The weekend follows the night of the gala. Mina wakes up at her house. She vaguely remembers falling asleep in Momo’s car (she also remembers music playing in the car), but she’s not sure how she got to her bed exactly. She goes downstairs and sees her mom preparing the table for breakfast.

 

“You’re awake,” she says to Mina.

 

“Hey, mom,” Mina replies.

 

“How was your night with Momo?”

 

Mina’s eyes widen. “H—How do you know Momo?”

 

“How can I not know Momo, the daughter of Hirai Enterprises, the company that basically owns everything?” her mother squeals. Mina sighs. She knew her mom was going to react like this—well, her whole family, really.

 

“She brought you here last night,” Mrs. Myoui adds. “She even carried you to your bed.”

 

What?! Mina doesn’t remember that. How tired was she last night?

 

Her mother smirks at her. “Did something happen between you two last night? Because I would really love to have a Hirai as a daughter-in-law—”

 

“MOM!” Mina screams, aghast. “We’re not… I mean, nothing happened last night. And what are you even thinking? I’m still in college, you know.”

 

“Well, yes, but if you marry Momo then you wouldn’t need to finish your studies.”

 

Mina sighs. It’s always been this way. At first, they didn’t want Mina to go to college because they aren’t sure if they could afford for her tertiary education, but the girl’s high school teachers showed them her outstanding grades. Mina got a scholarship at Korea University, but the scholarship only covers the tuition fee and not the other fees. Not to mention her projects which require buying materials not funded by the university.

 

She’s sad that this has been the case for them, but she understands why her mother thinks that marrying Momo will solve their family’s problems.

 

“Don’t worry, mom. You won’t have to worry about my school stuff much longer.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“I… I got accepted into this project.” Yeah, we could call it that. “They’re paying me every month, and I'm gonna use the money to pay our debts as well as pay for my remaining years in college.”

 

“Really?” Her mom lights up, and it’s enough to ease Mina’s thoughts for now. “Well, that’s a really big help, yes. Although I think you should still continue dating that Momo girl. She’s nice.”

 

Mina suppress her laugh. Hirai Momo, a nice girl? Yeah, sure. Maybe when pigs fly.

 

“Wait,” Mina says. “How do you know about me and Momo…?”

 

“I’m your mother, Mina. And I surf the Internet.”

 

Mina chuckles. Right, their first picture (the one with the “kiss” on the cheek) must be all over social media by now.

 

“Your hair looks good on you,” Mina’s mom adds.

 

“Oh,” Mina replies, her hands unconsciously touching the tips of her hair. “Thanks. By the way, mom, I’m going to hang with Jihyo today.”

 

“Okay then. Be safe.”

 

When it comes to Jihyo, Mina’s parents don’t have to think twice about granting the girl permission. They’ve been friends for four years now, and Mina’s parents trust Jihyo with their daughter a lot.

 

“Thanks!” Mina kisses her mom on the cheek, going upstairs to prepare her things. Once she’s done, she walks a few blocks away from her own house to go to Jihyo’s.

 

“Knock knock!” she says outside the Park residence as she arrives. Jihyo opens the door a few minutes later, but looks at her best friend like she doesn’t recognize her.

 

“Annyeong, how can I help—Mina?”

 

“Hi.” Mina smiles at her.

 

Jihyo opens the door, gesturing for Mina to come in.

 

“Thank you. Look, Jihyo-yah, I’m really sorry for yesterday. It’s just that…”

 

“You couldn’t refuse your girlfriend,” Jihyo finishes for her.

 

“Well, y—yes,” Mina stammers, “but it’s much deeper than that. Momo…”

 

“You don’t need to explain,” Jihyo says. “Tzuyu told me about it.”

 

“What do you mean? What did she tell you exactly?” Mina asks, worried about what Tzuyu told Jihyo. But, Mina figures, if Momo trusts Tzuyu not to spill, then Mina should, too.

 

Jihyo shrugs. “She just told me that Momo’s family is complicated, and, well… she’s gonna need a girl like you in your life.”

 

Mina blushes, then clears to shake it off. “I’m really sorry, though. Do you have something planned for today?”

 

Jihyo shakes her head. “Not really. What do you have in mind?”

 

“Let’s eat! It'll be Momo’s treat.”

 

“Momo? Really?”

 

Mina nods. It’s what she made Momo promise to do if Mina wins the bet—which she did. Before Momo drove Mina home last night she gave her her credit card. “Don’t abuse it,” Momo told her.

 

“Consider it a peace offering from Momo,” Mina says.

 

Mina and Jihyo arrive at the restaurant Momo recommended. Knowing what food her best friend wants, Mina orders meat, meat, and more meat.

 

“Do you want to go karaoke later?” Mina asks while they’re waiting for the food. “I really want to make it up for yesterday.”

 

“No, I’m good,” replies Jihyo. “Tzuyu went with me yesterday.”

 

“Tzuyu?” Mina wonders if that’s the more interesting that came up when Tzuyu talked to Momo over the phone last night.

 

“Yeah. She was even asking me for tips on singing.”

 

“I’m sure she learned a lot, then.”

 

Jihyo chuckles. “Well she did go to karaoke with the trot goddess,” she jokes, referring to herself of course.

 

“She’s actually not bad,” Jihyo continues. “I thought she’d be self-absorbed because she’s so pretty and all that—”

 

“You think Tzuyu’s pretty, huh?” Mina smirks.

 

Mina watches as Jihyo’s cheeks turn slightly red.

 

“Well… All Twice members are pretty, you know…” Jihyo tries to defend herself.

 

This time it’s Mina who chuckles. “I think Tzuyu’s the prettiest though, don’t you think?”

 

“Um… Er…” Jihyo clears . “Anyway, I think I get it now, what you said when I asked you about Momo. And you said she's nothing like we thought them to be. I feel guilty now for judging them in the first place.”

 

Mina hums. Well, when Mina said that to Jihyo, Momo had been super mean to her. Now? She’s just mean.

 

(At least there’s an improvement.)

 

Speaking of the devil, Mina’s phone vibrates and she opens it to see a text from Momo.

 

From: Momo

minari lets practice on monday. already got a choreographer.

 

To: Momo

Ok. I’m free at 4.

 

“Did you know that Momo could dance?” Mina blurts out once she sends her reply.

 

“Jinjja?” says Jihyo, not looking up at Mina. She’s busy eating her meat at the moment.

 

“Yeah. They call her Dancing Mochine.”

 

Jihyo squints her eyes as she tries to recall a thought. “Dancing Mochine… That’s right! I’ve heard that before, in one of my classes. Some classmates of mine keep saying her YouTube performances are awesome and all that. Huh. I didn’t think it was Momo.”

 

“Yeah, we didn’t know it before. I was surprised, too.”

 

“Have you seen her on YouTube?”

 

Mina shakes her head. Jihyo gives her a knowing smile.

 

“Then I guess I know what we’re going to do for the rest of the day.”

 

After their hearty lunch, Mina and Jihyo go back to the latter’s house. As Jihyo declared, the two of them open up Jihyo’s laptop and start searching for “Dancing Mochine” on YouTube. They watch a few videos of Momo performing with other girls that Jihyo and Mina don’t recognize. Some of these group videos include Be Mine and Adult Ceremony. They also watch Momo’s solo dance videos like Problem, among others.

 

It’s probably from watching so many videos that got Mina so amazed, but when the day ends, before she could stop herself, she sends a text to Momo.

 

To: Momo

Can’t wait 2 dance with the Dancing Mochine =)

 

From: Momo

whatever minari. 🙄

 

Mina sighs. Even in texts, Momo can be so grumpy.

 

Little does she know, that because of this simple message, a certain Hirai is sleeping with a big smile on her face tonight.

 

---------------------------

A/N: I feel like this has been a slow burn so far, with 8 chapters spanning only 3 days. Sorry lol! I’ll try my best for the next updates to be much faster, because I want to write the MiMoments going through my head the past few days hehe. Thank you for the support so far! The next update will focus mainly on Mina and Momo’s dance practices and performance. Can you guess what they're going to dance? ;P