CHANCES.

chapter one.

draft started: 1004/ 2021.

. . .

It has been forty-five minutes.

Forty-five minutes of Jeonghan sitting there, waiting, with her legs crossed and her purse on her lap.

Forty-five minutes of Jeonghan waiting for Jisoo to burst through the doors of the restaurant and sit on the opposite seat from her with the table set with food between them.

It's been forty-five minutes since the date has started.

And now she's waiting for it to actually happen.

This wasn't the first time that this happened.

Jeonghan knew Joshua for three months as a couple—their friendship going back for more than two years—and they have had six dates ever since. Four out of those six dates Jisoo was late. Four out of six dates Jeonghan had to wait in the restaurant, sitting there and praying that Jisoo would come within the next five minutes. It was always more than five minutes when he finally came. Always more than thirty minutes.

He always had an excuse.

It was their second date together, and the day before that Joshua asked her out on another date, but in a fancier restaurant in a mall. He showed up exactly thirty minutes after the date officially started. "God, the traffic was horrible." he'd said. "Sorry." Jeonghan let it go, this shit happened to her with a couple guys before, but it always only happened once.

"Sorry, I overslept."

Was another excuse for another date in a café. He showed up twenty minutes late this time, shorter than his usual record. Again, Jeonghan let it go, she overslept on days where she was supposed to meet with someone sometimes. It was normal, she let it go.

Sorry.

"Sorry. My car broke down in the middle of the road. I came here as fast as possible."

Sorry.

Sorry; it was always 'Sorry.'

At that point, Jeonghan was starting to get irritated with Jisoo. But, she hid it and continued to let him go once more with a forced smile.

She wasn't sure what to believe anymore. Maybe they were all lies; maybe some of them weren't.

She only knew that not all of his words were true, that some of them had to be lies.

Jeonghan sat there, her elbow resting on the table with a glass half empty with water in her hands. She spun it around, her mind spiraling over her head. She watched the liquid hit the inner walls of the glass—ripples flowing like waves in the water.

Five more minutes had passed.

Nothing.

Her heart flamed against her ribcage, blood ripping through her body.

It was so cold.

She wanted to scream.

Her finger quivered around the glass as another three minutes passed by. She gently squeezed it, the water swaying against the cup, before setting it down back on the table. Jeonghan flinched at the small thud.

She exhaled a breath, attempting to calm the drumming of her heartbeat pounding against her ear or the shaky breaths that plunged into her throat. She sighed. Eyes closed, she took another sip of water. Force stung the back of her eyes—her lashes brushed thin shadows on her cheekbones.