Just us

:Ding dong:

"Kris! Juno! Your pizza is here!"

I shouted from the living room.

"Could you take it and bring it over?"

Kris answered back loudly. He was probably playing some games with Juno and didn't want to pause.

"It's YOUR pizza. I've already had dinner"

"Come on, how hard can it be? Just open the door and bring it for us"

:Ding dong:

Man, don't make me run your errand you lazy bastards.

I walked over to the front door and opened it.

"Hi, Nana"

To my surprise, it was Mina standing there.

"Kris! Nevermind, it's NOT your pizza'

"Okay~"

"Sorry about that Mina"

As I turned to Mina again and shrugged my shoulder, Mina came one step closer to me and gave me a soft hug.

Huh?

"What's wrong? Mina, are you okay?"

"I'm sorry"

"What for?"

"Could you come with me for a few minutes, if you are free now…"

"Okay-. Kris! I'm going out for a while. Get the pizza yourself when the door rings!"

"Okay~!"

"Let's go then"

I had no idea what Mina was thinking. Why come all the way to my house and apologize? She could have texted me or something, but even then, I couldn't imagine what she would feel sorry for in any case.

I led Mina to the playground in our apartment complex. It was almost 9 o'clock and dark. Kids normally don't play out here at this hour. This should be a good place to chat.

I got on a swing and gestured to Mina to take the swing next to me, which she duly obliged.

"So… what's up?"

"I felt bad you left so early. I thought maybe you felt we wanted you to leave"

I let out a chuckle.

"Well, that's how I felt yes. It wasn't your fault though"

"I know Tasha can be a bit overbearing, I'm sorry about that"

"It's not something YOU should feel sorry about. But I'm impressed you sensed it though"

"Didn't we say we will be friends?"

"Yes we did"

"I really care for my friends and I don't want to make anyone unhappy"

"You know, Mina, not everyone can be friends and get along"

":Sigh:... It seems so"

"I have nothing against Tasha or Mara, but to be honest with you it just felt awkward hanging out with them today"

"I'm sorry I forced you to come"

"Oh don't get me wrong. I wouldn't have known what they are like unless I met them today. You gotta first take the chance to get to know someone before deciding you like them or not, right?"

"You are right"

"I'm thankful that you came. It makes me feel better that you felt it too and came over to check on me"

"I'm glad I came to see you too"

There was a pause in conversation as we sat on the swings, moving back and forth very gently.

I then realized it was okay this way. I didn't feel the pressure to talk, to fill the gap. Why do I feel so at ease with her? Maybe this is why she's popular? She's kind and never forceful with others.

"Have you been living here for a long time?", it was Mina that first spoke after the long pause.

"Yeah, maybe like 10 years?"

"I guess you played here with your brother and Juno when you guys were young"

"Haha, we did. You see that tree over there?"

"Yeah, it looks very big and old"

"There was this once we were playing with a football and the ball got stuck on that tree after Juno kicked it. He was so scared of heights and didn't know what to do and I wasn't gonna climb up there either. So I said let's throw some rocks and hit it off the tree, but you know, Juno really sucks at throwing stuff with his hands. So instead of the rock flying up to the tree, it just shot straight across the air and hit me on the head here"

"Oh no-"

"Yeah, I got a little cut and there was so much blood coming out. Juno got so scared and started to cry. I was like come on, just go get help already. So he rushed to my home and got Kris to come out. But Kris was also a kid, well, I mean we are the all same age. He didn't know what to do either. They seriously thought I was gonna die or something, and because they were so scared I was getting scared too. So I just stood there bleeding from my head and started to cry, and they were like 'Don't die, Nana, please don't die"

"Then what happened?"

"Nothing really. Some adult passing by saw us and called an ambulance. I got a few stitches on my head and that hurt like hell. When I came back home from the hospital Juno and Kris were like 'thank god you came back alive!'. I still got a bit of scar on the spot but luckily it doesn't show because of my hair"

"May I… feel it?"

"Er… okay. It's here"

I put a finger on the spot where I had a small scar that already healed a long time ago.

Mina brought her hand over my head and gently laid her finger on the spot.

"Does it hurt?"

"No. But it does feel a bit funny"

"You poor thing"

"Haha. It's okay. It happened a long long time ago"

Then we quietly sat on the swing for a minute or two without saying a thing. This time I was getting a bit uncomfortable with the silence.

"Sorry if I bored you with a silly story. It's nothing special, everybody gets hurt right?"

"Right, and don't be sorry. I'm glad I got to hear something about your… and Juno's childhood"

"So… do you have any stories like that? Have you ever got injured? Break a bone or something?"

"I never got injured like that…"

"Right", I guess this conversation ends here.

"But… I was quite weak when I was young. I had anemia and always felt tired. Sometimes when I get up I'd get dizzy and had to lie down. I fainted a few times too in school so always got excluded from sports activities"

"Wow, that sucks. Are you okay now?"

"It's gotten a lot better"

"That's great!"

"Yeah, thanks… and.."

"Go on"

"Well, it's a bit embarrassing, but I used to sing a lot, quite well if I may say so. Back then there were many children's singing competitions and my mom made me participate in those a lot. And because I was winning some prizes my school thought it was okay for me to skip school to practice singing and go win the competitions and stuff. It made them look good to have a student like that. So I missed a lot of classes and school days because of that. Basically, it felt like for the majority of the time I was either sick or practicing and going to events "

"Wow, you won prizes?"

"Yeah, I came second in the regional competition actually. I failed at the nationals though"

"That's amazing. I can't sing to save my life!"

"Hehe. Thank you"

"Do you still sing? What club are you in by the way? Our school has a choir, and also there were some light music clubs and bands too?"

"Well... It's all from a long time ago. I haven't sung for a while in those events"

"That's a pity. I'm sure you sound great. You have a lovely voice"

"You are embarrassing me"

"So what happened? Why did you stop?"

"Well… I had reasons.."

"Okay"

"Maybe I'll tell you some other time"

With that Mina got up from the swing and stood in front of me.

"Thank you for everything today. I came to apologize but feel like I took too much of your time"

"Nah it's cool. No worries"

"See you in school on Monday then"

"Yeah, see ya"

Mina said bye with a nod of her head and turned around to walk away. I also got off the swing and started to head to my apartment building. As the apartment door slid open after I keyed in the passcode, I turned my head to the direction where Mina walked off. At that exact moment, Mina turned to look my way too.

We waved our hands to say goodbye. She went her way, and I came back home.