Tik Tok.. Tik Tok..

The clock was really beginning to get on Mina's nerves.

she sighed

Mina really hated this stupid waiting room.

Probably even more than all the other waiting rooms she's been in before and trust her they were a lot.

But today's waiting room seemed more irritating for some reason.

Maybe it was those ridiculous "Practice makes progress not perfect" posters  that kept looking at her or those extremely absurd "it will get better" signs that were glued to the secretary's desk, but Mina knew one thing for sure: my god she hated this waiting room the most.

What she also hated today in particular was the awkward look she kept getting each time her eyes met the secretary behind the desk.

Don't get her wrong, the women looks like a very sweet person. She got dark brown hair, medium height, hazel eyes, probably in her twenties Mina assumes, she's polite and nice and had done nothing wrong but god dammit, that stupid sympathy look she kept directing towards Mina was really started to get annoying.

So when the iphone 7 on the stranger’s desk starts to ring, Mina finds herself so ing glad that she didn't have to fake a smile anymore now that the strangely cute secretary was too busy talking to someone who appears to be called..dahyunnie?  Mina isn't sure, she doesn't really care either but from the look of the secretary's face Mina is very certain that this "dahyunnie" meant quite a lot to that woman.

Hearing the secretary ask the other person on the line about their day, Mina took that as her cue to stop overhearing, even if it's really not fully intentional. Plus, she’s never been one to care a lot about other's conversations.

 She put her earphones on and closed her eyes, deciding that listening to her all time favorite song will help distract her from this situation, a situation that her mother imposed on her again for the fourth time this month.

She's been in this situation a lot of times actually since two or three years now? She is not sure. It’s not like she was keeping count anyways.

What situation you may ask?

Well she is in the t-

"Miss Mina? Myoui Mina?" she feels someone gently touching her shoulder "Sorry to startle you, But Doctor hirai will see you now."

Doctor hirai?... oh Yeah she is in doctor hirai's waiting room, for what appears to be an appointment. She sighs for the billion times today. Smiling politely at the stranger, she stands up.

To cut it short, Mina is about to meet her third therapist of the month.

Again don't get her wrong, she really isn't that picky. Well that's unless we are talking about others things that actually matter to her.

But this whole therapy thing? Certainly not her idea. Whose genius idea is it then? Definitely her mother's.

Mina doesn't think she needs therapy, and putting it exactly in Mina's not so kind words "Therapy is stupid and I am ing fine Mom."

Mina's mom strongly disagrees on both points.

Why is she here then? Well she is only here because her mom wants her to be here. But also because her lovely mother has threatened to cut her off completely and that means no more money in her bank account.

Mina sure did not want that to happen…certainly not now anyways. She was not ready for the whole “independence” and” provide for yourself” movement.

So here she is, getting up, taking her coat in her arms, and following the secretary to the doctor's room. She knows how this will go, they will ask her for her name, her story. Then in their deep serious voices, they will ask her why is she here and the urge to tell them the real reason is always on the tip of her tongue. She is just ready to get this through so she can go back home, tell her mom she is never going back to this therapist because they and wait until her mom finds another therapist which will give her a few weeks of freedom.  

The secretary suddenly takes a stop, opening the door for Mina and telling her to go in.

"Thanks again Sana-chan, you can go home now. Chaeyoung said she is on her way I’m sorry I called you last minute but chaeyoung had some college emergency thing!" Says the doctor.

“Always happy to help momo-chan” sana winks at the doctor and closes the door behind her.

Finally inside the room, Mina looks closely at her new doctor’s face and is a bit surprised. The woman is clearly in her twenties too. She doesn't look as old as mina imagined or as old as any other therapist she actually met. She looks rather young. Mina would even say too young.

"Miss myoui, Take a seat please!" the woman says rather cheerfully as she makes herself comfortable in the chair situated right in front of the big sofa.

"I know what you're thinking, I’m rather young yeah? Maybe even too young?" the women in front of her says and Mina can't hide her surprised face.

Mina thought she was seeing a therapist not a ing mind reader. Somehow that managed to annoy her even more.

She simply nodded and sat down in the middle of the sofa, avoiding any possible eye contact.

"I am doctor Hirai, Hirai Momo. You can simply call me Momo since I am assuming we are around the same age?" says the stranger smiling warmly at Mina.

And that smile only made Mina hate this more, the way these strangers just assume we can talk to them about our lives and issues right away is just stupid to her. Plus, didn’t' she ing fill a form with her name and age and loads of other bull, why is this women ‘assuming’ they are around the same age, shouldn’t she be sure?

"I know what you're thinking now, you're probably wondering why did I assume your age when you clearly wrote it down on the form.. Honestly? the form is really just for the legal reasons, I’d rather get to know your age directly from you and know other informations you’re willing to share directly from you. I believe that's more... Personal?" The stranger smiles again.

And at this point Mina is just a raging mess. If they didn't want this stupid form then why the did she spend 30 minutes filling it in...but she simply said

"Oh I understand"

See, Mina's number one policy in these imposed appointments is simple and clear: no eye contact, no full sentences, and lots of nodding.

That's how she got through all of these meetings, and before she'll know it, it will be over. She hopes at least.

"I am getting the vibe that you don't really want to be here huh?" Momo simply says and again smiles at mina warmly.

She really didn't want to be here.

She’d rather be in her own apartment, cuddling her huge ketchup plushie, starting that new Netflix show that everybody's been talking about and just sleep.

She didn't want to be here.

Because therapy is stupid and is a waste of time and there is no way it can help anyone. Especially her, since she didn't need the help either way because again for the second time she was ing fine.

She really didn't want to be here.

 But she isn't going to admit that out loud to this Momo stranger because her number two policy would strongly disagree.

What's her number two policy: No voicing out opinions, no expressing our true feelings.

Kind of how she got through these appointments without getting psychologically analyzed by some weirdo who knows nothing about her, but also kind of how she went through life too.

Not that she'll even admit that out loud.

So not to break her policy, she simply sat there and shook her head:"It's much more complicated than that."

"Well, maybe it is, but then again no one ever said it wouldn't be complicated." Momo simply shrugged.

To that, Mina simply nodded, expecting the rapid question fire round to start, that is the where are you from, what do you study, what is your life goal and all of that other bull. But to her surprise, Momo said absolutely nothing.

They sat there in three minutes of complete awkwardness and silence, and if Mina was physically able to dig a hole right there and sleep in it, she would have done it.

5 minutes without any word being said, Mina was very tired, and especially annoyed. Like isn't it their job to ask us questions or make us talk or whatever the it is? This was, by far, the worst therapist experience she has ever lived and again trust her when she says she saw like 80% of them.

"Miss Mina, if I may ask, what was the last song you listened to? I am trying to expand my playlist and to be honest I am kind of stuck."  Momo chuckled.

Now that, that pushed Mina's buttons off.

"Excuse me?" Mina said in a very calm voice, reminding herself again that no feelings will be voiced to these strangers.

"Ooh! That's an amazing song, AOA really outdone themselves with that one but I already have it on my playlist."

Now with this, Mina said you to her second policy.

"Are you kidding me or what? I mean you’re being paid to talk to us, and help us not to ing ask me to expand your stupid playlist, you don't ing see me asking you about your favorite song? Like that’s ridiculous this is literally why I tell mom therapy is stupid like what even is this how can this even help anyone?" Mina ranted out so fast in a quite a high pitched voice that she actually surprised herself the moment she finished talking.

Momo simply smiled and asked

"So you are here for help then?”

"No I don't ing need your help because I’m fine and I don't need it" the moment she said that Mina face palmed herself. What just happened to the “conceal don’t feel” mina of 10 minutes ago.

"Listen, Miss myoui, you seem like a good person, but Therapy is a serious process, you need to want to be in therapy to do it, you can't be forced into it, and you obviously don't want to be here. I am not sure why or who forced you into this, but you have your reasons and i have mine, this is my job and it’s a job I take very seriously. As you know i don't do refunds and you already paid for this session so i could simply tell you to go home but you paid for the whole hour and i have to follow my protocol and do the full hour." Momo simply explained.

Mina could feel her face red from all the pent up anger and the extremely long rant she just did (also from embarrassment, but she wouldn't admit that to anyone).

Taking a deep breath, she just turned around and sat down on the sofa.

She wanted so badly to just take her coat and storm off the room, but she did that last time and let's just say her mother wasn't very pleased by it.

"I am sorry i attacked you like that, i won't be needing the refund." she simply stated, sighing after she calmed down and reminded herself of her number two policy: No voicing out feelings.

"Listen, i understand, we often face situations in life where we have to do things we don't want to do. But the fact that you're here in this room right now Mina, that says something don't you think?"

Momo finished her sentence and sat down next to Mina on the sofa, another thing that happened in this session that was very new for Mina.

"…You don't know about me" simply stated Mina looking directly into Momo’s eyes.

“But I’m here to try and get to know about you though” Momo stated.

At that moment, Mina felt a strong urge to yell out again, she was so annoyed by all the assumptions made by the stranger that she just wanted to yell out about how hard it is and how unfair her mother is. And that thought alone freaked Mina out.

In her entire life, Mina never once yelled.

In her entire life, Mina never once had such a strong urge to express her feelings or say what she wanted.

In her entire life, Mina never got angry at anyone, not even family or best friend.

She went against her two policies in today’s meeting, two policies that worked fine before.

She cursed, ranted, felt embarrassed and now felt so ing angry at this stranger, a stranger who is insisting that her presence in this room has a meaning.

Annoyed, Mina just scoffed out loud responding to Momo’s proposal

“I’ll politely decline your invitation”

Then, she just stood up, grabbed her coat and headed toward the door when she heard Momo say “You never told me your favorite song though! Mine is Wonderwall by Oasis, something in me tells me that you would like it a lot."

Mina almost stops right there when she hears the song title. But shaking her head, she repeats her two policies and continues walking.

Finally outside the building, Mina finds herself out of that suffocating room and able to breathe again. Taking out her phone, she sends a text to her best friend, park jihyo, telling her she’ll be late to dinner.

She looks up at the sky, seeing the first drops of rain starting to pour, she sighs loudly.

She breathes in… Breathes out… feeling that suffocating pressure near her chest start to disappear.

She puts her earphones back in her ear, replaying the last song she listened to in the waiting room, Wonderwall by oasis.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The phone in her hand makes a beeping sound, indicating a text notification.

Jihyo looks down at her phone; it’s a text from her best friend Mina.

From: PenguinMina

I’ll be late to dinner, don’t wait up for me.

Jihyo sighs. She is guessing mina’s therapist meeting didn’t go so well.

She looks around in the waiting room she is in now and sighs for what felt like the twentieth time.

God she hates waiting so much.

Fun fact, she and Mina are probably the most impatient people that have ever existed. And that’s weirdly how they got to know each other in the first place. Jihyo remembers it as if it happened yesterday.

[15 years ago]

7 year old jihyo stood in front the school’s vending machine, eyeing her favorite chocolate bar.

She was getting annoyed.

She had put the coins the way her teacher taught her too

She put the coins, chose a number but the machine is just so slow that she is not even sure if the chocolate bar she chose is moving or not.

She just wanted to punch the damn machine so her favorite snicker bar can go down faster and she can go back to listening to her favorite song.

With her eyes still following the slow movement of the chocolate bar, she heard an even louder sigh from behind her. As she turned around, she was met with a tiny girl that looked even more annoyed than her. With cute bangs that kept getting in her eyesight, the girl eyed the same chocolate bar, pouting at how slow it was moving, eyes almost tearing up.

Seeing that sad pout, something in jihyo snapped as she promised herself she’d never let this stranger be sad again. She turned to the vending machine and kicked it hard on the right side, making it suddenly go faster finally dropping her sneaker bar with an extra one.

Jihyo and the stranger behind her both gasped at the sudden movement obviously caught off guard.

Jihyo scratched the back of her head, feeling embarrassed. She reached out for her sneaker bar and then turned around giving the extra one to the girl behind her

”uh.. it’s.. an extra one-I don’t know how it got out I think I kicked it too strongly” jihyo said embarrassed

The stranger finally breaking into a smile started giggling.

”thank you, I really dislike waiting for things.”

“I do too...Want to go back to class together?” smiled jihyo to the stranger

“Yes, sure!” the girl smiled back “my name is Mina, I’m from Japan and I moved here just recently!”

“I am jihyo and I’m Korean!” said jihyo shyly linking her arms with Mina.

And they have been friends ever since.

[Back to the present]

Jihyo, smiled warmly at the memory, feeling the nostalgia hitting her hard.

Ah middle school where things were easy and fun, she wishes she could go back to that time.

She looks at the clock in the waiting room and decides to just play some game on her phone as her meeting won’t probably start till another 5 minutes.

She was currently in the middle school of her little sister, Arin.

For the past few weeks, she had noticed that in her email address the school kept sending emails insisting on “wanting to meet up with Arin’s parents for a very important reason”. She tried ignoring it, she really did her best, but the emails just kept coming day after day and there was no way her parents would ever go to such things even if they were available. What made her decide to go though was that in the last email, there was a little note in the end threatening that if no parent showed up it’s going to affect Arin’s school life. And Jihyo would never forgive herself if that were to happen. Arin has had already enough disappointment in her life, she doesn’t deserve more.

So here she is, after finishing her work’s shift, waiting for Arin’s teacher to show up.

“Are Arin’s parents here?” a woman called out

“oh yes! I’m here!” Jihyo lifted her head up then stood up to greet the stranger.

“oh hello, I’m Arin’s teacher, Im Nayeon! I am assuming you’re Miss park? Please do follow me inside of the office” Nayeon said as she started to walk towards her office while jihyo trailed behind her like a lost puppy.

Once they both sat down, they finally got the chance to look at each other’s faces clearly. For jihyo’s part, she couldn’t hide how surprised she felt. When Arin talked about her favorite science teacher, this was not what jihyo expected. In all honesty, she expected a much older women that had been teaching for years and years and who spent most of her times taking care of her grandsons and baking cookies. But the woman right in front of her? She was not this older version she imagined but she was rather young…like really young. She had light brown eyes that turned into a moon sign each time she smiled politely at jihyo and to be honest she was just too pretty that jihyo was starting to question if she was really a teacher here or this was some lame prank.

Nayeon too couldn’t hide her surprised face either, Jihyo looked a bit too young to have a 9 year old kid already, not that she was judging or anything but she was just expecting to meet a middle-aged woman since that’s the age range of most of the parents in this school. 

“Do you want anything to drink? The coffee shop in front of the school is really famous for its cappuccinos?” Nayeon asked politely.

“oh no thank you really I am not much of a coffee person, I only drink it when it’s necessary” jihyo smiled.”

“Oh okay, let’s get started then, you’re Arin’s mother right?”

After asking the question, Nayeon looked up to see jihyo staring blankly at her with a confused face. Panicking that she made a mistake by questioning the stranger, nayeon’s anxiety got the best of her thinking that she somehow offended the girl or judged her.

“l-like, I am-I’m just asking, making sure you are because according to our protocol I need to ask a-again I don’t mean to judge or anything I mean you’re obviously young and I’m sure you went through so much, and raising a kid as sweet and talented as Arin must have been tough but you did such a good job as a single mother-“

Mid-rant, nayeon looked up to what seemed to be a very amused jihyo.

“So, are you assuming that I’m single?” Jihyo said jokingly and that’s when it hit nayeon that she somehow ended up making another assumption.

“oh , I mean shoot, jesus Christ, I didn’t mean that. I mean that you and your partner did such a good job at raising this kid…umm, oh god I am so sorry” Nayeon said apologetically with tears now evident in her eyes. She stood up and bowed a few times in a very rushed way making jihyo feel really bad that she didn’t clear up the situation at first.

“okay, no no please don’t say sorry I’m the one sorry oh my god I’m not Arin’s mom, I’m her big sister, my parents couldn’t come today so they sent me in instead.” Jihyo clarified. “please stop crying oh my god im sorry”

Nayeon, who was looking down trying to hide away the tears, finally looked up.

“oh? so you’re n-not her mom?” Nayeon questioned again making sure that she understood the situation well.

“no, no I’m not, please stop crying I really didn’t mean to make you cry” Jihyo said feeling bad. She opened her purse and took out tissues and handed them to Nayeon.

“Oh god I’m so relieved” Nayeon chuckled with tears still evident in her eyes “I couldn’t afford making another mistake on my second week here” Nayeon thanked her for the tissues and started to wipe her tears away.

A few seconds passed by, Jihyo just stared quietly at the girl. This girl was crying just a few seconds ago and is now chuckling like nothing happened before, her eyes are still somehow puffy and she is sure that the girl is going to need to fix her make up after this, but god why is this sight making her feel somehow fluffy and warm inside.

“I’m sorry I’m usually too playful and you started rambling about it so I was enjoying the situation too much, I didn’t mean to make you cry” Jihyo clarified again avoiding eye contact.

“Oh no, it’s totally not your fault I’m a known cry baby. If you ask anyone who knows me that would be the first thing you’ll hear” the girl just laughed and Jihyo finally noticed her front teeth that made her look so adorable, almost like a bunny.. a very cute bunny.

“Guess we have something in common then! People say that I have huge eyes and that’s why I have so many tears” Jihyo tried to joke to lighten up the mood and seeing Nayeon cracking up at her joke, she felt very proud of her silliness.

“c-can we start over then?” Nayeon shyly asked.

“i-..” Jihyo then stood up, extending her hand in Nayeon’s direction “I’m Park jihyo, Arin’s older sister, it’s very nice to finally meet you.”

Nayeon smiled fondly at the gesture “I’m, Im Nayeon, Arin’s science teacher, thank you for showing up today.”

The two stood up there awkwardly shaking hands for the third time that evening then burst out laughing.

“So! The reason we actually wanted to meet your parents was that well Arin is really a good smart kid, but recently I’ve been feeling that she isn’t in her best of moods. And I’m a bit worried, because you know kids these days are a bit much more..meaner? Yeah definitely they are no doubt meaner than us kids back then, and I’m not sure if someone is bothering her or she had something going on at home but it’s starting to worry me.” Nayeon finished her explanation.  

Jihyo was caught a bit off guard, also feeling a little bit guilty because she hasn’t been so present lately in her sister’s life to actually know if something was wrong or not.

“i-.. I really don’t know what to say. I didn’t notice anything differently last time I saw her.” Explained Jihyo.

“Last time?” Nayeon questioned.

“uhm, It’s a bit complicated.. Since I’m still a college student I’m living in a dorm. Since our parents are mostly abroad or working in another country, Arin is staying with our grandparents. For the past month I had exams and with the part time jobs I have, I didn’t really have enough time to see her so yeah” Jihyo explained awkwardly scratching the back of her head, a habit of hers that got out only when she felt awkward.

“Miss Park-“

“Just call me Jihyo please it’s a bit weird for me to be called this formally” insisted Jihyo.

“Jihyo, the thing is, the school doesn’t really allow us to show exam papers to parents or relatives, but I just want to make this exception because I feel like you should really see Arin’s paper.”

Nayeon then got up and went to fetch one of the papers put on the table. She walked near where jihyo is sitting and handed it to her.

The moment Jihyo read it, her eyes started to water.

                         Q: what do you like most about the summer?

                         A: Eating ice cream with my big sister, I miss her… T-T

Jihyo should have seen this one coming. After all, Arin was only 9 years old and she hasn’t spent a full day with her since months. She couldn’t help but start to tear up. She hated herself for being too caught up with her own drama.

She completely forgot about the other woman’s presence until she saw her kneel down in front of her handing her tissues.

“Soo, you really weren’t kidding when you said your eyes are too big huh? I think it’s safe to say we are both official cry babies!” Nayeon tried to lighten up the situation while smiling so softly making Jihyo wonder why was this woman being so kind to her.

Jihyo chuckled:”I think so too”

“Uhm..” Nayeon then proceeded to clear looking awkwardly at anywhere but jihyo before speaking “When I was growing up, my parents weren’t really the most available people either, they were always working and most of the days I spent them in my aunt’s house, it was hard, it still is, sometimes I just wish they were a little bit more present in my life. It must have been hard on you too, Jihyo. Arin is at that delicate age where the feelings she feels now will stick with her for quite a long period of her life.”

Jihyo nodded along, remembering how without Mina’s existence at that time she would have been much more lonelier.

“Will you be free on Thursday afternoons?” Nayeon asked

“Thursday afternoons? I-.. I think so?” Jihyo answered.

“well, every Thursday afternoon the school organizes some sort of game sessions and all the kids and the parents who are available come along. I’m sure Arin would love for you to be there, that would cheer her up!”

“I’ll have to check my schedule, but y-yeah I’ll try to do my best to be there” Jihyo answered and finally looked up to find that Nayeon was still kneeling down in front of her chair. The moment she made eye contact with her, she suddenly felt too vulnerable. And she almost regretted being this vulnerable to this stranger until Nayeon smiled at her with kind brown eyes.

“Hey don’t feel bad okay? This is not your fault either” Nayeon reached out for Jihyo’s hands and squeezed them.

Jihyo found herself again lost in that smile, something about the way this woman smiles made Jihyo’s heart flutter. But for now, Jihyo decided to just blame it on her raging hormones and pathetic emotions.

She smiled back at the stranger again and said

“Thank you.. I can understand now why Arin talks so much about you”

Nayeon blushed at that comment making Jihyo smile. Not being able to stop her emotions, Jihyo found herself happy that she was able to make this stranger blush, even proud.

A knock on the door interrupted their moment.

“Excuse me for interrupting but Nayeon, you really need to come quickly, there is a small problem with one of your students” a short haired women announced.

Nayeon quickly stood up:”I’m sorry Jihyo for stopping this meeting in such a rushed way, but really thank you for coming by. I’ll boldly say, see you again on Thursdays?”

Jihyo, caught off guard by the rushed situation, just nodded quickly.

“See you then!” smiled nayeon and rushed out of the door.

With Nayeon out of the room, Jihyo finally got the chance to reach out for her phone to check on the time and oh she was late for her next appointment with her other roommate.

From: evilTzuyu

Where are you? I swear if you’re ditching me last minute I’m getting rid of all of your IU’s albums

To: evilTzuyu

I’m on my way! DO NOT TOUCH MY PRECIOUS IU’S ALBUMS!!

From:evilTzuyu

You have 10 minutes.

Wearing back her coat, Jihyo rushed out of the school as well.

Author’s note: so yaay finished first chapter, please let me know what you think in the comments!