I really don't know why a vending machine is needed for a BVAF day. Is she going to give coffee to those poor hearts she'll go to break? Is that supposed to be a souvenir of cruelty or a sweet bribe? 'Cause if it's the case, then invest me with zero interest. No fools will accept such sadistic gift. Even I, won't take it.
Another thing I don't understand, if I ever be. What's up with her obsession about 2 years old stuffs? First was the CCTV and now this machine in front of me which is just a few inches taller of my height. Don't you dare mock me with the latter term? The appliance looks new though if and only if you're not observant of its scratches from the side. Based on the model type, this one is commonly located in transport places like an airport, bus or train stations.
Wait?! Train???
Chaeyoung tried to continue her trance but Mina invaded her by asking with wariness written on her face.
"Feel dizzy again?"
Forty five minutes was spent since her last nausea attack outside the store, but the ballerina remained doubtful of her words each time she said her head condition is completely fine and nothing to worry about. It's true, a roller coaster or boomerang ride is nothing compared to the vertigo she feels each time her illness attacks. She doesn't know why she has this kind of sickness, all she knew, she feels dizzy instantly each time she thinks too much or an unknown scene suddenly flashes in her mind. For years, it only attacks mildly and not frequently, but for the following days she's with Mina, it often happened especially at night. It's because I've suffered from a funky drive of my emotions lately, she thought. She has lots of worries in her directory. These are just few.
Should I confess to Mina?
Would Hyung still forgive me, if she found this?
Will I be okay after everything is over in our contract?
Anyways, that's not important for now. She's grateful that the Black Swan is the one taking care of her right now.
I wonder why he left you. When he got a caring girlfriend in you? Yes, you are an equation harder than any math problem, but you are worthy to solve.
"Hey...Freshman are you okay? Can you hear me?" This time Mina confines the younger's cheeks with her warm hands upon receiving an empty response.
"Yup! I'm... o...kay." Chaeyoung stutters as her brain signals her blood to 'cause uproar with the sudden touch from the Japanese lass.
Stop doing this to me Ms. Myoui or I will die from faulty heartbeat.
"You seem not."
"I'm really okay. Just..."
...preparing myself to let you go... Our contract will end in three days. Will I get ready then?
"...hungry..." She lied in shy tone and dipped head.
"Kawaii" A mumble supplied by Mina, hoping the other party didn't grasp a thing.
"You're saying that again." (Opss...FAILED!)
"What it means? Kindly translate." Weapon pout activated launch by Chaeyoung.
(It's funny how the rapper didn't check our granny internet yet.)
Mina removed her hand from the cutie cub's face and creates a silly chuckle.
"It means whiny baby, 'cuz you are a whiny baby." Some childish arguments won't hurt! Mina believed. Filling up the distance they accumulated in the car minutes ago was a good practice.
"Yah...I am not." Chaeyoung pouted more.
"Sorry, but you are. Cut your pout, if it's working on Nayeon, then me not."
(Are you sure Minari?)
Yah author! It's my moment. Shut up!
(Geez.. chill! Author just misses to interrupt.)
You're done, so bye!
(Tsk! Fine! ***pout trying to look cute***)
Yah author! Wanna die?
(Geezzzz... Ciao! ***grin***)
"Fine! Then I won't hold your hand." The rapstar threatens her opposite.
"That's fine with me. Let's go, before your BABY tummy prosecutes us in court."
(Additional mockery with love from Kobe, Japan. Sender: Myoui Mina)
"Yah! I'm not a baby!"
"You were, outside."
"I didn't ask you to take care of me. I can take care of myself." Chaeyoung walks away with heavy footsteps. Her immature wall re-surfaced again.
1....
2.....
3.......
4.........
5............
6...............
7..................
8.....................
9........................ seconds later...
"Stay... please stay...." Hearing that heartbreaking plea halted the rapper's steps. She was yards away from the Black Swan. Mina's tone describes a person who's torn between in lament and in panic.
What's wrong with her? I'm just trying to joke around.
Chaeyoung murmurs as she hasn't faced the ballerina yet.
She's really.... Whhha?!
The rapstar twitched with the surprising action from the Japanese girl. Mina runs after her and embraces her back so tight as if she's a thing she didn't want to let go.
"Not again, please..." The hugger expressed in cries. (Yup! The Black Swan is crying so hard at the moment.)
Wha... whahh... whyyy... wwhy? Why is she like this?
Chaeyoung having her own dilemma that even her consciousness is consumed by stutters.
Again...not again? Why again?
1...
2..... seconds passed...
................... Ahhhh..... maybe she's talking about that, when I walk away from the car minutes ago... yes that one! She convinced herself.
Mina never said a word after and just lengthens her sobs. She didn't release Chaeyoung from her grip while the girl keeps her mouth plastered in mute. It favors the situation that apart from them, there's no other people in the nearby.
.
.
.
"Are you okay now?" Chaeyoung took the first bite to break the silence. Mina is calmer compared to few minutes before, although it's obvious the girl still in her tears. Exactly how many liter of tears, the ballerina released today, she's not sure. All she's aware of, her shoulder is wet with those.
The younger slowly freed herself from the Japanese embrace to face her. At first Mina resisted, but she made some gesture to assure the girl that she won't walk away so she let her go. Seeing now the Black Swan's visage furnished Chaeyoung's heart to mourn. She took a white handkerchief from her pocket and gently wipes all those tears on the face of Mina while mumbling something.
"I brought this handkerchief to return to you. But I guess I need to wash it again and return it on another day. Tsk tsk... if I am a whiny baby, then you are a cry baby."
(Remember the handkerchief in the previous chapter?)
Chaeyoung throws the last statement, trying to lighten the mood of her opposite and she did. Mina produced a wide beam on her visage.
"You are the only person I allowed to see me cry." The Japanese beauty replied.
"I know that's why you're my cry baby." Shit! Did I say my... my cry baby?!
"What did you say? Your cry baby, I'm your cry baby?"
(Welcome back Sly Mina!)
"Ahmmm.. Ya...yeah! If you keep calling me your whiny baby then I'll call you too, my cry baby."
(Cold sweats on Chaeyoung's body, how are you?)
"Deal! But I'd prefer calling you Freshman...my Freshman."
"Sure! But can we eat, I'm really hungry." Another pout was tossed.
"Kawaii! Let's go."
"Wait! How about the vending machine? We're here because of it, right?"
"I got this." Mina showed the rapper a price tag. "Let's go!"
"Cool!"
Chaeyoung let her Goddess Freak drag her again heading to counter. Of course the attendance of holding hands is a must.
.
.
.
...Inside a Café...
When two people enjoy each other's company, the poor clock is generally ignored. For how many bundles of minutes are needed for their conversation to end is unpredictable. Chaeyoung and Mina have been talking random subjects connected to their friends, but so far no one amongst them talks about their own life except this very moment. Maybe the younger one is tired of hide and seek so she decided to clean out her closet tonight.
"You're done eating?"
"Yeah! Why, you still want to eat?" Mina inquires.
"Nope. Let's play a game. The same game we played before. Deal?"
"Deal!" The ballerina said with full excitement.
Chaeyoung went outside; the café is located on one of the streets in the city, but it's not a busy place, so passersby are minimal. Reaching few distances from the glass wall, she took her phone and dialed the ballerina's number. Mina quickly answers it.
"You're wasting some money here Freshman. Why bother calling me if you can say the instruction when you were inside?" The Black Swan copied what Chaeyoung said before, joking.
"It's not fun Ms. Myoui. And may I remind you I am the playmaker here so keep quiet and just walk my lead, arasso?" This time it's the rapstar who copied the girl's stanza, but her smile is painted with glum.
"Arasso..." Oblivious Mina remains cheerful. "So do I have to get your last word too?"
(If you are in the mood to be emotional right now. Feel free to play this )
"No. This time the game is called The Truth. I'll ask you a question then answer me honestly." Sensing the gloominess of the rapper's tone made the Japanese flipped her merriness.
"If I win this game what will I get in return?" Nervousness is filled in the ballerina's vessel.
Chaeyoung stares at her Goddess Freak for a long while and commence a reply...
"The truth... in my heart."
Mina's orbs are landed on the younger's pair of eyes. There's no way Chaeyoung is fooling around with that look.
"D..deal..." Stammer is apparent in the elegant beauty.
The opposite took the deepest breath she can borrow from the wind before speaking.
"Why bother going to train station everyday? That place is dangerous for someone like you."
The question is easy, but the answer is flinty. Mina devours all her time, finally smashing her disguise in front of Chaeyoung. Discharging the response she kept in stillness for so long.
"I'm waiting for someone."
"Who???"
To be frank the rapper hate to ask that line, but she have to accept the reality that Mina belongs to someone else. And that someone is the person she envies in the whole world right now.
"I'm waiting for my Rainbow............
............. my Rainbow in the Underpass. The person who saved me from my misery. If not of that person I could have committed suicide back then...."
It's game over Son Chaeyoung, you can't compete against her hero.
"That person is your first love, right?" The rapper just added another wound for her pity heart by throwing such question. Assuming that she already arrived at the fin of her love story. Dead-end is rests on her wintry palm.
And as if the sky is either mocking her or helping her, the rain suddenly pours down, enough to lose the tears she been holding back in minutes.
Dear Rain, thank you for hiding my pain...
"It's raining, come inside. You'll get sick." Apprehension is carved in the voice of Mina, seeing the younger girl soaked.
"Just answer me please." Chaeyoung is trying her hardest to sound as normal as she can be. The ballerina is left with no choice but to confess. She's too worried for the girl's health.
"Yes, that person is my first love.... and also......"
"Enough..." The rapstar ceased the Japanese declaration, she's dying inside. "That's all I want to know and as promised, I'll expose mine now."
The Japanese beauty can't wait any more so she budged from her place and marches towards the glass door, but the rapper is quicker and stronger than her. Chaeyoung utilize her hand to stop the ballerina from pulling the door. Mina attempts to end their phone conversation so she can use her other hand to pull the said barrier, but the younger girl stopped her by saying...
"If you hang up on me now. I will never find another gut to profess the reason why my pillow was soaked with tears every night."
That shuts the Goddess Freak's eagerness to exit the café and let Chaeyoung proceeds to her admission.
"Thank you for letting me Ms. Myoui...
.
.
(She commits a pause for a while.)
.
.
Exactly 3 days from now will be the last time I have an excuse to be with you. How I wish that my feeling is similar to our contract, when all terms are reached, it has to expire. But I know clearly that it's not the case. I will miss you for sure.... I'll miss the way you gently drag my hand to follow you. I will miss putting ketchup on the saucer for you. I'll miss giving up, each time I can't find an answer to your weirdo sides. I'll miss riding the train with you during peak hours. I will miss drinking the canned coffee for an hour without talking; only counting every breath we released, listening to music that most of the time I can't hear for the beating of my heart is louder than its melody. I will miss the warmth that your palm provides, each time our fingers intertwined. I will miss hugging you & solely witnessing your random cries. I will miss every little detail of you, Myoui Mina. Your tease, your slyness, your care, the way you look at me... everything... I'll miss everything..."
Mina looked at Chaeyoung with a gentle smile on her face. Their eyes meet halfway.
"I'll be fine even if you're not mine, don't I?"
Now the ballerina looks so flustered with that question. She did not expect this part and felt so numb. Chaeyoung's orbs are too crimson from crying and so is she.
"I get it now. It's not GOODBYE the hardest to admit, but the LONELINESS after it. Sayōnara Myoui Mina..."
The Japanese goddess dropped her cellphone upon hearing it. Her energy vanished her blood streams. Witnessing the phone on the floor, Chaeyoung has no other way but to use the moist on the glass wall to write her last statements for her Goddess Freak. Each compass of her index finger follows by the motion of Mina's dim eyes.
(Formula lit. means: Me divided by U equals Negative Life with the remainder of Zero Smile)
After finishing the final line, Chaeyoung throws her last weak smile to the girl up front and run away directly to the taxi that coincidentally passing by in the street. Mina was left frozen in her spot with chaotic thoughts. Her eyes travel between the road where the younger one left and the glass wall where a message was written. The phone on the ground suddenly rings signifying a text was received. Even if she's not in the mood to pick it up, in her heart, she's hoping that it was a message coming from Chaeyoung and she was right.
Please stop riding the train alone. Mr. Han is coming to get you, go home safe and don't mind me. Yeah! I admit I am the April Fool in your Bloody Valentine.
Mina calls the girl instantly but the other line was turned off. The only mode she can think of, to let go the blend of soreness and frustration conquering her heart right now is to imagine that she's talking to Chaeyoung over the phone.
"Yah Freshman!!! You're so fool! Why can't you realize it was you I am talking about? You are my Rainbow, my first love... the one I've been waiting in the train station everyday. The person I am begging to stay in my every dream. How come it took you two years to come back, when your promise was only a day? Do you have any idea how much it kills me to pretend that I don't know you everytime I see you in School for the past months? Hug you, hold your hand, and kiss you, I want to do them everyday with you, so please do remember me Freshman.
Freshman, do you even know that you're the one who insisted me to call you that?"
.
.
.
For the last two days, Chaeyoung didn't attend School. She talks to no one and her phone has been off since the night she left Mina. Perhaps seeing at least a glimpse of the person you miss so badly is an enough dosage of morphine to reduce the pain of longing, even just a photo. So now the rapper is checking the ballerina's social media account. But there's not a single update of her, no new post or whatsoever. Feeling in vain, she decided to shut down her laptop not until she received a new message coming from Jeongyeon.
I couldn't believe, you did this to me Chaeng. Let's talk at the Opera house where you setup with Mina at 7pm tonight.
Tomorrow is the Valentine's Day.
to continue....
****************************************************
Now you know why Mina keeps riding the train because it was the place she first met her first love/her savior which is Chaeyoung.
And if you wonder why Chaeng can't realize easily that she's MIna's first love. It's because her mind is clouded with the assumption that the person is a guy since they all thought that Mina is straight based on Chap 1. Dahyun thinks the same in Chap 8.2. But Mina never said it was a guy if you check all the chapters.
"Too bad only Mina is the straight one in them." (Chap 1)
"Whoever he is, Mina surely loves that person and she misses him the same way she miss Momo right now." (Chap 8.2)
In the next chapter, you'll know what HC means and the complete flashback of the MiChaeng first meeting. And also the mental condition of Chaeng.