Spring Moon

10

The thought of the upcoming event in the next 7 days really made me dread, my back would be drenched in cold sweats. But, I didn't have time to constantly think about it because I had deadlines.

All the staff were in chaos preparing this and that while me, Sangyeon had excused me from taking part and instead focused on writing. That led me to be in Jacob's and Evelyn's cafe on Wednesday which had been the third day since I started coming.

Third day.

Time flew so well when we didn't pay much attention to it. I'd been focusing on my work too much to realize that I never heard from Kevin for 72 hours now. We never talked and never exchanged text messages within that timeline.

How indifferent.

It started to be real now - the feelings. No matter how big my longing for him or the desire to talk to him just to relieve this stress bulking up from writing inside me, I just couldn't pick up the courage to disturb him.

He must be busy, I told myself. And the biggest obstacle that fell upon me was the what if. What if he found it annoying if I keep calling?

Sangyeon's advice somehow clicked well with me. He was right after all. Just like how I trusted Kevin to carry this relationship for over hundreds of kilometres away, being oblivious to who he associated with every day, he had to trust me the same.

So what if I worked with Joochan? He was my ex, nothing would be changed from there.

I sounded too confident but the truth was I never overcame this fear. It was only a gaslight.

"Honestly, I just couldn't understand why you guys wanted to go slow in this relationship," Chanhee said, my fingers stopped fumbling with the keyboards as I looked straight at his face across from me. "Is 12 years not enough for you two to get to know each other?"

I chuckled, crossing my arms as I slumped against the chair. "12 years weren't short, man. Many things happened obviously during those years. We lived our own lives before we met again. But, I must say... I am a different breed."

"Why?"

"Because... other girls probably would leave him instantly," I nodded, agreeing with my own opinion. "Lack of communication will be the reason."

"Hmm..." Chanhee seemed to have his own stance, a finger tapping his chin as he thought. And then, he began, "I think he feels forced to be in a relationship with you."

"Hey!!" My fist was already in the air to scare him. How dare he say that in my face. "Don't make me overthink things, Chanhee!"

We nearly launched a fight, I meant a physical fight. But, Choi Chanhee was just lucky that Faye and Evelyn joined us at the table with several kinds of drinks and cookies just at the perfect time before I could throw my hand at him. If not, he probably had been laid flat on the ground by now.

Evelyn started which proved that they overheard our conversation, "If he feels forced, he won't be the one suggesting this relationship."

"Agreed!" Faye supported, taking a sip of her drink. "But... I must agree that Kevin is a very... dry texter."

Chanhee chuckled, rolling his eyes hysterically as he shoved a cookie into his mouth. He must have felt unfair to be ganged by 3 girls.

"Truth be told..." Evelyn hesitantly added, the pause afterwards somehow made me shiver. It was scary to hear the continuation. "I was expecting Kevin to be better than that. He wanted this to work out so maybe... he could... show a little bit effort?"

She sent an apologetic expression towards me. Something like I am sorry to say this look. I couldn't lie that I was expecting the same. I would want to see the effort like how he did before just to convince me that he was serious. But it was not my position to argue. I was busy as well.

"Have you invited him to the event?" Faye's question caught me off guard.

The meet and greet, I never informed Kevin about it. And neither did I invite him though Sangyeon would never complain.

Faintly shaking my head, the three pairs of eyes then shot me glares that I understood the meaning way too well. They were done with me, they thought that I also didn't contribute much to have this relationship worked out.

"He must have found out about it through Moonlight portal," I scratched my scalp, suddenly feeling unsure. "So... I didn't remind him anything."

That would be the least reason right? Even though he was no longer active as the admin of Moonlight, he was still a part of it. Haknyeon had posted about the event and he must have been notified. Unless he didn't check.

"Are you sure you are the Ivy who writes love stories?" Faye sarcastically questioned, she sounded mad out of the blue. "Even if he knows about it, you should invite him personally!"

I slightly flinched. But, to personally invite him meant I had to either call or text him. If he was busy, then... was it okay if I disturbed him?

"You are too paranoid, Ivy," Evelyn seemed to have read my mind. "Boys sometimes could be an attention seeker."

"Excuse me!" Chanhee was offended. He was about to say more but Faye shushed him before he could let them out. "You guys are killing me."

"Go to the back, then. Jacob might need your help," Evelyn shooed him away which made him nothing but more enraged. Chanhee pushed the chair backwards, the screech against the floor proved that he was mad.

First; to be ganged. Second; to be shooed. Just who wouldn't be mad?

Watching him furiously stomp away while sipping on a sprite, my focus was brought back to the girls when Evelyn snapped her fingers. The three of us unknowingly moved to the centre of the table, ears widely opened. Of course, another hot tea.

"About..." Evelyn seemed hesitant though her voice was at its lowest right now. "Daisy..."

At the mere mention of the name, I moved back, asserting my back to my chair as I scrunched my nose. I didn't want to show my hatred over the upcoming topic discussed but Faye was the opposite of me.

"I'm not interested in talking about her," she lashed out, unlocked her phone and started scrolling.

By now, I was sure that people had started to notice the minus 1 from our circle. But, ironically, neither Jacob nor Chanhee had noticed the absence of the female from every gathering we held and none of us really cared to talk about it. We won't.

Conflicts could happen without one really noticing it came. It could happen in the least expected situation which most people would say, was a misunderstanding. However, within this small circle, I could say no such thing happened. There would never be a misunderstanding other than we had enough.

It still pained me when I remembered that all of this happened after everything we did for her. Nonetheless, if I looked on the positive side, God just wanted to replace her in my life with someone better. Because soon after, my pain was replaced with happiness from Kevin's confession.

"I'm not planning to go back to her," for the sake of my mental health, I decided that. "But, if you guys want to... then, it's up to you."

"Not me," Evelyn put her hands up in the air in the form of surrender before she sighed and asked for our attention. "What I want to say is... I'm worried. We all know how is Daisy and her harsh statements."

"We never touched her so why she gets agitated?" Faye chuckled. "That is her, Evelyn. Soon when she gets tired, she will shut up."

"Just let her do whatever she wants," I added which probably wouldn't convince Evelyn in real quick.

However, ironically, the topic concluded really quickly, and Daisy's name eventually disappeared from our discussion. Faye showed something on her phone to Evelyn and I... I had an important thing to do.

Sending Kevin an invitation.