Mina’s POV

 

“Chaeyoung-sshi, wait!” Standing up from my chair, I hurriedly ran towards the door and opened it, only to see you turn to the corner and completely disappearing out of my sight. Seeing your back turned against me as you ran away somehow gave me a heavy feeling inside of me. As though someone was trying to tug something out of my chest… It was too confusing, what was I supposed to do..? Am I supposed to run after you? I have no reason to, do I?

 

But why, though?

 

Why did you run away?

 

“Geez, what an ungrateful brat that was…” I could hear Tzuyu’s voice from the other side of the door as it opened once again, revealing her and Sana standing by her side. As usual, I tried greeting them with a smile- though it was hard for me to give them my genuine one. “Unnie, can you believe it? There was a student who bumped onto me earlier, yet she didn’t even say sorry or anything. She just kept on running! I don’t care if she’s older than me or what; I’m still calling her a brat for doing that.” Her sudden nagging surprised me a little, making me blink repeatedly for a second or two as I watch her make her way towards an empty chair

 

Acting like the older sister in the club as usual, the other Japanese member, also known as Sana, tapped our youngest member’s shoulder in hopes that it would calm her down, putting on a smile that made me wonder whether it was a genuine one or a fake. “Calm down, Tzuyu. You never know, something might have happened and she did seem like she was in a rush. Let it slide for today, okay? You know, you look much cuter with a smile. So wipe that scowl on your face off and smile for me.” As usual, Sana’s words flushed Tzuyu’s face into red, with the latter one stuttering random words before putting on an awkward smile.

 

The two of them were always like this; giving each other bold statements that would make them turn to red and sharing jokes with one another until one of them would laugh. Sometimes, I envy them. Unlike them, I have no one I can spend most of my time with. The only thing I can do on my free time was to walk around the school aimlessly. Either that or making doodles, childish doodles.

 

I let out a small chuckle as I observed the two of them- But then something struck me mid-way. A girl who seemed like she was in a rush… Could it be? “Tzuyu-ah, this girl you bumped onto with… Did she have a long, black hair?”

 

Blinking once, Tzuyu turned her attention to me. “Eh? Uh… Hmm…” She then placed her hand under her chin, her brows furrowing down to the middle with her lips slightly puckering out. It seemed like she was imitating a duck or something- Which I always find adorable. But believe it or not, this is actually her thinking face. “Well yes, she had a long black hair, and she was kind of small, though I can’t really tell since she was running. Wait, Unnie, don’t tell me you know who she is…? Tell me her name, quick! So I can give that girl a lesson or two!”

 

“Tzuyu!” Sana called out to her, giving her a deadly glare as though she was giving her a sign that if she would do anything reckless, divine retribution would await her. Her eyes seemed as though it could stab through someone’s head. It was that scary. Her glare was THAT deadly.

 

“I-I’m only joking, Sana-unnie. I mean, if she’s Mina-unnie’s friend then her ‘sin’ is forgiven! I can’t possibly hurt one of Unnie’s friends now, can I? Aha… hahaha…” The older one only gave her a frown in response. “Urk… Well… Uh… I think I saw tears running down from her cheek as well. Did you fight with her or something, Mina-unnie?”

 

My eyes slowly shifted down to the ground as the tugging feeling on my chest only grew. I didn’t do anything, did I? Was it wrong for me to ask about your drawing? About who… it was…?

 

An Angel named Myoui Mina.

 

Did you know? Your words at that time made my heart beat like it never had before; it seemed as though in a single blow, you took my breath away. I was at loss in words by then, so I wasn’t able to reply immediately. But as I was about to tell you something… You ran away…

 

I’m sorry… I don’t think I’ll be joining after all…

 

When you said that, it made me feel like my world shattered into pieces. I don’t really know why, but when you first told me that you were joining, I was really happy. But then you immediately took your words back… Why…?

 

Say, did you know? There were times where I acted like a little school girl. Especially after the two of us met, after our conversation has ended, and after we took our separate ways when the school bell chimed. It was kind of stupid for me to forget, but as soon as I arrived in my classroom, I realized that I didn’t even ask you for your name, nor did I have your email or at least know what your class was. I began hitting my head repeatedly after realizing that, until my teacher called for my attention, that is.

 

I wasn’t really sure why, but I wanted to talk to you again.

 

“Unnie…?”

 

I turned my attention back to Tzuyu again, giving her a quick smile before standing up from my seat. Really, what am I doing, just sitting here and doing nothing? “Tzuyu-ah, Sana, I’m sorry but I think I’ll be leaving early today.” I have to run after her… “Tomorrow, I’ll bring in a new member in so prepare your selves, okay?” It’s not yet too late...

 

“Eh? Ah… Un…” The two of them nodded at me in unison.

 

Giving them one last smile, I picked my bag up from the table not far from where I was, and almost in an instant, I ran outside of the room as fast as I could.

 

I can’t waste another second.

 

I have to hurry…

 

Those were the only words ringing in my mind as I continued on running away. I wasn’t really sure where you were, so I just simply ran around aimlessly. I tried asking every student I found within the campus if they saw a certain ‘Son Chaeyoung, but to my dismay, all of them said no.

 

“You know…” One of the students suddenly said after I said my thank you to her for at least answering my dumb question, “Whenever I’m searching for a certain bunny every time we have a quarrel, I would ask to myself ‘If I was in her position… Where would I go?’ and then, I would go to the very first place that would pop out in my mind… Miraculously, she would always be in that said place.” She continued, “I don’t really know about you but it works. I’m just saying but don’t be scared to try it. It’s worth the try, yes?”

 

I gave her one last thank you for the suggestion before walking away. If I was in her position, she says… I wonder if that would work on me though, we all know that you and I aren’t that familiar with each other yet, so how would I know which places you like the most? Rather, how can I be so sure that the first place that would pop out in my mind would be the right one?

 

The first place that would ever come to my mind…

 

Given with not much choice, even though I was kind of doubtful, this time, I let my feet drag me towards the only place in my mind. The place where it all began…

 

The place where I met you…

 

As I drew closer to that said place, my heart began on beating faster. Mixed feelings were filling me up along with cold sweats trickling down my body. I was nervous, I was worried… All of these, I’m feeling at the same time as I quietly hoped to myself that you were indeed there. I wanted to see you desperately. I wanted to talk to you one more time. Just… One more time…

 

With my hand placed against the door before me, I slowly opened it and looked around the place. My heart sank as soon as I saw how empty the room was, but it slowly rose up again as soon as I shifted my eyes to the other side of the room- Towards the table where you and I first had our conversation… Inside the school’s cafeteria, on the table right beside the window.

 

There, you sat down with your gaze locked outside; your chin was resting onto your palm as your elbow neatly placed itself on the table before you. Your eyes were red… Were you crying, I wonder?

 

“Chaeyoung-sshi…?” I cleared my throat as I slowly took a few steps closer to you. And I drew close to you, I finally noticed how dashing you actually looked; with your hair coated with the shade of black, the sunset’s red light beamed down to you and blended in perfectly. Even though you had a lonely, troubled look on your face, I still couldn’t help myself from admiring you.

 

Quietly, you slowly turned around towards me, with a forced smile plastered on your feature. “Ah, Myoui-sshi…” You quickly turned your back towards me once again, with your hands quickly lifting up to your face as though you were wiping something off. “Y-You… Followed me here?”

 

“Rather, I searched for you everywhere.”

 

“Why…?”

 

I blinked. Even I don’t know myself why I have been searching for you frantically, rather, the only thing I know is that my heart began sinking as soon as you left me just like that. The sight of you running away from me broke my heart into pieces. I wanted to see your smile one more time, I wanted to have yet another fun conversation with you…

 

I wanted to tell you…

 

“Because I love you.”

 

 

END