Two months had passed since that fateful day when Mina joined us. She struggled in the beginning, more than most of us. Couldn't blame her, she hasn't been studying for more than two years and to play catch up is something no one can do without adversity. But, as I promised her, all of us stood by her to the best of our ability when it came to helping her cross the hurdle. The one she struggled with was Math, something that almost all of us did tussle with at the start of the year. Mina, on the other hand, had to play catch up with not us, but with just everything. She was the only one that was studying Japanese and compared to some of us who took the subject; she puts everyone to shame. In fact, some of them have drawn comparisons to the way she speaks whenever she does a recital; she speaks in this calming manner that everyone wants to hear on repeat. However, the universal complaint of how soft her voice was was real. Her voice had this meekness that makes it hard for her to be heard. There were times when she was talking to someone, and they would have to lean in because of how small her voice was.

I liked it; there was a gentleness to it that I loved. But, she has a stubbornness that is one to match with Shane's. She still hasn't read the letters her fans got me to be their messenger. She just kept it underneath her desk during the period when we were changing classes for language classes. I only discovered that after one week.

She is a real princess through and through. Some of the girls would attempt to emulate the grace that she had, but all of them failed in misery. She often wears heels, high ones at times. I remember Mrs. Regina, who was infamous in our school for wearing stilettos that were so sleek and sharp on its heel, that if she accidentally stepped on your feet, you would have an indent and a mark if it was pressed on for more than five seconds. Mina trounces her by comparison. Because compared to the way that Mrs. Regina walks, Mina has this subtle hip swaying that would make all the guys stop and stare from a distance, not to mention; she wears dresses that can be form-fitting.

Her outfits are what dazzles everyone. On average, everyone here was around the range of middle to upper-middle class. But this young lady... this young lady was just something else. She always wore something that made everyone feel inadequately dressed around her. She wears things like Gucci, Agne.B,  Dior; you name it. It was like her wardrobe was a never-ending line of brands. Some even obscure ones. In the words of Dahyun...

...EXPENSIVE

Yet, it was nice. To have someone that I can talk to, not to mention she was the girl of my dreams. As the days passed, step by step, I began to learn more about her. Some of the things that were public were true. Her addiction to ketchup was real. One time, we went to eat breakfast, because it was one of those few days where school start later. So, me, Mina, Cody, Ralph, and Janice went down to have breakfast at the cafe in town. When we got our food, she put a few dollops of ketchup beside her toast, and she had baked beans. The look at Cody and Ralph's face when they saw the thing in action was amusing. Janice just chuckled at the way she acted. I was just indifferent to it because the benefit of her being my bias before meeting her has its perks.

She doesn't stay up in the class as much as the first two weeks. She now has two places that she goes to. The library and she frequents it so often, that she and the librarian became close friends, The other was the cafe, and for an idol, she can work up quite an appetite. She orders more than a plentiful, and when she is hungry, she can wolf down on it. I remembered the face everyone had when they heard that she joined the ballet club, words began to spread of amazement of how she was able to tip the scale in her favour, especially with the load she has at times.

Usually, there are tryouts for those who want to apply, especially for the art clubs, because in our school, the competition was real, as most of them have been in the line of the profession for quite some years, usually starting from primary school. And word gets out quite fast when you get into the club, because it was tradition to announce the result of the application, something that the seniors did in the past to establish the social hierarchy, as the rest of the cohort would put it. Mina sits somewhere on the high side, because as soon as people heard that she was in the ballet club, guys left and right began to pay more attention to her.

Thankfully, she just remained on the humble pie, still sticking with me despite the multiple opportunities she had to go and join up with another clique. She stayed with me and the group of Onces. I still remembered her face when she went over to Cody's house for a project and saw the amount of Twice stuff that was in his room; It got even better when she saw the three photocard binders full of everything. That part was Cody's fault because of how much of a completionist he is. I remembered when the debacle of What is love and Summer nights, he went high and low just to look for all the photocards, and to add to the difficulty level, he had Chaeyoung cards predominantly, so he was playing life on hard mode.

Today, it was just another typical day. We were all just lounging about in the class, waiting for Mr. Henderson to come in for our economics class. Mr. Graham went away for his wife's art exhibition. He has taken a liking to Mina, but less of her ability in Econs and more of the natural charmer she is. Speaking of her, she was just napping, snoozing lightly as the class was calm in this current period. I was just flipping through the chapter of socio-economics just so that when the time comes where we get a random hardball thrown at us, I'm ready. It was the midway point of the day in school. And it was Thursday, so it was just waiting for the magical day of Friday to come.

Shane knocks on the board, "Alright lads, I'm going to look for Mr. Henderson, hang tight.", and with that, Shane left, with the class just being indifferent to it and going back to the conversations that they were all having.

Five minutes before I felt a vibration on the desk. I looked around, because I did not put my phone on the desk, and my phone was off. I turned to see Mina, who was using her tote bag as a pillow. She stirred because the source of the vibration was coming from the inside of her bag. She sat up, with her hair mildly messy and rubbing her eyes. She got rid of her bangs, and her hair grew out a bit more. It was now in line with her hair length around the Likey promotion era. She waved at me with a pout and took out her phone, rubbing her half opened eyes. She looked at her phone, and as soon as she saw her screen, she opened her eyes wide open, and a shocked smile appeared.

She started talking in Korean; it was Ji-Hyo. I could roughly decipher a fragment of it based on my watching of a crapton of Korean variety shows. However, because some of the phrases are those that I have never heard of, I was lost from that point on. The call went on for five minutes before she hung up. Her voice became even softer when she talks in Korean. It had a meekness to it that in person, was weird to see in person.

She looked at me with an ear to ear smile, "Ji-Hyo unnie is coming down tomorrow.", she held her phone to her chest, "It's been awhile since I last saw her."

"This is the longest you have been away from the members, right?", she nods.

"Since that day in Japan, I have not met with the rest for four months. Not even Momo and Satang.", she said, "I figured that, if I was going to meet anyone first, might as well be the first one that I meet.", she looked at her phone with a nervous gaze, "Y/N, can you help me with something?", I raised an eyebrow at her request.

THE NEXT DAY

(Mina's POV)

I waited for Ji-Hyo's arrival. There were a couple of people, but none of the fansites and all that we usually see when we are at places like Incheon and all. I relished these quiet moments when I can be an average person. Here, I am Sharon the student and ballerina, not Mina, the black swan. Refraining from contacting the girls was something that I had to do so that I could live as normal of a life as I could.

To see Ji-Hyo after so long, it could open up the wave of painful memories that I buried under for the past five months. I began to have flashes of how quickly I packed my bags so that I could get out of the dorm. I didn't even bother to tell JYP on an immediate basis of why I was leaving. I told sadness unnie five days after I left, to which I got a call from JYP PD-nim because of my sudden departure.

I worried about Tzuyu, every day because she's the youngest and the one who needs the most protection out of everyone, especially in this cruel industry that we work in. I opened my phone and saw that Ji-Hyo texted me on Kakaotalk.

Ji-Hyoling: Minari, I'm about to come out.

I looked up and saw a wave of people come out. I tiptoed on my Nike sneakers, just so that I could get a better look-see at the people who tower over Ji-Hyo. Everyone who came out of the arrival hall were all around 175-180, so the chances of me not seeing Ji-Hyo are slim. I looked through the crowd as I stood leaning against the fence. Suddenly, I felt a tight hug behind me and sobbing. I stopped tiptoeing, and I try to loosen the vice-like grip that was felt so that I could turn. When I turned facing to the one hugging. I saw a pair of eyes that make feel a pang of guilt. Ji-Hyoling, no make-up, with tears trickling down her cheeks. She had a mother-like smile that she always wore, even in the toughest of times. My vision began to blur as tears began to pool in my eyes.

"Ji-Hyo yah...", I couldn't hold it in, and I just pulled her into the tightest hug I can give. I felt Ji-Hyo squeeze my back, reciprocating the hug.

"MIna yah... it's been so long.", Ji-Hyo mumbled, muffled by her burying her face into my right shoulder, "I'm sorry...", I cried harder at that phrase.

A/N: Hey guys, sorry about the short one, because the next one is the one I'm having trouble planning in advance. I hope you all are enjoying this story because I am definitely feeling my drive as a writer slowly coming back to me. The main reason I'm writing this instead of my other two works is that to me, the other two are synonymous with my fatigue in writing. So, to all those who follow those two, I'm sorry for not updating those.

As for this story, I believe I should be honest at this point why I decided to write this story. It was because after Fantasy Park in Singapore, I learned somethings that, while speculation, are something that I'm quite certain is real, given the modus operandi of the Kpop industry. This story, my main goal is to show a realistic depiction of how tense the situation can be in Twice, especially if you look at what has been going on recently, have a high chance of actually eating into their relationship.

With that, I hope I don't crash and burn while I writing the next chapter, so... cheers!