zhao yufan. 001

She wasn’t just “a random girl”.

In James’s life, she was an old close friend from before you, someone he used to talk to every day back when things were simpler—before relationships, before labels, before he ever had to think about how his words affected someone else.

They never officially dated.

But there was history in the way they spoke.

Comfortable. Familiar. A little too unfiltered.

The kind of connection that never fully turned into something… but also never fully disappeared.

And that’s exactly why it felt wrong to you.

Because she still talked to him like she had space in his life.

You only saw a glimpse of the screen. Enough to read two lines.

“you still don’t talk like yourself when she’s around”
“it’s like you’re holding back all the time”

That was it. No explanation needed beyond that feeling in your chest.

Later, you asked him. “Who is Mina?”

James looked up from his phone. “…Why?”

“I saw her messages.”

That made him pause immediately. “What did she say?”

You shook your head slightly. “It’s not what she said. It’s her.” Silence.

He slowly put his phone down. “She’s someone I knew before you,” he said.

You nodded once. “An ex?”

“No,” he said quickly. Then after a beat, “We never dated.”

That made you watch him more closely. “Then what was she?”

James hesitated. And that hesitation said more than the answer.

“…She was my closest friend for a long time,” he admitted. “We talked every day. About everything. No filters.”