"How-"

"I'm glad that I found you first."

"Jay." Aera took a step away, but Jay suddenly held her hand and looked at her into her eyes.

"Can I?" He asked her softly and slowly reached his hand to her hair. Aera was just watching him as he leaned his body closer to her.
He then hugged her and laughed,

"You're still tiny."He hugged her tighter.
"How are you, Aera?"

Aera was silent, still surprised to see him again after 5 years. She sighed heavily, remembered that Caesoo and her manager uploaded her picture on social media causing Jay to immediately search for her. She didn't want to think about the old version of her as she might get emotional because of it. The treatment helped her a lot, but after meeting Jay, she can feel her heart was hurting again, and those feeling slow came again.

She slowly broke the hug and avoided Jay, but he would never let go of her this time.

"Aera, it's okay."

"Everything is okay now."

Aera bit her lips.

"I wanted us to be like we used to be."

-

  "How did you find me?" Aera asked Jay nervously and took a sip of her tea. Jay toyed with his fingers and smiled at Aera,
"I was searching for you for 5 years and after the picture of you-"

"It's all because of the picture." Aera cut him off and took a glance at Caesoo who was watching them with a teasing smile.
Jay saw that and ended up laughing,

"I guess she was the one who did it."

Aera chuckled and nodded,
"Come here." She said to Caesoo.

Chaesoo quickly grabbed her drinks, sitting next to Aera while avoiding Jay's gaze on her.

"She is always like this. She can't look at a good-looking guy." Aera chuckled again and hit Caesoo on her shoulder.

Jay smiled, "Am I good-looking to you?"

Aera became nervous and slowly nodded her head. "I'm sorry."

"No. Why did you apologize to me? I'm happy to hear it. You are getting prettier too."

"This milk tea is tasty." Aera changed the topic as she was getting embarrassed at his compliment. "That's my drink, Aera," Jay said and it made her almost choked on her drink.
Caesoo quickly patted Aera on the back while laughing at her.

"I'm sorry, Jay. Let me make a new one for you-"

"No. It's okay. I will just drink it." Jay replied and smiled at her.

"Aera, I need to go first. I will call you later."
Jay stood up and patted Aera on her shoulder before leaving the place.

"Aera, he is handsome."
Caesoo said to Aera happily.

"It's not the first time you met him."

Caesoo shook her head,
"I met him for the first time."

"But I still remember the guy I met yesterday."

"Different person?"Aera asked Caesoo blankly.

"Yes."

Caesoo shook her head,
"No. I'm sorry. It was the same guy."

"Wait. I need to process my mind."
Caesoo sighed,

"It was the same guy. I'm so stupid. I should talk to him more!"

Aera shook her head as she didn't understand Caesoo,
"You said that you remembered him."

"I met a lot of handsome men yesterday. That's why I can't recognize him at first."

"He just changed his hairstyle."Caesoo slapped her face and quickly went to the counter to take an order from a handsome customer who had just come into the cafe.

-

"Jjampong!"

"Thank you for the meals, Jay," Aera said happily and ate the food while Jay was preparing the drink for her.

"Just say what you wanted. I will buy everything." Jay said and watched Aera who was enjoying the food happily.

When Aera caught him, they suddenly laughed at each other. They enjoyed the food again and stopped chewing when they laughed every time they took a glance at each other's faces.

"Jay wiped the sauces from your lips. Are you a child?"

Jay took the bowl down and wiped the sauces from his lips. "I felt like I was taking care of a child right now," Aera said and ate more.

"You look messy," Jay spoke up and sat closer to her while Aera was just watching him surprisingly as he was leaning too close to her. He reached his thumbs to her lips while his left hand was holding her shoulder to prevent her from moving.

"You are a child too."Jay smiled at her and wiped the sauces from her lips gently.

He chuckled to see her reaction and patted her head,
"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"What do you mean? I'm not looking at you."
Aera used an excuse and avoided Jay's gaze on her.

Jay gently stroke her cheeks, making her look at him. He leaned his face closer and smiled,
"Can I ?"

Aera blinked her eyes in confusion when Jay held her shoulder while leaning his lips closer to her.
"Can I kiss you?"

"Why did you-"

"Because I was waiting for this for a long time."

"Stop joking, Jay..."

"I'm not." Aera took a deep breath and became nervous to answer.

"Just for one time." Jay looked into her eyes.

He cupped her face and leaned her face closer to him,

"Just for one time."

Jay smiled again and slowly placed his lips on her-

"Ouch!" Jay groaned in hurt when someone suddenly threw a ball at him, causing him to stop from what he was doing to Aera.

Aera was surprised when she saw a pig mascot was playing soccer with kids near the park.
She looked at the pig mascot for a long time and a moment of her and Jake crossed her mind again.

Again, her heart was hurting.

The pig mascot walked closer to them to get the ball,

"Be careful next time," Jay said and the pig mascot bowed as if to apologize after taking the ball from him and ran to the field again.

"Are you okay, Aera?"

Aera nodded and still looked at the pig mascot.
"No. It's not him."

"It will never be him."

"What am I thinking?"

-

"Stay here, okay?"

"I'm going to buy the ice cream for us."

"But the queue is too long."

"It's okay, Aera. Just wait for me, okay?"
Jay said and went to the ice cream store.

While waiting for Jay to come, Aera took a chance to go to the field to watch the soccer match in a close way. She watched the pig mascot who was playing soccer like a professional and smiled when she remembered Jake again.

"It must be period pain." Aera groaned in hurt and took a step to leave.

The pig mascot saw her and stopped playing.

He watched her until she was gone from his vision.

-

Aera was watching the soccer match again, and she realized that the pig mascot wasn't there anymore. She looked around the place and took a step to leave when Jay called for her.

"On my way!" Aera said loudly and started to run.

She suddenly bumped into someone, causing her fell to the ground. Aera groaned in hurt and wiped off the dust from her pants.

"I'm sorry," Aera said and stood up without looking at the person who was standing in front of her.

She shut her eyes because she was embarrassed and ran towards Jay hurriedly.

"She is still the same."

"I'm glad that she is happy."

"I miss you."

"My princess."

-
a/n🤩

hello again! this book is coming to the end! Yahoooooo I'm so excited! but I will miss all of you again😭 oh nooo

btw, I saw a lot of people were shocked because Aera and her friends were staying apart for 5 years.

I want them to meet again when they were already working. not as a university or college student BCS it will take a long chapter to come to the end lmao