CHAPTER 17
Mistake(n)

 

      After waking up from an afternoon siesta, TaeYeon stared at the ceiling of Tiffany’s bedroom pondering about the dreams he had recently seen. Most of the scenes he saw were mostly random, but they were all from his teenage years. There was one with Yuri and SooYoung arguing about a cup of spicy rice cakes, scenes of him sitting beside SeoHyun playing the piano with him and learning the Chopin song, Jessica dragging him to go shopping with her to cool off because she was angry about someone, and a clear memory of him strolling with Tiffany down a quiet street while kicking pebbles trying to compete whose rock would go farther. A lot of them were very vivid as if he was reliving the moments again, but they were all getting jumbled together making it very confusing to him to sort them out.

      “Are these really what happened in the past?” he would ask himself. He was recalling so many things day by day, but just how many of them were 100% accurate? A lot of these scenes would just cut off and jump to another without him noticing like it all happened in one day. Surely, there must be a point when his brain has started making up stories with altered plots? The memories vs. what his hearts desires. What were the dreams and what were the realities? Did they really happen, or were they just what his heart desired to see?

      He turned his gaze back to the woman of his dreams. Every memory relating to her always had the clearest film. Her rosy scent lingers as he dreams, her hands’ cold touch make the hairs on his arm rise up, and her brown hair brushes so lightly and silky like feather on his fingertips. Maybe it’s because when he dreams about her, she sleeps right beside him. The reality enhances the dream, the memory. Although his dreams with her were mostly sweet, living that dream awake was always so much better. 

      Tiffany’s eyes started to flutter open and TaeYeon touched the round tip of her nose. She chuckled softly, wrinkled her nose at him, and then snuggled closer to him. TaeYeon kissed her forehead, wrapped his arms around her, and squeezed her close like a comfy pillow. This was reality, he thought. He should give her a hug whenever he has the chance. 15 years of separation needs to be replaced with as much intimacy as possible.

      “You’re awake,” Tiffany said and closed her eyes again to better feel his warmth.

      “A weird dream woke me up,” TaeYeon said as he caressed her hair.

      “Weird dream?”

      “I mean weird dreams. Or random memories. I can’t really tell these days.”

      “Oh? Like what? Tell me.”

      “Hm… there was this one part when SooYoung was like a stick—his neck was so long and his limbs, too, as if he didn’t have muscles at all, and we were just about the same height. I don’t even know how old he must be, but he was complaining about forgetting to bring his lunchbox and he walked up to this boy—I think it must be Yuri, but he was kinda chubby and timid—and SooYoung begged him to share the ddeokboki that he was eating. Yuri agreed to share some with him but SooYoung gobbled up almost all of it which pissed me off because I didn’t think it was very nice of him.”

      Tiffany giggled, “That must be even before you met me. I don’t remember Yuri ever being chubby or timid. And to think SooYoung would be about your height is just crazy. He has always been a tower to me.”

      “We must be around 13 or something. They both looked so young,” TaeYeon wondered. Then he continued, “After that, I went to the studio and I met SeoHyun who was eager to nag me around just because I gave her the authority to teach me that Chopin piece. I’m pretty sure that’s not on the same timeline since I was 17 when I decided to learn that but that’s how the dream happened… Anyway, every time I did something wrong, SeoHyun’s high-pitched whining would ring right on my ears and she would jab me on my arm. She would also elbow me on the rib so much and it hurt a lot since her elbows were so sharp like she had daggers attached to them or something. I felt like I was being abused by a little girl, though I’m partly to blame because I a lot, too,” TaeYeon laughed.

      “That’s Seobaby for you,” Tiffany snickered. “Jessica and I got constantly hit by her elbows too but by accident. And she would whine non-stop when we . She really was like a baby!”

      “And she was like that until she got married. I wonder how YongHwa is handling her now,” TaeYeon said and they both laughed.

      Then he continued on again with his stories, “By the time we finished, Jessica dragged me to go shopping with her which I think was the weirdest of them all. She was angry about someone I can’t even remember now, and she was taking out her anger on me every time I commented about whatever she put on. When I say she looks fine, she gets angry. When I say it doesn’t suit her, she gets even angrier. She also picks out stuff for me and gets angry when I say I don’t like it. It’s like half of the time we were together, we were bickering because she only cared about her own opinion. I, on the other hand, didn’t know any better because I felt she was also angry with me about something. But anyway, is that even a memory, though? Me shopping with Jessica? Like did that ever happen?”

      “Jessica used to drag anyone to go shopping with her when she was in a bad mood and she often asked me for permission when it came to you,” Tiffany said. “She told me once that she liked shopping with you the most when she’s really upset because you are the most comfortable to argue with.”

      “She said that?” he scoffed.

      “Yeah, because SooYoung is way too flirty and funny that when they argue, they’d end up laughing, but Jessica likes arguing for no reason sometimes so... With Yuri, it was too awkward because they both had secret crushes towards each other. With me, I was always positive and optimistic that it kind of annoyed her, but to be honest, she’s loves me too much to take her anger out on me. With SeoHyun, it’s not fun because she was too upright and stiff back then and she didn’t even like shopping. But with you, she said it was therapeutic because you actually argue back but you both always manage to get along at the end of the day.”

      “Hah, I guess that’s a reason why she was secretly so clingy to me back then…”

      “Clingy?” Tiffany’s eyebrows furrowed.

      “I had a weird memory before that bothered me a lot. Have I told you about that? Hm… I guess not ‘cause I couldn’t make sense of it, but there was one time when she was confessing to me.”

      “Huh?” Tiffany’s eyes shot open.

      “She confessed her love for me… I think. Sort of.”

      “Whaat?” Tiffany scoffed in disbelief and sat upright to face him.

      TaeYeon sat upright too and ruffled his hair, “I don’t know if it’s a memory or just my brain trying to mess with me.”

      “Must be when you guys were twelve?”

      “No, no—I’m talking blonde Sica. We were sixteen or seventeen—probably seventeen but anyway, somewhere around that time—and she confessed to me that she loved me. Still  loved me.”

      “But if you’re talking about when you were teenagers, the two of us already met then and we did hit it off pretty quickly so that doesn’t make any sense. And she said she didn’t have feelings for you. I swear, she always denied it.”

      “Really? But I remember it, though? We were both walking in the park near the school and she told me that she loved me out of the blue.”

      “What did you reply with?” Tiffany asked with her heartbeat unpleasantly racing.

      “Hm… Well I-I… I didn’t really say anything.”

      Silence fell upon them. Tiffany felt so betrayed that she knew nothing about this. Jessica in their teenage years always denied feelings for TaeYeon, but now TaeYeon is saying that he recalls a memory of her confessing her love for him? And how would she know if he replied with nothing? Did TaeYeon really say the truth just now? Why did he stutter?

      “Anyway, there’s another scene that I dreamed about,” TaeYeon changed the topic casually. “It was us and we were both walking at some street and we were having a competition to see whose pebble went the farthest.”

      Tiffany, for now, shook of her doubts and tried to listen to his stories again.

      “I had my pebble hit yours once and it went off the sidewalk. While you were about to pick your pebble up, a car was about to pass by and I yanked you by your hoodie so you wouldn’t get hit,” he said while snickering. “You fell on your and you got so angry at me without realizing what just happened. You were so cute all clueless that I laughed so hard instead of helping you get up. When I told you the reason why I did that, you turned so pink!”

      “I remember that,” Tiffany chuckled. “When you finally yanked me up, you kissed me without warning.”

      “Hey, you’re beating me to it,” TaeYeon cutely pouted. “I wanted to be all romantic and kiss you right now to show you what I did...”

      “You can still do it. What’s stopping you?” Tiffany said and TaeYeon was impressed by her reply.

      He held her hand and then her arm gently. When his hand reached her wrist, he went closer and slowly pulled her closer to him. They were noth ready to feel the warmth of the kiss, but right before their lips touched, a phone loudly vibrated on Tiffany’s side table.

      Tiffany quickly responded and TaeYeon closed his eyes in defeat. Why did they have to be interrupted at such an intimate time?

      Tiffany turned her phone on and realized it wasn’t hers that vibrated. It was TaeYeon’s phone. There was a text message from Jessica. Tiffany opened the message and it said,
 

      “—Call me once you see this. We need to talk about tonight and meet quickly.”
 

      Tiffany wondered what the message was about and assumed it was about their work, but the messages before that made her question so many things.

      “—oh hey, I love you! I love you! Hearing that is my fave from you. 2nite maybe?”
 

      TaeYeon replied,
 

      “—I love you… hm but I don’t think that’s good tonight. How about tomorrow? Don’t wanna do it tonight.”
 

      She couldn’t believe what he replied with and exploded at him, “What is this?!”

      “What?” he stammered, taken aback seeing his own phone centimeters away from his face. He gently held her hand and dragged it down to see what she was talking about.

      “What about it?” TaeYeon’s eyebrows crumpled seeing her chatroom with Jessica.

      “Read it!”

      TaeYeon read Jessica’s text about wanting to meet up with him and his eyebrows shot up. “I guess I have to go.” He got out of bed and wore fresh new clothes.

      “What? A-are you serious right now?” she couldn’t make sense of what he was doing because in her eyes, it was like he was blatantly showing off that he was cheating on her.

      “Oh man, I have to go and prepare…,” he mumbled.

      “Prepare for what?” Tiffany pouted.

      “Hm? Xiah Dragons Bar. What else?” he simply replied.

      “Why are you even going there out of your working hours? Can’t you stay here with me longer?”

      “It’s not out of my working hours. In fact, it’s almost time for me to go there. I have to get ready. I don’t want to be late again… man, for a person who’s also always late, I don’t know why she gets so angry about me being late,” he grumbled.

      “We should be planning our wedding and you’re doing this?” Tiffany shouted and angrily threw a pillow to him to get his attention. TaeYeon got startled and froze out of confusion. He couldn’t understand why she was getting upset all of a sudden. What should he reply to that when he doesn’t even know what he did wrong?

      “Stay here. Be with me. Don’t go there tonight! I dare you!” Tiffany angrily said.

      “What?” TaeYeon blinked, trying to make sense of her words. “Why?”

      “You’re always so busy. Are you not making time for me?”

      “Well… wasn’t I with you just now?” TaeYeon’s eyebrows scrunched up.

      “What are you even doing so much there that you leave so early and come home so late, huh? Are you having a thing with Jessica, is that it?”

      “What!? I—” TaeYeon scoffed but he was interrupted.

      “You don’t even sleep with me at night!”

      “Is that a joke?” TaeYeon stared at her blankly.

      “You think I’m joking right now???”

      TaeYeon became speechless for a moment and then said, “This is ridiculous. Do you think I’m cheating on you with Jessica? Is this because I dreamed of Jessica confessing to me? You know that’s not relevant now.”

      She picked up his phone and faced it in front of him again. Her face turned red and her voice got hoarser, “‘I love you???’ ‘I love you?????”

      “Huh?” TaeYeon blinked. He was blank for a moment and then he scoffed realizing what’s causing the problem, “That’s just a song.”

      “Yeah, right,” Tiffany scoffed in disbelief. “What other lies are you telling me?”

      “Wait, hold on. Lies? I’m not even—” TaeYeon couldn’t wrap his head at what was happening. She was talking so fast and so loud that he could not keep up.

      “What did you really say to Jessica back when you were both teenagers? I’m sure since you guys were once in a relationship, it really must’ve been true. Did you get back together with her?”

      “She’s married with two kids and I’m engaged to you,” TaeYeon emphasized. “You do realize that, don’t you?”

      “This is not the first time this has happened.”

      “Wha—I…” he sighed in frustration. “Why are you being like this?”

      “Just get out.”

      “Tiffany!” TaeYeon firmly called her name trying to snap her out of her delusions.

      “Go and spend all the time you want with her and drown yourself with work and keep on leaving me out of your life!”

      “C’mon, you don’t mean that…,” TaeYeon said so affectionately to calm her down.

      “No! I’m just sick of you never making time for me! We barely even spend nights together. We haven’t been going out in the mornings and the only time we actually get is sleeping in the afternoon. I always tell you to ask permission to Jessica to lessen your hours but you don’t even try to ask her that at all! And you’re not explaining yourself properly. It’s frustrating me! Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing!”

      “Xiah Dragons Bar is a new business! Do I need more explanation than that? What the hell am I supposed to do? I can’t just forsake them when they need me.”

      “I need you more than they do! We need to plan the wedding but you’re not even helping out very much!”

      “Hey, where are you even getting all of these ideas? Don’t you know that I need you, too? So of course I make time for you! I work my off planning the wedding, too! And I’m trying to work because Jessica gives me—“

      “I don’t want to hear it! Get out!” Tiffany shouted and TaeYeon felt speechless and annoyed that she wouldn’t allow him to speak. Frustrated, he grabbed his coat and stormed out of her room and climbed down the stairs without looking back.

      “You better not expect me to be back tonight,” TaeYeon said. “I’m not coming home until you calm down.”

      “Where are you gonna go? To Jessica?”

      Before TaeYeon opened the door, he stared at Tiffany in disbelief and shook her head in disappointment, “You’re unbelievable.”

      “I’m unbelievable???” Tiffany’s jaw dropped.

      When TaeYeon opened the door, he was taken aback to see Eunji standing there. He didn’t want her to know that he and Tiffany were arguing and tried to relax his expressions. However, the teenager’s bewildered face already says she knows what went down. Embarrassed to face her daughter after a ridiculous argument with her mother, he scuttled out of there quickly to escape the situation.

***

      Tiffany paced back and forth in her bed room in frustration. Just thinking about the possibility of TaeYeon and Jessica having an affair made her head throb. It sounded absolutely absurd to think with the facts surrounding them, but it sounded more absurd to her that Jessica could’ve lied to her about her feelings for TaeYeon after all this time. Jessica may be really direct and blunt about the things she says, but she can be very conservative and mysterious even towards her. As for TaeYeon, he always obeys Jessica first than choose to spend time with her. He is a very unpredictable and quiet man that it was hard to tell what could be going on in his head.

       She sat on her bed and took a deep breath. She shook her head and tried not to shed tears so early. Surely she must be getting everything all wrong? She shouldn’t doubt both of them so easily like that. She picked up her phone and scrolled through her contacts. She stopped at Jessica’s name and debated whether to call her at this very moment. Her married best friend won’t betray their trust at this age by having an affair with her man. She knew that was just not possible. But she had to know what TaeYeon was talking about in his dreams that he claimed were memories of his teenage years. Just what exactly happened at that confession?

      While she was sitting on her desk staring at her laptop, her head started to throb. The green online circle of Jessica’s Facebook chat almost seemed to call her name. Her mouse pointer went in circles hovering around her name as she composed the questions in her head. After imagining a heated conversation, she shook her head and figured things wouldn’t go as bad as she imagined. She closed her eyes and clicked. She then stared at the keyboard and started to type.

      “can we talk for a moment? Face to face…” she huffed tiredly and shut her eyes again. She didn’t want to fight her at all after imagining a crazy argument, but she still had no idea how to handle this conversation without her jealousy exploding all over the place. She could only pray it would not start a fire.

      But as soon as she heard the bubbly ring of the notification, she was petrified.

      “…are you okay?”

      It was not Jessica who received and replied to her message. It was Nichkhun.

      “Wait… Oh nonononono,” she abruptly stood up from her seat and backed away from her laptop. “I did not just do that. I did not just do that. I did NOT just do that!”

      “where should I meet you?”  he added while she was still in a state of shock.

      For 2 minutes, she lay flat on her bed blankly staring at the ceiling. What was she supposed to reply to that? What was she supposed to do now? Not wanting to be mean to him, she got up and replied,

        “um… is it okay for you to meet me?”

***

      Tiffany sat at the coffee shop sighing tiredly with a heavy heart and a throbbing head ache. “What am I even doing?” she constantly mumbled while waiting for Nichkhun to arrive. Why was she even waiting for him? Why did she even say they should meet up again? Although they have agreed to stay friends, she can’t deny how that man was once one her lover. And to think she was accusing TaeYeon of cheating earlier when it seems like she is doing the exact same thing right now. “No,” she convinced herself. “This is not cheating. This is just…  I’m meeting up with an old friend. That’s all.”

      The coffee shop’s bell rang throughout the room and Tiffany bit her lip. That was probably him, her “ex-lover.” When she lowered her head, the guy sat right in front of him.

      “Hey.” Nichkhun greeted with a stiff wave of his hand.

      “You actually came,” Tiffany smiled but with restraint. She tried to look at him in the eyes but it was way too hard to do so without feeling like she was doing something wrong. “This is messed up. Why are we even here?” her eyes constantly darted down to her own trembling fingers.

      “I told you I would,” Nichkhun said without his words wavering, as if to imply that he still cared about her in some way to be able to quickly meet up like this.

      Tiffany tried to ignore the tone of his voice because it may all just be in her head and said, “So… How’s life?”

      “I’ve been getting by,” he shrugged. “How’s yours?”

      “I uh…” she awkwardly tried to find words to say but the only thing her eyes landed on was the pink diamond ring on her finger. It seemed to shine brighter at this moment, mocking and scoffing at her current actions as it sparkles. “I’m doing fairly well.”

      Nichkhun noticed that she was fiddling with her ring and said, “You look brighter.”

      “Do I?” she couldn’t believe that since she feels somewhat little miserable these days. She didn’t even fix herself up for this meeting and had no make-up on at all.

      “Y-your complexion, I guess. It’s seems healthier,” he said and cleared his throat. Tiffany couldn’t say anything since she couldn’t read if he was trying to win her or if he was just saying that. Nichkhun always had a soft spot for her and that’s what she feared the most from this meeting. One thing is for sure, though. Things have gotten really awkward. Every word seems like a dangerous thing to say.

      “Have you… met someone?” he hesitantly asked.

      “Oh-I…,” Tiffany was a bit flustered but then she said, “Yeah. I have.” Nichkhun nodded and wryly smiled.

      “Have you?” she redirected the question. They met eyes and silence fell for a second.

      “Yeah. Yeah, I have,” he nodded.

      “Then… then what are we even doing here,” Tiffany tried to laugh it off.

      “I know, right?” he awkwardly laughed with her.

      Silence fell again. What exactly are they doing here in each other’s presence? What exactly are they supposed to talk about? Now that they both know that they both found new lovers, what were they to discuss? They can’t just talk about their past…

      “So um,” Tifffany bit her lip. “Who’s the lucky girl?”

      “Oh, it’s a girl I met from America when I went to a Korean Festival. She’s also Thai like me but she’s half Korean. She’s really sweet. We got engaged just recently.”

      “Oh! Really? That’s wonderful! Congratulations!” Tiffany brightened up, overjoyed by the news. Nichkhun didn’t expect this reaction but he was nevertheless thankful that she seemed sincerely happy for him. Tiffany also didn’t expect to light up at any moment of this meeting, but hearing his news made her feel like she was really just meeting with an old friend. Meeting him might not be a mistake after all.

      “Um, look, uh… I’m sorry for having to call and meet up with you out of the blue,” she blurted. “I really have no intentions of doing this or anything… ‘bad.’ I guess it just happened somehow,” Tiffany stuttered, unable to admit that this was all just from a small mistake. “I’ve just been a little out of my mind lately… but anyway, here we are.”

      “No, no, it’s okay. You’re not the only one who’s not in their right mind. I don’t even know why I agreed to come so quickly, but maybe it’s because I’ve actually been thinking about calling you or meeting you for once. I just never got the right chance to do so.”

      “You’ve been thinking of… meeting me?” Tiffany was taken aback.

      “Yeah… I know it may sound weird if I say it like that… actually everything that came out my mouth a while ago sounded weird, but yeah, uh, what I thought a lot about was I just wanted to clear stuff out between us, you know, before I move to a whole new chapter of my life.”

      “Hm…,” she nodded. Their relationship was never really discussed. It just happened and ended like a cool breeze that passes on a summer day. Their days together were good but quickly gone like a season. “Then what do you want to be cleared between us?”

      He pondered for a moment and said, “Why don’t you ask me your questions first—if you have any?”

      She scoffed and rolled her eyes. “But you’re the one who brought it up.”

      “Maybe you’ll answer my questions along the way. I’m just curious as to what you want to know from me. You messaged me first, didn’t you?”

      So Tiffany wondered if there were any questions she wanted answered. At first she couldn’t really find anything to ask, but then it hit her. She asked, “I um… I’ve always had this question. I feel like you’ve already answered this but it was never clear or I just feel like you never gave me the whole truth. Why… why did you leave so quickly?” she paused to study his expression, but he did not move a muscle. She continued, “You were really into me but then you just… you just left. I know we never officially called ourselves a couple and we kind of just went with the idea of being together since you always hung out with me… but why did you just leave without even telling me?”

      “We kept in contact, didn’t we?” he replied. “I didn’t leave suddenly…”

      “Oh, but you did leave suddenly. And yes, we kept contact—for a while at least—but you never clearly explained why you left… me. And so eventually, we just stopped talking. Or was it really just all in my head that we had feelings for each other?”

      “No, no. What we had wasn’t a delusion even if we never really talked about it. I’d be more surprised if you thought I didn’t love you after all those poems I’ve written for you behind those Yiruma pieces.”

      “Then why? If you loved me, you would’ve given a heads up—a clearer explanation.”

      “I did love you,” he looked directly in her eyes, “but you didn’t love me back.”

      Tiffany was dumfounded. “What made you think that?”

      “You can’t really fool anyone, Tiffany. I knew it all from the start that you had a hard time loving me, especially when you said that Eunji’s father died. I was around trying to make things better for you, trying to show you how to move on, trying to show that you can allow yourself to love again, but all my efforts were all too weak to break down the walls you’ve created for yourself.”

      Tiffany couldn’t find any words to say back. She did love him in some ways, but it was true that she had created a wall for herself when it came to relationships. However, what Nichkhun didn’t know was that he loved her almost the same way TaeYeon did before. His love was almost like a perfect copy, but to her it just wasn’t the original. Because of that, she was sorry—sorry that she could not love him for who he was. It was the hardest thing to see TaeYeon when she was with him.

      “I guess my heart was just too tired of the subtle rejection, you know? You seemed happy to be around me, but I could see you hesitating most of the time. You were only sincerely happy to see me whenever Eunji was around. You only loved me being with her but you didn’t love me being with you.”

      Tiffany could not reply for everything he said was true. She was happy whenever he played well with Eunji back then, but her heart was distant towards him. She wasn’t able to push him away because Eunji liked him a lot.

      “I was almost close to proposing, did you know that?” he said.

      Tiffany was once again astonished by what he said. She was blank for a moment and then she stammered, “Eunji said it a few times but I thought she was just kidding every time…”

      “She wasn’t kidding. I talked with her a few times about that—about us three possibly being a family. You and I never really planned dates but they just kind of happened, and I liked it that way. I really thought you did, too. I really dreamed of being with you and Eunji, too, but… there was a point when I realized that the two of us are not in equal terms, and I felt we would never be. So… basically, that’s why I left. My love was getting too strong. I had to control myself. I didn’t want to hurt you. Both of you… and also myself.”

      Tiffany didn’t know what to say. The truth was finally laid out for her and it’s not at all easy to look at his eyes now. She was truly sorry for breaking his heart in some ways, but she was also very thankful that he knew where he stood in her life. If he didn’t, if he had persisted to stay with them, she might never have met TaeYeon again.

      “Forgive me for asking, but… do you still have feelings for me?” Tiffany asked.

      Nichkhun stared at her trying to find the right answer and he chuckled. “Do I? Well… maybe I still do.” Tiffany bit her lip. What did he say? “Looking at you right now, I see the same woman that made me write poems I never thought I could. It’s not easy to forget it all with one snap of a finger, you know, especially when we never fought. So yes, maybe in some ways I still do have feelings for you. But I’m stepping into a new world. I finally love someone better—someone who loves me back.”

      He leaned on the table and added, “I guess that’s why I’ve been thinking of meeting up with you. I wanted to sort out my feelings, and you’re kind of a big part of it. And if there are any feelings I have left for you, I’ll try to leave every last bit of it here in this coffee shop.”

      Tiffany stayed silent. She finally realized why she was able to meet up with him today. Even when she denied it, she did have some feelings for Nichkhun. After being frustrated and confused with TaeYeon, her heart was trying to compare him to someone better, someone who she knew loved her. However, at this meeting, her resolve became clear. She still loved TaeYeon more and she also knew TaeYeon loved her more than he loved himself.

      “Isn’t it funny how suddenly it seems we’re on the same page? The truth is I’m getting married, too, if you haven’t guessed yet.” she said as she showed her ring. “It’s just that I’m having crazy mood swings from the preparation that crazy things happened. When I sent you that message, I thought I made a mistake, but I still reached out to meet with you. So even if I didn’t want to admit it, I still thought of you as someone that I was really happy with for some time. But I’m guessing I became a fool so that I could do the same—so that I could clear out my thoughts for the person I’m engaged to.”

      Nichkhun leaned back on his seat and smiled. “I’m happy for you.”

      “Huh?”

      “I’m happy that you’ve found someone.”

      “Thank you. I’m happy for you, too. And I’m sorry, too, for hurting you.”

      “Don’t be.”

      After a silence, Nichkhun said, “I think this is by far the weirdest break-up I’ve had.”

      “Are you saying we’ve been together all this time?” she laughed along.

      “No, but that makes it weird, right? We’re breaking up after five years of not even seeing each other. And it’s all clean. We’re talking this out smoothly.”

      “We’re just handling it like adults.”

      “But adults don’t handle these things like adults most of the time,” he said.