Aphrodite's Spell

Explosive stars

Mina's heart beats frantically under her palm, a reminder that she's not in this alone, a lifeline of safety she clings on to. Knowing the younger girl loves her definitely eases the pain that has been simmering in her own chest for years, years of barely coping and learning to live with being treated like a literal stranger.

"Can we talk about what happened today?" Mina hums under her, kneading her arms with her palm. She looks devastatingly stunning laying on the bed, her hair sprawled around her like a halo making her look like one of those Greek goddesses Nayeon has read about in mythology books.

Nayeon lies back down on the bed next to her, only for the younger girl to roll to her side, an arm wrapping around her middle, face snuggling into her chest, hands playing with the stitches on her t-shirt.

At such closeness, she feels her eyes itch, a painful lump forming in her throat the way it does when she's about to cry.

"I was just being stupid." She says simply, but her voice fails to hide the emotions. She remains quiet, chest barely rising like she has forgotten to breathe. Mina props her chin up on her torso, watching her like she can read her mind clear as day.

"Nayeon." The younger girl breathes. It's not the respectful Nayeon-ssi she throws around sometimes, it's not the affectionate Nayeonnie for the cameras, definitely not the familiar Nayeon-chan when it's just the members or the Nabongs when she's playful. Here, in this moment, she's just Nayeon to Mina. And that's the part that really really hurts. Because she's never known that Mina has seen her as just Nayeon, not as a mentor, not as a member, but just Nayeon. "Please, just talk to me."

She can't breathe with how much she wants to say, she can't breathe with how much she doesn't want to say. It's hell. But Mina is laying her head back on her torso, stroking her shoulder in a comforting manner, and Nayeon is once again stunned by the power the Japanese girl holds to soothe her pain with a simple touch.

"Until the day you told me that you are in love with me, I always thought.." She swallows hard, the muscles in her throat tightening. "That you only liked me because we are in the same group."

"That's not true." Mina sighs, hands stilling on her collarbone.

Something breaks open in Nayeon's chest. Like a cracked dam. "It felt like that. You barely said few words to me, wouldn't even come within ten foot of me most of the times. God, sometimes it felt like you barely just tolerated my existence."

Mina sucks in a deep breath, like she's punched her in the gut.

"For years Mina," She whispers, her voice ice cold, "for years I thought you liked me the least."

Her words hang in the room for a maddeningly quiet moment. She feels terrifyingly close to tears. The tremble she feels in the soft body in her arms and the wetness seeping in through the front of her t-shirt tells her Mina is already in that state.

"Do you know how it feels like to be a stranger to someone who means the world to you?" Her chin trembles as tears threaten to escape her closed eyes. "Do you really want to know how you made me feel today?"

"How?" Mina asks, looking up at her, lips quivering, eyes shimmering with tears.

"Like someone not worthy to be seen." She gives a broken, pained laugh. Her own tears beginning to run free. "By you."

After what feels like an eternity, as they both digest the words that lingers in the air between them, Mina finally breaks the silence with a shaky breath. "I stayed away because it hurt."

Nayeon doesn't interrupt her. If they're going to do this, they both needed to face their past head on. Running won't get them anywhere.

"-hurt that you'll never love me the way I do."