“Chaeyoung! Want to eat with us?” Momo, her light brown hair moving along with her enthusiasm, called out to the younger one as MiSaMo sat down at their lunch table.

“Eh?” Mina looked up from her tray to Momo. “Yah, what are you doing?”

Momo looked at her, her eyebrows raised. “What?”

“Are you really calling her over here to eat with us?”

Momo nodded. “Is there something wrong with that?”

“W-well, no… But-”

“Then it’s fine.” Momo turned around and smiled as Chaeyoung approached their table with her tray of food.

“Hi, Momo-ssi,” the younger one said with a smile.

“You don’t need to be so formal with me. Momo is fine.” The oldest of the Japanese patted the empty space next to her. “Come eat with us.”

Chaeyoung took a step forward, but then her eyes landed on Mina’s, whose gaze was that of displeased. Clearly, by the look in her eyes, she didn’t seem to want Chaeyoung to sit with them. The younger one couldn’t tell if it was particularly her that she had a problem with or if it was anybody in general. She’d never seen her smile to anybody but her two close friends. Chaeyoung brought her step back. “I-It’s okay. I feel like I’ll be imposing on you guys. And besides, Jeongyeon-unnie is waiting for me.” She gestured to the other side of the cafeteria where Jeongyeon and her friends were seated.

Momo turned to look at where she was pointing at and then nodded. “Ah, okay. I’ll see you in class then?”

“For sure!” And with a light wave of her hand, the younger one walked to the other table.

Momo watched her place herself across Jeongyeon. She watched her laugh at something one of the people said, her voice echoing inside her head. The Japanese made a note to herself how attractive her laugh was.

“Since when did you two get so close?” Mina asked Momo.

The older one turned to her and shrugged. “We’re not really close. I  just want to be friends with her.”

“Why?”

“What, like a need a reason? I just think she’s cool, that’s all.”

Mina narrowed her eyes at her, but Momo didn't seem to mind. She just kept on eating whatever was left from her plate. Her friend still hadn’t given her an explanation as to why they were together that day. All she said was that Chaeyoung found her and brought her back, but Mina knew there was more to it. She didn’t want to pry then because of that little conflict with her and Sana. However, Mina couldn’t help but be curious. After all, Momo, someone who rarely showed awareness to people that didn’t concern her, was showing great interest to this new girl.

After lunch, MIna walked into her art class. And as if the world was bending its own will, Chaeyoung happened to be in the same class. She saw her glance up at her for a moment, narrowed her eyes and then brought her attention back to taking out her supplies from her bag. The Japanese stood by the doorway, scanning the whole room for other empty seats other than the one next to the girl. But every other chair was taken, everybody else already situating themselves for the class. Are you kidding me… Mina thought.

She walked over and slowly placed herself next to younger one. She tried not to look at her, but she could see from her side view that Chaeyoung was aware of her every movement. Mina turned to her, “There’s no other seats.”

“I didn’t say anything,” Chaeyoung said.

“But you were thinking it.” The Japanese placed her backpack on the floor, next to her and started setting up the necessary equipment for their assignment.

Chaeyoung rolled her eyes and started working on her painting as well. The teacher had told them to paint anything as a means of determining their skill level. While everybody else took their time deciding on what to do, Chaeyoung had no trouble determining what to work on. Arts were in her area, and she was confident in the movement of her brush. She was able to paint without instruction and mix basic colors the correct way to produce other colors not on the palette.

While Chaeyoung painted with ease, Mina couldn’t seem to get her art the way she wanted it to. The image was clear in her mind, but somehow, it ended up looking distorted. She grunted with frustration.

Chaeyoung glanced at the Japanese’s canvas and then at Mina. The older one looked so focus that she almost felt sorry for her. At first, she tried to ignore her and focus on her own work, but as Mina got up to take another board to redo her work, Chaeyoung offered to help.

The younger one reached over and took a hold of Mina’s hand, in an attempt to guide her brushstroke. “You’re not supposed to hold it like a pen, dummy,” she said.

“I can do it on my own,” Mina protested while she tried to pull her hand away from Chaeyoung’s grip.

“I’m not trying to do it for you. I just want to show you how to.” Chaeyoung kept her hand firm.

“Then, show me. You don’t have to hold my hand.”

“It’s not like I wanted to hold your hand.” Chaeyoung quickly pulled her hand back, but as she did so, her sudden movement grazed the side of the water container where they dipped their brushes in.

The water contaminated with paint spilled on the table. Mina abruptly got up to prevent it from getting on her clothes, but her eyes landed on her backpack on the floor. The water ran from the table and onto the floor, dripping it all over Mina’s backpack.

“Yah!” The Japanese immediately grabbed her bag, but the damage was already done. Her brown bag was stained with paint water, a mixture of undistinguished colors plastered onto the material. She turned to Chaeyoung, furious. “Look what you did!”

“S-sorry. I didn’t mean to, I swear. I’ll clean it up.” Chaeyoung got up to take a look at the damage but Mina pulled her bag away.

“You can’t restore it back. This is a Brunello Cucinelli!”

“Bru-what?” Chaeyoung asked with her eyebrows furrowed and raised.

“Do you know how expensive this is?”

“It was an honest mistake… I-It still works. It can still be used.” The younger one was trying to come up with excuses, but as her eyes landed on the damage she had done, it was plainly obvious that it was not  clean. The elegance of the backpack had been lost.

Mina repeatedly shook her head as she inspected the contents. Then she looked back up at her with a groan. “Are you seriously telling me to walk around with this disaster? I told you I was fine, but you tried to meddle.”

The short haired girl had no explanation for her actions. She could’ve left her alone, like she always intended to. She could’ve let her be frustrated on her own. As to why she thought of helping the woman who gave her nothing but sass, Chaeyoung didn’t understand. Maybe she was just that nice. “I’ll pay for it. How much was it?”

“2 million won.”

Chaeyoung’s jaw dropped and her eyes went wide. “T-t-t-two million? W-why would you bring something so expensive to school?”

“That’s my decision to make. This was a present and now you’ve ruined it. Are you going to pay me back, huh?”

The younger one looked down and bit her lip. There was no way Chaeyoung had that kind of money. Her mind went blank for a moment and the image of her working mother came into her thoughts. “I-I don’t have that kind of money… Is there any other way I can pay you back?” She looked up at the Japanese with apologetic eyes.

Mina folded her arms and pondered on the thought. She didn’t mean to be so mean to her. She didn’t know what got into her, but somehow, the urge to use the situation to her advantage kept pulling onto her. The Japanese looked at Chaeyoung, feeling almost sorry for her. “I’ll think about it,” was all she said back.

It wasn’t until the teacher came back into the room and scolded them for making a ruckus that they realized the whole class had stopped everything they were doing to watch the scene. Mina and Chaeyoung slowly sank back into their seats and continued to work, silent throughout the remainder of the class. Chaeyoung kept glancing at her, but Mina pretended to focus on her work. The younger one sighed, her back slouching in the loss of spirits. I’m such an idiot, she thought.

~

Mina rushed to her locker after class and had taken out all the contents of her backpack. She was inspecting the wet stain on her books when Chaeyoung hesitatingly approached her, not realizing that the younger one had been following her.

“Are your things okay?” the younger one asked.

“Clearly not,” Mina sighed and shoved her empty bag into her locker. She then turned to Chaeyoung. “School’s only started and everything is already a mess. I can’t carry my backpack with me like that. It looks unsightly.”

Chaeyoung looked at the huge stain on her bag and the books Mina had in her hands. “I’ll carry your things for you,” she blurted out.

“What?”

“I-I’ll carry them. I’ll take you to your classes and pick you up...”

The Japanese looked at her guilty face and pondered on the idea. She didn’t expect her to offer anything of the sort. And it wasn’t like she had any difficulty carrying her things by hand. However, for some reason, the younger one had this demeanor that Mina found her interesting to tease. Perhaps it was out of boredom, or simply because she was upset that her bag was damaged, but she took her on her offer.

“Here,” Mina said, handing her all her books.

Chaeyoung looked at the books and then at her, as if she didn’t expect her to actually hand them over. She took a moment, but she quickly rushed forward and took them from her hands. When Mina simply walked away to her next class, the younger one couldn’t help but follow suit, all the while thinking, 2 million won, 2 million won. The amount seemed to be circling in her mind so much that she couldn’t say anything more.

Mina glanced behind her, but she couldn’t read Chaeyoung’s expression. She didn’t expect her to oblige so quickly. The older one met up with her friends in front of their next class. Momo peeked behind her to see a meek Chaeyoung.

“Oh, Chaeyoung-ah, what are you doing?” Momo asked.

“A-ah, nothing,” she replied. She then turned to Mina and handed her back her books. Without saying anything else, she quietly walked away and dashed to her next class.

“What was that about?” Sana asked. “And where’s your bag?”

“Nothing. And ruined.” Mina sighed as she pulled her things closer to her chest, hugging it to prevent it from falling. “I’ll tell you guys later.”

~

When their classes ended, the three friends walked out of the room to see Chaeyoung patiently waiting. The younger one took Mina’s books from her hands without permission or hesitation.

Mina was caught completely off guard by the boldness of her actions and her punctuality. She didn’t realize this younger girl was so good with her words. “You don’t have to anymore. I’m going home,” Mina told her.

“Then, I’ll walk you to your car.”

“Well, if you insist,” Mina shrugged. She waved goodbye to her friends without giving them a chance to hear an explanation and started walking to the