In Between Heartbreaks » TaeRoseKook

I

She went out of the restroom with a puffed up reddish eyes. And she spent the rest of the day avoiding eye contact from anyone she talked to.

After her shift, Chaeyoung went straight to Paladra to visit her best friend, Lisa, who was working there as the branch manager.

“Chae, how was your date last night?” Lisa asked giddily.

Unable to talk, Chaeyoung freely allowed herself to let go of all her bottled up emotions. Her steady tears complimented her sullen look. Her reaction put Lisa in a panic mode so she swiftly adjourned their conversation inside her office before they grab everyone’s attention.

“Chae, it looks like your caramel macchiato won’t suffice for today’s counsel. How about we buy wine, get drunk, talk, cry, talk and cry and you can sleep over at my house tonight. Sounds fun right?”

Still crying, Chaeyoung only responded with a short nod.

“Great! Now can you wait for me here for the next hour? I will just give final instructions to my crew and then we will be good to go.” Lisa turned to leave, but not before giving Chaeyoung a reassuring hug.

... ... ... ... ...

The coldness of the night matched well with Chaeyoung’s disposition at the moment. Ever since they came to her house, Lisa was having a difficult time getting a word from her best friend. All she did was nod or shake her head in response. Even after nearly two bottles of wine, Chaeyoung stayed taciturn. So Lisa decided to up the game as she grew desperate to help ease her best friend’s mood.

“Chae do you still not want to talk about it? You see, I can’t be much help to you if all you do is whine all night. I promised you earlier that we are here to talk. So please, tell me what’s wrong,” Lisa pleaded.

“I . . . uh . . . he . . . was sorry,” Chaeyoung cried out as she handed Lisa the card she took from the bouquet.

“Huh? Wait! What is this?!” Lisa flipped the card over and over again.

“He did not meet me last night. I waited for him for two hours at the restaurant, looking like a fool by myself with only the wine to keep me company. And when I was about to give up waiting, a waiter gave me the bouquet with a mix of purple hyacinth, asphodel and cyclamen. Do you know how I was about to faint just seeing the flowers?” Chaeyoung moaned in between sobs.

Lisa answered with a confused look, “What’s with the flowers?”

“They mean regret, sorry and goodbye. How about the card huh?! He only wrote the word sorry and his name on the byline. He barely contacted me for a month, bailed out on me and even dared to make me wait for two hours before notifying me that he’s not going to show up for our third anniversary celebration. And he cannot even show me his face?! We’ve been together for three years and all I got was a one-word-apology-card? What was it he was even sorry about?!” Chaeyoung scowled before breaking down completely.

Lisa rushed over to Chaeyoung, now crying along with her. They stayed hugging each other until Chaeyoung finally calmed down. Chaeyoung grabbed the wine bottle and drank it all up, only pausing briefly to gasp some air before finishing the bottle’s content down to its last drop.

Lisa was shocked with Chaeyoung’s behavior, she muttered how this was so unlike the Chaeyoung she knew. Just as Lisa was taking the last bottle of wine away from Chaeyoung’s grasp, Chaeyoung dropped unconscious on the table. Lisa hovered over Chaeyoung, tucking Chaeyoung’s hair away from her face with great compassion. She clucked her tongue thinking about how her best friend was awfully treated.

Lisa slung Chaeyoung’s arm across her shoulders and dragged Chaeyoung to her room. She tucked her in the bed. And looking at Chaeyoung’s miserable face was crushing Lisa’s own heart.