It takes Nayeon a full month before she decides on a course of action.

She will introduce Mina to Minji formally.

But not before she and her friends get reacquainted with Mina first.

They have five years to catch up on, and with her friends being staples in Minji’s life, Nayeon doesn’t want any awkwardness lingering among them.

She can at least try to be civil towards Mina despite… whatever she feels for her.

Nayeon hopes her friends can do more than the bare minimum of politeness. She’s counting on Jihyo, Sana, and Dahyun on that one. Maybe Momo, too.

And while Nayeon already has a decision, it takes her another two—no, three days to actually send a message to Mina because it’s apparently difficult to compose a message for an ex.

Hi, what’s up? Too casual.

Mina. It’s Nayeon. You can meet Minji on the condition that you’ll meet me and her godmothers first. Too threatening.

You busy? What is Nayeon? A teenager talking to a friend?

In the end, Nayeon settles with, Hi. It’s Nayeon. Are you available this Saturday? Me and the girls would like to meet with you.

To which Mina replies with a simple, Okay. Let me know the time.

It’s easy. Way too easy in Nayeon’s opinion and the niggling curiosity in the back of her mind about the reason why Mina seems so compliant and docile won’t disappear.

It’s not the Mina she used to know. She’s quiet and reserved, yes, but not to the point that she’s a pushover. Sure, she almost always bends to Nayeon’s whims and whines—because, as Jeongyeon teasingly put it, she was whipped for Nayeon—but she knows when to put her foot down. But this version of Mina? It’s strange and it makes Nayeon wary.

Still though, she has to prepare for their lunch out with Mina so Nayeon sets aside her concerns. For now.

Instead, what she worries about is who will babysit Minji when Nayeon and her friends meet with Mina. With six godmothers who are more than willing to take care of Minji whenever Nayeon is caught up with work, Nayeon never had the need to look for a babysitter. It’s one of the few perks that comes with friends who all adore a cute toddler.

Luckily, Jisoo also loves kids and Jennie can never say no to Jisoo so they become Minji’s babysitters for the afternoon that Nayeon arranged with Mina.

“Even after dinner is fine!” Jisoo insists when Nayeon drops off Minji. An offer Nayeon immediately declines because Jennie is glaring at her from behind her girlfriend’s shoulder.

Knowing Jennie, she probably wants to spend time with Jisoo without a kid present.

With Minji taken care of, now Nayeon can mentally prepare herself for meeting Mina again.

She doesn’t want a repeat of their first coincidental meeting.

With their friends present, Nayeon hopes that their Saturday lunch won’t be awkward at all. She doesn’t want any hostility between Mina and her friends. For Minji’s sake.

But that goes out the window when they finally meet Mina outside the restaurant that she and Nayeon agreed to have lunch at.

The moment that Momo’s eyes land on Mina, she begins stalking towards her before Dahyun or anyone else can react.

There’s an unmistakable sound of a fist hitting a cheek and Nayeon belatedly realizes that Momo punched Mina.

Momo punched Mina.

What?!

Before Momo can land another blow on Mina’s face, her friends are already springing into action.

“Momo!”

“Mina!”

Half of her friends—namely, Jeongyeon, Dahyun, and Tzuyu—restrain Momo from attacking Mina again while the other half—Jihyo and Sana—help Mina up from her position on the ground.

Nayeon can see Momo’s eyes burning with barely restrained anger as she practically shouts, “That’s for leaving Nayeon at the altar, you .”

“Momo-yah!” Jihyo chastises, still holding onto Mina’s arm and checking if Momo managed to break her nose.

It doesn’t seem to be the case but Mina’s lower lip is busted and Nayeon can see a trickle of blood on the corner of her lips before Mina wipes it off with the back of her hand.

The image sends a pang of anger and pain in her chest but Nayeon can’t focus on it when Momo is still struggling from Jeongyeon and Tzuyu’s hold while Dahyun unsuccessfully tries to calm her fiancée down.

“Let me go!” Momo exclaims. “She deserves another punch for leaving Minji!”

At the end of her statement, Momo manages to free her arm from Tzuyu’s hold and she takes a step towards Mina before Dahyun manages to block her path.

“Baby, stop,” Dahyun pleads, placing herself in the middle to stop her girlfriend while also looking out for Mina.

Even Jeongyeon, who used to go to the gym with Momo, is struggling to hold her at bay. “Momo-yah, stop it already. .”

“Unnie! Do something!”

That effectively unfreezes Nayeon from her spot and she moves towards Momo and forces her to look into her eyes.

“Momoring,” she says, using both hands to cup Momo’s face and direct all her attention to Nayeon. “Momo-yah, honey, stop it.”

Momo finally meets Nayeon’s eyes and Nayeon is surprised to see the unshed tears in them. Of all her friends, Momo is the least emotional and to see her being like this? It renders Nayeon speechless for a few good seconds. Why is she…?

“She left you, Nabong,” Momo practically hisses, forcing Nayeon to focus back on her. “She doesn’t have the right to come back now when everything is better.”

Nayeon nods despite her initial shock, and she summons her best motherly voice that she uses whenever Minji is throwing a tantrum when she says, “Yes, I know, and you have every right to be mad at her. But she’s still Minji’s other mom, Momo-yah. Don’t you think your goddaughter deserves to see her mama with her face intact?”

It’s underhanded to use Minji's name to guilt Momo but it’s possibly the only way to put a halt to her rage. If that fails, well, Nayeon hopes that Mina can parry punches. Or run faster than Momo.

At the mention of Minji’s name, Momo’s anger seems to subside and her shoulders finally droop.

Jeongyeon and Tzuyu hesitantly remove their hands from Momo when she shrugs them off.

Nayeon and Dahyun share a brief eye contact before Dahyun wraps her arms around her fiancée and turns her away from the rest of their group.

“We’ll be back in a bit,” Dahyun says over her shoulder before she directs Momo to a nearby park to let her blow off some steam first.

With that handled, Nayeon turns her attention to Mina who’s not meeting anyone’s eyes.

The left corner of her lower lip is split open and Nayeon clenches her fists to stop herself from walking towards Mina and reaching out to see the damage herself.

They’re not together anymore.

Mina can take care of herself.

“Are you okay?” Jihyo asks Mina because, of course, she would. It’s Jihyo.

Even if Mina basically cut them all off from her life when she left Korea, she still held—holds—a special place in their hearts.

Maybe not in Momo’s though.

“I’m fine.” Mina’s tone is neutral, indifferent even, and Nayeon wonders what happened to her in the past five years for her to be that cold and docile. It’s like looking at a different Mina altogether.

“Are you sure?” Sana asks this time. She looks at Mina’s swollen and cut lip and winces. “There’s a clinic nearby. Or maybe Tzuyu can—”

“I said I’m fine.”

Tzuyu steps forward when Sana flinches at Mina’s harsh tone, and Nayeon immediately places herself in front of Tzuyu to stop their maknae from taking another step. Even Jeongyeon clasps Tzuyu's wrist, ready to pull her back if necessary.

Momo punching Mina is already enough turmoil for today. They don’t need Tzuyu being overprotective of Sana, too.

“Be careful with your tone,” Tzuyu warns instead when Sana puts her hands on Tzuyu’s chest to prevent her from advancing further. “That’s my fiancée you’re talking to, so, I suggest you tread carefully.”

Despite Tzuyu not using any honorifics to address her, Mina just shrugs and looks away, seemingly unaffected by the lack of respect of someone younger than her.

What happened to you, Mina?

In the corner of her eyes, Nayeon can see Jihyo struggling to find a way to diffuse the tense situation.

All Nayeon wanted was to have lunch with her friends and Mina. To maybe reacquaint them so it won’t be awkward when Minji and Mina finally meet again; which is important because Nayeon knows it will dictate how they will adapt to Mina being back in their lives because of Minji.

However, she supposes she failed to factor in her friends’ feelings towards Mina in the equation, thus, their current predicament.

In Nayeon’s defense, she didn’t think that her friends held a grudge against Mina. They were all in the same circle of friends before the incident happened, anyway, and they all adored Mina.

Plus, it’s not as if they actively chose Nayeon over Mina. It just