365 Days of You

Chapter 7

Mina wipes the table with a cloth. It is close to three and the rush hour has just gotten over.

"You can take a break love. You work too hard."

She smiles warmly at the old man behind the counter.

"I'll just finish this area and go for a break."

He sighs, walking away shaking his head to himself.

She clears the next table carefully avoiding looking at the newspaper a customer has left behind.

It's been six months she has checked any newspapers or gone online. Six months of trying to forget that one face she can't seem to erase from her mind.

"I got these documents from her. She looked-"

"Papa, I don't want to know."

She cuts him off.

She is slowly getting back on her feet and last thing she wants is to hear how well the older girl is doing without her.

Mina takes a deep intake of breath as she looks at the finger where her wedding ring used to lay, a thin line reminding her of her past.

Sometimes she thinks she's dreamt it all, but the tan line on the ring finger reminds her of the harsh reality.

"I saw her."

"Who?"

"Your Nayeon."

Her heart twists painfully. She isn't hers anymore.

"Momo." She pleads, "I don't want to hear another word."

So many nights she has cried herself to sleep. So many mornings she has waken up expecting to see dark eyes looking at her.

There have been times she felt like she was going to die from the sheer pain in her heart.

She is finally over all that.

She is finally over one Im Nayeon.

"How's my favourite girl?"

She hears the door open and smiles at her housemate. She has moved back with her friends after a month of living at her parents.

"My love."

She sighs exaggeratedly as she hugs Sana making her giggle.

She wouldn't have made it this far without her friends by her side.

Momo sings songs out of tune making her laugh through her tears. Jeongyeon brings ice creams and musicals whenever she has dark days.

And Sana, she has held her, picked up her pieces whenever she broke down.

"I can't Sana."

She sobs, her grief shaking her body.

Sana hugs her tighter.

"I can't forget the moments we shared. I can't forget her smile, her eyes, her voice. I can't forget the way she looked at me, touched me. Why can't I?"

"Right now you can't. But someday you will."

Sana promises and she lets herself believe her best friend's words.

Her divorce is still pending. The lawyer's union is on a strike and she'll have to wait another few weeks before they set a new hearing date.

She can't wait to finally everything behind her and start fresh.

"Hello, you look nice."

She smiles back at him.

"Thank you."

She replies, her traitorous mind reminding her how incredibly furious Nayeon was when she walked in on them.

"Do you want to go out sometimes?"

Every moment with him will bring back memories of Nayeon, how she sorted their New Year date, how mad she got when she said she doesn't like girl groups and what it lead to.

"I'm sorry. I can't."

"Jeongyeon and I won't be home tonight. We have a business conference meeting until two."

She pouts. Momo works night shifts, that means she'll be alone.

"This is the last late night conference call I'm going to agree on, I promise."

Sana kisses her cheek and leaves, shutting the door behind her loudly. Typical Sana. Mina shakes her head affectionately.

She gets through another rush hour between five and seven in the evening in one piece. As she sits down on an empty chair, her legs hurting and body sore, her mind travels back to an incident two months ago.

"She looks nice. Really hotter than before."

"That short hair suits her so well."

She smiles at the two girls pointing to their phones and discussing about someone.

"She's single now. Maybe we should chat her up on twitter."

She is kind of curious to know who they are talking about.

"Please. Have you seen her ex? She's got standards."

One girl teases the other.

When she goes to serve their cake and coffee, they gape at her with their mouth open.

"You're Nayeon's ex wife right?"

Her heart painfully twists when she hears that name. The name she's tried to carefully avoid for months.

"No."

She says and leaves.

She is in a better place now. She has completely moved on from her past and is looking forward to much more exciting things in her life.

When she was younger, she took part in a lot of musicals. Her friends have suggested she dabbles in it again and with her family encouraging her, she applied for the auditions a month ago and got through the first round even.

She is anxiously waiting to hear from them.

She is ready to close up the shop when she hears a familiar ding.

A new customer has arrived.

All her thoughts about moving on comes to a complete standstill when she turns around and comes face to face with Nayeon.

And despite everything she has told herself over the past six months, her treacherous heart flutters when their eyes meet and a smooth voice says,

"Hello, wife."