Sakura

“That nice girls in town.” her mom said.

She wondered if she had to deal with this every time she came back home. It had been fifteen years since she had graduated high school and left behind living in the familiar mansion she was in now.

Every time she came back it was another, did you see that girl you went to school with here? I heard our neighbor did this.

Of course, she went to Seoul Academy so all the kids were off doing amazing things. She was happy enough with her own career too.

Being a doctor was hard work but she enjoyed it. Maybe that was why she entertained her mothers long questions whenever she came back.

She tilted her head and sipped her cup, “What do you mean?”

“The girl that lived next door to us.”

She dropped the cup in her hand almost on instinct.

“Chaeyeon?”

“Yes, that’s her name. Her mother was telling me all about how she just got back from working in America.”

That was a name she hadn’t heard in a really long time.

Back in high school, her parents had always been working but in their daily phone calls she had naturally gushed about Chaeyeon. Once her parents had retired, they had settled in nicely. That was why her mom had so much time to get on the gossip mill.

“Why don’t you go next door and say hi?” her mom suggested.

She blinked, “Maybe, if I have time.”

The answer was non-committal because she was a horrible liar.

“Alright.”

Because how was she supposed to explain to her mother the mess that was her current relationship with Lee Chaeyeon?

Even she didn’t fully understand it.

Ten Years Ago

She gave a familiar smile to the doorman as he opened the door for her. They had a friendly familiarity ever since she had started coming practically every day since….

Well, since the incident.

She took the elevator up to the penthouse with the swipe of a card. When she stepped out she grimaced at the darkened room. All the curtains had been closed shut and there was no natural light coming in even though it was a beautiful day out.

“I brought you some food, I think it’ll last a couple of days.”

A figure on the couch got up and Chaeyeon looked up at her with a blank expression.

“Thanks.” Chaeyeon’s voice was hollow.

It hurt a lot to see the girl she was in love with, in so much pain. Maybe, that was how Chaeyeon had felt when Hyewon got sick.

Of course, she cared about Hyewon she was her close friend but Hyewon wasn’t her wife. Chaeyeon being Chaeyeon had tried her best for their friend but Hyewon had been really sick. It had happened slowly yet all at once.

Chaeyeon hadn’t taken it well. It had been close to a year and the girl had been living in a half dead state.

“I went to one of our class reunion dinners and one of the girls owns a huge media company. She was asking about you, she seemed really interested in hiring you for some huge projects.” she said as she put food in the fridge.

“I think I’m fine.”

“It might be good for you, Chaeyeon.”

“No.”

Suddenly, she didn’t know what came over her but a surge of anger spiked.

“Chaeyeon you’ve been like this almost a year. I understand that it takes time to recover but if it wasn’t for me and the others you would’ve wasted away by now. Hyewon wouldn’t have wanted you to live like this.”

“Don’t mention her name!”

She was taken aback at the loud sound of the other girl’s voice. Chaeyeon had never raised her voice at her before.

She took a deep breath, “I’ve been trying for almost a year now to help out but it hurts to see you like this and I can’t do this anymore. I decided to do a rotation in Japan and I leave tomorrow.”

“So you’re leaving me too?”

The hurt sound almost made her break.

She walked towards the door and paused, “I’m not leaving you because I don’t care, I’m leaving because it hurts too much to see you like this.”