It did not end well.

They never talked about it, really. They just stopped talking altogether, stopped sleeping together, even stopped looking at each other.

They would just pass by each other in their apartment. There were even times when they’d stay in the same quiet room without acknowledging each other’s presence.

Jeongyeon kept forgetting how small their place actually was with the way Nayeon felt so far away even when she was within arm’s reach.

Then, Nayeon started coming home smelling of perfume.

Nayeon hates wearing perfume.

At first, Jeongyeon told herself that maybe Nayeon changed her mind about that.

It took her a few weeks to admit that Nayeon has changed her mind about something else.

Jeongyeon doesn’t say goodbye. She just packs her bags and leaves in the middle of the night to temporarily stay with a friend.

She still has a few things to take care of to finalize the arrangements regarding her new place, but the past sleepless weeks insist that moving out can’t wait.

She considers leaving a letter with all of the things she never said and all of the things she already said but will never get to say again. In the end, she takes the letter along with her other belongings before disappearing.

The guilt of leaving Nayeon with nothing but a half-empty room makes Jeongyeon’s stomach twist but only for one whole day.

Nayeon doesn’t call.

Nayeon doesn’t care.

Jeongyeon tries her best not to care too. She’s failing miserably, but she’s trying her best.

Moving on is a slow, slow process.

She deletes Nayeon’s number first, and she pretends like she doesn’t already know it by heart. She erases Nayeon’s photos on her phone too, and she pretends that’s not half as hard as erasing Nayeon’s images in her own memory.

She spends a month going straight to bed after work, tossing and turning at night, trying to silence all the thoughts of Nayeon in her head. Even when she falls asleep, she dreams of the one girl that makes her want to escape reality.

Then, she spends another month going out almost every evening, hoping her luck will save her from running into Nayeon and from seeing her with another girl. She drinks with her friends and ignores all of the pats on the back and the choruses of you deserve better and you’re gonna be alright.

Then, she spends another avoiding her friends’ blatant plans to set her up.

On the fourth month, she stops dodging. Worst case scenario, she’ll still be miserable, but that still sounds a bit better than being miserable and alone.

It takes a while for Jeongyeon to remember how dating works. She’s already forgotten how it is to look at someone and decide she likes them even when she knows practically nothing about them.

Three awkward dates later, she meets Mina.

She tries not to make comparisons, but Mina is nothing like Nayeon. She laughs softly, listens intently, and touches gently.

Jeongyeon is still awkward as heck, but when she says or does something dumb, Mina just smiles at her and gives her this look, a look that makes Jeongyeon remember the feeling of deserving affection and plainly being good enough.

Mina makes Jeongyeon forget the things that make her sad by replacing those memories with ones that make her feel happy and warm and content.

Mina is not perfect, but Jeongyeon finds all of her imperfections quite endearing, like how Mina forgets important things when she leaves Jeongyeon’s apartment.

The doorbell rings just a few moments after Mina went out for work, and Jeongyeon shakes her head as she figures that the girl probably forgot her car keys again.

She catches herself smiling so widely, and at that moment, she thinks maybe, just maybe, Mina might be the one.

She opens the door, and the smile on her face disappears.

It wasn’t Mina.

Her heart drops, and just like that, she’s back at square one.

A/N: I'm @ twitter.com/minamyouwu