Sunny closed the staff room door behind her, hoisted her backpack over her shoulder and turned to leave the diner.  It was 7pm and the place was quiet.  In three more hours, everyone would leave for the night and the place would be locked up again, empty and lifeless.  Exactly how Sunny felt right now.

Four days had passed since Tiffany visited Nathan.  Four days since her friend told her he would visit soon.  Four days since she started watching the door for him.  Four days that he had not kept his promise.  She knew it was because of his schedule.  She knew there was nothing more to it than that.  He wasn’t avoiding her.  He still wanted to speak to her, to see her.  He was just busy.  Exams were coming to an end, there were a lot of tutorials he had to do, and marking was well underway.  It was nothing more than that.

It didn’t make his absence easier to handle.  In some ways, it made it harder.  Ryan would often excuse himself with plenty of work, and then it turned out that he was cheating on her.  And now Nathan was ‘busy’, so it stood to reason that he might just be avoiding her or not wanting her around and didn’t have the guts to say anything either.  Although Tiffany had been into the school to see him, and she said he did have piles of work in front of him, and Tiffany had never lied to her about anything like that.  And Nathan was the person to tell her about Ryan.  Sooyoung even said that Ryan could have really been busy; the two things didn’t have to be connected, and neither should they be with Nathan.  But his absence was noticeable to Sunny, and the absence of her bright smile was noticeable to everyone around her.

“You ready to go?” Yuri called out from behind the bar as Sunny walked past.

“Yeah.  I’m not sure what to cook tonight.  I’m not really sure I even want to cook, to be honest.”

Yuri smiled sweetly at her.  “You know he’ll come back, right?”

“Huh?”

“Nathan.  You’re obviously worried about him.”

She sighed and leaned against the counter.  “Well, I was a to him.  I wouldn’t blame him if he wanted nothing to do with me ever again.”

“I’d blame him,” Yuri absently wiped the counter.

“You would say that.”

“Sunny,” Yuri stopped her work, reached out and patted her arm.  “You made a mistake.  He knows it.”  Sunny nodded.  “I don’t think he would promise to come and see you again if he didn’t want you in his life.  He’s kind of like you like that.”

“What if he’s not?”

“He is.  I can tell you that for nothing.  You’ll see; he’ll come in when you least expect it.”

Sunny shrugged.  “Maybe,” she smiled insincerely.  “Still, I should be getting off now.  See you tomorrow, ok?”

She turned around to leave and looked at the door.  She saw it open and watched as the older couple walked through the door and were escorted to their seats.  As she walked to the exit, she turned to wave to Sooyoung at the other end of the diner, walked out of the door, into the evening air and into someone’s chest.

“Sorry!” she exclaimed, stepping back and looking up at the other person.  “I wasn’t looking-… Nathan!”

The person she had been searching for, for the last four days, smiled at her.  “No, i-it’s my fault,” he apologised.  “I should have … watched where I was going.”

“No, no, it’s … it’s fine,” she stuttered and smiled back.  She could almost feel her heart repairing itself right there.  “Uh … I’m just … I’m going home now, so …”

“Actually,” he interrupted, “I wasn’t sure if I could … I mean, if you’re not busy … maybe I could invite you for something to eat?  Somewhere … not here?” Sunny giggled slightly at his nervousness, as well as through her own.  “I thought we could … you know, talk.”

She nodded slightly.  “Yeah, I … I’d like that.  Just … give me a few minutes to tell Sooyoung I’ll be late home, ok?”

“Sooyoung?”

“She’s one of my housemates,” Sunny explained, turning to open the door back to the diner.  The pair walked in, the shorter member leading the way.  Nathan looked around and caught the tall waitress’s eye as Sunny walked towards her.  He watched as the pair spoke together, barely noticing the diner’s manager walking up to him.

“Hey, stranger,” she greeted him.

“Hello,” he smiled, bowing to Tiffany.

“What brings you here at this time?” she teased.  “Usually you’re here much earlier.”

“I thought I’d invite Sunny to dinner, see if we can sort things out, I guess.”

“‘Sort things out’?”  He nodded.  “Sweetie, believe me; whatever you did in her mind when she threw you out, she forgave you for it all the minute you walked out that door.  I told you, she’s not been herself without you.”

“I hope I can help her get back to her usual self.  And I hope I find out what you meant by that comment.”

“What comment?” she asked, genuinely confused.

“About how Drunk Sunny is more honest.”

“Oh,” she laughed, remembering.  “I hope you find out too.”  He couldn’t help notice her eyes twinkle when she said that, which didn’t help his confusion.  The pair watched the short waitress returning to them.  Tiffany leaned in towards Nathan and whispered “Be nice to her.”

“Hey,” Sunny stopped in front of them, a slight bounce in her step.  “Shall we go?”

Nathan nodded and stepped backwards, holding the door open for Sunny.  “See you tomorrow, Fany,” she waved, her companion for the evening following behind her.  He pulled his keys from his pocket, the indicator lights of his car flashed and he walked to the driver’s side.

“What was all that about?” Sunny asked, a cheeky smirk crossing her face for the first time in a fortnight.

“Oh, we were just talking about the other day.”

“When she came to see you?”

Nathan nodded.  “Tiffany said you’ve not been smiling since I left.”

“What?” Sunny opened the front passenger door, threw her backpack onto the back seat and climbed in.  “I always smile there.”

“Well, apparently, it hasn’t been the same,” he added, climbing in after her and closing the door behind him.

“What do you mean?”

“It wasn’t your usual genuine smile.  More like a professional smile, or the kind of smile you have when you don’t want anyone to know you’re hurting.”

Sunny sighed.  “I guess.  I mean … I did smile.  I have to, for the customers.”

“You just didn’t feel like smiling?”  She lowered her head slightly and shook it.  “Because of me?”

She nodded slightly.  “Not because you did anything wrong,” she quickly started to defend herself.

“I know,” he interrupted, equally quickly.  “Because of what happened.  It bothered you.”  She nodded meekly.  “You thought I would hate you.”  She closed her eyes and gave another nod, much sadder and slower than the first.  It was almost as though she was about to cry.  He reached over and put his hand on her shoulder.  “I don’t hate you,” he comforted her.  “I don’t even dislike you, not even a little bit.  I don’t want to leave you alone in the middle of an empty field, miles away from everyone.”

“Do you … like me?” she asked hesitantly.  Nathan struggled to find the right answer for a few moments.  “Not as a girlfriend,” she added, much more hastily than she had hoped.  “Just … I don’t know.”

“Yeah, I … I do,” he admitted hesitantly. He didn’t elaborate on that answer, hoping that would bring some happiness and comfort back into her. 

It seemed to work; she smiled, slightly brighter than she had a few minutes before.  “So, we’re … we’re cool?”

He smiled and nodded.  “Yeah, we’re cool.”

The pair fastened their seatbelts as Nathan drove off.  “Where are we going?” she asked curiously.

“I found a little BBQ place not too far away from here.  I thought we could go there.”

“BBQ?”

“Yeah.  Just a small place.  Nothing really …” his voice tailed off as he concentrated on his driving and direction.

“Special?”

“I was going to say ‘Nothing really glamorous or somewhere where I have to watch my manners’, to be honest,” he chuckled slightly.  “I figured we could talk easier in a place that was more relaxing.”

“Yeah, I guess,” she smiled, settling more into the car seat.

Little more was spoken between the pair for the rest of the evening.  They drove to eat, and both ate heartily.  They made amends for the past two weeks in what could only be described as a formality, with Sunny apologising more than Nathan felt she needed to.  Deep inside, they knew they were forgiven, but apologising seemed like the appropriate thing to do.  They caught each other up on the goings on in each other’s absence, and made small talk in between eating.  As night started to fall, Nathan offered Sunny a ride home, which she gratefully accepted.  She seemed preoccupied with something throughout the car ride, as she had been for most of the evening.  Something that hadn’t gone unnoticed.  They pulled up to the sidewalk and Nathan turned off the engine.

“You ok, Sunny?” he asked as she unfastened her seatbelt.

“Yeah,” she nodded.

“You sure?  Because you’ve been a little … strange all night.”

“Strange?” she asked, looking a little worried.

“Yeah.  Like something is on your mind.  Is something the matter?”  She shook her head, avoiding his eyes.  “Promise me?”

Seconds of silence passed between the pair before Sunny answered.  “Do you think …” she started, before rethinking what she was trying to say.  Nathan stayed still, patiently waiting for her to choose her words.  He knew how her mind was working, carefully crafting her sentence to make sure what she wanted to say was clear.  It was something he did quite often.  “Ok, will you promise not to judge me?” she asked, tentatively.

“I promise.”

She looked at him out of the corner of her eye, then turned her gaze to her hands, which were clasped nervously in her lap.  “There … there’s this guy,” she muttered.  “I- I knew him … before I … before Ryan and me …”

“Before you started dating?”

She closed her eyes.  “The thing is … I liked him.  I liked him before Ryan.  I … I liked him … more than Ryan.”

“Did you tell him?”

She shook her head.  “I had just come back from my vacation.  Mom went with me to Japan to the Tokyo Game Show and I had such a great time there.  I came back and started work again, and I saw him and … I thought he was the cutest guy I’d ever seen.  He looked so sweet and seemed so quiet and … I told Sooyoung about him, because he was … he was another customer.”

“Another one?” he chuckled slightly.

“You said you wouldn’t judge me.”

“I’m not,” he promised.  “It’s just … sweet.”

She blushed and pouted slightly.  “I told her about this guy that was in her section, she looked over and said he had been in whilst I had been away and said she thought he was hot and complimented me on my taste.  But I couldn’t tell him I liked him because I was nervous as hell, so she and Seohyun helped me to find out some stuff about him.  But I hadn’t been really specific with the guy, so they thought I …” Sunny laughed slightly to herself, “they thought I meant Ryan.”

“Ahhh,” Nathan nodded, keeping up.

“I found out that everything the girls told me about this guy was wrong, but they kept convincing me that Ryan was the ideal guy because he was hot and everything.  So I pursued him.  I started to … make myself like Ryan.”  Nathan sat silently, allowing her to tell her story.  “And I did.  I did genuinely like him.  But … I couldn’t stop liking this other guy.  I’d always see him, and I’d always feel my heart skip when I saw him.  But I never told him how I felt.  He was so perfect.  He was way out of my league.”

“What about now?” Nathan asked.

“He’s still perfect,” she smiled wistfully.  “I still like him.  And he’s still out of my league.”

“So … tell him,” Nathan smiled through his heartache.

“Really?  ‘Listen, I know I went out with this jerk who broke my heart, but the truth is I’ve loved you way before I met him, and I still do.’  Yeah,” she scoffed sarcastically, “I’m sure he’d like that.”

“Well, if he doesn’t like you after that, he’s an idiot,” he tried to comfort her.

A few seconds of silence passed, Sunny becoming more nervous with each second.

“Would … would you like me if … if I said that?” she whispered.

“I’m sorry?”

“If I said that to you, that I liked you … would you like me?” Sunny kept her eyes on her hands, determined not to look at him.  The silence that followed deafened her.

“That’s … that’s not a fair question,” Nathan sighed, looking out of the window.

“Why not?”

He turned back to look at her, seeing her head now lifted and her eyes looking right at him.  “Honestly?” he asked.  She nodded in response, nervous concern filling up in her eyes.  “Because I have always liked you,” he admitted.  “Ever since I first met you.  If you said to me that I was the guy you had liked, I’d almost be proposing right here.”  He closed his eyes, and took a deep breath.  “I never told you because I didn’t think I was your type.  And then you started dating Ryan and I was sure I wasn’t your type.  And now there’s another guy, so … now I’m certain I’m not your type.”

“Nathan …”

“It’s fine,” he looked up at her.  “It just … I don’t think it’s fair for me to answer that question when my answer would be so biased.”

Her breathing quickened as she looked at him.  Pain and relief filled her eyes.  She could feel her heart racing.  Without a second thought, she lunged at him, throwing her arms around him and kissing him deeply.  He was stunned, shocked, bemused.  He didn’t know what was happening, but he made no efforts to stop her.  She stopped suddenly and rested her head against his, refusing to open her eyes.  Tears started to fill up behind her eyelids and her breathing became shallower and faster.

“Sunny?”

“I was so mad at you,” she whispered.  “When Ryan was sleeping around, I was so angry at him for betraying me … but I felt you had betrayed me too.” she opened her eyes and looked directly into his, her eyes reddening and becoming puffier.  “You allowed me to be with him when … when I wanted you the whole time.”

“Me?”

She nodded, allowing the tears to start falling.  “You were so cute, so perfect.  The way you spoke would make me go weak.  I’d dream about you, every single night.  I’d watch the door for you every day, and when you didn’t come in, I’d feel my heart breaking a little.  But I …” she lowered her gaze, keeping her face close to his, “I never felt I was good enough for you, so I didn’t say anything.”

He cupped her cheeks and thumbed at her tears.  “You were perfect for me.  You are perfect.  Sunny, I …” he wiped more of her tears away as she returned her gaze to his.  There was nobody around.  No interruptions.  No passers-by.  Just them.  Slowly, their lips moved closer together as they kissed again.  This time, they met in the softest fashion, but the passion was just as intense.  They kissed, their lips pursed and pressed together, as what felt like years passed.  He savoured every moment of it, remembering the softness of her lips, her peach scented lip-balm, her faint perfume … was it vanilla?  As they separated, Sunny’s lips maintained their shape, her breath almost taken entirely from her.  She looked at him, and saw something there that she longed to see, something she felt for him for as long as she could remember.  Slowly, the corners of her lips turned upwards as she started to smile.  They remained in silence, neither able to express anything.

“Do you forgive me?” Nathan asked, part with genuine concern, part in jest.

“For what?” Sunny furrowed her brow in a way that made her look cuter than she ever had.

“For betraying you.  For letting you be with him instead of chasing you myself.”

She giggled and moved closer to him, as close as the small vehicle would allow.  “Only if you forgive me for not confessing to you,” she whispered.

“What’s to forgive?” he asked.  “You’re here now, you confessed to me …”

“You confessed first,” she blushed.

“Doesn’t matter.  You confessed.  You kissed me first.  There’s nothing to forgive.”

Her heart filled with emotions she had never felt before.  She felt like she was about to explode, and she doubted she would even have complained.  She felt happier than she had ever felt, and it all came from this one man.  The man she told the girls she had always …

“I love you,” she whispered, catching her words moments too late.  Only seconds earlier she had confessed to having feelings for him, but she had never said that, and neither had he.  Now she had ruined it all.  She said it too soon.  There was no coming back from …

“I love you,” he smiled and whispered back, gently kissing her lips.

This had to be the best kiss she had ever received from a lover.  That single, breath catching moment was one that she could never replace, and one she never wanted to end.  She knew it had to, and it hurt her deeply.  As they broke apart, he could see the pain in her eyes.

“What is it?” he asked.

“I … I have to go,” she whispered as she pulled back.

His eyes lost their twinkle, even though he understood.  “Ok.  Hey, how about we … I mean, would you go on a date with me?”

“A … a date?”

He nodded.  “Next Friday.  I’ll leave work behind, pick you up, spend the evening with you …”

She blushed and nodded.  “I’d like that.”

“Ok.  So … I’ll sort the details out and let you know.”

She nodded again.  Some guys would use that as an excuse to get rid of her, she knew that.  Yet she knew Nathan wouldn’t.  He would plan something.  He would tell her.  And she would enjoy that night, she was sure of it.

“So … I guess this is … good night?” she asked.

He nodded, and the pair leaned together for a shorter final kiss.  “I’ll speak to you tomorrow?” he asked.

She nodded.  “I’m working, but I’ll … I’ll speak as much as I can.”

“Ok.”  He brushed her hair from her face.  “I should let you go then.”

“You should,” she agreed, not moving from her seat.  It took a few seconds for them to find the humour in that neither of them wanted to leave, despite knowing they had to.

“Go,” he half-commanded.  “The quicker you go, the more I can tell you that I’ve missed you.”

That was it.  She melted right there.  She fumbled to find the door handle, not once taking her eyes off of him.  He reached over her, laughing and taking the opportunity to kiss her once more.  “Go,” he whispered, smiling devilishly and sweetly at the same time.  Neither wanted to leave.  Both wanted to stay, but they knew they had to depart.

“Let me know when you get home, ok?” she asked.  He nodded in promise.  As she pushed the door open and stepped out into the cool air, she turned back.  “I love you, Nathan,” she blushed.

“I love you, Sunny.  Good night.”

“Good night.”  She closed the door and demurely blew a kiss to him, before she turned to walk away.  She turned around and watched him, his car remaining in the same spot they had parked in.  She stopped at her door, unlocked it, gave a final coy wave and walked through the door into reality.

Reality that took the form of a long legged brunette in grey sweat pants and a black t-shirt stretched out across the sofa with a mud pack on her face and cucumber slices over her eyes.

“Hey Soo,” Sunny sighed, walking into the kitchen for a cold drink.

“That good, huh?” Sooyoung asked, trying her hardest not to smirk.

“Huh?”

“The first thing you said to me was ‘Hello’,” Sooyoung explained.  “Not ‘You’ve got that on your face, get off the sofa.’” She lifted a cucumber slice and looked at her blushing housemate.  “You kissed him, didn’t you.”

“What?”

“You did!” she squealed.

“H-h-how did you know?”

“Uh, you just told me, girl,” she smugly lowered the vegetable eye mask and relaxed.

Sunny playfully slapped at Sooyoung’s legs.  “Off the sofa, ,” she teased.

“Not until you tell me everything.”

“There’s nothing to tell!”

“Nothing?”

“No-o-o.”

“Not even how soft his lips were?”

Sunny paused.  “No.”

“Or how you melted in his car?”

“No,” she whispered.

“Or how you didn’t want to leave him?”

“Am I that predictable?” she asked, embarrassed.

“Not at all,” Sooyoung laughed.  “But isn’t that how it’s supposed to be?”

Sunny looked away, her rose-tinted cheeks not fading.

“So, when are you seeing each other again?”

“Next Friday.”

“Where’s he taking you?”

She shook her head.  “He didn’t say.  He said he’ll plan something and let me know.”

Sooyoung lifted the slice from her eye again.  “He’d better,” she warned.

“He will.”

“You’re really sure about him, aren’t you.”

Sunny smiled to herself.  "I've never been so sure in my entire life."

Sooyoung watched her smitten housemate, her cheeks glowing, her smile almost permanent.  This wasn’t the Sunny she was used to. This wasn’t the Sunny she had seen when Ryan was around.  This was different.  This was new.  Better.  “So,” she carried on, lowering the vegetable over her eye, “what happened?  I want to know everything.”