My Best Coincidence (Seventeen S.Coups)

Part 1

As the leaves danced their autumn descent outside my window, a cool breeze whispered hints of winter's approach. January always brought a mix of excitement and nerves, like stepping onto a rollercoaster with no idea where the twists and turns might lead.

"Lia, what's up with you?"

The sound of my name snapped me back to reality, faces peering at me expectantly. I'd zoned out again.

"Oops, sorry. What were we talking about?" Heat flooded my cheeks, feeling like I'd been caught daydreaming in class.

"We were chatting about the docs. Are they ready?" Jack's tone was a mix of concern and urgency.

"Yeah, yeah, sorry." I scrambled to grab the stack of papers I'd been fussing over for weeks. It felt like all eyes were on me, dissecting my every move.

The looming audit hung over us like a dark cloud. Our company's big plans in the recycling game meant everything had to be perfect. One slip-up could send us crashing down. Just a bunch of paperwork stood between us and success.

But in the midst of all the chaos, there was this weird feeling gnawing at me. Like something important was missing, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

Once the meeting finished, I reviewed all the points discussed.

When I arrived home later in the afternoon, Hana greeted me with a grin that could light up the whole block. We flopped onto the couch, sipping on her latest matcha potion.

"Wow, Hana, this is actually good!" I couldn't hide my surprise.

Hana is the best person you could've ever met. We found each other in our first year of university. We were both so scared and shy, that we connected right away, and now we're here, at 25 still together. She is the sweetest person ever. She would be by your side no matter what. She is also a little wild and careless, but everything she does, she puts all her heart and soul on it. We have never separated from each other. And as soon as we got some money, we decided to start living together, because, isn't it the best to live with your best friend? Even though we did the same degree in physics engineering, she later discovered her hobby as a baker, so she decided to find a job related to that, to practice until she can have her own café. So, I am the only one following my degree's path, which I am starting to wonder if it really is what I want to do in life.

"Thanks! Been playing around with some new flavors." Hana beamed, and I couldn't help but grin back.

We swapped stories, and of course, Hana spilled the tea about her breakup with Jay. Dude turned out to be a real jerk, cheating on her in the same club we used to hit up together. After 4 years together, Hana had a really difficult time, the break up was really painful for her. And now, he was still after her trying to win her back, but Hana is way smarter than that. I'm so happy that she finally realized the trash he is. She wasn't about to let him ruin her vibe.

After some time talking about girl stuff and how her day and mine went, she stopped for a second.

"Oh, and guess what? Seventeen's hitting up Seattle!" Hana's excitement was contagious.

"No freaking way! I've been dying to catch them live!" Suddenly, all the stress of the day melted away.

We scrambled to snag tickets online, laughing and cheering as we scored a pair. It felt like a freaking miracle.

That night, as I drifted off to sleep, I held onto the hope that maybe, just maybe, life wasn't so bad after all.