Momo quirked an eyebrow in confusion. She wondered what kind of reaction was that because, for some kind of reason, Mina seemed... disappointed?   

"H-He's cute." Mina said, breaking the awkward silence that followed. 

"Yeah, he is. But he's mine." Momo put her phone back in her pocket, a smile still on her lips. 

Mina didn't say anything. Momo had made the situation awkward again. She didn't possibly think that what she said could have sounded rude? Momo only noticed by the way Mina looked away and frowned. 

"I-I'm just kidding! Well, I mean, he's my boyfriend after all, but I wasn't being cocky or anything, or saying that you're interested or..." Momo talked fast, stumbling over her own words, trying to fix the misunderstanding. She sighed and shook her head, embarrassed of herself. "I sounded rude, I'm sorry." 

Mina slowly met Momo's eyes. Their gazes locked, without a single word spoken. Momo felt that strange, magnetic force she was getting used to when their eyes met. Like a spell that made her unable to look away from Mina's deep brown eyes. 

Momo could only wonder what was happening with her. Why could Mina make her heart beat so fast and her mind go blank just by looking at her eyes? And why couldn't she make it stop?  

--- 

"You should be proud of me." Momo said, stuffing a big piece of sushi in her mouth. "Today, I didn't feel like strangling her even once!"  

Jungwon laughed and messed up Momo's bangs. 

"See, you could do it. It was easy, right?"  

"Well..." 

"You should have seen, Jungwon!" Sana was already laughing and she hadn't even said anything. "She called her Myoui-chan, out of nowhere! It was so funny!" 

"And you're still having fun with that?" Momo glared at her sister, already feeling her cheeks warming up as she remembered the scene from earlier. "I apologized to her about it... And she said I can address her like that." An unconscious smile appeared as she finished the sentence.  

"You're smiling... You're happy about it aren't you?" Sana teased, pointing at her with her chopsticks.  

Momo eyed her sister, confusion taking over her features. Then, she realized that she was right – she was smiling over the simple fact that Mina gave her permission to call her Myoui-chan. 

"N-No, I wasn't... I'm just happy that I'm keeping my promise. You should be happy too! I'm just doing this because of you guys." Momo munched on another sushi piece. 

Sana exchanged a look with Jungwon, both of them with smiles on her faces. 

"Momo has a new friend!" It was now her boyfriend's time to . 

"She's not my friend!"  

"You wouldn't call her Myoui-chan if you didn't consider her your friend." Sana teased a bit more. 

The blonde sighed out loud and Jungwon could only laugh. 

"I told you, I'm just doing this because I promised you guys I would change my attitude towards her, not because I suddenly like her!"  

"Fine, fine, Momoring." Sana said, still with a mischievous smile on her lips.  

After dinner, Momo managed to convince Jungwon to stay a bit more with her. But she was already regretting it, because he still hadn't stopped teasing her about Mina. In the end, Momo ended up confessing that the red haired girl was not that bad. She was somehow cute, definitely talented and now that Momo thought about it, not once did she see Mina's annoying expression throughout the day. Maybe Momo was, indeed, imagining things. 

--- 

The next Monday arrived before Momo could even notice it. 

Last Thursday, at the academy, they managed to record the cover without any problem at all. And Mina was also there. So, what could Momo conclude with this? That maybe the problem was her, after all, and not Mina. It really didn't matter if she was there of not. Momo was just lacking focus and control of her own mind. So, even with Mina's presence and eyes on her, she didn't do any mistakes at all. She just had to ignore that fact that she was there and focus on her goal. 

And the fact that she could already be in her presence and look at her without automatically hating her felt like it removed all the tension from her shoulders. In fact, she was slowly coming to understand that Mina was actually not what she thought she was. She could smile and laugh, and be fun to talk to. On Thursday's lunch break, they talked a lot, mostly about KPOP, sharing some groups the both of them really liked. And to Momo's surprise, it was Mina that initiated the conversation (with trembling words, as usual). Momo could see Mina was also making an effort to talk to her and break the awkwardness that always surrounded them.  

Because Victoria was busy on Saturday, there was no academy class on that day. That meant that Momo hadn't seen or talked to Mina since Thursday. Maybe a week ago that would be a blessing for her. But now, she actually found herself wondering how Mina was doing and what could she be up to during the weekend. And then, she realized she hadn't her number yet. But why exactly did she need it? She was not going to text her asking how she was. Yet, they had classes together... It made sense, right? What if someday Momo needed to call or text her about an emergency and didn't have her number? 

So maybe now it was a good time to ask for it. It's normal for classmates to share it with each other, right? She took a deep breath trying to convince herself she wasn't doing anything weird and there was no reason to be so nervous. She could only hope she wouldn't mess up again or accidentally stare at her, as she seemed to do quite often.  

"Myoui-c-chan!" She called, trying to sound normal and somehow happy, but ended up being loud, almost scaring the poor girl, who jerked her head towards her. "Can I have your number?"  

Mina quirked an eyebrow in confusion. 

"Y-Your phone number! You know, we're classmates, we might need something or if something happens, it's always good to know I can reach you and, you know..." Momo ran over her own words, not meeting Mina's eyes anymore. 

"Here."  

Momo turned her eyes to Mina again. The girl was holding her phone in front of the blonde, as if asking her to take it. Momo hesitated first, but then grabbed it and started typing her own number on Mina's phone. 

"Are you okay? Your hands are shaking. Maybe you should cut down on caffeine." Mina asked, closely looking at Momo's hands grabbing her phone. 

That was a good question. Why was Momo shaking? And why didn't she notice she was? 

"B-Because... Sometimes it happens, when I'm t-tired. And I still am. A bit." She said, giving Mina's phone  back. 

She was truthfully tired, since they had just practiced their 'Call me Baby' choreo a couple times in a row. Project Class was going to start soon, so that meant they were about to present the week's worth of work to the whole class. Momo suggested that they practiced a bit more so that they could be more confident about the result.  

But being tired was a poor excuse, since they were both sitting on the grass, taking a rest.   

Mina nodded and typed something on her phone. A few seconds later, Momo's phone rang. She thought it was a blank text from Mina so she could save her number. But she actually wrote something on the text. Momo read it – "Let's work hard and slay with our cover!", with a cute cheering emoji. She smiled without noticing and looked at Mina. The girl's face was close to the color of her hair, and her eyes faced her own hands on her lap. Momo giggled.  

"Yes, let's show them how good we are!"  

Just when Momo said it, the bell rang, signaling the next class was about to start. The blonde got up and without thinking, extended her arm with the palm of her hand facing up towards Mina. When she realized what she was doing, Mina was already holding on her hand, accepting the help to stand up. Momo's cheeks were now matching the color of Mina's, as they walked side by side to class. In the middle of all of this, neither of them remembered Sana and Tzuyu were a mere feet away from them, cuddling and giggling, and they had just stormed off to class without them. 

--- 

Of course everyone prepared good performances. Momo didn't want to get cocky, but she thought the dance Mina and her worked on stood out. Sana and Tzuyu were really good too, dancing to Ariana Grande's 'Problem', but they were better (Mina disagreed with a shy smile, keeping her modest posture).  

After the performances, everyone sat down, waiting for Yuta's feedback. Everyone received praises also some advice and things they should fix on further assignments. In Yuta's opinion, Momo and Mina should work on their facial expressions, while Sana and Tzuyu on the power and energy put on their movements. Momo clicked her tongue and whispered to her side. 

"What does he mean by work on my facial expression?!" 

"I think we focused too much on our movements and timing and forgot about it." Mina whispered back. 

"I think there was nothing wrong with my expression." 

"You weren't seeing it, so you can't really tell." 

"Yeah, but..."  

Seemed like Momo didn't have an excuse this time. Mina subtly looked at her and giggled at her puzzled expression, trying to figure out something to say.  

"...so, great job everyone! I'm going to announce the next assignment so pay close attention!" Momo and Mina turned their attention to Yuta again. "First of all, you're going to work in pairs again. I'll be reassigning some pairs based on what I saw today, if I think you would benefit from working with someone else." 

Momo eyed Mina through the corner of her eyes. For a second, Momo hoped she would be assigned with her again. But she shook that thought away in the next second, wondering why she had it in the first place. 

"Hirai, Zhou, Hirai and Myoui, you're staying as you are."  

Sana and Tzuyu exhanged a look with happy grins. The blonde's head turned to Mina, their eyes meeting. Mina was the first to allow her lips to show a smile. Momo followed, with her heart skipping a beat. She looked to Yuta again, pretending to pay attention, because the only thing she could think about was why, deep down, she was so happy to work with Mina again.  

After announcing the pairs, Yuta started to explain the following assignment. 

"Each pair will draw a dance genre and a song. You will have to create a choreography all by yourselves, to a minimum of 2 minutes and a half, within the genre that you'll draw randomly. That means you don't get to choose." Disappointment all over the room. "And of course there's a theme, and it's going to be... love." He finished, eyeing the students closely. "Keep in mind love comes in all shapes and forms... So try to explore it and be creative. I recommend you don't stick to the obvious concept of love and that you step out of your comfort zones." 

Some of the students already looked pumped. Momo didn't know what to think. She loved creating choreographies, but she was afraid of the dance genre she would get.  

Yuta had a bag with folded papers inside. A student of each pair had to take one, with the genre and song on it. Momo volunteered to be the first one to draw. She got up, prayed to every god that she would pick hip-hop or street, if there was anything like that, and picked a paper from the bag. Momo sat back, closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and finally opened the paper, with Mina's eyes on it too.  

Contemporary. And the song was Beyoncé's 'Crazy In Love' - The 2015 remake... the slow one. Momo felt her world crash down and her hopes being crashed right in front of her. In contrast, Mina clapped in excitement, her smile showing her gums. 

"I can't do this..." Momo's thoughts came out from , as she sighed. 

"Hey Momo, guess what!" Sana sat beside her, showing her the paper she got. 

"You have to be kidding me!" Momo looked at her sister in disbelief. Her paper said Hip-Hop. "Sana-chan, swap with me, I got contemporary..." She whined, trying her best to charm her. 

"But..." Momo heard the soft whisper coming from Mina. 

The blonde looked at her and the happy smile that Mina had before was gone. Mina found Momo's eyes and her expression said everything. Mina was so happy that they got contemporary and now Momo was trying to change it, without even asking her first. Of course she was sad. 

"No, I... I was joking! I don't wanna change it! Well, I would prefer if we got hip-hop, but contemporary is fine." 

With a simple sentence, Mina's smile came back just as fast as it had disappeared just a few seconds ago.  

"I wouldn't do you that favor, anyways." Sana teased. 

"I said I don't want it." Momo glared at her sister, her voice with much more confidence than she expected. 

Momo glanced at Mina's grinning face. Momo had just accepted her terrible fate of having to create and dance to a contemporary choreo, all because of her, and her smile. That was the real reason, even though Momo convinced herself that she just wanted a challenge and Mina had nothing to do with it. 

--- 

Later that day, Momo was in her room, listening to the song she had to dance to with Mina. Just like Yuta recommended, she tried her best to let go of the obvious concept of love and come up with something out of the box. But nothing came to her mind.  

She thought about the love she had for Sana, Jungwon, her father and her friends. She didn't love any of them the same way. She didn't like Sana the same way she liked Jungwon, she didn't like Tzuyu the same way she liked Mina. But... How exactly did she like Mina? She started with hating her, but now, she somehow liked to talk with her and work with her. Maybe it could be a good concept... From hate to love. Not like she loved Mina, far from that! It was just for the concept. 

So, just before Momo stood up from her chair to start thinking up some moves, her phone rang. A text message, from Mina.  

[18:20] Myoui-chan 
Momo-senpai~! Even though you wanted to dance to hip-hop, you showed excitement about contemporary too! It made me really happy! :D Let's work even harder this time! I promise I'll make you see how much fun contemporary is as well~ 

Maybe it was a really good idea to ask for her phone number, after all.  

---

A/N: Hiiii~ things are slowly starting to happen yeeeey, expect fluff from the next chapters heheheeh <3