aera thinks about him leaving. she's more than certain that he will someday even if it's just by the fact that he doesn't give her the impression that he'd stay; not for slak, not for her— maybe for a possible romantic partner, but then there's always the possibility that they'd want to move in back to the netherlands with him instead and she wouldn't blame them, not really. the life of a small town isn't for everyone and she does have more than one friend that would jump at the first opportunity to get out of there. she thinks about the routine that they somewhat built together and whenever she does there's this whining voice in her head complaining about who is going to help her get every cat in yuseong bay in a sweater before winter arrives when he's gone, or whom and whose cat she's going to crochet matching sweaters for.
she thinks about dramatic airport scenes. aera entertains the idea of showing up at the airport last minute and begging sverre to stay, she thinks that she could do it if it's for him; maybe she'd take slak with her in the cute beige sweater that mirrored one that sverre himself has to strengthen her argument, to be able to say that if sverre isn't going to stay for her then he should stay for his cat instead. she thinks about dramatic beach scenes, sverre showing up out of breath while aera is watching the sunset, hours after the flight that he was supposed to take has taken off, fully believing that she already lost her friend, and then he's there to prove to her that she didn't, that in end he realized that maybe he had more in yuseong bay than back in his home country.
( she thinks about whether or not she'd leave yuseong bay for him, if he'd be happy to know that she got a scholarship for some med school program even if she doesn't know a single word in dutch, if there are as many cats where he used to live as there are in yuseong bay; but then that thought doesn't linger because she knows the answer for it. )
she thinks that she'll miss him; that even though he isn't her only friend, she'll still feel a little lonely without him there, at least until she learns how to deal with the fact that they don't live in the same city anymore. she thinks about how sad she'll be until she rearranges her routine so the spaces that he left in it won't feel this empty.
she doesn't think she'll ever tell him any of this though. not only because of her inability to deal with conflicts (with the truth) and bringing up such at best bittersweet and at worst depressing topics like that, but because she wants to cherish the moments that she still has with him; because she wants to be able to say that she did enjoy their time to their fullest and for that she doesn't have want to waste it by being sad for something that hasn't even happened yet.
