At school, Mark and I never really talked even though we spend at least two nights a week playing DotA. It was probably too shallow of me to be okay after being so worked up about Seungheon, but I had a lot going on in my life that I used to keep myself busy. I quit the coffee shop, telling the owner that I could not keep up with my schedules anymore, but it was just because there were too much memories and I did not want to dwell on them. I added another minor so it was perfect timing. I quit tutoring high school students, and instead turned to an online platform, translating web comics from Korean to English and Japanese or vice versa(s). I was reading comics and was getting paid to do it. What more could I ask for?

During the summer break, I went to New York and visited my cousins there, then we flew to LA to their mother's place. Just when I was trying to get away from my cousins, Jessica and Krystal, who were trying to hook me up with one of their old friends, I ran into a very familiar face. Or voice, rather, because most of our interaction was through voice chat on a game.

"Eunhye-sunbae?"

It was common to see Korean people in Los Angeles, but it was not usual to see someone you actually know, especially if it was your first time in the place.

"Tuan?"

"It's really you!" He was carrying a surfboard, which he dropped it and he ran to me. Mark gave me a big hug as if we had been really close friends. By then, he was good in Korean, and he talked rapidly. "What brought you here?"

"Cousins," I answered, returning the hug. I never even thought it weird that we were suddenly all so chummy when our interactions in person were just nods and eyebrow wiggles when we run into each other in the hallways and cafeteria. "I visited them in New York and they came here to their mom's. So... What about you?"

"I came home for the summer," he said, arms wide in a gesture as if the Santa Monica Beach was his home.

"You're from LA," I concluded.

"Guilty," he said and laughed again. I noticed his gums showed cutely when he smiled.

"Mark!" we heard some people call him from a few feet away. A guy threw his arm as if asking Mark why he was not coming with them.

"Can you wait a second?" he asked me. I nodded and he ran back to get his surfboard and say something to his friend. After that, dear friend left along with a group of people and Mark ran back to me.

At that moment, I thought he really looked handsome. He was a bit tanned now, perhaps because of the time he spent on the beach, although I could see outlines where he probably wore shirts over his now shirtless body. I always thought he was too thin, but he actually had the muscles in all the right places. Was it because he was home that was why he looked confident, all of a sudden? Where was the Mark who kept to the corners and just laughed along with people without contributing to the conversation?

"Friends from high school," he explained, a little out of breat