"Fighting!"
"Ya! Jun! Wake up!"
"….."
"Wake up! You will get late for the practice!"
"….Huh?....Umhm…" Struggling a little, Jun turned his body over and looked at the guy who's been shaking him hard to wake him up. "Wh-What's going on?" He got up holding his head. "Aa! My head…."
"Who wouldn't get a headache after a rough night?" The guy said sarcastically.
"Huh?" Jun rubbed his eyes, trying to remember the last night.
"You went to drink with your friends last night, remember?" The guy asked.
"…..Ohh…Yeah…."Jun said. "….We went to celebrate…."
"Celebrate?"
"Yeah…"
"But it didn't look like that…"
"Huh? What do you mean?" Jun asked as he got out of the bed.
"Yesterday night, you came into the room weeping like a kid!"
"….What?"
"Don't you remember?"
"…."
"Yesterday night….at around 12:30…You banged on the door though you had the keys…."
Jun rubbed his neck, trying to remember it but he couldn't.
"And so I had to open the door….As soon as I did, you literally jumped on me, hugging tightly and crying loud like a baby…."
"What are you talking man? I would never do that…."
"….Oh really? Then who's Mia?"
"Mia?" Jun's eyes got widened in surprise.
"Yeah, Mia!"
"How do you know that name?"
"Because you repeated it like thousands of time while you were crying…."
"…."
"You were saying something like…I lost her….I lost my Mia….Mia…." The guy repeated Jun's lines from the previous night.
"…." Jun was silent, but in his mind the memories of last night were slowly recovering back.
'…I was drinking with my friends….We all got really drunk…..And then Mia was there in the bar…How did she get there?.....'
He quickly took his phone and went through the call history.
'Shoot! I called her there?!!.....And then….Then we were in a car….a taxi maybe…..'
He was trying his best to remember every single detail of the last night and then suddenly he remembered.
He remembered what he had said to her.
He remembered the exact words. 'I threw the letter in the trash!'
"Oh God!!" Jun collapsed back on the bed while holding his head tight.
"Jun? Jun?" The guy quickly sat beside him. "You okay? Is your head aching so much?" He asked worriedly.
"No…" Jun said somehow but his mind was gone as he had remembered that he had confessed his wrong doing to Mia.
The thing, which he had kept to himself for the last two years.
The thing, which had made him curse himself every single time, he had seen her.
"Her face…." He murmured as Mia's blank face and the dead eyes from the last night came before him.
The guy who's been observing him for all this time finally asked, "Was she your girlfriend or something?"
"….No…." Jun said. "She was more than that…..!"
~
~
Two whole weeks had passed since that night; since she had got to know about the truth.
The college was going routinely. The studies were going fine. The days were passing. She was going to the café regularly for her part time job.
But she hadn't seen him since that night.
He had not come to the café once.
His friends came, a couple of times, but he wasn't with them.
The Christmas was coming closer.
.
"Hello Mom." Mia was talking on the phone as she got out from the dorm to go to the café.
"Oh hello dear!" Mother said from the other side of the phone. "How are you?"
"I'm fine Mom."
"…..What's wrong? You sound a little depressed…"
'How does she know it every time?' Mia thought to herself. "…It's nothing mom. I'm…I'm just a little tired cause I was completing the assignments till the late, yesterday night…"
"Don't work so hard, sweety. It's okay if you are late by a day or two."
"Hehe…..It's not okay mom. It will deduct my marks…."
"…So what? Marks are not important for me against the health of my child."
"….Yeah, Mom. I know."
"You are eating well, right?"
"Yes Mom. You ask me this every single time."
"You wouldn't understand a mother's heart dear. Let's see what you'll do when you'll become a mother."
"Haha….Well…."
"Ah!" The mother exclaimed as she remembered something. "See? I totally forgot that I called you for something…"
"What is it?"
"For the Christmas, why don't you come here with Jun? As grandma and Nana both are coming here this year."
"….."
"Hello?"
"Yeah?"
"Did you hear what I said?"
"….Oh…Umm…Yeah…"
"Yes, so you two will be coming together on the 24th, right?"
"…Umm….About that….I won't be coming home for the Christmas, Mom...."
"Huh? Why?"
"Actually, our manager at the café asked me for some extra help for the Christmas rush."
"…"
"….And He's gonna pay me nice…So I thought why not? Some extra cash is always good you know….And besides, I have my exams right after the Christmas holidays so I will get some alone time here for the studies…."
"…..So that means, you won't be here for the Christmas, this year?" Mother's voice was a little disappointed and sad.
"….Yeah…I'm sorry Mom…." Mia said.
"….Okay, honey….But what about Jun then? Is he coming or not?"
"….I-I don't know about him…." Mia quickly dodged the question.
"Okay then. I'll call him and ask."
"…"
"Okay sweety…Eat well. Don't stay up too late. Take care of yourself, okay?"
"Yeah Mom. I will."
And she hung up on the phone.
'Some extra cash….And well, it will also keep my mind busy….' Mia thought to herself.
Then taking a deep breath, she started walking fast towards the café.
~
As soon as she stood in the front door of the café, the 'Closed' sign before her made her frown.
'Why isn't it opened yet?' She thought and tried to look inside through the glass window.
She could see her colleagues inside.
With a bit confused look she opened the door and entered inside the café.
The moment she entered she saw every single one was busy cleaning the café.
One was vacuuming the floor; the other one was wiping the tables, glass clean.
A girl entered from the kitchen door with a bunch of flowers in her hands; and then started putting them one by one in every single vase on the table.
One guy was standing on the high ladder and was cleaning the ceiling.
Every single one was in a great rush.
'What's going on here?' Mia thought while looking at all this.
Then she saw the manager who was at the counter and was instructing something to Yuna.
Still confused, Mia started walking towards him.
As she was coming closer, the manager saw her, "Oh! Mia! Thank god you are here!" He said.
"What's…What's going on manager?" She asked as she looked around.
"A very important person is coming here today. So we must represent ourselves perfectly."
"…Ok-ay."
"I have instructed everything to Yuna. You go with her and help her in the kitchen. She will tell you what to do. Is that clear?"
"Umm…Yeah." Mia bowed to him and looked at Yuna with a uncertain look on her face.
Yuna nodded to her as if saying that she'll give her the details.
And then both of them entered the kitchen.
Mia went in the back towards the locker to change into her uniform.
As she came out after changing, she saw Yuna at the kitchen counter, plating.
Quickly wearing the apron, Mia rushed towards her to give her a hand.
"So?" Mia asked. "Who's coming to our café today? Looking at everyone's faces it feels like the President of this country is coming. Hehe…" She said jokingly.
"I don't know about that. But I know one thing that this person is really really important for this café." Yuna said.
"Is that so?"
"Yeah, I heard our Manager talking with the owner of this café, earlier."
"Our owner? Was he here?" Mia couldn't remember seeing him out.
"Yeah he was. But he went to get this party from the airport."
"Airport." Mia raised her eyebrows. "But who exactly is this person?"
"What I understood from their conversation earlier is that, this is a very big and wealthy party from abroad. And they have shown interest in buying this place with a huge prize. So huge, that our owner got ready to do it right away."
"Ohh…" Mia nodded understandingly.
"Yeah…He knows that no one will give him that much money for this place. And with that money he'll spend his whole life in pleasure."
"Really? Ohhh!!!"
"Yeah girl! So we must represent our self 'Perfectly', just like our manager said."
"Hmm."
"If that party is ready to pay a lot for this place, then they can also agree to give us a raise. What say?"
"Yess!" Mia made a fist in the air. "We gotta give our best!"
"Yes! That's the spirit!"
"Fighting!" Both the girls said at the same time as they did a high five.
And then with a great enthusiasm, they went back to their work.
~