Chandra folded her hands in her lap before realizing how awkward it seemed, quickly placing them inside of her pockets instead. She couldn’t remember the last time she felt this flustered to meet anyone, something her friends would definitely tease her for if they were able to see her now.

Kyra made her way to the table and Chandra saw her glance at what was sitting on its surface: a cup of milk coffee near the chair meant for her, and a cup of tea near the chair Chandra was sitting in.

She saw Kyra visibly pause, a curious smile spreading across her lips. Chandra could tell exactly what she was thinking. 

She gently cleared her throat. “Um. The coffee was originally for you, but if you don’t drink it with milk anymore I can order something el—”

“Oh! No, no I do,” Kyra laughed, waving her hand politely to say it was fine. She sat down opposite to Chandra, seemingly amused at the two cups on the table. “Sorry for staring, I was just surprised. Thank you for ordering ahead.”

“No problem.” Chandra smiled, letting out an internal breath of relief. 

A brief pause settled at the table as Kyra took a sip of coffee, and Chandra could feel her heart turn to do somersaults inside of her chest. She saw her own hands slightly tremble as she reached for her cup of tea. 

It felt so surreal sitting with Kyra in an afternoon like this, their ages much older than when they had last met before. Chandra wasn’t even sure how to position her limbs in her chair, her shoe pressed into the ground to support the shaking of her leg.

Kyra placed her cup back on its little plate, the ceramic base meeting its surface with a quiet clink. She looked at the cup before letting out a laugh. “Somehow, this is reminding me of that one time I dragged you out to get coffee in undergrad. You had such an upset stomach for the rest of the day.” 

Kyra looked at her apologetically before nodding at Chandra's cup. “Tea suits you much better.”

Chandra could feel her heart swell with that nameless emotion that had returned to haunt her for the past few days. The memory that Kyra had just unearthed slowly bloomed inside of her chest, the word tender being the only way to describe how it now sat with them at the table.

Chandra smiled, unsure if she had hidden these emotions well on her face. “Yeah, tea and I are an easier digestible pair.”

They sat there for a few moments, seemingly occupied with the same thoughts on how to proceed.

“Well,” Kyra was the first to break the quiet, setting her cup aside to clear the space between them. “First things first, I suppose.” She looked at Chandra and smiled. “Hi.”

And Chandra noticed now, as they properly sat face-to-face, that Kyra had similarly aged in the way the skin around her eyes slightly crinkled under the late afternoon sun. It was barely noticeable for someone only in her late twenties, but was just enough for Chandra to see. 

The grace that she carried whenever she walked was apparent even up close, in the way she leaned her elbows on the table and crossed one leg over the other. A grace that had grown well over time.

Chandra smiled, hoping her nerves wouldn’t show through the lines of her lips. “Hi,” she said, quickly racking her brain for a way to continue. “How was your chat with Ms. Lasma?”

“Good, good.” Kyra nodded. “I just needed help finding journals to look over during the holidays. I was looking in the wrong shelves apparently.”

Chandra raised her eyebrows. “Are you planning to work on your thesis over the holidays?” 

Kyra laughed. “You got me. I don’t have to technically, since I’m practically finished, but I just wanna tweak a few things before it feels really complete.”

“Ahh,” Chandra slowly nodded her response. This was a Kyra who was different from the frustrated undergrad she knew, but a Kyra she was curious to find out more about.

Kyra smiled. “You seem surprised.”

“Oh.” Chandra hadn’t expected her surprise to be so easily visible to her. “Well, I guess I’ve been surprised since I saw you in the master’s program, if I’m being honest.” She sheepishly scratched the back of her neck. “I guess I just didn’t expect to see you there.”

Kyra laughed. “Yeah, I was so ready to leave undergrad, wasn't I?” She leaned back against her chair. “I didn’t expect to see myself in the program either, to be honest. But I felt like something was missing after a few years of working, so I decided to go back to school.”

Chandra nodded and wondered deep down what it really was that made Kyra enter the program. What made you change your mind, Kir? What was the thing that you missed? 

She quietly picked at the fabric of her jeans. She wanted to ask these questions, wanted to release them into the air and see how they landed in the conversation between them. But she felt as if each word was locked up, sealed inside of her throat before they had a chance to even reach her mouth. 

Chandra decided to hesitantly tease instead. “And now you’re Prof Maria’s ‘star student’?” referring to how Nadira had called her just hours before.

Kyra burst into laughter. “No, I’m really not!” She waved her hand to dismiss the statement. “I just got close to Prof Maria since I had a lot of questions and she had a lot of answers. I spent a lot of time chatting with her in her office.”

Kyra looked pointedly at Chandra. “You used to do the same thing, didn’t you?”

Chandra laughed. “Yeah, I suppose I did.” She then continued. “Where did you work before you started the program?” 

“Oh, I continued teaching at that dance studio, if you remember,” Kyra nodded at her to say, that particular studio. “And sometimes I got commercial dance gigs, but I mainly taught arts and crafts at a camp.”

Chandra smiled. “That sounds exactly like something you would do.”

She saw Kyra pause to sit with this statement for a moment, and Chandra wondered if she had said the wrong thing. But then the corner of Kyra’s mouth tugged upwards into a smile. 

“I guess so, huh? Guess I could’ve learned a thing or two from paper-making.” Kyra quietly laughed. “But well, enough about me.” She leaned her elbows on the table and smiled at Chandra. “How have you been?”