It is another hectic day for the newly elected Vice President of the student council, having endless of paperworks to sign and complaints to look through, even though it is just the beginning of the semester. The clock just ticked to 10 PM, and she is surprised it’s already this late. She cursed Jihyo for giving her this job when it was supposed to be hers.

“It’s not my fault you’re more popular than me, Mina. Sorry and good luck!” She patted her back in pity, before happily skipping away without a care of the world.

She still keep it as a grudge when Jihyo lose to her in the student council election by one vote. Yes, one vote, people. It wasn’t even her intention to take part as a candidate, she was forced (more like baited) by her bestfriend in the spur of the moment. She even hate it when the President seat was announced; oh don’t get her even started on that lazy who only has charming looks void of brain.

While shoving her belongings in her bag, she realized the loud bass sound had disappeared. She feels strange that the dance room is located in the same floor as the student council office. It's a nuisance when the song being blasted is louder than the President’s voice during their briefings or meeting sessions, and his vocal cord would be strained each time. Imagine when it was Mina’s turn to speak, even with the aid of a megaphone would be rendered useless. However, at times when she is left alone in the room, it becomes a blessing of some sort. The sound will usually accompany Mina, keeping the vice president alert and focused while vibing to some of the familiar beats.

Perhaps the students using the dance room had already left, Mina thought. Feeling a bit anxious of being alone, Mina quickly steps out of the room and locks it, before making a dash towards the elevator. There are still some students lounging around the lobby when she reaches the ground floor. She lets out the breath she unconsciously held when she was inside the moving box.

She can feel her stomach rumbling for attention, patting it softly with a mental note to stop by the convenience store near her dorm. She didn’t bring her car today, thinking to cut some cost on gas and save money. Besides, the journey between her college and dorm only takes about 15 minutes by walking. She’s in the mood for a night stroll, after all. Stopping on a crossroad, Mina lightly jogs across the empty road towards the 24-hours convenience store. She doesn’t feel that hungry, just need something light to keep her stomach satisfied before hitting the sack for a well deserved rest.

Scanning the shelf with variety of bread to choose, she suddenly feels eyes on her. She ignores it, thinking it was just her paranoid hypersensitivity to her surroundings. But the more she ignores it, the more uneasy she feels. She quickly grabs a melon pan, wanting to disappear from whoever the creep is.

“...food .”

She stops on her heels as she turns to the perpetrator on a whim. She is met with a girl with shoulder-length blonde hair staring at the packet of melon bread in her hand.

“Excuse me?”

She points to Mina’s hand, “Your choice of food .”

Who the hell...

Mina wants to lash back but she’s not in a proper state right now; she’s already drained from the student council work. Being the civil person she is, Mina turns around without a word, wanting nothing more than reach the counter and leave this place as soon as possible. In the middle of rummaging her purse for cash, another hand had slammed a couple of notes to the register. She watches in confusion as the stranger placed two onigiri, a katsu sando and a box of chocolate milk on the counter.

“Add these too, please.”

Mina is stunned with what’s going on, the intensity of her stun increasing when the plastic bag is presented to her. Getting no reaction from the stunned Mina, the girl takes her hand and shoves the plastic in her grasp, before pushing herl out of the sliding glass door and disappearing inside to pay for her snack.

It happened so fast, leaving Mina in a jumbled state with agape as she’s having a hard time trying to process what’s going on. Not wanting to have debt with a stranger, Mina wait for the girl to come out. To her surprise, her presence was ignored blatantly as the blonde girl heads to the opposite direction while munching on a gummy.

“Yah!” The girl turns around, raising her eyebrow while loudly munching.

“What’s this?” Mina raised the plastic bag, only to receive a shrug.

“Your dinner.”

“What?”

“Don’t worry, it’s on me.”

Mina was surprised from the nonchalant reply, which irates her more. “Do I look like someone who needs charity? For your information, I can buy whatever I want in that store and I can take care of myself well.”

“But you need proper food to live.”

“I’m living fine and my body is healthy and fit enough, mind you.”

To Mina’s chagrin, she received a scoff followed by an annoying smirk as the blonde sizes her up and down, her eyes pausing on some parts that Mina doesn’t even want to mention, before leaving a comment that Mina swear she will never forget until doomsday come.

“A penguin can look better than that.”

 

*

 

Sana guffawed loudly after listening to Mina’s encounter last night. She was really worried to see Mina waking up on the wrong side of the bed. The first thing she noticed was the usually quiet girl kicking off the blanket onto the floor, loudly groaning into her pillow, slamming the poor bathroom’s door and stomping her usually silent feet with so much force, she wonders if the neighbors downstairs were alerted by a false alarm of an earthquake.

“Seriously, a penguin? Can you imagine that?”

Sana is rolling on her bed still cackling, amused by Mina’s reaction.

“Yah, Sana! Stop laughing!”

“Okay, sorry!” She wipes her teary eyes. “It’s just- why are you so affected by it?”

“...what?”

The older nods while walking to the dresser to fix her hair. “She’s a stranger, and it’s just a one time thing anyway. It’s impossible for you to meet again, right?”

Her eyebrows knitted, thinking of the logic behind Sana’s reasoning. She’s right, why was she so troubled by the incident? She’s usually the one with a rational head in this room.

“Besides, you literally finished all the food last night.” Sana smirks, her lips jutting to the bin. Mina loudly huffs while raising a palm. “Don’t even. Just, don’t.”

Sana gives her a shrug before a series of knocks interrupts them. The latter jumps giddily as she rushes to the door. “That’s my cue! See you at college, Mina!”

Mina waves her off, not before giving a small smile to the tall girl waiting by the door who responded with a timid bow. Sighing to herself, Mina gets ready for the day with high hopes that the incident last night won’t affect her for the whole day.

She spoke too soon, however, when she was in the cafeteria to have a light lunch before studying for a short quiz later. She almost bumped into someone with her tray of food, but her quick reflexes thankfully forbids her from having an accident among the crowd of students.

“Ah, sorry-”

“Oh? Penguin!”

A frown.

A really deep frown appears as she raised her head to the nasal voice. Figures, it’s the blonde from last night. Their eyes meet in a staring contest of amusement and confusion, before the girl averts her eyes to Mina’s tray. She follows her line of view, seeing her choice of salad bowl and an orange juice. She heard a sigh, the blonde shaking her head in disapproval.

“W-What?”

“Again?”

Mina was about to ask what’s wrong, only to be ignored once more as the blonde whizzes past her to cue in line. What kind of horror déjà vu story is this?

“Weirdo.” She comments to herself before finding a vacant seat among the sea of hungry students. It was only the afternoon, but Mina already feels exhausted. More so after knowing the stranger is a student here. She cheers to herself, bracing for the accidental meet-ups they’re going to have in the future, god forbids. Just as she pokes a piece of lettuce, a wrapped sandwich lands on her table. Surprised, she looks around to see who left it, only to find a retreating blonde head leaving the cafeteria.

 

*

 

If everyone was cursing the calculus professor for the surprise quiz, Mina is an exception as she calmly walk out of the class with a smile; a tight straight-lined smile. She almost got all of them correct, minus that one tricky question she had forgotten the formula of. So here she is in the library in the evening, where you should be taking a long nap like a normal college student, Mina instead is burying her nose in the hill of opened books and scattered notes trying to find the right solution of that one freaking question she missed. It was her 5^th attempt of doing the calculation when out of nowhere, a sound disrupts her focus.

*crunch*

Her right eye twitches. She looks around for the uninvited noise, only to find all the tables unoccupied. It’s half past 5 in the evening after all, makes sense for the void of students in the library. Perhaps it was just the noise of the dried leaves outside-

*crunch crunch*

Her head whips to the sound. She narrows her eyes curiously on the shelves of books, before making her way to the dark rows on the back. She carefully examines each row, the sound to getting louder as she nears the back area. She sees movement, of something yellowish bright on the dark corner, together with rustling of plastic and flipping of pages.

*crunch crunch crunch*

“Food is forbidden in the library, you know?”

Mina puts on her authoritative stance to scare the offending student, only for it to falter the second she saw the almost familiar face.

“Ah! Penguin!”

She face-palms with a groan, both from the presence and the nickname she received.

“What are you doing here?”

“Eating.” She answered with a smile, unbothered with Mina’s obvious displeasure. “Want some?”

The loud crunching just seems to infuriate her more before her eyes caught the open book on the blonde’s hand. Her face churns in discomfort from the images, clearly uncomfortable from the explicit pictures of the anatomy book.

“How can you eat that while looking at those... graphics?” She asked with a grimace, only to receive a nonchalant shrug.

“A senior told me I can find some “entertainment” in here. You know, about and stuff...”

She wiggles her eyebrows suggestively but Mina was having none of it. She brisks back to her table with a red face, shoving everything in her bag to quickly get out of that place and blow off some steam. Maybe a game or two in her laptop or phone, anything to keep her mind off that annoying blonde. There are two things she loath the most in her life; a rule breaker, and a ert.

 

*

 

Mina had just finished her meeting with the student council committees, proud that her proposal for a charity project is approved by the members.

“Since it’s your brilliant idea, you’re going to lead the project.” The lazy president said.

She didn't mind being the leader, she honestly wanted to be the one entrusted for this project. Now she has things in her hand, Mina begins making arrangement as the meeting is adjourned.

“This is a separate team from the main members so everything we discuss or do, is under my direct supervision.”

The others nod after a brief introduction of their project. They are talking while walking out of the student council room to save time, some need to rush for their next class while others already had their own prior engagement. Mina is just having small talk with them when she noticed a group of noisy students coming from the opposite direction.

Then, she sees an eye sore.

Did she mention she loathes two kind of people? Because at the center of attention was none other than the irksome blonde who clearly fit the two types she hates the most. A pulsing vessel pops out on her forehead at the sight of the delinquent’s casual attire, the annoying noise of flip-flops squeaking against the slippery clean floor. Conceding to her responsibility, which was more of an excuse to express her pent-up frustration, she approaches the group of loud students minding their own business.

“You.”

They stopped, each looking at themselves and the person beside them in confusion. Mina takes in a slow breath to calm herself before she raised a finger to the person in the middle.

“Me?” The blonde innocently points to herself.

“Wah, Momo-sunbae is really popular!”

“Yeah, even the scary VP knows her.”

“I’m lucky I’m in the same faculty with you, Momo-sunbae!”

Mina clenches her jaw in annoyance. These kids surely do not know what manner is, she thought. Clearing loudly, she managed to catch their attention once again.

“What are you wearing?”

The crowd suddenly disperse, probably sensing the trouble they will get from the vice president's wrath. However, it seems to have a different reaction for the offender who happily flaunts her slipper while wiggling her tiny toes.

“Oh, you like it?” She asked excitedly. “I can buy a pair for you. They have penguin ones too. Cute, right?”

Mina frowns from the forbidden word, not liking the implication she shares with a penguin.

“You’re not allowed to wear these to college.” Mina firmly reprimands, before she made another quick scan of the girl’s appearance. “Where’s your student card?”

Momo thinks for a moment, before snapping her finger. She fumbles in between her jeans pocket and jacket, before taking out a card with a triumphant grin.

“I have it!” She exclaimed happily, earning a sigh from the vice president. “You were supposed to wear it, not keep it hidden in your pockets.”

Momo rubs her nape sheepishly. “I tend to lose things easily so I thought I’d keep it safer like this.”

She doesn’t know what possessed her, but Mina starts spewing the college’s rules and regulations to the unbothered girl who, out of nowhere, pulls out a box of pocky from thin air. She listens attentively, sometimes nodding to Mina’s words as she put a stick into . In between the free lecture, she offers one to Mina which the latter absentmindedly took, saying a short thanks before continuing her sermon. It was after a few seconds when Mina realized what just happened.

“Did you - What just - Ugh, how?”

“No one can resist food,” She shrugs. “And that includes you, Myoui-san.”

Mina's eyes widen when her name comes out of the blonde's mouth, surprised from the honorific at the end which only people from her country would know. She opens to ask but instead is caught speechless when the blonde suddenly slams her hand on the wall, successfully trapping her in a kabedon. She gulps from the close proximity. The girl’s nose is literally only an inch away from her; Mina can feel the former’s breath tingling her heated face.

“Y-You! You stalked me, didn’t you?” She fumes, clearly irritated by the sudden invasion of her space and privacy. Her hands raised to push the ert away but the latter suddenly shoves a stick into .

“It's cute that you think I'd stalk you, which I didn't." She snorts, before tapping the wall with her hand. "Your face is all over the place, penguin.”

Momo flashes that silly smirk of hers before taking a large bite of the stick in Mina's mouth, startling the already flustered penguin. She quickly shoves the blonde away, the latter happily laughs as she walks away, not forgetting to wave to the agitated girl about to explode. Mina twists her body, a few posters of her candidacy for the student council are still attached on the wall. Her face mostly occupied the whole A4 paper with her name written in big, bold letters along with a small flag of Japan at the corner.

Mina makes a mental note to take down all the posters and burn them to pieces.

 

*

 

“Why do I have to do this?” The girl with brown shoulder-length hair asked begrudgingly as she drops her bag in an ungraceful manner.

“Because you were the one who roped me into this project in the first place.” Mina takes a seat on her usual chair, gesturing her friend to do the same. “Don’t feign ignorance, Jihyo.”

“Where is your team, anyway?”

“I’ve assigned them to other tasks.”

“Fine. Just because I’m such a sweetheart.” Jihyo exaggerates with her sweet voice as she plops down on a seat opposite of the vice president. Mina wanted to say she is such an , but decide not to. Jihyo agreed to help her was enough, albeit reluctantly.

It was Jihyo’s initial idea to make something different for their last year of college, something to be remembered and be proud of. One of it is the charity night gala she’s been anticipating the most, instead of the usual ball night to celebrate the seniors’ farewell. Jihyo likes to contribute to the community, one of the feats Mina is fond of, rather than wasting time and money for useless purpose. Their discussion drags for over an hour when Jihyo's stomach starts grumbling. Mina glances at the clock; it is already past her friend’s usual dinner time. She waves off the latter’s invitation to go scout for leftover food still available at the cafeteria, not feeling hungry yet.

Her fingers begin thrumming on the table as she skims through the portfolio of past years project, only to realize the absence of the beat coming from the dance club room that had accompanied them earlier. The silence feels a bit daunting for Mina, prompting her to stretch her hands and stroll around the room to refresh her tired body and weary brain while waiting for her friend. A few minutes later, Jihyo appeared behind the door with a frown and a plastic bag on each hand.

“Yah, Mina! Why didn’t you tell me you ordered delivery?” The girl grumbled while closing the door with her foot. “I would have chipped in instead of buying the cafe’s stale bread.”

“I didn’t, though?” Mina raised a brow, confused.

Jihyo drops both bags on the table, before pointing to a transparent one. “Explain this.”

She gives Jihyo a curious look before checking the content; two rolls of aluminum foil with a can of latte. She found a piece of paper with her name taped on the bag, void of the sender’s name or the shop.

“I think they misplaced the order.”

Jihyo scoffs. “As if there is another Myoui in this college.”

Mina contemplates to open the foil, still watching in wary when Jihyo snatches one of it and unwraps it, revealing a roll of freshly made kimbap.

“Wah, this smells good!” Jihyo exclaims, visibly drooling as the bread she bought was toss aside. “I think it’s from Johnny.”

“Who?”

Jihyo snorts with a teasing smile. “Your partner, obviously.”

Mina blinks blankly, prompting Jihyo to roll her eyes. “Yah! Johnny? The “Mr president with charms”?”

“Oh, him.” Mina blinks again, before her face contorts in distaste. “Ew. Why him?”

“I heard he has a crush on you.”

Her expression immediately morph to a mortified one, obviously appalled with the information. She stares at the steaming kimbap again, wondering whether it is true that Johnny was the one who gave her this. But that man wasn’t just stupid and demanding, he’s stingy too. There’s absolutely no way he would go to this extent for Mina, let alone having a crush on her. It’s impossible no matter how much she tries to make it makes sense. She can see how much he loathes her with all the work he pushed for her to take care of, even to spare her a grateful smile seems like a sin for that guy.

She dismissed the thought, pushing the food to her drooling friend. “You can have it.”

“Eh? You sure?”

Mina nods, cautiously watching her friend consumes a piece of the rolled rice. The reaction Jihyo showed was heavenly, not showing any signs of discomfort which eliminates Mina’s suspicion of the food being poisoned or the likes, in case someone wants to prank her.

“Is it good?” She watches intently as Jihyo easily finishes the roll within a few minutes.

“So good!” Jihyo made a chef’s kiss gesture, before reaching for the other one. “You’re gonna eat that?”

Mina quickly slaps the hand away and shield the kimbap with her arms. Jihyo acts like she was hurt before averting her attention to the packet of bread she bought. Mina’s stomach begins to rumble as the smell of the simple meal wafts into her nose. She takes a small bite, her face immediately lit up from the comforting and delicious taste. It didn’t take long for the roll of kimbap to disappear as she rubs her stomach contentedly. She’s still doubtful of the intent of the anonymous sender, but she’s pleased to get back home with a happy stomach that night.

 

*

 

It suddenly became a routine for Mina to stay after class, either she’s doing the student council work or just finishing up her assignments. She preferred the quietness of the room, not that the presence of her roommate affected her much. Sana was rarely in her room these days and they mostly end up arriving at their shared room at the same time each night. The girl had mentioned once that she’s on a mission to woo a sacred first love, whatever that is.

Mina had been experiencing another unexplained 7 wonders in her life; the mysterious food delivery. As if someone is watching her, or rather stalking her diligently, she keeps receiving food every night she stay back at college. She will always find a plastic bag hung on the doorknob every time she’s about to leave, filled with different meals each night. The gesture is kind, a bit charming, but it’s getting too creepy as of late. She wonders if she's such a scary person, that the sender resorted to such feat because she's so hard to approach. Well, that person will be damned if she finds out they are stalking her like a creep.

“Mina?”

“Huh?”

She snaps from her reverie, revealing a pair of eyes waiting expectantly. The president clears his throat before he repeats the question.

“Anything else you want to add?”

Mina shakes her head with a small smile. “No, that is all.”

With Mina's approval, he ends the monthly meeting as everyone scurries out of the room, sleep the only thing occupying their heads. The small needle of the clock is pointing to the double numbers as Mina let out a deep sigh.

“Rough day?”

Her head whips to the other person left in the room, unaware of his presence.

She shrugs while rubbing her stiff shoulders, “Kind of.”

“You should take it easy. I heard that you’ve been using this room a lot after class. It’s not healthy for a girl like you to push yourself so hard, you know?”

Mina lets out a gentle scoff. She wouldn’t have had to go through those nights if someone didn’t dump all of his work on her. But Mina being the polite girl she is, only presents him a grateful smile before occupying herself with tidying up the papers in front of her.

“Good work, Mina.” He bids with a wave before leaving the room. Mina keeps her stare on the door, an eyebrow raised from the short conversation. What the heck was that? It was the first time Johnny had shown concern to her, let alone be on a first name basis.

Not putting too much thought into it, Mina made a beeline to the door and locks it. Her gaze pauses on the metal knob. It's weird to see the doorknob void of the transparent plastic bag. She had expected for her dinner to be there since she skipped lunch, only having a bar of chocolate to withstand the rush of her busy day. Perhaps the stalker is preoccupied with college work too. Guess she had to stop by the stall near her dorm to fill her already weeping stomach. Opting to take the staircase, she walks to the end of the hallway, approaching the dance room still blasting off beats from inside.

It's already late and usually the floor would already be empty at this time of the night. Curious, her feet unconsciously lead her to the room, stopping in front of the door with a small window frame. She peeks through it, expecting a group of people dancing, only to find a lone single figure inside.

That one figure with that hellishly bright yellow hair that always irks her to no end.

Mina lets out a tired sigh. “Oh god, why her?”

Her first thought was to quickly leave at the sight of the blonde, but her feet decided to ignore her brain and glue themselves in place. Her eyes stray to the blonde, following her body moving along with the beat. Her jaw goes slackened, the swaying of hips and snapping of limbs with fluid-like and precise movement caught her at awe.

She gulps before turning around to calm herself. She shakes her head a few times to get the image out of her head, unaware of the door swinging open.

“Yo.”

“ACK!”

She jumps in place, startled from the sudden poke on the sensitive spot on her back. Mina turns around to scold the person, only for her body to freeze when her eyes meet crinkling pair of droopy eyes. Momo stifles her laughter, unaware of the frozen state of the penguin. “That’s for stalking me.”

Mina’s jaw dropped. “I did not!”

“You clearly did.” Momo winks with a teasing grin while wiping her neck with a towel. The vice president choked on her spit, silently trying to compose herself from the distracting view.

They are standing quite close for comfort, a bag slung on her shoulder with trails of sweat glistening on her protruding collar bones and exposed arms. It’s not helping that the wet skin is only accentuating the toned muscles of the dancer, which was not noticeable before. Her eyes trail down the loose white tank top towards the crevice on her chest, before a cough snaps her attention back to the smirking face.

“Enjoying the view?”

Mina clears as she ducks her head down, embarrassed that she was caught staring.

“You reek.” She pinched her nose, acting as if she’s swatting away the non-existence smell.

“Really? Why are you trapping me then?”

Mina rolled her eyes. “No one’s trapping you.”

“Um, physically you are...?”

“Huh?”

Momo gestured to the door which has Mina standing exactly in front of it. Having no comeback, she promptly steps aside, before marching down the hallway leaving the snickering girl behind.

“Hey, wait up!”

She groans in annoyance and ignore the blonde, catching the loud running steps getting closer behind her. The walk back to her dorm is silent but she can feel Momo’s presence following her trail. It’s comforting, at least, to know she’s not walking alone on the dark, lonely street.

Mina sighs in relief when she sees her dorm building at the corner of the block. She can already feel her eyes drooping but her hunger is greater, the growling in her stomach coming in frequent intervals. She can never sleep in this state. Headache will greet her first thing in the morning and that’s the one thing Mina wants to avoid. She made a detour to the kind ahjumma stall she always frequent with Sana back when they were still freshies.

She ducks under the canopy of the food stall, scanning the crowded place for a vacant table. The place is packed like sardines; filled with men and women in tousled working attire with some students she recognized from college, probably too lazy and too hungry to cook for a midnight snack. It’s a Friday night, after all. Having second thought, Mina glances to the convenience store across the road. Guess a cold bento box would suffice for now. Mina is just too tired to wait for a table; she might passed out while waiting.

Before she could turn on her heel, a voice stops her. “Where are you going?”

Mina points across the road. “The store.”

“You’re not eating here?”

“It’s too crowded.” She shrugs. She was about to cross the road when her arm was pulled the other side. “Follow me.”

“W-Where are you taking me?”

“Eat.” She answered over her shoulder, a grin plastered on her face. Mina wants to refuse but the blonde is holding her arm securely and she doesn’t have the energy to argue. They reach a worn down ramyun shop, just a short walk from the dorm's back entrance. Mina is already regretting the stranger’s choice of food by the sight of the place.

“We’re eating here?” Mina asked, doubting her poor choice. “Are you serious?”

“The current state of your stomach doesn’t leave for any other option.” Mina flatly stares at the grinning blonde who’s eagerly pulling her to the back of the building.

“Wait! Aren’t we going inside?”

“This one leads to the VIP entrance.”

Mina wears a look of disbelief that screams “for real?”, only to receive a chuckle.

The blonde leads her to the back alley which seem quite clean and safe compared to other streets Mina had gone to. There’s even a small makeshift dinner table with benches, a man donning an apron taking a sip from his cup before greeting the blonde with a small bob of his head.

The blonde barges through a door with Mina in tow, revealing a plump man holding a pan over a stove with flaming hot fire reaching the ceiling. Mina almost winced from the blaring heat, if not for the blonde’s quick reflex to shield them from the heat with her body.

“Oppa!” Momo greets, only to be met with wide shocking eyes ready to bang his ladle on the person responsible for his almost heart attack.

“Yah! What are you-” He cursed with a gasp as he saw the newcomer, before pointing his ladle towards the blonde girl. “How many times do I have to tell you that the backdoor is for workers only?”

“Stop being dramatic, oppa. I brought a customer.”

“Exactly!” He exclaimed with wide eyes. “No one brings a customer through the back door!”

“But I did.” She shrugs with a peace sign. “The tables are already full and we’re too hungry to wait for one.”

“So?”

“We’re gonna starve to death while queuing outside. You want to see us poor, hungry girls dying in your restaurant and make your rating tragically drop again, oppa?”

He was clearly out of words from her ugly pout, letting out a loud sigh with another curse and admits defeat. “Fine, have it your way. But don’t disturb any of the workers. It’s a full house tonight.”

She happily salutes before pushing Mina out of the door and back to the empty table outside. She gestures for the girl to take a sit as she put her belongings on the opposite bench.

“Is there anything you’re sensitive to?”

“What?”

“Like allergic to seafood, or nuts... those sort of things?”

Mina shakes her head. “I’m fine with anything.”

“Got it.” The blonde gives her a firm nod as she put her phone on loudspeaker, the sound of jazz music blasting from it. Mina watches in curiosity as the girl walk back to the door.

“Wait, where are you going?”

She stops by the door, only her head showing. “Getting our food.”

Mina doesn’t get to respond as the girl already disappeared inside. She lets out a sigh before glancing on her watch. It’s still a bit early and tomorrow’s a weekend, she can sleep out the whole day to compensate for the busy week she had.

She stretches her tired limbs, feeling her muscles popping in a pleasing way. The alley is empty and dark but the music coming from the speaker made the place bearable for her. It was calming in a way, Mina thought.

Just as she’s enjoying some quiet time to herself, the blonde appeared again, this time with trays of food. Someone else is following her with sets of drinks, clad in a white shirt and an apron on her waist. Her eyes widen at the familiar face.

“Ah, it’s you!” She smiled seeing a face she recognizes; Sana's friend who always drop by their room.

The tall girl mirrored her expression before giving a small bow after placing the drinks on the table, mumbling a small greeting to her senior. “You’re Sana-unnie’s roommate, right?”

“You know Sa-tang?” Momo butts in while arranging the plates, resulting in a more surprised Mina with the casual way the blonde is addressing her roommate.

“You know her?”

She tilts her head, her eyebrows raised. “We came together from Japan. She’s basically my bestfriend, was what she claims to everyone.” Momo made a disgusted face, only to receive a nudge from the taller. "We grew up together, she's a neighbor of mine back home."

“Oh, I didn’t know that.”

Momo chuckles lightly, “Not surprising, the giggling machine is quite forgetful at times.”

“That is you, unnie.” The tall girl laughs, receiving a pout from the blonde. Sensing eyes on her, the former gasped with a hand on .

“How rude of me, I haven’t introduced myself yet.” She gives another polite bow. “I’m Chou Tzuyu, a sophomore majoring in business. You can call me Tzuyu.”

Mina happily introduced herself, exchanging pleasantries with the junior before her eyes fall on the quiet girl watchinng their interactions while munching on her fries. Mina her eyebrows in a questioning manner, the girl doing the same.

“Introduce yourself, stranger.”

“Thought you’d never ask.” She rubs her hands clean before happily grinning with a peace sign. “The name’s Hirai Momo, nice to meet ya!”

Ah, so this is the Hirai Momo. The dance club pride 'dancing Mo-chine', the Japanese cute ikemen, the record-making troublemaker, the one and only Hirai Momo that Mina had been hearing since freshman year. She knows the girl is another fellow Japanese but she had never met her, that is until that fateful day which Mina never wants to reminisce again. Just the thought of it makes her want to strangle the blonde.

“Is the food bad?”

“Huh?”

Momo juts her chin to Mina’s plate. “You’re stabbing the tteokbokki.”

Indeed, she found holes on the single rice cake on her small plate. She sheepishly ducks her head, before shoving the piece in . She hums in delight from the warm and enticing taste, her hands automatically adding another piece into . The taste is strangely familiar, yet it was the first time she has a meal on this restaurant. She looks up, only to be met with two pairs of amused eyes, obviously fascinated with the way she gobbles the food.

“You’re not eating, Tzuyu?” She averts their attention to the sophomore, the latter shaking her head with a smile.

“I’m just taking a small break.” She raised the cup in her hand before motioning to Mina’s plate. “I’m glad the food is to your taste, Mina-unnie.”

She nods with her cheeks full. “Thank you for the food, Tzuyu. It’s really delicious!”

Tzuyu laughs as she pats Momo’s shoulder. “You should thank unnie.” The girl said before excusing herself and resuming her shift.

Mina turns to the girl silently enjoying her food, surprise shown from her wide eyes. “Wait, you made this?”

“Yeah, I work here too.”

Mina let the information sink in as she slowly nods. Her mind drifts back to the many times Momo was commenting about her choice of food. The corner of her lips unconsciously lifted at the thought that this girl was kind enough to care for her well being, even as strangers. The girls enjoy the meal in silence, accompanied by the music filling the silent alleyway.

 

*

 

It was supposed to be a one week holiday for the senior students after finishing their mock exams, some going for a short getaway in Jeju while others preferred to stay at their parents’ house because no one can refuse free lodgings and free food. Well, except for a group of students choosing to contribute their youth and past time with something useful to the community. Like how Mina and her team of volunteers right now, who are sacrificing their free time in the charity center of homeless elders. It was a last minute idea by one of the committees, having connection with a staff working in the center and also being a regular volunteer in the weekends. There’s not much to do other than cleaning the place, changing the sheets, tending to some of the plants in their almost abandoned garden and keeping the elders company. The place is short on workers anyway, hence their visit is greatly welcomed.

Everything is flowing smoothly in accordance with their planned schedule, except it isn’t as they had hoped for. Mina, assigned as the advisor for today, was approached by a junior in charge of food. Her expression drastically fell after the message was conveyed.

“I’m really sorry, Mina-sunbae. I tried reaching out to other contacts we have, but...” The boy dips his head in guilt.

Mina rubs her forehead, her head raking through the many solutions to this one unexpected problem. It's two hours till lunch, so to hear the news that their sponsor couldn’t provide food for them is a total letdown for the team. The elders are already looking forward to the home-cooked meal they were promised, and to disappoint them is not in Mina’s to-do list. She’s deep in thought when a hand touched her shoulder, causing the girl to jump in surprise from the contact.

“Whoa, easy there! It’s just me.” Sana raised both hands in surrender, startled with Mina’s jumpiness. Her face softens when she realizes her roommate is in her agitated state, an uncommon feat coming from the usually composed girl.

“What’s wrong?”

Mina bit her lower lip before letting out a sigh. “The sponsor for our lunch suddenly backed out due to emergency. We tried asking help from other restaurants or cafes nearby but they refuse since it’s such a short notice.”

Tzuyu, who had walked in on their conversation by chance, raises her hand to get the seniors attention. “I think I can help.”

“You do?” Sana asked, the tall girl giving her a firm nod before taking out her phone and walking a few steps away from the group.

Mina watches in anticipation at the sophomore talking on her phone with Sana rubbing her arm to provide comfort. She really appreciates the gesture, her best friend of three years knowing perfectly well how to calm her nerves. In fact, she is really grateful with Sana’s adamant decision to join the volunteer team when the girl can instead go for an outing with her classmate and friends, being the social butterfly she is. But she rejects all of their invitation and chose to help Mina instead, which made her deeply touched.

Well, of course she didn’t join it with Mina in mind. This is Sana we're talking about. The girl had accidentally seen the list of participants on her table, before screaming for a pen and quickly jotting down her name on the paper. Knowing something fishy is going on with her roommate’s social life, Mina skims through the list, a smirk slowly appeared at the familiar name. No wonder, the tall junior is joining too. Typical Sana.

“So? How was it?” Sana voiced out when Tzuyu move towards them with a smile. She raised a thumb, “Good news! We got someone who can help. It’s going to take a bit of time, but at least we got food to eat.”

Mina lets out a relieved breath, feeling a weight being lifted from her shoulder. “Thank you, Tzuyu. I hope we’re not troubling them.”

“You're not. Don't worry, unnie.”

Indeed, it was just the time for their supposed lunch when a van arrived on the front gate. Mina follows Tzuyu outside to greet their savior, even when the latter tried to convince her to stay inside. Mina is having none of it; she wants to properly thank Tzuyu’s friend in person for helping them despite the hassle. As they approach the van, a blonde head pokes out of the window.

“Hey, Chewy!”

“Momo...?” Mina whispered, which didn’t go unnoticed by the tall girl who flails her hand to the van’s direction. Tzuyu nods to the bemused senior, “I called Shindong-oppa if he can help us. He agreed since business is quite slow today and there aren’t that many customers due to the seniors mostly on holiday. He also has an extra hand in the kitchen who he can bully around.”

Mina’s face slightly fallen from the information, “Is that really okay?”

She shrugs, her chin pointing to the girl inside the van. “She was the one who gladly accepts the job. Well, that is after hearing your name being mentioned.”

“Eh? What do you mean by that?”

Momo’s ears perk up from the quiet voice of the vice president approaching the van together with her favorite maknae, waving excitedly to the penguin. “Oh, hey Mina! It’s really nice to see you, but can I park the van here?”

She absentmindedly nods, her mind slowly registering the fact that Tzuyu is a part-timer in a restaurant, along with a certain blonde who had prepared her dinner last week. She mentally facepalm for not putting two and two together when Tzuyu offered to help. The youngest had jog towards the trunk of the van, leaving Mina behind as she starts unloading the packed lunches. The leader was about to lend a hand when she was gently pushed aside by Momo.

“It’s fine, you can leave this to us.”

Mina stares at the towering lunch boxes, thinking it would be faster if there’s an addition of manpower. Besides, she doesn’t want to feel useless to the people who had unwillingly helped them in the first place. Ignoring Momo’s command, Mina positions herself on the small trolley used to transport the food inside.

“What are you doing?” The blonde asked as she was about to push the trolley, only to find the penguin already holding the handle.

“Helping.” Mina stated before walking away with the trolley. Momo raised her brows in disbelief, shaking her head with an amused smile. She picks up some of the packs and made long strides to catch up with the hard-headed girl, unaware of the younger girl silently watching them with a knowing look.

The food is distributed to everyone evenly, earning the team lots of grateful thank yous and hugs for the freshly cooked meal. Mina is thoroughly surprised with the content of the packed lunch when she helps feed an elderly. There are various side dishes prepared and the serving’s amount is quite generous too. already waters from the heavenly smell, eager to have a taste of the blonde’s cooking later.

Sadly, the lunch pack is already finished by the time Mina returns to her team. A frown appears on her face at the empty table. With a dejected look, she reaches for the breakfast leftovers of plain bun and a juice box before settling down on an empty picnic table.

As she was tearing the plastic wrapper of the bun, a lunch pack magically appears in front of her. Her head snaps to the side, eyes meeting with a pair of sunshine with yellow hair.

“Lunch delivery for Miss Myoui!”

Momo gives her a grin before turning around to leave. Mina quickly calls her name, catching the blonde’s attention before motioning to the empty seat in front of her. Yeah, Momo really resembles the sun with the way she brightens up from Mina’s invitation.

“Thank you.” She raised the lunch pack, the corner of her lips slightly rising.

“You need to eat a proper meal with how hard you're working.” Momo comments as she takes a triangular foil out from her bag. She unwraps it, revealing a toasted cheese sandwich still warm, the edges covered with oozing melted cheese. Momo happily takes a bite, humming in happiness from the salty and creamy mixture of different cheese she used.

“You made that too?”

“Yeah, want some?”

Momo offered the other slice without a thought, the vice president gladly accept the tempting sandwich before taking a bite from the heavenly but simple meal. She didn’t realize she had finished the whole thing by the time she feels eyes watching her with a soft smile.

“Wait, that was your lunch, right?” Mina asked in guilt, earning a shake of head from the blonde.

“It’s alright. I’m already full by watching you eat.” Mina's eyes narrow from the subtle pick-up line. “What was that?”

The blonde raises her shoulders playfully, her cheeks full from munching the last bite of the sandwich. The sight made her feel guilty again for gobbling Momo’s remaining lunch. She opens the lunch pack; the food looks enticing but she wouldn’t be able to finish it on her own. Glancing up on the blonde, she pushes the pack towards the center of the table, offering a spoon for Momo while she opts for the chopstick.

“Umm, I don’t think I can finish it alone.”

Gosh, what a lame excuse, Mina thought as she mentally face-palm. She waits for the incoming tease from Momo who’s giving her a knowing smirk, only for the blonde to reach for the spoon and scooping a bit of rice and meat into without uttering a word.

“Mmm, this is so good!”

Mina scoffs, “Did you just indirectly praised yourself?”

“Jeez, try it. I’ll let you be the judge of my talented skill.”

She rolls her eyes from Momo’s deliberate smug while taking a piece of meat into . She already knows the girl had won her heart just by the mouth-watering sight of the food. But eating it is better, much more better with the expecting face of the blonde.

“It’s good.” She plainly said.

“Eh? Just good?”

“It’s edible enough.”

“What? Aw, come on... The food got to be better than ‘just good’ or ‘edible enough’. I cook them while wearing my heart on the sleeve, you know?”

Hearing the incessant whining and pout from Momo, laughter erupts from the usually stoic and composed leader. She was just teasing the girl, anticipating her usual witty comebacks but seeing the blonde acting childish like this is something new to her. It is somehow a bit refreshing to see rather than the cool and rebellious Hirai Momo the others always gush about.

Suddenly, Sana appeared while pulling a baffled Yoda to sit on their table, uninvited. Mina quirks a brow at her roommate while Momo look back and forth between the intruders newcomers in interest while chewing with a full cheek.

"Unnie, what are we doing here? I still need to pick up the trash-“

“Oh hush! You’ve been working your off since morning so take a break and eat your lunch now.”

Without a word, the tall girl gives a small nod while taking out a small paper bag. She feels Sana eyeing every single step of her movement with a scowl, only for the creases on her forehead to deepen at the sight of a sandwich instead of the lunch pack she handed earlier.

“Where’s your food?”

She carefully raise the bag. “Uh, this...?”

“No.” Her voice lowered a note. “I gave you a lunch pack before you ran off to help those two selfish juniors who obviously do not care about disposing their waste properly.”

“It’s not wrong to help.” The girl answered with a small voice, only to get a kick on the shin from the mad senior in front of her. Sana ignores the yelp and continues to interrogate the poor girl.

“You still haven’t answered my question.”

Tzuyu tried to play dumb, but once she was met with Sana’s glare, she cowers back into her chair. The blonde who’s having so much pleasure from the scene while enjoying her food pause her hand midway when she feels fidgety eyes falling on her. She whips her head to the younger, meeting quivering eyes as the latter mouthed ‘help’, her eyes motioning to the fuming person sitting in front of them. Sana carefully observes them, her obvious-but-blatantly-ignored crush silently communicating with her sly childhood friend.

“Wait a minute...” She narrows her eyes at the guilty-looking Momo and the food she’s eating, remembering the last pack she handed to Sana to keep it for Tzuyu who’s running an errand.

“You.” She points her finger dead straight to the racoon. “Run.”

Momo audibly gulps, before jumping on her feet and scurries away, leaving trails of leaves and dust behind. Meanwhile, Sana calmly stand up and cracks her neck and fingers, her eyes glinting with a killer instinct.

“Tzuyu, be a good girl and sit here while I finish that Moguri.” She marches forward, only to backtracks and point to the younger with a commanding air. “Eat your food.”

She follows Sana’s figure calmly disappearing to where Momo went off before heaving a deep sigh of relief. She whips her head to the sound of soft giggles, forgetting the presence of her Mina-unnie who’s probably watching everything like a good spectator.

“Sorry for interrupting your meal, unnie.” She sheepishly apologized, the senior responded with a shake of her head. “No, I’m the one who should be sorry.” Mina made a small push of the lunch pack. “This is actually yours, right?”

“Technically, yes.” She admits, “But I made a barter with Momo-unnie since she insist on it. My lunch pack for her croissant sandwich.” Tzuyu happily takes out the content of the paper bag. “Unnie’s sandwich is by far the best I’ve ever had!”

Mina has to agree with the younger, despite the scarce amount of times she had taste the blonde’s cooking. She can bravely deduce that Momo’s cooking is remarkable. It might be one of her specialties, other than dancing and being a total fool of herself.

“Want to share with me?” Mina offers the remaining food, but the girl gladly refuses while taking a graceful bite of the crumbly pastry filled with scrambled egg, avocado and a generous serving of melted cheese.

“I prefer bread more than rice, unnie. Thank you, anyway.” Tzuyu politely declines, only to catch the sight of Mina visibly gulping while eyeing her croissant. Her lips quirk upwards as she presents the sandwich to Mina.

“You can have a bite, unnie.” Mina gives her an unsure look, but Tzuyu is still holding the scrumptious looking croissant right in front of her eyes. Well, don’t mind her as she adds another menu to her recent favorite compilation of Momo’s cooking.

 

*

 

It is the last day for their short one week break and Mina is already doing the student council’s work as she skims through all the club reports given before the break, making small notes of the corrections need to be done before sending them back to the president of each club, and making sure to read some of the complaints and suggestions being deliberately ignored in their dusty complaint box. Of course, she didn't want to be in the high committee in the first place, but Mina’s not one to run from responsibility or leave it for someone else to take over. She gains satisfaction from doing a job well done at the end of the day, despite sacrificing her free time and being tired from overwork. She doesn’t need someone praising or acknowledging her, she only needs herself to feel deeply contented with her own hard work and to achieve that, is to give her best in everything.

But maybe she’s not the best person in regards to taking care of herself.

Again, she had lost count of how many times she had missed lunch. Her stomach isn’t even making a sound, probably sulking by now since she never paid attention to its crying sound. She only noticed the time from the loud banging of door on the hallway as her head involuntarily shot up to see the clock.

She wonders if some students are already back with their own activity but as far as she knows, the only room present in this floor is one for the student council, a large storage room, an abandoned AV room with an attached auditorium, and the dance club. It’s already past 8 in the evening, it’s impossible for a student to wander around the college this early after their last day of break. They are not as crazy as the diligent and hardworking Mina.

Then, she heard the sound of door being bang again.

She tried her best to push away from her mind of all the ghost stories circulating around this certain floor. There was once a rumor running rampage of why the large and well-equipped AV room is abruptly put out of order, something about a series of students passing out when they sneak inside for their illegal movie screening activity. Her body shudders when she remembers the famous horror urban legends back in her hometown in Japan relating to schools and college.

Okay, good thoughts only Mina. Good thoughts, only...

Oh, yeah. Maybe it's her stalker. It’s almost that time too when she would miraculously be presented with a plastic bag filled with an assortment of food. She wonders how they have the time to stalk her with their heavy schedule, let alone having the strength to follow Mina around when all she does is coop inside the student council room for hours. She should be creeped out, but Mina is being grateful instead. Of course, if not for the food, she would have been dead by now, starving all alone in this room without no one realizing as her corpse slowly decays with no proper burial being done because they can't identify her body...-

Okay, that is an exaggeration. But Mina really wants to meet this person who had probably spent a month worth of dinner money based on the times she always stay back in this room. It’s not fair that the person knows her while she still has no clue who the deliverer is. She wants to at least listen to the reason of giving her free food for the past two months.

Yeah... maybe the banging outside is the secret food delivery. It would have been perfect for it to appear right now since she’s starting to feel dizzy from the lack of nutrients in her blood. Not to mention, the food is really delicious and, you can say she’s being sentimental, but Mina can feel the warmth and love being poured into making her meal. The taste is somewhat familiar to her, but she shrugs it off, thinking it must have been one of the stalls she had went to before. Oh, how she wish she knows which shop it is, so she could order directly instead of troubling her stalker.

She mused to herself before shaking her head with a snort, thinking it’s ridiculous to expect it at this time-

*rustle rustle*

Her eyes widen when she heard faint rustling by the door.

They said curiosity killed the cat, but what they didn’t know was that there’s a second phrase to it; satisfaction brought it back. She might regret her decision later, but it’s worth all the doubts been running in her mind since that day she received the kimbap. Yes, she still remembers the taste as if it was just yesterday she had eaten one.

With a determined heart, Mina quickly strides to the door. She wasn’t able to think of anything, the only thing she wants is to open the door and meet this secret person. And that is exactly what she did.

Only that she wasn’t expecting what she is about to see.

A blonde head is currently crouching in front of the door, in the middle of hanging the plastic bag on the knob of the door being pulled open.

“You...?”

The yellow raccoon panics as she snaps her head up, eyes widening from seeing the vice president standing behind the door. She quickly hides the plastic bag on her back with a nervous tittering.

“Ah! M-Mina! W-What are you doing here? I mean, I-I didn’t know you are here, hehe...”

“Oh, really?”

Mina raises her eyebrow with hands crossing on her chest at the obvious lie of the blonde. She tries her best to show how angry she is when she is actually attempting to control her heart from pounding so hard, afraid the blonde would hear the loud incessant beating just by her presence alone. Momo thought a pissed off Mina is hot, but it isn’t so when she’s the one in the spotlight to be faced with her wrath.

“Care to explain?”

Momo sheepishly rubs her nape before raising her shoulders with an innocent grin etched on her face.

“I guess I’m busted?”