Keepsake

Under Her Spell
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Today's the first day of being back to the university, unlike her two best of friends, Mina just got back to Korea. The three Japanese girls decided to book a flight on the same day and planned to arrive in Korea a day before going back to their regular schedule in the university. Mina's booking happened a little bit later than the older two, and unluckily, the desired flight was labelled full by the time she had checked it. Left with no other choice, she booked a different flight that gave her the last arriving place between the three of them. From the airport, the penguin rushed back to her flat. She didn't quite have the time to unpack her belongings and could only leave it beside her rose-coloured couch since first period was in less than twenty-seven minutes. Right before she could reach her front door, she heard a knock coming from the other side. She almost ran and then opened the door – hoping that her early visitor will not be other than the tiger cub. Her heart sunk a little and was tad bit disappointed when it wasn't the special girl that she was hoping.

 

Mina was greeted by an obviously troubled beautiful lady for this life consuming morning. She didn't particularly know her but she was familiar of her, and knew that she was also an occupant of the building. If her guess was correct, then she was the occupant that was living two right doors away from her number. Chaeyoung's friend that she met when Jeongyeon and her fought, Mina remembered while eyeing her visitor expectantly. "Hey," the lady greeted, "I know that I should be knocking on the door next to mine and not yours," she said with a really soft voice. The penguin listened carefully for what she was about to say, thinking that she was just here to ask for her cup of sugar just like in typical movies. "I'm really nervous to new people," she said while fidgeting with her fingers like a young kid. "What is this about?" the elegant girl asked politely – not wanting to scare the nervous co-occupant.

 

"I'm a dressmaker who has a very important presentation today, and I accidentally tripped and spilled my coffee on the floor," the lady bit her lower lip from remembering her mishaps. She sighed and then continued, "My design was on the armrest of my couch and when I checked it, the hem of it was stained." She then exhaled loudly, too caught up with the abrupt explaining. "I know Son Chaeyoung," she said it casually. The penguin's ears perked from the mention of the cub's name. "Because she spent a night with you," Mina replied coldly – maybe she was a little cranky from her Japan to Korea travel or she was just suddenly plain insecure of the girl. Her neighbour chuckled sweetly… and teasingly? "Not quite of what you are implying," she replied safely to the quiet girl, "Myoui Mina."

 

The penguin was sure that they hadn't met before or even bumped into one another in the hallway, but somehow the way she had said her name, it felt the other way around. She felt like the woman knew at least something about her. She heard her chuckled again to break the silence. "I'm Irene, Chaeyoung's friend who she met over a shot of mojito," Mina watched her stretched her arm towards her – attempting for a handshake. She glanced to her right hand and back to her face with questioning eyes. "I should've introduced myself first before explaining my current situation so our first interaction would've had a more friendly atmosphere," Irene joked, her nervousness slowly ebbing. "Whatever you're thinking, it didn't happen," she added, "All she did that night was talk about you until she tired herself out." "Chaeyoung talked about me that night?" Mina asked, getting unaware of the minutes that they were consuming. Irene shook her head lightly and then smiled, "She only talked about you," she corrected. The penguin blushed when she heard it for the second time. "Because of her I think of you as a good person. That's why I'm here," Irene sent out another gentle smile and then continued, "Can I borrow your detergent for the ruined dress because mine's all dried up?" she asked.

 

It wasn’t the cup of sugar that she was after but instead she was after for her cleaning product. Mina’s brain lagged for a second before she could nod her head, “Yes, I’ll just go get it.” She smiled to her a little awkwardly before she disappeared inside the flat. Running back with a lavender detergent on her hand, the penguin handed it to her neighbour, “Here you go,” she said. “Thank you,” Irene beamed to her and then clasped her hand with her own, “You’re a life saver!” Mina revelled into her warmness until she realised that they were both running out of time – for her first class and Irene’s important presentation. “You should quickly head back to your flat,” she reminded smilingly. Irene gasped audibly and nodded, “You’re right. Thanks again.”

 

The penguin nodded her head, too, as she watched the other girl slowly retreated from her doorway. Her neighbour paused and then looked at her for one more time, “Chaeyoung’s too young for me,” she chuckled lightly, “I’m not a threat and that was really a cold reaction back there, Mina.” The elegant girl blushed and shied away from her last comment to the point that she was left with bowing her head to avoid her quiet and teasing demeanour. As she was left by the girl, she was also left with a wondering question of how old Irene was from the way she described Chaeyoung for her. Once she had finally snapped out of her little wonder, she endured her jetlagged state; drove back to the university with a hauled cab on the sidewalk; and attended her first class with an empty stomach.

 

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Really, after two dreadful subjects from her course, all she truly wanted at the moment was to spend some time with the duly missed Son Chaeyoung. The penguin tried to call again the contact name that had been displayed on the screen of her phone. Campus break, she quickly dialled up for the cub’s number. She may or may not have memorised it due to the extreme longing for her physical presence back when she was staying in Japan. She was so close to letting out a spoiled out whine because Chaeyoung hadn’t answered her call yet – she might even cry because of this but she wouldn’t, not with the surrounding crowd of free students. Mina wasn’t really the type to waste time. She was the type of girl who maximises her time, so as she tried to call her, she was also heading to her last class prior to the campus break.

 

Chaeyoung still didn’t answer her third call so Mina thought that she was just probably busy with packing her things before walking out of her classroom. Not long, she reached her destination. She peeked her head inside and was greeted by a deserted classroom. Her heart might have been overreacting to what she was feeling, but it really broke from the still lacking presence of the tiger cub. She let out a disappointed sigh and tried to work her brain out in figuring where Chaeyoung could be. To be fair, she was tired caused by her morning rush and not to mention the torturous earlier flight, so it wouldn’t be surprising if she was currently having a hard time with thinking about her possible location. Nonetheless, she still did her best to figure it out.

 

Cafeteria, a big no since Chaeyoung didn’t and never had the patience and guts to stay even for a few minutes in there. Library was also a gigantic and capitalised no since she wasn’t the type to give up food for studying. Maybe back to their dorm? She could be, like how she usually does on her vacant hours. Or Chaeyoung was just wandering around the university to pass her time. There were a lot of possibilities where she could be, and Mina was left with a pout and a sulking expression as she stared down her phone on how the cub missed her fourth call. She might be getting whipped for her but she had no rights to be tortured like this. She just got back from Korea and her heart was literally screaming and demanding Son Chaeyoung. Her personal thoughts were disrupted when she felt someone touched her right forearm. “Mina unnie,” the unknown student called. She turned her head to their direction.

 

It was Dahyun who was worriedly eyeing her. The eagle just happened to meet the penguin on her way to meet her girlfriend. “Are you okay?” the eagle questioned, “How did you get in the freshmen’s buildings?” “Chaeyoung,” the penguin simply answered, “I’ve been calling her but she wasn’t answering any of it. Do you think that she’s really in their dorm, right now?” Dahyun nodded her head in understanding, “Oh, you just got here unlike Momo unnie and Sana who arrived yesterday.”

 

“She could be,” the white tofu pursed her lips as she tried to help the saddened penguin, “But before you check their dorm, check Park Jinyoung’s office first.” The penguin raised her brows to her given information, “You mean her art professor?” Dahyun nodded her head again like a trained eagle, “She doesn’t really have friends in the university. She only has Jeongyeon unnie’s friends and JYP,” she stated clearly. The older girl hummed, “Thank you, Dahyun,” her left hand let go of her phone and then shook the eagle’s right, “You’re a life saver.” Dahyun smiled to her and gave her a little push to her next direction.

 

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After a few questions to nameless students, Mina found her way to the art professor’s office. Medical students were far from art students, and were like the opposite of one another. One utilizes the rationale side of the brain and the other one wonders with the creative side. It was safe to say that Chaeyoung and Mina have the best of their worlds. She looked around the area with child-like eyes. It was surreal how the art professors of their university has this building with an almost isolated feeling if not for the growing vines and flowery landscape outside. Must be some kind of artistic deal, she noted and then proceeded to enter the place. Thanks to the hardworking God for giving them the idea to label each door inside with the full name of each art professor. She squinted her eyes as she tried to look past through the tinted thick glass of the door to his office – just so she could save the time of asking in case Chaeyoung wasn’t in there.

 

Alas, she couldn’t see anything besides the reflection of her face. But from the looks of it, there were human presences inside. She just hoped that one of them was from her. Mina knocked on the door twice and anxiously waited for someone to open it. Her worries peaked when she realised that she forgot to rehearse what to say to the art professor. Should she just casually go with: Is Son Chaeyoung in there? Because I’ve been missing her since I was in Japan.

 

A silhouette of a man appeared behind the tinted glass and then followed by the creaking sounds of the door. “Hello, what do you need me for today?” the professor greeted with a smiling expression on his face. Mina was muted from his question. After all, the last interaction she had with this professor went a little out of hand and awkward. Damn, she should’ve rehearsed first before carelessly knocking on his door. She couldn’t speak so she just tried her best to see if Chaeyoung's presence was inside. Sadly, there was no sign of her – only a back of a short haired student. “Ah,” the man let out as he hummed quietly, “Could it be that you’re looking for Son Chaeyoung, the constellated girl on her painting?” A very long nickname for her. Once more, thanks to the hardworking God for leading JYP to figure her situation on his own. The penguin nodded statically while the art professor pulled the door and made way for her.

 

“Son Chaeyoung,” he called out, “The girl on your painting is here.” Mina glanced up to him with confusion written on her face because there was no one else other than him and the short haired girl. The short haired girl’s ears perked up and she quickly stood from the stool where she was seated. She turned around and beamed a bright happy smile to the penguin’s direction, “Mina!” she exclaimed like an excited puppy – or maybe cub in her case. The penguin gasped and her heart skipped. It was Chaeyoung with a new look for the fresh new year. Her hair was really cut short – goblin short – and wearing a pair of specs with thin frame. The cub strode to her, hair synchronously bouncing in each taken step. Her right hand automatically connected to hers and then pulled her inside as if it was her own art office. “Hi,” she greeted lively, “How did you find me here?” The shorter girl sounded really amused of the med student’s skill.

 

“Your… hair,” the penguin whispered, left hand inching closer to her new look. Her absolute focus was only directed to her new haircut. Chaeyoung smiled, having fun how Mina looked like her parents just explained to her for the first time that Santa doesn’t exist. She let go of her hand but quickly connected to her wandering and curious hand. “If it isn’t that obvious, I cut it,” she teasingly commented with a smirk and then led her hesitating hand to graze the strands of her hair. Mina’s lips parted while Chaeyoung’s curled up into a gentle smile. “Do you not like it?” she asked with eyes still boring to her soul. JYP was completely out of the picture while love in the air was freely flying around the two.

 

“No, it’s just,” Mina paused and bit her lower lip, “It looks really good on you. I’m just a little surprised and lacking for what words to say.” She shook her head sideways because she needed to regain back the complete control to her currently dysfunctional brain. Chaeyoung clearly couldn’t hold her smile, “Well, that’s relieving to hear because I’m so nervous if my penguin will like my new look.” Mina blushed with the play of her nickname from the cub’s lips. She pulled her hand back to her side while still keeping it locked to the art student’s. She blinked a few times and furrowed her brows to her direction, “I’ve been calling you,” she puffed her cheeks, “Why weren’t you answering it?” she cutely whined to her cub. “Ah!” Chaeyoung guiltily exclaimed, “I’m sorry, I left my phone on silent mode because of class.”

 

The cub pulled her phone from her back pocket and saw four actual missed calls. “I’m really sorry,” she smiled slyly, “I got distracted from JYP’s new art supply.” She pointed to the nodding man. “He went to Switzerland for his vacation and brought all of those,” she then pointed to the stacked brushes and coloured pencils. “I see,” the penguin replied while roaming her eyes to the supply, “But are you already done with fawning over it?” Chaeyoung laughed at her choice of wording, “Yeah, are you planning to do something?”

 

Mina smiled softly, “I haven’t had breakfast, and lunch with you will be great,” she simply stated. “Right, okay,” Chaeyoung replied and then pulled her again by her hand. “See you tomorrow,” she quickly bid to her professor and off they went.

 

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The two walked besides each other as they headed to the cafeteria. Chaeyoung didn’t really agreed to it and made sure that she put up a fight against it, but Mina somehow managed to win her over. She told the shorter girl that she took time in finding her and that they couldn’t bear to walk a greater distance for another food establishment since she was already hungry. The cub soon took pity of her and surrendered to her biddings. Dahyun’s statement might’ve been turning into a truth. She might be turning jelly soft because of the penguin.

 

Mina stared at the shorter girl as she caught up to her in line to the counter. Chaeyoung just decided what to eat for her lunch. The elegant girl frowned when she saw that all the cub wanted to eat was a bag of potato chips and a pack of jelly candies. “Chaeyoung, those are not lunch food,” she commented worriedly and warningly. “I know that you’re a med student and probably has a protocol of having the must of grow, glow, and go foods in every meal,” the cub ran her smart mouth, “But most delicious foods are not the healthiest ones.” She nodded to her smart comment. “Plus I’m having so much fun with teasing and messing with you,” she added before she reached for a snack from the nearest rack of their spot, “So I’m going to add this just to annoy the perfect student.” She grinned widely to the taller girl, making her to roll her eyes towards her. The penguin reached for the added snack, “You’re such a kid sometimes, Son Chaeyoung,” she stated as she pulled it away from the cunning tiger.

 

She was about to reach for her next target which was the bag of chips but Chaeyoung backed away and kept it away from her. “You can’t

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somedummyaccount
Note: re-uploaded my fics in AO3 for anyone who wants to read it offline

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Comments

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Junren01 #1
Still one of the best story here
Minyeon-ah #2
Chapter 44: Great story thank you 😁
Gotnothingtosay #3
Chapter 6: This is so cuuuuuuuute!
bore_d1020 #4
Chapter 5: cute Minguin gay-panicking... allergic to pankcake? that's a first! LOL
byulieeeheartt
#5
Chapter 41: I'm sorry I can't read the Enkindlers. It was too much for me. But yeappp such a good read. Thank you for this.
byulieeeheartt
#6
Chapter 41: I learned a lot about love and how heavy the word 'love' is.
byulieeeheartt
#7
Chapter 41: Thank you for writing this story Authornim. Such a good story, thank you for your hardwork, you've done really well. Stay healthy and Happy Authornim.
byulieeeheartt
#8
Chapter 41: Omyghad Authornim, I was reading this at the office and I cried HAHAHAHAHA and then I laughed then cried again. I felt a lot of emotions because of this. It was well written, as someone like me a total noob when it comes to love and relationship, I thought it would be like 'When you love someone and it's reciprocated, that's it you're both happy' but with this I learned the complication of human emotions (I sound like a robot lol but I'm just find it hard to empathize or sympathize emotions) and its relation to the concept of love.
chocochipc00kie
#9
Chapter 33: Oh wow. That was your 1st time writing that??? It was so elaborate!!! Better than others that I've read!
chocochipc00kie
#10
Chapter 26: OMG THE CAB DRIVER LOL

Gosh i will be a mess during work later. 2.5hrs left yo sleep. I can't stop readiiinggggg