It was a cliché first meeting.

Mina can tell it was with the way Momo was initiating on making her try a dating app, have a break from her studies, and be with them on a fast food chain while having a lot of stories about their love life.

It was noisy and chaotic, but as time passes by, and as the customers keep changing and they’re still at the very corner of the second floor of the chain, Mina finds comfort with her friends for the first time that Sana and Nayeon were happy about.

That’s when they convinced Mina to bring out her phone and download the app they are saying.

“It’s random, whatever you want, guys or girls, just swipe and choose who you want to talk to and maybe they’re just near us so you can both meet”

“Right away? How fast are you really, Sana?”

“That’s where I met Dahyun, remember?”

“Ah the music prodigy of the campus. You just didn’t observe about your surroundings yet because you can even know her even without the app.”

“Shut up. At least we met, unlike Momo and that stupid guy who got scared meeting her because he told her last minute that he had an emergency when he’s literally meters away from us”

“Oh, please. Stop making me remember that freaking weird guy. That’s why I’m just looking for girls now and new friends because you’re all making me suffer.”

Momo received a scoff from Mina and the other two were busy laughing with what she has said.

“How about you, Mina? What’s your type? What did you searched to match with someone in the app?”

“Uh, I don’t even know how this thing works? I just clicked arts and showed me some random people that is also studying in our university”

“That’s great! Let us see!”

They all gathered and pulled their chairs near Mina and saw how the girl thoroughly read every description of the people in the app whilst the others scolded her because she should look at the pictures of themselves they uploaded, as well.

“Damn. You rejected the varsity guy? And the one that keeps on wanting to pursue you? As you should, why are they even in the app if they’re serious about you? A bunch of jokes, actually.”

Mina was about to choose someone she eventually liked to talk with, even if, just a disclaimer, she’s really always not the one who makes the first move, just because she likes what is in their description when the person itself messaged her via another app and the girls almost screamed because what are the instances that the two know each other, even outside the dating app?

“Care to share when did you two started to talk THAT casually, Myoui Mina?”

“I feel so betrayed. I thought we’re friends yet you’re already seeing someone?”

“You are?”

“You and your assumptions, Minatozaki Sana. We started talking last week when I was so stressed and wants to talk to someone. We’re classmates in a general education subject and we’re both stressed in the same thing, so we instantly clicked.”

“So that’s how you two met? And why are you still choosing her in the dating app when you can just keep talking to her on a regular messaging app?”

“Because I want to ask why she is there?”

“And if she asked you back?”

“It’s because you all convinced me, dummies”

“Well, good luck to Son Chaeyoung for handling THE Myoui Mina”

They laughed at Mina’s reason and just let the girl do whatever she wants.

That’s how they met—not actually the dating app, but a boring, yet demanding subject they have in college that doesn’t even give them good grades and even caused them almost a failing one, if not for their brave classmate who fought for them and asked the professor if he could be reported at the office because all his lessons are definitely not connected to the topic so he doesn’t have the right to give them some low grades.

And to cut that short, Mina and Chaeyoung were instantly enjoying each other’s company, and Mina feels so alive whenever she has some late night conversation with the girl and makes her feel that she’s the rest she needs when taking breaks from her studies and other academic things she’s doing.

Not that she’s impressing her parents or her relatives so she’s working hard with her studies, it’s just that she’s already used to having that kind of high grades and she definitely doesn’t want to settle with less so she is making sure to graduate with flying colors and hopefully have her dream job come true, that’s the cliché part.

What makes it weird for Mina is because as time passes by that it’s becoming months and the semester, even ended yet Chaeyoung is still sending messages and opening conversations with Mina that made her feel that she’s not a schoolmate nor an acquaintance, but a friend, a potential special person for her because she’s not the type who easily opens up and even can be read easily like a book by her friends, but with Chaeyoung, she can comfortably say what she feels and wants.

She’s the type of person that makes Mina want to keep on trying something new, want to discover more of the things around her, and eventually prepare herself for the world has to offer for her.

That’s where she started somehow being influenced by Chaeyoung and her romantic side because she already keeps on imagining romantic things before she sleeps.

The first thing that she could ever remember was imagining a person, a potential partner, being good with her dog, that can certainly be a lot of points for her because she loves her dog dearly and therefore if that person is good with animals, they can easily hangout.

Imagining how nice it would be when it’s the weekend and instead of being with her papers and activities yet to be submitted on a Wednesday, they will have a morning walk at the park and have breakfast together after playing with her dog and probably at the other dogs at the park just because they like to play.

They would also let the dog take a bath when they get back home and most likely be soaked with the water and have soap and bubbles all over, as well. She can imagine how fun it would be, being with her favorite person and favorite dog in the whole world.

There’s also one time she imagined are the bizarre yet cute things a couple can do like making pizza together and have a flour fight where they will laugh at each other first before one gets mad because the kitchen is already a whole mess but they will still enjoy the pizza they made even if it is barely edible.

Or sleeping in a tent together and sharing a sleeping bag, enjoying the warmth one another can bring because it’s already cold outside and the fire will gradually die out to make the whole atmosphere colder and they will just end up cuddling each other until they fall asleep and the next thing they knew is that it’s already a great morning ahead of them.

It’s what makes Mina thinks being comfortable is because she wants to have that kind of affection that can be seen a simple one, but already means a lot to her. She totally likes those small gestures of thinking of her even on normal days, and not just on special occasions. She likes those moments where she feel so loved and valued, where she feel like she belongs in the world and she has the right to exist.

Her other imagines makes her mind run wild that sometimes she’s even questioning herself because why is she imagining kissing someone on a ferris wheel as fireworks go off in the background or on a new year’s as confetti is being thrown in the air when she’s clearly not even finding a partner because she already declared that she’s too busy to be romantically in love with someone?

Her other self proves her wrong because when night becomes deeper and that certain someone starts to send her a message her and telling her random things about the world and their surroundings, and how amazing it is, Mina just keep on falling, even if Chaeyoung sometimes don’t look at her the way she wants the girl to look at her, or how she wants to be hold, but the girl is too slow, or how she wants some attention, but she’s too busy with another thing that is way more important than her.

There’s a lot of instances and Mina can pinpoint each and every of those, yet, she chose not to because why would she want to hurt herself when she already lets herself to fall deeper until she will soon realize how fool she is for love? How craving she is for care and attention that can make her feel greedy once she get to have those?

Even if Chaeyoung keeps on making her feel how lovely her whole being is, there will still come a time where she will just introduce her to her friends as her co-friend, or when there will suddenly be nothing special to what is happening between them because Chaeyoung seems off and makes the atmosphere awkward.

Or when Chaeyoung will not talk to her for days and will talk to her again as if nothing happened, as if Mina didn’t look for her every minute, as if she didn’t worry about her and her shenanigans, as if she’s not curious to why she’s even caring about her when she knows she’s out of Chaeyoung’s league.

It was gradually like that for Mina and she’s slowly accepting her fate of being in a bubble called Chaeyoung for a while before she comes to a decision.

She doesn’t want to feel out of place anymore, she doesn’t want her hand to be rejected anymore, she doesn’t want to be introduced as a friend anymore, so she has to make the first move, even if it will hurt a little.

Mina notices it all, yet her heart still chooses Chaeyoung.