Mina wakes up late Sunday morning well-rested and in a fantastic mood.
She’d hold onto the memory of Chaeyoung’s dumbstruck face as she walked away from her and slipped back into her apartment for a very long time. Possibly forever.
In fact she was willing to wager that she was the only woman in who ever walked away from a Son Chaeyoung.
It felt damn good to be distinguished like that.
A few minutes after she woke, the phone on her bedside table buzz. She rolls over and yanks it off the charger to see a text from Sana.
"I’m hungover,I need mimosas and details."
Mina chuckles and pushes a lock of hair out of her eyes as she types out her response.
Deal. Brunch at Rainbow Twice in half an hour?
The phone buzz once again with her best friend’s answer.
Make it a full hour and you’re on
Mina arrives at their brunch spot at the designated time. Sana was already waiting for her at a table on the patio, taking refuge under the shade of a pink umbrella and a pair of aviators.
“Ugh you look annoyingly well-rested” Sana groans as she pushes a glass of water toward her best friend.
“Yep” Mina chirps. “I got a good night’s sleep on a Saturday for once.”
Sana perks up at that. “Yeah” she nods as she leans forward. “I want to hear all about it. The last I saw was you and Chaeyoung slinking off the dance floor, her practically dragging you through the crowd and out of the club.”
Mina smirk and start the story. She tells Sana about how they grinded up on each other on the dance floor for almost two hours, nonstop. She used every dance move at her disposal to get Chaeyoung as frustrated as she could until she invited her back to her apartment. Then, she described in the fifteen-minute ride back in full, explicit clarity.
Halfway through the story Sana had to lean back in her chair and fan herself. “Damn” she sigh. “Mina Sharon Myoui you vixen, I can't believe you did that.”
“I’m not done yet.”
Then Mina dives into her favorite part. How she left the great Son Chaeyoung hanging in the doorway of her apartment by leaving her with a kiss and a smile she wasn’t likely to forget any time soon before disappearing into her own apartment.
When she finishes her story Sana’s jaw drop. “Damn Sharon!” she curses again
She smiles gloatingly as she lifts her mimosa glass to her lips and took a long swig.
“Girl I have to hand it to you though” Sana continues “I don’t know how you had the strength to walk away from that. I mean Chaeyoung, she’s like one fine-as-hell specimen and from the way you talk about the car ride back, you had to have the strength of Wonder Woman herself to walk away from that.”
Mina shrugs at that. Yeah Sana was right. There was a part of her brain that really wanted to follow Chaeyoung into that apartment door and the want to let her unzip her dress while she pushes Chaeyoung's coat off her shoulders. To wrap her legs around Chaeyoung's waist while she carries her to the bedroom. The want to see if Chaeyoung could make her scream as loudly as all her other sexual partners.
But then she remembered with distaste just how many different women she heard Chaeyoung bring into her bed in the short time she lived in the apartment next to hers and she knew that she would rather be known as the only woman to walk away from Son Chaeyoung than just another notch in her worn-out bed post.
Nope she thought to herself. She’d hold on to this feeling of deep satisfaction at knowing that she had officially won the prank war. And there was nothing Chaeyoung could do now that could dampen her spirit.
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Chaeyoung was not eavesdropping on her not 40's lonely,single neighbor.
No, eavesdropping would have implied that her neighbor was there in the first place and saying things that she could overhear. As it was Mina was apparently not in her apartment at all.
Chaeyoung had been pressing her ear against their shared wall ever since she woke up from her fitful sleep and there was no noise whatsoever. Nothing. Nada. Zip.
Hours after Sharon had revealed herself to be her next-door neighbor, she had to admit that she won. This prank war was firmly in Mina's win column.
She wasn’t a sore enough loser to try and take this victory away from Mina.
She was, however, fixated on her.
She e couldn’t forget how Mina danced with her, swayed against her body, pressed her back against her front.
She couldn't also couldn’t forget how Mina's tongue dragged down her jaw and along the column of hy neck, sucking on her pressure point as Mina carded her fingers through her raven hair in that elevator.
She couldn’t get the smell of Mina's perfume out of her nose. It was all over her clothes from the night before which were now strewn all over the floor of her bedroom. Hence Mina's smell linger in the air even though she’d never stepped foot in her apartment.
Damn it Chaeyoung thought to herself as she scrub her hands over her face. She was hooked and she knew it.
The only thing she could think to do at that moment (other than sit vigil by the wall, waiting for her to come home) was to call her sister at college.
After a few rings Somi picks up. “Sup' bro!” she crow on her end. “To what do I owe this marvelous pleasure.
“I need your help” Chaeyoung begins. Then from there she launch into the whole story. She told her sister about how it all started with a passive aggressive note, turned into an escalating war between next-door neighbors until it culminated in her unknowingly trying to hook up with the very same woman she’d been purposely trying to get a rise out of for the past month or so.
When she finish the tale, Somi let out an incredulous laugh. “You really did it this time Chaeng.”
Chaeyoung sigh “Can you just tell me how to fix this, please?”
Somi hums in thought. “What was her name again?”
“Sharon, I mean Mina And the name on her mailbox in the lobby says Myoui so Mina Myoui”
“Oh that name rings a bell. I think Dad talked about promoting an IT girl a few months ago named Myoui Mina. She’s now in charge of the IT department, Apparently she’s brilliantly smart.”
Yes Chaeyoung thought triumphantly to herself, she had a clue.
“What else did Dad say about her? Do you remember?”
“You were there too you know” Somi points out with mild annoyance.
“Yeah but you know I never pay attention to Dad when he’s talking about the company.”
Somi sigh. “He said she’s one of the smartest hires he’s made in years. She graduated the top of her class at MIT and right out of college he snatched her away from a job offer at Bhuwakul's Enterprises.”
Chaeyoung made a face at the name. She knew Bambam Bhuwakul and she didn’t like the idea of Mina having to work for him. Even if the tabloids constantly compared their partying, philandering ways.
“OK so she’s clearly smart” she says
“She’s more than smart” Somi answers “She’s a genius so if you want to hook up with her or get her date you you’re going to have to be smart about it too.”
Her sister was right as she’d learned Mina was far different than any woman she’d ever met. Mina knew more than to be impressed with any of her usual tricks. Mina could also see right through her. In fact Mina might be the only woman who wasn’t related to her who could.
Hours after Chaeyoung had hung up with her sister she was still mapping out here next move. It was time to start a new war, a different war. A war for Mina’s affections.
But how to do it? Chaeyoung was lying on her bed, staring up at the ceiling above her as she ponder the question. Then she suddenly hear a weird banging on the other side of her wall.
It was the first sign of life she’d heard from her neighbor’s side and she jump up to listen. She mildly realize that this could be considered a form of creepy stalking but no one could really blame her. Not when she couldn’t get the memory of Mina body pressed against hers out of her mind.
Chaeyoung was straining her ears, trying to figure out what was happening on the other side. But after a minute the straining becomes unnecessary. She hears a sudden loud bang, followed by a steady stream of the most creative curses she had ever heard in her life.
“Goddamn it! Stupid fucking table! Stupid, piece of shit, motherfucking bitch ass, twat-swatting pile of FUCK!”
Chaeyoung's eyes widen in surprise while her mouth pulls up in an unexpected smile.
“Fucking IKEA! Fuck their tables! Fuck their furniture! Fuck their meatballs! I mean what the shit is this? What even ARE these instructions? WHAT THE SHIT DOES ANY OF THIS EVEN MEAN? Who the fuck writes instructions like this? Who the fuck CAN READ instructions like this? I didn’t major in obscure Swedish hieroglyphics!”
Chaeyoung put a hand over her mouth to keep her giggles quiet but it got more and more difficult with each frustrated growl.
“What the fuck is this piece even supposed to do? WHY THE HELL IS THERE A LEFTOVER SCREW? GODDAMN IT!”
Chaeyoung pictures the scene in her head. She imagined the beautiful Mina, her hair a mess as she sits on the floor uttering every curse she knew as she tries to piece together an IKEA table. For whatever reason this woman was a genius but it seemed her kryptonite came in the form of impossible, puzzle of a furniture.
She didn’t know why but that endeared Mina to her even more.
There was another loud thump and a bang. It sounds like perhaps Mina had thrown a piece across the room.
“Ugh why is this so complicated? Putting together a simple coffee table shouldn’t... Be.. So... Fucking... Complicated!”
Every word was punctuated with a loud bang, like she was bringing a hammer down on something solid like a rock or a diamond. Chaeyoung practically had to stuff her hand into her mouth to keep herself from laughing loud enough for the whole building to hear.
“You know what? Fuck this. Fuck this shit, fuck this fucking table, fuck IKEA.”
That was the last thing Chaeyoung hears before another loud bang and the slam of a door. She assume Mina had taken a break from trying to assemble her table to cool off before starting over or maybe Mina wasn’t starting over. Maybe Mina decided the cheap table wasn’t worth the cost to her mental health and had given up altogether. Chaeyoung hopes for Mina sake that she chose the latter.
As funny as it was to hear her lose her cool over a table, the incident put into perspective just how justified Mina’s frustrations with her were.
Good lord Chaeyoung thought. If she could hear Mina that crystal clear imagine how easily she could hear everything she did on this side of the wall.
Well no wonder Mina hated her.
Chaeyoung settles back onto her bed, staring up at the ceiling, once again lost in thought. Her thoughts wandered to IKEA. She had never actually set foot in a store before. She’d never had to put together a piece of furniture before really. All the furniture she bought had come already assembled. Even her coffee table had been a housewarming gift from Dahyun.
Suddenly it came to her like an epiphany.
She knew how to get Mina's attention.
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Sorry for any errors