Mina

Of all the things and people and names in the world, Nayeon wakes up every day thinking about the owner of that name. Her “ex” bestfriend because now,  she's the love of her life, she thinks . She hugs her pillow tight, not allowing the butterflies in her stomach escape. After calming down, Nayeon sits up with a stupid beaming smile on her face. She stretches her back and arms, and does a big yawn. 

Once she gets out of her room, she hides away all her feelings for Mina. No one has to know about her insanity. 

It’s a beautiful day except it’s the first day of school, but Nayeon doesn’t mind. She’s going to be excited anyway because she will get to see and spend time with Mina more.

The beautiful spring leaves are rustling and the sky is bright and blue. Nayeon takes her video cam out of her backpack and starts recording as she walks her way to school with her friends, Momo and Jihyo. There are other students on their way to school, too. She catches falling pink leaves and records it as she does. She hears Momo letting out a heavy sigh.

“Hey, isn’t it usually really cold when school starts? The weather’s crazy.” Momo complains as she takes off her school uniform blazer. 

Jihyo and Nayeon don't respond to her. Instead, Jihyo continues walking while checking herself through her hand mirror and Nayeon continues recording with her camera and marvels at the perfectly bloomed flowers they’re passing by. “Wow. Look at the flowers.” Then, there’s Jihyo again with her concerns about her looks. “Do I look better with my hair like this?” She asks Momo while looking at her reflection. Jihyo had her hair cut shorter. It used to reach her waist, now it’s on shoulder level. “What kind of hairstyle do boys like these days?”

Momo looks at her friend. “Your hair looks fine.”

“Hey, Nayeon.” Jihyo calls out. “I hope there are many cuties in our class.”

“Yeah.” Nayeon chuckles. She doesn’t really care. She already have eyes for someone in particular.

 

Mina’s riding her bicycle to school. The sides of her hair are pinned to the back of her head. She smiles looking at the green scenery that the spring season is offering. Pink leaves are falling in front of her, some softly hitting her face. She looks over the lake and looks back ahead on the road. She passes by several other students. She sees that the road is getting narrow because of the many students walking through, so she tries to slow down. She pulls the brake but… What the-?  It’s not working! Her pace is getting faster as the road comes to a slope. She starts to panic as she pulls the brake and it’s still not working. She pushes her bell horn to caution the people on the road ahead of her.

Her speed is picking up. "Huh? Oh no. Ah!" She starts to scream. “Ahhhh!!” She almost hits someone on the side… then another. She passes through as people watch her.

Nayeon stops in her pace and turns around as she hears someone screaming, and so did Jihyo and Momo, and the other students around. They hear the bicycle clunk as it rushes through. Metals are clinking and the scream is getting louder as it gets near them. Nayeon narrows her brows. “Mi- Mina?” She mutters to herself. Once she realizes who it was, she immediately throws away her video camera and starts running towards the girl. The latter hits a big rock and her bike turns over. She gets thrown up in the air. She closes her eyes and braces herself for impact but when her eyes flutter open, she sees Nayeon running fast toward her. Nayeon catches her midair, holding her around her head and body. This resulted in Nayeon falling on her back and Mina above her. 

The latter is laying above Nayeon, making her heart skip a beat. Mina looks at her savior’s nameplate that is pinned on her uniform. Im Nayeon. She looks at the girl who’s already looking at her. She lifts her hand from the latter's shoulder and sits up. Nayeon watches before she also sits up.

Mina fixes her hair and looks around to see people staring at them. She looks down, feeling embarrassed of what just happened. She was about to stand up when she hears Nayeon ask, “What was that?” Mina looks at her. Nayeon continues, teasingly. “You still can’t ride the bike?”

“What are you saying? I was so much better than you.” Mina tuts.

Behind them, Nayeon’s friends are watching them curiously. “What’s going on?” Jihyo asks Momo. 

Nayeon smiles at Mina. “It’s been a long time, Myoui Mina.” Her heart is beating loud and fast because of the running, but mostly because she’s so close to Mina. It’s been a while since they’ve been this physically close. Nayeon’s thankful she can pretend it’s all because of the running. Mina looks at her and smiles back with a hint of gratitude.

Nayeon’s camera, which is lying on the grass, records the scene. This was their first conversation after a long time.

//

Spring of 2000, May 7th. The two baby girls were laid in a crib as people stood around them, singing the happy birthday song. Mrs. Im put a pink head ribbon on baby Nayeon’s head. Mrs. Myoi takes a picture of the babies. “Aww, they’re so cute!”

Their dads were roommates in college and then became best friends. Mr. Myoi is from Japan but he moved to Korea after graduating college to be with his girlfriend who’s now his wife. They got married and bought the house beside Mr. Im’s that was sold by a relative. Mr. and Mrs. Im were already married then. Their wives easily became best friends.

Growing up, Mina and Nayeon celebrated their birthday together. They learned how to ride a bicycle together. Their rooms are parallel to each other. They would look at each other through their room’s windows, making funny faces and laughing at each other. They also made string phones and they would talk to each other by the window at night before going to bed.

They were bestfriends until one day…

Mina just finished showering. Her window was left open and Nayeon saw her in her towel. Nayeon smirked at her. Mina screamed because of embarrassment. Her face turned red. She threw a penguin stuffed toy at Nayeon. The reaction surprised Nayeon and got mad. She slammed her window shut and closed her curtains. They never talked to each other again like how they used to since then. A few days later, Mina started to miss Nayeon so she went to her window to check if Nayeon was there, and she was. She was about to say ‘hi’ but Nayeon rolled her eyes at her and closed her curtains at Mina again. Mina, frustrated, knocks the cup of her string phone down from her study table.

Some days, they would see each other by chance but they would only greet each other with frowns and rolling of eyes. They weren’t friendly to each other until 3 years later, when they were in their senior year in high school. They would pretend to be friends when their parents are around and when one of them would have dinner over the other’s house with their families.

//

  Second day of school

Nayeon stands on her toes and raises her head to look over the yard between the Myoi’s house and theirs. Oh, there she is. She knows the usual time Mina leaves for school. She gets out of the gate when she hears the gate on the other side open. She puts on her impassive face and starts walking, dragging her bicycle along. She stops in front of Mina’s gate to hop in on her bike at the same time as Mina comes out. It startles the latter.

“What the-“ Nayeon pretends to be startled too.

Mina stands in front of her. “My bike can’t be fixed. They told me to buy a new one.”

Nayeon just looks at her and doesn’t say anything.

“I’m just saying.” Mina scratches the side of her head. “Thanks for yesterday.” She smiles at her and then turns around and starts walking.

Nayeon finally opens . “Get on.” She takes her backpack from the rear seat of her bike and flings it over her shoulder.

The other girl turns around.

“You don’t want to?” Nayeon asks.

Mina notices the bandage around Nayeon’s wrist and knuckles. She walks toward Nayeon and removes her hand from the bike’s handle. “You hurt your hand.” She proceeds to sit on the bike and tells Nayeon to hop on the back seat. Nayeon complies.

During the ride, Nayeon doesn’t have anything to hold to keep herself steady. She’s thinking whether it would be okay if she holds Mina by the waist or onto her backpack. Mina sees this from the side mirror. She smirks and shakes her head. She suddenly hits the brakes and Nayeon unintentionally hugs her around the waist, bumping the side of her head at the back of Mina’s neck, smelling the flowery scent of her perfume.

“Hold tight.” Mina says, smiling but hiding it from the other girl. Nayeon also smiles as she moves her hands to Mina’s backpack and hugs it. She smiles wider and watches Mina from the back, making sure the other girl won’t see her beaming through the side mirrors. She imagines watching Mina riding the bike. Her long hair flowing in the air and laying gently on her shoulders. It would look like a movie scene. She can’t see Mina’s face right now but she knows she looks beautiful and it makes her heart beat fast.

Since that day, they started going to school together, riding on Nayeon’s bike together. They started hanging out again as if they were never unfriendly to each other for a long time. They didn’t need to relearn how to be comfortable with each other again. When they go to each other’s house to eat dinner with their parents, they don’t have to pretend to be friends anymore. And Mina started to hang out at Nayeon’s room again. She would stay until she becomes sleepy and goes back to her house before she falls asleep because Nayeon (pretends) says she doesn’t want to share her bed with her.

//

Mina is preparing for school while Nayeon is just waking up from her alarm. Mina checks her stuff and remembers Nayeon borrowed one of her books. She takes the cup of the string phone from the side of her study table and pulls the red string that is still connected to Nayeon’s cup in her room. “Nayeon!” Mina clicks her tongue. She’s not answering. She takes a duster with a long handle and uses it to knock on the other girl’s window. “Hey, Im Nayeon! Nayeon! I don’t have my math book! Im Nayeon!”

Nayeon sighs. She gets up with her eyes still unable to open properly, draws her curtain open, grabs the book from her study table and throws it toward Mina. The latter fails to catch it. “You’re welcome!” She glares at Nayeon.

Mina comes out from her house shivering with her arms crossed. It just stopped raining.

Nayeon’s leaning on her bicycle, waiting for her.

“Aren’t you cold?” Nayeon asks, putting a strap of her backpack on one shoulder.

“Can’t you see I’m shaking?” Mina responds. Before hopping on the bike, Mina checks the chain.

“Why didn’t you wear a jacket?”

“You didn’t go, did you?” She asked, ignoring the other girl.

“Go where?”

“I told you to get your bike checked. There seems to be something wrong with the chain.”

“I didn’t notice.”

“You’re ridiculous. I nagged you for days about this.”

Nayeon looks up then closes her eyes as she listen to Mina’s nagging. 

“Look here. The chain is-“ Mina gets cut when she feels something being wrapped around her neck. It’s a long maroon knitted scarf. Nayeon wraps it around her neck up to . 

“What are you doing?”

“You’re too loud. Shut your mouth.”

Nayeon chuckles as she proceeds to hop on the bike.

“Just go when I tell you to go.” Mina holds Nayeon’s arm for support as she sits at the back. “Let’s go home together after school, okay?”

Nayeon feels her cheeks get warm. So she doesn’t respond and proceeds on pedaling. “The bike’s fine. You’re just overreacting.” 

Mina hits her back. “Gosh! Just do what I tell you to.” She grunts.

 

They’re almost at school now. Nayeon is looking at Mina, smiling awkwardly with sweat on her forehead. 

Mina glares at her then looks down at the bike. The chain has been removed from the chain rings. Mina looks back at her.

“Well…” Nayeon sniffs.

“I told you so!” Mina kicks her.

“Ouch! Hey!” 

“I told you to get it fixed!”

“Fortunately, it broke before going down the hill.”

“What? You little-“ Mina punches her but Nayeon’s quick enough to duck down.

“Oh, look at the time.” Nayeon stands her bike up. “Hey, we have to hurry.” She grunts. “Why is this so heavy?” She then kneels down and tightens Mina’s shoelaces. “I didn’t know that the chain would break so easily.”

“What are you doing?”

Nayeon gets up. “Myoi Mina.” She smiles at her. “Run.”

“What? Hey!” Mina watches as Nayeon starts to run.

“Run!”

“Ugh!”

“Hurry up, Myoi. We’re late!”

“I’m going to kill you!”

 

As expected, the gate’s closed when they arrived.

“Follow me.” 

“Why?”

“Just follow me, Myoi.”

 

Mina grunts as she stands over Nayeon’s shoulders so that she could climb over the school’s back wall. Nayeon groans in pain. She looks up.

“Hey, don’t look!”

Nayeon closes her eyes. “I’m not and I don’t want to. Hurry up!”

“Push me higher.”

“Hey, are you really trying your best?” Nayeon says as Mina puts a foot on her head.

“How dare you nag me, you little-?” Mina turns and finds a short-haired girl sitting beside a tree, just a couple of meters away from her. She freezes as the unfamiliar girl turns around. She’s not wearing a uniform and has an unlit cigarette in between her lips. Is she a student here? But does that matter right now? But , she’s so pretty. Mina stares at the girl who is staring back at her, mouth agape. The cigarette from falls on the ground.

It was like the two are having a slo-mo moment and it’s ruined when Nayeon pushes her body up to the wall and accidentally pushes Mina, making her fall.

Nayeon reaches down.

The short-haired girl runs towards her to try to save her but she’s a couple of seconds too late. Mina’s face was already on the ground when she arrived.

“Are you okay?” The girl asks her.

“.” Mina mutters, looking the other way to hide her blushing cheeks caused by embarrassment. 

The girl reaches down and grabs Mina’s wrist to help her get up but Nayeon quickly gets down and grabs Mina’s wrist and helps her up. The other girl looks at Nayeon and steps back.

“Are you alright?” Nayeon asks as she dusts off the dirt from Mina’s uniform.

“Ye- Yes. I’m okay.”

Nayeon turns around and faces the unfamiliar girl and notices the fallen cigarette on the ground. “Who are you?”

//

“We have a new student.” Ms. Minatozaki, the teacher, announces. “She’s from Seoul.” Some students aren’t paying attention so she slams a book on the table. “Hey! Quiet down!” As the students give her their full attention, she asks the new student to introduce herself.

“Hello. My name is Son Chaeyoung. I hope we all get along.” She bows politely.

“Ms. Myoi Mina.” The teacher calls out.

“Yes?”

Ms. Minatozaki looks at Chaeyong and points her open palms at Mina. “She’s the class president. Ask her if you have any questions.”

Nayeon peers at the new girl who’s walking towards her seat. Mina looks at her and Chaeyoung smiles at her with a small nod. Nayeon shakes her head, a grimace on her face as she watches them.

“Also, hand in your career planning sheet on Wednesday by lunch time.” The teacher continues. 

Nayeon squints her eyes to check on Mina. Did she smile back? Nayeon asks herself.

“I'll give you the remaining time to work on your career plans. And who was late today?” She looks around the room. “Ah, Yoo Jeongyeon.”

“Yes?” Jeongyeon scratches the back of her head.

“You collect your classmates’ papers and bring them to me in the office on Wednesday, okay?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

The teacher leaves the classroom.

Chaeyoung watches as Mina goes to Nayeon, placing a hand in front of her, asking for something. Nayeon pulls a hair tie from her wrist and gives it to Mina.

“First class hasn’t even finished yet, why are you putting on your shoes already?” Mina says as she ties her hair in a ponytail while watching Nayeon tie her shoelaces.

“I’m putting them on now so I can run off for lunch.”

“Gosh, tie your laces properly.” Mina takes a seat in front of her and places Nayeon’s foot on her lap to tie it for her. “This is why you keep falling.”

“Ow! That’s too tight.” 

“If you studied this hard, you would’ve become the 2nd top student in school.”

“Why not the top student?”

Mina looks at her and smiles. “Because I’m the top student.”

Nayeon scoffs at her.

Mina gets up and turns around, missing the way the new student diverts her gaze from her to somewhere else.

//

Mina goes to the library every night after the end of her classes to study and do homeworks and Nayeon goes with her, but it’s not for school work purposes.

Mina takes a pause in writing in her notebook. She looks up and sees a Nayeon across the table, sleeping soundly, leaning her back in the chair. Her head is draped and slightly open.

“Gosh, she’s annoying even when she’s asleep.” Mina whispers, then kicks the sleeping girl in the shin. The latter quickly sits up. She yawns and barely opens her eyes. “What the , Mina.” She says, scratching her head.

“Just go home.”

Nayeon yawns again, takes the thick dictionary in front of her and lays her head on it. “Go ahead and finish that up.”

Mina clicks her tongue and just allows her to sleep. After about half an hour, she finishes her homework and wakes Nayeon up.

“Hey, Nayeon. Wake up. We’re going home.” She hits her on the arm.

“Ow. Why can’t you wake me up nicely?” Nayeon rubs her arm.

 

They get on the bus. Mina takes a seat and Nayeon takes the seat behind her.

“Why didn’t you go home straight from the repair shop? Why did you come back?”

“I sleep better at the library than at home. It feels great after I sleep.”

Mina chuckles. “What a talent. You just fall asleep when you go to the library almost automatically.”

A few minutes later, Nayeon huffs. She watches as Mina’s head leans backward. “And you’re so good at sleeping on the bus.” She whispers.

Mina’s head leans to the side and Nayeon quickly catches her with her left hand. She positions the sleeping girl’s head properly. She places her backpack on the right side of the girl’s head to prevent her from bumping on the window. Then, she notices the girl’s hair tie lying on her lap. She takes it and puts it in her wrist. “You just fall asleep when you get in the car. What if I get off first? You will end up going all the way to the final stop.” Nayeon tuts shaking her head but a smile is forming on her face.

//

“Lunch time is almost finished. Just write anything!” Jeongyeon, the one asked by the teacher to collect the career plan sheets, pressingly tells her two classmates who are doing their best to finish writing their career plans. 

“Here you go.” Jihyo quickly hands in her paper to Jeongyeon. 

“Girl, hurry up!” Momo says as she fans herself with a notebook. The heat today is crazy.

“I’m almost done. Hold on a second.” Nayeon writes hastily. “Okay, I’m done.” She hands her paper to Jeongyeon.

“Thank you.” Jeongyeon takes her paper and quickly walks away. Before she got out of the classroom, she noticed something. She goes back to Nayeon. “What is this? Why didn’t you include the 1st semester goal?”

“Do I have to?” Nayeon says, wiping her sweat and fanning herself. “Isn’t that optional?”

“Just write anything.” Jihyo takes her paper and puts it on her desk. “Everyone wrote something.”

“Yeah, just write anything.” Jeongyeon says. “Hurry up! If Ms. Minatozaki kills me, I’ll kill you.”

“What did you guys write?” Nayeon looks at the three students in front of her.

“Me?” Jihyo grins. “Getting a boyfriend.”

“Wow. Fail!” Momo remarks.

“I wrote ‘to buy a PlayStation 5.” Jeongyeon responds. “New soccer game came out this year. I’m going to buy it for sure.”

“Geez. What a proper goal for a high school senior.” Nayeon scoffs and returns to her paper. “What should I write?”

“Can’t you think of anything?” Jeongyeon asks. After a few seconds of watching her still not knowing what to write, she takes the paper from her. “I’ll just write it for you.”

“Hey, give it back! Hey!” Nayeon stands up. “Hey!”

Jihyo and Momo helps Jeongyeon get away from her.

“I’ll write something that’s stronger than getting a boyfriend.”

“Hey, that’s too much!” Jihyo yells. “But that sounds great.” She says after reading what Jeongyeon is writing and Momo agrees.

“I’m going to kill you! What did you write?” Nayeon pulls Jihyo and Momo away from Jeongyeon who are already protecting the latter.

Jeongyeon finally stops writing and stands up. “Something you must do, but you haven’t done yet.” She says dramatically, even closing her eyes.

“I’m sure you are yearning for it, too.” Momo says.

Nayeon looks at them with a confused look.

“How do I explain it?” Jeongyeon asks, looking at Jihyo and Momo. 

“You don’t have to do it first.” Jihyo responds.

“Just accept it.” Momo adds, coiling her arms together. “You can go sideways, too.” Jihyo copies what she’s doing.

“Top, bottom, left, right.” Jihyo says, closing her eyes as if feeling something intense in her body.

“Then, the exploration begins.” Momo adds again.

“Yup, now you explore and then, you get faster like this.” Jihyo hastens the movement of her arms and Momo does, too.

Nayeon just watches them, confused. She almost gets hit by her friends as their arms move more wildly.

“You guys are crazy. Stop doing that weird thing.” Nayeon steps in and stops them.

Jeongyeon starts running with their papers in her hand.

“Wait! Give me back my paper!” Nayeon yells, running after her.

Jihyo kicks her, making her fall on the floor. “Hurry up and go!” She yells at Jeongyeon. “Run!”

“Get her!” Nayeon says, looking up at Momo who just shrugs at her. 

//

“This is such a waste of paper.” Ms. Kim says as she compiles the papers submitted by her students. Ms. Minatozaki, who’s table is beside hers, tuts. “I know right? Career planning? Nothing goes as you planned in life. And these kids are not even in their twenties yet.”

Ms. Kim chuckles. “Exactly. None of the kids took it seriously and the adults don’t take it seriously either.”

Ms. Minatozaki rolls her chair close to Ms. Kim. “It’s just a bad habit of Principal Park. She just likes pressuring our students about having solid plans for their future.”

Dahyun laughs at her remark.

“What are you doing tonight, Dahyun-ssi?

“I have an appointment.” Ms. Kim stands up, avoiding the new topic. “Don’t you have a class? I’ll get going.” She pushes her seat towards her table.

“Sure.” Ms. Minatozaki laughs forcibly. “Appointments are important.”

Ms. Kim quickly glances at her, smiling, for the last time and leaves.

“Have fun on your appointment.” Ms. Minatozaki adds. She doesn’t even know if the other woman heard her. She sighs and goes back to her desk. “I’m okay.” She tells herself. She looks to her side and sees her student, Jeongyeon, standing there, grinning awkwardly. She witnessed everything, including the obvious crush Ms. Minatozaki is having on Ms. Kim.

“What are you looking at, Yoo Jeongyeon?”

“Uh- I’m just going to hand these in.” She places the papers quickly on the teacher’s desk and storms out.

“Hey, no running in the faculty office!” Ms. Minatozaki sighs. 

//

It’s lunchtime. Nayeon takes a bite as she listens to Tzuyu’s—Mina’s other best friend—complaints.

“What’s wrong with our teacher?” Momo grunts. “Why is he making that our performance assessment?”

“I like it.” Mina responds. “He just told us to record the process no matter what the result is.”

“Then, what did you write?” Jihyo asks Mina curiously.

Mina grins. “Getting a perfect score in basketball for P.E. performance assessment.”

“You wrote that for social studies performance assessment?” Momo asks.

“You really are something.” Jihyo remarks.

“What did you write?” Mina asks Tzuyu.

“I wrote ‘Having a meal with IU.’ I have no idea what steps I need to take.” Tzuyu responds with her shoulders drooping. She’s concerned about how she’s going to achieve that goal she wrote on the planner sheet.

“IU?” Jihyo laughs. Nayeon looks at her, seemingly annoyed.

“That’s just totally nonsense.” Jihyo continues.

Nayeon slams her fist on the table, glaring at Jihyo.

“Sorry, Nayeon.”

Mina and Tzuyu look at them, confused.

“I love you, Nayeon.” Momo says and quickly takes small bites from her sandwich.

“Why? What’s going on?” Mina says, laughing.

Jihyo snickers. “Actually, Nayeon-“

“Shut up.” Nayeon cuts her.

“I’m eating. This is my favorite.” Jihyo says and goes back to eating.

Nayeon pushes her chair back, stands up, and takes her food tray to transfer to another table.

Mina watches her but continues to ask, “What about his performance assessment?” 

Jihyo leans forward and whispers, “Her-“

“I’m going to kill you.” Nayeon mouths at her glaringly from the other table.

Jihyo swallows the words she was about to say, fearing that her best friend will kill her for real if she doesn’t shut up. She nods at Nayeon. “Yeah, my mouth is zipped.”

//

Before the lunch break ends, Nayeon goes to meet with their social studies teacher.

“So, you didn’t write it?” Ms. Minatozaki asks her.

“I didn’t know it was going to be our assessment.”

“Yes.” The teacher lets out a heavy exhale. “That’s life. You never know what will happen. But life is fun because you can’t take it back. So just do it.”

“Ms. Minatozaki, please let me rewrite it.”

“It’s easy. Make a plan according to 5W1H.” Ms. Minatozaki ignores her request. “Then, write it down one by one.”

“Ms. Minatozaki, please.” Nayeon shows her cute pleading face.

“Darn it.” The teacher gives in. “What on earth did you write?”

Nayeon looks away, embarrassed but at the same time, she’s holding her laugh because she also finds it kind of funny.

“What’s this?” The teacher looks up at her. “Is this true?”

“Well, my friends didn’t know it was going to be assessed and as a joke-“

“You haven’t done it yet?” Her teacher cuts her.

“Huh? I- uh.”

“Look at your age. You’re in your last year in high school. You need this change. Do it.”

“What? How can I-“

“I don’t know. Figure it out. Whatever.” The teacher looks for something in her drawer. “Where is it? Ah!” She finds a paper and reads something to Nayeon. “This sounds nice. ‘Collect, analyze, and compare the functional and conflicting views on social issues of modern society.’ Analyze this and write me an essay of 200 pages. No, 300 pages. It must be handwritten, you can’t type it.” Ms. Minatozaki looks at her student. “How about that?”

Nayeon lets out a long sigh. “Okay, okay. I’ll do it.”

//

Later that night, Nayeon works on writing the objectives to her goal. “God. I wanna kill Yoo Jeongyeon right now.” She whispers to herself as she reads the goal her classmate wrote for her.

1 st semester goal: A passionate first kiss.

She starts by writing:

1. 
   
2. When:
   
3. Where:
   
4. What:
   
5. Why:
   
6. How:
   

“When?” She thinks for a moment and starts writing. “Before summer vacation.”

For “Where”, she writes “In my empty room.”

“What?” “Kiss.”

“How?” “Passionately.” She smiles to herself, feeling happy about the thought. “(With the door locked!)” She added.

Suddenly, her bedroom door opens and someone comes in silently, but she doesn’t notice it and just continues working on her paper.

“Who?” She pauses to think. Why does she even have to think about this? She already knows who she wants to do it with. So, she starts writing the name of the person but she senses something moving from her side.

“Oh my gosh!” She almost jumps out of her seat. Mina’s standing a few feet away from her, looking through the DVDs on the shelf.

Mina got startled, too. She turns around to face her friend.

“Why didn’t you knock?!” Nayeon asks.

Mina snickers. “I never knock. What are you talking about?”

Nayeon quickly hides her notebook inside her drawer when Mina walks toward her.

“What are you doing?” Mina asks.

“Go away.”

“What are you doing?”

“It’s none of your business! Why are you here anyway?”

Mina smirks and gives up on prying. “My mom’s home.” She takes out a cup of noodles from under her hoodie jacket and hands it to the other girl. “Can you cook this for me?” Mina’s mom rarely allows her to eat junk foods.

Nayeon takes it and Mina ruffles her hair. The former chuckles and goes back to the shelf of DVDs and takes one.

Mina goes to the tiny living room in Nayeon’s bedroom to watch the movie.

 

“What’s the point of banning cup noodles at home when you’re eating it here?”

Mina just shrugs and smiles at her.

“Didn’t she go to the studio today?”

“She got a new teacher. She’s so pretty. She’s also good at playing the piano. The kids seem to like her more than my mom.”

Mina’s mom is a piano teacher and owns a piano studio in the neighborhood.

Nayeon’s about to leave her room to cook the instant noodles when she hears Mina say, “Ms. Chef?” The former rolls her eyes. “What?”

“A can of coke, too, please.”

Nayeon can’t believe she’s allowing this annoying girl to boss her around in her own house.

 

Mina takes in the noodles like a vacuum. “Hmm. I love instant noodles.” Nayeon chuckles at hearing this. Mina’s watching a classic American romantic movie.

Nayeon just finished writing her paper. She’s now watching Mina from the side. She watches as the other girl’s lips pucker up to take a sip of the soup from her cup noodles. Nayeon brushes a finger against her lips. agape.

She snaps out of her thoughts. She sighs. “This is insane.” She thinks out loud.

“Right?” Mina says, her eyes still fixed on the movie projected on the white wall. “So just get yourself one, too. I’m not going to give you my noodles. I’m going to drink all the soup, too.”

“What was I thinking?”

“Huh?” Mina turns to look at her.

“Nothing. Just eat your noodles, Myoi.”

Mina looks at her and places her cup on the floor. She leans over and looks at Nayeon in the eyes. The latter couldn’t fix her eyes on the other girl so her eyes flicker on other things. Then Mina says, “Nayeonnie?” Sounding like she has something important to say.

“What?” Nayeon asks nervously, swallowing a lump on .

“Do you have rice?”

Nayeon closes her eyes and takes a long sigh, a furrow forming on her forehead. She stands up to go to the kitchen to get rice.

“Make it two cups please! No, actually, make it just one.” Mina adds.

“Really? Where do you put all you eat in that small body?” Nayeon shakes her head.

“In the sewer?” Mina responds sarcastically.

 

“Here’s your rice, Mina-ssi.” Nayeon hands her the bowl of rice pretending to be polite while faking a smile.

“Thanks. You’re the best.” Mina nudges her elbow.

“Of course I am.” Nayeon sits beside her on the small couch, to watch the movie as well. She’s feeling a bit tense while watching a romantic movie beside the other girl. Her neck slightly stiffens. She leans backward and looks over at Mina as the couple on the screen kiss at the ending of the movie.

Nayeon coughs away the tension she’s feeling.

“I hate it when it ends with a kiss.” Mina says.

“Why? What’s wrong with kissing?” Nayeon said defensively.

“Why are you getting so worked up? I just don’t like it when it ends with a kiss. It seems like it’s really the end.”

“It is the end! It’s the ending!”

“Nayeon, will you please stop shouting?”

“Oh, sorry.” She clears . “Think about it. What are the steps for dating? Step 1, you hold hands. Step 2, you hug each other. And step 3, you kiss. That’s why it ends with a kiss.”

“You think so?” Mina hugs the pillow in her chest. “I think a tight hug is good for an ending. That seems more heart-warming. And it feels like their story hasn’t ended yet.”

Then, how am I going to kiss you if you prefer hugs? Nayeon thinks to herself, frustrated, because realization just hit her: this girl is going to make it hard for her to achieve her first semester goal .

Mina turns her gaze from the screen to look at Nayeon who’s glaring at her.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Go home, Mina. I’m going to bed.”

Mina chuckles. “Now? It’s still early.”

“Good night, Mina.” Nayeon gets up and takes the bowls Mina used.

Mina stands up. “You don’t even sleep this early.” She takes a pillow and throws it at Nayeon before she leaves. “Night, Nay.” She says blandly.

//

Mina enters their home and sees her dad in the living room reading a book. “Hi, dad. Where’s mom?”

“She’s in our room. Where did you go?”

“At Nayeon’s. I had to ask her something.”

“You could’ve asked her at school tomorrow. You have to keep your study rhythm going.”

“Yes, dad.” Mina says coolly. She goes to the kitchen to get some water. When she goes back to the living room, her dad’s not there anymore. She hears his phone vibrate. She reads the new message from the lock screen.

Her eyes widen. “.” She picks up the phone and opens the text message. The sender is a female. She scrolls down and reads their conversation.

  Were you at home then? I’m sorry for calling. See you tomorrow then.

Tears start to gather in Mina’s eyes. She bites her lips as she tries to keep her tears from falling. She puts the phone down and goes to her room.

//

Mina has become quiet and her friends could easily sense that something’s wrong.

It’s lunch break but she didn’t go to the cafeteria with her friends. She just stayed in their classroom and tried to sleep but her mind wouldn’t allow her.

Thirty minutes later, she hears footsteps approaching. She looks up and sees an orange juice and some bread placed on her desk and Nayeon’s right there in front of her, sipping a chocolate drink. Tzuyu, Momo and Jihyo arrive with her, too.

“Mina, why are you skipping your meal? This is so not you. You always whine that you’re hungry in the afternoon.” Nayeon says. She’s obviously concerned but in the way she said it and in the tone of her voice, she obviously doesn’t want to sound like she is. 

Mina straightens in her seat. “Why did you buy this?”

Nayeon picks up the pack of orange juice. “Drink this or else I’m going to take it.”

Mina looks down at the juice handed to her and then leers at the one Nayeon’s sipping from. She her lips. Nayeon traces where Mina is looking. Mina smiles as Nayeon looks at her with a confused look.

“Ah.” Nayeon chuckles. She hands the chocolate drink to Mina. “Take it.”

Mina gives her an appreciative smile. She sips on the drink and then opens the bread the other girl gave her. As she does, a short-haired girl enters the room.

“Hi, Mina.” Chaeyoung smiles as the other girl looks at her. “I need to make a request for gym clothes. Can you help?”

Nayeon glares at the girl who doesn’t seem to be bothered.

“Oh, sure.” Mina starts to stand up but Nayeon grabs her arm and pulls her back down on her seat. She stands up, clenching her jaws. She faces Chaeyoung and says, “You need to see the P.E. teacher, right? Follow me.”

“No, I asked Mina.” Chaeyoung smiles.

Nayeon huffs. She takes a few steps towards the girl and puts a firm arm around her. The latter looks at the hand over her shoulder and sees the hair tie that Mina wears. She knows because she has been observing Mina. She realizes what Nayeon is implying. They’re probably more than just friends. She thinks to herself. 

“I’ll show you where to go. I need to go to the teachers’ room anyway.” Nayeon continues and drags the girl out with her.

Mina and their friends look at them with concerned looks.

“Isn’t Nayeon being too harsh on that new girl?” Tzuyu says.