Ace of Hearts

The Schemer

For several days Sehun stopped by the bookstore. This was a regular stop for local students of the university Jin graduated with her Bachelor's. Sehun was also familiar with the area.

She had introduced him to the bookstore, her favorite. There was a small café inside. Books to be rented or bought. Magazines to browse through while sipping a hot cup of coffee. Bite sized snacks to nibble when hungry.

Spending time in each other's presence enjoying a hobby brought out the tranquility of the day. Especially on rainy days when they squeezed under one umbrella. Sharing the closeness. Savoring the intimacy. On winter days drinking hot chocolate they watched the snowfall through the window.

Just togetherness had made him so whole.

So in love.

Those were the days he truly felt alive. The forks in the roads had merged becoming one straight path. He no longer trailed off the tracks. Days were always sunny amidst the storm. What awaited at the end of the road was no longer questionable. Every single day he was a winner. Time never wasted.

That was two years ago.

Yesterday's update was taken here. Right in front of the window Jin had posed for a picture. If she was coming home ahead of time he should have known. He had every right as her boyfriend. There was no other second guess. Sehun believed she would have told him no matter how hectic his schedule was. She knew this. He knew this.

So...why the sudden update?

Today marked visit number four. Seemed Lady Luck was on his side today. Through the window he spotted a familiar figure at two tables away from the window seat. He could be mistaken but he wouldn't know unless he went in.

He had to.

Despite his imagination hesitation made him halt the first step in. It was the door shutting at his back that pushed him further inside. The scent of fresh coffee permeated the warm air waking his senses bringing him back to days in memory. Nostalgia reeked throughout the bookstore. He saw himself at the fourth table giggling while flipping through a magazine; at the counter making an order of coffee and surprising Jin with it. Sehun remembered skimming through the comic bookshelf for a romantic comedy while Jin browsed the nonfiction aisle. Their differences that collided.

A shift to his right and he could almost see himself occupying the table with his girlfriend. Holding her hand sharing a hot cup of black coffee.

Except that wasn't him at the table.

And his girlfriend who was still supposed to be abroad at the table.

His mind sculpted a scene of confrontation. In reality, Sehun stood rooted not even a halfway into the bookstore. Just staring. A pitiful idiot he was. Long enough that their six senses alerted them a pair of eyes was watching.

The perfectly carved smile on Jin's face melted when she glanced his way. Like snow disappearing on the tongue. Rain vanishing once it dropped to the ground.

The sceneries he'd just replayed flashed backwards in his head. Like a VCR tape stopping dead in the middle and refused to play anymore, as if erasing the entire tape's existence.

It clicked immediately. Why the phone calls stopped coming. When he heard nothing at all from his girlfriend. She didn't even update her profile or status. Until yesterday.

As fast as she shot up to her feet eyes widening, Sehun pivoted on a foot and shoved the door open. A ray of sunlight cut him in the face. Blinking he stepped outside not entirely sure how he felt. His feelings were strangely all over the place since Namjoo walked out on him. Sehun just couldn't summon a definition for what he was feeling.