you know how to ball, I know Aristotle

by minguin_nabongs

Summary:

Minatozaki Sana believed that only two things in this world were infinite: space, and her hatred for Myoui Mina.

Notes:

The physics of space are not known to me... so if you're wondering why the puzzle pieces float but the popcorn doesn't, that is none of my business.

Jokes aside I've never really done slow burn before. Or space. Or enemies to lovers. So let me know what you think in the comments! I'll be back with the other fic shortly I promise!

For as long as Sana could remember, she had hated Myoui Mina. It had started in elementary school, where on the first day of second grade, Sana had been standing in line with her lunch tray in the cafeteria. She was looking around for her friends, excited to talk with them about the latest episode of Hannah Montana and show them her cool necklace. As she was walking, Mina had pushed her from behind and her face had gone right into the spaghetti on her tray. She was so embarrassed, but she immediately got up and pushed Mina down, too. It felt right and as she looked down at Mina, both faces covered in noodles and sauce, she saw an equal fire. From that day on, Sana knew she would do everything in her power to make Mina’s life hell. 

 

It had started small. There would be some light pushing on the playground, or some exclusion from games. Sana saw Mina’s fingertips were yellow one day and she started a rumor that Mina picked her nose, ending with everyone calling her “snot girl.” Mina took Sana’s glasses and started calling her Helen Keller because of how thick they were, which took a turn when 3OH!3’s “Don’t Trust Me” was released. Sana would take the last double chocolate cookie that she knew Mina wanted just to throw it away, and Mina would lick the vanilla cupcakes before placing them on her desk. Sana hated vanilla. Mina ruined Sana’s solar system for the science fair, and Sana had torn up Mina’s watercolor painting. Sana even went as far as to make sure that none of Mina’s favorite songs were played at the school dance. 

 

However, as they grew older, their hatred became more covert. Mina wrote fake love letters from Sana’s crush and dropped them in her locker, leading up to a moment where Sana cried alone in the school parking lot, waiting hours for him to show up for a date. Sana remembered her blood boiling when she compared the handwriting and realized they were all from Mina. A couple weeks later, Sana overheard Mina coming out to her friend, a vulnerable moment. She remembered the confidence she felt as she cornered Mina after school one day, the smirk she had on her face as she told Mina what she knew. She remembered the fear in Mina’s eyes, that she quickly tried to mask with confidence, saying that no one would believe Sana, that it would be stupid to do. It was not her proudest moment, but she went and told everyone Mina was a lesbian. She didn’t know if Mina knew that it was her that started the rumor, but when Mina didn’t come to school for a month, she started to wonder if maybe she had gone too far. A couple months later, Sana found herself in the principal’s office with accusations of hooking up with a teacher, and although the accusations were true (Sana needed a boost in her grade, which Mr. McMann was almost too happy to negotiate with her), she still resented the fact that it happened and that it reversed her grade. She never knew for sure if it was Mina, but Mina had after school activities near Mr. McMann’s room and Sana had a sneaking suspicion. 

 

In some ways, their rivalry had been helpful. As much as she resented her, Sana knew Mina was a genius, and any competition was an opportunity. This incentivized her to study harder in high school, especially since she knew she could beat Mina in English and History. She would still try in Math and Science, but those were areas she knew she could excel. They’d compare scores, each trying to one up the other every class. Mina had opted to take two languages while Sana had opted to take art history classes to boost her GPA. Sana had been cheer captain, editor of the school newspaper, and class president while Mina was captain of the soccer team, president of the National Honor Society, and co-captain of the dance team. When graduation rolled around, Sana found out she had been beaten by Mina by a hundredth of a point. She remembered the pit in her stomach as she watched Mina smirk down at her from the podium while giving her valedictorian speech, her jaw clenched and fists tightening as Mina talked about how hard she had worked to get there. Sana scoffed, there was no effort there, Mina was just smart. Perhaps someone who had to study hard should’ve gotten the speech, like herself. 

 

Unfortunately, their grades had allowed them both to be accepted to the top university in Korea, which they both decided to attend. And with such a large campus, one would assume they would never cross paths, however that was not the case. Mina was double majoring in mechanical and electrical engineering while Sana was majoring in computer engineering and attending pilot courses. They ended up in the same class at least once a semester, where their competitiveness would leak out in class debates and the professors would have to kindly ask them to stop. Sana hated all of Mina’s opinions, even if she agreed with them. She would spend extra time studying both sides of an argument so she could fight her. The day she agreed with Mina, she hoped Mina would stop breathing. 

 

To further complicate things, one rainy day Sana had come home from a long day of classes to see Mina fucking her long term boyfriend in her bed. The image of Mina smirking was seared into her mind, knowing exactly how devious of a plot this was since she didn’t even like men. Sana had seen red that day, yelling at both of them, not even giving her boyfriend a chance to explain before throwing all his belongings off the balcony. Mina had winked and left, jacket in tow. The breakup had broken Sana in several ways, one of them being academically. She did well, but when she looked at the convocation program and saw Mina’s name as the Summa cum laude speaker, her fists immediately crumpled the paper. 

 

They split paths in graduate school, and Sana hoped and prayed she would never see Mina ever again. Her blood pressure spiked whenever she thought of her, and she couldn’t spend another day being reminded of the smug look on her face while riding her could’ve been fiance. She had sent a glitter bomb to Mina’s apartment one day, and the only way she knew it had been received was because she found a box of cow manure on her front porch and there were traces of glitter in the box, even a month later. She couldn’t contain the grin on her face as she took the box and dumped it in her garden. 

 

Sana had obtained her master’s degree with honors in computer science, and had landed her dream job at NASA. Her friend Jihyo had also accepted a job there, and they were headed inside for their first day orientation. Sana couldn’t believe she had gotten here since the acceptance rate was so low, but here they both were. She looked around the room, a feeling of excitement since she would get to work with the most brilliant minds in their respective fields. That is, until her eyes landed on a certain set of moles on an all too familiar face. 

 

Of course Mina was here, too. The universe really couldn’t keep them apart, and Sana cursed it for bringing them together again. The image of Mina and her ex flashed across her mind, and she tugged at the collar of her shirt, trying to not cause a scene. Luckily, they ended up working in completely different departments, so their paths rarely crossed. She would occasionally hear something from Jihyo, who worked with Mina’s team, but that was it. There was an underlying simmer in Sana’s stomach realizing that her life might forever be entangled with Mina’s since they worked together, and she resented that very much. 

 

-

 

It had been four years since Sana started at NASA and had steadily climbed her way up the ranks to be the most senior in her department. She would say she was proud, but unfortunately she had to watch Mina do the same. She had thought of finding a way to get Mina fired, but with the state of the planet, she quickly got too busy to continue her scheming. 

 

The latest reports had come in, and the planet would only be able to support humanity as it was for 50 more years given the current carbon emissions, exponential increase in global temperature, and the way they were burning through the planet’s non-renewable resources. NASA was starting to send their researchers in batches to different planets and androids, hoping to find either a new place to consider home or find alternative ways to extend their time on Earth. 

 

The time came for the announcement of who would pilot the next mission to space, and Sana felt like it had to be her. The mission would take one year and involved re-programming satellites to scan for other life forms and planetary hospitability for human life, while also recharging them and taking any data they had collected and compiling it. Sana had written her thesis on satellites and how they could more efficiently be used for research, one of the ways specifically to scan for life. It was like this mission was meant for her. She was also the most well rounded and had recently solved a critical issue with their paneling. If they didn’t pick her for this mission, they would be stupid. 

 

When they said her name over the speaker, Sana felt immense joy, realizing that everything she had worked so hard to become had finally come true. Tears ran down her face as she realized that she was going to go to space. She was going to achieve her lifelong dream of going to space and saving human civilization in ways beyond her imagination, she had finally done it. Her friend Jihyo cheered with her, also having been announced as part of this mission. They had gone through so much in graduate school together, it only felt right that they were doing this together, too. More names were announced, Chou Tzuyu and Kim Dahyun of the biology department and environmental research department, Son Chaeyoung who was an ER doctor before coming to work for NASA, and Im Nayeon from the engineering department. Sana had talked with them briefly, but she was excited to keep working with them. 

 

“And finally, Myoui Mina.” The words were like a gunshot to Sana’s head. She couldn’t believe that this was happening. She thought that the universe was finally on her side, giving her this opportunity and not Mina, and now it felt like it was being ripped away. She quickly found Mina in the crowd, and they locked eyes. Where she assumed Mina would be smirking by now, she saw the realization of the gravity of the situation in the other girl’s eyes. The fact that they would be spending the next year together in close quarters, with only five other people to buffer.   

 

Sana thought about talking to her captain and saying Mina was a risk to the mission. She thought about telling Mina to decline. She thought about opting herself out of it. She had already spent most of her life with Mina, why was this continuing? She knew she couldn’t do any of those things, knowing it would ultimately be taken as a sign of weakness and lead to her losing out on the opportunity to go to space at all. And she knew Mina was thinking the same thing, and would come to the same conclusion. She let out a deep sigh before plastering a smile to her face and accepting congratulations from everyone. 

 

Mina appeared with the fakest smile, extending a hand and giving a hard squeeze to Sana’s hand, who hid the pain well. It seemed as though neither of them would be backing down. 

 

-

 

Sana stood in front of the rocket doorway and took a deep breath. Everything in her life had led up to this moment, and she was about to go to space. She had spent the night before with her family, promising to send messages often even if they would take months to get to them. The idea of leaving them for a year was daunting, and she had cried about it the night before. She felt someone push past her in the narrow hallway, aggressively bumping her shoulder, and she instinctively knew it was Mina. Sana still couldn’t believe she would be trapped on the spaceship with her nemesis, but she figured she had already known Mina for this long, so it would be fine. 

 

“Hey, watch it!” Sana spat out, anger in her face as she watched Mina turn around to face her. 

 

“Didn’t see you there. Did you do your checks already?” When they interacted, Mina always acted professional and neutral towards her, but Sana could always sense the underlying bite that came with everything she did. A couple months ago, the break room sink had randomly sprayed Sana, and she turned to see Mina high-fiving the other engineers as she huffed out of the room. It was so childish, but she couldn’t help but retaliate. She didn’t want to do anything too crazy and endanger her position, but she had been placing strands of her hair in Mina’s lunch for months now. 

 

“Not yet, have you?” Sana plastered a polite grin on her face as some other engineers walked by doing their last minute checks. 

 

“Yeah, I’m about to do my double checks. You should, too.” Mina grinned before putting her hands in her pockets and strutting away. Sana couldn’t believe what she had said to her. She was going to check the rocket extremely well, maybe even three times to outdo Mina. 

 

“I can’t believe I’m going to be stuck between you two for the next year,” Jihyo mumbled as she approached the doorway. She had heard rumors of their feud in grad school, but having seen it up close for the past couple months as they hashed through the details of their mission was completely different. They had started shouting matches, stunning the others in the room, who then quickly learned of their history. In a side meeting without Sana and Mina, Jihyo pleaded with them to stay on the mission and to try and remain neutral. Nayeon had her reservations, considering Jihyo was friends with Sana and she was friends with Mina, neither of them could pretend to not care. Jihyo agreed, and asked that they try and push them towards peace instead, which Nayeon heartily agreed to. 

 

“I know you’re the captain so you’re supposed to stay neutral, but you’re going to see exactly why I hate her,” Sana said with a shrug, following her into the shuttle. 

 

Sana’s main role, put simply, was to make sure the computers worked. This included the systems controlling the rocket, their communication to the base, and getting information to and from the satellites. Chaeyoung’s job was to monitor everyone’s health, which was tied to the watches they would be wearing 24/7, and administer any medications and care as needed. Dahyun and Tzuyu would be responsible for collecting samples and reviewing the data collected by the satellites to send back to Earth as soon as possible. Mina and Nayeon’s jobs were two fold, ensuring that the mechanics and electricity of the shuttle continued to function the way they needed to. Jihyo’s job as captain was to get them where they were going, both by piloting the vessel but also keeping everyone in check during this expedition. She had asked that each person had dabbled in the other departments prior to the mission just so they could help each other if needed, but a couple months of training would never match up to years of experience. 

 

“Come on, let’s go,” Dahyun said cheerfully as she ran up and put her arms around both of them. Even though they hadn’t known each other long, Sana liked Dahyun. She was so optimistic, always spouting off random biology facts, and she had even de-escalated some of the fights between Sana and Mina. Jihyo was glad she was around, shoulders relaxing in her presence. “This is our 4,000 square foot home for the next year.” 

 

-

 

Sana looked out the window, watching the Earth grow smaller and smaller. It was funny, how often she had dreamed of this moment and how surreal it felt to be on the shuttle, the fate of the world in her hands. She had so many reasons to be here, to work hard and make sure the mission was a success. She knew everything that needed to happen, it was like breathing to her. Why was she feeling nervous? 

 

“It’s crazy, right?” Chaeyoung slid in next to her, tablet in hand. “You doing ok?”

 

“Yeah, I’m good Dr. Son, don’t worry,” Sana said quickly, eyes not leaving the window. 

 

“We talked about this, just call me Chaeyoung. And while I’m inclined to agree, I can see your heart rate is up and I have to check in.”

 

Sana couldn’t help but blush. “You can see that?”

 

“I can see everything. Heart rate, oxygen levels, blood pressure. I’ll be doing blood draws next week to make sure your vitals are good but yeah, I also did a year at a psychiatrist's office. Not as a patient,” Chaeyoung winked as she tapped on the tablet. She swiped over to a screen with each of their pictures and some numbers by them. “This is where I can see everyone’s heart rates. The heart meter will show everyone’s heart rate and it’ll flash red if it goes too high or blue if god forbid it gets too low.” 

 

“I’ll keep that in mind then,” Sana giggled. They sat there in a comfortable silence, which Sana hadn’t expected since they had only met several months ago. She had found Chaeyoung to be interesting, albeit a little nerdy. She hadn’t felt the need to know that much about medicine in space, but she appreciated the enthusiasm and hoped that it would translate to their care on the mission. Chaeyoung rattled off some debate about chest compressions in space, which she argued would never work due to the lack of gravity and force a person would be able to exert in space. Chaeyoung was rather soft spoken but definitely opinionated, and Sana had been impressed each time she had spoken up. She didn’t feel ready to open up, but she did feel like Chaeyoung was someone she could talk to in the future. 

 

“What are you guys up to?” Tzuyu peeked around the corner and stood in awe of the view they were both admiring. 

 

Chaeyoung looked like she was trying to form words to respond, and Sana looked down at her tablet. “Dr. Son, your heart rate just spiked, are you ok?” Although her figure’s heart rate had gone back down, Chaeyoung’s had leapt up. 

 

“Maybe this thing isn’t working, I’d better go check on this and make sure it’s fine,” Chaeyoung said quickly, getting up and exiting the room.

 

“Weird,” Tzuyu said before sitting down in the space Chaeyoung had occupied. Tzuyu was a strong silent presence, and even though she was the youngest, she proved to be extremely hardworking and knowledgeable. Sana had only spoken to her a handful of times since Dahyun was usually her point of communication with their team, but she was excited to work with Tzuyu more. 

 

“Oh I want to see!” Nayeon came into the doorway and stopped, realizing there wasn’t enough room for all of them. Sana was wary of Nayeon since she was Mina’s friend, but she was still willing to be wrong about her. But she couldn’t understand why anyone would want to be friends with someone who was as rude as Mina. 

 

“I’ve been here awhile so I can go, have you seen Jihyo?” Sana moved to the doorway, still trying to get used to the feeling of zero gravity. 

 

“I think she’s at the flight deck,” Nayeon replied. When Sana exited, she slid in, excitedly taking pictures on her phone and talking to Tzuyu.

 

Sana was still trying to figure out how to get around the ship when she entered the hallway right outside of the flight deck. She saw a figure at the end of the hallway and pulled back to attack the person, assuming it was Jihyo. However, as she was careening towards the figure, they turned around and she went face first into Mina. 

 

“Hey, watch it!” Mina spat, finding herself face to face with the other girl, sandwiched between her and the wall. 

 

Sana knew she was in the wrong, but she would not be the one to apologize, even in this situation. “Get out of my way, Myoui.”

 

“Or what?” Mina challenged, eyebrow raised. Sana grit her teeth, realizing it was an empty threat. She wouldn’t try and physically fight this girl, and she would never put the mission at risk by sabotaging anything she did. Before she could think of something, the door opened and they both floated into the flight deck, facing a skeptical Jihyo.

 

“Am I interrupting something?” They quickly pushed apart and Mina mumbled something about grabbing a snack from the kitchen area before leaving the room. When the door closed behind Mina, Sana quickly started trying to explain what happened until she was cut off by Jihyo. “I don’t want to hear it, I need you two to not fight.”

 

“That’s crazy, Jihyo, and you know it,” Sana sighed.

 

“We are a crew of six women in space, crazier things have happened already than two people making peace.” Jihyo bopped around the control panel, checking numbers and pressing some buttons. Jihyo was one of the smartest people Sana knew, and she was also one of her closest confidants. They had been through grad school, break ups, and work together now. She knew she could depend on Jihyo, for support and for truth, and now was one of the moments she knew Jihyo was being truthful. 

 

Sana wanted to protest, but was cut off by Jihyo again. “Cohesion is one of the most important pieces of a mission like this, we are going to be here for a year, and if your pettiness is going to impact this mission, especially when the fate of the world is in our hands, then neither of you should be here.” 

 

“Did you have the same conversation with Mina?” Sana asked. 

 

“Yeah, literally right before you got here.”

 

“Well she was mean to me!” Sana replied defensively.

 

“It sounds like you launched yourself into her,” Jihyo said. “Which I’d probably say the same thing, we are already packed like sardines in here, no need to mount her-”

 

“It’s not like that and you know it, I explained right when I got here!” Sana exclaimed. 

 

“Just please try, Sana. We have a year,” Jihyo plead. Sana wasn’t used to this from Jihyo, but she imagined the stress of being captain and the fate of this mission riding on her shoulders weighed heavily. She nodded, giving her friend a tight hug. “Thank you.” 

 

“Do you need anything else from me?” Sana asked, pausing before she left the room. 

 

“Oh, what did you come in here to talk to me about?” Jihyo asked. 

 

“Can’t a girl see her best friend?” Sana said, cheesy grin on her face. Jihyo wasn’t buying it but she smiled back. “I was hanging with Dr. Son earlier and she was showing me how she can watch all of our heart rates? But then the funniest thing happened, Tzuyu walked into the room and hers skyrocketed-”

 

Jihyo started laughing, bumping into Sana. “You didn’t catch that before? Dr. Son has the biggest heart eyes whenever Tzuyu is around.” 

 

“Really? Wow well this is going to be interesting then. Do you think she will make a move?” Sana asked. 

 

“I don’t think she realizes. She’s got a year in close quarters with her though, anything is possible,” Jihyo chuckled. 

 

“Interesting,” Sana smirked. “Ok, well I’ll talk to you later, I think I’m going to go to bed soon.” They all slept in shifts, and Jihyo was testing different rotations based on Chaeyoung’s recommendations. Tonight, Sana, Dahyun, and Chaeyoung would take the first sleep shift. 

 

“No scheming, unless it’s a scheme for peace between you and Mina. Thanks for stopping by, Sana, sleep well.”

 

-

 

Peace between Mina and Sana was extremely short-lived, lasting exactly nineteen days. Even then, it was a cycle of condescending comments masked as compliments until a large fight would break out, and then one of the crew members would gently try and calm them down, to which they would return to a place of neutrality. Tonight, Jihyo had asked Chaeyoung to put Sana and Mina on the sleep schedule at the same time so that the rest of the team could hold an emergency meeting. 

 

“I don’t think I can live like this anymore, is it possible to turn the ship around?” Dahyun asked, and everyone laughed even though they sensed the serious tone at the core of it. 

 

“Unfortunately, I don’t think we can. Or that we should. Because we have some of the best minds on this crew, we have to figure this out,” Jihyo sighed. 

 

“We are lucky they haven’t broken anything,” Tzuyu said quickly. “Oh except for that beaker. I can’t believe Sana threw it at Mina.”

 

Everyone shuddered, remembering the fight that had broken out that day because Mina didn’t think that aerospace engineering was as difficult as electrical engineering. It was clear to everyone else that Mina was just trying to get under Sana’s skin, however Sana couldn’t see beyond her rage that day. 

 

“Captain, I think this mostly rides on me and you since we know them best,” Nayeon said, to which Jihyo nodded. They had formed quite a rapport, both of them being confidants of the people in question. 

 

“Ok, let’s start at the beginning then,” Dahyun said, pulling out some paper. Jihyo started by going over everything she knew about Sana and Mina’s rivalry, starting from elementary school to now. Nayeon shared similar stories, filling some gaps and perspectives for the team. Dahyun, Chaeyoung, and Tzuyu shared insights from their recent interactions with them and how the fights had impacted them. 

 

“I’m not going to lie, that’s kind of crazy to have a nemesis for that long. And what are the odds they end up at the same place of work and are on the same mission?” Chaeyoung said wistfully, also contemplating what she had done in a past life to place her here between them.

 

“It’s crazy for sure, but what are we going to do?” Tzuyu asked. She seemed to be the most affected by the contention, and Jihyo felt especially bad about that. 

 

“Based on what I know and what Nayeon said, it seems like they’ve both really hurt each other, and it all started as a misunderstanding. Maybe they just need to talk it out?” Jihyo wondered aloud. Everyone in the room nodded slightly, willing to try almost anything at this point. 

 

“Wait, I have a plan. It might be crazy but that’s why I think it might work,” Nayeon smirked. 

 

-

 

Sana woke up slowly, she still hadn’t fully adjusted to sleeping in space. They were strapped in standing up, and the hours they slept at were odd, although she wasn’t clear what time it was in general. As her eyes fluttered open, she looked around to see Mina sleeping in the furthest bed possible from her. She smirked, realizing that she had gotten under Mina’s skin yesterday after throwing the beaker. She felt bad for everyone else, but she had a point to make! Mina was wrong and everyone needed to know! 

 

The tranquility didn’t last long, as the emergency lights and sirens started flashing, and Dahyun and Tzuyu ran into the room, quickly unstrapping them. 

 

“What’s going on?” Sana asked, panic evident in her voice. 

 

“There’s an issue with the computer and electrical in the airlock, you both need to get in there NOW!” Dahyun yelled, dragging her out of the bed and down the hall. Tzuyu did the same with a very alert Mina. 

 

“Nayeon is checking the panel in the lower deck, but we think this is where the issue is,” Tzuyu yelled to them. 

 

“Of course this would happen when we are asleep,” Mina mumbled, slightly disoriented by the lights and sirens blaring. 

 

“I was waking up already, it’s like I have a sixth sense for these things. Gotta stay alert, Myoui,” Sana smirked. Mina rolled her eyes. 

 

The airlock was a fairly tight room, only used when someone needed to leave the aircraft in space. One or two people would get in, suit up, and the door from the cabin would close. The chamber would then open on the other end, allowing the individual to go into space. 

 

“Watch it,” Mina mumbled as her and Sana both climbed in. Physical contact was inevitable with how small the space was and the separate areas they needed to access. As they both started to do their checks, the emergency lights and noises stopped. They both looked up with puzzled expressions.

 

Jihyo stood above them with Nayeon, who waved. “The crew has had enough of your fighting. We are locking you in here until you figure your shit out, love you both.”

 

Before either of them could say anything, Nayeon tossed in a day’s worth of food and slammed the door shut. 

 

“Are you serious?!” Sana yelled, rushing to the door to try and push it open. She struggled for a few minutes, grunts of effort echoing in the chamber. 

 

“It’s not going to work, we aren’t going to be able to leave until they let us. At least, I really hope not, otherwise that’s a bad sign,” Mina sighed. 

 

“That’s right!” Nayeon yelled through the door. “Make peace and talk!” 

 

Sana realized she was trapped in here with Mina, the person she hated most in the world, and there was genuinely no escape. She contemplated hitting the button that would send them both into space, but decided against it since she wanted to survive this mission. There was no way they would be able to make peace, they had tried for weeks. Or, at least, she had. Mina didn’t seem to try at all. 

 

“If you stay in your corner, I’ll stay in mine. My senses are dulled, but you still stink,” Mina said, inching away to the other side. There was maybe three feet of distance between them even though they were sitting at the furthest points. Sana was now reconsidering opening the airlock into space. 

 

Sana sat there and weighed her options. She could lie to make peace, figure something out and stew in silence away from everyone. However, she had been trying to be nice since they got on this rocket and clearly it hadn’t worked. Maybe if Mina was less insufferable, then maybe they could make it work. Perhaps the first option. 

 

“Should we just pretend like we like each other so they’ll let us out?” Mina asked, as if reading her mind. Sana raised an eyebrow. 

 

“We can hear you!” Dahyun yelled. Sana and Mina both rolled their eyes. Sana just poked around at some micron of dust, pushing it around on the floor. She pulled her legs to her chest and looked at Mina, who was sitting similarly. She slowly turned her body to Mina. 

 

“We couldn’t even make peace for two weeks, I doubt you’re a better actress,” Sana scoffed. 

 

Mina smirked, eyes wicked as she spoke. “I mean, your boyfriend believed me when I was riding his d-”

 

Sana yelled and jumped across the room, eyes wild as the blood rushed through her veins, knuckles white as she gripped the collar of Mina’s shirt. She pulled her right arm back to punch the other girl in the face, fist hanging in the air as Mina braced for impact, eyes closed. Sana had dreamt of a moment like this, how it would feel to let her rage take over and give Mina what she deserved. Years of hatred building up to this one moment, why couldn’t she release her arm into Mina’s stupid face? Sana looked down and for a split second she saw elementary school Mina, who was small and had yet to do anything to her. 

 

Mina slowly opened one eye and then the other. She blinked slowly as she looked between Sana’s face and then her fist. Sana was still breathing heavily, a grimace on her face. 

 

-

 

“They’re going to kill each other, should we check on them?” Nayeon asked nervously, glancing over at Jihyo and then the door to the airlock. 

 

“Give them a little longer. If they stay quiet too long then we can check on them,” Jihyo said slowly, also wondering if this was still a good idea. 

 

“If one of them dies, that's extra rations for us, right?” Tzuyu joked, immediately regretting it when Nayeon and Jihyo both glared at her. 

 

-

 

Sana let go of Mina’s shirt and dropped her arm, leaning back against the wall across from Mina in defeat, face expressionless as she sat down. They sat in silence, taking turns staring at each other then looking away quickly when they made eye contact. Sana started cracking her knuckles and she noticed Mina staring at her hands. 

 

“Why didn’t you do it?” Mina whispered, eyes low. She was picking at her nails, which Sana remembered Mina did when she was nervous. 

 

“I don’t... really know,” Sana replied. She had an idea why, but she wasn’t sure she was ready to speak it out loud. But deep down, maybe she thought she deserved it. 

 

“I would’ve deserved it.” It was eerie how often Sana would have a thought and Mina would say exactly what she was thinking.

 

“Well he was a pretty shitty boyfriend anyways. He forgot my birthday and our anniversary, and he was stupid enough to sleep with my nemesis, so really I dodged a bullet,” Sana chuckled, a small sense of relief as she saw Mina smile a little. “And well, I outed you in high school.”

 

“Yeah, that was pretty fucked up,” Mina replied, tone a little heavier. She was staring at the ground, as if her eyes could drill holes through the floor into space. Maybe that would feel less suffocating than this current moment. 

 

Truthfully, Sana still felt really bad about the whole thing. She knew that was a boundary she shouldn’t have crossed, and maybe the retaliation of sleeping with her boyfriend was just in the grand scheme of things. She didn’t want to apologize, but she also didn’t want to sit here in silence. 

 

“Um, where did you go that month after it happened?” Sana asked. 

 

A hoarse laugh escaped Mina’s throat as she shook her head. “My parents were supportive but the bullying at school was so bad I tried to kill myself. So I was in the hospital for about a month.”

 

Sana was stunned. She had heard rumors that Mina had gone to a hospital, but her and her friends had laughed it off, maybe in an effort to make herself feel better. She felt sick to her stomach, realizing that if Mina had been successful, it would’ve been her fault. 

 

“I... I’m so sorry, Mina.” That was all Sana could get out for a minute. Mina was tearing up, but she rubbed them away in an attempt to not appear weak. “I know it might not matter as much now, but I’ve obviously done some really terrible things to you. Lots of awful things. But I’ve always felt the worst about outing you and knowing this now, I’m really really sorry.”

 

There was no way anything she said now could make it up to Mina, and she knew that. Her heart softened as she looked at the other girl, tears falling down her face as she remembered how awful Sana had been to her. Sana didn’t blame Mina for hating her at all. In fact, she hated herself a little at this moment. 

 

“Well, I wouldn’t be here right now if it wasn’t for you, so I guess I owe that to you,” Mina sighed. 

 

“What do you mean?” 

 

“I think at first I just wanted to beat you at school. You had everything, Sana. You had the perfect friend group, you were smart, you were talented. You got the boy, the lead role in the play, you had everything. When you outed me, I started working harder because I wanted to take everything away from you. It gave me a reason to live,” Mina said with a small smile. 

 

A flash of pain hit Sana’s heart. “But I was also the reason you wanted to die.”

 

“You and I had reasons to hate each other though, the other kids just hated me because I was different,” Mina spat.

 

“I guess that’s true. How did this whole thing start, anyways?” Sana asked, trying to lighten the mood a little. 

 

“You pushed me in the cafeteria, it was so embarrassing,” Mina replied. She was now messing with the seam of her pants. 

 

“You pushed me first though!” Sana yelled back, remembering the moment clearly in her mind. 

 

“I didn’t though, it was Daniel Kim. He pushed me into you and then you assumed it was me and pushed me down,” Mina said with a frown on her face. Sana vaguely remembered Daniel, he was extremely disruptive and if Sana remembered right, he had had a crush on her and had made several aggressive attempts to earn her favor. She rejected him. 

 

“You really didn’t push me?” Sana’s voice was small, realizing that this was the beginning of everything, and it had happened because of a misunderstanding. She was surprised her tiny brain had held onto that anger when it was an incorrect memory, and she wondered what other memories she was wrong about. 

 

“I really didn’t, I swear.” Mina’s eyes looked genuine, and Sana felt even worse about everything that had transpired over the past 24 years. 

 

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

 

“It was already too late, you had made up your mind,” Mina siad with a shrug.

 

“God, I’m so sorry, Mina. Everything happened because of that moment and I feel so awful about it. For everything, from the name calling to outing you especially, and for generally making your life harder. It’s so stupid, looking back on it now.” Sana felt so much remorse, she didn’t know how to express it. What was worse, was that she didn’t know how to make things right. 

 

“It’s not like I didn’t egg you on, like the fake love letters and Mr. McMann-”

 

“I knew that was you! But also that man was a creep and you kind of saved me there,” Sana replied quickly. “The love letters did suck though.”

 

“And I know we talked about this but I AM sorry I slept with your boyfriend,” Mina said softly. “He was really bad, too, so I also want to apologize on his behalf.”

 

For the first time ever, they laughed together, Sana giving Mina a playful shove. 

 

-

 

“I think they’re laughing? Together??” Nayeon exclaimed, a shocked look on her face. 

 

“Are we really sure? What if one of them is laughing to themselves after killing the other?” Tzuyu asked. 

 

“No, I think I can hear both of them. Did we do it?” Jihyo asked. 

 

-

 

Sana was seeing Mina in a new light. Their hatred was born of misunderstanding, and while they had some very deep wounds to fix, things felt different now. “In some ways you saved me, too. Not just with Mr. McMann, but I never would have worked this hard if it wasn’t for you. I wouldn’t be here, living my dreams and saving the world if you hadn’t been so smart all the time.”

 

“Same to you, honestly,” Mina laughed. “And I made some really good friends after everything went down, and my parents have always been extremely supportive. Although after grad school, I really didn’t expect to see you ever again.”

 

“No, same! I really thought that was it! Who would’ve thought,” Sana chuckled. 

 

A muffled yell came from Nayeon outside the airlock. “Are you two good now?”

 

Mina shrugged, looking at Sana. “I don’t know that we can really start over given our history, but if we are going to be in the same space for the next 11 months, I think we could move forward in a friendly manner?” 

 

Sana looked over at Mina and for the first time, she didn’t feel any of the anger she had for her. Her shoulders lowered, her jaw relaxed, and her head felt clear. “I’d really like that.”

 

“Oh my god we did it!” They laughed as they heard cheering from the other crew members on the other side. They floated up to the doorway, and when it opened they were met with hugs from their friends. 

 

“I knew you could do it!” Tzuyu said as she hugged Mina, to which Jihyo and Nayeon both scoffed. 

 

A groggy Dahyun walked in with an equally sleepy Chaeyoung. She rubbed her eyes as she looked at the scene in front of her. “Did we do it?”

 

“I almost punched her in the face, but yeah I guess it worked,” Sana laughed as Dahyun’s eyes went wide. 

 

“Have y’all ever physically fought before?” Jihyo asked.

 

“There was that one time in gym class-” Sana started before being cut off by Mina.

 

“Also on the soccer field that one time,” Mina said with a shy look on her face. “Oh and in the locker room.”

 

“Oh, and I’m sorry about the beaker the other day, everyone. That wasn’t cool of me and hopefully we don’t fight anymore,” Sana said apologetically.

 

Chaeyoung pulled out her tablet and flipped through a couple apps before turning the board to the group. 

 

DAYS WITHOUT FIGHTING: 0

 

-

 

The days went by rather quickly when things were peaceful. They still had yet to have an actual emergency, everything was going as planned. Dahyun and Tzuyu had figured out a way to grow plants in zero gravity, Chaeyoung had made sure that everyone was staying in good shape, and everyone else was keeping the ship running. They were still about a month from getting to their destination, and they were all starting to get a little antsy. 

 

Sana kept busy checking on the computers, testing new ways to program the satellites so they could capture more data. She had managed to minimize the amount of data each video would take and had found a way to compress it even further, so she was feeling pretty good about her work. She was also getting along with everyone on the shuttle, even Mina. Every once in a while she would see Mina and give her a small wave, which she would return. She could feel herself getting a little stir crazy, but other than that things were looking good for the crew. 

 

Nayeon’s girlfriend Momo was still writing to her every week, and her family seemed to be doing well, too. Nayeon had also started attending Chaeyoung’s weekly drawing classes with Sana and Jihyo as a way to pass the time. None of them were particularly good, but they liked to talk about what was going on on the ship. She probably spent the most time either bothering Mina or Jihyo, but recently she had started talking to Tzuyu more. She liked the girl’s perspective on things, even if they were a little bleak. She also had a small bet with Sana that Tzuyu would make a move on Chaeyoung rather than the other way around, so she needed to keep tabs on how the two were doing. 

 

Dahyun had started a craft group with Mina and Tzuyu, doing puzzles or crocheting mostly in silence. Her homestead back home seemed to be doing well, and she was excited by the prospect of finding something new to grow or to help a plant adapt to a new environment. Her relationships with Mina and Tzuyu were strong, considering they were the ones who quietly watched things as they happened onboard. Dahyun was also the group’s ray of sunshine, first to make a joke and help lighten the mood when people got sad. She was probably the most beloved member of the team. She had brought a tiny keyboard, so when they got bored she would put on a talent show and plunk out a couple notes to entertain everyone.  

 

Jihyo was finally feeling settled into her captain role, now that there was significantly less fighting. She was a little sad that her sisters were graduating and going to prom, but she had to keep in mind that she was working to create a future for them. Her best friend on the ship was definitely still Sana, but she had gotten to know Chaeyoung more through her weekly drawing classes, and she liked her vibe. She had been worried that her leadership position would inhibit her from having deep relationships with her team members, but it had been quite the opposite. While the other team members leaned on her, she knew she could lean on Sana and that was enough for her. 

 

Chaeyoung’s new goal was to ensure all of their vitals stayed above average, and whenever someone slipped, she was immediately on their case. Chaeyoung cared for all of them, but everyone was well aware of the extra attention Tzuyu got, including extra snacks. She said it was because Tzuyu’s vitals were low, but they all knew the real reason. Chaeyoung liked teaching the drawing class, however she did question her own abilities since Jihyo’s dogs continued to look like lumps. She also had a secret collection of drawings that she refused to show anyone. 

 

Tzuyu had spent the first couple months watching and trying to understand the dynamics at play on the ship. There were two sets of friends, a set of enemies, and then there was her, who really only knew Dahyun on a work basis. She loved working with Dahyun, but Dahyun was a little too happy for her taste. Sometimes things just sucked, and that was that. She had started talking to Chaeyoung about it, since she wasn’t involved with anyone else and seemed to share a similar vibe, and it had helped her feel less lonely. She also liked the snacks Chaeyoung gave her.  

 

Mina had rewired most of the ship at this point, mumbling about some of the shoddy work done by the other engineers. Her friends and family kept in touch pretty well, and she was happy to hear from them. She worked well in silence, and she was feeling pretty good about the mission. She felt better now that her feud with Sana had ended, but now she wasn’t sure what to do with everything she had learned about Sana over the years. It was a strange void. 

 

Sana was floating down the hall to the flight deck to talk to Jihyo when she crashed into Mina. 

 

“Oh I’m so sorry, Mina, I don’t know what it is about these hallways,” Sana laughed. 

 

“Are you getting sucked into my orbit or something?” Mina joked. Sana noticed the way her smile reached her eyes and smiled back. 

 

“If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were flirting with me,” Sana replied with equal jest. Mina’s eyes went wide and she didn’t have time to think about it before the door opened and Jihyo was standing there. 

 

“Are you two fighting again?” Jihyo asked with a panicked look. 

 

“No, no, I came to see you and I bumped into Mina,” Sana said with a small smile. 

 

“Again?” Jihyo had a skeptical look on her face, and Mina was slowly drifting away from the two of them, giving a small wave before moving faster.

 

“Yes, again. Anyways, I came to ask if we can all stay awake and have a girl’s night sometime?”

 

“Sana, every night is girl’s night, we are in space.”

 

“You know what I mean, I just want a night where we can all hang out together! Maybe we can plan, since we are getting closer to landing.” Sana knew if she slipped in a work reason, she would be more likely to get a positive response.

 

“Hmm, I guess you’re right. I’ll go talk to Chae,” Jihyo said with a small nod, not missing the excitement in Sana’s eyes. 

 

-

 

Sana set up the snacks on the table, adjusting the bowl of popcorn and then the chocolates. She hadn’t seen everyone together in awhile, and she missed the conversations they’d have all together. She also wanted to know how everyone was doing, if for no other reason than to know if she was alone in the way she was feeling. 

 

“Do you need any help?” Mina was peeking from around the corner, trying to decide if she should go in the room or not. Sana gave her a small smile and nodded, and she watched as Mina floated into the room. It was funny how everyone had adjusted to gravity differently. Tzuyu still struggled, but that was most likely because she was so tall and the space was so small. Jihyo and Chaeyoung both floated through like toddlers, bumping into things occasionally. Sana, Dahyun, and Nayeon were all fairly skilled, navigating smoothly through the halls. Mina was by far the most graceful, as if she were commanding attention when she entered a space. 

 

She was also the only one who could throw off Sana’s glide, which happened quite frequently, even when they hated each other. Sana would be floating around just fine and then suddenly find herself colliding with Mina. At least now she wouldn’t be met with a string of curse words. Actually, as of lately she’d been met with shy smiles and small amounts of... friendly banter? She wasn’t sure. 

 

However, now was indeed one of those times. Everywhere Sana went, Mina was there, too. Granted it was a small space, but she had never bumped into Jihyo or Tzuyu even if they were all here at the same time. As she was going to put something in the microwave, she would bump into Mina. When she turned to find a bowl to put them in, there was Mina. When she was filling one of the bowls, their hands touched. Sana pulled away as quick as she could, but she could’ve sworn she saw a tinge of color on Mina’s face. 

 

“We have Twizzlers, right?” Mina asked as she rifled through some drawers. 

 

“Oh, unfortunately those didn’t make it off the ground, I finished them all before we even took off,” Sana laughed. 

 

“Not these ones.” Mina reached into a drawer and pulled a bag out, Sana’s eyes wild with excitement. 

 

“Where did those come from!” Sana asked, grabbing them out of Mina’s hands and working to open the bag.

 

“I knew they were your favorite so I stashed them away in case I ever needed a favor later,” Mina chuckled. 

 

“You’ve given them up now, are you assuming you won’t need any favors?” Sana asked skeptically, and Mina just laughed. 

 

“Is that popcorn? Wow, it's been so long!” Dahyun ran in, bouncing off the walls quite literally since she was so excited and wasn’t focusing on getting into the room. She sat down in one of the chairs and turned to Sana and Mina. “Thanks for getting this all set up!” 

 

“Of course, I’m excited to spend time with you all!” Sana replied, equally excited. The rest of the girls made their way to the room, buckling themselves into the chairs around the table. Sana beamed as she looked at each of their happy faces, chatter filling the space. That is, until she locked eyes with Mina. She had always noticed the moles on her face, the way her eyes creased when she smiled, how her nose scrunched. However there was something softer about her features today. 

 

“Should we play a game?” Dahyun asked between mouthfuls of popcorn. 

 

“No spin the bottle! Even though Momo said I could have one pass-” Nayeon started while everyone laughed. 

 

“Who’s your pass though?” Chaeyoung asked with a smirk. 

 

“Also, you know the bottle would never stop spinning right? Like there’s no gravity and there’s no friction-” Sana started explaining before being cut off. 

 

“It would be Mina, obviously, she has the best lips,” Nayeon said with no hesitation. The entire room looked at her with furrowed brows. Most of the room was pretty confused, not because she was wrong about Mina’s lips, but because they had all assumed it would be Tzuyu. The two had a bickering-flirty thing going on, much more mild than the Sana-Mina situation before, and definitely much more flirty. 

 

“Wait really?” Tzuyu asked with a small pout, because she had also thought it would be her. Not that she had feelings for Nayeon, she really just thought she had it in the bag. Chaeyoung looked skeptically between the two, wondering what the extent of their relationship was. 

 

“Yeah, look at them, they look so kissable,” Nayeon replied with a wink. Mina was beet red, sitting kitty corner from Nayeon, and avoiding eye contact from literally anyone as they stared at her lips. Dahyun and Jihyo sighed, understanding the corner they’d all been backed into and accepting defeat. Chaeyoung shrugged in agreement, along with Tzuyu who finally accepted that it wasn’t her. Nayeon had a grin on her face, feeling good now that everyone was on board with her choice. Sana sat quietly in the corner, focusing on the handle of the cabinet. It was metallic with some smudges, put there by herself, most recently during a quick brush with Mina. She felt a small stir in the pit of her stomach. 

 

Jihyo cleared her throat, wanting to save Mina from the embarrassment she was currently feeling. “How is everyone doing? I know we’re all getting restless, our projects are about as good as they’ll get. And we’ve probably seen every crevice of this ship multiple times. There’s not much to do here.” 

 

The group sat in silence for a minute, everyone nervously shifting in their chairs, wondering who would be the first to say something. No one wanted to be the first to admit they were struggling, even if they had in a smaller setting with one or two of them. 

 

“I um. I know you all are here, but sometimes I still sit and talk to myself,” Chaeyoung said quietly, breaking the silence. 

 

“Oh, we know. We hear you,” Nayeon replied, before an elbow from Jihyo shut her up. 

 

“I just feel the boredom crawling in my skin sometimes. I’ve been trying to find things wrong with you guys but you’re all healthy because I’ve been monitoring you so closely, but I don’t know what else to do with my time. I miss feeling productive.” Chaeyoung was close to tears, and all of them were concerned.

 

Tzuyu was the first to extend a hand, much to the surprise of everyone, especially Chaeyoung. Nayeon smirked at Sana, who just rolled her eyes with a smile. “I feel the same way, Chae. I miss my dogs and being able to stretch my legs. And it’s kind of nice hearing you say you’re also struggling, maybe everyone else should share, too.”

 

“I miss my family a lot. And I miss seeing plants and blue sky and not wondering how much more water we have,” Dahyun said as she inspected a piece of chocolate before popping it into her mouth. 

 

“The electricity on this shuttle is better than when we left the ground but I miss making changes to things with large scale impact. And I miss flowers,” Mina said quietly. 

 

“I miss my girlfriend, and I can’t help but wonder what I’m missing by being here, if that makes sense,” Nayeon said, everyone else nodding in agreement. It was crazy how they longed for something they didn’t even know. 

 

“I miss those things too, and I also miss sushi,” Sana groaned and the rest of the group agreed, listing off all the food they wanted to eat but didn’t have access to. 

 

“If I never eat one of these meal packs again I’ll be so grateful,” Dahyun laughed. The whole group continued chatting until they each noticed the sullen look on Jihyo’s face. They grew quiet, looking at her, and Sana reached over and put a hand on her leg.  

 

“I’ve tried to think of ways to get this thing to move faster, but all the calculations we did before still hold and we can’t move faster without burning too much fuel,” Jihyo sighed. “Sometimes I worry I’ve failed you all because you’re struggling.”  

 

“Hey, we aren’t struggling because we can’t go faster. We knew what we were signing up for, Jihyo,” Sana jumped in quickly, wanting her friend to not shoulder this. 

 

“Definitely, we just need to think of better ways to pass the time for now, that’s all. When we get there, we will have the new data to look at and analyze the whole way back!” Tzuyu exclaimed. 

 

“And if anything, you’ve kept us afloat. You’re always keeping us on track, we wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you,” Nayeon said with a smile. Everyone nodded in agreement.

 

“You even got me and Sana to end a 24 year feud, that’s impressive,” Mina said softly, eyes affectionate as she looked at Jihyo and then turned to Sana, who quickly turned away. 

 

“Who else would I tell my secrets to?” Chaeyoung asked Jihyo, who just laughed. 

 

“Apparently the walls,” Dahyun replied.

 

“Do you know what we should try?” Sana said with a grin while half of the group groaned. “Space hug!!” 

 

Nayeon happily unbuckled herself as everyone slowly did the same. “Jihyo’s in the middle!” 

 

Everyone floated to Jihyo and wrapped their arms around her, struggling to not punch each other in the face as they did so. Sana knew Jihyo needed this, and it seemed like the other girls did, too. She also noticed Mina next to her, and remembered they had not been this close to each other since the airlock. She noticed how when Mina smiled, her gums would show, and when she laughed she would cover her mouth. 

 

“Jihyo, you’re the best captain, never forget,” Chaeyoung said sweetly. 

 

“Did someone just grab my butt?” Jihyo asked, eyes wide. 

 

“It was me, Momo said I could have a pass if desperate times called,” Nayeon said with a grin. 

 

“I’m starting to question the existence of this girl,” Tzuyu said skeptically. 

 

“Yeah does she even exist?” Dahyun asked with equal skepticism. 

 

Nayeon ignored them, letting the questions roll off her shoulders. They started discussing their tactics to keep their crazy at bay, including a regular cadence of these hang outs along with paired hang outs to check in with each other. They decided to finish the night with a movie, feeling better than before.

 

-

 

“Chaeyoung, can you teach me how to draw a flower?” Sana asked as she scratched away at the paper with a pencil. 

 

“What kind of flower?” Chaeyoung asked, leaning over to look at what she was working with. 

 

“I don’t know, a pretty one?” Sana replied. 

 

“This wouldn’t have to do with your paired hang out with Mina later, would it?” Jihyo smirked from across the room, giving a look to Nayeon, who just stuck her tongue out. 

 

“No, it doesn’t!” Sana yelled back quickly, even though it was true. When Mina mentioned missing flowers, she immediately started wondering how she could fill that void for the other girl. She had landed on this, but much like Jihyo’s dogs, the flowers were just blobs. 

 

“When you think about flowers, is this what you think of?” Chaeyoung mumbled, trying to redirect Sana’s fists from her arm. “Ok calm down and try this. What do you think about when you think of flowers?”

 

“I think of petals and leaves. Sunlight. Sunshine? Softness and elegance,” Sana rattled off with her eyes closed. Jihyo gave Chaeyoung a knowing look, which she returned with a smirk. 

 

“Ok, try again but this time imagine that.” Everyone sat and watched as Sana drew again, this time with a little extra enthusiasm. 

 

“You know, that’s actually much better,” Jihyo mumbled, looking back at her dog. “I don’t know what I think about when I think of dogs.”

 

Chaeyoung started sketching furiously and then tucked it away in her sketchbook again.

 

“Are you ever going to show us what’s in there?” Jihyo asked.

 

Chaeyoung shrugged. “I mean maybe? But it’s kind of a work in progress so I don’t know if I want you all to see it yet.”

 

“Are we in it?” Nayeon giggled. 

 

“Of course we are, show us when you’re ready, Chae. Also how are these?” Sana asked, lifting her paper proudly. There was a bouquet of dandelions, some yellow, and some white. It was reminiscent of what a kid would paint for their parents, in hopes of it getting hung up on the fridge. 

 

“It seems like you really care about those flowers,” Chaeyoung said with a wink. Sana beamed at her picture, missing the way the other girls giggled. 

 

-

 

Sana had been looking forward to her one on one hang out with Mina and now it was finally here. They had occasionally chatted in the halls, and had eaten together with the group. But something about an opportunity to sit, just the two of them, felt exciting to her. Sana had pulled some puzzles out for them to do together. 

 

Mina walked in with a warm smile and buckled herself into the chair. “Puzzles? How exciting!” 

 

Sana laughed, recognizing that she would never be one to say that sentence but she thought it was funny coming from Mina. They chatted about the shuttle and various work things, how the solar panels were, how the computers were handling the data they were currently collecting. 

 

“Are you excited to land soon?” Sana asked the question on everyone’s mind as they prepared to fulfill their mission in about an hour.

 

“Yeah, I feel like my whole life has been building up to this moment. And I’d like to be able to get out of this thing, walk around,” Mina replied casually. “Well, bounce a little further I guess. You?”

 

“Same, I think we’re all getting a little stir crazy,” Sana laughed.

 

“You always do that,” Mina sighed.

 

“Do what?”

 

“When I ask how you’re doing, you talk about everyone. How are you ?”

 

“I um. I’m a little nervous. But I’m ready to get off this thing and I really want to know what data is on those satellites. I’m also excited to reprogram them, too.” Mina hummed in agreement, seemingly satisfied with the girl’s answer.

 

“Don’t be nervous, Everything’s going to be alright. You’ve been practicing for so long, it’s going to come back to you in no time.”

 

Sana wasn’t sure why, but the reassurance made her feel more prepared. Then she noticed how carefully Mina grabbed the pieces floating in the air and would almost immediately snap them into place. 

 

“Is something on my hands?” Mina asked, having noticed Sana’s gaze, and immediately inspecting her hands.

 

“Oh, no, I was just thinking about how it’s almost like you know exactly where the piece should go when you pick it up,” Sana smiled. “Also you have nice hands.”

 

Sana regretted that last line, she hadn’t intended to comment on how they looked, it had just slipped out. She was about to apologize when Mina spoke up. 

 

“Thanks, you seem to have a habit of staring at them.” 

 

The comment bounced around in Sana’s mind, trying to remember the last time she had looked at them. She had looked at them from time to time, in passing, not anything specific. Then she remembered. 

 

“Snot girl. Man, I’m so sorry, Mina, that was the stupidest name, too,” Sana replied with a slight frown. She was so mean as a kid, especially to Mina. 

 

“It’s ok, it was weird being noticed at first but I got used to it,” Mina said with a shrug. 

 

“You weren’t actually picking your nose, right?” Sana joked, trying to lighten the mood. Her face turned to confusion when she saw Mina blush. “Uh I mean it’s ok if you were, we all do it-”

 

“I was um picking flowers,” Mina said sheepishly, taking a puzzle piece and slowly spinning it in her fingers. 

 

“Wouldn’t your fingers be green then?” Sana asked, genuinely confused about what she had witnessed as a kid. She distinctly remembered a gold tint to them, which is why she made the stupid nickname. 

 

“You know the ‘she loves me, she loves me not’ thing? I did it with some dandelions in the schoolyard,” Mina laughed. 

 

“Even as a kid you knew you liked women, huh?” Sana asked. She had connected maybe two pieces in the time Mina had done ten. 

 

“Yeah, I kind of think I always knew,” Mina shrugged. “What about you?”

 

“I think after finding out about you, it became something I considered as an option? Before that I just assumed I’d be with a man, so it was interesting finding out that I could be with a woman, too.” Sana left out the part where she had actually told her peers to stop bullying Mina when she herself started wondering if she liked women, too. 

 

“Glad I could be part of your experience then,” Mina replied with a laugh. 

 

“I am sorry though,” Sana said with an apologetic look on her face. 

 

Mina shook her head, shifting her gaze from the puzzle to Sana. “If we were going to take the time to rehash everything we’ve ever done to each other and apologize for it, we would be here all day. We don’t need to talk about how you got people to call me names, or how I pretended to be the boy you liked, or every time I beat you in class-”

 

“So you do want to talk about!” Sana replied, both of them laughing now. In some ways it was nice, confirming the things she knew weren’t just coincidences, that Mina had actually set some things in motion. It also made her feel less bad, hearing about some of the equally mean things Mina had done to her over the course of their rivalry. It still didn’t feel great to hear that they had gone so far to hurt each other on a regular basis. 

 

“One final apology, then?” Sana asked after they had finally finished discussing everything. 

 

“On three?” Mina asked, and Sana just nodded. “One... two... three!”

 

They both started apologizing for everything they’d ever done, explaining along the way, too. In some ways, it was cathartic to release the energy they’d stored for each other, and to make amends. When Sana ran out of breath, she started laughing, which also caused Mina to laugh. 

 

Sana thought about how much information she had learned about Mina over the years to try and use against her, but now maybe she had a chance to turn it around. She remembered the flower picture in her pocket. 

 

“Oh, by the way, you mentioned you missed flowers the other day so I drew this for you.” Sana nervously pulled the folded paper from her jacket pocket and handed it to the other girl, who cautiously took it. Sana felt on edge watching Mina open the paper and look down. She had worked really hard on this, so hopefully it wouldn’t fall flat. 

 

Mina smiled, and Sana could’ve sworn she was staring into the sun. Mina folded back the paper and tucked it in her pocket. “Thanks, Sana. They’re really lovely. Was there a specific reason you drew dandelions?” 

 

Sana thought about it for a moment. When Chaeyoung had asked her to think of how flowers felt, all she could think of was how Mina would interact with the flowers. Somehow, this felt the most right but she couldn’t explain why. So she didn’t. 

 

“No, it just felt right?” Sana shrugged. 

 

“Did you know dandelions mean hope?” Mina asked cheekily as Sana blushed. 

 

“I uh had no idea,” Sana replied slowly, suddenly very focused on the puzzle again.

 

“It’s nice, I really like it. Thank you for being so thoughtful,” Mina said with a big smile. 

 

“Of course, I’m glad you like it.”

 

-

 

“Something’s wrong,” Chaeyoung mumbled to herself as she wandered around the ship, trying to find Sana and Mina and see why both their heart rates were up. They weren’t supposed to be exercising right now, and she was worried perhaps they were fighting again. In her haste, she bumped into Tzuyu. 

 

“Everything good, doc?” Tzuyu asked with a smile. 

 

Once Chaeyoung realized who it was, her nerves kicked in as she looked up and tried to speak. “Oh, yeah, I was just uh trying to figure out why people’s heart rates are up.”   

 

“Do you think it’s a malfunction?” Tzuyu asked as she peered over and looked at the tablet, too. 

 

“Well it might be but-”

 

“Yours is up as well, though,” Tzuyu said slowly, looking at the shorter girl. Chaeyoung couldn’t help but blush, thinking she must have been found out, but when Tzuyu didn’t react, she just kept moving along. 

 

“I’m worried that if they aren’t malfunctioning, maybe Mina and Sana are fighting again. Their numbers haven’t been this high since we locked them in the airlock,” Chaeyoung sighed, worried that one of them might be hurt. Or worse, something drastic had happened to one of them. They were too close to the end of the mission for them to kill each other now. 

 

As the two turned the corner to their dining area and saw the two doing a puzzle, they immediately turned back around. 

 

“A puzzle? Do you think that’s what’s really getting their heart rates up?” Tzuyu asked skeptically. 

 

“I doubt it, but at least they’re alive. I think Jihyo would’ve killed me if something happened to either of them,” Chaeyoung said, breathing a sigh of relief. 

 

“That wouldn’t make sense, then we would be down two people and we wouldn’t have a doctor,” Tzuyu replied with a smile. 

 

“Do you two want to join our puzzle?” Mina asked, patting the chair next to her. 

 

“Sure!” Tzuyu said, dragging a surprised Chaeyoung with her into the room. 

 

“What were you two whispering about?” Sana smirked. Jihyo had recently found out about her bet with Nayeon and now the stakes were higher on cracking this relationship. 

 

Tzuyu picked up a piece of the puzzle before staring Sana dead in the eyes. “Chaeyoung needed to check on both your heart rates.”

 

Mina had just taken a sip of her water and now found herself choking on it, which was fine given that Chaeyoung was around to give the heimlich if necessary. Tzuyu glanced over at the tablet screen, then over at a coughing Mina, a blushing Sana, and a nervous Chaeyoung. 

 

“She also needs to check her own,” Tzuyu said with a smirk, Chaeyoung now also blushing. 

 

“I uh think I’m going to go,” Chaeyoung said quickly, moving towards the doorway.

 

“You should go with her, check on her heart rate,” Mina said with an eyebrow raised. Tzuyu shrugged and got up to go with her. 

 

Mina and Sana sat there in silence, working on the puzzle. Sana wondered why Mina’s heart rate was up, and why her own was up. It was just a picture of dandelions. She’d spent almost an hour working on it with Chaeyoung, but Mina didn’t know that. And why did her heart flutter a little when she watched Mina put it in her pocket? 

 

They were like a well oiled machine, Sana pulling out edges and Mina putting them together. Mina would pause to refill Sana’s water without her asking, and Sana would grab more of the peanuts Mina liked when the bowl ran out. They generally navigated their space without any hiccups, but as Sana thought about what Tzuyu had said about their heart rates, she faltered for a second and as Mina reach out to grab a piece, so did Sana. To the same piece. 

 

“Oh I’m-”

 

“Sorry I-”

 

As the puzzle piece hung between them, even with their fingertips barely touching, it was like lightning. Words hung in the air but neither of them said a thing. 

 

“A puzzle! I love puzzles!” Dahyun exclaimed, entering the room, clearly unaware of what had just happened. They both let go of the piece, watching it float away in the air. “You know, it’s kind of a miracle we haven’t lost a piece this whole time! Maybe because we do all our puzzles in one sitting.”

 

Sana looked at Mina, to see if she had felt it, too. And based on the way she looked back at Sana, she must have. Sana was about to say something when the whole shuttle shook and the emergency sirens went off. 

 

“Is this another trick?” Sana asked quickly, looking at Dahyun who shook her head, genuine panic in her eyes. “Oh no.”

 

The three of them quickly headed to the flight deck, where they found Nayeon pounding on the door. 

 

“What’s going on?” Mina asked, quickly trying to assess the situation.

 

“Something just hit us and now the door is jammed and Jihyo is alone in there and we need at least two people to land this thing and we have maybe twenty minutes before that’s going to happen!” Nayeon exclaimed, grabbing random items and throwing them at the door, hoping something would happen. 

 

“Hey, Nayeon, calm down. We can figure this out,” Dahyun said, trying to talk the girl down, grabbing her hands and holding them as Nayeon broke down.

 

“We don’t have enough time, if we can’t get the door open then we’re going to crash and die.” The gravity of the situation sank in with Nayeon’s words, as they all wordlessly looked at each other. 

 

“Jihyo, are you ok in there?” Sana asked through the door, hoping to hear something, anything from the other side. Chaeyoung and Tzuyu had just arrived, but Mina directed them to stay back unless they needed something since it was such a small space. 

 

“Yeah, I just. I’m so sorry. I don’t know what happened,” Jihyo yelled through the door. Sana could sense the fear in Jihyo’s voice, and that alone was enough to freak her out. Sana didn’t know what to do or how to even start figuring out what was wrong. She closed her eyes, trying to remember what they had been taught in their emergency drills. She willed the door to open so they could land the ship. She hoped to have a chance to tell Mina-

 

“Nayeon, I need you to go check the electrical panel in the cabin. Sana, go check the mainframe in the cabin. Dahyun and Tzuyu, I need you to go find something that might help us break down this door just in case, like several screwdrivers or a crowbar. Chaeyoung, I need you to keep talking to Jihyo, see if you can find out what happened. I’m going to check the outside panel,” Mina said quickly, looking everyone in the eye as she gave directions. 

 

“Wait, you can’t go outside right now, it’s too dangerous,” Nayeon said quickly, pushing against Dahyun to get back to Mina. 

 

“I have to, it might be our last shot,” Mina said somberly. She glanced over at Sana, who was still in a state of shock. “Check your areas first, and I’m going to suit up. If you all are able to solve the problem, then I won’t need to go out. But I have an inkling that’s where the issue is. And if I wait for you all to check and then get out there, it’ll be too late.”

 

“What if something else hits the ship?” Dahyun asked, eyes full of concern. 

 

“Don’t be a hero,” Chaeyoung threatened through gritted teeth. 

 

“No one else can do it, it has to be me,” Mina said. “GO! WE DON’T HAVE TIME!” She yelled, everyone scurrying to try and find a way to remedy the situation. 

 

Dahyun found a screwdriver and quickly started trying to disassemble the door, but it was no use. She started jamming them into the gap, working to create a space to pray the door open. Tzuyu came back with more screwdrivers and they continued working. 

 

Chaeyoung talked to Jihyo, who seemed to be going through some sort of trauma response. She couldn’t remember what had happened, and she was mentally preparing to try and land the shuttle herself. Chaeyoung quickly searched through the logs on her tablet and realized that Jihyo had shown extremely high levels of adrenaline (as did all of them) but it seemed to have spiked when the impact happened and she was now experiencing some nausea along with a headache. It might be a concussion. 

 

Sana went to the mainframe and found flashing red everywhere. She hopped onto the computer and started putting out each fire, taking deep breaths. In her day to day, things like this would happen too, she just had to remember how to do it. The fate of herself and six other people depended on it. 

 

Nayeon found the electrical panel to be functioning normally, all their power and landing gear were working just fine, she just didn’t understand what was causing the door to jam until she remembered. She quickly went around the shuttle, searching for Mina, but not finding her. Tzuyu and Dahyun had opened the door maybe a centimeter, and Chaeyoung was still talking to Jihyo. She grabbed one of the intercom speakers and ran to where Sana was, who was typing furiously, most of the lights converted to green now. 

 

“I’m almost done, tell Mina not to go,” Sana said quickly, eyes not moving from the screen as she continued to type, resolving everything but two red lights. 

 

“She’s already out there.” Sana’s eyes narrowed as she turned to make eye contact with Nayeon. 

 

“Why the fuck would she do that?!” Sana spat, no longer working on anything. 

 

“Whatever hit us must’ve knocked the exterior panel and triggered the emergency response, which can only be reset outside.” Nayeon’s eyes were welling with tears. “You’ll have to coach her through the computer reset, oh god do we have enough time?” Nayeon handed off the speaker to Sana and left, presumably to check on the others and to prepare to run in and help land the ship, assuming they got the door open. 

 

Sana imagined they had roughly ten minutes before their demise, and she thought about what the best way to interact with Mina would be at this point. If she showed any nerves, it would most likely not help keep Mina calm, and she didn’t know what it looked like out there, so tranquility was key. 

 

“Sana to Mina, do you copy?” She spoke into the intercom confidently, hoping to fake it so they could have the best outcome. 

 

“Loud and clear.” A wave of relief came over Sana, realizing that she didn’t actually know if Mina would reply, if something might’ve happened to her. She realized she was scared that the worst could’ve happened, and was grateful it hadn’t.

 

“What are you seeing out there?” Sana’s palms were sweaty, waiting to hear from the other girl. 

 

“Some debris hit the panel. It was jammed shut but I’ve managed to open it, the wiring is shot so I’m working on that now.” Mina’s voice was calm, but carried some very nervous undertones. It reminded Sana of when they were younger, and she had teased Mina right before her opening line at the school play. 

 

“Once you fix the wiring, will that open the door?” Sana sat there, feeling like it had been silent for a little too long. Was Mina ok? Did she get electrocuted out there? 

 

“Mina? Shit, Mina, I need you to be ok!” Sana screamed into the intercom. She wasn’t entirely sure why, but she started singing “7 Things” by Miley Cyrus. 

 

-

 

“What the fuck is going on,” Dahyun groaned, still exerting herself to try and open the door, which had barely budged. The sirens were still blaring, and Jihyo was starting the landing process to try and take it on as one person and minimize the amount of damage they would take. 

 

“I don’t think they know we can hear them,” Tzuyu grunted, also pushing a screwdriver. 

 

“Sealing the doors,” Jihyo said quickly before jumping back to the keyboard. 

 

“I sent a message to Momo and my family, do y’all want me to send messages to your family members?” Nayeon asked, eyes somber. 

 

The other girls looked up to her and gulped, nodding.

 

-

 

Sana had forgotten what the second verse was so she stopped singing. She thought about how silly that song was, how angry Miley probably was at whoever she was dating at that point. How insignificant it was to the peril Sana was currently in. She thought about her family, who she would miss dearly. She thought about how unfair it would be for them to hear about her death at the same time as everyone else, possibly even after them. 

 

“You’re not going to finish the song?” Sana’s heart was racing, a sense of relief washing over her body. Mina continued, “Why did you sing that, anyways?”

 

“It was your top song on your MySpace so I thought maybe it would help. I stalked your songs and told them not to play any of them at prom.” Sana wasn’t particularly proud of this one either, but at least it was seemingly small in the grand scheme of things. She heard Mina laugh, and she couldn’t help but laugh, too. 

 

“We have to start landing in five minutes,” Jihyo said over the intercom. Sana sincerely hoped Chaeyoung wasn’t watching their heart rates on the tablet right now. 

 

“Tell me how to reset this thing.” Mina said quickly, going back to a more serious tone. Sana explained the codes to type in and quietly waited for the screen to pop up on her computer. With about three minutes left, they really didn’t have any time to waste, she just prayed Mina had gotten it on the first try. What had Mina said to her before?

 

“Everything’s going to be alright,” Sana said quietly, willing her words into reality. Within seconds, her command screen reappeared, and she typed quickly, her body relaxing when the last two bulbs finally went green. 

 

“I think we are good, you’re good to return,” Sana said over the intercom. She sat in the chair, hoping it had worked and the others were able to spring into action. There was nothing else she could do at this moment. 

 

-

 

At the flight deck, the door opened quickly, tools scattering as they were rendered useless. Nayeon ran in, occupying the chair opposite Jihyo and continuing the landing process. They had roughly a minute to stick the landing. 

 

“Can someone open the airlock?” Mina asked over the intercom. Nayeon and Jihyo both looked at each other. 

 

“Come on, open the door,” Chaeyoung said, monitoring the amount of oxygen in Mina’s suit, which was starting to get dangerously low, red fading to blue. 

 

“If we are going to land this thing, we can’t,” Nayeon whispered into the intercom, more tears flooding her eyes. 

 

“Are you serious? Why the fuck not?” Dahyun yelled. It was rare for her to swear, it caught everyone off guard. 

 

“If we open it we put everyone else at risk, and at this point, we just have to risk it,” Jihyo replied calmly, keeping her own tears at bay. Her unspoken words hung heavy in the air. 

 

Dahyun and Chaeyoung both started arguing with them, sobbing as they realized there wasn’t enough time, that they’d have to finish the landing procedure before they could go check on Mina. Tzuyu held them back, doing her best to calm them down.

 

“Looks like we are at just the right position to enter orbit,” Jihyo told Nayeon, who just nodded. “Preparing for descent.”

 

-

 

“You know it was for you, Sana,” Mina said in a tired voice, echoing over the intercom. 

 

Sana, blissfully unaware of what was happening on the flight deck, picked up and replied with a chuckle. “What do you mean?”

 

“When I was picking petals, trying to figure it out... it was you.” The dandelion picking? Was for her? Sana was confused about this. 

 

“Why? I was already kind of mean to you at that point?” Sana asked. 

 

Mina was starting to sound more and more breathless. “It was so strange, the more I learned to try and get back at you, the more I liked you. And obviously when we got older I hated you haha but now...”

 

“But now?” Sana asked, hoping she would say the one thing she had been thinking about during this entire emergency sequence. 

 

-

 

“Engine reversing.” Jihyo said calmly, flipping a couple switches. Their chances of landing with minimal damage remained slim despite Mina’s efforts, and it would take a miracle for the two of them to pull it off. 

 

“Landing gear, check.” Nayeon said with a sniffle, pressing a couple buttons. 

 

Chaeyoung, Dahyun, and Tzuyu had resigned themselves to the back of the flight deck, sobbing as they listened to Sana and Mina over the intercom. 

 

“It’s just not fair,” Chaeyoung cried into Tzuyu’s arms, her tablet set aside at this point, she couldn’t bring herself to look at it. 

 

Jihyo held her breath for a moment, locking eyes with Nayeon before giving a small nod. “Engaging thrusters.” They both nodded and pulled the handles, exerting effort as the rocket shifted, each person bracing for impact. 

 

-

 

“Do you know what happens when a massive star dies?” Mina asked slowly, words starting to take longer to form in her mouth. 

 

Sana wasn’t entirely sure where this was going, but she was a little worried about Mina based on how she sounded. “Of course, it becomes a supernova and explodes, and then either becomes a neutron star or a black hole.”

 

“My hatred for you was a massive star.” Mina’s breaths were becoming more labored, all her effort being put into her words.

 

“Are you ok? I think maybe-” Sana needed to get out of this room but based on how the rocket was shaking, they were most likely landing with the gear, so Sana trusted that everyone was ok. 

 

“I thought once all my hatred for you disappeared, I’d turn into a black hole, because maybe it was all I existed for. But now after spending time together… it’s a neutron star,” Mina said with a little laugh. 

 

“Jihyo are we landing soon? Where’s Mina?” Sana yelled into the intercom. 

 

“It’s crazy how… almost anything can be recycled and transformed… even a giant star, when it’s time… can become something as beautiful… as a neutron star.”

 

“Hello? Why is no one answering me?!” Sana continued yelling, now pounding on the door to be released. 

 

“Something beautiful…… reborn from ashes.”

 

Sana settled into the realization that they weren’t telling her something. Also that Mina had essentially confessed her feelings just now, which she hadn’t expected. But something about it made her heart thrum. 

 

“I feel the same way,” Sana said into the intercom. “I lived to make your life hell and I’m so sorry but along the way I learned so much about you. Like the way you bite your lip when you’re focused, slur your words when you’re sleepy, and how you enunciate your words when you’re nervous. When you’re stressed you eat peanuts and when you’re tired you listen to T-Pain to sleep.”

 

Sana chuckled as she thought about all these random things she had learned, she had assumed she would be weaponizing them against Mina when in reality, she had grown to love her. 

 

“We’ve landed.” Jihyo said over the intercom. The doors opened again and Sana left quickly, excited to go find Mina. 

 

When she made it to the flight deck, she found it empty. It was odd, usually someone would be there doing post landing checks. She continued a little further down the hall when she saw everyone near the airlock. Her heart sank as she saw Jihyo pulling Mina out. 

 

“What happened!?” Sana yelled, pushing past everyone to try and get to Mina. 

 

“Dahyun, I need you to hold her back,” Chaeyoung said stoically, and Dahyun just nodded and walked over to block Sana. 

 

“What’s going on? Why is she-“ Sana continued asking questions but no one answered, Dahyun just hugged her and sobbed quietly. 

 

Nayeon quickly started taking off parts of Mina’s space suit and Chaeyoung got the AED ready. When Nayeon pulled off Mina’s helmet, Mina looked gray and limp. Jihyo stepped away to clear space for them, eyes never leaving Mina. 

 

Sana, finally piecing everything together, pulled away from Dahyun and ran over to Jihyo, grabbing her by the collar. “You left her in the airlock?! You left her there to die when she just saved all of our lives?! How could you do this!?” Sana sobbed. 

 

“I had to do it, Sana, we almost didn’t make it. I couldn’t bear the idea of losing Mina but I couldn’t have all of us dying, either. At least, at least if we landed, she could have a chance,” Jihyo sobbed too, finally breaking the calm exterior she had worn during this endeavor. She looked broken, and Sana couldn’t help but hug her friend at that moment. She had had to make an impossible decision. 

 

Nayeon was now giving Mina two breaths in between charges from Chaeyoung. They had to get her back. 

 

Sana wondered if Mina had been scared, alone in the airlock, knowing that her friends had left her there after she had rescued them. She thought about how Mina’s last words had been to her, even as she watched her oxygen deplete. She didn’t know if Mina had heard what she said in return either. 

 

Everyone watched with bated breath as they tried to help Mina, each attempt seeming less and less hopeful. Suddenly, the shuttle shook. 

 

“Oh shit, the post landing check,” Jihyo said quickly, rushing back to the main deck. “Sana, come help me.”

 

Sana knew Jihyo was looking out for her, but she just wanted to be by Mina. But knowing that they were at great risk if they didn’t finish the check, she quickly followed after. She started flipping switches, it was muscle memory at this point. She realized that was probably why they’d trained them as rigorously as they did, so in the case of an emergency, they wouldn’t have to think. 

 

“We have a pulse!” She heard Chaeyoung yell from the other room. Sana sobbed even harder as she hurried to finish the check, wanting to run back to see Mina. 

 

“I’m so sorry, Sana. I’m so sorry,” Jihyo sobbed as she pressed the last button. Sana ran over and hugged her again, having completed her checks. 

 

“It was a decision you shouldn’t have had to make, I’m so sorry, Jihyo. She’s going to be ok.” Sana didn’t know if those words were true, but she hoped they were. 

 

Sana and Jihyo ran back out to the hallway where they were now taking Mina to the cabin to continue giving her oxygen. Sana stood there, paralyzed because while she wanted to go with them, she also wanted to give Chaeyoung enough space to work. 

 

Dahyun approached her from behind, rubbing her back. “Chae says she was out of oxygen for maybe two minutes before we got to her, but she’s got a pulse and they’re going to push more oxygen soon.”

 

Sana nodded, not really processing any of the words she was saying. It sounded like Mina was unconscious, but was she ok? What was going to happen now? Sana looked to Jihyo, who seemed to be running through the same questions in her mind. 

 

-

 

Once they had stabilized Mina, the group worked double time to collect samples, data, and everything from the asteroid they needed. Based on Chaeyoung’s projections, they had barely enough oxygen to make it IF they left a couple weeks ahead of schedule. The main concern was that they didn’t have enough IV bags to maintain Mina unless they left at least a month early, and that was if they did the bare minimum. 

 

They barely slept, but with Nayeon’s guidance, they were able to grab their samples and what Mina needed too so she could hopefully wake up soon and work on it on their way back. It warmed Sana’s heart to see Dahyun outside, fumbling around with the ammeter trying to get readings of electricity in the air. Sana had found a way to use her computer to compile the readings so they would be easily digested, and soon enough they found themselves two months ahead of schedule. Jihyo had been in regular contact with their home base, keeping them updated on the situation, and she had gotten them cleared to head home. They were still about a month from landing back on Earth. 

 

Mina was now breathing without the help of a machine, but still technically in a coma according to Chaeyoung. They didn’t know what she could hear or process, but Chaeyoung said they could always try. Sana didn’t like the idea of Mina being alone, so she created a schedule for the group. Not that they weren’t already visiting her, but it helped Sana feel like she had control over something.

 

Sana tried to come by at least once a day, even if it wasn’t her shift. Tonight had been busy, and she was trying to squeeze in a little time before bed. 

 

“So I finally finished re-programming the satellites, they seem to be working great. I got the data from them and you know, I think we might be able to find something from that asteroid we were on. I know Nayeon took a look at the wiring, and even though I’m sure you’d have comments, I think she did a great job. She said something about not being able to fully fuse some of the wirings, but it should be fine, get us home at least. Dahyun and Tzuyu got their first strawberry to grow in space! It looks really tasty and I’m excited to get home and have fresh fruit again.” Sana leaned over on the edge of the bed, hoping that any moment now she would see Mina’s eyes flutter open. 

 

“Ready for bed?” Chaeyoung stood by the door, ready to take over for her shift. It wasn’t really a shift, but that’s how they were calling them. Sana whispered something in Mina’s ear before walking out, giving Chaeyoung a quick hug before heading out. 

 

Chaeyoung pulled out her tablet and checked Mina’s vitals, eyeing the IV bag and watching Mina’s chest move up and down. There was nothing that had broken her heart more than hearing Mina’s final moments over the intercom and then approaching her lifeless body. She was stunned Mina was still here with them, but she was grateful. 

 

“I don’t really know if you can see, but I wanted to show you my sketches today if that’s alright with you,” Chaeyoung said with a chuckle. “You can’t really say no but at least I asked.” 

 

Chaeyoung flipped open a section and held it up, before moving it above Mina’s head. She sighed, chuckling to herself. “Your eyes are closed anyways so I guess I should describe it to you.” She flipped it open to a page, still holding it out to the side as if Mina could see. Chaeyoung’s style followed Tim Burton’s, but held a small amount of realism.  

 

“I started drawing all of us as the Avengers, which I think you’d like. I have Jihyo as Captain America, because obviously she’s our fearless leader and I think she is the strongest of all of us physically. And she’s got a great ass. I have myself as Scarlet Witch just because I think she’s great, and I like the red.” Chaeyoung flipped the page gingerly, eyes going from Mina to the book. “I have Tzuyu as Groot, just since she’s so tall. I think if I redrew her, I’d do Black Widow. Because of the snarky humor and also how she’s kind of a lone wolf. And I love Scarlett Johanssen so it just makes sense. I did Dahyun as Captain Marvel, she just has that vibe, you know? I think she would be ready to take on anything and she’s so OP. I drew Nayeon as Iron Man because she caught me drawing these and made a request. I think they share similarities in brains and sometimes cockiness, but don’t tell her I said that.”

 

Chaeyoung was whispering to Mina, clearly stalling before she turned the page again. She held the corner in her fingers, still nervous. She had talked to Sana a couple times about how even though Mina was clearly unconscious, they could feel her presence. There was no medical explanation for this, she had looked. But the others had felt it, too, so there was no denying it. “I’m so nervous to show you yours? I don’t really know why. Anyways, I have Sana as Bruce Banner because she’s just so smart but this is also after she threw the beaker. I ran out of green so she’s a little yellow.” 

 

“Ah this is so silly. I had you as Black Panther. Because you’re so wise and smart and I just really hope I didn’t curse you because, you know, the actor passed. The suit is pretty sleek though, right?” Chaeyoung looked down and back over at Mina, who hadn’t moved besides the rise and fall of her chest. 

 

“The real secret ones are... Well, I’ve been capturing everyone’s happiest moments thus far. I’ve got you and Dahyun finishing a puzzle, Sana drawing flowers, Nayeon opening her emails, Tzuyu eyeing a snack, Jihyo when we gave her the group hug... I know you’re somewhere around here, but I don’t know that we’ve really had a moment like that for a minute. I hope you come back soon and when you do, I’m going to capture that moment in my mind and draw a picture for all of us, ok?” Chaeyoung sniffled a little. She wished she could’ve prevented this from happening, but like Mina had said, there really was no other way. “Sleep well tonight, ok?”

 

Chaeyoung moved towards Mina and checked her temperature, noting it was a little low. She grabbed another blanket and tucked her in, making sure her feet were under since Mina had always complained about having cold feet. Chaeyoung sighed as she pressed the play button on the T-Pain playlist Sana had curated for Mina. 

 

-

 

Dahyun would usually read books to Mina, but the last book available to them was “If I Stay,” which felt a little too close to home. She pulled out all the nail polish she had found on board and held them up for Mina. There was a mint green, black, and a dark blue. 

 

“Blink once for black, twice for dark blue, and don’t blink at all for mint green,” Dahyun laughed, knowing that Mina would’ve wanted the mint green anyways since that is who she stole it from. She shook the bottle and pulled Mina’s hand towards her, slowly painting. “You’re letting your nails go girl, you gotta be better than that.”

 

Dahyun had gained a new appreciation for Mina’s job after having to try and do it for several weeks, however she still had no idea what would be done with the data she gathered. As she applied the first layer to Mina’s left hand, she wondered what they would be doing if they hadn’t been hit by the debris. Maybe they’d still be there, slowly working to get what they needed.

 

“I’m going to play classical music because I’ve heard that it does a lot to stimulate your brain. And while I know you love T-Pain and he has the voice of an angel, maybe this will work.” Dahyun changed the music but felt a slight shift in the room. She looked at the monitors, which didn’t seem to have indicated any changes. She looked around the room, wondering if maybe someone was playing a joke on her. “Mina??”

 

Dahyun changed it back to T-Pain and the room felt lighter. As she flipped it back and forth, there was a tangible difference in the way the room felt. She ultimately left it on the classical music. 

 

“If you’re so upset about the music then come change it yourself!” Dahyun mumbled, resuming the nail painting. She started telling Mina about her day, and how they had found a second strawberry blossom. It had truly been a labor of love, and she wouldn’t have been able to do it without Tzuyu. Over the past couple months, the two had gotten really close after what happened. They still needed therapy, but they were at least able to talk to each other. 

 

Dahyun had figured out that the soil there wasn’t comparable to what they were growing on Earth, however she had started experimenting with several chemical reactions to see what kinds of minerals they could pull to create a more hospitable environment. She had really been hoping to find some plants in space, but maybe they’d find it on another planet later. 

 

It didn’t feel weird to her to not talk with Mina, since even when Mina was conscious they didn’t always talk when they hung out. She finished painting the last nail and let out a deep sigh. “I’m sure you’re doing your best, but I really miss you. No one else is as good at puzzles as you are, and we are starting to lose pieces. I know you’d hate it but I can’t really stop them from floating away. Also, Nayeon’s started doing them to feel closer to you, and you know that woman doesn’t have the patience for it.”

 

Dahyun stuck the brush back into the bottle. “I’ll see you soon, Mina. Don’t touch anything for at least 20 minutes.”

 

-

 

Whenever Nayeon would go see Mina, she would always start by crying. She held onto a lot of guilt about the door situation, even though technically Jihyo was the one that closed them. She would climb into the bed with Mina and lay next to her, crying into her shirt. Sana had told her to stop doing that because she didn’t want Mina to be cold in just one spot, but Nayeon didn’t think it really mattered. 

 

Today was no different, Nayeon laid down next to Mina and immediately started crying. She understood why they did what they did, she just wished that it hadn’t happened to Mina. Or to anyone, really. 

 

Mina had been Nayeon’s pillar at this job, taking the time to explain concepts to Nayeon and never making fun of her. Mina had been one of the first people to believe in her, and she had always been grateful to her for that. She had been so excited to go on this mission together, assuming they would take lots of pictures and that she would get to team up with her on this project. It’s not that she couldn’t do it herself, it’s just that it definitely would’ve been faster with Mina’s help. 

 

“If you don’t come back soon, I’m going to tell Momo that we need to open up our relationship and involve Sana. Is that what you want?” Nayeon asked the unmoving body, deflating when she realized Mina wasn’t going to budge. “You know, I should’ve known about you two. They say the line between love and hate is thin, and I’m here to say it’s basically non-existent. ESPECIALLY for you two. Maybe it’s a good thing you’re not here, otherwise I’m sure y’all would be all over each other right now, and that just wouldn’t be fair to the rest of us. Except maybe Chaeyoung and Tzuyu. You know, I’m still waiting for some sort of resolution there. I need to collect my money from Sana.”

 

Nayeon was really great at talking, there was never a dull moment with her. She knew how to fill a space, and she would enjoy doing so. She swore she’d seen Mina’s finger move one time, but no one was there to confirm it. She said it happened when she sang, but when they all gathered in the room and Mina didn’t move, they all assumed it was some ploy by Nayeon to get them to pay attention to her. But she knew. 

 

“I can’t believe you embarrassed me in front of everyone the other day, but then again that does sound like you. Either way, I’ll forgive you when you wake up. No hard feelings, I promise. Although, actually, I already told Momo, but I’ll tell her not to hold it against you, ok? She said she’ll make you your favorite sukiyaki when we get back, so I hope you’re hungry.” 

 

Nayeon gently ran her hand through Mina’s hair, pushing the longer pieces behind her ears. She then leaned over and left a small kiss on Mina’s forehead. 

 

“Don’t tell anyone I did that, ok? You’re my best friend and you kind of look like you need it. I know you liked it before when we’d get drunk after work, so don’t act like you didn’t like it,” Nayeon threatened, laughing to herself at the end. 

 

-

 

Tzuyu liked to watch movies with Mina, always making sure to angle the tv so Mina could see it better. Today, they watched “Fifty First Dates.” She wasn’t particularly fond of rom coms, but she knew Mina liked them, so she watched. She was also quietly looking for advice on how to approach matters of the heart. 

 

“Wow, I can’t imagine being with someone if they forgot me every single day. That sounds really hard.” Tzuyu mused to herself. “Oh my god what if you forget everything? Is there some sort of worker’s compensation around workplace induced amnesia because you saved us? That’s got to be worth something right?”

 

Having spent more time with everyone else on the ship now, she was finally starting to feel more comfortable. She knew what schedules everyone was on and had a pretty good idea of what their general attitudes were, and she liked them. Some more than others, and by more she meant a crush, and when she said others, she meant Chaeyoung. 

 

“I know Chaeyoung treats me differently. She’s always giving me more snacks and that little heart rate monitor thing always goes up whenever I’m around. She must like me, right? Why won’t she do anything?” Tzuyu rested her hand on her chin, pouting slightly as she thought about it. “Should I do something?”

 

She had toyed with the idea of doing something, maybe telling Chaeyoung or finding some way to covertly let her know. She didn’t want to scare her away, and there was also the off chance that Chaeyoung didn’t actually like her back. Maybe she gave everyone extra snacks, and maybe the heart monitors were broken. They weren’t for Sana and Mina, though. 

 

“I think... I think Chaeyoung would be the type to be with someone even if they forgot every day. She seems to love really deeply, and I’m sure she would create some really great art with that. I feel like in another life she’s an artist, and I wonder if in that world, I fall in love with her through her art. It feels fitting.” 

 

Tzuyu would always remind Mina of the things they could look forward to doing together when the shuttle landed, like drop things and worry about weight gain. She wasn’t the best at coming up with things because she had really enjoyed living in space despite the tight conditions. She hoped she could do this again, but next time bring her dogs. She missed them a lot. 

 

“I hope we get to do this again sometime, but maybe without the coma part. Although, when you come back you can tell us how it was. Maybe you can write a book and start a cult, I think other people have done that before. If you had a little more charisma, you could definitely do it.”

 

Tzuyu checked the schedule and noticed there was a gap for a while until the next person was scheduled to come. She would definitely let Sana know, but in the meantime, she walked over to the selection of DVD’s and pulled out “Doctor Strange.” 

 

-

 

Jihyo came in as the credits were rolling, turning them off as she went to Mina’s bedside. She missed the girl’s confident, quiet demeanor, and how her input had always been surprisingly helpful. 

 

“You know, it should’ve been me,” Jihyo had wept many times before. She had felt so helpless, stuck inside of the flight deck. It should’ve been her to go out and fix the paneling, and it should’ve been her on that bed right now. The rest of the crew had assured her many times that there really wasn’t an alternative, but it still felt like a burden she needed to carry, at least until Mina woke up. 

 

Jihyo had been bustling around, making sure everyone was in good spirits. It was hard, but Sana had helped a lot with planning activities to keep morale up. “We’re almost home, Mina. Hopefully you wake up before then, but if not, we are going to get you the best care possible. And if that doesn’t work, I’m going to build a robot version of you and then put your brain in it.”

 

Most of the time when Jihyo came, she would talk about work. There was always something going on, but luckily none of it was major. Lately, she had been dipping into wondering what life was back on Earth, whether or not she was ready for that. It’s not that she was scared life would be completely different, it was more that she didn’t know what she didn’t know, and that was what terrified her. 

 

“Sana says once I get there, everything’s going to just slide into place. That’s a lot of faith to put into something I don’t know for sure though, you know? I guess this is why I’m pretty agnostic. I like to ask the questions, but I don’t really need to know the answer,” Jihyo said as she smoothed some of the creases in the blanket. “Also, are you relaxing right now? It must be nice to have a get away of sorts, no responsibility, nothing. Maybe I’d get bored though.”

 

Jihyo knew it was a long time before she would retire, but she also hadn’t had a vacation in a very long time. She had spoken to the director about what this crew had been through, and persuaded the company to give them a couple months off to recover. Considering they had worked everyday for a year, including weekends and holidays, she felt it was only right. 

 

She made sure to check Mina’s vitals, which seemed to be ok for now. She had asked Chaeyoung to keep increasingly detailed information on how Mina was doing so that even the slightest change would show up. They had seen the warning signs of a cold, and had managed to stop it before it could reach Mina. It had been very fortunate, but spoke mostly to Jihyo’s leadership. The rocket didn’t function without her, and they all knew it. 

 

She pulled one of her drawings out of her pocket and hung it on the wall behind Mina. “This is a picture of you. You kind of look like a potato, but it’s got your essence. Potatoes are the most beloved, and also one of the most versatile vegetables. Mashed, roasted, fried. They not only adapt to every situation, but they excel. What I’m trying to say here, is that you’re the best, and we need you. So come back soon, please.”

 

-

 

Sana always looked forward to spending time with Mina. She would prefer if she were conscious, but this worked, too. Most of what she talked about was mundane work updates about the people on board, but when she ran out of updates, she would talk through some of her memories. Sometimes she would lie to see if Mina would wake up and call her out, but when Mina didn’t wake up, she would go back and tell it again. She never ran out of things to talk about, but she did wish Mina could respond. 

 

“I know they did a lot of research when putting the oven onto this ship, but I really think they should’ve gone with the air fryer. I bet we could’ve also figured out a way for it to use our carbon dioxide and turn it into oxygen, too! Crisp fries and more air! We should’ve been more involved in the planning of the ship,” Sana shook her head with a smile. 

 

As they got closer to landing, Sana was looking forward to all the food she would be able to eat, seeing her family again, and having access to all the tools she needed to do her job properly. She was a little nervous, because she had hoped to have had time to talk to Mina more and figure out what was happening between them. She had hoped for some longing glances and brief touches, but in some ways she had gotten that already. Maybe a kiss, then. 

 

“You know, I’ve been thinking about what you said. About the black hole and the neutron star. And I hope you know you’ve always been so much more than just your hatred for me. You’ve always been smarter and prettier and nicer, and you could’ve gotten this far without me. Honestly, it probably would’ve been easier. I mean, maybe you would’ve been an arrogant asshole, but still.” Sana glanced over at Mina, hoping for something, but nothing. 

 

It’s not like she needed Mina to tell her that everything she had said while losing oxygen was still true. It’s not like she regretted not figuring it out sooner and doing something about it. It’s not like she needed Mina to wake up and tell her everything was going to be ok. 

 

Sana sighed, looking at Mina and wondering where she was. She wanted so badly to just reach out and touch her, but she hadn’t since the incident and she didn’t know why. But the more she looked at Mina’s hand, the more it gnawed at the back of her mind. She slowly reached out, hand suspended in the air as she thought about it. 

 

“Everything ok here?” Chaeyoung asked, head popping out in the doorway. 

 

Sana snapped her hand back to her lap, head turning in Chaeyoung’s direction. “Please, you scared me!” 

 

“Your heart rate was up before I got here-”

 

“We told you to stop looking at that!” Sana said with a blush on her face. She only meant herself since no one else had any reason to be worried about Chaeyoung monitoring their heart rate, but it felt better for her to include everyone. 

 

“Ok but get this, I was talking to Tzuyu earlier and I saw her heart rate go up!” Chaeyoung whispered excitedly, a grin on her face.

 

Sana was now faced with a moral dilemma. She had bet on Chaeyoung to make the first move, but their rules stated they weren’t allowed to get involved. However, she knew Nayeon had talked to Tzuyu, and truthfully she just wanted them both to be happy. The whole crew had been watching Chaeyoung and Tzuyu go back and forth for so long, seeing resolution happen would be a win for everyone. Or at least, so she told herself. 

 

“What do you think it means?” Sana asked, trying to hold a neutral expression but ultimately failing. 

 

“I guess she could like me, but also maybe this thing is broken.” Chaeyoung pouted a little, floating to sit next to Sana. 

 

“I don’t think it’s ever been wrong about me,” Sana said quietly. 

 

“What do you mean?” 

 

“Well, remember that time right before everything happened with the landing? You and Tzuyu came in because my heart rate was up.” Chaeyoung nodded. “And remember how I spent all that time drawing the flowers for no reason?”

 

Chaeyoung looked at Sana with a skeptical look but nodded. Sana gave her a little shove and continued. “I did draw the dandelions for Mina, and I’m assuming my heart was racing when I gave it to her that day. And I did it because even though I didn’t know for sure, I think I already liked her at that point.” 

 

Sana had a sad look on her face as she rested her hands on the side of the bed, messing with the sheets. She remembered Mina’s smile when she saw the picture, and how the dandelion meant hope. She wondered where that picture was now. 

 

“Do you miss her?” Chaeyoung asked, noticing the way Sana was looking.  

 

Sana didn’t quite have the words to express it. She missed the ways Mina’s eyebrows would crease in frustration when things weren’t quite going her way. She also missed Mina’s smile, really just anything to do with the girl. The light teasing, the gently laughter, the way her tongue poked out when she was focusing. She missed everything. She didn’t know what to say so she just nodded. 

 

Chaeyoung moved a hand to rub her back as tears fell from Sana’s face, and then gently rested another on Sana’s knee. The memories went through her head, good and bad, and she started crying harder, which led Chaeyoung to cry, too. 

 

“Can you even see?” Chaeyoung chuckled, and Sana shook her head, eyes still full of tears. Sana felt a hand on hers, and she appreciated the warmth that came from it, it felt oddly comforting to her. They sat there and sniffled for a couple minutes, Chaeyoung’s head on Sana’s shoulder. 

 

“Wait.” Sana had a panicked look on her face, and Chaeyoung popped her head up with a confused expression. “If you’ve got one hand on my back and one hand on my knee, who’s hand is on my hand?” 

 

Sana and Chaeyoung both screamed, jumping up as they both tried to figure out what was going on with the hand situation. 

 

A weak voice came from the bed, “It’s me, you idiots.”

 

“MINA?!” The two yelled, approaching the bed and looking at her. Chaeyoung pulled out her tablet to see if she and Sana were hallucinating, and then to see what Mina’s vitals were.

 

“Oh my god you’re awake!” Sana exclaimed, somehow crying even harder now. 

 

“She’s awake?” Nayeon had been coming down the hallway when she heard the commotion and immediately flew into Mina’s bed.

 

“Why are you crying?” Mina’s voice was muffled as Nayeon sobbed, putting her hands on Mina’s face and squishing her cheeks. 

 

“Nayeon, please, you’ve gotta give her some room to breathe,” Chaeyoung chuckled, trying to pull the girl away. 

 

“She’s had time to breathe, it’s time for me now,” Nayeon said as she rubbed her face against Mina’s. 

 

Jihyo ran into the room and smiled, relief on her face as she watched the scene unfold in front of her. She went over to Mina’s side and gave her arm a quick squeeze before trying to help Chaeyoung wrangle Nayeon away. 

 

“You can’t do this, I love her!” Nayeon yelled before getting off the bed, arms folded with a pout on her face.

 

“Chae needs to actually check on her, ok?” Jihyo laughed, giving Nayeon a side hug, which she gladly accepted. 

 

“Let me go wake up Tzuyu and Dahyun!” Sana said quickly before turning and exiting the room. Jihyo and Nayeon looked at each other, both confused at Sana’s response. 

 

“Should we...?” Nayeon started to ask before Jihyo quickly shook her head, turning her attention back to Chaeyoung. 

 

Sana was still crying a little as she left the room, shocked by Mina waking up, but nervous for what that meant. Did she remember anything that had happened before the coma? Or worse, did she remember anything that happened while she was in the coma? Either way, she was glad but unsure of what this meant. And with a coma, it’s not like there was a timing variable to it, so she hadn’t quite figured out what to do once Mina woke up. She rushed into the room, gently waking up Dahyun and then Tzuyu. 

 

“She’s awake!” Sana exclaimed, the girls responding with equal excitement and trying to wiggle out of the beds. It was like Christmas morning as they all went down the hallway as fast as they could to go see Mina. 

 

“Thank god, you’re awake! I’m so sorry about the data I collected, I hope it’s ok!” Dahyun said as she raced over to the bedside, pushing Chaeyoung out of the way.  

 

“I told you it was fine,” Nayeon said with an eye roll. 

 

“Maybe I should check it then,” Mina said with a laugh, immediately falling victim to the force of Nayeon’s hand. 

 

“Be gentle, she just came out of a coma! How are you feeling?” Tzuyu asked, coming up next to Chaeyoung, who was now blushing. 

 

“It’s weird, one moment I’m in the airlock and the next I’m here,” Mina replied with a shrug. “I feel ok though, I’m just really hungry.”

 

“Oh, let me go grab some things for you,” Jihyo said before heading out to grab some food. 

 

“What do you remember?” Chaeyoung asked, typing notes on her tablet as Mina talked. 

 

“It’s weird because there were some moments where I was out of my body? Like I’d be sitting next to you when you were talking to me, but you couldn’t hear me. I remember you showing me your drawings-”

 

“You said those were a secret!” Tzuyu said, feigning anger. Chaeyoung just smiled and kept typing, hopefully that would let her off the hook.

 

“And Tzuyu I remember what you said about Chae-”

 

Chaeyoung’s head immediately turned to Tzuyu, who had suddenly gone red and turned away. If she had looked at her tablet, she would’ve seen both of their heart rates higher than normal. 

 

Jihyo returned with some pudding, a couple packets of heated up food, and some water bottles. She brought them over to Mina, showing her each one until she made a decision, helping her sit up. 

 

“So, just bits and pieces then?” Nayeon asked, to which Mina just nodded. Sana breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that maybe she would get another chance with Mina then, to start over. Not that she minded how things had happened, it was just very dramatic and maybe a restart would be good. Ultimately, she was feeling a little scared since she didn’t actually know what Mina knew. 

 

Mina scarfed down the food and laid back down, and everyone just sat around and chatted quietly and caught Mina up on what had happened. They talked about the data they had gathered, how they had finished early, and now they were headed back to Earth ahead of schedule. Sana soaked in Mina’s smile and laugh, sitting and appreciating that the girl was there in front of her again, alive and well. 

 

“Do I have something on my face?” Mina asked with a smirk, catching the way Sana was looking at her. 

 

“Just Sana’s eyes!” Tzuyu joked, the whole cabin erupting with laughter while Sana blushed. 

 

“I missed all of you, really,” Mina said with a big smile. Everyone replied similarly, taking turns affirming that to Mina. “Do uh do y’all mind if I talk to Sana alone really quickly?”

 

Everyone was stunned to hear this so suddenly from Mina but nodded and slowly shuffled out the room, whispering to themselves. Sana turned to Mina, also surprised, who just patted the bed and gestured for her to come over.

 

-

 

“Chae, can I talk to you, too?” Tzuyu asked, all eyes turning to her. Chaeyoung’s mouth fell open but she quickly closed it and nodded. Nayeon and Jihyo looked at each other, bumping fists as they turned and went the other way. 

 

“What’s up?” Chaeyoung asked, closing her tablet and looking up at the other girl. 

 

“What do you think about Mina and Sana...” It was clear Tzuyu had other things to say, but Chaeyoung figured she would go along with this first. 

 

“I think it’s kind of crazy but I definitely prefer this to when they were fighting each other all the time?” Chaeyoung laughed. 

 

“Yeah, I agree,” Tzuyu said quickly. Chaeyoung noticed Tzuyu biting her lip, which she did when she was nervous. 

 

“What’s on your mind, Tzu? You can tell me anything!” Chaeyoung said with a wide grin, hoping to be reassuring rather than aggressive. 

 

“What’s the deal with you giving me all the snacks? Do you like me or something?” Tzuyu’s gaze was firm, something lingering behind her eyes. Chaeyoung was stunned, processing what Tzuyu was saying and also the implication of what she said. The fact that she focused on the snacks made Chaeyoung smile. 

 

“Oh uh what if I say no?” Chaeyoung said, mentally face-palming for saying that when she obviously did. 

 

“If you say no then I’m going to tell you that you’ve been really confusing and to never do that again,” Tzuyu said with a huff, hands on her waist. 

 

“Aaaand if I say yes?” Chaeyoung said with a cheesy grin, feeling a little more confident. 

 

“Then I’d say that I like you, too, but also that we almost died and you waited this long so it would’ve been nice for you to be more clear and less confusing,” Tzuyu said with a small smile. 

 

“Then I’d have to say yes, I’m sorry it took so long and I’ll try to be more clear and less confusing,” Chaeyoung said with a big smile. 

 

Jihyo and Nayeon high-fived in the background, Chaeyoung and Tzuyu turning to look at them in confusion. 

 

“Sana owes us money now, carry on!” Jihyo said before dragging Nayeon down the hallway.

 

“What!” Tzuyu yelled before chasing them down the hall, Chaeyoung laughing in the background.

 

-

 

Sana slowly walked over, unsure of what Mina was going to say. She had waited so long for this moment and now that it was here, well, she didn’t know how to react. 

 

“How have you been?” Mina asked, looking up at Sana. They had been traveling for months through space, but Sana wasn’t sure there was anything quite like the look Mina was giving her now. 

 

“Everyone’s been doing ok,” Sana shrugged.

 

Mina looked at her skeptically. “I asked about you.” Sana could never get away with hiding her own feelings when it came to Mina, but she would still try. 

 

“Good, just you know, working and stuff.” Sana’s eyes were down in her lap, fingers picking at the fibers of her shirt. She wanted to say something, but she didn’t know what would happen and she wasn’t sure she wanted things to immediately change once Mina woke up. 

 

“I know, I don’t remember a ton, but I have small snippets of you telling me about your day,” Mina said quietly. “Thank you for coming every day.”

 

Sana was surprised by the vulnerability in Mina’s voice. “Of course I was going to be there, you risked your life for us!” 

 

“It’s no big deal,” Mina shrugged, trying to make light of the situation. 

 

“It IS a big deal, we wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you. I can’t believe you were so reckless,” Sana said sternly, brows furrowed.

 

“Were you worried?” Mina teased.

 

“Of course I was worried after but I didn’t have a clue while you were-” Sana paused, now confronted with the exact topic she was trying to avoid. 

 

“Confessing to you?” Mina finished for her. Sana blinked at her a couple times. 

 

“You remember?” Sana asked slowly. 

 

“I remember everything up until I passed out. And I have some intermittent memories while I was in the coma, which is strange. I’ll have to ask Chaeyoung about the science of it, but either way. It was like sometimes I could pop in and see what was happening in the room and sometimes I could control it. Dahyun was changing the music one day and I was tired of it, and I don’t know how but I was able to shift the temperature of the room. I have clips of some of the movies with Tzuyu and some of Nayeon’s rants. I think I remember most of the times when you came though. You came more than everyone else, too. Who would’ve thought, my nemesis at my bedside, not strangling me.”

 

“Shut up,” Sana said with a shy smile. “So everything I said...?”

 

“Probably. I guess I don’t know for sure, but if I popped into semi-consciousness and you were there, I’d try and stick around,” Mina said with a shrug. 

 

“Why, do you like me or something?” Sana said with a smirk. 

 

“I thought that was obvious,” Mina said matter-of-factly. Her eyes were so steady as she looked at Sana. 

 

“Did you hear what I said over the intercom...?” Sana asked. 

 

“I had passed out by then, unfortunately. But I did hear about it from Nayeon and Jihyo, they were both pretty shocked.” Mina slowly sat up, grunting with effort. Sana quickly reached over and grabbed her arm and lift her up, also working to adjust the pillows behind her to help her be more comfortable. Mina’s hand grabbed Sana’s hand before she could let go. “For the record, I’m glad.” 

 

Sana smiled, still reveling in the fact Mina was holding her hand. She thought about earlier, how much comfort she had felt when the “third hand” had reached out and touched hers. 

 

“So, what do you remember?” Sana asked. Mina recounted all the details Sana had shared, from the largest to the smallest, mundane to exciting. She even gave up some of the details from the other girls, which made Sana laugh. 

 

“I can’t believe you remembered all that,” Sana giggled. 

 

“It was the only entertainment I had, it was like a reality show set in space!” Mina exclaimed. “I cannot tell you the amount of times I wanted Chaeyoung or Tzuyu to just confess, it was maddening.”

 

“You’re telling me! And me, Nayeon, and Jihyo made a bet so we weren’t allowed to intervene!” Sana exclaimed. They laughed about some other small things until a comfortable silence settled between them. Sana thought she was in the clear, it seemed Mina had forgotten the one thing she was worried about, what she had whispered to her the other day. She didn’t mind that Mina knew she cared about her or that she liked her, but this felt like a good stopping point for now. 

 

“Well, I’m sure everyone else still wants to talk to you, so let me go get them.” Sana got up and walked towards the door, getting ready to call everyone else back to the room. 

 

“Hey Sana?” Mina said quietly, causing Sana to turn around before exiting the room. Mina pulled the dandelion picture out of her pocket and gave her a warm smile, which Sana returned quickly. “I love you, too.”