Chaeyoung dropped the spoon she was stirring her coffee with, sending the hot drink splashing over the side of the cup and splattering onto the ground. 

“You’re what?” 

“Ah, Chaeyoung!” Sana yelled, reaching for the paper towels. 

“Are you okay? Did you get splashed?” Dahyun asks, trying to see if any of the liquid got on her friend. 

“I’m okay, sorry.” Chaeyoung sets down the cup and helps Sana clean the mess. “Are you really going back to Japan?”

“Yeah, for two months.” Dahyun said.

“Why?”

“Dahyun has to take her exams, and my family misses me. We’ll be back after that if you still want us here.” Sana squeezes Chaeyoung’s shoulder.

“Right, right I forgot about that.” Chaeyoung throws the towels away and leans against the countertop. “I do still want you here, I will still want you here. When do you leave?”

“In two days. I wasn’t going to mention until now, because it was just going to be for my exams, but then Sana’s family called this morning and they wanted to go on a group vacation so it got extended.”

“Are you going to be okay? I promise we’ll be back.” Sana leaned her head on Chaeyoung’s shoulder. 

“Yeah, yeah of course. You came to support me, and you have. I feel okay about her now, we can talk and everything. I’ll be okay while you go to Japan.” Chaeyoung said, patting Sana’s head to reassure her. “I can’t believe they called you so last minute though.” 

“I know right! It’s so frustrating!” Sana cried, throwing her hands up in the air. “I knew they were talking about going somewhere together, but they just called out of nowhere! No ‘hey would this work’ or ‘this is what we were thinking’, just a ‘we are going so you need to come back by this day.’”  

Chaeyoung listened quietly as Sana ranted about the abruptness of the trip and Dahyun tried to soothe her frustration by reminding her how much fun they would have. She had gotten used to the two of them living here with her, the space would feel empty with them gone. Her feelings towards Mina had been becoming more complicated, but less antagonistic. It’s not like she didn’t have anyone else she could rely on now, seeing as Nayeon and Jihyo both knew the truth. While Nayeon had said they would talk about it later, she hadn’t mentioned it yet. Chaeyoung assumed she didn’t want to push, but she would have to talk about it soon. 

Chaeyoung wandered towards the sink and began washing the cup, swirling thoughts of the amount of time they would be gone for and what she was going to do in that time. The word loneliness kept popping into her head, of them flying away, of an ache she couldn’t explain. A burning rage, she quickly smothered it by splashing water on her face. Her friends weren’t like that, and her soulmate seemed to have changed too. She took a deep breath, dried her face, and went searching for her purse. 

“Hey, I’m going to go to work. I’ll see you guys after, okay?” Chaeyoung calls as she slips on her shoes in the entryway. 

The two call back a bye, and she closes the door behind her. Leaning against it, she takes another breath. Logically knowing that they aren’t abandoning her is one thing, but emotionally feeling that it’s true is another. She reminds herself that she just needs time. 

************

A knock at the door startles Chaeyoung, for the past half hour she had just been sitting at her desk and staring at the drawing Mina did while thinking. Her hand moving automatically while she was lost in thought. She glanced at the page she had been sketching on, next to Mina’s drawing, and saw Mina’s gummy smile aimed at her. She turned in her chair to see her soulmate approaching, a somewhat serious look on her face until she looked into Chaeyoung's eyes. 

“I’m surprised you’re not sleeping.” Mina teased, causing Chaeyoung’s face to go red as she turned away.

“I’m not always sleeping here, I draw too.” 

“What are you working on now?” Mina peered over Chaeyoung to look at the desk where the sketchbook was still open.

Before, Chaeyoung would have tried to hide the drawing. She would have slammed the sketchbook shut and denied even knowing of its existence. Now, she just watched Mina to see her reaction. The smile she was trying to hide as it grew, and the way she stood just a little straighter before clearing . Chaeyoung admired how her eyes seemed to shine in the afternoon light beaming through the window, how her jawline seemed sharp enough to cut a canvas from this angle, how overjoyed she was at Chaeyoung admiring her art that she kept looking everywhere but the artist as if it would keep her from seeing that dazzling smile. 

“You seem very busy, I hope I’m not interrupting anything important.” 

“No, I’ve just been thinking.” Chaeyoung smiles at the CEO, her eyes drawn to movement by Mina’s arm clearly shifting as she holds something behind her. 

“Then is it alright if I give you something?” 

Chaeyoung nods, and Mina brings out a small white gift bag. She peers inside, seeing no wrapping to hide the gift, and finds a sleek box with a single red ribbon. 

“What is it?”

“Nothing fancy, just chocolates. I used to buy them all the time from this one shop. I had a craving for them the other day and ended up buying you some too. I wasn’t sure what you’d like, so I just got my favorites.” 

“Oh! Thank you.” Chaeyoung took off the top of the box to reveal expensive and delicious looking chocolates. “I’ll have to try these later.” 

There's a palpable silence as Chaeyoung puts the chocolates back in the bag and places it next to her purse, Mina seems to be extra still out of the corner of the artist's eye. She leans back in her chair and tilts her head, seeing the CEO deep in thought. 

“What were you thinking about?” Mina suddenly asks.

“Huh?”

“Before I came in, you said you were just thinking. What was it about?” 

“Ah, because I was looking at your drawing?” Chaeyoung lightly laughs, glancing at the sketch. “I was thinking about my friends.”

Mina studies her silently for another few moments, as if she doesn’t believe Chaeyoung’s answer. Or doesn’t understand it.

“You looked sad.” Mina’s voice is soft as she steps closer. Chaeyoung pulls her eyes away to look at her desk. 

“They’re leaving.”

“Where?”

“They’re going back to Japan for a bit. I was just thinking about what I was going to do.” The artist shrugs, trying to give off the feeling that she doesn’t mind it at all.

Chaeyoung can feel in the air and the way Mina is postured that she wants to say something, or ask something, but Chaeyoung beats her to the opportunity. 

“Are you going to be busy for the next two months? That’s how long they said they’d be gone, and I was thinking that we could spend some time together.” Chaeyoung’s comment seems to stun Mina, who freezes with partially open. Her eyes dart away, before she makes eye contact, a decisive feeling in the gaze. 

“Actually, there is something that I have to do. Do you think you could get the next month off at the studio?” 

“Why? Do you have something in mind?” Chaeyoung raises a brow at her soulmate, considering all the things Mina could possibly plan in a month. 

“I have to travel to Japan, and I was thinking about inviting you to come with me. It’s for work, and I’d be bored alone, but I thought maybe if you came it would be a nice half vacation. At least when I’m not in meetings.” 

“Are you serious?” Chaeyoung’s brows furrowed. Mina crouches down to eye level and takes Chaeyoung’s hands in hers.

“I don’t want to go without you. I don’t want to leave you here, especially not alone. I understand if you don’t want to come, I know it’s sudden. I promise I would only be gone a month, maybe less if I push it. Actually I wonder if I were to contact them now, maybe we could do a video call while I’m still here and -” Mina continues rambling as Chaeyoung loses herself in thought.

There was a weird swirling feeling in her chest, her thoughts drifting from place to place. Dahyun and Sana were leaving in a few days, and she knew her friends were going to start asking about Mina being her soulmate soon. Mina inviting her to Japan, she wondered what kind of a step that was in their not-relationship. The thought of staying here flashed through her mind, of Mina in the airport waiting for the plane. Headphones in her ears, playing a game, waiting quietly but comfortably in the airport chairs. The attendant calling for boarding, Mina looking back before she gets on. Of leaving on a plane to nev-

“I’ll go!” Her tongue moves faster than she can stop it.

“Wait really?” Mina’s smile is so bright it nearly blinds the artist, her hands being squeezed in Mina’s.

Registering the words that just came out of , she tries not to look shocked. She had begun speaking before her brain had finished processing, but a part of her felt that it was the right choice.

“Yes, I’ll talk to Jihyo. I’m sure she’ll say yes when I explain it’s because of you.”

“Wait, does she…does she know?”

“One of the students at that art class told her in passing, anyways I’ll ask her.” Chaeyoung smiled at her, trying to will Mina’s worries away. “We can talk about it later, after she says yes.”

AUTHORS NOTE: This chapter came out kinda fast lol, idk when the next one will be but I hope you liked this one.