Nayeon and Jeongyeon were, finally, able to spend their nights just the two of them doing whatever they wanted in their house. Their daughter had finally started college and was required to live at the dorms, and this was the first weekend when Chaeyoung didn’t insist on coming back home for the weekend, and that was all thanks to Mina, bless her, who set her foot down and demanded they showed up to the party her dance club was organizing. It was her first club event of the year (of her college life, really) and she was not about to be branded as anything degrading because her girlfriend was a mamas’ girl and insisted on going back home every single weekend.

 

Mina and Chaeyoung met in their second year of highschool, the dancer had laid eyes on the shy girl from the photography club who had been tasked to cover rehearsals and found her the cutest. Chaeyoung was just a useless lesbian who couldn’t talk properly in front of pretty girls, and the dance team was certainly aggravating the situation with their defined abs and sweat glistening while it trickled down their necks. Okay, so maybe she was a little ert, but nothing ever left her mind, once she mentioned to Dahyun how the cheer captain had a charming smile and Jihyo beat her up the next day because ‘nobody comes after her Tzuyu and walks away with it’, and our little cub hadn’t talked to the only friend she thought she had since then either.

 

Now, after having her trust broken by someone she thought was a friend, and being avoided because the captain of the soccer team had beat her up in front of everyone and nobody wanted to be on Jihyo’s bad side, Chae became a loner. Sure, Dahyun showed up like nothing had happened and started laughing at her bruises, but Chaeyoung just got up and left, she knew a few places to go and avoid the school’s gossiper, and completely shut the girl out for good. Nayeon had been enraged about her little baby being treated like that because of, pretty much, a compliment and Jeongyeon had to control her wife, calm their daughter and take measures into her own hands on the down low.

 

Mina was in the dance team, she was a incredible modern dancer and matched up to Seulgi (the team captain) when it got to hip hop, that brought on a lot of attention from a lot of people, and she honestly just wanted to meet someone discreet and who would love her fully, and whom she could fall for without the fear of not being caught. When the whole Jihyo fiasco happened, Mina knew who Chaeyoung was, despite not having talked to her before, and doubted very much that the rumors about what really happened were true. She heard some people saying Chaeyoung was after Tzuyu, others that the small cub had hit on the cheerleader and got rejected, there were even some saying they were ing behing Jihyo’s back and the soccer captain caught them.

 

Everything was all very absurd, and Seulgi had shut all rumors down in the dance club saying they were there to dance and not meddle in anyone’s life, later after that practice Mina had approached her captain and asked why she was so adamant about stopping everyone from gossiping. Seulgi explained that her girlfriend, the head of the photography club, Wendy knew exactly how everything began and it was nothing at all like people were speculating. 

 

Then, Mina inquired a bit more and was told the whole conversation that really took place, apparently, Chaeyoung had been cleaning some equipment in the club room, when the girl who used to follow her sometimes, that Kim Dahyun girl, asked why the cub looked happy about having to photograph the cheer squad, and then was when Chaeyoung said she thought the girls looked very satisfied with their work and it was always nice to photograph people when they felt happy. To which Dahyun proceeded to ask about the captain and why did Chaeyoung get more photos of her, and the younger girl just shrugged and said the captain had a charming smile, the pale girl had bounded out of the room too fast and never heard that the captain always had more pictures taken whenever they were covering teams.

 

Now, highschool life was never fair to anybody, but Mina was livid when she heard the real story. How did things get so distorted that Chaeyoung became a ert who didn’t care about who was in a relationship or not? She made it a point to befriend the girl after that, especially now that everyone who didn’t know or didn’t care about the truth was making sure to isolate the small cub. Very few stood by Chaeyoung, and those weren’t able to do much for the girl at all, but Mina wanted to be closer than just a supporter, so she set out to find the small girl and make this friendship happen.

 

It wasn’t until two weeks later, when Wendy had nobody but Chaeyoung to send out to take pictures of the dance club for an article in the school page about their upcoming competition. This would be perfect, Seulgi had already warned everyone to respect the girl or not show up at all, and that she wasn’t going to take lightly any kind of badmouthing, whispering or anything that could make the girl uncomfortable. The team began to stretch and warm up for practice, Chaeyoung arrived about five minutes before they actually started dancing and managed to take a few good pictures of the warm ups. Seulgi had a quick talk with the young photographer before they started and everything was all very professional, the team didn’t even notice Chaeyoung was even there most of the time.

 

By the end of practice, Mina had worked up the courage to approach the girl and her body was pumped with enough adrenaline to not allow her to give up halfway. So she took a moment from stretching to go and hand the photographer her number, the girl was in a corner putting her equipment away as she waited for Seulgi to finish so they could talk again about approving the photos once Chaeyoung was done with them. Mina was sweating, right then it had nothing to do with dancing, but she swallowed the lump in and went ahead regardless.

 

“He-hey.” Okay, now the dancer wanted to hit herself. 

 

Chaeyoung was startled, she just looked up and waited. She wasn’t going to get beat again, was she?! Seulgi promised she would protect her, and this pretty girl wasn’t about to attack her, right?!

 

“I-i-i just-just wan-wan.” Mina stopped and took a deep breath, surely Chaeyoung was more scared than herself, the girl was looking at her like she was about to faint. “Look, I don’t know how to do this, but I wanted to give you my number and maybe take you out sometime?”

 

“Me?” The smaller girl was truly confused, was she being asked out right now?

 

“Yeah, I’ve been looking at you for a while now, and I wanted to get to know you more.”

 

Okay, this pretty girl was really asking her out. “Sure-sure. But can I choose where we go?”

 

“Anywhere you want.” Mina beams. “Here.” She hands over the crumpled paper with her number, her hands very shaky and clammy. “I have to stretch, but do text me!”

 

When Mina walks away, Chaeyoung still doesn’t believe a pretty girl just asked her out, and gave her her number, and was interested in her at all. Thankfully, Seulgi comes shortly after, trying really hard not to laugh at the whole thing, it was honestly adorable. Plus, the dance captain had just become fifty thousand won richer, she wasn’t about to complain, nor laugh at both her best dancer and the adorable mistreated girl being all nervous and afraid about going on a date. In hindsight, the captain could see Chaeyoung’s side, it’s been a rough couple of days.

 

The date was settled for the next saturday, Chaeyoung chose her mother’s coffee shop, mostly for safety, and didn’t mention to Mina about that little detail. Jeongyeon owned a restaurant, and Nayeon a coffee shop, while the taller mother just followed her family steps, the older woman didn’t want to be the next lawyer in an already saturated market, so she observed and learned the great investment it was to sell overpriced, boiled bean water. Don’t take her wrong, she did drink it, she had to know her product, but the woman could never understand the generalized addiction Korean people seemed to have for it. But business was business and she wasn’t about to let anyone know her thoughts.

 

Mina had argued that the place might be a little out of budget for her, she did just buy new shoes, her old ones had broken mid practice, and maybe they should choose somewhere else. Chaeyoung just said she would be treating the taller girl this time, and if Mina felt bad, she could just ask her out again and treat her then. In truth, Chaeyoung had come home to tell her mothers she was asked out and was very afraid to actually go, Jeongyeon offered her restaurant and she would serve them personally, to which both her girls declined, a two michelin star restaurant was way out of budget for any highschooler. Nayeon, then, said she could make a couple’s promotion that saturday to justify choosing her cafe and Jeongyeon and herself could be there and out of sight for moral support if needed.

 

Things went really well, though. Mina arrived early, Chaeyoung was already there, but she was still early, looking adorable in her overalls and clearly nervous about the whole thing. Nayeon was the only one there, she was working and Jeongyeon was called to her restaurant that morning, but she relaxed when her eyes landed on her daughter’s date. From then on, Mina had stuck to Chaeyoung’s side, learning that the girl was very shy, but incredibly caring and gentle, their first kiss came a few weeks after that, both had just talked about making things official that day. Mina’s parents loved Chae, Sana was a bumbling ball of energy and Eunha looked like she was just trying to stop her wife from setting the world on fire by accident.

 

Who knew how the outgoing and liberal Yoo Jeongyeon was actually shy and conservative when put in the same room as hurricane Sana, but was not here nor there, and the parents got along very well with each other. Chaeyoung and Mina were just beginning their relationship, but entrance exams were approaching and they had to talk colleges, coincidentally, two of the universities that offered Mina a scholarship were in Chaeyoung’s list of possibilities, so they talked with their families and among themselves before deciding where they were going, the little Yoo was smart enough to pass, and the young couple was set to start their new lives away from home with each other. 

 

Now, for the university they chose, it was mandatory for all students to spend the first year in the dorms, so Nayeon was very grumpy about not being able to take her girls apartment hunting with her and Sana, the two had formed a weird connection that neither Eunha nor Jeongyeon was willing to pay much attention to, not when their wifes would go out for hours and leave them with some quiet time for themselves. Mina and Chaeyoung were two very silent kids, and spent most of their time in their bedrooms, buried in books to study for their entrance exams, and now they weren’t even home anymore! Now, to ‘make up’ for forcing the students into their dorms, they were allowed to apply for a specific roommate if they had anyone in mind, so the couple roomed together without even thinking about it.

 

Now, everything would be fine and dandy, and the girls would be living their best college life if they hadn’t seen some ghosts of the past that led Chaeyoung to flee campus to either their parents’ places every weekend in an effort to avoid any chances of running into them by accident. Mina had done her own investigating, she was one of the aces of the dance team and had more influence now, and found the people they didn’t want to run into were at the dorm halfway across campus and their majors shouldn’t overlap with neither hers nor her girlfriend’s. Still, Chaeyoung’s traumas spoke louder and the young couple had found themselves back home more often than not.

 

Today, however, was an event Mina couldn’t really skip on, she was good, yes, but she was also a newbie at the dance club, to keep her scholarship and get better connections for future projects, it was absolutely needed for her to attend this first dance club party, and she wasn’t about to keep indulging Chaeyoung either. The dancer loved her girlfriend, don’t get her wrong, Chaeyoung was the love of her life and she would go to hell and back for her, but their parents also agreed it was time the smaller girl started being more social and meeting new people, it wasn’t that good for her to simply shut herself out. So, here they were, in their dorm room getting ready for the party, well, Mina was getting ready for the party, Chaeyoung was being an useless lesbian and not ableto look at her girlfriend walking around shirtless.

 

Once the couple arrives, the party is in its early stages, a good thing too, because that would give Mina a chance to talk to some seniors before they were too intoxicated to remember her face. They walk around a little, Chaeyoung being squeezed by the dance seniors because she was just too cute to resist once the dimples appeared, and Mina was enjoying her girlfriend’s misfortune while taking the chance to be remembered in the future. Chaeyoung got hold of a beer bottle, at some point, Mina thinks it wa when they stopped at the kitchen and one of the seniors handed them two bottles, the smaller girl had been struggling to open it since it was handed to her, about ten minutes before, so the dancer took pity and opened for her.

 

Now, if there was one thing Myoui Mina knew about her girlfriend, was that Im Chaeyoung was a good little mamas’ girl who never did anything naughty because she didn’t want to disappoint her mammas, who loved her to death but wanted their daughter to be a little more adventurous and discover a little more of the world. But Mina found Chaeng adorable and loved taking her to discover new things and see the childlike excitement and interest each time she did. Drinking was certainly something Chaeyoung had never done before, and this should really be something interesting. Good thing they had beers, had it been the punch, Mina would have definitely thrown it away on the spot.

 

“Chaengie?” Mina calls, she sees half the bottle is already gone.

 

“You know my name?” Chaeyoung asks, clearly inebriated already. “You are really pretty, if I didn’t have a girlfriend I’d ask for your number.”

 

“You have a girlfriend?” Mina is completely amused and decides to play along.

 

“I do!” The shorter one giggles excitedly. “She’s very pretty too, and so nice, and I love her a lot!”

 

“Lucky her, I guess. But I really can’t get your number?”

 

“Nope.” She pops the p and shakes her head. “Oh, hey Minari! There was this pretty girl talking to me, did you see her?”

 

Mina shakes her head as she watches her girl take another long gulp. Drunk Chaeyoung was definitely something she enjoyed.

 

“I have to call my moms.” The younger girl fumbles with her phone until she can make the video call with her parents.

 

The couple had made their way to the upper floor and found a couch to rest for a while, Mina knew it was better to get Chaeyoung somewhere quiet for this. It wasn’t long before the call connected and the smaller girl was excitedly talking to her mothers, Mina held her hand as she watched fondly.

 

“Moms! I met this really pretty girl.”

 

“Really, honey?” Nayeon asks tenderly. “Who is this pretty girl?”

 

“Oh, she is the prettiest, mom! And she’s holding my hand!”

 

“Good evening mrs and mrs Im.” Mina decides to join the call. “I’m sorry about this, I thought she could handle one beer.”

 

“Hey, Mina.” Jeongyeon laughs. “It’s alright, we knew she would be a real lightweight. But how much did she have?”

 

“Chaengie, can you show them your bottle?” Mina asks softly.

 

“Look moms, this pretty girl gave me a pretty bottle.” Chaeyoung holds up a green beer bottle,a little over half empty. “And she said she will walk me home later!”

 

“That’s great, sweetheart.” Nayeon says with a warm, heart-shaped smile. “How about you go talk to the pretty girl now? She looks like she wants to talk to you.”

 

“Okay! Bye moms!”

 

And then Chaeyoung hangs up. Mina just wanted to squeeze her girlfriend tight and cuddle her until morning, that makes her move to leave and drag the girl out of the party. They make it to their dorm, Chaeyoung babbling about whatever and saying Mina is very pretty but they shouldn’t keep holding hands because Chae’s girlfriend might be sad and she loved her girlfriend too much to make her sad. Mina musters all of her self control not to squeal her heart out all the way to their room. The dancer helps the drunken girl into her pajamas and they settle down, impossibly close, in their joined beds, Chaeyoung telling fantastical stories that make absolutely no sense and Mina just listens fondly because she loves her girlfriend very much and this new side of Chaeyoung was just the cutest.