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Lavender and jasmine. That’s how she could describe her morning as she rose to the golden sunlight pouring through the window. she felt the soft linen of the bedsheets, her cloud-like mattress, and most importantly, her legs intertwined with another’s. She slowly opened her eyes and was met with the neck of another person.
Her love. Her muse. Her Mina.
Chaeyoung and Mina have been together for almost 4 years. After Chaeyoung had drunkenly confessed her love to Mina while she was taking care of her, Mina decided to take her chances the next morning to express her reciprocation of Chaeyoung’s feelings. Chaeyoung was embarrassed to say the least, but she was ecstatic.
Both of them can’t recall the moment they fell in love. Was it when Mina had said Chaeyoung was her type? Or was it when Chaeyoung’s jaw dropped in awe as she saw Mina dance in the JYP practice room? Maybe it was when Chaeyoung admitted that she thought Mina looked handsome in the photo she posted. They’ll never know.
Chaeyoung stirs awake, groaning into Mina’s neck, hiding her face in the crook. Mina’s eyes flutter open when she feels the movement next to her. She slowly awakens and smiles at their legs intertwined and Chaeyoung’s lips against her neck. She slowly tightens her hold around Chaeyoung’s waist as she whispers, “Good morning, my love”.
Chaeyoung lets out a small noise that Mina could barely make out, but figured she said, “G’morning”.
Mina smiled and leaned down to give Chaeyoung a peck on her lips. Chaeyoung swore she felt butterflies in her stomach. Even after 4 years, she will never get over the feeling of Mina’s soft lips against hers.
Chaeyoung started to pepper small kisses on Mina’s neck. Mina whined as she moved her head away. She looked at Chaeyoung and saw a mischievous look in her eyes. She could only chuckle and shake her head.
Mina moved to get out of the bed, but Chaeyoung held her arm with a whine.
“Stay, pretty please?” She said with a slight pout.
Usually Mina wouldn’t be able to resist her girlfriend’s adorable pout, but it was approaching 11 am, so they should get up.
“Chae, it’s late. We should get ready.”
“Mm, okay.”
-
Later in the day, Mina is in bed again with her phone while Chaeyoung is out with Dahyun and Tzuyu. She’s scrolling through Twitter when she comes across a post of herself performing Ariana Grande’s 7 Rings for the group’s latest concert for their Ready To Be tour. She knows she shouldn’t, but she proceeds to check the comments under the post. After almost 9 years of being an idol, it shouldn’t affect her this much, but she can’t help it.
“Her dancing is so lazy”
“She can’t even sing”
“How is she a main dancer?”
“She doesn’t belong in Twice”
Mina tossed her phone to the side and groaned into her hands in frustration. She was mad. Mad at those commenters. Mad at her dancing. Mad at herself.
How could she be so bad at her own job? She has been doing this for the better half of her life yet she can’t do it well. She can’t do anything well. How is she supposed to expect people to like her when she can’t even do her job right?
Just then the door to the apartment opened.
Chaeyoung was excited to show Mina what she had bought when she was out with Dahyun and Tzuyu. She made a beeline to their bedroom and opened the door excitedly which startled Mina.
“Minari! Look what I bought!”
Chaeyoung started showing Mina the different things she bought, but Mina wasn’t paying much attention to her. She started to get annoyed, so she snapped, “Chaeyoung, I don’t care about your clothes! Just leave me alone.”
“O-Oh, okay,” Chaeyoung quickly gathered her items and moved to the living room. “Maybe she is just having a bad day. I’ll just give her some space. Maybe she’ll tell me what’s on her mind after.” Chaeyoung mumbled to herself.
Chaeyoung decided to turn on the TV and continue watching a show she hadn’t finished.
-
Soon enough, some of the other members started coming out of their rooms. Jeongyeon asked them what they wanted for dinner, so Chaeyoung quickly jumped in suggesting that they order take-out, specifically Mina’s favorite foods.
As the food arrived, and the rest of the members came out of their rooms, Chaeyoung decided to call Mina out of the bedroom. She opened the door and saw Mina sitting on their bed, on her phone. She called out to her, “Baby, dinner is ready. I ordered take-out for all of us. It’s your favorite.”
Mina replied in a series of mumbles, “Okay, I’ll be out soon,” not even making eye contact with Chaeyoung as she said so.
Chaeyoung was starting to wonder what had upset her girlfriend. Wondering why she was acting so coldly towards her. Was it something she did? Maybe she would ask her when all of the members went to their respective rooms.
She went back to the dining table and sat down. Mina came out of her room and greeted all of the members happily. It was so different from the attitude she had when speaking with Chaeyoung. It made Chaeyoung even more worried when Mina sat on the complete opposite side of the table from her.
Chaeyoung knew she had a tendency to overthink, so she tried to calm herself down before jumping to conclusions. She carried on with dinner trying to seem normal by occasionally joining in on a conversation with some of her members or making a joke that only she and Jeongyeon laughed at, but inside, she was truly panicking. Her mind was swirling with different reasons for why Mina would be mad at her.
-
Dinner slowly came to a close, and they all cleaned up their trash and stored any leftovers in their fridge. After that, some members decided to stay in the living room while others returned to their rooms. Mina and Chaeyoung decided to retire for the night.
Despite being tired, Chaeyoung wanted to go take a quick shower. In the shower, Chaeyoung felt the warm water hit her back and start to pool at her feet before it was whisked away into the drain. Chaeyoung stared at the drain as she started to think. She was left with all of her thoughts from the dinner table. ‘Did I do something wrong?’ she thought while referring back to Mina’s exchange with the members and how she decided not to sit next to Chaeyoung.
With nothing stopping her from thinking, she felt herself spiral. Finally, the floodgates came crashing. She felt tears running down her cheeks along with the water dripping from the shower head. She muffled her sobs as she thought about the idea of Mina breaking up with her. Mina was— is her everything. Mina keeps her at bay. She makes her truly happy and makes her feel seen. How would she go on without her by her side?
As Chaeyoung’s sobs came down to small whimpers, she decided to get out of the shower. She dried herself off and blow-dried her hair despite it being dripping wet. She just wanted to sleep and possibly be in the arms of her girlfriend. Chaeyoung’s heart started pumping as she placed her hand on the doorknob and twisted it to open the door. She was disappointed to be met with a dark room and an already-asleep Mina. Her back was turned away from Chaeyoung. She sighed at the sight. Mina never went to sleep if Chaeyoung wasn’t in bed with her.
Chaeyoung simply hung her towel for drying and crawled into bed with her body facing Mina’s back. Mina was at the edge of the bed. Chaeyoung decided to leave some space between them and tried to go to sleep, but throughout the night, she was tossing and turning. When she was finally able to fall asleep it was 4 am, but she kept drifting in and out of sleep.
-
The next morning, she woke up at 8 am to cold and empty sheets. Chaeyoung felt her stomach twist and her heart break just a little. Mina never left the bed without at least warning Chaeyoung. She groaned from exhaustion due to the lack of sleep. She tried to ignore the twisting feeling in her gut as she went to the bathroom to get ready.
When she got out of the bathroom, she exited her room and moved toward the kitchen. That’s when she saw her. Chaeyoung felt her heart leap and her stomach twist again as if there was a knife being slowly turned. Mina had her back towards Chaeyoung and was flipping a pancake. She was making breakfast for everyone. Chaeyoung waited for Mina to finish flipping the pancake before she said anything.
“Good morning.” Chaeyoung said. Mina was startled by the sudden voice behind her. She managed to mumble a ‘good morning’ back to her girlfriend.
“You left me alone this morning.” Chaeyoung said, addressing the elephant in the room right away.
“Yeah, I wanted to make breakfast for everyone.” Mina replied stoically.
“We could’ve done it together…” Chaeyoung trailed off.
Mina rolled her eyes and snapped, “I just didn’t want to, okay?”
“O-Oh, I’m sorry”
Mina just went back to flipping her pancakes while Chaeyoung stood there feeling like her heart had just been ripped out of her chest. She tried to keep her tears at bay as she dragged her feet to the dining table. She just watched Mina gracefully move about the kitchen pouring the batter, flipping the pancake, placing it on a plate. No matter what, Chaeyoung will always be in awe of how Mina is always so elegant and beautiful. Her side-profile having all the perfect angles, her cute moles, her sweet gummy smile, her soft lips. Chaeyoung loves to kiss Mina all over her face, leaving light lipstick stains, until Mina lets out her adorable giggle that Chaeyoung loves so much. Chaeyoung thinks she would give anything to be able to hear that from Mina all of the time.
Chaeyoung doesn’t realize she is staring until Mina clears her throat and lifts an eyebrow. Chaeyoung quickly looks away, blushing. When she takes a peak at Mina she thinks she sees a small smirk on her face. This only makes Chaeyoung’s blush deepen.
She gets up from the table to open the cupboard where their glasses are. She grabs a glass, but as soon as she has it in her grasp, she accidentally lets it slip. She hears the shattering of the glass as it hits the floor. It’s loud and high-pitched.
She sees Mina quickly turn around at the sound of the glass. She looks at the pieces on the floor then to Chaeyoung. As Chaeyoung makes eye contact with Mina, she sees her eyebrows furrow and her face morph with anger.
“Chaeyoung!” She hissed. “How could you be so careless? You’re so clumsy! Now there’s glass all over the floor!”
“I-I’m sor-“ Chaeyoung tried to apologize but was hastily cut off by Mina.
“Clean this up while I get the broom” She said in a cold tone, her face stoic.
Tears welled up in Chaeyoung’s eyes. God, how could I be so careless! Stupid, stupid, stupid! She had just gotten Mina to smile at her, but she just had to mess it up like this.
Chaeyoung leaned down to the floor without thinking to pick up the glass. She managed to pick up a few pieces of glass while in her thoughts before she was pulled out by the pain rushing through her palm. She looked at it and saw blood dripping down her arm from her palm. She felt the stinging pain and a tear roll down her cheek.
She quickly dropped the glass and held her hand. She rushed over to the sink to wash off her hand before Mina saw. I’ve already been enough trouble. She shouldn’t have to see or deal with this.
Chaeyoung finished washing her hands and dried them off. Thinking more rationally this time, she put on gloves and carefully picked up the larger pieces of glass to put into a plastic bag.
Mina returned with the broom and swiftly swept the small shards of glass into the pan. Once she was done, she poured the glass into the plastic bag and carefully inspected the area to make sure there was no remaining shards.
Mina turned to Chaeyoung and disappointedly said, “Just go set up the table and get the others. Don’t break anything else.”
Chaeyoung heard the disappointment in Mina’s voice. It made her feel small, like she should just curl up into a ball and disappear. Chaeyoung nodded slowly and kept her eyes cast on the floor. Great. Why am I such a disappointment? Why can’t I do anything right?
She went to the cabinet where their plates were and carefully got them out to avoid breaking them, just as Mina instructed. She placed the plates on the table and went back to get utensils. As she did this, she could feel the pain shooting through her palm. I should go take care of this.
She slipped out of the kitchen and moved toward one of the bathrooms where they kept first-aid kits. Chaeyoung knows how to handle injuries well since her younger brother was very accident-prone. She remembers him always coming home from the park with a few scrapes or bruises. She always made sure to patch him up and give him a little “get better” kiss wherever it hurts.
This habit carried over even after her debut. Whenever any of her clumsy members get hurt (Sana) she always gives a little kiss to make them feel better. She knows Mina loves this little habit of hers because whenever she gets hurt, she always blushes a bit after the kiss.
She remembers when Mina accidentally cut herself with a knife while she was cutting some vegetables.
-
“Ouch!” Mina exclaimed as she dropped the knife and held her finger. Chaeyoung, who was sitting on the stool by the island, quickly rushed over to her and held her hand.
“Mina, you have to be more careful. Let’s get this cleaned up, okay?” Chaeyoung said in a sweet and gentle tone. Mina nodded with tears in her eyes.
Chaeyoung led her to the bathroom and had her sit on the toilet as she prepared her materials. She carefully wiped off all the blood and disinfected with rubbing alcohol. She waited for a bit before gently putting a bandaid on Mina’s finger. Through all of this, Mina was in awe of Chaeyoung’s caring and gentle nature. Her hands felt soft against hers. She loved the way Chaeyoung treated her. It was one of the reasons she fell in love with her.
When Chaeyoung was done, she quickly left a little peck on her finger. Mina let out a little gasp which made Chaeyoung look up at her in worry.
“I’m sorry! Did I hurt you?” She asked with worry evident in her voice.
Mina could only blush with her free hand over her face. It only took this action for Chaeyoung to realize what was happening.
“Aww, is my baby embarrassed?” She teased.
“Oh, shut up” Mina retaliated, rolling her eyes.
“Don’t be embarrassed, my love” She giggled as she removed Mina’s hand from her face. Chaeyoung held Mina’s face with her hand and stared into her eyes with the utmost adoration.
Mina’s eyes softened, and she leaned in to give her a quick but passionate kiss. “God, you know I love you so much, right?”
“I love you too, Minari.” Chaeyoung replied.
-
Chaeyoung smiled fondly at the memory before returning to her business.
She grabs the kit from under the sink and opens it. First she washes off excess blood, then she disinfects her wound with rubbing alcohol while wincing slightly, finally she wraps a bandage around her palm.
She exits the bathroom and goes to wake up the other members for breakfast just like Mina asked.
They all settled at the table and thanked Mina. They chat about mundane things, occasionally asking for things to be passed around. Chaeyoung just observed. Some of her members were chatterboxes, some were quiet, some looked like they just wanted to rollback into bed. She also noticed that Mina was sitting on the opposite side of the table again. She was next to Nayeon and was giggling.
Chaeyoung’s stomach churned and her face went pale. Is this why Mina’s been ignoring me? She found someone better? She scolds herself for jumping to conclusions so quickly because she knows that, realistically, Mina would never cheat on her, but the irrational part of her mind makes her face flush with burning hot anger and jealousy. To prevent herself from doing something she knows she will regret, she excuses herself and goes to the bathroom.
She’s not sure if anyone noticed her mood, but she could care less. She stared at herself in the mirror and saw her face flushed with anger. She washed off her face with cold water to cool herself down and to ground her thoughts when they started to get too much. She looked in the mirror again, and, this time, she saw sadness in her eyes. She broke down crying. She slid to the ground against the wall, muffling her sobs with her hand against her mouth.
Damn Mina for making her feel this way. Damn Mina for being so close to Nayeon. Damn Mina for making her love her so much.
Chaeyoung knew she only had so much time before her members got suspicious, so she got up and washed her face again. She covered up the red, swollen circles around her eyes as best as she could and returned to the table with a happy façade. She really hopes that none of them notice her slight shift in behavior.
-
Once they are all done with breakfast, they split up to spend their last day off doing something they enjoy. They have to film their music video for I Got You, their pre-release for their latest comeback: With You-th.
Chaeyoung decided to go back to her room and crawl under the sheets to take her mind off of today and yesterday’s events. Mina decided to hop on her PC to play some video game that she loves.
Chaeyoung tries to fall asleep for a while, but every event is playing on repeat in her head. She’s also getting overwhelmed with how Mina is also in the same room as her. She just tosses and turns in bed for a while until she manages to drift off into sleep.
A few hours later, Chaeyoung awakens. She looks outside the window and she sees the sun setting. How long has she been sleeping? She checked her phone and saw that it was already 7:00 in the evening. She had slept the whole day. Chaeyoung scans the room for Mina but notices that she is nowhere to be found.
She groggily gets out of bed and fixes herself before heading out toward the living room. She feels hungry, so she decides to go to the kitchen to make herself dinner. She is reminded of this morning when she dropped the glass and cut herself. This reminds her that she needs to change her bandage.
She finished making dinner and eats quickly before going to the bathroom. She removes her bandage and smiles as she sees that her wound is already healing. She quickly disinfects the wound again, then puts a new and clean bandage on again.
She puts everything back and exits the bathroom. As she enters the kitchen to wash her dishes, she sees Mina walk into the apartment with Nayeon and Jihyo in tow. She went out with Nayeon? Chaeyoung felt her insecurities rise again. She looks away and finishes the dishes as quickly as she can before going back to her room. She didn’t spare Mina a glance as she shut the door. She didn’t want to act irrationally, so she hopped in the shower to cool off.
She has never been much of a jealous person. Maybe there were a few times where at an award show, another idol got too close to Mina so she possessively put her arm around her waist, but other than that it has never happened when Mina was with other members. She doesn’t know why she feels this way.
She feels terrible for being jealous of her own member. It feels wrong. She trusts both Nayeon and Mina, so why does she feel so jealous?
Chaeyoung takes off her clothes, ties her hair, and steps into the shower. She stands there and lets the water hit her back as she gets lost in her thoughts. It seems as if that’s what she’s been doing a lot lately.
She finishes up showering and dries herself off. Just like last night, she feels her heart pounding before she opens the door to the bedroom. When she opens it, she is surprised to see the lights still on and Mina on the bed. She gets in bed with her, and they just sit in silence for a while.
Chaeyoung broke that silence, asking, “You went out today?”
Mina mindlessly replied, “Yeah.”
“Where’d you go?” Chaeyoung asked, looking at Mina.
“Nayeon, Jihyo, and I went to a restaurant nearby.” She replied, looking back at Chaeyoung.
Chaeyoung was a bit surprised that Mina had made eye contact with her, but she couldn’t help but think, God, her eyes are so pretty.
“I know, you’ve told me before, Chaeng.” Mina giggled.
“Wha-? Shit, did I say that out loud?” Chaeyoung gasped. She quickly became embarrassed and refused to meet Mina’s eyes.
“Yes, Chae.”
“Uh, w-well, we have to wake up early tomorrow, so I’m going to sleep now. Good night!” Chaeyoung spewed out quickly as she got under the sheets and covered her face.
Mina chuckled. “Good night, Chaengie.”
-
The next morning, the girls were woken up by their blaring alarm. Chaeyoung opened her eyes first and saw Mina’s back facing her. She sighed as she moved to turn off her alarm. She really thought that things would be better after yesterday. Mina not only smiled but also held a conversation with her. Guess it was wrong for her to hope.
Chaeyoung wordlessly got up from their bed and went to the bathroom to prepare for the day. She remembered her bandage and decided to change it before Mina got up. Mina joined her in the bathroom a few minutes later. They went through their routine in silence which differs from how their mornings usually are— laughing and teasing each other while brushing their teeth, secret glances through the mirror.
Chaeyoung wants to know what she did wrong and why Mina has been switching up on her so often. It’s starting to make her frustrated, but she also wants to give Mina as much space as she needs to tell her herself. She doesn’t want to force a response out of her.
She leaves the bathroom as Mina prepares for her shower. She takes out some comfy clothes because she will be changing for their shoot anyways.
About 15 minutes later, Mina comes out of the bathroom with her hair wet. Chaeyoung can’t help but stare. She looks gorgeous no matter what. Sometimes Chaeyoung thinks she loves her girlfriend a little too much.
She snaps out of her trance and swiftly steps out of their bedroom once Mina is dressed. She sees a couple members in their kitchen grabbing something quick to eat and she sees another few in the living room on their phones. Their managers will be here is around 10 minutes, but they are still waiting for Sana, Nayeon, and Mina.
Fortunately, Mina comes out of her bedroom a minute later while Sana and Nayeon take another 5 minutes. Now they are ready to go.
They split off into two cars. Chaeyoung didn’t expect it, but Mina chose to ride in the same car as her, but unfortunately, she didn’t sit next to her. Mina keeps giving her mixed signals and it’s making her confused.
She just sighed and leaned her head against the window to hopefully get a small nap in before the long day ahead of them.
-
Chaeyoung is shaken awake by Tzuyu to tell her they have reached. Today, they are focusing on the group choreography parts of the music video. They are in Busan, surrounded by prairie land.
Each member gets their hair and makeup done, then they begin to film. Every now and then, they will do some commentary for the camera and give a little fan service between different members, but something always has to turn Chaeyoung’s smile upside down. This time, it’s Mina and Sana’a skinship. The way that Sana clings to Mina and Mina reciprocates makes Chaeyoung’s heart beat out of her chest. She has her fists clenched, and she is trying to keep her cool for the camera.
Tzuyu seems to have noticed her not so calm expression because she was suddenly by her side and holding her hand to unclench it. Chaeyoung looks up at Tzuyu to see her looking at Sana and Mina with sadness in her eyes. Oh…
“Oh, Tzu…” Chaeyoung wraps her arms around Tzuyu to comfort her. It’s a known fact within the group that Tzuyu has had a massive crush on Sana for years. It’s obvious to everybody but Sana. To see Sana being touchy with somebody that’s not her must hurt.
“It’s okay. I’ve gotten more used to it over the years. Speaking of Mina, I’ve noticed a shift in the way you act around each other. Did something happen?” Tzuyu questioned.
“You noticed? Was it that obvious?” Chaeyoung asked shakily.
“No, it’s not obvious, but you know I’ve always picked up on the little things. Now tell me what’s going on.”
“I don’t really know what’s going on. She’s been ignoring me for almost two days, but she is also giving me mixed signals. I don’t know if she’s mad at me or what she’s mad at me for.”
“Hm, that’s not like Mina at all. When you have disagreements, you two usually talk it out pretty quickly, right?” Chaeyoung nodded. “Well, I think that you should confront her about it. Maybe there’s something on her mind that has been bothering her.”
“You think so?” Tzuyu nodded. “Okay, I’ll try to talk to her after this schedule is over. I hope she can tell me everything. I just want things to go back to normal.”
“You got this, Chae. Just talk to her, and I’m sure you’ll find your answer.”
“Thank you, Tzu.” She hugged her again, but as she turned her head, she saw Sana looking at them with a glare. “We should go back to filming before someone gets too jealous.”
Tzuyu gave her a confused look. “Who?”
Chaeyoung just laughed as she walked away.
-
By the time they are done filming, it 7:30, right after sunset. They couldn’t film when it was dark as there were no scenes at night time (much to the girls’ relief).
The girls get back in the vans feeling tired. Chaeyoung decides that she will take a nap once they get going, but her plans are ruined once Myoui Mina sits next to her. She’s not going to sit up front? Chaeyoung questioned herself. Why is she sitting next to me now?
Chaeyoung just groans out of exhaustion and leans her head against the window to try to sleep, but it’s either her heart racing or her mind running that keeps sleep out of her grasp.
For half of the ride, she tried to close her eyes in hopes that even a few minutes of rest would come to her, but when she realized it wouldn’t happen anytime soon, she just looked out the window, watching the moving cars and the lit-up building zoom past her in the darkness of the night.
They arrived at their apartment an hour later and Chaeyoung thinks that she’s never felt such exhaustion in her bones. She just wants to crawl into bed and sink into its warmth, but, oh, how she yearns to be held in Mina’s arms instead. Her arms around her waist while Chaeyoung nuzzles her head into her girlfriend’s neck.
She remembers that Mina is next to her and waits for her to exit first before dragging herself out of the car. She follows behind the other members to go up to their apartment. She can feel the collective tiredness radiating from the group, and she chuckles at the groans that she hears once they step through the door.
Chaeyoung didn’t waste any time and made a beeline towards the bedroom to shower quickly and change into her comfortable pajamas. She couldn’t wait to sleep, but then she remembered that she needed to talk to Mina. She started to feel nervous about what this conversation may bring. She decided to get a glass of water to calm herself.
However, as soon as she stepped out of the bedroom, she was met with a sight that broke her heart. She just stood still as she watched Nayeon and Mina in a deep and comforting embrace. She felt the tears well in her eyes and her hands started to shake, but she just couldn’t take her eyes off of them despite the churning in her stomach.
She really doesn’t need me anymore.
The tears fell down her cheek, but then, Mina made eye contact with Chaeyoung over Nayeon’s shoulder. Her eyes were filled with worry as she stopped hugging Nayeon to chase after Chaeyoung who was now heading toward their bedroom to lock herself in.
“Fuck, Chaeyoung, wait! Please!” Mina cried out.
Chaeyoung just shut the door to their bedroom and crawled into their bed to cry. She felt miserable. Mina was going to break up with her as soon as she came into the room now that she has someone who is less needy, clingy, and pathetic than her.
She guesses she forgot to lock the door because a few seconds later, it swings open and reveals a frantic Mina. She slows as she sees the sobbing lump in their bed. She feels terrible knowing she’s the reason for her tears.
She walks over to the bed and crouches down beside her. “Chaeyoungie, I swear it’s not what you think. I’ll explain everything, but please look at me, baby.” Mina asked desperately.
Chaeyoung was still sobbing heavily under the blankets. She’s hesitant to even look at Mina as she thinks she would break down even harder than she already is.
Mina got up from her position and went to the other side of the bed to sit against the pillows beside Chaeyoung. She was facing Mina and a bit of her head stuck out of the blanket, so Mina brought her hand to her head and slowly petted it to calm Chaeyoung down.
“It’s okay, my love. I’m right here for you, always.” Mina assured her.
After a few minutes, Chaeyoung’s sobs reduced to soft sniffles and she savored Mina’s touch against her. She hesitantly wrapped her arm around Mina’s leg and finally peeked out of the blanket. As she looked up, she was met with a soft yet sad smile from Mina. She slowly sat up against the pillows and looked at her. Mina leaned into to give her a gentle kiss on her forehead and wipe her tear-stained face.
“Can I explain everything for you?” Mina softly asked as she took a hold of Chaeyoung’s hand a caressed it with her thumb.
Chaeyoung nodded.
Mina sighed, “It all started on our first day off. I was looking through my phone on Twitter, and I came across a post with a video of me dancing to 7 Rings from our concert. I know I shouldn’t have, but I started looking through the comments, and they were terrible.” Mina swallowed thickly, remembering their cruel words.
Mina continued, “They called my dancing bad, my stage presence awful, and some even said that I don’t belong in Twice.” Chaeyoung opened her mouth to retort, but she was stopped by Mina because she wanted to tell her everything.
“These comments made me feel terrible and insecure. I felt angry with myself. I was immediately put into a bad mood. Then, you came into the room, and I took out my frustrations onto you. God, I felt so terrible afterwards, but I was still blinded by my anger to even think about what I had done any further.” Mina explained, looking down at her lap. Chaeyoung tightened her grip on Mina’s hand to encourage her to keep going.
“When dinner came, I tried to act happy, but it didn’t work very well. I just stayed quiet for most of the time. I even distanced myself from you because I was so consumed by guilt. When we went back to our room, I didn’t want to accidentally hurt you again by saying something stupid and mean, so I went to sleep before you.”
“The next morning, I woke up before you, and I may or may not have stayed in bed for a while to just admire you,” Mina blushed a bit. “But then, I remembered my actions from the previous day and decided to get ready and make breakfast, so you weren’t near me. I don’t know why I didn’t just suck it up and apologize to you. I was being so stupid and stubborn with you and myself.”
Mina looked down in shame. Chaeyoung could feel the regret in her words as she explained her actions. She was putting all of the blame on herself, and Chaeyoung just wanted to wrap her arms around her, but she let the girl continue.
“While I was making breakfast, you had gotten out of bed and joined me in the kitchen, but during that time, I had been so lost in my thoughts about everything I had been doing wrong that I got disappointed with myself. That’s when I snapped at you the second time. God, Chaeng, I’m so sorry for how I treated you. I yelled at you for dropping that glass after that, and I felt so guilty and incredibly disappointed with myself. Nothing was your fault, I promise.” Mina said, as she looked into Chaeyoung’s eyes with so much remorse.
“It’s okay, Mina. I understand, but what I don’t understand is why you didn’t talk to me? You know that you can come to me for anything.” Chaeyoung asked.
“I didn’t want to burden you with my stupid feelings.”
“You’re feelings aren’t stupid, Mina. You could never be a burden. You know that I love you so much.”
“I love you too, Chaengie.” Mina sighed, “Now about Nayeon.”
Chaeyoung suddenly looked down and her eyes were overcast.
“I promise you that nothing has been happening between us. I thought I had been hiding my feelings from everyone pretty well until today when I messed up, and I started crying on set away from everyone else. Nayeon was coming to give me a snack, but instead she found me crying. She asked me what was wrong and everything spilled out.”
“I told her about the comments and how I had accidentally hurt you, so she just comforted me and gave me advice. She actually told me that I should talk to you tonight, and I guess that happened, but not in the way I expected.” Mina chuckled. “In the kitchen a few minutes ago, I was only hugging Nayeon because she was motivating me to talk to you tonight. I was getting a bit anxious, and she was just trying to calm me down. I’m sorry that I made it seem as if I was getting too close to Nayeon. I’m so incredibly sorry for how I have been treating you these past few days. You didn’t deserve to be treated that way.” Mina said as she finally let out her tears.
“You’re right, Mina. I didn’t deserve to be treated like that, but I’m also to blame. I should’ve talked to you sooner. I thought it would be better to give you space so you could tell me on your own terms, but I also realized that I should’ve noticed how your behavior was off. I’m sorry, Mina.”
“You have nothing to apologize for, Chaengie. I’ve been a terrible girlfriend, and I should’ve communicated better.”
“You’re not a bad girlfriend, baby. We just need to communicate more, okay? We need to tell each other when we’re feeling down, or if we’re feeling overwhelmed. Otherwise we’ll bottle all of these feelings up, and this will happen again. We don’t want that. Promise me?”
Mina nodded as she sprung out to capture Chaeyoung in a hug. “I promise.”
When they pulled back from the hug, Chaeyoung laid her hands in her lap. Mina’s eyes caught on her left hand. “Chaeyoungie, why do you have a bandage on your hand?”
“Um, when I dropped the glass, I accidentally cut myself, so I’ve been covering it up with a bandage for a couple days. I promise I’ve been taking proper care of it!” Chaeyoung looked up to meet Mina’s eyes, but she was met with tears which made Chaeyoung panic. “W-why are you crying? Did I say something wrong?”
“How did I not notice before? I didn’t even ask you if you were okay after you dropped it! I’m such a bad girlfriend? I’m sorry, I’m so sorry!” Mina uttered out through her sobs.
“Mina! Minari! Hey, you’re okay. I told you, you’re not a bad girlfriend, okay? You’re the best girlfriend I could ask for. This isn’t your fault. I just wasn’t thinking clearly, and I picked it up with my bare hands. It was my own stupid actions. It’s not your fault, baby.” Chaeyoung said sincerely.
She reached her bandaged hand up to Mina’s face to caress it as she looked deeply into Mina’s sorrowful eyes. She pulled Mina into a hug until her sobs receded.
“Now, how about we go to sleep, and you can hold me like you always do?” Chaeyoung asked with hope in her eyes.
Mina eagerly nodded while sniffling. “Of course, my love. Anything for you.”
-
The next morning Chaeyoung awoke to her alarm and the feeling on Mina’s arms wrapped around her and her back pressed against Mina’s front. She smiles and basks in the feeling. She wishes she could stay in this position with her lover forever.
Suddenly, she feels the arms retract from her waist, but she wants to stay for just a little while longer, so she quickly grabbed Mina’s hands and settled them around her waist again.
“Babe? We need to get up.” Mina said tiredly.
“Can we stay for a little longer? Please?” While Mina couldn’t see Chaeyoung’s face, she could hear the pout in her voice.
“Okay, Chaeyoungie.” Mina chuckled.
Mina started peppering kisses on the back and side of Chaeyoung’s neck as she held her. Chaeyoung started laughing because of how ticklish she is. Mina felt her heart melt at the sound.
“We should probably start getting ready before we make the other girls late.” Mina says before kissing her girlfriend’s cheek.
“Okay.” Chaeyoung smiled gleefully,
-
Today the group focused on filming the scene underneath the deck of the ship at the beginning of the music video. The set was warm, cozy, and comfortable. All of the members were either laying in a circle or messing around.
Chaeyoung and Mina were called over to the director because he wanted to add something into the scene. They were both curious as to what they had to do for it.
“Hi, girls. You’re probably wondering what you were called here for. Well, I wanted to add a moment where Chaeyoung comes from off-screen to lay in Mina’s arms when she says, ‘How the story unfolds with you’. I think it would give Onces something exciting.”
Chaeyoung and Mina looked at each other to confirm that they were okay with it. They agreed with the director.
They began shooting and multiple takes had to be taken, but Mina nor Chaeyoung were complaining. They got to be with each other even during their shoots.
During a particularly long pause, Chaeyoung just laid in Mina’s arms while Mina patted her shoulder as she whispered sweet nothings to Chaeyoung. It was a very domestic scene that happened to be caught on camera.
-
Before they headed home, the members needed to film videos for the dance. Chaeyoung and Momo paired off to film, but while Mina was watching them, she saw them get a bit too touchy for her liking. So when they finished filming, she immediately grabbed Chaeyoung’s waist and hugged her possessively.
“Ah, Mina, what is this?” Chaeyoung asked still hugging Mina.
“Just didn’t like seeing you two being touchy.” Mina grumbled hiding her face in Chaeyoung’s neck.
“I’m all yours, Minari. There’s nothing to be jealous of.”
Mina just blushed and hid her face deeper into Chaeyoung’s neck.
They didn’t stop hugging until Jeongyeon came in teasingly saying, “Okay, break it up, lovebirds. We are ready to leave. Come on.”
They chuckled at Jeonyeon’s words and followed behind her.
They both got in the car sitting next to each other, but this time, they Chaeyoung leaned against Mina’s shoulder as Mina rested her head on top of the other’s. They both sighed at the relief they felt of having each other by their sides.