Friday, 3:37pm

“Tell her you’re sorry.”

“What if she hates me now because of how I snapped?”

“It’s Mina-unnie we’re talking about. She’s the kindest soul. And I don’t think she could ever be mad at you, Chae.”

I sighed.

“If anything, she’s probably mad at herself. Don’t let her blame herself.”

“...So, I just go in?”

“Yes! Momo-unnie and I will be out here. Now go!” Dahyun said as she shoved me through the door and into the coffee shop. Once inside, I looked around frantically. Since this coffee shop was close to the university, it seemed to be the hot spot once classes ended. Everywhere sat teenagers and young adults, chatting about their school day. My eyes turned to Mina, who sat alone at a table for four. Her eyes were down on her coffee, as she slowly stirred the liquid with a short stick. As I saw her there, sitting solemnly, my knees locked. It felt so hard to approach her.

It wasn’t until Mina looked up from her gaze and noticed me that I could force myself towards her. She smiled as I sat down in front of her.

“Hi, Mina-unnie,” I said, a little bit awkwardly.

Mina bowed her head slightly, “Hey, Chaeng.”

“Look, I–... I’m sorry about last night.”

Mina waved her hand in front of her, “You’re okay. It’s understandable.”

“I shouldn’t have snapped.”

“You were upset.”

I looked down at my folded hands which rested on the table. “Don’t blame yourself. I know you do,” I said.

There was a short silence before Mina replied, “But I‘m the reason why you’re upset.”

“But I shouldn’t even be this upset with you. I feel like this is just so irrational. All you did was quit baseball and yet I’m so upset. It’s on me, not you,” I said before looking up. My eyes met with Mina’s. As we stared into each other’s eyes, I almost forgot that I had already fallen for her. It was like I fell again, which I knew would make trying to deal with Mina’s constant absence harder. But I wouldn’t give up this small moment for anything. Any instance where I can look into that galaxy that Mina’s eyes contained I would take. Even though I knew it would bite me in the in the future.

Every time I look into her eyes, I fall from reality. All that exists are Mina and I. I could kiss her if I had no self control. Just stand, lean over, and then place a small peck on her lips. Or stand, lean over, and just wrap my arms around her in a tight hug. Just that would be enough. I hadn’t touched Mina in so long.

“It’s not irrational to be so upset. I know I did hurt you and Dahyun,” she said, breaking eye contact to look to the side.

“I just don’t want you to blame yourself.”

“...Okay.”

I glanced outside through the glass windows to see Dahyun and Momo sitting at a table together. They both eyed me carefully. Once they noticed that I had spotted them, they each made elaborate gestures with their arms; Momo shot two enthusiastic thumbs-ups while Dahyun pointed to Mina rhythmically, as if telling me to say something.

“By the way,” I said as I turned my attention back to Mina, “If you can’t come to any practices, can you at least free up some time to go to a game?”

“I’ll definitely try to.”

“If you can’t, then hearing that is enough,” I said with a smile.

Mina gave a bittersweet smile, “I’d hope that we can at least hang out more if anything.”

I nodded, “That would be nice.”

Another silence followed. Even though we hadn’t seen each other in a long while, there seemed to be nothing to talk about. So much had happened in both of our lives, but neither of us could bring any of it up.

“Um,” Mina shyly scratched the back of her head, “Sana-unnie is coming. And she’s with Tzuyu. You haven’t seen Tzuyu in a while, right? I thought it’d be okay to have them hang out with us.”

“Ah, I’ve missed Tzuyu!” I exclaimed with a smile. Tzuyu and I were the same age. Since I had started school at an earlier age, I was a grade above her. She, Dahyun, and I made a fun trio during our high school years. Tzuyu looked up to Dahyun and I. She always wanted to play baseball. She would whine about how fun baseball seemed and how she was unable to play because her father would force her to work for him in the future. And that came too soon. Her father took her out of high school just before her junior year. And so Dahyun and I rarely saw her afterwards. She sometimes came to watch us play at games; but only rarely.

“Ah, wait,” I furrowed my eyebrows, “Sana-unnie and Tzuyu are friends?”

“They used to work together,” Mina said.

“Sana-unnie used to work for JYP Entertainment?”

Mina nodded, “Until Tzuyu’s father found out about how Sana-unnie got a little too close to his daughter and then he fired her.”

“SANA-UNNIE AND TZUYU?!?” I exclaimed loudly, causing some people around us to turn their heads to look at me. I quickly covered my mouth and uttered a muffled “sorry.”

“They were never a thing if that’s what you’re wondering. Sana-unnie may be wild but she knows to limit herself. Especially after she–...” then Mina shook her head, “Actually, nevermind that last part.”

“Sana-unnie and Tzuyu, huh?” I said quietly as I rubbed my chin.

“That’s us.”

I looked up to see Sana and Tzuyu standing beside the table. I immediately stood and exclaimed, “Tzuyu! My not-so-little dongsaeng!”

Tzuyu smiled as she opened her arms for a hug. I gladly threw myself into her arms.

“Chaeyoung-unnie, it’s been such a long time,” she said.

I took a step back after releasing myself from her hug. “Yeah, and did you grow taller?” I asked jokingly.

“I’m not growing anymore!” she frowned. I could only laugh while she stood there with a forced frown on her face.

“Ah, anyway, sit down!” I said, gesturing to the open chairs.

“Thank you, Chaeyoung,” Sana smiled at me before taking a seat beside Mina.

We all settled ourselves before investing into a conversation which was mostly Sana, Mina, and I catching up with how Tzuyu was doing. So many good things happened to her as it concerned work, we found out. However, she said that her life outside of work remained stagnant. If anything, it may have gotten sadder for her since she had lost contact with a lot of her close friends. She expressed how much she wished that she could be a normal teenager, who went to school and had a social life or played sports outside of school. Although she got paid real well, she didn’t seem to like her situation. And that was understandable.

It was rather evident that Sana and Tzuyu had a past with each other. The wa