*Knock knock* *knock knock*

Tzuyu woke up at the sound of continuous knocking. She slowly opened her eyes and checked the time, 7:50am, it was almost time for her first period. However, Tzuyu seemed to be unfazed by the fact that she was absent the whole day yesterday and she was about to miss her first subject for today as well. She got up from bed and checked herself in the mirror, and boy, she thought she saw a freaking zombie in the form of her own reflection. Her eyes were puffy; circles under them were so dark; her lips were pale and a little dry; hair messy and unkempt. In short, she felt like and she looked like . (Author: This is how Tzuyu viewed herself here, but we all know that our maknae, under any given circumstance, will always look beautiful no matter what.)

She trudged her way towards the entrance.

Once Tzuyu had opened the door, she found herself trapped in the arms of… Mina, the last person she expected and wanted to see at that moment.

Mina pulled back and cupped Tzuyu’s cheeks, carefully examining her face, “What happened to you? Are you okay? We were so worried about you,” she said in one breath. She waited for an answer, but Tzuyu just stared at Mina; her eyes reflected no emotions, lifeless.

 “Chaeng told me you weren’t feeling well so I came here yesterday after school, but oppa (security officer) told me you didn’t want to accept visitors... Why weren’t you answering our calls?” Mina added softly.

Tzuyu scoffed. She backed away, effectively freeing her face from Mina’s hold.

“Why would I? Did you even bother answering my calls or even sending me a simple message saying that you’re okay? Because yes, I was worried and I felt stupid for worrying over nothing.” Tzuyu pronounced.

Mina was taken aback by that. Although Tzuyu didn’t shout, Mina felt the anger in every word that escaped the younger’s lips, and it somewhat scared her. She was scared of where it was going.

“I-I.. Tzuyu –“ she stammered.

Tzuyu crossed her arms over her stomach, “What? You don’t know what to say? Well, you don’t have to say anything because I know exactly the reason why,” she paused as she swallowed a thick lump forming in , “did you have fun with Nayeon unnie?”

Mina cursed in her mind. ‘Nayeon’ she thought. She had just been called out and it gave her this feeling of uneasiness. “Tzuyu, it’s not what you’re thinking…” Mina tried to reach out for Tzuyu, but the latter pushed her hand away.

“Really? Then what were you doing with her?” Tzuyu huffed, rolling her eyes. “You don’t have to answer that. I don’t care whatever it is that you did with her anyway. But the thing is, you didn’t have to ask her to tell me that you wanna stop our act. You could’ve at least told it to my face yourself. I thought you were better than this… ” Tzuyu’s eyes started to glisten. She inhaled deeply to prevent herself from breaking down.

“Tzuyu… I’m sorry…” was all Mina could say.

“Sorry?” Tzuyu said in disdain. You know what? I’m glad it’s over because I am so fed up with all these sh –“ she stopped herself from swearing, it’s just so not her, “I don’t want to be a part of your complicated life anymore. Goodbye, Mina unnie.”

And with that, Tzuyu slammed the door in Mina’s face.

“Tzuyu, wait! Please let me explain!” Mina kept knocking on the door, pleading for Tzuyu to hear her out.

“Leave me alone!”

She heard the younger girl shouted from the other side. Students passed by the hallway so Mina decided it was best not to make a scene. She heaved a long sigh before leaving, feeling dejected.

“So how is she, Mina-chan?” The security officer asked when Mina passed by the gate.

Mina pretended as if she didn’t hear anything; instead, she took something out of the inside pocket of her coat and handed it over to him.

“You can have this,” she said, before walking away from the officer straight to her car, leaving him confused as heck.

“What will I do with this?” He mumbled to himself, scratching his head as he held a stem of white rose up.

“Were you able to search for that article Mr. Choo assigned to you?” Jihyo asked.

“No. I have to go to the library –“

“Hey Jihyo,” Mina popped out of nowhere, nonchalantly disturbing the conversing girls. “We need to talk,” she told Nayeon in a serious tone, dragging the latter with her away from Jihyo.

Jihyo could only watch; eyes wide and mouth hanging open.

Mina hastily dragged Nayeon with her until they reached the far end of the 4th year department building’s hallway. She almost shoved Nayeon against the wall, and if Mina didn’t look like she was about to kill her, Nayeon would’ve thought that the Japanese girl was going to do dirty stuff to her like forcefully kiss her or something similar, just like in the movies. But, what’s about to happen is far from that, much to Nayeon’s dismay.

“What did you tell Tzuyu?” Mina said in a serious low tone, sending chills down Nayeon’s spine.

Nayeon’s heartbeat started to pace and it wasn’t because of Mina’s abrupt confrontation to her, but rather because of the close proximity between them. She could easily crashed their lips together if she wanted to.

“Will you calm down first?”

Mina let out a frustrated huff, “How do you expect me to calm down when Tzuyu is so mad at me?! What did you tell her?”

“I only told her that I already know everything and I thanked her for taking care of you.” Nayeon said, trying to avoid Mina’s gaze.

Mina knew there’s more to it than that though, so she crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow, “What else?”

“That’s it.” Nayeon murmured.

“WHAT ELSE?” Mina repeated, this time with more authority.

“Fine! I told her that there’s no need to continue pretending anymore.”

Mina gasped and gave Nayeon an incredulous look.

“Why the heck would you do that?!”

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