"She said something about a mom and a sister but when when I was at their house all I saw were goons."

"Her mom and sister flew to the states. They asked her to come with them but she didn't want to leave her dad."

"So that really tight security in their house is just for her? I've seen banks with a less tighter security."

"Well, if I were Mr. Im and some guy threatens my family, I'd put maximum security on them, too."

Mina silently agreed but she was still bothered by something. "What and where the hell were those guys while her was getting beat up by some lady?"

"You see, Nayeon, Jungyeon and I aren't the smartest people on earth," Jihyo started but was quickly interrupted by Mina.

"You three are idiots. Let's be honest."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Let's not be too honest," Jungyeon said.

"But when Nayeon wants to do something, she finds a way to do it. She probably said something to those bodyguards to make them let her do this."

"Did she say something to you two or are guys just puss-- scaredycats."

Jungyeon scoffed. "She was totally going to call us ."

Jihyo shook her head. "Do you still not get it, pretty Myoui? She did this because of her dad. She thought by doing so she'd get the signatures that she needed. Yes, Nayeon is an idiot but make no mistake that she will do everything for the people she cares most about."

Jungyeon nodded her head. "She's actually a really nice person. She wasn't even a bully to begin with. You probably don't know this but she had to switch schools when her dad was convicted. She was getting taunted by everyone. She'd walk down the hallway and students would pretend like they owed Nayeon money and acted all scared as if Nayeon was some loan shark that would beat them up senseless if they don't give her their money. People were really mean." Jungyeon frowned remembering those times. She and Jihyo witnessed how the events have changed their friend.

Mina remembered a conversation with Nayeon where she said people were already expecting the worst from her and she understood it now. "But still...she shouldn't be bullying other students. You two shouldn't be tolerating it. Joining in on it even."

"We know that, pretty Myoui. Why'd you think we switched schools with her? So she won't get into too much trouble because she'd have us but we could only do so much. Like I said earlier, we're not super smart."

Mina was going to stand by what she said but she was really impressed at their loyalty to each other. She thought to herself that maybe if that one thing never happened, she'd have friends like Jihyo and Jungyeon, too. She's got Chaeyoung whom she could tell some things to but their friendship was not comparable to the trio's.

Jungyeon scrunched her face with her hand. "We've told you too much. She's going to kill us."

"Or feed us to Jinri."

Jungyeon stared at Jihyo and held her hand. "Or worse...sacrifice our souls to Sana so she could finally quit dance club."

Mina rolled her eyes and told the two to go back to Nayeon's house and get her a set of new clothes that she could wear once she wakes up.

---

Nayeon opened her eyes and tried to get up but had a hard time doing so. She doesn't know how long she's been asleep and her body felt so heavy. She tried lifting her head up but even that felt painful so she did the next best thing which was to let her eyes roam and take in her surroundings. It seemed familiar to her.

"Mina, she's up."

She slowly turned her head to see the owner of the voice.

Jessica smiled at her and placed a glass of water on the bed side table. "Good thing you're awake now. Mina's getting worried that she might have to kiss you for you to wake up."

"Unnie," Mina whined and Nayeon wished she'd seen the girl's expression but craning her neck to see her was just too painful. "Damn it, neck. Why can't you cooperate?"

Jessica must have seen her struggling to get up so she said, "Here. Let me help you." She proceeded on helping Nayeon sit up, making her lean on the headboard. "Is that good?"

"You smell so good, Ms. Jung," Nayeon randomly said to which Jessica just giggled and said thank you to.

"I have to go to work now but Mina's going to skip school today because she volunteered to take care of you. She says she's doing it so she'd have a valid excuse to not go to school but I think that's total bull."

Nayeon now a had an idea where Mina got her sailor mouth from.

"Unnie, you're going to be late."

Nayeon received another smile from Jessica and a pat on the head. She couldn't help but be reminded of her sister. "How long was I asleep?"

"Two goddamn days," Mina answered.

Nayeon's mouth gaped. "Two days? i could've been in a coma. You didn't think of bringing me to the hospital?"

Mina thought about it but if she wasn't mistaken her eldest sister, Jessica, holds the record in their family for having been able to sleep for 63 hours so two days of sleeping didn't mean much. "You couldn't have been in a coma. You woke up a couple of times. The first time you sat up and said you might've left your phone in the fridge," Mina shrugged, "like, what the ? Then the second time you were thirsty so I gave you a glass of water. You asked for more but when I got back from the kitchen, you've fallen asleep again."

Nayeon didn't really remember that. She thought maybe her brain was too tired to register those random things. While Nayeon was trying to make sense as to why she was in Mina's room, the latter was observing her, watching as her brows creased.

In doing so, Mina knew the exact moment when Nayeon has finally remembered what happened. She saw her panic-stricken face as she struggled getting off the bed. Nayeon frantically searched for phone but failed in finding it. "What day is it today?"

"Thursday."

"No, no, no, no. Ow!"

Mina rushed to Nayeon's side. "What's wrong?" she asked when she saw Nayeon holding her back. She instinctively lifted Nayeon's shirt up and saw the black and blue marks on her back. "Oh my god," she said, covering .

"That must be from the old guy who had a cane," Nayeon muttered.

"You let an old guy beat with you a cane? Are you an idiot?" Mina regretted her tactless remark as soon as she saw Nayeon's expression changed and she remembered the reason Nayeon got those in the first place. ". .

Nayeon tried to ignore the pain and managed to stand up. "I'll leave now."

"Wait, no. ! ...sorry. I didn't mean...the idiot thing. I don't-- you're not an idiot. J-just sit back down before you hurt yourself."

Nayeon didn't want to but she thought it'd be embarrassing if she fell flat on her face because she knew her legs were about to give in again.

"Jungyeon and Jihyo have told me everything. Damn," she cursed. She probably shouldn't have started with that. "Don't kill them or feed them to Jinri or Sana or whatever. I sort of forced them to tell me."

Nayeon sighed and her expression turned sullen. "Tomorrow's Friday. It's the last day for me to convince people to sign the agreement. I failed. I've failed my dad."

"You were never going to get those signatures, you know that, right? No matter how much you let them hurt you, beat you with a cane or slap you. They weren't going to sign it." Mina wished she could've chosen better words when Nayeon started sobbing. "I'm sorry."

"I thought I'd be able to do it. I thought I could get him out of that stupid jail sooner." Nayeon was wiping the tears away with her forearm but the stream of tears didn't want to stop.

Mina, on the other hand, was at a loss.She didn't know how to comfort the crying girl. She tried to remember the old times when younger Krystal would come home from school crying because some boy put glue in her hair. Younger Mina would watch their mom clean her sister up and afterwards, she'd hug her sister before running off to the kitchen and asking the help to reach the ice cream that was in the freezer so she and Krystal could eat it together.

She remembered eating the last tub of ice cream the night before so eating ice cream to feel better was out of the picture. She hesitantly moved closer to Nayeon and carefully wrapped an arm around the crying girl's shoulder.

The gesture made Nayeon cry harder and she buried her face on the crook of Mina's neck. She wrapped her arms around Mina's waist and cling onto her as if her life depended on it.

Mina, albeit surprised by the sudden action, fully embraced her and only let go when Nayeon did. She started speaking again and this time, she chose the words that she thought were nice. "Your friends said he still has 5 more years there. That's exactly the amount of time you need to finish school and maybe welcome him back with a degree."

She didn't hear any response from Nayeon so she continued. "I think he'd be very and proud to see that from you once he gets to be with you again and you know what? what other people think. Why should their opinion about you matter? They don't know you. They don't know the that you've been through."

Nayeon finally looked up at her, eyes swollen from crying too much. "Can I borrow your phone?"

"Uh...sure, I guess." Mina was expecting a thank you for her impressive pep talk so she was rather disappointed not to get one.

The two didn't talk after Nayeon finished her phone call and minutes later, Nayeon's ride home came. Mina helped her to go downstairs and walked her to the door. "Thanks for...for letting me crash here for two days."

Mina nonchalantly waved it off and said, "Yeah, yeah. I could finally sleep on my bed now."

"Your bed is big enough for two people. Where did you sleep these past two days?"

"I had an extra futon."

Nayeon nodded and just as she was about to leave, she remembered something. "Have you seen my phone?"

Before Mina could answer, one of the guards beat her to it. "Here's your phone."

"I left it at home?"

"Yes...inside the rice cooker."

Mina shook her head while Nayeon mumbled an "oh."

---

It was the start of another week and because she had to catch a ride with her sister, Mina came way earlier than the rest of her class. She didn't get much sleep so she decided to rest her eyes for a few minutes but ended up falling asleep. She didn't hear the teacher coming in but someone woke her up by tapping her arm.

She didn't see who did it but the person sitting in front of her did move. It took her a while to realize that that person was Nayeon. How could have she forgotten that she's the one occupying that seat? The girl has only been absent for a week.

It was halfway through their last class before the lunch break when she received a note. Nayeon has managed to flick a paper on top of Mina's desk without turning around to face her. "You're going to have lunch with us," it said.

Mina crumpled the paper and pretended to pay attention to class but the truth was that she was trying to bore a hole through the head of the girl in front of her. She saw Nayeon placing her hand behind her back, probably expecting her to return a note.

As soon as the teacher left, Nayeon turned to face her and said, "Why didn't you write a note back? I waited for you to give me a note back."

"Passing notes, seriously? That's juvenile and I refuse to take part in it and what in the hell was that? What am I even supposed to reply? It wasn't even a question."

"You should've given me a note that said 'okay.' Sheesh. I thought you were smart."

Mina stood up with the intention of leaving Nayeon before the girl could annoy her even more.

"Yah! Where are you going?! You're supposed to eat lunch with us!"

Mina walked in a haste but Nayeon was persistent in chasing her down the hallway. She was already seeing the entrance to the school's cafeteria and Jihyo and Jungyeon were there waiting for Nayeon.

"Don't let her pass!" Nayeon yelled and Jihyo and Jungyeon blocked her way.

"What do you want from me?"

"Just eat lunch with us."

"Why?"

"Just because."

"I am gonna need more reason than that so you either give me one or get the hell out of my way because I'm starving and I just want to eat in peace."

"Why are you being so difficult?" Nayeon looed at her friends and asked them as well. "Why is she being difficult?"

"Look, if this is how you say thank--"

"It's not. I just...thought about what you said and if I wanted to get a degree then I'm going to have to finish high school first and get into a good school so I need to study...and Principal Song did say we needed to be study buddies. So I was thnking we should talk about the study session and stuff."

Mina sighed. "Let's just discuss that after class." She noticed that Nayeon's friends were still doing their daily routine of checking out other students' food before they enter the cafeteria. "You guys need to stop doing that. You're treating students like some...sushi conveyor belt. The three of you could afford buying your own lunch."

Nayeon shrugged. "I told you I don't like the cafeteria food and I always misplace my wallet. I tried not using one but then I just lose my money."

"Then ask one of your helpers to pack you lunch."

"I don't like the food they make."

"Unbelievable." Mina huffed. Sure she didn't care much about the other students that they take food from but if Nayeon was serious about finishing school, she needed to get rid of some bad habits that could possibly cause her to not graduate. "You could forget about studying together if you don't stop taking other students' money or food."

Nayeon bit her tongue and faked a smile. "How about this, I'll be a bit nicer in asking them to give me their food."

Mina put a hand on her waist, as if telling Nayeon to show her what she meant. Nayeon stopped one lucky male student in his tracks and said, "Hi, lovely junior from class...se--"

"Three," the student finished.

"Yes. Three. Class three. That was what I was going to say. You beat me to it," Nayeon hit his arm and laughed. "Do you mind giving us your lunch?"

The male student who was completely aware of who Nayeon was didn't think twice in handing the paperbag that he was holding and scurried off inside the cafeteria.

"See, I could be nice."

"You're an idiot," Mina deadpanned. "I'm not going to eat with the three of you. I happen to like my packed lunch and I'm not willing to share. We'll talk about that study session later at dance practice."

"Wow. Why do you like her? She's so cold and selfish. Doesn't even wanna share her food."

Nayeon raised a brow at Jungyeon. "What are you talking about? I don't like her." She walked towards a vacant tale and occupied it, Jungyeon and Jihyo following her as they looked at each other.

"Oh. We're still doing that?"

"We're still doing that."

"I don't like her. I simply find her fascinating. Like how she's chewing her food right now. Isn't she cute?" Nayeon took a the seat that was across Mina so she could see her clearly.

Jihyo propped her chin on her hand and glared at Nayeon. "Don't you think she's doing a wonderful job breathing, too?"

"Hmm, I think it's alright. She seems to have a proper technique."

Jungyeon dropped the paper bag that contained their lunch on the table and sat. "Wow. You need to be slapped. With a table. A metal table."

"Nayeon, just go up to her and tell her you like her instead of being a creeper. Also, what was that about studying together? Did you really mean that?"

Nayeon took her gaze off of Mina to look at Jihyo ang nodded. "I failed at getting my dad out of jail sooner and I realize that pretty girl has a point. I might as well spend my time trying to do something that'll make him proud once he gets out." She grabbed the paper bag and pulled out a sandwich. "I need an excuse to borrow her ketchup. Does ketchup go well with a peanut butter sandwich?"

"Jungyeon, what do you think will break first, her head or this table?"

"I don't know but my fist is itching. I wanna punch her two front teeth out."

---

"What kind of witchcraft did you use, Mina?" Sana asked. The members of the dance club were taking a break after going around with the routine three times in a row.

"What?"

"Nayeon, Jungyeon and Jihyo came earlier than the rest of us. Two weeks ago, I had to drag to come here. Now, they're participating and they're not even complaining much anymore."

"Why do you think I have anything to do with that?"

"Because Nayeon seems to really like you."

Mina could not believe what she was hearing. First, it was her friend Chaeyoung and now Sana thinks so, too. "Why are you all saying that? How and where are you even getting this from?"

Sana wasn't able to answer her because Momo has pulled the girl to the side and Mina was left wondering if what she was saying had truth in it. She glanced at Nayeon but immediately looked away when she saw the latter staring.

She thought about what had brought the sudden change in the girl who used to glare at her as if she'd killed a family of cats. She was starting to think that what she told Nayeon when she was at her house had something to do with it and that it impacted the girl with the bunny teeth somehow. That thought slightly made her glad for she wasn't the type to have her words be taken seriously or even be heard. She appreciated the fact that Nayeon listened.

______

i ended the chapter so abruptly lol idk what to write anymore after that OTL 

anyway, let's all hope for twice to get their 1st win later. it'd be a great way to celebrate the 1st anniversary of the show that started it all SIXTEEN