CHAPTER 12

            “We need to talk.”

            Momo’s palm met her face. A flurry of mixed emotions stirred inside her as she kept replaying the conversation in her head. “I don’t get it- why?” She said in utter confusion. “Was it because I did something? Were you overwhelmed? Was I being too fast?” A continuous stream of what-if’s glided along Momo’s thoughts and out . An unsettling panic filmed itself over the woman.

            In an effort to soothe her, Dahyun tried taking a step towards her fiancé. The latter took a step back, however. This slowly picked away at the crumbs of their collapsing relationship. “You didn’t do anything.” The younger girl tried to clear up, her expression displaying a grave attempt at pulling the woman in front of her back to talk calmly.

            Tears started to well up in Momo’s eyes, obviously hurt from the predicament. Dahyun could tell the girl’s eyes were glimmering from the film of tears coating her eyes, even from her distance. Albeit not being too far, her fiancé’s figure felt so much farther than it actually was. What was once so close and upfront grew distant and intangible.

            “Momo…” Dahyun called out her name, hoping to plead her case. She admits that it wasn’t the best time to walk into. The younger girl sighed heavily and palmed her face with both hands, the pressure building up inside of her on the verge of bursting. She was about to combust, yet she couldn’t afford to do so at such a time. She had to sit down and talk with her fiancé about their life decisions. This concerned both their futures, not just hers. Sitting down and talking about it like mature adults would be better than acting like star-crossed teenage lovers.

            Having said that, though, Momo was hit by a curveball. Dahyun couldn’t really blame the girl when the latter took another pair of steps back and ran out of the door. This only convinced Dahyun further that it wasn’t going to work. They were both too immature, too raw. Apart from getting smashed by a thousand and one truths about her own feelings towards her first love, Dahyun wasn’t prepared to answer the question and think through it before saying yes. It was never Momo’s fault.

            A heavy silence echoed inside the room. Maybe she isn’t ready to have the conversation yet… Dahyun thought, her eyes gazing at the corner of the wall. The girl was heavily considering running after her fiancé. Having said this, it didn’t take long for her to actually pick herself up and drag her own feet outside. Where am I even going to look? The girl took the elevator down and stepped out of the building. Her head scanned the immediate surroundings and noticed that Momo’s car was still parked outside. “She must’ve not gone too far.” Dahyun muttered to herself, taking a couple of steps forward. The road split into two. She needs to decide which direction to head towards to.

            “ it.” Dahyun turned right, not thinking too much of how she’s not familiar with the surroundings. She could easily get lost if she didn’t keep track of her turns and steps. That didn’t bother her as of that moment, oblivious to how lost she about to be. A few cars passed by the road, but it was nowhere close to being busy. The day was pretty cloudy, fortunately. The sun didn’t scratch at the pale girl’s skin.

            Her feet seemed to keep going in front of each other continuously, her eyes wandering around for any sight of Momo. Turning at an intersection, she started to fall worried. Her thoughts wandered aimlessly, thinking about how she’ll talk to the girl when she finally finds her. Worried, anxious, and paranoid, Dahyun turned another corner. She noticed that the streets were busier than from where she initially came from. A few street food stalls where seen around, but not a lot of people.

            It seemed that the sun was about to set when Dahyun realized her legs started begging to rest. She’s taken countless twists and turns, her sense of direction ultimately failing her. When an orange ray of sunlight hit her face, panic started to settle in her system. It was growing late, and she had little to no idea on how to get back to the condominium. “.” She tried to calm herself down and sort her priorities. Right now, her body was already crying. She’s been walking around for hours. Looking around, she spotted a park with a few benches and decided to exert what little energy she had to reach the said bench.

            “Where are you, Momo?” She was worried for the girl more than she was for herself. Sure, she didn’t feel as strongly from before, but Momo was still a good person outside of the relationship. Dahyun knew she didn’t deserve to know it that way. “I …” She sighed, only then realizing how much she would’ve hurt her fiancé. It was unfair for her to bring such a heavy pain on the girl; the girl who lift her up from darkness in the first place.

            Similar to how she wandered aimlessly searching for Momo, she was lost in her own bubble again. She had no sense of direction; tunnel vision, if you may. An unsettling feeling clouded her heart and pulled it down. She tried her best to keep herself together, but she wanted to break down and collapse onto the floor. She wanted to shatter.

            Grabbing her phone from her pocket, she looked at the time. “Ugh.” Groaning before she unlocked her phone, the clock that greeted her read 5:02 PM. Now growing more concerned about how she was going to get home, she sorted through her contacts. A few missed calls filled her notifications. Her sister, Chaeyoung, was trying to reach her. Should I call her to tell her? Her question was cut out from consideration when a pop-up greeted her. The phone was running low on battery. She had less than 10% worth of battery. The panic grew inside of her. Maybe I should try calling someone from here.

            Realizing how stupid she sounded, she threw her hand into a facepalm. I’m not even from around here. About to give up, she took another scan through her contacts list. She still had Sana’s number.

            “…” Her fingers froze. She was so reluctant. But on the other hand, she didn’t have much of a choice. She thought of Mina, but she didn’t have her number yet. The only people who were capable of helping her in this scenario were Momo and Sana; the former was nowhere to be found and she doubts the girl would even respond.

            Humbling herself, she finally mustered up her courage and texted Sana.

            She found herself staring at the conversation. Scrolling back, she never really deleted their conversations. The last text message she sent the girl was something that brought back memories.

            After that, Sana never texted back. All forms of communication were cut off completely. She vividly remembers sobbing uncontrollably the moment she came back home to their dorm, sliding down the door in a wreck.

            Her eyes widened when three dots popped up in their conversation, indicating that Sana saw the text. Her heart sunk, anticipating another text message to pop out; the first text message after two years.

            After a few seconds of it floating around, it stopped. No message popped up, much to Dahyun’s dismay. She sighed heavily and looked across the horizon. The skies were starting to tint a pretty shade of orange, and she was kilometers away from home.

.

.

.

.

.

            A dark practice room enveloped Momo. A film of mixed sweat and tears hugged her face and body. She didn’t take the car on the way here. So many thoughts were running through her head. What did she do wrong?

            Albeit being told to sit down and talk about it, she withdrew and ran away from Dahyun. Stupid, she told to herself. Admittedly, she made a wrong decision due to her flurry of emotions at the time. It’s been hours and