a/n: the performances are here ! they're based on some of my favorites so i highly recommend you check them out to understand the chapter better :D
chae's: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeBbK5JbBR8 (we got young chaeng here because this is from 2016 lol)
mina's: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rpY57eJqfM

in case you can't copy them, i'll also put them on the story's thoughts so you just have to scroll down til the end of the chapter to find it :)

---

Chaeyoung never thought her group would be taking the competition so seriously, and if she had known, she was pretty sure she wouldn’t have agreed on participating. It was taking over almost all of her free time that wasn’t spent on academic stuff, and it was exhausting. The worst part was they weren’t even rehearsing on the finishing touches; her group had taken so much time to decide what to do, they now had few days to polish the stage.

And not only was the girl disappointed because she barely had time to herself but also because the only time she saw her roommate was when they got ready for bed; Mina wasn’t even having dinner at home as she practiced until late hours and would grab a snack with Momo before parting ways. 

But the thing that worried Chaeyoung the most was that seeing how hard Mina was working on her performance, she was pretty sure she was going to lose the bet they had made. Although she had no idea what the girl was doing - not because she hadn’t insisted but because Mina refused to speak - the effort the older was putting in would definitely pay off. 

What would Mina ask her to do? She hoped it wasn’t something too bad or embarrassing, but just in case she would try to stay on her roommate’s best side, still, doing this last thing was hard when every time she tried to get closer to the girl, she was pushed away. It was making her mad. 

The one that crossed the line was when on Tuesday, she offered Mina to watch a movie (or whatever the older wanted to watch, it’s not like she was actually going to pay attention), and the girl completely shut her down by saying “Chaeyoung, you know I’m really busy right now. I don’t have time for things like these.” It wasn’t so much the words but the tone of disinterest and coldness in her voice. 

After that, Chaeyoung decided not to initiate any interactions to see how long they would go without speaking. Even she knew it was the behavior of a 7-year-old.

Needless to say, she was shocked when they only ‘spoke’ in texts to inform each other about their times of arrival, and when at home they needed something specific. It was like the last week hadn’t happened and Chaeyoung’s anger was turning into sadness. 

All the younger could do was wonder what she had done to deserve this cold treatment and indifference. It hurt a lot more than she thought it would.

Things went ‘smoothly’ until Thursday when they planned on going to bed extra early to be well-rested for their presentation on Friday. The problem was that it was impossible for Chaeyoung to sleep when Mina had said she was going to the bathroom to wash her face 20 minutes ago and she could see how her shadow moved from the space between the door and the floor.

She waited, hoping Mina would come out on her own, but she didn’t. After the clock hit 30 minutes since the girl entered, Chaeyoung stood up to get her. Even though their friendship was going through a rough patch, Chaeyoung still cared about her, and until Mina gave her a good reason as to why she was being treated that way, she refused to acknowledge it and let it get to her. 

Silently, she tip-toed until she reached the bathroom door. Knocking as softly as possible to not startle the girl inside, Chaeyoung spoke after. “Mina. Is everything alright?”

“Yeah, of course.” The older took a deep breath and moved a few things to pretend she was doing something, “Go to sleep, I’ll be there in a second.”

Maybe Chaeyoung would have believed her if Mina’s voice hadn’t broken, but now she wasn’t leaving until she was sure her roommate was okay. “Okay, I’ll wait until you get out then.”

The tap was opened and closed a couple of times, and after an eternal minute, Mina exited the bathroom looking down and using her hair as a curtain to hide her face. The younger tried to act unbothered, but it was unthinkable after seeing this fragile and vulnerable Mina.

The possibilities of her being shut out were high, that Chaeyoung knew, but even if it meant swallowing her pride and forgetting about the apology she knew she deserved, she wasn’t going to bed until Mina was okay. “What’s wrong?”

The older still didn’t look up, instead focusing on her steps to get to her bed without tripping. “Nothing is wrong, Chaeyoung. Let’s just sleep, we have to be up early tomorrow.”

“With all due respect,” the younger took a seat next to a nervous Mina, “I don’t give a single about the competition tomorrow. Right now, I care about you.”

“Why?” She wasn’t even sure why she said that, maybe she had her hopes up a bit too much and thought Chaeyoung would voice her feelings - that if she had any - but Mina needed some reassurance. Not from anyone, from her roommate. 

Out of all the things the younger expected: anger, crying, indifference, what she didn’t think Mina would do was confront her. Confront her about this weird situation they were in where although neither one of them said it out loud, they both enjoyed it more than they were supposed to. 

“Because you’re my friend.” It wasn’t the right time to say it, she couldn’t even if she tried. “I love spending time with you and I care about your wellbeing, and you ignoring me for the past few days has been worrying me.”

“I haven’t been ignoring you.” Yes, she had. Mina had been purposefully arriving later, spending more time with her best friends, and practicing until her muscles ached; somehow that pain was more manageable than the one in her heart. Still, she thought she had been more subtle about it. “I was just busy with practice and everything, I’m sorry we haven’t been spending time together.”

Neither one of them believed the words that came out of Mina’s mouth, but not mentioning it was easier than acknowledging the truth. “It’s okay. Now, you wanna tell me what’s really going on so we can go to sleep?”

The older shifted in her seat; it was dumb. “I’m just really nervous about tomorrow, Momo has really high expectations and I don’t want to disappoint anyone.” 

It’s not like Chaeyoung didn’t want to ask about why Momo was so eager to win, but the nearly-crying girl in front of her was what really mattered, because it wasn’t just any girl, it was Mina. “I don’t think you could ever do that, we all believe in you. You’ve been practicing nonstop for days, and I’m sure you’re going to win. At this point I’m just waiting for you to win our bet.” 

Silence.

Mina pinched her arm as subtly as possible just to make sure she wasn’t dreaming; no one had encouraged her like that in a long time, most of the time she was scared of boring the other person with her feelings. “Thank you. I really needed that.” 

Shifting to look into her eyes, Chaeyoung stared into what felt like the deepest pool of honey. “I think we should go to sleep, even though we have the day off tomorrow I’m sure both of our groups will want to rehearse a couple more times.” 

Mina nodded, refusing to mention how contradicting Chaeyoung was by saying that but not moving off her bed; she didn’t want her to leave, they had spent too much time not talking. 

Chaeyoung clicked her tongue against the roof of , wondering whether it would be risky to say what she hadn’t stopped thinking about since last week out loud. With the tiniest voice, she looked down at the mattress while she spoke. “Is there anything else I can do for you?”

Mina’s eyes widened at the realization of those words, the same ones the younger had said a few days ago. At this point, Chaeyoung had to be aware of what she was doing. For the last time, she would let herself be indulged in the warmth of her roommate’s arms. Laying her back down on the mattress, she whispered in an even lower voice. “Just stay here.”

“Okay.” The younger got under the cover, compelling Mina to do the same before embracing her. They were in the brunette’s bed this time, and her lavender scent was something that both put her at ease and heightened her smell to the point of not being able to focus on anything else. “Are you comfortable?”

Her only answer was a nod that Chaeyoung felt on her chest, but she felt like speaking more.

“Do you want me to leave?” 

This time Mina took her time to reply, not because she didn’t hear her but because she wasn’t sure. Her relationship with Chaeyoung was emotionally exhausting for her and she was sure she was making a fool out of herself by expecting they could even be more than just friends. 

Still, Mina had promised herself this was the last time. She shook her head.

“Okay. We should sleep.” All these emotions were too much for her 1.59 body to handle, so Chaeyoung forced herself to try to sleep. “Good night, Mina.”

--- 

Somehow, the two had completely switched positions by morning. Chaeyoung was now facing Mina, holding her waist close and supporting her head on her chest; even their legs were tangled.

The younger woke up feeling the right side of her face sweaty but refused to move after noticing the compromising position they were in. Although her face was close to the older’s s, the only feelings growing within her were romantic because she had never felt so protected; she was usually the one who took that role without even being aware of it.

Deep down, Chaeyoung knew what she was doing was wrong. Regardless of what Mina felt towards her, doing this when she was well aware of her own felt wrong. Still, she couldn’t bring herself to end the moment, it was all she had been dreaming of for the past days, so she waited.

Maybe 10 minutes passed or an hour, she had heard their phones vibrating a few times but she wasn’t sure, all she knew was that the second Mina’s hand started tenderly caressing her hair, she panicked.

“Morning.” Mina’s hoarse morning whispered. She had been awake for a lot more than she would like to admit, but she just couldn’t bring herself to speak. 

What surprised the younger the most was how Mina managed to know she wasn’t sleeping when she had stayed still the whole time. “Good morning.” Yep, it still felt disgusting to speak without having brushed her teeth.

“I think we should start getting ready, our friends probably need us.” If Mina stayed in that position for much longer, she wouldn’t be able to think about anything else for the rest of the day.

Chaeyoung’s heart crumpled at the thought of moving, so she hugged Mina closer. “Let’s just stay for five more minutes.”

It was so ing endearing maybe staying like that forever was worth it, but Momo wouldn’t feel the same. “Fine, but only five.” As if she didn’t want to stay.

Raising her head enough to look the older in the eye, Chaeyoung showed her dimples. “Deal.”

--- 

To keep her part of the agreement, Chaeyoung ran to get to Nayeon’s house on time. She had made a few calls the previous week to get everything ready for the party - mostly alcohol - and all that was left to do was keep important possessions away from guests in a locked room; it was that or Nayeon’s parents would ground her until the last of her days. It took longer than anticipated, mostly because of all the paintings and devices they had to hide, but in the end, the house was almost bulletproof.

The plan was to grab something to eat and then get ready at their respective houses. Nayeon couldn’t shake the fact that her friend was qu