At This Time [MICHAENG]

Part 5

Chaeyoung called Jeongyeon.

“Jeongyeon-ah, I’ll be dropping by at the café, I’m with a friend, do me a favor and let her sing for me okay? Thanks.”

--------------

“Oh? A fresh artist? That’s great. Okay we’ll wait for you here then. Later. Bye” the moment their call ended, she saw Mina and Jackson enter the café.

“ Huh? Mina-ah, what a surprise, what brought you here dear?”asked Jeongyeon.

“Mina-ah ! I missed you..oh.. you’re with Jackson” Nayeon intervened.

“Yes, I told him that you guys make the best blueberry cheesecake ever, so he wanted to give it a try, plus, I missed you, you two lovebirds.”

“ Is that so? Well you’ve come to the right place, also a new artist will sing for tonight, you guys are lucky.” said Jeongyeon.

“What did you say Baby? A new artist?”

“Yes. Chaeyoung called a while ago and asked me if her duet partner can come along and sing here for tonight. There’s nothing wrong I guess, so I agreed, Oh, here they come, Chaeyoung-ah!!” Jeongyeon said as she shouted Chaeyoung’s name and waved at them frantically. Upon hearing that Chaeyoung will be there with her ‘new friend’ Mina wanted to run away and go some place else. Chaeyoung was smiling at first until she saw Mina and Jackson together. Her face turned pale and a piercing sensation hit her heart. Nayeon, noticing Chaeyoung’s reaction, led her and Yeri away to a table near the stage, far away from Mina and Jackson.

“ All right, ladies and Gentlemen, tonight is a special night because we have here my good friend, I think we all know, Son Chaeyoung is in the house!” and with that the café boomed with applauses and whistles from the audience, even Jackson was clapping his hands together with the other people, Mina just sat there, she was looking down on the floor and was rather gloomy.

“ But wait, there’s more, we also have here a new artist, Son Chaeyoung’s duet partner in their new song I’ll Take Care Of You, and she will sing for us tonight, so please welcome, Kim Yeri !”

Yeri went up the stage and said that she is grateful towards Chaeyoung, that meeting her is a huge honor and she also promoted their new song.

“This song that I’m gonna sing is called ‘Someday’, and I dedicate this to someone that I just met recently but already took a part of me—my heart. Chaeyoungie, this is for you” Yeri’s cheeks went crimson red and with that the crowd grew wild. Mina looked at Chaeyoung, she felt her heart repeatedly being stabbed with a knife as she saw Chaeyoung smiling and gazing at Yeri with full attention. She stood up and went to the comfort room,  there, she sobbed, she can’t hold it anymore. She never thought that Chaeyoung would date a girl, that’s why she never confessed to her what she felt after they kissed the other night. If Chaeyoung would date a girl, she’ll make sure that it’s her. It has to be her. Her eyes turned  red and puffy as she continued to sob, she stopped when the door swung open. It was Yeri, catching her breath  and clasping her chest, she noticed Mina was there crying alone.

“Um, unnie, is there anything I can do to help you?” she asked.

“No. I’m fine, why are you here? You’re the singer right?”

“Yep. Well you see.. I.. um, stage fright. Yeah, that’s basically why I’m here”

Yeri smiled at her and went inside a cubicle. A knock was heard at the door as Mina recognized the  voice behind it.

“Yeri, are you alright? I’m here if you need me, Stage fright is common to new artists.”

Mina knew who it was. Tears started to flow again but she wiped it away and told herself to stop shivering. She inhaled deeply before opening the door, and Chaeyoung was there. Standing in front of her. Their eyes met ,Chaeyoung noticed Mina’s sorrowful eyes, her heart skipped a beat. She knew that Mina cried, with that red puffy eyes, She knew Mina’s face very well, she looks at it everyday and it pained her to see Mina like that. She doesn’t even know that the reason for all her tears—was her. Just the thought of Mina crying made her feel punches in her stomach. She wanted to hug her so bad and just kiss her tears away, she grasped Mina’s arms gently..

“Mina-ah..” she said, her voice trembling as tears threatened to fall from her expressive eyes. Mina shoved her away and ran with both hands on her face.

***

Meanwhile, Jeongyeon and Nayeon was invited by Jeongyeon’s parents to come and stay over to the Yoo’s Residence for the day, which leaves Chaeyoung and Mina the only people in their house.

***

Chaeyoung is standing at the front door. She doesn’t know what will happen once she enters the house, whether she can keep herself from finally confessing to Mina after seeing her cry like that, knowing that it has nothing to do with Jackson, She found herself wondering if Mina was jealous between her and Yeri, she took a deep breath, gathered courage, and she opened the door. It was dark. No lights were on, She wondered if Mina was home. On her way to their room, she tripped over some stuffs. She bent down with furrowed eyebrows to search for it, she gulped when she saw a purse and a pair of heels scattered on the floor. Yep. Mina was home. And she’s not in a good mood. She leaned her back against  the door, She heard faint sobs, mild coughs and hiccups from excessive crying. How long has Mina been crying in there? She questioned herself, but could not come up with an answer.

Since it was obvious that she can’t sleep in their room for tonight. She decided to use Jeongyeon and Nayeon’s room instead. She rested her head on a pillow and  placed an arm on top of her eyes. Minutes later, her lips started to tremble, she was biting them hard, suppressing any possible sobs that may escape, while trails of warm, transparent liquid started to fall from her burning eyes and rolled down on her cheeks. She cried herself to sleep, repeatedly whispering to herself “ Mina-ah, I love you so much”

For the both of them, it was the longest and loneliest night they have ever gone through. A blue penquin device beside Mina’s bed indicated that the time was already 5:30 in the afternoon. Mina’s eyes slowly fluttered open, she wondered if Chaeyoung went home last night, rubbing her eyes, she scanned their room, but found herself alone. She went to the living room, nope. No Chaeyoung.

“Usually, she would just sleep in the couch… maybe she did not come home after all, or maybe she came home with Yeri elsewhere” she said to herself, jealousy written all over her face.

“you are my everything to me, you are my everything to me~”

Her heart skipped abeat upon hearing Chaeyoung’s voice, but became disappointed when she remembered that she set Chaeyoung’s song as her message alert tone. She received a text message. She held her hopes high that the message was from  the girl that she was searching for a while ago.

From: CEO Mr. Park

      Tiffany, I am putting you in charge for the company’s premiere tonight with Mr. Jackson Wang will be escorting you and he also volunteered to pick you up in exactly 15 minutes. Goodluck Ms. Myoui.

After reading that, she did not bother to eat anything and went straight to hit  the showers. She stripped her clothes off one by one and opened the faucet, water poured down on her head, she closed her eyes, smiled weakly and wondered if she had cried this much last night. The events from yester night flashed in front of her like that of near-death experiences. Feeling the water drip down on her body, she wished that’ll also wash away the hurt, she wrapped her arms on her shoulders and looked down, cold water dripped down on her flawless face and hanged at the tip of her perfectly pointed nose. While warm water rolled down from her puffy eyes, She had a taste of something salty on her lips as her tears mixed with the tap water.