Work Text:
"I know I signed up for this and all, but if I die, it’s still your fault and I will not hold back on blaming you." Tzuyu gives Nayeon her fifth warning while she buckles up her seatbelt. Nayeon rolls her eyes and checks herself in the side mirror. Her sister is being dramatic; they are just going to practice driving around their apartment’s parking lot. What worse could happen?
And in Nayeon’s defense, she’s not a bad driver; things just don’t go her way every time they practice. Sometimes there’s a curb she didn’t see or the street sign suddenly (magically) crossed the street. “Hey, can’t you just trust me?” Tzuyu sucks in sharp breaths the moment Nayeon starts the engine. She tensely holds onto the handle with both of her hands. “Nope. The last time we practiced, you almost hit a couple sitting on the bench.”
Nayeon moves the gearshift and mumbles. “That was intentional. They were being gross.” She steps on the gas and starts driving around the almost empty parking lot. Tzuyu shifts on her seat, “Yeah, I know and that’s even worse. Turn the signal before turning left.”
When Nayeon successfully takes the turn, Tzuyu sighs loudly and relaxes a little. “Oh god. Now, let’s look for a space and practice parking.” Nayeon smugly hums and accidentally presses on the gas a little too much. Tzuyu stiffens and starts yelling. “What are you doing?! Step on the brakes!”
It’s too late, Nayeon panics and steers the car to the right and they hit a car that’s backing out of the parking space. “Oh my god!” Nayeon nervously turns to her sister. Tzuyu ruffles her hair and unbuckles from her seat. “Unnie, we are so doomed.” She says before opening the door to check the damage.
Okay, the crash is not so bad. Nayeon just damaged their bumper and dented the back of their neighbor’s car. Tzuyu puts her hands on her hips while assessing the damage then glares at Nayeon who’s still inside the car.
“Are you guys okay?” The driver rushes to them and sees the damage. She stares at her dented car then to their bumper that’s kissing the concrete road. Tzuyu signals Nayeon to come out already as she pulls out her phone. “Look, we’re really sorry about… this.”
Nayeon slowly approaches them. “Hi, I was actually the one who bumped into your car. Haha.” The girl turns to Nayeon and chuckles. “Honestly, ‘bumping’ is an understatement.” Nayeon turns beet red and looks away.
“Since it was me who was reversing, it looks like it’s my fault.” The driver grimaces as she checks on the scratch and dent on her car. Nayeon is not going to lie, she looks hot.
But it’s not her fault, it’s Nayeon who crashed into her. Nayeon’s about to speak when Tzuyu elbows her hard and tells her to shut it. “You better not say we were practicing driving here. We’ll get in trouble.” Tzuyu nods toward the big ass sign that says, ‘PRACTICE DRIVING IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED.’
Tzuyu starts taking pictures of the small crash. The driver also takes pictures and gives Nayeon two calling cards. “That’s my car insurance company. And my name is Mina.” Nayeon stares at the small card on her hand. Tzuyu rushes to the car and gets their auto insurance company’s card as well. “Myoui Mina.” Nayeon utters her name. Mina smiles at her.
Everything passes like a blur, Nayeon finds herself sitting on the passenger seat while Tzuyu drives them to their favorite ramen restaurant. She only wakes up when the steam of the hot noodles hits her face. “What happened?” Tzuyu sips the broth and scowls. “You just hit a car and I called our insurance so we can file a claim.”
“Oh, right.” Nayeon pulls out Mina’s calling card. “Yeah, that actually happened.” Tzuyu starts rambling about not filing a claim on Mina’s insurance company and coming to an agreement that they won’t need any lawyer. She continues rambling about all this legal stuff, but Nayeon is not listening at all.
Tzuyu slurps her noodles and finally declares. “Unnie, you’re not touching the car keys ever again.”
—
Now look, it’s been four days since Nayeon hit Mina’s car and since then, she has never bumped into Mina. Not in the elevator, the ground floor, not when Nayeon’s taking out the trash. God, not even at the parking lot.
So imagine her genuine surprise (and to her delight) when she sees Mina while she’s walking Tzuyu’s dogs early in the morning. Mina slows down and stops in front of Nayeon. She removes her earbuds and greets her. “Hi.” It takes enormous strength and self-restraint for Nayeon not to outright squeal and swoon.
“Hi. You’re out for morning runs, huh?” Mina kneels down and pets the dogs. “Yeah, I do this every day.” Alright, folks. It seems like Nayeon needs to shape up too. Perhaps an early morning jog will do, starting tomorrow.
Tzuyu groggily moves around their kitchen and pours herself some coffee. She turns around and spits out her hot coffee. “Who are you and what did you do to my sister?” Nayeon is up at 6 am in the morning. She’s all decked out, it looks like she’s joining a 15km fun run and it’s Wednesday.
“Going for a jog. Gotta stay fit.” Nayeon ties her shoes and does sloppy stretches. Tzuyu suspiciously sips her coffee. “You’re going to regret that. When’s the last time you even exercised?” Oh boy, her sister’s gonna be so sore by the end of the day.
Nayeon checks herself on the mirror once again and heads for the door. “I am active and healthy, what are you talking about?” She flashes Tzuyu a smile before slamming the door shut. Whatever, this isn’t the first time Nayeon acted strange anyway. “Unnie probably hit her head hard or something.”
Okay, here’s a tiny problem: Nayeon’s stamina is not that good. She cannot run a lap around their block without gasping for air like a fish out of the water. She knows that, but Mina doesn’t. So, when Nayeon ‘coincidentally’ meets Mina on her way out, it never crossed Nayeon’s mind that Mina actually runs five miles a day.
“It’s important to reach 10,000 steps a day, you see.” Mina did say that, but Nayeon failed to calculate how far 10k steps actually take. By the second mile, Nayeon is already lagging behind Mina. Nayeon’s knees are killing her and her lungs are doing their best.
Mina has decided that they will take a break.
And as Tzuyu’s guess. Nayeon regrets taking a morning run and now she cannot even take another step when their building is literally just 100 steps away from her. She just finished her 10k steps at turtle pace. That’s the best her body can do.
At the end of their jog, Mina has inevitably offered Nayeon to just carry her to her place. Of which she gladly accepted. Nayeon knows how to play this game, of course, she has to look and sound apologetic. “You don’t have to do this. Oh gosh, this is embarrassing.” Nayeon’s arms are around Mina and she can practically sniff her. She resisted the urge, but Mina smells really good, she smells like flowers. Like jasmine and everything floral.
Mina laughs and slowly puts her down while they wait for the elevator doors to open. “It’s okay. Today’s run is fun because of you.” Nayeon’s heart tripped and almost stopped functioning. How can she easily say that while smiling at Nayeon like that ?
The doors slide open and Mina holds her hand to help her walk. Nayeon’s face heats up, looking at their joined hands “Thank you.” Nayeon mumbles. Mina does not let go of her as she asks, “Okay, which floor?” How about you take me to your floor, Mina? Nayeon bites her tongue and says, “9th.”
When Tzuyu swings the door open and sees Nayeon limping with Mina on her side, Nayeon repeatedly prays to the gods that Tzuyu will refrain from saying any sort of remark that will make Mina think that she’s a loser. “Thank you for helping my sister. WE owe you a lot.” Tzuyu says while she helps Nayeon reach the couch without breaking her bones.
Mina smiles and looks at Nayeon. “It’s okay. At least I got to know my neighbors better.” Tzuyu raises her brow and walks to the kitchen. “Do you drink pocari? We have tons of them in the fridge.” Nayeon breaks their staring contest first. Mina breaks into a bigger smile. “Yes, I do love them.”
“Cool.” Tzuyu takes her sweet time in the kitchen as if she’s making the pocari drink from scratch. Nayeon clears her throat. “By the way, thanks for bringing me home.” Mina snickers, “If you really want to thank me, then give me a call. Let’s have dinner, your treat.”
Nayeon freezes on her seat. Tzuyu comes back with three bottles and a variety of bread. So Nayeon misses the timing to ask Mina what she meant when she asked Nayeon to treat her to a meal.
Tzuyu is laying on the couch with her dogs and they can’t focus on watching the agility competition compilations because Nayeon is walking around the living room, holding a calling card and her phone. “Unnie, I hate asking this every time, but what is wrong with you?”
Nayeon curses and bolts into her room and locks the door. She double- no, she triple checked if she typed in the right numbers. The only thing left for her to do is press the dial button. She bites her nails and holds on the card so tight that it’s all crumpled now.
Did Mina say that in a flirting way or is she just being polite? Oh god, what if she’s only being courteous and does not really want Nayeon to call her up? What if she finds Nayeon annoying and repulsive? That’s possible, she did hit her car, right?
Fuck it. Nayeon presses the green button and dreadfully listens to the ringing. It takes no more than four rings for Mina to answer the call. “Hello?” Mina’s voice tickles her ear. “Hi, Mina. It’s N-nayeon.”
Nayeon’s face heats up when she hears Mina giggling on the other line. Mina’s voice is so soothing and she’s not even speaking yet. “Hi, Nayeon.” Biting her lip, Nayeon takes a leap of faith and lets Jesus take the wheel. “A-about the dinner…”
“Yeah?”
Please say yes. “Are you free tonight?” Please say yes, please please please. Nayeon’s hold on her phone is so tight, her palms are sweating and her heart is racing. Why is she nervous? Mina said she’ll only accept thanks in a form of dinner; she will surely say yes!
“I thought you’re never going to ask.” Nayeon punches the air and runs around her room.