Mina watched herself in the bathroom mirror. She leaned in, inspecting the corner of her eyes.

I’m lucky! I heard of this cream that does miracles, I was going to bring some for Mina to try on the corner of her eyes, wrinkles waits for no woman! She had said amidst her laughter.

Rolling her eyes, Mina washed her hands for the second time, buying herself a little bit more time. She dried her hands and went for the door, pausing before she opened it. Did she really want to go back out there? No. She didn’t want to look at Minji, she could have gone her entire life without seeing her again and yet here they were. Somehow her appearance managed to make Mina feel like they were slipping backwards, like somehow… she was going to poison everything that was barely being fixed.

The door opened and Mina said nothing, noting that the saying rang true, speak of the devil and he (in this case she) shall come.

“Hiding out?” Minji asked, smiling brightly as she went to check her makeup in the mirror.

“I was washing my hands, I have nothing to hide from” Mina said, shielding herself with as much false bravado as she could.

Minji applied her deep red lipstick carefully, the shade suited her well Mina noted to herself.

“That’s where you’re wrong” She said, applying another coat, “His mom loves me, she always has. She would have traded us a long time ago”

“Yeah well she’s sort of a too” Mina snapped.

Minji paused, catching Mina’s gaze in the mirror.

“I’m not going down as easily as before” Mina said, raising her chin a fraction, “I’m different from before, I won’t be the easy target anymore”

“You’re funny, acting as you haven’t been a placeholder for me. Where do you get off acting like I’m trying to steal something from you when it’s been the opposite all along”

Mina laughed, the sound harsh and unlike her, “I hope you never get over it”

“What?”

“I hope you never get over the fact that Sehun took one look at me and dumped your cheating self. He fell in love with me over you. Despite your lies and your games, he loves me, he chose me. All your games and lies, in the depth of your heart you just can’t get over the fact that someone chose me over you”

“He doesn’t love you” Minji snapped, narrowing her eyes.

“He chose me, over you. It will always be me over you when it comes to him. Maybe you’re the one who’s forgotten that. Despite your lies he could have left, but he didn’t and that says a lot because he walked away from you and despite everything, he never left me like he left you”

With that, Mina walked out and rejoined the table at the crowded restaurant they had all ended up at. Sehun’s mother looked annoyed as Sehun fell silent, no doubt scolding his mother for acting so friendly around Minji.

“Hey, you ok?” He asked worriedly.

She smiled, “Yeah”

His mother said nothing, clearing lightly as she went back to picking at her meal. She could not have been any more obvious at her dislike of the person who had returned instead.

“You’ve barely touched your plate” Sehun said quietly.

She looked up at him and smiled, “I’m not really too hungry right now”

“Sorry I took so long” Her voice said uncharacteristically timid.

Mina looked at her, blinking in surprise at her red, teary eyes.

“Honey, what’s wrong?” His mother asked worriedly.

“Nothing! I think it’s just… allergies or something” Minji said nervously, waving away her concern.

His mother turned a sharp glare at Mina who merely sat in place. She glanced at Sehun who seemed to be watching Minji carefully and wondered what was going through his mind. Her eyes went back to Minji and those fake tears that she had somehow summoned in the bathroom because if Mina knew anything, she knew that Minji never did anything without a carefully thought out plan and this one was obvious.

Once again, she was trying to pain Mina as the mean one, as the one who made her poor older sister cry in the bathroom. If she wanted something to cry about, Mina was more than happy to help, in this case, the accusing glare his mother kept sending her way bothered her less and less.

What she cared about was him. No matter how much she tried, she just couldn’t read him and it bothered her. She wanted to know, was it working again? Was he quietly making up his mind on what a terrible pe