Who we are

Chapter 9

Mina’s POV

Lying in my bed, I kept replaying the events of the day that I had with Chaeyoung. I can’t help but think how beautiful she is, both inside and out. I like her friendly and sweet tone so much and her outspoken and strong attitude. She’s literally like someone you wish to come into your life and love you back the way you love them. She’s like a dream come true, and that’s the scary part because good things don’t last.

I keep thinking about what we did and how it’s basically not what two friends would do. Friends would hang out at the mall, shopping, or the movie theaters, not walking around the pier and watching the beautiful sunset together. That’s why I had to make sure to say I’m glad she was my friend, I didn’t want to make her feel uncomfortable.

But I have to admit, it was so fun. It felt nice opening just a tiny bit to her, well to someone at all, but she made me feel special and important. That was my final thought before I drifted off to sleep which was actually peaceful tonight.

I woke up the next morning feeling so rested. My nightmares and night terrors have recently gotten worse again, so peaceful and quiet is a blessing.

My family and I had planned to probably go out to watch a movie later, so I decided to get ready early. After, I went down stairs to say morning to them.

As we were about to eat breakfast, the doorbell rings. Hmm I wonder who would be at our house at 10 a.m. Nayeon unnie went to go answer the door and came back with Chaeyoung behind her.

I was pretty shocked to see her since I wasn’t at all expecting her to come. She said hello to everyone before turning to me and saying,

“Hey Mina unnie, I just wanted to stop by and give you back your jacket that you loaned me yesterday.”

She blushed pretty hard and it looked cute to see her all nervous. I was confused as to why she couldn’t have given the jacket to me tomorrow, but I wasn’t complaining because at least I got to see her. I said thanks and took the jacket. She looked around awkwardly and noticed we were about to eat and apologized for interrupting. My mom said no worries and even invited her to eat. More like finally convinced her after 10 minutes.

We had pancakes that Dahyun made, which are delicious because she’s an amazing cook.

We got into conversation and it was nice listening to my family and Chaeyoung. I would sneak glances at her and catch her looking at me, which gave me so many butterflies.

My mom wasted no time in asking Chaeyoung about her family and move here and everything was going great, until Chaeyoung accidentally dropped a bomb shell question.

Chaeyoung’s POV

I absolutely loved Mina’s family, they were all so loving and very funny. I told them so much about my family and my old life back in Australia. Then we started talking about my parents and noticed that Mina’s dad wasn’t at breakfast and assumed he went to work already, but I thought I’d be polite to ask.

“So how’s your dad Mina? Has he gone to work already, that must suck to have to do on a Sunday.”

Right after I said that everyone got dead silent. Dahyun and Nayeon gave me a shocked expression and would glance at Mina. She looked really sad all of a sudden. Oh no, did I go into uncharted territories by accident. Etteokhae. Etteokhae. Is her father still alive? So many thoughts raced through my head as I stared at how tensed and silent Mina got. Her mom finally broke the awkward silence by saying,

“Hmm I would have thought Mina told you already, but my husband and I separated last year and we haven’t seen him since, well Mina’s accident.” She stated unemotionally.

“Uhm I’m so sorry, I had no idea..” I replied. Yup definitely crossed a boundary by accident. Wait a moment, accident?

“Uhm sorry, but what do you mean by accident?” I blurted out. Omo. I’m going to regret that.

You could tell there was a shift in tension of the room, especially with Mina unnie. Glancing over to her, she looked pretty pale like she was going to be sick. Dahyun notived and put an arm on her right shoulder. Why does she hate anyone touching her left side though. Mina’s mom spoke up which brought me out of my thoughts.

“Mina was in a bad car accident and was in the hospital for a while.” She replied looking at her daughter.

“I thought I lost my daughter that day, but lucky that I didn’t. it was a miracle I still have her here today.” She added.

Mina unnie looked to the side to hide her face from me. But I saw a little bit before she did. She had such a raw emotion on her face that it tugged at my heart to see her in pain. She was so tensed and it looked like she was holding so much in. she excused herself and ran upstairs to her room.

“She still hasn’t come to grips with what happened, it still bothers her and I don’t blame her. But seeing the way she looks at you, tell me you’re special. Maybe by telling you this, you can help her along the way.” Her mom said.

“Mina likes to act tough and worry about everyone else but herself.” Added Dahyun.

I excused myself and went to go find Mina. When I walked in her room she was in the far corner near her window looking out. I sat next to her and just left her know I was here. It didn’t matter that we didn’t talk, what mattered is that I stayed. I could tell it was hard for her to process what happened back there and to come to terms with what to say to me. It killed me to see her in pain and confusion. She finally looked over at me and tried to form a sentence, but she couldn’t. I didn’t push her, all I did was say,

“Mina unnie there isn’t anything you need to say. Gwaenchanha. I’m here and I’ll always be here. I don’t care if you tell me more now or weeks from now. I’m not going anywhere.”

She looked directly at me this time with straight face and you could tell this was really her. She wasn’t faking by half smiling or trying to be funny by making joke or looking off the side. She was real and that’s when I’ve never seen her more beautiful, but because shewas strong, but also willing to show she wasn’t 100% okay.

She did something I never expected, she hugged me. It was a proper hug and I made sure not to touch her left shoulder, and I didn’t ask. I wanted her to tell me everything when she felt comfortable too. I could feel Mina loosen up just a bit in the hug and I knew whatever bond we had grew a little.