It's already 4am and my mind is racing, Soojung's arm feels like a lead weight around my waist as I face the wall in the dim morning light seeping through the curtains. I sigh and think that it must be nice to sleep soundly and not have thoughts of someone else flying around your mind. I hear her groan softly next to me and I close my eyes to feign sleep in case she wakes up. It's not that I don't love her still, it's just that our life together has become so predictable that the girl who lives down the hall would make me smile a little more if she leapt out of my mind and into the room. Obviously I could never say anything about this to even my closest friends, what kind of an would that make me?. I feel the warm arm slide off of me and a heat touch my back more solidly as she kisses my neck softly, she knows I love morning kisses but I have to use all of my willpower to keep that angelic face from my thoughts and the wish those lips were hers instead. 

"Do you want breakfast before we go to work or do you wanna pick something up on the way?", she never uses sweet sentiments but it's the way she is and i'm used to it. I smile, walk over and wrap my arms around her linen covered waist, she's wearing the blouse I bought her for her last birthday, a navy blue one with grey skinny jeans that fit her snuggly. Teasing my lips on her neck as she stands at the kitchen sink washing dishes from the night before, I say we should get boba on the way. As we walk the familiar path down the carpeted hallway, I instinctively look up when we pass her apartment and try not to smirk, Soojung's hand in mine as we make our way to the lifts and press the button to open the doors. Soft light spills out of the doors as they open and a solo figure steps out before turning to talk to us, it's not her, it's her friend with a familiar cap in her outstretched hand. I take it after she tells me I left it at the cafe yesterday and I thank her for it's safe return, wondering all the while if it ever made it into that flat or not. I watch her walk away with a smug look back at me before she enters the newly opened door and our own doors clang shut softly. The motion of the lift beneath my feet is in sync with my stomach as I feel my thoughts drift away and up the ever decreasing floors to where I want to be, Soojung grips my hand and snaps me back to reality as the doors open for the final time and we step into the foyer.

This Boba doesn't taste the same, it looks the same but something is off and it's bugging me. The flavour is exactly the same as always since I come here religiously and always order the same thing, maybe it's just me, maybe i'm too distracted today to enjoy it. Maybe. My brow furrows as I think what's changed in me but before I get any clue, the door opens and the sun hits me full force in the face, it's her. Like a metaphorical lightbulb flicking on in my head, I realise the change is her. I hear a muffled voice as Soojung talks at me rather than to me and I have to snap my own mind back onto the person sat across from me as the sunlight leaves and the dim reality of my mundane day sets in again. "Are you even listening to me Amber Liu?!", Soojung's voice used to soothe me and make me smile but today it sounds like the last thing I want to hear, her tone grates on my nerves and I fake a smile as I reach a hand out to hers and say I was listening to every word. I see her eyes narrow and lean forward to kiss her lips softly and reassure her that I am indeed present, she smies a little as we part lips and sit back in our chairs with our fingers interlocking on the table between us. If i have to keep this up then  tody will be a very long day.

The trip to the boba place took only a few hours and before long we were slowly meandering through stalls in the market, looking for tonights meal, hand in hand we walked talking about what we were hungry for as we passed fish, meat, fruit and clothing stalls. Someone tapped Soojung on the shoulder and she turned to look at them, it was the baseball cap wearing neighbour from before, had she followed us here?. She couldn't have, no. Then again, I had seen the angelic girl in the boba shop earlier, I wonder where she is now?. Paying little attention to the baseball cap wearer as she handed Soojung's dropped purse back to her, I tried to look nonchalantly around so nobody would notice and sure enough, I saw her in the distance. She waved and walked over, her smile hypnotic as she came into full view, she was wearing a white outfit today, joggers with a cropped white shirt which showed off her abs and a shawl type cardigan to keep the chill off of her shoulders. As she drew closer I lost my train of thought and grinned stupidly at her which made her giggle.

"Hi, good to see you again Miss Liu, how are you?", her words were like silk against my skin and they gave me goosebumps in all the best places, I smiled and commented that it was good to see her too but just as I was enjoying myself, I felt a familiar controlling squeeze on my hand and I stopped smiling quite as much. Soojung had finished talking and both her eyes and the baseball cap girl's were on me as my face burned. Oh what this woman does to me.