Genre: Drama, Hurt/Comfort, Romance

Summary: "If we're both single by the time we turn 30, let's get married." If you ever made this promise with a friend, you wouldn't ever forget it, right?

Word Count: 4806

Hashtag: #KkubiFestival_MidwayPromise

Midway Promise

“I’m sorry Eunbi, but...I don’t feel the same way.”

Eunbi’s heart dropped. It was pure and fragile, but it was shattered right then and there on the floor as Sakura refused to hold it. She clearly misunderstood how things were going between them. She thought there was something there. Especially after that talk they had.

“I...I just thought...god, this is so embarrassing…”

She turned her head away from her, hoping her bangs would shield her eyes from the girl who just rejected her, tears threatening to come out from them. It was unusual of her, they both knew how Eunbi always looked people in the eyes while talking.

“If we’re both single by the time we turn 30, let’s get married.”

“Oh what the hell. Sure, why not. It’s a promise.”

The heartbreaker sheepishly ran a hand through her short hair and said, “I’m sorry but I only ever really think of you as an older sister—no, an older cousin that I see sometimes but I admire you a lot. And you’re not exactly my type either...I like cuter girls with an innocent vibe to them, like Chaewon or Minju, but you have a bit of a ier vibe so...yeah.”

With every word she said, Eunbi wanted to dig herself a deeper hole for her to crawl in and die. She knew she wasn’t the cutest girl in their friend group but it still to hear. Especially from the girl she liked.

“So that promise we made? It was just some backup plan? A last resort?”

Sakura wasn’t holding back on her words tonight. “Well, yeah. I thought you were a safe choice, and that you were easy…”

Easy? What the hell did that even mean? Whatever it meant, it sounded degrading and insulting. Eunbi stared into a dead space. “You know what, let’s just forget about everything, the promise, everything I said. It was a mistake, it was all a mistake. I should—I should go now.” She rushed out of the hallway and out to the floor exit.

They were never that close. She knew that. They had a relatively large friend group and each of them were closer to their other friends but that didn’t stop Eunbi from developing a crush on Sakura. But the night after midterms were over when they made the promise gave Eunbi the assumption that maybe her feelings were reciprocated. She obviously thought wrong. She didn’t think it would hurt this much. Because she wasn’t cute enough. That Sakura only thought of her as some cousin.

——————

Sakura stared at the spot where Eunbi had just been. She felt bad. But she knew if she never let her down like that then she would just keep hoping. All she could think of was: why? Why did she like someone like her? They were probably the least closest pair in their friend group. She was always the kind older sister type but the distance between them made her feel more like an older cousin. But that night she made the promise was a mistake, she wasn’t thinking right in the head back then and she had been racked with guilt since then.

Eunbi is a wonderful woman. She deserves much better than her, is what she told herself. She looked up at the ceiling with an empty look in her eyes. Eunbi’s face as she rejected her feelings flashed through her mind. The tears welling in her eyes, her face flushed with her cheeks slightly puffed out, and her bottom lip quivering as she put on a sad pouty face. She was really so cute. But she could never tell her that. Sakura only regretted that she was able to see her look this adorable under these circumstances.

She could only feel sorry and apologize to an empty spot.

“Eunbi unnie...I’m sorry.”

The two had remained friends through their last year of college together but they hardly interacted anymore. It was more accurate to call them acquaintances. She began to notice that Eunbi was starting to act more cute and would wear innocent girlfriend-like outfits but it didn’t seem natural for some reason. The rift between them grew to the point that they graduated college without even saying proper goodbyes. Sakura didn’t even know what her plans were after college and where she went. She also never had any accounts on social media either. And even as the years passed by, Sakura only wished she could tell her how sorry she was for hurting her.

——————

Sakura made her way walking on the road to her former high school, having been a teacher here for a few years now. She decided to come home to Japan after graduating college in Korea and landed this job pretty easily. It was the first day of the new school year and while some students were eager to see what the new year would bring, others were still hung over from their vacation. But this year, the murmurs of the students seemed a bit louder than usual as someone new was the talk of the school.

“Did you hear?” “What?”

“About the new homeroom teacher!”

“No way, the one who’s replacing Ms. Takasaki after she retired?”

“Yeah I heard that she’s a foreigner and she’s hot!”

“What the hell are you going on about? She’s our teacher and you don’t even know what she actually looks like yet.” “So? Doesn’t mean I can’t find her hot.”

It was hard to hear properly with the crowd of students talking over each other, but what’s this about a new teacher? The last time there was this much buzz around was when Sakura herself was a fresh arrival at the school, with the students going on about her visuals and how she was the alumni who studied abroad. She wasn’t informed that they had already gotten Ms. Takasaki’s replacement at the last board meeting. Or maybe she was, and she just wasn’t paying attention that time.

Speaking of paying attention, she was already almost there to the faculty room, where the new teacher should be by now. The door swung open and almost hit her in the face but Sakura luckily managed to grab it in time.

“Oh I’m sorry I didn’t see you there! I should’ve—“

The new teacher looked up into Sakura’s eyes.

“Eunbi unnie..?”

“Sakura...it’s so good to see you again.”

Why? Why her? When did she learn Japanese? When did she decide to become a teacher? Why here in Japan out of all places? Sakura had so many questions. It was like Eunbi read her mind.

She grinned, “You look like you have a lot of questions. Maybe we can catch up on things, like for dinner after school tomorrow?”

Sakura snapped out of her daze. “Yeah. Yeah that sounds great.”

——————

It was hard to concentrate. She looked different, more mature, more refined, but she guessed it was only natural it came with age, Sakura thought similar of herself. She cut her hair. She always thought long hair really suited her but the short hair added to her mature vibe. Eunbi was always a beautiful woman but it was understandable why her looks seemed to catch the attention of students and other teachers alike even when the school year had barely started.

“Ms. Miyawaki? Ms. Miyawaki?”

“Huh? Yes?”

“The lab video’s finished.”

“Oh uh indeed it is.”

The students chuckled that it was the teacher not paying attention for once. They were second-years, most of them familiar with Sakura already from taking her Biology class last year.

She had them do some mundane class worksheets that they could work together in groups if they wanted to.

“Ms. Miyawaki, do you personally know Ms. Kwon?”

“Yeah you looked like you guys were close back in the hallway!”

“Did you guys use to date? You actually look really good together!”

Another student laughed. “HA! Date? I heard they’re cousins!”

“Ohh that makes sense too, considering how top tier their visuals are.”

Sakura stood up the comment. “Cousins?! Where did you hear that??” Her heart was racing as soon as she heard that word.

“From Ms. Kwon.”

!!!

She was starting to feel light-headed. She had hoped she forgot all about what she said but of course she would remember that. Sakura was ruthless to her after all.

Sakura wiped off some sweat that was beginning to form on her forehead. “Ah that Ms. Kwon, always a jokester, haha. No, we’re not cousins, and she’s not my ex either, she’s just an old friend. Besides what got it in your heads that someone who’s a full Korean could be cousins with me when I’m completely Japanese?”

The students laughed it off but Sakura just hoped no one caught the nervousness in her voice.

“Don’t believe everything you hear guys, just get back to work.”

——————

Eunbi was so happy to be having dinner with an old friend, even after that rough encounter they had years ago. Maybe it was just her imagination but Sakura seemed a bit nervous. Her eyes were shifting around the room and her body was shifting in her seat.

It was a relatively fancy restaurant, they had a table near a massive glass window with a view of the ocean and the sun setting into the sky. After giving their orders and menus to the waiter, Eunbi was the one to start.

“So…” She leaned her face into her hand, closer to her across the table.

“What have you been up to lately?”

She knew it was a broad question, but she just had to say something to get her to start talking.

——————

What was she supposed to say? It’s been years since she’d seen her, probably the last person from Korea that she had expected to see pop up in her life again. She was mentally unprepared for this. But what exactly was this, a date? No no no no Sakura hasn’t been on a date in years, this was just a friendly outing with an old friend/acquaintance, was all.

“Umm...well…”

They talked about their lives after college and what they’ve done. Prior to this, Eunbi had worked in an office in Korea for a few years before securing this teaching job in Japan as the new Sociology and Arts and Crafts teacher. Sakura had moved here soon after college and got this teaching position for Biology/Chemistry but had chosen this high school in particular because it was the one she had graduated from.

“This was really your high school? Wow, to think that I would also come here to Japan and teach here out of all places. It must be destiny that we both met again.”

Sakura's throat was feeling dry. She started chugging down her glass of water a little too quickly, hoping the conversation wouldn’t turn into something else.

“I came to work here because my fiancé got transferred to work here in Japan again.”

Sakura choked on her water.

*cough cough cough*

“Sakura! Are you okay?”

After her little coughing fit (which actually lasted a little longer), she said, “Okay, I’m okay. Thanks.”

“But fiancé??” She was most definitely not informed of this. She glanced at Eunbi’s left ring finger and sure enough, it was occupied by an expensive-looking ring.

Eunbi scratched the back of her head. “Yeah, his name is Sotaro,