Spring is her favourite season, because it’s the season she was born in, the season where it feels like love is in the air. The cherry blossoms are in full bloom, and Mina is busy using her phone to capture this beautiful sight. Her home country is famous for cherry blossoms, but Korea doesn’t lose out either, pink flowers dotting the whole park. She seems to be the only one strolling alone in the park, everyone else enjoying the beautiful view with their significant other. She signs, what’s the point of having this beautiful view when she doesn’t have anyone to share it with?

Her mind immediately reminds her of the cool senior she met last week in one of her minor courses, the girl looking so cool and charismatic when she’s not smiling, but looking so adorable once she smiles, showing both the top and bottom of her teeth like Totoro. She is beautiful, but what really sealed the deal was when the girl offered her a pen during lecture. Mina had forgotten to bring her pencil case, and just as she’s working up her courage to ask for one from the person sitting beside her, a sleek black pen was held out to her from the back. She turned to the back, and there she was, the cool senior, waving the pen in front of her with a small smile.

“Thank you, Jeongyeon-unnie.”

Jeongyeon ruffles her hair, “I told you many times to drop the honorifics, our birthdays are only a few months apart.”

So cool, beautiful, and kind-hearted. How could Mina not fall? She blushes as her mind conjures up images of her enjoying this beautiful scenery with Jeongyeon, wanting it to be more than just a figment of her imagination so badly. But alas, expectation is far from reality, and in reality, Mina can only stuff her phone back in her pocket, huffing as she leaves the park, tired of being the only solo in there.

She’s speed walking out of the park, eyes glued to the ground so that she doesn’t have to see any of the romantic shenanigans of the couples around her. There’s someone in her path, so she slides to the side, but the person also follows, blocking her again. It happens a few more times before she stops, waiting for the other party to walk off first. Finally bringing her gaze up, she sees that the person didn’t walk off, and instead is beaming at her like they know her, but she definitely doesn’t know them.

She has a pretty good memory and she has an even better memory for pretty people, but she still has absolutely zero idea on who this person in front of her is, the person who is smiling at her, a dimple peeking out from her right cheek. Mina prays that the other girl starts speaking first so that she can get some clue on how they knew each other.

“Umma.”

Okay… that was not what she expected. Looking around, she sees that they are a good distance away from other people, that she didn’t mistaken the girl for speaking to someone behind her or something. But just to make sure, Mina points at herself while looking at the girl questioningly.

The latter only smiles and nods. “Umma.”

Realizing that the girl must have a mental disability of some sorts and separated from her real mother, Mina immediately softens, grabbing her hand gently. “Look, I’m not your mother, but I can help you find her, hmm? What is your mother’s name? What is she wearing?”

“Myoui Mina.”

Mina can only freeze, eyes widening as she stares at the other girl, who just gives her another dimpled smile. “Hi Myoui Mina, I’m your daughter, and I came from the future.”

--

If her friends know what she’s doing now, they will definitely call her crazy for bringing a total stranger claiming to be her daughter back home. Mina eyes the girl again; she looks around the same age as herself, so if she really came from the future, it must be at least 25-30 years in the future. Yet, she isn’t wearing any futuristic looking clothes. But then again, the stranger looks way too innocent to be lying about such things. While she is still stuck in her internal dilemma, the lift stops at her floor, and it’s too late to regret. She sighs, leading the way to her apartment.

When she opens the door, Ray is already waiting, immediately running up to her, twirling around her and yapping at her. But the moment he sees that they have company, he runs off, sniffing the stranger and getting used to her scent. The stranger seems surprised, before bending down to pat the dog affectionately.

“Hi Ray-chan.”

Mina’s eyes widen, she didn’t even introduce her dog yet, but this girl doesn’t just know his name, but his nickname too. It seems like she might not be lying about her identity after all. But Mina doesn’t let her guard down yet, clearing and pointing to the couch. The stranger gets the hint, moving to the couch and sitting down, Ray following after her.

“What’s your name?” Simple questions first.

“Son Chaeyoung.” Her ‘daughter’, Chaeyoung, lifts Ray off the floor and into her lap, giving him belly rubs.

“So Chaeyoung-ssi, you are telling me, you are from the future.” The girl nods her head, a small smile on her face, but Mina is still not convinced.

“How can I believe you?”

“You are Myoui Mina, currently majoring in Medicine at Seoul National University. You are in the ballet club, and your best friends are Sana and Momo.”

Well okay, Chaeyoung knows her pretty well for a stranger, but this information is not a secret, anyone who attended their school knows that. “You got to give me more concrete evidence.”

“When you got Ray-chan, you were so excited that your nose started bleeding from both nostrils.”

Mina is shocked into silence. That is definitely not a well-known fact, but Chaeyoung can tell she’s still not fully convinced.

“You have a crush on Yoo Jeongyeon.” Mina snaps her head to look at Chaeyoung; she has never told anyone about her crush on Jeongyeon, not even her two idiotic best friends, so for this girl to know this, there is only one reason. She really is from the future. Mina lets her guard down, deciding to trust this stranger her daughter.

“So, why are you here in the past then?”

“I’m here to help you with Jeongyeon.” Chaeyoung smiles upon seeing the blush on Mina’s face. “You like her but you don’t have the courage to ask her out. That’s why I’m here to help.”

Mina is so giddy at the thought of being with Jeongyeon that she doesn’t question the time traveller further. “So my daughter, what is your grand plan?”

--

“Running into her once is coincidence, running into her twice is chance, and running into her the third time is just destiny. You just need to run into Jeongyeon three times and she will start to believe that there is meant to be something more between the two of you.”

And that’s how Mina finds herself all dolled out, standing outside the mall waiting for Jeongyeon to appear so that she can ‘coincidentally’ bump into her.

“Are you sure she’s coming?” Mina grumbles, doesn’t see a hint of her crush anywhere.

“I literally come from the future, why are you doubting me?” Chaeyoung’s voice sounds out from the earpiece in her ear.

“Well, why isn’t she here yet?” Mina is beginning to get impatient, sipping on the cup of watermelon juice she is holding. (She’s now glad that the kid made her get it.)

“I told you she will be there at 3.35pm, you were the one who wanted to wait out there in the hot sun since 3pm cos ‘you might miss her if you don’t’.”

Okay, maybe it’s her fault for coming 30 minutes earlier than the time she told her, but she was just excited, alright? She can hear Chaeyoung’s eye roll over the phone, and how dare this girl talk to her mother like that. Future her obviously didn’t do a very good job with parenting, and she reminds herself to be better.

Mina takes another look at her watch again, huffing in exasperation. 3.34pm, one more minute. And if Jeongyeon doesn’t appear, Chaeyoung’s head is going to roll. She glares at said girl who’s sitting comfortably in the café across the street, who waves at her happily when they meet eyes, totally oblivious to the murder plans in Mina’s head.

When the clock strikes 3.35pm, she looks around, as if expecting Jeongyeon to pop out of thin air in front of her. Of course that doesn’t happen, and she immediately loses faith. Seriously, why did she even believe that girl?

“Well?” She asks through the earpiece, wanting to see what other lies Chaeyoung is going to sprout to cover herself.

“Shhh, patience is a virtue.”

Mina gives it another five seconds, before finally bursting, about to stomp across the street to get Chaeyoung. “Oh, that’s it! When I get your hands on you-“

But she doesn’t get the chance to finish because someone bumps into her the moment she leaves her spot, causing her to spill her juice all over herself. She looks down at her white blouse, now drenched red by watermelon juice.

“Yah! Do you even look at whe-“

“I’m so sorry!”

Wait. This voice is so familiar. She looks up, and standing right in front of her, in all her glory, is Yoo Jeongyeon. 

“Je-Jeongyeon-unnie.” God, she threw a fit in front of her goddess, she just wants to hide in a hole now.

Thankfully, Jeongyeon doesn’t notice, or if she does, she doesn’t mention it, too focused on her blunder. “Oh my god Mina! I’m so sorry about your blouse.”

“No, it’s okay, I can wash it out later at home.”

“No, no, stains are harder to wash out the longer you leave them.” Jeongyeon’s hands come up to , the gears in her head turning rapidly, trying to think of a solution. She checks her watch, “Do you have time now?”

“Yeah! I mean, yeah,” Mina laughs sheepishly, hopes that Jeongyeon doesn’t sense how overeager she is.

“Come on, I will get you a new blouse, and send yours for dry cleaning.” Jeongyeon tugs Mina along by her wrist, entering the mall behind them.

Chaeyoung taps on her earpiece to end the call, sure that Mina didn’t even realize that she did. She sees how enamoured Mina looks as the two disappear amongst the crowd in the mall, and she shakes her head with a small chuckle, leaving the two of them to go on their date. Her work here is done, for now.

--

“At 1.55pm, go to the bookstore and look for a book titled ‘Almond’.”

Mina heads to the bookstore with less scepticism this time round, after all she did go on a date with Jeongyeon the whole day that day. (Okay, they just hung out, but in her head, it was a date.) But she’s starting to get annoyed; she’s been searching for a while now but she still hasn’t found the book.

“She could have at least told me which section it is in…” Mina grumbles.

She continues looking through the shelves, going through another few rows before she finds it. Reaching out for the book, her hand lands on a warm hand instead of the cool surface of the book. Turning, she sees Jeongyeon, who looks surprised to see her.

“Mina! What a coincidence.”

Mina tugs her hair behind her ears, smiling bashfully at Jeongyeon. “Yeah.”

“You like this book too?”

The two look so happy talking to each other, and Chaeyoung smiles bitterly as she turns around and leaves. Two down, one more to go.

--

Chaeyoung enters Mina’s apartment, Ray pattering over to her immediately. She picks up the dachshund, patting him like you would a baby. Settling down on the couch, she lets Ray rest his front paws against her chest, the dog her face. Ray finally stops his saliva facial, making himself comfortable on her lap. She pats him, running her hands through his fur as she smiles at him. This is probably the best takeaway from this trip, to be able to meet Ray again.

“Ray-chan, you have to take care of your mom when I’m gone, okay?”

When she’s gone… That won’t be too far away. She won’t be here in this timeline for long, and in her own timeline too, if Heaven had its way. She sighs, not wanting to think about it. Reluctantly, she lets Ray down onto the floor, walking over to the bag she brought here with her. Opening it, there are a few shirts, but she digs even deeper, until her hand comes into contact with a smooth plastic container the size of her palm. She pulls it out, opening the cap and tapping out two pills onto her palm before popping it into .

She hears the number lock being keyed in from the outside and her eyes widen, hurriedly capping and stuffing the bottle back into the depths of her bag, and in her panic, swallowed the pills raw, water be damned. That obviously didn’t turn out well, causing her to be coughing a fit when Mina enters.

“Woah, you okay there?”

Chaeyoung rushes to the kitchen for some water, Mina will have to wait. The pills finally went down the right way with some water, and she heaves a sigh of relief. “Yeah, I’m good. You are back early.”

Mina giggles at that, “Yeah, Jeongyeon-unnie had something on, so she had to leave.”

The pills are supposed to make her feel better, but why does she feel even worse seeing the smile on Mina’s face? Chaeyoung shakes her head, ignoring the strike of pain in her chest. “Yeah don’t worry, you will have a full date with her tomorrow. Tomorrow, you just have to enter the mall at 11:46AM, and you will bump into her. And that will be the third and final time, and that will seal the deal.”

Mina grins, having zero doubt in Chaeyoung now. Walking forward, she engulfs Chaeyoung in a hug. She still can’t wrap her head around the fact that this is her daughter, but with how accurate she has been with all the meetings with Jeongyeon, there’s nothing else she can do but to believe her. “Thank you, my daughter.”

Chaeyoung freezes, before letting herself melt into the embrace, knowing that this might be the last time she gets to hug Mina. But she doesn’t let it last for long, pushing away Mina with a scowl on her face. “Okay, that’s enough.”

Mina laughs, thinking it’s teenage angst from her daughter. Honestly, how old is she? She has never said, but neither has Mina asked. Oh well, it isn’t that important anyway. Pushing that aside, Mina decides to take her daughter out, to enjoy the past she is now in. “Come on, let your mom take you out to thank you at least.”

--

Chaeyoung is not sure if Mina is really thanking her, or just using this as an excuse to play the claw machine. “I really don’t need a plushie,” She tells Mina again exasperatedly, resisting as the girl drags her to the claw machines in the arcade.

“Come on, isn’t that tiger plushie cute? It looks just like you.”

Chaeyoung sighs, shaking her head, knowing that she can’t dissuade Mina. “I want that penguin one instead.”

Seeing that Chaeyoung is no longer resisting, Mina grins brightly. “Okay! You just wait, Umma is going to catch that penguin for you.”

Mina sticks her tongue in concentration, moving the claw to the penguin in the corner. Satisfied with the position of the claw, she presses the button, sending the claw down towards the penguin plushie. The claw closes on the penguin plushie and another tiger plushie beside it, and comes up carrying both plushies. Now even Chaeyoung is engrossed in this, watching the claw intently. But the weight of two plushies is too much for the claw to handle, causing the claw to open and both plushies to tumble back down. The two screams loudly at this, Mina banging the glass window of the claw machine in despair. They were so close. Mina puts in another coin for another try, and Chaeyoung just watches her from behind contentedly.

But a big guy comes over to them, smiling teasingly at Chaeyoung.

“Hey Chaeyoung, haven’t seen you here in awhile.”

Chaeyoung’s eyes shift from him to Mina quickly, seeing the confusion on Mina’s face. She curses internally, why is Taecyeon-oppa here? She can’t screw up now, not when she’s so close to achieving her goal already.

“I think you have gotten the wrong person.” Giving a slight nod to Taecyeon, she pulls Mina along with her, wanting to put as much distance between them and Taecyeon as possible.

--

Mina doesn’t know if it’s because Chaeyoung is bad at lying, or that she can read the girl very well. She is obviously lying when she says that she doesn’t know the guy they ran into at the arcade yesterday, but Mina can’t understand how someone from this timeline will know someone who’s supposedly from the future. Or maybe Chaeyoung is lying after all, she didn’t come from the future. But all her predictions of meeting Jeongyeon was scarily accurate, there’s no way Chaeyoung will know that if she’s not from the future. Her head hurts from trying to solve this riddle surrounding Chaeyoung, but she pushes it to the back of her head for the time being, looking at the time.

One more minute. She takes a deep breath, preparing herself to meet Jeongyeon ‘coincidentally’ again. Keeping count in her head, she makes her way to the mall.

Thirty. Twenty-nine.

The green light comes on, and she crosses the road.

Five. Four. Three.

She walks through the revolving doors of the mall.

Two. One.

Jeongyeon looks at her in shock, but it slowly morphs into shyness. “We keep running into each other recently huh?”

Mina laughs a little, thinking, “All thanks to my ‘daughter’.” Chaeyoung was right again, which helps to assure Mina’s doubts about Chaeyoung’s status.

“Are you free now? Do you want to catch a movie together?” Jeongyeon suggests, and Mina nods fervently.

They make small talk as they head to the cinema, and Mina almost forgets about Chaeyoung, until they walk past the arcade. She still hasn’t caught the plushie for her.

“Hey, can we go for a round on the claw machine?”

Jeongyeon frowns, “It’s a scam to scam your money, I can just buy a plushie for you.”

It’s not only about getting the plushie, but also the process of doing it. The delight you feel when you successfully capture a plushie with the claw, the desperation of hoping that it won’t fall, the agony when it does fall out of the claw. That’s what you are paying for, and not just the plushie itself. Keeping her thoughts to herself, she just toddles after Jeongyeon.

Right at that moment, Chaeyoung walks past her, without a second glance at her. There’s no subtle glances at her, no teasing eyebrow lifts at her as she passes by, as if she doesn’t know Mina at all, as if they are strangers. Mina turns around to look at her, expecting her to turn around and shoot her a finger gun or something, but she doesn’t, just continues to go in the opposite direction resolutely.

“Son Chaeyoung!” A man bounds up to her, holding her in a headlock. It’s the same man from the arcade the other day.

Chaeyoung splutters, tapping him on his arm to get him to let her go. When he finally releases her, she coughs a few times, “Hey Taecyeon-oppa, haven’t seen you in a while.”

“Wow, now you know me huh. So, who was that girl with you at the arcade the other day?” Taecyeon hasn’t forgotten about how Chaeyoung brushed him off at the arcade, but he didn’t push it that day, thinking that she was just too shy to introduce her girlfriend to him. But now they are all alone, he’s going to grill her for all the details.

But Chaeyoung looks absolutely confused, “What girl?”

They walk off while conversing and Mina frowns, Chaeyoung definitely said she didn’t know that guy the other day. Just as she’s about to follow after them, she feels a tap on her shoulder.

“Mina? Where are you going? The cinema is that way.” Right, Jeongyeon.

“Sorry Jeongyeon, something urgent came up, I have to go. Let’s watch the movie another time, yeah?”

Mina doesn’t even wait for Jeongyeon to reply before she’s turning around and running in the direction where Chaeyoung and the guy went in, but no matter where she looks, she can’t see them anymore. She’s very sure now, that the Chaeyoung she knew, the one that claimed to be her daughter, isn’t who she says she is.

--

Chaeyoung checks her watch; Mina should be watching a movie with Jeongyeon now, and things should already have changed. If things are to go her way, when she returns back to her timeline, Mina will be together with Jeongyeon, and she would just be a faraway memory in Mina’s head, the strange girl who claimed to be her daughter from the future.

She really came from the future, seven years later. But she’s not as truthful about her identity. In her timeline, Mina isn’t her mother, but her girlfriend. Her girlfriend, who is in tears every day in the future because of her. She had been diagnosed with coronary heart disease, and the doctor says that the chances of her surviving past thirty-five is 50%. Every day in the future, she regrets meeting Mina, regrets getting together with her only to be the cause of her torment now. She’s causing so much pain to her now, and she can only imagine how much pain she will cause her when she finally goes.

That is why when her best friend, Dahyun, told her she invented a time machine, Chaeyoung had begged her to let her use it so that she can go back to the past to stop them from meeting, to stop Mina from being in pain. At the start, Dahyun had refused vehemently, afraid that Chaeyoung’s body wouldn’t be able to handle the trip. But she is Mina’s friend as much as she is Chaeyoung’s, and she sees how Mina always hides to cry, thinking that they don’t know. Along with Chaeyoung’s constant begging, pouting, pleading, she eventually gave in.

Chaeyoung checks her watch again, it’s a few more minutes to the stipulated time when the portal of the time machine will be opened, as told by Dahyun. She will be transported back to her time, and Mina will no longer be in love with her. But that’s okay, because at least that way, only she will be hurt, instead of the two of them hurting together.

“Chaeyoung! I finally found you.” Mina runs up to her, hands on her knees as she catches her breath.

“Aren’t you supposed to be watching a movie with Jeongyeon now?”

Mina ignores her question, just goes ahead to ask her own. “I saw someone who looked like you in the mall just now. Had the same name too. Do you know her?”

Chaeyoung’s face seems to turn paler as she turns away. “No.”

You are lying, why? Mina hasn't known Chaeyoung for very long, but she has already learnt to read her mannerisms very well. “Then, can I get to know her?”

“Don’t get close to her!” Chaeyoung spins around, grabbing her shoulders. That reaction gave Mina the answer she needed, that there’s something more that Chaeyoung isn’t telling her. Chaeyoung also knows that, letting go of Mina defeatedly.

She had hidden the truth for so long, and she’s almost going to achieve her goal now, she’s not going to give up now. “I can’t tell you the rest, but at least Jeongyeon isn’t going to break your heart.”

“Then what about you?”

Chaeyoung gives her a smile that doesn’t reach her eyes. “I’m running out of time. Goodbye, Mina.”

And she starts to fade, until she’s totally gone. Despite seeing Chaeyoung disappear right in front of her, Mina can’t believe it, looking around, expecting Chaeyoung to pop up around the corner again, smiling at her with those dimples while shouting ‘Surprise!’. But Chaeyoung doesn’t appear, and Mina knows it’s real, that she’s not coming back this time.

--

She eventually goes for that movie with Jeongyeon, but her heart and mind is not on the movie, nor Jeongyeon. All she can think about is Chaeyoung, what secrets was she hiding, did she get back safely, is she doing okay now? She knows things will never be the same, her feelings will never be the same, and that is why after the movie she explains to Jeongyeon that it’s not going to work out, without telling her the true reason behind the change of her heart. (How is she going to explain it’s because of a girl who claims to be her daughter from the future without sounding like she has lost her marbles?)

She doesn’t see Chaeyoung anymore too. Future-Chaeyoung is obviously gone, having disappeared into thin air right in front of her, but it’s like Present-Chaeyoung also disappeared. Ignoring Future-Chaeyoung’s words, she looks around everywhere for Present-Chaeyoung, but no matter how many times she lingers around the arcade, around the park where she first met Future-Chaeyoung, she can’t seem to find any traces of her no matter how hard she looks. Hope diminishes every day she doesn’t find Chaeyoung, but longing doesn’t. That is why she still tries, still doesn’t give up. She has to find her, has to get the answers to all her questions, has to answer the ache in her heart.

Her mind is all filled with Chaeyoung while walking Ray that she doesn’t even realize that the dachshund is tugging on the leash, revving to run off. It’s only when Ray gives a hard tug that makes the leash slip out of her hand that finally snaps her back to reality. Ray is bounding off somewhere, as if he’s being chased, as if he’s chasing after something, or someone.

“Ray!”

No matter how much Mina calls him, he doesn’t respond, just continues to sprint forwards, as if he has a destination in mind. Mina curses as she tries to keep with him; the dachshund may be a small and old dog, but he can really run. Ray finally stops, and the relief that surged through Mina lasted for maybe two seconds before it turns into horror as he bites down on someone’s pants, not letting go. 

“Ray! Let go!” She screams, hurrying over to him. But she halts, unable to make the last few steps over to where Ray is.

Despite being attacked, the stranger isn’t afraid, doesn’t run off or try to swing Ray off. She just stops walking, causing Ray to stop biting on her pants and instead just clawing at her leg, as if trying to get her to pick him up.

"Hey buddy," She bends down to pick him up, and the dachshund starts her face. She laughs, letting the dog her and she pats him; what a friendly dog. But she sees his/her owner standing a few feet away, watching them.

“Oh sorry,” she says, adjusting the dachshund to be more comfortable in her arms, “your dog is really cute.”

Mina doesn’t respond, doesn’t say anything. She’s not rude, she’s just unable to form comprehensible words now that the person she has been looking for all this time is at long last in front of her. She chooses to let her actions speak for herself, closing the gap between them and throwing her arms around the stranger.

“Son Chaeyoung, I finally found you.”

--

was working on this and that's why updates for 'just love me' is delayed for this month. hope to get back to that soon

let me know what you think of this!