Pretend | A MiChaeng Story

Chapter 14: Comfort

35 minutes had passed since Chaeyoung sent her message. Now she was panting and sweating profusely, out of breath, her cheeks flushed, her chest heaving, and she had a giant smile on her face with a dimple included.

As she ran across the lobby with a dozen helium-filled balloons in one hand and a white box in another, she started feeling dizzy and felt like passing out. But she had made it after all, and executing her improvised plan didn't take her nearly as long as she thought it would.

Dahyun stood impatiently near the elevator on the ground floor, wearing an annoyed expression and holding a gorgeous bouquet of red carnations, some solid red and others striped with streaks of white. Her frown softened when she saw Chaeyoung approaching, and a mocking grin rose slowly across her face when she saw the rest of the stuff she carried in her arms.

"So that's what this is all about." She said as her friend slowed down besides her and tried to catch her breath again. Gold, mint and pale turquoise balloons bounced softly against each other near the ceiling, still carrying the momentum Chaeyoung had a moment ago.
"You don't get to do that to me, dude. You can't keep pulling the I'll explain later card on me like this all the time and ask for impossible things. We need to talk, missy, you and I."

Chaeyoung frowned and tried to quip back, but Dahyun pressed the button on the wall and shoved the bouquet onto her chest, pushing her back gently as the elevator doors opened behind her.

"You owe me one, but we'll talk later. Go get her, tiger." Dahyun teased. Chaeyoung's flushed cheeks turned a brighter shade of pink, and she wished one of her hands were free to flip her friend off. She just grimaced with exaggeration instead, baring her teeth, and Dahyun bent at the waist as laughter took her.

The elevator doors closed, leaving her to rearrange the precarious load she carried in her arms. She reached up and managed to push the correct button with her knee, then held the deceptively heavy bouquet with one shaky hand and transferred the balloon strings to her teeth, all while balancing the white box with the other hand. She looked ridiculous, but it worked. And maybe she'd make Mina laugh enough to forget she was late by half an hour.

Walking down the quiet, impossibly long hallway, Chaeyoung felt a little flutter in her stomach. She was just on her way to hang out with Mina, like they'd done thousands of times before, so what was different this time? It wasn't the gifts, she had given her so many things over the years that this became just another small gesture from her. She shook her shoulders to rid herself of the unpleasant feeling, then came to a halt in front of the door.

She wasn't sure how she was going to knock. Balancing the bouquet with one hand, carefully holding the box with the other, and even her teeth clenching a bunch of balloon strings, she started looking around with exasperation. There wasn't anything she could do, save putting some of her load on the floor or banging the flowers against the door, which would ruin them. She started whining like a sad puppy, panicking slightly and completely stumped on what to do.

"Chaeyoung, is that you?" Mina's voice came from inside, then a second later the door opened.

They both froze. Mina's mouth opened a little, then she looked up toward the balloons, and back down at Chaeyoung.

" Huffy birsheeey! " Chaeyoung mumbled cheerfully. She was screaming internally, feeling utterly stupid like few times in her life.

Mina's mouth opened slightly wider, and she took a few seconds to respond. "What?"

" I shed huffy birshey! " Chaeyoung repeated. Mina raised her eyebrows little by little, the edges of her mouth curling up with small twitches.

Chaeyoung spat the balloon strings, making them raise a couple of feet until they hung from the ceiling.

"Happy birthday Minariiii~!"