Bad Habits Die Hard

Sana just finished her last class for that morning. She was a bit saddened at the fact that two of her students had already finished their program and she had to wait for more to enroll and choose her as their teacher.

It was hard for her to let them go sometimes. Feeling the same scary and familiar thing bubble up inside of her that she knew she had no control of, but she had to be strong; it wasn't like she could force them to stay and still see her at the same time every morning. She should be happy for them. They finally finished the class and were ready to set off to their next adventure.

Finding more students to enroll under her was the hard part.

Then again, she had to be hopeful. It wasn’t like her to give up so easily and even if she grew to love her job at the club, this job was the one thing she held close to her heart.

She decided to fix up and maybe head back home early. She could make herself lunch and then rest, but then she would be alone for the rest of the day since she took a night off from the club. Guess she needed to find something to keep her occupied until Mina went home that night. Plus, Momo had work that day and Nayeon was off somewhere, maybe busy at work or gallivanting somewhere with Dahyun. She didn’t really want to disturb their blooming romance ever since Nayeon told them about it.

A knock on her door made her look up. Kazuha popped her head inside with a smile on her face. “Hey stranger,” she greeted, stepping inside the room. She leaned on the doorway and crossed her arms over her chest. “Long time no see.”

Sana beamed. “Kazuha! It has been a while.” She placed the chair on top of the table and walked over to her. “How have you been?”

“Oh you know, here and there.” Kazuha shrugged and then leaned her head on the doorjamb, letting out a long sigh. “I’ve been getting more students too. It’s crazy.”

Sana groaned after hearing that. “Ugh, at least you do. Two of mine graduated already and I’m waiting for more. I only have three left and they finished earlier than expected.”

Kazuha couldn’t help but chuckle at her reaction. “That’s fine. I’m sure you’ll get more soon enough.” She looked at Sana for a while and then cleared her throat. “Hey, I’ve been meaning to ask you something for a while now.”

Sana looked at her. “Hm? Yeah sure, what’s up?”

“Do you want to have dinner with me tomorrow night?” Kazuha carefully asked, her eyes still on Sana and it made her breath hitch. “Or whenever you’re not working at the club?”

Sana’s eyes were wide. She always wanted to have dinner with Kazuha, alone. But for some reason, she didn’t feel the same excitement anymore. “Oh… I’ll have to check.”

“I can always ask Sunny to give you a night off so we can go out?” Kazuha offered. She seemed insistent on this.

She panicked, waving her hands in front of her work mate. “N-no! That’s fine. I’m actually free tonight if you want?”

Sana felt a lump in her throat when she said that. Mina was probably not going to like this, but maybe she could just say she was going to have dinner with another friend later.

But she hated keeping things from Mina.

“Perfect!” Kazuha had a big smile on her face and lifted her back from the door. “I can pick you up at your apartment? Let's say seven?” She looked at Sana expectantly.

“S-sure,” Sana agreed, trying to look away from the younger’s eyes.

Kazuha smiled again and waved at Sana. “Tonight at seven then. I’ll see you.”

The door closed and Sana felt a bit scared. She wasn’t sure why, but it could also be because of Tzuyu. She spent so much time with the gang member that she was able to forget about her weird crush for Kazuha.

This was the one thing that she always hoped for before, and it was finally happening but for some reason she didn’t feel anything about it. Maybe she was more worried if Tzuyu found out.

But she thought about it, what could Tzuyu do? It wasn't like they were in a relationship. They just kissed.

Though, she really couldn’t shake off the uneasy feeling. She would just have to find out tonight. She already said yes to Kazuha.

As expected, Mina was suspicious when she watched Sana getting ready for dinner with Kazuha. It took a lot in Sana to not tell who it was. But Mina shrugged it off when Sana decided not to disclose who she was going out with.

It was perfect timing when Mina decided to stay in her room when Kazuha said she was already on the way to pick her up. Maybe she could just meet Kazuha downstairs at the entrance of the apartment so the younger woman wouldn’t have to go up to their room and knock on their door. Sana didn’t want Mina to worry or force her to not go. It could be that there really was still a part of Sana that wanted to go to this dinner.

When it was minutes shy away from seven, Kazuha’s red sedan arrived, she parked in front and got out to open the door for Sana, making Sana a bit giddy with the gesture. Maybe her feelings for this person were still there.

They drove off to a small restaurant in the busy city of Busan, it was one of those places where Mina and her friends always said they wanted to try but they were too busy to book a table for the four of them.

It made Sana wonder how much Kazuha was earning, since this was a small and expensive restaurant.

They were seated at a reserved table and Sana was excited to see their selections. Kazuha suggested some that she might like, and Sana decided to order them; she couldn’t wait to tell her friends about it. Though, she would have to go through the agony of explaining to them why she was able to eat there and who she ate there with.

“So, how’s work at the club? No one is giving you a hard time?” Kazuha started after the waiter poured them a glass of wine each.

“It’s been great. I adapted to it pretty well,” Sana said as she took a sip from her glass. “Sunny has been an angel and I’m grateful for her.”

“That’s good to hear.” Kazuha smiled at her, taking a sip from her glass as well. “When she comes over to my house to visit my sister, she would tell me how great you’ve been doing at the club.”

“Really? That’s a relief.” Sana let out a breath as she placed her hand over her chest. “Sometimes I worry she’s babysitting me all the time.” She looked down at her lap and started fiddling with the table napkin. Trying her best not to think about how Sunny would prep her up whenever Tzuyu visited.

“Nah, she’s really proud of you. I’m sure of that.” The younger assured her. Then a smirk crawled up at the side of her mouth, tilting her head a bit at Sana. “Guess you have me to thank since I got you the job?” She raised a brow.

Sana giggled. “That’s true.” She realized that if it weren’t for Kazuha, then she would have met Tzuyu. She shook the thoughts away, maybe she shouldn’t be thinking of her at the moment. “I can pay for dinner if you like?” She offered.

Kazuha gave a look and waved it off. “No, no. I’m paying and there are no arguments there.” Kazuha bit the skin in her thumb and smiled at her. “I just really wanted to ask you out on a date.”

Her eyes went wide. “A date? Really?”

“Yeah, you didn’t know? I’ve had a big crush on you since we met,” Kazuha said, shrugging at her.

“W-what?”

“It’s true.” She took another sip from her glass. Shortly after, the waiter brought in their food and placed them neatly in front of them. They both said thank you to the waiter and Kazuha looked at her again. “I thought you weren’t interested in me because I’m way younger than you and I thought you had a boyfriend or something.”

“Oh, I’m not interested in men actually,” Sana said. Which was true. She could easily flirt with them but it wasn't enough for her to actually be attracted to one. She learned that when she was in high school, realizing she was more interested in the cheerleaders than the boys that played sports.

“Well that’s a relief.” Kazuha breathed out, picking food playfully with her fork. Sana winced; this was probably one of the reasons why Mina didn’t like her. “But I think your best friend doesn’t like me.”

Speaking of the devil.

“W-what makes you say that?” She tried to act dumb. She already knew why.

“I don’t know.” Kazuha shrugged. “Whenever she comes by the learning center to see you, she never says hi to me. Your other friends do though, unless she’s really like that?”

“Well, Mina isn’t really the type to be friendly with other people she’s not used to. Trust me.” Sana let out a weak laugh and then placed her hand out. “I used to have people come up to me before in college and ask why Mina was like that.”

“I hope she’ll get used to me then,” Kazuha said, then took a spoonful of her food, eyes still looking at Sana.

“We’ll see,” she answered quietly. “But I’m sure she’ll warm up to you.” That ate her inside even more.

She knew Mina didn’t like her and it was against her personally made rules that she wouldn’t date anyone that Mina didn’t like anymore. Since there were a handful of them back in college, Mina was very vocal about each one she didn’t like. It almost cost them their friendship and Sana didn’t want that to happen again. But there was a part of her that kind of wanted to try with Kazuha.