Chapter Text
Mina: Hey angel
Angel: leave me alone
Mina: Wyd?
Angel: with friends
Mina: Let me guess....Dahyun’s house?
Angel: yeah.
Mina: Wanna come to mine? You can bring your friends over
Angel: not rlly.
Mina: okay
Mina: I'm hanging out with my best friends too!
Angel: liar
Mina: Why would I lie about that?
Angel: do you really want to go down that road
Mina: I'd go anywhere you tell me to
Mina: Also I'm a lot of things..but a liar?
Angel: goodbye mina
Mina: Let me send proof?
Angel: go ahead
Mina: Gladly!
Mina lowered her phone. Behind her, the night life of the city was the only thing lighting up her penthouse. Not the 98-inch mounted TV. Not even her two best friends sitting on the other end of the L-shaped lounge couch. Sana was perfectly content with watching Momo play UNO by herself in near darkness.
Whenever she was in a bad mood, she wanted her environment to reflect it.
The Japanese woman stood and walked to her window walls, hands clasped behind the back of her freshly-ironed suit. She imagined Bruce Wayne would do something like this whenever he was deep in thought.
It didn’t make sense. Mina lived in one of the biggest penthouses in the country, and yet, she yearned for nothing more than to go to Dahyun's apartment to win back her girlfriend.
And yet, Chaeyoung wanted to know more about her beyond the dark and mysterious 23-year old multi-millionaire surface.
Mina wanted to open up to Chaeyoung. Of course she did. But, at the risk of sounding cliché, she was the problem. The more Chaeyoung got to know her, the more she would find out that Mina was nothing like she presented herself.
In reality, Myoui Mina was a spoiled CEO-in-training—god, that sounded lame—that threw tantrums when things didn't go her way. After those tantrums, she would knit or rewatch the Minions series. Or both.
She was the complete opposite of her HerCupid dating profile: The movie poster for The Dark Knight. Apparently, it was the best movie in the trilogy.
She looked back at her friends. At that moment, they didn’t look like two well-off employees at Myoui Enterprises—with Sana being a hand model on the side. No! With Momo sitting criss-cross and Sana’s knees tucked to her chin, they looked like your average young adults that didn’t care about how their sitting positions would have long term consequences on their backs.
They looked humble.
Mina dug into the front pockets of her slacks to retrieve her phone, only to realize she left it on the coffee table. Fuck, she was lame.
Running a hand through her shoulder-length hair (just the way Chaeyoung liked it), she retrieved her phone and went back to her standing spot. Then, Mina twisted her body to a concerning degree and took a photo of her friends behind her with her deep blue iPhone 17 Max. She didn’t even have to use the flash because any iPhone after the 11th one had a night mode that automatically turned on whenever it detected the user was in a low-light environment.
Chaeyoung should appreciate this.
It will remind her that we aren't so different. Her and I.
Mina: See?
Angel: do they know you?
Mina: They’re in my house? It’s Momo and Sana...i’ve told you about them.
Angel: Oh. Momo.
Angel: Ask them to pose so I know it’s not AI
As a tech genius, multi-millionaire, gamer, former ballerina (she wasn’t sure if Batman said that but she was sure a superhero said it), Mina knew she could’ve expertly used AI to make her best friends do any pose she wanted with Chaeyoung being none the wiser. But, the Japanese woman didn’t want to mention–or do that–and push her luck.
The last time she did, Mina ended up in the position she was in right now.
Mina returned to the couch, legs crossed over the coffee table. “Sana-unnie, Momo-unnie, pose for the camera!” She grabbed a remote from the table to turn on the living room lights. Sana squeaked at the abrupt setting change.
There was finally something worth smiling about. If she proved to Chaeyoung she had friends, she could meet her at Dahyun’s, apologize, and finally admit her undying love for her.
Mina raised her phone and turned it sideways, ready to capture the perfect shot.
Sana took off her hoodie and ran her hands through her brown hair. She and Momo were wearing matching black hoodies. “Make sure to get my good side!”
Momo on the other hand didn't bother moving. In fact, she showed the camera her middle finger while her other hand drew a draw four.
Mina lowered her phone. “Seriously?
Momo finally looked up, twisted the middle-finger back and forth in front of her face, essentially telling herself to fuck off multiple times. “What, am I doing it wrong?”
“You don’t even know who it’s for! This could be for my dad and you could lose your job.”
“Is it your dad?”
“No.”
“Is it Chaeyoung?”
“You’re telling my girlfriend to go fuck herself!”
“You guys were friends with benefits.”
“Technically, you aren’t doing it wrong, but you did it the lame way. You have to stick your thumb out for maximum disrespect.” Sana gave a visual demonstration and Momo copied her.
“Ah. Thank you, Sana. Mina, Take a picture.”
Sana lowered her hand and wrapped an arm around Momo’s shoulder, smiling.
Mina took the picture and sent it. Maybe the cute, matching hoodies would mask the blatant disrespect.
Mina: See? I have friends :)
-
For some reason, they all resided in Dahyun's small kitchen.
Okay, there was a good enough reason.
It started when Dahyun went to look in her fridge for the millionth time to see if the fast food she was craving would magically appear. Chaeyoung followed her, and Tzuyu followed Chaeyoung.
They were in Dahyun's kitchen because they couldn't be apart from each other for more than five seconds whenever Chaeyoung read the texts between her and Mina out loud.
“Woah. She actually does have friends?” Tzuyu asked, unnecessarily looking over Chaeyoung's shoulder. She and the much shorter girl were sitting on the same counter top.
Chaeyoung was on the edge of falling off the damn thing, but situationships had a crazy way of making you forget about the world around you.
It was kind of beautiful.
“Of course she does!” Since Dahyun sat across them on the kitchen island, Chaeyoung stretched out her arm to show Dahyun what's on her phone. ”Why wouldn't she?”
Tzuyu shrugged, “Because she's reclusive and has a big ego. Your words.”
“Reclusive freaks with gigantic egos have friends all the time.”
“I didn't say that.”
Dahyun subconsciously tuned out the rest of their conversation as she learned forward, thankful for her glasses. Her regular eyes wouldn't have done women in the picture justice.
They were beautiful. Especially the one on the left with the dark eyes and dark hair.
It was a shame she was literally flicking her off.
Her black nail polish was cute though.
Wait, didn't Chaeyoung say they were Mina's friends? That means one of them must be Hirai Momo. As in her nemesis Hirai Momo. Momo, the one who was somewhat responsible for Mina and Chaeyoung's...
Well, you couldn't break up with someone you were never with. So, the appropriate wording would be:
Momo, the one who was somewhat responsible for the pair's biggest fight ever since they met one month ago! That Momo!
Fuck. What were the odds that Momo was the one on the right smiling up a storm?
Looking down, Dahyun took off her glasses and started wiping the lenses with her sweater.
“They’re very pretty. I’ll give them that.”
“Oh no.” Tzuyu said as Chaeyoung pulled back her phone.
“What?”
Chaeyoung shook her head. “And I thought I had poor taste.”
“You do!” Dahyun retorted.
“What about her being your arch nemesis?“ Tzuyu asked.
“I said they’re both pretty! And we don’t know who’s who yet!” Dahyun exclaimed, putting her glasses back on.
She wouldn’t pursue the alleged Momo even if she did find her attractive. Which she did. A completely normal amount. Both girls in the picture are pretty.
“I texted her, ‘Momo looks like she would rather be anywhere else.’ and Mina-unnie responded, ‘Okay, but look at Sana. Exclamation point.’”
Great. So much for having standards.
“Nothing is wrong with finding her attractive, Dahyun-unnie.”
“I know.” At least Chaeyoung didn’t seem upset.
Chaeyoung went back to typing. “It's just unfortunate you fell for the worst person ever.
“I get it!”
-
Angel: momo looks like she would rather be anywhere else.
Mina: Okay but look at Sana!
Angel: I guess that means you do have physical friends who are capable of distracting my friends while you and I talk
Mina: So can we?
Angel: if you can get both of them to come over.
Mina: Anything for you.
Mina put her phone down.
“Momoring, do you–”
“I'd rather die.” The oldest amongst them was now shuffling the cards like an extremely bad Joker. Her riffle shuffle resulted in all of the cards scattering across Mina's high-end rug.
Mina physically deflated. “You could’ve just said no. Wait, no you can't. You don't even know what I'm about to ask.”
Momo and Sana sat on the floor to pick up the cards. “You're going to ask me to go with you to meet up with your situationship so you can get her back.”
“...And her two best friends.”
“No.”
Mina covered her ears, flopping onto her luxurious couch in a crouching position. “We live in a cruel and unjust world where people do everything right and still reap the consequences."
“I constantly told you to end things with her, and although I don't like how it happened, I got my wish.”
“l’ll break up with her if you do this for me.”
Momo squinted at her. As if she couldn’t believe what she was looking at. “What is there to break? You guys weren't a couple.”
“You know what I mean! She invited me over. My angel is giving me another chance.”
“So you're going to use this opportunity to get back with her and then break her heart all over again.”
Sitting up, Mina turned to look out the window, so that Momo couldn’t see the lies written all over her face. “There is a possibility I won’t get past the first step. Nonetheless, I’ll buy you food on the way home as a thank you for your contribution.”
“Right. Like you'd let that happen.”
Mina turned back around to see Momo gave up her card shuffling career. Sana continued her legacy.
“You owe me! You're the reason why we broke up!”
“Just because you mentioned my name during your stupid speech doesn't make it my fault! In what world did you think that would've made Chaeyoung fawn over you? What exactly were you trying to do?
Sana filled in the blank. “She was trying to manipulate her.”
“Why did you think blatant manipulation would bring her back to you?”
“You’re making it sound like I walked up to her and said, ‘Hey Chaeyoung. I’m going to try to emotionally manipulate you.’ There are layers to it!”
Mina spoke in a calm, collected voice to show that she was clearly the more mature one in the argument. “By telling her that you, Momo-unnie, one of my best friends, was constantly suggesting that I should leave her, it would've made Chaeyoung grateful for our relationship and stop trying to push it further. Weaponized gratitude. I did my research, but I miscalculated. Chaeyoung has too much self respect.
Silence filled the room.
“And I shouldn’t have done it to begin with.”
Sana went back to shuffling. “I remember you being a lot harsher when you told us the first time with tears running down your face.”
“Obviously I’m not going to say exactly what I said because. I’d end up crying all over again. The days of feeling bad for myself are no more.”
“Wait a minute. Why didn’t you mention Sana during your dumbass speech?” Momo asked. She didn’t support it either.”
“They fought more than they had actual conversations. But that's only because Chaeyoung's crazy and Mina deprived her of love. After this much-needed talk, their relationship will thrive.”
“Exactly! That's what friendship is all about. Sana-unnie supports me despite not supporting my relationship. You don't. Sana is going with me to see Chaeyoung. You’re not.”
“I am?”
“Yes.”
“Okay.” Sana got up to put her shoes on, finally leaving the UNO cards alone.
She was starting to associate them with everything wrong in her life.
“You might not see it now Mina, but this is for the best. I mean, she threatened to sleep with the CEO of our business rival, We Got Yoo, just because you didn't give her your phone number. And she sent messages! That's not normal.”
Mina sighed. Her chest physically hurt whenever she thought about that screenshot. Yoo Jeongyeon was the devil, but she couldn't blame her for being tempted by an angel. “The most important and kind-hearted part is that she didn't go through with it. Hurt people hurt people. You wouldn't understand.”
“Thank god.”
“Sana-unnie, are you ready?”
“Almost.” The brunette hopped back into the living room on one foot, putting her other shoe on. The blue laces on her white sneakers matched her jeans “All I have to do is keep her friends entertained while you get your wife back, yes?”
Momo mumbled something from the floor, but Mina paid her no mine. She could end up being the sole reason why Chaeyoung doesn't let them in Dahyun's apartment.
Her angel requested two best friends, not one. The only thing left to do was hope that Chaeyoung was feeling merciful today.
“Exactly!” Grabbing her phone, Mina got up from the couch and walked towards Sana.
An outfit change for her wasn't necessary. Her light gray suit, matching slacks, and black, polished dress shoes said it all.
Mina was rich, meticulous, and desperate.
“Let me show you how they look first.” This wasn’t really necessary, but Mina would use any opportunity she could get to show off. Plus, being able to use her recently unblocked Instagram account to click on a picture from Chaeyoung's made her feel all fuzzy inside.
“Tzuyu's on the left, my angel in the middle, and Dahyun's on the right.”
Suddenly, the room was so quiet, you could hear Momo take off her hoodie.
Which she did. Mina checked to make sure. Lightning quick.
When she turned back, Sana's eyes were still stuck on her phone screen.
....Did Sana want Chaeyoung?
Mina knew she was making her “adorable angry face” as Chaeyoung liked to call it.
Speaking of Chaeyoung, she quickly remembered her parting words during their break-up.
“You're saying we can't date because your best friend is against it? Do you fucking hear yourself? Not everything is about you!"
Right. Her chest hurt a bit, but her brain was right for resurfacing the memory. Mina had to look from a different perspective. It couldn't be an attraction towards Chaeyoung. Sana has already seen what Chaeyoung looked like.
The very first day they matched on HerCupid, Mina showed Chaeyoung’s pictures to Sana and Momo. They both said Chaeyoung was really pretty and left it at that.
No. It must be something else. Sana has seen Chaeyoung, but she has never seen...
Her eyes followed Sana's gaze.
It landed on Tzuyu. Phew.
Thank you, Son Chaeyoung, for your words of wisdom.
“You should’ve started your pitch with this! Dahyun is Momo's type!”
How would Sana know that? Her eyes haven't left the left side of the screen? “...Really?”
“Really! Dark, long hair. A gentle smile that makes her eyes disappear. Her left pant leg is rolled up. She’s perfect. For Momo.”
Momo headed their way. “If you seriously think I'm going to change my mind simply based on someone's looks—Oh my god.”
Still holding her phone, Mina glanced at her friends. They were in a trance.
Wow. Was that seriously all it took? Dahyun had a similar reaction after Mina offered her chocolates on LinkedIn if she told her about Chaeyoung's whereabouts.
If it wasn't obvious, this was after the younger girl blocked her on everything. And then instructed her friends to block Mina on everything.
Oh, well. Mina would never get in the way of true love. If her best friends wanted to pursue her girlfriend's best friends, she supported them. If either of them failed, Mina could use it as an opportunity to show Chaeyoung how much better she was as a partner.
“I'm going to buy Dahyun flowers and chocolates.” Momo said. She said Dahyun's name as if she has known her for several lifetimes. It was cute.
Which made the fact that she couldn’t encourage the romantic gesture all the more unfortunate.
“That’s a horrible idea.” Mina put her phone in front pocket despite their protests. “Think about me!”
Momo furrowed her eyebrows. “You can get your own flowers and chocolates.”
“I can get some for you on the way there.” Sana chimed in.
“No, thanks.” Mina sat back on the couch. Her elbows rested on her knees as she steepled. “If you get Dahyun flowers, Chaeyoung is going to wonder why I didn't get her flowers. However, if I do buy her flowers, she's going to think I'm trying to buy her love. Therefore, the only solution is for her to not see any flowers or chocolates or any gifts to begin with at all.”
“Why does my perfect love story have to fall apart because of your toxic one?”
Mina glared up at her, still steepling. “It can't fall apart if there's nothing to begin with!”
“Mina is right.”
“Thank you.”
“For the wrong reasons.”
“I should've left you two here.”
Sana had the nerve to sit next to her, arms and legs crossed. “You might scare her away, Momoring. They aren’t expecting to be receivers of romance. We are there to distract them. Not woo them.”
“Well, how do you plan on distracting Tzuyu? By staring straight into her soul?”
“I’m glad you asked.” Sana sighed with a lovesick grin. “I'm going to take anything I can get. I'll bring myself and nothing more. I'm content with being her friend, acquaintance, or someone she meets once in her lifetime. As long as I get the honor of knowing her, I'm content.”
Leaning forward, Mina grabbed her keys from the coffee table and got up. “I guess Dahyun would be pretty distracted by a stranger confessing her love to her. And Sana-unnie willing to become a speck of dust just to be in Tzuyu's presence sounds pretty entertaining.”
Momo turned off the lights while Sana followed Mina to the elevator. “I'm not actually going to tell her that, Mitang! My strategy is cool, calm, and collected.”
Mina turned around to sternly point at Momo. “Chocolates only. No flowers.”
Momo nodded, aggressively putting on her shoes. “Chocolates and a ring.”
Mina shook her head. “And I thought I was whipped.”
Sana and Momo spoke at the same time, “You are!”