“It’s no where near as nice as your place so I’m sorry if it’s not to your liking.” Sana mumbled as she shoved her key forcefully into the keyhole.

“It’s… nice.” Tzuyu muttered.

“Please, be as honest as you like. I know it’s shabby.” Sana chuckled.

“No, I mean it. Even though it looks a little bit shifty, it looks homely to me.” Tzuyu said in awe. Sana turned back to look at Tzuyu for a moment, analysing her answer. The latter was looking around but her eyes shone as if she was appreciating everything around her. Her gaze finally landed on Sana and she gave her a cheeky smile, pushing her to open the door instead.

“Are you really going to keep us out here all night? Do you want me to open the door instead?” Tzuyu asked.

Sana blushed, snapping out of her stupor and heading inside her apartment. Tzuyu followed in close behind her, feeling slightly awkward despite it being only the two of them. What was she even thinking when she agreed on coming along? After the last time the two were alone, Sana would most likely ask her about her past again, wouldn’t she? What else is there to talk about?

Suddenly, Sana stopped in her tracks, turning around and colliding into Tzuyu unexpectedly. Tzuyu groaned as she fell backwards, hitting the wooden floor. She managed to fall under Sana, who was safely snuggled against her chest looking rather red.

“Sana?” Tzuyu called out, trying to get the attention of the girl on top of her. Successful in her call, Sana looked up at her, looking rather dazed out – they were a lot closer than they thought they would be. Tzuyu’s eyes landed on Sana’s lips for a mere few seconds as she inched closer to her.

Part of Sana’s brain seemed to switch back on in the following moments, moving away from Tzuyu with less than an inch to spare.

“I’m sorry!” Sana squealed hurriedly pushing herself off Tzuyu and a few metres back.

“Bathroom is down the hall and your room is right next to it! The kitchen is before the bathroom – just be warned that there isn’t a lot of healthy stuff in there. Towels, in case you want to shower, are inside the bathroom in the cupboard. I don’t think there’s anything else, but if there is, just let me know!” Sana informed, leaving Tzuyu behind on the floor.

Tzuyu held her hand over her heart, feeling it pulsating under her touch. She collapsed back on the floor, staring up at the ceiling for a few more minutes to gather her bearings. Her heart beat was slowly returning to normal. That was way too close; way, way too close. Some part of Tzuyu felt like it wasn’t going to be the closest.

Shaking her head, she got up, rubbing her head. It actually hurt a little bit. Sighing, she headed towards the room Sana spoke about, freezing on the spot. Bless the girl’s creativity – she loved how everything inside was yellow. Who paints their room walls yellow? Not even a light yellow but like a freaking fluorescent yellow? It was giving her a headache just staring at the walls.

Ignore, ignore, ignore.

There was a rumble outside and the start of an engine, both followed by the frustrating sound of someone’s lawn being mowed. Jumping face down on to the bed, Tzuyu covered her ears with the pillow, drowning out the noise. Sure, it wasn’t 9am in the morning but it was still just as annoying. Forcing herself to block out everything, Tzuyu finally took the nap she’d been wanting to take.

Sana knocked on her door a few hours later, already having cooked dinner. Tzuyu was still fast asleep and it worried Sana slightly. Had she not been sleeping that well at her place? Was she really tired? What made her so tired? She crouched by Tzuyu’s side, observing her from afar. As she looked, she noticed the dried tears that were present on her face. Sana had so many questions to ask Tzuyu, as she always did, but she would never want to prod more than she already has.

Tzuyu’s eyes shot open and Sana fell back in shock, massaging her . She was extra clumsy today. She huffed, getting up as Tzuyu yawned and stretched.

“How come you’re in here?” Tzuyu muttered, rubbing her eyes.

“Well, I knocked on the door and called out your name to get to come out. You didn’t respond so I decided to check up on you. Let’s go eat dinner.” Sana explained, indicating towards the door with her head. She walked out before Tzuyu, sitting on the table as she waited for her.

“You’re being weird again.” Tzuyu said, frowning.

“I am? What do you mean again?” Sana asked in confusion.

“Well, the first time was earlier when you were jealous and now it’s the fact that I feel like you want to say something but you’re holding back.” Tzuyu said straightforwardly.

“W-what! I was never jealous! And I don’t want to bother you with any questions. I know you don’t like them.” Sana huffed, digging into her meal.

“Okay, let’s pretend you weren’t jealous then.” Tzuyu scoffed, annoying Sana. She sighed before she continued. “It’s okay, ask away.”

“Have you not been sleeping well?” Sana asked.

“How did you figure that out?” Tzuyu retorted.

“You were sleeping instead of doing other things; you also didn’t wake up easily.” Sana replied.

“I’ve been having bad dreams the past few days and I have insomnia as a result. I can’t sleep much because I’m up thinking about things or not willing to sleep because it’s the same thing I’m seeing over and over again.” Tzuyu admitted.

“And what are these bad dreams about?” Sana pushed herself to ask.

“About my past. Just a bad memory of mine.” Tzuyu answered.

“I see.” Sana nodded, not pushing the topic further.

“It’s just that I have an unsettling feeling in my stomach about my past and I guess it’s triggering the nightmares.” Tzuyu mumbled.

“When did they start?” Sana asked, frowning in worry.

“About a week ago. It wasn’t so bad at the start but it’s getting worse every day.” Tzuyu confessed, sighing heavily.

“Have you ever had insomnia before?” Sana questioned.

“When I was younger, yes. Just after the loss of my parents.” Tzuyu muttered.

“What helped you back then? Was it books, or movies or something along those lines?” Sana contemplated.

“No, actually. I used to hug my stuffed dog plushie.” Tzuyu said, blushing in embarrassment.

“Oh my god!” Sana squealed.

“Whaaaat! Don’t tease me!” Tzuyu sulked.

“I’m not going to! That just sounds really adorable.” Sana gushed, pinching Tzuyu’s cheeks. Tzuyu’s cheeks turned to a darker shade of red, feeling shy all of a sudden.

“Let go!” Tzuyu whined.

“Alright, alright.” Sana chuckled, letting her cheeks go. “Maybe what you need is something to cuddle? I can give you Mina’s ketchup plushie.” She suggested.

“…Mina has a ketchup plushie?” Tzuyu judged.

“She won it at some competition and left it here for no reason.” Sana shrugged, heading to her cupboard to pull out the figure. She handed it over to Tzuyu who held on to it tightly as soon as she had it in her arms. Sana gave herself a pat on her back for coming up with the idea, feeling happy seeing a huge smile on Tzuyu’s face.

“So, what do you usually do on Friday nights?” Tzuyu asked, changing the subject.

“I usually have a pint of ice cream with me and watch dramas, crying over my non-existent love life.” Sana replied almost immediately. Her eyes widened as she realised what she’d spurted out, covering as Tzuyu laughed next to her.

“Non-existent love life, huh?” Tzuyu teased, tears forming in her eyes from laughing so hard. While Sana would usually whine and deny it, see couldn’t help but smile alongside Tzuyu’s laughter.

“Well, I’m glad my love life is funny to you.” Sana said, pretending to be upset.

“Do you really want a love life that much?” Tzuyu questioned, leaning towards Sana a little bit. Sana moved back, hitting the end of the couch as she tried to form an answer.

“W-why not?” Sana stuttered.

“Because love doesn’t keep you going. Love fails you when you need it. It can’t help you.” Tzuyu explained, becoming serious all of a sudden and making Sana frown. This was a complete 360 from her attitude earlier. Was love a trigger for Tzuyu of some sorts?

Was this sudden change due to Tzuyu’s past? What she’d been dreaming about? She understood the perspective of where Tzuyu lost her parents but what she’s saying doesn’t seem to apply to that. Had there been something that had hurt Tzuyu more than the loss of her parents? Had there been someone who caused her to break her trust in love? The Tzuyu who was flirty and carefree was suddenly gone – replaced by someone who feared to take a step forward in the direction of love.

“But love isn’t always bad. Sometimes, we fall in love with the wrong person at the wrong time who hurts us and then leaves. And that makes us lose hope and faith in love. We give our trust to them and think that it’ll be treated well but all of a sudden, you feel left out where you belonged. Why would we want to chase after the thing that caused us so much pain? After that one thing that cause many sleepless nights and tear filled cries? But the thing is, if we only looked at the bad things that were represented in our life, where would that leave us? Sometimes, we have to overlook the bad we have experienced – we have to take the leap of faith to trust our heart. Just, sometimes, we have to ignore our minds.” Sana whispered, cupping Tzuyu’s cheeks.

Even if Tzuyu’s been teasing her all this while, even if the two of them have been hesitant in being the first person to make a move – they both wanted the same thing. They both knew it and they’d refused to act on it and now Sana was left feeling stupid for not being fast enough. They pushed it away and denied it, refusing to come to terms with it and now that one of them finally has, the other wasn’t ready.

Sana knew that Tzuyu was fighting whatever she was feeling. The sudden dislike for the subject of love or romance wasn’t what she wanted to believe in. Her thoughts went back to the first time she met Tzuyu. She’d never shown her flirty nature to anyone but she kept a cold front to push people away. Sana had snuck past that front but now she seemed stuck on where to go and how to help Tzuyu.

She didn’t know what was wrong, she didn’t know what was going on in Tzuyu’s brain but she was deeply hurt by something she’d kept tucked inside her heart. This doubt that was brewing in Tzuyu’s head must’ve started from somewhere in her past. Whatever had been plaguing Tzuyu’s dreams had driven her a whole set of steps back. It was triggering a defence system which made her want to stay away, thinking it was the right choice. Sana was done walking backwards when Tzuyu was walking forwards. She was going to be the one to bridge the gap that Tzuyu was trying to grow between them.

A/N: Thank you to everyone who sent me a message and left a comment on my last chapter c:
It motivated me to update this~
Though I still have doubts about it, it's a lot less than before.

I hope this update is okay.
I might have worried about it a lot before posting because it's swerving to a deeper romance-centred plot than I thought it would have.

Are you all hyped for the SaTzu LieV tomorrow? c:
Can't wait for it hehehehe!

As an extra note, I've been around Twitter a lot lately and I've been seeing such sad things from SaiDa shippers.
They were talking about how disrespectful Sapphires are and I was quite surprised by it.
I don't see it that much, maybe that's why I was surprised but I'm sure they have their reasons for saying such things.
I'm not blaming/accusing anyone of anything at all!
What's there to be happy about when you boycott others' chance of being happy and cheering on their favourite ship?
I don't think I really had a point of talking about this... but I just wish that all ships can be happy, in peace.

Hope you look forward to the next update! :']