The day after starts slower than usual.

The winter winds are chillier, and it looks like a storm is about to break. 

Same as yesterday, Chaeyoung wakes up prior to Mina, and she’s about to finish sweeping the hallway when the said girl resurfaces.

Chaeyoung notices how Mina staggers as she walks.

“Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed?” Chaeyoung half-asks, half-comments after balancing the broom beside the wall. 

Mina is caught off-guard by Chaeyoung’s attentiveness. “The coffin downstairs is too stiff whichever side I sleep on,” Mina says with a straight face, making Chaeyoung’s head snap at her.

Mina clutches her stomach at the bewildered look on Chaeyoung’s face. 

“Yah!” Chaeyoung hits Mina with the broom. “That’s not a good joke. I’m still haunted by your ketchup-stained face, you know?” She shakes her head.

She can’t believe she fell for Mina’s archaic joke. Maybe her grandma’s humor rubbed off on her since they had spent too much time together.

“Is that another way of confessing that you often think of my face?”

Chaeyoung blushes at the implication (which may or may not be true). “That’s not what I meant,” she answers back weakly.

Mina decides to have mercy on Chaeyoung’s poor soul. “I’m just kidding. I’m just tired from all the lifting we did yesterday, that's all,” she says as she stretches, her abs peeking under her shirt.

Chaeyoung looks away. 

“Well, you clearly wake up just fine, given by how cheery you are early in the morning,” Chaeyoung adds with a snicker, but she’s actually relieved. For a second, she really thought something was wrong with Mina, but now, it’s just nice to hear her joke, no matter how lame it is.

Chaeyoung then walks to the center of the house with Mina closely trailing behind her when she suddenly halts, making Mina bump into her. She turns back to face Mina. “I have a question for you, Mina-yah.”

Both of their eyes widen at the nickname, but before Chaeyoung can take it back, Mina replies with, “What is it, Chaeyoung-ah?” 

They look at each other with a smile.

Maybe they’re on the same page, after all. 

“Do you think it’s okay that we’re changing the house?” Chaeyoung asks as she opens the doors, letting the chilly wind enter the foyer. “I mean, besides cleaning and moving furniture around, I’m also thinking of small renovations here and there, but I’m not sure if that’s what Nana wants…” For a moment, Chaeyoung looks so small and unsure that Mina carefully thinks of her words before replying.

“I think,” Mina starts slowly, “that’s absolutely what your grandma wants.” Chaeyoung fully turns around to face Mina, who’s currently touching the walls as she speaks. “Nayeon would love having pieces of you engraved in this house just like how she used to do when she’d lived here.” 

Mina and her gift of eloquence; Chaeyoung almost tears up just by hearing it.

“Besides, I heard that you’re the Son Chaeyoung — scouted by the best arts and design school in Seoul — I doubt you’ll damage the house if that’s what you’re afraid of,” Mina adds, eliciting chuckles from the teary-eyed girl.