The girls are in Japan for their fan meeting. Their second day there was given as a rest day to them so they could rest before they start the second night of the fan meeting.

Mina went to dinner with her family. Her grandparents requested for this dinner since they didn’t get to see Mina the last time she was in Japan.

The rest of the girls and their families had dinner together. They rented a whole restaurant to accommodate everyone as well as their managers and other staff.

Hours later back at the hotel, the eight girls gathered in the maknae line’s room to have snacks and talk.

“Jeongyeon, have you told her?” Sana asks and all the girls start gathering in front of her upon hearing the question. They are curious because Jeongyeon and Mina are sharing the same hotel room for the whole duration of their stay there.

“We talked and watched the sunset and then went back to the hotel. Ordered food, ate the food while watching the Eternals movie, then we went to sleep.”

“That's it?” The seven girls simultaneously ask, disappointment painted all over their faces.

“That's it.”Jeongyeon responds.

“You should have made a move!” Jihyo exerts.

“Girls, I want to respect her, okay? And it doesn’t feel like it’s the right time yet.”

/////

It’s the second night of their fan meeting and they are at the segment where they give messages of compliments to the person sitting next to them. Mina is sitting beside her.

When it came for her to give her message to Mina, she turned her seat to face her. She’s beaming and Mina is too, but nervousness is evident in her expression.

“If I were to be born again, I would marry Mina in the next life. I wanna see your beautiful face every morning I wake up and-”

“Jeongyeonie.” Mina whispers, cutting her. She’s baring too much honesty. “Jeongyeon” she says again and points discreetly to the thousands of people watching them live and in-person. Although Mina looks composed, she looks like a blushing mess right now after hearing Jeongyeon's honest words.

Jeongyeon nods, gesturing that she’s still aware that they are in front of their fans and members. She can’t continue because Chaeyoung’s standing in between her and Mina now. Mina mouths a ‘thank you’ to the girl in red for helping her stop Jeongyeon.

Jeongyeon buries her face on the palm of her hands after seeing Jihyo and Dahyun laugh at her. They're so gonna tease us later. She wants to apologize to Mina in advance. The latter doesn't love being teased. Who does? Jeongyeon does. There are times she likes being teased. For example, when jeongyeon started expressing her feelings to Mina, the members would try to trap Mina with Jeongyeon in an empty room like they are some high school students. Jeongyeon acted like she hated those kinds of schemes but deep inside she's giddy, allowing all the butterflies to spread from her stomach to all over her body. She would look over at Mina and notice the redness of her face, embarrassed by the teasing of their friends. She had told Jeongyeon that she wasn't comfortable with what the members were doing to them and that she wasn't comfortable with Jeongyeon confessing her feelings. Mina doesn't talk much but when she does, she's honest. She doesn't often speak nonsense and Jeongyeon liked all that about her. It broke her heart though. It meant Mina doesn't like her back and that she doesn't want Jeongyeon to take any further steps about her feelings and she wants the older girl to stop acting on it.

/////

1 second, 2 seconds, 3 seconds

It took Jeongyeon one second to fall for Mina.

One day, she just thought the way Mina walked into the practice room was very elegant. The way she smiled at everyone—that smile grabbed not just her attention but her heart too. The younger girl was wearing the same perfume she wears everyday. Everything about her was the same but Jeongyeon started getting a different reaction to her.

She gets cheesy when she starts to like someone and it's confirmed when she starts writing a song about that person and how she feels and how she wishes the other girl likes her too but also acknowledging that her feelings might not get reciprocated.

But Jeongyeon hasn’t told Mina all this yet, she only showed her.

/////

It took her two seconds to make Jeongyeon cry and break her heart.

“Mina?”

“Hmm?” Mina turns to face Jeongyeon while holding a hot cup of choco.

"I like you."

The curious look on the younger girl’s face turns into one that says "I’m sorry but I don't feel the same way."

One, two. Jeongyeon counts but does not count further because she’s afraid of what Mina could say in response to her confession. So she ran away before the latter could even say a word.

/////

It took three seconds for Jeongyeon to give up...

Mina asked her to help her shop, which is very unusual of her. She usually looks up clothes on the internet before going to the mall to buy them to spend less time in public places. And then, she asked Jeongyeon to go to the cinema with her to watch Thor: Love and Thunder. It was the longest time Mina wasn’t at home and it was not even for work.

During their walk to the exit and back to Jeongyeon’s car, they talked about the movie and how they felt about a major character's death after all the funny parts.

“I would have preferred if Christian Bale just wished for Jane Foster to live.” Jeongyeon says after they get inside the car. Mina laughs at her for using the actor’s name instead of the character’s. “But did you get his name? I don’t think they even mentioned it.” Jeongyeon tilts her head, trying to remember if there was a time in the movie where his name was mentioned. “He was gonna die anyway so he wouldn’t be with his daughter.” Jeongyeon continues.

“You liked the movie, no?”

“Yes. This might be the start of a new obsession with Marvel movies and it’s all your fault, Minari.”

“I’m proud of you.” Mina giggles. “Thanks for watching it with me.” She adds after Jeongyeon started the engine.

“Thanks for taking me with you.” Jeongyeon smiles back at her.

After buckling their seat belts, Jeongyeon is suddenly frozen in her seat as she watches the other girl leaning into her and kisses her.

She wanted to kiss her again after it ended so quickly. She hesitated at first but damn it, she wanted to kiss her so badly.

This could be the last time I could kiss you.

So she did.

One, two, three seconds of kiss. She kissed her with a little more pressure this time.

"I'm sorry." The older girl says after the kiss, her face flushed.

"What are you apologizing for?"

"For kissing you."

One, two, three. She counted again, waiting for Mina to say something. But Mina smiled instead. "I kissed you first and I kissed you back the second time, didn't I?" Mina’s eyes smiled along with her lips, and this smile doesn't look apologetic.

And that's when she realized she almost didn't have her.

She almost lost her had she not waited for three more seconds and kissed her again.

It almost took her three seconds to give up on the person she loves and give up hoping for a chance.

But Mina gave her an answer that she never, for a second, expected.

Jeongyeon wasn’t aware that Mina appreciates her efforts at making her feel special and she started letting herself fall for whatever the older girl has been making her feel.

/////

They’re doing another fan meeting in Seoul. Mina is sitting to Jeongyeon’s right again and is about to give her a message of compliment.

They've been dating for more than a year now and of course, the public doesn't know about it. The couple knows the fans love seeing them like this. They know how their fans "ship" them together and that makes them feel that their relationship is accepted even though it’s a secret for now. They have to keep it like this while they are still under the limelight because in Korea, when “Idols” date people it is a scandal. It’s ridiculous but it comes with the territory of being in the industry.

title is from this song:

Maybe now i can finally let this go. I can finally let you know that im not afraid to fall if you’re the one who catches me. Tell me that you’ll be there.

- Fall x Jonas Brothers

thank you @nichkhunfans for requesting this! :))

posting this as a minayeon on my ao3 with some changes. if you wanna read it in minayeon, here you go: https://archiveofourown.org/works/42750423