WITH AND WITHOUT YOU. heeseung ✓

FIVE

　

WHEN things gets a little overwhelming for her, Heeseung would usually be the first person that Eunseo would turn to. Having been used to his way of showing her that he cared, it was a space of oblivious sanctuary that she found in his arms.

But now that the sanctuary she found in him turned to be the cause of her destruction, there was very little of options that she had to pour her emotions into.

Fortunately, Heeseung’s existence in her life brought wonderful people that she'd sought out every once in a while. A healing space that she found amidst the ongoing plague in her mind that was caused heavily by the very person she knows and loves.

The Dolce Vita Cafe was almost barren of customers when Eunseo arrived early in the morning for her daily dose of caffeine, outside of their house.

The Cafe was barely packed yet the presence of other business people filling in their stomachs first thing in the morning kept her reminded that there were people out there who were just like her. Though maybe different in status, they were there existing in the same space as her; that she was not alone and that thought calmed Eunseo a bit as she lined up to order her coffee before she waits for her friend’s arrival.

A few minutes later, seated and stomach filled with her coffee, the Cafe door pinged once more. Eunseo lifted her eyes from her phone to see the door before a smile lifted the corners of her mouth.

This was probably the only time that she could smile genuinely without feeling the need to force herself for the last months.

Ahn Yujin walked towards her table, her former blue dyed hair back to its natural black color that made Eunseo wonder if it has been long since she's last seen her friend.

Yujin beamed upon the sight of her friend, but the once gleaming smile slowly faded as she took Eunseo’s state.

Her once warm, elegant and joyous friend was a mere shell of a broken woman, almost reflecting her of how Eunseo was once back in their early college years.

Dark circles rimmed around the underneath of Eunseo’s eyes, a more paler complexion and her friend had gotten visibly thinner than the last time Yujin saw her. But when was exactly the last time the taller ravenette saw her?

Yujin sat hurriedly opposite to Eunseo’s seat, grabbing the latter's cold palm in her warm skin as she fired away the question that almost ate her the longer she studied Eunseo.

“What happened?”

Eunseo simply smiled, pushing an extra drink towards Yujin with a sigh.

“I think my engagement with Heeseung is failing.”

Yujin’s eyes widened, obviously shocked from the sudden news but despite that, she was so much more worried about her friend who didn't looked like she had gotten a goodnight slept for weeks.

Yujin bit her lip, anxiously fiddling with the straw of her cold drink that Eunseo still somehow knew the recipe to. She glanced at her friend again, noticing her faraway look as she stared at the passerbys through the glass walls. “You know I'm all ears for you right? I'm here to listen, just tell me what happened.”

Eunseo opened her mouth to say something, but the words got stuck in her throat as she reminiscence how the past months had been awful to her.

Surely if she listened to the hearsays of the bitter part of love, strayed away from the word love and avoided any connection with the charming third year college, business major Lee Heeseung, surely she wouldn't feel like there's something stepping hard on her chest, right?