365 Days of You

Chapter 15

Nayeon covers her head with a pillow and punches her fist on the surface of the couch. Nothing seems to work. Not the two cold showers she has had. Not the ten glasses of water she has drunk.

Chaeyoung gives her a funny look.

"What's wrong with her?" She points at the older girl who's trying to stifle a groan. "She's been this way since she came back. Did Mina fight with her again?"

Tzuyu shakes her head amused. "She's got the female equivalent of blue balls."

Chaeyoung balks and wishes she's never asked.

Mina is having fun, for once she isn't thinking about Nayeon and it is calming.

She feels in her element as she rehearses the lines with other actors who are warm and welcoming of a debutant like her.

Except Laura.

She doesn't know what she has done to piss the older girl off.

Right now, she is facing the said girl with hands on her hips, throwing daggers at her.

"You're making it so hard for me to work with you."

Laura grins at her with an air of superiority.

"Then don't work here. Go back to your little cake shop."

The Japanese girl's lips turn down in a frown.

She is trying to have a civil conversation, but the older girl is hell bent on insulting her. She smoothes down a lock of her hair as her frown deepens.

"Laura," She sees the Korean's eyes twinkling with amusement hearing the anger surfacing to her voice. "I'm quite passionate about theatre. I want this to be a nice experience for all of us."

"Passionate?" Laura approaches the younger girl with a mocking smile on her face. "Don't pretend you're here for more than a fat paycheck."

Mina gasps and takes a step back inadvertently.

You're in this for the money.

Nayeon's voice rings in her head.

Her heart feels like someone has their hands wrapped around it, squeezing it, suffocating it.

"You don't know anything about me."

She walks around her costar, hiding the tears in her eyes and tiptoes out into the empty corridor without a backwards glance.

Mina wipes furiously at her eyes.

Dark clouds rumbles in the distance and drops of rain fall on her script paper, ruining them a little.

Can this day get any worse? She thinks to herself as she runs to her car.

Leaning back against her car, looking as beautiful and put together as ever is Nayeon.

Apparently it can get worse.

She takes a deep breath willing herself to calm down.

She can't let Nayeon see her like this. She can't show how she's let someone get under her skin like the singer had.

Nayeon who is staring a hole into the ground, because her heart is hammering in her chest and her stomach is churning with anticipation, turns to the side when she hears faint footsteps approaching the car.

Her eyebrows draw together and slants in confusion when her eyes meet Mina's.

Something is wrong.

She can feel it in her gut.

Mina holds her gaze for a few more painstaking seconds.

They continue to look at each other, a multitude of emotions flashing over Mina's face at Nayeon's sympathetic eyes.

Her lips twists in anger and disgust.

People with money are all the same. They only care about themselves.

A part of her screams it isn't true but she successfully squashes that voice and takes determined steps towards the waiting singer.

"What are you doing here?" She asks evenly as she gets nearer.

Nayeon feels a painful twist in her heart hearing the crack in the younger girl's voice.

Something is definitely wrong.

Nayeon blinks once and Mina is near the car, inches away from her.

She wants to hold her tight, erase the pain behind those beautiful eyes.

Rain drops fall all around them. Nayeon wipes the few over her brows and smiles hesitantly,

"It's your first show tomorrow. I wanted to wish you good luck."

She brings the flowers she is holding behind her back to the front and offers it to Mina.

The rain has now gathered strength and pelts mercilessly across their faces.

Mina accepts the flowers, biting her lips pensively as she gazes at the red roses.

Nayeon swallows anxiously waiting for Mina to say something. Anything.

When Mina's eyes snap back up to the older girl, she sees her watching her intently.

"I suppose you're trying to prove you aren't the bad guy anymore."

Nayeon stills hearing the disgust in her tone.

"I-"

The younger girl takes a threatening step closer to the idol.

You're in this for the money. Mina hasn't forgotten.

Nayeon stays frozen in place. All the colour drains from her face as she sees the hate and spite in those normally affectionate eyes.

"News flash Nayeon." Her voice is low and tinged with fury as she takes another step closer to the older girl and pokes her chest with a finger. "This isn't a freaking movie. And if it is, you'll always be the villain in this story. You'll always be the bad guy." Her voice rings out loudly as she throws the flowers onto the muddy ground.

Nayeon closes her eyes shut for a moment. Her chest feels heavy like someone is sitting on it, plunging nails hard and deep with a hammer.

When she opens her eyes again, thankful for the rain hiding the tears in her eyes, she finds Mina looking at her with an unreadable expression, lips pursed in either thought or anger.

She sees the younger girl taking a couple of steps back.

The rain beats down on them unforgivingly as they hold each others gaze.

A thunder sounds loudly shaking Mina out of her reverie.

She gets into her car, cursing herself for almost feeling bad for Nayeon.

Nayeon angles her body away from the car as it drives past her, letting the rain wash her sorrow away.

The flowers lay which are crushed under the wheels lay by her side.

-Crushed and unwanted just like her heart.