Are you busy?

Staring at the message for a while, Lucca was not sure how to answer. She kept looking from the message to JaeHwan’s name, then back to the message. Turning her attention back to the food she was standing in front of, Lucca pulled a few tomatoes out and stuck them in the bag before setting it down in the bag. Picking her phone back up, she sighed.

    I’m out, if that tells you anything.

Setting her phone back down, Lucca went back to her shopping. She picked up a few more things from the produce aisle before moving on to get some meat for her dinner.

Lucca went about getting everything that she normally did, stocking up on the things she knew she would run out of quicker than others. Once she was done with the necessities, she moved on to look at the clothes that were hanging up towards the center of the store. She hadn’t looked through the clothes there in awhile, and wanted to see if anything new had shown up.

Grabbing her phone from the cart, Lucca set the cart aside before brushing her hand through a rack of random t-shirts. As she was looking at a black printed tee, her phone went off in her hand.

    Out? What is that supposed to mean?

Lucca stared at the message, a little irked at JaeHwan’s curiosity.

    It means just that. I’m at the store.

Going back to the clothes that were sitting out, Lucca looked through a few more shirts before giving up on looking. She went back to the cart, setting her phone down in the little basket again. She went to the cash register, just wanting to get out of there. It wasn’t until she was already putting the groceries back in the cart once they were bagged before she got another message.

    What are you doing after that? Can we meet up somewhere?

Frowning at the message, Lucca wasn’t sure if she really wanted to see him or not. She set the last bit of groceries in the cart, still staring at the message for a little bit longer.

“Have a nice day.” The cashier smiled warmly as he nodded towards Lucca.

“Huh?” Lucca looked up, seeing his smile. She forced a smile on her face so as not to offend him, nodding a little back towards him. “Thank you, you too.” She pushed the cart away, her eyes going back to the phone in her hands.

    Yeah, we can meet somewhere.

Pushing the cart over to the area they belonged in, Lucca pulled out all of her groceries. She went out to the car, a sigh escaping her as she looked at the blue exterior. Opening the trunk, she stuck all of the groceries in the back before looking at the message she knew she had received.

    Can we just meet at your house?

Sighing again, Lucca nodded even though she knew he wasn’t going to see that.

    Yeah.

When she pulled into the driveway, Lucca saw that JaeHwan’s black Prius was already there. Parking in her usual spot, Lucca turned off the car as she stared up at the house. The door was closed, but she knew JaeHwan had probably let himself in.

Even as she stared up at the familiar building, the house she had called home for almost six years, Lucca found that she couldn’t recognize it. Everything seemed so foreign now, and she suddenly found herself wondering if JaeHwan was going look foreign to her as well. Lucca didn’t want to believe everything, but she knew that when she walked inside, Raelyn wasn’t going to be there to greet her.

Sighing, she climbed out of the car and went to the back to grab her groceries. Closing the back, Lucca went inside the house, seeing the extra pair of shoes she knew belonged to JaeHwan. Kicking hers off, she shut the front door and made her way to the kitchen. Not even bothering to call for JaeHwan, Lucca started putting everything away before it got left out. She shoved all of the bags in with the others, then turned to go and let the dogs inside.

Opening the back door, she found Ricky sitting on the step in front of the door. Moose was running around the yard, chasing a ball that had been thrown for him. Looking over to where the ball had come from, Lucca saw JaeHwan sitting back in one of the patio chairs.

She froze when she saw him, her eyes focusing on his face for awhile. His eyes were behind his glasses, his face one of concentration. He was watching as Moose brought the ball back to him. He seemed like he was lost to everything around him, his thoughts consuming him.

Lucca stared at him, watching as he threw the ball for her dog again. He bit his plump lip lightly, his legs crossing over one another. He was doing everything that he normally would do, and nothing about him seemed overly different.

That was the fact that made Lucca freeze on the step. He looked exactly the same as he did the day before, or the day before that, or even the months before when she met him. Letting out a breath, Lucca watched as Moose chased after the ball. Snapping her fingers, she caught the dog’s attention, making him turn excitedly. Running, the dog nearly jumped up onto Lucca. He stopped right before doing so, his tongue flopped out, the ball long since forgotten.

“Hi Moosey~” Lucca smiled, her attention pulling away from JaeHwan. She knelt down, petting his head with a smile. “Are you ready to go inside?”

“Lucca, there you are.”

JaeHwan’s voice pulled Lucca’s attention away from the dog, making her look up at the all too familiar face. She swallowed, and looked back at the dog that was pawing at her for more attention. “Come on, go inside.” She murmured, pushing open the door to let Moose and Ricky inside.

“Did you get everything put away?” JaeHwan asked, getting up from his chair on the porch.

“Yeah, everything is already put away.” Lucca nodded, slowly closing the back door and keeping the two of them outside. “How long have you been waiting?”

JaeHwan shrugged as he thought about this. “30 or so minutes. Since I messaged you the first time.” He admitted, biting his lip lightly. “Did Raelyn have work?”

When he asked about her sister, Lucca in a sharp breath. While he probably hadn’t meant to, he caused the anger she had felt all night boil up inside her once again. “She’s gone.” Was all she said as she turned away from him.

“Gone?” JaeHwan asked, his eyebrow raising.

“Gone.” Lucca shrugged her shoulders as she bit the inside of her lip in attempt to control her anger and tone. “If you want to find her, I’m sure you know where to look.”

JaeHwan heard the venom in Lucca’s voice and almost backed away. He swallowed, looking away towards where the ball that Moose hadn’t brought back to him was. “Your dog is really well trained, did you do that yourself?”

“My mom trained him when he was a puppy.” Lucca responded, her teeth still gritted.

“Oh….” JaeHwan suddenly felt a two ton brick in place of his heart. “She seemed like she was a really good person.”

“She was.” Lucca agreed, looking towards where the tennis ball was in the yard. “Too bad not everyone can be as truthful and good as her.” She seemed to be musing at the thought as she crossed her arms over her chest.

JaeHwan looked at her, his eyes widening a little at the way she was speaking. She seemed to be thinking about her mom, but there was something underlying in the way she talked to him. “Yeah, I wish people would be more honest about things.” He agreed regardless of the anger he could hear in her voice.

Lucca made a sound, her eyes still focused on the little tennis ball. “It would make everything a lot easier if people would just come out and tell the truth.” She stated, side-eyeing JaeHwan for a moment.

Feeling a small twinge inside, JaeHwan looked away from her. He didn’t know what he was supposed to say. Did she know? Or was she angry about something else? He swallowed, looking out over the grass of the yard. “Yeah, it would make a lot of things easier…. Though sometimes the truth hurts and isn’t anything people want to hear.”

Scoffing, Lucca crossed her arms over her chest. She was done with the back and forth game. “Stop bullting me, JaeHwan.”

Looking up, JaeHwan met Lucca’s eyes for the first time since she had gotten there. He backed down almost instantly though, knowing that this wasn’t going to end well for him just by the tone in her voice. “What do you want from me, Lucca?”

“I want the goddamn truth, JaeHwan.” She bit her lip before she said something that would be unfixable. Even though she was pissed off and upset, Lucca didn’t want to destroy him. She took a breath before waving her hand. “Just tell me the truth, for once.”

JaeHwan looked at the ground. “Okay, Lucca….”

“Tell me the truth about you and Raelyn, right now.”

“We’re not childhood friends…..”

Lucca nodded as though that had been obvious, but she wanted to give him a chance to explain.

“We never expected to see each other after New Years. And then we ran into each other again, and found out that you and my housemates were truly childhood friends. How coincidental, right?” JaeHwan laughed bitterly at the irony. “Nothing was supposed to happen after New Years, and nothing has happened after New Years….. Well, except that I’ve fallen stupid in love with my mistakes younger sister.”

Lucca bit her lip, looking down and away from JaeHwan.

“That was never a lie, Lucca. Never, ever, has that ever been a lie. I fell in love with you, and then I made the biggest mistake of my life by not telling you what really happened.”

Lucca shook her head a little, crossing her arms over her chest. “JaeHwan…..” Biting her lip again, she reminded herself that she could not give in to what he was saying. She kicked her sister out of the house, so what did it mean to forgive one and not the other? Shaking her head, she looked away. “Please leave.”

“Lucca, I-”

“Please, JaeHwan. Leave.”