It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness—

ahh, this is the wrong book… In hindsight, it feels like it could be…except it’s NOT the best of times NOR is it the season of light

It was 2 in the afternoon, a Wednesday. She’s in the library to look for something but for now, let’s just make it clear that Mina hated Wednesdays—It’s in the middle of a weekday, how should one feel? Sad that the weekends over? Excited that it’s ALMOST weekend again in 3 days? Anyway, she hated Wednesdays. It’s the lack of clarity of what emotion one should be feeling. She liked being straightforward, wanted none of this vague and insensible situation she is in right now.

The situation? Well, the situation is this:  Ms. Sunmi, the stern professor from her communications class, the one where her brokenhearted goddess classmate was also in, asked earlier that morning about Jeongyeon’s situation.

You see, Mina isn’t the type to volunteer. Never. She would like to stay out of every presentation if ever. Would rather stay in the back or against the wall whilst her friends perform in the middle of the club or something. This one—oh boy…This one was an exception. She quickly raised her hand the moment her y, beautiful, mesmerizing, always-wearing-red-lipstick professor asked the class if there’s anyone that could contact Jeongyeon if she had any friends in class.

Yup. Jeongyeon had been MIA since what—3, 4 weeks now? And there she thought when she sat beside her before, she’d get to see her seatmate get all giggly again for being dumb. “Ahh yes, thank you for that, Miss Myoui. Please see me after this session ends.”

A swift wave of shock ran through her body. Like she was electrocuted. Oh god Oh god Oh god I raised my hand what do I do what do I do what do I do

[Earlier that morning: Communications class]

“Miss Myoui” Her teacher called out to her. The room was empty at this point, there wasn’t really any reason for her teacher to call her out like that it’s just that… Mina’s been staring blankly on the floor since she doesn’t know when. Lifeless, like she stopped functioning the moment she was told to see the teacher.

With a worried look on her face, Sunmi cackled. “Miss are you okay with your school works? Is it weighing on you lately? Or is it because you volunteered yourself for something you didn’t expect you’d do?”

 Mina, finally snapping out of it, looked straight into Sunmi’s eyes—shocked, creases forming on her forehead. Wha—h-how could she—

“Mmmm did I hit it perfectly with the last part? I’m a communications professor, honey, of course, I’d know. I also thought it was pretty funny how both of you entered the room late, panting like there was no tomorrow. I thought you two were friends, turns out you weren’t but was just slightly crushing on her”

Mina’s mouth formed into this giant oval, jaws dropping like it’s irretrievable at this point. SHE GOT IT SPOT ON. FREAKIN. AMAZING. (WHAT WAIT NO NOT AMAZING THAT’S ACTUALLY SCARY WHAT THE HECK)

 “Yup, yup, save your appreciative words for later, I know what you’re thinking. I’m gonna be honest with you, I’m not trying to play cupid here or anything and I know this is kinda illegal but I’m giving her your number and address NOT BECAUSE I have to go on a date with my girlfriend, okay? I did this BECAUSE I want to teach my students the VALUE of communicating with strangers and how to deal with their feelings in doing so? Sound good, yeah?” Sunmi quickly flashes mina the card written with Jeongyeon’s number and address—it most likely came from the student directory each teacher is given at the start of the semester.

She’d make a good con artist, this Miss Sunmi, who just now left in a hurry as she took her LV bag, high heels clanking and all. Unable to do anything but accept what happened, Mina just sat there. Alone. In an empty classroom. Contemplating. And contemplating. IM. FU%IN. SCREWED.

[Present: 2 PM]

And so here she is. At the school library finding a book on how to make a new friend—rather, how to make a new friend when you knew she broke up with her girlfriend and that’s probably the reason why she wasn’t going to school so you volunteered to go to her place and ask her if everything’s okay (wow way to sum it up.)

 It’s been hours since she started looking for the perfect book. To no avail, she just went out of the school library. Went inside a 7-11 store to get a cup of coffee.

 Ahh. I'm screwed. So screwed. I can’t even tell Ji about this she’s going to enjoy laughing her off for literally MONTHS. What the—what did I get myself into (Myou Mina, you amaze me) Shut up inner inner consciousness. I don’t need you here. (No you shut up, look at the address it’s right around the corner just go there and finish the business once and for all) OKAY FINE I’LL DO IT I’LL DO IT

Mina snaps back to reality. Both hands on her now messy hair. She turns her head to look around her. Sees the face of the cashier guy looking weirdly at her, like he’s preparing to call the cops his manager or something. Mina then quickly takes a last sip of the coffee and leaves, not in the calm and collected way of course. She just HAD to knock at least a chair or two on her way out. She’s meeting the girl that’s been the reason why she can’t get a good night’s sleep lately, after all.

[3 am, outside Jeongyeon’s house]

Mina looks at the card. Then turns around to inspect the area and looks back at the card again.

(It’s the unending loop of looking at the address and looking around to check if it’s right, Mina) NO, BUT WHAT IF I KNOCK ON THE WRONG DOOR (Nope. 207. Yup this is the correct one) NO WAIT—

It seems Mina’s braver side won the fight as she knocked on the door, not too hard. Not too soft either, but at this point, every sense Mina could feel are all escalated. She could feel the touch of thin air around her ankles uncovered by her pants and converse shoes as she’s not wearing any socks. The sound of the wind and the birds sang so loud like it was a beautiful harmony between chaos and peace. It’s been 3 whole minutes but still no response. She decides to knock again, this time saying “Hi, this is Mina, your classmate from Communications class?”

She hears a thud, finally. 2 thuds and around 8 stomps to be exact, with the sound growing closer and closer. The door’s lock finally clicks and it opens.

“Uh hey? Come in, come in. It’s cold outside, sorry I didn’t mind about the knocks at first. Thought it was something else” Jeongyeon was…tall as usual. Gorgeous… as usual. She’s looking like a whole visual, main dancer, main vocal, the face of the group, the maknae, and the unnie all at once, to be completely honest. She was wearing this grey hoodie too large for her thin stature. Her short silky black hair just hanging loose. Black Adidas tights that she wore effortlessly like she was some model a sports magazine.

Mina was mesmerized. God. She’s gorgeous. (What are you doing standing there you’ve been staring for exactly 6 seconds go follow her inside already you look like a creepy sasaeng//crazy fan// who just went to their idol’s house).

Jeongyeon doesn’t seem to notice, though, already inside her apartment trying to tidy up as much as possible before mina sees.

As Mina entered, she noticed… How everything was rather…. kept clean. Incredibly clean actually. She wasn’t expecting this to be the outcome of a brokenhearted soul? Should she experience it too, then? Even she knows she’s not on this level of neatness—and she’s been rewarded as the best blackboard cleaner during kindergarten, too.

Jeongyeon, about to sit down on the floor with legs crossed, next to the table in the middle of her tiny apartment, smiles while making eye contact with mina and gestures with her hands that she should sit in front of her too. Mina, eyes widening with the sudden interaction does a tiny bow with her head and proceeds to sit on her feet, kneeling position, and both hands on her lap. She glances at Jeongyeon and notices how she giggled at the sight. Ahh, am being too formal?

“I’m really sorry, I assume miss sent you here to know how I’m doing? Although I can’t believe they still do that I mean… we’re in college…” Jeongyeon says, scratching her head, the smile never fading.

Mina looks down and shakes her head softly “No… actually… she just asked if someone could try and contact you.” She says, still looking down.

“Ahh so you must have gone out of your way to go here ahhhh thank you thank you wait—let me get you… what would you like, coffee?” Jeongyeon signals her that she’ll go to the kitchen and prepare the coffee. About to stand up, Mina interrupted her.

“Wait— no it’s okay I’ve had enough of that. Actually went to drink some before going here” She finally raises her head takes a glance at Jeongyeon. Once more, flustered as Jeongyeon was still staring and smiling at her like she never looked away since earlier. Why does she stare like that to someone?! Doesn’t she have any sense of embarrassment??

“—oh and so I uhh just came here to give you this” She hands out the lecture notes to Jeongyeon and the black-haired girl receives it. Kinda bummed out their hand didn’t touch as it does in those cheesy teenage romance movies.

”Ohhh Thank you for this!! Uhhh, miss…..?” Jeongyeon looks at Mina, eyes saying as if it were saying sorry for forgetting the girl’s name “Mina. Myoui Mina.” Mina smiles, awkwardly, like one of those birthday parties where everyone’s singing you a happy birthday and you just stand there in the middle not knowing what to do.

“Jeongyeon. Yoo Jeongyeon” The taller woman reaches out her hand, offering a handshake. Mina takes it. The two girls look at each other and realize how awkward this whole thing became. Their eyebrows slowly furrowing, both decided to laugh at the same time like it was rehearsed.

“Jeez glad we got that out of the way.” Jeongyeon chuckles. It was the most satisfying feeling Mina has ever felt. A huge weight was lifted off her chest. Mina’s the type who’s very shy at first but after getting to know the person for a little bit, she opens up just as quickly. She finally had the ice breaker moment with Jeongyeon so the rest of this would be smooth sailing, right?

They were chatting about what Jeonyeon missed during the actual classes and about how Ms. Sunmi always prefers to wear the scarlet red sandals on Wednesdays and Fridays, it’s probably her date night. After a while, the topic went to what happened during Jeongyeon’s absence.

“It’s a long story, but actually I had my friend Sana give me the comm notes every afternoon so I don’t need to do much to catch up. Y’know Yeonjung? She’s from our class. Well apparently, she also has a class with Sana so she gives the notes to her, and Sana, being just a few houses away from here, delivers it to me like a courier— Ah! But of course, I was completely saved by you. She just called earlier this morning and said she couldn’t bring it today since she caught a slight fever and cramps.. probably because of her football practices” Jeongyeon nods her head in agreement as she tells her own story as if trying to remember every bit of it so as not to miss any detail.

“Oh, she plays football? My friend also plays it too they might know each other” She says as she plays with her fingers.

“Maybe they do! but umm I don’t know if you could really call it that... but well… kicking the ball, running in the field…. That’s basically playing right?” Jeongyeon leans closer to mina trying to cover the side of with one hand and whispers

“don’t tell her I told you this, but she AT IT.” She chuckles out loud as she quickly jerked back to her position, both hands now on her stomach

Mina didn’t even try to decipher what Jeongyeon said. Everything said to her just sounded like symbols after the girl leaned in. She couldn’t breathe—more like forgot how to. Although happening only for a short moment, her world went on like it was in slow motion. Like if the feeling of what it’d be like lying on the grass under a huge sakura tree on a spring day could be smelled. Her heart pounding fast, she couldn’t control it. Even unconsciously had to place her hand on her chest to calm it down. THINK MINA, THINK (WHAT THE WAS THAT) she’s laughing…so I should too right? (She looks like she’s doing an extreme jaw exercise from the intense laughing that she’s doing but she still looks cute as hell)

Mina let out a small chuckle. Smiling shyly while her hand slightly covers . She got that cute dolphin laugh gosh what isn’t cute about her? (okay mina let’s stop romanticizing everything that she does please?)

Jeongyeon, still laughing, looks at mina “Ahh sorry sorry, the thought of Sana playing football is just so funny to me. She wasn’t the type to be good at those games, you see. She’s clumsy as hell that girl” she reasons out as she wipes the tears coming out of her eyes.

It became dead silent all of a sudden. Jeongyeon looks like she’s preparing for mina to leave, currently patting off imaginary dust in her clothes just so it won’t be as awkward. NO!! I don’t want to leave yet. No. think. Think…

“Ah!” Mina might have said that louder than usual, as it made Jeongyeon jump a little and looked at Mina, tilting her head with a cute look of questioning what Mina’s about to say.

“How about I help you do the most recent assignment? It’s about filming yourself while talking to a stranger, with consent… of course. It’s kind of a win-win situation for me you see, we’re not friends so I can consider you a stranger… and since I’m here already—”

“No problem!! Sure let’s do that” Jeongyeon grabs her phone from her back pocket and opens the camera

Goodness, me. I really thought of that excuse huh… but it’s not really an excuse you see it’s true that I’ll benefit a lot from this—

“I’ll start recording now, okay?—wait what do we talk about?” Jeongyeon looks away from her camera and directly at Mina, the shorter girl still sitting with her knees down and both her hands attentively placed on her lap “Anything!!” “Okay okay!” Jeongyeon places the phone on top of a drawer just a few feet away from them and starts the timer.

Mina just stepped outside Jeongyeon’s unit. Quickly looking back at the woman Just inside the room, now walking towards the door.

“Again, thank you for that, Mina. You were such a big help, honestly.“ The girl rests her elbow on the wall just right above her head. You look so innocent I don’t even think you know how y you look right now, Yoo.

Mina, now turning her back on Jeongyeon is about to take her to leave when suddenly—

“Ahh by the way… We really can’t do this thing again, you know.” Jeongyeon scratches her head, smiling.

“Wh-what?” Did I do anything wrong? Does she… does she know I went here because of my own motives? WHAT—

“Of course! The next time there’d be an assignment like this where you’d have to film with a stranger… we can’t do that ‘cause we’re friends now!” Jeongyeon let’s out a large bright smile, waving her hand to Mina “See you in school!”

Mina couldn’t help but blush so she quickly turned back around and continued walking, raising her hand and doing an OK sign expecting Jeongyeon to see it.

It felt as if she just crossed the barrier between North Korea to South Korea. I am in the clear now..? We’re… finally…. Friends?

She took a good and slow walk on her way back home. Thinking about the best 2 hours she spent on a school day. You know what? Maybe I like Wednesdays.

[The Next Day: Communications Class]

The sounds of people walking out of the classroom fill up the room. Suddenly, only two people are left. A tall and slender figure who is, surprisingly, wearing white sneakers today instead of her usual red hot 4-inch sandals walks toward the other girl, currently standing up with her bag and fixing her seat.

The older woman crosses her arms, inspecting the shorter blonde.

“So It had no effect huh?”

Mina turns her head to the taller figure, tilting her head as if wondering what she meant by the question.

“I meant, young lady, you didn’t have an effect on miss Yoo? she hasn’t attended the class yet, and here I thought you worked on that last Wednesday” Her hand tapping Mina’s head like she was petting a cute rabbit.

Mina let’s out a deep sigh with a hint of annoyance and walks away from Sunmi towards the exit “Well, miss, you should’ve made the test harder then”

Sunmi was taken aback by the sudden attitude she received from her student. Kind of how it feels when your dog suddenly doesn’t obey you anymore.

Sunmi calls for her student who’s now by the door. ”I love how you’re communicating and showing me more of your true attitude, miss Myou. I’ll take that as a compliment for being your communications teacher. Maybe it didn’t work out with miss yoo but if you ever need help with that lifestyle of yours I’d be glad to lend you a hand” Sunmi smiles as she waves her student goodbye

Mina stopped at her feet and reprocessing the whole conversation. Eyes getting wider as she realized what her teacher just said. Looking at Sunmi with the most shocked face she could ever form.

Sunmi’s eyes also widen as she realized what that could have meant for a raging (most probably) lesbian like her student. “—NO WAIT. I DIDN’T MEAN LITERALLY” She shakes her head along with both of her hands. Aggressively disagreeing with the current turn of events. Her whole body language cringing.

“I mean I would gladly help you with Miss Yoo if you want. Jeez. Get a grip darling. You’re making my head hurt” Sunmi chuckles at how ridiculous the misunderstanding was.

Mina now shaking her head and heading towards the hallway as she hugs her textbooks. It’s been years since she’s been amused during her work as a teacher. Maybe something will come out of these two, and she hopes she’ll be there to find out.

[Lunch time: Canteen]

Mina has known Jihyo for most of her life now, she’s grateful Jihyo stuck with her even joining her with the gardening thing she’s doing. Jihyo might not know this but Mina knows. Her best friend isn’t precisely the type who likes gardening. She probably entered with me because she’s afraid I’ll be all alone in college because I lost interest in football… or life in general, actually.

However, something changed about her recently. She’s being too smiley and giggly in everything she does. Like what she’s doing right now oh god she looks like some ghost is tickling her she can’t even focus on her food and keeps on giggling like an idiot.

“Buddy… you okay? I mean… your head’s still working fine right?”

Jihyo’s face made this 180-degree change where she went from a smiling giggly child to this so done with life annoyed 40-year-old lady. “What? Mi… you know I still find it weird that you have such an innocent face but when you actually speak to people you’re close with it’s like the only thing that’s left for you to do is to stab them literally to take the final blow because of how tactless you word things.”

Mina nudges her friend’s arm. “Ehhhyyy you know I’m only like this to youuuu~ even I’m soft to Hyunie and Chaeng”

“Yeah, that’s what scares me the most. Dahyun and Chaeyoung don’t know how much of a monster you truly are even though we’ve been friends for 6 years. 6 YEARS MINA!!” Jihyo rebuts. Raising both of her hands in the air.

“But 10 with you” Mina winks at her friend. “So spill it already woman, something happened during football or something?”

Just like that, from a disgusted look, Jihyo’s face changed into a melting giggly marshmallow again
“ Yes~ maybe~ ” Mina leans closer towards her friend, eyes wide open. (😉) Eager to listen to what her friend has to tell.

“Well, you see there’s this girl during the football games. She’s not particularly good or anything… but she’s so pretty and cute and smiley and” Jihyo looks at Mina, noticing how her friend’s all giggly like she’s teasing her “Yes yes. I’m a little gay like you okay stop that you’re scary”

Mina rolls her eyes at that totally unnecessary remark and continues eating her lunch. “Oh.. wait did you say Sana? I think I know her from a friend” Jihyo quickly jolts at her answer “D-did you say, friend? Mina? You made a friend this is big news oh my god” “Stop it Ji, just a classmate”

They’ve been friends for the longest time. Of course, Jihyo knows what this means. Mina’s probably crushing on this ‘friend’ of hers but she’s happy enough knowing her friend’s doing something out of the usual, she guesses. Known her well enough not to pry too much but be there for her when she needs her help. She knows Mina takes everything in small steps but any step is a step forward. Their friendship has come to a point where they can’t really say cheesy things to each other but she knows Mina knows she’s happy for her, especially now.

“What? Ji? Why do you have that loving look on your face ew” Mina interrupts Jihyo’s thoughts.

“Nothing, I’m just happy things are going well for us lately.” Jihyo taps Mina’s shoulder “Anyway you should come to the football practices sometimes! Just for fun! Meet more friends you know.”

“Yes. Sure. And maybe this Sana can introduce me to some of her friends next time?” Mina jokingly says. Mina subtly hinting something to Jihyo, but the girl doesn’t know about Sana being friends with Jeongyeon yet so she innocently winks along with Mina.

[Afternoon: Biology Laboratory]

Mina’s not the kind to chat much when she’s with her friends. Prefers to use the phone and play games. Sometimes Jihyo plays with her, but most of her friends just chat with each other, making her join the conversation sometimes. Like what they’re doing this time. She casually entered the room and found two of her friends chatting about their respective degrees. The four of them both went their separate ways but they try to get the same general classes as much as possible. Hearing them talk about something they’re passionate about makes Mina’s heart hurt. Like being stabbed by a needle, unnoticeably small but you can feel it. It’s the good kind though, she’s the happiest when her friends are happy. Until—

“Hey have you watched the new episode of TTT?”

“What, you mean that show with 9 girls pretending to be students and teachers?”

“Yes! Yes! That one! I kind of like the art teacher she’s so cute and
knows her stuff about art”

“That’s because you’re an art girl, Chaeyoung-ah, you’re too whipped”

“And what about it?!— Oh speaking of whipped there was this girl
who came in late in art class today. Ahh she was seriously pretty and tall”

“Ehh? Like you don’t find every girl you see pretty?”

“Shut it Dahyun. I know. But give it to me this time!
She’s not an art student like me! She’s just taking that class to fill up her units”

“We’ve been attending classes for almost 2
months now, why only notice her today?”

“Apparently she’s been out for a month but she said
she’ll attend regularly. I’m looking forward to it I’m gonna
make her my muse for our next art plate”

“Oh? You’re talking to her already?… Seriously you’re too smooth with the ladies
I just turn into this very fragile tofu and gay panic most times”

“You’re a Communications student though?
I guess you should try and learn from me”

“Those are absolutely two different things—"

“Wait… just curious but… does this girl have short black hair, about 5’4” Chaeng?”

The two girls look at their friend who’s currently leaning towards their conversation they thought only they were having.

“Mina? You were here the whole time?  It’s still 20 mins before classes start I thought you were still eating with Ji” The pale white girl wearing her usual I-don’t-give-a--what-people-think-about-me XXL shirt with checkered pajamas and Dr. Martens sandals answered. More shocked now that she realized Mina actually joined in their conversation rather than the usual sit in her chair and play games until the teacher arrives.

Mina looks at Dahyun and smiles. She doesn’t show her teeth, however, which is probably a sign that she didn’t want to hear her say anything but rather wanted Chaeyoung to answer the question.

You see, the girls know Mina’s scary side. They’ve been friends for a long time but Mina just has this aura around her that you have to give her what she wants like a fragile and soft baby that she is. Sometimes, though, she also has this very independent serious aura that you really can’t tell when it’ll appear but when it does it does.

And so Chaeng also receives the unspoken message and obediently answers. “Yup… pretty much. Plus she’s wearing this hot black leather jacket that perfectly accented her shoulders. I should’ve paid more attention when she was still attending classes two months ago, honestly—wait 5’4”?! How did you—”

Mina calmly smiles at her friends and quickly walks away to the lockers behind the class, reaching for her lab coat. “Oh nothing, just curious is all” She hums as a bunch of their other classmates starts to get it and the room is once again filled with chattering noises.

[Afternoon: Classes End]

Mina takes the long route when walking to her home. The campus is big but she’s just taking her chance to maybe see the hot girl Chaeyoung was talking about—she knows it’s her Jeongyeon, of course.

She’s sure this feeling won’t last long anyway. Decided to just make the most while she’s having fun swooning over her. This isn’t really anything serious for Mina (or so she would like to think). It’s better this way, at least she can feel like a giddy 12 year old just by seeing her happy crush walk around school. Much better than only feeling empty and lonely about how her friends are finally living their life, meeting new people while she gets to live…her current life. It takes her mind away from actual problems like her family, specifically her dad.

Mina sees Jeongyeon walk out of the Culinary Building just a few meters away and watches her at a distance. That black leather jacket really does accent her shoulders well, huh. Chaeyoung really has a good eye on things like these.  She thought, almost drooling. The sight is enough for her to stop walking and wait for Jeongyeon to disappear out of her peripheral vision. She’s afraid wanting more would cause her to become a full-fledged stalker. She’s not about that life, she hopes.

[Night: Mina’s house]

And now she’s back on her bed again, at night, with a whole weekend to think about unnecessary romantic feelings which may have been caused by none other than miss Yoo. Also, what color of sheep hay would she want to mass produce in Minecraft next—let’s not forget about that.

She just hopes that days like this would stay constant, hopefully even better now that she’ll probably see Jeongyeon attending her classes again. She remembered how she had this very distinct cute dolphin-like laugh back in her apartment. It was something she'd keep in a time capsule in her memory bank for sure. Like everyone else, she doesn’t know what the future holds for her. But maybe somebody inside her is hoping, that she'd be part of a certain girl’s future. Maybe. But she doesn’t notice this yet. All she knows for now is that her friends are happy, she’s happy, and she loves Wednesdays.

Notes:

The pace is a little too slow, isn't it? I'm just trying to completely set the stage so for now, just enjoy the fluff chapters to come <3 sorry for the inconsistent update! not saying it's gonna be consistent soon but ill just apologize anyway 'cause life gets in everyone's way of fangirling. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

PS:

hi! i'm @secretyjy on twt! you can reach me there through curiouscat or simply replying/quote tweeting me, anything really!!! any opinion on my story is very VERY much welcome! i wanna know what you guys think, I won't bite. Thank you! <3 This was already in Ao3 but i decided i could reach more people if i post it in here too ^_^ have a nice day