Start in the Middle (1/1)
When Momo got home on that night, she found Sana near their shared student accommodation building, holding her small handbag with two hands and staring up at the sky as she walked in circles.Momo was slow and confused as she walked towards the other girl.“Hey, Sana,” she said, and Sana faltered as she walked, still just staring at some distant point in the sky. Leaning over to better see her face, Momo had to wonder if she was in some sort of horror movie, and the aliens were about to come and abduct them or something.Sana sighed deeply. “Hey Momo,” she said dreamily, still not looking at her.“What’s up?”“Oh, not much. I’m just going home.”Momo nodded, looking around in case anyone else was around to call for help when the UFOs started coming in.“Walk with me, then?”“Sure,” Sana said, some strange airiness in her voice. Momo stood still, waiting for Sana to return to the world, but she kept just staring ahead quietly.“Sana?”Then she blinked, suddenly thrown into the world, and Momo tried not to breathe out a sigh of relief when Sana met her eyes.“Oh, okay. Let’s go.”Momo turned and they walked together. Sana didn’t speak much; the first time Momo had met Sana, Sana spoke incessantly, along with every time thereafter. So Momo still wasn’t convinced about the safe from UFOs thing.When they started reaching the door, she figured there was only one way to make absolute sure that they were safe. She screamed suddenly, turning and moving her arms onto Sana’s shoulders, and the younger girl screamed even louder and even shriller, running away a few paces before staring at Momo with a traumatised look on her face.“Why are you possessed!?” Momo snapped.“I’m not possessed!!”Momo stood still, staring, the wind blowing gently through her hair and through Sana’s. It was like a dramatic standoff, a scene right out of an anime.“Then what’s going on!”“Nothing! You’re so mean, Momo-chan!”Sana managed the stare-off, and then, suspiciously, Momo gave way, entering the building with her friend and casting suspicious side-eyes every couple of seconds.“So what you’re saying is that you didn’t get possessed by aliens?”“No! I mean… yes. I mean- I don’t know! Maybe I am possessed!”“God, you can’t say that, Sana!”She sighed heavily, looking away. “It’s just… you know… I’m just thinking about things.”“Things?”“Yeah. Nice things.”“Nice things?”“Like… like Myoui Mina.”Her voice was smiling, if a voice could smile. And then it all made sense to Momo, a satisfying thrill of oh my god my friends are finally not idiots anymore.For someone who had recently been made aware that both Sana and Mina had been completely convinced they liked her (no matter how obvious the truth was to literally everyone), Momo was very relieved to hear that.“Yeah? Mina, huh?”“Mina’s so nice. Isn’t Mina nice?”Momo shrugged. People went mad when they were in love. She knew that from experience.“She sure is,” she said as she walked.
She was the first to dance class the next day. It slowly filled up with the near-strangers that Momo hardly knew, and then someone sat next to her, and seeing who it was never failed to make her heart warm up. It was that one. The one who lit up every room.“Dahyunnie,” she greeted, resting her head against the mirror she was seated beside for no reason other than it was easier to look at Dahyun that way. Her dip-dye hair had faded from blue to a soft yellow colour, and the rest of her hair was dark black, contrasting with her bright skin.Momo hadn’t yet managed to get sick of looking at Dahyun.“Hey Momo,” Dahyun said, smiling a small smile back at her, and for that moment Momo felt like she was flying. Just like always.And then, past Dahyun, Momo saw the next entries; Mina and Sana, their arms linked and their fingers intertwined, smiley and happy and close together. Momo hardly had time to hope Dahyun wouldn’t notice before Dahyun turned to look at the door, and then Momo’s heart broke when she saw the way those delicate shoulders sank, just slightly.Dahyun’s feelings for Sana hadn’t faded, after 6 months of loving her. Mina had come along and in hardly a month she was dating Sana.It hurt Momo, on multiple levels, the pain Dahyun felt because of Sana. She hadn’t known Dahyun even as long as Mina had known Sana, but it was enough to see more in Dahyun than anyone seemed to. Dahyun was kindness, brightness, energy, all in the face of more adversity than she ever let anyone know about.Anyone except Momo. The blonde took the liberty of reaching out, taking the younger girl’s hand, and Dahyun looked down at the contact, sadness etched into her side profile. She’d never explicitly mentioned her feelings for Sana, but Momo could tell. It wasn’t that hard.After a second, Dahyun withdrew her hand, leaving Momo suddenly feeling cold. She looked away as she heard Mina and Sana’s giggles.They were good for each other. Momo just wished Dahyun didn’t have to hurt for it.Momo could handle a lot. But she couldn’t handle Dahyun hurting.She shuffled her position as the teacher entered, eyes shifting to the girl beside her without her permission. She was whittling all her problems down; Mina and Sana were dating. Her grades weren’t too bad. She even had a job interview pretty soon, and maybe she’d have some spare cash.But, as she sighed, she had to admit to herself the problem of the girl sitting beside her wasn’t going away soon.That was one she’d be sitting on for a long time.
She’d met Dahyun through Sana.The youngest had visited Sana every other day, and, living in the same building, Momo couldn’t help but notice her around. She was picturesque; always either quietly standing in the corner, dressed up to look nice, staring out the window, or smiling giddily with such an air of joy and excitement that Momo couldn’t help but feel it carry over to her.She started to look for her, whenever she could. Her heart leapt when she saw her at their next dancing class, and she always sought her out there as well.One day, by chance, Sana had been talking to her when Dahyun had approached, and looking between them, Sana had made an introduction.“Oh, Dahyun. Dahyun, this is Momo-chan. Momo-chan, Dahyun.”Dahyun had bowed deep to Momo. “Momochan,” she’d said, a polite little smile on her face, and that smile transmitted to Momo in an instant, making her return it to the younger girl while she got lost in her eyes, trying not to giggle at the accidental use of a Japanese term.Sana had laughed, explaining it to Dahyun, and Momo, eyes glued to Dahyun’s, had quietly accepted the fact that apparently, she could fall in love fast.Even if it was obvious from the start how Dahyun felt about Sana. There wasn’t much Momo could do about that, and then Dahyun talked to her, and Momo talked back, and they clicked so well that she had no idea how to stay away from her. She and Dahyun were calling each other friends quickly. It went from friendly chats whenever Sana was around, to something that didn’t need a mediator to cure awkwardness, to Dahyun staying late at night in Momo’s apartment laughing. Momo came to know Dahyun’s smiling face so well she could easily picture it when she blinked. She saved a snapshot in her heart every time she saw it, whether she was playing board games with the girl and her high schooler friends or pushing the younger girl on a swingset and pretending they were hardly 10 or just telling a stupid joke and catching the way Dahyun smiled when her eyes rolled.And maybe she was an idiot for it. But dammit, she was Dahyun’s idiot.
“Momomomomomomomomo!”Momo moved her hands to the tree she’d been standing near, letting it help her with the brute force of Dahyun’s body collapsing against hers in a very unexpected backhug.“Momomomomomo!”Better yet, apparently Dahyun’s friends were here! She laughed as they slowly formed a backhug train, and then the youngest two let go, leaving Dahyun resting her head on Momo’s shoulder and playing with her fingers around Momo’s waist.“Hello,” Momo said tiredly, forced into a bright smile while her entire body seemed to heat up.Dahyun glanced over, but she didn’t turn her head too much, so as to keep a healthy, friendly distance from their faces. Momo pretended her heart wasn’t suddenly throwing a noisy house party in her chest.Please, God, get me out of this hell.“Dahyun,” Mina said awkwardly, and Dahyun seemed to only realise she was there then, blinking up at her. She had a good reign on her emotions, though, so while Momo saw the moment of seriousness, Dahyun was smiling again quickly.“Good morning,” she said respectfully to the near stranger, bowing and forcing Momo to bow as well in the process. Momo giggled at the movement, meeting Mina’s (rather confused) eyes for a moment before glancing over at Dahyun.She could kiss her so easily like this.She wiped the thought of her mind as she forced herself to smile. This was just how it always went with Dahyun.It was something she’d get used to.a/n- A few things! This story is probably going to be updated a lot less frequently than TD, mostly because school started again and things are getting a bit busy. Also, having written a chapter ahead, it's looking like it has a much different tone! Momo as a perspective character changes a whole lot, because apparently my Momo character is a lot more serious than my Mina character, and I also have a bad habit of instinctively falling into angst so... sorry about that :P Hope it's still entertaining though! Thanks everyone who has subbed so far!