Chapter 5

I walked towards Mina with a smile as she walked as well to meet me halfway.

"Did you sleep well last night?" I asked her, noticing the slight bags under her eyes.

She shook her head and held up four fingers.

"I slept for four hours. It's okay though, I'm planning to sleep earlier later." She said. Despite the slight eye bags, she still looked so beautiful in an oversized purple polo and dark skinny jeans.

We walked towards my friends' place. I glanced at her, entranced by her features. I felt my heart beating faster making me grip my shirt near my chest in order to calm it down.

When we finally reached my friends, I saw Jihyo smiling at me with a teasing glint. I stuck out my tongue at her which made her cover to prevent herself from laughing.

"Hey guys. " I greet my friends. All of them greeted me back except for Dahyun who only nodded at us.

"You guys know Mina? I want her to eat with us for lunch starting from now on if it's possible." I said. Jeongyeon gave us a thumbs up and the others agreed. I smiled at Jeongyeon as both of us sat on the ground.

"Hi Mina!" Nayeon said cheerfully, causing Mina to look at her and flash her cute gummy smile. "I'm Nayeon, the prettiest person here. I guess I should be scared because you might steal that title." She said with a slight teasing smile.

Mina shook her head. "Oh no, you look so pretty, I can't compete." She said humbly. "Nice to meet you." She said, smiling at her.

Jeongyeon smiled at her, showing off her boyish smile that usually makes the women swoon. I looked pointedly at Mina, wishing she wouldn't react the same.

"Nice to meet you, Mina. I'm Jeongyeon. If you need anything just ask me, okay?" She said. Mina stared at her, her eyes warming up. She giggled before shaking her head.

"What's the matter?" I asked her as the others stared at her with a confused expression. I felt the green-eyed monster choking my neck. This is not good, I can’t be jealous. We’re friends. Friends.

She shook her head again, staring at Jeongyeon with gentle eyes.

"It's nothing. It's just Jeongyeon reminded me of my dad." She admitted, tongue peeking out from her lip.

Jeongyeon laugh wholeheartedly. "Then Mina, feel free to call me "Appa" from now on. I'll be your dad while you're in Korea." She said. Mina giggled.

"Okay, appa." She said, flashing her gummy smile. I could tell the others are starting to like Mina already except- I glanced at Dahyun as she looked at Mina with a blank expression. I sighed to myself. I knew it.

Jihyo moved closer to Mina, giving her a comforting hug.

"Welcome to the family, Mina. I'm Jihyo. The mother of this little group. I apologize in advance for the behavior of this dorks. I hope you feel right at home." She said to Mina. Mina's eyes crinkled as her smile widened, for the first time I noticed her look younger than her age. A strand of hair fell down to her forehead and I had an urge to smoothen it. When Jihyo pulled away from the hug, I quickly moved closer to Mina and gently slicked back the strand of hair that was misplaced from the rest of her hair.

Mina glanced at me with a smile, and I noticed that just a little, there's a touch of sadness on her beautiful eyes.

Dahyun cleared , glancing at us bitterly.

"Dahyun." She said simply, not even bothering to stare at Mina right in the eyes.


Mina nodded. “Nice to meet you.” She said quietly.

Jihyo, seemingly noticing the sudden heavy air, started engaging Mina into a light hearted conversation. I smiled at the interaction of them. Mina really does fit in our little group and just the thought that I will be experiencing this everyday, made me smile.

Mina glanced at me again, gummy smile in place. “Why are you smiling?” She asked.

I smacked my lips in order to stop myself from grinning.

“Nothing.” I blurted out. Staring at her.

“It’s just-” I bit my lip.

“It’s just what?” She asked.

“I’m happy.” I said, not helping but grin.

She giggled and smacked my arm gently.

“You’re weird.” She commented with a smile.

With this sudden intense happy feeling I’m feeling when I’m with her? Maybe I really am.

------

Days turned into weeks turned into months and I am becoming more and more close to Mina. For some reason we just vibed well together. Also, within those months, I could feel myself falling deeper and deeper into the endless hole called “like”.

I started seeing her almost everyday for lunch together with my friends. My friends were also treating Mina like a friend. Even Dahyun was slowly warming up to her. Today is the same, I smiled when I saw Dahyun offer Mina some chocolate as we sat at our usual place.

I glanced at Mina as she giggled at the joke of Nayeon, feeling my heart almost burst from my chest. She looked at me and winked, making my face feel warmer.

When we were done eating, I felt Mina tugged my hand. She moved her face closer to my ear.

“Can I talk to you?” She asked. I nodded at her. I looked at Jihyo, knowing that she was waiting for me since we have the same class.

“Jihyo, you can go ahead.” I told her. She nodded at me, flashing me a knowing smile then left.

Mina held my hand as we walked together.

When we stopped, she let go of my hand and stared at me.

“What’s wrong?” I asked her. She just shook her head, smiling slightly.

“I don’t want you to think that I am being selfish.” She said.

“No, I will never think you’re selfish. What’s wrong?” I repeated the question, leaning close to her.

“It’s been awhile since we hang out all by ourselves. I mean, I appreciate being with the others. I think they’re nice friends but..” She looked down, dark hair covering her face.

I felt my chest tightened at her words.

“Even for just today, can we spend the day together all by ourselves?” She looked at me from beneath her lashes, showing off its beauty.  

I bit my lip then nodded.

We ended up skipping our classes. It’s not like I’m complaining anyway considering I’ve never been the type to care about my grades. As long as I could pass my classes, I don’t really care. Besides, hanging out together with Mina is so much fun than staying inside for a boring lecture.

“Do you want to watch a movie?” Mina asked me as we were walking towards the parking lot. I glanced at her and grinned, flashing her two thumbs up. She giggled as we finally stopped near her car. She approached me then poked my dimple.

“You’re so cute!” She squealed. She then started pinching my cheeks a bit too harshly. I winced in pain, playfully glaring at her. I removed her hands from my cheeks, pulling it closer to me and intertwining them with mine. She glanced at our hands, a slight reddening on her porcelain face.

I smirked to myself. I finally made her blush.

“Sure.” I told her as I finally let go of her hands. She smiled at me then opened the passenger’s side for me.

I entered and I swore as I glanced at her, her lips were pulled up into a smirk.

-----

The killer went closer, his mask covering his face. The woman behind the door took her baseball bat.

“Is anyone there? Hellooooo?” The woman uttered. She then opened the door.

“Are you stupid? Why did you open the door?” I mumbled as my eyes trained towards the big screen, my hand busy putting popcorn inside my mouth.

“Jae Eun? You there, are you home?” She walked, oblivious that the killer was behind her.

I gulped as he pulled out a knife. He was breathing heavily. The woman stiffened as she continued walking, feeling  something strange is happening. I started eating more of the popcorn as the scene becomes even more intense.

I heard the background music of the movie becoming creepier as I saw the killer slowly walked towards the woman.

The woman turned and suddenly loud music started playing as the killer  ed the knife towards her. The woman screamed out loud. I jumped as I heard the chorus of the movie goers scream, one voice dominating the rest. I turned and saw Mina lean into me, her arms wrapping on my arm and a whistle scream came out of , ruining my ear drums.

I stifled a laugh as I felt her hands tighten on my arm. I took my drink from the drink holder and put it on the other side together with my popcorn. I then removed the barrier from the chair. I pulled her closer to me, gripping her shoulder and cuddling her with my other arm.

I glanced at her face, noticing that she had her eyes  tightly closed, pursed. I bursted out laughing, not used to seeing her lose her cool. She turned to me and hit my arm, a tear on the corner of her eye.

I hugged her tighter, not paying attention to the movie anymore. She screamed again, making me laugh. She was sitting so close to me that she was basically sitting on my lap. My chin rested on her shoulder, the scent of vanilla from her perfume dominating my senses. The oversized polo shirt of hers had been messed around, exposing the flawless skin of her right shoulder.

I felt my mouth go dry. My lips unconsciously moved closer to the exposed skin. As my lips brushed against the paleness of her shoulder, I froze knowing that this is not a normal behavior from a friend. I felt her stiffen and heard her breathe heavily. She didn’t stopped me however, and in fact, leaned back towards me. I took that as an acceptance and kissed her shoulder again.

The movie was already forgotten, all I care about is this girl in my arms. This tease, strong and weak, angel of a woman beside me.

------

I was laughing as I waved the fork from my salad. “So, you chose a horror movie because you wanted to scare me?” I asked Mina as I stared at her. She pouted slightly, a slight reddening on her cheeks.

“I thought you'd be scared.” She mumbled, picking at her pasta.

I guffawed.

“And then you ended up being the scared one!” I said, feeling my face reddening from laughing so hard. I clutched my stomach. This is too funny.

I wiped the tear from my eye, finding her adorable as she sat there, her hair covering her face slightly.

My hand just moved on its own, pushing back the hair out of her face. She looked up at me, looking at me with eyes that reminded me of the ocean at night. It was so dark, so deep, so lonely.

I wanted to make her happy. I wanted to see her always smiling and most of all, I wanted her to smile only for me. I leaned closer, not even bothered by the small table between us. She stared at me, wide eyes filled with something I cannot decipher. All I know is I wanted her to continue looking at me like that forever. She was beautiful, so beautiful, too beautiful-

I froze when I heard the familiar ringtone of my phone. I inwardly groaned then looked at Mina apologetically. She nodded, waving a hand to show that it’s fine, I can answer it. I sighed to myself then dragged the answer button.

“What?” I asked, a bit too harshly.

“Did we ruined your little date?” Nayeon said from the other side of the line. I heard Jihyo laughing in the background. I sighed to myself in annoyance.

“Anyway, just hear to tell you that bro, we’ll have a little talk later. Jihyo will also sleep over, okay? And don’t you dare lie to us, Son Chaeyoung! We know you like the back of our hands!” The line went dead.

I stared at my phone in surprise then sighed again.

“Who’s that?” Mina asked, a slight furrow in between her eyebrows.

I shook my head with a smile.

“Just Nayeon being an annoying prick as usual.” I said.

“Ah, I see.” She visibly relaxed on her chair, and started eating again.

“Why?” I asked, eyebrow raised.

“Why, what do you mean?” She asked, almost nervously.

“If it’s another person, what are you going to do about it?” I asked, a slight smirk forming on my lips.

“Nothing.” She said, picking her pasta again.

“For example, like Dahyun, maybe..” I trailed off and felt my smirk widen when I saw her fingers tighten on her fork.

She stared at me, eyes suddenly serious. The darkness on her eyes took me aback.

“Then, I’ll make sure that you are only mine.” She said, and I was not sure if that's what she said in the first place because it was almost a whisper. It was as if it was not meant for me to hear.

I cannot help but want to know more about her. There is something about her, a darkness in her that should scare me away. Instead it drew my even closer like the opposite of the moth that got too close to the light.

I just hope I won’t end up like that little moth,

Pained and Dead.

When Mina dropped my off to my dorm, she left a lingering kiss on my cheek, just at the edge of my lips. I felt her hand tighten on my wrist, engraving the feeling of her skin against mine. And as I waved my hand on the retreating sports car, I felt my cheeks redden.

I was falling for her, falling for her deep and it was hard to climb back up.

I made my way towards our dorm with heavy steps, wishing I could spend more time with Mina. When I opened the door, I was met with a smirking Nayeon and a grinning Jihyo.

“Oh, Mina!” She almost moaned, gripping Jihyo in her arms playfully. She then faked a kiss with Jihyo, her body exaggeratedly swooning.

Jihyo squealed, hugging Nayeon tight against her body. “Chaeyoung, my baby, I love you so much!” She said in a bad imitation of Mina’s soft voice.

I groaned. I knew this would happen.

When they both pulled away, they were laughing so hard. I just glared at them.

Finally, when Nayeon finally shut her annoying mouth, she moved closer to me.

“Now young lady, care to explain what’s your relationship with our baby penguin?” I gulped as the two dragged me towards the living room.

Help me, Mina!