Limerence (Chaelisa)

Chapter 1: After All This Time

The last thing Chaeyoung ever said to Lisa was, "I don't want you as a friend. Just go away."

The last thing Lisa ever said to Chaeyoung was, "Okay, I will."

It's been six years since Chaeyoung and Lalisa have last spoken to each other. After the end of their friendship, Lisa moved schools.

Now the two girls are twenty-year-olds, living their lives without each other. At least that's how it is until Lisa manages to land a part-time job at a bubble tea shop just a few blocks from her campus.

"Now remember, the key to getting tips is to smile like you actually mean it," Jennie reminds me as we walk towards the location of my new workplace.

"I smile and I always mean it," I say back.

"That's true. You need to stop being so happy around me all the time."

"But if I'm around you, how can I not be happy?"

Jennie stares at me for a few seconds before letting out a small chuckle. "Wow, you're practically flirting with me and you don't even know it. No wonder so many guys like you."

"They do?"

"Lisa, how can someone not like you? You're like this giant ray of sunshine, you keep on saying things that lead people on and you don't even know what you're doing."

Jennie is wrong. There are people who don't like me. Chaeyoung being one of them.

We arrive at my destination about a minute later.

"Good luck, Lisa," Jennie ruffles my hair before walking away.

Okay.

I push open the door to the shop. The room is quite small, but it has everything a bubble tea shop needs. A few tables, a cash register sitting on top of a counter, and a door leading to the kitchen.

"Lalisa," the shop-owner calls out to me from behind the cash register. "You're here early. Are you excited for your first day of work?"

"Yup," I respond, giving the old lady a kind thumbs-up.

It doesn't take me a long time to learn the basics of everything. I've had part-time jobs before in the past, they're pretty easy when you get the hang of it.

"Well, I need to be somewhere soon. You won't be alone for too long, though, I have another employee who's supposed to be here soon. She works the same shift as you but something came up so she's gonna be a little late today."

"Okay, don't worry, your shop is in good hands." I hold up my hands just for emphasis.

The lady lets out a laugh and then she leaves.

And then I'm all alone in the shop, simply waiting for another customer.

After five minutes, it starts to rain outside.

After ten minutes, the door to the shop flies open, revealing a brown-haired girl who enters drenched in rain from head to toe.

Park Chaeyoung.

I haven't spoken to her in six years. I mean, we see each other in public sometimes since we still live in the same city. That's how I still know what Chaeyoung looks like now that's she's all grown up. Because I bump into her every once in a few months on the streets. Not because I'm her friend.

"Fucking hell," I hear her mutter. She has yet to notice me. "Mother Nature can go suck my d—" Her words come to a stop once she sees me staring at her.

God, I haven't heard her voice in such a long time. I miss her voice. It's nice and beautiful, despite the fact that she's cussing.

"Um, hi, Chaeyoung."