Chaeyoung doesn’t stop, just keeps landing punch after punch on her opponent, fuelled by anger and sadness. But alas, she runs out of energy, and that’s when her opponent takes the chance to strike her in the stomach, knocking the wind out of her. She collapses on the floor and gasps, taking a few seconds to catch her breath before rising again. “Again.”

“Chaeyoung, I think we should take a break-“ Dahyun tells her, looking at her worriedly. They are sparring, and they have gone for a few rounds already, all ending with Dahyun’s win. Chaeyoung isn’t usually this sloppy, but the younger girl isn’t even fighting strategically like she always does, and just punching and kicking randomly, as if she’s letting off steam. That is why Dahyun is able to win so easily, just waiting for her to expend all her energy before counterattacking. But that also means Chaeyoung has already taken a few hard hits, and Dahyun can already see a few big bruises on her arms and body, but the younger doesn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon.

“Again.” She grits, running towards Dahyun, but the tofu easily steps aside, dodging the attack.

“Let’s stop, Chaeyoung-ah.” Dahyun tells her again, but she doesn’t hear anything, and just attempts to kick the tofu again.

Dahyun easily sends a kick to the cub’s stomach, sending her to the ground. She coughs, the kick having done a good damage on her. She tries to push herself up, clutching her stomach and ignoring the pain. “Again.”

“Stop!” Jihyo’s voice thunders around the gym, causing the two fighters to finally stop and look at their coach. She wants to scold some sense into Chaeyoung, looking at how reckless she’s being now, but she also knows it’s something the girl has to get over by herself. (There’s no way she can scold her out of the pain of her heartbreak after all.) She sighs. “Go home, Chaeyoung.”

“I’m sorry,” Chaeyoung coughs, still trying to stand up. “I will do better.”

“No. Go home and sort yourself out, and don’t come back until you clear your mind and are ready to give your 100% when training.” Jihyo tells her. “I don’t care how long you take, but I want you to be at your best before you come back here.

--

Chaeyoung’s life falls into a routine. She trains from morning to night, going in early and leaving late. It’s the only way she can keep her mind occupied, so that she doesn’t have to think about things, or people she doesn’t want to think about. It works, but what is she going to do now that she can’t even train? She’s just going to drown in her thoughts, every single one of them being about Mina. Maybe this is her punishment for breaking Mina’s heart, because she certainly deserves it.

Dahyun slams a bottle of juice down on the table, capturing the attention of Chaeyoung. She watches the little fighter take it with a small mutter of ‘thank you’, sees how lifeless she looks as she drinks the juice, and she sighs. The younger girl only told them she had broken up with Mina, but she didn’t tell them the reason why.

Dahyun sighs, thinking that Mina initiated the break up because her friend looks too upset to be the one who initiated it. (They must have broken up because Chaeyoung pissed Mina off for some reason. But Mina will also probably take her back if she apologized.)  “Look, I don’t know what happened, but if you are hurting so bad, why don’t you just get her back? I’m sure she will accept you back in a heartbeat.”

“It’s not that simple.” Chaeyoung smiles, but anyone can tell it’s a forced one.

“Well, then make it simple! Apologize, beg for forgiveness, do whatever it takes to chase her back.” Dahyun scolds. But she sees the way the little fighter stares at the juice bottle in her hands, and knows that she has no intention to do so. “So what? You are just going to give up like this? Give up on someone who you love so much? Someone who loves you so much?”

“You think I don’t know that?” Chaeyoung says so quietly, Dahyun almost couldn’t hear her over the background noise of traffic. She doesn’t want to explain, knowing that the older girl won’t get off her back if she knows the real reason why they broke up. “It’s just… this is the best for the both of us.”

Dahyun knows how stubborn Chaeyoung is, and decides not to press her. “So, what are you going to do now?”

The little fighter shrugs. She could help out at Nayeon and Jeongyeon’s café, but the two are so nauseatingly gross recently it’s hard to be around them nowadays. (They haven’t actually told her, but their actions gave them away.) There’s still one place for her, the place where she knows she can always seek refuge in, always run back to, the first place that took her in, gave her a family. “I think I will go home. I haven’t seen Appa and Umma in a while.”

Dahyun nods. The countryside air will probably do her good anyway. “Send my regards to them. And get back soon and fight me, a proper one and not a half-assed one like today.”

Chaeyoung chuckles, suddenly becoming acutely aware of the pain emanating from her whole body. “You could have held back a little, it hurts everywhere.”

“Well, I wouldn’t have to do that if someone didn’t pounce on me like a mad man! It was all in self-defence.” Dahyun retorts. She knew Chaeyoung didn’t mean any harm to her, but with how the latter had pounced on her, she had no choice but to retaliate to protect herself. But she feels bad looking at the bruises that are starting to form on Chaeyoung’s face and body. “Do you want me to get you an ice pack?”

“Nah it’s fine, I had suffered worse.” Chaeyoung waves her off nonchalantly.

The two continue sitting there quietly, watching the cars go by as they sip on their drinks. Maybe it’s the growing night that is making her more sentimental, or the silence that is making her thoughts run wild, but she finds herself recollecting things from the past.

(“You are telling me, you haven’t been to a convenience store before?” Chaeyoung asks incredulously as she stares at Mina, who is standing beside her and looking really awkward and out of place in the convenience store they are in now. The girl nods hesitantly, taking in the view in front of her with bright eyes.

“My mom doesn’t really let me eat convenience food, she said it’s unhealthy.” Mina tells her in a soft voice, as if that’s something to be ashamed about.

“Well, your mom may be right,” Chaeyoung picks up a bowl of instant noodles to throw into the basket she’s holding, “but they taste really good too. Let me show you.”

She goes down the aisles of the store, picking out her favourite snacks and throwing them into the basket. This is Mina’s first convenience food experience, and she is about to make it the best one too. Poor girl must be living in such a uptight environment, how can someone live without eating convenience food before in their whole lives? Also, if they haven’t, are they really living?

“Do you want anything else?” The little fighter asks Mina, who has stopped in her tracks, staring at the hot food section unblinkingly.

“S-sorry?” Mina finally tears her gaze away from the corn dogs in the oven, and Chaeyoung stifles a smile as she heads closer to the former. “You can take one if you want.”

“But my mom said fried food is bad for us…”

Chaeyoung is already opening the oven and pulling out a corn dog, placing it on a holder. “One corn dog isn’t going to kill you.” She holds out the corn dog to Mina, urging her to take it. She seems to hesitate a few seconds before taking it and Chaeyoung smiles, pointing at the condiments on the side. “You can have it with mustard or ketchup.”

At the word ketchup, Mina seems to light up, immediately grabbing the red bottle and squirting strings and strings of the red sauce onto her corn dog. Chaeyoung can’t even see the brown of the corn dog when the girl is done, but she doesn’t comment, just makes a mental note. (The girl loves ketchup.)

Chaeyoung pays for the food, and her eyes almost bulges out when she sees the bill. They spent almost 50,000won on food in the convenience store, but she can’t get angry when she sees the way Mina‘s eyes light up when she bites into the corn dog for the first time. She thanks the cashier and takes the plastic bag of food from him, gesturing for Mina to follow her.

But what she doesn’t expect is a warm hand in hers when she turns away from Mina, causing her to freeze in her spot. She looks down at her own hand, and at the hand in hers, before looking up at the girl, who just looks at her shyly.

“Just… as a thank you for the food.” Mina tells her, gulping as if to swallow her nervousness.

Their entwined hands are a little sweaty from their nervousness, but both have no intentions to let go. Chaeyoung smiles, absolutely happy even if it’s just this little form of skin ship that is probably normal for other couples.

She squeezes Mina’s hand, tugging her out of the store. “Well, let’s go then. We have a picnic to get to.”)

The little fighter is leaning back in her seat, staring up at the dark sky. Stars dot the sky above them, but she finds that even the brightest star pales in comparison to Mina. She probably knows this deep inside since a long time ago, but it’s only now that she’s come to an acute realization. She looks at the sky, wants her message to be relayed to her favourite girl in the world, but knows that it’s not possible. It doesn’t stop her from trying though, because maybe these words are also meant for herself, for her to really admit that they are over.

You must be hurting now, but I promise it will get better. In time, you will forget all about me, and be happy with someone new. The person will love you like I did, like I do, because you are someone who deserves all the love in this world, who will always be loved no matter where you go. And I… I will stay here, bearing the pain of loving you, the pain of our memories.

--

This was normal, she had gone to school, went for ballet classes, and is now chilling at home watching Netflix. It’s all part of her normal routine, but why does it feel like something is missing? She picks up her phone to check the notifications, some from her schoolmates regarding schoolwork, some notifications from the chat with Momo and Sana because they are having some nonsensical argument and asking her to be the judge again, but there’s none from the one person she’s waiting for. She told herself she will take the stupid fighter back as long as she reaches out to her first. But nothing. She has always admired Chaeyoung for her perseverance, for how she put her everything as long as she set her mind to it, but this time, she just wished the fighter wasn’t this stubborn. She throws her phone away and looks back at the screen, but not really focusing on the movie playing, feeling the tears coming again.

She doesn’t know how long she has been sitting there, just staring at the screen in a daze. It’s only when she feels the sofa sink beside her that she realizes another presence beside her, the person putting an arm around her protectively. “Watching Iron Man again?” Akira Myoui asks her with a teasing tone, knowing how much she loves Iron Man, and that this is probably her 56^th time watching it.

“You know how much I love Mr Tony Stark.” Mina snuggles into her father’s embrace, feeling comforted by his warmth and the familiar musk of his perfume.

“You know I love you, but you know Papa will always be Team Cap A.” He just loves to daughter. Usually, Mina would have been totally offended and they would get into a debate fighting for their favourite Avengers, but today, Mina just hums quietly, accepting it. Akira is perceptive, immediately picking up on his daughter’s bad mood, but chooses not to prod, knowing that she will tell him with time. That is why he just sits there with her, watching the movie even though he has seen it about 13times.

It’s at the of the movie when Mina breaks. She starts off small, just tears falling down her face, but gradually she starts trembling and full out sobbing, and Akira just sits there, patting her gently on the back, letting his daughter cry it out. Mina feels like she’s back in kindergarten again, sobbing like when her classmate stole her favourite yellow hat from her, except this time, it’s her heart that is being stolen. Her father was also there then, hugging her like this while she cried, and getting her ice cream after her breakdown. She may be a grown up, but deep down, she is still the same little girl who seeks for her father’s comfortable embrace as she cries.

“Papa, I really love her a lot… Why…? Why did all this have to happen?”

“It will be okay penguin, Papa is here.” Akira pats Mina on the head gently, wants to suffer all the pain for her if possible.

--

Akira pulls the blanket over Mina gently, the girl already asleep. She looks so at peace now, so different from how vulnerable and broken she looks just now, and his heart breaks as he looks at her swollen eyes and red nose. He loves his little princess the most in the world, doting on her since young and making sure she gets whatever she wants. This is why, whatever, or whoever is making her this upset is going to get it from him. He may be a doctor, but he can also be a gangster for her daughter. Someone’s head is going to roll for hurting his child, and there’s no exception even if that someone is Mina’s lover (ex).

Don’t worry, Papa will deal with it. He kisses Mina on the forehead as a goodnight kiss, before tiptoeing out of the room.

--

“Hel-“ Chaeyoung moves the phone away from her ear, grimacing at the loud screech from the other end of the call, asking why she isn’t home yet. When she said she was going back to her parents’ home, she didn’t mean to go back immediately. But she could still catch the last bus, and decided to just go back, taking the 2-hour bus ride to clear her mind, and to give Nayeon and Jeongyeon some personal space as a couple.

“Don’t worry, I just took the last bus back to Chuncheon.” She tells Jeongyeon. “I will just stay here for a bit.”

There’s a visible sigh before Jeongyeon goes off again. “Well, you could have told us earlier that you were going back home!” They have been worried, seeing how down she looked recently, and panicked when she didn’t come home, thinking she might have done something stupid.

“Then when are you going to tell me you guys are dating?” Chaeyoung challenges, doing a small victory dance internally when she hears a gasp from Jeongyeon over the line. Bingo.

“W-who said we are dating?” Jeongyeon splutters, totally giving herself away.

“Please, I may look like I’m always wallowing in my sadness, but I’m not blind. Also, you guys are just so obvious.” Chaeyoung shakes her head as she trudges along the dark muddy passageway, seeing the Yoo’s family house up ahead. “Unnie, I have to go, I’m reaching home soon.”

“Okay, take care and send my regards to Umma and Appa.”

“Alright.” She decides to tease them more. “Oh, feel free to do anything with Nayeon-unnie, just don’t do it in my bed. Have fun!” She insinuates and hangs up before Jeongyeon can scold her.

Chuckling, she puts her phone back in her pocket and steps onto the porch of the house, keying in the password for the door. The door opens, and she shouts into it, “I’m home!”

The house is dimly lit, and the only sound is the tv playing lowly in the background. She hears shuffling, and an older woman peeks out from the living room, immediately rushing out to her.

“Chaeyoung? Why are you back here?” 

“Wow Umma, an ‘I miss you’ would have sufficed.” She jokes, placing her shoes on the rack and stepping into the house. She’s halfway through shrugging off her coat when her mother engulfs her in a tight hug, which she reciprocates immediately. She burrows deeper into the crook of Mrs Yoo, feeling a sense of contentment and peace she hadn’t felt ever since she broke up with Mina.

“Silly, you know I do. You just came back without any notice, that’s all.” Yoo Jinhee tells her fondly, pulling away with a smile while fixing the younger girl’s hair. She smiles at how her mother is coddling her like she’s still a baby, but laughs when she hears light snoring coming from the living room.

“Appa fell asleep in front of the tv again?”

Jinhee shakes her head with an eye roll. “You know your Appa. Have you eaten?”

She had grabbed a sandwich with Dahyun at the convenience store just now, but there is definitely room in her stomach for her mother’s homecooked food. “I have, but I can totally do with some of Umma’s bean paste stew right now.”

Jinhee holds her hand up as if telling her not to say more, and pulls her into the kitchen.

--

“So, where is Chaeyoung?” Nayeon asks as she runs the towel through her hair, having just stepped out of the shower.

“She went back home.” Jeongyeon tells her, frozen on her seat on the sofa. Nayeon nods, not understanding why her girlfriend is still so tense when she knows that Chaeyoung is safe and not wandering the streets somewhere out there. “She also said she knows about us.”

Nayeon sighs in relief. “Finally, we don’t have to sneak around like thieves. I still don’t understand why we couldn’t tell her.” Jeongyeon suggested to keep their relationship a secret from Chaeyoung, and she just don’t understand why.

“I don’t know, she was all upset because of her break up with Mina, I don’t want to seem like we are rubbing our new relationship in her face when she just lost hers.” Jeongyeon explains, wrapping an arm around Nayeon.

“Should we do something? I can’t stand seeing Chaeyoung so down.” Nayeon says, leaning into Jeongyeon. The younger girl tries to pretend to be fine around them, but they all know she’s not with how she just lies in bed, staring at the ceiling when she gets home, and how she just pokes at her food, only taking a few bites during meals.

“I think it’s best we leave them be, they will sort it out themselves.” A relationship is between the two of them, and no one but the two themselves can sort it out. Jeongyeon sighs, hoping things will clear up, and her cheery little sister will be back soon. “Do you want to eat ramen?”*

“You know that only works when you are inviting someone over to your place right?” Nayeon looks up, a teasing glint in her eyes. “Also, I’m not such an easy girl.”

Jeongyeon rolls her eyes. “I meant real ramen. It’s fine if you don’t want any.” Jeongyeon removes her arm around Nayeon and stands up, causing the older girl to stumble a little.

“I do! I want the sesame oil one!”

“Cook it yourself!”

“But Nayeonie wants Jeongyeonie to cook it for her.” Nayeon says in a cute voice, pulling her best puppy dog eye look as she looks up at Jeongyeon. “Pleaseeee?”

Jeongyeon turns away, more to hide her blush than because she doesn’t like it. “You are lucky you are cute.” She mumbles, and Nayeon latches onto her back happily. “And you are lucky to be dating someone so cute.”

Someday, her eyes will not come back after rolling them for the umpteen time because of her girlfriend, and she will be stuck with having whites for eyes for the rest of her life. Can someone please explain to her why she is in love with the narcissistic idiot currently back hugging her? It seems like the only way to find out is to date this narcissistic idiot even more, even longer, or even better, for the rest of their lives.

--

Chaeyoung almost cries when she puts the first spoon of the stew into . There are many restaurants out there which sell bean paste stew, but her mother’s will always be the best. She sighs dramatically. “As expected, Umma’s bean past stew is the best in the whole wide world.”

“Sweet talker.” Jinhee laments, but the proud smile on her face as she watches her daughter eat the stew says a different story. The mother and daughter talks about anything and everything (Jeongyeon is going to get scolded for not telling their mom about her relationship with Nayeon, and she gets scolded for all the bruises on her body from training), and Chaeyoung finds herself relaxing, forgetting about everything that has been weighing her mind down.

“So, how is Mina?” But her mother’s innocent question brings it all back. She had gushed over Mina to her mother on numerous occasions, and the older woman had been going on about wanting to meet the girl in the flesh. (But it seems like there’s no need for that now.)

Chaeyoung looks down at the bowl of stew in front of her, suddenly finding it very interesting. “We… broke up.”

“What!” Jinhee exclaims, almost waking up the whole neighbourhood with her scream. She stares at Chaeyoung, as if trying to see if she’s just joking. But the serious and sullen expression on her daughter’s face tells her otherwise, and she softens, knowing this must be the reason why her daughter came home. She did not even believe her daughter for a second when she said she came back because she missed them. She may not have given birth to her, but she still saw her growing up, and knows her youngest daughter like the back of her hand. “What happened?”

And that’s all it takes for Chaeyoung to spill the beans. This is the first time she’s telling everything to, and she’s glad it’s to her mom, because she knows her mom will always be on her side, supporting whatever decisions she make. So she tells her, about how Mrs Myoui came to find her, to the eventual break up, and finally about her feelings. “It just… hurts so much…”

Jinhee rounds the table to get to Chaeyoung, engulfing her daughter in a tight hug. Part of her understands why Mrs Myoui did what she did, because she wants the best for her daughter. But the other part of her wants to go to Seoul now and have a catfight with the woman, because this girl in her arms now is also her daughter, and she also wants the best for her. Her heart aches to see how broken her daughter is crying in her arms now, how she must hurt so much because she had to break up with the person she loves the most, yet be unable to tell anyone the truth, having to suffer in silence alone. But she knows her little strawberry is a brave and strong girl, and she will get through this. For now, she will just take her in her arms and comfort her, pamper her like the child she still is. (A child who is way too young to experience such a heart wrenching break up.)

--

a/n: *the korean equivalent of 'netflix and chill'