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

Chapter 2: Strangest Gaze

Mina finished brushing her teeth and burst into the living room. She skidded to a halt in front of Tzuyu, her penguin socks sliding across the smooth floor.

"Mina's like a penguin on ice!" she heard Momo say, and then she heard Sana's laughter in response. But Mina ignored them both and turned to Twice's maknae.

"Tzuyu, I'm sorry I didn't wake up early to make you breakfast like I promised! I should have set an alarm," Mina apologized to the towering girl. Tzuyu's family had traveled to Korea for this year's Chuseok, so Tzuyu would be spending the next few days with them.

Tzuyu smiled kindly, clearly unbothered. "It's OK, unnie. I could have woken you up if I wanted your pancakes, but I didn't have the heart to do it. Sana-unnie didn't mind though. She was like 'I don't care, I'm waking Mina up right now!'"

"Yah, it wasn't like that!" Sana complained, instantly objecting to Tzuyu's version of events. "I wanted to make sure she didn't miss you leaving!"

Sana and Tzuyu glared at each other playfully. And then Sana turned and winked at Mina. Outwardly Mina laughed with the others while inwardly her heart skipped a beat.

To hide the blush that was surely forming on her cheeks, Mina reached out and gave Tzuyu a hug. She could feel Sana watching her and so she glanced back and caught Sana smiling at them with a softness and wistfulness that she couldn't quite decipher. Mina met Sana's warm eyes for just a moment, finally catching the subtle note of sorrow in her gaze.

"What was that?" Mina wondered, surprised by Sana's uncharacteristic expression. Was Sana just sad to see Tzuyu leave? But a moment later, Sana looked away from Mina and returned to being her bubbly and cheerful self again. Sana bounced over to Tzuyu, giving their youngest a big hug and kiss. Together with Momo, they sent Tzuyu off on the three day Chuseok break with a smile.

"But what was that look?" Mina wondered, glancing over at Sana who was bickering and playing with Momo per usual. Although it was rare, Mina's heart ached at the sight of Sana feeling sad. But the subtle touch of sadness was gone now. Examining Sana's smiling face, Mina wondered if she had misread Sana's expression.

"Mina-ya," Sana said, disrupting the pensive girl's thoughts. Sana turned back with an outstretched hand beckoning to Mina. "Come on. Let's go make breakfast for the others."

Mina could feel her chest swell at the sight of Sana's genuine smile. Perhaps she had really imagined that look of sadness in Sana's expression after all. She reached out and linked hands with Sana, letting their warm fingers intertwine comfortably. Mina wondered if Sana could feel her heartbeat racing though their connected hands. The younger girl had asked herself this question every time they hugged or held hands over the last four months. But if Sana had noticed, she hadn't mentioned it. Hand in hand, with Mina's heart pounding in her chest, Sana and Mina headed into the kitchen to make breakfast.

Trying to cook in the Twice dorm was normally chaotic. Any cooking experiments resulted in nine people trying to cram themselves into a small kitchen to cook, taste, critique, and distract. But today, as the rest of the members were gone or busily preparing to leave for the long break, only the Japanese members currently occupied the kitchen. With the help of Sana and Momo bringing her ingredients and utensils, Mina was able to whip up a large batch of pancakes more quickly than usual.

"Edible!" Momo announced, taking a bite from the coolest pancake on the serving plate. Mina's cooking typically had a high success rate these days, especially for pancakes, but it never hurt to check. The hungry dancer piled a small mountain of pancakes onto her plate and headed to the table to eat.

"Good job, Mina," Sana smiled, proudly patting Mina on the head before following Momo to the table with a much smaller stack of pancakes on her plate. Mina turned back to the stove to finish cooking, very pleased by Momo and Sana's responses.

"Unnie, unnie, one to go please," Chaeyoung requested sweetly, rushing into the kitchen with a double arm load of things to pack into her suitcase. She leaned into Mina at the stove and opened her mouth for a pancake since her hands were too full to take one herself. Mina giggled fondly at their maknae and pushed one of the cooler pancakes into the younger girl's mouth.

"Fanks!" Chaeyoung mumbled at Mina brightly before waddling away with her pancake and belongings.

"Aaah, Mina makes AND feeds us pancakes now?" Sana cried, watching the exchange between Mina and Chaeyoung. "No fair, I want one too."

Sana skipped back over to Mina with puppy dog eyes and opened her mouth slightly. "Mittang, ahh~"

Mina's expression froze halfway between a smile and panic. With such an irresistibly sweet pose from Sana, Mina could feel her heart fluttering. If she could do anything she wanted in that moment without restraint, Mina would have kissed Sana full on her subtly pouting lips. At the very least, she would have traced the outline of Sana's mouth with her fingers so she could stop wondering how soft Sana's lips could be.

"Stop it," Mina scolded herself. "Stop thinking of Sana like that. She's just your friend." But even as she ordered herself to be responsible, to stop crushing on Sana, Mina's heart wished that Sana could be her everything.

Not receiving the pancake she had requested, Sana decided to turn up her aegyo a notch by puffing out her cheeks and sticking out her lower lip in an adorably sad expression. "Can I please have a pancake? Please, Mina-ya~?"

Mina shoved a pancake quickly into Sana's mouth and turned away. The older girl bit down on her prize with a smile and bounced back over to the table.

"Thanks Mina-ya~!"

"Yeah, yeah," Mina mumbled, blushing furiously. She turned back to the stove and hoped that neither Momo or Sana noticed how red her face had become.

"How can you stand acting that cutely?" Momo asked Sana through a mouthful of pancake, frowning at Sana's aegyo in playful disgust.

Sana laughed. "You're one to talk, Momo. I saw you turning up the aegyo with Dahyunnie last night." The older girls laughed and continued eating, oblivious to Mina's reaction.

"Feed me during dinner too, Mina-ya~!" the younger girl heard Sana say in a singsong voice behind her.

Mina's heart continued to flutter as she tried her hardest not too imagine how sweet it would be if she could spend the rest of her life feeding someone as cute as Sana.