365 Days of You

Chapter 7

Mina washes the dishes on autopilot. She has barely begun to recover. Jihyo has convinced her to stay by pointing out how the private counselling she is receiving can only be done if she lives at Nayeon's.

And God knows, she needs that. Therapy has been slowly helping her get back on her feet.

Nayeon, however cruel and despicable, has wonderful members who are nothing like her. Who drop by between their busy schedules, willingly lending their shoulders for her to cry on.

Her friends visit every day after their day jobs to make sure she has company. Heck, Momo practically lives in the mansion considering the hours she spends with her there.

Nayeon doesn't object to any of it which bothers Mina a little. She has expected her to put up a fight. But when the older girl has seen her, Sana, Jeongyeon and Momo huddled on a couch together she hasn't said more than a hi in their general direction.

There are little changes in her she begins to notice. She hangs about the house more and more and when she does she is mostly sober. The one or two times she has seen her with alcohol, it's just a glass of wine. Never more. Mina doesn't know what to make of it.

It doesn't change her feeling towards the older girl. She still ignores Nayeon just as much she ignores her. She hasn't forgotten. She is in it for the money and Nayeon is in this to keep her popularity safe.

This is no more than just a business deal. They can never be friends. Not even acquaintances.

The loud doorbell breaks her train of thoughts.

Nayeon's at the door with a puppy in her hands. They're both soaked through in the rain.

Mina smiles at the cute little creature. He shivers a little, and shakes himself off the water droplets clinging to his fur.

"Where did you find him?"

"He was in the ditch by our garden. Don't know how this little fellow ended up there, but I didn't feel like leaving him out there in this thunderstorm."

It is the first words they have spoken in ages and the first ones that is remotely close to normal conversation.

Mina pokes the little guy's nose. She can't believe that Nayeon is capable of caring about anyone, let alone an abandoned pup.

The singer walks in with the puppy and sits  on one of the chairs around the kitchen island.

"Let me get a towel."

Nayeon is pleasantly surprised when Mina brings two towels, one for the puppy and one for her.

After everything she's done, she's not sure she deserves even a little act of kindness like this. She wonders if she is wrong to put the younger girl in the same box she puts everyone around her in.

But she is still working for money and Nayeon knows better than to let her guard down.

Despite repeating the nobody can be trusted mantra over and over in her head, Nayeon can't help the smile that tugs at her lips when she sees the blonde playing with the now warm puppy.

She can't decide who looks cuter at the moment. The pup or the girl talking to the pup.

"Don't let your guard down Nayeon. Just don't." She tells herself.

In the industry it is always the angelic looking ones that breaks hearts left, right and center. She has seen, heard and experienced so much, that she will never trust a pretty face again.

She definitely feels responsible for what happened to the girl, which is why she tries to stay sober, but that doesn't mean she wants to be friends with her either.