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Friday night again. The end of a long week of work for Mina. The stress of helping run a business was hard enough, but when the business is being run by your family, it's even harder. Mina usually wanted to say something to her father, but feared that it would cause an argument and potentially ruin her relationship. So she found it best to stay quiet and accept what her father decided. However, Friday night was when she could be free. Free from everything.
Tonight was no different. Same routine as any other Friday night. Get home from work, get changed into some more comfortable clothes rather than being in the suit she had to wear for work. Then, Mina would quickly grab a bite to eat before checking the clock on the oven and seeing 6:45PM being displayed meaning she had to leave. Mina grabbed her car keys and left for her destination.
It didn’t take too long for Mina to arrive at where she needed to be. Looking at her watch she saw it was five minutes to seven. ‘ Perfect, made it here with time to spare. ’ Mina exited her car and made her way into the small building in front of her.
“Ah Mina, glad to see you tonight.” An older woman welcomed Mina.
“Thank you Miss Yoo.” Mina bowed her head.
“How many times Mina have I said just call me Jeongyeon, no need for all the formalities.” Jeongyeon chuckled.
“Sorry Jeongyeon, so how many kids are their tonight?” Mina asked.
“Well, we have got twenty five currently here and we are expecting at least another eight.” Jeongyeon informed Mina. Mina looked worried. “Don’t worry Mina,” Jeongyeon put her hand on Mina’s shoulder, “We have me, you, Jihyo, Chaeyoung and a new helper all on top performance tonight. These kids will have the best time at this youth group tonight.”
“Sorry, did I just hear you say new helper?” Mina gulped.
“Yes you did.” Jeongyeon started before being interrupted by a door bell. “And I think this is her now.” Jeongyeon went to the front door of the building and opened the door allowing for a girl slightly younger looking than Mina to enter into the lobby.
“Hi, is this the place for the youth club?” the girl asked.
“Yes it is, are you the new helper?” Jeongyeon asked.
“Yes, my name is Chou Tzuyu.” Tzuyu said nervously.
“Well Tzuyu, welcome. My name is Jeongyeon and I run this youth group, and this lovely girl over here...” Jeongyeon pointed to Mina “is Mina, she will help you tonight if you need anything.”
Mina suddenly became very nervous. Despite helping at the club for nearly six years and not being judged by anyone for her family name and role in the business, Mina still didnt know everything about the club like Jeongyeon or Jihyo did. So the fact that she had to help Tzuyu settle in was a daunting task. But it was a task she knew she had to do. Mina turned to face Tzuyu for the first time and the task that was originally a hill, suddenly became a mountain.
“H- H- Hi T-T-Tzuyu” Mina stuttered. She couldn’t believe what she had seen in front of her. There was this beautifully attractive woman in front of her and Mina became a mess. However, it did bring a smile to the face of Tzuyu and helped her feel less nervous.
“H-Hi Mina,” Tzuyu giggled. “I guess someone is a little bit more nervous than me.”
“I- I am not” Mina tried to regain a little bit of composure.
“Okay, you are a lot more nervous than me” Tzuyu teased. But Mina didn’t mind Tzuyu’s teasing, it was playful yet somehow it was welcoming and comfortable to Mina.
“Shall we go and see the kids?” Mina tried to change the subject.
“Yeah, lets go. You can show me around then as the woman on the front door said to” Tzuyu smiled.
“Oh, you mean Jeongyeon. Yeah, I’ll show you around like she asked.” Mina said. The pair went through a set of double doors in front of them and down a set of stairs. They emerged into a big open hall with kids running round, screaming, playing games and some were even doing craft.
“Wow, I never expected the hall to be this big.” Tzuyu admitted.
“Yeah, it is huge. Anyway let’s go and meet Jihyo and Chaeyoung.” Mina walked towards the kitchen area and asked Tzuyu to follow her. When they reached the kitchen, Mina introduced Tzuyu. “Hey Jihyo, Chaeyoung, this is Tzuyu, she’s a new helper.”
“Hello, pleasure to meet you.” Tzuyu became shy again.
“The pleasure is all ours.” Jihyo and Chaeyoung responded. “Would you like a drink at all Tzuyu?” Jihyo asked.
“No thank you, im fine, but I appreciate the offer” Tzuyu replied.
“Well I’m on craft tonight if you want to come and help me.” Mina informed Tzuyu.
“Sure, What are you making tonight?”
“Tonight we are making some masks since Halloween is coming up, we want to allow the kids to express themselves.” Mina sat down at the table at got everything prepared for any of the kids to come and start decorating a mask.
“That’s a cool idea.” Tzuyu thought of what she could do on her mask. ‘ Maybe I could draw a devil, or an angel, or a cat, or a dog. Yeah a dog. Let’s keep it simple, plus Gucci might like it too. ’ a smile emerged on Tzuyu’s face at the thought of Gucci.
“Your smile is really cute” Mina said softly, not thinking anything about it.
“Thanks” Tzuyu replied. And with that single word, Mina became a mess again making Tzuyu laugh.
“Sorry, did I say that out loud?” Mina wanted confirmation.
“Say what out loud?” Tzuyu responded.
“That your smile is really cute.” Mina suddenly realised what she had said. Some of the kids that had made their way over to the table to design the masks started to tease Mina for having a crush on Tzuyu.
“You definitely did then.” Tzuyu stuck out her tongue and Mina’s cheeks flushed red.
The pair went back to the masks and helped the kids with whatever they needed help with, all while sneaking glances at each other. The pair were that invested in doing what they were doing that they didn’t realise the parents had started to enter the hall to come and collect the kids, each of them thanking Mina and Tzuyu for helping them.
“You would make a really cute couple” one of the girls said before running off to her dad. Mina and Tzuyu looked at each other and smiled, not knowing what else to do. The connection they had tonight had been great, Mina wanted to get to know Tzuyu better too, she really enjoyed tonight.
When everything had been tidied away and the hall was left spotless, the girls made their way into the lobby and bid farewell to Jeongyeon, Jihyo and Chaeyoung. The pair exited the building and saw the rain torrentially pouring.
“How are you getting home?” Mina asked Tzuyu.
“I was going to walk home, but I won’t be in this weather.”
“Would you like me to give you a lift home? My car is just over there.” Mina pointed.
“I couldn’t possibly ask you to go out of you way to drop me home.” Tzuyu tried to decline, but Mina wasn’t having any of it.
“Well you can’t wait here for the rain to stop as you don’t know how long it's going to last, and it’s dark. Come on Tzuyu, let me drop you home.” Mina insisted
“Okay, thank you Mina.” Tzuyu gave in and ran with Mina to Mina’s car. The pair quickly got in to avoid getting too drenched.
“So, where am I taking you to then?” Mina asked.
“Just by the Strawberry Cafe please” Tzuyu replied.
“I know it very well, it’s just round the corner from where I live.” Mina chuckled.
“Wow, maybe we will see each other around then.” Tzuyu also chuckled.
“Maybe we will.”
Mina turned the key and started the ignition as she started to drive Tzuyu home. They reached the Strawberry Cafe in five minutes but the rain was still heavy so Mina waited with Tzuyu for the rain to ease off.
“I had a really fun night tonight, thank you for helping me.” Mina smiled.
“Thank you for showing me the ropes” Tzuyu smiled back at Mina.
“I’d like to get to know you more Tzuyu, perhaps we should meet in the Strawberry Cafe one day, get to know each other better.”
“I’d really like that Mina.”
“Here, take this.” Mina wrote something on a piece of paper she had in one of her many notebooks in her car and gave it to Tzuyu.
“What is it?”
“That’s should you ever want to contact me and arrange to meet up” Mina looked at Tzuyu who was dumbfounded. After a few seconds of silence Mina turned and saw the rain was not as heavy as before. “Looks like the rain is easing off a little bit.”
“Yeah,” was all that Tzuyu could respond, still in shock from what Mina had given her. “Sorry, I was in my own little world. I had better get going, thank you for the lift home Mina.” Tzuyu opened the door and waved to Mina as she ran into her house.
Mina restarted the ignition and finished her drive home. She entered into the house and immediately went into her room and lay down on her bed and started thinking about Tzuyu and how easy it was to get on with her. She was snapped out of her thoughts by a text that came through on her phone.
‘ Fancy meeting tomorrow? ’