In Five Years

Chapter One

"When you trust someone, you are ready to sacrifice everything and anything for that person. That's how I feel towards Liam. I trusted him and his ambitions. He'll return to save us." - Reyna to her friends-- who opposed the idea of her funding his studies, four years ago.

Chapter One OST - 'Say' by Yoon Mi Rae.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To say Reyna was furious, was an understatement of how the cafe was looking like right now.

The state of Liberia cafe was an upgrade from what 'Hell' was supposed to look like if such place were summoned from the Holy books.

The cafe was dim in light, and the 'Closed' sign was turned two hours earlier than the usual closing hour. Although it wouldn't have made a huge difference. Because during these hours. only one person--- Mrs. Norris (or, the mismatched shoe lady) was Liberia's regular customer who never forgot to order a mug of hot espresso as she read her never-ending thick novel by the window, every Wednesday.

But it might be the last time Mrs. Norris will ever visit for a mug of coffee if she should ever dare to peek inside the blinds of Liberia cafe and see how Reyna has trashed the place upside down with burning passion an hour before the closing time.

"I knew it. I fucking knew it." Chloe cursed aloud with disdain as she swept a pile of broken glass shards into the dustpan angrily, "We fucking told you---"

"Don't," Jake warned cautiously. He eyed the lone figure crouching in the dark corner as a warning signal.

Reyna had her face buried in her hands, with more broken glass surrounding her bare feet.

Chloe sighed exasperatedly as she lifted the dustpan filled with clinking glass shards, and tipped it empty into the garbage can before she made her way over to Reyna.

"Scoot over," Chloe grumbled as she nudged Reyna's unmoving sides with the broom, "I need to clean this or else you'll get hurt."

"Like I care," Reyna muttered back, her voice muffled.

Jake sighed as he stood up and started to go around the cafe to stack the toppled chairs back on top of the table. He was deemed helpless in a situation like this, for he didn't possess the level of empathy like others to do. Similar to a robot, was what people had said.

His go-to motto of 'Fuck me or I'm fucked.' Would come as advantageous at times like this.

Reyna wished she had the talent to be heartless like Jake right now, she hated the feeling of helplessness combined horribly with sadness. Although she had every right to dwell after hearing the absurd news of his engagement.

"I thought we were on a break," Reyna mumbled to no one in particular, lifting her head for the first time in five hours.

"Holy fuck woman," Jake stumbled back at the state of her face, "You looked like a rat who went through The Great Depression."

"Or, witnessed the Salem witch execution. Well, she did go through something similar, technically," Chloe nudged aside Reyna's feet with force, and scooped more glass pieces into the dustpan without care.

"I thought he'll come back and--"

"Save you? Darling. We all saw who Liam was, unlike you who was blinded by this so-called love." Chloe scoffed harshly and strutted back to the trash can.

"Ditto. Let's be honest, he was okay back then. He was pretty sweet to her and everyone around." Jake said as he cleaned up the rest of the jugs into the dishwasher.