It was a hectic day at the shopping mall. A lot of customers were crowding at one place and another. Jungyeon slipped in between those throngs of people and made her way out of the sales and promotion section.

“When all the wives in the world reunites, damn.”, she cursed under her breath.

She walked forward and halted in front of a chain of jewelry store. There is Pandora, Tiffany & Co and even Cartier. She scanned each and every store there and walked into one of those store.

“Welcome, miss. How may I help you?”, asked a salesgirl with the tag ‘Jihyo’.

“Do you have an engagement ring sold here?” she asked bluntly. The salesgirl smiled and led her to another section of the shop. There were several rings arranged inside the glass box. Jungyeon leaned forwards and ogled at each one of it. She pointed out on one of the ring and Jihyo took it out for her.

“Isn’t this is too small?”, she thought to herself when she slid the ring on her own fingers.

“That’s the normal size of a girl’s finger, you stupid.”, claimed a person from behind. Jungyeon whirled around and saw her friends were gathering behind her.

“Yeah, you’re trying to marry a skeleton or what? That’s fine for her.”, said Momo confidently.

“Doesn’t she wear something around size 8 or 9?”, Jungyeon asked back, gaining a slap on his back from Tzuyu.

“Are you marrying a crocodile? That’s too big. What is wrong with you?” Tzuyu commented.

“Did you ever marry a crocodile to say something so confidently like that?”,Jungyeon glared back.

Tzuyu rubbed her temple and left the store. Momo crept nearer and showed a good signal. Jungyeon asked the salesgirl to wrap the ring in a nice velvet ring box.

“So, when are you going to propose her?”, Tzuyu asked as they’ve been seated in a cozy restaurant.

“Before my next flight. If possible.”                                                                                                                      

“How are you going to propose her?” she asked again. Jungyeon clicked her tongue and leaned on her chair.

“You sure ask a lot of stuff. How do you deal with her everyday, Momo?”, she asked while shot a glance at Tzuyu.

“I just made her to stop talking.”, Momo announced. Jungyeon looked at Momo and frowned. “How?”

“Y-you don’t have to know. Really. Don’t tell her, honey.”, Tzuyu answered back and flashed a smile at Momo.

Jungyeon rolled her eyes and placed order on their lunch. She opened the ring box and stared at it, hoping that the love of her life will like it.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Will you marry me?”

“I saw my today, my tomorrow, and my future-”

“OMG, what is that. That’s so lame.”, Jungyeon told herself. She looked at her reflection in the mirror, desperately trying to come up with the best proposal line ever. She took the ring box on the dressing table, gently rubbing the box. Her room door’s flung open. The ring box fall down under the wardrobe as her girlfriend walked into the room. was wide open.

“Something went under the wardrobe.”, stated Nayeon. She tried to bend down to take the thing but Jungyeon immediately stopped her. She held her girlfriend’s hand and made her stood up straight.

“It’s nothing, baby. It’s just the comb.”

“The comb is on the dressing table, darling.”, Nayeon replied, jerking her chin towards the comb that was well-placed on it.

“Then.. it must be my heart dropped for seeing such a beautiful girl early in the morning.”, Jungyeon answered, earning a soft punch from her girlfriend.

She pulled Nayeon closer, shorten their gap between another. Nayeon chuckled and wrapped her hands around Jungyeon’s neck.

“What are we having for breakfast?”, Jungyeon asked in a low flirting voice.

“Have a guess. You’re good in guessing.”, Nayeon responded, slowly closing the gap between them. Her lips that was tainted with a taste of savory and sweet with a little bit salty filled Jungyeon’s hunger on her love. She the lower lips of Nayeon and bit it playfully before departing their locked lips.

“Emm. Mango juice, scrambled eggs and unidentified food.”

“Grilled ham. I just tried out a new menu today. Let’s eat.”

Jungyeon patted her girlfriend’s head and caressed her cheek softly. Nayeon squinted her eyes and rested her cheek on the girl’s hand. “Are you okay, honey?”

“Yeah, I miss you. That’s all.”

Nayeon planted a soft kiss on Jungyeon’s cheek and darted out of their room. Jungyeon quickly bent down on the floor, looking under the wardrobe and reached for the ring box. She picked it up and brushed away the dust on top of it. She placed the ring box in her commodore uniform. Sometimes, the obvious place is the safest place.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 “Have you proposed her yet?”, Tzuyu asked while they’re hanging out at the café.

Jungyeon shook her head. Tzuyu had wide open. “When will you? It’s been a week since you got that ring for her.”

“When it’s the perfect time to do so. What if she rejects me? What if she ain’t ready to marry me? What if-”

“What if you removed all those negative thoughts and think about all the good stuff.”, Tzuyu cut her.

“Jungyeon, she agreed to move in with you before because she only cares and loves you. How on earth you think she will reject you?”, Momo questioned her.

Jungyeon sighed and sipped on her drinks. Tzuyu tapped the table aggressively.

“You better proposed her tonight before we leave to the airport.”

“Or I’m going to kick you like I kick a crocodile.”

“Have you kicked a crocodile…before?”, Jungyeon asked nonchalant.

“Forget it. I’m done talking to you.”, Tzuyu replied and stood up, leaving her best friend and her fiancée there.

“What’s with her and a crocodile obsession?”, Jungyeon asked Momo. She shrugged her shoulders.

“I think in her past life, she was so in love with a crocodile but ended up with you now.”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nayeon entered their bedroom and cleaned up a little bit. She make the bed and swept the floors. She opened the wardrobe, searching for any dirty shirt that Jungyeon always hid. Her hands suddenly touched a hard thing from her girlfriend’s uniform. She slipped her hands in the pocket and took out a well wrapped ring box. She opened the box, revealing a diamond ring. Nayeon’s eyes widen and her jaw dropped in surprised. She covered and immediately placed the box in the pocket again.

“Mina! She finally going to propose to me.”, she shrieked at the end of the phone call.

“What? Who? Jungyeon?”, Mina asked on the other end of the phone.

“Who else then? Yes. OMG, I’m so excited.”, she squealed. She started to describe how the ring looks like and how it was wrapped nicely to her best friend. If there’s a person who should know about her happiness, Mina is the first one to know.

“We can finally go on couple dates together with you and Chaeyoung!”

“Nah, we both aren’t big on group dates. You should probably go with Sana and Dahyun.”

“We’ll see about that. I’ll call you again.”, said Nayeon and hung up. She looked around the house, imagining how it is going to fill with decorations and piles of wedding gifts. She skipped in joy as she made her way towards the kitchen.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jungyeon put on her bla-zer and adjusted it while she looked into the mirror. She slipped her hands inside the pocket, finding the little ring box still in its place.

“Here’s your tie and hat.”, Nayeon handed the items to her girlfriend. She put the tie around Jungyeon’s neck and slowly tying it into a proper one.

“Will you be fine alone here? Can you sleep without me? Eat breakfast without me?”, Jungyeon asked Nayeon worriedly.

“It’s not my first time been left by you, baby. Mina would be sleeping over with Chaeyoung tomorrow. I’ll survive.”

“Will you not miss me? I’ll be away for 3 days, you know.”, Jungyeon pouted.

“If you going to worry so much, maybe you shouldn’t go.”, Nayeon said reassuringly.

“Yeah, maybe I shouldn’t go and stay here with you.”, Jungyeon replied, Nayeon’s face gently.

The honk from outside their house startled them. Nayeon adjusted the tie and made sure her girlfriend looks perfect in her pilot suit.

“That must be Tzuyu and Momo.”, Jungyeon claimed.

“Hey there, fiancés.”, Tzuyu announced out loud. Jungyeon pulled Tzuyu away from them.

“I haven’t proposed her yet!”

“Then when will you? Let me guess. After me and Momo made a lot of babies which will be 2 years from now.”

Jungyeon rolled her eyes and smacked Tzuyu’s back. Tzuyu left her and picked up Jungyeon’s luggage.

“I’ll stay with Nayeon unnie tonight. Don’t worry.”, Momo said to Jungyeon. Jungyeon nodded.

Jungyeon went closer to her girlfriend, holding her hands gently and the back of her palms softly. “You okay? Are you trying to tell me something, Jungyeon-ah?”

“I was supposed to do something tonight, but I guess I wanted to do it after I got back here.”

She looked into the eyes of her lover. “Can you wait for me? I’ll make it up to you. I promise.”

Nayeon threw herself into Jungyeon’s embrace and hugged her tightly.

“I’ll always wait. You didn’t have to ask me to. You know I don’t have anyone else to wait for.”

Jungyeon her girlfriend’s hair and whispered the words that she knew her girlfriend loves to hear. Nayeon giggled and replied back. They retreated the hug and entwined their lips together.

“Ehem. Excuse me.”, Tzuyu faked a cough, making the couple parted away and blushed.

“Didn’t mean to ruin this romantic season, but we’re kinda late now.”

Jungyeon glared at Tzuyu and signaled her to get away from her sight. She looked at Nayeon and smiled.

“You sure you didn’t want to send me off at the airport?”

“You know I can’t deal with goodbyes. It’s better if I send you off from here.”

Jungyeon nodded and placed a gentle kiss on Nayeon’s forehead, fingers still linking to one another. She was still holding on till the last finger that touched before she walked out of the door.

Jungyeon whirled around. She looked at Nayeon that was standing by the door.

“I love you, Nayeon.”

“I love you too, Yoo Jungyeon. See you on Friday.”

Jungyeon smiled and nodded before closing the door behind her. She hopped onto the car and Tzuyu drove away. Nayeon watched from the windows as the car slowly vanished from her sight.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Nayeon tossed on her bed. She felt uneasy and her mind was restless ever since Jungyeon left to the airport hours ago. It’s 5AM in the morning and she couldn’t even sleep a little bit. Momo barged into her room, blood had drained away from her face. She looks pale and surprised.

“Jungyeon’s plane… crashed.”

At that moment, Nayeon knew that her waiting time is over. There was no more of waiting and there’s no more perfect time awaits them. Her heart dropped and pain lurches all over her body. Her breathing rate was out of control and tears started to fell down her cheeks silently. Her vision become grey and her universe collapsed slowly. Darkness took over her sight and she felt alone. Just as alone as her heart at that moment.