coincidence? i think not!
Two wonderful weeks had passed and Mina enjoyed every single day with Im Nayeon, until two days ago. The brunette suddenly stopped texting and calling her every morning. She doesn’t reply to any of Mina’s texts and never answers her calls, either.
Despite her red eyes and aching heart, she still went on with her usual schedule. Walking in to her literature class, she quickly spots Jihyo and went to where the Korean is.
Jihyo seems more than enthusiastic to see her as she lunged onto her daily gossip, “Mina, have you heard?!”
Feigning a bit of interest, she asks, “About what?”
“About Jeongyeon and Sana’s break up!”
Mina sighs, unable to keep her façade, “Jihyo, I don’t even know who they are...”
“Have you been hiding under a rock?” the brunette fakes a gasp, “Jeongyeon is the captain of the uni’s women's baseball team and Sana is like the Japanese it girl of this school or whatever. Word is they split up two weeks ago and no one would’ve known if it weren’t for Sana’s advances on other people! I’m sure Jeongy-” Mina cut off Jihyo’s rap-like rambling and slouched on the chair.
“As much as I want to keep tabs of the popular people’s love life here at the uni, I have problems of my own, Jih...”
“Wait, what happened? I thought you’re happilydating Nayeon?” the Korean leaned in closer, as if they’re talking about a secret.
“Yeah, we are dating for two weeks now, or were... she hasn’t replied to any of my texts!”
“Oh, shit.” the only words she could only mutter as realization hits.
“What?”
“I may have left out some minor detail about Nayeon when you two met at our dorm...” Jihyo bit her lip and looked guilty but she decides to push on, “for the record, I really thought she was serious about you and I thought she’s finally ready to commit and will stop playing aroun-“
“That’s a minor detail?!” Mina’s mouth agape, unable to process the information that’s being thrown unexpectedly.
Jihyo winced, she knows this is on her, “I swear, I really thought she’s serious this time! She’s never dated the same girl for more than three days!”
“You should’ve told me that I was about to date a player!”
56th
Mina buried her face on her arms on the table. God. I knew something was up with that barista’s smirk. I was her 56th date on that café!
“Mina, I thought you already knew when she introduced herself...” the Korean placed a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to somehow console her, “she’s dated a LOT and... I just thought you already had caught wind of the news that Im Nayeon is a notorious playgirl...” the brunette trailed, unsure of what the other is feeling, “it’s kind of a uhh common knowledge for the gays to know who’s who... I’m sorry.”
Pain. That’s all her heart knows right now. All that’s ever happened, all that she’s ever said, was it all a lie?
“But what I said was true, Nayeon and I have been roommates ever since and I can assure you that she’s never exceeded three days when dating a girl. You made it to two weeks, right? Maybe she IS serious about you.”
Mina lifted her head, eyes already brimming with tears. “I don’t know, Jih, I’ll try and contact her still. The last thing I want is for her to think I'm too needy. I'm not the type that’ll barge in on her dorm just because... If she really isn’t used to dating,”
Jihyo knows the situation requires her to be serious but the phrase “Nayeon isn’t used to dating” made her cackle, which earned her a glare from Mina, “I mean seriously, then I don’t want to freak her out.”
“Yeah, that’s smart thinking. Nay has a tendency to freak out about things, so maybe you could just wait for her a bit, she could be freaking out right now, trying to figure things out. Give her time.” a reassuring smile spread on the brunette’s lips, silently telling Mina that everything will soon be okay with them.
The Japanese woman just nodded, making an internal agreement with herself. She will give Nayeon the benefit of the doubt. She will wait for her, until she has sorted whatever unresolved issue she might have with serious relationships. She just hopes that Nayeon is really just figuring things out and not wandering about, kissing another girl’s lips.
Three days later
Back at the dorm, Mina plops down on their couch, she really doesn’t have the energy to do much, except maybe play Mario Kart. So, she plugged in her Switch on the TV. A couple rounds later, Tzuyu storms in, huffing, her face etched with annoyance.
Did she have a fight with her girlfriend again?
“Everything okay with Chaeyoung?” Mina asked and returned her focus on the flat screen.
The irritation on Tzuyu’s face melted for a moment at the sudden mention of the cub, “Yeah, we’re okay now, unnie. But that’s not what I'm upset about. It's about you.”
“Me?” the raven head was a bit puzzled, why would her roommate be upset with her?
“Yeah, you’re being cheated on! Nayeon's at our practice today practically throwing herself at my teammate!”
Mina was stunned at the revelation. She couldn’t even react. A part of her was hurt, the girl she thought she had mutual feelings with, the girl she’s so enchanted with, just ghosted and ditched her like that. Another part of her just repeatedly chanted, “I told you so.” Maybe she shouldn’t have been so optimistic about this, cause then, if she didn’t expect much, she wouldn’t be hurting this much, too.
All that benefit of the doubt stuff was for nothing... once a player, always a player.
“Unnie, please tell me you’re leaving her. She’s a cheater!” exasperation can be traced on her roommate’s face.
“I can’t-”
“What do you mean you can’t?” Tzuyu interjected before she can even finish off her sentence, concern and frustration mixing to power up her growing disappointment at the situation.
“I can’t leave someone who’s already left me, Tzu. She hasn’t called nor texted me back for days now... I think she’s ghosted me.”
The brunette’s expression softened; sympathy is all she feels now. She tries to give Mina a hug but ended up being awkward because Mina is still sitting on the couch and she just tried to bend down, just to embrace her.
Mina smiled at her roommate’s attempt to comfort her, “Thanks Tzu... can you tell me who the girl is?” Tzuyu sat beside her unnie and sighed, “Yoo Jeongyeon.”
Mina was aghast, she just heard this name from Jihyo’s daily gossip. She buried her face on her hands. Unbelievable.
“You met her when we’re at the locker room last month.”
Wait, Nayeon ghosted me for that stinky woman?
Mina can’t wrap her head around the situation she’s in, because she honestly thought what she and Nayeon had was real; she even hoped that Nayeon really was serious about her because that’s what Jihyo told her.
Jihyo.
Mina picked her phone up and dialed her friend’s number, the brunette picked up after the third ring.
“Jihyo, we were wrong. She wasn’t serious about me at all...”
Tzuyu took this as her cue to leave her roommate alone and went to the kitchen to give her privacy.
“What? I thought she’s finally made up with you cause she was so happy when she left for the door today? Her loud singing even woke me up?” Jihyo asked, equally confused at what’s happening.
“No, apparently she’s happy about somethi- no, about someone else.”
“Who?”
“You wouldn’t believe who but it’s the girl you were just talking about earlier this week, Yoo Jeongyeon.”
The other line just stayed silent at the mention of the name of the captain of the uni’s baseball team, “Jihyo?”
After a pregnant pause, she finally spoke. “Mina... give up on Nayeon,”
“What? A few days ago, you told me to give her time cause she might just be freaking out and now you’re telling me to give up on her?” Mina was beyond bewildered,what is wrong with Jihyo?
“No, you don’t understand. Jeongyeon is...” the brunette sighs, she can’t betray Nayeon like that.
“Jeongyeon is what?” the Japanese demands for the answer this time.
“I can’t, it’s not my place to tell, but I’m telling you Mina, just let Nayeon go.”
“She's ghosted me already, Jih, I don’t have much of a choice.” Mina’s trying her best not to let out a sob, she doesn’t need the Korean’s sympathy right now.
“I’m sorry.”
Her chest constricts, her heart stings. Nayeon.
She has every right to feel agony, but she needs a clear head if she wants to fix this.
“Tzu, can I ask you a favor?”
-
The favor was to let Mina watch the baseball team’s practice this afternoon. Really, it wasn’t prohibited, if she’ll just stay at the bleachers, so Tzuyu agrees. She knows Mina’s intentions and although she’s friends with both Jeongyeon and Mina, she understands why the raven head would do something like this.
“So, unnie, you’re allowed to watch the practice from here at the bleachers near us. I would invite you to watch from the dugout but the team wants to be fully focused for the game.”
“I understand.”
“Okay, you’re looking for number 0. Jeongyeon unnie doesn’t look the same as before though, she’s dyed her hair to purple, so she shouldn’t be really that hard to spot,”
Mina furrows her brows. Purple? Sure, it’s a great color, it’s her favorite, even, but to the extent of dyeing her hair to that color?
The Japanese can’t help her snicker.Who dyes their hair purple? She's got to look dumb now, dumber than the last time I saw her.
“Why on earth did she dye her hair purple?”
“Well, she likes to dye her hair every now and then, but it’s almost always just blonde, never this colorful,” Tzuyu bites the inside of her cheek, feeling a bit sad for the captain, “but if I'm being honest, I think it’s because of her recent break up with Sana unnie.”
“What, she likes to torture her scalp because her girlfriend left her?” Mina scoffs at the reason she thought of.
The pitcher eyed her carefully, gauging how she should answer. Mina is being a bitch to Jeongyeon, of course, she understands why. Mina isn’t really like this, she’s just pissed, but Jeongyeon didn’t even do anything. If there’s anyone Mina should be spiteful about now, it should be Nayeon, not her Jeongyeon unnie.
Tzuyu just sighed, maybe she should just understand Mina more. After all, she’s hurting, too.
“No, Sana unnie likes Jeongyeon unnie’s black hair the most, so she stopped dyeing her hair for her. Now that they’re not together anymore...”
The brunette stood up and tucked her training shirt in her pants, “Nayeon unnie will come here a little bit later, so if she’s the one you want to see today, you won’t be disappointed.”
And with that, Tzuyu jumped over the fence and jogged her way to the dugout.
Mina ran her hand through her hair, she’s frustrated about many things. For one, she’s aware she’s being a bitch to a woman she’s never really met, all because she’s the person who happens to be Nayeon’s next victim. Really, she should warn Jeongyeon but there’s something about her that got her thinking. Why is Jihyo so hesitant to tell her about whatever Jeongyeon and Nayeon have or had? Why is she forcing her to give Nayeon up when just a few days ago, she was pushing the idea that maybe her roommate is trying to be serious for once? It just doesn’t add up. It's as if Jihyo is telling her that she’s no match for Jeongyeon. What does Jeongyeon even ha- wait.
Someone that means a lot to me.
Her trail of thought was interrupted when a ball quickly flew, just a few meters over her head. What the-
“Foul!”
“Tzu, can you slow the throw a bit?” Jeongyeon instructs the pitcher, then turns her attention to the hitter, and shouts a tip, “Seul, try swinging just after she completes her throw,”
They didn’t even apologize.
Mina slightly shook her head and waited for Nayeon to come. She kept an eye on the dugout, even though she knows nobody’s allowed there aside from the players, she also looks around the bleachers for any sign of the brunette, but to no avail.
Two hours had passed and the practice is almost over, but there’s still no Nayeon. Maybe she should just use this time to scout the opposition.
Most of the players are done for the day, but Tzuyu and a tall purple-haired woman, are still on the field. Mina doesn’t know much about the sport but it’s common sense that Yoo Zeroright there needs to hit the incoming pitch from her teammate Chou.
Tzuyu threw the ball at an impossible speed, Mina was sure that if she blinked, she would miss the pitch, but it seems to her that Jeongyeon was already used to this since she hit the ball way over the baseball field. She knows it would’ve been a home run if this was a real game.
She's good.
Mina shook her head. No, Tzuyu is better.
She just watched the players retreat to the dugout, laughing amongst themselves, but Jeongyeon’s laugh echoes through Mina’s ears more than any other sound, and she immediately found it reallyannoying.
“I knew I should’ve thrown a curve ball.” Tzuyu banters to their captain. Jeongyeon just smiled at her, removed her baseball cap and threw it to the nearby seat. She ducked down, got two bottles of Gatorade from their cooler and tossed one at the Taiwanese.
“You’ve got a real mean fast ball, I'll give you that, but I think you can improve it more if you throw it while spreading your fingers like this,” she showed Tzuyu a few tips and a few arm movements when an arm wrapped around her waist.
Both women got startled for a moment, but both knew who this person might be.
Jeongyeon tries to take the arms off her body and faced the girl, “Nayeon, I thought I’ve already told you not to come here on my trainings?”
“But I can’t wait to see you, Jeong,” Nayeon pouts as she snakes her hands on Jeongyeon’s neck this time.
The captain shies away from the contact and tries to detach the brunette’s overly possessive arms, but Nayeon just smirks at her, “but I guess that’s okay. I've waited for you to be single again for almost a year, I can wait a bit more.”
Jeongyeon has politely rejected Nayeon ever since she’s made a move on her again after the news of her and Sana’s break up. “Nay, I told you many times, I'm not ready yet.”
She moves her head away from the girl and signals for Tzuyu to help her, but the Seniors’ maknae just shrugged, walked past them and went straight to the locker rooms to shower. Leaving a whimpering Jeongyeon alone with the dangerous Im Nabongs.
Tzuyu’s phone lit up as she was just drying her hair, and she already knew Mina is waiting for her outside.
“So, did you corner Nayeon unnie at the dugout or did you just check out the competition?”
“No, I haven’t talked to Nayeon yet, but I know I already hate Jeongyeon and her guts. Why does she walk so arrogantly?” Tzuyu looked down at the Japanese and it already seemed like her blood is boiling just by mentioning their captain.
“And did you see how she laughed at you after she hit your pitch? Ugh, her laugh is so annoying!”
Tzuyu just chuckled at how her Mina unnie is so irritated at their outfielder, “I guess you can walk the way she walks when you’re the ace of the team, right?”
Mina looks up at her, face contorted, not really believing what her roommate just told her. “Eh? She's the ace?”
Tzuyu wants to laugh at the way the raven head looks right now, but she knows not to push her too much, so she continued to explain. “Yes, unnie. Did you see her hit my pitch?”
“Yeah, it was probably a home run...” the Japanese trailed.
“That was my best pitch, unnie. Only a few can hit that fast ball I threw.”
Mina didn’t answer as they continue to walk their way home. She really can’t argue about it with Tzuyu, she knows a lot more than her about this sport. Maybe Jeongyeon really is a great player? Wrong.
Why would I praise that Yoo Zero when she’s literally the reason why Nayeon ditched me?