TWICE AU -
- MiChaeng

A Romeo and Juliet inspired story. Singer, Mina’s group has been at rivalry since their debut, but when new arrival Chaeyoung arrives, will her rules of avoiding the enemy hold up?

[Start]

The crowds screamed, The lights were bright, This was what they did every night, Mina, Sana, Dahyun and Jihyo. Together they performed and loved every minute of it.

The Show ended and all 5 girls waved as like skipped off the stage,

As usual they pulled out their earpieces and took the water being handed to them,
“Nice Job everyone!” Jihyo stated, as she always did, through heavy breaths,

They all headed straight for the dressing rooms to change and get ready to leave in a few hours, it was already late.

Sana was visibly tired but still smiled as they fell through the dressing room doors and dropped onto anything that would hold their weight,
“I’m getting too old for this!” She laughed at her own sarcastic comment and then got back up of the chair she’d slumped into,

“How do you suppose... you know who... did tonight..” Mina asked drinking another mouthful of her water,
“Mina, you can say their names, nothing’s going to come and get you for that!” Sana joked while trying to tie her hair out the way to increase the cooling down process

But the truth was, Mina couldn’t say their names. She mentally would not allow them that satisfaction of her identifying them.
“Nayeon, Jeongyeon, Tzuyu, Momo...” Jihyo said slowly, taking her time on every syllable,
“Oh I’m sure they did perfectly!” Dahyun perked up.

“Oh so very beautifully!” Sana mocked as she waved her hair brush around before rolling her eyes and dumping it in the bag.
“But Not as good as us I’m sure!” She continued, grabbing some more bits - she really was the messiest!

Mina let herself drift into her own thoughts, She thought about the other four girls and how all this had started in the first place, a year and a half ago they were all just a set of trainees complaining about how hard it was on them. And now just looking at them was a crime...

She thought about where it all went wrong, They were two groups, set to Debut on the same date of the same year, with very different styles and images, and from the day they were revealed the public was split almost exactly 50/50. They snaked and jumped ahead of each other

Somewhere in those few months, someone saw an opportunity and they took it, sparking a massive controversy of how the groups hated each other from day 1 and now that lie had been forced into reality.
Deep down, Mina hated it, but she unwillingly chose a side and she had to stay.

“What do you think about the rumour though! That they are adding a fifth member! A rapper..” All eyes fell to Dahyun in that moment
“I think she’ll do a good job to top me!” Dahyun said sharply after noticing the unexpected attention.

“Oh stop! They’re just trying to one-up us, like every time we do anything! They want to have one more member and they want to claim to have the better rapper!” Jihyo also stood up now, moving to the mirror and untangling her microphone from her head, placing it on the table,

“We just have to show them that if they want to bite we can just bite back harder!” Mina chipped in from the corner seat. And so the girls shared a look and a low giggle at the thought of actually biting them!
But thought still ate away at Mina...

Who was this new girl? Where would she be from? And what the hell could she possibly be like?

[Later]

“You can not be serious!” Sana sat up straight on the sofa chair, the other rushed around her as she began to read.
It was true, Nayeon, Jeongyeon, Momo, Tzuyu.... and Chaeyoung.
“They’re so pathetic.” Jihyo said pushing off the sofa edge and heading back to the sink

Mina stared at the screen, the words twisting around each other, it wasn’t her fault she had this secret competitive streak, but the fact they did this angered her.
“They truely do only want to beat us.” She stayed and dropped her head into her hands,

They were very different groups, anyone could see that. It was almost ridiculous that they could be so against each other, Mina looked at the people around her and remembered what they were about, they sang upbeat and sometimes cutesy songs while... they... were the opposite,

They rarely performed in skirts, while Mina and the others rarely performed out of them. They were pretty even in weights and actually that was the only factor of them that wasn’t fought about. But it’s safe to say all eight of them were glad of that. However criticism fell hard.

Mina hated each and every one of them, and so did the others, people called the whole thing dramatised so often that it just became known that this is what it was. But deep down they all knew the hatred that fell between them, the way they would purposefully walk into Mina,

Or make sly but cutting comments any chance they had. Mina liked to think that her side wasn’t as bad, but the truth was that they were just as bad as each other in contributing to the war that never ended.

“I need hot chocolate” Dahyun declared, slumping across the room back towards her room, she turned and looked hopefully at Mina, then smiling brightly,
“No, I’m not going!”
“Pleaseee Mina!” She whined
“Go yourself!”
“I can’t! I have to write lyrics before tomorrow!” She begged

Mina sighed heavily and stood up,
“Fine! But only because it’s you!” She winked sarcastically at her and grabbed keys and her coat!
“Thank you!!!!” Dahyun smiled and disappeared into her room,
“Hot chocolate a-“
“I know what to do!” Mina yelled and closed the door behind her.

The Starbucks was luckily only across the road, Mina traversed the road carefully holding her coat closed and slid into the Shop, it was fairly busy but no more than normal. She walked up to the counter and ordered the hot chocolate, with extra milk and cookie combo for Dahyun.

As Mina took out a note to pay for the food a few coins fells and hit the ground around her, she handed across the note and spun around to pick up the coins, but she turned to find that they had already been picked up, a girl, fairly short, about mid length dark hair stood there

She stared at Mina and Mina stared at her, she couldn’t explain it but there was instantly something between them,
“Um, h-here’s your coins.” She said handing them to Mina,
“Thank you!” she replied taking them and dropping them back to where they should be,

“Uh, are you.. in any kind of rush?” The girl asked,
“No.” Mina said all too fast, she didn’t even think about it, she was too absorbed in the eyes of this girl she’d just met, without a second thought the pair sat down and waited for their orders to be ready, who was this girl?

When Mina got back in through the door, her order had gone completely cold, she’d walked this girl home, all the way across town, but still didn’t know her name. How on earth did that happen?
“Finally!” Dahyun hops into the room, “why were you so long!?”

Mina looked down and shrugged, made only to lift her head again by Sana, all too excitedly gasping,
“She met someone! Who was he!?” She nearly leaped off the sofa
“ ‘HE’ was a ‘SHE’ and nobody, I just went to the coffee shop and back again...”

“Mina... come on. You’re a worse liar than you are at putting glasses in the sink” (yea she knew how bad she was at that)
“She was just.... a girl - small and cute - nothing serious” Mina put the cup and bag on the work top and stripped her coat, hanging it up as always.

“We have a big show tomorrow guys, let’s not get distracted.. please?” Mina begged and took a seat with Sana. Although the others had pushed this to the back of their minds. There she was, smiling and shy, nervously chewing her lip in Minas mind, and she didn’t even know her name

What felt like an eternity later was actually just a few hours and everyone was about to clear off to bed when Minas phone pinged from the bed, she grabbed and flipped it to see the screen, it was an unrecognised number. Mina crawled into bed.

“Hey, it’s me from the coffee shop!”
Minas heart stopped as she took in what she was reading, she’d totally forgotten that they’d agreed to go again and so swapped numbers,
“Hey ‘me from the coffee shop’” Mina laughed at herself slightly and let it send,

“So it’s been a whole 6 hours but I miss u”
She-she missed her!?
Mina realised she missed this girl too
“You never even told me your name...” Mina replied, the reply was almost instantaneous but Mina was so tired that she began to fall asleep and before she could read it sh-

BEEP BEEP BEEP
Mina sprung up from her bed and looked at the time, 11:56. 11:56!!!?? She was so late, she jumped out of bed and into clothes, brushed her hair and her teeth, grabbed her phone without looking at it and ran out to the main living room where the others were waiting

“I’m so sorry! Let’s go!” She said quickly as they got ready to get up and go too

They arrived safely at the music show studio, ready and racing to reveal their new song to all the fans, sound checks were run and they began the preparation process. Make up, hair, clothes.

They were ready!

They practiced their routine and song over and over until called to the backstage area, it wasn’t a secret that their rivals were going to be there too, and it really wasn’t long from entering the area that they came face to face with their worst nightmare...

“Aw look who it is!” Nayeon said so patronisingly “I see your skirts and little bows phase is still going on.” She continued
“I see your tiny shorts and sports bra phase is still going on..” Sana quickly snapped back, with almost impressive speed,

These really were different people, Mina stood in small heels, a pink tennis skirt and a slightly oversized top that hung baggy until the waist where they met the skirt, her hair pulled up in a high pony tail, socks tall and pulled all the way up, this was the SaDaJiMi way.

The others however, Five Spice, stood tall in themselves, wearing thick boots, a mix of normal and fishnet tights, tight and very high black shorts and Small deep green tops that did resemble sports bras, they also wore motorcycle gloves and their hair ruffled in a messy way,

“Make sure not to hurt yourselves in those heels,” Tzuyu began as they moved through SaDaJiMi, “you might be even more than beaten for best performance”

They filed past Mina and the others one at a time, all until the last and smallest member at the back,

She lifted her head to meet eyes with Mina and time froze. The small, dark haired girl, the girl from the coffee shop. She walked past, refusing to take her eyes off of Mina as she did. It seemed as if time had slowed down and they were seeing each other pass in slow motion,

She was the new girl in Five Spice... Mina had fallen in love with someone she absolutely could never have. The 5 disappeared found the corner,
“They make me sick.” Jihyo said shaking her head,
Mina continued staring to where she’d last seen them standing... what had she done?

She took off back to the dressing room, using the excuse she had to pee to get free for a minute, she barrelled into the dressing room and grabbed her phone, going straight to her texts,

“I didn’t? My name is Chaeyoung, I’m here to be a part of a group - Five Spice”

Shit...

Back behind the stage, the other five were finishing their performance SaDaJiMi were next.... this is going to go well...
“Mina! They’re all looking good for you we have literally 30 seconds!” Jihyo grabs her and pulls her over, to the rest,

They file off the stage one at a time Nayeon, Tzuyu, Momo, Jeongyeon..... and Chaeyoung,
She shoves her hands in her pockets as she nears them, lifts her eyes to Minas level and smiles slightly,
“Good luck Mina..” she mutters as they pass each other, Mina smiles back

She watches her walk away towards the others until a waving hand snaps her out of it, “Mina!” Dahyuns voice “hello? What was that about?”
“Nothing.” Mina replied looking at the ground, “nothing at all...”

Before they could say anything else about it the 4 were ushered onto the stage, it was time to show off their comeback material, and it’s safe to say that once they heard the fans as they walked onto the stage, they were excited to perform as SaDaJiMi once again.

The girls slipped down off the stage side and back into the safety of back stage, where they all headed straight for the dressing rooms, Mina at the back was stopped abruptly by a hand on her arm, she spun around to see her, small and dark haired - Chaeyoung, back again..

Mina looked behind her to check that they had gone before turning and talking to her,
“Ch-Chaeyoung. I- um- you- uh- you’re - “
“I’m sorry Mina, I didn’t realise you were part of them, I would never have-“
Mina made a decision she knew show would regret very soon

She kissed the small girl she met at the coffee shop.

It was rather a lot later, the nine girls were about to leave at the same time - this meant facing her again, and having to pretend like nothing happened. As much as this hurt Mina, she knew it had to be done. Ok fine. She would walk past her, what was he about this girl?

The 4 girls there picked up their stuff on the managers cue and began moving out of the room, ducking out of the small hallways and out line final door into the large open space reception area. Fans lined the walls, awaiting the girls departure.

The four made their way to the main doors of the building when they were cut off by the harsh sound of heels on the hard marble floors. They all turned instinctively to see the other 5 waving and smiling at the fans themselves, all 4 girls stood up straighter as they approached.

“Sana, Jihyo, Mina, Dahyun...” Jeongyeon bent over a little, patronising as ever, “it was great to perform along side you... hope to do it again some time...” She stood back up and walked back to the others, Mina kept her eyes low, fear of locking eyes with Chaeyoung hot in her

“You too.” Sana said bluntly, “let’s hope next time you can sing a little more on key.”
Jeongyeon swung her body round, clearly offended, Mina couldn’t help but smile to herself at what Sana had so ruthlessly said.

“Chaeyoung, I thought you were great. And honestly? They don’t deserve you.” Sana continued, now Mina did look up, the worry of being kicked out of the group for this was clear on her face,
“Sana stop! They aren’t worth it just - come on away... please.” The girls walked on.

Mina took a look over her shoulder to try and identify where the others were but her eyes landed only on Chaeyoung, who was smiling gratefully and wiping a tear from her face. Sana was right, they didn’t deserve chaeyoung. Chaeyoung has emotion.

The 4 Members clambered into the car and slid the door shut, finally they were away from the others. Finally some peace and quiet...

Mina thought about what had happened while in the car.
Sana always had been the most defensive one against their rivals, she always knew just how to get back at whatever comments they would make. She kind of protected the others, who weren’t as confident in self defence...

Chaeyoung however, she was different from the others there. Mina thought about how when the groups had first debuted they had treated each other with just as much respect as any other group. She wondered where the spite of the others had come from so quickly

The answer was simple - the media had turned them all into people that they weren’t, but there was no going back now, they hated each other, and Mina was no exception to the hate they all shared...

But Minas mind shifted back to Chaeyoung and how she had made that split second decision to kiss her before leaving with the others - they had only met once.. but something just fit - something just clicked into place - like a puzzle piece.

But the smile that had appeared on her face was quickly replaced when she realised that she just couldn’t be with Chaeyoung and that there was no exception to this rule. They were rivals. Not by choice. Never by choice. Like she thought - they fit just like puzzle pieces.

“Star-crossed lovers” has a ring to it doesn’t it? Minas small smile returned at that thought and she looked at her hands in her lap, “star-crossed” she repeated, in a whisper so small it was unbearable to the others, to herself. “I like it”