The crying stops. Seconds pass. I’m afraid Celeste is going to leave me out here, awkwardly standing in the middle of the restroom, when there’s a barely audible click. Celeste slowly opens the door, rendering me speechless. Her usually perfect makeup is smeared all over, with eyeliner and mascara running down her face.

I’ve never seen her like this, not even while we were together in college.

“Nat and Keiko left,” I tell her, still speaking at twice my normal volume. “So we have the studio to ourselves again. Do you want to go back there to talk about things? It’s too loud here!”

Celeste nods. I wrap my arm around her shoulders as we exit the bar.

Back in the studio, we sit down on the couch where Keiko and Nat were moments before. But now, the cameras are off, and it’s just Celeste and me, face-to-face, off the record.

I place a hand on Celeste’s in what I hope is a comforting gesture. “What’s wrong?” I ask, as gently as I can.

Celeste takes a deep breath. “What Keiko said about her family… it dug up a lot of unpleasant memories for me. My family is similar. I don’t know if I told you, but when I was back in Korea, my mom and her relatives pressured me to date guys. This was after I found out you’d moved on, and I was toying with the idea that I could be bisexual like you and Min-joon. So I tried it. But nope. It was horrible.”

I scrunch up my nose. “Ugh, I’m so sorry. Hearing Keiko talk about her experiences must have been triggering for you.”

Celeste cocks her head to the side in acknowledgment. “Kind of. But also, seeing Nat and Keiko like that, living their happily-ever-afters despite everything life threw at them. For fifty years!”

She starts crying again, not full-on sobbing like before, but silent tears that trickle down her cheeks. Almost instinctively, I wrap my arms around her and kiss away the droplets. She leans forward, slowly making her way to my lips. Unlike the other times we’ve made out, today we’re slower, but more passionate. Gentle, but more intense.

When we stop to breathe, Celeste kisses me on the forehead. “Gemma, you’re always so good to me,” she says with a small grin. “Thank you for trying to cheer me up.”