"What are you saying, Choo?" Sana glances up at Tzuyu with an expecting smile.
"I like you, maybe even more than simply like." Tzuyu looks away from Sana's eyes, hands still holding the bag with her gift inside.
Sana hooks her arm around Tzuyu's neck and stands on her toes. "I think...I think I like you too." Sana leans in and pulls Tzuyu's close. Tzuyu closes her eyes and wraps her arms around Sana's waist, expecting the kiss she's been dreaming about.
That's the point, she's been dreaming about it.
The alarm rings at the worst time possible, interrupting Tzuyu's sweet dream, the girl groans and picks up the clock on her bedside table to throw it across her room. She lies face down on her pillow and mutters to herself. "Stop dreaming, idiot."
Her mom knocks lightly on the door. "Are you alright, sweetheart? I heard a thud at the door."
"Sorry Mom, I'm fine." Tzuyu sits up from her bed and turns on her phone to check the time. It's still early, no one has probably arrived at school yet.
She unlocks her phone and checks everything, from the class group chat to her order for the picture frame, which has been completed. The class will have one last meeting today to ensure everything going in the right direction before the concert night a week from now.
After a short drive, with a detour to the souvenir shop the other day to get the frame, Tzuyu arrives at school to find a completely empty classroom. She slowly takes out the photo frame and cherishes it like it's the most important thing in the world. She takes out her favorite picture of her and Sana, which they took during their window shopping spree the day Mina and Momo ditched them. Tzuyu smiles at the memories that day and puts the framed photo in a box that she decorated herself.
"Ahh, young love." Tzuyu looks up immediately and sees Joohyun leaning against the door frame.
"AAAHHH! How long have you been there?"
"Long enough, you know I always come to school very early, right?" Joohyun shrugs. "You might want to tuck that box under the table, the others are coming." The girls step into the class chatting loudly and Jihyo walks to the front.
"Have you guys seen the stage? I say we did a great job down there." Jihyo starts, referring to the school yard. "Today is going to be a short one, we're just going to recap everything to be sure. Sana, Tzuyu? You guys are all done with the souvenirs right?"
"Yeah, badges and wristbands are enough, hopefully. We left the boxes at the teacher's desk."
"So, the stage, food, gifts, photobooth, sound and lighting, okay. Finally, the performances. Dahyun?"
"There will be 12 acts in total. We chose 7 from the auditions and 5 from our class. Momo and Mina, Seulgi and Joohyun, Jisoo with Chaeyoung as DJ, Jeongyeon and Jihyo and Seungwan secret act to close the show. The whole show will be quite long, about 3 hours."
"That's about it, actually. Does anyone have anything to add? If not then we can go home. See you guys in a week and hope our hard work will pay off that day."
Momo taps Tzuyu's shoulder. "Are you gonna do it, it's your last chance before the concert." Tzuyu slowly pulls the box out from under the table when Mina and Sana approaches them.
"I'll take you home but my car ran out of gas. Wait for me in the yard okay?" Mina walks away and winks at Tzuyu. Momo stands up to follow Seulgi to dance practice after patting Tzuyu's shoulder lightly.
Tzuyu takes a deep breath and follows Sana to the yard with the gift hidden behind her back. She is approaching Sana slowly, her heart is beating at a thousand beats per minute and she is probably sweating a lot. Her phone suddenly vibrates with a text making her flinch a little. 'What are you doing, you look like a creep.' She looks around and sees Momo hiding behind a column pointing hastily towards Sana while mouthing 'Do it'. Tzuyu breaths in and out a few times and straightens her back. She taps Sana's shoulder lightly.
"Hey, Choo. What is it?"
Tzuyu closes her eyes and grits her teeth while giving the box to Sana. The Japanese girl furrows her eyebrows in confusion but takes the box nonetheless. "What is this? Is it a gift for me?" Tzuyu nods. "Can I open it?" Sana opens the box to see the photo of her and Tzuyu in silly costumes at the mall in a cute shiba inu frame. "Aww, this is so cute. Thank you Choo Choo." Sana reaches up and hugs Tzuyu.
"Ireallylikeyou" Tzuyu shuts her eyes and says what she has been meaning to but she said it too fast for Sana to hear.
"Huh? What are you saying?" Sana asks again while putting the gift in her backpack.
Tzuyu opens her eyes and stares deeply into Sana's eyes. "I said I really like you."
Sana stares back at Tzuyu with her mouth hanging open. No one can say a word, it's like the world has stopped moving, the silence surrounding is deafening and terrifying to Tzuyu. "What?" Tzuyu just stands there like an idiot, waiting for Sana to continue because she can't find anything to say at the moment.
"I-no. I don't know what to say Tzuyu." The nickname is gone, that's when Tzuyu realizes she's about to face one of her worst nightmares. "I like being with you, I really do but I never see you that way." Sana pauses for a while, grabbing her hair. "I mean, I don't think you like me that way too Tzuyu, I think we're really close friends and you just misunderstand."
"Do you know how long I've been having these feelings for you?" Tzuyu desperately asks, grasping for a glimmer of hope.
"I can't imagine. I just-I can't-I don't know what to say."
"It's okay, I get it." Tzuyu has prepared for everything, even a slap to the face, the only thing she didn't expect is this. She's only sure about one thing and it's her feelings and sadly it's the one thing Sana denies.
"Just think, okay? When you get home, then text me if you have figured it all out." Sana turns away without another word, leaving Tzuyu in the middle of the yard surrounded by the lovely decorations of the gala, which is completely opposite to what she's feeling right now.
At the gate, Mina is currently waiting for Sana to tell her the good news when she sees her best friend approaching with a grim look on her face. Sana opens the car door and sits down. "Drive, Mina, please."
Mina starts to feel really uneasy but starts driving anyways. "What happened?"
"Tzuyu confessed to me." Sana gulps. "I rejected her. In the worst way I could possibly do." Sana starts crying into her backpack. "I feel so guilty, she's been there for me through everything, including when Mark broke up with me." Mina reaches over and rubs Sana's back. "I hurt her, I can see it in her eyes, I've never seen that look before. But I haven't moved on from Mark so I can't." Mina pulls out her phone and dials Momo's number.
"Hi, Mitang."
"Baby, it's Tzuyu." Mina pauses and it doesn't take long for Momo to understand.
"Okay, I'll find her, drive safe and take care of Sana." Momo gets Seulgi with her and runs outside the dance practice room to see that it's raining hard outside and Tzuyu is nowhere to be found.
"I think Jihyo and Joohyun still stay behind. I'll go ask them." Seulgi runs upstairs to their classroom and Momo is trying to think of a place Tzuyu will be at. She doesn't know but she knows someone who does. She pushes the door of the game club open. "Jisoo, are you here?"
Jisoo runs to the door. "What is it?"
"It's Tzuyu, something bad happened, do you know where she could be at?"
"I do, follow me." Jisoo drags Momo with her.
They arrive at the secluded corner of the school garden and they are met by the worst image possible. Tzuyu is sitting on the ground next to the broken plant pots with swelling eyes due to the crying and to make things worse she's completely soaked but she doesn't even try to move. Jisoo and Momo quickly run to Tzuyu and help her walk to a dry place.
"Just leave me there." Tzuyu sniffs and hugs herself.
"And what, let you freeze to death?" Momo fires back.
"I'm not enough for her. I'll never be despite she means a lot to me." Tzuyu lies on the ground. Jisoo and Momo can sense the hurt and desperation from Tzuyu's words. They know how much Sana means to her and what she would do as long as she can see that bright smile on Sana's face.
"You are enough. I don't think anyone is more enough than you, if that makes any sense. You've been by her side through everything." Jisoo pauses to think. "I think she's also clueless, after the whole thing with Mark, she probably needs more time to figure things out. And she ended up unintentionally hurt you."
"Is it true that it's not meant to be? Just like that?"
Momo lies down next to Tzuyu and sighs. "I'm not gonna let you give up because of that cheap reason. It has never been a good reason for me. When you need someone or love someone, you fight for it. If you fail, there's always a reason, you decide your life. Look at me, Tzuyu. If you're not enough for Sana then I shouldn't be near Mina. She's clever, beautiful and I'm just dumb, I can't do anything right."
"Momo!" Jisoo scolds Momo.
"It's true. I didn't give up and I don't want you to do so." Momo sighs. "You might think that you lost her as a friend and all that but you didn't."
Tzuyu chuckles bitterly. "You should have heard her voice, it's like she's scared of this."
"Because she is." Jisoo stares into Tzuyu's eyes. "Her relationship with Mark is unhealthy, he didn't treat her like she's his girlfriend. After a relationship like that, she just wants reflect I guess and it takes time. The last thing you should do now is blame yourself, because none of you are at fault. Time will resolve everything." Jisoo and Momo wrap Tzuyu in one big hug.
"You have been patient, just wait a little more." Momo squeezes Tzuyu's hand reassuringly. Tzuyu nods slowly and closes her eyes, her mind once again drifts to the image of Sana.
At home, Sana takes out the gift from Tzuyu. She looks around her room, which she hasn't clean in a while and finds a photo of her and Mark in the locker of her desk. She throws that photo along with some other things that reminds her of the relationship. Then finally she places the photo of her and Tzuyu on the bedside table.
"Sorry." She mutters before drifting off to sleep.
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A/N: Another tough chapter. Don't hate me, I will explain my decisions after the story is over, which is only a few more chapters. The concert starts in the next one.
Have a nice day, readers.