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Dear Mina,

When you're reading these cheesy lines, you might have forgotten about me. But don't be worried. You're strong. WE are strong. And you know it.

Life can bring you different feelings and thoughts in different situations.

Like while reading your favorite fanfic, you might be eager to finally meet your "the one". You might want to finally know how a kiss feels like, or how a hug, a sweet smile or how a cheesy pick up line "fire up" a whole relationship. 

Like while studying your eyes out to achieve your dream, you might be even more eager to live your dream, to be what you want to be. You might even think, at that moment, that you don't need a guy to complete your world.

Maybe life is a bit of both. Or maybe life is none of them.

And people say, high school is the perfect time to discover what life is.

And it really is.

————————-

"You're Miss..."

"Myoui Mina" I answered

"Miss Myoui" The teacher smiled warmly "Welcome to our school!"

"This school has been achieving..."

Many prizes in both studying and sports in the span of its time. Yes. I know. I had read tons of things before I came here. Why did I come here again?

Oh right. Achieving dreams.

Are they even my dreams? Quite hard to tell. I've always loved biology and chemistry since the day I started studying them. I'm "destined" to be a doctor. High salary and all the love and admirations and stuff. Sounds like a true heaven. Oh and did I mention over-working, high expectations (they goes with pressure and sometimes depression) and probably no room for romantic things, let alone my half-baked book.

It's my destination.

But when I lay down on my bed and closed my eyes, I see myself singing the highest notes, dancing the brightest moves in fancy stage outfits (that I designed myself) with the best partners. The best part is when I'm showered with the bright stage lights, closing my eyes and imagine the crowd.

But there won't be such thing. The music industry is something that is both high-class and filthy. You can't get there just with raw talents. Maybe not without practicing days and nights. And MORE over-working and depression!

Okay. Life's suck.

————————

I know right? But I think life's suck because it gives us miracles and ripped them away from us before we can even notice the miracle.

—————————

"So this is the lab, where we learn science, in general" the teacher was still showing me around. While I was completely not listening.

"Up there is..."

The library. It's not like I haven't spend a whole week searching and listening to advises about this school.

————————

Be prepared as you always be. You never know what life's gonna take away from you.

———————————————

"Any question, miss Myoui?"

"Umm... No. Thank you for showing me around" I smiled at her

She flashed back a smile and said "You're a sweet girl. Just tell me if you need anything. We're both Japanese on this foreign American land, we can help each other"

A sweet girl?

————————————————

Life can take anything away from you. A teacher maybe?

No

A friend. A second mom to you.

————————————————

"Thank you"

"Anytime, dear"

What is her name again? Never mind, I can find out later.

————————————————

I should have asked her at that very moment.

————————————————

So I went to my new class to meet up with my new class mates.

We went on with even more introducing and smiling and talking about stuff

———————————————-

Sometimes you got to treasure the moments. Like an introduction. Or a brief talk. Or just a small shy smile of a boy who sat next to you.

——————————————

"Hi! I'm Jimin. Park Jimin" he reached out for a friendly hug

"Nice to meet you" I said blankly while backing away from the hug. It's kind of new to me, this kind of friendly gestures.

I wasn't very comfortable with it.

He retreated his arms and shyly smiled. And I smile back at him.

—————————————————

You should have seen your smiles back then when you first met him.

At least your smiles look warm now.

I hope so? I probably have no way to see your smiles now.

But you can find me and show me your smiles, I guess?

————————————————-

He looked away, probably scared because of my smile.

I felt a bit... uncomfortable. Not like I'm against him. More like disappointed about myself.

Making friends has never been as hard.

I had Momo and Sana back there in Japan though. But...

———————————————

Do you miss Momo and Sana? Your very first true friends?

I knew, back then in high school, and I suppose you will know sometime soon, that they were still in your memories.

Do you know why they became memories? Such angels should be living happily ever after, right?

I didn't really know either. I wish that I had asked. Now you won't have anyone to ask about them.

But you can find out by yourself, like you have always done.

————————————————

"Hey... Mina?" Jimin whispered

"Yeah?" He woke me up from my thoughts

"Err, thought you should listen more carefully..." he answered my questioning look

"Oh yes. Thanks"

I don't always know everything.

It's good to finally realize that. I'm not supposed to know everything too.

But I'll try to know more.

———————————————

Oh, knowledge. It's the most important. Knowledge about science, about geography, history,.... Or maybe knowledge about love, friendships, relationships with everyone.

Knowledge is very important, Mina

————————

"Oh hey, I saw that you've zoned out for a while in class" Jimin said while scratching the back of his head "Thought you should... umm" he handed me his notebook

"You're so thoughtful" I smiled

———————————————

Do you remember the first time you smiled heartily with a boy? Where is he now?

————————————————

"That's what friends for!" He laughed

"Friend? You want to be my friend? Like real friend?" I haven't asked this question since I became friend with Momo and Sana. The question slipped out my tongue naturally

"Yeah! Aren't we friends already?" He answered.

He really didn't know what I meant and how I feel when I said so.

That was what I thought. 

"You were on fire, girl!" he said.

"Then bow to the queen!" I joked

He then bowed 90 degrees with his right hand placed on his heart and his left arm swung back

He looked like a real prince, even if he was wearing a lame school uniform.

——————————————————

Have you found your prince charming Mina? 'cause I remember, back then I had already found one.

Guess life does content a bit of love.

—————————————————

"Why are you walking like that?" Jimin asked

"Like what?" I threw back a question

"Like... a penguin"

"What? No, I'm not!" I stomped

"Yes you are!"

——————————————————

Penguins are cute Mina. Treasure them.

—————————————————

"But seriously, why are you walking like that?" Jimin asked, while walking backward to face me
"Maybe it's because I learn ballet from a very young age?"
"I learn contemporary dance! Care for a duet?" he smirked at me
"You're on!" I smirked in return

"Oh my gosh! Is that Jimin Park?"
"Walking with a girl?"
"Isn't that his sister?"
"No, his sister has red hair!"
"OMG! Jimin! Notice me!!!"

"Mina, go and find the only red head girl in class 10C!" Jimin whispered, patted my shoulder and walked to the opposite direction, to his fangirls.

He looked incredibly calm.

He protected me from those crazy girls. Who knows what would happen if those girls get angry and stuff? I can't handle them all at the same time!

Anyway. You've met a lovely Japanese teacher, made a new true friend that will sacrifice for your safety, fought a big bad bully gang and found out that new true friend of yours is a famous senpai at your school. Everything happened within a day. If that's not crazy then I'm out of here.

Finding the red head girl shouldn't be hard. It's still lunch time, I have time to spend. Those girls won't kill Jimin.

"Umm... Hi? Park Jimin class 11A told me..." I hesitantly said while scanning each corner for a red head

"Oh? He's in trouble with girls again?" A red hair girl, flaming red to be exact, appeared from the corner where they placed the speakers. Look like she had just finished fixing those stuff. What a genius. Guess I know why Jimin told me to find her.

"It's nothing strange, really, since I always have a way to save him. Way back then in secondary school. But first, I need to wash my hands. He can wait" She smiled

That smile was so bright and friendly. I was a smile that makes you feel loved, feel happy.

—————————————————

The "love" part in your life isn't always the love between couples. It's every form of love: between family members, friends, neighbours,

Or maybe the love for music, for dancing and singing that you've always had in your heart

————————————————

I was still on cloud nine when she came back.

"I'm Jihyo Park!" She reached out her hand

I gladly took her hand, looked into her big round eyes and said

"I'm Myoui Mina"

"Nice to meet you!" she smiled again

"Can I ask you something?" I suddenly got the urge to ask her. The question slipped out of my tongue even before I could consider it, like I always do.

"Sure. What's that?" She looked at me curiously

"When your brother introduced himself to me, he reached out to hug me. But you reach out to shake hand with me. Why is that?"

She smiled and said "It's maybe because he has got used to the American culture. he has been here longer than I have. This is my second year here actually. And also because I noticed you are a Asian girl, we are not used to that kind of close gesture on our first meet"

"We...?"

"Yeah, I'm a Korean. I'm not Indian like everyone thought I am" She giggled while rolling her eyes

How can a person smile that much? And be so comfortable with a complete stranger that she has just met?

"I've heard about you and that stupid gang.What's their name again? Oh, forget it, I've heard it a thousand times and I still can't remember it"

My, she's talkative.

———————

Sometimes, you need more people to help you discover your feelings for something.

Maybe a talkative red head could help?

Have you found out who she was?

If you have already had, then you're one step closer to meeting me again.

If you haven't, try to talk to her more.

———————

"How are we gonna help Jimin?"

"It's easy. Let's go to the room"

"Report? What? Why?"

"Oh this is just one in a million ways to help my problematic brother" she winked

Cute

"What will we do when we get there?"

"You'll see" she smirked

How can a smirk be that seductive? This girl is really something, eh? As sweet as a cotton candy, as spicy as chili.

"I was wondering, why did you came?" She asked while walking backwards to face me.

I caught a familiar glimpse of a boy in my head. They are sibling indeed.

I understand what she wanted to ask

"I'm Jimin's new friend. We were just walking to class together and a bunch of girls showed up"

She just smiled fondly at me. But I could sense more meanings in that smile. Something like a new friendship.

"He usually calls his best buds in this situation. Guess you've made two friends already, Minari!"

"Minari?"

"That nickname fits you so much!" She glanced at my feet

I kind of get her idea. I'll have to put up with these sibling's similarities.

"And what up with the 'two friends'?"

"It's Jimin and I of course!"

She smiled brightly again. No matter how many times I see her smile, it still looks attractive and meaningful to me.

She's like her brother, willingly to be my friend.

I felt something more this time. I felt moved. Like for a brief moment, I could feel my heart beats, feel my inner self tearing up.

All because of their words. And their sincerity.

———————

You understand why I asked you if you still remembered the red head girl? She is the reason why we're here. Why we're still living. That girl inspired us, Mina.

She is a part of who we are. Minari, don't you miss Jihyo?

————————

"Do you have... oh never mind" she asked but then stopped midway

"What?"

"No. Nothing" she worriedly looked into my eyes and smiled

I smiled back at her, still looking into her eyes

"I did have more friends. But they're only memories now" I said. I felt the need to tell her But I didn't really know why.

———————

She's your best friend. And will always be.
You know why? Because our miracle happened so fast. I couldn't imagine, even in my dreams, that I could make friend within a walk to the reporter room to save a certain guy.

——————————————-
"I think they're grateful that you're still keeping them in your memories" she softly said

The voice was all shaky

"You have problems with friends too, don't you?" I said directly

She looked at me, in a both surprising and sad way. She smiled softly as her eyes went teary.

"It's okay if you don't want to talk about it" I smiled and reached out to hug her

I love this hug.

We kept quiet on the rest of our way, chasing different thoughts. It was a comfortable kind of quiet.

I enjoyed being with this girl.

————————

A quick message to you by your bestie, Jihyo.

Hey Minari. Guess you've forgotten me by now. But I'm positive that you're gonna get your memories back soon.

You don't need to remember who I am yet. Keep up with your dreams first. You need to be stable in your career, then we can find ways to get your memories back, like how we had always done things before.

I won't write too much, since I'd rather meet you face to face and talk to you directly.

I love you and I'll be with you until the very end"

—————————————————

"That was crazy Jiji!" Jimin exclaimed

"Just one of my talents" Jihyo flipped her hair

"Yeah. You don't have to remind me how you skipped grade 9 to study grade 10 here"

"You skipped?" I asked her

"Yeah. That's normal, right?" Jihyo shrugged

"I don't know. Maybe more normal than me, I guess"

"What do you mean?" Jimin asked

"I began studying early. Since I was four"

"No way!" Jimin exclaimed

"Actually, I kind of see that coming" Jihyo said

"Okay you smarty kids" Jimin said "Stop making me feel like I'm the only idiot"

"You feel like it because you are" Jihyo said while patting his shoulder

"Hey! That's not nice! You're my younger sister after all!" Jimin groaned.

It looks kind of fun snickering around with siblings. I wish I had siblings too.

—————————————————

Jihyo is like your sister, Mina. Sometimes, you don't have to be blood-related to be sisters.

And sometimes, you don't have to be siblings to really know each other.

————————————————

"Okay. Great to hangout with you two. We have classes to attend!" Jihyo parted away

"Guess it's just you and me now" Jimin smiled

I felt something jumped up in my stomach

"Who gets to class later will be Jihyo's cat!" He exclaimed
"And what that supposed to mean?"
"Long story. Let's race first!" And he ran away

Of course I couldn't catch up with him, so I'll gonna be experiencing how being Jihyo's cat feels like.

I got into class before the bell rang. Sat down beside him, I asked

"Okay. We're here. What is this all about?"

He could clearly see that I was frowning.

"Nothing really. It just that Jihyo has always wished to have a cat. But she has asthma so she can't have one"

"Oh. So you decided to be her cat?"

"It's not only because of that. It also because cats remind her of her mother"

Oh. That's why. Wait, her mother?

"Oh, I didn't mentioned. We're half blood siblings" he probably had noticed my face "We have the same dad. Her mother passed away a few years before my mother and I came in the scene"

Seemed like he wasn't talking to me anymore. He was recalling his memories.

"She talked to me about her mother a lot. I was the only one in the family that she could talk to about that. It's not like our parents mistreated her or something. She just nervous. And she was afraid that she would hurt our parents' feelings. Anyway, her mother love singing and cats. That's two iconic things about her. She has beautiful voice that Jihyo inherited. She usually travels far to work, but she always sends letters for her daughter, along with her hand drawing of a cute cat" he smiled

"It was also a cat that saved Jihyo's life in the incident that took her mom away" He said "I was the one who witnessed the whole incident" he said, his voice became shaky.

I placed a hand on his shoulder, softly patted it to make him calm down.

"Sorry, I was rambling too much, wasn't I?" He smiled shyly and scratched his head.

I smiled and shook my head. 

The siblings had gone through so much. How do they manage to smile and be so happy? Jihyo was so strong and brave. But she was hurt deep down in her heart.

And Jimin. He's probably one of the most caring brother who would do anything for his younger sister to feel better. He's suck a nice and gentle guy.

And sincere too.

I've never come across a guy like him. All the boys that I've met, they were so sycophantic because I was the daughter of The Myoui.

————————————————

Still The Myoui's daughter? But at least you know that you have people who love you for who you truly are now. Your parents, your grandma, your friends, your boyfriend,...

I can tell you everything about us before I went away.

Like the first time hanging out in the park. Right on the first day I knew them.

————————————————

"Wanna go to the park?" Jihyo asked
"Oh, what do the Parks want to do this time?" I joked. I heard that they're a problematic duo 
"Just hanging out. The problem duo doesn't deserve to take a rest?" Jimin winked
"I have a feeling that you two are up to no good" I said "But whatever you do, I'm in!"
"We appreciate your help Mina" Jimin smirked

——————————————

Open your closet, Mina. You'll see a shirt and a skirt covered with paint.

I guess you would freak out. Believe me, you guys didn't do anything illegal.

Anyway, the Park sibling had saved a worker from falling off from a 100-feet-high building. You must be wondering how. Until now, I have to say, I don't know. It's their smart usual selves. Normal people probably don't think like them.

But it was messy for sure. The worker was painting when he fell down. That's all you need to know.

"That was insane!" I exclaimed while looking at my clothes, which were covered in paints

"You still look cute though" Jimin said and casually wipe out a drop of paint on his nose

He thought I was cute?

"You have a little... uh..." Jimin looked at me and went closer

I saw his hand reaching out for my face as he wanted to help. I closed my eyes. Maybe it was because of shyness. Or because I want to enjoy it. Or both.

Oh?

His touch...

Was so soft...

"There" He smiled and look at me the way an artist would look at his painting

I felt threaten

"You look less like a penguin now" Jimin said, showing me his napkin, where a bit orange colour could be seen

"Penguin? Not again!" I pouted

"But penguins are cute" He said, and also pouted

Jihyo must have rolled her eyes for the nth time up till now, but I was too busy blushing. For the first time in 17 years of my existence. This is significant!

And well Mina, you blushed for the first time when Jimin said you were cute. It would be normal if it wasn't the first time you blushed.

All the flirty guys that wanted to by Myoui's heir can't be like him.

You have something special for him, don't you?

"Eyy love penguins!" Jihyo called. She was bored I guess

She successfully woke me up from my daydream

"What now Jiji?" Jimin asked

He didn't want us to be called love birds or anything near that.

But I'm fine with it

"Mina? Are you ok? Why did you suddenly stop?" Jimin turned back immediately when he noticed that I'm not walking beside him. He placed a hand on my shoulder and looked at me with his loving eyes, or I think so

His warmth was so comforting. How ironic.

"I'm fine with Jiji or anyone calling us love birds..." I pouted

Heck, Mina. This is too soon. Oh no, what would he say? Oh my god! Girls shouldn't be the first one to confess!

I kicked a small rock which happed to be in my way, imagining it was me kicking myself.

Jimin laughed and hugged me.

"Hey!" I pushed his head out of my shoulder "What's so funny?"

"Nothing" He shrugged

We stayed like that for awhile. His warmth somehow placed a small heater in my heart. And just like that, I was falling deeper.

"Hey, I'm just thinking that..." Jimin suddenly said when we were back on track

What he was going to say? Was he going to...?

"It must be so funny if we both wear a penguin pajama" Jimin said. I don't think it was really what Jimin was going to say.

"I can get her one like yours" Jihyo shrugged like it's no biggie. This motherly kid...

" It's okay. I've already had one"

"No way!" Jihyo pushed me "This will be even funnier if they turn out to be the same. Do you have picture of it?"

"Well yes, I guess..." I searched for the picture and showed them

"This is destiny!" Jimin dramatically said

"I accept my fate" I reply with the same attitude

He laughed and hugged me "Let's plan on a sleep over"

I wonder if this is his poppy attitude all the time or he really likes me

...what am I thinking?

Let's say, you have to wait until you meet all of them

And also, treat your family well. They miss you, if my prediction is correct. Kind of surprising to me when I found out. I think I loved them much more than before, and you should too.

Give out more love
Mina

To be continued...