ozone 》TWICE

sin

HIRAI MOMO'S P.O.V.
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Mina barely talks the entire time we're at JYPE. The part that upsets me is the fact that it's just Sana and me with her. Before we came to Korea, Mina was more talkative with us. She knew how to make us laugh, and it was never boring when she was around. Hell, she was like this before she matured or whatever.

Maturing is such a dumb word for it. Aren't you mature once you come of age? Most are anyway. I wouldn't say that I'm mature in any way just yet. twenty-three is still young and therefore I should make the most out of it, but I can't because I'm confined in JYPE's creepy building. I wouldn't want to stay longer than I have to, but I admit that it has some calming rooms. When I get too stressed, I go to the gym with whoever wants to go with me. Sometimes I end up alone, but not for long because Somi will join me.

Last week it was Chaeyoung who came with me. She couldn't come today for obvious reasons, but also because Dahyun requested she go to church with her. I'm not as religious as the youngest three are, and definitely not as much as Mina. Sana is just out there. She does what she wants and I don't think I'd really care if she admitted she believed in a god or not. I don't necessarily believe in one because it's too unrealistic for me.

And if I did, I wouldn't be able to not be angry with him. Why would he make me a fucking Zodiac of all things? These thoughts only serve to make my punches delivered to the punching bag rougher. It was a mistake not wearing anything protective, definitely, because my knuckles are sore and slightly raw. This doesn't stop me however, Mina does.

"Momo, calm down," her voice is soft, and when I turn around I can see the sweat on her face, and her flushed face, and all it does is make me more frustrated. No one is that pretty. "You're hurting yourself."

"I am," I laugh lowly. "And?"

"And you need to stop," Mina frowns and I exhale carefully. My frustration continues to build, but I try keeping my breathing under control. "I don't want you harming yourself." This is Mina. It'll be fine if I can just chill the fuck out and listen to her.

"Fine," I try to ignore how cold my voice sounds, but Mina makes a face and I immediately regret it. "Sorry. I'm just really frustrated."

"I know. We all are," she redirects her gaze to Sana who is doing her very best to bring a silver bar to her chest. She swears when she just barely does it, already starting again too quickly and not as careful as she should be. If she continues like this, she'll surely pull a muscle. "Sana needs some type of release, so she won't listen to me. Try getting into her head."

"Sana, stop. Take a break before you're crying because everything hurts," I shake my head as I bend down to grab my way too expensive water bottle courtesy of JYPE (I totally filled it with juice instead). Mina shouldn't be too shocked about the price still on the bottom of the bottle, but she is. We've already been away from home too long. 

Sana finally releases the bar, and it flies back up to the top of the equipment, "You stop too! I can see your knuckles from over here." 

"My knuckles are used to it," I roll my eyes. "Mitang, you haven't touched anything, have you?" I haven't seen her using anything, but she's sweating and I can't put my finger on it.

"It's hot enough in this room," she shrugs and I give her a knowing look; there's no way that's the only reason. "I hate you two, you know that? I'm afraid that I'll mess something up."

"First of all, you love us, and second, you won't. You've been seeing Jackson for two hours a day since the very first time you accidentally burnt the damn couch. You haven't had any more accidents," 

"I could though."

"But you haven't. And you're slowly getting better. We trust you remember?" Sana joins in, wiping the sweat off of her forehead with a towel. Mina smiles as she looks down, and it makes me happy. Mina always looks pretty when she smiles.

"Still, I'll stick to just thinking right now. It's made me sweat enough, hasn't it?" Even though I'd like her to participate, I keep my mouth shut this time, downing the rest of the juice. Soda would have tasted better, but Mina was adamant on making me choose something healthier. Water was a no, of course. That shit has absolutely no taste, how am I supposed to drink it? It's like tasteless poison!

I don't continue using the punching bag, but I do help Sana out with pulling the silver to her chest. It's not even that heavy, so I can't help but laugh when Sana whines. But I don't push her anymore than she needs to be pushed.

I keep notice of Mina, who refuses to touch anything. She keeps her hands curled up into fists by her side or in her lap when she's sitting down. This is upsetting as well because I don't want her thinking she'll hurt any of us. It's more than likely all the bullshit that her parents put into her head when they did hang out with her (which wasn't very much) or when they had time to go to her recitals. I always made my parents take Sana, Jeongyeon, Hana, and, of course, me.

Jeongyeon always gave flowers to Mina afterwards, and they'd always hug so tight that little me felt jealous. It's hilarious, isn't it? I really believed Jeongyeon would steal my best friend. Mina developed a crush on Jeongyeon, which in reality made me laugh so hard I couldn't stop crying for an hour. We were really innocent and young then. I miss those days.

Mina wasn't so afraid then. And as long as we covered our mark, we didn't get too much hate. The only bad thing about Mina's recitals were accusations from the other kids in her class. She told them off once or twice, but soon she'd only shrug them off and cry when she stayed over at my home. We all wanted to protect Mina.