Even once our eyes had broken contact, my mind was still absorbed in the connection Momo and I had just made. Never before had I witnessed eyes that held such sad emotions. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what kind of situation the poor girl was in and it even made me feel guilty for crying about myself.

But then, I began to smell a faint aroma of cinnamon, a smell that made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. So much so that I stopped all worrying completely.

“Earth to Mina!” a distant voice rang in the back of my mind.

“Oh my gosh, wait, could this be one of those silent ?! Ive read about these!” the sentence was littered with panted breaths and the speaker was clearly exhausted.

“Don’t worry, I’m CPR certified!”

It was at this moment that I was finally dragged back to reality – just in time too…

My eyes opened to a close-eyed, puckered-up Chaeyoung leaning over me as her face was looming dangerously close to my own. Wanting to stop her, but not knowing where to grab, my hands panickedly whipped up to cup her cheeks.

“Chaeyoung…? I don’t think you’re supposed to close your eyes during CPR…” It felt as if my hands had grabbed onto handwarmers as Chaeyoung’s face lit up into a bright shade of pink.

Our eyes stayed locked for what seemed like hours. Neither of us really knew how to react to the situation so we just stayed in our respective positions as Chaeyoung’s face reached feverish temperatures.

“I-I knew that!” the girl managed to stutter as she straightened her back and pulled away from me in embarrassment.

I was still in a little bit of shock from waking up to a situation like that, but I couldn’t help laughing off the tension. Although this girl is far from normal, her intentions are always pure and her reactions are way too cute. To be honest, I didn’t even know what had happened to me so I don’t blame Chaeyoung either. It was as if Momo’s eyes had put me under some sort of spell…

My thought process was cut off by the coughing fit of the younger girl on the bench next to me. At first it sounded to me like she was just trying to cough away the awkward tension in the air, but her coughing started to sound more dry and painful, to the point where it seemed like she was extremely sick.

“Are you okay?” I questioned the girl who continued to cough into her elbow.

“Y-Yeah…” she managed once the sporadic fit had ended. “I’ve had a coughing problem my whole life so it’s not a big deal… but you should at least pick up your feet once in a while.”

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry! I’m not sure what happened to me back there…”

“Did Momo do something to you? Because if she did I swear I’ll-“

“No! She didn’t do anything it’s fine Chaeyoung…” I quickly interrupted her as she raised a fist in anger. “In fact, it’s the opposite. It’s the fact that she hasn’t done anything which is bothering me…”

“Yeah, she’s going through a rough time right now…” Chaeyoung obviously seemed disturbed with where our current conversation was headed. “Anyways we’re almost there. Let’s get to the restaurant now, shall we?” She offered me her arm, the one she hadn’t coughed in, and waited for my response expectantly.

“Of course!” I couldn’t help laughing at her funny gesture as I smiled and hooked my arm around hers.

*****

We continued our walk, more casually now, as I took in the sights around us for the first time ever. All these stores and shop stalls were in walking vicinity of my apartment and the school, but studies had taken such priority in my life that I never had time to just walk around before.

I must’ve seemed like an excitable little child as I marveled at every single pretty or intriguing object we passed by.

“AHH! Look at that dress! Isn’t it beautiful?!” I jumped up and down pointing at one of the shop windows, tugging on Chaeyoung’s arm as she was obviously not as amused as I was. People stared at me in bewilderment, and usually I would care when I’m alone, but Chaeyoung was there to protect my image.

“So you’re a dress kind of girl, huh?” Chaeyoung smirked as she eyed the black gown up and down skeptically.

“Of course I am! Aren’t you?” I questioned in disbelief that there was a single human being in this world that couldn’t fall in love with such a beautifully procured garment.

“I mean it’s pretty… I’ve just… never worn a dress before…”

“NEVER?!”

In a flash I found myself raking through a rack of dresses trying to find the perfect one for Chaeyoung to try on, despite her constant refusal. As I continued to shuffle through dresses upon dresses, I began to realize how hard it actually was to pick one out for someone else. I had always had a simple time finding something that fit my own style, but with Chaeyoung’s shorter hair and smaller body shape, I had no idea what worked. But eventually, with the help of the store owner, we chose a short summer dress and locked Chaeyoung in one of the fitting room stalls against her own will.

After about fifteen minutes of complaining, waiting, and whining, I was at the point where I was about to step in there and put it on the girl myself. I had never felt this impatient about anything before and I was even shocked at myself. But I realized I wasn’t shocked about the feeling of annoyance I felt, but rather towards the feeling of happiness I had. I felt happiness just at the fact that I was here with someone, and the fact that they were relying on me to find a dress for them.

“How much longer do you freaking need?” I hounded impatiently for the umpteenth time.

“I-I can’t do it…”

“Can’t do what?! Do you need me to put it on you myself?”

There was a pause as if Chaeyoung was actually debating on her answer to my previous question.

“N-No!... I… I can’t show it to you…”

“Are you kidding me Son Chaeyoung?! On the count of three I’m going to kick down this door!”

“One…”

“No stop!”

“Two…”

“Fine I’ll come out!”

“Two and a half…”

The door slowly creaked open as my eyes had to adjust to the new scene in front of me.

The figure standing behind the now-open door had to be the cutest thing I had ever laid my eyes on.

The dress was white and had colored polka-dots on it which complemented Chaeyoung’s bright complexion. The exposed shoulders on the dress weren’t exactly suited for the weather, but it showed off the girl’s lean figure pristinely. Even though the heels were meant to give her a different vibe, the combination of the two made her into the ideal cute girl. I would be jealous of any guy that dated her.

“Why do you keep staring?” Chaeyoung’s eyes were pointed at the floor and her cheeks were just as flushed as they were during our previous bench incident.

“Because you’re just the cutest little thing I’ve ever seen!” I chimed as I ran up to pinch her cheeks.

“Mina-unnie! Stopppp!” Chaeyoung whined as she attempted to fight back against my pinching. “Don’t you think it’s a little too revealing?”

Mina-unnie? This was a name I could get used to.

“What do you mean?” I halted my attack for a brief second to address the shorter girl’s concerns.

“I mean, I think I’m showing too much when I shouldn’t... Especially since I’m not pretty enough for it like you are…”

I couldn’t believe what she was saying… She really thinks I’m pretty? But more importantly, there’s no way I ever had any intention of putting down her self-esteem. I had to set the record straight.

My fingers lifted her chin up to meet my eyes.

“Chaeyoung look at me.”

Her puppy-dog stare met my own and she looked as if she were right about to burst into tears.

“Do you think that you look pretty in that dress? Answer me honestly. I don’t care about what you think others will say.”

She weakly nodded her head as it was still grasped in my hand.

“Then shouldn’t that be all that matters?”

“That’s easy for you to say. You’re perfect at everything you do…” She averted her eyes again as she scoffed at my words.

“Is that really what you think?”

There was no response.

“You think that I never get made fun of either? Hell, it even happened on the very first day of school!”

She looked back at me with bewilderment and rage as if she wanted to take on every single person who had made fun of me upon hearing the news.

“But guess what,” I continued, “None of it matters. None of it matters as long as you believe in yourself.”

Her eyes now held a twinkle within them as if she were taking the things I was saying to heart.

“They can say what they want to say about you. They can do whatever they want to do to you. But as long as you know yourself at the end of the day, that’s all that matters Chaeyoung.”

I wiped away the tears rolling down her cheeks with my thumb as she rested her head on my shoulder.

“T-Thanks, Mina-unnie,” the girl whispered between sniffles.

I was out of breath at this point from speaking my mind so vigorously, but as I held Chaeyoung in my arms it felt as if my words actually held some sort of value.

I felt proud. I felt powerful. I felt accomplished. It was like I was solving the problems of the little sister I had wanted all my life. And I never wanted this feeling to go away.

“By the way, didn’t we have a restaurant to go to?” I calmly stated as I released her from the hug.

“But what about the dress?”

“Keep it. I’ll pay for it,” I reassured her with a smile and ran off to the cash register before she had the time to reject my offer.

*****

“I’m sorry, you missed your time slot and we gave your table away to someone else,” the waiter reported while making a circular motion with his hands.

“Are you kidding me?!” Chaeyoung screamed at the waiter. The previous expression of anxiety she carried on her face the whole walk to the restaurant as people stared at her dress had disappeared completely.

“I’m afraid I am not ‘kidding you’” the waiter retorted sarcastically. “If you’d like to wait however, we could always get you another table in… 45 minutes? We’ve got guests who actually make it on time to tend to.”

There was more arguing th