i'm almost me again (she's almost you) • satzu

5

"Is that a tattoo?"

"Yeah, it's a swallow. I got it after travelling around Europe."

She watched as a pale hand pulled the sleeve up to expose the small bird tattooed on the wrist in indigo ink. Looking up, Tzuyu took in the bright smile and felt her heart ache just a little.

"Did it hurt?"

A scoff made her lips curl in a smile as they sat on the springy grass, Tzuyu sitting with her knees drawn up to her chest, while Mina lay sprawled out, shading her eyes with a hand as she watched her daughter playing at the edge of the lake.

"Of course it didn't. I'm going to get another one when I do the next trip. Sailors used to get two. They said it was lucky."

-

"Morning, sailor," the blonde woman greeted her with a bright smile, while Tzuyu's brow creased slightly as she stepped up to the till the next day.

"Hi."

Her voice was weary. It had been a long night, full of painful memories and an ache in her chest that made her breaths shudder whenever she was reminded of Mina. There were too many memories on that river, in front of that cottage. More than Tzuyu had ever dreamed of seeing. The name, the swallows on the cups, even the reason why she was there in the first place. It made her miss her more. It made her want to cry for her heartbreak, but Tzuyu hadn't cried in years. She wasn't about to start now.

"Late night?" the woman commented as she glanced up from the freshly baked scones she was artfully arranging on a cake stand.

As Tzuyu focused her attention on the blonde, the door at the back of the cottage opened with a gust of cold air as someone entered. The woman looked up and her lips curled into a smile as her eyes lit up with familiarity.

"Bloody hell, have you seen the boat out front? Which blind idiot was sailing that? " a woman with dark hair and a northern accent tempered from living in the south said as she breezed behind the blonde woman, tying a black apron around her waist.

Trying to turn a choked laugh into a cough, the blonde woman pressed her lips together and gave Tzuyu an apologetic look, before turning to the new arrival. Clearly, she was an employee. A pretty one at that, Tzuyu noticed as she tried no to bristle at the woman's comment. Giving her a pointed look, the blonde faced the other woman.

"Eunha," she quietly said, the name holding a warning that didn't go unnoticed by the woman in question as she finished knotting her apron and looked up with confused eyes.

"What?"

"I'm with a customer."

Tzuyu made a small sound of amusement at the back of her throat as she looked at Eunha. Her lips twitched slightly, and it couldn't be called a smile, but there was a certain air of pleasure that briefly softened Tzuyu's blank expression.

"The blind idiot, as it were."

Eunha's cheeks flushed red and her mouth fell open as she stumbled on her apology, although she couldn't help but laugh at the same time, while the blonde woman closed her eyes and exhaled softly. When the awkwardness of the moment grew too uncomfortable, Eunha apologised again and quickly ducked back past Sana and out to the crowded tables, her friendly voice drifting back towards the duo standing on either side of the counter as she cleared tables and spoke to the locals.

"Well... that's Eunha. She's a bit... candid."

"Asshole. Idiot. Isn't everyone here so... charming ," Tzuyu curtly replied.