It would be a lie to say that Sakura has moved on. Yet, two months go by too fast for her liking. With less than three months left until summer, she worries she might regret her decision. She’s not blind to the risks behind the timing of starting a relationship. She knew she gave Chaeyeon a chance with just under five months of being together on campus. Even if she didn’t say yes to a relationship, in a way, she still said yes, knowing that maybe after they cross that stage, they’d never see each other again. Yet, with Eunbi it was a different story.

Chaeyeon has always known her passion and seeing most of her peers in internship programs or training for their family businesses never questioned her decision. Since high school, she knew she wanted to get a post-graduate education in dance to pursue her dream of being a dance instructor. Thus, she watches her friends with no sense of worry for her future. Dance is her life and as long as her body allows it, she knows if there is a right path to success, it’s continuing that path. Meanwhile, Sakura and Eunbi started internships at the same time preparing for the end of the year event for performers and students with notable achievements. Sakura got an internship at Oneiric Coorperation as a Finance Consulant Intern while Eunbi got one at its subsidiary company, just a block away at Bloom Iz Inc., as a Human Resources Intern. Who would’ve known that despite how different their studies were, they would end up in just a three minute walk away? If the internships go well, maybe they’d end up getting offers as full-time employees.

When Sakura heard that, she immediately wondered why Eunbi even considered taking up an internship. Her father is known for being the CEO of Kwon Entertainment, which is one of the biggest management agencies for the top artists in South Korea. Eunbi could’ve easily gotten any administrative position in the board of directors. Yet, why? Why did she go through the challenges of internship searching and interview processes?

Nonetheless, she congratulated the girl and kept it from her that they would be working in the same vicinity.

On the night that Chaeyeon confessed, Eunbi saw everything from her window. She wondered if Sakura knew. She wanted to know if Sakura genuinely liked Chaeyeon. She wondered why she was even having such doubts. Was it because Sakura would always have that dumb look on her face whenever Eunbi mentioned her name? Or when Sakura looked like a deer in the headlights after Eunbi’s warning? Why would Sakura even listen to Eunbi? Eunbi meant nothing to her.

Or so she thought.

It’s been a week since their trip to Sokcho. It’s been a week since Sakura decided to sit next to Chaeyeon on the bus and Chaewon was stuck next to an awfully distracted Eunbi. Chaewon whined that Eunbi was being a (verbatim) ‘boring grandma’ who couldn’t keep up with her jokes. Eunbi thought Yujin and Wonyoung were a handful, but she wishes she didn’t challenge that idea. Needless to say, it was an exhausting ride back. She sure missed Sakura’s comfy shoulder and warm orbs that stared at her silently.

The girls continued on their regular routine at school. Since break was over, the studying period had began. That meant that Eunbi would be seeing everyone less. She went to the library, hoping to get some studying done and Sakura’s face out of her head. Who knows why.

Adding to her hectic finals schedule, Eunbi also offered Bloom Iz Inc. to make her first day today. She was already stressed enough, but she was never one to back away from the challenge. She sat herself on a table next to the window and plugged her AirPods in, determined to get some work done before her four hour shift in two hours. She made the mistake of choosing this seat because it gave her a full view of whoever entered the library. As if the itch of procrastination wasn’t strong enough, the sight of Sakura’s figure made her brain a blank slate.

“Finally.”

She inserted her AirPods in her case and stood up. She confidently walked over, every step getting heavier as she got closer to the girl she’s been trying to bump into for the last week or so.

“K-Kura.”

It felt like her voice just hit a invisible brick wall because the back she just spoke to wasn’t turning.

“Sakura,”

The said girl turned around and blankly stared at the shorter girl, who seemed to be more flustered than ever.

“Hey, how… how are you?”

Sakura blinked a few times and nodded to acknowledge her question, “Well, good. You?”

“You’re stressed aren’t you? I… I heard you got an internship at Oneiric. That company’s huge. It owns my current employer, haha. You’re going to do gre… amazing.” Eunbi swallows and her heart almost explodes at the words that escape her lips. She’s never stuttered in front of Sakura. Their last conversation wasn’t exactly best, as Eunbi reflects on it. Sure, Sakura left her. Yet to talk to her as if they weren’t close friends… to talk to her as if she never called her family, Eunbi regrets it a lot. She’s trying now, but it irks her that she’s nervous as hell.

She doesn’t even understand why she’s anxious when Sakura’s eyes appear the warmest they’ve been since they’ve reunited. Something’s changed in Sakura and she feels it.

“Thanks. I’m doing well, though. Stressed, yes. But, well, I’m happy.”

“Wow, I… Sakura, that’s amazing. You deserve nothing but happiness.” Eunbi feels those words sting as Chaeyeon’s face appears in her mind. Of course, she’s okay. She has Chaeyeon. The night when their lips almost met… the night when the mistake almost occurred crosses her mind in a flickering motion.

“Eunbi.”

Not only are her eyes warm. Even her voice is smooth like honey as she speaks her name. It almost feels surreal the way Eunbi is finally reunited with the Sakura from their adolescence. She almost hesitates to believe that Sakura is so calm, standing before her.

Sakura opens but closes it again, as if she realized something. A blush creeps to her cheeks as she realizes that they’ve been talking in between two tall shelves this entire time. She bites her lip and lets a shy smile form on her lips, “Let’s talk outside.”

Eunbi invites Sakura to place her belongings on her table for the mean time and then they leave the library to walk to the outdoor bench. It’s March anyway, so the temperature is comfortable. There are even blooming flowers on the tree hovering above the same bench they’ve chosen.

“I never had the chance to apologize… and thank you. I wish we could’ve met kindly. I wish I could’ve told you, ‘I miss you.’ And well, I think we’ve grown a lot since that day. Since you helped me happy again with Chaeyeon, I wish you and I could move on from the past? Like, truly move on?” Sakura is staring right at Eunbi, her eyes expectant and longing. Yet, a different type of longing from five years ago.

Eunbi smiles. She internally fears the way the smile feels half-forced. What’s this?

Chaeyeon makes her happy. It’s Chaeyeon, not me.

As if she wants to block her thoughts, she brings herself to stare back at Sakura and her heart skips a beat. Is it just because I haven’t seen her in a week? Why does her smile make me want to smile for no reason? It’s because she’s apologizing. It’s because she finally doesn’t look like she’s about to kill me, that’s all. It’s because she’s Sakura. That’s why I’m smiling.

Because she’s Sakura.

Eunbi nods, but her expression stiffens as if she’s barely holding out. She finally releases the breath she’s been holding, “Kkura, I — yes. And I’m sorry too. We were both immature but I’m sure we had our reasons. I… I’m still wondering why you left without telling me. But some wise person told me something awhile ago. Without even knowing that I needed her advice, I felt like I knew what I had to do since then.”

“Humans have a lot of problems. One of them is our constant need to know everything even if we’re incapable of doing so. But unnie, have you ever thought about why we have this need?”

“Why, Chae?”

“Because we already have the answers. We just don’t like the answer that we got. Life is imperfect and striving for perfect answers that fit how we want to be in this world… that’s human. There’s someone who is capable that has given us the answers. Yet sometimes, because of our ins