What the heart wants

Chapter 34

It rains that night.

Mina is fast asleep in her room and the girls are waiting for the clock to strike twelve.

Nayeon is in her room, pretending to be asleep. The sound of thunder rumbling in the distance is no match to the rumbling in her own heart.

The clock strikes loudly indicating it's midnight. She hears the girls' break into a cheerful birthday song in the next room. She hears Mina's soft thank yous.

The rain begins to fall harder with a roaring sound. Her head begins to throb with a dull ache and she feels her eyes burning behind the lids.

Nayeon doesn't like the rain but she continues to stare at it anyway.

"Why does the sweater has a baby chick and a bunny?" Tzuyu laughs when Mina opens Jihyo's gift the next morning in their living room.

"I don't know it looked cute, so I bought it." Jihyo lifts a lazy shoulder.

Mina hugs the sweater to her, it feels warm and cosy. "I love it."

She isn't lying, it really is one of the cutest hoodies she's ever seen.

"Speaking about bunnies where is the Duracell bunny in our dorm?" Dahyun looks around, "I swear I saw her in the kitchen like two seconds ago."

"That's a long time in Flash years. She's probably covered another hundred kilometers as we speak." Chaeyoung snorts as she takes a sip of her coffee. She hasn't given her gift yet, because she wants to do it when they're alone.

"Good morning America." Nayeon announces loudly, her voice a little hoarse than normal as she enters the living room from the front door. She has one of her hands behind her back.

Dahyun shakes her head, she's not even going to try and figure out how Nayeon disappeared from the kitchen and appeared at the front door.

"Weirdo." Jeongyeon bumps her shoulders making Nayeon scowl at her.

Mina spins on her feet to go to her room. She needs to get dressed for their recording session.

"Mina."

Nayeon's voice stops her. She has no way out of this because her bandmates are around and they can't know things are still complicated between them.

She slowly turns around and faces the older girl reluctantly.

"Happy birthday." Nayeon extends her hands and inside them is a small box.

"Thank you." Mina manages a smile and Nayeon sees how forced it is, but she doesn't let the act they're pulling fall apart. So she smiles back as well like things between them are perfectly fine.

"What did she give you?" Jeongyeon steps between them, grabs the gift from Mina's hand and rips it open.

"Where are your manners?" Mina jokes.

"In the cave she crawled out of." Chaeyoung chuckles fondly.

Jeongyeon flips her off.

"Oh it's a penguin." Momo tries to sound excited because honestly Mina must have about hundred penguins in her collection by now. From fans to friends, everyone has given penguin gifts to her.

"It's handmade." Nayeon scratches the back of her neck.

"It looks nice." Tzuyu drawls, never the one to hide her emotions.

Mina looks up from the gift in Jeongyeon's hand and forces another smile. "I like it."

Nayeon knows she doesn't.

Chaeyoung knows too. And suddenly she's really glad she took Nayeon's advice and exchanged gifts with her.

The rest of the day passes by them swiftly as the audio recording session progresses.

It's nearly eight in the evening when Chaeyoung gets the moment she's been looking forward to.

Nayeon, Dahyun and Jeongyeon are in Nayeon's room doing a vlive with fans. Sana and Momo are watching a series on their laptop in their room. Tzuyu and Jihyo are making dinner.

Mina is alone in her room playing the new game Jeongyeon bought her.

Chaeyoung's heart beats rapidly as she steps into the room and sees the girl spread across on the bed. She's wearing a thin night dress which only serves to heighten the pulse that's racing inside her.

"Chaeyoungah." Her beautiful face breaks into a soft smile as her gaze land upon hers.

The younger girl takes measured strides towards the bed.

"Are you just going to stare at me all night?" There's a faint blush in her skin when she sees Chaeyoung sitting at the edge of the bed and gazing at her with doting eyes.

Chaeyoung thinks that's a brilliant idea. Because the gentle breeze that's making Mina's blonde curls flutter in the wind, the moonlight kissing the soft skin on her face giving it a glow, the music that's playing on the stereo floating in the room has her transfixed and she's sure she could actually spend the rest of the night just gazing at the girl.

"I could because look at you." Chaeyoung points at her making the color in her cheeks grow in its intensity. "But that's not what I'm here for."

She takes Mina's hand between hers and lays a thin rectangular box on them.

"Happy birthday."

Mina knows from the shape and the weight what it is. It's a vinyl record. For some reason her hands begin to tremble as she gently tears open the wrapper.

Chaeyoung watches with rapt attention the older girl's gaze turn from curious to melancholic.

"Oh my god." She sobs when she finally opens the gift, her voice breaking at the sight of what's in her hand. Her dark lashes brims heavy with tears as her lips tremble and shoulders heave with emotion.

Chaeyoung doesn't know why Mina is reacting this intensely to some old Beatles vinyl record but what she does know is how to comfort the girl. So she hugs her tightly as she sobs into her chest, hands clutching at her shirt.