What the heart wants

Chapter 22

"Can we talk?"

Chaeyoung who's about to take a sip of her orange juice stops mid air and gapes at her with her mouth parted slightly and it actually makes Mina want to smile a little.

They walk to the terrace side by side, away from the curious eyes of their band mates, a deafening silence hanging between them.

Chaeyoung fidgets on her feet as she looks at Mina who's yet to say a word.

Mina finally looks at her after a painful moment and locks eyes with her. "Did you do this because it was some sort of game to you?"

Chaeyoung smiles sadly. "How could you think that after all these years between us Mina? You're too special for me and that's exactly why I didn't want to fuck up asking you out and got help from Nayeon."

"Okay."

Chaeyoung scratches her head as she looks at Mina. "Okay?"

"I don't like things awkward between us. I don't like making things awkward for others as well. If we want to move on, we need to fix this. We need to fix us!"

Chaeyoung nods in understanding.

"I'm not saying we can go back to how we were immediately, but I'm willing to try again."

Chaeyoung's face breaks into a small grin. She wants to fix their friendship as well.

"So friends?" Mina offers a tentative hand and Chaeyoung takes it, the smile on her face hesitant but growing wider by second.

"Friends."

When they go back to join the other girls in the living room and Chaeyoung points her thumbs up at Jihyo, Jihyo finally lets out a much needed sigh of relief.

Jeongyeon shoves herself between Nayeon and Momo as they spend their last day on the island in a haunted house of all places. She hates the dark and she hates how the camera is going to capture all of it.

Before them Chaeyoung is holding a terrified Mina in her arms, whispering words of comfort in her ears. Next to them, Sana walks, her hand tightly gripping one of Mina's between them.

Ahead of the trio, Dahyun, Tzuyu and Jihyo walk like they're taking a stroll in the park with their no fucks given attitude. It scares the crew working in the haunted house.

"Who's a scared little baby?!!" Nayeon pokes Jeongyeon's side and teases her relentlessly whenever she jumps at something that suddenly pops out.

Sometime later, Jeongyeon is having the last laugh when a man suddenly comes out of the cage with a chainsaw in his hand and Nayeon runs past all of them, screaming like her head caught on fire.

"Is she trying for Olympics?" Jihyo wonders.

Tzuyu glances at the girl who's running about sixty miles per hour. "Who knows what goes on in that head of hers!"

In the evening, they shoot a food fight and when Chaeyoung throws tomatoes at Nayeon, Nayeon doesn't even flinch. She laughs and chases Chaeyoung around but doesn't get back at her. She knows from the force it hit her face she's still a long way from being forgiven by the younger girl. She still smiles because she has caused enough heartache for all her bandmates and doesn't want to upset them even more.

Mina doesn't talk to her. Not like they used to talk to each other a lot before, but Nayeon misses the way Mina sometimes calls her Nayeon-chan in her soft voice.

Nayeon knows even if Chaeyoung gets around to forgiving her, Mina would never. There are certain things she has to accept and live with. This is going to be one of them.

"An egg incoming." Chaeyoung aims it at her and when it cracks on her head, Nayeon laughs hiding the crack in her heart.

To the other oblivious bandmates they're back to their immature playful selves, but not to Jeongyeon's observant eyes.

Her heart aches for Nayeon as she runs around the beach chasing Chaeyoung, faking a laugh. Her eyes tells of the pain that she's hidden well from others.

"Lay off her Chaeyoungah." She drags the younger girl to an empty spot in the house. "She doesn't deserve any of this. Not Mina treating like she is non existent, not you treating her like she's your personal punchbag."

"Why do you care so much?" Chaeyoung pushes her away. "Oh wait, she's your girlfriend right?"

Jeongyeon hates when Chaeyoung gets like this. "She's my friend just like she's yours. Maybe you should try to remember that sometime."

Chaeyoung has the decency to look chastised but she's too proud to admit Jeongyeon is right.

"She's not my friend anymore."

Jeongyeon sighs.

The next morning, when Nayeon struggles to pour herself a cup of hot chocolate with her one good hand, Chaeyoung bumps into her making her spill it all over the kitchen counter.

"Ah Unnie, you should have asked for help. Now I'll have to clean the mess you made." She smiles sweetly but Nayeon understands the words for its true meaning.

"It's ok Chaeyoungah. It's a mess I made, its only right I clean it." She smiles but it doesn't really reach her eyes.

She takes the kitchen towel from Chaeyoung and quietly begins to wipe the counter with her good hand.

Mina who's been watching them through the corner of her eyes feels a weight press on her chest.

Feelings really had a way of destroying good things.