March 24, 2027

8:11 AM

The ex-lovers stood there, staring at each other through the doorway for a whole minute. Neither of them knew how to interact with each other again. Contrasting emotions filled the air, hints of happiness, sadness, awkwardness, anger, regret, shock and confusion. Chaeyoung focused on the last bit in particular as it was the one that stood out the most when she studied the expression on Mina’s face. It was then when she realized that she got played, that Jeongyeon lied to her, that she never mentioned anything about her being in Japan. She wanted to knock herself upside the head for letting herself get manipulated and not being able to call out her bluff. She shook the thoughts out of her head and brought her attention back to her ex.

As beautiful as the day I lost her.

Mina, on the other hand, felt dizzy and overwhelmed by the rapid and violent beating of her heart. Every part of her wanted to run off and hide somewhere, to a place where she could breathe as it was getting increasingly harder for her to do so with Chaeyoung’s eyes keenly focused on hers. The look of nervousness plastered on her ex’s face managed to calm her down a little, for it was nice to know that she wasn’t the only one freaking out on the inside. “Y-You’re my gift?” she asked, finally breaking the minute-long silence.

“Yeah, um, I’m supposed to hang out with you for the day. Take you places and whatnot… honestly, I don’t get it either.” She desperately wanted to tell her what Jeongyeon was plotting, she kept telling herself that it was the right thing to do but, deep down, she had no idea what the right thing was. The only thing she was certain of was that she missed her and that she would rather have this undoubtedly painful day with her than promote her film.

“Okay…” the older responded.

“There uh… there anything you wanna do, breakfast maybe? It’ll be my treat,” the younger suggested. She gave her a smile and hoped that it would ease the tension a little bit.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, sure. I’m just gonna go get changed.” She was a hundred percent sure that the smile did nothing at all from the amount of yeah’s that came out of her ex’s mouth. Mina turned around and briskly walked towards her room but turned around as she realized that she had forgotten to invite the younger in. “Oh right. You can make yourself at home. I might be a while.”

“No, it’s cool I’ll just stay outside.” She mentally cursed herself upon hearing what she just said. Her ex gave her a confused look. She hoped that Mina wouldn’t press her further and just leave her out on the hallway to live out her embarrassment.

“Okay…” Mina replied before heading into to her room and closing the door. Once she was out of sight, Chaeyoung repeatedly connected her palm to her forehead with unnecessary force.

“Aaaarrrgghh! What the was that?!” she whisper-shouted. “’I’ll just stay outside?’ Yeah, sure, I’ll just stay in this hallway like the ing idiot I am.” She grabbed the doorknob and closed the apartment door before leaning on the wall adjacent to it and sliding down. “She’ll probably be a while. Might as well get comfortable.”

Mina, on the other hand, continually bumped her forehead on her bedroom door. “Great job, . Got any more yeah’s left in your system?” she thought to herself. Anxiety overcame her as her mind became riddled with questions, questions that she knew wouldn’t get answered, at least not directly. Despite this, however, she grabbed her phone and rang up her girlfriend, and it was as she expected. Jeongyeon didn’t pick up. She threw her phone on her bed and held the handles of her cabinet doors for balance. She spent a good minute calming herself as best as she could before opening it and picking out her clothes.

8:48 AM

“Are you ing insane?! Have you forgotten why we came here?!” the actress shouted through the phone.

“Unnie, please calm down,” the young director pleaded. “It’s not like you’re unaware of the situation.”

“I didn’t think you’d actually fly to Kobe!” Nayeon exclaimed, rubbing her temple in frustration.

“Hold up, I’ve been away since yesterday. Why are you only calling me now?” Chaeyoung asked.

“Because I didn’t know, we were on TV in case you forgot that too, and I was giving you some space,” the actress explained.

“Awww, aren’t you sweet?” she teased.

“ you,” the older replied. “Just get back here as soon as you can.”

“Alright.” Just as she said it, her ex-girlfriend came out, a purse slung over her shoulder as she proceeded to lock her apartment door. “I gotta go, unnie. Talk to you later,” she as she quickly hung up on friend and shoved her phone in her pocket.

“Who was that?” Mina asked.

“Oh uh, it was just Nayeon unnie. She’s just checking up on me.” The older woman nodded and they soon found themselves staring at each other again. Their gazes, however, were aimed higher this time.

“Uh,” the pair said, gesturing at each other’s foreheads. The exes laughed at their simultaneous reactions and the realization that both of them still had a noticeable tint on them. They pointed towards themselves this time as they explained.

“Palm.” Chaeyoung said.

“Door.” They laughed once more and afterwards, Chaeyoung began to scan the outfit of the woman before her. She wore an indigo blouse partnered with black jeans and footwear that was all too familiar her, seeing as she was the one who made it.

“You kept it?” Though framed as a question, her statement was one of surprise. Her heart swelled knowing Mina kept the gift after all these years and even chose to wear it.

“Yeah, you know me,” Mina started. “I’ve never been one to throw stuff out… especially gifts.”

“Yeah. I’ve always loved that about you.” Mina felt her cheeks heat up as she broke eye-contact with the younger while Chaeyoung’s eyes widened as she registered what she just said. She cleared and suggested that they both head down to the lobby. The older nodded as she made her way to the elevator with her ex trailing behind her. “Great job, . Just when things were starting to get less awkward.” Chaeyoung whispered to herself.

9:17 AM

The two were dead silent during their cab ride to the restaurant. The last they spoke was in the lobby where Chaeyoung suggested that they go to Mouriya Lin. Mina has heard of the place before, she knew that the place was as expensive as it could get. She also knew that the place didn’t open until eleven o’clock and shared that information with her ex. The younger thought about bringing up Mother Moon but remembered that the café opened around the same time. Her ex saw how troubled and nervous she was, thinking about where they should go, so she hailed a cab and mentioned a quaint, little coffee place that was just an eight-minute walk away from the restaurant Chaeyoung suggested. She nodded and they both got in the cab.

They sat on opposite sides of the cab, staring out of their respective windows. Mina looked at the city she loved. She watched the cars that passed by, the buildings, houses and people, and remembered how longed for Chaeyoung to see all of it in all of its beauty. She remembered how she held her in bed as she talked about this place whenever she felt homesick. She remembered the glee in the younger’s voice whenever she talked about coming here. The older felt a sharp pain in her chest while she reminisced about their relationship. She turned to look at her ex-lover and found her doing the same thing she was doing and wondered what went on in her head. “How is it, Chaeyoung? Is it everything you thought it would be?” she thought as she kept her eyes on the younger, admiring her sider profile. Her eyes wandered down and stopped as she caught a glimpse of her ex’s neck tattoo. “It describes the way I feel about you, like I’ve been shot through the heart.” She closed her eyes and turned away, letting out a deep exhale as she tried to ignore the pain that the memory brought her.

Chaeyoung tore her eyes away from the window and glanced at Mina upon hearing her very audible sigh. She stopped to admire the older’s beauty, her eyes shut and her head leant on the window. It made her wish there wasn’t so much distance between them and that she leaned on her shoulder instead. “I know Jeongyeon wrote the letter, but I hope you missed me, ‘cause you have no idea how much I miss you.” The thought made her let out a sigh of her own as she herself leaned against the window and went back to looking at the city.

“This place is as beautiful as you said.”

9:49 AM

“It’s just around the corner now, sir,” Chaeyoung heard from across the backseat. Soon the cab pulled over at a neat-looking coffee shop that, for some reason, had its lamplight on in the morning. The younger shuffled around her jacket pockets, searching for her wallet but then saw her ex handing money over to the driver before stepping out of the cab, she followed shortly after. Strangely enough, when she neared the coffee shop, the first thing that caught her scent was the scent of pancakes. She had no idea how idea how it managed to overpower all the other scents, especially coffee, but she wasn’t complaining. “Aren’t you going to head in?” the older questioned.

“Right.” Chaeyoung opened the café doors and, sure enough, the place very much looked like a coffee shop. It bore a wooden aesthetic like most, complete with actual wooden furniture and some faux-wooden floor tiles. To her right she saw a large display case containing a world map. The top of it read “Nishimura’s Coffee” and directly under it “Coffee Producing Countries.” There were a bunch of little flags scattered around the map, they signified the said coffee producing countries. The sheer enormity of the display overshadowed every other display in the shop and Chaeyoung felt that it was out of place. She was snapped out of the trance she was in once she saw Mina passing her, being escorted to a table for two people by the waitress she didn’t notice greet them. She walked over to them and took a seat across her ex. The waitress handed Mina a menu but she raised her hand in protest.

“Oh, no need. We’ll only be having coffee. I’ll have a cappuccino,” she told the waitress.

“And I’ll have what she’s having.” The waitress nodded and walked back to the counter, leaving the exes to themselves.

“Did she really have to put us next to the map?” Chaeyoung joked, attempting to lighten the mood.

“Oh, do you wanna sit somewhere else?” Mina asked with a serious and concerned tone.

“What? No. Never mind,” she said before proceeding to examine the place and attempting to make small talk once more. “So, you come here often or?”

“Yeah. I work at Shinko Hospital which is about a mile and a half from here,” Mina explained. “Jeongyeon drops me off here on our way to work. I buy my morning coffee and take a cab the rest of the way.”

“Oh,” the younger replied. “So… you and Jeongyeon.”

“Chaeng, don’t do this,” the older pleaded. “Not when I’m stuck with you for the day.”

“What? I was just gonna ask how you two were.” Chaeyoung defended.

“We’re fine, thank you. Now, what’s your actual question?” Mina deadpanned. The younger gulped and faced her side, away from the older’s eyes.

“How,” she started, “How did the two of you end up together?” Mina’s heart broke at how softly the younger said it. She didn’t know how long her ex has known about her relationship but she guessed that it couldn’t have been that long.

“She—” she paused to clear . “She got a job here a couple of years ago. We hung out a lot since she didn’t really know anyone in the city, or the country for that matter. Next I thing I knew, we were dating.”

“Oh… okay.” Just as she replied, the waitress came back with their drinks. They were served in plain white cups with the shop’s name and logo, an antique coffee grinder. “Well, she’s a very lucky lady,” she said as she raised her cup and took a sip of the coffee, the older took a sip of her own.

“I’m gonna go to the restroom,” she announced before quickly leaving the table. She quickly made her way to the uni restroom and almost bumped the man who just got out of it. She went into the stall and shut the door as well as the toilet lid before taking a seat. She rested her face on her palms and fought back the urge weep. “Goddammit, you’ve only been around her for an hour and you’ve barely talked, don’t you ing cry now.” With a sharp inhale, she sat up and reached for her phone. She knew that her girlfriend wouldn’t pick up so she settled for sending her a text instead. “I hope you have a good ing explanation for this,” the message read. She leaned her back against the toilet tank and did her best to calm herself. Be nice to her, she’s trying, and don’t forget…

You’re the one who left her.

~

I know I said I’d go full angst but I couldn’t do that to all of you, not after everything that’s happened lately. So, here’s some slight angst. I’ll make it up to you guys in the ending HAHAHAHA.