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Nina was quiet through dinner. She pushed her food around on her plate as she stared at it. Mina and Jin exchanged worried glances over the table at each other the entire time. Neither of them wanted to talk. Jin felt it necessary to break the silence, though.
“Nina, what happened? You’re never this quiet.”
Nina glanced up. “Nothing happened. I’m fine.”
Jin raised an eyebrow.
“Whose papers did you help pick up today?” Mina asked suddenly.
“Jimin’s,” was Nina’s short response.
“Who’s Jimin?”
Nina looked up. “You haven’t met him?”
Mina shook her head.
“He’s the new kid. You know, the one Tae was looking for on Wednesday?” Nina replied.
“Oh. OH! Yeah, he’s the kid in our math class.”
“He’s in your math class?”
“Yeah. I think he’s in all the honors classes.”
Jin just stared at his sisters. He was lost. He’d rarely been to their high school. He took a bite of his rice.
“That would explain why I’ve never seen him besides after school! Has Tae talked to him?” Nina exclaimed.
Mina shook her head again. “Jimin always rushes out the door as soon as class is over.”
“Oh. Odd.”
Mina nodded. “It is strange.”
——————–
Jimin walked into math class and looked around. There was Nina again. It was so odd. He left class before her, but somehow she was always already waiting at the front of the school when he got out there. He watched now as she punched the boy next to her on the shoulder. She acted so different when she was around him. He sighed. He was pretty sure she was dating that guy. He really liked her, but he wasn’t going to chase her if she was already taken. He settled into his seat. He’d just have to avoid her for now.
——————–
Nina sat on the steps in front of the school again. This was becoming a habit now. She waited for Mina and Tae on the steps every day while people tripped over her. She hadn’t seen Jimin this afternoon. She wanted to see him again. She wasn’t quite sure why. Most of the times they had met had been disasters.
“Nina! Stop sitting down! I can never find you!”
Nina looked up. Mina was standing right above her.
“C’mon! We need to go! We have to get to Tae’s house, remember? We have half an hour to decorate before his friends start showing up!”
Nina sighed and stood up. How had they even gotten Jungkook out of the house again? She supposed it didn’t matter.
——————–
Twenty minutes later they were at Tae’s house helping him decorate. Jungkook’s tutor, Namjoon, had also come to help. Tae’s and Jungkook’s mom was in the kitchen putting the finishing touches on the cake, and their little sister was twirling around the living room.
“Nina!” Miyeon tugged on Nina’s skirt. “You see? I pretty princess!”
Nina smiled down at the toddler from where she was standing on a stool. Having a 3-year-old hang out in the room they were decorating wasn’t ideal.
“Who all did we invite again?” Mina asked as she tried to hang up the birthday banner. It was definitely a two-man job.
“Us four, obviously. Jin’s coming. Hobi mentioned coming so maybe him. Um…Jihoon is coming. You know, Jungkook’s study partner? And…Changyun.” Tae listed. “Jungkook doesn’t have a lot of friends.”
“Well, that’s more people than we invite to our birthday parties.” Mina laughed.
Nina shook her head. “No kidding! You’d think because there’s two of us, we’d have more people to invite!”
“Well, we are a package deal. For the most part you can’t know one of us without knowing the other!” Mina grinned.
“Tae-Taeeeeee!” Miyeon tugged on his pants.
“Yes, Yeonie?”
“Wanna help!”
“Oh, Yeonie, you’re not big enough to help yet.”
Tears welled up in Miyeon’s eyes. “Noooooo!” She squeaked. “Help you!”
Tae sighed and scooped her up off the floor. They’d never get this place decorated on time with a 3-year-old distracting all of them. He took her out to the kitchen to divert her attention away from the decorating. Less than a minute later, the house was quiet again.
Nina laughed as she saw the small grin Mina was trying to hide.
“You know…” Nina started. “Tae is going to make a great dad one day.”
“Oh, shut up!”
