Passion Meets Fear | JiMina

T W O

Mina sighed, her guilt bit by bit consuming her remaining sanity. Seeing her fellow teammates all smiley and joyful somehow pained her, wishing that she felt the same, too. It wasn't her first time ignoring her boyfriend due to a stupid argument. She didn't want to think it was her fault, because from what she had observed, it really wasn't. But every single time she stood for her own defense, her boyfriend just didn't seem to care for her words at all, as if indicating she was the one responsible for their fight.

Yesterday, she caught her boyfriend exchanging notes with a girl she recognized as that one sophisticated, straight A student from arts and painting department. Afterwards, she asked him what that was all about. In response, he gave her an indefinite answer which obviously didn't convince her at all. Knowing herself, she wouldn't be able to hold an argument any longer so instead of continuing, she just let herself fall into utter silence. As disturbed as she was to keep wondering about that suspicious interaction, who was she to know what her boyfriend was doing behind her back? At times, she didn't even feel like she had a boyfriend at all.

"What are you doing later at night?" Chaeyoung, a fellow cheerleader, asked. Mina hummed in response while spacing out—sort of—since she wasn't really in the mood to talk. "You can join us night-bike-riding at Han River, if you're free."

Hearing this, Mina perked up. "Who are you referring to 'us'?"

"Nayeon unnie, Jeongyeon unnie, me. You know, the girls." Honestly, Mina would be really down for that. It'd been a long time since they went bike riding and she surely missed everything about it, perhaps except for the crashes and the minor injuries. In addition to that, the Han River was definitely a sight to see during night time. Nudging Mina's elbow, Chaeyoung said, "Come on, it'd be fun. It's been a while."

"Sure I'd really love. . . that," Mina's voice trailed off at the end of the sentence, suddenly feeling like a horrible person to think of having fun outside while her relationship wasn't in the right condition. Awkward. She'd rather keep it to herself either, than telling Chaeyoung about it. "I'm not really sure yet, but I'll try to find time, I guess."

Chaeyoung's face softened as she noticed Mina's concerned voice. Even if the latter wouldn't share anything, she had a hint of what it was, and probably because it had happened so many times already. She guessed Mina was most likely embarrassed to share more of her relationship's burdens to the point it might seem like she was begging for empathy, that she couldn't handle them by herself. Chaeyoung put her hand on Mina's shoulder, saying, "It's really okay, we understand."

Mina flashed a faint, sad smile. "Thank you, Chae," she said, her soft voice loaded with sincerity.

Just then, the two of them started hearing whispers from all the other cheerleaders. Some even gasped, squealed. And it looked like they were all looking at the same direction, their eyes were focused on the same thing, or person. Mina, quite curious, turned around to look what the fuzz was all about. It was a man, not so tall, but undoubtedly handsome. He had an oval face shape, his jaw was narrower than his cheekbone. His skin was smooth-looking and shiny, showing that he was a person who took good care of himself.

It didn't take long for the somewhat shocking truth to dawn on Mina. She knew she had seen him somewhere, his face was familiar but for a second there, she lost remembrance of it.  She almost dropped her pompom to the ground, as a quiet gasp escaped from her mouth. As it turned out, he was the top dancer. Park Jimin. She barely remembered the name, but thanks to the announcement for the performance events lately (and his name included in the papers), she was able to think of it. She was awestruck, amused by the fact that the Park Jimin was inside the gymnasium.

When he started walking forward, the girl's gossips turned even louder. "Isn't he the top dancer? What is he doing here?" Asked Yeri, one of Mina's closest friends in the cheerleading team.