Juhyun found herself tossing and turning between the sheets that night.

Eventually frustrated at her inability to get some shut eye, she picked up her phone, only to be met with a blaring 3:00 am on her lock screen.

Letting out a groan, she gripped onto her stuffed bunny tightly and sat herself up against the headboard of her bed, huffing in irritation.

It’s been a long day for her, and she should have been tired.

Yet a certain someone managed to find her way into her thoughts despite that fatigue, and eventually became the center of her spiraling thoughts.

Why did she have to bump into Seulgi of all people and of all places?

Was it some sort of fate that was calling out for her to do something about it?

She sighed as she found herself thinking about the monolid she had met earlier in the day again.

Yet Juhyun found herself sliding off her bed and sticking a hand into her bag in search of that paper which Seulgi had scribbled her number on and fiddling with it between her fingers in contemplation.

Maybe it was time for her to face up to her fears and stop running.

And Juhyun found herself punching numbers into her phone, leaving a text for Seulgi and anticipating that the younger girl would most likely reply her later in the morning since it was such an ungodly hour.

But her phone notification resounded within seconds, leaving the doe-eyed brunette a little surprised.

She had asked if Seulgi wanted to meet up over the weekend and Seulgi sounded a little too excited for Juhyun’s heart to bear.

Here we go again.

Juhyun had expected it to be awkward, but Seulgi somehow managed to make it a one-sided thing. Of course it was one-sided. From Seulgi’s perspective, she wouldn’t have known about how Juhyun had felt about her. From Seulgi’s perspective, she wouldn’t have known that Juhyun left for Daegu because of her. From Seulgi’s perspective, the year in Daegu Juhyun had was just her taking a break from the hectic life in Seoul.

“Heol, you didn’t even tell me that you changed your number, I’m hurt, unnie!”

The last thing Juhyun wanted was to explain to Seulgi that it was because she didn’t want to contact her anymore, not after Seulgi had decided that she was going to date a man named Chanyeol. But it wasn’t Seulgi’s fault that Juhyun hadn’t been able to muster the courage to tell the younger girl how she really felt. And it wasn’t her place to deprive Seulgi of her happiness. After all, she didn’t put herself out for Seulgi to choose, even though she secretly hoped for Seulgi to notice when she raised some concerns with them dating. Though, it still hurt her that Seulgi had still chosen to go with the opposite, over what she said.

And so Juhyun found herself breathing out a lie.

“Sorry, I actually lost my phone and had to replace it entirely.”

And of course, she had to maintain that academy award mask she had donned on.

“So, how have things been going for you?”

Taking a sip of her chocolate latte, Seulgi smiled although it didn’t quite reach her eyes as it usually would.

“It’s been good for me, switched jobs, moved places. Starting afresh really.”

Juhyun couldn’t help but be curious.

“Starting afresh?”

Seulgi pursed her lips.

“Yeah. Chanyeol and I…broke up.”

Juhyun almost instantly regretted asking, but a small part of her was curious as Seulgi seemed to be doing well with Chanyeol before she stopped contacting her.

“Oh..I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Don’t worry about it, it was honestly for the better. I mean, I was committed to try to build something with him but I guess we just weren’t a good match.”

Seulgi sighed.

Juhyun remained silent, unsure of what would be an appropriate response yet she was glad that Seulgi was no longer with Chanyeol.

Juhyun didn't think that Chanyeol would be a good fit for Seulgi, merely sharing that he didn’t give her a good vibe — for possibly selfish reasons — but Seulgi preferred to give him a chance and find out for herself — which was absolutely fine — except that Juhyun decided that she didn’t want to have to go through anything with it after.

But it seemed like fate was playing with her and she found herself back in the same situation, albeit with a slightly different level of awareness enough to pull herself out from spiralling into details she didn’t need to know of that would not have benefitted her in any way. Details that would not be worth sacrificing the year long worth of self-care.

“I’m really glad that I’ve bumped into you again, unnie! You don’t know how relieved I am to know that you’re okay! I’ve been so worried when I couldn’t contact you.”

And Juhyun had to force herself to think those words hadn’t meant more than just a friendly or polite statement. Any other interpretation of that being beyond platonic would not have been acceptable and any probing further into this topic would have probably been disastrous for her either way, so she settled for a friendly chuckle while gesturing to herself.

“Well I’m great as you can see, so hopefully that eases your worries?”

“Yeah seeing you now, it really puts me at ease. You’ve gotten more beautiful since the last time we saw each other too.”

Juhyun wasn’t sure what to think of that last compliment especially when