waking up to the sound of her alarm clock, chaeyoung groaned. here she goes again.

she glanced over to her clock, "oh ."

her alarm was already ringing for almost an hour, and it's past 9, she needed to be at her event before 8 in the morning.

rushing to the shower, closet, and not even having breakfast, she reached the hall before 10 o'clock.

she was hearing her name everywhere, from people in suits and fancy dresses, to the people waiting at the back, each of them holding her latest book.

she's a writer. books, novels, poems; she does all of them.

though she never wanted the fame; she didn't even want to do such signings, she knows she has to, for all the eyes are already on her.

her name is on the news, on articles, in headlines; it's literally everywhere.

but despite of being known in the industry, she's still your typical adult, just, way more unique. the way she dresses, the way she moves, they don't call her an old soul for nothing. 

the vintage bookworm, the hopeless poet, the aesthetic person. those are just some of the names people call her. and she's kind of liking it.

small talk, short speech, and fast fan service; she finished her event a little too early, leaving her with a few hours to relax and have a cup of coffee alone.

opening the glass door; the bell above it made a small sound, a note that a person has entered the place. chaeyoung entered with a smile on her face, and the smiled was immediately returned by the owner of the shop. chou tzuyu.

"the usual please." she said softly, sitting at the very corner of the room. 

tzuyu stood up from her seat as she prepared a cup for chaeyoung's coffee, knowing exactly what the latter wanted. "you finished early." she said.

"but that doesn't make me feel less tired..." chaeyoung murmured as she takes out a pair of pen and notebook from her bag.

tzuyu sat down with her after she made coffee for the both of them, getting chaeyoung's attention, she raised her eyebrows as a sign that she didn't get what chaeyoung meant.

"you know I'm an introvert, and I really don't like attention..." chaeyoung explained, and tzuyu made a small 'ah...'

"then why didn't you stay anonymous just like what I told you two years ago." tzuyu hissed as she sipped on her coffee, making chaeyoung chuckle and roll her eyes. 

"I wouldn't be where I am right now if I did what you told me tzuyu." 

then chaeyoung started writing. her eyes casually glancing at the view outside and at the beautiful woman infront of her. she did the second one with a smile on her face.

tzuyu just watched her in a peaceful silence, for over two years, she's supported chaeyoung and even help her with ideas, for tzuyu also studied literature. 

that was how they met— no actually, chaeyoung met her at the shop, but tzuyu have already known chaeyoung since college.

'six seats from you, at the top right. you weren't observing that much back in college huh.'

but why didn't tzuyu pursue to write? well, she tried to write, she's good at it. but she thought maybe the writer life was just not for her, and so she started her own business, thankfully, it's booming, and she's already happy with what she's doing. 

"tzuyu." chaeyoung called, not looking up from her notebook, she added, "how does love feel again?"

tzuyu laughed, "neither of us know, we're both ers."

" it's been so long since I felt that thing that I already forgot what it feels like." chaeyoung let out a frustrated sigh, "this is why I write everything but love." 

"you're writing love now? wow!" tzuyu asked with enthusiasm in her eyes. "that's a progress." 

chaeyoung smiled at her friend, shaking her head because of the silliness and for the idea of her writing about cheesy people being all cheesy.

"I just thought I need to do something new. I feel like I've done this before, and I know when. I just can't remember how, and why..." chaeyoung stated.

"then you do it by experience." was all tzuyu could say, but it spoke a thousand more words to chaeyoung, maybe it's because of how tzuyu's eyes showed her positivity. "it's getting late chae, you should go." tzuyu added. 

"you don't want me here anymore?" chaeyoung whined, her playfulness showing.

tzuyu only rolled her eyes at chaeyoung, standing up as she returned to the counter, "you said yesterday that you're gonna go to your old apartment to paint, that's a two-hour drive, so stop wasting your time here dummy." 

—————

do it by experience.

"if I do it by experience I'll just break everyone's hearts." chaeyoung chuckled as she drove her way to her destination. "ray, should I write a book about my love story?" 

ray didn't answer ofcourse, he just simply stared at her as he sits shotgun. "good boy." 

—————

standing in front of the door, chaeyoung struggled to find the key, opening each and every pocket of her bag, checking her jean pockets, wallet. she checked everything, but it seems like she forgot the key.

"I guess we do this another day ray, I forgot my key—

the door clicked open.

and chaeyoung stood frozen on her feet. stepping back a little.

"ray!" 

mina. it was mina. in front of her was mina.

chaeyoung can't even look at her, she wanted to run away but she can't. 

mina stood up, carrying the dog in her arms, she faced chaeyoung with a soft smile on her face. 

her hair was still in the length of her shoulder, her lips were still pink, her eyes still had those little stars, she still dressed so simply. 

she still smiled so softly.

but chaeyoung chose to ignore her and entered her apartment. mina just stood by the door, head's low.

it took just a minute for chaeyoung to come back outside again, coming back out with a brown notebook held in her hand. she awkwardly faced mina. 

"it seems like you missed ray so much, he can stay with you. you can stay in this apartment. it's yours anyway." she walked out. 

chaeyoung went home shaking, she didn't know how to feel— she was feeling so many things.

she was so angry, she wanted to shout and break things. 

she stopped driving; resting her head on the steering wheel. she cried silently, and it hurts so much to do that, but she's already feeling a lot of things, and crying merely made her numb.

"why do you have to come back when I'm already better?" 

she opened the notebook and flipped half way through the pages. 

50. I don't want to see her again.

she sighed as tears fell down from her eyes, taking out a pen from her pocket, she started to write. 

51. she surprises me sometimes. 

chaeyoung felt calm after writing those words, fixing her self as she drove back home; thoughts came into her mind.

'she probably saw the portraits of her that I painted.' 

because hung upon the apartment's wall were portraits of mina, painted by chaeyoung.

so why did chaeyoung run away?

so why does she keeps saying that she hates mina?

to deny what she really feels? 

well, neither does she know the answer.

chaeyoung, she was better, a moved on person.

but when she saw mina again, everything that happened years ago, felt like it was just yesterday.

how can you hate a person, who made you feel all kinds of love.

AN: I'm sorry for the short update, I'm taking my exams and multi-tasking is not my talent. notice how I changed the cover again :)