Hearts Aflame

034: Of Strangers and Awkwardness

I AM ALIVE MWAHAHA

SUCK THAT LIFE!

I AM STILL HERE AND BREATHING!

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Mina's eye to eye contact with the concrete wall is brutally interrupted with a violent smack from the back, or maybe it wasn't a violent smack but she was so absorbed in her daydream that she jerked vigorously forward, a yelp escaping her fair lips. She whipped her head backward with a glare readying itself around her round eyes, but the glare softened away when she remembered exactly where she was, or who, she was glaring at. Her rough facial features contorted harshly into something soft, forcefully in a sense. She wasn't exactly in a mood to play the gentle girl but being in the cafe with the girls, surrounding exactly by that, made her feel like she had to soften her face.

After all, she was in a den of lions, or ferocious girls she didn't know how to react to or act with considering she never had girl friends before (semi-friends) so she opted to make herself look presentable, feeling like so or not.

"Are you okay?" Joy asked, raising her eyebrows high across her forehead. She looked funny. "I can't help but notice you've been staring at the same spot in the wall for over half an hour now." Joy crossed her arms over her chest in an overreacting i'm-your-boss pose, and Mina blinked her eyes.

"Huh? What? What?"

Actually, she wasn't like she was oblivious or trying to act like a dumbass, but the smack on the back was so sudden that made her reaction slow. So she was blinking like a total baboon, mouth open ajar like a deprived baby asking for continuous supply of breast milk.

Gross.

"Are you okay, Mina Unnie?" Yeri jumped on the conversation and stood behind Joy on her tiptoes so she could send Mina a worried look. Her worry was appreciated and Mina felt herself grow soft genuinely. "You don't look too well." Yeri finished, pouting sadly like a cute yet abused puppy. Mina wondered if her eyes would fill up with actual tears, and grimaced with herself.

"I'm fine," Mina murmured unsurely, scratching at her eyebrow. "I think, What were we talking about?"

"We weren't really talking," Wendy butted in from her position behind Yeri, serving a customer a drink but still keeping her bat ears located on their conversation. Mina didn't understand how someone could be good at multitasking. "But it looked like you had such an interesting conversation with the wall, what with your eyes constantly on it. Tell me, what is the secret you have with it?"

Was that supposed to be a joke?

Apparently, because Joy ended up chuckling, high-fiving her best friend. Mina rolled her eyes exceptionally slow.

"That wasn't funny." Even while she said so, he cheeks were a little red.

"You gotta admit, that was a little bit funny." Joy chided, eyes all knowing and bullshit. Mina didn't know when Joy stops joking around. She hadn't seen the girl so serious like ever, and she wondered if Joy was even capable of arousing that expression out of herself in the first place. She decided to ignore her, and laughing Wendy, to focus on more important things, like wiping the table she was positioned behind for instance.

At this time, Seulgi came from her own trash-taking duty from the back, which was like at least thirty steps away from where they were standing, not like anyone was counting. She inserted herself so sneakily between Joy, Wendy and Mina, leaning her head downward to peer at Mina expressionlessly, but dare Mina say, her eyes were glinting a little bit in worry.

"So, are you going to tell us what's on your mind?"

Mina's surprised at many things; like how Seulgi even heard them and their discussion from where she was, and became she was so forward about it either. Mina found herself stuttering like a dummy.