You Can Quote Me On That [Michaeng]

Chapter 5: "Nothing That Should Be Affecting Me This Much"

A/N: Sorry, it's been a while, college has been really kicking me, but here's another chapter!

Hope you enjoy it! 

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Music played in the practice room as the dance team was working on a choreography, but Mina couldn't focus at all. Her mind was somewhere else. She tried as hard as she could to keep up, but the other members picked up on how she seemed behind and out of sync. This had happened a couple of times before, but it was never with her, always with another member. So, it was weird to witness. She was the co-captain of the team, after all.

"Stop." Momo put her arm up and made the team stop in the middle of a step. She paused the music and looked at Mina. "Cos, where is your mind? You've been behind the whole practice."

"I'm sorry. I don't know why I'm so out of it today," Mina said.

"Did something happen?" Lalisa Manoban, a fellow person on the dance team asked.

"Nothing that should be affecting me this much."

"Then let's try again. If you don't get it this time, go take a break," Momo said.

"That sounds fair enough," Mina said.

Momo pressed play and they restarted the choreography. This time Mina finally got it. She was able to keep up and executed the choreography almost perfectly. She put her other thoughts aside for the moment and focused solely on the dance. Thankfully, it worked. Her mind had been so consumed lately, so she was glad she kicked it into gear. Better late than never.

"Great! Let's stop here for today," Momo announced.

The team chorused an agreement and conversed a little bit before going off to change and head out to attend to other tasks. The cousins decided to stay behind for a little bit and wished everyone else a farewell.

"So, what happened yesterday after I left class?" Momo asked.

"Since when were you so curious about my life?" Mina smiled slightly. Her cousin rarely asked about her life outside of school and the dance team.

"I'm just worried about you. Did your performance today have something to do with whatever happened after I left?"

"I appreciate the concern," Mina paused for a moment, thinking how to respond next, "and, perhaps that's part of it, but I don't really know for certain."

"Aha, I had a feeling. So..."

"What?"

Momo just looked at Mina with a small smile and an understanding yet encouraging nod. Everyone who really knew Mina had their ways of being persuasive toward her. In the beginning, they never press, but the moment she actually revealed anything more personal, that was when her friends' true intentions came out. They always respected the secrets she chose to keep, but they always had ways of getting certain things out of her. She had to admit, her friends were good.

"Fine, the person who grabbed my wrist turned out to be someone I had met before. They asked me to get lunch with them. That's all that happened."

"I get it, 'nothing that should be affecting me this much,' right?" Momo gave a knowing look.

"Yeah..." Mina trailed off, not knowing how else to respond.

Momo just laughed. "How about we finally get back home?"

"Sounds good to me."

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Momo grimaced when she heard Chaeyoung hit a note wrong while playing the song they were working on. The guitarist was out of it today too. She felt a sense of déjà vu as she tuned her bass. This was weird.