Magical Tea

Destined to Meet

Following the direction Mina gave her, Maya asked the tricycle driver to take her to a village at the other side of the town. It was just a twenty-minute ride from her house to Mina's and was not that hard to find.

Mina must had already heard the tricycle stopping in front of the house because she need not knock on the door anymore before it was readily opened by a woman standing more or less five feet six inches tall, bearing the most welcoming smile on her flawless face.

Mina flew to hug her and she was just too happy to hug her back. "I never expected that you would be this cute in person," Mina gushed pushing her at an arm's length to better look at her.

"Hmm, that is just the charming way to say I am short," she joked.

"No, I really mean it! You are so cute! Looking at you now, no one could say you are already 47. I look way too old at my age more than you," Mina argued.

"That is quite flattering but let us continue this inside your house. It's sweltering out here," Maya requested, fanning her blushing face self-consciously.

"Oh, where are my manners? Of course, feel at home, beshy! I am sorry about the mess around here, I haven't got to completely get the house ready yet," Mina rushed out as she pushed some unopened boxes aside.

"Oh, should I had brought the army along?" Maya asked looking around the quite spacious but homely house.

Mina got confused for a moment, before she laughed out loud. "Oh,no! We are not that ready yet to cater a battalion. Let them come later when all the battle they needed to wage is over a banquet of food and drinks," she quickly replied to her friend's offer to bring her family over to help out.

"Oh, no worries, beshy! The lady bull is here for you! We will be done before the day is over just pull me by the horn and I will follow your lead," Maya winked at her friend who howled with laughter at her antics.

"You really would not mind, beshy? We were supposed to talk about what happened not labor around for the day. It's Christmas Day after all," Mina said reluctantly.

"We can surely talk about it while putting things around here in order, right? The house looks spotless. Have you been cleaning since the wee hours of the morning?" Maya asked looking down at the sparkling marbled floor.

"Well, yeah! I got help, you know. But there was not much to clean anyway since my cousins had the house ready days before we got out of the quarantine area. One of my cousins was taking care of the house since my last home visit a few years back," Mina replied as she began opening boxes.

Maya remembered Mina telling her before that she didn't have the heart to sell her parents' house because it was with the family for several generations. Each generation just contributed by reinforcing the original structure and expanding it to accommodate the growing number of each generation.

Mina's father was the eldest of three siblings, and being the eldest son, he inherited the house from his parents while his two other siblings had built their separate houses within the compound, which had the largest area in the entire village.

Mina was an only child. When she left for Korea to work and started her own family there, her relatives asked her if she was planning to sell the ancestral house but she refused to sell it even to her uncle. She was glad she refused to do so, she had somewhere to go to when things went haywire with her life abroad.

As Mina began to pull things out of the boxes she opened, Maya was there to help out. As they began to place Mina's personal things she had brought with her around the several areas of the house, she also began to relay the events that had happened after their last conversation online.

Mina talked in a detached manner, as if she was merely telling another person's story. She was somewhat just reading a script she did not have so much of an interest into. She just droned on and on, her words tumbling one after another, with an effort to just say it all out before she would break down.

Maya closed the distance between them and gathered her best friend wordlessly into a tight hug. Mina tensed for a moment before totally collapsing and broke down into silent, heart-rending tears. Maya just continued to hug her until she gradually calmed down.

"Will you be alright living back here?" Was the first thing she asked when Mina finally wiped her tear-streaked face with a tissue.

"I have savings to live by for several months, a year, at most. I can take on a small business with it to earn my living. Ki Young had set up a separate fund for Min Ki which he is bound to make a deposit on every month, so, Min Ki can continue with his studies online and would not have any problem with his own expenses," Mina disclosed.

"Does Ki Young know where you are?" She then asked.

"He would have known by now. His bank statement must have already arrived and since I used his card to book the plane tickets to fly here, he will see the destination," Mina replied.

"Take your time to think things over, beshy! Give time the chance to heal your heart and help you get through your ordeal. This separation can also help Ki Young see things he might have overlooked in your relationship and give him time to tidy himself up. There is still a chance of mending things up between you two, right?" Maya queried hopefully.

"I still love him very much, beshy! And I will continue to love him despite what have happened. This pandemic and the chaos it brought into our lives was just too much to take on for the moment. We both need a break we desperately need," Mina clarified.

"As long as the ember of love keeps on burning, beshy, there is hope," Maya smilingly assured her best friend.

"May it be from your mouth to God's ears, beshy. I can only hope for the best each day brings as we live far away from each other. I just pray, Min Ki does not hate me for this decision."

A slight movement caught Maya's attention then and she turned towards a now-opened bedroom door she noticed when she first came into the house.