Time was flying by, and before Mina even realized it, it was Chuseok. Weeks had passed and she felt like her body was on automatic mode, repeating the same routine over and over again every day.

 

Things with Chaeyoung were okay, she guessed, and besides the small incident they had had a couple of weeks earlier, things were normal between the two.

 

Mina had learned how to handle her feelings – that she still wasn’t sure were genuine – and even though she still blushed every time Chaeyoung hugged her or initiated any type of skinship, it was obvious the younger was just a touchy person with the ones she was close to.

 

“Mina,” Chaeyoung turned her chair and let her forehead fall on Mina’s shoulder, “I’m tired of studying.”

 

The Japanese carefully moved her arm, petting Chaeyoung’s hair. “Just a bit more, we have the whole weekend off once we’re done.” Mina tried encouraging the younger, especially now that she knew they both had to keep their grades up, but Chaeyoung was relentless.

 

“No,” Chaeyoung huffed in tiredness, “now we know why ‘studying’ ends in dying.” She giggled at her own joke, which made Mina smile.

 

“Fine, just finish the exercise and then we can do something else.” She sighed in defeat, knowing there was no way of winning against a determined Chaeyoung, who quickly moved from Mina’s shoulder and gave her undivided attention to the math homework in front of her.

 

After a few minutes, Mina heard Chaeyoung singing in delight and squealing “I’m done.”

 

The older only hummed in response, because although she would love to drop everything and spend time with her roommate, Mina had to do her homework; another thing she hated was leaving things unfinished.

 

“Mina,” she felt a persistent and rhythmic tapping on her shoulder. It took everything in her to not turn and baby Chaeyoung; paying extra attention to all her needs and smiling every time her dimples appeared. “Mina,”

 

“Give me a few minutes, I’m almost done.” She brushed off the unrelenting hand, trying to write down all the arguments she could come up with before they left her head.

 

“Mina!” It was a little louder than she intended, making the called girl turn in worriedness.

 

“What’s wrong?” She furrowed her eyebrows, concerned for a second that something important might be happening.

 

Chaeyoung showed her a crooked grin, “Pay attention to me.” Her voice turned into a hush as the syllables left her lips, realizing just how needy she sounded.

 

“You’re such a baby sometimes.” Mina said under her breath and continued writing the last words of her sentence, trying her best to suppress the helpless smile that was forming on her lips.

 

“I am not!” It apparently pressed a button, and the younger was embarrassed as never before. “Fine, do your boring homework instead.” Chaeyoung couldn’t understand why it was so important for her to spend time with Mina; she had recently caught herself going out of her way to see her roommate at school. Not to talk to her, just to look her way and see what she was doing. It made her feel peaceful, but the reason was beyond her knowledge.

 

“Chae,” Mina smiled and hugged the younger from the back, setting her chin on Chaeyoung’s shoulder. She could feel how the muscles were lightly relaxing and the strawberry fragrance filled her senses.

 

“What?” She pouted, but it wasn’t seen by her roommate behind her because of their position.

 

“I’m done now.”

 

“Really?” Chaeyoung was being so needy it was gross even for her.

 

Mina wanted to scream. The scene could only be described in one word: domestic. “Yeah.”

 

“Good for you.” She joked, knowing what it really meant (or at least hoping she did).

 

Mina retracted from the hug and turned her around, having the feeling that if she didn’t move away, the urges within her would only grow. “What do you want to do?”

 

At the loss of contact, her back suddenly felt cold even in the hot weather. 'Weird.'  “Nothing, I don’t know.”

 

Mina’s lips turned upwards, showing the gummy smile the younger was loving more every day. “Well, figure it out because you now have my attention.” She went back to the desk and started putting her things away.

 

“Maybe we can play something…” Chaeyoung wasn’t sure what, but there was a gamer side in Mina that she knew nothing about.

 

“Like what?”

 

“You’re the expert here, you tell me.” She sat on her chair – this time with a smile on her face – and her computer.

 

Mina imitated and settled next to Chaeyoung, debating the many possibilities. “Have you ever played Minecraft?”

 

“Maybe once or twice with my brother, but he would get mad every time I died. And I died a lot so I also got mad and that was it.” She messily explained the memory, “We can try again if you want though, as long as there is no screaming involved.”

 

Mina nodded immediately, it was the safest choice and there were so many possibilities in the game, Chaeyoung would love it. “Sounds good, it’s one of my favorite games. I like the surviving and that type of stuff but maybe you’ll like building more.”

 

If she got Chaeyoung to like this game it would mean they could spend their free time playing, a great plan for a homebody like Mina. And so, she spent a couple of minutes fixing the server so they could play together.

 

At first, it was a mess. It was hard for the younger to know what to do, and after she got cornered by skeletons in a cave, she decided to work on building a nice house for the pair instead.

 

Making it as cozy as possible was her mission, so she took great measurements - like looking up ‘cute cottages minecraft’ on Pinterest to find inspiration.

 

The rest of their evening consisted in Chaeyoung bossing Mina around to find the right materials for their house, and Mina doing it gladly because she loved the adventure that came with it.

 

Soon, their home was finished. It was built on top of a mountain, and its shape resembled a crescent moon, with huge glass windows that overviewed the sea and walls made of quartz and dark wood.

 

“Mina.” She spoke without moving her eyes from the screen.

 

“Yeah?”

 

“What’s your favorite color?” It was crazy how after all the time they had spent together, she didn’t know the answer to that basic question.

 

“Why?” Mina raised her eyebrows but also refused to look away, too into the game.

 

“Just answer the question!”

 

“I like purple a lot lately, it’s a nice color.”

 

“Thank you.” Chaeyoung thanked her by looking into her eyes through their avatars.

 

A few minutes passed, and after walking a lot , Chaeyoung finally found the purple orchids she was desperately looking for and grabbed a few. She knew it was silly, but maybe it would make Mina smile.

 

“Mina.”

 

“What now?”

 

“Come here,” Chaeyoung showed her surroundings, forgetting Mina could teleport to her “now- Wow that was fast!”

 

Mina giggled and looked around, impressed at how much progress had been made since they first started, “What do you need?”

 

Chaeyoung suddenly became shy, “I have a- something for you.” She bit her lower lip in embarrassment, was it too late to back down?

 

“Oh, show me. I’m a very curious person.” She moved her eyes from the screen for a second to finally look into Chaeyoung’s real eyes and smiled.

 

“Here,” The younger let go of one of the orchids for Mina to grab and heard a giggle shortly after.

 

“Didn’t know you were such a romantic.” Her smile could be heard through her tone of voice, sweet with a hint of humor.

 

“There are many things you don’t know about me, Mina.” She grinned back and started moving her avatar, “One last thing.”

 

Mina followed with her own to a room on the last floor of the house. It was cute, a fish tank was decorating one of the walls and the others were covered by paintings that Chaeyoung had criticized, saying she could’ve done a much better job.

 

“I also made you a purple bed.” Chaeyoung jumped on the digital bed to draw attention to it.

 

Mina let out an ‘awh’ and jumped on it as well. Next to it was a green bed, which she assumed was for Chaeyoung. “Is this one yours?”

 

“Yeah. You don’t mind sharing a room here too, do you?” It wasn’t a big deal, they were living together in real life.

 

“I’m fine with it.” She thought Chaeyoung putting their beds together was the most adorable thing ever and wondered what it would be like to sleep next to Chaeyoung, but her heart would probably beat so fast it would keep them up all night.

 

The two spent more time decorating, Mina even put the orchid in a pot, until a notification took them away from the bubble they were in.

 

Nayeon - 19:34

Hey chaeng

I can see u from my window sitting at the desk for the past three hours

Shat are u n Mina doing

 

Chaeyoung - 19:35

playing minecraft

 

Nayeon - 19:35

You’re such a

I BEGGED u to play a few months back and u said it was dumb

 

Chaeyoung - 19:35

people change my dear

anyways what’s up

 

Nayeon - 19:36

You remember my cousin?

 

Chaeyoung - 19:36

the one who’s in jail?

 

Nayeon - 19:37

He got fined for driving too fast

But no, the other one

 

Chaeyoung - 19:37

yeah he was nice

 

Nayeon - 19:40

He works at Magic Park and he said he can get us free tickets if we want

 

Chaeyoung - 19:42

sweet :0

that actually sounds fun

haven’t been to an amusement park since forever

i’ll ask mina

 

“Mina.” Chaeyoung broke their silence and looked at her.

 

“Huh?” Mina only muttered, domesticating a wolf being her priority at that moment.

 

“Do you like amusement parks?”

 

“Last time I went to one I was like 8, but I think I do.” She rapidly answered to get back to the game.

 

Chaeyoung took back her phone and opened her chat with Nayeon, who was expecting an answer.

 

Chaeyoung - 19:44

she says she likes them

 

Nayeon - 19:46

Okay

Then b ready at 10 tomorrow bc we’re going :)

 

“Mina.” Chaeyoung had called her name so many times today.

 

“What now?” She was getting tired of pausing the game and it showed.

 

Chaeyoung turned off her computer and looked through her contacts until she found the sushi place she usually ordered from, “We’re going to an amusement park tomorrow.” She smiled and put the phone over her ear, not needing to ask Mina what she wanted because she already knew the answer.

 

“Okay,” It would be fun, right? Mina needed a break from everything. “Who’s coming with us?”

 

“I think your friends, Dahyun, Tzuyu, Nayeon and Jeong.” She replied and sat on her bed, waiting until an employee from the restaurant picked up the call.

 

--- (a few weeks back) ---

 

Mina had just arrived at school from a weird weekend. She and Chaeyoung had screamed at each other – something she rarely did – and made up after; it had made them stronger than ever.

 

They had spent the two days watching movies by themselves and playing board games with Chaeyoung’s family. Everything was perfect except for one thing: Sana.

 

Why had she asked Chaeyoung out? Although she hadn’t said anything to Sana about her possible new crush, it felt weird. She was determined to get an answer before first period; when she saw the cheerful girl talking to Tzuyu in the yard outside of school, she grabbed her by the arm and dragged her to a secluded corner, ignoring the questions asked.

 

“Good morning to you too, Mina.” she said, the irony clear in her voice. “What the hell is going on?”

 

“No, you don’t get to ask the questions.” Mina frowned. Confrontation was something she hated, but she couldn’t just let something important like this slide.

 

“Okay, then ask whatever you need.” Sana looked pissed but also interested in what was going on in her friend‘s head.

 

“Why?” Mina thought her voice would break if she continued the sentence, so cutting it short was the best option.

 

“Why what?” She moved her hands around to emphasize her confusion, “Use your words, I’m not a ing genius.”

 

Ignoring the words used by her friend, she breathed in and tried to relax. “Why did you ask Chaeyoung out?”

 

Laughing. It was all Sana let out. It kind of hurt her feelings, but she still needed an answer to be at peace.

 

“Sana!” Mina groaned, “Answer my question.”

 

“I-“ The giggles were slowly dissipating. “I just wanted to see if Tzuyu would react.” She smiled, her eyes becoming smaller.

 

“Oh.” Mina’s mouth made an ‘O’ shape. “Why didn’t you tell me that?”

 

“I thought it was clear. I know I said she was pretty and all, but after seeing the eyes you give her…” Sana squinted her eyes, trying to find the right way to word her thoughts. “I’d rather not.”

 

Mina wanted to leave and never come back. The argument had been over nothing? And also, Sana knew? “I- I don't give her the eyes.”

 

“Yes, you do.” Sana got closer to avoid other people hearing the