Chapter Text
“Ouch!”.
Yoohyeon looked up at the person who just smacked her at the back of her head with a frown painted on her forehead. She rolled her eyes in ultimate, real annoyance upon seeing Bora the café’s owner smiling all cheekily and playfully at her. She then shifted her focus back to the book she was reading, completely ignoring Bora’s existence there. Bora tilted her head slightly in confusion, not expecting Yoohyeon would react like that. She wasn’t reacting like her usual self. Usually, she’d scold Bora for bothering her but – not this time.
“What’s wrong, Yooh?”. Bora asked with concern wrapping around the tone of her voice as she took a seat opposite the taller girl. Yoohyeon only looked at her for less than a second and shook her head. Bora became even more curious when she heard a sigh from Yoohyeon’s own mouth. Yoohyeon almost never sighed nor complaint in her life, so this was kind of worrying for Bora to witness. Bora was about to ask another thing before her eyes caught a customer walking towards the counter, wanting to pay for their meals.
Don’t get her wrong, though. Yoohyeon was important, but her café business was a little bit more important than Yoohyeon.
Yoohyeon put her book down before grabbing her phone, trying to distract herself from the surroundings that she considered a little bit too noisy to her likings. Yoohyeon glared at someone over her shoulder as the person pulled the chair too loudly and screeched to ears. Her gaze softened almost instantly, and jaw fallen open slightly when she recognized the person. The person smiled at her too sweetly, and just from that Yoohyeon knew that the person also recognized her. She somehow felt nervous, and anxious because it truly had been a while since they last saw each other.
“Hi”.
Yoohyeon was surprised by the greeting, watching the person sitting opposite her at the table casually. Yoohyeon smiled fleetingly at the person, was debating inside her mind about replying to the person’s greeting or not. She bit her lower lip anxiously, thoughts flooding her mind and she still hadn’t said anything. She flinched when the latter’s thumb came to her lips and softly swiped it across her lower lip as if she wanted her to stop her doing.
“Still hasn’t left this habit behind, I see”. The person chuckled and God – Yoohyeon never knew she missed to hear that laughter so much. Yoohyeon looked to her left when she noticed someone was standing there and was greeted by Bora’s mother-like smile. Bora put a menu booklet in front of the new customer, smiling warmly when their eyes met. Bora recognized this person too. How could she not when Yoohyeon always talked about this one person for years?
“I’m taking this special beef hamburger with cheese and lemon iced tea, please. Thank you”. Bora quickly jotted down the customer’s order and nodded. She repeated the order she had written and only went to the kitchen when the person confirmed it. Watching Bora walking away, Yoohyeon almost begged her to stay with her at table, but she knew Bora was busy. Especially since it was approaching the closing time and a lot of people were leaving.
“I miss you”.
Yoohyeon felt like her spit got stuck in her throat and she coughed unintentionally at the sudden confession. Yoohyeon looked at the person deadpanned before opening her mouth to reply with, “You – what? I think I’ve heard it wrong, though”. Yoohyeon almost laughed when she rewound to what the person just confessed just now. The person gulped slowly and nervously as she silently observed Yoohyeon’s facial expressions and trying so hard to read it.
“I said – I miss you”. The person repeated herself, pretty boldly though Yoohyeon’s stare was piercing to soul at the moment. It was kind of scary to look into her eyes right now. She earned sinister chuckles from the tall girl, causing her confidence to almost fall apart. She was surprised, but she managed to keep a straight and calm face.
“Oh yeah? After dumping me 3 years ago, of course you are”. Yoohyeon snarled in irritation that slowly building up inside her. Chuckles left her throat unknowingly as she found it funny to hear such confessions from someone who dumped her without any reason years ago. It was funny, but why was she feeling like crying right now? She truly wanted to let everything out, but she didn’t want to cause a scene at Bora’s café.
She felt so much hurt inside her heart. Especially after noticing a beautiful gold ring placed so beautifully on the latter’s ring finger. The ring looked special for some reason she couldn’t explain.
“Were my feelings just a toy for you to play with, Minji?”. Yoohyeon questioned abruptly, surprising the person sitting opposite. Her gaze softened at a rapid speed, and she felt tears were threatening to flow down. She was weak, too weak. Three years of acting like everything was fine after the hurtful breakup, her guard now, finally, slowly falling apart. It was hurting her more now than what she was supposed to feel in the past three years.
“No, of course not. You know I loved you so much, Yoohyeon”. Minji replied, almost whispering as she noticed Bora was walking towards their table with her order. She thanked the owner who she contacted a lot when she and Yoohyeon were still – something. Bora also helped a lot during their breakup, and Minji couldn’t thank her enough. Minji then motioned to Yoohyeon with her eyes, and Bora understood right away before going back to the counter.
Bora sat behind the counter, eyeing the two people who used to be together, now probably trying to figure out what was what.
“Then, why? It took me so much time to move on, to forget almost everything about us and now you come back for what?”.
“What I did back then was with reasons, Yoohyeon”. Minji coaxed, smiling softly at the girl who once used to be hers. Yoohyeon rolled her eyes and scoffed in disbelief, finding it super hard to believe Minji now. It became harder because Minji had broken so many promises before. Minji then glanced over the counter, noticing Bora was pointing to the wall clock. It took her a moment to understand what Bora meant.
Bora was telling her to finish her meals quickly since the café was closing soon.
Minji nodded in understanding before diving to savor her meals. The burger was actually her favorite for some time when she used to come here regularly before. Minji then suddenly shoved a big bite of the burger into her mouth and choked on the food, surprising both Yoohyeon and Bora. Yoohyeon was quick to stand up and help her spit out the remaining, all while nagging at Minji’s stupid doing. Bora just watched them from afar since she knew Yoohyeon could manage it.
“You and your big bites, I swear! Do you want to die early?!”. Yoohyeon nagged as she huffed in slight annoyance, earning chuckles from the latter as she looked up at the tall girl. Minji smiled endearingly, reminded of their old times together. She loved to shove big bites like that whenever Yoohyeon was around because she knew Yoohyeon would help her in case she choked on her food. Ever since they broke up, she never shoved food into her mouth like that until just now.
“Oi, the café’s closing soon!”. Bora shouted from the counter. Minji finished her meals quickly and got up from the seat faster than Yoohyeon. Yoohyeon could only quirk up a brow as she watched Minji go to the counter to pay for her meals. Not long after, she came back to stand beside Yoohyeon with a warm smile tugged on her lips as she stared at the tall girl.
“Let’s go. I’ll walk you home”. Minji insisted and casually grabbed Yoohyeon’s hand to hold it tight in hers. She gently dragged the tall girl with her, not forgetting to thank Bora before stepping out of the café. Yoohyeon was silent, too silent to Minji’s likings. But Minji was thankful that Yoohyeon at least didn’t flick her hands away.
Their walk to Yoohyeon’s place was so calming and silent, but it was a rather comfortable silence. Minji guessed that Yoohyeon was still living with Siyeon (ever since they were in high school) because now they were walking in the very familiar street for Minji. She came to Yoohyeon’s place quite frequently before, so she knew it well.
“Can we meet tomorrow? Can I contact you? I have so many things to say, to explain to you. But of course, only if you want to”. Minji spoke, breaking the thin wall between them once she couldn’t handle the silence anymore. Minji turned to look at her and was surprised to see that Yoohyeon was already staring at her. She was flustered but managed to keep her face straight.
“Okay”. It was such a simple answer, but Minji was so relieved to hear it. She was glad that Yoohyeon still wanted to see her. She was so happy that her lips quirked up into a rather wide smile, almost a grin.
They continued walking until they stopped in front of a building Minji knew was Yoohyeon’s place that she shared with Siyeon. Now, the goodbye would be a little awkward. It truly had been a while since they last wished and greeted each other like this.
“Then … See you tomorrow. I will text you. You still use the same phone number, right?”. And Yoohyeon just nodded, confirming it. Minji inhaled deeply and exhaled, pulling out a sweet smile before bowing slightly, feeling rather awkward to say goodbye after so long. Yoohyeon bowed, slowly making her way into the building, going back to her home.
Minji watched her going into her house, and her eyes were full of adoration, admiration and love. They broke up approximately three years ago, but Minji was sure her love for Yoohyeon never faded. She never ran out of love for Yoohyeon. It was still there all this time and all she needed to do was to get Yoohyeon back into her life. Hearing Yoohyeon agreed to meet her again tomorrow made her cheer, but only silently inside her head though.