A month before the unsettling night at the cafe, Jax's world was a comfortable routine of pixels and lattes. The only complicated thing was her budding, and what she considered to be a completely one-sided, fascination with her colleague, Astraea.
One Friday evening, a comfortable chaos took over Jax's apartment. It was a typical gathering of her inner circle of friends. Chitz, her boyish and boisterous friend, was already two beers deep, a mischievous glint in her eye as she watched Jax on her phone.
"Still daydreaming about Astraea?" Chitz asked with a grin. "I'm telling you, she's practically love-bombing you. I've seen the messages. She's definitely into you."
Jax rolled her eyes, but a blush crept up her neck. She had been staring at a photo of Astraea, taken from a recent company event. "She's just being friendly," Jax muttered, pushing a stray strand of her black wolf-cut hair from her face.
Roban, the man of the group with a sharp sense of humor, chuckled from the other side of the room. "Please. That's what you said about Nina too. You guys have this whole weird, bickering-but-loving thing going on. It's a prelude to something, I'm telling you."
Love, the self-proclaimed "womanizer" of the group, leaned forward with a knowing look. "Roban's got a point. You get all soft around Nina. But you're clearly obsessed with Astraea. Why not pursue both? It's a modern world, darling. A girl needs options."
Jax shook her head, a familiar warmth spreading through her chest at their teasing. "Nina's my little sister. And Astraea is just a colleague. That's it," she insisted.
Chitz scoffed, pointing a finger at Jax. "A colleague who sends you messages asking what a shy barista like you does on a Friday night? Jaxy, that's not 'just being friendly.'"
Jax looked down at her phone, her thumb hovering over Astraea's contact. It was true. The work conversations often blurred the lines, and Astraea's messages were often filled with subtle compliments and probing questions. A small, secret part of Jax felt a thrill at the attention, even as she told herself it was nothing.
The following week, the atmosphere at Manchae Cafe felt comfortably normal. It was a slow day, the rain outside keeping customers at bay. Jax and Nina were in a comfortable silence, both lost in their own worlds. Nina, with her blonde hair and artistic flair, was sketching in her notebook.
Nina eventually looked up, her pretty eyes meeting Jax's. "You're quiet today," she said, her voice gentle. "Missing your virtual goddess?"
"Don't call her that," Jax grumbled, but a small smile touched her lips.
Nina put her pencil down and hopped onto the counter, her tattooed legs swinging casually. "Is everything okay? You seem… distant."
Jax sighed. Nina had an uncanny ability to read her moods. "I'm just tired," Jax lied.
Nina didn't press, instead, she began to recount a ridiculous incident with a customer, her hands gesturing wildly, her voice full of life. Jax found herself laughing, a genuine, uninhibited laugh that she rarely shared with anyone but Nina. Their easy banter, the way they fell into a comfortable rhythm of teasing and care, was a constant in Jax's life.
As the day came to a close, Jax and Nina were alone, cleaning up. The air was filled with the low hum of the refrigerators. Jax was wiping down the espresso machine when her phone buzzed with a message from Astraea. A smile spread across Jax's face as she read the flirty message, a hopeful feeling blooming in her chest.
Nina, seeing the sudden change in Jax's expression, hopped off the counter. "Ooh, who's the mystery person making you all mushy?" she teased.
"It's just Astraea," Jax said, her voice a little too light.
Nina's eyes narrowed playfully as she looked at the screen. "See? I told you she likes you."
But just as the hopeful feeling settled in, a new message popped up on Jax's phone, another from Astraea. This one was a picture of Astraea with another designer from VirtualTask looking cozy at a cafe. The caption read, "Quick coffee break with a friend. It's nice to have someone to share ideas with."
The smile on Jax's face instantly froze. The playful, flirtatious messages she had received seemed to contradict the cold reality of this photo. It felt like a deliberate mix of warmth and distance, a subtle push and pull that confused Jax. She had been foolish to think Astraea was interested. The distance between them—provincial office vs. city office—had always been an unspoken wall, and this photo made it feel impossibly high.
Nina, sensing Jax's sudden stillness, peered over her shoulder. She saw the picture and the disheartened look on Jax's face. Her own smile faded, replaced by a deep concern.
"Jaxy, are you...okay?" Nina asked, her voice filled with genuine concern, the same kind of concern Jax felt for Nina when Jin was around.
Jax couldn't answer. She felt a sudden surge of disappointment and embarrassment. She tried to shrug it off, to pretend it didn't matter, but her usual quick retort died on her tongue.
As they walked home, Jax was lost in her thoughts, the image of Astraea and the other designer replaying in her mind. Nina, sensing her uncharacteristic silence, gently took Jax's hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze.
"Hey," Nina said, her voice barely a whisper. "It's okay to feel upset, you know. You deserve someone who sees how amazing you are."
Jax looked at Nina, truly looked at her. The genuine care in Nina's eyes, the gentle strength in her touch. In that moment, a subtle tremor rippled through Jax, a shift in her feelings that she had buried so deep she hadn't dared to acknowledge it.
But before Jax could even process this new, confusing realization, Nina, emboldened by their closeness and the raw emotion hanging in the air, leaned in. Her blonde hair brushed against Jax's cheek, and for a fleeting second, Jax thought Nina was going to...
"Jax!" A voice, sharp and clear, cut through the quiet night. Both Jax and Nina jumped apart, startled.
Standing a few feet away, her eyes wide and a mixture of surprise and something unreadable on her face, was Astraea.