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Nayeon spent the next few days trying to avoid Mina like the plague. If the spell she cast worked, then she was too scared to know. Instead, Nayeon spent her days anxiously trying to find a spell that would undo the one she’d cast. Of course, her spell book was coming up short. She’d combed nearly every line of the book and had found nothing. But hey, there was still a chance it didn’t actually work, right? Nayeon clung to that hope, thinking maybe it was a good sign that Mina hadn’t seeked her out over the past few days. Surely if Mina had a crush on Nayeon she’d at least have knocked on her door once, right?

At their “family dinners” though, in which once a week the girls ordered takeout and all ate together, it was impossible to avoid the girl. Nayeon sat across from Mina at the kitchen table, avoiding all eye contact. She didn’t want to be too obvious with Jihyo and Sana there, but she was looking anywhere but at Mina, even when the younger girl spoke, which was rarely anyway.

“Wow Sana...you’re eating like you haven’t eaten anything in two days,” Jihyo remarked, watching the brunette inhale her Chinese food with a desperation she hadn’t witnessed before. In fact, Sana had eaten so well that she didn’t even have the chance to join the conversation transpiring at the table. was always filled with lo-mein. She barely had time to breathe.

Sana swallowed and smiled sheepishly. “I’m just really hungry tonight, I don’t know why.”

“No judgement here,” Jihyo assured.

“Speak for yourself. All the judgement here,” Nayeon replied, to which Sana pouted and stuck out her tongue.

“I’ll just work it off tomorrow,” Sana remarked.

“Work it off how exactly?” Nayeon asked.

Sana pressed her lips together and thought for a moment. “I’ll go to the gym.”

At this, everyone at the table laughed. Nayeon accidentally made eye contact with Mina during her laughing fit and so she abruptly coughed and looked away. “You’re going to go to the gym?” Mina questioned.

“Yes!” Sana put her hands on her hips. “I’m going to go to the gym on campus. I’ve been meaning to go...and suddenly I feel very motivated, so now is the time!”

“Take pics or it didn’t happen,” Nayeon teased.

Sana pouted again at Nayeon. “Fine, I will! I’ll show you all!” She stood up dramatically, pushing out her stool behind her. Then she marched toward the stairs.

“Sana!” Mina called. “The rest of your food...”

Sana spun around, momentarily losing her determined look, and marched back to the table. She silently picked up her take out container and fork, huffed, and then strode back toward the stairs. “I’ll show you all!” she repeated as she disappeared to the second floor.

After Sana left, the atmosphere grew heavier, and Nayeon could feel Mina’s eyes on her. Nayeon quickly cleared and set down her fork. “Well, I’m done. I gotta get my research paper done for Thursday.” She stood up and put her dishes in the sink. “I’ll talk to you guys later.”

“Your research paper,” Nayeon heard Mina say, and spun around to face the girl with a neutral expression. “What class is it for?”

“Human genetics, just a gen-ed class,” Nayeon murmured. “It’s giving me a headache though.”

“I can help you,” Mina offered, face lighting up suddenly. Nayeon bit her pointer finger nail nervously. “If want me to, that is.”

“I...uhh…”

“I took the course last semester so I still remember most of the topics and assignments,” Mina added. Nayeon could feel herself deflating like a balloon. Normally she’d take up an offer like that in a heartbeat...but now…

“Um, sure,” Nayeon sighed. No way she could come up with an acceptable excuse to get out of this one, especially not with Jihyo staring between the two of them curiously. “I’ll get my laptop and bring it back down here. We can sit in the living room.”

Mina simply nodded and Nayeon spun around to grab her laptop, dragging her feet when she reached the upstairs hallway. Mina and Jihyo finished eating and cleaning up while Nayeon grabbed her laptop. Nayeon took a deep breath and headed back downstairs.

“Have fun kids,” Jihyo taunted as she left the two of them alone. Nayeon could feel her palms growing sweaty. Jesus, pull yourself together girl! It’s just Mina. Mina who you went to highschool with. Dorky Mina with all her dorky secrets. Mina, who is now sitting on the couch looking at you expectantly. CRAP.

Nayeon wordlessly entered the living room and sat down on the couch next to Mina, being sure to leave an acceptable amount of space between them. She opened up her laptop and brightened the screen, turning it to face Mina.

“So the topic of the paper is the—”

“—you’ve been avoiding me.”

C-r-a-p. Nayeon held her breath for a moment and slowly lifted her eyes to look up at Mina. Mina was staring at her with a neutral expression on her face, but there was a hint of accusation behind her eyes.

“What? No I haven’t,” Nayeon assured, but she could hear her voice cracking under her nerves. “Really, I’ve just been super busy...I’m sorry it came across that way.”

Mina was silent for a moment, regarding Nayeon. She sighed loudly. “Did I do something wrong?” Her voice was shaky and quiet, and it was so soft and innocent that Nayeon felt like a soccer ball had been kicked directly into her chest.

“N-no! Mina, of course not! I really haven’t been avoiding you.”

“Before you’ve come out to the common space these past few days you checked to make sure I wasn’t there. It’s not a coincidence that I haven’t run into you at all. I saw you avoid me two days ago. As soon as you saw me coming up the stairs you made a bee-line for the bathroom like that’s where you were headed all along. And at dinner tonight you didn’t even look at me once. I’m not stupid.”

Nayeon squeezed her eyes shut for a second before she reopened them and took a breath.

“Please, just be honest. Tell me if I’ve done something so I can fix it and make it up to you.” Mina’s eyes began to shimmer and Nayeon could sense tears on their way. She’d never forgive herself if she made Mina cry.

“Mina, you’ve done nothing wrong,” Nayeon assured, setting her laptop beside her on the couch gently and taking Mina’s hands. “I promise. I’m the one who’s just been weird. I thought...I thought maybe…”

Mina leaned forward expectantly.

“I thought maybe you might like me…” Nayeon finished, breaking eye contact and dropping Mina’s hands. She gulped.

Mina smiled slightly. “Of course I like you, Nayeon.”

“No, not like that,” Nayeon explained.

Oh. Mina’s eyes widened and her face flushed. “No! I don’t like you like that Nayeon. I like Chaeyoung.” Mina’s brow furrowed slightly. “I like Chaeyoung,” she repeated again, this time more firmly.

“Okay,” Nayeon sighed. “Well now I feel really stupid. I’m sorry…”

Mina shook her head. “I guess I should be the one to apologize, for giving you that impression.”

Nayeon smiled slightly. “No, it was just me reading into things too much. I know you like Chaeyoung.”

Mina’s mouth twitched slightly and she bit her lip. “Yes, I like Chaeyoung. Now that you know that, can things go back to normal?”

“Of course,” Nayeon affirmed. She felt a huge weight lift from her shoulders. “Sorry I made things weird. Now, back to the paper…”

While Nayeon explained her thesis, and pointed out things she’d written already, Mina was struggling to focus. Her mind kept wandering back to what Nayeon had just said. How absurd for Nayeon to think that she liked her, right? Mina liked Chaeyoung, she had for months now. And things were slowly progressing between them. Chaeyoung and Mina were both invested in whatever their relationship was.

But why then, whenever Nayeon spoke that night, were Mina’s eyes automatically finding their way to Nayeon’s lips. Why then, sitting so close to Nayeon, did Mina’s heart rate feel like it was increasing. Why, then, whenever Nayeon looked at her, did she experience a strange feeling in her chest that almost left her breathless. I like Chaeyoung, Mina thought to herself. I don’t like Nayeon. Nayeon and I could never be together. We live together, for one, and that would make things awkward. But I just don’t see her like that. She’s a friend, just a friend. A really pretty, cute, friend with an adorable smile. Oh no.

The next day, Sana was surprisingly pumped to go to the gym. She packed a bag to bring with her to campus, and she planned to head there after classes. Arriving, she felt slightly self-conscious, but reminded herself that she needed to do this for her pride’s sake. She’d reward herself with texting Dahyun to see if there were any new updates on whether the love spell worked. It seemed that nothing had changed about their relationship over the past few days. They texted daily like usual, with Dahyun telling her funny stories and Sana spamming her with emojis. But Sana had to make sure and the only way to do that would be to meet in person.

Sana was hoping it’d be a nice, quiet work out, but much to her dismay she immediately ran into Momo and Jeongyeon, who were laying out on yoga mats doing ab workouts. Momo called out to her and waved and Sana walked over with a sheepish expression on her face.

“Uh, hey guys,” Sana called. “Fancy seeing you here.”

“Not really, since we practically live here. Fancy seeing you here is more like it,” Jeongyeon teased with a smile on her face. She stopped her workout and sat up, face glistening slightly with sweat but not in an unattractive way.

Sana laughed sarcastically. “Ha ha. Like I haven’t heard that one before. I’ve been really needing to start working out and I finally got the motivation. You guys will be seeing me around much more often.”

“Oh really?” Jeongyeon said at the same time Momo said: “That’s awesome!”

“Good for you, Sana,” Momo replied. “Now if only you could get your roommates to come too.”

“Ha, yeah right. I’d have to drag them here kicking and screaming.” Sana’s grip on her water bottle loosened. She didn’t feel as embarrassed to see the two of them here after talking for a minute. “Well, I’m gonna hit up the…” Sana’s voice trailed up as she looked at the rows of equipment. “...the elliptical. I’ll see you guys around!”

Momo and Jeongyeon waved as Sana walked away.

Sana figured starting on the elliptical was a safe bet. She’d run for a mile and see how she felt afterward. Surprisingly, despite being slightly winded, she felt okay. Her legs were burning pleasantly, and she felt like she could keep going. She ran for about an hour, and despite being a bit tired, she felt great afterward. She made sure to take a picture of her on the elliptical and sent it to her apartment group chat with the caption: “who’s laughing now?”

Feeling totally proud of herself, Sana texted Dahyun to see what she was doing this afternoon. It was a Tuesday, which meant the younger girl should be free after 3PM. Dahyun responded back after a few minutes, saying she was down to hang out at the apartment like usual. However, Sana was feeling extra bold.

Let’s do something different today! Want to go out window shopping and grab something to eat?

Sana took a breath and waited. Dahyun replied “sure”, with a smiley face. Sana couldn’t help but smile to herself as she read the message and managed to not trip over her own feet as she walked to her car. She’d pick Dahyun up from school, and she could really see if the spell worked then.

After going home and showering Sana felt giddy as she drove to Dahyun’s school, cranking Red Flavor in her car and singing along. She pulled up in the pickup loop, waving enthusiastically as she spotted Dahyun in her school uniform looking adorable. Dahyun hopped into the front seat and smiled at Sana. “Hey! Oh, did you dye your hair? It looks nice!”

Sana’s brow furrowed and she tilted her head slightly. “No, I didn’t. Why, does it look lighter or something?” She stared at herself in the rearview mirror, patting her head and running her fingers through it. Now that she did stare it did look a few shades lighter, so that it was more of a honey brown. “Huh...must be from...being out in the sun?”

Dahyun hummed in agreement, although she looked a bit mystified.

Sana simply shrugged. At least it didn’t look bad. “Guess what, I went to the gym today!” She pulled out of the loop and stepped on the gas, turning out of the parking lot and onto the road toward the mall.

The day after Mina helped Nayeon with her research paper, Mina was determined to set things straight with herself. All she needed to do was hang out with Chaeyoung and everything would make sense again. It had to. They had a night in to themselves. Jihyo would be out for the night hanging out with Jeongyeon and Momo, and so the girl had graciously offered Mina the room with a wink, much to Mina’s horror.

While Mina anxiously waited for Chaeyoung to arrive, holding onto her phone, unlocking it, only to lock it again, she noticed a light on in Nayeon’s room. Mostly because she was bored, but also curious, her feet brought her to the threshold between the upstairs hallway and Nayeon and Sana’s room. The door was open slightly, and Mina could see Nayeon laying in her bed, staring intently at her book of magic.

Mina found it slightly endearing to see Nayeon studying so hard. Usually her and Sana didn’t take things so seriously. Their level 10 test was coming up in a few months, and so it’d be time to hit the books soon and really master every spell they’d learned so far. Nayeon must’ve just been getting an early start. Either that or she was up to no good. Normally Mina would’ve thought the latter but for some reason today she was more inclined to believe that Nayeon was doing the right thing.

There was a knock at the door and Mina quickly ran down the stairs toward the door. She opened it up quickly and held it open for Chaeyoung, letting her inside. “Hey!” Mina replied cheerfully. She closed the door behind Chaeyoung and smiled at the shorter girl. They headed up to her room and Mina grew slightly anxious with every step, while Chaeyoung was nervous for a different reason. Tzuyu and Dahyun had tried to convince her that tonight was the night to officially ask Mina out, and maybe it was. Chaeyoung was slowly building the nerves to do it when the moment was right.

“What do you want to do?” Mina asked as she closed the door to her bedroom.

“What we normally do?” Chaeyoung suggested. Mina simply smiled and nodded. The two were watching a drama together but they were prefered to do it on Mina’s bed instead of the couch downstairs because it was cozier, even with the smaller laptop screen. They were sitting side by side, so close that they legs were touching.

When the show started, Mina sneakily looked down at Chaeyoung, watching her face closely and seeing the images from the laptop reflecting off her eyes. She continued to stare. She was searching. Searching for something that she normally felt whenever she looked at Chaeyoung. That warm, indescribable feeling that filled her entire body. She continued to stare and search, more desperately now. But where was it? That feeling, it wasn’t there. There was nothing, just a blankness. She didn’t even know what she had lost but she knew something was gone.

“Mina?” Chaeyoung asked, breaking the staring spell. Mina blinked, coming to her senses, and turned her eyes downcast

“Sorry,” she whispered.

“Is everything alright?” Chaeyoung asked, reaching forward to pause the show. Mina’s eyes remained fixed at the unmoving image on screen. There was a deep sadness reverberating inside her, so deep that it was beginning to feel like anger.

“I’m sorry,” she repeated. “I just…” her voice trailed off. She didn’t know what to say, or even where to began. “I feel different.”

“What do you mean?” Chaeyoung asked. She looked worried.

“Something’s wrong,” Mina mumbled. “Ever since the other day...I just don’t understand what happened.”

“Can you explain it to me?” Chaeyoung asked. She sat up and set the laptop down on the floor gently.

Mina looked at Chaeyoung, willing herself to feel that feeling once again, but there was nothing. She wanted to throw something against the wall. She wanted to scream. “I don’t know how to describe it…”

“That’s okay,” Chaeyoung said gently. She scooched closer to Mina and rested her head on the girl’s shoulder. Mina squeezed her eyes shut willing herself to stay calm.

Having Chaeyoung this close should’ve given Mina butterflies. It should’ve. But it didn’t.

Instead, Mina’s mind betrayed her and she thought of Nayeon instead...doing exactly this. Her heart began to flutter, just for a moment. She wished Chaeyoung was Nayeon instead. Then Mina began to cry.

No. No. No. This was all wrong. Chaeyoung lifted her head at the sound of Mina’s staggered breathing and put her arm around the girl. She gently rubbed her back as Mina continued to softly cry. “Hey, it’s okay,” Chaeyoung whispered soothingly.

“No it’s not,” Mina sniffled. “I’m so sorry Chaeyoung.”

“You don’t have to apologize,” Chaeyoung assured. “Seriously, please don’t think that. Everyone needs to cry sometimes.”

“No, that’s not it,” Mina in a breath. “It’s me. I...like someone else.”

The words fell out of , tasting bitter. Her tongue felt like it had been dipped in acid.

Chaeyoung stopped rubbing Mina’s back, freezing up. Her body suddenly became tense. “You...like someone else?” Chaeyoung repeated dumbly, in a monotone voice.

“I don’t know what happened,” Mina replied. “It was just like all of the sudden...she hit me.”

There was a moment of silence, awkward and tense. Chaeyoung removed her arm from around Mina’s shoulder and Mina stopped crying, looking up with red rimmed eyes. “I just, want to be fair to you Chaeyoung. I don’t want to continue to lead you on if…” her voice trailed off.

“Continue to lead me on? Mina, you...kissed me on the cheek a few weeks ago. When we spoke I thought we were on the same page...you said you had feelings for me too…” Chaeyoung’s voice was small and broken. She wasn’t angry, just confused.

“I did,” Mina assured desperately. “I really did, I promise you. It’s just...now...all of the sudden I don’t feel the same way. Something’s wrong with me,” Mina buried her face in her hands and started to cry again. Chaeyoung felt terribly awkward, simply sitting there listening to that. She wanted to comfort Mina but her heart was broken. At this point, she just wanted to leave.

“If you don’t feel the same way there’s nothing you can do,” Chaeyoung replied, sighing. “You can’t control your heart.”

“I’m so sorry,” Mina choked out, trembling.

“Mina, please don’t cry,” Chaeyoung begged.

But Mina continued to cry uncontrollably. Chaeyoung just sat there, listening to it, trying her best to not cry herself. She thought everything had been going so well. Things were progressing slowly, but that was because that was just their comfort zone, or at least that’s what Chaeyoung had thought. Maybe if she had acted sooner, asked Mina out sooner, she never would have had the chance to be snatched up by someone else. A bitterness began to fill her. She clenched her fist, squeezing so hard that her fingernails dug into her palms, leaving ugly red lines.

“Can you ever forgive me?” Mina whispered, lifting her head up.

Chaeyoung was quiet. “In time,” she said, plain and simply. But right now, she was too heartbroken to afford Mina that kindness. Chaeyoung felt sick to her stomach, like she was in some sort of terrible nightmare.

“I understand if you never want to talk to me again,” Mina whispered. “I’d hate me if I were you.”

“I could never hate you,” Chaeyoung assured. “Mina, I love you.”

Mina covered her face with her hands but no more tears came out. It seemed as though she had cried all the tears her body could afford to lose.

“I’m gonna head out now, if that’s okay with you.”

Mina nodded. Her body felt numb. “Okay,” was all she could say. Chaeyoung stood up from the bed, carefully walking around Mina’s laptop, and let herself out.

Nayeon could hear crying on the other side of her wall. Mina. Suddenly her fingers trembled as she tried to flip the page of her book. She sat up and listened. She could hear murmured voices, but she couldn’t make out any voices. A sense of dread started to overcome her. She sat with wide eyes until she heard the door to Jihyo and Mina’s room open and close softly. Then she heard footsteps trudging downstairs and out the front door. Nayeon slowly got out of her bed, standing in the hallway, staring at the stairs she knew Chaeyoung had just gone down.

Nayeon stood outside of Mina’s closed door on her tiptoes. She couldn’t hear anything, but she could imagine Mina in there, curled up in her bed. Jihyo was the best at comforting, generally, but Nayeon couldn’t help but feel like whatever had just happened between Mina and Chaeyoung was her fault. She knocked on the door softly and held her breath.

“Who is it?” Nayeon heard a shaky voice ask.

“It’s Nayeon. Mina, can I come in?”

There was a pause. Finally: “Yes.”

Nayeon opened the door and peeked inside, seeing Mina sitting up on her bed with her knees pulled up to her chest. Her black hair was falling right in her face, covering her eyes, but Mina didn’t seem to care. Nayeon slowly approached the bed but Mina remained silent and frozen.

Instead of asking any questions, Nayeon simply sat on the bed next to Mina. They sat like that for a few minutes before Mina started to cry again, and Nayeon hugged the younger girl, trying to calm her down. After a few more minutes Mina was silent again.

“We only have to talk about it if you want to,” Nayeon whispered. “Sometimes talking helps.”

Mina remained quiet, burying her face into the crook of Nayeon’s neck. “Chaeyoung and I...we broke up. I mean, we weren’t technically together but...now we never will be.”

“I’m so sorry,” Nayeon replied, the girl’s hair softly.

They sat in silence for a few minutes again. “Can I confess something?” Mina asked.

“Sure.” Nayeon released Mina from her hug and stared at the younger girl, waiting. Nayeon had a feeling she knew where this was going…

“The reason Chaeyoung and I can’t be together is...I think I like someone else.”

Nayeon waited with her heart pounding. She began fiddling with the button on her shirt.

“Nayeon...I think I like you.”

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Okay, so as a Michaeng shipper, writing this chapter broke my heart. Sorry guys. Hope you still enjoyed the chapter anyway! There will be more Saida in the next one!