Imperfectly Perfect 2

13 : Messages to Mina

Mina has been mindlessly spinning her pen on her fingers for a while now. Her thoughts have been wandering on a certain tiger cub she rejected to sleep in her dorm room.

She stands up from the study table and stretches a bit. She has been reviewing her notes non stop for about two hours now. That was until her momentum was interrupted when Son Chaeyoung suddenly popped into her mind, making her one of the most unfocused girls in the university right now at this hour of the night.

"Ugh. Did I let her down so badly?" She lets out a deep sigh and treads to sit at the side of her bed, picking up her phone from the small table beside it. "Wow. It's already way past midnight."

She saw a couple of message notifications. She quickly scans through it, abruptly stopping at the contact ID named 'My Baby Cub'. She immediately rolled her eyes, then smiled while looking at her screen. "When did she change her name in my list?"

The council president taps her screen to open the said message and her smile immediately gets wider the moment her eyes see what is now displayed on her screen.

"Minari! I know you're working so hard on your studies right now. By the way, I love seeing you strive for the things you want. I will always be here supporting you whenever you need me, okay? Just tell me. I can be your cheerleader if you want some extra push or I can be your punching bag if you need to let some steam off. I can be whatever you want me to. I am your number one fan after all! I hope you don't lose much track of time and stay up way too late!"

Mina softly shakes her head. "Too late for the reminder. I already stayed up more than I should have."

She continued reading the last line of Chaeyoung's message.

"P.S. I will see you tomorrow, okay? I love you so much my minari."

"Seriously, Chaeng. When did I tell you that you can call me yours?" The council president playfully scoffs although she is now visibly blushing. She then promptly started typing to compose a message reply to the soccer ace.

"Sorry if I have to decline your request earlier. I'll make it up with you some time. I promise! I know you're already in a deep slumber right now since it's already late so"

"Umm..." She pauses a bit and looks at the ceiling to think what to say in the end. Shortly after, she started typing again on her phone.

"Sleep tight, Chae"

Mina suddenly halted her fingers' movement, not completing the last two letters in the soccer ace's name. She contemplates for a moment, heaving in a deep breath. She deleted the initially typed characters of Chaeyoung's name and replaced it with something else.

"Sleep tight, baby cub. Sweet dreams, my baby cub.

P.S. I will change your contact name back into something else!"

"Chaeng likes it when I call her that." She faintly giggles to herself before finally sending it. Wearing an accomplished smirk, she then proceeded and continued browsing through her other messages.

There were some from student organizational group chats that mentioned nothing but event proposals and the upcoming leadership camp.

Also, there are a couple more notifications from her best friend. Sana sent multiple reminders for Mina like making sure to properly lock the room, eat some snack or milk if she plans on staying up too late, and of course teasing remarks about not missing her roommate way too much.

Then, at the almost bottom part of Mina's unread messages, in between Sana's random chats to her, there is a notification that caught her attention. It is from an unfamiliar contact ID. Although it wasn't new to her to get those types of unsolicited messages due to her being a prominent figure in the university, the sudden hate messages sometimes still bother her.

She heaves in a deep breath before tapping the notification from the unknown contact name.

"Hello, Ms. Myoi Mina. I am a private lawyer of the Son family. I believe you are acquainted with the family's daughter, Ms. Chaeyoung? If you have some time to spare with me, I would like to meet you and have a small talk about her. And if I may request, please don't tell Ms. Son. This is per her late mother's wish."

"Wait. What?" The council president's eyes quickly widened on the previous line of the message she just read. She immediately scans it again for the second time to make sure she has read it right.

"And if I may request, please don't tell Ms. Son. This is per her late mother's wish."

"Chaeng's mother? It is really written here as her late mother's wish. Why— Why would I be—" She blankly stared at her screen, looking at the message unbelievably. "Even if this is true... what would Chaeng's late mom want with me?"

She looks up at the ceiling, trying to recollect her memories from when they were in senior high school. "I... don't think I ever met Chaeng's family back then."

Mina shakes her head a bit. She continued to carefully read the remaining message with now visibly scrunched eyebrows.

"We can meet somewhere open and public, at a place of your choosing if you are worrying about your safety. Nonetheless, you can look up my name and account in social media to see my credentials as a professional. I believe it could help you come up with a decision. I hope to hear from you soon. Thank you so much."

"Song Joong-ki?" Mina slowly mumbles the sender of the message she just read. "Why do I feel like I have heard him somewhere?"

She immediately went and looked the person up on the internet. He is indeed a famous lawyer with a lot of accomplishments, not to mention big clients in the entertainment industry and business world. Being a law student herself, it is not surprising for Mina to think that the name of the said person sounded familiar at first.

She then goes back to the said lawyer's message and scans it one more time. She carefully reads each word, making sure she is interpreting everything at the exact meaning it implies.

"Hmm..." The council president puts her phone down and stares at the ceiling in pure contemplation. She glances at her mobile device and lets out a deep sigh. "I don't think it would hurt to defer my answer for now until I'm sure about him."