Yena was alone, standing in a dark room. Where am I? It was an empty space without any windows or columns. She couldn’t even see the walls; it was just a sea of darkness around her. What am I doing here? Yena whispered to herself. After a few seconds, she heard footsteps. She turned around and saw a silhouette walking towards her. Suddenly, the footsteps became faster and more audible. As the person came closer, the silhouette became clearer and Yena was able to recognize who it was.

Hitomi.

Hitomi was smiling so brightly when she ran towards the older girl, which made Yena feel nostalgic about all this. It’s been a while since she saw the Japanese girl smile like that. Yena’s feeling of nostalgia continued as Hitomi reached for Yena and gave her a tight hug. Just like the old days, Yena thought.

Hitomi broke the embrace and, without saying a word, extended her hand to Yena. Yena knew what it meant: the two of them had a secret handshake that they would do when they met, and now the girl was asking for Yena to do it with her. Yena reached out for the Hitomi’s hand, but was interrupted by a metallic clicking sound…

Click-clack  

Yena looked at the younger girl’s hand and saw that the younger girl’s hands are now in handcuffs, much to Yena’s horror. She looked at Hitomi’s face and saw that the once smiling face was now replaced by a face full of anger and spite. Hitomi walked closer to Yena and shoved her hard enough to make her step back. As she shoved Yena, Hitomi shouted with fury,

“YOU SELFISH ! HOW DARE YOU DO THIS TO ME?”

“YOU SOLD ME OUT FOR YOUR OWN HAPPINESS!” Hitomi raised her hands, letting Yena see the handcuffs on her wrists. The Japanese girl shoved Yena one more time, which led to Yena falling to the floor.

“I, HONDA HITOMI, WILL GET YOU BACK FOR THIS! I WILL RUIN YOU LIKE YOU RUINED ME!”

And at that moment, Yena jolted awake.

She looked around and recognized her living room. She didn’t realize that she fell asleep on the couch after talking to Sakura and Nako. She sat back up and tried to compose herself after the disturbing dream; it was a dream she hasn’t had for years now and seeing Hitomi’s picture again brought the bad memories back.

This is bad. I haven’t even seen her in person again, but she already got to my head.

She looked at the clock at the living room and sighed. It was 4:15 AM, which was too early for her to get up. She went to the kitchen to drink a glass of water to calm her nerves, and then proceeded to go to the bedroom. Yena was relieved to see Yuri was still asleep. She remembered that Yuri can sleep through anything, including thunderstorms and loud house parties. Yena snuggled up to the younger girl and hugged her carefully to not wake her up.

“I love you so much, Yuri. I hope whatever happens in the next few weeks, you’d still love me the same,” Yena said as she kissed Yuri’s lips. She laid her head back down, closed her eyes, and went to sleep.

The next day

When Yuri woke up the next morning, she was pleasantly surprised to find Yena’s arms around her waist. Today was a rare occasion since Yuri usually woke up later than Yena, so she was used to waking up alone in bed. Yuri turned around to look at the older girl’s sleeping face, a face she has missed so much, and couldn’t stifle a chuckle. Her bangs were slightly drawn back and her lips formed its natural pout. Together with the snoring, it was a cute and funny thing to see. It was enough to make her forget what happened the night before, at least for a short while.

When Yuri was busy staring, Yena woke up and opened her eyes. “Oh, you’re up? What time is it?” Yena asked groggily. It was obvious that she didn’t want to wake up yet.

“Wake up, sleepyhead. It’s 10 AM,” Yuri said as she got out of bed. “Come on, let’s get breakfast.”

Yena just stared at Yuri as the younger girl made her way to the kitchen. Yena knew how to read people thanks to her years of experience as a con artist. She could feel that Yuri was trying hard not to show her sadness due to yesterday’s events and she knew that the only way to make Yuri feel comfortable is to just play along with it. She also knew that the best way to help Yuri get her money back was to know more about the details of the scam. She got out of bed and followed Yuri, who was already preparing breakfast for the two of them. They were eating breakfast when Yena asked, “I know I shouldn’t ask this yet, but I want to know. What were you planning to buy from the jewelry store?”

Yuri was flustered by the sudden question. It was embarrassing enough to get conned, but it was more embarrassing to admit that it was because of an engagement ring she wanted to buy for Yena. “Oh—I--- Umm--- just a random accessory.”

“What kind of accessory? A bracelet, a necklace, a ring?” Yena asked, trying not to push too hard with her questions.

Yuri almost choked on her food upon hearing Yena’s question. She didn’t know if