Aphrodite's Spell

Sweltering heat

The aftermath of the confession isn't so different from what they are used to. Things are awkward between them, like always. The only thing that's different now is Nayeon is painfully aware of the reason why the awkwardness came into existence between them in the first place.

They walk on eggshells of confessed words and unreturned feelings. It in turn leaves her tossing and turning in her bed at night, wondering if there's anyway she could have a reset button for her life.

One thought becomes too many. Sleep becomes hard to come by. And in one of these star filled nights, she gazes at the dark clouds and engages a random thought- if she could ever see Mina as more than a friend.

It feels ridiculous. She's her friend. She's never seen her any other way. She quickly shuts down that train of thoughts and tries to get some sleep.

What starts at a random thought at night, flaps about in her chest ready to sprout wings as her eyes linger on the younger girl through a meeting.

Her head is so firmly encompassed in keeping Mina in the friends box, that it feels odd, out of line even to see if she could be attracted to her. She chastises herself and draws her eyes away from the Japanese girl's body.

Despite her best attempts not to, she begins to notice little details about Mina. Details that makes her heart feel warm, fuzzy and she's pretty sure that's not how friends feel about their friends.

     ( The way she scrunches her nose when she finds something endearing, how her cheeks flush, a deep flustered red when someone compliments her, the concentrated frown between her eyebrows, a worried nibbling of her bottom lip as she arranges monster puzzles scattered on the floor of her dorm, the way her eyes brown eyes dazzle, like someone grabbed a couple of stars from the sky and made a new home for them in her eye, little details Nayeon has not paid much attention to before now. )

"Chaeyoungah! Thank you." Mina accepts the box of chocolates from the blonde, smiling all pretty face and perfect teeth, it reminds Nayeon of actresses she's seen in black and white films on her grandmother's battered television set, with a beauty that deserves to be preserved in a timeless frame.

"You're staring at Mina." A voice draws her out of her musings. Sana arches an eyebrow, eyes careful and observant.

Nayeon shrugs, ignoring the heat she feels in her cheeks. "She just looks really pretty in blue."

It's her favourite colour. She tells herself. That's the only reason she's stared. Soon, yellow, orange, even brown which she thinks is a curse to all the colours begins to look good. Because they're on her.

On her friend.

Friend.

She has to remind herself, many times.

Friends don't look at friends and think they're the most beautiful person in the world, do they?

She's always thought Mina is beautiful, but more like a visitor at an art exhibit laying their eyes on an expensive painting, fully well aware of its beauty and appreciates it. Not like someone who goes to the exhibit with the sole purpose of taking it back home, making it theirs.

Nayeon only intends to look at the painting. She convinces herself.

Just with as much conviction she has when she admits she is a sort of a clutz. Her weak leg often makes her stumble, fall, crash into things around her. So when she spills a bottle of water all over the lyrics sheet the producer had just distributed, she mumbles an apology under her breath, grabs tissues and begins to clean the table avoiding the curious eyes of the members.