Chapter 4: Two Slow Dancers

Chaeyoung woke up with a sharp and sore pain on her neck. Maybe sleeping on the chair wasn’t the best idea she’s had.

“I should have slept on the floor.”

“Or you could have slept on my bed?” A soft voice jolts her awake. She sees Mina in front of her with a glass of water in hand and offers it to Chaeyoung.

“Oh.” She tries to fixate her vision on the woman in front of her. She rubs the blur off, grabs her glasses where she left them and gently takes the glass of water from Mina. “Thank you.”

Mina watches her drink and sits on the bed, her head hanging low. “I’m sorry.”

Chaeyoung gives a face and swallows the last of the water in . “Why are you apologizing?”

The Japanese still looked down and was fiddling with her fingers, refusing to meet Chaeyoung’s eyes. “Because I was being embarrassing last night.” She finally lifted her head and gave a weak smile. “But thank you. I’m glad you were there and that I’m here safe.”

Chaeyoung could only smile at the statement, before she could say something she was fixated on the shirt that Mina was still wearing. It made her heart beat even more knowing that Chaeyoung’s shirt was still on Mina’s delicate body. Her scent was probably all over Mina at this point.

She couldn’t help but admire how adorable Mina looked in it. Like they were an actual couple. She waves off the thought, which makes the other girl confused with the sudden gesture.

“It’s fine.” She tries to pass off the excuse from the weird thoughts she had just now. “I’m just relieved you called me—”

Suddenly they heard the door open, and a loud noise came from the entrance.

“Minaaaaa!” Sana’s voice could be heard, and she barges through the bedroom door and stops when she sees Chaeyoung inside. “Oh! Chaeyoung!” She glances quickly at Chaeyoung and then back at Mina. Dahyun and Nayeon come from behind and also gasp at the situation.

“Why are you here?” Nayeon asked, trying her best to not sound rude. Eyeing Chaeyoung then to the shirt that Mina was wearing. “And where did you get that? You never wear flannel.”

They could see Mina panic for a bit. “Chaeyoung helped me last night! I-I was really out of it, and I called her since no one was answering.”

Chaeyoung felt her shoulders drop. Of course she wasn’t the first choice in Mina’s head. This was why she had to do this with zero expectations in her head. “Yeah, I rushed over as soon as I could, and I brought her here.”

Sana could only squeal at how cute that was for her and rushed to wrap Chaeyoung in a tight squeeze. “Thank you, Chaengie!” She said and gave her one more squeeze before letting go. Chaeyoung smiles awkwardly and tries to hide the sudden redness on her cheeks. “Well that’s why we came by to visit, we just saw your calls from last night.”

“Yeah but we got kinda caught up and we weren’t able to answer them.” Dahyun said, feeling a bit flushed as she looked at Sana, who gave her a wink in response.

Nayeon couldn’t help but roll her eyes at the comment. “Gross, guys.”

“Ugh, I shouldn’t have called you guys if I knew you were busy doing couple things then.” Mina said, standing up from her spot on the bed and pushing them out of her room. “Okay, I gotta freshen up, so can you please wait for me outside?”

Chaeyoung’s gears were starting to crank. Feeling a great wave of relief now that she didn't pursue the idea of hitting on Dahyun the night they all met, that would have been a great mistake. Dahyun was dating Sana all this time, she couldn't stop repeating in her head. But she was still thankful. Because if she did pursue the silly idea, she wouldn’t have the chance to talk to Mina. Thank the gods for this extreme luck, she thought to herself.

She couldn’t help but feel slightly uncomfortable with the way Nayeon was staring at her when they entered the room and the fact she immediately noticed that Mina was wearing someone else’s clothes.

But she could only shake the feeling off, it’s not like Chaeyoung did something bad. She stood up from her seat to follow the couple outside hoping that Nayeon won’t stare her to death when she joins them, but before she could leave, Mina grabs her shirt to stop her.

“Chaeng.” She said, trailing off and pulled her in for a hug again. This time, this was a real hug. She wasn’t drunk and was in the right state of mind. Chaeyoung could only worry that Mina might feel her heart beating faster as their bodies were this close to each other. “Thank you.”

Chaeyoung couldn’t hold it in, she gently slid her hands on Mina’s waist, wrapping her arms around the delicate figure and returned the embrace; making Mina hug her tighter. This was nice. If only this moment could last longer. “You can call me anytime you’re in a pinch.” She said under her breath.

They finally break off from the hug and Chaeyoung reaches for the door and looks back at Mina, who finally realizes that the shirt she was wearing wasn’t hers.

“Oh no.” She says as she looks at the shirt. “I’ll get this washed for you. I’m sorry for being so much trouble.”

Chaeyoung could only smile. “It’s fine.” Before she could finally leave the room, she looks at Mina one last time and smirks. “You look good in my shirt.” She winks and then exits, not waiting for Mina’s response and closes the door behind her.

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She was finally back at her dorm room. Luckily, it was the weekend, so she didn’t have to worry about being late for class or anything. It was already past noon, and Sana and Dahyun were nice enough to invite her to join them for brunch. Unfortunately, Mina and Nayeon had to pass on the invite since she wanted to rest from her weird adventure from last night and Nayeon wanted to accompany her friend as she does. Which was understandable. It was hard to get rid of a hangover so easily, even if they had no idea what she drank last night.

Chaeyoung decided to clean the mess in her room before getting ready to go to the records shop to do her shift. Hopefully she didn’t miss out on anything before she left last night.

As she grabs all the discarded clothes on the floor, she places them in a laundry basket and stares at it. Contemplating if she should do laundry before she regrets it. She goes over her small can of coins by one of the counters in her kitchen to see if she had enough for the washing machine and the dryer. She grabs a handful, too lazy to get the exact amount and shoves it in her pocket. Before she could think of more chores, she decides to finish cleaning up first before heading down to do her laundry.

With a triumphant grunt, she looks back at her now clean dorm room. She’s a very lazy person, so cleaning it without Jeongyeon’s help felt like a great achievement in her books. Chaeyoung grabs her keys before leaving the room, with her laundry basket in hand she heads to the elevator and presses the button to go down.

The laundry room was on the ground floor, it was a bit far from where the elevator was, but it wasn’t a long one so she didn't mind the extra walking. As the elevator rings on her floor, she is greeted by a familiar face who she just met hours ago.

“Nayeon?” This was awkward. Chaeyoung totally forgot that she stayed in the same dorm.

Nayeon greeted her with a big toothy smile, removing the earphones from her ear. “Well, well. We meet again.” They stood next to each other in the lift. She noticed that they both had laundry baskets in hand. “Laundry day as well?”

Chaeyoung chuckles. “Yeah, it’s been a while since I did this.” She added, looking into the basket, realizing that some of them were Jeongyeon’s clothes. She scoffs and reminds herself to ask her best friend to refund her for the kind services.

Curiosity was eating her as silence filled the elevator, she wanted to ask Nayeon about Jeongyeon, remembering the fact they slept with each other a week ago and that Nayeon labelled her friend’s arm with her phone number.

“Hey.” Nayeon said, interrupting Chaeyoung from her thoughts, the elevator door opened, and they both exited while heading towards the laundry room. “I know we haven’t really talked but I wanted to ask something.”

This is probably about her spending the night at Mina's apartment, she starts to panic. Hopefully it was going to be about Jeongyeon.

“Do you have feelings for Mina?”

Chaeyoung stopped, which Nayeon raised an eyebrow, looking back at her. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me.” She responded with a smirk on her face. “I guess with that reaction, I know the answer.” She said, turns around and continues to walk.

This wasn’t good.

Chaeyoung tried to catch up with her. “Is that a bad thing?” She couldn’t lie, even to someone she’s just met. Maybe if it was a life-threatening situation, she might. But this was close.

Nayeon could only pout, thinking. She opens the door to the room for both of them and they enter, placing their baskets next to each other. She looks at Chaeyoung and smiles again, it was more implying than friendly. “Well, for starters, she’s my best friend. I’ve known her long enough to see how people are when they like her.” She gives a pointed look at Chaeyoung. “Plus, you were so quiet during the drinking event. You didn’t talk to anyone but Jeongyeon. Then next thing I know, I see you talking to Mina the whole time and in a split second you’re leaving with her.”

“Right.” She admits. It’s not like she can tell Nayeon that she has serious anxiety and that she has a hard time making friends. But then, she has no good excuse as to why she was having such an easy time talking to Mina. However, what caught her off guard the most was when Nayeon said she was Mina’s best friend. Was this the turning point of the universe’s luck to her?

Nayeon giggled at her new friend. “Look, I’m not gonna tell Mina, if that’s what you’re worried about.” She smiles at Chaeyoung and proceeds to put her laundry in the machine.

Chaeyoung gives an awkward chuckle and does the same thing. “Thank you.” She says quietly, thinking again.

“About you spending the night at her apartment last night, though.” She brings up, seems that Nayeon won’t let this encounter go by without talking about it.

The younger swallows hard and stammers. “I promise, I didn’t do anything funny.” She surrenders, putting her hands up. Trying her best not to get on the best friend’s nerves.

Which made Nayeon laugh out loud, putting a hand over . “I know! I mean, when you guys left, Mina told me everything that she could remember.” She says as she adds the last item of clothing inside and then pours in her fabric softener in the tiny slot in the washing machine. “Mina was very shy about it.”

“Yeah, she wouldn’t stop apologizing when I woke up this morning.” Chaeyoung smiles at the memory. “But I didn’t mind, she needed help.”

Nayeon closes the little drawer of the machine and quickly presses the buttons, then faces Chaeyoung, her eyes piercing her again. “I have a feeling that you’d be that kind of person to our Mina.”

Chaeyoung gulps, not entirely sure what she meant by that. “A friend who’s always going to be there for her?”

“Well, given that you have feelings for her, I know you would want her to be safe at all costs.” She says, sitting down by the benches behind them. She pats to the empty seat next to her, coaxing Chaeyoung to join, which she shyly obliges.

“I guess so.” Chaeyoung said, rubbing the back of her neck. “But I don’t think she’ll ever see me that way though.”

Nayeon lets out a sombre hum. “Well, she’s always mentioned how she hated being single and that she was hoping to find someone to date soon.”

“With a guy, I assume.”

Nayeon giggles and pushes Chaeyoung playfully. “Don’t be such a downer.” She smiled at the younger person. “Who knows, maybe the reason why she hasn’t found a lover yet is because she’s looking at the wrong gender.”

Chaeyoung laughs at the statement, feeling touched that Nayeon wanted to sympathize with her. It solidified with her that Nayeon was a nice person, a genuine one. She hopes that Jeongyeon doesn’t this one up, she could be a keeper. “We’ll see.” She finally mutters.

“You have to try your best.” She says, making Chaeyoung surprised again. “I mean, I’ve seen an number of men who want to be with Mina, but all of them are so gross. What you did last night was like a test and you passed.”

“Don’t get my hopes up, Nayeon.” Chaeyoung confesses, feeling her chest throb.

“I’m not.” She admits, the way she said it did sound sincere. “I’m basically encouraging you.”

Chaeyoung smiles and scrunches her brows. She turns to Nayeon and couldn’t help her thoughts. “Why are you being so nice to me? We just met.”

Nayeon sighs in defeat. “Okay, there’s a reason why.” She holds out a hand before the younger can retaliate. “But me supporting your attraction to Mina is sincere, like cross my heart and hope to die kind.” She says while making an x mark on the left side of her chest.

“But?” She raises a brow.

Nayeon could only let out a toothy smile again, thinking, maybe she was choosing her words wisely for this. “I want to know something from you—well, about Jeongyeon.”

“There it is.” She said smugly. “I know you guys hooked up that night. Also, a sharpie? Really?”

Nayeon laughs out loud again and hits Chaeyoung playfully on her arm. “Oh my god, I forgot about that.” She tries to stifle her laugh from the memory of it. “I just… I know Jeongyeon is a player. But in all honesty, I didn’t expect her to call me after.”

Chaeyoung could only give an unconvinced face. “Wait—she really did call you?”

The older hums at the response. “So, she really isn’t the type to call back?”

If Jeongyeon was there and listened to their conversation, Chaeyoung would have been dead meat by now. “Look, I’m not trying to paint my best friend in a bad way, okay?”

Nayeon could only smile at the comment and looked back at her rotating clothes. “I’ve had my fair share of players, don’t worry about it.” She said with a weak laugh. “But with Jeongyeon, I think I’m feeling something, and I know I’m going to regret it.”

Chaeyoung’s eyes went wider, probably more than she’s ever had. This was definitely something. Chaeyoung was probably taken aback with this new experience. There were a lot of moments where random women would go up to her and ask about Jeongyeon as well, because they knew she was a friend, or the person who was with the playboy before they fell into her charms. But most of the time, they had vibes that weren’t good. Like borderline stalkers. Sometimes Chaeyoung would feel sorry for them and try her best to fin