Side Effects.

Pt.6

Weeks were absent of Mina and the presence of Chaeyoung with her. She ran away again, away from the older woman because she was, quote on quote, angry at her.

How could she be? What did she truly expect from her? What was Mina to give Chaeyoung in the grand scheme of things?

She couldn't free her of the madness she was in.

Classes were a bore, art exhibitions were accompanied alone as Chaeyoung walked through the maze of art, peering at all but her own and drowning out the sounds of comments of her own.

She didn't want to know what people had to say. She didn't want to face their thoughts about the piece she had drawn about her question of faith and the question of her identity. No one had the right to judge, but who said they even were?

She had kept to herself some days, not noticing Dahyun linger on the other side of the door with her hand raised, ready to knock. She knew the younger girl wanted to be alone, but she was aware that the thoughts were more detrimental to her than anything else she faced.

But what could she say or do? So she often left Chaeyoung on her own to her own devices to sit in the quiet of her room.

But tonight Chaeyoung found herself running somewhere she hadn't before, at least not at night. She found herself walking towards the metro station, her feet never stopping, never fretting to think otherwise of her decision.

The night was quiet, Houston often being so as people kept to themselves in their humble abodes. Chaeyoung didn't know where she was heading but the city lights reflected off the window where she sat on the train.

Each minute that passed her thoughts became more reckless but she kept going. She kept running towards something, someone, and this time not away from it. When she reached Central Station, she got off the train and was met with the wind dancing at her feet.

Dim lit lights lit her path as she walked towards a familiar bar/club that became a safe haven for her. But she wasn't going for the drugs this time.

She wasn't going to drown in the music and to sway with bodies of strangers. She was going because for once she found herself searching for something she couldn't have.

She craved this subject of desire. Wanting to find her and speak her mind before she became all too consumed by just the thought of her. Entering the bar she was met with a familiar face of Lim Nayeon and the woman she assumed was her girlfriend.

The one who had snuck her, Tzuyu and Dahyun, weeks and weeks ago. She almost couldn't recall it but she remembered that smile and that boyish aura to the woman.

"Nayeon, hello. Is Mina here?" She asked softly, sitting on the stool. Nayeon sighed, leaning in and beckoning Chaeyoung to do the same.

"You know she's awfully ill. I wouldn't hang out with someone like that." Nayeon said lowly. Ill? What did Nayeon mean by that?

"But if you're looking for her, she often hangs out with pot heads under an underpass not far from here, I think near the Downtown Aquarium." Nayeon said before leaning back.

Chaeyoung nodded, hopping off the stool before following her feet as they led her down three blocks, turning a bunch of rights and a left before reaching the outskirts of Downtown. There Chaeyoung saw the warmth fire burning ablaze in a dumpster, a familiar figure standing in wait beside it.

Chaeyoung gulped as her feet kept moving, leading her across the road and under the underpass where she saw her in all her glory, Myoui Mina. Even from afar she was entirely enchanted by the sight of her.

She was surreal, she was ethereal. Looking up for a moment, Mina caught sight of Chaeyoung walking cautiously towards her, hugging herself as she looked around them.