What the heart wants

Chapter 46

Dahyun almost falls off the stool she's perched on when she hears Nayeon's high pitched squeal that's soon followed by a string of curses.

"Is she doing some kind of religious chant in the shower?" Sana asks in between bites of her croissant.

"I somehow doubt motherfucking son of a dinosaur's shit is a part of any religious chant." Jeongyeon replies coolly.

When Nayeon steps out of the bathroom shivering, her teeth incessantly chattering, hair dripping and glistening with water, cheeks rosier than normal they all burst into laughter.

"You spent twenty minutes filling the tub with an electric kettle, but couldn't take two seconds to check if the hot water is back on?" Chaeyoung cackles.

Nayeon is about to give her the finger but a sneeze interrupts her classy Nayeonlike behavior.

"Jihyo is going to bite your head off when she comes back." Dahyun's tone walks the line between playfulness and concern.

Nayeon ignores them pointedly and sneezes into her arms. She pulls a pair of winter socks on her feet and goes to her room to find a hair dryer. She fumbles through the drawer searching and groans when she can't find it.

"It was in my room." Mina speaks from the door in her soft and measured voice.

Nayeon glimpses to her side and shakes her head when she sees the dryer in Mina's hand. Sana must have taken it.

She's about to take the ten steps to the door when surprisingly Mina walks in instead and tugs on her shirt pointing to the bed, indicating her to sit down.

Nayeon nods and follows the wordless order. Her throat too dry from the cold to be able to find her voice.

"Nayeon-chan, your hair is still too wet for a dryer." Her voice is a breathy explosion of words as she takes the towel from around Nayeon's neck with her hands and softly starts to weave them through the soaked hair in fluttery, gentle movements.

Nayeon feels her face flush from the cold, even though the shivering has completely died down.

Mina is sitting on her knees before her, her beautiful eyes focused and trained on drying her wet lump of a hair.

As if sensing eyes on her, she catches Nayeon's gaze and stills.

Nayeon watches as a soft shy smile graze her dazzling face. She knows Mina doesn't usually invade anyone's personal space, especially hers. But here she is, willingly, so close to her they could almost feel each other's breath on their faces.

Nayeon sighs because if she hadn't gone and done something so immature once again, Mina wouldn't be in this situation, forced to baby her despite her obvious discomfort at the proximity.

She lowers her gaze, leans away and takes the towel back from the younger girl's hands. "It's almost done, I guess I can use the dryer now."

Nayeon sees a flicker of emotion behind those kindly brown eyes. It's quickly masked by a neutral expression before she can understand the meaning behind it.

She watches as the younger girl nods, gets off the floor and leaves the room shutting the door quietly behind her.

Nayeon releases a soft breath.

After she's done drying she throws an oversized woolen jumper over her head and slips on a pair of thick and warm blue trousers.

"You look huggable." Momo declares and two minutes later she proves she isn't lying because she's laying on top of Nayeon on the couch.

"You're going to catch a cold too." Nayeon warns.

Momo moves away reluctantly.

"Fine, I'll go hug Mina. She too looks huggable in that bunny and baby chick sweater."

Mina who's making hot chocolate in the kitchen blushes brightly, her cheeks turning rosier when Momo hugs her from behind.

Jihyo opens the door to the dorm with a cup of coffee in her hand. "The van would be here in ten minutes."

Nayeon muffles a cough as she glances at the watch. She's tired and sleepy but doesn't want to miss the online fansign either.

"What do we do about her?"

Jihyo's brows creases with concern. Because five minutes later Nayeon is fast asleep on the couch. She wants to let her sleep so she can recover before the music video debuts but Jihyo knows Nayeon would be upset if she misses the event with fans.

"Let her sleep in until the van comes." Jeongyeon shrugs. "I'll carry her, she weighs like a baby anyway."

And looks like one. Mina thinks to herself as she gazes softly in her direction.