"moguri,

i hope you find this letter. please know i didn't want to move away from you, please! you're everything to me, i can't believe you're being taken away from me. i'll find you, i promise. my family won't win. i know you're smart, you'll find this letter. i can't wait to see you again, and kiss you softly as i always did.

- yours only,

[smudged]"

 

She rang the doorbell once, then twice, and one last time. She held the food baggie close to her as she waited for her girlfriend. They always walked to school together, hand-in-hand. They were always together, after all.

 

She rang the bell again. Still no response. She was about to press it again when her old neighbour came out from his home.

 

"They left last night." The man groaned while glaring at her, "Stop trying."

 

"Left?" Momo shook her head. There was no way. She smiled back at the elder before explaining, "I think you got the family wrong. They'd tell me if they left." 

 

"I've lived next to the Minatozakis since before they had their daughter. I'm sure I'd know they left."

 

Momo dropped the food baggie as she stared at the man in disbelief. She shook her head, her eyes glossy now.

 

"No sir, they'd really let me know. They know I love their daughter, she's my best friend."

 

"Child, I helped the girl up into the moving truck. I know they're gone. Go to school already, will you?"

 

"But... she promised she wouldn't leave me..." Momo covered , "Sana wouldn't break a promise..."

 

"Kid, hear me out here." The old man walked up to the fence and eyed her sternly. "Promises are just words... they don't mean anything... Go home, okay? They aren't coming back."

 

Momo promised herself that the man was wrong. That Sana would wait for her and tell her. She waited for Sana day after day, month after month, year after year... But she never came out of the house again.

 

Momo decided to accept the harsh truth. Sana had left her without saying a word. Eventually, she finished school, without her as she had once promised.

 

"I'm going to Seoul." She explained to her family one evening, "I don't think I can continue reliving the memories I made here."

 

The night she needed to take her flight, she stopped by the household once again. After years of neglecting the now "haunted" place. It was raining that evening. She observed the house through the rusted fence. She stared down at her hand where she held their old key. 

 

She went into the front porch. There she noticed a yellowish envelope. She lifted it up and stored it in her jacket. She stared grimly at the house one last time before getting back into her car. She put up the map towards the airport and sat back on her seat.

 

"Why'd you leave me, Sana." She sighed once again. She had been repeating the same phrase over and over again since she last saw her.

 

She sighed sadly before taking out the envelope; The date was already smudged. The letter wasn't even readable. She could only distinguish some of the words that had once been written. There was a date written on top of the old page; 2011.

 

That year.

 

The year she disappeared.

 

She stared at the numbers with her eyes getting watery once again. Maybe the sheet of paper she held was the last message she could get from her former best friend. Her eyes skimmed the rest of the page trying to decode the smudged ink. "Family" "Taken away" "softly" "sorry." Where the only words she could read. She smiled at the page one last time before placing it in her jacket again.

 

She knew that handwriting. It was written by her, and she was going to treasure the page. She sighed before resting her head back onto the old car-seat. She could see droplets fall onto the sunroof. It was getting dark, and she'd need to make her way to Korea in a few hours.

 

"Minatozaki Sana," She whispered, "If you're still out there, come find me... I'll be waiting for you." She closed her eyes and allowed tears to roll down her cheeks again. It had been five years since she last saw her, but her heart still ached. 

 

She never realised how lonely the streets of Osaka could be until she drove away from her childhood. She took in every little detail, in case she decided to never return. She drove around their town one last time before hitting the high-way. She passed by their old high school, the park were Sana confessed to her, the Ferris-wheel where Momo kissed her once, their old elementary school.

 

She had never felt so nostalgic and melancholic before. Although tears kept rolling down her cheeks, she smiled. She was going to miss the town as much as she was missing her, but she knew it was the healthier thing to do. Deep down, she hoped that she'd find her roaming the streets like she did whenever she got sad. Then they'd be able to share the shy smiles they used to share and talk until dawn came up.

 

"Oh Sana," Momo cried into the air, "What did I ever do to you... why did you decide to break my heart like this?" 

 

She shook her head, now feeling the anger she felt every now and then. She picked up her phone and called her Korean friend, who once stayed at her house for an exchange program. She was going to go to her after years of not seeing each other. She was going to have a better life in Korea. She knew she would.

 

Or she made herself believe she would. 

 

Her hands trembled as she called her. Once the woman picked up, she broke down into a sob.

 

"Jeongie, I am moving to Seoul. Do you have a couch where I can stay?"

 

"Momo-chan? Is this you? What's wrong?"

 

"Answer the question, please. I beg-"

 

"Yes, yes, I do... Are you okay, Momo?" The other line sounded scared. Momo rested her head on her steering wheel before nodding.

 

"I'll be fine, okay? I'll see you in a few hours... send me your address please."

 

And so that's where she went to as soon as she landed. She sat silently in the cab before stepping out and thanking the driver. The building was lovely, it seemed cosy. She sighed one last time before ringing the apartment number on her phone.

 

"Come in."

 

She waited silently as the elevator shaft went up. She hugged her childhood, plushie tightly with one arm and held onto her luggage with the other. She watched the numbers go up slowly; 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and finally 14. She stepped out nervously and looked for the number.

 

She knocked a few times before her friend finally opened the door. 

 

"Momo..." The woman's lips curved into a smile before wrapping her arms around Momo. She pat her back awkwardly before bowing down to her.

 

"Jeongyeon-chan, you're so beautiful... I'm proud of how far you've gotten." Momo smiled at the woman. This one blushed before laughing.

 

"Momo, we're in Korea now... remember? You don't need to call me -chan." Jeongyeon reminded her nicely.

 

"Right." Momo pursed her lips and nodded her head.

 

"Anyways, come in." Jeongyeon moved out of the door and allowed her to come in. The apartment was furnished nicely. Momo noticed a woman sitting on the couch and playing on a Wii.

 

"Minari! Meet my old friend, Momo." Jeongyeon called out to the woman in the couch. Momo observed the two quietly. The pale woman turned her head towards her and waved with a polite smile plastered on her face.

 

"Momo, this is my girlfriend, Mina." Jeongyeon smiled gleefully, "Isn't she beautiful?"

 

"She is..." Momo nodded slowly as she tried processing the new information, "You're..."

 

"Yes. I am, is that alright?" Jeongyeon blushed as she stared at the woman on the couch.

 

Momo smiled at her and nodded, "Obviously, that's one less worry for me."

 

"One less worry? Why... wait." Jeongyeon's eyes scanned her thoroughly before her jaw dropped slightly, "You too?"

 

"I think? Or maybe biual... I am not sure." Momo confessed.

 

"Momo!" Jeongyeon hugged her tightly, "I'm proud of you!"

 

"Thank you, Jeong." Momo hugged her back this time.

 

The three ate dinner together that night. Jeongyeon invited them out to a local ramen place. It didn't take long for Momo to figure out the woman with Jeongyeon was also Japanese. The two laughed as they complimented Jeongyeon in their native language, the latter frowning at them while trying to understand.

 

Maybe life in Korea wasn't going to be that bad after all.