Her cries echoed off the walls, bouncing against it and dissipating into thin air. No one would come to save her. Nobody ever did.

She pleaded to be good, begged him to look the other way, but her father remained strict. With a key in hand and a menacing look, he placed his wrath on her and locked her up in four walls.

The first time Mina received the punishment from him, it pained her. The second time, it traumatized her. Then came a third time, and she felt numb to it. She was scared of that numbness. She never wanted to feel it again. So, she strived to not get it the fourth time.

There was a door in the house that no one dared to unlock. It was a door to Mina’s painful childhood memories that she wanted to forget. Everytime she did something her father didn’t like, she would get locked up in that room for hours, not hearing anything but her uneven breaths and the beating of her own heart. It was cold, soundproofed, and no windows. No sound came in and no sound came out, a place where the sun doesn’t shine. It was a completely desolated place of sadness.

Mina’s childhood days weren’t always so filled with fear. She had her good days, ones that she kept treasured. She placed those memories in a box that she could open on sad days to help her push through. She knew her father cared for her. She saw the reasonings behind his actions and accepted the mistakes she made as being her own fault. Discipline was the first thing her father ever taught her and it was the only lesson that mattered most to him.

When she was 5 years old, she became obsessed with rainbows. So, every time it rained, her dad would come home and take her out once it let up. He would carry her up on his back and together they would gaze up at the emerging colors in the sky.

When she wanted something, he would provide it for her no matter how expensive it was. So long as her behavior and the things she found interest in didn’t clash with the ones he hoped for her, he was a beloved father. She was a well-behaved and obedient child to begin with, which was why it took so long for her to see the strict parenting her dad had in store for her.

Ballet was her father’s favorite past-time activity for Mina. She thought it had something to do with how his whole family was absolutely in love with it. And in time, it became Mina’s passion as well. However, there was once in her lifetime when she grew tired of it. It was merely one of those days where she didn’t feel like dancing at all. Suppose one could call it a slump.

In middle school, Mina ditched her ballet lessons to hang out with her friends. Naturally, her instructor informed her dad and by the time she came home, he was already pushing her into that room and scolding her. She couldn’t understand then why he was so angry. All she did was miss one class. But he later revealed that missing it once could lead to a habit of ditching, and he didn’t want that implemented on his daughter’s head. Mina never missed a single class a second time.

She didn’t know when it was that she started growing distant from him. Her dad was the same as always. It was her that separated herself from his love. Because Mina knew that who she really was would break him, and the thought just made her more scared to reveal herself when she finally found the girl she wanted him to meet.

Mr. Myoui approached the two of them after he got off the phone. “Are you hungry?” he asked them. “What do you want to eat?” Mina thought about it, but before she could say what was on her mind, her dad answered for her. “Yukhoe?”

The Japanese smiled and nodded.

Chaeyoung suddenly felt out of place sitting in a well-known restaurant with Mina’s dad just across them. Now, she understood why Jeongyeon and Sungyeon tried hard to make sure she looked the part. There was no way this could go well with her in sweatpants and a hoodie. Even the way they ate made it quite obvious that Chaeyoung was in an unfamiliar territory.

The dad ordered for her something he insisted she must absolutely try, and of course Chaeyoung couldn’t very well refuse him. When the food came, she had to wait for them to start before she started indulging herself. She felt that it would seem rude if she just went straight for it. The younger one felt like she was walking on thin ice.

With already halfway through their meal, Mr. Myoui finally addressed Chaeyoung. “So, what do your parents do?”

Chaeyoung felt tighten, then she glanced at Mina. Is he really going to make my mom unemployed? Should I lie? But what good will that do? He’s bound to know that I’m not up to his standards, she thought in panic. “Uhh,” she cleared . “My mother’s a caretaker. My father passed away when I was younger.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” he uttered as he looked down. He cleared his throat and looked up at her again. “So, what got you into arts?” Chaeyoung felt a sense of relief that he changed the topic himself, as if the mention of her dad’s death made him uncomfortable.

“I like to paint. Ever since I was a kid. My mom would hand me a paper and a pencil to pass through time, and somehow I started drawing.Through that, I got really interested in artworks, so I decided to give it a shot.”

“Oh, really? Have I seen any of your works? Any of it submitted to contests perhaps? I host and judge quite a few of them.”

Chaeyoung gave a forced chuckle, “I haven’t really submitted any of my art...”

“How come?”

He looked at her with such great expectations that she felt disappointed in herself for not even having something to show off. As much as how passionate Chaeyoung was in making art, she couldn’t develop it as more than a hobby. She was afraid of what the world would think. She didn’t want other people to get in between her and what she loved doing. Which was why no matter how much her teachers pressured her, she never revealed it to the world.

She shrugged, “It’s just a hobby.”

“That doesn’t mean we can’t show it off. If you love it, you should be proud.” He picked up his napkin and lightly patted the side of his lips, then carefully placed it back on his lap. “An art contest I organize every year is actually coming up. Akira Group Art Contest. You should join it.”

“Ah, I’ve heard of that one. I actually submitted an entry last year, but it was unfinished so I took it back.”

“Well, I hope I see your entry this time around as well,” he said with a smile, then continued to finish his meal. Chaeyoung opened to say something against it, but she paused and instead, shoved a spoonful of meat in. She quickly glanced at Mina, hoping for her to possibly say something against it for her, but her girlfriend kept quiet. It seemed that she was content with the fact that her father wasn’t showing any displeasure with Chaeyoung’s presence. The younger one showed a quiet groan of her face.

After dropping Chaeyoung off at home, Mina dropped down on her bed with a sigh. She looked up at the ceiling and thanked the Heavens for a peaceful end of the day. She was lying on her bed when a knock came on her door. She spoke for them to open it.

Mina’s dad peeked his head in before fully entering her room. Mina sat right up the moment she saw him. He gave her a paper, “It’s the application for my art contest. I want your friend to enter it.”

“She hasn’t said she wanted to enter...” Her dad shifted in his stance, and came a slight change in his expression, so Mina continued, “But I’ll give this to her.” He nodded and left.

Mina sighed. She recalled their conversation in the car on the way back. I don’t want to do something I’m not confident in, Chaeyoung had said. The younger one was adamant on not joining it. But it wasn’t just her dad that wanted her to enter. Mina as well wanted her to take the opportunity, but she wasn’t about to force Chaeyoung into something she didn’t want to do. If all possible, she didn’t want this to lead into a fight between them.

Her phone vibrated and she looked at the message from Sana. Skype . She chuckled and moved onto her desk, turning on her laptop and getting on a video call with her two bestfriends.

“How did it go?” Momo asked, getting to the point of her curiosity.

Mina nodded, “I think it went well. He’s interested in her and hasn’t said anything bad about her. I think that’s progress.”

“Wow, amazing,” Sana said as she rolled up her bangs with a roller and looking absolutely comfortable in her pink pajamas of silk. “You must be crazy for even thinking of coming out to your dad. But then again it’s actually really romantic.”

“How so?” Mina asked.

“You’ve never done that before. I don’t think the thought even crossed your mind. Having your dad meet any one of your friends or anybody you get close with. This is the first time you’ve gotten through the effort.”

“Is it?”

“I don’t think Jeongyeon ever got to have a meal with your dad, and Chaeyoung was able to the first time they met!” Momo said. She was flipping through pages of a book on her desk, not even looking up at her screen.

“What are you doing?”

The oldest Japanese sighed, “I have to take the make-up exam. I failed the last one. But studying really isn’t my forte. How am I supposed to make myself understand things I don’t understand in the first place?”

Sana grinned, “Why don’t you ask Tzuyu to study with you? If you ask, I’m sure she’ll say yes.”

Upon hearing the name, Momo started to get flustered. She accidentally closed the book she was reading and frantically tried to find the page she was on. Sana laughed, feeling successful for getting a worthy reaction from her friend. “Yah, what are you talking about all of a sudden?” Momo whined. “Why bring her up? I’m already spending time thinking about it. And it doesn’t help me that she’s acting like it didn’t happen at all! She’s still talking to me the same way, and I feel like I’m the only one getting affected by it. It’s not fair.” She reached over her bedside table and opened up a bag of chips. The sound of her munching and the crunching of the snack filled the room and the other two’s as well.

“How can you be so sure that she’s not acting like how you are now?” Mina said. “It could be that she’s just as frustrated as you, but she’s just better at masking it. She does have that poker face, after all.”

“You may be right… Ah!” Momo sat up straight and leaned in. “You guys, do you want to go on a triple date?”

“Huh?” the other two simultaneously uttered.

“I mean, you guys are all for me giving her a chance, but it would be too awkward for me to be alone with her at the moment. I can’t just keep running away, that won’t solve anything. I’ll go on a date with her but only if you guys tag along. How about it? A triple date sounds nice right about now, doesn’t it?” She smiled widely as if she just had the biggest idea, but the other two didn’t share the same enthusiasm.

Sana shifted in her seat, “But I like being alone with Dahyun...”

“Aish, you get to be alone with her anytime you want. Please, do me a solid.”

Please Subscribe to read the full chapter