Sinful Passion

twenty-four

It was in the late afternoon when Mina was at home, in the dining room, working on her fashion startup.  She was almost ready to launch the website, and just needed to fine-tune a few more mechanisms. This was one of the rare instances when Changmin was at home with her so early in the day.  Due to some inconveniences at his office, he'd come home to continue working, and was now sitting in the living room on a conference call. He had his headphones on and was listening to a call all the way from America, across oceans.

This was how Mina and Changmin had been for the past few months, barely talking, the distance between them growing both in terms of emotion and physicality.  Not that Mina minded, though. She was more focused on her work, and of course, on Chaeyoung.

Suddenly, Mina heard the front door burst open.

"Minari!  M- Minari... I got an A..."  Chaeyoung's voice trailed off into almost nothing when she realised Changmin was in the room.  Mina's heart leapt out of fear, before she realised that Changmin hadn't even looked up because he couldn't hear a thing.  She slowly relaxed.

Chaeyoung wasn't aware that he was on a call.  Panic spread across her face, replacing the excitement and elation that had just been behind her eyes.  An uncomfortable weight started pressing into Mina's chest as she noticed Chaeyoung looking like she was about to cry.  Without a second to lose, Chaeyoung ran upstairs and locked herself in her room, thinking she'd messed up badly.

"Well, there's no way we can predict things like that, but the general stock market trend..."  Changmin rattled off into his headset, confirming once more that he was oblivious to his surroundings.  Mina immediately went upstairs and knocked on Chaeyoung's door.

"Chaeng?  Chaeng, it's me.  Everything is ok. Please talk to me?"

Chaeyoung didn't open the door for a few seconds.  When it seemed like all hope was lost, though, the door slowly opened, revealing a red-eyed Chaeyoung with her arms held up in front of her face like an 'X'.  A defensive position.

When it seemed like Mina couldn't possibly love Chaeyoung any more, all she wanted to do now was to love and protect her some more, against all dangers.  Chaeyoung was afraid. She was expecting Changmin behind that door, ready to lash out at her. Mina felt her heart physically hurt upon that realisation.

Once Chaeyoung saw that Mina was there alone, she let Mina in, quickly closing the door behind her.  Chaeyoung looked so scared, so fragile, that Mina wanted to quickly dispel all her fears first.

"Your dad didn't hear anything, Chaeng.  I promise. He was on a conference call," Mina explained.  She watched as the tension slowly escaped Chaeyoung's body.

Suddenly, Chaeyoung tackled Mina in a hug and burst into sobs again.  "But wh- what if he finds out next time? It's going to happen s- some day, Minari... I j- just know it... We can't keep hiding like this..."

Mina felt her own tears prick the back of her eyes as she held Chaeyoung tight.  She couldn't reassure Chaeyoung by telling her it wasn't going to happen. She knew the younger was right, that they'd been treading on dangerous waters since the moment they fell in love.