I waited eagerly outside the building where my Mina was auditioning. I had a small bouquet of flowers, and was shuffling back and forth nervously. I’m sure Mina would be fine. Either way, I can’t say I’d be happy. If she didn’t get in, she’d be crushed. If she got in, I’d be crushed. There was no winning in this situation. All I can do is support my girlfriend as best I can.

“Mina!” I squealed as soon as she came out of the building. I gave her the bouquet I had prepared.

“Aww, Momo!” She kissed my cheek and took the flowers. “You’re too sweet. I didn’t even know you knew where the auditions were.”

“I made Nayeon tell me. I wanted to surprise you.” I gave her lips a quick peck. “How do you think it went?”

“I don’t need to think about it.” She shrugged. “They straight-up asked me if I’d take the lead part as soon as I finished my audition.”

“What did you say?”

“Of course I said ‘yes’.” She giggled, then kissed my cheek again.

“That’s great, baby.” I sighed.

“What’s wrong, Moguri?” She ran her fingers through my hair. “You seem down.”

“Well…it’s just…you’ll be spending all of your time rehearsing with others from the ballet, and I’ll be working at the studio. Without you. And I…Will you even have time to go on a date?” She shook her head sadly.

“No…I think I’ll barely have time to eat, sleep, and shower. Dating is…kinda out of the question.” She looked down at her feet.

“It’s fine.” I felt my heart shatter. More time without Mina. More time to lay in bed and stare at the ceiling, wondering where she was and what she was doing. More time to wonder if she had eaten. More time to wonder if she missed me as much as I missed her.

“Trust me, Momo. I will text you every day. And we’ll talk over the phone as often as possible. I won’t ignore you...I wouldn’t be able to get anything done. I’d mope around too much because I’d miss you.” That was satisfactory. I hugged her tightly, and buried my head into the crook of her neck. “We’re in public, Momo.” She giggled, pushing me away gently, but not hard enough to actually move me. I pressed a kiss to her cheek, then let go of her. “We’re gonna be okay, right? You’re gonna be okay?” She rubbed my shoulders comfortingly.

“Yeah. We’re gonna be okay. I’ll be okay if you send me a ton of pictures of yourself for me to stare at. Oh. And I’m gonna need some of your perfume. I’m gonna need one of your hoodies, one of your-“

“I will let you take whatever you want from my room.” She pecked my lips quickly, then pulled me to my car. “My parents aren’t home, so you can come into my room and take what you want.”

“Can I…?” I looked up at her with pleading eyes. She chuckled.

“Of course, silly. I think we both need it, since we haven’t had any action in a while. But not too much. My parents cannot know that you were over distracting me from the ballet.”

It has been three weeks since that conversation. Mina has been attending practice from early in the morning to late in the evening. They were given lunch, water, and snack breaks, which is when I’d get a quick text from her. It was usually something small, like letting me know that she was fine, or that she had eaten, or it was just a heart emoticon.

I tried not to feel lonely, but it was hopeless. Being without her left me empty. Every time I walked in the studio, I was reminded of her and of her absence.

“Momo unnie…you’ve been down lately. It’s Mina, right?” Yeri sighed, setting her stuff down in the practice room. I nodded, setting my dance bag down and changing into my dance shoes. “It’s okay.” She hugged me. “Mina is a kind person. She’s not gonna leave. I actually ran into her the other day. I was walking home from school and she was on her lunch break. She treated me to some food and she asked about you. She was really worried about you, and wouldn’t shut up about you. She asked me to take good care of you, too.”

“Aww, Mina…” I whined, hugging Yeri. “I miss Mina.”

“I miss her too, unnie. Believe it or not, I genuinely miss her. A lot.” She clung to me as her voice started to break.

“Don’t cry, Yeri.” I chuckled. “It’s not like Mina and I split up. We’re together, still, but…there’s just a little distance right now.” I patted her head.

“Merry early-Christmas, Momo!” Mina cheered as I opened the door. She jumped into my arms, and I spun her around.

“Minari!” I squealed. “I missed you so so much!”

“Mina?!” Yeri screamed, bolting from her room to the front door where Mina and I were. She jumped onto us, hugging us both.

“Can I come inside?” She giggled, and pressed a kiss to my forehead.

“Of course.” I kissed her cheek and stood aside for her to come in. I put her coat up in the closet for her while she took off her shoes.

“When are you coming back after the ballet? When are you coming back? Are you gonna move in soon? I think you should move in. I like your cooking.” Yeri shot off question after question at my poor Mina.

“Let her sit down first, you cute little demon.” I scolded her playfully, while I guided a shyly laughing Mina to the couch, right in front of the tree. Yeri had insisted on getting a large Christmas tree, and tons of ornaments and garlands. The rest of the apartment was also covered in Santa hats, garlands, snowflakes, and cute Christmas-themed plushies and toys. There were jingle bells wrapped around every lamp, and cute ceramic snowmen on every countertop.

“I love what you’ve done with the place.” Mina kissed my cheek.

“Mostly Yeri’s idea.” I gently pushed her towards Yeri.

“Oh it was? Well, I think I gave a kiss to the wrong person, then.” She grabbed Yeri’s face and pressed a kiss to her cheek as well, despite her squirming to get away.

“Joy’s gonna get jealous!” Yeri whined, now pouting.

“I doubt it.” I chuckled, wrapping my arm around Mina’s tiny waist…too tiny. I felt a little bit above her waist and felt her ribs, which were more prominent than I’d like. She put her hand on my thigh and patted it gently. “Yeri and I made Christmas cookies, but…we didn’t want to decorate them without you.”

“I’m not very artistic when it comes to decorating food…” She blushed.

“Me neither!” Yeri grabbed her hand and pulled her into the kitchen. I followed behind them. The cookies were laid out on the kitchen table, in the shapes of reindeer, Christmas trees, candy canes, and different animals that Yeri liked. None were decorated. There were five different colors of icing that were laid out on the table, with a wide assortment of sprinkles.

“These are so cute!” Mina picked up a reindeer cookie. “You two really made these?” Yeri and I nodded, proud of our work. “What are you waiting for? They’re ! They need icing and sprinkles!” She sat in one of the three chairs and started to put icing on the reindeer. Yeri and I sat down as well, and started work on our cookies, too. It wasn’t long before chaos hit.

“Can you pass me the green?” I asked Yer