" Josiah? Is that you?"
" Athena is that you?" I threw my hands around my best friend of middle school and high school. His embrace was foreign. His hands wrapped around me tightly. " My god Athena you are huge" He teased pulling away running his hands down my stomach. I smiled at him. " You know I haven't spoken to you since you transferred to Korea your first year. Wow. You look amazing. Your glowing , seriously" He spins me around and I laughed.
" I have been back two months already. Why haven't come seen me? I thought you knew everything?" I teased and he laughs. " Had I known, I'd come by for sure" My mother pushes her cart between us and smiles broadly at Josiah.
" Why don't you two catch up, by completing this list for me. I gotta make a run over to the Church and drop a few things off" She tells me and I nodded.
Josiah takes the list and pushes the cart. My mother disappears, and I scoffed. " I am so sorry. You know my mama is crazy. I'll finish this list, you can go about your business" I tell him and he laughs a light hearted laugh. " I had no plans that important today anyway. You know I was not giving up this chance to see you. Besides your mom called me randomly to help her at the mart" My eyes widened.
" That sneaky—She planned this? I should have known" I shook my head.
" It's fine. I am glad she did. I missed you." He says and I smiled shyly. He looked at the list. " Also, Where's the daddy? I know that your moms wouldn't have called if you were in a relationship" He says and I nodded. He was right. He always was. He was my best friend.
" Well, He's in South Korea, unfortunately we had to part ways." I say clearing my throat. " Why though?" I look ip at him. He wanted to know it in depth. He was calling bullshit already. " We had to break up, there were obstacles that got in the way. That type of thing" I confessed. He tilts his head animatedly like a dog. " What could have gotten in the way? His job? He was always busy wasn't he? I told you, them asians are mad workaholics" He say snorting pushing the cart into the pasta aisle.
" Actually no, Jae was a g—
—-Jay? What type of asian dude name is Jay? That's black home girl" I rolled my eyes. " You are mad ignorant you know that? His name is Jae Eun. Stop saying asian as well, it's Korean. You wouldn't want people labeling you as African would you?" I asked folding my hands over my breast. He laughs as he put pasta sauce in the cart. " Look at you defending your man, you must still love him" He teases.
" I don't just still love him, I am still in love with him" I say a loudly and-he turns around. " Then why aren't you with him?"
That question right there. I couldn't answer him.
I bit my lip. I choked on my heart and a tear falls. " Hey hey hey. Don't cry" He pulls me into a hug. "I'm sorry, it's probably still a hard subject" He says hugging me.
•. •. •
Jae's pov
" Remind me again, why the hell I let you follow me abroad?" I asked frowning at Minhyuk as I gripped the steering wheel. " I'm hungry Jae. Do you want me to die?" He pouts and I rolled my eyes. "Stop being dramatic. You just had a sandwich" I say and he scoffs. " So? I am korean, I want noodles. Noodles Jae, do you know what that is?" I groaned and park into a parking space at a mart.
" Besides you need a buddy just in case things don't go the way you want them to" I rolled my eyes and handed him a mouth mask. " Put this on, don't take it off? Cool?" I hop out of the car and he follows.
"We are only getting ramen, when we go into this mart. Don't touch nothing, do you hear me?" I say in perfect english. He lifts his hands signaling an ok. I grabbed his hand and pulled him into the mart. I saw a worker moping the entrance and I tapped his shoulder. I smiled warmly and he takes out an ear bud. " Do you know where I could get ramen?" I asked him.
" Oh, the chinese aisle is on the seventh aisle." He tells me and I shake my head. " Ramen. As in noodles. Not that type of noodles. Maruchan noodles, orange and yellow package. You know exactly what I'm talking about" I countered and he smirks. " Because I'm black?" He says and I smiled. " Exactly" I say sarcastically pulling Minhyuk into some aisle to find it myself.
" Didn't he tell you where it was?"
" We'll have to find it ourselves" I tell him as we skimmed through the aisles. Minhyuk pulls me to a halt. " Pasta?" He shows me the sign. " It won't be in this aisle" I say turning my head to look. I froze completely. I react quickly, pulling Minhyuk's mask off and putting it on my face. I push him backwards and he frowns. " What is it?" He asks.
" Athena. That woman in that aisle is her" Minhyuk eyes widened at this. " Really?" We poke our heads off to the side to peak in unison. A tall dark skinned man with his arms around her. My heart began to race, a pang sounded in my ears. She looked so beautiful. Her belly grew and I wanted nothing more than to hug her. Minhyuk slips into the aisle and I curse silently.
" You are two beautiful to be crying over any dude." He tells her and my breathing pattern changed. My fist clasped to the side of me. I felt an itch in my fingers. He wad touching my woman. She is mine. I take off running out of the store, I couldn't stand there anymore. I bolted through the doors and into the lot. Once I got in the car, I placed my head against the steering wheel. "Athena" I breathed running my hands down my face.