It’s been awhile. A long  while, if you asked. No idea how things became this way, but deep down, she knew.

    “Been a hot minute.” The figure with the short blond hair slowly turned around, facing her.

    “Hyejin..” The blond was definitely surprised with her appearance. The Hyejin she knew all those years ago was so much different than the one standing in front of her now. The woman always had a strong presence, she could still see that, but something about the way she held herself right now was different. Wheein couldn’t put her finger on it.

“I didn’t think you’d come.” The two stood there awkwardly, not sure what to do at the moment. They settled at a handshake, which felt so foreign to them, yet they couldn’t help it.

“I was surprised myself.” Wheein answered, far from the character Hyejin new from years before. A waiter led them to a reserved seat outside on the dock, a familiar scene to the both of them. Wheein was confused when Hyejin had called a couple weeks before. She didn’t know how she felt about it, but called the girl back a few days after, agreeing to meet at the all too familiar place.

“Here you ladies are. Anything to drink for now?” The waitress took out a notepad, ready to write their orders down.

“I’ll have coffee, decaf, and water please.” The blond ordered.

“Just water for now, thank you.” Hyejin said after.

“I will be right back to take your orders.” After leaving them alone, Hyejin instantly looked at the menu, not looking up at the blond. If she had, she wouldn’t have missed the longing look that Wheein gave her.

“I don’t remember you being an only water person in the morning.”

“I don’t remember you being a coffee person either.” Wheein felt a pang in her chest, but the girl made a point. Unknown to her, Hyejin regretted it the moment she had said that.

“How long has it been?” The blond spoke after a couple minutes of silence. Hyejin looked up from the menu for a second before looking away, placing the item back on the table.  

“5 years.” The raven head responded, leaning back on her seat. She still kept her gaze down, not daring to look up.

“After 5 years, why now?” This time, Hyejin did look up. A flash of something appeared in her eyes, but it quickly went away. Wheein noticed that it was something related to the change in her aura, yet she still couldn’t put her finger on it.

“Coffee and water for you, and just water for you. Are you guys ready to order?” Hyejin’s attention was brought to the lady. Wheein didn’t like the sudden distraction, but nodded anyway.  After taking their order, Wheein brought her attention back to the woman in front of her.

“Travel.” The blond looked at her, confused. “Come travel with me.”

“What?” Wheein was speechless. She had always been aware of Hyejin’s interest in traveling. She herself wanted to do it, wanted to explore the world with her. But that was years ago. “Hyejin, what are you talking about?”

“I was going through my stuff a while ago. My mom had sent me a bunch of things from my room, and I came across this.” She pulled out a folded yellow paper, a familiar ink seeping through the folds. It wasn’t hard to guess what the paper was, and Wheein’s world seemed to freeze for a bit. She hesitated before taking the paper into her hands. Opening it,