Made of Things

Good Serious - 93 (pr)

Jay slammed the book in her lap, "No!!"

On the other side of the couch was Sharri. She looked over to Jay with her eyebrows raised. "What happened?"

"I'm worried," Jay's expression was as sad as she felt.

Sharri playfully rolled her eyes, going back to scrolling on her phone.

"No, really. They got caught and they can't be together anymore."

Caught off guard, Sharri faced Jay again. She was worried too, "What? The queen and her boyfriend?"

"He's more than a boyfriend, but yes. It's hurting me."

Loud vibrations from Jay's phone ringing on the table interrupted the conversation.

"One minute, I'm sorry."

"It's okay. Who is it?"

"Haeun," she answered, then picked up the phone, "Hey, baby."

"Hi, Jay," there was a smile in his voice. Her name was his favorite term of endearment. "I'm on my way to pick you up, are you ready?"

"I'll be ready in a little while."

"Should I wait a while then?"

"No, you can wait inside when you get here."

"That's fine. I'll be there soon." Background noise as he started to move around.

"Okay, I'll see you," Jay smiled, looking forward to it.

"I'll see you," Haeun sensed her joy and matched it.

A beat, then Jay hung up.

"You guys are so cute," Sharri genuinely complimented. "Where is he taking you today?"

"Aw, thank you. We're going to this little art gallery Sung presented, then to eat. Probably. Or maybe he'll cook tonight. I'll ask him."

Sharri approved, "I like that. You guys are doing good."

"Yeah," Jay blushed, looking down to the book.

About a month before, Jay was at Haeun's apartment opening the present he got her for her birthday. That was after all of the flowers at her office, then a nice dinner. He was glowing as she unwrapped new clothes and shoes, new gold hoop earrings. It was her first birthday they shared together, and he didn't spare any costs.

Jay was in disbelief. He had everything in her size and in her style. "Haeun..." She didn't know what to say.

Beaming, Haeun explained simply, "I wanted to. It's your birthday, and my new favorite holiday."

"Holiday? What do you mean?"

"I'll celebrate this season for you, even if you don't."

She tried to surpress a smile, at the same time reaching for Haeun to grab his shirt and pull him closer. He willingly went along and met her halfway for a soft kiss.

Her mid teenage years, young Jay struggled to hold on to the idea of the soulmate. She still read her romance books, but she felt more hopeless with each happy ending. Of all of the couples, which were perfect and made for each other, teenage Jay couldn't see her herself in any of them. She closed a book halfway through. No female lead shared such a tumultuous background story, and no male lead ever had to be beside his love while she healed, not from anything too deep.

The book was tossed onto her nightstand, and she grabbed her phone instead. Her soulmate wasn't going to save her, and he wasn't real anyway.

At her high school graduation, she made up her mind to move on from everything, even move out of Fondant. She walked out of her father's house not too long later, with only one backpack of belongings. 300 ducketts to her name and no clue of how she would figure it out.