The Girl From Spain (girlxgirl)

Day 118/182: Mila

When Camila arrived home after classes in desperate need to get some studying done before meeting Sally in the evening, a woman she didn't know was sitting on the couch, flipping through a magazine.

She looked up when she entered and greeted her. "You must be Camila. I'm Sadashi, Aki's sister."

Distantly, she remembered Aki mentioning her before. "Call me Mila," she offered. "Nice to meet you."

While she walked to the kitchen area to make herself a coffee, Sadashi closed her magazine and said, "I hope you don't mind me hanging out here, I'm waiting for my brother finishing his job interview."

"No problem."

Technically, it was more of a catching up with an old friend than a job interview. Aki had told her about an acquaintance he had met in his first semester. After making his degree two years prior, he had opened a small company in Camila and Aki's field and was currently searching for new employees.

"Aki tells me you're here for an exchange semester?"

Camila settled down on the couch next to her, warming her hands with the steaming cup in her hands. "Yes, I live in Spain. Not too much time left." She took a sip and immediately felt more awake and alive.

Sadashi smiled at her. "It's such a wonderful experience. Enjoy every moment."

Camila chuckled. "Have you been abroad?"

"Some time ago when I was still at college," Sadashi replied. "In Japan. A lot of my extended family lives there so it was great to get to know a little more about my heritage and the culture."

"Are you still in contact with the people you met there?" Camila asked curiously. She had wondered about how she could stay in touch with her friends a lot.

"I haven't thought about them in ages, to be honest."

"You don't talk anymore?"

"We follow each other on Instagram, there sometimes is a little smalltalk. That's pretty much it." Sadashi shrugged. "I'm sorry, you probably wanted to hear something different."

"Maybe," Camila confessed, sighing. She couldn't give it up quite yet. "How close were you?"

"With most of them, I didn't have the time to form truly strong relationships," Sadashi answered. A smile of relief escaped Camila. Surely it would be different for her then.

"Except for this one guy." Camila frowned, now unsure if she truly wanted to know. "We started dating only a couple of weeks in," Sadashi continued, unaware of her inner conflict.

"I was so in love. We always talked about trying long-distance, visiting each other, video chats, and so on."

"And?"

A small smile was on her lips, full of either rue or nostalgia. "It didn't even last two weeks. When I came back here, I moved back to my old life. I just immediately fell back to my usual habits. With the time difference and our obligations, we barely had the chance to talk and then agreed to just stop trying to hold onto us and keep the beautiful memories."

"How long ago was it?" Camila pressed on. Maybe she was being a little rude but the uneasiness prevented her from caring.

Sadashi didn't seem to notice what she was causing her to feel as she looked in the distance, far away from reality. "Around a year ago," she replied casually.

Camila's back slumped against the couch. A year was a short time to forget people. She kept asking questions. Hearing more about Sadashi's brief romance was crushing hope she hadn't known she possessed.