My heart was beating out of my chest.

I could’ve sworn I saw it pulsing through my shirt.

I was nervous.

I was shaking in my knees when I rang the doorbell.

That was it. The moment the door would open, it would change everything.

It would probably change me and how my family saw me.

After that, nothing would be the same.

Momo squeezed my hand as though to wake me up from the daze of horror.

“It will be alright, Mina.”

I was never an optimistic person.

I just never saw things from a positive light.

Sana would often nag me about it.

“See! That’s what’s wrong with you, Mina!” The squirrel would yell at me. “You’re always so negative!”

I was not negative. No.

But I wasn’t just hoping for the best of everything. I was also preparing for the worst.

I was realistic. I knew about the possibilities.

I saw things in its entirety.

The entire trip to Japan—that was what I really saw.

Momo spoke to me once more. “It’s going to be okay.”

Gladly, there was one of us who was optimistic.

I took another breath out and waited, waiting for the knob to twist, watching it like a hungry wolf out for food.

Everything may change, but not this relationship, I repeated like a mantra. I will be with Momo.

On the fifth time I had chanted it in my head, the doorknob turned and so did the door open.

“Mina!”

My mom was in front of me and she seemed very pleased to have me home.

“I am so glad you’re here!”

I hugged her, closely this time. It wasn’t like I had a schedule to get to afterwards.

“Mom, I have Momo here with me.”

“Oh?” She looked behind me and saw her. “Momo! It’s nice of you to be here. Come in, both of you. We’ll have dinner shortly.”

We both followed inside.

Momo said to me, “Now I think I’m feeling nervous.”

That made two of us.

I looked around our old house. It was the same way as I left it years ago. But this time there were more pictures on the wall.

There was a photo of me and my parents from our first showcase, then a photo of us after we had received an award for Best Female Group, then there were more with me in my stage outfit and some vacation photos.

Momo stopped to look at the pictures.

“What are you looking at?” I asked.

“You were so cute,” she said as she glanced at my baby pictures.

“I know,” I responded. “Of course I am.”

She smiled to me. “Of course you are.”

“Mina?”

I suddenly heard my dad’s voice coming down from the stairs.

“Dad!” I ran up to him, embracing him.

“It’s great to see you, sweetie,” he said.

I really missed my dad. I never got to see him as much as my mom because he was always at the university working.

“How long will you be staying?” He asked.

“Just a day. We have an event at Beijing tomorrow.”

He pulled a face. “Well, that’s too bad. At least you’re here.”

“Yeah…” I said. “Dad, I actually brought Momo along with me.”

“Where is she?”

Momo was still rigorously examining my pictures inside the frames when I called her.

“Momo!”

She turned around and I thought she was just adorable looking very surprised to see my dad beside me. It was like a boyfriend meeting the father for the first time.

But she wasn’t a boyfriend.

And that wasn’t the first time she had met my father.

“Mr. Myoui,” she bowed. “It’s nice to see you again.”

“My pleasure, Momo,” he said. “Make yourself at home.”

I noticed how nervous Momo was in front of him. I laughed a little in my head thinking she was never like that when she performed in front of 60,000 people. But I also saw how warm my dad was with her.

Like he already knew and had approved of us.

“Dinner’s ready!” That’s when my mom told us to proceed to the dinner table.

The meal went normally, just like how it was during lunch at Momo’s. My parents were laughing along Momo’s jokes and stories about our recent comeback and her solo debut in Japan.

“I always wonder why Mina refused to take that solo offer,” my mom teased.

“She still gets stage fright…” Momo responded.

“Hey!” I exclaimed.

We were really like a family there, the four of us. And all the while the lively conversations went on, in the back of my mind I was imagining that it was all real, that they had already known, that I had finally told them and they were okay with it.

Momo and my parents seemed to get along fine.

But I was afraid that maybe after I tell them, their bond would disappear.

“Should we tell them now?”
 

I approached Momo after dinner.

“Whenever you’re ready. I’m always here for you.”