under the same sky | chaekura

Chaeyeon: Huiyeon

"I'd recommend their carbonara, it's their special."

I never thought I'd live to see the day where I have breakfast with Huiyeon after she joined LIGHT. A lot about her has changed. From her blonde hair to the fact that she rejected my suggestion to go to a tonkatsu place (her favourite), and dragged me to an Italian restaurant instead. For breakfast. The old Huiyeon hated Italian food. And we're having it for breakfast. She thought pasta and pizza were overrated. She always went for the eccentric, the classic, the familiar. I guess being an idol changed her.

"She'd have the same one. With iced tea. Thanks." She passes the waitress our menus. "Iced tea is your favourite right?" I nod. She remembers? "Unnie showed me this place. It's pretty good." I can't help but stare blankly at her. "And it's not far away from our place. And you're school too, if I'm not wrong." This is all so new to me. My eyelids are droopy from yesterday's lack of sleep. I spent a good 3 hours last night, trying to figure out how to get out of this breakfast arrangement. Not because I don't want to have breakfast with Huiyeon, but because I shouldn't. I hate that this started out pretty well. She said she could only make it for breakfast, but I felt bad because she sounded like she genuinely wanted to have breakfast with me. My phone starts buzzing. I check the caller ID to see Sakura's name. Saved by the girl.
"I have to take this, give me a sec." I leave the small restaurant.

"Saku-chan."
"Hey...where are you?" Oh. My gosh. I forgot to tell Sakura. Every Saturday, Sakura and I would have breakfast with each other. Occasionally, we'd eat with Yujin and Minjoo but, usually, it's just the two of us. But since I stupidly agreed for breakfast with Huiyeon, I was supposed to tell Sakura. Thinking about it now...I can't. Because there was no way anyone in IZ*ONE, especially Sakura and Minjoo, would approve of me being with Huiyeon. Not exactly 'fraternizing with the enemy', but Sakura and Minjoo would think I'm ready to forgive Huiyeon for everything she did to me. I'm not. But I want to see where this goes first, before I decisively say I'm over our friendship. Something tells me they won't see it that way.
"Oh my gosh! I forgot to tell you yesterday." This is a good start. I'm being truthful. "I said I'd have breakfast with my family today." There's the lie. "They're in town so I couldn't pass it up. I was going to tell you yesterday, but I forgot. Sorry." Silence. Have I been caught? Did she see right through me? 
"Sorry, I was brushing my teeth." Thank goodness for Sakura's need to wash up right after she wakes up. "But, yeah sure. Have fun! Say hi to them for me! See you." I'm such a bad friend.
"See you, bye!" I hang up and walk back into the restaurant. I'll deal with this guilt later.

"Who's that?" Our food's arrived but she's waiting for me before she starts eating - the first habit of hers that, I noticed, hasn't changed until now.
"Oh, uh...it's nothing. Let's eat." I smile and we both eat our food.

Our conversations, as much as I didn't want to admit it, reminded me of old times. It wasn't exactly the same, but she retained her habit of never interrupting when i speak and she still always let me speak first. She's a couple days older than me, so maybe it's just that unnie-dongsaeng line she always respected. Some things about her did change, though. Like the tone of her voice, her pitch, the awkward way she delivered some of her sentences. It was...different. I couldn't grasp what was off, but I just didn't like it. Well, that's what we always had in common: we're more comfortable with the idea of familiarity. When she said goodbye, she added the words "let's meet-up again soon", before heading in the opposite direction. Maybe this would work out, I thought. Maybe she has changed for the better. Maybe she wants to make things better.

"Chaeyeon!" I turn around to find Sakura with Minjoo and Yujin. "How was your breakfast?" Right. About that.
"Oh! It was great!" I'm a monster for using my family as a lie. "I think they'll try to visit for breakfast every Saturday." Especially when I have to pretend that I know what it feels like to see them every week. Especially when I need to act like I don't miss them as much as everybody else does. Why did I land myself into this mess? 
"That's lucky. My parents would have to fly back from Japan if I wanted to see them. Maybe next time, you can bring me to your family breakfasts." Sakura's smile makes me heavily aware of the lump in my throat. I smile and link arms with her as the 4 of us walk back to school.