What the heart wants

Chapter 56

Nayeon slowly gets up on her feet as a sharp pain soars through her head, her whole body feels beaten and every step she takes makes her muscle ache. Until now, she's never known a broken heart could affect someone physically. Regardless, she wants to get out of here before it's too late.

When she makes her way to the car park, she sees Mina about to climb the stairs to the lobby. She sees her pausing midstep when their eyes meet across the distance.

Nayeon saunters down the steps, approaching the younger girl who holds her gaze.

Mina looks frozen for a while before the corners of her mouth quirk up a little resuming their usual softness.

"You missed something?" Nayeon queries when she finally reaches her.

Mina's eyes are trained on her, her long eyelids a fraction too slow to blink as if her brain is suffering a massive short circuit.

"Yes." She whispers after a while but doesn't seem to make a move to go and retrieve whatever she forgot.

Nayeon's gaze flickers across the captivating face that doesn't hide much emotions. Her pain is evident in the crease of her perfectly shaped brow, in the ocean of hopeless grief in her deep brown eyes. Her cheeks are rosy against the cool breeze and she's wearing a pretty dress that Chaeyoung gifted her in Hawaii.

Nayeon understands the sentiment behind it. It's like Mina's taking a part of the younger girl with her.

"You're wearing my sweater." Mina points at the bunny and baby chick jumper and smiles.

Nayeon shrugs. "I wanted to see you smile before you go."

Mina's resolve to not cry crumbles at the quietly uttered words. She looks away for a moment trying to gather herself, but as much as she tries to hold it in, the pain comes out like an uproar from her throat and beads of water starts to fall down one after another.

Her head tilt sidewards to the older girl's face, her eyes sliding into focus.

"Does it still hurt?" She points a finger to her ribs.

Nayeon shakes her head, her heart constricts in its wake as if not sure if it should go on beating when she hears the concern in the voice.

"Nayeon-chan." She sobs. "You.."

Nayeon stands there, tears pricking her eyes, pale hands trembling with grief and sadness.

Mina reaches to take one of them in hers and cups their hands. Her eyes are raw and glistening as she looks up at the older girl. "You are not going to hurt yourself anymore. Promise me you'll be careful."

Nayeon nods through her tears.

"And if you get sick, remember I keep your favorite coco powder on the top shelf." She falters as another sob cracks through the words.

Nayeon closes her eyes shut, muffled tears wracking against her chest. When she opens them, Mina is looking at her with her tear filled eyes and they're so different in this moment, more soft than Nayeon knew eyes could be.

They look at each other for a long moment until Chaeyoung taps Mina's shoulder and tells her it's time to go.

Nayeon takes a step forward as if to hug the younger girl but stops herself. Because if she does, she's not going to let her go.

"Bye Nayeon-chan." Mina wipes away the remnant of tears from her cheeks and steps into the cab.

As the cab pulls away, Nayeon doesn't let go of her gaze, taking in every moment for her memory. She wipes the tears with the back of her hand determined not to let her gaze fall.

Once the cab turns the corner, the reality of the situation comes crashing down on her. The world turns into a blur, so does all the sound.

Tears fall from her unblinking eyes with no sign of stopping and drips into the sweater.

"Nayeon." Sana lays a comforting hand on her shoulder. "The cab has been gone for five minutes."

Nayeon nods, clearing her tears away but a fresh torrent busts forth. Sana pulls her to her chest where she stays until the crying subsides.

When they finally make it to the dorm, Momo glances at Nayeon's beautiful brown eyes that are swollen and sore and feels her own heart break. She extends her arms, whispering quietly, "Mina asked me to give you this."

Nayeon reaches for the envelope with shaking hands. Her heads spins and her throat tightens as her heart begins to painfully throb in its chest.

Mina pulls the seatbelt around her and stares out the window. It's bright and sunny outside a striking contrast to the dark void inside her. Her eyes are dry and there's a numbness in her heart like she can't feel any more pain.

But her traitorous heart begins to ache with renewed pain when her mother hands over an envelope and says, "Nayeon-tan gave this for you."