The Reason we Broke Up

05.

“I can’t believe it. To think that you called me out first to grab a drink together…”
Mina sat across from Lisa at a samgyupsal barbeque restaurant. The smoke from the grill filled the air. Mina picked up the liquor bottle and looked a bit fascinated with the situation.
Mina’s surprise was expected. Lisa usually didn’t drink. But she called Mina out for a drink. Was the sky going to crack open and fall down tomorrow?
“Did something happen?”
Mina poured some liquor into Lisa’s glass. She glanced at Lisa’s face, but she couldn’t tell what she was thinking.
“Yeah.”
“What happened? Did someone throw a tantrum while you were working? Did the photographer tell you to take more clothes off? Or was your client an old fart who wanted to enjoy a meal and some drinks with you?”
“No, none of that.”
“Then what is it?”
Mina asked absentmindedly. If it wasn’t any of those reasons, then what was it? She looked at Lisa quizzically.
“Broke up.”
Lisa’s answer was curt. ‘We shouldn’t talk about other people,’ Mina thought, but she hesitated. But when Lisa didn’t say anything else, Mina realized that she was talking about herself.
“...What? Wait, you and Jeon Jungkook ?”
Although she knew the answer, Mina asked back. That’s how unbelievable it was to her. Mina had been by Lisa’s side and witnessed her love life through its entirety.
On the day of their graduation, she begged Lisa to join them for a group date, but she merely blurted out, ‘I’m dating Jungkook .’ Ever since then, the two of them had continued dating until now. They were together for over ten years.
At first, she couldn’t believe it. She’d never seen them together at school. And on top of that, Mina had also had her eye on Jungkook . But the two of them were such a perfect couple that she wholeheartedly congratulated them.
From then on, they had never been apart.
Therefore, the names Na Lisa and Jeon Jungkook  were always stuck together on her lips.

“Yeah. Me and Jeon Jungkook .”
Lisa answered calmly.
“No way. You just fought, right?”
Mina couldn’t believe it.
“No. We broke up. Completely.”
After Lisa replied, she threw back the entire shot of soju.
“...How can you two break up?”
“Why can’t we break up? People get divorced all the time now.”
Lisa’s eyes were clear. After hearing her words, Mina’s mouth closed shut. Just as Lisa said, couples who had lived fifty years together would get divorced these days. Ten years was nothing compared to that. But Mina still felt as if she were slapped across the face.
“But you still like Jeon Jungkook .”
Lisa, who had been about to pour herself another glass of soju, froze when she heard Mina’s words. Her eyes remained on the soju bottle as they began to blur. It was almost as if something deep within her heart had been exposed.
“Yeah. I do like him.”
She eventually acknowledged it. Mina looked as if she couldn’t understand.
“So why? Did Jeon Jungkook  say he found someone else? Is he dating that girl from that scandal? Is that why he said he wanted to break up with you?”
“No.”
“What is it then? Is it another woman?”
Mina began to search for reasons why Jeon Jungkook  wanted to break up.

“No. Jungkook  doesn’t have another woman. I was the one who said I wanted to break up.”

“What? You did?”
Mina looked surprised.

“Yeah.”

“What was the problem?”
Mina shouted out with a frustrated look on her face. They had dated for over ten years. She knew very well what Jeon Jungkook  meant to Lisa.

Lisa didn’t open up her heart to people easily. It had taken her a long time to open up her heart and approach someone. Mina knew she was like this because of some issues with her family.

Lisa had a family, but they weren’t her real family. Her father remarried and had a hard time interacting with his grown-up daughter and treated her harshly. Her relationship with her stepmother and half-brother was awkward at best.