“Do I want to know what you are doing?” Mina asks with a grimace as she watches Sana prance around in a bikini in their shared apartment.

Sana ignores Mina’s question, holding up another two sets of bikini instead. “Which one looks better? I think the pink one is nicer, but the blue one shows off my curves more.”

Knowing Sana, she wouldn’t even answer Mina’s question until she gets her own so Mina just replies her friend. She points to the pink one. Sana nods her head, satisfied at Mina’s choice before she shoves the blue one to Mina. “Take this.”

“What for?” Mina is just baffled.

“You have to take the chance to impress Chaeyoung during the trip!” Sana clicks her tongue at her friend who really doesn’t know how to play this dating game. Avex is having a company outing to Hawaii, and all artistes contracted under Avex will attend it. They are going to the beach, and Sana thinks they should take this opportunity to make their love interests more smitten with them.

Mina takes another look at the blue bikini that is now in her lap and grimaces. “I don’t really think there is a need for this?”

Sana almost glares at her manager. “Did you forget about Yeri?”

“They are just friends. Yeri has a girlfriend already.”

“Well okay,” Sana crosses her arms. “What about Momo?”

“Momo?” Mina asks to confirm. When did Avex’s dance instructor come into the picture?

“Yeah! She’s choreographing for TM, and according to Dahyun she can’t keep her hands off Chaeyoung during practice!” Sana tattletales.

Mina frowns, but she remains steadfast. “I trust Chaeyoung.”

“Fine,” Sana huffs as she snatches the bikini back from Mina, “don’t come to me crying when Chaeyoung gets a girlfriend and it isn’t you!”

That won’t happen, right?

--

Turns out, she has more than one competitor. The moment they see TM at the airport, Sana immediately runs to Dahyun, hugging the girl to death. But you know what Mina sees? She sees Momo on one side of Chaeyoung, the dance choreographer dozing off while leaning on her shoulder and on the other side, Nayeon, the girl leaning against Chaeyoung’s other shoulder. She’s not sure why the both of them are leaning against Chaeyoung, when they have to strain their neck to lean their head against the shorter girl’s shoulders, but it seems like her shoulders are still popular despite the discomfort.

She just plops down beside Sana, arms crossed as she stares at the sight in front of her. Nayeon catches her gaze first, and Mina is not sure if it’s her imagination, but she swears the bunny toothed girl smirks at her before snuggling even closer to Chaeyoung, if it was possible in the first place. Chaeyoung lifts her gaze from her phone to frown at Nayeon, and finally spots Mina. She immediately brightens, waving at her with her hands, unable to move over to her physically because she doesn’t want to disrupt the comfortable position Nayeon and Momo are in.

Mina just grimaces as a response, hoping it gets across as a smile. The last thing she wants to do is to rage out on Chaeyoung, when it’s not even her fault that everyone just can’t seem to take their hands off her. Her phone vibrates with a message.

I missed you.

It’s Chaeyoung, and Mina looks up to see the girl beaming at her. This brings a legitimate smile to Mina’s face, but she still needs to set things straight.

I missed you too, but is there really a need for them to be leaning on you?

Chaeyoung reads the message and turns up to look at her with a mischievous smile. “Are you jealous?” She mouths and Mina just huffs and turns away, confirming her suspicions.

Chaeyoung just laughs at how cute Mina is, but she compiles with Mina. She shakes Momo a little to wake her enough to transfer her head to Jihyo’s shoulder, but Nayeon is the tricky one. She attempts to pull away from the older girl, but the latter just grips tighter.

“Unnie please.” Chaeyoung tries to pull away again, but the older girl doesn’t budge.

The announcement calls for them to board the plane, and Mina just huffs as she stands. “Let’s go Sana.”

The manager doesn’t even wait for Sana as she stomps off, and Sana hastily plants a sloppy kiss on Dahyun’s cheeks before shooting a pointed look at Chaeyoung and Nayeon who still has their arms linked and chasing after her manager. It’s only when the two Japanese are far ahead that Nayeon finally lets go, a smug smile on her face.

“What was that about?” Chaeyoung questions, slightly pissed that Nayeon took away her time with Mina. They haven’t seen each other since that day at the restaurant, having to rely on texts and phone calls to keep in contact with each other, so she really didn’t appreciate having her precious time with Mina being taken away like this.

Nayeon just shrugs, picking up her bag. “It’s time to board the plane.”

--

Chaeyoung is watching a movie when she feels a tap on her shoulders. She turns around to see Dahyun and a sheepish Sana behind her, the former staring at her with a Cheshire smile. The two’s lips are swollen, and Chaeyoung doesn’t have to be a genius to know what they have been doing in the toilet for the past 10 minutes. She takes off one side of her earpiece, gesturing with her head as if asking her friend what’s wrong.

“Want to change seats with Sana? She is sitting with Mina.” Dahyun points to the back and Chaeyoung follows, seeing the manager holding onto a few sheets of paper and on the verge of falling asleep.

Chaeyoung takes off her earpiece and blanket, standing up to compile with their wishes. “Don’t do anything .” She warns the two of them, and Dahyun just snickers. “Say that to yourself.”

Chaeyoung makes her way to Mina, and quietly slips into Sana’s seat. The girl is nodding off, and Chaeyoung tries her best to pull out the papers in Mina’s hands as gently as possible, but it seems like she wasn’t gentle enough, because the girl jolts awake at the intrusion. Chaeyoung mumbles an apology, and Mina just shoots a drowsy smile at her as she rubs her eyes.

“You should sleep if you are tired.” Chaeyoung whispers as she fixes Mina’s hair.

“Nah, I have to finish looking through this before we reach Hawaii.” Mina stifles a yawn.

“You can take a nap, I will wake you up in an hour.” Chaeyoung suggests, her hand still running through Mina’s hair.

Mina looks at Chaeyoung with all the adoration and love in her eyes, but it seems like something comes to mind and the expression is gone in a second, replaced by a pout and crossed arms as Mina looks away. “Stop melting me with your antics, I am still angry at you.”

Chaeyoung is beyond confused. What has she done in recent times that had offended Mina? The episode at the airport just now comes to mind, and her jaws slack in understanding. Was she still jealous over that?

“Minari…” She whines, “I did try to move away from them! Nayeon-unnie is just being overly protective, as usual.”

“Yeah, so I have heard.” Mina has heard the explanation from Sana after they boarded the plane; that Nayeon and Jihyo can sometimes get overly protective over their children, namely Dahyun and Chaeyoung, and that she shouldn’t mind it but she just can’t help but think that there is something else underneath that over-protectiveness. She doesn’t know why, and doesn’t know if she’s overthinking, but the over-protectiveness of Nayeon just feels different from Jihyo’s, especially when it comes to Chaeyoung. She recalls the smirk Nayeon shot her before snuggling closer to Chaeyoung. “But it just feels different. It’s like… she was trying to show that she had you and I don’t.”

 “You are just thinking too much.” Chaeyoung laughs as she pulls out the papers from Mina’s hands, putting them down on the table. She leans over to recline Mina’s seat, and pulls the blanket to cover her fully. “Now sleep.”

“You will wake me up after an hour, right?” Mina asks as she stifles a yawn.

Chaeyoung nods with a small smile, bending forward to kiss Mina on the forehead. “Sweet dreams.”

--

Mina wakes up to an intense hushed conversation between Chaeyoung and someone else. She tries her best to keep still with her eyes still closed, knowing that it’s not a good time now to wake up. She is vaguely aware of Chaeyoung’s warm hand entwined with her left, the former running her thumb across her knuckles and she resists the urge to form a smile.

“Unnie please why are you acting out? This is so unlike you.” Although Chaeyoung is speaking in a hushed tone, Mina can tell that she is annoyed.

“Did you forget how much she hurt you then?! I’m just afraid you are making the wrong decision again.” Nayeon’s voice drips with malice and disdain for her and Mina feels Chaeyoung’s hand tightening around hers.

“I am willing to shoulder the consequences if I’m wrong.” Chaeyoung says resolutely and Mina hears Nayeon snorting in disbelief. She doesn’t know if she imagines hearing Nayeon mumbling the next line, but she knows she didn’t when she opens her eyes enough to see Chaeyoung’s shocked expression as she stares at the raven haired girl.

“What does she have that I don’t…”

Silence engulfs the two of them, and it’s only when an air stewardess comes and usher Nayeon back to her seat for the plane landing that they are awoken from their reverie. Mina hears the air stewardess telling Chaeyoung to wake her up and put their chairs up to their resting position to prepare for landing. Chaeyoung thanks the air stewardess curtly, and a few minutes pass before she shakes their entwined hands a little.

Mina tries to open her eyes as naturally as possible, not wanting to show that she has been awake and eavesdropping the whole time. Her acting must be superb, or Chaeyoung is just too distracted to notice her ty acting, because the younger girl just beams at her with a small smile, not suspecting anything at all. “I’m sorry, but we have to straighten our chairs for landing. You can continue sleeping though.”

Mina shakes her head as she tilts her chair up straight again, the worry in Chaeyoung’s eyes more evident now that they are both sitting up and looking at each other.

“Are you okay? You look… nervous.” Mina asks, hoping that Chaeyoung will tell her about it and answer all the blanks she has. What did Nayeon mean by that sentence? To her dismay, Chaeyoung just shakes her head with a smile.

“Probably just nervous for the activities later. Are you nervous?” Chaeyoung directs the attention back to her, and Mina just smiles as she nods.

“A little.” (But I’m more nervous about the fact that you are hiding something from me.)

--

Nayeon’s words boggles her even when they have reached the hotel, Sana finally stopping her dress up to give some attention to her best friend manager. She plops down on their shared king size bed, crossing her arms. “Okay, what?”

“What, what?” Mina counters back, mind still brooding over it.

“What has gotten you all sulky and moody? What has Chaeyoung done again?”

“It’s not Chaeyoung, it’s Nayeon.” Mina huffs.

“Okay, I told you already that Nayeon is just an over-protective mother hen over Chaeyoung, there’s no need to get jealous over her being all over your Chaeyoungie.”

“What if she’s not ‘just an over-protective mother hen’?” Mina lets out exasperatedly, before recalling the events on the plane for Sana. Her best friend just sits there, gaping at her.

“That does sound fishy, but you know what?” Sana asks as she jumps into action, pulling out a familiar set of clothing from her suitcase. “You go and show her what you have that she doesn’t.”

--

Chaeyoung finds all her built up stress relieving as she looks at the picturesque sea and hearing the therapeutic sound of the waves. She takes out her disposable camera and snaps a few shots of the scenery, thankful for this getaway. The peace doesn’t last long though, because Dahyun sighs in loud contentment beside her as she takes a huge sip of the smoothie she is holding. “This is the best drink ever, I’m telling you.”

Chaeyoung just rolls her eyes at her, choosing to focus on taking photos instead. It’s only when she hears Dahyun choking on her drink that she turns to her, patting her on the back. “Yo, I know it’s good but there’s no need to rush to drink it? Momo-unnie isn’t here to fight with you for it.”

Dahyun whizzes, but she manages to shake her hand and points behind her urgently. Chaeyoung turns around, and she instantly understands why the blonde is choking over her drink. She would too, if she was drinking something. Because walking towards them, are Sana and Mina, who are covering themselves with a translucent shawl, but anyone within a 50-meter radius would be able to see the bright colors of their bikini underneath the shawl.

The two Japanese girls stop in front of them, Sana running her fingers across Dahyun’s face seductively. “Like what you see, cutie?”

Dahyun blinks rapidly, before shoving her drink into Chaeyoung’s hands and pulling Sana away hastily. Chaeyoung just looks at the two of them, chuckling as she knows what Dahyun has in mind. Sana isn’t going to like it.

“Dahyun is pretty impatient, huh?” She’s reminded of the fact that Mina is still very much in front of her, with her blue bikini peeking out from under the shawl that doesn’t do much in covering herself up. Chaeyoung finds herself blushing as she nods, agreeing to Mina’s statement while looking away, sipping on Dahyun’s drink that is coming in so handy right now. She takes another look at Mina, and she decides that for her sanity, she needs to follow what Dahyun has gone to do.

“This can’t do.” She says as she takes Mina’s hand in a similar fashion, pulling her towards the direction of the hotel.

--

“Dahyunnie.” Sana whines as she pulls the shawl tighter around herself. “I’m cold.”

They are in a shop that sells swimwear and beach toys, Dahyun zooming around the shop trying to pick out decent clothes for her girlfriend to wear. The shop has pretty strong air conditioning, so it’s no wonder that Sana is complaining about the cold. Dahyun retorts, “Well then you shouldn’t have worn something so revealing in the first place!”

“Come on, tons of people wear bikinis at the beach!” Sana argues, not liking how her seduction plans have failed.

“Yeah, but those tons of people aren’t my girlfriend. I don’t like people staring at what’s mine.” Dahyun states seriously as she goes through the clothes furiously, determined to get something nice and decent to finally cover her girlfriend with. Unbeknownst to her, Sana is blushing at her words. Dahyun turns around, shoving a few sets of clothes into her arms. “Go and try them on.”

--

Sana comes out in an off-shoulder blue and white stripes top and jeans short, her 31^st outfit of the day and is still met with a lukewarm response from Dahyun. The latter just looks at her with a frown on her face. “It’s just… okay.”

Does Dahyun have sky-high standards, or is she just making a fool out of her? Sana lets Dahyun get away with making her change for 31 times because she’s cute, but no more. “Well, you have to at least let me know if I look good in it or what? Was there nothing that suit me out of everything I had tried?”

“That is the problem! You suit everything you tried on! How are you so severely pretty no matter what you wear?!” The same words would have been gross coming from someone else, but this is Dahyun, who means everything she says as she frowns and crosses her arms. Sana blushes beet red, and it’s only when someone whistles that she realizes that they are not alone in the shop.

Chaeyoung whistles at them as she holds on to a set of clothes in one hand, and Mina’s hand in the other. “Sorry to interrupt you love birds, but we just need to use the changing room for a bit.”

Sana steps out to vacate the only changing room for Mina, knowing that Chaeyoung is probably doing what Dahyun is doing right now. She sighs and shakes her head as Mina passes her, whispering to her friend, “We are just going to spend the day here today.”

“Not we, but you.” Mina winks before she closes the door.

--

Thankfully, Chaeyoung convinces Dahyun to let Sana keep on what she is wearing so they can finally enjoy the day at the beach, the four of them joined by the three other TM members and Momo. Jeongyeon suggests a game of couple dodgeball, and everyone agrees as they start to pair up. Chaeyoung looks at Mina, raising her eyebrows as if asking if she wants to pair up, but before Mina can reply, Nayeon has already swiped in, linking arms with Chaeyoung, declaring her as her partner. Chaeyoung just shrugs sheepishly as she lets herself get pulled away by Nayeon, and Mina shakes her head as if telling her it’s okay.

The pairs are as follows: Nayeon x Chaeyoung, Sana x Dahyun, Momo x Jihyo and Jeongyeon x Mina. At first, they attack each other gently, trying to test each other. Then, Chaeyoung signals for Jeongyeon to begin the attack, and the older girl smirks as she nods. Picking up the ball after a feeble attempt from Dahyun, she aims it straight for Momo’s leg, hitting her on the calf and effectively eliminating both Momo and Jihyo.

Jeongyeon picks up the ball again and looks at the two couple still in the game. Strategically, she should eliminate the stronger couple, Nayeon and Chaeyoung so she can meet an easier opponent at the end, but she just can’t bear to hit Nayeon herself. She passes to Momo who is helping from the sidelines, who throws it weakly at Chaeyoung. Chaeyoung catches the ball and immediately aims it for Sana’s legs, eliminating the Sana and Dahyun couple.

 “Are you okay?!” Dahyun instantly makes a big ruckus as she fusses over Sana. After reassurance from Sana that she is, indeed okay, Dahyun points her fingers to her eyes, before pointing the same fingers to Chaeyoung. “I’m aiming for you, you smol bean. Watch it.”

Chaeyoung just raises her arms in surrender, moving away from Dahyun with Nayeon clinging onto her back. The eliminated couples help out from the sidelines, Sana and Dahyun helping the Jeongyeon and Mina couple while Momo and Jihyo help the Nayeon and Chaeyoung couple. The problem comes when the ‘queen’ they are supposed to attack on the opposing team is the person they like. Jeongyeon and Chaeyoung can’t bring themselves to aim for the ‘queen’ of the other team, causing the game to be dragged unnecessarily as the ball is just being passed around, no one actually making any potent attacks towards the other team.

Nayeon having enough of this situation, huffs as she takes the ball from Chaeyoung. “Let me do it.”

With Nayeon holding the ball now, Jeongyeon is on high alert as she holds onto Mina’s hands that are on her waist, preparing to protect her from the incoming ball. This scene just makes Nayeon angrier. This girl stole her ex-girlfriend, and is on her way to steal her current girlfriend.

“Who do you think,” Nayeon grits through her teeth, “you are touching?” She finishes her sentence and sends the ball flying straight to Mina’s face. The shot is accurate, hitting Mina squarely in the face, officially putting an end to the long game. But it’s also too accurate, because warm blood immediately trickles down from her nose.   

Chaeyoung is at her side in an instance, tilting her head forward so that the blood doesn’t get on her shirt. “Hey, hey it’s okay. Does it hurt when I do this?” Chaeyoung asks as she pinches Mina’s nose between her thumb and index finger to try to stop the bleeding.

Mina shakes her head silently, probably still too shocked to speak. Chaeyoung leads her to a chair, making Mina sit in it as she screams at the rest. “Someone get me a towel or tissues or something!”

Jihyo scrambles into action, grabbing the towel perched on the nearby chair and giving it to Chaeyoung. The latter wipes the blood off Mina’s face, then holds it there. “Mina, I need you to breathe through your mouth while I compress your nose, okay?”

Mina nods slightly as she breathes through , and Chaeyoung applies pressure to compress her nose in an attempt to alleviate the bleeding. They remain there for a few minutes, and it’s only when the bleeding has more or less ceased that Chaeyoung asks, “Are you feeling better?”

Her nose throbs a little, but otherwise, she feels okay and she nods to reply. “Okay. Do you think you can stand up?”

Mina tries to push herself up with her hands, but Chaeyoung is quicker, helping her with a grip on her elbow. When she finally stands up straight, Chaeyoung asks her again, and it’s only when she gets the assurance that she’s still fine that Chaeyoung entwines their hands together, clearing as she addresses her friends who are crowding around them. “I think we will leave first. You guys can continue.”

She shoots a pointed look at Nayeon, before leading Mina back to the hotel.

--

Chaeyoung wraps ice in a towel before pressing it gently against Mina’s nose. The bleeding has stopped, but that doesn’t stop Chaeyoung from worrying. She sits beside Mina on the king size bed, frowning at the latter. “Does it still hurt?”

Mina just shakes her head slightly but the frown on Chaeyoung’s face just grows deeper. “Stop moving.”

Mina rolls her eyes as she reaches out to smoothen the frown out on Chaeyoung’s face. “I’m fine, stop worrying.”

Chaeyoung closes her eyes and sighs. “I’m so sorry for Nayeon-unnie. She can get… overly-competitive sometimes.”

“And overly-protective all the time.” Mina says, deciding that it’s time to get some answers. Chaeyoung seems to freeze in her spot, surprised at Mina’s words. Mina continues, “Chaengie, is there something you want to tell me? I… overheard your conversation with Nayeon-unnie on the plane.”

It takes a few seconds before Chaeyoung seems to get her bearings back, sighing again before her lips, as if preparing herself to confess something big. And it is indeed big. “You remembered the girlfriend I told you about? The one I broke up with for you?”

Mina nods, slightly confused at why Chaeyoung is suddenly mentioning her.

“Well… it’s Nayeon-unnie.”

--

The mood is dampened after Chaeyoung left with Mina, so they all decided to separate and do their own things. Jeongyeon is walking along the beach, her hands stuffed in her pocket as Nayeon trails behind her. She understands that Nayeon has always been over protective of Chaeyoung like her own child, but this is too much. It’s as if she’s jealous of Mina and her budding relationship with Chaeyoung.

“Did you have to do that?” Jeongyeon suddenly stops in her tracks, turning around to address Nayeon, shocking the latter as if she clutches her chest.

“What?” Nayeon shoots back defensively.

“Hit Mina because of your stupid jealousy?!

“Excuse me!? You were holding someone else’s hands in front of me? Am I not supposed to react to my girlfriend holding someone else’s hands?” Nayeon seethes, trying to keep her volume down. They are in public, after all.

Okay, so Jeongyeon may be wrong about Nayeon’s burst of jealousy this time, but she’s not blind. She sees everything, how Nayeon clings onto Chaeyoung more so she cannot spend time with Mina. She chooses to remain mature about it, brushing it off as Nayeon being over-protective, but she can’t ignore the inkling at the back of her head that is whispering at her, telling her that maybe she’s not over-protective as a mom, but as an ex-girlfriend. “Do you think I am blind? I see everything, how you cling onto her at the airport, and even just now, when we were choosing partners for the game.”

“The last time I let her go, she hurt Chaeyoung. I’m not going to let Chaeyoung get hurt this time.” Nayeon says resolutely, as if she can stop Chaeyoung.

“We don’t get to choose if we get hurt in this world. But we do have some say in who hurts us. And I believe Chaeyoung would willingly let herself be hurt again and again by Mina, if she decides to hurt her again.” Jeongyeon is speaking from experience. Even though Nayeon may be Chaeyoung’s mom, Jeongyeon is confident that she knows the small bean better as one of her best friends.

“Are you even her friend? How can you let Chaeyoung just get hurt like that without trying to stop her?!” Nayeon fumes, not even caring about the fact that Jeongyeon just quoted John Green.

“It’s because I’m her friend that I trust her and support the decisions she make wholeheartedly! You put your hands over your heart and ask yourself honestly; are you worried for her as a friend, or are you just butthurt as an ex?” Jeongyeon finally bursts. “I’m your girlfriend too, I may look nonchalant over all the big hoo-ha you make over Chaeyoung, but I have feelings too! I get hurt too!”

Nayeon’s eyes widen. All this time she only cared about protecting Chaeyoung that she has forgotten that there is somebody by her side who needed her more.

“Jeongyeon…” She reaches out for the short hair girl, but she just shoves her off.

“Maybe, we should take some time away from each other.” Jeongyeon says as she turns away from Nayeon, facing the sea instead.

“Are you saying we should break up?” Nayeon asks incredulously. She knows she has messed up pretty bad this time, but it’s not severe enough to warrant a break up, right?

“That is your choice to make. Do you really love me, or was I just a rebound for you?” Jeongyeon mutters out, upset at even the mere thought of the latter option being true. It’s not impossible though, they got together pretty quickly after her break up with Nayeon. But then, she wanted Nayeon so much that it didn’t matter if she really was a rebound. That was how much she wanted the girl. But seeing the girl she loves so much possibly loving someone else more, Jeongyeon realized this isn’t healthy. She can’t continue with this relationship if it wasn’t mutual.

“You need time to think it through, that is the fairest option for you, and for me.”

--

a/n: not vetted yet sorry!!