped Momo hadn’t read the message, she doubted but you can never be too sure about anything, right?

“J-just a friend” she quickly replied.

 Momo frowned but stayed quiet. Mina sighed in relief.

To: Chaeng<3

We won 2nd place in group performance and 3rd in the duet one :D We’re going back home now

To: Chaeng <3

Oh? My lips are soft? I can’t remember how yours feel… Guess you’ll have to remind me ;)

 Mina bit her lower lip as butterflies flew around her stomach.

Where did that come from?

  She put her phone in her back pocket, trying not to raise any suspicions from Momo, although she was dying to know what Chaeyoung would reply.

 They were halfway home and Chaeyoung still hadn’t texted back. Mina panicked. Did she go too far? Was the text too much?

“Yah, how about having jokbal for dinner? Sounds good?” Sana asked, turning around but still, her arm was locked with Tzuyu’s.

 Mina noticed how Momo’s face lit up.

“YES!” She almost screamed.

 Sana laughed.

“Alright, there’s a place a block away,” she said before turning back around.

 Momo’s smile couldn’t be brighter and Mina was reminded she wasn’t much older than her.

 Ever since they were young, Momo took full responsibility and acted as the adult. Of course Sana was there to help and act as her right-hand, but Mina never thought of Sana as an adult or authority. When it came to Momo, however, she made the rules, Sana and Mina obeyed. Much like parents did with their kids.

 She was happy whenever she saw Momo smiling. There was a time in which Momo wouldn’t make any kind of expression, she didn’t smile nor cry, she just breathed. That had been the time in which they still were in Japan, away from their parents. Alone.

 Mina shook her head. She didn’t like thinking about that.

 Her phone vibrated in her pocket. She smiled, totally ignoring the fact that maybe Chaeyoung was uncomfortable at her reply.

From: Chaeng<3

Are you flirting with me, Mina-ssi? Don’t worry, next time I’ll make sure you won’t forget ;)

From: Chaeng<3

Congratulations! :D I really wish I could’ve stayed though :(

From: Chaeng<3

I’m sorry if I don’t answer fast… I shouldn’t be using my phone, but whatever, you are worth it<3

 Mina smiled at the screen, once again she felt butterflies flying around her stomach, and a warm feeling invading her body.

“Is that your friend?” Momo asked.

 Mina turned to look at her, Momo had an eyebrow raised and a weird look in her eyes.

“Uh… yeah” she answered, not really knowing what else to say.

 Momo nodded.

“I really liked the duet performance”

 Mina gulped, she hoped Momo didn’t bring up what her partner tried to do.

“Thanks”

“That ending was a little weird though… Were you guys supposed to kiss, or what?”

 Mina blushed. She internally cursed her luck, of course, Momo would ask her about it.

“No! Jongup-san did it out of the blue, I don’t know what’s wrong with him!” Mina explained, her voice slyly louder than usual.

 Momo laughed.

“Alright! Chill, I was just asking!” She said, hands raised in defeat “You can’t blame the poor boy for trying, you are really pretty, Mina-chan”

 Mina blushed.

“Not true”

 Momo rolled her eyes.

“See, that’s what pretty people say whenever they get a compliment” she teased.

 Mina was about to reply, but they were about to cross the street and she hadn’t text Chaeyoung back.

To: Chaeng<3

Trust me, you didn’t want to stay… You didn’t miss anything :p

 Mina chuckled. She wondered if Chaeyoung was the type to get jealous easily… Not that she wanted to find out anytime soon.

To: Chaeng<3

I’ll look forward to “next time” then :* And no worries, just don’t get in trouble… I don’t want your sister to get mad because of you using your phone :/

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

 They were finally at the apartment, Mina was in the bathroom, Momo went to buy something to drink (something about tonight being too special for water), which left Sana and Tzuyu alone.

 Sana turned to look at Tzuyu and smirked.

“I can finally do this” She whispered before pulling Tzuyu closer and kissing her lips.

 Tzuyu chuckled before kissing back.

“Your sisters could come here any moment” She said between kisses.

“Hmm, don’t care” Sana answered.

 She kept on kissing Tzuyu’s lips, and Tzuyu did nothing but kiss back.

If you can’t beat them, join them

“Wow, uhm… I’ll- yeah”

 Tzuyu pushed Sana away, that was definitely her younger sister, Mina.

 The bathroom’s door closed, Tzuyu looked at Sana.

“I told you!” She scolded.

“Relax, I-I’ll talk to her, no big deal”

 Tzuyu raised an eyebrow.

“I mean it! Mina won’t be weirded out or something”

 Tzuyu crossed her arms over her chest.

“How can you be so sure?”

 Sana smirked at her.

“You are cute when you pretend to be mad” She said before pecking her lips.

“I’m not pretending!” Tzuyu whined.

 Sana chuckled before kissing her again.

“Sure thing babe”

 There it was again, the warm and weird feeling she had when Sana was around.

 It was weird.

 Usually, Tzuyu didn’t trust, she didn’t do feelings, she didn’t do people… At all. However, Sana was different. It was cliché as , but it was also true. Maybe it was Sana’s bubbly personality, maybe it was how she helped her when they didn’t even know each other, maybe it was how cuddly she was, maybe how gorgeous she was or her amazing body. Because, man, Sana had an amazing body.

 She sat on Sana’s bed as she watched the girl walking towards the bathroom. She said something in japanese, probably telling Mina, the youngest sister, to open the door.  Apparently, it took a bit more convincing -she heard Sana talking a bit more- until Mina opened the door.

 Tzuyu sighed, her eyes dropping to the floor.

 The last thing she wanted was Sana’s sisters hating her. Not only because, duh, they’re Sana’s sisters, you’re supposed to get along with your whatever-Sana-and-her-are siblings. She could definitely tell Momo didn’t like her that much, but she had hoped it would be different with Mina.

 Maybe getting caught kissing her sister wasn’t exactly the best plan to be on Mina’s good side.

 She cursed in Chinese, she could hear Sana’s and Mina’s voice inside the bathroom, it didn’t sound like they were having the most friendly conversation… She took a deep breath.

 Her mind wondered.

 What if Mina started hating her? What if she didn’t want her to stay with them? Momo wouldn’t care if she was gone, probably she’ll be happy if Tzuyu stopped staying with them… And then it’ll be Sana against her sisters and she really, really, didn’t want that to happen. She knew first hand how it felt being against your family, not a feeling she’ll want Sana to ever experience.

 She sighed, suddenly remembering the reason why she ended up there in the first place.

 She was escaping from her family. Well, not her entire family but her father.

 Tzuyu frowned at the memory.

 Being completely honest, she was scared to death when she stepped into the airport. She knew her father somehow found out about her plan and hired someone to follow her. She confirmed it once she arrived at Seoul’s airport, she had been followed.

 They’ve probably taken the private jet, there was no other way they’ve gotten to Seoul faster than she did.

 Luckily, no one on the plane recognized her. Is not like she was famous or something, but there had been a couple of news regarding her father and his “extremely gorgeous” daughter, especially when he announced he was looking for pretendants.

 Of course, no one with enough brains to function would try to spouse one of Taiwan’s most powerful gang leader’s daughter. No, to the average citizen she was Chou Tzuyu, daughter of one the richest CEO’s in Taiwan. Tzuyu always thought it was a dumb cover, but he hasn’t been discovered so maybe, just maybe, her father knew what he was doing.

 Ever since she was little, Tzuyu remembered seeing important-looking-men in suits walking around her house -alright, mansion. She never liked the look on their eyes, how they eyebrows were always furrowed, they always looked so serious -so angry.

 Her mom always tried to keep her away from the hallways whenever they were there, that didn’t stop young-and-curious Tzuyu from eavesdropping. She never heard anything too interesting, once in a while she’ll hear a largue amount of money being mention, once she heard the important-looking men talking about drugs -she figured out years later that “crack” was the name of, apparently expensive, drug.

 Her eavesdropping habit stuck around. As she grew older and taller, it became more difficult to hide. Thankfully, she was smart. She used her credit-card and bought really, really, like extremely tiny microphones. The hard part was getting it inside her father’s office, she had to wait until he went on a “business” trip before she could install them -which turned out to be quite tricky.

 Tzuyu used to do her homework while she heard her father’s meeting’s recordings. She didn’t have to worry about anybody walking in her room, still, she used the best pair of sound canceling headphones she could find. She also made sure to encrypt the files -she had a lot of free time to learn how to do it- just in case her father started suspecting anything.

 Tzuyu was finishing her Korean homework -her father insisted it would be useful- when she hard it.

“I finally found the perfect husband for my daughter, he’s the heir of a big company in China; think about it, once Tzuyu’s married we’ll have full access to the company and a bunch of new clients and potential associates-”

 Tzuyu didn’t register what else her father said. She was in shock.

 When her father announced to the entire country that Tzuyu’s hand was available, she didn’t care. Sure, she was pissed about her father taking decisions for her, but what could she do? She knew what happened when her father got mad… He made sure she’ll never forget. She choosed to ignore the fact that she’ll probably get married at the young age of seventeen to a man who was probably older than her and who she didn’t know at all.

“But sir! I thought we had an agreement, what about-?”

 Tzuyu heard another man talking, questioning her father. The man had her whole attention now.

“What about what Tuan?” Her father asked, rather yelled, “I said, your boy would spouse my daughter if your company got a better position on the market, from what I can see that didn’t happen, so don’t you dare yell at me again!”

 Tzuyu took a deep breath, trying to process the who