Mina was not homophobic, she swore. She had queer friends. When Chaeyoung, her roommate, told Mina she was gay, Mina was absolutely fine with it. Yeah, what's about it? She respected her roommate and all, and they had separate bedrooms. So Mina was utterly confused when she started feeling annoyed, resentful, and even disgusted when Chaeyoung started bringing girls home.

First things first, Mina had never thought of herself as being discriminatory before, not when it came to uality. Her close friend, Sana, came out as biual in high school and had been on serial dating ever since. Mina never felt weird about Sana dating girls (or guys, or whoever).

Mina and Chaeyoung have been roommates for nearly two years. Honestly, Chaeyoung was the best roommate Mina could ever ask for. She's nice, eccentric (in a good way). She respects Mina's space and the need for silence, as she, too, wasn't a loud girl. Some days, if she's in an extra good mood, she'd sing a happy tune and pull Mina in a celebratory dance, especially when she just finished a tricky project. Mina didn't mind a bit. Music and dance were a part of her life too. Besides, Chaeyoung's cute dimple smile was contagious.

A few months into this housing arrangement, they had become fast friends and set up a routine of spending time with each other.

Since the beginning, Mina had known about Chaeyoung's uality. The girl didn't bother to hide it, and Mina also stated that she's totally fine with it. Or so she thought. In the first year they stayed together, the pandemic forced them to spend most of their time indoors, with online classes and all that stuff. Mina thought it'd be tough for her to spend so much time stuck with someone. But staying with Chaeyoung turned out much better than she expected. What could make people closer than cuddling on the couch, having movie marathons in the middle of winter, or hugging each other in consolation when they can't go back home and visit their family. Mina didn't mind hugging Chaeyoung even when she knew about the other girl's uality.

Things only went downhill when Chaeyoung started bringing girls home. Sometimes. Not that much. Every few weeks, Chaeyoung would go out with her friends and bring random girls home. She's quite discreet about it that Mina wouldn't hear/see anything. But of course, she knew what happened behind that door. It should be fine. Chaeyoung had her own life and whoever she slept with was her business.

Until one day Mina came back home early and saw Chaeyoung making out with a girl on the couch. Mina blamed the long bus trip for her nausea, and that she wanted to throw up at the scene (though she travelled like that every day). Chaeyoung was embarrassed, saying she didn't expect Mina to be back until later. Mina waved her off, saying it was okay. She's embarrassed too.

Mina found out, the next time Chaeyoung had someone over, that the bus trip wasn't the cause of her uneasiness. Chaeyoung was more careful after the incident too, keeping the intimacy inside her room. But whenever Mina noticed the presence of a strange girl in their shared house, she couldn't help thinking about what exactly they were doing behind that door. Kissing? Of course. They'd do much more than kissing. That girl would undress Chaeyoung, touch all over her bare body, and... Mina felt her stomach churn thinking about that scenari. She felt sick, and grossed out. Thankfully, Chaeyoung didn't bring girls home that usual, or Mina would be hospitalised for her extreme heartburn. And these were just the girls she fooled around with, Mina didn't know what she'd do if Chaeyoung had an actual girlfriend.

Mina tried to avoid them. But not much she could do when they stayed the night and (had the audacity) lingered around in the morning too. Chaeyoung was always too sweet and chivalrous for her own good.

Being a housemate and close friend for nearly 2 years, Chaeyoung was quick to catch Mina's reaction. (It wasn't like Mina tried hard to hide. How could you possibly hide when you want to throw up? No you couldn't. You just did.)

"Your face looks funny."

Chaeyoung said, poking her cheek after saying goodbye to her one night "date". Mina grumbled something about not having her coffee fix yet. She tried not to think about where Chaeyoung's fingers were a few moments ago. Of course she failed, and her mood suffered greatly from her failure.

"It's 5 PM. I don't think you should drink coffee at this hour if you want to sleep at night."

Mina wanted Chaeyoung to shut that mouth up, the very mouth that was surely on that girl's body just an hour ago. But she didn't know how to do that without being rude. She didn't want to be rude to Chaeyoung.

"You know people always say Tzuyu has a stare that makes everyone weak on their knees?" The younger girl chuckled, steering Mina's face to look straight at her.

"Your stare makes people realise they've been given a death sentence. Now tell me what's wrong. Is this because I bring people home? If you're uncomfortable, just tell me."

Now Mina felt like she's an . Chaeyoung had been nothing but a considerate person and excellent housemate slash friend. Mina couldn't let her unreasonable, questionable reaction hurt the girl's feelings. No. She couldn't forgive herself if she did that.

"No no. Of course not. It's your right to choose whoever you sleep with. I don't care."

The younger girl frowned, looking rather upset, and Mina was panicking. Did she say something offensive? Was that homophobic? . She's really an , right?

"I was just tired. Pulled all nighter to finish a project last night and didn't even have time to drink coffee today." She lied through her teeth, trying to blame the workload. "Sorry if I made you uncomfortable."

Chaeyoung's frown smoothened after a few moments. She nodded and patted Mina's shoulder.

"It's fine. I would probably look murderous if I had a whole sleepless night too. Our poor Mina, you can't have coffee now if you still wanna sleep tonight."

Chaeyoung cooed and poked her cheek. If this was another person, Mina would have stepped back or slapped their hand away. But this was Chaeyoung and she's allowed to do that. In exchange, Mina could poke Chaeyoung's dimpled cheeks too. Fair trade.

"I know something will definitely feel better!"

Mina smiled. Chaeyoung not having with a girl now definitely made her feel better already. But she nodded anyway, encouraging the younger to continue.

"Let's eat ice cream and watch brainless variety shows!"

Later that night, when laughing alongside with Chaeyoung at the absurd activities on the shows, Mina forgot all about her nausea and uneasiness, all the random girls and one night stand. The space was only for her and Chaeyoung. Yep. She definitely felt better.

***

Things were going well, and Mina had done her best to shove the problem to somewhere deep in the back of her mind. Until one day.

Maybe Mina had stepped the wrong foot first or something, nothing had gone well that day. She woke up late, and missed the usual bus. Then the taxi driver insisted he knew a short cut, which only made them end up in a worse traffic jam. She's late, and found out her teammate had made a terrible mistake, which she spent the whole lunchtime fixing. Still, she couldn't fix it in time and got scolded, together with her team, because of that very mistake. So when Mina reached to open their shared apartment, all she planned to do was drop dead on the couch, and then maybe be revised by Chaeyoung, who always brought her a glass of water and played with her hair. It's simple request, right?

But noooo. What welcomed her behind the front door was Chaeyoung smiling with some girl, whose face looked kinda familiar but Mina was too tired to care. And of course, Mina was beyond angry. Again? Another girl? She rolled her eyes, ignored Chaeyoung's cheery welcome, and prayed that the strange girl would leave now, quietly, and please for the love of god, do not talk to Mina under any circumstances.

She's not that lucky, not today.

"Hi, you must be Mina, Chaeyoung's roommate. She's told me about you."

Mina couldn't believe her luck.

"Weird." Mina grunted. "She never talked about you, or any of the girls she's brought home."

The girl's smile faltered, but she tried to be polite.

"I'm..."

"No need. Not gonna remember. Don't care." She chuckled sarcastically, hands shot up to massage her temples. "Don't bother saying goodbye when you leave."

The girl's smile faded away completely as she turned back to Chaeyoung.

"Oh. Then. I guess I should be leaving now, Chae. Talk to you later."

She called her Chae? Only Mina and Chaeyoung's close friends can call her that.

Too lost in her own anger, Mina almost slapped the hand that touched her until she realised that it's Chaeyoung’s. The younger girl looked angry, and Mina groaned internally. Can't people leave her alone for once?

"Why are you being such an , Mina? What's your problem?"

Mina sighed. She didn't know. What's her problem? Finding a stranger in her house? Knowing Chaeyoung just ed that stranger? Her teammate was a careless head? Her project was a pain in the ? That misogynistic of a boss always blamed all problems on her instead of her male counterpart? Chaeyoung ed girls?

"Tell me, are you... are you upset that I slept with other people?" Chaeyoung's voice had become softer after she saw Mina's state.

"No. Chae, you can sleep with other people. I don't care."

"Then explain what happened earlier? Why do you look like you want to burn the house down whenever I bring someone home? Of course I notice, Mina. We have known each other for quite a while for me to recognise your foul mood and death glare. Tell me, Mina, what is your problem?"

Chaeyoung was seething and it's not the first time Mina had seen the girl like this, but it had never directed at her.

"I don't want to talk about it right now."

"Oh you don't? But I do, Mina. What the hell? Do you have a problem with me sleeping with other girls?"

"No... I don't!" Mina tried to deny but her feeble attempt only seemed to piss the younger girl off even more.

"Okay because you have no right to be! I had to witness you being affectionate with that boy for months and somehow, I was able to be civil. Unlike you."

"Why... " Mina wanted to argue that it was a year ago, and she had broken off with that guy and had not been with anyone ever since. And why the hell did Chaeyoung have to bring it up now? But she's too tired to ignite another fight.

"Never mind. It was a year ago but you are right. I should be civil. I just had a bad day and dumped it on that girl. I'm sorry for being an . I don't care who you sleep with."

The hurt on the other girl's face shut Mina up immediately. . Did she say something offensive again? While Mina was frantically tracing and analysing whatever she just said, Chaeyoung heaved out a heavy sigh.

"You're full of , Mina. You really need to figure your out. In the meantime, I'll be at Tzuyu's place."

Was it a warning?

If you can't figure your out, then we can't stay together anymore.

Was that what Chaeyoung was implying?

Mina wanted to hold the girl back, to beg her to stay. But what could she tell Chaeyoung?

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