The lady behind the counter smiled kindly, even noticing the strange air between the two.
"Of course, just a moment," she said as she went to prepare the pastry.
The woman's voice seemed to calm Seina, even though it was the first time she'd heard it. She took a deep breath and, though hesitant, began:
"Ah… I-I didn't know you liked sweets too…"
No answer. Thalya just turned her head as if she were watching something on the other side of the store.
Seina froze again. Her smile vanished, her posture sank, and guilt rose to the surface.
An inexplicable tightness in her chest consumed her. She didn't know what it was, or how to deal with it.
"I… I know what I did was wrong, but please understand it was for a good reason, okay?" She lowered her head, staring at the floor. "Please… don't ignore me, this… it's too much for me."
"One hotteok ready!" said the lady as she handed it to Thalya.
Thalya only smiled.
She turned and nearly jumped at the sight of Seina right in front of her, head bowed.
"Seina?" She pulled her earphones out. "Are you okay?"
Startled, Seina lifted her eyes—and there was Thalya, headphones dangling from her fingers like threads of silver.
"I… uhm—" Seina's voice caught. Her face burned. Suddenly, she turned, her legs moving before her mind could catch up. She bolted out of the market.
The woman behind the counter smiled, her eyes full of untold stories.
"Ah, youth!"
— "What… just happened?" Thalya still held the earphones, her thumb rubbing the cord as if searching for clues.
"Didn't you hear?" The woman winked, watching Seina disappear down the street. "Your friend was trembling as she apologized. She seemed… more than sorry. She seemed scared."
"Scared?" The question slipped out before Thalya could bite her tongue.
"The kind of scared that comes from feeling too much." The lady held out the hotteok wrapped in paper. "Talk to her. Before pride ruins something beautiful."
"…Thank you."
"Come back anytime." Her smile lasted until the door closed. Alone, she sighed.
When Thalya stepped out of the little market, her friend was nowhere in sight. The sweetness of the pastry comforted her, though doubt still haunted her.
"So… I'll see you at school," she said to the wind, her mouth full.
The wind carried her words away, but not the bitter taste that followed the next day when Seina turned down the corridor the instant she spotted her silver hair.
Thalya stopped in the middle of the flow of students, her fingers clenching unconsciously around her backpack.
"She saw me."
It was obvious. The way Seina spun on her heels—so sudden, so clumsy, that she dropped a book in the process. Thalya could have picked it up, but her feet rooted themselves to the floor as she watched Seina vanish around the corner.
That afternoon, the sunset hit the windows. Soon the bell rang. As she left the classroom, someone bumped into her.
"Watch where you're going, Everheath," they grumbled.
Thalya didn't reply. She just kept walking, head down.