Broken

65

This was a good decision, right? It's not like she could keep avoiding it, and she was fine, she was doing great now, no reason to keep avoiding the couple, they were her soulmates afterall. Not that being her soulmates meat much to her, but still, Sana and Jeongyeon were nice enough, and she was fine, wasn't she?!

Tzuyu's call managed to lighten up her mood a little, but there she was again, waiting for the girls to show up and getting a bit anxious in the process. Jihyo tended to overthink when left to her own devices during stressful situations, so here she was, about to pace in front of the bench she had been sitting at, but she was faced with two stunned girls not that far from her that got her all that more agitated.

"Hi-hi" Jihyo cleans her throat, fidgeting. "How long have you two been there for?"

"We don't know?" Sana snaps out of her reverie. "I'm sorry, it's just-"

"It's okay." Jihyo assures them. "I just thought I got stood up."

"No, not at all. We just kinda, you know." Jeongyeon stammers.

"I know. Let's have a seat, yeah?" The shorter one offers.

They do sit down, but the awkward silence falls relentlessly upon them, none really knowing what to do. Jihyo had already broken the ice, Sana was feeling the pressure to say something, anything, and Jeongyeon was just not sure of what she even wanted to say at all. So here we have them, three soulmates, two clueless ones, the other one not meant for them, it was heartbreaking if one looked closely.

"It's weird that we are attracted to you, even though we never really talked that much, right?" Jeongyeon blows without being able to hold back any longer.

"Jeong! I thought we would ease up to things like that." Sana tries to sound reprimanding.

"It's not weird." Jihyo answers anyways, a fond smile plays on her lips. "You can ask me anything you want to know. I'll answer what I can."

"Great, because I'm terrible with this subtle thing and there are many things I want to talk about." Jeongyeon looks truly relieved.

Jihyo laughs, easy and heartily. The other two smile shyly, feeling more at ease with the 'go ahead' from the girl who never left their minds.

"Before that, can we move to a warmer place? I've been here too long and my butt is starting to feel numb." Jihyo asks in a laugh.

"Sure! Do you think you would be comfortable going to my place, or do you want to go for a coffee shop?" Jeong offers.

"I think coffee shop would be better. Maybe we can talk visiting you later."

"Fair enough, there is a great place around here, and their tables a very private." Sana says, getting up and motioning for the other two to follow.

Jihyo follows the couple, walking beside them and making small talk, getting to know a little about each other, the one out noticing her soulmates were actually very nice, and trying to get rid of her nerves before the fated talk she felt she owed her soulmates. Jeongyeon was a pile of nerves and it took everything on her to hold it together, and Sana was just too happy to, finally, be able to talk to Jihyo like this.

"Hey, Yongsunnie!" Sana greets as soon as she sets foot into the shop.

"I told you to say Yongsun-unnie and stop cutting words. Oh, hey Jeong." The woman behind the counter scolds Sana before turning to her girlfriend. "You guys brought a friend today." She directs the last part to Jihyo.

"Hello, I'm Im Jihyo, very nice to meet you." The girl greets.

"And a cute one at that." Yongsun turns back to Sana. "Your usual table is free, if you want it. The usual for you two?" She asks the couple, getting nods as a response. "And, Jihyo-ssi, what can I get you?"

"No need to be formal." She laughs. "I'll take a tea you recommend."

"Now that's the kind of customer I like. Go on ahead, I'll have hyejin take your order when it's ready." The woman shoos the girls and they are off.

Jihyo just follows the couple, not really knowing where said table was, turns out, it's the furthest one in the back, and placed in a way to make it fairly isolated from the one right next to it, both take what Jihyo thinks is their usual seats, leaving her with her back to the store, she isn't that enthusiastic about it, but just brushes it off. Not much after they sit down, really instants after, a girl came by with their dinks, shooting Jihyo a... peculiar(?) smile and leaves. Time to start talking, it seems.

"Okay, we are warm, with our drinks and I'm fairly sure nobody can disrupt us easily. Ask away." Jihyo prompts, seeing the other two aren't moving.

"Can I just say everything that's on my mind instead? I'm not sure what I should be asking and I start talking too much when I get nervous." Jeongyeon, unsurprisingly, speaks up first.

"You already are talking too much. But I get where you are going." Jihyo calms the girl down. "Sure, say anything you want. I think this conversation is long overdue, somehow." Sana just held a fond expression all the while.

"Okay, first, I'm sorry for like, not really making sure you were alright the day Sana fell on us. I kind of let my flowers blooming thing get to my head and didn't pay attention to the one that had the most injuries at all." The older one begins, with a deep bow.

"It's all in the past. I get that finding your soulmate could be a bit overwhelming, especially when it happens like that. I was fine, there were no greater issues." The younger dismisses.

"Still, it was a dick move." Sana interjects. "And I would like to apologise for that also. I was the one falling on you, then I let myself get all riled up by my flowers and forgot to mind you that day."

"Like I said, finding your soulmate is an experience. It's alright, and I don't hold it against you two."

"Thank you. Now, I know we tried to approach you after that, and we might have come off as annoying, but, at least for me, I really wanted to apologise for how I handled things." Jihyo makes to speak, but Jeongyeon keeps going before she can. "And no, none of the girls told us much about what was happening, and they were very protective of you, but, once we learned of how things had been for you back then, I felt awful. Not because of misplaced concern or whatever, but because we might not have been the best people to be around when you were going through so much."

"Tough times, back then. It's alright, the girls were the only ones who knew, and it even took them a long time to find out. I don't blame anyone for whatever happened, that's on the people who gave birth to me, but now I have nothing to do with them, and that's that."

"You are very relaxed about all this." Sana chimes in.

"Well, I learned a lot from many people. And it would be great if you guys could just let go of whatever happened in the past. We are kids, it's time to make these mistakes, you two were trying your best, and I'm grateful for that."

"Alright, will do. But there is something that's been bothering me, us, ever since we met you, and I really want to know you view on it." The squirrel decides to just ask it already.

"I'm all ears. This is supposed to be a 'the two of you get to talk to me about whatever you need' kind of meet up." Jihyo laughs, and the two seem to relax a bit more.