Tzuyu: What's this?
**Tzuyu dropped a bunch of stapled paper on the table, making Chaeng flinch at her seat.**
Tzuyu: I'm asking you, what is this? What the fucking hell is this?
**Tzuyu was almost shouting, which made Chaeng swallowed hard. She doesn't like the tone in her voice, but she's already used to it since it isn't the first time she talked to her like that.**
Tzuyu: Are you just going to keep your silence or what? I have a lot of things to do, and sitting here this long isn't on my list.
**They were sitting at the café near Chaeng's apartment. Just across her street. It's because she doesn't want to drive more than five kilometers anymore, and Tzuyu's office is almost ten kilometers away from her place.**
**Well, getting out of bed and going out for a walk is no longer her thing. She'd rather sit in her living room, watching whatever shit her cable would play on her fifty-inch smart television.**
Chaeng: I'll... I'll revise it.
**She was staring at the title page of the manuscript Tzuyu threw in front of her.**
**She wrote that thing for several weeks. Not daring to sleep just to finish each chapter and deliver it before her deadline. But it seems like Tzuyu, her agent and best friend, isn't satisfied again with the story she had written.**
Tzuyu: No! That thing doesn't need a revision. That story is total garbage, and even an uneducated man won't buy it.
**Those words kind of slapped her ego big time. It hurts her so much that her tears are almost at the edge of coming out. But she breathed out to keep it from falling. She doesn't want Tzuyu to see how soft she turned into.**
**Tzuyu slammed her back from her seat, glaring at Chaeng, who's just staring at the paper in front of her. She doesn't know if she should pity her friend for becoming a different person or what.**
Tzuyu: Until when do you plan to be like this, Chaeng?
**Her tone suddenly went down.**
**Chaeng isn't like this a year ago. She's one of the best selling authors in Tzuyu's Publication. It's a publication that she inherited from her parents after both of them graduated from the university.**
**Since Chaeng loves to write and has a playful imagination, Tzuyu asked her to write a manuscript. It instantly got approved by their board and got published. Well, it was the first best selling book that Chaeng wrote from her dozens of published books.**
Tzuyu: This is the fifth time you submitted a...
Chaeng: Garbage!
**She mumbled before she lifted her head and looked at Tzuyu.**
Chaeng: I'm sorry. I know I'm already wasting your time. Maybe... maybe this thing is no longer my thing.
Tzuyu: Are you telling me you're quitting?
**She interrupted.**
**She doesn't want Chaeng to say yes because she knows how good her friend is. She knows how wonderful her stories are, and she's a big fan.**
Chaeng: I guess, so.
**Her voice was still weak, but she's no longer on the verge of crying. She's more relaxed now, yet she still feels bad for disappointing her best friend. She's now a burden and liability than an asset to her company.**
Tzuyu: No! I won't accept that. I know you just need to... well, I don't know how to say it in a way that it won't offend you, but let me just say it without sugar-coating anything. You just need to free yourself Chaeng. I know it's hard. I know that's the reason you're out of focus. But it's already a year Chaeng. Do you think your mom and dad will be happy to see you like this? A mess?
**Chaeng lost her mom and dad a year ago. They got involved in a car accident on the night of her birthday. She asked them to drive a sixty-kilometer distance so they could all be together on her birthday. It was her birthday wish since she was so busy writing a new story. But no mom and dad came that night, and she'd been blaming herself ever since.**
Chaeng: I want to. I want to move on more than your desire to bring me back from my previous self. But no matter how I keep on writing each night, I still end up being shit. I still end up messing around. I don't know Tzuyu. I no longer know what else I need to get out of this.
**It was the first time Tzuyu heard Chaeng spoke about it. She never heard her speak about things running in her head ever since her parents died. She zoned out herself though she never quit writing, but her stories are getting and getting worst every single time she sends a new manuscript.**
**Tzuyu didn't say a thing. Instead, she pulled her bag beside her and retrieved something inside---her pen and cheque. She wrote something on the cheque and handed it over to Chaeng.**
Tzuyu: Find a place where you could see something good and not just the four corners of your apartment.
**Chaeng stared at it for a second. One thousand dollars was the amount written on the check. It's such a big amount for a writer who couldn't submit a decent story. She doesn't want to get it, so she shook her head and just clasped her left with her right hand.**
Tzuyu: I'm not asking, Chaeng. Consider this as an upfront for the next story you'll write for me. And I'm trusting you to deliver that to my office at your most convenient time.
**Chaeng stared at Tzuyu for almost a lifetime 'cause she doesn't want to accept that. But then realized that her best friend's right. She needs to get out of her apartment and find a place where she could find peace to start again.**
*****
Mina: Will you bring this to that table, please?
**Mina pointed at the table outside with a young man staring at the sun setting behind the mountains in front of the café.**
**Indeed that place has the best view in the area. Well, her parents bought that land to build her dream café. But they didn't only build a café, but rather a five-story hotel that they gave to her after she finished university.**
**It was the best gift Mina received from her parents. Not because she finally has a business to run, but because the place is just right for her likings, and making coffee and cookies is her thing.**
Mina: I'm going now. Will you make sure that everything is taken care of?
**She was talking to her sister who's in charge of the second shift of the day. Both of them are managing the hotel since Ryujin still doesn't know what to do with her life aside from dancing with her crew. So instead of wasting her time dancing here and there, Mina asked her to help her manage the hotel, and she gladly said yes to it.**
Ryujin: No problem! Why don't you take your dinner first before you go home?
Mina: Nah! It's fine. I'll just cook at home.
**Then she untied the mustard apron she always wears whenever she's in the kitchen preparing orders for her customers.**
Ryujin: Oh... okay. Drive safe, eonnie.
**Ryujin picked up the tray and walked towards the guy who's still enjoying the view in front of him.**
**She still doesn't want to go, but her mom and dad always remind her to rest and not abuse herself from working hard. And since she's with her sister, she couldn't disobey her parents. So she always makes sure to go home in time, every day.**
**Her house is just a few blocks away from the hotel, so driving even if she'd worked over twelve hours doesn't feel like a burden for her.**
**Her phone rang as soon as she pulled her car from the back parking. She clicked the answering button, and then put it on the loudspeaker without looking at who's behind the call.**
Mina: Hello?
Sana: Hello, Mina!
**Based on the way she called her name, she's a hundred percent sure that it's Sana, calling her every single day and asking her the same question.**
Sana: Want to come over? I cooked something expensive today. I learned it on YouTube. Want to taste it? Maybe tell me whether it's salty or what?
**Mina smiled at the thought that her best friend is really trying her best to get her attention. Sana's not good at cooking unlike her. But since Sana knows that cooking and baking are some of the few things that could make Mina's head turn, she's doing it.**
Mina: I want to lie on my bed early, Sana.
Sana: I'll make you go home early tonight. Let's just eat this steak and have some wine, you know.
Mina: Don't worry about me. I know you're still worried. But I'm fine. I think I'm even doing great, to be honest.
**She heard Sana snorted on the other line. She knows her best friend isn't buying it. But it's true. Everything she said is true. Isn't it? She asked herself.**
Sana: Fine! If you're really okay now, tell me you're no longer staring at her photo when you go home at night.
**She didn't answer. She doesn't want to lie to her best friend or anyone just to hide what she truly feels.**
Mina: You know it's not an easy thing. That's the reason I busy myself at the hotel.
**Her voice was soft as always.**
Sana: Mina, it's been a year since she... you know, died. Why can't you just stop confining yourself?
**Yes, she's right. It's been a year. It's been a year since she lost the girl who made her feel like she's the most important person in the world. And it's the hardest part of moving on, to just detach yourself from the memories you shared. She used to be her life. They used to be each other's life. How can she stop loving her?**
Sana: And don't reason out that I don't understand you, Mina. I do. It's just, you're becoming unreasonable for zoning out yourself from me, from us, your friends.
Mina: I'm driving, Sana, and I don't want to end up in the emergency room just because I'm attending to your call. I promise to catch up with you sooner.
**Sana sighed audibly. There's no point in convincing her best friend to move on and live a life. But she's not giving up. She'll keep on convincing her that there's still life even after she lost the first person who made her feel special.**
*****
**Chaeyoung almost drive fifty miles just to get to the hotel that Tzuyu booked for her. She doesn't want to go. But Tzuyu's already in so much trouble because of her, which makes her feel guilty about everything she had caused her.**
**It's already eight when she arrived at the hotel. She wasn't expecting that much since it was fifty miles away from the city. But she was so amazed at the sight of the yellow lights that greeted her at the pathway.**
**They hang those lights from the first brick of the pathway down to the the entrance of the hotel. And it feels like you're walking inside a forest since it is surrounded by trees.**
Chaeng: Wow!
**She mumbled with her wide eyes.**
**The sight in front of her is like those things she sees in social media. Those good looking photos luring everyone to visit their place.**
Ryujin: Good evening, ma'am. How may I help you?
**Chaeng was greeted by a young girl behind the reception desk. She's guessing she's still in her teens. Not crossing adulthood yet.**
Chaeng: Hi! My friend made a reservation for me. Her name's Chou Tzuyu.
**Aside from the cheque Tzuyu gave earlier, she also handed a printed reservation details to her. Two weeks of vacation, enough for her to contemplate and see what's wrong and what's not in her life.**
**Well, she has doubts about this plan to get away from all the things that remind her of her pain. But now she's starting to change her mind 'cause everything about this place is so beautiful. Starting from the bright yellow lights in the pathway, the trees surrounding the hotel, the huge piano sitting at the corner where the cafe was operating, and the earthy theme of the waiting area for the travelers like her.**
Ryujin: Hmm... Oh yeah! Her name's on the list. Let me have your luggage.
Chaeng: I don't have luggage. I just have this.
**She pointed at the duffle bag she's carrying on her right. It isn't that big, so the girl behind the reception desk creased her forehead.**
**She has a two-week reservation, yet she only has that bag with her? Ryujin thought.**
Chaeng: Uhm... I bet there's a laundry shop near here, right?
**Chaeng instantly responded even though no one's asking her. It was just a response from the girl's bewildered stare.**
Ryujin: Oh... Yeah! Yeah! I'll let our driver drive you there when you need to.
**Chaeng nodded.**
Chaeng: Thanks!
Ryujin: Okay! Follow me.
**Then both of them climbed the stairs beside the reception desk.**
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