One more time

Chapter 7

Sana is the kind of girl that attracted others. It’s something she couldn’t control. Whether boys or girls, she is appealing to all: Girls love her easy going nature and how she always found a way to make them feel awesome about their looks with her heartily compliments. Guys are all about her beauty even since she was a school grader. Not much mystery on the last part: She grew up listening the ramblings of boys promising to love her and take care of her forever but soon enough she discovered that all of that were lies. It wasn’t as she had dated a lot of guys and had tons of experience but she had learned how to realize when someone was being honest and when it wasn’t.

When Sana moved to Korea during her last elementary school year, thanks to his father’s business, she wasn’t feeling alright. Sure, she quickly adapted as her charismatic self was surrounded by people that found her alluring but she didn’t feel great about it. They all wanted to be with her because she was novelty not because they really appreciated her.
Thankfully not long after she moved in, she met Mina. She was a quiet girl she met on her Korean lessons as they both were learning the language. It took her a while to win the younger’s trust but Sana knew it was worthy: Mina was way too precious. Sana figured the younger one was someone special. They become best friends and Mina’s parents were delighted to see how her introverted princess was changing for good as Sana was very important for her.

Sana did her best to no spoil her as the youngest was too cute for her to deny her anything. The elder figured out that she should act as a big sister figure if she wanted to protect her friend. Sana was very fond of the younger girl and tried her best to cheer her up when required. Mina was very kind and quiet and many people misunderstood her nature but Sana love her as she was.

School break was enough for them to be close as siblings and when time to go junior high arrived both of them decided to attend the same school. Their parents agreed as they loved to see their kid’s interactions and how happy they were in each other company. First day arrived and the girls were taking pictures in the school´s gate merrily when suddenly Mina started to feel uneasy looking how crowded the school was getting.
- Sana, I don’t think I’m ready…
- Come on Mina, we have talked about this before. Don’t worry, I’m with you.
The older one held her hand while trying to reassure her friend everything would be alright. After a while Mina calmed down and they walked around looking for the board with the information regarding their classes. They had talked about it and they wanted to be in the same class but as the school was huge the chances of being in different classes was basically a must. Even though Sana has told her before she would be for her, Mina was horrified.

When they indeed saw their classrooms were different, both were disappointed. Mina started to tremble and without notice started to cry. Sana freaked out a bit for the sudden action but did her best to cheer her up. People started to notice about Mina’s condition and this only made Sana mad about their judging gazes towards them.

They ended not attending the entrance ceremony as Mina was not able to calm down by the time it started. Sana wiped Mina´s face carefully and as she saw the younger’s soft eyes her heart ached for her as she was not capable of prevent the hurting. Sana hug her and comfort her the best she could and decided she needed to be stronger for both of them. Mina wouldn’t make it if she continued like this. It was not alright for the girl to be this fragile. Sana was not going to be forever by her side all the time and Mina needed to succeed on her own.

At first Sana had thought that the proper way to protect Mina was taking care of her but she realized this was nonsense: It was basically baby-sit her all the time. Mina needed to figure things out on her own and this was a good chance for her to gain independence. Sana had known Mina for over a year now and she had seen how timid and soft spoken was she when they met. Now Mina was more open about changes and speak her mind freely compared to the past. Of course, she still had trouble with socializing but at least she was changing and in the inner circle of their families, Mina was glowing with confidence. Sana wanted the rest to notice the beauty she held too. So she did what she thought the best: she let Mina on her own.

She knew that this probably was heartless to do on their first day at school but Mina didn’t even let her explain the situation when she went away crying her heart out once again. Sana didn’t feel well after it. It took her a while to have the guts and go Mina’s house to talk with her. The Myouis were a bit disappointed in how Sana ditched her daughter so rudely but Sana explained the situation and they understood. They also had noticed how Mina was very dependent on Sana and agreed on the plan. 

As time passed, the girls got themselves on their own world: Sana, as a bubbly girl she was, had it easy. She had befriended kids from all grades and was quite popular among her peers. Mina in the other hand was, what people call, a nobody. Kids in her class didn’t notice her presence as she only spoke when people talk to her. She was above the average in school terms but didn’t stood out.

Over time some rude guys and girls started to pick on her as she was alone all the time. No one noticed how her belongings disappeared from time to time. How her clothes got wet after going to the restroom or how bruises were starting to form in her skin. Mina was determined to endure it in silence as she thought it would be a burden to others if she speak out about the abuse.  Also, she wanted to prove Sana she could stand by herself.

Sana was unaware of the situation Mina was in but still she tried to be part of her life. They hanged out on weekends and from time to time they spent the night in each other’s house. Sana missed Mina dearly but didn’t know how to be close to her without being overprotective. Things started to settle down between them and started to enjoy the time together as they did months ago.

At school, Sana was enchanted with Momo: the girl was adorable in her sight. Not only her features were cute but all in hear yelled cute. They were classmates and both of them were Japanese. It didn’t take much effort to befriend the girl as Sana did an extra effort to appeal the elder. She noticed how similar she was with Mina but at the same time she was different. It was weird.

Momo told her about her family situation and Sana felt pain once again not being able of help her friend. Momo was sweet and hardworking and she always did her best. She struggled in school as she still had problems with the language. Sana discovered Momo’s family couldn’t afford to send her to study the language at a cram school as Mina´s or her family did so she offered to help her improve. Momo turned her down many times but one day she just gave up and accept the offer. Sana was very pleased as this was the first time Momo had accepted her help.
They went to Momo´s house to study and there she met Chaeyoung. Sana squealed by looking at the cute girl humming to a song while studying. Sana and Chaeyoung got along easily and the younger found the new girl very funny. Sana proceeded to explain Momo and Chaeng about hangul and Japanese respectively and both of them were impressed in how easily Sana explained the topic they had being stuck for a while. Chaeng was proud she understood the information and kept on repeating the new phrases learned all along. Momo was grateful for having found a new friend as she considered Sana someone she could trust.

Sana was the only kid in her house and she felt alone most of the time, except of course when she was hanging out with Mina or the Son sisters. She loved to spend time with Chaeyoung and Momo as she liked the cozy atmosphere both of them created when she visited them. She never cross paths with Jihyo but she did with Dahyun as she visited the Son to hang out with the girls. Sana adored Dahyun as she considered her as another cute little sister. Sana wondered what kind of life she had had before that made her able to be surrounded with cute girls like this.

Later on, Sana discovered trough Chaeyoung about Jihyo. Chaeyoung looked very fond of her and talked about the oldest Kim as she was the best person ever. You could tell the girl admired her a lot. Chaeng showed Sana tons of pictures, most of them were blurry as Chaeng was the one in charge. Momo and Dahyun had told her to get rid of them but Jihyo convinced them they were alright and it only showed how much Chaeng had improved. The kid was proud about the anecdote and smiled happily while showing Sana a full album with pictures that were actually quite good. At the end of the album was a picture of four girls: Dahyun went for a peace sign while smiling and Chaeyoung was trying to wink at the camera but failed miserably and ended up closing both eyes. Momo was laughing and covering her mouth while pointing at Chaeyoung and besides her was Jihyo. Obviously she was really close with the Son girls but Momo had never mention her and Sana wondered if they were on bad terms. They all were young but Sana knew quite well how someone in love looked like. Sana snorted as she recalled Jihyo looked Momo the same way her father looked at her mom: they looked dumb.

In school, Sana spent her time among different kinds of people but her favorite ones were her fellow Japanese friends. Sana had tried Momo and Mina to befriend each other but they didn’t look as interested as she thought they would be. It was scary as Sana had never saw any of them mad before but she sensed there was something going on between them. Did they meet before? Sana wasn’t sure but she would figure it out.