Chap 9

Mina tapped her pen against the paper. She scribbled down a few words, taking notes. It was going to be the end of the year soon and Mina didn't have any plans. Her parents stay in Japan is longer than expected so by the time the holidays roll over, they might not even be back yet.

Sighing, she shot another glance at the clock. As much as she enjoyed lessons, it was just too tiring with the unusually cold weather they have been experiencing. Her voice was still sore from the party they had held not too long ago and the athletics carnival was coming up this week. What's more, Mina still had to practise that piece her coached at assigned her to perform. 

The teacher looked in Mina's direction, who nodded and smiled as she gave her best personation that she had been paying attention the entire time. He seemed to have thought so and smiled back at her before looking around the classroom again and wrapping up his lecture. Like the other students, Mina began to pack away her books and pens, the rustling of paper and zipping of bags prominent in the last few minutes of class. 

Chairs scraped across the floor and chattering rose as the end of day bell rang, the students leaving the classroom as fast as they could. Mina left quietly, moving her way through the corridor back to her grade's lockers.

There had been significantly fewer whispers and glances in her direction now, which Mina had been extremely glad for. They'd seemed to have lost interest in Mina, considering no one apart from her friends knew who her soulmate was in the first place. She opened her locker and inside was another pink coloured note addressed to her laying crookedly on top of her books, obviously having been slid in from the outside. As she picked it up, she could feel a few more additional stares on her back this time. She swiftly glanced at it, gave a small smile and placed it under the cover of the book in her hand, a performance she'd held many times and one that caused the least trouble for her. Mina exchanged some books here and there and closed her locker before walking down the stairs and out the building to head to the dorm. 

As she was walking, Mina heard footsteps behind her but thought nothing of it. There were always people going to and fro of the dormitory buildings. But as the footsteps became louder and louder, her mind couldn't help but jump to an incident before when things could have turned out much worse if it weren't for a friend. 

Mina was too scared to look back, she knew if the person knew they were caught, things would turn ugly so she fastened her pace. She tried reassuring herself, repeating in her mind that she was on school grounds and that there were surveillance cameras. It was daytime, and they'd still be students around the place and that she'd be alright if she could just get into her dormitory building. 

Just as she was a few metres away from the building, she felt a light touch on her shoulder. Mina's heart was in as she tensed up, letting out a soft shriek. 

"Mina unnie, I didn't mean to scare you like that," a soft voice echoed.

Upon recognising the familiar term of address, Mina felt herself relax and bit more, turning around slowly to face that shorter girl. She could still feel her heart pounding and her breaths were short and sharp.

"H-hey Chaeyoung," she muttered back, still a little shaken up from the whole experience.

"Are you alright, unnie? You seem very shocked."

"Yeah," Mina replied, taking a deep breath in. "I'm fine."

She mustn't have looked very convincing as Chaeyoung still looked rather guilty.

"I'm sorry," she said, worry apparent in her eyes.

"No, it's alright. Really." Mina cast her a reassuring smile. 

"Are you excited for the competition this tomorrow?" she asked, changing the subject, internally hoping that Chaeyoung wouldn't question why she had been so jumpy as she doesn't know if she'd be able to answer her. 

"Mm quite a bit, but I'm mainly nervous, especially for the relay."

Previously, after examining the sprint girls run and practise, Mina had selected the four girls that would make up the relay team and represent them for the team, even as the youngest out of the four, Chaeyoung was fast on her feet and nimble, picking up the transitioning of the baton quickly and proving herself well. 

"Don't be, you're doing really well. Just remember to rest well tonight and eat a good breakfast tomorrow morning yeah?"

As Mina was turning the key to her room, after waving goodbye to Chaeyoung, she realised Chaeyoung hadn't yet moved down the hall to her own room.

She looked at her curiously, her door half open half closed. Chaeyoung looked, down bashfully, her eyes barely meeting Mina's.

"Actually, I was wondering if you'd like to maybe, I don't know, grab an ice cream with me?"

Mina smiled at the girl's invitation, touched by the thought, but she'd really wanted to go see if Momo had the time to go watch a movie with her the afternoon as well. 

"Sorry, Chae but I'm a bit busy today? Maybe another time."

And with that, Chaeyoung nodded and waved Mina goodbye once more, looking slightly dejected, but not too disappointed which was what Mina didn't want to see. 

She entered the room, sighing as she slumped down onto the floor. It was as if she'd never get over the stalker incident as it just shown that it could still affect her like such. She sat there on the floor there for a few more seconds, before it dawned on her how quiet it was at the moment. 

Mina stood up and called Momo's name. No answer. ‘Weird,' she thought. ‘Momo never worked on a Tuesday.'

Walking into their shared room, Mina placed the bag down on the mattress still laid out. Even if they've been sharing Mina's bed for a while now, it had never occurred to either of the two that perhaps they should move it now. Quickly, it had just become a storage place for Momo's stuff, often dubbed as ‘The Wasteland' part of their otherwise impeccable room (as it was Mina's after all). Of course, Mina would occasionally leave her stuff on the mattress as well, but nowhere as much or as messily as Momo does.

She took out her phone and sent Momo a message.

TO: Momoring 

FROM: Minari

Why aren't you back at the dorm?

She shut her phone off and laid on her bed before feeling a buzz, Momo having sent an immediate response. 

TO: Minari 

FROM: Momoring

I'm with Nayeon right now, she's showing me around the city!

Mina couldn't exactly identify what it was, but that something was why she chose not to respond. Instead, she turned off her phone and let it flop down next to her, the two gazing blankly at the white ceiling. Mina laid there for a while before getting up suddenly, taking her wallet from her bag and her phone with her. 

Walking down the hall, facing another door she hadn't seen for a while, she knocked. 

A small head peaked out from the crack before breaking out into a large smile.

"Would you still be up for some of that ice cream you mentioned before?"

__________________________

Momo looked at her screen before placing it down flat on the table. 

"Sorry, I didn't mean to be rude," Momo said, realising that Nayeon had been in the middle of explaining something to her when she'd picked up her phone.

"Don't worry about it," Nayeon said, brushing it off. "Only if you tell me who it's from though."