Imperfectly Perfect 3

1 : Cool Kids

"So you still do this, huh?" Chaeryoung utters as soon as she and Mina sit on the bench at the side of the track.

"Hmm?" The resident council president asks in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Waiting to hangout with Son Chaeyoung after her afternoon soccer practice. You were also doing that when we were freshmen in senior high school."

"Ahh. We... kind of agreed to it just last month. I go here when I'm not that busy with other school stuff."

The cheer girl simply nodded slowly, a couple of times in response.

Their bench went silent for a moment. Awkward quietness prevailed while the two girls were watching the athletes in the open field.

After the council presidents' meeting, Jihyo bid the two girls goodbye since she still has some things to do in their university while Chaeryoung asked Mina if she could accompany her to visit Chaeyoung. Hence, the two of them are now sitting on the bench beside the usual spot where Mina waits for the soccer ace to finish her practice.

"You know..." Chaeryoung decided to speak again. "Some of the kids in our circle felt robbed by you back in senior high. Do you know that?"

"Hu— huh?"

"I'm not sure about the other teams we hung out with but as for the cheer team..." Chaeryoung glances at her. "I could say a lot of the cheer girls liked Chaeyoung. In fact, in all those parties and after school hangouts, many of the kids were always hoping that the soccer team's ace would find romantic interest in one of them."

Chaeryoung faintly scoffs, directing her eyes back to the open field. "Some of them even believed that their petty small moves on Chaeyoung made advances but before those assumptions have been proved to either be wrong or true.... that soccer girl suddenly started bailing out on our events."

The cheer girl looks again at Mina who is now attentively staring at her. "Soon enough, people in the group began talking about this unknown girl who none of us had ever heard the name of. She was always sitting by the bleachers in front of the soccer field and Chaeyoung would always run to her as soon as her practice ended."

The resident president awkwardly smiles. "I'm... not sure what I would do with the current information you're giving me."

"Hmm..." Chaeryoung lowers her gaze to the ground. "Honestly... I'm also not sure myself. The bitter students believed that you were just a charity case to her. The more dignified ones like RM and I just shrugged it off, thinking that it is not our place to question who Chaeyoung would hang out with. But at some point..." She glances again at the other girl on the bench. "We felt that you somehow stole her away from us."

"You know that is not true." Mina looks at her in disbelief. "How could you put it that way?"

"I know." Chaeryoung exhales deeply. "From your end, it might be cruel to think that the kids are judging you like that. But from our end... think about how we felt."

Mina audibly scoffs. "Lee Chaeryoung. Do you want me to apologize? I certainly don't owe you one."

"Woah. Chill, girl." The cheer girl flashes a proud smirk. "It's not like I'll accept it anyway even if you try."

Mina lets out a frustrated sigh. She ruffles her hair, shakes her head a bit, and eventually decides to stay silent.

"But just so you know..." The cheer girl continued to speak. "It was actually a relief when I saw you scramming all around the campus, looking for her when she went on hiatus five years ago. I thought... so that Myoi Mina is also like us, huh? Chaeyoung also didn't tell her anything. She was nothing special like we all thought."