Lead with Her Heart [ Sahyo ]

19 - Coming Clean

—City Park— Saturday, August 31st, XX35, 4:00 PM, the next day
[Sana's POV]

Walking toward the bench, Sana could already see Jihyo waiting for her. Her heart started pounding harder and faster with each step she took closer and closer to Jihyo. Before she knew it, she was standing right in front of her.

"S-Sorry, did I keep you waiting for long?"

Jihyo looked up and locked eyes with her for a moment, then quickly looked away.

"Ahem..." she coughed. "No, I just got here."

"Oh, I see..."

Sana took a seat beside Jihyo, intentionally leaving a sizeable gap between them. Jihyo took notice of this but chose not to address it.

"So, why did you call me out?"

"I wanted to talk to you about something. Something... pretty important."

Sana's heart was about ready to explode. She knew what was coming, but she didn't want to hear it.

"Yeah...? What is it?" she asked.

Jihyo twiddled her thumbs together. She seemed even more nervous than Sana was, she thought.

An audible sigh can be heard. "...Actually, let's talk about it later. Would you mind going for a short walk first?"

Needless to say, Sana was taken aback. "Eh? I-I guess that's fine."

The two women stand up and go for a quiet stroll along the empty paths in the park.

. . .

"What have you been doing lately?" Sana and Jihyo ask at the same time.

"Ah, you can go first..!" they both say, again in sync.

They physically stopped in their tracks and locked eyes with each other, clearly freaked out.

"I'll answer first, then..." Sana says. "I've just been taking pictures for my socials, but other than that... I've been feeling pretty low-energy lately so I usually go home right after work."

"I see. I've been focused on work, so I spend most of my time either at home or in the office."

"Mm, that seems tough. Don't push yourself too hard, okay?"

Jihyo nods.

The silence was deafening. What was up with Jihyo lately? She was acting so odd and quiet, it was starting to piss Sana off. The thing she hated most was when people beated around the bush, instead of speaking their thoughts.