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말더듬
THE NEXT DAY of school was one that allowed Mina to learn more about it, as she began to feel more comfortable with the system. She would occasionally still get lost in the hallways on the way to her next class, but her teachers would disregard it because of her and her father's reputation.
What she didn't know, though, was that this day was a short one; meaning the school day ended an hour earlier than the other days. It seemed like Yeojeong didn't know of this either, due to the fact that Mina wasn't told to come home earlier.
This meant, for Bitna, an extra hour to take Mina away from her regular life and to show her the teenage life.
"I don't really know, Bitna, I think I should go home..." Mina nervously said as the two stood outside of the school, the other students passing by them.
"No way Minnie, if your dad doesn't know about the early release thing, then he'll never find out!" she pointed out before intertwining their arms in a lock. "Come on, we have an hour or so, let's go to the mall! Don't you want to be a teenager?"
"I guess..." she replied after a few seconds of thought. Bitna cheered immediately, quickly dragging her away from the school.
"The best thing about this school is that it's right smack in the middle of the city. The mall is super close by," she explained. "Sometimes I ditch class to go over there."
Bitna didn't lie. The mall was nearly a five-minute walk, much to Mina's gratitude. This meant she had more time to walk around the mall, to emerge herself into a regular teenager's life.
Mina's jaw nearly dropped as she walked into the entrance with Bitna, her eyes scanning the humongous room with many people walking by. She'd never gone to the mall, as her father said there was never a need to. The clothes she would buy would be personally delivered to their house, so the shopping scene was one that Mina had never witnessed before.
It made her realize just how much of a life she'd missed out on, and it made her more excited to become a normal person.
"Why do you look like you've never seen a mall before?" Bitna asked as they walked down one of the large corridors of the mall. Given Mina's silence, a gasp fell past Bitna's lips as she widened her eyes at the girl. "Are you kidding? This is amazing, you're going to become just like me."
"Is that a good thing?" Mina joked lightly, a smile tugging on her lips.
"Hell yeah, it is," Bitna hummed. "So what, your dad never let you leave the house or something?"
"Basically. I was only ever allowed to go to my singing lessons, and the venues I would perform at. And additionally, some fashion shows that my father would sponsor, but otherwise, I've never been able to explore anywhere on my own."
"That must have been really lonely," she frowned. "Let's just say, you were the princess in the tower and I was your prince," she cheekily remarked, causing Mina to laugh out loud.
