Strawberry Kisses

PART 27

Mina can't help but hug Rosie who's waiting for her backstage with a wide smile on her face.

"Ah. I'm so proud of you." Rosie smiled then pulled away from the girl. "Are you sure I'm not your mother?"

"Shut up." Mina chuckled. She then thanked Rosie and went in the crowd to look for a specific girl. Mina thanked the heaven for Tzuyu that made looking for Chaeyoung easier.

"Mina-yaaaaah!" Nayeon exclaimed as she wrapped her arms around Mina's body.

"I like your song, Mina-unnie." Tzuyu smiled.

Mina was showered with complements from her friends like they did to Momo awhile back.

"Me too." Momo added. "But now I'm really hungry. Let's buy food, Tzuyu."

"If you want to get change, your spare clothes are in the car." Sana informed.

And as if Jeongyeon read Mina's mind, she walked closer to the girl and wrapped her arm around Mina's shoulder. "I saw her followed Yeri there." She whispered, pointing at the main building.

"Oh. Thanks." Mina smiled.

"Go get her." Jeongyeon answered with a wide teasing smile on her face.

Mina obliged and walked towards the building. She walked pass the crowd who are now back to being on high because of another performance from the dance club.

She entered the building and see the empty hallway. Minutes of walking had passed but Mina see no signs of Chaeyoung still. She can't think of other place to find the younger girl so she sighed in defeat.

After a moment, as if her feet has its own mind, she walked towards the parking area with each step, adding to her growing restlessness. Finally, Mina saw the younger girl facing its back to her. She was about to call Chaeyoung but another figure of a girl which she didn't notice a while back appeared in front of the younger girl. It's Yeri. Flashing her big smile to Chaeyoung.

"Chaeyoung-ah" Yeri said after flashing a big smile to her best friend. She then looked at the ground, weighing her thoughts.

Chaeyoung rarely see her bestfriend like these - Yeri, like her, is a free-spirited woman, her confidence is always at peak, her head, she always keep it high and the only time Chaeyoung see Yeri feeling small is when her sister, Wendy, is scolding her.

"Hey, Yerms, are you okay?" Chaeyoung asked.

Yeri looked up and met the concern in her best friend's eyes. For a moment, she hesitated. She doesn't even know how to start. But how do you start telling your best friend you're in love with them for a long time now? How would you tell your best friend that you get butterflies each time she's around? How would you tell your bestfriend you decided to go back to Korea to be with her again? Yeri doesn't know that. She doesn't know how to start telling Chaeyoung all that. She let her body do the talk and inched closer, Yeri cupped Chaeyoung's face and kissed the latter.

A wave of pain rolled through Mina's body. She never thought pain can be this unbearable. It spread from her chest down to her feet. It exploded in her head and soon the sight became blurry because of the tears escaping her eyes. Her head hurt too much. Her body hurt too much. Her heart hurt too much. Ten seconds passed, then twenty, and thirty, and finally she mustered to slowly walk away.

Chaeyoung was dumbfounded. It took her thirty seconds to pull away from her best friend's kiss while she's still confused.

"Kim Yerim.."

"I-I'm in love with you, Chaeyoung-ah. I've always been." Yeri said.

Chaeyoung tried to find any hint from Yeri's eyes that would tell her it's all just a joke but didn't find any.