Nine. Ten. Eleven. Twelve.

Mina had lost track of how many texts she sent Chaeyoung. In the end, it didn’t matter. It didn’t look like she was going to reply to any of them, not even the one asking if she had gotten home safe.

At first, Mina tried looking around the building, asking the classmates she ran into, but none of them could give her any information other than that they had seen her inside the exam room when they were all there.

It was Nayeon that gave her some peace of mind. The girl was with her back against the wall just like she had seen Chaeyoung minutes earlier, with her girlfriend in front of her fixing her hair. Their positions combined with their looks of adoration and love for one another made her smile. 

“I’m sorry for interrupting you and your bubble of wholesomeness,” Mina pointes with her index finger between them, “I was just wondering if you two have talked to Chaeyoung recently.”

Nayeon tapped on Jeongyeon’s shoulder, silently asking her to move aside so she could face Mina. “She approached us, like, 10 minutes ago?” Jeongyeon nodded in agreement. “She looked like she was in a rush, said that she wasn’t feeling well and that she would just walk home because she didn’t want to wait for the rest to get out.”

Mina sighed and thanked the couple, one question on the tip of her tongue that she couldn’t hold back from asking. “Is that really all she said? Nothing else?”

“She’s- It’s your relationship and she made me promise I’d stay out of it. Just talk to her when you can. It would be nice for her to have some calmness after everything that has been going on.” 

“I know, she just ran away before I even got the chance to-” The Japanese clucked, taking back her words when she saw Nayeon pressing her lips together, “You’re staying out of it, right.”

“It’s just for the best,” Jeongyeon pitched in for the first time, not wanting to say too much but feeling sorry for Mina and her confused look. “But I’m sure you two will talk things out soon.”

“I hope so. Thanks, again.”

It wasn’t completely irracional to run after Chaeyoung, right? The only thing holding her back was BamBam. She was actually kind of looking forward to it, talking things over with him and knowing that after that was done, he’d stay out of the way. It would mean one less problem. 

Mina even felt guilty for not giving him a proper chance. He was nice (at least to her), goodlooking, and always wanted to be around her; sometimes a little too much. Liking someone like him would make things a lot easier. It would mean having a normal friendship with her roommate and being with someone who clearly has less issues communicating his feelings. 

It reminded her that, no matter how much you try, you can’t choose who you like.

“Mina,” BamBam tapped her shoulder to bring her back to reality, “Are you ready to go?”

The brunette nodded, putting on a smile even though all she wanted was for the day to end. “Where are we going?”

“Well, there’s this coffee shop a few blocks away from where you live, so I just thought we could go there and then I’ll take you home?” He his slightly chapped lips - probably because of the weather that was becoming colder as days passed - offering her a shy smile before looking back to his shoes.

“Sure,” Mina admired the view, trying to look at everything but her company to avoid feeling guilty. The freezing wind that whipped against her face and faintly stung ; the winter trees and their branches that somehow still managed to be heavy with snow on the tips. Under other circumstances, she would have found the scenery dazzling. “Wait. How do you know where I live?”

“Oh- Uhm- You know, Chaeyoung and I have known each other for a few years now and we worked on projects for school before.” His breathing caught for a few seconds, something Mina wouldn’t have noticed if it weren’t for the smoke that his lips suddenly released after. 

“Right, I don’t really see you two getting along.”

“We were paired by the teachers, I don’t see us working together by choice either.” He laughed to ease the tension, which made Mina involuntarily press her nails into her palm. Was he making fun of Chaeyoung?

“She’s been really nice to me though. Everyone in her family is amazing and have done so much for me without me even asking them to.” 

“Of course, I apologize if I was out of place. I didn’t mean it like that.” BamBam his lips for the hundredth time, something Mina noticed he did a lot. “The coffee shop is just around the corner from here.”

“Okay.” What did he mean it like, then? 

The fact that Mina only replied with that made BamBam realize that maybe he’d have to put in more effort. “Do you know what you’re gonna order? I’m more of a coffee guy but since it’s about to be lunchtime we could order that instead.” His voice raised in the end, which irked Mina.

“I’m fine with just coffee. Like I told you before, I have a lot to do before leaving.” It wasn’t a lie, but maybe she was also exagger