The situation at your home was tense after you brought Minkyung home. Minkyung still refused to talk to both your parents even though Mom and Dad were trying to talk to her. She—again—locked her room as soon as she stepped inside the house.

Earlier, you told Chanyeol to drive to the nearest subway station from your house so that he could go home first. The reason why you told him to go home first was you weren’t sure Chanyeol’s appearance at your house in situation like this would be acceptable, so you didn’t want him to show up in front of your parents today.

Chanyeol understood the reason why you told him to go home first, so he didn’t argue and drove calmly to the nearest subway station from your home. After Chanyeol telling Minkyung to cheer up, he got off of the car and waved his hand to you and Minkyung. He immediately walked inside the subway station without more words because he knew this wasn’t the right time to talk.

You took the steer because Minkyung wasn’t in her right mind to drive yet. As you sat on the driver’s seat, you developed nervousness inside. You weren’t a completely smooth driver, so you were afraid of crashing on something. For a second, you hesitated to start the engine and looked at Minkyung who was still sitting at the back seat from the rear-view mirror. Minkyung was still zoning out, discouraged your intention of making her drive.

“Minkyung-ah, I’m going to drive,” you notified her while glancing at her from the rear-view mirror.

“Hmm,” Minkyung hummed, “just don’t kill us.”

You smirked to her joke. Even when she was devastated, she still could make a joke. “Alright,” you muttered, then started driving to your house.

You were amazed when you successfully parked Minkyung’s car in the garage 10 minutes later, without even making a single scratch. Minkyung got off later as if she didn’t want to step inside the house yet.

Mom smiled thankfully when you pushed Minkyung lightly inside the house, but soon her smile dimmed as Minkyung dodged her hug.

“Cha Minkyung, we need to talk,” Dad asked, referring to him, Minkyung, and Mom.

“Later,” Minkyung mumbled. She quickly ran on stairs and you could hear her locking her room.

Dad sighed and shifted his gaze to you. “Where did you find her?” Dad asked.

“Namyangju,” you answered in static tone.

Your parents looked surprised and didn’t say a thing. Enjoying their surprise expression, you continued, “specifically, at the building where Minkyung used to take her painting lesson as a kid.”

Your parents were still silencing themselves for a brief moment before Mom made a comment, “It’s just an old, dirty building now.”

“That place is so broke now. It supposed to be demolished or something,” your father added.

“You know that place means so much to Minkyung,” you said, a bit harsh. After this incident, you couldn’t believe Mom and Dad were still acting like that. You looked at your parents’ eyes sharply. “If you didn’t know, now you know.”

Following Minkyung, you ran upstairs and locked your room. Disappointment was growing inside you. You guessed your parents would never understand both Minkyung and you—their own daughters—ever.

Two days later, Chanyeol asked you to hang out. It was noon when he asked you out. He said he wanted to give you the photos of you which he took. At first, you were hesitating to accept his offer because of Minkyung’s state. But on that day, Minkyung seemed to be settled down and started to talk to your parents even though not as warm as she used to, so you told Chanyeol that you were coming.

You walked downstairs and found Minkyung lay on the couch, watching TV alone.

“Minkyung, do you want to come? Chanyeol asked me to hang out,” you asked.

Minkyung turned her head slightly to see you. “I have something to do today, so I guess I can’t come,” Minkyung refused.

“Too bad,” you mumbled. Chanyeol must be happy if Minkyung came. “What are you going to do today?”

“I have an appointment with Junmyeon later. You know, performance stuffs. One of the fixed performers was resigning yesterday, so Junmyeon and I have to discuss for their substitute,” Minkyung answered as she exhaled.

You approached her on the couch and patted her head to comfort her. “Junmyeon must be capable of overcoming this kind of problem,” you soothed her.

Minkyung nodded and smiled. “Yeah, I know. He’s reliable,” she added. “Anyway, have fun! This is your first official date, right?”

Your cheeks flushed when you found Minkyung smiled teasingly to you. “What—no, it’s not a date,” you argued.

Minkyung laughed at your stuttering talk. “Yeah, yeah