look at me ~<3 - snail's house

    Momo can’t say she isn’t surprised that Mina keeps turning up in the greenhouse at lunch. She hadn’t expected the girl to be so dedicated to the plants, but it’s endearing.
“Do you come here every lunch?” Momo asks one day, out of sheer curiosity.
Mina turns her gaze away from her pot of petunias, “…yes.”
“Oh.”
The conversation ends there and Momo can’t help but want more.

    For some reason, Momo finds herself in the greenhouse more often than usual (it definitely can’t be because she wants to see Myoui Mina, no way). She isn’t the only one who notices.
Sana squints, “where do you go at lunch everyday?”
“Um…” Momo sweats, “the greenhouse?”
Sana squints again, “but you don’t normally go at lunch.”
“Well, people have been um…stealing our flowers?”
Sana squints, “yeah, okay sure.”
Momo doesn’t go to the greenhouse that day. 

    The next day, while Sana is doing what she does best (bothering Dahyun? Most likely), Momo heads straight to the greenhouse from class. She gets there before Mina does. Mina’s pot of petunias catches her eye, and she walks up to the pot, gently running her fingers over the soft petals. The flowers are white and purple and something about the softness of their colours reminds Momo of Mina.
“Oh,” comes Mina’s soft voice from behind her.
Momo spins around quickly, blushing as she withdraws her hands from Mina’s flowers and hides them behind her back, “Mina! Hi!”
“Hello,” is the soft reply.
Momo wets her suddenly dry lips, “yes. Hello.” You idiot, you already said hi. Now she’s gonna think you're an idiot. Well she probably thinks that already. Anyway, you’re an idiot, Hirai Momo.
Mina just looks at her. She clears , “you…you haven’t been here in a while.”
“Ah,” Momo scratches the back of her head sheepishly, “I’ve been…busy?”
Mina nods in understanding, dropping her bag on the ground before getting her apron.
Something in Momo fills her up with stupid confidence and the words are out before she can stop herself, “did you miss me?” she asks teasingly. What the Momo. Why would you ask her that. Oh well. It’s too late now. Now Mina will never come back to the greenhouse ever again and you’ll never get to see her again. Great.
But to her surprise, Mina doesn’t leave. Instead, she stops adjusting her apron and looks over her shoulder at Momo, a shade of light pink dusting her cheeks.
“A little.”
It is a well known fact that the process of photosynthesis is used by plants to convert carbon dioxide and water into sugar and oxygen. With the sheer number of plants in the greenhouse, there’s plenty of oxygen to go around, so why does Momo feel so breathless?

    “Jihyo.”
Turning around, Jihyo grins, “hey Momo!”
Momo doesn’t have time for pleasantries today, so she cuts to the chase, “what do you know about Myoui Mina?”
Jihyo looks at her with wide eyes, “I’ve told you everything already.”
Momo shakes her head, “there must be more, all you’ve told me are baseless rumours.”
“Well,” sighs Jihyo, “I heard from Seungwan that she’s in the gardening club now, but you probably already know that. But Seungwan also suspects that Mina was the one who dropped a pot on her honeysuckles—”
“Isn’t there anything else?”
Biting her lip, Jihyo looks nervous all of a sudden, “well…” she hesitates, lowering her voice and leaning into Momo’s ear, “people have been saying that she joined the gardening club so she could grow weed in the greenhouse. Or that she’s been hiding her in the pots or whatever. Either way watch out. Myoui’s not someone you really want to have around.”
With that, Jihyo leaves and Momo’s left standing there with a dry mouth. What just happened?

    Momo can’t stop thinking about what Jihyo told her. During gardening club she’s so distracted by the new information she’s been told that she nearly cuts her finger of with the shears. She hisses at the pain and drops the shears to cradle her left hand with her right.
“Are you okay?” Mina asks.
Once again Mina’s voice fills her with unease, but this times it’s for a totally different reason.

    Mina’s not convinced (of course not, not when blood is seeping out of Momo’s finger like that), “….are you sure?”
“I’m fine, Mina,” Momo almost snaps. She surprises herself. She tries to play it off by giving Mina a small smile but it’s too late. A look of hurt flashes across Mina’s face.
“O-okay.”
Momo’s finger is throbbing. It won't stop bleeding, despite all the curses she’s muttering. She’s not sure what to do in this situation. Just as she’s decided she’ll just wipe the blood off on her dirty apron, a soft hand wraps itself around her wrist.
“Let’s go to the nurse.”

    Mina waits patiently as the nurse disinfects Momo’s cut and sticks a bandaid on it. It’s a bit much to assume, but it’s almost like Mina’s looking at her with genuine concern.
“Does it still hurt?” Mina asks gently as they walk back to the green house.
Momo shakes her head. It’s enough of an answer. The rest of the walk back is silent. Momo is so deep in thought that she doesn’t see Mina looking at her sadly (but why).

    She’s being ridiculous. They’re just rumours, with no real, provable truth about them. And in any case, Mina is innocent until proven guilty. But what if she is guilty? The more she thinks about it, the worse she feels. She wants to tell herself it’s anger, but it’s not. What is there for her to be angry about anyway? The fact that Mina may or may not be using the gardening club as scapegoats? Or the fact that Mina doesn’t live up to her expectations? Either way, it’s unfair on Mina. But what if the rumours are true? Oh whatever. If she wants to know, she decides, she’ll just have to ask.

    Who is she kidding. She would never be able to look Mina in the eye and ask her something like that. Sana, for one, is beginning to get sick of Momo’s constant state of distress.
“Oh for the love of God, will you just stop worrying about this?” Sana snaps.
“How? What if the rumours are true?” Momo whines.
Sana rolls her eyes, “Jesus Christ, Momo. We go to a public high school. There’s a new rumour every five minutes, who cares about this one? Anyway, don’t you think the school greenhouse is way too public for anyone to hide, like, drugs, or whatever? And what kind of rumour is that? Myoui Mina is a drug dealer? How does she deal her drugs if she never talks to anyone, ever?”

    So, Momo and Sana wait for Mina to walk into the greenhouse. They’ve managed to get out of class early, so now they’re here, hiding behind the ferns. Sana’s fairly certain that they can’t be seen from where they are, so it’s a great place to spy on Mina (please don’t tell her).The door hinges creak, and light footsteps tell them that Mina’s arrived. Momo holds her breath. While she’s able to hear Mina, she can’t see anything. From what she can gather, Mina has put on her apron and she’s looking for tools, or something. Lunch almost passes uneventfully, with nothing but the sound of Mina pruning leaves, weeding pots and watering plants. Momo’s legs are beginning to go numb. She nearly has a heart attack when Mina speaks.
“I wonder why Momo isn’t here,” Mina muses.
Momo almost has a . Does she know I’m here? Oh my god. I’m dead.
But Mina keeps talking. Momo guesses that she’s talking to her plants, oh my god, that’s so cute.
“I wish I could talk to Momo more,” she sighs, “but I just can’t think of what to say when she says hello.”
Mina sighs again, “liking someone is hard.”
WHAT.
Suddenly, Momo is awake and she’s listening intently for Mina’s next words.
“Well, what would you know, you’re a plant,” Mina giggles, then she sighs again, “I guess you would know what it’s like to be loved by Momo, wouldn’t you? God, I can’t believe I’m getting jealous of plants.”

    And the whole time this is happening, a grin is growing on Sana’s face.

    Mina doesn’t say much for the rest of the time she’s in there, so Sana and Momo work on trying not to get cramps and trying to to get noticed by her. Lunch period is only half an hour, but today, it feels like half a year.
When Mina leaves, Sana lets out a groan, “oh my god, I can’t feel my legs.”
Momo stands up and stretches, “same.”
“In any case, I don’t think anyone who’s dorky enough to talk to plants is suspicious at all, so I guess you can stop worrying about dumb rumours?” Sana suggests.
Momo hums absentmindedly, clearly preoccupied with her thoughts.
“But forget that,” Sana says quickly, “Myoui Mina, huh?”
Momo rushes out before Sana can , “hey, Hirai Momo! Come back here!”

    Momo doesn’t know what to do with the new information. She ends up late to her next class, because she’s so stunned by what she’s heard that it takes her twice as long to get there. But she can’t care less. Because Myoui Mina likes her and holy Myoui Mina likes me.

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i dont know??????