Five minutes just passed, and she's still inside the bathroom. Chaeyoung bites her lower lip, couldn't hold herself from worrying more and more. She's eyeing the bathroom door, wanting to continue the chit-chat, with another topic. But, it looks like Mina won't go out anytime soon.
So, Chaeyoung thinks she would just wait for the girl. It's the time when she hears that.
A sob.
Chaeyoung freezes for a moment, wanting to hear the voice clearer. And she fastly stands up, approaches the bathroom. She puts her earlobe onto the bathroom door, and that's the time she realizes.
That the sobbing voice is coming out from the bathroom.
Mina is crying inside it.
04 The Strange House
She cried. Myoui Mina.
Last night, Chaeyoung was just standing before the door, listening to Mina crying. It was a soft and quiet cry, like Mina won't let Chaeyoung know about it. But, when she came out and found that Chaeyoung was actually listening to her, she just stood there. Her eyes were swollen, red and bad. She casted down and hided her face from Chaeyoung after that, scurried towards the bed and jumped onto it. She covered herself with the duvet, mumbled 'I have to sleep earlier tonight. Enjoy the pizza and the soda'. And that's all. Nothing more happened. Mina just slept after that, left Chaeyoung again, confused, questions in all over her mind.
Actually, Chaeyoung can't sleep last night. She tried so hard, closing her lids and counting sheep inside her mind, but it was no avail. She was really confused with Mina. That girl kept doing something... unfamiliar. She didn't come home in one night. She came drunk, and cried. Those are enough to make Chaeyoung can't understand Mina at all. She's not that close with Mina, though, but she wants to. She always tries. Chaeyoung's willingly listening to all Mina's problems. Because Chaeyoung's been imagining about that, have a roommate to share feelings, problems, and probably, love stories.
Chaeyoung always wants to be friends with Mina. She didn't tell a lie last night. When she told Mina that she's fine with the way Mina survives, she didn't lying. She told the truth, really. She respects people's choices, good or bad. Like, oh god, they're just human. No one's perfect, we all have our own lack in things. The only right way to live as a decent person, is to respect people, no matter what. Don't judge people by its cover.
Chaeyoung really wants to be friend with Mina, she really does. And she hopes Mina could feel that through Chaeyoung's actions.
This morning, Chaeyoung woke up early, yet Mina wasn't in the room anymore. She's left already. Probably she had a morning class, or anything, Chaeyoung just tries to think positively about her roomie.
And now, Chaeyoung's inside her class, zoning out, thinking about her roomie while the lecturer is teaching. She doesn't realize when the lecturer finished his class and left the room. It's only when one of her friend taps her shoulder, asking why she's still there, she realizes that she'd been thinking too deep about Mina.
It's 2 pm right now, and Chaeyoung goes to the cafeteria to have her lunch. She walks there alone, trying to find something good to eat. She buys something, and walks around the cafeteria to find a good spot for her to eat. She's not a fan of crowd, so she prefer the one that's vacated. When she finds one, she scurries towards it. She sits there, open up her menu, and is about to start eating when she sees someone not so far from her.
It's Mina, sitting on one of the table. Eating her food composedly. But, that's not the shocking part yet.
She's not alone. There are two girls with her, sitting on the same table with her, chatting with her. Chaeyoung, for a very brief seconds, thinks if she should join them. But, she also thinks that she shouldn't do that. She's a newbie there, and it might be something impolite to do that.
She's about to enjoy her lunch when her eyes meet Mina's. Chaeyoung's petrified, Mina's staring at her from far for a while. Suddenly, she smiles, waves her hand, beckoning Chaeyoung to join them. And Chaeyoung nervously nods, shoving her lunch and approaching the group.
She arrives at their side with a foolish grin on her face, while the other three are staring at her.
"Hi," she greets awkwardly.
Unexpectedly, the girl with a long brown hair suddenly smiles warmly. Her bunny teeth is pretty apparent. "Hi, there," she greets back. She looks kind and nice, while the other one with her short hair is staring at Chaeyoung coldly.
"Who's this cute girl, Mina?" asks her, glancing at Mina, waiting for a name from Mina's mouth. Mina, on the other side, smiles sheepishly. "She's my new roomie, Son Chaeyoung."
"Ohh, your new roommate," the girl nods eagerly. "Hey, there. Take a seat, please."
Chaeyoung grins. "Thanks," she sits beside Mina. Before her, there're two girls who look so different. One of them looks warm and kind, while the other one looks cool and boyish, her eyes are sharp and her hair is short.
The bunny girl offers her hand. "I'm Nayeon," she smiles. "And this one is stupid Jeongyeon."
The short hair girl nods coolly, managing her cold expression. This Nayeon then rolls her eyes, then giving Jeongyeon her best punch, landing it on Jeongyeon's upper arm.
"Aw!" she shrieks. "The hell?!"
"Be kind, you airhead!" Nayeon huffs. "She's Mina's roomie!"
Jeongyeon exhales loudly. "Sorry," she smiles thinly towards Chaeyoung. "Nice to meet you, small bean."
"Is that really your way to greet someone, Jeong?"
"What?" Jeongyeon shrugs. "It's true that she's small like a bean."
"Guys, please," Mina fastly interrupts the bicker. Nayeon and Jeongyeon stop, but Nayeon lands another punch on Jeongyeon's arm once again. Not as hard as before, so Jeongyeon just exhales loudly again.
Chaeyoung feels a nudge from Mina. "Sorry. They fight almost every day and everywhere."
Chaeyoung nods. "That's fine, though. And, nice to meet you too, guys."
Jeongyeon takes a brief glance over Chaeyoung, and then she starts feeding herself again. Nayeon, is really the opposite. The girl's leaning her chin over her palm, elbow against the table.
"Geez, Mina. She's cuter that I thought."
Chaeyoung chokes at this. She dryly coughs few times, and then eyes the latter.
"Excuse me?"
"Oops, sorry," Nayeon pretends like she just said something forbidden. "Mina told us about you before. Like a lot."
"Nayeon, please," Mina latches her from continuing the talk.
And that only makes Chaeyoung gets more curious about it.
"Mina told us that you're so-"
"Nayeon," Mina firmly stops the latter. Nayeon just shrugs, stopping the talk, left Chaeyoung curious with the rest sentences. And so, she turns her head to Mina, smirking.
"You were talking about me, Mina?" Chaeyoung bluntly asks. Mina bites her lip, got caught. "Well, not that much. I just told them that I have a new roommate."
"No. You actually said like this. 'Guys, I have a new cute roomie'."
"Geez, Nayeon. Stop it," Jeongyeon kinda slams her fries, eyeing Nayeon sharply like she warns the latter. "Could you please stop it? Don't you see Mina's embarrassed?"
Well, it's pretty right, though. As Chaeyoung turns her head and looks at Mina, she could clearly see that Mina's blushing. Her face's all red, and she's casting down to hide her reddish face.
Nayeon only smiles teasingly. "Sorry, Mina. It's just, you know, she's so cute just like you mentioned before."
"Gosh, Nayeon," Jeongyeon huffs. "Why are you being so stubborn?"
And Nayeon just smirks at the upset girl. "Well, you still like me, though, don't you?"
Jeongyeon rolls her eyes, back to her lunch. "I'm so done with you."
Mina seeing this as an opportunity to stop the embarrassing talk. "We shouldn't talk about that, Nayeon. We're here to talk about our project," Mina tries so hard to not stutter. She cautiously glances over Chaeyoung. "Go eat your lunch, Chaeng. Don't mind us."
Chaeyoung nods.
She starts eating her lunch, while Mina and her two unique friends begin discussing their project. Honestly, it's a bit shocking fact. That Mina actually has a friend in this campus. Chaeyoung thought that Mina might be have none, and now Chaeyoung feels bad for thinking like that.
After a very loud and noisy ten minutes, they finally finish discussing their project. Nayeon starts shoving her stuffs into her bag, while Jeongyeon just watches wordlessly.
"So, Mina. I have to go now. We, I mean," mumbles Nayeon. She leaps to her feet and throws a warm smile towards Mina and Chaeyoung. "See you later, Chaeng."
She turns her heels and tugs Jeongyeon's shirt, dragging her along with her. "Come on, dumbass. We have a class after this."
And Jeongyeon gets dragged by her friend, couldn't resist. "This bunny's always hitting me. Help!" Jeongyeon pretends herself in danger. Mina and Chaeyoung laugh at the situation. And that's the first time Chaeyoung realizes that Jeongyeon has a cute side as well.
Chaeyoung glances at Mina, smiling. "Your friends are cute."
Mina laughs in response. "Yeah. We have the same class, and we both go to the same club."
At this, Chaeyoung halts. "Club? You mean a nightclub?"
Mina turns her head and stares at Chaeyoung. She nods, makes Chaeyoung baffled. Mina goes to a club? She really drinks a lot, Chaeyoung guesses.
After that, Chaeyoung continues eating her lunch, while Mina's writing down something on her book.
"I think I couldn't be at the dorm this weekend," says Chaeyoung while munching. Mina ceases from writing and looks up, just briefly, and then starts writing again. "I have to go to my home. My mom told me to."
Mina halts for seconds, and then hums. "Sure. And you'll be back in..."
"Sunday night. It takes an hour using train."
Heard this, Mina ceases, seems thoughtful. "An hour?"
"Yup, what's wrong?"
Mina just stares wordlessly. She looks like she has something to say. But, in the end, she just shakes her head lightly. "Nah. Nothing. It's okay." Mina continues writing. "Should I wait for you?"
"No, I'm fine. I'll duplicate the key today. So, you don't have to worry about me."
Mina nods, her eyes are still on the book. After a while, she suddenly puts down her pen. "About what Nayeon said before."
She turns and eyes Chaeyoung. "I just told them that I finally got a roomie. That's all."
"Uhm, okay. I'm totally fine with that," Chaeyoung shrugs in ease, doesn't really mind being introduced by Mina to her close friends. But, Mina's still staring at her, like she wants to add something. After a beat, she sighs. "Okay. Honestly, I also said that you're cute. No offense, girl."
Chaeyoung eyes Mina, who suddenly looks embarrassed. She quietly enjoys the sight of Mina being a shy. She holds her smile, and mumbles, "that's okay. You don't have to worry about that." She gets more pleased when she sees Mina's reddish cheeks. "Glad to know that someone think I'm cute."
After a while enjoying Mina being a shy, Chaeyoung suddenly remembers something. "Anyway, Mina. About last night." She ceases, apparently cautious with the topic. "I heard you crying inside the bathroom."
Mina's smile disappears from her face. Her body gets tenser, Chaeyoung could clearly see it. She avoids Chaeyoung's eyes, hiding her expression.
"It's okay. I'm not gonna ask you about the reason why you cried. I respect privacy and I don't want to annoy you. It just," Chaeyoung trails off, smiling fondly. "You can tell me your problem, Mina. I'll try my best to help you. Or at least, I'll listen to your concerns. All of it."
Mina ceases, thoughtful. Chaeyoung could see she smiles lopsidedly, like it's forced. "Thanks for saying that, Chaeng. It's so sweet of you."
She suddenly gets onto her feet. "I have a class now, anyway. Gotta go." She takes her bag, and walks away. Suddenly, she ceases, halting for a while. She turns her head and gives Chaeyoung her soft smile. "I'm so lucky for having you as my roommate. Thank you, baby tiger."
It's lucky that Mina leaves immediately after that, so that she wouldn't see Chaeyoung's blushed face.
///
"Okay, mom. I'm leaving the dorm right now. Sure. Yes, I love you too." And then Chaeyoung ends the call with her mom.
She continues packing her stuffs, shoving them into a big bag. She already duplicated the key, so she's ready to go home now. And since Mina is nowhere to be seen, she probably might have to leave the door unlocked.
Chaeyoung walks towards the door, when suddenly the door open from the outside. Mina emerges into her sight, and smiles as soon as she sees Chaeyoung. "Are you leaving?"
Chaeyoung nods as an answer. "Yup. My mom's waiting for me. So, need to go now."
"You got your key?" Mina once again asks, and Chaeyoung opens her palm to show the key. "Yours is upon the desk."
Mina nods at this. "Okay. So, see you soon?" Mina ruffles Chaeyoung's crown, and the latter's involuntarily blushed. "Take care of yourself, okay?"
Chaeyoung leaves the room after that. A smile on her face. She can't wait to see her mother.
Because she has a bunch of stories to tell.
///
Chaeyoung just spent an hour of riding train to arrive at her house. She arrives at the station around 3 pm, and her mom was already there, waiting for her. She cooked a lot of Chaeyoung's favorite foods. Being her only daughter really gives Chaeyoung some perks. And of course, Chaeyoung willingly eats them all. And watching her only daughter eat the dishes she cooked, happily and deliciously, is enough to make her mom contented.
Chaeyoung's done eating, so she starts the talk with her mom. It's quite important, though. They're talking about Chaeyoung's allowance and some other stuffs. They talk about two hours, end it at 8 pm. They have a dinner, and then Chaeyoung goes upstairs to her bedroom. Oh yeah, she missed her bed so much.
She's resting her body on her bed when her mother calls her. She goes downstairs, and her mom tells her to go to the mart to buy something. Chaeyoung groans in protest, telling her mom to just ask her lazy brother. Her mom scolds her for that, as her brother just injured his knee after his soccer activity. And so, Chaeyoung leaves the house, going to the mart, pouting.
It's 10 minutes far by walk, and honestly, Chaeyoung enjoys the walk so much. It's not so dark, the moonlight's illuminating, and the sky is clean without cloud. The air's fresh and refreshing. Chaeyoung inhales deeply, exhaling it slowly. Wow, it's such a healing.
There aren't so much people living in Chaeyoung's neighborhood, yet all of them are so kind and warm. Chaeyoung knows them all, almost. There's a house at the end of the block which the owner is a disable girl. Chaeyoung once heard that her legs are broken and she needs a wheelchair to go around. That's probably why Chaeyoung couldn't meet her so often. She used to live alone there, but sometimes, Chaeyoung catches someone going to that house. Maybe they're there to help that person. Chaeyoung doesn't know anything other than that about that house and the owner.
She arrives at the mart after 15 minutes of walk. She walked slower than usual because she really enjoyed the walk. The feeling when you walk alone in the middle of the night. She loves the silence, the cold breeze. Instead of being afraid of it, Chaeyoung personally loves it.
After that, she buys the stuffs her mother told her to buy, then she goes to the cashier and does the payment.
The cashier is her friend, Hyun. This boy's been Chaeyoung's friend since they were a kid. The boy smiles at her while doing his job. "Chaeng," he greets. "It's been a while since last time I saw you. Where've you been at this time?"
Chaeyoung chuckles at this. The memories of her playing with this boy and also their other friends suddenly play inside her head. "I'm studying in Seoul now, Hyun."
The boy seems surprised, but happy and proud hearing that. "Wow, good luck," he says while hands Chaeyoung's stuffs.
"Thanks," Chaeyoung replies, taking the plastic bag from Hyun and leaves the mart.
And there she is, once again going through the walk. This time, she plans to walk slower than before. Her mom's gonna nag her again later.
The night is getting darker, there are clouds now in the sky. The wind blows a bit hard than before, yet still refreshing. There's no one in Chaeyoung's sight. She's alone.
In the intersection, Chaeyoung sees someone. A girl, long black hair. She looks so familiar, yet Chaeyoung can't remember who she is.
The girl walks in the same street as Chaeyoung's. She's before Chaeyoung, and Chaeyoung can't see her face. Chaeyoung stops in front of her house, while the girl's still walking forwards.
She looks so familiar, Chaeyoung thoughts.
Chaeyoung's curious about the girl's identity, and so she chooses to stay for a while in her yard. Her eyes are following the girl. Which is shocked her that the girl stops by at the house at the end of the block. The house that owned by the disable girl.
She probably is someone who helps the owner of that house, Chaeyoung once again thoughts.
And because Chaeyoung can't recall anything about the girl, she walks into the house, not even think about it anymore.
///
The next day, Chaeyoung still staying at her home. She would go to Seoul tomorrow morning, because her mother said that she still missed Chaeyoung and hoped that the girl would stay longer. And so, today, she hangs out with her mother. Just two of them. They go shopping, having a luxurious lunch, visiting a beautiful park, and else. She enjoys it so much, it's a healing after a week of endless tiredness.
Chaeyoung also told her mother about Mina. She told her about how gorgeous and pretty Mina is. She honestly still won't believe that this girl is her roomie. Chaeyoung told her mother everything, but not with that naked tragedy. She told her mom about the cub doll and how Mina called her a baby tiger, and her mom bursts into a big noisy laugh, saying that Mina is a very kind girl for calling her that.
They spent their Sunday until the dark. It's almost 7 pm, and she with her mother are now walking towards their house. They both have the same mind, are fans of night vibe.
They both are going to pass the mart, the mart Chaeyoung came into last night, when the girl from last night exits the mart. This time, Chaeyoung could see her face clearly. And she also remembers the girl's name.
Park Jihyo.
Park Jihyo. Mina's friend. The one who dropped Mina at the night Mina came home drunk.
Chaeyoung could only watch her in silent. What is she doing here?
Chaeyoung, who's so confused with the situation, suddenly got pulled by her mother into the mart. They need to buy something. Her mother asks her to takes some stuffs, but of course, Chaeyoung's mind is not there with them. Her mind is full of Jihyo, with the question of what is she doing here at her hometown. She went to the house at the end of the block, so she might have something with the owner of the house.
Though it's not a very important thing to be investigated, still, Chaeyoung has to know why Jihyo went there, and what the thing between her and the house owner.
And she's gonna visit that strange house. Tonight.
///
It's almost 10 pm. Chaeyoung's pretty sure that her mom's sleeping right now. So, she takes some small and light steps towards the front door, unlocks the door, and slips her body out through the gap. She reminds herself to lock the door again, and puts the key inside her pocket. She lifts up her hoodie, covering her head and shadowing her face, and fastly scurries to the strange house.
She's getting closer to the house. From afar, the house might seem a bit untidy. But, it's not that dirty. The yard looks cleaner than Chaeyoung thought. But, as the bulb at the entrance terrace is off, the house looks dark and haunted.
Chaeyoung arrives at the house. She stands in the terrace, hesitating. The light is off, so Jihyo might not inside the house. It would be useless if she knocks now but no Jihyo inside, because she'll get nothing.
Chaeyoung prepares herself with a proper greeting, and some questions, when suddenly she hears something. A voice, came from behind her.
"Excuse me."
Chaeyoung jolts, hastily stirs her heels and turns on her defensive mode. But, her mind is empty when she sees a figure before her. Her face's also shocked, just like her.
Oh, god.
"Myoui Mina?"
.
.
TBC...