“Tomorrow then?” Chaeyoung said as she looked up at the penguin who was busy locking her front door. Mina turned around and smiled to the little cub, “Yes, during campus break.” The cub nodded and continued to awkwardly gaze upon the other girl, making the latter to let out a small chuckle to her own self. Son Chaeyoung was absolutely new to their current situation. “Come on,” Mina grabbed her hand and began walking, “I’ll walk you out.” Chaeyoung watched her hand in awe as the penguin warmed it.

As they rode the elevator down, the cub whipped her head to her companion when she heard her let out an audible gasp. “What is it?” she asked as she tipped her head forward to look properly at the penguin’s face. “My luggage,” Mina answered softly followed by horror adorning her beautiful face, “The cab driver,” she added as her free hand flew straight to her lips. Chaeyoung could only blink her eyes because of utter curiosity, “What?” she asked back. When the elevator rung, Mina pulled the shorter girl while answering her wonder, “I asked the bellboy to watch over my luggage but what I’m worried about was the cab driver.” “What happened to him?” Chaeyoung asked again as she watched the back of the taller girl’s head.

“I asked him to wait for me since I planned to be back to him quickly,” Mina said and then stopped at the counter of the building where the specific bellboy approached her. She turned her head back to the cub and looked intently into her eyes, “But you distracted me,” she directly told the latter.

Once again, Chaeyoung could only blink her eyes, but for this time, it was accompanied by her beating heart and heating tips of ears. Suddenly, the way how Mina simply looked at her eyes made her heart panicked. She slowly parted her lips before she took in some forgotten oxygen. The baby cub was caught off guard by her action, entranced by the penguin.

“Miss, I thought you weren’t coming back,” the bellboy chuckled as he held the luggage into his thin arms. Mina found it hard to tear her eyes away from the baffled expression of Chaeyoung but thankfully she managed. “I was even planning to send it to your room,” the boy added which made Mina to finally turn her attention to his direction. “Thank you and sorry for the trouble,” she replied with a smile and took the handed bag then proceeded to pull Chaeyoung again as they walked out of the building. “I wonder if the cab is still here,” the penguin softly wondered. Not long after that statement, the penguin and the cub saw a fuming man approaching their way. “What happened to being quick, Ma’am?” the driver angrily asked as he eyed the elegant girl, “It has been four hours!” he roughly reminded her. Mina quickly clasped her hands together before offering a right-angled bow, “I’m so sorry. We’ll just compute the troubles I’ve caused you.”

The penguin apologetically looked at the cab, “Hold still, I’ll fix this first.” Chaeyoung quietly nodded and watched the penguin and the angry man interacted. Mina, after unlocking her coded luggage bag, took her purse from inside, and handed the driver his necessary fee. The elegant girl calculated the distance if the cab driver had been driving around Korea for four straight hours in a reasonable speed. The fee was costly, added by the fact that Mina had given the driver a further tip for his inconvenience. Once she thanked and apologised again to him, she looked back to her well-behaved tiger cub. She smiled before she walked back to her, “Hey,” she approached, “Sorry for keeping you wait.”

Chaeyoung nodded before she looked away and then slowly took Mina’s hand back to hers. The tip of the cub’s ears were turning into a brighter colour again and it was clear that she was suddenly all shy for the older one, but to what extent? The cub coughed before she spoke, “You look really beautiful when you called me a distraction,” she confessed, tip of ears turning even brighter. Mina’s heart jump at her words and a contained smile crept to surface onto her face. The elegant girl never uttered a word and just watched her flustered expression until she finally looked back. “What?” Chaeyoung asked with knitted eyebrows. Mina only shook her head and smiled again, “Nothing, it’s just super cute when you're shy like this."

The cub tensed and quickly looked away from her, face turning into red tomato, “I’m not cute,” she whispered. The two were standing just out of the building, in the sidewalk, as they faced each other with intertwined hands along with the setting sun. Chaeyoung was once again called out by one of Mina’s sounds. The elegant girl chuckled and sought her attention. “What?” the cab asked again. “I thought you were going home already, but I suppose you only plan to hold my hand in the middle of the sidewalk,” Mina explained as she successfully made the girl even more flustered. The cub flinched and separated their hands when she realised that she was being teased. Her flushed skin was in contrast of the cold winter breeze. “No,” the penguin cooed back when Chaeyoung let go of her hand and looked away from her for the third time, “I’m just kidding. Come on, you can hold my hand a little longer,” she said as she offered her right hand.

The shorter girl blushed as she slowly put her paw on top of the penguin’s palm. So cute, Mina thought, enjoying another new side of the girl. The two spent minutes in that sidewalk, standing awkwardly with laced fingers. There were times that Chaeyoung would move her fingers ever so lightly and Mina enjoyed every second of it, being connected to her. “As much as I’m tolerating this,” Mina said, “But it’s getting late and you should head home.”

“Right,” Chaeyoung answered as she gazed at her face with dozing eyes. “Don’t worry, you’ll see me tomorrow,” Mina reassured, seeing how the cub’s eyes showed anxious unspoken words. “I’ll see you more often,” the penguin added. When was the last time the cub had heard those words from her? Far too long for her liking, she presumed. Despite the long missed exchanges of goodbyes, Chaeyoung was calm – certainly a great opposite from her heart. The feeling was foreign, her heart was responding excitingly to her. It was like she had saw Mina for the first time in her ethereal beauty – spinning, compassing, and dancing as she drew herself closer to the chained tiger in a hypnotising manner. Chaeyoung couldn’t put it into proper words but Mina was successful. She was hypnotised in a way that she selfishly didn’t want the elegant girl to dance away from her.

Chaeyoung blinked her eyes, she wanted her to stay with her. She wanted to keep the penguin in her tiger den, not because she owned her but because she was the only one allowed to stay with her. She will feel new feelings and explore new experiences with her because of one reason. I want her, Chaeyoung admitted to herself. She was ready to let Mina hold a brush of her own and paint her den into new colours – to fill colours into her own fears. Chaeyoung grinned, earning back her confidence from her self-confession.

She leaned closer and lazily connected her face to the penguin’s neck, just below her right jaw, and began to speak. “I’ll see you,” she articulated, her breath warmed the grazed area of her lips. “More often,” she finished and let Mina feel the smile on her face through her skin. Mina shuddered, definitely not from the cold winter air. Chaeyoung pulled away with a smirk etched smugly on her cunning expression. Teasing, two could play the game.

Mina was aghast, lips parted from the state the cub had put her into. She watched the retreating form of confident girl as she waved her hand in the air. Closing the gap between her lips, the elegant girl let out a sigh of relief – happy that the tiger cub was back to her usual confident self. Mina glanced one more time before she grabbed again her luggage bag and turned herself back to her apartment building. Tomorrow will be their very first step together.

-------

The next morning, during the campus break, six girls were settled to one of the largest tables in the cafeteria. Chaeyoung had dragged her friends just as they planned yesterday. “What are we doing here?” Dahyun asked, definitely couldn’t help herself to stay put and wait any longer. The cub tapped her fingers on the table, “Wait a little longer. They’ll be here,” she said with conviction. Yesterday, the two came into terms to let their friends know about them. That Mina was the girl on Chaeyoung’s painting and Chaeyoung was Mina’s oh-so-little crush. Not long after her statement, Mina entered the cafeteria with her other two Japanese friends on her sides.

Chaeyoung stretched out her arms and waved to the girl, making the other five girls to look where her eyes were directing. Mina smiled when they reached their table and the three of them sat to the remaining space on the long seat. The penguin was directly sitting to the cub with her two friends on her right side. “Uh,” Dahyun made sounds again, “What is going on here? Why are we meeting up in the cafeteria like a group of mafia?” she asked. “Ah, I get it,” Nayeon nodded as she hummed to herself. Dahyun could only look at the eldest with confusion. The eagle then turned her head to Tzuyu’s direction when she heard the puppy's audible scoff from what she was witnessing.

Dahyun roamed her eyes around the faces of her friends. Nayeon, who was in front of a sighing Momo, was busy hugging the baby cub – who was just on her right. Jihyo was grinning that her cute gums were showing. Tzuyu was torn between feeling relieved and annoyed – Dahyun didn’t know for what reason and at what cost. Jeongyeon was visibly looking at the situation with full understanding and something Dahyun couldn’t relate into. Mina was busy eyeing the cub as she offered her own gummy smile while she enjoyed the sight in front of her. Sana, her girlfriend, was smiling to her and also completely enjoying her little state of confusion. She was about to demand what was going on again but Sana beat her in uttering words. She hoped that her girlfriend’s next words could lend a helping hand to her lack of understanding.

“So, you two finally made out?” the hamster asked, making the rest of them whipped their heads into her direction and the eagle’s eyes to widen to whom she was indicating. “What?!” Dahyun shot quickly to her girlfriend. “Up, Sana,” Jeongyeon said – correcting the girl, “They finally made up.”

“That’s what I said,” Sana told the silver haired girl. “That’s not what you said, Sana,” Jihyo defended her own girlfriend. The doe-eyed girl peaked her head until she was able to look at the squished tiger in the bunny’s arms, “Anyway, I’m glad you and Mina finally made up.”

Nayeon nodded to her roommate’s statement, “Right? You two were beating yourselves for the past days and I’m glad my baby cub is smiling again,” she said as she rubbed her cheek to the cub’s like a proud mother – Dahyun couldn’t still fully grasp their table conversation. Mina bowed her head shyly to the bunny’s words. Finally, the eagle’s head click. “Wait,” she interrupted with a furrowed brows, “I thought it was Momo unnie, Chaeng?”

Jeongyeon let out a disappointed sigh, “It was Mina. For the whole time, Dahyun, it’s Mina.” Dahyun directed her eyes to Tzuyu who only sipped her drink, indicating that she also knew about all of the revelations flying around their table. “Mina is Chaeyoung’s art partner,” Jihyo explained and spared the tofu. “And Chaeyoung is Mina’s little crush,” Momo added to the conversation. The eagle dramatically gasped and bolted up from her seat, “I can’t believe you think I’ll scare Mina unnie away, shorty!” she pointed her accusation to the tiger cub. “Okay,” Sana chuckled before she put her hand on her girlfriend’s shoulder, “Calm down, dubu,” she cooed and pushed the girl down, back to her seating position. Sana her girlfriend’s tensed shoulder because she was already sprouting a cute pout on her face.

“So, you two are dating now?” Tzuyu bluntly asked to the centre of their topic. The two quickly flinched on their spots as the rest of the girls looked at them with amusement in their eyes. Mina was suddenly tongue tied and could only shake her head sideways. As of the Chaeyoung, she burst into flames from the direct question of her puppy friend. “No,” the cub answered – words came out a little squeaky, “I mean not yet.” She turned redder to her statement while the penguin could only bow her head from being subjected to hot seat with the cub.

Chaos, the only thing that could describe the cub’s processing brain. Jihyo and Jeongyeon were absolutely enjoying the flustered state of their friends. Jihyo was seeing a much better version of flustered Myoui Mina and Jeongyeon wasn’t complaining with her best friend’s own flustered self. Nayeon was smitten to her baby cub’s condition – blazing ears, rosy cheeks, and fidgety fingers. On the far edge of the table, Dahyun’s arm was stretched as she was busy with filming Chaeyoung’s shyness. “Stop!” the cub swatted the eagle’s phone that was attached to her claw.

Chaeyoung cleared and sought some courage from her system, “We gathered you all because we wanted to say that Mina and I are okay now,” she began to explain. Dahyun was already letting all kinds of squealing sounds as Chaeyoung explained herself. “We wanted to come clean with our friends to avoid possible misunderstandings,” the cub added as she looked directly at her eagle friend. “We don’t want to keep secrets from one another and to our friends so we are letting you all know,” Mina added – helping the still flustered cub. “We’re confessing that we are already taking it easy,” Chaeyoung finished their statement. Everyone smiled from the two’s confession. Well, probably except Nayeon, who was quite tearing up as she witnessed how the baby cub was growing. “Unnie, are you crying?” the cub asked with furrowed brows.

“I’m just a little emotional seeing my baby all grown up,” the bunny exaggeratedly wiped a non-existent tear on her left cheek. “You know, you’re not her true mother, right?” Jeongyeon butted which earned her a swift hit on her shoulder inflicted by the mother bunny. “Yoo Jeongyeon, you don’t know how much I’m willing to protect my baby cub! I'd do anything!” she explained loudly to the second eldest. Momo who was eating during the deep conversation choke on a piece that she was eating. She coughed loudly, causing all of them to look at her, “I know, right?” she said lamely to the pairs of eyes. The raccoon grabbed a drink and gulped it down even though she already managed to swallow the food in . She needed to gulp it down to cool herself down.

“What is this?” Sana inspected her roommate, “Are you blushing, Momo-ya?”

“No, I’m not,” Momo defended, her head shaking in disagreement.

“Wait,” Jihyo joined the two Japanese girls, “What is going on?” she asked because the atmosphere suddenly tensed and it all started from Nayeon’s confession to her girlfriend. Jihyo looked at bunny intently, eyes squinted to her direction. When Jihyo saw the slightest quiver in Nayeon’s eyes, she grabbed the chance and pried the eldest, “Hey! What is going on between you and Momo?!”

“Something was definitely off with the two!” Jihyo added as she pointed back and forth to the bunny and the raccoon.

“Ah!” Mina also caught on to what her dear friend, Jihyo, was pointing, “You two never met after the party,” her detective self was resurfacing. “You were too drunk for the next morning that you missed breakfast and helping Jihyo, so how come Momo is reacting to you like you two know each other well?” Mina also pried the two. “Momo, you idiot!” Nayeon scolded her probably newfound friend. “Ah, what?” Momo whined to the bunny, “I didn’t mean to hint our secret.”

“What secret?!” Jeongyeon, Sana, Jihyo, Mina, Dahyun, Chaeyoung, and Tzuyu blurted out all at the same time. Nayeon groaned loudly before she facepalmed herself, “Idiot.”

The eldest sighed, “Remember when I told you that I’m also protective of Chaeyoung like Jeongyeon?” she directed to the penguin. The bunny was speaking about their conversation in the coffee shop where the penguin had blurted her thought of wanting to kiss the tiger cub. The penguin nodded to her simple question. “Well, after I was informed that Chaeyoung spent a night with an upperclassman at Jihyo's party,” Nayeon explained as she eyed the eagle who couldn’t look at her directly, “Dahyun, stop acting that it wasn’t you who told me about it.” The eagle froze on her spot as the cub jokingly frowned at her. “Anyway, my protective nature just kicked in,” the bunny said as her friends' ears listened to her intently, “And I thought this Momo girl might pursue my baby cub and end up hurting her so I did what I had to do.”

“Well, what did you do?” Jeongyeon asked, eager to know the bunny’s next explanation. Nayeon mumbled – too vague for normal human ears to understand. “What?” everyone asked, all of them was equally anticipating her held information. “We ed,” Nayeon admitted, and then table was turned how she was the one who started blushing furiously. “Nayeon! Your words!” the other mother scolded, “There are kids here!” Jeongyeon exaggeratedly reached and covered Dahyun’s ears as she instructed Tzuyu and Chaeyoung to cover their own. “Unnie, Sana and I had done it,” the eagle let out her concern to the silver haired girl. “Still!” Jeongyeon argued. “Jeongyeon, you’re exaggerating!” Nayeon said in slight annoyance, “I’m not even going with full details!” The table was an absolute chaos from the turn of their conversation.

“Sit down, Jeong,” Jihyo sweetly cooed to her girlfriend as she rubbed circles on her lower back. Jeongyeon followed through and granted back the freshmen’s listening ability. “So, you two are like buddies now?” Tzuyu once again struck and asked the most important question. “We’re dating!” Nayeon told a little too loud. “At first, it was like that,” the bunny added – quite feeling calmed, “Just to distract her from Chaeyoung.”

“But the next thing I knew,” Momo finally joined her newly revealed girlfriend, “I was giving Nayeon flowers every two to three days.”

“Yeah, that,” Nayeon agreed, her face still slightly blushing to the sudden revelation of their relationship status. "No wonder she was so interested with flowers these past days, enumerating flower names out of the blue," Sana commented with a pout.

“First of all, we really didn’t that night,” Chaeyoung said, “And second of all, I’m supporting Nayeon unnie as long as she’s happy with her decisions,” she smiled to them. “Me too,” Sana backed up the cub’s words, “That way Momo will stop with getting too close to my Dahyun’s face.” Momo elbowed the hamster upon hearing her statement. “Both Jihyo and I are also in favour of this, right?” Jeongyeon added and Jihyo nodded to her, “I mean Nayeon’s not growing any younger-“

“Yoo Jeongyeon!” Nayeon once again hit the silver dragon’s shoulder. The banters continued on that specific table in the cafeteria. To be exact, that table was hell of loud – either from cheers or blatant teasing. Mina and Chaeyoung’s planned simple gathering to be honest with their friends led to series of supports, teasing, laughter, and a new couple. Quite in chaos but a unique and memorable experience for the two. Thirty minutes before the campus break was over, the friends started to part their ways. Nayeon, Jeongyeon, and Jihyo headed out first followed by the duo of the music and the literature student. Mina decided to walk Chaeyoung to her next class since thirty minutes was still plenty of time for her to catch up on her own class, but before they could walk out of the cafeteria, they were called out by the hamster and the raccoon. “Hey,” Mina smiled to the other two, “Did you two forget about something?” she softly asked.

“Kind of,” the two answered in synch. No wonder people sometimes mistook them as twins. Momo and Sana's eyes were only focused to the little cub. “What is it then?” the penguin asked as she felt uneasiness with her friends’ sudden odd behaviour. “Hold still, Chaeng,” Momo said as she held her left cheek while Sana held her right. They lifted their free hands and rested in on Chaeyoung’s forehead. On the count of three, the two flicked the cub’s forehead synchronously.

Mina gasped in surprise and Chaeyoung yelped in pain. “Momo, Sana, what are you doing to her?” the penguin pulled the cub away from their reach as she checked up on her damaged forehead, “Are you okay?” Chaeyoung rubbed it soothingly. “It’s for hurting, Mina,” Sana playfully stated, “Don’t think we’ll let you off the hook that easy.”

“We’ll be watching you and if you hurt Mina for one more time,” Momo continued the playful threat, “You should know that we’re also protective of Mina like Jeongyeon and Nayeon to you.”

“Yes, I’m sorry,” the cub apologised, “I won’t hurt her again,” she puffed her cheeks to the two. After she had said those words, the two chuckled to her, “Good to know that you understand.”

“What’s wrong with the two of you?” Mina asked as she continued to look on the cub’s forehead. Momo and Sana didn’t answer but instead bid the other two goodbye, “Bye, Minari,” the raccoon added before she was pulled by the hamster to their designated direction. “Does it hurt?” the penguin worried again. The cub raised her hand and reassured her, “Stings but I’m fine,” she smiled to her elegant face.

“Plus, it’s the least I deserve from your friends,” the cub offered a small smile. Mina watched the girl looked away from her. Of course, she understood Momo and Sana’s little threat and she also understood that right now, Chaeyoung’s forehead wasn’t the only thing that was stinging from their actions. The penguin swallowed before a bitter lump formed inside . She fidgeted for a while before she decided to take the cub’s paw, “Come on, I’ll walk you to your next class,” she smiled and then led their way out. Heart sullen from a single hint of Chaeyoung’s own sad heart.

-------

Campus break was almost over, so busy students were scattered all over the premises as they walked back to their own classes. Chaeyoung watched Mina let go of her hand and she could only shot a questioning look to the taller girl. “I don’t know if you’re okay with holding hands in public,” she heard her explained. The cub nodded in understanding and walked two paces in advance to be able to match the penguin’s own pace. It was quiet, ever since they left the cafeteria, they were stilled in silence. Silent breathings, silent glances, silent worries, and Chaeyoung felt it all. "Momo and Nayeon unnie kind of outshone our revelation back there," the cub stated with a smile. "They did," the penguin simply nodded in agreement, and then another stilling silence. 

“I’ve always imagined,” the cub began in another attempt to lighten the mood, “That I would be the one to walk you to your next classes,” she said, hands together behind her as she leaned forward to indicate her words. “Not the other way around,” she added with a flashing grin. “Maybe next time,” Mina replied as she tilted her head and looked directly into the orbs of her eyes, “When you aren’t failing most of your subjects.” The elegant girl chuckled and the cub’s breath hitched from the angelic sound of it. New feelings.

If Chaeyoung could described these new feelings, it was rebellious, spontaneous, unpredicted, and uncontrollable. Her heart was over the moon just with her simple words and actions. Her heart was a rocket, pumping with fresh fuel and blasting off to the sky as it travelled the cosmos in light speed. Her exploding heartbeat ricocheted inside of her as it birthed tingling stars into her bones. Eyes dazed from her presence and mind orbiting around her being, Chaeyoung slowly spoke out her unspoken thought, “Let’s go on a date,” she stated.

Mina could only blink her eyes to her, like a deer caught in the headlights. “What?” she asked, too unbelieving of what she had just said. Did she hear it right? “Let’s go on a date, Mina,” the cub repeated with a determined look on her face. The penguin smiled upon hearing her words clearer than ever, “Sure, when?” she replied. Chaeyoung took her hand into her own before she answered, “Today, let’s ditch afternoon classes and do cliché things couples do,” she showed her pearly white teeth and grinned like a cat.

“But your classes,” Mina wondered, eyes darting back and forth from her tiger eyes and hand. The girl was quite distracted by the two. “I can always worry about it the other time,” Chaeyoung said, “I just want to have a date with you right now.”

“Plus, the weather’s great and doesn’t the sound of eating sweets and talking about nothing in particular enticing, and enough of a reason to ditch our classes?” the feisty cub added with excitement in her eyes and voice. “But if you’re really against it, we can set it some other day?” she pursed her lips as she tried to win the penguin’s decision. Mina could only look up at the sky, the joy and happiness that she was feeling couldn't be contained, “Okay, Chaeyoung.” Who could even say no to her? Chaeyoung related her proposal of a date to what cliché couples do. Her heart thumped at its own excitement. The cub was so sweet to the point that she wanted to kiss her again like yesterday. She couldn’t keep her hands at bay and she bravely cupped her cheeks. “Aren’t you taking it too fast?” she smiled to her as she enjoyed the skin on her palms, “So much for taking it easy, baby tiger,” she jokingly said.

The cub furrowed her brows playfully, “Easy and slow are two different words, aren’t they?”

The penguin couldn’t argue back, so she only surrendered her gummy smile to her cub. “So where do we plan to head?” she mused to her. “Guaranteed that we just got out from the cafeteria, we can watch a movie first, play in the arcade, eat something sweet, and then take you home before seven? We’ll basically just mess around,” the art student fiddled her lower lip with her forefinger, “How’s that sounds?” “Hm,” the med student hummed as she faked her doubts to her s