That Star In Your Eyes [ It Better Be Mine ]

Mina watched as Nayeon and Jeongyeon pelted each other with snowballs, tripping over their own small feet to aim better. The snow was falling all around them, tiny flakes falling lightly on Mina’s hair, which she absent-mindedly rubbed off while running closer to the scene, her eyes sparkling with anticipation. And she was right. When Mina finally reached the snow-covered goalpost, it was to find Nayeon hitting Jeongyeon square across the face with a snow globe-shaped snowball. 

”Goal!” Yelled Nayeon happily, bouncing on her two feet while an annoyed Jeongyeon spit out bits of snow from her mouth. Tzuyu had appeared behind the older girl, timidly asking Jeongyeon for a carrot to finish her and Dahyun’s snowman. Mina smiled as Jeongyeon’s expression changed from annoyed to affectionate, ruffling Tzuyu’s hair before giving her one from her handbag. Tzuyu took the carrot and happily bounced off, looking much like Nayeon’s younger sister. 

Then Jeongyeon turned back to Nayeon, with a devilish smile on her face. Nayeon, busy chatting avidly with Momo, didn’t shriek until the small yet compact snowball hit her straight on the butt, soaking her pants. Nayeon yelled, Jeongyeon laughed, and Mina and Momo made eye contact. The mischief in Momo’s eyes mirrored the laughter in Mina’s, and they each picked up a snowball.

The fight eventually became so intense that Jihyo had to come and break things up.

”Guys? Guys!” Shouted Jihyo when Nayeon abandoned her snowball and straight up tried to punch Jeongyeon, who responded in kind by bending down and stepping on her foot. “Okay! That’s enough! Nayeon, Jeongyeon, say sorry to each other. Now.”

”Why should I?” Demanded Nayeon while Jeongyeon stuck her tongue out at the girl. “She stepped on my foot!”

”You tried to punch me!”

”You tried to knock out my teeth with that monster of a snowball!”

Jihyo sighed and massaged her temples, while throwing Mina and Momo a helpless glance. Nayeon and Jeongyeon, despite being the oldest, fought a lot of petty fights with each other. They always made up, of course, but it usually took a week or so, making all their interactions in the meantime quite…aggressive. Nayeon’s candied hairbrush, Jeongyeon’s lost sticker collection, and the ‘Pot-Fire Disaster’(the way it was referred to) were just a few examples. Mina frowned, but Momo leaned in to whisper in Jihyo’s ear.

”Bring Sana.”

Just a minute later, Nayeon and Jeongyeon were on all knees profusely apologising to each other, while Sana cried about how she was so disappointed in them and their attitudes. When she finally allowed them to stand up and walk away(holding hands of course) Sana winked at Mina, who returned the expression back with a wearily proud kind of face. Sana knew exactly how to break up a fight. She turned to find Jihyo, but Jihyo was already gone, policing Chaeyoung for bringing a canvas outdoors. So Sana ran to join Momo’s tiffin-eating competition, but not before Mina noticed her eyes dimming. Slightly. Barely noticeable. But for observant Mina, it was always there when Jihyo wasn’t.

And now? It’s always there…

“Mina?” 

Shaking her head slowly, Mina realised that the last voice wasn’t a part of her daydream, but was one in real life, and the blur cleared to find Chaeyoung, sitting opposite her, looking rather worried.

”Yeah?”

“Are you okay? You looked like you were spacing out a bit…”

“I’m sorry, I was just thinking about something.”

Chaeyoung reached her hand forward to smooth Mina’s hair and caress her face, before speaking again, this time rather playfully.

“Mitang, you don’t have to think about me. I’m right here, remember?” She said, laughing when Mina tried to pinch her on the cheek.

“I don’t always think about you!”

“Yeah, right.”

“Hey!”

The couple spent the rest of their recess running around, trying to catch each other, completely unaware of the fact that a certain Hirai was looking at them from another table, mournful eyes on Mina only.

“Minari… if only you knew.”