“Here we go." Mina tells herself before she answers her bestfriend’s call. "I just need to endure this for a month or two.” She already knows the reason for this call.

 

Mina swipes on the screen of her phone and the first thing she hears is her friend singing “You sent me hail instead of rain~” and then followed by “And it freaking hurts you !” Mina’s not sure if it’s an actual song or if it’s something that the younger girl just made up herself.

 

“Chaeng! Why can't you just get over her? You’re so wrong for each other and you should know your worth because it’s obviously not her!” Mina tells her friend through a video call who is bawling.

 

“My heart feels like it's burning!” Chaeyoung cries hysterically. Empty cans of alcohol surrounding her in her bed.

 

The older girl rolls her eyes as she listens to her friend continue her dramatic speech. “If everything goes wrong with my flight tomorrow, maybe it will be the only fast relief I'll feel from my heartache.” Chaeyoung weeps more.

 

“Woah!” Mina holds her hands up. “Don’t say such a thing, Chaeng!” Her eyebrows furrows. “You want her but she doesn’t want you anymore. And I know it hurts like hell but your cheater ex-girlfriend doesn’t deserve your tears, okay? Now stop bawling!”

 

Chaeyoung wipes her tears and sits up. “You leave tomorrow and you enjoy your week in Australia, okay?” Mina says and the younger girl nods. “Enjoy your time there with your family ‘cause that’s your best revenge to that .”

 

“Okay.” Chaeyoung says. “And I promise I won’t try to jump out of the airplane.”

 

“You can’t possibly do that, Chaeng.” Mina chuckles. “But yeah, you shouldn’t do anything that will hurt yourself.”

 

“When she’s ing with her new girl, I hope she smells like me so she remembers me and feel so disturbed to the point that she won't reach an .” Chaeyoung says, glaring and her hand tightens its grip on the can she’s holding.

 

Mina laughs at that. “I hope so, too.” She says whatever to console her friend. She has learned that it only takes her friend a short amount of time to heal from a heartbreak.

 

Sure enough, after a few months, Chaeyoung is back to her normal self again.

 

“Booked!” Chaeyoung says excitedly through the video call.

 

“Eh?” Mina says in disbelief. “You’re kidding.” She squints at the girl.

 

Chaeyoung shows the screen of her phone to her laptop’s camera for her friend to see that she has indeed booked a flight to Japan.

 

Chaeyoung and Mina are online bestfriends or for a better term, they are long-distance bestfriends. They have been friends for 1 and a half years now. They have also been talking about meeting up for months and months now and finally, Chaeyoung is going to make it happen.

 

“Chaeng?!” Mina’s eyebrows furrowed.

 

“What?” The younger girl giggles.

 

“I haven’t decided yet.”

 

“If I don’t decide now, we’re never going to.” Chaeyoung throws her hands. “We’ve been planning to meet for months now.”

 

“I thought we weren’t being serious!”

 

“What?” Now it’s Chaeyoung’s turn to say in disbelief. She chuckles before she continues, her face turning serious. “Mina-chan. I cannot believe you right now. We’ve been talking about meeting up and we even made a list of places you’re going to show me around!”

 

“Yeah, but I didn’t think it would happen this soon!” Mina pauses and shakes her head. “Wait, when’s your flight?”

 

“On Saturday.”

 

“Oh gosh. That’s too soon.” Mina runs her fingers through her hair, feeling stressed out. “What time? ”

 

“Uhh.” Chaeyoung checks on her phone. “9:45.”

 

“AM?”

 

“AM.”

 

“I have classes until 12 noon that day.”

 

“Oh.” Chaeyoung says, a little disappointed. “I’ll wait for you.”

 

“Where are you gonna go while you wait for me?”

 

“I’ll walk around.”

 

“You sure you’re okay with that?” Mina furrows her brows in concern. She knows the girl hates waiting. The younger girl hums and nods as a response.

 

“Where are you staying by the way?”

 

“At your house.” Chaeyoung starts whining and punching her pillow. “Unnie! We already agreed that when I visit you there, you’ll let me stay in your house!”

 

“Oh, sorry for forgetting about that ‘agreement’ that we had two months ago.” Mina rolls her eyes. She sighs before saying, “Okay, you can stay here.”

 

“Yay! Thank you Mina-chan!” Chaeyoung claps her hands in excitement.

 

“Lucky you, my parents will be in Vietnam this week and then they’ll fly to Singapore and stay there for a few days before going back here.”

 

“Wow,” Chaeyoung says, tilting her head. “I wish my parents weren’t home that much, too. My sister and I would be hosting parties every single day that they’re gone.” She lets out a deep sigh as she imagines what it could be like.

 

“Trust me, it’s not that fun when you’re an only child.”

 

“But you’re not an only child.” Chaeyoung asks, confused.

 

“My brother is married and lives with his family. I’m the only one left at home with my parents. So, it feels like I'm an only child now.”

 

“Oh.” The younger mutters. She notices how this conversation on family matters makes a mood shift on the other girl. "Squirrel?"

 

“Squirrel.” Mina nods, giving a closed-lips smile.

 

Squirrel is their code for when they don’t wanna continue a conversation because it’s getting uncomfortable for one or both of them. Mina came up with it. She’s usually reserved and observant and listens more and talks less. When she talks, it almost always ends up being a serious or deep conversation. And she feels guilty about it so, one night, when she and Chaeyoung were on a phone call, she told the younger girl that she saw a squirrel to use it as a distractor and so that she can stop talking without making it feel weird and awkward.

 

“There isn’t really a squirrel, is there?”

 

“No, there was.” Mina denies.

 

“Come on, unnie. It’s night. You can’t see squirrels at this hour.”

 

And ever since then, it’s been their code to get out of awkward conversations.

 

///

 

After walking around the area, Chaeyoung went to the McDonald’s branch that is near Mna’s house. Mina just texted her that she’s almost there and Chaeyoung’s nervousness or excitement—probably a mixture of both—intensifies.

 

As soon as Mina enters the fast-food restaurant, her eyes spot the girl at the table to the farthest left. Chaeyoung specifically told her where she’s seated and what color she’s wearing, so it would be easier to find her.

 

“Chaeyoung-chan!” She calls out. She thanks the heavens for not allowing her voice to crack as she’s feeling a lot more nervous as heck than excited.

 

The younger girl turns around and smiles widely before standing up. “Mina-chan!”

 

They hug as soon as Mina reaches her.

 

“Oh my gosh, you’re so small.” Mina’s teasing already.

 

“What did you expect a girl whose height is 159cm would look like?” Chaeyoung retaliates, also admitting that she is small.

 

They both laugh before sitting down. They ordered food and ate lunch there before going to Mina’s house.

 

“Remember you told me that you wanted to try smoking?”

 

“Yes.” Mina says expectantly, her eyes sparkling. “Did you…”

 

“Tada!” Chaeyoung takes out a small black box from her sling bag. “I bought it earlier at the airport. I was scared of carrying cigarettes before boarding although I know I won’t get arrested for it, so, I decided to just buy it here.”

 

Mina takes the box from the younger’s hand. She holds it and looks at Chaeyoung proudly with glints of amazement and excitement in her eyes. She takes it close to her nose and inhales the smell of it. “Ooh. Minty.”

 

“You always mentioned that you like mint so I bought the menthol one.” Chaeyoung wiggles her. “Wanna try it now?”

 

“Yeah, let’s go in the backyard!” Mina says excitedly before leading Chaeyoung out.

 

//

“Smells good, right?” Chaeyoung says when Mina takes a stick of cigarette and smells it.

 

“And it tastes good, too.” Mina says after taking it from her lips, tasting the minty flavor.

 

“The smoke won’t taste too good, don’t get your hopes up.” The younger girl laughs. She lights up her cigarette first before offering to light up Mina’s but the latter insists that she do it herself.

 

“You know how to use a lighter?”

 

“Of course I do.”

 

“Alright, innocent Mina.” Chaeyoung laughs and she laughs harder when Mina takes her first inhale and she couldn’t stop coughing.

 

“That’s normal for newbies.” She pats the older girl’s back. “Take it easy for now until you get used to it.”

 

///

 

It’s only the second night and Mina has already smoked almost half of the cigarette box’s content.

 

“I hope you don’t get addicted to smoking ‘cause I would feel so guilty.”

 

“I was the one who asked for this and I promise you, I won’t get addicted. It’s just this one-time thing.” Mina says, whiffs of smoke coming out of and nose. (Yes! She even knows how to puff out the smoke through her nose! She already feels like a pro.)

 

“Did you enjoy the tour today?” Chaeyoung asks.

 

“Eh?” Mina furrows her brows, letting out a soft giggle. “I should be the one asking you that.”

 

“I enjoyed it for sure. But did you?”

 

“Of course I did.” Mina puts off her cigarette.

 

“Good. Mission accomplished.”

 

“What do you mean ‘mission accomplished’?”

 

“I came here to make you happy because I know you’ve been feeling lonely for being left alone here.” Chaeyoung looks around. “Your house is too big for one person. I know it could feel very lonely.”

 

“Thank you for coming over.” Mina reaches for her hand and intertwines their fingers. “I’m glad you booked that flight without waiting for my approval.” She smiles at the younger girl who mirrors her smile, proud that she could accompany her friend even just for 3 days.

 

“It makes me so happy that you’re happy.”

 

“Aww, Chaeng, stop being cheesy. I might fall for you.” Mina jokes, bringing her palms to her face to hide her blush due to embarrassment.

 

“Oh my gosh, what are we doing?!” Chaeyoung laughs. “Squirrel! SQUIRREL!” She starts yelling and Mina laughs at that.

 

///

 

On Chaeyoung’s last day there, they went to a province that is only 2 hours away by train. The Korean enjoyed watching the scenery as Mina tells her stories about the time she and her friends went there back in high school.

 

“It was a holiday and we planned to go here wearing our uniforms.”

 

“Why did you want to wear your uniforms?”

 

“We just thought it would be fun. We pretended like student characters from an anime who are skipping classes for the day.” Mina giggles at the memory. “We were too scared to actually skip classes so we did that.”

 

“You and your friends are such dorks.” Chaeyoung laughs.

 

“We are.” Mina laughs along. “I miss my dorks.”

 

“Where are they now?”

 

“Some stayed in Osaka and some are in Tokyo now.”

 

“Do you stay in touch?”

 

“Not so much now. We all have different lives now.” Mina looks out the window. “I don’t have a lot of friends and I’m the only one who’s taking pre-law. Most of my friends chose the engineering or medicine field.” She looks back at Chaeyoung with an embarrassed smile. “I’m talking too much. I’m sorry.”

 

“No, you’re not. You’re good.” Chaeyoung reaches for her hand across the table in between them. “I don’t like it when you feel bad or embarrassed for talking whether it’s too much or too little. I like listening to you.”

 

Mina blushes at what she said. “Thanks for being the bestest friend.” She smiles.

 

“So, you now agree that you’re only the second bestest friend?” Chaeyoung laughs, remembering a conversation they had last year about their ranking in this friendship.

 

///

 

They got home at around 9pm that day and they are so tired. After resting for a bit, they take turns to shower, and then they go to bed.

 

“I don’t wanna go to sleep, unnie.”

 

“Me too.” Mina turns her head to her right to look at the younger girl who’s staring at the ceiling. “But we have to. You have an early flight tomorrow.”

 

Chaeyoung groans. “Why are cheap flights always so early?”

 

“I could have chipped in if you allowed me to.”

 

“You already paid for all the transportations and food in the past 3 days. If you chipped in for my plane fares, then I would feel bad because you would have paid for basically everything.”

 

“Okay, okay.” Mina just says, knowing that Chaeyoung doesn’t like to be treated that way.

 

They allow silence to envelope them for a while.

 

“The past 3 days and 3 nights has been the best ones in my life, in like, forever.” Mina says.

 

“Same.” There’s a moment of silence again before Chaeyoung says, “You know that I love you, right?”

 

“Of course, I do.” Mina chuckles and then turns to her friend. “You know that I also love you, right?”

 

Chaeyoung giggles before saying, “Of course, Mina-chan.” They intertwine their hands. “My best friend Mina-chan.”

 

///

 

The taxi ride to the airport was the quickest one Mina has ever had. “Why is there no traffic today?” She says.

 

“What?” The younger girl looks at her with an eyebrow raised. “You want me to miss my flight?”

 

“Don’t you want to miss your flight?” The Japanese mirrors the look on her face.

 

Chaeyoung sighs deeply. “Kind of.”

 

“Even if we want to, you can’t. You have school tomorrow.”

 

“Yeah.” A sad tone on Chaeyoung’s voice. “I wish I could just say ‘ school’ but well, I can’t.”

 

“Don’t be too sad, okay? I’ll go visit you soon.”

 

The younger’s eyes lights up at that. “How soon?”

 

“Like, before Christmas?”

 

“I don’t like that question mark in your sentence. Remove it. Say it like you mean it!”

 

Mina laughs. “I’ll visit you before Christmas!”

 

“Yayy!” She hugs the older girl. “It’s December in like…” She counts with her fingers. “1 month and 20 days!”

 

“I’ve already told my parents about it.”

 

“Are they coming with you?”

 

“No. Dad’s been invited to speak at a conference in December.” Mina looks down at her hands and then back at her friend. “They said they might be home for the holidays.”

 

“Oh, that’s great.” The younger girl smiles at her, taking her hand in hers and squeezing it. “You can stay for the holidays if you want to. I’m sure my family won’t mind, especially my sister.” She wiggles her eyebrows teasingly.

 

“Nayeon unnie?”

 

“Yeah, she has a crush on you.”

 

“What?” Mina asks, her brow furrowed. “How?”

 

“Well, obviously she’s seen you during our video calls, duh.” Chaeyoung says before teasing her friend more. “She’s single, you know.”

 

“So?”

 

“So, you can date each other.”

 

“And you make that decision for me now?”

 

“Yes? Because I’m your bestest friend.”

 

“Shut up.”

 

Just then, their car stops. They’ve arrived at the airport. There’s still more or less 30 minute left before the Korean has to board so they sit at the waiting area. Mina’s been feeling anxious about the time that she keeps on looking at her watch.

 

“Stop looking at your watch. It won’t slow down the time.”

 

But time is being cruel to them because the next time Chaeyoung looks at the time on her phone, there’s only 2 minutes left before she has to go to the boarding gate.

 

“2 minutes.” She exhales and Mina looks at their clasped hands.

 

1 minute left.

 

30 seconds left.

 

10 seconds left.

 

And it’s time. Chaeyoung gets up first. “I have to go.” Her tears are on the verge of falling from her eyes. Seeing this, Mina starts crying as well.

 

“Hey, you'remaking me cry.” Mina gives her friend a tight hug and she receives the same. “Thank you for everything.”

 

“Thank you, unnie. See you in 1 month and 20 days.” They laugh against each other, wiping their tears.

 

“See you.”

 

“Oh gosh. I miss you already.”

 

“Me too.” Mina chuckles.

 

They hug each other tighter, closing their eyes. When Mina opens her eyes, she catches the eyes of a lady security guard. Mina feels judged by her look. Girls being with girls isn't normalized there yet but she, at least, hopes that the lady doesn't think they're a couple.

 

Mina and Chaeyoung hear a lot of the people in their lives asking if they're a couple and the older girl never gets used to hearing that and hates having to explain her relationship with the younger girl to everyone over and over again.

 

They never thought parting with a friend could be difficult and hurt like this. It’s like how Mina felt when she was a child whenever her dad had to leave the country for work.

 

They hear the call for boarding. Not wanting to let go of each other, Chaeyoung breaks the hug first and then takes the bag that Mina has been holding for her. They say their final goodbyes then she walks away. Every step tells hers to stop and turn around to go back. After a few steps, she looks back but she sees the other girl already walking away and not looking back when she calls out to her. If Mina heard her, Chaeyoung could have, would have changed her mind and changed her flight schedule. But the noise around the airport swallowed her voice. She tells herself that 1 month and 20 days won’t be that too long of a wait. And she tells herself not to think about it too much because if she does, time will slow down.

 

///

 

1 month and 20 days later, Mina was able to go to South Korea to visit Chaeyoung. She was there for only a week but she easily became friends with the younger’s friends and her sister, Nayeon. Their parents also welcomed her warmly in their home.

 

“I think Nayeon unnie misses you more than I do.” Chaeyoung tells Mina through a video call with Jeongyeon, her cousin, beside her.

 

“I swear, I noticed that she has been moody ever since you left.” Jeongyeon adds.

 

“You guys are so judgmental. Maybe she’s just going through something.” Mina says as she takes another bite from the cookies she baked. “You should ask her about it. Be sensitive, you know.” She shrugs. Her cheeks have turned pink and she blames the cold weather for it.

 

“Oh, we already know what’s up.” Jeongyeon laughs loudly. “She’s pining over you!”

 

Mina’s whole family was able to spend Christmas that year. Some of her parents’ schedules were pushed back to later dates in the new year so they were also able to be on an overseas vacation with Mina and her brother and his family.

 

///

 

A year later, Mina’s back at the Im’s house. Her parents allowed her to stay in Korea for the entire Christmas break.

 

Mina and Nayeon are inside Chaeyoung’s room which the latter shares with Mina. They are waiting for Chaeyoung and Jeongyeon who went out to buy some drinks and snacks. It’s Jeongyeon's late birthday celebration. They celebrated it on her actual birthday but they’re re-celebrating because Mina missed it.

 

“Hey, I heard your parents aren’t going home for Christmas. I’m sorry.”

 

Mina sighs. “My parents more time with their business partners than they spend time with me.” She says. “They’re almost always not home during special occasions, yet I never get used to it.”

 

“Hey,” Nayeon says softly, reaching for her hand and starts caressing it softly with her thumb. “You know you can spend the holidays with us, right?”

 

Mina nods. “I know and I’m thankful for that.” She says, smiling, as tears start to fill her eyes. “Always.” She sighs and then looks out the window and pretends to see a squirrel. “Squirrel!”

 

Nayeon turns to where she’s looking. “Where?” As she looks out, Mina quickly wipes her eyes with her sleeve.

 

“Oh you missed it!” Mina successfully distracts her.

 

“What a shame.” Nayeon says, disappointed.

 

“You know, I saw one before back at home. It was standing by my window sill. I gave it an almond and it took it and ate it like this.” Mina reenacts the way the squirrel ate the almond, puffing her cheeks and Nayeon laughs at that. "And then, I gave it some more and then it stuffed its mouth with like ten pieces of almonds and it looked so cute. And then it ran away."

 

"You enjoyed your time with that little squirrel guy huh?" Nayeon giggles.

 

"Yeah." Mina laughs and then she pauses for a moment then tilts her head. "How do we know if a squirrel is a boy or a girl?"

 

"Doesn't matter, Mina. I just know squirrels are squirrels."

 

"Maybe next time I should let it in? I can keep him right?" She pauses again. "Or 'her'".

 

"You're gonna have to ask the squirrel that, not me."

 

"Right." Mina smiles and Nayeon swears the way she smiled with her eyes is the second cutest thing she's ever seen. The first one being Mina's puffed cheeks during her earlier re-enactment of the squirrel.

 

“You’re so cute." The older girl says, failing to contain her urge to squish the younger’s cheeks. "Your cheeks look like dumplings."

 

“Ouch! Unnie, it hurts!” Mina says but laughs despite feeling the pain of the squishing.

 

“Now, I can’t unsee it.” She adds.

 

After Nayeon lets go of her face, Mina says, pouting with a crease on her brows and while cupping her cheeks, “My cheeks aren’t that big.”

 

“It should be your nickname!” She reaches out and gently pats the younger girl’s cheeks. “Dumpling 1 and dumpling 2.” She puckers her lips and makes kissing sounds as she continues tapping her hands on the girl’s cheeks as if to say sorry for squishing them too hard. This makes Mina giggle.

 

Ever since that day, Nayeon started calling Mina “Dumplings”.

 

///

 

“You’re into dumplings these days.” Chaeyoung says as they eat the dumplings they ordered from a Chinese restaurant.

 

“Yes.” Nayeon says with a questioning tone hanging in her voice, confused why her friend said that.

 

“You don’t like dumplings.”

 

“I do now.” She replies, reaching for the other girl’s hand and pats on it. “People change, Chaeng.”

 

“She likes what her crush likes.” Jeongyeon meddles in from the other couch, editing a video. "Stop copying other people, Nayeon. Just be yourself.

 

“I'm not copying her! She’s only into dumplings nowadays too.”

 

“Remember when she bought banana bread last year?” Jeongyeon says, ignoring what the older girl said.

 

“Yes! Mina unnie even baked for her!” Chaeyoung responds.

 

“She baked it for everyone!” Nayeon says matter-of-factly, correcting them.

 

“But you were hoping she did it just for you.” Chaeyoung says, wiggling her eyebrows playfully and then laughs. Jeongyeon laughs along, teasing the older girl who’s now frowning at them.

 

“Why are you even here, Jeong?” Nayeon rolls her eyes. “Edit your vlogs at your own house.”

 

“I like editing here. I can focus more when I listen to you talking about Mina.”

 

Chaeyoung laughs. “If things escalate with you two, you better not hurt my best friend.” She says, turning serious.

 

“I don’t think you have to worry about that. Nayeon has no guts to ask her out anyway.” Jeongyeon continues to provoke her.

 

“Yah! Yoo Jeongyeon!” Nayeon throws the closest thing she can grab at the girl who was not successful at avoiding it.

 

"Aw!"

 

///

 

Mina, Chaeyoung, and Nayeon are making a list of what they will cook for Christmas.

 

“Dumplings. What do you have in mind?”

 

“Hmm. I’m thinking, rose pasta.”

 

“It’s the only thing you can make.” Chaeyoung laughs.

 

“Each year my rose pasta gets better.” Mina says with pride. “What about you, Nayeonnie?”

 

“You know I can’t cook.”

 

“Well, then, what do you want? I’ll cook it for you.”

 

"I'm into Dumplings these days" Nayeon says.

 

Chaeyoung chuckles. She knows who she meant by that.

 

Later on, they made a list of all the ingredients they needed and then went to buy them in the grocery store.

 

“Tell me if you find dumpling wrappers. I can’t find them.” Mina tells Chaeyoung over the phone. They split to save time.

 

“Mina!” Nayeon calls out from the end of the aisle they’re in. “I found the wrappers.”

 

“Oh, nevermind, Chaeng. Nayeon unnie found them.”

 

“I’m sure she did.” Chaeyoung says and Mina could hear her chuckle.

 

Mina walks over to where Nayeon is.

 

“Which one is good?” Nayeon asks.

 

“Should we buy this one?” Mina takes a pack, showing it to the older girl. “It’s bigger than the others.”

 

Nayeon takes it from her hand and takes another one. She lifts them beside Mina’s face. “Oh, these would make dumplings that are as big as your cheeks.”

 

“Ah, Nayeonnie!” Mina whines.

 

Nayeon laughs. “You’re so cute I could kiss you.” She says, grabbing the girl’s face as she leans in and kisses her. Then she quickly pulls away. What came out of and what she did surprised her. You were supposed to only say that in your head! She mentally rebukes herself.

 

Mina just stares at her, a blush quickly forming in her cheeks.

 

Now both of them are looking flushed. They stare at each other with wide eyes. Nayeon starts muttering “I- I’m sorry. I-uh.” She doesn’t know what to say but someone has to say something to make the situation at least a little less awkward. But it seems all the words she knows are gone. She thanks the heavens when she hears Chaeyoung’s voice. “Unnies!” She calls out as she walks towards them. “Are you done?”

 

“Ye-yes. We’re done.” Nayeon replies. “Let’s go to the counter.” She says when Chaeyoung reaches them. She turns around quickly to hide her flushed face from the younger girl.

 

“Are you okay, Mina unnie? Your face looks red. Do you have fever?”

 

“I-uh, I think I m-might have it soon.” Mina responds, her brain also malfunctioning a little.

 

///

 

It’s finally Christmas Eve! The girls are starting to cook for the special dinner later. Jeongyeon also came to help—more like to distract them.

 

“Girls, can any of you buy some grapes?”.

 

“Mina-chan, wanna go to the market with me?”

 

“Sure.” Mina nods.

 

“Me and Mina can go.” She tells her mom.

 

“We’ll be right back. Please don’t touch my things.” Mina says, eyeing Jeongyeon as she has already prepared and measured all the ingredients for the dumplings.

 

“Yes, ma’am.” Mina hears Jeongyeon say as she leaves with Chaeyoung.

 

//

Jeongyeon is sitting at the dining table while Nayeon is taking out the other ingredients and placing them on the table.

 

“Ah!”

 

“You okay there Jeong?”

 

“There’s something in my eye”

 

“Come here, I’ll blow it for you.”

 

Just then, Mina and Chaeyoung comes back. Mina shuts the door a little louder than usual. The sound of the door closing startled Nayeon, making her almost jump.

 

“Gosh, you startled me.”

 

“Sorry to bother your moment.” Mina says, her voice a little shaky and the look on her face shifts to a sullen mode.

 

“We were not having a moment! I was just blowing Jeongyeon’s eye.” Nayeon explains.

 

“What an excuse.” Mina thinks. She turns so her friends won’t see her rolling her eyes.

 

“For real. There was something in my eye. Nayeon was just helping me get rid of it.” Jeongyeon says, going towards Mina. “Don’t be mad, Mina-yah.” She adds, voice gentle. “I’m not going to take your girl from you.” She teases and Chaeyoung giggles at that.

 

“She’s not my girl.” Mina says, tone serious despite her coldness already melting after hearing what really happened.

 

Nayeon goes to her side and says in a cute voice with her lips in a pout, “Mina-yah, I won’t kiss other girls but you.” She caresses Mina’s shoulder but the latter ignores her touch.

 

“You two kiss each other now?” Chaeyoung and Jeonyeon says simultaneously.

 

“No.” Mina responds. “It only happened once.”

 

“Ohh.” Jeongyeon chuckles. “Did Nayeon finally do something about her thing for the Dumpling?”

 

“Hey. Look at me.” Nayeon curls her arm around Mina’s. “Can you stop being upset and smile for me now, please?”

 

The older girl sounded so sweet that Mina can’t help the smile that is slowly blossoming on her face.

 

Chaeyoung sighs before walking towards the two girls. “I think you two should be standing right here.” She pulls them towards the door where a mistletoe is hanging. “And we, Jeong unnie, have something to do upstairs.” She adds and winks at Nayeon before leaving, pulling Jeongyeon upstairs.

 

Nayeon and Mina looks at the mistletoe above them and then at each other. They take a step closer and older girl starts leaving but stops when there’s only barely an inch of space between them. Neither of them are closing the gap between their lips and neither of them are also taking their eyes away from each other.

 

“Just kiss already!” They hear Jeongyeon say from the stairs. She and Chaeyoung had been watching them.

 

The two girls by the door giggles at that and Mina finally leans in to close the gap. They smile in their kiss as they hear the two other girls cheering for them.

end

---

thank you for reading and advance merry christmas to everyone!