Main characters featured in this chapter:

♡━━━ January | Mina’s PoV ━━━♡

I woke to realize that the warmth that surrounded me was no longer there, and when I slowly opened my eyes, I was alone. As fear started crawling up, I tightly gripped the blankets and took in my surroundings. It all came back to me. I was on Nayeon’s room, after being kicked out of my house.

There was still something familiar, however, as my cat Mochi meowed a “good morning” greeting when she noticed I was awake. I smiled at her and rubbed underneath her ears, a favorite spot of hers.

After washing up and leaving the bathroom, I nearly bumped into a sleepy-looking Jungkook, who still had pajamas on and bed hair. “Good morning,” he said, cracking up a toothy smile as he rubbed his eyes.

“Morning, Jungkook,” I replied, shyly smiling back. “Do you know where your sister is?”

“She’s in the kitchen waiting for you,” Jungkook answered, pointing at the direction I should go. ”That way.”

“Thank you,” I said. As I made my way to the kitchen, I saw pictures in frames on the walls. Most of them were of the Im family, who happily smiled together. There was a photograph of two young children who possessed incredibly similar bunny smiles, and the sight made me chuckle.

When I arrived in the kitchen, Nayeon and her mother were setting up the table, and my girlfriend beamed upon seeing me.

“Minari, you’re awake!” She cheerfully greeted, putting a jar of orange juice on top of the table.

“Good morning,” I said, smiling at the two women.

Mrs. Im kindly smiled at me and said, “Good morning, dear. Did you sleep well?”

“I did, thank you, Mrs. Im,” I answered and Nayeon patted a chair, motioning for me to sit down.

Her mother finished putting the other food they prepared on the table as I sat down by Nayeon’s side. “I’ll leave you girls having breakfast, eat whatever you’d like, Mina,” she said, squeezing my shoulder before leaving.

The breakfast was rather impressive, with different types of bread and pastries, fruits, and scrambled eggs. “Specially prepared for you, princess,” Nayeon cheekily said, dramatically gesturing at all of the food.

I giggled and shook my head, moved that she had done this for me and smiling sweetly at the girl who always tried her best to make me happy. “You didn’t have to.”

“We wanted to, there’s nothing like a good breakfast to get the day started,” she simply answered, shrugging and quickly kissing my cheek.

“Thank you,” I said, putting some bread and eggs on my plate. The smell was amazing, and it made me realize how hungry I was.

Nayeon poured some juice in my glass, and then put some food on her own plate. As expected from a house of bakers, the food was delicious and comforting.

“How are you feeling?” Nayeon whispered, her tone more serious than before and filled with concern. “Would you like to talk about what happened last night?”

Staring blankly at the plate of food in front of me, I bit my lips as I was reminded of the terrible events that happened with my family. I tried my best to hold in the tears that were threatening to fall, but it was useless. The sorrow I felt was too much to hold back.

Nayeon instantly held my hand and squeezed it, wretchedly gazing at me as she waited for my answer. “We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want,” she reassuringly said, and I shook my head.

“N-No… we should talk about it,” I answered, still not managing to look into her eyes even though hers wouldn’t leave me. “They caught me by surprise when I arrived home yesterday… they were waiting for me in the living room and… they wanted to talk,” I shakily exhaled, unsure of how Nayeon would react to what would come next. I looked at her and continued, “Nayeon-unnie… they want me to get married to Tzuyu’s brother.”

She stared at me, open in shock at the same time that more tears streamed down my face. Nayeon glanced down and looked so hurt that my heart physically ached, so I immediately grasped both of her hands.

“Please look at me, unnie,” I pleaded, gently caressing her hands. “I said no… I said there was no way I was doing that.”

Nayeon hesitan