MICHAENG : FAKE AND TRUE

6- LITTLE PENGUIN

Chaeyoung extends his hand in the manner of a handshake. Dahyun rejoiced about their handshake. "I am daaa...." She was interrupted initially by Chaeyoung before she could complete.

"I recognise you, Dahyun, and this is Momo, right?" He gave Momo a slight smile. Momo responds by nodding and shaking his hand. "And you.......are......" He gave an awkward pause when he turned his gaze to last girl, he feels like something is choking his throat,his voice immediately dried up.

"I'm Mina," Mina replies sternly.

"Mina, nice to meet you. I'm Chaeyoung, Son Chaeyoung". He rubs his nape and giggles in remorse, while the other hand is still dangling in the air, waiting for Mina's response. Mina stares at his hand for a moment before accepting his handshake. 'This guy is weird' her mind thought so.

"You know my name and Dahyun's? but not Mina's name? " Momo gives him a odd expression.

"Let's say I just studied about Twice this morning, so I can't recall all the names at once. My fault" Chaeyoung heaves, rolls up his eyes, leaves a smooth slap on his forehead, and pretends to fall like a drunk person.

"I like this guy" Momo said with glee and a small crack up after seeing Chaeyoung acting funny and she finding it amusing.

Twice members have now completed and proceeded their practise. Chaeyoung rests his butt on the sofa in the corner of the room, subtly observing the surroundings, as if returning to his trainee years. How he misses those hectic days. Twice is now dancing in front of the big mirror inside the practise room. It's common since, for dancers, the mirror allows them to evaluate their movement, to correct their placement, and to assess the line of their bodies. As he sees his reflection through the mirror, he tries to fix his hair, but catches a glimpse of a girl, who's giving him a short stare while smiling at him through the mirror.

The girl caught his attention. From his glittering eyes, he seems attracted to observing the girl through the mirror. For a moment, he descends into his thoughts about the girl. She got strong angelic features.  Her eyes are a sort of dark blue. They seem to crash like oceans if he look into them long enough. Her lips are parted a little bit, supporting her to breathe while dancing, and even when she isn't smiling, her lips are still beautiful in his eyes. She needs no lipstick or gloss or anything. Her eyebrows were perfectly in shape, like they were skecthed by a magical hand. Her wavy black hair reached her shoulders, bouncing like it was dancing along with her, following the beats.

"Chaeng!!" Jeongyeon's shrieking drew his attention, but it also startled him somewhat. The girls are now taking their rest.

"You want to see me have a heart attack here, Jeongyeon-aaa?" In disbelief, he shook his head and scoffed.

"You stare at her as if you're going to eat her alive. Are you fond of her?" Jeongyeon posed a dead question, causing the latter to stiffen.

"Her? Who, nahh, I didn't stare anyone" he tries to defend himself, his eyes avoiding Jeongyeon's gaze.

"It's Mina. Do you like her? I noticed you staring at her. Love at first sight, huh Chaeng?" Jeongyeon teased him to see how he reacted.

Chaeyoung moved his glance to Mina, "Mina... nope, I'm a bit choosy" He firmed his voice, stressing out his words one by one but not taking off his eyes from Mina.

"So sad. I was just about to help you to get with her" Jeongyeon winks, clicks her tongue, and drinks up her water. "Someone is approaching her, just to let you know" Jeongyeon adds before she leaves him and goes back to the girls. He eyes tailing Jeongyeon's movement, but he notices there's someone who is not with them. His eyes were moving delicately, his body turning around, looking for the that girl inside the room.

"Excuse me......mister...." Somehow, Mina is just like a jump scare, coming out of nowhere beside Chaeyounh. Because of her soft but clear voice, Chaeyoung just sprung a little bit. Once again, he almost got a heart attack when Mina bent a little, looking for something but too close to him as he could smell her jasmine perfume running through his nose.

"Chaeyoung.. my name is Chaeyoung, seems like you forgot my name too" he chuckles, knowing that the girl got him back. She engraved a faint smile on her face in return, her eyes still wandering for something. "Mina, are you looking for something?" Chaeyoung spots her gestures.

"If you don't mind, Chae...Young...,could you move a little bit? I think my bottle of water is behind you" she asked politely.

Chaeyoung spontaneously stands up from the sofa, giving Mina a way to look for her treasure. But her thought was wrong, her water bottle is not right there, She scratches her nape in wonder.

"Need some help?" Chaeyoung utters after a while.

"Yeah, if you wanted to" Mina bitterly answered. Her hands picked up the sweaters that belonged to the members on the sofa. Who knows if her treasure was buried under those sweaters.

"Might be my pleasure. What does it look like?" Chaeyoung starts the treasure hunting.

"A pink water bottle, with a black cap and a penguin sticker on top" she mumbles.

"What will you give me if I find it?" Chaeyoung asked just to tease her.

"Anything" Mina sternly replied, even though she could not clearly hear what the latter just asked.

"Woww, interesting, seems like the bottle is important to you, huh?" Chaeyoung clicked his tongue while he bent until his knee and head reached the floor to peek under the sofa.

"It was given by my fan at the fan meeting. I treasured everything that i got from them" Mina nonchalantly replies to Chaeyoung, her eyes focusing to find the bottle.

"Gotchaa!!!!" Chaeyoung howls after he picks up the bottle that was found under the sofa. "I assume it's yours, your highness" he said while he kneeled in front of Mina.

"Thank you, Son Chaeyoung" she says in joy, her cheerfulness made her eyes glimmer. Her genuine smile was just like a flower blooming. Her eyebrows rose along with her smile. She grabs her water bottle from his hand and holds it tightly.

Chaeyoung was stunned for a moment, as if he had been struck by silver lightning while looking at the happy Mina. His thought snaps, 'Why does she look like a penguin tho??'. He bit into his bottom lip, trying to contain his grin. "Now may I redeem my reward, your highness?" Chaeyoung still stays in his position, but he brings his palms together. His appealing eyes looks up at the Mina, who is still standing in front of him.

"Ehh?? Did I say anything about reward before??" Mina's eyes were blinking slowly, and her forehead wrinkled in surprise.

"You said I could ask whatever I wanted" Chaeyoung swallows a lump in his throat.

"Did I?" Mina asks for reassurance, her voice cracking and tight. She feels trapped, her face stricken.

Chaeyoung catches this sight of Mina "hey,, Mina, I'm just kidding. Are you alright?" He stood up and grabbed Mina's shoulder. Mina flinched. Her body grew tense to the point of shaking. She shoves Chaeyoung's hand away from her shoulder. "I-umph.. did i say something wrong?" A pulse roars in Chaeyoung's throat. Mina just cupped her face and turned her back against Chaeyoung, leaving the room and the latter dumbfounded.

"I'm.....sorry..." he tones out her voice from shrill to soothing until Mina disappeared behind the door. His blood drains from his skin, feeling guilty. "..Minaa...."

_Let me be the healer_

Author's note :

Sorry for grammar or vocab mistakes😅 . Just leave me a comment if you can't catch the words☺️