"Oh Arceus. I can't believe it's you!" a woman, who was now standing in front of him, chirped.

She was casual, but smartly dressed in a beige round-neck blouse which she paired with a pair of white pants. Her face was made up, but not overly done and her long, pink hair was pulled back into a ponytail.

"Solidad, it's so good to see you. How are you?" he replied, smiling up at her. Her viridian eyes hadn't changed, and even after all the years apart, she still looked young and beautiful as ever.

"I'm good, thanks. Wow, it sure has been awhile. The last time I saw you…" she shook her head and smiled back. "Little Drew's all grown up now. Look at you rocking that stubble." She brought a hand to his cheek and brushed it, pinching it slightly.

He gently grabbed her wrist and brought it back down. "You know I love you, Sol. But I still hate it when you do that."

At that, Solidad chuckled. pulling him into a hug. Even after being apart for five years, their bond was still strong as ever. She pulled back slowly. "So, you're here for the 'Elite Grand Festival' too?"

He nodded. "Of course. Why else would I be here?" He paused and looked at her, wearing a puzzled expression. "Hold on. The festival's only for coordinators from the Hoenn region. So, what are you doing here?"

Solidad laughed. "Oh, I forgot to tell you. I moved here to Hoenn a few years ago."

Drew arched his eyebrow at her, still looking puzzled.

"Alright! Our bags are in the room. So, now we can go and –" another voice then said before Solidad could continue, this time a male one. Both Solidad and Drew looked forward, where a man skipped towards them. He gasped when he made eye contact with Drew. "Oh my! If it isn't the little salad head!"

Drew blinked, his mouth slightly parted as he stared at him. The man began to inch his face closer and closer to his, much to his chagrin.

"Who am I kidding? I should have expected that you'll be here too, Drew!" the man continued, smirking slightly.

"I got to say, it's quite refreshing to see you without your ridiculous Cacturne get-up, Harley. I almost couldn't recognise you if it wasn't for your pestilent behaviour," Drew scoffed, trying to hold back his laughter.

"Oh Drew! If this is your way of saying that you love me, I'll take it!"

Drew rolled his eyes and shook his head. Harley never changed even after all these years. He turned to look back at Solidad. "So, why did you move to Hoenn?"

She hesitated for a moment, a nervous laughter escaped from her lips. "Oh right. You see, I haven't told you this yet. But, Harley and I …" she paused, her gaze connected with Harley's. She walked over to stand beside him and kissed him lightly on the lips. "We're married!"

Drew blinked. "Wh-What?"

He shifted his gaze towards their hands, spotting wedding bands on each of their ring fingers. He groaned as he watched Harley nuzzled his nose affectionately into her cheek and showering her with light kisses.

Drew had never been too close to Harley. Partly because of the fact that Harley used to pull multiple pranks on May in the past just so that he would have an advantage against her in contests. But even after Harley and May had made a truce when they were in Johto, he still didn't like the man. Possibly because of his over the top and obnoxious personality that just irked him. Also because he could never fully trust the man. Evidently, it seemed like the feeling grew deeper now that he's together with Solidad – his motherly figure whom he looked up to since his young coordinating days.

Harley grinned, snaking his arm around Solidad's waist. "We're a pair! Have been for a few years now. Isn't it exciting?"

She nodded and smiled. "We bought a place in Verdanturf Town. We thought it was perfect to settle down and start a family there." Harley's grin grew wider and he planted another kiss on her lips.

"Joy." Drew grunted.

It was great to finally see them again, but if he had to watch them share their saliva all the time, it was going to be a long and dreadful week.

"Hold on. Something's not right," Harley said, darting his eyes from Drew to Solidad. Then, his eyes light up and he turned to face Drew. "Oh, of course! We're missing one member in our family! So, where's the little sugarplum?"

Drew blinked. He looked as Harley stood there with his hands clasped together, waiting for his response. He cleared his throat and shrugged. "Beats me."

"Really now?" Harley gasped, putting a hand to his mouth. "How can you not know where that little squirt is? I figured you two would've came here together. And then we could go on a double date, take a romantic walk down the beach together. You know, just us couples."

Solidad glared at him. "Harley!"

"What?" Harley met her eyes. "You saw it too. How close those two were back then. You expect me to believe that even after all that sexual tension between them, they haven't dated at all? Or even shared any kinds of physical contact?"

Solidad smacked him on the back lightly. "Harley! That shouldn't be something you should be prying about. If the boy's ready to tell us, he will."

Harley ignored her and turned his attention back to Drew. "So? Are you and May in love?" he said, dragging the last word and shooting him a wink.

His reply was short, but firm. "No."

"Really?" he said, sounding incredulous. "So, you're telling me the night that May won the grand festival, it was a coincidence that you two weren't at the closing ceremony?"

Harley shot him a suspicious look, earning a frown from him.

"Alright, that's enough," Solidad said, pulling Harley away from Drew. She let out a long sigh. "Even if May's not competing in this festival, we'll still have a good time. The three of us."

"Fine," Harley sulked, crossing his arms together. Solidad chuckled, turning her head and kissed him.

Drew groaned, a little louder this time.

It was going to be a long week.

The tiny café huddled despondent among the huge city buildings. Washed out under the bright, blue sky, it hunched in itself – fighting against the scorching sun. Hundreds of people rushed by it, outside on the crowded street. The half a dozen customers glanced up as the door swung open. Unlike the outside, the interior of the café was warm and cheery, with bright lights and colorful walls. The customers returned to their conversations as the door swung closed behind the new entrant.

The clock hanging on the wall sung out a tacky melody, indicating that it had struck ten in the morning.

As Drew flicked the pages of the blue manual, he made mental notes about the rules and guidelines for the festival. The rules were basically the same as any typical Grand Festival, except that in the second appeal round, coordinators were required to use two Pokémon.

As he continued reading, he eyed his older friend from across the table.

"So, where's that peculiar husband of yours?" he asked.

"Oh, he's still asleep. We had a long night."

"Ugh, too much information, Sol. How repulsive," he said, wrinkling his nose and rolled his eyes. "I don't know what you even see in Harley."

Their conversation was cut short as a waitress darted around several chairs, skirting through them effortlessly before she approached their table.

"Alright! Here you go, two coffees!" she chirped, placing two steaming cups neatly on the table followed by a small milk jug and a small bowl of sugar sachets. "I'll be back shortly with the rest of your orders."

"Thank you."

Drew watched as Solidad leaned forward and grabbed nearly all of the sugar sachets from the glass bowl. Then, he watched with disgusted horror as she tore and poured sachet after sachet into her cup, mixing it all in. She took small sips after ever sachet, testing the coffee. The ripped sachets were scattered in front of her as she continued. One, two, three … He eventually stopped counting after the fourth one.

"Stop judging me. You don't have to look so offended with the amount of sugar I put in my coffee," she remarked, reaching for the milk jug and pouring a dash in. "There's nothing wrong, you know."

"It is, once you get diabetes from drinking it," he commented, taking a sip of his own coffee. "That poor beverage."

"Oh, shut up, Drew!" Solidad laughed, discarding her sixth sachet and finally deemed her coffee acceptable. "I can never understand how you can even drink straight black coffee."

He shrugged. "It just tastes better without all … that."

"Sometimes I wonder how we are even friends," Solidad chuckled, stirring her coffee. She looked up to face him. "This is nice. Us having coffee together. Just like old times."

He smiled a little. "Yeah. We used to always watch contests together and critique it, sharing our opinions on the coordinator's performance."

"It was something we did regularly in the past," she added, taking a sip of her coffee. She peered at him from behind her cup, smirking a little. "Well, before a certain brunette took my place."

At that, Drew spat out his coffee. He cursed, reaching for some napkins to wipe the coffee that began to stain the table.

"Are you okay?" Solidad asked, raising her eyebrow at him.

He coughed a few times to clear his throat, waving his hand dismissively and claimed that he was fine.

"You know how much I love and value our tradition. And I know it stopped when we're in Johto because, well, like you said," he said, pausing for a moment. "It's just that May was going through a rough patch in Johto. You know, having to deal with travelling alone and all. She was also struggling a bit in her contests. Not to mention, her loss at the Wallace Cup to a rookie coordinator. So, I figured that it wouldn't hurt to sit down with her and talk about contests too. I didn't think it would become a regular thing for us as well."

"You don't have to recount everything, Drew. It's fine, really. I was just pulling your leg," Solidad chuckled, leaning back into her seat. "Seems like you still care a lot about her. The way you talked about her."

"Why wouldn't I? She was my rival after all."

"Just a rival?"

Drew frowned at her. "Fine. A friend."

"Sure," Solidad replied, not convinced. "You didn't really give a straight answer yesterday. You might have escaped from Harley, but you sure aren't going to escape from telling me. Have you heard from May?"

He stayed quiet. Memories of that night came flashing into his mind.

May's words echoed, playing repeatedly in his head.

"Drew, I need to tell you something. I-I'm leaving…"

He looked down at the table before slowly shaking his head.

The silence continued for a while. Drew was wracking his brain to think of something.

Anything.

As long as the conversation didn't steer back to May. He wasn't sure if he should tell Solidad about what happened that night. How they skipped the closing ceremony and spent the night together. Talking and opening up about their feelings till the wee hours.

The kiss.

How was he going to tell her that May kissed him? He didn't even know what the kiss meant.

Did she kiss him because she was leaving? As a way of saying goodbye.

Or did it mean something else?

"Drew?" Solidad asked, causing him to escape his trance. She looked at him with concern written all over her face. "Did something happen between the two of you?"

He put his cup of coffee down with tight pursed lips. "I … I don't know," he said, his voice was low. He let out a long sigh. "I really don't."

"What happened that night?" she pressed, leaning forward. "I know for a fact that you spent the night with her after she won. I saw you guys leaving the party together. From what I see, the bond you two shared were something more than rivals … or friends."

She looked at him as she emphasized the last word. "Now you act like you don't even know she exist. So, something must have happened that night."

He sighed. "She left. I don't exactly know why. And I don't know where. All I know is that she said she was leaving to take a break."

"That's reasonable," Solidad agreed, nodding her head slightly. "It's understandable to take a break after a victory that took years of hard work."

Drew remained silent.

"But you think that's not the only reason," Solidad continued, as if she was reading his mind. She sighed and offered him a reassuring smile. "Look, I'm sure she'll contact you soon. And if not … well, the best thing you can do is wish her well, wherever she may be."

Drew pondered for a moment over what she said. He gave her a forced smile and nodded. "Thanks Sol."

In front of him sat a forgotten coffee cup, long since devoid of warmth.

And somehow, deep down, he had this weird, warm feeling that he'll see her again.

Soon.

Author's Notes:

Hey everyone, thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. And if you did, take a moment to leave a review so that I'd know about your opinions on the story so far. I appreciate every single feedback and it'll definitely encourage me to write and update quickly.

With that, stay tuned for the next chapter!

; This chapter title is inspired by the song 'Lean On' by Major Lazer & DJ Snake