When her agent sends her the first roundup of available jobs in the area for the new year, Celeste doesn’t expect to see Gemma’s name attached to one of them. But there she is, clear as day, the lead journalist on a project that’s vaguely reminiscent of “Modern Love in Focus.”

Intrigued, Celeste clicks through to read the description. Unlike the project Celeste worked on with Gemma, this newly proposed one focuses on younger couples and is purely visual media based. And instead of interviewing many different people, it follows two couples over the course of a year, revisiting with them every six months to see how they change—if at all. It’s an ambitious project, and one that sounds very cool at that. Celeste feels a rush of pride that Gemma is at the helm of it.

From watching Gemma’s Instagram Stories—a guilty pleasure of hers that, to her therapist’s chagrin, she could never get rid of no matter how hard she tried—she knows that Gemma relocated to SoCal at some point. She just doesn’t know where and why.

Without logging in, Celeste surreptitiously looks at Gemma’s thankfully public LinkedIn profile. It says Gemma relocated to Citrine’s office in Irvine as a multimedia journalist in May, so eight months ago. A promotion, maybe. But the fact that she suddenly moved to Irvine, where her parents live, of all places, concerns Celeste.

Did something happen with her family? Celeste reaches for her phone… and then stops herself. Aside from wishing each other a happy birthday, Celeste to Gemma in March and Gemma to Celeste in June, they haven’t interacted with each other at all in the past several months.

A year is nothing compared to the eight they previously spent apart, but for some reason, this period of time has felt a lot longer for Celeste, and somehow more excruciating. It’d gotten to the point that she had to resume therapy, which she’d previously quit a couple of years ago, so she could have someone—other than Min-joon, who has his own drama to deal with these days—to help sort out her thoughts and feelings after what happened between her and Gemma.

Unsurprisingly, her therapist, who for years has been appalled by her absolute refusal to engage in romantic relationships, is in good spirits when Celeste updates her about Gemma.

“Maybe you should consider reaching out to her,” Dr. Espinosa cheerfully suggests. “Properly this time. If only to check in on her to make sure she’s okay. Throw the ball in her court. If she chooses to engage with you, then great. If not, that’s great, too. It’ll be a sign for you to respectfully move on.”

Celeste can’t resist joking, “Or I could not talk to her and be forever alone.”