Something’s not right. Mina feels it at the pit of her stomach. A horrendous feeling so deep, but still there nonetheless. Lately, her girlfriend has been acting a bit standoffish. What used to be a bright and fluffy Son Chaeyoung who can’t go half an hour without skinship, had grown distant and detached. Mina could never miss the look of disinterest in her girlfriends face whenever they do actually spend time together, which has become a rarity at this point in their relationship. Even on her nights off, Mina would always feel when their shared bed croaks and the space next to her is no longer occupied. She knows Chaeyoung leaves in the middle of the night to talk on the phone. The hushed mumbling from the hallway tells Mina so. Sometimes, Chaeyoung would be on the phone for five minutes, but there are nights where she’s whispering through that phone call of hers for more than an hour. 

 

 

Like this night in particular. Mina was never one to fall asleep right away. Chaeyoung knows that, but it seems like her midnight caller has swiped her memories because these days, Chaeyoung doesn’t even act like she has a girlfriend. The Japanese shuffles, secretly praying for her girlfriend to return to bed. She never does, though. So, Mina decides it’s best to go after her. After all, It’s been almost two hours since Chaeyoung had snuck out of bed to make that phone call.

 

 

The older takes light steps to their bedroom door, stopping to look through the crack. Her heart throbs when she spots Chaeyoung squatting on their hallway floor, wearing such a dopey smile, laughing here and there. It’s a look Mina knows so well— one of the many reasons why she fell for this lovely fluff ball. It’s also a look Mina hasn’t seen in ages.  Her occupation as a nurse takes up most of her time and energy. Working overtime is nothing new, but even on days off, Mina’s fatigue prevents them from actually going out and doing things couples do. Chaeyoung understands that. Or so Mina thought. “Maybe she’s fed up,” Mina whispers to her own self. “Maybe she feels too lonely.” 

 

 

“Don’t worry, she’s asleep.” Mina’s ears tingle at Chaeyoung speaking softly. Her little cub, the love of her life then let’s out a soft, but hearty giggle. Again, Mina is reminded how things are so drastically different now. Chaeyoung used to laugh like that for and with her. Now, she’s sneaking out to make phone calls where she looks over the moon and beyond happy. She’s even squatting, running her fingertips on the floor, drawing random pictures on the tiles. You know? That one random thing you do when you’re on a lengthy, but interesting phone call? Yeah! That’s Chaeyoung’s thing and that’s another reason why Mina even started having a thing for her. Chaeyoung’s actions and reactions are so enchanting, falling for her was inevitable. “I need you.” The bad feeling in Mina’s stomach intensifies as her girlfriend continues speaking. “I have to see you in person. These phone calls aren’t helping me out at all. Meet me in Japan?”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Hey you.” 

 

 

Mina looks up only to find her girlfriend smiling at her. She doesn’t even know when Chaeyoung had entered their apartment, but can you blame her? For the past week and a half, Mina’s cluttered mind prevented her from being in check. 

 

 

Chaeyoung really did leave for Japan, using work as an excuse, but what kind of job as a cheerleader for a Korean baseball team requires you to leave for Japan for a whole week? It’s makes no sense, but she still left and even though she called Mina every day and night, their conversations didn’t feel right. 

 

 

The shortie leans down to peck Mina’s cheek, but the latter dodges her lips. Chaeyoung quickly felt the tension, praying nothing turns sour because Mina is known to always threaten to end their relationship when she feels somethings off. “What’s wrong?” Chaeyoung’s voice is so timid, but Mina sees right through her act. 

 

 

“Nothing. Leave me alone.” She doesn’t mean that. She absolutely does not want Chaeyoung to leave her alone.

 

 

“Ummmm,” the younger hesitates. “Okay,” she whispers, walking into their shared room, bringing her two suitcases along with her.

 

 

Mina’s eyes well up, berating herself for ing at her innocent-looking girlfriend. But just because she looks innocent, doesn’t mean she actually is. So, Mina tells herself everything is good and what she did was okay. She heaves before spotting a familiar black IPhone 8 laying on the armrest of the couch. The gut feeling she’s been feeling lately hit right then and there, causing Mina to crawl over to Chaeyoung’s phone, eyebrows furrowing at the texts that just came in. 

 

 

‘Sana?’ How does Chaeyoung know her childhood bestie? It wouldn’t be so suspicious but the words in the texts that just chimed in only adds fuel to Mina’s fire. There are about 15-20 new texts that show on the lock screen, but Mina seriously has no power to read each one of them. She scrolls through the texts and skims them out, only reading a few. One said, ’REMEMBER! Mina CANNOT know! She’ll kill the both of us.’ Another text read, ‘Btw that was so wild. We should do it again.’

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chaeyoung may be dense, but she is not stupid. Mina has been treating her coldly this past week and they haven’t even had a decent conversation since her return from Japan. But does Mina telling her to leave her alone count as a decent convo? No, not really. Lately, her love— her better half— has been distant and she did not bother hiding it. Chaeyoung took that as a sign to treat her lady better.

 

 

Mina returns home from a long day of work with a grumpy look on her face. The first thing she sees as she enters their apartment is the fort made of blankets and pillows that almost takes up the whole living room space. She can’t help the smile that breaks out. ‘I’m supposed to be mad at her.’ Even so, Mina walks to the other side of the blanket fort and enters without asking permission from her girlfriend— or potential ex, a thought way too dreadful for her to bear. But she’s been feeling single nowadays, single and alone.

 

 

Inside the fort, couch pillows and warm, cozy blankets were laid out. What had Mina shook was the tray holding two glasses of what smells like Chardonnay. Chaeyoung isn’t in here, in fact the house is too quiet. Her baby cub is not that quiet, it makes Mina question whether or not her girlfriend is actually in the apartment. 

 

 

Just then, the front door opens and then shuts. Mina hears footsteps shuffling closer and closer to her and those light, somewhat lousy footsteps tell her it’s Chaeyoung. Her girlfriend, whom she’s so utterly in love with, enters the blanket fort with a humongous bouquet of pretty sunflowers. Son Chaeyoung’s here, looking comfortable with her oversized sweater and no make up on, a look Mina loves the most. “Hey, you,” the newcomer grins.

 

 

A few minutes of silence and an awkward stare down happens between the two, till The older looked away. With a stoic look on her face, Mina bluntly asks,”Chaeyoung, are you cheating on me?” Mina came right out with it, making Chaeyoung choke through her teeth.

 

 

“I would never do such a thing.” The offensive look she sports does not go unnoticed by Mina. 

 

 

“So why did you visit my childhood best friend in my own home country? Why did you have to be so secretive about it?” 

 

 

This cutie patootie is incapable of lying, but she still tries anyways. “I needed Japanese lessons,” she says. It’s not exactly a lie. Chaeyoung really did need language lessons from the girl. 

 

 

“I’m Japanese! I’m your girlfriend and I live here with you. It makes no sense for you to fly all the way out there for Japanese lessons,” Mina seethes. “You’re with Sana? Just tell me and I’ll let you go. We can end this.” 

 

 

“What?! NO! I would never cheat on you!”

 

 

“How did you guys even meet? Of all people you could cheat on me with, it had to be my childhood best friend? 

 

 

The Korean groans, frustration hitting so hard. It’s no secret that Chaeyoung sometimes handles situations without thinking, resulting in outcomes that could’ve been avoided. If anything, that trait of hers only makes her the more innocent. She always has good intentions, but never does she think about consequences. “I found her through your friends list on facebook and saw that you guys frequently message each other, so I asked for her help.”

 

 

“What could you possibly need help with that you had to run to Sana, not me, your girlfriend?” Tears pool in the Japanese woman’s eyes and Chaeyoung knows for a fact, Mina is hurting. If anything, Mina could do so much better.

 

 

“I told you already. I needed to learn some Japanese.”

 

 

Mina couldn’t even mutter a sound. Just tears threatening to spill from her eyes and it’s enough to knock some sense into her girlfriends head.

 

 

“I am so undeserving of you.” Chaeyoung brushes her lips on the corner of Mina’s mouth before rushing out of the fort and out of their apartment. 

 

 

The negative feeling in Mina’s stomach hits an all time high. She runs after Chaeyoung, panicking at the sudden events that unraveled, but Chaeyoung is nowhere to be seen and Mina knows she could never catch up to her girlfriend. Instead, she pulls her phone out, calling the one person she dreaded coming in contact with.

 

 

“Mina-chan?” 

 

 

“Sana, do you know if Chaeyoung is on her way to you?”

 

 

“To Japan? That’s impossible, Minari.” 

 

 

“She’s visited you before. It’s highly possibly,” her breath shakes. Sana knows and can hear through the phone that Mina is close to breaking down.

 

 

“Hey, what’s wrong? What happened?” Sana’s voice softened and Mina wishes it didn’t because she actually sounds like she cares.

 

 

“If you and Chaeyoung wanted to be with each other, you should’ve told me. I wouldn’t take it well, but still. Don’t you think that’s better than sneaking around behind my back?” Mina chokes a sob, refusing to make herself look even more pitiful.

 

 

“Wait! What the ?! What make you think— Where is this coming from?”

 

 

“Sana, I know she visited you in Japan and you guys did some wild things, okay?” 

 

 

“Mina—“ 

 

 

“I don’t want to hear it. I’m hanging up. I think this is the end of our friendship.” Mina hangs up, going on to ignore the several phone calls and texts that came from Sana. 

 

 

The front door opens again, revealing a yelling Chaeyoung. “Mina, this is the wild thing I did in Japan!” She zooms into the blanket fort with a large, life sized cardboard poster. It takes a whole struggle to face the poster to Mina and the latter cackles so unexpectedly. Here, on fine display is a mugshot of Dahyun with three Cheetos stuck in her hair and the words,’ AND I OOP-‘ written on her forehead.

 

 

“Dahyun got arrested for trying to imitate a dog peeing on a fire hydrant and yeah. Something about public indecency.” Chaeyoung popped her phone out and showed Mina the video of Dahyun’s whole arrest. She was being arrested, not forgetting to groan that famous Dubu groan of hers. The cops were reading her Miranda rights in Japanese and Sana was there playing google translate. Chaeyoung and Mina shared a moment of genuine laughter, both basking in the warmth of their laughs. 

 

 

Mina swipes the screen, hoping to see more videos of Dahyun’s ordeal, but instead, she sees a video of her parents in their home in Kobe. She plays it out of curiosity, totally not expecting her girlfriend to step into the video. Mina listens intently as she hears Chaeyoung speak almost fluent Japanese to her parents. The whole video brings tears to her eyes, she feels so touched. Her girlfriend made an effort to learn a new language just to communicate with her parents. 

 

 

In the video, they conversed and Mina’s full focus was on her cub’s pronunciation, not realizing the next set of words her small girlfriend had said. Chaeyoung had asked for their blessings. She wants to marry Mina and when that part of the video played, Chaeyoung had already brought the bouquet of sunflowers in front of Mina. Deeper down into the bouquet, sits a suede ring box. 

 

 

The shock on Mina’s face is so obvious, but she gathers herself and says,” “Okay, but those late night phone calls you always take.”

 

 

“They’re usually 3 or 4-way calls between me, Sana, Tzuyu and Dahyun.”

 

 

Mina nods in relief. “WAIT! How about those times you seemed like you didn’t want to be around me?” 

 

 

“You know how gullible I am. Sana was certain it was a good idea to act like that and I was stupid enough to believe her.”

 

 

The older woman pouts, crossing her arms.

 

 

“Now, can you stop interrupting me? I’m trying to make you my wife.”