I’m Curious~<3 - snail's house

    “Sana.” Push. Shove. Sana ignores it.
“Sana.” Harder push. Harder shove. Sana ignore it.
“Sana.” Sana finds herself falling off the bench and nurses a bruised elbow with her palm.
She glares, “what, Momo. What do you want from me?”
“Who is that?” Momo asks with wonder in her voice.
Sana grumbles something under her breath about annoying best friends who think they can get away with just shoving someone off a bench.
She picks herself off the floor and returns to her previous seat, “who?”
“That,” Momo nods her head in the direction of a huge crowd of people, lining up at the canteen.
Sana rolls her eyes, “you’re gonna have to be specific here.”
“That girl there, with the leather jacket,” Momo pouts.
“Oh. That’s…Myoui Mika? Myoui Mina? Something like that. Why?”
Momo sighs, “I want her to step on me.”
“I—what the hell, Momo?” Sana recoils, taking a look at her best friend and reconsidering her life decisions.
Sighing again, Momo rests a cheek on her hand and stares at Mina (or is it Mika?) as she buys an iced coffee, “she’s hot.”
“You are so gay,” Sana rolls her eyes.
“Yeah, you’re right.”

    Suddenly Momo sees her everywhere. In the hallways, walking out of the bathroom as she walks in, in the change rooms (unfortunately, only once); Myoui Mina (Mika?) is everywhere. With her short black hair that falls over her face and her perpetually bored look Momo can’t help but feel intimidated. But, God, she is so hot. In her spare time, Momo finds herself spinning stories about the girl with the leather jacket. 

    I bet she’s one of those strong and silent types. She looks like she could end my life. A total ice queen. Hell, if she wanted to punch me in the face I would let her. I’m so gay.

    She’s dying to know more.

    When it comes to gossip, Jihyo is the person to ask. She’s talked to every person in the school at least once; she knows everything. Maybe it’s the because she’s so nice and friendly that people trust her with just one meeting. Jihyo would know about Myoui.
“Hey, Jihyo?”
“Yeah?”
“Do you know anything about…Myoui Mika? Or is it Mina?” Momo asks hesitantly.
Jihyo looks a little surprised, “oh! Mina! Why?”
Momo blushes, “no reason, I just—I’ve never seen her here before, is all.”
When Jihyo eyes her suspiciously, Momo wishes she hadn’t asked. But they’re friends, so Jihyo tells her anyway.
“Well…Myoui Mina…I’ve never spoken to her either,” Jihyo admits.
“What?” Momo is definitely surprised, “you haven’t spoken to her? Ever? You, Park Jihyo?”
“Shut up. And yes, I haven’t spoken to her. But I’ve heard stuff about her.”
“What stuff?”
“I don’t know, people say she’s secretly a gang member, or she deals drugs or something. Someone told me she killed somebody once and this was the only school that would take her after she got released,” shrugs Jihyo.
“I—oh,” Momo deflates.
Jihyo shrugs again, “well they're all rumours anyway, and Mina doesn’t really ever talk to anyone so, who knows?”
Momo doesn’t believe the rumours, of course—or at least, she tries not to. In any case, even if they were true, doesn’t Mina at least deserve the benefit of the doubt?

    Momo never realised that Myoui Mina was in her Biology class. Neither did the rest of the class, it seems. When she walked in five minutes late, all chatter stopped and every head turned to look at her.
“Ah, Myoui Mina. Finally decided to show up to class, huh?” the teacher rolls his eyes, putting a lazy tick next to her name on the roll. Mina just ambles towards the only empty desk in the last row. The one right behind Momo. Momo knows that Myoui Mina probably doesn’t give two s about her, but she can’t help but feel self-conscious. And of course she would. The hottest girl she’s ever seen is sitting right behind her. How is she supposed to learn anything now?

    (It’s not as bad as she thought it would be. Sometimes she forgets that Mina is there, because she’s so quiet. She never says a word. Ever. But nonetheless, sometimes Momo gets the burning urge to turn around and just stare at Mina’s perfect face and she just wants to know everything about her. Maybe it’s for the best that she doesn’t.)

    Mina turns up to gardening club one day. The hush that falls over the greenhouse when Mina knocks softly on the door is hard to miss, and the members all turn to look at her, mostly in fear. Momo finds herself staring at the visitor too.
“H-hello,” Mina stammers. Her voice is nothing like Momo imagined it to be. It’s soft and smooth. She’s only said one word but Momo plays it in her mind over and over again. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. God her voice sounds like what a cup of hot Milo tastes like on a cold day.
Momo snaps out of her thoughts. There are more pressing matters to attend to. Like Myoui Mina, standing at their door.
“H-Hi! Do you need anything?” she asks, in what she hopes is a cheerful voice that doesn’t expose how nervous she is. She puts down her trowel and takes off her gloves, dusting her hands on her apron before walking over to the door. Since Momo is the only senior, and by default, club president, she has to introduce Mina to the club and what they do.
Mina looks at her nervously, “I’d—I’d like to join.”
Momo can’t deny that she’s surprised. Myoui Mina? Here? At the gardening club? And she wants to join? What in the world?
“Oh! Do you—so you like gardening?”
“It’s kind of a…hobby…I guess,” Mina shrugs.
“Ah…same…I mean, that’s why I’m here aren’t I!” Momo laughs nervously.
Mina only nods, and Momo feels a little stupid.
She clears , “so um…today we’re just planting flowers in our own pots. There are some seeds on the table, and pots are in the shed…so yeah…if you need help with anything just ask.”
Mina only nods. Momo’s not sure if she likes the quiet so much. When Mina heads over to the table to get a packet of seeds Momo quickly turns back to her own pot and feels her cheeks heat up. She sneaks a glance at Mina, who picks up each packet of seeds and reads the information on them intently. After much deliberation, she decides on a packet and heads into the shed to search for a pot. Momo catches herself staring for too long. Shutting her eyes tightly, she packs soil tightly in the bottom of her pot in an effort to rid herself of the embarrassment. She’s busy pounding the soil when she hears the clearing of a throat next to her.
“Um…is it okay if I work here?” Mina asks softly, shyly even.
“Yeah! No it’s fine!” Momo nods.
“Thanks.”

    Mina gets to work potting her seeds, and so does Momo. There’s a burning desire to say something, start a conversation, but Momo decides against it, because there’s no knowing if she’ll say something stupid, as usual. So she settles for what she hopes are subtle glances. In those glances she sees that Mina has picked the petunias. She also sees that Mina has taken off her leather jacket and has put on an apron. Wow, she looks less scary without that leather jacket. Like a princess. I mean, she’s in a muscle tee but she looks so good and so pretty.
Then, she notices Mina’s hands. They work meticulously, slender fingers burying seeds carefully in the soil with precision and how is she not getting any dirt on her hands? She’s not even wearing gloves! Is she dirt repellent? Is she even real??
Looking at the way Mina works makes Momo’s heart race (a little, just a little). Momo stops herself. In this moment she realises that this could be more than just a little crush.
You know, most people fall in love with the way people look, or the way people treat them, but no, you’re falling in love with the way Myoui Mina plants seeds. Good job, Momo.

    Mina never talks to anyone. Other than Momo, none of the gardening club kids are brave enough to even look in her direction. But it seems like Mina doesn’t mind. Everyday after school, she walks in quietly, ties her hair back and puts on an apron. Then she gets straight to pruning the plants or t leaves or watering them or whatever else that needs to be done. Momo finds herself watching Mina a lot. She watches the way Mina handles each and every plant, every individual leaf even, with the most care possible. Momo also finds herself wondering what it would be like to be a plant sometimes. For scientific reason of course (what scientific reasons).

    One day the club is asked to make some flower arrangements for the school’s biannual open night. Momo watches as Mina made the most perfect and beautiful flower arrangements she has ever seen and nearly wants to cry. How is it possible for someone to look so good doing anything? Is Myoui Mina even real? 

    More often than not, Momo finds herself dreaming up scenarios in which Mina would talk to her, or she would talk to Mina. She imagines them talking quietly together about their favourite flowers or the way the freshmen always leave their tools dirty and strewn about, but nothing ever comes of it. She never finds the confidence to say anything. But sometimes, sometimes, she notices Mina looking at her like she wants to say something. Maybe.

    It’s lunch, and since Sana is off wherever looking for girls to kiss and all her other friends are either sick, in detention, or god knows where, Momo decides to eat her lunch in the greenhouse. Maybe she can prune some of the plants. While the other kids in the gardening club love gardening to some extent, none of them love it that much, to the point where they would give up their break times to look after plants. Momo knows this, and it’s for this reason that she expects to be alone. But she’s not alone. When she gets there, she hears the rustling of leaves and the snipping of cutters. To her surprise, it’s none other than Mina who has gotten there before her.
“Oh!” Momo blurts out before she can stop herself.
Mina looks at her with wide eyes.
Momo clears , “sorry! I-I just wasn’t expecting anyone to be here.”
Mina’s eye widen even more, “oh no! Am I…am I not allowed to be here?” she asks in little more than an urgent whisper.
“No no no! You can stay! I just—I wasn’t expecting anyone, much less you, of all people, to be here,” Momo grins sheepishly, nervously.
“‘Me, of all people’?” Mina frowns, “what is that supposed to mean?”
Momo gulps. She scratches the back of her head nervously, willing herself to think of an answer.
It comes in the form of, “I’ve never seen someone as hot as you in a garden before.”
You had ONE job, Momo, ONE job, and it was just to not say anything stupid. And look what you did! You idiot!
Mina’s mouth hangs open and she flushes a shade of red Momo had only seen on roses before. Momo slaps a hand over her own mouth, appalled at her own words.
“I’ll just—I’ll just go over—over there and shut up,” Momo mutters, head down, hurrying over to wherever, just as long as she couldn’t see Mina.
Neither of them say anything for the rest of the lunch period.

    But.

    When Mina opens the greenhouse door to leave, she stops for a moment and mutters a soft, “bye.”
Momo is stunned. And there go half of Seungwan’s honeysuckles (how was Momo supposed to know that she would drop a pot on them in shock?).

    From what she can gather, Myoui Mina is nothing like what the rumours floating around school make her out to be. There’s no way someone so soft and quiet, someone who loves gardening so much, someone so painfully beautiful could ever have had a single bad thought ever. Myoui Mina isn’t scary. But what is scary is the way Momo feels when Mina’s around. It’s scary how much Momo likes her.

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part one of two
stay tuned for more gardening gays!!