You walk through the store, searching for something to eat. It was a bit of a long day at work and you just needed something to fill your stomach.

“oh my god, Anon is that you?” a familiar sounding voice echoes into your ears. You spin around to find Baelz beaming at you with a bright grin. You stand there surprised, the last time you seen her smile like that..how long was it, 6 years? How many times have you seen her cry? Seen her angry? Seen her lusty...

She looks shocked for a moment before glancing off to the side. “s-sorry. Perhaps I shouldn't have bothered you while you were shopping huh?”

“N-No! It's alright, really! It was just a shock to see you is all...” you stumble your words some. Hakos Baelz, a long time ago you two meet in high school. you were friends for the first two years, and dated on the last two years of highschool and continued to date a couple years after graduation.

The love the two of you shared was almost like you'd see in a romance anime. Full of fluffy feelings and occasionally sexy ones. Turning the once shy rat girl into a woman who was more open about what she wanted from you when she wanted it. However; the two of you were very young. And you had suffered through many problems. You were insecure about yourself, you had anger problems, you had no idea where your life was going and it terrified you. You occasionally took them out on her. Not that you ever put your hands on her. no. you yelled at her. It was one of the many things that resulted in your break up.

You knew even at the time what you were doing was wrong and did everything to change. You changed for her. And you knew in your heart that your love would prosper...you knew this, but reality doesn't work that way sometimes. By the time you bettered yourself, Bae disappeared in your life. You knew this was your fault. You didn't dare complain. You figured this would be how it ended.

For the last six years since then you fell into a depression of sorts. You tried to find love but no other woman really understood you. No one really cared. You felt just as alone with a woman as you did without. Deep down you couldn't think about anyone else.

Perhaps you felt guilty, so much was left unsaid. You didn't even need her back as a girlfriend. You didn't even need her to be your friend. The only thing you wanted.

Was tell her how sorry you were.

And now here she is looking at you almost bashfully. She plays with her fingers. She looks about as awkward about this as you do

“so how--”
“uh, hey--” the both of you spoke at the same time. And stopped.

“you go first” you beat her to saying the very same thing. Bae looks to you dejectedly. It tore you appartm but you tried to hold a smile just to make her comfortable

“I understand if you never want to see me again...I just wanted to say how sorry I am for handeling the situation so poorly and just leaving you...if seeing me makes you uncomfortable I'll understand. I'm just happy to see you're alive and well” hearing her say sorry to you, after understanding everything was your fault caused tears to mist out of your eyes. This entire time she blamed herself for leaving...

“N-No! Im not uncomfortable at all! Honestly i'm happy to see you're in good health! Are you doing well for yourself? I for one am doing alright. I got a decent job, and even just got myself a new car. I even decided to be more proactive in my dreams to be a writer...but you know sometimes motivation still becomes slow, haha” you speak nonchalantly like everything was no big deal. All water under the bridge.

Tears drip out of the corner of her eyes.

“oh come on please don't cry Bae! You'll make me cry too!” you laugh it off while whipping the tears on your eyes.

“it's just...I'm very happy you've started perusing your dreams, even if it's a little bit. I started working on my career and I finally moved out of my parents house. And got a cat. Do you want to see?” she asked me, wiping away her tears while pulling out her phone. You nod and she shows you an adorable black and white cat. “her name is beastie! She can be a little shit disturber and—uh?” her eyes suddenly widen looking into your eyes.

Shit! You didn't notice but you started tearing up again. How did you dream of this moment? Just to be able to talk to her once more. And it was such a pleasant conversation.

“Anon... thank you for accapting me. I'm sorry again that I wasn't in the space to be a compassionate friend...when things became too high stress. I'm not trying to make excuses but I wanted to just get it off my chest” she repeats herself. She really wanted to hammer home that she was the one who was sorry. Even though you deflected it last time you now shook your head.

“I'm sorry too...for everything” you finally were able to say it. The woman brings her hands to her lips. Trying to cover her mouth

“When life was stressing you out I let my own selfishness and negative attitude get the better of me and pushed it onto you. I know what I did can't be undone, and what I said can't be unsaid, but I'm really happy just to be able to clean the slate with you. I never forgot anything. How sad I made you, How I hurt you. I dreamed for this chance alone! I really hope it's not sounding too weird” you pour your heart out to the point of feeling embarrassed.

She shakes her head. “it's years of things that can't be undone from the both of us...but that's like, you know?

When we met we were very young. I was pretty selfish too, looking back at it all. You were a first for a lot of things at the time. And neither of us had experiences with the situations we came across, you know? I'm glad we can look back at it as more mature adults and clean the slate. Now I'm feeling pretty old...” she jokingly laughs it off. She must have been just as nervous about all of this your tears dried up. It was a dream come true. The both of you just talking. Perhaps even one day...you two can make this work out and try to re kindle the relationship you once had. Live happily ever after...

But real life doesn't work that way some times

“hey bae! There you are!” the sound of another man walks up to her with a shopping cart. She looks to the man somewhat shocked! The man looked gentle. The type you'd imagine a therapist to look like.

“who's this guy?” he asks gently, noticing the both you and her seemed stiff and awkward.

“This is Anon, you know. I told you about him!” she specifies to the man. You look at the two of them. You already had a good idea who he was to her. But

“OH! Bae told me a lot about you! How you two were close friends! I'm glad you two could talk!” he shoots you a smile. You shoot her a smile back Bae smiles at the man wryly and nods before returning her attention to you.

“Anon...this is my boyfriend.” We've been seeing each other for a while.

You look at her with a smile. It was a fake smile but you tried your hardest to make it believable

“oh! You two make a cute couple! I'm really glad you found someone!” you speak to her. You hated yourself for the feeling clawing its way at your chest. What right do you have? How dare you feel this way...shit! Both of them are shooting a concerned look.

“I better get going now. I hope to see you again some time. Here's my dumber if you want to get in touch” you blurt out before sloppily jotting down your phone number and handing it to Bae. You try to escape the awkward situation and get away from the both of them

you're an idiot. Of course she'd be seeing someone! You're more surprised she didn't also have kids. You hate this. Why? You told yourself that you just wanted to say sorry. And now she wants to be your friend! This was more than you could have asked for. But the sweet temptation of the return to the past. The return of your fairy tale life was tempting. Just the idea of seeing such a thing was intoxicating

“Anon!” you hear bae call out to you. You stop in your tracks but can't look at her. You didn't want her to see your tear stained eyes.

“I'm sorry...I forgot to mention I had a boyfriend. I was...I was so happy to see that you were okay, that you wanted to be friends that it slipped my mind. Did I hurt you?”

“...no”

“you thought about getting back together with me didn't you?” she speaks with a wavy tone in her voice, Guilt was filling her being.

You turn toward her, allowing her to see the vulnerable look on your face. “yes. But please...Don't feel bad. I just want to see you happy...I know it's cliché, but I really am happy that you found someone. It hurts for now...but I know it'll be okay. I got to see you again. And forge a friendship with you once more.” you say to her with a smile. She runs up to hug you one last time. And you return the same gesture to her. You rest your chin on top of her head.