Array of Tales (Michaeng)

Neighbors pt.9

Mina didn’t know when exactly it happened. It was sort of like a snowball sitting at the top of a snow-covered hill once you tipped it over and sent it rolling, it grew and grew until it hit the valley and barrelled through you with all the force of a battering ram.

She knew when it started at least. It started the first time Chaeyoung brought her lunch to her office. She put up her nominal protests until the smell of the Burger and those luscious fries sucked her right in. Then even after all traces of food had disappeared Chaeyoung stayed and helped her flip through the proposals until she had a handful of projects to take to her meeting the next day.

After that Chaeyoung became a regular fixture in her life for some unknown reason. Simone got used to sending Chaeyoung in without word every time she came to her office with a bag of food. Chaeyoung kept her company when she couldn’t leave work. Chaeyoung claimed she was “helping” her but it was more like she was distracting her with that carefree smile and attitude of hers.

Then, somehow Chaeyoung managed to get a hold of her cell phone number. After that, she got at least ten texts from her every day. A lot of it was just silly nonsense ( Pls help!!! Should i get the blue plaid scarf or the red and gray striped?? which goes better with my eyes or my hair??? ) but sometimes they were sweet. Chaeyoung will send her things like, good morning, Good luck on that big presentation today!!! or Tried the ketchup that i knew you’d like so i got you a bottle and etc.

And then all of a sudden she started seeing herself on the front of magazines or news. The first time it happened she thought she had a heart attack in the middle of the grocery store. Luckily Sana had been there to catch her by the elbow when her knees buckled.

It was a picture of her crossing the street with Chaeyoung.

They were both clutching cups of coffee but Chaeyoung was smiling straight at her and she had her head thrown back in laughter. To any bystander who looked at the picture they would have thought they were in love but in reality Chaeyoung had just told her the latest crazy thing Dahyun had done in an attempt to get a beautiful woman to go home with her.

Chaeyoung was beyond apologetic when it happened. She promised to hire a bodyguard for her. She promised to use all of her family connections to get any paparazzi to back off. She promised to pay for any upgrades to the security on her apartment.

But in the end none of it was necessary. Mina didn’t live the kind of life that Chaeyoung’s past flings did the paparazzi never caught her living it up in the city’s night life. They never saw her on dark street corners in making deals with shady-looking characters.

She was never caught getting in and out of cars without her underwear so after like a week of disappointing her media stalkers they eventually backed off.

That didn’t stop Chaeyoung from being way overprotective though, she'd come over to Mina's apartment at least three times a week to make sure she was ok in addition to all the visits to her office.

Mina was usually in her pajamas by then but Chaeyoung was fine with it. They’d settle in on her couch with popcorns, sodas or ice cream  while they watched whatever. In fact it became a regular thing for them both.

But between all of that between the surprise lunches and hangouts, So n Chaeyoung had become a fixture in her life. Mina finds herself smiling whenever she got a text from Chaeyoung.