Does she actually feel the same? Or I deciphered her words the wrong way? But she said she made me wait for too long.

Chaeyoung's sentence was made up of very basic words yet Mina couldn't grasp the true meaning behind. She wanted to believe that Chaeng was now capable of understanding their feelings for each other but fear crept in with its big fat and sat flat on Mina’s once broad horizon of thinking. She massaged her temple when a headache caused by lack of sleep persisted in her brain. The school was still deserted when she arrived and she wasn't a bit surprised because it was only 6:15AM. Was this the result of not expecting Chaeyoung to give in this early? Mina was baffled by her own self; this was what she wanted but it felt too easy. Groans can be often heard from as she was a little disappointed with her heart for doubting Chaeyoung's intention but she wanted to make sure that she wouldn't end up assuming too much from the shorter girl. So, to ease her mind, she agreed to herself that she'll only act if more than two positive signs were to be acted by Chaeng, or, you know, if God Himself smacks Chaeyoung on the back of her head and tell her to confess. But that's impossible, Mina.

“Hi.”

Mina shot up her head and saw Chaeyoung with a very warm smile on her face. It felt different, a good kind of different. Mina suddenly clutched her chest when she felt her heart skipping a beat for a full second; her breaths were getting weird and sluggish, too.

“You seem to be awfully surprised.” Chaeng dropped her bag on her seat and went to lean on Mina’s desk, making the latter, if possible, more speechless and astounded.

You can't blame Mina for having a weak heart with Chaeyoung's simple yet foreign advancement because for almost 11/12 of the story, the older took dominance. But, nonetheless, Mina cleared to try and regain her composure. But who needs composure when Chaeyoung started to caress her hair? Mina obliterated all her movements and blushed full on. She now completely understood why the cub turns beet red and stammers every time they got in some kind of intimacy. How the Lord God managed to turn the tables with just a kiss was a mind boggling mystery to Mina.

“You seem… intimate this morning.” Mina managed to let out a few words.

Chaeyoung shrugged and started to comb Mina's hair with her fingers, “Just happy.”

Again, Mina was dumbfounded. She stared at the younger’s eyes, expecting a shy blush or even just averting her eyes from her but there was none, instead, Chaeng grinned at her and closed Mina's gaping mouth with her index finger.

“You're acting weird.” Chaeyoung said and was followed by a laugh.

Mina's eyes widened and was, again, ajar. I'm acting weird?! Me?

“Oh. I get it.” Chaeyoung smirked at Mina and it made the latter close her eyes and shake her head, astonished and unbelieving that Chaeng smirked at her; the once blushing, shy, and denying Chaeyoung was smirking at her. The whole thing was surreal.

Chaeyoung tucked the remaining loose strands behind Mina's ear and planted a quick peck on her lips. It made Mina grip her hands on the sides of her desk with incredulous force that her nails turned white. And right after the peck, Chaeyoung whispered words that might’ve caused a penguin cardiac arrest,

“Too bad, I would've done it longer if it weren't for the incoming footsteps.”

The whole thing was, for no better way of describing, unbelievable. Mina had both hands clutched on her chest. The rampage that her heart was emitting made it difficult for her to breathe and think. She never would've thought she'll crash the deepest of the pit with this girl; she thought that what she felt before would be the maximum limit but she was proven wrong by Son Chaeyoung. Because, with her, Mina was on an endless fall with no plans of crashing the ground; falling and falling, deeper and deeper.

“Mina? Is there something wrong with your chest or something?” Sana asked with a worried face.

Mina slowly adjusted her head to face Sana. In literal sense, Mina was gasping for air and was redder than Sana’s lipstick. and lips were drier than the author’s hair and her eyes were wide and glistening like pearls freshly picked from the waters.

“She looks like she won the lottery.” Dahyun suggested while she cheekily turned her head to Chaeyoung's direction, which, was looking at Mina with all the proofs and evidences of mirth.

Tzuyu caught up with the situation and patted Chaeng's head, “Whatever you did to her, tell us in full details later.”

The whole morning, Chaeyoung's stares didn't go unnoticed by Mina. Her gazes were burning on Mina's neck. The latter could feel her sweats forming on several parts of her body making her want to take a shower at an instant. The fact that Chaeyoung switched seats with their classmate who was beside her, made the penguin hesitant if it can be considered as a sign or just bogus.

Mina's senses were all occupied by a suddenly aggressive little cub; she was unaware of whatever the heck their history lesson was today. Woman's intuition, that's what Mina used to justify if whether Chaeng was acting based on her own decisions or if she's eaten something hideously rotten food, Sana’s curry with unidentified floating ‘organic’ vegetables, for example.

“Now…” Their history teacher, Lee Soo Man, boringly said, “Who would like to volunteer and get the examination results, so we could recheck?”

Dahyun raised her hand with incredulously swift speed and force that Tzuyu had to jerk her head away from the sudden explosion of her movements.

“And by volunteer, I don't mean you, Miss Kim Dahyun. I have learned from my idiocy of sending you out for an errand.” Professor Lee removed his glasses and glared at Dahyun with squinted eyes, “An errand of getting my glasses from my office is very far from having a chat and a meal with the dean’s daughter.”

Dahyun gasped and covered as if a humongous dark secret of her past life as Charmander was unveiled, “I would never. But in my defense, Hani was hungry. If eating is a crime, what would love be? Homicide? This is anarchy!”

Dahyun fisted the air and immediately gestured a v sign to the professor when a full scowl was portrayed by him, “I solemnly swear I am only joking, Mr. Lee. Tzuyu, Mr. Lee’s new dinosaur-printed necktie is dashing, isn't it? It brings out the color of his eyes; it's bloody brilliant!”

Even with the fake British accent and the secondhand compliment, Dahyun still found herself under the teacher's glare.

“I'll do it, sir.” Chaeng’s spontaneity saved Dahyun’s rude .

Dahyun was about to spit another form of nonsense but was effectively stopped by a strong kick on the shin by the tallest figure of the story. Tzuyu made sure to shut Dahyun's mouth and it was a success since the sly being crouched down to massage the probably bruised area with eyes on the verge of crying.

“But I'd probably need some help.” Chaeyoung stood up and gave Mina's shoulder a pat before caressing it back and forth.

With the professor’s nod and Dahyun's protest and whines as the background, a smiley Chaeyoung and an astonished Mina exited the room.

•

They walked in a palpable tension, or so in Mina’s view of the situation. As to Son Chaeyoung, she was happily humming to Day6’s I’m Serious. It was weird enough that the shorter one initiated everything but it got even weirder when Chaeng started to talk about literally anything that comes into her mind like that one time she caught Dahyun picking her nose in public transport and when she saw Tzuyu doing weird dances alone, in which she explained as basic ‘ballet’. To put it in a simpler sense, Chaeyoung became a talkative little cub in a span of not more than twenty four hours.

“I honestly think what Tzuyu did wasn't ballet. It looked like those dances of ancestral people in mountains but minus the incantations.” Chaeyoung was talking nonstop. Mina could've mistaken her as the main rapper of a phenomenal girl group.

“Am I talking too much?” She asked. Mina shook her head in reply while smiling.

This is going well but it’s kind of new to Mina's side. But setting that aside, she was enjoying the attention she was getting from the cub.

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