Her mother’s reaction was not what she expected. She had expected some nagging, some shouting, (How can you guys lie about such things? I raised you better than this. And you are even staying with her? Move out immediately!), but all Mrs Myoui said was:

 

“So, you are telling me you guys aren’t really dating?”

 

“Yes.” Mina looks down and squeezes her eyes shut, waiting for the incoming scolding.

 

“Hmm, what a shame.”

 

“Wh-what?”

 

“You know I didn’t send you here purely because of the new branch.”

 

Oh, that’s right, Mina forgot that her mom is the reason why she’s relocated here in the first place.

 

“I think she’s good for you.”

 

Mina snorts. “On what basis?”

 

“On the basis that she knows my daughter better than me. She understands you better than me, and I’m your Mama.”

 

Well, it’s true that Chaeyoung always seem to be able to tell when she’s feeling down, and know what to say in those situations, but she may just be a very empathetic person, it doesn’t really prove that they are compatible.

 

“Anyway, just know that I have no objections if you are to date her, but just let me and your Papa know, yeah?”

 

“It’s not going to happen.” Mina rolls her eyes.

 

“Well, she must at least like you a little to help you unclog your toilet personally.”

 

“Mama! I said not to talk about that anymore!”

 

--

 

After her talk with her mother, Mina can’t help but think further about Chaeyoung’s action. Did Chaeyoung really help her because she has some special feelings for her? Or is she just being a good landlord like she claimed to be? She hears the number lock of the front door being keyed in, and she raises her eyebrows; Chaeyoung is back earlier than expected.

 

Chaeyoung enters like she has weights on her shoulders, greeting her with a small wave as she plops down on the seat in front of the counter.

 

“You are back early.”

 

“All thanks to my grandma. How was it during the party?” Chaeyoung asks, trying to alleviate her dry and tired eyes by blinking.

 

“Like you said, it was a mess. She met my mother, so I had no choice but to tell her the truth.” Mina scratches her nape sheepishly.

 

“It’s okay, I told my grandma too,” Chaeyoung sighs, recounting her conversation with her grandma to Mina.

 

It takes a while for Mina to absorb everything; she thought her mother was extreme in pushing her with Chaeyoung, but Grandma Son easily takes the cake for this. “So… that’s a good thing, right? We don’t have to pretend anymore.”

 

“Yeah.” Chaeyoung doesn’t have any intentions to ask Mina to pretend to be her girlfriend any longer, she’s not going to give in to what her grandma wants. The company stocks may plunge, but she can just work even harder, finish more projects to make them increase again. “Give me some time to find you a place, then you can have your own apartment as originally planned.”

 

Wow, so much for thinking that the Korean heiress actually has feelings for her, she’s throwing her out the moment their deal is off. But of course, what is she expecting? They are only living together because they are ‘girlfriends’, there really isn’t any more reason to stay together now. (But she thought they formed some camaraderie while staying together, how can she just ask her to move out without even asking for her opinion?)

 

“Okay.” She’s actually okay with staying at Chaeyoung’s place, but Mina isn’t going to tell her that, she still has her pride after all. If this is how Chaeyoung wants to cut her off, then so be it. She can cut Chaeyoung off too.

 

--

 

A loud shrill scream comes from the living room and Dahyun immediately grabs the wireless keyboard on the table, running to the source of the commotion.

 

“What! What happened?!” She’s ready to swing the keyboard into any intruder’s head, but there’s only Sana standing on the dining chair, pointing at the cockroach on the floor.

 

“BUG!“ Sana screams again when the insect flies, landing on the wall above the tv.

 

Dahyun sighs, not sure in relief that there is no intruder, or in disbelief that this whole uproar is all because of one small cockroach. She places the keyboard down, heading for the door instead.

 

“Yah Kim Dahyun! Where are you going!” Is Dahyun actually leaving the house and leaving her alone with the cockroach right now?

 

But Dahyun wasn’t leaving, just going to the shoe rack for a slipper. She doesn’t even blink when she smacks the slipper against the vile bug, flattening it instantly. Moving the slipper away, the cockroach falls limp onto the tv console. Dahyun grabs a few pieces of tissue from their coffee table to pick up the dead bug, throwing the corpse into the trash bag.

 

Sana only approaches Dahyun when this is done, engulfing her in a hug. “Dahyunnie, you are so cool!”

 

Dahyun blushes, still not used to the affection. “Well, it’s just a bug.”

 

“I wouldn’t know what to do without you.”

 

“Really?” Dahyun grins as she sways with Sana in her arms, “Then you should stay with me forever.”

 

“Can I?” Sana pulls away, pouting at her with those bright, puppy like eyes, and Dahyun knows there is only one answer.

 

“Of course.”

 

--

 

Dahyun whistles as she enters Chaeyoung’s office, making a show of spinning around before placing a stack of files on her table.

 

Chaeyoung smiles, glad to see her best friend so happy. But she doesn’t forget to , picking up the first file on the stack. “Got laid last night?”

 

“God you really need to go to church with me more often. Why is there nothing decent in that head of yours?” Dahyun places her hands on her waist, “Those files need to be signed by today.”

 

Chaeyoung chuckles as she salutes, almost forgetting about one thing. “Oh yeah, Dahyun-unnie, can you find a new apartment for Mina?”

 

“What! Why?!” Dahyun turns around to look at her, eyes wide like saucers. Did they fight? Why does Mina suddenly want to move out? Also, does this mean Sana will move out with her too? Seeing how protective she is over Mina; she probably wouldn’t let Mina stay alone by herself.

 

“Turns out Grandma knew Mina and I were pretending all along. Since there’s no need to put on a show, Mina doesn’t need to stay with me anymore.”

 

Dahyun runs over to Chaeyoung again, grabbing her hand. “Can’t you just let her stay at your place? It’s not like you don’t have space for another person in your huge penthouse.”

 

“Mina may be uncomfortable staying with me.”

 

“Is Mina the one uncomfortable, or is it you?”

 

“Both of us.” Chaeyoung looks up at Dahyun with a deadpan expression, “We are not like you and Sana, it’s not fair to force us to stay together.”

 

“Well, you know how overprotective Sana is over Mina, she’s not going to let Mina stay alone by herself. It’s not fair to force us to stay apart just because you guys can’t too.”

 

“Mina moving out doesn’t mean Sana has to move out too, you can just discuss with her about it.”

 

Dahyun stands up straight, crossing her hands across her chest. If persuasion doesn’t work, she will just have to use coercion. “I’m not going to look for a new apartment for you. What’s wrong with letting Mina stay over at your place? It’s not like she’s a total stranger, and your penthouse is big enough for you guys to have your own personal space without infringing onto each other’s privacy.”

 

Chaeyoung nods nonchalantly, “Okay sure. I will look for a new apartment myself, just know that this is going to happen even if you don’t help nor agree.”

 

That just backfired totally, Dahyun can do nothing else but to storm out of the office.

 

--

 

Chaeyoung sips on a glass of soda, nodding along to whatever the guy opposite her is saying. She zoned out after he introduced himself, and she’s just thinking when will be a good time to announce her departure. She’s at a networking party, and Dahyun will be here with her usually, but the secretary is still mad at her, refusing to come with her today. That is why she’s here alone now, shaking hands and mingling with the other conglomerate heirs.

 

She has given this guy enough of her time, disrupting his speech to excuse herself. She barely took two steps when she’s stopped by someone again.

 

“Son Chaeyoung!”

 

Thankfully, it’s a familiar face, Chaeyoung smiles as she takes the hand held out in front of her. “Choi Hansol, it’s been a while.”

 

Honestly, there are only that few conglomerates in South Korea, so all the third-generation heirs do know each other well, but there are even fewer that she gets along with. Hansol is one of that rare few, shaking her hand enthusiastically, grinning at her. “Yeah, it’s been so long that you got engaged already! You didn’t even tell me.”

 

He punches her in the shoulder lightly, and she shakes her head, “Not engaged, just my grandma pulling her usual tricks.”

 

“Damn, I thought the elusive but eligible Son Chaeyoung is finally being tied down.”

 

Chaeyoung laughs, “Not so fast. What about you?”

 

“Well,” Hansol smiles, rubbing his nape sheepishly, “We haven’t announced it to the public yet, but I just proposed to my girlfriend. We are in the midst of planning the wedding now.”

 

“You sneaky !” Chaeyoung is the one who punches him in the shoulder this time, “Congrats! Who’s the unlucky girl?”

 

Hansol rolls his eyes at her teasing, looking around trying to spot his fiancée. His face lights up, “Baby, over here.”

 

Chaeyoung grins, happy that her friend found his happily-ever-after. She turns to the direction he’s looking in, and her blood runs cold when she sees the girl walking over. It’s another familiar face, one she didn’t think she will see again, one she doesn’t know if she wants to see again. Her grip on her glass tightens, she wants to scream, she wants to run, but all she can do is stand here like an idiot as the girl walks closer.

 

“Let me introduce, this is my fiancée, Somi, and this is Chaeyoung, next CEO of Samson Group.”

 

Somi finally looks at her, and recognition flashes in her eyes. “You!”

 

Hansol looks between them questioningly, “You guys know each other?”

 

Chaeyoung is not sure who will lose more if they admit their past, but one thing is for sure, no one will benefit from it if it comes to light.

 

“How can that be?” Chaeyoung keeps her expression blank, holding out her hand to Somi as if this is the first time they are meeting, “Hi, I’m Chaeyoung.”

 

Somi hesitates, before taking her hand gingerly, “Jeon Somi, nice to meet you.”

 

The contact burns, it hurts to see her standing in front of her looking absolutely unaffected, when she went through hell and back for years before being able to get some semblance of human life back. Chaeyoung removes her hand hastily, putting on a shaky smile.

 

“Nice to meet you. Well, I’m going off now, see you guys around yeah?” She’s not going off; she’s running away before she runs out of self-control and do something she shouldn’t.

 

“Don’t worry, I’ll be sure to send you an invitation to the wedding.”

 

Chaeyoung chuckles, hoping it doesn’t sound too bitter. “I will be there definitely.”

 

--

 

If she could, she will be sprinting out of that place. But she can’t because it’s not polite to do so at a formal event, so she can only speed walk out of the hall, hoping there are no more obstacles stopping her. But alas, those up above just doesn’t want to make her life easy, stopping when she hears someone call her from the back.

 

Somi grabs her wrist, pulling her to a more secluded corner, letting go of her like she’s something poisonous once they are away from any peering eyes. She crosses her arms and glares at Chaeyoung, “I thought you stopped since you were gone for a few years, but are you back on your bull again? How did you even get in?”

 

She doesn’t even let Chaeyoung have a chance to talk, just continuing, “You know what? I don’t care about that. I’m getting married to Vernon soon, don’t run your mouth and ruin this for me.”

 

Chaeyoung laughs, albeit emptily. At this moment, she only feels pity. For herself. She really gave her whole heart, ruined herself for this woman, only for Somi to treat her like dirt on the ground. “Don’t worry, I’m more embarrassed than you about whatever we had.”

 

She doesn’t let anything else stop her this time, turning around and heading resolutely to the lift to the car park. Sitting in her car, she’s shaking, but she doesn’t know because of what exactly. Pity? Anger? Pain? At this point in time, she knows she should call Jihyo, or anyone actually, before she does something she shouldn’t to cope with the pain. She knows the consequences, but she doesn’t care right now, just needs something to numb the pain before it overwhelms her. That is why she drives to the convenience store near her apartment.

 

--

 

Standing in front of the fridge holding all the alcoholic drinks, she hesitates. If she does this, it’s years of effort, progress down the drain. But that moment wasn’t enough to convince her, and she takes out a bottle of soju from the fridge, unscrewing the cap and downing it like it’s water. Immediately she feels her body’s rejection to the liquid, but she forces it down anyway. She takes another bottle, heading to the cashier to ring them up.

 

She barely took two steps out of the store when it hits her, the acid rising up from her stomach and threatening to come out. She bends over a drain to empty the contents of her stomach. She feels absolutely terrible, but it’s only through this method where she can make the voices in her head quiet, all her attention focused on the physical pain she’s going through instead. That is why when she is done puking her guts out, she opens the other bottle of soju, downing it without hesitation.

 

It’s moments like this that reminds that she’s still weak, crumbling so easily. It was so hard to climb out of the rabbit hole, but all it took was one meeting for her to regress on all the progress she made, for her to fall back into that deep, black hole again.

 

Everything is hazy after that, when she gets her bearings back, she’s already standing outside her apartment. She squints her eyes, trying to get her blurry vision to focus on the number pad on the door. She swears she’s pressing the correct numbers on the number pad, but it keeps telling her she’s wrong. Come on, she groans, she feels the acid coming up again, she really doesn’t want to dirty the corridor.

 

But it’s too late, and she just pukes all over the floor, laughing emptily when she’s done. Pathetic, she was pathetic then, and still pathetic now. Sliding down to the floor, she sits in her vomit, hoping she can just disintegrate into the puddle of goo she is sitting in. At least the puddle can be cleaned up, but she will just continue to exist, to be a stain and disgrace to the people around her. What would her grandma say? Jeongyeon, Dahyun? Everyone was rooting for her, but she just had to it up like always.

 

She doesn’t know how long she sits there, consumed by her thoughts. When she comes to, Mina is standing in front of her, eyes wide as she stares down at her. But Mina doesn’t comment on her current predicament, just squats down to look at her eye-to-eye.

 

“Can you stand by yourself?”

 

Chaeyoung forces her motor cells to work, feebly managing a shake of her head. Before she can warn Mina not to touch her, not to get involved with someone like her who will just get her dirty and pull her down, Mina puts Chaeyoung’s arm around her shoulders, not caring if she’s getting puke all over herself. Once she has Chaeyoung secured, she keys in the code to the door, unlocking it easily.

 

She only remembers bits and pieces of everything that is happening around her after that, drifting in and out of consciousness. She remembers being placed in the bathtub by Mina, then Dahyun holding her hands as she cries, Jeongyeon and Nayeon looking at her worriedly as they sit on either side of her, Jihyo placing a thermometer into her ear.

 

When she finally comes to, it feels like there is a rock band holding a concert in her head. She pushes herself up so that she’s resting against the headboard, rubbing her temples. She doesn’t know how much time has passed since she was unconscious, and she looks around for any indication on what time and day it is. Luckily, she spots her phone on the bedside table, and she groans as she reaches for it, the rock concert in her head just getting louder and louder.

 

She checks the date and time on her phone, squinting as she tries to remember the date before she passed out. The networking party was on Friday, and it’s Monday afternoon right now. She curses, she doesn’t even care if she was out for the whole weekend, but she missed work and people are going to talk.

 

She pushes herself out of bed despite her throbbing headache, immediately feeling a wave of nausea rising. Nevertheless, she heads over to her wardrobe, trying to pick out something to wear for work. Better late to work than never, but she just wished her head and stomach would cooperate a little.

 

“What are you doing?” Dahyun is at the door, looking at her warily, as if she might pull out a bottle of whiskey from her wardrobe.

 

“Getting ready for work. Why didn’t you wake me up?” Chaeyoung’s brain isn’t really functioning right now, so she just picks the hangers she can reach, pulling out two shirts. “Ah, .”

 

Dahyun snatches the two hangers out of her hands, eyes burning as she glares at Chaeyoung. “Why didn’t I wake you up for work?! Do you know what you did? You relapsed! Do you think you are in any state to go to work?”

 

“I’m okay.” A blatant lie.

 

“No, you are not.” Dahyun has so many questions, but she will start with this, “Why didn’t you call anyone?”

 

She could say it’s because she doesn’t want to bother them with her problems anymore, but that would be a lie. She knows exactly why she didn’t call them. Because the pain of meeting her again, of still being treated like dirt was too much to bear, and she needed something to cope with that pain, to block out that pain immediately, not caring that it’s self-destructing, or that she would be throwing years of effort down the drain. She sighs, sliding down to the floor, drawing herself into a ball and hugging her knees.

 

She doesn’t speak, but Dahyun doesn’t rush her, just sits down beside her. It takes her a while to find the words.

 

“I saw Hansol at the party. Said he was getting married. Guess who his fiancée was?”

 

Dahyun clenches her fists, already having an inkling on who it is. Chaeyoung chuckles emptily, “Yeah, it’s her.”

 

“I’m so weak, I just see her once and I crumble again.”

 

Dahyun really wants to punch her best friend, but she pulls her into a hug instead.

 

“You are not weak. Son Chaeyoung, I was with you the whole time, you are the strongest person I know.” She has seen Chaeyoung fall to the lowest, saw how much work she put in to fight her demons to pull herself out of that dark place. She will not let her friend discredit herself like that, one setback doesn’t erase all the efforts she put in. “Yes, you may have stumbled again, but progress isn’t always linear. As long as you don’t give up, I’m sure you will reach the end of the tunnel one day.”

 

She pulls away to look at Chaeyoung seriously, “You will keep fighting, right?”

 

Chaeyoung chuckles, she’s thankful, but she can’t help but cringe at how sappy her best friend is. “Yeah, yeah.”

 

This time, Dahyun doesn’t hold back, punching her in the arm before crossing her arms over her chest. “You better make my sacrifice worth it, Sana isn’t even talking to me anymore.”

 

“What do I have to do with Sana ignoring you?” Chaeyoung whines as she clutches her arm.

 

“I got her and Mina to sign an NDA.” As Chaeyoung’s secretary, she was the first defence to make sure Chaeyoung’s condition doesn’t get leaked. Every time someone finds out, they make that person sign a non-disclosure agreement to shut them up. Even though she knows getting Sana to sign it will be akin to saying she doesn’t trust her, but she can’t take the chance, not when her best buddy is at stake.

 

“N- Unnie! No wonder she’s angry at you!” It’s usual protocol, but Chaeyoung didn’t expect Dahyun to be so inflexible. It’s Sana and Mina they are talking about here. Sana is sort of dating Dahyun, so she will probably keep it a secret for Dahyun’s sake. As for Mina… she just doesn’t seem like the type to tattle-tale.

 

“I can’t take the chance.” Dahyun sighs. Bros before hoes.

 

Chaeyoung shakes her head, resisting the urge to face palm. “Where are they now?”

 

“In my apartment.”

 

Chaeyoung finally pulls herself up, Dahyun immediately springing up with her. “Where are you going!”

 

“Going down to your apartment to explain everything to them.”

 

--

a/n: missed a month of update cos was busy working on this: https://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/1469726/animal

am so annoyed how i keep getting trapped in the 'living tgt or not' plot line like HOW DO I MOVE OUT FROM THAT PLOT LINE

swear this is the last of it let's move on so that we can get some actual progress on the storyline

p.s.: so do y'all have an idea on why chaeyoung is damaged goods now?