The Loneliest Person (Someone Like Me) [Mina x Sana]

Chapter 1: Softest Morning

Mina awoke to the feel of Sana's lips on her forehead. The dream that she was having melted away from the warm kiss, pulling Mina back to reality. She slowly blinked her eyes open and found Sana leaning over her with a smile more radiant than the early morning sunlight.

"Good morning, Mittang," Sana said affectionately, calling Mina by her Japanese nickname. The heavy use of aegyo in Sana's voice made the sleepy girl smile.

"Good morning, Sattang," Mina replied, sitting up in a daze. Faint traces of the dream still lingered in Mina's brain, making it difficult for her to get her bearings straight. "What were you doing just now?" Mina asked sleepily. Their affectionate greeting to each other was in Japanese, but everything else that followed was in Korean as usual.

"Nothing, just waking you up," Sana replied in Korean, using her thumb to rub the damp spot her lips left on Mina's forehead. It was slowly become a daily ritual for Sana to wake Mina up with a forehead kiss. The only exception to the rule was on days with Twice schedules that had them waking up at different times or had Sana stuck in the hair and makeup chair for hours. But on a schedule-free day like today, Sana was free to wake up Mina whenever and however she chose.

"Tzuyu is almost ready to leave. I thought you might want to say goodbye."

"Eh?? Really?" Mina jumped out of bed, nearly knocking her head into Sana's from the haste.

Laughing, Sana held up a hand to slow down her friend. "I said she's almost ready to leave. You have time to wake up a little. Brush your teeth maybe?" Sana suggested with a smile.

Mina nodded with a yawn. Waking up seemed to be a bit of a challenge for her this morning. "Thanks Sana, I'll be out soon."

"By the way, what were you dreaming about?" Sana asked. "You had a really big smile on your face when I came in. I thought you were already awake for a moment."

"Did I? I don't remember," Mina murmured, trying to grasp onto fragments of the disappearing dream. She vaguely felt that Sana might have been in her dream, but she couldn't remember anything else. As she racked her brain for a clue, Sana reached toward her and began to nonchalantly comb her fingers through Mina's hair. The moment Sana's fingers accidentally grazed the back of her neck, Mina shivered as the contents of the dream came back in full force.

"Whoops, sorry," Sana apologized, feeling Mina jump as she touched the back of Mina's neck. "Did that tickle you?" The younger girl turned away quickly, hoping that Sana hadn't noticed the faint blush now coloring her cheeks. "Anyway," Sana continued as Mina tried to discretely calm herself down, "I'll tell Tzuyu to wait for you, so take your time and get cleaned up first."

When Mina finally turned back to Sana, the older girl was watching her with a warm expression. Her eyes were glittering affectionately in a way that Mina had never seen before and it gave her goosebumps. Mina gulped, suddenly nervous to be caught under such an intense gaze. Their eyes remain locked for just a moment more before Sana gave her the subtlest smirk and turned toward the door.

Once Sana left, Mina let out a breath that she didn't even know she was holding. She put a hand to her chest, feeling her heart racing a mile a minute. Sana's unreadable expression, that little smirk before she left... Was Mina just imagining things? It was almost like Sana had seen through Mina's dream, but that was impossible, wasn't it?

Mina's cheeks flushed even redder as she continue to think about the dream she just remembered, an extremely explicit sex dream with Sana. Nothing would've been more embarrassing than to have Sana, her secret crush, learn what she was dreaming about. Mina shook her head vigorously as though she was trying to rid herself of the stressful thought. It wasn't the first time that had she dreamed about Sana like this, and it likely wouldn't be the last. But as long as her dreams remained private, Mina felt as though she could deal with the problem on her own.

The young girl sluggishly left her bed and went to the bathroom, trying to push any thoughts of Sana out of her mind. Mina knew that falling in love with her best friend was a bad idea, but it wasn't like her heart had much of a choice in the matter. When it came to her relationship with Sana, the lines of friendship and love seemed to bleed together until the threshold was a squiggly mess of gray.

Sana and Mina held hands and hugged on a regular basis. They occasionally kissed and often told each other they loved each other in both Korean and Japanese. It was all done platonically at first, but for Mina the meaning behind her actions toward Sana slowly changed from an innocent kind of friendship love to a confusing kind of romantic love.

To add to Mina's confusion, she and Sana even routinely changed in front of each other, bathed at bath houses and hot springs together, and even slept in the same bed when they were overseas. She had done more with Sana as a friend than what romantically involved couples their age might normally do, so in some ways it shouldn't have been a surprise to Mina that she would fall in love with someone as attractive and affectionate and as outgoing as Sana. The older girl embodied everything that Mina wished she could be. And it was because of this very reason that Mina thought her initial attraction to Sana was just admiration.

But then the dreams began.

The dreams were innocent in the beginning, with her earliest dreams of Sana showing them holding hands and hugging. They were so similar to reality that Mina found the dreams comforting at first, a reaffirmation that she really did care a great deal about Sana as a friend. But then about four months ago, right after their "What is Love?" promotions ended, her dreams began to heat up without warning. Soon she and Sana were kissing in her dreams, and then fondling in her dreams, and then undressing each other in her dreams, and then--

Mina splashed her face with cold water from the bathroom sink. It was probably best not to continue with her current train of thought. Not when Tzuyu was halfway out the door to start off their Chuseok holiday. The confused 21 year old began brushing her teeth.

Even though the explicit dreams of a half-naked Sana still tormented her sleep, Mina had more or less made up her mind about what she was going to do about the situation. Basically, she was planning to do nothing. She prided herself in being one of Twice's most level headed members. And where others might follow their hearts or do what felt right, Mina was content with doing what made sense: Twice was only in it's third year of activities and she wasn't about to put Twice's flawless teamwork in jeopardy over feelings that were probably as real as a schoolgirl crush.

Mina had done her best to treat Sana normally since the x-rated dreams began, waiting for a day to come where she didn't wake up yearning for Sana touch. It was difficult to endure Sana's hugs and kisses knowing that Sana's affections were platonic while hers were bordering on lustful, but Mina knew she would persevere and endure this crush until it passed. And the less that Sana knew about Mina's feelings in the meantime, the safer that Sana, Twice, and even Mina's heart would be.

"After all," Mina thought to herself, staring at her reflection in the mirror dejectedly, "why would someone as amazing as Sana fall in love with someone like me?"