She woke up Wednesday morning. After getting home rather late the night before, as well as tossing and turning once again, Mina had spent most of the night thinking about the certain cub... Again.

She ruffled her hair in frustration and got up for her morning routines.

 

After the walk home yesterday, she began suspecting that what she felt for the cub wasn’t just a ’wanting’ to be in a better friendship with her.

She hadn’t had a lot of romantic feelings for other people in the past, so uncertain of this, Mina thought to herself that maybe this is what it felt like to have a crush on someone.

 

It’s not that Mina had never been in a relationship before..

She did have a boyfriend back in Japan, but it was mainly arranged by her parents for her to get to know the boy.

Back then she went along with getting to know him for her parents’ sake, but after a while, he had ended up asking her out properly. She didn’t really have romantic feelings for him. She just saw him as a good friend, but she ended up saying yes anyway.

A while before moving to Korea, she broke it off with him.

 

She sighed before heading out the door. Today on her schedule, she had two English classes in a row, and afterwards she’d have dance practise with Momo. No math class with Chaeyoung today.

As the elegant girl walked down the path towards her school she heard a familiar voice call for her.

 

”Hey! Hey Penguin!”

 

Mina turned around to the tiger cub jogging towards her

 

”Morning cub” She said, just as the day before with a warm genuine smile. Truly she was happy to see the cub in the morning since she thought she wouldn’t get to see the cub much today in school.

 

”Morning Mina!” Chaeyoung responded once she had caught up to the penguin.

”Did you sleep well?” Chaeyoung asked as she looked over to the penguin.

 

Mina almost stopped in her tracks for a second thinking of how to respond.

Thing was, although she didn’t sleep enough, she didn’t want to tell the girl in front of her that it was because of her.

 

”I slept okay, I do feel a bit sleepy though”, Mina ended up saying instead. It was a bit inbetween.

”Well,” the cub started before she looked to her watch, ”We have plenty good time before first classes start. I still feel quite bad about our first encounter, so let’s grab coffee on the way, my treat. I know a good place!”

 

Mina, who was about to wave her hands in front of her in order to tell the cub there was no need, was stopped in her tracks of doing so.

”I insist” cub said before walking ahead waiting for the penguin to catch up to her this time.

 

It didn’t take long for them to reach the café.

 

”Ahjummaaa!” The cub said out loud whilst holding the door for Mina after she had walked inside herself.

 

”Yes, yes, yes! You really shouldn’t drink so mu- Oh, little cub! You brought a friend this morning! Hello and welcome!” the elder lady said with a warm smile.

 

”Yep! This is Mina, I basically owe her for spilling my last coffee on her... And some rude behaviour following that..” the cub said with the last part in a slightly lower voice whilst looking away.

 

”Hello” Mina said before bowing, ”And I did already tell her it’s okay” she finished with a giggle whilst looking over at the cub.

 

”Well, I’m glad this little one is at least trying to make things better”

 

The cub tilted her head back with a pout ”I’m not littleeee”

”Yes, yes” The ahjumma said with such a big smile her eyes smiled along as well, ”So what will you two have?”

 

”I’ll have a double shot”, the cub looked over to Mina, ”what would you like?”

 

”Hmmm, just an americano” the taller girl replied.

 

The interaction between the elder lady and Chaeyoung gave Mina the impression of Chaeyoung definitely being a regular here. The feeling of the café felt all homey and comfortable for Mina, and she couldn’t help but smile at the two’s conversation with eachother.

 

Shortly after, their coffees were ready and they went out the door

 

”See you again soon, Ahjumma!” Chaeyoung said on their way out whilst Mina waved too.

 

As they walked to school, before Mina noticed it, she once again had linked her arm with Chaeyoung’s.

In the very moment it happened, it was almost as if it had sent electricity up the cub’s spine. She went along with it again today. And well, not only did she go along with it, she actually really enjoyed it.

It felt so natural too already.

 

Mina on the other hand, after realising she had linked their arms together, became hyperaware of every step they took that caused a little friction between their arms. Once in a while, she would feel her hand slightly brush over the cub’s and she’d try to fight the heating feeling rising to her cheeks as if that was possible.

 

”By the way, we should finish our math assignment after school today” the cub said, which managed to distract the penguin a little from her thoughts of their arms.

Mina nodded, ”Yeah, it shouldn’t take long though, we were almost finished with it in class”

 

”Yeah, I reckon it’d only take like 30 minutes to an hour”.

 

Coming close to the gate, Mina wish she could still talk more to the cub.

”Are you looking forward to the party on Friday?” the penguin asked, trying to make more conversation.

For some reason, this was just the right question to ask, cause the cub’s eyes lit up at it.

 

”Yes! The Dubu and I are planning on pranking Jackson” the penguin looked over at the tiger cub who had a huge mishievious grin on her face and she couldn’t help but laugh.

How could someone be so adorably cute?

 

”Oh?” Mina responded, unable to hide her smile, and wanting to hear more of this ’prank’.

 

”Yeah, we’ve named it operation blue sparkles and -..”

They were interrupted by Sana.

 

”Hey you two” the squirrel said as she walked cheerfully up to them.

 

The cub raised her hand with the coffee in it, as her other one was still linked with Mina’s.

”Mornin’” both Mina and Chaeyoung said at the same time.

 

”Oh my, you two are looking cute together!” Sana said as she eyed their arms together and smirked playfully, ready to best friend.

 

Perhaps if Mina wasn’t so overly concious about her growing feelings for the cub, then she might’ve not reacted the way she was just about to,

But at that moment, Mina was rather afraid of Chaeyoung finding out about her feelings, so instead, she panicked.

 

She pulled her arm away from Chaeyoung so fast that it was almost like she yanked it away.

”Sana, it’s not like that! We’re really just friends, it’s not going to happen!” she rushed out of .

The last words that left were purely on accident and panic, and she wished she could’ve reworded that, but she knew if she tried to fix it up now, it’d only make it worse or more obvious.

 

The sudden action which seemed far from natural caused both the squirrel and the cub to look at her in a rather questioning manner.

But as she looked at Chaeyoung she noticed something else in her eyes as well, though she wasn’t quite able to read out what it was.

Chaeyoung then looked down to the arm which was unlinked in such a sudden manner then back up again as she stuck the hand in her pocket.

 

For some reason, the words of both Sana and Mina hit the cub like an ice cold bucket of water. Like she had just woken from a trance.

Thoughts came rushing to her head all in just a short moment, and she realised that only in just a short matter of time, she was definitely crushing on Mina. She had been enjoying their shortly spent time together way too much.

She was enjoying teasing her too much. She was enjoying math together with her way too much.

How was she suddenly enjoying math?

 

In a short amount of time, all of this was too much, and the way that Mina almost yanked her arm back, confused the tiger too much as well. Returning to the moment, she thought to herself..., Maybe she should distance herself before she falls too hard for the japanese beauty.

 

”Right then... Well, see you guys at practise” the cub shrugged before just walking off. No smile this time, no grin, no teasing, no nothing. She tried to pull off an act that all those thoughts didn’t just rush through her head, but right now and right this time, she wasn’t really able to pull it off entirely.

 

”Wow Mina, I mean, I get that my shipping can get out of hand and all, but I didn’t think you’d seem that against it. I’ll stop with the teasing if it’s too much” the squirrel said with a slightly surprised tone but apologetic eyes.

 

The penguin let out a loud, disappointed sigh, ”I really didn’t mean it like that” Mina said with instant regret

”... And wait.. Does Chaeng have dance practise too? Or is she going to watch?”

 

Sana looked to her best friend. From the loud sigh, she felt slightly confused and curious but also knew to not press it further with the questions this time around.

”I see... And no, she doesn’t take dance, but she is on the track team, and that’s close to where you and Momo will dance. Dahyun will be there though to watch today, she doesn’t have other classes. Jeong, Jihyo and Nayeon have classes. And well, of course I’m going to just be with Dahyun since I don’t have classes either”, She said with a wink as she mentioned the eagles name.

 

Mina couldn’t describe it, but she had a bad feeling about this. About her poor way of just handling the situation. She felt like she just created a misunderstanding that would make the upcoming days with the cub very difficult, especially now that she already felt so very attached to her.

 

”We should get going, Minari. English is about to start.” Sana said as she looked over her friend with concern. She could tell now that something was on the penguin’s mind, and she knew that asking into it would get her nowhere.

 

Mina only nodded as she looked over to the cub that was walking off ’till she saw the eagle jump in and wrap an arm over the shoulder.

She noticed how the cub stopped in her tracks, turned to her friend who wore a concerned look before they continued walking, which only made the bad feeling in Mina’s stomach grow worse.

 

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

 

Through the double English classes, Mina was barely able to focus.

She figured that maybe she’d have a chance to speak with the cub during lunch at the cafeteria.

 

After the double English classes, Sana and Mina walked to the cafeteria. Sana was talking about her latest thoughts regarding her crush.

”...- I just don’t really know what to do, y’know? I mean, I’ve been flirting with her obviously and trying to spend more time with her and all.. It’s so cute how she gets embarrassed when others are around, but I don’t know, she doesn’t flirt back with me just as much.. And.... -Mina? Are you even listening?”

 

”Sorry, what?” Mina responded, realising she was completely lost in her thoughts and had filtered out everything.

 

The squirrel sighed. ”I was just talking about Dahyun again, I guess.. Sometimes I even get jealous of how she always goes to Chaeng’s place and stays over there... If only Momo’s place and mine were bigger, I’d have her stay with me...”

 

The penguin looked over to her best friend, ”Wait, does she stay at her place that often?”

”Mhmm, during certain periods of times, it’s almost everyday actually” Sana responded, adding a nod to it as well.

”Is there a reason for it?”

 

”I don’t know too much about it.. When I try to ask into it, she doesn’t seem too comfortable going into details about it, but the whole group knows it’s not a secret that she has some issues at home” Sana said with a slightly concerned look.

 

”Oh, I see” Mina too said with a concerned tone in her voice.

 

As they looked up to the table they saw Nayeon, Jeongyeon, Momo and Jihyo already there.

Momo was deeply invested in her food and Jihyo was basically facepalmin into oblivion at the conversaion going on between her two other friends.

 

”..-I’m telling you guys, Jeong thinks I’m pretty, she just won’t say it out loud! - Oh and hey Mina and Sana”

 

Jihyo and Momo raised their hands and greeted them, while Jeong just sighed, hiding her smile at Nayeon’s arm linked with hers as the bunny was swaying from side to side full of energy.

 

Jeong then looked directly at Nayeon.

”You really are pretty today” Jeong said with a gentle smile now, not even trying to hide it. She looked at the bunny like she was the only girl in the world, and upon hearing the words, the bunny froze up.

 

Normally, it wasn’t unusual for others to tell her she was pretty, and well, she knew herself that she was pretty.

She would also normally just playfully slap someone’s shoulder with a cheeky smile or say something like

”I know!” with a confident laugh afterwards, but not this time. Not when it was Jeongyeon.

And lately, Nayeon had grown unsure of Jeongyeon’s feelings for her. Nayeon knew she liked the silver haired girl, but the signals that Jeongyeon was sending her was confusing.

And besides, Nayeon also knew that they had a few moments where they were definitely about to kiss.

When they were alone together, this tension between them would build up.

 

Nayeon accidently dropped her chopsticks on her tray and looked to Jeongyeon as if needing to confirm that Jeong really said that to her, out in the open, out in front of everyone else.

 

”Hey guys, you’re both being really cute and all, but have you seen Dahyunnie?” Sana said said as she looked around the cafeteria, ”And uhmm, Chaeng too” she added, trying to not make it too obvious of her curiousity and intentions towards Dahyun.

 

”Pretty sure they’re both just on the roof today. They grabbed some food, greeted us and went off before” Nayeon said whilst still looking at Jeongyeon, attempting to scan for any different reaction from the girl.

 

Mina sighed internally.

I guess I’ll try to get in contact with her at practise, she thought to herself, whilst wondering why the two chose to eat at the roof today anyway.

 

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

 

Lunch was nearing and end which meant Jeongyeon, Nayeon, and Jihyo had to get to their classes, whilst Sana, Mina and Momo had to get to practise.

 

Jeongyeon had a class on her own whilst Nayeon and Jihyo had a different class.

After they had cleared their trays, Jeong first walked to the other two’s classroom as it was on her way anyway.

 

Now, lately Nayeon had been quite confused as to where she and Jeongyeon stood.

From Jeongyeon hesitating when people were clearly flirting with her, to barely showing affection, yet once in a while the tension between them screamed something else than friendship.

So what happened next seemed to completely shock Nayeon out of this universe for a day.

 

”I’ll see you after school” Jeongyeon said, right before she leaned in to kiss Nayeon’s cheek.

Nayeon froze up completely upon feeling the lips against her skin.

 

”Finally” Jihyo said. ”I was getting really tired of seeing you two gays confusing eachother.” she finished as she then looked at her phone as if to give them a bit more privacy.

 

”Yeah, it was about time I stepped up my game” Jeong said with a smile before lightly squeezing Nayeon’s shoulder for a short second then walked off to her class.

”We’ll talk later, Nabongs” Jeongyeon finished whilst walking off and waving figuring the bunny was confused.

 

Nayeon stood still not entering her classroom.

”Hey, you okay there?” Jihyo said waving her hand in front of Nayeon.

”Did I accidently drug Jeongyeon? Or something. - Did happen just what?” she responded, just staring straight at nothing, not even blinking.

 

Jihyo laughed.

”Alright you, come on, we gotta go get our seats, you can talk to Jeong later” Jihyo said as she took Nayeon’s arm and lead her into the classroom to her seat.

 

Thing is, this was supposed to clear Nayeon’s confusion regarding her thoughts of Jeongyeon’s feelings towards her. It was supposed to finally make sense. But because the behaviour was so sudden in Nayeon’s eyes, and because it just was so unexpected, also because she knew Jeongyeon hated PDA, this only caused Nayeon’s confusion to completely sky rocket instead.

 

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

Meanwhile J-trinity had reached the large field and area for dance practise after they had changed their clothes.

Mina immediately looked around for the cub, and there she was, far ahead on some bleachers sitting with Dahyun. There were no people near them, but she knew a lot of attention from the other girls were on them and staring the exact same direction as Mina was staring.

 

”So are you going to tell me what’s up?” the eagle said to her best friend knowing that something had been on her mind today.

 

The cub shrugged

”It’s nothing special, I’ll tell you about it another time”

 

The eagle nodded understandingly, and just then, she looked over to see the other 3 girls.

The cub noticed this and patted her best friend’s back before getting up.

”I’ll start running a bit to warm up before the coach arrives, you go join Sana” Chaeyoung told her friend with a smile before they went down and Chaeyoung started jogging.

 

Chaeyoung actually liked running. In fact, she’d run in the mornings when she wasn’t completely too busy with work. It was her way of clearing her head, and she really felt like she needed some help clearing her thoughts of a certain penguin right now. Well, running and working out in general did the trick for her usually.

 

And as soon as Chaeyoung saw Mina enter the field, she knew she needed to start running.

 

As she ran her first round, she couldn’t help but glance over to Mina. And just as she did, she saw the girl, elegantly spin around whilst dancing ballet. Without realising, she had started running slower, just to observe.

How could she be so damn perfect?, kept running through Chaeyoung’s mind as she just looked at the japanese beauty. She was straight up mesmerising, and as much as Chaeyoung felt like she had to, she couldn’t take her eyes off of Mina.

Her dance ended soon after, and whilst she was out of breath, she smiled politely as others clapped.

 

To Chaeyoung, that smile was the most beautiful thing in the entire world, and it was almost as if it was contagious.

Mina looked over the field to Chaeyoung who had basically stopped in her tracks.

Their eyes met, and before Mina could wave at her, the cub looked away and began running again.

Is she avoiding me?, Mina thought to herself as she walked up to where Dahyun and Sana were sitting.

 

”Hey Mina, you were great! I didn’t know you were so good at dancing ballet!”, the eagle said whilst waving at the penguin.

 

”Yeah, she’s been dancing ballet for 11 years” Sana said as she slightly moved closer to Dahyun.

 

”Thank you” she said smiling at her friends, as she sat down with them looking over towards the cub.

 

What seemed to be Chaeyoung’s coach, had just arrived and called the runners over.

She noticed how Chaeyoung was rather sweaty from the running she had already done, and then suddenly, Mina felt her jaw drop.

The tiger had lifted her shirt a little to wipe the sweat on her forehead. And from lifting her shirt, her abs became slightly visible. Whilst other girls started taking pictures and squealing, Mina couldn’t focus on anything else but the abs.

 

”Hey Sana, do you have any water?” The eagle asked.

 

”Yeah, are you thirsty?” Sana said as she grabbed her bottle of water from the bag and passed it over to Dahyun.

 

”No, but Mina seems to be, seeing as she keeps her lips and is practically almost drooling and eyeing Chaeng”, The tofu said out loud with a laugh whilst passing on the water to Mina.

 

Sana couldn’t help but laugh at the comment despite telling her friend she’d stop teasing her.

And Mina whipped her head towards her friends immediately

”I-I w-wasn’t!!!!”, Her cheeks turned bright red and she desperately covered her face with her hands.

When she peaked through her fingers again to look at the cub, she had already started running again.

 

”Y’know Mina, I know I said I’d stop teasing you about it, but you make it very difficult when you’re so obvious about it” the squirrel said in a slightly teasing tone.

 

” about what?” The eagle said curiously.

 

Mina explained what happened in the morning. She couldn’t really bother hiding her attraction for the cub anymore, and trusted this would maybe help her friends to not shout too loudly about it from now on.

 

”Do you think she’d be avoiding me?” Mina asked her two friends after mentioning the exact words she said earlier.

 

”I don’t think she minded at all what you said earlier honestly. Chaeng is just really careful with who she cares about, I guess.”

 

”By the way Mina, I have some pictures of Chaeyoung’s abs if you want them” Sana winked at her friend.

Dahyun then looked over to Sana with a raised brow, ”Why do you have pictures of those?”.

 

”Sanaaaaacondaa” the penguin groaned

”Well, I’d rather have a picture of yours, but you barely ever give me a chance to see” the squirrel said playfully as she nudged the tofu’s side.

Dahyun only looked away ignoring the squirrel’s words.

”Dahyunniieeee, I don’t like Chaeeng! Here I’ll delete the pictures!, Mina do you want them first?”

 

Well, yeah, she did want the pictures, but she was way too embarrassed to admit that, so instead she shook her head whilst covering her blushing cheeks.

 

”There! They’re deleted!”

 

The eagle just pouted a little before her phone vibrated.

”Guys, Chaeng just texted me saying she’ll head home alone and shower, what are you two planning to do today?”

 

That’s when Mina remembered again.. They had to do their math assignment.

 

”Hold on” She said to Dahyun as she went into their group conversation, saved Chaeng’s number and texted her

 

**->

-Me:

Are we still on for later?

 

Chaeyoung:

’On for later’? Who’s this??

 

-Me:

Sorry, this is Mina. And sorry, I should’ve clarified that. I meant our math assignment.

 

-Chaeyoung has changed your nickname to Mina-

-You have changed Chaeyoung’s nickname to Chaengie-

 

Chaengie:

Ah sorry, I almost forgot about that. Yeah, sure just come over in a bit

**<--

 

”I’ll go home and shower first, but I’ll see you at Chaeng’s place later. We have to do our math assignment”

 

 

The 3 said their goodbye’s to Momo who said she might join them later on, but she had to head straight to the dance studio for now.

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

 

She had just finished her shower and gotten dressed again as she heard two people enter her apartment. She walked downstairs to see it was Sana and Dahyun.

 

”Hey, where’s Mina?”, the cub asked as she saw Sana close the door behind her, whilst towell drying her hair.

 

”She said she wanted to go home to shower before coming over.” The squirrel said whilst walking over to the couch with the eagle.

The cub hummed in response and headed back upstairs whilst the other two sat down by the couch.

 

”When Mina comes over, do you want to give those two some alone time to ’work on their math’ and watch a movie with me in the other room?” The eagle said as she looked to the squirrel whilst raising and wiggling her eyebrows with a cheesy smirk.

 

Sana could only giggle at the girl she was crushing on when she saw her wiggle her brows.

”Yes, either that or spy on them” she giggled.

 

”Chaeng would kill me if we were caught though”

 

”Movie it as then” She concluded as she got up and held onto the tofu’s arm.

Just as they both got up, a phone on the table started ringing.

It wasn’t theirs, it was Chaeyoung’s.

 

Dahyun looked over the phone’s display and saw it was Chaeyoung’s father calling.

 

”Chaeng!” She grabbed the phone and ran towards the stairs, ”Chaeng your dad is calling!”

 

The cub quickly ran down the stairs and grabbed the phone to answer it, mouthing thanks at her best friend.

 

”Hello?”

...

”Is it possible for me to do it later?”

...

”Because I have an assignment, and I’m working together with someone”

...

”Yes, I’ll be there after I’m done... Thank you.”

 

After her father hung up, she put the phone in her pocket and sighed.

 

”Heading to work again?” the eagle asked. Sana only observed, knowing not to get too much into the conversation when it came to Chaeyoung, her father or her father’s company.

 

”Yeah. He’s just wanting me to look through some papers. He allowed for me to go later though.”

 

”Really? That’s surprising.. Though I thought you said you’d have less work from now on”

 

”Yeah, but it’s mostly cause he doesn’t want me to bring down someone else if I’m working on a project with them. ’it’d be a disgrace to the Son name’ And also.. I texted him earlier to feel free to give me more work anyway” She finished with another sigh. And just as she was about to take another step up stairs to change again for work later, there were knocks on the door.

 

Dahyun looked at her friend with concern as Chaeyoung went to go open the door. She knew well enough that the reason she texted her father asking for more work was to distract herself.

 

Chaeyoung opened the door, and for the first time since the morning, she saw Mina up close again.

She was wearing an oversized sweater and black ripped jeans that were folded right above her ankles.

”Hey” she said as she looked to the penguin, completely forgetting her father’s phone call just less than 5 minutes ago.

 

”Hey” The penguin responded, showing her gummy smile. Hoping that this time, she’d get a chance to spend more time with the cub, hopefully being able to talk about other things than math.

 

To Chaeyoung, Mina looked like an absolute angel.

Her eyes were adorably and gently rounded at the top. They looked so gently soothing. Her hair fell perfectly and framed her face, and when she’d push her hair behind her ear on the side, it was almost like the cub also realised once again, that she was in too deep already.

And she couldn’t quite understand it or explain it, but it just felt so damn relaxing and scary at the same time to be in Mina’s company.

 

After she realised she had almost been staring, she opened the door more and stepped aside as she cleared ,

”Sorry, come in.” Chaeyoung said before the penguin stepped in.

Dammit, Chaeng. Resist.. You’ll only get yourself hurt again, the cub scolded herself internally.

 

”Hey Minarii!” Sana said whilst both her and Dahyun waved at her.

 

”Sorry, I’ll have to go change and then I’ll be back. I’ve got to rush math a bit and head to work afterwards.” the cub said before heading back up stairs.

 

The penguin’s expression seemed a little bit disappointed at realising her chance of getting to interact more with the cub yet again seemed to fade away.

 

Instead of going to the other room to watch a movie right away, the two kept Mina company till the cub would come back down stairs.

 

And the cub did shortly after.

She was now clad in a white buttondown shirt that was tugged into her dark blue suit pants. And as she emerged down the stairs, she was loosely tying her tie.

 

”We’ll go in and watch a movie, you two! We wouldn’t want to disturb you with your assignment” Dahyun said whilst Sana winked at Mina, only for Mina to roll her eyes at her best friend.

 

As Mina sat down on the couch, normally the cub wouldn’t mind sitting next to her. In fact, if this was yesterday, the cub most likely would’ve sat as close to her as possible. She would’ve probably tried her best to tease and make the penguin blush, but today, today she felt herself having to be careful before she fell too hard and too fast for the penguin.

So instead, she sat on the chair on the other side of the table as they pulled out their books.

 

As much as this seems casual for the cub and as much as she’s trying to distance herself as naturally as possible, she’s trying her best not to glance over at the penguin, so she probably isn’t able to see how the penguin can’t help but stare at how hot the tiger is looking in front of her with her professionally worn work attire.

 

Though, as the tiger did look up to the penguin in order to mention something regarding their math assignment, the penguin quickly looked away in attempt of not making it too obvious that she was checking the other one out from head to toe.

 

”I’ll draw up some graphs on my laptop to better illustrate our work” the cub said as she pulled out her laptop

 

Mina only nodded to this.

 

”Do you always.. Uhmm, dress like this for work?”

 

Are you curious of me, Myoui Mina?, was what she wanted to say with a smirk, but instead once again, she felt she needed to be careful, and answered as neutrally as she could.

 

”Most of the time. My father prefers I look as presentable as possible for the company.”

 

”I was wondering.. What do you work with? I mean, you seem to be in a pretty high position” Mina said as she tilted her head in curiousity.

 

Chaeyoung looked up at her now, directly into her eyes with an unreadable expression.

Does she really not know who I am?

 

It wasn’t because Chaeyoung meant to be conceited or arrogant and assume that everyone knew who she was.

This had just been the norm for her for a very long time.

The Son company was huge with many branches across the world as well as different brands underneath its name.

It was even all over the news that a young daughter of the Son family now had to be trained to be the new successor as the son of the family passed away a few years back.

She never brought the incident of her brother up. She never felt ready to open up about it either.

After the incident, she had fooled around a lot. Gotten drunk at an age earlier than legal. Messed around, and well... She wasn’t exactly the definition of a ’good girl’. It was partly why she let her ’bad’ attitude just take over. As if she didn’t care enough before, after that, she certainly stopped caring for good.

She was close with her brother. Very close.

Losing him changed her world forever. Not only because she was loaded with so much more work now to prepare her for taking over the company in the future, but also because.. She actually wanted the massive work load.

She spent every single day desperately needing more work to distract herself during the day, and during the night, she would drink and party hard. Heck, both her parents would let her, because as long as she finished her work properly, they wouldn’t get in her way anymore. Yeah, they weren’t too happy to find out about her fooling around with both guys and girls, but they figured the ladder was just a ’phase’. They too, needed to focus on something else entirely now, and they too, were devastated from the loss of their son.

 

Chaeyoung was confused.

Did she really not know?

It was somewhat freeing if that was really the case.

 

But this was Myoui Mina. The cub already knew of Mina’s family business back in Japan. Heck, she even knew of their plans of expanding as well. Mainly because it was also part of her job to know of other businesses, or possible future businesses, for that matter.

 

And the Myoui’s are sure to know of the Son’s. Especially because she knew that their parents had seen eachother, and even spoken to eachother, at several ’high end parties’.

 

”Chaeng?” The penguin asked. ”I’m sorry if the question made you uncomfortable. You don’t really have to answer if you’d prefer not to” she finished with a concerned tone in her voice.

 

That’s when Chaeyoung realised, she had just sat there, completely confused and stared at the penguin as the thoughts and memories went through her head.

 

”Do you really not know yet?” the cub blurted out, then realised how arrogant or conceited that may sound.

”I mean, did none of the others tell you yet?” She tried to correct herself, hoping that it would make it seem a bit less arrogant or so.

 

”No?” Mina answered with a questioning look.

 

For some reason, this just made the cub feel so extremely relieved. Free even.

For Chaeyoung to feel like she was actually not defined by everything, that everyone else knew her by, in Mina’s eyes.

Yeah sure, Mina have heard her share of things in school about her being unapproachable and ’scary’ and all that.

But she wasn’t judged on her money or her past or anything else, and Mina wasn’t really judging her on those rumours at school anymore either.

 

Chaeyoung couldn’t help but smile at Mina now. She just couldn’t hold it back.

 

”It’s a bit of a high position, I suppose.. But we can talk about it another time” the cub said, not yet wanting her to know that she was in fact Son Chaeyoung. The one to take over her parent’s (mostly her father’s) company. It was inevitable that Mina would find out eventually. Heck, she could easily ask anyone at their school, but just right now, Chaeyoung wanted this to herself. Even if it was just for a few minutes. To feel like she was not just of the ’Son’ family. Right now, in front of Mina, she was just Chaeng.

 

Mina nodded and they finished their work quickly.

Of course she was curious and all, but she didn’t want to overstep and pry too much for now.

She was a bit disappointed and down about not being able to talk to the cub more. She also still sensed that the cub was acting a bit different today compared to their previous days which worried her slightly.

 

”I’ll make sure to hand it in at Mr. Choi’s table tomorrow. I have to head to work now.” she said as she put on her blazer and grabbed her phone to text her driver.

 

”Alright” the penguin responded with a sigh.

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

 

Thursday passed by slowly for Mina.

She had planned on trying to take every opportunity she could to talk to the cub, but the cub pretty much proved this impossible.

The cub had handed in their assignment, finished work in class early and left, whilst the teacher once again just let her.

She didn’t show up at lunch and even the eagle and Nayeon didn’t know of her whereabouts.

Which, by now, seemed rather surprising as Dahyun always seemed to either be together with Chaeyoung, or at least know where she was... And as for Nayeon, she took so much pride in knowing about her ’children’s’ whereabouts, so when she found out the cub wasn’t at the roof with Dahyun, or in any of the other places in school she had expected her to be, the mother of the maknaes naturally began to become worried.

 

However turning to Friday after school, Mina was getting ready for the party together with Sana and Momo, and they would meet up with the rest of the gang at the party later.

 

She settled for wearing an off shoulder top, with black tight jeans.

Tonight for sure, she’ll talk more to Chaeyoung.

Mina had, afterall, realised she liked Chaeyoung. And whilst Mina may be shy and not always too confident in her flirting, Mina was the girl who got what she wanted. Always.

She never wanted much though, but when she did, she was sure to get it.

And right now, she wanted Chaeyoung.

 

”Are you going to make a move on Chaeng tonight, Mina?” the squrriel asked as she applied her lipstick whilst lookin into the mirror.

 

”I-I... Uhm... I don’t know...”

 

Momo who already figured out easily that the penguin liked the cub looked at her with a smile.

”Well if you won’t, surely there are a lot of other girls who will. Especially that girl who asked her if she was even going to the party... One of Nayeon’s friends.. Yeri, was it?” the racoon asked, already ready for the party.

 

”And Chaeng is much more easily approachable when she’s drunk.. If anything, I might even say she’s the exact opposite of her usual self with strangers.” Sana said as she had finished her make-up and gotten ready to go.

”Opposite?” the penguin asked curiously

”You’ll probably see” she responded with a wink ”And I need to keep that SinB girl away from my Dahyun tonight” she whispered under her breath with a glare and determination.

 

”Oh, that girl who’s been all friendly with her lately?”, Momo asked as she tried to recall one of the girls who was often nearby the eagle.

 

”Too friendly!” The squirrel said still glaring, ”And that tofu doesn’t even realise that the girl is obviously hitting on her” she finished with a sigh.

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

 

The three japanese girls met with Nayeon and Jihyo outside of the house at the party.

Mina looked around before asking the others.

 

”Where’s Chaeng?”, Only paused for a second before realising she should probably ask for the other two as well

”And Dahyun and Jeongyeon” she finished as fast as she could, hoping it still sounded natural enough of a question. Although the group had probably already figured out by now about her crush on the cub.

 

”They’re already inside. They went to say hi to Jackson” Jihyo said with a motherly smile.

 

”Yeah, we decided to wait for you three out here” Nayeon added.

 

They spoke a bit outside before heading in.

 

”Remember to keep an eye on your drinks! This may Jackson’s party, but it’s a big party, so you never know!” Jihyo added before they went inside.

The rest nodded, almost even saluted, to make sure to never disobey God Jihyo’s orders.

 

Mina immediately made it her mission to find the tiger cub as fast as possible.

 

And she found her right away. She saw her talking to someone over by one of the tables inside.

The cub was indeed looking friendly already. She was actually talking to someone else and she was smiling politely.

Mina began to think back to what Sana had said earlier, and wondered if the cub was already slightly drunk.

 

As Mina began walking over towards Chaeyoung, she noticed that the shorter girl was clad in casual clothes but oozed with confidence. She had a red cup in her hand.

 

”Hey Chaeng” Mina said showing her gummy smile, refusing to be too shy right now.

 

And just as she said that, the cub was taking a sip of her drink.

The cub looked up. And whilst the cub was still drinking, as she saw Mina, she almost accidently spat out her drink.

Instead of spitting it out however, she accidently almost choked on it and began coughing.

 

”Hey Mina” the cub blinked, as she tried to look at the taller brunette and cleared .

The cub couldn’t help but look over at Mina’s visible shoulders, up her exposed neck and then towards her lips.

How could I possibly try to distance myself away from you when you look like this?, the cub thought to herself before she completely downed the rest of her drink.

 

”I’m gonna need another” The cub murmured barely audible before forcing herself not to stare any longer at the penguin.

 

”I-uhh... Uhmm.. D-do you want anything to drink as well?” the cub asked whilst looking away.

 

Mina only smiled.

The stuttering cub in front of her was just too cute to not smile at.

 

At least she thought the ’cub’ was cute for now.

 

”I’ll come with you” she said instead and they walked towards Jackson’s parents’ bar that they barely ever even managed to use themselves.

 

On the way there, however, they were stopped by a certain bunny and a taller silverhaired girl.

 

”Hey, you two. Let’s play beer pong!” Nayeon shot in as she stopped the cub and penguin.

 

The cub looked at them, unsure if she should play with them as she knows she’ll team up with Mina against the other two.

 

”What, are you afraid of losing again, little cub?” Jeong said with a teasing smirk.

 

”Alright that’s it. We’ll beat you two, easy!” the cub took the penguin’s hand and lead her over to the table as the four lined up the cups and got ready to start. Her competitive nature got the best of her.

 

”Ohh, 2yeon is going to lose this time!” Momo shot in as she joined to watch on the side of the table.

 

”What makes you say that?” Nayeon asked looking over at the racoon, not wanting to believe that she would possibly lose.

 

”Mina’s really good at most kinds of games.. and she gets so very competetive” Momo said with a small laugh.

 

”Somehow I’m not surprised” The tiger said as she looked to the penguin with a smirk.

For tonight, it should be okay to let go a little... Just a little, Chaeng thought to herself.

 

Mina only gave an innocent smile back

”I haven’t really played much beerpong before though”

 

They played rock, paper scissors to see who would start.

2yeon won that and ended up starting.

They threw the first ball and missed.

It was now Chaeng’s and Mina’s turn, and Chaeng decided for Mina to throw first, mainly cause she was very curious to see if Mina would actually hit it in on her first.

And she did. She clapped her hands and raised her arms in a small but confident victory for the round, before her and Chaeyoung high-fived eachother so naturally she didn’t even realise it at first.

 

Throw by throw and cup by cup went by, and Michaeng team dominated the game in the beginning.

They ended up winning with two cups left, meaning Chaeyoung had drunk 2 cups, plus whatever she drank before they arrived, and for Mina to drink 2 cups as well.

After Jeongyeon and Nayeon lost, it was then Sana who stepped up with the eagle to challenge the two and they happily accepted.

 

”Today is the day I’ll beat you, Minari!”, the squirrel said happily at Dahyun’s side.

 

”Naaahhh, that tofu can’t hit a single cup even if her life depended on it!”

Chaeyoung shot in, almost slightly defending Mina.

 

”I’ll hit the cups and you with this ball” the tofu said playfully and slightly drunk already.

 

Playful banter went back and forth.

Mina hit the ball into another cup, and this time Chaeng and Mina hugged eachother in excitement.

 

The eagle then, surprisingly enough hit the ball in as well, earning a kiss on the cheek from the squirrel.

But right away afterwards Chaeyoung hit the ball in.

Mina doesn’t know where she got the bravery from.. Or even how the idea somehow settled in her head after seeing the squirrel do so.

This was Mina. Although she had decided to be less shy, she didn’t expect herself to be able to just jump in and do it. Maybe it was the alcohol that was settling in her system.

Did she really have this low of a tolerance?

But at the moment the cub hit the ball in, Mina jumped and kissed her on the cheek, rather close to .

Now, as mentioned before, it wasn’t like the cub wasn’t used to others wanting to kiss her, or not used to skinship..

But this was indeed Mina.

She froze for a second.

Soft. Mina’s lips are soft, she thought to herself.

She only felt them for a brief second, but it was enough for her to feel it, and yet still not enough for what she was wanting.

 

Sana missed her shot and it was now Mina’s turn.

Chaeyoung began feeling herself tipsy. Surely she felt the drinks settling in now as well.

And it was like she had finally forgotten her resolve of needing to not fall too hard for Mina all too fast.

 

Mina missed her shot, whilst Dahyun hit the next cup succesfully.

It was Mina’s turn to drink, but the cup grabbed the drink and downed it fast for her instead.

She grabbed the ball, and just as she was about to throw it, she paused.

She leaned over to Mina’s ear to whisper to it. Only for the two of them to hear. Although she’d have to whisper rather loudly due to the loud music.

 

”If I hit it in the cup, are you going to reward me again?”, the tiger now said with a smirk

Mina could only blush as she looked over at the tiger, before nodding.

 

And she hit it in effortlessly. She grinned and turned her cheek to Mina whilst pointing to it confidently, waiting for the penguin to kiss it.

 

Mina looked away first, slightly shy at the slightly bolder request from the tiger before kissing her on the cheek and looking over at the two on the other side of the table, only to find them both smirking, whilst the eagle was repeatingly wiggling her eyebrows at her.

 

It wasn’t because a kiss on the cheek was such a big deal normally. It was because it was Chaeng and the way she asked for it.

 

Sana missed her shot, and before Mina could throw the ball, the cub pulled her closer by the waist, before leaning in to whisper into her ear again once again.

”If you hit it in, maybe I’ll reward you next time instead” She paused, ”Maybe not on the cheek though” she finished before letting the flustered penguin throw the ball.

 

Mina was blushing more now. Unsure if it was the effects of the alcohol or the thoughts that ran through her head at the possibilities that the tiger suggested.

 

She missed her shot. Horribly. She suddenly got too nervous.

Chaeyoung on looked at her with a raised brow.

”I’m almost not sure whether or not you did that on purpose” she said with a laugh.

 

The penguin was annoyed with herself. As much as she wouldn’t admit this to the tiger in front of her right now, she so badly wanted to hit that shot and see what the shorter girl would do.

 

Shots going back and forth, the cub hit the rest of the shots while Mina still unable to aim properly after that.

The two ended up winning anyway and Dahyun walked around the table over to Chaeyoung.

 

”We should start our mission now!” she said. They both grinned mischievously.

Chaeyoung hopped over to Mina first.

”We’re going to start operation blue sparkles!” she started excitedly. ”Let’s play more beer pong together in the future, michaeng is the best” she finished with a smirk before heading off with the tofu as Sana stayed with Mina to .

 

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

 

Dahyun held up two smaller bags.

 

”I’ve got the blue dye and glitters here” she said with a big grin on her face.

And as they were about to start their plan, they were constantly interrupted by people wanting to talk to them.

”Hey Dahyun” a girl came up to the eagle with a drink in her hand.

”Oh, hey SinB!” the eagle responded politely, whilst the cub too was approached by several people.

They stood and spoke for a while, trying to find a polite way to excuse themselves to get their plan started.

As she cub stood there though, she looked past the people in front of her and saw a certain penguin was sitting over in the corner. Some guy was standing rather close to her as they spoke.

She noticed how Mina’s smile looked so sweet and gentle. An uneasy feeling settled in her stomach as she saw the guy obviously trying to flirt with the brunette.

She downed her drink.

The eagle noticed her best friend downing the full drink a little bit too fast, and Chaeng was not at all paying attention to what the people around her was talking to her about.

 

She was about to tap the tiger’s shoulder, but Chaeng grabbed another drink from one of the girls in front of her and downed that as well.

 

”Woah there, Chaeng” Dahyun chuckled as she placed a hand on her shoulder, before she looked to the others they were talking with.

”We’ll talk to you guys later, we have to go find someone!” the eagle said as politely as possible, trying to excuse themselves and dragging the tiger away along with her.

 

”Chaeng! I’ll try to fill Jeong in on our plan and get her to distract Jackson in case he sees what we’re up to. You just try to avoid all the girls chasing you for now, okay?”

 

The tiger nodded, and decided to find Mina.

She knew she probably wasn’t fair to be feeling this jealous. But she was drunk now, and well, there wasn’t really much space for thinking properly.

 

She headed towards the last place she saw Mina, only to not see her there anymore.

Where would she have gone in such a short amount of time?

The guy was still in the same corner.

 

Chaeyoung noticed how some called for her and was trying to approach, and right now she was to follow Dahyun’s advice and avoid other’s chasing her.

So she went towards the hallway that would lead to upstairs where Jackson’s room and bathroom would be.

 

Reaching the hallway she saw Mina standing alone sipping on her drink, and as she approached Mina, she heard her name mentioned from a bit further away.

She ignored it.

 

”Well, if it isn’t my favourite penguin?!” Chaeyoung started with a smile as she walked up to the penguin with a grin on her face.

”Have you see Chaeyoung?” was heard in the background which seemed not too far from her right now.

Chaeyoung took this as her cue to hide. Quick.

”Hey Cha-” Mina was already smiling as she saw the tiger but was interrupted when her hand was grabbed quickly and pulled into the supplies room close by.

She quickly shut the door behind them.

 

Although Jackson’s house was extremely big, including the size of all the rooms as well as the supplies closet, the room was filled with so many things that there wasn’t exactly a lot of space left in there for two people.

 

”Sorry, I was told to avoid others chasing me” the tiger said with a smile, still looking at the door as if to hear if the ’danger’ was gone.

 

Mina, at first, was rather shocked at the sudden pull into another room.

But that was the least of her worries now, because once she looked around said room, she noticed the amount of space there was, and she also noticed how close the two were standing now.

 

She couldn’t respond to the younger one’s apology. She was much too busy studying the girl in front of her.

The shorter girl’s cheeks were a tad bit flushed, most likely from drinking.

The ever so endearing dimples that were showing as she explained herself with a smile.

The mole under her lips, and oh, those lips.

Mina’s eyes became fixated on them.

 

The drunken tiger looked up into Mina’s eyes now.

Certainly feeling the last two drinks, that she previously just downed, kick in.

It was also rather obvious how the older girl was staring at her lips.

 

”Are you going to keep staring at my lips?”, the tiger asked smirking at her. Causing the girl in front of her to blush madly at being caught.

 

”I-I.. I w-wasn’t”

Great Mina, not obvious at all, she thought to herself. Despite drinking the drinks from the game before, yeah, she felt tipsy, but not exactly drunk.

 

”You weren’t, hmm?” she continued to tease the still so elegant girl in front of her, as she began tracing her shoulder with her finger lightly. The tiger was now completely forgetting why she was even in the supplies closet to begin with. Forgetting that she got in here to hide from others because she had a plan with Dahyun.

 

Mina gulped at the touch, eyes trying to look into the younger girl’s eyes, but still somehow landed on her lips again.

 

”Did you have to wear a top like this today?” Chaeyoung now said, resting her head on Mina’s shoulder.

”What do you mean?” she responded curiously.

 

Chaeyoung tilted her head up a little.

”You smell nice” Chaeyoung said instead lightly brushing her lips over her shoulder, avoiding to answer Mina’s question and elaborate.

 

Mina’s mind was going crazy right now. She could feel Chaeng’s breath against her shoulder, close to her neck, as she spoke. She could feel the softness of the plump lips that had been stuck on her mind ever since she first saw her.

 

”You’re rather quiet...” Chaeyoung started as she looked up leaning in closer to her ear.

”Is my penguin shy again?”

 

Come on, Mina. Speak, she scolded herself. She tilted her head down a little bit, becoming slightly closer the the tiger in front of her.

”W-what were you going to do earlier if I did hit my shots in the cup?” Mina managed to get out.

 

”Do you really want to know?” the tiger pulled away slightly to look the taller girl properly in the eyes, whilst still smirking showing her dimple.

 

Mina didn’t trust her words enough to properly answer, so she nodded.

 

Chaeyoung kept her smug grin plastered on her face and just looked at Mina as she moved her face closer to hers.

She kept just enough distance for their lips to barely be millimeters apart.

 

Mina’s heart began beating faster.

From the close proximity, she even tried to control her breathing. She knew Chaeyoung would only keep teasing her and right now she could barely focus. Like her mind and eyes just became clouded.

She couldn’t help herself anymore.

Her eyes fixated on the younger girl’s lips in front of her.

She never wanted to kiss anyone as badly as she wanted to kiss Chaeyoung right now.

Not ever.

And why shouldn’t she?

Why shouldn’t she just lean in right here and now.

What would she lose from it? Would Chaeyoung reject her?, she wouldn’t. Not after all of the flirting she’s already done with her, Mina thought to herself.

it.

Mina leaned in and their lips touched eachother softly.

She swears she could feel Chaeyoung still smirking as they kissed and Chaeyoung then reciprocated immediately.

The tiger held her hands on her wrist and pushed her against the wall as they kissed harder.

And all her thoughts for the past days about the younger girl’s lips were right. They were so incredibly soft against hers.

 

It went on for a while untill the tiger across Mina’s bottom lip, asking to be allowed entrance.

And Mina allowed it without hesitation as she ran her hand up Chaeng’s nape, pulling her closer into the kiss. As their tongues explored eachothers mouths, the shorter girl pulled away shortly, only just briefly allowing the taller one to catch her breath before she caught the taller one’s lips with her own once again.

 

Chaeyoung’s hands were now on Mina’s waist pulling her as close as she possibly could.

Whilst Mina felt the heat rising in her even more from the friction between their bodies moving against eachother with their heated kiss.

 

The younger one then pulled away from their kiss, and started moving down towards her neck.

First grazing her teeth lightly against her neck right before she kissed it.

Mina tilted her head back in pleassure, one hand on the back of the tiger’s head running through her hair, and the other one holding onto her shoulder as she felt her legs go weak.

 

Their breaths were heavy, chests were heaving up and down, and once Chaeyoung started on her neck, Mina unable to hold it back, let out a small moan.

In the moment of hearing herself she immediately covered with her hand.

Chaeyoung pulled back for a second to observe the bright red japanese beauty in front of her.

To Chaeyoung, this only gave her even more reason to continue.

 

She couldn’t help but smile and feel so satisfied that she was the one to cause the sound that just left the elegant girl’s lips.

 

They were both out of breath, but seeing Mina in this state for Chaeyoung... Seeing her this out of breath, cheeks flushed completely red, seeing her chest heave up and down, her slightly swollen lips from their kissing, and then hearing the small sound that left her lips, it was so damn hard for the tiger to have any self control right now.

 

Mina too, shocked by the sound that left her lips.. Heck, shocked at what had just happened between them even, just stood there, trying to catch her breath. She looked into the tigers eyes, and it just seemed so blurry and stormy. Like Mina could tell Chaeyoung was trying to hold herself back right now.

 

And just as Chaeyoung was about to lean back in,

There was a knock on the door.

 

”Yo Chaeng, are you in there?!”

It was the eagle.

Right. She was supposed prank Jackson.

Right...

Chaeyoung bit her lip in frustration.

She looked up to Mina.. Only to be met by the gentlest and sweetest smile.

If she didn’t know before, now she knew for sure. There was no way she could try not to fall hard for Mina too fast.. Because she already had.

She smiled back before responding to Dahyun

”Yeah I’m here, I’ll meet you at the stairs in a minute” she said before taking a deep breath and let it out with a sigh.

 

”Is Mina in there with you?” The tofu then asked teasingly.

 

The tiger cub groaned as she tilted her head back

” offfff Tofu”

 

”Hey Minaa-unniee!” the eagle shouted through the door

”See you in 5 Chaeng!”, the eagle finished as the others heard the steps go

 

”Sorry..” the cub said as she scratched her nape.

Mina giggled in response

God, she sounded like an angel even when giggling.

”It’s okay. You should probably go” Mina smiled understandingly.

The cub averted her eyes slightly.

She leaned in quickly to kiss the taller girl on the cheek before opening the door.

”Sorry about the mark” she winked as she pointed to taller girls neck.

 

”You’re so not sorry at all” Mina said out slightly smiling as she held her hand to her neck where the cub’s lips were only just a minute ago.

Chaeyoung only grinned in return as she walked out and went to the stairs to meet Dahyun.

She was right. She wasn’t sorry at all.

 

A/N:

Hey guys! Sorry about the late update, holidays have been crazy busy.

I honestly felt so very disatisfied with this chapter. It was so difficult for me to sprinkle in 2yeon.. And I honestly wanted to throw in more saida too.

This chapter feels a tad bit rushed and may have a lot of mistakes, I only had the chance to write it in the middle of the night till 4AM, so I apologise if it isn’t too good.

I’ve been waiting to drop some more information about Chaeyoung’s situation with her company and father, so boom, here was some!

Once again, I apologise for the quality of the chapter. x.x

I wanted to write so much more Michaeng interactions, which was one of the many reasons why this chapter was a pain to write.

 

Regardless, I hope everyone is enjoying their holidays!

From now on, Mina will finally get to learn more about Chaeyoung properly.

Oh and, after seeing the results from the poll, I’ll make sure to include a chapter in one of the future chapters.

Happy new years, y’all!