Chaeyoung, Mina's online friend that she's met for the first time that day, excused herself to buy drinks, leaving Mina alone with Nayeon. As soon as the younger girl left, Mina turned to Nayeon with a glare. "Stop making her feel uncomfortable."

"What are you even talking about?" Nayeon tilted her head to the side and acted innocently when seconds ago she was staring at Chaeyoung with her eyes squinted and balled up fists. She leaned back to her chair and smiled and Mina wished she could be invisible for ten seconds so she could strangle her or push her off of her chair.

"Can't you just go home? Leave?"

"Nope. I think I'll stay and admire the child's cute face. Her dimple is really cute. I'm pretty sure if I do this," Nayeon smiled and tried to force a non-existent dimple to appear on her cheek, "you could see that I have an almost unnoticeable dimple."

"No, you don't."

Mina, who was staring at her and thinking how much of an idiot Nayeon is, noticed something else. She had to crane her neck to look at it closer. "There's something..." she reached out and touched Nayeon's right brow.

Nayeon's usually quick reflex failed her and she didn't know if it was because of how Mina was looking at her or how Mina's finger felt on her skin but when she realized what was happening, she swatted Mina's hand away. "What are you doing?"

"Oh...it's a mole. I thought it was dirt."

Nayeon touched the spot that Mina was touching earlier and said, "Of course, it's a mole. You have thousands of moles on your face and you can't tell the difference between a dirt and a mole?"

Mina made a face and replied, "Whatever. Put your hands down, Bruce Lee. You look like a crazy who's ready to karate chop someone."

Nayeon looked at her hands and immediately put them down when she realized Mina was right. She cursed the girl in her head. Afterall, it was Mina's fault. Nayeon thought she shouldn't have been touching her like that and making her feel defenseless.

"I mean what I said," Mina suddenly blurted, "You need to stop looking at Chaeng like you want to rip her head off."

Nayeon saw Chaeyoung returning to their table and huffed. "Fine. I'll stare at you instead, Pretty Myoui."

"Mina-unnie, do you want to move to another place? Is it too hot here? Your face looks flushed." Chaeyoung put the drinks down before taking a seat.

Mina shook her head and quickly grabbed the drink that was placed in front of her, thinking that it would cool her down. Nayeon, who continued observing the two, smirked. She knew it was Mina's immediate reaction for when she calls her "pretty." The more often this happens, the more Nayeon thinks how adorable it is and she kept her word. She only did stare at Mina while the two girls were busy talking about trivial things that Nayeon didn't care about.

Nayeon felt like she was watching a foreign movie with no subtitles and she only did it because she liked the lead. When Mina giggled, a smile would make its way to her face and a chuckle would escape her lips when she hears Mina's laugh. Mina, however, was too busy talking to Chaeyoung to notice all of these.

"It's getting late. We should probably head home. I still have homework to do." Chaeyoung pouted her lips and whined. She was having a really good time speaking to Mina and the latter felt the same way. Whenever the two of them talk online, it would usually last until the wee hours of the morning because they wouldn't notice the time.

Nayeon snapped out of her reverie and stood up. "Finally! I thought you two were going to wait for the manager to kick us out because it's already closing time."

"Dummy, it's only 7. The mall closes at 10."

"Yeah, yeah. I hope you have money to get a cab, kid. I could only walk one of you home and it's not gonna be you because I only met you today. Let's go, pretty Myoui. I will--" Nayeon wasn't able to finish what she was going to say because she spotted someone familiar in the crowd. She gritted her teeth and reached for her pocket, taking out an item that she would always bring with her.

She handed it to Chaeyoung. "Here, kid. Walk her home. You know what to do with that, right?"

Chaeyoung stared at the the breath spray that Nayeon gave to her. "Use it for when I have to kiss someone and I just ate?"

Nayeon balled up her fist and gently hit Chaeyoung's head. "You spray it on someone's eyes if you suspect that they're up to no good. It won't have the same effect as a pepper spray but it's a good way to distract them and then you two run real fast. Drag her if you have to," Nayeon pointed at Mina, "just make sure she gets home safe."

Before Mina could even say anything, Nayeon has already left.

"That unnie's so weird," Chaeyoung muttered and looked at Mina. "I guess she really likes you."

"What?"

"Oh you probably didn't see how she was staring at you the whole time."

"I knew she was staring at me because I told her not to stare at you because I thought it was making you feel uncomfortable so she said she was going to stare at me instead. She was only doing it to piss me off."

"Hmm, maybe but she was smiling like she really enjoyed just looking at you. You should've seen it. I would want someone to look at me the same way."

Mina shook her head and ruffled the younger girl's hair. "The only thing you should want and worry about right now is how to get good grades."

"Look who's talking. You skipped classes."

"i don't anymore."

"Why? Is that unnie in the same class as yours?"

"Your imagination is amazing, Chaeng."

Chaeyoung laughed and linked arms with her. "We should get going. I still have to walk you home and make sure you get home safely. I don't want that unnie to skin me alive if something bad happens to you."

The two girls headed for the exit and before they got out, Mina took one last glance to where Nayeon ran off to. She wasn't sure if she was imagining things but she saw two suspicious looking guys following Nayeon.

---

The following day, Nayeon showed up an hour late to class and an apparent bruise on her cheek. She had her blazer on but if someone bothered to look at her closely, they'd notice an abrasion running from her right hand to her wrist and she was hiding it by pulling on her sleeve.

She was sent to the principal's office by one of their teachers who thought she got it from getting into another fight. When lunch break came, Mina wondered if she should ask Nayeon what had happened but she'd somehow convinced herself that she didn't care and she should be minding her own business.

When everyone but the two of them has left the classroom, Nayeon rolled up her sleeve and to reapply oinment on her hand. Mina remembered the breath spray that Nayeon gave Chaeyoung the previous day and thought of using it as an excuse to start a conversation with her.

"Here's your breath spray," Mina said, placing the item on Nayeon's desk and quickly glancing at the girl's hand.

Nayeon looked up at her. "You two didn't have to use it, right?"

"No. We just met yesterday in person. We can't be making out yet." Mina said it in jest but Nayeon completely missed it.

She stood up and slammed her fists on the table, forgetting about her injured hand. "Yah! You kissed her?!"

Mina took a step back, shocked at Nayeon's sudden outburst. "It was a joke, idiot. Why are you even yelling at me?"

Nayeon calmed down and she felt her hand sting. She gently held it with her other hand and sat back down. "Why would you even joke about something like that?" she mumbled. It was too inaudible for Mina to hear.

"How did you even get that?" Mina poked Nayeon's cheek, thinking it wouldn't hurt the latter.

"Ow!" Nayeon was now cupping her cheek with her uninjured hand. Other parts of her body had started hurting and she wished she had just skipped school that day.

"Oh...sorry. You fell off of something again, didn't you?"

"Yeah, yeah. I fell off a table this time."

Mina didn't buy it and thought Nayeon was lying. The last time she saw Nayeon covered in bruise was when she fell off a bench but she made everyone think that she got it from getting into a fight with someone so it didn't make sense to Mina that Nayeon was telling her she got it from being her clumsy self again.

She remembered the two guys that followed Nayeon the day before and thought Nayeon has really gotten herself in serious trouble. While it is true that she didn't really care much about Nayeon, Mina still felt like she had to do something so later that day she reminded Nayeon that they still had to study for the upcoming exam for the seniors.

"We can't study at my place so we'll study at your house. I'll come by after dinner later."

"What? No. That's a no go. You can't go to my house."

Jungyeon and Jihyo nodded in agreement. The trio were hanging out at the favorite spot when Mina approached them.

Mina simply walked away and later that evening, she wished she had just listened to Nayeon. She was currently at the Im's house, sitting on the couch beside a chair where a blindfolded and gagged man was tied to.

She gulped as she tried to avoid the gaze of the man standing across her. She really wished hadn't asked Principal Song where Nayeon lived. When she got to the Im's huge estate, it was safe to say that she was surprised at the size of Nayeon's family's property.

In all honestly, she didn't think Nayeon was from a very affluent family. She was now baffled as to why Nayeon and her friends would take other people's lunch money when clearly, they could probably afford paying for a student's meal for a whole week with a day's worth of their allowance.

"They really find it entertaining to see other people being miserable then," she silently thought and that thought made her angry.

"Goddammit! I told you not to come here."

Mina looked up to see Nayeon descending the stairs while drying her hair with a towel. Nayeon was wearing a white button up shirt and a really short pair of shorts that made it seem like she wasn't wearing anything from the waist down because of the oversized button up shirt.

The only reason Mina used studying together at Nayeon's house as an excuse was because she wanted to perhaps talk to Nayeon's parents and tell them that their daughter might be in trouble. She was still worked up at the thought that girl in front of her was somem sicko who found pleasure in seeing other people suffer and has forgotten about her purpose of being there.

Mina stood up and stood face to face with Nayeon. "I'm not even gonna ask why that giant man has a gun or why everyone in here is carrying some sort of deadly weapon," she said pertaining to the other guys who were either holding a baseball bat, a dagger or a mace, "who even uses mace anymore? Is this the medieval period?"

"I also won't bother asking why this dude is tied up to a chair and looking like he's about to meet his maker."

Nayeon looked at the said guy and glared at the armed men inside their house. She sighed. "They were just playing around. Untie him and let him go," she said to the tallest guy in the room who Mina thought could take on Yao Ming and beat him in a contest where you have to reach for something that is placed on a really high shelf.

"I really don't care. Let's just study for that exam so I could go home." Mina grabbed her bag and Nayeon led her to where her room was. She was dying to know why the Im's house had such a tight security and why it was guarded with guys who looked like they could pass as a villain's minions on a badly written action movie but she continued acting like she didn't care.

"You really should've listened to me when I told you not to go to our house," Nayeon told her without looking at her. She busied herself by bringing out her textbooks.

"Well, sorry I thought those guys who followed you yesterday did that to you and that I wanted to tell your parents about it because then maybe they'd do something about it. Turns out you probably really got into a stupid fight.

The two of them didn't talk after that and studied by themselves. Nayeon only talked to her after she's finished doing an exercise from her textbook and asked Mina to check if she did them correctly. She checked the time and told Mina that it was late and she had to go home.

"I'll get you home. It's not safe for you to go alone."

"I don't think I'd feel any safer if you go with me." For a brief second, Mina saw an expression on Nayeon's face that she hasn't seen before. Hurt. She wanted to take back what she said but she knew it was too late when that expression was replaced with anger.

"Fine then. Leave."

---

When Nayeon didn't show up at school for the rest of the week, Mina couldn't help but get worried. She thought she has gotten Nayeon all figured out. A bully who enjoyed what she was doing simply because she liked making other people's lives miserable. Someone who enjoyed getting into stupid fights to simply brag about it at school and pretend that she was this tough girl who could take on anyone.

But she couldn't get the look on Nayeon's face before she left their house the other night out of her mind. She wanted to know what real deal is and she knew she could get answers from her two best friends.

"She hasn't gone to school for three days. Where is she?" Mina asked abruptly, interrupting the two girls from eating their lunch.

They looked at each other as if trying to communicate with each other using telepathy. "We can't tell you anything," said Jihyo.

"Why not?"

"It's not our secret to tell," Jungyeon replied.

That only made Mina even more curious. She took the seat across them and asked once again. "What is she up to? Why has she been absent for three days now? You either tell me or I ask Sana to help me squeeze out the answer from you two."

Jungyeon groaned. "Sana scares the out of us but we'd rather have her beat us up than tell you something that personal about Nayeon. Sorry, pretty Myoui. We just can't."

Mina eventually gave up and decided that she just had to find out herself so after class she made her way once again to the Im's estate but on her way there, to her surprise, she saw Nayeon outside a pharmacy looking like she got into a fight again.

This time though, it didn't look much like she even tried to fight or defend herself. She looked like she was beaten up. It was as if she just stood there and took every hit. Blood was trickling down from her knee and her lips looked like it had a cut.

Nayeon was about to enter the pharmacy when she felt her knees give up. She was about to fall but she was able to lean into the glass wall. She let herself sit on the pavement with her head hung low.

"Who the did this to you?"

She looked up to see Mina who was still in her uniform. "Pretty Myoui, haven't seen you in days, still looking good as ever."

Nayeon felt like she was about to pass out and she was trying hard not to but her eyes felt so heavy. She could feel her eyes welling up and before the tears could fall, she tried to get rid of them by wiping it with her hands. She wasn't going to bawl her eyes out there. Not when Mina was watching her.

Mina, on the other hand, didn't know what to do. One option is for her to just walk away and leave Nayeon by herself but she knew that would've been too heartless even for her. Another one is to help her but she didn't know how. What could she even do to help her?

"I'll get someone from your house to come and get you here."

Nayeon quickly grabbed her by the arm and said, "No please. Can I stay at your house tonight? I only have to...I just have to clean myself up before I go home."

"I'll get a cab."

______

#CheerUp 

#shyshyshy

ive finally gotten around into writing another chapter lol been busy again because twice had schedules left and right and i had other stuff to deal with as well but i am such a proud mom to these 9 babies certified all kill and a PAK plus they've sold about 30k+ albums on hanteo already

and all the fantaken photos are just killing me especially mina's

the girl is just too beautiful it hurts

Oh shoot i almost forgot 101 subs lol thank you