love is a joke (michaeng)

Can I walk you home?

"M-Mina? You okay?" Chaeyoung asked, taking a step back in surprise.

'Why did she push me away?' she thought to herself, feeling more than just a little hurt.

For a few seconds, Mina just stared at Chaeyoung's face until she finally found the courage to answer. "Yeah, I'm fine. What are you doing here?"

"U-um..," Chaeyoung laughed nervously, "I live down this street?"

Mina nodded, seemingly in agreement. "Oh... Yeah."

Then a wave of something Chaeyoung had never felt between the two of them settled.

Awkwardness.

Kinda as though something was out of place.

Finally, Chaeyoung took a good proper look at Mina's face, gasping as she saw the wound parallel to her eye.

"Mina what the fuck..?" She whispered, gently placing a hand on Mina's chin and tilting it up. "Mina, what happened to you?"

For a brief moment, a flash of fear showed in Mina's eyes, but she quickly regained composure.

"Nothing happened, Chaeyoung. Jae's place is just a mess, so I tripped over," she answered, bluntly. She lightly pushed away the younger girl's hand from her face, earning yet another shocked gasp from the latter.

"Mina? What happened to your wrist?" Chaeyoung asked, grabbing Mina's hand and rolling her sleeve up ever so slightly, uncovering Mina's hurridly bandaged wrist.

"I told you Chaeyoung, I tripped," She sighed, before retracting her hand from Chaeyoung's grasp. "I fell awkwardly.."

Not even for a second did Chaeyoung buy what Mina had been saying, but she didn't dare push the girl any further, primarily because she looked as though she was carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders.

"Can I walk you home?" Chaeyoung asked, a glint of hope present in her eyes.

Reluctantly, Mina nodded in agreement. It wasn't that she didn't want Chaeyoung with her; it was more that she didn't want her to know about anything that had happened the previous night, and the more time Mina spent with her, the more likely that became a possibility.

The two walked along in silence, each taking quick glances of the other when one of them wasn't looking. The ambience was strange, at the least, especially since Chaeyoung had so many questions that she simply needed the answers to, like what was going on with Jae and Mina? Why did Mina hang up so abruptly earlier on? And what had actually happened to Mina that ended up with her in bandages?

Soon enough, they approached Mina's apartment block. As Mina walked forward to enter, Chaeyoung stood still on the pavement.

"Uh- Mina? You'll be at school tomorrow, right?" She asked, rubbing the back of her neck.

Mina nodded hesitantly.

"Probably."

"I'll see you then, I guess," Chaeyoung answered, with an uneasy wave, as she turned around to leave.

"-Wait, Chaeyoung?" Mina said quickly before Chaeyoung could take another step away from her.

"Mmhmm?" The younger girl hummed in question as she spun on her heel.

"Do you want to come inside for a bit?" Mina asked, not really sure if she regretted the words as they left her mouth. Truthfully, she didn't want to be alone, especially not right now.

Chaeyoung nodded maybe a bit too enthusiastically, as she bounded towards Mina with a grin, to which the older girl just shook her head at with a smile.