The café still smelled the same.
Coffee. Warm bread. Vanilla lingering somewhere in the air.
Lisa noticed it the second she stepped inside.
For a moment, something in her chest tightened.
Five years.
Five years since she last stood here. Five years since she promised herself she wouldn't come back.
The bell above the door rang softly behind her.
Someone laughed near the counter.
Plates clinked somewhere deeper inside the café.
Everything sounded painfully normal.
Lisa adjusted the sleeve of her hoodie and walked forward.
Her friend had insisted on meeting here.
Out of all places.
"You're dramatic," Jisoo had told her over the phone that morning.
"I'm not dramatic."
"You stared at the address for ten minutes."
"...That doesn't prove anything."
Jisoo laughed.
"It literally proves my point."
Now, standing inside the café, Lisa regretted agreeing.
She should've left the second she recognized the street.
Should've turned around before memory had the chance to settle in.
Instead, she stayed.
"Lisa?"
She looked up.
Jisoo waved from a table near the window.
"There you are."
Lisa crossed the room.
"You could've picked another place."
Jisoo blinked.
"Why?"
Lisa pulled out the chair.
"Nothing."
The answer came too quickly.
As she sat down, her gaze drifted across the room.
The corner table.
The crooked menu hanging near the register.
The plant by the window.
Five years later, and everything was still exactly where she'd left it.
"You okay?"
Lisa looked back at Jisoo.
"Yeah."
Jisoo studied her for a second.
Not convinced.
But she let it go.
"You want anything?"
"I'll order later."
Jisoo nodded and returned to her phone.
The conversation drifted toward work, mutual friends, and stories Lisa barely followed.
Something had settled beneath her skin.
Not loud.
Not obvious.
Just familiar.
Then she heard it.
A laugh.
Quiet.
Warm.
Known.
Lisa's hand stopped against her coffee cup.
Her eyes lifted before she could stop them.
Near the counter, Jennie stood holding two iced coffees.
Someone walked between them.
Music continued overhead.
A blender started behind the register.
Jennie looked different.
Her hair was longer now.
Her clothes softer.
There was something older in her eyes.
But it was still Jennie.
As if sensing it, Jennie turned.
Their eyes met.
Neither of them moved.
Lisa watched the change cross Jennie's face.
Surprise.
Recognition.
Then something quieter.
"...Lisa."
Her voice was lower than Lisa remembered.
Gentler.
"Hi."
One word.
Five years reduced to a single syllable.
Jennie glanced briefly at the coffees in her hands.
"You're here."
A breath almost escaped Lisa.
Of all the things Jennie could've said.
"Apparently."
The corner of Jennie's mouth lifted.
Small.
Careful.
Like she wasn't sure she still had the right to.
Lisa looked down at the table.
When she looked back up, Jennie was still standing there.
YOU ARE READING
Still Us
FanfictionOnce, they believed love would be enough. It wasn't. Fear, expectations, and silence slowly pulled them apart until saying goodbye became the only way they knew how to protect each other. Five years later, they meet again-not as the people who fell...
