It has been a month ever since the opening ceremony.

To Mina’s surprise and also luck, Chaeyoung ended up not recalling her own drunk incident; the dancer and Tzuyu had discreetly agreed to never mention about the case ever again, since they didn’t want the artist to die from regret and embarrassment.

They’ve both done well so far with keeping the secret.

On the other hand, Jeongyeon had finally been released from the hospital, a place she was confined in after her teacher had found out about her injured knee.

Her recovery was pretty successful although her doctor still recommended for the girl to not partake in any extreme activities just yet.

The performer didn’t care as she was simply happy that she wasn’t forced to walk around with crutches anymore.

She was excited that she could finally meet up with her friends again-

And the most anticipated of all, her crush.

Jeongyeon’s sister didn’t allow for any visitors to bother her recovering sibling, thus it had been a month straight since the last time she had saw her ‘daughter’.

Mina was the first person the performer had thought about upon getting discharged.

She had a lot to say to her after their performance, though she never had the chance to do so.

Thus Jeongyeon ultimately chose to shoot her a text as soon as her phone was back in her righteous hands.

To Jeongyeon’s luck, the dancer had agreed to hang out with her at the new coffee shop near their campus.

It was snowing quite hard outside and Jeongyeon became a little worried that she might’ve hindered her crush with her choice of location-

Though she didn’t get to worry about that issue for too long, since her eyeballs almost popped out of her sockets when she saw Mina entering the coffee shop.

Mina was wearing a white, woollen sweater which was covered with a long, grey cardigan; her neck was wrapped warmly with a soft, white scarf while her hands were hidden within a pair of gloves- but what had shocked the performer wasn’t just due to her amazing visuals, but the fact that she was wearing a knee-length skirt that showed off her bare calves.

Mina’s lips arched into a smile immediately after spotting her friend who was already seated within the store, giving her an excited wave.

She was a little taken back when she saw Jeongyeon return her warm greeting with only a frown on her face.

The ballerina went to sit herself down across from the girl’s spot, looking at her in confusion.

“That skirt in this weather?” was the first thing Jeongyeon had spoken to her crush after not seeing each other for more than 4 weeks, though she was too concerned to realise that fact. But of course Mina noticed.

“After a whole month, that’s the first thing you say, unnie?” the younger teased, unable to let go of the golden opportunity. She had missed fooling around with her silly friend.

Mina successfully made the performer blush in embarrassment. “I-I’m just worried about you. You’ll going to catch a cold by showing off so much skin.”

“Unnie, the performance is over. You’re not my father anymore.” Mina continued her attacks with a cheeky grin, making Jeongyeon smile subconsciously also. The older has definitely missed the ballerina’s company.

“Well, then let me restart.” Jeongyeon cleared as she looked away.

When she turned to face the younger again, she had a huge smile plastered on her own face, pretending that she had just witnessed Mina sitting herself down. “Oh my gosh, I’ve missed you Mina-ya!” she squealed, successfully triggering Mina’s soft laughter.

“I see you’re still a joker just like before.” the younger giggled, but a waiter had visited their table to ask for their order before they could continue on with their jokes.

The girls hastily placed down their orders and resumed right back into their conversations.

“But seriously though, I missed you.” Jeongyeon said sincerely as she placed a hand above Mina’s.

It made both of their hearts skip a beat surprisingly.

“I’ve missed you too, Jeongyeon-unnie.” Mina smiled back, “I became extremely worried when you never texted me back.”

“Yeah, about that...” the older instantly rolled her eyes upon recalling what had occurred, “My sister confiscated my phone while I was recovering in the hospital. I wasn’t ignoring you on purpose, I swear. I couldn’t contact anyone.”

“So your sister really did show up that day!” the dancer marvelled as she drank some water from her glass.

“Yeah. She didn’t get to give me an instant feedback since she rushed me to the hospital after I collapsed, but she got to chat with me a lot after I was admitted.”

Mina’s eyes instantly expressed sorrow upon remembering the moments after their performance had ended.

The sight of Jeongyeon screaming in pain backstage, finally letting it all go after they were completely away from the audience’s sight; the sounds of all her classmates panicking while fetching their teachers for help; the look on Jeongyeon’s face as she pointed at Mina’s buzzing phone, telling her to leave her be and go on with the rest of her day.

It was a heart-breaking moment, and Mina couldn’t do anything to help.

Despite it all being in the past, she still felt bad for her injured partner.

Jeongyeon took notice of the change in the girl’s mood, now rubbing her hand as an act for comfort. “Hey… what’s wrong?” her voice snapped the younger out of her trance.

“Oh, uh… It’s nothing. I’m just happy that she was able to come.” Mina managed to flash a weak smile.

The two students continued to catch-up with one another on the things they’ve missed throughout the month as their desserts arrived at their table. Jeongyeon told her story of how she got to meet a few famous actors who came to visit her along with her sister, while Mina shared the most interesting moments from school that she could recall.

Jeongyeon couldn’t help to feel jittery about how many times Mina had mentioned her rival’s name during her story-telling.

It seemed like Chaeyoung was taking the lead, and she knew that she was in danger of losing the race.

But before Jeongyeon could figure out a plan to secure her crush’s heart, a dishevelled figure who had just entered the café had caught her attention. The top of the person’s head was covered in snow while she had a huge camera pouch strapped across her shoulders.

She looked awfully familiar.

“Yoo Jeongyeon?!” the person shrieked loudly as soon as they accidentally made eye-contact, instantly making her way over. It was pretty easy for the girl to recognise her close friend since there weren’t many students who had a blonde bob.

“Jihyo!” the performer also exclaimed, quickly standing up to give her excited friend a warm embrace. They remained clinging onto one another for a long time until Jihyo backed away to glare at Jeongyeon in the eyes.

“Yah- how dare you just disappear then pop right back without saying anything?!” the large-eyed female nagged as she pinched Jeongyeon’s cheeks playfully, “Don’t you know how worried we all were?!”

“I’m sorry, okay? But Seungyeon took my phone away so I couldn’t contact anyone.” Jeongyeon tried to reason while wriggling away from the girl’s grasp, a little bashful from her sudden appearance. She could feel Mina’s gaze on them.

Jihyo finally took notice of the other student’s presence beside them, who had been simply watching the duo with curious eyes.

Mina instantly bowed politely when she saw the friend looking at her, though the level of her curiosity increased when Jihyo gave her a mischievous grin in return.

“You must be Mina.” the student chimed while taking off her gloves, extending a hand out towards the surprised ballerina.

Mina accepted it with hesitation, wondering how the girl knew about her existence since she had no idea to who the large-eyed student was.

“I am indeed. It’s nice to meet you…”

“Park Jihyo. Bachelor of Arts, Photography. It’s great to finally meet you too!” Jihyo snuck a teasing look towards Jeongyeon before continuing. “Jeongyeon has told me lots about you.” she suddenly revealed, “There wasn’t a single day where she didn’t mention your na-”

“SOOOOO what are you doing here, Jihyo-yang?” Jeongyeon placed a hand firmly onto her friend’s shoulder, giving her the most obvious fake grin in the history of fake grins. Jihyo gulped a little as she felt her friend’s palm clutching tighter.

Not wishing for her death to arrive so soon, she complied and moved on with the topic. “Ugh, thanks for reminding me. Nayeon-unnie fricking ditched me after agreeing to help me out with a shoot.” the photographer huffed in annoyance, “She was the one who volunteered to be my model since she said she was perfect for the concept- you know how shameless she is- but then when the shooting day actually arrives, she poofed on me!”

“Welp, you should’ve prepared for that. It’s Im Nayeon you’re dealing with.” Jeongyeon let out an empathetic sigh, patting Jihyo on the back- except to make a face from how wet her coat was from the melted snow. “Wanna join us for a bit and warm yourself up?”

After Jihyo ordered a warm drink for herself, she sat herself down besides Jeongyeon, whose eyes were completely focused on Mina.

On the other hand, Mina’s gaze kept on switching back and forth between the two girls in front of her, not really saying much now that her timid self returned due to the unfamiliar student’s arrival.

Jihyo, on the other hand, had a lot to say-

A bit too much to say.

“Was this supposed to be a date? Did I disrupt a sweet moment?” she blurted out with a completely straight face.

The sudden remark and Jeongyeon’s unfortunate timing caused her to choke on her drink, while Mina’s face began flushing pink.

Although she had purely stated out her true thoughts, Jihyo was thoroughly amused by their unexpected reactions.

She wriggled her eyebrows teasingly at her friend, waiting for an answer.

“I-It’s not like that.” Jeongyeon barely managed to speak up, patting her chest violently in hopes to clear out the liquid that went down the wrong pipe. “We merely met up to catch up what we missed during the past month. We haven’t gotten the chance to talk ever since I got captured away to the hospital after the performance.”

“Same goes for all your other friends who are waiting for any signs of you being alive still.” Jihyo sneered, but soon her face beamed happily towards the two. “Speaking of the performance though, Mina-ya, you were so good!”

“T-Thank you so much.” Mina smiled sheepishly from the praise.

“And I don’t get a compliment?” Jeongyeon pouted at Jihyo, who simply shrugged at her friend’s puppy-eyes.

“That’s what you get for meeting up with one person instead of updating everyone on the news.” the photographer stuck out her tongue childishly. “Mina can give you one instead if you want one that badly. What do you say, Mina?”

The shy dancer’s attention switched from Jihyo to Jeongyeon, who seemed to be looking forward to what she had to say. She ultimately chose to play along.

“Jeongyeon-unnie remained professional all the way until the end despite the pain. She was the most incredible one out of us all.” Mina praised, resulting Jeongyeon to grin like an idiot.

Jihyo had to hold back her laughter from the sight of her love-struck friend.

“Anyways, when did you even hurt yourself? All we know was that your knee was somehow messed up.” the photographer then spoke up as she turned her attention to the female beside her, staring with curiosity.

Wanting to move on from the dreadful accident, Jeongyeon simply sighed. “It shouldn’t matter now I’m already recovered, right?” she refused to explain, “And shouldn’t we be focusing on your project instead? What are you going to do now?”

Jihyo instantly grumbled as she was once again reminded of her situation. “Gosh, I need to find myself a model as soon as possible. I didn’t bring a tripod with me so I can’t just take pictures of myself…”

Just as she muttered out loud, her eyes sparkled upon observing the quiet student who had been listening attentively the whole time. Her gaze then turned towards her friend, also eyeing her up and down with thought.

Both of the students noticed her sudden grin on her face and were now equally as confused.

“Yah Jeongyeon-ah, can you and Mina model for me?”

Both of the girls froze in their seats as their minds comprehended Jihyo’s words.

“You want… us, to model for your shoot?” Jeongyeon blinked. “I mean, Mina is definitely model-material, but why do you need the two of us?”

“I’m changing up my plans.” the photographer addressed with a determined look on her face, “Since Nayeon-unnie pissed me off by ditching me, I’m going to piss her off my taking greater pictures with better models.”

Jeongyeon found herself chuckling lightly. “I’m flattered that you think we’re better models, but why not just ask Mina to replace Nayeon herself? You don’t need my potato-looking out there.”

“Yes I do.” Jihyo shot back instantly, “Because I want to go for a couple’s photoshoot instead.”

Her straightforward words made the two girls froze once again. Mina was just as flustered by Jihyo’s words as Jeongyeon was.

The photographer wasn’t planning on holding anything back when it came to teasing Jeongyeon, while she also wanted to use this opportunity to help her out with her crush.

Jihyo may be known for being loud and dense with her words, but she was an incredibly caring friend who’d do anything within her power to assist people.

She has known the performer ever since they were in junior high, which was more of a reason for her to give her useless-lesbian friend a helping hand.

She knew quite well that Jeongyeon was the type who struggled with expressing their true feelings, which may result in her missing her chance. Jihyo wanted to prevent that from happening.

With that said, here she was trying to help her performer friend with her love life by making them model together.

It was a win-win situation for the Koreans, and merely a confusion one for the foreigner.

Despite being a little reluctant, the two eventually agreed to help out the photographer with her project.

They were physically dragged out of the coffee shop as soon as they were done with their afternoon tea, with Jihyo leading them to the Han River.

She started off by having Mina pose alone by a bridge; it was a warmup for the photographer to test out what angles suit the unfamiliar and sudden model of hers.

Luckily for her, the elegant dancer looked amazing no matter how she was photographed. Jeongyeon also took this opportunity to gawk at her crush from the side, her body warming up from the fuzzy feels despite the cold weather.

She was still concerned about how Mina might be freezing due to her exposed legs, thus as soon as Jihyo let her first model take a quick break as she checked on her photos, the performer immediately rushed over to the dancer’s side.

Jeongyeon unfroze Mina’s legs with the hand-warmers which she had thankfully stored within her jacket pockets.

“Thank you, Jeongyeon-unnie.” Mina smiled lovingly towards her caring friend, who had to gulp down any unnecessary thoughts.

The older wasn’t prepared for her feelings to be revealed just yet, and for Jihyo it was pretty frustrating to watch.

“Alright you two, get your lovey-dovey asses over here.” they suddenly heard the photographer yell from the side, grinning cheekily. “The faster we get this done, the sooner you two can resume back to your date, okay?”

Jeongyeon made a mental note to kick her later, while Mina, abruptly yet once again, felt a strange sensation within her chest.

It was similiar to the one she experienced around a month ago.

Her heart had been acting abnormal for a while now, and she had no clue on how to stop it.

Mina was now confused and nervous about the feeling within her uncontrollable heart.