Dancing in the dark

Chapter 2

Nayeon woke up to the sound of the alarm on her phone going off. The warm body next to her was gone and her eyes grew in panic as she looked for her wallet.

She didn't care about the money, it held a picture of her mother, the only one she had left of her and she was not ready to lose that.

She sighed in relief when she found the wallet on the bedside drawer.

She rubbed her tired eyes and thought back to last night. About how she racked her brain to find a way to use Mina sexually, couldn't come up with anything so she told her she wanted to draw her naked.

She had spent three hours drawing her portrait, even though she was completely drained of energy and sucked at sketching. Chaeyoung was the artisty one in the band, not her.

After she drew her, she suggested they went to sleep and when Mina quirked an eyebrow Nayeon had convinced her that she could sleep naked because she wasn't ready to explore too much with a woman on her first try.

Mina seemed to have bought the lie hesitantly.

She had let a stunning stranger sleep naked on her bed, while she was still clothed, and sometimes during the night they'd shifted to each other and she'd ended up spooning the girl.

She'd spooned a prostitute.

"What the fuck was last night!!" She laughed to herself incredulously as she decided she was going to kill her bandmates when she saw them today.

Jeongyeon dodged the blow that was aimed at her face expertly and laughed. "You drew her? Do you know how much they charge for being the best service at being discrete?"

"I had to stare at a naked stranger." Nayeon aimed another blow and groaned when Jihyo dragged her away from Jeongyeon. "All because of you."

"It's not just her." Momo stated evenly. "We all had enough of you acting cranky because you keep failing relationships after relationships."

"I don't act cranky." Nayeon defended herself.

"Where did the happy carefree Nayeon-chan go?" Sana questioned sadly, as she stroked her arm.

"We're not always the same people." Nayeon's voice came out low and broken. "We grow up."

"How was she?" Jihyo decided to change the conversation because she could sense how troubled Nayeon sounded.

Nayeon smirked. "Too fucking proud for a regular prostitute." She dropped to the floor of their dance rehearsal studio.

Chaeyoung shook her head disappointedly.

"I hope you didn't talk to her this way." Dahyun exclaimed and sighed when she saw Nayeon looking embarrassed. "You know sex workers are human beings too. What even happened to you? You used to be nice to everyone."

"Can y'all get out of my hair?" Nayeon groaned, getting back up on her feet. "I am a celebrity and I don't have to be nice to a hoe."

Dahyun watched with concerned eyes as Nayeon left the studio.

"Give her time." Jihyo patted her shoulders. "She'll come around."

A week later she'd almost forgotten completely about the girl and was signing fans with a forced smile on her face.

She once used to love this, now all she did was pretend.

She sighed when she looked at her line, it seemed to never end. She stretched a little wondering when they'd get back to the dorm.

Her eyes caught sight of a familiar figure standing in the line for Jihyo. Mina was standing with a kid with some gifts and a notebook in her hand.

Nayeon's lips quirked up in the tiniest of smiles when Mina pulled the tired kid closer to her and pecked her nose. Going by their closeness, she had to be a younger sister.

"Fancy seeing you here Mina." She rounded up the girl after the fansign, before she could step into her taxi.

Mina slowly turned around, sighing softly.

The kid gaped at Nayeon with wide eyes.

"You know my sister?" The kid gasped.

Nayeon smiled her first real smile of the day. She missed the days she used to be this innocent and pure. The industry had stolen that spirit from her.

Mina pleaded with her eyes to not reveal anything in front of the kid, not knowing what Nayeon was capable of.

Nayeon shrugged. "Your sister is too beautiful to be not noticed," She bent down and shuffled the hair on the kid's head, "Don't you think?"

The kid smiled up at Mina proudly, giggling when Nayeon tapped her nose.

"What's your name kid?" She asked, shaking her hand.

"I'm Ari." The child replied a little distastefully, pulling back her hand and crossing her arms. "And I'm not a kid, I'm going to be seven soon!"

The proud stance reminded Nayeon of Mina and another smile lifted her heart shaped lips.

"Well Ari, it was nice meeting you." Nayeon turned and sighed when she saw her manager call for her. "I have to go."

She stood up and glimpsed at Mina who was worrying a bottom lip between her teeth.

An apology was at the tip of her tongue but she withheld it because Mina's sister was around, "Bye." She nodded and left.

Mina sighed with relief when Nayeon finally left the two of them and disappeared behind a black door.