Jeongyeon just stood, frozen in shock. She could imagine herself as one of those dramatically animated cartoon characters right now, eyes melting of her sockets with her jaws falling to the floor with a massive smash. Her hands were hardened by her sides, with occasional nervous trembles rushing down them, shooting through her veins (which was not very helpful, if you ask her). She couldn’t move, couldn’t speak, couldn’t dare do anything because what the hell was her crush of all people doing here?

What was the Minatozaki Sana doing here?

And then Sana smirks, and Jeongyeon knows she’s ed.

“What? Am I not allowed to be here?” The latter says, with hooded eyes and a sultry voice; as if she was trying to lure Jeongyeon in to some kind of trap, the kinds of ones Jeongyeon tends to avoid falling for.

(And, unfortunately, Jeongyeon falls right in.)

She steps one step closer to Jeongyeon, one step closer to making the distressed blonde faint. The tension was thick, thicker than any other material that had been made in this small world, and yet Sana takes another step towards the blonde, causing her to stumble back against the foot of her chair.

Her tone abruptly changes. She folds her hands against each other, and looks at Jeongyeon with a more powerful stare, tilting her head back just a bit before casually raising a brow. “What, what’s that look for? Am I not allowed to be here Jeongyeonie? Hm?”

The blonde’s mouth cracked itself to a close, gulping loudly in order to prepare her voice for use instead of stuttering like the useless lesbian she was. She steadied her hands, clasping them together to keep them from trembling to stop sending more shivers of terror down her spine.

“I-it’s just that -“ Jeongyeon grimaces noticing she’s already failed in not stuttering in the first word. She sighs, breathing deeply right after to calm herself down. “It’s just that... what are you doing here at all? It’s five in the evening and the sun’s about to set and literally nobody is here at all except you and me.” She breathes out, chuckling at that last part. “You, and me.”

Jeongyeon wanted to finish off the sentence with an ‘out of all people in this world, why would you come here to see me?’ but shuts when she sees Sana’s facial expression turn into a newer one, a one devoid of emotion with the slight clench and release of a jaw.

God she looked scary.

Jeongyeon internally freaks out, preparing herself to die right there and then. She could imagine it right now, her tombstone written in with bold letters ‘died from angering the Minatozaki, with questionable ways, but no one should ever try angering her so kids don’t try this at home. Or anywhere where there is a Minatozaki. In loving remembrance of the brave useless lesbian who tried to defy social hierarchy, Yoo Jeongyeon.’

But instead of being greeted with a hard knockout punch, she was greeted with soft-spoken, muttered words, that were dropped in sorrow.

“Do you really not remember me Jeongyeon?” Sana says her name for the third time, and god if Jeongyeon isn’t falling for the way it just rolls of her tongue with that velvety aftertaste then she doesn’t know what - Jeongyeon, what the hell are you thinking about?! Sana just said she knows you—

Wait. Wait a second right there.

Sana knows me?

Is that even possible?

‘She’s lying’, Jeongyeon tells herself, ‘she’s just gonna try making me fall for a damn trap or something like that and I’m not going to. Not this time. There’s no way in hell that Minatozaki knows me personally, or knew me. I would’ve remembered, otherwise. It’s hard to miss a girl like her, whether she’s a kid or not.’ Jeongyeon voices determinedly in her head. ‘Or... did I know her before my accident?’ Jeongyeon’s eyes widened, before pulling herself out of that thought. ‘No. She’s probably just playing with me. She’s probably recording this whole thing prepared to humiliate me infront of the school.’

Jeongyeon tightens her stance, and faces Sana bravely, chin held high with her breathing steady and deep, her hands clenched softly. She wouldn’t fall for it, she chants, and truthfully she wouldn’t dare.

Sana sighs, from the expression Jeongyeon was shooting at her, it was clear what the answer to her question was. “I just- I just came here because I was walking by and I heard you singing, I think you’d forgotten that cheerleading practice was today, and it had gotten extended. You’re singing... it’s really wonderful. Whoever you were singing that for, they would be really proud.” Sana’s mood changes for the fourth time in their small conversation and Jeongyeon wonders how she even copes up with it. “Say... who were you singing it for?” Sana tilts her head, and Jeongyeon falls once again.

‘For my friends, and technically you.’ Jeongyeon mentally answers. ‘Would you be weirded out by that, or used to it by the amount of boys chasing after you?’ She wonders.

The blonde replies instead by shrugging. “Well, for nobody really.” She continues. “I’m actually preparing something with my friends... that’s why I came here.”

“Why are you all alone then?” Sana asks, and Jeongyeon falters because she doesn’t really know how to reply.

“I- I guess it’s because I take the bus and the next bus is at five?”

Now it’s Sana’s turn to be surprised. “You take the bus at five everyday?” She questions, face forming into a more worried one.

The nervous blonde shakes her head. “No no! There’s a bus right after school ends too, but I have the privilege of staying after school if I want too. My dad’s busy and comes home at six anyways.”

Sana nods her head, lips pursed, and looks at the clock in the corner of the room. “Well... it’s already four fifty-five, I think you better hurry up to the station.”

Jeongyeon instantly whips her head to the side, to be met with the watch taunting her with its time. “! Oh - I sweared- I meant shnizzles! I got to go!” She hastily collects her bag not before shouting a ‘Bye Sana!’ and running off.

Sana watches as Jeongyeon flees off, with a small smile decorating her face. She picks up the faded yellow chair - which was chipped on its foot due to Jeongyeon stumbling on it - and places it back under a spare desk. Afterwards, she picks up Jeongyeon’s bass guitar, sliding her hands across the metal strings before placing it on the plastic holder.

She walks out of the school, only to be greeted with the orange hues of the sunset in the winter day. In the peripherals of her vision, she could see a distant shadow of a girl with faded blonde hair, running to catch the awaiting bus. She chuckles quietly to herself before clutching her jacket tighter around her, breathing out a ashy puff of air.

“She never changes does she?”

—.—

[5:30 PM]

Thou have fallen: I just met Sana.

Tofu Dubu: In your dreams?

Thou have fallen: She knew my name.

Tofu Dubu: What

Thou have fallen: She also looked at me with that sad smile, like she knew something I didn’t know.
|
And then I had to leave.
|
I’m also contemplating something she had said to me before, and I have no idea what it means.

Tofu Dubu: WHAT

[5:35 PM]

Chaengie needs to be watered: EXCUSEEME I JUST ARRIVIED~

Tofu Dubu: Just read whats above sweetie

Chaengie needs to be watered: Okay unnie!
|
Jeongyeonnie
|
My best friend
|
Sweetie
|
what the actual HELL

Thou have fallen: I don’t know either!
She just came up to me while I was practicing
and she even said something like
‘Do you really not remember me?’

Chaengie needs to be watered: first of all what the hell
|
second of all I dont
think shes lying maybe she did actually
know you?

Tofu Dubu: Maybe this was before your
accident?

Thou have fallen: I was thinking of that but the chances are low...

Tofu Dubu: Doesnt mean it’s impossible

Thou have fallen: I’m home rn, I’m going to check something.

Chaengie needs to be watered: Wait dont leave

[Thou has fallen is offline]

Chaengie needs to be watered: seriously

—.—

“Sana!” Jihyo shouts, trying to break Sana from her reverie.

“SANA!” She screams again, successfully scaring Sana causing her to jump in her seat, while Jihyo’s laughing herself off.

Sana pushes the younger girl’s shoulder and rolls her eyes. “Goodness, couldn’t you have greeted me in a more polite way?”

Jihyo shakes her head, giggles still erupting from the back of . She slings her left arm around the older, and swiftly takes a nearby chair with her other hand and plops down on it.

“So how’s cheerleading?”

Sana rolls her eyes again. “So how’s ditching cheerleading for student council?” She says quizzaciously.

“Hey, student council is fun! And it was in need of new members anyways, and I was the one who sacrificed my time for such! You should be proud!” Jihyo sulks offendedly, while Sana laughs it off, wrapping her thin arms around the younger. They stayed like that for a while, watching their friends enter the cafeteria.

As if it was a normal routine for them, the whole student body seemed to make way for Nayeon, Momo, Mina and Tzuyu, the oldest (and most immature) walking through it as if it was a catwalk, people applauding and fanboys screaming from the sidelines - while others were just jealous or didn’t give a care. Momo and Mina were clinging onto each other, and if you looked carefully at Dahyun’s face across the sidelines, you would’ve seen a hint of jealously painted on her expression. Tzuyu really didn’t care.

It was like a massive wave of sweaty and scrawny teenagers had politely moved out of four girls’s way, which throughly annoyed Jeongyeon, however it’s not like she had any say in this. It was tiring, to say at least, being shoved aside right into a locker (and that’s also just for four damn girls, like how much space do they need?) although she wasn’t surprised when she looked back to see minuscule dents on the dull cream colored lockers. She actually felt bad for those things, always having to be pushed and shoved on, always used as a material for love-struck students to anonymously send in hearty letters or meaningful flowers, never used for its initial purpose to simply safely store belongings. She deeply respected those who used lockers the right way without abuse, but it’s not like she resented those who didn’t. After all, she herself wasn’t an avid user of the cream colored safe, seeing no purpose for it when it was so far away from her classes and she would rather just carry her belongings all around.

She realizes how much of this time, stuck against the lockers, she uses to contemplate the most useless things on Earth.

Like feeling sympathy for a locker.

Not a very impressive thought. Why was she thinking of it in the first place again?

Finally, the popular three had made it to the end, sitting on their divine right of the middle of the cafeteria. The crowd had finally dispersed. Some pleasant for the crowd finally gone- especially Jeongyeon- and most pleasant because now was their time to shine infront of these goddesses.

(Hint: The goddesses couldn’t care less.)

“So!” Nayeon dramatically enters as she falls right into the chair next to Sana. “How’s it going on with Yoongi?”

Sana’s eyes immediately widen as she looks to the girl. “Huh? How’d you know about that?”

Nayeon looks at her weirdly before shaking her head. “What, you think we didn’t figure out? Clearly something happened between you two that night, I saw you go in there!” She exclaims.

“It was nothing unnie, we both just decided it as a one time thing.” She could already hear the whispers from the surrounding students, but chose to say nothing. It’s not like this was the first time.

Nayeon shocked, pretends to faint with her eyes rolling to the back of her head, her hands making their dainty way onto her forehead as a true fainting masterpiece. “How could you? He’s so handsome and to die for, he practically’s courting you!”

Jihyo chuckles at her fanatics but seriously questions Sana. “Yeah, I thought you liked him too, or were just playing your push and pull games with him to attract him more.”

‘Well maybe if you thought a bit more you would’ve realized that I don’t like him at all.‘ Sana says to herself, shaking her head.

Jihyo stops to look at Sana with a confused face, a sandwich landing on her palms from Tzuyu. “Mm? Sorry I didn’t catch that. What did you say?”

‘Oh god, did I just say it out loud?’ She internally facepalms. ‘Quick, act normal!’ She orders, preparing herself.

Sana smiles and shakes her head. “It’s nothing. Keep eating.”

She shrugs. “Okay.”

Jihyo turns around to have a small chat with Mina, munching on the chicken sandwich from Tzuyu. Onto Sana’s right, there is Nayeon who does everything so dramatically (after all she is wishing to be an aspiring actor and is already a member of the theater club) with Momo’s occasional giggles and laughs and Tzuyu’s playful jabs to the older which leaves her pouty.

Sana’s tummy rightfully grumbles and she groans when she sees that she had forgotten her backpack in her last classroom. Of course, doing such a simple task as that isn’t even easy when she’s one of the most sought out girls of this school. God she really hated this school sometimes. The attention was pleasing and she loved the way it drove her ego to an all time high, but being followed to every single place, being the word and whispers that drips shamelessly out of other’s mouth, filled with jealousy and hatred or admiration, not being able to do normal tasks like normal people. It really drove her to the brink of insanity.

The feeling of someone lurking around always scared her. The voices in her head, chanting her name, the voices of her classmates, whispering as if they were devising a scheme against her, it mortified her. Every single move of her was being watched by students, by her own school, the place where she was supposed to feel safe in the hands of staff and her friends, it’s now all her enemy. She knew if she even made a thousand mistakes, that nothing would happen, but the fear was still there. It wouldn’t leave.

She hates this.

She dumps a hat onto her face, stretching it to be as low as possible. She quickly walks off, fast but not enough to catch the attention of others, smoothly blending into the crowd. Sana looks up and thanks the lord that one of her fangirls didn’t notice her and ask her a bunch of shameless and useless questions, or a sneaky stalker with their camera following her. She realizes that’s it’s been quite a while since she could think to herself, for herself, and already devises a plan to visit the lonely coffee shop this afternoon.

What she doesn’t realize though is her friends messing about and creating drama, catching the attention of those jobless fans, just so she could be free to run for her lunch.

(And also the pair of eyes burning holes at her as she left.)

—.—

Jeongyeon stands there, just staring. Staring at a picture. A picture of a girl, and her. On a polariod printout.

Soft round cheeks, plump hands holding the latter’s baby hands tight, a bright smile plastered on her face. Black ruffled hair tied into a messy bun, a red coat hung upon her frame with a small blue dress underneath it. The photo was slightly blurred, but clear enough to see the features of the girl’s face.

She looked so innocent, so young, so cheerful beside the younger Jeongyeon, who was smiling just as radiantly. It was as if she smiled for the first time, or seeing her lost puppy run back to her arms, and Jeongyeon may as well be that metaphorical puppy with the way she clung to her arm. She examined herself in the photo, a stark difference to herself today. She looked at the camera with a box-like smile, her eyes squinting due to the immense expression. A peace sign thrown right next to her face, a big blue jumper that she doesn’t recall wearing (but she doesn’t recall this picture at all either), pants that looked muddy but resemble her adventurous younger persona and her shoes filled with brown spots too. She wished she remembered her childhood. As much as she loved her dad’s storytelling of her embarrassing childhood, she wanted to experience it for herself. It was hard having six years of your life ripped apart from you, like a reboot button that someone else had pressed.

She wished it was all a mistake but this is real life. And she had a mystery to figure out.

Who was the girl to her right?

(She didn’t want to admit that it looked like Sana.)

”DAD!” She calls out, running, sprinting down the stairs, not a care given by her brain when her feet stumble on the edges of the stairs.

Her dad, perched up from the couch, looks at his daughter with a worried frown. “Jeong, you alright?”

”Dad, who’s this?” She breathlessly questions.

Jeongyeon’s father reaches out for his glasses, pressing them on the front of his nose. “Come closer, I can’t see clearly.”

She runs faster, stumbling across almost every single piece of furniture on her way with her lousy luck. She sticks the polariod photo onto his face as he examines it.

His eyes squint to see the picture clearly, and when he does recall the girl, he smiles brightly. “Oh yeah it’s her! What was her name... Sata?” He shakes his head while Jeongyeon sighs in relief. “No no... I think it was Sana. Yes Sana! Mina something Sana!” Jeongyeon’s dad shouts as the latter’s heart stops beating for a few seconds. “Y’know she was a really nice girl. Real bubbly and everything. She was always so bright, even managed to make my days better by watchin’ ya two play. Y’know, she and you used to beg each other to play, one time I even saw you play dad and mom with a doll.” He laughed heartily, eyes flashing at the old memories. “Good times.” His body freezes when he realizes that what happened after that wasn’t such a good time.

Her dad sighs in relief when Jeongyeon doesn’t say anything about the mix up. Thank god she doesn’t - well of course she doesn’t - first Minatozaki comes up to her in the middle of her practice asking her if she remembers her (like hell? she would have mentioned it before if it she did remember) and now she finds out that she and her were best friends?

BEST FRIENDS.

”Nope. Never. Never ever,” She curses her mind when a boy-band’s recent song plays on loop like a broken cassette. “It’s not possible. Can’t be.”

Her dad’s relaxed features knot into a one of confusion, wrinkles pressing on his matured skin. “Why not?”

”Dad. She’s in my school.” And She’s popular, she’s pretty, she’s a goddess, the girl that everybody wants.

Including me.

“So? You should go say hi to her.” He casually continues, as if being friends - or even just muttering hi (infront of the whole school mind you, it’s not like she’s ever left alone) to one of the most sought out girls in their campus was the easiest thing in the world.

Fact check: It’s not.

Jeongyeon’s eyes were blown wide, her whole body shaken from receiving the information. Of course she knew Sana, of course the universe decides to play with her, of course she just has to end up with a crush on her. It’s just in her luck isn’t it, to be related to one of the most popular girls in her school who hasn’t ever decided to contact her until today, knowing that they had a past. Why was she so affected by this anyways? Really, why? It’s not like she remembers a thing, not even a single memory came out of her looking at that picture of them. Why hadn’t her dad mentioned this to her before, is there a reason or had he just forgotten about them?

Why is this even affecting her so much?

It’s not like suddenly with this information anything’s gonna happen, she’ll just tell her friends and that’s it. She probably scared Sana off that evening with the way she had stuttered and acted, so it’s not like any of this matters right? She’ll stay down here, like she was meant to, with her friends just like her, and Sana will stay up there, basking in the spotlight with no interest of knowing her. She probably only greeted her to get a joke out of it, or see if Jeongyeon genuinely remembered her. Jeongyeon was a nobody. Sana was an idol. There’s no way anything can happen.

(Oh, how wrong she was.)

“Hey, Jeongyeon?”

Jeongyeon released a soft noise from the back of , indicating a yes.

“Want to hear some stories of you two? I know you two knew each other for a few months, but you got some pretty funny and exciting memories in there.”

The younger girl nods and plops herself down onto the olive green sofa of the living room, the rusted springs releasing a squeak from her force. She enjoyed the old, worn out sofa, preferring it over buying new ones, and her dad had to agree. Though these sofa’s were growing old and tired due to age, dust coating its insides, a place that her dad nor her could ever clean, they kept it. It was covered in the heartwarming scent of their house, a faint peppermint smell with a sense of comfort and nostalgia covering it. One reason why she loved this sofa so much.

”You were five back then, turning six. Y’know, sometimes I would watch you two just play and this feeling of calmness would just overtake me, like I could watch you two play with those wide smiles, jabs and hugs towards each other forever. She was like my second daughter, it hurt me a lot seeing you cry after she left, especially after that day.” He took a soft breath, a broad smile widening across his face, before continuing. “Y’know, the day you both met - and this was hilarious - you told her a joke that I told you one day. Remember that desert joke that I told you once?” His eyes immediately widened as he slapped his forehead, becuase how could she remember if she had amnesia?

“Uh- well, the joke went like this. What’s red and drifts over a desert?”

Jeongyeon frowns, thinking. She gives up two seconds later. “I can’t figure it out.”

“A fart with a sunburn.”

Jeongyeon’s face concerts into forced deadpan, trying her best to keep her laughter at bay. Her face looked like a one of those teenagers when they try to entertain a baby, her nose widening as she tried her hardestto keep it in, and she fails with her laughter when her dad starts laughing at her face.

”Theres no way I told that joke! Ever! That’s the worst one I’ve heard by far out of your mouth!” She says while hitting the table, dying of laughter.

”When I first told you that, you literally went up to everybody and told it! And each time you were rolling around in laughter while the other just faked laugh! oh my gosh! You know when I first told you this, you were drinking milk and you laughed so hard it came out of your nose!” Her dad wiped a laughing tear from his eye. “That was too funny.”

”No way.”

”Yes way.”

”Oh my gosh...” Jeongyeon tried her best to keep up her serious facade, for all of it to fall down when she imagines herself laughing with milk released through her nose. By now, both her and her father were on the floor rolling around in laughter, their loud voices resonating through the old room.

Jeongyeon’s laughing mania ended, as she regained her breath and turned to look into her father’s eyes. “Wait, what happened with Sana?”

Her dad looked straight into her eyes, before bursting out in laughter and clutching his stomach for sheer life, slapping the unclean carpet with hard force. He hiccuped loudly, before continuing, “She slapped you!”

Jeongyeon’s jaw released for the third time that day, she felt as if it would rip off her any moment now. “She slapped me?”

Her dad laughed even harder, gripping onto the carpet while barely being able to breathe. “You- You should’ve been there, God! I can barely breathe it was just too funny. She slapped you and said that the joke wasn’t funny and she left. Oh my god, this is too much!”

Jeongyeon just pouts, sad from knowing that Sana and her’s first encounter went so wrongly. But it was mostly Jeongyeon’s fault for that bad joke, but a slap is simply uncalled for!

She waited for her father’s laughter to calm down, reaching for his hand to pull him up from the ground.

”I think that’s it for the night Jeong. It’s almost ten now. Say hi to her will ya and invite her over one day, I’d love to have her and see her now, hopefully nothing’s happened to her.” He breathed deeply before walking to his room. “Goodnight Jeong.”

”Goodnight Dad!”

She plopped down onto the bed, inhaling the scent of it before sighing deeply but happily. Maybe, this whole time, her perception of Sana and her group was wrong, everyone’s was. They aren’t some goddess creatures (though they could all qualify with those looks), they were still humans. Humans that needed sleep, air to breathe, space to think, time to heal, they were still humans. We’re all humans.

Maybe it wasn’t such a crazy idea to be friends with Sana.

Jeongyeon grabs her phone from the edge of her side table, flipping it open.

[10:00 PM]

Thou have fallen: So... me and Sana used to know each other.

As she drifts off to sleep, she hears two buzzes emanating from her sidetable.

[10:03 PM]

Tofu Dubu: U DECIDE TO TELL US NOW RIGHT BEFORE MY BEDTIME
|
EXPLAIN

—.—

[6:15 AM]

Chaengie needs to be watered: OUT OF ALL THE DAYS I DECIDE TO SLEEP EARLY

—.—

Jeongyeon’s two best friends are already sitting down in the cafeteria by the time Jeongyeon reaches, both of them practically shaking with wonder.

”Explain. Now.” Dahyun says, with no hint of playfulness that laces her voice, just hard seriousness. Jeongyeon was a little frightened if she was being honest.

”Alright, Alright! No need to get all bad cop on me.” She puts her hands up and surrendered. She pulled against the shortest zip of her green bag (which is her favorite color by the way, she really hated that no one liked green and always related it to vomit and envy) and search the inside of the little pockets for the photo. She carefully took out the photo, not wanting their edges to be spoilt and the fragile picture to be crushed up under her bag’s pressure, or her friends’ hands.

”Well- uh- according to my dad, that’s a picture of me and Sana when we were younger.”

Dahyun gasps and snaches the photo. “You both are so cute!” She squeals, shaking Chaeyoung while the latter hits her and screams let me go!.

Chaeyoung hits her one last time, tilting her head at Jeongyeon while their friend was busy admiring the photo. “Do you remember anything at all? Like even hints just from the photo?”

Jeongyeon sighs and shakes her head. “I don’t remember a thing. Even when my dad told me a story of her, nothing flashed.”

”So this wasn’t a prank after all.” Chaeyoung muttered.

She explained to them what her dad had said about their relationship, and how closely knotted the two of them were. How they would beg to be with each other, how they would play with each other daily and how they were neighbours. But no feelings passed through her while she explained, no hints of a bit of happiness, nostalgia, or just anything at all. No feelings even passed through her other than remorse and hatred, that her whole childhood had to be ripped from her, that she was in the wrong place, at the wrong time. She couldn’t even remember a second of a moment with anyone, the only memories were some of her playing in a sandpit, desolent and lonely without friends, soft drizzling in the background with lightly dark skies covering her. And that’s the only memory that’s ever stuck with her, if it’s even a memory or just a made up one from her imagination.

”Hey Jeongyeon?” Dahyun says.

”Mm?”

Dahyun squinted her eyes to read the back of the photo, but failed when eyes just blurred instead. She held up the photo for Jeongyeon to see. “What does this mean?”

Chaeyoung snatches the photo before Jeongyeon can even blink her eyes. She reads aloud the message written a small, messy, childish hadwriting. “I’m so sorry Joehn—oh sorry it’s Jeongyeon— But I hope you keep our promise, you may not remember me with m-memories, but at least your heart might.”

...what?

Dahyun bursts out laughing, completely shattering the silence. “Don’t tell me you guys were getting it on at six!”

“What the hell Dahyun, they were six!” Chaeyoung hits the back of her head and glares.

As Chaeyoung and Dahyun were blabbering on about the supposed love affair Jeongyeon and Sana had at six years old (like hell she would ever even have the courage to kiss her), Jeong closes her eyes and droopes down in exhaustion, hoping the rusty metal chair could just consume her and keep her there. She didn’t want to think about what Sana had wrote in the back of their photo, she didn’t want to think why Sana had taken so long to confront her, or just simply why they even had a past in the first place. She didn’t want to think about how their next meeting would be, if they would even have one, or if Sana would really accept her for... liking girls.

She could feel some of her blood warming, anger for the world being so harsh for just being... different. But at least she had her friends, who were accepting and always had her back.

She opened her eyes and blurred her vision on the ceiling, feeling herself fall into her thoughts. She never really wanted this to ever happen, her life to turn around in the matter of two days even though nothing much really happened. Yeah, it’s true that Sana searched for her, but Sana could have a past with a thousand people and want to search for all of them. Yeah it’s true that she had a past with Sana, but if she decided to confront her now, after so many years, did she ever mean anything to Sana? Does Sana really even care?

Does Sana even accept this?

She shakes her head. It doesn’t matter if Sana cares or not, she doesn’t need her for happiness. She doesn’t need to put herself down for another girl, even if that girl is the one that she’s falling for. Right now, she needs to focus on herself, her studies and her future career. She shouldn’t get stuck into all this romantic drama business, it’s not what she came here for.

I came here for a better life, she recalls, a better life for me and my dad. I didn’t come here to get stuck with stupid teenager feelings, I’m better than that.

Yet she knew she was already stuck, but she couldn’t help but deny it.

Feelings are a part of life, it’s okay to have them. It’s okay to fall sometimes Jeongyeon. A small murmur of her brain fights back, but she shuts it down immediately.

She doesn’t want her trust broken again.

—.—

Once again, she finds herself in the console of a empty corridor, walking towards a destination that only her feet knew. She let herself walk, hearing the thuds of her shoes spread, echoing down the halls. She let her fingers dangle slightly on the surface of the unused lockers, her tips covered in dust as it left a trail behind, a trail soon to vanish as it gets covered in dust once again.

She knew where she was going, but why? One side said to practice for the talent show, which was partly true, but there was another reason. A deeper reason that she let herself believe. To see if she’d be there again. To see if she’d wait to meet the same girl who was her neighbor ten years ago, or maybe she would be there just to hear Jeongyeon’s voice again. Maybe she’d just want to have a normal conversation with her, and learn about her.

Maybe she wouldn’t be there at all.

”You came.”

She stopped walking, a frown adorning her face. “Why wouldn’t I come, I need to practice.” She continues walking and opens the door, leaves it open for the her to enter too. For a second it feels like all of this is just her imagination, until she hears footsteps enter, followed by the shuffling and bumping of instruments until she feels a bass guitar pressed gently against the palms of her hands.

“Don’t lie, the talent show got postponed until a month because enough people didn’t sign up.” She smiles and looks at Jeongyeon straight in the eye. “You came here for me didn’t you?”

Jeongyeon grunts and nods, she didn’t think Sana would’ve cared about the show. She cuts to the chase. “Sana... who exactly are you?”

She hears the absence of a breath for a second and sees a desolate smile on Sana’s face, biting her cheeks to keep it from crumbling. “So you really don’t remember me.” She crouches down to meet Jeongyeon’s eyes, a pleading look in her pupils that left Jeongyeon in a trance. “Not even a single thing?”

Instead of speaking, she shakes her head afraid her voice would give up on her like last time.

”Not even our promise?” At this point, Sana sounds desperate to the point Jeongyeon can hear her own heart breaking. Jeongyeon turns her head from Sana, she didn’t want to see Sana’s smile break and wither so fast, she didn’t want to hear the cracks in her voice, and she didn’t want to give into those pools of tears threatening to make their way down the girl’s face.

So, shakes her head rougher, clenching the sides of the plastic chair, feeling them deform with her pressure. As much as she wants to lie so Sana could at least have a smile on her face, she couldn’t lie, not when she sounded so desperate.

”Don’t you at least feel anything around me?”

A small palm cups her cheeks and Jeongyeon’s world crumbles as she meets Sana’s eyes. Those same entrancing eyes that left her speechless in their encounter, those same eyes that held so much meaning and sincerity that Jeongyeon just wanted to immerse herself into it, those same eyes that crumbled when she locked their gazes. Before she could stop herself, she felt move and the faraway words ringing through her ears.

”I think I like you, Sana.”

It was only after the words entered through her, that she realized that Sana wasn’t here anymore.

Sana left her.