Momo stooped her head, unwilling to look Sana in the eyes and feel guilty for how she genuinely felt. After all, she was asked a question, and she had the option of accepting or rejecting it.

"I'm sorry," she could only whisper.

"I want to know why," Sana strained her brows, trying not to cry despite the fact that this was the most painful she had ever been through. "We've been together for eleven years, and we're the ideal age to marry. I already have plans for us, Momo," she continued, hoping to convince the other woman to reconsider first. "I don't understand why you've always been avoiding this," Sana said, her voice faltering at the end.

"Because we're not on the same level, Sana," Momo explained, gathering the fortitude to look her girlfriend in the eyes with sadness. "I'm just getting started, and you've already walked so far away," she tried to explain. "How long did it take me to become a doctor?" Momo inquired, gradually making sense.

"You already have a secure job, a condo, a car, and you'll soon have your own restaurant, Sana, so you can buy whatever you want," Momo added. "I understand you're ready, but I'm not." "I still have a lot to prove to myself... and to my family," she muttered, her eyes filled with burden. It was as though she had been lugging unmentioned baggage for years. "Getting married just does not have a place in my life."

"How about a little further down the road?"

"I don't know, Sana."

"Yeah, of course, okay," Sana mumbled as she nodded her head. As her mind went blank, she couldn't think of anything else to say. Her entire body was numb, and the only thing she could feel was her heart bursting into fine pieces.

"I'm sorry," murmured Momo.

"No, don't be."

"Not because I refused to marry you," the woman said, raising Sana's brows. She was perplexed, unsure what that meant. Momo, however, cleared it before she could even ask.

"I'm sorry because I was thinking about breaking up with you when you were thinking about spending your entire life with me."

"Momo..." Sana's eyes darkened as she heard that. "You're not serious," she remarked, shaking her head and sadly smiling.

"I wish I wasn't, Sana." "But I am."

Sana was starting to wonder whether the night could get much worse. She was already broken, yet she couldn't even cry. Maybe just not in front of Momo.

"It was difficult for me to accept this as well, but the more I thought about it, the more it felt like the wisest decision to make," Momo stated, looking dejected for some reason. "We used to be so alike, so close, but now we just don't get each other anymore."

"I'd talk about human bones, and you'd talk about food names I'd never heard before," she continued. "Our differences are becoming more prominent day by the day, and I can't be the only one who notices this."

Sana refused to say anything. She didn't want to listen, yet hearing was beyond her control. Momo was not a fully interactive soundscape that she could mute whenever she wanted to.

"I'm not sure what caused this, but I'm guessing it's maturity," Momo said, still staring at Sana's face, wondering if the woman was still paying attention or just drifting off. Still, she should keep venting about it.

"The older we become, the more responsibility we have to face in life," she sighed, "and working... it demands a lot of attention."

Momo stopped for a moment, considering better words that would be easier for Sana to swallow. "You know what I mean, honey; you work during the day, I work at night, and there are times when we can't even ask how each other's day was because we're too tired to even take a step back to our beds," she explained.

It was an incontrovertible fact that not even Sana could deny. They were so busy that they couldn't even see each other once a week, despite the fact that they didn't live that far apart.

"And something doesn't sit right with me, knowing that this is how our relationship turned out," Momo reached for Sana's hand on the table, but the latter woman quickly resisted. Momo could only sigh and gaze down. "Being in a relationship is no game," she continued after a lengthy pause. "It's not something you can set aside and ignore for a while, then return to when it feels right or convenient."

"To love someone is a commitment, to commit requires consistency, and consistency..." she said slowly and softly, "is something I'll continue to lack."

Momo drew her hand back and glanced away, out on the wide window panel, her gaze fixed on the starry night sky. She tried to gather herself after having trouble breathing. "You don't deserve a relationship where you are placed second, Sana," she wholeheartedly said.

"Where exactly do you want to go from here, Momo?"

"You enveloped me with your love for eleven years, and I wish it wasn't true, but it's been a long time since I discovered I had outgrown it; it's just that I tried to fit in... because that's where I should belong."

"But now, no matter what I do, I can't fit in." "All that's left for me to do is leave it behind," Momo remarked, her eyes all welled up with tears that she finally let go. "You should do it too, Sana." "Let me to set you free."

Sana's fist was squeezed tightly under the table. Her jaws also tightened as she struggled to keep the feelings, she was holding back from breaking forth. It took her a few moments to respond. And the response she gave was unanticipated by Momo.

"No, Momo," Sana scoffed, shaking her head firmly. "Don't make your feelings about me," she said. "I was fine. I wasn't asking for anything, and I certainly wasn't expecting anything more from you," she continued. "So, don't make it seem like this is for me."

"You are not freeing me."

"You're freeing yourself," Sana eventually made a point of saying. "The moment you leave, I'll be stuck in the same place, with no way out, since I never saw our relationship as a cage, I saw it as home," she said, letting her tears fall down her cheeks ceaselessly. "We're not the same, Momo," she said, "we don't love the same way."

"Sana," muttered Momo. She was going to say something else when the woman stood up. The latter then took her purse to get money and placed it on the table to pay for her meal. She then reached for the ring box and turned away without saying anything or even batting an eye. Momo was stunned and could only stare at her unfinished food, mouth gaping.

The next morning, Sana awoke with a heavy head. She felt as if she had seen heaven the instant she opened her eyes. All because the beams of sunlight clouded her eyes, making everything appear white.

Sana, feeling dizzy, decided she should pinch her cheek just to make sure she was still alive. Although, to her, it would have been preferable if she had perished.

"Ouch!" yelped Sana after a