{Michaeng} For Just a Minute

Chapter 7: I See You (Finale Part 1)

I opened my eyes, and found myself situated in empty whiteness. No walls, no doors, no windows. Causiously, I stand, but it feels as if my toes aren't touching the ground. It's like I'm floating over the air. Where am I?

Hello, Chaeyoung.

I whipped my head to my left, and make out a figure dressed in a billowing white dress. Her back was facing me, but as I got closer, I recognized the unmistakeably slim figure and fair skin.

"M-Mina?"

Hello, Chaeyoung. She repeated without turning. You are here.

"I am where?" I asked, frantically trying to reach her. It was like my feet were pushing against loose sand; my attempts to touch Mina were futile.

You are with me. Now Mina turned and gave me a sad, withering smile. We are alone in this together. You and I. There's something about her I wasn't understanding - the glassiness of her eyes, the hollow smile, the lilt in her voice.

"Mina, what are you saying?" I said desperately, feeling strange panic rise in my chest. "Mina!"

Chaeyoung, I'm sorry.

"Mina! What are you sorry about?" I pleaded, feeling tears of desperation beginning to prick my eyes, and I blink away some of the blurriness. "Why won't you tell me what's going on, Mina? Is this a dream or something?"

I am not a person you will know anymore, Son Chaeyoung. I am not the Myoui Mina you know." She walked across the barrier I had been trying to break through, each step planted elegantly and precisely. That's right; Mina is a ballerina. Each movement closer to me, my heart sped up a little faster.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

"Mina..." I croaked, breaking down when her warm arms embraced my shoulders. "Are you...?"

"Yes," she whispered. "I am. But first, Son Chaeyoung, before I leave. Answer my question seriously this time," she begged, stroking the skin on my cheek.

"What question?"

If I had seen you for just a minute, would I like what I saw."

That question. The question that had been ripping through my heart every time I was with Mina. Would she? My imperfect self? Would I worthy of her gaze?

"Mina," I answered finally. "I am not strong, I am not fast, I am not unbreakable, and mostly, I am not perfect. Mina, I am not a desirable person. I screw up important things; I make mistakes. If you saw me," I swalloed truthfully. "You would not like me at all."

Fair enough. She dismissed my words with a wave of her hand, and I felt a pang of regret stab my heart. Maybe I chose my words wrong. I watched as she began to walk away from me, back turned once again.

"Mina!" I screamed, but this time there was no response. She appeared to ignore my calls. "Mina! MINA!" My throat became raw and hoarse from yelling, but she disappeared into the whiteness.

Dizziness began to overtake me as I wobbled from fatigue and sobs. I dropped to my knees, but instead of the floor supporting me like it had before, I began to fall, tumbling and twisting like a ragdoll. The ground was in sight, and I braced myself for a grisly impact.

*GASP*

I looked up, and I was not in the whiteness anymore. Instead, I was lying in my dorm bedroom. The edges of face are streaked with tears, and turning to my left, I see a concerned Sana staring at me. "You okay? You were dreaming something fierce just now. Jeongyeon told me to watch you."

I shook my head and tried to recollect my thoughts, but I found myself just weak and breathless, like I had just ridden the fastest rollercoaster in the world. My head pounded with every thud of my heartbeat.

"Jeongyeon said you were screaming and screaming something incomprensible earlier," Sana declared, standing and beginning to tidy the room. "She said how worried she was for you, but she didn't know how to care for you, so she allowed me in."

"M...M..." I tried to speak, but my jaws felt jelly-ish and wouldn't form the words I wanted to say.

"What is it?" Sana bent and cupped her ear attentively. "You want to say something."

"M...M...M-Mina...Where's Mina?" I finally rasp. "I need to see, Mina!"

"Mina?" Sana had a weird, perplexed look on her face. "Chaeyoung, don't you remember? Mina was..."

...

[End of Part 1]