When Momo comes home from her dinner with the Myouis, she was expecting a quiet return since she figured that Sana and Nayeon are already sleep. That’s why it surprises her when she sees her mother and father in their living room.

“Happy birthday, Momo,”  Mr. Hirai greets her.

“Here’s your gift,” Mrs. Myoui adds, handing her a bag. Momo opens it and sees a box that contains the latest Apple Watch.

“Thank you.” Momo bows. This has always been a tradition for her birthday—they would go to dinner and her parents would give her the latest gadget. This is also the most that Momo sees her parents every year.

“Shall we go to dinner?” says Mr. Hirai. “You made us wait for a long time, Momo.”

“Oh, uh.” Momo clears . “I already ate.”

“You didn’t wait for us?” Mrs. Hirai retorts, looking hurt. But this only makes Momo annoyed. If they wanted to have dinner with her, then they should have reached out to her, shouldn’t they? Why are they even blaming her?

“Sorry,” is all Momo says. “I ate with Mina.”

“Who’s Mina?” Mrs. Hirai asks.

“My girlfriend,” Momo replies proudly. “I already introduced her to you guys at the gala.”

“Yes, I remember her,” Mr. Hirai speaks, narrowing his eyes. “The dancer.”

“Yeah. She’s a ballerina,” Momo responds.

“Well I guess there’s no point in being here anymore,” Mr. Hirai finally says. “Come on.”

Mr. and Mrs. Hirai walk out the living room without even saying goodbye to their daughter. Momo sighs.

“At least I had a good weekend,” Momo mutters to herself.

—

“Spill,” Mina says to Jihyo. The two best friends are at a coffee shop.

“Me? I should be asking you. Suddenly you and your girlfriend are so touchy, and, well, disgusting. What happened, Myoui?”

“Says the girl who kept kissing Tzuyu when we were in Jeju!” Mina retorts.

Jihyo blushes at the accusation. “Okay, yeah. I think the booze got to me, to be honest. It made me… braver, I guess? But that was in Jeju! I mean, Tzuyu and I talked about it. Under normal circumstances, we’re both not a fan of PDA.”

Mina nods. “I understand.”

“Yeah right,” mutters Jihyo, snickering at the girl. “I don’t think you do understand because you and Momo don’t seem capable of distinguishing public from private.”

“Were we really that…?”

Jihyo nods repeatedly, exaggerating her point. “But hey, if you’re happy with that, then fine.”

Mina lets out a low laugh. “I can’t believe we’re actually dating members of Twice.”

“I know. Sometimes I hate myself for it,” Jihyo replies jokingly.

—

“I found it! I found it!” Jihyo exclaims as she walks in the Twice lounge. All of Twice is there as well as Mina, who’s sitting beside Momo, and Sana.

“Oh no,” Tzuyu says, horrified.

“What?” Jeongyeon speaks up. “What did she find?”

“Your 2PM dance cover,” Jihyo replies, smirking.

“What’s so bad about it?” Momo asks. “If I recall correctly it went great.”

“You mean you were great,” Tzuyu spits out. “My Korean wasn’t very good then. I’m so cringeworthy there.”

“You’ll be fine, Tzuyu,” Chaeyoung assures her. Then she whispers to Jihyo, “I hope you’re still her girlfriend after this.”

The girls watch the cover on their widescreen TV (https://youtu.be/K4MnNTxogEA). Momo was blonde in the video—Mina almost forgot what she looked like with that hair. And Tzuyu was right; Momo was so good, Mina’s eyes were focused on her the entire time.

When the video ends Tzuyu buries her face in her hands.

“Why are you so embarrassed?” a grinning Jihyo asks her. “You were so cute!”

“But we weren’t supposed to be cute,” Tzuyu retorts, pouting at the older girl. “We were supposed to be cool like Momo-unnie.”

“Tzuyu,” Mina starts, “for the record you looked cool in my book.”

“Hey,” says Momo, “didn’t you watch me?” She pouts at her girlfriend.

“Of course I did,” Mina whispers. “I was watching you during the whole video.” She winks at Momo who just melts at the sight.

—

The weeks pass and the girls get busy with their exams. Mina’s the hardest to spot during these times—she doesn’t even go out of her room much to study. Texts with Momo are kept to a minimum, and Momo worries if the penguin is even eating.

“Don’t worry, jagiya,” Mina says to her over the phone, teasing her with the word “jagiya”. “I’m fine. I’m eating, okay?”

“Just don’t forget to take care of your health, please. I know you tend to like being focused on one thing, but I don’t want you to get sick just for some grades.”

“I know, I know. Momoring, I have to go, okay? I still have 50 flash cards to go.” Mina sighs. “I hope I can see you soon. It’s almost Christmas, too.”

“Me, too.”

“My mom wants you to come celebrate with us, actually,” Mina tells Momo. “She misses you.”

Momo chuckles but her heart warms up at that. “Sure, I’ll be there.”

“Great! Okay, I really have to go now.”

“Okay. Mina, I…”

“Yeah?”

Momo pauses and thinks about what she’s going to say—what she wants to say. But she shakes her head, and she's glad that Mina couldn’t see her right now. “Nothing. I miss you.”

“I miss you, too. Bye, Momoring…”

“Bye, Mitang.”

Momo sighs when the call is disconnected. She can’t say it yet. She’s not ready.

Even though she’s pretty sure she already loves Mina.