Tzuyu lived her life passively. She enrolls in a university because her parents told her to. She majored in English Literature because her academic counsellor suggested her to. She has friends, because Jihyo befriended her first then introduced her to everyone else. She only talks if someone approached her first. Tzuyu doesn’t really care. So, when the university sweetheart Minatozaki Sana asked her out, she just agreed and went with the flow.

“Tzuyu, go out with me,” Sana said one day. They were sitting under the shade in the university’s park.

“Okay,” she said, keeping her nose buried in a Shakespeare’s play, one of her class assignment. She didn’t notice how flushed and nervous Sana actually was. Also the way her eyes lit up when Tzuyu agreed.

They had dates, all of them initiated by Sana. Tzuyu just does what she’s told. Sana told her to pick her up on her old Volvo, she complied. They had a romantic dinner on a hill where they can see stars above and sparkling city light view. They shared their first kiss on that very night. Tzuyu just stood there, while Sana cupped her face and kissed her slowly. Tzuyu had to admit it was kind of nice. But she didn’t think much of it.

Sana always texted her and never the other way around. Tzuyu only answers shortly when needed. Sana’s goodnight texts always replied by an ‘okay’ from Tzuyu. She never called either.

Sana doesn’t know what to do to get Tzuyu to notice her. She’s tired. Tired of being the only one that tries in their relationship. Then one day, she met Dahyun.

The kid is a cute bundle of joy. A total opposite of Tzuyu’s detached personality. She looks up to Sana like she’s her favourite person in the world. She always listen actively whenever Sana rambles on about nothing and everything. She remembers small things about her, like her favourite movie, or her usual starbucks order. She crack jokes and act silly just to make Sana laugh. But she also maintains her distance, because Dahyun knows Sana is still with Tzuyu.

“Tzuyu let’s go watch a movie,” Sana said one day.

“Okay,” Tzuyu said. They drove to their usual cinema.

“Pick a movie,” Sana insisted.

“I’m fine with whatever,” Tzuyu shrugged.

“Do you want to order popcorn or drinks?” Sana tried again.

“I’m fine either way,”

“But I’m not,” Sana is already at her last string.

“Uh, okay?” Tzuyu looked at her, perplexed.

“Okay? This is not okay,” Sana snapped. “Do you know how it felt like dating a mannequin?” her eyes stung.

“No?” Tzuyu tilted her head to the side, adding fuel to the fire.

“Try dating yourself then. Let’s break up,” Sana looked at Tzuyu with watery eyes. For the first time in her life Tzuyu felt something stirs in her. Something other than indifference.

“What do you mean, Sana?”

“Oh you actually remember my name. You never used it, I thought you already forgot about it,” tears streaming down Sana’s cheek. Tzuyu’s hand moved to wipe the tears but Sana slapped her arm away.

“I’m tired Tzuyu. We’re over. Thanks for putting up with my selfish desires all these time, though I know you don’t care either way,” Sana reached in her pocket and threw something shiny at Tzuyu. “That’s your spare key. I don’t need it anymore,” then Sana turned around and left. She took the bus and cried along the way.

Instinctively, her feet brought her to Dahyun’s dorm room.

Dahyun is worried sick when she opened her door just to find Sana crying her eyes out. She took Sana in and offered a fresh change of clothes and removed her makeup for her. She made hot chocolates, claimed it as a surefire way to ‘get rid of the bad gloomy clouds’. Then they cuddled on Dahyun’s small bed.

After a few minutes of cuddling in a comfortable silence, Sana decided to pour her heart out. She trusted Dahyun. So, Sana started recounting her story with Tzuyu. How Tzuyu never reciprocates anything. How lonely she felt even when she had a girlfriend.

Dahyun secretly swore inside her heart that she will never make Sana felt lonely if they ever end up together.

“So, we broke up. Well, I broke it up. She just stand there doing nothing like usual,” Sana choked back tears.

“I’m sorry you have to go through that,” Dahyun felt the urge to kiss the crown of Sana’s head. And she did it.

“Why are you so kind to me Dahyun-ah?” Sana mumbled to Dahyun's chest. Burying herself in the younger girl's embrace. She felt warm and safe.

“And here I thought I was being obvious. Even my friends teased me,” Dahyun gently patted the sobbing girl’s hair. Her heart ached seeing Sana like this. Sana is a literal ball of sunshine and she always looks at the bright side of the darkest things. For her to be reduced to a sobbing mess like this…

“I'm sorry I ruined your T-shirt,” Sana pushed herself off Dahyun and sniffles. Her nose is runny and her eyes is puffy.

“It's okay, it's washable,” Dahyun grinned. Dahyun grabbed a handful of tissues from the bedside table and carefully wiped Sana's nose. “How come you can be like this and still look beautiful?” the words escaped Dahyun’s mouth without her realizing.

“Do you want me to cry some more?” Sana pouted.

“No no, that's not what I meant,” Dahyun waved both of her hands frantically. “I mean you're just, um, perfectly perfect,” she scratched her head.

Sana's waterworks is threatening to flood again. Dahyun is looking at her like she is the only one in this world that matters to her. She wished she could stay like this forever. Be pampered with gentle words and genuine attention.

She should've done this sooner. Dahyun deserves the world and Sana doesn't deserve her love. She had made the younger girl wait for years. Chasing after someone she thought were the one for her.

“Hey, don't cry,” Dahyun wiped another tear that escaped from Sana's eye. Dahyun cupped Sana's face and looks at her in the eyes. “Sana-ya, I care for you. A lot. Please smile?” Dahyun looked at Sana with puppy eyes. That made Sana sob harder.

“Oh my gosh,” Dahyun pulled Sana back to her embrace. “Sorry, sorry.”

“No,” Sana whimpered. “No, don’t be sorry. I’m thankful I have you here, Dahyun-ah,”

Dahyun blushed. “Uh, me too. You can sleep here if you want, I’ll just use my sleeping bag,” she tried to get up but Sana stopped her.

“Can’t you just stay right here and hug me?” Sana whined.

“That works too.” That night, Dahyun never let go of Sana.

Tzuyu doesn’t know what to do. Sana just broke off their 2 years of relationship like that. She went back to her car and sat down for a long time. What exactly did she do wrong? They never had any fight. Tzuyu always did whatever Sana wanted. Why did Sana leave her?

She decided to ask Jihyo. For the first time since she got Jihyo’s number, she called her.

Jihyo, who’s in the middle of a lunch with Jeongyeon and Nayeon is bewildered when she saw Tzuyu’s name lit up in her phone screen.

“Tzuyu called me? That’s a first,” she picked up her phone.

“That’s weird, the kid never does that,” Jeongyeon said, chomping down her tuna sandwich.

“I’m concerned. Hello? Tzuyu?”

“Unnie, I don’t understand,” Tzuyu said.

“What don’t you understand?” Jihyo is now more puzzled than ever.

“Put it on speaker,” Nayeon implored. Jihyo put Tzuyu on speaker.

“Sana broke up with me,” her voice devoid of emotion.

Jihyo, Nayeon, and Jeongyeon exchanged glances. “Why?”

“That’s the part I don’t understand,”

“Why don’t you come here, we’ll talk it out,” this time, Nayeon answered her.

“Is that Nayeon-unnie? Alright, where are you?”

10 minutes later, Tzuyu sat on the fourth chair on the table, ordering a chocolate milkshake. When the waiter finished taking her order, the interrogation started.

“Now, spill. What did you do to the poor girl?” Nayeon demanded.

“I did everything she asked. She wanted to watch movies, so we went to the cinema. She asked me what movie I want to watch, I said anything is fine. She asked me if I want popcorn or drinks, I said I’m okay with anything. Then she got mad, said everything are not okay and I should try dating myself. We broke up then she left to God knows where,” Tzuyu fiddled with the pepper dispenser on the table.

“Of course she will be mad!” Nayeon threw her hands in the air.

Tzuyu looked genuinely confused.

Jeongyeon wanted to laugh, she held it in though. “The first rule in relationship is give and take, do you know that?”

“There’s rules for relationship?” Tzuyu asks innocently.

“It’s common sense!” Nayeon flicked Tzuyu’s forehead.

“Ouch!”

“Don’t abuse the kid, old woman,” Jeongyeon said from across the table.

“Shut up, mushroom head,”

“Okay, stop it you two,” Jihyo had to stop her two friends’ bickering. They will fight each other even on the most trivial of things. “Now, what are you going to do?” she turned back to Tzuyu.

Tzuyu didn’t know the answer to that.

“What do you feel about the break up?” Jeongyeon asked her.

“It felt surreal. I don’t know if that really happened or not,” Tzuyu drank her milkshake.

Jihyo looked at the younger girl curiously. “Hey Tzuyu,” the raven haired girl perks up. “Maybe it’s best now that you go home and sleep. Let it all sink in. Think some more. If you still need help, you know who to call,” Jihyo suggested.

“Okay,” Tzuyu nodded.

When Tzuyu laid down on her bed that night, she felt something is off. She spent a good hour wondering what it was. Then when she’s about to surrender to sleep, she realized. She haven’t gotten any goodnight text. She slept lightly, tossing and turning in her bed.

Tzuyu woke up tired. Like she didn’t sleep at all. Her morning is also a little off without a goodmorning text from Sana. She brushed her teeth and ate cereals for breakfast, Sana never left her mind. This is strange, she thought. She usually went with her routine mindlessly.

Concentrating in class is also hard. The professor is rambling about Romeo and Juliet. This brought Tzuyu back to the time when Sana asked her out. She was reading Romeo and Juliet. She doesn’t remember much actually. But she faintly remembered how Sana’s voice shook a bit when popping the question. Or was it only her imagination? She should’ve at least looked at Sana’s face when she said yes.

Things got worse at lunchtime. She saw Sana sitting a distance away. She sat with a blonde girl whose back is facing Tzuyu. Sana is smiling and laughing in a way she never does when they were together.

Tzuyu's feet moved on its own. Up close, she can see how Sana's makeup failed to hide how puffy her eyes actually is. Tzuyu wondered if she cry herself to sleep. That didn’t sound good. Sana’s smile disappeared from her face when she looked at Tzuyu.

“Tzuyu…”

“Um, hi,” Tzuyu doesn't know what to say.

“Hi,” Sana replied. She pushed her peas and potatoes around her plate.

“Hey Tzuyu, what are you doing here?” said the other girl on the table. Tzuyu recognized that voice.

“Dahyun-unnie?” Tzuyu didn't sure why, but she felt the older girl is kind of pissed at her presence.

There's an uncomfortable silence where Tzuyu stay rooted beside the table where Sana is poking around her meal and Dahyun is glaring at Tzuyu.

“I- I think I'll just go,” Tzuyu took a step back. She turned around and briskly made her way out of the cafeteria. She bumped a few person on the way and mumbled apologies.

When she’s out in the open, she inhaled a deep breath. This shucks, she thought. She decided to spend her lunch break at the nearby park. Her stomach growled but that's the least of her worry. She sat on a bench, lost in thoughts.

Two weeks had passed and nothing is getting better for Tzuyu. She had many sleepless nights. And if she does manage to sleep, she would have nightmares about Sana leaving her, and Dahyun's accusing glare. She had this nagging feeling that she had done something terrible. And the guilt is eating her alive. She can’t just sit here doing nothing.

Tzuyu jumped off her bed and sat on her desk. She’s finally decided to apply her studies in real life situation. She took out an empty notebook and started to write.

Who - obviously, me and Sana.

What - we broke up.

When - two weeks ago.

Where - at the cinemas.

How - Sana snapped at me and I didn’t respond to her properly, I guess.

Why -

Why? Tzuyu’s hand stopped writing. Why did they broke up again? Tzuyu leaned back on her chair and closed her eyes. Letting her mind replay a memory from not-so-long ago.

“Tzuyu-ah!” Sana barges in Tzuyu’s room holding a plastic bag full of snacks on one hand and a pizza box on the other. How did she manage to open the door is a mystery to Tzuyu.

“Hey,” Tzuyu smiled at Sana from her desk. She’s finishing an assignment that’s not due until next week. Sana often laughed at her extreme diligence. But Tzuyu took her academic life seriously.

“You haven’t eaten have you? I brought pizza. You gotta take a break once in awhile you know. Stretch those legs!” Sana set the plastic bag on the floor and sat on Tzuyu’s bed. “Come here, I’ll feed you.”

That reminded Tzuyu. She haven’t eaten anything since last night’s ramen. She sighed. She missed Sana and her happy virus. She’s so used to receiving attention from Sana. Now she’s not sure what to do without her.

“This is not helping,” Tzuyu sat up straight. She reached to her phone and started typing in the search engine. How do you lose a woman?

Unexpectedly, the answer came up in the form of a short clip from an American TV show. How do you lose a woman? You forget to cherish her.

That hit home too hard. Tzuyu let her phone slip off her hand down to the floor and stared at the ceilings for a long time.

“That’s… true,” she said to no one.

Tzuyu groaned in frustration. She went to the bathroom to wash her face. Dripping cold water, she went back to her room, picked up her phone and dialed.

“Jihyo-unnie, help me win her back,” Tzuyu said with a confidence she never had before.

And now, Tzuyu is standing in front of a lecture hall, waiting for Sana’s last lecture today to end. She had brought a purple hyacinth bouquet, Jeongyeon said it means ‘I’m sorry’ in flower language. When the students start filling out, she panicked a little bit, afraid of missing out of Sana in the sea of people.

When she caught a glimpse of a familiar brunette, she pushed forward, “Sana!”

The brunette halted, “Tzuyu?”

“Can- can we talk?” Tzuyu alternated between standing on her toes and her heels.

Sana just raised her eyebrows. “What about?” she frowned.

“Let’s not block others way,” She moved closer to the wall and gestured for Sana to follow suit. The latter obliged.

“I have a life Tzuyu, if it’s nothing important-”

Tzuyu offered Sana the bouquet, “I am terribly sorry,” she bowed ninety degrees. “Would you spare me a few minutes?”

“Okay, talk. What is it?” Sana gave in. She reluctantly took the flowers. They are now alone at the hallway, the setting sun pouring in from the clear glass windows.

“Sana,” she started. is dry for some reason. “I-I'm sorry for everything I did, and also for everything I didn't do,” she quickly added.

“When you walked away from my life, I realized an important part of me is missing. I should've been a better girlfriend to you. I was blind to let you go,” Tzuyu took Sana's hand. “Would you give me a second chance?” Tzuyu pleaded.

Sana is in distraught. She finally got the attention she craved for years. Two weeks too late. Now, she already have someone else waiting for her. Someone who knew she was worth it right off the bat. She won't make the same mistake twice.

“I'm sorry, I can't,” Sana slowly pulled her hand away.

“I’ve changed, please Sana. I want you back,” Tzuyu said in desperation.

“No, I really can’t,”

“All I need is one more chance. Won't you please let me back in your heart?” Tzuyu tried again.

“You've had your chance. Two years is a long time,” Sana took a step back.

“Sana, I-”

“I already have someone else, Tzuyu-ah. Someone who actually paid attention and reciprocates,” she shook her head. “I’m sorry. These flowers meant ‘I’m sorry’, right? Here,” Sana returned the flowers to Tzuyu’s hands.

“Goodbye, Tzuyu,” for the second time that month, Sana left Tzuyu alone.

Tzuyu leaned her shoulder on the wall. From the window, she can see Sana hopping down the front stairs of the building, into a certain blonde’s arms. The two of them laughed happily while walking away, hand-in-hand.

A tear escaped Tzuyu’s eye and she quickly wiped it. “So, it’s really over, huh,” the weight of the situation finally sinking in. She threw the flowers aside and gritted her teeth.

“Why’d you threw such pretty flowers?” a singsong voice startled Tzuyu. She thought she was alone in the hallway. The owner of the voice picked up the bouquet and inhaled the scent. It’s a girl with shoulder length dirty blonde hair, wearing a navy artist’s beret and a round black spectacles.

“I don’t need it anymore,” Tzuyu said.

“Well, it’ll be a waste if we throw it away. Can I take it?” the girl looked up at Tzuyu. A small mole under the girl’s lips caught Tzuyu’s eyes.

“Y-yeah, go ahead,” she stammered.

“Thanks! My name is Son Chaeyoung, you can call me Chaeng if you want. That’s how my friends call me. What’s yours?” the girl offered her hand for Tzuyu to shake.

Tzuyu took it hesitantly, “I’m Tzuyu, Chou Tzuyu.”

-END-

a/n: no sequel sorry :)