“W-what?” Mina stuttered, refusing to meet Nayeon’s eyes.

“Mina, spill.” Nayeon frowned, crossing her arms and attempting to look intimidating.

“How do you know Momo is here?” Mina asked. “Actually, no. Do you mind telling me why you’re out of the room that I told you to stay in?”

“Don’t turn this around on me. Answer my question first!” Nayeon demanded.

“You didn’t even ask a question.” Mina muttered.

“You know what I mean Mina.” Nayeon sighed. “Please, explain.”

“I don’t know that much regarding Momo and her presence at the airport.” Mina started. “But there’s a lot about Momo that I’ve discovered over time.”

“What do you mean?” Nayeon dared to ask, her voice breaking as she asked the question.

“There’s no time for this right now Nayeon, I can’t explain it to you.” Mina shook her head, attempting to walk away.

“No, you’re not going to walk away from me this time Mina. Tell me what the hell is going on!” Nayeon whispered harshly, pulling Mina back.

“I doubt you’ll even believe me.” Mina murmured. Nayeon was surprised by her comment, not sure of what she meant. She’d always believe Mina.

“Why wouldn’t I? Of course I’d believe you.” Nayeon frowned.

“You love Momo a lot, would you believe me or would you believe her?” Mina challenged. Nayeon was once again surprised by Mina’s statement. Sure, Momo meant something to her but what was it exactly? Other than fear and constant suspicion, she didn’t link anything else with her.

“It depends on the situation.” Nayeon defended. Would she be willing to listen and believe the words that escaped Momo’s mouth, especially after everything that had spiralled between them? Nayeon had dealt with a lot of Momo’s lies in the past and trusted her blindly.

“After everything she’s done, you’d still listen to her?” Mina scoffed, annoyed with her answer.

“Like I said, it depends on what she says.” Nayeon suggested.

“Then I don’t know if you’re ready to hear what I’ve got to say.” Mina decided. She was unsure of how Nayeon would react to everything related to Momo – would she believe her or not?

“Why does it feel like we’re going in circles? Just tell me the truth Mina!” Nayeon growled, getting more annoyed as each minute passed.

Mina rubbed her face with her hands, trying to figure out where to start.

“You remember my dad, right? And the fact that he was part of the secret operative company?” Mina started, earning a nod from Nayeon. “Well, it all started there.”

“My absences at school and the inability to respond to your confessions were all because of that. He was bringing me into his workplace and getting me trained to become like him, a fellow agent of sorts. He informed me about this group that they’d been trying to catch for a while – they were exporting drugs and weapons, sometimes even robbing local places.” Mina explained, taking a few seconds to observe Nayeon who seemed to be listening intently.

“There was very little they knew about the group back then because they rarely left behind any evidence. Then dad made a connection with the different cases. It was on a very small level – whoever was behind it, didn’t want to broaden their trading. They were very careful with what they did. This all changed a few weeks later and they began to work on bigger scales, stealing more and trading more. The change would occur only if the leader supposedly replaced or they were influenced by someone else. He connected risky actions with those of younger adults or late teenagers. Meaning, that the person would’ve been young and possibly new to the supposed business.” Mina added.

“I initially put off his theory, saying it was impossible that in a small town like ours, someone would risk doing such things, especially as a student. But then, I got suspicious of what dad said – he could’ve been correct. I went forth and did some research of my own with what dad said, getting the names of the transfer students who arrived recently.” Mina took a breather before she continued. “Out of all them, the one who was most suspicious was Momo. We put observers on them all but only Momo was the one we had no idea about. We tagged her as shifty and suspicious and looked into her more.”

“Looked into her more?” Nayeon questioned.

“As in her habits and actions. She was already suspicious when she claimed she wanted to woo me and challenge you. The major differences were evident when she started befriending you.” Mina mumbled.

“What do you mean?” Nayeon frowned. Was she being blamed for something here?

“I’m not blaming you.” Mina said, calming Nayeon down. “I’m saying that her mistakes started happening from there. Staying around you made her actions rash – she often made decisions last minute and was almost caught one of the times.”

“So you’re telling me that Momo was the leader of this so called group?” Nayeon asked.

“Yes. She is the leader.” Mina nodded.

“What evidence is there that supports it? How can you know that Momo is their leader? She could just be part of the group.” Nayeon pointed out.

Biting back a witty comment, Mina sighed. She knew Nayeon would question her about this whole thing – that’s why she didn’t want to bring it up. It really hurt that Nayeon didn’t trust her judgement on this case.

“After dad passed away, I was still part of the case because I wanted to follow up his findings.” Mina continued.

“Wait, what? When? Why didn’t you tell me?” Nayeon gasped, feeling betrayed.

“We lost contact with each other in our last year of high school. That’s when he passed away.” Mina admitted.

“He’s been gone for so long and you’re only telling me now?” Nayeon said angrily.

“It’s not like I could walk up to and tell you that he passed away!” Mina responded in equal anger.

“Mina, I didn’t disappear off the face of the planet. I was still in school and still in town – why wouldn’t you be able to come to me?” Nayeon questioned.

Mina remained silent as Nayeon asked her this. Surely, she couldn’t spill about Momo’s threat towards her? Nayeon wouldn’t really believe her anyway.

“There were reasons.” Mina muttered.

“What reasons? Why can’t you tell me?” Nayeon pushed. “Am I really not that worthy to be told of such things?”

“No one knew! Don’t say such things.” Mina scolded.

“Then what is it? What are you not telling me!” Nayeon asked.

“I can’t tell you!” Mina exclaimed.

“Mina!” Nayeon whispered harshly, holding on to her shoulders and pushing her back.

“I don’t want to hurt you! Just let it go.” Mina demanded, pulling Nayeon’s hands off her shoulders.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Nayeon asked, cradling Mina’s cheeks. “Mina? What are you talking about?” She tried again, softly.

“I was threatened. I was threatened to leave you alone.” Mina admitted, tearing up. Her body shook as she continued to cry, Nayeon too shocked to do anything.

“W-who threatened you?” Nayeon managed to ask, pulling Mina into her embrace. This was harder for Nayeon to comprehend. Mina isn’t one to show her upset side often and to think that she’s opening crying in front of her – whatever happened must have affected her more than she showed.

“Mina, who threatened you?” Nayeon asked again, wanting to get answers. Mina was stubborn though and shook her head. She’s not going to make Nayeon upset by telling her who was behind everything.

“Why can’t you tell me? Is it someone we both knew well?” Nayeon suggested. When Mina didn’t respond, Nayeon went ahead to assume it was true. That could be any of their friends then, right? But no one had anything against Mina.

“They weren’t that close to me, but they were close to you.” Mina mumbled.

“No way, Momo wouldn’t.” Nayeon denied. “You must’ve gotten it wrong.”

With those few words, any hope Mina had was shattered into tiny pieces. She knew Nayeon wouldn’t believe her but she didn’t know why. After the treatment she received from Momo, how could she still side with her? Just what would it take for her to believe Mina?

“What do you mean she wouldn’t? Nayeon, she treated you poorly! You have no idea how much our friends from school had tried to call you or contact you. Your number wouldn’t go through. Why? Why couldn’t we come see you? Did you ever think of that? Each one of us was threatened to stay away but what could we do? I tried to warn you – to tell you that Momo wasn’t who she seemed but you ignored me at that time.” Mina said in frustration, pulling away from Nayeon.

“None of you guys wanted to contact me after my breakdown, what do you mean? Especially you! I thought that at least you would care but Momo was the only one with me!” Nayeon scoffed.

“How could you think we wouldn’t want to contact you? We were your friends, goddamnit! We would never abandon you when you need us! We tried so hard to meet you or to talk to you but all our efforts were futile!” Mina replied angrily.

Nayeon was frozen in her spot, soaking in what Mina was saying.

“Momo told me no one cared.” Nayeon whispered.

“She turned us away when we arrived at your door! All this happened later but so much happened before as well.” Mina said shakily, the memories of her encounter with Momo rising up again.

“What do you mean before?” Nayeon asked impatiently.

“When she was pranking you and you were upset about it, I went to meet her and to talk to her. I thought I could be able to discuss things with her.” Mina shuddered.

“And?” Nayeon pushed.

“And things didn’t go the way I was expecting.” Mina shrugged.

“Mina, Momo surely treated me wrongly but I don’t think she’d do anything that would hurt others.” Nayeon frowned.

Mina raised an eyebrow at Nayeon’s statement. “Yet she hurt you. She could’ve hurt Nara too.”

“She wouldn’t.” Nayeon shook her head. “She’s her daughter too.”

“And you were her wife.” Mina pointed out.

“Stop saying that.” Nayeon said in frustration.

“Saying what? The truth? I don’t know why you’re still defending Momo after everything she’s done! She went out at night without telling you, coming home in the morning. She rarely spent time with you after you brought Nara home. She came home drunk and reeking of smoke. She hurt you so much, yet you still care.” Mina huffed, pushing her hair back in anger.

“And you keep telling me the bad things about her without giving me evidence!” Nayeon rebutted.

“So, you don’t trust me? Is that what you’re saying?” Mina scoffed.

“No, that’s not what I’m saying!” Nayeon denied.

“I’m sorry for ever causing you to doubt me. I know I should’ve come to talk to you and I should’ve been there for you even if Momo stopped me but I almost died that night!” Mina sighed, feeling tired of arguing. “I almost died and by the time I was back, you were so happy – who was I to disrupt that?” She whispered.

“Mina–”

“You say you want evidence? This is the greatest evidence I can give you.” Mina said, voice faltering.

She slowly let pulled off her shirt, letting Nayeon’s gaze fall upon the scars that were scattered across her body.

This would be her last attempt to change Nayeon's mind.

A/N: hehe hope you liked this update
Things are a little tense between the two of them right now, but all will be well... perhaps.
Understand Nayeon in the sense that she did care about Momo a lot :]

If there are any plot holes or things you're confused about, do let me know!