A Girl (Part 1)

Tzuyu was happy to know that she was slowly getting better in the past few weeks that she was staying with Mina and Chaeyoung. She told Chaeyoung that she deleted Se-Ri’s number and her friend reminded her to screen it so she wouldn’t receive any more calls and texts from her.

It didn’t help that a few days after she replied to Se-Ri, she got a call from her that night and Tzuyu didn’t understand why she answered it. Se-Ri was crying over the phone, saying that she kept going back and forth to their apartment and got frustrated when Tzuyu changed the code to her lock.

She was begging Tzuyu to take her back and it didn’t make sense to her why she was doing this all of a sudden. It was Se-Ri who made the mistake, she also was the one who said that she couldn’t stay and accept her love anymore. Then suddenly decided to take everything back and expected Tzuyu to do the same.

Tzuyu knew it was too late because she made her decision and she wanted to stick by that, because she knew that was the right decision. But she was also fighting everything in her to resist Se-Ri’s pleas. She promised herself that she was going to get better for herself and listening to whatever her ex had to say wasn’t going to help.

But she believed that she felt happier, or more at peace with herself. She was more active, jogging longer distances through the neighborhood until she reached the train station and just enjoying the view of Osaka.

She couldn’t thank Chaeyoung and Mina enough for their support and hospitality. They even encouraged her to spend more time with them so she could be there for Yukiko’s birthday. Jeongyeon was happy enough to let her stay longer, repeating that it was a great way to help her move on and get better.

Sadly, Mina caught a fever the other night and Chaeyoung was all over the place. It rained hard that day and Mina got stuck outside trying to bring her laundry back inside the house. Tzuyu tried to catch up with her with an umbrella, but Mina got soaked by the time they were inside the house.

So Mina was stuck in bed, resting and Chaeyoung forced herself to leave her to go to work. But didn’t go without reminding Tzuyu to check on her girlfriend from time to time, which she told her friend to stop worrying so much and that she could depend on her.

Tzuyu knocked on the door to Mina’s bedroom before going in. “Unnie?”

“Yeah?” Mina called out; her voice was too weak, but she still answered anyway.

“You need anything?”

“I’m good. Thank you, Tzu.”

Tzuyu didn’t probe anymore and left it at that. She already fed Mina her lunch so the best she could do for now was to let her rest more and maybe go to the front yard to do more chores.

She walked downstairs and out the door to water the flowers Chaeyoung recently planted. Said it would be nice to liven up the front yard too, and that Mina loved flowers.

Her friend was totally whipped. But she couldn’t be happier for her.

As she sprayed the growing flowers with the hose, she couldn’t help but breathe in the cold air. Autumn was her favorite season. The way the leaves change in color and how the temperature dropped in the way she always liked.

Before, on most days of autumn, Tzuyu would be at the coffee shop with Se-Ri to enjoy the special drinks that were offered there. But she shrugged the memory off. She didn’t want to think about her like that anymore.

“Oh—” A voice suddenly came from the gate. “Is Mina home?”

Tzuyu folded the hose to stop it from running and turned to see who it was. She felt herself gulp at the sight of a beautiful woman standing in front of the gate. She dropped the hose to turn off the tap and went to open the gate. “Yeah, she’s home. But she’s sick right now.”

“Oh okay! She told me she was sick, so I came to bring her soup!” she said in a very bubbly tone. Her smile was cute, her cheeks puffed up like that one hamster they had in the shelter. “Are you a friend of hers?” the woman suddenly asked, looking up at her.

“Oh, yeah,” Tzuyu replied. “I’m actually Chaeyoung’s friend.” She wiped her damp hand on the back of her pants and offered her hand. “I’m Chou Tzuyu," she introduced herself, albeit shyly.

The woman smiled widely and shook it. “I’m Sana. I’m a childhood friend of Mina’s and one of Nayeon’s close friends.”

Tzuyu’s eyes went wide at the familiar name. “You’re Sana? I heard a lot about you.” She stepped aside to let Sana through the gate and then opened the front door for her.

She giggled at how polite Tzuyu was being and allowed herself in, leaving her shoes by the entrance. “I’m sure Nayeon and Dahyun had a lot to say about me and Momo.”

Tzuyu closed the door behind them and left her sandals next to Sana’s shoes. She scratched her neck. “Well, I’m the ‘to see is to believe’ type of person.”

Sana giggled again and Tzuyu was starting to enjoy the sound of it. She watched Sana beeline to the kitchen and started placing the soup on a big bowl and serving some in a smaller one. Then she grabbed a spoon and placed everything on a tray. Tzuyu was a bit amazed at how she knew where everything was.

“I’ll check on Minari for a bit. Can you open the door for me?”

“S-sure.” Tzuyu cleared her throat, realizing she was staring at her for too long. Tzuyu followed behind her and knocked on Mina’s door before holding it open for Sana.

“Mitang! I’m here to nurse you back to health!” she said so lively that it made Mina groan a bit. Tzuyu didn’t want to disturb their time together, so she closed the door gently and walked back to the garden to finish watering the plants.

She was a bit taken aback with how energetic Sana was. It was like Dahyun but with a high-pitched voice and more tolerable. Tzuyu furrowed her brows when she realized that Sana looked so familiar. Like she saw or met her before.

Once she finished with the plants, she wrapped up the hose neatly and went back inside the house, sitting down on the couch and immediately went through her phone. She scrolled down to look for Nayeon’s wedding photos she posted online and quickly scanned them.

Her eyes went wide when she realized that Sana was her partner when they walked down the aisle during the wedding entourage.

Suddenly, memories started to flood back into her; how Se-Ri got really jealous after the wedding ceremony, and it held her back from the reception and they ended up going home early because her ex didn’t want her near Sana anymore.

She locked her phone and pressed it on her lips. She tried to recall any interactions with Sana during the wedding, but they were all vague in her mind. She could only remember how Sana cracked a joke about falling on her dress and that Tzuyu had to be there to catch her if she did.

“Hi there,” Sana's voice reappeared suddenly and she jumped on the spot next to Tzuyu on the couch. “Mina went back to sleep after I fed her. I think she’s feeling better.”

Tzuyu looked at her and nodded. “That’s good.” She pursed her lips, unsure if she should bring it up. But she couldn’t resist. “You don’t remember me, do you?”

Sana tilted her head to the side. “What do you mean?”

Tzuyu unlocked her phone again and showed her the picture she was looking at. It made Sana’s eyes widen and then looked back at Tzuyu. Then she slapped her playfully on the shoulder. “Oh my god! You were my partner during the wedding!”

She couldn’t resist from smiling at Sana's reaction. She kept her phone back in her pocket. “Yeah, I was wondering why you looked so familiar.”

“I can’t believe I didn’t recognize you. Nayeon’s wedding was just a year ago.” She sighed, leaned her elbow on the edge of the couch and faced her. “You were with a girl during the wedding. How is she?”

Tzuyu felt her heart shoot up to her throat. She didn’t want to answer that, but she also didn’t want to be rude. “Oh, we uh... we broke up. Almost a month ago.”

Sana’s smile faded when she said that. “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have brought it up.”

Tzuyu waved her hands at her and tried to crack a smile. “No, no! You didn’t know. So it’s okay.” She needed to not ruin the mood, that would be too awkward and they just met again. “It’s kinda why I’m here. Chaeyoung and Mina said it would help if I took a vacation and stayed with them. I’m enjoying it actually, Japan is beautiful.”

Sana immediately picked up her good mood again and Tzuyu felt a bit of relief at that. “It’s your first time here? How long are you staying?”

“Maybe until mid-December. I don’t want to leave my work behind for too long and I gotta see my folks for the holidays too.”

“So you got about a month.” Sana hummed and started thinking. Then she beamed again and grabbed onto Tzuyu’s arm. “Hey, I’m in town for a while. Maybe I can show you around if you want?”

“Oh—” She wasn’t expecting that. “That sounds great. But I wouldn’t want to bother you while you’re visiting.”

Sana threw a hand in the air. “It’s fine, I’m supposed to visit my dad but he’s too busy with work and Momo didn’t come home either so I’m free!” She pointed her thumb towards the stairs. “Plus, Mina is still in the honeymoon phase with Chaeng, so I don’t think I’d like to bother their alone time.”

Tzuyu chuckled at that, she noticed how Sana smiled widely after. “They are whipped for each other. But it’s cute. Like they were really meant to be.”

“Plus with all the fucking they do.” Sana joked and Tzuyu spat out a laugh.