Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It all began with a song.

Chaeyoung was in her room, a chaotic sanctuary where paint cans piled up next to stacks of comics and dusty guitars. Outside, the rain lashed mercilessly against the window, an incessant downpour that had lasted three days, transforming the world into a blurry canvas of grays and melancholy. Inside, the atmosphere was no less gloomy. Chaeyoung was curled up in her swivel chair, hair disheveled and eyes red, a victim of the lethal combination that had dragged her into this pit of despair:

An unrequited crush that hurt like an open wound.

The relentless rain only amplified her feelings. It wasn't a soft, comforting rain; it was a deluge that seemed to want to drown any glimmer of hope, reflecting the torrent of tears she had promised herself not to shed. The constant drumming against the glass was a monotonous reminder of her solitude.

And then, the brilliant idea. An epiphany born of sleep deprivation and 2 a.m. desperation. She had been aimlessly browsing internet forums, seeking any distraction, when she stumbled upon an obscure conversation thread. 

They spoke of "unusual and emotionally resonant" sound frequencies, supposedly capable of tuning into collective moods, of connecting with hidden sensibilities. Most would dismiss it as esoteric nonsense, but Chaeyoung, in her current state, was willing to cling to anything that promised an escape, or at least, validation.

Her old microphone, taped to an improvised stand, awaited her with its blinking LED light. It was cheap, yes, but it had been her confidant on countless nights of songwriting, capturing her most intimate whispers and her most powerful screams. Her fingers trembled slightly as she turned on her laptop, the screen emitting a bluish glow that illuminated her pale face. She opened her favorite recording software, feeling the familiar mix of anxiety and anticipation that always invaded her before creating.

She took a deep breath, the cold air filling her lungs. The melody was already in her head, a simple but melancholic piece, woven with the threads of her pain. She adjusted the headphones, feeling the familiar padding against her ears. The volume meter danced on the screen, ready to capture her voice.

She looked at the microphone, an inanimate object that, for some reason, felt like her only listener at that moment. The room was in shadow, only the screen light and the microphone's flicker breaking the darkness. The sound of the rain was a backdrop curtain.

Then, with a lump in her throat and a vulnerability that burned in her chest, Chaeyoung leaned into the microphone. Her voice, initially a barely audible whisper, grew with the emotion that overwhelmed her.

"If anyone out there can feel this... I feel alone too."

The phrase was part of the intro to her demo, a raw, unadorned confession cast into the digital ether.

Chaeyoung didn't stop there. The catharsis propelled her. She added distortion to her voice, an effect that made it sound distant and ethereal, as if coming from the depths of space. Then, she added a couple of ethereal synths, creating a sound bed that floated between melancholy and hope. The riskiest part was when she imported a deep, pulsating vibration from a sound library she had downloaded from an anonymous forum, cryptically titled "relaxing interplanetary frequencies.zip." It was a profound bass that felt less like a sound and more like a resonance vibrating in her bones, something almost primordial.

She recorded the track. She played it once, listening to her own amplified vulnerability, the chorus of her loneliness resonating with strange echoes. A shiver ran down her spine. She liked it. It was... unusual. Exactly what she needed to express what words could not.

Without thinking much more, she uploaded it to her private SoundCloud account. She didn't make it public, nor did she share it with anyone. She simply left it there, in the darkest corner of the internet, like a message in a bottle cast into an infinite ocean.

She closed her laptop. She got under the covers, exhausted.

And she forgot. After all, no one was going to listen to it.

–

Two weeks later, the sky exploded.

Literally.

At 2:43 a.m., a pulsing dome of blue-violet light materialized in the night sky, tearing through it with an unnatural silence before a column of brilliant energy fell directly onto her school's soccer field. It wasn't a roar, but a silent implosion, a blinding flash followed by a gust of wind that rattled the windows of nearby houses. Neighbors, peering out with dazed curiosity, thought it was an elaborate Netflix art installation to promote some new sci-fi series. A few neighbors thought they were demented pyromaniacs trying to burn the freshly sown grass. Nayeon, for her part, thought it was the end of the world and, in her pajamas, prepared an apocalyptic farewell speech for the girls, just in case.

But the next morning, when Chaeyoung arrived at school with raccoon eyes and a steaming cup of coffee in hand, battling the hangover of a night of failed composition and dreams of distant stars, the last thing she expected was for the universe to send her such a... specific response.

As she hurried down the hallway, almost spilling her coffee on a student's shoes, the Global Studies classroom door opened with a soft creak. And through it, framed by the hallway light, a girl entered.

She had the aura of a lawyer fresh out of a high-end firm, with her school uniform perfectly pressed, impeccably white socks, and silky, dark hair falling like a waterfall. Her face was angelic, serene and beautiful, with delicate features and immaculate skin. But it was her gaze that froze Chaeyoung in her tracks. Those dark, deep eyes were ancient, strangely devoid of common human emotion, as if they came directly from another dimension, observing the world with an understanding that went beyond the earthly.

"Class, we have a new exchange student," said the teacher, Mr. Kim, without much enthusiasm, adjusting his glasses on his nose. "Her name is Myoui Mina. She comes from... uh, Japan." He said the last part as if reading from a note he could barely decipher.

Mina stepped forward, her back straight and shoulders relaxed. A soft, small smile formed on her lips, barely altering the serenity of her face, but enough for her eyes to sparkle with an almost imperceptible glint. She bowed elegantly and precisely, a greeting that seemed more appropriate for a boardroom than a high school classroom.

"It's a pleasure to meet you all," her voice said, surprisingly sweet and clear, with an accent Chaeyoung couldn't quite place. But what truly made the air catch in Chaeyoung's throat was that, as she straightened, Mina's gaze landed directly on her. It wasn't a casual look, but an instant connection that seemed to pierce through the classroom's bustle and Chaeyoung's own panic. It was as if those ancient eyes saw her, recognized her, on a level that transcended words.

Chaeyoung felt her heart pound against her ribs. She swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry. She felt completely intimidated, exposed under that intense gaze, a mix of terror and a strange fascination that left her motionless. The rest of the class seemed to have noticed nothing, already returning to their whispers and gossiping.

Mina, without breaking eye contact with Chaeyoung for another beat, simply took a seat at the desk directly in front of Chaeyoung's. The proximity was a silent shock. Chaeyoung found herself observing Mina's perfectly straight back, the way her hair fell in an impeccable curtain. Mr. Kim resumed his class, and the murmurs died down, but for Chaeyoung, the lesson had been completely eclipsed by Mina's presence.

The rest of the hour was an exquisite torture. Chaeyoung barely registered the teacher's words, her mind obsessed with the figure in front of her.

—

When the bell rang, signaling the end of class, Chaeyoung felt a relief mixed with a pang of something akin to disappointment. She mechanically stood up, putting her books in her backpack.

"Are you okay, Chae? You seem spaced out," Tzuyu asked her, already by her side, ready to go to the next class.

"Yeah, just... thinking," Chaeyoung replied, her voice sounding strangely hollow. She walked alongside her friends down the hallway, her mind still lost in Mina's gaze. She felt as if her brain was disconnected from her body, floating somewhere between the stars of her dreams and the new girl's eyes. She was so absorbed in her thoughts, so lost, that she barely registered the murmur of students or the rush to get to the next class.

Suddenly, a figure materialized beside her. It was such a silent, fluid movement that Chaeyoung barely noticed it until she felt an undeniable presence to her right. Mina.

She had managed to catch up to them soundlessly, gliding through the crowd like a ghost. Her dark eyes, that deep gaze Chaeyoung had seen in the classroom, fixed on Chaeyoung again, and this time, there was an intensity in them that left no room for doubt. She was watching her and only her.

"Excuse me," Mina's voice was a delicate whisper, but every word resonated with a strange clarity in Chaeyoung's ear, eclipsing the hallway's bustle. Mina didn't seem to notice the stream of students around them, or the fact that Chaeyoung was about to spill her coffee. "Are you Chae–young?"

"Uh, yes," Chaeyoung replied, feeling the heat rise to her cheeks. Her heart began to beat with unusual force, a drumming that echoed in her ears. Mina's voice, though soft, had a quality that seemed to vibrate directly in her bones.

Mina looked at her directly. With an intensity that completely disarmed her, as if her eyes could see through her skin, straight into her soul. With recognition, a gleam in her deep pupils that replicated the strange sensation Chaeyoung had experienced upon first seeing her. And, Chaeyoung felt it, with purpose. A purpose so clear and defined that it seemed like a gravitational force, pulling her in.

The usual hallway bustle seemed to vanish, time slowed down. Chaeyoung's mind went blank, only registering Mina's impeccable figure in front of her.

And then, Mina said, in a voice that, though still soft, was unmistakably firm, each syllable perfectly articulated, almost resonating with an alien echo:

"—Son Chae-young, I have received your mating signal. I am here to consummate our bond."

The absolute silence that followed was louder than any explosion. The universe seemed to hold its breath.

Momo, who was chewing a rice cracker, choked loudly, the crunch of the cracker and her violent cough echoing in the void.

Jihyo, who had just taken a sip of her iced coffee, spat it out with a muffled exclamation, the dark liquid splashing onto the polished floor. Her mouth opened in a perfect "O" of astonishment.

Tzuyu, the always stoic Tzuyu, slowly turned towards Chaeyoung, with a "what the hell did you do now?!" expression that rarely left her calm face. Her eyes, normally bored, were wide open.

And from somewhere down the hallway, where Sana and Jeongyeon must have been spying on the scene, a sharp, excited scream pierced the silence:

"Are they getting married?!"

Chaeyoung felt the color drain from her face, leaving it a ghostly white. The coffee in her hand trembled dangerously. Her brain, usually quick to process abstract concepts and draw caricatures, had completely short-circuited. Mina's words, crystal clear but utterly surreal, repeated in an infernal loop in her mind: mating signal... consummate our bond...

Mina's eyes remained fixed on hers, unwavering, with no trace of irony or mockery. She seemed completely serious, utterly oblivious to the seismic chaos her words had unleashed. As if she had just asked for the time or the location of the cafeteria.

Chaeyoung stood frozen, a monument to mortification. She could feel her friends' gazes fixed on her, mixed with curiosity and astonishment. Jeongyeon and Sana had wide eyes, and Jihyo had brought a hand to her mouth to stifle a nervous giggle. Dahyun looked like she was about to blurt out another indiscreet question.

"So, Chae-young," Mina began, her voice calm and measured, oblivious to the impact her previous words had caused, "We must discuss the next steps for the..."

"No!" Chaeyoung reacted with lightning speed, her voice barely a desperate whisper that tore through the air. She interrupted abruptly, her frantic eyes searching for any escape route, any place where they could disappear from public scrutiny. Her eyes scanned the hallway, stopping at the door of an empty classroom at the end of the hall. It was an art room, full of easels and canvases, far enough from the hustle and bustle.

Without a second's hesitation, Chaeyoung grabbed Mina's wrist, her grip firm and trembling at once, and pulled her forcefully towards the empty room. It was a messy tug, filled with the urgency of her panic. Mina, with her usual grace, merely blinked at Chaeyoung's sudden action, her lips parting slightly in silent astonishment, but she offered no resistance. She simply allowed herself to be dragged.

"Wait! Where are you going?!" Nayeon shouted, already recovered from her initial exclamation, and she, along with the rest of the group, hurried after Chaeyoung and Mina.

Chaeyoung pushed open the art room door and dragged Mina inside. The other girls followed closely, their faces a mix of confusion, gossip, and genuine concern. Just as the last of them entered, Momo, with her usual efficiency, slammed the door shut behind them, the sound echoing in the room.

The art room, now with the door closed, became a resonance chamber for the tension. All the girls looked at Mina, their expressions oscillating between shock and the belief that the new student was completely crazy. Tzuyu crossed her arms, Sana covered her mouth to stifle a laugh, and Dahyun was already looking for a chair to sit on and enjoy the show.

Chaeyoung released Mina's wrist, turning to face her, the blush returning to her face with a vengeance. Her voice, though kept low to avoid alerting people in the hallway, was laden with contained hysteria.

"Are you some kind of lunatic?" Chaeyoung hissed, her eyes shining with a mix of desperation and impending explosion. "Are you crazy?"

Mina, surprisingly calm amidst the storm, simply tilted her head, her gaze still impassive. A ray of light filtered through the art room window, illuminating the tranquil aura that seemed to surround her, oblivious to the palpable panic in the small room.

"I'm serious," Mina said, her voice as soft as a murmuring stream, but with a conviction that made the hairs on Chaeyoung's neck stand on end.

"She's crazy," Nayeon murmured from a distance, loud enough for everyone to hear. Jihyo discreetly elbowed her, but her own eyes were fixed on Mina, her expression a mix of disbelief and fascination. Dahyun was sitting on a stool, already devouring a bag of potato chips, watching the drama as if it were a TV show.

"No, no, this can't be." Chaeyoung rubbed her temples, feeling an impending headache. "Is this a joke?" Her gaze darted to her friends' faces, seeking complicity, a sign that it was all an elaborate hoax.

Mina didn't answer. She simply watched her with those deep eyes that seemed to see through her soul. Mina's lack of response made Chaeyoung's exasperation soar. She groaned, feeling utterly ridiculous. "Haha, Nayeon unnie, how funny. Very funny. Come on, say it, it's a joke, right?"

"I have nothing to do with this!" Nayeon defended herself, raising her hands in a gesture of innocence. "I swear! This is entirely yours, Chae."

Chaeyoung turned to Mina, her arms crossed over her chest. "Then why the hell do I have a girl here... a girl who just literally walked into school... asking to consummate our bond!?" Incredulity tinged every one of her words.

Mina tilted her head again, the gesture so neat it was almost mesmerizing. "Because I received your signal." Her voice was a quiet echo in the tense room.

Chaeyoung blinked. "What signal? What are you talking about?"

"The frequency you emitted," Mina replied, her voice taking on a more... didactic tone, almost as if she were giving a lecture. "It contained a deep emotional code. A resonance of longing and connection that, in my culture, is unmistakable. I have traveled 4,200 parsecs following your message of commitment." Mina paused, as if waiting for Chaeyoung to process the magnitude of that distance. "According to law 84-G of my species, spontaneous binding signaling is equivalent to a marriage vow. And as the sole recipient of your emission... I accept your proposal."

The room fell into a deathly silence, broken only by the crunch of Dahyun chewing her potato chips. Chaeyoung's jaw dropped.

"I didn't... I didn't propose..." Chaeyoung felt her brain disconnect even further. She gestured wildly, her hands trembling. "It was a demo! A sad song! I was lonely and dramatic! I was writing about my life and the rain! Not about... not about marrying an alien!"

Mina bowed respectfully again, her expression unperturbed. "I accept your drama as a sign of emotional authenticity. On my planet, intense artistic expressions are considered even deeper promises. I am willing to adapt to your human customs, however complex they may seem." Mina gestured towards the empty easels, as if imagining legal documents appearing on them. "Where do we sign?"

Chaeyoung took a step back, tripping over an artist's chair. "Sign what?"

"The interspecies cohabitation contract," Mina explained with complete seriousness, as if she were discussing lunch. "And the documents for optional spiritual fusion. It's a more intimate ceremony, but I believe, given the nature of your signal, it would be appropriate."

"Fusion what!?" Chaeyoung's scream bounced off the walls of the art room.

—

The rest of the day was... complicated.

Afternoon classes became an exercise in survival for Chaeyoung. After the incident in the art room, they knew they couldn't just let Mina wander the halls alone. The new student was a magnet for stares and, frankly, a galactic security risk. So, reluctantly, they had no choice but to let Mina follow them.

It wasn't a good idea.

Mina sat next to Chaeyoung in every class, her presence serene and disturbing in equal measure. Her uniform remained impeccable, not a hair out of place, while Chaeyoung sank deeper and deeper into her seat, feeling the pressure of Mina's gaze, which seemed to pierce her soul and something beyond.

She followed her everywhere. To the bathroom, where Mina waited patiently outside, causing a traffic jam and curious stares. To the cafeteria, where she ignored the line and teleported a bowl of ramen directly to Chaeyoung's table, making other students' trays levitate for an instant. Even to the art club, where Mina silently watched Chaeyoung as she drew, her eyes fixed on every stroke, as if witnessing the creation of a new universe.

And she called her "My bonded one." Not in whispers, but in a clear, melodic voice that could be perfectly heard in the silence of the hallways or the murmur of classrooms. Every time she did, Chaeyoung felt the heat rise from her neck to the tips of her ears.

She defended her from everything, with an alien efficiency that bordered on terrifying. When a flying basketball threatened to hit Chaeyoung in the head during gym class, Mina didn't even blink. She extended a hand with an almost imperceptible movement, and the ball stopped in mid-air centimeters from Chaeyoung, before falling to the ground as if it had run out of energy. Chaeyoung's classmates just looked at her, confused by the impossible physics. But Chaeyoung felt a shiver of recognition. And then, when a teacher scolded Chaeyoung for not turning in homework on time, Mina looked at him with an intensity that, Chaeyoung swore, paralyzed the man mid-sentence, his eyes fixed, probably while Mina altered the fabric of time around him. The teacher recovered seconds later, mumbling an apology and telling Chaeyoung she had one more day.

She even offered her teleported tea from her ship. A small, smooth metal cup appeared out of nowhere in Mina's hand during lunch, steaming and smelling of something floral and metallic at the same time. "It's an Alarian infusion for mental clarity. You might need it." She said, offering it to her. Chaeyoung refused, of course, too scared to try it.

And to top it off, Mina introduced herself to the other girls as "the empathic unit receiving Chaeyoung's original signal." She said this quite naturally, while they were eating in the cafeteria, right after Dahyun almost choked on her food upon hearing her.

"Technically speaking, she's cute. I understand why you want to marry her," Dahyun said, in an undertone, in the hallway, her eyes still fixed on Mina, who was walking a few steps ahead. Her voice, though whispered, had an undeniable tone of fascination.

"I don't want to marry her!" Chaeyoung yelled, frustration and panic overflowing in her voice, not caring who might hear. But it was a mistake. Too late. Mina, who seemed to have supernatural hearing or some kind of sensor to detect her name, was already by her side, her eyes resting on her with an expression of patient understanding.

"You're not ready," Mina said, her voice calm and gentle, as if comforting a small child. "I understand. First-phase galactic unions require patience and cultural adaptation. I can wait three Earth moons if you wish. It's a standard courtship period in my sector."

Chaeyoung put her hands to her head. "What if I never want to get married?" she asked, desperation drowning her.

Mina looked at her, very serious. A seriousness so profound it seemed not to fit on such a young and delicate face. "Then I will remain as an unbonded companion. I will sleep a minimum of 2 meters away to avoid accidental fusion during the REM cycle. I will not activate the physical phases that require a full conjugal bond." Mina's gaze softened slightly. "And I will continue to attend your academic institution until you understand that we are compatible. Frequency compatibility is irrefutable."

Chaeyoung clutched her head, further disheveling her already chaotic hair. "This can't be happening to me. My God! This is a nightmare."

Just then, Sana appeared behind her, her eyes shining with an almost maniacal joy, happy as a child on Christmas. She had been listening to the conversation with a growing smile on her face.

"Come on, this is the best thing that's ever happened to us!" Sana exclaimed, hopping a little. "We have a lesbian alien in love with Chaeyoung!" Her voice was a conspiratorial whisper, but it vibrated with the excitement of a fan at a concert.

"She's not in love with me!" Chaeyoung shouted, her face burning an intense scarlet, while Mina merely observed the interaction with scientific curiosity, as if Sana were a fascinating specimen in a laboratory.

Mina blinked. She looked at her.

"I do not comprehend the Terran definition of 'in love.' But if it means feeling intense psycho-emotional attraction, a desire for deep connection, and a constant fascination with your facial structure... then perhaps I am."

Chaeyoung fainted.

–

Log entry 01, Mina:

"Bonding has been established.

My bonded one is still in a state of denial.

The other females in the group appear to support the union.

I will proceed with patience.

Human love is strange. But intriguing."

–

The morning sun hit Chaeyoung with the subtlety of a rocket taking off, filtering through the blinds with a blinding intensity. She tried to stretch and pretend that nothing had changed in her life in the last 24 hours, that the previous day's events had been just a fever dream, but it was impossible. Because there, right in front of her, at the foot of her bed and sitting on the floor with impeccable composure, was Mina.

The alien was perfectly upright, her uniform already pristine and her dark hair falling smoothly over her shoulders. In her hands, balanced with supernatural grace, she held a gleaming silver tray that seemed to float weightlessly. On it, there was a tall glass filled with what looked like a drink straight out of a science fiction movie: a luminescent substance bubbling in neon shades of electric blue and lime green.

"Good morning, bonded one," Mina said with a smile that seemed worthy of a magazine cover from a distant galaxy. There wasn't a single hint of the confusion or panic Chaeyoung had experienced the day before. She was the same serene and enigmatic Mina, but now with a very clear purpose. "I prepared this energetic infusion to facilitate your cognitive process for the school day."

Chaeyoung sat up in bed, her hair a bird's nest and her eyes puffy from lack of sleep. She eyed the drink with deep suspicion, as if it contained tiny aliens swimming in it. "Uh... what's in that?" she asked, as her trembling finger tapped the edge of the tray, searching for a label, an ingredient she could identify, something that didn't scream "alien liquid."

Mina tilted her head slightly, her expression one of absolute conviction. "Nepturine extract, cultivated on the moons of Kael, sweetened with interstellar honey. It is highly nutritious for your terrestrial biology and optimizes neural synapses." She recited it as if it were the most mundane information in the universe.

Chaeyoung blinked. "Right... And does it taste good?"

Mina raised a perfect eyebrow, the gesture barely perceptible, but laden with a nuance of alien curiosity. "I do not know. On my planet, we do not use 'taste' as a criterion for ingestion. We are guided by metabolic efficiency."

Chaeyoung swallowed, her throat suddenly very dry. She knew saying "no" wouldn't work. Mina didn't seem to understand the concept of rejection, especially when it came to her mission to "care for" her newly discovered bonded one. With trembling hands, she took the glass. The drink bubbled gently, emitting a faint hum. She brought the glass to her lips and took a small, cautious sip.

Her face instantly contorted into a grimace of disgust. "Ow!" she exclaimed, the neon liquid still in her mouth. She swallowed with difficulty, feeling a shiver that had nothing to do with the drink's temperature. "It tastes like mint, but with an aftertaste of... burned plastic? Or maybe old batteries?" She shuddered.

"That means it's effective," Mina said proudly, her small smile reappearing, as if Chaeyoung had just confirmed the most successful of chemical reactions.

—

Coexistence soon showed its first conflicts. What was elemental logic for Mina was pure absurdity for Chaeyoung, and for Chaeyoung's friends, a spectacle worthy of a sci-fi series.

For example, Mina, adhering to the "galactic formal partner protocol," decided that Chaeyoung should have rigid schedules for rest, study, and recreation, all calculated with millimeter precision to "optimize her terrestrial performance." She tried to establish a routine so strict that even the principal, Mr. Lee, a man known for his stoicism, became genuinely concerned and called Chaeyoung's house to ask if everything was alright.

"Mrs. Son, excuse the interruption," the principal's voice sounded confused over the phone. "Does your daughter have a 'brain optimization' schedule with mandatory meditation periods and liquid nutrient intake phases? Miss Myoui mentioned it. Is she in some special high-performance program or something?"

"Uh... yes, something like that," Chaeyoung clumsily lied, while Mina nodded solemnly in the background, with a "we're making progress" expression that made Chaeyoung want to scream. The alien had even tried to use her mind control to make Chaeyoung wake up at exactly 6:00 a.m. for "lunar crystal meditation," but Chaeyoung, with her own stubborn and chaotic mind, managed to resist the influence, though she ended up with a pulsating headache.

Meanwhile, the other girls didn't know whether to laugh, call NASA, or simply accept that their lives had become an intergalactic reality show. Mina's anecdotes were a daily occurrence, and although they worried about Chaeyoung, the situation was undeniably... entertaining.

A few days later, in the bustling school cafeteria, between the clinking of cutlery and the murmur of conversations, Dahyun tried to speak seriously with Chaeyoung, complaining that Mina had "fixed" her seat with an energy ray when she tried to sit next to Chaeyoung.

"So, what do you plan to do about this... situation?" she asked, lowering her voice and leaning closer to her, her curious eyes fixed on her friend's exasperated face. "You can't have an alien walking around school saying you're space partners."

"I don't know," Chaeyoung replied, shrugging, her gaze lost on her lunch tray. Mina's attempt to change her diet to "interstellar nutritious substances" had been thwarted by Chaeyoung's terrestrial appetite, but the alien continued to serve her the "energetic infusion" every morning. "Every time I try to talk to her, to explain that we can't get married, Mina replies with a quote from the Universal Law of Cosmic Marriage. She says my 'signal' is unbreakable and binding."

"Universal Law of Cosmic Marriage?" Momo asked, crossing her arms over her chest, one eyebrow raised. Her voice, always with a hint of irony, sounded more amused than concerned. "Sounds like this is going to last centuries. Literally."

Jihyo, for her part, was more concerned about privacy and global implications. She had been secretly researching UFO sightings and government conspiracies for several days. "What if someone finds out? What if the government gets wind that we have an alien formally engaged to a high school student? We could cause an interplanetary diplomatic incident." Her voice was an urgent whisper, her eyes nervously darting around the cafeteria.

"Relax," Mina said from the table, having caught every word of the conversation without flinching, as if distance and noise were no obstacle to her sensory abilities. She offered a smile that was meant to be reassuring, but only managed to appear even more enigmatic. "My personal technology conceals my biological energy from low-level terrestrial detection, but I cannot promise that I won't attract curious individuals who are already 'tuned' to anomalous frequencies, but conventional human authorities will not directly detect me."

Chaeyoung sank into her seat, burying her face in her hands. "Oh, great. Good to know."

–

In one of those chaotic afternoons, when Mina's insistence became almost suffocating and Chaeyoung felt her terrestrial brain was about to explode, she tried an escape plan. She needed a break, even if only for a few hours. With the help of Nayeon and Tzuyu, they prepared a ridiculous disguise for Mina hoping no one would recognize her in the city.

"Look, Mina," Nayeon explained enthusiastically, holding out a pair of enormous sunglasses that covered half her face, an impossible blonde curly wig, and a coat that looked straight out of an 80s costume shop. "This is to go unnoticed. It's the key to human camouflage."

Mina observed the attire with scientific curiosity but put it on without complaint. However, Mina was not made to go unnoticed. Her alien aura was too powerful, her presence too magnetic.

Within ten minutes of being downtown, Mina had stopped three cars simply by turning her head, chatted with two tourists (apparently, she'd given them "interdimensional travel tips"), and, without realizing it, had signed autographs for a group of children who were convinced she was a disguised Korean pop star, thanks to her blonde hair and sunglasses.

"Maybe we should try something less obvious," Tzuyu suggested, dragging Chaeyoung and Nayeon to hide behind an old tree, trying to avoid the attention Mina was generating. Chaeyoung felt like she was in a chase movie.

Mina, standing in the middle of the sidewalk with her blonde wig askew, took off her sunglasses to look at Chaeyoung with her usual deeply serious gaze. "I don't need to hide," she said, her voice resonating with an unsettling clarity in the urban bustle. "I need Chaeyoung to sign the papers and for us to begin the spiritual fusion protocol. My superiors will not approve of me being absent from my observation post for so long without a formal bond."

"No! No way!" Chaeyoung yelled from her hiding place, her patience at its limit.

–

Later, back in Chaeyoung's room, the rain continued to fall softly against the window, creating an unusual atmosphere of intimacy. Chaeyoung was sitting on her bed, legs crossed, her eyes fixed on the wall. Mina, her disguise back in a bag, was sitting beside her, the "2-meter" distance she had meticulously promised to maintain reduced to centimeters.

"Chaeyoung," Mina said, her voice low and contemplative, breaking the silence only with the sound of the rain. "Why do you fear commitment? There is nothing more stable in the universe than a frequency bond. It is the fundamental law of cosmic coupling."

Chaeyoung sighed, feeling a strange mixture of tiredness and a nascent affection for the creature beside her. It was exasperating, but also incredibly sincere. "Because this wasn't a commitment, Mina," she replied, turning to look at her, her eyes tired but now with a spark of resignation. "It was an accident. A song. A signal misinterpreted by a... by a very literal alien."

Mina stared at her, her deep eyes unblinking. "Then accept the accident as a miracle," Mina retorted, her voice with a softness that surprised Chaeyoung. "I accept the miracle of your signal. And the 'drama' that accompanied it. It is a unique expression of your species, and I have integrated it into my understanding of your culture."

A warm silence settled between them, different from the tense silences before. It was a silence of understanding, or at least, of an approach to it. The rain on the window now seemed like a soothing melody.

Chaeyoung sighed again, this time with a softer exhale, as if letting go of a heavy burden. The idea of a "galactic union" was still ridiculous, but Mina's presence, her alien innocence and her unwavering conviction, were starting to be strangely comforting. Perhaps, just perhaps, it wasn't so bad. It could be... interesting.

"You know what?" Chaeyoung turned completely to Mina, a small smile forming on her lips. "Maybe we could try it. But on one condition."

Mina looked at her, expectant, her eyes shining with silent anticipation, as if a new and fascinating equation had just been presented.

"That you don't force me to drink any more of that tea."

–

Log Entry 02, Mina:

"The human bonded unit shows signs of emotional weakness and resistance to marriage. I will proceed with a patience tactic.

Meanwhile, her human friends seem to accept the situation with disturbing enthusiasm.

Social integration will be key to the survival of our union.

Mission: convince Chaeyoung that this is the best decision since the invention of gravity."

–

The afternoon in Chaeyoung's bedroom seemed like a scene out of an interstellar screwball comedy, with a touch of controlled chaos.

Mina was sitting at the small study desk, her back straight and a composure that defied the gravity of the situation. She was reading a book with a title in alien characters that none of the girls, not even the sharpest, could decipher. Beside her, Chaeyoung tried to concentrate on her math homework, the numbers and formulas dancing confusingly in her head. However, Mina's constant presence, inadvertently knocking over objects with telekinesis or making the lights flicker while reading, made any attempt at serious study impossible. A pen floated out of its case and crashed against the wall.

"Mina," Chaeyoung whispered, rubbing her temples. "Mina, can you lower the telekinetic field a bit? I'm trying to copy this formula and you're like a hurricane. My book just tried to fly out the window."

Mina looked up from her book, her eyes deep and serious. "My abilities are in power-saving mode, bonded one," she replied in her soft, monotone voice. "But terrestrial study material is more complicated than the gravitational physics of my planet. My mind is working at maximum capacity to process the illogicality of your equations, and that can cause fluctuations in my field."

At that moment, the door burst open and Jihyo, Nayeon, and Dahyun entered, carrying a huge steaming pizza box and an arsenal of snacks that included potato chips, sodas, and chocolate chip cookies. The aroma instantly filled the bedroom, momentarily drowning out the faint scent of nepturine that Mina seemed to emit.

"Emergency meeting!" Jihyo announced dramatically, her voice echoing in the small space. She placed the pizza in the center of the rug. "There's a new player in the game, and I don't like her uniform at all."

Chaeyoung looked up, exhausted from lack of sleep and constant alien surveillance. "New player?" she asked, a shiver of apprehension running down her spine. "Another alien? A mad scientist? The government? Please, don't let it be another one who wants to marry me!"

Nayeon, with a look of grave seriousness that lasted no more than five seconds, pulled out her phone and showed a photo. The image showed a stern-looking woman, her hair pulled back in a high ponytail and a penetrating gaze. "Detective Kang," Nayeon said, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. "She showed up at school this morning asking about an 'energy anomaly.' She specifically asked for you, Chaeyoung."

"A detective?" Mina went on alert, her eyebrows arched with an almost imperceptible intensity. She looked more like a space explorer than a surprised teenager. "Official investigation? Is this a protocol phase of the 'union'?"

"And not only that," Dahyun added, opening a bag of potato chips with a crunch. "She believes there's an 'unusual phenomenon' linked to you, Chaeyoung. She wants to talk to you outside of school. At a cafe, supposedly for 'more discretion'."

Chaeyoung frowned. "Outside of school? Like in a... secret spy movie investigation? With trench coats and everything?" A shiver ran down her spine. This felt too real for her liking.

Mina stood up with a fluid movement and positioned herself next to Chaeyoung. Her eyes darkened with unbreakable determination. "May I come with you?" she asked, her voice with a protective nuance. "I need to protect you. Your 'signal' is high resonance; you could be vulnerable to other non-terrestrial entities."

"Protect me? Mina, if I can't handle you alone, much less a secret agency and you trying to protect my 'signal'!" Chaeyoung exclaimed, frustration bordering on hysteria.

Jihyo placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Relax, Chae. We're with you. We'll go with you guys. But still, prepare for the worst. This got ugly."

–

That same afternoon, in a somewhat dark neighborhood cafe with a peculiar aroma of stale coffee, Chaeyoung and Mina waited for the mysterious detective. Jihyo, Jeongyeon, and Dahyun were sitting at a nearby table, pretending to be engrossed in a deep conversation about study schedules, but their ears were keenly listening. Chaeyoung tried not to think about how ridiculous it was to sit with a betrothed alien and an investigator who surely thought they were in a cheap sci-fi movie. The tension was palpable, and Chaeyoung's nervousness manifested in the constant trembling of her foot.

The detective appeared on time, as if she had walked straight out of a mystery novel. She wore a long trench coat that seemed too warm for the weather and dark glasses that completely concealed her eyes, even in the dim interior of the cafe. Her figure was imposing.

She approached Chaeyoung's table, the shadow of her silhouette falling over them. "Miss Chaeyoung," she said with a deep, resonant voice that seemed to have been designed to interrogate suspects. "My name is Kang Seulgi. I am part of a special unit that monitors possible unusual phenomena in the... urban sector. And you, unknowingly, emitted a very special signal." Her eyes, invisible behind the dark glasses, seemed to pierce Chaeyoung.

Mina, always the quickest to react to any mention of the "signal," stepped forward, positioning herself slightly in front of Chaeyoung, like a silent bodyguard. "My bonded one emitted the signal. Confirmed. It is a high-frequency matrimonial oath, according to the dimensional interconnection protocol." Her voice was clear and calm, oblivious to the gravity of the situation.

"What?" The detective's question was a low growl, not directed at Mina, but rather at the universe in general. She leaned slightly forward, her hand brushing the inside pocket of her trench coat.

"What my friend here means—" Chaeyoung laughed nervously, a sharp sound that cracked in the air. Her eyes darted frantically between Mina's unperturbed face and the detective's increasingly perplexed expression. She tried to grab Mina's arm, but the alien remained rigidly in place, like a pillar.

"Bonded one, soon to be wife." Mina interrupted with a soft but firm correction, her gaze still fixed on Detective Kang, as if evaluating her for a cosmic database.

Chaeyoung cleared her throat, feeling the heat rise up her neck. "My soon to be wife, sure." she repeated with a forced casual voice that sounded desperate. "It's just that the signal was sent by mistake. A... a transmission error. A glitch. I was a bit... emotional. And sad. And I got confused with some sounds from another planet. It's all a misunderstanding, you know?" She tried hard to maintain a smile that didn't look like a grimace of agony.

Detective Kang tilted her head slightly, but her dark glasses did not allow her eyes to be seen. An awkward silence settled, only interrupted by the faint hum of a coffee machine and the crunch of Dahyun chewing potato chips at the next table. Jihyo and Jeongyeon exchanged panicked glances, ready to intervene if the situation escalated beyond "weird."

Finally, Detective Kang let out a sigh, a sound laden with a weariness that transcended human fatigue. "Miss Son," she said, her voice now softer, but with a coldness that chilled Chaeyoung's blood. "My unit does not deal with 'errors' or emotional 'glitches.' We are here for a Class 7 energy fluctuation, the highest recorded in this region in the last two hundred years." She paused dramatically. "A fluctuation that originated directly from your residential location."

Chaeyoung blinked. "Well, I have no idea what you're talking about," she said, her voice tense, trying to sound as convincing as possible.

Detective Kang tilted her head, and Chaeyoung felt as if an invisible magnifying glass was examining her, laying bare every nerve. Seconds stretched on. The detective's gaze, though hidden behind dark lenses, was palpable, scrutinizing every inch of her. Then, slowly, her attention shifted from Chaeyoung and rested on Mina.

"And you," the detective said, her voice growing even deeper as she addressed Mina. "What's your name? And when did you arrive here?"

Mina opened her mouth, a response likely filled with "parsecs" and "deep emotional codes" about to escape. But Chaeyoung reacted faster. She couldn't let Mina drop another intergalactic bombshell.

"She's Myoui Mina!" Chaeyoung interrupted, her voice slightly strained. "And she's an exchange student from Japan. She just arrived a couple of weeks ago." She finished with a nervous smile, trying to inject some normalcy into the situation.

Detective Kang raised an eyebrow, the gesture barely visible behind her dark glasses. "And you're already engaged?" Her tone was flat, unexpressive, but Chaeyoung felt the weight of disbelief in the question.

"Long-distance relationship," Chaeyoung blurted out, the first excuse that came to mind, a lie that sounded as absurd as the truth. She hoped the incoherence would save her.

"Right," the detective replied, her voice dry. There was no hint of mockery, only a strangely empty acceptance that made Chaeyoung's skin crawl. It was as if the woman had seen such strange things in her life that a "long-distance relationship" with a newcomer from Japan who was also an "energy anomaly" didn't surprise her in the least.

Detective Kang examined both of them, her gaze fixed, inscrutable. First on Chaeyoung, lingering on her dark circles and the almost imperceptible tremor in her hands. Then on Mina, who remained upright, a statue of serenity amidst the chaos. The seconds passed slowly, filled with palpable tension. Chaeyoung could almost hear the humming of gears turning in the detective's mind, processing the incongruity of the situation.

Finally, Detective Kang let out a deep sigh, a sound that seemed to carry the weight of centuries of inexplicable phenomena. A sigh that suggested this was just one more in a long list of oddities she had to deal with before she could retire and cultivate orchids in peace.

"Alright," said the detective, her voice returning to its grave, authoritative tone. She straightened up, adjusting her trench coat. "I'll be in contact with both of you." Her gaze, though invisible, rested on Chaeyoung with an implicit warning. "There's a considerable fluctuation in your energy signature, Miss Son, which, for some reason, has become more... stable since Miss Myoui's arrival." She paused, her gaze returning to Mina. "And you, Miss Myoui, are emitting a signature that, while camouflaged, is still detectable by my instruments."

"So...?"

She looked at Chaeyoung again. "You need to fix that problem. I know you have no ill intentions, Miss Son. Whatever 'signal' you sent, and whatever 'long-distance bond' you have, it's causing interference. And interference, young ladies, is not good for national security."

Without another word, Detective Kang turned and walked away with firm steps, disappearing among the cafe tables like a shadow. Chaeyoung's friends, who had been holding their breath, let out a gasp of relief and astonishment.

Chaeyoung put her hands to her face, the echo of Detective Kang's words resonating in her ears: "You need to fix that problem."

"Damn it," she muttered, the word muffled in her palms.

"Did it go well?" Mina asked, her voice serene, oblivious to the existential crisis Chaeyoung was experiencing.

—

Back home, Chaeyoung's bedroom transformed into a strategic war room, though with much more pizza and soda than battle plans. The girls gathered, sitting on the floor, surrounding the pizza box as if it were the center of the universe.

"We need Mina to adapt quickly," Momo proposed, frowning as she examined the last slice of pizza. "We don't want any more detective alerts or weird stuff. My heart can't take this much interplanetary stress."

"And I think Chaeyoung should learn more about alien culture," Dahyun added, her mouth full of cookies. "That way, she won't confuse her every two minutes with intergalactic marriage proposals. It's a communication problem, you know?"

"Or we could invent a story," Tzuyu suggested, a spark of mischief in her eyes. "Something to calm her suspicions. We have to be very convincing."

"Like what?" Jeongyeon asked, her eyes shining with excitement. The idea of an elaborate cover-up seemed to fascinate her. "That Mina is a pop star in training, secretly rehearsing in our gym?”

"As long as she's not a secret invader with plans to take over the world," Nayeon said, with a hand on her chin and a thoughtful air, "I think we can handle it. In the end, she doesn't seem so bad for a 'space fiancée'." Nayeon glanced at Mina, who was sitting silently, observing the scene with what seemed like genuine curiosity.

–

In the midst of that controlled chaos, between strategies to evade the government and theories about alien culture, Chaeyoung found a moment to speak seriously with Mina. Her friends had become engrossed in a discussion about the best strategy to "divert government attention with a K-pop festival," giving them a breather.

Chaeyoung approached Mina, who was sitting on the edge of the bed, watching the rain begin to fall again, but this time, with a calm softness.

"You know?" Chaeyoung began, her voice softer than she had expected. "This isn't what I expected when I uploaded that song. Not at all." A small melancholic smile appeared on her face. "I thought it was just me, venting."

Mina turned to look at her, her dark eyes filled with a tenderness Chaeyoung hadn't noticed before, or perhaps, hadn't wanted to see. "I know," Mina responded, her voice as quiet as the whisper of the rain. "But sometimes, the weirdest plans are the ones that turn out to be the best. Your 'signal' brought me here, and now... I'm not leaving." There was a serene acceptance in her words.

Chaeyoung returned her smile, a real smile that reached her eyes. The fear was still there, the uncertainty of the future with an alien who believed they were married. But there was something else too. A pang of warmth, of understanding. Mina, despite all the absurdity, had sought her out. She had heard her "signal" of loneliness.

"And?" Chaeyoung asked, her eyes searching Mina's. "Do you think this could work? Us? All of this?"

Mina stared at her, her eyes blinked once, as if tuning into the question on a deeper level. A smile, wider and more genuine than any Chaeyoung had seen on her, spread across her lips. It wasn't the smile from a magazine cover, but that of a creature who was beginning to understand and feel human emotions.

"Yes," Mina responded, her voice a whisper laden with something new and valuable. "Because you’re you.”

–

A few weeks later, Chaeyoung didn't know whether to laugh, cry, or move to another continent and change her identity. Life with Mina had settled into a kind of normalcy, one that was completely abnormal by any terrestrial standard.

Because there was Mina, sitting at Chaeyoung's desk, with a total concentration that Chaeyoung only achieved when drawing. Mina was flipping through a human fashion magazine upside down, her elegant finger tracing the designs, while a pen floated obediently above the notebook, taking notes by itself with impeccable precision. In a low voice, she murmured to herself, her melodic and deep voice:

"Coupling ritual... ceremonial dance... romantic social validation..."

"What are you doing?" Chaeyoung asked, without looking up from her history homework, though her attention was, as always, divided. The faint hum of Mina's floating pen was a constant in her life.

"Researching the 'school dance'," Mina said, now wearing thin-rimmed reading glasses that, Chaeyoung was sure, she definitely didn't need. Her alien vision could probably see atoms. "It's a key event in the adolescent romantic selection rituals of this species. According to my data, attending a dance together symbolizes emotional interest... and public visual commitment. A kind of ceremonial pre-bonding."

Chaeyoung let out a long sigh, so deep that her lungs felt empty. "It's not that profound, Mina. It's just an excuse to dress up, dance badly, and embarrass yourself in public. And for some, an excuse to confess feelings they'll later regret." A hint of her own failed crush crept into her voice.

Mina closed the magazine with a soft click, and the floating pen returned to the notebook with a small thump. Her dark eyes settled on Chaeyoung with unwavering determination. "Perfect. Then we go together."

"What?! No!" The denial burst from Chaeyoung's mouth before she could process it. The thought of awkwardly dancing with Mina, in front of the whole school, while the alien announced their "bonding" or tried to "validate" their relationship with an energy ray, was the height of embarrassment.

"You do not wish to validate our union before the academic community?" Mina asked, her voice devoid of reproach, only logical curiosity.

"We are not united!" Chaeyoung stood up from her chair, exasperated. "This is still a galactic confusion with legal consequences I don't understand, and that a government detective is now investigating!"

Mina tilted her head, her expression soft. "But it would make me happy."

Chaeyoung stopped dead. She looked at her. That "happy" wasn't demanding. It wasn't protocol, nor did it come from some Universal Law of Cosmic Marriage. It sounded... genuine. A pure and simple emotion that completely disarmed Chaeyoung's defenses. And that, surprisingly, was even more dangerous than any alien or governmental threat.

"Let me think about it, okay?" Chaeyoung sat down again, her resistance melting under Mina's sincere gaze.

Mina nodded, a small smile forming on her lips. "I have interstellar patience. I can wait."

—

That night, Chaeyoung found herself alone with Momo and Jihyo in her room, the pizza box empty and an aura of confidentiality floating in the air. The lights were dim, and the only sound was the rain gently hitting the window, a familiar soundtrack for Chaeyoung's nocturnal confessions.

"What are you going to do about the dance?" Momo asked, sprawled on Chaeyoung's bed, crunching on a potato chip with satisfaction. Her voice was casual, but her eyes were fixed on Chaeyoung, expectant.

"I don't know," Chaeyoung said, staring at the ceiling, as if the answers were etched into the stucco. "Part of me wants to go. With her. The way she said it... it sounded so... real. And genuine." Chaeyoung sighed, frustration returning. "But another part of my brain is screaming in all caps and bright red: 'Don’t do it, you’re going to marry an alien! You’re going to end up on a planet full of space slugs!'"

Jihyo laughed, her laughter warm and comforting. "Maybe you just need to go without overthinking it, Chae. Live in the moment. Be the first human in Earth's history to attend a school dance with a formally engaged alien. Make history, woman!"

"Yeah, because that doesn't sound stressful and difficult at all," Chaeyoung grumbled, crossing her arms and feeling that the decision to go to the dance was becoming inevitable.

"Besides," Momo added, her voice softer, a nuance of genuine observation, "you keep smiling when you're with her." The potato chip in her hand seemed like irrefutable proof of her argument.

"What?!" Chaeyoung felt the blush spread across her cheeks. "No! Of course not! It's frustrating! It's a problem! She's an alien who thinks I'm going to marry her!"

Jihyo and Momo looked at her in unison, their expressions identical: a mix of amusement and exasperating obviousness.

Chaeyoung sighed. She slumped onto the bed, covering her face with her hands. "...Is it that obvious?"

"Yes," they both said at the same time, the coordinated sound almost comical.

Chaeyoung fell silent, processing the information. Despite all the chaos, confusion, and fear of an intergalactic wedding, did she really smile more with Mina? The image of Mina, so serious and literal, so oblivious to human norms, yet at the same time so strangely attentive and dedicated to her, floated in her mind. A faint warmth spread through her chest. Maybe, just maybe, it wasn't so bad after all. Detective Kang and cosmic laws could wait. For now, there was a dance.

—

And so, the Friday of the dance arrived. The air vibrated with a mix of teenage nervousness and the promise of a different night. The school gym had been transformed, or at least they had tried. Low lights tinted the space in a soft purple and blue, mirror balls spun slowly, scattering points of light everywhere, and a playlist mixing silly ballads with loud reggaeton created a festive cacophony. The smell of teenage sweat, cheap perfume, and burnt pizza hung in the air.

Chaeyoung walked in, her heart pounding in her chest. She had opted for a simple black dress, elegant but not too attention-grabbing, hoping to blend into the crowd. She felt exposed. Vulnerable. As if every flickering light and every laugh in the gym were directed at her, the girl who had emitted a "mating signal" to the universe. She searched for her friends in the crowd, an anchor in the sea of anxiety.

And then, she saw her.

Mina.

In the center of the gym, under the direct light of one of the mirror balls, which bathed her in sparkles. She wore a long dress, a midnight blue that seemed to absorb light, with an elegance that made her look like she'd stepped off a haute couture runway, not out of a local shop. But it wasn't just the dress. It was the way she wore it, the way her skin seemed to glow, the way her eyes, though serene, seemed to capture every detail of the chaos around her with an almost scientific curiosity. She wasn't dancing, just observing, as if she were analyzing a new specimen in a laboratory, but this time, the specimen was the human school dance. The mirror lights reflected in her dark hair, giving her an almost ethereal halo.

At that moment, amidst the noise and music, Chaeyoung felt time slow down. All her doubts, her embarrassment, her fears about detectives and alien weddings dissolved into a single thought: Mina was, without a doubt, the most beautiful and strange creature that had ever set foot on Earth. And she was there, for her.

She approached carefully, weaving her way through the clumsily dancing bodies. As she reached Mina, she noticed something peculiar: the girl was floating, literally, a few centimeters off the ground, a subtle levitation that only Chaeyoung, with her own affinity for the anomalous, seemed to perceive.

"Bonded one, you came," Mina said, her voice calm but with a hint of anticipation, her eyes fixed on Chaeyoung.

"Yes," Chaeyoung responded, feeling a warmth in her cheeks. "But only for the music. And because you definitely didn't tell me you could fly."

Mina smiled, a genuine smile that made her seem less like a cosmic entity and more like a normal girl, albeit one who levitated. "Just a little."

The dance was... strange, but magical. Mina couldn't dance. Literally. She didn't understand the difference between rhythm and mimicry, and her movements were a series of logical contortions, but completely off-beat. But she tried. And every time she stepped on someone or bumped into a couple, she apologized with a bow so formal and deep that she seemed to be asking forgiveness for altering the orbit of planets.

Chaeyoung couldn't stop laughing. Giggles burst from her, releasing the tension of the past few weeks. "You're crazy," she told her, between laughs, as Mina tried, unsuccessfully, to keep dancing.

"I am an interplanetary citizen who has crossed galaxies for you," Mina replied, her face expressionless, but with an amused glint in her eyes. "Technically, yes."

At one point, the music softened. The lights dimmed, plunging the gym into a romantic twilight. A slow, melodic song began to play, the classic ballad that made couples draw closer.

Mina extended her hand towards Chaeyoung, her palm open, inviting her. "Will you grant me this cultural dance?" Her voice was a whisper amidst the soft music.

Chaeyoung hesitated for a moment. She looked at Mina's extended hand, then at her eyes, which now reflected the soft starlight from the rotating mirror. It was a step beyond "we're not married," a step towards something more intimate, more real. Then, she took it.

"Alright," Chaeyoung said, feeling the warmth of Mina's hand in hers. "But if you float, I'm kicking you."

Mina smiled, a silent laugh appearing in her eyes. "Negotiation accepted."

As they danced, there were no words. Chaeyoung leaned into Mina, feeling the slow rhythm of the music and the strange but comforting presence of the alien. There was no clumsiness now, only a strange harmony. Mina didn't dance by human standards, but her body moved with an innate fluidity that made Chaeyoung feel... safe.

In the middle of a gym decorated with artificial lights and a mediocre DJ, the strange sensation that something rare and true was happening enveloped them. It was more than a song, more than a signal. It was a bridge being built between two worlds.

Chaeyoung, without thinking, rested her forehead against Mina's, closing her eyes. The world around them faded, leaving only the closeness of their bodies and the gentle beat of their hearts.

Mina closed her eyes too, her breathing calm. "Do you still think we are not compatible?" she whispered, her voice almost inaudible over the music.

Chaeyoung smiled, a soft smile that formed in the darkness. "I'm starting to think... that maybe we are compatible in a very, very specific way."

Mina pulled back a little, breaking the closeness that enveloped them, but without letting go of Chaeyoung's hand. Her eyes, now open, looked at her with a seriousness that suddenly made her feel vulnerable.

"I read something in the magazines Jeongyeon showed me," Mina said, her voice a whisper that Chaeyoung could barely hear over the soft murmur of the music.

"Oh yeah? What was it?" Chaeyoung asked, an eyebrow raised, feeling a premonition.

Mina tilted her head, her eyes fixed on Chaeyoung's lips, then on her own. There was a pure and disarming curiosity in her gaze. "It said that, on this planet, human beings with a deep emotional bond perform a... a 'kiss.' What is a kiss, Chaeyoung?"

Chaeyoung's breath hitched in her throat. She froze. Her eyes widened, feeling the heat rise from her neck to the tips of her ears. A kiss. The word resonated in her mind, amplified by the sudden silence of her own panic. Was Mina asking that? Here? Now?

"A... a kiss," Chaeyoung stammered, her voice barely a thread. Her heart pounded like a war drum. She felt incredibly nervous, her hands suddenly sweaty. The idea of showing Mina, with her alien logic and literalness, what a kiss was... it was overwhelming. How could she explain it to someone who didn't understand "taste" as a criterion?

Mina looked at her expectantly, her expression as curious as a child discovering a new toy.

Chaeyoung swallowed. The slow music continued to play, wrapping them in its romantic melody. The other dancers were lost in their own worlds, oblivious to the micro-intergalactic crisis unfolding before them.

A kiss. It wasn't a protocol, nor a cosmic law. It was a feeling, a connection that was expressed. And Chaeyoung felt it with Mina. That strange, fascinating, and sometimes exasperating connection.

Without thinking further, guided by an impulse that overcame her nervousness, Chaeyoung slowly leaned in. Her eyes fixed on Mina's, searching for any sign of rejection, but finding only pure anticipation. With a final trembling breath, Chaeyoung closed the distance.

Her lips met Mina's. It was a soft touch at first, experimental. Mina's lips were soft and slightly cool, an unusual but not unpleasant sensation. Chaeyoung closed her eyes, deepening a little more, moving her lips with a sweetness that she hoped would convey everything words couldn't: the confusion, the growing affection, the strange and undeniable connection.

Mina didn't move. She remained completely still under Chaeyoung's kiss, like a living statue, her lips passive. There was no response, only a silent receptivity that was, in itself, a form of wonder.

Chaeyoung pulled away, the cool air of the gym feeling strange on her lips. She opened her eyes and looked at Mina, who still had hers closed for another instant. "That," Chaeyoung said, her voice a little breathless, "that's a kiss."

Mina slowly opened her eyes, her long, dark lashes fluttering. She blinked once, then again, as if processing an overwhelming amount of sensory data. Her gaze fixed on Chaeyoung, a spark of something new, of understanding and desire, shining in her deep orbs. Her lips barely curved, a tacit question. "Do it again." Her voice was a whisper that was lost in the music.

A smile spread across Chaeyoung's lips, a genuine smile filled with unexpected joy. The nervousness hadn't completely disappeared, but now it was mixed with a lightness she hadn't felt in weeks. Without hesitation, she leaned in again.

This time, the kiss was less uncertain. It was clumsy, yes. Clearly, if Mina didn't know how to dance, kissing was an even more alien skill to her protocol. Her lips remained passive, without the familiar response of human lips. But that didn't stop it from being perfect.

But then as their lips met again, Mina made a hesitant attempt to reciprocate. It was a minimal movement, a light, almost imperceptible pressure, but for Chaeyoung it meant the universe. She felt a pang of laughter bubbling in her chest. The alien was trying.

Chaeyoung laughed softly, the laughter escaping between the kiss. She pulled back slightly, leaving a last soft kiss on Mina's lips, a tacit promise. Then, leaning in a little more, she gave her a tender kiss on the cheek, just below her eye.

Mina blinked, her gaze still filled with that newfound wonder. "What causes you laughter, my bonded one?" she asked, her voice soft and confused.

Chaeyoung smiled, shaking her head. "Nothing, nothing. I'll teach you how to kiss. We have plenty of time for that."

Mina nodded, her head tilting slightly in a gesture of acceptance. Then, to Chaeyoung's surprise, Mina also leaned in, placing her soft, cool lips on Chaeyoung's cheek, right where she had just kissed her. It was a clumsy gesture, learned by imitation, but laden with overwhelming sincerity. "Thank you, Chaeyoung" Mina whispered, her voice an echo of genuine gratitude.

Chaeyoung smiled, and without a second thought, she leaned in to hug her. She felt Mina's body stiff at first, unaccustomed to human physical intimacy, but then, slowly, she relaxed in her arms. The scent of something clean and ethereal that Mina always emitted enveloped her. Amidst the bustle of the dance, surrounded by the music and laughter of other students, Chaeyoung closed her eyes, holding on to Mina.

Maybe the idea of ending up married to an alien wasn't as bad as she thought.

—

Log Entry 03 – Secret Entry:

"Chaeyoung accepted the emotional seal.

Labial physical contact with reciprocity occurred.

My reactive core has registered an explosion of warmth and a constant desire for permanence.

Approximate definition:

I am falling in love."

Chapter Text

The alarm on her phone blared at 7:00 a.m., a digital screech that usually grated on her nerves.

Chaeyoung slowly opened her eyes, blinking against the faint light filtering through the curtains. And for a whole second, hearing nothing but the distant hum of the city waking up, she almost thought everything was normal. Just an ordinary morning in her apartment, in her life.

Until she turned and saw her.

Mina was standing by her desk, the dawn light bathing her figure. She wasn't looking out the window, nor lost in her own thoughts, but was examining, with an almost scientific curiosity, the objects neatly aligned on the wooden surface: her tiny cactus that refused to die, the chaotic stack of books on true crime and modern art, and her cherished collection of dinosaur-shaped pens, each meticulously organized by color.

She was wearing an oversized indie rock band t-shirt that Chaeyoung had given her last night. It was huge on her, falling off one shoulder with an adorable clumsiness, but even so, she moved with a precision that seemed almost inhuman. And she was looking at Chaeyoung as if the simple act of waking up together, the mere act of Chaeyoung emerging from sleep, was a profound ritual worthy of documentation.

"You slept an average of 6.7 hours," Mina said in a quiet voice, as serene as if she were reciting a report. Her eyes never stopped observing Chaeyoung, absorbing every detail. "Your breathing altered five times between 3:15 a.m. and 3:20 a.m. You dreamed of... ice cream and chases. I don't know what it means, but I found it relevant to note."

"Thanks, Minari." Chaeyoung slowly sat up in bed, her hair a wild bird's nest defying gravity. She rubbed her face with both hands, trying to clear the last vestiges of sleep. "Did you sleep?" she asked, with a yawn that stretched her jaw.

"I meditated in a floating state for 2.4 hours. It's equivalent to your REM sleep," Mina replied, her tone factual, without a hint of tiredness. "Also... I saw you talk in your sleep. You mentioned something about cookies."

"Yeah, that sounds like me," Chaeyoung said, half-laughing.

Mina approached the bed, her steps light and silent, she moved with a fluidity that was almost hypnotic. Her deep, curious eyes scanned Chaeyoung's sleepy face.

"What morning protocols do you wish to perform today?" Mina asked, her voice serious, but with a nuance of genuine information-seeking that Chaeyoung found incredibly adorable. "Do we hold hands? Do I cook for you?"

Chaeyoung swallowed, a smile peeking at her lips. Her heart skipped a beat. "First... brush my teeth," she said, pointing to the bathroom. "Then... coffee. Lots of coffee. After that... we'll talk about the other steps."

Mina nodded, her expression solemn, mentally noting it as if it were a sacred command, a critical sequence for the success of the morning mission. Chaeyoung laughed softly, the sound filling the room. She knew her life with Mina would never be boring, nor predictable, and that, in a way, made her feel more alive than ever.

—

Log entry 04, Mina

Status: Morning. She appears disheveled.

Emotional Contact: High intensity.

Bonding Progress: Docking continues.

New Emotion Detected:

• Terrestrial Name: Embarrassment
• Cause: Attempted to lick toothpaste. It was not edible. Chaeyoung screamed.
• Conclusion: Do not repeat.

—

Chaeyoung headed to the kitchen. She started the coffee maker, and the aroma of roasted beans soon filled the small apartment. She turned to see Mina, who was now examining the refrigerator with the same intensity with which she had studied the dinosaurs.

"Need something?" Chaeyoung asked, an eyebrow raised.

Mina straightened up. "I am calculating the energy efficiency of the appliance. And I also note an absence of processed foods in your diet since I arrived here, which is unusual for a human of your age who consumes significant quantities of caffeine."

Chaeyoung burst out laughing. "Sometimes I eat fruit, you know? And I'm not just any 'human.' I'm your human."

The coffee maker finished its cycle with a gurgle. Chaeyoung took two mugs and poured the steaming coffee. She added sugar and a little milk to hers, then held the other out to Mina.

"Your turn now," she said. "Coffee protocol."

Mina took the mug with both hands, observing it as if it were an alien artifact. She brought the rim to her nose, inhaling deeply, then took a small sip. Her expression was unreadable for a moment, and Chaeyoung waited, amused.

"Interesting," Mina finally said. "The flavor is robust. Notes of... bitterness? I require an additive to optimize the experience."

Chaeyoung waited, intrigued.

Mina went to the refrigerator and returned with a small jar of organic maple syrup. With almost surgical precision, she measured exactly two milliliters with a measuring spoon she produced from somewhere on her clothing (Chaeyoung didn't ask) and added them to her coffee. Then, with the same seriousness, she added a pinch of pink sea salt.

Chaeyoung watched her with her mouth slightly open. "Maple syrup and salt?"

Mina nodded solemnly. "The sweetness of the maple counteracts the acidity of the coffee, creating a more pleasant chemical balance for the palate. The salt enhances the flavors and adds essential minerals. It is a morning metabolic optimization."

She took another sip, her eyes gleaming with an almost imperceptible satisfaction. Chaeyoung couldn't help but burst into laughter. "No one has ever explained coffee to me that way. It's... fascinating. And a little terrifying."

"It is logical," Mina replied, her gaze returning to the mug as if it contained the secrets of the universe. "I told you I am not accustomed to consuming food for flavor. Generally, it is a matter of nutritional efficiency."

Chaeyoung shook her head, laughter still bubbling in her chest. She leaned against the counter, her own coffee mug in hand, and watched Mina. It was an unconventional morning routine, sure. It was chaotic, yes, but a chaos that, strangely, was beginning to feel like home.

A fleeting thought crossed Chaeyoung's mind: the way Mina approached everything, from sleep to coffee, with such pure logic, so devoid of the emotional complications that defined Chaeyoung herself. It was a fascinating dichotomy, and somehow, they fit perfectly.

Mina finished her coffee, placing the mug on the counter with a soft clink. She turned to face Chaeyoung, her eyes analytical, but with a curiosity that seemed softer now, less like a study and more like a question.

Chaeyoung, feeling a warm and spontaneous impulse, approached her. The height difference became evident as Mina remained motionless, observing her. Chaeyoung brought a hand to Mina's cheek, her skin soft and cool to the touch, a surprising contrast to the warmth she felt in her own chest. She leaned in, and with a mix of tenderness and a deep appreciation for Mina's peculiarity, she left a soft kiss on her cheek. The contact was brief, barely a brush, but Mina's response was immediate.

A slight sigh escaped the girl's lips.

Chaeyoung pulled back just a little, her eyes meeting Mina's. A small smile formed on her lips. Mina, though expressionless on her face, had glowing eyes.

"Time to get ready, we have classes."

–

8:15 a.m.

"You can't come with me now, remember?" Chaeyoung insisted for the fourth time, her patience stretching like a rubber band about to snap as she adjusted her backpack strap over her shoulder.

Mina blinked with that impassive, almost factory-made expression; a perfect blend of unshakeable logic and curious innocence. Her dark eyes, usually serene, now gleamed with silent resolution.

"My role in this union is to accompany you. Observe you. Adapt. This is the protocol," Mina recited in her soft, almost robotic voice, but with an unusual nuance of determination. She rose with a grace that Chaeyoung sometimes envied, her movements fluid and precise.

Chaeyoung let out a snort. "This isn't a mission, sweetheart. It's just... classes. With humans. Normal ones." She somewhat understood the reason for Mina's insistence; it was one of the few classes they had separately during the week, where Mina's observation protocols were relaxed, or at least that was the intention. But really, by this point, it was an almost daily problem and the routine should have been ingrained in Mina's system.

Mina tilted her head, an action that always preceded one of her most peculiar questions. "What if someone attempts to pair with you without my consent?"

Chaeyoung choked on her saliva. She coughed loudly, feeling her throat scratch. "No one is going to pair with me!?" she exclaimed, catching her breath and pointing to her exasperated face. "I'm emotionally exhausted, I have dark circles that could rival a panda, and my GPA is on the verge of collapse!"

Mina took a step forward, her hand extending in a gesture Chaeyoung knew was an attempt at evaluation. Her eyes scrutinized Chaeyoung's face with a seriousness that almost gave her chills. "Precisely. You are vulnerable. I must protect you."

The statement, so logical from Mina's perspective, only served to increase Chaeyoung's frustration. She snorted again, "Minari, please. Just... go to your classes." She approached the girl, placing her hands on Mina's shoulders. "Don't do anything weird. Don't touch anything that vibrates, glows, or beeps. Especially not the water fountains. Remember what happened last time?"

A subtle blush, almost imperceptible to less accustomed eyes, tinged Mina's cheeks. She lowered her gaze to the wooden floor, her shoulders slumping slightly. The memory of water flooding the entire dormitory hallway, setting off all the fire alarms and causing unforgettable morning chaos, was still fresh in both their minds. It had taken weeks for campus staff to stop looking at them with suspicion.

"Understood," Mina finally said, her voice very serious, indicating the magnitude of her commitment. "I will remain in passive observation."

Chaeyoung smiled, a giggle escaping her lips. "Perfect. And... find Sana unnie if you need anything or if you get too bored. She'll help you with any protocol you don't understand." She sighed, already feeling the urgency of the clock. She turned, but then, because it was already a deeply ingrained habit, she retraced her steps. She leaned in, gave Mina a short, sweet kiss on her lips, which remained soft and a little cool, and then ran down the hallway, her laughter echoing slightly as she disappeared.

8:42 a.m.

Chaeyoung was late. So late that the echo of her sneakers down the empty hallway seemed to scream her guilt. The Comparative Literature professor, Dr. Lee, a woman in her fifties with her hair pulled back in a strict bun and a gaze that had seen thousands of late submissions.

Chaeyoung felt a blush creep up her cheeks as she scurried in, trying to make as little noise as possible.

She sank into her seat at the back of the classroom, right next to Ryujin, who greeted her with an arched eyebrow and a barely contained smile. The classroom was already immersed in the murmuring of the beginning class, but the girl's whisper was clear enough.

"Why do you look more exhausted than usual?" she inquired, pulling a highlighter from her case and opening her notebook.

Chaeyoung dropped her head onto the arm resting on the table. "Love is more hard than i thought," she mumbled, her voice muffled by her hoodie. She could feel the pulse vibrating in her temples.

Ryujin simply nodded with an almost cynical understanding. "Ah. Just a normal Monday, then." She began highlighting the title of some essay in her textbook, oblivious to the complex mythology unfolding in her friend's life.

Chaeyoung sank deeper into her seat, wishing the floor would swallow her whole, as the professor began to speak about the complexities and inevitable outcomes of Greek tragedies. Doomed heroes, inescapable fates, forbidden loves ending in catastrophe... for a moment, Chaeyoung tried to focus, to convince herself that all of this was manageable. That yes, her life had taken a galactic turn and now she shared her breakfast with a... with Mina, but at least nothing was that bad.

8:49 a.m.

The classroom door opened with a sharp squeal, tearing through the dense air of Dr. Lee's dissertation on Oedipus' tragic fate. All eyes, including the professor's, turned towards the entrance, expecting to see some embarrassed student or perhaps a janitor.

And there she was. Mina

It wasn't just that she was there, defying Chaeyoung's explicit prohibition. It was how she was there. Standing tall, with a completely mismatched, rainbow-vomit-looking backpack slung over one shoulder—likely one Chaeyoung had discarded—and an expression of absolutely unshakeable pride etched onto her unusually expressive face. Her eyes gleamed with the satisfaction of having overcome a seemingly insurmountable obstacle.

Mina scanned the classroom with the efficiency of a high-tech scanner system, locating Chaeyoung at the back with pinpoint accuracy. Once she found her, she raised her hand in greeting. Very high. Too high.

"Hello, bonded one," Mina said loudly, with perfect diction and a clear resonance that filled every corner of the room.

The entire class turned in synchronized motion, whispers and murmurs erupting. Professor Lee raised an eyebrow, Ryujin choked loudly on her pen, her eyes wide.

And Chaeyoung…

Chaeyoung wished, with every fiber of her being, to disintegrate. To turn to dust, to dissolve into the air.

"Excuse me... and you are?" Dr. Lee asked, adjusting her glasses on her nose, with a mix of perplexity and suspicion. She looked at Mina, whose presence in the classroom doorway remained an anomaly.

Mina stepped forward, with a grace and elegance that suggested an interstellar ambassador presenting herself before the United Nations. Her hands were politely clasped in front of her, and a faint light seemed to emanate from her being.

"Myoui Mina," she responded with impeccable clarity, as if each syllable were perfectly calibrated.

The professor frowned, the name resonating in an unusually... clean way. Meanwhile, Ryujin leaned towards Chaeyoung, whispering in her ear with barely disguised fascination.

"She's beautiful," Ryujin murmured, her eyes fixed on the newcomer.

"I, uh... shut up!" Chaeyoung replied in a choked whisper, feeling the heat rise to her face again. She wanted to look away from Mina, but it was impossible.

Mina, oblivious to the micro-drama at the back, turned to the class with a perfectly rehearsed gesture, as if she had an exact protocol for this presentation. A slight nod, a serene gaze that encompassed everyone present.

Dr. Lee simply nodded, defeated. "Take a seat... silently."

"Thank you, esteemed facilitator of knowledge," Mina replied with a respectful bow, a gesture that in anyone else would have seemed sarcastic, but in her was pure sincerity.

She moved forward, each step deliberate, almost floating, until she reached the back row and sat down with unusual fluidity right beside Chaeyoung.

"Mina, what are you doing here?" Chaeyoung whispered, still as red as a freshly lit traffic light. She didn't dare look at the professor, or at the classmates who were still turning their heads to see the newcomer.

Mina tilted her head toward Chaeyoung, her face expressionless, but her eyes held a particular light. "Sana is ill," she explained calmly. "Jeongyeon informed me of her condition four minutes ago. Then I wondered what observing your educational environment would be like. And since I am your companion, logic dictated that I should accompany you." Her explanation was so direct, so free of artifice, that Chaeyoung almost found it adorable. Almost.

Chaeyoung sighed, closing her eyes for an instant. Deep down, a rational part of her screamed that she should be furious. Or embarrassed. Or both. Her Monday was already a disaster, and Mina had just elevated it to a cosmic catastrophe. But the way Mina looked at her... as if Chaeyoung were the answer to something important, something fundamental in the universe... it was hard to ignore.

"Alright," she finally murmured, surrendering to the inevitable. "Just... stay still. Don't talk. And please, for the love of all that is holy, don't call me 'bonded' or 'wife' in front of the whole class." The last part came out as a desperate plea.

Mina nodded with astonishing seriousness, as if receiving instructions to disarm a neutron bomb. "Understood. I will not verbalize our emotional contract in public... unless it is necessary to defend your honor."

Chaeyoung rested her forehead on the desk with a soft thud. This was going to be a very long day.

Ryujin, from the other side, observed the interaction with narrowed eyes, a mix of curiosity and skepticism on her face. "Is that girl real?" she whispered.

"She's foreign," Chaeyoung mumbled without lifting her head, hoping the excuse was vague and credible enough. "You know, different customs."

"Does she have a friend?" Ryujin insisted, her gaze still fixed on Mina, who was now observing the blackboard with the same intensity a nuclear scientist would study a complex equation.

Chaeyoung didn’t answer.

—

10:17 a.m.

Chaeyoung walked quickly down the hallway, dodging students flowing in opposite directions. Her cheeks were still flushed, a combination of embarrassment and the echo of adrenaline. Her heart pounded in her chest as if she were still caught in that mortifying classroom scene. Behind her, Mina followed with quiet, even steps, never missing a beat, like a silent but persistent shadow.

"Chaeyoung," Mina said, her voice soft and steady, cutting through the hallway's murmur. "Your body temperature has increased. Are you ill? Or is this a reaction to my public presence?"

Chaeyoung stopped dead, turning to her abruptly. "Minari, what part of 'go to your classes' was too complex for your spatial logic to process?"

Mina blinked slowly. She didn't retreat an inch, her posture unyielding. "I wanted to be near you. It seemed logical. Isn't that what human partners do?"

Chaeyoung pressed her lips together, looking around nervously. Some students paused to whisper or glance sideways at them, though they quickly tried to act casual. She had to be careful.

"Listen, I'm not saying you can't... I don't know, exist with me," Chaeyoung said, crossing her arms and lowering her voice so only Mina could hear her. "But you can't just show up in the middle of my class and interrupt. People... people here don't understand."

Mina seemed to analyze her words carefully. Her brows furrowed slightly, a subtle gesture that was already beginning to betray when she was confused but striving to understand. "My intention was not to embarrass you. I did not think our bond was something you needed to hide."

Chaeyoung sighed, releasing some of the accumulated tension. Mina's naivety sometimes disarmed her anger. "It's not that I want to hide you, Minari. It's just... I don't know how to explain it. Things here are different. People are cruel sometimes. They stare. They mock. It's happened to me before, i don’t want it to happen to you." The last sentence was a whisper, a reluctant admission of old wounds.

Mina tilted her head. Her voice was lower this time, almost a whisper, laden with unusual gravity. "Have you been harmed?"

Mina looked down, as if processing information with a newly installed empathy algorithm. She remained silent for a moment, her eyes focused on some invisible point on the floor. "I will make adjustments," she finally said, with a slight nod. "I will not approach your classes without prior authorization. I will not mention the emotional contract to third parties. And I will not initiate greetings with affectionate appellations aloud in public."

Chaeyoung looked at her, surprised by how quickly Mina had assimilated and proposed solutions. For a second, she said nothing. Because despite all the chaos, despite the embarrassment, Mina was trying. She was adapting.

"Thank you," she finally murmured, with a half-smile that couldn't quite hide her relief.

Mina straightened up, subtly proud of having reached a logical and acceptable conclusion. "Do you wish for me to return to your temporary home? Or may I continue to accompany you at a socially acceptable distance?"

Chaeyoung laughed, despite herself, a soft laugh that released the last vestiges of tension. She stepped closer to Mina, her steps short and determined. She raised both hands and gently took Mina's cheeks, feeling the immaculate, cool skin beneath her thumbs.

Mina blinked, once, twice, her dark eyes reflecting surprise. Her own hands moved with an almost robotic slowness, but with a clear intention, to take Chaeyoung's waist, pulling her a little closer.

"How did I end up with someone like you, Minari?" Chaeyoung asked, her voice tinged with unexpected sweetness, as her eyes locked with Mina's.

Mina tilted her head slightly, her gaze deep and serious. "You broadcasted a signal requesting our union."

Chaeyoung sighed, a mix of exasperation and affection. Mina was incomprehensibly adorable. Without further thought, she slowly leaned in to kiss her.

Mina closed her eyes, her lips soft and a little cool, trying to return the kiss with a tender clumsiness, as if she were learning the language in that very instant. It was a sweet kiss, a silent understanding amidst the bustle of the hallway.

When they separated, only a few centimeters, Mina opened her eyes, her pupils slightly dilated. "I do not understand," she said in her usual tone, but with a hint of curiosity.

"What?" Chaeyoung asked, her voice barely a whisper, Mina's breath still on her lips.

"The public displays of affection," Mina continued, looking around at the students passing by without paying them attention, as if cataloging a new phenomenon. "May we share a kiss for all to witness?"

Chaeyoung burst out laughing, a soft laugh she tried to contain, but which escaped forcefully. She rested her forehead against Mina's, her shoulders trembling slightly. "Only if you want to," she murmured between laughs. "But we don't need anyone else to witness it. It's ours." She raised her head to look at her, her eyes full of amusement.

Mina nodded seriously, processing the information. Then, with an unexpected delicacy, she leaned in to place a soft kiss on Chaeyoung's forehead. She didn't understand why, but Chaeyoung's heart always sped up with that simple gesture, an unusual warmth spreading through her chest.

Chaeyoung smiled at her, feeling a pleasant blush. "Come on," she said, and intertwining her fingers with Mina's, she began to guide her. "It's time for lunch, you silly."

—

According to Mina's log, 1440 hours, 17 minutes, and 6 seconds had passed since she landed in Chaeyoung's orbit. And, in theory, everything was going well.

They lived together, their routines intertwined in a strange but functional way. They ate together, though Mina continued to analyze the texture and components of each bite. They watched absurd murder mysteries at night, with Chaeyoung explaining human motives and Mina calculating the criminals' probabilities of success.

Chaeyoung taught her new things every day: how to use a washing machine without flooding the bathroom, how to survive public transportation without disintegrating in the crowd, how to disguise her interstellar accent when she said "humanity" so people wouldn't look at her so strangely.

But... there was something that didn't quite fit. A small misalignment in their orbits.

Mina, with her unbreakable logic, didn't fully understand human feelings. They were illogical, unpredictable variables. But Chaeyoung was a particularly peculiar individual, an emotional enigma that sometimes seemed to defy all categorization.

The first time Mina noticed it was one sunny afternoon, as they walked down the busy main street. Mina, following an observed pattern of affection, tried to intertwine her hand with Chaeyoung's. Chaeyoung let go... gently, with a delicacy that further confused Mina, but without explaining why. She just murmured, looking around with a rapidity Mina registered as "social anxiety": "Not here."

The second time was a typical afternoon, as they read on the sofa. Mina, following a new hypothesis about "physical intimacy," rested her head on Chaeyoung's shoulder. Chaeyoung didn't push her away immediately... but she didn't stay either. She got up the next minute, saying she had urgent homework, that she was tired, that she needed "air." The pattern was beginning to emerge.

Mina began to look more. Observe more. Not with her alien, cold, calculating logic. With something new. Something sharp that tightened the center of her neural processor. Something human.

When she hugged her half-asleep at night, seeking her warmth without reservation. In those moments, Mina felt a strange "satisfaction" in her body.

But there were also other times. Times when Chaeyoung seemed... distant. Not physically, though sometimes she would get up and move around without clear purpose. Emotionally in orbit, light-years away, enveloped in an invisible barrier that Mina couldn't penetrate.

One Thursday afternoon, as they washed dishes together, steam and the sound of water filled the small kitchen. Mina, holding a plate, stared at her.

"Does me being here bother you?" she asked, her voice monotone, but the question laden with a strange vulnerability.

Chaeyoung looked up from a bowl she was scrubbing, surprised. She had soap up to her elbows, bubbles splashing into her hair. "What? No. Why do you say that?" Her voice sounded genuinely perplexed.

"You look at me as if you don't know where to place me in your social environment," Mina replied, her eyes fixed on Chaeyoung, searching for a logical answer in her changing expressions. "Your body language indicates a fluctuation in affectionate proximity parameters. It seems my presence activates an internal calibration in you that doesn't always result in a constant assignment."

Chaeyoung lowered her gaze, her eyes fixed on the foamy sink. She awkwardly dried her hands on the dish towel, crumpling it between her fingers. The silence in the kitchen stretched, heavy and dense, broken only by the dripping faucet.

"It's not like that," she finally said, her voice barely a murmur, not daring to look at Mina. "You're perfect, Minari, definitely more understandable than I am, sometimes. Our relationship... I never thought it would be like this. And it scares me how easy it sometimes feels." The last words came out as a sigh, laden with a vulnerability she rarely showed.

Mina blinked slowly, her face imperturbable, but her internal circuits processed the contradiction. Ease, in her world, was an indicator of efficiency, of optimal compatibility. Why did individual Chaeyoung categorize it as a source of fear? In her logic, compatibility was cause for celebration, not doubt or apprehension.

"Do you want me to leave?" Mina asked, her voice devoid of emotion, but with a clarity that struck Chaeyoung.

"No, for goodness sake, no!" Chaeyoung reacted quickly, looking up abruptly, her eyes pleading. It was as if that was the last thing she wanted to hear, the idea of Mina's departure, a catastrophe that surpassed any other concern. "No, just... there are things in me that I'm still trying to understand. But I want you here, I'm your human, remember? Your bonded one."

That didn't calm Mina.

Not like other times, when a logical explanation or a clear instruction sufficed. Because for the first time, she could do nothing about it. She couldn't solve it with data, there was no algorithm for Chaeyoung's emotional uncertainty. She couldn't stop it with force; it wasn't a physical threat she could neutralize.

That night, long after the last city sounds had faded, Mina lay motionless in their shared bed. She looked at the dark ceiling, the shadows of the furniture barely visible. She felt Chaeyoung sleeping peacefully on her chest, her breathing soft and rhythmic, a familiar weight. It was such a normal, human presence that the contradiction with Chaeyoung's internal storm was even more evident to Mina.

Mina subtly moved her head and her gaze fell upon Chaeyoung's laptop on the nightstand, its resting screen faintly glowing. She blinked. Perhaps... perhaps if she couldn't understand it with her own parameters, she could do so through Chaeyoung's. Maybe she could investigate how humans processed these "emotional uncertainties."

–

Preliminary Log - Entry 12

I have researched.

Dates are experiences that strengthen romantic bonds.

They involve sharing time, food, and emotions. They require a balance between spontaneity and planning.

Therefore, I have decided to plan spontaneity.

–

Chaeyoung opened her eyes, disheveled hair clinging to her face and the stale breath of coffee on her tongue. The sun filtered timidly through the blinds, but it wasn't the light that woke her. It was the unusual quiet. She found Mina standing beside her bed, motionless, observing her with an intensity Chaeyoung still couldn't quite decipher. Her phone alarm, strangely, hadn't rung.

Mina was wearing a leather jacket that definitely didn't belong to her— Where on earth had she gotten it? —impeccably cut new jeans, and an expression as serious as ever, though today there seemed to be a particular glint in her eyes. She looked like a model straight out of a fashion magazine, but with the unmistakable aura of someone about to announce the invasion of a distant planet.

"Good morning," Chaeyoung mumbled, rubbing her eyes. "What are you doing dressed like that?"

Mina looked directly at her, unblinking. "I have organized a date." Her voice was flat, but the declaration was monumental.

Chaeyoung fell silent, processing. "A what?"

"Date," Mina repeated, with instruction-manual precision. "An emotional and cultural activity designed for the strengthening of interpersonal bonding. Importance level: High. Risk of failure: moderate if not executed with emotional precision."

Chaeyoung sat up, feeling half her brain still asleep. "Where did you read it this time?" Last time it had been a treatise on "human reproduction" from an occult science forum.

"Wikipedia. Tumblr. And a forum in the subcategory called 'How to make your loved one fall in love'," Mina replied with complete transparency, as if she were listing academic sources. A slight blush appeared on Chaeyoung's cheeks.

Chaeyoung laughed... hard. A burst of laughter that filled the room, as if she had just received a tender, absurd punch to the heart. Tears of amusement pricked her eyes. "And where are you taking me on this... planned emotional activity?" she asked, wiping away a tear.

Mina held up a printed sheet of paper with mathematical precision, each point outlined with the neatness of a scientific report. It was boldly titled: "Itinerary – Human Date No. 1".

• 17:45: Ice cream (sugar consumption generates dopamine and endorphins).
• 18:15: Walk towards the setting sun (aesthetic and symbolic effect of cycle closure, induces positive reflection).
• 18:45: Observe migratory birds in natural habitat (recommended in a publication on 'romantic and original dates').
• 19:10: Non-aggressive emotional confession (exchange of vulnerabilities to strengthen mutual trust).
• 19:30: Kiss (optional, subject to evaluation of consent parameters and emotional reciprocity).

Chaeyoung blinked, the laughter that had bubbled up before now replaced by a kind of stunned amazement. Her gaze scanned the itinerary again, stopping at a specific point.

"'Non-aggressive emotional confession'?" she articulated, feeling the words were as strange as the proposition itself.

Mina nodded with perfect seriousness, her index finger pointing to the spot on the paper as if it were the most crucial part of a scientific experiment. "It is an important date. I need to express internal variables that my algorithms have not yet fully categorized, and this format minimizes the risk of a defensive response from you."

Chaeyoung brought a hand to her chest, right where she felt a growing warmth, as if something was melting inside her, something hard and cynical she didn't even know she had. A soft, genuine laugh escaped her lips. "You're... incredibly weird. I like you."

"Thank you," Mina replied, her head tilted slightly. "Was that a compliment?"

"Definitely," Chaeyoung affirmed, looking directly into her eyes, a warm smile spreading across her face. She got out of bed, morning laziness already forgotten. The idea of this absurd, perfect, Mina-planned date filled her chest with unexpected emotion.

She approached the girl, Chaeyoung stretched, her hands finding Mina's neck.

Mina, surprised by the sudden movement, blinked once, then twice. Her eyes widened slightly as Chaeyoung leaned in. Anticipation, a new emotional program for Mina, began to execute. Chaeyoung rose a little more on the tips of her toes and softly pressed her lips against Mina's.

It was a tender kiss, laden with a mix of amusement and the growing affection Chaeyoung felt. Mina, still processing, quickly responded. Her lips, at first a little stiff, softened under Chaeyoung's, and her hands rose to encircle the girl's waist, pulling her closer. The kiss deepened slightly for a moment.

When they separated, Chaeyoung was a little breathless, a goofy smile on her face. Mina looked at her, her dark eyes still dilated, the echo of the kiss resonating in her system.

"You know," Chaeyoung said, with a soft giggle, "you're getting better at kissing."

Mina tilted her head, a subtle curve on her lips. "It is an activity I categorize as pleasant and highly efficient in the transmission of affection. I approve."

Chaeyoung smiled, a genuine smile that lit up her face. She closed the small distance between them once more, and kissed her again, this time with a little more confidence.

The kiss prolonged, slow and delicate. Mina, though still a little clumsy, responded with soft movements, her lips exploring Chaeyoung's with scientific curiosity and an incipient passion. Chaeyoung's hands slid from her neck to her hair, tangling in the soft strands, while Mina's held her firmly by the waist, drawing her closer. Time seemed to stop in the morning stillness, just the two of them, in their own universe.

Finally, Chaeyoung pulled away, but only slightly, leaving a tender kiss on Mina's cheek before returning to her lips for one last sweet touch. "We have to have breakfast now," Chaeyoung murmured, her voice slightly husky, with one last caress to Mina's lips. "And get ready for your 'emotional and cultural activity.'" A mischievous smile played on her face, while Mina blinked, already processing the next phase of their day.

—

The date was perfect. Surprisingly perfect.

They ate ice cream, with Chaeyoung patiently teaching Mina not to bite the cone as if analyzing a lunar rock, but to lick it with a delicacy that honored the dessert. Mina assimilated the information with her usual efficiency, achieving "optimal intake" by the third bite.

They walked in the sun, a golden, warm light bathing the park path. Mina, always prepared, had brought a small flashlight "in case the sun unexpectedly went out, to ensure luminous continuity." Chaeyoung just smiled and gave her a small nudge on the arm.

They saw birds. Many birds. Mina aimed a miniature laser at each passing bird, classifying them in a low voice by size, speed, and "evasive flight potential," while consulting a database on her wrist.

And Chaeyoung laughed more than she had laughed in days. A free, genuine laugh that resonated in the evening air, causing Mina herself to register an increase in her bonded's dopamine levels.

Until the moment arrived.

The walk had led them to a worn wooden bench at the edge of the park, just as the sky began to tint orange, violet, and pink. The "itinerary" sheet now rested precisely folded on Mina's lap, who gazed at the horizon as if performing cosmic calculations with the sun's position and the clouds' trajectory.

Chaeyoung watched her silently for a few seconds, smiling, her heart still light from the laughter. The soft evening breeze caressed her face.

"Do you always take notes on everything like that?" she asked, curiosity overcoming her shyness.

Mina barely turned her face, her eyes still sparkling with the golden reflections of the sunset. "Yes. Data logging is fundamental for the analysis and understanding of new environmental and social variables."

"Do you write a lot?" Chaeyoung insisted, feeling a pang of something undefined.

"Yes. Daily. I have kept detailed records since I landed on this planet. And before that too. Everything I experience here, every interaction, every observation, goes into my personal logbook." Mina's voice was so natural, so devoid of any notion of "privacy" or "secret," that it disarmed Chaeyoung.

"Logbook?" Chaeyoung repeated, the word sounding foreign in the context of their lives.

"Mm-hm. It's like... your human diary, but with a more complex data structure and precise categorization of events. I classify emotions, significant events, behavioral anomalies. And currently, you occupy 94.2% of the current content." Mina stated the latter with an exactness that made Chaeyoung process the information for a second.

Chaeyoung stared at her. A soft warmth rose up her neck, spreading to her cheeks. "That... is very adorable."

Mina tilted her head, confusion barely perceptible in the subtle furrow of her brows. "Why?"

"Because you say it with such seriousness, as if it's the most normal thing in the world for someone to write about you every night, categorizing every little thing." Chaeyoung chuckled softly, lowering her gaze to her hands intertwined in her lap. The idea of being the center of Mina's analytical universe was strangely comforting.

"It is. For me. You are the most significant variable in my current observation period."

Chaeyoung took a deep breath. And then, without knowing exactly why, driven by a mix of curiosity and the strange intimacy the conversation had created, she asked, "Have you written about what I said... about when they used to make fun of me?"

The atmosphere changed in an instant. Mina tensed slightly, a subtle rigidity that ran through her posture. Her eyes grew darker, almost imperceptibly, like two bottomless wells reflecting the last light of the sun, but revealing nothing within. A different silence settled between them, heavier, charged with an emotion Mina couldn't yet name.

"Yes. Entry number 07. Category: Social injustice based on identity expression. Subcategory: Irritation." Mina's voice was concise, each word measured, but the last term resonated with unusual force.

Chaeyoung raised an eyebrow, confusion on her face. "Irritation?"

Mina looked directly at her, her eyes dark and intense. "It enraged me."

"Really?" Chaeyoung asked, genuinely surprised by the bluntness of the statement.

"Greatly." Mina leaned toward her with an intensity that didn't require her to raise her voice, the sunset tinting her features with a golden hue. "Why would someone feel they have the right to mock you for loving who you love? It is a logical deficiency in the human social structure."

"Because the world is like that sometimes. Cruel," Chaeyoung replied, the bitterness of old wounds surfacing in her voice.

"Well, it shouldn't. Not with you." Mina's voice was firm, absolute.

Chaeyoung blinked. She didn't know what to say. Mina looked so... upset. Not out of jealousy this time. But for her. For the harm they had caused her. "Minari..."

"If I could redirect a communications satellite towards those individuals and block their names from the planetary emotional system, I would," Mina affirmed, the glint in her eyes intensifying.

Chaeyoung let out a burst of laughter, a sound that was a mix of relief and astonishment. "Is that a threat?"

"It's protection." And she lowered her voice, almost imperceptibly, the tone grave and laden with a silent promise. "No one should make you feel less for who you are. Not while I am here."

There was a silence. Not awkward, but filled with the resonance of Mina's words, with the weight of her strange and profound loyalty. The sun was setting, painting the sky with darker shades of crimson and purple.

"Minari..." Chaeyoung smiled, more with her eyes than her lips. Mina's protective gesture had taken her by surprise, completely disarming her. "You know... sometimes I forget that you just arrived on this planet." She said, crossing her legs on the bench, her body turning to face Mina better. "And then you say things like that, about the satellite, and it hits me all at once."

Mina looked down, a little embarrassed by Chaeyoung's reaction. "Was it... too much?"

Chaeyoung shook her head, a tender smile. "No. It's just... it's funny. Because you try to understand us, to do everything 'right,' but you're also starting to feel things you don't know how to handle. It's like you're growing a human heart and you don't know where in the body it goes."

Mina pressed her lips together, processing the analogy. Her gaze fixed on Chaeyoung with deep seriousness. "Where does it go?"

"What?" Chaeyoung asked, a little confused by the literalness of the question.

"The human heart. Where does it go, exactly?" Mina insisted, her voice almost a whisper, seeking a concrete answer for something so abstract.

Chaeyoung let out a soft chuckle and tapped her chest with two fingers, right over the spot where she felt her own heart beating. "Here. But sometimes it feels like it's everywhere, you know? Sometimes it weighs in your stomach, or tightens in your throat, or hides behind your eyes when you want to cry."

Mina looked at her as if Chaeyoung had just revealed a universal mystery, her eyes widening with new understanding. "Is that why you... sometimes frown when you laugh?"

Chaeyoung paused, her hand still on Mina's chest. She didn't know Mina noticed those things, those small details she hadn't even analyzed herself. "I do that?"

"Yes," Mina affirmed, her voice a soft echo in the semi-darkness of dusk. "When you are happy, but also overthinking the categorization of that happiness. It's as if your emotions are fighting among themselves to see which gets the highest priority of expression."

Chaeyoung swallowed. Suddenly she felt very seen. Very read. As if Mina, with her extraterrestrial logic, could see the emotions she herself barely understood.

"Minari... you feel too, don't you?" she asked, her voice barely a whisper, the sun setting on the horizon painting their silhouettes a deep red.

"Of course," Mina replied without hesitation, her voice serene and without fluctuations, as always. Then, she lowered her voice a little, an almost imperceptible gesture. "But not like you. Not so... loudly. My emotional receptors operate on a different frequency."

"And what do you feel now?" Chaeyoung insisted, curiosity overcoming any discomfort. She wanted to understand, wanted to know what moved within Mina.

Mina thought. She truly thought. Her eyes shifted to the ground, as if her circuits were searching for the answer in some internal database, then to the darkening sky, and finally returned to Chaeyoung, fixed and deep. "A kind of... tingling. Not on the skin, like a tactile irritation. In my core. As if my system is expanding slightly, but only when you are near."

Chaeyoung looked at her, speechless. No one had ever told her something like that. It was such a strange, alien description, and at the same time, so pure and direct that it clutched her heart.

"And also... anxiety," Mina added, bluntly.

"Anxiety?" Chaeyoung asked, the word sounding abrupt in the increasingly cool air.

Mina nodded, not hiding it. "Our union is progressing according to desired parameters. Soon we will integrate our lives into a concept you call 'marriage'; you have accepted my bond for eternity." Her voice stated it as a fact, an unalterable truth for her.

"Is that a problem?" Chaeyoung whispered, panic mixed with tenderness growing in her chest.

"No, it brings me happiness. Time with you. The small things. The ice cream, despite its molecular variations. Your voice when you are half-asleep and do not emit incoherent sounds. Your face when you smile without realizing it, when your facial expressions are purely spontaneous."

Chaeyoung felt the world stop for a second. The sun had completely set, leaving a trail of pale colors in the sky. Mina did not speak like humans. She did not adorn her words with complex metaphors or try to soften reality. She did not construct poetic phrases or circle the truth. She simply released the truth, simple, direct, like someone handing over a sacred stone. And in that simplicity, there was a brutal beauty Chaeyoung had never known.

"I think it's time for the next thing on your itinerary, right?" Chaeyoung said, her voice soft, breaking the silence heavy with Mina's last words. "Non-aggressive emotional confession."

Mina, who now had been staring at the sunset, turned her head towards Chaeyoung, her eyes now reflecting the twilight gloom. "Do you allow me to?"

"Minari, you don't have to ask my permission," Chaeyoung replied, a small smile forming on her lips.

Mina nodded, her gaze falling back to her itinerary sheet, as if the paper gave her the strength to continue. Her voice, though formal, took on a different nuance as she began: "Time for the non-aggressive emotional confession."

Chaeyoung turned fully towards her, her posture more serious now. Her heart beat a little faster. "What are you going to confess to me?"

Mina folded the paper carefully, her movements methodical. For the first time, she seemed to hesitate. Her fingers tightened slightly in her lap, a nervous tic Chaeyoung had never seen in her. It was a display of vulnerability that surprised her.

"Under the description given to me by your group of human friends, I am unclear if you are 'in love' with me," Mina blurted out, her voice flat, but the question hung in the air, raw and unadorned.

Chaeyoung froze. She didn't expect that. Not with that tone. Not with that frankness. It had caught her completely off guard.

"I am in love with you, by human standards and those of my planet," Mina continued, without waiting for a response, the phrase flowing with disarming honesty. "But when you move away... it feels like an internal fracture. As if my core doesn't know which direction to turn. Like a critical deviation from my assigned orbit."

Chaeyoung swallowed, her eyes fixed on Mina's immutable face, searching for some sign that it was all an elaborate joke. "Minari..."

"You accepted our union," Mina said, her voice now with a nuance of concern Chaeyoung had never heard. "Do you need me to retreat and wait three more terrestrial moons for you to reaffirm your decision?"

It was the first time Chaeyoung saw her truly vulnerable. Not confused by a human custom, not clumsy in her movements. Just... fragile. As if the truth of her question had left her exposed.

And without saying anything, without thinking about lists, or schedules, or protocols, Chaeyoung leaned in. She took Mina's face in her hands, feeling the soft, cool skin, and kissed her. It wasn't a planned kiss. It was a kiss of necessity.

Just because she needed her close. Needed her now.

The kiss was uncertain at first, a murmur of lips barely touching, as if Chaeyoung was offering Mina the answer to her question through touch. Chaeyoung's fingers gently clung to Mina's jaw, while the girl's hands, which a moment before had been clenched in her lap, now slowly rose to encircle Chaeyoung's back, pulling her closer. Mina's usual clumsiness in these interactions vanished.

The kiss deepened, a wordless conversation where Chaeyoung poured out everything she couldn't express with loose phrases or nervous jokes: her affection, her confusion, her anxiety about how "easy" everything seemed, and, more importantly, the answer to Mina's poignant question: Does me being here bother you?

No, it didn't bother her.

The thought of Mina being far away was what truly hurt.

Their mouths moved with a cadence no one had taught them, a rhythm only they seemed to understand. Chaeyoung felt Mina's heart—or its equivalent—vibrating under her palm, as if trying to respond back.

When they finally separated, foreheads still touching, eyes closed from the impact, the air between them was charged with something... electric. Heavy. Sacred.

"I don't need three moons," Chaeyoung whispered, her voice hoarse, her thumbs gently caressing Mina's cheeks. "Just one is fine. And it's you."

Mina blinked. Her expression softened. And then she smiled. Very, very slowly, a rare and precious sight for Chaeyoung.

Chaeyoung swallowed, still not fully pulling away. "I'm sorry, Minari." Her voice came out softer than she expected. "I... I know I was probably very confused. And I might have made you feel like you were alone in this. You weren't. I just... didn't know how to say it."

Mina shook her head, understanding. "Humans have strange customs. I know. Slow reactions. Fear of things that are not direct threats. Emotional contradictions. I have studied it."

Chaeyoung chuckled, a muffled, genuine sound, her head tilting back for a moment. "Is that why you organized the date?"

Mina nodded without hesitation, her eyes fixed on Chaeyoung's. "I read that if human couples spent quality time in pleasant scenarios, the bond would strengthen. Furthermore, I wanted to understand you more. To feel closer to you."

Chaeyoung smiled, her eyes still damp from all she didn't know she needed to hear, from that pure and disarming logic. "You didn't have to do something like that. It's okay. I've already accepted our union, okay? Maybe..." she giggled nervously, "maybe it's a little weird to be married in your twenties..."

"It is the perfect age to unite our species," Mina interrupted, her tone serious, unshakeable.

Chaeyoung looked at her, then burst out laughing and dropped her head against Mina's shoulder, her laughter vibrating between them. "Sure. Obviously. Whatever. What I mean is that you... you don't have to be confused. You don't have to wonder if this is real, or if you're doing something wrong. By human standards... or yours... I am in love with you."

Mina stood still for a second, absorbing the words. Then her hand moved, trembling but resolute, to rest on Chaeyoung's chest, right over her heart.

"So... this is your emotional core," Mina affirmed, her eyes fixed on Chaeyoung's, seeking confirmation.

"Yes. And it's spinning for you," Chaeyoung replied, a wave of affection washing over her.

Mina felt it. Literally. The heartbeat. The warmth. The rhythm. The biological confirmation of an emotional truth. "Thank you, Chaeyoung," she said. Not as a whisper, not as a doubt, but as an inescapable scientific conclusion. Her hand, still resting on Chaeyoung's chest, squeezed with unusual delicacy.

Chaeyoung gently shook her head, her smile filling the distance between them. In an instinctive movement, she intertwined her fingers with Mina's, feeling the cool softness of her skin. "No... thank you ."

Mina observed her, tilting her head slightly, as if this exchange of gratitude were a fascinating rarity, just another data point for her log. There was an almost childlike curiosity in her dark eyes.

Chaeyoung smiled, though her expression was somewhat nervous, almost shy. The sun had already fully set, and the light from the park lamps began to illuminate their faces.

"And... since we're here, and if we're going to... well, unite our lives or whatever..." Chaeyoung looked down for a second, then back up, firm, meeting Mina's eyes. "I think I should learn more about you. About your planet. Your customs. All of it."

Mina blinked. Once, twice. Her voice came out a little softer this time, almost a murmur of surprise. "Why?"

"Because it's fair," Chaeyoung replied softly, squeezing Mina's hand. "You're learning everything about me, about this world... you try so hard. The least I can do is understand yours too. Learn how you work."

Mina didn't answer immediately. Her gaze was deep, almost overly attentive, as if she were recording every word, classifying it somewhere in her central memory.

"I can teach you," Mina said, her voice now laden with a stillness that Chaeyoung recognized as her version of emotion. "If you are willing."

"I'm more than willing," Chaeyoung affirmed.

Mina nodded, her hand intertwined with Chaeyoung's, warm and firm.

"We have not yet performed the official energy fusion," Mina began, her tone returning to the formality of a lesson, but with an underlying current of meaning. "Only the preliminary emotional bonding."

Chaeyoung blinked, her breath held. "The what?"

Mina looked at her, her eyes serious, glowing with a strange light in the growing darkness of dusk. "A 144-second embrace."

"Huh?"

"Do you require me to explain the methodology of embraces, bonded one?" Mina asked, her head tilted..

"No," Chaeyoung said, a soft laugh escaping her lips. "I think I know what they are."