“Damn, she’s a freakin’ good actress that’s for sure.” Chaeyoung huffed after listening to Mina’s story, “I could’ve never tell that she was injured based on how she leaped around the stage like that.”

“Yeah, she’s really incredible.” Mina added, still looking sombre from worrying about her other friend who was now at the hospital.

Chaeyoung somewhat regretted about inviting Mina out to have dinner now that the atmosphere was so solemn and awkward.

She merely wanted to spend some time with her crush in order to earn herself slowly into Mina’s heart, yet she never expected for such a serious incident to occur beforehand.

The younger found herself sipping her drink quietly as they waited for their food to be served, while Mina took notice of how uncomfortable her artist friend was after telling her the story; she felt bad that she kind of ruined the mood since Chaeyoung did invite her out of good intentions.

The dancer decided to move on from the previous topic as there wasn’t anything they could do about it anyways.

All they were capable of was to pray that Jeongyeon’s condition didn’t deteriorate too much.

“So what was your favourite part of the whole performance?” Mina chose to ask, diverting their attention away from the bad news.

“All the parts with you in it.” Chaeyoung shot back cheekily, successfully making the older giggle softly.

“Aren’t you a sweet talker?”

“Only when it comes to you, unnie.”

“Oh? Where did this bold version of Son Chaeyoung come from?” Mina raised an eyebrow as she took a sip of her own drink, masking away the fact her heart had skipped a beat from Chaeyoung’s unhesitant and daring replies.

“Honestly I don’t know myself.” the artist shrugged, “Maybe because I’m drunk?”

“Wha-” Mina immediately widened her eyes, taking her friend’s glass away from her hand and giving it a sniff.

“I’m just jokinggg, I don’t drink that sort of stuff.” Chaeyoung cackled at her friend’s panicking state, “Didn’t you hear me order my drink? I asked for a cranberry orange crush.” she then hummed, confused to why Mina was looking at her with widened eyes.

“Chaeyoungie, that’s a type of cocktail. There’s vodka in it.”

“Oooh- so that’s why it had a gross taste.” Chaeyoung chuckled as she grabbed her glass back, taking another sip. “Vodka, huh.”

“You don’t usually drink alcohol, do you?” Mina asked carefully, noticing how her friend was already acting unusual.

So that was where the boldness came from.

“I’ve never had any before.”

Mina blinked at Chaeyoung, and Chaeyoung followed suit.

They simply sat in silence as they started a sudden staring competition.

It was only when their waitress had dropped off their orders that snapped them both out of it.

“Oooh it smells so niceee.” the artist cheered as she took a huge whiff of her burger, not noticing the weird look Mina was still giving her.

“I don’t think you should touch your drink anymore. Why don’t I order something else for you?”

“Ehh? But I like it!” Chaeyoung whined, soon stuffing her face with food. “Oi diad suay iet teostod woerd beot ehm stoartwng teo leike eit.”

Mina couldn’t hold in her laughter as she watched the tipsy Chaeyoung attempt to speak with a mouthful of burger.

“Chew and swallow before you speak, okay?” the dancer smiled while picking up her napkin and reaching over the table, wiping some sauce from the corner of Chaeyoung’s lips.

Chaeyoung merely stared back at her from the gesture, her ears slightly turning red.

She gulped the food down obediently while Mina slowly twirled a ball of spaghetti onto her fork.

“Don’t do that, you’re confusing me.”

“Hmm?” Mina expressed her bewilderment by tilting her head since her own mouth was now filled with food. She patiently waited for herself to finish eating before asking it verbally again. “What am I confusing you about?”

Realising the topic she had just brought up, Chaeyoung avoided answering by shoving the burger back into , and continued eating nonstop until she had finished everything on her plate.

She found herself chocking on her final bite, causing her to chug her drink in one go, hoping that it’d help.

It did, but it also didn’t.

Chaeyoung didn’t mutter another word until Mina had also finished her meal.

“Finished?” she blurted as she watched Mina wipe  clean.

“I am, and I assume you are too?”

“Yeah, I’ll go pay.” the artist stood herself up, but instantly found the world spinning slightly. Her body swayed from the dizziness.

Mina noticed her condition and instantly stood herself up, rushing over to her friend’s side to give her a hand.

“Woah- felt a little dizzy there.” Chaeyoung shook her head after feeling Mina’s hand on her waist. “I’m good now, sorry.”

“Are you sure…?” Mina cautioned, but the artist simply scooched herself out of her seat and went to pay for their meal.

As they strolled casually on the streets, Son Chaeyoung found herself wobbling uncontrollably.

She couldn’t decipher the reason behind her behaviour since it had never happened to her before, yet the older girl beside her knew exactly why.

“Let’s get back to your dormitory, Chaeyoungie. Room 159, right?” Mina tried to usher while hooking an arm around the girl’s waist, just in case if she falls. She couldn’t help but to worry about her condition.

“But I still want to spend some time with you!” Chaeyoung immediately pouted, “You’ve been so busy with Jeongyeon-unnie that there wasn’t any time for me.”

Mina flinched as Chaeyoung clung herself onto her arm, not knowing how to react to the drunk student.

They say a drunk mind speaks a sober heart, and that was exactly what was happening to the tiny artist- which took Mina by surprise.

She had imagined the younger to enjoy parties and getting wasted with her other extroverted friends, yet her assumption turned out to be completely wrong.

Even the introverted dancer enjoys a glass of wine by herself once in a while, so it was shocking to find out that the university sophomore had never tasted liquor before.

The ballerina knew she shouldn’t take the younger too seriously now that she was so intoxicated from a single glass of cocktail, yet she also understands that what she says now were most likely the absolute truth.

Mina let out a soft sigh to calm her own heart down. “I can stay with you in your dorm for a bit if that’ll make you happy. But we really should get you back as soon as possible. It’s getting dark.”

“Will you stay over and sleep with me?” Chaeyoung beamed, too drunk to figure out why Mina’s face was furiously blushing from her question. “Pleaseeee? I’ve missed you so much, unnieee.”

“W-We’ll see. I wouldn’t want to bother your roommate.”

“Ah don’t worry about that kid- she looks scary but she’s the softest human on Earth.” Chaeyoung giggled, “I’m sure she’d like you too. Everyone does. Since you’re so pretty.”

“Okaaay let’s keep walking Chaeyoungie.” Mina had to physically look away from the babbling female in order to hide away how flustered she was.

The boldness of the artist was something she wasn’t used to and it was really hard for her to take in so suddenly.

Chaeyoung was also making it difficult to walk since she had completely stuck herself onto the older student’s side, leaving zero personal space for her.

Mina wasn’t complaining much- the sight of a drunk and cuddly Son Chaeyoung was indeed an adorable sight.

She was only worried about the artist’s well-being and how she might die of embarrassment once she had returned to her sober state-

If she could remember, that is.

Thankfully, the two arrived back within the campus in once piece.

There had been multiple incidents where Chaeyoung had almost fallen on her face, but luckily Mina was always fast enough to prevent her from breaking her nose.

By the time they had arrived at the front door of Chaeyoung’s dorm room, the younger could barely walk straight since the alcohol had taken its full effect. Mina had to dig through the artist’s backpack in order to retrieve the key to the dorm.

Although the dancer was exhausted from the afternoon’s event, she knew that the drunk Chaeyoung wouldn’t let her go so soon.

Thanks to her memories from the past, Mina lead her friend back to her bedroom without the need to ask.

She lacked the hands to turn on the lights to the familiar room, thus she focused on placing Chaeyoung safely down onto her bed before doing so-

But the intoxicated one had something else in her dizzy mind.

When Mina turned away from Chaeyoung to go turn on the lights, she found herself letting out a surprised squeal as her arm got pulled back abruptly, causing her to fall onto the bed with the drunk student.

Her widened eyes contacted Chaeyoung’s who was simply smiling in pure bliss; she had one leg stretched across Mina’s torso while her sturdy arms wrapped themselves around her neck, securing her completely within her grasp.

“C-Chaeyoungie?!” the panicking dancer stuttered, unable to free herself from the girl’s big embrace.

She was only capable of laying there with her thumping heart.

Her introverted self had never experience such intimacy with another person before, and she didn’t know how to react.

Sana and Momo were two clingy and touchy friends, but they knew their limits when it came to their shy ballerina.

The two would pamper her with hugs and occasionally pecks on the cheeks or forehead, but none of those had ever made Mina’s heart beat so fast. She felt like she was going to pass out from embarrassment.

“Unnieee… you’ve been so unfairrr.” Chaeyoungie breathed into the older female’s neck, making her shiver from the sensation. “You’ve made me so upsettt.”

“H-How so?” Mina gulped, trying her best to ignore the butterflies in her stomach.

She had no idea what to expect and was a little afraid from the unpredictability.

Chaeyoung sat up from her position, looking down at Mina who stared back in confusion and nervousness.

It really didn’t help the dancer’s nerves when the artist swung her leg over to the other side of Mina’s body, now straddling on top of her.

Mina instantly froze from their new position, her mind going blank from what was happening.

“You’re mean…” Chaeyoung sighed as she her face, “You abandoned me for someone else…”

“I don’t kn- Hhgh…!” the dancer tried to address the issue, yet instead she found herself wincing in shock as Chaeyoung placed her arms on the either side of Mina’s head on the bed.

Chaeyoung had a new expression on her face, and Mina was now fearing for her life.

The younger hovered her body above the dancer’s and slowly decreased the distance between their faces.

Mina saw her her lips hungrily despite the fact they just returned from having dinner together.

Apparently Chaeyoung was now ready for dessert.

Just when the artist’s lips were merely 3 centimetres away from the dancer’s, the sound of the front door being unlocked could be heard.

“Chaeng?”

Mina didn’t know how to prevent any sort of misunderstanding from forming since the sight of their current position was pretty hard to explain, but she had already ran out of time before she could even start constructing any explanations.

A tall figure made their way closer, peering straight at the two in bed.

The three froze in their individual spots for a few seconds, no one making a single sound-

Well, not until Chaeyoung decided to ignore her roommate’s presence and proceed with whatever she was doing.

“H-Help!” Mina finally managed to cry out, triggering the youngest of the three to start moving again.

Tzuyu managed to grab her roommate by her collar, easily plucking her off of Mina’s body. “The fu- What are you doing, Chaeng?!”

The artist began to wriggle around, wanting to escape from the giant’s grasp. “Tzuuu! Bug off!”

The roommate instantly caught a whiff of the alcohol in Chaeyoung’s system after she had opened to complain, resulting her to let out a loud sigh. “I knew this was going to be the lightweight type.”

“I-I’m so sorry, Tzuyu-sshi. She didn’t know her drink contained alcohol and before I realised it, she had already finished her glass…” Mina hastily apologised after standing back onto her two feet.

Chaeyoung tried to lunge towards her direction with open arms, wanting to dash back to her crush’s side.

Luckily for the dancer, Tzuyu was pretty strong and held Chaeyoung firmly in her arms.

“Don’t worry about it, it’s her fault for being so dense.” Tzuyu muttered while glaring at her roommate, trying to get her to stop resisting, “I’m sorry she attacked you like that. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I just hope that she’d be alright soon too…”

“I will be if you let me gooo!” Chaeyoungie whined, incredibly upset to be trapped by her fierce roommate, who was not even budging from her movements.

“And let you assault your crush then comfort your regretful sober ? No thanks.” Tzuyu scoffed, but instantly dropped agape upon realising her slip-up.

Momentarily, she had forgotten that Chaeyoung’s crush was literally in front of them.

She said it, and she knew Mina heard it.

She cursed under her breath as she saw Mina blush in the darkness, begging her to ignore what had just slipped out of .

Thankfully the drunk girl didn’t seem to have caught on with the current situation.

“Y-You should probably go home. You must be exhausted from your performance today, right?” the tallest tried to divert their attention onto something else.

“Ah, did you also attend the ceremony?” Mina was more than willing to comply, forcing out a smile to hide her internal screams.

“No, but this one wouldn’t stop babbling to me about it last night.” Tzuyu rolled her eyes, “She was asking me for suggestions about where to go for dinn- ARGHHH!”

The younger roommate yelped as Chaeyoung attacked her with a big chomp on the arm, finally succeeding with fleeing; Tzuyu had let her slip out of her loosened grip since she was now busy hissing in pain, which gave her roommate the freedom to dash straight for her crush.

Mina didn’t even get to blink when everything had already occured, but Chaeyoung had stood herself before the flustered dancer and planted a wet kiss onto the girl’s cheeks.

“Good night unnie, sleep well!” the short artist beamed before she quickly got recaptured, with Tzuyu giving Mina an apologetic look as she physically dragged her roommate back to bed.

Mina flashed them both an awkward smile, backed away slowly, and escaped the dorm after grabbing her bag from the floor.

After closing the front door quietly she found herself slumping against the walls, her hand placed above the location of Chaeyoung’s good-bye kiss.

Recalling what Tzuyu had accidentally leaked out, she knew that things wouldn’t be the same between her and her tiny artist friend anymore.

She was willing to pretend that nothing had ever happened, and that Chaeyoung’s drunk smooch was merely her own absurd imagination-

But of course she couldn’t really brainwash herself.

Not when she had found out about the girl’s feelings for her.

Although she was a little worried about how to face her friend properly, there was also another weird emotion lingering within her heart-

And Myoui Mina wasn’t certain to what it was.