One week into vacation, we moved to a new house. Even though the change in the surroundings was small, I could feel something new around us—the air smelled different, the sounds of people on the street were different, and even the feeling of the house we would walk through every day was different.
As we arranged our things and furniture, I couldn't help but think back to the past—the school days, the laughter with my friends, and those simple chats with Sevi that sometimes felt special, even though we were just friends.
I felt sad because I was far from my friends, so maybe we would only talk through chat. I would miss being with them. I thought it would take a long time before we could meet again.
I opened my phone and checked on the two of them.
"Hi, girls, I miss you two," I chatted.
"Miss you too, Aurelia," they replied.
"Come home soon, Aurelia, we'll hang out, just the three of us," Amari wrote.
"Wait for me, I'll come there soon," I replied.
"When?" they both asked at the same time.
"I don't know, but I'll come back as soon as I can," I replied.
"You better! Always chat here so we can talk to you," Ophelia said.
"Of course," I replied. "Later, I have something to do."
After chatting with them, I saw Sevi's post about a place that looked familiar.
"Shit, this is close to us," I whispered.
I remembered that Sevi and I were only in the same area, so I was more careful about posting, because I used to love posting first-time places I visited.
While thinking about that, I felt a little nervous in my chest. I wanted to see that place to maybe see if he was there, but at the same time, I was scared that we might not meet or that he might be with someone else.
And the place Sevi posted was the one he said we would meet at someday.
After 8 years, we still live in the place we moved to, and we planned a vacation back to where we used to live.
But before leaving, I wanted to go first to the place where I was supposed to meet Sevi, because it had always been my dream place since I was a child, and the view there was beautiful.
While getting dressed, I thought about messaging our group chat.
"Girlsss, I have good newsss," I typed.
"What's that?" Amari replied.
"Tell us now!" Ophelia said.
"I'm going on vacation there now," I typed.
"Really?" Ophelia asked.
"What time?" Amari wrote.
"We might be there by the afternoon," I replied.
"Okay, be careful," Amari and Ophelia wrote.
After I finished dressing, I waited for transport because I wanted to walk around first before leaving. The vehicle was late—after 30 minutes, one finally came, and I got on right away. It was easy to get there.
While walking, I thought of Sevi, because maybe he was there too, or maybe he often stayed there.
As I got close to the spot with the beautiful view, I planned to take a picture. Then I saw a man who looked familiar.
A man with a woman.
The man I saw was Sevi.
Seeing him with a woman hurt me so much, it felt like my heart was breaking.
Because the woman with him was his crush back then—the one he ended up with because of me.