it’s been four years, and they meet again. saku stands frozen in his place, and a few steps away from him is a girl, his ‘the one that got away’.

everything was in slow motion, saku didn’t believe in that type of . but it’s happening to him now, as chaewon talk and laugh with a friend of hers, still unaware of the set of black eyes watching her every move.

“i already fell for you saku, hard, and it just feels so wrong that i’m letting that feeling go.” he could still hear these exact same words, the exact same words that came out of her lips before she walked away from him four years ago.

who would’ve thought that they would cross paths again?

and then finally, her eyes met his. her smile began to falter as she starts to recognize the man who is looking at her with a very familiar glint that she’s grown so fond of during high school.

he looks just the same, except his features sharpened over the few years. it’s the first time she saw him again after their graduation, they didn’t even talk to each other that day. they never talked again after her confession, not even one hi or hello.

nothing.

it was almost as if they didn’t know each other, she was hoping he would at least smile at her when their eyes would meet. but no, he made sure she would never catch him looking at her ever again.

“chae? you there?” chaewon broke their eye contact when her friend, yunjin snaps her fingers in front of her face. she smiles and nods her head, saying she just got distracted.

when her friends drag her somewhere else, chaewon looks back to where he was standing earlier. but to no surprise, he was gone.

just like four years ago.

“i saw her.” saku told her friends as he sat on their table.

“who?”

“chaewon.” everyone literally stopped whatever they were doing and they secretly exchanged glances with each other before looking at the lad who obviously have a lot in his mind right now.

kim chaewon.

the girl who caught their friend’s heart after his three year long relationship, and boy was he madly in love with her. in fact, his friends think he never really got over her. even though they weren’t together, they were just friends.

but he was (probably still is) head over heels for her. he’s had tons of relationships after chaewon’s confession and decision to cut him off, in fact he flirted with the girl chaewon reveals she was jealous of. he was kissing her in front of everyone’s eyes, as if wanting the fairy to witness it all.

yeah he definitely held a grudge against her after that even though he said it was fine and he did not hide it, and what upsets him even more is that she acted like she didn’t at all care. it made him question if she really did have feelings for him.

eventually when he realized that nothing good will come out of it, he just ghosted the poor girl.

“did you talk to her?” yehan asks while patting his back. the japanese shook her head no, of course he couldn’t muster up the courage to talk to her. i mean, does she even want to talk to him after all that?

“do you want to talk to her?” saku paused and raised his head to stare at his friends one by one. does he want that? he doesn’t know either, he doesn’t know what to say. all he knows is that…

the feelings are still there. it’s definitely still there.

“i—“ before he could say another word, a group of girls approaches them and interrupted their conversation.

.

saku thought to himself.

it’s none other than the fairy’s friends. surprise surprise.

“hey guys, it’s been a while.” the two groups greeted each other with hugs and pats. saku doesn’t have any bad blood with any of them, but still he finds it awkward because when he and chaewon stopped talking to each other, they too stopped acknowledging the lad’s presence unless it’s necessary.

“you guys wanna hang with us? it’s pretty boring over there at our corner, no one really gets our humor, and you know…” saku couldn’t hear the rest of minjeong’s words because she purposely toned down her voice so the japanese wouldn’t hear it.

he’s not oblivious, he knows what they’re doing and yeah it’s making him uncomfortable.

“alright yeah what the heck it’s pretty boring here too. we all see each other everyday, it’ll be nice to catch up with you guys. come on let’s go.” saku knows this is a bad idea, but he just wants to see her again. he won’t try to do anything funny, he just wants to know if she’s doing well.

maybe that’s what it’ll take for him to finally let go of his feelings for her.

when they got there, chaewon was occupied with her friends to even notice the presence of other people. they were laughing and talking, it’s not that it’s their first time seeing each other after years. no they just really have a lot to talk about every day.

“he’s here.” kazuha says as she nods her head towards the direction of the lad. chaewon knew exactly who she’s talking about, so she held kazuha’s arm tightly due to nervousness and refuses to look behind.

“wow he grew up. he gained a few pounds and muscles, your man isn’t the same stick he was four-five years ago.” yuri says, but she knows that already because of their earlier encounter. although quite short, for her it felt long. too long that she nearly ran out of breath at the sight of him.

“i’m heading to the restro—“ the fairy tried to escape the unavoidable, but ryujin stood in her way. yeah there is absolutely no way they are letting her run away from him like how she did before.

she used to cry herself to sleep because she not only felt so guilty and miserable, but she felt dumb for even questioning the lad’s feelings for her because she was scared. scared that his feelings weren’t genuine when he had been so patient, so caring, so attentive, and just so perfect for her.

“they’re coming this way. don’t panic and just smile chae, relax.” with her friends’ assurance, she did exactly that as she finally turn to face them, face him.

right that instant, her eyes immediately found his and boy was she mesmerized for the second time tonight.

her heart is racing so quick, it’s probably echoing across the venue. it’s the only thing she could hear, the sound of her beating heart.

this time, saku was the first one to break eye contact. he covered his mouth with his fist to cough, as he greeted her friends one by one, completely skipping her existence as if she wasn’t there.

“is this real? did you seriously gain weight and muscles?” yuri felt through the lad’s arms, pinching his biceps that he tries to avoid as he felt ticklish.

saku’s smile while playing with her friends is still dashing, it’s one of her favourite things about him.

“yes it’s real, i eat a lot now.” he rolled her eyes at the teasing sound the girls made.

“ooohh, you know what they say. the key to a man’s heart is through his stomach. so who’s the very unfortunate girl who has to live with your s?” yunjin puts him in a headlock as she asked him that. he struggled with her playfulness for a while but soon managed to escape.

“that would be yehan. we’re actually getting married tomorrow you guys are invited. isn’t that right baby?” saku attempts to kiss yehan who moves and pushes him away.

“get your hands off me, we all know who it is that you really like. hi chaewon.” everyone, literally everyone fell quiet when yehan said that. saku’s ears turned red but tries to feign innocence.

chaewon waved at the lad, she’s well aware that their friends are observing the tension between her and saku. they’re also trying their best to ease it up, although they supposedly ended things on a good note by, within themselves, they know they’re a bit upset with the other.

after all, there are still some unsaid feelings.

the rest of the evening, their friends are the only ones talking. well except for when they are asked about a few things, like how the