A week has passed since the first day. Both L.Joe and Sora were in their classroom chatting during break. They got their schedules from last week when they had homeroom. They pretty much had a lot of free time. In every subject they had to introduce each other to the teacher so it was pretty much another day of introductions to each other.

 

“L.Joe! Sora!” someone called their names from afar. The two of them looked around.

“ChunJi sunbae!” Sora said. “Sorry to bother you, I’m here to give you these.” He came into their classroom and gave them papers.

 

“Ah, eh? What are these?” She replied and looked at L.Joe who was looking through the papers.

“These are forms; student profile forms.” He said as he continued to look at them.

“You are right L.Joe. Please fill them up and when you’re done hand them to me after classes.” ChunJi said.

“Okay!” Sora replied as ChunJi left to find other students.

 

“This is a pretty long form isn’t it?” L.Joe said as he went through the next page. “They’re asking a lot of information for a student profile.”

“When was my birthday again?” L.Joe put down the papers he was reading and saw Sora already filling up the form.

“It even asks for my favorites. Is this an autograph book or something?” Sora said and continued.

 

The day went on as it should’ve been. Soon it was dismissal and time for club activities to start.

L.Joe didn’t join any clubs although there were tons of offers. Sora wasn’t part of any of the high school clubs but she was busy with something else. The two of them agreed to meet in front of their building around 7PM. Sora was off somewhere in a meeting.

 

L.Joe sat on one bench and just waited for her to come back. Around 7:15PM Sora came, panting.

“Sorry I’m late!” she said in between breaths. She stopped just a meter away from where L.Joe was sitting.

“We started late.” She added and tried to stabilize her breathing. L.Joe stood up and put his hand on her head.

“Well come on.” He said and walked ahead. Sora followed.

 

The place was already dark. They had to walk maybe another 10-20 minutes before reaching the main gates. They walked through the park which was lit by lamp posts on either side. There were some students left going the opposite direction. Some overtaking them and seemed to be in a hurry. The two of them just walked casually.

 

“Sora.” L.Joe called out in the middle of their walk. “Hm?” she replied rather cheerfully?

“Could you please walk more normally and not skip with that kind of face? I think the passerby’s are getting terrified.” He said. Sora stopped the skipping and looked at him, pouting.

“Call me anything you want, I won’t stop it! Hmph!” she said and continued on her way.

“Geez.” L.Joe thought and just ignored her.  

 

They walked until they finally reached the main gate. Sora went going forward until he noticed L.Joe not following her anymore. She looked for him and found him in a parking lot not too far away.

Sora walked to where he was and noticed him standing beside a black motorbike. She stopped in her tracks as soon as she saw the motorbike.

 

The motorbike was a gift for L.Joe when he turned 16. L.Joe wanted Sora to ride with him ever since he got it but Sora always strongly declines.

Sora got into a motorbike accident years back and got injured. The injury was so severe that it almost cost her ability to play Taekwondo again. She got so terrified by the fact that she has somehow developed a fear of riding motorbikes.

 

“Ride?” L.Joe got on the motor bike and offered his hand to Sora. Sora looked at him, hesitant.

“You’ll be fine. You promised me you’ll ride with me when we are in high school.” L.Joe got off the bike and walked towards her. He got her hand.

 

He had that melting stare once more. It looked like a scene from a play where flowers all around started to bloom and sparkles were seen all around.

She led him closer to the motorbike. She couldn’t take her eyes off the bike. Probably scenes of that horrific accident were currently replaying in her head.

 

“Here, put this on.” L.Joe said and handed her the helmet. She just looked at it and didn’t move. She was terrified. L.Joe sighed after a moment and let go of her hand.

He got both hands to the helmet and got it on her head. He fastened it and put one hand on her shoulder. He got her bag which she held on tightly telling him how nervous she was.

 

He smiled, as in not just a smirk, but really smiled. Sora seemed surprised.

“Trust me.” He said. There was a slight pause before Sora actually showed a smile. She was still nervous of course.

 

Both of them mounted the motorbike. As soon as Sora got settled she wrapped her arms around L.Joe’s waist and held on tight. She held him close to him. L.Joe looked at her arms and smirked as he got his helmet on.

“Hold on tight.” He said and started the engines which made her jump a little. They went out of the university and headed for their apartment complex.

 

Minutes later they arrive and went up the elevator. They both bid each other good bye and good night before going into their own units.

 

Sora sighed as soon as she closed the door to her apartment. She got her shoes off and put threw her bag to the sofa. She went to her room and changed into her bath robe. She took a quick bath then put on some new clothes. She went to the kitchen and saw the dinner which Mary made her.

“Mary…” she thought then sighed again.

 

She got the dish and went back to the living room. She put the food on the coffee table and the TV. She felt lonely; lonelier now that Mary’s gone and will never come back.

 

After eating dinner she got her notes out and started to review her lessons. She wasn’t that great of a student so she had to work extra hard with her academics.

“High school is really difficult…” she said as she went through that day’s lessons. As she scoured through her notes, there was one page that made her pay a little bit more attention.

 

“Hmm…yeah.” She said as she saw some scribbles and random writings at the last page of her notebook.

“I’ll definitely find him!”

“Never give up!”

“We’ll meet again for sure. I can feel that he’s close.” She all wrote them down at that back page when she first bought the notebook that summer.

 

“Oh yeah, I almost forgot.” She said and was drowned in deep thought.

“The sole purpose of me being granted to be in such a place was to study further the art of Taekwondo. What’s greater than being able to learn the art than in the country where the sport was originated itself. I am to train hard and bring honor to my family.” She said to herself then sighed. She rubbed the page where she had all those scribbles written down.

 

“But…my real reason to really move here was because of him.” She gave a deep sigh and looked at the night sky from the window right not too far away from the couch.

 

~Flashback~

 

(11 years ago in Los Angeles)

 

“Sora! Sora dear, come down for a moment please?” she hears her mother speaking in English, calling her to come down from her room.

“Coming mommy!” She replied and reached for the door knob.

 

A 4 year old girl with still stubby legs and pigtails started to go downstairs with a teddy bear being held in one hand and holding, or rather, trying to reach the staircase ledge with the other.

 

“Oh, Sora. Come here.” Her mother said, this time in Korean. She noticed a couple of people inside their house in the living room with her parents.

She went to her mother and sat on the space between her parents.

 

“It’s a great honor to be welcomed by such a great family.” A woman from the people sitting across them said in English. “It’s our pleasure.” Her mother replied.

“Oh, this is our son by the way. He’s going to turn 5 years old next month.” The woman said and gestured to that little boy sitting beside her.

Black hair, beautiful eyes, a cute boy.

 

“This is our daughter, Sora. She’s 4 years old.” her mother said.

She looked at the son of their new neighbors.

“You go ahead and take him to your room to play. Just wait for us to call you back okay?” her father said.

 

She stood up. “Go on Danny.” The man with them said as well. Sora went to the staircase as Danny followed.

“Come on let’s go.” She said and held his hand. “Ah…” She dragged him upstairs to her room.

 

They sat on the floor as they got in. “Nice to meet you, my name is Sora. It’s actually Japanese for ‘sky’.” She said and looked at him who was nodding, probably because he was embarrassed or else, nervous.

“Your hand…it’s really warm you know.” Sora said as she let go of his hand. Danny looked up to her.

She was speaking in English all the while.

 

“Ehh…this one is weird.” She said in Korea assuming that he won’t understand.

She kept on looking at him. “Danny…is he American?” she said in Korean as well.

“No, I’m Korean.” He replied.

 

She got surprised at the sudden reply. She backed off a bit and covered .

“Oops…I’m sorry.” She said in Korean. He didn’t reply and just kept on nodding.

“Hm, you look scary at first, but I can feel that you’re a good person. Want to play?” she said and gathered a couple of toys from her toy box.

 

Days passed by, weeks and then months. Every holiday, outing, get-together, Sora and Danny’s family hung out. Sora and Danny spent every day whenever they have time to play with each other. They seemed inseparable. When they were about to be in 4^th grade Danny’s family suddenly had to move to South Korea. Sora and Danny were separated ever since then.

 

~End of Flashback~

 

“That was how we met…” she said and kept on looking at the night sky.

“Remembering those times again huh?” Sora jumped out of the couch and looked as to who was there beside her.

“L.Joe! What the heck?! How did you get in?” she managed to yell.

“I know the combination to the lock.” L.Joe replied casually. “Geez! You almost gave me a heart attack! Don’t go in around like that. You’re going to kill someone.” Sora said and finally calmed down.

 

L.Joe, being one of Sora’s few friends, also knows about Danny’s story.

 

She then gathered her things and set them aside for the moment. She got the plate she ate from earlier and got into the kitchen to leave them there for the meantime.

“What are you doing here?” she asked as she came back to the living room.

“I was thinking of making you dinner. But I guess Mary took care of that.” He said and changed the channel of the TV.

 

“Yes she did. And you don’t have to make me dinner anyways. I can make my own dinner you know.” Sora said and just stood there, looking at L.Joe, annoyed.

“Yeah right. I don’t think cup noodles are considered to be dinner to some.” He then got his legs on the couch and laid there like he’s the owner of the place. “Tch.” She said and just looked at him.

 

Sora then sat on another chair just beside the couch and watched TV. There was brief silence until L.Joe spoke up.

“So, when are you planning to start your search for him?” he said. Sora looked at him, surprised for a bit and just sighed.

“Ya…don’t ignore your best friend.” L.Joe said and changed the channel again.

“You’re really taking advantage of that word.” She said and just ignored him.

 

“All you know about him is his nickname, and that he’s in South Korea.” L.Joe then sat up and looked at her.

“Do you really think you’ll really find him with only his nickname? There are a lot of Danny’s in not just South Korea, but in the world as well. Plus, we’re not even sure what his real name is.” He added.

Sora stood up and got the remote. She then turned off the TV.

 

He just looked at her. She didn’t say anything as well for a few moments.

“I’ll find him.” She said. “I’ll find him. I bet you that.”

L.Joe stood up and got his arms around her. He rested his chin over her head.

 

“Even though you’re 16 you’re still very foolish you know that?” L.Joe said and chuckled.

“Stop teasing me, dammit. Go on back to your room and stop harassing me.” She said and pushed him away. She wiped some tears from her eyes.

 

He sighed and gave off a smirk. He headed for the door but took one quick glance at her again.

“See ya.” He said and went out. She sighed.

 

“He’s right.” She said and looked out the sky again. “Danny, are you really in South Korea? If you are, tell me where? I wish I had a sign.” She said.