THIRD PERSON’S POINT OF VIEW

The car somehow always found a way to slowly follow Nayeon, without even actually being caught. The car, which is owned by a certain CEO’s son, is overused and somehow beaten. Who wouldn’t be overused when its owner uses the heck out of it just to follow random people? A year ago, the owner followed a female freshman from Konkuk. 

The poor girl was scared to death when she was cornered in an alley, but somehow, it was all that happened. Cornering. Nothing else really happened, she was just cornered by a car, no one came out. But the girl was too shaken that she wasn’t able to record the plate number.  Whenever in intense situations, some people cannot function well. 

For that freshman girl from Konkuk, things have been awful for months. She couldn’t sleep, she couldn’t eat, she couldn’t live normally. Her life was destroyed by some stupid stalker. But the girl was lucky, nothing followed after when she was cornered. She was lucky, the severity of her experience isn’t as bad as I'm Nayeon's. 

“I haven’t seen you in a while.” The man huffs out. He was tired. 

“Well, I’m here. Can’t you even look a little excited, Dad?” the guy sarcastically asks his father. 

“No father would be excited to see their disappointment of a son.” The father replies without skipping a beat. 

“Cold, truly cold.” The guy starts to pick at his food, humming to some song, in actuality he wasn’t really fazed with what his father had to say.

“What do you want?” The old man asks, wanting to end his meetup with the boy. The kid is insufferable. He wished he had just pulled out. 

“Money, you forgot to wire me money.” The guy shamelessly replies, almost too easily too. He wasn’t fazed, his father had punched him millions of times already. If he ever gets hit tonight, he wouldn’t mind at all. 

“Jung Min Woo, you crazy son of a .” His father says this without remorse. 

“You’re the one who ed the , you’re the one who wasn’t loyal to Mrs. Jung.” Min Woo chuckled. He was right. Jung Min Woo, the heir of their company is an illegitimate child. The father was fuming, but he's restraining himself from hitting the boy. 

“You want me to wire the money?” The father asked. Min Woo just nodded, like a child, aegyo involved. The father was disgusted, how did he ever make someone so ridiculously callous and evil. If only he could turn back time. 

“Go yourself. I am not going to wire you anything.” The father replies. 

“I’m the only heir to your company. How can you do this to me?” Min Woo chuckled, this sent shivers to his father’s spine. 

“I am not funding you to run around stalking some poor girl.” The father replied. To this, Min Woo just stared. He looked cold, the young boy. 

“I am not stalking her! She wants me!” He protests. 

The whole restaurant seemed to have shifted its gaze to them, good thing the place wasn’t as crowded. But still, this isn’t good. People might recognize them. The veins in Mr. Jung’s head is bulging, all the anger and emotions he is feeling cannot be contained.  

“You listen to me.” The father calmly tells his son. “If you don’t get your act together, I will happily remove out of the family register.”

“You can’t do that.” the younger boy was fazed, for the first time since their meeting.

“I can, watch me fill that form up with a smile on my face." Min Woo only stares at the man, he felt such resentment and hate towards the man. "I will not wire you anything, I will gladly watch you struggle for your resources." 

“You're one mean bastard.” Chuckles the younger boy. 

"Don't challenge me, Minwoo. I would have gotten you killed if you weren't my only son." The older man callously replies. He stared at the young boy for a few seconds before standing up. 

"Come back home. You need to take your medicine." Adds Mr. Jung before walking away, leaving Minwoo. 

Nayeon wakes up from her sleep, beads of sweat formed on her forehead. She hadn’t realised it, all she knew was she woke up and that’s it. But her roommates heard her screams just right before she sat straight up. It was only a matter of seconds before Sana, Mina, Tzuyu, and Chaeyoung came running inside her room. 

Im Nayeon hasn’t locked her doors since she came back. Not even once. 

This isn’t the first time that she’s had nightmares, she has it more frequently now. She’s gotten used to this, ever since she opened that box with a dead cat’s carcass inside, she hasn’t really been the same. But tonight, the nightmare was unbearable. It was too much, maybe that’s how she caught everybody’s attention. 

“Nayeon unnie.” Sana calls out to her, the girl is walking towards her. Sana seemed very worried, unsure of how to handle the situation. Everyone now is sitting on the edge of her bed. Mina dabbed a towel on Nayeon’s forehead, trying to calm the girl down. 

The girls knew better than to just ask their oldest if she’s doing okay. They all knew the answer, she wasn’t okay. Nayeon wasn’t okay, and they all knew it was best if they just let the girl register everything that's been going on. It took Nayeon for a while to collect herself and be calm. Chaeyoung prepares everyone tea. 

“Jeongyeon. Can somebody please call Jeongyeon over?” Asks Nayeon, she knew it was an impossible request but people complied. They knew why she wanted Jeong, they all knew the two have known each other the longest. 

It was already past midnight but Jeongyeon came over, it seemed as if she was already asleep when Mina contacted her and asked her to come over. But Jeongyeon patiently walked up to Nayeon and told everyone to get some rest. 

Sana, Mina, Chaeyoung, and Tzuyu were left outside wondering when all of this will be over. They might have gotten their Nayeon unnie back but they all know resting isn’t an option until they catch Jung Min Woo. Sana, Tzuyu, and Chaeyoung retreated immediately to their rooms.

But not Mina. Mina lingered outside of Nayeon’s Door.

The idea that Jeongyeon is the only one who could comfort the traumatized girl was something that everyone was settled with. Everyone knows Nayeon is closest to Jeongyeon, it’s probably because of all the time they’ve spent together. Both of them go way back, they knew each other since High School. Even Myoui Mina knew this, but somehow, the quiet girl felt a little broken when Nayeon’s door closed right in front of their faces the night before. 

MIna was jealous.

Mina knew she’s better than this, but that doesn’t mean she should just sweep her feelings under the rug. The feeling was valid and she knew better than just ignoring it. Besides, she’s better off feeling it now than just having her feelings well up to an unreasonable amount. Mina was like that, when she’s at her tipping point she would choose to face everything. The only problem was, while Mina sunk into this downward spiral feeling of Jealousy, she forgot about Chaeyoung.

Mina is the type who couldn’t figure out what she felt until the feelings were already up on her face and barking at her. She’s always felt as if there was something more between Nayeon and Jeongyeon but she just shrugged it off. That’s the reason why in her three-year stay in the dormitory she's only reacting now. 

Things have already happened between Mina and Chaeyoung. To Chaeyoung, they’ve done things that only couples are supposed to do. Does it bother Chaeyoung that the actions took place first before a label was actually given to whatever they have? Maybe a little. She couldn’t help but think that Mina was being unfair by being indifferent. For Son Chaeyoung, the indifference was unbearable. Many thoughts flooded her head and honestly, she felt as if she was worth more than how she’s being treated. 

Son Chaeyoung woke up one day to Myoui Mina being really distant and indifferent towards her. It was as if they were back to square one once again, they rarely talk whenever they're alone which was the strangest thing to her. 

The only time that both of them would interact and talk is whenever they are with the others and when they’re supposed to engage in a conversation. But other than that, there wasn’t much interaction between them. It was something that’s upsetting and it made the younger girl feel awful to the core, she often wondered what she did wrong. 

Son Chaeyoung isn’t the type who would push and prod for answers, she’s the type to just wait things out and be calm. That’s probably one of the factors why both of them didn’t talk for days on end, it was as if they were strangers. Chaeyoung didn’t understand what was going on. 

Mina on the other hand also felt the growing distance between her and the younger girl. She felt awful because she’s the one who persistently and actively avoided the young girl. She also didn’t know how to react to everything that’s been happening. 

Mina has always liked Nayeon, she liked her the first day she moved inside the dormitory. Mina battled with feelings for the older girl for a very long time until one day she just accepted that she does indeed like the girl. 

It was during the summer break before the current school year when Mina realized her budding feelings for Nayeon. Yes, it took the girl more than two years to admit to herself that she likes her roommate, Nayeon. Mina was ready to risk everything, she had just gotten out of the plane together with Sana and Momo. The three of them were excited to start the new school year. Mina was mostly excited to pursue Nayeon but the inevitable happened. She met another force that would change things inside the dormitory, it was Son Chaeyoung.

Little did Myoui Mina know, shaking the younger girl’s hand was the start of another journey. 

Son Chaeyoung’s Point of View

Today is Momo unnie’s birthday. Jihyo unnie and Daniel volunteered to buy ingredients for Momo’s birthday, but Momo wanted to treat everyone and just eat outside. It wasn’t a busy night and everyone was relatively free so our night was set, we were about to dine and have fun. 

Everyone decided to dress nicely for the evening, well, we all wore casual but still very nice clothes. Momo unnie decided to treat us at a famous place that specializes in Steak. In all honesty, the place looked good and down to earth which was nice because it somehow made us all comfortable to be ourselves. You know, moderately loud and chatty. 

“Yah, Daniel. It’s so nice to see you around. You should be here more often!” Declares Jeongyeon with the widest grin on her face. 

“Yeah, I wish I could hang with you guys more. Engineering has just made me extra busy lately.” He replies as he cuts into his steak, a smile on everyone’s face illuminated by the dim but intimate light inside the Restaurant. 

“Isn’t that weird that the cake still isn’t here?” Asks Sana as she stares at the tiny window where the orders go through when they’re finished. I instantly followed where her eyes were. She right, I haven’t seen Momo unnie blow her cake. 

“Oh , yeah. I forgot the blowing of the cake will commence during the second part of my birthday party.” Chuckles Momo as she eats a spoonful of her mashed potatoes. 

“And by that you mean?” Asks Dahyun who was obviously curious about what Momo meant.

“A birthday wouldn’t be complete without a little…” Trails off Momo as she drinks from her invisible shot glass. Everyone in the table ooohhed, this may sound bad but these girls love alcohol. 

“We could’ve just eaten at home, Momoring.” Says Jihyo softly, she sounded a little disappointed that they’ll still end up drinking at home. “Not that I’m being ungrateful but the price here is steep.” Says Jihyo unnie. 

“Yah, Jihyo…” Daniel calmly shushes his girlfriend. 

“That sounds great, Momoring. We’re down.” Assures Nayeon unnie, she stares at everyone as if telling us to cooperate and let the girl have a good birthday celebration.

After dinner, we stayed for a short while and talked about some stuff. You know, the usual. We teased each other and laughed at the dinner table. I even felt like we became a little too loud after a while, Dahyun felt the same that’s why she asked Momo if we could go and continue with the second part of the party. The party was fun, but everything felt better when all were gathered in the confines in the Dorm next dorm. 

“Yah, nobody mess up the cake!” Warns Jeongyeon unnie as she tries to stop all of us from harming the cake. Daniel was currently retrieving the matches in the Kitchen and Nayeon, Sana, Tzuyu, and Jihyo were pretending to smudge the icing with their fingers.

“Kang Daniel please hurry up or you’re paying for drinks tonight.” Warns Sana and that’s when we hear Daniel running towards us, with a matchbox in his hand. He immediately lights up the candles and we all gather around the birthday girl. 

“Make a wish Unnie, make it a good one.” Says Dahyun as she pats the girl’s back. We all we in silence as we observed Momo as she closed her eyes, paused for a few seconds, murmured something that was inaudible, and just then she blew her candles. 

Everyone applauded and before the kids started messing around with the cake Jeongyeon unnie stopped them. “No playing with the cake. I spent my afternoon baking that cake, no touchie. This masterpiece is meant to be eaten.” She warns Tzuyu who was about to smudge the cake with her fingers.

“You’re boring. You know that, right?” Huffs Tzuyu and I hear Sana chuckle, Jeongyeon unnie already was holding a knife when she warned Tzuyu so that added extra dramatic effect. 

“What did you wish for, unnie?” Asks Mina, she’s casually holding a wine glass in one hand. She looked very interested in what Momo had wished for.

I immediately turned my attention to her, but of course, I had to be subtle so I just listened to their conversation. It felt good to hear her talk, I  haven’t heard anything from her for a few days. Even at dinner, she was quiet but not too quiet for everyone to start asking her if she’s okay. Maybe it’s just me, maybe I’m just overthinking. Honestly, all of this is making me nervous. I don’t even know what goes on really. 

“Revealing your wish will jinx it, unnie.” I tell Momo, interrupting their conversation. I casually look at Mina, I see her immediately look away. This doesn’t seem right, she’s smiling but she’s not looking at me. She isn’t usually like this. 

“I know right, that’s why none of you bozos will know what I wished for.” The birthday girl stuck her tongue out, I smiled at her. 

“I hope your wish will come true.” I smile at her, casually glancing at Mina every now and then. I also catch Mina doing the same, no one really is saying anything at this point. “Hey, unnie. I’m such an for forgetting about buying you something. I swear I’ll buy you something, okay?” I add. 

“That’s a promise, right?” She sounded very cheerful which made me chuckle. Just as she was about to say something else, Sana unnie grabbed her by the neck and whispered something in her ear. Momo unnie stared at her hopefully. 

“Can I borrow her from you guys for a while?” Sana unnie asks as she takes the birthday girl away from us. Now it was only us, Mina and I. We stared at each other for a while, Mina was just silent, her one hand holding the wine glass. She would take sips every now and then. 

“Hey, how have you been? I haven’t really heard from you in a while.” I softly tell her, I can tell she was taken aback with what I said. She stared at me and it was apparent that she was about to say something when all of a sudden Tzuyu called our attention. 

“Hey, loser. Come join us.” It was obvious that Tzuyu was addressing me. I looked at Tzuyu and nodded. Mina seemed relieved with Tzuyu’s intervention. 

“We’ll talk later, okay?” She whispered, she sounded gentle and I feel her softly squeeze my shoulder. Probably a signal that she knew what I meant. 

“Okay, . Here we go.” Chuckles Jihyo unnie as she scooped another dare command for none other than her boyfriend, mister Kang Daniel. We’re currently in the second round of truth or dare, the first round went easy and smooth just like the shots we gulped down. Things felt easy, well, maybe for now. Kang Daniel starts the second round and we all wait for the command for him. 

“Okay, why am I so tense right now?” Daniel blurts out, we all make fun of him.

“Okay, Dani.” Starts Jihyo, we all listen to her intently. “I dare you to bust some moves.” Chuckles Jihyo unnie as she crumpled the paper, throwing it on the ground. 

“Who the hell came up with these dares?” Chuckles Nayeon unnie and we see Sana raise her hand up, she’s smiling. “Bust? Are you serious?” Laughs Nayeon unnie manically which made everyone else realize the unwise choice of words. 

After all the commotion, Daniel stood up, with a smirk on his face and danced. Almost too perfectly too. We all stood there awestruck because of all the people we’d expect to dance well, we have never thought of Daniel as an idol material.  

“Wow, you can dance. Did you study dancing or something?” I asked him, I was obviously curious. 

“No, not really. I’m just a natural, I guess.” He smiled as he took the seat, looking at his girlfriend. Jihyo unnie looked a little taken aback too, but she kept her composure. Jihyo starts looking around and she suddenly smiles. “Jeongyeon. Truth or dare?” Thomas the train asked, the smirk on her face is very prevalent. 

“Aigoo. It’s me again? That fast?” Jeongyeon unnie chuckles, she motions Nayeon unnie who is currently sitting beside her to hand her another shot of soju. Nayeon unnie obliges. “Sana-ssi, I hope you didn’t input weird dares like last time.” Chuckles Jeongyeon unnie.

“Yah, unnie. Stop stalling the game and pick what you want!” Interrupts Momo unnie and she downs another shot of soju. I motion for Tzuyu to give me some soju, because my throat's a little dry as of the moment. 

“Alright, I’ll go with dare.” Jeongyeon unnie chuckles, and everyone listens to her intently. I was still holding onto the shot glass of Soju that Tzuyu had poured me a few seconds ago. I feel Tzuyu nudge me a little so I quickly down the shot, feeling the bitter taste in my tongue and the warm and somehow painful liquid run in my throat. I suddenly feel hot. 

“Okay, I dare you to kiss someone in here. Without malice of course.” Chuckles Jihyo unnie, it was obvious that she added the last line. 

“Oh, there goes the weird dare.” Chuckles Sana unnie, almost too loudly too. She seems out of it, I think we should start hiding the soju bottles now.

“Without Malice, huh?” Chuckles Jeongyeon unnie, she also seems a little out of it too. 

“Yes, without Malice.” Chuckles Jihyo unnie as she requests her boyfriend to pour her another shot of soju. 

“Hey, Dahyun-ah can you pour me one?” Her voice was very soft, almost too soft for the others to hear. But I heard her, I heard Mina ask Dahyun for a shot. I sneak a few glances and notice that she’s a little flushed now. She started drinking before everyone did, can champagne be considered a pre-game? I don’t know. 

“Hey, can I kiss you?” Asks Jeongyeon unnie as she stares at the girl beside her, Nayeon. Everyone became silent, it was as if the living room suddenly became very hot. Is it just me or everyone is dead silent? 

“Well, that’s convenient.” Teases Kim Dahyun, with a big smile on her face. 

“What does that even mean?” I asked her, I was confused. Shots were still happening, everyone had smiles on their faces. Well, this party’s a success indeed.

“Kissing your best friend, that’s the safest thing to do.” Replies Dahyun as she takes another shot, her nose scrunching right after she’s placed her glass on the wooden coffee table. 

"Isn't it supposed to be the exact opposite?" I ask her. 

“Sure.” Replies Nayeon unnie, not minding my exchange with Dahyun. Everyone started cheering, the cheering became louder as it became apparent that Jeongyeon unnie and Nayeon unnie were now facing each other. 

Just as Jeongyeon unnie was about to lean in for the kiss, from my peripheral vision I see Mina stand up and walk away slowly. It’s amazing how she’s always able to get out of the crowd without attracting that much attention from everyone. As I stand up, I see Jeongyeon unnie sweetly plant a kiss on Nayeon unnie’s forehead. 

I have to go talk to her. 

“Mina.” I firmly call her name, she's still in the confines of the dormitory. She’s just removed herself from the crowd. I see her sitting on the grass, her shoulders slumped. She looks up the moment she’s heard my voice. “What’s wrong? Why are you here?” I asked her immediately. 

“I want to be alone right now, Chaeyoung.” She sounded really serious. Like the stupid girl that I am, I sat beside her, trying to push her more. It’s been days since I’ve been alone with her. I just need to know.

“Do you want to be alone with me? Just imagine I’m not here.” I whisper, trying to understand where she’s coming from. Part of me knows why she’s out here but I refuse to believe it. I refuse to believe she likes Nayeon unnie. I hear her sigh, she’s probably given up. She knows I won’t quit easily. “What’s up with you? I haven’t heard anything from you.” I add, my voice cracking at the process.

“Yeah, I’m sorry about that.” She replies, it’s as if she didn’t want to talk about it. 

I felt this stinging feeling inside me, why does it seem like she doesn’t care? How can she act this way? I feel as if she’s ignoring me on purpose and I’m afraid that it’s almost true. I just wish none of what I’m thinking is true.

“Are you ignoring me on purpose? Cause I feel like you are.” I finally tell her what I’m thinking. She lifts her head up and stares at me.

“I’m so sorry, I’ve just been so confused lately.” Replies the older girl, her eyebrows furrowed. The music inside the dorm can be heard even outside where we are. 

“Confused with what?” I ask her, wishing that it’s not Nayeon unnie that she’s pertaining to. She gave me this look, she seemed concerned and to be honest, I don’t like that look. 

“You’ve always been confused. You spin me around these complex emotions and then you suddenly leave me all by myself. You’ve done that so many times. At least give me a heads up if you’ll ever become distant again because I get confused too.” I add, telling her what I really think. What’s the point of sugar-coating things? 

Mina just stared at me, she looked hurt and taken aback with everything that I said. I know I should have gone a little easy on her, I knew. But it takes two to tango and I can’t keep with her pace anymore, I just wish she’d tell me. 

“Do you like Nayeon unnie?” I asked her, feeling myself crumble as the words slipped out of my mouth. She stared at me, she looked pained. She bit her lower lip and I heard her sigh once again. She doesn’t say anything for a few seconds which felt like a very long time. 

Mina nods. 

I stared at her for a few seconds and then without even knowing, tears fell from my eyes. She stared at me, obviously just staring at me crying. I couldn’t help it, it’s true. She does like someone else. Was I just a chess piece that she needed to move in order to realize her feelings for Nayeon unnie? 

I felt my hands and feet both grow cold. Was I shaking? I don’t know. 

“Was I just someone you used to realize your feelings for her?” I ask her, almost choking because the tears won’t stop. It was as if I was a fountain. The stinging feeling in my chest kept getting worse, it feels like I am physically drowning. 

“No.” She replies. 

“Then what am I to you?” I ask her. I’ve always wanted to ask her this. 

“I do not know.” She replies, slumping her shoulders and just looking down at the grass. 

I do not know what’s worse than just being someone’s toy-thing. I just stare at the sky and realize that I am more than this. I know that I am worth more than this and being hung because of this person isn’t worth it. 

“From now on let’s just be acquaintances.” I stand up and walk away. I felt foolish for walking away and letting her go but I couldn’t go on like that. I’m not some toy, I am Son Chaeyoung and I deserve better than that. After our conversation, I went straight home and locked myself inside my room. 

I felt like a fool.