Dancing in the dark

Chapter 23

"Why do you always reject people?" Jihyo wondered out loud.

Mina shrugged absently, putting the tray of cookies into the oven. "They like me only because they don't know my past."

She turned her towards Nayeon who was making loud whooshing noises as she flew paper planes with Ari. "Anyone who knew my past wouldn't want me that way."

A month later Jihyo was surprised when Mina finally agreed to go out with another A list actress.

Nayeon grumbled, "She's old enough to be her grandmother."

"Samantha is five years older than Mina." Chaeyoung guffawed at Nayeon's exaggeration. "Besides you're the one to talk when you're dating someone ten years older."

Nayeon smacked the back of the younger girl's head, "I'm not dating Amy. We're just friends."

If Jihyo was surprised that Mina agreed to date, she was shocked that she called it off two weeks later.

"What happened?" She squeezed Mina's hand, her voice laced with concern.

"I wasn't ready for physical intimacy." She leaned her head on Jihyo's shoulder, "I don't think I'd ever be."

Jihyo pulled the girl into a comforting hug, "You'd be ready with the right person."

"I'm hungry." Nayeon threw the door open shrugging off her jacket and kicking off her shoes, dragging a tired child along with her after their bowling day.

"Minayah, feed me." She whined making Mina smile her first real smile for the day.

When Twice picked up the best new artist award at the Grammy's Mina and Ari cheered with the biggest smiles on their faces.

Nayeon scanned the crowd as she stepped off the stage, her eyes easily finding Mina and Ari in the audience.

She rushed into Mina's arms and smiled bigger than when she got the award when Mina whispered into her ears, "I'm so proud of you Nayeon-chan."

When Mina got nominated for the Golden Globes for the best actress in a motion picture being the youngest foreign actress to accomplish such a feat, Nayeon told her it didn't matter if she won or lost because she'd already won everyone's heart.

"Not everyone's." Mina had replied with an unreadable expression on her face.

Mina ended up bagging the award.

"You're twenty two this month." Dahyun remarked, digging into a bucket of Ben & Jerry's chocolate chip ice cream.

Mina nodded her head, sighing at Jeongyeon and Nayeon arguing over who got to control the remote.

"It's my house, I get to choose what I watch." Nayeon yelled.

Jeongyeon snatched the remote from her, "Technically it's Mina's house. You don't get to decide."

"It's our house." Nayeon declared, grabbing the remote back. "So yeah, I get to control this shit."

Before Mina could reprimand her Ari cut in, "Nayeon-tan, you can't curse with a child in the house."

"Sorry." Nayeon gave the kid a sheepish grin, wondering how Ari had grown up so fast.

When they made dinner together and Nayeon was slurping loudly from her pot of noodles, Ari asked her, "Are you and Mina girlfriends?"

Nayeon choked on her food.

"Ari!!" Mina admonished her younger sister.

"What?" Ari shrugged her shoulders, "One of my classmate's mother has a girlfriend."

Chaeyoung sniggered behind a covered mouth.

"We're not together Ari." Nayeon replied, after she'd composed herself.

"Why not?" Ari questioned, "You live together, make heart eyes at each other, have cute nicknames for each other. You should be together."

Momo and Sana enjoyed how ashen Nayeon's face became as the kid went on.

"Ari, Nayeon-chan doesn't like girls." Mina tried to explain patiently.

"Right." Jihyo bit back a sarcastic laugh.

"Then why did I see her kiss Amy in the car park?" Ari quirked up a brow at her sister.

"You did?" Seven girls turned to look at Nayeon accusingly.

Mina shook her head at her sister. "That's enough Ari. Go to your room."

Ari put her bucket of ice cream down and stomped to her room.

"I'm really sorry about that." Mina gave a sympathetic glance to Nayeon who was standing with her mouth wide open.

"I didn't kiss Amy." Nayeon explained after a while to her bandmates. "She kissed me suddenly and I was too stunned to move."

"Did you like it?" Sana inquired.

"I don't know." Nayeon replied offhandedly, making patterns on the floor with her foot. "It felt nice."

"Are you telling us you could be bisexual?" Tzuyu mock gasped.

"More like blonde sexual." Momo muttered under her breath.

Sana lifted an eyebrow in question.

"I'll explain later." Momo gave her a know it all smile.